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New England Patriot's Bryan Stork a no-show, Washington Redskins wait for new center

By The Sports Xchange

ASHBURN, Va. -- The Washington Redskins still aren't sure when or if center Bryan Stork, acquired in a trade with the New England Patriots on Wednesday, will report for his physical, the mandatory next step to make the transaction official.

After a walkthrough practice held for military personnel at Joint Base Andrews in suburban Maryland, Redskins head coach Jay Gruden said there was no timeline for Stork to report and that he was "still talking to his agent."

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Stork had started 21 games and played in 26 over the previous two seasons with the Patriots, but has sustained four documented concussions dating to his college career at Florida State and was not expected to win back his starting job. New England planned to release him Wednesday before the trade with Washington occurred.

Injuries played a part in Stork's departure from New England.

He started training camp idle because of a concussion, his fourth documented head injury in four years, dating to his college career at FSU.

Bryan Stork (52) with the Florida State Seminoles in September of 2011. Photo by Mark Wallheiser/UPI
Temperament might have played a role, too.
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Stork was tossed out of a joint practice with the Chicago Bears last week, got the boot from coach Bill Belichick during a minicamp practice in June and drew a costly penalty for a head butt in the AFC Championship game against the Broncos.

Feistiness is not a prerequisite in Washington but general manager Scot McLoughan has said he prefers a certain edge to his offensive linemen.

While waiting for Stork, the Redskins are weighing what to do with their starters this week.

Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins was all set to play last week. He went through warm ups. He had his shoulder pads on just 45 minutes before the second preseason game against the New York Jets. Yet when backup Colt McCoy was heading down the tunnel to the field for final warm up, he learned that he would be playing instead. He wasn't the only one.

Washington scratched a number of key players including tight end Jordan Reed, outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan and both wide receivers Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson. Linebacker Will Compton had to remove his eye black after getting late word. That shouldn't be an issue this week against the Bills when all healthy starters are expected to play close to a half.

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"We'll see how it goes. A lot of it is going to depend on how we are doing in the first half," Gruden said. "But I'd like to at least to get a good half. Sometimes offense is out there a long time, defense isn't, or vice versa. We may need to come out for the third quarter. We'll see how the play count is and we'll go from there."

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