The first or second day of training camp is way too early for an NFL team to know what is starting roster will be, right? After all, on any given team, there might be anywhere from 75 to 92 guys in attendance. With so many guys to be evaluated, how can a coach possibly decide who to start after just a few practices?
The Washington Redskins have glaring questions on the offensive side of the ball. Future Hall-of-Fame left tackle Trent Williams is engaged in a contract holdout, center Chase Roullier is allegedly still rehabbing from injury and there is no clear-cut starting left guard on the roster.
There are good receivers on the roster but no No. 1 has emerged. The same goes for running back and beyond tight end Jordan Reed (who looks good incidentally), there is no known No. 2 yet.
Fortunately, the defense is in much better shape. The squad returning from 2018 is relatively healthy and the young guys have another year under their belt. In fact, after watching the first two morning practice sessions, the opening question of this article might require reconsideration… at least regarding the defense. Between the returning starters and the new guys in town, the players that have been taking reps as the starters might be a pretty close preview of the guys that take the field in September.
Is walkthrough today showing pretty close to a preview of def. starters in 2019? I like it: Bostic & Dion-Hamilton @ ILB (w/Cole Holcomb in there at times), Collins/Nicholson at safety, Sweat/Kerrigan at OLB. Payne/Allen/Ioannidis inside. Nickel CB my biggest question #Redskins
— Diane Chesebrough (@DiChesebrough) July 25, 2019
The core interior of the defensive line consists of Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne and Matt Ioannidis. Last season, the first two (Allen and Payne) solidified their starting positions with the type of play one would expect from the 2017 and 2018 first-round draft picks from Alabama. Having played together while attending their alma mater, chemistry was certainly not a problem. Beyond that, both are athletic pocket-collapsing machines with natural talent that D-line coach Jim Tomsula has said he is loving developing.
Ioannidis, the Redskins 2016 fifth-round draft pick, was a slow starter but made great strides his second year in the league and in 2018, the three men combined to register 20.5 sacks (Ioannidis logged 7.5, Allen had 8.0 and Payne recorded 5.0).
On the outside of the defensive line, OLB Ryan Kerrigan is a Redskins staple and he alone accounted for 13 sacks. He doesn’t seem to have lost any momentum over recent years and, barring injury, will no doubt start in 2019.
The team lost fellow-OLB Preston Smith to free agency this past offseason but also drafted rookie Montez Sweat in the first round after a masterful trade. Sweat (Mississippi State) was a 2018 First-Team All-American by FWAA, Sporting News, and Phil Steele. 2018 Second-Team All-American by AP, Sports Illustrated, and CBS Sports. The 6-6, 245 lbs. edge-rusher recorded 23.5 sacks on 105 career tackles in 2018. As a bookend to Kerrigan, he will bring his long arms, quickness both off the edge and in pursuit and speed-to-power to the Redskins front seven.
The strong and free safety positions are in good hands with the signing of Landon Collins combined with Washington’s 2017 fourth-round draft pick, Montae Nicholson. Both have been working with the first team consistently these first two practices. Deshazor Everett is still on the team and, while he is more of a special teams asset, having been with the Redskins since 2015; he can spell both Collins and Nicholson when necessary.
At cornerback, Josh Norman and Quinton Dunbar will no doubt start on the outside. There’s a question mark at nickel but this year’s seventh-round pick out of JMU, Jimmy Moreland, has been on the field with the “ones” fairly regularly.
The biggest question mark seems to be inside linebacker but even that may clear up quickly.
Just before camp started, Washington released veteran starting ILB Mason Foster. In his place, coach Jay Gruden has been mixing things up with free agent acquisition Jon Bostic and the 2013 second-round draft pick appears to be having no trouble picking up defensive coordinator Greg Manusky’s scheme. In fact, the six-year veteran is already calling the plays for the starting defense this camp. This is notable, considering he only arrived in Washington in May (when Rueben Foster went on IR).
Bostic has shared time with the first team alongside Shaun Dion Hamilton (2018 sixth-round pick) and Gruden is impressed with both. Between the two players, one will likely end up the starting defensive field general.
“That can always change,” Gruden said this morning about Bostic already calling the plays for the defense. “Shaun Dion understands that right now, but I think [he is] challenging Bostic right now with the microphone and getting used to calling it. [Bostic was] in a [similar] system before at Indianapolis [Colts], so he understands it and knows it… very smart. Very, very smart football player. He’s done it a little bit longer than Shaun Dion has. Right now, Bostic is a natural fit.”
To have such clear idea of the starting defense so early in training camp is a luxury Gruden can use right now what with the state of his offensive line and the other offensive position battles going on.