Washington Commanders 2024 Season Breakdown | Exclusive with David Harrison

all right we get to TI the time to talk Washington commanders football here on the Reds football network and the Reds football YouTube channel and that means we get a chance to talk to David Harrison once again and David uh who has been on this network before covering Tampa Bay for a couple of years we had him on during this offseason though to talk Washington commanders football which is the switch he has recently made uh and of course David also has daily podcast called the commanders podcast part of the lockon uh Network the locked on commanders podcast you can check that out daily how's it going David oh it's going good man how are you I'm doing good it's uh this is it this is the fun time of year it's the busy time of year uh this is what we all look forward to every year if you're a football fan so I can imagine Washington commanders fans they've had so much to work through uh mentally over the over the years I just can't imagine what they're going through I know what I'm going through is a Jet fan but what they're going through is even worse uh and yet they've got themselves finally some Direction with a new owner a new GM a new head coach and most of all a new shiny to a toy a quarterback uh I I I just I can't imagine what the fan base is going through right now a lot of excitement uh you know it kind of es and flows actually because you know when when player is traded some people get upset and some people get excited and then some people want another trade to happen and some people get excited that it might happen some people are upset that it didn't happen and then of course like whenever a player gets signed to a position group that somebody didn't want them to get signed to so there's kind of there's a lot of emotion going on in the Washington commanders uh atmosphere but I think ultimately it's all rooted in the fact that people are starting to see some potential in this team for once uh and it's real potent it feels like real potential versus you know hopeful potential uh which is what they were dealing with before so I think you know when you when you feel that real kind of potential in your grasp you want it to be maximized as quickly as possible I think that's where some of the I don't want to call it negative it's not really negative but it's like some of this desire for things to happen that aren't happening comes from yeah it's what happen when you care about something as opposed to ah screw that I have I've just I'm not tionally attached uh so makes a lot of sense uh you just talked about trades so yes a lot of people were caught off guard by this deal uh I think part of it had to do with the fact that it was made in the division yeah [Music] so what fan base 5050 which side of the fence did they go to with this trade I think initially you know pretty much everybody was very unhappy that Johan Dodson was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles I think once that initial kind of stunning detail you know was washed over and people had time to kind of digest that I think now people are are kind of happy to see this team take a stance with saying you know look we're looking for this kind of a player and this is the type of system we're trying to install and if you're not going to fit whether it's from a personality standpoint or a schematic standpoint we're just not going to waste our time and trying to force you know a square peg into a round hole because for years that's what this team team had done previously and to be honest this team currently is still dealing with some of those misshaped pegs uh that this staff is now trying to make fit into into into certain spots but you know with with Jian it just it very kind of quickly got to a point where the staff just came to the realization like look we're not a fit it it you know there doesn't have to be a bad guy necessarily and you know we'll see what Jan says when he does his first media uh you know with the Philadelphia Eagles because obviously they're going to ask him about his time in Washington they're going to be hoping that he says something derog and you know who knows he may very well but the vibe over here isn't a you know you know F him or get him out of here or he's trash or he's garbage no it's just we didn't fit and because we didn't fit we're going to go get something that does fit what we're trying to do and put you somewhere where maybe you can fit better and that's Philadelphia Eagles and then for the commanders they get draft Capital uh in the form of a third round pick you know give up the fifth round pick but also get the two sevens and now they can go through and you know whether they package those picks later on or you know there's people who want them to pack them now for another player or whatever they decide to do with them the bottom line is that they can go pursue with those picks whether it's via trade or via draft players that do fit what they're trying to accomplish and when you look at the rookie class they brought in this year so far it looks like they have they know what they want they know what they want and they're doing a good job of identifying players that give it to them okay so why do you think doson did not fit you know there there's there's a multitude of reasons one of those reasons is it's a very fast-paced offense right so we need uh that you know when you look at the the was offense you're talking about players that need to be able to get off the line of scrimmage very very quickly Jan doson has a false step in his release he's had it since Penn State it's never gone away and for most receivers quite honestly once you get to this level if you have a false step you just have a false step uh there's that and then there's also the fact that he doesn't get off press very easily uh it does take him some time from time to time to get off press he doesn't re respond well to contact and you know the more this becomes a Passing League the more defenses become physically aggressive at the point of attack or at the line of scrimmage trying to delay uh passes and Jan or not Jan Jaden Daniels is a very in Rhythm quarterback which is what you want out of your rookie right he likes to make decisions in a timely fashion so if he gets to the top of his drop and you're not into your break you're not getting the ball like that's just pretty much how this going to go he's not going to wait for you to say well maybe once he does get to his break he'll come clean and do all these things Jaden is is very intent on trying to get to where he wants to go with the ball as quickly as possible and part of that is his pre- snap reads he likes to come out and say okay I want to hit this route so I'm going to try to set it up with this motion or I'm going to try to set it up by freezing this safety with my eyes or whatever it is and in order to do that he's got to trust that you're going to be where you're going to be so the more it the slow the slower you get off the line of scrimmage the more you get held up in your release and in your stem the harder it is for him to trust that you're going to be there for him to put the ball on you so all of those things just basically pull against each other and and I think that's ultimately why he doesn't fit in Washington and uh speaking about another potential deal uh which is all Rave and I know a couple of organizations are uh dealing with this rumor wise and one of those teams is Washington with auk so uh do you think that this has a lot just the Adam Peters connection is that really what's driving the rumors uh or is there something else uh you know that uh you know regarding fit what what is it I think the Jay and Daniels connection is what drives the rumors you know Jaden and Brandon go back to their Arizona State days their best friends to this day from meeting on the Arizona State football squad um but then yeah the the Adam Peters connection to San Francisco I think just pours gasoline onto that fire that's been lit uh by the by the sundevil connection there between those two players um and