Ron Rivera Presser: We’ll see how Kam Curl’s ankle is on Saturday morning; Chase Young practiced with confidence

Ron Rivera speaks to the media after today’s practice

Washington Commanders Head Coach Ron Rivera spoke to the media after today’s practice in the bubble. He opened with some good news about Chase Young, he will play for the first time in over 13 months. Young had ACL reconstruction surgery and also dealt with a ruptured patellar tendon. He has been on the 53-man roster since being activated from the Reserve/PUP list, but has been listed as questionable every week, only to be inactive on gamedays.

Rivera said Young had another good week, and had a followup meeting with Dr. James Andrews who performed his surgery. That helped put him over the hump over whatever reservations/issues were keeping him from playing. Rivera said Young practiced with confidence and showed his willingness to stick his foot in the ground and roll off of it, plant it and cut off of it.

Chase Young will be a full go playing-wise this week, but will still be on a snap count for his first game back. He has said it would likely be 12-16 snaps, and he reaffirmed those numbers in today’s presser.

Injury report:

Chase Young:

“Good. A lot of positive things. It’s now, I mean, he felt really good this week. I think, again, seeing Dr. [James] Andrews probably was the last final thing that, just to get him over the hump. He practiced with confidence. He showed us he was willingness to stick that leg in the ground and roll off of it, plant it and cut off of it. So, he had a good week, so we’re pretty excited about that.”

Kam Curl:

“Obviously just the ankle. Again, defensive backs have gotta use those plant and drives off of those feet and we just gotta make sure he can do it. He’ll continue to get his treatments and we’ll see how he is come Saturday morning.”

If Curl is out:

“Well, for the most part it’s gonna be by committee. We’ve got guys that’ll now get opportunities to step in and play the position. We’ll rely on Percy [Butler] and we’ll rely on Jeremy [Reaves], a couple guys that have, really stepped up when they’ve got an opportunities and have performed nicely for us. So, we’re feeling pretty comfortable with whatever we have to do.”

Pro Bowl reaction video:

“What we tried to do and what we wanted to do was let each guy know. I would’ve loved to have been able to tell the whole team all at once and that was my first thought, but I was told I couldn’t just because there was a TV show at eight o’clock that had to tell everybody, so that kind of put a little damper on that. So, then we set it up so that the last guy coming in would be Jeremy [Reaves] and it was really kind of cool cause I kind of expected the reaction that we, we got from Tress [Way] and Terry [McLaurin]’s reaction was pure Terry. And I couldn’t tell Jonathan [Allen] because what happened was, I don’t know if you noticed, but Jeremy came walking in when Jonathan did, so I had to separate it to him. So, I didn’t wanna tell Jonathan cause I didn’t want Jeremy to overhear but I figured it would be a very poignant moment for Jeremy just because 2020 and basically the story being is he had a great training camp. We let him go, but we told him we would bring him back, put him on practice squad, and I told him, I gave him my word that when the opportunity came, I would activate him and some people thought I was gonna activate somebody else, but I stuck to it and gave him his chance and he’s done nothing but be there for us and, and, and, and make plays happen for us. And then unfortunately last year during Thanksgiving, he loses his mother. So, it was one of those things that I just knew that it would mean a lot to him because he’s done the things that you’re supposed to do. He does the things that guys that are not drafted should do. And I said this when I first got here, if you wanna make an impression on me, doing it on special teams for you young guys, and he’s done that and he’s done more than that. So, it’s a well done, well-deserved opportunity.”

Why players gravitate around S Jeremy Reaves:

“Because they know his story and he comes to work the same way every day. You know what I’m saying? He comes to work. He understands what his role is and he does his role to the best. You just know that you’re gonna get the kind of picture from Jeremy when he’s on Scout team that the starters will get something out of, and that’s one of the things you try to tell your guys that Hey, look, if you’re on show team, it’s your job to give a great show, give a great look because on Sunday we don’t want anything to be a surprise. And so Jeremy’s one of those guys and because he does those things, he practices that type of tempo that you should, I think his teammates really do appreciate that and I think that’s part of it. Plus I think in a lot of situations, circumstances in the locker room or away from the facility Jeremy’s a go-to guy. A guy needs something, a guy needs some help or just wanted to hang out or something. Jeremy’s a guy I know a lot of guys do gravitate towards.”

The growth of S Jeremy Reaves:

“Just his overall playing skills and, and, and you know, his understanding and knowledge of what we do and how we do it, the way he does things, again, as I said, he does things hard, fast and even if he does make a mistake, he’s making it a hundred miles an hour. And that’s impressive to his guys. I mean, he is the same guy no matter what. And that is important.”

Jeremy Reaves Pro Bowl selection:

“The way he plays. It’s not just protector, but the way he covers. I mean, somebody showed me a post that had one of our kickoff coverages where he forms up the guy and it was Philadelphia, the second time we played them. He formed up the return man perfectly and dropped him, I think it was about the 18-yard line. It’s one of those things where that’s the kind of energy we need. That’s the kind of way you’ve gotta play. Also when you watch the way he handles the punt protection spot, I mean, being the PP for the punters a big deal. And when you make the calls and you’ve gotta scan and you gotta pick up the guy that somebody misses, or you’ve gotta now get out, get downfield and cover going through that that whole process, that really speaks well to what he does and how well he does it.”

Daron Payne not be named a Pro Bowl starter:

“Yes, I was. I was just because of the kind of year he has had, but you know, the other guys they’ve selected all have had great years as well. And now I think that Daron’s name is out there. I think people pay more attention to it. And so that’ll be something that’ll carry him, I think into next year if he plays the way he is playing right now.”

Tress Way:

Teams in the NFL targeting quarterbacks in free agency:

“I think that’s part of what everybody looks at is there still a little bit of time that has to be taken? I mean we just gotta figure out where you want to go, how you want to do things. I think what we showed you guys in the preseason, I’ve mentioned this before, that’s what we want to do. I mean, we ran the ball purposely in the preseason, but you know, we didn’t account for the situation we got in just before the season started with B-Rob. And so that kind of slowed us down a little bit. And then once he got back and as he got back into shape, we began to see what we were intending to do. And again, we want to continue working at that. We want to shore up the positions that we feel we’re gonna need to shore up. Quarterback obviously is one that we’re gonna continue to look at with the guys we have here and what potentially could be out there, but we have to look at every position, and do our due diligence.”

Teams struggling to run against the 49ers:

“I think part of it is if you look at the games where people did run the ball effectively against them, which we have, they’ve been able to get ahead with the chains. Also they’ve made the commitment that that’s what they’re going to do and that’s how they’re going to do it. They’ve stayed with it, they’ve stayed with it, they’ve stayed with it. And that’s a big part of the reason why you continue to want to run the ball because a couple things happen. If you are successful and you can stay ahead of the chains and you can convert and get into more third and shorts, that gives you an opportunity to keep their offense off the field. [49ers Head Coach] Kyle [Shanahan] has done such a good job there. I mean they’re explosive and they know they are. And if you can limit those opportunities, that helps you as a football team.”

Jeremy Reaves

Pro Bowl selection:

Tress Way:

Tress Way

Jeremy Reaves:

Practice Updates

Bubble day:

Kam Curl:

Chris Paul: