- 22 hours ago
Ben Standig joins The Kevin Sheehan Show to discuss how the Commanders offense could operate despite the lack of high end options outside of Terry McLaurin and how the Brandon Aiyuk situation may have affected the roster building.
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00:00Ben, of course, writes a sub-stack column covering this team.
00:04He does it very well.
00:05I would urge all of you to subscribe.
00:08I'm a subscriber from day one.
00:09It's barely anything, a few bucks a month.
00:12I think he could charge more, but that's a conversation for another day.
00:16But he writes prolifically about this team, covers the team.
00:21Link to it on X at Ben Standing.
00:25So I just played in the last segment this sound from Carnell Tate saying
00:29he believes on the Amon Ross St. Brown podcast, I don't know if you've seen it,
00:33but he basically thinks he was locked into Washington at No. 7
00:38before the Titans took him at No. 4.
00:42Now, that also assumes that some of the other guys like Stiles,
00:48Delane maybe, Love maybe, weren't going to be there
00:51or weren't projected to be there.
00:53How do you think it played out?
00:56Oh, man, I'm trying to remember what the world was like.
00:59It was just six weeks ago, basically almost to the day, yeah.
01:04You think I remember what happened yesterday?
01:06No, you struggle with yesterday.
01:09Yeah.
01:10So, I mean, you know, obviously Delane was the name.
01:13Stiles was, you know, I think the question was Stiles was like,
01:18was he going to get past Tennessee at 4?
01:20Kind of felt like the big wonder there.
01:23I mean, look, obviously, does this team need another receiver?
01:29I mean, you know, all we've talked about for the last several weeks has been the idea
01:33that they would, you know, that, hey, they could still use more help there.
01:37And, you know, Tate was viewed as like the top receiver there.
01:42I mean, yes, if Stiles was there and Tate was there, I still would think they would take Stiles.
01:49You know, Brandon Ayuk, in theory, should have nothing to do with what they would have done in the draft.
01:56But, again, if they are so all in on getting Ayuk, then I don't know that spending a first-round
02:05pick makes as much sense,
02:06especially when you're not going – it doesn't appear they're going to be using, you know,
02:1211 personnel nearly as much as they had in the past.
02:16But whatever.
02:17I mean, who knows?
02:17I mean, obviously, it could have been the call.
02:21I mean, again, if Stiles is gone and Love is gone, sure, I mean, receiver was obviously a need.
02:28We know they didn't have a second-round pick, so they were going to have to wait.
02:31So, I mean, look, it's certainly possible, but, you know, Stiles also said he thought he was pretty much going
02:37to Washington.
02:38So, who knows?
02:39Yeah, I think in order, all right, number one would have been to get a really good offer to move
02:48back.
02:48I still believe that that's what they were hoping for more than anything else at seven,
02:56is that there were enough compelling players on the board that somebody felt, you know,
03:01like Kansas City did with Cleveland, somebody felt good enough about offering something to trade up to get seven.
03:08Because I do think they felt the same way about the draft that a lot of others did,
03:12and that is just maybe one or two or three, you know, absolute kind of locks, you know, in terms
03:19of what they would be.
03:20After that, I don't know.
03:22I mean, like, if Tate and Stiles had both been on the board, do you think it would have been
03:25Stiles?
03:26I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me if Tate was very high on that board,
03:33and that's why he got the feeling that they would take him at seven without an opportunity to trade back.
03:42We've talked about this before, but you still think, right,
03:46that they would have preferred to have accumulated more picks and traded back from seven as the number one option?
03:54Yeah, I mean, I think if Stiles was not there, based on the way that the world, you know,
04:00essentially kind of played out, I think that trading back would have been ideal.
04:05Now, I do, the way the draft was breaking down, like, depending on how, what positions you cared about for
04:11this year,
04:12there were, if you'd like 10, after about 10 or 11, there felt like a real drop-off.
04:18So, you know, I don't know that they would have gone past, I think the Dolphins were at 11.
04:22That was a team I kind of kept wondering about just because they have a ton of picks.
04:26I know they weren't, you know, they're in essentially rebuild mode, but, you know,
04:30maybe they just love somebody.
