1. When Brian Orakpo left, he told his teammates, “I’ll see you all when I see you all.” Like everyone else he has no idea when they’ll get together the next time. If the lockout is settled, it’ll be in late July when training camp opens. If not, it could be in August at another players-only minicamp. They’re unlikely to have one in July because players typically are off that month anyway. But if it drags into August, linebacker London Fletcher said they might conduct a week of two-a-day workouts. However, the players are optimistic something will get done. “I’ve heard there is some progress,” Fletcher said.
2. The workouts didn’t always accomplish a lot; only four offensive linemen showed up today and Kevin Barnes was again the lone Redskins corner in attendance. But it gave the veterans such as Chris Cooley a chance to shake off the rust and the rookies a chance to learn the plays. It was also good for some of the rookies to be around if only to learn about some of their teammates, otherwise they’ll be introducing themselves to half their teammates for the first time on the first day of camp. Leonard Hankerson received extra tutoring from Anthony Armstrong on certain routes; and even Cooley and Fletcher talked coming off the field, giving each other insight into a particular look they had on the field.
“We were able to give the rookies a foundation of what we do,” Fletcher said. “As veterans it’s good to get back out there and going over terminology again and going over football stuff. You can’t go out and get a pickup game of football. You can work out and catch balls, but it’s still not the same as what we were able to do this week.”
And Lorenzo Alexander said it wasn’t necessarily about bringing guys closer together. Tough to do when only a third of the roster shows up. “We’re a tight-knit group regardless of what the perception is [of the Redskins],” he said. “If we didn’t have this, guys would still be hanging out.”
3. The offensive guys here today: Selvish Capers, Rex Grossman, Logan Paulsen, Cooley, Malcolm Kelly, John Beck, Will Montgomery, Kory Lichtensteiger, Armstrong, Evan Royster, Darrel Young, Hankerson, Clint Oldenburg and Aldrick Robinson.
4. The defensive guys in attendance: Alexander, Orakpo, Kedric Golston, Ryan Kerrigan, Anderson Russell, Chris Neild, Chris Horton, Kareem Moore and Barnes. Indianapolis’ Justin Tryon, an ex-Redskin, also participated. Two players who weren’t discussed Thursday: Trent Williams and Albert Haynesworth.
5. The big barbecue for the offensive guys took place at Cooley’s house on Wednesday night. Cooley cooked burgers and they played some games. Yes, they watched film. “But probably in the middle of it, the tape started dying so we didn’t finish it,” Hankerson said.
6. The big topic of conversation before practice? LeBron James and his postgame statements after the Game 6 loss. It boiled down to this: Orakpo understood James’ frustration, saying, “It was wrong what he said, but that was out of frustration.” But the veteran Fletcher showed his savviness, “There’s a [right] way to do everything.” But Cooley and Logan Paulsen weren’t involved in the discussion. They were too busy warming up by punting. Give the edge to Cooley.
7. Time will tell if Ryan Kerrigan can play in coverage, but he showed Thursday that he can at least catch a deflected pass. He grabbed a Rex Grossman pass that Barnes got his hands on and then started motoring downfield. “Don’t lateral!” one player shouted (not sure who). One thing that was difficult to tell with these workouts is how far advanced a guy like Kerrigan is when it comes to the subtleties of the position, like staying low when he rushes. Things like that won’t be seen until he’s in pads or until coaches get a hold of the film. Alexander has worked with Kerrigan, but mostly on the plays. “You don’t have film so I don’t know if I’m seeing the right thing, so you just teach him what he has in Cover 6, what he has in this blitz and what he has in that,” Alexander said. “Then once you get the film, you start to coach the little things. You don’t want to overcoach a guy too soon, then you just swarm him and take his athleticism away.”
8. The John Beck life story, Chapter XI. First, on the battle between he and Rex Grossman for the starting job, assuming no other legit challenger enters the picture. People assume there must be friction. “We’re both professionals,” Beck said. “We’ve been in this situation before. I get that question asked all the time. Is this the first time that either one of us have competed for a job with an NFL team? No. We know what the feeling is like. We know the way the team views it. We know how we have to both be as the quarterback of the team. It’s part of the job and both of us know that and we’re used to it and that’s just what it is.” However, there is a marked difference between the two. Grossman bolts rather quickly and did not do any interviews this week. Beck has talked after each workout session. That’s not a judgment on either guy; it’s just the way it’s been.
8b. Beck said another benefit to having the practices filmed is being able to see what plays have been run. “There are plays today that I noticed the past couple days that I hadn’t run that are staple plays in our offense,” he said. “OK, I have to make sure I get those in. The nice thing about being out here is it’s about practicing to get your unit good at something and also practicing at what you know they need to be good at. I had a play with Chris that I never repped [with him] so I know the first time it won’t look that great, but that’s what practice is for. Sure enough we were on different pages and I had to take off running, but that’s part of practice.” Remember, Beck never worked with any of the No. 1 offense in training camp or during the season. And Kelly got hurt a day after Beck arrived in the trade with Baltimore.
8c. And, yes, we do learn something new about Beck every time we talk to him whether it’s about his Eagle Scout days or his time in Portugal. Today? We learned that he took a pottery class in high school and has made some pottery at Cooley’s house. “I had three pots from a few weeks ago that we fired and glazed last night,” Beck said. “So the final product is sitting on his table waiting for me to get a place to live out here.” Cooley helped him a little with making the pots, but “two of them are totally mine.” And now you know. But now that we’re down to talking to him about pottery, I wonder what the heck we’ll have to talk to him about come August. Besides games I mean.
10. Evan Royster was reminded that despite showing up for all six of the workout sessions in May and June, he’s still a rookie. And rookies get treated differently. After today’s practice, he was heading toward the exit when he was stopped by reporters. Fletcher then noticed water bottles still on the field. “Where’s Evan Royster?” Fletcher asked out loud. “How about these water bottles, man.” Royster and Chris Neild then picked up the bottles.
