00:00Brian, one I'd say particularly disappointing position group
00:05through four games is the tight ends.
00:07And you and I throughout camp talked about how many multiple tight end sets
00:12would be on the field, and I think we've seen that.
00:14We also talked about thinking we'd see a lot of play action.
00:17We haven't really seen that.
00:19I think that's a byproduct of the run game not really getting going.
00:22But I've said throughout that it's about positional productivity,
00:28not necessarily attaching 600 yards to Chig's name
00:32or 300 to Senate's name or any of that, right?
00:35So I looked this up yesterday, and I found this pretty shocking.
00:40There are eight tight ends across the NFL,
00:42so that's one-third of NFL tight ends that have gone over 200 receiving yards
00:47through four games.
00:48And some of them are the usual names, Kelsey, Kittle, McBride.
00:52You also have Dalton Schultz of the Texans, Jawan Johnson of the Saints.
00:58Brock Bowers, certainly, and he's missed some time.
01:00Sam Laporte is a player that people were high on.
01:03Dalton Kincaid.
01:04You have eight tight ends across the league that are over 200 yards.
01:08Do you know what the positional productivity for Washington is?
01:11Probably less than 200.
01:13Yo, way less.
01:14Yeah.
01:14And I think the thing of this is we looked at the fact of them having those
01:19multiple tight end roles, but, like, a lot of those tight ends you're naming,
01:24those guys fit into that passing game legitimately.
01:29Chig is the only one I think fits into our passing game.
01:32Then he got hurt, and then I don't think anybody else steps up and fits into it.
01:38Everybody wants it to be Senate, but I think Yankoff has shown he could be better.
01:42You know, and then we got Bates, who Bates is basically a blocker.
01:50Through four games, the commanders, all four of these tight ends,
01:54have combined for 10 catches for 65 yards.
01:57Wow.
01:58That's, like, shockingly low production.
02:00That is.
02:00And I don't know, my working theory early is Bates, you're right,
02:12is primarily a blocker, right?
02:13But I think there's a reason that Bates continues to get looks is he will kind
02:20of run routes for you in a more traditional manner.
02:24I think Chig is at the top of the list, but I even think Senate and even Yankoff,
02:29I think those guys are more just incredible athletes playing tight end
02:35than necessarily tight ends.
02:37You don't see kind of crisp routes coming from these tight ends,
02:42and maybe that means Blau needs to evolve to more positions where they can use
02:47that athleticism to get open, or they have to figure out, like, all right,
02:51I got to be a little more precise in this.
02:52If you spent the money you spent for Chig, you need to be drawing up some stuff
02:57for him, not telling him, hey, I need you to do this.
03:01I need you to do what these other people are doing.
03:03No, no, no.
03:04You felt he was important enough to get paid the money he paid.
03:07He was paid.
03:08You got to look at his athleticism and look at his film and draw up stuff for him
03:12because he's shown already in this league he has advantage over guys.
03:16So, if you want him to just run the traditional stuff,
03:19that is not going to get the best out of him.
03:21Now, him missing two games is a factor.
03:22Yeah, that's a huge factor.
03:24And he basically, he's almost missed, like, two and a half games
03:27because he went down early.
03:28Like, Chig signed a three-year, $27 million deal.
03:32The reality is that's probably a two-year, $18 million deal.
03:36He's making about nine a year.
03:37That's the 19th highest-paid tight end in football.
03:40So, it's not outrageous money, but it's good money.
03:43And I think, I don't know, I'm not here to say who's the bigger disappointment
03:50because you signed Chig to real money.
03:52You also drafted Ben Senn in the second round.
03:55Like, the 2024 second-round draft of Newton, who's hurt
04:00and hasn't been all that productive when healthy.
04:02Newton's probably out for the year, I would guess.
04:05Sammerstil, who now is effectively benched.
04:07And Sennett, I mean, that is three high-value picks
04:10that you're getting no productivity from.
