Week Four: Washington Commanders Rookie Report
Let’s take a quick look at how the Washington Commanders rookies did in their first career game against Dallas in Week Four.
The Commanders find themselves in a tough spot heading into Week Five after losing their third straight game Sunday afternoon in Arlington, Texas. Let’s take a look at how the rookies did despite the loss.
Week Four Rookie Inactives
Injured Reserve: TE Curtis Hodges, DB Josh Drayden, DT Phidarian Mathis, OG Nolan Laufenburg
RB Brian Robinson Jr.
There is one positive note to take away from this week, the long-awaited debut of 2022 third-round pick Brian Robinson seems to be on the horizon. As of Monday, the Commanders activated the rookie to the active roster and cleared him for physical activities. Ron Rivera says he is “optimistic” about his chances of playing this Sunday against the Titans.
“We will be activating him. Our intention, we’re going to start his clock basically. He is on the short-term IR, we have a 21-day window and we’ll start that officially on Wednesday if everything continues to go in the right direction. He was cleared by the doctors and given the all good. We just gotta make sure once we get to Wednesday we can go through that. That way we get the 21 days from that Wednesday.”
Rivera said he is "optimistic" about having Brian Robinson available to play Sunday against the Titans. — Ben Standig (@BenStandig) October 3, 2022
QB Sam Howell
While a few Commanders fans could be calling for change at quarterback already, it would be pretty unlikely to see Howell get any game-time action (barring injury). However, if the season gets away from Rivera and the Commanders, look for Howell to potentially get a shot to play towards the end of the season.
G Chris Paul
Paul was once again inactive this week, as the “depth” among our offensive linemen. Unfortunately, that depth took another hit as another Week One starting offensive lineman went down and is expected to miss a little time. Look for potential changes to occur along the line this week.
CB Tariq Castro-Fields
Week Three: Six snaps on defense/9%, three snaps on Special Teams/12%
Castro-Fields has returned back to the inactive list, as William Jackson III made his return to the starting lineup. The Commanders carried 10 defensive backs into Sunday’s game, so it would be hard to see Castro-Fields be elevated again barring poor performances from his fellow rookie defensive backs or injury.
TE Cole Turner
Turner found himself back on the inactive list, as many still await to see the playmaker’s NFL debut. Rivera stated in one of his pressers during Week Four that they gave fellow rookie tight end, Armani Rogers, the edge due to his contributions on special teams.
The Commanders could use another athletic security blanket in the offense with Dotson potentially missing one-to-two weeks. We’ll look to see if anything changes before the matchup at home against the Titans.
Week Four Rookie Actives
CB Christian Holmes
Week Four: 20 snaps on Special Teams/67%
Week Three: Six snaps on defense/9%, 11 snaps on special teams/42%: One combined tackle on defense
DB Percy Butler
Week Four: 15 snaps on special teams/50%
Week Three: Six snaps on defense/9%, 24 snaps on Special Teams/92%
Both Butler and Holmes saw a reduction in reps this past weekend, as William Jackson returned from his injury. Butler and Holmes did not see any defensive snaps this week, after receiving a handful of snaps (six each) last week.
TE Armani Rogers
Week Four: 11 snaps on offense/15%,20 snaps on special teams
Week Three: 14 snaps on offense/18%, 20 snaps on special teams/77%: One assisted tackle
As mentioned earlier, Rivera seems to love Rogers and his contributions to the special teams. The undrafted rookie tight end has overtaken the now-healthy Cole Turner on the depth chart for another consecutive week.
DT John Ridgeway
Week Four: 15 snaps on defense/25%, Six snaps on special teams/20%: 1 combined tackle
Week Three: 20 snaps defense/29%, Six snaps Special Teams/23%
Ridgeway showed potential in his second career NFL game. This included a nice tackle in Sunday’s game to stop Ezekiel Elliott for a short gain. The Commanders picked Ridgeway up after the Cowboys had to release Ridgeway in order to prevent having to put Dak Prescott put on short-term injured reserve. Ridgeway looks to continue to be a solid depth addition with the departures of Tim Settle and Matt Ioannidis, as well as Phidarian Mathis being placed on Injured Reserve.
WR Jahan Dotson
Week Four: 44 snaps on offense/59%: Three catches, five targets, 43 yards, one touchdown
Week Three: 67 snaps on offense/87%: Two catches, eight targets, 10 yards
Dotson had a solid bounce-back game, as he caught three of his five targets for 43 yards and returned to his touchdown-scoring ways as he found pay-dirt for the fourth time this season.
Jahan Dotson just catches touchdowns. Great route, great throw by Wentz. #Commanders TD gets them the lead pic.twitter.com/66jLEKb1i2 — Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) October 2, 2022
Unfortunately, his day was brought to an early end as he suffered a hamstring injury that likely keeps him out for two weeks.
Rivera says Jahan Dotson hamstring injury could keep him out a week or two. Tough blow. — JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) October 3, 2022
Despite another sloppy performance from the Commanders offense, Dotson and the Commanders look to get back on track and buckle down for the long season ahead. The Commanders take on the Titans at home this Sunday, as they look to break this three-game losing streak.
We gonn shake back Washington. #HTTC — Jahan Dotson (@JahanDotson) October 2, 2022