- 1 day ago
Jauan Jennings has been signed by the Vikings, giving Washington one less option to fill out the wide receiver room. Did the Commanders miss out on an opportunity to sign a cheap pass catcher?
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00:00Jawan Jennings not coming to Washington. What are these internet streets saying? People worked up?
00:05I don't know that people are too frustrated because they kind of feel like Brandon Iyuk is going to be
00:10here.
00:10I think the bigger discussion right now has been between Stephon Diggs and Brandon Iyuk.
00:16But for me personally, I don't fully understand why Washington wasn't in on this player a little bit more.
00:21You just said you don't like him.
00:23I'm not a huge Jawan Jennings fan.
00:24But for that price tag, I think he'd be your second best receiver, at least your second most dependable.
00:30Receiver, hopefully Antonio Williams can pass him for the second best receiver mark.
00:35But I just think it's interesting that they didn't even, you know,
00:38Kime was saying that they weren't really a part of the discussions.
00:41You can't count 100% on Brandon Iyuk being here because he's still on another roster.
00:47If you wanted to say that maybe you're going to go sign Stephon Diggs, I can be a little more
00:51in on that.
00:52But I just thought that fit-wise, I think he'd be fine.
00:56I thought at the beginning of free agency that he was going to get way too much.
00:59I thought he was going to get overpaid.
01:01That clearly didn't happen.
01:02And so if that was the amount that he was going to go for, I would have been very interested
01:05in bringing him in for a year.
01:07Jawan Jennings is a seventh-rounder going into his sixth NFL season.
01:11If you are a seventh-rounder going into your sixth NFL season, this will now be his third contract.
01:16He had a rookie deal, got extended at some point.
01:19You do every little thing right.
01:23That's just the reality.
01:24First-rounders, second-rounders even get a little leeway.
01:26Seventh-rounders do not.
01:27He does every little thing right.
01:30Watch Sam Frantate.
01:31Watch him block.
01:33Watch when he knows the ball's not coming to him, complete his routes.
01:35He does every little thing right.
01:38Not a surprise to me he goes to a place like Minnesota with Kevin O'Connell.
01:44I hear you.
01:45One-year, eight mil.
01:47Could Washington have afforded that?
01:49Absolutely.
01:51The bigger topic, I guess, is the receiver angst that exists among the fan base.
01:58And you're not incorrect.
02:00I was listening to Gray and Danny the other day, and Danny was just saying,
02:05we saw what happened when Terry went down and the offense was terrible.
02:09And there is understandable concern if that happens again.
02:14I did kind of a deep dive on the existing commander's receiver room on my sub stack, Toby.
02:21I don't know if you're on that.
02:22I've started writing again.
02:22I enjoy it.
02:23J.P. Finley on sub stack.
02:25And I want to freeze frame the existing room.
02:29Because we can have a Steph Diggs conversation or an IU discussion.
02:33We can do all those things.
02:34But what matters more right now is who's here.
02:37Yeah, who's actually on the roster.
02:38And I think they feel more comfortable than most, a lot of fans.
02:44I think they also clearly, with Antonio Williams, think they've got something.
02:50And I keep circling back to in the third round, early third,
02:55they had their pick of all those wide receivers that were on the board.
02:58And that's who AP took.
03:00Yeah.
03:00And the one thing that I'm not, this is not a vehicle to dump on Luke McCaffrey.
03:08But people are like, man, they took Luke in the third round, and that hasn't produced.
03:12One, Williams was 71st.
03:14Luke was 100th.
03:15That's almost a full draft round in between because of the compensatory picks.
03:19Two, Luke was a project.
03:21Like E.B. Bickle called Stiles a project.
03:24I disagree with that.
03:25Luke was a project.
03:26Yes.
03:26He was a college quarterback turned receiver that played at a small conference for two years.
03:31Luke was going to take time.
03:33Antonio Williams comes in polished.
03:34He was a freshman All-American as a wide receiver.
03:36Right?
03:37So they're different players.
03:39Could another move happen?
03:41Yeah.
03:41Could there be more cuts that we're not expecting?
03:43Yeah.
03:44Like there's a lot of moving parts.
03:47But if you look at the room right now, if Terry goes down, yes, it seems troubling.
03:55But they brought the floor up of that room significantly by bringing De'Ami back, by adding Van Jefferson.
04:01Do you know that Chris Moore was the fifth most targeted wide receiver on this team last year?
04:05Yeah.
04:05That's problematic.
04:07Well, my thing is, and my frustration and question about the wide receiver room is more so, you can go
04:12through that entire depth chart behind Terry McClure and J.P.,
04:15and you can tell me, well, if this guy plays well, if this guy has what we think he can
04:20be, then he could be awesome.
04:21The problem is you're doing it with if.
