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

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Commanders.com

10 draft prospects for Commanders fans to watch in 6th round

The opinions expressed in this article do not reflect those of the team.

In preparation for the draft, Commanders.com will look at 10 players who the Commanders could draft in each round they have a pick. After starting with the seventh round, we’re moving on to the sixth round, where the Commanders pick No. 205 overall.

KeAndre Lambert-Smith, WR, Auburn: Lambert-Smith has been a reliable receiver over the last three seasons and is coming off his best campaign with 981 yards and eight touchdowns with Auburn. He has a slender build at 190 pounds, so he’ll have to put on some size, but he ran a 4.37 at the combine and is good at tracking the ball. Those traits will convince a team to take a chance on him.

Elijah Roberts, EDGE, SMU: Roberts transferred from Miami to SMU and had his two best seasons with 17 sacks and four forced fumbles. A team captain in 2024, Roberts is a solid power rusher who can crash the pocket but will need time to develop as a run defender.

Woody Marks, RB, USC: Marks makes up for his lack of elite speed by being a versatile, all-around back with 4,562 total yards and 36 touchdowns over five seasons. He also knows how to take care of the football, as he only had one fumble in 608 career rushing attempts.

Jake Briningstool, TE, Clemson: Briningstool isn’t the biggest player but has enough size to be helpful as a blocker and pass-catcher. He knows how to find soft spots in zone coverage and make defenses pay for letting him get open with 17 career touchdowns.

Commanders.com

Commanders announce 2025 offseason dates

Players will begin reporting to the team facility in Ashburn, Virginia, on April 22, kicking off a seven-week period for the new roster to prepare for the 2025 regular season. Here are the dates you should keep in mind from now until June:

  • First Day: April 22
  • Rookie minicamp: May 8-11
  • Phase One: April 22-25; April 28-May 1
  • Phase Two: May 5-8; May 12-15; May 19-22
  • Phase Three: May 27-30; June 2-6
  • Minicamp: June 10-12

Here is an explanation for the three phases of the offseason workout program:

  • Phase One: consists of the first two weeks of the program with activities limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only.
  • Phase Two: consists of the next three weeks of the program. On-field workouts may include individual or group instruction and drills, as well as “perfect play drills,” and drills and plays with offensive players lining up across from offensive players and defensive players lining up across from defensive players, conducted at a walk-through pace. No live contact or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted.
  • Phase Three: consists of the next four weeks of the program. Teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity, or “OTAs.” No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.
Riggo’s Rag

Jonathan Allen takes veiled swipe at previous Commanders’ regime after exit

Jonathan Allen had nothing but good things to say about how Adam Peters and the new regime handled his departure. He was less complimentary about those who held prominent positions before their arrival.

When probed about what Allen was looking for in his new team, there was a veiled swipe at previous years with the Commanders before Josh Harris, Peters, and Quinn took charge. He wasn’t interested in going back to an environment where players weren’t just there for the money. He wanted to join a winning culture after finally getting the chance to experience one during his final year in Washington.

“The NFL is already hard enough. You know what I mean? Nobody wants to go to work for an organization where guys are only showing up for paychecks. Don’t even worry about personal numbers and the culture, just not really what it needs to be to win. I mean, it’s hard to win without it. When I talked to coach [Kevin] O’Connell, coach [Brian] Flores, and all those guys over there in Minnesota, it really felt like they were building something special, and I just wanted to be a part of that.”

Jonathan Allen

The first part of this statement is telling. Allen was speaking from experience.

It represented a window into how things went for the Commanders before 2024. He toiled through abject misery on poorly constructed teams with inept leadership. Allen’s frustrations threatened to boil over on several occasions, but the energy was restored quickly by Quinn.

Commanders Wire

One draft analyst feels Georgia’s Jalon Walker might not be used properly by many coaches, but trusts Commanders’ Dan Quinn if gets Walker.

Sportsocracy draft analyst Jeremy Greene pointed to Micah Parsons, whom Quinn did not restrict to one position, allowing Quinn to use Parsons in ways that best fit his athletic ability. Greene, a guest on the “Take Command” podcast with Logan Paulsen and Craig Hoffman, explained his thinking Thursday.

“I look at Jalon Walker and go, ‘in the wrong scenario you are going to get completely washed out’. If what you think you are going to do with him is put him in the middle of a 3-4, and then set him as an edge rusher in Nickel, which I think several teams would use him for, if that’s how you are evaluating him, he’s a TWO (Round 2).”

