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Week 2 of OTAs for the Washington Commanders is underway! Ben Standig joins The Kevin Sheehan Show to give an update and analysis on what is going on at Commanders OTAs, plus what can we gather from the first week of OTAs.
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00:00It's been a while since we've talked to Ben because I was away. I don't know if Ben joined
00:06the show while I was away, but he's back today. And it's a day after one of the OTA days
00:14that
00:14was open to media yesterday after last week's OTA days. He's got some stuff on Terry McLaurin,
00:22but I wanted to start with this. You had mentioned to me in a text that you had an opportunity
00:26to
00:27sit down with team president Mark Klaus. I would assume people will be able to read that on your
00:31sub stack or listen to it on your podcast at Ben Standing to get access to all of it. But
00:38what did
00:39Klaus have to say about anything? Was there anything there that was interesting that you can share with
00:44us? Yeah, he was out there at the park yesterday because the team was announcing that they were
00:52going to have some value price menus for their food out of the stadium. A lot of things under
00:58$5 and $10, a lot of your staples, your chicken tenders, your sodas, things like that, which is
01:03a good deal. But anyway, so that was why he was there. So we can talk about that for a
01:08little bit.
01:08But I think for me, I'm always intrigued by the idea of they've got this one big mission item of
01:17building the new stadium. But that still isn't going to happen for another few years. And how do the
01:22people who were tasked with having to maintain this other thing that nobody really wants anymore,
01:27how do you sort of go about that? Because you can't just like do it, you know, I think you've
01:33got to do
01:33it with some sincerity if you really are into it.
01:35I mean, you've got four more seasons to play there. Four.
01:38Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So so how do you maintain that enthusiasm to a degree, knowing that everybody
01:43wants to go to this other thing? And, you know, he's like, hey, look, I mean, you know, we recognize
01:49fan engagement was down. You know, he came in after Harris bought the team and that, you know,
01:55that that's just a big focus of everything that they're doing. And, you know, I would say as somebody
02:00who's a non fan and I don't you know, I'm not in that season ticket space. Like I do kind
02:06of buy
02:06that they are trying whatever they can to to to make this work. I mean, they want to get the
02:12season ticket holders up for the obvious reasons for now, but also those people will then hopefully
02:17buy tickets for the next place. You know, the next place that's still, you know, is in the very
02:24early stages. They're working on things like plumbing, you know, and things things like that.
02:30When will they officially break ground? Do you know when that happens next year? I'm not a
02:37I'm not exactly sure. I want to say it's sort of the first half of the year, but I don't
02:40know if we have an exact month or anything like that at this point, but the first half
02:45of the year. And, you know, I mean, all the you know, it sounds like everything is, you
02:52know, going as as as hoped for now. And, you know, I think also like we now accept the fact
02:59that this is going to happen, but it is still kind of wild that after all the machinations
03:03that went on, you know, that it is in fact going to happen. Maybe for a lot of us, it's
03:10sort of like, okay, when I see a couple of things, you know, a couple of shovels in the
03:14ground, then then I'll believe. But obviously, yeah, it sounds like it's going in a good
03:18direction. And, you know, they're helpful. Also, I mean, you know, for along with the food
03:24items, which are for season ticket holders, there's other things like, you know, if you
03:29get season tickets, now you can go out to six training camp practices instead of three.
03:34Sounds like a good deal. As long as you don't take my parking. So, yeah. So, you know, I
03:40think with this in general, like I said, you know, is this a positive, upbeat conversation
03:45because that's the business that he's in right now? And, you know, I don't allow, I'm not
03:51good about people just thrusting agendas on me if I don't buy it. But in this case, like
03:56I said, I think everything they've done to me has seemed pretty reasonable in terms
04:00of what they're attempting to accomplish, but also trying to, you know, have that fan
04:04bases engaged as much as possible.
04:07Do you have any clue as to, I mean, I know that they are not sold out season ticket wise.
