Montae Nicholson Will Play Sunday Amid Death Probe, Redskins Say

Montae Nicholson will play for the Washington Redskins on Sunday despite being a key figure in a police investigation into the death of a 21-year-old woman, the team says.

"As of right now, he is active," Redskins head coach Bill Callahan said Wednesday.

"He did play Sunday and right now he is on the active roster and is scheduled to play."

TMZ Sports broke the story ... the 23-year-old safety claims he's cooperating with authorities in the death of 21-year-old Julia Crabbe, who died of a suspected drug overdose Thursday morning.

Officials say Montae and another man dropped Julia off at a Virginia hospital in the middle of the night and then left the scene, despite the fact she appeared dead on arrival.

Investigators believe Crabbe had been at Montae's home before the OD -- so they got a search warrant and found marijuana, pills and "foil with residue" inside.

It's important to note cops have not said if the drugs belonged to (or were provided by) Nicholson -- and he has NOT been formally accused of any wrongdoing.

For his part, Montae claims he did NOT leave the hospital on the night in question -- and stuck around to help out until Crabbe's family arrived.

Nicholson suited up and played for the Redskins just 3 days after Crabbe's death -- and was on the field for 70 of the Redskins' 71 defensive snaps, recording 5 combined tackles.

The Redskins take on the Detroit Lions at home on Sunday in a game that's really meaningless for Washington, since they've only won 1 game this season and have virtually no shot at the playoffs.