The Washington Football Team offense was supposed to be improved in 2021. So how did they hold up in a disappointing season? Let’s grade them.
No one was really expecting an elite offense from the Washington Football Team in 2021. However, there were some decent expectations.
For one thing, Washington added some big names. Ryan Fitzpatrick has his flaws but he was an upgrade at quarterback and would’ve helped them “air it out” with his strong arm and confidence to make throws.
Curtis Samuel joined as another star receiver to make things easier on Terry McLaurin. They also brought Ereck Flowers back to help with the offensive line and Antonio Gibson was entering year two at running back with insane potential.
Flowers lived up to the hype. He was a great addition to the line. Samuel missed most of the year due to injury though and was a non-factor when playing. And Fitzpatrick played one half of football before suffering a season-ending injury. That’s sort of a perfect way to describe Washington’s season on offense.
The potential was there and sometimes they would look great. But overall it was a lot of nothing. Struggling and making things look more difficult than they had to be.
They weren’t good. A few players stood out, absolutely. For the most part, though, it wasn’t exactly “fun” to watch. You were going to get frustrated watching as a combination of poor play, disappointing talent, injuries, and coaching decisions led to the offense doing next-to-nothing for long stretches at a time.
All that being said, it doesn’t sound like the offense will get good grades. We won’t know until we break it all down individually and get those overall grades though. So let’s get into it.
Washington Football Team offensive line
This was one of the more consistent parts of the Washington Football Team offense. Their offensive line wasn’t perfect, but they were really solid for a heavy majority of the season.
The best lineman on their roster is Brandon Scherff, an All-pro type talent. However, injuries keep getting in the way. In a 17-game season, he played just 11. Those 11 games were great, but it also marked the fifth consecutive season where the guard didn’t play a full slate of games. He would grade so much higher if he played more. Final Grade: B
Charles Leno Jr. came into the year with not very high expectations. He was on the Chicago Bears for the first seven seasons of his career. There were some great “ups” but some terrible “downs” and he was brought in to Washington as a not-very-exciting option. However, Leno was really strong in 2021 starting all 17 games at tackle and earning a new contract. Final Grade: B+
Ereck Flowers was a revelation for Washington a few years ago. After a great season where he moved to guard, he left in free agency to go to the Miami Dolphins. However, Washington traded for him and he’s back being a phenomenally underrated piece of their line. Flowers is probably always going to be seen by a large number of people as that massive bust at tackle for the New York Giants. But as a guard for Washington, he’s insanely consistent. Final Grade: B
Sam Cosmi joined the team through the NFL Draft. The second-round pick only appeared in nine games this year due to injury, but wow did he impress. Can’t give him too high of a grade because of the injuries. But he really gives you hope when it comes to having a stud tackle for a long long time. Cosmi was phenomenal in every aspect of the game. He doesn’t get nearly as big of a drop due to injury as Scherff did because it’s not a reoccurring theme at the moment. Final Grade: B+
Chase Roullier only appeared in eight games this year. But the center was really solid in that time. Rouiller is a great piece in the middle and it showed as they did lose a little bit when he left. Hopefully, he can be healthy next season. For now, he gets a final grade of B-
Now we’re getting into the real depth pieces. Wes Schweitzer appeared in 11 games, starting five. He ended the year on the IR because Washington wasn’t allowed to have an offensive line this year. Schweitzer is a really good backup who you can trust to start if needed. Final grade: C+
Cornelius Lucas appeared in 15 games, starting seven. Lucas was decent. Nothing spectacular, but he definitely can do his job pretty well. Again another good depth piece. That being said, there are a few players on the line that I think should be plugged in when there are injuries before him moving forward. Final grade: C
Keith Ismael appeared in 10 games, starting five. The center looked very good for a young lineman drafted so late just a year ago. He didn’t do anything to win him a starting job, but he proved that he can play. And with some extra time and polishing, Ismael definitely has a future. Final Grade: B
Saahdiq Charles appeared in 10 games, starting four. Honestly, I really like him. Sometimes it feels like he is a little undisciplined or will miss an assignment. But he’s physical and has all the tools to be great. And in his limited time this season, Charles really showed that potential. Final Grade: B+
This is really showing you how many injuries Washington dealt with on their line. But honestly, that only makes their grade higher in my opinion. Because even with all the moving parts, they were phenomenal. Due to that, they get a really high grade despite no one getting higher than a “B+” and some people grading in the “C” range.
Final grade: B+
Washington Football Team tight ends
Logan Thomas had a crazy breakout season in 2020. The tight end set career-highs in receptions (72), receiving yards (670), and receiving touchdowns (6). He looked set to be their star at the position for a nice long time.
