Injury report: Eight Redskins sit out, another five limited in Wednesday’s practice

“Ok, this will be a while,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said as he reached the podium for his daily press conference at Redskins Park.

Gruden was preparing to rattle off his players that were listed on the injury report, and there were many.

Eight players sat out of practice entirely. Another five were in some capacity limited, and the positions in question seemed to come from three primary groups.

Redskins center Spencer Long and safety Will Blackmon each entered the NFL’s concussion protocol. Both players exited Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals. Long left in the first half, and Blackmon went down in the fourth quarter after a heavy hit to Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

Additionally, Redskins defensive linemen Chris Baker (ankle), Ricky Jean Francois (knee, foot) and Anthony Lanier (lower leg), offensive lineman Shawn Lauvao (groin) and Ty Nsekhe (ankle) and safety Donte Whitner (illness) did not participate in practice.

Tight ends Jordan Reed (shoulder) and Derek Carrier (knee), linebackers Preston Smith (groin) and Will Compton (hip) and offensive guard Brandon Scherff (ankle) were limited participants.

Immediately following Sunday’s game, it was known that Long was in the NFL’s concussion protocol. But it wasn’t known that Lauvao was also dealing with his own injury.

“We didn’t know about it,” Gruden said. “He didn’t give us that information until after the game. He said he tweaked it and came in for treatment the following day.”

Reed, who did not participate in any practices in the prior week, encouragingly took part in a few drills on Wednesday. Gruden said Reed’s status is slowly improving.

“It’s progressing,” Gruden said. “Yeah, there’s no doubt he’s progressing, but it’s obviously not where he wants it, where it needs to be. But we’ll see how he does tomorrow.”

Regarding the offensive line, encouraging news came when offensive lineman Kory Lichtensteiger was designated to return. Lichtensteiger was placed on the injured reserve list at the end of September with a calf injury. The Redskins also had left tackle Trent Williams return from suspension. Lichtensteiger’s potential return is icing on the cake.

“I think we have to get him back up and running, very important,” Gruden said. “I think his calf is in a position where he can move around a lot better. He’s a lot more comfortable. With Spencer’s status unknown, I think it’s important to have another center in here to back up Sully [John Sullivan]. So Kory’s obviously played a lot of football around here. He can play center and both guards. He’s got to get back in the flow. He hasn’t taken a lot of reps here in the last seven, eight weeks. But he’s a veteran guy, he knows the system, and he’s a guy that we can count on if need be.”

One area of concern is the health of the defense line. Baker and Jean Francois are both starters. The Redskins’ have depth at the position, but the level of concern is still there.

“Lanier is probably the biggest question mark of that group with his lower leg injury. We’re hoping that Baker or Ricky become available, but we have A.J. Francis, we still have Cullen [Jenkins], we still have Ziggy [Hood] – they’re all in good health. So we should have enough bodies there.”

Wednesday’s practice was a bit short, in part because so few players were available. The availability was so scarce that Gruden had to modify his practice.

“Yeah, it was a challenge. Practice was modified quite a bit today,” Gruden said. “We did more walkthrough today than we ever have on a Wednesday. So, you know, that’s part of the deal. This late in the season a lot of times that has to happen with these injuries. You can’t wear them down even more. So sometimes you have to taper back just a hair to make it through practice, try to get the mental reps in with walkthrough and then hopefully the physical part of it will come maybe tomorrow. Friday we can open them up a little bit.”

The 6-5-1 Redskins play the 5-7-0 Philadelphia Eagles Sunday at 1 p.m.