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The Sports Junkies discuss the latest Washington Commanders news.
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00:00This from the OTA Notebook on Commanders.com,
00:03Zach Selby, writing about the tight end position.
00:08Ooh, I'm intrigued.
00:09I'm intrigued about Chig.
00:11Big on Chig.
00:12He writes, the running backs and tight ends
00:14got a lot of work doing early team drills.
00:16Chig Okonkwo, Ben Sinnott, and John Bates
00:19all got to show off their route running ability,
00:21and each player had some impressive catches
00:23in the middle of the field.
00:24Daniels likes to develop strong bonds with his tight ends,
00:27and if this can continue into the season,
00:30perhaps we can see more.
00:31Multiple tight end sets in Blau's offense.
00:34All right, that's good.
00:35That's encouraging.
00:36Sinnott, Cakes.
00:36Even Sinnott getting a mention there.
00:38I mean, you want...
00:39I think he's borderline cut possibility.
00:41I've gotten to the point now where if he gives the team
00:45any sort of contribution, I'll be surprised and happy with it,
00:49but I'm literally not expecting anything.
00:53I think his ceiling is 20 catches this year.
00:57Maybe.
00:58With Chig there and Jaden spreading the ball around to other options.
01:02I saw Linnell...
01:04It'd be great if he had 35 or 40 catches.
01:06It was a force on offense.
01:07I just don't expect it.
01:08I saw Linnell being interviewed yesterday.
01:10He had an interesting anecdote about Chig
01:14that when he was leaving the OTA or whatever for the day,
01:19he saw Chig heading out to his car,
01:21and he said,
01:23hey, I got you as my tight end one in some of my fantasy teams.
01:27And Chig said to him,
01:29you should have me as your wide receiver one.
01:31Oh, that causes movement in my pants when I hear him talking like that.
01:36The problem is, you should tell Chig,
01:37well, you're not going to be listed as a wide receiver.
01:39So it's hard for you to be wide receiver one.
01:42If you get close to wide receiver one numbers out of a tight end,
01:46you can put him in a flex.
01:48Then you're just free rolling.
01:49I think that's the idea, though,
01:50is that think of me more as just a receiver
01:52than you are just like a simple tight end.
01:55Yeah.
01:56I mean, I'd love to hear that talk.
01:58Interesting.
02:00Tight ends have fared very well
02:01in like Ben Johnson's offense and the Lions' offense, right?
02:04Yep.
02:05I think that's David Blau's offense.
02:08They use a lot of them.
02:09I mean, you could even see
02:11I'm ready to wager on Shane.
02:12Colson Yankoff maybe having an impression here or there.
02:16If you go three or four receivers,
02:18your tight ends deep at some point.
02:20All right, I'm ready to wager on Shane.
02:21Can you carry four tight ends?
02:23Well, you could just toggle them back and forth.
02:25If Chig or Conquo plays in 15 or more games,
02:28he will catch 65 or more balls in this offense.
02:34I don't think that's crazy.
02:35Isn't that what Zach Ertz was doing?
02:37Yeah, he's going to do more than Zach Ertz.
02:39I mean, he had 56 last year.
02:41I know.
02:41He's going to get a bump.
02:42I would say more.
02:43I think it's going to be more like in the 70s.
02:44I think over 65.
02:45I'm trying to get myself a good number.
02:46I think it's a good number.
02:47To bet off of.
02:48No one's going to bet.
02:50I wouldn't bet under on that.
02:51I think it's a good number.
02:52Yeah, I might even go 73 to 75.
02:56That's pretty aggressive, which I like.
02:58I just think he's going to be a big part,
02:59especially if they don't add to the wide receiver room.
03:01Yeah, especially when he says something like that,
03:04and of course it's bravado, it's offseason,
03:07hey man, you should have me as a wide receiver.
03:09It does maybe give you some reason why they're not necessarily out there
03:14just knocking the door down on some of these receivers.
03:16Who knows what's going to happen with Ayuk?
03:18We're going to talk about him today, I know.
03:21But if you consider him as kind of an extra receiver,
03:25with Antonio Williams, with Terry,
03:28and then the other guys that they still have,
03:30you know, Deami, people are talking about Van Jefferson
03:32and how people are sleeping on him,
03:34just as a contributor.
03:37And then of course, McCaffrey showed some growth last year,
03:41and we'll see what Lane can do,
03:44Trey Burks, people talk about it.
03:45So I don't think the room is nearly as desperate
03:48as people may think it is.
03:51Yeah.
03:52Yeah, you're probably right.
03:54You know?
03:57Especially if you think it's mid.
03:59Especially if Chig is a big contributor,
04:01I think it might be a little bit more than that.
04:03I think you want to give some,
04:05I mean, do you want to bring in somebody else
04:07and then stunt the potential development of Antonio Williams?
