00:00Welcome back.
00:01Grant and Danny on the fan.
00:03We're on Instagram.
00:04Grant H. Paulson for me.
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00:09We'll take you up to 6.30 each and every day throughout the football season.
00:14Nobody going to be talking more Commanders, more NFL than us here on G&D
00:19for four-plus hours every single day.
00:23Commanders-Eagles 425 kickoff nationally televised A game on Fox.
00:28That's your Kevin Burkhart-Tom Brady special this weekend on Sunday afternoon.
00:34That's America's game there.
00:35That's a keeper.
00:35Here we go.
00:36I just want a good showing.
00:37I don't want one of those, hey, everybody take a look, and then it's a big fart noise.
00:41Now, week ones are weird.
00:42They happen all over the league, the weird ones, the weird games.
00:45Raiders went and beat the eventual Super Bowl runner-ups, the Patriots, in Foxborough
00:49last year to start the year.
00:50Some good teams eked out wins over bad teams.
00:52I know.
00:53Weird stuff happens in week one.
00:54I will try not to overreact.
00:56It's just a nice competitive football game, and I'd like to win it.
00:59ESPN did a story over the weekend about X-Factors in the NFL.
01:04So they picked one player for every single team that could be a pendulum swinger, as I like to call
01:09it.
01:09A player that if things go really well, the outlook looks a lot better.
01:14Some of these guys are big names.
01:16The 49ers have a receiver issue right now.
01:18Mike Evans is listed as their X-Factor.
01:20Makes sense.
01:21Future all of him, right?
01:22If Evans goes out there and stays healthy and catches 75 balls for 1,100 yards, things are looking up,
01:27right?
01:28There are lesser-named players on some of these organizations as well.
01:31For the Chicago Bears, if you're in that market, you know about Ozzy Trapio, their left tackle.
01:36But that's a guy that has to step up and help that offensive line.
01:39For the Washington Commanders, the player chosen by ESPN to be their X-Factor this year,
01:44I think this is spot-on, center Nick Allegretti.
01:47Who have we talked more about?
01:49Who has suddenly become a bigger household name in this organization than Allegretti,
01:54who came over from Kansas City as a competitive guard who was going to start?
01:59He's been back and forth from the bench to the starting roles two weeks into last year,
02:03got supplanted by Andrew Wiley at guard.
02:05Well, now he's your starting center.
02:07And how he goes, so goes maybe this offensive line.
02:11They write, one of the more surprising moves of the offseason was releasing Tyler Biotish.
02:15He was older, 28, and approaching the end of his deal.
02:19But they didn't get much cap relief from releasing him,
02:22and his play was not so deteriorated that he was unplayable.
02:25Even more surprising was the commander's lack of a plan to account for his release.
02:30They moved veteran interior swingman Allegretti to the pivot,
02:33drafted a sixth-round rookie, and called it a day.
02:37And that is currently the depth chart.
02:38Yep.
02:39Allegretti, who started two games at center last year.
02:41That's kind of the extent of his work there.
02:43And a sixth-rounder in Matthew Goldman, who struggled in the joint practice.
02:47That position has become kind of the center point.
02:50Not necessarily because that was a bad pun.
02:51I didn't even mean it that way.
02:53You mean the center of attention?
02:54The center of attention.
02:54No, thank you.
02:55No, it's become the focal point because it's a,
02:57well, if Allegretti plays, everything's fine.
02:59And it's the, can we acknowledge this plan's a little cockamamie?
03:02Can we acknowledge this was not maybe the best design?
03:04When we were told from the spring moving on that there'll be competition between
03:08Allegretti and Good Grief, and they're eyeball to eyeball.
03:11We can't wait to see what happens.
03:12And then it's competition in March, and in April, and May, and then training camp,
03:15and then preseason.
03:16Oh, my God, this guy's unplayable.
03:18And now he's on the practice squad, and everybody is in the market for center help.
03:22Three different guys were traded for as part of backup help.
03:26Multiple guys were waiver-claimed.
03:29No one had interest in this guy when the whole league is desperate for center help,
03:33including Washington.
03:34And nobody wanted that guy, who was just available for anyone.
03:37Kind of gives you an idea.
03:37So that position has kind of become the, they're going, we know what we're doing,
03:42and we're going, you better, but this doesn't look great.
03:45I think they're surprised by the reaction of fans.
03:49I believe that.
03:50And the media.
03:50I really do.
03:51I think that internally, they're going, wait, you guys don't understand.
03:55They've made a meal.
03:56They brought it out to the table.
03:58Everyone's sitting there, and they're looking at it and picking through it going,
04:01what is this?
04:02This is disgusting.
04:04They're like, it's goulash!
04:04And they're like, you don't understand.
04:06This is so delicious.
04:07I think they're shocked by the response.
04:10Now, I think they're going to be okay, as long as Allegretti's healthy.
04:13That's where I disagree with a lot of people, because I think most of the hysteria is over
04:17this notion that if he gets hurt, they're screwed.
04:19And I will agree that I think they're mostly screwed if he gets hurt.
04:22My guess is they would call Glassnell and give him whatever he wants to come out of retirement
04:26so their season doesn't get derailed.
04:28But if it's just Goulbin or Good Jones, then it's a whole different conversation at that
04:34point, and they're in big trouble.