04:13I know that because I continue to get push, you know, emails and even calls about season
04:22tickets, but how many season, do we know how many season ticket holders there are?
04:29We have a number. I believe he said to me that about 80% of their sales come from season
04:35tickets. So I guess.
04:38So like 40,000 season ticket holders, roughly 45,000, something like that.
04:43Sounds about right. Cause he was also saying, of course, that, you know, if you're not,
04:47well, a lot of the, you know, the, uh, no, they're, they're 60,000 capacity, right? What's
04:52their capacity? 62,000. Now it's one of the lowest in the league, right? Yeah.
04:58Rather. Yeah. So about 48,000 season tickets. That actually is more than I thought that they
05:02had. So if they're at 80%, that's good. That's pretty good. I mean, it's not sold out like a
05:07lot of NFL teams are, but considering what they've gone through in so many different aspects,
05:13um, it sounds like it's significantly increased from where it was three years ago.
05:19Yeah. And like I said, that, that's the take I have. I mean, you know, like you said, we
05:23could probably poke, poke at some numbers and say, Oh, you know, it's like a rebuilding
05:27team. You know, you can see the rebuild happening, even if the record is still not where you want
05:32it to be. And it feels like that, that's the case, uh, here that it's, you know, again,
05:37been mostly, uh, positive, uh, you know, since, uh, you know, they've been able to be able to
05:42Klaus and, uh, and be able to turn the corner, uh, in terms of, you know, what, what, what's
05:46the message, what they're selling and so on. So, yeah, I mean, like I said, I, I think to
05:50me, it comes across as all pretty positive. I don't know if you've had a chance to talk
05:53to Mark. I think he does a pretty good job for, you know, the role that he has. And, um,
05:58you know, so, and, and this is not just like what he says, like on the record, I've been
06:01in, you know, meetings where he's been at. And, you know, I think he's a pretty good, um,
06:06representation for this group. We talked about faces of the franchise, obviously
06:10at the quarterback and, uh, some others, but you know, for what he needs to do, I think
06:16he does a good job. All right. Um, I'm going to read to you my favorite email that I've read
06:21since I got back from vacation. Uh, I'm pretty sure. And Tommy agrees with me that this was
06:26just, this was in jest trying to get me riled up, but Terry D wrote, Kevin, I know you don't
06:33think much of OTAs, but all the talk last week was really positive. Chig as an Okonkwo
06:39looked sharp. Deami picked up the chemistry with J with Jaden from where he left it off
06:44in the playoff game in Detroit. Terry McLaurin's in early and it's already paying off. And the
06:50best news yet styles and Williams are ready to play at a high level right now. I don't
06:55think you'll need time to grade this last draft. I hope you've been following along
06:59and we'll weigh in. Um, I think that Terry understands my overall, uh, idea of what this
07:07time of year produces, um, which is nothing for us unless there's a big injury or a big
07:12trade, uh, and, and, or a big, you know, post, you know, uh, draft addition to the roster,
07:18which I think we both think is still a possibility, but I'll ask you, you were there last week and
07:25you were there yesterday. Is there anything other than what Terry D believes to be true
07:32that you can take out of it and say, okay, well that's, you know, that's of substance football
07:38wise. Yeah. I mean, I, sometimes I think I'm just like too honest and like what things I say,
07:48like on my own podcast and I, yesterday was kind of like, look, if you're here to get the full
07:53breakdown of all the things that happened from like a technical standpoint and this, that, and
07:56the other, I don't know what to tell you. Like, I I'm going to tell you what I saw, but
08:00this is
08:01about the little things. This is about the vibe. This is not about big sweeping proclamations of
08:08who's going to start. And, you know, do we have a better sense of David Blouse offense? And he's
08:13going to have guys moving around the formation. Terry McLaurin talked about that a bunch yesterday
08:18and we'll have some different looks. Of course. Yes. Did we, have we heard players to say that the
