ASHBURN — Martrell Spaight, who has been battling the symptoms of a concussion sustained in the Washington Redskins’ season-opening loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 13, was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday as the team cleared a roster spot for cornerback Chris Culliver.
Spaight, an inside linebacker drafted in the fifth round out of Arkansas in May, played nine snaps on special teams against the Dolphins. It remains unclear as to when he sustained the concussion; an announcement was not made during the game despite the NFL’s injury reporting protocol, and coach Jay Gruden did not mention it until three days afterward.
“We’re disappointed, but we mainly want to make sure he gets healthy,” Gruden said Tuesday. “He plays a very tough position — linebacker, obviously — and we want to make sure he’s fully recovered. With these things, you just never know how long. I think we’re doing the right thing in that regard, as far as letting him sit out this year. He’ll be ready to go for offseason program.”
According to one of Spaight’s teammates, the inside linebacker is still experiencing sensitivity to light, which has prevented him from taking part in all team-related activities during the past nine days. He has not attended practice, either outdoors or when held in the practice bubble, since the opener.
Spaight had 20 tackles during the Redskins’ four preseason games and played roughly 63 percent of all defensive snaps. Terrance Plummer, an undrafted rookie out of UCF, took Spaight’s spot in Washington’s 24-10 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday and played 24 snaps, all on special teams.
“I thought [Spaight] was going to bounce back from it, but this will give him a chance to go ahead, relax and get his mind right, because I know he’ll be back next year ready to go, and this gives me a chance to get some game experience and benefit off it,” Plummer said Tuesday. “You never want to see your teammate go down, but I’ve got an opportunity, so I need to run with it.”
By putting Spaight on injured reserve, the Redskins are already without four of the 10 players they drafted this past spring. Cornerback Tevin Mitchel tore the labrum in his right shoulder on July 31 and was claimed off waivers by the Indianapolis Colts, wide receiver Evan Spencer was waived with an injury settlement after he sustained a concussion in the preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens on Aug. 29 and center Austin Reiter was released when the Redskins set their initial 53-man roster.
Culliver was suspended for the game against the Rams for a violation of the league’s personal conduct policy. The Redskins were granted a roster exemption for Culliver until was able to return to practice.
Right tackle Morgan Moses, who sprained one of his knees in the game against the Rams but did not miss a play, finished a full practice on Tuesday after being limited on Monday. Wide receiver DeSean Jackson, inside linebacker Perry Riley and cornerback Justin Rogers did not practice, right tackle Tom Compton was again limited and cornerback DeAngelo Hall, nose tackle Terrance Knighton, left guard Shawn Lauvao and center Kory Lichtensteiger all practiced in full.
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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