The loss of cornerback Benjamin St-Juste for this weekend’s game against the Atlanta Falcons is a big one. St-Juste has become Washington’s best cornerback this season and is regularly lining up opposite of the opponent’s top receiver.
Unfortunately for St-Juste, he injured his ankle in the fourth quarter of last week’s win against the Texans while making a spectacular play. St-Juste was slow to get up but said after the game he was fine.
Long-term, St-Juste will be fine, but as anyone knows, ankle injuries can be a bit tough to predict, especially if it’s a high-ankle sprain.
St-Juste didn’t practice all week and was ruled out Friday.
Who’s up next for the Commanders?
“Well, we’ll have some moving parts, some guys that will be getting opportunities and we’ll see how that works out,” Rivera said.
One of those guys could be rookie seventh-round pick Christian Holmes. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Holmes possesses good length and is known as a physical corner. However, he has only played six defensive snaps this season. Holmes has played in every game on special teams.
Rivera praised Holmes’ improvement in practice recently.
As far as Christian [Holmes] is concerned, he’s a young man that just continually progresses,” Rivera said. “What’s been kind of interesting is if you listen to it, people talk about guys that perform and produce on special teams, they have a knack for taking themselves to another level. This is a guy that’s been practicing at another level lately, and we’ve noticed.”
Atlanta doesn’t have a standout group of wide receivers, but there is rookie Drake London, who Washington loved in the pre-draft process. London is already Atlanta’s top wide receiver. His size and ball skills present quite the challenge for the Commanders, and he could see plenty of veteran Kendall Fuller.
Is Rivera talking up Holmes as a way to give the rookie some confidence, or is he ready for a big-time role?
We shall see on Sunday.
