The Daily Slop – 23 June 2026
Editor’s note: Each day, Hogs Haven compiles a collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders, the NFC East, the NFL and sports in general, with a sprinkling of other stuff. Enjoy!
Commanders links
Articles
Sports Boom
League Sources See Dan Quinn on the Hot Seat Despite Commanders’ Recent Success
The NFC East might be deeper and better than it’s been in a long time, which could be problematic for Quinn, and after 10 teams made coaching changes last year, the competition for the best and brightest candidates won’t be as steep this winter in all likelihood.
And the reality is, inexperienced owners tend to have a short fuse with head coaches in this league.
“Keep an eye on (former Bills head coach) Sean McDermott there next year,” one longtime NFL personnel executive told SportsBoom. “Just remember who told you first.”
One general manager told me early this offseason that he believes the Commanders are seriously considering making a head coaching change this winter.
Bullock’s Film Room (subscription)
Can David Blough make Josh Conerly Jr. a “weapon”?
Blough said he wanted to use his lineman as weapons, so how might he use Conerly as one?
Earlier this offseason, new Commanders coordinator David Blough talked about using his young, athletic offensive lineman as “weapons”, specifically citing 2025 first round pick Josh Conerly Jr. Conerly had some ups and downs in his rookie year with a rough start followed by some encouraging development down the stretch. He’s been working all offseason with star left tackle Laremy Tunsil and as we saw at mini camp last week, that work is helping him improve his technique.
But as promising as Conerly is as a prospect, he’s still a right tackle. How exactly can an offense use a right tackle as a “weapon” as David Blough described? For some ideas on that, we can look to the offense that Blough is reportedly looking to base his 2026 Commanders attack on, the 2023 Detroit Lions. The 2023 Lions offense had a young Penei Sewell starting at right tackle for them. Sewell, like Conerly, was a first round pick out of Oregon as a very talented and athletic tackle prospect but a bit raw coming out. By 2023 though, he had developed into one of the better tackles in the league.
The Lions did a great job featuring Sewell in their offense in a variety of ways, making use of him as a “weapon” where other teams might see him as just an offensive lineman. It’s worth noting here that I’m not comparing Conerly to Sewell in terms of overall talent and skill, just that Blough might look to use Conerly in a similar fashion in this system
One of the more obvious answers here is the screen game. Screen games live and die by how well they are blocked. If you’re throwing a bunch of bubble screens to receivers, your offensive lineman aren’t necessarily as involved in that. But if you want to run a diverse and strong screen game, you need offensive lineman that are athletic enough to get out in space and set up those screens properly.
Commanders Roundtable
Three lingering questions for the Washington Commanders after minicamp
Does Brandon Coleman re-emerge along starting OL?
The Commanders welcome ample continuity along the offensive line in 2026 with bookend tackles Josh Conerly leaning on veteran Laremy Tunsil ahead of his second season. Nick Allegretti has shown all the signs of taking over the starting center job with preseason a chance for him and Matt Gulbin to add confidence to the rotation, but maybe the biggest question heading into July is if a change [will] materialize at left guard.
Brandon Coleman was demoted in favor of Chris Paul at left guard just two weeks into the 2025 season, and while it appeared [for a while as if] Paul would depart in free agency, that didn’t [happen]; the former seventh-round pick inked a one-year deal. After a strong season, there’s a chance for Paul to build on that success and become a multi-year starter, but Coleman will have a chance to shake that up.
While head coach Dan Quinn cautioned that roughly 80% of the offense has been installed so far, the Commanders are expected to feature more zone blocking under Blough, which could favor Coleman’s strengths [over] Paul’s. Quinn also noted that while Coleman has versatility along the offensive line, he’ll stick at left guard where he and Paul will get a chance to compete through training camp into preseason. Evaluating the experienced depth is a good problem to have for Washington, but ‘who shakes out?’ is its own question mark.
The Athletic (paywall)
‘Bill’ got bigger. But the Commanders need him to expand his game, too
Croskey-Merritt is significantly bigger, which he attributed to a cleaner diet and more time in the weight room. While his size was the most noticeable change, it was only a small part of his broader plan to be “a whole different version” of himself.
He needed to add size, both for strength and for reserve during the long NFL season.
He needed to improve his ball security after losing two of the team’s five rushing fumbles last season.
And he needed to expand his game.
“I do feel like there’s like this elevation that’s taking place with him,” Quinn said at the start of minicamp last week. “He’s always been hungry for it.”
Croskey-Merritt has to quickly evolve his game to be a more complete back — one who can reliably block and be a target in the pass game, who can be used in motion (often) and who can create the same explosiveness on a variety of runs from a variety of alignments.
“From a play design, a little bit different with some stretch cutback-type of plays,” Quinn said. “So, seeing him do that, his explosiveness to go and do that, that’s a big deal.”
Riggo’s Rag
Laremy Tunsil sent all the right signals over Commanders’ offseason program
Tunsil is worth every cent. And looking at the way he’s approached this offseason, it’s a financial commitment he is looking to repay.
JP Finlay of NBC Sports highlighted how impressive Tunsil was over early workouts. And there was one thing above all else that caught his eye.
“One of the most impressive things I saw throughout the summer was from Laremy Tunsil. Known around the league as a hard worker and leader but with little regard for showing that publicly, this summer allowed a peak.
“The single moment that stood out for me came from the conclusion of minicamp practices when the entire team ran a series of short sprints. Tunsil – the five-time Pro Bowler going into his 11th season and with career earnings of well over $100 million – was grinding out the June sprints. Actions not words.”
