On Day 1 of the legal tampering period, Washington moved to add its bridge quarterback. Ryan Fitzpatrick joins Kyle Allen and Taylor Heinicke on Washington’s roster, and while he will have to win a competition for the QB1 job, it is expected Fitz will be the team’s starter. But Alex Smith‘s injury and Dwayne Haskins‘ quick exit leaves Washington without a long-term option. They may use this draft to acquire one.
Washington “loves” Trey Lance as a prospect and may be willing to part with considerable assets to acquire him, The Athletic’s Michael Lombardi said during his latest GM Shuffle podcast. Lance is expected to be drafted somewhere in the top 10. Washington holds the No. 19 overall pick.
[RELATED: Trey Lance To Stage Second Pro Day]
How much capital Washington would be willing to part with for Lance may depend on how the draft unfolds, but moving up from No. 19 into Lance range may mean climbing 15 spots to No. 4 overall. Although the Chiefs and Texans made similar trades for Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson in 2017 — Kansas City climbing from No. 27 to No. 10 and Houston moving from No. 25 to No. 12 — and gave up just one future first-rounder to make those jumps (the Chiefs also threw in a third), the 49ers trading up from 12 to 3 this year took their 2021, ’22 and ’23 first-rounders and a 2021 third. The Falcons are open to dealing their No. 4 choice, but Washington would likely have to sacrifice future first-rounders and change to acquire that pick.
It does not sound like the Bengals are willing to trade down from No. 5 to 19. Were Lance to drop to No. 6, the Dolphins may be interested in accumulating another haul of picks. The rebuilding Lions (No. 7) would surely listen as well, should the North Dakota State prospect fall that far. The Panthers have indicated they are still interested in QBs at No. 8, even though Sam Darnold is Charlotte-bound, and the Broncos have not made a move to bolster their position. Denver has started an NFL-high 10 quarterbacks since 2016, and GM George Paton indicated the team will bolster its QB group this offseason.
Of course, the 49ers could render all of this moot if their trade-up was for Lance. Mac Jones has emerged as the early clubhouse leader to go third overall, but Lance is not out of the picture. Both Lance and Justin Fields will hold second pro days, seemingly with the partial purpose of Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch — who were not present at either’s initial workout — traveling to watch.
While a move into the top 10 would be costly, Washington does reside in an unusual situation. The team tried to land a long-term option by trading for Smith and extending him in 2018. After Smith’s injury, the team selected Haskins a year later. Haskins is now in Pittsburgh, having seen his stock crater after two rough Washington seasons. Fitzpatrick will turn 39 in December, and Allen and Heinicke are ex-UDFAs either coming off a major injury (Allen) or were out of football entering last season (Heinicke). Washington attempted to trade its first-rounder and change for Matthew Stafford and inquired on Darnold.
Lance is one of the most unusual prospects in modern draft history, having played one season at a Division I-FCS school. The 20-year-old QB played 17 college games, flashing immense promise as a dual-threat talent (28 TD passes, zero INTs, 1,100 rushing yards in 2019), but his profile points to him benefiting from a season developing in a backup role. With Fitzpatrick signed to a one-year deal, Washington could offer such an arrangement.
There’s probably a lot of teams with lower picks who “love” the top 3 qb’s in the draft.
Lance isn’t going to be one of the top 3 QB’s taken. 4th @ best.
We’ll see. I can see him going before jones
And I see him as the second best.
Washington should do this. They need a spark on offense. Lance is an exciting prospect. They have a good defense to support his growth. Another piece or two on the o-line and a TE and that’s a good place for a young QB
Washington should sign a young QB reclamation project like Dwayne Haskins.
Haha wait until the bears sign Mitch trubisky after his 1 year in Buffalo
washington for bust again
It’s a new day in Washington, the owner has had his head removed from his a$$, and has turned the shot calls over to the coach. It took 20 years for him to figure it out… not the brightest cookie I’ve n the jar.
I’m not sure many teams have the patience to wait for this kid to get his feet under him (if he ever does). It would be great if someone with a veteran QB at the helm would take a chance on him, but I suspect he’ll get drafted by someone who needs to put him on the field in game 1 – and we will see a repeat of the David Carr scenario.
Atlanta would fit the bill. Even Washington, with Fitz, HeinickeGOAT and Allen. The Panthers and Broncos, not so much.
Washington is gonna have to include someone like Sweat or it’s not happening.
Then it ain’t happening. Washington would be out of their mind to give up a young defensive starter for a project QB that might not work out.
“Sources say (fill in the blank) interested in (fill in the blank) leading up to the draft?”
Woah…talk about a game changer! This is master level 3d parcheesi being played by (fill in the blank)!
And they seem to be cranking out the Lance updates almost daily without given any real new.
The Redskins haven’t been good at drafting QB’s. Hopefully, Rivera brings the Redskins back to being a competitive team.
There is no need to use that racist word.
They’ll always be the Redskins to me
And the Foreskins to many others…
Then there is yous sign that you are racist and too lazy or dumb to change. Congrats, now you know.
Engrish, prease!
Terrible move, if they do it.
Love how every year there is a 1-year wonder QB that comes out and the league goes nuts to get him. Then as always they either are busts right away or after having a year of success, the rest of the league gets film on them and they become average to below average QB’s.
From Akili Smith, to RG3, to Trubinsky, to Rosen, to Manziel, to Haskins, to …. should,I go on. All were high 1st round QB’s, had limited college experience and are backups or out of the league.
If teams become to desperate and mortgage the next 5 years of their teams growth to jump at the next hot QB who shoots in the draft board after not knowing who they were a year before, well let’s ask the Jets how it’s working out for them, or the Bears, or the Dolphins, or the … you get the point.
Kyle Boller
Why? This team never seems to learn from it’s mistakes. Why draft another raw undeveloped talent? The defense is ready to compete now. The offense is coming together. Draft a left tackle ready to play now and win a bad division with a game manager type a QB. Once again, we are back to everyone’s obsession with finding the “next Mahomes”. There is only one Mahomes, one Brady, one Rodgers, etc, etc,etc. Time to come up with a different, more realistic plan.
The chance of Carolina taking a quarterback at 8 is zero. Z.E.R.O.
Not only did they give up a premium pick for Darnold, they’ve already locked him up for 2022 at nearly $20M. AND on top of that, they’re going to take a $10M cap hit when they unload Bridgewater.
Yes. They haven’t specifically said that they won’t take a QB in the first round, but neither have the Bengals. Does that mean Cincinnati is “interested”?
Come on.