Washington Football Team: Latest update on Curtis Samuel is worrisome

The Washington Football Team is currently preparing for its first preseason game on Thursday night, when they’ll take on the revamped New England Patriots in primetime.

Ron Rivera came out on Sunday and said that fans should expect the first team, including quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, to at least start the game. It’s unclear how the rotation will shake out, but at least fans have something to look forward too, right?

Truth be told, having Washington football back is satisfying enough and the buzz out of training camp has been unrelenting, so watching the subs really wouldn’t be the worst thing.

But you get the point. While fans shouldn’t take too much away from the matchup — it’ll essentially be a glorified scrimmage — Rivera’s latest comments on Curtis Samuel’s status for that game, and the entire preseason in general, was extremely disconcerting.

Let’s just say we’ll be lucky to see Samuel at all this preseason.

Ron Rivera’s update on Curtis Samuel wasn’t what we were expecting.

We questioned Samuel’s recovery just a few days ago, and it turns out those concerns were warranted, because the Football Team’s prized free agent signing (other than William Jackson) doesn’t appear close to returning with the start of preseason just days away.

While it helps Samuel that he’s been coached by Rivera and played in Scott Turner’s offensive system in Carolina, being familiar with a playbook and actually executing it on the field are two entirely different entities. The former second-round pick is also missing valuable time to build up his conditioning and work off the offseason rust, both of which are significant.

The last thing fans of the Football Team want is for Samuel to begin that process in the final regular preseason game…or worse, Week 1 of the regular season. Have we mentioned that Samuel still has to develop chemistry with a new QB? That doesn’t happen overnight.

Unfortunately for WFT fans, the outlook regarding Samuel worsened as the day went on, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that, while the 24-year-old should be removed from the COVID list this week, his nagging groin injury is still preventing him from being activated.

We knew something wasn’t right!

The Football Team never clarified the details behind Samuel’s groin injury, which he sustained during mandatory minicamp on June 2. All they said was that it was a minor injury and he felt a “twinge” in his groin. Either that assessment was inaccurate or the injury worsened over time, which happens with muscular injuries from time to time.

Whatever the case, don’t expect to see Samuel in uniform until Week 3 of the preseason at the absolute earliest. In the meantime, all fans can do is trust Washington’s medical team and hope the big-play receiver gets through the next few weeks without suffering a setback.

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