Baltimore Sports Today

Baltimore Sports News Continuously Updated

Daily Slop – 11 Apr 25 – Say hello (again) to new Commanders (and former Redskins) QB Josh Johnson

by

Philadelphia Eagles v Washington Redskins
Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

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

Commanders links

Articles

ESPN

How the Commanders can help Jayden Daniels build on success

“The second year is a big challenge,” said Kansas City coach Andy Reid, who helped build on early success with quarterbacks Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia and Patrick Mahomes with the Chiefs. “If you can get through your second year, you got a pretty good thing going.”

The challenge stems from knowing that defensive coordinators will study him quite a bit this offseason, trying to figure out how best to defend against him.

Morris said it was difficult preparing for him as a rookie. He studied a player who went through his progressions as a passer and could hurt teams with his legs.

“When you play him, you realize how unstoppable he is with the four downs and having the ability to always have four downs because he’s so special that way,” Morris said. “His arm talent, his speed, his decision-making, his toughness, the high-level competitor, he’s all of those things.”

Protect him

[I]n three of the past four regular-season games, his sack percentage was 10.4 or higher and the pressure percentage 37.5 or greater. Washington knew that needed to change. So step one was finding a premium left tackle, eventually trading for five-time Pro Bowler Laremy Tunsil. That move allows Washington to shift promising young lineman Brandon Coleman, who started 15 games at left tackle last season as a rookie — including three in the playoffs — to the right side, trying him first at tackle.

Keep working

Daniels, indeed, will focus on footwork during his offseason sessions with Ryan Porter, who has worked with him since he was 11 years old. Porter’s emphasis has always been footwork.

But, for Porter, it’s about introducing more drops than anything. He and Daniels want him to be able to use a different variety of drops to keep defensive backs guessing.

“Everybody has a year of film on him so now they’ll see different habits of what he does when he throws different [route] concepts,” Porter said. “It’s a timing thing for him if he’s able to throw the same route or concept from four different types of drops. You don’t get a tip or indicator from him and it’s just being able to play chess from the quarterback position where a lot of DBs are keying your drop or coordinators are keying your drop: ‘When he’s taking this drop, this is what he’s throwing.’ It’s just to sharpen your tools.”

Don’t overthink it

Last season, the Commanders ran 677 no-huddle plays — not all were part of a hurry-up offense. That was 403 snaps more than the next-highest team, Philadelphia. Daniels does his part by how much he studies the playbook during the week, allowing him to run this attack efficiently. It also helps simplify a defense.

Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor said he learned when building on quarterback Joe Burrow ‘s early success that, “You got your bread-and-butter stuff that you really like and enjoy and you want to continue to do that. No one can ever take it away. …Then, what are the wrinkles in the stuff you do.”

Bullock’s Film Room (subscription)

NFL Draft Profile: RB Bhayshul Tuten

I think Virginia Tech running back Bhayshul Tuten would make a lot of sense for the Commanders on day three of the draft. Tuten is EXPLOSIVE and I don’t use all caps lightly. He’s short but fairly stocky for his size at 5-foot-9, 206 pounds, but he has game-breaking speed. He ran a 4.32 40-yard dash at the combine, which was the fastest of any running back in this class and the fifth fastest time of any position this year. His 1.49 10-yard split was joint fastest of anyone at the combine regardless of position. He was also one of the top performers for broad and vertical jump, which also measures explosiveness. So clearly, he’s an outstanding athlete, but does it translate to the football field? Yes, it does.

Tuten has the speed and explosiveness to score from anywhere on the field any time he touches the ball. The situation doesn’t matter, it can be first and 10 or third and short, if the ball is in his hands and the defense makes a slight mistake, he can punish them.

Tuten is someone that is capable of running between the tackles and fighting through contact, but with his explosiveness I think anyone that drafts him would rather find ways to get him the ball on the edge, where he can make defenders miss and use his speed to run by defenders.

Riggo’s Rag

Jeremy Chinn aiming for similar success after Commanders’ departure

As for Chinn? He’s looking to replicate Washington’s exceptional turnaround in Las Vegas. The Southern Illinois graduate highlighted the culture and brotherhood formed by the Commanders as a big reason behind the team’s sensational run. But the intrigue of being deployed within Pete Carroll’s defense was too tempting to turn down.

