Report: Redskins placing Su’a Cravens on exempt list

Washington Redskins safety Su’a Cravens could potentially miss at least a month while deciding on his future.

The situation involving Washington Redskins safety Su’a Cravens has taken another turn. According to Mike Jones of the Washington Post, the team will place Cravens on the exempt list, and that he will be out for at least a month.

On Saturday, Cravens told the team he was planning on retiring, but rethought his stance after meeting with team officials. The safety was recovering from offseason surgery on a torn meniscus, but was thought to be ready for the start of the regular season.

With Washington placing DeAngelo Hall on the physically unable to perform list, Cravens was in line to start ahead of third-year pro Deshazor Everett at the strong safety spot.

Cravens, a 2016 second-round pick out of USC, totaled 34 tackles, one interception, one sack and five passes defensed in his rookie season, as the Redskins finished third in the NFC East with an 8-7-1 record.

Going forward, there are several ways Washington can handle this situation. The team could’ve place Cravens on the non football injury (NFI) list at some point during the season, but it cannot use that avenue now because he was on the active roster throughout training camp and the preseason.

Another possibility is placing Cravens on injured reserve after 4 p.m. Sunday because of the knee problem. However, that brings up two problems. The designation would keep him out of game action for at least eight weeks, and the Redskins would have to pay Cravens his full 2017 salary, plus another 25 percent of his signing bonus (which would be a steep price for someone who still could retire before playing in another game).

Should Cravens retire now, he would be walking away from $651,000 this season, with his salary jumping to $852,000 in 2018 and $1.05 million in 2019. If he retires before his rookie contract expires, he would also have to pay back 75 percent of his $1.422 million signing bonus (roughly $1.06 million).

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Hopefully this situation works itself out before Washington opens its season with a Sept. 10 home game against the Philadelphia Eagles.