Commanders should look to familiar faces for TE help in 2023

Could Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy look to some familiar faces for tight end help after Armani Rogers' serious injury?

Who here remembers Emanuel Hall? It wasn’t all that long ago that the Washington Commanders (then known as the Washington Football Team) signed him as a free agent after very brief stints with the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Washington liked his 6-foot-2 frame and his sub-4.4-second time in the 40-yard dash. This was heading into the 2020 season, and the receiving corps was very thin. Could this athletically gifted wide receiver who had averaged almost 25 yards per catch during his junior year at Missouri turn into a real steal?

Some thought he had a genuine shot. That is until he tore his Achilles six months later.

A torn Achilles knocks you out for a full year, and even when you come back, there is often a long period before you get back to full strength. For a relatively unknown player like Hall, it robbed him of his one big chance to show what he could do.

By the time he was healthy again, the team – and the league – had moved on. Last I heard, Hall had a cup of coffee in the USFL. He’s 26 years old now and likely finished with professional football.

We are all hoping that Commanders' tight end Armani Rogers will not suffer the same fate. The rangy college quarterback who looked to follow in the footsteps of Logan Thomas and transition to tight end in the NFL, suffered a torn Achilles this week during OTAs. He is out for the year.

Cole Turner and Curtis Hodges are the immediate candidates to pick up the slack left by Rogers’ absence. And we have already written about a handful of free agents who might be signed to provide competition and depth. I have two additional options in mind.

The first is far more likely. So let’s start there…