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The Sports Junkies break down the latest Washington Commanders news.
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00:00It's the second week of OTAs for the Washington Commanders.
00:05Look, they're not hitting.
00:07They're not putting on helmets.
00:09But you're getting kind of sense of what to expect from the Commanders
00:14on both sides of the football.
00:16Yesterday, David Blau, the new offensive coordinator, spoke to the media.
00:21Now, we do know one of the biggest changes,
00:24and it's pretty stunning when you think of this.
00:28They're a shotgun offense under Cliff Kingsbury.
00:30That's what Jaden Daniels did in college.
00:33That's what he's familiar with.
00:34Do you know how many drop-back passes they had last year?
00:38The entire season.
00:40You mean under center?
00:42Yes.
00:4417 games.
00:4517 games, 50 drop-backs.
00:4816 passing plays under center.
00:50One per game.
00:51Not even.
00:53Roughly one per game.
00:54Do they want to make it 50%?
00:56Do they want to make it 30%?
00:57What do they want to make it?
00:58Let's listen to David Blau.
00:59But they're definitely going to have a different style of offense.
01:03How has he adapted to your schedule?
01:06Good.
01:07He has done a lot of work over the course of the offseason
01:13just to try to implement the things that we've been important on him.
01:16And that's who he is.
01:18And, you know, we are excited about where he's at
01:22and know there's so much more room for growth.
01:24And that's the fun challenge as the coach,
01:27getting to, you know, show him a different way to do things.
01:30And he has responded really well.
01:32And having Terry here for OTAs.
01:35From listening to J.P. Finley,
01:37he still seems to think that Jaden is going to be in shotgun
01:4050% to 60% of the snaps.
01:42Okay.
01:43Yeah.
01:43Well, it's still an increase.
01:45It's going to be a lot of shotguns still implemented
01:47in this offensive system.
01:49But he's going to be under center,
01:50obviously, a lot more than he has been under Kingsbury.
01:54Speaking of Terry McCorin, who's at OTAs this year,
01:57we're not dealing with the contract drama
01:59that we dealt with all offseason last year,
02:02which spilled into his injuries during the regular season.
02:06Here's what Terry said about the difference
02:08between Kingsbury's offense and Blau's offense
02:11as it relates to him.
02:12I can answer that honestly.
02:14Like, missing that time, I think,
02:16with a young quarterback is extremely important
02:19because although I was going into year seven,
02:22Jaden was going into year two.
02:23And our connection is extremely important
02:25to build during this time.
02:27And that's why we want to jump on it as early as possible.
02:30And it's a learning process.
02:31Like, obviously, the business side of football
02:32is part of the game and it gets in the way.
02:35But now that that's out of the way,
02:36we've been able to hit the ground running
02:38and it's allowed us to really work out a lot of early kinks.
02:43And we're connecting on a lot of plays early.
02:45We've talked through a lot of things.
02:46He's texting me on the side.
02:47We're just communicating all the time.
02:49So when we get to camp,
02:50we're expecting it to look a lot more crisp.
02:52Like, we just barely missed a play today.
02:54But the positive, I take away,
02:56we saw the coverage the same way.
02:57And then that's the thing about this offense.
02:59Blau's going to ask the receivers to be smart.
03:01You've got to be able to read coverages on the fly.
03:03You've got to be able to make decisive decisions.
03:06But when you do that
03:07and you're on the same page with the quarterback,
03:08it allows us to have chances for big plays.
03:11So Terry went on to say
03:13that basically Kingsbury had him
03:16just lining up on the outside
03:19and that this offense is going to allow him
03:21to kind of move around.
03:23He'll line up as a, you know,
03:25line up as a slot receiver.
03:27I know you can't tell.
03:28Nunes brings a breath of fresh air.
03:29I think I had success in the offense
03:32that we were just in.
03:33So I'm not,
03:34I don't really have like too many bad things
03:36to say about that.
03:37I had a lot of success there,
03:38but just being able to be multiple,
03:40being able to be moving around as a receiver.
03:42You know, when you're the number one guy
03:43and a team goes in to the game
03:45and they have to worry about you playing
03:47one, two or three on the left,
03:49one, two, three on the right.
