Chase Young In, Fitzpatrick Pick: Washington Minicamp Notebook
ASHBURN, Va. -- Chase Young is back. Back in Ashburn at the Inova Sports Performance Center and back on the field as a starting defensive end (primarily right side) for the Washington Football Team.
Young admitted that his hip was "messed up" going into the 2020 season-opener against Philadelphia. He still had a big impact in that game but felt that his hip injury led to his groin injury in Week 3 during a loss at Cleveland.
But in 2021?
"I feel like, if you look on paper, we can be the best defense in the league,” Young said.
That was the “big” story out of the first mandatory minicamp session of three this week for the WFT as they wrap up their offseason program with practices scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday as well.
Curtis Samuel missed practice as he continues to deal with a groin injury while Jon Bostic and Jimmy Moreland were excused from practice, per head coach Ron Rivera.
As for what I saw from the field:
*Taylor Heinicke was the No. 2 QB again during team drills after not being able to participate last week due to the friendly-fire incident suffered in a walk-through.
Heinicke connected with Cam Sims on an intermediate dig to the right side but then tried to squeeze one in on the left to Logan Thomas that Troy Apke and others nicely broke up.
Late in practice, Heinicke backpedaled away from pressure and fired a touchdown strike to Antonio Gandy-Golden in front of Troy Apke
Steven Montez took the first round of third-team reps ahead of Kyle Allen but then Allen was in on the next round.
*The story on the starting QB on Tuesday looked like this: Ryan Fitzpatrick looked sharp early connecting with Terry McLaurin on a couple of straight passes to open the team portion.
Fitzpatrick then threw a bad interception to William Jackson III. It appeared Fitz was hurried a bit in the pocket and sailed one a bit off his back foot.
Fitz had other connections with Cam Sims, McLaurin, Antonio Gibson and DeAndre Carter in the right flat during an 11-on-11 period.
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*Apke was playing corner again, so this is officially a “thing” moving forward, and important if he can show versatility.
*The first-team offensive line was Charles Leno Jr., Wes Schweitzer, Chase Roullier, Brandon Scherff and Cornelius Lucas from left to right.
There were a couple of really bad snaps at practice Tuesday: One from Tyler Larsen, that was high and wide, while the other was low and on the ground from Keith Ismael.
Leno, by the way, likes the burgundy and gold.
“It fits my complexion very well,” he quipped.
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Saahdiq Charles and Ereck Flowers were manning the left side of the line with the second unit.
*Dyami Brown had a couple of nice-looking snags but also dropped a slant that appeared to be slightly contested but should have been caught. He's dropped a few so far in practices media has been allowed to attend.
Antonio Gandy-Golden also had a drop in the front pin-corner of the end zone but the throw from Fitzpatrick was a bit low. It wasn't totally on "AGG,” in my eyes.
*Washington is working in their "13" package at times and it was more noticeable today, meaning one running back, a receiver and three tight ends.
*No. 58 Shaka Toney, one of several seventh-round picks this year, and from Penn State, appeared to be flying into the backfield several times. Once he went right around Sam Cosmi on the defense's left side and at other times just generated noticeable heat.
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Keep an eye on him. The WFT has had tremendous success in the seventh round.
*Speaking of the final round, Kam Curl was the starting safety again, paired with Deshazor Everett early. It appeared that Bobby McCain got the next run in place of Everett.
*We've talked about jet-sweeps and motion a lot so far this offseason and we'll continue to hammer it. Washington can involve Steven Sims Jr. … and via deception, Antonio Gibson.
Why? It’s about helping the WFT achieve its goal of being explosive in 2021.
