Grant and Danny

Beltway Blitz, Adam Peters Joins G&D, Reacting To Adam Peters Interview With G&D

8.29.24 Hour 3

1:00- Nats- Mark Zuckerman, Commanders- Mitch Tischler

8:50- Commanders GM Adam Peters joins G&D to preview the 2024 season, and discusses some of the moves from the offseason.

39:00- We react to Commanders GM Adam Peters interview with us, and he was outstanding.

Broadcast on:: 29 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: other

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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 with drawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandal.com gambling problem. Call 1-800-522-4700. Get a peel back the curtain a bit here on Grant and Danny. It's a mad dash of a Beltway Blitz today. We're going to get out a little early because Adam Peters is calling in right around 4-15. So again, spread the word GM at the commanders right here on GMD exclusively, coming up in about 15 minutes on the fan. But let's get to our Beltway Blitz. We're jamming two teams today into one quick little segment. Get you the latest on the commanders and right now the Nationals. Our buddy Mark Zuckerman of mass and sports.com. Let's start with Dylan Cruz. Mark had his first hit on Tuesday his first homer on Wednesday back-to-back multi-hit games. Not too shabby for the kid in a series win against the Yankees. No, I think guys, this was exactly who he is. I think you saw all of it. He hits for power. He drives and runs. He runs the base as well. He plays the field well. He's not necessarily got the wow factor that James Wood does in terms like individual moments. But I think he's just going to be really good at everything all the time. And certainly a 22-year-old who didn't look phase at all, either on making his majorly did-do or doing it against the Yankees. All the star power in that series. I think arguably he rose the most of anybody. I think he was the best player in the whole series. Mark Mackenzie Gore was really good last night. The line overall doesn't look incredible, but you beat judges bat and he trickles one in the right field for an RBI, making your day look a little bit more pedestrian with two runs a lot, two runs a lot. But I thought a couple of straight starts now. He's been Mackenzie Gore again, which I think is maybe one of the most encouraging things about this stretch of the season. Yeah, 100%. And the results, obviously, are good. And you want to see that. But to me, what stood out last night, it was the stuff. The stuff was back to what it was in the first half of the year, '97, '98, with his fastball all the way through the sixth inning. A good command of all of his pitches. He didn't have those really long innings with all the foul balls driving up the pitch count and that kind of stuff. And he had poise out there. If something did go wrong behind him, he shook it off and got right back at it. He feels like he turned a corner in the last couple of weeks. Obviously a long way to go still for him. But if this is who we're going to see the rest of the way, this is going to turn to a much more positive season than at least the way we shaping up here over the course of summer series against the Yankees was a blast. And two wins clearly helped, but free for all on the base paths, rookies contributing everywhere you turn, who's being up obviously did the heavy lifting there. But James Wood multiple hits and first two at bats with an RBI last night. This team is a fun watch right now and it's September. I mean, that's a win I think for this fan base. No, it was huge. And yes, taking two of the free from the Yankees is great, but it's who did it. It was all the young building blocks. And, you know, they've had some young lineups out there this year, but often it's a handful of guys who may be part of the future. And then some others who we know are probably stop gaps. Look at who they had out there the last three days. In almost every case, not all of them, but in almost every case. These were guys who were either supposed to be key pieces of the long-term puzzle, or guys who could be part of it. And I think that was the key to all. We've been waiting through this for three years with this promise of, okay, the kids are coming. The kids are coming. They're not all here yet. There's still a few more to come. There's still obviously some other holes. They have to address this winner. But I feel like these last three days was the first time we truly got a glimpse of what a national team could look like that's ready to win. By next year, and the fact that they came together and performed as well as it did against that team, that to me made this the most encouraging three-game series they've had in a very long time. Now for the part where the learners spend a little money. Mark, how about the juxtaposition of Cruz and Wood? Really quickly, a little under a minute here. But long-term, is would the Batman and Cruz the Robiner, are they too different to say that? How do you view it? Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I think they do compliment each other well and that they're not really the same player at all. Physically speaking for one thing, but also just the way they play. I think, like I said, Wood has the wow factor. He's going to hit the ball 110. He's going to be racing around the base and he's going to have, I think, more highlights. I've looked at it this way. I think that Dylan Cruz reminds me of the best version of Anthony Rendell, the guy who he may not have those individual moments when you look up at the end, you're like, wow, this guy was really good at everything that he did. Very solid, doesn't go through slumps, not streaky, just solid all the time. And if that's who he turns out to be, that would be fantastic for them. Mark, thank you as always, buddy. All right, thank you guys. Appreciate you, dude. Hit that local 53 sounder. All right, Mitch, Tischler joins us to talk about that Foosball team. When you make a note Brown, Mitch. Gentlemen, how are you? I'm excited about him. I think he's a guy who, I don't want to get too far ahead, but you know, you look at this receiver room and