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Ben Standig joins the show to discuss the Commanders draft plans, remaining free agent news, and other headlines around the NFL.
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00:00Hey, Ben Standing joins us now to talk some commanders and NFL last man standing, Substack.
00:08My friend, how are we doing today?
00:10We're doing well.
00:11I was just thinking about, you know, you're talking about the Wizards tanking.
00:17I was all for it.
00:19The last couple weeks have been rough.
00:22But then you look at what happened with the commanders.
00:24You know, in the NFL, tanking is not really a realistic thing because of the nature of the sport and
00:32the physicality and all that.
00:33But in 2024, we were all already at the end of the 2023 season.
00:39We were all like, hey, I was just keep losing.
00:41Like, just get to the end because we understood the quarterbacks were there.
00:45This year, it was like, wait, they have the quarterback.
00:48This stinks.
00:50Nobody wants to see this.
00:52The commanders wasn't trying to lose.
00:55The Wizards are trying to lose.
00:57Yeah.
00:57That's the difference.
00:58Yeah, I know, for sure.
00:58I went into this season expecting nothing.
01:01And when they first came in and set out the whole thing about how they were going to do things,
01:07try to reset.
01:08And you remember that they built the Oklahoma City Thunder.
01:11And I look at that team and I say, okay, then if they're going to do something like that, whatever
01:16they do, I'm cool with it.
01:17They can't lose enough to make me mad.
01:22Wow.
01:23I mean, because they came in this thing saying, we're not trying to win.
01:26Yeah.
01:27We're trying to keep that pick and we're going to get people and we hope to improve, guys.
01:31If you look at that thing and you're not excited about Will Raleigh, something's wrong.
01:36Okay.
01:37That kid can play.
01:37I hear you.
01:40Refresh my memory, Ben, about the season where they probably should have been tanking.
01:45There was a two-point conversion in Miami.
01:49Yes.
01:50Yeah, I remember that.
01:51I was sitting right there.
01:51What year was that?
01:53Ryan Fitzpatrick was the quarterback for the Dolphins.
01:55Yeah, that was going into the 2020 season.
02:00Okay.
02:01Or the 2020 draft, I should say.
02:04That's when they took Chase Young.
02:05The number one pick was Joe Burrow.
02:07If they had lost one more hit in the Miami game, they would have had the number one pick.
02:11That was the Burrow draft with Chase Young, and it was a two-pointer that either they
02:17tried or Miami tried that either failed.
02:20It was like a dumb play, and you're like, okay, this is tanking right here.
02:24Yeah, that was the game after.
02:25I think it was the first game right after Jay Gruden had been fired.
02:28So they were 0-5, and that was their first win.
02:31So, you know, obviously.
02:33Miami went for the two-point conversion, didn't it?
02:35Yeah, I think it was Miami.
02:36Miami went for it and didn't get it.
02:38Miami went for it.
02:39And it was like a complete turd play that had no chance, and you're like, okay, I see
02:45what you're doing.
02:46Because had they just kicked the extra point, they would have gone to overtime, I believe.
02:50Yeah.
02:51I mean, you know, to that end, the Giants, ahead of the 2024 draft, and this year, well,
02:58this year probably maybe wouldn't have mattered, but like in 2024, like they won late in the
03:03season, and that led to, you know, that led to them falling outside of the top three to
03:10get either, you know, Williams, Daniels, or May, and that was the big one when the Washington
03:14was playing in, at the Giants, and the reference was Randy Bullock, the Giants kicker, made like
03:19a 50-something yarder to win the game.
03:22And again, I think, you know, I know there are fans out there who can't stand to lose no
03:26matter what, but I think most people were kind of like, yay, Randy Bullock, good job.
03:32Now, look, I mean, we say tanking does not happen in the NFL.
03:36Teams are starting to find some kind of creative edge ways around it.
03:40I mean, the Raiders arguably kind of tanked because they shut down Max Crosby.
03:44Crosby got very bitter about it.
03:46He was like, I can play, what are you doing?
03:48I don't know, Margle.
03:49And then they end up losing out, and they get Mendoza, or they're going to get Mendoza.
03:54And then they try to trade Crosby, and then his medical comes up, and they have to go,
03:57whoops, sorry, we'll have to take him back.
03:59So how about that for a turn of events?
04:01Even though he was like pissed off, wanted to play, turns out his knee was not right.
04:05Nah, his knee was right.
04:06That was a bunch of BS up there.
04:07Oh, you do?
04:08Oh, really?
04:09But they found out they can go and get your boy from Cincinnati and didn't have to give
04:13up the picks.
04:14Yeah, that's all that was about.
04:15But they could have figured that out well before the trade.
04:18Well, once they made the trade, they really, because Hendrickson wasn't, they weren't
04:22going to release him at first.
