Latest / The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views / OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Washington Commanders
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- 0:26All right, folks, you're listening to our next installment of Opposition Territory here
- 0:30at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast
- 0:33show in the world, ten years strong. And we have got a great,
- 0:38great discussion coming your way, sticking with football here on our Opposition Territory
- 0:44podcast this week. Why because the NFL Draft just recently wrapped up, and
- 0:49here in the NFC East there are some teams that are doing some interesting stuff.
- 0:52There's interesting storylines going on within this NFC East division, and we're gonna
- 0:57be getting into one of those teams today, Washington Commanders. My gosh,
- 1:00tons of stuff going on with this team. So let's get right to our
- 1:04conversation right now. It's great to have back on the podcast. I absolutely
- 1:08love having him on to talk about the Washington Commanders NFC East type of news
- 1:14and storylines as well coming to us from the Trap or Dive podcast, and
- 1:19he also does some analysts work over at Hogshaven as well. You know,
- 1:23we love our sp Nation sites and we've got the one and only Jamal Forest.
- 1:27How you doing, Buddy man? That is an incredible intro. Oh
- 1:30thanks, I'm so pleased and honor to be on the show Man pre say,
- 1:34Jeff having me back, bos Man, how are you doing. I'm
- 1:37doing really well man. Like this NFL draft, you know, digesting everything
- 1:41that we've all been through with our teams and looking what other NFL teams have
- 1:44done. It was an unbelievable draft. And it's that time of year two
- 1:49where every single fan base gets their hopes up for the future because of the
- 1:53draft, because of team building, because of you know, laying that foundation
- 1:56for the future. And like I think Washington Commanders fans are probably feeling that
- 2:00same thing. Look, it's the year like this is the every single season.
- 2:05As you outline, this is where optimism begins for every single man.
- 2:09Yep. Um. It starts with free agency. Um, it starts with
- 2:13the um what is it the tampering, the legal tampering. Uh. And
- 2:16it continues on up until training camp starts. Because you believe in that one
- 2:21player that you drafted in the first round or that you drafted in the sixth
- 2:24round, that sneaky undrafted free agent where you're like, Okay, I think
- 2:29I think he can really do something on this team. He could be that
- 2:31new gym, that that gym that this staff found and where the special team
- 2:35that that may mess around and make it to the playoffs, or if you're
- 2:38in a different position, may mess around and even make it to a championship
- 2:40game. Yeah, exactly, Yeah, I don't. I don't disagree.
- 2:44Man. It's it's a it's a fun and interesting time a year. And
- 2:46for Washington fans, uh, it's it's it's that times ten for other reasons,
- 2:53exactly exactly. Let's get into one of those reasons. I think.
- 2:55Listen, I'm not down in DC. I'm not down in you know,
- 2:59within the realm of the Washington Commander's fan base. But you know, one
- 3:04of my best friends has been a Washington fan his entire life. Bless his
- 3:07soul, you know, he does have you know, there's there's some Super
- 3:09Bowls there for him that he has seen and some success. But it has
- 3:15been quite quite some time, and I just want to get your prevailing thought,
- 3:20you know, within the fan base about the eventual sale of the Commanders.
- 3:23You know, Josh Harris looking to take take over, you know,
- 3:27ownership of this franchise, you know, with some other investment partners as well,
- 3:31including one you know, perhaps Magic Johnson as well. But this eventual
- 3:37sale of the Commanders and the Snyders not having really any say about you know,
- 3:42what happens with this organization in the future, Like, what where's the
- 3:45fan base at with that? At this point, you wall look the news
- 3:50and the storyline is a major for the fan base. It's every single thing
- 3:55and every single bit of information like you eat up and consume it and you
- 4:00digest it, and it makes you happy every single time that you know that
- 4:04it's coming to an end. And I think for for people like me,
- 4:08like you mentioned your friend right and he's and you mentioned that he saw Super
- 4:11Bowls, people like me, I ain't seen a single thing. I haven't
- 4:15seen nothing. All I've seen is turmoil. All I've seen is drama.
