Quan Martin taking most starting Safety reps, more first-team reps for Marcus Mariota, Mike Sainristil stands out

Open practice notes and takeaways from Washington’s first practice with fans

I attended the Washington Commanders first open practice for its fans yesterday. Our own Bill and Scott did an excellent job covering the atmosphere yesterday, and you can take a look at their recap. I came into the practice with some questions, and while I was able to get some answers for some of them, I also left with a couple of new questions. Here are some of my notes and takeaways from Washington’s open practice.

11-on-11 reps

• Throughout the 10-minute session, Emmanuel Forbes Jr. and Benjamin St-Juste were Washington’s starting cornerbacks, while Quan Martin and Jeremy Chinn were the starting Safeties. While other position groups had a rotation of players seeing reps with the starting units, the defensive backs had stability with these four.

A few days ago, Dan Quinn spoke highly of Martin’s skillsets and what was most important to have at the safety position. Quinn loves Martin’s tackling and ball skills, which has clearly propelled him.

As for Chinn, he gets the nod for the versatility he flashed in Carolina. Before training camp, Quinn shed light on how he wanted Washington’s defense to play aggressively, have more man coverage, and have more blitzing ability. Chinn fits the mold on paper.

• Rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil showed very good pursuit effort through and after the whistle. While this news isn’t anything profound, he was one of the few players I noticed who was on one side of the field, fighting through downfield blocks to sprint his way to the football on the opposite hash. Sainristil has also been among the group of kick and punt returners; Quinn said that given his ball skills, it would be worth exploring the value they may have in that.
• Running back Jeremy McNichols has some juice and made a few cuts that display good lateral movement.
• Receiver Mitchell Tinsley had a solid day, making a couple of contested catches. He didn’t create great separation in coverage, but he could clearly separate himself from the competition if he wins in tightly covered situations.
• Brandon Coleman has seen more reps as the starting right tackle. I previously wrote about Coleman’s preparation for playing all OL positions except center.

• Ben Sinnott had two drops on the day. The second one led to a Mariota INT after Sinnott dove for and bobbled a catch. Safety Tyler Owens caught the tipped ball.

Jayden Daniels vs Marcus Mariota

• I noticed at least two false starts, and at least one was a Jayden Daniels-led offense. Another thing of note is that both Mariota and Daniels are still splitting time with the starters. There has been some conversation about what people should make about Mariota seeing time as the starting quarterback. I don’t buy into the controversy, and I think Quinn has stayed true to his practice philosophy since his first off-season practice sessions, where he has continuously mixed up the 2s with the 1s and the 1s with the 2s. I think Daniels should see the majority of starting reps at both joint practices with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.
• There were a couple of times when Jayden and his receivers weren’t on the same page. Dyami Brown broke inside on a curl when Jayden expected him to break out. Terry sat versus a zone coverage where Jayden threw deep. In 11s, Jayden threw in front of a receiver (couldn’t capture who) who sat his route down.
• Marcus Mariota had two interceptions on the day, and in the drill I mentioned below, they should’ve had another, which, depending on the quarter, could have lost Washington the game. Mariota’s second interception was returned for a touchdown by cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly.
• It was a sub-par day for the Commanders quarterbacks, grading nothing higher than a C- for me.

Kicker Ramiz Ahmed was mostly good on Sunday

• Ramiz Ahmed saw plenty of time on Sunday during sessions. The first session was a drill in which he backed up five or ten yards after each kick. In this session, he was perfect on his kicks, with his furthest being around 45 or 50 yards. However, in live 11s, in a two-minute drill where the offense had to drive about 15-20 yards to get in field goal range, Ahmed went 2 of 3 in my count.
• Among other special team notes, Sainristil, as mentioned above, has seen return reps, but Forbes, Jahan Dotson, and Kazmeir Allen are also among punt returners. Jamison Crowder has competition on paper, but not sure if anyone has really pushed him yet.

These were my notes from Sunday’s open practice; let us know your thoughts on the day below.