00:00Washington's 2026 season will be defined as successful in your mind if fill in the blank.
00:07For me, number one, they go to the playoffs.
00:11I'm not telling you that I can't call it successful if they get to the playoffs and they don't win
00:17a game.
00:17But number two is Jaden Daniels has a great season.
00:22One in which he is healthy throughout.
00:25And at the end of it, we won't need numbers to say what we said or most of us said
00:33at the end of his rookie year.
00:35Yeah, he's exactly who we thought he was.
00:38He is an elite level franchise quarterback because here's the thing.
00:42If we get to the end of the season and let's say nine and eight or ten and seven, but
00:47they're in the playoffs and he has a great year and he's healthy.
00:50Okay, even if they were to lose that first playoff game is let's just say a six seed on the
00:55road against a third seeded Green Bay team at Lambeau just throwing it out.
01:00All right, we still would have in three years, two playoff seasons.
01:06We would know that we have an elite level franchise quarterback.
01:11The only reason they didn't make it three straight years is the elite level franchise quarterback and everything around him
01:18was injured in a weird off the charts aberration injury season.
01:24And it would just be a great spot to be in knowing that they've got cap space, they've got picks,
01:32and they can continue to improve the roster heading into 2027.
01:36Of course, they're going to have to pay him and then another swing at it in 2028.
01:41And they're becoming like one of these teams where the expectation is he's great, team around him getting better, if
01:52it gets a lot better, they're going to be more than just a playoff team.
01:56That's my definition.
01:57Max, J.D.'s healthy all season long and they win 10 games minimum.
02:03301-230-0980, 301-230-0980.
02:10Washington's 2026 NFL season will be successful in your mind if what happens?
02:17Let's start with Anthony.
02:19Anthony, go ahead.
02:21Good morning, Kevin.
02:23Thanks for taking my phone call.
02:25Sure, Anthony.
02:27Not only qualifying for the playoffs, but for me winning at least one playoff game and I'm allowed a number
02:37two.
02:39I'd also – Jaden has to remain injury-free.
02:45Okay.
02:45Yeah.
02:46I mean, I think in so many ways – and we said this about his rookie year, and I know
02:52this is year three, but coming off last season.
02:56There's just this feeling like, I want to get to the end of 2026 and have a guy that played
03:0317 regular season games and at least one playoff game was healthy throughout and was great throughout.
03:10Look, if he's as great as he was his rookie year, they'll probably win a playoff game.
03:15You know, I don't have to say just play – you know, just make the playoffs.
03:19It's not that I don't want them to win playoff games, but they'll probably have a chance to win a
03:24playoff game or two.
03:26But getting to the end of year three with two playoff seasons with, you know, at that point a real
03:33recognition that as long as he's upright, we've got an elite-level quarterback, it's a good position to be in
03:39going forward.
03:40You know, this franchise hasn't been one of those perennial good football teams since legitimately Joe Gibbs 1.0.
03:50They haven't been that, and they've got a chance to become that.
03:53They've got a chance to be, you know, not just the team that has the one-year aberration good season,
04:00you know, which I used to define when I would say about our team, any NFL team can have a
04:06good season.
04:06It does not make that team a good franchise.
04:10But if you have two playoff seasons and a franchise quarterback in three years, you're now becoming a good franchise.
04:17That's what we want.
04:18We want year in and year out competitive teams that can actually be playoff-bound and win it at some
04:29point.
04:29Thank you, Anthony.
04:30Appreciate it.
04:31Let's go to Joe in Westminster.
04:33Joe, go ahead.
04:37I'm looking at – they need to – yes, hello.
04:40Can you hear me?
04:40I got you.
04:41Yep.
04:42Yep.
04:43Hi.
04:43Sorry.
04:43I'll take you off speaker there.
04:45The reason – or I think that they're – the only way they're successful based on 24 is they have
04:51to at least win a playoff game.
