Redskins being cautious with Hankerson

Leonard Hankerson has said that he is ready. Mike Shanahan has said that Hankerson is ready.

So where’s Hank?

He has been seen doing some work at OTA’s but it has consisted mostly of doing some conditioning and tossing a ball around off to the side. He has yet to step in with the full offense and catch some passes from Robert Griffin III. 

Hankerson has been limited during offseason activities as he is recovering from a hip injury that he suffered on Nov. 13 last year against the Dolphins. At first they tried to rehab the injury without surgery. However, in mid February it was determined that he was not making sufficient progress and the decision was made to conduct a procedure to repair the injury.

All reports have been positive since then. When asked about Hankerson’s after last Thursday’s OTA, Shanahan said, “The hip is healed. We’ve got to get him back into football shape but he’s working extremely hard.”

But he cautioned against Hankerson working too hard. “We don’t want to overdo it so we don’t set him back. But the hip is healed.”

That is the dilemma that the team faces with Hankerson. There are just six practices left in the offseason program, three OTA’s this week and next week’s three-day minicamp. He desperately needs the work, especially since the NFL lockout wiped out the offseason prior to his rookie year. 

But on the other hand, they really need him healthy when training camp starts on about July 26. Having Hankerson not fully participate in the remaining six practices would be a minus; if he practices, has a setback, and misses a good chunk of training camp, that would be a disaster.

The Redskins suffered a lot of injuries last year but the one to Hankerson may have been the worst. After getting off to a bumpy start with troubles hanging on to the ball in training camp, he was inactive for the first five games of the season. In the Miami game, he was having a breakout performance with eight receptions for 106 yards before getting injured. Hankerson missed six weeks of practice and six games worth of development. That is work that Hankerson, who has a lot of rough edges that need to be smoothed out, could have used.


(csnwashington.com)