Su’a Cravens will be returning to the NFL this upcoming training camp. Whether or not he does so as a member of the Washington Redskins remains to be seen.
Cravens’ relationship with the Redskins became strained after the safety contemplated retirement just days before the start of the 2017 season, his second year in the league. Ultimately, the Redskins made the decision to place him on the reserve/left squad list in part to give him time to fully think over his future after multiple discussions between team officials and Cravens.
Since, Cravens has geared to return to the field. His agent announced in a statement in December that Cravens had been cleared by doctors to return after undergoing treatment for post-concussion syndrome. In February was recently reinstated by the league.
Now that he is okay to return, Washington may not be welcoming him with open arms. Shortly after the reinstatement a report surfaced that the Redskins were looking to trade Cravens. However, shortly afterwards Redskins head coach Jay Gruden refuted the report stating, “we’re not trading him.”
Gruden still showed his hand saying the team would “see” where Cravens is mentally and physically. If his words did anything to quiet the chatter of the Redskins moving Cravens, Senior vice president of personnel Doug Williams spoke the opposite when asked of Cravens status in Orlando, Fla. during the owners’ meetings.
“The thing about this business, everybody is tradeable if the price is right. I think that’s how we’ve got to look at it. We’re not giving anybody away who has talent,” Williams told reporters, per Liz Clarke of the Washington Post. “Su’a is a good football player. He’s on the football team right now.”
Williams added “the price has got to be right” no matter who the player. Simply put the Redskins are content to wait for a valued offer from another team. Cravens was a second-round pick of Washington in the 2016 NFL Draft. As a rookie he played through injuries to have a solid season playing a hybrid linebacker position with 34 tackles, one sack, one interception, and five passes defensed in 10 games.
He was set to move to his more natural safety position in 2017 before his abrupt hiatus. There is plenty of talent in him, its why he was a second-round pick. What’s questionable is his desire, and that’s what interested teams are trying to gauge to draw any value. It’s also what the Redskins are trying to determine before they include him into any of plans of theirs in 2018.
