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The Washington Commanders had a great start to their 2026 Training Camp! Fans came out in droves to support the team on Saturday morning. What are your expectations for week two of training camp?
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00:00They had their first practice available to the public on Saturday,
00:04packed house out at, I mean, make sure I get the name of it right,
00:09Big Bear AI Performance Center Commander's Camp.
00:13That's the whole mouthful.
00:15I think you nailed it.
00:16I think that's correct.
00:17Yeah, I drove by, and it was just completely packed.
00:19A ton of people out there this weekend.
00:22Not all the good news coming out, though, is good for the commanders.
00:25Some injury issues are rearing their head early in camp.
00:30Dan Quinn said on Saturday that tight end John Bates will miss, quote,
00:34a couple of weeks after suffering a strained hamstring in practice.
00:39On Thursday, Bates has been one of the NFL's best blocking tight ends
00:43and a player that Washington values greatly.
00:46But we know that they do appear to have depth at the position
00:49by bringing in Chig Okonkwo from the Titans this offseason.
00:53Yeah, but Chig is more a receiver, like you said.
00:54He is.
00:55Bates is known as the blocking tight end.
00:57Well, now Ben Sinnott's got to step up.
00:58Ben Sinnott is going to have to step up.
01:00Sure, he's now his number two.
01:01As well as Colson Yankoff as well.
01:05So that's not great news for the commanders,
01:07but at least the injury happened in camp.
01:10I don't think they think Bates is in danger of missing the start of the season.
01:14Yeah, but the hammies are tricky.
01:16Yeah, they are.
01:17He's got to take it lightly and make sure it's 100%.
01:20At least they didn't lose the receiver for the entire year like the Niners did.
01:24That is true.
01:25Pearsall.
01:25Yeah, it's bad.
01:27Nick Allegretti is going to miss, quote, the next week or so, according to Quinn,
01:30after he strained a calf muscle on Wednesday.
01:32That's also a tricky injury.
01:34Those are tricky injuries, especially when guys are, you know, 300-plus pounds.
01:39It's a lot of pressure on your lower extremities.
01:41Well, that's why they, and I'm sure you're going to get to it,
01:44that's why they brought in the Trey Hill dude.
01:46Yeah.
01:46But when Allegretti got hurt, they were starting the other backup, Good Jones,
01:52Julian Good Jones, who they brought in from Philly.
01:54And apparently, you know, everyone was saying how bad the offense was that day,
01:59and Jaden was just terrible.
02:00It's because he couldn't, this guy couldn't block anybody.
02:03So the defensive line for the commanders was just taking full advantage of having
02:09a backup center who's, you know, he just hasn't played a lot,
02:12especially against big guys like that.
02:14And so they had to go out and get a replacement.
02:15Well, that's why the team announced on Sunday afternoon,
02:18center Trey Hill has signed with the commanders to add depth to that spot.
02:23Hill is 26 years old, former six-round pick out of Georgia in the 2021 NFL draft.
02:29He started his career with the Bengals, started three games there,
02:33appeared in 24 through his first two seasons with them.
02:36He fell out of the rotation there.
02:38He was then waived ahead of the 2024 season before joining Cincinnati's practice squad.
02:43I mean, you're not getting a stud backup.
02:45I mean, you wouldn't expect that to happen.
02:47He wasn't a starter, and then when he got released by the Bengals,
02:51he went to the Packers, the Bears, and the Titans,
02:53and he was either a practice squad guy or just outright released.
02:57Yep.
02:58So.
02:58Where are you at in terms of concern at the center position on a scale of one to ten?
03:04Right now, seven?
03:08Yeah, I think that's fair.
03:09I think that's fair because.
03:11I think it's pretty.
03:12I mean, I don't know how.
03:13I mean, they say it's not serious,
03:15but you just don't know how long it's going to take to get back from a calf.
03:18It's not even this.
03:18I'm just looking bigger picture, right?
03:20Oh, even if he's healthy.
03:21Even if he's healthy.
03:22They went after Linderbaum for a reason.
03:24Yeah.
03:25They bailed because of price.
03:26Mm-hmm.
03:30Excuse me.
03:31They bailed because of price.
03:33But they clearly wanted to upgrade at center.
03:37Well, the.
03:37Biotis was a starter last year.
03:39That was the curious thing.
03:40It's like, Biotis wasn't.
03:41He wasn't slated to, like, break the bank salary-wise.
03:45I think his salary cap number for 2026 was eight, eight and a half million,
03:49something in that range.
