Daily Slop – 20 Mar 25 – Deebo Samuel, Eddie Goldman, Luke McCaffery, and ruining Jared Goff’s 2024 plans

A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders

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ESPN

Commanders guarantee Samuel $17M in reworked deal, sources say

Washington guaranteed $17 million of Samuel’s contract in 2025 and added $3 million worth of incentives, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday.

Before this move, Samuel had no guaranteed money remaining and was scheduled to have a base salary of $16,600,529 with a $200,000 workout bonus and a per game roster bonus of $44,117 worth up to $750,000.

Washington could have spread out Samuel’s cap hit over two years by accepting a $15.4 million option bonus due March 22 that would have added another year to his deal — which would have then automatically voided. But in declining the option bonus it left the Commanders absorbing his approximately $17.5 million cap hit in one year.

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Commanders.com

Five things to know about DT Eddie Goldman

Another player to help stop the run.

Goldman said during his press conference that he wants to do whatever the coaches ask of him, but the reality is that he’s another player the Commanders brought in to improve their defense’s performance against the run.

The Commanders had a glaring weakness on the ground in 2024. They allowed the third-most rushing yards per game during the regular season, and teams like the Philadelphia Eagles exploited it on multiple occasions. Though there were several reasons why the Commanders fell to the Eagles in the conference championship game, giving up 229 yards rushing yards and seven touchdowns was the most obvious.

Goldman is going to be a rotational player behind Johnny Newton and Daron Payne, but he will provide value as a run-stopper. He can hold up double teams long enough for Frankie Luvu and Bobby Wagner to shoot gaps and make plays either at or behind the line of scrimmage. He’s been used most often as a nose tackle throughout his career, so the Commanders might want to use their defensive linemen packages and line Goldman straight up against the center.

Goldman won’t singlehandedly fix all of Washington’s problems against the run, but he can be part of the solution if used in the correct fashion.

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Riggo’s Rag

Commanders’ departures lay the table for Luke McCaffrey breakout in 2025

Zaccheaus caught 45 passes (a career-high) for 506 receiving yards and three touchdowns in 2024. He marks the second wideout Washington has lost this offseason following Dyami Brown’s decision to join the Jacksonville Jaguars. With that in mind, a path has been cleared for an obvious breakout candidate in 2025.

The Washington Commanders re-signed most of their free agents in recognition of their exceptional efforts throughout the 2024 season. Olamide Zaccheaus wasn’t one of them after he signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Bears.

Zaccheaus caught 45 passes (a career-high) for 506 receiving yards and three touchdowns in 2024. He marks the second wideout Washington has lost this offseason following Dyami Brown’s decision to join the Jacksonville Jaguars. With that in mind, a path has been cleared for an obvious breakout candidate in 2025.

Luke McCaffrey was drafted by the Commanders at No. 100 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft but struggled to accumulate targets as a rookie. He caught only 18 passes for 168 receiving yards while appearing mostly as a special teams player, where he returned 10 kicks for 299 yards.

Despite a wide receiver room that lacked playmakers beyond Terry McLaurin, McCaffrey was buried on the depth chart. There is a significant amount of hard work ahead to turn the tide.

If there’s any player McCaffrey’s skillset draws comparisons to, it might be Samuel. The All-Pro should serve as a valuable mentor for the young man whose brother worked alongside him in San Francisco.

Ideally, Washington should be able to groom McCaffrey to eventually step into Samuel’s role once the six-year veteran ages out. In the meantime, he can take notes on how the Commanders use the former South Carolina standout, knowing he could be forced to step into his shoes at any time.

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Riggo’s Rag

Grading the first nine roster departures of Commanders 2025 free agency

Commanders lost Mykal Walker

• Position: Linebacker
• New Team: Arizona Cardinals (1-year deal)

Mykal Walker did well to make the 53-man roster last summer. The veteran linebacker came into the Washington Commanders with no guarantees whatsoever. He put his experience to good use, earning a rotational spot behind Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu at the defensive second level after rookie linebacker Jordan Magee’s promising early momentum was derailed by injury.

Walker played just seven percent of the team’s defensive snaps, making 21 tackles despite limited involvement. His primary influence came on special teams, where the former fourth-round pick became an essential part of Larry Izzo’s strategy throughout the campaign.

Considering the presence of Jeremy Reaves and Nick Bellore spearheading this key discipline, the chances of Walker re-signing were slim. That proved to be the case after the Arizona Cardinals secured his services pretty quickly on a one-year deal.

• Departure grade: B+

Walker carved out a decent niche in Washington, but it was the right call to move in a different direction. This also indicates confidence that Magee can make a more significant impact in Year 2 of his professional career with better luck on the health front.

Commanders lost Benjamin St-Juste

• Position: Cornerback
• New Team: Los Angeles Chargers (1-year deal)

Benjamin St-Juste entered the Last Chance Saloon in 2024. The cornerback hadn’t done much to warrant another opportunity, but Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. believed his size and length would be tailor-made for their defensive schematic concepts.

St-Juste earned a starting job throughout the summer. That was almost by default given the lack of legitimate options elsewhere. Aside from some brief flashes, the same problems that blighted his game over the previous three seasons reared their ugly head once again.

The former third-round pick is technically flawed. St-Juste was a defensive pass interference penalty waiting to happen and victimized by opposing passing attacks in key moments. He became a liability and the Commanders had no option other than to send the Minnesota product to the fringes.

