Five Takeaways from Ron Rivera Monday PC
Ron Rivera met with reporters via ZOOM and WashingtonFootball.com on Monday morning. Here's my top-five takeaways from his chat.
Alex Smith is still progressing
Ron brought up last week that Alex had been progressing and had not been feeling any negative aftereffects of his workouts. Alex is still responding well, but it is more difficult to move forward because there are more specific football moves and drills that he needs to master. Alex keeps getting strong, but they are going to be patient in waiting for the right moment to move him off the PUP list if that time comes. Ron did mention that it will be difficult—should Alex be removed from PUP—to get everyone the reps during camp and splitting them with the different receiving groups.
Scenarios in place for delay in college football season
One of the concerns that people have been talking about if college football is postponed is how it will affect the draft and preparation for the offseason. Kyle Smith already has scenarios planned out for a variety of situations that can present themselves and Rivera is on board. There have already been some Zoom calls with college programs about players, but they will be ready for anything.
Derrius Guice was already on thin ice
The big news heading into Ron’s press conference was the arrest and subsequent release of running back Derrius Guice. Rivera opened the press conference with a statement about how the situation was handled and that all decisions that are made are made in the best interest of the organization, players, and fans moving forward. Ron believes this is the right choice and is willing to take the blame if it ends up not being the case. Rivera was asked if there were more factors then just the arrest that led to the release of Guice. He responded, “I don’t really want to get into that.” Clearly there was something more underlying going on between Guice and the coaching staff that we are not privy to. This just happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Ebb and flow linebacker situation
While Ron has mentioned Cole Holcomb playing at the SAM and the middle linebacker position consisting of Shaun Dion Hamilton and Jon Bostic but wouldn’t commit to specifics. There could be times where we see three different sets of linebackers based on the package (base, and sub packages). Kevin Pierre-Louis was also brought up without anyone asking about him which could suggest that he makes this roster. This is a position battle to keep an eye on throughout camp and during the early parts of the season. We could end up seeing linebacker by committee.
Fresh rotations in defensive line
Something that we had been hearing from both Rivera and Defensive Coordinator Jack del Rio was that there would be a rotation involving the defensive line. This seemed to be more likely as Ron mentioned that they want their guys to be fresh and not play 60 snaps. Rather they will try to work it so their defensive linemen will play between 25 to 30 snaps. This could be why we are starting to see Ryan Anderson practicing more with this unit. If you want to keep guys fresh you will need a designated run stopper to spell Chase Young, Montez Sweat, and company. In close games, we could see this unit be the difference between a win and a loss this year.
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Alan Lepore joins "Washington Football" on SI.com, while still doing outstanding work as an editor/writer at FullPressCoverage.com or @FPC_Redskins. You can follow him on Twitter @AlanLepore or on instagram @leporealan. Alan is a Villanova University MPA Nonprofit Management candidate and is a fundraising/development professional.
