It’s no secret the Commanders are 4-9 and hoping to get some people back in the lineup.
What may be a secret, however, is that the Commanders have actually been one of the healthiest teams in the entire league this season, and yet they have managed to lose nine of their last 11 games after opening the season 2-0.
Yet, there are some injuries, and head coach Ron Rivera was asked during his weekly Monday press conference when those players might return to action during the last four weeks of the season.
Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes and defensive end James Smith-Williams: “Forbes had a good week of rehab. He’ll be evaluated through practice this week, as will James Smith Williams for the most part.”
Ricky Stromberg: “Stromberg, actually, you know, he had the surgery. He’s still going to be down for a while.”
Safety Darrick Forrest: “DeFo, he’s got to be re-evaluated by the doctors. We’ll go from there.”
Left guard Saahdiq Charles: “We’re gonna check in on him tomorrow and see where he is. Then we’ll go from there.”
Rivera was asked a follow-up regarding Stromberg, “Does it sound like then he’d probably be done for the year?” “It looks like it obviously because of the surgery, and it’s unfortunate. The young man showed he had the tools you are looking for. Big, stout, physical guy, very smart, intelligent football player. He showed that to us and, unfortunately, got hurt playing. That was a tough one because, between him and Tyler (Larsen), I felt we could have been very, very stout up front for the remainder of the year.”
Did you catch that? Rivera was planning on not using Nick Gates in the middle any longer? Was Rivera admitting by implication that the Nick Gates experiment did not go well? Was the signing determined to have been a mistake?
Rivera was then asked if Brian Robinson was going to be able to practice this week. “We’ll see him tomorrow, and he will be re-evaluated, and we’ll see. He should be ready to go for practice, I’m anticipating that. But we’ll see everybody again tomorrow.”