Redskins Rookie Report

Rookie Report after Week 1 Preseason Game:

CB David Amerson:

-It was a good promising start for Amerson, as he broke up one pass and tackled Kenny Britt short of the 1st down marker another time. Amerson also showed good aggression in taking on blocks and being a willing tackler, something that was a question mark coming in. Though Amerson did a really good job on closing on the ball to break-up the pass to Britt, he does need to not allow Britt to get so wide open to start (something that he mentioned in his post game interview). Most of the QB’s that Amerson will face this year are going to be far better than Jake Locker so those passes will get there quicker and likely result in completions rather than defended passes. The other thing Amerson needs to work on is not lowering his head to tackle. In addition to possibly leading to injury, smarter players will take advantage and easily side step him in the future.

TE Jordan Reed:

-Reed didn’t play due to an injury as expected. The loss of time hurts his chances to be effective this season, but doesn’t impact his roster spot at all.

S Phillip Thomas:

-Despite starting Thomas only got seven defensive snaps due to suffering shoulder and foot injuries on the same play. The shoulder injury turned out to be nothing major, but the foot injury has been diagnosed as a sprain. That could keep Thomas out of action for anywhere from a couple days to a couple of weeks. Given how close together their next two preseason games are it is possible he will need to miss both of them. Even if he comes back healthy, it is a notable setback for a player who was already a little behind. Tough to give a fair assessment in just 7 plays, but it is worth mentioning he played the long Chris Johnson TD poorly, by committing to the hole inside too soon, which allowed Johnson to easily cut back outside where he vacated.

RB Chris Thompson:

-Did not play, not surprising considering how much practice he missed the week prior.

LB Brandon Jenkins:

-Jenkins had a good game, getting off the ball quickly and causing some issues for opposing linemen. He got some work (and had success) with the ones, and looks to be well on his way to having a situational impact this season for the Redskins defense.

S Bacarri Rambo:

-Rambo didn’t really get challenged in the passing game due to the Titans throwing the ball pretty short (when they did throw). Against the run Rambo struggled taking poor angles and allowed extra yards. Though the 58 yard run by Chris Johnson is the one that everyone will remember, it was actually the 19 yard TD that Rambo’s pursuit hurt the Redskins the most (and that doesn’t even count the late hit penalty). Though his angle was off on the longer run, it still would have taken a great play for Rambo to stop Johnson even if he had taken the proper angle. On the Shonn Greene TD run though, Rambo definitely should have been able to stop him from reaching the end zone had he taken the proper angle. There were some other plays where he wasn’t in proper position, but they weren’t as costly as these two runs.

RB Jawan Jamison:

-Did not play, no apparent injury appeared to be coaches decision.

OL Xavier Nixon:

-Nixon got a fair amount of playing time in the 3rd and fourth quarter, and handled himself decently considering it was his first game. He allowed a couple of pressures and never dominated defenders, but he didn’t really get dominated either. Still unlikely to be in consideration for a roster spot, but should be in the mix for a practice squad spot.

Other:

-WR Skye Dawson shows some speed and shiftiness, but he displayed some poor decisions in the first preseason game and is still a long way from a roster spot. ILB Will Compton ran with the 2nd unit, but is still a long shot for a roster spot with Nick Barnett entering the mix. Compton though could be ticketed for a practice squad spot.