Washington Redskins will not keep Brandon Banks

According to Rich Campbell of the Washington Times, the Washington Redskins will not tender kick returner Brandon Banks, and the restricted free agent is set to hit the free agent waters per a source close to Campbell. This news regarding the Redskins 25-year-old wideout is not surprising, as fellow Redskins beat writer Mike Jones of the Washington Post tweeted a couple of days ago that the Redskins would most likely not tender Banks.

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It seems like Brandon Banks fell out of favor with the Redskins coaching staff, and he offers up little outside of his ability to return kicks and punts. He caught eight passes for a meager 15 yards, but those were actually career-highs for Banks in this third year coming out of Kansas State.

To me, Banks has always been better on punt returns. He is one of the league’s best punt returners, and he’s also a useful kick-off returner- albeit overrated in that regard. The Redskins will surely miss his returning, but he failed to do anything outside of being a return specialist, and towards the end of the year became a healthy scratch.

It will be interesting to see what the Redskins do on returns, and they will likely use Niles Paul on kick returns and Richard Crawford on punt returns. There is a significant drop-off between Banks and Paul on returns, but Crawford, who could become the team’s nickel corner next year, offers good upside on punt returns.

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