Connect with us

Washington

Top 3 Issues Washington Commanders Need to Resolve in Training Camp

Published

on

Top 3 Issues Washington Commanders Need to Resolve in Training Camp


The Washington Commanders will open training camp under a whole different light than we’ve seen in recent years.

Sure, we’ve seen excitement surrounding the Commanders before, and last year’s fan attendance at training camp proved that. But this year’s excitement is different because as much hope as there is that this year will be better, finally, the longterm future looks brighter than ever.

Some of that has to do with what’s going on off the field, certainly, but there’s a lot of good happening in the Washington locker room as well.

Still, there are three issues the Commanders need to resolve in training camp before they can fully hit high gear on an exciting 2024 campaign.

Advertisement

READ MORE: Former Dallas Cowboys Turned Washington Commanders Center ‘Could Shape 2024 Season’

Washington Commanders offensive tackle works out with position coach Bobby Johnson

Washington Commanders offensive tackle works out with position coach Bobby Johnson / Instagram/b_coleman77

“Rookie Brandon Coleman and veteran Cornelius Lucas figure to be the main two candidates fighting for the left tackle spot, and Washington will need to figure out which guy is right for the job before it can truly prepare for the regular season.”

The foundation of any home is hardly ever noticed if it’s solid. It’s when the thing crumbles and cracks that it gets paid the most attention.

Similarly, the offensive line is the platform which the entire offense leaps off of or collapses on top of.

This year the unit will once again have three new starters. Center Tyler Biadasz joins right guard Sam Cosmi and right tackle Andrew Wylie, but the left side is a near-complete mystery.

We assume left guard Nick Allegretti will eventually win that job, but the left tackle position is up in the air.

Advertisement

Rookie Brandon Coleman and veteran Cornelius Lucas figure to be the main two candidates fighting for the left tackle spot, and Washington will need to figure out which guy is right for the job before it can truly prepare for the regular season.

Will it be second-year player Emmanuel Forbes or veteran free agent Michael Davis? That’s the presumed contest and Benjamin St-Juste appears to have his job all but locked up at this point. Though these things can turn on a dime sometimes.

Forbes struggled mightily in his rookie season but many chalk that up to poor coaching as much as they do his inability to physically match some of the best receivers in the NFL.

That weight Forbes is feeling on his shoulders entering his second training camp is his future in the league as many have already noted him down as the loser in this battle.

After fielding the worst secondary in the NFL last year the Commanders figure they’ve upgraded the unit with free agent Jeremy Chinn and by putting Quan Martin at free safety full-time (at least as full-time as he can be through OTAs and minicamp). Now they’re looking for a rebound by St-Juste, a boost from rookie slot corner Mike Sainristil, and either a resurgence by Forbes or a replacement in Davis.

Advertisement

Daniels himself is not an issue. He’s been nothing less than stellar since getting drafted No. 2 overall in April.

The question – and issue – is, how much risk do you take with your franchise rookie?

Legendary quarterback Joe Theismann says none. Don’t play him one snap in a preseason contest, he says.

Others, however, believe the rookie needs as many reps as possible.

Then there’s the middle who want to lean on joint practices for the best in-game experience without the risk and little-to-no full contact potential before the regular season.

Advertisement

There’s no right answer, really, only the one that will be criticized or praised through the unfair lens of hindsight when Daniels thrives or struggles. Still, it’s an issue coach Dan Quinn and his staff have to figure out.

READ MORE: Former Commanders Quarterback Starting ‘For Now’ With New England Patriots

Stick with CommanderGameday and the Locked On Commanders podcast for more FREE coverage of the Washington Commanders throughout the 2024 season.

• Washington Commanders Were Willing To Pay and Trade For Disgruntled 49ers Star Aiyuk

• Even With ‘Culture Builder’ Dan Quinn the Commanders Are Hard to Project

Advertisement

• ‘Only One Direction’ For Washington Commanders To Go As Training Camp Nears

• ‘Don’t Be Surprised’ if Washington Commanders Jayden Daniels is Better Than Williams



Source link

Washington

Washington University officials issue all-clear after reports of armed person on campus

Published

on

Washington University officials issue all-clear after reports of armed person on campus


Washington University issued an all-clear alert Tuesday morning after police completed a search of the Danforth campus.

