- 6 weeks ago
Cynthia Frelund joins the show to discuss the latest headlines around the Commanders and the NFL.
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00:00cynthia what's up how you been i'm great thank you how are you happy summer yeah man
00:05summer's about it was hot summer cynthia we got another hundred like few days of 100 degrees
00:11coming that's crazy i mean i like i kind of like that weather for like a minute but only if
00:18i can
00:18escape it yeah um it's it's summer on the east coast man is is rough how do you handle so
00:25we
00:26got two weeks till camp starts probably a little less than two months till week one when does your
00:31summer end because brian and i have about two weeks left till camp open same yep training camp
00:37starts training camp starts that's the beginning of getting shot out of the cannon that lasts until
00:42the draft yeah exactly yeah same same let's start kind of around the league and then we'll eventually
00:48get to some uh some commanders questions but what what team this season do you think is
00:55facing like the most headwinds like like who's who's got the most trouble of brewing or most
01:01to prove that sort of thing well the most to prove i i feel like they may have they may
01:07be creating
01:08their own headwind in the rams just because they've made so many big moves and now we have
01:13aaron donald working out which i mean i don't know if that's news because i feel like aaron donald
01:17working out is like doesn't he always do that like doesn't he always send us those no matter what
01:21um but i feel like you know that's a really tough division perhaps people are sleeping a bit on the
01:2749ers being able to win it just because the sea the seahawks obviously coming off this massive win
01:33in the super bowl but i don't know i feel like the rams they they could be setting themselves up
01:38for
01:38great things or i don't know it could be this is a lot to prove you you have now set
01:43the expectations
01:44to be in the super bowl and anything less will probably feel like a big problem i agree with
01:50that it's but they also seem like they're built for it you know what i mean um that that nfc
01:58west
01:58is loaded though and it's funny like seattle just won and by and large have a lot of people back
02:06and it's almost like people just discount them right away it is funny i mean and same thing with the
02:13niners getting all those people back as well and then obviously drafting a wide receiver that
02:17people didn't maybe you thought was an overdraft whatever but playing each other is really the
02:23big problem so the third place schedule no shade to the cardinals but we'll just leave them where
02:28they are um but ultimately that third place schedule is a real that's a real tricky one to try to
02:34navigate because you get a much bigger advantage playing the third place in those three unique games
02:41than you do you know because you see everyone does still have to play each other and beat each
02:45other up so you know i think that advantage that you get from that is massive so you know it
02:50because
02:50it came down to the wire last year and that was with the niners having everyone banged up
02:55on the afc side how do you think kansas city responds like what do we know of pat like his
03:01knee and
03:02everything else i mean i feel like there's kind of two ways this could go the first way is that
03:09pass well enough that a new scheme meaning new wrinkles and folds into an offense based on
03:16having kenneth walker who presumably will be able to be a force in the run game which patrick
03:21mahomes hasn't had in quite a few years so maybe that gets them through the potential hump
03:27of the september with him getting back into the swing of football that's maybe one version of what i
03:35think is possible and then another version is that it's it's a really difficult year with a lot of i
03:41mean the o-line to me is going to dictate about i don't know a lot of what's going on
03:46but i think
03:47it's also maybe being slept on a bit like the defense is i mean you know trent mcduffie's out here
03:52in los angeles with me and you know obviously so is jill and watson they two of their guys are
03:58now
03:58rams so i i'm curious to see if they've done enough by bringing in a rookie and again they've done
04:04it
04:04before so we have seen them turn rookies into stars but i don't know i i think that one that
04:09one could go it feels like the range of outcomes could be like 13 wins or it could be like
04:15you know
04:16nine you know like like quite a big difference what do you think happens in uh pittsburgh with
04:22aaron rogers hmm um i think it looks a lot like last year i think there's a lot of those
04:28short passes
04:29that get out of his hands in under 2.5 seconds i don't think you know i i'm i'm don't
04:36know
04:37what i feel about like the mike like i think it's gonna be aaron rogers show which is gonna to
04:43me
04:43look a lot like what it was last year i just don't think that there's going to be this resurgence
04:48of
04:48like aaron rogers completing the like hail when i close my eyes i think of the rogers to rogers
04:53against the lions pass where he completes those hail mary's just doing crazy things i just don't think
04:57it's going to look like that anymore i just not not to say he doesn't have a fastball still but
