Daily Slop - 25 Jun 24 - Schefter on Aiyuk: "Commanders were interested, but they decided not to do that deal" (2024)

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Commanders Wire

Report: 49ers and Commanders had discussions regarding wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk

On Monday, Aiyuk asked to meet with the 49ers to discuss his contract. There’s no word on if any progress was made. However, ESPN’s Adam Schefter acknowledged that San Francisco and Washington have at least discussed Aiyuk.

“There were some conversations at one point between the 49ers and Commanders,” Schefter said. “Commanders were interested, but they decided not to do that deal.”

Washington and San Francisco discussing Aiyuk is not surprising. Commanders general manager Adam Peters came to Washington in January after spending the previous seven years in San Francisco, including the final three as John Lynch’s assistant general manager.

Peters was San Francisco’s director of player personnel in 2020 when the 49ers used a first-round pick on Aiyuk. In addition to Peters, there’s also the Jayden Daniels connection. Daniels, Washington’s rookie quarterback and the No. 2 overall pick, is close with Aiyuk from their time together with Arizona State in 2019.

ESPN

2024 NFL OTAs: Players who surprised us most at minicamp

Washington Commanders

LB Jordan Magee

It’s uncertain how much playing time Magee will receive this season. But the fifth-round pick clearly made a strong first impression — enough to where a position of weakness the past several years can now be considered a strength. The Commanders signed starters Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu in free agency. They already had Jamin Davis, but because of the newcomers they’re trying him as an edge rusher. Magee is part of the reason for the optimism. They like how he played in coverage this spring; they also believe he showed he can be an effective blitzer. He’s someone they’re excited about for the future. “He doesn’t carry himself like a rookie,” defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. said. “You would not know that with the way he handles himself, the way he absorbs information. He doesn’t [make] a lot of mistakes.”

Riggo’s Rag

Jeremy Chinn can thrive under Commanders head coach Dan Quinn

Jeremy Chinn looked like a bona fide superstar in the making after taking the league by storm as a rookie in 2020. Things haven’t gone according to plan since then, but Chris Trapasso from CBS Sports believes Quinn’s previous experience with athletic, physically imposing secondary players can help the former second-round selection return to the form of old next season.

“He’s another Commanders player who’s produced at high level in the NFL and boasts the talent to be a foundational piece of Washington’s defensive unit for a long time. He also could be on this third team in three years if he doesn’t return to his early form in 2024. Remember, Chinn is a serious specimen for the safety spot — 6-foot-3 and 221-pounds with elite 4.45 speed and a 41-inch vertical. He has the built-in-a-lab size and athleticism to be half-safety, half-linebacker when more is being asked from the safety position than ever before. His new head coach, Dan Quinn, had a front-row seat to Kam Chancellor in Seattle, and Donovan Wilson and Markquese Bell became two quality, hard-hitting safeties in Dallas. Chinn should blossom under Quinn’s watch.”

- Chris Trapasso, CBS Sports

Chinn also believes this. He reportedly turned down more money from the Pittsburgh Steelers to become part of Quinn’s exciting project. The Southern Illinois product believes this is the right environment to get back on track. It also looks like the perfect fit schematically - something that can put his outstanding skill set to better use.

Mike Tanier

Cowboys Nightmares, Eagles Anxieties

The NFC East is the land of cheapskates, basketball billionaires and lame ducks. Also, the Giants.

When I first laid eyes upon the Commanders’ free agency and draft hauls in March and April, I was impressed by their sheer scope. Legends! Blue-chip prospects! Useful role players! Draftnik darlings! Guys who should have retired in 2021! The Commanders acquired a vast sea of newcomers, and not just on the field: their org chart is now teeming with innovators, steady-handed personnel wonks, no-nonsense coaching hardliners, living basketball legends and whatever the hell Kliff Kingsbury is pretending to be these days.

Then I looked closer and realized that the Commanders forgot to acquire a left tackle. Or a starting-caliber edge rusher. And they got thrifty and weird at cornerback, their weakest position in 2023. Also: KINGSBURY?

The Commanders are absolutely set at the Old Guy Who No Longer Produces YAC position on the depth chart with Ertz and Ekeler. Their choices at left tackle, however, are 33-year old (in July) journeyman swing tackle Cornelius Lucas and third-round pick Brandon Coleman of TCU, whom many experts projected as a guard. The Commanders’ major acquisition at outside cornerback was Michael Davis, who allowed nine touchdowns for the Chargers last year. Armstrong looked great for the Cowboys when getting blocked on third-and-long by whoever wasn’t coping with Parsons and Tank Lawrence, Fowler looked OK when getting blocked on third-and-longer by whoever was left after that.

