Commanders News: Ron Rivera, Logan Thomas, Quan Matin and name return demand
By Dean Jones
Commanders DB Quan Martin's adjustment
It was a baptism of fire for Quan Martin over his first game-day reps as an NFL player. The second-round pick became evidently amped up to give a good account of himself, but there were some positional issues early on thanks to this over-exuberance to make an immediate impression.
In fairness to the Illinois product, he settled down the longer things went on against the Cleveland Browns once the early adrenaline wore off. Something that was reflected in head coach Ron Rivera's assessment of the versatile defensive back via Sports Illustrated.
"I think the biggest thing for Quan, more than anything else, was how hyped up (to play the Cleveland Browns) he was. He played really fast, probably a little too fast at times. He settled in; I thought he did some good things. I saw he was very competitive, maybe overly aggressive a little bit, but he's a guy I think that's going to continue to grow and get better for us, and the more he learns and more comfortable he gets within the scheme, you'll see more opportunities for him rise up."
- Ron Rivera via Sports Illustrated
Martin probably gained a tremendous amount from this experience. The Washington Commanders will be counting on the rookie to provide another physical presence within the secondary right out of the gate, which could be on the backend as a safety or as a big nickel cornerback, which seems like the most likely scenario.
It wasn't perfect from Martin in Preseason Week 1, but nobody expected it to be. What's important is examining the tape and getting better heading into Monday's warmup clash against the Baltimore Ravens.