“If he’s almost a hybrid, doesn’t really have a position, look, we are getting more positionless as time goes on, that’s where we are. There are guys that come into this league and just don’t have a position. Jalon Walker does not have a position. But he does do certain things particularly well.”

“I don’t trust a lot of coaches to get the most out of him. But I had a lot of these questions when Micah Parsons came out too…He wasn’t this ready-made prospect…”I like the fact that Dan Quinn has had to work through that. In terms of raw talent I would say Jalon Walker is a top-15 talent. But then there is a reduction if he is an off-ball linebacker. There is a reduction because I think he is a little undersized to be a natural edge.”

So, you start peeling the onion back and you realize he is going to fall if he doesn’t go to Carolina at 8, because Carolina allegedly really likes him. If Jalon Walker doesn’t go at 8, I couldn’t tell you a team between 9 and 29 that really makes all that much sense.”

Paulsen then echoed Greene, citing that “Walker has 31-inch arms, he is not going to always play edge, and he is too stiff to play off-ball linebacker. He is going to take a tumble,” agreed Paulsen. “In this era of positionless football, I think he would be perfect for what Dan (Quinn) wants to do. He has the potential to be this pass-rush specialist. I think he is better off the edge. I think he’s got better feel, better bend, and more raw horsepower to get there. So, I think that would be a tremendous fit.”

Podcasts & videos

GM Adam Peters & Shawn Springs on the 2025 NFL Draft | Get Loud | Washington Commanders | NFL

NFC East links

Pro Football Talk

Brian Daboll’s presence at Colorado Pro Day conflicts with comments from earlier in the week

Brian Daboll doesn’t go to Pro Days. Unless he does.

The Giants coach showed up for the Colorado Pro Day on Friday, days after both Daboll and Giants G.M. Joe Schoen said Daboll doesn’t do Pro Days.

“He doesn’t go to any pro days,” Schoen said at the annual league meetings in Florida, via Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.

Daboll was asked on Tuesday whether he’ll be present for the Colorado Pro Day. Said Daboll, per Leonard: “No. Pro day? No.”

With the Giants holding the third pick in the draft, and with Miami quarterback Cam Ward penciled in at No. 1, the Giants are expected to have at least one of the top two Buffaloes prospects on the board at No. 3. The question becomes whether, if the Browns take cornerback/receiver (or receiver/cornerback) Travis Hunter, will the Giants select quarterback Shedeur Sanders?

It’s believed that the Giants wouldn’t take Sanders at No. 3. It’s possible, however, that the Giants could trade down and then hope Sanders remains available at a lower spot.

However it plays out, the Giants have plenty of flexibility at quarterback. Current starter Russell Wilson has only $10.5 million in guaranteed pay. Backup Jameis Winston will make $4 million guaranteed in 2025. Either could be traded, in theory, if Sanders is drafted. Winston could be cut, in theory.

Adding both Wilson and Winston provides flexibility to the Giants at the most important position on the field. Which is a far cry from the desperation they were feeling when, just two weeks ago, the cupboard consisted of freeze-dried cutlets.

NFL league links

Articles

Front Office Sports

Why Sports Leagues Are Betting Big on Streaming’s Reach

The NFL’s Christmas Day tripleheader shows just how much the league is leaning into streaming, with Netflix and Amazon leading the charge.

Only four years after Prime scored the first exclusive NFL game package with Thursday Night Football, the league is turning to two giant streamers, not linear TV networks, to complete its attempted yuletide takeover from the rival NBA. Despite Netflix passing on a chance to bid for the NFL Draft, it’s also likely the Shield will add a giant streamer like Google/YouTube to its coverage starting in 2026.

It wasn’t that long ago that leagues like the NFL and NBA viewed streaming more as a futures bet. Given the disparity in reach versus linear broadcast and cable TV networks, streaming was seen as the future, not the present. So leagues experimented with live games on streaming platforms to see if they could attract elusive younger viewers—and to prepare for the day when streaming overtook traditional TV.

Now, it feels like the pendulum is swinging. Old-fashioned free over-the-air networks are back en vogue because they reach more than 100 million homes. And leagues are increasingly getting into bed with streamers because they want access to their audiences both in the U.S. and worldwide.

“It’s funny, not long ago people were talking about streamers as presenting a challenge in terms of reach. Now the largest streamers are becoming a reach play. It’s crazy how quickly it changed,” says Sports Media Advisors CEO Doug Perlman.

“Rights sellers like the idea of multiple packages as it helps them by being on a number of different types of platforms as opposed to all of their games on one technology,” Thompson says. “Hence, you have linear OTA and cable, streaming, etc. It’s very important during a time of transition like we are seeing in the media business at this point. As a rights seller, you need to be wherever your fans might be consuming your product.”