The university said normal activity on campus could resume and there was no threat.

The university had issued reports of an armed person on the Danforth campus earlier in the morning. University officials asked students to shelter in place while police searched the area around Brookings Hall.

The first alert, issued at 9:18 a.m., read “WashU Alert: Armed person on Danforth Campus. Run, Hide, or Fight. If hiding, lock or barricade yourself in a room until further notice. If off campus, stay away. Updates at emergency.washu.edu.”

Advertisement

A second alert, issued minutes later, said police were on the scene near Brookings Hall and other buildings on the Danforth campus.

This story has been updated.





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Washington

‘Eye-opening’: Ursula shocked at nearly half of ICE arrests in Washington have no criminal history

Published

on

‘Eye-opening’: Ursula shocked at nearly half of ICE arrests in Washington have no criminal history


After federal data revealed that nearly 2,000 people were taken into ICE custody in Washington between the start of President Trump’s second term and October 2025, The Seattle Times found that 47% of those who were taken into custody had no criminal convictions or pending charges.

KIRO hosts Ursula Reutin and Spike O’Neill were appalled at the findings due to the Trump administration’s promise to target the most violent offenders, but now individuals without a criminal history are being arrested.

“It’s just like promises kept, promises made, promises broken, from the Trump administration,” Spike said. “Nobody campaigned on clearing out the Home Depot workforce or the kitchen staff here, there, and everywhere. That’s not what people campaigned on. They campaigned on the worst of the worst. We all, I think, support the removal of the worst of the worst. But you mentioned 47% in Washington have no criminal record.”

Ursula noted that a small percentage of the 2,000 ICE arrests made in Washington had a criminal with a violent crime, while a vast majority had nothing worse than a traffic violation.

Advertisement

“When we break it down, we’re talking about a very, very tiny percentage, 13%, being violent crimes,” Ursula said. “If you have a violent crime, you should be deported, period. But we’re talking about, again, some kind of traffic infraction. It’s eye-opening when you see what was promised, and what is actually happening.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.




Source link

Continue Reading

Washington

Judge scolds prosecutors in hearing on search of Washington Post reporter’s home

Published

on

Judge scolds prosecutors in hearing on search of Washington Post reporter’s home


A federal judge in Virginia scolded Justice Department attorneys on Friday for not mentioning the 1980 Privacy Protection Act when they submitted their application for a warrant to search a Washington Post reporter’s home and seize her devices.

The Privacy Protection Act limits the government’s ability to search and seize journalists’ materials.

“Did you not tell me intentionally or did you not know,” Magistrate Judge William Porter asked.

Advertisement

The testy exchange unfolded in the middle of a hearing to determine whether the government should be permitted to search through the devices seized from Post reporter Hannah Natanson – or whether the government must return those devices to Natanson without an extensive search.

The judge appeared inclined to find a middle ground that would allow the court to do a search of the devices on behalf of the government – and then hand information relevant to the search warrant over to prosecutors. This would prevent the government from having potentially unfettered access to Natanson’s devices, which The Post said the reporter has used to communicate with roughly 1,200 confidential sources.

“I have a pretty good sense of what I’m going to do here,” Porter said, adding that he wanted to spend some more time thoroughly considering his options before making a ruling. He scheduled another hearing for March 4 and said he expects to issue his ruling before then.

Friday’s hearing marked the first time that prosecutors and attorneys for The Post have met in court since the unprecedented Jan. 14 search of Natanson’s home in Virginia. Federal agents seized a phone, two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive and a Garmin watch. Law enforcement officials said the search was part of their investigation into government contractor Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a systems administrator with top secret clearance who was indicted in Maryland last month on charges of unlawfully obtaining and sharing classified materials.

