Daily Slop - 17 May 24: Bobby Wagner talks about playing again for Dan Quinn and Ken Norton Jr. (2024)

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Commanders.com

Luke McCaffrey emerges as early standout in rookie minicamp, OTAs

Jeff Driskell dropped back in the pocket as rain covered him and the rest of the Washington Commanders during the first practice of OTAs with rookies and veterans on the field together. He spotted his target through the deluge, reared back and fired the ball towards the end zone.

His man was rookie wideout Luke McCaffrey, who had gotten behind third-year safety Percy Butler. He laid for the pass near the back of the end zone and grabbed the pass before sliding and rolling out of bounds. He held the ball in the air as the referee signaled a touchdown, flexed as he jogged to the sideline and celebrated with tight end Zach Ertz.

The play was one of the highlights of practice but hardly the only impressive moment McCaffrey has had since joining the team. While most of the attention surrounding the team has been justifiably focused on No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels, McCaffrey has been a consistent standout, and he could be playing his way into a larger role in the offense.

Burgundy & Gold Report

Mike Sainristil Looks to Make an Immediate Impact | WASHINGTON COMMANDERS ROOKIE SERIES

2024 Outlook

The Wolverines defensive back will likely see the field early considering the Commanders lack of overall talent at the position.

Hopes will be high for ‘23 1st round corner Emmanuel Forbes and it’s believed fellow ‘23 2nd rounder Quan Martin will line up predominately at safety.

Look for Sainristil to make a positive impression early on during training camp and lock down the staring slot for the Commanders.

Commanders.com

Commanders sign WR Damiere Byrd

Byrd, an undrafted free agent from South Carolina, has been in the NFL for eight seasons, appearing in 76 games with 28 starts. He’s caught 63.1% of his targets, accumulating 1,689 yards and seven touchdowns on 130 receptions. Byrd spent the past two seasons with the Falcons, where he caught 13 passes for 268 yards and two scores.

After going undrafted, Byrd was signed by the Carolina Panthers in 2015 and spent four seasons with the team. He spent his rookie year on the practice squad before getting snaps, earning his first career start in 2017. He set a franchise record with the Panthers in Week 16 that year by returning a kickoff 103 yards and scored the first kickoff-return touchdown since 2011.

Following a year with the Cardinals, Byrd was signed by the New England Patriots, where he had his most productive season with 14 starts. He was second on the team with 604 yards on 47 receptions.

Riggo’s Rag

5 intriguing Commanders storylines during the 2024 schedule

These games have big implications for the Commanders...

Commanders can make a statement versus rival thorn

The Washington Commanders officially host the New York Giants in Week 2 of the 2024 season. As of recently, Brian Daboll’s men have had the team’s number. It’s about time this narrative changed.

The Commanders are 0-3-1 versus the Giants over the last two seasons, and even worse at 3-8-1 in the last six campaigns. On top of the G-Men being a division rival of Washington’s, they have clear bragging rights. For now, at least.

A way that this new regime can make somewhat of a fresh start for the Commanders is by getting rid of that rival thorn. This involves Dan Quinn making an early statement win at home at the newly-named Commanders Field in their home opener.

To make an even further statement, quieting down the excitement in New York of an electric newcomer - wide receiver Malik Nabers - would be a cherry on top of a win. This would help create some momentum for a defense under Washington’s new head coach that struggled heavily last season.

Commanders Wire

The Commanders to travel the least amount of miles in 2024

Washington will need some help for that to happen. That help may come via the 2024 NFL schedule. According to Bill Speros of Bookies.com, the Commanders will travel fewer miles than any NFL team in 2024. Washington’s only trip to the West Coast is a Week 4 game at Arizona.

The Washington Commanders will cover the least amount of distance. They are to travel 10,550 miles and cross 10 time zones. Nearly 40% of their road miles and more than 50% of their time zones will be covered when they travel to State Farm Stadium to play the Arizona Cardinals.

This is excellent news for the Commanders, a team trying to turn around its luck. To put this into perspective, the Los Angeles Chargers will travel the most miles in 2024, 26,803 miles across 36 time zones.

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Giants unveil ‘Century Red’ throwback uniforms to commemorate 100th season in 2024

On Thursday, the Giants revealed a new throwback uniform to be worn up to two times this season, their 100th in the NFL.

Dubbed “Century Red,” the fresh kit is an amalgamation of retro elements found in their earliest years: pants and socks from New York’s inaugural 1925 season, a color-blocked, red-and-blue jersey from the 1933 season, and a helmet designed with their 1938 headgear in mind.

