The Road Ahead

The 2026 Washington Commanders schedule is officially out, and Bob and Mike are breaking down the road ahead. From opening the season with back-to-back NFC East road games against the Eagles and Cowboys, to the home opener against the defending champion Seahawks, the London matchup with the Colts, primetime games, the early bye week, and the stretch that could define Dan Quinn’s season — the guys give their first reactions and early win-loss predictions.

Then it’s time to talk wide receivers. Do the Commanders already have enough behind Terry McLaurin, or do they still need to make a move? Bob and Mike discuss the current WR room, possible free agent and trade options like Tyreek Hill, Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel, Keenan Allen, Brandon Aiyuk, and A.J. Brown, plus where guys like Treylon Burks, Luke McCaffrey, Antonio Williams, Dyami Brown, and Jaylin Lane fit into the depth chart.

The episode also introduces a new recurring segment: Depth Check, where the guys take a closer look at one position group each episode. This week, it’s the Commanders wide receivers.

Plus: Jayden Daniels’ offseason leadership, OTAs and minicamp dates, Orioles loyalty, NASCAR talk, Giants injury news, Ravens fan slander, and a tribute to Washington football legend Taylor Heinicke after his retirement.

Talking about the game, going to the game — this is Command the Commute.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:10

This is the Command the Commute Podcast.

SPEAKER_05 0:15

Talking about the game, going to the game.

SPEAKER_07 0:24

I said give me a hell yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Yo, Mike, what's up? How you doing, Bob? Well, doing well. Thank you for asking. How are you? I'm doing well also.

SPEAKER_05 0:38

Thank you for asking.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

This is we're having quite the off season personally, aren't we? You just finishing up your last week of uh the old job and you're getting ready to start the new job right after Memorial Day. How does that feel?

SPEAKER_05 0:52

Feels great.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Good. I'm happy for you. It's always excited. It's always good to start fresh, start new. And like a lot of our players this season, they're having the same kind of mentality as you. And me personally, I'm getting started with my new job too. So it kind of feels like, you know, starting fresh, starting new, springtime. Like football players are out there, you know. Well, they're getting ready to be out there. OTAs haven't quite started, but some of our guys are out there. Well, some of our guys are out there in LA working out. Yeah. You know, LA's got good weather as long as it's not on fire.

SPEAKER_05 1:30

Year year round. Just avoid the earthquake.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Right, right, right. Uh, but yes, welcome everybody to the Command the Commute podcast. This is episode two, and obviously the big news since the draft that's been released has been the schedule. So we're gonna get into the the schedule in our first quarter of our podcast. Second quarter, we're gonna get into the free agent wide receiver specifically. Um, there's a lot of talk about our roster and how it relates to the wide receivers, and I'm curious who we pick up because I don't think it's it's over.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Well, some names have been floated, but like you said, we'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Yes, and how have we avoided not talking about the big name IUK this whole time? But we we are finally gonna talk about him and give our input on that. And then quarter three of the pod, we're gonna get into our new segment. Um, what did I I always do this? What did I call this Dan thing?

SPEAKER_06 2:26

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Depth uh depth depth check.

SPEAKER_06 2:31

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_05 2:31

Yeah, that's what it was. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Our depth chart check, basically. Uh, we're just gonna tune into a different between now and the season, we're gonna get into just a different position group and kind of dive into who we think is gonna make the team, where we feel strongly about who we really like, yada yada yada. Um, and then quarter four, like usual, is just a hodgepodge of whatever's on our minds, tip typically uh sports related, but not necessarily. So tune in for the fourth quarter for the hodgepodginess. And the hodgepodginess in the fourth quarter is gonna include Taylor Heineke this uh this week because Yeah, that's something to talk about.

SPEAKER_05 3:08

Right. Or mention at least honorably.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

If you don't know what we're talking about, then you'll have to just wait for the fourth quarter to figure out why we're mentioning Tyler. Taylor Heineke's name in the news. Um but that being said, Mike, we love the schedule release. I I really do. I I mean, I like the schedule release before we were season ticket holders, but once we're season ticket holders, it's hard not to like it more. It's hard not to look forward to it even more because we're going to all the games.

SPEAKER_05 3:42

And so it's it's when we can really start to sort of plan out the season. Yeah. You know, are there obviously not the season, but our personal schedules, right? You know, like, like you said, we're we're obviously going to the game, but we do have other seats and like, you know, who are we gonna bring with us on any games? Are we, you know, gonna have to sell the other tickets? Like, you know, we can really start to plan. And like you said, we're both sort of in new jobs at this point, so coordinating schedules and how we're gonna do everything. Yeah, it really gets really gets hyped at this point.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Oh, yeah, because I'm just like, how many days are we?

SPEAKER_05 4:23

Because we did that like a couple days after the schedule release. Yeah, we were like, okay, let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

But even before we were season ticket holders, just seeing it and of course we know we already knew who we were gonna play and where we were gonna play them, just not when and in which order, and what primetime games, and how much how far we're gonna have to travel, and when's our bye week, you know, those these are all the things which is early this year, as opposed to the last like two or three seasons.

SPEAKER_05 4:52

We've got an early bye week. Do you think week seven is yes, all right? Well, we'll compare to when we were having it at like week 13, the last like two or three years, yes. We're we have an early bye week.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

I guess we're okay. Uh last year was week twelve. Uh, I think the year before you're right, it was it was later in the season. Um but yeah, week seven to me, uh based on how the schedule panned itself out, I like where week seven is for us. You know what I mean? So let's just get right into it. And then for for those of you um that are anticipating what is this gonna look like going through every single game. Like, we're not gonna predict win-loss on every game. We are gonna give our first prediction for the total win-loss record for the 2026 season. We're gonna put that out there. It's not gonna be etched in stone, Mike. We can change it, amend it. We're not going game by game. We'll save that for another podcast. But I do want to get just a gut reaction now that everything's kind of out there and we've got the draft and the first wave of free agency. What where where are we feeling? So that's what I wanted. But but as far as going game by game, what do we think as season as season ticket holders? What do we feel as fans of the team? What do we feel uh as just general fans of the game? It's kind of likes and dislikes and kind of that stuff. So go week, well, first, just give me the first three games of preseason.

SPEAKER_05 6:24

Oh, you want to talk about preseason?

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Just just just bing bang boom.

SPEAKER_05 6:28

Yeah. So the it's week one, we are um that's a home game against the Dolphins, and then week two um is the Lions in Detroit, and then week three of the preseason, of course, is the Ravens game, and this year that is in Baltimore.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

So depending upon how you look at it, if you were gonna go to a to the preseason games, we kind of get we get like one and a half, I guess you could call the Ravens game kind of a home game because it's preseason Baltimore games. And it's a local game, so yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:03

Baltimore fans aren't gonna it's the subway game, as you call it when you when you're doing the Yankees and the Mets. Well, Beltway, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

It's the Beltway game. So um I I think we plan on going to that one, yeah. Yeah. I'd like to. Is that one of those Friday night games?

SPEAKER_05 7:17

I believe that is a Friday night game.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

So yeah, we weren't we won't do that.

SPEAKER_05 7:21

In fact, yes. Looking closely at the end.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

We won't do a huge tailgate, but I do like the Detroit game um as the second week as basically the tune-up game. That's the game where the starters are gonna play the quarter or a quarter and a half, depending upon how everything's panning out. Um that's typically how it works these days. You know what I mean? And then week three, you don't see anybody play.

SPEAKER_06 7:44

So right, because they're all saved for the season opener uh like the following week.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

But we'll put that responsibility on our boy T O M Tombow to because he's the the he's uh the podcast Ravens fan.

SPEAKER_05 7:59

So um you're gonna put him in charge of securing the tickets, give him some responsibility.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

Yeah, we'll pay him the 17 bucks the day before for the for the for the tickets. Those are the tickets I want, you know. Yeah. Um we're not gonna get them right now. No, there's no need. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 8:19

Some of them are pretty pricey. I did look when they said when the tickets went on sale. Really? Yeah, there some of them are pretty pretty uh pretty high for a preseason game.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Let's hope they drop like the price of gas.

SPEAKER_06 8:35

That's not dropping anytime soon.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

So uh, but our home game for preseason is week one. What's the date on that?

SPEAKER_05 8:43

Uh that is uh Friday, August the 14th.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Okay. All right. And we'll go to that game specifically to see what improvements they've made to the stadium in the offseason, if any. Yes. Um, see what the food looks like up there on the upper deck. Scout.

