Daily Slop – 10 Jun 24: Armani Rogers faces an offseason of opportunity and challenge

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

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Riggo’s Rag

3 Commanders on the roster bubble who must impress at 2024 minicamp

These Commanders players must perform well throughout minicamp.

Armani Rogers – Commanders TE

The tight-end room looks crowded. Logan Thomas was a salary-cap casualty as expected and has since signed for the San Francisco 49ers. Zach Ertz and Ben Sinnott were acquired to potentially provide a surge in production and make things easier for rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Ertz is the veteran, short-term option. The Commanders believe Sinnott can become the complete package with additional refinement. If John Bates remains on the roster as Washington’s blocking specialist, that leaves others on the outside looking in right now.

Those who survived Adam Peters’ roster cull will get their chance to shine. The increased competition for places will tell those in power plenty about their desire and ability to perform under pressure. After all, the cream always rises to the top.

Armani Rogers is an intriguing player. Many fans and analysts tipped the player to break out in 2023 after catching the eye during his first season with the franchise. This came to a cruel halt thanks to a torn Achilles suffered on the first day of organized team activities.

Rogers worked hard to get himself healthy in readiness for the upcoming preparation period. The Commanders will err on the side of caution to prevent the risk of further damage. But they need to know what the former Ohio star could bring before taking any drastic action.

There is a lot to like about Rogers. He’s athletic, boasts assured hands, and makes people miss in the open field. The presence of Ertz and Sinnott raises urgency, so there is no margin for error. Catching the eye during Washington’s mandatory minicamp is a sure-fire way to get noticed.

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Sports Illustrated

Commanders Coaches Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. Play Style ‘Jumps Off the Tape’

New Washington Commanders defensive end Dorance Armstrong knows coaches Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr., and says one thing clearly separates them from others.

“The play style. If you watch the film from previous teams that they’ve been on, it jumps off the tape itself,” Armstrong said when asked what sets the two coaches apart from their peers. “The players, how fast they play, how fast they move. Simply just the play style. You don’t see that across the league everywhere.”

Play style, not scheme, is something else the coaches have emphisized during the offseason. Plenty of teams utilize three-man defensive fronts, or four, or even two and five. Those aren’t particularly unique.

So if everyone is dancing to the same music, it’s how you dictate your steps that makes a team different, and that’s what Armstrong enjoys about what Quinn and Whitt Jr. are doing.

“Fast and physical,” he said about what their style means for players. “It’s straightforward. It is not difficult, but you have to understand what you’re doing in the system, so it’s all about the little details as well. Everything plays a part in itself.”

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Commanders Wire

Commanders RT Andrew Wylie loves the energy and vibes around the team

What does Wylie think of the new regime?

“We have an elite coaching staff,” Wylie said. “That’s what it’s been. It’s neem great energy in the building. Points of emphasis, what DQ wants, are reiterated every day.”

No one would describe last season’s coaching staff as elite.

What does Wylie think of his new quarterback, Jayden Daniels?

“Dude can sling it, man,” he answered. “Very talented guy back there. Makes it look easy, too. Something about his game is just special.”

Wylie also discussed rookie offensive lineman Brandon Coleman, who the Commanders think can be their future left tackle.

“That dude is gifted and moves very well for his size,” Wylie said. “Got him working out at tackle now and he already got very good fundamentals to his game. In my opinion, I think he’s going to get a lot of snaps this year. He is the type of guy you want anchoring this side of the ball.”

Wylie discussed the energy in the locker room.

“Honestly, the locker room energy is great. Practice has been over for an hour and 15 minutes, and the locker room is still halfway filled. There’s a lot of guys still kicking it in there, including myself. No one is in a real rush to leave work.”

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Podcasts & videos

Washington Commanders Coaches Kliff Kingsbury and Joe Whitt Jr. Will Differ From 2023 Coordinators

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NFC East links

Pro Football Talk

Giants officially bid farewell to Darren Waller

It looked like a steal when the Giants sent a third-round pick to the Raiders for tight end Darren Waller. Ultimately, New York got a limited return on its investment.

In exchange for both the pick and more than $11 million, Waller appeared in 12 games. He caught 52 passes for 552 yards and scored one touchdown.

Waller has been plagued by hamstring issues. He walks away at 31.

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ESPN

Jalen Hurts says 95% of Eagles’ offense for 2024 is new

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said “95%” of the offense being installed this offseason is new, shedding light on the degree of change being made under offensive coordinator Kellen Moore following the team’s 1-6 slide to end 2023.

“You get to a point where you feel, I’m going to be comfortable with this, I like this, that time comes when you can rep it, rep it, rep it later on, but right now it’s been a lot of new inventory in — the majority of it, probably 95% of it being new — and so it’s just been that process, and it’s been a fun process because you get to see what works for other people,” Hurts said.

Coach Nick Sirianni and Moore, who replaced the fired Brian Johnson this offseason, had previously described the offense as a hybrid scheme that incorporates concepts from Sirianni’s and Moore’s previous systems.

It was clear during both OTA practices and the Eagles’ minicamp, which wrapped Thursday, that players are still adjusting to the new details. The timing between Hurts and his playmakers has been hit or miss, and the same can be said for quarterbacks Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee as well.

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Articles

Front Office Sports

‘Bound to Happen’: The Age of the Sports Betting Scandal Has Arrived

ifteen years ago, lawyers representing major U.S. pro sports and the NCAA were engaged in a legal fight over Delaware’s bid to expand sports betting in the state.

They laid out this warning: “Sports lotteries involving single-game betting threaten the integrity of professional and amateur sports and are fundamentally at odds with the principle … that the outcomes of professional and collegiate athletic contests must be perceived by the public as being determined solely on the basis of honest athletic competition.”

The leagues and NCAA prevailed in the case as Delaware was kept from allowing single-game betting. But the decision became moot, in May 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).

Six years and billions of dollars in revenue later, a major moment of reckoning has arrived, and there are signs that the floodgates could open. It’s not just that the legal gambling industry is a behemoth and its marriage to pro leagues is only getting stronger. But the integrity concerns from 15 years ago have been thrust into the spotlight—made more prominent by a confluence of regulation technology and mobile betting, demand for the illegal market, and a slew of nuanced rules for players. This week’s scandals are only the beginning.

“Despite all the efforts, it’s bound to happen,” says longtime SuperBook at Westgate executive Jay Kornegay. “Legalized sports betting is in its infant stages. There’s a lot of naive people who believe they can circumvent policies. Operators have a vested interest in keeping these games true and fair. Integrity is our product. We don’t want to accept wagers on something that’s predetermined.”

[T]his past week, three major betting scandals came to a head: San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano was banned for life by MLB for betting on baseball, and four others players were suspended; Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter and confidante of Shohei Ohtani who illegally wagered millions pilfered from the Los Angeles Dodgers star (sports betting is illegal in California), pleaded guilty; and an illegal bookie tied to banned former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter (above) was arrested by federal authorities.

Thirty-eight states and D.C. offer some form of legalized sports betting. Revenues generated from state-sanctioned sports betting—which didn’t exist outside of Nevada until PASPA’s repeal—have climbed from $135 million in 2017 to $10.9 billion last year, according to the American Gaming Association.

Much of the betting industry’s growth—and misconduct—has been fueled by mobile betting, which is available in 30 states plus D.C.

“The Supreme Court didn’t anticipate [the explosion of mobile betting],” says Adams. “Without mobile betting, a lot of these violations would be non-issues.”

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