FanHouse Phillip Daniels

Phillip Daniels missed the entire 2008 season with a knee injury -- one he suffered on the first day of training camp. Hopefully he'll have a bit better fortune for 2009, because he's expecting to sign a league minimum one-year contract with the Redskins sometime in the next few days.

Daniels, who has 59 career sacks, is 36 years old, but claims he's completely healthy and in great shape. If there's one glaring weakness on the 'Skins defense, it's pressure from the outside. A healthy Daniels would be a start, but he's never been a dynamic pass rusher (9 sacks in one season is his career high).

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: The young Jason Campbell made some nice strides last year ... but had a huge problem holding onto the ball too long. His fumbles, unnecessary sacks and bad decisions led to some poor end-of-game situations. Now with Jim Zorn calling the shots, Campbell will be in his 7th different system in eight years (counting his time at Auburn). Now he will be learning the West Coast offense that takes QBs a while to learn. Backup Todd Collins was golden in his duties last year and it was a bit of a surprise that he re-upped in Washington again. Colt Brennan is a project as the No. 3. Heat Index: 5

Running Back: Heading into last year, many people figured that the Redskins would go to a dual-back system. Didn't happen. Clinton Portis (who is always nicked up) brought it all season long, taking his place near the top of the yardage and TD rankings. Ladell Betts wasn't bad or anything -- he just didn't get the opportunities to shine as he did in 2006. Still, Betts is a very serviceable backup who could get more touches if Zorn really does want to run the football. Heat Index: 8

The Jim Zorn era officially begins on Thursday, when the Redskins face the Giants in the regular-season opener. Despite a shiny, new offense and a retooled roster that includes a less insane punter, Washington has struggled on both sides of the ball during the preseason.

The team traded for Jason Taylor after Phillip Daniels was lost for the season with a torn ACL. Taylor would later injure his knee in the 'Skins' third preseason game and now it looks like he won't be available for Week 1.

Jason Taylor, who is out with a sprained knee/bone bruise, worked before practice with trainers but did nothing on the practice field. He, too, seems unlikely to play, but Zorn said the team will evaluate him right up through Thursday's warm-ups before making a final call. "Based on today, there's no way, but that's going to be a game-time decision." ...

Told ya. More proof that God has something against Dan Snyder: No. 2 wideout Antwaan Randle El has a broken bone in his left hand. He'll play against the Giants, however, but will have to wear a protective brace. That should hinder his ability to catch the ball.

Another day, another practice, another injury for the Washington Redskins.

After losing Phillip Daniels and Alex Buzbee for the season ... and Fred Smoot for a week or so ... now top draft pick Devin Thomas pulls a hamstring and is carted off the field.

Coach Jim Zorn says the team doesn't immediately know the extent of the injury.

Thomas was hurt Thursday while reaching over his head to catch a pass from quarterback Jason Campbell during 11-on-11 drills.

Washington also lost another defensive end ... Chris Wilson ... to a calf injury. Oh, and Clinton Portis probably won't play in the Hall of Fame game next week after turning his ankle. Pro-Bowler Chris Samuels is missing practices due to his surgically repaired shoulder acting up while Antwaan Randle El and Santana Moss aren't practicing either. And the batcave has been destroyed!

Zorn must feel like he's in a daze with all these injuries piling up around him. In the NFL, these things happen and there is always one team that seems to get bit hard in the preseason. This year, it looks like it is the "Z-man's" team.

For Redskins fans, this started out as a great day. The Skins were the first team to open training camp today, marking the official end to the NFL offseason (if there really is one).

Then came some bad news: Starting DE Phillip Daniels tore his ACL on the first play of a 7-on-7 drill and will miss the season.

A few hours later, DE Alex Buzbee tore his Achilles tendon and will also miss the season. CB Fred Smoot twisted his ankle and will miss a week or two. Not exactly what Jim Zorn wanted in his first training camp.

Going back to the defensive ends, losing Daniels and Buzbee (not to mention not having Erasmus James healthy) meant that position was in very thin shape. Just as quickly, Washington traded for Jason Taylor.

