Reports: Derrius Guice suffered a hamstring injury, questionable for the start of camp

Derrius Guice spent all of his rookie year recovering from an ACL tear. Now, he has reportedly been dealing with a hamstring injury that could sideline him at the start of training camp.

The Washington Redskins were hopeful last season that Derrius Guice would emerge as their starting running back. The LSU product, selected in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft, was considered to be one of the better running backs in the draft. He fell into the Redskins’ lap after trading down, and getting both he and Daron Payne seemed like an excellent move.

However, Guice missed his first season after suffering an ACL tear in the 2018 preseason. It happened in the team’s first game. With Guice out, Adrian Peterson carried the load for the offense with a parade of other running backs factoring in as well.

With a full year off to recover, Guice was expected to compete for the starting job moving forward. And that competition will begin during training camp. That said, according to Erin Hawksworth of 106.7 The Fan, Guice did recently suffer a hamstring injury and may not be quite ready to start camp.

The Fan’s Craig Hoffman also weighed in on the news, confirming Hawksworth’s report but also adding some extra context to the report.

So, Guice’s injury doesn’t seem to be too recent, so perhaps he will be able to get on the field early in camp and at least showcase his skills. Either way, as Hoffman pointed out, the team was already going to be keeping a close eye on Guice, so that doesn’t change much regarding that.

Still, the hamstring injury is a bit discouraging as soft-tissue injury do tend to linger a bit. Because of this, Guice will need to be extra careful about taking maintenance for that injury as well as rehabbing his ACL. He still has plenty of time to get healthy before the season, but he needs to make sure he doesn’t overdo it.

With Guice’s injuries stacking up a bit, this could give a bit more credence to the argument that Guice and Peterson should split carries to start the season. Easing Guice in before giving him a full workload would make sense. And given how Peterson performed last year, it’s a good idea to keep giving him touches as well.

We’ll keep a close eye on Guice in the coming weeks, and it’s possible that this hamstring concern may not even matter too much. Guice should certainly be one of the top players to watch during training camp given the importance that he could hold as a potential young featured back in the offense.