You know, the one thing you can't argue with the commanders is they are definitely risk takers, aren't they? Taking a lot of risk this season. Nick Ashley, on the fan, you got two rookie coordinators, offensive and defense. Now, yeah, they've been around great offensive minds and great defensive minds and all of these things.
But they're still rookies. They still haven't been in that position before. Right. You're going with Nick Allegretti at center who hasn't been a full-time center.
I mean, barely seen him on the field, but that's a risk right there in itself. They went out and spent a lot of money in free agency, but it was spread out to a lot of different positions and even signed guys that are, you know, 24, 25 that you think can take that next step with you, but you've committed something to players that you see a higher ceiling with. That's a lower level of risk, but the risk is still there. And listen, we're going to in a year three with this whole regime, with everybody, from Jayden Daniels to the front office to ownership to the coach, you know, the head coach, not the coaching staff, the head coach.
There's a lot riding on this year. Now, I'm not one of those people that's going in like Dan Quins on the hot seat and this like, but if this team struggles early on and they're healthy, I mean, you'll hear that conversation. There's going to be a lot of factors to put it in. I think it's just it's tough to go into this and paint this blanket statement of just like Dan Quins on the hot seat.
Well, Izzy, like, yeah, let's. You have a I know you're not going to like this work, but hear me out. You have a built in excuse last year. I know people don't like the word excuse.
People is next man open football. But again, next man up didn't really exist last year. They had no more man's that were left to the world. Right.
Like, you have five wins season in part because you got a roster that was depleted of depth and didn't have enough talent and just wasn't what it was in 2024. Dan Quins has admitted that. Again, John Conroy, a great article for ESPN.com and Jeremy Reeves is quoted in there as well as they thought they'd had arrived and all that. And that was our worry.
That was my worry was that after the 2024 season, you win 12 games, you go to an NFC championship game. And it's like, here we are. We just had to get rid of Dan Snyder and everything's good. And then you lead into the next year and Dan Quins even said like he went back and looked at practices, OTAs, things like that.
It just wasn't as crisp. It wasn't the same. And they wanted to get back to that this year. The mindset they had before 2024, what got them there?
Because I mean, if you remember, they got the most out of a lot of players, even one year, when your commitments like a Dexter Flau Fowler or somebody like, you know, I mean, they got, you have certain players that came in and that was really how they constructed the roster, right? It was a lot of one year approval deals. They've moved beyond that now to a point. You should always have some of those on the roster.
Guys that have something to prove, not a long term commitment, that type of thing. That's OK. But you know, you're heading now into this season with a lot more riding on it. You're not just the, ooh, the fun up and coming commanders.
Hey, let's see what happens when they don't have dance night or ruining everything again. Now we're past that now. You got to start winning. Adam Peters has to prove that he can draft well.
This team has to prove that they can develop young talent because that's what keeps an organization successful long term. You can have a one year fluke of a year, which is what they're trying to prove is not the case from two years ago, right? You want to prove that 2024 was not a fluke and that 2025 was a fluke. It was injuries.
It was bad. We're better than that. We move forward, which is the right attitude to have the right mindset to have. Jayden Daniels has talked plenty about that, right?
Like, hey, I'm forgetting last season. Same thing when he's asked about the number five at LSU. He's focused on this season. So he's really focused on this season.
That's for sure. But you know, you, you do have to put it behind you, but you also have to learn from the mistakes that happened last year, how you prepared, how the roster was built. And again, the way that they approached this off season was good, but it still has to click. It has to work because if we go and we look at players that have been drafted over the last couple of years, let's just, let's just start with that.
Let's just look at that first majority of the guys drafted in 2024 and 2025. We have questions about like legit questions. Other than Jayden Daniels solidifying himself, right? So we take injuries out of it.
We know what Jayden Daniels can do when he's healthy. I mean, you've got Trey Amos showing that he can say healthy and be consistent on the field. Mikey Sandrassil, same thing. Johnny Newton was a second round pick in 2024.
We're still waiting on to more out of him at this point. Again, that's, that's just a few names. There's certainly more that are there, especially since, you know, Ben Sinett, who was a second round pick, one of the three second round picks they had two years ago, that entire class right now is, I mean, it's nothing but questions. Sandrassil, 2024 second round pick.
Johnny Newton, 2024 second round pick. Ben Sinett, 2024 second round pick. All of them second round picks are valuable. This isn't the NBA.
