- 6 weeks ago
Kevin Sheehan lays out the main training camp themes surrounding the Commanders to determine if the team will validate or disprove them during the 2026 season. Kevin dives into the validity of concerns regarding Jayden Daniels' durability, the shaky offensive line, and the optimism for defensive growth. Additionally, he analyzes Dan Quinn's latest roster adjustments, specifically the release of Will Harris and the evolving situation at center following the coaching staff's "tell the truth" session.
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00:00I made a list. By the way, the team released Will Harris today, one of the big free agent
00:05signings last year. I remember when he got hurt early in the season. Oh, my God, what are we
00:10going to do? Our best communicator. Yeah, he's gone. That means Quan Martin's going to make the
00:16team and probably came down to the two of them. I made a list of the most popular, you know,
00:25narratives, even kind of predictions coming out of preseason and training camp last year.
00:32The things that, you know, local media, national media fans seemed pretty confident about. Not
00:38everybody was on the same page, but these were themes coming out of camp and preseason heading
00:44into into the 2025 season last year. And then I did the same thing for this summer. So far,
00:51we still have another week and a half until we are ready for a regular season game. But
00:59because I'm going to ask you guys of the narratives that have sort of built here during this offseason
01:06and this training camp in this preseason, which are going to come true versus those that are not
01:12because last year, you know, per usual, this is the case pretty much every year. This is why I say
01:19you just can't believe, you know, what you're hearing or seeing during this time of the season,
01:28which is really fake part of the season for us anyway, because 50% of it's not only not only
01:35going
01:35to be wrong, it's going to be dead wrong. And then some of it's going to be right. And some
01:39of it's
01:40going to be, you know, kind of, you know, close to right, close to wrong. I came up with five
01:45things
01:45that were big narratives, you know, or even predictions from last year. Number one was,
01:52there were some in national media, for sure, and even some locally, I mean, even some of you
01:57that thought that the team, and Jaden Daniels specifically couldn't match what they did in 2024.
02:04You know, one particular narrative was consistent, though. And that was, even if the team, you know,
02:12statistically and record wise, takes a step back, and there were many predicting that last year.
02:17And by the way, they were right, probably for the wrong reasons, they didn't predict,
02:22you know, the wrath of injuries that plagued last season as the primary reason. But most people were
02:29pretty consistent in that Jaden Daniels was the real deal. And his second season with a year under
02:36his belt, and another weapon in the mix, Deebo Samuel, and the addition of two tackles, a star
02:42left tackle in Laramie Tunsil, and a rookie first round selection in Connerly Jr., that Jaden was going
02:50to continue to grow and just become, you know, the monster that he was in 2024. Some people said,
02:56again, that maybe it won't look statistically like it did a year ago, and record wise, what it looked
03:02like a year ago, because they really hit, you know, everybody talked about the incredible good
03:07fortune they had in 2025. But everybody believed he was legit, he'll continue to prove it and show it
03:16in 2025. That was one of the major kind of going into 2025 coming off the summer of training camp
03:23in preseason that we had last year. Another one was, and by the way, obviously, everybody was with
03:32respect to the kind of season he might have in year two, they were wrong, but again, not for the
03:37reasons. He didn't play football in 2025. He played in seven games, only played four, start to finish.
03:44The other major, pretty much everybody in agreement, a narrative that came out of preseason
03:51and training camp last year was just how much better the defense was going to be in 2025. Much
03:58improved. It looked it in camp. The communication on the field was right. Will Harris really has
04:05everything on the back end, you know, buttoned up. Trey Amos looks like the real deal as a rookie.
04:10Sandra still is coming off that great rookie season. Luvu coming off that all pro breakout season.
04:16Um, this is going to be a much improved defense, major, major popular theme coming out of, uh,
04:27preseason and training camp last year, heading into the regular season. Uh, I'll add to that.
04:33The secondary specifically people thought was going to be the strongest, you know, unit on the team
04:42after the quarterback room. Uh, some were actually saying this might be one of the better secondaries
04:48in the league. Yes. That was one of the popular narratives. The defense was really a big popular
05:00everybody's in on, Oh, this defense is not going to be what it was in 2024. The, um, the next
05:07one I
05:07wrote down, the Terry situation was going to hurt. The team was going to hurt. The offense was going
05:14to really many people predicted injury, you know, because soft tissue injuries happen when you miss
05:20that much camp. Um, the Terry situation, the contract, you know, uh, hold out, hold in, uh, the,
05:28you know, confrontational nature of it, uh, hurt feelings, you know, certainly on his side.