then you have obviously the Social Media stuff where Jaden is on the FaceTime call with Brandon and Brandon's got the photo the still you know the still frame of Commander practice tape like so there just been a lot of Washington connection because of that friendship now from a fit standpoint there has been a lot of question of like does he really do anything different than what Terry McClaren does and the answer I would give to that is not necessarily but he does it better right like Brandon auka is a better receiver in the NFL uh than Terry McClaren is that's not even a disrespect to Terry mcen that's just a sign of how good Brandon iuk is and there's nothing wrong with having two guys that can do that type of stuff on each side of the field that's that's never going to be a negative um I know you know from a from a roster standpoint a lot of people would love to have like a burner over here and a really tall decent speed guy over here so that you can attack defenses a multitude of ways but there's something to be said by having two guys who are just very good route Runners very good technicians that have underrated speed and great hands there's you're never going to lose games because you have two of those guys so I think it makes a lot of sense now where it doesn't fit is that Adam Peters has been very clear that they want to build this team through the draft they want to be very conservative in the contracts so they do Dole out which is why you see a ton of one-year contracts this year and even the multi-year contracts they did sign with guys like Tyler bitis and Frankie louu they're rather modest three-year you know deals that honestly this team if they really need to get out of that deal they can get out of that deal and you see they didn't resign a lot of players uh they're not resigning you know uh offensive lineman Sam cosm's contract is up at the end of this year A lot of people are like what are you waiting for resign this dude well this staff has not known Sam cosmi for his entire career they're just getting to know him now and they're going to make him at least we anticipate they're going to make him play this season and kind of show that he is worth keeping around for the long Long Haul before they resign him this offseason and we all hope that that's you know the eventual outcome here but so to to go trade for a guy like Brandon iuk obviously you're going to give up tra draft capital and you know the rumors are that Pittsburgh was offering a second and San Francisco was going to take that so you know it's not a ton of draft Capital relatively speaking but then you're also going have to pay him at least top three money rumors are that he wants top money uh for a wide receiver so you're have to pay him that money and you know while they do have the cap space that's the exact kind of deal that Adam Peters has been trying to resist making in his first year as a GM and I think that's the reason why ultimately that deal doesn't get done you know it's a Never Say Never NFL and certainly you know things can change on a dime and if the if the 49ers come through and say hey man the Steelers lowered their draft offer to a third rounder you give us a third rounder and he's yours maybe Adam is like okay now I can do this um and he becomes a commander but for right now just based off of what's already been said what's already been demonstrated it just doesn't seem like it's fitting the Adam Peters model of building this team you know again Breakers happen all the time so you know don't don't hold your breath saying it's not going to happen but the the the cards just don't seem to be in place yeah and Kyle Madson our Insider for the Niners wire actually uh we talked about this around draft time and he said that uh don't believe any of the rumors you're gonna hear about Brandon iuk he's going nowhere I'm telling you right now and he still said the same thing when I asked him uh a couple of weeks ago um and I'll talk to him and interview next week but I think that like you just said and the reason he said that is because the Niners have been through this before this is like their Remo this is how they handle their players but they always wind up signing them and they don't trade them but I think you made great points where I guess though if there was a time that a guy was going to be let go from that situ and what they were going to trade there's so many connections here that this would be the likely time it would happen so that's what I think is interesting about that uh but you're right it probably won't um but it is still something that is uh you know at least it's plausible so yeah uh we'll see what happens okay so let's take a uh well first of all how was Daniels how is he handling himself I I I I've been a huge fan of his talking about him on this network for about I don't know like 10 months uh about how much I love the kid and and thought he was the best quarterback matter of fact every all the top guys all the top Scout at or Leeds believe he's the top quarterback prospect over over Williams um and and I actually uh said this a couple of months ago that I thought that wherever he lands I think he has the best opportunity to do what CJ stra did uh if he's got the team around him of course and that is to come out right out of the gates and surprise people by actually looking like he's not a rookie quarterback so how is is he looking anything like that is he looking like you know what I think he might have himself a pretty good rookie season you know I mean he he definitely looks positive right and he looks like a guy who's comfortable in his skin comfortable with the role that he's being asked to play and I think that's really a big part of it and you know I can't speak too deeply into the Houston Texans mentality but I know when you look at the Houston Texans roster from last year you don't really look at that team and say man CJ shroud really drove that team you say he played really well he executed very well did very well as a rookie quarterback but I think when you look at that team honestly you kind of look at you say like demo Ryan really drove that team right and like that was the personality maker and that was the pace Setter for that team on this team you know Dan Quinn is certainly setting the pace with the personality but there's leaders like Zack hers Terry McClaren is taking a more vocal role in the locker room and in the huddle with the team Bobby Wagner on the other side of the ball and the great thing about the way that Dan Quinn is doing this is we say that side of the ball this side of the ball But ultimately they're all mixed in like the locker room we haven't seen it yet but the the guys have been telling us like you've got you know Terry mclen I think the guy next to him in his locker is Emanuel Forbes it's not another wide receiver it's actually a cornerback like guys are intermingled and they're mixed up so you know there's not this division of of of defense and offense special teams everybody's mixed in together in the locker room and I think that's really a great way to unify the team so when you look at jayen he's not expected to be you know the general up in front of the formation you know making sure that everybody's in line all they're asking him to do this year is be the best quarterback you can do and with everything that a rookie quarterback has on their plate learning The Playbook the checks impressing their teammates the pressure right like like make no mistake about it I know LSU Ohio State those are big time college football programs the pressure in the NFL is aund times bigger than it is in college football so you know that that's a lot for anybody to take on so being able to take also be the leader of the team off the table for him at least for his rookie season I think is massive you know eventually Jane Dame will have to prove that he's a leader because he's a quarterback quarterbacks just by Nature are leaders but in your rookie season this organization and I think the Houston Texans did this by and large allowed rookie quarterback to just focus on being a rookie