00:00So the news today, day two training camp, Nick Allegretti suffered a strained calf in yesterday's practice, Dan Quinn talked
00:10about.
00:10However, does not appear to be serious, not a lot of concern.
00:17Traylon Burks out today with foot soreness, but again, Dan Quinn saying the team's not overly concerned with either injury.
00:25That according to our show's team beat reporter.
00:30Ben standing.
00:31So Quinn talked before the practice today.
00:33There were a couple of sound bites that I thought were interesting.
00:36I haven't heard them.
00:38Max has listened to them and picked them out.
00:41I want to hear what he said about Chigakonkwo.
00:43This was Quinn earlier on their new tight end.
00:46Hey, Dan, with regards to Chig, just curious, like what your thoughts were at the time you were presented.
00:52Hey, maybe we can bring this guy in.
00:53And now that you've had him for a few months, what have you learned or what's maybe changed in that?
00:58Yeah, I think I looked the urgency and the competitiveness.
01:01That's what jumped out on tape, Ben.
01:03So he's not the biggest guy, but beating him to the punch and having the quickness to go.
01:07So I thought that was one of the things that I really liked about his game.
01:11If we add those type of players, what generally happens, that manifests itself into absolutely battling for it.
01:17And so to see him in a system at a tight end from play actions and down the field throws,
01:22we thought that would be like a good mesh for him.
01:25It was also what he was looking for, too.
01:27So when we showed clips from there and showed the clips of what we're going to do, we intercut them
01:33together to paint a clear picture.
01:35I think anytime a person is a free agent coming here, you want to say, like, this is how we
01:39plan on featuring you here.
01:41So they have a clear vision to say, you know what, this is a good spot for me, you know,
01:45like relative to the dollars and cents to say, OK, this is why I should choose this place.
01:50What I guess, what did you present him to say?
01:53Hey, this is we saw how you were made.
01:55Maybe he's here.
01:56We can do something different here.
01:58The long play action passing, you know, over routes, pylon routes, things that were down the field and even some,
02:04you know, crossing routes that are catch and run to use some of his speed.
02:07So we just wanted to, you know, highlight, hey, this is what we think you can do.
02:13Yeah, I mean, so so a couple of things about Chigar Conquo.
02:17So what Quinn emphasized there, by the way, play action, that more than anything else, you may not see it
02:27a lot, you know, in a preseason game.
02:31This team is going to be, mark my words, top 10 in the league, maybe higher than that in play
02:38action pass attempts.
02:40They've been in the bottom three or four for the last two years.
02:43And Chig is definitely one of those guys on over routes, on play action, deeper shots, is going to be
02:50a weapon.
02:51He can really run.
02:52He's not the same as Ertz.
02:54You know, Ertz is a big target, good route runner, always where he needs to be.
02:59You know, a guy that can contest and catch because of his size, real crafty in his ability to block
03:05out and get position.
03:07Chig isn't that.
03:08Chig is a very good route runner.
03:11Chig is explosive and strong.
03:14Chig's excellent after the catch.
03:17Chig is really good at making people miss after he's made a catch, but then also running somebody over.
03:25I think this is going to be the breakout year for Chigar Conquo.
03:29I think he's been on the verge, but just hasn't been on a good team, hasn't been on a good
03:37offensive football team, clearly.
03:41And hasn't had a good quarterback.
03:43I mean, I think Cam Ward's going to eventually develop into a good quarterback.
03:47But on that team last year, there wasn't a whole hell of a lot, you know, in terms of options.
03:54By the way, Van Jefferson was on that team for a few games.
03:57Calvin Ridley was on the team with Cam Ward.
03:59But Chig was the leading pass catcher.
04:02He had 56 catches.
04:05And I'm sure for Cam Ward, he became a guy where it's like at least if I get him the
04:11ball, he's going to make something happen.
04:14And I think we'll see a lot of that out of the offense.
04:16In addition to the play action, early down, deep shots for Chig.
04:25I'm excited about Chigar Conquo.
04:27We had somebody on that was not super impressed with that signing.
04:31And I'm forgetting who it was at this point during the offseason.
04:35I like that signing.
04:36I think it's going to pay off.
04:38This was Quinn on the two centers that are not projected to start.
04:47We played for you the sound yesterday about how absolutely convinced Adam Peters and Dan Quinn are about Nick Allegretti.
04:55Well, Nick Allegretti, calf strain, might miss some time.
04:59They're not serious.
05:00But the only other two centers they have in camp are their sixth round, the sixth round pick, Matt Gullman
05:06from Michigan State, and then Julian Good-Jones, who's been on the roster for a bit.
05:10This was Quinn talking about the depth at center.
05:14With Matt and Julian now having to, you know, basically step in with Nick being out, do you guys change
05:20anything as far as preparation for practice or just keep it going?
05:24Nope, we just keep it going.