03:50What is he doing to stack?
03:52What is he doing motion?
03:53That forces them to have to communicate more.
03:55It focuses them have to be able to study
03:56my route stems and lining up
03:59where I'm lining up
04:00and versus just being able to know like,
04:02hey, we know 17 is going to be on the left side.
04:04We can shift our defense and play it to that.
04:07So that's what I started to kind of see
04:09towards the end of the year.
04:10And, you know, even with that,
04:11like Cliff and I were trying to work together
04:13with Jaden and Marcus
04:14to try to move me to the right
04:16and get some variation.
04:17But just naturally that's happening in this offense.
04:19And you're going to see guys moving all over the place.
04:22So I don't, obviously we have X's,
04:23we have Z's,
04:24we have slot guys, tight ends,
04:27but you're going to see some guys all over the field.
04:30I think this is the year,
04:31if he plays in all 17 games,
04:33that you see Terry McLaurin
04:34establish a career high in receptions.
04:37He's never gotten to 90.
04:38His career high is 87.
04:41That was in year two back in 2020.
04:44I just feel like with the uncertainty
04:46in the wide receiver room after him
04:47and the fact that Blau,
04:49like right after he was promoted,
04:51one of the first things he said was,
04:53we want to get Terry 10 targets per game.
04:56Like you have to heavily feature
04:58your best receiver in your offense
05:00if you want to be productive.
05:02I just feel like the,
05:03the setup there for him
05:06is career highs and catches,
05:09maybe career high and yardage as well.
05:11If he stays healthy.
05:12If he's out there, yeah.
05:13If he's able to play in all 17 games.
05:15I know you can't,
05:15you can't tell a lot from OTAs,
05:17but he has looked really good.
05:20Terry has.
05:21And the one thing Dan Quinn talked about
05:23was the speed at a lot of different positions.
05:26You know,
05:27and he was kind of aiming at the receiver position
05:30because Terry looks really good.
05:31De'Ami looks really good.
05:34He said,
05:35one thing you're going to see a lot
05:36is speed at multiple positions,
05:38but he did talk about the receivers.
05:41But Terry's look good.
05:42Yeah,
05:42if he's healthy,
05:43I agree.
05:44If he stays out there,
05:45he's going to put up good numbers.
05:46But his quarterback has to be out there too.
05:48Yeah,
05:48Blau was hurling superlatives
05:50towards Antonio Williams too,
05:52their third round draft pick.
05:53He said,
05:54Antonio's been great learning the system.
05:56I feel really good about the pass catching room.
05:59So you wonder,
06:01the assumption was they're going to add,
06:03maybe they won't.
06:05Maybe they're just happy with the group as is.
06:09And they feel like they're going to get strides
06:10from Luke McCaffrey.
06:11They're going to get more from Jalen Lane,
06:14the younger wide outs in the room.
06:17And look,
06:18maybe a guy like Van Jefferson,
06:19who we all look at like kind of as a math guy,
06:22a fifth or sixth wide receiver.
06:24He's a capable guy.
06:26He's,
06:26he's a guy that can catch 40 or 50 balls.
06:28If Jaden's healthy and is delivering the ball.
06:31Chig essentially could be the number two receiver,
06:33pass catcher.
06:34Yeah,
06:34I was going to bring up Chig.
06:36I totally agree.
06:37He talked about explosiveness.
06:39They're raving about him
06:40and how explosive he is after the catch.
06:42Right.
06:43I don't,
06:43in their mind,
06:44he could be their number two receiver,
06:46even though he's listed as a tight end.
06:49Got no problem with that.
06:50If you're,
06:50if you just want to get your tight end more balls
06:52and you're going to get your third and fourth wide outs,
06:55and that's the way you run your offense.
06:57Completely cool with that,
06:58especially because he's not built like a typical tight end.
07:01He's kind of a hybrid wide out slash tight end.
07:05And he's an athletic freak.
07:06Get the ball in his hands as much as you can.
07:08I know David Blau has different influences,
07:11but the one which I think is going to be the biggest factor
07:14is the Lions.
07:15Right.
07:15I just figure they're going to be like the Lions offense.
