Speaker 1: What's going on. Commander's fam is a hot outside. Yes,
Speaker 1: do we know what day? It is? Not really, but
Speaker 1: it is training camp here at Ashburn, and that's all
Speaker 1: we really care about to give you all the information
Speaker 1: you would ever care to know about your team going
Speaker 1: through training camp. We're back once again with David Harrison
Speaker 1: from Sports Illustrated and you know, David was a walk
Speaker 1: through day. There really wasn't all that much happening, but
Speaker 1: you know, we did have some pressers today. Ron Rivera
Speaker 1: montest sweat Charles Leno, I'll talk to the media. What
Speaker 1: you what were your key takeaways from Rivera's availability with
Speaker 1: the media, you know, just continuing to develop the team
Speaker 1: and just just being confident in the way they're going
Speaker 1: and talking about kind of the focus for the for
Speaker 1: the for the plan that they have ahead, and just
Speaker 1: kind of keeping things going in a positive direction. I
Speaker 1: think that mum me most excited about. We're just actually
Speaker 1: just talking about before the camera went on, is the
Speaker 1: padded practice coming up in FedEx Field. Some of us
Speaker 1: are actually wondering is that going to be padded? Is
Speaker 1: gonna be unpadded? Hopefully there is a good turnout there.
Speaker 1: He said it are kind of expecting a good fan
Speaker 1: turnout and just to get in the stadium for the
Speaker 1: first time as as this new group, some of these
Speaker 1: newer members getting in there and then having some live
Speaker 1: sessions as well to really hopefully get the energy going
Speaker 1: and kind of keeping that that rhythm. Um you like,
Speaker 1: you like having the energy continue to grow. Obviously, a
Speaker 1: walk through day kind of ramps down that that energy
Speaker 1: a little bit. We've talked a lot about ramping up.
Speaker 1: We'll be ramping down today exactly. But then you know,
Speaker 1: come in tomorrow, the officials are in town, so you
Speaker 1: so you get some insight into some of the rules
Speaker 1: and and how they're gonna do things, and then hit
Speaker 1: the stadium on Saturday, and second the second week on
Speaker 1: a on a good note, yay, you mentioned it. The
Speaker 1: the pedi practice that FedEx field, Um, I mean Riveraza.
Speaker 1: He really expects the energy kind of to kick up
Speaker 1: a little couple notes there. Do you think the players
Speaker 1: are gonna be able to feel that? I hope so,
Speaker 1: I think so. I mean I think that you know, anytime,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's beautiful out here and you love
Speaker 1: being around so hot out here very it'll be nighttime
Speaker 1: a FedEx field, so that's gonna be very nice. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: But I think you know, you're in the stadium and
Speaker 1: for these you know, for these rookies, I mean, someone
Speaker 1: to come from really big programs, Penn State and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, so they know it's like to play in
Speaker 1: a in a big venue. But this is your pro venue,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, these are your pro fans,
Speaker 1: and these are the guys that are going to be
Speaker 1: out here, and they kind of they kind of get
Speaker 1: that that that fight for the colors almost atmosphere back
Speaker 1: into everything, and I think it takes a little bit
Speaker 1: out of the training mindset and a little bit more
Speaker 1: into the love of the game mindset. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I think there was a couple of things that Chase
Speaker 1: Young said a couple of years ago about how like
Speaker 1: when he first stepped into the stadium, even though it
Speaker 1: was with nobody in there, like he just kind of
Speaker 1: felt like it was a really surreal moment for him.
Speaker 1: And I feel like the rookies are kind to be
Speaker 1: able to feel that a little bit as well this
Speaker 1: year as well, especially with the fans being there. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and I think too, like, you know, these guys have
Speaker 1: a respect for the game, right, they grew up watching
Speaker 1: the game. They you obviously love football. I you're gonna
Speaker 1: put this much effort into into playing the game. And
Speaker 1: even with the brand change and the name change and
Speaker 1: the logos and everything, you know, I think the organizations
Speaker 1: a really good job of keeping it tied to the roots.
Speaker 1: The Burgundy and Goal didn't go away. The slogans still
Speaker 1: kind of you know, the fight song is coming and
Speaker 1: kind of keep that reverence going. So for for young
Speaker 1: NFL player, you know, you walk in and you may
Speaker 1: not you know, you may not have watched Art Monk
Speaker 1: you know necessarily play in Burgundy and Goal, but you
Speaker 1: can still kind of feel the history and the lineage
Speaker 1: that comes with being part of the franchise, you know.
