Thanks, as always, for taking part. Keep the questions coming! E-mail me at mike.jones@washpost.com with the subject line “Mailbag question,” and we’ll do it again next week.

Here we go.

Special teams performance is a contributing factor when deciding the final 53 season-opening roster spots, yet we hear little reported about who’s playing well as jammers, gunners, upbacks, etc. Besides kicker Dustin Hopkins, punter Tress Way, long snapper Nick Sundberg, kick returner Rashad Ross and punt returner Jamison Crowder, which Redskins are playing well in special teams roles that you expect will make the final roster cut and those that you think will just miss it?

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– Tim Foisie, Westport, Conn.

Houston Bates is a player who is helping his chances of making the roster because of his special teams play. Generously listed at 6 feet 3, the 251-pound Bates is a bit undersize at outside linebacker. He can be slippery, but at times gets overpowered by bigger, stronger offensive linemen. However, coaches like Bates because of the effort he always gives, both on defense and on special teams. He will make a fair share of plays on kickoff or punt coverage.

Fellow outside linebackers Lynden Trail and Willie Jefferson, and inside linebacker Terence Garvin, also have seen a lot of action on special teams and will need to continue to stand out there to distinguish themselves. Most likely, only one of the three backup inside linebackers (Bates, Trail or Jefferson) will make the roster, and Garvin finds himself at a crowded position with Mason Foster, Perry Riley Jr. and Su’a Cravens ahead of him at that second inside linebacker spot.

Dashaun Phillips and Kendall Fuller have looked good at the gunner positions — that’s the player who lines up outside like a wide receiver and is often first to arrive at the punt returner. That’s important because they’ll see action there for sure during the regular season. Duke Ihenacho and Will Blackmon will contribute on special teams as well, in addition to serving as backup safeties.

One question I have involves Deshazor Everett. He’s a standout on special teams, but he also finds himself at a crowded spot behind starting safeties David Bruton Jr. (also a special teams contributor) and DeAngelo Hall, and currently is slotted behind Ihenacho and Blackmon on the depth chart. It’s hard to see the team carrying five safeties because of needs at other positions. But Everett is young (while Hall and Blackmon are over 30, and Bruton is 29), and it’s good to have young, versatile players to continue to develop. If Everett continues to make plays on special teams in the final two preseason games, team officials might have to find a place for him.

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Another player to keep an eye on is wide receiver T.J. Thorpe. Coaches like him although he’s still raw. They see similarities to Pierre Garcon in the U-Va. product. Thorpe has taken on some kick return duties, and likely will continue to do so. It’s hard to envision him making the roster with so many veterans ahead of him. But he might show enough promise both as a wide receiver and as a special teams player to earn a practice squad spot.

Do teams get a warning when players are being “poached” from their practice squads?

– Rick Edwards

The player’s agent would inform the team that another team had made an offer for a spot on their 53-man roster, and if the Redskins wanted, they could hang on to the player either by signing him to their own 53-man roster, or negotiating a pay raise.

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A few years ago, some time in November, a team tried to sign tackle Tom Compton off of Washington’s practice squad, and the Redskins were informed of this. The Redskins came back and told the player’s agent something like, “Hey, we really like him, and we don’t have a roster spot right now, but in a couple weeks, he probably is going to move up to our roster. How about a little bump in salary to stay on our practice squad and eventually move up to the roster?” Washington wound up giving Compton a raise that bumped up his salary to equal the full rookie minimum for the remainder of the year. He stayed with Washington, and eventually got that promotion to the 53-man roster.

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Why haven’t the Redskins conducted any live scrimmages with another team like they have done in the past? Who makes that decision? You would think getting reps and different looks against new talent and schemes would be very beneficial. New England does it every year and they have a pretty good track record.

– Randy Mihalchik

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The Redskins would have liked to have had joint practices with another team, like they have the past two years. But they’re restricted by their arrangement with the city of Richmond. Their deal calls for them to be in Richmond a set amount of days. They can’t leave for a week of training camp to practice with another team. So, the team would have to find a counterpart willing to travel to practice with them. The preseason schedule comes into play there.