05:34Um, and that was certainly a narrative that was coming out of this summer and into the regular
05:40season. And then, you know, overall, and I've kind of already mentioned this, but most people
05:45nationally were predicting a step back season for Washington. They're like, okay, 12 and five,
05:51two playoff wins. Yes, he is great. The quarterback, no question is great, but can they really do that
05:58again against a tougher schedule, you know, yada, yada, yada. So coming, you know, those were, I don't
06:05think I missed any, I may have missed one or two. Um, I remember there was a lot of optimism
06:10about
06:10the kicking situation being improved with Matt gate, you know, dicing and slicing up the preseason
06:15and, you know, in, in practice. And then ultimately he didn't even make it the entire year,
06:20but you know, the Jaden Daniels theme, that was a big one. Bottom line is it was kind of wrong,
06:26wrong, but not necessarily wrong. Long-term. Uh, the defense was majorly wrong. Uh, that was just a
06:33massive, massive whiff by everybody that predicted that the defense was going to be much improved
06:40last year. Sure. The defense had major injuries as well. It did, you know, that essentially they're
06:45three top pass rushers, uh, Armstrong, uh, and you know, even, or there are three defensive ends,
06:52top three or Armstrong wise Baptiste, John Baptiste all lost for the season. Um, but the defense was
07:00never going to be good. If everybody had been healthy, it wasn't well coached. It was coached.
07:05It was in disarray much of the time, uh, the tell the truth Mondays on the defense each week was,
07:12Oh my God, it's bad. And it's getting worse. Uh, the secondary in particular, I mean, what a disaster
07:18people were predicting it to be the strongest part of the team coming out of last summer, uh, other
07:24than the quarterback room, the Terry situation spot on, you know, it definitely hurt. He got hurt.
07:31Um, there wasn't any depth. They didn't plan for no Terry or injuries. They didn't have a plan.
07:38Uh, Ben talked about that all during the summer last year, man, there's just no depth at wide receiver.
07:45Hopefully Terry comes back, doesn't get injured. They picked up where they left off.
07:50Debo's, you know, good. Noah Brown's good. No, it was a disaster at wide receiver and the Terry
07:56situation. People were dead on right about that one, um, that it ended up, uh, affecting, uh, the
08:02offense. And then ultimately those that thought net last year would be a step back season were correct.
08:08Now we'll never know had all of their best players that didn't play the majority of the season,
08:16had they played the majority of the season, what it would have looked like. I would still say that
08:21even if they had been a relatively healthy football team, like an average health situation, rather than
08:27the worst in the league last year, based on the starters in week one, um, I still think it would
08:33have been a tough grind because the defense was just so God awful. And so to, you know, muscle
08:43nine wins out of last year with that defense, that would have been, I think a best case, best case
08:50had everybody stayed healthy. Um, all right. So that was kind of last year. Now let's look at this year.
08:56What are the major, major kind of storylines and narratives and even predictions going into, uh,
09:042026? Because what I want to know from you at 301-230-0980 is which ones are going to be
09:12proven
09:12right. And which ones are going to be proven wrong. It's not easy because I think last year,
09:19pretty much everybody, I mean, I even said, um, I think the defense is a mystery. I don't know what
09:25we're going to get, but there's no chance it can be worse than it was in 2024. And I was
09:30wrong about
09:31that. Um, I'm kind of saying the same thing about this year. Like there's no way it can be worse
09:36than
09:36it was in 2025. I guess it could be, but 2025 was so much worse than 2024. It'd be legitimately
09:44difficult
09:45to be as inept as they were defensively last year. Um, here were kind of the list of popular
09:55narratives right now coming out of this off season training camp and the two preseason games that
10:01they've played. I think number one is the Jaden Daniels. Can he stay healthy narrative? You know,
10:09that's more of a question than a prediction. Um, but it is a major narrative, many predicting and
10:17feeling. And I think it's a recency bias kind of a, of a hunch, but many people believing that,
10:23you know, he's just going to be one of those guys that is perpetually hurt and unavailable.
10:29That is a major, major theme. Can Jaden stay healthy in 2026? And a lot of people believe that
10:37that is not necessarily, uh, uh, that, that, that, the answer to that is no. Um, obviously with this
10:46team, especially over the last couple of weeks, the center has been a conversation all off season,
10:52and now it's become even more of a conversation, but, uh, the offensive line now is a, you know,
10:59is in trouble. That is a narrative right now, a prediction. The O-line is in deep, deep trouble,
11:06and that is going to wreck any sort of offensive product productivity or offensive upside that they
11:15might have with Jaden, Terry, Diggs, Akonquo, et cetera. The O-line is a mess. They didn't address
11:23center properly, and then they lost their best offensive lineman, Tunsell, to which more likely
11:29than not is a season-ending injury. It'll certainly be most of the season. So a major narrative heading
11:36into the season is the offensive line in Washington is an absolute mess. Uh, now, and the center
11:44position specifically is a mess. PFF had Washington 32nd. The thing that we read the other day,
11:50I'm forgetting what it was that ranked the units was 31st. Was it, um, ESPN? Who was it?
