Commandos

[Grizzled]

So, they hire Dan Quinn, who lost the HC job to Eberflus in '22. They hire Kliff Kingsbury, who interviewed for OC in '24 but lost out to Shane Waldron. They took Jayden Daniels after the Bears took Caleb #1 and he becomes the 6th rookie QB to lead his team to a league championship game including 2 road wins, one over the #1 seed. I'm still onboard with Caleb, I think his potential is sky high with the right coaching and an OL. The Commandos went from 4-13 in '23 to an appearance in the NFC championship game so teams can dramatically reverse their fortunes in a season with the right choices. But it hurts. Bears.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

And they turned it around with a first year GM.

[dplank]

So, they hire Dan Quinn, who lost the HC job to Eberflus in '22. They hire Kliff Kingsbury, who interviewed for OC in '24 but lost out to Shane Waldron. They took Jayden Daniels after the Bears took Caleb #1 and he becomes the 6th rookie QB to lead his team to a league championship game including 2 road wins, one over the #1 seed. I'm still onboard with Caleb, I think his potential is sky high with the right coaching and an OL. The Commandos went from 4-13 in '23 to an appearance in the NFC championship game so teams can dramatically reverse their fortunes in a season with the right choices. But it hurts. Bears.

...and at least half of the Bears fanbase wants to extend Poles. He made all these decisions, in addition to extreme negligence of the OL for 3 years.

[wab]

So, they hire Dan Quinn, who lost the HC job to Eberflus in '22. They hire Kliff Kingsbury, who interviewed for OC in '24 but lost out to Shane Waldron. They took Jayden Daniels after the Bears took Caleb #1 and he becomes the 6th rookie QB to lead his team to a league championship game including 2 road wins, one over the #1 seed. I'm still onboard with Caleb, I think his potential is sky high with the right coaching and an OL. The Commandos went from 4-13 in '23 to an appearance in the NFC championship game so teams can dramatically reverse their fortunes in a season with the right choices. But it hurts. Bears.

...and at least half of the Bears fanbase wants to extend Poles. He made all these decisions, in addition to extreme negligence of the OL for 3 years.

Well...extreme negligence is a bit of an overexaggeration. "Tried multiple times to address it in various ways but mostly failed" is a little more accurate.

[G08]

They looked really fucking good against Detroit.

I wouldn't be surprised if they beat Philly and end up in the fucking Super Bowl...

[LacertineForest]

They looked really fucking good against Detroit.

I wouldn't be surprised if they beat Philly and end up in the fucking Super Bowl...

They've been forcing a lot of critical turnovers - something they didn't do very well during the regular season. They had 17 total takeaways in 17 games. They have 6 in 2 games in the playoffs (obviously, TB only had one, but it came very deep in their own territory, which was a killer for them). If Philly holds on to the ball, I expect they'll win. It will be interesting, though, that's for sure.

[dplank]

Well, I see it differently. In 3 years his biggest swing in free agency at the position was, Nate Davis. Meanwhile, he's spent heavy in FA on LB and WR, and spent heavy at TE/CB with his extensions of Kmet and Johnson.

His FA spending on the OL, the largest position group on the team, over 3 full off seasons, has been:

2022 - Lucas Patrick, Dakota Dozier
2023 - Nate Davis. Also notable that the 2023 FA OL class was absolutely LOADED.
2024 - Matt Pryor, Jake Curhan, Coleman Shelton, Ryan Bates. *all of these are "backup level signings" and paid like backups.

His only meaningful spend in the draft was Wright. Maaaaaybe you can count Kiran but 3rd rd OT's are tough. The rest were 5th, 6th, 7th round flyers.

That's just not nearly enough attention to the largest position group on your team, particularly when "fixing the OL" was supposed to be a major focus of Poles when we hired him. And the results speak for themselves, the OL has been terrible 3 straight years. To me, looking at that list of signings, I stand by my belief that he has been extremely negligent here. Of course he's tried things, that's literally his job - did he try hard enough? I'd like to hear an argument that says he did because I don't see it. Like, if your Vegas you can't sign Gardner Minshew and then be free of criticism that your QB situation sucks by saying, well I tried SOMETHING.

JMO

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Like, if your Vegas you can't sign Gardner Minshew and then be free of criticism that your QB situation sucks by saying, well I tried SOMETHING.

It's just as well TMP's no longer around these parts to hear you say such a thing!

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Well, I see it differently. In 3 years his biggest swing in free agency at the position was, Nate Davis. Meanwhile, he's spent heavy in FA on LB and WR, and spent heavy at TE/CB with his extensions of Kmet and Johnson.

His FA spending on the OL, the largest position group on the team, over 3 full off seasons, has been:

2022 - Lucas Patrick, Dakota Dozier
2023 - Nate Davis. Also notable that the 2023 FA OL class was absolutely LOADED.
2024 - Matt Pryor, Jake Curhan, Coleman Shelton, Ryan Bates. *all of these are "backup level signings" and paid like backups.