05:01perhaps it's a get out of your hands fastball instead of the the big time throw talking with
05:07our friend cynthia freeland here on the rude guest hotline cynthia follow all of her work at nfl network
05:14and give her a follow at cynthia freeland i'm curious um let's switch it to the nfc east and maybe
05:21we start
05:21with uh defending nfc east champ the philadelphia eagles i i know how much analytic work you do i
05:27know that you're always crunching the numbers just from a numbers standpoint what does losing
05:32aj brown mean to that offense well if if the it depends on like there's two different ways to
05:41think that from a numbers standpoint only it's a big loss because aj brown not only does he create
05:46for himself he also creates for others by forcing defenses to respect him no matter where he is on
05:53the field it changes the run game it changes who who else could be open a tight end or a
05:58secondary
05:58wide receiver etc so that's a massive switch that they're going to have to figure out but if you think
06:04that there was some issue with the psychological stuff there's no way for numbers to capture that
06:11and perhaps there's a way that chemistry can work itself out instead it's going to be interesting
06:17where from a numerical standpoint jalen hurts his offensive performances especially last year was
06:26probably bottom third of the league what do you make of jalen's game and what seems to be a
06:32reticence to throw to the middle of the field and he doesn't want to run as much now like but
06:37where do
06:37you think hurts goes it's a great question i i think a lot of the things that you know the
06:43rumors that
06:44we hear i think a lot of the things that we see on the field perhaps there's some you know
06:51confluence
06:52of the o-line was more banged up or he was getting more pressure than he was used to he
06:59didn't have
07:00aj running the route that he wanted i don't know like we don't i'm not willing to say that he
07:05is not a
07:06good quarterback or is is somehow becoming a totally different guy but i'm also not willing to say
07:13that he's a guy that's going to elevate the team no matter what the circumstances are so we'll have
07:18to see how this year goes to kind of figure out where the trajectory happens to be i mean you
07:25have
07:25a guy like and i hate to bring up jack because i know where i'm talking but you know jack
07:30prescott
07:31you know he had these injuries and we were like okay he's throwing all these interceptions then he
07:34comes back the next year getting healthier has a pretty much mvp at least start to the season so
07:41the question is who's he going to be after the adversity of this past season that was
07:46i'm going to say weird because the stats if you look at his consistency week over week
07:52sometimes he did look like the guy we had seen before and then sometimes he absolutely didn't so
07:58i don't know what it looks like you know the it's all over the place when with what his results
08:05were
08:05well you know you did bring up that we don't like dallas yeah but i know i know i know
08:11yeah i know
08:12we had a horrible season about the cowboys yeah we had a horrible season last year in this town
08:16there's a lot of injuries and things of that nature what are you hearing about washington from
08:21the people around the country i think everyone's a little like like tensive about like okay well
08:27it's really going to be if jayden's like it's you know people obviously focus on quarterbacks
08:32the most right so if jayden's back and healthy i think that everything feels the same as it was
08:38this time last year but if he's not then i think it's dicey right so i think a lot of
08:44it rests on
08:45fairly or unfairly what jayden's going to bring to the table and i i think that's every team it's not
08:51unique to the commanders it's pretty much every team with a quarterback that had so much promise and
08:57you know got injured and played crazy good and then you know gets an injury the next year like now
09:03what are we going to see coming back off of an injury yeah it's it's fascinating what do you think
09:10of do you think they've done enough to help jayden from a like weapons standpoint
09:19it's a great question i mean i i the thing is is jayden's so special that he doesn't need a
09:26lot
09:26of help it just needs to be people who can kind of execute the vision right so they may not
09:34be the
09:34splashiest names i mean obviously terry mccornis but like maybe not everyone has the splashiest name
09:40maybe not everyone is like i think kiko konkwu is a really great tight end that's underrated i don't
09:46think people talk about him enough right but it doesn't matter if they're nationally known names like
09:52if you have guys that can come in and execute division like i remember watching gosh like
09:58jaylen lane like do some things like a long set like the point is is it doesn't need to be
10:04you
10:04don't need to have like all terry mcclorens for this offense to go really really well you need
10:10healthy running backs you need terry mcclorens to look like terry mcclorens and you need the other
10:15guys to do what's expected of them i'm just saying all that to say i think jayden's very special so
10:21it
10:21doesn't need to i like marcus too don't get me wrong but like i think it doesn't need to look
