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Commanders OTAs: Key Takeaways, Quotes, and Clips From June 9 - The Ashburn Notebook

The Commanders kicked off their final week of OTAs today with the last open media session of the spring.
Philip Hughes|
Jayden Daniels at OTAs in Ashburn, Virginia - June 9, 2026
Jayden Daniels at OTAs in Ashburn, Virginia - June 9, 2026 | HTTR4LIFE LLC | Screenshot

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Washington Commanders

Below is a collection of tweets, videos, and quotes from various beat reporters with boots on the ground in Ashburn, Virginia, today for Commanders OTAs. You can find the full list of Commanders Beat Writers on X.

The Washington Commanders were back at it Tuesday in Ashburn, Virginia, as the team held its last media-open OTA session of the year. Only one player wasn't in attendance, left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Several players worked on a side field, including WRs Terry McLaurin and Antonio Williams, who were running drills half-speed, and RB Jacory 'Bill' Croskey-Merritt, who has been on a side field for all three open sessions now.

Below you will find video interviews from the session along with a collection of highlight tweets from the day. It may take a minute to load, but there is a ton of content to be seen here.

Clips & Highlights From Commanders OTA Practice 6-9-2026

Commanders Interviews 6-9-2026

Top Commanders Quotes

Daronte Jones on the team getting younger and faster:

“Well, obviously, you see guys flying around, and that's just the effort. You know, [Head] Coach Q [Dan Quinn] does a great job of the culture that he's built here. But the effort in guys, playing lights out and just giving all they got for their teammate, you can see that the brotherhood has been established there, and guys playing for one another. And so, the ‘younger and faster,’ I would honestly say, because of the culture that is here, even if you were older, you'll still be giving, all you got may not be as fast, and do we have some older guys, but I like the mindset of you can see the speed on the field. ”

Daronte Jones On CB Mike Sainristil and CB Amik Robertson Jr. :

“You know, they're people refer to them as being very similar, but they're different. They're different. They're similar in stature [ laugh], but, no, they're two different players, and they have different strengths. And our goal is to continue to use their strengths and kind of alleviate their weaknesses a little bit. But with Mikey, Mikey has ball history, you know, coming from Michigan and the things that he's done there, and he has inside, outside flex, and Amik is a pit bull out there, as we know, he plays with a certain level of intensity. And so, those guys, you see them in the meeting room, they mesh very well with one another. They're like two peas in the pod. And so, that chemistry that they're building will help us grow and again, utilize our versatility on the defensive side of the ball .”

Daronte Jones on if he has an idea of who will wear the green dot Week 1:

“No, it's still early. And we're fortunate enough to have this time and training camp to let that play out.”

Daronte Jones on what goes into the process of selecting a green dot :

“Well, one, it's based off of the communication, the ability to echo the call out to your teammates, but also, it's the personnel groupings, right? It's who's going to be on the field. And so, when you're talking about who that green dot can be, well, who's in the most packages? Who has earned that spot to be in the most packages? Because if you're in one package and he's off the field, then you just lost your green dot, and you don't have a chance to switch helmets in series. And so, as we're getting to know what packages we want to be in, you know, who's in what packages, as we continue to build this thing here, that will play out based off of the guy's competition. You know, you know, that's the theme of what we do here, is competition. So, we have plenty of depth days to watch this competition play itself out. And then we'll know based off of the end of that, who's going to wear the green dot.”

Dan Quinn on what Nick Cross adds to the back end:

“Well, some of it you won't see yet. But there is a really physical style of box, style of play to him. He's got more speed, maybe, than even I thought, you know, playing in the deep part of the fields. And so, by the week, like our first week, we played almost all middle field coverages where we were featuring guys high and low the last week. It's been more of the two-high spaces. So, we're also experimenting and learning what each of the guys can do. But I think, I feel the speed, the quickness of somebody that's got that kind of size .”

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Philip Hughes
PHILIP HUGHES

Philip Hughes covers the Washington Commanders with a focus on daily news, film analysis, roster construction, player development, and the fan culture surrounding one of the NFL’s most scrutinized teams. A longtime sports writer and content creator, Hughes has spent more than 20 years building football audiences across the interwebs and following the daily beat of the NFC East. email: hailbng+si@gmail.com

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