McCain is the third veteran roster addition since the draft. The first was tight end Deon Yelder, who backed up Travis Kelce playing for the Kansas City Chiefs in the last two superbowls. Earlier this week, the Football Team announced that it had signed left tackle Charles Leno on a one-year, $5m contract.
Terms of the McCain contract have not yet been reported, but it is believed, like Leno's, to be a one-year deal that will allow the safety to reenter free agency in 2022 with the opportunity to earn a big payday. Earlier reports were that McCain was not satisfied with the initial contract offer from the WFT front office; it seems more likely that McCain settled for the more modest contract than that the team increased their offer. Washington has a pair of capable free safeties who started several games each last season. McCain was looking for work at a bad time -- specifically, after the draft in a year when most teams have been squeezed by the salary cap. Further evidence comes in the fact that it was McCain's agent who made the signing public; when a player signs a big contract, the agent is sure to give the contract amount -- otherwise, the contract details come out a few days later, when the deal is filed with the league office.
But most importantly, if McCain wants to maximize his free agent value in 2022, he needs to have a productive season in 2021, and there is probably no place better to be a defensive back right now than in Washington, which fields the most elite pass rushing defensive front line in professional football, with Montez Sweat, Chase Young, Daron Payne, Jonathan Allen, and Matt Ioannidis headlining a group that also includes Tim Settle. With Washington's ability to pressure quarterbacks, and with this year's addition of shutdown cornerback William Jackson III, Washington's free safety, whoever that is, should be set to have a great season.
McCain was on the field for 923 defensive snaps for Miami last season, with 717 of those snaps coming at free safety according to Pro Football Focus. He seems likely to go into training camp at the top of a depth chart that has 5 names on it, including Jeremy Reaves, Deshazor Everett and Troy Apke, all of whom started at free safety at times last season, as well as fifth-round draft pick Darrick Forrest.
Before a COVID related issue cancelled the rookie tryout session scheduled earlier this week, it was reported that Washington was bringing in the #2 overall selection in the CFL draft held two weeks ago. His name is Nelson Lokombo, and he was the top free safety in Canadian College football when he was last on the football field. Lokombo may still get his tryout after this week's rookie minicamp is completed.
Bill Horgan
Roster depth
Fans often judge a team's roster by the stars that line up as starters on the first offensive and defensive series of the season's opening game, but in a sport of attrition like the NFL, where the season is 17 games long and injuries are a regular occurrence, depth is every bit as important -- if not more important - as the strength of the starting lineup.
A look at the Washington Football Team depth chart shows that head coach Ron Rivera and GM Martin Mayhew have prioritized depth as a key element of their roster-building strategy. Aside from the linebacker group, which, despite the addition of Kentucky's Jamin Davis with the 19th overall pick in this year's draft, remains thin, the Washington roster has an experienced quality backup at every spot on the field.
Coach Rivera talked about this very thing at the end of the first day of rookie minicamp:
It's important to be able to field quality starters with quality backups, so the more we can get, the more guys we can have at specific positions, with the offensive line being one of them. We're going to continue to try and do that.
Win now
Washington had an enviable salary cap position two weeks ago, with OverTheCap reporting that the team had the 11th most space available. With the signing of two veteran free agents this week, that surplus, which could have been rolled over into 2022, is diminished.
Furhtermore, during the draft, the front office traded away a 2022 5th-round draft pick to the Eagles for a 6th and 7th in this year's draft, allowing them to target and draft two players that they wanted (long snapper Cameron Cheeseman and DE/LB Shaka Toney). When asked about the value of trading away a future draft pick for two late round picks in this draft, Ron Rivera made it clear where his focus is, saying that his goal was to build the best team he could in 2021, and that he and the front office would worry about the 2022 season when it arrived.
Keeping the right focus
Clearly the coach has a long-term team-building focus as well; he avoided any temptation to trade multiple early round picks to put the team in a position to draft a young quarterback, choosing to go into this season relying on veteran starter Ryan Fitzpatrick and two young backups in playoff sensation Taylor Heinicke and ex-Panther Kyle Allen. Rivera has chosen the path of spending moderate amounts of money for a capable QB, giving him the weapons to make the offense dangerous, and supplementing it with a monster defense that should keep opposing offensive coordinators up at night.
It's clear that the coach and front office are building a roster that they believe can win the NFC East division title for a second-consecutive year, and one which will allow the team to win some playoff games.
The NFL Network's analytical expert, Cynthia Frelund, for one, believes in what coach Rivera is doing. She has projected the Dallas Cowboys to reach the playoffs as a wildcard team in 2021, with the Washington Football Team capturing the NFC East crown this season.
If Rivera's team can do that, it would be a huge step forward in building the "winning culture" that has eluded the Washington franchise for most of the past twenty-five years.
Then coach Rivera will worry about what to do in 2022.
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