08:24Durante Jones defense does sound very similar to what Brian Flores was doing in Minnesota,
08:29as we assumed, which, which means guys will be coming from here, there and everywhere attacking
08:33the quarterback. Yes. But okay. Beyond that, it's not like you can say, wow, so-and-so looks amazing
08:40here or there. And you know, some, somebody asked me yesterday, what do I think about the fact that
08:45Sonny Stiles wasn't like always out there with the ones who's had a big deal. And I was like,
08:51I mean, I can't really, I was like, I was like, basically get me to like halfway through training
08:56camp. And then we can start having that kind of a conversation, uh, you know, possibly. So yeah,
09:02I mean, look, I will just say that, you know, if you can't be positive this time of year,
09:08you have real problems. Yeah. Right. And last year, I'm not saying that they weren't positive,
09:13but you know, the Terry McClure situation just hung over the whole deal. And, you know,
09:19it was impossible to ignore. If we're talking to Jaden, Jaden, what's it like to not have
09:24Terry here? We're talking to Quinn. What's the deal with that? Peters, et cetera. So like
09:28the fact that that's, none of that has happened, not just with Terry, with, with, with anybody
09:33is a huge deal. And I do think that you can feel the positive vibes from that. Again, on top
09:39of the fact that, you know, they had full participation last week, this week, at least
09:44Punco wasn't there, but not a big deal. So I do think that is important. And I do believe
09:49that there is better vibes than it worked a year ago, but you know, that we'll see what
09:53that translates to down the line. Talking to Ben Standing, of course, our team insider, uh,
09:59on this show at Ben Standing on X, uh, you can link to his, uh, sub stack, um, which I,
10:07uh,
10:07highly encourage you to do. Um, I am a subscriber and I know many people that are, uh, your latest
10:14story was on Terry McClure and without, you know, divulging everything he told you, I am curious
10:21as to what he thought last off season meant to the season he ended up having, which obviously
10:29was the worst of his career and mostly due to the fact that he didn't play, uh, in seven
10:35or eight games, uh, last year. But how much did he think the contract negotiations, the holdout,
10:42the lack of participation, uh, until very late in training camp and the, you know, closer to
10:47the regular season, how much did he think it impacted his season last year? Yeah, he was asked
10:53about last year, fair amount yesterday. And it's one of those deals where he's like, you know,
10:58on the one hand I'm pushing forward, you know, not worrying about the past. On the other hand,
11:02he's like, also, I'm not, I'm not forgetting it either. You got to take adversity in life and,
11:06and find, you know, why did it happen? You know, what lessons can you take away? Uh, and so on.
11:12He said
11:12he learned a lot about himself, et cetera. But in terms of the specific football aspect, when asked,
11:17like, what's one thing you think, looking back on it, that maybe he didn't appreciate
11:21before you, you stayed away. He said it was the building of the chemistry with, uh, with
11:27Jaden, you know, building on top of it, obviously their first year together was spectacular.
11:31But, and Terry said, look, I was going into my seventh year, but he's only going into his
11:35second year. So to not have those reps and not build upon what we were doing, you know,
11:40didn't really help the cause. He didn't say anything about that. The injury came from
11:45missing that time. And obviously it's, we all kind of think it, but you know, you can't say
11:49for sure, but he did say that, you know, not being out there with Jaden, um, to build on
11:54that was a big deal. And that's why they still started this year, even before OTAs, you know,
11:59they were out together in California running routes, doing things. He said, Jaden, you know,
12:04they were constantly talking. Jaden's always texting him with ideas or thoughts about something
12:09they just went, went through or what have you. So I think that aspect of it seems like
12:14a pretty big deal. And again, I will just say that, you know, to his credit, you know,
12:20look, he said, he also recognized that, you know, football is not just playing the game.
