- 2 days ago
Grant & Danny recap the top storylines from Commanders' OTAs...including Jayden looking pretty comfy in the new offense?
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The Commanders were back at the office, though.
00:03OTA day with the media in town in Ashburn to talk to players and coaches.
00:09A lot of content came out of today's workout.
00:12So let's go through some of the big storylines here, Danny.
00:14We'll start with Bill not being on the practice field.
00:17No Ja'Cory Krosky merit.
00:19Nothing major, nothing worrisome here.
00:21But a limited number of players weren't doing a whole lot on the field.
00:25Here's the bigger story in terms of attendance and who was doing things.
00:28Laramie Tunsil showed up.
00:29This is the story to me.
00:31I was shocked by that, but there's definitely a feeling, and maybe I'm just projecting.
00:36But a year ago at this time, no Tunsil, no Terry, guys wanting contracts,
00:39guys saying, you owe me some money, let's figure this out.
00:42There is very much a last year stunk, let's get to work.
00:46You've handled the business of the money.
00:48Laramie Tunsil's been paid.
00:50McLaurin got his contract.
00:51Now let's get after it.
00:53Everybody showed up.
00:54That was awesome.
00:55I love that so much.
00:55So for Tunsil, this is the Trent Williams corollary.
01:00You're welcome to not post.
01:02You better be nasty.
01:04And Trent Williams always was.
01:05Now I wish Trent Williams would have always come to OTAs.
01:07Most of the players see fit to do it.
01:09And I understand it's not mandatory.
01:11And you don't have to do the clap thing where you tell me it's meh, voluntary.
01:14I'm very aware of the difference of the words.
01:16You're obnoxious every time you do that, by the way.
01:18Not you, Grandpa.
01:19I was going to say, when did I do that to you?
01:21You know when you do the clap emoji thing.
01:22Yeah.
01:22So you're incredibly annoying and everyone who's an adult can have a regular conversation
01:26about it.
01:27The point is, it's important.
01:30Otherwise, they wouldn't hold them.
01:32And Trent Williams would never show.
01:33Laramie Tunsil in previous stops didn't show for these things.
01:36I thought there was a 0% chance he'd be there today.
01:38And what he would do is work out on his own, show up, and be really good.
01:41So you go, okay, I can deal with it.
01:43He'd be in shape, he'd show up, and he'd be one of the best left tackles in football.
01:45Yeah, so it's like, it's not my favorite thing.
01:47I wish you'd go, but I understand you're not.
01:48When you don't go, and you suck, Lattimore, comma, Marshawn.
01:54Ha, ha, ha, I see it.
01:56You see, the thing you do doesn't work.
01:57The thing he does works.
01:58There's a difference.
02:00Works, him, doesn't work, you.
02:03Oh, what do I do?
02:04Everything you possibly can to be better at football, show up immediately.
02:07Every time.
02:07It's always the answer.
02:08Should never be side with the player.
02:10They're not going to hang out with you at one loud.
02:11And you guys aren't going to go get a movie and a steak together.
02:14Side with me.
02:15This is where the football team's better.
02:16You show up to practice.
02:17Please and thank you.
02:18So Tunsil posting after the contract thing.
02:21I wonder if that was one of those, like, hey, we need you to take on this role.
02:24And maybe part of that is coming up here and showing up for OTAs, et cetera.
02:27I thought about that, too.
02:28I love it.
02:28I don't think you put that into any negotiation, but maybe there's a conversation on the back
02:33end when they get paid where Dan Quinn goes, listen, man, this is a really big year around
02:38here.
02:38It would mean a lot to us if you could get your butt to OTAs so I could sit at
02:43the podium
02:44and talk about how all of our stars are here and everybody's bought in.
02:48And I think a lot of guys would take note of that, and it would help this program out
02:53a ton.
02:53Now, maybe the next time they're together for OTAs, they'll have something pop up and he
02:57won't be there or what have you.
02:59As you said, he's grandfathered in a little bit to the, I'm not going to lose sleep over
03:04it if he's not there club.
03:06Would I prefer him to be there?
03:08Absolutely.
03:09But the fact that he was is a story.
03:12Does matter.
03:12And this is, to your point, outside of training camp and the official mini camp, which looms,
03:19this is kind of the next biggest deal.
03:21We also heard from Jaden Daniels today on a couple of very important issues, I'll say.
03:27The first of which was operating from under center.
03:31Daniels was really reassuring in talking about playing under center.