04:53And if they win a playoff game, then we know that Jaden had a good season, the defense played well,
04:59the receivers were enough to get the job done.
05:03Remember, they won two playoff games two years ago with a bad defense.
05:06And without, you know, a second or a third obvious star receiver.
05:14I hear you.
05:15Look, playoff, when you get into the one and done, anything can happen.
05:19Like, I want a good season with a really good quarterback and have it result in them having, you know,
05:27a game at least for one more week after the regular season ends.
05:31But I understand that if we get to the end and he's had a great season and they won 10
05:36games, even if they lose at Lambeau in overtime, that the arrow is pointing upward for the following season and
05:43the seasons ahead.
05:44That they are now becoming a franchise that is legitimately a playoff contender year in and year out as long
05:52as he's on the field.
05:53I feel that way already, but I want to see it in 2026.
05:59Thank you, Joe.
06:00I don't, I don't disagree with that.
06:01Can I be uncoachable for a second and ask a question about baseball?
06:05Sure.
06:05So, um, you had said, you know, Hey, we don't cover the team because they're not that good, et cetera.
06:11I didn't say that.
06:12Baseball is my sec.
06:13What you were talking about.
06:14I'm trying to paraphrase quickly, but, uh, do you think that sometimes that's a chicken and egg kind of thing?
06:21Cause I get a lot of Baltimore sports radio and they talk an awful lot about a terrible Orioles team
06:26day in and day out.
06:28But that's because it's been a part of the fabric of that city for, you know, decades and decades and
06:33decades.
06:35Right.
06:35But don't you think it would become more of a fabric of our city if, you know, and I'm not
06:40pointing fingers.
06:41Joe, nobody goes to the games.
06:42Sports talk radio spoke a little bit more.
06:43So you think more discussion on sports talk radio or more columns written about it is going to drive attendance?
06:50My, my, my point is, is that we are like games either.
06:55Well, I understand that.
06:56And so maybe Baltimore is now a bandwagon town as, as well.
07:00Look, a lot of cities have become one team dominant with everybody else being, you better win, you better win
07:09big.
07:10And for it to pay off from a revenue standpoint for the team, you better win early.
07:15You know, it better not be a late run because you've then spent the bulk of your season without having
07:22much hope.
07:23So that's all the, that's what our city is.
07:25I feel very confident in saying we are a one team dominant city.
07:31Every other team has to win and win big to draw any sort of audience.
07:35And I don't think any media driven forcing of that square peg into a round hole would help.
07:42In fact, it would actually make those that do it unsuccessful.
07:47But thank you for that.
07:50Jonesy, go ahead.
07:53Good morning, Kevin.
07:54Hey, look, I'm going to be as coachable as I can.
07:56I'm going to be as coachable as I can.
07:58Look, as far as it goes with those two teams there, I mean, especially at the Nationals,
08:04it's about the owners if you listen to the words in the whispers in the streets.
08:08Spend some money, boom, the people will come.
08:11Enough said with that.
08:12Now, to top off the question that you asked, I'm going to say the team will be definitely successful
08:18if these two, along with Jayden being healthy, if the two rookie coordinators put the players in position to be
08:27successful
08:28to at least win over at least 85% of their schedule.
08:33We'll go to the playoffs, and we might even end back up inside the championship.
08:37And who knows from there?
08:39But that's what I have to say on that.
08:42Wait, say that again.
08:44I am sorry.
08:45I want to hear what you just said again.
08:47Right.
08:49If both rookie coordinators can put the players in position to be successful to win over at least 85%
08:59of the schedule
09:00of the teams that we play is coming up.
09:02So that means you need them to win close to 15 games this year out of 17, 14 to 15
09:10games.
09:11As close as possible.
09:13As close as possible.
09:15That's a lot of wins.
09:16That's a lot of wins.
09:17That's a lot of wins.
09:18You know that, right?
09:19I know I'm asking a lot, but if those rookie coordinators come in and put the players in position to
09:25be successful
09:27at least, I say, win another 12 games, yes, we will be going to the playoffs.
