The Washington Redskins got good news on Tuesday, as both offensive tackle Trent Williams and cornerback DeAngelo Hall were diagnosed with minor injuries after leaving practice on consecutive days.
Hall's injury occurred during one-on-one drills Monday afternoon, when a rolled ankle had him in a boot of ice on the sideline after practice.
"They put him in that walking boot. I don't think it's serious, according to [Head Athletic Trainer] Larry [Hess]," said head coach Mike Shanahan. "He doesn't think he's too far away. You never know with those ankles.
"Hopefully it's not too serious, but knowing D-Hall, he'll be back fairly quick."
Hall initially thought he tore something in his ankle and sounded optimistic in his diagnosis, but described the nature of his injury as "funky."
"It's kind of the back of my ankle so not quite high ankle, not quite the front of the ankle. Certain movements I'm good with, certain movements I can't put any pressure on it," he said. "I've never had this particular injury before. It's all kind of new to me.
"That's why we wanted to take proper precautions and just get all the tests done, try to figure out if we could see exactly what the problem was."
Williams suffered his injury during full team drills on Tuesday. After losing his balance on a play, Williams landed hard on his wrist and left the field to see trainers.
Williams joked with media after practice, feigning serious injury before reporting that the coast was clear.
"I just fell, and landed on it. It's cool now," he said. "[I originally hurt it] like a year and half ago. It's really nothing. Just stung it a little bit; I'll be fine."
Shanahan said Williams could play as early as today, but the team would be cautious to ensure he returned when ready.
"Trent had a little wrist sprain. Right now it's a little bit sore," he said. "We'll see how it is tomorrow."
With three off days and the team's first preseason game next week, the team could elect to rest both men, allowing them extra time to recover.
Each is a former Pro Bowl player and plays a key role at their respective positions.
The Redskins are thin at left tackle with Maurice Hurt still on PUP, but can draw from Tom Compton, Jeremy Trueblood and Tony Pashos for depth.
Head coach Mike Shanahan suggested that second-year tackle Compton would get the immediate look while Williams rested.
"You can see [Compton] is an athlete. He's got speed. He's got quickness. Now he gets a chance to feel comfortable with the offensive system. He picks things up fairly quickly, I like what I've seen, and this preseason will be big for him.
"If you play the left side, usually you have the quickness to go to the right side – you have that type of athletic ability. We think he has that type of ability.
"What we're going to do now is evaluate him and see how he plays."
The Redskins stocked the defensive secondary with talent this offseason, adding cornerbacks E.J. Biggers and David Amerson to a squad that included Hall, Josh Wilson, Richard Crawford, Chase Minnifield and Jerome Murphy.
While Hall is sidelined, he said he intends to try on his coaching hat, lending insight to teammates where he can.
"Right now I'm just coaching. Just helping them learn the defense. Just helping them see what I see," he said. "Kind of go through things in my mind.
"Each individual player is kind of different when they get out there on that field so if I'm going to be out there with those guys, I want them to see what I see."
"I'm not going to be on the field to communicate that with them so I've got to do it on the sideline in between plays, after plays, and in the film room. So that's what I'll be doing."
Hall said he doubts that suiting up Week 1 will be a concern at this point, and he would play through the pain if this were a regular season game.
"I would feel like I could go out there and go," Hall said. "Ultimately that decision is up to Mike [Shanahan], [Jim Haslett] and Raheem [Morris], but I would like to think mentally I would definitely want to get out there and give it a go.
"That's why I don't feel like it's anything to bad. As long as it's not anything structural I feel like I can still go out there if need be and work."
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