ASHBURN — Perry Fewell knew what type of player free safety Dashon Goldson was when the Washington Redskins acquired him from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on April 3.
Fewell, in his first season as the Redskins’ defensive backs coach, had coached against Goldson three times as the New York Giants’ defensive coordinator. He had seen hours of film and the crunching hits, the kind that had the ability to make wide receivers hesitate crossing the middle of the field.
What Fewell was not attuned to was the scope of Goldson’s football intelligence, which is what he quickly noticed when Goldson walked into his first meeting with illustrations of assorted defensive alignments.
“We were having this football conversation and he comes in with all these drawings and different thoughts and ideas, about football and how to communicate,” Fewell said. “He asked a question that didn’t really pertain to the safety, but pertained to the corner, because he wanted the corner to know what to do if a certain motion happened. I knew right then he had a very smart football mind.”
A rash of injuries and suspensions has forced the Redskins to reshuffle their secondary for the second consecutive week. As the team attempts to traverse the challenge that comes with plugging so many holes in the defensive backfield, Goldson will be counted on for his ability to communicate and position defenders in a way that is akin to having another coach on the field.
“Dashon is the dude that drives the bus for us,” Redskins defensive coordinator Joe Barry said. “I think I bragged on him last week on how smart he is, how he calls plays out before they’re happening just because of certain formations or certain splits.”
The Redskins’ secondary was supposed to be on the mend for the game this Sunday against the St. Louis Rams, with cornerback Bashaud Breeland free to return from suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Instead, fellow corner Chris Culliver will serve a one-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, and strong safety Duke Ihenacho underwent surgery after breaking his left wrist in the team’s Week 1 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
Trenton Robinson, who is expected to step in for Ihenacho, will be reunited with Goldson, as the two played together with the San Francisco 49ers in 2012.
“To be out there, it’s surreal,” said Robinson, who used to sit with Goldson during meetings as a rookie that season.
“He’s just smart and in tune, on and off the field. It’s awesome to learn from and see a guy like that work.”
Goldson has an innate ability to read plays before they develop, a skill that has helped him position himself to best utilize his 6-foot-2, 200-pound frame to deliver the most unforgiving hits.
During the 2012 season, Goldson’s last in San Francisco, he was playing the Arizona Cardinals when he lured wide receiver Early Doucet across the middle of the field.
Goldson disguised the play as cover-2, standing alongside strong safety Donte Whitner. Just before the ball was snapped, Goldson switched to a cover-3 look and crept toward the linebackers — a role normally reserved for the strong safety — and leveled Doucet just as the ball arrived.
“He knew it was a crossing route coming,” said Redskins defensive end Ricky Jean Francois, who was also playing with Goldson at the time in San Francisco.
“He laid him out on the ground. Early did not move. It was like he flat-lined. That’s one good thing about [Goldson]: He can tell you how to disguise it. We always called him ’The Hawk.’ He’s got the bird’s-eye view sitting on top of us, and if he needs to get to a certain spot, he’s going to get there. He can see everything before we do.”
Goldson, 30 and in his ninth season, believes he is playing with a different type of energy after two tough seasons in Tampa Bay. He signed a five-year deal worth up to $41.25 million with the Buccaneers in 2013.
It started well, Goldson said, despite playing in an unfamiliar scheme under coach Greg Schiano. Though it was different than what he was used to, Goldson said he was comfortable in an aggressive, blitz-heavy system.
Then the NFL began to crack down on his bone-crunching hits. He was fined nearly $500,000 in that first season, and he was suspended one game for a hit on Atlanta Falcons receiver Roddy White.
“Tampa was a struggle,” Goldson said. “After the first three weeks, my foot started hurting and my mind was playing tricks on me. Not to make excuses, but I got away from it. Then they started fining me. That messed me up mentally. I was like, ’[Forget] this, I don’t want to play anymore.’”
Goldson eventually underwent surgery on his right toe during the offseason, which kept him out of organized team activities. He returned for the start of the season, but was never comfortable. The fines stopped, but after Schiano was fired, Goldson didn’t feel like he fit in new coach Lovie Smith’s Tampa-2 defense.
“It was just bad,” Goldson said. “I was just never in it.”
Goldson made 81 tackles in 14 games in 2014, but failed to intercept a pass for the first time since his second season. He also deflected just one pass after doing so eight times the year before.
The Buccaneers agreed to trade Goldson to the Redskins for a 2016 sixth-round pick and agreed to pick up the $4 million still guaranteed.
In Goldson, the Redskins filled a pressing need at free safety. It was a perfect marriage, in that Goldson was reunited with Redskins general manager Scot McCloughan, who drafted him in San Francisco in 2007, along with fellow former 49ers teammates Jean Francois, Robinson and Culliver.
“Every player in the NFL, I don’t care who you are, if your mind is right, your body will follow,” Jean Francois said. “If your mind isn’t right, and you’re around negativity, people trashing you, your body is going to follow what your ears hear.
“I don’t know what the criticism was in Tampa Bay, but I was happy as hell when he came back here because I knew the type of safety he was.”
Goldson said he feels refreshed, both physically and mentally, this season. He knows there are doubts about whether he can maintain his physical play at his age, but he was rejuvenated during the offseason. As a show of how much his teammates have already grown to respect him, he was voted the Redskins’ defensive captain prior to the first week of the season.
Now that his mind is at ease, he’s ready to let his play do the talking.
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.