When the Washington Football Team drafted Liberty wide receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, the team viewed him as someone who could start alongside breakout star Terry McLaurin.
Unfortunately for Gandy-Golden, injuries got the best of him in 2020. He missed 10 games in his rookie year and only caught one pass for three yards.
Now, just a year after he was drafted, he is fighting for a spot to stay on the 53-man roster.
Since drafting Gandy-Golden, the wide receiver room in Washington has undergone a massive upgrade.
Cam Sims and Steven Sims each had breakout years in 2020 while Gandy-Golden was on the sidelines. In free agency, the team signed veterans Curtis Samuel from the Carolina Panthers and Adam Humphries from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Then, the team drafted North Carolina's Dyami Brown in the third round and BYU's Dax Milne in the seventh round of the draft.
It's customary for a team to carry around five or six receivers on the 53-man roster, and once you add a roster lock in McLaurin, it further muddies the situation and decreases Gandy-Golden's odds of making the team.
Gandy-Golden is currently listed as part of the third team on WFT's depth chart.
However, the second-year wideout played well in the team's second preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals, leading the team in receiving yards.
Gandy-Golden caught all three of his targets for 37 yards, a team-best total.
He also caught a crucial two-point conversion to push the lead to seven in the fourth quarter.
The two-point conversion proved why he was drafted by the team in the first place. His strong 6'4" frame creates a mismatch with so many defensive backs and he's the kind of guy that you can throw the ball up to and he'll find a way to get it.
No other receiver on the roster is taller than Gandy-Golden except for Cam Sims, who is likely his primary competition for the final roster spot. Sims was cut before the regular season last year but was brought back during the season and played a key role in the team's playoff game, catching seven passes for a team-high 104 yards.
The decision between Gandy-Golden and Sims is likely going to be one of the last decisions the team makes before finalizing the roster because the two are neck-and-neck. But if Gandy-Golden can continue to practice and play like he did last night, he's going to make it very hard for the team not to cut him.
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