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Daily Slop – 30 May 25 – One-on-one with 2nd-year Commanders QB Jayden Daniels

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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

Washington Post (paywall)

The Commanders have plenty of weapons, and only one football

Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has a good problem: How to keep all his talented players happy.

Historical data suggests the Commanders will take about 1,100 offensive snaps over the course of the season. There will probably more passes than runs. In what’s known as “score-neutral situations” — when the clock and scoreboard don’t dictate run or pass — Kingsbury called passes about 56 percent of the time last season, according to RBSDM.com, which was the eighth-highest rate in the league. While the Commanders could run more if they get better at it, it’s still safe to bet Kingsbury, a former Air Raid quarterback, will keep the ball in the skies.

So if last year is a guide, there should be about 620 passing snaps this season. The top priorities will be star receiver Terry McLaurin, who has averaged about 125 targets over the past four seasons, and quarterback Jayden Daniels, who’s an elite scrambler and will inevitably take some sacks, too. If he sustains last year’s pace and remains healthy, Daniels will likely scramble about 75 times and take about 45 sacks.

Overall, it seems likely Daniels, McLaurin and Samuel will account for a little more than half of the 620 passing snaps.

The other 300ish? They will be battled over by the rest of the skill players, including a couple whom Kingsbury probably had in mind when he imagined getting cussed out.

“I’ve never had a great player that didn’t want the ball, and so that kind of comes with the territory,” he said this week. “But that’s one thing I think that [Coach Dan Quinn] has created, where it’s the team above anything else. And these guys that had their success last year and got their touches, they know bringing [receiver] Deebo [Samuel] in, there’s going to be [fewer touches for them]. But we’re going to be better. And I think when they’re able to sacrifice for that and understand that the ultimate goal is winning, then it all works itself out. But you want those guys. I mean, I’ll get cussed out a few games, but it just comes with the territory. You’d rather have really good players cussing you out than bad players cussing you out.”

Commanders.com

3 standouts from Commanders OTAs

The opinions expressed in this article do not reflect those of the team.

Trey Amos

There’s no telling at this point just how many snaps the second-round pick will get as a rookie or where he will land on depth chart, but Amos made the most of his snaps in seven-on-seven drills.

Amos, who the Commanders considered taking with their first-round pick, held his own against several of the team’s veterans. In one of his more impressive plays, he managed to stay upright after his feet got tangled with Michael Gallup and got under a tipped pass for an interception on the second play of the drill. He nearly got a second one later in the day while working against Luke McCaffrey and kept up with Deebo Samuel when lined up against him.

Although general manager Adam Peters said Amos is an all-around cornerback, the Commanders primarily view him as a perimeter defender. As shown during his reps against Samuel, his large frame allows him to be physical at the line of scrimmage with bigger receivers. Amos still has months before he is ready to be a regular defensive contributor, but he’s off to a good start.

Riggo’s Rag

Jaylin Lane blazing an imposing early trail at Commanders OTAs

Washington believes it has a steal on its hands with Lane, who was somehow available for the Commanders to take at No. 128 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. His speed, elusiveness, and dynamic traits provide quarterback sensation Jayden Daniels with another versatile weapon. The former Virginia Tech star also has his sights set on immediate involvement in some capacity.

[T]he Commanders are getting an outstanding playmaker capable of being influential in more ways than one.

It won’t be easy to force his way into the team’s offensive plans, but he cannot do anything more than he already is. After that, it’s a case of giving Kliff Kingsbury enough confidence to see targets come his way.

Commanders Wire

Former Washington standout to be inducted into Virginia Tech Hall of Fame

Kendall Fuller came to Virginia Tech as a rare five-star recruit and immediately made a difference. He was named the ACC Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2013 and was later a second-team All-American before the then-Washington Redskins selected Fuller in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft.

Fuller quickly emerged as one of the NFL’s top slot cornerbacks in his first two NFL seasons before he was abruptly included in the trade for Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith in 2018. Fuller played two seasons with the Chiefs, won a Super Bowl and returned to Washington on a four-year deal.

