Redskins Notes: Robinson, Cousins
With the Redskins off to an 0-2 start, some of quarterback Kirk Cousins‘ teammates have reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with his early season output. That doesn’t surprise former Redskins linebacker Keenan Robinson, who spent the first three years of his career with Washington before signing with the Giants over the winter. “When I was there, three out of four years, it was the same thing,” he said Tuesday (via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com). “Once they get down, they start pointing fingers. And that is true. That is what happens. And for the Redskins — I’ve only been on one team before I came here, and that was them — and all I saw was not the right way to handle it. I feel like they didn’t handle it the right way when I was there.”
Robinson is glad to have left the Redskins in favor of the Giants, saying, “I like it here better. I would say that for sure.”
- The Redskins’ offseason decision to place the franchise tag on Cousins in lieu of signing him to a lucrative long-term deal looks prudent now, opines John Keim of ESPN.com. But if Cousins is unable regain something resembling his 2015 form, it’ll leave the team looking for a quarterback again, Keim notes. Ideally, he’ll emerge as a legitimate franchise-caliber passer and prove himself worthy of a major commitment for the foreseeable future.
Browns Sign C Austin Reiter To Active Roster
The Browns have signed center Austin Reiter to their active roster, removing him from the Redskins’ practice squad, a source tells John Keim of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Reiter, a 2015 seventh-round pick, spent most of last season on Washington’s taxi squad. This year, he was cut loose on Sept. 13 before being re-signed to the practice squad. 
Washington’s issues at center are well-documented and they tried to patch that hole up by acquiring Bryan Stork this offseason. Now, however, the team’s plan is to use rookie guard/center Spencer Long behind starting center Kory Lichtensteiger. The Redskins liked have Reiter waiting in the wings in case of an injury, but the Browns swooped in and grabbed him.
Now, Reiter will give the Browns depth after Cameron Erving went down with a bruised lung over the weekend. There’s no word on how long the 2015 first-round pick could be sidelined, but the expectation is that he could miss a month of action.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Redskins Make Several Practice Squad Moves
Washington Redskins
Latest On Redskins’ Kirk Cousins
After the defending NFC East champion Redskins fell to 0-2 on Sunday with a 27-23 loss to the division-rival Cowboys, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported behind-the-scenes frustration in Washington. Specifically, some Redskins players have complained about the early season performance of quarterback Kirk Cousins, a source told Florio. Cousins acknowledged his teammates’ alleged frustration Monday, calling it “understandable” (per Breaking Burgundy.com).
“I have to play better. You take ownership, you step to the forefront and you lead and you challenge guys and you say what you need to do better,” said Cousins. “I think together, we can do that. That’s what I’m going to do. That’s what I’ve done my whole life, my whole life as a football player. This no different. This not new territory for me. I’ve faced challenges before, adversity before on the football field. We’re going to find a way to move forward and play better. We’re going to do it together.”
So far this year, Cousins hasn’t resembled the signal-caller who dominated during the second half of last season and helped the Redskins secure a division title. Cousins threw 19 touchdowns against two interceptions over the year’s final eight games in 2015, which led the Redskins to place the franchise tag on him in the offseason.
Now making $19.95MM as Washington’s franchise player, Cousins has tossed three picks against one score in two games, a pair of home defeats in which the Steelers and Cowboys outscored the Redskins 65-37. One major problem for Cousins thus far has been his work near the opposing end zone. As ESPN’s Ed Werder tweeted Sunday, Cousins failed to complete any of his five attempts, one of which went for an interception, inside the Cowboys’ 10-yard line in Week 2. Against Pittsburgh, he missed on two of three throws inside the 10 and also tossed a pick. During what seemed like a breakout showing last season, he amassed 16 scores and only one INT in the same area.
As the Redskins prepare for a crucial game this week against another NFC East opponent, the 2-0 Giants, head coach Jay Gruden is expecting a bounce-back effort from Cousins.
“Kirk’s game will take care of itself. We have total faith that Kirk will get it done,” he said Monday (via Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today). “And he will get it done. He has proven that he can be a successful quarterback in this league. He can make all the throws, without a doubt.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Redskins Place Kedric Golston On IR
Kedric Golston is done for the year, Redskins coach Jay Gruden told reporters (Twitter link via Mike Jones of The Washington Post). In a related move, rookie defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis will be called up from the practice squad. 
Golston signed a one-year, $1MM deal with the Redskins this offseason. Unfortunately, the nose tackle’s season is already over after he went down with a strained hamstring on the first play of Sunday’s game against Cowboys. The Redskins will now rely on Ziggy Hood as their primary nose tackle, though the Redskins other options for depth.
Over the last ten years for the Redskins, Golston has appeared in 142 games with 53 starts. Ioannidis, a Temple product, was selected in the fifth round of this year’s draft. It was a surprise to many when he didn’t make the 53-man roster, but he passed through waivers and the Redskins were able to re-sign him to the taxi squad. We’ll find out now how NFL-ready Ioannidis is.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Teammates Unhappy With Kirk Cousins?
After winning nine games last season en route to an NFC East title, the Kirk Cousins-led Redskins fell to 0-2 this year with a 27-23 loss to the division-rival Cowboys on Sunday. Both defeats have come at home for Washington, which previously lost in embarrassing fashion, 38-16, to Pittsburgh on Monday. As a result of their slow start, some Redskins offensive players have begun privately complaining about Cousins’ performance thus far, a source told Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
On the possibility of benching Cousins in favor of backup Colt McCoy, the source said of the latter, “At least he’d play with poise.”