Second round picks in the NFL should be significant contributors to your team. And we've gone through two years of those guys right now where they've been almost non-existent for most of the time. That's a problem. You can't swing in like you're going to miss on some draft picks and you're also going to hit on some late round picks, right?
Kijan Allen could turn out to be a monster running back for this team. The old traditional grind it up the middle and just knock guys on their ass. Okay, great. Good work.
Joshua Joseph, the fifth round pick had end up being a great edge rusher for this team. But you've also got to hit on the early round picks. Like Sonny Styles has got to be dominant. Like not just good dominant.
He really does. And he looked a little not even lost last night. Just he looked like a rookie. The game was fast and he was learning and processing and some of that is like, so I was going to compare it to this.
So when I was growing up, I first learned how to drive actually driving a manual stick, right? Stick shift, right? It's a thing kids today. I don't know if you know what this is.
You actually had to shift gears. They're fun to drive. It's a better driving experience, but nobody makes them anymore. Not even Corvettes.
They don't even make them in manuals anymore. That's a rant for another day. But when I first learned how to drive, I was learning how to actually shift gears, go through the process of clutch, all that stuff and actually just drive on the road all at the same time, right? How to make a left turn.
How to judge traffic ahead of you. How to keep the distance. All the stuff on your 15 with your learner's permit. All the stuff you need to learn.
So you're thinking a mile a minute and it's all these different things that you've got to focus on. Do I have enough distance with car in front of me? Is this enough time for me to make this left turn? Oh, also by the way, don't pop the clutch and stall out.
Oh, and let's not even talk about what it's like to do that on a hill. That's a learning experience. The key is the trick. You have a driveway that's got a hill and you want to learn that?
Just practice up and down and up and down the driveway. Anyway, but all of those little moving parts eventually clicked and it became second nature for me is time went on for anybody else that was learning that as well. That's what rookies have to go through. You're learning how to drive.
You're learning how to shift gears. You're learning how to do everything all at once. All these moving parts. It's like you're just seeing the calculations going through their minds of like, okay, this is where am I supposed to be in this defensive assignment?
I've got to judge this as the run coming up the middle, whatever the case is. Sunny Styles has to work through that. And that's what preseason is for, especially for rookies and quinsed after the game, right? Like we knew guys were going to make mistakes, go out and make the mistakes, especially with the quarterbacks that they had out there.
But you are going to have to see growth from Sunny Styles and the expectation fair or not. It's the number seven overall picks got to be legit. Like he's got to show pretty much right away that he is a legit game record. Now they're pairing him with Frankie Louvoo at times together and that's good.
And it gives him a veteran that's alongside of him and they're going to learn and grow together and Frankie Louvoo is somebody that we know can be a game record. We saw it two years ago, but somebody like Sunny Styles, the spotlight is going to be on him. You had no second round pick this year. Again, it was the right call trading for Larametonzo, but you've now missed out on talent.
That could be there. Then again, this team has struggled even before this new era of front office and ownership of second round picks. I mean, the like everybody seemed back to the future. You know when back to the future, when they take off and they go into the future and they leave this flaming trail of skid marks behind them after they've shot off into the future?
That's what we have of second round picks for this team. It's just this flaming tread of just burning tire left behind with all the misses when it comes to second round picks by this team. I get some of this right. You're just going to have to.
And that's something that you have to show because if you are an organization that wants to have long term success, NFL, NBA, NHL, based, I mean, it doesn't matter. You have to be able to develop talent and keep it in house. Now, it doesn't always happen that way. Free agency trades.
There are different ways to fill your roster out. Different ways to build. But if you can't draft, you're always going to be left behind. If you can't develop young talent, you're always going to have a lower ceiling because the ability to identify young talent, integrate it into your team, helps a team stay successful long term, even when the roster gets more expensive.
Because here's the thing. And I know I always use the Thunder as an example, but they're such a good example. It's obviously where the Wizards are building their roster as well. They've got the Titans, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
So we're crossing over to the NBA here. When you look at the Thunder, they built a team through the draft, little bit of free agency, mostly the draft. Like they're not a big free agent destination in Oklahoma City. They're just not.
But they want a championship. They built that roster up. You saw the progression year after year, young players getting better and better and better. But what happened this offseason for the Thunder?
I told you this was going to happen. Eventually the roster gets too expensive. You have to move off some of the veterans that you either have to pay again or that you just don't want to pay because you have younger guys waiting in the wings for bigger roles. And that's how you keep success long term because anybody can build a team through FM picks or trades just in general or free agency or whatever, where you have a couple of seasons of success.
