The Kevin Sheehan Show - #2 After Jayden

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

Kevin and Thom with some meatballs and marijuana follow up before getting to the fine-line NFL where a 10-7 record is razor close to 7-10. The guys talked about the 2nd-most important person on the Washington Commanders this year after quarterback Jayden Daniels. They also discussed Clippers/Kawhi, Russini/Vrabel, Bryce Harper, and a lot more. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Download the PrizePicks app today and use code SHEEHAN to get $150 instantly in Lineups if you win your first $5 Lineup! If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to livemomentous.com and use code SHEEHAN for up to 35% off your entire first order.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, Window Nation.

86690 Nation, windownation.com. If you need a Windows, Tommy. We got so many tweets and emails from the show the other day. I actually titled this show. Tommy with an H or Tommy with an O question mark I should have titled the show

Meatballs and Marijuana because that's what we got the most tweets on by far Tommy did a Shelley's read the other day and instead of saying Meatballs and Maranera he said meatballs and marijuana

this from Card That's an easy mistake Yes Yeah no I love I love the I love the mistake. It was a great mistake to make. It was a happy mistake. From Carson, Carson writes,

Meatballs and Marijuana. Thanks for that Tommy with no H. See what Carson did? He wrapped both of those things into one tweet. From RJ70, is there a humidor box for the meatballs and marijuana? I don't think so. I don't think that there is.

Because meatballs are perishable. So you couldn't have that, right? Or that, keep the meatballs fresh for a period of time. I doubt it. And this from Stephen P. I don't eat pork unless it's served with weed. Thanks for the fun boys.

I need a marijuana menu from Shelley's in the next read. They may have been ground beef meatballs for all we know, not pork meatballs. Yes. Yeah. So, you know, one of these days, we'll just go down to Shepard. We'll bring the weed because Shelley's guys actually, they don't sell weed. But we can bring the weed. We'll get a meatball sub and we'll have a day of it.

And then we'll do the podcast afterwards. Now, that would be a triple header right there. Absolutely. Have we ever done the show a little bit loopy? I think we have. We've done live. Not the podcast. Not the podcast.

Radio. Yeah. Radio, we did a lot of live shows. where we probably had a few before the show started. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Those were fun shows, I think. Yes, they were.

A lot of those golf tournaments that we did. Yes, a lot of golf tournaments that were late in the day shows. But we always had the midday show, but I think I was usually out on the course, and you were waiting for me to come in. But you had a cigar. You were, your cigar, your headphones, and a big old cold beer in front of you was typically the site I would see when we came back to the set. By the way, let me just mention real quickly before I forget.

No smell test picks tonight. This is the first, well, last weekend was the first potential smell test weekend of the year. I did not have a pick, and I do not have a play tonight, but I will have a full-fledged smell test tomorrow for either Friday night games or, a combination of the Friday night and Saturday games, certainly Saturday and Sunday games, and even the Monday game, if I end up giving out the Monday game. The Labor Day night game this year is pretty weak. It is SMU against Florida State. Not a great game, just one of those teams ranked and the team is SMU. The best game of the weekend is Louisville and Ole Miss on Sunday night.

They're playing that game in Nashville, and Louisville is a game. a contender in the ACC, although Stanford, Steve was on the show yesterday, and he thinks Miami should win the ACC easily, and Ole Miss is a top 10 teams. So two, it's the only matchup of ranked teams here in week one. All right, I got this, Tommy, from Mark in Bethesda. Mark writes, Kevin, read this, please, instead of the usual argumentative or idiotic tweets you seem to prefer to read I think that's probably true. I know some people have accused me of actually not reading the negative ones. I think I prefer to read the critical tweets and or emails because they tend to make for better conversation.

There's the thing. Before we go on, let me point out to everybody who's listening and everybody who writes in. It's his podcast. He can read whatever. He wants to read. Yes. Well, that's true. But it is true, even going back to when we would be planning shows out together on radio,

we always preferred. And I'm not encouraging this, okay, so you get your email or your tweet read on the show. But I think argumentative or critical, you know, emails or tweets tend to make for a better conversation on the show itself, rather than reading somebody who just agrees with you. I'm actually reading this in part because I think Mark agrees with me, but may not agree necessarily with you, although I don't think you're going to have much of a problem with this. But Mark and Betheser wrote, Kevin, read this, please, instead of the usual argumentative or idiotic tweets you seem to prefer to read.

You have stated something over the years that is undeniable to people like us. Anybody that doesn't understand the NFL year-to-year variance and the close call between 11 and 6 and 6 and 11 has never had their nuts kicked in betting the sport. This is a hard knocks take, but the right one. The difference between the two is slight and completely unpredictable. By the way, this is the nicest email I've ever sent you. I hate the Maryland talk on your show, L.O.L.

