Tag: Casey Toohill

Second injury report for Commanders vs. Eagles, Week 3

Two Commanders did not practice Thursday, while two were limited.

The second injury report of the week is out, and two players missed Thursday’s practice for the Washington Commanders.

Defensive end Casey Toohill [concussion] and defensive tackle Daniel Wise [ankle] each missed practice for the second consecutive day. Either player missing Sunday’s Week 3 game against the NFC East-leading Philadelphia Eagles would be a difficult blow to Washington’s defensive line depth.

The Commanders are already without rookie defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis, who injured his knee in Week 1. At defensive end, Washington is still a few weeks away — at least — before Chase Young makes his 2022 return.

The Eagles listed 12 players on Thursday’s injury report, but it was more of a rest day. Wide receiver A.J. Brown, guard Landon Dickerson, offensive tackle Lane Johnson and defensive tackle Fletcher Cox were among those listed as limited for Philadelphia.

Cornerback Avonte Maddox [back] and linebacker Haason Reddick [knee] are the only players believed to be dealing with injuries.

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Commanders DL Daniel Wise is out with ankle injury

The Commanders lose two more defensive linemen in Week 2 vs. Lions.

Washington’s lack of depth along the defensive line became an even bigger issue in Sunday’s Week 2 game against the Detroit Lions.

Reserve defensive tackle Daniel Wise departed the game in the first half with an ankle injury. The team quickly ruled Wise out for the remainder of the game.

This is another blow for the Commanders, who lost rookie defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis for the season last week. Mathis, who suffered a torn meniscus, underwent surgery on Friday.

In response to Mathis’ injury, Washington signed defensive tackle Donovan Jeter to the active roster and Benning Potoa’e to the practice squad. Ahead of Sunday’s game against the Lions, Washington elevated Potoa’e to the 53-man roster.

To make matters worse, the Commanders also lost defensive end Casey Toohill, who was ruled out with a concussion.

It looks like another busy week for the Commanders on the waiver wire.

Commanders Casey Toohill trying to do his job

Casey Toohill took advantage of his opportunities last season.

Next man up, Casey Toohill.

With Chase Young and Montez Sweat being limited to starting 9 and 10 games respectively in 2021, Casey Toohill and James-Smith Williams were each suddenly called upon to start 6 games.

Toohill came to Washington one day after he was released by NFC rival Philadelphia in 2020.

“I remember my first practice just getting tossed around and being like, I really just need to make my practice better. I need to have better habits. I need to spend more time outside of the building and then things should be better from there.”

Some of the defensive players have chided the offensive players when getting the best of the scrimmaging. But Toohill has noticeably not always been vocal. “That’s just not my style. You know, I do every once and a while. I think if you ask guys, they will say I can definitely be loud every once and a while. But yeah, in practice I just try to focus, feed off the energy.”

2020 was the last season Carson Wentz was with the Eagles. Toohill and Wentz overlapped briefly, with Toohill being released October 13. “I was there four or five games and the summer, so yeah, I overlapped with him. Really enjoyed meeting him there. He was nice to be from day one. I was a seventh-round pick, he had no reason to be but he was always kind to me which I appreciated.”

Chase Young’s sudden and terrible 2021 injury was Toohill’s sudden opportunity to contribute on the defense. “You never ever want to see someone get hurt or hurt severely. So obviously I wasn’t happy that Chase got hurt. It was very unfortunate to see. He’s a great player and a great friend, so I hated to see that, but yeah it was an opportunity.”

Toohill is learning more of the intricacies of the NFL entering his third season.

“I just think every year that I’ve played it’s become more about the details…  I remember after my first season I was like, I have to get a lot bigger. I have to get a lot stronger. Then last year, it was the minute details of my job. Hand placement, footwork, certain little pass rush things, the very small things that I thought could make a big difference in the end.”

When Toohill first came to Washington in 2020, one of his teammates was veteran Ryan Kerrigan, in his last season with Washington. Now this season, Kerrigan is a part-time coach, shadowing the coaches, and helping at times with the players.

“It’s been awesome. You know, it’s funny because I got here when he was still here, and I remember he introduced himself to me and I was like man I know who you are. I watched your film in high school class. That was awesome then. So helpful then.  I love working with him. He’s got a great mind set and it’s been a great pleasure.”

Next up for Washington is the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday. In defeating the Arizona Cardinals Sunday, the Ravens extended the NFL’s consecutive record streak of preseason wins to 22. But Toohill knows what is important and what is not.

“I mean, you always want to win. That’s always the goal. But that doesn’t really change our focus. We want to go out there. We want to execute better. We want to play hard. Do our job, so that’s the focus.”

