39 Donte Whitner SS

Whitner (quad) was placed on injured reserve Wednesday, Field Yates of ESPN reports.

Whitner strained his quad in last week's game against Chicago and was evaluated during the week. The Redskins can likely secure a playoff spot with a win over the Giants on Sunday but they'll need to rely on Duke Ihenacho and David Bruton for safety help. Whitner will finish with 66 tackles and a forced fumble in 11 games played this year.

Whitner is dealing with a quad strain and is not looking good for Sunday's tilt with the Giants according to head coach Jay Gruden, John Keim of ESPN.com reports.

Look for more updates to come throughout the week but the news doesn't bode well for the veteran safety. Should he be ruled out, Washington would rely heavily on Duke Ihenacho and David Bruton at strong safety Sunday.

Whitner notched eight tackles in Sunday's 27-22 win over the Eagles.

Whitner was coming off a two-week stretch in which he recorded just six tackles, but aside from those games, he's posted at least eight stops in his other five games since Week 7. As a defensive back, he's a solid source of production, who more often than not has been consistent.

Whitner is expected to see increased action in the nickel position alongside Duke Ihenacho at strong safety this season.

After David Burton (concussion) was placed on injured reserve, Washington brought in the veteran Whitner to shore up the secondary. In his second game with the team, the 31-year-old recorded four tackles on 40 defensive snaps. Head coach Jay Gruden said of the safety situation, "You start with Duke and Donte is going to play a lot. It might depend on the package. It might be more nickel for Donte, it might be more base for Duke, or what have you. That's something that we'll decide on a week-to-week basis and a game-to-game basis depending on who we're playing." Look for Whitner to see a similar snap count this weekend against the Lions.

Whitner signed a contract with the Redskins on Wednesday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports.

Whitner has visited with several teams over the past couple months and his signing with the Redskins comes shortly after the team placed both DeAngelo Hall and David Bruton on IR. With the Browns last year, Whitner had 81 tackles, 1.5 sacks, four passes defensed, and a forced fumble. He'll likely be the backup to Duke Ihenacho and Will Blackmon, but Whitner could still start to see snaps right away.