How many spots on the 53-man roster are up for grabs heading into the Washington Commanders’ final preseason game on Sunday vs. New England?
Will the Commanders keep three quarterbacks? Or will they keep 10 offensive linemen? What about six cornerbacks, seven wide receivers, or four tight ends?
General manager Adam Peters faces some difficult decisions before next week’s deadline for final cuts. A few positions will likely come down to Sunday’s game against the Patriots.
What is head coach Dan Quinn thinking about cutdown day?
“This may sound unusual, but we’re really looking for consistency because sometimes when a person can be into this spot or a ball player, they could press to really want to show out, or I wanna make this play, I wanna do something to stand out,” Quinn said Wednesday. “And so being tighter doesn’t allow you to play better. It just can make you a little tighter and more anxious about the play. So we’re really trying to make sure we’re staying into the flow of how we do things, and there may be some higher reps on a special teams portion or lower and higher on offense or defense.”
Quinn was asked if any position groups were standing out above others.
“I thought two of the groups that have really stood out to me, just been consistent and deep are at safety and at tight end, and just the practice habits, the willingness to go for their battles on special teams,” Quinn said. “So those have been two that have stood out to me of consistently high-level effort, guys supporting one another. And so that’s what you want as a coach where there’s really challenging spots and guys really pushing it. And I’d say those are two of the positions that that jump out to me.”
Let’s start with tight end. Three players are roster locks: Zach Ertz, Ben Sinnott and John Bates. Will the Commanders keep a fourth tight end? If so, that’s good news for third-year TE Cole Turner. Turner has had a solid camp but hasn’t flashed in the preseason games.
As for safety, Quan Martin and Jeremy Chinn are locks. Jeremy Reaves is close to a lock, with Percy Butler and Darrick Forrest also in the mix. Butler appears to be Washington’s top backup at free safety, while Forrest, who had a breakout season two years ago, has battled an injury this summer.
Undrafted rookie Tyler Owens is the wild card. Owens has all the physical attributes and has shined throughout training camp and in both preseason games. He’s made the safety battle much more enjoyable. And as much as Quinn has discussed him, it’s difficult to see the Commanders moving on from him next week.