04:23Once he got released, then they don't have to give up picks, so of course they did.
04:26The Ravens have that reputation, though.
04:27When are they going to release actual MRIs and x-rays to us fans on NFL Plus on Miami?
04:35Never.
04:36So I can look at the MRI myself as a fan and go, oh, let me take a look at
04:40that.
04:40You can't look at my medicals.
04:41I want to look at the all-22s.
04:43I want to look at the MRIs.
04:44You can look at all-22s.
04:45You can't look at the medicals.
04:46But for years, they wouldn't let us look at the all-22s.
04:50And now it is absolutely.
04:51They finally got to the point where they can let you see, and you still don't know what's
04:54happening, for the most part.
04:55That is true.
04:56That is true, but there are some good ex-quarterbacks out there putting in the time and grinding
05:02through it.
05:02You ever watch O'Donnell, not O'Donnell, the quarterback school guy?
05:08Is it J.T. O'Sullivan?
05:09Yes.
05:09You ever watch his stuff?
05:10See, those guys know.
05:24Watched a full J.T. O'Sullivan breakdown.
05:28No.
05:28I get it.
05:30Ben, have you?
05:32I have.
05:33I haven't done it as frequently.
05:35But yeah, there's other ones.
05:36You know why you haven't done it as frequently?
05:38Because each one is over an hour long.
05:41Like, they are so in-depth.
05:45And I've watched him, and he'll go through it.
05:47He'll scrub a single play four or five or six times, and he will say, yeah, I don't really
05:54know what Jordan Love is trying to do here.
05:57I kind of like it.
05:58What we used to say is on flat routes, you always want to lead to the outside landmark,
06:04but maybe they coach it differently.
06:07He includes, Ben, a ton of ambiguity, which I respect.
06:11Yeah.
06:11Because he's not just saying, this throw sucked, he shouldn't have done this.
06:15He realizes he's not entirely certain.
06:18Yeah.
06:19I so appreciate that.
06:21And yeah, I mean, I think, look, obviously it's very interesting to get your hands on the
06:25All-22, and for the people who really dive into this, who've done it, even if you're
06:29not a former player or coach, you know, you do it enough, just like anything, you get
06:33reps.
06:33You learn some things, but when they respond with such, you know, definitive answers as
06:39to, oh, this is stupid, that should have happened, what, you're like, how do you know?
06:43Like, I mean, there was a play out, there was a play last year, well, actually, it was
06:49the play, the green, against the Green Bay, when, I'm blanking on it, the tight end for
06:55the Packers caught, like, a long pass up the field, and, like, it looked like Bobby Wagner
07:01was trailing, and we couldn't quite tell, and it was, you know, one of the bad times,
07:06and I was curious about it, so I went and asked people about it, you know, over the
07:11next few days, and I asked three or four different players, and, like, you know, Dan Quinn was
07:16asked, or Joe Witt was asked, and I swear I got, like, three or four different answers
07:20as to what actually happened, and there was a responsibility, were you in trail technique
07:24or not?
07:25Because, see, depending on the person you ask, they tell you according to what they're, what
07:29they know.
07:30What makes them look good.
07:30No, what they know, really, because, like, you never notice, like, a quarterback, the
07:35quarterback coach or office coordinator go, I'm going to talk to the quarterback and see
07:38what he was seeing.
07:40So, the quarterback drops back and sees something.
07:42You're on the side, or you're up top, or whatever, you see something, you see totally
07:47different than what he sees.
07:48So, if you go to him and you say, what were you looking at?
07:50Well, I was going to go here, but I saw this guy coming to the fray, so I threw it
07:54the other
07:54direction.
07:55What could you, what could the coach really say?
07:58Oh, well, I thought you should have went over here.
08:01Dude, you don't see the angle I see.
08:03That's right.
08:04And that's why, like, when I, I remember distinctly running a return, and I got to the
08:09side on the Harbaugh Lake, we had left return on.
08:12I'm like, I know.
08:14He said, but you never went left.
08:15I said, I started left.
08:16Everybody jumped outside.
08:17I went straight up the football field.
08:18I scored a touchdown, coach.
08:20He said, that's why I never bothered you anymore.
08:22So, wait.
08:23Because he didn't see what I saw.
08:25Harbaugh actually asked you after a return for a touchdown, why did you not follow?
08:30He said, we had left on, but you never got to the left.
08:33I said, because everybody jumped outside.
08:35And he said, that's why I don't bother you.
08:38Was it at home, or was it on the road?
08:40It was against the Saints.
08:41But where was it?
08:42In New Orleans.
08:44By the way, to that end, the other thing that is frustrating as a watcher of people
08:49breaking down the film is they are slowing it down to the, you know, as slow as possible.
08:54And you're having to make, Brian's having to make this decision in real time.
08:57I was just like watching some video the other day of like, it was like somebody in a batting
09:01cage that had a really tight camera right behind the hitter.
