The 2018 season was the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

' 87th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and their fifth under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Jay Gruden. This was the first season since

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

that quarterback Kirk Cousins was not on the roster, as he joined the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

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 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

plus leading the

NFC East The National Football Conference – Eastern Division or NFC East is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It currently has four members: the Dallas Cowboys ...

, the team suffered 4 straight losses after the team lost their starting quarterback

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 20 ...

to a catastrophic leg injury in their Week 11 loss to the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

. This would cause Smith to miss both the remainder of the 2018 season and the entire 2019 season as Smith stated that he had taken a total of 17 surgeries to repair his leg and nearly had it amputated. Smith's injury also 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 The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

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 The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. After the

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

Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West, which they rejoined ...

and

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

. The team's season ended with 25 players on injured reserve, which were a league high.

Draft

Draft trades *The Redskins traded their third-round selection (78th overall) and cornerback

Kendall Fuller Kendall Christopher Fuller (born February 13, 1995) is an American football cornerback for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Virginia Tech and was drafted by the Washington Commanders ...

to Kansas City in exchange for quarterback

. *The Redskins traded safety

Su'a Cravens Su'a Kristopher Cravens (born July 7, 1995) is a former American football strong safety. He played college football at USC, and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Cravens played the linebacker pos ...

and their fourth- (No. 113 overall) and fifth- (No. 149 overall) round selections to Denver in exchange for Denver's fourth- (No. 109 overall), two fifth-round selections (Nos. 142 and 163 overall) and a conditional

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

selection. *The Redskins traded their sixth-round selection (No. 188 overall) to Cleveland in exchange for quarterback

Kevin Hogan Kevin Michael Hogan (born October 20, 1992) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football for Stanford University and was their starting quarterback from 2012 to 2015. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chie ...

and Cleveland's sixth-round selection (No. 205 overall). *The Redskins traded tight end

Derek Carrier Derek Carrier (born July 25, 1990) is an American football tight end who is currently a free agent. Carrier played college football at Beloit College. Early years Carrier attended Edgerton High School in Edgerton, Wisconsin where he started fo ...

to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for the Rams' seventh-round selection (241st overall). Supplemental Draft * The Redskins selected

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

cornerback

Adonis Alexander Adonis K. Alexander (born November 7, 1996) is an American football cornerback for the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League (USFL). He played college football at Virginia Tech, and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in t ...

in the 2018 Supplemental draft. As a result, the team forfeited their 6th-round selection in the

2019 NFL Draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

Staff

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

The Redskins fought back and started a 2-1 record, heading to their bye week.

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 Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 20 ...

and

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and four with th ...

on most passing yards. The Redskins 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, the Redskins improved to 4-2.

Week 8: at New York Giants

The Redskins improved to 5-2. This was the last time the Redskins beat the Giants until 2021.

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 Justin James Watt (born March 22, 1989) is an American football defensive end for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Central Michigan and Wisconsin and was drafted by the Houston Texans i ...

and

Kareem Jackson Kareem Jackson (born April 10, 1988) is an American football strong safety for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in the first round of the 2010 NF ...

and was replaced by his backup, Colt McCoy. Coincidentally, this was exactly 33 years to the day of

Joe Theismann Joseph Robert Theismann (born September 9, 1949) is an American former professional football player, sports commentator, corporate speaker and restaurateur. He rose to fame playing quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian ...

's career-ending leg injury. Joe Theismann was also present during the game and witnessed the injury. The Redskins fell to 6-4 by losing 23-21, which ironically was the same score in the game where Theismann was injured. Alex Smith would not play again until Week 5 in 2020 against the Rams.

Week 12: at Dallas Cowboys

NFL on Thanksgiving Day Since its inception in 1920, the National Football League (NFL) has played games on Thanksgiving Day, patterned upon the historic playing of college football games on and around the Thanksgiving holiday. The NFL's Thanksgiving Day games have trad ...

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 Bears, Packers, Giants, & Steelers) 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 Seahawks 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

References

External links

* {{2018 NFL season by team

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Washington Redskins seasons