Richard Crawford, a cornerback and punt returner entering his third season, was among eight players waived by the Redskins on Friday as they attempt to get from 75 players to the 53-man roster limit by Saturday afternoon.
The 5-foot-11, 192-pound Crawford was a seventh-round pick out of SMU who spent all of last season on injured reserve after tearing the ACL and LCL in his left knee during a preseason game.
Other players the Redskins announced they have waived include punter Robert Malone, tight end and seventh-round draft pick Ted Bolser and center Kevin Kowalski. Strong safety Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith, center Tevita Stevens, nose tackle Robert Thomas and wide receiver Lee Doss were also waived.
Washington now has to make 14 more roster moves by Saturday at 4 p.m. Those moves could include keeping wide receiver Leonard Hankerson and defensive end Stephen Bowen on the physically-unable-to-perform list.
It remains possible that Crawford could remain with the Redskins as a member of their practice squad. The league changed the rules regarding practice squad eligibility earlier this month, increasing the number of players from eight to 10 and permitting each team to keep two players who had appeared in as many as all 32 regular-season games over the last two seasons.
“Being on practice squad is not being the best, but at the time, being as you are on the practice squad, being on the practice squad might be the best thing for you at the time,” Crawford said last week. “Then you can hopefully get moved up to the actives, though.”
Crawford was among a small group of Redskins players – virtually everyone from that year’s draft class, plus a select few who played partial seasons in previous years – who regained practice squad eligibility.
He made Washington’s active roster as a rookie and has never spent any time on the practice squad, but said he would deal with that decision if it was presented to him.
“I’ve already been humbled being injured,” Crawford said. “I tore up the whole left side of my knee. It’s life. You just deal with whatever cards you get and try to make the most of it and be the best you can be. That’s all.”
Malone was originally signed to a reserve/futures contract by the Redskins in January and seemed to have the punting job locked up last week, when the team waived punter Blake Clingan.
As it turned out, Clingan was cut in order to make room for Tress Way, who was claimed on waivers and seems poised to enter the season as the Redskins’ punter.
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
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