- 4 weeks ago
Ben Standing joins Kevin Sheehan as he does every Monday with the latest on the Commanders! Today, he breaks down why TE coach Ben Steele was dismissed Monday morning, looks at Brandon Aiyuk and the WR2 situation, and looks ahead to the full Commanders camp!
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00:00Training camp is underway with rookies, but the veterans report tomorrow.
00:06And then the first practice of 2026 summer training camp is on Wednesday.
00:12Ben Standing will be there for all of it for the rest of the summer
00:16and then the entire season.
00:17He is our commander's insider on this show.
00:21You can follow Ben on X at Ben Standing,
00:23and you should subscribe to his sub stack in which he covers the team
00:29and does it with lots of information and opinion on a daily basis.
00:37It's called Last Man Standing.
00:40So let's start with like the news of the day,
00:44and that is that the tight ends coach, Ben Steele, is gone.
00:49So I've kind of been following all of you who have been reporting
00:53the various reasons for his departure,
00:56but was it even noticed during the spring that he wasn't there?
01:05So there was a point during the off-season program
01:09where they make the assistant coaches available,
01:10one-day offense, one-day defense, and when it came to the offense,
01:14they said that he was not available.
01:16Now coaches sometimes miss things because of family stuff
01:20and tend to push too hard on some of that.
01:23But anyway, so we were told he wasn't there.
01:25We could ask David Rye questions about it,
01:28and then that he missed, that he wasn't at minicamp.
01:30I mean, the reality is there's 90 players and dozens of staffers,
01:34and like I had never even talked to the guy at this stage.
01:39So no, I mean, clearly nobody noticed it otherwise.
01:42What's that?
01:43He was brand new this year.
01:44Yeah, yeah.
01:45He just got hired in March.
01:46So no, I don't think it was noticeable at all that he wasn't there.
01:54Like I said, I mean, that he was not made available for us.
01:57When the assistants talked, I guess you could say that was some sort of a red flag,
02:02but honestly, it's not that uncommon.
02:05If somebody were to miss a session for whatever reason,
02:09so talking to us is not exactly the biggest deal in the world.
02:13So didn't think too much about it.
02:14Obviously, nobody else did either, and yeah.
02:17All right.
02:18So is Wes Welker going to become the tight ends coach?
02:23That feels like what I think is going to happen.
02:25I mean, Welker was coaching the tight ends when Steele was out for minicamp,
02:32and while obviously we all know Welker was not a tight end when he played,
02:36I think the bigger key probably here is he, of course,
02:39has been now with this group for the last couple years.
02:43He's familiar with what David Blau's offense is,
02:47and that type of understanding is probably what they're more interested in
02:53than sort of having a true tight end coach.
02:56From the passing game standpoint, it's probably fine.
02:59From the run game standpoint, maybe you have the assistant offensive line coach
03:06chime in or whatever as needed.
03:09But, yeah, so my guess is Welker, but Dan Quinn's going to tell us tomorrow
03:13when we speak with him.
03:14You know, when Quinn took the job, there was Cliff Kingsbury.
03:20There was Tavita Pritchard.
03:22There was David Blau.
03:23There was a belief that, I mean, we heard very early on about Blau
03:27and even Pritchard to a certain degree that they were really, you know,
03:31exciting young talents and probably future coaches, if not head coaches.
03:37And Tavita Pritchard is at Stanford now.
03:41What's the depth of the offensive coaching staff look like?
03:45I know I didn't prepare you for this, but, you know, no Kingsbury.
03:50Blau's the OC.
03:51No Pritchard.
03:53Who are the people below Blau?
03:56I mean, first we want to make sure Blau can do the job,
03:58but is there anybody, you know, other than the obvious, which are, you know,
04:03a former head coach like Anthony Lynn, who's on the staff,
04:07is there anybody else that they're excited about offensively or defensively?
04:12Yeah, well, I mean, you know, they did hire Doug Williams' son,
04:15DJ Williams, who was the QB coach with Atlanta.
04:17He was in Atlanta, yeah.
04:18So he's here.
