The Redskins Blog

Prep Football Player Vs. Dexter Manley

For those who have been fortunate enough to see Redskins’ great defensive end Dexter Manley in person recently, you’ll notice that he doesn’t look much different than he does in the file photo above.

He’s still in great shape, and I’m yet to see anybody match his grip in a handshaking contest.

An area football player found that out the hard way Thursday at the Redskins’ 80th Anniversary Thank You Tour stop at Handley High School in Winchester, Va.

While speaking at the lectern, Larry Michael, the Voice of the Redskins, asked the Handley High School football team to bring forward its strongest player to match grips with Manley, who joined us on the tour bus Thursday for all three stops in Winchester.

The team sent up junior-to-be lineman Jordan Dowrey, who was wearing his No. 58 jersey.

Dowrey and Manley locked handshake grips, which the prep football player said after the encounter was “impressive.”

“I couldn’t even get my hand around it,” he said.

But Manley — the Redskins’ career sack leader with 97.5 — wasn’t quite done. He then got into a three-point stance opposite of Dowrey, who did the same thing.

Manley then tried to get past Dowrey — who, to his credit fended off the Redskins’ great at first with a block, almost into a nearby rail — before Manley put on a nice little spin move and pushed through.

“He threw me pretty good as he came around,” Dowrey said.

The Handley junior said he didn’t think he’d come away with such a cool experience when he walked into the football stadium that afternoon.

“That was noy anything I was thinking about,” he said. “I saw people shaking hands and saying hello — but this was pretty cool.”