quarterback the rest of the stuff we've got other guys that are going to take care of that and I think that's a huge benefit and I think that's a reason that perhaps Jaden could be you know that that next CJ shroud type of of rookie quarterback because you look at like Chicago and I mean Caleb Williams like I don't know if you watched hardnox but it's basically hardnox Caleb Williams featuring the Chicago Bears like you know what I mean like the Caleb Williams docu drama versus a Chicago Bears docu series like and that's a such a different Dynamic you know like the weight of the world is on Caleb Williams while as with jayen Daniels the weight of the world is not on him now you know as well as I do once the game start playing like if this defense gives up 35 points a game the weight of the world is gonna land on jayen Daniel's shoulders because he's gonna have to throw the ball 30 to 40 times a day and that's going to be problematic for any rookie quarterback I think so you know we'll see how it goes but right now in the early going that's why he's able to look so comfortable that's also why he's able to effectively operate the offense so well I mean he's only thrown three interceptions all of training camp two of them are not his fault like blatantly receivers dropping the ball into the hands of Defenders or what have you so I mean really if you want to you know play the which one is he actually accountable for the dude's thrown one interception in 11on 11 drills all training camp uh and thrown and he's thrown no interceptions in the preseason that is something that most veteran quarterbacks don't do you know what I mean so that's very impressive uh how is the uh so Mariota is the veteran backup that relationship going really well yeah I mean it's going it's going well I think the the great thing about Marcus Mariota this time around as a backup I think back in Philadelphia probably too like I think he went to Philly understanding your Jaylen herz's backup because you know in Atlanta like he was at least you know told like hey you could be the guy but then once he got there I think we all kind of understood there it was basically just like we're waiting on the opportunity to put Desmond Ritter in there and replace you I don't I don't think that's a healthy environment for any quarterback but going to Philly now coming to Washington he understands his role and you know the first time we talked to him when after he signed he basically of said you know if I'm asked to be a mentor I'm going to do it D like gave us a nice long Dialogue on how he's going to be a great mentor and then he goes if I'm as to play I'll be ready to do that too so very clearly he understands that his Focus here is being a mentor to Jaden D and he's been great you know what I mean and Jaden has talked about how great is helping him prepare helping him study do all those things but not just Marcus but like the entire quarterback room has really been just just a big you know fraternity of quarterbacks and Jeff Driscoll who's not as much of a veteran as Marcus Mariota but he see him and Jaden interacting Sam Hartman is is an undrafted rookie and he's been helpful to Jaden because he's kind of like that buddy in the clubhouse like Hey we're the Freshman together and kind of keeps things loose and keeps the trash talk uh going so that you know nothing ever gets too big or nothing ever becomes too serious right because at the end of the day this is still a game so I think the quarterback room just in general it just really balances out uh very well it's where you got guys who all want to compete but they all understand at the top of the of the totem pole there there's one dude that everybody's expecting to be to be the king of this room and while we're all out here trying to get better ourselves I mean Jeff Driscoll deserves a lot of credit that dude has grown just in this training camp alone at least for what he's been able to do since he's been here but they all understand that all of this is centered around Jaden being the most successful he can be and that's where they're all kind of finding their roles has Hartman who had uh you know put off just tremendous numbers uh a couple years ago and there was a lot of expect expectations last year at Notre Dame it didn't go as well as anywhere near as well would have liked um he doesn't end up getting drafted but he has so much experience and that's the thing that we're I mean all you have to do is take a look at Brock Pie as an example as as seventh round pick but all the experience in the world and those experienced quarterbacks uh those are the ones that seem to pick things up a lot quicker big surprise in the NFL so is it possible because I don't know if I mean if Hartman ends up on the practice squad I can't imagine he's he's going to stay there maybe he will I don't know um but is there any chance that Hartman makes the team and Jeff Driscoll is the odd man out so Sam Hartman is expected to go to the practice squad at this point in time you know Never Say Never Again uh Sam has looked really good in practice and he's done a lot of great things for himself but when you got to that preseason game against the New York Jets I think he kind of saw the rookie come out like the game is faster the game is more aggressive and I think that's kind of you you what you expect to see out of a rookie quarterback in his first NFL action he kind of saw it out of Sam where things got a little bit shaky now he got multiple d before he ended up he actually end up getting injured and wasn't able to play in the Dolphins game he actually just returned to practice this week to to finish out training camp and we think he's going to go against New England Patriots to end the preseason so that'll be good to see him get back out there because once he got a few snaps under him and once he got off the field and back on the field like he get he definitely got his legs under him a little bit more so it'll be really interesting to see hopefully he can go against the New England Patriots to see another another you know set of of plays from him in that situation but right now it is expected that you know Jaden Marcus and Jeff Driscoll will be the three quarterbacks uh if they carry three now there's obviously that conversation as well if they only carry two Sam Hartman is still expected to be the primary practice squad guy not again because Jeff Driscoll has done anything wrong but because obviously there's more of a of a long-term upside with Sam Hartman than there is with a guy like Jeff Drisco yeah and Hartman not being a draft pick that's that makes a big difference on whether or not they would have uh because they would have known hey we didn't spend a seventh round draft pick or a pick at all to put him on the practice squad and have some some teams steal him away from us so um hey good good for him let's see if he winds up sticking and nobody claims him or anything like that okay so um Eckler Robinson uh and even Rodriguez is a number three but especially those top two looks like a pretty nice backfield yeah it looks like a really good backfield I think BR Rob and Austin Eckler are working really well together they play well off of each other and you know I think Cliff Kingsbury has every intention in the world of using them to take as much pressure off of Jaden Daniels as possible I actually did a study of Cliff Kingsbury's offensive play calling not that long ago and I don't have the data in front of me anymore uh but when I collected I was actually very surprised in games where Cliff Kingsbury's offenses were trailing by less than six or ahead by less than six they ran the ball more than almost anybody in the league like like they were like we're talking top 10 top five uh run run numbers where the pass heavy really came is when they were down obviously by like 10 or more things like that I think any offensive coordinator is going to get a little bit when thatp situ so really kind of look for team and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if if it's less than two touchdowns if we're down by less than two