04:20I mean, you know, I haven't heard declarations of, like, oh,
04:22he's going to be a future coach, but that doesn't mean anything anyway.
04:26You know, necessarily, you know, we heard all, you know,
04:28I remember hearing Ron Rivera's staff, some people getting mentioned for
04:32a few guys to watch, and I don't know where they are today.
04:35You know what I mean?
04:36But in any event, so, you know, I go back to the hiring of Blau in the first
04:42place, and to some degree, Durante Jones, although his situation is a little bit
04:46different, you know, to hire two never-been coordinators as coordinators when
04:52you're coming off a 5-12 season and you have to at least, you know, even if
04:56he's not really on the hot seat, you have to be like, hey, we really can't do
04:59anything like that again.
05:00So to hire two first-time assistants, our coordinators, it was very odd, I
05:05thought, and I think, and let's also remember that when they moved on from the
05:10offensive line coach, Bobby Johnson, they promoted his assistants to that job,
05:16I believe also a job he had not had before in the NFL level, and it said to me,
05:21and others sort of thought this as well, that when they went, when they put their,
05:28you know, when they cast, you know, a wide net out there to get a coach, you know,
05:34for these positions, that there was some trepidation out there of like, well,
05:38coming off the year they just had, is Dan Quinn here for the long haul or not?
05:42And therefore, if I have options as a veteran, maybe I'm going to go somewhere
05:45else, you know, i.e. maybe like Mike McDaniel or someone like that.
05:49But so your point of the young guys, I mean, yeah, I guess to an extent they've
05:55sort of depleted some of their depth that we knew about because these guys got
06:00promoted.
06:01You know, I mean, look, they've got a new, you know, they have some other new
06:05staffers, but, you know, we'll see.
06:08I mean, like you said, we don't even know what Blau can do the job definitively,
06:11let alone whether anybody they hired to be the assistant to the assistant is going to
06:17get the job done. So it's definitely a younger staff on the offensive side.
06:20You also have Bobby Ingram, who's been a receivers coach for a long time,
06:25like Anthony Lynn on the running back side.
06:27But yeah, no, it's a younger group and it's a different group for sure than what
06:32they had a year ago.
06:33All right. It looks like three players will start training camp.
06:38Three veteran players will start training camp on the active, physically unable to
06:42perform list.
06:44Trey Amos, Dorrance Armstrong, and Dietrich Wise.
06:50What's Trey Amos' status right now?
06:53Like where is he in his recovery from the injury?
06:57Yeah. So, you know, they don't have to tell us, of course, anything specific
07:02until basically week one when they have to do an injury report.
07:05And Dan Quinn back in the offseason program said that, you know, there's a few guys,
07:09including Tim Settle, who is now clear, who are coming off of season-ending injuries,
07:15surgeries, et cetera.
07:17And, you know, their timelines vary, but it didn't sound like anything was, you know,
07:24too worrisome.
07:27Armstrong, I know you asked about Amos, but like Armstrong, he got hurt in week seven,
07:30ACL tear.
07:31So if you do the math, that's like, you know, roughly where we're at in the nine-month
07:35mark.
07:35Okay.
07:35So that's kind of the first time when a player off on the ACL might come back.
07:40Dietrich Wise was week two of the quad.
07:42I don't know necessarily the timeline for that.
07:46It seems like it's a long time, but okay.
07:49Amos had a fractured fibula, a broken leg.
07:53Now, again, I've not had that myself, and I didn't go to medical school, but it feels like
07:58that one should be healed by now.
08:02Well, I was reading stuff over the weekend that basically compared, you know, a fractured
08:07fibula to, you know, what Dorrance Armstrong had, which was an ACL, what Dietrich Wise had,
08:14which was a torn quad.
08:15And, you know, it should be a faster turnaround.
08:20Um, and, uh, I guess that's why I'm, I'm asking you about it is that I thought there
08:26was kind of an expectation that Amos was going to be good to go.
08:30And he's not at least here at the beginning of camp.
08:32Is it more cautionary or, or what?
08:35Yeah.
