WASHINGTON — The Redskins name is no more, but Washington's football club has a season coming up and there is a lot took break down!
Ron Rivera takes over a team that finished -- and -- last season and will look to establish a better culture under its head coach led organization.
Washington will play its first game of the Rivera era against the Philadelphia Eagles and Chase Young will also start his career with the franchise after being the 2nd overall pick in the 2020 draft.
Veteran NFL coach Jack Del Rio will be Washington's defensive coordinator and will bring a wealth of experience to the team after spending his last stint with the Oakland Raiders as its head coach.
NFL training camps are just around the corner and will start on July 28. But right now, it’s not safe for Washington's team to be meeting and practicing at their facilities. They’re relying on Zoom to keep up with off-season demands.
"This has been an interesting set of circumstances, in terms of coaching the players virtually, using Zoom, getting them on the internet, meeting with them virtually and talking with them," head coach Ron Rivera said.
For the team, several hours of each day are spent in Zoom meetings, as the players learn new terminology and meet new coaches. Despite this pandemic, they are doing everything they can virtually to prepare for the 2020 season.
"What I take away from it is just getting used to the playbook, and getting used to the new terminology, because that’s the hardest thing with football," defensive tackle Jon Allen said. "A lot of the terms overlap from college to NFL, from different NFL teams, so we are having the same terminology just different meanings."
Without being able to practice and train together at the team facility, Allen says he spends most mornings working out at home, and doing whatever he can to be physically ready for the upcoming season.
"I’m a firm believer that if you want to have a good season, you have to have a good offseason," Allen said. "So, I’m doing everything I can to eat right, sleep better, and doing everything I can so that I’m in the best possible shape. I'm really using quarantine as an opportunity to get ahead of the game and get ahead of my competition a little bit with how hard I’m training."
Injury questions on the offensive side are also something that fans will be interested in.
Alex Smith and Darrius Guice will reportedly be a part of the upcoming training camp.
Smith is coming off of a devastating leg injury from two seasons ago, and Guice will look to make an impact after spending the last two seasons unhealthy with multiple injuries.
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