- 2 months ago
Before the official start of the Washington Commanders' training camp, Head Coach Dan Quinn and GM Adam Peters held their opening press conference where they addressed roster questions, team direction and more! Kevin Sheehan reacts to some of the highlight responses from the press conference and gives his thoughts.
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00:00And, Adam, what for you, just in a general sense, as you're always looking to improve the team,
00:04when you're evaluating guys to maybe bring in for workouts, whatever,
00:08what role, if any, does kind of a player's social media have in that evaluation process?
00:14That's a good roundabout question.
00:16You are straight badass right there.
00:19I mean, we look at everything, JP.
00:21I mean, it's a great question, but we do look at everything.
00:24And, you know, we want to make sure it's the right player to be in our locker room,
00:28in our bloodstream, in our culture.
00:30And, you know, we often, you know, we look at that stuff.
00:33I mean, it's not always the first thing we look at.
00:35Obviously, you're looking at the tape and you talk to the teams that the players have been on
00:40and how they were in the locker room, the players that have played with them,
00:44and so on and so forth to make those decisions.
00:46But, you know, that's not usually a huge part of it, usually.
00:52Well played.
00:55Both of you.
00:57Good question by JP Finley and a good job by Adam Peters.
01:02Look, you try to, you know, do your best to read between the lines, to decipher.
01:09That one isn't very difficult for me.
01:13There is zero chance that Brandon Ayuk is going to play for this football team.
01:18A player that fits in to the team's bloodstream, yeah, he doesn't fit.
01:25A player that didn't, you know, do what he was supposed to do in injury rehab
01:31and cost himself $30-plus million in guarantees.
01:35You know, an idiot that videotapes himself breaking the law
01:38and then posts it on social media.
01:40And then he spends six weeks bashing the general manager, the head coach,
01:46occasionally taking veiled shots at teammates.
01:50This is one of the all-time, one of the all-time self-sabotage situations
01:58that we've ever seen in the NFL.
02:01He's immature.
02:02He is so self-destructive.
02:05And that does not fit into the bloodstream of this team.
02:09There's no chance that what he is right now,
02:13and maybe there is some mental illness here,
02:17and have been plenty of people that have expressed concern for Brandon Ayuk.
02:22And maybe that empathy, the human empathy, is the best reaction to all of this
02:28because perhaps he needs some help.
02:31But we have seen literally somebody nuke his immediate opportunities.
02:38Never say never.
02:39When somebody's got talent, man, there's always somebody in the league
02:44that thinks they can figure him out and they can make him right.
02:49But that first part of the answer tells you all you need to know.
02:53He doesn't fit into their bloodstream.
02:56Somebody that is that self-destructive and somebody that spends six weeks
03:02bashing, insulting the management of the team,
03:08the coach of the team, is not going to be a part of their bloodstream.
03:13By the way, did you see yesterday another Instagram from Brandon Ayuk
03:19about this was obviously in reference to Kyle Shanahan's very serious car accident.
03:26He Instagrammed out,
03:27you can't win the race if you crash out.
03:31Keep your head up and stay in your own lane.
03:35You're going to win.
03:37I don't...
03:38You gone win.
03:39You're going to win.
03:41You're going to win.
03:42That's not exactly how you spell gonna.
03:44G-O-N-E.
03:47But, yeah, spelling isn't necessarily his thing.
03:52Didn't he spell squad a little bit incorrectly the other day?
03:55Yeah, and he misspelled.
03:55He left the U off loud and put it on squad later.
03:58This guy needs help.
03:59He needs some really good advice.
04:01And, you know, I'll keep coming back to the same thing.
04:04This is a waste of everybody's time now.
04:06Now, even though when he puts something out there in the bloodstream,
04:11you know, I'm consuming it.
04:14I think you guys are too.
04:15It's not like I'm ignoring it.
04:16But this guy is, at this point, for whatever reason,
04:20and it could be illness,
04:22he's incapable of actually doing what you have to do
04:28to create the outcome that you want.
04:32I mean, you're talking about minimal steps,
04:34applying for reinstatement and showing up and facing the 49ers.
04:38But I read that Instagram as a classless shot at Kyle Shanahan
04:46who just had a very severe car accident.
04:49If he thinks that's going to help him, like the other stuff,
04:53then again, there are still a few of you left.
04:55Most of you have turned around here over the last month,
04:58but there are still a few of you.