Quality edges, left tackles and cornerbacks are expensive and hard to find. The football faction of Harris’ multi-sport council of geniuses surely knows that it will take a year or two to find playoff-caliber starters at those positions. That’s fine, but it’s not an excuse to double down on the failed-prospect edge rushers and older-than-dust tight ends.

As for the Commanders coaching staff, Kingsbury isn’t the only oddball. Offensive line coach Bobby Johnson punched a Giants linebacker during a training-camp dustup back in 2022; he probably should steer clear of Wagner on hot days. Johnson was also the mastermind behind the Giants’ decision to cross-train all of their linemen at multiple positions in case of injuries last year. When the injuries arrived, it turned out that no one was any good at any position.

Meanwhile, running game coordinator Anthony Lynn, a head coach and well-regarded offensive mind until he failed to make Justin Herbert an insta-Hall of Famer (funny how that keeps happening), revealed the coaching staff’s secret plan for overcoming deficiencies on the offensive line: let Jayden Daniels run more.

The Commanders deserve credit for being very busy in the offseason. Once the Ertz/Ekeler scaffolding falls away and Wagner and Magic launch their exclusive line of speedboats or pocket squares or whatever, the Commanders should be left with several useful players. The draft class looks promising. Better to aggressively churn the roster right away than to spend a year performatively “evaluating” everyone, which Harris got out of the way last year. Everything could turn out fine if Daniels doesn’t pick up bad habits and/or injuries as a rookie. It’s just a shame that the Commanders appear to have baked that scenario directly into their plans.

Commanders Wire

Commanders president Jason Wright was a finalist to be Packers CEO and team president

According to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, Wright was a finalist for the Green Bay Packers president and CEO position.

The move would’ve represented a step up for Wright as the Packers are the NFL’s only publicly-owned, nonprofit organization, meaning he would’ve essentially operated as owner.

The Packers hired Ed Policy, who had been with the organization since 2012. Policy first served as Green Bay’s vice president and general counsel before he was promoted to COO in 2018.

Wright, 41, joined Washington in 2020, becoming the NFL’s first Black team president. His time in Washington has been full of ups and downs. Wright led Washington’s rebranding to the Commanders in 2022, which didn’t go well with a large portion of the fan base.

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The Athletic

What should each NFL team be worried about entering camp? Picking one concern for all 32

Dallas Cowboys

How quickly will injured defenders return to expected form?

The Cowboys have justified a lot of their inactivity, particularly on the defensive side, by pointing to the return of players they lost last year to season-ending injuries. Linebacker DeMarvion Overshown showed promise in training camp as a rookie, but his season ended with a torn ACL in the preseason. Trevon Diggs got off to a great start but tore his ACL in practice before Week 3. Although the Cowboys added Eric Kendricks in free agency, they’ll rely heavily on Overshown emerging as the real deal. After not re-signing Stephon Gilmore, they’ll also count on Diggs returning to his All-Pro level to hold down one side opposite of DaRon Bland.

New York Giants

Did they improve enough on the offensive line?

You could have asked the same question of the Giants for the past decade, and each season, the answer has remained no. The Giants hope they finally got it right this year, particularly after investing in free agents Jon Runyan Jr. and Jermaine Eluemunor to fortify the unit. Throughout the spring, Runyan lined up at right guard. Eluemunor assumed the left guard spot, which should create a formidable tandem with left tackle Andrew Thomas, assuming Evan Neal remains at right tackle. But that’s a big assumption. Will Neal play well enough to keep his job? He has been rehabbing after undergoing surgery in January to repair a small fracture in his ankle. The Giants can’t afford another season wrecked by poor offensive line play.

Philadelphia Eagles

Is there clarity in this offensive system?

Eagles fans will spend their summer nights dreaming of the possibilities associated with a star-studded offensive depth chart. But there’ll be the occasional intruding nightmare that the coaching staff will once again fail to maximize the talent on their roster. Every TV screen in Philly will be in danger if the Eagles begin the season looking as lost offensively as they did during their historic collapse last season. New OC Kellen Moore has said he wants a “clean operation” for Jalen Hurts. How will Moore’s philosophy blend with Nick Sirianni’s?

Washington Commanders

Who will play left tackle?

The offensive line features three new starters. Developing chemistry can take time once the five-man unit is established. That’s yet to happen, even if we assume Cornelius Lucas is the Week 1 option at left tackle. Any hyperventilating over protection worries for rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels is a tad overblown. Lucas, a longtime swing tackle, is decent and third-round pick Brandon Coleman flashed his athleticism in camp. Still, the free agent market is thin — maybe ex-Cardinal D.J. Humphries can reunite with Kliff Kingsbury? — and so the left tackle battle likely comes down to these two. Until we see how the blind-side protector competition plays out, it’s understandable that some might hang on to their apprehension.