11:57It was the ESPN ranking. Yeah, I know, but who was it? It was, uh, it was a, I think
12:01it was a,
12:01Seth Walder. I think he wrote it, but it was a consensus, like, okay. Group of people. And it
12:06was like 31st, I think. Um, and then by the way, coming back to the defense for a second consecutive
12:14year, a major popular thought and prediction is that the defense is going to be much improved.
12:22You know, they added 10, 11 new players to the defense, even if they didn't add a superstar
12:29defensively, they have so many bodies to choose from. And there's no more Joe Witt Jr. They have
12:36to be better. It's a Brian Flores scheme. They're going to be aggressive. There's no possible way
12:41they could finish next to last and takeaways with 10 total. That's what they had last year. Only
12:47the jets had fewer with four. Uh, those are the top three for me. I mean, there are some others,
12:56you know, did they get the, you know, but not major popular narratives. Am I missing one? I don't think
13:02I'm missing when the wide receiver question was obviously a major spring into early summer
13:08question, but they answered that by adding digs. Now, when I say they answered that they improved
13:15the situation to a level that they're not, you know, majorly in trouble at wide receiver. In fact,
13:22the position right now may be the hardest to cut down to seven or eight on Sunday by six o
13:27'clock.
13:29Did I miss any? I think it's, can Jaden stay healthy? The offensive line is going to be a mess.
13:35The defense is going to be much improved. Those are the three things. And the Jaden thing is more
13:41of a question, but I think a lot of people are leaning, you know, more on the, I'm concerned
13:48about him staying healthy. Well, I believe it when I see it, I think there's one that's kind
13:52of carrying over from last season. That wasn't as much of a conversation to start camp as it is now,
13:57all these injuries that are popping up in training camp. Now I understand that training camp injuries
14:02are a part of football, but at the same time, when you look at last year correlated with this year,
14:08a lot of guys are dropping like flies in these preseason games and in just practice in general.
14:13So I think that's starting to kind of get kicked up in conversation too. That the team is just
14:17injury prone and that we're on the verge of another injury plagued season.
14:24It's setting up to sound that way. I mean, I know what you're saying. I think it's a normal
14:30amount. Look, the Tunsil injury right now is one of, what are the most serious injuries so far in
14:36preseason in training camp? Is there, is there an injury that's more of a blow than Tunsil being lost
14:43for call it four fifths of the season at minimum? Nobody's lost a quarterback.
14:49Allegretti. No, I'm talking about league wide. Oh, league wide.
14:52League wide. Is there a bigger injury than the Tunsil injury so far?
14:56What am I, there hasn't been a major quarterback injury, correct?
15:01Not yet. Fingers crossed. I mean, is Tua banged up? I mean, that's not really.
15:07I think he just stinks. That's more of.
15:09There's that too. All right. So what I want to know at 301-230-0980, let's take the three that
15:18I gave out. And if you've got another one, that's fine too. You know, the, will Jaden stay healthy
15:26in 2026? The offensive line's going to be a mess. Will that hold up or not? The defense is going
15:34to
15:34be much improved. Will that prove to be accurate or not? Last summer, out of the five that I wrote
15:40down, basically three were dead wrong, dead wrong. You know, the defense much improved,
15:46the secondary in particular, the strongest part of the team. And yeah, I had four, basically four,
15:57because one and five were the same. So two out of the four were dead wrong. The Terry situation,
16:03no doubt was right. The wide receiver concern going into last year proved out to be right.
16:09There were other like kind of one-offs, like everybody said during camp, Tunsil looks like
16:14a monster, proved out to be right. They also said Matt Gay was going to be a really solid kicker,
16:20turned out to be dead wrong. I want to know what you think is going to hold up. And I'll
16:27tell you,
16:27right now, to me, the O-line is a major question. I'll give you my answers to this when we
16:34come
16:34back. But 301-230-0980, 301-230-0980. Of the current like predictions slash themes heading into the
16:44season, you know, Jaden staying healthy, the offensive line question, the center question
16:51specifically, defense looks to be really improved. Which do you think will hold up as accurate and
16:58which will prove to be false?