- 2 days ago
With the possibility of Brandon Aiyuk joining the Washington Commanders looking bleak, the team has to shift their focus. Kevin Sheehan follows up on NFL insiders discussing the Commanders actively looking for a wide receiver two this offseason and what available players could be on their radar in free agency.
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00:00Yesterday, we played a lot of the sound from Jeremy Fowler from two days ago and then again yesterday morning
00:09on the Junkies, talking wide receiver in Washington specifically.
00:16A lot of Diggs conversation, a lot of references to Brandon Ayuk, and even a Keenan Allen mention when he
00:24was on with the Junkies yesterday that he said that Washington has actually been implicated in Keenan Allen talk.
00:32That would be a surprise for me. I think Keenan Allen will end up with the Chargers, but man, you
00:38talk about a pro's pro.
00:40That would be the highest level of football professionalism at wide receiver in one NFL locker room in the league,
00:49having Terry McLaurin and Keenan Allen.
00:52Would it be the best tandem? No. Keenan Allen's 34 years old. He's always been a possession receiver. He's not
00:58a speed guy.
00:59He's not a threaten the defense vertically guy, but he is certainly a big contested catch route running gem even
01:09last year with the Chargers.
01:12So what we missed yesterday, because I think it came out after the show, was something that Adam Schefter said
01:18on his podcast yesterday.
01:22Let's first, Max, go back and play the couple of hits, and let's just get right to the Jeremy Fowler
01:28section without listening to Tim Hasselbeck on the ESPN show that they were on two days ago,
01:35where I think it was Laura Rutledge asked him about Diggs.
01:40Hasselbeck had just talked about Kansas City being a really good foot for Stefan Diggs, but then it was time
01:47for Jeremy Fowler from ESPN to weigh in on Diggs,
01:50and we got more as it relates to Washington's wide receiver situation than just thoughts on Diggs.
01:57All right, so we're throwing out all these teams, but Jeremy, what are you actually hearing about the interest on
02:01Diggs?
02:01Yeah, Laura, I'm hearing he's going to have a market closer to training camp.
02:04I was told that at least five teams that need a wide receiver have been checking in.
02:08Now they've got to deal with some of the baggage and the headlines. They are what they are, but here's
02:12why Stefan Diggs, I'm told, is confident.
02:14He had 1,000-plus yards last year, really playing on a snap count of around 55% of the
02:19snaps coming off an ACL.
02:20He feels he's going to be better this time around. I'm looking to the DMV, Laura. That's where he's from.
02:26Commanders certainly need a receiver. I think they're looking for more of like a speed option at this point.
02:30We'll see. There are several veterans they could look at. I don't think it's going to be Brandon Ayuk at
02:34this stage.
02:34And the Baltimore Ravens, they have really made a living at times signing retread receivers.
02:40There's veterans who are accomplished, who are in their 30s, who can come in and help.
02:45All right. So, you know, in that particular, you know, hit with ESPN, you got his thoughts on Diggs.
02:54You got the Ayuk line. And just go right to that again, because I want to hear just the tone
03:01from Jeremy Fowler when he has, you know, a bit of a throwaway line, not necessarily, though, about Brandon Ayuk.
03:08There are several veterans they could look at. I don't think it's going to be Brandon Ayuk at this stage.
03:12Right.
03:12And the Baltimore Ravens, they have really made a living at times.
03:16So we talked a little bit about this yesterday, and I'm going to get to this with respect to what
03:21Schefter said on his podcast, either yesterday or the day before, in a moment.
03:26But you really aren't sure, as a fan or even as a media member, when these true insiders, you know,
03:35when I'm talking about true insiders, Jeremy Fowler is one of them, Adam Schefter, Ian Rappaport.
03:40You know, there are a half dozen to maybe 10 guys that we all know as NFL fans end up
03:47breaking the majority of news, have the most sources, have the most contacts, have the most sort of direct communication
03:55with the actual story.
03:59And they report a lot of that stuff.
04:02That's not a report from Jeremy Fowler and Brandon Ayuk or Stefan Diggs.
04:07That is a show in which he is an opinion maker.
04:12And you have to decipher as a fan because it's not a report, a report he would tweet out, a
04:18report would then go to him after he's tweeted out to say, what have you learned?
04:22And he would say, what I've learned based on my sources is that Washington's not interested in Brandon Ayuk.
