Redskins CB says cleats may have caused injury

When Redskins cornerback Bashaud Breeland slipped twice on Friday at training camp, the second time injuring him, he thought if there was something different he was doing that could have caused it.

There was. Breeland said he was trying on a new pair of cleats that are a half-inch shorter than those he has usually worn, and that difference may be what disrupted his rhythm and caused him to fall.

"I was trying something different," he said this week. "It was the type of cleats I wore that day."

Cleats that will cost him four to six weeks valuable camp and preseason work after he sprained his MCL. It could be much worse, something he thought himself at first.

"My heart dropped when it first happened," he said. "When I got the results back, everything was good. Now I can work to get back."

Of course, the NFL will provide another setback of their own when he goes get back. They suspended him the Redskins' season opener after they concluded he violated the league's substance abuse policy when he was charged with marijuana possession in Virginia one year ago.

Breeland has accepted the consequences of those actions and is looking forward to getting his knee better, and joining a defense he and the program at large feel is much improved.

"It's a minor setback for a greater outcome," he said. "It will give me more time to get my body ready."

Entering his second professional season, Breeland tallied 67 tackles last season, forced two fumbles, and intercepted two passes.