Riggo’s Rag

Commanders’ mentality stays the same entering Year 2 under Dan Quinn

Most perceive the Commanders as the hunted rather than the hunters entering the new campaign. That’s not an opinion shared by Quinn, who stated that the mindset remains the same in pursuit of similar or even greater accomplishments when competitive action begins again.

“We are always the hunters. We’ve got a lot to prove. We’re going after it. The hunter is a mindset. That doesn’t change.”

Dan Quinn via Yardbarker

This is what Washington’s passionate fan base wanted to hear. Nobody is getting complacent in the building. Nobody is reveling in their achievements from the previous season. That’s firmly in the rearview mirror. The focus is firmly on the next chapter and nothing more.

Podcasts & videos

Why QB1 Jayden Daniels “Added to His Armor” This Offseason | Next Man UP | Washington Commanders

Takeaways from Commanders OTAs | Trap or Dive Podcast

Photos

NFC East links

ESPN

2025 NFL offseason: NFC teams’ best and worst deals, picks, more

Dallas Cowboys

The superlative: Most likely to look at their old scouting reports

Team owner Jerry Jones generally drafts his stars and holds on to them until they retire.

If a franchise believes in its scouting process, it might believe there’s an opportunity to exploit. If another team takes the player it wanted on draft day and he struggles with that organization, it might seem like that player could thrive in a better situation with a fresh start. Throw in the fact that most of the player’s contract will have already been paid by the former team and it has a recipe for what many refer to as a “second draft” philosophy.

I wrote all about this last year when the Cowboys traded a fourth-round pick for 2023 second-rounder Jonathan Mingo. The Cowboys still believe in Mingo, though, and their offseason was full of bets on highly drafted players who have struggled to start their careers, players they presumably had excellent grades on coming out of college.

New York Giants

The superlative: Most likely to throw deep more often

Even the best versions of the Daniel Jones-era Giants offense were more about checking down and turning small profits than creating explosive plays. Jones ranked last in the league in air yards per pass attempt during his career-best 2022 campaign, and as the Giants tried to expand their offense to be more spectacular in 2023 and 2024, his propensity to hold the ball and a middling offensive line usually meant those attempts were futile. They ranked 24th in deep pass rate last season and were 26th in QBR on the deep throws they attempted. They rank 30th in deep pass rate over the past three seasons.

The Giants will throw deep more often, but can they do it effectively?

Philadelphia Eagles

The superlative: Most likely to inspire jealousy in other teams

Roseman is set to spend a whopping $217.3 million on the offensive side of the ball in 2025. That’s $30 million more than any other team, with the Chiefs in second at $187.2 million. Burrow’s Bengals, having paid wideouts Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins after Burrow’s public suggestions to do so, are in third at $186.3 million. (Cincinnati is apparently following Burrow’s request to emulate the Eagles very closely by not paying edge rusher Trey Hendrickson.)

Is heavily spending on one side of the ball a wise plan? Well, it certainly worked for the Eagles last season. If a team was going to choose a side of the ball to focus on, offense would be the wiser choice. Research by Football Outsiders found that offensive performance was more consistent from year to year than defense, suggesting an organization is more likely to get what it paid for by leaning into spending on the guys who put up the points.

And if anyone has seen that play out in reality, it’s the Eagles: While their offense has ranked seventh or better in points scored per possession over the past three seasons, their defense has gone from 11th in 2022 to 30th in 2023 before improving all the way to second last season.

Washington Commanders

The superlative: Most likely to eat an early dinner and go to sleep at a sensible time

Tight end Zach Ertz, linebacker Bobby Wagner, offensive lineman Andrew Wylie and pass rusher Dante Fowler Jr. all held their own in propelling Washington to an unexpected playoff berth.

Those four all have something in common: They’re over 30. Owing to the imported veterans filling out starting roles on both sides of the ball, the Commanders were the league’s seventh-oldest team on a snap-weighted age basis. They were one of just four to rank in the top 10 for snap-weighted age on both offense and defense, joining the Vikings, Falcons and Browns.

