Jump to content

2018 Training Camp Thread

Woz

By Woz
in Washington Commanders

Recommended Posts

turtle28

turtle28

Posted
Posted

@e16bball

• I just heard an update on 106.7 The Fan from Craig Hoffman. He said two surprising things:

1. He thinks Danny Johnson will make the team over Greg Stroman and Stroman will be a practice squad guy.

2. He thinks there is a chance for a 5th safety - like last year with McLure making it - but it isn’t who we all think...Kenny Ladler, UDFA FS from Vanderbilt is the guy to watch, just like Danny Johnson. 

The other day I was listening to the radio and one of the draft guru guys calling in from NFL Network or something said that the Redskins did an amazing job in UDFA this year. He said they got almost every UDFA he had on the top of his list with guys like Martez Carter, Simmie Cobbs, Danny Johnson, Kenny Ladler, Quinn Blanding and Sean Welsh (who unfortunately retired).

• As for the RB positon, Hoffman said this morning on the Junkies that he doesn’t think Perine will make the team. We all know that Jay loves him some Rob Gruden and that Rob was ahead of Perine last year too. Hoffman said that Perine is the lowest of the RBs to get to and through the hole. He’s a 3 yards and a cloud of dust guy who is strong and powerful but not fast/quick enough where it makes a different.

• As for OL, I think it’s a good thing we aren’t hearing much tbh. That must mean that the guys are looking good there - for example Roullier - the fact that we saw him come in last year and our OL look the same - if not better - than when Long was starting and they moved on from Lomg means he’s the answer at least for now.

I know people don’t like hearing this, but I don’t think LG is the problem that everyone makes it out to be. Lauvao is a serviceable starter and Nsekhe played just fine there in his place last year when he was forced into the positon because of injury. Add to that we have Bergstrom, a seasoned veteran who is nothing special but decent depth we’re fine there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MKnight82

MKnight82

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, turtle28 said:

He thinks Danny Johnson will make the team over Greg Stroman and Stroman will be a practice squad guy.

Ya I've seen/heard this from several places now.  Pretty cool someone out of no where is making noise.

2 hours ago, turtle28 said:

As for the RB positon, Hoffman said this morning on the Junkies that he doesn’t think Perine will make the team. We all know that Jay loves him some Rob Gruden and that Rob was ahead of Perine last year too. Hoffman said that Perine is the lowest of the RBs to get to and through the hole. He’s a 3 yards and a cloud of dust guy who is strong and powerful but not fast/quick enough where it makes a different.

The only thing Perine has going for him is that Gruden has talked about Perine taking some snaps in practice at FB.  That could bring up some interesting formations, where the QB could possibly hand off to either back out of the backfield.  Or Perine could come up and block.  

2 hours ago, turtle28 said:

I know people don’t like hearing this, but I don’t think LG is the problem that everyone makes it out to be. Lauvao is a serviceable starter and Nsekhe played just fine there in his place last year when he was forced into the positon because of injury. Add to that we have Bergstrom, a seasoned veteran who is nothing special but decent depth we’re fine there.

Yes and no.  We can limp by with Lauvao, the problem is he's an injury risk waiting to happen.  I don't agree with Nsekhe looking good at LG last year.  In fact, he's never looked good anywhere but LT IMO.  In fact, if Lauvao is out for any extended period of time our best lineup would probably be Nsekhe at LT and TWill at LG.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Doc Draper

Doc Draper

Posted
Posted

I just saw the depth chart- Ty not working at guard and only as swing tackle? We do need tackle depth as the kid from Louisville will need a few years in the weight room, but garbage at LG next to a 7th rounder second year guy at center is very concerning.Lets hope Doug makes a trade for a starting caliber LG or Alex Smith will only have time to throw checkdowns.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
e16bball

e16bball

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Doc Draper said:

I just saw the depth chart- Ty not working at guard and only as swing tackle? We do need tackle depth as the kid from Louisville will need a few years in the weight room, but garbage at LG next to a 7th rounder second year guy at center is very concerning.Lets hope Doug makes a trade for a starting caliber LG or Alex Smith will only have time to throw checkdowns.  

