July 27- Camp Opens, Portis wants 2006 behind him

S Laron Landry was not in camp and remains unsigned.. Joe Gibbs believes that a deal likely will get accomplished by the weekend as other first round picks around the league are signing the deals.. Gibbs believes the waiting for the slotting of the salaries is the main hold up in a deal for Landry..
He was the only player absent from the lone practice of the first day of camp..

G Randy Thomas left practice early, he did not leave the field and claimed that a bathroom break was one of the main reasons he stepped away but he was spotted talking to trainers.. Thomas is coming off a knee scope and is not going to be pushed hard through camp.,. Randy claims he was just being safe hoping to avoid any setbacks and no one seems ultimately concerned with his status at this point, he'll be one to watch this weekend.. When Thomas was out, Will Whittacker replaced him at RG during practice..

WR Keenan McCardell accepted a one year deal with the Texans so the Skins decided to sign 9 year vet Corey Bradford who was most recently with Detroit.. McCardell was hoping for a longer deal from Washington, when they relented he accepted the same money from Houston because he lives there.. Bradford will battle Mike Espy mainly for the #5 WR spot..

Fans were tailgating in the median on Loudon County Parkway leading up to the gates at Redskins Park upwards of five hours before the start of the first practice.. This was not as heavily an attended first day as in the past, but still a large contingent was present.. The 5PM start and threats of rain may have kept some away..

LB Marcus Washington is not claiming to be 100% after coming off major hip surgery but was on the field and says he will take each day as it comes, he like Thomas is hoping not to suffer any setbacks before the start of the season.. Washington says his motto this summer is to be like "Clubber Lang," The character played by Mr. T in Rocky 3 who did little to no media work before crushing Rocky..

CB Fred Smoot was greeted with the Smoooootttt chears as he took the field as a Skin again, when asked if he had a hard time resigning with the team after they let him go via free agency a couple of seasons ago, he said no because the Skins are always "50 cents under the salary cap and I needed to be a little greedy back then." He continues to call this home..
When the first 11-11 drills were run, it was Smoot and Carlos Rogers on the corners, Shawn Springs joined in as well.. Smoot and Rogers both say there is no deliniation of who the #1, 2 and 3 CB's on this team are..

Springs says he has no ill feelings toward the team despite the fact that they were shopping him around this off-season.. he said he would be more concerned if no one wanted him.. Calling himself "an independent contractor," he says remaining in Washington after contract talks and balks plus the possibility of being dealt won't affect his play.. He says he is as close to 100% as could be expected and hops the sports hernia issues are behind him.. Springs also had to overcome a broken shoulder suffered late last season.. At first glimpse, Springs appears back to being healthy, but like Thomas and Washington could be expected to see extended rest to be sure of his health come September..

Joe Gibbs says there have been no internal discussions about free agent DE Simeon Rice and one Redskins source said his back and shoulder issues will likely keep them away from Rice.. Still, he is an option at the thin end spot..

RB Clinton Portis was very open and honest about last year saying that essentially being a year away from football has re-energized his love for the game.. He said after two years of being forced to remain at Redskins Park by the coaches made him lose some of his lust for playing and that he started to take things for granted last summer.. "I got to miss football. I'm excited." The injury in the first pre-season game forced him to re-asses his priorities.. He and Al saunders didn't exactly see eye to eye on the scheme, he says the two have spoken and now "I have to buy into this system. I have to adjust to the scheme, not the scheme adjusting to me."
Portis says he makes no assumptions as to who the #1 back on the team is but Gibbs called Portis his undisputed starter and Ladell Betts agreed.. But Portis admitted he won't mind it if Betts is having a big game and he watches from the sideline.. Betts agrees that whoever is hot that particular week should see the carries..
As for the mistakes he made commenting about Michael Vick in the off-seaosn, he made a casual mention of not being happy about being criticized about "something I wasn't a part of." He also said he isn't interested in talking about the past whether it's about his play or his comments, he wants to move forward with whatever the future is which he believes will be the Clinton Portis of old..
At first glance, Portis is moving very well, no indication that the knee tendontis that he dealt with in the summer is still hindering him.. he looked as fresh as he has since last camp before the injury..
Portis's clothing deserves a mention, he was wearing a shirt that read "Pimp Stic. Stikcing it in easy" on it.. Eeewww..
Brandon Lloyd practiced without shorts only boxer briefs, strange, Chris Cooley also went with the unusual tight fitting brief look as well..

Quick notes on LLoyd: It's hard to say how much has changed for Brandon Lloyd, but he obviously has put on some muscle mass and he appears (and this could be me just seeing it for the first time in a while) faster.. He speed off the line was noticeable to me, but I will watch closer to see if what I saw on day one was a figment of my imagination..

T Jon Jansen in his 9th camp all with the Skins says he still gets excited and still loves playing football here because of the offensive line tradition in DC and the history of the franchise.. He lost a few pounds and is listed under 300, it is noticeable.. Jansen says he has been dealing with some lingering injuries the past few years and decided it was time to drop some pounds and rededicate himself to a better body shape..

Jason Campbell didn't particularly stand out in his first camp practice as the undisputed starting QB.. he did say afterward he wasn't nervous at all although admitting this certainly was different.. He thanked Mark Brunnel for making the transition as seemless as it could.. It doesn't appear as if the QB heirarchy will change, I have no expectations that Jordan Palmer or Casey Bramlett will beat out Todd Collins for the #3 spot and there doesn't seem to be a lot of momentum to the growing rumors that Brunnel could be dealt to ATL who needs a Mike Vick replacemnt..

And we are off...