Redskins waive center Casey Dunn, sign linebacker Cassanova McKinzy

Despite some serious injury issues on the offensive line, the Redskins elected to part ways with Casey Dunn and add Cassanova McKinzy to the active roster. Needless to say, the move was a strange one.

The Redskins made a curious roster move on Friday in advance of this weekend’s game against the Buccaneers. Despite dealing with numerous injuries on the offensive line, the team elected to waive one of the few healthy players on the squad that had been there the whole year. They parted with Casey Dunn and elected to add Cassanova McKinzy to the active roster at the linebacker position.

Frankly speaking, this move is a weird one, and it’s fair to wonder if the team made a mistake by including Dunn on their 53-man roster.

Dunn’s performance in the preseason was far from stellar, but the undrafted rookie out of Auburn showed signs of being a good technician. He just needed to add more weight to his frame to compete at the NFL level. That said, he did a good job of working his way onto the roster. He made the team after being a part of a large tryout group, and he has stuck around ever since. That was, until today.

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My question to the Redskins is this: If the team was never going to give Dunn a shot at playing this year, then why keep him on the active roster? They could have easily stashed him on the practice squad and given him time to develop there. They have been shuffling random offensive tackles on and off the squad in recent weeks, so Dunn easily could have held down the position there. Instead, they elected to use a roster spot on him, and that has turned into a bit of a waste.

I understand that the team might have thought Dunn would develop and could potentially play if the team suffered injuries, but why didn’t they bring in one of the veterans they signed earlier if they knew Dunn wasn’t the answer this year? Jonathan Cooper was just sitting on the free agent market. He could have been added to the roster and been given time to learn the position. Instead, the team is now throwing him into the fire as the starter just days after signing him.

It would have been more practical to add one of these veterans after final cuts and stash Dunn. He definitely deserved to be with the organization, but keeping him on the active roster was a strange move since they were never actually going to play him anyway.

McKinzy’s addition will likely have minimal impact on the squad. He will provide depth at linebacker, but it doesn’t seem likely that he will be active on game days. The team already has a bunch of guys that would be ahead of him. It’s likely that the team wants extra special teams depth, just in case they need it moving forward.

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At the end of the day, this move has minimal impact on the Redskins now, as Dunn wasn’t going to see action for them. Still, it’s indicative of the little amount of confidence that the organization had in its backup offensive linemen. And the fact that they didn’t do anything more to fix the position until now is certainly frustrating.

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