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Washington activates 4 defensive linemen from the Reserve/COVID-19 list

#WashingtonFootball registered zero new positive COVID tests on Saturday, activate four players from the reserve list, including star DT Jonathan Allen #Eagles-#Washington

After a stressful week involving several positive COVID-19 tests resulting in almost 22 players on the reserve list, Washington registers zero new positive COVID tests, activating four players from the reserve list.

That list included star defensive tackle Jonathan Allen and defensive end Montez Sweat.

Allen landed on the COVID list Monday, while Sweat was placed on the list Dec. 8 and he has not played since suffering a jaw injury in Week 8.

Washington could have even more players cleared as the decision to postpone Sunday’s matchup until Tuesday, December, 21.

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Washington defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio hopes Montez Sweat will be available Sunday

Montez Sweat is eligible to come off the reserve/COVID-19 list Saturday. Jack Del Rio knows it would be a boost for him to return Sunday vs. Eagles.

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It’s been a rough week for the Washington Football Team. With 21 plays on the reserve/COVID-19 list and a host of others injured, just having enough players to practice this week has been a challenge for Washington.

The most hard-hit position on Washington’s roster has been the defensive line. Jonathan Allen, Matt Ioannidis, Montez Sweat, Tim Settle, Casey Toohill, James Smith-Williams and William Bradley-King are all on the COVID list.

The NFL relaxed some of the rules for vaccinated players who are asymptomatic Thursday, but it’s unclear how it will impact Washington Sunday vs. Philadelphia.

One player on the current COVID list who could return on Sunday is Sweat. His 10-day quarantine ends on Saturday. Before Washington placed Sweat on the COVID list last week, he had spent a month on injured reserve with a fractured jaw.

Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio spoke to the media Thursday and was asked about Sweat potentially playing Sunday.

“It would obviously be a boost to get a guy like Montez back,” Del Rio said. “I know he’s working out; I’ve seen him via Zoom. I know he’s hopeful that that will occur, and we would love to see it. How many plays will he end up playing if he gets cleared and can play, I’m not sure. But yeah, I mean it would be a lift to get one of your better players back for sure.”

Del Rio was then asked if, from a conditioning standpoint, would Sweat be ready to play.

“Yes,” Del Rio responded.

Getting Sweat back would be a huge lift for Washington. But even though Del Rio said conditioning wouldn’t be an issue, you’d figure Sweat would be on a snap count. He hasn’t played since Week 8.

Next, Washington hopes for good news on Allen and some of the others.

Washington makes multiple roster moves, including adding 2 more to COVID list

Washington will be without its top three defensive ends for Sunday’s game against the Cowboys.

Just when the Washington Football Team thought it was getting healthy for the season’s final stretch run, the team received a string of bad news over the last several days.

First, there was tight end Logan Thomas going on season-ending injured reserve after last week’s dirty hit in only his second game back. Next, there was defensive end Montez Sweat, who the WFT expected to return in Week 14 from a fractured jaw. However, Sweat was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list and is out for Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys.

On Saturday, Washington received more bad news when defensive end James Smith-Williams and cornerback Darryl Roberts were placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Linebacker Khaleke Hudson was placed on the COVID list after Sweat, meaning Washington has placed four players on the list over the last week.

Losing Smith-Williams is a tough blow for Washington. The WFT is already without Sweat and Chase Young. Now, Washington will be without its top three defensive ends for Sunday’s NFC East battle. Rookie defensive end William Bradley-King and safety Jeremy Reaves were activated from the practice squad as replacements for Smith-Williams and Roberts.

In more bad news, guard/center Wes Schweitzer was placed on injured reserve with an ankle injury. Schweitzer is a backup but has started most of Washington’s games over the last two years and is a critical reserve.

Washington signed center Jon Toth from the practice squad to replace Schweitzer on the roster.

Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio will now be relying on young players Casey Toohill, Daniel Wise, Shaka Toney, Bunmi Rotimi and Bradley-King Sunday to apply pressure on Dak Prescott.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys continue to receive positive injury news.

Washington defense frustrated Russell Wilson

Washington’s defense played well in the Monday night win over the Seahawks.

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The Washington Football Team defense was mostly good Monday against Seattle with only a few hiccups.

Washington limited the Seattle offense to 10 total first downs, only one rushing first down and 34 total rushing yards. Alex Collins was held to 14 yards on seven carries, and Russell Wilson had two carries for 16 yards.

For 58 minutes, Russell Wilson was repeatedly hounded by the Washington pass rush, hurrying throws to avoid sacks and QB hits.

Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio for the most part chose to rush only four after Wilson, choosing to drop seven into coverage.

