Commanders OTA Notebook: Chase Young, Montez Sweat, Charles Leno Jr. Return
ASHBURN, VA. -- The Washington Commanders began the final stretch of their Phase 3 offseason workouts with mandatory minicamp getting underway on Tuesday.
The arrival of minicamp also ushered in the arrival of defensive ends Chase Young and Montez Sweat, and offensive tackle Charles Leno Jr. who all sat out the voluntary OTA portions of the offseason.
For today's notebook, we'll start by taking a look at the one man of those three everyone was waiting to see.
CHASE YOUNG RETURNS
No need for a cute tagline here, Young's return was the first thing everyone wanted to discuss, observe, and chronicle.
And it was not a disappointing debut for the defensive end.
Just seeing him in person instead of through video or social media campaign, we could immediately see that Young is certainly in shape, and in individual drills he looked light on his feet and quick.
When the team got to the 11-on-11 portion of the practice, Young was quick to get off the line and got in on quarterback Sam Howell for what would have been a sack if this wasn't practice and he could actually hit him.
IMPACT ON ARRIVAL
It may have been because the offensive line was now dancing with a relatively new member with Leno returning for his first practice this offseason, or maybe Young and Sweat just made that big an impact despite the lack of hitting and physicality allowed.
Whatever it was, the pass rush appeared to have gotten into the backfield quicker and more often than other practices.
Coach Ron Rivera voiced having no concerns about Leno missing the OTA period, but having four guys on the offensive line bringing a fifth into the mix that it hasn't been working with in recent weeks is going to create a bit of a learning curve.
That curve shouldn't be panicked about, but it was certainly evident on Tuesday.
RECEIVER DEPTH CHALLENGED EARLY
Mitchell Tinsley went undrafted as a receiver coming out of Penn State University, but quickly landed in Washington with college teammates receiver Jahan Dotson and cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields.
On Day 1 of the minicamp the undrafted free agent had a bad rep where it became apparent he didn't follow his assignment, and because of it he quickly became the target of assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy's mentoring.
It was a prime opportunity for Tinsley to fade into the background of the practice, and it wouldn't be the first time we've seen a tough start to the day snowball into a substandard practice session.
Instead, Tinsley responded by making a solid catch on the first deep ball completion of the 11-on-11 periods on a pass from third string quarterback Jake Fromm.
He beat fellow undrafted free agent, cornerback D.J. Sturgis on the play, and had to feel good after getting off on the wrong foot.
This is just Day 1, and the Commanders will meet again for the next two days for more minicamp practices.
Both Wednesday and Thursday will provide Washington and it's players even more opportunities to stand out.
Find David Harrison on the Locked On Commanders podcast or text him directly at (202) 760-2188.
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