04:29What I've learned through my sources is that Washington does have some interest in Stefan Diggs.
04:35What you don't know is whether or not the opinion that he is expressing is based on him knowing something
04:43but not being able to report it.
04:46Let's go to the other Jeremy Fowler.
04:49This from yesterday morning, the junkies.
04:53Yeah, so, you know, Washington is certainly on the radar for a receiver.
04:58It's been hard to identify which one.
05:00It's kind of been a moving target.
05:01Yeah, I think the Brandon Ayuk ship has failed, I think.
05:05I mean, I'll never say never.
05:07Maybe he can sort of rebuild his image here a little bit in the next few months.
05:10But it looks bigger than football at this point with some of what's going on there.
05:14So I'd be surprised if Adam Peters went that route.
05:17The problem is, in talking to some people there, I get the sense that they really would like a speed
05:22guy.
05:23You know, they got Antonio Williams and Lane, I believe.
05:27Some of the young guys can play on the slot a little bit.
05:30And they got McLaurin, who can still run.
05:33But you could use another outside speed guy.
05:35But there's not much out there in free agency.
05:37Like Diggs at this stage is, I think he can still be really productive, but he's not a burner.
05:42You know, and I've heard Washington implicated to Keenan Allen a little bit over the last few weeks.
05:48But it sounds like nothing's going on there.
05:50So maybe that perks up.
05:51But, you know, he's more of a true slot at this stage.
05:54So it's interesting.
05:55Like, they've been linked to some receivers, but nothing firm.
05:58So, you know, at the end, Adam Peters is still kind of operating in the shadows here.
06:02We'll see.
06:03I still think they could add somebody.
06:05The Diggs would love to be in Washington.
06:06I mentioned Baltimore mostly just because that would be a Baltimore signing, Stephon Diggs.
06:13Somebody who's been in the league that's sort of a retread at this stage.
06:16Like, they seem to lean on those kind of receivers with Anquan Bolden in the past and DeAndre Hopkins recently.
06:23So that would fit the mold in that way.
06:26So, you know, the end there.
06:28By the way, I do think Diggs to Baltimore makes some sense.
06:32And he did say Diggs would love to be in Washington.
06:36Yeah.
06:37I think we kind of have a sense that Diggs might want to be here, especially now.
06:42And I say now because Diggs still views himself as, worst case, the best number two in the NFL.
06:51He said that recently.
06:53I think he still views himself as a number one.
06:56The idea of Washington before Brandon Iyuk took to social media for five to six weeks was, you know, perhaps
07:06lukewarm from his standpoint.
07:08Because you would have had Terry, you would have potentially had Iyuk, and then him.
07:13So he's not the clear-cut number two.
07:15He's definitely not the number one.
07:17Where does he fit in?
07:18Now that maybe there is a sense from everybody around the league, including somebody like Stefan Diggs, that Iyuk is
07:26more likely than not not going to be in Washington.
07:30Well, now he and Terry make a nice combination.
07:33So maybe Washington is much more interesting to him today than it would have been had there been a likelihood
07:40of him and Iyuk being signed.
07:43Now, what Jeremy Fowler said to the junkies yesterday morning about Iyuk, that ship has sailed.
07:50And then he said, I think, you know, and then he went into, you know, he would never say never.
07:56And I've been on that bandwagon as well.
07:59Been following the NFL like you guys have for a long period of time.
08:02You never say never with somebody that has talent.
08:05You just don't.
08:06And there is the possibility he could go on what he, you know, described as a reshaping his image tour.
08:14And that could happen between now and, you know, the late August time frame.
08:19Who knows?
08:20He said that he'd be surprised if Adam Peters went that route.
08:24But when he said that Iyuk ship has sailed, he said, I think.
08:28I think that's the tell that this is more of his opinion right now.
08:33So I would personally lean in the direction of Jeremy Fowler as part of, you know, talk shows with the
08:43junkies and on ESPN with Laura Rutledge and Tim Hasselbeck was more or less expressing sort of his gut feel
08:50that he wasn't expressing something based on knowing anything for sure.
08:55Now, this was Adam Schefter on his podcast talking about Stefan Diggs, which led him into Washington and Brandon Iyuk.
09:06There's some interesting things about this guy, right?
09:08He's coming off an ACL, torn ACL last year.
09:11And even last year when he was coming off the ACL, which people said they're better in the second year,
09:15he was 12th in receptions with 85.
