The Washington Redskins looked flat when they took the field against the Ravens last Thursday night in Baltimore. The first team looked out of sync, and the reserves didn't do much better. Most of the time that's to be expected from a meaningless preseason game in which ten Redskins players did not suit up. In this situation though, the Redskins suffered mightily to the hands of defeat in terms of the one thing preseason counts for, injuries. The one thing most coaches and certainly most all fans want for their team in the preseason is to stay healthy as the records reset to 0-0 in just a few short weeks.
The Redskins suffered two substantial injuries on the defensive side of the ball in that Ravens game. Edge-rushing linebacker Trent Murphy was lost for the season to a torn ACL and MCL in his left leg while strong safety Su'a Cravens had to have surgery on the meniscus in his knee on Tuesday as well.
Cravens will miss the rest of preseason
The Redskins were able to dodge the big bullet with Su'a Cravens, who needed surgery this week to fix the meniscus that he damaged in his knee last Thursday night. Doctors expect Cravens to be ready to play by week one's matchup with one of the Redskins oldest divisional rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. For Cravens, 22, the injury is obviously not a good thing, but time away from the defense, and his new position will, unfortunately, set his progress back in terms of player development, which is much worse.
Redskins head coach Jay Gruden initially thought there was no damage, but after the swelling on Cravens' knee went down the damage was apparently easier for doctors to see.
“No structural damage," said Gruden the morning after the Ravens game. "No, not right now, not that we can see. We’ll wait until the swelling goes down, maybe take another look at it.”
The Redskins are depending on Cravens to make the transition from linebacker to safety this season.
The Redskins coaching staff has a lot of faith in Cravens and new Redskins free safety D.J. Swearinger this season. The franchise believes the addition of the two on the back end of the Redskins defense will lead to an overall better unit. Cravens tweeted out Tuesday afternoon that the procedure was a success.
Surgery was a BREEEZE 🙅🏽♂️! All is good #Week1 #HTTR
— Suzy (@Sua_Cravens) August 15, 2017
Opportunities at hand
For Cravens' backup, third-year pro-Deshazor Everett, opportunity is now knocking. While the chances of Everett starting on the squad without an injury to Cravens are slim, make no mistake, Everett knows the system and can play in it. While mostly used as a special teams player, last season he made an interception in the 27-22 victory over the Eagles in Week 14. Everett took over practicing with the first team at Washington's Saturday and Sunday practice sessions.
Rookie Montae Nicholson, a fourth-round pick out of Michigan State, moved into the second-team strong safety spot on Sunday after missing time while recovering from shoulder surgery this offseason himself.