there's going to be a lot of opportunities for guys to catch balls. And if you think that Jane Daniels is going to be the quarterback that I think he's going to be, there's going to be a lot of yards to be, to be had out there. And he's a guy that can, can help you out in a lot of different ways. And so we're interested to see how they, how they implement them. Mitch Tischler, monumental sports net, Beltway football team. Mitchell, I'm curious about the defensive side of the ball. Confidence in what nerves about what? I'm confident about the front seven, I would say, and I'm pretty nervous about the corner position. I mean, I think he's seen from Dan Clinton, Joe with the way that they like to attack a defense. And there was a lot of success in Dallas with creating turnovers. But let's not forget that there were a lot of big plays that were given up out there. And so I think it's going to be a, you know, a little bit of a change of direction for fans to get used to the fact that there might be some, there might be some big plays for defenses, but they're doing that almost by design so they can try and create more turnovers. And we're going to see those guys get up to the quarterback well. And there's going to be a lot of times that those corners are going to be left one on one on an island. And they're going to have to step up and play well. Mitch, Brandon Coleman is the dude and they have to look no further at left tackle than a guy they drafted in the third round. What does that mean for this draft class in this regime? Oh, I mean, I think across the board, you can look at this draft class and be excited about it. Obviously, Jane Daniels is who he is. The Brandon Coleman is able to step in and be your starting left tackle. I think Mikey stainless steel is going to end up being kind of the guy over there as a slack corner and might play a little bit on the outside as well. You got to be excited just about that. The first half of that group and I think the biggest thing that we keep forgetting about Jordan McGee was on on pace to potentially be a starter of the fifth rounder or at least be a regular contributor before he got hurt. He'll come back in week four. And that's the fifth rounder that you expect that's going to play a lot too. So I mean, early on with this regime in this front office, you're looking at a bunch of guys, we're going to see a lot of time on the field and every opportunity to prove themselves. Mitch, just start checking out monumental sports. Thank you, buddy. We appreciate you. I appreciate you guys. Thank you. See, but be good. That is your beltway blitz. Speaking of the commanders roster, who else would you rather ask about it than the general manager who put it together? Adam Peters, he is going to join us live next right here on Grant and Danny. So spread the word we're going to be joined by the GM right here on the fan in moments. 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 event where they're offering incredible prices on their massive inventory. That's right. Everything is on sale now. Shop 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. 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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. 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 slash sports fan. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandal, an official sports book partner of the NFL must be 21 plus and present in Colorado. 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That's kmloyars.com Adam Peters is joining us on Grant and Danny in just a couple of minutes. The GM of the commanders just got a text. He's getting out of a meeting here. So we should have him in just a few moments right here on the fan. I do think it would be nice if we extended a spot for him in the Grant and Danny listener league. I think it'd be courteous. I think it would have thrilled it must be for him to get to like pull off trades and he could he could be the general manager of his own fantasy team. Like can you imagine how cool that must be to run his own team and get to like add and subtract cut players and trade guys? I bet he'd be thrilled. By the way, in in some, you know, different universe, some multiverse where I'm the GM of a real football team, I would absolutely also have a fantasy team. Like I think that would be such a fun thing to do for me and my guys in the front office, like Lance Newmark and the various scouts and director of player personnel and college personnel, like get together, do a normal bit where, you know, we have a down weekend where we're chipping closest to the pin for draft order and like playing fantasy football with each other. I think it'd be awesome. I think you almost have to give it up, not for any like conflict of interest things, but just how much time do you really have. And the amount of hours that these guys put in on football as their thing, I'll bet the last thing they want to do in the world is deal with football is be like, how many cares is David Singletare getting this weekend? It's like if you if you go to a family party or something, Danny Ruier shows up and you know, uncle Steve is there and he's like, did you see Dylan Cruz last night? I did. And you just talked about Dylan Cruz for a few hours and 20 hours off and on over the course of the week. That's Adam Peters. The last thing that guy wants to do probably is have to work the waiver wire in his fantasy league. You know what I mean? That's right. Put a waiver claim on a Tuesday for running back with some upside. That's a handcuff. We are 10 days out from the commanders opening their season in Tampa Bay against the Bucks on Sunday, September 8th. It's coming quickly. And we are joined now by the architect of the 53 man roster the commanders put together, the general manager of Washington's football outfit, Adam Peters, Adam, you're back on Grant and Danny here on the fan. Thank you for the time. How you been? What's up guys? How you guys doing? We're great, man. I always appreciated it. Let's dive right in. How do you balance when you guys are making decisions as you're keeping players, trading players, drafting players, or, you