Grant and Danny
Who's The Commanders X-Factor In 2024?
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue, and guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, price and coverage match limited by state law. The seasons may be changing, but the deals at the sharpest rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on? It's your girl, Tasha McKeea, and I need you to join the sharpest rides for their fall into savings events, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. 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So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's Fandal.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandal, an official sports book partner of the NFL. It must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. First online real money weights are only $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued is now a throwable bonus bet set expire seven days after receipt restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandal.com gambling problem call 1-800-522-4700. X-Factor for every team. According to ESPN, they went one by one all 32 clubs for the commanders. There's going to be a drum roll on this, please. The X-Factor who's going to be the biggest determinant in their season going one way or the other is. Wide receiver Deami Brown. Entering year four, 12 catches as a rookie, five catches in year two, the big career year last year, 12 grabs for a Buck 68, and now listed as the X-Factor. I think specifically because until the Noah Brown acquisition, which is probably when they were putting this piece together, he was listed as the number two guy. I think his import got a lot less significant with the Brown acquisition. I also think you would consider him less of an X-Factor because if it goes poorly for Deami Brown or he doesn't do the opposite of what he's done the last several years, he always does the I'm really good at camp thing. And he often does the I'm really great in the preseason thing. He never does the I'm also good when the regular season starts. That's a key thing. So we're hoping that's the difference this year for Deami Brown. But if it doesn't happen, you have Noah Brown, you have Luke McCaffrey, you got a lomonese achias. So I get why you would call him an X-Factor and I think that's probably fair. I don't think he's the X-Factor on the team though, I got to say. He's on my list, right? He's on my list of nominees where you dealt the former first round pick with three years of control left. You didn't go out and do a ton in free agency. I know at the 11th hour here, they went and got Noah Brown, who I like a lot. I'm a fan of that. But it's not as if they got Randy Moss in his prime. They didn't just go trade for for Hill and Waddle and I you can and or tee Higgins or something crazy. There's an opportunity certainly for Deami Brown to to play a lot, whether he's a starter or otherwise, opportunity will be their form. So he made my list. To me, it's Brandon Coleman. That's the first day my thought of here, where everybody's kind of going, okay, I'm not really sure what the left tackle position. Then you release the guy that started over the last several seasons. Now, it's not as if Leno's caught on somewhere else and is going to start. Who knows? It's kind of a wedding retirement. I think maybe at this point, but you've got a swing tackle and a dude we never got to see in the preseason, a third rounder that a lot of teams had as a guard. If he's good and you, I'm not saying you found your next Chris Samuel or or Trent Williams, those guys are rarefied air. Those are superstars or Hall of Fame caliber players. But if you got a really good solid left tackle for the least amount of reasonable cost possible, what a difference that would make. Brandon Coleman is a great answer and might be the answer. 67th overall pick. A third round selection this past April. TCU product, if he is a starting left tackle who plays at a high level, this team is better than you and I are expecting right now. Because if he's really good at left tackle and you've got a really good right guard and Sam Cosby and you've got what we are assuming to be a pretty solid center and Tyler Beottish, then it really doesn't matter what the former Chiefs do. Nick Allegradiot left guard and Andrew Wiley at right tackle. The form for your offensive line is that it's going to be fine. Fun. It's not going to be bad. It's not going to be a detriment. It's not going to be a liability. It's not going to ruin Jaden Daniels. If you've got a very solid left tackle, you've got a really good right guard and you've got a legitimate decent NFL center. You buoy the rest of the group pretty well because that's staggered along the front pretty decently and the interior where it might be most important for Jaden Daniels to hold up is going to be very solid at that point, at least like worst case scenario. Allegradiot played well in the Super Bowl had some great moments in Kansas City. We don't know what he is necessarily otherwise, but worst case scenario, two out of the three guys are really good and it might even be all three. We don't know. But yeah, I think that's a very good one, Brandon Coleman. I'll give you another one though. I think if you're looking for X factors and you don't want to go Brandon Coleman, the next guy on that list should be Emmanuel Forbes. The position group we asked Adam Peters about yesterday specifically was cornerback. That is my biggest gripe with this roster build. I look at that room in today's NFL and I quiver a little bit. I know that I'm going to play teams that are using three and four receivers constantly. Wouldn't you against against this group in general? But then against this group is special thousand percent. Yeah, that means just some quick math here. You need three or four corners you trust. They have zero for some people. I'm going to be nice because I like Benjamin St. Juice a lot and say one. Peters yesterday told us Emmanuel Forbes has been working his butt off. He said, I think the quote was, he's gotten a lot better based as much as anything else on coaching. The work that he's put in. But let's just say Emmanuel Forbes picks off five passes this year and starts in 16 or so games. And at the end of the year, we feel like, okay, maybe he's never going to be an all pro