04:10I really think he's going to be a big piece of this offense
04:14for the next three or four years.
04:15Yeah.
04:16It might take a while to get going,
04:17but I think eventually they're planning on him
04:19being a big part of the offense.
04:21Oh, so I've got a fantasy football projection
04:27for all the tight ends.
04:28Yes.
04:29What do they have for Chig?
04:31Chig, okay.
04:33They've got, all right, I think these numbers are low.
04:3779 targets.
04:38Yeah.
04:3959 catches.
04:40For Chig?
04:41I would go over.
04:42I would go over that.
04:43643 yards and four touchdowns.
04:45I would go over all those.
04:46I would.
04:47I would.
04:47If he's out there, like you said,
04:48if he's out there for the majority of the season,
04:50I think he's going to go over those numbers.
04:51Yeah.
04:52Now, those are probably just mainly based on what he's done
04:55in his career with Tennessee.
04:56Yeah.
04:56I think you could realistically expect that.
04:59If you could assume health, that's the one thing you can't assume.
05:03Yeah, you can't assume.
05:04I mean, they've got Brock Bowers at 92 catches for 957 and six touchdowns.
05:08I'd go over on some of those, too.
05:12Yeah, I don't know.
05:12Their wideout room is not very good in Vegas, so that tracks.
05:15I would go over six touchdowns with Brock Bowers.
05:18But with Chig, yeah, I think he'll have more than four.
05:21Well, I know.
05:23Chigo Zine is his full name.
05:25I don't know.
05:27Sounds right.
05:28Just calling him Chig.
05:29Yeah.
05:30Chig or Conkwell.
05:31I'll tell you what.
05:31To see him in person, you would probably just go, whoa.
05:36Six, six.
05:37What is he?
05:37About six, four?
05:38240?
05:39Probably just chiseled.
05:41I don't know if he's that tall.
05:42Maybe six, three.
05:43Just chiseled.
05:44Yeah, I don't know if he's that tall.
05:45But I am expecting big things from him.
05:48He's listed 6'3", 238.
05:49Yeah.
05:506'3", 238?
05:50Yeah.
05:51In Maryland, he was listed at 6'3", 250.
05:54Yeah, he's slimmed down a little bit.
05:57All muscle, buddy.
05:58Oh, yeah.
05:59Yeah, he is.
06:00He's probably like 5% body fat or less.
06:02Probably impressive.
06:04It was interesting.
06:05I was reading some of the reports from practice yesterday, too, about how they're trying to
06:10obviously, you know, there's a lot of sense of urgency this year.
06:13I mean, it's kind of gone unspoken.
06:14We've talked about it.
06:15But, you know, it's got a big year for everybody.
06:16Big year for DQ.
06:18Big year for Jaden.
06:20Big year for a lot of guys.
06:21Got a turnaround last year.
06:24And DQ made him go through the warm-ups, I don't know, two or three times.
06:29Durante Jones was yelling at a guy for walking to the huddle.
06:33We don't walk, we run.
06:34Jog back.
06:36Don't walk.
06:36Yeah, so a little sense of urgency that even the press is able to see when they've had
06:43the limited times out there.
06:45So, you know, I saw Kime in another report kind of suggesting last year was a little,
06:54you know, Club J-ish a little bit in training camp.
06:57Well, remember throughout the season, we always heard about all these rest days.
07:01All the rest days.
07:01But that's part of Quinn's connection with the players.
07:05Like, Quinn seems to connect with the players and what they need.
07:08Also, we have an older team, too.
07:10You got guys like Von Miller.
07:11But that was like maintenance days and all that during the season.
07:14But they were saying even in camp, it was just a lot more maybe chill than maybe you
07:21would expect.
07:21It's all business now.
07:22Well, now you got to ramp it up.
07:24When you win four games or whatever, you can't just chill.
07:27Didn't Von basically come on the show and say he didn't practice?
07:30Yes.
07:30I mean, he was going to practice.
07:32Yeah, yeah.
07:33But a lot of off days.
07:35I mean, basically like a Friday or something.
07:37Right.
07:38They basically said, look, here's the deal.
07:40When you're on the field, it's going to be limited snaps.
07:42Just hunt the quarterback.
07:44And, you know, look, he got his numbers.
07:46But, man, I'm telling you, they're the most inconsequential nine sacks, whatever the
07:49hell he has.
07:50Well, when you go five and 12, it's hard to put much consequence in anything.
07:53Yeah.
07:53Yeah, I guess that's true.
07:55I'm going to ask Kime about Sonny, how Sonny's been looking in the third week of OTAs.
07:59I'm sure he has been looking good.
08:01Sonny made a personal appearance out at like a Dix out in Gaithersburg.
08:04He did, yeah.
08:05He was packed.
08:06Along with, I think, Tom Wilson was there.