know, then the opposite, of course, how do you balance the right now versus the future in terms of what wins that tug of war? Yeah, I mean, I think you could do them both at the same time. But it's not so much a tug of war. It's just, but it is a balance and make no mistake about it. I said this and I'm probably repeating myself a few times. It's not a rebuild. It's a recalibration. And we are trying to win right now. And we are, you know, we do have goals to be to be really good this season. But it is, it is my job as a general manager and really in conjunction with DQ. And we make every decision together is to be good now and to build for a sustainable team for the future, to a team that you guys will so you can compete for championships every year. Along those same lines, Adam, one of the things I've heard you say, which I like a lot is you're going to do what is in the best interest of the team. You know, whenever anyone asks, what about this player that you say, we'll do what's best for the team. But I think that could actually mean different things for every GM and for every organization. Like when you say that, are you talking about the 2024 commanders or are you like Mike Rizzo comes on our show occasionally who's got a one of three and a five year plan? What does that mean to you? The idea of best for the team? Yeah, I think, you know, football is a little bit different than baseball and then hockey, maybe where they they have a lot of developmental things that they're doing throughout, you know, getting guys from high school and all that. But I think to answer a question, I think every decision is its own decision. And, you know, the decision we may make on one player is different than the next player or whatever it is with a draft pick or anything like that for agency. But I think it's more of just a reminder, okay, what are we doing? We're trying to do what's best for the Washington commanders for the short term and the foreseeable future too. So every decision you make, you ask yourself that, what are we doing and how does this make us the best for both of those things? So it's a reminder, but it's also a philosophy and how we do things. Adam Peters with this here on Grant and Danny. So kind of piggybacking off those first two answers, Adam, what does success look like for you guys this year? You obviously, you came in taking over a program, you picked second in the draft, you know, last year's group was four and 13. There's been a lot of turnover, a lot of change. How do you view success this year versus where you want to be as you talk about committing for championships here? Hopefully not too far down the road. Yeah, I think you do get in a trouble looking too far down the road. And so again, you know, you're probably going to get a radio show full of cliche here. But we're really, I mean, every single day, we're trying to get better. And I think that's how we look at it. And if we got better today, we had a really good day of practice today. Guys looked really good. The guys were into it before we have a three day break before we get back and start working for Tampa. So we went on and got a lot better today, I thought. And that's the outlook you have each day each week. You're getting better and you're stacking, you're stacking up days. And then if you do that and you get better each day, you're going to like what it looks like at the end of the year. Adam, I don't think that's going to make the headline after the interview for, you know, a radio show of cliche. But stick aside, like for you, what's your wheelhouse? What's the thing about being a GM that you've enjoyed the most now in your first time doing this? Where are you in your element? Is it watching film or just sitting around the boardroom with Lance and the guys? And then the other stuff that comes with this, like doing media or doing interviews or being at the podium, are you comfortable and feel like that's a fun thing? Or is it just the thing you've got to do to do the other stuff? Like where are you at in this new role? Well, this is number one right here, sitting with you guys and everything else. We knew that we got off off after that. So we've been dealing with Howie Roseman second, sticking it up with his pals GND number one. I like that. Yeah, Howie's giving you guys a run for his money, but how to talk about he's a great dude and it really loves, enjoyed learning from him and you know, probably not, you know, the most popular thing for our fans, but he is a really good dude and a good person to do business. So it's very straightforward. So you love when you have someone who can shoot you straight. But to answer your original question, it's a lot of that. It's all those things and there's a lot of new things that I'm doing here that I'm getting to really enjoy. I think being with a group of people here that we have together and getting to work together for one common goal is really cool that something you don't get to do in a lot of different professions. But I think if I'm really, if you put a gun to my head and I said, what's my favorite thing? Besides being on the granddanny show, it would be being out on there on the grass with the guys and watching them practice and watching them interact and watching them get better. That's that's really fun at the time we get to spend out of practice. The second thing. Yeah, that's a perfectly fun number. All right. Adam, you mentioned Howie Roseman and I heard him years ago at the Sloan Analytics Conference talk about making moves and trades and different dealings. And he referred to it all as just a modified form of betting. Right. So if I was one of your players, you'd be right to want to trade me away. Right. So if you traded me away for a seventh rounder, ostensibly, you're making a bet that that seventh rounder in the future is worth more to you than me. And again, anything you could get from me is probably a win. But is that how you view trades? As if to say, like, we're sort of making a bet about production or is there a different philosophy that you have when it comes to making a trade? Well, I think first and foremost, Andy, your first rounder in my