With the team not hitting the practice field until 1:35 p.m. today, we’ve got time to dig through the mailbag and go over some of your questions.

Thanks, as always, for taking part in the mailbag, and think the questions coming. Email me at mike.jones@washpost.com with the subject line “Mailbag question,” and we’ll do it all over again next week.

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Here we go!

Break down the final 53-man roster for me. Three on special teams, how many on offense and defense? Who is the last player on the roster and who is the final cut?

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– Shannon Mullins

It’s still too early to convincingly call without having seen any of these guys in preseason games. But here’s how things look entering the first preseason game: Like you said, the three special teams guys, then I’m leaning toward 23 on offense (two quarterbacks, three running backs, six wide receivers, four tight ends and eight offensive linemen) and 27 on defense (seven defensive linemen, 10 linebackers, six cornerbacks and four safeties).

Obviously, things could change as guys distinguish themselves, but this is how it’s looking right now. So far, the biggest surprise of any position group involves the depth and versatility at cornerback. You knew Josh Norman and Bashaud Breeland were locks, and a guy like Quinton Dunbar seemed to have a very good chance going into camp. But Greg Toler, Kendall Fuller and Dashaun Phillips have had impressive camps and are playing so well that team officials are strongly considering keeping six cornerbacks. It means they’ll have to go thinner at another position, like defensive line possibly. But the good thing about that situation is Trent Murphy can play linebacker and line.

I’m still looking for a young, undrafted guy to shine and force his way onto the team. But thus far none of those guys, like Geno Matias-Smith, Jeremy Harris, Lloyd Carrington or linebacker Ejiro Ederaine, have managed to outplay the veterans ahead of them. Perhaps some preseason special teams play can change things.

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What is the opinion of Austin Reiter around there? The interior of the offensive line is a weakness and Pro Football Focus had him graded positively last year (take with healthy-sized grain of salt). Is there a time table when he will compete for playing time? How has he looked at practice?

– Matt Brown

I’m not sure how he could’ve possibly graded out positively, because he didn’t play that well in the preseason, didn’t survive roster cuts and wasn’t picked up by anyone until the team brought him back as a practice squad member late in September.

Reiter, a center drafted in the seventh round in 2015, had hoped to use a strong offseason and training camp to solidify his future with the team, but it’s still very much in doubt as he has continued to struggle. In one-on-one drills, he and Josh LeRibeus are the only two guys that rookie Matt Ioannidis can handily beat. The fourth-round pick out of Temple looks strong and quick versus Reiter. But then he meets his match against veterans Kory Lichtensteiger and Spencer Long. Reiter thus far hasn’t had the strength or quickness to stand out as a solid prospect. We’ll see whether things change in games.

My question is focused on the Trent Murphy transition back to outside linebacker. Was this more of a move because Trent Murphy was struggling as a defensive end, or the young outside linebacker replacements we had in-house were not good enough to overtake the position? Don’t see how moving Trent back can work again when that experiment did not work previous years.

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– Rel Briggins

This is more of a depth move than anything. I still expect a younger guy to make the team as a backup outside linebacker (my money is on Houston Bates), but it’s important to have some experience as well. Murphy wasn’t a game-changer at outside linebacker, but he was solid in that he did a good job of setting the edge, and could provide some disruption at times, when he was able to fire off the ball, go forward and use his power to his advantage. It didn’t work out as well for him when he had to try to use speed and go extra wide or pull out some athletic counter moves against talented left tackles. So, coaches have had him switch sides (he’ll no longer split time with Preston Smith on that right side, facing left tackles). Instead, he’ll back up Kerrigan on the left side and go up against right tackles, and will draw fewer pass coverage assignments.

I still expect to see Murphy lining up as an interior lineman here and there. And there will be some nickel packages where he and Kerrigan share that left side of the line. So, at the very least, Murphy provides some experience and depth. That doesn’t solve the need for improvement in the pass-rushing ranks, however.

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Smith, who has had a quiet camp thus far, needs to make some noise in the preseason, and guys like Bates and Lynden Trail or Willie Jefferson need to show they can mix in and provide some pressure on that right side along with Smith.