03:50Like, that's not outrageous.
03:51And he was pretty good at the center spot.
03:55Let me just say, maybe he's a jag.
03:56Maybe he's just average.
03:58But he wasn't a problem.
03:58I don't think he's a better player than that.
04:00Okay.
04:01But he certainly wasn't a problem.
04:03Right.
04:03But they still wanted to upgrade.
04:05They wanted to get better.
04:06Hold on.
04:06Can I get back to Biotis?
04:07So I was just reading something on Yahoo this morning when we were talking
04:10about Trey Hill.
04:11Bleacher Report called Biotis the NFL's biggest steal in free agency.
04:16Well, he was on the market for about five seconds,
04:19and the Chargers picked him up.
04:20Yep.
04:21From what I remember.
04:22Like, he was not out on the market for a long time after he was released.
04:25So I think Jason.
04:26Kind of a surprising move.
04:27I think Jason's seven is fair.
04:29I want to hear from some Commanders fans.
04:30Are you a little worried about the center position?
04:321-800-636-1067.
04:35You know, the offensive line, they've got their bookend tackles
04:37that you should feel good about.
04:39I mean, obviously Connerly's young.
04:41Yeah.
04:42Tunsil's one of the top tackles in the game.
04:44You should feel good about that.
04:47Guard play, maybe a little less confident,
04:49but you've got established guys.
04:51We've got Cosby.
04:52But the center position, which they clearly wanted to upgrade,
04:57going after the top guy in Linderbaum,
05:00now has a starter who was a backup last year,
05:04who's got a calf injury.
05:06You bring in this guy who was a six-round pick,
05:09who's bounced around on, this is what, his fourth team?
05:11Yeah.
05:12Fourth NFL team?
05:13At least.
05:13Like, I can't have much confidence in this guy.
05:15Well, and they also drafted a center in the draft
05:18from the sixth round, Matt Colbin.
05:20Colbin, out of Michigan State.
05:21So you've got, now that Al Gretti's out,
05:23you've got a couple of guys who are just backups,
05:26and then you have a sixth-round draft pick.
05:27And you have Coleman, who was taking some snaps
05:29at center after practice.
05:31He's not even a center.
05:32He's not a center, but they're doing whatever they can
05:35to try to shore up that position.
05:36I think seven is fair.
05:38I probably would have said seven, too.
05:39You might even go higher.
05:40I would say seven's fair.
05:41If he's out longer than a week, I would go eight and a half.
05:44Well, and I don't want to sound the alarms on this,
05:47but sometimes the strained calf turns into torn Achilles.
05:51Now, that usually happens in basketball.
05:53Let's hope that doesn't happen.
05:54And you would hope that they got him booted up
05:57or whatever they're doing right now to address the calf,
05:59and it doesn't.
05:59But it does happen.
06:02Like, I want to say, I'd have to go back,
06:05but when Halliburton tore his Achilles,
06:09did he have a calf injury first?
06:10I think there was, like, calf issues first.
06:12Sometimes that happens where it's kind of a warning signal to the body.
06:17Like, hey, you've got to take care of it.
06:19So they need to be extra careful.
06:21Like, I wouldn't go nine or ten because it's still –
06:24they haven't even got to the preseason games yet.
06:28So when they say a week, I wouldn't rush him.
06:30I wouldn't be surprised if you hear reports that the offense looks bad again.
06:34Now, they're going in pads today, right?
06:36Yeah, first padded practice today.
06:38I wouldn't be surprised if you heard the offense really look bad,
06:40defense dominated, if they're going to start taking advantage
06:44of backup centers again.
06:45And as somebody who suffered a similar injury, it hurts.
06:50Like a strained calf or – can you tear your calf?
06:55I guess you can tear your calf muscle.
06:56The strained calf.
06:57Strained calf, painful.
06:59Yeah, it feels like a gunshot to the back of your calf.
07:01My pain tolerance is not very high, but it is painful.
07:04I'm just letting people know.
07:06And the calf injury, I'm sure if we went to WebMD or whatever,
07:11one week seems aggressive to get him back because that's an injury which lingers.
07:16You might be right.
07:17We'll see.
07:17Hopefully it doesn't linger too long because they need their starting center.
07:19Now, luckily he's not a wide receiver.
07:20Correct.
07:21He doesn't need to move that much.
07:24But I don't know.
07:26I'm with you, Jason.
07:27I'd probably give it a seven.
