You’ve Gotta Be #*!%*@ Kidding Me

May 22, 2019

by Eric Hill

Last week, I wrote about the hope that the Spring brings to Redskins fans (click here to read).  Well, all it took was three plays for reality to chokeslam hope through a folding table.

Three plays.

Three. Stupid. Plays.

The first non-contact, half-speed, get to know your teammates walk through lasted three plays before Rueben Foster, the insanely talented but troubled linebacker that Bruce Allen shrewdly picked up off waivers, thereby taking a media beating for before Foster was cleared to play week one, stepped on Tyler Catalina’s foot and tore his ACL. There will be no week one now for Foster, or week sixteen or any weeks in between.  Foster is out for the year.

First and foremost, I feel terrible for Foster. After all the turmoil of the past year, he seemed ready to focus on football and put all the nonsense behind him. He has lost so much time due to injury and off the field drama already, it’s just heartbreaking to see another year lost for such a talented player. I hope he makes a full recovery and gets to enjoy a long career starting in 2020.

As far as the Redskins, what in the actual f—sorry, I’m trying not to curse.  Excuse me while I go kick a trashcan and yell at my bathroom mirror.

That’s better. Now where were we?

After finishing with 24 players on injured reserve in 2017 and 28 players in IR in 2018, things had to improve. I mean the injuries couldn’t get worse, right? Well, it looks like 2019 just said ‘hold my beer,’ and got to work.

One day, one catastrophic injury.  Only 11 more OTAs to go. And minicamp, of course. At this rate, all those out of work UFL players will be in DC by the end of training camp—and half of them will already be on IR.

If I’m a veteran on this team and know the system, I’m avoiding organized team activities like they’re bill collectors.  There is no reason to risk an injury for a voluntary work out.  They are professionals who know the routine and can be trusted to stay in shape on their own. They can show up when they have to.

Now, that doesn’t apply to guys like Foster and the other free agents and rookies. There is a legitimate reason for them to be there, especially if they aren’t guaranteed a spot on the team. They need to learn the system and get familiar with how the Redskins do things. But, man, do they need to be careful.  Redskins Park might as well be a mine field.

Josh Norman and Landon Collins have been taking jabs at Giants GM Dave Gettleman in the media recently.  That needs to stop. I’m not a big believer in karma but I’m also not one to tempt fate. You start talking trash to some guy who cut you and next thing you know you’re spontaneously combusting like the drummer from Spinal Tap. Anything is possible when it comes to the Redskins and injuries.

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. This is just one injury to a player who never saw the field for the Redskins. You can’t miss what you never had, right? Maybe the team will finally regress to the mean and have at least an average number of injuries. I don’t know if this is a harbinger of things to come but after the past two seasons, when guys were dropping like my high school AP courses once I saw the summer reading list, it’s hard to think otherwise.

Hopefully it will take more than three plays to find out.