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The Washington Commanders battled a ton of injuries last season, but there’s one player they can’t afford to lose this year. With David Blough as Washington’s new OC, everyone is expecting to see a significant jump in under center snaps for Jayden Daniels. Do you think this change will unlock the Commanders offense?
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00:00So the biggest news coming out of camp yesterday,
00:02this happened while we were on the show yesterday.
00:05Prior to 8 a.m., Akello Witherspoon abruptly retires.
00:10He's on the retired left team list.
00:14Former Washington cornerback Fabian Moreau signed to replace him.
00:20He has experience with new defensive coordinator Durante Jones.
00:25He played in Minnesota last season.
00:27So Fabian Moreau, welcome back to Washington, D.C.
00:32You are now a member again of the cornerback room for the Washington Command.
00:37Started his career here.
00:39That's correct.
00:40He was drafted in 2017.
00:41Yep.
00:42The same year that Akello Witherspoon was drafted.
00:45Wow.
00:46They got him in quick because he was there on the field yesterday.
00:49Yep.
00:49Working out and starting to get into the mix.
00:52So Witherspoon out, Moreau in as far as your defensive secondary for the Commanders.
00:59Running back Rashad White, he made some waves with a comment about his current quarterback,
01:08Jaden Daniels.
01:08He said, Jaden Daniels is the best quarterback I've ever played with.
01:13Wow.
01:14Now, Rashad White played with a guy named Tom Brady in Tampa Bay.
01:19You ever hear of that guy?
01:19Maybe he forgot.
01:21Maybe he forgot.
01:21Now, Rashad White goes way back with Jaden.
01:24They played together at Arizona State.
01:25They're tight.
01:26But he claims...
01:28That's his boy.
01:29...that Jaden Daniels is the best quarterback that he has ever played with, and he has played
01:34with Tom Brady.
01:35Mm-hmm.
01:36And Baker Mayfield.
01:37And with Baker Mayfield.
01:39Interesting.
01:39So that's some high praise for his guy.
01:43Speaking of Jaden Daniels, he had another impressive day at camp.
01:48He was seen connecting with both Terry McLaurin, Chigakonkwo.
01:51Looked like he is starting to really master the David Blau offense.
01:57Let's get to some audio we have of Jeremy Fowler, who was on with Grant and Danny.
02:02I believe this was Monday, talking about the connection that he saw at camp between Jaden
02:07Daniels and Terry McLaurin.
02:09It's hard to ignore that connection you just mentioned between Terry McLaurin and Jaden Daniels.
02:13That beautiful pass to start.
02:15The 11-man workout.
02:16Another touchdown later in practice.
02:19McLaurin looks like himself again in there.
02:21Last year was hard with the hold-in and then the injuries.
02:24So he and Jaden Daniels both look like they're on the same page.
02:26I told him McLaurin after practice, he was almost downright giddy about the connection
02:31that they have, that they're growing again or regrowing.
02:34So that's a positive.
02:35And yeah, you know, Chigakonkwo, you mentioned him.
02:38I think he's probably their receiver two right now.
02:41You know, he runs routes like a receiver, even though he's a tight end.
02:45So to me, he's more of a hybrid model.
02:47And so, you know, with the absence of like another bona fide number two, he's probably the
02:52two to me.
02:53And yeah, so that stood out.
02:55Just, you know, the offense as a whole, the passing game, looked pretty fluid.
02:58And, you know, Jaden Daniels looks like he's added a little bit of bulk, maybe another
03:02ton, but he looks a little stronger to me from what I've seen.
03:05And yeah, you know, Sonny Stiles is interesting.
03:08He, physical guy, yes, but he can also cover so much ground.
03:12So I know Dan Quinn's been challenging him to like take gambles and go for it.
03:16You know, try to get a 10-yard closed gap.
03:19When other guys can't do that, you can.
03:21You know, you have that kind of ability.
03:23So he hit a lot of spots there.
03:25The connection between Jaden and Terry, he thinks Chig could, you know, soothe people's
03:31fears about the lack of a true number two wide out because he can kind of play that role
03:35from the tight end spot.
03:37He's not a traditional tight end.