SPEAKER_05 9:02

Yeah, you know, because we weren't in the upper deck last week.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

We weren't in the upper deck, but we also had the club level, but we ditched the club level. Now we've got four seats in the uh upper bowl. Upper bowl. I like those seats from up there, man. We're homeside, right in on the 35, 40 yard line. Hard exactly to tell.

SPEAKER_05 9:20

Yeah, but we'll get to see where those other seats are.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

First row. First row upper level. That's gotta be specified for our listeners. Those are great seats up there. You can see the entire field, the entire stadium. Um, damn, you got we almost got your head taken off by Air Force One last year.

SPEAKER_05 9:39

Like we talked about, that was pretty awesome. But um and then the other set is I think uh what, row five was the other side.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Just a couple of seats behind us, which um yeah. Anyone that we bring will will enjoy those seats. Yeah. So hey, maybe we'll give away a set of those seats to uh some of our fans. Maybe if one of our fans from Singapore wants to come to a game, we'll give we that I'll put that out there. We will give you those tickets. If you you just get here, we're not covering any of that stuff.

SPEAKER_05 10:12

Right now might not be the best. This podcast is not enter the country, but yeah, hard tell.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

I don't know how that works. Just get here. I don't care. You know, we'll take you to a ball game.

SPEAKER_05 10:21

By sea, by air.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Yeah. All right, so let's get into the schedule. Week one.

SPEAKER_05 10:27

Uh week one. That is that is the Eagles we start with. And that is an away game.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

America's game of the week. Away game. Uh you'll typically start, I think everybody starts with a division opponent on week one. I could be wrong, but I think I'm right. I think everybody starts with a division opponent on week one and week 18. I think that that's what they do. Um anyway, week two, uh, so that'll be America's game of the week, and week two is similar to that in that we play the Cowboys on the road, 425. I like that window sitting from my couch. You know? Yeah. Uh that's gonna be a uh fun couple first couple stuff.

SPEAKER_05 11:11

It's an interesting way to start the season with two divisional uh important games that early.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Going back to back and back to back on the road, not typical, but we'll take it. We'll take it.

SPEAKER_05 11:27

It'll set the early tone of the season.

SPEAKER_02 11:30

Week three, we go from flying to or driving up to Philadelphia and then flying over to Dallas, right? And then we then we fly.

SPEAKER_05 11:40

No, week three is our home opener against the Seahawks.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Uh-huh. We come back home against the Seahawks.

SPEAKER_05 11:46

Yeah, that's our that's our home opener, week three, the 20, uh, the 27th of September.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

My I was I had a crush on the Seahawks when they kicked our ass on Sunday night football in week nine last year, and everybody can go back and hear that on the record. But I've always said they were very disciplined against us, and as I watched them as the season went on, they didn't deviate from that. No, they didn't.

SPEAKER_05 12:12

I mean, what we saw was was the team. Yes. Um that wasn't a reflection on how bad we were at the game.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

So we will have a measuring stick game week three at home. Man, it would be awesome to kick the shit out of the Super Bowl champs in our home opener. That's a one o'clock game on Sunday?

SPEAKER_05 12:32

Yes. Hell yeah. Well, most of our games this year are one o'clock games.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

Hell yeah. I love the home game at one o'clock. Actually, I don't want there to ever be any others. People are like, you want the Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night? No. Just give me the one o'clock. And then my second favorite is the 425, which we rarely have, but on occasion we do. So, home opener Seahawks, tough matchup in our in our home opener. I hope we're not 0-2. I mean it's keep going.

SPEAKER_05 13:10

And then, of course, um, was that that's week four? That's the international game in London uh against the Colts, which that game counts as a home game for us.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

Great. Um love paying for those games overseas.

SPEAKER_05 13:25

So we kind of get screwed there in a sense.

unknown 13:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:29

Uh, you know, unless we want to fly to London, they might give us games counted whenever.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

But those games tend to be at like nine in the morning.

SPEAKER_05 13:36

Yeah, those are the 9.30 games. 9 or 9.30 in the morning.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Which for my new work schedule, I go into work at 12 on Sundays, so the game will be just about over. I'm gonna have to go in late. I hope it doesn't go in the overtime.

SPEAKER_04 13:52

I don't know if you really want that recorded on this podcast if anyone's listening, but that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

Listen, it's one of these things where if like my new job doesn't get how important this team is to me, then maybe I just don't need this new job. Oh I really hope they don't hear that.

SPEAKER_05 14:07

You need to that statement.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

I really do need this video.

SPEAKER_05 14:11

Yeah, yeah. You really need this job. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

But they but you know what? I need the commanders. I need the Washington football team. I need the residents of my life. So it's like don't they want me to perform at my best? Right, but you need to be able to do that. Don't they want me to perform at my best? Yes. So if I went in 15 minutes late on a Sunday, because my favorite football team went in the overtime and won, I mean, they would definitely be okay with that, I think. As long as I didn't have anything scheduled.

SPEAKER_05 14:41

I mean, uh classic cartel, Don.

SPEAKER_02 14:45

We will cross that bridge when we get to it. I'll let all the viewers know what are we gonna do our uh podcast that week. Don't know, we'll figure it out. Maybe like 4 a.m. All right, on to week five.

SPEAKER_05 15:01

Uh, that is a home game against the Giants.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

One o'clock.

SPEAKER_05 15:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Nice. Our first look at the horrorball giants.

SPEAKER_05 15:12

Um Yeah, you know, and they just uh extended their uh general manager.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

They did? Yeah. All right, so I guess their buddies you know, I mean is his name John?

SPEAKER_05 15:23

Uh it's it's I don't really care what his name is. I mean, I don't really know if he really earned the extension given how the team has performed the last couple weeks.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

You're just saying that based on the Saquon Barkley non-signing, which he effed up on, and everybody agrees he effed up on. They should have just made him a giant for life. But that's just because I don't want to see him in the No, but I thought just John and John might be funny. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 15:47

Yeah, anyway.

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Johns.

SPEAKER_05 15:48

Uh and then week six, and then I don't think we really need to go any further than that, but week six, and which is really the first game that I'm uh kind of excited for, is uh Monday night football um against the 49ers in San Francisco.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

All right, yeah, I like Monday night football games away.

SPEAKER_05 16:10

And we have um, I think all together we have like four primetime games. So the networks are still high on the possibility of uh, you know, JD and the team in general. So that's good. Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

So everybody that's looked at the schedules thus far, and all the all the ESPN pundits and everybody has commented on the fact that the first the the hardest stretch of our season happens in the first six weeks. I mean, that's it.

SPEAKER_05 16:39

By the six games we just went over, that's gonna be a hard, that's gonna be a hard stretch.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

And then we get and then we get our bye week right then. Right. Now we gotta tie this back into what we said on the last podcast about the warmth of Dan Quinn's seat and how, man, we start off one and five, we start off two and six, we start off, you know, rough going. Like, you know, his his he might not see the season go on, but now that the schedule's gotten released, I and and you look at the you what you perceive right now without anybody winning or losing, right? Um you we perceive the the weakest part of our schedule to kind of be what we're about to get into week nine through week 17, pretty much. And uh so based upon what we were saying last week about how he might not make it past week seven if he starts off one and six, based upon our schedule. I amend what we say last week, and I say no matter what happens, Dan Quinn is going to see the entire length of the season. Unless, of course, you look at unless we unless we get to our buying and then you look at what we now think is the weak part of our schedule, and now all those teams are have much improved, and we're thinking to ourselves, like, damn, we thought it was gonna be easy.

SPEAKER_05 18:06

I mean, if we're going into our bye week, week seven, if we're going into that bye week, let's say worst case scenario, oh and six, I mean, the seat doesn't get any hotter than that. If we're oh and six going into a week seven bye week, he will be gone by week ten if he's lucky.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Um I'm just that my take is that I think no matter what, Dan Quinn sees all 18 weeks of the of the season.

SPEAKER_05 18:37

Um unless it's I can't fully agree with you on that.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

All right. I mean, we'll see obviously how it how it plays out, but I like how you and I, depending on how it plays out, and obviously we hope that we're undefeated and Dan Quinn ends up being the greatest Washington coach.

