Commanders Camp — Sep 3: Tuttle and Moreau Were Back in a Day

Washington cut Shy Tuttle and Fabian Moreau on Sunday and signed both back on Monday, and the roster spots came from two players going to injured reserve. Laremy Tunsil, whose torn triceps we told you would take months, and defensive tackle Jer'Zhan Newton, whom our last episode never mentioned, were placed on injured reserve on August 31, per Zach Selby at the team's site, in the same announcement that brought back Tuttle at defensive tackle and Moreau at cornerback. Adam Schefter had the Tuttle half in advance — "Commanders are releasing defensive tackle Shy Tuttle, but plan on bringing him back for the first game" — per Henry Brown at Commanders On SI. Moreau, a vested veteran, cleared waivers immediately and was a free agent the moment he was cut, per Philip Hughes at Commanders On SI, which is how a team can release a corner it wants and get him back a day later. The cornerback room the team's own site had flagged as the position to watch went from three to four that way, per Selby's breakdown: Mike Sainristil, Amik Robertson, Rasul Douglas, Moreau.

What the seventh waiver priority produced was nothing. Washington claimed no one after Monday's deadline, per Hughes, and no one claimed a Washington cut either — not one player on the team's 34-name Sunday release has a confirmed destination anywhere in the window. 14 of them are still in the building: 12 on the practice squad, and Tuttle and Moreau back on the 53. Cornerback Antonio Hamilton Sr. declined his practice-squad offer, per Ben Standig, carried in Hughes' tracker. Maurice Hurst II, whom Hughes called the most surprising name on the losing side of his cut-day ledger — five tackles and two sacks against Detroit — has no reported landing. Van Jefferson, released despite a hundred and 66 career catches, with Luke McCaffrey kept over him for the seventh receiver spot on his return work, per Hughes: same.

Adam Peters, Monday, per Hughes: "Coming off a tough weekend, and really it's the worst weekend of our year for sure, having to have these conversations and moving on from some guys." Dan Quinn, on whether draft status protects anyone: "You got to earn everything in this league." On the seven receivers, per Selby: "We certainly felt we had seven really capable NFL players at that position." And on why rookie Athan Kaliakmanis kept the third quarterback spot over Sam Hartman, per Hughes: he "wasn't afraid to rip it" and "made a lot of really big-time throws in the preseason," with, in Peters' words, "a lot of room to grow." Hartman, two years with the organization, is on the practice squad.

The practice squad is where the corner problem got its second answer. 12 signed Monday, per Selby, all from Sunday's cuts: receiver Jaden Bradley, defensive tackle Byron Cowart, cornerback Fred Davis II, center Julian Good-Jones — forced into duty during camp with Nick Allegretti hurt, and now the backup plan behind him — quarterback Hartman, running back Robert Henry Jr., whose cut after a 12-carry, 75-yard night against Miami was the day's surprise to Brown, edge D.J. Johnson, linebacker Ale Kaho, defensive tackle Jeffrey M'ba on the International Pathway exemption, running back Craig Reynolds, cornerback Darius Rush and tackle Trent Scott. Then five more on Tuesday, per Selby, none of them on Sunday's release: tackle Esa Pole, tight ends Joshua Simon and Jack Westover, and cornerbacks Isaac Yiadom and Terrell Smith. Four corners on the squad, two of them added Tuesday, behind a room of four on the 53. 17 as of Tuesday, by the team's announcements.

The reserve list from Sunday holds, per the team's release: cornerback Trey Amos and running back Jeremy McNichols on injured reserve with return designations — both of the team's cutdown-day designations used, per Hughes — and defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. on the reserve physically-unable-to-perform list. Amos's file, per Hughes, is an offseason fractured fibula, early-camp soft-tissue tenderness and a practice ankle; Peters: "We wanted to take it slow with him." And one more name went to a reserve list Sunday for a different reason: Dorance Armstrong is suspended for Week 1 against Philadelphia, per Hughes, who had it on cutdown day and again Wednesday. No reason or length beyond the opener has been reported.

That is where the Week 1 problem moved. Our last episode's question was who keeps Jayden Daniels upright; part of it answered itself — Allegretti returned to practice around the cutdown and stayed on the 53, and Peters said "certainly we feel very confident in Nick, and we have." Hughes' projected line is Brandon Coleman at left tackle, Chris Paul, Allegretti, Sam Cosmi, and Josh Conerly Jr. at right tackle. The new question is the edge: Armstrong out for the opener, and neither Odafe Oweh, with a calf, nor K'Lavon Chaisson, with a knee, able to take full team work as of Tuesday — "Oweh and Chaisson weren't brought in as rotational depth; these two were expected to take on major roles," Hughes wrote. Chaisson was back at practice Wednesday, in pads for the team's last session of the week, per Tashan Reed at the Washington Post. The fallback for the opener is rookie Joshua Josephs, Javontae Jean-Baptiste and Charles Omenihu moving along the front, per Hughes. Quinn, on the corners without Amos, per Hughes: "You probably saw last week we also did Amik inside" — Douglas and Sainristil outside, Robertson in the nickel. And on Stefon Diggs after camp, per Scott Bair at SB Nation: "I knew he was a good competitor. I didn't know how big the fire was around others, the skill work in the huddle." And later: "The fire he has in him — the tape is the tape."

Back in July we previewed Washington as the rare bounce the market had already paid for — two flags pointing up, a price that assumed them, and the real variance living in two first-time coordinators and one healthy franchise quarterback. The floor: five and 12, an offense that ranked eighteenth in expected points added per play — the measure of how much each snap moved the expected score — and a defense thirtieth, with 11 takeaways, tied with Dallas for the second fewest in the league. Cut week moved the variance to the offensive line. This week made Tunsil's absence formal, took Newton off the defensive line with it, patched that side with a veteran the team had cut the day before, and opened a new hole on the edge the preview never priced either. The bounce case still runs through Daniels. The list of people responsible for protecting him is shorter than it was Sunday, and the list meant to hit the other quarterback is thinner than anyone planned.

Next is the Eagles, Sunday, September 13, at Lincoln Financial Field. What to watch: whether Oweh practises at all before Philadelphia, and how the reshaped line holds up against their front. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._