Safeties, saxophone, and a go-kart gone wrong: Getting to know Nick Cross

ASHBURN, Va. — Nick Cross had a front-row seat to the chippiest practice of training camp. He did his best not to become one of the angry.

Light rain fell as fellow safety Quan Martin and wide receiver Jacoby Jones began shoving each other following a play. Teammates quickly arrived to separate them. Another WR-DB tussle involved Luke McCaffrey and Mike Sainristil.

Cross even found himself helmet-to-helmet with rookie running back Kaytron Allen following a play.

Share Last Man Standig

Mini-skirmishes are bound to pop up when grown men playing an aggressive sport, with roles and livelihoods on the line, push each other physically. This isn’t a bad thing. Given that head coach Dan Quinn sought a more competitive tone this camp, that’s a good sign.

As long as football decorum keeps anarchy at bay.

That’s a message Cross heard from his former University of Maryland head coach.

“My guy Mike Locks [Locksley] always said, ‘The game, it’s a game full of emotion, but you can’t be emotional. You can’t be an emotional player. Gotta play in between the whistles and let your play do the domination.’”

That’s some of the professional and personal insight the fifth-year safety, known for his run-stuffing exploits, shared during a get-to-know-you Q&A with Last Man Standig.

Cross, who grew up a fan of the Redskins, was the opposite of chippy when signing autographs for the young fans screaming for his attention post-practice. The same applied during our breezy chat during the second week of camp about his defensive role, his ear for music, his most cherished acquired autograph, and the football-related story he’s never shared.

The tale Cross, raised in Prince George’s County, and the host of other newcomers aims to tell is how they helped change the tone, far from last year’s 5-12 nosedive and back toward the 2024 heights when Jayden Daniels and the Commanders reached the NFC Championship game.

Pushing each other does the trick, as long as any actual pushing remains in check.

“At the end of the day, all the chippiness stuff is cool and whatnot,” Cross said, “but when it starts costing the team, costing penalties, guys getting kicked out of games and stuff like that, that’s where it becomes an issue.”

Here is a lightly edited version of our post-practice walk-and-talk with the starting safety. We mixed in other Cross quotes from camp for context and clarity.