BGO Blind Pig: Commanders at Jets Preseason Review

[Boone]

The guys talk Preseason Week 1 impressions, reveal unfinished basement plans, and pine for more HOF punter selections.

 

[Chris]

Regarding the kicker conversation (and I think I posted this previously)…there are good kickers on more than a couple teams current rosters that are not going to survive final cuts. Washington is second in the waiver wire order and Charlotte extended theirs during the spring. The team will have it’s choice before the games begin. Not ideal but they did get screwed by the childish behavior of Brandon McManus in June.

 

[Knightingale]

Haven't listened to the pod yet (it's on today's to-do list!) but was thinking about kicker over the weekend after the game.

I think my expectations are tempered for this year as regards what the team will do during the season. While I'd love to win a whole bunch of games, I'm realistic enough to know that the actual measure of success this year is if we see steps forward for our rookies, especially at QB (obviously it'll be nice to know if that we've solved that conundrum long term!).
So with that as a back drop, I'm not as concerned about kicker as I would be.

Firstly, I figure there will be other choices out there from the waivers list eventually, and I wouldn't be surprised if we use a low pick next year to maybe draft a good kicker for the future maybe.

As for the rest of the team and my notes from Saturday...

Jayden (after a shaky first throw) looked the real deal. Mariota failed to impress. Driskell looked like a servicable backup. Hartman is the tough one... I don't think he earns a roster spot this year (unless he takes Mariota's!!!) and he'll get poached if we don't.

Love Sinnott. The Tight End room as a whole looks to be the best it's been for a while now.

Dyami Brown! Breakout season? OR just pre-season princess? If he turns a corner (finally) and has chemistry with Daniels, then we could use his speed.

Dotson...Hmmmm

Forbes looked average at best. Davis flashed here and there, but is it enough to keep him long term?

Sainristil and Luvu look goooooood!

I think we'll see a lift from the defense to a mid table prospect. I think we'll see that pretty quickly. The offense I think has potential, and I think it'll get better as the season progresses till we're maybe a top 15 or 20 unit. The biggest proviso here is o-line. We always knew that skill-wise it could be an issue, but now it's depth-wise too. I think that's the main reason why this team won't ascend to where it maybe could get to until next year.

Anyway, just my thoughts. I'll go listen to the podcast now and see if we overlap.

 

[burgold]

Whether because of injuries or just because we are still thin as heck this game didn't change my mind that we will be major waiver wire players not just for kickers, but for o-line. We started two guards at tackle. Heck, you could argue we started two bubble guards at tackle.

 

[Boone]

We hit on most of those Knight. I don't recall us talking about Dotson at all. On that first Daniels pass, I actually think Ekeler either ran the route shallower than he was supposed to, or maybe just got tangled up with the defender long enough he wasn't able to get where he was supposed to be. We're not used to seeing QBs throw the ball BEFORE the target gets open, lol...

You guys are probably right that we will be okay at kicker - eventually. I do think it's getting pretty late and there are a lot of nuances/chemistry issues to be worked out with snappers/holders - it's not as 'plug and play' as we think. But it is what it is.

The guy who most impressed me Saturday? Ben Sinnott. Kid is a beast.

 

[burgold]

Boone or anyone else, Sinnott sure did shine as a pass catcher. Did anyone see how he fared as a blocker?

 

[Boone]

I will confess I didn't notice whether they were using him a lot to block or how he did if so. I don't know if it's just me, but it was a struggle just to identify who was who out there - so many new guys. It will get a little easier as we cut down to the 53 but man, I am going to need a roster card early on in 2024.

 

[burgold]

I'll assume that's a positive. After all, if Ben blew it as a blocker that might make someone notice.

 

[Bulldog]

There are 3 of 4 other teams that are carrying two veteran kickers and my guess is we nab one of them during final cutdowns.

Even though it was the preseason the difference in the game when all is said and done was the 56 yard field goal by the Jets kicker.

These two guys we have are not even close to NFL starter material in terms of leg strength and consistency.

 

[Boone]

 

[Chris]

Ich liebe es!

 

[Om]

lol. It’s a thing!

Looking forward to evolving that unscripted, raw monologue into something a bit more … worth the listen.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Things I never thought I’d hear on the podcast: The 25 minute mark (26 on apple podcast), Boone asking why they let Slye go.

Everyone killed Slye the past few years, myself included. Now we all want him back, because he is better than what we are seeing. I’m hopeful of a cut guy coming in and producing, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.

 

[Boone]

If it helps, I did feel dirty saying it, lol…

And I was only half serious. But we’ve got to have better than what we’ve got.

 

[SkinsOrlando]

How many former Washington kickers were let go and found success elsewhere? My brain says more than I'd like to recall, is it that we tend to have younger kickers and they need to develop? The field is crap for kicking? Bad ST coaching (blocking assignments etc.). Unsure but it's been a revolving door since Hall and he was always hurt.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Kickers to me are like closers in baseball or goalies in hockey. Most good ones, you only get a couple of good years out of them. Then they start to fail and you move on. If they are younger, they generally repeat the same pattern at their next job where they have some success, but it’s not sustained. If you get a great one, you hold on to them for dear life. But those are rare. I was curious how true that impression is, so I looked it up.

As of the end of last season, there were only 7 kickers still on their original team. Here they are with the number of years they have kicked with their current team.

Justin Tucker - Bal 12 years
Chris Boswell - Pit 9 years
Harrison Butler - KC 8 years
Kaimi Fairbairn - Hou 7 years
Jake Elliott - Phi 7 years
Jason Sanders - Mia 6 years
Tyler Bass - 4 years

We know Tucker is one of the best ever. Boswell, Butker, and Elliott have been rock solid on good teams and good organizations.

So about 20% of the kickers stick around on their original team. The rest bounce around. I don’t know how that tracks historically, but I would bet it’s pretty close to that.

As for kickers that were run out of DC and succeeded elsewhere? The only one I remember was Graham Gano, and he’s still in the league. Hopkins is still in the league, but he only made it a season and a half with the Chargers then kicked last year with Cleveland. So maybe he finds success, but I expect he bounces around again after a few years.

 

[Winkorekt]

It's important to keep an eye on the defensive players' progress, especially regarding position rotations. Additionally observing_ the team's strategy in upcoming preseason games will help evaluate how well n ew players perform in various situations