First New Depth Chart
By daveskins
Sorry for not even mentioning the scrimmage the last couple of days. The Rag staff is all at the beach this week. I hate commenting on things I don’t actually see.
Anyway, the Redskins released their depth chart for thus far in the preseason. There were few surprises, but let’s look at it:
Offense
QB: Campbell, Brunell, Collins- Not a surprise, but I’m sad we cut Casey Bramlett. I don’t know what more a 3rd string QB can do to show he’s ready. Collins seems to be a nice guy and obviously knows the offense, but isn’t the 3rd QB slot supposed to be developmental? Speaking of developmental, it looks like Jordan Palmer’s last name and relative youth earned him a practice squad slot.
HB- Portis, Betts, Cartright- Nothing of note.
FB- Mike Sellers, Pete Schmitt, Brian Bell- My only problem with this list is that I’m having trouble finding Nemo. I know he’s hurt, but as you soon will see other injured players like Chris Samuels are still in their slots. I was under the impression we were slotting Nemo in at backup FB. It looks like the accumulated injuries may have cost him a roster slot.
LT- Samuels, Whitley, Heyers- Just a couple of days ago, Joe Bugel said that he would rather move Fabini out to LT than start undrafted rookie Heyers out there. On Saturday, Heyers is starting out there. In just a few days he’s making a serious impression. Looks like we have a serious find in the undrafted free agent market. That was a mark of the old winning Gibbs teams.
LG- Wade, Fabini, no one- Hrmm…not a singe guard there. Over the years, the Skins have certainly had tackles who could play guard and vice versa. I suppose it isn’t as hard as it sounds, but I’d feel comfortable if we had someone whose natural position was LG on the roster.
C- Rabach, Pucillio, Tucker- I’m knowledgeable, but honestly I don’t have anything to say about the 3rd string center on any team.
RG- Thomas, Whittacker, Lefotu- Whittacker may still be the find we blogged about earlier. Thomas is getting healthy. I think we’re ok here.
RT- Jon Jansen, Calvin Armstrong- Jansen is rock and thank god because if Fabini can’t play tackle, we’re counting on Heyer and either Whitley (who is getting passed up for the start) or Calvin Armstrong who doesn’t seem that special.
WR- Moss, Thrash, Berman- Berman hits the practice squad, Thrash is the 4th receiver until Bradford gets up to speed with the offense. Thrash is great at special teams guy and probably makes the team.
WR- Randle-El, Lloyd, Espy- This is interesting because Lloyd has been talking about the fact that there was no competition and he was the #2 WR. Obviously not. Let’s hope this doesn’t hurt his attitude which has been great this year. Espy is the interesting case because he has supposedly been very impressive, but he may be the odd man out if we keep Thrash for special teams.
TE- Cooley, Yoder, Edwards- Cooley is the man, and the rest is just blocking.
Defense
LE- Daniels, Wynn, Buzbee- I like the depth here. I think Wynn is the better run stopper and Daniels is the better pass rusher. That makes a better rotation sometimes than one starter who might tire out.
LDT-Griffin, Montgomery, Shaw- No surprise.
RDT- Golston, Salave’a, Boschetti- No surprise here, either.
RDE- Carter, Evans, Wilson- A lot rides on Carter this year. Much has been made about how he had a big second half and that it took awhile to learn the defense. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a d-lineman saying a defense was hard to learn. This sort of smells of an excuse to me. But let’s be optimistic because if Carter has a good year, that will help the team immensely.
WLB- McIntosh, Marshall, Trucks- We’ll end up keeping just McIntosh and Marshall. We’re set here. Marshall moves back to his natural position and Rocky seems ready to start being a force.
MLB- Fletcher, Blades, Jones- The real backup MLB is Marshall. But Blades looks like he’s going to stick on the roster.
SLB- Washington, Campbell, Sartz- Sartz is heading to the practice squad unless he makes a special teams impact.
LCB- Springs, Smoot, Butler- I love this depth. LOVE IT. Even though Smoot was losing a step in Minnesota, he’s a great nickel back and Butler as the 5th corner is just wonderful. We will not have a repeat of last year’s CB woes, and that should help the defense a lot.
RCB- Rogers, Macklin, Jimoh- Again, fabulous depth. Macklin at the dime and Jimoh making special teams contributions while we hope there are no injuries. But if there are, Jimoh is more than ready to play the dime. Its when he gets pushed higher that he’s exposed.
SS- Prioleau, Landry, Fox- I’m glad Prioleau is getting his chance to start, because he got a raw deal with the injury on the opening kickoff last year. Landry will be starting by week 8, but at least he gets a shot to show what he can do.
FS- Taylor, Doughty- Prioleau is basically the backup at both saefty spots once Landry becomes the starter. Otherwise, not much to say. Sean will rack up the tackles and if he stops biting on the play action so much, he’ll be the best saefty in the league.
There it is. Not too many surprises, but you’ve gotta like the depth this year and some of the nice finds. And of course, there are 4 preseason games to juggle the roster even more so keep coming back here for any news that pops up.
-DW