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Liam Griffin from The Washington Times joins The Kevin Sheehan Show to analyze Washington's growing injury list, key roster bubble battles, and Will Harris' release. He also projects the Commanders' 53-man wide receiver and linebacker groups while highlighting rookie edge rusher Joshua Josephs as a potential breakout player.
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00:01Liam Griffin does a really good job covering sports and covering our Washington football team for the Washington Times.
00:08You can follow Liam on X at by Liam Griffin.
00:14Dan Quinn did speak today. We'll have some of that sound for you coming up.
00:19But I want to go back to Saturday, Liam.
00:21Do you think that there was value extracted from three offensive snaps for the starters and two defensive snaps for,
00:33you know, the majority of the starters on defense?
00:38I think ideally they would have loved to get more snaps out of both of those units just so you
00:43have a little bit more foundation to work with.
00:47But at the end of the day, I think they would tell you that three snaps is better than nothing
00:52for that offense.
00:53Having Jay Daniels out in the position where he can get hit, even if he doesn't have any pass completions
00:58and not able to string a drive together,
01:00you're able to at least say, all right, when he comes in week one, the idea that someone else is
01:05coming at him full speed, trying to hit him,
01:07trying to knock the ball out of his hands is not going to be a completely foreign feeling that he
01:11hasn't experienced in.
01:13You know, you got to remember he didn't finish the season.
01:14So you're looking at nine, ten months and then same kind of thing with the defense, having them receive that
01:21opportunity to gel a little bit.
01:24They're going to get more of that in the joint practice.
01:26But just to be in a game environment full speed.
01:29Yeah, you'd like those both of those series to go on for a little bit longer so you can see
01:33what you have.
01:34But I think there is at least a little bit of value there.
01:37That's what they would say.
01:39So you agree with that, because I think the biggest issue that I have is that the game on Saturday
01:46is 22 days before the regular season opener,
01:51which may be the next time those guys get an opportunity to sort of feel a real game environment.
01:58Like if it was a week away, I could see maybe some value there over three weeks away.
02:04I think it's a bit of a stretch, but I'll ask you, you kind of describe what you think they
02:09would say.
02:10Would you agree with that?
02:14I'm of two minds.
02:15I fall somewhere in between where you are and where the team is.
02:18If, you know, if tomorrow morning I get hired as the new coach of the Washington Commanders, maybe I want
02:23it on a snap count and say, all right, instead of one drive, let's do 10, 12 snaps.
02:28And, you know, finish out a drive from there.
02:31But I don't think it is completely without value.
02:35But, yeah, I think you need a little bit more work.
02:37And I definitely understand the frustration from people who say, how much can you draw?
02:42But I think this team is also going to err on the side of caution a bit, given how beaten
02:49up they're getting through, you know, as training camp comes to an end here in Ashburn.
02:53All right.
02:54We'll get to some of the concern areas that weren't necessarily concern areas a few weeks ago in a moment.
03:00But just tell me real quickly, what was your reaction to Will Harris being released today?
03:06I was not surprised that he was going to be released.
03:09The writing was kind of on the wall for that.
03:11We've seen Kwon Martin really start to rise up the depth chart and kind of play to his potential a
03:16little bit more.
03:17He has a little bit more speed, a little bit more agility than Will Harris had.
03:22I was surprised to see it happen today and the fact that they brought in other safeties.
03:27So clearly they still need the bodies.
03:29But it does make sense when you take a second and think about it because this is going to give
03:33him an opportunity to go find another team to potentially stick time before the season starts.
03:40But it has been throughout camp.
03:42This is Nick Cross is in every down player.
03:44Jeremy Reeves is there, too.
03:45And everyone else has just been fighting to be the third safety in some of Durante Jones's versatile, you know,
03:53scheme, almost agnostic, like deploying players across the field.
03:58There's three safeties on the field a lot.
04:00And more and more, it has been Kwon Martin more than Will Harris throughout camp.
04:03Let's talk about, you know, the players that have been banged up that are missing time currently and confidence level
04:11in them being ready for the opener.
04:14I'm going to start with a guy that just sort of hit the injury report here over the weekend.
04:19What's the deal with Krosky Merritt?
04:23Yeah, so we saw him come up a little tender during one of the last plays of practice last week
04:32in the final session before training camp.
04:35You'll notice, I know you said you were going to play some of that Dan Quinn audio, but he's pretty
04:39good about, for the most part, being very open about injuries and where a guy stands.
04:44So Ben Sennett, he'll say that guy's got an oblique.
04:46We're not too concerned.
04:47Bill got the very broad lower body definition, which could mean just about anything.
04:53I'm not one to speculate.
04:54Our colleague Ben Standig has reported that it could be a groin.
