Ben Sinnott, the Commanders’ fourth-round pick, has just five catches on five targets for 28 yards and a touchdown, and he has played a higher percentage of the team’s special teams snaps (32%) than offensive (28%).
That does NOT mean, BMitch & Finlay remind you, that he is a bust, which is important because JP was tagged in a Tweet to let him know people on PFTCommenter’s podcast are saying it.
“I think the people saying this are so incredibly stupid. Sinnott has been really good all year, but Ertz might be a Hall of Famer,” JP said. “Like, I don't understand this rush to not like Zach Ertz, who caught two touchdowns last week, including the game winner in overtime. Ertz is a fantastic player and one of the best pure route runners as a tight end, probably in NFL history.”
“We have to find a way to ignore the small amount of people who like to say the dumbest things possible, Let’s not put any more focus on them; move past them and move on,” BMitch replied. “You don't just sit down somebody because somebody outside the building thinks that they can't play. I've watched him play all year, and the guy has given us a hell of a lot! We gotta start to ignore those people, and you know what? Maybe sometimes it's the infiltration of others, like fans that didn't like him from Philly when he left, and this, that and the other.”
JP talked to Commanders tight ends coach David Raih for his “All Ears” show on NBC4, an interview he played the audio of during Friday’s show, and they talked at length about how impressed Raih is by Ertz’s bounce-back season, which has him at 61 catches for 610 yards and two TD – now nine catches, 90 yards, and 2 TDs shy of hitting $250,000 bonuses for milestones in each category.
So yeah, Sinnott isn’t showing much in the stat sheet, but he’s realistically a TE3 behind a Hall of Famer in Ertz and an elite blocker in John Bates, and to JP, ‘the notion of declaring a player a bust 16 games into his rookie season, I just find so stupid.’.
“Everyone that thought that Sinnott and Luke McCaffrey were supposed to automatically get playing time, I’ve always fought against that. I keep saying, you have to learn how to play at this level,” Brian replied. “Sinnott is a hell of a blocker, he plays special teams out of this world, and then he's gonna be able to enhance other stuff coming forward. And Luke, he’s in his third year of being a receiver, and he's at the highest level. He has to learn how to play it, and I see a bright future for him, but everybody just automatically assumes just because somebody was drafted, they play? We've seen Heisman Trophy winners never take a snap in the NFL.”
“That’s exactly where I was going – look back at the 2018 NFL Draft, and then think about what's happening in the playoffs this year,” JP replied. “No. 1 pick in that draft, Baker Mayfield, was at various points in his career dismissed as a bust repeatedly. He’s made the Pro Bowl as a first alternate, and Tampa’s almost in the playoffs again, and he’s playing at a really high level. The No. 2 pick, Saquon Barkley, the Giants just decided he was done, didn't want to pay him. How’s that look? It might cost Joe Schoen his job! No.3 pick in that draft, Landphill’s boy Sam Darnold, is 14-2 and about to get paid.”
JP looked at the entire 2018 first round, and yes, there are a couple busts (Josh Rosen), but there’s more than a few guys who needed a few years to figure it out for various reasons – which led JP back to his point that a fourth-round pick not becoming a Pro Bowler as a rookie isn’t a high crime.
“People gotta chill trying to make these pronouncements and determine draft success. Thirteen people got Pro Bowl recognition, and of those 13, 10 of them joined this organization since March, and the other three were here back to the Gruden days,” JP said. “This new staff, they know what they're doing.”
“And the pundits, when they picked all these people up, they were watching and saying, ‘oh, they didn't get no talent.’ Remember that?” Brian replied. “I said, let the people at least get in here first and see what they can do. They have more than enough talent. They just need some dept, but that’s about it.”