That was a body blow to St-Juste’s chances of getting another deal in Washington. It came as no surprise to see him sign elsewhere, getting a one-year deal from the Los Angeles Chargers in pursuit of galvanizing his career.

The Commanders will move forward with a cornerback quartet of Mike Sainristil, Marshon Lattimore, Noah Igbinoghene, and free-agent signing Jonathan Jones. Adding another would be wise, but those in power couldn’t bring St-Juste back.

• Departure grade: A+

St-Juste blew every opportunity presented. He’s got nobody to blame but himself.

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Riggo’s Rag

Commanders ensured Jared Goff’s docuseries dream became a nightmare

The Lions quarterback knew his team was right on the cusp of something special. Perhaps Goff thought his decision to have Netflix follow him around for the season’s entirety would result in a cinematic ending by hoisting the Vince Lombardi trophy.

It looked for a long time as if this dream could become a reality. The Lions overcame some severe defensive injury problems to lock up the No. 1 seed in the NFC by winning no fewer than 15 times. That meant Dan Campbell’s squad had an opening bye in the knockout rounds and home-field advantage in front of a raucous, expectant fanbase who’d experienced nothing but misery for decades.

The Commanders got out in front early and never took their foot off the gas.

Fans will get to see this from the player’s perspective during the docuseries, which promises to be outstanding viewing for Commanders fans.

After all, they already know how this story ends.

This was a devastating blow to the Lions, especially considering they lost Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn to head coaching jobs almost immediately after.

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Podcasts & videos

Free Agency Recap (So Far) + Let AP Keep Cooking! | Podcast | Washington Commanders | NFL

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NFL league links

Articles

Washington Post (paywall)

NFL to consider proposal to change playoff seeding system

NFL team owners will consider a proposal this month to modify the league’s playoff-seeding system to allow a wild-card team with a better record to be seeded ahead of a division winner.

That prospective change was among the rule-change proposals made by individual teams that were released Wednesday by the league. The list also included previously known proposals to ban the push-the-quarterback sneak that has become the polarizing signature play of the Philadelphia Eagles and to modify the regular season overtime format to guarantee each team at least one offensive possession.

The Eagles made the proposal to “align the postseason and regular season overtime rules” by guaranteeing each team of at least one offensive possession during a 15-minute regular season overtime. Currently, the regular season overtime rules allow a team to win with a touchdown on the opening possession of a 10-minute overtime.

The league did not release the proposals by the competition committee, which could include changes to the kickoff format and the replay-assist system and possibly a proposal to modify onside kicks.

Similar playoff-reseeding proposals in the past never have gained much traction with the owners. They generally have taken the approach that a division-winning team deserves to be at home for at least one postseason game. The Lions’ proposal includes no qualifiers as some other previous proposals have had, such as limiting the change to a division winner with a losing record or requiring the wild-card team to have a certain number of victories more than the division winner.

Any rule-change proposal must be approved by at least 24 of the 32 owners. They’re scheduled to meet in Palm Beach, Florida, beginning in late March.

The NFL’s year-old kickoff format must be re-ratified by the owners after they approved it last offseason on a one-year basis. The league and competition committee are expected to propose moving the touchback spot on kickoffs from the 30- to the 35-yard line in an effort to further boost the rate of returns. They also could propose moving the spot of the kickoff itself further from the opposite goal line.

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Discussion topics

Front Office Sports

Aaron Rodgers Drawing Very Little Interest From Media Companies

A source told FOS that Rodgers “needs an image rehab,” and multiple network sources said they had little interest in the four-time MVP.

Sources say Rodgers would get nowhere near the rapturous welcome given to QB contemporaries like Tom Brady, who signed a staggering 10-year, $375 million with Fox Sports in 2022. Peyton Manning was relentlessly pursued by ESPN and Fox for years before doing it his way with Omaha Productions’ ManningCast on ESPN2. Romo set the bar for NFL color commentator salaries with his 10-year, $180 million contract extension in 2020 before some of his contemporaries exceeded that number.

So what’s the problem? None of the network executives or talent agents I talked to would go on the record. If asked publicly about Rodgers, they’d likely say they’re happy with their current broadcast teams and have no cast openings. Some might choose the all-purpose “If he wants to talk to us, we’d be happy to talk with him.”

Their main concern, under condition of anonymity, is that Rodgers comes off as a pompous know-it-all who would turn off viewers. His dalliance with COVID-19 conspiracy theories and public feuds with critics like Jimmy Kimmel on The Pat McAfee Show also concern some. With that in mind, the prospect of hiring Rodgers does not thrill executives.

“Yes, he could be a great analyst. But he’s insufferable,” said one source. Rodgers “needs an image rehab,” warned another.

Rodgers has earned a reputation for being thin-skinned. He has rabbit ears for criticism–and holds grudges like an elephant, according to Tyler Dunne of Go Long, who covered him in Green Bay. That’s not a good combination for somebody in a public-facing media job. Just ask Joe Montana, the four-time Super Bowl champion with the 49ers, who quit his analyst job with NBC, at halftime of Super Bowl XXX no less, when he felt disrespected by his colleagues.

At this point, we don’t know if Rodgers even wants to call NFL games or serve on a studio show. The superstar QB has earned a staggering $380.7 million during his 20 NFL seasons, according to Spotrac. He shouldn’t need the money.

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All aTwitter

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