Daily Slop – 24 Jun 24 – Chris Trapasso sees ‘24 as a make or break year for WR Jahan Dotson

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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How similar are the Commanders teams of 1994 and 2024?

The parallels are striking.

The Washington Redskins finished a terrible 4-12 in 1993, fired their head coach Richie Petitbon, hired a new head coach in Norv Turner, owned the third selection in the 1994 NFL draft, and then used it to choose a mobile SEC quarterback out of Tennessee, Heath Shuler.

Fast-forward exactly 30 years, and the Commanders (I still don’t like the name) were horrible, finishing 4-13. So they fired their head coach, Ron Rivera, and hired a new head coach, Dan Quinn.

This team had the second overall selection in the NFL draft and also went to the SEC for a mobile quarterback, drafting LSU Heisman winner Jayden Daniels.

If that is not enough for you, both quarterbacks were known for their mobility in college, and yes, both would wear jersey number 5 for Washington.

But that is where the similarities come to an end, an abrupt end.

Shuler held out, was late coming to training camp, didn’t know the offense, and immediately demonstrated to some veterans in his first workouts that he couldn’t play in the pocket in the NFL.

Daniels did not miss a workout in the offseason. He has already demonstrated that he can pass the football while in the pocket. He goes to bed early, gets up early, and gets to work early to lead an NFL football team.

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UKHTTC

MVPs and cautionary tales

Washington MVP 2024

It seems more likely that the MVP will come from the Defensive side of the ball than a Commanders offense that, particularly along the OL, has some lingering concerns.

Both interior DL guys should absolutely thrive under new HC Dan Quinn and new DC Joe Whitt Jnr. With that in mind, I am going for a much-improved Daron Payne to be the number one performer in Washington in 2024.

The first rounder from 2018 is the kind of talent that, for me, has been crying out for first-class DEF coaching throughout his Commanders career.

His production dropped massively form a super-charged 11.5 sacks in 2022 to just 4 in 2023. This will not concern Quinn and co, who I am certain would have viewed Payne as one of the most exciting interior D-linemen in the NFL.

Payne will also benefit from padding up with majorly experienced guys like DEs Clelin Ferrell and Dante Fowler Jr. For a fair while I thought the “all-drafted” Washington DL, despite the talent, was an echo chamber and having veterans coming from outside the Washington building will equate to better habits and preparation.

Still only 27, expect Payne to be the league-wide bounce back player in 2024. Also agree with Tony re better depth equals a more intelligent number of snaps for Payne and Allen.

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Riggo’s Rag

NFL analyst lays down the gauntlet to Commanders WR Jahan Dotson

The wide receiver enters a high stakes situation in 2024.

This was a topic brought up by Chris Trapasso from CBS Sports. While he acknowledged the Commanders might not give up on the player just yet, another indifferent campaign without an upward curve makes it difficult to envisage those in power depending on the wideout long-term.

“In his sophomore season in the nation’s capitol, [Jahan] Dotson played more than 82% of the snaps and only saw a minor uptick in receptions (49) with fewer yards (508) and four scores. Now, any young receiver should be exuding confidence after 11 touchdowns in his first two NFL campaigns. But Dotson was clearly less efficient as an offensive weapon in his second season. Do I think the Commanders would automatically trade him if he doesn’t erupt in Year 3? No. But if he hovers around 45-50 snags with 500-ish yards and a few scores with Jayden Daniels throwing him the football in what truly marks a new era in franchise history, then he’s unlikely to be in the team’s long-term plans after the 2024 season.”

– Chris Trapasso, CBS Sports

Dotson has the talent. Becoming more consistent as a route-runner and cutting out individual errors is the next big challenge to overcome.

Things look more promising for the offense following a busy offseason. Dotson has a genuine franchise quarterback to develop chemistry with after the Commanders took Jayden Daniels at No. 2 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. Kingsbury should also find ways to scheme the pass-catcher open and maximize his ability to generate yards after the catch. That’s two major positives working in the Penn State product’s favor.

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Podcasts & videos

Washington Commanders Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Will Benefit From Man Coverage Coaching Strategy

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NFC East links

Pro Football Focus

Reason for optimism for all 32 NFL teams in 2024: Jayden Daniels is teeming with potential, Mike Macdonald kicks off new era in Seattle

Dallas Cowboys

They are talented at all the right spots and consistently win (in the regular season, at least)

For as much criticism as the Dallas Cowboys get, they have won 12 games in three straight regular seasons and are loaded with talent at premium positions. They posted top-five offensive and defensive grades last season, joining San Francisco and Baltimore as the only teams to do so.

Dak Prescott finished third in passing grade. CeeDee Lamb finished fourth in receiving grade. Micah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence were dominant off the edge, per usual, and the team returns arguably the best pair of cornerbacks in the NFL in DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs. The Cowboys may lack depth, but they certainly don’t lack the high-end talent needed to win games.

New York Giants

The offensive supporting cast should be much improved

Running back Saquon Barkley departed in free agency, but the Giants managed to add several offensive pieces that should make them more well-rounded. They signed two starting-caliber offensive linemen, Jon Runyan and Jermaine Eluemunor, to a unit that was the league’s lowest-graded last season. That alone should give the offense more functionality than it had last year.