Speaker 1: Rivera was also talking about how importantly these padded practice are,
Speaker 1: especially for people like closer to the line of sacriments,
Speaker 1: the officsive line, you're able to evaluate them a little
Speaker 1: bit more. Also Brian Robinson about how he's able to,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of be a little more of a
Speaker 1: downhill runner. But what are you talking about the offensive
Speaker 1: line specifically, how much of a benefit is it to
Speaker 1: have these padded practices. See you see exactly what you
Speaker 1: have upfront. Yeah, it's it's huge, and I think Charles
Speaker 1: Leno kind of, you know, kind of being excited about
Speaker 1: blocking for a guy like Brian Rob's calling him a
Speaker 1: natural running back. I'm actually hoping to see from Brian.
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like we've been seeing maybe seven
Speaker 1: out of ten effort from Brian because it's still teammate
Speaker 1: on teammate. You don't want to go out there and
Speaker 1: crush a guy, you know, But I'm kind of hoping
Speaker 1: maybe the FedEx atmosphere and the fans, maybe you see
Speaker 1: a little bit more of that Alabama Brian Robinson come out.
Speaker 1: I don't want see anybody get hurt, obviously, but maybe
Speaker 1: we see a little bit more thump. But then from
Speaker 1: the offensive line too, I mean they've been talking about
Speaker 1: it all week this week, you know, instead of catch
Speaker 1: blocking because there's no pads, you don't want to hurt anybody,
Speaker 1: you can actually go out there and put a lick
Speaker 1: on someone. And a veteran like Charles Leno, who's loved
Speaker 1: not just you know, here for what he's done so far,
Speaker 1: but back in Chicago, uh to, Colts fans have actually
Speaker 1: been hit me up on Twitter talking how they wanted
Speaker 1: him and in Indy. So he's obviously got a great
Speaker 1: reputation and I think that he's gonna continue to build
Speaker 1: that here and then help these young guys and his
Speaker 1: new team teammates continue to mesh. Have been one of
Speaker 1: my favorite players since he got here. Honestly, um, you know,
Speaker 1: talking on the other side of the line of scremated
Speaker 1: the dfat the ven. He talked Rivera talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about the depth there, and it seems like he's
Speaker 1: really high on like will and William Ray King Shaka Tony.
Speaker 1: I mean, it seems like they're really stepping up and
Speaker 1: doing what he expects them to do. With Chase Young
Speaker 1: being out, yeah, absolutely, and capitalizing on that youth that
Speaker 1: you know, maybe a year or two kind of look
Speaker 1: like maybe it was a weakness and now it's actually
Speaker 1: starting to become a big strength for the team. And
Speaker 1: watching guys like Casey Toohill get out there when they can,
Speaker 1: and you know, James Smith, Williams even though he missed
Speaker 1: you know, the last coule practices, but uh yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: the the the energy on this team from from a
Speaker 1: youth standpoint, and then also the talent you're seeing them
Speaker 1: take these next steps, not just the D line, but
Speaker 1: also the tight end room that we've talked about before.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of young talent on this team,
Speaker 1: and it shows that, you know, even if it doesn't
Speaker 1: completely come together and you know they're hoisting a Lombardi
Speaker 1: at the end of this season, there's definitely a good
Speaker 1: track that they're on and there's definitely a lot of
Speaker 1: solid talent to build around. Last thing, we're getting close
Speaker 1: to wrapping at week two of camp here, what's one
Speaker 1: big takeaway that you've taken from the pasty practices? Energy
Speaker 1: and communication. I mean, we talked about it yesterday specifically,
Speaker 1: and Bobby McKay has talked about it. You know during
Speaker 1: the OTAs and mini camps, you had some communication, you
Speaker 1: have some talking, and it was kind of right in
Speaker 1: the groove of things where Bobby came out and William
Speaker 1: Jackson came out and said that, you know, they're the
Speaker 1: defensive leaders kind of made a focus on communicating better.
Speaker 1: And the way I kind of put it is, you know,
Speaker 1: right now, we've got some birds chirping in some some
Speaker 1: quiet noise, but then when that defense gets down on
Speaker 1: the field, it's almost like seagulls going after a loaf
Speaker 1: of bread on the beach. You know, it's it's an
Speaker 1: amazing metaphor, by the way, I appreciate that, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, but it's it's amazing because you hear it
Speaker 1: and and then also kind of shows you the mental
Speaker 1: side of the game, because me with all that talking
Speaker 1: going on, these players are still they're understanding everything that's
Speaker 1: being said, they're diagnosing in real time, and they're being
Speaker 1: where they need to be to make the play. All right, man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you, David, And back with us, we have
Speaker 1: Ethan Condo from NBC's Forest Washington. You know Ethan. It
Speaker 1: was it was a walk through day and ramped down
Speaker 1: to day is David Harrison Calliday like building too spectacular.
