Daily Slop – 19 Apr 24: Commanders “could be a disastrous landing spot for a young quarterback” – The Athletic

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Washington Post (paywall)

Adam Peters, calm and coy, explains that prospects trip to Topgolf

Peters, who hasn’t always looked entirely comfortable in news conferences, was calm, confident and coy. He acknowledged the stakes of the draft were high with Washington holding so much capital — nine picks, including six in the top 100 — and said the team is “real close” to settling on the player it will take when the draft kicks off next Thursday night. When asked whether the team would package other picks to acquire another selection in the first round, he added that “anything is in consideration.”

Peters, who was not asked about Butler’s social media activity, said he liked the group approach and praised player personnel assistant Ashley Cohrs for creating a grid schedule to make sure each player’s visit was productive and efficient.

“It was very beneficial to see everybody in a more relaxed environment,” Peters said. “They all got a lot of time individually with their coaches, with us, where they were staggered coming in, too, so it wasn’t like they were sitting in a room together. They all had their own individual time with everybody. So it worked out really well.”

“This is the first time that I’ve been a part of doing it with a huge group of players together at once,” assistant GM Lance Newmark added. “I thought it was a really cool dynamic seeing … how guys came together, how magnetic certain individuals were versus others. Just that loose kind of casual feel from the one night to the next day, where it was more individualized the next day.”

NBC Washington

Commanders are in line to take a quarterback with the NFL draft’s 2nd pick

“We’re real close (to deciding),” new general manager Adam Peters said Thursday. “I will say this also: You don’t really need to make a decision until you need to make a decision, so there’s no rush with that. But I think we’ll have a pretty good idea what we’re doing early next week.”

Trading down and stockpiling assets could have been an option for Washington given the holes to fill all over a roster being overhauled from top to bottom, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.

“We feel great about staying at No. 2,” Peters said. “I don’t see a whole lot of scenarios where we trade down, to be honest with you. Yeah, we feel great about sticking there.”

Offensive line, particularly left tackle, is the biggest void after the release of two-year starter Charles Leno. Trading up for a second first-round pick, which Peters acknowledged was possible, could help Washington get Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga, Alabama’s JC Latham or Penn State’s Olu Fashanu — all considered first-round prospects.

“I think it’s pretty universally known it’s a really good tackle class, a deep tackle class,” Peters said. “We got a chance to visit with a lot of them. … We’re really excited about that group.”

But even if Washington uses the second pick on a QB, it has five more on Day 2: Nos. 36 and 40 in round 2 and Nos. 67, 78 and 100 in round 3.

“The quality of the picks, at the top of the rounds, just the real high quality level of the picks, especially those top six, really allow us to make a dramatic impact on our roster right away,” assistant GM Lance Newmark said.

Commanders.com

Five takeaways from Adam Peters and Lance Newmark’s pre-draft press conference

3. They learned a lot from bringing prospects together.

As most people know by now, the Commanders hosted four of the top quarterbacks, as well as several other prospects, at their facility and treated them to Top Golf. It provided the team with an opportunity to see how all the prospects — not just the quarterbacks — interacted together in a casual setting.

Peters has done this in the past, but it was a first for Newmark, who was impressed with how things unfolded.

“I thought it was a really cool dynamic seeing…how guys came together, how magnetic certain individual were versus others,” Newmark said. “I really thought it was a great experience because you see how guys are in a group, and then you spend time with guys individually.”

Once the presser was over, Peters stuck around for a minute and was asked which player did the best. He chuckled but didn’t give anything away.

5. They appreciate the pressure.

The Commanders have a rare chance to change their roster in a monumental way with the No. 2 overall pick. Regardless of who it is, that player will shape the team’s future for at least the next four seasons and possibly more if things go well. Here comes the obvious statement: it’s important for Peters and Newmark to get that right.

And they know it.

“There is a lot of pressure,” Peters said. “It’s a great responsibility, and we take this very seriously. That’s why we’ve been working tirelessly on this and turning over every stone. We want to do this not just for this organization, but for this region, this fan base and for the men, the coaching staff and the players on the field.”

Washington has been a revolving door at the quarterback for position for the past six years. Veterans like Alex Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick as well as younger players like Taylor Heinicke and Sam Howell have come and gone over the years, playing a role in the average at best performance of the team in that time span.

Washington has a chance to end that in a week. They can take a quarterback they believe is going to put them on a path towards winning a championship. How seriously they take it doesn’t guarantee success, but they at least understand the gravity of that possibility and want to get it right.

“That’s what we signed up for,” Peters said.

The Athletic (paywall)

Ranking the most to least ideal QB-needy teams for NFL Draft’s top passers to land

7. Washington Commanders

• Pass blocking: C
• Run game: B
• Weapons: B-
• Play-caller: C
• Defense: F

Terry McLaurin is a borderline No. 1 receiver. He hasn’t had a monster season yet but that might have to do with quarterback play. Jahan Dotson was disappointing but I still think he can be a productive No. 2 in the right environment. Other than those two, there isn’t much to be excited about with this pass-catching group. The Commanders need to add a weapon in the draft but they have holes all over the roster.

Brian Robinson is an excellent young running back who was underutilized last season in Eric Bieniemy’s pass-happy offense. The running game could be much better under new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who had strong running attacks calling plays for the Cardinals. Kingsbury is a creative play designer but ultimately, the lack of sequencing in his play-calling and lack of attention to detail make his offense hard to watch at times. His offenses in Arizona relied too much on the playmaking abilities of Kyler Murray, and leaning too much on a rookie quarterback to create usually isn’t a recipe for success.

