Here is what you need to know on this Tuesday, August 29, five days before the Washington Redskins cut their roster to 53 on September 2.
Timeline
The Redskins last played a game 239 days ago; they will open the 2017 season against the Eagles at FedEx Field in 12 days.
Today’s schedule: Practice 11:45; Jay Gruden news conference and player availability after practice, approx. 1:15
Days until:
—Redskins @ Rams (9/17) 19
—Sunday night Raiders @ Redskins (9/24) 26
—Cowboys @ Redskins (10/29) 61
Redskins hot topics
—The Redskins went through the first three games of the preseason without a successful deep pass attempt. Their longest completion was 31 yards from Colt McCoy to Robert Davis against the Ravens and that was a sideline pattern, not the classic “bomb”. Yes, DeSean Jackson is gone but that shouldn't stop long passes. They did conplete 17 passes of 30 yards or longer to players not named DJax. Going deep is supposed to be something that Terrelle Pryor does well. Despite a ragtag collection of quarterbacks throwing to him, Pryor had six receptions of 35 yards or longer last year. He and Cousins made numerous deep connections in Richmond. Perhaps that is a missing element that will make things click for the offense. Look for a long Cousins pass to Pryor early against the Eagles.
—I posted my penultimate roster projection yesterday. I was curious how much it had changed from the first one I did this year, a couple of weeks after the draft in May. On offense, I had Mack Brown and Ryan Grant getting cut; both seem to be safe now. On the offensive line in May I had Arie Kouandjio and Vinston Painter on and now I have both off.
—Defensively, the line projection is exactly the same even though it’s the area I’m the least confident about in my final projection. I had LB Chris Carter getting cut and I don’t think that’s going to happen now. Perhaps the biggest miss I had in May was leaving S Montae Nicholson off the 53; the fourth-round pick has played much better than I anticipated. He would have made it regardless but he does take the place of DeAngelo Hall, who will start the season on PUP. In all, I had five players, including Hall, who I thought would make it in May who I don’t think will end up on the roster when the dust settles at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The competition has been good but there weren’t really that many jobs at stake
—The media availability scheduled for tomorrow is the only one of the week except for the usual post-game press conferences. They will attend the welcome home event on Wednesday and then travel to Tampa. They will return after the game on Thursday. Then Redskins Park goes dark for a couple of days as the coaches administer the unpleasant task of cutting the roster down from 90 to 53. They will start formal preparations for the Eagles on Monday (although Cousins said that he and others planned to start looking at Eagles film yesterday).
Stay up to date on the Redskins. Rich Tandler covers the team 365 days a year. Like his Facebook page Facebook.com/TandlerCSN and follow him on Twitter @Rich_TandlerCSN.
Tandler on Twitter
It’s him or Holsey. I’ll go 65% chance it’s Dunbar, 35% it’s Holsey.
— Rich Tandler (@TandlerNBCS) August 28, 2017
In case you missed it
- Taylor's comeback short-circuited
- Redskins options with Taylor out
- The (almost) final roster projection
- Trent Williams explains how Redskins' slow starts are haunting them
- New #RedskinsTalk Podcast: Recapping Washington's first preseason win
- Offense got better, but it still wasn't good
- Which Redskins kept their spots on roster safe before cuts?