Commanders sign former NFC East rival amid uncertainty at linebacker

Over the last few days, the Washington Commanders have experienced a rollercoaster of changes at linebacker. First, promising undrafted free agent linebacker Drew White suffered a torn ACL at practice, ending both his season and chances of sneaking on the 53-man roster as a depth option.

Shortly thereafter fellow UDFA Tre Walker, who’s drawn a ton of praise this offseason, abruptly announced his retirement. The decision put Washington in a (further) bind at linebacker, which was already shorthanded to begin with.

In keeping with “expect the unexpected” theme of Commanders camp, Walker ended his retirement and returned to practice the very next day.

While that was a welcome sight for Washington, the injury to White still left the team undermanned at linebacker. We speculated the injury could prompt them to finally sign a free agent and they’ve done exactly that.

On Sunday, the Commanders signed Nathan Gerry, who played the first four seasons of his career with the hated Eagles, per NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport.

The Commanders signed veteran linebacker Nathan Gerry.

With well-known commodities like Dont’a Hightower and Alexander Johnson still available, this probably wasn’t the linebacker signing Commanders fans were hoping for. However, the team has expressed confidence in its young LB room, and Gerry adds a needed veteran presence fans have been clamoring for.

A former fifth-round pick of the Eagles in 2017, Gerry has started 22 of 46 games in his career, making 163 tackles, eight tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, 10 passes defended and three interceptions. His signature season came in 2019, when he started 12 games and compiled 78 tackles, four for loss, five QB hits, five passes defended and two picks.

Gerry was on pace to post similar numbers in 2020 (he stared the first seven games) before a torn Achilles ended his season. The 49ers signed him that offseason, but he was never promoted to the active roster. He was waived in the preseason and returned to the practice squad before getting cut again in November.

Now two years removed from the injury, Gerry is seemingly ready to get his career back on track. If he’s anything like the player who showed up for the Eagles in 2019 and ’20, the Commanders will have added a quality chess piece to their LB rotation.

Again, it’s not the high-profile signing some fans wanted, but it’s important to remember Washington doesn’t play a ton of three-LB sets. Cole Holcomb and Jamin Davis will likely get the majority of snaps and Gerry will get the rest of camp (assuming he lasts that long) to prove he’s worthy of making the team.