On top of their offensive issues, the Commanders had one of the worst defenses in the league last season. They might be able to improve under the leadership of new head coach Dan Quinn but the defense figures to continue to be a bottom-10 unit. Washington could be a disastrous landing spot for a young quarterback.

Commanders Wire

Odds are shifting for the Commanders QB decision at No. 2

Daniels took a big step ahead of Maye last week when ESPN’s Adam Schefter said he thought Commanders fans could order their Daniels jerseys.

On Thursday night, we witnessed yet another significant shift.

Some of this comes from Wednesday evening on Twitter. Daniels’ agent liked a pair of tweets that appeared to criticize the Commanders for holding top 30 visits with multiple prospects, including four quarterbacks.

The next day, the agent informs the media that Daniels is meeting the Minnesota Vikings for dinner on Thursday night after previously being hesitant to meet with them.

We are six days away from the NFL draft, and these odds could continue to shift up until next Thursday night. Usually, we learn more about a team’s intentions the closer it gets to the draft, but that doesn’t appear to be the case for the Commanders — so far.

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“One Awesome Pot of Gumbo” | Commanders Log: Season 3, Episode 2

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Deadspin

Packers sign former Eagles, Titans OT Andre Dillard

Dillard had been released by the Tennessee Titans as a salary cap casualty on March 15 after career highs of 10 starts and 562 offensive snaps in 16 appearances last season.

He had signed with the Titans as a free agent after four years with the Philadelphia Eagles, who selected him No. 22 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft.

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Pats Pulpit

Patriots impressed by ‘unique’ class of quarterbacks, but remain ‘open for business’

Eliot Wolf held the team’s annual pre-draft press conference on Thursday.

Meeting with the media on Thursday, Patriots director of scouring Eliot Wolf said the team remains “open for business” regarding a trade involving the No. 3 overall pick, while they also have been impressed by a “unique” class of quarterback prospects.

“Ongoing. We’re open to anything,” Wolf said on trade talks. “Moving up, moving down. We’re open for business in the first round and in every round. We have some holes we feel like we need to fill in the draft. We’re a draft-and-develop team; the more picks we have the better.”

Speaking at the NFL Annual Meetings last month, head coach Jerod Mayo said the team would consider moving off the pick for “a bag” — or multiple first-round selections. Wolf shared Thursday that the team has not received such an offer at this point in time that they would think about dealing the No. 3 pick in exchange for.

While quarterback remains the team’s biggest need moving forward, Wolf shared the team’s first pick does not have to be used at the position. But if they do, New England is “comfortable” with the options that will be available to them, as well as with the infrastructure that will be around a potential rookie QB.

“We feel good about where we are,” Wolf said. “We feel through free agency, on the offensive side in particular, that we’ve been able to supplement our roster properly so we’re not having to draft for need as much.”

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Washington Post (paywall)

The NFL needs kickoff returners again — and it could impact the draft

“I think there’s teams and decision-makers that want to be ahead of the curve a little bit and view [kickoffs] as that could be a difference-making play again and something that we haven’t seen in terms of how this is set up,” Jeremiah said. “I’m fascinated to see it. And I think it’s going to help separate a lot of ties between players.”

A desire for pre-draft clarity on whether the new kickoff model would be in effect next season may have helped nudge owners toward ratifying the rule at the annual league meeting in Orlando rather than leaving the matter to be resolved at their next meeting in May, according to one of the architects of the format.

“The kickoff returner’s value is going to skyrocket because of the amount of times he’s going to have his hands on the ball,” Dallas Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel said just after the rule was ratified. “I think maybe that’s one of the reasons people wanted to get this done now, because the draft is coming up and they didn’t want it to be tabled until May.”

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Cordarrelle Patterson, the NFL’s all-time leader with nine kickoff return touchdowns, to a two-year, $6 million contract on the day the new rule was ratified.

The Baltimore Ravens signed former all-pro returner Deonte Harty this month after losing their two-time Pro Bowl returner, Devin Duvernay, earlier in free agency. The Kansas City Chiefs signed rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit under the NFL’s international player pathway program and could give him a chance as a kickoff returner.

“Some teams may choose to go a little bit bigger,” Rizzi said. “Some teams may choose to go a little bit faster. I think that will be one of the exciting parts of the play, to kind of see how teams play it out. … We do know that roster configuration is going to be a big part of this because it makes those players — your returners, your kickers, your core players — more valuable.”

ESPN

NFL reinstates five players from gambling suspensions

The NFL has reinstated five players who were suspended for the 2023 season for violating the NFL’s gambling policy.

Washington Commanders defensive end Shaka Toney and four free agents — defensive end Rashod Berry, wide receiver Quintez Cephus, safety C.J. Moore, and defensive end Demetrius Taylor — were reinstated.

Defensive back Isaiah Rodgers, who also was suspended last year for at least the 2023 season, wasn’t reinstated Thursday. His situation remains under review, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Thursday. Both Rodgers and Berry were with the Indianapolis Colts at the time of their suspensions, and both were released by the team last year.

Rodgers later signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, who hold his rights if he gets reinstated.

Cephus and Moore were with the Detroit Lions at the time of their suspensions and both were released by the team. Cephus had 60 catches for 568 yards and four touchdowns with the Lions in three seasons. Moore appeared in 56 games for Detroit from 2019-22.

Toney is a 2021 seventh-round pick who has 1.5 sacks with Washington in two seasons.