Redskins Insider

It's a holiday weekend and so for the most part I'm taking today off. But before I depart for the pool, I thought I'd leave you with the schedule for the Redskins games that will be aired as a part of the 'America's Game' 48-episode marathon shown this weekend on NFL Network.

'America's Game' is a series chronicling every Super Bowl winning team in history, and the Network also is holding a fan voting process to pick their favorite episode. The Redskins are included in the 10 possible teams, and the link to vote is at the bottom of this post.

We've gone through a ton of position battles in the last few weeks, and I think we've covered most of the ground. What was missed?

The defensive line, where Andre Carter, Cornelius Griffin, Albert Haynesworth and Phillip Daniels are likely starting, backed up by Renaldo Wynn, Brian Orakpo on third downs, Lorenzo Alexander, Kedric Golston and Anthony Montgomery.

Other guys in the mix for a roster spot include Rob Jackson, Alex Buzbee and Antonio Dixon, among others, but for the most part the roles along the line are pretty well defined.

Safety is set, with LaRon Landry and Chris Horton the hands down starters and Reed Doughty and Kareem Moore backing up. Lendy Holmes was mentioned a few times in OTAs and is worth keeping an eye on in preseason, along with practice squad holdover Michael Grant.

Chris Cooley is a Pro Bowl tight end, and Fred Davis is another of those 2008 second-round pass catchers who must be more involved in Year Two. Behind them is Todd Yoder, with Robert Agnone looking to beat out the veteran for a roster spot.

Now having gone through most of the roster and looked at competitions for different spots, the next question I had was: What will be the major story lines for the Redskins entering this season?

I thought today we would do the position breakdown a little differently, ignoring the current starting five, er . . . four, offensive lineman and getting right down to the nitty-gritty of the unknown involving this position: the backups.

The offensive line is a unit that as a whole has been largely ignored in the early parts of the draft by the Redskins. That has come back to bite them on more than one occasion, with several starters hit by injury over the past couple years and few players ready to step in and compete.

It's easy to make the argument the decline in the second half of last season went hand-in-hand with that of the offensive line, which wore down playing against some of the league's top defenses and in a rugged NFC East. Considering the median age of the starters last season was 33, you can't really be that surprised.

This year the unit will feature two new starters, with right tackle Jon Jansen being released (I know, I know, I'll leave right tackle alone) and left guard Pete Kendall also departing.

Derrick Dockery returned to Washington this offseason after a stint in Buffalo, and he steps immediately into the starting lineup, while the right tackle battle is still ongoing. But behind the starting five of Samuels, Dockery, Rabach, Thomas and . . . whomever . . . there are several question marks and worries about whether this unit again will be the drawback for a team looking to get over the hump from a perpetual middle of the pack team to year-in, year-out playoff contender.

One of the major strengths of the Redskins in recent seasons has been the secondary. Plenty of attention, and money, has been spent on the unit, including drafting Sean Taylor, Carlos Rogers and LaRon Landry in the first round and signing Shawn Springs and DeAngelo Hall, two former first-round picks. And yes, Washington has also found serviceable-to-strong players in other rounds and other places -- Chris Horton, Reed Doughty, Fred Smoot and Ryan Clark to name a few.

Going into this season, the secondary again figures to be one of the team's strengths despite the departure of Shawn Springs, a leader in the secondary who was able to match up against some of the league's bigger, physical receivers and also provided valuable experience playing in the slot.

We get back into the roster review today with cornerback, a position that has two first-round draft picks as the starters but has some question marks beyond that.

Les Carpenter had a very interesting story over the weekend on a program by the NFL Network to prepare current and recently retired players for careers in the broadcast booth. Renaldo Wynn was one of those who attended the session. Here's the link to the story in case you missed it.Click here.

And here's the video report that accompanied the piece:

Over the past few seasons, the Redskins have bolstered their defense with signings and high draft picks, including the free agent acquisition of middle linebacker London Fletcher and the selection of Miami product Rocky McIntosh, both of whom enter this season slated as starters.

Entering this season, the linebacker corps could be a major strength, but also somewhat of a question mark, with injuries and inexperience placing the group in a "worth keeping an eye on" category...especially the strong side linebacker position.

LINEBACKER

If the season opened today the starters would be: Rocky McIntosh, London Fletcher and Brian Orakpo, a unit that could be explosive and one of the strengths of a defense that finished ranked fourth in the NFL last season, but also has its concerns.

As was established yesterday in our running back discussion, not all of these "Position Battles" involves starting roles. That is the case again today as we take a look at quarterbacks, everyone's favorite position to discuss.

Plus, we'd be remiss if we were in Washington in late June NOT talking about the backup quarterbacks.

QUARTERBACK

If the season opened today the starter would be: Jason Campbell, despite the efforts of the Redskins front office this offseason.

There certainly was plenty of action surrounding the signal caller during the spring, as Campbell had to deal with the Redskins' pursuit of Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler, who ended up being shipped from Denver to the Chicago Bears, and then heard how much his team wanted to take USC quarterback Mark Sanchez in the first round of April's NFL Draft.

Neither move happened, however, and so Campbell enters his fifth season in Washington with tons of expectation. Entering the final year of his contract, Campbell is playing for a job - whether it's here or elsewhere.

While there were questions about starting spots for the two positions we discussed yesterday, right tackle and wide receiver, there is no such conversation today. Clinton Portis is the starter at running back. Period. But could we see other players getting more carries? And could an unknown work his way onto the roster?

RUNNING BACK

If the season opened today the starter would be: Clinton Portis, and this has never been in doubt. Coming off of a Pro Bowl season in which he finished fourth in the NFL with 1,487 yards rushing, Portis was the most valuable member of the offense -- especially in the first half of the year, when he fueled the Redskins' run to a 6-2 record.

But amid recent reports that he has had flare ups with Redskins Coach Jim Zorn, there are questions about whether that will affect the star back's role. Portis denied any friction, but he publicly criticized Zorn last season and it would not be surprising if this storyline reappeared at some point in 2009-10.

The Redskins will enter training camp in just over one month with several position battles worth keeping tabs on. Right tackle, strong side linebacker, wide receiver, quarterback...even running back have storylines worth watching.

Some battles beg the question whether the front office did enough to address the issues; others are worth watching simply to see whether there are going to be changes in players' roles.

In March, the competitions were evaluated on this blog. But after OTAs and some offseason moves, some of those outlooks have changed. We'll take another short look at some of those battles this week.

Today we'll go back over the two positions that have probably received the most attention so far on this blog, right tackle and wide receiver, and then we'll move into other positions tomorrow. If you have other position suggestions, comment away:

The St. Louis Business Journal reported on Friday that FedEx founder, chairman, CEO and president Fred Smith was on the short list of names of potential bidders to purchase the majority stake of the St. Louis Rams.

Should Smith buy the Rams, he would have to sell his 10 percent stake in the Washington Redskins, a share worth an estimated $150 million, to be in accordance with NFL rules.

But the question has been asked in the blogosphere as to whether that would impact the naming rights of the Redskins' stadium, FedEx Field.