Two years ago, when the Redskins scrimmaged the Patriots, it worked perfectly because the Patriots already were scheduled to play Washington at FedEx Field that week. So, New England joined the Redskins for the week in Richmond, then played at FedEx Field at the end of the week. Last year, the Redskins had to play their first preseason game on the road, but they wound up finding a last-minute willing practice partner in the Houston Texans. Houston was supposed to host New Orleans, but the Saints backed out because they didn’t want to be a part of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which featured Houston. So, the Texans wanted joint practices badly enough to come to Richmond, then fly back to Houston for their preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers. The Redskins opened the preseason in Atlanta this year, so, logistically, it just didn’t work out for another team to come to Richmond.

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In watching the game from home on Friday night, FedEx field looked in mid-December form — that is lumpy, bumpy and clumpy. I thought a new type of turf was coming to the field and that it would resolve this eyesore and safety issue once and for all. Can you please provide an update?

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– Carrie Wosicki

I’m not exactly sure what you’re referring to. I stood on the field pre-game, and there weren’t any gaps and dirt patches like you see in December. I re-watched it on television and didn’t notice that the field looked bad from that view either.

Sorry to break it to you, but they’re not likely to change any time soon. Bruce Allen, Scot McCloughan and Jay Gruden all prefer natural grass. The team’s workers re-seed the field after every game and water it throughout the week, and then rip up the sod midway through the season and re-sod it. That’s how it’ll stay for now.

A rare question from southern Africa: I am still angry with the Redskins management decision in the 2015 draft to select Brandon Scherff over Leonard Williams. At the time it was impossible to find even one draft evaluator who rated them as even closely talented. One year later, wouldn’t the Redskins be far better served fielding Williams at the underwhelming right defensive end position, and Spencer Long at right guard? I am aware that Redskins management would never admit it, but Williams looks like a perennial Pro-Bowler, as everyone predicted, whilst Scherff looks like merely a decent player at a far less important position.

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– Neil Graves in Botswana, Africa

Hang on now. I wouldn’t call right guard “far less important.” I played right guard as a kid, then moved to defensive end the next year. I felt pretty important at both positions. Ha ha, I’m kidding.

I know what you mean, in that a defensive end makes a greater visible impact on the field, and pass-rushing defensive linemen seem hard to come by. Sure, drafting Leonard Williams last year would have taken care of a need at right defensive end, where coaches are trying to pick from Kendall Reyes, Ziggy Hood and Stephen Paea. But the Redskins would’ve been in trouble last year if they didn’t have Scherff at right guard and Spencer Long to plug in at left guard when Shawn Lauvao got hurt. Scherff was an upgrade over Chris Chester at that position.

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This year, the Redskins’ run game still needs work, and they’re still trying to settle on a left guard. But Washington has a really solid right side of the line in Scherff and Morgan Moses. At that draft choice, the Redskins probably couldn’t have gone wrong either way. They went for a safer pick in Scherff, who will likely hold down that spot for the next 10 years, over Williams, who has a lot of talent, but had some areas that concerned them. I guess we’ll have to wait another seven or eight years to see how these two NFL careers play out to know if they got it right or wrong.

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Why hasn’t Stephen Paea gotten a look at nose tackle? I understand that we are only in base around a third of the time but he is a mammoth of an end and maybe a kick inside could help revitalize his career after a dud last season.

– Mike Rowan

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I wouldn’t describe Paea as mammoth. He’s only 6 feet 1 and 310 pounds. Kedric Golston is 6-4, 330 pounds. Terrance Knighton was 6-3, 355. Paea isn’t a space-eater. He’s better suited for using his quickness and strength to beat guards off the line and get into the backfield.

Now, it’s a mystery to everyone as to why Paea hasn’t had a lot of success doing this since signing with Washington. (He did have a sack in the preseason, which was good to see). But Paea, who had six sacks in Chicago in 2014, has struggled to bring the same type of an impact to the Redskins’ defense. Injury cost him the final five games of last season. So, perhaps he has just had to shake off more rust than expected. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry this preseason has used Paea as an interior lineman in his four-man nickel fronts, which would seem to better suit Paea and put him back in a role similar to how he was used in Chicago. We’ll see if Paea can finish off the preseason on a strong note and secure a roster spot for 2016.

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

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