They also spent significant draft capital on offensive weaponry. The headliner is first-round pick Malik Nabers, who led the nation in receiving grade at LSU last season. He’s New York’s most explosive playmaker since Odell Beckham Jr. They also drafted tight end Theo Johnson and running back Tyrone Tracy Jr., both of whom should compete for playing time early despite being Day 3 picks.

Philadelphia Eagles

They threw resources at the secondary

The Eagles have elite talent at quarterback, wide receiver, offensive line and defensive line. The one glaring weakness was a 28th-ranked coverage unit. They reunited with safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and two extremely talented cornerbacks in the draft in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. DeJean, in particular, should be an asset in the slot after Philadelphia ranked dead last in the NFL in slot coverage grade last year.

Philadelphia has an extremely strong roster, and their offseason work to fix the secondary should keep them in Super Bowl contention.

Washington Commanders

Jayden Daniels

Washington selected LSU’s Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick in this year’s draft. He’s the face of a new regime that has overhauled its roster with hopes of competing sooner rather than later.

Daniels enters the NFL as one of the best athletes at the quarterback position. He led all FBS quarterbacks in overall grade and rushing yards last season while finishing second in passing grade. He also holds the Power Five record with a career 1.6% turnover-worthy play rate (minimum of 600 dropbacks). The Commanders finally have a franchise quarterback.

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Pro Football Talk

Giants, Titans reportedly have been in contact with UFL KR Juwan Manigo

AtoZSports.com reports, that the Giants and the Titans have been in contact with Juwan “Sonic” Manigo of the Arlington Renegades.

Arlington signed Manigo last June, while the XFL still existed. He survived the merger and thrived as a kickoff return specialist, finishing second in the league with 954 return yards on 43 attempts. The average per return of 22.18 yards came not from the traditional kickoff formation that the UFL absorbed from the USFL.

Manigo, 26, played college football at Delaware Valley University. He spent two seasons with the LFA league in Mexico.

If the Giants or Titans sign the five-foot, seven-inch Manigo, it will undoubtedly be for his return skills. As an offensive player, he had only 32 receiving yards and -5 rushing yards in 10 games.

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NFL league links

Articles

Barstool Sports

Meet T.Y. McGill – The NFL Player With 114 Entries In His Career Transactions Log

“I’m going to be a football player in the NFL”.

We’ve all been that second grader. Answering our teacher when asked about our future vocation aspirations. Few of us ever make good on our claim, but that doesn’t mean even the ones who do are going to be the star quarterback on the next dynasty or making their own version of the Gronk spike. You see, for many that even make it to the NFL, it’s still a hard knock life. And that’s the angle this blog series is set to explore.

Tom Brady has 13 total transaction logs listed on his pro-football reference page. He played for two decades and 250 players weren’t even alive when he was drafted in 2000. And a lot of that was just deflate gate proceedings. This is… not exactly the same experience of other players. Our guy today – T.Y. McGill – is on the complete other end of that spectrum. No player in NFL history has more transaction logs than his 114.

Right now we begin our journey through each and every one of T.Y. McGill’s 114 career transactions. Let’s fire up the ole blue screen computer and get this going. We’ll start with the first nine transactions covering McGill’s first two seasons.

Transaction #1

Holy shit it happened! After going undrafted, McGill had to think all hope was lost until he was finally signed as a UDA on May 15th. Just like that, the dream was back on. He officially made it to the NFL. No longer would he wonder if he should suck it up and bring his LinkedIn profile up to 100% complete to be more competitive for that medical marketing gig starting at 40k. Time to get drunk and leave a VM to that second grade teacher who definitely didn’t believe in him.

Cirlce September 13th on the calendar baby. Game day. Week 1.

Transaction #2:

September 5th – Waived

Whoops. That’s right. The whole final cuts thing they do every year. Luckily that hell only lasts a day as the Colts scooped him up on the 6th of September. He would go on to play in some games throughout the season, but didn’t make enough of an impact in year two as he was de-activated early on in 2016 (#4). That must have been fun to do for Jim Irsay because he would go on to activate him two more times just to de-activate him during the rest of the season.

Oh well. That’s the life in the early years of the NFL. But for players able to make it to year 3, things should improve.

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My favorite log is the last one. It’s not even his. It’s very clearly for fellow DL Austin Bryant. But the 49ers had made so many god damn roster moves involving McGill that the administrative staff clearly assumed it was business as usual on February 14th, 2024. So in reality, McGill really only has 113 transactions. At least, for now. And that’s the crazy part (well another crazy part). He’s still in the league. Or was last year at least.

So what do we learn from all this? Was it really worth making the NFL to have to deal with all this BS? After checking in with Spottrac to find McGill’s career earnings through 2024 at $4,929,541, I’m going to go ahead and say yes. Take that second grade teacher. But let this be a little reminder that while all the media attention is on the stars, there’s guys out there like T.Y. McGill struggling to keep his name above his locker.

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