Videos of Deebo Samuel at his first Washington Commanders minicamp have not been well-received on social media.
Commenters have said Samuel looks slow, that he looks fat, that he isn’t the player he once was.
Commanders head coach Dan Quinn didn’t address those thoughts directly, but he did share his thoughts on Samuel’s speed with reporters, and it doesn’t sound like he’s concerned.
“Somewhere along the way, I’d forgotten until [he was] out here how fast he is,” Quinn said.
As a defensive coach, Quinn has had to worry about game planning for Samuel before.
“And so, sometimes when you’re playing against the receiver you say, ‘Man, you better either get him at the line or you better be on top of him.’” Quinn said. “With him, so many times there were so many runs after catch plays that we had a tackling plan and how would you go about it?”
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Yes, even in camp, Quinn thinks Samuel is still a burner.
“I can remember one time he just ran by somebody down the field on a deep ball and I was like, ‘Yeah, I forgot about that,’” Quinn said. “So. . . it didn’t surprise me, but it was maybe [that] I missed talking about it to that space because I was easily reminded, he’s one of the fastest players on the team.”
To be sure, Quinn probably wouldn’t get on a microphone and proclaim that Samuel has lost a step.
Still, though, Commanders fans should be encouraged by this.
Samuel is an exciting offseason addition to help Jayden Daniels, and if he’s still his usual self, that’s big news.
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