00:00We get to talk to Baldy.
00:01Brian Baldinger, how are you, sir?
00:02What's up, brother?
00:04What's up, guys?
00:05How we doing, man?
00:06We chilling, man.
00:07We're doing great, man.
00:08I hope you're enjoying your summer.
00:11You know, I don't believe I've talked to you since the NFL draft.
00:16I'm curious what you think of Sonny Stiles landing in Washington.
00:22Well, I thought he was the best linebacker in the draft of a deep linebacker draft.
00:28A kid that came into Ohio State, you know, as a safety and started right away
00:33and then kind of grew into his body and became a linebacker.
00:37And, you know, he was the quarterback of that defense, talented defense.
00:40And that's where he'll be for Dan Quinn.
00:44And so I just think it was a great pick.
00:46It was an easy pick.
00:48I didn't think he would get past, honestly, the Giants, but they took Arbel Reese.
00:52But regardless, I thought he has everything it takes to become, you know,
00:57kind of like the quarterback of the defense and get everybody lined up.
01:00That's what he did at Ohio State with a green dot.
01:03And, you know, basically, you know, function as the leader of the defense
01:08and leading guys up.
01:10And he's just, you know, he's just a real natural leader and a great skilled player.
01:14But, you know, like guys like at his height, middle linebackers are normally those guys
01:20around 6'2 are down.
01:22He's 6'4 and maybe closer to 6'5.
01:26Is it any kind of difficulties he would have to deal with being that height,
01:30playing inside like that?
01:33I think it's a benefit, actually, B, Mitch.
01:37I think his height is going to be a factor.
01:40You know, guys that are that kind of height in this business, Tremaine Edmonds,
01:43now, you know, was in Chicago.
01:45Yeah.
01:47You know, B, you look at these guys.
01:49You know, he's with the Giants now.
01:50But, you know, these guys that are, you know, Erlacher, who is tall,
01:53I guess it's harder to throw the ball in the middle of the field.
01:56It's just those kind of throws that San Francisco loves to make,
02:00just those layered throws in the middle of the field.
02:02It makes it just a little bit tougher.
02:05You know, B. Wags was a great player.
02:07He might still be a great player.
02:09You know, I don't think he's going to be in Washington anymore.
02:10But, you know, he was 6'1.
02:13You know, this guy that, you know, he gets his drops.
02:16Fred Warner's been a great player in this league.
02:18He's 6'2 and a half.
02:19This guy's even taller.
02:20And I think once he understands the passing game a little bit better
02:24and some of the crossing routes and some of the speedo routes
02:27that are going to run deep down the field,
02:29it's going to be a little tougher to throw over his head.
02:32You know, once he starts realizing just how they attack
02:34in the middle of the field in this league.
02:36Hey, Baldy, kind of big picture question for you.
02:39In 2024, Dan Quinn, Adam Peters take over in Washington.
02:44They draft Jaden Daniels.
02:45And really kind of everything went right for them, right?
02:48They had a ton of really close games break their way.
02:50The following year, 5-12, Jaden gets hurt.
02:53There's injuries all over the roster.
02:55Going into year three with this team, what do you think are, like, real expectations?
03:00What is this team?
03:03I don't know exactly because it's a brand-new coaching staff, basically.
03:07I mean, I know Dan's in charge, but, you know, new offense coordinator,
03:11new defensive coordinator, a lot of new coaches, and first-time coaches.
03:15You know, I mean, you look at David Blau, and, you know, he has not coached much.
03:19He's never called a play in his life.
03:21He's basically left the field and was assistant quarterback coach,
03:25and now he's calling plays and installing the offense, and it all goes through him.
03:30And so, you know, I want to see what he does.
03:33I want to see what, you know, Devontae does.
03:36He was a good disciple.
03:37Brian Flores brings that style of defense.
03:39You know, I don't really know.
03:40They rebuilt the entire defense, and so there's a lot of new pieces there
03:44that have to come together, and we'll see how well they play under Devontae.
03:48But, you know, it's a team that, you know,
03:52has got to take the ball away a lot more than they did last year.
03:54I think they had 10 takeaways the whole season.
03:56You know, they're not going to win a lot of games and go on any kind of a run
04:00if they can't do that.
04:02So, you know, they rebuilt the defensive line, the linebacking core.
04:05It's all new under new, you know, new coaching.
04:09So I don't know what to make of it yet.
04:11I don't know if they're close to the 14 wins like 2024 and playing in the
04:16NFC Championship game or closer to 5-12 like they were a year ago and, you know,
04:22went on an eight-game losing streak after that dreadful loss to Chicago.
04:25So I'm not sure if there's somewhere in between or if they can get hot,
04:29and this staff, you know, does a great job with this new group.
04:32Adalphi always got it brought in to be a pass rusher.
04:36Showed some promise when he was in the charges.
04:40What do you think he can do possibly now, his team, as a full-time guy?
04:47Well, he really was coached under Chuck Smith,
04:52who was the pass rush specialist coach in Baltimore.