Those who saw these uniforms and instantly scoured the internet for points of reference likely discovered just how often New York’s now-classic uniforms changed in their early years. It’s a great reason for mashing up a few different elements instead of attempting to copy one set perfectly, especially given the many changes seen in uniforms and equipment in the last century.

The winged helmet might remind folks of the University of Michigan or Princeton, but it is historically accurate for at least a 10-year period of the Giants’ history (1937-1947).

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The Athletic (paywall)

How much will it cost an NFL fan to watch every game this season? Breaking down streaming fees

The full 2024 NFL schedule is here, and the league’s slew of media rights deals could make watching games a bit more complicated — and more costly — than in previous seasons. From Christmas games exclusively on Netflix to “Thursday Night Football” broadcasts via Amazon Prime Video, fans should be prepared to shell out subscription fees for multiple services if they want to watch every game.

For a list of all the week-by-week matchups, TV broadcasts and times, check out The Athletic’s full breakdown here. To understand how we got here and how much you’ll need to pay for each streaming platform, look no further. We’ve got you covered:

Pro Football Talk

NFL gave Jets six early prime-time games because they “kind of owe us one”

The Jets have seven standalone games — six of them in prime-time — during the first 11 weeks of the season. During a Thursday conference call with reporters, NFL V.P. of broadcast planning Mike North provided a surprisingly candid explanation.

“Yes, it’s an awful lot of prime-time games early in the season, but, obviously, I feel like Jets kind of owe us one,” North said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. (Thanks, Rich, for typing it up. I was putting off working back through the recording of the one-hour call to find the right spot.)

“When we had this conversation a year ago, we were — all of us — all-in on the Jets, and for that guy to last four plays was disheartening for many of us,” North added. “I feel like we could run it back, and certainly our broadcast partners, when they came to us early in the process talking about what storylines they want to focus on early in the season, obviously Aaron Rodgers’s return was a key one for everybody. . . . Hopefully, he stays healthy and, hopefully, they’re relevant.”

The schedule, of course, will make it harder for him to stay healthy. Three games in 10 days to start the season, after a full year since he played four snaps. Twice, he’ll play on Sunday and then again on Thursday. (If he stays healthy long enough to do so.)

And the notion that the Jets “owe us one” seems a little odd. The Jets don’t owe anyone anything. They didn’t have a disastrous season on purpose.

Really, why would anyone assume a 39-year-old quarterback would stay healthy all year? Why is anyone assuming it will happen this year?

Deadspin

Netflix, NFL unwrap football for Christmas through 2026

the NFL plans to continue airing games on Christmas Day beyond the 2024 doubleheader on Netflix announced on Wednesday.

NFL Vice President of Media Hans Schroeder said Thursday the league already has outlined plans for Christmas games in 2025 and 2026. Since Christmas is on a Saturday in 2027, it’s a near certainty regular-season games will be played that day, too.

“Amazon will have their traditional Thursday night game in primetime on Christmas on Thursday next year, and we’ll have another game on Netflix in the afternoon,” Schroeder said on a conference call discussing the league schedule for the 2024 season released Wednesday.

“Netflix will have a game on Friday the year after that (2026). We’ll use how we think about ‘25 to form how we go into ‘26.”

With Christmas falling on a Wednesday in 2024, the four teams involved were scheduled for Saturday games the week before to emulate the Saturday-to-Thursday game week schedule.

“When you saw the viewership numbers for Christmas for the tripleheader last year, and the tripleheader the year before — I think it’s four of the last five years that we’ve played on Christmas — the fans have spoken,” North said. “They want the games there and our broadcast partners want the games there.”

Barstool Sports

The NFL Putting Their Christmas Games On Netflix Is A Bully Move

The NFL though isn’t you average bully, and decided to pull an even smarter move, or petty move depending on how you look at it, that I didn’t even realize until I saw this tweet via PFT.

By striking a deal with Netflix, The NFL has ensured that once homes decide to watch their games, they will be watching nothing else as it’s a major pain in the ass/virtually impossible to change channels from Netflix back to cable (where the NBA games are on). This is genius. Absolutely genius move when you think about it. Every American family will more than likely decide to put the NFL games on over the NBA and the Smith family from Sheboygan, Wisconsin ain’t savvy enough or won’t have the patience to check in on the NBA with their remote.

Think about it, you have to get out of Netflix, likely change the source on the remote, then pop on the game via cable- which by the way you’ll need another remote for. Almost everyone is going to put the games on Netflix and leave it alone, no 1 ... I mean no1 is flipping channels. Genius move, petty move ... NFL special.

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