Random Commanders Thoughts

One of the knocks on Matt Jones coming out of college from his draft bio was the judgment among NFL personnel guys was that he was raw and had to refine his game and become an all-around back. Players don't usually have all of that come together immediately in their rookie seasons after their initial OTAs and training camp. It takes a year or two.

Jones has a rare combination of size, strength and quickness. A willingness to block. But he came in with a rushing style like Marion Barber where he ran high and tried to run through players instead around and between them. He also had ball security issues.

I don't think we are going to have an idea of whether Jones was a good pick at #3 or a reach by the front office until we see him in Year 2.

Certainly, Jones should have his issues re familiarity with the playbook and ball security under control heading into camp and the preseason if he is going to move forward and show himself to be a professional athlete with a commitment to being an NFLer.

But to judge him strictly off his rookie season, where he was hot and then cold, to me is not a good measuring stick. What I took away from Year 1 for Matt was that he showed he has NFL skills, now we have to see if he can learn and adapt to become a consistent and reliable performer.
 
Scot has also said that he sees Jones as a 'poor mans' Lynch.
So they probably did draft him to compete for the 'lead dog' role.

Heck anyone they draft, including a sixth round running back, is expected to come in and compete.
 
Some draft guys like Kiper had Jones rated as a mid to late #5 round pick. He felt the Redskins took him way to early.

His argument, though, was that Jones could NOT correct some of his major flaws at the next level and would be no more than a backup player.

Obviously, McCloughan saw those flaws on tape and per the scout's breakdowns but thought they were correctable with the right coaching.

I agree.

If the backs aren't improving in 2016 maybe it's time that Randy Jordan hit the road.
 
No one owes Alfred Morris a damn thing. Not then, and not now. Perform, produce, and you'll get as many chances as you can handle. I think it's quite possible, even likely, that Gruden AND McCloughan saw Morris for a season in 2014 and felt he wasn't the same guy that had been so impressive in 2012-2013, or that he wasn't the right type of back to thrive with the kind of offense they were building. One thing I know for sure - whatever the mindset was, it wasn't driven by emotion or personal issues - that's how fans build their football teams, not competent GMs.

I'm not sure what I said had anything to do with Morris, other than if he was terrible and Jones was drafted to be the feature back than Morris shouldn't have been on the field. I like Morris, but if he's no good for the team the team shouldn't be screwing around with trying to play him.

The Redskins were very wishy-washy with their backs this year. They went back-and-forth with them from game-to-game and even from play-to-play. Boone, you're a marine ... if you half-ass your way up a hill you're gonna get lit up, right? You get up there and take it or you don't. It has nothing to do with being emotionally attached to specific people on the team. It's about making a decision and seeing it through. Gruden, so far has ... not been great in that department. He seems to have finally gotten the Griffin albatross off his neck. But the running back situation? So far just as bad.

One of the knocks on Matt Jones coming out of college from his draft bio was the judgment among NFL personnel guys was that he was raw and had to refine his game and become an all-around back. Players don't usually have all of that come together immediately in their rookie seasons after their initial OTAs and training camp. It takes a year or two.

That's not really true for RBs. In most cases they can either produce right away or they can't. Jones didn't show much of anything outside of one or two games and a few nice receptions. Even raw rookies should be more productive than that if they hope to start some day.

Now again, this may not be Jones' fault. The Redskins seemed very unsure of themselves regarding the RBs, and Jones' lack of production may have been due to that.

Of course, that doesn't make things better. I think of the two likely reasons for Jones not looking good, I'd prefer it be because of Jones, and not our coaches. Either way, the announcement that Jones is still the hopeful starter going forward does not instill me with a ton of confidence that we will have a better running game next year.
 
Well said Henry.

They need to make a choice/decision, and run with it. Pun intended.

There has been zero direction in the running attack in the last 2 seasons. No rhyme, no reason, no good results.
Fingers crossed that they move away from the Keystone Cop approach. It looks like they're playing "spin the bottle" to determine which RB goes in.
 
Supposedly some trade partners exist for Griff, too.
If Griff goes that way, some think it will be to keep the 'got cut' off his resume' and make for a better look on potential NFL 30 for 30 ;)
 
Before the season began, I was listening to Vinny and Rob. Vinny had a caller praise him for his time here, I was aghast! I just shook my head. But what pissed me off was that Vinny replied, "I don't know...just look at the mess down there now!"

I would have punched that douche in his mouth had he said that in front of me.
 
Vinny....dude reminds me of Smeagle only he's crawling around the tunnels of fedex field nowadays. His precious that's eluding him is a job application from the team.
 
Junior has already stated that he wants to repay the faith shown to him by the Redskins coaching staff and is prepared to play for whatever deal they drop on the table. Whether it be a one year deal or a multi year deal, he WILL be a redskin for the 2016 season.
 
His twitter account is worth a follow. He puts up insane workouts every few days.

@joviasg
 
Read somewhere yesterday that the Skins hadn't reached out to Knighton about a new deal. Seems odd.
 
There's a very good chance that we'll be drafting his replacement in the first round.

I believe Robinson and Billings can both play NT.
 
Every draft pick they draft they have hopes of them being the starter
 
I liked how he came on after the migraine issue seemed to subside, but I would have preferred a steady, reliable, 3-down presence to the flashes of dominance on early downs we'd see a couple times a game. I'd love to see what a more streamlined, in-shape version of Knighton could do going forward, particularly with an improved cast around him, but I'm not sure the team can gamble the kind of money it might take to keep him on that happening.
 
his play was extremely off last year...but his presence around his best friend seemed to get Baker going in the right direction dominating fools.

I don't think he should be signed for the amount he was coming in...but if he can get the migraines under control he is a valuable asset to the D.

I also wondered what impact this would have on Baker. Baker was clearly the better of the two last year. I wonder how much of that was him fighting extra for his best bud who was struggling with migraines and either couldn't play or could play well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I read that he has been told to lose weight before thinking about any contract discussions will take place. His last weight was 350+. The coaching staff want him around the 330 mark, then they can get him down to the 320-325 mark they want him to play at.
 
So does 5 years for $100M w/$60M guaranteed sound if it's even in our ballpark consideration? It's what this guy Joel Corry (ex agent) would be asking fwiw.

NFL Team Profile

Sorry, on my phone and isn't linking correctly. It's like 3rd one down under 'Agents Take'
 
$60mil guarantee for a guy with 2-3 great games, 6-7 good games, and the rest mostly stinkers?

Not a chance in hell. He could ultimately prove to be worth it. No way to know. It would be a huge gamble.

He hasn't earned the $19mil he's gonna get next year, yet. Unless we get him to sign an extremely team friendly deal, I think it foolish to do anything but let him play next year and prove he's actually worth a huge contract.

And that's what I'm gonna tell Mr. McGloo when he calls me to ask.
 

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