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Ben Standig explains why the Will Harris cut made sense for Washington and explores how the Commanders can improve heading into the regular season.
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00:00is joining us now to talk about all the action on and off the field our friend ben standig from
00:05last man standig substack what's up benny how you doing uh fellas i am uh i'm doing great thanks for
00:11having me on um let's start with a little bit of news will harris gets released over the last week
00:18or so it seemed like it was really trending this way um what do you make of it yeah i
00:26mean i think
00:26definitely was trending this way for sure he was you know we've talked a lot about like the sort of
00:31like the six safeties in that room who were probably the best bets to make the team and
00:36it felt like he was the one that was starting to play more with like the third team in practice
00:40at
00:40times um than the other so uh in that regard it's not surprising i think it's uh it is surprising
00:47to a degree in that how often last season when he was hurt with a leg injury that they kept
00:53referencing how much the how much he helped the communication in the secondary last year i'm
00:58meaning you know there was yeah i mean it wasn't the same without him and so uh you know they
01:06bring
01:06in nick cross who you know plays somewhat of the same spot and obviously they have some other guys
01:12and it's a little surprising that it ended up this way to a degree but you know somebody had to
01:17go and
01:18it certainly looked like he was going to be the one over the last week or so that that was
01:21going to be
01:21the odd man out when you watch him did you read some body language that kind of says something
01:27was happening um i don't know if i read body language per se i think for me like a couple
01:35weeks ago and i and i wrote about this but like you know i'm listening to dan quinn respond to
01:40you
01:40know talk about players and he didn't seem like overly enthusiastic about um kwan martin and and will
01:47harris at times not to say it was like negative but it just i don't know the way he would
01:51talk about
01:51i'd say jeremy reeves was a much a lot more gushing that way than than this way so i was
01:57looking at these two guys thinking okay is it possible you know only one of them is going to
02:00make the team kwan martin is the more athletic of the of the group of the two he's younger uh
02:05you
02:05know there's more upside there but also he was the one that was benched last year right at the end
02:09of last year so but over the last week or two and you know obviously he had interceptions in each
02:15of
02:15these first two games but you know just felt like there was more again i don't know if this is
02:20a
02:20body language thing but just maybe some more activity watching kwan martin than than harris so
02:25again i it's only surprising based on how they talked about harris last year not so much what's
02:31been going on lately um yeah the the it's crazy because the number thing the guys wear duplicates in
02:40the nfl but when you saw steph diggs wear three in detroit and harris was on the roster as three
02:46it didn't bode well and you don't want to read too much into stuff like that but generally the
02:50guys that have to wear duplicate numbers are like undrafted rookies and stuff not established veterans
02:55in their position um moving on ben i where are you at on the injuries dude because there's a lot
03:03of
03:03them but it's also august 25th i'm taking the i've taken the impression that it's um
03:13the the training staff is just being overly conservative with recovery um periods and
03:20timelines that you know maybe after what happened last year this was a way to sort of respond to
03:25boy they had a lot of injuries and um maybe they think this is a way to go now obviously
03:30they don't
03:30have to tell us to this point anything about the injuries what you know what their player had them
03:36let alone what it is and how long they're going to be out for so we do we were in
03:39a dark a bit on
03:41some of these things that you know we talk about like away and chase on you know it's a little
03:45scary
03:46that these two guys they were you know huge uh components of the offseason you know signing
03:52players to get younger faster coming off the edge that these two guys have been out now for a week
03:56and
03:57not going to play this week and you're like okay are we bracing for something significant but at the
04:02moment i'm like i said i'm kind of going with that they're just being overly conservative quinn has
04:07hinted as much but you would like to see some guys start coming back a little bit tim settle did
04:11come
04:11back yesterday but that's kind of the one guy of the dozen or so that missed the um the lions
04:17game
04:17are going to be out this week as well yeah man what do you make of the center position specifically
04:23oh man you know jp i don't really like horror movies um i don't like i don't i'm like i
04:30don't
04:30like going where you know where it's like scary and and uh and you know you get uh you jump
04:36out of
04:37your seat kind of deal that's kind of where it feels like this thing's going because you know
04:42we all anticipate okay don't you know like the bad guys that you're the boogeyman's not behind that
04:48door is it and then that door opened up against detroit the first two plays and it's a jailbreak
04:53basically on the quarterback and it's not just the center but obviously you know that that's a huge
04:59component of what's happening you know nick allegretti not being able to play right now is obviously
05:04uh frustrating but injuries happen you know whether it's in the training camp or whether it's in week
05:09two week eight whatever guys misplays linemen you know they certainly take a pounding so it's not
05:16like this couldn't happen at some other point and the fact that right now it's been you know
05:21however many months six months or so since they let go of tyler biotish and i'm not one of those
05:27people that's going oh that was this incredibly stupid move okay fine you wanted to move on so
