- 6 weeks ago
The Washington Commanders have an uphill battle going into the NFL regular season after dealing with injuries facing a tough schedule. Kevin Sheehan goes over the biggest themes that the Commanders are facing going into the 2026 NFL season and gives his thoughts on if the team will prove them right or wrong with their performance on the field.
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00:00Let's get back to the question of the day. The question is, I just, I wrote down, I jotted down
00:06some of the major popular themes coming out of training camp and preseason last year,
00:13and then jotted down a few of them that I think are going to be the major themes coming out
00:18of
00:18training camp and preseason this year. And I want to know which ones for this year will hold up
00:23versus those that won't. Last year, there was a belief that Jaden was going to continue to turn
00:33into a monster, even if the team took a step back. I remember saying the same thing going into last
00:38year. I'm like, look, he's the real deal. He's going to continue to get better. The issue is
00:45whether or not the defense steps it up and whether or not the schedule plays into it. And they could
00:51end up being 10 and seven instead of 12 and five, but be a really good football team again.
00:57No, I didn't predict 10 and seven predicted 13 and four. I think I forget what my prediction was last
01:03year. And then another theme last year, the defense was going to be much improved with the additions
01:10they made and with Sandra still and Trey Amos and Lou Vu and you know, Bobby and, and, and the
01:16whole
01:16group, this secondary specifically got, I found these tweets when we started training camp a few
01:21weeks ago with people, you know, that were out there play by play tweeting from training camp
01:28practices talking about, Oh my God, the secondary. Wow. Amos Sandra still will Harris edition. This is
01:36going to be the strongest part of the team other than the quarterback room. I mean, could anything
01:40have been further from the truth when the real games began, but people were right about the Terry
01:47situation. Ultimately, it really impacted the season. Now it impacted the season more that Terry,
01:54when he was on the field, wasn't out there with his starting quarterback. Um, that probably was a
02:00major factor in Terry situation. Uh, but there's no doubt that him holding out and the hurt feelings
02:08associated with what turned out to be a very, not a pleasant, uh, contract, hold out, hold in
02:15situation. And the bottom line is the offense never, never was in sync, even though obviously the best
02:23players weren't on the field very much. So for this year, Jaden staying healthy, a lot of people
02:30very concerned about his ability to stay healthy, uh, in 2026. Are they going to be right? Or are they
02:36going to be wrong? The offensive line's a mess with the center position in particular being very much
02:42mismanaged by the front office? Is that going to be true? Is it, are we going to get to the
02:49regular
02:49season and find out, Oh my God, they don't have a center. Their offensive line is in total disarray.
02:54Clearly they weren't predicting and weren't counting on Laramie Tunsil, their best offensive lineman not
02:59playing. That's a big part of why the O-line looks less than what it was three or four weeks
03:06ago. Um,
03:07but that's now a major theme. And of course, once again, for a second straight year, people are very
03:12bullish, very optimistic about the defense being much improved. So 301-230-0980. Look for me, there's
03:22nothing on the Jaden injury concern front that I'm buying into. And the reason is I've got numbers to
03:31back me up until last year. He was a healthy quarterback as a college quarterback in two
03:37different places where he started 52 of a possible 54 games. And as a rookie in the NFL, yes, there
03:44were
03:45Knicks and Knacks, including a rib injury, but he played in all 20 football games for Washington.
03:50There's 17 in the regular season and there are three playoff games. I think last year was the
03:58aberration and he will be healthy in 2026. And when I say healthy, I'm not saying that he's not going
04:05to
04:05have a banged up, you know, something that might cost him, you know, a half or even a game, but
04:12it's not
04:12going to be last year where he had several injuries that basically cost him the entirety of the season.