And yes, the salary cap goes up, but rosters still get more expensive if you continue to just pay the veterans on your roster. And everything's got different ways that they kind of block that, right? Except for baseball, which just allows the Dodgers to do anything they want. But for sports that actually have a salary cap like the NBA or the NFL, having the ability to have young players develop behind the scenes on cheaper rookie contracts that can then step into bigger roles once somebody's too expensive it, left tackle or defensive end or whatever the case is, then you can still keep that thing going because they're already home grown already in the system.
They're already a part of the team. They already understand everything that's going on from the culture, everything else. And now they got a chance to take on a bigger role. You're just, you're technically retooling on the fly.
That's a lot of what it is. So where you start to look and say like what the Thunder did this offseason, they traded three key parts because they had younger guys that were expected to step in on bigger roles and if the commanders can't draft well and prove that their first and second round picks, they're around picks like those all still matter. If they can't get to a point where they have a good talent development system going on, because drafting is only part of it. Identifying, hey, that guy's good.
Like that's one thing. It's easy to see how good Sonny Salas was in college, but how's he going to be in the NFL? Still got to get to that point. He has all the physical traits that are there and it's going to take a little time getting him to develop into an elite defensive game wrecker.
You can call him a linebacker, line him up with a fence. Who cares? Go out there and make plays defensively. That's it.
That's all we care about. That's his job. If they can do that and do that with some other players, they're going to be in good shape, but it's the issues that teams have where this picked in work and this big. Go look at all the picks the Rams had when they traded down from number two.
So the Redskins could trade up to get RG three. Remember that? They all like they none of them panned out. Now Jeff Fisher was in charge then and we all know he's perpetually eight, eight or seven and nine, but none of those picks.
Remember when they tried to troll them to they sent all of them out to it for the coin toss. It was a couple of years later, whatever it was. Shut up. I don't know why this makes me mad.
It's like you guys, it didn't even the draft picks didn't pan out. So you can have all the picks in the world. You can have all the cap space in the world. But if you don't get the most out of that talent, it really doesn't matter.
And partially that's going to be with the new coaching staff, right? Especially offensive and defensive coordinator and from a defensive side, Dorante Jones and the rest of that staff can get Frankie Louvoo back to two years ago and elevate Doran Armstrong to another level after his one game suspension. And Johnny Newton is a little better trained. Most healthy Mikey Samra, so they look more comfortable there on the secondary.
That's going to be what takes this team to a consistent division contender and a consistent playoff team before we even talking about like real contender. That's the level that they have to get to. And that's what makes organizations so great is that you continue to cycle through players and sometimes they want too much and you're like, nope, that's that's too rich for us. We're not paying that for agency.
So good luck and enjoy your future. And maybe it's a point where you don't have to pay a 30 year old receiver as much as they pay Terry McLore. Now he has a monster here. This year no one's going to care, but that is something to look at too, right?
What's receiver going to look like a year or two from now? You hope Antonio Williams turns into a star, but the fond eggs is 33. Terry McLorens on the wrong side of 30. Jaylin Lane and Luke McCaffrey aren't like number one or number two receivers.
So it's Antonio Williams and who they probably draft next year. It's not a lot of free agents other than George Pickens. And that's next year. And is that really somebody that you want to pay a lot of talent, a lot of headache to, so you know, like having young talented receivers and developing that talent also is really going to put this position, this team in position to move forward with it.
They like their risks though. They definitely want to take some risks and they can pay off fortune favors the bold. Maybe that'll be the commanders this year. Nick Ashew, I'm a fan of the team.
The one thing in preseason too is that you also don't know how much the coaching staff has already seen of guys to where they just say, let's not give you a lot in the preseason. Like I would like to see more of Sonny Styles out there in second preseason game, but how much are they actually going to show with him in terms of the situations they're putting him in and what his role looks like in the defense in a preseason game versus the regular season and what they're trying to show at practice. I mean, same thing with like a Luke McCaffrey. Didn't really see much of him last night.
But the question there, because wide receiver is such a loaded, which is funny to say, it's loaded in the sense that it's deep. It's not like it's the Bengals wide receiver group or pains me to say, but the Cowboys are what they have. It's not there, but you're working with the numbers game for a lot of guys and wide receiver and Luke McCaffrey didn't get a ton of time. So the question is like, do they know what they have in him and they're not worried?
