Edge rusher Noah Spence visited the Redskins on Tuesday, per report
The Washington Redskins reportedly worked out former Tampa Bay Buccaneers edge rusher Noah Spence on Tuesday.
The Washington Redskins are continuing to do their due diligence on players available throughout the league. This is a process that is common in the NFL as teams look to survey the market in case injury issues force them to add players at specific positions, so the Redskins will likely hold many workouts for players as the season goes along.
On Tuesday, the team reportedly worked out a young edger rusher who has some upside. That was former Tampa Bay Buccaneers rush linebacker Noah Spence.
ESPN’s Jenna Laine was the first to report that Spence had worked out with the Redskins.
Former Bucs outside linebacker and second-round draft pick Noah Spence is working out for the Redskins on Tuesday, per a source. He also visited with the Bills last week. https://t.co/paErmNAKhA
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) September 9, 2019
The former second-round pick in 2016 played his college ball at Ohio State before transferring to Eastern Kentucky. As a rookie in ’16, Spence (6-foot-2, 251 pounds) logged 5.5 sacks and looked like he was on his way to becoming an effective pass rushing specialist at the very least. However, over the course of the next two years, he was only able to log a single sack in 18 games played. The Bucs released him this offseason despite the fact that the team had moved to a 3-4 defense which better suited his skill set.
Getting a look at Spence was a smart move for the Redskins. After all, he is still just 25 years old and has plenty of athletic potential. Had he impressed in the workouts, they could have considered bringing him aboard as a fifth rush linebacker option to see if he could develop as a part of the defense.
That said, the Redskins wouldn’t likely pick up Spence as anything more than a potential project player. They already have solid depth on the edge as Ryan Kerrigan, Montez Sweat, Ryan Anderson, and preseason star Cassanova McKinzy have formed a solid edge rotation. Spence would probably have to be inactive on game day, so adding him to the team might not make sense at this point in time.
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Perhaps if the Redskins like Spence enough, they could consider offering him a practice squad spot. But in all likelihood, this workout was just the team doing due diligence. If a need on the edge emerges at any point this season, maybe the Redskins will call Spence to have him fill in as a depth player on the roster.