12:25It is also the business. And that was a real, you know, slap in the face last year with how
12:29that went down. He has no regrets, but obviously he, you know, it took a lot longer than I'm sure
12:35anybody thought or wanted to have happened, but he doesn't seem like, I, he doesn't seem
12:42like he's bitter or angry. Even last year when he came back, it didn't seem like he was holding
12:47grudges like, Hey, I did what I had to do. They did what they had to do. Let's move forward.
12:51And he really does seem to embrace that. And, you know, as a guy who is viewed as a leader,
12:58not just, you know, Jaden even said last week, about the fact that Terry was there, like,
13:02it's not just on the field. It's, you know, he is one of the leaders of this locker room
13:06and, and, you know, this time of year in particular, like that stuff counts. They have a very unsettled
13:12receiver room. You're right. You need somebody there to, okay, follow what he's doing. You
13:16know, if, if he's not, if everything revolves around what is Terry going to do more or less
13:21and they'll figure out the rest. So to have him there on and off the field is a big deal.
13:25And it does seem like he is all in on, on everything that's going on.
13:30Yeah. I made note of that, uh, because I went back, I think I told you this the other day,
13:34I went back and watched a lot of the pressers that I missed when I was out last week. And
13:39you and I, by the way, I think share the same opinion about, uh, Jaden's press conference.
13:44I found him to be, um, uh, you know, just more comfortable and, you know, there was a maturity
13:51to him. Uh, not that he was ever immature, but, and it's not like he's a scintillating interview.
13:57I think we all understand that, but there was just sort of a, um, uh, a like every time
14:04I watched Jaden in the first two years, it's like, I, I, I felt like Sean basically said
14:08to him, all right, it's just eight or nine questions and you'll be done. And he was trying
14:12to get through it as quickly as possible. And I didn't feel that way watching it last
14:18week for, before I get to what he said about Terry and what you just said, I wanted to emphasize
14:22it. You felt the same way, right? Yeah, no, a hundred percent. But going into the first
14:28OTA, I was doing my podcast. Um, I was saying that, you know, what am I, what are we, what
14:35are we watching? What am I looking for? And of course the on-field stuff, but I said with
14:39Jaden specifically, I'm actually curious at maybe even more about what do you like at the
14:43microphone? Because it's not like I'm looking for him to say anything wildly, you know, great
14:48quote, that'd be fun, but I'm not expecting that. You know, he probably shouldn't in a
14:52lot of ways, but how does he just, how is his, what's his presence like? Does he feel
14:56like he has more of a voice? Does he, does he feel like he's taking more ownership of
15:01everything? Not that he hasn't been, you know, a leader and so on from the start, but yeah,
15:07like you said, the way I kept phrasing it was his body language is always kind of like
15:13with like his parents telling him in front of their friend, Hey, stand up and tell them what
15:17he did last summer. And he was like, okay. And he went through it. Yeah. But, but, but
15:24he didn't necessarily like want to join us at the, at the grownup table for dinner. Yeah.
15:29Like, yeah. Like, you know, he, so he did it and he was fine, but it was like, you know,
15:35nothing was a big deal, et cetera. But this time it felt that he had more of a businesslike
15:40approach in a good way, more, a little more, again, he's plenty mature, but more maturity
15:44in terms of how he's responding to us and things like that. So I, yeah, I was impressed with what
15:50he was, what he was saying and doing and, you know, all, all everybody else around him when we've
15:54asked about that has said similar things that they're recognizing that as well. So, you know,
15:59if that really is coming across and I think that's a good sign, ultimately the quarterback is the one
16:04position. You can't just be, you know, super casual at all times. You do have to be more of a
16:12business
16:12like leader. And, you know, again, I think he's demonstrated that. Yeah. I don't necessarily
16:19care that much. It's just all observational. I care more about what happens on the field,
16:24but I, I, I do, I like you, you know, you sort of notice things that, that jump out and
16:29that jumped
16:29out. And what got me to thinking about it is when you said that when he was talking about the
16:35absence
16:35of Terry last year, he immediately jumped to, it was also about having him in our locker room. It was
16:42his leadership, which, you know, I, I think that's one of those things that it's hard for us to touch
16:48as fans in terms of what it really means. But when you hear him and the way we already admit
16:55that he
16:55seemed to be more engaged than ever before in an interview and he jumped right to, look, we really
17:01missed him in the locker room, you know, last year, not, you know, throughout the off season, throughout
17:07training camp. I thought that was interesting. I mean, what is, what do they mean by that? I mean,
17:13we all understand there are certain people you want at work leaders that you want, you know, on a,
17:18on, you know, in a sales meeting or, or even, you know, on your bowling team or whatever it is,
17:24but what do you think it means with Terry? What kind of leader is Terry really?