His only meaningful spend in the draft was Wright. Maaaaaybe you can count Kiran but 3rd rd OT's are tough. The rest were 5th, 6th, 7th round flyers.

It's not all about meaningful spend though, it's about spending on the right guys and moulding them into a unit within an effective offensive scheme.

The Commanders starting offensive line this year is:

• LT Brandon Coleman
  A rookie the Commanders drafted in R3 with pick #67. (That's 8 picks before Kiran Amegadjie.)

• LG Nick Allegretti
  Drafted by the Chiefs in R7 in 2019. He started 74 games in 5 years with them. The Commanders signed him last offseason on a 3-year $16m deal with $9m in guarantees. (That's not much more than Ryan Bates' 4-year $17m deal with $8.85m in guarantees.)

• C Tyler Biadasz
  Drafted by the Cowboys in R4 in 2020. He started 53 games in 4 years with them. The Commanders signed him last offseason on a 3-year $29.25m deal with $20.7m guarantees. (That's pretty much the same as Nate Davis's contract with the Bears.)

• RG Sam Cosmi
  Drafted by the Commanders in R2 in 2021 with pick #51. (That's 12 picks after Teven Jenkins.)

• RT Andrew Wylie
  Went undrafted in 2017 and spent the season bouncing around the Colts, Browns and Chargers practice squads before getting picked up the Chiefs. He made his debut the following season and spent the next 5 years in Kansas City starting 59 games for them. The Commanders then signed him in 2023 to a 3-year $24m deal with $12m in guarantees. (As a #10 overall pick that year Darnell Wright signed a 4-year deal for £21m and with roster bonuses that is all guaranteed.)

[wab]

Also, Cosmi was drafted to be the LT of the future and had to be moved to guard.

[dplank]

Poles should have signed Baidasz actually, that is kind of my point. His refusal to do that needs to change. He keeps trying to hit on lower cost players like Patrick or Shelton or Bates or Pryor, he’d be better off spending more on less and be more targeted about it. Draft your depth guys.

What he’s been doing clearly hasn’t worked, don’t think there is any disagreement there. He needs to change, and I think he will. Ben Johnson is going to insist on it - probably already has.

[RichH55]

Poles should have signed Baidasz actually, that is kind of my point. His refusal to do that needs to change. He keeps trying to hit on lower cost players like Patrick or Shelton or Bates or Pryor, he’d be better off spending more on less and be more targeted about it. Draft your depth guys.

What he’s been doing clearly hasn’t worked, don’t think there is any disagreement there. He needs to change, and I think he will. Ben Johnson is going to insist on it - probably already has.

Still Poles hate? Geez

After all the He wont hire the right guy .....Johnson is gonna want his own GM .....and we learned NOTHING.

Just on to the next complaint I guess.

Also - it should mentioned that Jones was a 5th (TRUE!) but is a pretty good LT - Granted he needs to play more. And Wright looked like a keeper. He also only had one OL even worth keeping (and ultimately that wasn't the case in terms Of Tev). And Shelton not a bad signing. Heck Pryor and Bill Murray didn't even look bad.

Would I be more happy if we had outbid the Panthers for Hunt? Or outbid the Broncos for McGlinchey?

No.

[RichH55]

Well, I see it differently. In 3 years his biggest swing in free agency at the position was, Nate Davis. Meanwhile, he's spent heavy in FA on LB and WR, and spent heavy at TE/CB with his extensions of Kmet and Johnson.

His FA spending on the OL, the largest position group on the team, over 3 full off seasons, has been:

2022 - Lucas Patrick, Dakota Dozier
2023 - Nate Davis. Also notable that the 2023 FA OL class was absolutely LOADED.
2024 - Matt Pryor, Jake Curhan, Coleman Shelton, Ryan Bates. *all of these are "backup level signings" and paid like backups.

His only meaningful spend in the draft was Wright. Maaaaaybe you can count Kiran but 3rd rd OT's are tough. The rest were 5th, 6th, 7th round flyers.

It's not all about meaningful spend though, it's about spending on the right guys and moulding them into a unit within an effective offensive scheme.

The Commanders starting offensive line this year is:

• LT Brandon Coleman
  A rookie the Commanders drafted in R3 with pick #67. (That's 8 picks before Kiran Amegadjie.)

• LG Nick Allegretti
  Drafted by the Chiefs in R7 in 2019. He started 74 games in 5 years with them. The Commanders signed him last offseason on a 3-year $16m deal with $9m in guarantees. (That's not much more than Ryan Bates' 4-year $17m deal with $8.85m in guarantees.)

• C Tyler Biadasz
  Drafted by the Cowboys in R4 in 2020. He started 53 games in 4 years with them. The Commanders signed him last offseason on a 3-year $29.25m deal with $20.7m guarantees. (That's pretty much the same as Nate Davis's contract with the Bears.)

• RG Sam Cosmi
  Drafted by the Commanders in R2 in 2021 with pick #51. (That's 12 picks after Teven Jenkins.)

