Daily Slop – 28 Jun 25 – ESPN says Commanders QB Jayden Daniels is on a “superstar trajectory”

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

Heavy.com

Dan Quinn’s Blueprint: Brotherhood Before Business

Peters hasn’t just looked for skill, he’s looked for fit.

“We want guys who love the game, love the grind, and love each other,” Peters said earlier this offseason. “That’s how you win.”

It’s showing. The roster is deeper, faster, and more physical than it’s been in years, but what stands out is the cohesion. Players are showing up early, staying late, and openly supporting one another in a way that feels rare in today’s NFL.

The foundation being built in Washington is real, and the culture – the brotherhood – might just be the most valuable asset Quinn and Peters have brought to D.C.

For a franchise that has struggled with identity and dysfunction for years, this era feels refreshing, not just because of the talent, but because of the togetherness. The Commanders are no longer just a group of individual athletes; they’re a bonded unit with a shared mission. Super Bowl talk and expectations are normal chatter because the brotherhood believes those goals are attainable.

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Riggo’s Rag

Commanders’ decision to pick Camaron Cheeseman over Trey Smith still haunts fans

When the Washington Commanders traded up to No. 225 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, fans were hoping for one name and one name only. But as was typically the case when previous head coach Ron Rivera called the shots, he threw a curveball into the mix.

A decision that’s still haunting the Commanders to this day.

The best prospect available at the time, by a considerable margin, was Trey Smith. He was projected as a first or second-round talent, but a health issue during his pre-draft assessments caused him to tumble down the pecking order. But in the sixth round, it represented a risk well worth taking.

Rivera moved up, which meant he had a target in mind and was willing to sacrifice additional assets to get them on board. Instead of Smith, who was the expected choice, he went with long-snapper Camaron Cheeseman instead.

Smith went one pick later to the Kansas City Chiefs. The interior offensive lineman’s been making the Commanders and everyone else around the league pay for it ever since.

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Commanders.com

2025 opponent breakdown | New York Giants

Key questions

• What’s going on with the Giants’ quarterback situation? If there was an award for putting together the most interesting quarterbacks in one room, the Giants would be the easy favorites to win it. Wilson showed that he still have something left in the tank by winning nine games for the Pittsburgh Steelers, including a stretch where he threw 12 touchdowns to three interceptions. He also didn’t look great in the last month of the regular season and committed as many turnovers (four) as he threw touchdowns in a four-game losing streak. Jameis Winston is a mystery box, meaning he’s just as likely to throw three touchdowns in a win over the Baltimore Ravens as he is to complete 56% of his passes and throw three picks against the Los Angeles Chargers. And then there’s Jaxson Dart, the first-round pick who has tools but also needs a lot of work to be a competent starter. How that group works together is the biggest unknown for the Giants. It could end well or lead to frustration for Giants fans. Either way, it’s possible all three players will start at least one game.
• Can the beefed-up pass rush lead to more wins? While the Giants’ roster needs work at several positions, their defensive line is not among them. It was already one of the best in the league with Dexter Lawrence sandwiched between Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, but it could be at the top now that Carter is in the rotation. There’s no doubt that those four players will make up one of the most formidable pass rushes in the game. The real question is what does that mean for the Giants? Could they improve upon the three wins they won in 2024, or will their defensive line be one of the only shiny components of what could be another difficult season? Good pass rushes can cover up several warts on a roster, but will it be enough to make New York more competitive in a division that had two top 10 offenses last season. The Commanders will be the first litmus test for that, and fortunately for the Burgundy & Gold, they have also strengthened their offensive line to negate their effectiveness.

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Podcasts & videos

Bram Weinstein: Terry’s leverage is what?

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Commanders PUSH to Bring Football Home | RFK Stadium Comeback in

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NFC East links

Big Blue View

Do the Giants have enough defensive backs who can actually cover?

Not a single cornerback made PFF’s top 10 list in all three seasons. Only a few – Pat Surtain II, Sauce Gardner, Charvarius Ward, and Christian Benford – even made it twice.

That’s the message: Good cornerbacks in the NFL are a scarce and variable commodity. Part of it, as we’ll show, is inconsistency from year to year, and part of it is premature aging relative to other positions.

Timo Riske of PFF did a study a few years ago about aging of NFL players at different positions. Not surprisingly, players in the “trenches” achieve a larger fraction of their career wins above replacement (WAR) after age 30 than do “speed” positions such as cornerback and safety:

Why are defensive backs so inconsistent from year to year compared to other positions? No one knows for sure, but what is known is that there is a statistically significant tendency for pass coverage to be more unpredictable from year to year than pass rush is.

The low repeatability of defensive back success is a scary prospect for the Giants, who will see A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Terry McLaurin, Deebo Samuel, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens twice each this year. Much of the attention in New York will be focused on Paulson Adebo, one of the Giants’ major free agent signings. Adebo’s career…has been somewhat checkered in PFF’s eyes

The bad news is that we have no idea which Paulson Adebo and Jevon Holland we’re going to get in 2025. For that matter, we have no idea whether the Dru Phillips we saw in 2024 will be able to build on that or regress in 2025. And that’s bad news because the success of the Giants’ coverage may decide the success of the defense overall.

