Montae Nicholson is in the right position to redeem himself this season with Washington

It is hard to imagine last season going worse for Washington safety Montae Nicholson than it actually did. Here is a guy who was a fourth-round draft pick in 2017, who ended up starting six of the eight games he was active for as a rookie, and who ended his first year with 24 tackles, two passes defensed, and an interception. Things had to be looking great for him heading into the 2018 season.

Then, after beginning last year as a starter, he ended up a little banged up and not playing his best football, got benched in the middle of the season after Washington traded for Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, got arrested in December for assault after what appeared to be a bar fight, and ended up deactivated for the last two games under a a non-football illness designation.

Talk about a change of fortune.

And not the good kind!

I think it’s fair to say that no one would have been surprised if Washington had cut bait this offseason and released Nicholson after his turbulent 2018. However, instead the team stuck by him and he eventually had the charges related to his arrest dropped in May. Not only that, but it appears that with Clinton-Dix now gone to play in Chicago, Nicholson has worked his way back to compete to be a starter again this season. It remains to be seen if he will actually nail down that starting job because he will have to compete with Deshazor Everett and last year’s fourth-round pick Troy Apke to win it.

But just the mere fact that he is even in that position — with the same team that traded for a guy to replace him in the middle of last season — is remarkable from where I’m standing.

In the NFL, the more talented a player is, the more leeway he tends to be afforded, for good or for ill. And there’s no question Nicholson is talented.

At 6’2 and 215 pounds, Nicholson is big enough to play down in the box near the line of scrimmage, but he is also fast enough to make plays from the deep middle of the field as well. When he turns on the jets, he can really cover a lot of field in a hurry.

If he can stay healthy, that should allow him to get his hands on a lot more passes this season.

When it comes to run support, especially from the deep middle, Nicholson is a pretty sure tackler in the open field. He isn’t always going to lay the wood on the ball carrier, but he tends to find a way to get them down on the ground, regardless. He likes to go low quite a bit to make tackles, which can lead to some missed tackles, but he seems to have a knack for knowing when to go low, and when to try to tackle someone up high.

In pass coverage, Nicholson will go ahead and pop guys if it will help keep them from securing a catch.

That isn’t the only time he goes for big hits, but it does seems to be when he most consistently breaks out his can of whup ass. I do feel like Nicholson can improve on some of the angles he takes on downfield passes, and that would help put himself in better position to make plays on the ball rather than just making the tackle.

However, I also believe that is something that he can improve on, especially after playing quite a bit in his first two seasons. Sometimes it takes guys a while to get a good feel for that kind of thing.

This offseason, Washington signed Landon Collins to a big contract to be its starting strong safety, so that position is pretty much locked up. But if Nicholson can win that starting free safety position, having Collins playing with him should make Nicholson’s life a lot easier. Collins is so versatile and he can make an impact on the game in so many ways, that whoever ends up playing free safety is likely to spend most of their time back deep, warding off chunk plays.

I’m not saying it’s going to be an easy job just because Collins is in there, but with Nicholson’s range it should put him in position to make a lot of plays in the passing game. At the very least, his pass breakups should skyrocket after he only had one last season.

Considering the fact he has only one career interception, I would expect him to snag more of those this year as well.

Nicholson has a chance to just about completely redeem himself this season and get his career back on track after his very disappointing 2018. A lot of other players wouldn’t have even been afforded that chance, at least not with the same team, so I hope that he appreciates the opportunity he has been given.

If he makes the most of his second chance, I think you will see a much improved Nicholson this year and that free safety spot will be locked down for years to come.

Confidence level: Moderate