Washington Football Team: Latest roster moves brings clarity to TE position

The Washington Football Team made it a point of emphasis this offseason to bolster their tight end arsenal behind Logan Thomas.

Entering training camp, however, they almost had an abundance of options, including fourth-round pick John Bates, former Chilean basketball star Sammis Reyes, journeyman Temmarick Hemingway, fifth-year pro Ricky Seals-Jones and Caleb Wilson, a seventh-round pick of the Cardinals last year.

Most projections have Thomas, Bates and Reyes making the 53-man roster and it appears Washington took a step closer to making that a reality.

On Thursday morning, the Football Team surprisingly released Hemingway and re-signed center Jon Toth, whom they cut on Tuesday.

The Football Team released tight end Temarrick Hemingway.

It wasn’t necessarily a surprise to see Washington pull the plug on Hemingway. We just presumed he’d get the axe during the final round of cuts, when rosters have to be reduced from 80 to 53 players by Aug. 31.

Perhaps Ron Rivera and Co. approached this similarly to how they handled Steven Sims Jr.’s release, as cutting Hemingway gives him plenty of time to find another home and potentially make a roster on a TE-needy team.

In Sims’ case, he signed with Buffalo after WR Isaiah McKenzie injured his shoulder at practice and was spotted with a sling on Wednesday.

The same thing could happen to Hemingway, who entered camp and the preseason as the frontrunner to land TE3 duties.

However, a poor performance against the Patriots in Week 1 of the preseason —  he dropped a pass and struggled to block — followed by a concussion that forced him to miss Week 2, seemed to have sealed his fate.

A former sixth-round pick of the Rams back in 2016, Hemingway hasn’t been able to find a stable home in the NFL, as he bounced around LA’s roster and the practice squad for two years before was signed to Denver’s PS in 2018.

Hemingway was waived right after the Broncos promoted him to their active roster and he was claimed by Carolina shortly thereafter. Though he didn’t make the 53-man roster, the Panthers re-signed him to a futures contract…until he was once again part of their final round of cuts.

Hemingway eventually touched down in Washington and appeared in eight games (zero starts) last season.

It’s been a tough run for Hemingway, but he have no doubts he’ll find a new home, even if it isn’t a permanent one, in the coming days/weeks.

As for the Football Team, well, barring any significant injuries, it’s looking like Thomas, Bates and Reyes will be your tight ends this year.

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