The “changing of the guard” happens faster in the NFL than in any other sport. In a five-year-span, a player can go from backup, to quality starter to team leader to a role player, and then all of a sudden the fan base wants him replaced.
It’s the main reason that so many people find football the toughest sport to prognosticate. Do you think Ohioian’s are more confident in Travis Hafner’s ability to bounce back right now, or about Rudi Johnson’s? They both struggled mightily in 2007, but an Indian’s fan probably expects Hafner to rebound. Is anyone confident that Johnson will ever regain his old form? Such is the way in football.
Because most players on a roster are at or past their primes, the natural trend of a football franchise is downward. This creates a parity effect. The only way to counteract the natural trend of a football team is to consistently add talent, sometimes in the form of a free agent, but usually through the draft. Most free agents tend to be on the downside of their careers, but they almost always replace inferior players in the lineup, creating a net gain. Think of London Fletcher replacing Lemar Marshall.
The Redskins are the oldest team in the NFL, so it is critical that they get a bunch of players to break out in order to keep the team in the running for the playoffs. Here are five guys who I think will be a lot better in 2008 than they were in 2007:
LaRon Landry
Simply speaking, it is between the first and second seasons where players grow the most in a single off-season. This is the first major improvement a player will make over his career, and every player will make it. For Landry, the signs of a massive improvement already manifested themselves at the end of last season. In the final four games, after Landry moved to free safety, he not only delievered highlight reel hits every week, but also started picking off passes, intercepting Matt Hasselbeck twice in the fourth quarter of the playoff game.
The mistakes were still there at the end of last season: discipline issues for one thing, as Landry netted 15 yard penalties in back to back weeks. However, as his coverage gets naturally more fluid, and he becomes more and more aggressive, we could be looking at one of the greatest safeties to ever play the game before too long.
Anthony Montgomery
After Landry, Montgomery’s development is by far the most critical, both on the team level and a personal level. He’s going to be playing the nose position again this year on defense, and he’s surrounded on defense by the following:
3 players who are contributors, but past their prime (Springs, Fletcher, Daniels)
2 players on the back end of their primes (Washington, Griffin)
2 players in their prime, but are coming off career years (Carter, Smoot)
2 players who are young and largely unproven (Doughty, McIntosh)
LaRon Landry
You could throw Montgomery in the young and unproven group, but he’s proven himself, at least at his current role of anchoring at the point of attack. That’s good enough to hold his job. However, if the Redskins are to avoid a collapse of the front seven, they will need the young guy, Montgomery, to improve his game into other areas. He’s got the skills to be a decent pass rusher, and the Redskins need to see that. Otherwise, it’s all about consistency with Montgomery. Can he be an every down player? Or will Phillip Daniels need to spell him on passing downs. He’s in a (restricted) contract year, so 1.5 million dollars depends on it.
Demetric Evans
Evans is a guy who has done very well in limited time, but has never really had a solid chance to make an impact. With a shortage of able bodies on the defensive line, he should get his chance this season. He’s 28, and very easily could beat out Phillip Daniels for the starting Left End job. Because of guys like Evans and Alex Buzbee, the Redskins did not feel that defensive end was a critical area of need this offseason.
Rocky McIntosh
Coming off injury, McIntosh seems poised to have a breakout year at linebacker. His knee might hold him back, even successful ACL surgeries are no laughing matter. McIntosh really needs to have a good year with Fletcher and Washington aging at linebacker. Look for Rocky Mac to start racking up the INTs starting this fall.
Stephon Heyer
Heyer will be back in the starting lineup as soon as Jon Jansen hits the injury report. He showed impressive feet in pass blocking last season, and though he was prone to allowing a sack every now and then, that should change with age. As he matures, he should develop into Jansen’s successor and Jason Campbell’s best friend. If he can open up holes in the outside running game this year, he will be a very valuable player if, of course, he even has to play.
http://mvn.com/nfl-redskins/2008/05/05/five-players-who-could-breakout-in-08/
ey has made some noise about Reed Daughty making a splash this year. With Reed's family now healthy, and his concentration back where it belongs I'd say 