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Sports Illustrated

Has the NFL Reached a Tipping Point in the Race for All-Access Content?

More than a quarter of the league will be documented by NFL Films alone this season. Several GMs discuss the way those shows have changed in our new era of reality TV.

NFL Films came to New York Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum in 2009 wanting to shine the Hard Knocks spotlight on his team and, at that point, the timing was not right. He had a rookie coach (Rex Ryan), a rookie quarterback (Mark Sanchez) and too many moving parts.

After that team made the AFC title game, HBO and NFL Films circled back.

Tannenbaum, raised in the business by Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells, still had serious reservations. Then, he talked to the original Hard Knocks GM: Ozzie Newsome, whose 2001 Baltimore Ravens were the guinea pigs for the first season of the famed summer show.

“He made a really interesting point that convinced me,” Tannenbaum says. “He’s like, When the cameras are on, the players compete more, because the eyes of the football world are on them. I never had thought of it that way.”

And the result?

The Jets wound up back in the conference championship round.

“After our experience, I completely agree with [Ozzie],” Tannenbaum continues. “It made practices a heck of a lot more competitive. That was a massive positive I didn’t expect. It allowed for people’s authentic personalities to come out. That team had a ton of characters on it. It was a much different experience, much more positive, than I would have expected.”

Those, of course, were simpler times.

Of late, a lot has changed. Teams have launched their own in-house reality series. The idea of featuring camp has spilled over into the season, into the draft, into other sports and just about everywhere.

That brings the total to nine teams, more than a quarter of the league, raising the curtain for NFL Films alone.

After watching it, I’d agree.

The content, of course, was gold for the viewers. There was Commanders GM Adam Peters’s comment to Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman—“You’re a pain in the ass”— as Philly tried to move up to land Iowa DB Cooper DeJean.

There were all the minute details of the Rams’ varied attempts to trade up. And, to me, the potential for collateral damage was notable.

Of course, neither Roseman nor the Eagles signed up for their negotiation to be public, nor did the Jets, Las Vegas Raiders or Indianapolis Colts know beforehand that the Rams’ offers they turned down would be aired. Then, there’s the player side. It’s one thing for DE Jared Verse, the Rams’ first-round pick, to know that his team was trying to move up for tight end Brock Bowers, who plays on the other side of the ball. It’s another to know they were also trying to get in position to take Texas 3-technique Byron Murphy, another pass rusher, after failing to land Bowers.

Now, there are professional courtesies and personal relationships that can cut through these complications. The Commanders, for example, took the aforementioned clip to the Eagles, and Roseman, to make sure they were comfortable with it before it aired.

One thing that those who’ve gone through the experience seem to agree on is how professional the NFL Films people on the ground are. The camera ops, sound guys and producers have a way of blending in with their surroundings that, in most cases, allows for players, coaches and staff to go about their business in a normal way.

“You almost forget, they do such a good job,” Tannenbaum says. “I remember one time I had agreed to meet with Darrelle Revis’s agent in-person. During the day, one of the producers came up to me and said, Do you mind if I come to that meeting? … How do you know about that? … We record all your calls. … Oh my God, I forgot. They have unfettered access.”

Front Office Sports

NFL Sunday Ticket Trial Nears End: Latest on $21 Billion Antitrust Battle

The ongoing NFL Sunday Ticket trial in Los Angeles may be drawing closer to a conclusion entering its fourth week, as the league continues its efforts to fend off an antitrust lawsuit that could ultimately cost $21 billion and, perhaps more important, put a major wrench in a longtime, lucrative media-rights strategy.

Closing statements could come this week, with the last scheduled witness, an economist from Stanford University, set to finish his testimony Monday. Other witnesses who have taken the stand include NFL commissioner Roger Goodell (above) and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Patriots owner Robert Kraft was among those to give a deposition.

Trial Twists and Turns

For those getting caught up on the situation, here are some of the major storylines that Front Office Sports has been following:

• The NFL wouldn’t let ESPN, which wanted to bid for Sunday Ticket, drastically reduce the price of the package.
• Goodell took a shot at the quality of NFL Network game broadcasts.
• The league entered the trial with an uphill battle.
• Testimony from key figures like Goodell and Jones showed the gravity of the situation.

U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez, who is overseeing the case, last week said he was upset with how the plaintiffs have handled the lawsuit, which in his mind has become too complicated.

“This case has gone in a direction it shouldn’t have gone,” Gutierrez said. Should the case go to a jury verdict, and the NFL loses, the league will still be able to appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court, if it chooses to do so.

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