Washington Commanders Receiver Room Led by Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson | Luke McCaffrey 3rd?

Washington Commanders Receiver Room Led by Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson | Luke McCaffrey 3rd?

the first two wide receivers on the Washington commanders receiver depth chart are set and the third will be rookie Luke mcaffrey if he proves right what I’ve seen in OTAs and mini camp so far when training camp arrives later this month that and more coming up on today’s episode of lock on [Music] commanders you are locked on commanders your daily podcast on the Washington commanders part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome into today’s episode of Locked on commanders part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day I am your host David Harrison credential member of the media covering the Washington commanders for commander game day.com and I’m here with you every Monday through Friday thank you for coming through today every day or thank you for coming through every single day this is your daily podcast cover the Washington commanders and if you haven’t already you can subscribe for free on YouTube or wherever you’re listening to Today’s Show on today’s episode our weekly recap at the end of the week here a bit of legal news that could cost the Washington commanders up to $450 million plus our Deep dive into the receiver group post OTAs and mini camp what does it take to really evaluate a wide receiver but first why Luke mcaffrey projects in my book to be wide receiver number three this season but dami Brown is number three entering training camp if you want to discuss this episode anything we’re talking about here or anything else watching commanders related all you got to do is reach out send me a text message and you can do that by becoming a locked on commanders Insider a joint sub text.com loock on commanders once you do that you’ll text me I’ll text you give you inside information bonus content live texting from games practices press conferences and even more no downloads no hashtags no filters no apps no nothing all you need is your handy dandy cell phone that we pretty much all have attached to us just about 247 Terry McClaren and Johan Dodson are obviously number one and number two in the Washington Commander’s wide receiver room the question really is who’s going to be number three and then who’s going to fill out the rest of the depth chart for me the answer on number three is going to be luke mcaffrey though if you’re only using what we know what we’ve seen today simply due to a limited body of work by Luke mcaffrey I think you’d have to pencil dami Brown into that number three position I think those two guys are going to be really battling it out to determine who the number three receiver is again my projection is that it will be luke mcaffrey by the end of the season and I’m G basing that or gauging that based off of what I’ve seen at his rookie mini camp during OTAs during the mandatory mini camp not why Far and Away blowing out dami brown or anything else I just think that where they’re both good they’re fairly even Luke mcaffrey a little bit more diverse and what he can do and I think that’s really where you kind of get into breaking down who’s going to get used more how do they get used and really how you look at this receiver room and kind of the way that we broke down the tight end room talking about the different types of tight ends in today’s game you also have three predominantly used types of receivers XZ and slot receivers those are the three types that are again most suly used people have their own languages all the time so I’m not going to close the door on other people having different ways of describing these receivers but that’s what we’re going to use here XZ and slot receivers X receivers split wide off the line of scrimmage right away from the formation uh usually on the line of scrimmage so lined up on the line of scrimmage you go back to Terry McClaren and the infamous play where he’s communicating with the official he’s supposed to be on the line of scrimmage so he’s checking in with the official that he is receiver says no you’re not Terry moves up asks if he’s good official doesn’t say anything ends up getting a flag for not being on the line of scrimmage anyway that’s an X receiver lined UPS wide on the line of scrimmage typically you want to see good strength you want to see good quickness from those types of receivers and for me when you rank the top five potential ex receivers as what we’ve seen for right now in on the Washington Comm roster I think number one you have to go with Terry McClaren clearing way the best x- receiver this team has Johan Dodson I would put number two we’ll talk a little bit more about where his shortcomings lie in that type of position number three right now I am going to give that tip to dami Brown a little bit stronger a little bit more displayed strength I think in his release than a guy who like Luke mcaffry who’s right now my fourth and then Dax Mill kind of have rounding out that fifth although you just don’t really like you know outside of those four you don’t really look at the group and say you’re an ex receiver you know there’s there’s guys like Marcus Roseman Jack Saint who maybe have that potential strength in them and all those things but largely unproven looking at Z receivers again you’re split wide so you’re away from the formation detached from the formation off the line of scrimmage usually you’re offset there you’re you’re looking at guys who can really hit their vertical releases they’ve got more quickness not as much strength and again I still think Teran McClaren is even your best Z Receiver right if you have him lined up backed off the line of scrimmage a step I still think he’s your best