Wednesday in Ashburn was defined by absence more than presence, as the Commanders held their first practice without defensive ends Chase Young and Montez Sweat.
The day ended with Ron Rivera declaring an early victory in the quest for a franchise quarterback, and discussing the role team ownership played in Tuesday’s moves, but first there was a game against the New England Patriots to prepare for.
“That was my first welcome to the NFL moment,” rookie defensive lineman KJ Henry said. “That obviously doesn’t happen in college. Two guys who you bonded with, who helped you start your career, not being here today.”
In their place, Washington will likely start James Smith-Williams and Casey Toohill on Sunday in New England, with Efe Obada likely to work in rotationally. Henry could also see action.
While Young and Sweat’s expiring deals were the main topics of discussion over the past week, it’s also a contract year for Smith-Williams, Toohill and Obada, meaning the opportunity to receive nine weeks of snaps comes at a potentially lucrative time.
“There’s all these extraneous things that I think you can focus on,” Toohill said. “But for me, if your attention is there, and it’s not on what you’re doing, then you’re really just, you know, hurting yourself and hurting the team.”
Smith-Williams noted that none of this is new for the Commanders, given that Young and Sweat have both had their share of injuries over the past few years, and he and Toohill have played plenty of NFL snaps — they’ve got a combined 11 sacks.
“I think (Jonathan Allen) and (Daron Payne) are the cornerstones of the defensive line, and we’ve rolled with them before,” Smith-Williams said of the current arrangement. “So I think we’ll revert to that kind of dynamic.”
Still, it was jarring not to have two of the team’s most vocal teammates at practice. At one point, safety Kam Curl walked by somebody and turned around quickly, thinking it was Sweat, though it wasn’t.
“These lockers are always going to be replaced by other players,” left tackle Charles Leno said. “Mine right here, the 72 jersey, somebody else is gonna be wearing it soon. That’s just how it’s gonna be. It’s a business and you’ve got to be able to compartmentalize and move forward.”
The business end fell to Rivera, who faced his first major decision working alongside new owner Josh Harris.
At a press conference late Wednesday, Rivera painted the decision to trade the star defensive ends as a direct response to Sam Howell’s success this year, a proclamation that could prove to be premature.
“We’re doing what we feel is the paradigm shift … we feel we have a quarterback,” the coach said. “We feel we have a guy going forward, that, you know, we have a chance to grow and become what we think we can. So you’ve got to be able to afford that situation. And I think that’s what’s growing for us right now is that we’re putting ourselves in position to do those things.
“With the compensation we’re getting for these players, you know, it’s going to give us an opportunity to continue to build for the future and do things a little differently.”
He added of the quarterback hunt: “This franchise has been looking for quite some time, and for the first time you know, in a while, I think that that guy might be here. I really do. I just got done looking at a bunch of stuff from the analytics (department), and they’re all pointing in the right direction as far as the quarterback is concerned.”
Rivera said that new Senior Vice President of Football Strategy Eugene Shen had input into the decisions, as did Harris.
The coach lauded Harris as a careful deliberator as the decisions were made.
“You know, we all really found that this is a deep thinker,” Rivera said. “There’s no knee-jerk reaction to anything.”
Young’s trade remains pending. Sweat’s move to the Bears is official. But with the 49ers on a bye week, Young had yet to take his physical with the team as of Wednesday afternoon.
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