Jer'Zhan "Johnny" Newton may not be healthy enough to practice once the Commanders start training camp
The Washington Commanders landed what many thought was a top-25 player in Jer'Zhan "Johnny" Newton when they drafted him No. 36 overall back in April, but they have yet to see that ability, as of today.Newton suffered a Jones fracture to his right foot during the 2023 season that eventually required surgery. However, he also […]
The Washington Commanders landed what many thought was a top-25 player in Jer'Zhan "Johnny" Newton when they drafted him No. 36 overall back in April, but they have yet to see that ability, as of today.
Newton suffered a Jones fracture to his right foot during the 2023 season that eventually required surgery. However, he also suffered the same injury to his left foot, which required a separate surgery. That's what he's currently recovering from.
While Commanders head coach Dan Quinn recently said that Newton is on track, it remains to be seen if he's ready to go by the time training camp kicks off at the end of July.
"He's hitting all the markers that he's supposed to hit," Quinn told reporters on Tuesday. "He's able to do light working out. And then we'll keep progressing that all the way up until training camp, but no decisions made yet in terms of the start of camp or not. So we'll take that kind of week by week as it's going, but he's hitting all the right markers."
Newton figures to heavily factor into the Commanders' defensive plans once he's ready to go. He, along with stars Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, could quickly form the NFL's best rotation along the interior defensive line. There's even a world in which all three coexist on the field, at the same time, and that's something Quinn and co. have been cooking up ever since he was drafted back in April.
"So, that, and then we can get them all on the field at the same time. That's what's really cool. DQ has a vision to get them all on the field at the same time," Commanders general manager Adam Peters said during an interview back in May. "So it's not like he's going to be a backup and not playing a whole lot. He's going to get on the field. He's going to play [and] we're going to rotate those guys [in order to] keep those guys fresh so they [can] get after it, too."
But, until that happens, we'll have to play the waiting game. Fortunately, according to Quinn, everything is on track. So, that should be sooner than later.