04:55And every time I saw him, whether it was training camp or before game, Brian,
05:00like he was a worker.
05:02And I think Chuck really helped him.
05:04And then, you know, he gets traded to the Chargers,
05:07and he has kind of a breakout season.
05:09He gets three sacks in one game.
05:11He gets a sack against Jordan Malata with the Eagles.
05:14I mean, he really had a good second half of the season once he got traded,
05:18the trade deadline.
05:19And he kind of popped.
05:21The talent was there.
05:22He didn't really do a lot at Penn State when he was there.
05:24He didn't play a lot.
05:26I feel like he's now, you know, I think he's really learned a lot over the last
05:32couple of years with Chuck, and I think he's ready to, you know,
05:35be a consistent double-digit sack guy.
05:37I mean, that's why they signed him for that kind of a money right now.
05:41Yeah, I mean, he got real money.
05:44Elsewhere on Washington, on the offensive side of the ball,
05:47a lot has been made about the receiving core.
05:49You've got Terry McLaurin, but then not a lot of – certainly household names
05:54after that.
05:55In the modern NFL, when you look at how offense is kind of spreaded around
05:59and backs are catching more passes, the tight end might be a real key here
06:02in Washington.
06:03How comfortable are you with Washington skilled players on offense?
06:11You know, we've got to see what Antonio Williams does, if he can take off
06:15or if he's just going to be a guy.
06:16He was injured, you know, some at Clemson when he was there, but, you know,
06:21he's got enough height and good speed, all that kind of stuff.
06:26You know, we'll see what Jalen Lane looks like in his second season.
06:29He had some moments last year.
06:32Diami has been a pretty good productive player as the number two or three guy.
06:36They've got a lot of bodies there.
06:38I don't know if there's anybody that really pops after Terry McLaurin.
06:43And so they picked up a tight end from Tennessee who's had some good moments
06:47in his league, and maybe he can replace, you know, the production that, you know,
06:52that they had at that position before.
06:55And so, you know, some question marks there.
06:59But, you know, the quarterback's job is to make everybody else around him better,
07:03and we'll see if Jalen can do that right now.
07:07We talk a lot in this town, we're talking a lot about Brandon Iyuk,
07:12and it seems like the commanders are waiting for the 49ers to release him.
07:15And then you have Steph Diggs also.
07:17When you look at those two receivers, where would you lean towards,
07:21Iyuk or Diggs, a guy who's shown that he could still play last year?
07:26Yeah, that's your question, Brian.
07:27If I had to choose right now, just because Iyuk, we haven't seen him,
07:31nobody has seen him on the field since he tore his knee up.
07:34So I don't know what kind of condition he's in.
07:37I don't know how healthy he is.
07:38I know Diggs is healthy.
07:39And he had a good season last year, a real good season.
07:42He's got a big touchdown pass against the Houston Texans,
07:45or, yeah, to help them beat the Texans right before the half.
07:49I mean, he's still a productive player.
07:50He still has great hands.
07:52He still runs good routes.
07:54Looks like he was all in last year in New England.
07:58I would lean towards Diggs right now.
08:01And I think, you know, the plane opposite, you know, McLaurin right now,
08:05I think that might be a really good one-two punch if they were able to get him.
08:09I agree with you.
08:10Talking with Brian Baldinger here on the Rude Guest Hotline,
08:13you can follow Baldy at BaldyNFL.
08:16I love the breakdowns.
08:18I love the snorkeling videos too, Baldy.
08:21How much traveling?
08:22Were you in the Cayman Islands?
08:24I just got back from the Caymans.
08:26You know, it's on vacation season right now.
08:28This is it, man.
08:28So, you know, the Caymans was good, man.
08:31It's a good spot.
08:33I'm a diver, so, you know, every chance I get to get in the water, I do.
08:36I love it.
08:37I've got a couple more trips coming up.
08:38But, yeah, I mean, I'm just, I'm all about it, man.
08:41So, I'm just trying to, like everybody else in this world,
08:44I'm just trying to enjoy myself as much as I can here before this thing gets started.
08:47Dude, so that's, is that considered free diving?
08:50Because you don't have a tank on and everything, right?
08:53I have, I, I, I, I, I scuba too.
08:55Okay.
08:55But I, I'd rather free dive.
08:57I'm, you know, I'm, I'm like a piker, you know, like I can hold my breath for a minute.
09:02You know, the good, the good divers out there, Leonard Williams from Seattle, Big Cat,
09:06I mean, he holds his breath for two and a half minutes.
09:08Wow.
09:08So, I'm kind of like, I'm pretty weak, but I'm trying to get better.
09:12And I'm working at it right now, but I don't know.
09:15Like, I don't have a third lung.
09:17And, you know, a minute goes by, I'm ready to get some air.
09:19But I got, you know, I just got to work.
09:21I mean, it's, it's just like two days right now for me.
09:23It's cool to see, man.
09:25And, I mean, the videos, seriously, the videos on Twitter are so fun to watch.
09:29And, I mean, the videos are so fun to watch.
