RICHMOND, Va. — The Redskins held their final full day of training camp on Monday. The team had about a two-and-a-half hour practice followed by a walk- through in the afternoon. There will be one final walk-through Tuesday morning before heading back to Ashburn. The team will be off on Wednesday, then practice Thursday-Saturday in preparation for preseason game number two on Monday against the Browns.
Wide Receiver DeSean Jackson returned to the field after missing the first preseason game with an ankle injury. He said he will be ready to make his Redskins debut on Monday against the Browns.
Jay Gruden addressed the injury after practice.
“He’s coming along at a good pace. I think he went all the way through until the last two-minute, which he probably should have gone through, but I think he just felt like he did enough. He did some cutting, scored a couple touchdowns, obviously, so he’s in good shape.”
The Redskins ran the two-minute drill at the end of practice again today. Gruden said they were going to run it every day until the opener in Houston. The team looked a little sharper today running it with Griffin throwing a touchdown.
“I felt like we came out and executed what we needed to,” Griffin said. “We moved the ball down the field efficiently and scored a touchdown. It was a lot smoother today, we felt like we were in a rhythm getting to the right place with the ball, everybody being in the right place, making the right checks at the line.”
Griffin saw an overall better performance from his squad today.
“We locked in a lot better today,” he said.
Injury update
– DeAngelo Hall sat out practice today with the back injury he suffered yesterday. Will he play on Monday?
“If my body permits it, I’ll definitely be out there,” Hall said.” I’m not a guy who likes to sit on the side. If I had to go out tomorrow and play in a real game, I’d be out there in a heartbeat.”
– Jordan Reed was going to practice Monday, but got sick on the way to the facility, so he was held out again. The team will do more tests tonight.
– Running backs Chris Thompson and Silas Redd continue to be sidelined with ankle injuries.
– Safety Phillip Thomas sat out again with a hamstring injury.
– Ryan Clark was back today after missing a couple days with a hamstring injury.
Gruden on running back competition
With Thompson and Redd both sidelined by ankle injuries the last couple days, Evan Royster and Lache Seastrunk have seen a lot of the carries during team drills, being the healthy ones. It’s very frustrating for Redd and Thompson to be on the sideline because they know how important it is for them to be out there showing the coaches what they can do. Jay Gruden is waiting also.
“Alfred (Morris) is the slam dunk,” he said. “Roy (Helu) has had a good camp, then we’re looking for the other two to step up.”
A wrap on training camp
With his first full training camp as a head coach in the books, Gruden had a positive takeaway from year one.
“I’m most happy with the way these guys have come together, played together and bought into how fast we practice and just the group in general,” he said. “They’ve all been on-time. We’ve had no disciplinary things we’ve had to go through, no extracurricular fights that we’ve had to discipline people, kick people out of practice. So, it’s been really a pleasant surprise with how professional they’ve all been and how they’re coming in here with the willingness to learn and get better every day and that’s half the battle.”
What did he think of Richmond?
“It was great. From the hotel to the facility here, we have everything we need. It’s been first class, the fans have been great, you guys have even been pretty good.” (Score one for the media!)
As far as on the field, the progress they’ve made is noticeable as well. After three weeks of training camp Gruden said that the system is in place and now it’s basically time to go execute.
“We’ve tried to install most of our system right now so we’re not killing them mentally and adding a bunch of new stuff,” Gruden said. “We’re trying to let them go out and play fast. They really shouldn’t have any excuses as far as, ‘I don’t know where to line up, I don’t know what to do on this play.’ They should all know what to do and be able to play fast.”
This is going to be a long process, but the fact that there were no real issues (on or off the field) and no real controversy, I think that is a win for Jay Gruden and this team. Being that he is a first-year head coach, I think camp couldn’t have gone smoother in that regard for him.
Camp Attendance
The Redskins had two fewer days and three fewer sessions this year in Richmond. The total attendance was 164,789 with an average of 10,986 per day and 6,866 per session.
The average attendance per day increased by 638 and per session by 734 fans per session.
See you in Ashburn.
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