SPEAKER_05 18:55

Obviously, that would be that would be the best case scenario to start the season 6 0, but realistically that's not gonna happen. I am sort of a pessimist a little bit, so I'll I would say we're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Let's give everybody our take on the rest of the schedule because obviously we're saying we think right now it's the weak part, but uh I don't know. And I said week nine because I've already looked at it here, and so like we come out of our bye, and we I think we have a pretty tough opponent out of our bye in week eight. Uh that's the other Eagle game on Sunday night football. Sunday night football at home. Yeah. All right, so yeah, so that's that pesky home game that we and look, we say we're gonna go to every game, but number one, if we're looking at a game where as season ticket holders, you can't make it to every game. One, the opponent, I could give two shits about seeing any of the Eagles players in real life. You know, it doesn't impress me. I don't need to see them with my own eyes. Two, their fan base comes on down and they overtake us. And now half the listeners right now are saying they overtake us because you're about to sell your tickets to them. I was like, yeah, I know, but I'm just one guy, and like it is what it is, you know what I mean? And two, or three, or C is that it's Sunday night, and damn, we ain't gonna make it home till at least like Chinese dentist time a.m.

SPEAKER_05 20:28

You know, tooth hurts because we did that several times a last season, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Uh it was it was rough the next decade. So, regardless of the opponent, I'm just saying the Sunday night or the Monday night home game for us is tough because one, I'm not driving all that way, just leave it halftime.

SPEAKER_06 20:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

And then two, I don't want to drive all that way and drive all the way back and get home at 2.33 in the morning. Yeah. Damn. That's that so we might not go to that one. I'm just saying it straight up. We'll we'll see. But if we're on defeat, and so are they. Well, they couldn't because we play in week one. So anyway.

SPEAKER_05 21:04

But I mean, the the game I'm really looking forward to.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

Week nine? No, week 11. Well, don't tell us that we haven't gotten there yet. Week nine is what?

SPEAKER_05 21:12

I thought we weren't going game by game, but you can't. No, I don't want to do it just zip dink dink dink from here because we gotta talk about the easy one.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

So Sunday night football, and then what? Home or why?

SPEAKER_05 21:24

Uh after the Sunday night against the Eagles, it is um that's the game against the Rams. And that's a home game. That's a Sunday afternoon.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

Good. Make them fly over here. And it's a 4 25 home? No, the Rams game's at 1 o'clock. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:47

All of our home games are one o'clock. Hell yeah. Just uh keep that in your back pocket.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

After the Sunday night game.

SPEAKER_05 21:54

Other than our primetime games, they're all one o'clock.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Well, so you're saying other than Our Sunday night game. Our Sunday night football game that we have uh against the Eagles. And then from there on out, the rest of our home games are all at one o'clock. Yeah, I'm looking at the schedule. Hell yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

Other than our primetime games.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

Hell yeah, that's what I want. That's what I want all season long. Man, we're gonna tailgate so hard. So hard.

SPEAKER_05 22:23

Glad you're thrilled about it.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

I am.

SPEAKER_05 22:25

I can tell.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

I really am. You're gonna have to rate all the tailgate food this season. I don't care. I'll let you come up with the grading system.

SPEAKER_05 22:34

Right. Uh so what else do you want to talk about as it relates to this?

SPEAKER_02 22:38

All right, so we went uh give me your you're about to tell me week 11, your favorite game.

SPEAKER_05 22:43

Yeah, I our home game against uh the Bengals. That's what I'm looking forward to. Remember when we kicked their ass? But uh this is the first time uh that it'll be a home game against the Bengals. The last uh last time we played them, which was either last season or the season before, they were in Cincinnati. I think it was a primetime game game.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Yeah, it was. Remember that?

SPEAKER_05 23:05

Looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Uh Terry had a great catch.

SPEAKER_05 23:08

The Bengals, however, are favored in all of their home games this all of their games, all games.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_05 23:16

Yeah. While our while the we shall see. While the opponent are the following week, the Arizona Cardinals are not favored in any of their games and are double digit in eight of their games. I did see that. So um, yeah. We'll just yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

I I'm not impressed by the Cardinals. No, no, no. No one is, okay. I'm liking these opponents. Keep going.

SPEAKER_05 23:47

Uh, week 13. Uh, that is an away game uh against the Titans.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:54

Week 14 is uh home game against the Texans.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Hell yeah. Week 15. Now hold on, stop right there. I have an opinion on the Texans because a quick take. I've been looking at the Texans as kind of our measuring stick because CJ Stroud got drafted and got rookie of the year the year before Jaden Daniels. And then in his sophomore year, he took a little bit of a step back. And then last year in his year three, he took another step forward. And they were really stacked up on defense, right? And now they're just kind of plugging these people around CJ. So I I'm watching them from afar, and and I wonder if our organization's doing the kind of same thing, it's kind of pacing them out, especially because of CJ Stroud's rookie contract, and then they're going to have Jaden Daniel's rookie contract. And so, like the the quarterback contract situation that Houston is having, we're gonna experience exactly one year after that. And I've just been watching how they've been building and kind of comparing and contrasting because very similar um I would say rebuilding process that we've been taking. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I mean same, same but different. Exactly, exactly. But uh while we were playing them and touching on that, I'll be curious obviously how year four for CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans go. Obviously, uh I care a lot more about uh old JD5, but keep going.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

Uh week 15 is a home game against the Falcons.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

Dude, the Falcons always suck.

SPEAKER_05 25:44

Week 16 uh is an away game against Minnesota. Uh week 17 is an away game against uh Jacksonville, and then we wrap up the season uh at home against the Cowboys as we have done the last, I think, two or three seasons.

SPEAKER_06 26:04

Where did Kyler Murray go? Don't know. Did he go to the Vikings? I don't think so. But I I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

I have to, you know, some of these French players, it's like you remember when it happens that week and then you immediately forget about it. But I think he went to the Vikings.

SPEAKER_06 26:26

Maybe he did.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Well, Vikings is the Vikings have been a team that I've I've liked through the years, and we play them, it seems like, fairly often, I would say. It seems like they've been on our schedule like a lot more than others. But maybe it's because they finished third and fourth in their division, and we finished the city.

SPEAKER_06 26:47

Yeah, it's all on how you how you finish.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

So but yeah, so obviously the last you know, how many how many weeks is it there? Uh from after we play the Eagles coming out of our bye. Who do we play right after the Eagles?

SPEAKER_05 27:05

Right after the bye?

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Yeah, so week seven is our bye. Week eight we have the Eagles.

SPEAKER_05 27:11

And then week nine is the home game against the Rams.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Rams.

SPEAKER_05 27:18

So after the bye, we play the Eagles and the Rams.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

All right, so ten with our home game. Week ten through week seventeen. That seven-game stretch there is the make or break to our season, I believe. Um we I like you look well, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:34

If you say the first six weeks are essentially the backbreaker of the season, then yeah, weeks ten through seventeen will be.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

Which is exactly why I say you can't fire Dan Quinn, because you even if he goes one and six in the first six weeks, uh he you know he's not gonna lose the locker room. And then when you get to that portion of the schedule, which we perceive to be the weak part, but you know, they might mean they might be all undefeated by the time we get to him now, you know, and but I doubt it. Right. Um, but you know what I'm saying? It he he could easily go six and one. So who knows? I'm just saying. But that is the schedule release.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Well, that's our schedule release. See y'all at training count.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, did you see you didn't see the video of our schedule release? Did you see that the that that each team across the league was like editing together? Like the marketing department was going crazy.

SPEAKER_05 28:36

Yeah, I heard there, I heard there were a number of teams. I don't know if they all did one, but yeah, I do know I do know the chatter, but I didn't see any of them.

SPEAKER_02 28:44

As well, I could I can't speak for every single team because I didn't watch 32 schedule release videos, but I I know for the most part every team's marketing department had a field day with the schedule release videos out there. Did you see anyone any of those videos that caught your eye?

SPEAKER_05 29:00

The only one that I remember was the um was the one for the Raiders because they did the step brothers thing.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Yes, yes, you're right. I I always say that was good. Mendoza. That was good. That was good. Um, I saw uh was it the I don't know which one I saw. The one um but it was Brian Cushing was banging his helmet on his head, you know, the lineback game, he was all bloodied. And like by week 18, he was all black and blue and bloodied up. It was crazy. But uh yeah, I know that's it's pretty fun. It's fun to see those. So we did uh Bill My the Science Guy-esque uh themed schedule release video, which is what that sound bite was from. And so it was Bill Krosky Merritt with a shiny silver grill doing these middle school projects for each team that we played against. And so yeah, it was all kind of themed about that. I guess it's worth looking into. You want to support our team, Michael, and their social media department. But all right, so after you see the schedule and you kind of see it play out, and we've seen free agency wave one, and we've seen the draft, give me your win-loss tie prediction for 2026. I'm not gonna hold you to it. You can amend this, but your initial gut feeling. Eight and nine. Eight and nine? At best we're nine and seven. At best we're nine and seven. But we're gonna be eight and nine. Yes. Are you sure?