09:19He was 16th in yards with 1,013.
09:23He only played 54% of the Patriots offensive snaps and was still 12th in the league in receptions with
09:3185.
09:32Above the stats, he was not limited this offseason.
09:37He was able to work out.
09:39So that worked out this offseason.
09:41He's been training all offseason.
09:42Didn't need the rehab.
09:44You would think that you would get a better version of Stefan Diggs this offseason.
09:49And so, to me, I think there'll be interest.
09:53By the way, we talked about Washington and Brandon Iyuk.
09:57And most people thought Iyuk would go there.
09:59And it may turn out to be that Brandon Iyuk's social media posts created an opening for Stefan Diggs, who
10:10played at Maryland, to go back to that area.
10:13Take the spot that Brandon Iyuk might have had, and now fill in.
10:19Like, again, the production was there last year coming off an ACL injury.
10:23You'd have to think the production will be there this year.
10:27And I think there are certain fits that would make sense for Stefan Diggs with veteran quarterbacks, like in Kansas
10:33City.
10:33That would be logical.
10:35But I think he'll find work, and I think somebody will bring him in, and it wouldn't surprise me if
10:41he has a new team relatively early in camp.
10:45There you go.
10:46Look, I'm going to come back to Diggs here in a moment.
10:51But I think Adam in that moment, and with Adam, you really have to be kind of someone that speaks
11:00Adam Schefter-ese.
11:02And we've all followed Adam Schefter forever.
11:04Adam was a guest on this show on a weekly basis for seven years when Tommy and I were doing
11:09the Sports Fix,
11:10and even early on when he and I, when I was doing the show with Cooley.
11:14I think you get – I got the sense that he feels like it's obvious that Brandon Iyuk is probably
11:23not now going to be in Washington,
11:25but I didn't feel like that was a nugget that he was throwing out there based on something that he's
11:32heard from somebody.
11:33That's me.
11:34You may feel differently.
11:36That's fine.
11:37I think that Washington has played this very close to the vest.
11:41For whatever reason, they ain't talking.
11:44And I think the primary reason is they're not going to get into any sort of position where, A, the
11:52league starts to wonder
11:53about whether or not they've had any conversations with Iyuk.
11:57And if they have no interest, in my senses at this point, they probably have as little interest as they've
12:03had,
12:04even though five, six weeks ago I think that the odds favored heavily that Iyuk would end up in Washington.
12:11Eventually.
12:12I don't feel that way anymore for obvious reasons, and I think a lot of the NFL world doesn't feel
12:18that way anymore.
12:20But I just think that this is their style.
12:23You know, we've talked a lot about this over the last two years since Dan Quinn came in, since Adam
12:29Peters came in.
12:30I mean, this building in Ashburn used to leak like a sieve.
12:36I mean, holes everywhere.
12:38I mean, you could barely be on the periphery of sports media in this town and get somebody to tell
12:45you something that was interesting.
12:48And that's not this administration at all.
12:52And they've been that way.
12:54Now, I'm not saying that a lot of the people on the beat and even some others, me included, don't
13:00get to have conversations with various people
13:02where you kind of learn maybe a sense of something or maybe you get something that you weren't thinking about,
13:08but you don't get actual news.
13:11You know, that's not what they're providing.
13:14And as it relates to this, they've just decided even if they're out on Brandon Ayoub, they're not talking.
13:20And I don't think Jeremy Fowler and Adam Schefter, I'm sure they've tried, but I don't think they have anything
13:29close to definitive
13:31because if they did, I think we would have gotten something much stronger.
13:35Maybe not in report form, but something stronger than what we got.
13:40But that's the way I heard it and felt it as far as Ayoub goes.
13:46Look, because there's so much time between now and the beginning of the season, eight weeks,
13:52and there's a lot to happen, training camp, preseason games, intra-squad scrimmages,
13:57and there will be injuries and there will be needs that you don't think you have that you're going to
14:02end up having.
14:03There are going to be needs that you have now that are going to become even more significant.
14:07And that could sync up with some sort of an apology tour and a reclamation of his reputation project over
14:15the next four or five weeks.
14:16You never say never.
14:18I'd say it's a long shot.
14:19But if they're in that mode of, we're never going to discount any possibility in terms of trying to make
14:29our team better.
14:30So why ever definitively through back channels, they wouldn't be able to publicly say that.
