Two wide receivers who have shown some promise during various preseason stints with the Washington Redskins have been released.
Mike Espy and Seven Harris were waived by the Redskins on Monday. The team's unfiltered announcement of the move on its website gave no reason for the cuts.
At least part of the reason could be that the injury but bit both of them last year. Both Espy and Harris spent 2007 on injured reserve. Harris suffered a knee injury during minicamp last year and Espy had surgery after blowing out a knee ligament during the preseason. Carlos Rogers and Rocky McIntosh are given all the time they need to recover from knee surgery. Players on the fringes of the fringe are not given that luxury.
In addition to being damaged goods, Espy and Harris were victims of the numbers game. Before the moves there were nine receivers on the roster (Espy, Harris, Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle El, James Thrash, Anthony Mix, Billy McMullen, Maurice Mann, and Burt Toler) and the Redskins have a standing offer for unrestricted free agent Reche Caldwell on the table.
In addition, the Redskins are likely to add a wide receiver in the upcoming NFL draft. Counting Caldwell, that would make 11. That makes it tough for everyone to get sufficient reps in the OTA's and in training camp.
They probably will keep only five, six at the most, so there is little sense in keeping around so many WR's.
Having an excess of players at one position keeps you from having enough at another. There were only five defensive tackles on the roster, for example, and there are two of those in the game at a time as well. To avoid wearing out their DT's in camp, more of those were needed.
In fact, the Skins did add a DT in ex-Bengal Matthias Askew, who had a cup of coffee at Redskins Park during last year's training camp. More on him coming later today (teaser: "tased but exonerated").
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