Vision Quest: The Position Battles to look for against the Bengals

The Pre-season is upon us and Redskin fans are both excited and pensive. Excited because, finally, football is being played again. Pensive because major injuries are right around the corner that could reshape our team before even one snap that counts is played. Last year our entire offense was hurt by Jon Jansen’s season ending injury in the first pre-season game. Over the last couple of years around the NFL similar injuries, Vick in Atlanta comes to mind, have decimated other teams. So fans everywhere wonder why we need so many pre-season games.

However coaches and teams insist on the 4 game (5 if you go to Canton or Japan). Why? The simple reason is they need it to finalize their roster. It is no small exaggeration that the pre-season is all about 10 position battles. Any one can tell you the top 43 players on a football team who will make the squad. This is determined in the draft and during free agency. However those last ten spots are the toughest.

So to pay homage to this fact I have decided to focus the VQ articles onto the various position battles that will help shape our final roster. Before each pre-season game I will list, in order of intensity, the top 10 position battles to watch for in the upcoming game. I will also update my predictions on the final 53 roster spots with 8 practice squad projections and 5 on the bubble vets. So with 1 pre-season game down and 3 to go here is the VQ take on where things are.

Top Ten Position Battles

1.) Middle Linebacker: This position is far from set. Lemar Marshall is the front runner and playing well. Clifton Smith though has impressed all the coaches and was very active in the loss to Panthers. Warrick Holdman is still in the mix but may be hurt by the fact that Lavar has been injured and he has been filling in on the outside. Lemar has the leg up right now and Smith needs to capitalize on any mistakes Marshall may make tonight. McCune will be the strongest man on our special teams squad. Perhaps he can just catapult Jimoh down the field like a Javelin at kick returners.

2.) Tight End: Robert Royal, the starter from last year, and Mike Sellers continue to battle for the starting spot here. In my opinion Sellers has the leg up mainly due to blocking prowess. Royal seems to get pushed around a lot and at times has shown the blocking skills of a package of Kleenex. Both have to avoid mistakes and open blocking holes for whoever is in at RB. Billy Baber, Brian Kozlowski, Billy Palmer and Robert Johnson are also battling at a possible final TE spot. They will have to convince the squad to keep 5 TEs/Hbacks (they could keep just 4 and have NEMO serve as an emergency Hback and Cooley as the third TE in jumbo packages). This means two things, being mistake free and playing special teams. Both Palmer and Johnson could make the practice squad as well, however Baber and Kozlowski are fighting for their football lives.

3.) Wide Receiver: All of a sudden the #3 wide receiver position is wide open. Coles and Patten are locked down as our #1 and #2 receiver. However with Jacob Taylor’s recent toe injury Thrash and even Brown could make a case as the rightful heir. Dyson and DMAC are still in the hunt for a roster spot and Taylor’s injury could make Gibbs decide to keep 6 receivers. Dyson has the leg up with his impressive performance in Carolina and according to several sources is picking up the pace at practice. DMAC will have to play lights out or he is going to have plenty of time to update his web site and record more R&B tracks. Seriously DMAC dropped more balls last week then the losers at the World’s Strongest Man Competition. He needs to step it up or he could be among the first wave of cuts.

4.) Running Back: The battle to be #3. Portis and Betts are enshrined as our #1 and #2 backs and will receive most of the carries this year. However there is a role for a goal line/short yardage runner on the roster. Nehemiah “Nemo” Broughton and Roderick “Rock” Cartwright are battling for that spot as well as coolest nickname for a benchwarmer. Rock is a more complete tailback, able to catch as well as run, but at 5’7 ¾“ is about as tall as Papa Smurf…without the red hat. Nemo is a beast has over 4” and 40 lbs. on Rock and has been lighting up practice. There is an outside chance that both will be kept (especially if only 4 TE/Hbacks are kept and they need Nemo to spend time over there) and even further outside chance that Nemo could go to the practice squad (most likely a team short on RBs will pick him up). However more then likely the loser gets cut and the winner stays. This is what Pre-Season is for.

5.) Cornerback: Carlos Rogers is finally ready to take the field. And it could not come at a worse time for Walt Harris. Harris is out of the game with a quad sprain. This will be Roger’s chance to try and show he should be starting on 9-11-05. There is an important battle at the #5 CB spot (Springs, Rogers, Wilds, and Rogers are easy roster spots in my mind) between Ade “Sure Thing” Jimoh, Antrell Hawkins, and Rufus Brown. Hawkins has been out and continues to be out with a hamstring issue otherwise he would probably get this spot. Rufus Brown and Jimoh looked horrible last week and in Jimoh’s case he has looked horrible for awhile. However Jimoh is a straight up beast on special teams. Even though Jimoh gave up a TD to Gardner last week, he is still ahead in the race.

6.) Outside Linebacker: Jared Newberry and Chris Clemons are battling for the final Outside Linebacker spot. Chris has a pretty good lead on Jared though. Barring any major injury or screw up, both will make the squad though. Jared is a strong special teams player and should contribute for he skins. There is an outside chance Newberry will get caught in the numbers game and may end up on the practice squad so a strong performance could help him retain a spot.