I know some people don't love. the Terp Talk. We don't do, you know, terp talk every day, hardly. Yes, Mark, that is kind of what I've been trying to emphasize and maybe haven't communicated as well. The variance year to year is

significant and it's utterly unpredictable. And there is a super fine line, maybe not between 6 and 11 and 11 and 6, but certainly between 10 and 7 and 7. And 7 and 10 at the end of a season, looks like a miserable season, and 10 and 7 looks like a successful season.

And the difference between the two is often literally like not even an inch. And that is just true about this sport where they've designed it for parity, even though the irony of that is we've had multiple, you know, dynastic runs. The Patriots basically had two this century. The Chiefs had a mini dynastic run. But yes, I view Washington this year as one of those teams. And they're 25 to 27 of them every year that could go 11 and 6, 10. Let's do the 10 and 7 and 7 and 10.

It's closer. That could go 10 and 7 or 7 and 10. And when you get to the end of the season, they both look completely different, even though they weren't that much different, really. Yes. And in terms of betting the sport, I've always said that. You're right. And Mark, obviously, you bet the sport too.

I think if you haven't had your backside, you know, smacked over and over again, and you haven't been in chase mode on a Monday night, it's not as natural to understand just how this league's impossible to sort of predict. But, yeah, okay. Do you have anything to say to that? not particularly I've nothing to say to that I think it's not always

the case sometimes there are consistently good or bad teams and you know but most of the time I think you're right yeah and the other part of it too as it relates specifically to this team this year

you have two new coordinators that have never done it before You have 10 new players on defense that are expected to contribute. Most of those as starters and a few of those as rotational players. That makes this team in particular for this upcoming season really hard to forecast. It won't stop us from making a prediction next week. Of course it won't because everybody makes predictions before an NFL season.

It's part of the fun. but if you don't recognize that you're probably going to be wrong about a lot of it, like we were last year predicting Washington to play in the Super Bowl, when by the way, a lot of people thought Washington off of the championship season would be good again. Some people said it's going to be hard for them to get as much good fortune as they had in 24, but they still should be good. They got the quarterback. But this team in particular, this year, is not an easy team.

team to forecast. That's why a lot of the conversation from our fans and our fan sites and various people, especially on social media, and I think it's a big part of social media right now in our little, you know,

bubble of redskin fans. But I've heard it outside that, and you've heard it outside that, because you were talking about some of the conversation, you know, that you've encountered. That's what makes that conversation for me very frustrating. It's like, guys, this is, this is right now two new coordinators, 10 new players

on defense, new system. I mean, you really have to be a little bit naive to think that you can speak uncertainties in August and early September. I mean, and by the way, I'd say that this is the case every year with between 25 and 27 teams typically. But it's really the case with our team this year. I think it is. Look, all I know is that I was looking over some of my notes, and I'm not the one who used the word disarray to describe his team. The head coach did.

Right. Okay. So it's not like people are making this. up. Yeah, look, we talked about what Adam. Peter said the other day. There's no doubt that that was from, I think, you know, a position of, are you guys nuts? Like, we haven't played our players in an actual game yet and the season's doomed. And then my preference would have been and my recommendation would have been, don't address that. It's fucking August 28th or whatever. I mean, you guys know that the season's going to actually get played regardless of what these people think, and we're not going to know

anything until you put your players on the field in real games. So I agreed with you the other day that I don't think he should have necessarily said that. He doesn't need to say that. And with respect to disarray, I'm forgetting the context. Was it about the Detroit game? It's about the Detroit game. Right. I'm sure I could find similar quotes about the Baltimore game and the joint practice.

I'll tell you, man, I love, let me just say this. I like Dan Quinn a lot as a coach. I think his strength is his leadership ability. I would not say that he is the greatest of, you know, sort of on your feet, quick communicators. And I think he, look, he opens up every press conference. You and I have talked about this before in a very unusual way. He opens it up with his own sort of introduction to the press conference, and it usually includes some sort of theme for the day. And I know he's doing something that he believes is helping the reporters who are there, and that's great.

I would say, you don't have to help them. Like, that's not something you need to do. You don't have to be so accommodating in those pressers. and in that particular case, yeah. I think it helps him if he is. He's trying to control, I think he's trying to control the press conference. I think he's been taught to do this. He has media training.

Yes, he does. Okay. Yeah. And this is, I think, and that's why you see such lengthy answers when he really doesn't want to give an answer. Right. Somewhere in there, in those 10 sentences, may be an answer. but I think Rivera did this. I just think that was just Rivera spouting off.

