RB P.J. Hill is with the Saints again

In his second year of being an NFL player, running back P.J. Hill put on the New Orleans Saints jersey for the third time after the team claimed him off waivers again on Wednesday from the Washington Redskins. Hopefully, this time he will be able to come through a full season.

Becoming an undrafted rookie free agent after 2009 NFL draft, Hill signed a three-year contract with the Saints and was with them during the whole preseason and rushed for 128 yards on 26 carries with 3 touchdowns and two additional catches for nine yards. However, the Saints were already full of elite running backs like Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas, so unsurprisingly, Hill was cut when it was time for teams to restrain their roster number within 53 players. Interestingly, he was called back by the Saints the next day and became part of the practice squad.

Hill was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles last October but it was till December when he finally was on their practice squad. However, he did not stay with the Eagles for long as a third team, the Redskins, claimed him off the waivers later.

It seems that Hill has always been treated as a reserve. The former college football star had a brilliant college football career with the Wisconsin Badgers. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards and scored ten or more touchdowns each season as a college runningback. But his main role with NFL team seems only to add pressure on other running backs. According to Saints head coach Sean Payton, the team has high expectation on Lynell Hamilton, who is likely to be the third back behind Bush and Thomas, and existence of Hill will push him to work harder to get the third spot and more playing time.

Redskins know what DT Haynesworth wants to do in offseason

According to recent reports, the Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth plans not to participate in the team’s offseason workouts. The suspect was mainly caused by Haynesworth’s absence since his appearance at the start of Redskins’ offseason program last Monday.

Per the reports, Haynesworth showed up for orientation but missed the remainder of the week, and it seems no one knows the reason for his absence or whether he was allowed to miss team’s activities. Well, actually, the team knows. According to people with knowledge of the situation, the Redskins were aware of the player’s plans and they just let it go because it’s no secret about how the two-time All-Pro tackle feels about the team’s switch from 4-3 defense to 3-4 scheme.

It has been said that the Redskins and defensive coordinator Jim Haslett would like to have Haynesworth play multiple roles at both nose tackle and defensive end, and Haynesworth has made it clear that he would protest his role in the new scheme and skipping the workouts is just one of the methods. When he would wear back the Redskins jersey will thus depend on how the discussion between the two sides would go on.

Redskins RB Portis to miss fourth game with concussion

It seemed that the NFL’s new, stricter instruction on return-to-play of players with concussion symptoms could cause quite a few big-name players to miss more games. The Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis is one of those players as he will miss his fourth consecutive game this Sunday because of some lingering symptoms from a concussion.

The Redskins coach Jim Zorn said Friday that Portis "still has a little dizziness" when performing certain tasks. And it has been about one month since Portis was hurt during a Nov. 8 game against the Atlanta Falcons. If not because of the new rules, I guess both Zorn would be glad to have Portis play anyhow this Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, and Portis would be as glad to wear back Redskins jersey after missing so much time.

While Zorn is expecting that defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth will return to play with the team after missing two games with a sprained left ankle, he doubted that cornerback DeAngelo Hall may miss the his second consecutive game this Sunday because of sprain on right knee.

Redskins did not ban fans from bringing signs any more

Fans, whether wearing Redskins jersey or Broncos jersey, can take whatever signs into stadium to watch Sunday’s game between the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos as the Redskins announced that they revised their stadium sign policy that prevented fans from bringing any signs to their last game.

Owner Dan Snyder said in the statement that he understands that “some fans want to express their feelings with signs and they should do so, as long as they stay within the boundaries of good taste and don’t block the view of other fans.” The statement was made about 2 1/2 hours before Sunday’s game against the visiting Broncos.

Because of increasing signs critical of Snyder and front office chief Vinny Cerrato, the team released a ban last month that prevented spectators from carrying any signs or banners into its stadium, but saying that they did so for fans’ security and comfort.

Redskins TE Cooley will hopefully be back within season

The Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley said in his Twitter feed that he is hopefully able to be back in four weeks, and that means he could still play some games his Redskins jersey before the season ends.

A doctor had tests on the two-time Pro Bowl player’s broken right ankle and planned to have surgery on Wednesday. Four weeks is a long time missing but it is just much better than what Coach Jim Zorn expected. Zorn said earlier Tuesday that Cooley would be sidelined a minimum of six to eight weeks and would probably be placed on season-ending injured reserve.

Cooley stumbled to the turf without contact on the first play of the second quarter of Monday night’s 24-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. This guy has never missed a game since he was drafted by the Redskins in the third round in 2004. To lose him, the team loses their most reliable pass-catching threat.