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The Washington Commanders' rookies showed early flashes at rookie minicamp! Ben Standig joins The Kevin Sheehan Show to give a recap of the minicamp and which players stood out on the field over the weekend.
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00:00We got him?
00:00All right.
00:01There you are.
00:03I know you'd rather just spend the next little while talking about the Wizards,
00:09which we'll get to.
00:10But just give everybody the headlines from rookie minicamp.
00:15Hey, man, my paycheck comes from covering the commanders.
00:19Never upset about talking about that team.
00:23Yeah, I mean, look, obviously.
00:26No, I'm being serious.
00:28You know, look, obviously, you know, the PSA is nothing that happened out there
00:33is going to impact, have my view, the 2026 season.
00:37But it's a good first opportunity to see, you know, with my own eyes,
00:42what these guys look like.
00:44And, you know, obviously a lot of the eyeballs on Sonny Stiles.
00:48And, you know, you look at that and you're like, wow, okay.
00:51You can just see the physical and athletic gifts pretty quickly.
00:56He looks just so much bigger.
00:58You know, than guys who are positioned where he typically is on the field.
01:02You know, that second level in the middle.
01:06Does he look bigger or taller?
01:09Yeah, I would guess taller, I would say.
01:11Yeah.
01:11Taller.
01:11That's probably a better way to say it.
01:13Yeah.
01:16But, you know, I mean, the little movements, you know, again, there's no blocking,
01:22there's no tackling, but like on a play where there was a handoff left to Catron Allen running
01:28down toward the left sideline and a blocker came up the style.
01:33And, you know, it would have been easy just to, you know, sort of rub him out of the play.
01:36Instead, he sort of instinctively dips under where the block is coming from.
01:40And then, you know, quickly is over there to make the play on the running back, if need
01:45be.
01:46It was to the point in the passing game at times where it almost felt like the offensive
01:50game plan was to make sure that the pass went somewhere near styles that he could make
01:55plays.
01:56So, you know, he checked all the boxes of the first impression, what are you looking
02:00for?
02:02You know, all those kinds of kinds of things, you know, beyond that, you know, Antonio Williams,
02:08you know, again, you under, you can just see under his understand quickly, you know, that
02:14he's got that speed and quickness and that that's going to be an interesting component for
02:21this offense.
02:22I mentioned Catron Allen, you know, he looked bigger.
02:27I don't want to say he looked bigger than I thought, but you can see where he's like
02:30going to be possibly the power part of the backfield.
02:33So, you know, I think those to me were just like sort of the basic points of all of this.
02:38They actually did play a little bit more 11 on 11 than I anticipated.
02:41So we did get to see these guys in, you know, some sort of usual settings.
02:47But yeah, I think those are just some of the basic first impressions I had.
02:51Well, so in the 11 on 11, I'm just curious, did the offense look?
02:55Did it look different to you?
02:57Was there more under snap centers?
02:58You're right.
03:00Nothing that happened this weekend means anything and nothing really that will happen the next
03:03few months means much to the regular season than injury discussion and perhaps the addition
03:10of a receiver at some point.
03:12But I'm just curious as to whether or not you got a glimpse of the David Blau offense.
03:19Um, yeah, that's a good question.
03:21I, you know, it's funny because I was watching so much of Sonny's dial trying to think, um,
03:25I don't, I don't know if we got too much of a, of a glimpse, obviously, right?
03:29I mean, you've got, it's like of all the 45 players that were out there, there was only
03:34like, you know, less than 10 that'll be still around come September.
03:38So I don't know if we got much of a glimpse of, of, of too much of, of anything.
03:43Um, and you know, two quarterbacks, one's a seventh round pick and one's a, uh, the
03:48undrafted free agent from John Topkins is there on a rookie tryout.
03:51But so, you know, it's hard to say that we saw too much there.
03:55I will say this, this is like not exactly to where you're going with, but as I said,
03:59there was a fair amount of 11s I thought, and even some other drills that I thought
04:03was okay.
04:04It's interesting.
04:04It's a little bit more than I was expecting.
04:06And it did be lead me to wonder how much are we going to see a tougher set of practices
04:13coming up with the vets than we did a year ago?
04:17I mean, I'm never going to say, boy, those guys are lollygagging out there.
04:21Or anything like that.
04:22But as I say, and it's not about the players, it's just what the drills that they're being
04:25put through.
04:26But, you know, I think we all talked about last year that, hey, this didn't feel like
04:30the, this felt a little bit light for, for training camp and things like that.
04:34And, you know, now you have to wonder as the season played out the way that it did, how
04:37much of that factor in.
04:39So Quinn specifically, Quinn, Quinn specifically said to me when he was on a month and a half,
04:45two months ago, whenever it was, what is it?
