ASHBURN — Washington Commanders running back Antonio Gibson was sidelined for the first practice of training camp Wednesday with a hamstring injury.
The former third-rounder was in attendance, but worked mostly off to the side with trainers. Gibson did not participate in individual or team drills.
Gibson first suffered the injury in June when coach Ron Rivera said the back was held out of one of the team’s offseason workouts with a hamstring “twinge.”
After practice, Rivera said Wednesday the team kept Gibson out as a precaution.
“He’s fine, but we’re going to ramp him up,” Rivera said. “We’re not going to throw him out right away and have something happen. We want to make sure that there’s nothing lingering. So I’d almost call that an abundance of caution.”
With Gibson out, rookie running back Brian Robinson took the majority of the first-team reps. A third-round selection out of Alabama, Robinson adds noticeable size in Washington’s backfield as he stands at 6-foot-1.
“He’s a big strong powerful downhill runner,” Rivera said. “He does have a little bit of shake to him, but I think if you look at it, Antonio is a little bit more of an elusive guy, a little bit more off the edge, where with Brian, we can take it inside or off the edge.”
Gibson’s injury was not severe enough for the Commanders to place him on the Physically Unable to Perform list. A day earlier, Washington placed four players on that list: Defensive end Chase Young (ACL), center Chase Roullier (leg), tight end Logan Thomas (ACL) and center Tyler Larsen (Achilles).
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.