2018 Washington Redskins season


The 2018 season was the Washington Redskins' 87th in the National Football League and their fifth under head coach Jay Gruden. This was the first season since 2011 that quarterback Kirk Cousins was not on the roster, as he joined the Minnesota Vikings in the offseason as a free agent.
The team tied their record from the previous season, and missed the playoffs for the third straight season. Despite a 6–3 start which was their best since 2008 plus leading the NFC East, the team suffered 4 straight losses after the team lost their starting quarterback Alex Smith to a leg injury in their Week 11 loss to the Houston Texans. This resulted in a quarterback hangover. First, it forced Colt McCoy into the starting role in Weeks 12 and 13 before also suffering a leg injury in a 28–13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 13, thus forcing the Redskins to start journeyman quarterback Mark Sanchez in Week 14 before starting another journeyman quarterback Josh Johnson against the Jacksonville Jaguars after benching Sanchez at halftime against the New York Giants. After the Alex Smith injury, the Redskins finished the last 7 games of the season with a record of 1–6. They were eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to the Titans, including wins by the Eagles and Vikings. The team's season ended with 25 players on injured reserve, which were a league high.

Draft

RoundSelectionPlayerPositionCollegeNotes
113Daron PayneNTAlabama
259Derrius GuiceRBLSUFrom San Francisco
374Geron ChristianOTLouisvilleFrom San Francisco
4109Troy ApkeSPenn StateFrom Denver
5163Tim SettleNTVirginia TechFrom Denver
6197Shaun Dion HamiltonLBAlabamaFrom LA Rams
7241Greg StromanCBVirginia TechFrom LA Rams
7256Trey QuinnWRSMUFrom LA Rams

Draft trades
Supplemental Draft

Final roster

Preseason

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: at Arizona Cardinals

The Redskins started off 1-0.

Week 2: vs. Indianapolis Colts

Washington lost to Indianapolis, moving to 1-1.

Week 3: vs. Green Bay Packers

They fought back and started a 2-1 record.

Week 5: at New Orleans Saints

The Redskins hoped to get revenge for their loss in this game a year ago, where they blew a 31-16 lead with three minutes remaining and lost in overtime. Instead, the Redskins got blown out. This game was the point where Drew Brees passed Brett Favre and Peyton Manning on most passing yards. They fell to 2-2.

Week 6: vs. Carolina Panthers

This marked the first time since 2006 that the Redskins had defeated the Panthers. Then the Redskins started a 3 game winning streak and improved to 3-2.

Week 7: vs. Dallas Cowboys

The Redskins got their first win over the Cowboys at home since 2012. Also, Preston Smith forced a fumble returned for a touchdown off Dak Prescott. As time expired, Brett Maher missed the potential game-tying 52 yard field goal to give the Redskins the win. With this win, they improved to 4-2.

Week 8: at New York Giants

The Redskins improved to 5-2.

Week 9: vs. Atlanta Falcons

The Redskins fell to 5-3.

Week 10: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Then the Redskins improved to 6-3 but then Alex Smith got injured and they would only win 1 more time.

Week 11: vs. Houston Texans

During the game, starter Alex Smith suffered a compound fracture injury to his right leg after being sacked by J.J. Watt and Kareem Jackson and was replaced by his backup, Colt McCoy. Coincidentally, this was exactly 33 years to the day of Joe Theismann's career-ending leg injury. Joe Theismann was also present during the game and witnessed the injury. The Redskins fell to 6-4.

Week 12: at Dallas Cowboys

NFL on Thanksgiving Day
The Redskins fell down to 6-5.

Week 13: at Philadelphia Eagles

Redskins fell to 6-6.

Week 14: vs. New York Giants

The Redskins fell down to 6-7.

Week 15: at Jacksonville Jaguars

The Redskins improved to 7-7. The Redskins would then eclipse 600 regular season wins in franchise, the fifth team to do so with a regular season record of 600-588-28 at that point.

Week 16: at Tennessee Titans

This loss dropped the Redskins to 7-8. Also with this loss, including wins by the Vikings and Eagles eliminated the Redskins from playoff contention.

Week 17: vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The Redskins finished 7-9 despite starting with a 6-3 record.

Standings

Division

Conference