I would think they probably do at this point. But because of the numbers game that might be playing out at wide receiver, at least makes you think, like, are you going to see a little bit more or they just, are they just good? Cause like I, I like Jane Bradley. I think Jane Bradley, somebody that would be a really interesting development development wide receiver for them.
He's big, he's like six, three, you know, but the back half of that wide receiver group, again, it's going to be really tough. And I know they've been giving him opportunities and practice and really trying to feed him the ball and give him those opportunities. But if MacLaurin, the fun digs, Luke McCaffrey, Jaylen Lane, Antonio Williams, right there, I'll make the roster. That's five wide receivers already.
Now, you've got a trailing Berks who's also, I mean, is he a development wide receiver still at this point? Is that I stay healthy and see what he can actually do wide receiver? I don't even know at this point, but he's also a big receiver that you could use on this roster. Deyami Brown and Van Jefferson, deep threats, guys, you know, Deyami Brown works with this team.
We know his history. So you feel like he's probably going to make the roster. It's just, it's a numbers game for some of this. And you want to put guys in the practice squad, but then also somebody else, these films, sometimes they can snatch him.
You got to be careful before they're like, there are things they can have to really get to keep these guys. So look, a lot of preseason is really a numbers game. I mean, it honestly is. And it's good when you're in a position to have to really fight for certain guys, certain spots.
But it's also tough when you have to maybe release a player that really did well for you. And you know, you're, you're now in a position to where you've got to think about some of these injuries and how you're feeling that and like if Nick Alllegreddy, what if he's not ready to start the regular season? You know, you're already down at left tackle if center's a position to, like you have to keep other guys that are going to help you add depth, even though the talent that you really need there is going to be back later, right? Like so you've got to organize that roster and figure where that is.
And look, the offensive lines only going to add in general pressure to Jayden Daniels. Whether Alllegreddy is ready to go in a few days or it takes longer or it, the cap injury flares back up. We know Larry Tounsel is out for at least four months, if not longer. And these types of injuries are only adding to the pressure that now Jayden Daniels is also feeling like it's like the end of the end, we know, right?
The defense can be great. You can add wide receivers. You can have a run game with a Robert Henry Jr. That all of a sudden with K-John Allen, you think you can keep four backs.
If you don't have great quarterback plays, not going to matter anyway, it's just not. And putting Marcus Marriota's injuries even aside right now, he's going to know what it is, even though I'm panicking a little bit. And I got it, he's the backup. But like, yeah, well, guess what happens if Jayden Daniels is hurt?
You're going real deep on that roster. Sam Harman and Ethan Calick-Manus. Okay, good luck. Yeah, it can't be that.
So, but again, Jayden's healthy. It doesn't matter. But there is pressure on him. And when his blind side is protected by a backup left tackle, even though, listen, Brandon Coleman's young still, right?
He's drafted in 2024. And this is an opportunity to write before and I'm talking about like, hey, development of your draft picks. You've got to show that you can do that as a coaching staff, as a front office. I mean, the front office doesn't do the development, but you get what I mean.
Got to identify the talent. Brandon Coleman can step up and play really well at left tackle for Laramie Tounsel. That's going to go a long way. It's going to go a long way, obviously protecting the blind side of the franchise quarterback, but also showing, hey, this organization, Ken draft guys, Ken developed them.
Or maybe it wasn't a ton right away from him, but you realize, okay, Brandon Coleman can do things. Brandon Coleman can be somebody that really can contribute to this offensive line. But that left side, Chris Paul and Brandon Coleman, it's been now, it's kind of a little bit of a, it feels a little bit more like a rotation. Chris Paul was battling for that left guard spot.
Probably, I mean, that's likely what it's going to be. But then Brandon Coleman on top of that, that's the blind side of your quarterback protected by guys that you're less confident in. Let's just be honest with ourselves. That's what this comes down to.
And it's just, Jayden's going to have to be Superman at times for this team. He just, he just is. Now again, with how good he is, how talented he is with the physical gifts, all that stuff. Like you'd expect it.
I mean, he can run off, you can run a bootleg and throw a 50 yard dart in the end zone. I mean, like he's got that accuracy. He's one of the best, most accurate deep ball throwers in the NFL. High football IQ, all of that.
But there's only so much this there. I mean, we watched last year, look, Jayden Daniels can have to do all the smiling he wants, after a mistake, he's human. And we watched last year, that again, I will always reference that Seattle game, because that was the moment I went, oh, he's crossed over to the other, the other dimension, the angry quarterback dimension. When he slammed the ball on the ground, has nobody open.
