Before last season’s bye week, Washington head coach Ron Rivera was optimistic the team would get some healthy players back on offense for the Week 10 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Well, there is some good news to report. All-Pro right guard Brandon Scherff will play on Sunday. Rookie right tackle Sam Cosmi is questionable.
Now, for the bad news.
Yes, wide receiver Curtis Samuel will not play again on Sunday. It will be the seventh game he’s missed this season. On Thursday, Samuel wasn’t at practice, as he was seeking another opinion on his injured groin.
On Friday, Rivera was asked again if injured reserve was an option for Samuel:
“We’re going to try to exhaust everything we can first,” Rivera said per Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. “We’ll see what comes out of this last episode. We’d love to have him back because he’s a heck of a football player.”
Ron Rivera, when asked if they might consider putting Curtis Samuel on IR for the rest of the season: “We’re going to try to exhaust everything we can first. We’ll see what comes out of this last episode. We’d love to have him back because he’s a heck of a football player.”
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) November 12, 2021
Washington needs to place Samuel on IR.
Rivera also offered an update on tight end Logan Thomas. He said Thomas is still sore from Monday’s practice. Washington wanted to test Thomas on Monday before making the decision to activate him from IR.
Thomas increased his practice load Monday to gauge the status of his hamstring injury, but Rivera said he came away a bit sore. So they took a step back and continue to monitor how he’s feeling. https://t.co/4aRAFsXpkV
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) November 12, 2021
Expect Thomas to follow a similar routine next week and perhaps return by Week 11.