- 2 days ago
Grant Paulsen and Tobi Alitzer were both out in Ashburn for Day 1 of Commanders camp - what did they see in the first practice of the year, and what were their initial takeaways?
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00:00I do want to talk about training camp because you and I were both out at practice number one today
00:04for the Washington Commanders. It was that first day of school feel, those vibes of
00:10kind of hope springing eternal. Everybody was very excited. They have not lost any games or
00:15missed any blocks or dropped any passes. And I got to say, it just felt really, really good
00:20to be back in Ashburn. So many of my fond memories as a kid going to practices and
00:24throughout my entire life, just covering football, being out there around the team.
00:28I got plenty of observations. I'll rip through here in my notebook, so to speak.
00:32But painting with a very broad brush, I would say that while football's not really
00:38happening yet, they did a lot of two-point conversion stuff, like a competition from
00:43a couple yards out, and then all red zone, they're in shorts, all of the usual day one
00:50caveats apply. This team defensively is so much faster. And you can feel it. I thought
00:55down in the red area near the goal line, like the amount of time that Jaden Daniels
01:00in the offense had, or in this case, didn't have, was very obvious. The reaction time
01:05in the secondary. Like, they just have more speed in the back seven. They're also huge.
01:10And I was talking to Barry Svalluga of The Athletic about this during practice.
01:13I'd imagine if I did a training camp tour where I went to, like, see 11 teams practice
01:19at different facilities all over the place. I'm sure it's a state of the union kind of
01:24thing where every team is big now because athletes are just bigger. But it always takes
01:28me aback at the start of camp. And this team, I think, was as big as any I can remember
01:32up
01:32front. Their defensive line is massive. Guys like Adafi Owe. Think about Javon Kinlaw.
01:37He looks like a WWE action figure. Deron Payne is, like, one of the smaller dudes on the line.
01:42Yeah.
01:42That's a gigantic human being.
01:43Was this your first time seeing Owe in person?
01:45It was.
01:46First time I saw him in person, it kind of stuck out to me. Like, again, he's not Javon
01:50Kinlaw size, but among the defensive end room, he feels Javon Kinlaw size.
01:56As an edge who moves like he does. Like, that's the way I would put it. Javon Kinlaw, you expect
02:01to be big, and then he's just one of the bigger human beings you'll ever see.
02:04Oh, my.
02:04But, like, he has a whole shtick to him where he wears, like, sunglasses and, like, the trench
02:08coat walking into the game.
02:09I mean, he really is, like, straight out of a WWE stable or something. He's, like, cutting
02:13promos and cursing after games.
02:16Adafi Owe, I think of as a guy who can move. And for him to be as well put together
02:21as
02:21he is, the combination is legit. Like, that's what a first-round pick looks like. That's
02:26what a $100 million player looks like.
02:27But that would be my first, like, big-picture point before I empty out the notebook. The
02:32speed and the size of this team, both of those things, are dramatically improved. And
02:36normally you have to pick one. We talk about this in sports. Do you want the Caps to be
02:40fast or big? You know, is this a fast team? Is this a big physical team?
02:43I think they have a pretty nice combination of both of those two things. They're just
02:47way more athletic. Specifically, defensively, I saw that today.
02:50Yeah, I think that's pretty obvious. I think that's a good takeaway. I also think it's going
02:54to be noticeable among the two schemes, both new, right, for the offense and the defense.
02:59The offense is still going to run some shotgun. They're going to be under center. We know those
03:03sorts of things. So it's going to look different. The night and day difference you're going to
03:07see from the scheme defensively, Grant, is something you're going to see right away. You're going to
03:12notice it the first thing. You talk about the speed and the size. You're going to notice
03:15immediately the linebackers being able to cover and do different things that they haven't been
03:19able to do in the past. But I mean, I hope I'm not giving away too much here, Grant. But
03:24linebackers mugged up all over the place. Like, that's the Minnesota Vikings defense,
03:28right? You've got six, seven, eight guys across the line of scrimmage. They're going to be doing
03:32all sorts of different things. And they're going to vary their looks and try to confuse the
03:36quarterback. But I'm really excited to see how this defense looks. And, you know, if you had to
03:41pick a winner for today, I would say that the defense was the better unit today. And they looked
03:46sharp. And they're going to throw a lot of different things at offenses. And, you know,
03:49unfortunately today, the first recipient of some of those crazy looks and different blitzes and
03:55different things was the commander's own offense. Yes. So I saw, you know, there were plenty of people
03:59talking about Jaden Daniels having a rough practice. I did an observational post on ex-Grant Paulson or
04:05Instagram, Grant H. Paulson. And I posted a bunch of things I noticed. And I didn't even mention
04:09Daniels' name. And a lot of people responded and said, hey, I'm hearing, you know, Daniels wasn't
04:14accurate or whatever. What'd you think of him? I think those headlines can be just so misleading.