05:31be it but then what's the replacement plan i think back to last year actually this is at a different
05:35position where they let the ambi brown or jami brown left in free agency cool he went to
05:41jacksonville signed a good deal and then the whole year we just people spent oh they should have let
05:46him go and i was like well no it was okay to let him go it was not okay to
05:50not replace his skill set
05:51and they didn't have that speed on there right so same thing here it's like okay it's cool if you
05:55let biotish go you want to go with allegretti cool but then like what like where was the competition
06:01that you were claiming there was where is the viable backup to fill in if needed and that's been
06:06you know an obvious uh missing uh component all this time they did draft matt guldman in the sixth
06:14round but you know six rounders generally it's not going to be a guy you're going to plug and play
06:18so um it's been an obvious issue for a long time and here we are now at the end of
06:24training camp
06:24basically and it is still an issue so they're going to scour the waiver wire i am sure come sunday
06:29night
06:30and hopefully they can find some help because right now it feels like they do need some are there any
06:34other positions that you think injuries may affect a person may either making a team or not
06:43uh well i'm i am sort of curious like what's going on with jeremy mcnichols at running back you know
06:48we were told by dan quinn about a week or so that he could miss a few weeks now uh
06:52you know mcnichols
06:53has obviously been on the team last couple years he's been a valuable uh guy they have in reserve who
06:58can handle a lot of different spots but every year it's always the same question is there going to be
07:02room for him on the roster well same thing here to a degree uh but you've got bill who's got
07:08his own
07:10injury at the moment i've heard it's not it's a groin that it's not that big of a deal but
07:14okay
07:15rashad white's been out for a bit he's been back the last couple days doing some individual drills
07:20um and mcnichols that's like you said to your top three guys who are limited or out and then
07:25you've got katron allen as well but like you know are they going to keep four running backs if
07:30mcnichols is going to be out uh for at least you know week one or so does that change their
07:35plans
07:35as they put them on ir with a chance to return so i think that's a spot where you know
07:40is it three or
07:40is it four who is it um that you know again i'm assuming bill is not a big deal but
07:45you know until
07:46they come back we have to see so i think that's a spot where injuries could definitely have an impact
07:51talking with ben standing here on the rude guest hotline if it ain't rude it ain't right you can of
07:57course give benny a follow at ben standing check out the last man standing sub stack you can hear
08:03him on 106.7 the fan and 980 kind of all the time doing overtime filling shows um i don't
08:09know that
08:12over the last couple days last week or so we would have said will harris was a surprise cut
08:17but i think like in february you would have said he was a surprise cut are there any other guys
08:23you
08:23think whose roster spot might be a little more bubblicious come sunday than maybe people are
08:29expecting yeah i mean even just like the start of training camp you know like i said it's just the
08:35way they talked about will harris so much last year with his and dan quinn specifically dan quinn all the
08:41time this came up yeah for sure so that that's the part that was surprising even though we could see
08:46that there might be six guys for five spots but okay uh or other guys i mean you know the
08:52receiver
08:52room is just really interesting you know because they're again i don't know how many of them keep
08:57six or they keep seven because they keep somehow uh at least for a week uh yeah and then you
09:03have
09:04uh you know like a guy like a van jefferson who wasn't here but like he's had a really good
09:09camp i
09:10think does that possibly jaden bradley uh the udfa you know i know this guy every year there's a guy
09:15like a bradley who's like wow look at this guy then kind of fizzled out but okay they've done enough
09:21to be
09:21like well do we have to consider is there a world where a luke mccaffrey um isn't back is it
09:28possible
09:28trailing burke somehow it doesn't make i don't think that's realistic but i think you know you
09:33got to look at all the angles so i think there could be possibly some surprise at receiver just
09:38because there are a lot of um a lot of options uh beyond that you know harris was easily the
09:46biggest
09:46one you know i think the tight end room is kind of solidified right now i don't know you got
09:52some
09:52injuries in there too i think oh sure yeah i mean yes you're right i mean ben said it today
09:59uh you
10:00know he left the game early didn't practice yesterday and then today dan quinn says um he's
10:05got an oblique issue i uh again without knowing the scenario is it possible he doesn't make doesn't
10:12start the season on the active roster maybe but assuming he's healthy but yeah i think they've got
10:17four jackoff being that being that last guy um for for sure and i guess also just the offensive line
10:24backups i mean for me other than andrew wiley i don't know that there's a backup right now that
10:29they have that makes me feel uh warm and fuzzy about the situation so you know you look at a
10:34guy
10:34like trent scott i think trent scott is viable if he's like the ninth guy on that room meaning
10:41you know he can come in for a little bit if in a pinch and go in but if you
10:44have to play him for
10:45a game or two i think that's where it starts to get a little curious i know he was a
10:50little bit slow
10:50in the last game at one point getting out to a block uh on a screen pass and is that
10:55a sign of
10:56you know enough slippage that maybe they have to move on the problem is who are they bringing in i
11:02think that's you know the issue that they're they're all line depth it's not just center i think