shut down corner, but he's got some D'Angelo Hall to him. Like he's a playmaker. He gets his hands on the ball. Somehow, some way that the Danquing Joe Whit thing happens. Remember where digs led the league and picks or bland led the league and picks and Dallas. And like he's just constantly making plays on the ball and they're able to coach him up in that way. How different is the outlook on this whole thing the next couple of years when you've got young, cheap, controllable cornerbacks and you need to add basically a guy for depth at the position rather than maybe re-answering the entire thing. That's a huge, huge X factor. Yeah. So if the point sort of by definition is your X factor is if it goes one way, you're in dire straits. If it goes the other way, you're on easy street. That's a good one, right? Because that changes that whole room. What is the other definition of X factor? Just saying like, hey, they can be pretty good this year or like someone we're not talking enough about like a sort of a hidden thing. Like an unsung hero. Yeah, like this to me is like, like, and I think it's a smart point more of, you know, I wasn't, I'm not prioritizing that side of the ball just in general. They give up a lot of points if they don't, this to me is a Jayden Daniel story. So everything I think about is through his lens, right about weaponry, protection, and everything in between. But I think I do think it's a smart point. Like there's no reason to go crazy and go wholesale shopping this off season for the cornerback spot. Meaning this past one, because you have a rookie under contract. You have, in fact, another guy under contract in Kwan Martin, who's kind of a part time corner, you drafted one. So, you know, you're going to find out with proper coaching if these guys can actually do it or who can and who can't. The next step, if you'd like to be really good, now we can talk about going to find your, I don't know where you come from, where it's for agency, or maybe your first Trump pick next year has to be one if Forbes can't play or if, you know, Davis is washed up or San Cristo's slide only or St. Juice can't hold up against somebody really good or you need more zone corners to go with Joe Witsky, whatever it is, this is a good find out here in that regard. And if we're going to find stuff out, you know, we're kind of a crossroads for manual Forbes in that regard. So yeah, that's a great X factor. Well, it's a tear point on defining X factor. Just looking at some of the other names. I think a lot of different writers around the country for ESPN took a different ways. Like in some cases, the X factor is just the biggest question mark. And in sum, it's the guy that we don't know if he's good or not, like what we're talking about with a manual Forbes or a breakout candidate like the Ami Brown, the Seahawks, as an example, Tariq Woolen, who remember went back and forth with Sauce Gardener with the defensive rookie of the year award and had this unbelievable first season as a fifth round pick back in 2022. They had six interceptions, and then last year just fell off completely. And it was like, wait a second, we thought you were one of the better young corners in the league. Then last year, all of a sudden we're having to hide you because people are beating you like a drum. You're an X factor. What are you? We don't really know. There's a little bit of all of those things listed here. Trent Williams is listed for the San Francisco 49ers. Does he play or not? He's even going to be there at the start of the year, those types of things. So I got two for Washington, much lower scale, I think, than than a Forbes. Guys that I have certain opinions about, but I don't have convictions about. In other words, I think I'm very bullish as you're on Austin Echler. That's a great X factor. If he's not last year as Austin Echler, but two years ago, three years ago, or close to it, what a fine, what a weapon, what an amazing upgrade for this backfield. I've clamored long for an Austin Echler type. And if you get Austin Echler to fill the Austin Echler type, what a coup that would be. Second one is Zach Hertz. I don't know what Zach Hertz is going to be. I'm not confident. I feel like I have an idea. It's, I can't remember which analyst we had on it really smart, but said he's a catch and fall player. Look, I don't want that. That's not really dynamic for my tight ends. But if somehow the guy that you've seen in spurts over the last couple seasons, not the guy that caught 19,000 passes in a quarter against Washington, few years ago was available, if he was, he wouldn't be here. But if he's good and he's able to play for a while, that could be a nice boon for this thing. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what? Now you can call them on your auto insurance too, with the name of your price tool from Progressive. It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates, price and coverage match limited by state law. The seasons may be changing, but the deals of the sharpest rides are unbeatable as ever. Hey, what's going on? It's your girl Tasha Mckia, and I need you to join the sharpest rides for their fall into savings events, where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. That's right, everything is on sale now. Shot from sleek sedans to rugged SUVs and sporty convertibles. The sharpest rides has the perfect ride to match your fall adventures. Plus, with their exclusive financing options, getting behind the wheel of your dream car has never been easier. Log on and shop online at the sharpest rides.com right from the palm of your hands. Or check other massive inventory in person at the sharpest rides, located 2250 South Sea home street in Inglewood. Either way, you will fall into savings. Don't miss out. Head on over to the sharpest rides.com today and explore the deals that make every season better. And tell them that your girl Tasha Mckia sent you the sharpest rides, affordable, sexy, sharp. Hey NFL fans, you can start the season with a big return on Fandal, America's number one sports book. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. You'll get started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's Fandal.com/sportsfan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandal, an official sports book partner of the NFL.