Preseason game exposes weakness keeping Commanders rookie on the bubble

The Washington Commanders gave their starting cornerbacks, Marshon Lattimore and Mike Sainristil, one series to work up a little preseason sweat against the Cincinnati Bengals' standout wide receivers. Neither was involved in much action.

The third member of the starting cornerback group, rookie Trey Amos, was a late scratch. Noah Igbinoghene filled in on the left side. Since Dan Qu inn knows who his top three corners are, most of the game was devoted to the backups.

Rookie undrafted free agent Car’lin Vigers , who put himself in a good position for a roster spot with a strong camp, took most of the first half snaps at one perimeter corner. Veteran Bobby Price manned the other outside position.

Car'lin Vigers must polish his tackling technique to seal Commanders roster spot

Vigers is probably closer to a roster spot today than he was before the contest. However, that is not entirely based on his play.

The former Louisiana-Monroe standout had a fairly quiet game in large part because Price was beaten early and often. It is difficult to accurately assess Vigers because he was rarely targeted.

His performance reaffirmed both the strengths and weaknesses that were apparent in the first preseason contest against the New England Patriots. Vigers looks very good in coverage. His speed and length are assets when he is asked to press. More impressively, he looked very comfortable when dropping into zones.

Rookies do not always adapt to new zone schemes immediately. It seems that Vigers knows where to be at all times.

He did surrender two completions, the final one being the extraordinary Mitchell Tinsley touchdown grab just before halftime. Vigers played the receiver as well as possible. He was right where he needed to be in coverage. Sometimes, a perfect throw and catch beats the best coverage.

But the problem that cropped up against the Patriots was on display again. Vigers, at this point, is not a good tackler. He cleanly missed Andrei Iosivas on a short play. It was overturned by a penalty, but the missed tackle w as nonetheless disappointing.

When the Commanders had running back Tahj Brooks bottled up running left, the defense allowed him to reverse field for a big gain. Vigers had backside contain and ran himself right out of the play, giving up the edge. Though he didn’t look quite as tentative as he had versus the Patriots, the fact remains that the first-year pro was not getting anyone on the ground.

To be fair, he didn’t get all that many chances. The Bengals torched Price for much of the night. Since Vigers was almost always in a good position on coverage plays, he was often uninvolved.

With Price and recently acquired Essang Bassey having subpar nights, it wouldn’t appear that Vigers lost ground in his fight for a backup corner role. His coverage skills are obvious, but his tackling needs significant refinement.

The final spot may come down to a battle between Vigers and Antonio Hamilton Sr. The veteran may have been fortunate that a couple of back-shoulder throws were not executed by Jake Browning in the second half. His stats would have looked much worse.

Hamilton showed the best blend of aggressive coverage and tackling of all the backup corners. Eventually, the final spot may be a choice between a very talented rookie who sticks like glue but has yet to show he can tackle, and a versatile veteran who brings a wealth of experience to a largely green group.

If Vigers shows he can attack the backfield on running plays and tackle receivers effectively, he probably sews up his spot against the Baltimore Ravens. If he continues to struggle, Quinn could decide he is too big a risk to put him on the field.

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