04:58It looks like something that would be soft tissue down there, you know, groin-y, you know, somewhere in that
05:05kind of range.
05:07But the concern level doesn't seem super high.
05:09He was out on the practice field today.
05:11He walked down, you know, to the field with no major problems at hide in the media.
05:15They don't seem particularly concerned about his week one availability.
05:18But, again, I don't think you're going to see him get hit much between now and the opener.
05:23What about week one availability for Allegretti, Amos, and Owe?
05:31Yeah, I would feel more confident about Allegretti than those other two.
05:36And that's something that has changed for me over the past, let's see, it's 1145, over the past four hours.
05:41Because the media asked Dan Quinn this morning, like, can you confirm that these guys are going to be there
05:48week one for Owe and Amos?
05:50They're going to be on the field week one, be part of your defensive starters.
05:53And he was not able to do that with any kind of certainty.
05:57So, Allegretti, I think, because he has been back before.
06:00Hold on, I want to make sure I heard what you just said.
06:03Because I've not, I've been on the air, and so I've not heard any of the Quinn sound from today.
06:09But you're saying that with respect to Owe and Amos, that Quinn could not confirm and or even suggest any
06:17sort of level of comfort that those guys would be ready for week one?
06:22Yeah, that's correct.
06:24I think the question was about him, you know, what rate your confidence level?
06:28And he would not rate the confidence level.
06:30So, I guess that is not a 10 totally confident for those two guys in particular.
06:37But, Allegretti, you kind of feel a little bit better about it.
06:40I mean, we do have another, you know, at this point, what, we've got for 12 days until the opener
06:45in Philly.
06:47What about, because I've seen this name pop up here recently.
06:53Oh, I forgot to ask you about Chason.
06:55What about Chason?
06:57Yeah, he's another guy who has been working along the side a bunch.
07:01Which, again, it just feels like they're being overly cautious, and they're using it as an opportunity to get guys
07:07like Javante Jean-Baptiste and Joshua Joseph, more reps with the first-team defense on the edge.
07:12But I think he's in a similar spot to where Owe is, where we haven't received a firm update.
07:17And so I think it will depend on how his recovery goes over the next few weeks.
07:21And then what about Ben Sinnott?
07:23I mean, you know, he's got some sort of injury as well, and that might be an extended time, right?
07:32Yeah.
07:33So Ben Sinnott, they told us that it was an oblique this morning, suffered over the weekend, and that he
07:39will miss at least this week of practice.
07:40So no joint practice for Ben Sinnott, no preseason game.
07:44I didn't see him out here today, and they did not specify the extent of that injury.
07:50But given that we didn't hear he's having surgery on an oblique or anything of that nature, I would not
07:56expect that to be a long-term situation.
07:59But I expect we'll get a more firm update from Dan Quinn on that next week.
08:04We're talking to Liam Griffin from The Washington Times.
08:08I would assume you believe tomorrow is the day for the starters and that none of those people will see
08:14the field Friday night at M&T Bank, right?
08:18Absolutely.
08:19I mean, it kind of depends on how you're defining starters at some of these positions where there's still some
08:23battles.
08:24But like Jaden Daniels, Terry McClure, and Stephon Diggs, those guys, I would be shocked if they see any kind
08:30of action at M&T Bank Stadium.
08:32And so this joint practice tomorrow is going to be big for them as that final tune-up before the
08:37regular season starts to kick into high gear.
08:40All right.
08:41I think that prior to the Tunsil injury and prior to camp beginning where Allegretti started to get hurt,
08:46we did not identify necessarily the offensive line as an area for major concern.
08:53But obviously things have changed.
08:55What do you think they will do between now and opening day with respect to roster spots, center, and even
09:02potentially another tackle or guard?
09:06How busy will they be trying to get themselves into a different position than they're in right now prior to
09:12Philadelphia on the 13th?
09:15I think they're going to be extremely busy.
09:17I would think that Adam Peters and his staff are already hard at work trying to identify guys who might
09:22be the 9th or 10th offensive lineman on different rosters around the league
09:26because if you're the 9th or 10th guy over there, you have a good shot at making the roster over
09:31here.
09:32As far as bringing in guys like Matt Golbin has been pretty solid throughout camp.
09:38He's got some versatility on the interior of the line.
09:41The Julian Good-Jones experiment, I feel like, is nearing its end and has not been an overwhelming success.
09:48So in my 53-man roster projection right now, I do not have Julian Good-Jones on it, but I
09:54do have a TBD slot for whoever they're able to bring in.
09:57And so I would be expecting more workouts to hit the transaction wire for them, working out more offensive linemen.
10:05And then just seeing what they can make happen, whether that's a guy like Togiai, who's an undrafted rookie who
10:11is on this roster,
10:12who has played a lot during preseason, an athletic freak.
