ASHBURN — The Washington Redskins were eager for newly acquired center Bryan Stork to compete and bolster the depth at the position, but the 25-year-old will not get that opportunity.
Stork failed his physical on Monday morning, according to a person familiar with the situation, to close of a strange sequence that began to unfold last week.
After Stork was informed of his impending release from the New England Patriots last Wednesday, the Redskins acquired him in a trade for a conditional seventh-round pick in 2017.
Stork was initially excited about the trade, according to a source, but then had doubts. The 2014 fourth-round draft pick out of Florida State ultimately decided to report to the Redskins over the weekend. By late Monday morning, his time with the organization was over.
“It’s disappointing,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. “I’m sure he’s disappointed. We’re disappointed, but it happens every year. When people get traded or picked up they have to pass physicals and every physical is different. Until all that gets taken care of — they report, they pass a physical — as a coach, there’s really not a lot you can do until they actually get into the pads and into practice. It’s unfortunate. He’s a great kid and obviously a very good player, and hopefully … Every physical is different on every team, so it might be different somewhere else, but it didn’t work out here.”
Washington will retain the pick they sent to the Patriots. Stork’s rights reverted back to New England. Stork was subsequently waived by the Patriots on Monday night, along with former Redskins defensive lineman Terrance Knighton who signed with New England in the offseason.
In each of the last four years, dating back to his senior season at Florida State, Stork has sustained a concussion. His latest occurred on the third day of this season’s training camp, though he returned to play in New England’s first two preseason games.
Stork started 17 games with the Patriots, including 11 in his rookie season when New England beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX. The expectation was that the gritty lineman would boost the Redskins depth at the center position behind veteran Kory Lichtensteiger. Third-year lineman Spencer Long, who is competing for the starting left guard spot with Shawn Lauvao, has learned the center position in the offseason and is currently Lichtensteiger’s backup.
“Well, before we got [Stork], I thought we were doing pretty well at center,” Gruden said. “You know, I think like I said, Kory’s done well. Spencer has done a great job of adjusting to the center position to give us depth. Josh LeRibeus played a lot of center for us last year, and then Austin [Reiter] has had a very good camp. So I think we’ve got four centers in-house that are pretty darn good, so I feel good about the ones that we have.”
After three consecutive seasons of playing every game, Lichtensteiger played just five regular-season games in 2015. Nerve damage caused him to lose strength in his left shoulder. Before being placed on short-term injured reserve last year, Lichtensteiger played a game with only one arm at full strength.
During the portion of training camp based in Richmond, Lichtensteiger said he was full strength after resting his arm, shoulder and neck during the offseason. But, he sat out practice Monday because of what Gruden called a “sore shoulder.” Last Friday against the Buffalo Bills in the Redskins’ third preseason game, Lichtensteiger was called for three holding penalties.
“He just has a little soreness and we want to take care of it and address it,” Gruden said. “Gave him the day off [Monday] and he should be ready to go tomorrow.”
Two more new faces
The Redskins made two more roster moves Monday when they signed defensive end Cullen Jenkins and offensive lineman Vinston Painter.
Jenkins is a 35-year-old veteran who has played for three teams: the Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. Last season, he appeared in 16 games for the Giants and came up with three sacks. He has 47.5 career sacks in 12 NFL seasons.
“It adds another veteran player with some flexibility on the defensive line,” Gruden said. “He’s played three-technique, he’s played nose [tackle], he’s played the ’four’, he’s played the ’five.’ He’s played a little bit of everything in his career. He’s in good shape. We worked him out today. We wanted to see in what kind of shape he was, what type of body he had right now. He looked like he was good. He moved around good. Got to get his legs back under him out here at practice, get a good look at him, and we’ll make a decision. But to add a veteran player of that caliber I think is a good thing.”
The Redskins claimed Painter of off waivers. The former Virginia Tech Hokie has played just three NFL games, all in 2014 with the Cleveland Browns. He’s added depth for the end of the preseason.
EXTRA POINTS: Gruden said first-round pick Josh Doctson (Achilles tendon) has a chance to play in the season opener, but will be held out of the fourth preseason game. … Running back Keith Marshall is out at least three weeks because of a left elbow sprain … Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan (groin) is “day-to-day,” according to Gruden. Kerrigan played one series last Friday against the Bills before being held out for the rest of the game.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
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