- 4:19All I've seen is offseason escapades. All I've seen is people who who thought
- 4:25can bring you hope and they mess around and can't do anything in here on
- 4:28the Snyder um and And that's kind of the frustrating thing when you think about
- 4:33what Washington fans have endured over the past thirty years, really um of ownership,
- 4:40but also just general general team uh success with with Snyder and with Josh
- 4:46Harris coming in UM to be honest with you, I'm not even gonna start
- 4:49with him. I'm not gonna say like any any new owner would have would
- 4:54have pleased this fan base because they know that Snyder is gone, right,
- 4:57and I think that's the most important thing for every about in um what that
- 5:00does Like think about you mentioned draft Now, I was out of town during
- 5:05the draft week, so for context, and uh, you know, we
- 5:09follow each other on Twitter. I am like this whole week, I've been
- 5:13locked in just studying all the players that they've selected and and and trying to
- 5:17figure out how they fit with Washington or or I'm I'm at least a couple
- 5:20of players in UM. So I had a lot of catching up to do.
- 5:24But to that point, though, like this weekend, they held a
- 5:28draft party, um at for those who made her heard of National Harbor,
- 5:32Yeah, um they heard it. Yeah they've heard. They had a draft
- 5:35party there Saturday, and the turnout was surprising and overwhelmingly supportive of of like
- 5:43the fan base and the team, and like the turnout was was crazy,
- 5:46Like the numbers were out there like it was. It was very impressive.
- 5:49And and that has a direct correlation to the fact that Dan Schnyder is not
- 5:55going to be here anymore. So having that, having that feeling like it
- 5:59raises the optim as it raises the fact that there is no dark cloud over
- 6:02Washington and fans feel that way, and then there's gonna be some fans like
- 6:05me I mentioned to on another show. Now, this isn't a negative thing,
- 6:13but this could be an effect of people who have dealt with Snyder for
- 6:16so long and who have been beaten down from the dysfunction and the disarray that
- 6:24he is bought. Like, there are also some people out there who don't
- 6:27even know if they'll be able to regain the good times and the fun,
- 6:31exciting times that they had when they were a hundred and ten percent emotionally invested
- 6:36into this team. Like part of the reason why I became in twenty sixteen,
- 6:42part of the reason why I became more on the side of media and
- 6:46in terms of writing even podcasting later down the line, like all those things,
- 6:50it's because I felt that I could be more balanced, because I'm starting
- 6:54to see that this team isn't like you shouldn't be so mentally and emotionally involved
- 6:59with this team. Take the emotions, I'll see them. What they are
- 7:01right about it, talk about it and and things like that, and I'm
- 7:04at that point where it's like I'm still a fan. Don't get me wrong,
- 7:09right, I'm still I still like this team. I still love this
- 7:11team. But I don't know if you'll ever see me And maybe it changes
- 7:15when you see consistent winning, right, but you'll you never know to what
- 7:19degree like you'll really gain which you used to have ten plus years ago.
- 7:25Well don't know. That's a great segue jamal into my next topic that I
- 7:29wanted to dive into with you, because there is talk too that the commanders
- 7:33may actually move like back into the city. Get at get the hell out
- 7:36of Maryland, you know, get out of that where that stadium is,
- 7:41where there's absolutely nothing around it. I've been at that stadium before and it's
- 7:45got off. I had to I had stuff like coming down on me at
- 7:47one point and stuff. It was just it was just not a great experience.
- 7:50But if if the team is able to get the stadium perhaps back in
- 7:56DC, and I wonder if the fan base would actually just there would be
- 8:01that more positivity within the fan base, if if, if perhaps they were
- 8:05back with the old RFK stadium, site current, you know currently, you
- 8:09know is like getting the team back into the city. I wonder if that
- 8:13there would be a direct correlation with more positivity and just more of the fan
- 8:16base coming together and being more passionate about this team in the future. What
- 8:20are your thoughts with regard to that, Look, Jeff, let me ask
- 8:24you, what's the what's the name of the name again the Washington Commanders.