touchdowns continue to run the ball continue to use those running backs continue to use the screens all those things let's continue to protect our quarterback through our play calling as much as we're trying to do it over here now the closer you get to crunch time you need the bigger plays you don't have a choice but you know I wouldn't be surprised to see this team down say 10 in the second quarter and they still come out with you know two runs to start a drive something like that because you're not going to rush to failure uh so to speak now behind those two actually it's Jeremy McNichols the Veteran running back who came from San Francisco during the off season honestly I mean just in his play on the practice field and in preseason he's clearing away the third best running back on this team Chris Rodriguez has slipped down to that number four spot honestly M even slipped behind Michael Wy the rookie out of USC he's done really really well in his opportunities as well and this preseason game is going to tell a lot uh it's it's painful for me to say because I'm I'm a big Chris Rodriguez guy but honestly he's just been out playing uh this training camp in practice by both MC Nichols and even Michael Wy so even looking at like a practice squad spot I don't know if they're going to keep two backs on the practice squad if they don't Chris Rodriguez might actually be the odd man out in this in this situation and I think this is a really good situation for Eckler because this is the situ even though he put up you know pretty decent numbers on his own as a number one his best role is is this is the role that really fits him better because the wear and tear uh especially for his body just as you could see it just it just wasn't good for him and now he's getting a little bit older so yeah that's why I said this looks like an exciting young backfield that looks like it's going to work out perfectly and um I'm a little bit surprised about Mick Nichols but not so much that it maybe it's just taken him a little bit of time find the right scheme he was a big time Boise State running back uh and sometimes that's all it takes is just to find the right fit so uh good for him all right now you mentioned SS um and you know wow this guy is pretty old but you you hit the key word and that's Le and I'm sure that is the number one reason he's on this team um and to give of course we know how tough the tight end position is for rookies like Ben sonat to understand the grasp and all that kind of stuff so I'm sure he's the perfect Bridge tight end for a kid like sonat but you know watching the Jet game since I'm a Jet fan uh sonat made a couple of nice plays uh how's the uh how's the team feeling about how he's done this preseason this training camp yeah I mean Ben s has been great like he's he's he's been an awesome guy there I do think he's actually still tight end number three uh but and I I kind of predicted heading into training camp I thought he'd be tight end two by the end of the preseason but John Bates their number two tight end has actually shown a lot of growth as well uh you know he came in as a solid blocker with decent you know decent to good receiving ability um but he's grown every year as a receiver and probably even gotten better as a blocker so John Bates I I do think is so firmly that number two tight end he's not as explosive as as a lot of tight ends or whatever but he's going to give you consistent play every repes out there right and you know exactly what you're getting out of John Bates I think it's very valuable Zack Herz I'll tell you what man like after watching Logan Thomas and I'm a big Logan Thomas guy's he's a cool dude too um he's older you know what I mean he was run down you could tell his body just kind of wasn't with it anymore so when they brought Zack Herz in I was kind of in in the boat of okay this is an older veteran leader like that's pretty much all he's GNA be he's not GNA have much in the gas tank he looks young like this dude plays young and he he's laying out for balls he's going up and grabbing them he's punting you know balls out of the end zone as a touchdown celebration like Zack Ur looks rejuvenated and he looks really really good now you know can he St healthy all season long I don't know but he has surprised me in training camp with just kind of how how how almost like a Rejuvenation he's he's experienced here with Washington so you have three really good tight ends with Ben s it obviously having I think the most upside long term and I do you know Zack hers even as as impressive as he looks this year he's still a bridge tight end like he's too old to be the the tight end of the future just kind of is what it is um but if that's what you got to rely on this year for your rookie quarterback you're going to take that uh nine times or 10 times out of 10 and then next year you know I think you know I think Ben s it probably still projects to be that number one tight end John Bates probably sticks around as your number two and then the team is going through there to try to find that third and fourth guy because Cole Turner unfortunately uh has not gotten better as a blocker and actually is kind of in the last couple weeks has actually regressed as a receiver uh so that's really problematic and if he comes into Sunday night against New England and drops a bunch of passes I don't know that that they keep them to be quite honest with you I think they want four tight ends but there's a world where Cole Turner plays so poorly that they're like okay we're just going to take three and we'll maybe keep another running back or something so what as as we turn to wide receivers so how many do you think is g to come in a play on a on a game- to game basis regarding scheme because there's you were talking about taking a look at Kingsbury's um to the way that he schemes uh certain plays at certain times especially especially in the running game but Al also when you take a look at his passing um formations and and and his packages there's a lot of four wide receivers and and one running back so is there what is is there a a particular lineup that he likes to use so without giving away too much what we see in training camp um that'll get me in trouble there's going to be there's going to be a lot of formations used I just put it that way like you're going to see them spread it out but you're also going they've got Somey packages uh as well and I think what's important to remember when trying to anticipate what Cliff Kingsbury is going to do is that the Washington commanders not only hired Cliff Kingsburg but they also hired Anthony Lynn and they hired Brian Johnson so these are two other guys Anthony Lynn's got head coaching experience Brian Johnson is also the assistant head coach and he's got offensive coordinator experience granted didn't go great in Philadelphia his one year as an offensive coordinator but both of these all three of these guys essentially come in with a little bit different style of play from each other and the idea is to blend all those styles of play we actually just talked to Cliff Kingsbury on Thursday following practice and he talked about how you know kind of merging all the styles of play from all three of them has really been beneficial and how important that's been so you know to a certain extent you know a zebra never changes his stripes or whatever the saying is right so when Cliff King and and Cliff Kingsburg is the guy on the mic like Anthony Lynn is not over there like hey Cliff we should do this Brian's not saying hey we should do this no on game day it's Cliff so Cliff's Tendencies are going to be close Tendencies but the Playbook is going to have a lot more options for him to be able to use and you know those those other guys are also going to be in the Zer a little bit as well so you know I think there's going to be a nice little blend um and I think the the the cool thing is you might have a game you're like all right that's a cliff Kingsbury game but you might also have a game you're like that kind of looks more like an Anthony Lynn type of game and I think that's