04:1913 of the 17 games he did not play in start to finish. 10 games he didn't play in at
04:25all. 13 he
04:26didn't play in start to finish. And that was not, you know, a season that can even be evaluated. So
04:32on that front, I feel like the naysayers, those that are concerned are going to be wrong. On the
04:39offensive line, specifically the center position, I would like to say that what we've seen so far
04:48isn't really or isn't necessarily indicative of what we're going to see when the regular season
04:55begins, because there's no game planning, because the actual starting center hasn't played yet,
05:01Nick Allegretti. But I am concerned about the offensive line in general. I think that when
05:09you take off of your offensive line, one of the two or three best pass blocking left tackles in
05:15the game, one of the best five or six overall left tackles in the game, there's no way you're not
05:23going to feel that. There's just no way. You have to accommodate now for that position not being what
05:32it was, which means now we got to look over and wonder whether or not Brandon Coleman,
05:38whomever he's going to be lining up against needs help or doesn't need help with Laramie. It's like,
05:44we're good. We just have to focus on the other four offensive line positions. And then the center
05:50is obviously a concern. And it's a concern right now because Nick Allegretti, who I do believe they
05:58think was going to be every bit of Tyler Biotish, if not more. And I have nothing to say that
06:05they're
06:05wrong about that. We haven't seen it yet. But I'm concerned about multiple injuries with a guy who's
06:13been around for a while now, and what appears to be legitimately no quality NFL depth at the position
06:23that could change. A week from now, that might be completely different based on players getting
06:29waived and being available. But as of now, those that are really concerned about the offensive line,
06:36I am concerned about the offensive line. Now, would I be shocked if the scheme and the game planning
06:44covers up for some of the flaws, and it's not as disastrous as it would be if you're just lining
06:50up
06:50and player evaluating like they do in the preseason? No, I wouldn't be shocked at all.
06:55Do I think it's going to be a top tier offensive line? No, that seems like a long shot at
07:02this point.
07:03And then with respect to the theme and the prediction that the defense is going to be
07:08much improved, I'll just say what I've said all along during the summer. There's no way it can be worse.
07:16No way it can be worse than last year. Last year was, you know, certainly in part due to the
07:24lost
07:24players. But for the most part, it was just a bad defense. It was a defense, as Quinn talked about
07:31the game on Saturday, that was constantly in disarray. The communication was bad, the organization
07:37was poor, and then they made up for it by tackling poorly and not creating any turnovers. I mean, it
07:45was
07:45one of those, it was the worst defensive season in my lifetime of watching my football team. Last year
07:52was. I don't think I've ever seen a worse defense over the last half of the season in this town
07:58than the
07:592025 Washington defense. Especially after week seven, when they lost Dorrance Armstrong, it was over.
08:07They had no shot. I mean, I still go back to that Detroit game. I just can't believe an NFL
08:12team
08:12had nine drives, scored on the first eight, and ran out the clock on the ninth. And never was stressed.
08:19Not once. It was one of the most embarrassing displays of defense I've ever seen. And it's not
08:26like, you know, the Dallas game on the road or the Minnesota game on the road was much better.
08:31I mean, that defense made J.J. McCarthy look like Joe Montana. And he stinks right now. I mean, there
08:38might
08:39be a future for him. Who knows? I mean, he was bad last year, and his best pro game of
08:45his career was
08:47against Washington's defense last year. He led a 19-play, 98-yard drive that took like 11 minutes
08:58against our defense. It's got to be improved. Now, is it going to be much improved? I'm going
09:05to go with yes. I'm going to go with yes. But this is one of those where when we're doing
09:12this
09:13next summer, I don't want to look back and say, remember how optimistic everybody was about the
09:20defense being much improved? It was barely improved. You know, they finished 27th in takeaways.
09:27They were 26th on third down. That would be an improvement from last year. But I got to think
09:35that it's going to be closer to much improved than just barely improved. Max, Jaden staying healthy.
09:43The people that are concerned about that, are they going to be right or wrong?
09:47See, and this is the big problem. I don't want to say that they're going to be right,
09:51but I think there's always a chance that they could be right. Now, Jaden has never really
09:56made an effort to protect himself. Now, I'm hoping that that really takes shape into this year.
10:02But given the body of work so far over two seasons,
10:06You're concerned. You think they're going to be right?
10:08Yeah, I'm concerned.
10:09Okay. What about the offensive line, the center position specifically? Is everybody going to be right?
10:15That it's going to, it's shaping up to be a disaster?
10:18It could be. It depends on how Matt Gulbin plays.
10:21I need a prediction from you. Are they going to be right or wrong?
10:23I think they're going to be right. I think Matt Gulbin and Julian Good-Jones are not going to be
10:26enough, especially if Nick Allen is ready.
10:28Defense is going to be much improved. Are people going to be right about that or wrong about that?
