Changes had to occur from the ground up, and the Washington Football Team started by clearing out the front office, freeing themselves from Bruce Allen’s incompetent reign. Then they stripped away the team name that had caused so much recent controversy. And finally, yesterday, they rid themselves of the centerpiece of their rushing attack, Derrius Guice. It truly is a new Ron RivERA in the nation’s capital.
Offensive coordinator Scott Turner already faced the daunting task of meshing an offensive line built for an outside zone scheme to his power running style. With Derrius Guice now gone and question marks at quarterback and receiver, the team figures to lean heavily on incumbent Adrian Peterson and newcomer Peyton Barber for early-down work. But if you’ve listened at all to the rumblings in Washington this offseason, you know how fond the new staff is of rookie Antonio Gibson.
Gibson touched the ball just 77 times during his collegiate career. But he totaled 1,203 yards and scored 14 touchdowns. The rookie is clearly talented. Whether or not he can sustain the everyday pounding of the NFL remains to be seen. Washington has 134 available targets from last year, so there should be an opportunity for Gibson or veteran J.D. McKissic (signed this offseason) to carve out a third down role.
The wild card in the room is former Stanford RB Bryce Love. He ran for 2,118 yards and 19 touchdowns before suffering a torn ACL his senior season. More than a year removed from injury, he’s been cleared for 2020, and could be the dark horse if Peterson starts to finally show his age.
If you’re playing dynasty, Gibson and/or Love are both worth a speculative add but likely already rostered. For redraft leagues it’ll be hard to trust the 35 year-old Peterson as anything but a low-end RB3, while Barber and McKissic will only serve as flies in the ointment. This is a next man up league and for Washington to have success this season, those next two guys will need to be Love and Gibson.