I checked that out too. It was concerning to see that, but I think initial depth charts are always a little on the “conservative” side. 

For example, it had Derrius Guice listed as the 4th string RB. I can’t imagine that even Rob Kelley’s wife and Samaje Perine’s mother truly believe they’re ahead of Guice in the pecking order, but I’m okay with leaving it like that for now. Let the rookie earn the spot — from the pre-draft reports, it seems like he may be the kinda kid that you might not want to just hand things to anyway, just to keep him motivated and focused  

With the LG spot, I think they’re still crossing their fingers (and praying) (and performing ritual sacrifices to both the old gods and the new) that Lauvao will be healthy and at least serviceable. So I’m okay with letting him keep the position that’s been “his” for years, at least for now. But you’re absolutely right — we’ve got about a week, maybe two weeks at the absolute most, until we have to make a concrete decision on LG for this season. Whether that’s signing/trading for a veteran or moving Nsekhe there, I think it really needs to be done prior to preseason game 3. 

 

Another interesting thing on this general topic is that Geron Christian is listed as the backup LT and Nsekhe is only on there as the backup RT. Which is really curious to me, because Nsekhe has in the past been a fine LT but awful at RT. And because every single one of us here knows that if Trent goes down, Nsekhe would 100% get the call at LT before Christian at this point. But it makes me wonder if they haven’t put Nsekhe in there as the backup LT, which he surely will be, because they still haven’t decided what they’re actually going to do with him yet. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
e16bball

e16bball

Posted
Posted
On 8/6/2018 at 12:41 PM, turtle28 said:

2. He thinks there is a chance for a 5th safety - like last year with McLure making it - but it isn’t who we all think...Kenny Ladler, UDFA FS from Vanderbilt is the guy to watch, just like Danny Johnson. 

Kenny Ladler isn’t exactly a UDFA, he came out in 2014 and has played for the Bills and in the CFL. But he’ll be an interesting guy to keep an eye on. 

Talk of keeping a 5th safety, particularly more of a FS, doesn’t speak well to their confidence/trust in Nicholson and Apke to hold down that position — although it sounds like it’s just one observer’s opinion and maybe not coming from a team source. 

On 8/6/2018 at 12:41 PM, turtle28 said:

As for the RB positon, Hoffman said this morning on the Junkies that he doesn’t think Perine will make the team. We all know that Jay loves him some Rob Gruden and that Rob was ahead of Perine last year too. Hoffman said that Perine is the lowest of the RBs to get to and through the hole. He’s a 3 yards and a cloud of dust guy who is strong and powerful but not fast/quick enough where it makes a different.

I think they both make it, actually. But of the two, I would keep Perine.

First of all, he’s younger and has an extra year on a cheap rookie contract. Beyond that, he was better than Fat Rob last season, despite being a rookie. A lot of young RBs who come from big (dominant) programs seem to struggle if they’re thrown in there behind a poor OL. I think they’re so used to having good blocking and big holes that it requires an adjustment for them to learn to run with less (or sometimes no) space.

Even guys like Todd Gurley (3.18 Y/C in 2016), Melvin Gordon (3.48 Y/C in 2015), Le’Veon Bell (3.52 Y/C in 2013), Darren McFadden (3.43 Y/C in 2009), and Marshawn Lynch (3.7 combined Y/C in 2009 and 2010) had seasons where they were very ineffective when they were young and adjusting to the NFL game. Perine’s college teammate Joe Mixon (3.52 Y/C) and even top 10 pick Christian McCaffrey (3.72 Y/C) also struggled last season. All from big schools with great OLs. We’ll see if those last two make the adjustment to the pro game, but we know the first 5 did. 