SPEAKER_05 30:47

Yeah. Eight and nine is what I'm gonna go with. But at best, if I'm wrong, it's gonna be nine and seven. And we won't make the play.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Eight and nine. Yeah, that's seven and nine and seven.

SPEAKER_05 31:03

Yeah, in the math right there.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

Isn't it?

SPEAKER_06 31:09

I thought it was.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

We play seventeen games.

SPEAKER_05 31:19

Look, you're gonna be banging around 500 either which way if we're gonna bust my balls. You say 8, 8, and 1. Then the question is, what game do you tie?

SPEAKER_02 31:31

No, you don't have to predict that right now, but I see what you're putting down. I'm gonna go 10 and 7.

SPEAKER_05 31:36

Oh, God, there's no way we're gonna be 10 and 7. Are you crazy?

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Well, you said 12.

SPEAKER_05 31:42

Yeah, there's you said 12. There's no way, based off of the way that team was last year and the way things are going so far in uh you know, free agency and all that shit, the draft. No, we're not gonna be 10 and 7. Everyone says 10 and 7. There's no. Did you not watch ESPN? Everyone says they're 10 and 7. No one's ever riped. We are not gonna be 10 and 7. You're wrong. Try again.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Well, some it's it'll be an amendable that's gonna be going to be some serious amending there. I'm just I I wouldn't be surprised after the first six weeks were we're two and four, and then we get into the easy part of our schedule, and that four games feels nothing. Feels like nothing. Like we'll feel like we'll feel like we're behind, but once we realize that like how tough our our our schedule was and that that stretch, and then everybody, everybody always wants to be a hot team at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_05 32:40

If you look at the first six weeks, if we split it three and three, we're gonna be we'll we will be in good shape for the remainder of the season.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

If I'm sitting here arguing that we'd be in good shape if we're two and four in that stretch.

SPEAKER_05 32:55

You don't want to be two and four. Dan Quinn doesn't want to be two and four.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Well, I'm just saying if we are two and four through the first six weeks, based upon our schedule, I can see a path where eight wins doesn't seem not doable right now, is all I'm saying. You know what I'm saying? That's all I'm saying. I I hear, I hear. Look, you can have your opinion, I can have mine. Right.

SPEAKER_05 33:17

And you think but your opinion of ten and seven is way wrong.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Oh, just want that documented right now. No, your prediction at nine and seven is way wrong.

SPEAKER_05 33:29

No one ever claimed that I was good at math.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

All right, let's get into quarter number two here. Um with uh the wide receiver free agency conversation. And I'm just gonna rant these off. Um bink, bank, boom. Okay, um, unless you want me to stop on a specific player because you'll I'll chime, I'll chime in when I feel it's appropriate. But I'm gonna give you this in in tiers. Uh, and the tiers that I'm gonna give you is tier one, tier two, and then tier three. I'm not even gonna talk about. They they're not even on my list. Okay. Um Tyreek Hill, Stefan Diggs, Debo, Keenan Allen, Curtis Samuel, and that's the end of DeAndre Opkin. No. Like, yeah, but you haven't seen the whole list. But in the in the tier one of Tyreek is going to Philly.

SPEAKER_05 34:30

If anyone comes to Washington, it'll be Stefan out of that out of that. Now hold on, hold on. Hey, you gave me the list right there. Out of that list, no one comes to Washington.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Now Ike is not a free agent, but he's in a tier one, I would say semi-available. And then AJ Brown is uh I would also add to that tier one, who's not a free agent, but I would say semi-available. Those players require a little bit of training, but maybe we've got some some trade players. I mean, I'm just saying uh uh I'm adding Ayuk. I'm adding Ayuk and AJ Brown into tier one. Let me get into tier two.

SPEAKER_06 35:14

All right.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

Well, and the reason why DeAndre Hopkins is in tier one, because he's an aging star. Curtis Samuels, aging, used to be on our team.

SPEAKER_06 35:25

Right.

SPEAKER_02 35:26

But tier two starts with a guy that used to be on our team. Jahan Dotson, Noah Brown, Zay Jones, Hunter Renfro, Tyler Lockett. Um, would it be weird? I mean, I I would say I would say it would be weird if Jahan Dotson came back. But but it's kind of weird that Deami Brown came back. But this is a new team. But not this, not the new team that traded Jahan Dotson away. And all the Philly players are like, oh yeah, we got Jahan Dotson. Jahan Dotson sucked for you guys. Yeah, he didn't do a damn thing. Yeah, maybe he caught you at a couple touchdowns, great. But you looking at his like he didn't put together a lot of receptions, he didn't put together a lot of targets, you know. I uh it wasn't that impressive for you guys. You just didn't don't want to admit that you got fleeced on the trade by your dependent. Yeah, I agree with you there. So whatever. Um Johan Dodson was I I never disliked him whatsoever, but he never played up to his potential with where we thought when we drafted him. That's all I'm saying. And then you get in the rest of those guys, and my whole thing is as it relates to these guys and how they come on to our team. We need we need a fit. We need a like a good, like a big playmaker, and the tier two guys aren't that. No, the tier two guys aren't.

SPEAKER_05 37:00

That's why that's why we're gonna end up with either digs or Iuk from the Niners. But everyone has been saying now for like three years that we're gonna get Iuk from the Niners, but it hasn't materialized yet.

SPEAKER_02 37:13

So it kind of feels like we need to like put out a classified ad for these guys and see like who wants to play here, which reminds me, I think actually I heard that there's this new business out there um putting out classified ads really on podcasts for wide receivers and stuff like that, and like different players and to plug them. I don't know. I I don't know. Are you fast? Can you catch? Can you run a clean 12-yard dig without looking like you just saw a ghost over the middle? Then the Washington Commanders may have the opportunity for you. Introducing Commander Classifieds, the DMV's number one destination for finding that missing piece in your life. A used lawnmower? A slightly cracked burgundy cooler? A left tackle with good feet, or most importantly, a reliable Y receiver number two. That's right, folks. Terry McLaurin has been carrying this receiving room like a dad bringing every chair, cooler, tent, grill, and extension cord to the tailgate by himself. But now, help may be on the way. Traylon Burks, can you stay healthy? Antonio Williams, are you ready for grown man football? Diane Brown, is this finally the year? Luke McCaffrey, are you a receiver receiver or just a we really like that athlete kind of receiver? At Commanders Classified, we believe every franchise quarterback deserves more than one emergency contact. So post your listing today, want it, dependable pass catcher, must definitely be available on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, sometimes Wednesdays, sometimes Saturdays, and now we got games on Fridays, but definitely not Tuesday. Experience separating from coverage preferred, ability to block on bubble screens a plus must not disappear after week three. Because Scary Terry in some guys is not a long-term roster strategy.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

Commander class finds is not affiliated with the launching commanders, the NFL, Facebook, Facebook, Marketplace, or that one guy trying to sell two preseason tickets for 900 miles if he says they have IRC.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

Like I said, like taking a class by a dad out there, and I think I think someone just did.

SPEAKER_03 40:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

Sounded like to me. I think someone just did take an ad for wide receiver too. Which uh that's what we that's what I'm advocating for.

SPEAKER_05 40:11

I mean Well, that's what we need. That's what all the that's what all the pundits say we need is we need to add a wide receiver. And they're right. Um, you know, it can't just be it can't just be Terry. It never could just be Terry. You needed a you need a good compliment to him.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Yeah, which gets into our our new segment on the podcast. I know everybody's been looking forward to it. It's our uh Man, I what what's the name? I don't know. I don't know what depth check. So our new segment. So wide receiver, the wide receiver room. This this is, I mean, it's on theme with what we've been talking about. We've already broken down the free agents. Right. We really haven't gotten into how they fit in, but this is where I want to see where they fit in. But this is why I feel, and everybody feels our roster is lacking, unless one of our scouts, one of our coaches, one of our somebody sees something that we don't because there are some playmakers, but but are they the playmaker that we need, you know? Because we felt great last year with Debo as the number two to Terry. I don't see problem did we know Debo was going to be the number one for the majority of the season.

SPEAKER_05 41:45

But just based off the way he played, forget about your free agents. I truly would not mind if they brought him back.

