The Washington Redskins signed offensive tackle Donald Penn on Tuesday, taking away the desperation of not having Trent Williams at training camp.
The Washington Redskins and left tackle Trent Williams aren’t seeing eye-to-eye at the moment. In fact, there are reports that the two sides are so far away from progress they may never fix the relationship. No matter if that’s the case or not, it’s definitely true that Williams isn’t pleased with the team at the moment and might not be playing come Week 1.
Obviously, missing your superstar left tackle is going to be a major issue for any team. For the Redskins it would’ve been absolutely disastrous though. The main reason for that is depth.
Behind Williams, the Redskins didn’t have reliable talent. It appeared their backup plan was to put Ereck Flowers back at tackle, a position he failed miserably at in the past. They just signed Corey Robinson but that’s not exactly much of an upgrade.
Desperation was clearly still there. If Williams doesn’t play at this point, they’d be throwing their quarterback (possibly rookie Dwayne Haskins) into a terrible situation. Simply put, Williams held every possible card.
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Then the Redskins went out on Tuesday and signed offensive tackle Donald Penn and that desperation went away. The leverage for Williams went away.
No, Penn is not as good as Williams. Williams is arguably the best tackle in football and any team would want to have him on the roster. That being said, Penn is no slouch. He might not be the same player he was in his prime but, as recent as 2017, he was a Pro Bowl tackle.
Washington now has a left tackle they can trust. If Williams doesn’t return they aren’t just throwing another body out there but a legitimate tackle who can help the offense. This also means they can keep Flowers at guard. That’s an experiment that should be fun to watch and ,if it works out, the Redskins suddenly have something cooking on that offensive line.
Even at his age (and not being Williams), Penn can protect the quarterback at a high level. This will make Washington comfortable enough to put Haskins out there if they want. Williams is losing a little bit of his leverage, as well. The Redskins should try to make nice with Trent Williams. Keeping him makes the team that much better.
However, if they can’t nail down a future partnership, at least the sky isn’t falling. Even if they do figure it out, the signing of Penn is still fantastic. He’s an amazing depth piece that would keep the Redskins from scrambling midseason should any injuries occur. Penn is a great veteran addition — but let’s still hope the Trent Williams situation works out.