07:17They're going to be,
07:19sure,
07:20in shotgun,
07:20maybe 40,
07:2150,
07:2160% of the time,
07:22but they're going to huddle more.
07:25They're going to run play action.
07:27They're going to use the tight ends as much as possible.
07:31And then,
07:33Tim McLaurin's in the Amon Ra role.
07:35Yeah.
07:36Amon Ra moves all over,
07:38right?
07:38Yeah.
07:39The receivers,
07:40man,
07:41it's just,
07:41there's just so many,
07:43I know there's not a lot of big names,
07:45but I think it's going to be tough for guys like,
07:47you know,
07:48Ja'Cory Brooks and Van Jefferson to,
07:50to be out there a lot because of everyone who's in front of them.
07:53Yeah.
07:54And,
07:55you know,
07:56what if they add another guy?
07:58And look at another,
08:00they clearly believe in that has,
08:03has never lived up to his promise is Traylon Burks.
08:05He was signed in the off season.
08:07Yep.
08:07Maybe that's a guy that,
08:08that fills in that number two wide out role on the outside across from
08:12Terry McLaurin because we know Antonio Williams can do that,
08:16but he's probably more suited to play in the slot.
08:18Yeah.
08:19We also know there's,
08:20there's,
08:20I mean,
08:20look,
08:21there's nine or 10 receivers right now that we kind of talk about,
08:23but they're not keeping nine or 10.
08:25There's a lot of bodies fighting for six spots.
08:28We also know,
08:28don't know about the development of McCaffrey and Lane.
08:32I think as fans,
08:34we've pigeonholed them as special teamers who can,
08:38you know,
08:39catch a few balls here and there,
08:41but they're still young guys.
08:43And the trajectory for McCaffrey had been for his injuries.
08:49It had been going up.
08:50Like you,
08:51you were starting to get more and more impressed by him,
08:53not just as a return guy.
08:54So maybe they see more in those guys who this regime drafted.
08:59Yeah.
08:59With a third round pick and a fourth round pick.
09:02Like we keep talking about Antonio Williams,
09:04third round pick when McCaffrey was a third round.
09:06Sure.
09:07You want to get those guys more heavily involved.
09:09Like those aren't guys that you just drafted to be special teamers.
09:13You expect them to contribute on offense too.
09:15Yeah.
09:16I mean,
09:16I can see Lane being more of the special teamer guy,
09:18but you're right.
09:19I mean,
09:20maybe,
09:20maybe he does step it up.
09:21Maybe he's getting more action,
09:23getting more reps from JD,
09:25but I don't know,
09:26man.
09:26It's,
09:28it's,
09:28it's,
09:29it's so difficult to kind of,
09:32handicap what they're going to be doing at that position when it's just OTAs.
09:37I mean,
09:37once we get into training camp,
09:38yeah.
09:39Once they start playing games in the preseason.
09:42Yeah.
09:43But OTAs,
09:44you can't really tell much.
09:46And maybe,
09:46maybe your guy,
09:47De'Ami Brown picks up where he left off in the,
09:49in the playoffs when he was on a heater before he signed the one year deal with
09:53Jacksonville.
09:54Just watching some of the videos from,
09:56from yesterday.
09:57I mean,
09:58obviously there's no DBs,
10:00but man,
10:01they just,
10:01they look good.
10:02They look good.
10:04No DBs is a big deal.
10:06It's a big deal.
10:06And no pass rush.
10:08No hitting the quarterback.
10:09This is what you have to,
10:10to decide.
10:11Every team's dealing with it.
10:12This is all we have to work off of.
10:13That's all you got.
10:14Every team in the NFL's doing it.
10:16So you can't just say,
10:17ah,
10:17they look terrible.
10:18They don't.
10:18The biggest positive,
10:20and if you want to chime in 1-800-636-167,
10:23it really is just having everybody there.
10:27So as we mentioned earlier,
10:29and Terry was talking about last year,
10:30it was all about the whole,
10:31the whole training camp was,
10:33they're going to sign Terry.
10:35Yeah.
10:35Distractions.
10:36it really was the biggest theme of the off season.
10:39And this year,
10:40not only is Terry there,
10:41I mean,
10:41Tunsell showed up.