04:32That would have been, you know, a thought.
04:34But, yeah, I mean, look, we can say this all is about receiver, right?
04:38They made moves or attempted to get Alec Pierce and Romeo Dobbs, two guys that were, you know, good money.
04:45So, obviously, that, you know, shows an interest.
04:47And then, you know, the third-round pick, you know, they were second overall.
04:51They did take a receiver, you know.
04:53So, yeah, I mean, again, clearly they were interested in upgrading that spot.
04:58But, yeah, like I said, I still think Stiles would have been the call, the younger, faster bit.
05:06I mean, it just played out over and over again with this team.
05:09And I just would imagine that that still would have been the call.
05:11But, yeah, sure.
05:12I mean, receiver, obviously, was a priority for them to at least to some degree.
05:16Yeah, I think some of the criticism, and I get it more on calls.
05:20You probably get it more with, you know, tweets and emails to your sub stack or comments to the sub
05:27stack.
05:27The criticism of Adam Peters and company that they didn't do enough at wide receiver, I just can't get on
05:34board with that because I know that clearly it was a priority to do more.
05:40And there's no guarantee in free agent, takes two to tango, and Pierce and Dobbs didn't want to tango.
05:46And then if Tate was the guy that they were going to take at seven, somebody surprised them and took
05:52Tate at four.
05:54Here's the one thing I guess we can deduct from Tate's comments is that they had Tate ahead of Tyson,
06:01you know, because Tyson was on the board at seven, and they didn't take him.
06:05So I'm assuming that they had Tate ahead of Tyson, but I just – I don't really feel like they
06:13were negligent – that's a harsh word – in their pursuit of more help for Jaden at the wide receiver
06:20spot.
06:21I guess my only thought there was this – I'm with you.
06:24Like, I know people have said, well, if they really wanted Alec Pierce, they would have just gotten him.
06:28That's all a joke.
06:29I'm like, well, he has to accept the offer, and there was a lot of reasons for him personally why
06:34he wanted to stay with the Colts.
06:37I mean, Dobbs – hey, the Patriots just went to the Super Bowl, and they have their own young rising
06:43quarterback in Drake Mays.
06:44So, you know, none of that is terribly surprising.
06:50And the only thing I would say, like – so, right, from an individual moment, yeah, I wouldn't say that
06:57Peters and company weren't, you know, attempting to really bolster this.
07:00I would just say, though, that now that we're three off-seasons into this, you know, the receiver room looks
07:06very similar to what it did when Jaden got here.
07:09And I think that aspect of it is where you're like, okay, how come there hasn't been more success in
07:16getting help around it?
07:17I mean, look, maybe Chica Conquo turned out to be the best guy that they possibly could have had, and
07:22maybe Antonio Williams is.
07:24You know, hey, Terry McLaurin was the third-round pick in 2019.
07:26Maybe Antonio Williams is – you know, falls in that success.
07:31But, you know, that would be my only question.
07:33You look at what the Patriots have done around Drake May, what the Broncos have done around Bo Nix, the
07:37Bears around Caleb Williams.
07:38They have gone out and gotten those pieces when these guys are on a rookie contract until – and to
07:45help a guy, you know, elevate.
07:47And that has not happened here to that degree.
07:50They did other things.
07:51They helped the offensive line.
07:52But, yeah, they have not – it hasn't worked out, even though I do think they at least this off
07:58-season tried to make it work out.
08:02Yeah, for sure, they tried to make it work out.
08:06What I was going to say about just the idea that it's the same as 2024, I mean, I think
08:14there's certainly a chance that it's the same as 2024.
08:16But I think what gets lost in that comparison is that Terry McLaurin is two years older and coming off
08:25a really difficult season for him.
08:27And he was the critical component of what they had in 2024.
08:33And he would need to be again in 2026 if they're going to get the same results with the same
08:40crew.
08:42Yeah, you know, I mean, for sure, the McLaurin part in terms of the age is different.
08:48The fact that there's – it feels like there's much more of a chance that this could be his last
08:54year because of salary gap situations.
