The Washington Football Team's decision to keep Troy Apke on its roster over other more effective defensive backs, like Jeremy Reaves and Jimmy Moreland, was one of the more befuddling roster moves to be reported on Tuesday's cutdown day.
Apke, 26, is lauded as a wizard on special teams but is so limited at safety, Washington's coaching staff decided to move him to corner, a transition rarely seen at the NFL level.
The 2018 fourth-round pick now enters his fourth straight season on Washington's roster. Both Reaves and Moreland are now looking for work.
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Consider 106.7 The Fan's Brian Mitchell and JP Finlay among those confused by this roster decision. Mitchell in particular sounded off on the move.
"I understand the message, but the message don't seem to be fitting in this situation," Mitchell began his response. "You took a guy from safety and moved him to corner. I would ask anybody the question riding around right now: When has that ever happened in the NFL, where a guy went from safety to corner and became great? It might have happened, maybe once? But he's not good at corner or safety. But then you say, 'Well, he will play special teams.' Normally the special teams guy is a guy who can be a legitimate backup somewhere who can play hella good special teams."
"I watched him the other night, and I know you said he had a tackle on this one coverage thing," he continued. "The other time he never touched the guy. And another one, he never touched him again. So you get three chances, you made one. That's not consistent enough for me. And I've seen the play, and I understand it, I understand what's going on, where we keep throwing his speed out there. There's a lot of people that are fast that just can't make plays."
"When you're fast sometimes and you don't have body control and have the hips to be able to be a defensive back or a tackler, what you do is you run yourself out of position," he said. "Or you're so confident in your speed that you feel you can coast and then pick up, and if you coast and a guy gets his hands on you, you can't use your speed very much."
BMitch, who wore No. 30 his entire NFL career, including his 10 prolific seasons in Washington, hopes to see Apke perform well — at some point — in that same jersey number, and takes exception to the idea that it always seems like "bums" are given that number in Washington.
"So, would I love to see him play well? Yes. He's wearing No. 30," Mitchell said. "And yes, it's personal to me when I see them putting people in No. 30 and they always look like bums to me. That's a damn problem. And this kid has not lived up to all this hype he came in here with, he hasn't lived up to it. But this is a guy that they like, so they keep him around here, find all kinds of ways to keep him around."
"He has to start performing more. Even at the thing that they say he's great at, special teams, he needs to perform a lot better at that, if you want to keep him around," he added. "So do I agree with this move? No. But it's not my choice. But that's what I'm gonna tell you. I'm not gonna ever be a person who gets on this air and say what I think they want me to say. I'm gonna say what the hell I believe, and I believe he's been garbage up to this point."
"Garbage is strong," Finlay replied.
"Garbage is my opinion," said Mitchell.
"He gives you nothing defensively," Finlay said.
"So how do you justify keeping him on the squad," Mitchell asked. "If he can't help you out other than special teams, which he's not exceptional at either."
"Brian, here's where I'm planting my flag. I would not have kept him on my 53," Finlay returned. "I've heard it explained to me that they love him on special teams and they think he's improved at corner. I didn't see much improvement at corner last Saturday night [against the Ravens]."
"I came over there with you a couple days watching the practices," Mitchell said. "And normally when we see a big play, we always say who was on him and we look and guess who we see. The other night it was twice. That has been consistent. So it's amazing how we can see one thing in one competition, but we won't see it in another competition. It's weird."
"I mean, if it's me — and it's not — I would keep Jeremy Reaves," Finlay said. "I don't think Troy Apke is so much better at special teams... I don't think the gap between Apke and Reaves on special teams is so significant to waive a guy that can help you at safety, versus a guy that we're not even sure can play corner. How often do you see a guy go from safety to corner? Almost never."
"I've never seen it," Mitchell said. "Normally they go from corner to safety because you lose a little something."
"I would have kept Jeremy Reaves. Listen, the staff doesn't agree with me — that's fine. But I would have kept Reaves," Finlay said. "I would have released Apke. They might not even keep six corners. B, if they only keep five corners, it means all those guys have to be active on game day. And for everybody that wants to say, 'Oh, well the plan is just for Apke to play special teams,' five corners, if you're only keeping five corners...?"
"If one or two go down, it's a problem," chimed Mitchell.
"When's the last time William Jackson III practiced? When's the last time he played," Finlay asked.
"About three, four weeks ago," replied Mitchell.
"You're already down one! Don't tell me he's not gonna have to play!" Finlay exclaimed. "He's gonna be active on game days because they want him for specials. So if two dudes get nicked up, if two dudes get nicked up he's playing in your nickel! He's playing in your nickel! There's an easy scenario, if they only keep five and William Jackson III is already banged up, there's an easy scenario he's already on your dime coverage! Or, they know they can count on [Bobby] McCain. They know that they have other options."
"But man, oh man. I just feel like it's playing with fire," Finlay continued. "The delta between Apke and Reaves must be so significant on special teams, the delta between Apke and Moreland must be so significant on special teams, that you are not concerned about what that delta is in coverage at cornerback. Because Brian, I'm concerned."
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