08:36I mean, you know, we haven't heard if it was a compound fracture, if they had to put screws
08:40in or anything along those lines.
08:42I mean, you would think that that would have come out one way or another, uh, if that had
08:47had taken place, if he had a setback of some sort.
08:50Yeah.
08:50Yeah.
08:51Now, you know, he, he did not practice as we know in the off season program, there was
08:56one day where for stretching, he was out there with his teammates that looked like he was
09:01just kind of, you know, being part of the guys as much as anything.
09:05But the fact that he was out there, at least to me, was like, oh, okay, this has got to
09:08be somewhat positive, right?
09:10He's not on crutches.
09:11He's not, he's not laboring and okay.
09:13You know, totally stretching.
09:14I mean, you know, even I could do the stretching, but, um, yeah, I took that at least somewhat
09:19of a positive side and look, it's, maybe it's not that big of a deal.
09:23Maybe we'll, you know, we'll get out there Wednesday or Thursday and Delta out Tramos is
09:27ready to go.
09:27But yeah, it is a little bit odd that he's of the three that are still unavailable.
09:32His is the one, uh, that just seems a little odd based on the general idea of how long these
09:39types of injuries, uh, take to recover.
09:40Well, uh, the other part of it too, is that of those three, not that I don't want Dorrance
09:45Armstrong and, and, and Dietrich Weisbach healthy and ready to go, but man, they would
09:51really be light at corner if Amos weren't ready to go.
09:58Wait, I lost you there for a second.
10:00I just said, I want Armstrong and Weisbach.
10:03But the positions they're playing, there are a lot of players there.
10:07Amos, there aren't a lot of knowns at corner and he's supposed to be maybe the number one
10:13corner.
10:14Um, and it's already a position where I think a lot of people believe they they've needed
10:18to add to it.
10:19Look, that may have been the number one reason they added Russell Douglas is Trey Amos and
10:25the timetable on him.
10:27Yeah, no, what the Russell Douglas signing I took as, cause of what I've been certainly
10:32talking about it.
10:32I'm sure you have were as well.
10:33Like, Hey, the quarterback room is kind of thin and you know, especially on the outside.
10:39So getting Douglas, I just thought was nothing else.
10:42Okay.
10:42They have more depth.
10:43Is it possible that it's related to Trey Amos?
10:45I mean, obviously we have to consider it.
10:47Um, for sure.
10:48I do think like, you know, because Trey Amos was promising last year, you know, had it was
10:53was having a pretty good year until the injury that we're just sort of like going, okay,
10:59well, when he comes back, he'll be the number one guy.
11:01I mean, I think that's a bit of a, you know, if we're thinking that, I think that's a bit
11:05of an assumption rather than a reality.
11:08Like, I don't know that he was like the guy you're saying, okay, every week now you go
11:13get CD lamb and Malik neighbors and whomever.
11:16And that's the thing.
11:17So, I mean, he's good.
11:18I'm just a bit like, I don't know if he's that.
11:20And then because the other side is still a lot of questions, it's, you know, it is,
11:25it is the position that sort of worries me the most for them.
11:30Now, again, maybe it's not going to matter as much because they're going to get all this
11:34pass rushing and, you know, that's going to force quarterbacks to throw early and so
11:38on and so on.
11:39But yeah, the cornerback room was already the one to me that was the most questionable,
11:44even more so than receiver.
11:46And, uh, now we don't, you know, we'll have to see when, when the guy who was presumably
11:50the number one, is it going to be back?
11:53Ben standing joining us.
11:55Uh, he wrote this morning, um, a write-up on all 43 offensive players in camp.
12:03And this is what he does.
12:05People you get in depth with the entire roster.
12:09He literally took Jersey number one through the last offensive Jersey, which is Lawrence
12:15Cager's number 89.
12:16And he gave you, you know, a paragraph or two on every single player entering camp, uh,
12:24and what to watch for.
12:26So other than the obvious, give me a player that you were kind of into writing about, because
12:34you think there's a chance that there's going to be some conversation about this player
12:38over the next month and a half.
