Washington Redskins: Injury Updates for Cousins, Cofield and Hankerson

The Washington Redskins had another impressive outing Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers, winning 24-13. Their starters did well and their backups sealed their second win of the preseason. Unfortunately, a few Redskins did leave the game with a few injuries, most notably Kirk Cousins. 

The talented backup hurt his foot when running out of bounds early on in the game against the Steelers but fortunately, he seems to be just fine. 

According to Mark Maske of The Washington Post, an MRI revealed that the second-year quarterback suffered a mild foot sprain, but that won’t keep him from being available for opening day. 

He will probably sit out the final two preseason games, but it’s not like he has more to prove to the coaches anyways. Rex Grossman and Pat White will likely split reps in this Saturday’s preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, continuing their battle for the third quarterback spot.

In other injury news, starting nose tackle Barry Cofield is also just fine. Although he was held out of the rest of the game after getting hurt, it was probably more for precautionary reasons than anything. 

In a post-game press conference, Cofield explained how he had a similar injury in middle school and still “played great.” Cofield went on to say, “Obviously the main goal, the most important game is Philly, and I’d be surprised if I wasn’t out there for that one.” 

That’s something the Redskins are certainly hoping for, especially considering how vital Cofield has been to their adjustment from a base 4-3 defense to a 3-4 set. 

The next important player that Washington can breathe easy about is Leonard Hankerson. The third-year receiver has progressed slowly over the past two seasons, but it looks like he’s ready for a huge year. 

In the past two weeks, Hankerson has recorded two pretty impressive, athletic touchdown catches and has simply looked great. In this last game against the Steelers, Hankerson injured his knee soon after bringing in a highlight-reel one-handed touchdown catch. 

The former Miami Hurricane told Rich Tandler of CSNWashington.com that he “would have been good” to go back in if it was a regular-season game. He described the injury as a “little bruise,” relieving Redskins fans of any concerns surrounding the up-and-coming pass-catcher. 

Thankfully, this could have been a lot worse; the Redskins don’t need to lose a guy like Hankerson. His biggest problem to date has been drops, but he’s only had one this entire preseason. If he can erase or (more realistically) limit his drops, then he could very well have a Pro Bowl season.