10:43Tunsell,
10:44rarely if ever shows up to OTAs.
10:47So for him to be there,
10:48it shows you that the buy-in is at a high level.
10:51You know,
10:51he doesn't have to be there.
10:53He usually doesn't show up for these sorts of activities.
10:56I know Blau was talking about offensive line cohesion.
10:58Yeah.
11:00So all those things look great.
11:02On paper,
11:02it looks great.
11:03The boys are back in town.
11:04They're practicing together.
11:06They're healthy.
11:09I'll tell you what,
11:10just watching Styles get from point A to point B,
11:13he does it so quick.
11:14I mean,
11:14he's fast.
11:15He's a fast,
11:15big guy,
11:16but his strides are so long,
11:18man.
11:18He just gets,
11:19gets to where he needs to be quick.
11:21He's going to get to the quarterback or RBs or tight ends or receivers.
11:25He's going to get to him quick.
11:27You would think,
11:28like with that skillset and that speed,
11:30I mean,
11:30but his strides,
11:31he just gets there because it was long ass legs.
11:35I just can't get it out of my head that our,
11:37our former guest,
11:38is it Daniel Kelly?
11:39First round mock.
11:40Yep.
11:40I was actually just punching up what he wrote.
11:43He,
11:44he is very anti-Summy Styles.
11:46He just thinks he's going to be a bust.
11:48I know.
11:49He thinks everyone's a bust.
11:50I mean,
11:50he's the,
11:50that guy gets entrenched.
11:52Now we get entrenched in positions too.
11:54So I,
11:55you know,
11:55maybe this is hypocritical,
11:57but he will not let it go.
11:59Like he still thinks Spencer Rattler is probably the best quarterback in the
12:03league class that,
12:04that when he came out and he's definitely anti-Summy Styles.
12:09And he loves Antonio Williams.
12:11Yeah.
12:11He says he had a first round grade on Antonio Williams out of Clemson the last two seasons.
12:17But here's what Daniel Kelly first round mock wrote about Sonny Styles.
12:22Very simple.
12:23Sonny Styles is a bust.
12:25That was his first tweet.
12:27Okay.
12:28So he's got some film from the OTAs.
12:32He writes Sonny Styles is a bust.
12:34And then later on,
12:35he adds,
12:35there's a disconnect between the Sonny Styles hype and what he actually looked like on game
12:41film at Ohio state.
12:42He has his film evaluation from 2024 and 2025.
12:47We'll see.
12:49We'll see.
12:50Hey,
12:50I don't see you guys.
12:52Nobody gives me credit for his JJ McCarthy.
12:54Uh,
12:55nailing that saying he was a fifth round pick that he's a backup.
12:58The NFL that he was going,
13:00he was going off on,
13:02um,
13:03what's his name?
13:04Cooper to John.
13:04He,
13:05and he had a low grade on him.
13:06He said he's,
13:06he's an,
13:07he doesn't have a position in the NFL.
13:08And he was tweeting yesterday about how the Eagles still don't know what to do with him.
13:11And he's falling off big time.
13:13So he has,
13:14he has misses.
13:15Now he was going on about right.
13:16I think Cooper,
13:17Cooper to John or Djean.
13:19Wasn't he really good as a rookie?
13:21I was a rookie,
13:22but he actually had not great.
13:24Numbers last year.
13:25And a lot of people are down on him.
13:27Hmm.
13:28I haven't seen that,
13:29but okay.
13:31Hey,
13:31look,
13:32he's going to hit.
13:32Every time I hear someone talk about Cooper Djean,
13:34they love him.
13:34His,
13:35some of his takes are very controversial and he does get dug in.
13:41Um,
13:43you know,
13:43he hates Kayla Williams.
13:46I can't remember which other quarterbacks he hates,
13:48but he loves Spencer Rattler and he just gets dug in and he'll,
13:53you know,
13:54this is,
13:54this is one of his new punching bags.
13:57This is his new style.
13:57This is his new guy.
13:59So anytime Sonny styles misses a tackle,
14:01he's going to probably tweet about it.
14:03Well,
14:04yeah,
14:04whatever.
