The Redskins announced on Monday they are parting ways with the five-year cornerback after an injury-filled first year with the team.

The Washington Redskins and general manager Scot McCloughan announced on Monday that they have released veteran cornerback Chris Culliver from the team.

Culliver was in the process of recovering from a season-ending tear to his right ACL/MCL, the second one in his career, which he suffered during a Thanksgiving Day practice last year.

"Chris is a professional," McCloughan said on Monday. "This is the tough part for me about this business, is having to do stuff like that, with any player, but especially with him because of the injury. But it was a great conversation. It gives him an opportunity to go out there and test free agency and our door is not closed yet either."

After signing a four-year contract last spring, Culliver played in just six games in 2015, missing three games earlier in the season due to weakness in his left knee, the same one in which he tore his ACL in 2013, as well as some pain in his shoulder.

McCloughan said Culliver was doing well in his rehab and that Dr. James Andrews said he was ahead of schedule, though McCloughan did not disclose the timetable for Culliver's return to the field.

While Culliver was initially in the Redskins' plans for this season, the addition of both free agent cornerback Josh Norman, who signed a reported five-year, $75 million contract, and third-round cornerback Kendall Fuller, "changed things," according to McCloughan, and made things "kind of tricky."

Financial issues likely factored into the decision, as well as the enhanced play of cornerback Bashaud Breeland and the additional depth the team collected by signing free agent Greg Toler from Indianapolis earlier in the offseason.

In his six games, Culliver, the highest-priced free agent signing last season, made 16 tackles and had one pass defensed.

"I feel good about where I'm at right now, and like I said, we're just progressing and just keep ramping it up," said Culliver, who predicted a 7-10 month recovery, in January. "It's a long offseason, and like I said, taking my time, and just keep getting right."

Still, Culliver's future with the Redskins, according to McCloughan, remains in the air.

"He's going to be in the league," McCloughan said Monday. "It might be here, it might be somewhere else."

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