The Athletic (paywall)

Can AFC West’s ‘all-star lineup’ of coaches finally top Andy Reid and the Chiefs?

Welcome to the AFC West, where what’s old — or rich in experience, to put it more politely — is new again.

When Pete Carroll, 73, was hired to become the new head coach of Las Vegas Raiders in January, replacing the fired Antonio Pierce, he raised the average age of the coaches in the division to 65.5 years old. No other NFL division has an average age among its four coaches that even reaches 50. Every boss in the AFC West had already begun his respective coaching career before any head coach in the AFC South — the division with the youngest average age at 40.5 years old — had even reached middle school.

Instead of searching for the next Sean McVay — the Super Bowl-winning coach of the Rams who is still somehow only 39 — the challengers in the AFC West have instead opted for something closer to Reid, at least as it relates to experience. Though the Chiefs went 15-2 last season before ultimately being blown out in Super Bowl LIX by the Philadelphia Eagles, there have been signs the gap in the division, thanks to its injection of coaching talent, is shrinking.

The AFC West is now where some of the most experienced coaches in the sport have been invigorated by a new, heady challenge: loosening the iron grip 67-year-old Andy Reid and the Chiefs have held on the division for most of the last decade. Perhaps the most vibrant illustration of the dominance: Kansas City has collected more AFC West titles since 2016 (nine) than division game losses (eight).

That makes 2025 different in the AFC West. Not only has every coach raised the floor of the team they have inherited — Payton and Carroll never won fewer than seven games since 2006; Harbaugh has never had a losing record as an NFL coach — but they also have familiarity with the quarterbacks in their programs. Harbaugh will enter his second season with Pro Bowl QB Justin Herbert, the team’s starter since 2020. The Raiders traded for veteran Geno Smith, who previously started for Carroll in Seattle, a huge upgrade from what Las Vegas had at the position in 2024. Payton will enter his second season with Bo Nix, who is coming off the best season for a rookie quarterback in Broncos history and has already become “one heck of a player,” Reid said.

Discussion topics

The Athletic (paywall)

What the Premier League can learn from the NFL owners’ meetings

The NFL’s openness stands in contrast to much of the global football ecosystem. The Premier League is probably the closest approximation to the NFL in terms of its relevance and popularity. It has historically had a close relationship with the league and shares several owners. Manchester United co-owner Joel Glazer was in attendance representing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as were Arsenal owners Stan and Josh Kroenke (Los Angeles Rams) and Fulham owner Shahid Khan (Jacksonville Jaguars). Co-owner of second-tier side Leeds United, Jed York (San Francisco 49ers), and Crystal Palace co-owner Josh Harris (Washington Commanders) were also there.

Yet, access in the Premier League is limited mostly to managers’ weekly press conferences. Player availability has been reduced dramatically. Executives rarely talk. As The Athletic’s Oliver Kay wrote two years ago, “English football doesn’t really do openness.” Managers stand too often as the lone public voice for clubs.

There are exceptions. As Kay explained, some Premier League club executives do speak to the media, but the culture frowns on those exceptions rather than encouraging them.

“One executive tells the story of how counterparts at other clubs think he is a ‘mug’ for exposing himself to scrutiny in media interviews and question-and-answer sessions with supporters,” Kay wrote. “Another media-friendly executive has been accused of being on an ego trip.”

One can’t help but wonder how the Premier League might benefit from similar types of events and access. At the risk of sounding like Todd Boehly suggesting an all-star game, it’s difficult to argue that the NFL’s approach to engaging media at these sorts of events is misguided.

The league’s popularity is unparalleled in the U.S.. It dominates TV ratings, accounting for 72 of the 100 most watched telecasts in the U.S. in 2024 — a number that was somehow down from 2023. The NFL plans to opt out of its media rights deals, valued at $111 billion over 11 years, because it now sees its product as undervalued, per multiple reports. By contrast, NBC pays the Premier League $450 million per season, while its domestic rights in the UK are valued at $8.4 billion over four years.

The three days in Palm Beach reflected the ease with which the NFL has built a dominant hold over the American sports landscape. What could have been a boring board meeting instead placed the NFL squarely back into the news and firmly in the spotlight five months before its season kicks off and three-and-a-half months before teams open training camp.

The Premier League similarly dominates news cycles, and while it has less competition at home, one can’t help but wonder if the connections and commonalities with the NFL could help to drive some change in the culture around the Premier League and media access, even if it starts on a global front with the league’s popularity in America.

Putting on an event like the NFL’s annual meeting could be a good start.

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