04:19Yeah. And they're so irrelevant. Like, I don't really care. I'm not trying to be, you know,
04:27I'm not trying to be, like, dismissive. But was Jaden Daniels sharp in practice today? No. It's the
04:34first practice. They're not wearing pads. There was literally, like, two drills. I mean,
04:38it was just the entire period of 11s, good on good, twos on twos. It was just basically
04:43like red zone stuff where it's a tighter area anyway, you know, in general.
04:47Well, and by the way, when you're installing a new system, that's going to be the toughest
04:50place to build that chemistry because you have to be on time and in rhythm.
04:53Defense is always ahead of the offense, too. Like, that's a tale as old as time. So I really
04:57wasn't out there to see Jaden Daniels look really sharp. I'm looking for conceptual things,
05:01which is, like, are they motioning a lot? Yep. Yep. Do they shift a bunch? Hell yeah,
05:05they do. Was he under center? Yeah, buddy. Like, these are the things that I care a lot
05:09about. And I'm a David Blau guy, not even knowing anything about David Blau's offense
05:13yet, because I know that David Blau likes the same things that I like. He's just a lot
05:17smarter and can implement them in an NFL offense. But some of the other things I wanted to throw
05:21out there, I want to get your reaction to some of these. So the first thing, my big takeaway
05:24today from watching practice, I think the wide receiver competition feels wide open.
05:30Wide, wide open. This is a meritocracy behind McLaurin, where he's obviously won, and he
05:36should be. After that, though, you know, in the initial work today, Traylon Burks was working
05:42with the first team as, like, the Z opposite him, and Luke McCaffrey was effectively in the
05:47slot in a lot of 11 personnel stuff. But to me, I think, who cares who's lining up where
05:54right now? Like, Antonio Williams is running with the third team on day one of a practice.
05:57Cool, I guess. He beat a couple guys like a drum. He's very fluid. We can talk more about
06:02him. He's in the notebook. Good technical, tactical, you know, route runner and fluid
06:07and all those things. I just think, like, Traylon Burks, I can't quit him. I'm really
06:12intrigued by him. He's got great size. He runs well. He has acrobatic and athletic plays
06:18in the corner of the end zone with toe taps, again, in this practice where...
06:21The team posted the video of that one.
06:22Did they post that?
06:23Yeah, like, he is... I'm a believer in Burks' upside and, like, skill set. I can't sit
06:31here and tell you what he's going to become, but the fact that he went in the first round
06:34wasn't crazy, and when you watch him, you can see some of those traits, right? But beyond
06:38him, I thought Deami Brown was very noticeable. He's got a pretty clear rapport with Jaden
06:42Daniels. You think about these two guys having trained together in California for a big portion
06:47of the offseason. They hang out a lot. He was here before with Jaden and made sweet music
06:51with him in the playoffs in 24. So I noticed him. I mentioned Williams' route running.
06:56McCaffrey was much more quiet from what I saw. I don't know if you noticed him a whole lot
07:00today, but just generally, like, Van Jefferson made a nice couple plays in the back of the
07:03end zone. I think that it is wide open in that room. You could say that that's a good
07:09thing or a bad thing. Like, there aren't really carved out spots yet, but if you play wide receiver
07:14for this team and your name isn't Terry McLaurin, I actually think you've got a legit chance to
07:18be on this roster and catching passes if they don't sign somebody. Yeah, 100%. Everybody's
07:22going to get a chance to prove themselves, and I think that's going to be the key thing
07:24here. Nobody's given anything, because with the exception of Jalen Lane, Luke McCaffrey,
07:31and Antonio Williams, those guys were drafted by Peters, so maybe they have a leg up just
07:35because I don't know that Peters necessarily wants to move on from them, but that doesn't
07:39necessarily mean that DQ has to play them or David Blau has to put them in in 11 personnel
07:44sets, right? So it's going to be a meritocracy. The guys are going to have ample opportunities
07:49to prove themselves throughout camp, and you're going to see Antonio Williams rotate through
07:53with the ones. Luke McCaffrey, like you said, started today with the ones. Traylon Burks
07:57is going to have opportunities. Go down the list. Jaden was throwing balls to Van Jefferson
08:01today. You talk about Deami Brown. Everybody's going to get their chance at different points
08:06in camp. Whoever shows out, you're probably going to get a chance to start in week one or be
08:10right there getting some chances in week one. So I do think that that's an astute observation is
08:15there's no one. The same way that we talked about this wide receiver room, that's not necessarily