Speaker 1: But we did get a chance to talk to some
Speaker 1: of the people in the media, uh, you know, with Rivera,
Speaker 1: Leno Sweat. What were your biggest takeaways from them? My
Speaker 1: biggest takeaway was that Montes Sweat loves to talk and
Speaker 1: the players have noticed it too. Charles Leno said he
Speaker 1: talked too much. We've heard it. Anyone who's been at
Speaker 1: camp has heard how much he's talked. I love it too.
Speaker 1: I feel like he's come with He's been way more
Speaker 1: vocal this year than he has in years passed, and
Speaker 1: I think that's going to translate into a much more
Speaker 1: successful season for him. It does seem like he's a
Speaker 1: little more like I would say he's been like a
Speaker 1: lack of confidence, but he's very loud. He's louder about
Speaker 1: how how confident he is. I think he realizes that
Speaker 1: he's now one of the leaders of the defense, and
Speaker 1: maybe he didn't pick up on that in years one,
Speaker 1: two or three, but he's one of the best players
Speaker 1: and he's acting like it. And I'm here for it too.
Speaker 1: You know. It's funny because you see, like, you know,
Speaker 1: you have a person like Jonathan Allen who is very
Speaker 1: much a lead by example kind of person, and then
Speaker 1: you have a couple more of the vocal leaders on
Speaker 1: the team. He seems like he's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a combination of both. Right, he's gonna beat you and
Speaker 1: then he's gonna tell you about exactly how he beat you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think that's the best of both worlds, honestly.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you can talk and back it up,
Speaker 1: everyone wants a player like that. Yeah, right. And you know,
Speaker 1: we talked to Charles Leno as well, and he was
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, how much he likes Brian Robins,
Speaker 1: how much a natural runner he is. You know, how
Speaker 1: much of the padded practices have been able to help
Speaker 1: him show a little bit of that, because it's hard
Speaker 1: to be physical when you're out there and just you know,
Speaker 1: helmets and jersey. Seems like he can really kind of
Speaker 1: show his play style a little bit more, definitely. And
Speaker 1: one thing that Rivera and all the coaches have talked
Speaker 1: about since they drafted Robinson was he's a physical runner,
Speaker 1: and he's gonna bring that physical dimension to a room
Speaker 1: that doesn't really have that. And it's hard to see
Speaker 1: that when they're in T shirt shorts and helmets and shells.
Speaker 1: So the last two days when we've seen the pads,
Speaker 1: we've seen them finished runs, and I'm really excited to
Speaker 1: see once the preseason games start, to really see him
Speaker 1: run through a few guys and see what the rookie's
Speaker 1: all about. I'm really excited about that too, because I've
Speaker 1: been a very adamant that he's one of my most
Speaker 1: favorite draft picks of the entire class. You know, there
Speaker 1: was also referees out there. We saw a little bit
Speaker 1: of that last year. Rivera said, there's gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot more of them, you know, from now on throughout camp.
Speaker 1: I mean, what's the biggest thing that these players, especially
Speaker 1: I guess the offensive line can learn from having these
Speaker 1: reps out there. Yeah, I think they should just talk
Speaker 1: to them and find out what they can get away
Speaker 1: with and what they can't get away with. Honestly, I mean,
Speaker 1: there's no better time to talk to them than here
Speaker 1: when the calls don't actually matter. But once you start
Speaker 1: picking up a few pis or holding in week one,
Speaker 1: then things going to be an issue. So better get
Speaker 1: the kinks out now and really get or find out
Speaker 1: what you can get away with and what you can't.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny because Lena was talking about it
Speaker 1: and he said, you know, I just really want to
Speaker 1: figure out how much how I can get a few
Speaker 1: of these holding penalties. Yeah, he's a character, So that's
Speaker 1: a great answer from him. He really is a great character.