12:41I'm going to go super deep cut here because as I was doing this, I was reminded of this
12:46individual.
12:47Oh, wait a minute.
12:48Hold on.
12:49Okay.
12:51Okay.
12:52Go ahead.
12:52I was going to guess, but go ahead.
12:54Oh, okay.
12:55You can guess if you want.
12:56Um, I, I'm going with a guy they signed last year as a UDFA, uh, Tim McKay.
13:02Yeah.
13:05Now, you know, again, this is a guy who he, he started three years at guard for NC state.
13:11He would the year he was, when he was coming out in 25, he was named to like the all
13:17practice
13:17team at the East West shrine game, but then he suffered a torn pectoral at his pro day
13:22goes on drafted.
13:23Uh, but these guys gave him a $275,000 signing bonus, which is, you know, not nothing for
13:28UDFA and you know, you, again, I'm not saying he would have been a first round pick if he's
13:35not gotten hurt, but you know, it may have been drafted and considering when you look
13:41at not so much the starting guard, but we just look at in general at the line, you know,
13:46Andrew Wiley is over 30 Trent Scott's over 30, um, you know, Julian good Jones, if he was
13:53going to stick around, he's 29, like they could use some, you know, a little more use
13:57for coming off the bench.
13:58So again, I, I have, I'm not sitting here saying, I've heard from, from people there
14:03that like, Oh, this guy, look out.
14:04But just looking at the mat, that was this one that sort of stood out to me when I read,
14:09I read this, um, during one of the breaks during, during the show.
14:14And when you started off that, uh, that write up on Timothy McKay, which by the way, I was
14:19completely unfamiliar with, with here's a fun one to watch and then mentioned that they
14:24gave him a $275,000 signing bonus last year.
14:28That was one of the ones that stuck out when I was reading through it.
14:33Yeah.
14:33Yeah, no, for, for, for sure.
14:35Um, you know, you mentioned Lawrence Kager, not so much from writing this, but you know, we
14:39got to remember that I think it was the owner's meeting when we spoke with Dan Quinn and he
14:44just randomly out of the blue with naming, you know, with talking about guys he was interested
14:48in seeing, uh, for practices and Kager was a guy he mentioned and you look at him and
14:54you're like, well, this guy's clearly a professional athlete, huge chiseled cut.
14:58Like he looks like, you know, if you're, if you're casting a football player in a, in a
15:03movie, here's a good one.
15:05But obviously, you know, he's not a rookie.
15:08He he's been around for a little bit.
15:09Hasn't cracked, um, the, the lineup here.
15:12And obviously they've got four guys with Benson and Colson Yankoff backing up, uh,
15:17Chick Okonkwo and John Bates.
15:18So I don't know that he necessarily is going to make the team, but again, if the head coach
15:23is pointing it out, then we gotta, we gotta hear, hear it.
15:27It wasn't the only time he's mentioned him.
15:29He was mentioned another time in the off season and then was mentioned last summer when Kager
15:35actually was on the field and preseason games.
15:37And to your point, and I remember specifically sort of highlighting the fact that I don't
15:43know who this 89 is, but he looks like an NFL pass catching tight end.
15:49He's big, he can run, and he's got soft hands.
15:55Yeah, no, for sure.
15:56You know, tight end is a position group that like, I think it's probably one of the ones
16:00we're talking about the least in terms of like concern.
16:04Obviously, Chick Okonkwo is new here, but you know, he's been a solid player.
16:07There's a lot of athletic upside.
16:09I'm curious to see how that looks.
16:10John Bates, you know, one of the premier blocking tight ends in the league.
16:13And I, I have some high hopes, well, not maybe the high hopes, but I have some hopes
16:17that Benson is going to blast something this year.
16:19Cause I think this is this offensive system with blouse is just much more suited than
16:24the Kingsbury one was plus they're going to use, you know, 12 and 13 personnel and that's
16:29going to get sent out on the field.
16:30But so, and then Colson Yankoff, you know, he's one of the, I probably would guess one
16:34of the top handful of athletes on this team.
