Hagans among five players cut
Redskins notes
Date published: 8/31/2009
BY RICH CAMPBELL
ASHBURN --The Washington Redskins' roster began to take shape yesterday, as they cut five players ahead of Tuesday's NFL deadline to reduce rosters from 80 players to 75.
Veteran linebacker Albert Fincher and wide receiver Marques Hagans, the former University of Virginia quarterback, were among the cuts.
Tackle Devin Clark, cornerback Michael Grant and defensive lineman Michael Marquardt also were released.
"These guys have to be better than just doing it right half the time," coach Jim Zorn said. "They've got to do it right all the time or almost all the time. We're shooting for that from these players."
Fincher was entering his fifth NFL season and his second with the Redskins. He played in 15 games with Washington last season, primarily on special teams, and made two tackles.
He actually practiced with the first-string defense at outside linebacker on the first day of training camp because rookie Brian Orakpo had yet to sign a contract.
Zorn has some difficult decisions to make at linebacker before Saturday's deadline to finalize the roster at 53 players. Seven-year veteran Robert Thomas is in the mix, as are late-round draft choices Cody Glenn and Robert Henson and undrafted rookie Darrel Young.
"I think it was more that the younger guys were still coming on," Zorn said. "We felt that Al, in all fairness, he was here a year ago. The other guys are doing as well as he, and so we decided that maybe they'll have a higher ceiling."
Hagans finished last season on the Redskins' practice squad and has six games of NFL experience. He flashed his potential throughout training camp, but he seemed to disappear after dropping a deep pass from Jason Campbell in the first quarter of the first preseason game.
Date published: 8/31/2009
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