- 8:28What was the first one? Washing? Washington? Right, Yeah, it's
- 8:31Washington Reskins, right, Wash, No, Washington, just Washington. Like
- 8:33that part, like having having the team back into the city, Like it's
- 8:39not it's not the Landover exactly. And to be clear, like there are
- 8:43teams who like New York teams playing New Jersey, UM and and and in
- 8:48Maryland and Landover is twenty minutes away from actually where RFK is, so it's
- 8:52like right down the street. And and truthfully speaking, I wouldn't be opposed
- 8:56to UM then building in Landover again next to the next to the old stadium
- 9:03because of what's going to come in the next five to ten years. But
- 9:05to your question, R slight of nostalgia, and that's a really good thing
- 9:11for the Washington fans, those especially those who have experienced winning and those who
- 9:16know how fun a stadium like that was for the team when you have um
- 9:22such a how they described it, because my age I never experienced RFK,
- 9:28but how they describe it is it's such a small, tight knit community slash
- 9:33fan base in that stadium. It packed it out. The stadium was jumping,
- 9:37the fans, the seats and the stands were jumping. And you can
- 9:41barely hear yourself if you're an opposing team in that stadium when the team is
- 9:45winning and when you had that nostalgic feeling knowing that your team is going to
- 9:48be back in Washington. Uh, the people who are in ownership circles or
- 9:52even who are in the actual the politicians and the lawmakers and legislators and all
- 10:00those people like, they know what this what this area was. When you
- 10:03have people who are all in on bringing the team back to DC, they're
- 10:07gonna make sure that this is the best thing possible for the team and for
- 10:11the fan base to relive and regain what once was. And I think that's
- 10:16a that's a really good thing. My number one is is bringing it back
- 10:18to RFK. But my number two is perfably fine will Landover. Okay,
- 10:22very good. Well moving along here, Jamal. You know, I think
- 10:24the Commanders have had a pretty good off season. I do as somebody who's
- 10:28an Eagles fan follows the NFC East as well, and I think when you
- 10:33look at what they've done this offseason to help elevate their their you know,
- 10:37hopefully their play not just this coming season and in the future, I think
- 10:43their biggest offseason acquisition is actually Eric b. Enemy. I mean Eric Biennemy
- 10:46finally leaving Kansas City and personally, I think he should have been a head
- 10:50coach at some of their you know, with another team perhaps in the NFL.
- 10:54Making the lateral move to Washington, I think it's gonna bode well extreme
- 10:58or it's gonna vote extremely well for this Washington Commander's offense. Um, I'm
- 11:05wondering, you know, what would teams in the what should teams in the
- 11:09NFC East expect with Eric b Enemy as the new Commander's offensive coordinator? And
- 11:13and do you like the fact that he's gonna he's gonna be directing the offensive
- 11:18ship? I mean, I love the fact that he's going to be directing
- 11:20this ship when you have X amount of years under Andy Reid won his his
- 11:28his tutor leach Um, I hope I said that right. Uh? And
- 11:33then also uh, having to work with Andy Reid from a standpoint of you
- 11:37run the meetings, you insert plays from a game play standpoint, and that
- 11:41sometimes you call the plays like people don't understand or maybe they do. UM
- 11:48understand that he's been overshadowed by Andy Reid. That's not a negative thing.
- 11:52Andy Reid is a Hall of fame head coach. He is a Hall of
- 11:54fame play caller. He is a Hall of fame offensive mind. But he
- 11:58hasn't been given the opportunity from other teams to showcase what he can do after
- 12:01he didn't had such such five years of head coach. I'm excoose me offensive
- 12:05coordinator experience under him, and then after even before that, running backs coach
- 12:09like he's been with Andy for a long time, and I think that only
- 12:13helps him out down the line and for Washington, and what that means for
- 12:18Washington, I can't tell you, because we don't know. I can't tell
- 12:22you what type of scheme or offensive philosophy he solely believes in and what he
- 12:26wants to implement in Washington. But what I can tell you is that he's
- 12:31gonna he's gonna hold people accountable. He's gonna make sure that, like the
- 12:33intensity is picked up. Like Scott Turner, the former the previous offensive coordinator,
- 12:39was a very bland individual like and and and there's nothing wrong with bland
- 12:43offensive coordinators, but you kind of see how things can be lethargic. You
- 12:46can kind of see how things continuously from a play caller standpoint, aren't creative
- 12:50enough or he's overly he's overly creative when situations doesn't dictate, Like you can
- 12:56simply I'll just in lame his term. You can simply run the ball on
- 13:00third and one instead of running a double reverse right, just throwing something out
- 13:03there like you can do like you don't have to be super creative in certain
- 13:07instances, but you need to have need to have answers instead of like having
- 13:11predictive tendencies in certain situations that defenses already know that you're going to run and
- 13:16it makes it easy for them to get to the quarterback. So I think
- 13:20those are the things that when you look at Eric beenemy what he can bring,
- 13:22like his understanding of offenses and NFL defenses today is what is going to
- 13:28enhance the weapons that Washington already has on their roster. And for the most
- 13:33part, you hope that it really helps out Sam How the experience that he
- 13:37has Eric Beenemy, the experience that he has had with Patrick Mahomes Andy Reid
- 13:39to at least give Sam How a shot to win games in twenty twenty three.