SPEAKER_02 41:53

I I wouldn't mind it either. I truly would not mind it. I would like to see it. I would like to see it run back. I do I see why it's not happening. Depends, kind of, not really, but sort of, yes. It that's that's the wide spectrum of answers there. But yeah, you hit them all. Yeah, but the reason why I can see that it hasn't happened, last year was the one like the one and done prove it deal to us. Like, we'll bring you in. Correct. You here's the one year, here's what we paid you. Boom. Right, and he proved it. But he proved that he could do it. Like, yes, he I would say that he proved it, but it depends on what he means he proved it as because it just comes down to the dollar figure from there and how much longer you got. Because let's be honest, Debo isn't the wide receiver number two, he's the utility player, he's a wide running back who can run all the routes, you know. He's like who was the guy that we had? Antonio Gibson. Remember, he was like a wide receiver, and then we turned him into a running back, and then like so he's Debo is what happens if the running back turns into the wide receiver and just stays a wide receiver, and everybody's like, You should be a running back, and he's like, No, I'm a wide receiver. Um, he's awesome, but he's almost like better as your number three.

SPEAKER_05 43:25

Like if Debo is your number three. Well, and there's an argument to say that we don't have a number three.

SPEAKER_02 43:31

I know last season we thought it would be uh Debo should be Debo should be your slot guy, your screen pass guy, your third guy, but he's not your running deep number two. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 43:44

But going into this season, if anyone's gonna be the three, it's gonna be uh who is it, Williams, the wide receiver that we drafted.

SPEAKER_02 43:51

I it it's it's like Terry is the one, but he's doesn't have That perfect compliment. We've never seen the perfect compliment because Terry's always been like the one A, and you're kind of thinking, well, maybe he's the one B, but he's never the two, right? Right. But it's like, who fits opposite of Terry? And maybe that's our team's problem because it's like you like the You can't have two number ones. You like Deshaun Jackson and Pierre Garcon, right? There's enough differences between those two. They were they were good doers compliment. You know, they can do all the route trees between the two, and they have enough attributes that are differentiating from the other. And they can equally be used. Right. But and man, I would maybe Debo was the guy. We just never got to see both of those guys fully healthy. Well, because yeah, because Terry was injured uh pretty much all season. So maybe he comes back. But like Terry, then we got Traylon Burks, who I need to remind you, had the catch of the year last year in the end zone. I thought that was Terry. That was that was that was Traylon Burks. Um Jalen Lane, we saw glimpses out of him last year, but wasn't necessarily the magnet we needed him to be. Um Luke McCaffrey, he was your player of the year last year going into the season, whatever we have called that, a player to watch or whatever. And he did get his opportunities, he did make the most of them, then got hurt. Right. Really would have loved to see the last.

SPEAKER_05 45:30

I mean, I forget what week he got hurt, but what it was late in the season, but it was still late, but early in the season where he he still could have really took in that next step. Yeah, and like cemented his place for this season. He was getting all the number one. But he was cut short.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

He was cut short.

SPEAKER_03 45:49

Um because I think it was a was it a quad? Like a me?

SPEAKER_02 45:54

Gosh, I forget. Yeah, I don't remember. It's crazy how time flies and things like it. Like we're talking about it for an hour and a half on the podcast one minute, and then the next minute we can't remember why he got hurt.

SPEAKER_05 46:05

Yeah, that's why we have this stuff recorded.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

Antonio Williams, a rookie, third round rookie. A lot of people are hype on him, but you know what? I was just saying, he seems like Jalen Lane 2.0. Well, not even 2.0, just Jalen Lane 1.0. Just another Jalen Lane kind of draft pick. And look, I haven't seen him play. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he's maybe he's gonna take the maybe he's the Jalen Lane we didn't get to see last year, and we hope that we would. Um, and I only compare the two because of their body type and their size, which is just an inch and a half shorter than Terry. You know, they're they're all like all of our wide receivers kind of look the same.

SPEAKER_05 46:45

Yeah, kind of small.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Van Jefferson, we brought him in last year. He's stayed. We re-signed, and then Deommy Brown, a guy that used to be on our team. Not with this office. Those two will be the first two that we cut. I wouldn't be surprised if they get cut. Like we said last week, Deomi Brown might be in the UFL next year. Um, hey, maybe there's another team out there that's will will sign him because they liked him when they scouted him in his original draft. I don't know. But based off of all those names, the number two, it we're still looking for a number two. And it's unfortunate that we're not just like Luke's our number two, you know. You but at this point, we that's what we were hoping that we need to be thinking right now. Yes. If he would have got those last five weeks of the season and and showed up a little bit more glimpses and had like that 11 target, nine reception game that we were hoping that he'd get.

SPEAKER_05 47:44

That's what I'm saying. Like, had he had those other weeks and wasn't cut short by injury, he would be in a much better place this season because he was just right before he got injured, he was just getting into his stride. You could kind of feel it. Like he was just he was just sort of getting where he needed to be to prove what he could do.

SPEAKER_02 48:07

Yeah, yeah. I don't disagree. I don't disagree. But also, I guess depending upon the defense, it seemed like there was a handful of games there after it was apparent Terry was going through his injury plague season and we were plugging and playing and bringing guys in. It also kind of seemed like why aren't they featuring the way that they they should? Right. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 48:28

We had that discussion many times that it just wasn't he wasn't used correctly.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

Right. So I mean, you see a lot of people come back from injury and uh and become a breakout star, and a lot of it becomes comes through the motivation through the rehab, and they come back better than ever. And let's just hope that that's what we see out of Luke because based on our roster, it seems like he would be the good guy, like too small, you know. I just sound like the third guy. I don't think Luke gets to the number two.

SPEAKER_05 49:01

I just think I just think they need to utilize him better because how many how many games were we watching last year, and we were talking amongst ourselves of like, why aren't we using Luke in this spot? Why isn't he on the field? What it you know yeah, I mean it it's great, it's wonderful that he can return the punts. Like great, but you can you can use him for so much more than just to be a punt returner.

SPEAKER_02 49:28

It seemed like he lost some reps to guys like Robbie Chosen, whatever his name was, and all these other guys we were almost forcing into the lineup so they could get some reps, so we could see if they were even worth bringing into the building, you know, because like you never know until the lights are on and they're they're on the field in in game time, right? So it did feel like Luke was losing some some snaps and some reps, but like but to the other side of the coin, like what we're what we're kind of saying is like Luke, why haven't you just commanded that spot? You know, why haven't you just why do you know that's a that's a very solid point, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, why haven't you just shown enough? Like, why can't you just get open? You know, and I know that's not true, but like look, I that's not just get open. But you know what I'm saying? Yeah, I don't know. Uh and and then I you always keep hearing these like ties between Jaden Daniels and these wide receivers that he used to play with in college. Well, that's why that's why.

SPEAKER_05 50:35

That's why Brandon uh is such a you know Well, Ayuk, I I just don't know.

SPEAKER_02 50:40

I mean, he just giving me the options of Tyreek, Diggs, Debo, Keenan Allen, and Iuk.

SPEAKER_05 50:48

I mean you take Tyreek, but he's gonna the the rumor on the street is he's gonna end up in Philly, like they need another weapon. Uh, you know.

SPEAKER_02 51:00

Well, he might fill the spot on AJ Brown, but like, God, I hope Tyreek doesn't go to Philly. Yeah, me too. But like No, I'll take Tyreek. Give us Tyreek on a two-year deal. I feel like that's what he's gonna get. Two or three. Yeah. His agent's probably out there really, really advocating for three. And I think teams are kind of like, yeah, I would love to do one, but like, we'll give them two, but it would have to be front-loaded or backloaded because we don't know who's gonna come out of this. They would front load it and make, you know. Like a one-year deal makes more sense. You see this happen a lot where a guy's coming up an injury, he takes a one-year deal, right? Shows glimpses of coming back and then signs the two, three-year deal with another team later. You know what I mean? Um, I wouldn't mind bringing them in for the one-year deal and letting him go to anywhere else for the two or three-year deal that follows this contract, is what I'm saying. Just for this season. Rarely am I advocating for that, but I would take Tyreek on one. If he seems really, really healthy and the money seems right, give us the three. Yeah, I mean, I'm not arguing.

SPEAKER_05 52:20

I would take Tyreek all day.

SPEAKER_02 52:22

It's hard not to, it's hard to argue against his talent and how he would fit against opposite Tyree.

SPEAKER_05 52:28

But I would say as we're talking about, I would take Tyreek all day for the same reasons last season. I would take Debo all day.

