Coming into this season, Washington was predicted to finish last in the NFC East with Robert Griffin III under center and possibly head coach Jay Gruden in danger of losing his job. Fast forward to Week 1, Washington had Kirk Cousins starting at quarterback with he and tight end Jordan Reed helping lead them to a playoff berth by winning the NFC East.

Reed emerged this season as one the NFL's best young and upcoming tight ends. Reed had a career year, finishing with 87 receptions (114 targets) for 952 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. Reed became one of Cousins’ favorite targets on offense, making defenses game plan for him.

Cousins completed 76.3 percent of his passes to Reed with a quarterback rating of 129.0 and a lone interception. Let’s not forget Cousins had 29 touchdowns on the season, so more than a third of his touchdown passes went to Reed. But looking deeper into the numbers, Cousins targeted Reed a lot on early downs. When it came to first and 10’s this season, Reed had 54 receptions (72 targets) for 691 receiving yards, three touchdowns and in process got 29 first downs receiving.

Another reason Washington was successful this season was many of their drives ended with an offensive score. This season, Washington’s offense was ranked 12th in the league in percentage of drives ending in an offensive score with 36.1 percent. In comparison to last season, Washington’s offense was ranked 25th in the NFL only having 29.7 percent of drives ending in an offensive score.

Reed was an integral part of Washington’s offensive drives this season ending in an offensive score as he was targeted 41 times in the red zone for 28 receptions for 193 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. He became a matchup problem for opposing team’s linebackers and we all saw that on full display when Washington was looking to clinch the NFC East Week 16 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Reed had no problem going up against linebackers Mychal Kendricks and Kiko Alonso, torching them for 129 receiving yards on nine receptions and two touchdowns. Washington went on to win the game 38-24 with a playoff berth in the bag.

Obviously in that game against Philadelphia and others, Reed has become of a reliable target for Cousins, especially when Washington was trailing with four minutes to go. In that time span, Reed was targeted 24 times for 18 receptions to along with 197 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. We are seeing tight ends become a factor in the red zone in the past few years and the most successful teams in the league have their tight end as one the main contributors.

Just look at the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers for example. Tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Greg Olsen were targeted a lot throughout the season. Gronkowski was targeted 120 times catching 72 passes for 1,176 receiving yards with 11 touchdowns. On the other side, Olsen had 77 receptions (124 targets) for 1,104 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.

Reed isn't in the same class of tight end as Gronkowski or Olsen, but it shows the type of potential he has if he keeps developing and growing with Cousins.

But if this was last season, I would feel differently about Reed’s potential. Last season with three different quarterbacks (Colt McCoy, Griffin III and Cousins), Reed was able to adjust and be successful despite having no touchdown receptions. In 2014, he was only targeted 65 times for 50 receptions and 465 receiving yards.

But after the way he has played this season, I think you have to include Reed in the group of young tight ends with Philadelphia’s Zach Ertz and Kansas City’s Travis Kelce. Coincidentally, all three tight ends were all a part of the 2013 NFL Draft class. This season, Ertz had 75 receptions (112 targets) for 853 receiving yards and two touchdowns. While Kelce had 72 receptions (103 targets) for 875 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

Due to their fantastic starts to their careers, both Ertz and Kelce were signed to contract extensions. On Monday, Ertz was signed to a five-year, $42.5 million contract extension and on Friday, Kelce was signed to a five-year, $46 million contract extension according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Right now, both Ertz’s and Kelce’s AAV for 2016 ranks in the top five among tight ends. Currently, Reed’s AAV for 2016 ranks 49th with $690,000, but that is due to change in a few weeks, after Washington decides what they want to do with Cousins. 

The future for Reed, Cousins and Washington is on the upwards trend heading into the 2016 season. They probably won’t be the favorites in 2016 as the NFC East is an up and down division but if Jordan Reed produces how he did this season, then Washington may be a force to be reckon with once again.