The Washington Redskins lost a second defensive end for the season
today as it was announced that Alex Buzbee ruptured his right
Achilles’ tendon during the afternoon practice.
Phillip Daniels went out in the morning practice with an injured ACL.
Unlike Daniels, who was a projected starter, Buzbee was a long shot to
make the team. Still, the departure of two DE’s from the lineup in one
day leaves the Redskins thin at the position. With Erasmus James
unable to practice while he is recovering from knee problems of his
own, the Redskins will have to do some shopping in a hurry.
One possibility would be to bring back Tommy Davis, a 2007 practice
squad member, who was cut last week. They may work on a trade to fill
the position, but in the meantime they need to get two warm bodies in
there.
Cornerback Fred Smoot also suffered an injury in the afternoon,
although his didn’t appear to be as serious. He sprained his left
ankle and, according to Jim Zorn, the hope is that he will miss less
than a week.
Earlier today,
Jason Reid at the Post reported
that Daniels is indeed out for the season.
John Clayton at ESPN reported
that it was an ACL injury to his left knee.
Clayton also said that the phone lines between Ashburn and Miami have
started to hum to try to work out a trade for the Dolphins’ Jason Taylor. Vinny Cerrato, speaking to reporters at Redskins Park, denied
that such talks were taking place.
"We haven't talked to anyone yet on anything,” said Cerrato
I generally don’t comment much on pending trades because the wisdom of
any deal depends on the details. Trading for Jason Taylor and giving
up a conditional fifth-round pick and having him work his contract to
a cap-friendly deal that would contain a big roster bonus to be paid
on opening day of 2009 would be OK. Giving up a second-rounder and
having to work around his $8.1 million salary this year, making him a
very expensive one-year rental, would be dumb.
In either case, however, it would be highly discouraging for the
Redskins to have to make a trade for Taylor or any other defensive end
for that matter. Throughout the offseason, Cerrato has insisted that
the Redskins did not need to expend a high draft pick on a defensive
end nor did they need to pursue one in free agency. The team’s
personnel guru insisted that the Redskins were fine at the position.
My definition of “fine” would describe a situation where you should be
able to anticipate that your 35-year-old starter may get injured and
that you still should be “fine” after that happens without having to
make a trade.
Of course, as of now, any criticism is premature. That can wait until
if and when a deal is made what the details of that hypothetical trade
turn out to be.
Back to Daniels, it’s quite possible that he has played his last down
for the Redskins. A defensive end who is closer to 40 than to 30 and
who is coming off of a serious knee injury and carrying a cap number
just south of $3 million isn’t likely to be in the team’s plans.
Daniels’ fragility has been overstated. He has missed just 19 of a
possible 190 regular season games in his 12-year career. In 2004, his
first year with the Redskins, he played in just five games but since
then he has appeared in 16, 16, and 15 games.
He was a reliable in the locker room as he was on the field. No matter
what had happened, win or lose, he would be there to answer as many
questions as we wanted to ask.
I hope all Redskins fans join me in wishing him well.
Rich Tandler blogs about the Skins at
RealRedskins.com.