book. That's sweet. I don't want to abuse that. That's what I want. That's the one. Thank you. But I'm probably going to go back to my original thing that I said is if you're doing what we're always trying to make decisions, which are best for the team. So you weigh that, you weigh what you have versus what you can get. And, you know, are you right every time? Hopefully you are, you know, most of the time, and you're not going to be right every time, but you try to do what you think is right within that moment with the information that you have. So they're tough decisions. They really are. And you get to know these guys, and you have to have the conversation with a guy like John Dawson, with a guy like Sam Howell, the guy like John Ridgeway, guys that, you know, and John and Ridgley's case that I got to know really well and see him out there and practicing competing every day. So it's never easy. But, you know, you make a decision as an organization, and you live with it, and I'll place the right decision. Commanders, general manager Adam Peters kind enough to join us on Grant and Danny with the roster initially formed. There will be tweaks. I'm sure as we get closer to week one along the Datsun trade front, you don't seem to have any issues trading in the division. Is your philosophy best return possible regardless of who's offering it? Or is that case by case where maybe if it was a quarterback or something, you might think twice about having to play a guy twice. Yeah, I think almost everything's case by case. And you look at everything, every decision in its own kind of light in. But in this case, put John, you know, that was clearly the best offer. I think the tie, if you, you know, give me some truth, sir, the tie is going to go to the team outside of the division. But, you know, there's not always going to be a tie. And so, in this case, there wasn't. And in this case, you know, how it was very aggressive and they were, you know, they were very bullish on John and rightfully so. So, you know, that, you know, but every time it's going to be different. But I mean, if it's, you know, the Cowboys and the Steelers and everything's the same, you know, that and we're making a trade is probably going to go to Pittsburgh. Were there multiple teams you were talking to or just the Eagles? Oh, you know, I don't like to get, I mean, I can tell you that a lot of teams were interested in John because he's a good, good player with it. But in terms of, you know, real offers, you know, that's, that's a different story too. You know, I think the, the thing that it's really cool for people to understand is really all pre-season. Our pro scouting staff is, you know, scouring the internet and they're, and they're reading about things who could be available, who's not available, and they're making phone calls to all the 31 other teams in the league. So, there is a ton of conversations that happen. And, you know, out of all those conversations, very little actually is executed in terms of trade. So, whether it's John or Ridge or anybody like that, there's thousands of conversations that, that, that I can, and they're on the cutting room floor. I don't know. Was that like, what are they saying in movies and stuff? But really, a lot of that stuff doesn't see the light of day. So, there's a lot of conversations, some are more serious than others, but in the end with John, that was, that was really the, the best offer for us. Adam, semi-related to the John Ridgeway trade. How do you view late-round picks? Like, well, I think when we hear a six or a seven within a fan base, it's almost like a dismissiveness. But for a guy that was at the back of your roster to get picks at all, do you view it as like, just as many as you can have, it gives you ammunition to move around later, or what's your general philosophy? You guys now have two threes, two sixes among your whole for next year's draft. Yeah, I love late-round picks. And I think, you know, there's a lot of different things they can become. They can be packaged into it into another trade and to move up in a draft or to get another pick. Or, you know, we've had some success in my history hitting on late-round picks. So that's really where our scouting staff makes their hay. And once you, you know, I think we have a really good scouting staff here, guys, that really understand what we're looking for. And that's only going to get stronger as we work together with this coaching staff and really identify what they're looking for. So those picks, you know, those, you can hit on those picks and they're not always going to be home runs, but in, you know, the places that I've been, we've hit on a lot of great late-round picks and those guys have become pro bowlers and more. So every pick valuable to us and really with the scouting staff that we have, I think those are really valuable even more so. Well, you mentioned the scouting staff and what you guys are looking for. I think a lot of fans are excited about Noah Brown. How does that, how does he fit? What's his role going to be? And I think a lot of folks are pumped about the potential he's got here. Yeah, Noah Brown was someone we actually were pursuing in free agency too and it didn't come to us, you know, for different reasons. But someone we've had our eye on for a long time, someone I've had my eye on for a long time since he was at Ohio State. The champion, I would, if I'm going to give, you know, credit to one person, Lance Newmark, was the champion in the building for Noah. And he loved them for his play on the field and the style of play that he had. Not only his ability, but his play style where he identified him as a commander and the guy who plays the way we want to play. So when we had the chance to get him at the price we got him at, it was a no-brainer. We jumped right on it, called his agent and I got him here in no time. So I really commend our scouting staff to be being ready for that, understanding that may happen and bouncing on it immediately so we could be first in line. Adam, we've watched hard knocks for years. That's our expertise on like roster formation, is that I every Tuesday get popcorn