Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. This
Speaker 1: week marked at the start of Organized Team Activities here
Speaker 1: in Ashbourne, as we got our first look at Washington's
Speaker 1: newest editions alongside the veterans. Yesterday, Brand Weinstein and Zach
Speaker 1: Selby headed out to the first session of OTAs and
Speaker 1: we caught up with them to hear their observations. So
Speaker 1: we're here with Brand Weinstein here after OTA the first
Speaker 1: open media availability for OTAs, and we're haven't talking to
Speaker 1: some of the players and us a couple of things.
Speaker 1: The other really stuck out to me. One was that
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz. Obviously you have to talk about him, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, how do you think he looked so far?
Speaker 1: You know that its first first, really couple of days.
Speaker 1: What do you think about him? I'm waiting for all
Speaker 1: the tweets of we haven't seen somebody throw the ball
Speaker 1: like that in a few years. They've already come. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the first impressions of here is this particular level of
Speaker 1: athlete that kind of hasn't been here in a few years.
Speaker 1: So first impressions are good. I honestly, I was sitting
Speaker 1: there talking to Logan Paulson during practice, and he was
Speaker 1: actually quite surprised at how organized they were for day one.
Speaker 1: And I felt the same way, like you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's they've made it very important that everyone get here,
Speaker 1: be here. You know, I think jump on board with
Speaker 1: this is a year we're supposed to start winning. We
Speaker 1: invested in a quarterback. He's got a lot of experience,
Speaker 1: and he looks the part. I mean, he looks every
Speaker 1: bit the part. So I really want to hear from him.
Speaker 1: I want to see how he feels about it, right, No,
Speaker 1: I mean, and you notice how precise he is with
Speaker 1: the ball, you know, Johan Dason even mentioned that earlier today,
Speaker 1: he mentioned how precise and accurate he is with his passing.
Speaker 1: You know, you were right, you do feel it kind
Speaker 1: of around Procie how important it is for them to
Speaker 1: feel like this is the moment where we're all going
Speaker 1: to take this step forward. Here. You know, another player
Speaker 1: in offense that I really saw kind of be out
Speaker 1: there a lot more as Cold Turner, you know, with
Speaker 1: with Logan Thomas out, you know, he's kind of stepped
Speaker 1: in there in those first team reps. How do you
Speaker 1: think he looked in that New York Because that's a
Speaker 1: lot for rookie right, it's a big athlete. They clearly
Speaker 1: have likes at that position. You can see what the
Speaker 1: type of players that they brought in and Clue Hodges
Speaker 1: as well, the undrafted free agent. This is an interesting
Speaker 1: position group to watch. It's a lot of inexperienced players.
Speaker 1: Logan Thomas may or may not be ready for the
Speaker 1: start of the season. They're gonna have to bridge that gap.
Speaker 1: They don't have another veteran here unless you count John
Speaker 1: Bates as a veteran. So I do think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be very interesting. And Turner is clearly an interesting prospect
Speaker 1: at his size, his speed, He's a little stiff a
Speaker 1: little bit when he runs, but as they talk about
Speaker 1: this catch radius is obvious he's going to be a
Speaker 1: weapon for them. How this plays out through the summer
Speaker 1: probably depends on how healthy Logan Thomas is, but how
Speaker 1: this plays out through the summer is going to be
Speaker 1: probably one of the most interesting position groups for the team. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you know, they like John bass where, they
Speaker 1: like his hands, But there's just some things that Cole
Speaker 1: has been able to show so far as you really
Speaker 1: just can't find a lot of other players let's go
Speaker 1: to the other side of the ball here, and you know,
Speaker 1: as allay, they're running a lot of three safety looks
Speaker 1: here and Derek Forres really kind of stepped up into
Speaker 1: a lot of really good things today. I mean, do
Speaker 1: you do you think he's starting to take another step,
Speaker 1: you know, so far in the second year of his career,
Speaker 1: I think they're going to ask him to I mean, like, so,
Speaker 1: you know, they I think it's clear that there are
Speaker 1: a couple of position that they're probably going to look
Speaker 1: at in this third wave of free agency. A veteran
Speaker 1: safety might be one of them. A veteran linebacker clearly
Speaker 1: is going to be one of them. But Derek Forst
Speaker 1: getting opportunities right now to play kind of in that
Speaker 1: role at like seeing Cam Curl moved back up towards