16:37And, you know, it feels like there's something there, but it just hasn't come undone yet
16:41or hasn't happened yet, which is why this tight end coach news today, you know, again,
16:45I'm not, it could be a setback, but you know, it is, it is a position where it would be
16:51nice
16:51to have a, a coach because, you know, again, other than Bates, everything is kind of new
16:56and different.
16:57And, but, you know, obviously they're going to have to move forward.
17:01You also wrote about Van Jefferson, a name that I've mentioned many times because he was
17:06another one that Quinn, you know, without any prompting mentioned coming off.
17:11Uh, the, uh, spring, uh, OTAs and, and mini camp and he's played in the NFL.
17:18He is a really good route runner.
17:20He doesn't drop passes.
17:22I think he's always looked a bit bigger and played a little bit bigger than he actually
17:28is.
17:29And I, you said, maybe I'm a VJ Mark, meaning Van Jefferson Mark, but I buy the roster candidacy
17:36for this sure-handed target.
17:38And I didn't realize it was this, but he hasn't dropped a pass since 2023.
17:43Yeah.
17:43I think there's a chance for him.
17:45I do.
17:46Yeah.
17:47I think the one thing I noted in there as well, that I think is important.
17:50And this is something I thought last year when, when it was like this Michael Gallup talk,
17:55uh, Van Jefferson does not play special teams based on his past.
17:59You know, he hasn't played in several years, maybe he can, and maybe the other, his, you
18:05know, previous teams just didn't want to, because he had some injuries or whatever.
18:08But if you're not going to play on special teams as a receiver, then you better be like
18:12a top four in the rotation guy.
18:15Because like, you know, you can't just have somebody not playing on offense or special
18:19teams.
18:20So I think that would be the one potential hangup is like, is he going to show enough
18:24to, to warrant playing would not just be a guy coming off the bench.
18:28But yeah, I do think, um, you know, the hands are there again.
18:32I think they don't have the obvious number two receiver, but they're, you know, they have
18:36a lot of guys who can do have specific skill sets.
18:39And I think his is just being reliable, may not seem very sexy, but I think it's obviously
18:44an important one, especially when you have a quarterback who's just capable of getting the
18:49ball, um, two receivers and, you know, Jaden, I think I've seen some stats that Jaden, uh,
18:54suffered as much from drops as, you know, most quarterbacks did last year in the limited
18:59time he was playing.
19:00So yeah, I do think there's a chance that he, uh, that he sticks, but again, you know,
19:05are they going to keep six or seven?
19:07If, you know, let's not even assume that they bring in anybody else.
19:10There's essentially seven guys for six spots, not counting some of the undrafted free agent
19:15types.
19:16So who's going to, who would be the odd man out?
19:18But I, you know, that's where it gets interesting.
19:20And again, I think special teams is probably going to be a factor.
19:22And if it is, that may not help him, but I'd be like Ben Jefferson.
19:26Uh, before I ask you the question that I asked callers today, because I want you to, I want
19:31to give Ben's definition of what a successful season in 2026 would be.
19:37How about this Eric Bien-Ami story?
19:39Uh, it's his son who's now been charged with shooting, uh, Eric Bien-Ami's wife and Elijah
19:46Bien-Ami's mother.
19:48Um, they were still, uh, still had the house.
19:51This happened in Ashburn, uh, in Loudoun County.
19:55Um, last night, Elijah, uh, the enemy has been, uh, charged with malicious wounding, use
20:01of a firearm and commission of a felony and discharge of a fireman, a firearm inside of
20:07a dwelling.
20:08Uh, she is in stable condition, which is good news, uh, for me at Bien-Ami at 57 years old.
20:15Um, I didn't realize that they were still living in the market.
20:19Actually, I, that may make an assumption.
20:21I don't know if they're actually together, um, as husband and wife or not, but this, this
20:26was, this was sad to hear.
20:30Yeah, no, for sure.
20:31Yeah.
20:31It caught me off guard that they were still had a base here, uh, in Virginia, but yeah,
20:35no, obviously terrible, uh, sad story.
