Washington Redskins: Chris Culliver injury no big loss

The Washington Redskins awful luck with finding the correct players in the secondary and keeping them healthy continues, as big-money offseason signing Chris Culliver went down with a season-ending injury at practice yesterday.

When the Washington Redskins signed former San Francisco 49ers star cornerback Chris Culliver to a four-year, $32 million deal with $16 million in guaranteed money, it seemed like first-year GM Scot McCloughan was well on his way to solving the team’s longtime issues at the cornerback position.

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We all saw how former Clemson star Bashaud Breeland shined as a rookie, and he looked exactly like the type of player with the physicality, ball skills, and raw man coverage ability to blossom into a future shutdown corner. With a player like Culliver across from him, it seemed like the Redskins would have one of the better cornerback tandems around.

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Instead, the Redskins secondary has been as bad as its ever been. Dashon Goldson and the rest of the safeties have predictably been walking disasters, and the Redskins have failed to stop No. 2 receivers this season. They are the second-worst team in the NFL in Football Outsiders’s DVOA against No. 2 wideouts, and only the Baltimore Ravens have allowed more touchdowns to wide receivers this season.

So, on the surface, it seems like Culliver’s season-ending torn right ACL and MCL injury is a devastating loss for a Redskins defense that is both 24th in the NFL in points per game allowed and in net yards per attempt allowed.

I’m not going to pretend like losing a player somehow helps a team, because nothing could be further from the truth here for the Redskins. Culliver’s injury further curtails the Redskins already precarious depth at the cornerback position, and that’s a spot where depth is clearly of the utmost importance.

However, for as much money as the Redskins have tied up in Culliver and for as grossly underrated as he was as a member of the 49ers, it’s hard to call this injury a tough loss for this team. Because if you were to say that Culliver’s absence will significantly hurt the team, then you are simply glossing over the fact that he’s sucked this season. In fact, he’s probably been banged up all season long, which likely played a role in his struggles.

For example, last week in the Redskins embarrassing blowout loss to the still-undefeated (and rolling) Carolina Panthers, Culliver allowed two touchdown receptions. Whether it was big rookie Devin Funchess, agile veteran Ted Ginn Jr., or plodding slot man Jerricho Cotchery, Culliver didn’t have a single answer for any of the pass-catchers the Panthers put in his coverage.

Essentially, this has been the problem for Culliver throughout the 2015 season. Unlike Breeland, who has come up huge in some games and even memorably shut down Julio Jones earlier this year, Culliver hasn’t been able to successfully cover anybody this season.

The Redskins have received zero bang for their buck this season, meaning that they paid market value for a No. 1 CB who performed like a No. 1 corner in his prime for San Francisco, whereas they’ve received the caliber of play they could expect from a No. 4 or 5 depth CB.

And guess what? That’s exactly the type of corner who will figure to get significant playing time with Culliver out of the lineup for the remaining six games of the regular season. The likes of Week 12 opponent Rueben Randle will have upgraded matchups whenever the thin Redskins CB corps is up on the schedule, but, let’s face it, can players like Quinton Dunbar or Will Blackmon really fare out worse than Culliver has this season?

In his last two healthy seasons (2012 and 2014), Culliver racked up a jaw-dropping 15 passes defended, and he had four interceptions in his final season with the 49ers. Those numbers clearly show that Culliver has the ability to be a top corner in this league, but the fact that he had zero picks and just one PD this season in six games shows that he’s definitely whiffed on those expectations in his first season in the D.C. area. Whatever stats you’d like to use, Culliver has been part of the problem, and there’s a chance he was their biggest liability in coverage anyway.

Nov 22, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Washington Redskins cornerback Chris Culliver (29) in the second quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Addition by subtraction? No way, that’s not really how it works in the NFL. But Culliver’s season-ending injury will have a minimally negative impact on the Redskins defense, because the only way it truly hurts this team is from a depth standpoint.

With Culliver injured, the Redskins are now down one option, but that option isn’t necessarily better than anyone else on their depth chart at this point.

All the Redskins can do is hope that Culliver, who has suffered a serious injury in the past, can have a full recovery and be ready to star again in the 2016 season.

They have him on the books long term, and there’s plenty of hope that a CB who is a couple of years under 30 and just one season removed from top-notch play at the position can get back on track.

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If he can’t, then he could go down as an even more disappointing offseason signing than, say, Byron Maxwell.

So here’s to hoping that he can show the NFL why he was one of the most underrated corners in the game in San Francisco (and why the Redskins paid him $8 million a year in the first place).

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