07:28If you're a center, you're putting a lot of pressure on your calves
07:30when you're in pass protection.
07:32That's true.
07:33Especially when you're 285 pounds or whatever he is.
07:36And you're trying to block huge defensive ends and tackles.
07:41So I wouldn't be surprised if he's out longer than a week.
07:45Hopefully he's not, but let's just keep an eye on it.
07:48By the way, more Commanders news from the weekend.
07:51There's a new preseason TV broadcast team that got unveiled.
07:57Good.
07:57Play-by-play will be handled by our guy, Dan Helley.
08:01Love Dan Helley, local guy.
08:03He's done big things.
08:04He's a Magruder colonel.
08:06Love that about him.
08:07Does a lot of UFC work.
08:09He's been doing college.
08:10I mean, ever since he left the NFL Network, where he was a host,
08:13he's done more play-by-play, whether it's basketball, college football.
08:18He does a lot of UFC stuff.
08:19So it's good to have him back on this.
08:21He did the Titans preseason for a few years.
08:25Right.
08:25And he was doing the slap face.
08:28What do they call that?
08:29Power slap?
08:29Power slap.
08:30Yeah.
08:30He did that.
08:31He was doing play-by-play for power slap.
08:33Okay.
08:34I think he's still doing that.
08:35It's a nice paycheck from Dana White.
08:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:37He'll definitely take it.
08:38So that's good.
08:39So Dan Helley is doing the play-by-play.
08:41And this was announced at the practice opening to the public over the weekend.
08:45The analysts, I mean, they're going big with Skins Legends,
08:50John Riggins, and Daryl Green on the broadcast.
08:54Yeah, that's awesome.
08:55As well.
08:56I think B. Mitch is still part of it.
08:58B. Mitch also part of the broadcast, too.
09:00So that's, you know, like, look, this organization,
09:03ever since Josh Harris took over,
09:06they're checking a lot of the boxes as far as, like, weaving in the nostalgia,
09:12the older legendary players, like, getting them involved with, you know,
09:17the teams that goes forward as the commanders.
09:19Like, they've done a great job with that.
09:21They're just killing it in that respect.
09:23But off the field, I mean, I got mocked a lot from my book,
09:26Faith Restored, because it came out during a huge losing streak last season.
09:30But part of the book was that they've done all the right things.
09:33It wasn't supposed to.
09:34They've done all.
09:35I remember Jason was like, this book's going to sell twice as much.
09:38It's still barking.
09:39If it came out in week one of September, it would be great.
09:42I had it ready.
09:43But anyway, part of it was that they do all the right things.
09:46Like, even, you didn't bring this up,
09:48maybe you brought this up last week when I was gone,
09:50even things like fixing the stairs at training camp.
09:55Yeah.
09:55They're doing little things, whether it's bleachers that didn't exist.
09:59Well, you have to.
10:00Like, they're not going to be opening the new stadium until 2030.
10:05Like, you at least have to have, look,
10:07you're not going to be able to turn Northwest Stadium
10:09into one of the top five or ten stadiums in the league.
10:13It's too old and it's too, you know, outdated.
10:15But you're still going to be playing games in that stadium
10:18for several years before the new place is open.
10:20You've got to upgrade it and make it at least palatable
10:23for people to attend games.
10:25You've got to play five more years.
10:26Right.
10:26Now, I'm not sure if Darrell Green's part of the broadcast team.
10:29Now, he was there at practice.
10:31Right.
10:31So, I believe the broadcast team,
10:33they have two color commentators,
10:35which is B. Mitch and then Riggins.
10:38I mean, who better to have than John Riggins?
10:41Has Riggins done it before?
10:43I think he used to be part of...
10:46I thought he did it years ago.
10:47Well, he used to definitely be part of coverage.
10:49Yeah.
10:49Right?
10:49Like, back in the day when George Michael used to do a show,
10:54Riggins definitely was part of it.
10:55I thought he was doing preseason.
10:57Maybe I'm just thinking about somebody else.
10:59But, yeah, you're right.
11:00I mean, Harris is bringing back all the big dogs.
11:04And Riggins and Green were out there taking pictures.
11:07And, you know, you got all the other...
11:08It seemed like a really cool atmosphere on Saturday.
11:11And it'll be the same today.
11:13How hot was it here, though, on Saturday?
11:15That's my thing about training camp.
11:16It was pretty hot.
11:17Sometimes you go to training camp, and it is so hot.
11:20And there's not much shade there.
11:21I don't think it was in the 90s on Saturday.