On top of that, the Commanders didn’t get appreciably younger this offseason. Most of the veterans Peters brought in who played well in 2024 were brought back for another season. They and the rest of the remaining members of the roster will be a year older. This organization had only three top-200 picks in April’s draft by virtue of several Peters trades, which means the team won’t have an influx of young talent throughout the roster from the draft.

The offseason moves made by the organization didn’t make them younger, either.

Blogging the Boys

ESPN’s FPI model suggests Dallas Cowboys will be below average team in 2025

Here is how the worldwide leader is defining FPI relative to the preseason (in terms of before the season, not the literal time with the exhibition games) is concerned.

In the preseason, FPI’s overall predictive ratings are primarily based on win totals from the betting market in conjunction with each team’s schedule — along with factors such as the difference between a team’s starting and backup quarterback and a special teams rating that incorporates specific kickers. We use these ratings to simulate the season thousands of times, with the results forming our projections.

The projections are out for 2025 and they are not fond of the Dallas Cowboys.

We have noted several times here at BTB that projected win totals for the Cowboys are rather low. Oddsmakers tend to have Dallas around 7.5 projected wins….If we look at the FPI assessment a little bit more in depth we can see that the model is predicting somewhere between 7.9-9.0 wins for the Cowboys this season

The numbers you are seeing are each team’s FPI rating. It is intended to assess the strength of each team. If it isn’t obvious, you do not want to be in the negatives like Dallas is.

NFL league links

Articles

Pro Football Talk

“Exceptionally high demand” crashes NFL’s London ticketing system

The NFL began selling tickets to its 2025 London games on Thursday. It has not gone well.

As of 8:30 a.m. ET, the NFL’s U.K and Ireland Twitter account posted this: “Due to exceptionally high demand for NFL London Games tickets, Ticketmaster has temporarily paused sales to monitor the queue and ensure genuine fans are able to purchase tickets. Your place in the queue is secure and there are still tickets available. We understand how frustrating this is and appreciate your patience.”

The mention of “genuine fans” is a reference to the infiltration of resellers and their bots. Based on some of the anecdotal evidence posted on social media, it appears that some believe the bots are still gobbling up tickets and putting them up for sale even when the queue for the “genuine fans” is paused.

We tried to enter the queue. The wait time is “more than an hour,” with 247,734 people already in line.

“Our tech teams spotted bad actors and we are working to keep them out,” the message explains.

NFL.com

Free-agent pass rusher Von Miller plans to play in 2025

Von Miller has no designs on retiring in 2025.

The 36-year-old free agent said Wednesday that he still has plenty to offer and wants to continue sacking quarterbacks.

“I’m a locker-room guy through and through, and I can still roll out of the bed and rush the passer,” Miller said, via The Associated Press. “That’s what I got.”

The Buffalo Bills released Miller earlier this year after three seasons. Since suffering a knee injury in 2022, the former Pro Bowler hasn’t been the same. In 2024, he played in 13 games, making zero starts and sacking the quarterback six times.

Discussion topics

Pro Football Talk

Could the NFL draft eventually go away?

As explained in one of the 100-plus essays in Playmakers, the draft is fundamentally anti-American. Thirty-two independent businesses come together and control the entire labor market, parsing out employees based on a system under which the most inept of them get dibs on the best of the players.

My 86-the-draft take has been dubbed derisively as a “crusade” by others in the media, whose relevance and income are coincidentally tied to its ongoing existence. And I’ve come to accept the simple reality that, over the past decade, the draft has become too big to die.

Understandably, then, I nearly fell out of my chair this morning when Peter King (making a return for the full two hours of PFT Live) suggested that the draft could go away in our lifetime. Personally, I don’t buy it — but I like the sound of it.

The folks at AwfulAnnouncing.com typed up the key quotes so I didn’t have to. Peter’s broader point is that, if the draft would at some point go away, the NFL would come up with something to replace the draft. And that thing would become as big, if no bigger.

However it may play out, it’s not impossible. Peter thinks it’s very possible. And while that will rile up many who are under the honor-and-a-privilege spell, the NFL would find a way to make a post-draft existence work — and to make whatever replaces it the league’s biggest offseason event.

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