- Wanted to give a hat tip to Bill-in-Bangkok after he agreed to take on the task of putting out “The 5 O’Clock Club.” As most of you know, we wanted to create space on the daily for our regulars to interact—even beyond the Daily Slop and other favorite posts. I try to be cognizant of the fact we have so many readers from time zones other than mine—Eastern Standard. My problem is getting that post revved up every night in addition to whatever else is going on, and so I did what we should all do in these situations: I asked for the help of someone who has been here all along, making many of our daily reads better with his comments and critiques. In our minds, the 5OCC is as simple as kicking off the day with a poll question, and we have already seen Bill take that idea and make it better. Thanks for the great job, Bill. Thanks for living on the other side of the world and anchoring our Redskins fandom across as many time zones as possible!
- Let me piggyback on Bill’s work with some questions of my own, which will be followed up on in tomorrow night’s live session of The Audible. It is July (post July 4th), and our minds are slooooooooowly turning toward training camp, so let’s create some talking points for ourselves. Here’s one: how are you handling Nate Sudfeld this August? What kind of work are you looking to give him, and at what cost to the season preparations being made by Colt McCoy? I think this is a pretty serious matter, and not just because grooming young quarterbacks is the best way to make your franchise better over the long haul. Jay Gruden is a “quarterback guy.” Hell, all Grudens are quarterback guys. It may be unfair to expect too much out of a sixth-round passer, but it is not unfair to expect results when you pair that sixth-rounder with a coach who is paid handsomely to produce those results. I think we need to see a lot of Sudfeld this August (notice the absence of any mention of anyone’s contract).
- I hope you use your Jerry Seinfeld voice for this question: What is the deal (going to be) with Josh Doctson? The team continues to use the museum staff white gloves with the former first round pick, and I am not saying I have a problem with that. The problem I am dealing with at the moment is this: Josh is starting to seem to me to be like that toy that is still in its wrapper/original packaging, and I am worried that if I open that package up, he is going to lose all his value. Perhaps you guys can come up with a better metaphor. It’s been a while since we had that “scared fan” feeling about a player—it usually only used to apply when you drafted a quarterback at the top of the draft and stroked a check for tens of millions of guaranteed dollars. Since they went to the slotted salary system in the first round, I have not really been “in that place” (though that rookie preseason with Robert Griffin III had a pretty high Clench Factor...also, did you notice this point had zero to do with deadlines?).
- Do we have any early leanings for the Mason/Brennan Award? Come on Scott/Stabbe/Gabe/Aaron! Let’s handicap this race. The last time I saw the Vegas board on this, Samaje Perine was leading the way. Running backs always have a leg up when it comes to this hardware. The aforementioned Sudfeld has a strong bid brewing as well, but there is something new we need to factor in this year. Now that teams can carry 90 guys to the end of the preseason, there are going to be a few more viable candidates. Further, that last preseason game that was always terrible to watch is going to be even terribler (definitely a word, irregardless of what Tim says). We will get a heaping helping of players that have no chance to play in the fall, and we are bound to fall in love with at least one of them. Lots of candidates to discuss way too early! (And still not a peep about any franchise-threatening doomsday scenarios around the corner!)
- Given that we will be riding to the end of this thing with 90 players, it stands to reason there could be a last-minute decision made on one of the last roster spots on the team. Let’s assume for a second that injuries will not play a role in that decision. What position group do you think will be pondered down to the very last second? Is there a player in particular that you think will win his way onto the team against serious odds? Is there a reason we are completely ignoring the only topic anyone cares to talk about these days in Redskins Nation?
- Let’s flip that last one around a bit. Which player—that you think is in the team’s plans right now—will find himself on the wrong side of the numbers game when final cuts are made? I know we have kind of covered the DeAngelo Hall topic, so let’s remove him from consideration for the purpose of this discussion, even though I think at this point he is an odds-on favorite to make the team. Feel free to build your case for anyone, but build the case. Are you predicting an unexpected dropoff in performance from someone? Are you seeing the team going in a direction away from someone that we all kind of thought was a lock to make the team? Are we missing anything? Is there anything else that needs to be discussed...one...last...time?
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Looks Like Someone Has a Sixpack of the Mondays
Training camp is close at hand, so let’s get ourselves ready by prepping our training camp talking points.