11:06it's across the board other than wiley is very questionable so you know it's possible that
11:10leads to a surprise or maybe that's a surprise but a guy like scott who's been around for a bit
11:15uh you know possibly he's on the wrong side of the bubble depending on what what shakes out here
11:22um i'm they're gonna break camp with tunsell on the roster right and then put them to
11:28ir where you can return i wonder if they break camp with only like eight offensive linemen and then
11:36they're gonna add once roster cuts come down i i i think this roster especially on the offensive line
11:43what happens sunday night by six o'clock versus what it'll look like the following wednesday the
11:50actual first day of week one is going to be dramatically different does that does that read to you
11:57yeah i mean the i've done two 53 player projections in each one i've said nine offensive linemen stay and
12:06i've left one spot open because i don't know who it is that i don't know if that player is
12:10on the
12:10roster now it could be right they may just to say keep eight knowing that they're gonna pick up
12:15somebody off off of waivers or or you know what have you or they could just bring this bring somebody
12:22they just released back but yeah again i think i like i'll assume that matt gulden makes the team just
12:28based on being a draft pick and this is a this actually week is a pretty good opportunity for him
12:32to at least solidify that he could be the backup center or somebody they would feel at least
12:37somewhat comfortable with using if they had to but yeah i mean you can look at the the other guys
12:43on
12:43the group and no disrespect but it's hard to say that you definitely have to keep almost any of them
12:49and yeah i mean there could very well be situations you know we remember a couple years ago when you
12:53know
12:54the receiver room looked unfinished and then they were fortunate that noah brown was placed on
13:00waivers they brought him in and then immediately you know he solidified that room until unfortunately
13:05he got hurt so maybe they get lucky that something like that happens on the line i will note that
13:10most
13:11teams around the league have offensive line problems and don't exactly give away guys who were viable but
13:16you know things happen and you know eye of the beholder type stuff when you look at the defensive backs
13:21how do you think that pan out because there seemed to be competition galore that safety position
13:28well i mean i think i think that part's probably you know finalized now to a degree i mean bar
13:34injury
13:35i mean i think that i would say nick cross jeremy reeves look like they're the starters based on
13:40everything we've seen so far in terms of usage and um you know and then you've got kwan martin
13:46um tyler owens and uh percy butler the last two particular are really strong on special teams that's
13:54where they're going to come in so i feel like kwan martin to me like kwan martin will harris are
13:58sort
13:58of the battle so unless there's like some trade somehow uh or you know i i don't know if i
14:03see
14:03any of those other guys getting released i think the question in the secondary for me is what are
14:09you doing a cornerback trey ambos has not played basically all training camp except for you know like
14:13one day uh i didn't think they would keep a ton of corners because it's not it's a position's a
14:19little bit devalued in this durante jones attack that that stays in sort of a base look for a lot
14:26of the time but after the first you know three guys then what like if they must die you probably
14:32have to keep at least you know antonio hamilton or fabian moreau something like that maybe there's
14:37room to keep both um but it's just a tenth defensive back to me it's like who is the fifth
14:42corner
14:42it's one of those two guys possibly maybe a sleeper like a fred davis who i think is impressed
14:48as a udfa but yeah i think that corner spot to me is where more questions than at safety i
14:54can't i'd
14:54be stunned if any of the current safeties are released uh you know of the top guys traded or
15:00something you know sure maybe but the release i'd be surprised about that um ben last question for me
15:05we we opened the show talking about the injuries and then we took calls on a scale of one to
15:11ten how
15:11concerned were people with the injuries in washington and the replies were all over the place we had one
15:16dude was a nine out of ten we had another dude who said he was absolute zero like the temperature
15:22um where are you scale of one to ten how concerning are these injuries for the commanders
15:29i'm trying to stay level i'm trying to in you know not read between the lines too too much i
15:37mean
15:37obviously you got to read you got to listen to what dan quinn says and try to figure out what
15:41it's going on but the injuries are such a weird bit it's something else a lot of that's even out
15:45of
15:45his domain right it's the training staff to sort of determine whether guys are going to be able to
15:50go so i'm generally leaning towards the idea that they're being conservative now that said when nick
15:56allegretti came back and he spoke to us the day he came back he spoke as a guy who felt
16:01that he was
16:01being treated a bit too conservatively he wanted to come back and then the next day he gets hurt we
16:07haven't seen him since so uh you know it it's hard to get a read when we just have no
16:12idea on the
16:13medicals how significant somebody's injury is or isn't i'm like i said i'm not overly concerned at
16:18the moment but yeah it would be cool to get any kind of positive update particularly guys like oway
16:23and chase on so so you know after all this time of thinking wow look how this defense could be
16:29with
16:29these guys and now is our world they don't play week one i'd like to think that's not the world
16:35we're
16:35in but i'm going to stay neutral until until i hear otherwise on the injury front yeah man all right
16:41benny we appreciate your time uh thanks guys always appreciate it all right ben standing give
16:47him a follow at ben standing check out the last man standing sub stack
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