RICHMOND, Va. -- The Washington Redskins rookie skits last week produced one player getting booed off the stage. Wednesday night, it produced a sing-a-long and light show by players in the audience -- to a John Legend song.
Just after guard Nila Kasitati started strumming his ukulele and singing Legend's "All of Me," the lights went out, cameras turned into lighters and the Redskins players started singing along. It started with a few and then a lot more joined in, with others laughing. Tight end Niles Paul captured it on video. The players clearly enjoyed themselves, singing with gusto before letting Kasitati finish the last 10 seconds on his own, capped by applause.
Happy birthday main man! I know you're ballin in heaven and watching over us! 😔🙏🏾👼🏿 LLTW25 pic.twitter.com/AKSCgcddDG
— Breshad Perriman (@B_Perriman11) August 5, 2016
It's the second time in a week that videos of a rookie skit surfaced. But the last one involved linebacker Su'a Cravens getting booed off the stage as he started singing Usher's "Confessions." Cravens was convinced that fellow linebacker Will Compton set him up and prodded others to pelt Cravens with paper balls.
Other teams clearly have similar nights, but the videos do show a Redskins squad that has good chemistry. It's something they've talked about quite a bit, starting last season, and it's carried over into training camp. The Redskins benefited from playing in a down NFC East last season, but their 9-7 record was helped by having a team with good camaraderie. Several times players said they wanted to do well so they didn't let down the guy next to them. That's not an every-year occurrence with the Redskins, but it could be happening again. If nothing else, they know how to enjoy themselves during rookie skits.
"Nila was excellent," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. "We've had some pretty poor performances up to that point. Nate Sudfeld didn't get on TV because he's so bad as a singer he was booed off the stage. [Josh] Doctson was booed off the stage; a couple guys got booed off the stage. It's been a tough crowd."
