Washington's Season of Defiance Continues with Recent Roster Decisions

Motivation comes in all different shapes and sizes. For the Washington Football Team in 2021, a good chunk of it is going to come from a place of defiance, and it's beginning with how the team is shaping their roster.

Jaret Patterson isn't supposed to be an NFL running back. Let alone be on the active roster at the beginning of this crucial season for the WFT.

Sammis Reyes isn't supposed to be an NFL tight end, either. Especially not considering his overwhelming lack of experience playing football at any level.

Yet they're both on an NFL football roster. That's something, like the players themselves, which is pretty unique.

"I think Jaret can be pretty special ...He's going to be fun to watch this year," Washington general manager Martin Mayhew told media shortly after the initial 53-man roster was unveiled.

Mayhew added that Patterson reminds him of Ricky Ervins and Jamie Morris. The two former teammates of current WFT front office execs are, perhaps more importantly to this scenario, former Washington running backs.

Ervins played for four years with Washington (1991-1994), collecting more than 2,000 yards rushing and 800 yards receiving at a time when pass-catching running backs weren't as prevalent.

Morris played for WFT from 1988-89, starting seven games and rushing for north of 700 yards.

Neither was a Pro Bowler, an All-Pro or Hall of Famer. But they were contributors; men who helped make the team better by finding ways to help where they were called to.

This is what will be expected of Patterson, who has already accomplished more than anyone thought he would as an undrafted free agent following this year's NFL Draft.

He's not alone though. Reyes was an athletic marvel, but far from a polished tight end when he joined the team. During his preseason performances and in training camp, there were double catches, footwork issues, and just all-around growing pains. That was expected.

"He's the guy that fits us," Mayhew said of Reyes. "He's got the right mentality, the right attitude, one of the hardest working guys on our football team. So when you see that kind of physical talent, that type of physical ability, and you see that work ethic. ... You know that's something you can work with, that you can build with."

Words like 'building' we've heard before. But "attitude" is one which hasn't been uttered enough.

While the Washington Football Team certainly has players doing things nobody said they could, they're really following in -- and helping to continue shaping -- the attitude the franchise has already been adopting for more than a year.

When the team dropped their historic name, it was never supposed to work. Yet, one year later, there are fans who would just as soon keep the WFT brand going rather than welcome another new name next year.

Ahead of the 2020 NFL Season, nothing much was expected of the team with its new head coach and front office turmoil boiling all the way up to ownership. Yet, they made a playoff run with "house money" as Ron Rivera put it, and gave the eventual Super Bowl champions a run for their money.

The NFC East is supposed to be the Dallas Cowboys' for the taking this season, especially with their stacked offense and return of Dak Prescott to the mix.

WFT starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick couldn't stave off rookie Tua Tagovailoa with the Miami Dolphins. Surely he couldn't lead this team past Prescott and America's Team. Especially when you consider the veteran passer has never been to the playoffs in his 16-year career.

There are a lot of things that have been happening inside the Washington Football Team franchise which shouldn't have been. Patterson and Reyes are the two most recent examples of those things finally being positives.

And are just the latest examples of why there's growing excitement around the team. For this year. And for the future.

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