The 2018 season was the Washington Redskins' 87th in the National Football League and their fifth under head coachJay 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 6–3 start which was their best since 2008 plus leading the NFC East, the team suffered 4 straight losses after the team lost their starting quarterback Alex Smith to a leg injury in their Week 11 loss to the Houston Texans. This 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 28–13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 13, thus forcing the Redskins to start journeyman quarterbackMark 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 1–6. They were eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to the Titans, including wins by the Eagles and Vikings. The team's season ended with 25 players on injured reserve, which were a league high.
The Redskins traded their third-round selection and cornerback Kendall Fuller to Kansas City in exchange for quarterback Alex Smith.
The Redskins traded safety Su'a Cravens and their fourth- and fifth- round selections to Denver in exchange for Denver's fourth-, two fifth-round selections and a conditional 2020 selection.
The Redskins traded their sixth-round selection to Cleveland in exchange for quarterback Kevin Hogan and Cleveland's sixth-round selection.
The Redskins selected Virginia Tech cornerback Adonis Alexander in the 2018 Supplemental draft. As a result, the team will forfeit their 6th-round selection in the 2019 draft.
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. They fell to 2-2.
Week 6: vs. Carolina Panthers
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 3-2.
Week 7: vs. Dallas Cowboys
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, Brett Maher missed the potential game-tying 52 yard field goal to give the Redskins the win. With this win, they improved to 4-2.
Then the Redskins improved to 6-3 but then Alex Smith got injured and they would only win 1 more time.
Week 11: vs. Houston Texans
During the game, starter Alex Smith suffered a compound fracture injury to his right leg after being sacked by J.J. Watt and Kareem Jackson and 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 6-4.
The Redskins improved to 7-7. The Redskins would then eclipse 600 regular season wins in franchise, the fifth team to do so with a regular season record of 600-588-28 at that point.