and have friends over and I've seen every organization, but Washington, which is not infuriating in any way, by the way. So please get on hard knocks as soon as possible. But how much of a say do the assistants have on forming the roster, like position coaches? The assistant coaches, yeah, we, you know, in every building is different, but, you know, in our building, we're very collaborative and we strive to be and we strive to get, you know, everybody's opinion ultimately. It's Dan and myself who have to make the decision, but we have personnel meetings every week. They're in training camp and assess the roster top to bottom and each position coach goes through his group and talks about the players, how they're doing, how they're improving, what else they need to improve on. So it gives us great insight into what's going on in the inner workings of those meeting rooms and those drills, which, you know, you can't always see on tape. So it's really helpful. We have a really good group of assistant coaches, love our coaching staff and that's a credit to DQ. I mean, he had a bunch of guys, the first year staff and he had a bunch of guys who wanted to come coach here. And so really got to know those guys and they've done an excellent job of communicating to us how guys are doing in the meeting rooms and on the field along with what we see on tape. So they're a big part of it. Do you run roster moves by Josh Harris before they're official? Yeah, yeah. We keep Josh updated on everything we do and what's great about Josh is he trusts us and he's not going to micromanage everything. He wants to be informed of what we're doing and why we're doing it, but he's done a really, really good job of hiring Dan and myself and letting us do what we think's right for this football club and really can't think of enough for that. It's not like that everywhere. Adam Peters with us here on Grant and Danny. So just a quick thought that I love your response here, Adam, I think, and I'm probably down alone in this becoming a good NFL quarterback is pretty much the hardest thing to do in sports. I, it's the number of highly touted prospects that have just haven't made it or haven't thrived is countless. And that's just, it's so hard. The numbers tell you that there's only a handful of guys that can really do it at a super high level. For you right now, given all the data we've got, what do you think the best practice is to take a young quarterback and make him into one of those stars? And then how do you feel like you've executed against that vision of this year for Jayden Daniels? Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It's really hard. And I've had more than my share of failures in terms of evaluating quarterbacks over the 20 plus years that I've been doing it. So, but just like anything, you know, your ability only takes you so far and then you have to have the work ethic, you have to have the mindset, you have to have the determination, the confidence, all the different things. And then you have to have the people around you to help you achieve, you know, what you could maybe even didn't think you could achieve. And that's with quarterbacking or anything. And so what we try to do here, and I think you did a great job of that, is really surround whoever we brought in into that quarterback room, which we got four guys who we really like, is with a really good environment to excel. And having, you know, starting at the top of our offensive staff with Cliff Gainsbury and then you have a Brian Johnson, who's a really accomplished coach that has been awesome for us. And then to be a pitcher, it's our quarterback's coach. And then David Blau, who is assistant quarterback. So you have four guys who can really help and give a lot of attention and a lot of support to those guys in that room, which really is the most important position in all sports. Like he said, in the toughest position in all sports, I'd say probably hitting a golf ball consistently straight is right up there with that. But these guys, I mean, to evaluate these guys and for them to succeed, a lot of things have to go right. And so you just try to do the best job you can in order to put them in that position. Adam, want to drill down on something that you've referenced a couple of times, whether it's with your scouts, coaches, you kind of heard folks and Dan Quinn himself refer to this kind of playing. This is the way we want to play, et cetera. And then, you know, when you're talking about player acquisition and your scouts, finding the guys that you like that fit the way the commanders play, what is that? What are some of those traits and criteria and maybe that fans can look forward to here? Yeah, I think, yeah, it starts, you know, it starts with their level football and love of competing. And that usually comes out in their play style, playing fast, playing physical, playing aggressive, and being really consistent in that day in and day out. And that's not just loving going out and practicing on the field, which, you know, everybody loves to do that. But it's about putting in the time in the meeting rooms, in the film room, and all the different things you have to do to be great and be consistently great with the way you eat, the way you study, the way you sleep, the way you train your body in the weight room and the training room. So guys that love the whole process, guys that love to compete, guys that are great teammates. And I think we have really an excellent group really of 70 of those guys right now that all embody that. And that's, that's what's been really fun to see that come together. I love that two undrafted free agents made the team in Tyler Owens and Colson Yankoff, two guys who were promised nothing and kind of earned their way in that really speaks to a meritocracy, in my opinion. Yeah, yeah, I think, yeah, you're exactly right. No matter where somebody's drafted, no matter what their salary is, whatever it is, we're going to play, you know, the best of who we think are the best players, the guys that have earned that. And both of those guys came in with the mindset to work hard every day to play fast, to play physical, to