Trai Turner has been ruled out for the Washington Commanders' Week 13 game against the New York Giant, ensuring that Sam Cosmi will be the starting right guard in the pivotal NFC East matchup.
Turner, who has been playing better after dealing with a quad injury early in the season, has been out all week with knee and ankle injuries. Cosmi has been rotating at right tackle with Cornelius Lucas while he deals with a hand injury.
The move to put Cosmi in Turner's place started on Wednesday, and now that it is a reality that Cosmi will play guard for the first time in his professional career, Cosmi is excited about the opportunity.
The move also makes sense from a personnel standpoint, as the Commanders have tried to get their best players on the field for their playoff push. Cosmi has the fifth-highest run block grade among all tackles, according to Pro Football Focus, and his grade (83.8) would be the third-highest grade among guards.
"So, being able to move Sam around a little bit, having him in there at guard, having that be an option of something that we can do, if that gets our best five out there, that's something that we will able to do," offensive coordinator Scott Turner said Thursday.
Running back Antonio Gibson, who has dealt with a foot injury and was downgraded from limited to a non-participant on Thursday, is listed as questionable, but looks to be trending towards playing. He was at practice on Friday, but if he were not able to play on Sunday, Turner said it would be a group effort to replace his production.
Dax Milne, however, will miss his second straight game with a foot injury. Washington replaced him with Alex Erickson at punt returner against the Atlanta Falcons, and it seems like that will be the decision once again. Erickson has 158 punt returns for 1,278 yards in his career.
Benjamin St-Juste missed last week with an ankle sprain and will miss Sunday's game as well. Washington's answer was to give Christian Holmes a shot as the starting corner because of his improvement in practice. According to PFF, Holmes was targeted one time and allowed just one yard.
Most of the attention has been around Chase Young, who has yet to play after being activated from the PUP list. The team has been cautious to put Young on the field until he gets more confidence in his knee. Young has improved as of late, so perhaps it is finally time for Young to make his debut.
Tyler Larsen and Logan Thomas, both of whom were on the injury report, will be active on Sunday.
