Washington Redskins part with 4 as they continue to pare down roster

The Washington Redskins made six transactions on Monday afternoon as they continued to remake their roster.

After the 2018 NFL Draft, there is often a lot of movement for teams as they try to fill out their 53-man rosters. Normally, the draft is a time to patch up weaknesses and then once they are patched, ineffective players at the position are left off the squad. And the Washington Redskins were one of the teams that were making a lot of moves on Monday afternoon.

The big moves that the team made were releasing Terrell McClain and A.J. Francis. Both defensive linemen played roles in the rotation last season, but they were pushed out of the rotation by adding Da’Ron Payne and Tim Settle in the draft. The release of McClain got the most attention, but a few more moves were made that flew under the radar.

Per ESPN’s John Keim, the Redskins waived three players and outright released another. Here’s what he said about the transaction on Twitter.

These moves were probably likely to happen anyway, but the team’s success in the draft certainly expedited them.

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Of the players named, the most notable one was Montori Hughes. The former New York Giant and Indianapolis Colt had the potential to possibly play the nose tackle position, so there were some who thought he may have a chance at making the team. However, adding Payne and Settle made them three-deep at the nose tackle position, so Hughes had no spot on the team as he wasn’t likely to beat out Phil Taylor for the spot.

The other notable player is James Sample. Sample had played in four career games with the Jacksonville Jaguars and had a productive college career at Louisville. He would have had a chance to earn a backup safety role with the team had they not been able to land Troy Apke in the draft and Quin Blanding as an underrated, undrafted free agent. Because of the addition of those two, the Redskins were able to part with Sample.

As for Cassanova McKinzy and Chris Bazile, they were also long-shots to make the roster. Both the linebacker and tight end positions are fairly deep, so the Redskins elected to go with some younger camp bodies over McKinzy and Bazile. That was almost certainly the right move.

Next: Could Bruce Allen join the Oakland Raiders?

At the day, these moves are mostly inconsequential. But, it does open up some more spots on the 90-man roster. So, keep an eye on the Redskins as they look to continue to fill up their roster throughout the offseason. We’ll cover every roster move they make her at Riggo’s Rag.