04:23And, okay, I think this guy could.
04:25And you're living in hypotheticals, and we haven't necessarily seen it with all these guys before, versus if you were
04:31to have brought in a Jawan Jennings,
04:33or if you bring in an IU, which I'm still not a huge fan of doing, but it seems like
04:36they're pretty big fans and keen on doing that,
04:38or even a Stephon Diggs, there's at least a track record that you can go on, versus I hope Antonio
04:45Williams can be Amon Ross St. Brown in the slot.
04:47I hope he can be awesome.
04:48I hope he can get wide open in the NFL.
04:50We just haven't seen it yet.
04:51I hope Jalen Lane can help you out of the slot.
04:53I hope Luke McCaffrey can help you.
04:54I'm hoping Deami Brown looks like the playoff guy that we saw look really, really awesome in Detroit.
04:59I'm hoping Van Jefferson can help.
05:01But it's all hope.
05:02You know, it's one of those things where, well, what happens if they just go back to what their career
05:06average has been,
05:07which is wide receivers down the depth chart, wide receiver four?
05:12Well, suddenly you've got Terry McLaurin and a bunch of wide receiver fours, which is problematic.
05:16Agreed.
05:17I'm just not sure Jawan Jennings is much different.
05:20Like, I think your assessment that he arrives and is immediately their second-best wide receiver,
05:25I mean, it's a dude that's never had a 1,000-yard season.
05:27Two years ago in San Fran, he got to 975.
05:29He got close.
05:30Yeah.
05:31But everyone was hurt there.
05:32I mean, you're not going to sell me on the fact that Jawan Jennings is some great,
05:35because I'm not big on Jawan Jennings, personally.
05:37I was not that interested in signing him until I saw what the deal was.
05:40But, as someone who has now done it for multiple seasons as a reliable wide receiver,
05:45he's probably a wide receiver three.
05:47And that's what he's going to be in Minnesota, and that works out perfect.
05:49But for this team, a reliable wide receiver three type could fit in at wide receiver two,
05:54understanding if Terry McLaurin is Terry McLaurin again and goes for 1,200 yards,
05:57and Antonio Williams is able to grow into that role of being maybe the second reliable option,
06:02and Chigakonkwo is obviously part of the passing offense as well.
06:04Well, like, then you feel a little bit better, versus now I'm relying on the rookie to be good.
06:09I'm relying on De'Ami Brown to be more of what we saw in the playoffs
06:12versus what we've seen for most of his career.
06:14And that's where I'm just a little bit wary, where if that's what you're having to depend on to be
06:18good,
06:19I just don't have the track record to go on to feel as confident.
06:22Could work out just fine, and that's what I'm hoping for.
06:24It's interesting, because if you look at Jawan Jennings' numbers from San Fran,
06:28his first three years in the league were De'Ami, Jalen Lane numbers.
06:32I mean, he averaged, call it, 300 yards a year.
06:37Then he had the big pop in 24, where he went to 975, had 77 catches.
06:42Last year, those numbers dipped back 55 catches for 640 yards, but he did have nine touchdowns.
06:48So, like, I am not here to dismiss, you know, who Jawan Jennings is,
06:54but I'm also here just to show a little bit of clarity for the folks.
06:58Jeff, how are the Internet streets handling Jawan Jennings signing with Minnesota?
07:04Well, all the, you know, it's people who want people in different fan bases.
07:09The people who wanted Jawan Jennings, because it was one guy, I'm not going to put him out there,
07:13I don't want to give him no clout.
07:14He was like, we're going to get him.
07:16Well, I don't know why y'all keep talking about Brandon IU.
07:18We're going to get Jawan Jennings.
07:20He's like, why didn't we go get Jawan Jennings?
07:23I'm like, I thought you knew.
07:24I thought you knew we were going to go get him.
07:26Well, Jeff, most people on the Internet are completely full of it.
07:28Yes, but not too many people are, I don't see too many people complaining about it.
07:34Here's all I'd like to point out.
07:37Five-year career.
07:38So, it's a big sample.
07:40He's averaged almost three catches a game.
07:442.8 career.
07:45He's averaged 35 yards per game.
07:48So, on average, now those numbers have gone up over the last two years,
07:52but one of the things I always like that Mike Rizzo said,
07:55look at the back of the baseball card, it probably tells you the story, right?
07:58So, like, on average, over five seasons,
08:01you're talking about a dude less than three catches a game,
08:03less than 40 yards per game.
08:04So, I just, I don't think this is something we need to get up in arms about.
08:09Could he have helped?
08:10Yes.
08:12Like, for me, as we get closer to the season,
08:15the roster they have now is largely going to be the roster they have week one,
08:21September 13th, right?
08:23Largely, this is who it's going to be.