05:00I read your stuff that are still hanging out
05:02that this guy's playing chess to everybody else's checkers,
05:06that this is part of his grand strategy to land in Washington.
05:11Yeah, not going to happen.
05:14The issue is, does somebody like Diggs fit into their bloodstream?
05:17I don't know.
05:18He said some things about the wide receiver room you'll hear,
05:21but I felt like the first time hearing anything about Ayuk,
05:27even though it was obviously very subtle in the way JP asked the question
05:32and the way Adam Peters answered it,
05:35all he had to say is, you know,
05:37we need guys that fit into essentially the culture we've created.
05:43And clearly he doesn't fit.
05:45But clearly somebody that has behaved the way he's behaved over the last two months
05:50does not fit at all.
05:53All right.
05:53So there's a bit of a developing situation,
05:57which I will get to after, after Max,
06:01I play what I thought was by far and away,
06:06the most convicted answer from both Dan Quinn and Adam Peters about a player.
06:15And interestingly, it was the final question of the press conference.
06:20Did you include the question in there?
06:22Of course.
06:23Okay.
06:24So this was the very end of the 28 minute press conference.
06:28And we got to a player that we've talked a lot about,
06:31a player that's replacing a player that they just let walk.
06:34That player, Tyler Biotish, signed in LA for a three-year deal.
06:38It's been one of those question marks and mysteries hanging over the roster
06:43since it happened.
06:45I shared with you probably a month and a half, two months ago,
06:48that the feeling within that offensive line room is super confident.
06:53They think he is smart.
06:55They have total confidence in him.
06:58They like him a lot.
07:00Listen to the question.
07:02And I'm telling you, this was by far and away, part of it was tone.
07:07Part of it was facial expression, which you're not going to see in this.
07:11But this was the most confident answer,
07:15the most convicted about anything they said during the 28 minutes
07:19that happened at the end.
07:20What have you seen from Nick Allegretti to make you comfortable rolling him
07:26out at center, even though that's not a position he's played
07:29for most of his career?
07:30Yeah, I can start off with it.
07:33One, like, high-level competitor.
07:35And so we've played well with Nick in the lineup, albeit at guard.
07:39But interior, that's his space.
07:41He's played center.
07:42He's played guard.
07:43Even though you may not have seen him in some of the games,
07:46like every week he was, you know, repping inside to go.
07:49So that was a big piece of it.
07:51We've got a lot of faith and confidence in him.
07:53It's another one of the positions that we do have competition that we're going
07:56for it.
07:57But if Nick was playing on defense, he'd be a green dot.
08:02This is one of the smartest guys on our team now.
08:06Like, we talk about putting it under control.
08:08That's part of playing center.
08:09And he has that targeting.
08:12Who's this?
08:12Where's the protection going?
08:15So we've got a lot of confidence in him.
08:18He is one hell of a competitor.
08:19And so he's one of those guys, man, you don't bet against that.
08:23You know, might be a new, but you don't do that with everybody.
08:26But somebody for him, you no doubt you do it.
08:30Yeah, I'd probably just echo what DQ said.
08:32And I think the biggest thing, one, he's played a lot.
08:35He's played all the positions inside, so he's more than capable of all three of
08:39those.
08:40But what stands out to me with Nick is just his leadership, his command, his
08:45confidence, the way the guys gravitate and listen to him.
08:49And so that's a big part of it.
08:51Knowing what to do, knowing where to go, knowing where to direct the guys, just
08:55the calling up in the huddle, it's a big deal.
08:57So have a ton of confidence in him, have a ton of confidence in Julian and Matt
09:01too.
09:01So it'll be a great competition, but, you know, for Nick, just, you know,
09:07I think the world of him, the whole team thinks the world of him.
09:09And so we all have confidence in him.
09:12He's as easy a trust a competitor as you can find.
09:14Like you just, you count on him and he's going to be in the right spot,
09:17making the right call at the right time, even when it gets chaotic, right?
09:21To say, especially when it does, like this look didn't come up in the practice.
09:25Okay, this is what we're going to do.
09:26And you have to be in the fire.
09:28Some do have that calm in the chaos.
09:30It's a big deal.
09:32It was Adam Peters at the end.
09:34It's a big deal.
09:34This was by far and away the longest answer.
09:37We get sent the transcripts of these press conferences.
