Ranking Washington Redskins' 5 Most Important Players in 2015

After retooling their roster under the guidance of general manager Scot McCloughan, the Washington Redskins have their sights set on the NFC East crown. 

With the losses incurred by the likes of the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, the division is there for the taking. 

As always, though, Washington's contention comes with a caveat. A team that ranked 24th in Football Outsiders' Adjusted Games Loss (AGL) statistic in 2014—which quantifies how much teams were affected by injuries—the Redskins have to remain healthy.

While McCloughan deserves credit for bolstering the team's depth across the board, some players are just too important to replace.

There are a host of reasons why this is the case. The drop-off in talent between a starter and his backup is one reason. A player's supporting cast, or lack thereof, at a particular position is another. 

Production is certainly a part of the equation, but you can't forget about a player's role in the team's grand scheme either. You can look at the positional pay scale across the NFL for evidence of this, but fact is some positions are more valuable than others. 

Keeping all of this in mind, let's now rank Washington's most important players in 2015.

5. T Trent Williams

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Rightfully so after last season's fiasco, turnover dominated the Redskins offensive line this offseason. 

Bill Callahan was poached from the Dallas Cowboys to direct this unit. And in place of Chris Chester and Tyler Polumbus, the team is poised to start two promising but inexperienced prospects in Spencer Long and rookie Brandon Scherff. 

With Shawn Lauvao coming off a mediocre Washington debut and the undersized Kory Lichtensteiger a questionable fit at center in Callahan's power-running scheme, the onus will be on franchise tackle Trent Williams to be the model of consistency up front. 

There's no denying that injuries have hampered Williams. Still, even if limited, the drop in ability from Williams to alternative options Tom Compton and Morgan Moses is substantial.

All the reason the team can ill afford to be without his services.

4. LB Ryan Kerrigan

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Similar to Williams, the supporting cast surrounding Ryan Kerrigan has improved.

Injury-prone Brian Orakpo has moved on to the Tennessee Titans, but the team acquired Terrance Knighton, Stephen Paea and Ricky Jean Francois in free agency to clear Kerrigan's path to the quarterback.

Factoring in the return of Jason Hatcher, Frank Kearse and Chris Baker, Washington is particularly stout up the middle. 

Along the edge is another matter. There's Kerrigan and his 13.5 sacks last season, and then Trent Murphy and rookie Preston Smith.

Smith has promise, as he's versatile enough to rush from the edge as well as inside. But as Mike Jones of the Washington Post notes, he still has to show the coaches he can play the run and drop back in coverage. This is in addition to adjusting to the NFL game. 

While a stout run defender, in eight starts, Murphy showed little prowess as a pass-rusher. On the year, he registered just 2.5 sacks and eight quarterback hurries, per Sporting Charts. 

So even though he's undergone a physical transformation this offseason—according to CSN's Tarik El-Bashir, he's bigger and more explosive—he'd have to make a drastic leap just to complement Kerrigan, let alone replace him. 

As a result, knowing the pass rush is the key to the team's defense, Kerrigan edges out Williams for the No. 4 spot.

3. CB Chris Culliver

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In the aftermath of finishing 24th in pass defense, Washington's secondary is now littered with new faces. While many of these changes were of the minor variety, Chris Culliver was brought in to be a game-changer.

As a member of the San Francisco 49ers, Culliver ranked fifth in Football Outsiders' adjusted success rate for supporting-role cornerbacks last season.

There's more. According to Pro Football Focus (h/t Conor Orr of NFL.com), he surrendered an opposing passer rating of 66.5 in 2014, sixth-best in the league.

In a short amount of time, the fifth-year cornerback has already drawn praise from the coaching staff, via 247Sports' Jamie Oakes.

"He can play through press, he’s a great bump and run corner, a great man corner, he can play from off, he can play zone, he’s got decent ball skills," head coach Jay Gruden said. 

"We feel very good about him and his progress and his work ethic. It’s been good."

Surrounded by a less-than-stellar class of teammates on the back end, Culliver will have to live up to this billing for the team to make significant strides in defending the pass. 

With the moves they've made this offseason, the Skins have constructed their defense to live and die by their pass rush. But evidenced by how ineffective the team was blitzing in 2014, sans solid cornerback play the pass rush won't have enough time to get to the quarterback.

So in this regard, Culliver stands as the defense's most important player.

2. RB Alfred Morris

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With questions in the secondary and at quarterback, it's quite obvious the Redskins won't be winning games of the shootout variety in 2015. 

The barometer of success will instead be time of possession. And to win that battle, the team has to win at the line of scrimmage. In light of the moves the franchise has made to bolster the lines on both sides of the ball, the Skins have positioned themselves to do just that.

And more importantly, they've positioned Alfred Morris to be the focal point of the offense. Morris again crossed the 1,000-yard barrier in 2014, but his performance wasn't on par with his career output.

He posted career lows in rushing yards, yards per carry and attempts. But the underlying issue here is attempts. As a team, Washington was 21st in rushing attempts. 

According to Gruden, with Callahan now on the staff, more runs will be on the docket this season, per ESPN's John Keim.

"If you’re a running back, you want to play for Coach Callahan because he likes to run the ball a lot,” Gruden said.

This doesn't just mean more carries for Morris, now. Rookie Matt Jones figures to see his share of work as well. Still, in speaking to Stephen Czarda of Redskins.com, Gruden made it clear Morris will be seeing the lion's share of the carries:

"

He’s had three great seasons and that won’t change, but to add another guy that can come in here and pound the rock a little bit doesn’t hurt anything. It’ll help Alfred in that regard taking some carries off of him, but for the most part, Alfred will be getting the bulk of the carries and Matt will get some too, obviously.

"

Factoring in the impact Morris can have on both the offense and defense, you have to go with him in the No. 2 spot.

1. QB Robert Griffin III

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No surprise here. As we all know, life in the NFL revolves around the quarterback. 

In Washington, this is no different.

The defense may be improved. The game plan may very well be to ride Morris and the running game. No matter, though. Game plans don't always stay on script.

Fact is, time, score and situation will always dictate a team's ability to run the football. The passing game has no such constraints.

As such, once again, the Redskins' success rests on the arm of Robert Griffin III. In weighing Griffin's importance, though, it's his ability to lose games, not win them, that makes him the team's most important player.

His chief responsibility will be to manage games and, most importantly, his mistakes.

Griffin was sacked 33 times in 2014. The offensive line deserves some blame here, but as Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk details, Griffin became just the sixth quarterback in NFL history to be sacked this many times while throwing as few as 214 passes. 

He'll also have to improve on third down. Washington converted just 31.5 percent of its third downs in 2014, with Griffin throwing three interceptions and completing roughly 58 percent of his throws, per ESPN.com.

Knowing Griffin posted QBRs of 40.1 and 30.8 the past two seasons while going 5-15 as a starter, for the team to improve on last season's 4-12 campaign, at the very least, the Skins will have to receive league-average play from their quarterback.