The Washington Football Team had a crazy off season last year, amidst the pandemic. Controversy regarding the old name, allegations of sexual harassment in the front office, and of course a terrible football team. Add in a new regime in charge, and you can see why most people, including myself, wrote off 2020 for the WFT, even in a weak NFC East. Obviously that didn't happen, as they managed to string together 7 wins after a horrendous 1-5 starts, enough to win Tank Division. Most concur that, while they won the division and have a good defense, they just aren't a very good football team due to a complete lack of talent on offense, outside of Terry McLaurin. This is not true, let me explain why.

To begin, lets take a look at their defense. Most agree its strong, but I dont think people realize just how good their defense truly was last season. The WFT allowed 20.6 PPG last season, which was 4th best in the NFL. They were 2nd in totals yards allowed with 4800 and had the 2nd best defensive DVOA (Defensive Value Over Average). Additionally, they were the 2nd best pass defense in the league in terms of passing yards, TDs, and net Y/A. As for rushing, they were 11th in net Y/A, 10th in TDs, and 13th in yards allowed with . So they play both sides of the ball well. Without a doubt, all metrics point to them being a top 5 defense. Not only that, they have extremely young and talented players to back it up, such as Chase Young(7.5 Sk), Montez Sweat(9 Sk), Kendall Fuller (11PD), and Johnathan Allen. With all except Allen under contract for multiple years, theres no reason to think this wont be a top 5 , or at the minimum a top 10 defense again in 2021.

Now finally, the offense. To put it blunt, the WFT offense was a joke last year. They started a multitude of quarterbacks who wouldn't start on any other team, let alone a division winner. That is not an exaggeration. Their QBs combined to finish in the bottom 7 of literally every passing stat. Interceptions, yards, touchdowns, Y/A, you name it they sucked at it. This translated to a god awful offense reminiscent of those from the 80s that was 25th in points scored, 30th in yards, and dead last in DVOA. Furthermore, it would of been much worse had their defense not forced so many turnovers. But that is going to change- and sooner rather than later. With the signing of Ryan Fitzpatrick, they finally have a proven starter. While Fitzpatrick is definitely flawed, and no where near a top 10 QB, hes solid and a huge upgrade over any QB they had last season. That brings me to my next point. Outside of the QB, the WFT is surprisingly talented on offense. First, they have WR Terry McLaurin, who's put up 2000 yards over 2 seasons with some of the worst quarterbacks in football. He also has 3 years left on contract. Next is RB Antonio Gibson, who had 1000 all purpose yards while averaging 4.7 yards per carry on the ground. And finally, the most underrated part of their entire team- the offensive line. You may be surprised to know the WFT had one of the best olines last season. They were 3rd in run blocking win rate, and 14th in pass blocking win rate (ESPN). According to PFF, they were the 6th best line overall . Again, they arent losing any pieces and have talent such as all pro guard Brandon Scherff. There's no reason to believe their line will regress significantly. With an elite #1 WR, an elite oline, and underrated pieces such as Gibson and TE Logan Thomas (8th in yards) , it seems as if the QB position was significantly holding back this offense. In fact, the WFT were the only team to have a top 10 oline and bottom 10 offense in terms of DVOA. With just average QB play, the WFT offense should easily be middle of pack, and combine that with their great defense, the WFT will be contenders a lot sooner than most think.