Welcome to the Command Center podcast. I'm Braham Whitstein. The nation's top college prospects are gathered in Indianapolis to showcase their skills in the twenty twenty three NFL Combine. Former Washington tight end Logan Paulson joined us from Indie to share what he's seen from the first few days of the combine. Logan Paulson joins us now from Indianapolis. At the Combine, today is a good day to speak with you.
Almost every mock draft that I read has Washington locked in at sixteen on a defensive back or an offensive lineman. And the corners were working out today. So what did you see and hear from that position group. Yeah, the quarterbacks did their interviews today and I think it's been not so much what they said in the interviews, but it's what we learned last night when we're out kind of talking to the coaches, talking to the scouts. It seems like Christian Gonzalez is the guy that's going to
be kind of in that top ten pick. There's a little bit concern about Meriweather's height weight. I love his film better. If he was there at sixteen, I'd say locked that in one hundred percent, but obviously everyone's got their flavor of the month. Okay, So sixteen, do you feel like defensive back after what you've seen it heard, seems like a likely outcome for Washington. It does seem like likely outcome if one of those guys were to fall.
I don't think they will. Obviously. The next guy is Joey Porter Junior excuse me, very talented, more of a man fit kind of guy, not a true scheme fit for this cover three that Washington likes to run. So I think if that's the option, maybe think about trading back. Okay, so we'll keep an eye on defensive back. How about offensive line? Obviously that's a need as well, maybe addressed in free agency, may be addressed early in the draft.
What are you thinking it's sixteen in terms of offensive lineman? Yeah, I mean really, the guy that everyone is kind of talking about is Peter Scronsky. He is outstanding from Norris Winstern, He's super talented. Obviously there's some size concerns technician. If you were to follow you a sixteen, he can play guard, tackles center. That's the guy that I got my eyes gone, obviously. Broderick Jones is the guy that we're getting a lot
of mock to tremendous athlete, but very very raw. So again, in that situation, if one of those guys isn't available, trade back, look at a Darnell Right, look at Dwayne Jones, those other guys very very talented, true tackles. How about interior offensive line? Do you think that that's a possibility for a straight guard center or strictly a guard at sixteen? Yeah, that's really interesting, man. I'm glad you asked that. The guy that has kind of been in circulation is the
big guard from Florida. But a guy that came up in the conversations last night was Tillman, the center guard out of Wisconsin, a guy that not what he's talking about, but obviously the NFL community is really excited about. Okay. The other spot that obviously is of need and mighty get addressed in free agency and might get addressed in the draft or potentially both is lined acker where there's no clear cut starter on this roster outside of jam
and Davis. So from your point of view of the linebackers who are going to be working out tonight, what do you see from that draft class. Yeah, this is kind of really fun group. There's a guy like Jack Campbell, who's maybe the most linebacker linebacker of all time. He's six two forty five pounds. But for a guy like him today, how's he gonna run? He's a little tight in the hips, and can he kind of match some
athletic qualities to that tremendous football intuition. Then you got a guy like the kid from Washington State who played receiver for a couple of years. Tremendous athlete, but how does that intuition hold up? So there's kind of all these cool storylines around these guys. Do you think linebacker's a possibility early in the draft for them? You know, I don't think so. I think there's the needed offensive line, the need a corner as long as they're not addressing
that in free agency. I think the linebacker thing will kind of address itself later in the draft. And I think there's enough talent, enough kind of upside players that you feel good about it. Logan Paulson at the Combine in Indianapolis. Thanks Logan, Thanks appreciate it. With free agency on the horizon, former players, Satanamas said, Fred Scouth joined me to discuss franchise tagging defensive tackle to Ron Payne and what they're looking for in free agency. Let's start
with Ron Hayne. What did you make of the tag? This is what a tag is to me. It's like when you're married and you in a relationship and you gotta go see counseling. You know, you almost at the end right now, you know this is the last ditch effort to say this relationship and make us grown. But at the end of the day, we did this with Kirk Cousins, we did this with Brandon shaff I just think when you draft well, you cannot play and resign that entire room. So I thought this was the best
thing to do in it came room. Those other two did not work out in the long term deal. I think this situation is a little bit different, though, right I think it's I think it's not so different. I think the only different thing about this one he actually wants to be yeah, yeah, okay, what do you make a pay? But I mean, just to be honest with you, we can't keep all those guys. I mean, we drafted it so well to where if those guys you know,
basically played up to expectations. Sooner or later, we're gonna have to say if we didn't win at that given time that those draft picks was here, then we lost. You know what I mean, These guys they deserve better pay, They deserve what they're gonna probably be tentionally. What you know, Dron Payne show you he's worth right now. And quite frankly, we don't have the money for that. Our team has other needs. And last time Brown two interior players made
over fifty million dollars. It was Warren Sap and Booker McFarland at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They managed to get one Super Bowl out of the team. I just don't see people doing it. They prone to play the edges before they and play the interior guys. You're gonna wait out Chase Young to find out what the health is with him, and then Montes Sweat. This has been kind of a simmering story here. He's entering the final year of his contract too, so there's a lot of decisions
that need to be made as well. All right, as for Bobby McCain being released, Yeah, but it seems to show a lot of confidence in the young safeties. Well, you got for us, you got Butler that showed us, especially that last game of the season, that he can really go out here and be called upon and an answer. So when you saw him, Macame, I think it was a down year for him. He played well, he didn't play as well as he played the year before. So
he was expendable. He wasn't versatile for them, Yeah, different, he was versatile, and then that time he tried to make him cover too much. I think, yeah, you know him a knife but losing the stale. But I think he was out there more for his leadership. He was out there more for his communication skills, and this is what they're gonna have to replace. Like person, but is one of those guys play one hundred mile per hour, not thinking all the time. He needs somebody to slew
him down and talk to him. So I look for him in the off season to sign a veteran presence back there with those defensive backs. Okay, so where's the focus go next? They've done some of their business here. Paint is at least in toe for this season. We'll see beyond. There are holes offensive line, linebacker, corner. What do you think the focus is? Fat boys? If you don't smell like bacon. I don't want you. I want guys. There's three hundred pounds that can move people. I want
people to kick people out the club. It has to be the offensive life, and it has to be the linebackers. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I gotta I got a second that. I think offensive line is probably the top priority. We want to look at linebacker snakes and then cornerbacks. Cornerback should be bottom bottom of the list. But those two positions, offensive line and linebacker, to me, I think those are key for your offense and your free agency of the draft.
Or I need to let both With the linebackers, I need an older linebacker because I need a leader help I did. I need some youth to to incorporate into that. So I want to get a little bit of everything. For all your news and analysis, be sure to tune into command Center weeknights at five and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington. You can also stream on YouTube and Commanders dot com.