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Tyreek would solve the Terry 1A, 1B problem, and their skill sets are different enough. You know what I mean? Yeah, Stefan Diggs looks like Terry. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's like they are the 1B, 1B. Right. They have similar attributes, similar size, they're just as quick as one another. You could argue that Diggs might be, maybe is a little bit more down the field, but like we've seen Terry go down the field and and pick up those balls too, uh, just the same way as Diggs. I don't know. And then we know what we get out of Debo. I just don't know if our offense with Blau is looking for the utility player that he is. And then you get into Keenan Allen, which is an aging star. He's taller, he'd be the tallest wide receiver on our team. Aging, does he come to an East Coast team? He's never been out this far. He played last year with the Bears, I think, right? No, no, no. I think he went to the Bears, then went back to the Chargers, and now he's a free agent again.

SPEAKER_05 53:51

Yeah. Um I'm remembering from the Chargers, I just don't remember if that's who he was with last year, but uh the way you said it, I think is right.

SPEAKER_02 53:59

Yeah, I think that's how it's gone down. Uh the rest of the tier two guys in free agency, I don't care about. The tier three guys, I don't care about because as far as I'm concerned, our wide receiver room is tier two and tier three guys outside of Terry.

SPEAKER_03 54:14

So as we just discussed.

SPEAKER_02 54:17

So the the diamond in the rough of the question mark in our wide receiver room is whether or not our third round rookie draft pick can be awesome. Because it happens, you know, those guys often break out in the best system that could have been available for them with an awesome quarterback, and the craft chemistry is perfect. And you're like, where the hell did this rookie come from? And how the hell did the commanders get him? You know, I hope that's our guy, but I don't know. And then it just comes back to Iuk. It's just like, do we want that off-field drama? And honestly, I kind of feel like Peters knows Ayuk. Peters knows him, right? Yeah. He was with San Fran as the assistant GM. Correct. So like I feel like he's gonna know right. He's gonna need to be able to do that. If he was gonna be on our team, I feel like it would have happened by now, which is why I think the company.

SPEAKER_05 55:09

But he hasn't been an option. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he hasn't been an option to be on our team because he's been committed to San Francisco. He hasn't been available. This is this offseason is finally the time when he's a holdout available.

SPEAKER_02 55:25

It's a holdout that's never ended, that's been disguised by Andrew, I believe. Yeah. So I don't know. I don't know. Nobody knows what's going on with that.

SPEAKER_05 55:34

And they're finally, I it appears that they're finally ready to set right back.

SPEAKER_02 55:38

I don't want to I don't want to have a guy on our team just because it's been what?

SPEAKER_05 55:42

It's season of halfway.

SPEAKER_02 55:43

It's like, yeah, I don't want to play with Jaden. He just tells his agent, I just want to play with Jaden. It's like, well, okay. Well, that's not necessarily like doesn't mean you get to be on our team. Right. A lot of people want to play with Jaden. Um, but at the same time, Till's like a lot of guys want to play with Jaden. Get those fuckers on our team. Our wide receiver room is slacking. We got all these wide receivers around the league chomping at the bit to play with Jaden. Why is it that all we have is Terry?

SPEAKER_05 56:11

Yeah. Well, because we just committed, you know, that three-year deal for him. So, you know, he's gonna be our guy until he's not.

SPEAKER_02 56:21

Yeah. Well, speaking of our guys, last week we were talking a little bit, and I don't know if we said this in the pod or if it was just you and I personally talking about how we just maybe no, you know what? It was like me and my dad were talking about this. How he's just hoping that in year three, Jaden can start to begin being looked at as in that leadership role. Start to really be that coach on the field, take command of the all-season.

SPEAKER_05 56:53

Well, I think he's beginning uh beginning is the wrong word, but I think he is showing that now by running by running that off-season workout in LA.

SPEAKER_02 57:04

I don't know if that kid the kid is still a nickname that he's carrying, you know what I mean? But like it still feels like people view him as a kid. I'm ready for weird ears. Which by the way, with his mom, by the way.

SPEAKER_05 57:25

You know, so that's the problem.

SPEAKER_02 57:28

By the way, I agree with you. By the way, the Dallas Cowboys in their schedule release video kind of poked fun at Jane Daniels and his mom. So you know how I feel about the Cowboys. So they're looking for the you're looking for the uh chalkboard uh motivation going into that week or the newspaper clippings that everybody's looking for back in the day to motivate you for a new game. Well, that'll be a video that helps them. But I but I also it's like he also has to embrace that criticism and those jokes because he opens himself to it. You can't have your mom and you as your momager and your agent, and also like be offended by that kind of stuff, like own it. But at the same time, too, how do you distance yourself from the kid?

SPEAKER_05 58:18

And that's that's the long-term issue that he's gonna have to deal with. In how do you how do you grow as a quarterback and a leader of your team, which everybody knows you can be, from the you know, my mom is my agent and I love her so much, and da-da-da-da-da. But like, yeah, at some point you gotta grow up. But look, I and quit, you know, kind of like the Campbell soup commercials, they stop at a certain point.

SPEAKER_02 58:49

At a certain point, yeah, but like Donovan Bunatum looked like a 40-year-old man his whole life, you know what I mean? Jane Daniels is looked at as this kid, uh, and I'm only comparing the two from the Campbell Soup commercial, but like there is something, it's gotta be a hard thing for certain players to shake, and at a certain point they just do, in the sense that, like, let's be honest, he's a 23, like, we are huge fans of a 23, 24-year-old kid. Yes, and I'm over here saying he needs to stop being a freaking kid, but I just mean that in the sense that he's playing NFL professional football, they're trying to rip his head off. You know what I mean? Like, he can be a command on the field, he he can be a voice and a in that player that I you give him a pass in his first year, in a second, definitely in his first year, rookie, right? Correct. By the time they get into year three, four, five, you hope to really see that jump. And so I'm really hoping that we just see that jump, that step forward, that I don't know, maybe he needs to get his hair cut or something to kind of it happens sometimes. They just need a different look, a different perception. They carry themselves a different way. And you know, maybe it's maybe it takes until you you're 25, 26, year three, four, five in the eight in the league until not just your team respects you, but the rest of the league does. And I think after his rookie year, at the league respects him as a player. Oh, yeah, no question. But it's whether or not, you know, he can he can do that on the field. Uh we we're gonna see. We're gonna see. But they took the guys out in LA. Terry was out there, a bunch of other guys out there. You hear this happening around the league from time to time. The quarterback will be a leader, right? And he'll do a little team building. This doesn't have anything to do with coach. Coach is, you know, we do our thing, we're just getting some workouts, team building, team bonding. Terry was out there. I forget who got a microphone in his face. I apologize, but somebody did. This is what he said.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:08

He he led the charge with that, and um, you know, we just wanted to get connected and and kind of start from a uh a day one perspective. At the time, we didn't have the offense. Uh, we knew some of the routes that were going to be in the offense, but it was a time for us to just kind of connect and get some work in. We hadn't seen each other since the end of the season. So um, you know, it was just a good time to be out there in LA. You know, I'm not the biggest LA fan per se. I'm more of like a you know, East Coast, down south guy, but you know, Jaden is made me a little bit more of an LA person. Uh he took care of us. They, you know, he's um a very influential person around there. And so they wrote out the red carpet. We were able to work out at USD and UCLA and um just a good time to bond and get some work in. So it was just important for me to be there. Um we went to a you know a clipper game. Wendy wasn't playing, that was tough. But you know, we got to we got to watch the game together and just, you know, it wasn't all about ball. We just got to hang out. So um, you know, I know he wants to do that again with, you know, the broader group of everybody this summer, so I'm I'm looking forward to the opportunity to do that again.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:10

So I've been saying how I hope Jaden becomes a leader, and obviously, I don't think I heard stories about him going to LA or flying players out or doing anything like during last season. Definitely not his rookie year, but I don't think I heard it last year either, yeah? No, you're right. So, you know, they're doing this off-season team building stuff out there with with those those things with the players, so that's great.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:36

And so we're hoping that that translates it's a step in the right direction to the leadership question.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:41

He needs to build chemistry with everybody, so that that's that's good. Um with that being said, OTAs. Right around the corner. Not everybody's gonna show up. They got rookie OTAs, and then you got some guys that are like, I've been keeping up on my own shit. So um May 27th through the 29th, they got they got praxes, June 2nd through the 4th, uh, June 9th through the 11th, we'll we'll see some um headlines and reports, and this guy looks great, and this guy doesn't look so hot, and this guy's injured, and this guy didn't show up. And then it becomes mandatory uh June 16th through the 18th. So that's when we'll really know.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:26

