Ranking the Washington Redskins' 5 Biggest Needs

Washington Redskins fans have shared a common sentiment concerning the direction that Washington tends to go each and every season: The "win-now" mentality hasn't worked for 20 years.

For a team that is often considered the king of the offseason, the Redskins have done next to nothing in the last two decades to justify their lavish spending and quick-fix strategies.  Free agents have come and gone, draft picks have become massive busts and the only constant has been the unrelenting reality of three playoff wins in 19 years.

2011 has been a struggle to say the least.  This article will detail the Redskins' five biggest needs heading into the next couple of seasons, and the fact that such an article even needs to be written should be the biggest red flag.  

The Redskins don't a have a few problems, folks.  They have issues that spread between nearly every one of the 22 players that take the field at the start of every game on Sunday.

1. Quarterback

It's a tired issue and most fans will agree that the quarterback isn't the only important player on the team but the fact remains that the Redskins' state of affairs under center is about as sorry as any in the NFL.

The 'Skins went into 2011 with the inconsistent Rex Grossman and the untested John Beck as their two quarterbacks.  Grossman has had a roller-coaster season; while he has shown the ability to move the offense between the 20s, he is terrible at finishing drives in the red zone and his penchant for turning the ball over is as apparent as ever.  The Redskins have turned the ball over more than any other team in the NFL save for the Eagles, and Grossman's 14 interceptions have a huge impact.  

Sexy Rexy would be a serviceable backup, but he's far too streaky to be an weekly starter in the NFL.

Beck's days are done.  In three games this season, he went 0-3 and the Redskins scored a measly 10.3 points per game—and one could argue that of the 31 points scored, about half were meaningful.  Beck has no future in the NFL with the sorry display he showed in his brief stint in Washington.

What do the Redskins do?  While there are many problem areas and one quarterback does not a team make, it is essential that Washington picks a QB in this year's draft.  I'm not an advocate for jumping on a QB to solve all the problems but the fact remains that if the Redskins want to show their fans and the league that they are willing to start a slow climb into contention, drafting anything other than a quarterback would be considered the wrong move. 

2. Offensive Line

It is my opinion that it doesn't matter what kind of skill players you have on your team—if you have a shoddy offensive line that can't control the line of scrimmage, then the impact of your other players decreases dramatically.

The Redskins front five presently consists of LT Sean Locklear, LG Maurice Hurt, C Will Montgomery, RG Chris Chester and RT Jammal Brown.  Injuries have decimated the unit but even when healthy, there's nothing special at any position except for perhaps LT Trent Williams, who hasn't yet developed like the Redskins had hoped he would.

All you need to do is watch the Redskins on TV to see how porous the line is.  Nary is there a time when the quarterback isn't under pressure (though pass protection has become slightly more decent as the season has gone on) and the run blocking is simply awful.  A five-yard run is something special to a Washington team that loves running a stretch zone to the right on seemingly every play that yields zero or negative yards.

An offensive line is like one big player but the difference is that it takes five good ones to make the unit great.  Therefore, building a solid front five is very difficult to do in a short period of time.  The Redskins need to focus on addressing this unit so that it will be respectable within the next three to four years.

3. Cornerback

With the NFL's ninth-ranked passing defense it seems counterproductive for the Redskins to address a position like cornerback, which, at first glance, looks to be a solid unit.  But Redskins fans know that cornerback has been in flux for quite a while now.

The only legitimate starting corner on the team is the much-maligned DeAngelo Hall, who is an excellent playmaker but among the worst cover corners in the entire league.  The other corner is the serviceable-but-nothing-special Josh Wilson, and the backups are the unproved Kevin Barnes and Byron Westbrook (yes, Brian's brother).  There's absolutely no depth and very little talent.

The Redskins could probably get away with keeping Hall and Wilson for the next few years.  They may not be great but they are good enough to keep huge plays from happening.  But depth is a huge issue and honestly, the Redskins can't hope to settle with what they currently have.  Cornerback is probably addressed better through free agency and trades than the draft, so the team does have a lot of options.

4. Wide Receiver

Seriously, who catches passes on the outside for this team other than Santana Moss?  The Redskins made a flurry of moves to improve this unit in the last offseason but nothing really came to fruition.  And when Moss gets injured (it's inevitable, folks), there are very few options behind him.  

Keep in mind—the Redskins offense went from decent to God-awful in the few weeks that Moss was injured this season.

Leonard Hankerson, a draft pick from the 2011 haul, is a specimen and should be good down the road, but his hands are questionable at best and he's very raw.  Anthony Armstrong should be a good No. 2 but for whatever reason, the Redskins have placed him in the doghouse and his 44-catch, 871-yard 2010 has yielded a 2011 season where he has caught all of six passes for 97 yards—50 coming on one play against the Cowboys.

The Redskins have misfired on so many receivers in the past several years—see Antwaan Randle-El, Brandon Lloyd, Devin Thomas and Malcom Kelly—that it's hard to see this unit getting any better.  Luckily for the 'Skins, receiver is not a particularly difficult position to address and they should be able to solve the issue within the next two seasons.

5. Kicker

Oh, Washington.  The only team in NFL history to have had a kicker win NFL MVP (Mark Moseley in 1982) has had some of the biggest problems at kicker in the NFL for the last several years.

Remember John Hall?  He was the last kicker that Redskins fans seemed to have any confidence in at all.  Want a list of Redskins kickers since 2003?  Here you go:

2003: John Hall

2004: John Hall, Ola Kimrin, Jeff Chandler

2005-2006: John Hall, Nick Novak

2006-2009: Shaun Suisham

2010-2011: Graham Gano

The most accurate of the group?  Suisham, who is now drilling kicks for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Redskins (Graham Gano, in this situation) have missed 20 field goals in the last two years.  That doesn't seem so awful until you realize that that amounts to 60 points left wide to the left or right.  Sixty points.

Kicker is one of the positions that is always taken for granted but with a bad kicker, the difference between a win or loss could be a missed kick.