10:32I think people are going to be right about that as well. I think Durante Jones coming into this new
10:35system with, look, Sonny Stiles will be getting a lot of crap for what he's been putting on tape in
10:41the run game.
10:41But if you've been watching his coverage snaps, he's incredible, especially compared to what we got
10:47in Bobby Wagner last year. So let's go to Peter on line one. Peter, go ahead.
10:54First off, I think the defense and I predict it will be better. No doubt about that. And I think
10:59it's going to be a lot better. Secondly, the offensive line, I think it's going to be okay.
11:03I predict they're going to be better and they're going to be okay.
11:06The third thing with Jaden, the same thing. I think he'll be better and he won't get hurt this
11:11year. I just think he will be. He'll be all right. I predict that. The thing that I'm worried about
11:17is to change from the offensive coordinators. Originally, I thought it might be a good thing,
11:23but it kind of concerns me him getting under center and not having Kingsbury do what he does.
11:28So that because Jaden was like so dynamic in that offense in 2024, nobody, nobody could stop them.
11:35And so, you know, Cliff Barry's now with the Rams. So what's that say?
11:39I like what you just said, Peter. I think you just added another kind of, it's not a major narrative,
11:46but there are a lot of people, a lot of people that believe, thank God Cliff is gone.
11:54And there may be some, you know, questions about David Blau, but there are a lot of people
12:00that have bought into, yeah, the Cliff offense was not a good offense for Jaden or anybody else.
12:07So I'm not so sure about that. I'm with you. I'm not so sure about that. Now, I do think
12:15a more of a Shanahan style, McVay style, even a Ben Johnson infused into that mix is probably a great
12:23fit for Jaden too, and that he will excel. I think he'd excel in almost any offense,
12:28but he was outstanding in that offense as a rookie. And the truth is the offense last year,
12:35even with the decimated, you know, injury results during the course of the year,
12:41they were much better than the defense was much better.
12:44They were middle of the pack in most of the advanced numbers in the league. Most of the league
12:51think Cliff knows what he's doing, whether or not it's what they would want for their offense.
12:56That's another question. But I think that's an interesting thing to introduce into, you know,
13:02the narratives is that, you know, Cliff's gone. That's a good thing. That is a narrative. Don't
13:07you think Max, that's a, that's a narrative that, that'll, that the majority think Cliff's gone
13:12is a good thing. Yeah. I mean, absolutely. I think that, okay.
13:19Yeah. Go ahead. No, I just think that Jaden being under center is going to help him a little
13:24bit more, especially, and it's going to help the run game too. Like that's going to be a big thing
13:28because that was a big narrative last year is not being able to run the ball when you needed to
13:32run
13:32the ball. Yeah. I always find the running the ball thing to be so interesting. You know, I know we've
13:40done this a million times, but, uh, Washington finished as the fourth best rush offense in the
13:48NFL and Jaden barely played. So it wasn't like the quarterback was a big part of it. Rushing attempts.
13:55People said, you know, Washington didn't rush the ball enough. They were ninth in actual rushing
14:01attempts last year, average yards per carry last year, 4.7 for Washington fifth in the league.
14:09Like the, the, I kind of agree that it never felt like it was as much of an emphasis as
14:16it should
14:17have been. And there's probably a lot of nuance and context around this, but the actual hard numbers
14:24suggest that anybody that says Washington didn't try to run the football and couldn't run the football
14:31are dead wrong. This was not a quarterback led rushing offense last year, uh, understood why they
14:39were top three in the NFL in 2024. Jaden was a big part of the rushing attack, but not last
14:46year.
14:47Krosky Merritt had 800 plus yards. Rodriguez had 500 yards. Um, yes, Mariota had close to 300,
14:54but that's not what Jaden had in his rookie year. You know, McNichols had 200 and something yards.