Right? Just any disputes. If there's any disputes that haven't already been dis reported, we'll find out by mandatory camp. And then obviously mid-June, we'll hear the rest of the leagues, all those types of stories come out. Right. Um I don't think they've released the July uh practice schedule or when we can attend, or anybody else can attend.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:49

Yeah, they haven't released any of that stuff yet.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:51

So all that stuff is is soon to come. But obviously, we're in the fourth quarter of the podcast. Let's wind down here with our Hodge Podge. Um, you're wearing an O's t-shirt on the podcast.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:04

It's baseball season.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:06

It is, it is. Did you ever contemplate because I'm an I'm an Orioles fan myself. I can answer the same question I'm about to ask you, but when the Nationals came to be. No. You you didn't I know your question. The answer is no. You didn't contemplate it not once.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:22

No.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:23

No. Yeah, me neither. Me neither. I was a Cal Ripkin fan, and I think like like when you're learning baseball, and if you're if you're an O's fan and you're learning baseball and you got to experience Cal Ripkin, then there that like you you feel the same way I do in the sense that we didn't contemplate it at all.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:46

Right. Right. It's just it's the team, just like with the Redskins for you and I, it's the team that we grew up watching for one reason or the other. So whether there's an expansion team or whatever, you stick with the teams that you grew up with, that you have some type of connection to. You know what is crazy though?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:11

Why? Why didn't I contemplate it? Why didn't I consider it? And I'll tell you why. You didn't because you were raised right, okay? Okay, I appreciate that because you are correct. That is the ultimate question.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:23

Yeah, I mean, some of some of the worst fans are like the Redskin fans that went to be a Ravens fan because, oh, oh, the I have there's a Baltimore team now. I know. You know, like then you weren't a true fan to begin with, and Baltimore can have you.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:39

I know, but can I just speak to all Washington Tony and fan sports loyal fan base people? Go right ahead. Especially because look, I'm 37 uh uh get going to be 37, right? So when I mean I guess I don't know, but I'm not 37. No, but let me just put this into perspective in terms of team loyalty. And we I could probably also say that our the fourth quarter third quarter rang long. We're into the fourth quarter. Now this isn't overtime.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:10

But because we like to keep this up in around an hour. But we're going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:13

Anyway, go with your question, okay?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:16

No, I'm just saying, like 1991 was the last time the Redskins won the Super Bowl, and I was one and a half, two years old. Right? Right. Okay, from then on, they've sucked. And I have somehow evolved to a seasoned ticket holder and a podcast host of this team. But meanwhile, my whole life, they've basically done nothing for me.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:48

But again, it proves what I just said.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:50

They've sucked my whole life, Michael.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:52

But again, just like with the Orioles and the conversation that we're having, it's the team that you were raised to follow.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:00

But this is what I'm saying. My football team sucked my whole life, but I still root for them. And guess what? By the time the Nationals came around, the Orioles were on like a 13-14-year losing streak. So like it would have been the perfect opportunity for someone like, oh man, let me let me just like they're local. I I wouldn't be uh like classified as a bandwagoner, right? No, right? Because like they're still my home team. And don't get me wrong, I do I do, I don't not root for the nationals the same way I don't not root for the Ravens, like I'm a homer, like a good for you for my neighbor.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:47

Right. I'm not arguing that point.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:49

But like, yeah, I never considered it either. I always liked the Orioles, but like, damn, wouldn't it be fun to just like say, oh no, fuck it. I'm switching teams, I'm going to this team, and then they end up winning the World Series because that's what happened. The Nationals were a team for like a year or two, right? And they be they won the World Series. Um, and then shortly thereafter, Bryce Harper was coming through the Hagerstown Suns and then became their superstar. We could have been all on that boat, but we weren't because we were Orioles fans. And we were like, oh yeah, Chris Davis is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. How are they doing? That was the whole way this whole started. What's their record?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:31

22 and 29.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:33

So seven games back? Yeah. You know. Under 500. The Yankees are probably what?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:40

They've been steadily under 500 just about the whole year. So um it's just the way it's been going.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:47

It's depressing. I've watched zero Orioles games this year. I've watched two Hagerstown boxcar games.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:52

I mean, I have I mean, obviously, I've watched games on TV, but no, I haven't been to uh either a boxcar game or an Orioles game this year.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:02

You tell me when. Look at the schedule, sometime in July, because um my new my new company gets tickets, so we can we can go to a game as long as we don't listen to this podcast. Tickets for what o's box boxcards. Oh, really? Oh, yeah, not O's. We got the Higgins down boxcar third baseline. Yeah, I'll go to a free boxcars game. Yeah, I'll save you 12 bucks.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:26

Um, I will say that's gonna be one thing I'll miss about my previous.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:30

You're a NASCAR fan as well, so you're an O's fan and you're a NASCAR fan.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:35

R.I.P. Called Moose Lat. Yeah, that was Gibbs Racing, by the way, too.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:40

Uh yeah. Right? Well, he's not. I'm not a NASCAR fan. I read that He was with Gibbs, but he's not anymore. He's with uh Richard Childress, uh, who was the car owner for Dale Earnhardt.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:54

Pneumonia 41.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:55

Yeah, pneumonia that turned into sepsis.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:59

This is what we need, this is what we need our Asian friend for. The nurse. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry, Korean. What's same same. But different.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:10

But but uh sepsis, that's no good. Yeah, yeah, that's a that's a death certificate right there. I mean, I'm not you get that from infection and shit, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:20

Yeah, that's like an infection in your blood, I'm pretty sure. Um but again, this is where we need our our nurse compatriots.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:27

Infection for 800, Alec.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:29

But uh, yeah, true. I mean, I I was as shocked as everyone else because one, he's so young, and two, like, he's just something like that you you don't expect. You know, obviously, with that type of sport and profession, I don't want to say you expect, but there's the risk factor of, you know, then we were talking last time when the news broke. I mean, this the of something happening during a race, you know, that kind of goes with the territory, the possibility of that always happening. That's that's always been in the history of NASCAR. But like for this type of thing, it's just it's it's shocking and very sad.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:13

Yeah, it doesn't matter what sport you're in. And it's it's hard for some people to fathom that like race NASCAR racing is a sport, but these guys are definitely athletes, they definitely need to keep themselves in tip-top shape.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:27

Yeah, I mean they they train for their for their sport in the same way that other athletes, football, baseball, whatever, train for their sport.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:38

And to say that it's not excruciating or like I know that they're just sitting there.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:43

Yeah, I mean, if you want if you really want to get into it, the way that they train, obviously, like any other professional athlete, you have to have like a fitness regimen. You have to work out regularly, you have to eat, you know, a certain way. There's the body aspect. But then when you get into like with a baseball player, you know, you're you're going to batting practice, you're doing this. For them, it's sitting in a simulator and doing 500 laps at a simulated Charlotte's.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:12

One of those races take, by the way. 500 laps, dayton of 500. How long from the moment that they press the gas on the house?

SPEAKER_05 1:12:19

On average, probably three and a half hours to four. But like, you know, when they going over 200 miles an hour on the floor, their lives are at risk. When they're when they're simulating that or whether they're doing an actual race, like they're fatigue can fit in. Like with Top Gun, there's there's a lot of there's there's G-forces at play and the way that you know that stuff plays with your body and and all that type of stuff. So it it's a legitimate sport, it's a legitimate everything as opposed to all the other stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:50

And when I first read pneumonia, it was just like, what? Right-one-year-old NASCAR driver dies of pneumonia, and you're like, that's a headline you don't hear every day. And then you start, then you see the sepsis stuff, and it's like, was he neglecting something? But did it creep up? Like, what's going on here?

SPEAKER_05 1:13:08

And I think and there's a lot more details that'll come out.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:12

Yeah, I mean, uh, as we record this, it it's still very fresh. This is two days since he's gonna be able to do it. But it's it's very still lots of lots of very surprising. The sepsis stuff just got released today, so yeah, yeah. Um yeah, very, very, very interesting um storyline there. And uh I when I asked you, I said, you know, what car didn't he drive? You said the MM car? He used to, but his primary sponsor is Bush Light have a car.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:42

Not anymore.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:43

Oh, they don't put beer as advertisers.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:46

When he was when he was with Joe Gibbs, he was driving the MM car, the number 18. When he switched over to uh RCR, and that's the number eight car, uh, which they've seen.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:00

He went from 18 to 8. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:02

Good switch. Um, his primary sponsor, I think, is cheddar something or other. I don't know what they it's not a food thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:11

But there's isn't there there's no Budweiser car anymore? Not anymore. So there's no beer advertisers on cars.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:18

Not that I can think of.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:20

I mean, that would make sense, but it's also kind of like disappointing. But they're uh wait, what did what did uh Dale Arnard Jr. drive?