I think Quinn is smart and media trained, and this is what he's been taught to do. Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with that because we read that story about how, you know, in the time that he had off, that he had some of that media training. And to your point, the answers do tend to get kind of long. And, you know,

usually the shorter answers with a name that comes to his mind quickly is usually, I think, the most honest of answers from him. When he starts going on and on, he gets a little bit tied up himself. I think sometimes that would be my one critique. But if you're saying that you think that's part of the strategy to sort of make people search for something or maybe there's nothing to find at all. but the length of the answer is an effort to give somebody something. Okay.

I mean, we're getting into the weeds as it relates to his press conferences. You just brought up the disarray line. And look, those first two snaps were in disarray. They absolutely were. And I'll tell you what, people have been hanging on to those two snaps on on August 22nd for a couple of weeks now. Yes, they have. And they are expecting a lot of those snaps come next Sunday.

I mean, they're expecting a complete bum rush. You know, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and company coming straight up the A gap for number five. If you were a defensive coordinator, how would you play this commander's team? What would be your first priority? Well, I mean, you're assuming that I would know what their offense is going to look like. They have not given any indication of what their offense is going to look like at this point. They have a brand new coordinator. Now, we know what this coordinator's roots are, and we believe that it's going to look a lot like a Ben Johnson slash Kyle Shanahan style of offense.

there's going to be, you know, more athletic linemen with more zone runs, inside zone, outside zone, a lot more play action with the quarterback under center a lot more than he's ever been. I read something from this athletic story that Jonathan Jones wrote yesterday, Tommy, that I actually thought was pretty interesting. There's actually some interesting stuff about David Blow in there, which I'll mention to you here in a moment. But the story, for the most part, was about how Washington's going to go under center more. And that's a big change for Jaden Daniels, who's essentially never been under center. And part of what Jaden said is a lot less designed runs, which I'm in favor of. I hated the Cliff Kingsbury quarterback runs like he was Cam Newton or Josh Allen. I don't mind the zone read stuff.

The option runs. I think that should be a part of the offense. I think that should be a part of every offense. And it'll be interesting to see if it continues to be. But the designed runs, when we were watching Jaden take a direct snap, and they go 11 on 11 with him going off tackle on a counterplay with a guard pulling or sweeping, that just never made sense to me. I don't know why you would do that with your quarterback who's not built like Cam Newton or Josh Allen.

And I was down on that from the beginning. And Quinn essentially said, if you take the designed runs out, now instead of having 10 runs a game, he's going to have four or five. And we want him to scramble. We want him to run. He's got to use his legs. But in more of a scramble mode, I would be surprised if they don't have any zone read. I'd be surprised if a quarterback draw isn't run at some point this year. But whatever.

I know the designed runs that I think should be out. I guarantee you those are out. But why did I start down? Oh, and you asked me, how would you play this team? If I viewed this team as we've got this quarterback, and this quarterback's going to be under center more, and they're going to try to establish the run, they're going to be more balanced, although they've actually been balanced,

and there's going to be more play action. And then I'd look at the offensive line, and I'd say, well, Tunsell's not there anymore. So we've got an opportunity, We've got pass rushers. We've got a center who's going to be playing for the first time. Now, he played a couple of games last year at center at the very end of the year. Allegretti did for Beaudish, but he hasn't really taken a snap in anything since the end of last year.

Remember this about a Vic Fangio defense. They don't blitz a lot. You know, this is a, we can get home with four and cover with seven. and they're just extremely talented on defense. I think the easiest answer, and it's taken me a while to get to it, is stop the run and then make Jaden beat you in the dropback game. Because we feel like we can get home with our four before guys like McClorn and Diggs and a conco can get open against the likes of Quinion Mitchell, Cooper DeGine, and company. We have really good pass rushers. We have really good corners.

They got good everything on that team defensively. But stop the run and make them beat us from the pocket. I think that's smart. I think that would be a wise decision. But I think the run is going to have to include the quarterback. Yeah, well, I don't think it's going to include the quarterback in terms of designed run. will it include the quarterback in terms of option? If you're talking about pure running game,

you're talking about designed runs for the quarterback if you want the quarterback as a part of it. They're not going to run those. Okay, that's out. I guarantee you that they weren't, you know, throwing it out there like, oh, they're not going to plan for design runs, but we've got a lot of designed runs in the offense. They're not going to run him into piles on quarterback counter anymore.

They're not going to do that. Are they going to have zone read with him in the shotgun? maybe, but I would bet it's more situational, like third and two, you know, that kind of a situation, especially in the red zone. If you're talking about running as a scrambler, well, yes, that'll happen, but that's not planned. That's off schedule. That's if nobody's open and he has to do it. So do I think he's still going to...