08:59Then, I mean, I think we were all – in 2024, I think he was just a mortal lock that
09:04he was going to get an extension and there wouldn't be any drama.
09:06But, you know, and again, you know, we don't know, maybe Antonio Williams becomes a guy, you know, maybe Traylon
09:13Burks becomes more consistent, whatever.
09:14But, like, you know, that year it was Terry McLaurin.
09:17You know, they didn't have – I mean, at this point they didn't even have Noah Brown, right?
09:20He didn't show up until the season started.
09:22And even still, he's, you know, a good player if he could ever stay healthy, you know, be a legit
09:27starter.
09:28But that was the risk.
09:29And then everybody else, the D'Ambies, who's obviously back, you know, Olamide, Zakiya, Jamison, Cratter, you know, I think
09:35everybody was going, I don't know, that doesn't seem like a lot.
09:38Now here you have, again, similar, you know, D'Ambies back, Traylon Burks, Van Jefferson, you know, we still haven't
09:47seen enough from Luke McCaffrey and Jalen Lane to definitively say they're going to be guys.
09:52So it's just, to me, the resist looks the same as Terry McLaurin and then lottery tickets.
09:58And then, you know, and that's why it's like, okay, if Jaden does what Jaden does, as we saw in
10:03his rookie year, then it should work.
10:06Again, the one thing I do like about this receiver room is that if they're going to go down this
10:10route of, okay, we don't have one guy right now, what do we do?
10:13They have different pieces, you know, for that.
10:18I mean, David Blau, the other day when we spoke with him, he, I believe, I don't think I'm doing
10:22this, he said that, you know, they try to assemble the room similar to way, like if an NBA team
10:29was assembling a roster, you know, you need a shooter, you need a defender, you need a point guard, you
10:35need a room protector.
10:36You need guys who have different skills, you know, outside of your main guy, in this case, Terry.
10:40And I think they did that.
10:42And that's why I keep mentioning the idea of, like, are they going to moneyball this position where it's, you
10:49know, recreating the number two receiver in the aggregate rather than having, you know.
10:54Thank you, Billy Bean.
10:56Yeah, no, 100%.
10:59So, you know, obviously, would they prefer the one guy?
11:01Sure.
11:01But, like, if they're not going to get that, then, I mean, that was this thing last year, right?
11:06I mean, it is so funny to say that De'Ami Brown was the missing piece, but he really was,
11:11I mean, in so many ways, because especially when Terry got hurt, they had nobody who could get the ball
11:15down the field.
11:16Like, nobody could go down, could make a play down the field.
11:20The defense then started pressing, you know, their players up closer to the line of scrimmage, and, you know, everything
11:26kind of fell apart from there.
11:28So, that aspect I like, but yeah, I think they would prefer to have figured out a way to get
11:33one guy in there, but it didn't happen.
11:36You wrote the other day, lost in the receiver chatter, Washington's tight ends are making a case.
11:43So, summarize that.
11:47Yeah, so on Tuesday, at Tuesday's practice, I mean, Terry McCorn and Antonio Williams were working on the side field.
11:54So, okay, you know, what does that potentially mean?
11:57Now, obviously, they're working on very specific parts of the game.
12:01This isn't like Jaden drops back the pass and finds the perfect target.
12:05It's more like, okay, we're going to try to run these types of different routes, these combinations.
12:10But because there was no Williams and, I'm sorry, yeah, Antonio Williams and McLaurin, then the tight ends did feel
12:18like they were a little bit more involved.
12:20And whether it was kicking passes up the seam or lining up on the outside, you know, Okonkwo and Bates
12:26and Sennett were more involved.
12:29And, you know, this is a, I think this is going to be one of the biggest differences between this
12:36year and last year.
12:37We talk a lot about the under center part.
12:38Obviously, that's huge.
12:39The fact that they're going to huddle, that's big.
12:41But I do think that the tight ends collectively are going to get more involved.
12:46I mean, obviously, Cliff Kingsbury's like what Zach Ertz could do.
12:50But then when Zach Ertz got hurt, it's not like Ben Sennett all of a sudden was getting a ton
12:54of targets.
