Hogs Haven
ESPN
Terry McLaurin’s hold-in — as well as Noah Brown sidelined while recovering from a knee injury in the spring — has helped allow quarterback Jayden Daniels to develop a growing rapport with new receiver Deebo Samuel. That has been on display since camp started when the two connected on a deep ball. It was evident in the joint session against New England and again on Sunday in a non-padded practice.
Daniels loves throwing the slot fade to Samuel and that’s what they connected on during a seven-on-seven drill in which he beat corner Mike Sainristil for a touchdown. Daniels said the connection can get even better.
“Deebo is starting to understand how I see things,” Daniels said. “I love hearing his feedback as to what he sees.
“He looks good. He makes plays, contested catches. As we grow this thing I’m excited to see what we do in a game setting.”
Bullock’s Film Room (subscription)
The Commanders rested 30 players including almost every starter and plenty of key back ups too. But as a rookie, Amos was allowed to play, albeit it in a very limited number of snaps. He only played the first three series before being rested, while everyone else continued to play, which again speaks to where he’s at in his development and readiness, but that did give us an opportunity to see him on the field in a Commanders uniform for the first time. So how did he perform? Let’s take a closer look.
This was the play that stood out most from Amos in this game. On first and 10 just outside the red zone, the Patriots line up in a trips set to the right side of the field with big receiver Mack Hollins on the outside. The Commanders match up man-to-man with Amos working against Hollins on a fade route down the sideline. A large part of the reason the Commanders drafted Amos was because of his size and length in press coverage giving him the ability to play man-to-man against bigger receivers in situations just like this.
At the snap of the ball, Amos shows good patience. He doesn’t fall into the trap of lunging towards the receiver trying to jam him aggressively. Instead he waits for the receiver to declare his intentions. The receiver uses a stutter at the line before taking an outside release. Once he declares his outside release, that’s when Amos makes contact. He uses his length to get his inside hand on the shoulder of the receiver and force him further outside.
Amos opens his hips and runs well with the receiver, staying on top of the route all the way down the sideline. He uses that position to gradually fade the receiver towards the sideline too, cutting down the throwing window for the quarterback. The quarterback reads man coverage...