04:47May 11th, probably like two months ago.
04:49So he specifically said that we got to go back and look at, you know, he said, it's
04:55very hard to evaluate anything from this season other than did anything we do in the
05:01way we trained and the way we practiced and the way we, you know, handle these injuries
05:05actually lead to more of them.
05:08And maybe that's part of it, the way they practiced.
05:14Yeah, no, for sure.
05:16When I did my player survey at the end of the year and asking things along the lines of
05:23like, what do you guys need to do to, to get back to 2024 level?
05:28And I'm not saying, I don't know if anybody specifically said that the practices weren't
05:33hard enough, but a lot of them did say that, you know, from the jump, we all need to be,
05:39you know, on the same page as far as putting in, putting in the work, putting in the time,
05:45being focused, being part of a group, things along those lines.
05:49So at least it was top of mind to a bunch of players as well about, hey, maybe we do
05:53need
05:53to change some things come practice time.
05:56And again, this is not, it's hard to extrapolate too much out of the rookie camp, but just the
06:02fact that they were doing a little bit more, it felt like to me and others who were there
06:06as well, that that was interesting as, as it regards to what may, what we may see going
06:11forward.
06:12I thought, and I read this from your column, um, you know, not everybody's into this stuff,
06:18but we, we were talking about this on Thursday or Friday show when we got the numbers for
06:25the rookies and the Jersey number that Sonny Stiles chose was 52, which is not, you know,
06:30I think people were expecting a single digit number, you know, zero zoned by Sandra still six
06:36was his number before he became, uh, the, the, Oh, the big O player at Ohio state is in his
06:42final
06:43season there.
06:43But what did he say about 52?
06:48Yeah, he said that he wasn't, well, you know, like you said, he, he, he was surprisingly wasn't
06:52into the single digits, you know, zero, it wasn't an option, but that when he was in, I guess,
06:57at the linebacker room meeting, and I guess on the wall, they have, I don't know if it's
07:03old jerseys, but some type of, uh, recognition of guys who were came through before, uh, Ken
07:08Harvey, uh, London Fletcher, LeVar Arrington, the late money Coleman.
07:12And they, and he of course noticed styles that they're all there, all the, all our numbers
07:16started with a five.
07:19And then thinking about, you know, guys, he grew up idolizing like Ray Lewis and Patrick
07:23Willis, they were 52.
07:25And so that goal ultimately led to him to say, yeah, let's go with the classics.
07:30Let's go down that path.
07:32Of course, a lot of us were also like, well, somebody else wore that 52 recently was a first
07:37round linebacker, but, uh, that, that, that aside, uh, yeah, I mean, it totally get it.
07:43I, I was kind of hoping he'd somehow land on a single digit just because I think that for
07:47a defensive player, it always looks pretty cool when it stands out, but obviously it's hard
07:52to argue against a number like 52, very much a classic linebacker number for sure.
07:57How'd the kicker do drew Stevens from Iowa?
08:02Yeah.
08:02I mean, it looked pretty good now, just to be clear, like from where we were standing,
08:07we typically are standing up on a Hill right next to the building and we're looking out
08:11towards the two fields.
08:12And he was on the far practice field.
08:15And because there was no net between the goalposts, like if you're watching from the side, you
08:19can't really see in or out, but I did walk over at one point to sort of stand closer to
08:24more behind where he was to me.
08:27We just was like, okay, let's look at the whole process.
08:30Now he's not out there with Tress way and Tyler odd to back that in, but the whole motion
08:34looked very, uh, repeatable.
08:39It looked very smooth, you know, watching the distance of the ball, like no matter where
08:45he was kicking from, it didn't seem like the ball was landing like just over the crossbar.
08:49And he said he didn't go out probably beyond like 53 yards.
08:52It was a windy day.
08:54And obviously this is about prepping for week one.
08:57This is just about kind of, you know, starting the process of getting ready for everything
09:01else to come.
09:02But I thought to me, to me, he looked, he looked apart and then more interestingly, you
09:07know, when we finally got the chance to speak with him, but the kicker is such a bizarre
09:11position, the, the mental strength you've got to have to be able to come out there, these
09:17pressure spots and knowing, you know, look, that the kicker is not responsible for 99% of
09:22what is happening in the game.
09:23But when he's out there, it is often the most important part of the game at the end.
09:27And you got to have a certain mentality.
09:29And he came across to me as very, I wouldn't say cocky at all, but very confident.
09:35And it was just the way he was talking about his process.
09:40You know, he, he talked about how he landed with Washington.
09:43It was pretty matter of fact, like, Hey, look, I didn't get drafted.
09:47It is what it is.
09:48So now what?
