ASHBURN | DeAngelo Hall’s gray canvas chair still sits at his locker. He’s not in it anymore after practice because a torn ACL ended his season.
Hall’s departure doesn’t only mean the Redskins have to find a new starting free safety. It means one of the lockerroom leaders is gone just three weeks into the season.
In Week 2, Hall played in his 100th career regular-season game with the Redskins, putting him in some illustrious franchise company. Hall joined Darrell Green (295), Brig Owens (158), Pat Fischer (126), Ken Houston (112), Mark Murphy (109), Reed Doughty (107), Fred Smoot (101) and Todd Bowles (100) as the only defensive backs to play 100 regular-season games for the team.
Will Blackmon, the likely candidate to replace Hall, started playing Big East Conference games against him back in 2002 when he was at Boston College and Hall was at Virginia Tech. Not long after, both were in the NFL. When Blackmon joined the Redskins last season, it was the first time he and Hall played together as pros.
“It was very unfortunate to have our leader and someone who has been in this organization for a long time, a Pro-Bowler, someone I played against since I was 18 years old, a good friend and a brother of mine, D Hall [go down],” Blackmon said. “I feel like I have to take the onus of continuing to lead from a veteran standpoint and keep it rolling.”
The connection between rookie cornerback Kendall Fuller and Hall also goes back to when Hall was at Virginia Tech. Hall was teammates with Fuller’s older brother, Vincent. All four Fuller brothers played football at Virginia Tech.
“Just his spirit alone lifts you up,” Fuller said. “He’s always positive about it. He said, ’Don’t worry about me, I’m going to go attack this rehab.’ It definitely hurts, but his spirits alone picked us up.”
Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Thursday the secondary will continue to rotate. Duke Ihenacho could see some time at strong safety in place of David Bruton. The nickel and dime packages will again be a mish-mash of parts because of the injuries to Hall and cornerback Bashaud Breeland.
The issue for Hall could be his future. The guaranteed money the Redskins owe Hall from his four-year, $17 million contract signed in 2013 has been paid. He is 32 years old and now has lost seasons to injuries twice in the last three years. In 2014, Hall tore his Achilles tendon. The last three seasons, Hall has played a total of 17 games, which in effect, is just one full season. Next year, he carries just $812,500 in dead cap space.
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