Redskins Insider: Mike Sellers fighting for spot at tight end

[BGO]

Redskins coach Mike Shanahan this week has placed an emphasis on his team getting younger, cutting ties with several long-time veterans at key positions. And for 12-year veteran fullback Mike Sellers, his best bet to remain on the team may be learning a new position.

In the last two practices, as well as Friday afternoon’s walk-through, Sellers worked exclusively at tight end. Meanwhile, second-year Villanova product Darrel Young took the bulk of the first-team snaps at fullback. Running back Keiland Williams spelled him at fullback.

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[Neophyte]

I can see them keeping Mike on the roster as a fullback, running him into the huddle in what looks like it could be a running package and putting him on the line of scrimmage as a TE. He certainly has the body for it. Versatility is never a bad thing.

Of course, I can also see him getting cut too...

 

[Go Deep]

Agree with this move 100%.

This should have happened a long time ago. He's not quick enough for FB and he gets in the way of the RB and ends up not even getting a block at all too many times.

One of the few times i've ever agreed with Portis was last year when he alluded to this by saying Yoder was better at the FB position.

 

[Bulldog]

Sellers is done at 36.

The Redskins have Young at FB and the team is not going to cut Davis or Paulsen to make room for him at TE.

To me it's the end of the line here for a guy that squeezed 13 NFL seasons out of being an undrafted rookie free agent.

 

[Burgundy Burner]

A lot of tweets today are suggesting that the coaches really like Darrel Young and he is off to a great start in camp. We'll see what happens.

 

[Skinsfan76]

Cooley, Davis, Paulsen no room for Sellers at TE.
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[Boone]

Time to move on. I've said it 100 times - although Sellers is capable of having impact games and making big plays, he's shown himself to be just as capable of making mistakes (and at times, just plain boneheaded ones) at crucial moments. So I'll confess, I'm not his biggest fan. I know he's a fan-favorite for some, because he can be physical, and a fierce blocker. I like and get that. But he's long in the tooth, and if the 'Under the Hill Gang' is going to move forward, shedding older guys past their prime is part of that. We need to shed our sentimentality and move on with them.

 

[Sarge]

I loved Sellers a few years back when he was just crushing people. But then he signed that new contract and he hasn't been teh same since

 

[Bulldog]

There's two factors here. One is Sellers' age (36) and a natural slow down in his game. The other is some very questionable calls the past 2 years on special teams where penalties on #45 brought back long returns or resulted in poor field position.

In one of those cases he was given an unsportsmanlike flag for throwing a punch at another player on a kickoff return.

You just can't do that stuff when you are a 12 year veteran. You are there for LEADERSHIP as much as anything else, and you are supposed to be showing the younger players NOT to make those kind of negative plays.

 

[burgold]

My biggest memory of Mike Sellers is when he choked me (literally). It even made the Post. Good guy.

The weird thing about him is that as big as he as and as mobile as he is we have been a horrible 3rd and short or fourth and short team for a long long time. He just never manages to give us that extra push. His best plays are swing passes when he hurdles tacklers, but you would think at 270 he would be knocking linebackers backwards and even putting a good dent on many D linemen. Strange, that he's not more effective at opening holes. Don't know if that's because our running backs never practiced and so they never got the timing exactly down on running plays or a deficiency in Sellers himself.

 

[Boone]

Sellers 'choked' you? Do tell....

 

[burgold]

It's not a tremendous story, but...

In Gibbs 2nd year, I managed to convince my producer to let me do a story on the 'skins fanbase and the fanaticism and love they display despite our struggles. So, I head out to training camp and before I go down I go into the main building to get my press credentials. While I'm waiting, Sellers emerges and comes up from behind me. The guy is pretty stealthy for a big man, I didn't hear him or sense his shadow. Suddenly, there are these two hamsized hands around my neck. I don't think he even knew I was media. He squeezes (lightly) for a second or three and then releases and laughs. I turn around and laugh and tell him he owes me an interview... he laughs again and I get a quick quote.

The day on the field was wonderful and brutal all at the same time. It was 106 degrees, but it was also Joe Gibbs and the 'skins. I remember being caught in this amazing area of gray. There was part of me that was a really excited fan and part of me that says... you're here to be a professional keep your demeanor, keep your cool. I had only been reporting for about 3 months at that point.

The thing I remember most about that practice though was that despite the heat of the day Joe Gibbs lingered. After all the players retreated inside, all the coaches retreated and trainers, Gibbs stayed and made sure he shook every hand and signed every thing someone put forward. He even went backwards several times to make sure he didn't miss anyone. The part of me that remembers being a twelve year old and loving this guy found one more reason to love him.

At the end, his handlers said that he was not going to be available for interviews because he had interviewed yesterday and he was tired, but he saw me lingering for a while and I was the only reporter who got him on tape that day. It was a short one on one and to my credit I didn't gush. The only thing I would have done differently today is I would have asked a fan to grab my camera and take a few shots of me interviewing him.

Still, it is an incredible feeling when your heroes live up to your image... even if you have to get choked before realizing it.

 

[Boone]

Great story. I can certainly relate.

 

[Bulldog]

The more I think about it the more I see Shanahan keeping Sellers around during camp and the preseason as an insurance policy against an injury to Cooley, Davis or Paulsen.

If all three stay healthy and are ready to start the season I see Sellers going in the last round of cuts.