17:30You, you and I are old enough to remember the commercials for EF Hutton back in the day.
17:36What was the tagline? When EF, when EF Hutton speaks, people listen. Yeah. And the commercial,
17:43like this whole noisy room would quiet down when somebody mentioned EF Hutton. I kind of feel like
17:48that's the way it is with Terry. Like he's not a guy that's going to go out of his way
17:52to make
17:53outlandish statements or be the class clown or anything like that. But when he speaks to you,
17:59whether it's one-on-one or I think to the group, there is a genuine sincerity to, to what it
18:04is
18:04that he is saying, that if he's speaking out, speaking up, that there's something,
18:09something to that, you know, well, okay. If he, if he's bringing, but I, I remember going back to
18:13his rookie season, not his rookie season, his first season with Ron Rivera. I think they had just
18:18beaten Cleveland on the road and Terry had a good game. And Rivera was asking after the game,
18:24Hey, you know, rah, rah, we did this, we did that. Anybody else have anything to say? And he just
18:27said, and Terry spoke up. He'd only been in the league for a few games or I guess a year
18:32and a
18:32few games. And he was like, Hey, look, I know I'm a young guy here, but I just want to
18:35say that,
18:36like the feeling we have now, you know, don't forget this. It's a, you know, you win a game and
18:42you
18:42think maybe it's going to keep, you know, be there the next week. No, you got to keep,
18:46you got to keep believing, you got to keep pushing. And right now that's what the feeling
18:49that we have, he said something along these lines. And just the fact that he was willing
18:52to do that, it did not come across to me as again, as somebody who is the definitive
18:57halftime speech guy, but it came across as, okay, he really thinks this and he really wants to impart
19:04his thoughts because he wants this thing to keep going. So I thought I've kind of always taken
19:08what it means for him to be a leader where again, other guys, maybe it's, you know, a little more
19:12vocal, but, um, I think that's kind of what it is. A combination of lead by example, but when he
19:17speaks, he's going to say something that is sincere and intelligent. Did anybody look different
19:24physically? I, I, I should have, uh, thought about this and asked you even before I had you on the
19:30phone, uh, phone, because I wasn't at last year at this time that everybody was thinking that Jaden
19:36Daniels looked different physically, like he was bigger and stronger. Um, did anybody look
19:42different physically? Everybody was there. Yeah. You know, it's funny because last year before
19:48camp, there was this notion of that he had, that Jaden had been working out more, you know,
19:53put on some, some muscle or whatever. And so that became a topic this time. That was not a part
19:58of
19:58the conversation that we were really having at the beginning. And because when we spoke with him last
20:02week, you know, we had, we had him up on a variety of issues. None of them were about necessarily
20:08him
20:09getting bigger. I did kind of think if you look at the videos that he did to me look a
20:13little bit
20:13bigger in his arms and maybe, uh, in his chest again, nobody's comparing him to, uh, you know,
20:19to Shaquille O'Neal or anything, but I'm just saying for him, it did look like a little bit bigger.