SPEAKER_05 1:14:30

He for uh Hendrick Motorsports drove the number eight. Your numbers can change.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:37

Yeah, what was this what was the big sponsor on the hood?

SPEAKER_05 1:14:40

Oh, it was it was Bubweiser. That was thank you. But it was a different so Budweiser doesn't sponsor NASCAR anymore?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:48

I mean, I'm sure they sponsor, but I uh This is all all this to say huge misopportunity for Bush Play.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:56

But look, Kyle Bush? You're you're not a NASCAR fan or you don't follow it regularly, whatever the case may be. The NASCAR auto racing that you're watching today is not the same auto racing NASCAR that we were watching 20 years ago. You accuse me of not being a NASCAR fan. I'm just saying Who me? I'm just saying that what we're watching today is not what we watched 20 years ago when I was in high school. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:24

Who, me?

SPEAKER_03 1:15:26

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:29

All right, P. Calbush. Uh the Giants lost a defensive tackle slash yeah, defensive tackle. They just signed him, Roy Robertson.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:41

I don't know who the fuck that is.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:42

Towards Achilles recently. That is they brought him in to replace Dexter Lawrence, who went to Cincinnati to replace the boy Hendricks.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:54

Who uh you see how the dominoes fall here? Yeah. And so everybody's talking about the Giants and how they're much improved because they got A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Well, I'll tell you, G just tore his Achilles.

unknown 1:16:08

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:08

That's that's in the hodgepodginess of quarter four or slash quarter.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:13

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:13

As we get into our second Jag and Jr. For those that care, we're on hour and 16. Let's just keep going, Mike. We got one more topic left.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:21

The viewers really want us to wrap up. Not viewers, sorry, listeners.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:25

Yeah, listeners. Well, we are on video. This is true. Guys, tick tick on over to TikTok.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:31

Imagine the critiques that Tom's gonna have after this episode. He's really gonna write too much.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:35

Tick on over to Tick. Yeah, I would. Don't you wish Tom had like a social media preference and so like his fan base and our fan base could talk shit to each other? Like Tinker.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:44

I mean, I I think I think uh, you know, someone like Tom or you know, those can sound bad, but those type of people, they should be Ravens fans. They should uh you know be more frequent guests on our podcast episodes, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:02

Well, maybe we need to put it out there when we're gonna be live and people can just jump on.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:07

But you know, he's he's he's out doing, you know, things with stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:12

If anybody wants to call in, maybe our overtime segment should be people calling in.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:16

Yeah, you know how much he's gonna bust by vaults for talking shit on his team.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:22

Well, didn't he send you a text message or goal from the last podcast when you're talking shit on the Ravens uniforms?

SPEAKER_05 1:17:29

He texted us after, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:30

Those of you who wonder what we're talking about, tune into last week. Yeah, I mean he said fourth quarter hodgepodge.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:35

He sent me like a Venn diagram and everything, dissecting all the different colors and how it was different. It's like, okay, I told you. I told you. Yeah, I mean Vin Hedgehog told you.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:44

Yeah, I mean, they know the stitching. There's like feathers on the collar of their uniform, all that stuff.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:51

And I I acquiesced that he was right and uh okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:55

All right, so uh to wrap things up here, the last segments of our our hodgepodge uh is your boy Taylor Heineke retired. Yeah. I mean, a hell of a career for him. I so he'll always be sort of. He went from us to Atlanta and then from Atlanta to warehouse? Did he I want to say Minnesota?

SPEAKER_05 1:18:18

No, it was Seattle. I wanted to say Minnesota, but it was Seattle. You're right. He went to Seattle. Yeah, he'll always be that kind of I don't want to say mythic creature, but mythic creature for us because of what he did for us, you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:31

So he'll always He was the Washington football team quarterback. Yeah, you know, like he exemplified the Washington football team perfectly, you know. Uh like the Redskins had seen their fair share of like second, third string quarterbacks that we declared as our starter, and you know, and then like the football team came around and we're like, who we starting? And then like this guy, Taylor Hyde, he's the starting no, but he he came to be because of uh Fitzpatrick, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:19:10

Yeah, yeah, he went, yeah, he went down week one.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:14

Do you remember he went down week one? Do you remember the Fitzpatrick game? I I do vaguely. I remember him Was that 2021?

SPEAKER_05 1:19:24

Yeah, yeah. Because I remember him going down and we're like, who's this guy coming in? Like, there goes our whole season, you know, kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:34

But no, but do you remember that specific game? That was the season where that that season was our the first de facto um like season ticket holder season because we went to six games that year. We weren't season ticket holders, but that was the season where I was like, we're I'm going to as many games this season as we can. That started this whole thing up. And the and we went to that game where it was the San Diego Chargers, I think week one that week. And I tried to start the wave. That was the week that went viral because somebody was trying to hang on the sewage pipe. Remember the sewage pipe game? That was the first. Yeah, yeah. That was the sewage pipe game, the Fitzpatrick game, and then Heineke came in, I believe. Yeah, I think you're right. I'll be devastated if I find out that somebody else came in for a relief for him. If it was like Jacoby Brissett, I'll be like, ah, what not surprised. My bad. Uh, but no, Taylor Heineke declared his retirement. Yeah. Um what do you have a memorable, like a most memorable Heineke moment?

SPEAKER_05 1:20:40

Just the the one that everyone remembers that they made the t-shirt out of and stuff, you know, the the touchdown.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:47

I mean, that's the that's do you recall what game that was?

SPEAKER_05 1:20:50

No, I do not. I do. Of course you do. You fucking know everything. And it's goddamn sports jeopardy.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:57

So what is well it, you know, I it's part of the the news.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:06

So what is it for 800, Alan?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:09

It was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tom Brady Super Bowl champ, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was an awesome scramble on like probably like the 15-yard line. He was scrambling, he dodged a couple trap tackles, almost tripped, got to the corner in the end zone, dove in, and then oh my god, the fan base was chanting his name ever since. Yeah. And Tom Brady was crying after that game. And a little bit before his cheekbones got sucked in. One more piece. One more piece of uh Heinekee trivia. Um after that game that we won against the Cry Baby, Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and um we went out of the stadium, and the band was playing, and they were doing the drum line, and they were dancing, and they were having a great time. And I took video of the band outside of the stadium after that win. And then I used the audio of the band to make the intro and the outro to our podcast. And that is a full circle mode. What do you think of that? Taylor Heineke, you are the man. He will live in Washington football team history because they only lasted for so long. He had two seasons. But number four, what a great number for him because he was a gunslinger. He was very Brett Favre-esque.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:49

You know, he was as close to a uh I mean he didn't give a he really did not give a you know what if it was intercepted or not. He just, if he thought he could land it, he would just throw that ball.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:03

Yeah, throw that ball without a care in the world, you know. Rivera gave him freedom to sling it, sling it, throw it. It was awesome. It was all that that was an awesome season. I don't remember how many new ends he got us, but it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that bad. I think we actually won the division that year. 2020. No, maybe that was 2020.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:26

I think that's the year we won the division, was 2020. I didn't have to go back and really uh dig into it, but I think you're right. Who gives a shit?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:34

Anyway. Alright. Hey, episode two. What would we name this episode?

SPEAKER_06 1:23:39

I don't think we've come up with a name.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:40

Yeah, we did. Check it. Check check the text.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:45

Oh. Check the text. Yeah, there's nothing.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:55

No, on the podcast image.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:57

Oh, on the Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:00

I mean, at this point, you know. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got that. I mean, if they're still listening.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:08

Hell, at this point, we might as well go six more minutes ahead and even 90.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:12

Uh six more minutes of shit to say?

SPEAKER_05 1:24:14

But no.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:15

All right.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:15

Well, what's the name of this title? The Road Ahead.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:18

Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's what we talked about. Yeah. The Road Ahead. All right. Hey, season two, episode two. The Road Ahead. Washington Commanders offseason. When's our next one? What are we going to do next?

SPEAKER_05 1:24:30

We'll we'll decide. It'll be a few weeks. You know, we've got to leave the people wanting more, okay? Or it's the offseason. We can't do it. We can't do weekly stuff. You know, you've got a new job. I've got a new job. We've got adult things to do.

unknown 1:24:44

All right.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:44

We'll see y'all in about two, three weeks. Uh, thank you guys so much. This is, of course, the Command the Commute Podcast where we talk about the game all the way to the game. Appreciate you.