I’d take the chance on Perine making an adjustment to the pro game. He’s the type of player whose production will depend heavily on the OL play in front of him — for the reason you mentioned, because he isn’t a quick first step guy — so he will look very bad behind a poor OL (such as the 2017 Redskins MASH unit). But if you block it up well in front of him and let him get up a little head of steam, he can gash defenses. As we continue to try to improve the run blocking up front, and take advantage of Alex Smith’s ability to stretch the field side-to-side in addition to vertically, I think he will become more and more valuable.

Or maybe he’s Rob Dayne crossed with Beanie Wells ? But I wouldn’t cut bait with him just yet. Find out if he’s actually too slow/sluggish or if he just looked that way because it was the first time he’d ever consistently gotten the ball and found no hole or space to run. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RSkinGM

RSkinGM

Posted
Posted

Oh the Drama !

Gruden said today that when Doctson fell on his shoulder, at the same time-someone stepped on his heel . ( Of Course ! ) and that was more worrisome than the shoulder.

Then both Tandler and Kiem report he's full go in 11 on 11 today. Maybe he decided to tough it out. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
turtle28

turtle28

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, e16bball said:

Kenny Ladler isn’t exactly a UDFA, he came out in 2014 and has played for the Bills and in the CFL. But he’ll be an interesting guy to keep an eye on. 

Talk of keeping a 5th safety, particularly more of a FS, doesn’t speak well to their confidence/trust in Nicholson and Apke to hold down that position — although it sounds like it’s just one observer’s opinion and maybe not coming from a team source. 

I think they both make it, actually. But of the two, I would keep Perine.

First of all, he’s younger and has an extra year on a cheap rookie contract. Beyond that, he was better than Fat Rob last season, despite being a rookie. A lot of young RBs who come from big (dominant) programs seem to struggle if they’re thrown in there behind a poor OL. I think they’re so used to having good blocking and big holes that it requires an adjustment for them to learn to run with less (or sometimes no) space.

Even guys like Todd Gurley (3.18 Y/C in 2016), Melvin Gordon (3.48 Y/C in 2015), Le’Veon Bell (3.52 Y/C in 2013), Darren McFadden (3.43 Y/C in 2009), and Marshawn Lynch (3.7 combined Y/C in 2009 and 2010) had seasons where they were very ineffective when they were young and adjusting to the NFL game. Perine’s college teammate Joe Mixon (3.52 Y/C) and even top 10 pick Christian McCaffrey (3.72 Y/C) also struggled last season. All from big schools with great OLs. We’ll see if those last two make the adjustment to the pro game, but we know the first 5 did. 

I’d take the chance on Perine making an adjustment to the pro game. He’s the type of player whose production will depend heavily on the OL play in front of him — for the reason you mentioned, because he isn’t a quick first step guy — so he will look very bad behind a poor OL (such as the 2017 Redskins MASH unit). But if you block it up well in front of him and let him get up a little head of steam, he can gash defenses. As we continue to try to improve the run blocking up front, and take advantage of Alex Smith’s ability to stretch the field side-to-side in addition to vertically, I think he will become more and more valuable.

Or maybe he’s Rob Dayne crossed with Beanie Wells ? But I wouldn’t cut bait with him just yet. Find out if he’s actually too slow/sluggish or if he just looked that way because it was the first time he’d ever consistently gotten the ball and found no hole or space to run. 

I think Craig was just saying that Ladler has stood out. It was more a who could make the team that fans don’t know or don’t have their eyes on type of question and answer...

While saying anything about Ladler, he made it clear that Nicholson was a starter and Apke was a reserve S for sure. 

I feel the same way about the Perine & Kelly debate as you do but most beat reporters feel that Perine is just a little slower and that Gruden loves Kelley.

Also most beat Reporters think that the Redskins will keep a back who is a Chris Thompson type back as our number 4 RB. That’s  why most think Byron Marshall will make it. As Craig put it - and others have as well - Marshall spent time at WR in college, he’s been a return man and he can fill the Chris Thompson role if need be at some point during the season.

That being the case, it puts both Kelley and Perine’s roster spot in jeopardy and probably more so Perine’s than Kelley.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing


×
×
  • Create New...