• RT Andrew Wylie
  Went undrafted in 2017 and spent the season bouncing around the Colts, Browns and Chargers practice squads before getting picked up the Chiefs. He made his debut the following season and spent the next 5 years in Kansas City starting 59 games for them. The Commanders then signed him in 2023 to a 3-year $24m deal with $12m in guarantees. (As a #10 overall pick that year Darnell Wright signed a 4-year deal for £21m and with roster bonuses that is all guaranteed.)

Hearts for you Anger Translator

[wab]

I’m going to have to lock this one too hub?

[RichH55]

Well, I see it differently. In 3 years his biggest swing in free agency at the position was, Nate Davis. Meanwhile, he's spent heavy in FA on LB and WR, and spent heavy at TE/CB with his extensions of Kmet and Johnson.

His FA spending on the OL, the largest position group on the team, over 3 full off seasons, has been:

2022 - Lucas Patrick, Dakota Dozier
2023 - Nate Davis. Also notable that the 2023 FA OL class was absolutely LOADED.
2024 - Matt Pryor, Jake Curhan, Coleman Shelton, Ryan Bates. *all of these are "backup level signings" and paid like backups.

His only meaningful spend in the draft was Wright. Maaaaaybe you can count Kiran but 3rd rd OT's are tough. The rest were 5th, 6th, 7th round flyers.

That's just not nearly enough attention to the largest position group on your team, particularly when "fixing the OL" was supposed to be a major focus of Poles when we hired him. And the results speak for themselves, the OL has been terrible 3 straight years. To me, looking at that list of signings, I stand by my belief that he has been extremely negligent here. Of course he's tried things, that's literally his job - did he try hard enough? I'd like to hear an argument that says he did because I don't see it. Like, if your Vegas you can't sign Gardner Minshew and then be free of criticism that your QB situation sucks by saying, well I tried SOMETHING.

JMO

I still don't know why Curhan gets lumped in here. He was a Practice Squad guy.

The 2023 OL Class was also not "Absolutely Loaded"

https://www.nfl.com/news/top-101-nfl-fr ... -available

Taylor and McGlinchey are not contracts you'd want and both are RT only and Worse than Wright.

Nate Davis was the 39th best guy that year on this NFL.com list (and yes Semulo was better! Almost anyone was better than Nate Davis . Which now that we hired Ben Johnson - Is that Nate Davis wasn't good (And Claypool - don't forget Claypool!) the last stand here?



Royal- Any chance we have some PFF grades on Orlando Brown ? I'd be curious there (Also I also called him Orlando Jones....dear lord). I'd really be curious on how his Pass Blocking grades out vs. Braxton.

Basically saying the 2023 OL FA Class was "loaded" Amounts to going all in on Orlando Brown deifyication Or just kind of Making Taylor into a different player than he is.

[RichH55]

I’m going to have to lock this one too hub?

I hope not.

It would be nice to just admit that Taylor isn't Elite just because he isn't a Bear.

[wab]

It would be even more nice if you would just… not.

[RichH55]

In fairness the Baidasz argument is pretty good!

Double down on that one as it has more merit.

Though again - if you let me cherrypick moves for 3 years, I can make ANY organization markedly better.

[RichH55]

It would be even more nice if you would just… not.

Do I have to lie and say Taylor is elite? or just like ignore that part in total? Where is the line on pointing out something that is incorrect?

I do not think the 2023 NFL FA Crop was "absolutely loaded" - I did try and point out the facts on it

[wab]

You know…

I generally like you and agree with most of your takes, annoying as they can be. But You aren’t having your best run as a poster right now.and I’m really running out of reasons to stick up for you.

Don’t use up your last bit of goodwill here.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Hearts for you Anger Translator

I have no idea what this even means.

[RichH55]

You know…

I generally like you and agree with most of your takes, annoying as they can be. But You aren’t having your best run as a poster right now.and I’m really running out of reasons to stick up for you.

Don’t use up your last bit of goodwill here.

Good times...I was feeling pretty good about support of Poles...Guess not.

May I look into Orlando Brown as I am interested?

Here is what I found on the 2023 year

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/allbenga ... hz7g4rb60v

Had Orlando listed as 30th best OT (article from June 2024)

""Although Brown earned a career-low overall grade, pass-blocking grade, and run-blocking grade in 2023 in his first season with the Bengals, he makes this list due to his first five seasons," Buday wrote. "Even though he missed the playoffs last season, he still leads all offensive tackles with 6,086 snaps played — including the playoffs — over the last five seasons.""

Best I can find for 2024 is : https://www.pff.com/nfl/players/orlando ... NewsWidget

I am not sure if that is accurate or not - Has him rated as 92nd Best OT overall (out of 141). Though has his Pass Blocking as better than Run Blocking? (by a decent margin???)

Anyone have better info?

(Also looked up Aaron Banks - was wondering if he might be a sleeper type signing as a Guard - Less than impressive)

[Grizzled]

I had forgotten. The Commanders are playing also playing under a first year owner. They have won as many playoff games this year than they did in Dan Snyder's 24 years of ownership.

[DTsFlappingGums]

Cosmi tore his ACL in the game against the Lions so he's donezo.