14:04There's a reason we have him on the show.
14:06Cause he,
14:06look,
14:07he's a polarizing guy.
14:09I mean,
14:09I just find it hard to believe that Sunday style is going to be a complete
14:12bust.
14:13I would,
14:13I would be shocked if that were the case.
14:15I said,
14:16I said my one worry was,
14:19and you know,
14:20I'm a stats guy.
14:21I understand like his stats on his combine.
14:26Fantastic.
14:27But his stats at Ohio state to me were a little underwhelming in terms of
14:30like racking up sacks and forced fumbles and big plays.
14:35Yeah.
14:36But you'd have to watch every single game to see why that happens.
14:39I mean,
14:39a lot of times he's not getting any action because they're not running at
14:42him.
14:42Well,
14:43that,
14:43and also like if you have Arvel Reese there and he's your sack guy,
14:47then Sonny styles,
14:49isn't going to rack up gaudy sack numbers.
14:52You know what I mean?
14:53Like maybe that's not what's being asked of him in that Ohio state defense.
14:57There's a reason that Adam Peters and Dan Quinn drafted him.
15:00We know he's a physical freak.
15:01If it doesn't work out,
15:03those guys are going to be in trouble.
15:06They're going to,
15:06they're going to take the brunt of it.
15:07If,
15:07if Sonny styles is a flop,
15:09it's a huge draft pick for them.
15:11I just have a hard time believing that a guy with,
15:14with those traits,
15:16those athletic traits being raised,
15:19you know,
15:19in an NFL family,
15:21went to Ohio state,
15:22drafted.
15:23I just find it hard for him to bust.
15:26I'm not going to call him bust proof.
15:27Like EB called RG three,
15:30but I,
15:31I just feel like he's going to hit in this defense.
15:33We see it all the time.
15:35I know.
15:36I know.
15:37I just,
15:37that's why I can't,
15:38I can't,
15:39when everyone says it's impossible,
15:40it's just,
15:40I'm not saying it's impossible.
15:42I just,
15:42if I had to bet on whether he's successful,
15:44this isn't some Disney movie where everyone in the first round just turns out to be,
15:48I'm a good player.
15:50I'm well aware.
15:50It happens every year.
15:52And they have drafted not as high a guy in the same position who busted in Jamin Davis.
15:58Right.
15:59Well,
16:00that was like,
16:00who was also a physical freak,
16:02maybe not quite to the level of sunny styles,
16:05but his measurables were really good too.
16:08I'm going to give Adam Peters and his staff more credit than I ever would Ron and all the Martys
16:16that he surrounded himself with.
16:17You should.
16:18As far as making picks.
16:19Hmm.
16:21I'm going to trust them more at this point.
16:24Now,
16:24has he been perfect?
16:25No,
16:26but there are warts there.
16:27There are misses on the resume,
16:28but I just feel like I have a tingle play.
16:32You're just hoping.
16:33Just say you're hoping.
16:35Of course,
16:35you,
16:35you can't say you can't see it happening.
16:38There's busts all over the place.
16:40Every draft.
16:40Of course he could bust in the top five.
16:42He could certainly bust.
16:44I'm not saying,
16:44but you're not going to see it next year.
16:46You have to wait like two or three years to call him a bust.
16:49You can't just say,
16:49Oh,
16:50he's rookie year.
16:50He's a,
16:50it's,
16:51he's a bust.
16:52I don't think you can do that.
16:53I think I can judge by the end of the roof.
16:55End of the rookie year.
16:57You can generally tell.
16:59You can tell most of the time by the end of the,
17:02I mean,
17:02if he's a bust,
17:03he's not even,
17:03he's not even on the field.
17:05If he's a,
17:06if he's not starting.
17:07Okay.
17:07That's different.
17:08You could probably say he's a bust.
17:10But if he's out there every day and he's starting,
17:12you can't call him a bust.
17:13You can't do it.
17:14What if they're,
17:15what if he's underwhelming?
17:17What if he's underwhelming?
17:18If he's what?
17:19Underwhelming guy.
17:20Like I'm looking at the 20,
17:21I want,
17:21since you said you got to go back a few years.
