The Washington Commanders will enter Sunday’s Week 1 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars down starting safety Kam Curl. Curl was ruled out Friday with a thumb injury.
While the Commanders hope Curl will only be out for one week, head coach Ron Rivera is confident in the young players who will fill Curl’s shoes.
Second-year safety Darrick Forrest had an outstanding summer and is poised for a larger role in 2022.
“Well, what you’ve seen from DeFo [Forrest] is you see him playing very fast,” Rivera said. “He’s very physical. After Kam [Curl], he’s probably one of our more physical guys. He’s a downhill player. He’s very active. He plays with his eyes pretty well. He sees a lot. I like his ability to run. He’s got good quickness. He’s quick in a small area, confined area. And he can turn and run.”
Rivera also discussed the difference between Forrest as a rookie in 2021, to now.
“I just think overall knowledge more so than anything else,” Rivera said of Forrest. “Because then you see a guy play with confidence, and a guy playing with confidence is gonna play fast. And that’s the thing that you like, is that right now he is playing fast.”
Forrest missed nine games last season and appeared mostly on Washington’s special teams units.
Rookie Percy Butler will also be in the mix for playing time Sunday.
“I think it’s been really good,” Rivera said about Butler’s progress. “Just when you ask a guy to play one specific position, that’s pretty cool. But now all of a sudden you’ve got him splitting his time between being a safety and being the Buffalo, which is really the nickel. You ask a lot, especially of a rookie but he seems to be handling it very well. So, I’m pretty optimistic about his opportunity to get on the football field and play well.”
Washington will miss Curl Sunday, but now someone else has an opportunity. Look for Forrest to play the majority of snaps in place of Curl while Butler focuses on the Buffalo nickel role.
