Department of Bad News: Chris Horton

Done

Second year safety Chris Horton suffered ligament damage in his toe late in game eight against the Falcons, on Wednesday 11 November Chris had surgery and went onto season ending injured reserve, his roster spot was assumed by rookie free agent safety Lendy Holmes.

After a stellar and surprising 2008 rookie season that saw Chris pull in three interceptions and be named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for week two and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month for September, Chris was the incumbent strong safety coming into the 2009 season, he was benched from the starting spot after a few early season struggles, notably a missed tackle on Rams tailback Stephen Jackson in game two against St. Louis and a late pass interference penalty against the Lions in game three that set up the decisive score, in that latter play head coach Jim Zorn went berzerk defending Chris (ibid.), making it all the much stranger that he would then be benched.

I thought the benching was more window dressing than statement on talent (op. cit.) though it is unassailable that fourth year safety Reed Doughty is back and much improved from back surgery, and there are still those out there that believe Chris has lots of room for improvement (op. cit.).

After his benching he got caught permitting a fan to publish a blog post critical of the team and its decision to give his job to Reed Doughty, the post was quickly taken down and marked only the latest example of a Redskins player flubbing fan outreach in 2009.

Hopefully he will make a full recovery and come back to prowl the line for 2010. Chris Horton is a Curly R favorite.



Chris Horton: Washington Post photo from here.