The Commanders have a lot of free agency decisions to make on the veterans they signed to one-year deals and other expiring players, but they also have one big choice: what to do with Marshon Lattimore?
The Junkies took a listen to what Adam Peters had to say yesterday about Lattimore’s performance after coming over from the Saints – saying he ‘came into a tough situation’ and chalking a lot of his issues up to injury and lack of prep time – but the question still remains if the Commanders can count on him?
“We said yesterday that if you give him a whole offseason and camp, and hopefully he’s 100 percent healthy, he should be a better player,” Bish said.
“I don’t expect much different; I think he's very physical, grabby, whatever. I don’t mind physical, but he’s gonna be a pain in the ass,” EB chimed back.
“I don’t think he ingratiated himself to his teammates, either, when he was asked after the game what went wrong and he didn’t really own it himself,” Cakes added. “You have to do that when the other team puts up 55 on you.”
So it kinda seems like one keep, one dump, with Cakes in the middle, and if the Commanders go the former, they have two more years at $18 million each – kind of a steal for a potential lockdown No. 1 corner. If it’s the latter, though, the Commanders can get out of his deal with no dead cap if he’s cut before March 16, and all it cost was a couple draft picks.
That’s if, though, Adam Peters does that and just admits it didn’t work, something Cakes thinks he was trying to finesse his way around at Monday’s presser.
“This is partially Adam Peters putting it out there that like, hey, I made this move, let's give it some time. I understand him trying to finesse the situation,” Cakes said. “He acquired him for a third, a fourth, (and a swap of a six for a five) and you didn't get the returns you were looking for in that first half season. So now, he's hoping with an offseason of rest, recuperation, more integration into the scheme, that he'll be a better player.”
“I'm sure a lot of fans feel the same way, and I think you gotta give him another year, when hopefully he's gonna play a whole year,” Bish said, directing that at EB, who replied that “Zach Ertz hadn’t played a whole year for years, either, and had a resurgence, so it's possible.”
“I don't mind having guys that are like kind of like jerks on the field, for lack of a better way of describing them – no one like Wilbur Marshall, but I sure liked having him on my team,” EB continued. “BMitch was like that, too, but I haven’t seen the payoff. I think he was a disaster, but to your point, let’s see if he can get healthy at some point. I didn’t see any indication he wasn’t healthy, except that he sucked!”
And when Valdez chimed in by saying ‘this could end up being Adam Peters’ first L,’ JP finally weighed in:
“I would run it back with him, and hope that these five or six games we saw him were a bit of an anomaly, and he shows why he got the big contract,” JP said. “I don't think Adam Peters would have gotten him if his best was years ago and he wasn't producing even this year in New Orleans.”
Where do you fall on the topic of what was the Junkies’ Poll of the Day? Listen to the whole conversation above!