08:27And eventually, they will be evaluated on their evaluations,
08:31but they feel pretty comfortable.
08:33So, I think when I look at Jawan Jennings versus some of the other guys
08:35that they've been linked to now, it's Stephon Diggs and Brandon Ayuk.
08:38Who's linking?
08:38The Ayuk, yes.
08:39Who's doing the linking?
08:40Well, people are speculating.
08:42Dudes on the internet are saying.
08:44People are speculating.
08:45That's not saying that's the link.
08:46Okay.
08:47The Ayuk, there's real reporting.
08:49There are a million reasons.
08:51And, like, the Diggs is like, man, he's from here.
08:54Yeah.
08:54And he's a free agent.
08:55Yeah.
08:55Like, that is not.
08:56Sure.
08:56Like, a link.
08:57So, with that discussion and looking at wide receiver two,
09:00that's a ceiling where you're raising the ceiling of the wide receiver two position.
09:05Sure.
09:05And you're having a legit wide receiver two, potentially.
09:07I think they've raised the floor.
09:09We don't.
09:09The ceiling looks about the same.
09:11I just think when you bring in a guy like a Jawan Jennings,
09:13it's raising the floor a little bit higher of a wide receiver two.
09:16Where, if Antonio Williams overtakes him, that wouldn't be surprising.
09:19Because that's what you hope happens.
09:21But, just in the case that Antonio Williams takes a little bit to get going,
09:24as some rookie receivers do, especially third-round rookies,
09:27then that's fine.
09:28You just have another guy.
09:29So, that's my thing, is I still think that you're probably correct that they have
09:33raised the floor.
09:34I still think the floor is a little lower than I would like,
09:37especially at that number two spot.
09:38I'm not even talking about the, what if Terry gets hurt?
09:41I'm not worried about that.
09:42That's not something I can delve into.
09:44You know, football happens, guys get injured.
09:47But, I just don't love the idea that now I'm relying on Antonio Williams to go for
09:53seven, 800 yards as a rookie.
09:55If he does it, I think he can.
09:56I absolutely believe in him.
09:57I just don't want that to be, well, if Antonio Williams doesn't go for 700 yards,
10:01then you're screwed.
10:01Like, I don't want that to be the case.
10:03So, why I think that's flawed, I'm going to operate under the assumption that
10:07McLaurin doesn't get hurt again.
10:08Like, it didn't linger.
10:10He played the last six games of the season.
10:11It was productive, right?
10:14If you want to concern yourself with injuries for Terry, like, that's fine.
10:18That's your prerogative.
10:20I don't view it through that prism, but, okay.
10:23Go back to 24, when they won 12 games, and they were really good.
10:27They only have 1,000-yard receiver in Terry.
10:30Their second leading receiver was tight end, Zach Ertz.
10:33OZ went for 500.
10:35Noah Brown went for 450.
10:37Then it was Eckler.
10:38Then it was Deami at 300.
10:40Then it's Luke, and the list keeps going.
10:42But, like, you can spread it around, and your second receiver has 750 yards, and the offense
10:49can be highly productive.
10:49I am far more interested in David Blau's offense getting receivers open.
10:58You know how hard it is to get open when there's no threat of play action, or the run game
11:04doesn't
11:04really merit?
11:05Like, defense is largely new when they were passing.
11:10That makes it harder for dudes to get open.
11:12I'm far more interested in if David Blau can get guys open than do they have a guy that
11:20can go for 800 yards, if that makes sense.
11:22Sure.
11:22No, I think that's right.
11:23I mean, I think Jaden being healthy all season, I think David Blau running a more traditional
11:28style of offense that, like you're saying, marries the run and pass game much better, that
11:33can get guys open who you wouldn't traditionally think of as a second leading receiver on a roster,
11:38but suddenly this guy goes for 700 yards in a season, 800 yards, because they're just open
11:42more, and Jaden's able to find them, and that's a scheme thing.
11:45So, I agree with you.
11:46I think they can get it done.
11:47I just would sleep a little better knowing that there was a little more of a reliable
11:51number two receiving option.
11:52That's kind of my whole point in this.
11:54I still think that...
11:55And that's a fair point.
11:55I think, to their credit, though, there's probably four or five guys that you look at,
11:59J.P., and you're like, well, maybe Luke McCaffrey takes the year three leap.
12:02You know, we saw some improvements last season.
12:04Maybe Jalen Lane's better year two.
12:05Maybe Antonio Williams is awesome right away as a rookie.
12:08And by the way, I'm big on Antonio Williams, so I think that could be the case.
12:11But it's just a little bit more of uncertainty versus I'd like some certainty, and who knows?
12:16If they get Brandon Iyuk in here, maybe this whole discussion is moot.
12:18Anyways.
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