7.) Offensive Line: The starters are set as well as 2 backups. That leaves 3 men vying for 2 final Roster spots. Those men are Mark “still a project” Wilson, Cory “Grass Stains” Raymer, and Lennie “Benched for Raymer” Freidman. Unfortunately Cory will not be at the game due to complications with his wife’s pregnancy. This is an opportunity for Friedman to win the backup center job, as callous as that might sound. There is speculation that Mark Wilson may be playing his way out of a roster spot in practice. He is showing poor technique and may be on the outs with Bugel. I doubt though the Redskins keep two expensive vets with little promise over an inexpensive young guy with poor technique.

8.) Defensive Line: Ryan Boschetti came out strong last week and made a statement last week about his role on the team. Boschetti’s, a defensive tackle, main opponent is Nic Clemons, a Defensive end. Boschetti is trying to become the fourth Defensive tackle to make the team, Nic Clemons is trying to convince coaches to keep 5 ends and use him as a reserve tackle on passing downs. Clemons is a gifted pass Rusher while Boschetti is a better all around player, being able to play end and tackle in any situation. Boschetti is still eligible for the Practice Squad while Clemons is not and that may be a real detriment to Boschetti in the end. Helping Boschetti is the unknown status of Noble who will miss the second straight pre-season game. Right now the edge is with Clemons but it is really neck and neck.

9.) Backup Safety: With Ryan Clark and Matt Bowen both being out to injury it would be a perfect opportunity for a young safety to come in and show that they should be fighting for a roster spot. Pierson Prioleau should start opposite Taylor; however Tony Dixon is also out due to injury. Enter recently signed Sideeg Shabazz. After the Redskins played musical signings for the second time this off season, signing DB Eric Brown and waiving him the next day, Shabazz could not possibly have come at a better time. He will need to impress heavily to make the squad and be an absolute beast on special teams. Because for him to survive he would need to try and convince Williams to cut Bowen. Only 4 safeties will be kept. So Shabazz will have to pull a rabbit out of his hat (and with a name like Shabazz he could). Omar Stoutmire could also compete here, but I just like the name Shabazz.

10.) Quarterback: Ok. I put this one on the list, but I didn’t want to. The last thing this team needs is a full blown QB controversy. And it does not have one….yet. Ramsey looked bad last week and the offense did not do much. Burnell showed that he still has something in his arm. But two throws does not erase a whole training camp and last season of horrible wounded ducks being chucked to defenders and in many cases open air. Ramsey is the starter still. But a really bad performance may put this on the maybe spot. A td pass or at least a sustained drive would be nice.

Updated Projection

If the season ended today here are my projections on who would make the team. The Final 53 are the players who will make the final roster. The Practice Squad are rookies and/or one year vets who will initially be waived by the Redskins but then signed to the PS as additional depth. On the Bubble represents 5 veterans who can push their way onto the active roster. Players in italics and * are changes from my last prediction. Reasons for the changes are at the end.


QB’s (3) – Patrick Ramsey, Mark Brunell, Jason Campbell
RB’s (4) – Clinton Portis, Ladell Betts, Nehemiah Broughton, Rock Cartwright
WR’s (5) – Santana Moss, David Patten, Taylor Jacobs, James Thrash, Antonio Brown
TE’s/H-backs (4) – Robert Royal, Chris Cooley, Mike Sellers, Manuel White
OL (9) – Chris Samuels, Derrick Dockery, Casey Rabach, Randy Thomas, Jon Jansen, Ray Brown, Jim Molinaro, Cory Raymer, Mark Wilson
DL (8) – Renaldo Wynn, Brandon Noble, Cornelius Griffin, Phillip Daniels, Joe Savale’a, Demetric Evans, Ron Warner, Nic Clemons
LB’s (8) – Lavar Arrington, Marcus Washington, Clifton Smith, Warrick Holdman, Lemar Marshall, Robert McCune, Chris Clemons, Jared Newberry,
CB’s (5) – Shawn Springs, Walt Harris, Carlos Rodgers, Garnell Wilds, Ade Jimoh
S’s (4) – Sean Taylor, Matt Bowen, Ryan Clark, Pierson Prioleau
LS (1) – Ethan Albright
K (1) – John Hall
P (1) – Tom Tupa

Practice Squad (8): Ryan Boschetti (DL), Zak Keasay (LB), Charles Howard (DT)*, Robert Johnson (TE), Bryson Spinner (QB), Billy Baber (TE)*, Rufus Brown (CB), Jon Alston (OT)

On the Bubble (5): Kevin Dyson (WR), Darnerian McCants (WR), Brian Kozlowski (TE/Hback), Omar Stoutmire (S)*, Sideeg Shabazz (S)*

Reason for Changes:

Charles Howard and Billy Baber replace Adrian Gonzalez(OT) and Johnathan Combs (RB) on the practice squad. Gonzalez was cut in the last week and Combs will be soon after fumbling in the end zone at Carolina.

Omar Stoutmire and Sideeg Shabazz replace Jeff Chandler (K) and Andy Groom (P) on the Bubble. Chandler missed a 42 yard field goal against Carolina, and more importantly both Hall and Tupa looked impressive enough to secure their job.

That is it. Not bad for the first week just a couple of changes so far. Let’s see how things go against the Bengals. Hail Redskins!!!