On one play in Friday’s preseason-opening win over the Cleveland Browns, a pair of Washington Commanders were injured and left the game.
Defensive end Chase Young blew past Cleveland left tackle Jedrick Wills to get his hands on quarterback Deshaun Watson, but Watson slipped away. As Watson heads downfield, you can see second-year defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis in pursuit.
Unfortunately, Mathis suffered some sort of leg injury and left the game. Young also departed the game and was seen on the sideline with head trainer Al Bellamy. After the game, head coach Ron Rivera said Young had “a little bit of a stinger” but didn’t give an update on Mathis.
After Sunday’s practice, Rivera offered an update on both players.
On Young:
“With Chase, he self-reported a stinger during the game, and so through an abundance of caution, we have slowed him down just to be smart more so than anything else,” Rivera said.
“He’s got to get one more final exam so we can get him back out there. Everything has been fine. Again, we’re just being careful because this was a self-reported stinger. I don’t want to say protocol, but we have to follow the rules.”
It sounds like Young will be just fine.
Mathis appears fine, too:
“He had tweaked his calf, and he did come back in, re-entered the game, and take his reps,” Rivera said. “Today, he’s a little sore. He was sore yesterday sore today, and so the training staff wanted to slow him down a little bit. He did a few things, and then we shut him down.”
That’s a relief for Mathis. Only a few plays into the first game of his NFL career last season, Mathis went down with a knee injury and was lost for the year.
The Commanders have depth at both positions, so don’t be surprised if they take it easy with both players during this week’s joint practices with the Baltimore Ravens.