10:25like this all-star roster for it to have you know postseason results you know i've been saying that
10:31everyone has been actually like a number two receiver and i'm like well you got chick and if
10:36you look around the league some of the first the top receivers have the biggest years and then nobody
10:41else has anywhere close to a thousand yards if chick can can come up here and emerge am i crazy
10:47to
10:47think that he could be that number two guy absolutely i mean to me when i look at this
10:52roster my question will be how healthy is laramie tunsell because that's going to help determine
10:58how healthy is jayden daniels which will then determine who can you throw the ball to because
11:03it doesn't need to look it just doesn't need to look like um i'm trying to you know it doesn't
11:08need to look like the rams that have one two with wide receivers it needs to look like a lot
11:12of
11:12different plays that disguise the defense it it's he's just a very special dynamic quarterback and
11:17being able to make the most of that is really what's going to matter absolutely um i get this
11:24question all the time here where people are like what do you think about the commanders what do you
11:28think about the commanders and where i've kind of landed is two years ago they were 12 and five
11:34last year they were five and 12 the reality is probably somewhere in the middle there and i think
11:40i kind of projected about nine wins nine might get you in ten get you in eight you're not getting
11:45in um what do you think when you look just at the totality of this burgundy and gold team
11:52again i think the range is big as well based on some injuries and some figuring out o-line like
11:59you know dynamics are really important too especially when you have like this dual threat situation
12:05in in in your quarterback so i think nine would be probably where like the where we do expected
12:11returns right so you do like the amount at the top the amount at the bottom and average in between
12:16but i think something somewhere between like eight and 11 is probably where i would put it for a a
12:22nice
12:23like bullseye to go in between those two numbers um let's switch to the the other team you mentioned
12:29there in dallas it feels like the cowboys are kind of a buzzy team we're talking with our friend
12:35cynthia freeland you can give her a follow on instagram why the cowboys are always buzzy in july
12:40come on you work in media yep you're right about that whatever happened did they sign which comes
12:48an extension pickings i mean not yet not yet like it's it feels like it's gonna happen anytime i don't
12:57know but isn't that isn't that so the cowboy way like didn't they find dac like 15 minutes before the
13:03game started like you know this is not uh this is what they always do it almost feels like it's
13:09like not something to um you know like even think about because they're like hey i'll figure it out
13:15they're just gonna do not a great job of the deal anymore because they keep doing these late deals
13:19which is not good for them um do you think dallas could be a playoff team i do um it
13:28would it would
13:29take the defense and i do like christian parker a lot i think you know he came over from the
13:35eagles
13:35but before that he was at the broncos and at the packers and he's had he's very up and coming
13:41like
13:41he really gets along with the guys well i thought they did a nice job of drafting it's going to
13:46take
13:46the defense being at least a little bit better and it's also going to take dac playing like he did
13:50last year when we were like well i mean does they even need a defense clearly not so i don't
13:56i don't
13:57think it's maybe the surest thing that i will predict for the season but i think again schedule
14:03is is favorable enough for them to not necessarily win the division but i think they could make the
14:09playoffs here in dc we improved the defense on paper did we haven't seen them play uh what do you
14:16think um can happen defensively here with adafi away and crew i mean listen i really like a lot of
14:26like obviously head coach is one of my favorite defensive game planners that there is so i think
14:33the fit is incredible with who they picked in the draft like i know that you know look i'm i'll
14:40be
14:40i'll be the first to admit like i got a chance to interview sunny styles and like i just think
14:46he's
14:46such a good kid that that like it's just it's just such a good fit for what i know middle
14:52linebacker
14:52blah blah we get it but like i think it's such a good fit especially with leo chanel coming over
14:57i think you know so caleb on chase on may have been i think i called him the steel of
15:03free agency
15:03like the you know the guy who's gonna like the demarcus lawrence of this year who really helped
15:08the seahawks catapult themselves up into the playoffs and then obviously winning the super bowl so i think
15:14it's a great fit for what we know that dan quinn likes to do and i i think it's i
15:20mean again we haven't
15:21seen him play yet but if i'm dorante jones i'm pretty happy right now yeah i i think dorante's
15:28got a lot to be excited about just rounding out the nfc east what do you think harbaugh can get
15:34done
