The Washington Redskins lost edge-rushing linebacker Trent Murphy for the season to a torn ACL/MCL in his left knee Thursday night in Baltimore. Today the team had to undergo the task of filling his roster spot.

Murphy officially placed on season ending Injured Reserve

Fourth-year linebacker Trent Murphy, coming off a nine-sack season in 2016 was officially placed on season ending injured reserve on Saturday as the team had to fill the roster spot. For Murphy, it's the end of a rocky ride that saw him facing a four game suspension to start the season due to using a weight-cutting diuretic last year when the team shifted his position twice in a matter of weeks during training camp.

Now, knee surgery in the coming weeks faces the Stanford graduate as his plans of having a monster year are over. Redskins head coach Jay Gruden spoke on Murphy's injury when asked at his press conference Saturday in Richmond, Virginia.

“It’s too bad. He was really having a great offseason program, and then he followed it up with a really good training camp so far," said Gruden. "It’s unfortunate, just wrong place at the wrong time in pro football. It was a great play by Zach Brown. He knocked their fullback back right into [Trent’s] knee, and it was really unavoidable, unfortunately. Hopefully, he gets his speedy… I know Trent is the type of guy that is going to work extremely hard to get back to full strength before you know it.”

In addition to the Redskins placing Murphy on IR, they also waived offensive tackle Kevin Bowen with an injury designation, which technically leaves the team with 89 on the active roster, still one short.

Redskins sign wide receiver Jamari Staples

With an open roster spot available, the Washington Redskins had to sign somebody off the street Saturday, and that ended up being 6-foot-3 wide receiver, Jamari Staples from the University of Louisville who was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs back in March.

Staples was viewed as long striding speedster who can get up for the high passes coming out of college. Good blocker, even better teammate and locker room guy but needs to hit the weight-room if he ever wants to be an elite receiver in the NFL.

It's not entirely clear exactly why the Redskins signed another big-bodied receiver, but Staples certainly is a big target with raw skills.

While at Louisville and UAB he pulled in 117 catches and 1901 yards with ten touchdowns in 34 games. He's facing a pretty crowded receiver corps already in front of him with several prospects as well including fellow rookie Robert Davis.

Below is a highlight video of Staples best plays in college...as always we apologize for any potential bad language or horrible music, we're not into music reviews here just the football clips.

Opportunity is knocking at the door for a certain LB

In the preseason we talked about one of the top roster battles being at outside linebacker, and that has stayed true. Now the injury to Murphy means whoever wins the starting job won't have big Trent breathing down their neck come week 5.

It speaks rather loudly that when Murphy went down to injury that Washington signed a receiver...the team believes in their depth at linebacker and believes someone will step up and take Murphy's role as a rotational pass-rusher.

Injuries never benefit anyone and to think any different is a bit cruel, but Preston Smith, Junior Galette, Ryan Anderson, and Nico Marley all will benefit from Murphy not being in the rotation. Marley is a long-shot to make the team despite his 'spark-plug' type of play and never-ending motor on the field. The 5-foot-8 Marley registered his first NFL sack Thursday night against the Ravens.

Marley is a long-shot to make the team despite his obvious tackling skills and never-ending motor on the field.

If he makes the 53-man roster, it will be as a special teams contributor.

The true battle will be between Smith, Galette, and rookie Ryan Anderson. Smith holds the edge in this competition as the incumbent starter from last season, and clearly the most talented player currently at that linebacker spot opposite Ryan Kerrigan. What will be interesting to see is how much the Redskins coaches will let Galette do in preseason as he's coming off of those two knee injuries in successive years and is currently nursing an injured hamstring.

Who do you think will win the starting job opposite of Ryan Kerrigan at linebacker? Drop us a comment and let us know your opinion!
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