03:38I didn't think he would come out and suggest it's going to be hard or difficult or, you
03:44know, I'm nervous about this.
03:45But to hear him speak about how much work he's put in over, not just this off season, knowing
03:52they're making an offensive scheme adjustment and he's going to live under center more often.
03:55But over the years, under center, knowing that this was eventually going to be part of
04:02his game, made me feel better.
04:04However, he at least came off, Danny, like he is not worried at all about doing that
04:10and the footwork, the dropbacks.
04:12It seemed to me like he thinks this is being a little bit overblown.
04:15I'm projecting my own opinion on what he said.
04:17But that is what I took out of it.
04:20We've talked a lot about how stark the difference will be.
04:24He seems to think that this is not going to be a big deal.
04:28And he did it some last year.
04:30In his mind, maybe some and a lot is not that different.
04:34Still not going to be over half the time.
04:36You're still talking about what, 35 to 45% of the time.
04:39You're probably under center in this offense under David Blau.
04:42But doesn't he just have a calming way about him when he starts talking about his confidence?
04:48A, yes.
04:48But B, like we talk about quarterback attributes and he has all of the attributes that you
04:55would want in a quarterback.
04:57So it stands to reason if he's in the pistol, if he's in the shotgun, if he's under center,
05:01he's more likely to figure it out than, say, I would be.
05:04He's more likely than a statue with bad feet.
05:07He's more likely to figure it out than, you know, seventh round Sammy or the dude whose
05:12name I've already forgotten that they drafted this year.
05:14He's more likely than Sam Hartman to get it right.
05:16You know what I mean?
05:16So, yes, it's an adjustment.
05:18I don't think we're making too big a deal out of it, to be honest with you.
05:21I think it's actually a difficult transition.
05:23I dropped my bell.
05:24Sorry.
05:25Yeah, what happened?
05:25I was getting my bell ready just so I could say the name you're looking for is Ethan Kaliak
05:30Manis.
05:30Kaliak Manis.
05:31I believe that's K-A-L-I-A-K-M-A-N-I-S.
05:39Is that right?
05:40Kaliak Manis.
05:42Bell?
05:42I didn't spell it wrong.
05:44Oh, because you, I see.
05:45Yeah, you only get the bell.
05:46You only get the bell when it's wrong.
05:47If you spelled it wrong.
05:48I see.
05:49Right?
05:49Isn't that the spelling?
05:49Well, Charlie and Dave do it different, but they're not the spelling bee.
05:52They do it very different.
05:53They're the Nets broadcasters.
05:54I'm going for Scripps spelling bee.
05:55Do you hear Mina Kimes will be hosting the spelling bee this year?
05:57Oh, so that's what I won't say.
05:59Anyway, the point is, he can figure it out better than most people could, if that makes
06:06any sense.
06:06So, yeah, I think it's an adjustment.
06:08Caleb Williams went through the adjustment.
06:09It was challenging.
06:10It is challenging to do.
06:11When the reason you're in the shotgun is you never have to really, other than a microsecond,
06:16take your eyes off the defense.
06:17Here, you are literally turning your head and executing a fake handoff, et cetera, not
06:23watching what the defense is doing.
06:24You lose sight of stuff, and you have to reacquire.
06:26That is an adjustment.
06:27It's a huge adjustment.
06:29There are guys who do it plenty in college in their offenses.
06:32Daniels was not one of those guys.
06:34Williams was not one of those guys.
06:36If you don't have more of a pro-style offense, in terms of the ask at the quarterback position,
06:42the learning curve is steeper.
06:44And that's where Daniels is going to be.
06:46I like that there was a tiny bit of it over the last couple of years to ingratiate him
06:50and maybe get him into the flow of doing it so you can feel it, so you know what the
06:54footwork has to look like.
06:55But you're still going in as a guy that's basically dabbled very minimally to now majoring in
07:03something in some games, possibly.
07:05It's going to be a big ass.
07:06It's going to be very, very different.
07:08But to just hear his downplaying of it, even though, of course, he's going to do that,
07:14it just makes you kind of take a deep breath and you go, OK, he's got this.
07:18Like, that was the vibe was, I've been playing quarterback all my life.
07:22This is not a big deal.
07:23If you don't want to be unsettled, don't go back to the storylines in Chicago of training
07:27camp last year, where in the first week or two, Caleb Williams looked awful.
07:31Everyone's saying this is going to derail him completely.
07:34His development is going to be completely sidetracked.
07:37Because remember, he really struggled with it.
07:39As the year went on, he got better and better and better.
