Talk Commanders

Some quick thoughts on the First-Round:

Defense vs. Offense

-This was supposed to be a Defensive-heavy first round.  Most mocks had the Defensive side of the ball receiving the majority of picks.  The typical spread was 18-14.  Well, so much for the mocks; there were 19-Offensive and 13-Defensive players selected. 

Big Uglies

-Offensive Tackle is one position that gets lots of love in these affairs.  Seven OTs were taken.  Much of the speculation was that there would be as many as six.

-Offensive Guard was consistently regarded as a second-round position.  One exception was Ioane to Baltimore was widely predicted.  Houston took Rutledge boosting the total for OGs to 2 in the first round.

Lady Luck

-Ty Simpson has a horseshoe in an unimaginable place.  Were this 2024 he would have been a late 2nd or 3rd-Round pick.  This was the year of the QB shortage.  So, he ends up in the first…in the top half of the first…goes to a team where he will sit and learn not having to produce anything for a few years…and for a coach with QB Whisperer credentials.  This is a guy who couldn’t beat out Jalen Milroe for three years at Alabama.  Jalen went in the third round last year.  Simply incredible good luck rained down for the young man. 

Surplus Value Strikes

-As I thought, Caleb Downs slid out of the top-10.  The Surplus Value thing is too strong to ignore.  Downs had the highest Star Value of the picks available for Dallas.  It’s always hard for Jerry Jones to pass on Star Value. 

You Did What?

-Other than Simpson, the biggest over-draft of the night was the WR Tate to Tennessee at #4.  When a guy is never the WR1 in college it’s a stretch to think he’ll be a #1 at the highest level.  If you wanted a head scratching pick for the night this was it. The Tennessee “Needs” board was big…as in it needs some Bigs. They went Receiver. This is the team that traded away AJ Brown. They pick high every year for a reason.

Of Upside vs Production

-Reese sliding to #5 was not on any radar that I encountered.  He was the “Upside” Edge as opposed to Bailey who was the “Production” Edge.  Betting on upside will get you fired in the NFL.  It often doesn’t materialize.  Still, the odds are that the Giants will have an improved pass rush over the competent one they had last year.  The need for Washington to grab a Center just went up.

The East going Beast Mode

-The NFL East improved last night.  The three Ohio State Defensive studs went to Dallas, Washington, and New York.  Philly grabbed the WR Lemon from USC.  IF AJ Brown is there with DeVonta Smith and this kid even Jalen Hurts should be able to be productive.  It sounds odd to say about a Super Bowl MVP, but if Hurts can’t light the League up with that crew it’s time to re-think affairs up in the mis-named City of Brotherly Love.

They’re World Champs for a Reason

-RB Jeremiah Price to Seattle is a terrific pick for them.  They let their Super Bowl MVP walk.  Then they promptly reloaded a comparable for Rookie money.  Their Dead Money is only in the sub-$1-million range. No other team is close. Seattle is a brilliantly run organization.

Next for Washington?

-The stud Linebacker is in the barn. Now what? The #71 pick is waiting for the WFT.  Lots of speculation is out there that the pick is Ted Hurst the Wide Receiver out of Georgia State.  6’3” at 207 lbs, Hurst has 4.42 speed that he carries through the break.  That would fill the very loud void at WR2.  Lots of water has to go under the bridge first for that to happen.  Expect lots of trade actions as we move down the rounds.

The NFL is the master of Marketing. For decades the Draft was a cozy business day in a downtown hotel Ballroom. Now it’s a 3-day event in front of throngs of people and a national TV and streaming audience on any number of platforms. It’s gone from being a minor expense to the League to now being a monster money-maker. It’s the NFL’s version of Alchemy; making Gold out of Lead. The League simply defies the gravity that bounds normal business.

This year’s mega-event is in Pittsburgh starting at 8 p.m. EDT today. That much we know. Nearly everything else about this Draft is a set of question marks. One notable exception is the identity of the #1 pick. The Raiders will select Fernando Mendoza, Quarterback out of Indiana. After that, it’s a craps shoot. Washington arrives as a team in need of more pieces/parts than it can snag in three-days. And, it burned some of its powder acquiring stud Left Tackle Laremy Tunsil. The franchise only has 5-selections with a threadbare 2-selections in the Top-100. There is much to discuss below.

In brief the WFT got younger, faster, and more athletic during the first week of Free Agency.

Free Agency comes at you fast. The “Official” start of Free Agency comes at 4pm on Wednesday March 11. It’s the start of the new League year, don’t you know. What? there’s no New Year’s Party planned? The League opened this two-day “Legal Tampering” window which started on Monday. By the end of the day Washington had landed an Edge Rusher, a Slot Corner, brought back an inside Defensive Lineman who can play “Zero Technique” (Nose Tackle situated directly over the Center), set their Left Tackle for the next three years, and re-signed their solid #2 QB. And, curiously the team did not lose any of their own Free Agents. That’s not a bad day’s work. There are many more moves coming. Hold on tightly!

The National Football League originally crowned its champion based solely on regular season record. Hence the first champion team was the Akron Pros in 1920 a franchise long since lost to the ether. The first real Championship Game took place in 1933. There the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23-21. Today’s Super Bowl is the League’s 94’th Title Game. There have been blowouts, cliff-hangers, and everything in between. What is in store today? We will all have to tune in and find out.

An old sage once told me that one doesn’t grow old. Instead our youth is taken away a single piece at a time until it is no longer there. A rather large piece of it was removed on Friday with the passing on Sonny Jurgensen. For many of us, he was the Quarterback of our early fandom. But, he blossomed into much more than being a simple jock. Sonny became the face of the franchise before it achieved relevance…and stayed in that role long after it did.

There are a few things in life that are given. Everyone knows about death and taxes. But, you can add NFL Officiating Controversies to the list. Last week’s Buffalo vs. Denver game only reinforced the thought. In the aftermath yet another Head Coach with a sterling record was shown the door. Two of the games went to Overtime. All in all it was a memorable weekend.

And, then there were only seven left. After the sheer volume of NFL football last weekend with six-games this week’s slate is a full one-third smaller. With four-games this weekend, and two next there’s only one left thereafter. Football is on its way out the door for 8-months. But, it’s not going without making a lot of noise. Let’s winnow through some of it.

The NFL has mastered the art of generating constant attention. One would think the end of a season would bring a similar end to the buzz around a team. Not so in this League. Firings and Hirings and intrigue have dominated the post-season chatter so far. And, your Washington Football Team is in the thick of it. Oh, and we haven’t played the first playoff game yet. We’ll see if there’s some sense to be made of it.

After today the ashes of a lost season can finally be collected into a single container and stuffed into an obscure storage location. If you are a life-long Washington fan you have a substantial collection of them. For this still-young century the WFT is 174-244-2 (.414). Some 18 of the 26 seasons were losing efforts (69%) Right this minute RFK Stadium has been torn into pieces small enough for front-end loaders to grab and disposition into 10-wheel dump trucks. Since 1961, when Washington relocated from Griffith Stadium to the new “District of Columbia Stadium” the team is 486-wins, 504-losses, and 22-ties (.485). However, before the year-2000 the franchise had only 14-losing seasons in that 40-year span. One-half of them came in the 1960’s. Life was pretty good for Washington fans once the 1970s hit. It all went south when Dan Snyder took the reins. But, you knew that. The bookcase with the urns of lost seasons’ ashes is heavily stacked toward the more recent past. For younger fans there isn’t much in the way of success to stand upon.

Give credit to Dan Snyder for one thing: It’s not easy to lose an entire generation of fans. He did it with aplomb.