Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Redskins‘ tight end battle is up in the air this year. Redskins fans have gotten used to seeing a new tight end every week, and it’s becoming concerning. Usually, teams would be ecstatic to have the option of starting three decent tight ends, however, the Redskins only have two decent playmakers and one blocker at the position. Jordan Reed, Niles Paul and Logan Paulson all combine to make one complete tight end, simply because each of them brings something to the table that the others lack. In any case that would be considered a positive thing, but unfortunately in this case, it’s not.
Reed is the tight end that has the most potential since he possesses the best overall skill set and has the athletic gift to be similar to a Rob Gronkowski or Jimmy Graham type of tight end. He has the best hands, speed and route-running of the three. He also has proven he can make the clutch plays, especially on third downs. The biggest downfall for Reed is his health. In the past two years, he hasn’t played more than 11 games in a season, and in some of those games, he wasn’t completely 100 percent, which made him a big tease to the city. He taunts us with his freakish athleticism because he comes in and plays phenomenally and then gets hurt. The Redskins have come to the understanding not to bank on Reed, even though they so clearly want to.
This quickly brings us to the second-hand option: Niles Paul. Paul received a pretty generous extension this past offseason (three-year, $10 million contract), and hopefully that will motivate him to be more of a complete player. He is an efficient route-runner and always seems to find a way to be open. Then there is his blocking deficiency — last year he was about 50 pounds underweight and defensive ends just seemed to find a way around him. He has addressed that problem this offseason, coming in 25 pounds heavier, which will enable him to handle the bigger defensive ends in the NFL. Unless Reed gets hurt, expect Paul to come in second on the depth chart or be used in two tight-end formations.
Let’s be honest — Paulson will never be better than a third-string tight end. The only good things he brings to the table are his size and his blocking abilities. He’s 6-foot-5, 261 pounds and by far the best blocking tight end for the Redskins, which is the only reason he is even on the team. He is extremely slow, not that great of a receiver and tends to lose the football. Not to mention the fact he does not take advantage of his big frame. Jay Gruden and Bill Callahan will love to run the football and Paulson can be a huge contributor to that if he works on other areas of his game. Right now, Paulson should be used only for spot plays since he has not come close to proving he needs more time than that. In recent years, a lot of opportunities were given to him and he just seemed to be more of a liability to the team. We are hearing that he is doing well in the OTAs, but he will need a lot more than that to get on the field.
The Redskins have not had a consistent producing tight end since the days of Chris Cooley. As we all know, good quarterbacks need to have a well-developed relationship with their tight end as it provides confidence and stability to the offense. Obviously, the best player to fill this position is Reed. If he could stay healthy for at least 13 games, he could have a career year. Paul is a solid insurance plan and the best solution for strengthening the position is to rotate playing time between Paul and Reed. This will give the offense a different look on the field each time, making it harder for defenses to adapt to. It is possible those formations could work really well for the Redskins.
The fact of the matter is the Redskins need to get consistent and productive play from whoever is on the field. Last year was a complete disaster. Hopefully, these three amigos can take their game to the next level. If Gruden can get this position under wrap, it will open up endless possibilities for this offense.