11:24But it was high 80s.
11:26Oh, what I mean?
11:26Not much shade?
11:27There's no shade.
11:28Yeah, good luck finding it.
11:31Other good news for the team,
11:33Traylon Burks returned to practice on Saturday
11:36after sitting out one practice with foot soreness.
11:40So that is a good sign for a guy
11:42who's had a hard time dodging the injury bug
11:44in his short NFL career.
11:47Yeah.
11:47So it's good to have Traylon Burks back on the field.
11:50You want to keep that wide receiver core, you know,
11:53active, healthy, getting some rapport with Jaden Daniels.
11:56I wonder what the depth chart at receiver has looked like
12:00over the first three days of practice.
12:05Because I was just looking at an updated depth chart,
12:08and they had, because for weeks they had Williams
12:10as one of the top three, but now they've got McCaffrey
12:13as a top three, and Williams on the second team.
12:16They also have Deami Brown on the third team,
12:18and Van Jefferson on the second team.
12:20So I'm wondering if that's based off of reps in practice
12:23or if they're just throwing names out there.
12:27Yeah, I think it's more throwing names.
12:28I usually will find out come the preseason games.
12:31Yeah.
12:32But I'm wondering, are there guys who have an outside shot?
12:35Like the guy who's getting jocked right now
12:40is this kid, Jaden Bradley.
12:43He's an undrafted guy, 6'3", from UNLV.
12:46Now every year you always hear about guys,
12:48and then they never do anything.
12:51But is it a situation where it's all up for grabs?
12:57And a guy like Jaden Bradley could come on.
12:59Maybe a guy like that could battle and buy
13:02for the fifth wideout spot or sixth wideout spot on the team.
13:06Like, trust me, after Terry McLaurin,
13:08there's a lot of empty slots to fill in
13:11as far as WR2 through WR6.
13:15I mean, you can just throw those names in a hat
13:17for the most part at this point.
13:18Jaden Bradley's in.
13:19And pick them out.
13:20The Matt the Stag, so we're pulling for him.
13:21Oh, very good.
13:22Yep.
13:22Local guy.
13:23Definitely have to pull for that.
13:25What's your bigger area of concern, Cakes?
13:27Center or wide receiver?
13:29Are you serious?
13:30You're asking me a bigger area of concern,
13:33a bunch of fat guys or skill position players
13:36who really impact the offense?
13:38The wide receiver.
13:39Okay, but you can have confidence.
13:40You can be like, hey, I think they're fine at wide receiver.
13:44Oh, I don't think they're fine at wide receiver.
13:46So what's your level of concern at wide receiver?
13:49Level of concern wideouts, probably a four.
13:55It's not that concerned.
13:56I'm not that concerned about it.
13:57So you're good.
13:58My center concern?
14:00Two.
14:01Oh, really?
14:02That's a two.
14:02It's so far down.
14:04It's so early.
14:06Allegret is going to come back to the strained path.
14:08Did you talk to J.P. Finley about how bad the offense was
14:11because the center was Julian Good-Jones?
14:14I did not.
14:15Okay.
14:15It looked terrible.
14:16I did not talk to J.P. Finley about that.
14:18The center position is more than a two, my friend.
14:20It's very early.
14:21And I thought that this weekend was going to be the announcement
14:24that Diggs was signing here.
14:26I really thought that.
14:26You thought that was coming?
14:27Clearly didn't.
14:29So I'm just kind of eager.
14:32I think my concern with the wide receiver positions,
14:39probably a six, maybe a seven.
14:42You got a lot of concern on this team.
14:44Yeah, I do.
14:45I just think when you're missing that clear number two,
14:48and I just think it's hard to rely on a rookie to do that,
14:52and Diggs is out there, I just think that that's just a major need
14:57for this team, especially if your center is out.
15:00So I don't know.
15:01We'll see if Diggs comes to camp here in the next few days.
15:04By the way, we're only 11 days away from the Commander's preseason opener.
15:09They host the Dolphins on August 14th.
15:12Yeah, it's coming up.
15:13You got the Hall of Fame game this week.
15:16That's right.
15:16Panthers-Cardinals.
15:17It's on Thursday.
15:20It's here, finally.
15:22Training camp coverage, by the way,
15:24is brought to you by Paul Henry's Window Installation,
15:28paulhenryswindows.com,
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15:32Coming up next,
15:34is it too expensive to hang out at bars?
15:36And if so, where do you hang out?
15:38That'll beative.
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