09:04And it showed, here's what a 95-mile-an-hour fastball looks like, and here's what a slider
09:09looks like at the same speed.
09:10And you're like, you have to make that call instantaneously.
09:13Yes, you do.
09:13But we're all going, how did you miss that?
09:15You're like, ugh.
09:17So, yeah.
09:17Imagine breaking down quarterback film, Ben, if there was a camera mounted inside the
09:22quarterback's helmet, and you had to look through what he was seeing on a play.
09:27Yeah.
09:27Boy, that would be a hugely different thing, wouldn't it?
09:29Zane, don't give nobody no idea.
09:31Well, actually, I am kind of waiting for that.
09:33That's the next thing they're going to try and do.
09:35That would be sweet, yeah.
09:36No, I actually am waiting for that, because when it became known that Jaden was using
09:39the virtual reality simulator, that's essentially what that is.
09:44He gets to sit there, and I remember, I think it was like Cliff Kingsbury said, like, the
09:49first time he put it on, he like, as the rush was coming toward him, he felt himself like
09:54taking steps backwards, you know, because it felt that real.
09:59It felt so real when you were like nervous, going, oh, no, they're about to tackle me.
10:02Yeah, yeah.
10:03Yeah.
10:04All right.
10:04Does Ben Standing have a mock draft, and when will it come out?
10:09Yeah, I've had a few already, but it's been, you know, obviously the information is pretty
10:16light these days, not just with Washington, but really everywhere, and it's a weird draft
10:20because at the top of the board, after you get past Mendoza to the Raiders, there's very
10:26little certainty with what's going to happen, what teams are going to do, which players will
10:32be there, which, you know, who's going to be available for Washington, so it makes it
10:36challenging, but, you know, I think the good news is that because of how Washington handled
10:41its offseason, you know, obviously made some significant additions, but at least everywhere,
10:46you know, sort of covered up some of their holes, so if they had the play tomorrow, so
10:50to speak, that, you know, they have something.
10:52So they can kind of go in any direction, and I believe that, and I think there's players
10:57who will be there for them that they'll probably walk away saying, this is pretty good.
11:01You know, I think getting, like, Sonny Stiles, the Ohio State linebacker, might be closer
11:07to the top of the list.
11:08I think the Notre Dame running back, Jeremiah Love, is a fascinating one because it's just,
11:14you know, typically you don't take a running back that high, and it's not like they have
11:18a screaming need there, but they do have a big need for more playmaking on offense,
11:22so if they think he's interesting, you know, do they make that move?
11:26So, you know, they're in pretty good shape, but Stiles is sort of what I have now, but
11:29if you told me he went four, I'd be like, sure.
11:34So, like, the thing, I know the running backs, and just like you're saying, Stiles, they don't
11:39do that, the inside linebacker that Zay was stating earlier, they don't draft those guys
11:44super high anymore.
11:45Or why is it about, what is it about Stiles that make people think, oh, now we can go
11:50back to picking people in the top ten?
11:53Yeah, I think it speaks more to, people don't seem to love the more premium position guys
12:00to the degree that you would want them to.
12:03Like, you know, David Bailey or the Texas Tech edge rushers are more of that sleek guys.
12:09You can imagine coming off the edge, whereas, like, you know, Reuben Bain, we've talked a lot
12:13about him, he's got the power inside and the short arms and all that.
12:17I think people like them, but they're not like, ooh, I've got to take this guy.
12:21And so, because of that, I think the players that are, like, viewed as this is what you
12:25want to see out of this position are oddly the guys at these non-premium positions.
12:30It was Stiles at linebacker, Caleb Downs at safety, love at running back.
12:35None of those positions are typically coveted inside the top ten, just when you look at it
12:40from an economics value, essentially, that they're just not, that's not where the league
12:45values players where they spend their money.
12:48But, yeah, I mean, I think in a draft where there's more uncertainty, taking the best player
12:54out of position, so to speak, trumps the position value, or at least that's the sense this time.
13:02That's why I love to go as high as, you know, top four, even though, again, especially if
13:07you're, like, a bad team.
13:08It's one thing if you're, like, a pretty good team just missing that one piece.
13:12It's another thing to be like, we stink, but we're going to add the running back here.
13:16Like, that's kind of, that's kind of an odd move.
13:19That's why I thought the Raiders last year taking Genki at six was a bad choice, because
13:23they were just so far away that the running back is not going to, you know, make a difference.
13:27And, obviously, running backs, unfortunately, typically have a shorter shelf life than other
13:31positions.
13:33So, yeah.
13:34But, yeah, I mean, I think they could use love here.
13:36I just don't, you know, again, will they view it as a good value for them is the question.
13:40Message question.
13:41I don't, you've interviewed a lot of front office people.