20:38And glad, like you said, glad to hear that she's in stable condition.
20:42But, um, yeah, when you heard the first reporting was that she was shot inside the home and you're
20:48just like, oh boy, uh, you know, the, obviously first thought has got to be a relative.
20:52And I know the people that was like, Bien-Ami was with the chiefs in Kansas city or where,
20:56I think that's where the training camp is, uh, or actually it's not in Kansas city, but
21:00whatever he's with the team.
21:01It's in, it's in Missouri.
21:03It's in Jefferson city.
21:04That's by the way, the capital of Missouri.
21:06Um, is that where it is?
21:08Jefferson city, Missouri.
21:09I don't know.
21:10I know they're, they're one of the few teams.
21:12St.
21:12Joseph's Missouri.
21:13Yeah.
21:14They go, they go away for camp with like, but anyway, yeah, no, it's a terribly, uh,
21:18sad situation here.
21:19And obviously, you know, hope for, uh, hope for the best.
21:22What a, what a weird morning for the Loudoun County, um, you know, system here.
21:28I mean, you had the Ben Steele's, uh, arrest was also in Loudoun County.
21:32And I was looking at the Loudoun County court records for that.
21:34And then that, then it comes to the enemy story, uh, as well.
21:38So yeah, very, a lot, a lot happening local.
21:40And again, hopefully she's going to be all right.
21:41Do you have an opinion on Kyle's accident, not being reported for 11 days?
21:46There seemed to be, um, at least on social media for whatever that's worth, some real
21:52questions as to why potentially reporters in the Bay area may have known some of this
21:59information and held it back.
22:01What do you think?
22:04It's definitely weird, right?
22:06I mean, to the degree that he had the injuries that he suffered and I haven't seen, I don't
22:11know if there's footage out there yet or anything, but I haven't seen the accident or I don't
22:16even know exactly what the reports are, but based on the injuries he had, it was clearly
22:19a pretty significant injury.
22:22And because he's a high profile person, it's borderline stunning that he didn't get out.
22:27I mean, even if the local reporters knew where's TMZ, like, why, you know, like, I mean,
22:32how does nobody have this and makes you wonder, okay, wait, where's the police sort of willing
22:38to play ball here and help cover it up?
22:41Um, I don't know.
22:43It's very, very odd.
22:44I will, I will throw in this conspiracy just for fun since we're here.
22:48Obviously we've all kind of looked at Brandon.
22:50I use side, side eyes this whole several weeks, but you know, remember he got his, his, uh,
22:57warrant out in California, uh, for his arrest because of the speeding incident that he had
23:03when he was filming himself speeding occurred on, uh, June 3rd.
23:07So right after he, the Niners show like a point where people thought the Niners could
23:13release him.
23:13And it was weird because the IU did that months ago prior.
23:18Like, so why did he come out at that moment?
23:19There was some conspiracy theory of, is this, is this the police helping the 49ers by putting
23:25this out there now?
23:27So if he wants to come, it's going to be potentially problematic.
23:30Again, I, I, in and of itself, I don't think too much about it, but when you factor in,
23:35wait, Kyle Shanahan just had this accident and nobody reported it or knew about it for
23:39over a week, uh, like I said, I mean, forget the local reporters.
23:44What about all the other people who typically get these types of stories like TMZ or whatever?
23:49No, a hundred percent.
23:50Very, it is definitely odd that literally 11 days people went by without any reporting
23:58on Kyle Shanahan being involved in a very serious car accident, uh, where he has a severe
24:05concussion, 40 stitches in his face and broken bones everywhere.
24:09Um, and isn't going to be able to participate.
24:11And by the way, uh, help me with this because maybe I'm, I'm wrong, but was it John Lynch who
24:18broke the news during his press conference over the weekend or was the news already broken
24:22by the time he took the podium?
24:25Oh, uh, that or not positive.
24:26I feel like it was maybe broken by the time he took the podium, but I not, not positive.
24:32I mean, I, the two things didn't happen with, with a full day in between.
24:36That's for sure.
24:38Yeah, no, no, for, for, for sure.