McCoy has never been any kind of solution since entering the NFL as the Browns’ third-round pick in the 2010 draft. Cousins, however, looked like a franchise-caliber passer during the second half of the 2015 campaign. In all, he completed 69.8 percent of passes for 4,166 yards and 29 touchdowns against 11 interceptions, but 19 of those scores and just two picks came in the Redskins’ final eight games. That led the Redskins to place the franchise tag on the 28-year-old in the offseason, thus committing a $19.95MM salary to him in the process.
While Cousins has thrown for a prolific 693 yards during the first two weeks of this season, he has tossed just one touchdown against three INTs. Aside from his late-season breakout last year, Cousins has mostly been a pedestrian pro signal-caller since the Redskins used a fourth-rounder on him in 2012. That explains why the team was reluctant to hand the ex-Michigan State Spartan a sizable long-term deal in lieu of the franchise tag over the summer.
Assuming Cousins stays at the helm, he’ll next lead the Redskins into New York for a a crucial Week 3 showdown with another NFC East rival, the Giants, who lead the division at 2-0. A loss would quickly place the Redskins well behind Big Blue in the East race and put them at 0-2 in the division. For Cousins, another poor showing also wouldn’t do the impending free agent’s potential long-term earning power any favors.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
PFR’s Impact Rookies Series
All summer long, longtime scouting consultant Dave-Te Thomas of The NFL Draft Report has been breaking down the draft class of every team in the league and identifying the players that can immediately make a difference. The Impact Rookies series, which wrapped up today with a look at the Seahawks, provides unique insight to this year’s NFL freshman class from a veteran guru who worked closely with several teams around the league leading up to the draft.
Here is the full rundown of the Impact Rookies series:
AFC East
AFC North
AFC South
AFC West
NFC East
NFC North
NFC South
NFC West
Alfred Morris: Free Agency Was “Insulting”
For the first time since his four-year tenure with the Redskins ended over the winter, Cowboys running back Alfred Morris will face his former team this Sunday.
Morris spoke Wednesday about his final season in Washington, telling reporters (including John Keim of ESPN.com), “By the end of the year, I figured my time there was gone. You’re not the coach’s guy, you’re not the GM’s guy, they draft a young guy. It’s a business, so I expected that. They just had a different plan and I wasn’t a part of it and that was OK.”
When the Redskins selected Morris in the sixth round of the 2012 draft, Mike Shanahan was at the helm as their head coach. Morris had a tremendous rookie year under Shanahan, rushing 335 times for 1,613 yards and 13 touchdowns, and he was also excellent in his second season (276 attempts, 1,275 yards, seven scores). The Redskins then ousted Shanahan in favor of Jay Gruden, and Morris’ numbers began falling off considerably. The ex-Florida Atlantic Owl still racked up 1,000-plus yards and eight scores in 2014, but his attempts (265) and yards-per-carry average (4.1) hit career lows. Those numbers further declined last year for Morris, who failed to approach 1,000 yards (751), put up just 3.7 yards per tote and scored a meager one touchdown.
Fresh off his career-worst showing, Morris hit the open market. Once there, he only drew interest from the Broncos, Dolphins and Cowboys, leading to disdain for a process that he called “insulting.”
“I didn’t like it one bit. I don’t want to do it again,” he said.
On settling for a two-year, $5.5MM deal with the Redskins’ NFC East rivals, the Cowboys, he stated, “Eventually Dallas came knocking. I did a visit and it just seemed like a good fit. So I said, ‘Why not?’ It’s a rival team, but I didn’t even think about that. I was a kid trying to keep his dream alive and it just happened to fall to the rival team.”
Morris’ chances to make an impact with the Cowboys seemingly took a hit when they selected former Ohio State star rusher Ezekiel Elliott with the fourth overall pick in April’s draft. After all, Dallas already had Darren McFadden, who impressed last year, and Lance Dunbar on its depth chart. However, McFadden has since gone on the shelf with an elbow injury that will cost him several weeks of the season, thus opening the door again for Morris.
As expected, Elliott was the Cowboys’ bell cow in their season-opening loss to the Giants, but Morris was effective in a secondary role (seven carries, 35 yards). The Redskins, meanwhile, failed to establish a running game with second-year back Matt Jones in a 38-16 loss to Pittsburgh and yielded 143 yards to the Steelers’ DeAngelo Williams. If Washington’s Week 1 performance is any indication, Elliott and Morris should have productive showings Sunday.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/14/16
Here are Wednesday’s practice squad moves from around the NFL:
Chicago Bears
- Signed: DL Jimmy Staten (Twitter link via Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com)
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: WR Josh Boyce (Twitter link via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal)
New England Patriots
- Signed: WR DeAndrew White (Twitter link via Doug Kyed of NESN)
Oakland Raiders
- Signed: DE Jimmy Bean (Twitter link via Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com)
- Cut: LB Curtis Grant
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: WR Chris Harper (Twitter link via Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: DT Rodney Coe (Twitter link via Roy Cummings of WFLA)
Washington Redskins
- Signed: C Austin Reiter (Twitter link via Mike Jones of the Washington Post)
Redskins Release Austin Reiter
- The Redskins released center Austin Reiter, according to John Keim of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The former seventh-rounder was cut to make room for defensive end Cullen Jenkins, who signed with the team earlier today.
[SOURCE LINK]