03:38He's kind of a hybrid wide receiver slash tight end.
03:41And at the end there, he touched on Sonny Stiles and the fact that Dan Quinn is challenging
03:46him to be kind of an all-around player in this defense.
03:50So some good positives coming out of camp there, according to Fowler.
03:54He started with the Jaden Daniels discussion.
03:56Yesterday, I did our guy Toothpicks podcast.
03:59Yep.
04:00And he received a question and it was, do you think Jaden Daniels will get down or run
04:09out of bounds more often than he has in the past because he's getting hurt from taking
04:13hits?
04:14And it's really an unknowable answer, but what are your thoughts?
04:19Because his health is probably the biggest determining factor as to whether this team
04:26becomes successful this season or has a season like they did last year.
04:32I think he'll make a concerted effort to try to avoid as many hits as possible.
04:37I don't know if that means sliding more, running out of bounds more.
04:39I think that's going to be an emphasis.
04:42Texas, and I just think the fact that they're going to probably run the ball more being
04:46under center, a lot more than they were obviously under Kingsbury.
04:49They were never under center with him.
04:51I think that will protect Jaden as well.
04:53Yeah.
04:54Or it should.
04:54I mean, he's going to get it.
04:55In theory, it should.
04:55He's going to get hit.
04:56Of course.
04:57I mean, all quarterbacks do, especially the mobile ones.
04:59So he's going to get hit.
05:00Yeah.
05:00But I agree.
05:02I think they've probably emphasized strongly that he needs to get out of bounds and get
05:07down and not take those hits.
05:09Yeah.
05:09Uh, the design runs, that's, that's, you know, we, we have no idea what they're going
05:14to do there.
05:15They're probably going to scale those back too, but he's just going to get hit.
05:19I mean, that's, he gets out of the pocket and he go, he wants to get 25 yards as opposed
05:23to 15.
05:24So he's going to take some tackles and he's, he's just going to have to be smart.
05:28And, um, you know, that's, but you're right.
05:31That's the key to the season is him staying on the field.
05:33Quinn and Blau have to be smart too, because the whole reason he threw his elbow out was
05:38because he was in a game where they were, I believe they were trailing by 28 points.
05:43I remember he could be shaky on that.
05:46They were trailing by a ridiculous amount of points and Jaden shouldn't have even been
05:49in the game.
05:50So hopefully the improved defense prevents that from happening in 2026.
05:55Hopefully they're not in a game where they're trailing by 21 or 28 points late.
05:59But if they are, if that does happen, you got to take them off the field.
06:04Once you know, you've lost the game, you can't have your starting quarterback at risk.
06:08In my opinion, you just, that was just bad luck because Quinn did say he was coming out
06:14after that drive.
06:15Yep.
06:15But he probably should have already.
06:17And I think the play itself, he thought was going to be a safe play.
06:22And Jane Daniels went to an option that he typically didn't write.
06:25Um, you just wonder though, in those moments, like you just described a 15 yard run versus
06:31a 25 yard run, it's been in his nature since he was probably eight years old before that.
06:39Who knows whenever he started playing football, that when he's had a chance with the tackler
06:43one-on-one, he hasn't dipped to just go out of bounds.
06:47He's cut in or cut around them and made moves to get that 25 yard run.
06:53And your head could be telling you one thing before a game, Hey, I got to live to play another
06:59down.
07:00But in those moments, if it's been in your nature all the time to go for it, you wonder
07:05how much you can kind of train yourself to actually go out of bounds and we're going to
07:10slide.
07:10But I know that, you know, when he's on the sideline watching Marcus Mariota for weeks
07:16and weeks and weeks last year, that's probably one thing that is ingrained into him now, especially
07:21with David Blau coming in.
07:23So he knows, he definitely knows he's going to have to be very careful.
07:26Uh, yesterday at practice, this is via our friend, Grant Paulson, Luke McCaffrey flashed
07:33Luke McCaffrey had his best practice of the week.
07:35Maybe his best practice I've seen, this is Grant Paulson in a couple of years, not just
07:41in terms of volume of catches.
07:43He had several of them, but also how open he was getting.
