Quick Snaps: Kerrigan at a (K)rossroads?

Ryan Kerrigan has been a face of the Redskins franchise for close to a decade. Since he was drafted by the team in the first round of the 2011 draft, all he has done is produce.

But he now faces a crossroad in his career. 2019 proved to be difficult for the outside linebacker, as he missed his first four games of his career and subsequently failed to break double digit sacks. He also has sat idly as his team used its last two first-rounders on players who play his position.

The team stalwart spent his Thursday afternoon talking to local media. Here are four “quick snaps” of what was shared.

Kerrigan sees potential in this defense, but he wants them to prove it first:

Although the team seems to have a lot of young talent on paper, Kerrigan did not make any large declarations for defensive success. Instead he wanted to be patient and let things play out. He mentioned that cohesion and practice time will be the true test of whether this defense can be special. And we can’t make claims on how successful this team can be until they are consistently stopping the first-team offense, day after day. If the team can do it consistently in practice, then we can start talking about the regular season.

He doesn’t see a large discrepancy between a base 4-3 and 3-4 defense:

When asked if his production would drastically change due to a shift from a 4-3 to a 3-4, Kerrigan seemed indifferent. He insisted that he wasn’t “misused” in the previous 3-4 regime and felt that all he can do is focus on what he does best.

He went on to talk about his role this upcoming season, and is unclear how the team plans to deploy their talented and diverse edge rushers. Kerrigan said that rotations are often dictated by “how the game plays out” and he simply plans on making as many plays as possible.

He understands that Chase Young is going to garner attention, and rightfully so:

When asked about Chase Young, Kerrigan shared that it is understandable why fans and the media are asking about him. He talked about how this is the “way the NFL works” and when your team struggles, you are going to get high profile players to come in and change the direction of the franchise.

Kerrigan said that he has talked to Young about defensive schemes and is impressed by his understanding of the game. He knew the physical prowess was there, but Young appears to be grasping NFL concepts quickly.

He was disappointed in how 2019 played out, and he knows how to fix it:

Kerrigan talked about how 2019 was a bad year overall for him. He touched on his “streak” of starting every game of his career, up until last season. He then went on to talk about how disappointed he was when he watched last year’s film. He attests last year’s struggle to a breakdown of his techniques. As the year went on, he failed to stay disciplined and consistent.

He then identified a few areas to work on, which should bring him back to his usual production. The linebacker shared that he took poor angles to the quarterback last season and that “he wasn’t creative” enough in terms of changing his game plan when pass-rushing. Kerrigan seemed confident that he could still contribute, with a few minor adjustments.

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George Carmi is an editor/contributing writer to FullPressCoverage.com or @FPC_Redskins. He is a native of the DC metropolitan area and is an avid fan of DC Sports. A former journalism major at the University of Maryland, his focus is now in public education. His earliest memories consist of Darrell Green, "The Posse" and Super Bowl XXVI. Follow him on twitter @Gcarmi21