08:20how they feel in terms of some of the uncertainty. They believe in these guys, but they're also
08:24looking to see which one of you is going to step up the same way we've been having that
08:28conversation. I think the joint practices are probably going to be the really good indicator
08:33as to whether or not they're okay at receiver. And they may have already made the decision
08:37before then that they're going to sign. I'll just throw out the name as a placeholder like
08:42Brandon Ayuk, Stephon Diggs, whatever. But to me, watching practices a year ago, I felt like there
08:51were times where they were a little light at receiver, where they weren't getting open, guys
08:56weren't beating press or man coverage. And you kind of said, you know, Daniels is holding the ball
09:01and having to scramble and create. And it was basically because, remember Terry wasn't practicing,
09:05and it was very obvious, very. They didn't have enough receiver talent. And then when
09:09they played those, they only got one of these because the Ravens canceled on them. But when
09:13they played that joint practice, that was the takeaway that everybody had was like, all
09:17right, they need a receiver. I think that's when you're going to see it because that's
09:20when you're actually going to get more physical, pressing man. You're not going to have any idea
09:24really whatsoever what the defense is doing. The defenders that you're playing against
09:29aren't giving you certain looks and maybe playing things in a way where you can still
09:33go catch the pass. So I'm waiting until then to make any real declarations on the receiving
09:38room. I guess my observation today is just more about the competition's authentic. We
09:43hear so much about competitions at camp, you know, supposedly centers up for grabs. And
09:49Nick Allegretti, by the way, came off the field with an injury that's still unknown as to exactly
09:53what happened. Hopefully it's minor. Dan Quinn speaks before practices, so he won't talk
09:57about this until before practice. Tomorrow we'll get more detail. But if Nick Allegretti's
10:01healthy, that's your starting center, obviously. You know, they'll say, oh, we're competing
10:05in every position. Are you competing at quarterback? No, and you shouldn't be. You know what I
10:08mean? So I think it's a real deal. Put the names in the receiver room in a blender a little
10:14bit and pull one out. Like that is how it could end up based on who does the best at
10:19camp.
10:19The next thing from a pass catcher standpoint, tight ends. So I was really interested today to
10:25kind of see what that coaching looked like and just the room in general, like where we're
10:30at on that. Remember, Ben Steele, the tight ends coach, was fired just before the start
10:35of training camp. They've had a plan in place for some time. They are moving Wes Welker into
10:40a role where he is, while not named the tight ends coach, going to help them a bunch. And
10:44I think he'll particularly help a whole lot as it pertains to pass catching stuff, especially
10:49with Chick. Of course. You know, where he's lined up in the slot and doing some Welker-y
10:53things. And, you know, that role, that player, it could be a tight end, it could be a wide
10:58receiver. Like he might be doing a lot of the stuff Welker once did in the league if
11:02he's lined up on the inside out wide. So I actually think that's going to work fine.
11:07John Bates is going to be a really good blocker. Ben Sinnott's turned into a very decent blocker,
11:11is hopefully going to come on as a pass catcher. I think they're fine. I'm not stressed about
11:16the steal thing right now. It's a little weird to me that they don't just name a tight
11:21ends coach or with a couple weeks of buildup. This happened on June 7th. It's like six,
11:25seven weeks ago that they didn't decide they were going to hire a tight ends coach.
11:29But you've got David Ryan in the building, who coached that position last year, who's
11:32now a pass game coordinator. He's going to be an OC next year and a head coach maybe in
11:36a few years. People love this guy. And then you've got a, you know, guy in Welker who I
11:41think knows what he's doing, just coaching offense in general. So I'm not concerned there.
11:46It seems like a resilient enough group. And I didn't get any feel for, like, the tight
11:51ends were coaching themselves, if that makes sense. That was not happening.
11:53Yeah, 100%. And one thing that I loved is Ben Sinnott joined Beamich and Finley towards
11:58the beginning of their show. I'm not sure if you were able to catch this interview with
12:00them early on in their show as we were leaving the commander's training camp. But he sounds
12:05so much more confident. And I don't know if he's going to be their second tight end, third
12:10tight end. I would think that, you know, he's third on the depth chart to start the year.