09:31That's not 85%.
09:32Okay.
09:33So you want good coordinators and hopefully they hired the right guys and you want it to result in them
09:41winning at least 12 games.
09:43That's a little bit more, I think, within reason in terms of a definition of a successful season.
09:48If you need between 14 and 15 wins for the season to be successful, man, you're tough.
09:55That's a high, high bar.
09:58I don't blame you for it.
09:59I'm not criticizing you for it.
10:01It's whatever you want it to be, but you're going to likely be disappointed even if they have a really
10:06good season.
10:09Well, hey, trust me.
10:10If they go to the playoffs and they won nine games and you end up in the championship series, trust
10:18and believe,
10:20I'm that number one guy screaming in Holland.
10:23So, yeah, but Dayton has to be also healthy.
10:27That's the number one right there.
10:29Thank you very much.
10:31Appreciate the call, Jonesy.
10:32Let's go to Jason and Laurel.
10:34Jason, what will define a successful 2026 season?
10:40Hey, Coach.
10:40Thanks for taking my call, you and Max.
10:43And I love this topic because it's definitely like a chicken or egg.
10:46For me, with this schedule, and I think the schedule is daunting, if they can manage to win 10 wins
10:53this season, I'm happy as long as it looks good.
10:56And the reason I say that is they could win seven games, and if it looks good, I could be
11:02okay.
11:03Jaden's healthy defense is better.
11:05This is a tough schedule, and I think it makes it difficult because I do think there's some heat under
11:10Quinn's seat,
11:11and I'm nervous that they're going to have to reset this whole thing.
11:14So I'd rather it work than not work.
11:17But I think the schedule in front of them is very, very difficult.
11:23They got three easy games, in my opinion, Arizona and twice against the Giants.
11:28And I personally think the Giants have a better roster than we do.
11:31Well, then that would make those games not easy games, right?
11:35Well, I think the difference between the quarterback, I think we have a better quarterback than everybody we're going to
11:43play this year.
11:44But if you take it as a 52-man roster, I think we're short a lot of times.
11:51But hopefully we can put 10 wins together.
11:53Yeah, look, it looks like a difficult schedule on paper.
11:57We know how the schedule game works, right?
11:59It's not who you play, it's when you play them, and that has a lot to do with it.
12:03We could do this going back years and years and years.
12:07What looked like incredibly difficult sometimes becomes not so difficult.
12:11What looks like incredibly easy sometimes becomes very difficult.
12:14You can only play them the way they're laid out.
12:17It doesn't look easy, certainly at the beginning, with road games in the division against Philly and Dallas
12:23and then the Super Bowl champions coming to town in week three.
12:27And then three weeks after that, the 49ers on a Monday night before a stretch of the Eagles and Rams
12:33back-to-back coming off the bye week.
12:34So, yeah, it looks daunting.
12:36And there is a context in which, wow, they actually played some really good football.
12:42They were improved defensively.
12:44Jaden played at a high level.
12:46The coordinators both looked like they knew what they were doing.
12:50But they lost a lot of tight games against a brutal schedule.
12:55That is possible.
12:56And at 9-8 or 8-9, they missed the postseason.
13:00But more likely than not, if it is what we want it to be, they should win more games than
13:06they lose.
13:08Let me just start with this.
13:10If Jaden is healthy and plays 17 games, even against this schedule,
13:15I'll be surprised if they don't win more games than they lose.
13:19And that means at least 9-8.
13:22At least 9-8.
13:23And that puts them into the playoff conversation, for sure.
13:28All right, Jason, thank you.
13:29Ian, Ken, Tim, Tim, anybody else that wants to jump on, we do have an open line available.
13:36I'm asking here, two days before they have their first training camp practice
13:41with veterans involved on Wednesday, what would you define as successful in 2026?
13:50Just fill in the blank.
13:51Washington's 2026 season is successful if...
13:57Dot, dot, dot.