lead it all out on the field and really got better each and every day in Tyler and Colson. And couldn't be more proud of those guys on the work they did. And, but really want to give a shout out to our scouts for identifying those guys and being convicted on them and going and getting them. And, and so really cool to see that. And it's a good example, you know, just, we're going to play the guys who we think are the best and doesn't matter where they came from. And doesn't hurt that it. We got to Bruin too. So got to get a shout out to Bruin here at Colson and his, his both of those guys had really cool paths to where they got. And I can't say enough about them. And the guys absolutely love both of those guys. Adam Peters with us here on Grant and Danny. Very, very cool of you to give us some time today here on the fan and speak to the fans through our radio show and the access to the organization, which we appreciate. Brandon Iuke is someone we talked a lot about and reports were that you guys were at one point in time talking to San Francisco. Has that ship sailed? Is he not coming here? And is that book closed? Oh guys. I know you guys are going to go there at some point. I think probably give me the stock answer on that. But, you know, we're not going to talk about guys that are not on roster. And, you know, that that's probably where I'll leave that. And, you know, that's a big next question. Probably. That's your full Bill Belichick. You're on this. You can go full Belichick that's more than Bill. If you guys have seen him smiling more than Bill, but I tried to emulate him on questions like that. A lot of other things. He's a good, he's a good role model. So in terms of the roster that you guys have going into the game mix, which by the way, I can't believe it's here. I'm so excited about it. I think a lot of fans are. Where do you feel the strongest? What do you feel the most confident? And then the flip of that is, you know what, I'm not sure about a couple of things. Let's wait and see how this develops. Where are you? What do you feel the best at him and where are you maybe TBD? Yeah, I want to say hit the nail on the head. I couldn't be more excited. I can't believe it. It just felt like the blink of an eye that we're here now. And just laughing at it on the field with a couple of coaches, how soon we got there and how soon we'll be in Tampa. So I think I'm the most excited, but I think our fans should really, really be excited about this next week and what's to come with this team. And that kind of leads me to my answer. I think, you know, I'm really excited about everything. I'm really excited about our offense with Cliff and the way he runs it and the guys that are executing it. It's going to be a really fun offense to watch. It's going to be a fast offense and it's going to put defenses in a mind with what we do. And then defensively, I really love, you know, how fast and physical the guys are playing a mindset of the guys in the leadership on that side of the ball too. So yeah, honestly, just really excited about how we play and how we're going to play in the style of how we play. And so I don't want to get too much into specifics on certain areas. But I just can tell you that, you know, I'm not exaggerating when I say how excited I am about everything. Makes sense. Coach, me up on this, we do a topic here or there we talk about. Here's where we're nervous. Here's where we're confident. The corner position is one in a passing league with everybody operating spread or 11 personnel where I've got some reservations right now going into the season. Presumably you feel very good or else you'd be claiming people or adding people. Why am I maybe off base there that you guys have what you need at corner? Yeah, I think, you know, one, one, I think, you know, internally, we feel a little bit better than maybe externally and that's the case most of the time. We see these guys playing day in and day out and you go, you know, you go down the roster and in the depth chart and all of these guys have gotten better when you're talking about the secondary. Really, Manuel Forbes has gotten significantly better and that's the testament to how he's practiced, how he's worked and how he's been coached. Jason Simmons is an excellent coach. Joe Witt, those guys have really gotten him to improve quite a bit and he's done he's done the work too. He's made a bunch of plays in the last few practices. So, you know, and then Mikey Tanner still has been awesome inside of the nickel and he can play some outside too and St. Juice is long athletic and has made a lot of plays on the ball that's this camp as well. So, you know, Ray, we've seen how we do on the field. They're very confident in all those guys and the coaching staff putting him in the right place to succeed. Adam, I'm a big Malcolm Gladwell fan. Some of a lot of his books, whether it's outliers, tipping point, things like that. And he's talked a lot about making habits, right? You do something for a week. It doesn't mean you do it. It's got to become something that's consistent and all the, you know, kind of all the time to make it part of who you are. And the reason I bring that up is there's been a lot of roster turnover, understandably, obviously from what you took over and you it sort of seems from the outside looking in, like you guys are really focused on, we want to build how we do things here, not for a day, not for an hour, not for a week at a time, but this is all the time. How long do you think it takes to implement kind of that culture and sort of the way that you do things, the way you want things done into an organization? Was it 10,000 hours? No, it was 10,000 hours till it happened. Yeah, I mean, yeah, you just keep, it's just like anything. My old high school coach, Dave Deera, he said this, and it was baseball, but it's football too, and anything. You do repetition as the mother of learning. And so you do things over and over and over again, and DQ says that a lot, they become habits, they become who you are. And that's what you preach, and that's, you coach it, you do it, and you reinforce it after. And so you keep doing