The Redskins have had three major pleasant surprises this year as far as players go.
Trent Murphy has really kicked it up a notch. After he was tossed around like an over-sized rag doll to Defensive Line, he was then asked to go back to an outside linebacker. Many wondered if the weight swings, the lack of full offseason training in the outside LB position and the poor management would get to him. He survived the Redskins defensive coaching gaffes and has thrived, showing better strength and burst to get to 8 sacks so far.
Rob Kelley is the darling UDFA of the year. I saw his college video and was convinced immediately he would make the team. GM Scot loves under-abused college RB’s with tremendous talent and he found one. Look for the Redskins to start utilizing his receiving abilities more and more, and if they were smart, try lining him up at WR in the Red Zone (he played some WR in college) with Thompson on the field too.
Chris Thompson is perhaps the most underrated player on the team. People don’t realize that in a 3rd down sense, he is almost as important as Jordan Reed for this offense. The big surprise is how good he is blocking, receiving and staying healthy this year. He just seems more solid this year, not like another injury waiting to happen.
Crowder is balling out, but we all expected it. On most other teams, he would have hit 1500 receiving yards this year.
As a result, I’m going to have to give my Redskins Surprise of the Year Award to the Running Back Corps (Kelley and Thompson). Yes, I played a bit of a trick here to make it easier to decide. I really wish I was giving the prize to Spaight or Everett, but the coaching was too conservative to try them out before injuries late in the season to Blackmon and Compton. An honorable mention goes to UDFA Maurice Harris at wide receiver, who for some weird reason the Redskins coaching has not yet made a key cog in their Red Zone Offense.
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