09:49And, you know, I didn't have an obvious spot to let, to go to right off the bat.
09:53And that, but then Washington jumped in, but so did the bills and so did the Titans.
09:56And, you know, I didn't have an obvious spot to go to right off the bat.
09:57But that Washington, you know, seemed like a better fit.
10:00And he's like, well, why not the other one?
10:02And he's like, well, I mean, Buffalo's got a guy who already makes a ton of money, a kicker.
10:06And, you know, he was just very matter of fact about a lot of different aspects of it all.
10:10Even I was talking to him solo about this, his, the fact that he was at Iowa, it felt
10:17like he must've had more pressure on him than any kicker in the country, knowing that
10:20that offense is terrible.
10:22As he said, every time he went out to kick, whether it was the second quarter or the end of
10:25the game, if he doesn't make this kick, they may not score.
10:28You know, so, so he, he talked about that.
10:31He was, you know, pretty, he basically kind of acknowledged there was some of that.
10:36Of course, he said, look, I, I view every kick I take as being pressure packed because
10:40obviously this is what I do.
10:41But I just liked his general demeanor and attitude.
10:44He wasn't shy.
10:45And I think you need that at that position, because again, it's not always going to go
10:50perfect and you're going to have to come out there.
10:52And oftentimes the whole game is going to come down to you, to you and you, you know, whatever
10:57has happened before, whatever you're feeling, you got to push that aside.
11:00And he seems to have the type of, he seems to have the type of mentality that's going to
11:04allow him to do that.
11:05Uh, the team added a player today.
11:08Tell everybody who that was.
11:09Cause you actually predicted it a few weeks ago.
11:13Yeah.
11:13They brought back Antonio Hamilton, veteran cornerback who they had brought in during last
11:18season or, or I guess I'd say during the last training camp, uh, ended up, you know,
11:24playing a decent amount late in the year when all the injuries, uh, cropped up and that
11:29giants game in particular that they won.
11:31And he was, uh, I don't know, spectacular, maybe it's a bit strong, but he was very impressive
11:36in that game, had some past deflections, was making plays around the ball.
11:40And, you know, it just felt like a relative no brainer right now.
11:45Forget like, who's going to make the team.
11:46They only have essentially four veterans.
11:49And that includes like, including Tram off here, like four guys who have like established
11:54themselves as like legit players in this league.
11:56And then everybody else is some type of journeyman or undrafted free agent.
12:00So they just needed more depth both for the regular season, but honestly just for the
12:04rest of the summer.
12:05Right.
12:06So, uh, Hamilton is back.
12:08Uh, Dan Quinn really liked him last year.
12:10He talked about him very positively at times.
12:13So a relative no brainer to me, I wouldn't be stunned if they bring in, um, another veteran
12:18or even two at some point here, whether it's mini camp or before started training camp.
12:24But, uh, yeah, this was a pretty easy, uh, no brainer to go with, uh, at this point.
12:28And no update on IU from any, from any corner, right.
12:33Of, of any place, just still, nobody knows where he is.
12:37And 49ers are still hanging in there waiting for a trade.
12:42Yeah, pretty much.
12:43Obviously, you know, um, Juwan Jennings signed with the Vikings the other day.
12:46So that takes that off the board, but simultaneously Stefan Diggs had his, you know, the recent legal
12:54matter, uh, wiped away, he wasn't charged with, uh, anything you hear.
13:00So, um, that brings to me the question of, okay, let's talk about Stefan Diggs now.
13:05You know, if you're going to open the door to taking on the risk, even if you think the
13:09risk for IU is completely justified again, he has not played since 2024 and this, that,
13:15the other, well, if we're going to open his door, what about for this guy?
13:18Like I wouldn't necessarily be like pumped for Stefan Diggs based on the whole, we're
13:24building this great culture bit.
13:26He wears out his welcome wherever he goes, but he just was on a team with new England that
13:30just went to the super bowl every year that he played, I think since 2018, where he's
13:34played more than 10 games, he's gotten a thousand yards.
13:38So if we're going to, you know what I mean?
13:39Like why not, why not consider the guy who actually is producing versus the guy who seems
13:45like a guess again, everything with IU is a guess because nobody is talking to him of
13:49that it is publicly reporting anything.
13:52So, um, I, I have no sense that they're interested in Diggs, but I'm just saying he's local.
13:58He's from there.
13:58He, he mentioned the other day.
14:00Sure.
14:00I, you know, I'd listen to Washington.
14:02Why not?
14:02Um, I expect we'll start to hear some more things about Diggs in the coming days.
14:06Again, not necessarily about Washington, but just in general.
14:09And again, I going to go down this route of IU.
14:12I don't know why stuff on Diggs would not be in consideration.
14:17All right.
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