The Washington Football Team's first three notable cuts on Tuesday all came from its secondary.
Cornerbacks Jimmy Moreland and Danny Johnson were both let go, as was safety Jeremy Reaves. That trio of players are all names fans have grown familiar with over the past few seasons.
Moreland came to Washington as a seventh-round draft choice in 2019 and ended up logging quite a bit of reps as a pro for a late pick out of a small school with a small stature. In 2020, he was in on 57 percent of the squad's defensive snaps and registered his first career interception in the opener versus the Eagles.
Johnson, meanwhile, had been with the club since 2018 after joining it as an undrafted free agent. Last year, he served as the Burgundy and Gold's primary kick returner but didn't see a single down of work on defense.
Then there's Reaves, another 2018 undrafted free agent. Though he only appeared on 25 percent of Washington's defensive snaps in 2020, coach Ron Rivera was very pleased with how he performed in the stretch run after injuries forced him into duty.
Of the three, Moreland comes as the biggest surprise, though the depth in the back end of coordinator Jack Del Rio's unit has been much improved this offseason.
Plus, Rivera's made it a serious priority to form a roster with guys whom he's handpicked, and none of Moreland, Johnson or Reaves fit that criteria.
The Athletic's Ben Standig was first to report the Moreland news, while Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post had the Johnson and Reaves transactions.