2025 Washington Commanders Camp / Preseason

[Voice_of_Reason]

It's not Galdi who is the Robinson guy. He's not. Galdi is the dude I've quoted showing Robinson's anayltics are subpar.

It's Mark Bullock on his show who said that the current RBs are 80% of what Robinson is but at 20% of the salary so he sees the move as about money versus RB play.

Sorry, I know. I was just saying Galdi seems to have a very level headed approach to it. Not bad. Not great. Shrug.

I hadn't heard the Bullock quotes yet.

My post was confusing. Sorry

 

[Bulldog]

Yep, Washington paid Terry McLaurin $32M for this season and went out and traded for veterans like Tunsil that are going to cost a fortune to resign in 2026 and yet in 2025 they went cheap at running back because they couldn't afford to pay Brian Robinson? Give me a break

Robinson's contract was over after 2025 and so his salary was not going to count against the cap when we needed to resign these other players in any event.

At 26, if Robinson fit into Kliff's scheme and he thought Robinson could play at near a pro bowl level here he would have lobbied to keep him.

Instead the coaches seemed comfortable with the decision that was made.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Sorry, I know. I was just saying Galdi seems to have a very level headed approach to it. Not bad. Not great. Shrug.

I hadn't heard the Bullock quotes yet.

My post was confusing. Sorry

Bullock doesn't argue against the average point but he couches it as average is good but there are a lot of good RBs. I slightly disagree with that point but I don't have a problem with it. It was the rest...

Months back, Bullock came off a bit lukewarm about Croskey-Merritt after watching his college tape, he was intrigued but didn't come off that enthusiastic -- and he didn't think he was a threat to Robinson's job. He thought Robinson was their best back. Now Bullock has warmed up to Croskey-Merritt some.

And again I like Bullock, so don't want to come off too harsh on him. But I thought his point about Rodriguez and Croskey Merritt are 80% of Robinson the player but they can get them at 20% of the cost so he sees it as a cap saving move -- that is ridiculous.

I think its OK to just say the team didn't agree with him that Robinson is the best back on the team. Maybe he's vindicated in the end and Robinson kills it at SF. But for now, its clear that the team didn't agree with him and that's OK. No need to come up with weird explainations to make it come off that the team was on the same page as him -- because yeah saving 1.5 million of cap room, to get 80% of the back that Robinson is, during an all in lets win a SB season -- is comical IMO.

 

[Echo Hawk]

Our LB depth this year is better than I thought it would be.

Jordan Magee just moves differently. If he stays healthy, he might be that AP 5th round pro bowl LB.

And Ale Kaho I think makes the roster. He is where he’s supposed to be, and when he arrives, the ball carrier goes DOWN. Love the physicality and instincts. You can tell that his speed hurts him a little on some of those coverage plays. He looks like a guy that could be a solid backup, especially on running downs. Did Kaho play special teams during the preseason?

Love me some Ale

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

If an experienced DC came in here and struggled with an ass defensive roster, we’d be giving Quinn crap for hiring a “retread” instead of bringing in new ideas. You have to take a risk sometime, and based on resume and experience everyone (including the people who hired him) thought Whitt was ready and deserving of the opportunity.

We’ll see how that turns out, but seems pretty silly to act like assistants are never promoted to coordinators, where else would they come from? We’re in the discovery phase with Whitt but he was supplied with the worst secondary possible last season, so who knows.

I feel pretty confident that if Whitt is a whiff after 2-3 years, Quinn will bring in someone experienced to take over the improved defensive roster and do their thing. But there’s no way to know right now so acting like it was not an understandable hire when organizations do this all the time is weird imo

Who is actling like assistants are never promoted to coordinators? That is the silly thing to write. I'm simply stating that if our DC had a track record in that role I"d feel more comfortable, as it is he does not so I do not.

 

[Chris]

Like Del Rio did?

 

[Ashburn Dave]

If Quinn needs to make a change at the end of the season, I think he will. He won't let his second HC tenure be sunk by a bad defensive coordinator.

But I also think we're miles from that.

I haven't developed an opinion of Witt yet. I liked some things and didn't like other things from last year schematically, but I also have no idea what they were trying to do to cover for the fact they literally had zero outside CBs who should be playing in the NFL, and the DL was not capable of setting the edge or stopping the run.

They should be able to stop the run this year if nothing else, and they have a huge upgrade on the outside. Let's see what happens.

I'm not expecting the '85 bears defense, but a defense that can put away games and rates towards the top of middle of the pack would be my expectation.

A middle of the pack defense along with a top offense can win super bowls.

Would I prefer a top defense? Sure, but it's rare that a team has both a top offense and a top defense.

 

[Ashburn Dave]

Am i the only one sitting around on a non football Sunday afternoon drinking beer and refreshing this site for any news whatsoever. Or am I it?

View attachment 12397

Wish I could join you for a cold one with that view. Enjoy!

 

[Simeon]

Like Del Rio did?

Touché.

I actually thought the secondary improved over the season and did as well as could be expected given the lack of talent at CB. We need three good ones minimum and they had Mike and Ig. The LB were rated well by PFF although I’m still concerned about depth. They also got at least middle of the pack ranking on sacks and pressure overall.

So why couldn’t they stop the run? Apparently they decided the biggest issue was lack of beef, specifically at end. That may be the case but for my untrained eye at least some of the problem was defenders out of position, not coordinating well with each other. They seem to have solved the “where’s the beef” issue. If they still have problems then it’s time to look closer at coaching.

Maybe they did that too. We should know by game three.

 

[MisterPinstripe]

Touché.

I actually thought the secondary improved over the season and did as well as could be expected given the lack of talent at CB. We need three good ones minimum and they had Mike and Oz. The LB were rated well by PFF although I’m still concerned about depth. They also got at least middle of the pack ranking on sacks and pressure overall.

