Category: Latest Washington News

Bryce Love says he reached out to Christian McCaffrey for tips on playing for Scott Turner

Love and McCaffrey know each other from Stanford, and now Love is looking to his former teammate for tricks in Scott Turner’s system.

There have been a few occasions this offseason where fans of the Washington Football Team have taken the opportunity to look at some of their players, and imagine what they might play like under a new coaching staff and system.

One of the main comparisons, lofty as it may be, is hoping that one of the running backs in Washington can fill the role that Christian McCaffrey held with the Carolina Panthers, playing under Scott Turner and Ron Rivera, both of whom are in Washington now. When RB Antonio Gibson was drafted, many said that he had the skill-set to be a CMC-lite, and now that RB Bryce Love is healthy, some are hoping that he can become a dynamic player out of the backfield and be plugged into that pass-catching RB as well.

On Thursday, when talking to the media, Love said that he went as far as to reach out to McCaffrey earlier this offseason to try and get some tips and tricks on how to use his skillset in Washington’s new offense.

It’s way too much to ask Love to become the next Christian McCaffrey, who finished the 2019 season as the undisputed top rusher in the NFL. However, there is no reason why Love can’t have a breakout season of his own and become a dominant player in Washington’s offense. We saw what he could do when given the chance at Stanford, and he finished as a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2017, two years after McCaffrey did the same thing, at the same school.

Is there now a chance that Love can follow in his old teammate’s footsteps and become a rushing mastermind under Scott Turner? I don’t see why not.

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5 takeaways from day two of padded practice in Washington

Energy continued to be high for players and coaches in Washington as players got into the groove of cracking pads on day two of camp.

If day one of padded training camp practices in Washington was the pinnacle of excitement, day two was more of the same, with slightly worse weather conditions. It was cloudy and a bit wet on Wednesday morning, but players were still flying around and playing with energy.

The crack of pads is once again becoming more normal, and positional hierarchies are starting to form in certain areas, though it’s tough to make any major calls as of yet. Regardless, here are some major takeaways from the second day of padded practices in Washington:

Bryce Love can be legitimate offensive threat

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

With Adrian Peterson taking a veteran’s day off on Wednesday, the RB1 role was Love’s to work with for the day, and he did not disappoint. Being allowed to work as an every-down back, Love was able to show a lot of versatility out of the backfield both in the running and passing game, and he impressed the coaches along the way.

Washington has had to deal with the unfortunate situation surrounding Derrius Guice, who on Wednesday morning was reportedly accused of raping two women during his time at LSU, but the depth at running back has seemingly been able to hold up despite that loss. If Love can keep up this production once the games get going, Washington should be just fine in the backfield.

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Chase Young held out of 11v11 drills with minor hip flexor injury

Chase Young was not on the field during team drills on Wednesday, and Rivera says he has a minor hip injury that they’re monitoring.

Nearly every member of the Washington media made note of star rookie Chase Young standing off to the side when the team went into 11v11 drills in practice on Wednesday, and some saw him walk off the field with a wrap on his upper thigh and hip.

Head coach Ron Rivera addressed this situation when talking to the media afterwards, noting that the rookie is dealing with a minor hip flexor injury that they plan to be careful with, so as to not see it become a lasting problem going forward.

This type of injury does not come as a surprise to any player who is working to deal with a shortened offseason and training camp period, but it is still something worth keeping an eye on going forward. If Washington continues to play things smart and pick and choose where they want to get work out of Young, it will be no problem going forward.

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Report: Derrius Guice accused of raping two women during time at LSU

Another allegation against Derrius Guice has come out, this time with two women saying he raped them during his time at LSU.

New allegations have come out against former Washington running back Derrius Guice, with USA Today reporting on Wednesday morning that two women have come forward and accused him of rape during his time at LSU just a few months apart in 2016.

According to USA Today’s Kenny Jacoby and Nancy Armour, “a USA TODAY investigation found that the women’s allegations were shared at the time with multiple people at the school — including at least two coaches, an athletics administrator and a nurse — yet the school does not appear to have investigated.”