08:08Yeah, I think Willie was there.
08:09Somebody else, a third athlete.
08:10Oh, there must have been thousands of people.
08:12Yeah.
08:12With Willie and Sonny are out there.
08:14Yeah.
08:14He's packed.
08:14Definitely hundreds.
08:16That's the Dix, you know, about a mile from my house, two miles from my house.
08:20And somebody asked me, are you going to go to Dix to see?
08:23It's like, are you kidding me?
08:25I think the last thing I'm going to do is stand in line.
08:29Yeah.
08:30Shake Sonny's hand.
08:32But good on him.
08:33No, no, but it's just based on all the things we've heard from these OTA weeks, on both
08:40sides of the ball, it's just going to be a very interesting training camp to see who
08:44kind of elevates themselves, you know?
08:46A couple people were saying that they noticed that Jaden looked a little more jacked.
08:53Really?
08:53Yep.
08:54Wasn't that the narrative last year that we saw him looked the same?
08:57I think it was even Santana.
08:57There was like that one picture, remember, where his bicep was bulging a little bit?
09:03I remember that.
09:03But I mean, do you think it is, does Santana Moss strike you as a guy that's known for
09:07hyperbole?
09:08I don't think so.
09:09No, but he's working for the team.
09:10Yeah, but he said he thought his arms were noticeably bigger.
09:17Maybe that's the case.
09:18Well, look, he hurt his arm last year.
09:20I don't think it's a stretch.
09:21I mean, he hurt the arm last year, so maybe he's trying to strike that.
09:24He came in a slight guy.
09:25Yeah.
09:25Yeah, so add a little size in your third year in the NFL.
09:28I don't think it's a stretch at all.
09:29No, I don't think so.
09:30I think it's a good sign.
09:31And I've heard a couple people kind of insinuate that they feel like there's maybe even a little
09:37more pop, a little more zip on the ball.
09:38I feel like McLaurin's looked a little bit bigger, too.
09:41I haven't noticed that.
09:42Yeah.
09:43I don't know why I thought that, but it was just a picture or video I saw.
09:46A couple interesting things.
09:48So yesterday, apparently, McLaurin and Antonio Williams were working on the side.
09:54Nobody seems to think it's any big deal, but I think Conn reported that they were going
09:59at half speed.
10:00I don't know if that's just part of maintenance.
10:01Probably.
10:02No way to overwork the guys.
10:03Maybe that's what that was.
10:04But the other thing is, it's interesting.
10:06It's kind of an eyebrow raiser to an extent is that Bill has been kind of like working off
10:10to the side, or he hasn't really been a participant, a normal participant like everybody else.
10:16It's June 9th, yesterday's practice.
10:19Today's June 10th.
10:21Don't you think it's kind of interesting?
10:23It's kind of interesting.
10:24He's probably nursing some nagging little injury.
10:26I'm not panicking, but it's here we are.
10:28You're going to do third week OTAs.
10:30And the guy had almost 1,000 yards as a rookie.
10:33You're expecting him maybe to grow a little bit.
10:36He hasn't really been working with the full team.
10:38So, it's something he's probably nursing.
10:41Well, he's part of the picture, no doubt, of that RB room.
10:44He's going to have a big role.
10:45It's something to note.
10:46You know, okay, he's still not working with the team.
10:49Something's going on there.
10:50Yeah.
10:50Well, we'll find out.
10:51I mean, it's a big thing.
10:52It's a JK.
10:54How's the kicker battle going?
10:56What's the scuttle there?
10:57All I've heard is back and forth.
10:59One guy kicks it longer.
11:00Other one's more accurate.
11:02All I've heard is back and forth.
11:04My guess is, if they can, they find a way to stash the rookie.
11:09I don't know.
11:09But you'd have to cut him, right?
11:11To stash him?
11:11Which probably wouldn't have.
11:12I don't know.
11:13I don't know.
11:14I just feel like there's a bunch of Drew Stevens out there.
11:17Maybe, but you could just want to have a way to leave him.
11:20Undrafted.
11:20Scatter shot.
11:21Yeah.
11:21That's just the way I feel.
11:22Yeah.
11:23Yeah.
11:23And maybe Moody's better.
11:24Maybe his confidence level's better.
11:26I feel like it's all been.
11:27Because he was a stud kicker in college.
11:29Stud.
11:29High draft pick.
11:31And I just feel like it's, you know, it's just all mental with him.
11:34Because he's got the physical tools.
11:35My kingdom for the next Brandon Aubrey.
11:37If the commanders could somehow find that guy.
11:40They just.
11:41Yeah, right.
11:41Seems like they can't.
11:42They just can't get kicker right.
11:44How can it be that hard?
11:44Just pluck some guy off a soccer team somewhere.
11:46Kicker is just.
11:47Can't be that hard.
11:48To them, that's their Rubik's Cube to me.