- 13:46Yeah, I think it's gonna be really interesting to see. It's not
- 13:48just what the scheme is, but like you said, actually holding players accountable,
- 13:52because I think the offensive leadership over the years haven't been able to do
- 13:56that with some members of this off I think Eric b Enemy's really going to
- 14:01be able to hold players accountable on the field and even off the field in
- 14:05terms of practices things like that. I as a football fan, I can't
- 14:09wait to see what he's gonna do. As an Eagles fan, I'm a
- 14:11little concerned. So that being said, moving along here, this was the
- 14:16fourth draft that Ron Rivera participated in as a member of the Commander's Front Brass,
- 14:20and he worked closely with the GM Martin Mayhew, and inevitably we look
- 14:28at the top three picks. Emmanuel Forbes, cornerback, was selected out of
- 14:31Mississippi State again that first round pick. Then in the second round the defensive
- 14:37back dark Tavis Martin he was selected out of Illinois, and then Ricky Stromberg
- 14:43center out of Arkansas. He was the third round pick. So with these
- 14:48kind of top guys who every team is looking at, their top guys selected
- 14:52as being foundations for the future for every single team, you know, what
- 14:56did you like about the direction of the Commander's draft strategy here? And and
- 15:01what were your thoughts with regard to these top picks initially? And then uh,
- 15:05we're gonna get We're gonna get into what you didn't like. But what
- 15:09did you like about this Commander's draft to class and these top draft picks?
- 15:13Well, I mean to be honest with you, I can answer the latter
- 15:16question. I really didn't like and there wasn't much of it wasn't much that
- 15:20I didn't like because I thought the draft was solid heading into the draft at
- 15:26that point, there was a lot of conversation and truthful conversation that you know
- 15:28their needs really, if you want to be truthful, their needs were cornerback,
- 15:33offensive line, quarterback, and linebacker. Um. But for those who
- 15:39don't know, like and and they've even gotten they've even gotten criticized and Ashley
- 15:45for this. But Ron has committed since two weeks after the season ended,
- 15:50uh, which I don't necessarily agree with um. But he committed two weeks
- 15:56after the season that Sam Howe was going to have every opportunity to start as
- 16:00like to be quarterback one for Washington. So that was setting stone three months
- 16:03before the draft even started. So when you think about that, you eliminate
- 16:08the need for a top tier quarterback right because that's they're thinking. Do we
- 16:12agree with it? Who knows, Like you can disagree or agree with it,
- 16:17but there their line of thinking is we're gonna give Sam how every opportunity
- 16:21to start. So you bring into Kobe Brissett to bring in a competition,
- 16:25and whoever wins it out right there, wins it out. But they're gonna
- 16:29they want Sam how to take this job. That's the first thing. So
- 16:32you eliminate quarterback as a top tier need in your first three, your first
- 16:34three rounds. Then you look at linebacker, Well, linebacker, you don't
- 16:41Again, we're operating off the premise of this is how they're thinking. Linebacker,
- 16:45you don't use them a lot like you use two to three linebackers throughout
- 16:48a game, and most times when they're on the field, you're using one
- 16:52maybe two so and then the other one the other like your three. If
- 16:55you're in a four three type of situation, you're using the safety coming and
- 16:57bringing him down to the box. Like that's how they like to implement their
- 17:00guys. So, um, they ended up replacing co Hokan who left the
- 17:04Pittsburgh with Um Barton from Seattle. And so now you have Barton and Jamie
- 17:10Davis. Those are your top two. Now you have you have your depth
- 17:12guys in uh, Um, what is this man's name? I'm glad I
- 17:17don't remember his name because Mayo Mayo whatever, David Mayo or something, whatever
- 17:21his name is. Yeah, I was like, look, he ain't nothing,
- 17:23he ain't nothing to talk about. Yeah, exactly. So but again
- 17:29their premise, they're fine right there right now, So they don't have much
- 17:33to worry about. They got their top tier guys, their top their top
- 17:34of the depth chart guys. So now you look at the other two cornerback
- 17:40offensive line, whether they do in the draft, that's exactly what they got.
- 17:42The cornerback offensive line. They picked up Martin In the second round.
- 17:47They picked up Forbes in the first round, and then they picked up two
- 17:48offensive linemen and Stromberg and a guy from Utah. So like those are those
- 17:53are two pieces, two pieces on both sides of the football where you look
- 17:56at it and you say, okay, um, I think we're solid here.
