Rob Kelley set to miss at least a month with toe injury, could go on IR

Rob Kelley has gotten nicked up easily in the past two seasons. He hurt his toe in Week 2 and the Redskins will be without him for a while.

Offensive issues are starting to pile up against for the Redskins. After losing to the Colts, their squad needs a lot of fine-tuning. Alex Smith didn’t look good. The team isn’t pleased with their receivers and signed a couple of players to join the roster. Their offensive line wasn’t very good in Week 2 either. And, oh yeah, they suffered another injury.

Rob Kelley, one of the team’s depth players at running back, suffered a toe injury after seeing one carry against the Colts. He wouldn’t return to the contest, and it’s sounding like the injury could sideline him for quite some time.

According to multiple sources, Kelley is expected to miss at least a month with the injury. And per NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay, Kelley’s roster spot is expected to “open up.” That would seem to imply that Kelley might go on IR, and it wouldn’t be surprising if that happened.

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It’s worth noting that the Redskins do have to make another roster move before they officially sign Michael Floyd. It’s quite possible that the corresponding move could be to move Kelley to IR and either slap him with the “Designated for Return” tag or just stash him there for the season.

Either way, Kelley won’t be missed much by the Redskins. He offers a bit on special teams and has shown the ability to generate positive yardage. That said, his vision isn’t very good and too often, he just tries to push the pile ahead for a couple yards. That’s a good mentality to have, but not one that will allow him to stay healthy for a full season.

With Kelley projected to be out, Samaje Perine will get a chance to step into the backup runner role. He’ll work into the rotation with Adrian Peterson and Chris Thompson and while Perine may not see a lot of carries, he should have a chance to do well. In the preseason, he showed better burst and decisive one-cut ability and good vision. In fact, if he had stayed healthy, it’s possible that Peterson may not have been signed by the Redskins.

Perine isn’t going to entirely fix the problems the Redskins had in Week 2, but he will at least give them a better third option than Kelley. He has more upside and elusive ability, so provided that he can secure the ball, he may be able to earn the trust of Jay Gruden.

At the end of the day, the Kelley injury isn’t a huge deal. He was one of the more replaceable players on the offense and Perine actually may be an upgrade over him. And in the event that the team wants to add another RB to the roster, they can promote Kapri Bibbs from the practice squad. Things may not look rosy at running back for the Redskins, but losing Kelley isn’t that big of a deal.