Tag: LS Camaron Cheeseman

Commanders LS Camaron Cheeseman given another chance by Rivera

Cheeseman will have another chance to work through his recent struggles.

Camaron Cheeseman has survived … at least for another game.

A day after publicly voicing his concern over the lack of consistency in long snapper Camaron Cheeseman’s performances in the first two games, Commanders head coach Ron Rivera is not yet making a change.

On Tuesday, the Commanders had five long snappers at the facility and took a look at each of them. A day earlier, Rivera had openly declared there would be long snappers coming in, and they would be gathering information on them. In other words, we are going to test them, work them, evaluate them, and determine which one we will contact if there is a problem against Buffalo.

Sure enough, just as he had implied, five men worked out today. They are sticking with Cheeseman against Buffalo with the plan to proceed further as needed.

Fans are impatient. That’s natural because they can simply talk, simply demand something be done without having to make an actual decision that has actual consequences.

Rivera doing it this way sends a message to Cheeseman that he is allowing him another week to work through his snap technique issues and that he wants him to master the issue and problem solve for himself, to keep his job. Secondly, Cheeseman gets the message that five guys worked out today. His job is indeed on the line. It’s up to him to keep his job or lose it.

It also sends a message to the team that Rivera is for them, hopes they learn from their mistakes, is not impatient, and is pulling for them to come through under pressure.

However, if Cheeseman does err again this week, costing the team a field goal in a close game, Rivera may then feel it best to send a different message to Cheeseman, a different message to his team.

 

Commanders Tress Way involved in kicking competition

Way weighs on Washington’s kicking competition.

Tress Way is in a big competition this training camp.

No, Way is not in danger of losing his job as punter. However, the veteran of 145 Washington regular season games is heavily involved in the battle for place kicker.

Way is the holder on extra points and field goal attempts; thus Way is holding for both Joey Slye and Michael Badgley in the battle for the kicker roster spot.

This also involves long snapper Camaron Cheeseman. Way conveyed Friday that Cheeseman is working hard at his game as well.

“He’s been working on this grip and man, he’s throwing nails, but that hardest transition is into those team periods and preseason.  We were talking about it after because, I mean, that dude works his tail off, and it’s been bugging him. And I was like, man, that’s the ultimate time to just trust yourself; you gotta do it like you gotta go out there, the team situations and preseason games because it’s ultimately the way to go. He has been snapping great.”

Way talked of how Cheeseman is not relaxing but is working to develop more of his skill set.  He referred to last season:

“He was snapping good, he just didn’t really like his rotation. And me being the holder, I was like, yeah, man, I’d really like a perfect spiral too; that’d be nice to catch. And so, he’s just working on it and made that change this summer.”

Back to the kicking competition. If both are to perform at their very best throughout training camp, then it is also up to the holder (Way) to not only make a clean catch of the snap, but get the ball down with the particular preference of each kicker.

“The biggest thing is just remembering their tilts. Every kicker with their swing plane and how they position their foot; they like the ball and different tilts. And then, ultimately, it’s just kind of kind of fun being the middleman. Like I feel the snap from Cheese, and I’m trying to give these guys the best opportunity. I mean, dude, those specialist competitions, they’re no joke.”

Way was then asked about the difference in the preferences of the two kickers competing for the job.

“Joey likes his ball a little bit more forward, and he kind of has this swing plane where, I mean, it’s really beautiful to watch. He kind of comes up and through and goes through the entire ball, and Badge is kinda more like that old school style where it’s a little bit tilted to the side but straight up and down in terms of depth, and he just comes sweeping through.”

One thing Way made abundantly clear is that he wants no part of kickoffs. He is leaving that to the winner of the battle between Slye and Badgley.