really the cool part of having so many different minds but all of them understanding that Cliff is the ultimately the one who sends the marching orders and that's the way it should be I mean you wind up getting pigeon hold as a coordinator and that's not good so um and Kings Proby should know I mean he did he did uh play for bellich so I'm sure he has some idea of how you need to uh differentiate your game plan as often as possible to not be so predictable um so let's take a look at that receiving course so now deanii brown is the interesting one um and of course mcaffry being a third round draft pick we would expect that uh some his time is is coming but Dy Brown had had there was so much potential there that at this point is just not blossomed is there is there something different with this coaching staff is it possible now that dami brown can actually be a part of this offense I think there's something different with dami you know and and it kind of goes back to that 41 42 yard I can't remember it was 41 or 42 but against the New York Jets um you know I broke down that play extensively and and coming from his release and and the point where he catches the ball there's really Four Points of manipulation there and I talked to dami about this a couple days after the game was over and the first point of manipulation is his speed releasee right he comes off a Speed release to the right side outside shoulder of the defensive back immediately wins on the outside but the defensive back gains a little bit of ground actually starts pushing dami more towards the boundary which when you're running that you know outer third route you don't want to give up any space to the outer boundary because that's where the quarterback needs to put the ball so what dami does he actually hits him with a little bit of a jab step inside forces that corner to give up ground to the inside diami eats it and then he also takes his stem at a little bit of an angle it's a very slight angle inside towards the middle of the field but while he's doing that he's pushing his Defender inside all the while understanding that that ball is going to come over his outside shoulder so when the ball comes down dami uses late hands gets them outside and the defensive back is actually on his hip like the DB is actually in in a lot of ways considered to be in position but because of all the things dami did up to that point he reaches out to grab that ball and the DB just doesn't I mean unless he's got like seven foot long arms like it's just not going to happen you know what I mean and that's the cerebral part of playing reer that dami brown has really been missing up until this year and now and again like I said I talked to him about that and the entire time we're talking about like he's just got this big old grin on his face and you can just see him kind of recounting everything that he did and it was actually funny because while we're conversing about he actually like Steps next to me he's like yeah so you know you're the DB and we're doing this and like he's just enjoying playing the game from a cerebral standpoint because you know we got to remember a lot of these guys their studs in high school their studs in college and they're studs just because they're studs but then they get to the NFL and now everybody's athletic everybody St everybody's an elite athlete you've got to be you've got to find better ways to beat these guys uh you know because you're not just going to run downfield past a Defender even a second or a third string defender in the NFL and dami brown is kind of starting to show those types of signs and that's why he's starting to make some of the plays that he's making and does this depth chart look like the way it it will look like on opening day uh mcaffrey is being a rookie do you think he's just going to come along a little slowly they going to work him into the rotation slowly or has he started to give the coaching staff um a little bit of confidence that maybe they can play him a little earlier yeah I mean Luke is is definitely looking solid I think the important thing to remember with lcas he's still a relatively new Wide Receiver right he just started playing wide receiver rice not that long ago so he's he's very fairly new to the position still uh but again he's another one I talked to about like the Dynamics of like releases into stuns and break and how you manipulate Defenders and everything like that and the great thing about Luke mcaffry he's super super smart and he's starting to demonstrate a lot of that on the practice field as well but yeah I mean I think you know Tera McClaren is obviously clearly your your number one I think dami Brown and alom zakus are your two and your three you know Oz alom Zas is probably gonna line up in the slot Theon he's not really a slot guy but then Luke mcaffrey you know he's a big slot but he's also worked on the outside as well the commanders are going to use him everywhere and I do think Jameson Crowder you know for one he's kind of that smaller quicker short area slot receiver but also the punt return specialist so I think those are your five that to me are just kind of slam dunks after that the question is is it GNA be Bryson Chaine who's six foot4 the tallest dude on the roster outside of Martavis Bryant who just relatively anyway just got here but Bryson train has been making plays all through training camp and not just against the commander defense but he made plays against the Jets defense against the Dolphins defense in those practices the problem is he didn't make any any any any at least any Splash plays right against the Jets or the dolphins in the games and that obviously is more important than just in practice so again this Sunday he's going to get extended playing time would really love to see him go up and Moss somebody uh against new against New England Patriots or lay out you know over the seam and make a really big play for his team because he's been doing it so often in practice and we're telling commanders fans about it but they haven't seen it themselves so it's kind of hard to believe things when you don't see them and I think if Bryson can do that he secures that six spot behind him I think you know Mitchell Tinsley could have a shot margus rosemy Jack sa could have a shot Martavis Bryant is a Dan Quinn guy so maybe he has a shot but I really think that's Bryson trine's job to go take he's just got to go out there and get it or else it's gonna go to someone else yeah that's why I learned a long time ago that when you because the exact opposite when you watch these preseason games and you see these players have these like big games especially like the last preseason game and you know they're battling for a roster spot and then you look at the cuts and well yeah that guy was cut you're like how did that guy get cut he had this like great preseason he had this great preseason game but in some ways it's and again every coaching staff is different every player and Prospect is looked at different but sometimes hey man it it matters more of what you're not seeing in these practices than what you happen to see whereas there are opportunities as you said where it does matter what happens in the gamees to some of these players because the spotlights on we know what you could do in practice but can you do it when the spotlights on so there were different ways to look at it as a fan but um yeah that's why preseason could be very very confusing to fans oh It's Tricky it is tricky because there I've also talked to GMS and coaches uh you know in the past not necessarily from Washington but just having conversations with football people uh you know and a lot of times what will happen is like a starter will set out a preseason game and this unknown player is getting those first team reps be like oh man like this udfa is getting first team reps and he must be doing great was like well no the reality is we're taking a guy from the bottom of the position group putting him with the first team because we don't want to mess up the second unit we want the second unit to run as the second unit so