StemCell Therapy

When Derrius Guice was selected from LSU in the second round by the Washington Redskins back in 2018, his fall from his expected draft position of the first round raised some eyebrows and led to discussions of if his off-field behavior was the cause for that fall.

While he was unable to suit up until 2019 due to a torn ACL suffered during the 2018 preseason, Derrius Guice is very much in the plans for the Redskins moving forward, and he fits perfectly into the plans for the longevity of their offense, being able to team up with quarterback Dwayne Haskins and wide receiver Terry McLaurin.

Derrius Guice suited up for five games in 2019, and even when he came back, he had to deal with incumbent RB Adrian Peterson as the bell cow back even with as long as he has been in the NFL.

Yet, with Derrius Guice coming into 2020 fully healthy, he still has to deal with a full stable of RBs looking for carries.

Besides Peterson and Derrius Guice, the team also has Stanford draftee Bryce Love (who has also dealt with ACL issues), former Seahawks scatback J.D. McKissic, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers back Peyton Barber, former Indianapolis Colts back Josh Ferguson, and rookie draftee Antonio Gibson out of Memphis. While they will most likely move forward with three to four of these backs for the regular season, nothing is promised for any of them.

Derrius Guice is the back with the most to prove on the roster, as his high draft status and pedigree should become the norm for this offense moving forward. His durability and longevity are going to be the biggest determining factors for how successful the Washington offense is this season, but if he remains healthy, he should be able to take over the starting role from Peterson and command lead-back abilities as soon as the first week of the season.

Both Haskins and McLaurin are going into their third seasons in the league, and they have been able to develop a solid rapport in the offense. While both were drafted in the same year after both having attended Ohio State University, so their chemistry was already more advanced than most rookie QB-WR combinations entering the league.

Expectations for the Redskins are low for their 20 season, as they commonly have been over the past five-plus seasons, but that element should play perfectly into the accelerated development of the Redskins on both sides of the ball, but specifically on offense with Derrius Guice.

The offensive line of the Redskins is a bit in shambles, as right guard Brandon Scherff and right tackle Morgan Moses look to be the only solid and incumbent OL starters that will be able to keep Haskins upright this year, which spells disaster. Derrius Guice cant feel comfortable about that situation.

With Haskins blindside currently being protected by projected starters Geron Christian Sr. at left tackle and Wes Schweitzer at left guard, as well as Chase Roullier at center, this offense may revolve around getting the ball out of Haskins hands early in the play and not relying on long-developing route trees and plays, which would help increase Guices involvement.

In his five games last year, Derrius Guice received nine targets, seven of which he caught that went for 79 yards and one of his three touchdowns, including a long of 45 yards. A 77.8 percent catch efficiency percentage is quite high for a running back, even if it is in a vacuum.

Derrius Guice has the hands to be a multi-faceted running back that can serve as a great compliment to what Peterson has provided this team so far, which is a power back that is starting wear down and cannot command 20+ touches each and every game because of needing to keep him fresh. And while Guice cannot be brought back necessarily in full capacity right away so he can try and build up his susceptibility to injuries, it would be in the teams best interest to move forward with him as their lead back from the jump.

Haskins is 24, Derrius Guice is 22, and McLaurin is 23, which is a prime age for this team to try and take advantage of up-and-coming players on their rookie deals. For the Redskins, their defense, which has been the constant focus of early draft picks lately, like Chase Young, Daron Payne, Jonathan Allen, and Montez Sweat, is at a pretty solid spot, especially with strong safety Landon Collins having come over from the divisional rival New York Giants, so the team is now for them to try and maximize their current roster on the offensive side of the ball.

The NFC East, or the NFC Least as it is so affectionately known as, continues to give 8-8 and 7-9 teams hope on a yearly basis to be able to either win the division or sneak into the postseason as the final Wild Card team while the Redskins still project as a sub-.500 franchise for this upcoming season, their chances at progressing up the standings in the division rest very heavily on the health of Derrius Guice, albeit not fully.

Ultimately, Derrius Guice will be looked at as the two-way player that he was drafted to be, even though it has taken much longer than expected to make that kind of impact. His abilities to give the run game another option that can help with outside runs, all while providing a solid screen game/dump-off/split-out option as a receiver will help give this offense another element and if he cannot, there are other options waiting in the wings to take his spot.

Washington will not be great this year again, as their first season under new head coach Ron Rivera will help dictate the future of this franchise and which direction they are heading. For Derrius Guice, while he is no Christian McCaffrey by any means, he can help fulfill that type of role for Rivera and his offense in a way; his role may actually resemble more of what DeAngelo Williams brought to the table for the Panthers. Peterson can have the role Jonathan Stewart owned as the bigger back who was used mainly for between the tackles.

Derrius Guice is the best running back on the roster based on ceiling and potential talent alone whether he realizes and reaches that remains to be seen, but his abilities to break out will dictate the kind of future success the Redskins offense has moving forward.

Here is the original post:
Why Derrius Guice is the key to the future of the Redskins offense - ClutchPoints

This entry was posted on June 10, 2020 at 6:48 pm and is filed under Longevity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |