Redskins Rumors: Mack Brown to be active for Sunday’s game against Raiders

Mack Brown has been inactive for the first two games of the Washington Redskins 2017 season. That may change on Sunday night.

Mack Brown has become a fan favorite in Washington over the course of the past couple of seasons. In the 2016 preseason, Brown was one of the top performers in the entire NFL and looked to have locked up a roster spot. However, he ended up being among the team’s final cuts and was placed on the practice squad.

After being brought up halfway through the 2016 season, Brown saw limited action for the team, but made the most of it. He carried the ball just eight times, but he managed to total 82 yards including an impressing 61 yard touchdown burst against the Bears. There was some hope that coming into 2017, Brown would be ready for a bigger role in the backfield. That has yet to be the case.

Once again, Brown showed some potential in the preseason, but the Redskins have yet to play him. They did keep him on the 53-man roster as their fourth running back, but he has been on the inactives list for each of the first two weeks of the season. It appears that is going to change on Sunday night.

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Per CSN Mid-Atlantic’s JP Finlay, Brown is likely to suit up along with the rest of the running backs on the active roster. Finlay tweeted the following on Friday.

This makes a great deal of sense considering Rob Kelley‘s injury. Though it appears that Kelley is going to be ready to play, he is dealing with some pain. He did suffer a rib injury, and those can be hard to overcome, especially if he continues to take hard hits. Kelley made be in line for a reduced workload, which would give more carries to Samaje Perine, but it would also mix Brown into the rotation a bit.

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As talented as Chris Thompson is, his 5-foot-8 frame prohibits him from handling a full workload with the team. As a result, the Redskins frequently limit his carries and focus on utilizing him in the passing game. If Kelley tries to play through his injury but can’t, Perine will handle a brunt of the carries, but the rookie may not be ready to tote the rock 30 times. Brown would be worked in for 5-10 carries in that circumstance at that would give him a chance to prove that he belongs on the active roster for game days down the road.

The one question left to answer is, if Brown is active, who will take his spot on the inactives list? The Redskins don’t seem to have any players who are likely to miss the game, though five starters are questionable this week. In all likelihood, the most sensible option for the inactives list would be Chris Carter.

Carter is a great special teams player, but he is the fifth outside linebacker on the depth chart right now. Given that Brown is solid on special teams, that would be the most sensible swap, as Carter really doesn’t have to see the field on defense for the Redskins to field a successful pass rush.

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Overall, this is good news for the Mack Brown fan club. Brown is going to get a chance to be active, which is the first step to winning a role in the backfield. This could be a big game for him, and it will be interesting to see how the team utilizes him, if he is indeed active.