In a statement, Guice’s attorney Peter D. Greenspun denied all of the allegations and questioned the timing of the story’s release.

“At no time were allegations of physical or sexual assault brought against Derrius during his years as a student-athlete at LSU,” Greenspun said in his statement. “To bring up such assertions only after the Virginia charges were initiated certainly calls into question the credibility, nature, and timing of what is being alleged years later.”

Guice was recently released by the Washington Football Team on August 7th after being arrested for an alleged string of domestic violence assaults, of which he turned himself in for.

According to the report, USA TODAY started investigating this new report on August 3rd, just four days before Guice was arrested and released by the WFT.

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Steven Sims says a starting WR spot is ‘his job to lose’ going forward

Determining starters at each position is largely unnecessary at this point in training camp, but WR Steven Sims has eyes on the first team.

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It took quite a few games for rookie WR Steven Sims to even start to make a name for himself during the 2019 season, but the last handful of games were a mini-breakout for the undrafted free agent who climbed his way up through the special teams to become a valuable piece of the offense in Washington.

Now, going into his second season with a familiar group of players around him, as well as a new and improved offensive system, Sims is reportedly ecstatic about what the future may hold for him under new OC Scott Turner, and he’s ready to take on the challenge of being a bigger threat in the league.

“In this offense, they do have me lining up outside a lot,” Sims told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “It’s new to me playing outside receiver in the NFL. I played it all the time in college, but it’s different. I’ll be going against better guys, better talent in the league now. So, I just want to work on being a great outside receiver just like a great slot.”

We saw a bit on Tuesday during the first Washington practice that was open to the media that many of the skill position players are going to be doing a lot of moving around this season. That can be said both for Sims and Terry McLaurin, who routinely moved in and out of the slot to give new looks to the defense.

As training camp goes on, what will become more and more clear is a positional hierarchy and the filling out of a depth chart. It’s unknown who the starters are at each position right now, and it’s largely unimportant this early on. However, Sims said on Tuesday that he believes a starting WR position is “his job to lose,” and he will be doing what he can to keep it that way going forward.

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Top quotes from Ron Rivera following first padded practice in Washington

Rivera made note of several things that he liked or didn’t like in the first padded practice that he was a part of in Washington.

It’s easy to say that Ron Rivera is officially the head coach in Washington now. This has been true all offseason, of course, but now that he’s run his first padded practice with the team, it just feels like the process is complete.

While we all loved to see updates and watch videos from the first practice that media was allowed to attend, Rivera sat down with media members after the day and stressed improvement at several areas, as well as making note of some things that he liked to see. Here are all of the best quotes from his talk with media.

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Ron Rivera lays down the law after practice in Washington, stressing improvement

With a full day of padded practice in the books, Rivera used this opportunity to stress discipline and improvement going forward.

It wouldn’t be the start of football season without the head coach yelling at the players to stop standing around, would it? That’s exactly what happened on Tuesday morning in Washington, according to NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay, as practice came to a close.

“Practice is ending and Ron Rivera is dressing down his team for standing around confused during portions of drills,” Finlay wrote on Twitter. “Delivered a loud ‘get in your book and study.'”

Before you think too much about the fact that Washington players needed to get yelled at for being lazy on the very first day of padded practice, know that this is probably more of a coach asserting his dominance rather than laziness on the field. With his first real practice in Washington, Rivera is making sure that he can set the culture that he wants strongly in practice, so it grows into discipline when games come around.

With one padded practice down, we all can feel the joy of watching videos and seeing pictures from the first full day. Football seems to be back, finally, in Washington, and hopefully, it’s here to stay.

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WATCH: Chase Young quickly shows off power in full-padded practice

In Chase Young’s first padded NFL practice, a video captures him tossing aside an offensive lineman in position drills with ease.

We’ve all been waiting to see what Washington rookie DE Chase Young could do once he got into full pads, and it didn’t take long for him to prove himself, or the grown-man strength that he has.

Early on Tuesday morning, with the defensive line going against offensive linemen in position drills, a video captured Young tossing aside the opposing lineman, clearing a way to the metaphorical quarterback. It seemed to be no issue for Young, who is going through his first padded NFL practice.

