FanHouse Vernon Fox

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.

Two weekends to go before the regular season openers and the Redskins are still shuffling around with the roster. RB Jesse Lumsden and CB Dimitri Patterson were released to make room for the signings of punter Eddie Johnson and DB Vernon Fox.

With the trade to bring in TJ Duckett and Lumsden fighting off nagging injuries, the move wasn't too much of a surprise. The backfield was already considered crowded with Clinton Portis, Ladell Betts, Rock Cartwright and Mike Sellers (who's actually a FB). Once Portis returned, though, there wasn't much expectations for Lumsden to get carries during the games anyway.

Patterson more than likely will end up on the practice squad if he goes unsigned. He did record an interception against the Dallas Cowboys last year late in the season and saw some action due to injuries, but he hasn't stood out enough to be worthy of a roster spot yet. Vernon Fox will be brought in to compete at the safety position. Other than starters Sean Taylor and Adam Archuleta, the safeties are Pierson Prioleau and rookie Reed Doughty. If Fox performs well enough, all the warm fuzzy feelings for Doughty could come to an end. He has had some solid moments, but he's still riddled with rookie mistakes, and the Redskins aren't looking to rebuild this year. Fox is a fifth-year player, playing in 56 games in his career bringing some experience at the position. He has played for the San Diego Chargers and the Detroit Lions.

The move to bring in a punter was less of a surprise and more of a relief. Frost has been consistently inconsistent so far, just like last year, and could get a foot in the rear if he doesn't get his foot out his own rear. The only question with this move is why did it take so long? Then again, looking at incoming punter Johnson's stats, he played in 14 games as a rookie for Minnesota and had 56 punts for a frosty 39.1 yard average.