12:54It felt like a very specific type of tight end that he needed, whereas I mean, here, it feels like
13:00there's routes they want run and they can have these guys get that job done.
13:06I mean, Sennett, obviously, he's been a guy that, you know, along with a lot of the players in that
13:0924 class, are still waiting for more.
13:12As an athlete, he's pretty impressive.
13:16But as a fit for what they were doing before, it just did not work.
13:19So I think that the three tight ends, I expect Sennett and Bates to catch more passes.
13:25And to go back to the last conversation, again, could they use a better receiver opposite Terry?
13:31Sure.
13:32I think the number two just may ultimately be Chigakonkwo.
13:36I think they're going to use more tight ends this year, more two tight end sets, meaning you probably only
13:41have two receivers out there.
13:43So if you view Okonkwo as essentially as the slot guy, then if he delivers when they hope, especially athletically
13:51and yards after the catch, et cetera, then we could maybe just stop talking about that.
13:56But I think the tight ends are going to be more involved in general.
13:59And I wouldn't be surprised if, like I said, if Bates and Sennett, they both had 11 receptions last year.
14:05If they're healthy, I would expect them to beat that number and possibly even double it or so, depending on
14:12how many now they're ultimately going to get fed.
14:14Yeah.
14:14I mean, look, Ertz has been the second most targeted player for Washington's offense in 24 and 25 in the
14:22Kingsbury scheme.
14:23And yeah, there were injuries to Terry, but Ertz was injured too.
14:26So I definitely expect Chigakonkwo to be the second most targeted pass catcher, you know, in the offense.
14:35It just would be a lot easier to even increase his targets if you had another stretch the field wide
14:43receiver threat to really open up, you know, the field a little bit more, which as you pointed out without
14:49Terry, they were really up against it last year.
14:53You know, specific to Sennett, I keep coming back to the comment that Adam Peters made when they drafted him,
15:00that he sees some Kyle Juszczyk in him.
15:02I know it's OTAs and we're not learning a lot, but I asked you after the first set of OTAs,
15:09did you notice anything formationally when the offense was out there with Sennett in particular?
15:15Was there an H-back, a fullback formation?
15:21How do you see him playing?
15:24I mean, Bates is the blocking tight end, but is Sennett going to be a guy that, you know, is
15:30that first sort of fullback slash tight end option on the bootleg, on the quarterback keeper?
15:37How do you see him, you know, lining up and playing?
15:40Do you have any sense of that from anything that's happened so far here in the offseason?
15:45Yeah, I mean, like to your point, you know, it's hard to gauge too much with OTAs and they are
15:51kind of, you know, prefer us not saying too much about what we see out there, you know, even now.
15:58But yeah, look, I think 12 and 13 personnel is obviously based on last year in the league was becoming,
16:03you know, more vogue.
16:05And, you know, one of the things I think was frustrating for me going back to last year, and this,
16:10I think, goes to the point of that Kingsbury's ultimately his system was just maybe too rigid, is that, you
16:17know, when the injuries started to happen at receiver,
16:22they didn't seem to pivot towards, okay, well, what else do we have, you know, what else can we, you
16:28know, how do we chef salad this offense?
16:31Okay, here's the pieces that we have.
16:33How do we make this work?
16:34And instead of, therefore, going with more, you know, combination of, you know, Bill and Picker, other running back, or
16:41going with more John Bates and Sennett,
16:44they just stuck with the receivers who just weren't getting the job done.
16:47So, I think, like, it could be the case where they have, you know, Sennett lined up in 13 personnel,
16:53maybe playing a little bit more in that fullback-y role.
16:57But, you know, he could just be, you know, lining Chig out more and having Sennett and Bates, you know,
17:02be the in-line blockers.
17:03But I think Bates is, sorry, yeah, Sennett's blocking, I think, was a bit underrated.
17:08We obviously know that Bates is one of the better guys in the league, so that gets the attention.
17:11But I thought Sennett was pretty physical when he was in there.
