Nick Allegretti said “Awesome” after getting back on the practice field Tuesday, but the Commanders have already ruled him out of the preseason game in Detroit on Saturday. Ameer Abdullah is not the story here; the bigger news is that at least 15 Commanders were recovering from or working their way back from injuries by Friday morning in training camp.
Allegretti, the starting center, had missed more than three weeks with a strained calf muscle and completed about 15 reps when he returned. He went back to the training room on Wednesday after calf tightness during practice, and medical imaging showed no further damage to his leg. The Commanders will reevaluate him on Sunday.
Commanders injury list in Ashburn
The Commanders have lost more than a dozen players to injuries during training camp, and the list has spread across several position groups. Rachaad White, Jeremy McNichols and Jerome Ford are currently out at running back, while Daron Payne, Odafe Oweh and K’Lavon Chaisson are currently out among the pass rushers.
Laremy Tunsil suffered a torn triceps and is out indefinitely. Johnny Newton underwent surgery on Wednesday for a pectoral muscle injury, and Trey Amos has practiced once all year because of a fractured fibula and an ankle sprain. Marcus Mariota is dealing with a sprained MCL, and Dan Quinn said earlier this week that Mariota could be available for Week 1 of the regular season.
Dan Quinn’s camp push
Quinn said he tweaked the Commanders’ training camp routine to raise competition and intensity after a 5-12 season. He said the practices are not longer, but multiple unscripted periods have often extended the workouts, a setup that has put more strain on players already working back from injury.
Quinn also described Rachaad White as “close” on Thursday, after White worked on the side field with an athletic trainer. The coach added, “We know if you’ve had an injury, you’re at risk for another injury, not necessarily the same one, but just the conditioning piece,” and said, “But it sucks. It’s part of it, just in terms of the nature of how we play, stopping and starting and speeds.”
Detroit and Sunday reevaluation
The immediate decision is simple for the Commanders: Allegretti stays out of Saturday’s preseason game in Detroit, then gets checked again on Sunday. For the team, the question is whether the injury count keeps shrinking before Week 1 of the regular season, or whether the workload from training camp keeps adding names to the list.
The Commanders now have at least 15 players tied up in injury recovery, with three running backs and three top pass rushers among the absences. That leaves practice reps, preseason snaps, and in-game continuity all being managed at the same time, starting with Allegretti’s return to the training room after what looked like a clean step back onto the field.
