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WASHINGTON
The DB has a sneaking suspicion that QB RYAN FITZPATRICK is going to lead the WFT to 10+ wins this season. Sounds like Fitzpatrick used his Harvard education to reach the same conclusion.
It took 17 years with some magic mixed with, well, ugly results. It took nine teams. It took playing what Ryan Fitzpatrick considers the best ball of his career the previous several years. But with the Washington Football Team, the veteran quarterback said he has found himself in an unusual spot.
“This is the best situation I’ve ever been in or the best situation I’ve ever gone into as ‘the guy,'” Fitzpatrick told the ESPN Daily podcast.
He will report to Washington’s training camp in Richmond, Virginia on Tuesday as the starter. Coach Ron Rivera has said there will be a competition for the job with Taylor Heinicke. But Fitzpatrick was signed to start and took the first-team reps in the spring workouts. It would be surprising if Fitzpatrick, who signed a one-year deal in March, didn’t open the season as the starter.
Fitzpatrick told ESPN Daily podcast host Pablo Torre that, “I just feel like the way that I’m playing the last four years, the progression of my career … it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that 17 years in, physically I feel great [and] mentally, emotionally I’m in the right spot. I am set up for success this year and really looking forward to it.”
Here’s why he can say that:
There is no young quarterback of the future on the roster. While Heinicke excited Washington fans with a strong showing in a 31-23 playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season — he threw for 306 yards, one touchdown and one interception — at age 28, he is not viewed as the QB of the future. He could develop and possibly challenge Fitzpatrick, but this isn’t like Fitzpatrick’s past with the Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa or Tampa Bay and Jameis Winston, both top-five picks.
Washington’s defense ranked second in yards allowed and fourth in points last season. It will be more challenging this season with a schedule that includes quarterbacks Tom Brady, Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Derek Carr, Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott (twice). But Washington’s defense certainly has the potential to be among the NFL’s best with young pass-rushers such as Chase Young and Montez Sweat.
Fitzpatrick has never had a defense like this as a starter. Since 2008, he has played with one defense that finished in the top 10 in points and yards allowed (2015, when the New York Jets went 10-6 but missed the playoffs). Fitzpatrick told Torre this was the third time he has been signed to be the starter. The other two times: with the Houston Texans in 2014 and Miami in 2019. The Texans’ defense ranked 24th in points allowed and seventh in yards allowed in 2013, while Miami’s was 27th and 29th, respectively, in 2018.
Washington is the lone playoff team Fitzpatrick has joined, albeit one that went 7-9 in 2020. In 2013, one year before he joined Houston, the Texans went 2-14; they went 6-6 in his starts in 2014. Miami went 7-9 in 2018, the year before signing Fitzpatrick, and had fired the previous staff. The Jets were 4-12 in 2014 before turning it around in 2015, Fitzpatrick’s first season as the starter. In fact, Fitzpatrick has joined one team that was coming off a winning season — he signed with Tampa Bay in 2017 to back up Winston, who led the Bucs to a 9-7 finish the previous season.
Washington can pair improved offensive skill players with that defense. It already had a 1,000-yard wide receiver in Terry McLaurin, then added free agents Curtis Samuel and Adam Humphries and draft pick Dyami Brown at that position. Second-year running back Antonio Gibson, who transitioned from being mostly a receiver in college, averaged 5.05 yards per carry in his last six games in 2020. He finished with 795 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns as a rookie. The team bolstered its offensive line depth, in part by drafting tackle Sam Cosmi in the second round and signing left tackle Charles Leno Jr.
“If you look at the roster, there are pieces in place and it’s a matter of going out there and getting those playmakers the ball,” Fitzpatrick said. “The defense, obviously everybody talks about the talent on that side of the ball. It just seems like it has a good feel to it. The vibe, the energy has all been very positive so far.
“I’m really, really excited.”
Fitzpatrick also helps the situation because of his recent performance. In the past two seasons combined, covering 24 games played and 20 starts, he ranks seventh in the NFL in total QBR at 71.5. Fitzpatrick reiterated on the ESPN Daily podcast something he has said previously: His one season in Houston changed his career. He played for the Texans in 2014 and threw 17 touchdowns to eight interceptions in 12 starts under coach Bill O’Brien.
