The Washington Commanders number one concern is glaring after Wednesday's joint practice against the Baltimore Ravens
With nearly two weeks until the Washington Commanders prepare for an Eagles' front seven featuring Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith and Jordan Davis, the second and final joint practice of training camp left a lot more to be desired than fans hoped as the number one concern is becoming even more clear for head coach Dan Quinn.
In a month where injuries have become the theme for the unit, Quinn noted ahead of Wednesday's practice with the Baltimore Ravens that starting right guard Sam Cosmi would be sidelined due to an illness. That allowed others to fill in, like both Julian Good-Jones and Tanoa Togiai who filled in to take reps at right guard, though Good-Jones also split time with Matt Gulbin at center throughout the day with the rookie drawing more of the reps. While Chris Paul flashed in a handful of his one-on-one reps, left tackle Brandon Coleman admitted the up and down practice for his unit in Owings Mills leaves ample room for growth, hours after Dan Quinn admitted there is concern with the snaps lost among his expected starters in the trenches.
"It's not ideal when you [are] missing any time, just like it would be in the season," Quinn said ahead of practice.
The joint practice did mark a new face taking the field for Washington after DJ Humphries made his first appearance as a Commander, one day after signing, to add depth at offensive tackle as Quinn pointed to Wednesday's joint practice and Friday's preseason finale as chances to ramp up his workload. Quinn also pointed to Humphries arriving with the Commanders as a "proven player" where his experience now looms large in a tackle room limited on those game reps outside of Coleman and Josh Conerly.
Wednesday wasn't all bad as the defense was able to stick out to generate pressure including an encouraging rep in one-on-ones from defensive lineman Charles Omenihu. On offense, rookie wide receiver Antonio Williams flashed in one-on-ones again including creating separation at the line of scrimmage with safety Kyle Hamilton matched on a rep that ended in a touchdown, flashing days after proving his value alongside Jaden Bradley. Daniels was also able to end practice with a walk-off touchdown to veteran Terry McLaurin to give the offense a high note to walk off the field.
Yet days after the first team offense struggled to show much of anything with quarterback Jayden Daniels and the bulk of the starters on the field in the preseason road loss against the Detroit Lions, Wednesday added more questions than answers.
Daniels pointed to the chance for the Commanders to "own this, watch the tape" following Wednesday's lackluster showing with Friday night marking a chance for several fringe players to prove their value as depth pieces along the eventual 53-man roster. Yet Wednesday reinforced that additional help along the offensive line may be needed with center becoming the number one question through the month with Nick Allegretti sidelined for all but one practice. While the staff has been able to find an in-house stopgap to mitigate the loss of Tunsil, the glaring hole at center has remained the most pressing roster need.
The Commanders will close out preseason on Friday night against Baltimore with kickoff set for 7:30 PM at M&T Bank Stadium.