04:12Couple that with Chig Aconqua, who you brought in.
04:15Now, when they signed him, was before they had drafted Williams,
04:19before they had signed Diggs.
04:21And those guys do take up some of that soft zone space.
04:26But you cannot continue to have this hole of that position.
04:32I mean, I can pull the snap counts.
04:34I'm curious what the tight end snap counts account for the entire offense.
04:39Because they're getting a lot of opportunity.
04:43They're on the field a lot.
04:44They're on the field a lot.
04:45Maybe that's not opportunity.
04:46This is what I think.
04:48Every year, a coach goes into a situation with a mindset, a game plan.
04:54But as the season starts, you have to adjust that sometimes.
04:59And he had mentioned the 11, 12, 13 personnel, things like that.
05:06But when you get Diggs and Williams, and you saw Williams early on show what he can do.
05:11Diggs, we know what he can do.
05:13Those guys work in the same space that the tight ends work in.
05:17Did they start calling more stuff for those two guys than they are for the tight ends?
05:23You see what I'm saying?
05:24Yeah.
05:24And when those things change, it could be like, well, the tight end is not.
05:28But the tight end at this point, just like we talk about Terry sometimes.
05:31When Terry doesn't have a big game, but Terry doesn't stop working.
05:34He keeps moving and he opens up spaces for other people.
05:38The tight ends still got to run their routes to clear it out for those other guys.
05:42Could it be that that has happened where Diggs and Williams have shown you so much
05:47to where we wanted to get the ball to the big guys?
05:51Those two little dudes right there, they work.
05:53That could be it too.
05:56I don't know what the answer is.
05:58That's what they get paid for.
05:59David Blouse said that going into the London game.
06:03He's like, yeah, you know, I'd love to know definitively who's going to be a quarterback.
06:06But I get paid to adapt to what happens.
06:09I don't know the answer at tight end, but there needs to be some adaptation.
06:14Because you need to present another viable alternative in the pass game.
06:21Listen, one or all of those guys have to have the mindset that I'm about to make them
06:26have to use me more and throw it to me more.
06:29I've always had that mindset where I can get on the field and run the offense.
06:33And I'm not going to loaf because I know it may not be coming to me.
06:38But I don't believe in just running wind sprints on the football field.
06:41I believe that if I'm running wind sprints, I need to get that little, you know,
06:46award every once in a while with me.
06:48The wind sprint is drawn for me to get the ball at the end, or I'm going to run a
06:51route,
06:52or you're going to give me a special route to get it to me so I can do something special.
06:55And I think those guys got to have that mindset, too, because you can get into a point where
06:59you get so used to just running and clearing it out for people, and they keep having success.
07:04Guess what they look at?
07:05Successful play.
07:06I remember once after a game in New York where McLaurin was really frustrated late in the lost season.
07:12He's like, well, I certainly got my cardio in.
07:14Because he was just running the whole game and didn't get any looks.
07:18I'm with you there.
07:19It was interesting when you talk about that mindset that one of these guys has to be like,
07:22I'm going to force them to throw me the ball.
07:24I'm just going to get open.
07:26We had dinner with – we had a really nice dinner Saturday night before the game.
07:31You and Monica, Ahmed and the crew, and Sean Springs joined us.
07:34And I remember just chatting with Sean, and I was like, dude, how would you defend a guy like JSN?
07:38He's like, no different than anybody else.
07:40I was like, what do you mean?
07:41He's like, I'm going to bleep him up.
07:43And I was like, what do you mean?
07:44He's like, my mindset isn't about the dude I'm playing.
07:46It's about my game, playing my game, and I know I can be better.
07:49Yeah, you got to rough him up a little bit.
07:51You know, make his game where he's not comfortable.
07:54But the great players are about asserting themselves and letting the chips fall.
07:59Yeah, there you go.
08:00And I think maybe that's what needs to happen.
08:02Maybe it's that simple at the tight end position.
08:03Yeah.
