Daily Slop – 1 Mar 24: Jason Wright on rebranding: “It’s not a priority right now…[it’s] not a focus right now”

A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East and the NFL in general

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Commanders Wire

Commanders president Jason Wright says name change ‘not a priority right now’

When Josh Harris and his partners purchased the Commanders last summer, there were many indications that the ownership group did not like the [team] name. Harris, Mitchell Rales, and Mark Ein grew up in the Washington area, going to games at RFK Stadium and rooting for the Redskins. Another minority partner, Magic Johnson, went on the TODAY Show and said all options were on the table.

However, Harris poured some cold water on the name debate when he took over. He didn’t say it wasn’t going to happen but that he had other more pressing issues for his new team. Thus far, Harris has been true to his word on everything. Most recently, he’s been busy assembling Washington’s impressive new leadership team led by GM Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn.

On Wednesday, the name topic was back in the news when Wright was a guest of “Grant and Danny” on 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C.

“I’d feel the same as it would be with anybody else: if it’s the right thing to do, that’s what it is, and I don’t take anything personally. But, it’s not a priority right now,” Wright said about the name change, courtesy of Lou DiPietro of Audacy.

“We have a lot of work to do on a million other things, but these guys make the right decisions and don’t do stuff on a whim; with any decision, it doesn’t come out of the clear blue, so there’s no reason to posture or defend. Like with their GM process, rapid but thorough is a good description of any process and decision they make, but our focus is on business, and this is not a focus right now.”

Commanders.com

Five things to know about special teams coordinator Larry Izzo

1. He’s one of the best tacklers that Rice ever had.

Izzo was a dominant athlete in high school, starting his playing career at Broad Run High School in Ashburn, Virginia, before moving to Texas, where he spent his junior and senior seasons at McCullough High School. He played on both sides of the ball, rushing for 1,081 yards and recording 131 tackles as a senior, which earned him a scholarship at Rice University.

Once he joined the Owls, Izzo stuck to defense as a linebacker and made his mark as one of the best defenders in school history.

3. He’s a four-time Super Bowl champion.

One year after earning his first of three Pro Bowl selections, Izzo signed with the Patriots in 2001 — the same year that Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the team won their first Super Bowl, Izzo played all 16 games, recording 24 tackles and a fumble recovery as well as a tackle in the Super Bowl against the St. Louis Rams.

Two years later, Izzo was back in the Super Bowl after getting 22 tackles, two pass breakups and an interception. Izzo recorded a solo tackle against the Carolina Panthers, as the team secured their second Super Bowl win in three seasons.

The 2004 season was arguably Izzo’s best, as he had a career-high 25 stops, including 22 solo tackles, which earned him his third Pro Bowl. The Patriots went on to win their third Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Izzo earned his fourth Super Bowl ring once he began his coaching career with the New York Giants as an assistant special teams coach. Izzo played a role in improving the team’s special teams unit (more on that in a bit), and helped the Giants get a win over the Patriots in the Super Bowl, holding New England to just 17 points. Jerrel Jernigan had three kick returns for 71 yards, including a long of 34 yards, while Patriots returner Julian Edelman was held without a punt return.

Commanders.com

Combine notebook | Brock Bowers is a ‘do-it-all’ guy; Kool-Aid McKinstry wants to dominate man coverage

Of all the tight ends available in this year’s draft class, none are more touted than Georgia’s Brock Bowers, who is considered the best at his position by far. Bowers has been a critical piece of the Bulldogs’ offense for years, getting at least 700 years in each of his three seasons. He was a unanimous All-American in 2023, and he believes he can bring “a lot” to an NFL offense.

Arizona’s Tanner McLachlan is set to join the long list of NFL tight ends that started out as basketball players. He originally committed to playing basketball in high school before ultimately deciding that football was the better path for him. Based on his career at Arizona — 94 receptions for 682 yards and eight touchdowns — that decision turned out to be the right one.

There isn’t an obvious top option when looking at the cornerback class, but Iowa’s Cooper DeJean is the closest thing to it. A unanimous All-American for the Hawkeyes, DeJean set a single-season school record with three interceptions returned for touchdowns in 2022. He has seven for his career to go with 120 tackles, and he says his work ethic is what sets him apart.

Let’s talk about a local prospect for a bit. Maryland’s Beau Brade was a cornerstone of Mike Locksley’s efforts to turn around the program, recording 75 tackles, a forced fumble and an interception with six pass breakups in his senior year. He’s currently viewed as a Day 2 player, but all he really wants to do is be the best player possible.

Burgundy & Gold Report

5 Potential Day 2-3 Combine Prospects to Watch | Washington Commanders

Over 300 prospects received invites to the annual NFL Combine, but these 5 under the radar prospects have received little to no attention during the evaluation process.

Washington has needs at linebacker, tight end, possession receiver and could use a viable special teams returner. These prospects deserve a deeper look during the week in Indianapolis.

Podcasts & videos

NFL Combine, Top QB Prospects, and 1-on-1 with Adam Peters | Command Center | Washington Commanders

Nicki Jhabvala Gives Inside Scoop on FedEx Leaving Commanders and More!

Combine Day 2: A stadium with no name; a Blutarsky-esq report card

NFC East links

Blogging the Boys

Cowboys fanbase thinks Mike Zimmer will improve on Dan Quinn

Hope is fun.

There was a time when former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was the most popular Dallas Cowboys coach. All you have to do is think back to the disastrous season for the defense under Mike Nolan in Mike McCarthy’s first season, and then think of the rescue job Dan Quinn did the next season.

