Washington Redskins: Junior Galette Injury Not Insurmountable

By Andrew Long | Aug 27, 2015

The Washington Redskins defensive unit was dealt a major blow when recently signed pass-rusher Junior Galette sustained a season-ending injury during a team practice. The 27-year-old suffered a torn Achilles; with a lengthy rehab ahead of him, the Redskins will have to look elsewhere for a player to slot opposite of Ryan Kerrigan.

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While the injury certainly detracts from Washington’s pass-rush, I don’t think that it’s an injury that will derail them as a unit. The reason I say this is because the Redskins – surprisingly – have a good amount of depth at outside linebacker. Trent Murphy and Preston Smith, albeit young, are both promising in terms of talent.

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Remember, before the team signed Galette to slot opposite of Kerrigan, they seemed fairly comfortable going into the season with Murphy and Smith as their outside linebackers. And while I was anxious to see what the Kerrigan-Galette duo was capable of, I’m fairly confident that Murphy and Smith can at least combine to equal the production that went out the window with Galette’s torn Achilles.

I’m not going to sit here and say that the Redskins are better off without the production Galette offered; they might be better off without his presence in the locker room, though. I’m not ready to say that it was addition by subtraction, but Galette’s absence in the locker room and on the field will undoubtedly help the development of younger players on the roster.

Murphy and Smith are the obvious beneficiaries here, as their snap count will increase. With Galette out of the picture for the entirety of the 2015 season, Murphy and Smith will once again have to battle over the starting right outside linebacker gig. I foresee Murphy winning the job; Smith, while still a backup, will also see an increased amount of action, though.

Although Murphy and Smith are the two players with the most to gain in this situation, backup pass-rushers Jackson Jeffcoat and Houston Bates also benefit.

Jeffcoat appeared in three games for the Washington Redskins last season. In his small sample of action, the then rookie managed to secure a few tackles, an interception and a sack. The numbers are solid for the amount of snaps he received, and he’ll only get better with time and reps.

Competing with Jeffcoat for snaps and shots at opposing quarterbacks is Houston Bates, an undrafted rookie linebacker out of Louisiana Tech. The 6-3, 250 pounder currently has three sacks, which puts him in a tie for first in the league this preseason. Whether or not he’s capable of producing such statistics in the regular season is unknown at this point, but Bates’ play in the preseason is incredibly promising.

Like I said earlier, the potential that the Kerrigan-Galette duo possessed was intriguing; there is no denying that. But, in the grand scheme of things, Washington’s defensive unit will survive. They have a lot of depth at outside linebacker. And, better yet, a lot of young depth. I’m intrigued to see how everything plays out.

And while the Redskins defensive unit as a whole took a blow, Murphy, Smith, Jeffcoat, and Bates will all benefit from the increased amount of play that they’re set to receive.

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