17:14So, yeah, I mean, again, if you tell me that part of the overall offensive solution is you have Chig,
17:21you know, essentially be the second receiver,
17:22whether he's out in the slot or a little more outside, with Bates and Sennett, then playing the more in
17:28-line tight end roles.
17:29I mean, again, that's how you maximize the talent you have.
17:33Instead of complaining, you don't have this.
17:35Okay, well, we do have this, so let's do that.
17:37So, I think it's more like that, whether he's ultimately playing fullback or not.
17:42I just think the idea that they could use three tight ends doesn't seem as crazy to me,
17:47especially, again, when you don't have the obvious fit at the other receiver spots.
17:53Yeah.
17:54The only thing I would say, it's not really significant, but I did think after that disastrous stretch of Seattle
18:02and Detroit,
18:05there were changes, and I'm just looking through my game notes that I sort of put together from the whole
18:12season.
18:13I mean, the Madrid game, which followed the Detroit game, was a real emphasis to run the football, you know,
18:20and it was a lesser defensive opponent as well than Seattle was, of course, you know, two weeks earlier.
18:27But that's where you saw Chris Rodriguez really start to get to be a big part.
18:33By the way, you can almost argue Chris Rodriguez in the end of season for him is what got him
18:40this contract in Jacksonville
18:42because he ended up, you know, averaging down the stretch, you know, close to five yards a carry
18:48and, you know, was rushing 14, 15 times a game.
18:53But they were kind of out of options at that point, too, because they couldn't protect
18:59and they didn't have anybody to throw to.
19:01Anyway, Ayuk, we haven't talked since the last video.
19:06At least there wasn't – there hasn't been a video now for what?
19:10As of today, we may get two straight days without a video.
19:13So, what was your reaction to the last one where he called the 49ers stupid and dumb and mad?
19:22Of course they are.
19:26Yeah, well, it could be interesting because, am I right, you're having Grant Cohn come on?
19:30Yeah.
19:31Yeah, I mean, he's been – you know, he's done the circuit.
19:33He's been very pro-Ayuk, which is very odd because it feels like that is a very much outlier take.
19:41And, you know, look, there are certain aspects of Ayuk's situation based on the little bit that we seem to
19:47know
19:47where you can feel sympathetic towards it, right?
19:49I get that the Niners are not always necessarily the most player-friendly group that, you know,
19:55Kyle Shanahan and the organization may see things a certain way and then may do things a certain way.
20:00And, you know, that's kind of like how life works, right?
20:04I mean, the bosses are the bosses and the employees are the employees.
20:07You kind of got to figure out how to make that work.
20:09I understand that athletes are different than a guy who's, you know, a gym from the office, you know, sitting
20:14there.
20:14But at the same point, it's the same general idea.
20:18But the idea – again, the thing is, like, you can tell me whatever you want about that the Niners
20:22were mean to Ayuk,
20:23but all he needed to do was say, you know what, look, I don't want to play here anymore.
20:27I'm willing to forego this money, as he clearly was, by not fighting it back.
20:32But in order to do that, you have to let me go.
20:34Well, that to me is, like, the whole point of this on some level.
20:38Whatever the 49ers are doing, right or wrong, whatever, it's pretty simple.
20:43Go to them with this proposal and then you can get at it or just show up at any point.
20:48He's not doing any of that.
20:49So him – whatever he is doing these days makes absolutely no sense on top of the no sense of
20:54letting the 49ers take away the money.
20:58But, again, why did they take it away in the first place?
21:00Because he apparently went AWOL and stopped showing up for rehab or whatever.
21:04So, I – you know, again, I don't know Brandon Ayuk.
21:10I don't – you know, we don't know all the details.
21:12I just don't know what I've read and heard.
21:14But it's hard for me to have really any sympathy for him at this point when it is so simple.
21:18All he has to do is show up or all he had to do was have his agent say, hey,
21:23keep the money.
21:25Get me out of it.
21:25Let me go.
21:26So, if you don't let me go, we'll have some problems.
21:29But, I mean, right?
21:30How simple would that have been?
21:31Take the money or whatever.
21:32And then if San Fran obviously they're going to – you know, it's probably underappreciated that they're going to have
21:37to suffer a big salary cap hit in order to blow this whole thing up.
