The pads were on and the stars were out at Washington’s training camp session Monday.
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For the first time during training camp, the Washington Commanders practiced with pads Monday. While there was no tackling to the ground, the heightened physicality allowed for a more thorough evaluation of the team, particularly for the linemen on both sides of the ball, running backs and linebackers.
Here’s what I saw:
The first competitive period was a goal line drill. The offense got off to a strong start with a pretty touchdown where quarterback Jayden Daniels hit wide receiver Terry McLaurin on a fade route. McLaurin beat cornerback Mike Sainristil with a nice release off the line of scrimmage, hauled in the pass and tapped his toes in the back of the end zone.
On the next snap, however, the defense bounced back. Daniels’s initial read wasn’t open, and defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw got home for what would’ve been a sack.
Next up was a move-the-ball drill starting from the defense’s 30-yard line. The offense mostly focused on the run game and quick-hitting passes.
The highlight of the session came when Daniels bounced around the pocket to create extra time before firing a bullet to tight end Chig Okonkwo in the back of the end zone for what would’ve been about a 20-yard touchdown. The pass was a little low, so Okonkwo had to make an impressive diving catch to finish the play.
“That was him throwing me open,” Okonkwo said. “I was trying to keep that defender there. I didn’t want to react too quick and let him turn around. I was just waiting for the ball to get all the way to me when he wasn’t looking.”
The starting defense spent a lot of time in their 3-4 base, with Sonny Styles at middle linebacker, Leo Chenal at strong-side outside linebacker and Frankie Luvu at weak-side linebacker. That made sense with the offense running so often, but they’ll likely use their nickel package more frequently in live games to avoid mismatches through the air.
During a seven-on-seven red zone drill, Daniels found McLaurin again for his third touchdown of the day. McLaurin beat cornerback Amik Robertson on the outside and made a leaping grab for the score.
Running back Rachaad White got open on a route into the flat later in the drill, and Daniels hit him in stride for another score. On the next play, linebacker Styles got a win for the defense with a nice pass deflection off Daniels’s pass.
While running with a reserve unit in the same drill, wide receiver Antonio Williams flashed with a touchdown catch on a fade route.
The following team period was an 11-on-11 red zone drill. On the first drive, cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon helped get the offense off the field with a diving, one-handed pass breakup.
When the backups came in, wide receiver Jaylin Lane hauled in a touchdown from quarterback Marcus Mariota. On a later possession, he caught another touchdown from quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis. It was the best practice of camp so far for Lane.
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On the starting offense’s next possession, safety Jeremy Reaves nearly came up with a leaping interception but couldn’t bring it down. Despite the missed opportunity, the defense went on to come up with the stop.
During an 11-on-11, move-the-ball period, defensive end Charles Omenihu got quick pressure up the middle and forced Daniels to escape the pocket. Outside linebacker Odafe Oweh chased Daniels down, which led him to throw the ball away to avoid a sack. On the next play, Omenihu and Oweh combined for a sack. Later on during the same drive, Sainristil had back-to-back pass breakups to help the defense get another stop.
Overall, it was easily the best practice the offense has had in camp thus far. Daniels was on the money, and the pass catchers did a better job of creating separation.
The downside: The offensive line continued to have issues both in pass protection and in the run game. As has been the case throughout training camp, the defensive line outperformed it.
The run defense was stout throughout practice, and the running backs didn’t have much room to create. The defensive line did a good job of maintaining gap integrity, while the linebackers were quick to trigger and make plays close to the line of scrimmage.
In the passing game, the defensive line was able to win frequently off the edge while also creating a consistent push up the middle of the pocket. Oweh credited defensive coordinator Daronte Jones for making it clear when players can go all-in on the pass rush and giving them freedom to improvise along the way.
“He’ll really home in and tell us on the plays when we can go,” Oweh said. “A lot of times, you got to guess and pick and read your keys and stuff like that. But he really lets us know. He puts it in different categories: These are the plays where you can go straight, pin your ears back and just go. For you as a good player, you got to understand how you can manipulate that and how you can play chess with the offensive line when you have those calls with that freedom. Daronte does a good job of just compartmentalizing each call.”
Chris Paul was entrenched as the starting left guard through the first week of camp, but the Commanders shuffled the lineup Monday and inserted Brandon Coleman. Paul beat out Coleman for the starting job last year, but it’s an open competition once again as both players rotated throughout practice.
There was also more shuffling than usual at cornerback. Robertson and Sainristil started most drills as the starting outside duo, but the coaching staff frequently worked in a duo of Witherspoon and Rasul Douglas, as well. Sometimes, the cornerbacks would swap out within the same drive.
Linebacker Kain Medrano missed the first week of training camp due to a hamstring injury but was medically cleared Monday, activated from the physically-unable-to-perform list and returned to practice. During an 11-on-11 red zone drill, Medrano picked off Kaliakmanis.
Center Nick Allegretti (calf), tight end John Bates (hamstring), defensive end Dorance Armstrong (ACL), defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. (quad), cornerback Trey Amos (fibula) and punter Tress Way (pectoral) missed practice Monday. Coach Dan Quinn said Amos and Way will be reevaluated Thursday.
Julian Good-Jones has been working with the starting lineup in Allegretti’s place. The Commanders signed center Trey Hill on Sunday for some added depth, but Quinn said that’s not a reflection of a heightened concern over Allegretti’s injury. On Saturday, he said he expects Allegretti to miss about a week of practice.
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