14:37They would deliver it through, you know, a Schefter as, you know, as a leak to a Schefter or a
14:44Rappaport or a Fowler or somebody like that.
14:46But I don't think that they're going to close the book on anything.
14:50And they shouldn't.
14:51It's the way you should always operate.
14:52Everything should be a possibility.
14:54Doesn't mean you're going to do it, but you're not going to eliminate it as a possibility.
15:00I think the Diggs thing now is really interesting to me, and it's a desire for me.
15:07You know, when Schefter rolled off Stefan Diggs' stats from last year, I know what they were.
15:14I didn't really know where they ranked.
15:1612th in the league in receptions with 85.
15:1916th in the league in reception yardage with 1,013 yards.
15:24He is much more of a possession receiver than he used to be.
15:31But I don't think Stefan Diggs is a guy that can't run anymore.
15:35He can definitely run.
15:37He's still got game-breaking ability, but it's not what it used to be.
15:41I mean, he was drafted in 2015, people.
15:44He's been in this league now for, you know, 11 seasons.
15:47And he had, off of that, you know, major injury in 2024 when he was in Houston, he had a
15:55really good follow-up season with a second-year quarterback, an outstanding offensive coordinator in Josh McDaniels.
16:03But with pieces around him that looked ordinary to begin the season, but man, can Josh McDaniels as an OC
16:11scheme some people open.
16:14He's been good at that forever.
16:16Not a great head coach, but a really good X's and O's offensive coordinator.
16:24I'm interested in Diggs, definitely.
16:28Now, you know, Kime said, and I know that John believes it, and I know that pretty much everybody on
16:35the beat believes it.
16:36They believe Adam Peters and David Blau and Dan Quinn, when during some of these off-season minicamps, OTAs, et
16:43cetera, said, we really like our wide receiver room.
16:47And I, you know, I do believe that they are okay with what they have if they've got to enter
16:54the season with it.
16:55But there's a reason that they went after Alec Pierce.
16:59There's a reason that they went after Romeo Dobbs.
17:04There's a reason that they drafted Antonio Williams in the third round.
17:08There's a reason that it's possible they would have drafted Carnell Tate had he fallen to seven.
17:18And it's what Dan Quinn has said and said to me on this show three months ago.
17:24And that is, we need somebody who can score from anywhere on the field offensively.
17:29We need that.
17:31We need that.
17:32We have that at quarterback.
17:33We need it elsewhere.
17:35They're looking for, you know, a home run hitter, you know, as a playmaker at a skilled position on offense.
17:44I think they felt like Pierce could have really stretched the field vertically with his speed to a certain degree
17:52Dobbs as well.
17:54You know, they still have, you know, some belief in Terry, but perhaps not at the level he was at
18:00two years ago.
18:00We'll see, but Diggs isn't that player, but would Diggs give you more comfort that you've got another professional 80
18:11plus catch guy at wide receiver on the field?
18:14I think so.
18:16Like, I really would be excited if they signed Stephon Diggs.
18:22I think that combination of he and Terry with, you know, perhaps Antonio Williams working in the slot as a
18:29rookie.
18:30Deami Brown on the field, you know, as sort of the top four guys.
18:35I still see Jalen Lane primarily as a punt returner this coming season.
18:40I do.
18:41You know, where Luke McCaffrey fits in, I don't know.
18:45I see him as a kickoff returner for sure.
18:48He was really good at that last year.
18:49I mean, I think Lane and McCaffrey are going to make the team because they give them the, you know,
18:54big time return capability.
18:57And I think Luke's got a better shot at becoming more of a contributor this year than not.
19:02But, you know, I say Diggs and he doesn't fit what they really are looking for, which is more of
19:08a speed threat.
19:10And this team, more likely than not, in their new scheme, will play more two tight end, three tight end,
19:1712 personnel, 13 personnel offense, which means you won't have the need consistently for three and four wide receivers on
19:27the field.
19:28But Diggs is interesting to me, and if they did that, I'd be excited about it because I think the
19:34guy is a winner on game day.
19:37I think he's tough.
19:39I think he catches.
19:40He's fearless as a player.
19:43He is a separator in the short to medium game.
19:48And I still think he's got enough, along with Terry, to be, you know, a formidable duo at wide receiver.
19:58It would give me more confidence as a fan that they've got a true NFL starting wide receiver to go
20:04with Terry.
20:04And at this point, we're not sure that they do.
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