Yeah, and the team was decimated by injuries. He just come back and wasn't healthy. And that was before the elbow injury, right? So yeah, there's some things, there's some things that stand out.
And he's going to have to really at times be what Josh Allen is, if the offensive line breaks down where he's just running and going with it. And I know we don't want to see it. But the reality here is that's going to be a thing for Jayden Daniels. Being able to run the football more and get some push up front, hopefully that helps.
I would love to see them throw the ball less this year and run the ball more and put Jayden Daniels in positions really to succeed, especially with that left side being an issue for this team. But you lose your pro bowl left tackle, you lose a guy that's one of the best left tackles in the NFL, no matter what, no matter what the rest of your roster looks like, that is, I mean, it's a devastating blow to this offense. Left tackle is the second most important position in the NFL, because you're protecting your quarterback's blind side. It's just that simple.
The most important positions are quarterback and then whatever surrounds the quarterback or involves the quarterback in some way, right? Your quarterback is there. Your left tackle is protecting the blind side of your quarterback, most of the time, unless, you know, it's left hand quarterback right tackle, you get the idea. Then after that, on the defensive side, it's edge rushers that get to the other quarterback.
It always comes back. I mean, if Jayden plays like he did his rookie year, they'll be all right. But it doesn't mean there won't be some bumps in the road and there won't be some worries. Because really the protection of your quarterback is just so vital.
And look, I'll give the team credit here because they have certainly addressed it. It's not the Colts and what they did or didn't do with Andrew Luck, right? I mean, they drafted Josh Connolly last year. They went out and traded for Larametunsel after the 2024 season.
Brandon Coleman wasn't ready to play left tackle. And you know, he's a third round pick and he's somebody that's there. They drafted a center again this year, but they screwed up center this offseason. But it's not like they've completely ignored it and just gone with what they have like the Bengals did for so long with Joe Burrow.
I mean, they made an effort to build their team from the inside out. And let's also remember that this is a team that has been rebuilding. I mean, 2024 doesn't happen the way it does and they're rebuilding a lot faster. They've got, they have a lot of holes to fill.
We saw it last year. Oh, lots. I mean, there are a lot of issues that surround this team and you had to get through that. And you can argue now that they've certainly put some pieces in place on both lines that are going to give them a better opportunity to succeed.
But it's not like the defensive line was great last night. Now, you know, Johnny Newton and the rest of the interior defensive line kind of got mushed quite a bit. That was Miami starters that were out there. So it's not like a total matchup, but we're talking rotational guys here still.
I bring Johnny Newton up a bunch because you want to see more from him. That's a second round pick from a couple of years ago. Not every guy's going to hit, but you're going to need that. So you need this defensive line to get some push against starters, even if it's your backups.
Because a lot of these guys are rotation, they're going to be rotating guys in and out. There's going to be a bunch of that. So you've got to show that you're going to be able to move that quite a bit. I know it's one preseason game, but wait, no marks, Mario, we got nothing.
Oh, we're here from Dan Quinn later as well. And what he had to say after the game, full presser, he had a lot. There's a lot to unpack after that first preseason game here that next hour, Nick Ashew, D98ing the fan. You know, one subtle thing that we got last night, commanders brought back Braves on the warpath in the fight song.
Just kind of a subtle thing, right? Disappeared for a while back in 2022, fight for our commanders or whatever it was. Most people still say they're, you know, use the original fight song, but a lot of videos all over the internet of the original song and the original lyrics back again. And it's up on the Jumbotron and everything else.
Braves on the warpath has returned. Yeah. So here's what's happening. They're slowly integrating all the old branding again.
You got the old uniforms back. God, they look good, don't they? Oh, I'm okay with the W helmet with it. I know it's not the original, but like it feels more like the team again.
We all kind of knew that was going to be the right choice. That was going to be the direction that they were going to go. But you're starting to see just it's a trickle effect, right? You don't do it all at once.
You just slowly integrate little by little, all of the old traditions that people want again. I don't know if they're ever going to go back to Redskins. I doubt it. But who knows?
The team's winning and they've got sponsors that don't care. I mean, they could just not go back to the old quarterback situation. We wait on Marcus Marioda's injury near Morfandan Quinn next hour in the show. But at least you're not at a quarterback controversy, like some of these other teams or quarterback battle.
However, you want to describe it to it and not look good for the Falcons last night. Not like he played a ton just through a few passes, but just looked a little bit lost. I maintain for a while he was going to win that starting job. I don't know.
