Tag: Brian Robinson Jr

Commanders safety Jeremy Reaves wins prestigious award

It’s the latest honor for the beloved Reaves.

Tuesday, the Commanders announced their 2024 Ed Block Courage Award recipient is veteran safety Jeremy Reaves.

Each December, NFL teams vote for the player from their team who is a role model in courage, inspiration and sportsmanship.

Reaves, 28, played his college ball at South Alabama and went undrafted by all 32 NFL teams.

Although he has been released several times during his career, he illustrates what can happen when a player works hard, keeps coming back, and contributes to Washington. He has played in 60 NFL games, starting 11.

Block was an athletic trainer for the old Baltimore Colts from the 1954-1977 seasons after serving as a U.S. Army officer in World War II. He was also a physical therapist for disabled children in Baltimore.

Next March, the recipient from each of the 32 teams will receive their award at a banquet in Baltimore. Reaves and the other award winners will receive a helmet engraved with his name, team, and season. The helmet also included the team’s logo.

The NFL began presenting the award during the 1984 season, and the Redskins’ first recipient was offensive tackle Mark May. Last year, the Commanders voted offensive lineman Tyler Larsen as the winner.

Some other notable Washington Redskins / Commanders to have been voted to receive the award were:

  • Doug Williams 1988
  • Joe Jacoby 1990
  • Don Warren 1991
  • Art Monk 1993
  • Mark Schlereth 1994
  • Darrell Green 1998
  • Chris Samuels 2002
  • Marcus Washington 2007
  • Robert Griffin 2013
  • DeAngelo Hall 2017
  • Alex Smith 2019
  • Brandon Scherff 2020
  • Brian Robinson Jr 2022

Commanders RB Austin Ekeler suffers concussion vs. Cowboys

Commanders RB Austin Ekeler suffered a concussion vs. Cowboys.

The Washington Commanders may have lost more than the game in Sunday’s 34-26 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Not only did right tackle Andrew Wylie (concussion) and running back Brian Robinson Jr. (ankle) leave the game due to injuries, Washington lost its other top running back, Austin Ekeler, at the end of the game.

Ekeler suffered a brutal hit on the game’s final kickoff with nine seconds remaining. Ekeler lay motionless for a few minutes before getting up and walking off the field under his own power. Both Washington and Dallas players surrounded Ekeler, concerned for his well-being.

After the game, head coach Dan Quinn confirmed that Ekeler suffered a concussion.

“[GM Adam [Peters] and I just had a chance to visit with him now, so he’ll do more tests tonight, but it was a concussion,” Quinn said. 

This would be Ekeler’s second concussion of the season. He suffered the first one in Washington’s Week 3 win at Cincinnati and missed the following week’s win at Arizona.

The Commanders released running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. after activating rookie defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste from IT. Washington hopes to get Rodriguez back, but another team could claim the talented second-year back.

Washington could be without Robinson and Ekeler next week against Tennessee, so there will be another move at running back. Jeremy McNichols would step back into the starting role. McNichols has thrived when given opportunities this season.

Commanders’ Brian Robinson reaches a franchise milestone

Some history for Commanders RB Brian Robinson Jr.

For the first time this season, the Commanders have lost consecutive games, but one of their starters has reached a personal milestone.

With his 63 rushing yards against the Eagles in Thursday night’s 26-18 loss, Brian Robinson surpassed 2,000 career rushing yards. No, he is not among the top leading rushers in the NFL. However, Robinson is revealing that he is a productive dual threat.

Robinson not only reached 2,000 rushing yards in his third season (with six remaining games), but he also became the fourth running back in Washington Redskins/Commanders franchise history to hit 2,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in his first three seasons in the NFL.


Which other Washington running backs accomplished this within their first three seasons? Larry Brown (1969-71), Mike Thomas (1975-77), and Antonio Gibson (2021-23) are the only three.

One nuance of the statistic is that the four players all started their careers in Washington.

However, one very prominent Washington running back accomplished this feat in his first three seasons. Yet, the nuance in this case is that the running back spent his first two seasons in the NFL elsewhere, came to Washington, and enjoyed several high-caliber seasons.

Clinton Portis, in his first three seasons in the NFL (two with Denver, one with Washington), had rushing totals of 1,508, 1,591, and 1,315 (4,414 rushing yards) and receiving totals of 364, 314, and 235 (913 receiving yards).

Many fans have easily framed their narrative that the 2012 10-6 Washington season was all about Robert Griffin III. Yes, Griffin was a spectacular running quarterback, rushing for 815 yards. He also led the NFL in passing yards per attempt that season at 8.1.

However, you must remember that Alfred Morris rushed for 1,613 yards in the 2012 season. What is significant about that rushing total by Morris? It was and remains, 12 seasons later, the franchise record for most rushing yards in a regular season.

However, Morris did not accumulate 500 receiving yards in his first three NFL seasons and thus did not make the list of four the Commanders have provided.

Congratulations to Brian Robinson. May you have many more successful rushing and receiving seasons for the Burgundy and Gold.

 

 

Commanders will be without key offensive starter vs. Steelers

More bad news for the Commanders ahead of Week 10 vs. Steelers.

The Washington Commanders revealed on their final injury report Friday that starting running back Brian Robinson Jr. would miss Sunday’s Week 10 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Robinson has been dealing with a hamstring injury over the last two weeks, which forced him to miss the Week 9 win over the New York Giants. Robinson also missed the Week 6 game at Baltimore because of a knee injury. Head coach Dan Quinn said the knee injury is better, but the hamstring issue is the same leg.

“Same side,” Quinn said. “So that is, I don’t know if it’s a correlation, but it definitely is a factor to it, but the knee’s doing good and so not the same injury. So that’s a good sign.”

Robinson is Washington’s leading rusher with 461 yards, averaging 4.6 yards per attempt, and is tied for a team-high with six touchdowns.

Quinn was asked if Chris Rodriguez Jr. factored into Washington’s decision to give Robinson more time to heal.

“Yeah, we’ll huddle up tonight and visit with medical side and [GM] Adam [Peters], myself and then kinda get an assessment about where we’re at and then we can proceed if needed when we go to that. But that’ll be kind of our next operation for this evening,” he answered.

Rodriguez has been elevated from the practice squad three times and led the Commanders with 52 rushing yards last week. Austin Ekeler will likely start, but Rodriguez and Jeremy McNichols should also see plenty of time in the backfield.