00:00All right, I'm coming to you live from Starboard.
00:03The proprietor of the Starboard and half of Dewey Beach is our friend Steve Montgomery.
00:07Everybody knows him as Monty.
00:08Monty.
00:09He's a big Washington fan, and I talked with him for a few minutes.
00:12He's going to join us a little later in the program.
00:15And he asked me, and I was texting with Duber too, B, because I thought Duber might be here,
00:19but he's out of town for a bar mitzvah or something.
00:22And they're all like, is this set?
00:24Why you got to be at a bar mitzvah, JP?
00:25I'm just joking.
00:26He told me he's at his cousin's bar mitzvah.
00:28He's at his cousin's bar mitzvah in New Orleans.
00:30Mazel tov to the young man.
00:32He get bit down there, boy.
00:34But they both have been like, is this center thing as bad as it seems?
00:39And so I wanted to read this from Ben Solak, who's a smart analyst with ESPN.com.
00:45He did X-Factors all across the NFL.
00:47And from Washington, he identified Nick Allegretti.
00:51I'm reading now.
00:52One of the more surprising moves of the 2026 offseason was the commanders releasing starting center Tyler Biotish.
00:57He was older and approaching the end of his deal, sure, but they didn't get much cap relief from releasing
01:02him,
01:02and his play was not so deteriorated that he was unplayable.
01:06Even more surprising was the commander's lack of a plan to account for his release.
01:10They moved veteran interior swingman Allegretti to the pivot, drafted a six-round rookie, and called it a day.
01:15Allegretti has mostly been a backup since entering the league in 2019,
01:19and only 171 of his 2,432 career snaps have been at center.
01:24That's 7%, B.
01:26Now, the bulk of those 7% came last year for this team,
01:29so it's not like they didn't try him at center and see what they thought.
01:33I add that parenthetically.
01:35Stabbing the ball and getting the hand back and pass protection is one thing.
01:37In a new offense under offensive coordinator David Plough,
01:40the center is responsible for helping the quarterback set protections and point runs
01:44in what can be a complex and wordy operation.
01:47Allegretti needed time in this offense, but he missed most of camp because of a calf strain.
01:51He's back and ready to start week one, but is he ready to start week one?
01:55There will be lots of wrinkles for the commanders to iron out in their new offense,
01:58but procedural issues such as snap counts and clean exchanges can cripple an offense.
02:04Allegretti needs a smooth, rapid transition to center for the commanders to get the ball rolling
02:08on their offensive evolution this season.
02:10I want to add, I asked Dan Quinn last week, I don't even know, I guess earlier this week,
02:16hey man, I know you guys are confident in Allegretti, but he did miss almost all of training camp
02:22and all of the preseason.
02:23How big of a deal is that?
02:24How big of an impact is that?
02:26And Quinn, I thought, was relatively honest.
02:28He said, it's not ideal.
02:29It's not what we wanted, but it's not like Nick hasn't been here all year.
02:33He was here all spring.
02:34You and I both know, Brian, that he was working with Jaden last December.
02:39Like, this was, things were in the works, right?
02:43Yep.
02:44And so I ask you, and I'll ask callers the same question, 800-636-1067, 800-636-1067.
02:52Allegretti came out and said, the medical staff was super cautious.
02:55I wouldn't have minded being out there earlier.
02:57They said no.
02:59Allegretti got this full week of practice.
03:01Presumably he'll get next week's full week of practice.
03:04He was here all spring.
03:05He's been with Jaden in meetings.
03:07He's been there for the install of this Blau offense, but he did miss training camp.
03:12He did miss the preseason.
03:14The question, Solak asks, Allegretti's back and ready to start week one, but is he ready
03:21to start week one?
03:22B. Mitch, you lead us off.
03:24I'll say yes, he is, because I would ask the question, since he wants to ask that question,
03:29anybody on first team, are they ready to play?
03:33None of them played.
03:33And that's what I'm saying, so if you take off the blinders of what people want you to
03:38do and stop focusing on this little overly pushing the center thing, is anybody ready
03:43to play per se?
03:45So if they're ready to play, he's ready to play.
03:48That's the way I look at it.
03:50And I believe that him working with Jaden starting in December, all this offseason, they got their
03:57snap stuff together.