guy Jan Dodson would be your second best guy put Luke mcaffrey here above diami Brown at number three because I just think he’s got a little bit more agility again not the quickest you know gazelle type of receiver that you’re going to see on the field but I think when you compare him and dami brown dami is just a little bit more slow in his release and I think maffre is and then Dax mill again kind of fills in that number five and then we move to the slot which is where we’re going to have some different names kind of pop off here off the line of scrimmage you you know lined up between the tight end slash offensive tackle whoever’s capping the offensive line and the split out wide receivers the X and Zs uh excellent quickness elusive ability right off the line of scrimmage but there’s there’s kind of this evolution of the game where it used to be all slot receivers just small dudes right Wes Welker uh Adam humph the Tampa Bay Buccaneers uh there there another one I can’t believe I’m forgetting his name it doesn’t matter you guys get the idea but not all slot receivers now are small you have a lot of big slots in fact when Luke mcaffry is coming out of rice a lot of talent evaluators said he’s going to be a big slot in the National Football League now certainly we’ve seen the Washington commanders work him in the slot we’ve also seen him work outside which at Rice he worked outside in the slot as well but I think the best slot you know in a vacuum slot receiver of this team has would be Jan Dodson he would be identified as a small slot receiver though he’s not like the smallest dude in the world I think he’d still be classified as a small slot receiver maybe a tweener I’ve got another one of those coming up but he’s got really good short field or short area burst real good short area agility and explosiveness so coming off the line of scrimmage as a slot receiver especially against some of the smaller slot Defenders out there in the league today I think Johan dos will probably be the top option there number two Luke mcaffrey again classified as a big slot I’m not taking away from Terry mcen I’ve got him third some of that honestly just I don’t want to see him in the slot as much I like him out wide and that might be while I’m knocking him down the peg Jameson Crowder small slot I’ve got him ranked fourth and then Dax Mill’s kind of that tweener right he’s a little bit of a smaller dude framewise but he’s on more length and height uh so he’s a little bit bigger in that at in that atmosphere so kind of a tweener type of slot receiver there so between the groups you have a total of six different receivers named there right Terry McClaren Jan Dodson Luke mcaffrey Dax m dami brown and Jameson Crowder that’s kind of where you largely develop your depth chart in because you want guys that can operate through through those areas is the guys that can do all all three great the guys who are liit limited and can only do one of them you want them to be kind of really good and you look at a guy like James and Crowder who really is only going to work out of the slot but he’s he’s a lot better that being in the slot especially a small slot like he’s our second ranked small slot on this roster so if you want a guy like that then he certainly brings that kind of Value Plus the return game in the Special Teams and all that stuff is where you come from now Alam zakus historically you know he’s worked out of the slot before he’s actually worked on the perimeter as well not much present day knowledge if you’re sticking to just what we know from his time with the Washington commanders then it’s kind of really hard to to evaluate where they’re going to use him where his role is going to fit in but we do know that they like him a lot they obviously brought him in for a reason so you don’t want to count him out of that battle then Marcus Ros me Jack Saint uh he’s he’s an undrafted free agent out of Georgia he’s a guy that could be as sleeper a guy that could be challenging for a backend spot on the roster as well but there are individual skills these receivers need so we’re kind of clam shelling or nut shelling them right putting them kind of pigeon holding them in these positions these XZ and slot receiver positions but what are the individual needs or the individual skill sets that you really need to watch when you’re evaluating receivers guys that are stronger in other areas than maybe some of their counterparts for example Jan dodson’s release may not be as clean as someone like Luke mcaffry in certain situations and that could have a big impact on success in the National Football League so we’ll look at those types of traits coming up next on today’s episode of lockon commanders part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day passion drive and patience what brings home the winning trophy in the National Football League is also what keeps your ride or dive vehicle alive eBay Motors knows that and today’s episode of Locked on commanders is brought to you by eBay Motors who has everything you need to maintain your vehicle but also level it up to Peak Performance whether you’re looking for superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re looking for speed power or style eBay Motors has got you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride 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streaming Channel programmed for you every single day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming you get all the can’t miss analysis opinions and the news without all of the drama it’s all streaming 247 on YouTube or for free on the Amazon Fire TV channels app of course also free on YouTube all part of the lock on podcast Network your team every day so when you’re watching receivers right the the very basis of receivers now obviously you got