The
battle to make the Redskins roster in the defensive backfield is coming down to
the final days. After this week’s cuts, there were 13 DB’s left on the roster.
Seven of them are certainties to make the final 53, barring injury. They are
corners Shawn Springs, Carlos Rogers and Walt Harris and safeties Sean Taylor,
Matt Bowen, Ryan Clark, and Pierson Prioleau. Two are extreme long shots to
make it at this point, CB Eric Joyce and S Siddeeq Shabazz. Those nine players
are not part of this discussion.
That
leaves four players, safety Omar Stoutmire and corners Ade Jimoh, Garnell Wilds, and Rufus Brown. The Redskins will probably keep five corners and four
safeties or vice versa, so the math tells us that these four players are
battling for two spots. Who will be the odd men out?
Stoutmire
is an eight-year veteran and is the only member of the quartet that has an NFL
interception or sack to his credit; he has recorded five of each during his
career with Dallas and the New York Jets and Giants. That experience and the
fact that Bowen and Clark have been dinged by injuries during camp and the
preseason games help his cause greatly.
Should
Stoutmire make it, that leaves Jimoh, who has two years of experience, Wilds,
who has played in two games, and Brown, who appeared in one, going at it for
one last spot in the defensive backfield.
Wilds
and Brown are similar in a lot of ways, although Wilds is listed at being two
inches taller than Brown. They are both undrafted free agents who spend most of
last year on the Redskins’ practice squad after having been cut in the
preseason. Neither is the fluid type of corner that seems to effortlessly stay
with a receiver, they both rely on aggressiveness, hustle, and quickness to be
able to cover. Neither has distinguished himself in practice or in the
exhibition games, but neither has look particularly bad either.
The
best thing working in Jimoh’s favor is the two years of film the coaches have
on file of him playing special teams, which he does very well. The main thing
working against Jimoh’s chances are the two years of film the coaches have on
file of him playing cornerback, which he doesn’t do well at all. Over the past
two seasons, Jimoh on the other side of the line has been a welcome sight for
opposing receivers, whether they were turning him around with a simple out
pattern or leaving him in their dust on a deep route.
Jimoh (23) has a developed a number of great,
athletic moves while chasing opposing receivers.
However, it hasn’t hurt Jimoh when it comes to making the
team or, for that matter, being one of the 45 active on game day. He has
appeared in 31 of a possible 32 games since he has been with the team.
If not for the injuries at safety, the move would probably
be to cut Stoutmire and keep Jimoh as strictly a special teams guy and then
choose between Brown and Wilds for the fourth corner. But assuming that
Stoutmire stays around leaving just one corner spot open, special teams again
should get Ade Jimoh another season in Burgundy and Gold.