that over and over and over again, it becomes part of who you are. And that's what DQ has done with this team. And that's, and I've seen that evolution of how we practice, how we play. And so I think you're going to see that on Sundays with the way we play fast, we play physical, and that's on both sides of the ball. He talked about who you are, but quick anecdote from training camp. I met a guy in the parking lot walking to my car. His kid did put something down that was signed, and someone had grabbed it and taken off with it. And he was crying, and one of your security people asked the kid what was going on, and he told them. And then the way the story went that this guy told me was about five minutes later, they brought him over to the building, and you had come out and signed autographs and grabbed some players like Terry McLaurin to come out and meet the kid. And that's not something where any media was around, nobody knew it. So I just wanted to say that when you got people in the building treating fans like that, things are very much looking up. We'll let you out on this, Adam. I want to just let our listening audience learn a little bit about you. So we'll go rapid fire here. You're most used streaming app. Oh, streaming app? Yeah. So at home, watching TV, watching movies. Sorry. It's like a torrential down for here. So I can barely hear it. It's all good. Oh, man. I probably would be gosh, you know, you guys are going to laugh at me, but I'm extremely boring. I don't really watch anything. I don't have a whole lot of time. I'd probably go Netflix. That's mine, too, or Disney plus. Yeah, with the kids. You know what Disney plus Disney plus is 100% the most used in our house. Yeah, well, you're a girl that you got a couple girls as well. So are you blue in it still or are you on to like Taylor Swift and Gabby's dollhouse at this point? Yeah, we're doing we're doing a lot of blue. We still a lot of yeah, you're getting they're getting into Taylor Swift. They've actually, you know, I just they've gotten me into Taylor Swift, which is something I thought I'd never say. How about that sentence? Live on here. I'm not radio, but yeah. So I'm a little bit of a flifty now. Just it just kind of gets you in your head. Favorite breakfast food? Favorite breakfast food? Oh, bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. Let's go. You get to see what musical act live. Who would it be? Rolling Stones. Ooh, strong. Good answer. And then what product do you put in your hair and how often do you get Erica product? I don't know. It's like some kind of homemade stuff. I don't know what it is. How often haircut? I try to get a haircut once every three weeks for that never happened. What do you say to the barber? Like, like, you know what I mean? Do you have like a phrase, like he's a picture guy or a picture or like, you know what you're about? Or are you a picture guy that shows a picture of a good haircut one time used to be like when I was little, if you fast for the boys cut, right? I don't know if they have the boys pet anymore. But yeah, I have a picture guy. So that's the best way to say it because you can really go wrong if you start telling them what you want. And then it could be a bad deal. And it's hard to come back from that. Show them the picture of you in the snow getting off the plane back in the winter. That was a good moment. The lighting was so good. Like a president descending for the first time. Adam, we appreciate the time. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for hopping on with us. Yeah, thanks guys. It was great talking to you. Have a great day. Have a great holiday weekend. You as well. Have a great season. There's Adam Peters, general manager Washington commanders. Let's react to someone what he just told us next on GND on the fan. At six o'clock, right here on Grant and Danny, we got the exclusive tickets in town to Kevin Hart's comedy show at a perfect venue. D. A. R. Constitution Hall shows coming up midway through September. When that show takes place, the commanders will have already played a couple games, including their opener and Tampa. It was nice to talk to general manager Adam Peters about week one looming in the roster that he just put together. Very gracious with his time, by the way, 25 minutes. Nobody told us that he had to run. Nobody said, Hey, we got to get Adam off the line. So it was very, very courteous. And just to get him on the phone is not something I take likely, uh, likely rather because think about this, Danny. You and I have been doing this show together since 2014. Number one, there was no general manager to talk to for the majority of the time. I'll just start with that. Think about that. Who do you want to talk to who runs the football team unimpeded? That person hasn't really existed since Charlie Casterly in the 90s. There were some dalliances where Mike Shanahan for a year or two had a bunch of power, but still had to really run everything by Dan Snyder, who's breathing down the back of his neck. It's Scott McLuhan for a couple of hours as a listed general manager. Well, they tried it him out like he was he was the hero. Remember that came after the were embarrassed, were shamed press conferences. So here's Scott McLuhan, everybody. All I've ever wanted and what this team has never had is exactly what Adam Peters is. So correct. I think he's going to be really good. We'll see. I think he is really good. He is a talent evaluator who was beloved around the league, who was respected. A lot of the people that I still keep up with and have relationships with coaches on this staff that have moved on some in San Francisco, some other places rave about this person. Okay. I take that as gospel for me. Good enough. But here's what I have always wanted, whether it was Peters or somebody else. I'm happy that it's the very handsome man of Peters. Please give me a guy that will build a front office that is a professional NFL caliber outfit. And with Lance Newmark, and I could run through all the names, but they are working toward, they're very close to. Peters has talked about this. Basically having what they have in every organization