10:15There's a chance maybe he can make a surge, but they need something to happen.
10:20They need a change.
10:21They need more depth because that offensive line has just been ravaged.
10:24And they're one other injury away from a kind of shaky offensive line looking really tough.
10:31So, for example, Brandon Coleman was working individually today.
10:33He got a little bit of a rest day before a joint practice that's padded tomorrow.
10:38And so you see Trent Scott out there a lot.
10:40And I don't think you feel great if your offensive line is Trent Scott, Chris Paul, Matt Goulpin, or Julian
10:46Good-Jones, potentially,
10:48and then Cosby and Connerly on the other side.
10:50Yeah, not exactly what we thought it would be.
10:51All of a sudden, the left side of that line gets very shaky.
10:53Yeah, it gets very shaky very quick.
10:56And so depth on that offensive line can be so huge.
10:59This new scheme is being implemented by David Blau.
11:02It can help hide some of your deficiencies in the offensive line a bit.
11:05You're not having those true drop-back pass sets that you might have had under Cliff Kingsbury.
11:11But you still need them to do a lot of work with the zone running scheme.
11:14And so I would expect them to be making a lot of calls, hosting a lot of workouts over the
11:19next couple weeks.
11:20Yeah, part of me is just kind of projecting what I'm going to see early in the Philadelphia game offensively.
11:27And they're clearly, I would think, based on what they have right now.
11:31And the scheme we expect to see employed to begin with, some 12 and 13 personnel.
11:38And then will the actual defensive front move towards the back part of the defense?
11:48Or will it be in the backfield?
11:50Because if they can't run the football, then you're talking about, well, you've got to have a bunch of quick
11:55game.
11:55You've got to put some of that RPO that Cliff had, a high level of it, into the offense to
12:02create it.
12:03Like you said, you can do a lot of things scheme-wise, and I bet Blau's sharp enough to come
12:08up with the ways that you can mask some of those issues.
12:10And we won't know for sure, but, you know, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and company with Cooper DeGene and Quinion
12:18Mitchell is not exactly –
12:20well, I guess in some ways it's the best way to start because you'll really know where you are.
12:25All right, I want to talk about a couple of these position groups that they're going to have to cut
12:31down by Sunday at 6 o'clock.
12:34And what right now is the position unit that you think will be the most challenging for them to cut
12:41down to the right number on?
12:45Sorry, cut out there for a second.
12:46What group is the most challenging for them to cut down to?
12:47What's going to be the most difficult position unit for cuts for them?
12:53It's a toss-up for me.
12:55I'll give you one on offense and one on defense between wide receiver and linebacker because you've got an array
13:01of players there who,
13:03if this team had a little bit less depth of those positions, if they hadn't made some acquisitions throughout the
13:08offseason,
13:09you might say that Jordan McGee, for example, at linebacker is a guy who might be playing some, you know,
13:14critical snaps for you.
13:15That doesn't really seem to be the case this year, but between Jordan McGee, Ale Cahoe, and Kane Medrano at
13:21linebacker,
13:22I'm not sure that they're going to have the space for all three of those guys on the 53-man
13:27roster, the game-day roster.
13:28And so it's going to come down to things like special teams for them.
13:31Everyone's favorite, most exciting thing to talk about before the season is who's going to be on your coverage unit.
13:36The givens are Lou Vu, Stiles, and Chennault, right?
13:39Yes.
13:40Yeah.
13:40How many do they keep there?
13:42Is that a position where you keep four or five?
13:45I see that as a position where they keep five, especially because they're running pretty deep at safety.
13:50So I think Percy Butler, Tyler Owens are going to be on this roster as kind of special team stalwarts
13:54now that Jeremy Reeves has moved up the defensive depth chart.
13:58So I think that kind of takes a roster spot away from the linebackers.
14:02And so I think you keep two out of three.
14:05Medrano.
14:06Cahoe, McGee, and Medrano.
14:08Two out of those three.
14:09So who gets left out, in your opinion?
14:12For me, I mean, it's a real toss-up, I think, because Medrano is a little bit faster.
14:18He's really got great athleticism.
14:19He can flash a bit more on special teams.
14:22But Cahoe has been wearing the green dot with some of the backup defensive units.
14:26I think they really like what they have in him.
14:28But as of right now, I think that McGee is on the roster, Cahoe is on the roster, Medrano is
14:34on the practice squad.
14:35And at some point, we'll end up being an elevation to the game day roster at some point.
14:38But that's where I have it right now.
14:40All right.
14:40Wide receiver.
14:41I think everybody understands that this is going to be not an easy one.
14:47And it's not because you've got elite-level receivers everywhere, but that you have a lot of players, and you've
14:53improved the depth of that position from last year.
14:57I'll start with this.
14:58How many receivers get kept?
15:00Is it seven or eight?
