The time has come for rookie WR Antonio Gandy-Golden to step up in Washington

Washington wide receiver Terry McLaurin is banged up with a thigh injury. Steven Sims has been sent to the injured reserve. Dontrelle Inman is dealing with some ailments as well. Week by week, the wide receiver corps in Washington start to dwindle a bit more than it had the week before.

It’s time for rookie WR Antonio Gandy-Golden to step up and become the player that the team thought it was drafting in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

It’s a bit unfair to ask a rookie receiver to play a significant role in an NFL offense, but life is unfair; ask Dwayne Haskins. The fact of the matter is that Washington is in desperate need of some production from the WR position, and they’ve gotten to the point where they are relying on undrafted rookie Isaiah Wright to be a major part of the offense — to Wright’s credit, he’s been impressive so far.

There are reasons that AGG has been slow to get his NFL career off the ground, and HC Ron Rivera admitted on Friday that a lack of preseason and OTAs had a significant impact on him, as well as a preseason injury.

Still, though, it’s getting to a point in the season where we need to start seeing some production from the rookie. Luckily, a change recently took place in the offense that might significantly benefit AGG. With Kyle Allen now at QB, and the playbook expanding, I expect to see OC Scott Turner draw up a few more plays for the young rookie WR and get him into more complex offensive schemes that will let him shine. Whether or not that happens this week is yet to be seen, but there’s a chance that we could see a breakout from this Antonio in much the same way we saw one from Antonio Gibson last week.

If not this week, it needs to be soon. Washington needs help at the WR position, and they drafted AGG to be the one to provide a boost.