Redskins a reasonable 24th in PFT ranking

Before you get overly concerned here, let’s make it clear that we are not going to discuss every power ranking that comes out and how fair and reasonable (or unfair and unreasonable) the ranking might be. We could hire someone to do that fulltime from now through the end of the season and even then it would be hard to keep up.

But we are going to talk about Pro Football Talk ranking the Redskins 24^th in their power poll in part because they are our corporate cousins but also because their reasoning is pretty, well, reasonable.

They talk about the strength at linebacker and at tight end and their challenges with the offensive line and at safety. I have to question the designation of the defensive line as an area of weakness, although they do note that Jarvis Jenkins could help considerably and that Barry Cofield might improve after learning nose tackle on the fly in 2011.

On the bottom line, they say this:

Defining success for the Redskins this season isn’t easy. They could be better across the board this season and still wind up with a similar record than they had last year because they play in a deep NFC East.

I’ve been thinking that 8-8 will be a good record for them and PFT agrees. Obviously that would put them closer to the middle of the pack than to 24^th but it’s hard to argue that the team that owned a 5-11 mark last year and has a rookie quarterback and some other question marks should be ranked much higher at the start of the season.

What are your thoughts? Based on what we know right now, should the Redskins be ranked higher? Lower? About right?

 

Comments

[Lbertin13]

Power Rankings will change from now until the season begins. Training camps will bring forth more accurate depth charts and injuries that occur to certain players will definetly have an effect on teams and where they sit in the Rankings.
24th is pretty low if you ask me for this years Redskins. A team that finished 5-11 with out their two "starting safeties" (OJ and Laron) for the majority of the season. And a team that was lead by Rex Grossman the turnover machine now being led by RGIII rookie or not has to be in a better position than last year.
Offseason needs were met in adding depth at WR and DB. The offensive line added depth. The front 7 on D will be adding Jenkins and look for Carriker to have a break out season. The guy is a beast! And at LB the redskins when healthy will have a top 3 unit at the LB position. The team obviously has holes still to be filled and their will be a learning curve but I look for the Redskins to finish with a record of 9-7 just missing the wildcard or narrowly squeaking in to the playoffs.