“I’ve had two separate careers,” Fitzpatrick said. “One pre-Bill O’Brien and the one post-Bill O’Brien. I’ve been able to take a lot … that I’ve learned and continue to use it on the different stops I’ve been in and just taking little things each place I’ve been and knowing who I am as a player, strengths and weaknesses and playing to those strengths.”
We were pretty sure that that last paragraph was meant in praise of the oft-criticized O’Brien and we can confirm after a little research that indeed that is the case. We found this quote from a 2015 article when he joined the Jets:
Fitzpatrick gave a lot of credit to his previous head coach and offensive coordinator, Bill O’Brien and George Godsey of the Houston Texans. Consider this compliment: “I probably learned more about football last year than I had the rest of my career in a single season in terms of being able to see the game from a different angle.” That’s high praise, considering Fitzpatrick spent three years in Buffalo with his current coordinator, Chan Gailey, a coach he admires.
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DT JONATHAN ALLEN has a WFT $$ extension. John Keim of ESPN.com:
The Washington Football Team took a big step toward achieving continuity on its defensive line, signing tackle Jonathan Allen to a four-year extension.
The contract, announced by Team IFA, his agency, on social media Monday, is worth $72 million with a $30 million signing bonus.
Allen, a first-round draft pick in 2017, has anchored the interior of Washington’s defensive line, a group that provides the franchise its most hope in a while to build a consistent winner. Allen now becomes the fourth-highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL. It also allows Washington to keep its starting defensive front intact for the next two seasons if it desires.
Both Allen and the franchise had said they wanted to get a deal done all offseason. But, according to a source, talks had moved at a slow pace until Monday, as Allen’s side had made it clear that an extension had to be at least $18 million per season.
Allen, whom the organization considers a team leader, had recently discussed the situation with coach Ron Rivera. The second-year Washington coach has said often that he wanted to make sure the team builds, and maintains, a strong line on both sides of the ball.
Washington did not want a repeat of its situation with guard Brandon Scherff, who is playing on the franchise tag for a second consecutive season and could be difficult to keep beyond 2021.
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The WFT has a native of Chile on its roster, one who has never played a down of football in his life. Keim again:
Washington Football Team tight end Sammis Reyes knows learning football is a challenge. He’s just not intimidated.
“Without those experiences, I don’t think I have the guts to do what I’m doing,” Reyes said. “There’s nothing harder than what I’ve already been through. I’m never going to be afraid of a challenge.”
Washington signed Reyes to a three-year deal in April after watching him work out at Florida’s pro day. Washington’s coaches acknowledge there’s a lot of work ahead to get him ready for the NFL. But they like his size (6-foot-7, 240 pounds). Reyes had been training at IMG Academy in Florida as part of the NFL’s International Pathway Program. They know he’s a project.
“He’s got a tremendous skill set and he’s got the right type of mindset to want to try and do it,” Washington coach Ron Rivera said.
Other NFL tight ends have switched from basketball to football — Antonio Gates (retired), Jimmy Graham (Chicago Bears) and Mo Alie-Cox (Indianapolis Colts) to name three — but each had played football in their past. Graham played it as a University of Miami grad student. Reyes played it for a week as a high school junior.
He left his home in Santiago, Chile at 14 to play high school basketball in Florida. He played three years of Division I basketball — two at Tulane, but in 32 games there from 2016-17 he averaged 0.8 points per game. He spent one season at Loyola of New Orleans, where he played sparingly. But reaching the doorstep of an NFL roster qualifies as a win. Reyes’s past — traveling a road filled with obstacles — has helped prepare him for the difficult task awaiting him in training camp.
“No one is prepared at 14 to leave home,” he said. “My story ended up being a good one, I was able to figure it out, but there [were] many times it would have been very easy for me to go a different route.”
‘I was trying not to cry’
It wasn’t easy for Reyes’ parents to let him leave. But about 30 years ago his father, Daniel, was 16 when he left his home in Chillan, Chile to play basketball in another city. He, too, had been through a lot, raised by his grandparents with little money. Daniel Reyes was 21 when his son was born on Oct. 19, 1995.
Learning to survive
Sammis wasn’t ready for this: Within three to four months of him attending Westlake Prep in south Florida, it had closed. He had been living with another boy from Chile, but that friend left for a junior college. Soon, the 14-year-old Reyes was the last one living in the school’s apartment complex, with his former coaches checking on him every week or so over a four-to-five month period. Reyes was by himself, relying on the $50 every month from his parents, his own street smarts and, eventually, the generosity of others.
