With the main goal of making sure he's healthy for the regular season, the Redskins are being "extra cautious" with the Pro Bowl tight end as he deals with a toe injury.
In a move that was surprising, the Washington Redskins on Wednesday – just one day before the opening of training camp at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center in Richmond, Va. – placed tight end Jordan Reed on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
During mandatory minicamp last month, Reed looked in midseason form, as the Pro Bowl tight end caught passes all over the field. His chemistry with quarterback Kirk Cousins was sharp while the defense struggled to contain the explosive University of Florida product at times.
But as training camp opened up, Reed was sidelined with a big toe injury.
Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said that the team is "going to take it slow" with Reed, but he should be back on the field soon.
"We want to make sure he's 100 percent before we got him going," Gruden said on Thursday. "He's going to get some upper body work going and as soon as he gets healthy we'll let him go. Should be about a week or so, we're hoping.
"I think we just want to make sure we got him right. He looked so good at mandatory training camp and then during the offseason he went down to Miami a little bit and was training and just had a little, small issue with it. You know, we don't want to push him. We're going to get a chance to get him with the strength guys and a good week of rehab and then we'll see where he is in about four or five days."
Reed last season became the fastest tight end in NFL history to 200 receptions, hitting the mark in 38 games. The previous record holder was Pro Football Hall of Famer Kellen Winslow, who hit the 200-catch mark in 39 games.
Check out behind the scenes images from Tight End, Jordan Reed's 2017 Redskins Photo Shoot.
When healthy, of course, Reed is one of the NFL's elite tight ends.
In 46 career regular season games, the 2013 third-round pick has recorded 248 receptions for 2,602 yards and 20 touchdowns.
During a breakout campaign in 2015, Reed set franchise records in receptions (87) and receiving yards (952).
"At the end of the day, this is Jordan Reed's group," said fellow tight end Vernon Davis. "He's the leader when it comes to the tight ends, and I just do my job. I assist and take care of my responsibilities and do all that I can to help this team win. It's devastating to not have him out here, but I'm sure that Jordan Reed's going to do everything that he possibly can to make sure he's healthy and well to be able to help this team."
Gruden said Reed could be back on the field as early as next week. While it will be beneficial for Reed to return, the main focus right now is to have him fully healthy for the team's regular season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 10.
"Thankfully we're still about six weeks from Week 1," said quarterback Kirk Cousins. "One thing I learned last year and I said it in OTAs is that while this is really important, Week 1 of the regular season is what really matters, so we've just got to get Jordan ready for that."
