Season Outlook:Upside Is Possible

The Redskins made it through a wobbly, shaky, chaotic offseason by the skin of their teeth.

- Brian McNally

Washington fired its general manager and defensive coordinator, lost its two best wide receivers to free agency and had its offensive coordinator take a head coaching gig sooner than expected.

That’s a lot of turnover. Optimism remains high, though, for a team that had a chance to make the playoffs on the final day of the season and has a 17-14-1 record over the past two seasons. That resume might seem modest in some NFL cities, but considering the Redskins hadn’t posted back-to-back winning campaigns since 1996-97 it qualifies as progress. Now they need to build on it.

“It’s been pretty much a roller coaster,” left tackle Trent Williams said of the previous seven years that featured two NFC East titles and a host of bitter disappointments. “Had some great times, we’ve had some bad times, but the good thing about football is every six months it all recycles and starts over. Everybody’s on a clean slate, everybody is 0-0. We have a lot of talent on this team, and we have a lot of confidence.”

Gruden was granted a two-year contract extension, which takes his job security off the table - at least for now. The Redskins weren’t so lucky with quarterback Kirk Cousins, who will play on the franchise tag ($23.9 million) for the second consecutive year. His future with the franchise is uncertain and that storyline will again hover over the season.

But optimism remains despite Cousins’ status and the loss of former general manager Scot McCloughan – fired amidst ugly, anonymous allegations in March – and the departure of a pair of 1,000-yard wide receivers (Pierre Garcon, DeSean Jackson).