Practice Report: Alex Smith takes 1st-team reps; Terry McLaurin works with trainers; Antonio Gibson absent

Reports from practice in Washington show Alex Smith took 1st-team QB reps, while Terry McLaurin worked to the side with trainers. Antonio Gibson was not seen at practice.

After the news seemed grim on Wednesday afternoon, with QB Alex Smith not participating in practice and later being declared a DNP on the injury report, things are looking up when it comes to Thursday afternoon’s events. Alex Smith was seen stretching with the team for the first time in a couple of weeks, and he then stepped under center and took over the QB1 spot in team drills.

This is more than we’ve seen from Smith in quite some time, and it certainly bodes well for his potential ability to play on Sunday. However, as was noted by Michael Phillips on Thursday, there is a chance that Washington could look to press Smith on Thursday and see how his calf reacts, with practice likely moving indoors to the turf on Friday.

In other news, there was some more unfortunate news when it came to the subject of WR Terry McLaurin, who was yet again absent from team drills on Thursday. McLaurin missed the last game with an ankle sprain that he’s been dealing with for weeks, and his confinement to a side field with trainers this week is troublesome. There is a growing concern that he will not be able to play in this Sunday’s regular-season finale.

RB Antonio Gibson was also absent from team drills for the second-consecutive day, but based on how he looked in Sunday’s game, plus OC Scot Turner’s comments about wanting to get the ball to him more, we still have some confidence that he will be good to go this week. His absence is troublesome, but we will continue to monitor is situation as the week goes on.

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