What's Kerrigan's Future in D.C.?

Ryan Kerrigan earned some recognition for his performance on Sunday against the Jets. There's many reasons to be happy for that but as always, there's another side to the story. And an interesting future

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The future is unclear for just about everyone associated with the Redskins, but one looming question for this off-season is one we'll ask now. 

Ryan Kerrigan finally was back on Sunday, at least for the first quarter. He racked up two sacks in the Redskins horrific loss to the New York Jets.

Both came in the first quarter and it earned him a spot on ProFootballFocus.com (PFF) "Week 11 Team of the Week."

The Week 11 Team of the Week is LIVE! 📈🔽:https://t.co/aQ8ihRnqjl pic.twitter.com/S9L8RSVxKJ

— PFF (@PFF) November 19, 2019

The ninth-year pro had his 2nd sack come on 1st-and-goal from the Redskins-7. 

It still was nowhere near enough for the team or for Kerrigan. The Jets offensive line had allowed 39 sacks on the year in nine games coming in and appeared ripe for the picking.

Kerrigan had not had a full sack since the second week of the season against the Cowboys and now has four on the year after doubling his total.

As we mentioned last week, he's still far behind his career average and last two-year pace of 13 sacks in each year.

Kerrigan only has ten quarterback hits per ProFootballRefernce.com on the year, so it's not like he's been a major factor without the sacks. That was the deal with Preston Smith last year.

He didn't have the big sack numbers but he was constantly generating heat, to rack up 53 pressures, per PFF (2nd only to Kerrigan - 61).

Kerrigan's really not doing that this year, and the Redskins desperately needed it. Per PFF, Kerrigan has 29 total quarterback pressures which is a combination of sacks, hits and hurries. He's played in all ten Redskins games so it's an average of 2.9 pressures per game.

Last year, Kerrigan averaged 3.81 pressures per game over the full 16-game season, per PFF Premium

The five previous years before 2019, Kerrigan had 61 in 2018, 64 in 2017, 72 in 2016, 61 in 2015 and 73 in 2014, his best year in that category under his first defensive coordinator, Jim Haslett.

Ultimately it was great to see Kerrigan finally get out of his slump, but the Redskins absolutely needed more. It was one of the keys before the game and if you have two in the first quarter against a suspect offensive line, you should have more than just that.

He only had one more hurry the rest of the game.

The season is lost and personal stats certainly don't mean a lot, but the Redskins are facing a tough decision this off-season with Kerrigan.

Do they trade him as he enters the final year of his contract and approaches age-32? (He's due to count $11.75 million under the cap. Do they extend him? Do they let him ride it out and evaluate at the end of the 2020 season?

That's my guess. Unless Kerrigan is take a short-term extension of a year, I would let him ride it out. 

Chris Russell is the Publisher of Sports Illustrated's Washington Redskins channel & can be heard on 106.7 The FAN in the Washington D.C. area and world-wide on Radio.com. Chris also hosts the "Locked on Redskins" Podcast and can be read via subscription to Warpath Magazine. You can e-mail Chris at russellmania09@Gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @Russellmania621.