The Redskins' roster locks

In the time between now and Sept. 3, many players on the Redskins roster will be fighting for roster spots. They are renting apartments, hoping that they can be one of the final 53.

Some players have no such issues. They are locks to make the roster due to factors such as skill, salary, draft position, and other factors. By my count there are 33 such players on the Redskins. That means that, in essence, the remaining 56 players (as of Tuesday morning) are competing for 20 roster spots.

Here are the locks, the players who will be on the roster no matter what happens. Tomorrow, we’ll look at the guys who likely are set with roster spots but there are some realistic scenarios that could cause them to get cut.

Offense

QB’s Rex Grossman and John Beck—The two are 1-A and 1-B at quarterback, not necessarily in that order.

WR’s Anthony Armstrong, Jabar Gaffney, Leonard Hankerson, and Santana Moss—Gaffney and Moss will be the starters, Armstrong will be the first off the bench and Hankerson will be given at least this season to develop. The organization was aware of his issues dropping the ball in Miami when he was drafted in the third round and he will get time to work those issues out.

TE’s Chris Cooley, Logan Paulsen, Fred Davis—There is depth at this position and they will all stay put.

RB’s Tim Hightower and Ryan Torain—Torain may end up in injured reserve but he will not be released. Hightower has been one of the stars of training camp so far.

OL Jammal Brown, Kory Lichtensteiger, Chris Chester, Will Montgomery, Trent Williams, Sean Locklear, Artis Hicks—The five starters are set and Locklear gives them the quality backup tackle they were missing last year and Hicks’ versatility ensures that he will stick around.

Defense

DL Stephen Bowen, Adam Carriker, Barry Cofield, Jarvis Jenkins—This is your main rotation and it could well be an effective one.

LB’s Ryan Kerrigan, London Fletcher, Lorenzo Alexander, Brian Orakpo, Perry Riley—Both Rocky McIntosh and Keyaron Fox both were close to being in this group but one could end up knocking the other off the roster. Riley gets another year to develop and he could end up starting at some point.

DB’s Oshiomogho Atogwe, DeAngelo Hall, Josh Wilson, Reed Doughty, LaRon Landry, Kevin Barnes—The starters are set but there is a lot of competition behind them.

Comments

[sonnyandsam]

Other than Hicks, I agree with your selections. I think some of the young linemen could force Hicks to be cut if they can show they can produce right away.Frankly, I hope Hicks does get cut.

[Rich Tandler]

@sonnyandsam, I would like to see a better blend of youth and experience among the backups. Maybe Hurt pushes Hicks out.

[Oz]

Mcintosh is gonna be the starter opening week 1 , idk why u think he's not going to make the team

[Brian]

Add Darrel Young to the list.

[caio gomes]

I hope you're way off on McIntosh and Riley. If the ability is there let's keep both and place one on special teams. If one of our starters goes down then bam! Problem settled. McIntosh put up over 100 tackles last season right? And we resigned him to a one year deal. If anything let's trade one of them for draft picks. Don't just cut the guy. Anyway, I'm a Rocky fan and I'd like to keep him. This is rocky's second year in the system. He knows what the coaches want.

[Mike Bittner]

You mean September 3 I hope :p

[Sports Scatter]

You've got the d-line and DBs down, providing there is no currently unenvisioned trade or waiver wire surprise.

I'd put Torrain at 70% chance of making roster or IR. Royster is already a better blocker and receiver, with no injury history. Helu was the guy they went after in the draft, the only breakaway threat in the backfield. Williams is also a better blocker and receiver than Torrain, though not as good of a runner. Young is the only RB lock outside of Hightower.

I put Hicks at about 50% after Locklear acquisition, close to 60% before, I think they're scanning waiver wires daily for his replacement and just hoping one of the young guard/centers or guard/tackles will show enough to be the 7th man. Frankly, Heyer outplayed Hicks last year and they didn't even offer him a minimum contract.

McIntosh and Fox are locks, they are battling only for the starting job, and possibly who will replace Fletcher in 2012 or 2013. Riley is about 75%; in serious competition with Blades and Alexander(about 85%) for two spots; both better special teammers and more versatile on defense than Riley, though neither can match his speed and quickness (Hensen was about his equal athletically, but had some silly penalties and insulted Redskin fans).

[T.J.]

Rocca is a lock and probably Gano.

[Chris]

Can someone tell me why we still have Reed Doughty on the team the guy is a bum he is a gang tackler and frankly overrated he has caused us games because of he poor tackling and late reactions to the deep pass...please Cut that bum and get someone else with talent!

[sports good]

y. If the ability is there let's keep both and place one on special teams. If one of our starters goes down then bam! Problem settled. McIntosh put up over 100 tackles last season right...I agree with your selections. I think some of the young linemen could force Hicks to be cut if they can show they can produce right away...

[Jeremy]

I think Banks is fairly certain to include in the "locks"

[chew222]

i'd hate to see hankerson make the team just because he was a high draft pick. let him make a few tough catches before you pencil him in as a lock. otherwise, you are disrespecting niles paul and terry austin, two fine receivers with plenty of up side.

[Jamal]

Reed is on the team because we need depth at safety...anyone with football sense knows that and he knows the scheme. Second how do you cut a guy in Hankerson who has ALL the receiving records at Miami (Michael Irving, Andre Johnson, etc. yeah he was better than both of them in college) just because he has dropped a few passes in PRE-SEASON?? You want him to end up in NYG or Dallas and torture us the next few years?? Didn't think so. He will be one of the steals of the draft and by the end of the season you will be glad we kept him. HOLLA

[Sports Scatter]

lol at Jamal, Hankerson better than Johnson and Irvin? Read all of their college scouting reports and get back to us. Hankerson's specifically states drops easy passes and runs poor routes, though he showed improvement last year. He's going to need super improvement over last year to get on the active list this year.