“The rest of the time I had to figure it out,” he said. “I always bought my protein shakes from some store. Then I was trying to figure out the next meal. Other times I was lucky where I made a friend and was invited over to eat. A lot of times I had no breakfast and would have to go train and then do lunch. I’ve got three bucks; what’s for lunch? It was day by day.”
About 8 p.m. every few days he’d go to a donut store near his apartment and buy a dozen or so donuts — ones the owner would have thrown away — for $1 or sometimes a quarter. His favorite: the chocolate glazed.
“Between having a whole bunch of donuts or a can of beans, sometimes you’ve got to go with the donuts. I’d have food for the next two to three days,” Sammis said. “I can’t eat donuts anymore. I can’t even see them.”
It took him about six months to get comfortable speaking English. He would write every word down he heard, spelling it phonetically. Then he’d check the dictionary to see if he could find the word.
“It was survival for me,” he said. “You have to be brave enough to put yourself in situations that force you to learn very quickly.”
His parents had no idea of all the struggles. Because he didn’t have a phone or a computer, they would go months sometimes without talking. They would communicate via Facebook or he would borrow a friend’s phone, buy a $10 phone card from the gas station for a 30-minute conversation. His parents would watch his games via YouTube.
Sammis admitted he has yet to share all of the negative stories with his parents.
Sammis caught the eye of a coach named Roosevelt Gray who started working with him and providing some food. Then he hooked up with a guy named Steve Rifkind, the father of one of his AAU basketball teammates. First, he was placed at St. Andrew’s Prep, then he moved again.
Two days later, after consulting with Sammis’ parents, Rifkind pulled his son, Alex, and Sammis from the school and enrolled them at North Broward Prep. Sammis, then 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, moved in with the family and still considers Rifkind a second dad and Alex a brother.
After hearing so many times from coaches in multiple sports as well as Steve Rifkind that he should play football, Sammis gave it a shot. He practiced with the North Broward team during the spring of his junior year.
In one workout, with coaches from Central Florida, Florida Atlantic and Pitt in attendance, Sammis was playing defensive end. North Broward coach Roland Nottage said via email that Sammis made a play as the backside end by pursuing to make a tackle “he was never taught to do … he did things on natural instincts.” Rifkind recalled the college coaches high-fiving one another.
The next day, Sammis told Rifkind he no longer wanted to play football. His dream remained the NBA. Rifkind said it led to a big fight: He told Sammis he could be a first-round pick [in football]. It didn’t matter. Sammis was a standout basketball player for North Broward, averaging 24.5 points and 13.2 rebounds and said he had 25 Division I offers, opting for Hawaii.
Within one year at Hawaii, the coach who recruited him had been fired, Sammis left, sat out a year because of a torn ACL, resurfaced at Palm Beach State for a season and then arrived at Tulane still dreaming of the NBA.
“I couldn’t do anything about it,” Rifkind said.
“I was in love with being a basketball player and wanting to make the NBA,” Sammis said. “I would have been upset if I didn’t try it all the way through… [But] not listening to advice at a young age when it came to sports was a big mistake I made. I would have been three to four years into the [NFL] and knowing the game better.”
He didn’t play much at Tulane, but he did graduate. He finally opted to train for football.
By the time Sammis walked into Justin Kavanaugh’s athletic training facility in Ashburn, Virginia in January 2020, he was ready for another challenge. That day, Kavanaugh was training the Edmunds’ brothers — Trey (Pittsburgh Steelers running back) and Tremaine (Buffalo Bills linebacker) — and Reyes convinced him to do the same for him. Kavanaugh learned a lot about Reyes, seeing him continue makeshift workouts during the pandemic.
“You tell him what to do and he’ll figure out how to get there,” Kavanaugh said. “He doesn’t see obstacles; he understands that it’s a part of life.”
Sammis would work out from 6 a.m. to noon, then deliver food for Door Dash at lunchtime. He’d return to the gym for more work, then deliver dinners at night. For years, he saw his dad, then a security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Chile and now an insurance adjustor, work 24- or 36-hour shifts. Now Sammis is someone who writes down plays on the three white boards in their apartment after Nicole quizzes him.
“Where I’m from, there aren’t many opportunities,” Sammis said. “There’s a lot of drugs, a lot of violence, a lot of things I don’t want to be around. If I had stayed in Chile, maybe I’m around those things a lot more. I came here and played sports. Very different life.”
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