Washington Football Team padded practice highlights: Day 3

We’re back to “pad” your offseason optimism / pessimism — whatever you may prefer — with our Day 3 updates of the Washington Football Team’s padded practices!

The Washington Football Team carried on with its 2020 training camp padded practice session today, embarking on Day 3 of heightened action. It’s only the beginning of Ron Rivera’s tenure with the team, but already, we’re starting to see a shift in how things operate.

Below are some of the highlights from Day 3 of Washington’s padded practice session. The Washington Football Team will be off tomorrow, so they’ll start back up on Sunday with more 2020 regular season preparation. These details should hold you over until then.

Washington Football padded practice Day 3 highlights

Guys are starting to loosen up. There’s always a bit of an acclimation period when there’s a new coaching staff in town, but it looks like guys are starting to get more comfortable as training camp rolls on. In the words of Fabian Moreau, who now dons the No. 25 jersey, “it’s a goooooood day”.

https://twitter.com/WashingtonNFL/status/1296433221777985537

Troy Apke, by the way, was the starting free safety for the third straight day today. It’s never a good idea to overreact in training camp, good or bad, but it almost looks like he’s the favorite there. If he gets opportunities, he has the elite athleticism to develop quickly.

The return of bee jokes. Ryan Bee made a play today. You can imagine what happened next.

Per Rhiannon Walker, Bee swatted a pass from UDFA quarterback Steven Montez, using his length to get in the way of the throwing lane. If Washington decides to keep five interior defensive linemen for the 2020 season, Bee could leverage his strong play into a look. He’s 6-foot-7, 280 pounds, and he’s a very solid athlete for his size.

Bee would end up leaving practice with a stinger.

Okay, moving on.

Off day for the offense. You can’t spell “offense” without “off”. And the Washington Football Team’s offense was indeed off today. Reporters have made clear that the defensive line is making life tough for the team’s offensive line. Dwayne Haskins threw his first interception of camp, and all quarterbacks had their ups and downs.

Off days aren’t supposed to draw headlines, nor are good days. Training camp is a good time to get the wrinkles out and shake off the rust, and it appears as though some players are doing that. If they have a good day, cool, but what really counts is carrying it over to the regular season. Making mistakes is a part of building comfort and ensuring they don’t happen as often in the future.

You also can’t spell “defense” without “def”. I don’t know if that means anything, though.

More movement on the offensive line. Cornelius Lucas and Timon Parris filled in for Geron Christian and Morgan Moses at the tackle spots, but it may have just been a day off for Chrisitian and Moses, as opposed to a lineup change. Neither Moses nor Christian suited up today, potentially taking a veteran’s day off, as Adrian Peterson and Thomas Davis did yesterday.

Kendall Fuller has indigestion. The Washington Football Team mic’d up newly-signed defensive back Kendall Fuller. Turns out, the most noise he made wasn’t even talking.

Hey, if I had to go up against Terry McLaurin every snap, my stomach would be kind of upset, too. And I still burp more. My parents can attest to that. It’s not a competition, though.

Here’s the full mic’d up video for Kendall Fuller. There’s actually a cool moment in here where Fuller has a little teaching moment with Fabian Moreau. He’s definitely bringing his expertise and versatility back to Washington as an asset for the defense.

Cam Sims comes back into the spotlight. If you’re trying to keep track of the competitors at wide receiver, you might need to re-tally Cam Sims. Sims was name-dropped by Ron Rivera a few days ago, and today, he used his 6-foot-5 frame to guard against sticky coverage from Jimmy Moreland.

Sims flashed in preseason two years ago, but was inconsistent in 2019’s preseason session, and was subsequently relegated to the practice squad. The Washington Football Team could use a player with his size and experience on the boundary, but with the receiver room being so tightly-packed and congested, Sims can’t let off the gas.

Shaun Dion Hamilton shines on the first team. Washington has been rotating linebackers on the first team, and today, Alabama product Shaun Dion Hamilton got his shot, and he made it count. Hamilton logged an instinctive pass deflection — one of the best in camp, by Rhiannon Walker’s admission — and also blew up a designed QB run for Haskins.

Hamilton has flashed upside over the years, and if he keeps making plays in camp, perhaps he’ll get an extended shot.

Defensive backs coach Chris Harris brings the energy. Per Rhiannon Walker, newly-hired defensive backs coach Chris Harris has been very vocal at training camp, getting after players and pushing them to be more opportunistic.

Apparently, seventh-round rookie Kamren Curl dropped an interception in today’s session, and Harris exclaimed “you don’t like nice things??” at least two times. He did the same for Greg Stroman later on, and Stroman responded by picking off Haskins. It’s nice to have a coaching staff that appears more energetic and active in its players’ progress.

Shades of what’s to come under Scott Turner. There have been whispers that Scott Turner’s offense will be a very intriguing mix of misdirections, play script wrinkles, and exploitations of versatility, and today, we got a glimpse of what might be in store in 2020. Walker, once again, has the details:

https://twitter.com/InstantRHIplay/status/1296450370605133825

Sims and Gibson both boast exciting versatility, and Gibson in particular has a ton of upside with his athletic parameters. Turner is wasting no time implementing Gibson into these kinds of balance-disrupting looks. Not every execution is going to be perfect, but the hope is that Gibson’s explosiveness will eventually allow the team to get very creative on game days.

That’s it for the updates from Day 3! Washington has a day off tomorrow — subsequently, you have a day off from my bad puns — and then it’s back to preseason action in Ashburn!