Matt Ioannidis, Daron Payne and Casey Toohill all recorded two QB hits on Wilson, while Jonathan Allen, Shaka Toney, Kamren Curl and Daniel Wise each added one QB hit as well.

On five consecutive Seattle offensive possessions, the Washington defense forced Seattle into three plays and a punt. For the game, Seattle only earned ten first downs and was only 4 of 12 on third downs.

The Seahawks only ran 45 total plays (while Washington had 79 offensive snaps).

Even with Wilson’s final 96-yard drive Seattle only had the ball 18 minutes and 20 seconds.

James Smith-Williams and Casey Toohill repeatedly remained disciplined setting the edge on run plays, while in their pass rush, they remained on the outside shoulder of Wilson not permitting him to roll outside of them for big runs.

However, there was a blown coverage in the first quarter when Wilson found Tyler Lockett for 55 yards, leading to a Seattle touchdown.

The final two-minute drive of 96 yards, including the inexplicable wide-open Freddie Swain’s 32-yard touchdown catch from Wilson in the final 20 seconds was disappointing.

The defense had yielded 31.0 points average in the first six games to just 20.3 in the next three games.

Tonight, they only surrendered 15 points.

When they had given up the final touchdown drive, Kendall Fuller read the eyes of Wilson, left his receiver to intercept the two-point attempt that would have tied the game with 15 seconds remaining.

It was a 17-15 win, an ugly win, but the defense, for the most part, played quite well.

With Montez Sweat and Chase Young injured, what now?

Casey Toohill, Shaka Toney and Bunmi Rotimi have a major opportunity with the loss of Montez Sweat and Chase Young.

The WFT defensive line has lost both Montez Sweat and Chase Young.

Sweat, a first-round draft choice out of Mississippi State in 2019, suffered a broken jaw against the Broncos in Week 8.

Young, the second overall selection in the 2020 NFL draft, suffered a torn ACL in Week 10 against the Buccaneers.

 

What now?

Ron Rivera, Jack Del Rio and defensive line coach Sam Mills III are forced to think, “What is best for the team, and how does the defense march forward?” It seems uncaring, but they must accept a “So what? Now what?” mindset and prepare this team. It’s their job.

Who will have to step up at defensive end?

Casey Toohill, a seventh-round draft choice by the Eagles in 2020, was signed by Washington last season and appeared in eight games. The 25-year-old defensive end played 29 defensive snaps last week against Tampa Bay, collecting one solo tackle while assisting on three others.

Shaka Toney was selected by the WFT out of Penn State in the seventh round (No. 246 overall) in 2021. At 6-2 and 238 pounds, perhaps his size will limit his snaps, and coaches may attempt to use him exclusively in pass-rushing situations. Toney was called upon for nine defensive snaps against Tampa in Week 10.

Bunmi Rotimi played at Old Dominion, went undrafted and was signed by the WFT last offseason. At 6-3 and 273 pounds, the 26-year-old lineman may be pressed into a role where he will be needed to also help against the run. He has appeared in recent games against the Packers (six snaps) and the Buccaneers (eight snaps).

Hall of Fame basketball coach John Wooden often said, “Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

Toohill, Toney and Rotimi are going to be thrown into the proverbial fire.  Many WFT fans will wish them good luck.

Wooden also often said, “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.”

Report: Washington claims former Eagles DE Casey Toohill

Washington has claimed former Philadelphia Eagles DE Casey Toohill off of waivers.

The Washington Football Team has made a roster move to bolster the depth on their defensive line, according to a report from NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay. The move brings former seventh-round pick Casey Toohill to Washington to fit into the defensive end rotation.

Toohill was released by the Eagles this week after playing in one game for Philadelphia this year, failing to record a tackle. The young rusher from Stanford had some impressive combine measurements, standing at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds and running a 4.62 40-yard dash with a 39-inch vertical.

It is unknown whether Toohill will have a chance to make the active roster or be relegated to the practice squad, but his is in the building nonetheless.

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Washington Football Team claims former Eagles DE Casey Toohill off of waivers

Casey Toohill claimed off of waivers by the Washington Football Team

In a move that could come back to haunt the Eagles, the Washington Football Team claimed pass rusher Casey Toohill off of waivers just hours after the 7th round pick out of Stanford was waived by Philadelphia.

Toohill saw action just once this season during the Eagles Week 2 loss to the Rams. In the game, Toohill logged 22 snaps on defense, while recording no sacks, no hits, no pressures, no tackles, no penalties.

The decision to move on from Toohill was puzzling because he earned a roster spot over 2019 fourth-round pick Shareef Miller and Joe Ostman.

Now the Eagles are out of a seventh-round pick and the Washington Football Team has more intel and a possible Ryan Kerrigan clone to add to their roster.