If this is any indication of what we may see going forward, Young will have an incredibly entertaining career in Washington.

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Alex Smith is ready to help push Dwayne Haskins to potential greatness

Smith will eventually be ready to compete for QB1 job in Washington, but he knows that his biggest asset is being able to mentor Haskins.

The news that Alex Smith is returning to the football field in Washington is one of the brighter subjects that’s happened for the franchise this offseason, but many have wondered what his potential return could mean for the team going forward. Mainly, what does it mean for Dwayne Haskins?

While those questions may be warranted, Smith did what he could to denounce them on Monday when talking to Washington’s Senior VP of Media and Content, Julie Donaldson.

“I think to twist that he and I, our career paths are somehow against each other, I think is definitely not the truth,” Smith said. “He has his path out in front of him to try and reach his potential, and he has a ton of it. He knows that. It’s about him, going out there every single day, and getting better.”

Knowing that Smith is willing to take on a mentorship role in Washington could be the biggest benefit to Haskins as well. So far his his career, Smith has helped groom both Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Mahomes while in San Francisco and Kansas City. Now, with Haskins at his side in Washington, there’s no reason why the young QB might benefit from that same help from Smith.

“For me, it’s helping in whatever way I can,” Smith said. “If it’s me sitting back there and putting my coaching hat on, so to speak, when he’s taking his reps, it’s like that. But when I get my reps, maybe it’s showing him a different style of how to do that.

“I learned a lot from quarterbacks I’ve played with, and it wasn’t necessarily what they told me,” Smith continued. “It’s watching them play where I learned the most. Watching them how they do things, how they manage their game. And sometimes, I feel like that can be the best teacher.”

Smith may not be physically ready to compete for the starting job in Washington just yet, but when he is, that will undoubtedly benefit Haskins as well. Ron Rivera has stated multiple times this offseason that he desires to bring as much competition to practice as possible this season, hoping that players would drive each other to be better. When the time comes for that, Smith will definitely be ready to push the group forward. Until then, though, he will fit whatever role is needed.

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Washington president Jason Wright is huge fan of passion behind ‘Redwolves’ movement

Jason Wright made note of the passionate support of Redwolves name in Washington, which he hoped to harness going forward.

With the breaking news on Monday morning that the Washington Football Team had hired Jason Wright to be the newest team president, making him both the first Black president in NFL history, and the young current president in the league (38), Washington Twitter circles were abuzz all day celebrating the news.

What is most exciting about the new hire is learning that Wright, who played in the NFL for several years, will be at the forefront of the coming name-change in Washington, which should take place somewhere over the next year or two. As it is such a hot topic among fans in D.C., Wright was not shy about discussing what the process would be like for changing the name going forward, and he made sure to note that one name in particular — the Redwolves — seems to have an incredibly passionate group of fans pushing for that to be the choice.

“I think within 30 seconds of being announced, someone tweeted and blew up my Twitter with Redwolves propaganda,” Wright said with a laugh on the Washington Football Talk Podcast. “This is a very aggressive campaign around Redwolves, which is wonderful! The passion is fantastic, and that’s what’s kept this franchise afloat, frankly. You have fans that are so engaged on this, and we are absolutely going to harness that. That’s what’s going to carry the momentum forward on this culture change.”

There are a number of candidates for the new name, of which the Redwolves is only one that many fans seem to be debating between. Regardless of where the team decides to go, they’ve made it clear that fan and sponsor input will be incredibly important going forward as they try to find the right answer and help cement the culture change that is currently taking place.

“I love it, I love it,” Wright said. “Wherever we may land might piss some folks off, I have no idea. But my guess is that if we do it right, everybody will understand how the process went. They will have seen their input go into some aspect of the new identity, whether that’s the name, or the uniform, or the way we’re choosing to approach the community going forward. Hopefully, every fan will be able to see themselves in it, and therefore we walk out of this in just such a tight-knit new way.”

If you aren’t convinced that Wright is the right person for the job in Washington by his comments on Monday, I’m unsure of what more to tell you. Something is taking root in Washington, and Wright will undoubtedly be a major part of it going forward.

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