to be able to catch that’s like number one if you can’t catch you can’t be a receiver in the National Football League but the biggest thing that we all watch is from what is from the snap of the ball to the catch so what is that really kind of comp comprised of you’re talking about route running you’re talking about the three portions or the three phases three components to Route running those those are identified as your release your stem and your break and of course if you want to add in a fourth part it’s the catch which some people will argue that the catch is the most important part but the catch is really the result of all that other work and a lot of people will actually tell you that the most important part of Route running is the release that you win and lose the route at the line of scrimmage with your release now Terry McClaren here this is where when you watch a Terry mclen route tree or you watch his game tape things like that and this is an episode where I really wish that the NFL licensing rules weren’t what they were and I could pull up tape with you and we can sit here on the program especially if you’re watching on YouTube and break down the tape but we can’t NFL licensing rules are they are I know some other channels don’t pay attention to those rules that’s fine we happen to be owned by a very legitimate Media Company therefore we follow the rules and so we can’t show you tape here on the program but when you watch Terry mcclaren’s tape or you watch his NFL Plus or you watch his replays or you watch whatever it is you’re watching his football IQ really stands out because there’s no wasted movement when Terry McClaren runs a route even when he loses his route like you know Teran MC is not perfect here he doesn’t win every single release every single route you can really see the football IQ kind of working and that’s kind of where this whole thing starts getting the ability or finding the ability to get off the line of scrimmage is incredibly important being a receiver the analogy I like to use a lot is being a receiver is kind of like driving only it’s like bumper cars more than it is like everyday driving because these Drive these other drivers The Defenders right they’re allowed to impede your path they’ve got a one-yard window to impede your path physically right they’re allowed to collide with you they’re allowed to push you they’re allowed to shove you they’re allowed to hit you you know they can’t grab you but they can do pretty much everything but grab you and they can physically block you after that however and within reason of course you have the right of way right if you if you correlate running a route to driving you have the right away so it’s it’s important to use that and you use that with your physicality use that by staying tight to your route and you use that with your hands and you use it by planning ahead right just like you’re taking a road trip you want to plan that road trip out ahead of time to make sure that when the Whata ifs happen all that stuff you’re prepared so your stronger receivers like a Terry mclen right he’s not an AJ Brown he’s not a DK meta but he’s a stronger type of receiver especially on this roster they can play on the line of scrimmage where your smaller receivers like Johan Dodson sometimes they need to play away from the line that’s where you get those other receiver classifications give him a step off the line of scrimmage so he’s got a little bit of breathing room between him and even the the most you know press of press of press Defenders that they’re going to face so they can use their body positioning to manipulate Defenders better while Terry mclen can use some of that physicality to defeat Defenders at the line of scrimmage either way you want to be aggressive off the line of scrimmage whether you’re going to try to physically impose your will on that defensive back or you’re going to try to manipulate him with your body positioning with your first steps with your second steps all these things you want to be aggressive go out there and attack the defender and it all starts again with that release so no matter where you are in the line of scrimmage no matter whether you’re slot you’re the x or the Z whatever it is you want to see receivers go after their Defender now they have to react to the Defender as well but you just stand there one place or hop around on one foot waiting for the defender to kind of do something the defender is doing something simply by lining up and where the defender lines up that’s where your football IQ comes in you decide how you’re going to affect your release there and there’s a lot of things that receivers can do from their first step hand usage again you can’t just like grab a dude and shove him right that’s gonna be a penalty but you can knock hands away you can you can hit shoulders you can do all these kind of little Nuance types of things you don’t want to be flailing around crazy or else you’re just going to draw attention and you’re likely going to draw a flag but once you get off their line of scrimmage once you into your release you get into your stem that gets you back on your route right at the end of the day you want to get back on your route tree or on your route path you want to steer the defender lean them away from your route as much as you can those are some some terminology pieces that P people will use whether you’re going in or out you need a set up for your break which is coming in the next phase of this and it’s not always as simple as some people will think well you have an in-breaking route so you want an in breing stem you want you want to you want to stem inside so you want to release inside so release inside stem inside break inside that’s not always the best way do things and you’ll see some of the best receivers they’ll