that's good now. They've never done it here. It's the one thing the old owner never tried ever. He took over in 99 in May, the executive of the year that year that built a 10 win roster, Charlie Casterly was dismissed soon thereafter. And they have not done that thing again. Go to a kitchen, find a sous chef who's excellent at a great restaurant somewhere and bring them to run your place. And they finally did it. Josh Aris, it took him three minutes to do what Dan Snyder didn't do in 24 years. I was 10 years old the last time they had this situation. So to just have this is great to have a guy that you could even, who do we talk to? Who do we call? It's been very, very rare. That was even a possibility. And then the availability, the willingness to come on and frankly talk to fans. He doesn't care about talking to us. It's not like he wants to have a conversation with me or you, but the point is he understands this is an important platform with older respect to the local TV shows and stations that are talking about sports for a minute and a half at a time. You know that my mom's watching. This is where the fans are. And so to get him on these airwaves for those 25 minutes explaining some things, giving perspective on things. He's not going to answer everything. I understand that. He, he, no, sold us on Brandon Ayuki, swatted me away like he was to give me a tumble at the rim. Cool. He's got a gig. I got a gig. Question asked to be asked. He can answer it however he wants to. Wasn't willing to go there on a yuke, but I thought there were moments along the way where he's welcoming us in. Here's what we think about corner. We like our roster more than you guys do. I thought there were some great moments there and just the fact that it happened, how cool and calm he is and just being a dude, throwing the ball around. Sign me up. So the last point you just made is where I want to go. So the way people a lot of times think of the general manager is this almost robotic figure who goes, I prefer Brandon Coleman to, I don't know, Cooper Beebe who went seven picks later. And then we judge them therein. And that's part of it. Picking the players you want to pick right more often than the next guy or whatever, because it's a competition business. But it's the second part that I care about way more, right? You're going to get players right and wrong. Good batting average in this thing is what? 50% is 500. Maybe at best when you talk about draft picks, making the team, being what they thought. And there's always a story every year of the guy that everybody passed on who did really well. That's part of it, right? A trade, a signing, things work or they don't. The person, the person that's relationship building here, getting everybody in a group of alphas and everybody was the big dog and every or the big fish and every pond that they've ever been in forever to all pull the rope in the same direction. That's what the GM does. That's almost more important than what players you're picking or who gets a contract and who does it or who gets traded or who doesn't. It's no coincidence that when they actually had a general manager, even if it was Scott McLuhan and things were flawed, they had their best two year run that they have had really since Gibbs came back. And then other than that, it's been decades. I'm not telling you right home and you said that you saw the greatest team ever when they went 9 and 7 and 8, 7 and 1 or whatever the hell it was. But this is the point is you have this universally liked good dude who is able to build those kinds of bridges. When it said of, I did this, I did that. It's we. And by the way, we got Noah Brown. He got Noah Brown, but a champion Lance Newmark who said it was his brainchild. The scouts did all this work. All of these guys that are grinding, they get the shine because if we shine, you know, if I shine, we shine, you shine, the whole thing is great. That's the whole point of this whole thing to me is the relationship building and having somebody that has that emotional intelligence, not to just be a I'm a player picker. This guy has better stats. So I pick him. And that's only a fraction of the job. I also think that the ability to answer questions and be somewhat personable and not really give a lot is a skill in his job. Not one that the Venn diagram circle for him and for us doesn't really match up there. Right? Like it'd be nice if he'd come on and just get to the bottom of things and break things down. Yes, I called John Lynch. We talked about Brandon Ayuk. I think 30 million in a couple draft picks is too much. We're not in a place where we're going to do that. That's a great quote. That's a good answer if he gave it to us. But I guess my point is, even though it's not great for you and I necessarily, I do think having a professional who can talk for 25 minutes and isn't putting his foot in his mouth and just first time being a GM, I think that is a skill that will probably be a benefit as well that he is able to essentially answer things the way that he does, even if I wish there was a little more meat on the bone occasionally. But I thought overall it was awesome to have him on the show and to just be in a place where A, there's a general manager that actually runs the team that doesn't dictate it to and B, that general manager is willing to come on the radio and talk with us. That is a whole new world. Yep, that's different. And it is not lost on me. So that's the kind of, I guess, stuff you could roll your eyes at. But been sitting in this chair since 2014 in a couple of time slots. And I've been out on that sideline at training camp since 1999. I got to call it how I see it. And that isn't nothing. All right, let's get into the roster next. I also want to open the phones for you guys. What do you think of Peter's? What do you think of the conversation? 806361067. One of your first chances to hear him in that setting. Also, if you don't just have a reaction on anything that he said necessarily, what did you make of his thoughts on the roster that he feels pretty good about that they put together? 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