17:23So 2022 draft,
17:25I punched up.
17:26All right.
17:27The fifth pick in the draft that year was cave on Thibodeau.
17:31Yeah.
17:32He's all right.
17:34He's been underwhelming.
17:36He's old.
17:37Jason.
17:38If they're constantly,
17:39he's okay.
17:39If they're constantly picking on him.
17:40So cave on Thibodeau.
17:43I wouldn't say he's a straight up bust,
17:45but let's just see how it goes.
17:47Does Thibodeau have a double digit sack season?
17:50I'm going to guess.
17:51No,
17:51probably has like an eight or nine second season.
17:54He had 11 and a half sacks.
17:55Okay.
17:55So he doesn't start for the giants.
17:57He's a backup.
17:57He's a bust.
17:58I'm sorry.
17:59He's a backup.
18:00He was the number five pick in the draft.
18:01He's a bust.
18:02Right.
18:02So you,
18:02that my point is to your side that you can find busts who were drafted high.
18:08Now he had 11 and a half sacks his second season,
18:10but since then in 12 games,
18:13and he's had some injuries,
18:14he had five and a half in 2024.
18:16And last year in 10 games cave on Thibodeau gave you two and a half sacks.
18:20And that is not great.
18:22It doesn't have to be by the definition,
18:24by the book bust,
18:26but GMs definitely can have pick regret where some,
18:30some guy is flourishing two,
18:32three,
18:32four,
18:33five picks after you selected someone who's maybe still developing.
18:37I mean,
18:38that said,
18:39there's no reason not to be excited about sunny styles right now.
18:41Other than Daniel Kelly.
18:43Yeah.
18:43Yeah.
18:43It's,
18:44it's just in the back of my brain that the fact that he hates sunny styles,
18:49I can't,
18:49I can't get past it.
18:51I mean,
18:51those are two tweets from yesterday.
18:53Yeah,
18:53I know he's good.
18:54He is going to dissect every play you see from sunny styles in an OTA or a
19:00training camp.
19:01Yeah.
19:01Especially if it does,
19:02if it backs up his narrative that he's just going to flop.
19:07I'll be shocked.
19:08I'll be shocked if he flops sunny style.
19:10I mean,
19:10anything could happen and you guys are right.
19:12The guys flop every year.
19:14There's always busts in the first round of the draft.
19:16I just don't think he'll be one of those.
19:18I don't think so either.
19:20Team sunny cakes is on team sunny over here.
19:23That was a damn good wide receiver draft,
19:25by the way,
19:272022.
19:27All right.
19:28Give me the names.
19:29All right.
19:30This guy just signed a huge contract.
19:33JS had.
19:33He was the eighth pick.
19:35Now it was Drake London.
19:37Oh,
19:37he's a stud.
19:38As long as he can stay healthy.
19:40Yep.
19:41The 10th pick plays for the Jets.
19:45He's had some injuries,
19:46but when he's been on the field,
19:48has been a stud.
19:49Garrett Wilson.
19:50Garrett Wilson.
19:51Mostly sad.
19:52Trash pails,
19:52throwing him the ball at quarterback.
19:54This guy's also not had the best quarterback situation.
19:58Spencer Rattler was throwing the ball for a while.
20:01Chris Olave.
20:01He's had a lot of concussion issues,
20:03but he had a monster year last year.
20:06A mega year.
20:0712 speed demon Detroit lions,
20:09Jameson Williams.
20:10Mm-hmm.
20:11Pretty good,
20:12but he a little bit of a head case.
20:14All right.
20:14The first bust was the commander's pick at 16.
20:18Jahan.
20:18Jahan Dotson.
20:20Uh-huh.
20:21Then 18 to be determined,
20:23Traylon Burks.
20:25I mean,
20:25it seems like a bust.
20:26I'm going to put him in the bust category for now.
20:29And that was it for the first round.
20:30Christian Watson went early in the second round.
20:32That's pretty good.
20:33Yeah.
20:33Four out of six or five out of seven.
20:34That's pretty solid.
20:351-800-636-1067 is the number.
20:39Remember later in the program,
20:40Paul Timoni,
20:41president of baseball operations for your nationals here on the junkies.
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