Tag: Team 980 Craig Hoffman Show

Dan Quinn already bringing intense leadership to the Commanders

Some excellent perspective on Dan Quinn’s leadership.

Benjamin St-Juste sees a difference in leadership this year, a big difference.

The Team 980 afternoon show host Craig Hoffman asked St-Juste following practice Wednesday what a major difference there is from recent seasons, for example.

“We compete for everything, honestly. It’s crazy. The first week Coach Quinn came here, it was all about competing. Competing in the weight room, competing in drills, competing in the class meeting rooms. Who can learn it the fastest? Who knows all the plays in the first week?”

Of course that makes them better athletes, but some might wonder, how does it affect their psyche as players? St-Juste certainly thinks it does and already is.

“When we go to the field, there is no hierarchy of who should go out there, or politics of this player should play. Everybody is going to compete, everybody is going to get a fair chance, and the best players are going to play. I think that is what makes great teams great.”

“He (Dan Quinn) is giving everyone the chance to show how much do you want to make this team. How much do you want to impact this team? I love it. It has pushed me to be a better player, and that’s what I am here for.”

Martin Luther King said, “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” Early on, Dan Quinn shows he did not come to the Commanders to search for and find consensus. They were 4-13 last year!

No, Quinn has come to mold and shape this team in his image. If you don’t compete hard, you’re gone. Those who love it, like St-Juste, can see it will make them better players.

One Commanders player, hoping for big year, recently became a father

Benjamin St-Juste, entering his fourth NFL season, had a life-changing experience this offseason.

He is entering his fourth NFL season, so this could be it with Washington.

That could be said of several Commanders, those drafted in 2021, who received a four-year deal. Even more, this is the first year of the Adam Peters-Dan Quinn era. They feel no commitment to these players they did not draft.

Benjamin St-Juste worked hard to get ready for this important season. But much more was the fact he became a father this off-season, and feels that weight. He spoke with Craig Hoffman following Wednesday’s practice.

“A lot more motivation and it just feels great to live for something bigger than myself,” said St-Juste. “I noticed it instantly as soon as she came out of the womb, honestly. Wow! I created this. It was kind of like a wave of responsibility and at the same time a wave of great energy. Like I said, to live for something bigger than myself.”

The fourth-year cornerback out of the University of Minnesota is beginning to realize there are things bigger than his job, but his job is now bigger as a result as well. “Whether I am motivated or not, I have somebody that depends on me. I have a family. Those values and discipline now translate to the football field.”

Certainly, that has been a life experience for many young adults. Of course, there are many who don’t get it and run from maturing. However, for many of us, fatherhood and family are used by God to mature us and grow us into better, more responsible adults. We begin to learn through being forced to live for others.

Young people who often lived for ourselves now develop into adults living for others, becoming contributors to society and teachers of their children. It sounds like St-Juste is beginning to see this. He is headed on a better path for himself. It will benefit the Commanders in 2024 and, more importantly, his family for years to come.