Washington Free Agency Shopping: Positional Preview - WRs

The Washington Football Team has tried to upgrade the talent surrounding Terry McLaurin since Ron Rivera arrived. Now is the perfect time.

ASHBURN, Va. -- The NFL's new year is upon us and that means it's time to go shopping. For the Washington Football Team, they can hang out in the high-end price district for longer than most as they enter free agency with the sixth-most salary cap space per OverTheCap.com at $38.8 million after Brandon Scherff's $18 million franchise tag and Alex Smith's release. 

READ MORE: Scherff Signs ...His Tag

READ MORE: A Front-Office Debate on Scherff? 

Washington figures to be active in the receiver market which is still mostly loaded despite franchise tags to Allen Robinson and Chris Godwin. You will note in our "top candidates list'' we are being reflective of both WFT's money, and realistic "gets'' ...

The Top WFT Candidates: 

1. Curtis Samuel - Carolina Panthers: A draft pick of Ron Rivera and Marty Hurney. He tore Washington up in Week 16. Samuel is versatile and explosive. 

Adding precision to speed is always important and the numbers show a huge spike. Samuel should have had a long touchdown against the WFT on a deep pass but Teddy Bridgewater over threw him. 

Curtis Samuel's deep-ball catch %

🔹 2019: 18.5% (89th)
🔸 2020: 77.0% (1st) pic.twitter.com/UDAO6FVRvp

— PFF Fantasy & Betting (@PFF_Fantasy) March 12, 2021

Samuel is far from a short thing and his production early in his career and under this coaching staff was inconsistent. Maybe the WFT doesn't like him because of that?

However, his skillset would add to the offense at a reasonable cost if the price tag is between $9-11 million per year 

2. Marvin Jones - Detroit Lions:  Jones Jr. is 31 so a two-year deal worth between $8-10 million might be the sweet spot. Per ProFootballFocus.com (PFF), Jones seems to be a perfect compliment with positional versatility to what Terry McLaurin and Cam Sims bring.

He doesn't drop a lot of passes and is consistent. His PFF grades over the last three years out of 100 are 73.6, 72.9 and 71.9 which speaks to steady and someone you can count on. 

3. Nelson Agholor - Las Vegas Raiders: The former first-round pick is the picture of inconsistency but he did have a good year last year with the Raiders.

Agholor can stretch defenses deep, inside and out. He has significant production in both Philadelphia and Vegas from either position.

If he can catch the ball, he can still save his future. 

Other Candidates: Kenny Golladay, T.Y. Hilton, Sammy Watkins, Tyrell Williams and Breshad Perriman. 

Final Analysis: The reason why we chose to not focus on Golladay is because there really is no need to spend $20 million or more at the position with Terry McLaurin, Cam Sims, Antonio Gandy-Golden, Steve Sims and Kelvin Harmon all a part of the potential mix. 

Our Pick:  Curtis Samuel