13:44Have you ever asked them the question, what do you put more weight on, the film or the
13:49damn Bikini Olympics?
13:52Or, yeah.
13:53Because, see, film, to me, it's way more valuable.
13:57Like, when they tell me a guy, Ruben Bay, oh, he got short on, one-eighth of an inch
14:01shorter than what they like, one-eighth of an inch, which is absolutely nothing when you
14:05think about it.
14:07If he kicks people's ass on a consistent basis, I don't care about that if I'm watching it.
14:11And then, as soon as the measurements come out, people completely change their mind
14:15on people, which, to me, if I ever hear a general manager say, I care more about those
14:22things at the Bikini Olympics than the film, then I'm going to believe it.
14:25It's the Underwear Olympics.
14:26I believe that.
14:27The Bikini Olympics is something entirely different.
14:29I call it bikini because it's soft.
14:31I will get to the point where I will stop believing in the damn NFL.
14:34Well, if they tell me I care about that more than I do about what I see on film, because
14:40what you see on film is three, four years sometimes of consistency.
14:44And then I go run where, when I was coming out of college, there was no such thing as
14:50a training thing for combine things, combine workouts.
14:54Right.
14:54Now you've got hundreds of them all over the country that train people specifically for
15:00the combine.
15:01You know, it's funny.
15:03You talk about the people that prep just essentially for the combine.
15:06We see this in sports all the time, right?
15:08We see this in the NBA right now where the mass nerds have taken the three-point shot and
15:13kind of broken the game because they've made it so efficient that it's no longer just everybody
15:18does the same thing, but can you shoot three better?
15:21Here, it's sort of the same deal because there's such specialized training for it, it's hard
15:26to know exactly at times, does it matter?
15:29You're not taking the raw athlete and just saying, okay, well, how, you know, what can
15:33you do with these things that, yes, and I'm with you, Brian, I don't think teams view that
15:37as the end-all be-all.
15:39I think they view it as, okay, I really like this guy, but where's the upside going?
15:43How do I, how do I predict what's going to happen?
15:45Well, let me look at the athletic traits, size, weight, speed, whatever, and look at these
15:50things and say, okay, I see where this can go, or you're like, mm, I don't, the mention
15:56suggests to me this guy might already be matching out and therefore, you know, that drops him
16:01down below somebody else, so, and I do wonder at times do teams have to sort of sift through
16:08that, like, okay, this guy trained exceptionally well to do this random thing?
16:13I mean, even, like, the 40-yard dash, which we all make a big deal about, but, like, you
16:18don't run 40 yards straight in the game.
16:20Yeah.
16:21Yeah.
16:22Well, in defense of the combine, I feel like a court-appointed attorney now for a very unpopular
16:27client, because I know how much you hate the combine, the Bikini Olympics.
16:31I don't know what your name is.
16:32The Under-Olympics.
16:33Bikini Olympics sounds sexy, but you don't know some, like, if a guy's playing against inferior
16:39competition in a lesser league, he's going to look really fast.
16:43He's going to look really fast.
16:44But he's playing against inferior.
16:45Because he's going to be blowing by a bunch of chumps who are going to be bread truck drivers.
16:49But he looks better.
16:50He looks better than running by himself.
16:52Yeah, but it's not bad to know exactly what the horsepower is.
16:57Not bad exactly to see what the top-end stuff is in there when needed.
17:01That's all I'm saying.
17:02Don't make it the Bible, B-Mitch.
17:04Well, at least get a measure on it.
17:05Make them, if you want to see what they can really run, I would say stop worrying about the 40.
17:09How come they don't?
17:10They can run more of a 60.
17:12Give them a little extra.
17:13Okay.
17:13By the way, there's a history behind why it's the 40.
17:17And it's because Mike Brown, many years ago, general manager, I believe this is the story, Ben.
17:24I don't know if you've heard this.
17:25The general manager, back in the day of the Browns, said, well, 40 is about the length guys run on
17:32a kickoff in coverage.
17:34So that's why we're going to have them run the 40.
17:37Well, I tell you, that man can add.
17:39Because they were kicking from the 25-30, and they run all the way down to the other damn 10.
17:45I'm going to look it up.
17:45That's way more than 40.
17:46I'm going to look it up.
17:47This was the story that I read, basically, which was, yeah, that was the reason they went with the 40.
17:52I know this.
17:53If it was me, I would have a long throw competition for quarterbacks.
17:58I want to know exactly how many yards can you put it in the air, just so I can see.
18:03Guys would be probably blowing out their elbows, but still.
18:06All right, Last Man Standing, Substack, and Podcast, check it out.
18:10Check out Ben on Twitter, at Ben Standing, S-T-A-N-D-I-G.
18:15Thank you, my friend.
18:16I always appreciate it.
18:18Talk soon.
18:18Bye, bro.
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