I might be Michael Pennix Jr. Kyler Murray already wins it in Minnesota. The Raiders have that going on with Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza. But that's a little different because that's a rookie in Fernando Mendoza versus Kirk Cousins who was brought in to be that veteran bridge quarterback at this point in his career.
The Vikings are doing that because JJ McCarthy just can't play quarterback right now. He's been hurt most of his career and hasn't looked good. So they needed somebody else in Kyler Murray won that job pretty easily, which now of course there's reports that JJ McCarthy's going to want out, which might be the right choice. The Falcons drafted Michael Pennix Jr.
when they had Kirk Cousins already. And then that hasn't really worked for them. Yeah, some of it is injuries, but everybody involved in that got fired already. It's really good to go in a camp and at least know that if your quarterback is healthy or in a good position and that's where the commanders sit because the names of quarterbacks that have started for this team over the years, I mean, it's really brutal.
I mean, going back to talk about this yesterday on the show and it was just like John Beck and Rex Grossman and Danny Werfel and Tony Banks and just, I mean, we could go down the list with Josh Johnson. Mark Sanchez started a game for this team and you know, how many times did you spend over the years trying to justify why things were going to be okay with filling the blank quarterback that was going to start week one for this team? Well, you know, trust me, I did it, right? Case Keenum.
Yeah, Case Keenum's got a lot of experience. Maybe you can surprise him a little bit. Oh God, the John Beck Rex Grossman. Well, we got my Shanahan here now.
So he staked his reputation on one of them. Maybe John Beck just really hasn't had an opportunity yet and he gets sacked 10 times in a shot out loss of the Bills in Toronto when we realized though, there's a reason why he's not starting quarterback in the NFL. We could go down all of it, right? I mean, Patrick Ramsey and Jason Campbell at least were first round picks.
And the thought was that they were going to be franchise quarterbacks. Big arm for Patrick Ramsey, just couldn't put it together. Oh, let's not forget Mark Brunel who was going to get released by the Jaguars, but the Redskins decided that, let's just give him a big contract anyway. And listen, he was okay.
We're going way back for that, obviously. But we just, and this is what he's really back, he's just going to be a bit cooler. Yeah, that's, you know, that's a whole, but that almost is like, yeah, I mean, he would be in there too. And then Gus Farat actually had some decent years before he just decided to drive his head into a wall.
So I mean, it's just been one name after the other after the other. Jeff George, really the steam is the boat with Brad Johnson. Brad Johnson should have stayed there quarterback, but old Danny Boy wanted Jeff George out there in that big arm. Brad Johnson, people forget that Brad Johnson and the Redskins in 1999, that offense was the second best offense in the NFL behind the greatest show on turf with the Rams.
It was a really good offense that year. And they were not, they were not given an opportunity to really take off at all. And this is what happens when you have, when you're a team that's starved for a quarterback, you're like, you're a fan, right? We want to find something that's going to give us this level of confidence, this belief that it's all going to be okay, that we're going to find that guy in the diamond in the rough or the next Kurt Warner or the next Tom Brady or the next whoever at this point, the next Sam Darnold might be in the conversation, right?
But sometimes quarterbacks have to take a long, the long way to success. Baker Mayfield found, even with everything going on with this contract in Tampa, he's had success there. He's cycled through offensive coordinators. That's not his fault.
Sam Darnold learned in Minnesota, got better. Actually, really technically learned in San Francisco was a backup under Kyle Shanahan, and then became the starter in Minnesota. Now he's done it in one of Super Bowl in Seattle. We have quarterbacks have done this.
I think Kyle Murray could actually have a good year in Minnesota with Kevin O'Connell as his head coach and that offense. We've seen him develop quarterbacks before. I would even argue Daniel Jones in the short time he was in Minnesota on the practice squad after the Giants released him, got better. And some of it was just getting away from the Giants, just like Sam Darnold had to get away from the Jets, right?
And Baker Mayfield had to get away from the Browns, but he had to go through a couple of other bad situations. But I mean, Baker Mayfield spent time with Sean McBae with the Rams organization. So it is possible to have those quarterbacks that kind of surprise you and you go, oh, wait a minute. But a lot of times it's short-lived.
Tyrod Taylor had his moments, Ryan Fitzpatrick had his moments, and they had to become in really good backups still, but not long-term starters. You tend to know almost right away with the quarterback really gets to that point. And to not be in that position, at least, I mean, we're, again, Marcus Marioda, figure out what that knee looks like, but Jane Daniels is healthy. You know what you're getting from Jane Daniels.
