Washington Redskins Can Overcome Junior Galette Injury
By Andrew Long
The Washington Redskins roster was dealt a major blow when they learned that Junior Galette will miss his second consecutive season due to injury.
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For the second straight year, the Washington Redskins will be without Junior Galette due to a torn Achilles tendon. The talented pass-rusher joined the roster prior to the start of the 2015 season and was expected to play opposite of Ryan Kerrigan on defense. It was thought that the two would create a disruptive tandem on the outside, but, because of a pair of unfortunate injuries to Galette in back-to-back seasons, things have yet to pan out.
His absence will undoubtedly cause the team to alter their defensive game plan, and, in doing so, it will throw more players into action. There’s a strong chance that the team will sign a veteran player to replace him on the depth chart, but such a move would only provide the team with a temporary fix.
The best and most likely solution would be to increase the snap count of second-year linebacker Preston Smith, a player that began to show his value down the stretch in 2015. Having acquired five of his eight sacks in the last three weeks of the season, the Redskins found a legitimate option across from Kerrigan.
The Galette injury hurts, yes, but the team, thanks to the shrewd drafting of Scot McCloughan, was prepared for such a thing. The savvy general manager selected Smith, who is 6-5 and 270 pounds, in the hopes of developing him into a strong pass-rusher. Because of injuries, though, the 23-year-old may have to do so at a quicker rate than previously planned.
The presence of Smith will undoubtedly dampen the blow and provides the Redskins with somewhat of a silver lining. Would they have been better off with Galette on the field? Yes. Do they still have a capable group of pass rushers without him? Most definitely.
As I’ve already stated, Smith will likely be the player to take the lion’s share of Galette’s snaps, but he is by no means the only option that the team has to offer. It’s likely that the team won’t be lined up in their base defense in most situations, meaning that he would have had his hand in the dirt a decent amount of the time.
That being said, Washington has a number of players capable of lining up at defensive end in situations with four down linemen. Trent Murphy, Stephen Paea, Ricky Jean-Francois, and Chris Baker are all solid options in these situations.
The Redskins can take solace in knowing that their defense will be in good hands in sub-packages, as their roster contains a good deal of capable options along the defensive line. With Preston Smith and Ryan Kerrigan holding down the outside linebacker positions in base packages, I feel comfortable with what Washington has to offer in terms of a pass rush.
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And while they could use more depth at the position, I believe that Washington has enough talent and veteran leadership on the defensive side of the ball to be competitive without Junior Galette in the fold.