actually say release outside keep the stem outside get the defender chasing them and then break inside or stem out or you release outside you take your stem you actually try to stack the the defender where you’re getting back on your track your track so that the defender is running directly behind you right if you think about the lanes of traffic again it’s like the vehicle traveling in your lane behind you that’s where you want the defender and then you manipulate them so that when you break you’re getting a good amount of Separation there’s a lot of different ways to do do it there’s not just one way to do it but you and in in the end of the entire process as a receiver what you want to be doing is steering the defender and again leading them away from where your route is going to be in some way shape or form and it’s not always the prettiest it’s not always the easiest to do again that other Defender they’ve got football IQ they study your Tendencies all those things but at the end of the day if you stack the defender if you get back to your line on your route you’re typically going to be fairly successful when you’re releasing against Zone coverage or off coverage this is where you really kind of see who the most aggressive receiver reers are because some receivers would just kind of jog out there make a make a little bit of a lazy break out of their stem and and then you’re surprised when the defender is all over the pass and and right there to make a play but what you want is Right a lot of terms that the coaches use step on their toes so eat up that space or you’ve got a if you got a guy in off coverage or in zone coverage he’s playing deep eat up as much of that space as you possibly can attack them step on their toes right like run at them like you’re going to step on their toes then make your break and it it gives them as little time as possible to really React to what it is you’re see so again at the end of the day no matter where the defender is you want to be attacking them as a receiver and the best ones will do that Terry mclen will do that Johan Dodson again not always the cleanest release especially against press coverage if he is on the line of scrimmage but you usually see him be pretty consistent with how he attacks coverage when he’s eating up cushion doing all those kinds of things uh which is all part of of getting this you hear Johan Dodson in the last couple Seasons talk about trying to be incredibly creative in the way that he runs his routes and that’s kind of what he’s talking about is not always looking the same for the defender and it’s funny because not always looking the same mean sometimes you got to look the same because you’ll kind of notice Defenders sometimes if you if you run this specific route out of this specific look you run it one way next time you come out there they’re already anticipating you running it a different way so they kind of beat you to the punch there so maybe it’s best of next time you actually run it the same way so it’s it’s all a chess match man it’s always it’s a lot of fun just to just kind of watch it unfold now Terry is obviously the best at all three phases of this and and running his routes I think Jan is pretty solid again but sometimes he does get bogged down in his releases which think where he needs to work a little bit more uh some of that’s going to be limited by just physical size right you get a bigger DB out there against a relatively smaller wide receiver it’s just kind of is what it is um at some points diami doesn’t display a lot of line of scrimmage agility which is why I kind of have Luke mcaffrey stacked ahead of him when it comes to overall route running uh but he does when he does win his at Atlant scrimmage in his release we’ve seen plays where Deion Moran really kind of flashes his downfield ability Dax is the same doesn’t have a whole lot of mixture in his bag of tricks in the line of scrimmage and again Luke mcaffry largely widely unknown which is why my number three position for him is mostly projection because it’s it’s again some of his college tapes on this just what we’ve seen OTAs and mini camp but I do like so far uh the diversity and what we’ve seen from him being able to get off the line of scrimmage and get downfield uh as well so those are things we’re looking for in these receivers as we get into training camp we want we want to see that that catch and traffic ability we want to see the tracking the ball ability the Willing willingness to focus on the catch not worry about the contact that’s a big part but also it all starts again with that route it starts with that release the stem the breaks you’re watching these receivers don’t just watch the catch don’t just watch the one-handed catch don’t just watch the diving catch watch it from start to finish because that’s where you’re going to find uh who the bo the most all-around receivers are on your team or you’re watching college players doing whatever it is up next the impact of a lawsuit involving the Washington commanders but they’re not alone in this lawsuit this time the entire league is involved and our weekend revieww here on locked on commanders part of the locked on podcast Network Team every day today’s episode of Locked on commanders and this show is sponsored by better help if you’re like a lot of other people you might be comparing your life to the life of others around you even if only from time to time social media can certainly play a big part of that you see this person over here who’s doing nothing but vacationing all smiles everything is just hunky dory and sometimes your life isn’t sometimes you wish that your life looked like someone else’s and that can prevent you from seeing the positives in your own life compared person is simply a thief of joy and it’s easy to become envious or fall