07:47He beat Mikey Sanders still a couple of times, which is a good sign.
07:50What I read is he's not, he's not just lining up in the slot.
07:54Like he's taking vertical passes, deep passes.
07:57So that's great.
07:58If he's, if he's got that skillset, I want Blau to unlock it.
08:02Yeah.
08:02I, you know, you should be exploring what these guys excel at and putting them in those
08:07positions in your offense.
08:10And maybe he could be the number three, as opposed to, I know that a lot of people want
08:14to see Antonio Williams, this number three, the rookie, but maybe McCaffrey is the number
08:17three.
08:18Yeah.
08:18I mean, he should be ascending.
08:20Yeah.
08:20He's coming into year three, coming off an injury.
08:23He was showing signs last year before he had the shoulder injury that he could be a productive
08:28receiver.
08:29And hopefully that's what he is in this offense.
08:31But McLaurin looked really good yesterday.
08:34Yeah.
08:34I understand it's, you know, it's, it's training camp and some of it's just drills, but he
08:39looked really good.
08:41Speaking of looking good, let's give a kicker update.
08:46Yesterday, Jake Moody was three for five.
08:49Yep.
08:50He made on kicks of 33, 38, 34.
08:54He missed from 49 and 56.
08:57Correct.
08:57Drew Stevens was five for five from the same distances.
09:03Yep.
09:04So far through camp, Jake Moody is 19 of 22.
09:07He has a long of 55.
09:09Drew Stevens is 20 of 22.
09:12He has a long of 56.
09:15So they're basically like numbers wise.
09:18They're basically neck and neck.
09:19That's dead.
09:19He drew five training camp practices.
09:22Yeah.
09:22It's interesting.
09:23So it's kind of a dead even race at this point between the two kickers.
09:27We'll have to see who emerges.
09:29I can see it.
09:29I can see it.
09:29I can see Stevens being your kicker week one.
09:32I can see that happening.
09:33I could, I can certainly see it too.
09:35Would you bet though, that whoever is the kicker at the beginning of the season will be the
09:39kicker at the end of the season?
09:40No, no, I would not bet that.
09:42No way.
09:43Has it, when's the last time that happened here in Washington?
09:45It seems like it's been a while.
09:47Hey, Mike Maher, I need you to do a, a, a project for me.
09:52Find out the last time a kicker kicked all 17 games here in Washington.
09:57You might have to go back a ways.
09:59You know what I found?
10:00I can't think of one that's done it recently.
10:02You know what I found interesting coming out of camp yesterday?
10:04I believe he spoke with the media yesterday, Bill, Corey Krosky, Merritt, um, talked about
10:11being an asset in the passing game.
10:13Yeah.
10:14And last year he only caught nine balls and the assumption was, well, he doesn't really
10:18catch the ball out of the backfield.
10:20So I guess he's been on a mission to show that he could do that.
10:23Now, when he played in college, New Mexico, he had seven catches.
10:27So he just doesn't have a history of it, but he's trying to claim that he worked hard
10:34at it during the off season.
10:35He got bigger, stronger.
10:36We've seen that.
10:38And he believes he has the skillset.
10:40He believes it's been slept on that he can catch the ball out of the backfield.
10:44Dan Quinn challenged him during OTAs to be more of a complete back.
10:47And look, that that's what you want.
10:50You don't want to be a running back where as soon as you're out on the field, teams know
10:55your only capability is running the ball.
10:58Yeah.
10:58Yeah.
10:58You want to be, that's why they brought white in.
11:00You want to be multidimensional where they're like, is he going to go out in the flat and
11:04catch a pass?
11:05Or is he going to, you know, try to bull rush us up the middle and gouge us for eight
11:09to
11:0910 yards.
11:10Yep.
11:10Like that.
11:11That's good.
11:12If he's working on his, his receiving compliment to his game and Rashad white, we know can catch
11:16the ball.
11:16We know that he, he doesn't have to prove it.
11:19That's been proven over his NFL career.
11:21Okay.
11:22So it wasn't as long ago as we thought.
11:23Okay.
11:24Joey slide 2023.
11:26Oh yeah.