“Last year, I would say one of the big things that was done there, was culturally and inside. There was definitely a shift. But also, I think the players really came together. There was a great level of leadership. A great brotherhood that we created, and I truly believe that can happen here as well. Just hearing coach [Pette] Carroll’s plan, how he saw me featured in his defense and his team. That was very intriguing for me.”

Jeremy Chinn via Raiders.com

Carroll and Quinn worked together with great success. They masterminded the renowned Legion of Boom defense on the Seattle Seahawks en route to a Super Bowl. Chinn was a great fit in Washington. He’ll be a great fit for the Raiders as a hard-hitting, athletic presence in a similar mold to Kam Chancellor.

Podcasts & videos

NFC East links

Blogging the Boys

An improved Dak Prescott is an absolute must for the Cowboys this upcoming season

The Cowboys have a lot of questions entering the new year, and the performance of their quarterback is one of them.

One element that isn’t talked about is the capability of Prescott. Don’t get us wrong, the Cowboys quarterback is the most polarizing player on the roster, and there are non-stop discussions about whether he’s the guy or not. Mostly, in this debate, there’s not a lot of middle ground. You either love him or want him gone.

But there is a third category that acknowledges that Prescott is a very good quarterback but also questions his performance at times. We know there are times he can light up the stat sheet and wreak havoc over NFC East teams, but what about other times when the rubber meets the road? Why does he get so frazzled at big moments? Is there something awry with his psyche in those moments?

Prescott played eight games last year. The Cowboys lost five of those games. After Dak went down, the Cowboys kept losing games, but it didn’t get worse. It actually got better. The team had a slightly better winning percentage with Cooper Rush than Prescott. Of course, a lot of factors go into winning games, not just who’s playing quarterback.

He had the lowest touchdown percentage (3.8%) of his nine-year career. You’d have to go back 20 years to find a starting Cowboys quarterback who had a lower TD% than what Prescott had last season (Vinny Testaverde, 2004). He had the lowest yards-per-completion average (10.7) of his career. You’d have to go back to the turn of the century to find a starting quarterback with a lower average as not even Testaverde or Quincy Carter had seasons that low.

And if you think he was being too careful with the ball, that wasn’t it either. He was averaging an interception a game, which put him on pace to throw 17 picks for the season, two more than he had in 2022 when he led the NFL in interceptions. So, with low touchdowns, high picks, and low yards per completion, it shouldn’t be surprising that he finished with the lowest passer rating of his career.

And his season wasn’t a journey of highs and lows. When Prescott and the offense came out flat, they would fall behind in a hurry and usually end up on the losing end of a blowout. When they played okay, it usually came down to the wire. Gone were those big Prescott games where he would light things up and put up a 3+ touchdown game. Like, completely gone. Prescott had none of those games last year.

Big Blue View

Abdul Carter stress reaction called a ‘non-factor’

Carter visiting Giants after medical re-check

Before he headed to East Rutherford, N.J. on Thursday for his highly-anticipated ‘30 visit’ with the New York Giants, Penn State edge defender Abdul Carter went to Indianapolis for a recheck of the stress reaction in his foot.

Carter reportedly got good news.

Per ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, Carter’s foot is healing and no surgery will be needed.

“It should be a non-factor with the teams at this point,” Carter’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said.

Recent mock drafts have trended toward giving Carter to the Giants with the third overall pick.

NFL league links

Articles

ESPN

2025 NFL draft buzz: Late risers, Day 2 sleepers, mini-mocks

What’s the most fascinating thing you heard off pro day workouts?

Yates: The number of evaluators who are unbothered by Will Campbell’s arm length really stands out to me. I was hard pressed to find an exec or coach who doesn’t view LSU’s Campbell as the best tackle of this class, and those same people told me his length wasn’t a concern on tape. I’m not ignoring his 32-inch arm length from the combine, but most people I talked to are bullish on Campbell becoming a really good left tackle. He has excellent footwork, balance and body control to hold up as a pass protector.

Miller: Of the hundreds of players who went through pro day workouts, the most rave reviews I’ve heard are for Ole Miss defensive tackle Walter Nolen. Following a strong predraft process, people from some teams now tell me Nolen looks like a Round 1 lock and a potential top-20 player. Ranked No. 20 on my final board, Nolen is the best pure pass rusher in the defensive tackle group. Teams in the middle of the first round like Arizona, Cincinnati and Atlanta could all be targets for him.