Meanwhile, defensive linemen like Ricky Jean Francois, Kendall Reyes, Stephen Paea and Ziggy Hood need to prove they can team with Chris Baker and provide some good interior push. You can bet good money that Scot McCloughan and Alex Santos are scouring the ranks of the pass rushers on opposing rosters in case a talented option hits the streets at the end of the preseason.

How has Garcon looked? There has been a lot of chatter about other players, not much of his. Also, Keith Marshall or Robert Kelley? Who looks better?

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– David Allen

Garcon has looked good as always. He’s had an active camp, making plays when the ball comes to him — tough catches, fighting for extra yards — in the same reliable fashion. As covered last week, both Garcon and DeSean Jackson are hoping for big seasons as both are on contracts that expire after this season.

The running back situation will start playing itself out once we get to these actual games. During practices, it’s so hard to tell if a guy is going on a 15-yard run because he saw a great hole and broke a tackle and burst free to daylight, or if he’s running free because a defensive lineman simply tagged him (to avoid subjecting the back to the risk of injury) and let him keep on going. Defensive and offensive linemen also hold up a little when engaging each other in practice. So, the games will really give us the indication. Both Marshall and Kelley have had some bright spots in camp. Marshall has been ahead of Kelley on the depth chart. But, we definitely need to see more of the real thing.

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I’ve heard some “talk” about Kirk being “resentful” of how his contract negotiations unfolded. Are you hearing any of this? I’m a “Kirk guy” and would like for him to be the quarterback for the Washington Redskins for a long time, but let’s remember he was one half away from possibly being out of the league. He rallied last season for a record breaking season, but we can’t ignore his total body of work. Why would he be resentful if he’s making 20 million dollars this season?

– Rick Edwards

Not sure where this “resentful” type of “talk” you’ve heard about came from, but I’ve heard nothing of the sort. Weeks before the Redskins used the franchise tag on Cousins, his agent knew where the team stood in terms of the value they had placed on Cousins. That is, they saw him as a talented, still-developing quarterback and were willing to pay him in the $16 million to $17 million range, but believed he needed to show them more for them to exceed that dollar figure. Cousins and his agent have a lot of respect for Scot McCloughan and Jay Gruden, and nothing changed throughout the negotiation process. They embraced the opportunity for Cousins to go out and prove himself once again, because that’s how things have always worked for him, and they have confidence that he will do just that. There’s no resentment on Cousins’s part. He went from making just more than $600,000 to $20 million this year. If he plays well, he’ll see his average salary jump to about $24 million. If he just plays okay, he’ll probably have the opportunity to sign somewhere for anywhere from $5 million to $15 million. Nothing wrong with that.

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Has Kirk Cousins shown improvement throughout camp to increase his downfield throws? He ranked top five in lowest yards per attempt a year ago.

– Justin Dickens

I think maybe you misread the statistics. Cousins had the eighth-best yards per attempt average in the NFL last season. He averaged 7.67 yards per pass, which was just behind Drew Brees (sixth at 7.77), Cam Newton (seventh at 7.75) and just ahead of Tom Brady (ninth at 7.64).

Cousins does thrive in the midrange passing game. He does a good job of getting the ball out quickly and beating the pass rush. But that’s also what this offense is designed to do. Move down the field, chunk by chunk, and occasionally take shots downfield off of the play-action pass.

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We’ve seen good throws from Cousins as he and DeSean Jackson have hooked up to beat Josh Norman and Bashaud Breeland off and on. But we’ve also seen times — particularly early in camp — where Cousins underthrew passes and got intercepted. He said some of that had to do with getting used to Jackson’s speed all over again after not throwing to him much during the offseason practices, and none at all during July when everyone trains on their own. Cousins and his coaches aren’t concerned about this area, as the two have seemed to improve their timing as camp has progressed.

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But again, he’s doing just what the coaches want in working that intermediate passing attack, moving the offense downfield and into scoring position. And last year, he ranked among the best in the NFL at doing this.

Email a Redskins question to mike.jones@washpost.com, with the subject “Mailbag question,” and it might be answered next Tuesday.