if we move our second unit guy up now our second unit is messed up now our third unit is messed up so instead we take the bottom guy put him with the first team and what ends up happening everybody says this guy's getting first team reps well yeah but not because of the reason you think he is and again it could be the reason you think it is like so you never truly know right so that's that's kind of the tricky part because there's a there's a linebacker in Washington uh Michael Walker who when Bobby Wagner is is getting a vet day at practice or Bobby Wagner's not playing the preseason game he's getting all the first team reps like Jordan McGee got injured so he's been out uh Jordan McGee was getting those reps beforehand and everybody kind of understands like Jordan McGee earned those reps but now with Jordan McGee injured and Bobby Wagner sit out it's actually Michael Walker getting those reps now the question is okay is this a bottom of the roster thing where bringing up Michael Walker or is he legit earning those spots what makes you think he's legit earning those those those reps is because when the second team defense comes in Michael Walker is still there so Michael Walker is replacing Bobby Wagner in the first team defense and then he's getting the second team reps as well in the same position so that gives you a little bit more evidence to say Michael Walker's actually doing really well but in reality nobody's really talking about Michael Walker in in Washington's training camp and he might make this active roster giv the signs and a lot of a lot of fans are going to be looking at us right me and saying sure bro like bro like this dude made the 53 you didn't even talk about him and honestly if that happens I mean I'm going to talk about him in my 53 man roster projection because if that happens I'm going have to tell people like for the last five weeks I I didn't really talk about the dude and here I owe you an apology for that because that's something I should have caught earlier and he was with Quinn right uh because he was in Atlanta Pittsburgh so he came from Pittsburgh before that I think he he might have been in Atlanta there is a connection there I can't remember on top of my head but there is a connection there yeah yeah so I remember because he he went to Fresno and um and and I believe he was drafted by Atlanta I think he was like a fifth rounder or something like that but uh it's nice to see again same situation you got to hook up with the right team and the right scheme and maybe he's found a home um one more thing on the offensive offense the offensive line so I see Coleman there as the starting left tackle even though he was just a third round draft pick uh is that the case is he coming along that well that he's going to start on opening day yeah I mean he honestly hasn't been able to practice consistently or play I mean he he was injured before the Jets joint practice you know what I mean but by that time he had kind of taken over that first team left tackle spot and he suffered a peck injury I think it was his left I want to say it was his left Peck suffered a left peack injury not like a tear or anything but you know more so just just kind of a strain or whatever again they're not being specific because they don't have to be specific but since then he actually just got back to individual drills this week he was able to do padded individual drills on Thursday so that's a great sign I don't expect him to play Sunday night uh and actually Dan Quinn was asked about him and says you know he was getting the first team reps he was kind he was that starter on the depth chart at left tackle uh when the Washington commers release their unofficial depth chart and you know but was like do you need to see him in the preseason to fully trust him and when the regular season starts and Dan Quinn very clearly said in fact this is what he said is there's a difference between need and want do we need to no do we want to yes but if he's not if it's not smart to put him in there with the first team offensive line through the preseason we're not going to do it we're going to save him for the regular season so yeah Brandon Coleman you're starting left tackle whenever he's healthy enough to play again and it looks like he's trending that way given that he was able to do padded individuals this week and then how is the uh the new line looking the new free agent editions you know better is the best way to put that so it's it's really like this offensive line experience has just been kind of crazy Bobby Johnson was the offensive line coordinator in New York for the Giants last year and they were dealing with a lot of injuries and guys got banged up and as one guy was coming back another guy was going down and there just created all this chaos and really he's got to be like pulling his hair out not that he has much to pull out but he's got be like s back saying like what do I do deserve this because same thing we have yet to see the Washington commanders starting five offensive line like we know who they are right Tyler bi is the center Nick alrti Sam cosm your guards Brandon Coleman and Andrew Wy are your tackles we have yet to see those five line up together once it is just not happened to all training camp because when Brandon Coleman was making his rise up to be that starting left tackle Andrew Wy was having to sit out the team reps because he had some tightness we never got an exact location where that tightness was but he was dealing with tightness by the time w was able to come back for that Dolphins practice in Dolphins game from his tightness Brandon Coleman had gone down so we have never seen it now what we have seen is that interior line and I will say Nick alrti looks like a backup guard who's getting an opportunity to be a starter that's not a shot that's not an insult there's some reps where you're like yeah buddy go get them and that's why you're here and there's some reps you're going okay that's why you were back up in Kansas City like it just kind of is what it is and the coaching staff is going to need to just kind of hone him in you know there was there's there's a specific example uh last week against Miami Dolphins where he and Tyler biata are supposed to be combo blocking uh the right defensive tackle for Miami and once they combo block him the guard is supposed to get up to the next level and get that Defender now it's a read option Jaden Daniels ends up keeping the ball but if he hands off that ball to Austin Eckler what's gonna end up happening is he's going to get crushed in the B Gap the reason he's going to get crushed in the B Gap is because that defensive tackle actually went to the opposite side a gap but Nick aligi so focused on getting his combo plock overreached like a like a mfer you know what I mean like when they went to the tape room I promise you Nick was like I can't believe I did that and he's so off balance that when he tries to get to the second level that linebacker just ran right by him and would have just cleaned Austin Eckler if he had the ball so that's a rep where you kind of say okay that's why you're a backup on a Super Bowl team but again that's fixable you just tell Nick like hey dude listen if you got to take more than a 30inch step to reach that combo block just forget it you don't need you don't need to worry about it just get to your second level assignment and Nick is going to do that kind of thing but you know they're looking better when we saw the Jets you know it was it was Trent Scott and it was Chris Paul in there at the tackle positions not even your second and third uh you know your second and third tackles or your third and fourth tackles was actually your fourth and fifth tackles that were in there against the Jets and and it showed it was it was bad you get to Miami you get Andrew Wy back you get Cornelius Lucas who's your backup your swing tackle right your backup left tackle and it looked much better so when you remember that Brandon Coleman is even better than Cornelius Lucas is the the potential there you don't want to get too excited right but