I know that's what you're saying. I understand what you're saying. I think him running has to be part of the... design running game. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be. But so we'll find out if they can actually run the football without the quarterback being a part, a legitimate part of the run game. Because what you're going to see is you're going to see him under center and you're going to see that typical, you know, on an outside zone where he takes a snap and he's reaching out. You know, he's reaching out to that, you know, between the guard and the

tackle to make the handoff. And then Rashad White and Kraski. Merit are then, as the linemen move laterally, they're going to look for that cutback opportunity. And the way to play that is to draw it out, draw it out, fill in all those holes until he gets to the sideline, and then the sideline becomes another defender defensively. So I think that that's the kind of run game we're going to see. I think we're going to see a lot more zone run. I would bet we don't see a lot of duo. I don't think we're going to see a fullback, although that's going to be interesting to

you know, in 12 and 13 personnel, when you have one back, two tight ends or one back, three tight ends, is one of those tight ends in the back field, you know, as more of a full back. You know, that is what Kyle's had, you know, with use check. And people kind of said, well, Adam Peter said it when he drafted him. Sin it reminds me of use check. Well, that means he'd be in the backfield in your offense more than he would be anywhere else. So I think we're going to see some We're going to see a lot that we haven't seen with this team

Because it's a brand new offense And they've revealed none of it at this point And in nothing in an open practice Where people can watch Nothing in a preseason game, nothing in a joint practice. It's been all vanilla. So we'll see what they have. You know, you're leading to something

that I think is actually So going to be so critical to this season. The more and more I think about it. And I was talking to Ben standing last night, actually. And we, he brought this up and I'm like, you are 100% right. And the question was, after Jaden, who's the most important person right now, you know, on this team? And I totally agreed with his answer. And I, and I'm going to give you that answer when we come back. We'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors.

Football is finally back, guys, and prize picks is bringing out their best offer yet. New users who sign up will get $150 in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup. That's right. If you win your first $5 lineup, you'll get $150 in lineups. Prize picks is my go-to daily fantasy sports app, and it's the best way to win real money this football season. It's so easy. You simply pick between two and six. players then pick more or less on their projected stats.

You can make picks in 60 seconds or less, adding so much more interest on game day. Prize picks is going crazy with deals to start the football season, giving users a new promo every day during stacked September. Make sure to sign up now for guaranteed picks every Sunday, along with profit boosts and daily discounts throughout the month. How about this guarantee for the season opener? in Seattle. It's the Sam Darnold guaranteed pick.

Darnold needs just one yard against New England and the pick caches. It doesn't get any easier than that. Prize Picks is now available nationwide. So what are you waiting for? Lock in for kickoff because everyone and everything

is on prize picks. Download the app today and use code Sheehan to get $150 instantly in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup. Again, download the app today and use code Sheehan to get $150 instantly in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup.

Prize picks, run your game. This segment of the show is brought to you by Window Nation. Window Nation is offering right now a chance for you guys to take care of older windows with newer windows before fall and winter arrived. If you've got older windows, you're probably paying higher air conditioning bills than your neighbors. You'll pay higher heating bills during the winter than your neighbors. And your home doesn't look as nice as it could. Window Nation right now is offering four free windows with every four purchased,

and you don't have to pay for them for two full years. No money down, no monthly payments, and no interest charged until the year 20, 28. I've known Window Nation been working with Window Nation for nearly 20 years. They will take really good care of you, I promise. It starts with an in-home estimate. They'll come out when it's convenient for you in an hour or less. They'll hand you a quote. They'll tell you which windows need to be replaced, which ones don't,

and then you can make the call. If you move forward with Window Nation, you're working with a company that has over 45,000 five-star reviews on social media and was voted, rated, number one by Forbes magazine among all window installation companies in America. Call them today at 86690 Nation to schedule your free in-home estimate. Get those windows in so you can enjoy your fall and winter with fresh air, no drafts, and lower utility bills.

86690 Nation, windownation.com. So I was talking to Ben Standing. last night. And he said, he said to me, he said, who's the most important player after Jaden on this team? And I thought about it. And he just, he interjected and he said, it's not a player, in my opinion. It's David Blow. David Blow is essentially the man who's going to determine whether or not Dan Quinn is the head coach here next year. And I thought about it. And I thought about it. And I would add that Durante Jones has to be right also and that they can't be another disaster like they were last year or even the year before defensively. But because David Blow is the offensive coordinator and Jaden Daniels is a quarterback and there seems to be, you know, now a lot of eyeballs.