12:13Chica Conquo is obviously number one. And then I think, you know, if they want to try to
12:17get a little more juice out of the second tight end in the pass game, I think that opens
12:21up a big time role for Ben Sinnott. If they're more so worried about the blocking, you kind
12:25of know what you're going to get. You can take it to the bank knowing that John Bates is going
12:28to be able to block. But I like the confidence that you heard out of Ben Sinnott, that this
12:32offense is going to allow him to maybe do some more things that work to his skill set and
12:37work more to his strengths. And so I think you're right. You know, it's not something that
12:41they're just left on an island and it's like, all right, go figure it out. You guys will figure
12:45it out. And I think too, part of the reason that they maybe don't feel as much of an urgency
12:50to go find another tight ends coach or get that guy is David Rye can help out. It's not
12:56that he's going to leave his responsibilities as a pass game coordinator, but like you said,
12:59Wes Welker can handle part of it in terms of maybe helping with the passing. And it's
13:03not like Wes Welker didn't block in his career either. Like a lot of the stuff that he does
13:07in that position, even though he's not a tight end, sometimes you can have similar types
13:11of responsibilities. So I think he can help out there. And when you need that, maybe fine
13:15tune, David Rye is someone like you mentioned, everybody thinks so highly of. So I think you
13:19can throw a little more on his plate there. And it's not something that they're out there
13:23just fending for themselves.
13:24Toby Altizer in for Danny Ruye. I'm Grant Paulson. You're listening to the fan. We're discussing
13:30day one of training camp. We were at practice today and I'm emptying out the notebook for you.
13:34Tyler Owens, who is a veteran safety now. He's huge. He's long. I mean, arms are longer
13:41than the line at the DMV and he's one of the fastest guys on the team legitimately. He's
13:45a special team standout. I think he's going to maybe have a role in the defense. We've
13:49said that a couple times now the last two years or so where we kind of look at him and
13:53go, there's got to be a way to use this guy in positionless football. But now this fit
13:57for him and I actually caught up with him and you'll hear him today on the show. I actually
14:00think it makes more sense that he gets on the field in some three safety looks if DC
14:05plays some of the stuff that the Vikings did under the Flores scheme here. But
14:11I think Owens is really important both from anything that he can do to help its safety
14:15but really on special teams. Remember, Nick Ballor retired and I asked him about it. You'll
14:20hear what Owens had to say about that. He was one of the leaders in the room. But this
14:23has been a terrific special teams coverage unit. Probably the least talked about best area
14:29of the roster under Izzo the last couple of years. We've talked about the return game.
14:34It's obviously exciting and easier to see when a guy rips off a big return across the 40.
14:38But they have been really good in these subtle areas on teams. I think Ballor has been a massive
14:43reason why nobody really had this one on the bingo card. He's been around for a long time
14:48since 2011, but he retired. So I think that makes for Jeremy Reeves, Tyler Owens being the
14:54core guys. But someone's got to step up at linebacker as a war daddy, you know, as a motivated
14:59coverage ace. Maybe that's Ale Cajo or I know he started injured at the beginning of camp. But
15:06you know, maybe that's, you know, a linebacker that can run like a Jordan McGee or somebody else. But
15:11I'll be curious to see what that looks like. And then the last thing from the notebook I'll empty
15:15out here. I would not want to tackle Katron Allen. My God, dude. Yeah, they don't have pads on.
15:22Nobody was really hitting today in a like legitimate sense. But even still, he couldn't help himself.
15:27Did you see the time in like the middle of the field at the goal line where he just pinballed
15:30off of a couple? Oh, yeah. Yeah. He wants contact. Yeah. Well, and he's someone that there's one
15:36thing to watch guys at camp. And then there's another to watch guys at camp when the pads go
15:40on. Katron is one that I want to see when the pads go on because he's not ever going to
15:45really
15:45wow you in terms of pass catching ability or anything. But the second the pads go on and
15:50there's some thumping going on, that's when Katron is going to really stand out. So I'm excited
15:54to see him. And honestly, one of the other guys that I thought had a pretty good practice
15:58today. Again, you can only take so much away when they're not hitting in the run game.
16:01But I think Bill's going to have a season like that. I've already had kind of that idea going
16:05in. But watching him once again today, I think he looks comfortable in this run scheme.
16:09I think the big thing for him, he can't put the ball in the dirt. He has to hang on
16:13to the
16:13football. But if he hangs on to the football and proves reliable, I think he's going to get
16:17enough carries that he's going to be really effective. You know what I noticed about Bill today?
16:21And this was one of those days where I think if you took too much out of it, you're stretching.
16:25Yeah. You know what I mean? But how many times did you see him split out?
16:29Yep. They did a lot of that. If it's going to go the way we want it to, where Bill
16:34is
16:34a factor, they're going to have to be really comfortable with him on passing downs. And
16:39I think running some routes and maybe even in pass pro. So we'll get to see how much he's
16:44improved in that area in space. I want to see if you've got a couple of things maybe I
16:48didn't mention that you noticed from your notes from practice. Also next, I want to
16:53give people a little feel for some of the conversations we had out there. I caught up
16:57with John Bates. He was outstanding. Joshua Josephs, the rookie edge. You'll hear from
17:02him on Grant and Danny today after his first training camp practice and the
17:06aforementioned Tyler Owens as well. You're listening to GND. We're live at
17:10Nationals Park on the fan.
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