The safety positions for Washington have been a weakness for years, and that trend continues this season. They signed aging veteran Ryan Clark this off-season and while he hasn’t been anywhere near terrible in coverage (-0.1 coverage grade through four games), he has already missed six tackles in run support (which was also a problem for him last season with the Steelers).
The other part of the Redskins’ safety duo is Brandon Meriweather. The controversial safety finished with a -3.7 coverage grade last year coming off a 2012 ACL injury, but a closer look shows he improved significantly in the 2nd half (+4.0 coverage grade in final six games).
Initially sophomore, Baccari Rambo started in his place, gave up a pair of long TD catches in comical fashion, and was cut as soon as Meriweather was eligible to return. But Meriweather hasn’t been a huge upgrade over Rambo through 2 games, conceding a TD pass in each (and it could’ve been more in the Eagles game if Nick Foles had been a little more accurate) along with 143 yards. His talent has appeared in flashes – three passes defensed, one which led to an Eli interception, but one which was also a dropped interception. It remains to be seen if Meriweather can re-discover his late 2013 form.
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