Redskins add two more players on reserve/future contracts

The Washington Redskins continued to add to their roster on Thursday. They signed Russell Hansbrough and Darius James to reserve/future contracts.

For the next few weeks, the Redskins are going to keep adding players to their roster. They are in the midst of expanding their roster to 90 men, and the way to do that will be to add players on reserve/futures contracts. These contracts are signed before the official start of the league year (mid-March) but teams can start adding players that weren’t on NFL rosters in 2018 via that mechanism.

These players aren’t always the most inspiring names. They’re often younger players with some upside that have struggled in the league so far. Or, they’re veterans that may just be proving that they have something in the tank. At the very least, these players end up being camp bodies, so there is some value in adding them.

According to ESPN’s John Keim, the Redskins added two more players on these contracts early Thursday evening. With running back Russell Hansbrough and offensive lineman Darius James now in the fold, the team has nine players inked to reserve/future deals.

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It is going to be very hard for either Hansbrough or James to make the Redskins final roster.

Hansbrough has bounced around the NFL since coming into the league as an undrafted free agent in 2016. He has never seen a carry in an NFL game, but he has been on the Buccaneers, Giants, and Chargers over the course of the past three seasons. The Redskins signed him to the practice squad this season after they released Kapri Bibbs.

Hansbrough is still just 25, but he doesn’t have a ton of upside left. After all, he’s been in the league for three seasons now and hasn’t proven himself at any of his four stops. Washington will be his last chance to do so. He’ll have a lot of RB depth to compete with, so don’t expect him to be anything more than a camp body.

As for James, he played collegiately at both Texas and Auburn. He was a former-five star prospect who did well with the Tigers, but injury issues plagued him during his college career. He had a chance to catch on with the Jets in the preseason this year, but he didn’t stick.

James isn’t a bad addition by any means. The team needs some offensive line depth, and there’s a chance that the 6-foot-4, 324-pound man could be developed into a quality lineman. That said, the injury issues could continue to be a problem for him, so it’s more likely that he will fight for a spot on the practice squad in the coming months.

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As is usually the case with these types of deals, the signings aren’t bad. But they’re not inspiring either. We’ll see if either of these guys can surprise the Redskins further down the line.

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