21:40But it's going to happen anyway, right?
21:43So, it's not like – you know, the same thing would have happened except he's not a pain in their
21:49butt and this is all over with.
21:50But I have – I'm hard to have much sympathy for how he's handled any of this.
21:55Yeah, you guys, we're in agreement.
21:58I think the thing at this point that if you want to take all of the he said, she said
22:04– and by the way, one side hasn't said anything.
22:08If you want to take all of that out of it and just focus on the last week.
22:12Like, what we haven't heard from him, which I think would be beneficial for everybody to hear and actually something
22:19that actually may lift the opinion of him, is how much he wants to play football.
22:26How – the knee's in great shape.
22:29I'm in great shape.
22:30I miss football so much after not playing it.
22:34I can't wait to play more football.
22:36I'm ready to play football.
22:39Nothing about his desire to play football.
22:42And I think that actually would help him.
22:45I'm not a big fan of the workout videos, but I actually think something like that would be more beneficial
22:50for him.
22:51Instead, he chose to, in his lambasting of his employer, highlight the fact that he was a terrible, terrible signing.
23:03Like, I don't think he realized that, well, yes, it's because they stupid.
23:09Yeah, they stupid for signing you to the deal because they got nothing back for it.
23:17Yeah, this is – man, somebody's got to give this guy some direction that he's willing to listen to because
23:25you're getting to the point –
23:26I said this the other day, you might be getting close to that point where he's going to have to
23:30beg for that second, you know, chance.
23:32That he's going to have to go on some sort of redemption tour to say, yeah, all of that was
23:37just hurt, but I'm now focused solely on this.
23:40Give me a shot.
23:41Because when you look crazy, you tend to scare people away from maybe their initial instincts.
23:49We'll see.
23:50Yeah, I, you know, wrote the other day, we talked about it, I think, on Monday about if Washington is,
23:58as they claim, likes their receiver room and they feel good about it and all that,
24:02then why do we keep talking about Brandiuk?
24:04Because all that would need to happen is if they actually are not interested is somehow it gets leaked that
24:09Washington is not interested.
24:12I get – we all get to understand that Adam Peters has a relationship with IU.
24:15He clearly knows what's going on in that building, having been there for many years.
24:19I'm looking at it from Dan Quinn's perspective, like, what's going on here?
24:23What do you want?
24:24You want this guy?
24:26We just spent three years talking about culture and whatever, and this guy is willing to blow up his current
24:32employer, you know, like that.
24:34Let's not forget, he was – before Jaden played in his rookie year, they were hanging out, and IU, I
24:41guess Jaden was showing some of their practice tape,
24:43like, or, you know, like, camp tape, and IU put something on my – what is that?
24:49Like, if you're going to be that much of a wild card that at any minute of the day you
24:53could do something like this, no.
24:57Like, one of the best things you could say about this group has been that despite all the losing last
25:03year,
25:04there was – I had no sense that there was anybody – anybody was, like, going rogue or not buying
25:10in anymore.
25:11They did play hard under Quinn.
25:13They did all this.
25:14And so, like, it just seems like, wait, why are we bringing this element in here when it's just so
25:19unhinged?
25:21I don't get it.
25:22The only thing about bringing him into an environment like this one is that you'd be bringing him in on
25:31a deal
25:32that would allow you to quickly cut ties with him if he is crazy.
25:39And, by the way, you're going to do a thorough medical, physical, mental, the whole thing
25:44before you give him a totally one-sided, team-friendly deal.
25:49That's the only way you would do it.
25:50And, look, this guy's got a big date coming up.
25:53It'll be the beginning of training camp, assuming nothing happens between now and then.
25:56And then we'll see if he's actually got the stones to show up and force their hand,
26:01which he could have done during OTAs.
26:04But, you know, again, it doesn't – that's another sort of data point that would suggest
26:09he's not really focused on football and his next spot.
26:12He's focused more on ripping his employer.
26:16All right, I got to run.
26:17I'll talk to you later.
26:19Of course, see you.
26:19Ben Standing, everybody.
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