09:40So you can see just based on the size of the answer, it's the longest that the two of
09:46them went on about anything.
09:48There's great confidence in Nick Allegretti.
09:51I mean, whether or not they'll be right is another thing.
09:55We don't know if, you know, getting rid of Tyler Biotish, who had a year left on his
09:59deal, was the right thing or the wrong thing until they start playing games.
10:03But there is no doubt that inside that building, they are super confident that they have at
10:09least matched, if not exceeded, what they've had at that position in recent years with
10:14Nick Allegretti.
10:15Now, about 30 minutes ago, and we will continue to monitor this because these are the things
10:25that do matter more than anything else from our standpoint, because we will get information
10:30on this.
10:31John Doran from WUSA Channel 9 at practice today tweeted out, Nick Allegretti left today's
10:41practice during O-line drills and didn't return.
10:44He walked off the field with a member of the commander's training staff, big camp for him
10:49trying to secure the starting center spot.
10:53So, you know, please, fingers crossed that day one, they don't lose their starting center.
11:02A guy that they literally went on for four minutes on at the end of a press conference.
11:08They clearly have confidence in him.
11:11The locker room clearly has confidence in him.
11:13The O-line room absolutely believes in this guy.
11:17I'm assuming that means Jaden believes in the guy too.
11:21But he left on day one, practiced during O-line drills and has not returned.
11:28We'll keep you posted on that.
11:30All right.
11:31There's more sound from Quinn and Peters that I wanted to play for you.
11:36Something specific about the void left by Bobby Wagner that I thought was very interesting.
11:43We'll get to that and more.
11:46Coming up at 11, Tim Rumpf, who is the producer and director of Quarterback, the Netflix series.
11:55He's from here.
11:56Grew up in Montgomery County.
11:57A University of Maryland alum.
12:00We had Tim on the show, if not last year, the year before when Quarterback aired.
12:04He will join us at 11.
12:05We'll talk about Quarterback and talk about maybe some things he learned about Jaden Daniels and the team that maybe
12:12wasn't revealed during the actual show itself.
12:17For both of you, in terms of some of the guys who are on Publis, namely Trey Amos, I know
12:22you don't have to talk about the injuries, but can you shed any light as to why he's still out?
12:26Because the timeline seemed like maybe he should be back by now.
12:29Yeah, I think with Trey, he's doing really well.
12:31I think the first thing I'll say is he's been outstanding in his rehab and really taken all the things
12:38that the medical team has asked him to do and done them really, really well.
12:41Well, with him, just had a little soft tissue soreness in the offseason, so we wanted to just take it
12:46slow.
12:47So he's actually, he's doing really well right now.
12:49Just had a report on him earlier.
12:50He should be back soon as well.
12:52Just wanted to be overly cautious there, but he's doing great.
12:56He'll be back pretty soon.
12:59So, I mean, it doesn't sound that bad, but I hate when I hear soft tissue with anything regarding a
13:07skill position player on offense or defense.
13:11A player that's got to run.
13:12Soft tissue is never really what you want to hear.
13:15Hopefully, it's nothing serious, but, you know, players like Curtis Samuel's name always pops to mind when you think about,
13:24you know,
13:26it's soft tissue, it's a groin, it's a hammy, it's going to be okay, we're just going to take it
13:31slow, we're going to be very cautious,
13:32and then all of a sudden, the player's on injury reserve, you know, before the season begins.
13:37That's what happened with Samuel in 2021.
13:40Fingers crossed there.
13:42Adam Peters actually said some really positive things about Rasul Douglas and talked about just the experience,
13:49and he started a lot of games, and he's started games recently, and he's big, and he's played well.
13:55I think that the Rasul Douglas signing was in part because it is, you know, a hedge against Trey Amos
14:03being ready to go at 100%.
14:07So, but not a bad ad, period, overall, given the state of their cornerback room.
14:14All right, a few more sound bites from Quinn and Peters yesterday.
14:19This was Adam Peters talking about Durante Jones and David Blau as two new coordinators and what they're going to
14:29bring.
14:29I think the most important part of this one is really to listen to him talk about Blau's offense because
14:36it does sound to me very much like, you know,
14:41as excited as maybe everybody is to have kept David Blau in the building, Peters really prefers the style of
14:50football that David Blau is going to employ.
14:53Here was the answer.