11:27He picked every single game for the commanders in 23.
11:30Yep.
11:30And he did as well in 2022.
11:32Okay.
11:33Back to back years.
11:34Back to back all 17.
11:35It's just that they mowed through some recently.
11:39Mowed through a lot, a lot of different names at that kicker spot.
11:43So yeah, that's if Bill can become a guy.
11:46I still kicking for any, still a starter for some.
11:49I'd have to look that up.
11:50I'm not sure if he's still in the league or not.
11:52Titans, maybe chargers.
11:54I think he was with the Titans recently.
11:56I don't know if it was last year.
11:57He's currently with, he's their number one.
12:01I thought he was still in the league.
12:02I see Titans.
12:03Okay.
12:05On the coaching front, former Redskins tight end coach, John Embry was on the sidelines at practice on Tuesday.
12:12He was a member of the staff here all the way back in 2010, the first year of the Shanty
12:18era.
12:19He coached with Wes Welker in Miami.
12:23Could he be an ad to the staff in the wake of the release of Ben Steele in late July?
12:28I know Welker is working with the tight ends.
12:30I don't believe he's officially been named the tight ends coach unless I spaced on it.
12:35I thought he was.
12:36Has he officially been tabbed the tight ends coach?
12:39I thought I read that.
12:40I'd have to look on their website to make sure about that.
12:42But Embry was there at practice yesterday leading to speculation.
12:46Will he have a role on the offensive staff?
12:51Maybe he was just there visiting his guy, Wes Welker.
12:53We don't know at this point.
12:54But just something to keep an eye on.
12:57I mean, I don't know if he was officially named tight ends coach, but he replaced Steele in that position.
13:03That's what I see.
13:04Right.
13:04He's serving as the tight ends coach.
13:06He may not have been named the tight ends coach.
13:09So maybe they bring in this guy.
13:11How old is Embry?
13:12He's 60.
13:13Okay.
13:1360 years old.
13:14And speaking of older guys, not 60 years old, but older guys roster-wise, Laramie Tunsell got the first Vets
13:23rest day of camp on Tuesday.
13:26Now, Cosme missed too, but that wasn't a rest day.
13:30I saw it was listed as undisclosed.
13:32Maybe it was just a rest day.
13:34I don't think so.
13:35I think he got banged up.
13:36I didn't see what the actual injury was.
13:38They just wanted to save him off to the side.
13:40But hopefully he's back out there today.
13:41Yeah.
13:42Cakes wasn't as worried about the center position and the offensive line as Jason was.
13:50If you had to give them an overall grade, let's assume Allegretti's healthy.
13:55Is the offensive line a strength like an A?
13:58Is it solid like a B?
14:00Yeah.
14:01Is it mid C or worse?
14:06I would probably give it a B.
14:08I think I'd give him a B minus.
14:09I'd throw a minus on the end because I need to see Allegretti come back from the calf injury.
14:15I know they're being cautious about it and probably not going to see him for a while.
14:18But I just need him to be 100% in about a month.
14:23But if you don't have Allegretti and Cosme, he's had some injuries too over the last couple of years.
14:28But I think a lot of it has to do with that right side with Cosme and Connerly.
14:32But if Allegretti's not out there and they've got to go to one of these backups or go to the
14:36guy they just signed from Cincy, then it's trouble.
14:40Speaking of the offensive line, one other note.
14:41Chris Paul shed 20 pounds in the offseason.
14:44They feel like him being lighter will help with David Blau's scheme.
14:49Good.
14:49So he down 20 pounds.
14:51So good for him.
14:52Be a little more nimble.
14:54Lighter on his feet.
14:54But maybe it turns out to be one of the strengths of the team.
14:58That would be great if it is.
14:59They've got to stay on the field.
15:00But I think Cosme is a key.
15:02Later in the program, Mike Sandoz is going to join us.
15:05He comes up with this quarterback tiers list every year.
15:09He's going to jump on at 940.
15:10Next, we'll talk about where Jaden Daniels landed on that list.
15:14And if it's where he should be, if it's too low, too high, we'll tackle that next here on the
15:20Junkies.
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