24:40I saw one of the reporters, uh, Tim Kawakami, who's like been, you know, long time columnist
24:46out there, uh, he apparently, you know, I think he was getting grief from, uh, Mike Florio,
24:52uh, about why the reporter seemed to maybe know things and then didn't put it out there.
24:57And he said that, or he tweeted that he knew, he heard something about it.
25:01Uh, I think it was like the night before, uh, but I didn't, you know, only, only knew something
25:07had happened.
25:07It didn't exactly know what, and it's, you know, it's not always appropriate to just put
25:12something out there.
25:13Or if you don't have the full details, especially if you're going to talk about, you know, somebody's
25:17health and all that.
25:18So, uh, yeah, so I don't know exactly when that happened, but I think, I feel like it
25:22came out right before Lynch spoke.
25:24Um, but yeah, very, very weird times for the Niners as well.
25:29You know, the I think it's pretty minor now, I think it's considered compared to the Shanahan
25:34situation.
25:35All right.
25:35Uh, I'll finish up by asking you what I asked callers in the first hour of the show.
25:40And that is to define a successful season.
25:44So the season is a success in 2026.
25:48If what?
25:49And I'll just give you what my answer was.
25:52I had two parts to it.
25:54I had number one, they go to the playoffs and number two, Jaden Daniels has a great season,
26:01which is marked by health throughout.
26:04So he plays healthy, doesn't get injured, plays in 17 games or the number of games that
26:09he needs to play in.
26:10And at the end of his season, we're right back, or most of us are right back to where
26:16we were, you know, at the end of 2024, believing that the, the, the franchise has an elite level
26:24franchise quarterback at the helm for years to come.
26:28Um, that was my definition playoffs.
26:31And then Jaden has a great season marked by health and, you know, obviously great play.
26:37How would you define it?
26:39Yeah, I would go, I would start with, with the Jaden Daniels part.
26:43Obviously this is the season that we're talking about and focused on, and they're coming off
26:47a miserable year.
26:48So, you know, how do they rebound this year?
26:49But when you have a quarterback with his talent that we've seen, you have a chance to win
26:55any game.
26:56And we are all looking at this as the Washington has a chance to win any game for the next
27:00decade.
27:01Right.
27:02Because of this guy and that he's unable to stay healthy or he just doesn't look, you
27:07know, like the guy we saw as a rookie.
27:10Now, all of a sudden it starts to become, it starts to spiral like, Oh no, where, where
27:15is this thing going?
27:16We'll hear all the RG3 stuff, yada, yada.
27:19So yes, I'm with you.
27:20I think, I think Jaden Daniels and I, to be clear, I'm not worried about it.
27:24The injuries, we'll just have to see, but I'm not worrying about the player.
27:27I think he'll be, I think he's still very good.
27:29I think he'll be fine.
27:30Right.
27:32All that.
27:33And in terms of the team, I hear you on the playoffs.
27:37I mean, obviously that would be, that would be great.
27:40I just think that like, you know, again, when you're in a sport where the literal bounce
27:45of the ball can just, you know, change everything or the, there's context around
27:49everything.
27:50Yeah.
27:51But, but, so I would just say be competitive.
27:55I don't mean this in like a participation trophy way.
27:58I just mean that like last year, they just, it's not that they lost.
28:01They were just non-competitive in a lot of those losses.
28:04So they've got to, they've got to, you know, that they've got to show that, Hey, we're,
28:09we're, we're, we're something of force to be reckoned with.
28:12If the losses come, all right, well, that's, that's a bummer.
28:16And we can go from there if Dan Quinn's the right guy or whatever.
28:18But as long as they are, you know, in the mix competitive, I think that's to me, after
28:23we saw last year, I'm going to take that.
28:26Obviously the playoffs will be great.
28:27There's only seven spots and everybody has these goals, but yeah, start with Jaden
28:30Daniels and then kind of go from there.
28:33All righty.
28:34Thank you for doing this.
28:35Appreciate it.
28:36Always man.
28:37See ya.
28:38Ben standing, everybody.
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