00:00I mentioned that Toby caught up with Frankie Louvoo today.
00:03You're going to hear some of our conversations with commanders.
00:05We'll dive into various elements of the roster out here in Ashburn
00:09based on those discussions.
00:11I talked to Matt Golbin, the new rookie center.
00:13Next hour, we'll deep dive into the center and O-line position.
00:16But let's hear from Frankie Louvoo on his early impressions
00:18of the Durante Jones defense.
00:21Fast, physical, chatty, chatty, very down here.
00:26A lot of presentations and just people flying around to the ball.
00:31You know what I mean?
00:32Just very high IQ, knowing the ball situation and whatnot.
00:36Feels like you're an attacking, fast type of downhill type of player.
00:40How do you think this fits your game?
00:42I mean, it fits perfect.
00:43You know what I mean?
00:44Everybody's kind of going forward.
00:46And, you know, in situations where we need to be in a backfield,
00:50I feel like that's where the game comes out.
00:51But for the most part, I mean, just getting more penetrations
00:55and getting downhill, you know what I mean?
00:57So we're just playing to our strengths.
00:59What have been your early impressions of Sonny Stiles?
01:02Man, very elusive, very physical, you know what I mean?
01:07First day of camp, you know what I mean?
01:08Still trying to get the feel of the pads and whatnot.
01:10But he's a guy that's, you know, like a sponge.
01:13He's willing to learn, you know what I mean?
01:14So, and it's every day in and out of the building
01:17and just urging to know the game and whatnot.
01:20Last one, offensively, what have you noticed
01:23and how does that new scheme create problems for defense?
01:27Man, it's going to create a lot of problems.
01:29A lot of motions, a lot of pre-snaps, community, communications, eye candy.
01:35You know what I mean?
01:35Showing one presentation is all about the final look for them.
01:38And that's a good thing why we're having the best new offense going around
01:42with this time to kind of knowing what to expect.
01:45Frank, you appreciate the time, man.
01:46All right, thanks, bro.
01:47One of the heart and soul players on this Washington defense, Frankie Louvoo.
01:51You heard him say he feels like a perfect fit in this defense.
01:54When Durante Jones was hired, I remember the first thing
01:58when I reached out to some people in Minnesota
02:01and started to try to get a better feel for how Flores runs his defense.
02:05And then Logan and I started doing some deep dive stuff on take command
02:08on who would fit well and who wouldn't.
02:10The first thing we realized is this has Frankie Louvoo written all over it.
02:14Oh, yeah.
02:14Now, I also wondered, is he going to be the odd man out somehow?
02:17Because after you sign Leo Chanel, you feel like, okay,
02:20they obviously want that guy on the field.
02:21Then you draft Sonny Stiles in the top ten.
02:24He's going to be on the field.
02:25They've got run and hit, speedy, Jordan McGee as like a fourth linebacker.
02:29Where does Louvoo fit?
02:31So far in camp, for what it's worth, and it's very early.
02:34Tobes, Louvoo hasn't really left the field with the ones.
02:37Sonny Stiles and Leo Chanel are kind of splitting reps at that green dot mic area
02:43next to Louvoo, but Louvoo's the guy that is the unquestioned,
02:47I'm on the field, I don't know who's going to be next to me, but I'll be out here.
02:50We'll see if that changes, but so far that's the way they've done it.
02:53Yeah, I thought it was interesting because Sonny Stiles, to me, is the three-down backer.
02:56He can do a little bit of everything.
02:57He can get downhill and play the run.
02:59You saw that today with the pads on.
03:01He was so noticeable against the run, and that's why I thought some of the conversation
03:06around Sonny when he was drafted was a little bit crazy.
03:08Just because he was a workout warrior and what he was able to do at the Combine
03:12doesn't mean that he can't play football.
03:13I think you've seen that, especially today when the pads came on.
03:17He's great against the run.
03:18He's really, really good against the pass and his ability to move so fluid
03:22and the things that they're going to try to do.
03:23But when you think about Frankie, you think about Leo Chanel.
03:27Leo is going to be fantastic against the run.
03:29Frankie is a downhill player who's more of a hybrid pass rusher type of linebacker.
03:34He can do a little bit of everything, but more so excels in that pass rush style of scheme.
03:38So I would have almost thought that it would have been flipped, right,
03:40where Sonny is your green dot, and then you have Leo out there for first down,
03:44maybe second down, and then have Luvu kind of rotate through
03:46and be that pass rushing linebacker.
03:49But you're 100% correct.
03:51Frankie seems like he's set in stone almost as being their number one linebacker of sorts,
03:56and I think Sonny will probably be alongside him for a majority of the season.
03:59But I would think that Frankie is number one atop the depth chart right now
04:02with Sonny right behind.
04:03He's probably playing, I would say, 70% of the number one snaps with him.
04:07And then Leo right behind him.
04:09But that's going to be an interesting thing to watch all season long
04:11is all those guys are versatile to an extent,
04:14but if you're only going to play two of them, how do you find where those guys fit best?
