Plenty Of Moving Parts

Plenty Of Moving Parts

- Chris Russell

The Washington Redskins look very different in a lot of ways since we last saw them play a game, January 1, a soul-crushing loss in mind-numbing fashion to the New York Giants.

With failure comes significant change and while a lot of the core remains intact, Washington has several new faces.

Kirk Cousins is back for year three as the starting quarterback. He’ll be even better in 2017 than he was the last two years. Along with Cousins, the offensive line is fairly strong and a cohesive unit.

Jamison Crowder and Jordan Reed are pass catching studs. Robert Kelley, Chris Thompson, Ryan Grant, Maurice Harris, Vernon Davis and Niles Paul all return as well.

Coach Jay Gruden is the play-caller again after receiving a contract extension. Matt Cavanaugh replaces Sean McVay as the offensive coordinator. Gruden has been working on more situational football in off-season practices, like two-minute offense.

Terrelle Pryor should help make the receiver group special again. Pryor is still emerging and getting better at his craft. A former quarterback who sees the game from that perspective combined with a receiver’s sense, comes to the Redskins after a breakout year in Cleveland working with a terrible quarterback situation.

Pryor (6-feet-4, 225 pounds) put up just more than 1,000 yards on 77 catches in 2016, but before that only had two career receptions. He had only four receiving touchdowns last year. He still has more than twice the amount of touchdown passes thrown (nine in Oakland in 2012 and ‘13) than he does catches.

Pryor bristled at the thought that he is still developing as a receiver, but he is. In offseason practices, the Redskins have used him in a variety of ways and almost as a combination of skills that they had in DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon. They won’t get two for the price of one, but signing Pryor went a long way to doing just that.