14:59Uh, who am I forgetting in the backfield last year? Bill? No, he, he led, he led the team in
15:05rushing with over 800 yards. Yeah. I just think it's, that's one of those things that like everybody
15:11just hears it and they're like, yeah, that's true. Yeah. They, they didn't try to run the football
15:15and they couldn't run the football because there were plenty worth in rushing yards and they were
15:19ninth and rushing attempts. There were plenty of situations last year where they were near the
15:23goal line or just needed a few yards and we were all screaming cliff run the ball and it didn't
15:28happen. You're right. You're right. Stan, go ahead. Kevin. Um, so I chose, uh, the center position and
15:37not the offensive line overall, but I think it ties into number one because, um, you know, if our offensive
15:42line
15:42is bad, worst case scenario, and it's looking not great right now, but that will eventually affect
15:46Jaden. Uh, I know you mentioned that he hasn't had an injury history, but you know, if your line
15:51is really bad and you know, like the pundits have said, you know, this is one of the worst
15:55offense offensive lines right now. Um, you know, he's going to get hurt, uh, no matter his injury
16:00history or not. Uh, so that's what concerns me right now. Um, greatly. Uh, and I don't know what
16:06they'll do to improve and hopefully they'll remedy that before the season starts, but you know,
16:10it's not a good feeling, especially when you take the first three teams that they're facing,
16:14um, you know, that's definitely going to be an issue. Um, one thing though, I think that you
16:19didn't mention, um, in your themes that could be a theme is, you know, obviously the coach
16:24and the GM, um, you know, I think, you know, nationally, I watch a lot of nationally national
16:29shows and, um, you know, I don't think the feelings are too high right now on Dan Quinn.
16:33Um, so if the season does go sideways or if they start 0 and 3, or, you know, let's say
16:38they
16:38got off to a bad start, uh, you know, I think his seat's definitely going to be on fire.
16:42Um, you know, so that's definitely a theme that I think could, you know, pick up, pick
16:47up the pace, uh, you know, as we go along here, I think, and also, you know, him calling
16:52that practice yesterday. Um, you know, I think he, even he feels that, you know, the pressure
16:57is kind of on, on him. So, um, you know, that, that could easily be a theme or, you know,
17:02a theme that dominates nationally. Um, you know, if the season goes on and if it's a worst
17:07key scenario, you know what, two things from your call, um, I'm going to come back to the
17:12Quinn thing in a second, your first thing, um, you're right. They do tie together. There's
17:17no doubt. Now this is where Blau comes in because really good OCs can, you know, mask, cover
17:27up some of those, you know, protection issues and flaws. But last year, as an example in LA,
17:34Justin Herbert had an offensive line that was in total disarray. They lost Rashawn Slater,
17:41the left tackle in preseason. Alt was hurt. They had injuries throughout the season. He
17:46was the third most sacked quarterback in the league and he played at nowhere near a hundred
17:51percent, especially you could see it coming down the stretch last year. Um, he was definitely
17:58banged up throughout the year and it was, it was really the offensive lines issue. Now with
18:03respect to Quinn, I had no idea. Did you know, do you know what Quinn's odds are right now
18:09to be the first coach fired in the NFL this year? Isn't he like the favorite? He wasn't
18:14three, two months ago. He is now. He is the favorite right now to be the first NFL coach
18:22fired. Wow. Because when we looked at this, I don't know, after the draft, maybe the last
18:30time I haven't really checked this out in a while, he was not in the top five or six guys
18:35like Sirianni and Bowles and Aaron Glenn, they were leading the pack on that Quinn right
18:43now at, let me just give you the, well, it's close. Okay. Aaron Glenn Bowles and Quinn are
18:50basically kind of co-favorites right now to be the first. If you blend all these together,
18:56they're all right around between three to one and four to one to be the first coach
19:01fired. And Bowles got a big vote of confidence from Vita Vail when he made that, uh, when
19:05he re-signed Bowles is very, very good to, as a defensive guy and players really respect
19:14Bowles. I, I actually, he's just one of those people. I mean, it's because he was an ex
19:18Redskin, obviously in a championship, uh, Redskin safety. I've just always rooted for
19:23Bowles, but I did not realize that Quinn was way up on that list. All right. Um, skip
19:28Billy, Mark, Ian, Joe stay on hold. Uh, if you want to weigh in, uh, the question is of
19:36the themes that have come out of preseason games, training camp, which ones are going to be true?
19:44Which ones aren't going to be true? The concern over Jaden staying healthy. Are those people that
19:49are incredibly concerned about that? Are they going to be right or wrong? The O-line now looks
19:54like it could be an absolute problem for this team. Are those people that say that going to be right
20:00or wrong? The defense clearly is going to be much improved, right or wrong.
20:05Dr.