However, 2021 saw a lot of setbacks for Thomas. He appeared in just six games due to injuries. And those six games featured two where he left very early thanks to those injuries. That was painful for a few reasons. First of all, Thomas is one of the better weapons on the team. For the other, he was poised to put up massive numbers. In that short amount of time, he racked up 18 receptions for 196 yards and three touchdowns. Final grade: Incomplete
Ricky Seals-Jones did a great job in his role this year. He was thrust into the starting spot. And while he wasn’t an elite option, he held the position down pretty nicely. Seals-Jones finished with 30 receptions for 271 yards and two touchdowns in just 13 games. It was his second-best season in the NFL. Final grade: B-
John Bates was phenomenal in his rookie season. He had a pretty limited role for most of the year but did get decent playing time overall. Bates finished with 20 receptions on just 25 targets, showing some pretty sure-hands. In those 20 receptions, he had 249 yards and one touchdown. Bates was seen as more of a blocking tight end but proved this year that he can be a decent enough weapon in the passing game. Final grade: B
Overall, tight end was a weird position for Washington in 2021. Thomas was poised for big things, but the injuries completely derailed his season. Seals-Jones was good, but nothing phenomenal. It was a clear step-down from Thomas but you have to give him credit for performing that well after being thrust into the role. Bates was great for his rookie season and gets a boost for being thrust in the role as well.
However overall when we’re talking about production, tight end was pretty “meh” as a position for Washington. Final grade: C+
Washington Football Team wide receivers
When talking about Washington Football Team wide receivers there is only one person to start with – Terry McLaurin. McLaurin is only three years into his career, but if he stays with the team he could absolutely go down as the best to ever do it at receiver in a Washington jersey.
In three years, McLaurin is already ranked 15th overall in receiving yards with 3090, 17th in receptions with 222, and 23rd with 16 receiving touchdowns. Give him a few more years and he could really rise up the ranks. It will be hard to catch up to Art Monk, but it’s possible.
And in 2021 he had another phenomenal year. McLaurin finished with 77 receptions for 1,053 yards and five touchdowns. He did all that with bad quarterback play and no other real receiving weapons to take the eyes off of him. One of the best and most under-appreciated receivers in football. He’s getting a boost in grade because if he had some help in basically any department he’d be unstoppable. Give him a QB, please. PLEASE. PLEASE. Final grade: A
Curtis Samuel came in to be the other star receiver in Washington. He’s a legitimate star. Bad things happened in 2021 though. Samuel was injured for a heavy majority of the year though. And in five games he had just six receptions for 27 yards and four carries for 11 yards. He never got a chance to get into a rhythm though. It was a miserable year but don’t be too worried about his future with the team – could still be a stud. Final grade: F
Adam Humphries was solid. That’s all I can really say about his 2021 season. It wasn’t bad, but it’s not like he was a difference-maker out there. Humphries finished the year with 41 receptions for 383 yards. He very much felt like a security blanket on the offense. When they needed a short gain, he was the guy. Final grade: C
DeAndre Carter was the standout of the receiver group. No, he wasn’t an elite weapon or anything – but wow did he outplay expectations. Personally, I didn’t think he’d even make the roster out of the preseason. Carter was 28 and primarily known as a returner, which he didn’t even do much of. However, he excelled in that area and added career-highs with 24 receptions for 296 yards and three touchdowns. Nothing crazy but he contributed and that’s awesome. Final grade: B+
Dyami Brown was brought in via the NFL Draft. And honestly, he was expected to be a major player right away. Instead, we saw him struggle a bit with route running and drops. He was a non-factor for a lot of the year, finishing with just 12 receptions for 165 yards in 15 games. Brown still has the potential to be great, but his rookie season wasn’t good. Final grade: D-
Cam Sims is a curious case. He doesn’t really get all that much playing time sometimes. And there are times where he’ll make an easy catch look difficult or even straight-up drop it. However, he’s massive and athletic. And he’ll make difficult catches look incredibly easy. Sims finished with 15 receptions for 211 yards and two touchdowns. The first 13 weeks saw him get over 20% of offensive snaps in a game just twice (37% one week and 21% another). Give him more snaps and I think he could put up decent numbers. For now though, “eh”. Final grade: C
Dax Milne was the other rookie wide receiver. There were much lower expectations for him coming in as a seventh-round pick though. He didn’t do anything spectacular, but was anyone really expecting him to? Especially with such limited snap counts? Milne finished with nine receptions for 83 yards. What else is there to say? He was okay. Final grade: C
Overall, this was not a good unit. McLaurin is out there doing everything he possibly can to save them from an “F” grade. I mean some of them weren’t terrible, but those are also individual grades. Carter got a “B+” for his season but production-wise he’s not moving the needle for anyone. The wide receiver corps for Washington in 2021 gets a really really bad final grade of D+
Washington Football Team running backs
Antonio Gibson was the breakout star in his rookie year at running back for the Washington Football Team. He ended up having a really solid season when you look at the numbers. However, there were a few major problems.
For one thing, Gibson led all running backs with six fumbles. That’s obviously not good. He also entered Week 18 averaging just 3.8 yards per carry. A great last game got him over 1,000 yards and up to 4.0 yards per carry. He also added a solid 42 receptions for 294 yards and three touchdowns.