11:51Just can't figure it out.
11:53Yeah.
11:53Just look at it.
11:54You're like, I'm never going to figure this thing out.
11:56I was reasonably happy with Moody.
11:58I was kind of surprised that they brought in this kid.
12:00Meh.
12:01Just another long line of replaceable kickers.
12:05Yeah.
12:05Well, I don't like to have the revolving door of kickers.
12:08I'd like to have one for three or four years that you kind of can rely on.
12:11That hasn't happened for a long time here.
12:13Not here.
12:14But there's no reason why I can't.
12:16It's after this third week minicamp.
12:19Or whatever you call it.
12:20OTAs.
12:21Yeah.
12:21Then the next step is a minicamp.
12:23Mandatory.
12:23A little break.
12:24Upcoming.
12:24That's the mandatory, right?
12:25I think so.
12:27Is that, what, end of June?
12:31I have to look up the date.
12:32Look up the date.
12:33I heard DQ say something when I watched his presser.
12:37You know, in the first OTA, you get like your first, I don't know, what do you say,
12:41your first four sessions.
12:42Then you have your next four sessions.
12:45Then you have 12 sessions.
12:46And then you pick the best for your minicamp, right?
12:49The things you like the best of the first four sessions, the second four sessions, the third four sessions.
12:54And you're starting to put together your offense and your defense.
13:00June 16th through 18th.
13:02Mandatory minicamp.
13:03Then they'll get the break between when training camp starts.
13:06Yeah.
13:07All right.
13:07So that's next week.
13:08It's not that far off.
13:09But it is interesting that you talk about Sonny Stiles because I haven't heard a lot about him yet.
13:14We heard a lot about him in the first week, but not in the last couple weeks.
13:17Yeah, people's eyes were on him when he first showed up.
13:18Yeah.
13:19You know.
13:20But I assume he's just been looking solid and smooth.
13:23Because no one's saying Stiles looks slow.
13:26Well, he's definitely not slow.
13:28I don't think they're ever going to say that.
13:29They don't say he's looking clueless.
13:30Remember, the underlying storyline here is Bish Bucks, a big Sonny Stiles guy.
13:34EB, a project guy on Sonny Stiles.
13:37I'm also a Sonny Stiles guy.
13:38He's a Caleb Downs guy.
13:40I just would have maybe picked somebody else.
13:41But I'm all in on him.
13:42I mean, he's my guy.
13:43He's got to be my guy.
13:44I'm convinced.
13:46I'm all in on him.
13:48What do you want me to tell you?
13:49I rarely root against guys on my team.
13:52I'm all in on some Stiles.
13:53I pretty much root for everybody on the team.
13:55I root for Ben Sinnott.
13:57I root for Van Jefferson.
13:59Yeah, you root for everybody.
14:00I root for the guys on my team.
14:02So he's on my team.
14:03He's going to be a big factor here, hopefully.
14:07He's got all the tools.
14:08Okay, so we're not that far away from fantasy drafts.
14:11I'm well aware.
14:12Not that far away.
14:13Late August, first week of September is your sweet spot.
14:16Yeah, maybe even mid-August.
14:18No, that's too early.
14:19Well, I mean, some leagues will do mid-August.
14:21Some leagues will do July.
14:22They're rubes.
14:23Yeah.
14:24I usually don't.
14:24If you're drafting in July.
14:26I usually don't.
14:27There's going to be 50 big injuries between July and the start of the NFL season.
14:32Yeah, we're a couple months away from those.
14:34I've got to figure out how many leagues I'm going to be in.
14:36You always say you're going to be in less than you were.
14:38No, I cut it down last year.
14:40Oh, good.
14:40I cut it down by two leagues, I believe.
14:42So I was in 10 the year before.
14:45Oh, my God.
14:46What a hassle.
14:47You're simplifying your lifestyle.
14:48Cut it down to eight.
14:49What a hassle.
14:49It's a lot.
14:50So running waivers.
14:51Some is college football.
14:53Two are college football.
14:54But probably going to cut it down from eight to six.
14:57Maybe seven.
14:58I did streamline my college exposure from two teams down to one.
15:02I mean, I need to be in two college fantasy football leagues.
15:05I don't know.
15:06It's fun, though.
15:06I mean, that's nonsense.
15:07But you have your one that I know the draft's part of, which is, doesn't that include college
15:13or dynasty league?
15:14I've never been in that league.
15:16Oh, you're not?
15:16Yeah, I was approached and I said, that's too much.
15:19Politely declined.
15:19It's too much.
15:20I just can't be in the mix.
15:211-800-636-1067 coming up in an hour.
15:26We'll give you a chance to win tickets to go see Dave Chappelle and the Black Crows on
15:31a game show Wednesday.
15:32We'll play Junkie Shootout here on The Fan.
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