14:54Adam, we've talked to Dan about this over the offseason, but what do you like about the schemes that Blau
15:02and Durante are bringing, like just schematically?
15:05What do you like about what you guys are going to feature?
15:08Yeah, you know, me personally, you know, I love, I think, first off, just watching those guys coach and teach,
15:14and just it's been really impressive to see both of those guys live in an action in the meeting rooms
15:19and then on the practice field,
15:21the way they coach and they teach and really the whole staff.
15:24Obviously, it starts with Q at the top and then those guys as it trickles down.
15:28But then offensively, you know, we're going to be more multiple.
15:32We have, you know, a lot of different personnel groupings and a lot of different ways to attack you.
15:37I think, you know, it really, it's more quarterback friendly, I think, in a way, and I think that'll really
15:43help Jaden.
15:44Like I said earlier, he doesn't have to always make a play.
15:47You know, we're going to try to scheme up things and have answers so he doesn't always have to make
15:51a play.
15:52And I think the same way on defense.
15:54You know, the defense is designed to, you know, you always want to have the pen last.
15:58And so the defense, we have a lot of different ways to attack you and different things we can change
16:02up.
16:02So, you know, we have answers, you know, going into the play and then, you know, during like at the
16:09line of scrimmage as well.
16:10So, yeah, couldn't be happier with how everything went in the offseason.
16:14Really, really excited for it, really.
16:17So, I mean, there's some good stuff in there about Durante Jones there at the end, too.
16:21You know, you want a lot of ways to attack.
16:24We have now a lot of different ways to attack you and different things that they can change up.
16:29We have answers going into the play and then at the line of scrimmage as well.
16:34I don't know if that's a shot at Joe Witt Jr. and not having answers going into the play and
16:40at the line of scrimmage.
16:41But, man, did we see last year a lot of confusion, certainly post-snap a lot of the time.
16:47But I thought the part that stood out to me was when he said, you know, after, you know, complimenting
16:54both coordinators for being good teachers, he said, you know, offensively, we're going to be more multiple.
17:04We have a lot of different personnel groupings and a lot of different ways to attack you.
17:09And then he really got to what I think was on his mind and perhaps on Dan Quinn's mind a
17:17lot last year.
17:18And that is, I think it really is more quarterback friendly in a way.
17:24And I think that'll really help Jaden.
17:26Like I said earlier, he doesn't have to always make a play.
17:31We're going to try to scheme up things and have answers so he doesn't always have to make a play.
17:38And I think specifically what he is saying there is we scheme some things up, but if it wasn't there,
17:48the default was, hey, number five, go make a play.
17:53And he likes being more multiple.
17:56He likes being in a situation where the quarterback can go one, two, and then three isn't run.
18:04I remember back in 2012, it was literally Shanahan and Mike and Kyle and everybody on that staff said they
18:13finally realized the offense goes this way for Robert.
18:18Read the first receiver.
18:19If it's not there, the check down is you running.
18:23That's what we're going to do.
18:25And once they really got to that, they became even more effective down the stretch.
18:30And I think as a rookie, for sure, you know, a new player, they wanted to make him feel comfortable.
18:36And I think Cliff did a great job of making Jaden feel comfortable and giving him an opportunity to be
18:42really successful and comfortable as a rookie.
18:46But after one and two, maybe, because I think Jaden certainly could process and progress through his reads more so
18:56than a lot of rookie quarterbacks can.
18:58But it was, hey, man, when in doubt, go make a play.
19:03Whether that's with your legs as a runner or with your legs as an extend the play and throw the
19:08ball downfield, go make a play.
19:10By the way, quarterbacks at the highest levels, the best, have the ability to extend the play and make something
19:19happen outside the framework of the play.
19:23But he told you right there that this is, for him anyway, a more quarterback friendly and in so many
19:32ways, perhaps he's saying a safer offense for Jaden Daniels.
19:38We'll see what exactly the offense looks like.
19:41I mean, when people have said over and over again, it's just going to be the Ben Johnson offense.
19:46It's not what David Blau has said the times we've heard him.
19:50It's not even what Dan Quinn has said when he's talked about it.
19:53It's going to be a blend of Ben Johnson and certainly some of what he learned from Kevin O'Connell,
19:59which comes straight from multiple spots, by the way, including Jay Gruden.
20:03But certainly going back to Sean McVay, which came from Kyle.