Reid: Coming out of pro days, the league is still very high on this running back class. I currently have 32 running backs with draftable grades on my board, and this year could surpass the 2017 mark of 30 rushers drafted. This also makes for any interesting scenario in the first two rounds. Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty could go as high as No. 6 to the Raiders, but when will a second rusher come off the board? North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton could be next, but a high-ranked executive told me this about the class: “I can draft another position and still come back and get a running back in this class in the third or fourth round because it’s so loaded.”

Front Office Sports

NFL Schedule Set to Drop in May—With Major Changes in Store

“Somewhere in the May 13, 14, or 15 range is probably still our target,” said NFL VP of broadcast planning and scheduling Mike North this week on the It’s Always Gameday in Buffalo podcast.

This year’s schedule, however, will contemplate several additional factors, making its construction more complex than ever. Among the additional issues:

Discussion topics

The Athletic (paywall)

‘It’s a unique landscape’: College football’s transfer boom transforms NFL Draft evaluations

“We were talking to a player who has been to three different schools, and he’s 25 years old, married with two kids,” Fontenot said. “It’s just a different level from when you were seeing 20-year-olds who played three years at one school.”

The era of mass transferring in college football, fueled by name, image and likeness deals and loosened restrictions on when a player can switch schools, has changed how NFL teams evaluate players who hope to be drafted.

The Falcons last season drafted one of 14 players in the first two rounds (quarterback Michael Penix Jr.) who played for at least two four-year colleges. When Fontenot entered the NFL as a scout with the New Orleans Saints in 2003, only one player among the top 64 drafted had played for multiple universities.

Nineteen of the 37 players drafted in the seventh round in 2024, for example, played for multiple universities. That included safety Daijahn Anthony, the 224th pick by the Cincinnati Bengals, who played at three schools in five years and was 24 when his rookie season began. Delaying entry into the NFL Draft has become especially appealing for players projected to land near the back of the draft pool. That’s because a player can transfer to a school offering more in a one-year NIL deal than he would make on the first year of his NFL contract as a late-round pick or undrafted free agent.

“In years past, before all these guys transferred, you’d have two, three, four years of information-gathering on a player if you’re an area scout. Let’s say you’re the Southwest area scout and you’re building four years’ worth of a profile on a player. Well, now these guys transfer — usually at least once; sometimes twice — and now there is gaps in the information.

“The assistant coaches don’t know them as well. You don’t have the same depth of character evaluation that you maybe had before. So it’s a changing landscape that our guys, just like everyone across the league, are adapting to. There is an effect on how well you can know a player when they’ve jumped two or three times.”

Others see mass transferring as a boon to the information-gathering business. Broncos coach Sean Payton pointed to his team’s first-round pick in 2024, quarterback Bo Nix, as a prime example.

“From a scouting standpoint, it does give you more exposure to more people who are familiar with the player,” Payton said. “Some programs are more guarded with information.”

The great migration in college football has had another benefit for NFL teams trying to create a vision for what the players they are evaluating can become at the pro level. Players who compete for multiple schools end up playing in different schemes. Their roles and even their positions can change. It can create a more diverse patchwork of film for teams to evaluate.

[T]he transfer era has negatively impacted some prospects when it comes to their NFL readiness.

“We’re getting underdeveloped players, at times, because of their transfers,” Canales said. “Physically underdeveloped, as well. They are with this strength coach and now they’re not even with a team for a spring. Now, they are with that strength coach for the fall. You can’t really get that much stronger during the season when you’re playing and recovering. So players are missing out on critical physical development periods. During summer and other parts of the offseason, they’re not with teams.”

Barstool Sports

The NFL Has Fired 3 Referees, But Making Their Officials Full Time Should Really Be Addressed

While this is a good start, the real problem at hand here is these refs being part time, which has always been weird to me. The league generates billions of dollars, and is only getting richer. The league has found a way to dominate the sports calendar year over year, from the actual season, into free agency, into minicamps, into the draft, into the schedule release, into camp, and back to the preseason. The NFL is a year round storyline. Turn on any sports network at any point in the year and they are bound to find an NFL story or debate in the time slot. Which makes you wonder, why wouldn’t they just make the refs full time? They have the money to do it. It would allow the refs to have to devote more time to the game, whether it’s conferences, training sessions, or whatever. The refs would only get better. Again, this is a decent start to a massive problem in the league, and we can only hope that more moves are coming down the pike.

All aTwitter