Make the Injuries Stop!

Devin Thomas was carted off the field today after pulling his hamstring

On the very first day of camp for the Washington Redskins, defensive end Phillip Daniels went down with a torn ACL - season over. To add on to that, backup defensive end Alex Buzbee also went down with a season ending injury. Thankfully, the Redskins had a lot of open space on the salary cap and had Bill Parcells and the Miami Dolphins on speed dial. Enter Jason Taylor, problem solved, right? Well, for defensive end the problem is solved (and hopefully stays solved, knock on wood), but it appears that Daniels and Buzbee's injuries were only precursors of what was to come at Redskins training camp.

Today it was the Redskins' top draft choice, wide receiver Devin Thomas from Michigan State. Thomas was running down field after a long pass from quarterback Jason Campbell, and when he came down he pulled his hamstring. Early reports are that Thomas will miss a few weeks and potentially the Hall of Fame Game against the Indianapolis Colts on August 3. Though this injury doesn't appear to be devastating and head coach Jim Zorn still believes that Thomas can get in four preseason games, it's still very bad. First of all, because Thomas is a rookie, he needs all the time out on the field learning this offense as he can get. Second, hamstring injuries have a nasty tendency of sticking around for a long time. If Thomas gets on the field too soon it could all happen again and this sucker could be here the entire year. Let's hope the Redskins and Thomas are cautious in this injury and it doesn't linger.

Early reports are that former University of Virginia wide receiver, Billy McMullen, will be the man to step into Thomas' void. McMullen finished his career at Virginia as one of the greatest wide receivers in Cavaliers history. He was a third round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2004, and played for the Minnesota Vikings last season. At 6'4" tall, McMullen provides the Redskins with some good height down the field, something the Redskins looked for when drafting Thomas (6'2") and fellow second round draft pick Malcolm Kelly (6'4") this year.

I know that injuries occur to every team throughout training camp, but three crucial injuries in the opening week is scary to me. Hopefully the Redskins will get their injuries out of the way earlier rather than later so as to give as much recovery time as possible, and the injuries aren't too serious.