07:41And now the best thing that ever happened to him was the scheme that Jaden Daniels is going
07:45to be operating, which I think will also be a huge benefit to him.
07:49Yeah, but you got to go through it.
07:50And we talk with us all the time with a lot of stuff that has to do with sports, even
07:55if
07:55it's on the field or off the field.
07:56Think of this, the team going back to RFK, for example.
07:58If you just went, yeah, yeah, yeah, wake up when it's over.
08:02OK, we may end up at the same spot.
08:04But all I was trying to acknowledge is this part isn't easy.
08:07This part isn't easy.
08:08The city council part isn't easy.
08:10The Congress and the Hail Mary at the midnight hour isn't easy.
08:13The lobbying, the we say one thing and then the 11th hour, something else entirely isn't
08:18easy.
08:18My point is, we'll get there.
08:20Jaden Daniels will do it.
08:21He'll be fine.
08:22There are going to be speed bumps.
08:24So if you just go, yeah, whatever, wake me up in September, you're allowed to do that.
08:27That's fine.
08:27My point is, it ain't that easy, but he's the guy that can solve it.
08:30This is where I keep coming back to in camp and in the preseason and to a lesser extent,
08:35but slightly in the regular season, too.
08:38I think we're going to have to give some grace here to this quarterback to just figure this
08:42whole thing out.
08:43I think so.
08:43Now, if you set the bar low and say there's going to be a slow start and there's going
08:48to be struggles and then there's not, great.
08:50Then we can adjust accordingly.
08:52But I don't think it's going to be seamless, nor should it be.
08:55He's never really been asked to do a lot of this.
08:58It's going to take a little bit of time.
09:00This was Dan Quinn on the installation of the David Blau playbook at this point of the
09:06process.
09:06I think the first part is you go, Chig, you know, going against the defense for the first
09:10time.
09:10What's the best routes for him?
09:12How's the best way to utilize him?
09:13So there's like small moments like that to go.
09:16And same thing on Durante's side now that we've added Sonny and what unique things does
09:20he bring?
09:21And obviously, Amik, you know, as a DB and Nick.
09:25And so like all those things are kind of fun.
09:27And each day you're kind of you go home.
09:29Okay, what would that look like differently?
09:30And you want to assess how the teaching is going, how the players are learning.
09:34That's the number one.
09:36That's what you're constantly evaluating.
09:39I got a to-go there.
09:42Remember, you're not familiar with a to-go?
09:44Yep.
09:45That was a really strong to-go.
09:46I never catch it.
09:48Such an unnecessary two-word phrase at the end of a sentence that it doesn't relate to
09:52in any way.
09:52It's just like standing in the room with the sentence that he previously said.
09:58I'd never pick it up.
09:59I don't know why.
10:00You didn't hear it that time?
10:00No, I'm sure I heard it, but I never process it because it's like hidden in there to me.
10:04It might as well be.
10:05But to you, it's like shrieking.
10:07It's the chuseaphone that was sitting in that seat yesterday where you are before we
10:10did the big parade.
10:12For him, how's the best way to utilize him?
10:14So there's like small moments like that to-go.
10:16And same thing on Durante's side now that we've added Sonny.
10:19To-go.
10:20Yeah.
10:21It's a staple.
10:22What is that?
10:24It's just a silence filler.
10:27Meaning like, but is he saying like, that can end, and that's, he's rock and roll with
10:33that, or he's kicking ass with that, and that's part of his skill set.
10:35There are times like-
10:36Like a let's go, but-
10:38To develop.
10:38Most of the time, it's just words.
10:40That's what I'm saying.
10:42To-go, you will listen in the future.
10:45You'll notice it's just an um, basically.
10:50It's like a reset.
10:51It's like his version of you know.
10:54Exactly.
10:55But it's to-go.
10:56To-go.
10:56So, you know, to-
10:57He does not like his food in the restaurant.
11:01He's carryout only.
11:03Dan Quinn is coming in.
11:04He's picking up that plastic grocery bag, and he's walking out with a box and a tray.
11:09And he's taking it to the crib to hang out with the wife.
11:13In London, they don't say to-go.
11:15They say for takeaway.
11:16He's a takeaway guy.
11:17To-go.
11:18Big takeaway guy.
11:19Jaden Daniels was asked about Brandon Ayuk.
11:22This was a really interesting answer.
11:24The thought is that he is advocating hard behind the scenes to get Ayuk to D.C.
11:30What did he have to say to the media about that?
11:32This is the-
Comments