04:35But if Allegretti plays, I'm one of these people that thinks the center position has become
04:40one of the least important positions on offense.
04:43Like, there's a reason why it's just not prioritized that much.
04:46There are not teams with high-round centers waiting in the wings as backups.
04:49There are not teams that pay backup centers a whole lot of money.
04:52Everyone's kind of a play away from a JAG journeyman, oh my god, that guy's our center,
04:57playing at center.
04:58Like, that's what every depth chart looks like, essentially.
05:00But the question really has to be Allegretti, who's mostly been a backup since he came into
05:05the league in 2019, 171 of his 2,400 snaps, 7% have come at the center position.
05:12He's never really been a center.
05:14It's kind of amazing.
05:15So he's the X-factor they list.
05:17I think that's the right answer.
05:18But we've talked enough about Nick Allegretti over the last few weeks.
05:21Give me another one, and we can open up the phones on this at 800-636-1067.
05:29First time today, we'll have you guys hop in on this on GND.
05:33In light of this ESPN piece, every organization's player X-factor, who is Washington's?
05:39You can't say Allegretti because ESPN took him.
05:41Danny?
05:41It's a little cheap.
05:42It's another offensive lineman.
05:43It's Josh Connerly for me.
05:44I think that actually would be my answer over Allegretti because of the import of the position.
05:49The right tackle spot, everybody's counting, and I think they're counting on, we got it.
05:53We got our guy.
05:55You may.
05:56We didn't see enough to slam the gavel last year in a good direction.
05:59This is not Laramie Tunsil on the right side.
06:02He's struggled at times and still continues to struggle, and there's like, well, he doesn't
06:06do well against bull rushers or guys that are really fast on the outside or doesn't do well
06:10against power.
06:11You might see some of those guys.
06:12The other team knows it, too.
06:13So if you've got to help Coleman in certain situations where you've got some $30 million
06:17pass rusher opposite him, and that's not a fault of his.
06:20That's a third-rounder who's played all the other four positions except for center on the
06:25offensive line, and now he's back at left tackle where it all began.
06:27If you have to chip for him every now and again, that's reasonable and unexpected, but
06:31if you've got to do that on the other side, too, if you've got to help Connerly out, now
06:34you're a different offense.
06:35You're a much lower-ceiling offense, and you can't really do the things that you want to
06:39do.
06:39If he's good, then you don't worry about it.
06:42If he's good, you say, you're on an island, young man.
06:44Whoever they throw at you, you're just fine.
06:46Not only will you handle it, but will thrive.
06:48I think if Connerly's good, they're good.
06:50I think if he's not, then the ceiling lowers, and it might be a disaster on that side of the
06:54ball.
06:54All right, I'll stick with offense with you here for a moment, and then we can pivot to
06:57defense.
06:58Again, who's your player X-Factor for the Commanders?
07:01800-636-1067 to hop in with us on Grant and Danny.
07:05I'll go Terry McLaurin, about to be 31 years old.
07:09His birthday is one week from today, so it'll be just a couple days after the opener in Philly,
07:14and he's going to be 31.
07:16Last year, because of the offseason, I think, because of the lack of camp and the lack of the
07:21ramping up period that he would normally have, he was injury-riddled all season long.
07:26But we also know, organizationally, there was this feeling of, he's getting to the point
07:30where guys at the position start to slow a little bit, especially with his speed-first
07:34skill set.
07:36Can he get back to being Terry?
07:38I think he will.
07:39I'm betting on that.
07:40I think he's going to catch 70-plus balls and go for 1,000 yards.
07:44He was a mainstay at doing that from 2019 through 2024.
07:48In fact, he had a five-year run where he averaged up around 1,100 yards and mid-70s catches.
07:55But he's an X-factor because if he can't do that, this offense is very different.
08:00Their skill position group's really good all of a sudden.
08:02You've got McLaurin.
08:03You've got Diggs.
08:04You've got a Conquo.
08:05You've got Bill.
08:07Jaden Daniels, from a sheer weapons standpoint, there's a different conversation we had about
08:10the offensive line, maybe.
08:12But you can't ask for a whole lot more in terms of weaponry, where you've got a good one-two
08:15punch at receiver.
08:15Your third guy, all of a sudden, is a third-round pick who looked dynamic at camp at times in
08:19the preseason, should be really shifty and beat people in man coverage.
08:23I think he could be a man-beating weapon for them on the interior in the slot.
08:27Antonio Williams should be able to help them in the red zone in that regard.
08:31And then you throw in a tight end who's the most athletic player they've had, this side
08:35of Jordan Reed.
08:36You throw in a running back in Bill, who last year at 800 yards while he was handcuffed most
08:41of the season with opportunities.
08:43They've got plenty of skill group help.
08:45But it's all, if you take the number one guy out of it, it's like taking the ace out
08:49of a rotation.
08:50And everyone slots up.
08:51And how much different it looks?
08:52McLaurin's got to be your third down, contested catch, run that slant, take a shot, move the
08:59chains player for them.
09:00And they need him both on the field and producing like he once did.
09:04So he'll be my offensive X-Factor.
09:06Let's go defensive next, and we'll hit the calls as well.
09:08800-636-1067.
09:11You get one player X-Factor for the Commanders.
09:14You're listening to Grant and Danny.
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