Daily Slop – 6 Jun 25 – Revisiting the pre- and post-draft excitement about 2nd-year LB Jordan Magee

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

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Washington Post (paywall)

Deebo Samuel, Mike Sainristil and a promising sign for the Commanders

Can we learn something about the Commanders from one post-practice workout involving a veteran receiver and a young defensive back?

After the Washington Commanders finished practice Wednesday, veteran receiver Deebo Samuel and second-year cornerback Mike Sainristil kept working out together in a moment that encapsulated the state of the team.

Samuel, who’s entering his seventh season, ran about a dozen routes to show the young corner how receivers could use different release techniques at the line of scrimmage to create separation against him.

One big focus was refining how to stick to receivers who use an outside release to set up an inside route. Sainristil has seen such moves before, of course, but he wanted to see them again and again so his reactions would become automatic.

The moment was a metaphor. The team is Sainristil, a young upstart with lots of promise, and it wants to be Samuel, a proven winner and consistent presence in the biggest playoff games.

“You would’ve thought he’s been here the past five years of his career the way he’s adjusted,” Sainristil said of Samuel. “He’s a guy that loves extra work, loves football, loves to win. So, any way I can pick his brain about what receivers do to help myself, I’m going to do exactly that.”

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Commanders.com

3 Commanders standouts from Week 2 of Phase 3

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

Another week of OTAs is in the books for the Washington Commanders, and there were once again a few players who had solid performances during the team’s practice that was viewed by media members on Wednesday. Here are three players who caught our eye.

Noah Brown

Brown said when he was re-signed that he felt healthy and ready to go for his second season with the Commanders. The veteran wideout looked healthy last week, and he followed it up this week with one of the most impressive catches of the day.

After starting practice with special teams drills, the offensive and defensive skill players broke away to do some seven-on-seven work near the goal line. After getting three completions in his first series, Jayden Daniels started his second set of plays by targeting Brown in the back of the end zone. The pass required Brown to extend his arms a bit more than normal, but he did come down with the grab and maintained possession despite brushing against the goal post on his way to the ground.

Brown, who the team signed after training camp last year, was on his way to a career performance before suffering a kidney injury against the Tennessee Titans. He proved himself as a strong security blanket for Daniels and drew multiple pass interference calls because of how he used his size and quickness. It looks like he could be primed for another impactful campaign with a full offseason in Washington’s system.

Chris Moore

The Commanders’ receiver position is a crowded group, and there might be only one or two spots for players to fight for. There are a few players who could compete to round out the bottom of the depth chart, and Moore is already making his case.

Moore, a fourth-round pick in 2016, has bounced around the league and played for the Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans. His past shows that he can be productive, like when he had 548 yards and two touchdowns in 2022 with the Texans.

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Commanders Wire

NFL insider explains ‘bumpy’ road for Commanders’ negotiations with Terry McLaurin

Another NFL insider, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, spoke further about the negotiations between McLaurin and the Commanders, calling them “bumpy.”

“I don’t think it’s in a great place right now,” Breer told 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. “If you ask me where this is, and I think it’s just sort of…….I hate to say normal course of things, but I do think to some degree these things do get bumpy, and I think they’ve gotten bumpier as the market’s exploded over the last couple of years, with the cap going up as fast as it has. So, if you’re Terry McLaurin, I think you look at it, and you’re saying, ‘don’t even come at me with anything that doesn’t start with a three.’”

Commanders schedule 2025: Study the Washington Commanders week-by-week schedule with times, TV and more.

Breer is referring to the $30 million mark, which several receivers have surpassed since McLaurin signed his last deal in 2022.

“I think it’s fair of him to ask for something in that range, just based on where the market’s gone,” Breer continued. “Obviously, last year, Justin Jefferson gets 35 (million), and CeeDee Lamb gets 34, but I’d say the real comp is probably DK Metcalf, who gets traded to Pittsburgh, and he gets 33 per year on a four-year deal. I think those comps are out there, and I think they will eventually get something done. Terry is too important to what they’ve built there, but sometimes do things get a little messy along the way and I think that’s where we are right now.”

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A to Z Sports

Commanders have a special plan for promising youngster that could help the defense unlock its full potential

One guy that could really help turn things around is second-year linebacker Jordan Magee. Not many people are considering him after a knee injury pretty much derailed his rookie season, but he was having a very good training camp before the aforementioned injury. Defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. and head coach Dan Quinn had even developed a special package to take advantage of Magee’s athleticism and other abilities.

Per Sports Info Solutions, the Commanders led the NFL by defending 139 rushing attempts via their nickel defense. Unsurprisingly, they allowed a league-high 658 rushing yards, which was 157 more than the second-place Bills, who also defended the run while in nickel the second-most at 117 rushing attempts.

Even if it’s Big Nickel (which means a safety is your fifth DB), this is not ideal for any defense. The whole idea of nickel defense is to have smaller, quicker bodies on the field to defend the pass. The team lining up in 12 personnel has an automatic advantage that can easily get bigger as the game goes on and bodies wear down.

At 6-foot-3, 226 pounds, Magee certainly offers more size than your typical safety or cornerback. The key, however, is he has far-superior speed, athleticism, and range than most guys that play linebacker. He’s the perfect Quinn safety-linebacker hybrid that we’ve known the Commanders head coach to utilize during his time in the NFL.

