PFW: Heart of Redskins’ defense might be right up front

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Heart of Redskins’ defense might be right up front

Washington

There certainly are more talented units on the team, but the Redskins’ defensive line might be the most competitive and hardest-working group on the team. Throughout camp, the core group of DTs Cornelius Griffin, Joe Salave’a and Brandon Noble and DEs Phillip Daniels and Renaldo Wynn has displayed excellent hustle, moving quickly between drills and executing even the most minor of exercises with speed and efficiency. With most of the team’s big-name talent lying in the secondary and at linebacker, the line’s play — namely that of Griffin — should not be overlooked in terms of what it meant to the overall success of the NFL’s No. 3-ranked defense last season. If Daniels can stay healthy and Wynn can be productive again, this group should be in fine shape. The depth is also better with DT Ryan Boschetti, a former practice-squad player, coming on and last year’s solid DE reserves, Demetric Evans and Ron Warner, continuing to make progress.

Dallas

With Jacob Rogers (right knee) expected to undergo season-ending surgery, the Cowboys’ ORT situation becomes that much more dicey. The team recently has looked at sixth-round rookie Rob Petitti with the first team quite a bit. He’ll battle with Torrin Tucker, last year’s starter for the first 13 games, for the starter’s job, though Kurt Vollers could enter the picture. Right now, Vollers appears more valuable off the bench because he’s capable of playing both OT spots. Petitti earned the start in the preseason loss to Arizona and had his share of rough moments. But Bill Parcells is giving him a long look after Petitti impressed him by losing nearly 40 pounds since the draft. Don’t be surprised if the rookie factors in at some point. Another possibility is the Cowboys signing a veteran free agent such as Scott Gragg or Chris Terry. As for Rogers, who was sidelined with injuries for most of his rookie campaign, it appears as if the Cowboys are losing patience with the 2004 second-round pick, as some members of the organization expressed displeasure that he opted to have a surgery (microfracture) that many felt was unnecessary at this point.

NY Giants

The QB situation behind Eli Manning has yet to play itself out, but it appears that Tim Hasselbeck — despite an uneven performance to date — has the backup job locked up. He was battling with Jesse Palmer for the job, but now it appears as if Palmer is fighting for his Giants life. Palmer’s performance has not been very good to date, and it appears he’s losing snaps each day to Jared Lorenzen, who spent last season on the reserve/did-not-report list but has shown enough flashes so far this year to catch Tom Coughlin’s eye. Despite that, Lorenzen appears to be more of a practice-squad project. The team has monitored closely the progress of free agent Tim Couch, Lorenzen’s former college teammate at Kentucky, but one source close to the team said nothing appears imminent in terms of moving on Couch.

Philadelphia

In this space in April we told you that this might be the first time in several seasons, perhaps the first time under head coach Andy Reid, that an undrafted free agent didn’t make the team out of camp, given the fact that the roster was loaded with the addition of 11 draft picks this spring. But now comes word from Eagles camp that two undrafted rookies, TE Stephen Spach and LB Martin Patterson, are playing their way on to the roster. Spach has a good chance to be the No. 2 tight end behind L.J. Smith. To this point Spach is beating out James Whalenand fellow undrafted rookie Andy Thorn to take the spot of Chad Lewis, who was not brought back. Meanwhile, Patterson has impressed coordinator Jim Johnson with his play, even as it remains a very tight roster with few openings. He had been working primarily in the middle, but it’d be hard to imagine the team keeping three “Mike” ’backers. What might indirectly help Patterson is the fact that backup SLB Greg Richmond had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back and could be out for an extended period of time. Patterson has begun receiving snaps on the strong side now.