Maybe Banks can return to his early rookie form, when he was very competitive against good receivers such as Terry McLaurin. Flott and Belton are fine, maybe even improving, but by this point we shouldn’t expect elite. Will that be enough against the parade of elite WRs the Giants will see just in the NFC East, never mind the rest of their schedule? If so, then the anticipated strong Giants pass rush may wreak havoc with opposing quarterbacks. If not, the defense may be no better than middle of the pack.

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NFL league links

Articles

ESPN

Team- and player-friendly NFL contracts at six positions

This isn’t about labeling contracts as the “best” or “worst,” because a lot of that depends on perspective. A contract that’s “bad” for the team could be “great” for the player, and vice versa. We wanted to highlight a couple of position groups and look at the poles in each — some of the most team-friendly deals versus some of the most player-friendly deals — and explain why. We begin, as we always seem to, with the quarterbacks.

Player-friendly deal: Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

The deal: Four years, $240 million with $129 million fully guaranteed at signing and $231 million in total guarantees

Prescott took this right out to the end. With one year left on his contract last offseason, he didn’t sign this extension until literally the morning of Dallas’ Week 1 game. Had the deal not been done before kickoff that day, it’s possible Prescott could have played out the 2024 season and become an unrestricted free agent. After all, the previous extension he signed with Dallas in 2021 contained a clause prohibiting the Cowboys from using the franchise tag on him.

Waiting paid off for Prescott. He collected a $78,458,333 signing bonus — technically an $80 million signing bonus that somewhat hilariously had to be prorated down because players had already been paid their Week 1 salaries by the time he signed the deal — and another $7.8 million in cash in 2024. The deal also included a guaranteed $47.75 million for 2025, and an injury-guaranteed $40 million for 2026 that converted to a full guarantee this past March.

So what makes this deal player-friendly (other than the no-franchise clause, the no-trade clause and the massive signing bonus)? If the Cowboys were to release Prescott right now, he’d still have collected a total of $174 million for one season. Prescott’s deal continues to benefit him at a high level. His $45 million 2027 salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s still on the Cowboys’ roster on the fifth day of the 2026 league year (next March), and $17 million of his $55 million 2028 salary becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on the roster on the fifth day of the 2027 league year. The odds of Prescott seeing the full $231 million in guarantees (no coincidence, by the way, that number is $1 million higher than Watson’s $230 million) are extremely high.

One bit of consolation for the Cowboys? Because of the insurance policy they have, and because Prescott sat out the final nine games of the 2024 season because of a hamstring injury, the Cowboys were able to recoup about $6.4 million of the signing bonus. But Prescott didn’t have to pay that back; the insurance company did. Player-friendly deal.

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The Athletic (paywall)

NFL will not hold Supplemental Draft in 2025: Sources

The NFL informed teams that for the second consecutive year, there won’t be a Supplemental Draft this summer, sources informed on the decision confirmed to The Athletic on Friday.

The Supplemental Draft is an option for draft-eligible players who did not declare for the regular NFL Draft for various reasons. In most cases, that’s due to a player having unexpected eligibility issues in college (academic or otherwise).

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Discussion topics

Fox Sports

Drama, Delusional, Bold: One Word That Describes Every NFL Team’s Offseason

Cowboys: Rebound

With quarterback Dak Prescott back healthy, the Cowboys will look to return to the playoffs in 2025. They traded for receiver George Pickens and a pair of former first-round defenders (linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr., cornerback Kaiir Elam) to give their team a boost under new coach Brian Schottenheimer.

Giants: Fascination

The Giants will be the latest team to attempt a redshirt rookie season for a first-round quarterback (Jaxson Dart). They also happen to have what appears to be a loaded pass-rush unit with the addition of No. 3 pick Abdul Carter, bringing curiosity about what New York can do in 2025 with a tough schedule.

Eagles: Reloaded

The Eagles may have lost key players on their defensive line, like Josh Sweat and Milton Williams, but they’ve added Josh Uche and Azeez Ojulari on low-risk, high-reward contracts as replacements. Former first-round pick Kenyon Green also enters the picture for guard depth after Mekhi Becton’s departure in free agency. With the core of last year’s Super Bowl-winning team returning and the expected growth of young players, Philadelphia should be a threat to repeat.

Steelers: Delusional

The Steelers’ patience was rewarded earlier this month when Aaron Rodgers finally signed after a months-long courtship. But they have their hopes set too high if they believe the 41-year-old makes them a Super Bowl contender.

Seahawks: Gamble

Sam Darnold had a resurgent 2024 with the Vikings, but there’s a big risk the Seahawks are taking in the former No. 3 overall pick, who replaces Geno Smith as QB1. In Seattle, Darnold won’t have Kevin O’Connell or nearly the same caliber of an offensive cast that he had in Minnesota.

Commanders: Upside

Jayden Daniels is on a superstar trajectory after one of the best rookie quarterback seasons in league history. The Commanders have been savvy about building around him (and his cheap contract) too, trading for left tackle Laremy Tunsil and wide receiver Deebo Samuel. Washington also added a first-round offensive tackle in Josh Conerly Jr. and re-signed tight end Zach Ertz. This is a team set to compete for Super Bowls for many years to come.

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