- 18:02Like we came in the draft and we got exactly where we needed.
- 18:04We're good to go. So from a standpoint of what I didn't like,
- 18:07I thought it was a solid draft. I didn't have anything that I didn't
- 18:11like. I thought the needs were met according to what they what they perceived
- 18:14the needs to be. And then what I did like with Forbes is the
- 18:18fact that they needed playmakers. That that defense is a statistically a top ten
- 18:23defense, right, But I say this all the time. You cannot be
- 18:26an elite defense if you're not generated turnovers to go with you stopping people like
- 18:30nobody cares if you can get off the field, if you can't force turnovers
- 18:33and create extra opportunities for your offense, especially an offense where now you're going
- 18:37in with essentially a rookie in terms of sam how like that it is what
- 18:42it is, So give me a playmaker, right, And It hurts because
- 18:48on your defensive line, where you invested all the money, they aren't creating
- 18:52that many turnovers. Like Chase Young has been hurt for a year and a
- 18:55half and he just got back for the last three games. And then you
- 18:56have Mantes Sweat who isn't really when he is getting to the quarterback, he
- 19:02isn't knocking the ball out um. Same thing with the interior defensive line shorter
- 19:06A getting to the quarterback. They're getting stops, but we're not creating turnovers.
- 19:10And I think that's what you got with Forbes u the versatility that you
- 19:14got with Martin with your your safety slash nickel cornerback. He can he can
- 19:18help Jack del Rio see things from a different different lens in terms of how
- 19:22you match up people, how you disguise things, and and that kind of
- 19:25is going to help create a confusion for a quarterback pre snap and after the
- 19:30snap. So when you have a guy as smart at Forbes coming into the
- 19:33league already, he can only get better from that perspective. He's gonna have
- 19:37to refine his technique. He's not a lockdown corner, but he is a
- 19:41person who is very smart and has very good instincts. And when you have
- 19:45a guy who's who has very good instincts, who's a former wide receiver with
- 19:48a great catch radius at six one, with very good arm length, like,
- 19:52you're gonna be a person who's gonna be hard to throw on because he
- 19:55has he has such arm left where he could he could break up a pass,
- 19:57or he can go up there and snag it. So are you gonna
- 20:00take that risk on him or you're gonna try to find somebody else to pick
- 20:03on. Right, So I like exactly what they did with their with their
- 20:06draft picks. Man, they got there, they got their needs, and
- 20:08I'm looking forward to seeing how they how they actually play. But I like
- 20:11what they do, okay, And I think that's a good segue too when
- 20:15you were talking about there in terms of our next couple topics here, because
- 20:18I wanted to get into the strengths and weaknesses of the Commanders or as we're
- 20:22in the month of May, after this draft, you know, after you
- 20:25know, basically free agency here as well. You know, of course,
- 20:29what teams do during the offseason, they do pick up players here and there.
- 20:32During training camp. You know, some players are going to be released,
- 20:34some teams are gonna be picking up players here and there. But in
- 20:37terms of the biggest strength of this Commander's team, I'm not sure. As
- 20:41an outsider, I'm just not sure where to go with like the biggest strength
- 20:45actually and aside maybe from the defensive line. But you were just talking about
- 20:49the fact that they haven't necessarily created the turnovers, and I think that's going
- 20:53to be really important for them this season to take things to the next level.
- 20:57In terms of the defense again, which you were talking about, It's
- 21:00a great segue into this particular topic here, but is that the greatest strength
- 21:04of the Commanders? Is it the defensive line? What are your thoughts,
- 21:07what's the biggest strength? Yeah, it's still the defensive line. Um,
- 21:12I'll go one of offense and one of defense, but defensive line. Defensively,
- 21:15when you look at just the names off off just off the base of
- 21:19the names Jonathan Allen, Dern Payne, you can argue that they should have
- 21:25been at least a couple of votes in terms of All Pro like that's that's
- 21:29how good they were last season. They were topping the league and pressures on
- 21:33the defensive line, I think interior defensive linemen, they were maybe both they
- 21:37were both were top five. I believe. Um, y'all can fact check
- 21:40me if I'm wrong, but I think I'm right. Uh. And then
- 21:42you look at your edge guys. Chase Young his debut when he came back,
- 21:48he looked really good against Trip Williams. Like your first game back here
- 21:51against Trent Williams, and you look good. And it wasn't just against Trent.