15:02And then I want to hear the Liam Griffin list of players that make it and players that don't.
15:10Okay.
15:10So right now, I think it's going to be seven.
15:13I think some guys right at the bottom of that have made it really difficult.
15:17So as of right now, I'm going to run out of fingers because I'm holding a phone in one hand.
15:21We'll see if I get his number right.
15:23So we've got Terry, Stephon Diggs, Luke McCaffrey, Jalen Lane, and then I have Traylon Burks, Deami Brown, and Antonio
15:35Williams as the first offensive draft pick they had.
15:38I think that puts me at seven with Deami and Traylon Burks being the kind of bottom of the depth
15:44chart guys that have just kind of impressed me throughout camp.
15:48And I think that the coaching staff would feel a similar way.
15:51Traylon Burks just seems to make every red zone play imaginable.
15:55He has a body type that is not really present throughout the rest of that position group.
16:01And so he's able to high point the ball.
16:03He's got great ball skills.
16:04Obviously, he made a catch of the year contender last season.
16:08And look, he's not going to be a pro bowl caliber returner, but he's someone that has done that work
16:14during training camp.
16:15And so in a pinch, if you have injuries to guys like Jalen Lane and Luke McCaffrey, like you did
16:20last year, they feel pretty comfortable putting Traylon Burks there.
16:23And then Deami Brown is a Dan Quinn favorite.
16:26He's got great speed, great athleticism.
16:28That year in Jacksonville, where he ended up being a healthy scratch for a few games, I think has really
16:33inspired him to try to really put his nose to the grindstone a little bit more.
16:37He's doing more special teams work.
16:39He seems ready to take on that kind of, you know, that part of the depth chart as wide receiver
16:46six or seven role.
16:47So that's the seven that I've got right now with Van Jefferson is probably the most notable cut there as
16:53a guy who's like, he's a really fluid route runner.
16:55He's got great skills, but just because of, you know, bringing in Stephon Diggs, you don't have the space for
16:59him.
17:00And then Jaden Bradley, the rookie, again, talking about big body receivers.
17:05He's made tons of splash plays throughout camp and the preseason games, but just don't have the space.
17:11I think he might be number one on their practice squad list as a guy.
17:15They want to try to room into something going forward.
17:18Yeah.
17:19Bradley Jefferson obviously would be the two that would be left out if you go with seven.
17:26If they went with eight, who do you think the eighth would be, Bradley or Jefferson?
17:33I think it would be Bradley just because I think having that young guy, having that body type with Jefferson,
17:40you're kind of duplicating skill sets a little bit.
17:42They do. He does a little bit of what Stephon Diggs does and what honestly, I think you're going to
17:47see Antonio Williams do.
17:48They joked at draft time, like they're calling Antonio Williams, like smooth operator because of how fluid he is in
17:53his route running.
17:54And he's still getting the hang of that at an NFL level.
17:57But I think, you know, if you lose Stephon Diggs, you're comfortable enough, maybe elevating Jalen Lane, who's route running.
18:03They started to compliment and Antonio Williams into that role.
18:06And so I think you give a shot to the undrafted rookie and say, hey, Jaden Bradley, like go make
18:11some special teams plays.
18:12Go go be a big body and we'll see what you got.
18:15Last question.
18:16Give me a player that is you've been out there and you've covered this since training camp began that you
18:25think is going to make a much bigger contribution to the 2026 season than most people think.
18:31So it's not a starter, probably it could be could be sort of a fringe starter, but somebody that you
18:37have a hunch or maybe that you think the team has been laying low on that's going to end up
18:43being a much bigger contributor than most people think.
18:47I think that there's a chance that Joshua Joseph makes Caleb on chase on less relevant on this roster as
18:55the season goes on.
18:56He has been fantastic throughout training camp.
18:59Everything that you saw as a potential positive with his speed, his strength, he's got these enormous arms to give
19:05him great leverage.
19:06You've seen all of that throughout camp.
19:08He's even comfortable dropping into coverage a little bit, which isn't something I was fully prepared for.
19:12But in this Durante Jones system, it's something that he's going to have to do.
19:17And with Doran's arm strong out for week one, these kind of lingering injuries to away and chase on, I
19:23think there's a chance that he, you know, we're talking at Halloween that he leaves this team in sacks.
19:28And there's a chance he might not relinquish that role if he's able to really hit the ground running.
19:33And I think he hasn't been talked about much as a later pick.
19:36You would expect that.
19:37But I think you're going to see more and more people start to take notice of him as this season
19:42gets into gets into the colder months.
19:44Good job, Liam.
19:46Appreciate it, as always.
19:48No problem.
19:49Thanks for having me.
19:49Yep.
19:50Liam Griffin from The Washington Times at by Liam Griffin on X.
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