in love with other people’s lives while therapy can help you focus on what you want and it can focus on what you have instead of what others want and what others have and from there you can focus on living your best life it’s helpful to learn positive coping skills how to set boundaries it empowers you to be the best version of yourself and it isn’t just for those who have experienced major traumas so if you’re thinking of starting therapy give better help a try just fill out a brief questionnaire and get match with a licens therapist and you can change therapist anytime for no additional cost stop comparing and start focusing with betterhelp visit betterhelp.com lockon today to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp.com lockon wrapping up today’s episode of lockon commanders thanks again every Dar coming through every day the uh there is a jury in a lawsuit that has awarded customers of the NFL Sunday Ticket under Direct TV a total of 4.7 billion in damage that’s residential customers business customers have been awarded nearly $100 million in Damages and what this basically means is that if this decision gets held up and gets ratified or whatever it’s called um the NFL will have to pay out that amount of money to customers of NFL Sunday Ticket ranging from the years 2011 to the years 2022 when it was under Direct TV for violating Anti-Trust laws and essentially the the the root of this lawsuit is that the NFL by isolating this one package where it’s only one package we can get every single game every single year and isolating to only one provider a satellite TV provider Direct TV and by jacking up the prices essentially had predatory business practices that took advantage of fans unduly unfairly and unnecessarily and the jury that heard this class action lawsuit so this class action lawsuit represents every NFL fan every fan that had NFL Sunday Ticket you did not have to sign up for this you did not have to sign a petition you did not have to show up to court you are being represented if you were a customer of NFL Sunday Ticket on drag TV from 2011 to 2022 you are part of this group now you can opt out of it and that’s fine if that’s your prerogative but if you don’t opt out of it and it does get held up you will be entitled to a portion of those damages again for residential customer so if you had it at your house or your apartment or your condo or whatever it is your private residence $4.7 billion dollar in Damages if you had it in your business your bar your restaurant whatever that is nearly $100 million in Damages ESPN also reported quote since damages can be tripled under Federal antitrust laws the NFL could end up being liable for 14.39% 50 million in Damages welcome to the NFL Josh hopefully uh you know things go the right way I just I’ll just leave it at that uh last Friday locked on NFL my co-host there Tony Wiggins and I we talked about this so if you want to hear my full thoughts on the lawsuit itself head over to last Friday’s locked on NFL upod we’ll talk about that over there weekend review here on locked on commanders we started off the week Monday with a deep dive into the quarterback position group including evidence of why Jaden Daniels is already living up to his number number one quarterback hype here in the DMV on Tuesday we talked about Brian Robinson Jr the running back being the Top Dog in that room although veteran Austin Eckler is a close number two maybe even a 1A to Brian Robinson’s one or a 1B to Brian Robinson’s 1A and the battle for rb3 the third running back spot in Washington is between Chris Rodriguez Jr and Jeremy McNichols who by the way used to play youth football for Snoop Dogg if you’re a fan of that Wednesday we went on uh we went in on rather Tiki Barber former New York Giants running back who decided to speak out of turn about Austin eckers professional decision-making and we broke down the tight end room just like we did here today talked about the group and talked about how to evaluate the position moving forward Thursday we discussed at length the battle between Brandon Coleman and Cornelius lugas for the starting left tackle position and the potential of Coleman moving to right tackle a position he also played in college for those who would be incredibly upset with me if I didn’t mention that in 2025 and today of course we wrapped up the week wrapped up our offensive Deep dive position of position groups with the wide receiver position talking the wide receiver depth chart potential also talking about how we’re watching the these receivers where they kind of stack and rack and some of the characteristics you want to see in these receivers groups and of course talked about the Washington commanders being lumped in with the rest of the NFL and this antitrust lawsuit uh being conducted on behalf of Sunday NFL Sunday Ticket consumers so that wraps up the week here at lockon commanders coming up next week we’re going to do this exact same thing but we’re going to do it on the defensive side of the ball in the meantime if you got questions or comments throw them into the YouTube comment section or text Me by becoming a locked on commanders Insider at join sub.com loock on commanders as always thank you for making locked on commanders your first listener your first View today and every day every day or thanks for coming through on a regular basis like you do until we speak again if you’re out about please be safe be kind we’ll see you next time for another episode of lockon commanders part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day

The Washington Commanders have their top duo of receivers in Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson while Luke McCaffrey and Dyami Brown battle for the third spot this training camp.

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