the potential there is this could actually be a very solid offensive line uh Stromberg and Daniels part of the other staff but they were you know middle round draft picks have they looked they're not looked apart I mean uh you know Ricky strongberg is just kind of been solid as a backup you know brand Daniels has bounced around he's been playing tackle he's been playing guard I think they're kind of trying to figure out where he's going to go on my 53 man roster projection I do have rookie making it because I've got them keeping 10 offensive linemen and the the 10 that have listed here are the 10 that I have them keeping BR Daniels I think is probably headed to the practice squad um he hasn't done terrible right nothing like there's nothing he's doing bad he's just not doing better than anybody else yeah that's uh not what you would be hoping for uh but then again um this is what you see all the time when new staff comes in okay uh let's go to defense and on the defensive side um what bunch of rookies here um let talking about Newton uh the top rookie and Sandell of course also round two kid but Newton uh is he looking the part is he getting uh is he a guy now that uh looks like he is going to be a really good pickup for them I mean you know we've only got two practices with them like ultimately that's all we've gotten out of him uh those two practices look really good like that's that's the best I can tell you um but unfortunately he suffered a soft tissue issue as well in his foot so it's the same foot that he had surgically repaired after the draft but it is not related to that injury is what Dan Quinn said so it's not a setback it's a different injury which could actually be worse or better I don't know if that makes anybody feel better um the good news is today at practice on Friday he was actually running around like he was doing rehab and he was running so that's good news right um you know the point is to kind of get him ready for the regular season so we'll see if he can be ready for week one or how long it's going to take um I kind of have a feeling he might start the regular season on the pup list to be quite honest with you and that's an automatic four weeks um you know but again the whole point this is you know the commander call it a recalibration we call it a rebuild whatever you want to call it the point is to set this team up the best way for the future so Johnny Newton from a potential standpoint yes he he looks the part from potential standpoint so keeping him as healthy as possible you know I mean honestly if they put him on IR I'll sit here and tell you like they don't need to put him on IR but they're doing it so that his body just has a year to heal and not suffer any setbacks and then they'll come back next year and it's all about the future so but I do think he'll probably start on the pup you know we'll see if he can come back fast enough but I think right now I would I would probably lean towards him starting the season on the pup list all right and you mentioned McGee he also banged up yeah Jordan McGee had a miniscus injury he actually had a procedure done on that injury uh I anticipate him starting the season on IR but on IR with the possibility that he actually does get activated and return during the season but I just I think he's going to need time to recover from you know any need surgery you need time and especially like I said a rookie you're going to want to give him as much time as possible so I think he's goingon to start the season on ir and S still uh big fan really uh being a Michigan fan love Sandra still leader uh what a job he did transitioning from receiver uh to corner and uh just felt that he'd be the perfect Nickel in the NFL so how's he looking so far yeah being an Ohio State fan um I am also a fan of Mike Sanders Still's play just not for good reasons um but yeah Mikey is a stud I mean he's just you know like he's he's just as as ready Pro ready as it comes I mean you know when he got drafted a lot of people Randon ra you know people saying he's my you know pound-for-pound best player in the draft my favorite guy and everybody's being proven right like this dude just from the way he does interviews to the way he prepares to the way he practices the way he plays he's always around the ball Joey junr just says you know he's always around the ball now I want to see him grab the ball um so that's that's the next step and when you're already talking about a rookie like a rookie quarterback right I don't think a lot of people understand like quarterback's a hardest position to transition to from the from the college game to the NFL game a lot of people believe quarterback is the next hardest so Mike Sanders still not only transitioning from the college game to the Pro game but now he's transitioning so well that they're actually starting to give him perimeter reps they're actually looking at him as a perimeter Corner in in certain looks as well so that's how much he's how well he's doing and now we're worried about we're not worried about can he stay in face can he read defense can he react it's now we just want to turn him into a ball Hawk right like dude hasn't even stepped on the field for a real regular season game yet and that's where we're at with his his his development so it just kind of shows you where he's going and then every step of the way like there there's no there's no Shak in this kid he's just he's just confident uh you know I actually saw him today uh giving Jaden Daniels advice being like hey you know on this look you did this when I see you do that here's what I'm doing and this is why I got that pbu and like that's that's amazing like this is you know what I mean like this literally rookie to rookie peer mentoring happening on the so yeah and I mean as far as Mike's concerned he's back at College in Michigan and and Jaden Daniels is the Michigan qu back that's how he's treating it so that's what he was doing there and that's why he was just such a great leader uh what's how about the rest of the secondary because uh boy St juice is just a very hard corner to figure out if you're not a Washington fan you hear you hear this you hear that it's just I I don't know what to think of a kid from the outside perspective um they also have a second round kid Martin who was drafted last year uh so how and Chin I mean boy speaking of another Enigma what to think about Jeremy chin after that great rookie season ever since then nobody's able to figure out what happened to him so yeah what what's the secondary looking like you know the the belief with Jeremy chin is that he was asked to cover a lot more than he should have been asked to cover and in Washington he's not going to have that problem he'll have to cover from time to time right but he's going to be used much more in the Box he's going to be that traditional strong safety uh that you know You' seen like old school football and all that stuff and on there's a lot of times where you actually see him drop down in the Box as almost kind of that hybrid linebacker safety and they bring another safety on the field along with Quan Martin sometimes Percy Butler sometimes Derek forest all that stuff so that's going to be kind of his role and he's actually looking really good in that role he and Quan Martin look like a really good Duo back there for the commanders uh perimeter corner is the question that's that's going to be the problem if there's an Achilles heel on this team it's going to be that it's going to be a Manuel Forbes Benjamin St juice and even Mike Davis I'll be honest with you like you know the commanders list Mike Davis as their starting cornerback opposite of Benjamin St juice which is what a lot of us assumed would happen but it's Emanuel Forbes getting all the first team reps I asked Dan Quinn about it a couple weeks ago said it doesn't really matter it's an unofficial depth chart but it matters it it absolutely matters and the problem though is while Emanuel forb is getting first team reps and he's had some better days lately but in the early part of the preseason definitely had some struggles