- 21:55He had some multiple alignments where he's on left end, right side,
- 21:59But point being um, he looked. He looked decent in terms for a
- 22:02guy who has missed over a year and a half of football due to an
- 22:04ahl in patella tendon injury. I believe it was so like that is a
- 22:11positive sign. And then you look at mindset Sweat, who's coming off of
- 22:15a big productive year in terms of pressures created, but also what he's been
- 22:18able to do for this team, Like overall, from a collective unit,
- 22:22they can rush the pastor from the inside inside out, and they can stop
- 22:26the they can stop the perimeter runs from the outside in. Like that's kind
- 22:30of what they That's what their strengths are defensive line and everything else it's predicated
- 22:34off of that. Offensively, their their their strength is the rob receivers.
- 22:40Um, you got John Johan Dotson, who if he wasn't hurt, he
- 22:45would have led the NFL and arguably excuse me, he would have led the
- 22:48rookies and arguably the NFL and touchdowns last year when he got hurt. Um,
- 22:53let's say, I think it was like week four, week five,
- 22:56he led the NFL on touchdowns and and like that, that's who he is.
- 23:00He's a he's a he's a legit rear his own threat. Regardless of
- 23:03his size being five ten, right, or his height being five ten,
- 23:06he knows how to get open, especially in short areas. He's very quick,
- 23:08and he's very smart at the top of his routes. Right, And
- 23:11you look at Terry McLaurin, who has been nothing but consistant. I don't
- 23:15have to say too much because of the fact that like he's been in the
- 23:17league long enough for all of us in the NFC East to know what he
- 23:19can do. So like he's he's that, he's that good of a he's
- 23:22that good of a threat. And if you have somebody who can get him
- 23:26the ball in an offensive coordinator and Eric b Enemy who can find ways to
- 23:30get the best players and the best playmakers the football on this offense, then
- 23:34this is a this is a person, this is a team, and that's
- 23:37a player who can really who can be really successful. And then Curtis Samuel
- 23:41Um. If you think about who can I think about on the chiefs Um
- 23:47maybe maybe not not Jujiyum? Who is there, like who is their offensive
- 23:55weapon? Like a matter of fact, think about Um, don't even know.
- 23:59I can't. I mean I think Draco, but Um, I'm thinking
- 24:03like a guy who lines up in the backfield, who lines up at wide
- 24:06receiver, who lines up um like multiple multiple alignments, yea, in the
- 24:14slot, all those things like that's that's that's the offensive weapon that that Washington
- 24:18has had. And they were semi successful last year with Um Curtis, but
- 24:22the enemy has had success with with other players in that regard Um and and
- 24:26Curtis. Shamuel is being exposed to a bigger offensive mind than Scott Turner,
- 24:30so you kind of wonder how he's going to implement him in the offense.
- 24:33But overall, to my point of mission and Curtis, it is the fact
- 24:37that he can catch the ball, he can run the ball, and he
- 24:40has uh He's improved his route running over the years, So they're gonna be
- 24:44ways that they can use them on all three levels of the field, but
- 24:47also in the backfield as well. So when you look about looking at their
- 24:51top three receiving receiver receivers, that is their biggest weapon offensively, and you
- 24:56just hope that the offensive line stands up and holds up because that's the biggest
- 25:00gripe. If you can't protect the quarterback, they're not going to be getting
- 25:03the ball that much. And that's what we saw last year too. Well,
- 25:06is that the biggest weakness? Then getting into the weakness, is it
- 25:08the quarterbacker? Is it the offensive line? Do you think that's the biggest
- 25:11weakness on the team, To be honest, that's a good question. Um,
- 25:15well, excuse me, let's do offense and defense again. The biggest
- 25:18weakness right now? As a linebacker, Yeah, you don't know. Like
- 25:22Jayman has improved from his rookie season, he had a solid year two.
- 25:26UM, he developed as the year went on, UM, And I think
- 25:30that's why they were also comfortable and letting co hooke them go because they can
- 25:33work with a Barton guy but also keep giving Jayman some some more responsibilities.
