My observations from the Friday afternoon practice at Redskins Park.
—Say what you will about Chris Cooley’s fashion statement here but he is still very much a fan favorite. He slapped hands with fans along the fence as he made he way down to the field.
—There may be some setbacks in the future but for right now it looks like Josh Morgan’s leg is in good shape. He fractured it last year, an injury that ended his season after just five games. During a drill where the receivers were running a couple of figure eights around some cones before breaking into a hook, Morgan planted and cut at full speed with no apparent issues.
—Redskins nation will be much relieved to hear that after struggling yesterday, Robert Griffin III improved to being up and down today. In one of his up moments he threw a dart to Hankerson on an out pattern. It was well placed, down low where only the receiver could catch it. Hankerson made a nice grab on the sideline with two defenders near him.
—As was the case during most of the OTA’s and minicamp, DeAngelo Hall was lined up in the slot most of the time he was in. In today’s game the slot just might be where your best corner should be, it is tough working with no help from the sideline.
—Leonard Hankerson seemed to line up with the first team receivers a lot more today with Morgan “moving down” the depth chart. Things will change before Sept. 9 and they won’t stop changing then. The only sure thing is that Pierre Garçon will be on the field for almost every offensive play.
—Stephen Bowen, who had a procedure done on his knee in the spring, has a light wrap on the joint but he seems to be moving without any problems. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him get a light workload during the preseason but there seems to be no question that he’ll be ready to go when the season starts.
—We saw some high stepping by Tim Hightower after he broke through the line on a running play. His knee is still suspect but he has his moments.
—Brandon Banks made a good catch of an RG3 bullet near the sideline. He did let the ball get into his body instead of making the catch with his hands but it counts the same.
—Hankerson faked Travon Bellamy onto the ground after putting a move on to turn upfield after catching a quick out. No issue with the hip here.
—London Fletcher and Madieu Williams showed how you survive in the NFL after 30 years of age. It looked like RG3 was going to bust out for a long gain after the got loose around the left side. But Fletcher and Williams took good angles and were able to get him out of bounds after a decent gain, but one that was much less than it appeared to be initially. Smart fundamentals can counter superior athletic ability.
—On the day, Hankerson made some excellent catches while mixing in a few no-excuses drops. I think that you might be able to copy and paste that sentence for Hankerson’s entire NFL career.
—Rookie cornerback Richard Crawford fielded some punts today. He did some punt returning at SMU with 25 returns for a respectable 10.9-yard average with a touchdown. A dark horse to be sure, but a candidate nonetheless.
—There weren’t many long bombs thrown but on one of the last plays of the day Rex Grossman completed a beauty to Aldrick Robinson. Moments like that make you think that Rex can be a damn good QB in this league. But other moments . . .
Comments