In Ron Rivera’s first season as Washington Football Team head coach, there was inconsistency on offense. And it doesn't take a football expert to know the team needing four starting quarterbacks over 17 games was the root cause of that inconsistency.
And while Washington managed to win the NFC East at 7-9 and was in a close game in the opening round of the playoffs with the eventual Super Bowl champions, the quarterback situation remains a question mark.
Veteran Alex Smith, who started six games, was released after the season. Second-year QB Dwayne Haskins, who started six games, was released before the regular-season finale. Kyle Allen, who started four games, is recovering from a broken leg. And that leaves Taylor Heinicke, whose lone start was the playoff game, as the only passer with a signed contract for 2021.
What is Rivera’s plan for the QB position headed into free agency and the NFL Draft?
“Well, the biggest thing guys is we’re gonna continue to look,” Rivera told the media Wednesday. “We're going through this process, free agency starts next week, the draft is in 50 days, I understand. So we still have time. And we're gonna continue to explore all the options that are out there.
“I get it that you guys want answers, but we don’t have answers for you right now because we’re still working through the process,” Rivera said. “Again, we’ve got a lot of time with free agency next week and the draft in 50 days.”
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But for those expecting something bold this offseason, Rivera seemed to pour cold water on that notion.
"We'd like to stay with what we want to do," Rivera told the media. "I get it, we had success last year, people want to see us continue to do that. Well, you know, if we try to take one big shot, now you gotta start all over again, and again, and again. What we want to do is to get to the point where we don't have to start all over.
“So we want to make sure we look at every option we have and we do things and we move cautiously, smart. We don't want to put ourselves in a position where we have to start all over again in a year or two.”
Rivera's offseason message sounded a lot like his coaching philosophy: put yourself in the position to go do the things you want to do, but do things smart and slightly cautious.
"We're not desperate," Rivera said. "There's no immediate need to have to, got to, must. What we're looking to do is we're looking to build a sustainable, winning culture and we want to put the Football Team together the right way."
And that extends to the team definitely drafting a quarterback in the first round.
"And if the quote, unquote, 'franchise guy' isn't out there, we're gonna go with guys that we believe give us a chance to win," he said.
"Do you want to be able to say this is our franchise quarterback?" Rivera said. "Well, yeah, you would love to. But you don’t know that until the quarterback starts playing, or quarterbacks."
"We just gotta continue to go through this, study the players, and get the one that we feel can become that player," he added. "And we'll see what happens."
(Listen to the full Ron Rivera press conferece here:)
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