- 25:38But in terms of weaknesses as it stands on May fifth, yeah, that's
- 25:45that's that's it right there, And they're gonna have to show me more once
- 25:48the season actually gets here. Offensively, it's tough, M because technically I
- 25:53would say quarterback, right because you don't know what you're gonna have in Sam
- 25:56Howe. And I think it's not fair to project like how fans would love
- 26:03to do and say, Sam, how is this? Or Sam, how
- 26:04isn't this? Um, we don't know, And for Washington and Ron river
- 26:10for a second, for Washington and Ron rivera to give Sam how the keys
- 26:15or or tease the keys because he has to earn it. M. Tease
- 26:18the keys and and say this is your job if you want it after one
- 26:22game? Yeah, yeah, that is problematic. Think about what Jalen Hurst
- 26:26had to go through in Philly. And I make this comparison because people say
- 26:30people in Washington say that, uh, you know, look what Philly did
- 26:36with Jalen Hurst. They gave him a year to figure out if they want
- 26:37to commit to him before or or move on, and they gave him the
- 26:42keys in twenty twenty three, and look how he boomed. But but guess
- 26:45what though, like they still had some tape evaluation on Jalen Hurts and his
- 26:51rookie season. He played like five games? Yeah, Sam How played one?
- 26:53Yes? Yeah, So so what do we? So? What do
- 26:56we? Why? Why is this a legit comparison in your head? And
- 26:59I don't I don't agree with the comparison sakes and even when you look in
- 27:04twenty twenty two Desmond Ridder Atlanta, they're giving him the keys. In twenty
- 27:07twenty three, but guess what, he played like six or seven games,
- 27:11Sam How played one? Yeah. So like all of these reasons for for
- 27:15trying to make a case for Sam is one thing, but it's not strong
- 27:19enough. And that's where that's where I'm like that technically is the biggest weakness
- 27:23because quarterback is your biggest piece on the NFL team. But offensive line definitely
- 27:29had some problems. They've addressed it in the offseason. They've stressed positional flex
- 27:34and they've found answers again their perception. They found answers all across the board
- 27:41minus left guard, where they're going to have an open competition there. So
- 27:45you just hope that they're right because if it's just as bad as last season,
- 27:49man, Sam don't stand a chance and the enemy may not look too
- 27:52good. It's not his fault. Yeah, absolutely, I gotta tell you
- 27:56I love this conversation. It was absolutely fantastic. As we're running low on
- 28:02time here, Jamal Man, I'm gonna let you go. And folks,
- 28:03you have to follow Jamal online and if you are on Twitter, if you
- 28:08are on Instagram, look up the Trapper Dive Podcast. Give him a follow.
- 28:12Fantastic content always there at let mall tell it on Twitter and again he
- 28:18does some work over at Hogshaven as well Trapper Dive Podcast. Absolutely love what
- 28:23you're doing, my man, and please come back and join us down the
- 28:27road. We'd love to talk more commanders with you at some point in the
- 28:30future anytime bos map press you having me. It's always great talking to Jamal.
- 28:36You know, this NFC East is getting really interesting. Of course,
- 28:40Philadelphia Eagles probably still the top team in the NFC East, and then we
- 28:44have the Dallas Cowboys probably the second team, but who knows what's gonna happen
- 28:48with the Giants, and of course this Washington Commander's team. I am absolutely
- 28:52serious in terms of Eric b enemy. Folks. You know Jamal serious about
- 28:56him. I think the NFL needs to be serious about what Eric B.
- 28:59Enemy is gonna bring to this offense and how prolific they can potentially be.
- 29:03Then again, as we're talking at the end of that interview and discussion,
- 29:07quarterback position is so up in the air, and you know, even if
- 29:11you have Eric B. Enemy as offensive coordinator, if that quarterback position is
- 29:15not consistent throughout the season, it's going to be tough for this offense to
- 29:18generate points and really get down the field to put the team in a good
- 29:22position. It's gonna be interesting to see where the commanders go from here,
- 29:26and especially after the sale of the team happens, because I think that mentality
- 29:32that Jamal and I were talking about, that mentality of the fan base is
- 29:34going to take a bit of a switch, and I think you're going to
- 29:37see a more passionate fan base things coming back to this Washington Commander's team and
- 29:44fan base overall could be interesting for sure. So that's gonna do it for
- 29:48us. Make sure you're following us on the Twitter dot com at Philadelphia p
- 29:52S team. You can follow us on Instagram as well. Search out with
- 29:53Philadelphia Sports Table. If anything happens to your podcast feed, head on over
- 29:57to the Philadephia Sports table com. It's where we have all of our podcasts,
- 30:02and that's gonna do it for us. Take care, we'll catch you
- 30:03next time.