Washington’s tight end situation underwent another DefCon upgrade Saturday, when Jay Gruden announced Logan Paulsen will also miss the season.
This marks the second such announcement for a Washington tight end in two days.
Paulsen will have surgery to correct a turf toe malady, according to Zac Boyer of the Washington Times. Paulsen, of course, joins Niles Paul in figurative Washington tight end infirmary, after the recently re-signed Paul dislocated and fractured his ankle in the team’s first preseason contest.
Entering his sixth year with the team after arriving as an undrafted free agent, Paulsen had been out of action since injuring his big toe in practice last week. So today’s news isn’t exactly shocking.
The 28-year-old started 42 games for Washington the past four seasons as mostly a blocking tight end, serving as a complement to receiving options Paul and Jordan Reed, the latter of which will be counted on immensely to stay healthy after missing 12 games in his first two seasons.
Washington will now have to make a move to bring in some kind of talent here to pair with Reed, but the options are obviously scarce this late in the summer. John Keim of ESPN.com noted a trade for Vernon Davis or bringing in Zach Miller aren’t viable options, and the team isn’t interested at this point in igniting a Chris Cooley reunion.
The team will bring in multiple free agents this weekend, report Liz Clarke and Mike Jones of the Washington Post. Je’Ron Hamm, Chase Dixon and Devin Mahina comprised the until-now deep backups portion of the depth chart.
Tough, tough break. Obviously Washington really needs Jordan Reed to get healthy. And although they said they weren’t inclined to bring in an outside option, you’d have to think this latest injury changes that.