Skins Cut D.C. Native Williams

Hamstring sidelines Kelly for the season

An offensive lineman who started two games for the Washington Redskins last season didn't make the cut this year.

Edwin Williams -- a D.C. native and lifelong Redskins fan who was an undrafted rookie out of the University of Maryland when he made the team last year -- was competing for the backup left guard spot, Redskins.com reported. He started two games at right guard in 2009.

Safety Lendy Holmes, long snapper James Dearth and linebacker Hall Davis also were cut Tuesday as the team was required to trim down to 75 players, Redskins.com reported. Holmes played mostly special teams in eight games with the Skins last year. Dearth lost the long snapper battle to Nick Sundberg. And Davis was with the Redskins for only one practice.

Not cut but not on the 75-man roster either was wide receiver Malcolm Kelly, who has battled a hamstring injury all preseason.

Kelly first pulled his left hamstring working out with McNabb in Arizona the week before training camp began. Kelly took part in the first practice of camp, but he felt the hamstring tighten up the next day and pulled it again a few days later. He tried to return Monday with the hopes of playing in at least one preseason game, but he pulled the muscle yet again and is now done for the season.

"I like the kid," head coach Mike Shanahan said. "But you've got to be on the field."

At 6-foot-4, Kelly was supposed to be the tall receiver to counter 5-foot-10 Santana Moss and 5-foot-11 Joey Galloway. It now seems probable that the Redskins will open the season with only one receiver taller than 6 feet -- 6-foot-2 Devin Thomas.

Mike Shanahan said if Kelly had been more forthright about the injury at the start of camp, the team would have put the wideout on the physically unable to perform list, which would have allowed Kelly to return during the season.

"I'm disappointed we didn't put him on the PUP list," Shanahan said. "But when a guy comes in and practices the first day and he says he's fine to go, you can't put him on the PUP list. That's another conversation I had with him."

Running back Clinton Portis practiced for the first time since spraining his right ankle last week against the New York Jets. Quarterback Donovan McNabb was still sidelined but was no longer wearing a compression stocking over his sprained left ankle, and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan was optimistic that the quarterback would practice next week.

The team must trim to 53 players by 6 p.m. Saturday.


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