Leading by example. And it’s not the first example of this with Tunsil.
Commanders.com
Commanders 2026 opponent breakdown | Philadelphia Eagles
Can the Eagles replace A.J. Brown in the aggregate? The Eagles’ trade of A.J. Brown was one of the most expected moves of the offseason. They got a decent haul from the New England Patriots for the move, but it did create a vacuum in the receiver room that they spent the last few months preparing for. They traded picks away for Packers wideout Dontayvion Wicks and signed several veterans like Hollywood Brown and Elijah Moore. They also used a first-round pick on Lemon, giving the Eagles what they hope is a consistent weapon in the slot. There is a scenario where those moves could work, but it will still be difficult to replace A.J. Brown’s size and production (he’s had at least 1,000 yards over the last four seasons and racked up 32 touchdowns). At the very least, Hurts will have options in the passing game.
Last Man Standig (paywall)
The Commanders’ edge rusher watched Otega Oweh become a Kentucky hero while celebrating a life-changing free-agent deal of his own
Otega has the goods to play basketball professionally. The Washington Wizards, along with the No. 1 overall selection in this week’s NBA Draft, hold picks 51 and 60 in the second round. The brothers have likely imagined a scenario in which they are once again in the same city.
Odafe would never have pictured the events of March unfolding as they did.
“You’re never going to be in that situation again.”
For more from Ben Standig, click here
Photos
Podcasts & videos
Commanders Drops Are NOT Worth Panic Yet
NFC East links
Blogging the Boys
Hard to believe they can write it with a straight face after all these years decades
This is a team who is not only returning all of their starting offense this year, but one who is expected to improve by leaps and bounds defensively from a season ago. Because of that, the Cowboys are a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
Dak Prescott’s troublesome (‘even’ year) injury history dating back to 2020
In 2020, Prescott only managed to play a total of five games due to a season-ending ankle injury he sustained that ultimately required surgery. The following season he bounced back in a big way throwing for nearly 4,500 yards (4,449) and 37 touchdowns, leading the Cowboys to a 11-5 record before losing to the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs.
Then in 2022 a right thumb injury limited Prescott to just 12 starts, leading to one of his worst seasons of his career. He threw a career-high 15 INT’s to just 23 touchdowns and 2,860 yards. But once again, he bounced back in a big way in 2023 throwing for 4,516 yards, 36 touchdowns and just nine INT’s, helping him to finish second in the MVP race.
The injury-plagued trend continued once again for Prescott in 2024. He only managed to play a total of eight games, finishing with only 1978 passing yards, 11 TDs, and eight INT’s. But once again, he bounced back in 2025 spearheading one of the best offensive units in the entire league, which led to his fourth Pro Bowl appearance.
With one of the toughest 2026 schedules and with such high expectations this year, the Cowboys simply can’t afford Dak Prescott to miss any amount of time due to injury this season. That’s especially true considering the depth behind him [Sam Howell; Joe Milton].
Big Blue View
Has anybody else noticed that suddenly, the NY Giants have the best offensive line in the NFCE?
Dallas & Philly’s line are aging and have injury troubles, Washington also not far behind them in that department.
Our trenches are starting to tighten up nicely and should keep getting better.
[From Bill-in-Bangkok: The Giants projected starting 5 (with ages) – Thomas 27, Runyan 28, Schmitz 27, Mauigoa 21, Eluemunor 31, Mbow 23, Ezeudu 26]
NFL league links
Articles
Pro Football Talk
After Scottish takeover of Boston, Robert Kraft wants Patriots to play in Scotland
Via Nicole Yang of the Boston Globe, Kraft has informed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that the Patriots are interested in playing a regular-season game in Scotland.
Scotland had not previously been mentioned as a potential site of an NFL game.
It’s another example of the overall impact of the ongoing World Cup. America is getting an extended glimpse of the intense passion that fans from other countries have for soccer. That’s the feeling into which the NFL is hoping to tap through its ongoing global experiment.
Discussion topics
The Athletic (paywall)
Dane Brugler: Is Brendan Sorsby worth the risk?
Strictly talking about the on-field outlook, Sorsby is a very talented, yet underdeveloped quarterback prospect. Had he entered the 2026 NFL Draft, he would have been QB3 for most teams and likely would have been selected in the mid-Day 2 range (mostly third-round grades but probably taken in Round 2 because of positional inflation).
At 6 feet 3 and 235 pounds with 4.6 speed, Sorsby has an impressive physical profile plus the quick release and arm velocity to sling the ball from different platforms to all three levels. However, he is also loose with his mechanics, which creates wild inconsistency in his ball placement. And the Cincinnati offense limited his development in making progression reads, setting protections and other aspects of playing the position at a high level. If he’d shown improvements in those key areas during his senior year at Texas Tech, Sorsby would have put himself in the 2027 first-round mix.
Which team will make the most aggressive bid? You have obvious options, such as the Browns and Jets, because both are prime candidates to draft a quarterback very early in the 2027 NFL Draft. Might they view Sorsby as insurance? For example, if the Browns finish with the No. 4 pick next April and are unable to trade up for quarterbacks who go 1-2-3, the organization still would have Sorsby to develop.
There also are teams with short-term answers but long-term question marks at the position, including the Buccaneers, Falcons and Steelers. And then there are teams that have established starters but are always looking to acquire talented assets, such as the Packers and Eagles. The problem with many of the potential fits is that those teams’ quarterback depth charts are already crowded, which adds another layer to the complicated Sorsby projection.