Speaker 1: And you know, kind of going back to the defensive
Speaker 1: ends a little bit, is Rivera was pretty high on
Speaker 1: a lot of the you know, backup depth players like
Speaker 1: fail Badah, David boda Um. You know, we had Tasty
Speaker 1: two Hill, Jameson Williams. You know, there's been some some
Speaker 1: some looks at this at this this depth, at that position,
Speaker 1: and probably rightly so because I mean a lot of
Speaker 1: them are really unproven. But what have you seen a him,
Speaker 1: because he very seems like he's pretty confident. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: last year I was really impressed with what James Smith
Speaker 1: Williams did in the limited time he had, especially with
Speaker 1: Chase being out and the Montez missing time. From what
Speaker 1: I've seen in camp, Casey two Hills really stood out
Speaker 1: to me. He's a guy that not a lot of
Speaker 1: people have talked about, but if I've seen him in
Speaker 1: the backfield on a few plays, I think he's going
Speaker 1: to get a chance to really make some strides and
Speaker 1: Choca Tony he's another guy I really liked him coming
Speaker 1: out of Penn State. I was shocked he felt all
Speaker 1: the way to the end of the seventh round. So
Speaker 1: I'm hoping he can make a little jump and maybe
Speaker 1: join his other fellow Penn State in any alliance make
Speaker 1: an impact on this roster. Oh yeah, it's very interesting.
Speaker 1: And you know another name that has been brought up
Speaker 1: a lot as William Brownley King. You know, he I
Speaker 1: think he had a pick one day, He's had, you know,
Speaker 1: a pass he batted right back into hill a Heineke's face.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean he looks pretty solid in terms
Speaker 1: of like a situational pass rusher. What do you what
Speaker 1: do you say to him? Do you think he could
Speaker 1: prossibly slip in and be that maybe that a fourth
Speaker 1: or fifty fifth of end of the roster, definitely. I
Speaker 1: mean he's had a great camp so far. I think
Speaker 1: even Montes Sweat even singled him out by names. So
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see once the preseason comes, to see
Speaker 1: what all these lower roster guys fighting for spots. I'm
Speaker 1: really excited to see who steps up and who makes
Speaker 1: up fifty three. How excited it are you to be back?
Speaker 1: You know at FedEx Field. You know it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a control situation in practice, but it's gonna be cool
Speaker 1: to see the fans there, you know, see to the
Speaker 1: team from the press box, have a little bit more
Speaker 1: that game atmosphere. Yeah. Always going to FedEx Field in
Speaker 1: the summer and these practices is a ton of fun.
Speaker 1: And at night too, when there's not gonna be the
Speaker 1: sign out exactly. I mean, it's ninety five every day.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you're wearing jeans, but you're doing it.
Speaker 1: I'm a monster, that's yeah. So I mean, yeah, FedEx
Speaker 1: should be a lot of fun. There's gonna be a
Speaker 1: great environment. The players love seeing the fans for the
Speaker 1: first time, and I think it's gonna be a great night.
Speaker 1: Probably the intensity is going to go up a few
Speaker 1: notches too, so I'm sure they'll put on a show.
Speaker 1: You would think the players are gonna be really juiced
Speaker 1: for that, right, Okay, getting you know, for some of
Speaker 1: these players, gonna be the first time they're gonna be
Speaker 1: in FedEx Field, playing in front of their new fans. Well,
Speaker 1: do you think that's gonna be like for those rookies. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and not only the rookies, but it's the first time
Speaker 1: a lot of these fans are going to see them
Speaker 1: in the Commanders year two, which I think will be
Speaker 1: a really cool experience. The first time they're gonna hear everything.
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be a lot of fun. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: get to see those jerseys in action, which is really exciting. Okay,
Speaker 1: so we're wrapping up Week two Yeah, we got one
Speaker 1: one or two more days left. What's your biggest takeaway
Speaker 1: from this week? Oh, you're putting me on the spot.
Speaker 1: I think that's what we do here camping out the
Speaker 1: Since the pads came on, I've seen the drastic improvement
Speaker 1: from the quarterbacks. I was not gonna lie. I was
Speaker 1: getting a little bit nervous the last day when they
Speaker 1: were in T shirt and shorts and helmets. There's a
Speaker 1: few more interceptions and I think the coaches might have
Speaker 1: liked but things have really cleaned up since the pads
Speaker 1: came on. Ron's mentioned how the offensive line has been
Speaker 1: a lot better since the pads have come on. They
Speaker 1: can actually block people now, So I'm excited to see
Speaker 1: more live action see how this offense, which has as
Speaker 1: much talent as I remember Washington team having in years,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see them in action. All right, even man,
Speaker 1: go back in there and get some great content out.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's all we have for you today. But b shirt,
Speaker 1: check out your daily Command Center camp coverage every weekday
Speaker 1: on the Commander's YouTube. Chane, And I'm gonna go back
Speaker 1: to my tent because I basically live here like everybody else,
Speaker 1: and I will see you tomorrow