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. You know, I think he's a
Speaker 1: playmaker specifically in the box. So who becomes this buffalo
Speaker 1: nickel person or whatever this kind of position flexes. I
Speaker 1: think it'll be something to be interesting to watch. But
Speaker 1: Forrest is going to get opportunities because there is not
Speaker 1: a lot of depth at the position's draft pick a
Speaker 1: year ago. Second year, hopefully he can step up. We
Speaker 1: know Corne Elder made the first interception to OTAs, but
Speaker 1: you know Derek was not too far behind and making
Speaker 1: a cup for himself. You know. Also Cole Holkum, you
Speaker 1: know another Cole. He's been talked about a lot of
Speaker 1: taking another step being that mic linebacker. Do you think
Speaker 1: he had that press? Do you think he handled that
Speaker 1: down pat? You know during team droves and it looks
Speaker 1: like it. I mean, and everything we know about him
Speaker 1: is he's film junkie. He's going to be in and
Speaker 1: out of the building. He accepts any responsibility that's put
Speaker 1: in front of him. And again, this is another situation,
Speaker 1: not unlike Derek Forrest in a lot all of depth
Speaker 1: at that position. He's trying to have to step up
Speaker 1: and do it. It does feel like in the case
Speaker 1: of Holcombe, they're behind him, you know, taking this position
Speaker 1: by the reins and let's see how please out well
Speaker 1: if it leadships ain't been like it's hearing. You know,
Speaker 1: he's got it pretty down. Patch about that. You guys
Speaker 1: can check out all of our code for OTAs on
Speaker 1: Commanders dot Com. Head coach Ron Rivera spoke with the
Speaker 1: media following yesterday's session. Here is what the head coach
Speaker 1: had to note from the opening day of OTAs. Probably
Speaker 1: the biggest thing is an opportunity for our players to
Speaker 1: work their techniques, develop some rapport with each other. Part
Speaker 1: of it also will be the learning aspect in terms
Speaker 1: of retention. What will happen is, you know, the stuff
Speaker 1: that we did today will be included tomorrow. We'll do
Speaker 1: some installation this afternoon. They'll have to carry over from
Speaker 1: yesterday today and we'll see what we have as far
Speaker 1: as that's concerned. And again, it's just a matter of
Speaker 1: seeing how guys are adapting to the things that we're doing.
Speaker 1: And would you make a Carson today? I thought Carson
Speaker 1: did some good things. You know, uh, he did throw
Speaker 1: the pick today, but man, that was a pretty dog
Speaker 1: on good play by Corn Elder. I mean, it's very
Speaker 1: veteran moved by Corn. But I thought he did some
Speaker 1: really good things. Got some pretty good report with these guys.
Speaker 1: The thing I like is, again it's about making good decisions.
Speaker 1: You're seeing a lot of good decisions out there right now.
Speaker 1: I thought Taylor had a pretty good day. He had
Speaker 1: a couple opportunities and missed a couple of them, but
Speaker 1: he threw the ball. Well, I thought again, Sam came
Speaker 1: in holland did a nice job. Hey, Coach, one more
Speaker 1: with Landon Collins now gone and Bobby McCain having signed
Speaker 1: a new contract, do you have any buddy who's struck
Speaker 1: out to you as a leader in the secondary? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, Um, Bobby is stepped up. He stepped up
Speaker 1: last year as well and helped out. I like what
Speaker 1: Kendall Fuller brings to the table as well, you know.
Speaker 1: And the guy that's kind of starting to find his
Speaker 1: voice is Cam curl Um, you know, and he's played
Speaker 1: very well for us. So I think it's a It's
Speaker 1: a good group, very skilled group, and I think they're
Speaker 1: coming together and they got to continue to work together
Speaker 1: and communicate. Coach, he signed Andrew Norwell and the Austin
Speaker 1: and Brian Trey Turner. Are you comfortable with where this
Speaker 1: offensive line is right now? Very much? So? Um, you know,
Speaker 1: we have we have Chase Ruler who's still healing up up,
Speaker 1: you know. But um, I like what West does as
Speaker 1: far as his position, flex and be quietness. West as
Speaker 1: a heck of a football player as well. So I
Speaker 1: like the group. I like the depth that we had UM.
Speaker 1: You know, one thing we wanted to do consciously was
Speaker 1: we wanted to be at least UM, you know, wanted
Speaker 1: to have at least ten guys that were veteran, savvy
Speaker 1: guys that have played on the field for us UM.
Speaker 1: And we like that minimum of ten men depth. We'll
Speaker 1: try and keep as many of those guys as we can.
Speaker 1: For all your Commanders news and analysis, be sure to
Speaker 1: tune into Command Center weeknightst T, NBC Sports Washington, and
Speaker 1: while you're at it, follow at Commanders on all social
Speaker 1: media platforms for the latest on the team. Hail to
Speaker 1: the Commanders.