Might safety Quan Martin actually understand the offseason workouts better than some veterans?
Martin has only played two NFL seasons, and going into his third season with Washington, he revealed (perhaps unknowingly) that he grasps the benefits of these team workouts. This being his second year to play in Joe Whitt’s defense, Martin spoke last week of “building chemistry with the guys on and off the field.”
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The former Illinois defensive back said a player can gain a lot out of these workouts, referring to detailed walkthroughs and his second year in the system. ” You kind of know what to expect,” that is, he is learning more about how to anticipate and react rather than having to slow down and think through the principles in Whitt’s defense.
Yes, Marshon Lattimore has much more NFL experience than Martin. Yet, it is also true that Lattimore did not perform well coming to Washington in the 2024 midseason trade from New Orleans. Apparently, Lattimore doesn’t feel he needs to learn Whitt’s defensive principles, having chosen to reject the open invitation to come and work out this offseason with his defensive teammates.
On the other hand, here was Martin last week, when asked why it was important to be there during the workouts: “Details, details, just getting my fundamentals down.” Martin obviously was concerned not only with learning the details vaguely but also mastering them, nailing them down last week.
Rather than seeing it as a waste of a week, Martin saw last week as an opportunity to master “the basic things you do every day on the practice field and in the meeting rooms.” The second-round draft choice by Ron Rivera in the 2023 draft has the opportunity to become one of the few draft choices by Rivera to make significant contributions to the Commanders.
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Why wait until training camp to attempt to do what you could begin accomplishing now? For example, “building a stronger relationship with these guys and having the room to go into to talk to them about whatever, the defense, really trying to pick each other’s brains.”
It’s encouraging to see that Martin gets it.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders’ Quan Martin understands the offseason’s importance