Wide receiver DeSean Jackson did not attend Wednesday’s session after making his first appearance of this phase of the workouts Monday, and practicing again Tuesday. (During his two days of action, Jackson looked good, his coaches say. Coach Jay Gruden said he looked stronger, and that he was “faster than ever.”)

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Left tackle Trent Williams missed practice with strep throat, and defensive end Stephan Paea missed practice to tend to personal issues, Gruden said.

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Here are some of observations from Wednesday’s session – the only day of the week open to reporters:

● Tight end Jordan Reed watched in shorts and a T-shirt, but Gruden said the day off wasn’t injury-related. Coaches decided to give Reed off for rest, Gruden said. It’s unclear if Reed had suffered from fatigue or if the day off came as a reward instead. But he has looked good in previous weeks. Offensive coordinator Sean McVay said Reed has worked really hard to improve his blocking skills so he’s a more complete tight end.

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● With Reed on the sidelines, Niles Paul took on the No. 1 tight end role, and Vernon Davis, who has missed previous weeks with a groin injury, primarily served as the No. 2. Paul had several nice catches, the best of which came when he got behind inside linebackers Will Compton and Mason Foster on a crossing route over the middle and plucked a Kirk Cousins pass out of the air. Paul turned backup outside linebacker Lynden Trail around badly later in practice as he ran a route where he faked to the inside then cut out. Trail yelped as he saw the ball coming and realized how badly he was beaten. Fortunately for him, Cousins’s pass missed its mark. But Compton held his teammate accountable as he called out, “Yo, Trail, that was trash.”

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● It was good to see Davis on the field finally. But it’s still too early to know exactly what the Redskins have in him. At 32, and with 10 NFL seasons under his belt, he has a lot of mileage on him, and he’s not going to be outrunning many defenders. He didn’t look particularly fast or explosive, but did run crisp routes. It’s important for Davis to prove he can help in other ways.

He looked good during position drills where he and an offensive tackle worked on tandem blocks. Coaches praised Davis for his physicality as he engaged with his initial assignment, and slid to the next, setting the edge. Davis faces steep competition, however, because Logan Paulsen – primarily a blocking tight end – looks solid in his return from toe surgery. Even at 32, Davis has some fundamentals to improve upon, Gruden said. He and his assistants are trying to help Davis sharpen up some of them, and so Gruden and Davis have a friendly thing going on where if he’s caught using sloppy technique on some of his problem areas, he owes Gruden $100. Gruden said Davis has “this dead leg” thing he does as he’s coming off the line. Davis got called out for it today, and Gruden chuckled and said he thinks Davis’s tab is up to $300 for now.

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● Speaking of correcting bad habits … Coaches are working to help Matt Jones cure the fumblitis that plagued him as a rookie. One of them involves having Jones use a special football in drills. This ball has five pressure points on it, offensive coordinator Sean McVay explained, and if the running back has all five accounted for while carrying it, the football beeps. McVay says if running backs coach Randy Jordan doesn’t hear the beeps, “he’s yelling and everything.”

● Jones also is working to run with more patience and to do a better job of running with his eyes. Jones displayed improvement in that department during one of Wednesday’s plays. It’s always hard to evaluate the run game in these shorts-and-T-shirts practices, but this display was pretty clear. Jones took the hand off and ran to the right on a stretch play, but unlike last season, he didn’t try to outrun everyone – including his lead blockers – to the edge. Jones ran, but waited, looked and saw the cutback lane open up, took it and ran to daylight. Gruden and Jordan erupted in praise as Jones found the proper hole. “That’s why you read it out honestly, Matt Jones!” Gruden yelled, greeting Jones with a high five as the back returned to the huddle. “Hell of a run!”

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● Compton stood out on the other side of the ball while defending a similar run play a short time later. Backup running back Robert Kelley swept to the right, and Compton read the play perfectly, sliced through the cutback lane that opened up, and swatted Kelley before he could adjust accordingly.

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● The left guard competition truly is that, and today was an opportunity for Arie Koudandjio to work with the first team. Spencer Long instead worked almost exclusively as the backup center, and Shawn Lauvao has yet to return to action. But training camp will mark the beginning of a full-on battle for the job. For now, it sounds as if Long and Lauvao have an edge over Kouandjio, but the Alabama product aims to snatch the job from both vets. As with the running backs, it’s hard to evaluate offensive linemen who aren’t in pads and really hitting. But for now, Koudanjdio is trying to take these reps and sharpen his technique as much as possible so he’s ready to rock once the pads go on, he said.

● It wasn’t hard to tell that Trent Williams makes a big difference – pads or no pads. Cousins found himself on the run more with Ty Nsekhe there instead of Williams. In one portion of practice, Nsekhe was guilty of holding in the end zone, which resulted in a safety. The offense moved the ball a little, but two plays later, with all of his receivers in lockdown coverage, a hurried Cousins chucked the ball out of bounds, and safety DeAngelo Hall yelled, “Yeah, Kirk! … Throw it away!”

● Later during the same segment, Bashaud Breeland narrowly missed an interception. The ball zipped through his hands and into those of Ryan Grant. But Breeland recovered later to breakup a pass two plays later.

● Cousins looked sharp in 7-on-7 drills, threading the needle to Jamison Crowder between Will Blackmon and Duke Ihenacho in the back of the end zone, and connecting with Grant on a fade to the back corner of the end zone. Grant made the catch over cornerback Dashaun Phillips and hung on as he got two feet down and fell out of bounds. Cousins jogged downfield and high-fived his receiver.

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● We continue to see Cousins changing plays at the line more often, which is something coaches wanted to see more of last year. They want him to run plays, but they also want him to have the confidence to audible to something else and trust what he sees. Most of these on-the-fly adjustments have resulted in positive gains, and McVay says that Cousins is becoming “an extension of the coaching staff on the field.”

● Grant had a couple other nice catches as he makes the most of the absence of DeSean Jackson and Josh Doctson, who continues to rehab his strained Achilles’ tendon and foot sprain. Grant aims to stand out in a unit led by Pierre Garcon, Jackson and Crowder, for now. Eventually, Doctson will return and is expected to receive a lot of playing time. The good thing about Grant is, he’s not flashy, but he runs crisp routes and finds openings in the defense. Coaches value him for his versatility as he can play both outside positions, line up in the slot and also play special teams. Jay Gruden said, “he’s very valuable to this team whether he catches 20 balls or 100.”