03:59I just, for me, I feel like the whole team, defense included, are going to have to work
04:06their way into being 100% ready to go.
04:09They're going to be ready to go whenever the game kicks off, but is any one of those guys
04:14100% in shape, are 100% ready to go?
04:18I doubt it very seriously.
04:19And probably the team they're playing against.
04:22I don't think they're going to be 100% either.
04:26So you got to grow into it anyway.
04:28So I just think that, you know, to look at him, like he missed so much, hell, the rest
04:34of the guys basically went through practice and they ain't playing no games.
04:39They didn't go to the ground.
04:40They didn't have full contact just yet.
04:42How would we know they're ready?
04:45It's a great question, B, because, like, Sam Cosby got three snaps in the preseason.
04:52Is he infinitely more ready than Allegretti is?
04:56Because Cosby came out and said, I'm not worried about it.
04:59You know what I mean?
05:00Yeah, see, the thing that for me, Jay, and we have talked years and years about football.
05:07And the one thing everyone says when it's a veteran player, they know how to get themselves
05:12ready.
05:13But since we want this to be, and I say we, because I, you know, I don't want to be
05:19pointing
05:20fingers.
05:20I'm going to put myself in it.
05:21We want this to be a bigger story because, you know, they got rid of Allegretti.
05:26I mean, I'll be honest.
05:27Be honest, he's hurt for the rest of the year now.
05:29So if he stayed here, he could be hurt for the rest of the year too.
05:31Then what we'll be saying.
05:32But I digress.
05:35Right now, this is a story that people want to push.
05:38So they stick to it.
05:40In essence, for the last 15, 20 years of me being on this radio, everybody always say
05:45veteran players don't really need it.
05:47They know how to get it done.
05:48The young guys need it.
05:50Now we got a veteran player who says, I'm ready.
05:52They were holding me back.
05:53And everybody just ignore what he said because I want to still push this narrative.
05:58Well, and B, you said something really interesting yesterday, how veterans being ready versus
06:02young guys being ready is really different for you.
06:05Yeah.
06:06How different was that for you in your career, year two, year three versus year nine, year
06:10ten?
06:11Year nine and ten, I knew exactly when I hit the point I was ready to go.
06:16Year one and two, I was still trying to figure it out.
06:19Hell, during the season, I'm like, man, am I going to be able to get through this damn season?
06:22Year one, I'm telling you, I hit week eight, week nine, and I was exhausted.
06:28I didn't know what the hell that hit me.
06:30But then later on in the career, I didn't have to start working as hard as I was.
06:38I was able to just gradually build it up, build it up, build it, get to a point.
06:43And I was able to take a step back and go on a vacation or do something like that because
06:48when you're young, you feel you got to always be in it every day.
06:52When you get older, you know those like Dan Quinn always uses the markers.
06:57You know what markers you need to hit as you get ready for the season.
07:01When you're young, you don't know that.
07:03You're just excited and trying to make sure you don't go up there and screw something up.
07:09It's funny because it's like what we just said to White Bryant.
07:12Like when you're 26, you think you have to go to every wedding, every bachelor party.
07:17And by the time you're 35, you're like, damn, I wish I saved some of that money to buy a
07:20house.
07:20You know what I mean?
07:22And Nick Allegretti is 30 years old.
07:25He's in year eight of his NFL season.
07:27He has played, here's the truth, he has played three fewer snaps than Terry McLaurin.
07:35Three fewer snaps than Josh Connerly.
07:37Three fewer snaps.
07:39I know Connerly played more than that.
07:41Last year?
07:42No, because Connerly played in the preseason more.
07:45So did Coleman.
07:46But like three fewer snaps than Sam Cosby.
07:49Three fewer snaps than Jaden Daniels.
07:51The one thing I want to be clear to point out is he did miss all of training camp.
07:56Those guys were going in training camp.
07:57So there is a body of work he missed.
07:59Yeah, he was going too.
08:00He was going too, though, on the side, but he was going.
08:04Not in pads, not like on the few days, especially during that period earlier in camp, kind of
08:09the first half of camp when they really were hitting.
08:11He wasn't.
08:12So there is, I mean, he has missed something.
08:14Let's not ignore that.