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NFC East links

The Athletic (paywall)

C.J. Gardner-Johnson claps back at Vic Fangio’s comment that Eagles traded DB for salary cap reasons

Texans defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson took to social media Wednesday to respond to a comment his former coach and current Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio made regarding Philadelphia’s decision to trade Gardner-Johnson to Houston.

The Eagles received offensive guard Kenyon Green and a 2026 fifth-round selection in the exchange, while the Texans also added a 2026 sixth-round pick. When asked about the trade during OTAs on Tuesday, Fangio called it “a salary cap thing.”

“Howie (Roseman, Eagles GM) made that decision. I was fine with it,” he added.

Gardner-Johnson reposted a graphic featuring the quote to his Instagram story and added text that read, “Just don’t do them young guys like y’all did me.” He also included a 100 emoji and a flexed bicep emoji.

Gardner-Johnson had signed a three-year, $27 million deal with the Eagles in 2024 and put up solid numbers in Philadelphia’s Super Bowl-winning season: Six interceptions with one returned for a touchdown, 12 pass breakups, one forced fumble and 59 tackles. But the 27-year-old also has a reputation for getting under other players’ skin. In 2024, he was voted the most annoying player in The Athletic’s anonymous NFL player poll after taking the title of “biggest trash talker” in the 2023 poll.

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Riggo’s Rag

Giants fight at OTAs is the kind of chaos the Commanders can laugh about

The Giants, who used a first-round pick on a quarterback who is unlikely to play this season in Jaxson Dart, have created a situation that is so dire that head coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen could both be fired if they start losing. It seems like those tensions are rolling over to the players.

Giants practice ended early thanks to a very chaotic fight. Pass rusher Brian Burns and offensive tackles James Hudson got things started by pushing and shoving to a point where they had to be pulled off the field. Former Top 5 pick Kayvon Thibodeaux managed to take things up to 11.

Thibodeaux and offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor got into a scuffle in which Thibodeaux pulled Eluemunor’s helmet off and threw a punch at him. Hudson retaliated by charging at Thibodeaux, which prompted a reprisal from Burns. Remember when the Commanders were the chaotic, crazy team?

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Articles

ESPN

Lions’ St. Brown expects to be ready for camp after knee surgery

“I had a surgery on my knee after the season just to clean some stuff up, so I’ve been rehabbing that, but I should be good to go for training camp,” St. Brown said following Thursday’s practice. St. Brown, 25, is entering his fifth season as one of the league’s premier receivers.

Campbell also provided an updated time frame on the return of linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez, who suffered a torn right ACL in last season’s Thanksgiving Day game.

“Conservatively? November. … Yeah, that’s probably the best way to say it. Probably November. Somewhere in there.”

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Pro Football Talk

Steelers got what they wanted, even if many fans are dismayed

The Steelers wanted him. Their fans weren’t quite as committed.

While plenty of Steelers fans surely support whatever the team chooses to do, a sense of dismay emerged from more than a few Terrible Towel wavers. Whether they regard Rodgers as a barnstorming opportunist who is hoping to exit the NFL with a better final chapter or whether they resent his failure to pounce on the team’s interest in signing him (Cam Heyward’s words resonated in Steelers Nation) or whether they simply don’t like him, the anti-Aaron sentiment has been palpable.

Beyond the anecdotal evidence of fans complaining about Rodgers, we posted a couple of polls that posed a simple question. The first one, in late March, generated a 55.9-percent “no” vote. The second, a day after he appeared with Pat McAfee and aired grievances and spewed conspiracy theories, saw the negative response spike to 70 percent.

If the Steelers play well, the naysayers will change their tune. But if the Steelers struggle and/or if Rodgers doesn’t play dramatically better than the team’s quarterbacks in recent years (the bar is fairly low), the fans will not keep quiet.

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The Athletic (paywall)

With Aaron Rodgers, the Steelers risk doing exactly what they said they wouldn’t

“I have a cliche that the guys oftentimes throw back to me in jest, but it’s true: ‘Two is a pattern,’” Tomlin said. “I say that because there’s an expiration on adjusting, adapting. So, I use that phrase to reflect urgency, to reflect how quickly it is that we need to adapt and adjust and move.

“We have had similar results,” Tomlin continued. “Rest assured that we’re not doing the same things hoping for a different result.”

The Steelers appeared to be making that change ahead of free agency, when general manager Omar Khan pulled off a blockbuster trade for former Seattle Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf.

The big splash for a star receiver represented a philosophical shift in several ways. An organization that has long believed in its draft-and-develop approach instantly upgraded at a critical position with a proven veteran. By handing Metcalf a five-year, $150 million extension, the Steelers made him by far the highest-paid external acquisition in team history. Simultaneously, a franchise that has led the league in defensive spending the past three seasons began to redistribute some of its payroll to the offensive side of the ball.

Perhaps things really were changing in Pittsburgh. Or maybe not.

On Thursday, 85 days after he was released by the New York Jets, four-time NFL MVP and one-time Super Bowl champion Aaron Rodgers decided to join the Steelers on a one-year deal, league sources told The Athletic’s Dianna Russini.

Yes, Rodgers is a different quarterback. But the Steelers have been here before, relying on an aging, past-his-prime veteran and expecting the NFL’s highest-paid defense to prop him up. They tried that model last season with a 36-year-old Russell Wilson, and before that with a late-30s Ben Roethlisberger. In both instances, the results were a mix of flashes and fool’s gold.

Is adding Rodgers doing the same thing and expecting a different result?

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