BMitch reminds you not to buy any of the offseason hype until training camp begins

As Public Enemy once said, so says Brian Mitchell about NFL minicamps: Don’t Believe the Hype.

BMitch and JP Finlay were out in Ashburn Tuesday for the first day of the Commanders’ three-day minicamp, the final activity of the “offseason” before training camp begins in late July. So far, over voluntary events/OTAs and rookie minicamps, we’ve seen and heard a lot of good from Commanders Park, and a little bit of bad too – but as Brian says, none of it really means a whole hill of beans.

“Right now we can't expect very much, but you can start to see about who's gonna be taking most of the reps, and find out which guys are gonna be the ones that you're gonna see being depends on a little more – but they’re not tackling anybody, and nobody is stressed out,” Brian said. “This is the beginning stages of a team that we hope to be a lot better than they were last year. Last year, they finished 4-13 and I didn't see leadership or guidance, and I’m expecting a little bit more of that this year. Some players weren't allowed to be leaders because everybody was just running the scheme instead of being able to talk and bring people along, and I think that is gonna make this football team better than what it was last year, so I'm looking forward to it.”

Tuesday was the first day Brian got to see the beginnings of the 2024 Commanders up close, and yeah, you see some basic things, but it’s not for another six weeks that things get serious.

“When the offense is running, they're gonna allow them to do things to be more successful, and same with the defense; you can't expect very much competition into this thing, because they want to make sure these guys are gonna go on a six-week vacation and get ready to come back in training camp,” Brian said. “Then, you're gonna compete. You're gonna be putting on pads, you get to find out how you're going to think about things. Coaches are not gonna be helping you as much today, because this begins to get to a point where the coaches are trying to see how can you take information and hold on to it, and how you do when something switches up.”

It’s been a long time since he played, but B still remembers his minicamp days…and how, as a rookie, he didn’t quite get the game just yet.

“As a rookie, I was trying to impress people, and I was wondering why these other guys were moving so slow, looked like they're going through the motions,” he recalled. “As a young guy, you want to spark some attention and make sure the coaches understand that you came in here confident, you knew everything you had to do, so you move fast – but as you get older, you go through it and you want to come out of it healthy. We always say the main thing you want to see accomplished in training camp is health, and that’s definitely the case in minicamp, unless it’s a super-freak accident, because you don’t get nothing to tell you what the season is gonna be at this time of the year.”

So, yeah, don’t believe the hype.

“Any proclamation after this minicamp about how great they are, how great they gonna be, is probably somebody that's just trying to blow smoke up your butt. You cannot figure that out at this time,” B said. “You can see if guys are in shape or moving around well, but you can’t tell me how good somebody will be running around in t-shirts and shorts. What I've seen and what I have noticed is this coaching staff expects people to move around quickly, and will hold people accountable; they are not out there to play around, they want to see competition, and that should help your team. Some guys have things to prove, so the competition level and energy will be up a little more, but that means you usually end up with a better team. Iron sharpens iron, and I’m ready to see that this year; you won’t get it today, but you probably will get that when they come back in July.”