Benjamin St juice has had some struggles Mike Davis is not necessarily having a bunch of struggles but he's also not flashing going up against second team offenses and and if you've got a guy who is going to be your starting cornerback playing against second team offenses he should be flashing he should be making some plays for your defense so the fact that he's not is actually a little bit troubling and then behind him I mean Tariq Castro Fields uh third-year guy out of Penn State has looked really good at moments but he's also kind of faded away uh towards the middle part and late part of of of training camp and then behind them I mean James Pierre is is is is not gonna challenge anybody for a real job Choi AUM out of Colorado State's an undrafted free agent who uh he actually just went down with an injury yesterday don't think it's a big injury or anything like that and AJ Woods you know's he's just another young guy there's no studs in that perimeter cornerback room and that's terrifying when you're talking about playing not only in a passing league but playing in a passing league on a defense run by joy junr that wants to Blitz the heck out of everybody which means you're leaving those perimeter corners on an island a lot of times so really the only hope is is that Forbes steps up his game that's that's the only hope is that he the light comes on and he's a much more consistent player yeah the lights got to come on and he's gotta get a new pair of feet okay uh what about Martin Quan Martin the second round pick from last year how's he look yeah Quan looks good you know and my concern actually this season is that Quan Martin is going to be seen in a lot of highlight reels chasing down an opposing receiver who's gotten past Emanuel Forbes or Benjamin St juice and a lot of fans are going to look at that say Man quad Martin is terrible as a free safety but what people have to understand is when you're a single High free safety in the middle of the field you got 25 yards to either side of you that you're responsible for in the Deep part of the field and you can't cover all of that and the idea and you know this I'm kind of anticipating arguments I'm going to have to have but you know every every quarterback especially when you're manned up and you know you have only one there's one safety to help everybody on the field you understand one thing first and foremost you can't get beat outside well when that quarterback gets beat outside you're now talking about a deep a single high deep safety who not only has to read it react to it and again they're not necessarily breaking from the most time until the quarterback starts to throw the ball and declare where they're going to go the ball and if your receiver is on the outside of that perimeter Corner that safety now has to not only cover all that ground they've actually got to get over the top of all that to help out that corner it's just not a task you can ask anybody to do uh consistently so my concern is that a lot of people are going to see number 20 coming into a frame late on a touchdown pass and not understand that you know that corner pushes that receiver to the inside qu Martin is not getting there late he's actually getting there on time to lay a hit on that receiver or go up for the ball um so it's going to be an indic that you know that these perimeter Corners don't get beat on the outside the problem is they're getting beat on the outside very regularly you know for as much work as this uh staff has done that Peters has done uh putting this first team together here and all these rookies and free agent moves and yes they they added Sandra still which was an awesome 100% great move it just seems a little surprising that they didn't uh account for at least a veteran a new veteran corner I mean maybe we'll still see someone aren't you are you a little bit surprised that this is it that this is what they're going to go into the season with that outside corner uh I'm a little bit surprised that they didn't do more to to address the perimeter Corner position yes and I'm a little bit surprised they haven't done anything since Stefan Gilmore was kind of the most popular name now you know the fact of the matter is Dan Quinn and Joey junr know Stefan Gilmore more than I or you or anybody else out there does so if they didn't bring him in there's a reason for it I don't know what that reason is but there's a reason for it um but yeah I mean you know right now you look at this roster and you say that's probably where your first round draft pick is goingon to need to go next year is to a perimeter outside corner that can fit your scheme um you know so it's and I'm just hoping you know a guy like me is just making it making too much out of it and like you said the light turns on for Emanuel Benjamin and the scheme turns on as well we I mean you know look we have seen a lot of man a lot of single high in the preseason but we've seen some other looks in training camp and that's the important part is those looks in training camp that we've seen can also be shown in the regular season and in the front seven of course they've got those two uh uh defensive tackles that have been there for a while they've done their job uh do they have or Armstrong kind of killed two birds with one stone especially with the injury uh to Sam Williams uh so uh what do you think about the front seven before we uh wrap this up yeah I like the front you know I think donon Payne and Jonathan Allen are having a lot of fun in this new scheme and I think they're going to play a good amount of games that's going to help free up some of these guys and I think really Frankie louu is is the guy that I think if this front seven really gets humon Frankie louu is gonna make a lot of highlight reels he plays with his hair on fire and I think he's gonna benefit from this game a lot and Wagner another smart move based on his leadership and and and that's again he's still playing good football he's not the same Wagner but leadership most of all right yeah a little bit slower but bwag is still bwag like he's still he's still that dude like he's going to he's going to be a solid piece of this team as long as he stays healthy what's your uh uh prediction or analysis uh overall on what kind of a season you think they're going to have because I actually think this division might be wide open if the Eagles uh haven't kind of gotten over uh what happened last year and if they're still not with it with their head coach that this could be a wide open Division and maybe Washington can do what Houston did just sort of that talk out there with the quarterbacks and all that kind of stuff and the similarity so do you think there's a shot for Washington to kind of make uh a little bit of a surprising move this season you know right now I've got washon I project like six to seven wins I haven't done a game by game regular season projection yet but I'm kind of in the ballpark of six to seven wins which is you know again the way they win those six to seven games can tell you a lot about the the path that they're on uh I think but like you said like is there a path for them to win the NFC East I think there's a path and that path involves the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles continuing to deteriorate from the inside more than they already have and if that happens then they can steal a game against each of those teams now you're looking at you know eight or nine wins if they can sweep the Giants because they should sweep the Giants but you know they've the Giants have had their number Daniel Jones has had Washington's number you know now you're looking at nine or 10 wins and you know look if you get nine or 10 wins in NFC East with those other two teams melting down then you could certainly steal the division makes a lot of sense David great job as always I appreciate appreciate it and again you got the daily commanders podcast so everybody can check that out for all you Washington commanders fan fans out there and we hope to get an opportunity to talk to you during the season yes sir absolutely appreciate you