04:18Well, it's also been, you mentioned the percentage of time,
04:20you think you've seen him with the ones.
04:21It's been based on game situation too.
04:23Like in the red zone, he's not really doing anything seemingly with the ones.
04:27We saw that day one of practice today.
04:28I keep mentioning the play where he hit Bill at the one-yard line.
04:31Yeah.
04:31That was a rep with the twos.
04:32They started the 11-on-11 period for whatever reason.
04:35But I will say there is no spot on this roster where they are more improved,
04:42more athletic, where the gap in speed from a year ago to now is more stark than at linebacker.
04:49They've done a great job at some other positions.
04:51At edge, they've gone from like Dorrance Armstrong and, you know, 87-year-old Von Miller
04:58to Adafi Owe and Caleb on chase on.
05:02And you look at the number of guys they brought in and getting Armstrong back
05:05and where he's going to slot in.
05:06But at linebacker, I really think Jordan McGee can play.
05:10A couple times today locked in on him because I'm like wondering if he's going to make the roster
05:13and how is he looking.
05:15He's a good football player.
05:16He is.
05:17He is a run-and-hit, speed linebacker.
05:19The kind of guy, frankly, it would not surprise me if Jordan McGee could be traded before cut-down day.
05:27Like that never happens.
05:28This team is never able to trade anybody.
05:30But if I'm a team, there's no reason I wouldn't give up a fifth or sixth-round pick for a
05:35player like that.
05:36Now his issue has been health.
05:37But I would not trade him.
05:38I'd keep him on the team.
05:40Who is going to be your Nick Belor, special teams linebacker ace?
05:43Do you keep a guy to do that, like an Ale Cajo or a Kane Medrano?
05:47Or do you just have another player that you really like on teams like a Colson-Yankoff
05:50and now you're able to keep a fourth-tight end while keeping seven receivers because of that?
05:55That'll be an interesting decision they have to make.
05:57But they're loaded at linebacker.
05:59Stiles, Chanel, Louvoo, McGee.
06:03And then I even like the depth guys.
06:05I haven't seen enough from Medrano, but it feels like he could play teams.
06:08But Ale Cajo last year was the most impressive player on the defense in the preseason.
06:12He has flashed a couple times.
06:13He had a huge interception.
06:14I think it was on Saturday.
06:15Was that today?
06:16Yeah, he picked off all these days' run together.
06:18He picked off a pass today and ran it back for a touchdown.
06:21Just never stopped running until he got to the end zone.
06:23Wasn't really a pick six.
06:24But he's a guy that you notice.
06:26He was very physical.
06:27Who was really good on teams last year as well.
06:29First man down the field a couple times on big collisions.
06:32I love their linebacker room.
06:33I think it's a really professionally built stud group.
06:37And it looks so different, right?
06:38The ability for so many of these guys to do different things, to be so athletic,
06:43to be able to cover all those different things that you're expecting out of the scheme.
06:47And that's one of the things that's been so fun to watch, Grant, is with the linebacker room being that
06:51much more athletic,
06:52having that much more speed, that much more agility.
06:55I wish there was a way to watch replay of practice and some of the stuff.
06:59I'll watch the defense.
07:00I have no idea what the heck happened on the play.
07:02I just see one linebacker's in the backfield, one linebacker's deep in coverage.
07:06Like, this is going to be a fun defense to go back and watch every week.
07:09Like, we go back and watch just about every game and try to break it down and just see what
07:13we saw.
07:14And this is going to be one that you're going to watch at week one, and they're going to show
07:17a replay,
07:17and you're like, wow, what the heck just happened there?
07:19Like, I need to see that one again.
07:20That's what this defense is, where you feel like you have an idea of what's going to happen,
07:24and then something totally different happens post-snap.
07:27And that's why I think guys like Frankie, guys like Sonny, guys like Leo,
07:31where they have that versatility to be able to line up at the line of scrimmage and drop,
07:34to be able to line up a little bit deeper and blitz,
07:36just having those different things, even coming off the edge if they need them,
07:39I think that's why this linebacker room is going to be a key to what this defense can do.
07:43But it's going to be a blast to watch them because, really, you have no idea what they're going to
07:46do.
07:47Beltway blitz in 20 minutes at 4 o'clock.
07:50About 4.30 or so, you'll hear a discussion I had with center Matt Goldman.
07:54He's a rookie that was drafted out of Michigan State in the sixth round.
07:57Should be getting third-team reps, but that's not happening because Allegretti's hurt.
08:01He's getting second-team reps, and he's working a lot.
08:03He's getting a lot more work than he would have been.
08:05Is he going to be ready sooner? Probably.
08:08But is it a good thing, necessarily, that they're in this spot already?
08:10I would say no.
08:12Goldman's interesting, though.
08:13You'll hear from him next hour on the show.
08:16Our double play is next.
08:17We're bouncing back and forth between training camp out here in Ashburn
08:19and the Major League Baseball trade deadline.
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