And this team is at least in a good position in that sense to have that. Because there are some teams that are, I mean, the Cardinals have no future this year. Jacobi Percet is your starter. Okay, good luck.
It's Jeremiah Love, and that's it. So it's going to be rough here for teams that have that. And it's for years and years and years, we've sat here going, all right, well, who's going to get the start here? Who's going to get the start here?
I'll get the case, get him here. And then, oh, let's not forget Sam Howell. We have a whole star for an entire season anyway. Right?
Did we justify it? Time's like, why is Sam Howell just, you know, it blossoms now and had some great year, you know, because we're a quarterback playing North Carolina. I mean, we've all done it. We've all done it.
It's rough. It's a rough road to be going down. Carson Wentz. Hey, the first two games for Carson Wentz as a starter were pretty good.
They were over 300 yards and then was about like a month in. He's throwing for less than 100. Okay, well, this is, that was fun. Oh, it's a long windy road, Jayden.
Please stay healthy. Please stay healthy. They catch you on the fan. You know, speaking of quarterbacks, the Eagles have to deal with a quarterback situation this year, though apparently Jalen Hurts looks sleeker and faster in camp so far.
Breaking news, all players are in the best shape of their life heading into camp. Not that every year. Best shape of my life, best shape of my life. Man, I've heard that at media days.
NFL, NBA, and I mean, just, oh, god. But I mean, listen, that's what you'd expect. It's the right thing to say and it's fine. But there's a lot of traffic are ready to work.
Yeah, you know, you're right. That is the absolute cliche for any traffic ready to get to work. Best shape of my life and ready to get to work. The two biggest cliches in sports at the beginning of the season.
But I mean, there's a lot of pressure on Jalen Hurts this year. Like we all know, and I know AJ Brown was probably a part of this. The whole leak over the, in the off season, Jalen Hurts is rigid. Jalen Hurts doesn't like to adjust.
Jalen Hurts, I mean, come on leadership. You're setting up a scapegoat. So he's got a lot of pressure on himself this year. But you have another new offensive coordinator in Philadelphia.
And you know, he didn't run the ball a lot last year either. In fact, last season was the lightest rushing year, essentially across the board in terms of numbers for Jalen Hurts since 2020. You got Sean Mannion, who's a new offensive coordinator. But he's a Matt LeFoure staffer from Green Bay, right?
So you're kind of getting that that Shanahan trickle down effect from the tree. Kyle Shanahan, Mike Shanahan, Sean McVay, all these concepts. The tree just spreads, right? There's more and more branches going out, starting with Mike Shanahan and all the way down.
And everybody that's learned, then you got to McVay, you learn from him. And you learn from LaFloor, who learned from McVay. And it's like, oh, okay. It's an opportunity.
And I hate to say it because it's not like, just me. I am rooting for chaos with the Eagles this year. Because there's nothing more fun to watch than Philadelphia fans. Philadelphia sports fans in general just melting down.
Like I know they're mad, but it's funny to me. And it's funny to a lot of people. It is so massively entertaining. But the Eagles defense is elite.
It is a very good defense. The question just becomes, is this Eagles offense going to be something that people actually fear? Because there was a point last year where, I mean, dude, they were just, they were down a touchdown. You said they're not going to win this game.
How can they? It's impossible. They couldn't move the ball at all. They also lost out on Sequan Barkley, who two years ago had a historic season.
And that's a big reason why they got to the Super Bowl. They didn't win it because of him as much. Yes, Jalen Hurts was the Super Bowl MVP against the Chiefs. But that defense stacked my homes like what, six times?
It was really again, the defense. Oh, look, the defense wins championships. It just might. But you can't give an entire defense MVP.
So a lot of times it just goes to the quarterback. But they're running more. I mean, listen, you can't avoid the gift that he has of being able to run the football and beyond touch-push, right? But like Jalen Hurts getting out and running is going to be a weapon that he has.
But they're also likely going to force him to throw across the middle a little bit more. It ain't something he likes to do. That's for sure. But when you don't have AJ Brown there anymore, even though AJ Brown was just kind of non-existent last year in the offense, the Eagles went out and brought in a bunch of receivers.
But is that enough to make it a more dangerous offense, right? Devonta Smith is basically your number one receiver. But I mean, Hollywood Brown and yeah, I mean, you got to go rookie in the mix, but Don Tavian Wix you trade for. He's like, he comes from Green Bay and Sean Mannion.
