Report: Joshua Holsey suffers foot injury, may not be ready to start season

Joshua Holsey suffered a blow to his roster chances after a freak accident left him with an injured foot.

The Washington Redskins are stacked with young talent at the cornerback position. In the wake of drafting Adonis Alexander, the team had a whopping six first-or-second-year players on their active roster. Given that the team is only likely to carry six corners total during the season, it made it highly probable that the team was going to have to cut one of the young players they liked.

One of the guys who was, and is, firmly on the bubble is Joshua Holsey. The former seventh-rounder from Auburn played sparingly as a rookie and mostly saw action on special teams. However, he was lauded for his intelligence and some liked the potential he showed in the slot. There were high hopes for him coming into the year, and training camp was going to be a chance for him to deliver.

Unfortunately, as NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport reported, Holsey is going to start the season on the PUP or NFI list. Holsey suffered a foot injury in a very unlucky manner.

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This is obviously bad news for Holsey’s chances of making the final roster. If he can’t compete for a spot, other players are going to have a chance to breeze past him, as there is a lot of young talent on the squad.

Holsey was mostly competing with Virginia Tech rookies Greg Stroman and the aforementioned Alexander for the fifth and sixth spots. Since Holsey reportedly won’t be on the field, the duo will get more reps to prove that they belong on the team. Given that Alexander was a value pick in the supplemental draft and Stroman’s abilities as a return man, Holsey figures to lose a spot to the two of them.

I always had Holsey on the outside looking in for my roster projections. He certainly is a good player with upside, but of the group, he just seemed to be the least versatile of the depth guys. Given how important versatility is in the modern NFL, Holsey was always facing an uphill battle.

If Holsey can’t recover from this injury in time to start the season, he will remain on the PUP or NFI list. After that, it’s anybody’s guess as to what happens. If he ends up being unable to play this season, the Redskins will stash him on IR and hope that he can compete for a job in 2019, when Josh Norman might no longer be with the team. But if he gets healthy, his future outlook is uncertain.

Holsey’s story is far from over. This is a frustrating development, but the young Redskin may get a chance to shine at some point in the near future. Here’s hoping that he gets well soon.