The Washington Redskins were dealt a significant blow in the backfield in the preseason opener against the New England Patriots with the loss of rookie running back Derrius Guice due to a torn ACL, according to Ian Rapoport of The NFL Network.

This injury that was initially deemed a sprained MCL that would have forced him to miss the rest of the preseason and a few games to start the regular season. However, this latest diagnosis ends his rookie campaign before it even began as he was expected to be the starter.

In the play in question, Guice was taken down by three Patriots defenders after a 34-yard run that was negated by a penalty. He was slow to get up from the tackle but didn't voice much concern with the situation after the game as he finished with 19 rushing yards on six carries in his brief appearance on Thursday night.

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Jeremy Chua ·

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Jeremy Chua ·

The Redskins were hoping he could lead the charge as he had a strong showing in the offseason workouts and training camp that put him in the running to be the starter. He is coming off a productive 2017 season at LSU where he led the SEC in rushing with 1,387 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns for running backs in the conference despite only starting in six of the 12 games that he played.

However, Guice's injury now puts the competition for the starting job between Samaje Perine and Chris Thompson over the rest of training camp and the preseason. Thompson had been on pace for a breakout year before suffering a broken leg as he had  39 catches for 510 receiving yards and four touchdowns including totaling more than 100 receiving yards twice while averaging at least 25.0 yards per reception. Perine had held down the starting last year after Thompson went down rushing for 603 yards with a pair of 100-yard rushing performances.