The one thing I think Philadelphia can do is adopt the approach that the Packers have had, Sean Mannion, and the offense, where it's spreading the ball out to different receivers. Similar to what I think the commander's going to do in a lot of ways too. It's a little different because you know, Terry McClure, they're going to try and get him as many as, you know, targets as possible. But you know, spreading the ball out helps your offense and it keeps defenses on their heels.
And that might be what the Eagles do. They're going to probably get to a point where they're going to have to give the ball to Sake-Won Barkley. They're going to have to run the ball more with Jalen Hurts and then spread the ball around to different receivers or passcatchers, right? Dallas Goddard will be involved in the conversation as well there.
But you know, this is kind of make or break for them because at some point, you've got to start looking at, okay, if we continue to have problems on offense and if we continue to stall and recycling through offensive coordinators, what's the common denominator here? What's the factor that's always stayed consistent? And you got to look at the quarterback. And I really do believe that they have quietly set themselves up for a scapegoat in Jalen Hurts.
Should this offense still look like it just doesn't belong in the NFL? Because I mean, the play calling was terrible last year. You could see with Nick Sirianna, he would just basically show what his face, Kevin Petulo, whatever his name was, their offensive coordinator, he was terrible. The play calling was really bad.
And that's a big part of it, right? What do I say? The assembly line of success, it's got to be multiple factors that work. And it starts really with the offensive coordinator.
Which even goes to the same thing with the commanders too, right? It's the same thing. I mean, David Blau's highly regarded, former quarterback, learned a lot from Ben Johnson, soaked up a lot of things, put together his own offense. But it's still got to click.
It's still got to work. All of those pieces have to come together for this team for them to have success offensively. But that's why again, you lean a lot of teams the first couple of weeks of the season. It might just be your defense.
Defense can make some serious impressions early on when you're dealing with some bumps in the road for an offense that's still trying to find its footing. So much rhythm, so much timing, so much learning. All of that is going to be a factor. And to have the ability for a defense to step up early in a season, especially for the commanders.
And it's going to be that way probably for the Eagles too. I mean, that's what you got week one. It might be a defensive battle, right? Like that might be what we end up looking at here is that it's a defensive battle between the commanders and the Eagles to start off week one.
New offensive coordinators for both teams, new pieces at wide receiver, factored into the mix. Like all of these things coming together, and it makes you start to say, well, you know what? That might actually be the case then. It might be an underbait.
It might be an under. Total 46 and a half. I was just looking it up. I want to take the under, Eagles commanders week one, under 46 and a half, just saying.
But you know, look, AJ Brown brought a lot to the table for the Eagles if they actually utilized them. But when he wasn't in the football, he was an overpay decoy, right? Big receiver, fast can do a lot. I mean, at his peak, one of the best receivers in the NFL.
I mean, there's no question. But again, if a receiver is not getting a football, it really doesn't matter. Like I know I knew whether Marvin Harrison Jr. can actually be a good receiver in the NFL.
He hasn't had anybody thrown in the football consistently out in Arizona. And then there's video circulating him dropping a pass in camp and everybody's like, he's watched. It's like, well, I think he also just wants out. You don't get to control where you get drafted.
I mean, sometimes, but rarely. And when you're a wide receiver and your success is dictated by somebody throwing you the football, getting the ball in your hands, it's only so much control you have. That's why receivers get mad. That's why they want the ball thrown to them.
That's why Stefan Diggs has done that in the past, or George Pickens, or whoever. They want the football because you can't do anything as a wide receiver if you don't have the ball in your hands. Running back, at least you know, hey, dude, just got to turn around and hand me the ball. Even if the offensive line isn't blocking, maybe you can at least get you some of your physical ability, either knock a guy on their ass or bury Sanders, juke around him and do something.
I mean, there's something there, but receiver can't even get the ball in his hands. He's just hanging around. Got nothing to bring to the table. So hey, let me tell you something here.
If the commanders can sneak up on the Cowboys and Eagles will start the season and start off two and O when both of those games on the road and it's about the defense first. Oh my God, the hype around this team. Because think about it. The defense was a bigger liability last year.
So if the defense looks strong, you win two games on the road against division opponents. They're good division opponents. And then the offensive still has high upside. Oh, the hype.
Oh, the hype. I'm all for it. I'll take it, right? Much rather have that than there's always next year.
Can't wait to tank. God, no more tanking for any team in this city. Done. Done.
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