20:09And there's going to be, and Blau has said this, some of what Cliff did that was very comfortable and
20:15worked very well with Jaden.
20:16So my belief more than anything else in terms of what I feel most confident in saying about this offense
20:24from afar, like most of you are, is that it is going to be an offense that has a significant
20:32increase in play-action pass attempts.
20:36Washington was near the bottom of the league with Cliff Kingsbury in true play-action pass attempts.
20:44RPOs near the top of the league.
20:46But pure play-action where the quarterback sticks the ball into the gut of a running back, pulls it back,
20:54and drops back.
20:55True play-action, whether that's from under center or in the shotgun, and more times than not, compared to the
21:02first two years, it will be under center.
21:04And he'll turn his back to the defense.
21:06And by the way, I think, I said this even before Cliff Kingsbury was hired.
21:13Or even before, we saw what the Cliff Kingsbury offense would look like in 2024.
21:18I thought that a Kyle Shanahan, Mike Shanahan-style offense is a perfect fit for Jaden.
21:24So we'll see.
21:26But I thought that that was an interesting quote from Adam Peters.
21:31And then the next one I wanted to play is from Dan Quinn.
21:36This was Dan Quinn on the absence Bobby Wagner leaves with respect to leadership.
21:45And DQ, leadership question for you.
21:47Obviously losing Bobby Wagner.
21:48Big voice in that locker room.
21:50You have Terry McLaurin, a great voice.
21:52Who are you looking for in terms of a leadership perspective?
21:55Jaden, you're number three.
21:56How is he going to evolve as a leader?
21:57And then on defense, who are you kind of leaning on to be that voice in that locker room?
22:01Yeah, I'm excited to find that out.
22:03And Bobby's rare.
22:06And in the most biggest sense that you can say that, there's a number of really strong leaders.
22:15Some that are still emerging.
22:17And I'm excited to see that.
22:19This offseason, you felt Sainz Merstiel in every sense of the way.
22:23You felt Robertson in his sense of the way he wanted to compete.
22:29Louvoo has that to him in that same space.
22:32So as we're going into that spot, Reeves has always been somebody that I've looked at as a leader.
22:37More on teams, but on the defensive side.
22:40But there's a number of guys that I'm looking to see take that step.
22:44And sometimes you need that spot to be available to do that.
22:49And so where we all look to Bobby in that spot, maybe now is my time to go for it
22:54and dig in.
22:55And so moments like this camp to lead and find your space, it's a new system.
22:59So everybody's on the same page in terms of the knowledge of it.
23:03I'm excited to see that.
23:05Yeah, I thought what stood out to me when I was watching this is it just makes sense to me
23:11that when you have somebody like Bobby Wagner, you know, on one side of the ball, who's such a heavyweight
23:17when it comes to how everybody views him.
23:20Like he is, he's got real status and he was a true leader and mentor to many of the younger
23:28players, not just defensive players, to Jaden as well during his first two seasons.
23:33And when he said, you know, sometimes you need that spot to be available to do that as a player,
23:40to step into that, you know, that's, that's a rare thing for, you know, a player that has natural leadership
23:48ability to take a step back to a more seasoned, more experienced and the obvious leader of the team.
23:56And if that's, you know, they had one for the first two seasons, say what you want about Bobby Wagner's
24:02play on the field.
24:03And by the way, he was their best tackler both years.
24:06And he was also a decent pass rusher, just not real strong when it came to needing to run very
24:12fast in coverage.
24:13We understand why he's not back on this roster, but an incredible culture guy, incredibly smart, incredible leadership ability, but
24:23there could be others.
24:24And he mentioned a few Jeremy Reeves.
24:26They all love Reeves, Sandra still a Meek Robertson, Frankie Louvoo.
24:30He actually talked later on about Louvoo potentially along with Sonny styles being the green dot on defense.
24:36Um, I've, I've seen some things recently that, uh, uh, some of you have reached out to me to say,
24:42do you think they'll trade Louvoo since they have an absolute overflow of talent at that spot?
24:47I don't know what they'll do, but I like Frankie Louvoo.
24:49And, uh, the, in terms of the other players, I don't think like any of them stand out so much
24:54more than Frankie Louvoo's talent.
24:56It sounds like Frankie Louvoo's a guy that they're going to count on this year, but sometimes you can't become
25:03a leader until a leader's gone.
25:05And that space is vacated.