The 2018 season was the Washington Redskins' 87th in the National Football League (NFL) and their fifth under head coach Jay Gruden. This was the first season since 2011 that quarterback Kirk Cousins was not on the roster, as he joined the Minnesota Vikings in the offseason as a free agent.
The team tied their record from the previous season, and missed the playoffs for the third straight season. Despite a 6âÂÂ3 start which was their best since 2008 plus leading the NFC East, the team suffered a late-season collapse, suffering four straight losses after the team lost their starting quarterback Alex Smith to a catastrophic leg injury in their Week 11 loss to the Houston Texans. This would cause Smith to miss both the remainder of the 2018 season and the entire 2019 season as Smith stated that he had taken a total of 17 surgeries to repair his leg and nearly had it amputated. Smith's injury also resulted in a quarterback hangover. First, it forced Colt McCoy into the starting role in Weeks 12 and 13 before also suffering a leg injury in a 28âÂÂ13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 13, thus forcing the Redskins to start journeyman quarterback Mark Sanchez in Week 14 before starting another journeyman quarterback Josh Johnson against the Jacksonville Jaguars after benching Sanchez at halftime against the New York Giants. After the Alex Smith injury, the Redskins finished the last 7 games of the season with a record of 1âÂÂ6. They were eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to the Titans, including wins by the Seahawks and Vikings. The team's season ended with 25 players on injured reserve, which was a league high.
Draft trades
Supplemental Draft
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
The Redskins started off 1âÂÂ0.
Washington lost to Indianapolis, moving to 1âÂÂ1.
The Redskins fought back and started a 2âÂÂ1 record, heading to their bye week.
The Redskins hoped to get revenge for their loss in this game a year ago, where they blew a 31-16 lead with three minutes remaining and lost in overtime. Instead, the Redskins got blown out. This game was the point where Drew Brees passed Brett Favre and Peyton Manning on most passing yards. The Redskins fell to 2âÂÂ2.
This marked the first time since 2006 that the Redskins had defeated the Panthers. Then the Redskins started a 3 game winning streak and improved to 3âÂÂ2.
The Redskins got their first win over the Cowboys at home since 2012. Also, Preston Smith forced a fumble returned for a touchdown off Dak Prescott. As time expired, Cowboys kicker Brett Maher missed the potential game-tying 52-yard field goal to give the Redskins the win. This was their final win against the Cowboys at home and in any contest, as the Redskins changed their name in 2020. With this win, the Redskins improved to 4âÂÂ2.
The Redskins improved to 5âÂÂ2. This was the team's final win against a divisional opponent as the "Redskins", as they would terminate the branding two years later. Washington would not win against a divisional opponent again until 2020, and would not defeat the Giants again until 2021.
The Redskins fell to 5âÂÂ3. As of the 2024 season, this currently remains Washington's latest loss to Atlanta.
The Redskins improved to 6âÂÂ3.
During a play in the third quarter of the game, starter Alex Smith suffered a life-threatening injury to his right leg after being sacked by J. J. Watt and Kareem Jackson. He was replaced by his backup, Colt McCoy. Coincidentally, this was exactly 33 years to the day of Joe Theismann's career-ending leg injury. Joe Theismann was also present during the game and witnessed the injury. The Redskins fell to 6âÂÂ4 by losing 23âÂÂ21, which ironically was the same score in the game where Theismann was injured. Alex Smith would not play again until Week 5 in 2020 against the Rams.
NFL on Thanksgiving Day In their first game without Alex Smith, the Redskins would have an early lead, but would struggle immediately afterwards. The loss dropped the Redskins to 6âÂÂ5.
Redskins fell to 6âÂÂ6.
The Redskins fell down to 6âÂÂ7.
The Redskins improved to 7âÂÂ7. The Redskins would then eclipse 600 regular season wins in franchise, the fifth team to do so (with Bears, Packers, Giants, & Steelers) with a regular season record of 600-588-28 at that point.
This loss dropped the Redskins to 7âÂÂ8. Also with this loss, plus wins by the Vikings and Seahawks, the Redskins were eliminated from playoff contention.
The Redskins finished 7âÂÂ9 despite having started 6âÂÂ3, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.