The discussion of the Privacy Protection Act reflected the tense moment of the nearly hour-long hearing in the Alexandria, Virginia, federal courthouse. Porter said he was particularly frustrated because he had spent two days going back and forth with the government in January before he approved the warrant. He said he rejected multiple versions of the warrant requests before settling on a relatively narrow warrant to seize information on Natanson’s devices pertaining to her communications with the government contractor.

Advertisement

The 1980 act is intended to prevent the criminalization of a reporter gathering information. It says that a journalist’s materials should be seized only if that journalist is suspected of committing a crime with those materials. The law says that a reporter’s possessions can be seized if investigators suspect they contain certain materials related to sensitive national security information.

Justice Department trial attorney Christian Dibblee apologized to the judge and said he could not answer the questions about why the government had not discussed that law because he was not involved in the submission of the warrant. Another prosecutor who submitted the warrant – Gordon Kromberg, a veteran attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia – chimed in and said he did not mention the law because he does not believe it applied to the case.

Porter suggested that whether or not the law applied in this instance, prosecutors should have included it in the application so that the judge could determine its relevance.

“That’s minimizing it,” Porter told the government trial attorney when he said he understood the judge’s frustration.

It is exceptionally rare for law enforcement officials to search reporters’ homes to further cases in which the journalist is not a target. The law allows such searches under some circumstances, but federal regulations intended to protect a free press are designed to make it more difficult to use aggressive law enforcement tactics against reporters to obtain the identities of their sources.

Advertisement

The Post and Natanson’s attorneys have decried the search as one that “flouts the First Amendment and ignores federal statutory safeguards for journalists.” They have demanded that the government return the devices so Natanson can continue reporting and said that “almost none” of the materials on the devices are relevant to the case against the contractor.

Attorneys for The Post and Natanson argued in court that the seizures have prevented Natanson from doing her job because she cannot publish material without her devices and sources. They also said that the government’s seizure could have a chilling effect on future government sources who may want to speak out about their workplaces to reporters.

“It is not about one reporter and one journalist – it has to do with confidential sources,” an attorney for The Post, Simon Latcovich, told the judge.

The Justice Department attorneys conceded that they seized more materials from Natanson than is relevant to the search warrant. But they said that’s a standard reality in such searches. The government planned to set up a filter team to sift through the materials and then hand over only relevant information to the investigators, the prosecutors said.

“The government takes seriously that you did not authorize a fishing expedition,” Dibblee told Porter.

Advertisement

Perez-Lugones pleaded not guilty last month to counts of retaining and sharing sensitive national security information. The Justice Department has said that Perez-Lugones had been messaging Natanson shortly before his arrest.

Natanson covers the federal workforce and has been part of The Post’s most high-profile and sensitive coverage related to government firings, national security and diplomacy during the first year of the second Trump administration. She contributed reporting to a number of recent articles around the United States’ capture of Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.

In December, Natanson wrote a first-person account about her experience covering the federal workforce as the Trump administration created upheaval across the government. She detailed how she posted her secure phone number to an online forum for government workers and amassed more than 1,000 sources, with federal workers frequently contacting her to share frustrations and accounts from their offices.

Natanson wrote in a declaration to the court last month that she typically receives anywhere from dozens to upward of 100 tips from sources per day on Signal. Since the seizure, the number of tips has fallen to zero.

Prosecutors also served The Post with a subpoena seeking information related to the same government contractor. The subpoena asked The Post to hand over any communications between the contractor and other employees.

Advertisement

Porter said at the hearing that he took issue with the framing of the search as unprecedented because it was executed at a journalist’s home. He noted that Natanson wrote in her first-person essay that she often works from home, which would make it a logical place to execute a search warrant.

“I think that’s an inflammatory fact,” Porter said.

Attorneys for The Post and Natanson repeatedly suggested that the government’s search was an overreach because agents seized all of her devices, which comprised the entirety of her reporting materials. Porter asked multiple times whether there was an alternative way the government could have conducted its search since the materials are stored together on electronic devices – and not, for example, on individual pages or notebooks.

“I still haven’t heard some alternative way that you think this could have been done,” Porter said to the attorneys.

Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this report.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending