With the first Washington Commanders training camp a
nd preseason under head coach Dan Quinn in the history books, the team is now preparing for their Week 1 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It’s an important week for the team, but also for several Commanders rookies who are expected to play major roles for a franchise trying to turn things around under new leadership all across the franchise.
Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels is the most talked about rookie but there are two others the team would love to have on the field Sunday, but may not due to injuries.
Commanders’ starting left tackle Brandon Coleman and defensive tackle Jer’Zhan Newton both missed extensive time this preseason but coach Quinn says both are working their way back. However, he sounds more confident in the availability of his offensive tackle at the moment. And isn’t worried about not seeing him on the field as much this preseason.
“It's an example of you can only control the things that you can,” Quinn said after confirming he’s still confident in Coleman’s abilities despite the time lost to injury. “Would it have been better (to see more of Coleman)? Yes. But okay, that is not how it went down. But this player's really put in the work and he's really ready to go. So yeah, we're excited to get him into it.”
As much as Coleman has been working toward getting back, Newton too has been putting in his own work with a goal of playing Week 1.
The defensive tackle showed a lot of his potential in the limited practice opportunities he got, and has been dealing with a soft tissue foot issue that is unrelated to his previous foot injuries.
Quinn said Newton is also on his way back, but was not quite as confident in the path ahead for him as he was for Newton.
“Yeah, we're going to work,” Quinn said about the defensive tackle’s projected return. “He'll go work today and then we'll go limited tomorrow and then work again Friday and then I'll have a better assessment for you when we get together Friday afternoon. But it'll be good to get him back into the stuff he's raring to go, but most things said we're not going to miss a step for him, so we're going to take it all the way through the week and see where he is at.”
The first official injury report of the week is expected to come Wednesday afternoon following practice.
