Tag: CB Mike Sainristil

New faces, new energy as Commanders enter 2024 training camp

There are lots of new faces this year as the Commanders open training camp.

NFL Football is back!

The Commanders’ rookies reported July 18, while the veterans are scheduled to be coming in July 23.

There was excitement in the air in training camp 2023. The NFL had just approved Daniel Snyder’s sale to the Josh Harris Ownership Group. Fans flooded training camp, and there was a mode of celebration and festivity as Snyder was gone.

This year, training camp will be accompanied by a different type of excitement. This 2024 camp brings a newness.

Gone are Ron Rivera (HC), Jack Del Rio (DC) and Eric Bieniemy (OC).

They were replaced by Dan Quinn (HC), Joe Whitt Jr (DC) and Kliff Kingsbury (OC).

Gone is Ron Rivera the general manager.

The new general manager is Adam Peters. Last fall, the Commanders traded away their starting defensive ends, Montez Sweat and Chase Young, and Peters was provided two additional draft choices. During the draft, Peters traded down in the second round, obtaining two additional second-round selections.

Thus, Peters has a large draft class from his first time running a draft room:

  • Johnny Newton, DT, Illinois
  • Jayden Daniels, QB LSU
  • Mike Sainristil, DB, Michigan
  • Ben Sinnott, TE Kansas State
  • Brandon Coleman OT, TCU
  • Luke McCaffrey  WR, Rice
  • Jordan Magee LB, Temple
  • Dominique Hampton S, Washington
  • Javonte Jean-Baptiste Edge, Notre Dame

After the draft, Peters and his staff were busy accumulating undrafted free agents. The Commanders believe they have claimed some young players who have a real shot at making the Commanders roster. These include:

Michael Wiley, Tyler Owens, A.J. Woods, Austin Jones, Chigozie Anusiem, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint, Norell Pollard, Sam Hartman, Ben Nikkel, Colson Yankoff and David Nwaogwugwu.

Tomorrow: Adam Peters’ first Free Agent Class

 

 

Sainristil sees Commanders as a great opportunity

Mike Sainristil views the Commanders as the perfect opportunity for him.

Alabama legend football coach Nick Saban said this kid might be the best player in the draft pound pound-for-pound.

Saban was referring to Mike Sainristil, a nickel corner out of Michigan, whom the Commanders selected with the 50th overall pick in April’s NFL draft.

Sainristil sat down with Bryan Colbert Jr. for another episode of “Raising Hail with the Rookies.”

“It’s a blessing to be here,” began Sainristil. “God works his ways, he put me in this building and I felt very blessed, very appreciative of this opportunity to be here.”

He talked of how his parents moved the family from Haiti, sacrificed, overcame struggles, and constantly worked when things didn’t go right sometimes, teaching him, “There’s nothing I’m going through that I can’t keep pushing through. One thing I learned young, in order to grow, you’ve got to go through something.”

Sainristil said he was raised in a strict home, but now, as he is older, he appreciates it and feels it has made him who he is.

Receiving a draft night call from the Commanders surprised the former Wolverine, saying he had never even talked to his agent about the possibility of being selected by the Commanders. When he was officially selected moments later, he said it was great how excited he was and everyone in the room with him.

He joked that if he could sit down with Saban, he would ask him, “Why couldn’t you say that about me before the draft?” This would have raised his stock to have been selected earlier…

“The one thing I know I am going to bring to this team is I am going to be a great teammate, respectable, able to be held accountable, and going to hold my teammates accountable. I’m going to be a leader.”

Having begun as a receiver at Michigan and then being asked by Jim Harbaugh to switch to defensive back, Sainristil believes that regarding “techniques and fundamentals, I am still far off from where I can be, and that is what excites me the most. Being in this opportunity with these coaches is the best opportunity possible.”