20:23Um, beyond that, I don't know. Um, I, it's hard to say, you know, they're, um, I think you gotta
20:31like
20:31sort of see them, uh, you know, standing up next to them a little bit more, but I, you know,
20:35they're all huge people. So it's hard, you know, I don't know if anybody's necessarily stands out
20:40in that regard, but, and I haven't heard Quinn or anybody say like player X, Y, or Z is, you
20:45know,
20:46drop 20 pounds or come in looking a certain way. So I don't know about definitively, but at the same
20:52point, I haven't seen anything where I'm like, Oh boy, this guy, uh, you know, didn't push away from
20:57the table too much or, you know, anything along those lines. So I think that's certainly the
21:02positive there. Here's something that you can actually, you know, uh, take away, um, some
21:10substance from this time of year. And that is things that aren't, you know, opponent, uh, or
21:15scheme dependent, um, or pads can, you know, uh, contingent. And that is kicking. Um, I'm just
21:23curious, did Jake Moody or the guy from Iowa Stevens, did either one of them, you know, have
21:29a better few days than the other? Yeah. You know, this is one of those, again, tricky things
21:35we're out there. Like so far at the end of this week, they will have had six OTA sessions. We'll
21:39have watched two. So, you know, can only go in the ones that we see, but look at both of
21:44them in
21:44the two practices, you know, largely made their, their, their kicks, uh, their, you know, field goal
21:50attempts ranging anywhere from like 28 yards back into the fifties. And they look, you
21:54know, they look fine. What was noticeable though, is that Stevens, his leg strength is definitely
22:00bigger. Um, last week when they were in the bubble, uh, the, the, the interior wall of
22:07the bubble is like, I don't know, five yards, seven yards or so behind the goalpost. Right.
22:12And when they would kick it, they would hit, it would hit the, there's no net. So the ball
22:18would hit the, the, the bubble. And when we would, when Stevens was doing it, there was
22:23like a noise. There was like a real thud. And, uh, you know, I mean, that stands out
22:27because obviously in this era of the ball go through the goalposts before it made the
22:32thud sound. Yeah. That's important. Yeah. So by and large, they all last week, Stevens
22:37was perfect. Six for six. Moody was five for six this week. They were, they were like an
22:42additional period. I think they were both like six for eight. The misses largely from, from
22:46deep, but not, you know, huge deal. They also made kicks from, from deep. So I'm just
22:51saying like, that's the point of like what, from what we can tell right now in his era
22:56where kickers are regularly making, uh, field goals from 55 plus like 60, like, you know,
23:01without thinking too much that Stevens looks more like that type of dude. Again, like you
23:06said, you got to kick people between the uprights. And I don't think Moody has done
23:09anything to suggest that he can't, but the wonder is, is he really that guy from 50 plus?
23:15That was a question when he got here and he did make both his tries last year from
23:1950 plus, but what about from 58? You know, what about from 62? If that's going to be
23:24a thing that they really want to emphasize, as a lot of teams are, Brandon Aubrey in
23:28their own division, then Stevens looks very interesting right now.
23:32How much talk about the center position and what was said, if anything?
23:38Not a ton. We didn't really get to offensive line yesterday much with, uh, Quinn or, or
23:43Blau for whatever the reason, but, uh, you know, I mean, it's Nick Allegretti, a six round
23:49pick and a veteran, Julian good Jones. He's played one game in his career. He's like, he's 29. So
23:55I, until they add out somebody else, I just don't see this idea of a competition. Allegretti is though,
24:01you know, viewed as a guy who's got to be intelligent to play that spot. He is that, uh, you
24:06know,
24:06I think that, uh, you know, he's pretty broad based frame. I mean, it looks, you know, he,
24:12he looks the part, you know, whether he is, obviously we'll have to wait and see without
24:16any, um, without, without pads, without real contact. I don't really even watch the line
24:22play too much in practices because there's really nothing to see if it remotely simulates
24:27the game. So we'll have to, uh, you know, see where he's at, uh, come training camp. But,
24:33um, yeah, I mean, right now to my eyes, and I don't know how anybody else would think
24:37that it's, you know, Nick Allegretti and it's going to be his job unless something goes terribly wrong.
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