Gibson was solid and it’s important to note that he had just two fumbles in his final nine games, so maybe he’s already cleaning that up. Overall it was a disappointing season but still pretty good and he showed off that elite potential. Final grade: B-
J.D. McKissic is so good at his job. He averaged 4.4 yards per carry (212 yards on 38 carries) with two touchdowns, showing he can handle some runs when he needs to. But it’s the receiving game where he shines. McKissic racked up 48 receptions for 212 yards and two more touchdowns in 11 games. He’s such a good receiving weapon out of the backfield. Injuries slowed him down, but he’s definitely extremely valuable. Final grade: B
Jaret Patterson had an amazing year. He finished with 68 carries for 266 yards (3.9 yards per carry) and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, he added 10 receptions for 73 yards in the passing game. Okay, the numbers don’t seem great. This is an undrafted free agent rookie though. He made the most of situations and had an awesome game when thrust into the starting role. Final grade: B+
Jonathan Williams probably shouldn’t get a grade. He appeared in just five games for Washington and only had 17 carries. That being said, he racked up 79 yards (4.6 yards per carry) and a touchdown in that time. He also added four receptions for 28 yards. Williams was a solid late-season addition that played his role well.
Overall, this seems like a solid unit. They all got at least a “B-“. There were the fumble problems though and quite a few games where the running game was non-existent. It didn’t help that the passing game wasn’t great either, but still. With that in mind, we can’t go too high. But their 121.2 rushing yards per game were ranked 12th in the NFL. Final grade: B-
Washington Football Team quarterbacks
Ryan Fitzpatrick came in to be Washington’s starting quarterback in 2021. He made six pass attempts before an injury ended his season. Would’ve been interesting to see what he could’ve done. But either way, Washington would’ve needed to make upgrades to the position this offseason.
Kyle Allen went 12-for-19 for 120 yards and one touchdown in limited work. Garrett Gilbert started a game and managed to go 20-for-31 for 194 yards but boy did the offense look ugly that week.
The main starter this season was Taylor Heinicke. This is a really really tough one to grade. Let’s be honest, his overall season wasn’t great. Heinicke has a very weak arm and a little too much confidence in it. I’ve talked about it before but that play where McLaurin got hurt was comical. Heinicke waved him to go deep then promptly underthrew him which led to McLaurin having to go back and get into a jump ball situation. It wasn’t pretty.
Heinicke’s overall numbers were decent. He went 321-for-494 (65%) for 3,419 yards and 20 touchdowns. That’s pretty solid for anyone, let alone someone with Heinicke’s path to the NFL.
However, he also had 15 interceptions and a number of really bad games.
He added 313 yards and a touchdown on 60 carries (5.2 yards per carry). That was a nice addition to the offense. Having a mobile quarterback always adds a little excitement. But he fumbled seven times, which again isn’t great.
Overall it wasn’t a very good season for a starting quarterback. But for someone in Heinicke’s situation, it was great. He wasn’t in the NFL for a while before his 2020 return. Then he wasn’t supposed to start this year before being thrust into the role midway through the first game. So for that, you have to boost the grade a little bit.
Final grade: B-
Overall, the quarterbacking wasn’t good. We’re not taking out the whole “personal accomplishments” stuff. It doesn’t matter what challenges they faced, now we’re just looking at the position as a whole. And that lowers the grade pretty drastically. Especially because we’re now adding in that Gilbert game. 202.4 passing yards per game is really bad, the 12th worst in the league.
Final grade: D+ get Terry McLaurin a real quarterback, please
Overall thoughts and grades for the Washington Football Team offense
Yikes. Overall there are so few good things to say about the Washington Football Team offense.
The offensive line definitely stands out as a positive. Not only did they play well individually and as a unit. But the fact that so many people were plugged in and they all played at the very least “decent” is amazing. Very few bad things to say about this group. And what’s even better is there are a few young guys that really impressed this year.
The tight ends were solid for what they were. But no team was worried about them once Logan Thomas went down. They made enough plays to be relevant and help move the offense at times though, so you can’t get upset with their play.
The wide receivers were pretty pitiful. It’s a combination of injuries, bad quarterback play, and miserable receiver play. Terry McLaurin saved them from being irrelevant. But outside of him, you had a few “decent guys” and “decent games”. No one not wearing a “McLaurin” jersey even managed a single 75-yard receiving game though. Absolutely ugly.
The running backs were solid. Fumbles were an issue but there’s a lot to like about Antonio Gibson’s game. J.D. McKissic is a great receiving back. Jaret Patterson had an amazing year for an undrafted rookie that got very limited playing time. And even Jonathan Williams made an impact after joining late in the season. Nothing over-the-top, but this was a solid unit.
Quarterback play was lacking heavy. Taylor Heinicke is an elite backup. Someone that if the starter got hurt and you told me he had to play for a few weeks, I’d be happy with. He can win you games. But as your full-time starter? No thanks. This wasn’t a good season for QBs in Washington – and this franchise knows a lot about bad QB play.
Overall, the offense was terrible. They were the 12th-worst offense in terms of yards (323.6 yards per game). And that was mainly thanks to a strong running game and McLaurin, as well as a great line. They were the ninth-worst scoring offense (19.7 points per game). There’s nothing good to spin out of that, just bad.
Another year of it being pretty hard to watch the Washington Football Team on offense. Hey, maybe next year though right? Please get a quarterback.
Final grade: D