The Washington Redskins are making serious roster moves this off season in hopes of improving the team's chances at being a 2019 contending NFL football team.
Last week the team resigned running back Adrian Peterson in a deal worth $8M for two years. Peterson (perhaps the most noteworthy offensive player for the team) ran for 1,042 yards last year. Fans will recall his impressive NFL comeback after tearing his ACL in a game with the Redskins in 2011.
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| Landon Collins / Photo: Redskins.com |
To compliment the signing of Peterson the franchise signed safety Landon Collins to a six-year, $84M sweetheart of deal.
"It was my dream to come here", Collins said.
Collins (6-0, 222) is a four-year NFL veteran who entered the league as a second round selection, No. 33 overall pick by the New York Giants in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Collins has started all 59 regular season games in which he has appeared and one postseason game for the Giants since the 2015 season. He has recorded eight career interceptions during the regular season for 93 yards to complement 428 tackles (321 solo), 32 passes defensed, 4.0 sacks, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.
Collins will wear #21, the number of Redskins' Sean Taylor.
In addition to three consecutive Pro Bowl selections (2016, 2017 and 2018), Collins has appeared in one playoff game in which he started and registered nine tackles (6 solo), one sack, and two passes defensed.
Last season, Collins recorded four passes defensed, 96 tackles (67 solo) and one forced fumble.
The Washington Redskins also signed corner back Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
Rodgers-Cromartie (6-2, 203) is an 11-year NFL veteran who entered the league as the No. 16 overall pick by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2008 NFL Draft. He has appeared in 160 career regular season games with 120 starts.
Rodgers-Cromartie has appeared in at least 15 games in nine of his 11 NFL seasons. He has recorded 30 career interceptions (six returned for touchdowns) for 535 yards in regular season play to complement 441 tackles (385 solo), 146 passes defensed, 2.5 sacks, seven forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Among active players in the NFL, his 30 interceptions is tied for fourth and his 146 passes defensed ranks second overall. He has received two Pro Bowl selections (2009 and 2015) and was named second team All-Pro in 2016.
In postseason play, he has started all 10 games in which he has appeared and has registered three interceptions for 13 yards, 32 tackles (31 solo) and 14 passes defensed.
For the 2018 campaign, he registered six solo tackles, two passes defensed and one forced fumble in seven games played for the Oakland Raiders.
In 2017, Rodgers-Cromartie appeared in 15 games, starting in five for the New York Giants. He registered 48 tackles (31 solo), one pass defensed, 0.5 sacks and four tackles for loss, which was a career high. At the end of the 2016 season, Rodgers-Cromartie finished with 49 tackles (41 solo) and tied a career high in interceptions for the season with six. In 2015, he set a career high with 58 tackles (52 solo), recorded three interceptions and was selected to his second Pro Bowl.
Quarterback Quagmire Quelled?
The Redskins were hemorrhaging at the quarter back position after both Alex Smith (see highlights) and Colt McCoy suffered leg injuries that kept both players out of the remaining 2018 season.
An 'experimental' signing of retired quarterback Mark Sanchez didn't help the team's progress all that much, if at all. Both Sanchez and Smith remain free agents.
Last week the team announced they had signed up quarterback Case Keenum from the Denver Broncos.
"With only Colt [McCoy] on our roster we had to do something", said head coach Jay Gruden.
“We still may address it in the draft, who knows? But we have to have two quarterbacks in OTA’s and for someone to come in here and compete with Colt. We all feel great about Colt without a doubt but he’s had his injury history as well, and we anticipate a competitive camp with those two guys. And if we add a third guy via the draft or somewhere else, we’ll roll the ball out there and let them play, but I feel good about Colt and Case’s skillset; they are very similar so it’ll be easy to draw up plays for those two guys.”
Keenum (6-1, 215) is a six-year NFL veteran who entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Houston Texans in 2012. He has appeared in 57 career regular season games with 54 starts, completing 1,144-of-1,844 passes (62.0 percent) for 12,661 yards with 64 touchdowns and 42 interceptions for a passer rating of 84.5. He has also rushed 122 times for 416 yards and five touchdowns in his career.
"We know that the Redskins have been really close to being really good for a while now and I’m excited to be a part of that”, Keenum said.
In postseason play, Keenum has started in the two games in which he has appeared and registered 589 passing yards with two touchdowns.
Last season, he started all 16 games for the Denver Broncos and accumulated single season career-highs in passing yards (3,890) and completions (365) to complement 18 touchdowns.
In 2017, Keenum started 14 games recording single season career-highs in completion percentage (67.6) and touchdown passes (22). He recorded 3,547 yards passing and led the Minnesota Vikings to an NFC North division title and an appearance in the NFC Championship.
The team released linebacker Zach Brown and defensive lineman Stacy McGee.
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