Redskins Injuries: Trent Williams has thumb surgery, likely to miss a month

Trent Williams suffered a thumb injury in the Redskins win last week. Now, it appears that he might miss the better part of the next month.

One of the most important cogs on the Redskins offense is left tackle Trent Williams. The long-time blindside starter is one of the best at his position in the league. However, in recent seasons, he has dealt with injuries that have affected his ability to stay on the field. And last week, he suffered another one.

Against the Giants, Williams suffered a thumb injury that required surgery to fix. According to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, Williams is likely to miss the next month as he recovers. That means that he will miss matchups with the Falcons, Buccaneers, Texans, and Cowboys. While that may not be ideal for the Redskins, they still have a good enough replacement and should hold up with Williams out.

Behind Williams, the team’s top reserve tackle is Ty Nsekhe. Over the course of the past couple seasons, Nsekhe has been solid when forced into action. He was better in 2016 than he was in ’17, but part of that was due to the fact that he was dealing with an injury of his own last year.

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Now fully healthy, Nsekhe should have a chance to emerge as the solid replacement he was two seasons ago. He will get a chance to start in Week 9, and he certainly is one of the players to watch in that contest.

Though Williams has a solid replacement in the starting lineup, there are two things to note about his absence. The first is that as good as Nsekhe can be, he’s not close to as good as Williams. Thus, the ‘Skins will miss the presence of their elite left tackle and may regress a bit in all aspects of blocking as a result.

Second, the team’s depth at offensive tackle is now a bit worrisome. The new swing tackle for the squad is Geron Christian. While Christian was a third-round pick this past year, he is considered to be very raw and hasn’t looked good during preseason action. The coaching staff seems to have little confidence in him, so if he’s forced to see the field, he could end up being a liability on the left side of the line.

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In short, Williams’ injury is bad news for the Redskins. They may be able to survive it, but their lack of quality depth behind Nsekhe could become a concern. Keep an eye on the o-line this Sunday, as that will be a good litmus test for what they can achieve without Williams in the lineup.

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