So why couldn’t they stop the run? Apparently they decided the biggest issue was lack of beef, specifically at end. That may be the case but for my untrained eye at least some of the problem was defenders out of position, not coordinating well with each other. They seem to have solved the “where’s the beef” issue. If they still have problems then it’s time to look closer at coaching.

Maybe they did that too. We should know by game three.

The secondary was weak so they had to drop more guys in coverage to help with the passing game which allowed us to be shredded on the ground with our smaller DL. Beefing up our DL to be better able to handle the run will help a lot I think with our defense as a whole freeing up our LBs + our secondary being improved. Comparing our starters last year at CB to this year is night and day.

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

The secondary was weak so they had to drop more guys in coverage to help with the passing game which allowed us to be shredded on the ground with our smaller DL. Beefing up our DL to be better able to handle the run will help a lot I think with our defense as a whole freeing up our LBs + our secondary being improved. Comparing our starters last year at CB to this year is night and day.

I'd feel a lot better if the DL they signed had a history of good run stopping play, but they do not. But I'm not all negative, not even close. I hope they find something in Kinlaw that 2 teams, including a team known for great defenses, could not. I still trust the organization big time but I'm not convinced the run defense has been fixed.

 

[Conn]

Who is actling like assistants are never promoted to coordinators? That is the silly thing to write. I'm simply stating that if our DC had a track record in that role I"d feel more comfortable, as it is he does not so I do not.

What exactly is your point then? Every new coordinator has no track record, and it takes a while to learn whether they’re good. That’s the stage we’re in. With no track record at DC all we have to go by is the rest of his resume, which got him the job. Horrible roster year 1, we’ll see if he improves with the roster in year 2. We don’t have enough information to judge whether he was a good hire or not, so acting like his performance last year was evidence of being an unqualified hire just has no backing. Every coordinator ever promoted goes through this process. Maybe he sucks, maybe he’s good. I’m not even arguing that he’s good btw. I’m simply saying that an established DC failing with that poor defensive roster last year would lead to equally worried but different criticisms of the hire: good ol’ boys club, retread hire, no new ideas, conservative Quinn, etc.

 

[Conn]

I'd feel a lot better if the DL they signed had a history of good run stopping play, but they do not. But I'm not all negative, not even close. I hope they find something in Kinlaw that 2 teams, including a team known for great defenses, could not. I still trust the organization big time but I'm not convinced the run defense has been fixed.

I share this worry as well, for the record. I think the secondary improving will actually have a greater impact on the run defense being able to improve via scheme and game situation (being able to play with larger leads if we can prevent explosive plays on defense while scoring them on offense)

 

[skinsinparadise]

I'd feel a lot better if the DL they signed had a history of good run stopping play, but they do not. But I'm not all negative, not even close. I hope they find something in Kinlaw that 2 teams, including a team known for great defenses, could not. I still trust the organization big time but I'm not convinced the run defense has been fixed.

Yeah that's my concern, too. I know PFF isn't the be all and end all but they have Kinlaw and Goldman rated as atrocious run defenders. Goldman used to have high marks earlier in his career. And they have Wise as pedestrian to below average against the run.

One of the Eagles reporters posted clips showing how Kinlaw struggled to stop the run playing Philly.

So shocker, Goldman this preseason has struggled against the run. Haven't seen enough of Kinlaw or Wise to judge them on that front.

And in the preseason this run defense has looked really bad -- granted mostly backups but some of them are expected to be rotational guys including J. Newton. And Ferrell who is supposed to be one of their better edge setters might not even make the team after a meh preseason.

My gut is this team might be slightly improved against the run but not by much.

I do think this D line might b better than expected as to the pass rush. V. Miller has supposedly looked good and spry in camp. J. Martin has had a good camp. Ditto Armstrong.

 

[Simeon]

Yeah that's my concern, too. I know PFF isn't the be all and end all but they have Kinlaw and Goldman rated as atrocious run defenders. Goldman used to have high marks earlier in his career. And they have Wise as pedestrian to below average against the run.

One of the Eagles reporters posted clips showing how Kinlaw struggled to stop the run playing Philly.

So shocker, Goldman this preseason has struggled against the run. Haven't seen enough of Kinlaw or Wise to judge them on that front.

And in the preseason this run defense has looked really bad -- granted mostly backups but some of them are expected to be rotational guys including J. Newton. And Ferrell who is supposed to be one of their better edge setters might not even make the team after a meh preseason.

My gut is this team might be slightly improved against the run but not by much.

I do think this D line might b better than expected as to the pass rush. V. Miller has supposedly looked good and spry in camp. J. Martin has had a good camp. Ditto Armstrong.

Stop confusing me with facts. I am going to assume the front office and coaches saw all of the concerns as well and decided this time would be different. And I will take it on faith they were right until it plays out not different.

 

[skinsinparadise]

 

[Skinfanjon]

Who is it they like for 5th CB then…Vigers?

Depends on the pick. If we’re talking a 3rd, okay yeah I could see that. I’m not sure about a 4th. Anything worse, I’d probably rather keep him. Thought he was pretty solid last year and love good depth at that spot.

Then again, don’t know much about Vigers. Or perhaps they are eyeing a cut from another team.

 

[method man]

I don’t know why we would move Noah. Jones can’t really play slot anymore - lost the quickness. We wouldn’t have a great solution there if Mike got hurt and we traded Noah

 

[burgold]

Yeah, Noah was one of the few who showed up positively in the preseason

 

[Conn]

Can never have too many CB’s, that would need to be a 4th from a poor team for me to be truly interested, Noah I is a great depth piece for a contender like us

Do they love Vigers?