The Skins gave up a 2nd round pick next year and a 6th round pick in 2010 which has fans thinking the team paid too big a price. After all, Taylor is 33, has just two years remaining on his contract and has hinted that he'll only play one more season. Also, the team is saying they will move him to left end ... which isn't where he typically plays. So, yeah, that is a big price to rent a player.

This one is a bit odd. The Washington Times reports that Redskins' defensive lineman Phillip Daniels called out cornerback Shawn Springs for not being at the team's OTAs yesterday. (Hat tip: Hogs Haven):

"If there's no reason [for his absence] and I'm here, then be here, be a leader," said Daniels, who has been Springs' teammate for eight seasons with the Redskins and the Seattle Seahawks. "[Shawn]'s his own man. I'm a leader. I lead by example. I lead by being here. I'm not a rah-rah guy. He's not here to help us right now. ... He gotta deal with the way people perceive him. I can only say to him, 'Get here. Be involved with this.'"

Wow. Now you as a fan may think the same way, but players don't typically do this. Unless you have some character issues, teammates rarely call out others for not showing up to these things. Remember, these are OTAs which are, technically, voluntary. Now, we all know that "voluntary" in the NFL eyes means "you are either a mega star or you better have a good reason not to be here".

This is Redskins defensive lineman Phillip Daniels competing in the deadlift in a powerlifting competition last week in Willowbrook, Illinois:

Daniels has The Redskin Report conjuring up images of pulling planes, but Redskins coach Jim Zorn says he has no problem at all with the way Daniels is spending his off-season:

"He's trying to be a strong man, and doing a pretty good job of it," Zorn said. "He'll be around as well. It's not like he's going to be gone for the whole offseason.

Coaches generally don't much like it when players skip off-season workouts, regardless of the reason, and the deadlift has been known to result in back injuries. But there are certainly worse things a football player could do with his time off.

Now that the glass half full looks more like it's half empty, let's take a more realistic snapshot of what the Redskins are working with. It's easy to let the 0-2 record get us down, but last year's team, which was less talented (on paper at least) was 5-6 before making a run for the playoffs.

So what's going on this year? Are we really that bad? Is there any hope left for a run for the Lombardi Trophy?

All week I've been hearing and reading stuff about the upcoming Redskins-Cowboys game about how the Redskins secondary looked so bad against Minnesota that they should make Bledsoe look good again. The theory is that second-year CB Carlos Rogers won't be able to maintain T.O., let alone Kenny Wright or Mike Rumph.

Looking back at the Vikings game, Gregg Williams did not employ a lot of blitz packages. Brad Johnson was pretty much given a break because of the injuries suffered on our defensive side of the ball. With Pierson Prioleau going down early in the game and Shawn Springs still nursing his injury, that left zero depth in the secondary. If you blitz Rogers and Taylor, you have recently acquired Mike Rumph covering one-on-one with only Adam Archuleta covering the top. Not a good idea. The backup safeties are Vernon Fox and Reed Doughty, neither of whom has proven anything yet.

With Gregg Williams holding back on bringing the heat we're used to seeing, that left the pressure up to an injured Cornelius Griffin, Phillip Daniels and Renaldo Wynn. And where in the world is Andre Carter? Going against Steve Hutchinson, Matt Birk and Bryant McKinnie, you HAVE to bring some heat.

Here's hoping to a plan C . Backup DE Renaldo Wynn was injured in the New England Patriots game, saying he was horse-collared, making his status for Thursday's preseason finale against the Baltimore Ravens in doubt. Add that to the injuries to Cornelius Griffin and Phillip Daniels and the defensive line is averaging one lost player per game.

That leaves at DE first year Redskin Andre Carter, solid backups Demetric Evans and Nic Clemon, and your pick between Karon Riley and Joe Sykes until Phillip Daniels returns. At DT, until Cornelius Griffin is back, there's starter Joe Salave'a, solid backup Cedric Killings, still-learning backup Ryan Boschetti and the four rookies, Anthony Montgomery, Kedric Golston, Chris Mineo and Vaka Manupuna.

Wynn sprained his right ankle in the preseason game and says it's a day at a time. The Redskins are first waiting for the inflammation to go down and treat the ankle as much as possible to prepare Wynn for the regular season. Luckily, there wasn't any diagnosis of weeks of missing action, so he may be returning around the same time as Phillips, Griffin and Springs (a little later).