The start of the Washington Redskins first official team OTA was supposed to be about optimism and the introduction of several new faces.
Unfortunately for the Redskins, the day ended up being about a new acquisition but in the wrong manner. Inside linebacker Reuben Foster went down on his first play of the day and in obvious pain. Foster would need to be carted off of the field and have his leg stabilized.
Reuben Foster is down and in severe pain with an apparent injury to his left knee to start #Redskins minicamp. He is going to have to be carted off the field with an air cast. #NFL pic.twitter.com/5v5F4cPmVd
— Lake Lewis Jr (@LakeLewis) May 20, 2019
Foster was expected to anchor the middle of the Redskins young and up-and-coming defensive unit.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Foster is feared to have a torn an ACL plus other additional damage to his left leg.
Sources: #Redskins LB Reuben Foster is believed to have suffered a torn ACL, plus additional damage. The injury has been described as major and significant. He’s seeing specialists to determine the full extent. But a brutal situation for Washington.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 20, 2019
After the OTA session, Redskins coach Jay Gruden spoke about what Foster brings to the field and was clearly upset about the setback.
“Reuben, the type of player that he is, the energy that he brings, he wouldn’t be laying down unless something was wrong,” Gruden said. “He’s devastated. … He felt something happen in his leg. We don’t know what it is yet. We’ve got to get all the tests back, but he’s very upset about it. … He was pretty hurt.”
Washington will have to see what their options are at middle linebacker if Foster does indeed miss the season.
Over the past two seasons, the Redskins have been besieged by injuries and have never been able to put a full complement of their best players on the field for any meaningful amount of time which was something Gruden alluded to as well.
“I don’t know how to process it, really,” Gruden said. “We’ve had some bad luck over here for the last couple years, but this one here takes the cake because this was a non-contact drill and there was really no contact involved in it. He just landed funny. But we have to move on. We have to get guys ready to play that are here. We’ve got to do the best we can to get Reuben healthy again and move on. … I wish I had the answer for you. Sometimes I wish we’d do just all walkthroughs and then go play on Sundays, but we’ve got to practice.”