Washington Commanders suffer mysterious injury scare to one of their most important players on the first day of training camp
The No. 1 goal for the Washington Commanders training camp is to stay as healthy as possible and they’re already dealing with an injury scare on Day 1.
They say an offensive line is only as good as its worst player, which is why the Washington Commanders are making it a priority to find a starting center during training camp.
The leader of the pack is Nick Allegretti, who surprisingly enough, has played just 165 snaps at center since 2019. Dan Quinn and Adam Peters aren’t worried about that, however. They have a very high opinion of Allegretti and fully believe he can handle the job.
Well, unfortunately the Commanders watched Allegretti go down with an injury on the first day of training camp. No details have come out regarding the injury except for the fact he was seen walking off the field with trainers.
“The interior-that’s his space,” Dan Quinn told reporters Tuesday evening. “He’s played center. He’s played guard. Even though you may not have seen him in some of the games, like every week he was, you know, repping inside (at center) to go. So that was a big piece of it. We’ve got a lot of faith and confidence in him…
” … If Nick was playing on defense, he’d be a green dot. This is one of the smartest guys on our team. When you talk about putting it under control, that’s part of playing center, and he has that targeting. Who’s this? Where’s the protection going? So we’ve got a lot of confidence in him. He is one hell of a competitor, and so he’s one of those guys. Man, you don’t bet against that.”
Quinn will speak with the media ahead of Day 2 of Commanders training camp. Therefore, we should get an update at that point.
If Allegretti misses time, it’ll be rookie sixth-round pick Matt Gulbin and Julian Good-Jones manning the position. While you want the top option on the field as much as possible, a potential Allegretti absence means those guys get more reps, which could lead to quicker development.
There’s also Brandon Coleman to consider. The Commanders have said a few times he can play all five positions, but want him to settle in at guard, this year. Still if that could change if Allegretti misses extended time in training camp and the aforementioned guys aren’t stepping up.
We’re not even anywhere near the point of hitting the panic button, at this point. But it’s still something to monitor closely, starting with Quinn’s presser ahead of Thursday’s practice.
Update: Quinn informed reporters Allegretti suffered a calf strain and it’s not considered to be long-term.