05:25And those are the ones you move it around some.
05:27But even within a practice, there's going to be times where you'll see a guy maybe go up to the
05:32first group to go.
05:33It's just like, what are you going to do?
05:35And so, like, every player deserves his chance to go perform.
05:39And so, as coaches, I want to see this third player with the first group.
05:42What's he going to do?
05:43How's he going to react?
05:43All right, I'm in the huddle now with Jaden, and you're where I am.
05:46So, I wanted to find that out.
05:47But because we're putting it all in together, no change of that, just we have about four guys that can
05:53snap and go through that.
05:54And so, we rotate that through.
05:57There you go.
05:59They need Nick Allegretti healthy, and they're going to need him healthy all season long, is my guess.
06:05They believe in him.
06:07Doesn't mean they'll be right.
06:07We'll see how it works out.
06:09And then, lastly, the other soundbite that Max wanted to play and picked out was just on upgrades in personnel
06:20and scheme defensively, hopefully resulting in more takeaways.
06:37Here's what Quinn said.
06:40Hey, Dan.
06:41It's everything for us.
06:43And so, it's the way that we do it.
06:45You might have saw it even at the beginning of practice of every skill player onto the jugs, the intentionality
06:50of it.
06:51And so, it's a big part of it.
06:52It's honestly like it's our philosophy, the way we take care of it on offense, great decisions.
06:56And that's one of Jaden's superpowers, his accuracy of putting the ball in the right location, in the zone, in
07:03demand to go.
07:04And so, defensively, it's the mindset to go after it.
07:06So, we do things like how many times are we taking shots at the ball, having opportunities, and converting on
07:11those chances.
07:12So, it's something that's an everyday discussion for us.
07:17Ten takeaways in 2025.
07:21Second worst in the league.
07:23Only the Jets were worse.
07:25The Jets were horrendous with a defensive head coach with four takeaways on the season.
07:32Ten takeaways in 17 games.
07:38And by the way, the year before in 2024, so they were 31st last year, they were 26th in the
07:45league in takeaways in 2024 with just 17.
07:50That has to change, man.
07:52You want to help Jaden.
07:54You want to help the offense.
07:56You've got to be better on defense.
07:58I totally agree and buy into their emphasis on flooding the room with defensive players that are new and more
08:09capable and younger and faster and all of those things.
08:13That is just as important in the helping of the football team and of the offense as would have been,
08:21you know, Carnell Tate at seven or Alec Pierce in free agency.
08:25I mean, it's almost impossible to compete for a playoff spot with 10 takeaways on the season.
08:35Now, the overall differential wasn't great either.
08:38It was second worst in the league at minus 13.
08:41You know, they had 23 overall giveaways in the league, which was, you know, tied for 25th in the most
08:51giveaways.
08:52But you got to get more takeaways.
08:54This is what Quinn did so well in Dallas.
08:58They were a takeaway machine.
09:00He has not been able to figure that out yet.
09:03Now, last year in the league, Minnesota, a part of a team that Durante Jones was a coach on, 21
09:12takeaways, more than two times what Washington had.
09:16Tied for eighth best in the league.
09:18But look at the takeaway numbers last year and how they translate to really good seasons.
09:25Chicago was number one in the league with 33 takeaways.
09:29Jacksonville was two.
09:30Houston was three.
09:32Pittsburgh was four.
09:33The Rams, five.
09:35Seattle, six.
09:36The top six takeaway teams in the league, in the league, were in the postseason.
09:43Then it was Atlanta at seven.
09:46Okay.
09:46Tied for seventh.
09:47Excuse me.
09:47Tied for seventh.
09:48Now, let me just say the Falcons had, you know, lots of injuries on offense.
09:55Defensively, they got after it.
09:56They did not make the playoffs.
09:57They missed the playoffs by one game.
09:59They were one game away from winning the division.
10:02But then here's the next group of teams.
10:04The Chargers, the Buccaneers, and the Panthers.
10:08Did I just give you the top ten?
10:10Out of the top ten takeaway teams in the league last year, nine of them were playoff teams.
10:18Nine of them.
10:21So, you got to get better on that.
10:23With Jaden Daniels healthy and upright for 17 games, no matter what you put around him,
10:29if you get off the field more than you did in 25, with, by the way, just third down stops.
10:35Let's start there.
10:37Third down stops would be a nice thing to have, for sure, defensively.
10:44And if you get off the field with it soon enough to get good field position,
10:49and then if you turn people over and shorten the field or even score,
10:54imagine what they would have been in 24 with that kind of a good takeaway defense.
11:00Imagine what they would have been last year with a better takeaway difference.
11:05They wouldn't have won five games.
11:06Now, without Jaden, they weren't going to win more than six or seven.
11:09But you've got to become a better takeaway team.
11:14You've got to be a better team on third down.
11:17And they attempted to change their defensive production with all of those new players.
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