That's what the quarterbacks will say
Friday 31 July 2009 | forty-four days until kickoff
Washington Post Training Camp Tracker: longshot rookie free agent linebacker Darrel Young, second year receiver Malcolm Kelly on fan reaction to his making plays, Redskins fans will recall Malcolm was hurt through camp last year, made zero impact on gameday and was the roster equivalent of a paperweight in 2008.
Washington Times Training Camp Report: Malcolm Kelly looked good, fullback Mike Sellers is the last player left from the Redskins team that won the NFC Beast in 1999.
With 13th overall draft pick defensive end slash linebacker Brian Orakpo signed, the deal was five years, twenty million dollars with 12.1 million dollars guaranteed, he was cleared to get going, he wound up getting another day off, he missed the morning practice processing into camp and the afternoon practice was rained out. Per defensive coordinator Greg Blache, Brian's main job will be to quote create havoc unquote.
Offense
Redskins fans, at least those hearty enough to attend a Friday morning practice at Redskins Park, are enthusiastically behind their quarterback Jason Campbell. So am I, he is in a contract year and I would love nothing more than to see him have a great year and the team lock him up for seven years. See bottom of this post for more Curly R Jason Campbell manlove.
One of the constant undercurrents of this upcoming season has been OH LOOK MALCOLM KELLY AND DEVIN THOMAS CAN HAS PLAY NOW LOOK HOW MUCH TEY ARE IMPROVAHDID, this concerns me as the rising second year second round pick receivers run the risk of overhype and underdelivery. They really contributed nothing last season which was especially frustrating considering Eddie Royal and DeSean Jackson, also second round receivers, were extremely productive and are unquestionably key players for the Broncos and Eagles respectively. There is no question I would love to see them have a great year, if I were behind the Redskins PR machine I would be taking a lower key approach to this whole thing, a quiet surprise is better than a loud flop.
According to Jason Reid at the WaPo the team really wants to see Devin Thomas as the starting wideout opposite Santana Moss which would place Antwaan Randle El back into his natural slot position. So far so good as Devin was reported to have had a good practice (ibid.).
Left tackle Chris Samuels may be slimmer and stronger entering his tenth season in the league, the right side of the line still does not look so good as tackle Mike Williams had another tough day at practice (op. cit.). On day two a theme is developing: the offensive line is being dominated by the defense. John Keim at The Washington Examiner wrote that tackle Jeremy Bridges had another tough day and thinks Jeremy is better suited as a guard than a tackle (ibid.) which is only good if Stephon Heyer can grab the starting right tackle spot and Mike Williams can be more than Jabba the Hutt out there.
Rookie free agent quarterback Chase Daniel, like Colt Brennan an easy guy to like and unlike Colt a roster longshot, had a good practice, with Chase Jim Zorn is telegraphing his preferred style of quarterback, Colt and Chase are a lot more like Matt Hasselbeck than Jason Campbell.
Defense
Even at number four overall last season teams still could run easily against the Washington defense, there were few sacks and there were few turnovers. Starting on day one with the cornerbacks doing pushups for dropped interceptions another theme is appearing (op. cit.): the defense must improve if the offense is to develop properly.
Two days in a row and Alfred Fincher is still playing with the first team at strongside linebacker, Brian Orakpo will likely have this spot and Chris Wilson is also lurking, Alfred was a 2008 camp sparkplug and in limited time on game day last season showed a nose of the ball, he tipped then made a good interception of a Jason Campbell pass (op. cit.). I like this guy.
Et cetera
Just retired Redskins receiver James Thrash, as the team hinted he would, has accepted a position with the team (op. cit.), my guess is as a liaison or development assistant to the players.
I was a bit disappointed that the YouTube pulled the Shooter video I have used the past two years in the gamewrap section on Jason Campbell, it was not entirely surprising given that it brazenly combined Lil Wayne's Shooter with NFL footage, copyrighted properties both, last night I found it again, encapsulated into a longer YouTube on Jason, this may be the original from which the Jason Campbell video was excerpted. It is brilliant, check it out, the music video starts around three minutes in, for Redskins fans Jason Campbell is our Shooter.
Brian Orakpo suited up on his almost first day of practice: AP photo from here.
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