15:34year one in new york keep his job that's not a very nice answer but um i don't know i
15:46mean look i
15:47the the malik neighbors of it all is really tricky because it seems like based on all of the other
15:53receivers that they brought in that he's not going to be there so that's a big adjustment i'm i'm will
16:00always until the giants show me that they can consistently field an o-line that's not going to
16:07get their quarterback killed um i'll be leery because i think the way the jackson dart plays
16:14unless they change his style like it's double punishing right like so if your o-line is going
16:19to let you down and you're going to play a little more dangerously i i don't know it feels it
16:27feels
16:27i'm not saying that they are going to be awful but i don't know what i'm looking at it's the
16:32first it's
16:33really like the first time in a while that i feel like i mean before i would get mean text
16:39from their
16:40ownership being like you really only have us winning this many games i'm like i'm sorry
16:44yeah and it would you should be right but but uh i feel like i'm perhaps it will be that
16:50i think it
16:50will be better but i don't know i don't think it's i don't think it's their year for the postseason
16:54that's very mean i feel like that i'm being very mean right now but i don't think it's mean i
16:59think
16:59when you get new coaches in like that i think it kind of takes a year for them to set
17:04up their
17:04program anyway and and i sure i think there's questions with dart still i i think he's kind
17:10of being crowned prematurely here um but i i can also see the potential um but i do love james
17:18winston so i mean i don't want to wish someone not to play but i mean who is more entertaining
17:22no one entertainer nobody exactly um i know you're you're a you're a football gal but i'm curious if
17:30you've watched any of the soccer if you have any absolutely if you have any analytical bend here
17:36it's hard to think anybody but france is going to win this thing but that's why they play the
17:39games well i mean argentina seems to be getting the calls not to say yeah i don't know but no
17:47i
17:47mean like it feels like it's frances to lose but i i don't know i hope we get that france
17:52argentina
17:53i guess but it's been fun i kind of liked the underdog stories i was i did want norway to
17:59win
18:00just because i thought it would be more fun to like have a i'm more my by the way my
18:04last name
18:04is norwegian so you know i had a little you know we we as americans we become fake um countrymen
18:10of
18:10another country when the u.s loses so i was totally bandwagoning the underdog story of uh norway
18:17but um but yeah so it seems like it's going to be france and i don't know but messy we'll
18:24see we'll
18:25see i just love the stat that when mess has been on the field 75 of the time he's been
18:29walking
18:29which is crazy that's crazy they need to yeah they need to add context there most guys it's
18:36like closer to 50 so it's not like he's like the like everyone else is running and he's not
18:41oh he's preserving his energy oh for sure he is but but not like but when they say that without
18:47adding the context of what it's like for other people it feels like it's this like massive number
18:52it's not he's it's not that much more it's it is double but it's not like i don't know when
18:58i
18:58heard it i was like 75 like well what's normal 50 you know why people say that because they put
19:04out
19:04that because when you hear soccer people talking wow guys are always running no you're not they are
19:10not some of them are standing in one place sometimes that's right they're standing in one place or
19:15they're figuring out how to flop you know that's my they gotta get that corrected there i know i just
19:21don't think that rule where then the other guy automatically gets the yellow card like that's
19:26a weird rule to me because can't it just be that like no one got the yellow card that was
19:31where i
19:31got a little i got a little like over that rule you fake like that guy faked the other day
19:36and he
19:36got that uh yellow card yeah he deserved it nobody touched him he he was he was he tripped himself
19:44by the air if you want flopping out of the game that's how you do it did he rolled around
19:48i think you
19:49you gotta do like the nba tried to do they did it for a bit then they stopped if they
19:53are going to be
19:54faking like that you gotta you gotta come at him hey cynthia we appreciate your time thank you for
19:59uh yeah for jumping on with us of course always love talking to you guys and you know hopefully
20:04i'll see you for the draft i should be out there so oh i can't wait to see what dc
20:08is going to bring
20:08for the draft it's going to be awesome not that we want to talk about draft but it's going to
20:12be
20:12great yeah we'll have to have you come in studio while you're here if you got that'd be awesome i
20:17would love that yeah that'd be great uh we'll talk to you before then and probably see you before
20:20then but consider that done we're we're available love it all right i will talk to you guys soon
20:26thank you for having me all right bye the great cynthia freeland from nfl network you can follow
20:30her on instagram at cynthia freeland she's c freeland on twitter
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