The question of who steps up with Terry McLaurin out for the season has been answered. Commanders head coach addressed that topic during his Monday afternoon press conference coming out of the bye.
Quinn has had a bye week to ponder how to proceed after McLaurin suffered a season-ending knee injury during a Week 6 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
He was asked if it raises Stefon Diggs’ activity. Not necessarily. That was his answer, in sum.
The veteran receiver will keep doing his thing. We should see a whole lot more of third-round rookie Antonio Williams.
“(Diggs’) workload shouldn’t change as much,” Quinn said. “I think it will be others who climb up more. Antonio is one that you would see getting more targets. We’ll look through the week, but I like Stef especially on the options and third downs with the things that he can do, so the natural progression is probably Antonio more. Not necessarily at the same spot, but at a higher volume.”
Let’s decode that for a second.
The Commanders like Diggs doing his thing, with his current responsibilities and his role within the offense.
Williams will see an uptick in snaps and likely targets, but not while playing McLaurin’s X position (though he moved around a lot more under David Blough than he did under Kliff Kingsbury).
While this wasn’t mentioned directly by Quinn, it’s fair to assume that Treylon Burks and, at times, Dyami Brown, will man McLaurin’s position and route responsibilities.
You’d figure Williams will remain a heavily used option operating from the slot. He has been effective there in college and the pros, so the Commanders won’t mess with a good thing.
Williams has 18 receptions for 205 yards and one touchdown on 26 targets. He has played 55% of Washington’s offensive snaps to this point and that should increase. So should his target share, which ranks third on the team to this point.
While Williams has made some rookie mistakes in the early going, there’s optimism he’ll continue to develop and turn into a quality NFL receiver with a bright future ahead. We’ll get the rest of the season, to see how he functions as a primary target and without McLaurin pulling coverage away. It will be an important data point in deciding where Washington goes at the receiver position.
What are your thoughts on Williams stepping into a bigger role as a rookie, maybe over some others, with McLaurin out? Let us know in the comments below: