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Week 1 of the Washington Commanders' OTAs is in the books and many want to know what did we learn so far? Kevin Sheehan lists his biggest takeaways from Week 1, and what will we learn in the coming weeks in preparation for the 2026 season.
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00:00So I got this from Terry D. Terry D wrote me. He wasn't the only one. There were several like
00:08this. And it's an annual tradition to get during OTAs and even during training camp to get a lot of
00:14people who get ginned up on the team.
00:17Um, and it comes from a lot of the reports from the people on the beat, some of the video
00:22clips that come out, some of the things that are said. Terry D writes, Kevin, I know you don't think
00:27much of OTAs, but all the talk last week was really positive.
00:32Chig looked sharp as in a con quo. Deami picked up the chemistry with Jaden from where he left it
00:40off in the playoff game in Detroit. Wow. They're already back to that level of chemistry.
00:47Terry, as in Terry McLaurin in early is already paying off. And the best news yet styles and Williams, that
00:58would be Antonio Williams, Washington's third round pick are ready to play at a high level right now.
01:05I don't think you're going to need time to grade this last draft. I hope you've been following along and
01:14will weigh in when you get back.
01:16Um, thank you for that. I, I don't know if Terry's, I think he might be playing with me. I
01:24think he knows what I think about those that get super pumped up this time of year.
01:29And I think he was just trying to get me, but if he's being serious, I mean, God bless you,
01:37bless your heart, bless your heart, Terry D bless all of your hearts that are really into the play by
01:42play of OTAs.
01:43Look, there's a market for it. I'm not begrudging anybody that disseminates information from OTAs as if it actually means
01:52anything, as I've said for many, many years.
01:55And this seems to be an annual tradition of talking about the reactions to OTAs, the reactions to training camp.
02:04Um, the only thing that really we can take and register and do something with it is information about injuries.
02:16They're real. And by the way, I would also suggest injuries really to high level players, borderline elite level players.
02:25You know, unless you get a rash of injuries, which by the way, the giants have had, have you been
02:30following their situation?
02:31They have lost three players to season ending as in 2026 season, ending non-contact injuries during OTAs, including the
02:41cat that was supposed to replace Dexter Lawrence along their defensive front.
02:45They also went out and signed OBJ Smith Schuster yesterday and Braxton Berrios, three wide receiver signings because Malik neighbors.
02:55Is likely going to be out for a long period of time in 2026.
03:02He had a second surgery.
03:04I feel badly for, uh, him because he was Malik neighbors.
03:10I'm side getting sidetracked here, but I don't want to lose this thought thought Malik neighbors is an elite talent
03:16elite.
03:17We saw it in his second game.
03:20It was his second game, right?
03:22Last year, the first game after the, in 2024, when he caught like double digit balls, but then dropped a
03:29ball in fourth and six in the game in which the giants didn't have Graham Gano when he got hurt
03:33and Washington won with seven field goals.
03:35Uh, that was the second week of the season.
03:37I believe in 2024 anyway, uh, I'm getting sidetracked injuries, trades like the two made yesterday and then big, you
03:47know, late summer or early summer additions to the roster or deletions from the roster.
03:52But usually if somebody gets deleted and it's not an injury, it's because they weren't going to be very good
03:56to begin with, but like a summer roster addition, like a Brandon Iyuk or a Stefan digs.
04:02These are the things that are truly subs, you know, substantive, you know, in terms of this time of year,
04:09occasionally you'll get a piece of information from a coach or a player.
04:13That's why I like listening to these, uh, interviews, these press conferences, because they can sort of, you know, if
04:19you're paying attention, sometimes there will be a tell there.
04:22Sometimes they'll say it directly.
04:24And, you know, certainly there are people, uh, in this town that, uh, get information sometimes that isn't necessarily made
04:32public, but I mean, Terry D, if you're serious, I mean like Antonio Williams, look, you may be right about
04:39Sonny Stiles and Antonio Williams.
04:41You know, you may be right about Terry McLaurin.
04:43You may be right about, that's my favorite one.
04:46Um, Diami and Jaden already, it's clear that they had the chemistry that they had towards the end of the
04:552024 season in the Detroit playoff game.
04:58What did, uh, Diami do?
05:00He had that, you know, he had a, that unbelievable catch over the shoulder that Jaden dropped into the bucket.
05:07Remember that one?
05:09Um, what was his stat line?
05:13He had a very good end of the season.
05:15I do remember that.
05:17I remember that Diami Brown really started to come on towards the end of the season.
05:22He had five catches for 89 yards.
05:24Oh, that's the Tampa game.
05:26Uh, and the Detroit game was 98 yards.
05:32Yeah.
05:33Six for 98.
05:34He had a good post season.
05:36He had in the post season, he had 14 catches for 229 yards, 16.4 yards per catch.
05:43One touchdown, uh, in, uh, in 2024 and definitely his, you know, his productivity picked up towards the end of
05:52that season.
05:54My, what, what I'm going to say to you, Terry, if you're actually being serious is everything you said actually
06:00may come to fruition, but it's not coming to fruition.
06:05It's not coming to fruition, fruition based on what you've read or what you've seen at this time of year.
06:11It just isn't.
06:12Uh, I went back, um, before the show this morning, cause I wanted to just in an effort to kind
06:17of make the point here.
06:19About the NFL is, you know, a 12 month, uh, out of the year sport now.
06:25I mean, we're, we're getting ready to tip the NBA finals tomorrow night.
06:28And the only thing being talked about this morning on any of the morning ESPN shows, uh, is the two
06:36trades.
06:37The NFL just dominates.
06:39We know that I went back and looked at, um, preseason odds for last year.
06:43We've, we've done this before, but I actually took it a step further.
06:46The preseason, the top five preseason favorites last year were Baltimore, Buffalo, Casey, Philly, and Detroit.
06:52All right.
06:53They were the top five favorites to win the Superbowl last year.
06:56Uh, Baltimore, Buffalo, Casey, uh, Philly, and Detroit.
06:59Only one of those five teams made it to the second round of the postseason.
07:03That was Buffalo.
07:04Uh, by the way, they did it in incredible fashion.
07:07I still think that the Buffalo Jacksonville playoff game last year was the best of the
07:13playoff games.
07:14Uh, and Jacksonville would have been a threat had they won that game, um, to win another.
07:20But anyway, uh, I digress.
07:21Those were the top favorites.
07:23Obviously, you know, as much as I rely on the desert, it's much more about a week to week
07:28thing with the boys in Vegas, with the odds makers offshore, that's where they really kind
07:34of hone in on stuff.
07:36The preseason stuff is trying to create a number that creates, you know, equal action.
07:41Uh, but, uh, those were the top five favorites.
07:45Obviously Detroit and Kansas city and Baltimore didn't even make the playoffs.
07:49Uh, Philly got beaten the first round Buffalo one, one playoff game.
07:52But how about this to just further, uh, amplify the point about nobody knows anything this time
07:58of year and nobody knows anything in September either, because this story on ESPN.com ran on
08:04September 4th, 2025, uh, a couple of days before last season kicked off with Philly and Dallas
08:10on a Thursday night at the link, 68 ESPN personalities weighed in with their AFC champion
08:18pick, NFC champion pick, Superbowl winner pick and league MVP pick.
08:23All right.
08:24Uh, we know that Seattle and new England played in the Superbowl, a Seattle beat the Rams and
08:32new England beat Denver.
08:34Those were the final four teams.
08:35Uh, the Ravens were picked by 30 of the 68.
08:38They didn't make the post season.
08:39The bills were picked by 19 of the 68 ESPN people.
08:44They got to the second round.
08:45The chiefs were picked by eight.
08:47They didn't make the playoffs.
08:48The Eagles were picked by five, the lions three, the Broncos got a pick.
08:52The Buccaneers got a pick and the Packers got a pick.
08:55None of those teams were in the Superbowl.
08:58Only the Broncos, only the Broncos made the final four.
09:04The Rams weren't even in the mix.
09:06Seattle was far from the mix.
09:07Seattle was far from the mix.
09:08I told you this before, Seattle and new England's over, under numbers last year, heading into the
09:13NFL season, seven and a half.
09:15That's what Washington's is, uh, heading into 2026.
09:20Uh, the AFC champion pick Ravens got 33 out of the 68.
09:24The bills got 25.
09:25The chiefs got nine.
09:26The Broncos got one.
09:27So nobody got, uh, an AFC champion, right?
09:30And nobody got an NFC champion, right?
09:32The Seattle Seahawks didn't get one vote out of the 68 and the Rams who played in the NFC title
09:37game only got one vote.
09:38The Eagles and the Packers and the lions were the real threats.
09:42Uh, league MVP, uh, last year was Matt Stafford out of the 68 ESPN personalities making preseason
09:49picks.
09:50Nobody gave Matt Stafford a chance to win the MVP.
09:55And I'll also mention nobody had Drake may as an MVP candidate.
10:00If he finished second Lamar Jackson, Burrow, Josh Allen, Mahomes, and Jaden Daniels were
10:06the top five picks to win the MVP prior to last season.
10:12We just don't know much guys this time of year.
10:15It's the best part of the sport.
10:17It's so unpredictable.
10:18There are so many things that you just can't possibly predict, you know, in May or June or
10:25July or August.
10:26Sometimes it takes until November to really figure it out.
10:31I, I did love Ken law though.
10:33I love Ken law just dropping.
10:35I mean, he used the S word is essentially a comma, uh, between mentioning how many of
10:43his new teammates can go and are M efforts because you know, away can go.
10:52He can go a many, Hugh.
10:54He can go.
10:55Kayla Vaughn can go.
10:56Settle can go.
10:58Dietrich can go.
10:59Uh, DA can go.
11:00That's Doran Armstrong.
11:01He's coming back.
11:02We know he can go.
11:03D pain can go.
11:06I hope he's right.
11:07I'll tell you what.
11:08I thought Ken law was good last year.
11:09I think Ken law will be good this year.
11:10And I do think that, uh, you know, I, there was another, I mean, I, I copied and pasted
11:18a bunch of these emails and tweets that I got while I was away about OTAs.
11:22Where was the other one?
11:24Um, this one from Glenn, Glenn wrote really.
11:29He missed you this week.
11:30He meant last week.
11:31Seems like every move Adam Peters made in the off season is paying off.
11:36Now, just one Iuke or digs domino to fall and look out.
11:40Yeah, it's way too premature, uh, to say that Adam Peters, uh, off season is paying off.
11:49That doesn't mean that you can't have an opinion about Adam Peters off season, about what might
11:56happen and project what will happen and hope will happen, uh, and even feel strongly about what will
12:03happen.
12:03But there is nothing that's happened so far that's, that would tell you that Adam's off season
12:14is paying off.
12:16That won't be realized if it's realized until the game start in September.
12:21It doesn't mean that I don't like what he did.
12:23Cause I do like what he did.
12:24I love a, he identified the problem defense.
12:27B, he identified that the talent was part of the problem.
12:33C, he identified along with his head coach that the coaching was part of the problem and
12:38doing the same thing over and over again is the definition of course of insanity.
12:45And they didn't do that.
12:47They went out and changed everything up and we'll see if that pays off.
12:51We won't know for a while.
12:53Put it this way, running it back with the group they had last year, probably wasn't going to pay
12:58off.
12:59And that's why I liked the off season and look at a couple of the players.
13:02I do like go away.
13:03I think go away has a chance to be a really good player.
13:07I think maybe they got him as an ascending player, you know, uh, Suter, by the way, in one of
13:13his
13:13texts to me, uh, over the last week said he was watching film on settle and he thinks settle is
13:18going to have a really good season.
13:21Now he said this and it's so true.
13:23We don't know how he'll be used.
13:25We can guess on how he'll be used, but in a new defensive scheme, we can only guess on
13:32how he'll be used.
13:33And then it's the, at the NFL level, how it all comes together, how everybody fits together.
13:38That's what Howie Roseman's done really well, you know, probably better than anybody else.
13:44Speaking of Howie Roseman, he was involved in one of the big two trades yesterday.
13:50Let's get to that next.
13:52Kevin Sheehan show, the team 980 and the team 980.com.
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