Kyle Shanahan says Redskins will ride hot hand at running back

The old saying when a team has a quarterback competition is that a team with two quarterbacks actually has none.

So, what’s it mean when a team has three running backs?

We’ll have to wait and see. The Washington Redskins are preparing for the start of the season on Sunday at New Orleans with three backs and no one is quite sure how the playing time is going to be divided between Evan Royster, Roy Helu and rookie Alfred Morris. Not even the players know.

“Whoever you think is doing the best, you keep him going,” Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said, according to CSN Washington. “I don’t think that there’s any philosophy, there’s no set way on what you. You put the guy in that’s going to help you win the game. And I think the three guys are all capable runners.”

That makes sense. Morris performed well in preseason but it was a situation where the team wanted to learn what it had with him after gaining experience with Royster and Helu before. The players should realize if someone starts to break out, they could remain on the field for a long time.

“It doesn’t matter to me which one is in because all three are capable,” Shanahan said. “Some do some stuff better than others. But you go with the hot hand. You want to keep him fresh so you rotate guys in. It’s not a planned rotation, but I would expect all three of them to play.”

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune