

Redskins safety DeAngelo Hall says he doesn’t know what his NFL future holds beyond this season. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)

For once, DeAngelo Hall isn't sure what to say.

He rubs one hand over his black beard, stares off into the distance and, after a few beats, finally shakes his head.

"It's weird I'm in Week 16 and I really haven't had that conversation with myself," the veteran safety says.

The Washington Redskins' season is quickly coming to a close, yet Hall isn't sure whether Sunday's matchup with Denver will be his last home game with the franchise. Nor does he know whether their season finale against the New York Giants on New Year's Eve will mark his final week with the burgundy and gold.

In a locker room littered with young talent still finding its way on an ever-changing roster, Hall, 34, is the old sage positioned at the entrance of the room — equal parts professor, talent evaluator and calming spirit.

But at his core, he's a baller.

The married father of six has openly expressed an interest in eventually transitioning to the Redskins' front office, even sharing his vision of a potential personnel gig with team President Bruce Allen.

"I want to be a [general manager]. If John Lynch can do it, I can do it," Hall says, referring to the former NFL defensive back turned broadcaster who became the San Francisco 49ers' GM last offseason despite glaring inexperience. "I've probably made more football decisions and moves and sat in more meetings than John Lynch had before he got that job. And the people who sat in the meetings with me know.

"But I've got a couple other things going," he adds, flashing a smile. "Hell, I might put a group together, too, opposite Diddy, and go buy the [Carolina] Panthers."

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Hall has options. But football keeps calling him.

He delayed retirement and instead entered his 14th NFL season focused on a playoff run with Washington, the organization he joined in 2008. Now, with the Redskins limping toward another disappointing finish, Hall again faces an offseason of uncertainty. Despite his many intangibles — most notably as a respected locker-room leader — Hall very well could be seen as expendable because of his age, his injury history and the Redskins' roster needs.

The organization asked him to take to a pay cut, from $4.25 million to $1.95 million, entering this final year of his deal. Injuries have forced him to miss all but five games this season, and he has 14 tackles and two passes defensed. Hall played in just three games during the 2016 season. He will soon have to decide whether it's finally time to hang it up.

"I'm sure people probably assume it because I haven't been playing, but I don't know," says Hall, who flexed his broadcasting muscles this past offseason, appearing as an analyst for various outlets. "I'll reexamine things after the season and figure out where I am, if I want to keep going. And I'll cross that bridge when I get there. But I don't know yet. I don't know."



The 2017 season has been a frustrating one for Hall. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

The more he talks about his transition from outright starter to rotational player, and the mounting frustration of missing the playoffs more times than he cares to count, Hall sounds less and less like a man ready to walk away. Instead, by the end of this 15-minute conversation, he sounds like a man on a mission.

And finding "the right situation" is his priority.

Hall's goal is to have a Hall of Fame career — "I want a gold jacket," he says — but he knows he's not in that rare company yet: "I've got to make a couple more plays to put myself in that category," he notes.

But before he can get to Canton, he first must determine his immediate future and whether that involves Ashburn. "I've been here 10 years now and . . . I don't know," he says before his voice trails off. "It's definitely frustrating, at times, to not be playing in the postseason. I still love the game. I've still got a bitter taste in my mouth, so I want to get that out."

He still has something to prove. To others. To himself.

The eighth overall pick in 2004, Hall had grown accustomed to being seen as "The Guy." But that all changed when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last year against the Giants in Week 3. He entered this season on the physically unable to perform list while free agent signee D.J. Swearinger and 2016 second-round pick Su'a Cravens were slotted as the team's new starting safeties.

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At times, Hall, the team's Ed Block Courage Award winner, felt like a forgotten man who would "walk on eggshells" because he was "almost afraid to make a mistake." There were days he'd purposely stand in the back during team walk-throughs, only to be told he'd be starting that week. "And it's like, 'Oh, I thought I was just filling in for somebody last week. All right, cool.' "

Having torn his Achilles' tendon in 2014, rehabbing through toe and groin injuries in 2015 and returning from the torn knee ligament last season, Hall relishes every opportunity to play. But this season has been particularly frustrating, he says.



Says Hall of his future: “I’m going to go to a great situation. I’m going to go to a situation where I feel like I can help a team win.” (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)

When he was activated off PUP on Nov. 3 — two days before the Redskins' surprising 17-14 win in Seattle — Hall practiced with the scout-team defense, "which is really slow-paced, slow tempo. It really does nothing to get you ready to play," he says. "So to do that for four or five days and then be told that you're going to start this week and you're going to return punts — after 15 months of doing nothing, that was a tall order. And I appreciate the opportunity, and I played pretty good, but I was definitely a little sore for the next couple of weeks."

Hall would like to see how his body responds to an offseason of training — a "luxury" he hasn't experienced the past couple of years — and to come into training camp "ready to compete and fight." More than anything, though, he wants an opportunity to "really be who I think I can be" in some team's secondary.

"I would like to just go in, fight for a spot and, if it's my spot, it's my spot. I'm the starter, and that's that," says Hall, who in June moved his family from Atlanta, their home since 2004. "Not subbing in and out with guys . . . I don't have time for that. We shall see. I'm going to go to a great situation. I'm going to go to a situation where I feel like I can help a team win."

He doesn't know where the road will take him next. But, as he sees it, there will always be front-office jobs, TV work and coaching gigs. And Hall wants to be sure he's done with football before walking away for good.

"All that stuff will still be there, so I don't feel like I'm pushing anything off," he says. "I just feel like I'm taking advantage of what's in front of me."