Quinn was an aggressive coach who had great rapport with his players, and he had a little swagger that the fanbase instantly gravitated towards. But he also produced on the field. The Cowboys defense under Quinn became one of the better units in the NFL. Their ability to take the ball away at a high rate became their calling card. Guys like Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland thrived.

But there was a downside to that defense. Teams with solid running games could gut the Cowboys as Quinn was constantly moving guys around and stunting the defensive line. This made for a tough pass rush, but also opened up lanes for the running game of the opposition. The undersized personnel at certain positions only added to the problem.

The defense stumbled down the stretch of the 2023 season, and was demolished by the Green Bay Packers in the wild card playoff game. That seemed to break the spell with fans. Because when we asked you how the defense would do under new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer compared to Dan Quinn, the answer was overwhelming. 80% of respondents thought it would be better.

Blogging the Boys

Jerry Jones’ ‘all-in’ claim for Dallas Cowboys seems like it may have just been an empty promise

Jerry Jones’ declaration of being ‘all-in’ on 2024 may have just been nothing but words.

A month ago, Jerry Jones, of his own volition, told the world that the Dallas Cowboys would be all-in on the 2024 season. Here is a reminder of exactly what he said.

“I would anticipate — with looking ahead at our key contracts that we’d like to address — we will be all in. I would anticipate we will be all in at the end of this year. So when you say is there any thought…we will push the hell out of it.”

“It will be going all in on different people than you’ve done in the past. We will be going all in. We’ve seen some things out of some of the players that we want to be all in on. Yes, I would say that you will see us this coming year not build it for the future. It’s the best way I’ve ever said. And that ought to answer a lot of questions.”

As matters unfold throughout the week at the NFL combine, it has grown more likely that this may yet be another empty promise from the brass of America’s Team.

The Cowboys have a handful of important extensions to tend to this offseason (Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parsons), but according to Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News, they are not exactly participating in a lot of conversations with anyone else.

Gehlken noted that the Cowboys (at the time of his tweet anyway) had fewer scheduled meetings with agents than in years past. Legal tampering hasn’t officially begun, the new league year has not begun, so on and so forth. So the Cowboys have not, technically, not done anything yet.

But this is akin to the precogs in the movie Minority Report envisioning a crime before it happens. That system was proven not to be completely accurate so this one isn’t either, but the writing is on the wall and it is saying that the Cowboys are not planning a spending spree like Jerry’s comments intimated.

When the season ended for Dallas the way that it did, the fanbase needed some sort of carrot to hold on to while dealing with yet another frustrating end to a campaign. Jerry seemingly offered one and either didn’t believe there would ever come a point in time to have to pay the bill on it, or didn’t care how that would ultimately happen.

We will know full well just how serious the Cowboys were/are on this front in less than two weeks. Prepare to be disappointed or risk hoping at your own peril.

NFL league links

Articles

Washington Post (paywall)

Sticks and chains, time for a change? NFL mulls tech for first downs.

The NFL has tested an electronic system for measuring first downs and will gauge the interest of teams and their owners in implementing such a system as soon as next season, league officials said Thursday.

“There is some” interest by teams and owners in putting such a system to use, said Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations.

The league is not quite ready to retire its sticks-and-chain system for determining whether a team has reached the yard line necessary to gain a first down, however. League officials said the expectation is that the electronic system could be used as a supplemental officiating tool, at least at first.

Vincent said the 2025 season is probably a more realistic target for the electronic system to be used extensively.

The Athletic (paywall)

NFL players graded their clubs. Here’s your team’s GPA

To get a better understanding of the letter grades compiled for the NFL Players’ Association, The Athletic used the ratings to calculate each team’s cumulative GPA, in the same way high schoolers and college students are assessed after each term. The GPAs are not weighted, so the rankings they generate differ from weighted rankings that were released by the NFLPA, which did not include details about its weighting system in the data it published.

The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs,…finished last with a 1.24 — perhaps D’s do get degrees — behind the 1.36 earned by the Commanders. (Washington was rated last in the NFLPA rankings.)

The report cards include grades from 1,706 players — about 77 percent of the league — from all 32 teams. Each player assessed their employer around the beginning of last season on 11 categories covering different working conditions and environments.

The athletes handed out a tidy 32 F’s in categories across the NFL — but that wasn’t one F for each team. Only 12 teams got a failing grade in one of their categories. The Commanders had five and the Chiefs had four.

NBC Sports

NFL Network hilariously trolls Patrick Mahomes during NFL combine

Mahomes had one ask for NFL Network’s coverage of this week’s combine. His request was denied.

The Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback requested on Wednesday that NFL Network not use his 4.80-second 40-yard dash from 2017 as a comparison to draft prospects who run in the event this year.

But the three-time Super Bowl champion’s request was denied.

During Thursday’s coverage of the combine, NFL Network showed Mahomes’ 40-yard dash on the broadcast. And instead of using it as a comparison to quarterback prospects, Mahomes was shown running next to a pair of defensive tackles: Florida State’s Braden Fiske, who finished in 4.78 seconds, and Texas’ T’Vondre Sweat, who finished in 5.27 seconds.

Mahomes had a great reaction to the clip when the NFL posted it on X.

NFL Network then poked fun at the Chiefs QB again after Texas Tech EDGE Myles Cole, who played at Mahomes’ alma mater, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.69 seconds.

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