You know, the spotlight's on Jaden Daniels here in year three. You know, there are a lot of people that think, whoa, Caleb Williams and Drake May, definitely they should have taken Drake May. He was on the board. He went after Jaden. And Caleb Williams is going to have a better career as well. And by the way, Bo Nix, on a really good team this year, he might be an MVP candidate this year. And I thought about that and I'm like, yeah, David Blow, because Quinn is not an offensive guy, doesn't participate. on the offensive side. He'll have his say, I'm sure, on the defensive side. But David Blow is kind of out there on an island, like Cliff Kingsbury was, but Kingsbury's been a head coach. Kingsbury's been, you know, an offensive coordinator. Kingsbury's been considered to be one of those quarterback gurus

over the years in college in particular. David Blow is a first-time coordinator, man, has to deliver week in and week out a game plan. a game plan with the scheme that he has brought to Washington and the playbook that he's created that gives Jaden Daniels and that offense a chance to succeed. Because, you know, I can't personally envision a defensive, you know, a Houston Texans type of team from last year. I think the defense is going to be better and maybe it'll be dominant. Who knows?

because defense is truly variable year to year. And there typically aren't reasons why necessarily. But man, after Jaden, David Blow, if he's not good at what he does, Tommy, even though he was a consensus call by the organization, this was not Dan Quinn. I forgot to read what I told you I would read from that athletic. story yesterday. Here's the line about Blow. All right.

So Quinn admitted that he made a mistake when he was in Atlanta, where when Kyle took the job to go to San Francisco as the head coach, he had Mike McDaniel, Matt Lafleur, Mike Lafleur, on the staff and didn't promote any of them. Instead, he went outside

the organization and hired Steve Circassian, and the offense wasn't good in 2017. And that was a big step back. And he thinks he made a mistake by not elevating somebody that was in the organization. So here's the paragraph I'm going to read to you. Quinn wasn't going to make the same mistake a decade later. His intentional development of Blow, as Blow calls it, began before he was even on staff.

When Blow came in for a visit after his time on the Lions practice squad, he was on the Lions practice squad. He was in various places. And his transition to coaching was beginning. Quinn told him his plan. He basically told Blow before he ever hired him. You're going to be the OC successor. I mean, that's the way this story reads. I think that's what he's saying.

I mean, I knew from the jump when you started hearing people saying, you know this guy, David Blow? Yeah, he's like one of the assistant quarterbacks. Oh, no, no, he's going to be a head coach. He's everybody started talking, you know, about this guy. Inside, outside, it didn't matter. Blow was going to be the guy.

Now, I think the plan was that Cliff would get a head coaching job at some point, and Blow would step in as the OC successor. But to keep Blow, they had to elevate him this year. It was their only chance. He'd be Detroit's offensive coordinator right now. Yeah. I thought that was interesting. What do you think of just what Ben said last night?

And I think I agree with him that David Blow is the second most important person right now in this organization after Jaden Daniels. As it relates to the football. I think he's right. Actually, as training camp opened, I wrote a column saying the two biggest names to watch are to two new coordinators. Yeah. That's how this thing is going to sink or swim. Coordinators, especially when you have a coach who, let's face it, Quinn is a CEO

coach right now. Don't you think he doesn't have offense? He doesn't have defense. He gives his coordinator's autonomy, at least obviously he did it with Cliff, and I think he's going to do it with Blow. I don't know how much autonomy Joe Whit Jr. had. And maybe Durante Jones, you know, Quinn. there in every meeting. I don't know. But I would refer to him more of, more as a CEO coach.

Yeah, I would do. Although I don't think of them the same way as Ron Rivera being the CEO coach. Do you? Well, it's because Ron Rivera was basically the CEO of the organization. Yeah, because he was the GM also. Quinn, Quinn's not a GM. So what is Quinn do? Well, he is the culture builder. He is the leader. He is the guy that... No far you described a cheerleader. No, I haven't.

There are plenty of coaches that... I mean, Pete Carroll. He's essentially a guy like Pete Carroll. I think Pete Carroll's greatest strength was as a leader, as a motivator. But I also think Quinn strategically is very involved. in in-game decisions. Going forward on fourth down, not going forward on fourth down, you know, kicking the field goal, punning it,

two points conversion or kicking the PAT. I think that's all Quinn on game day. You know, who's going to start a quarterback if God forbid Jaden gets hurt and Marcus Morio gets hurt? I don't know. I'm just throwing it out, like a big, big decisions. He handles the biggies. There are plenty of coaches over the years that have been that.

Okay. You know, somebody mentioned to me at some point not that long ago that, God, they just should have, you know, rolled out the, you know, the Brinks truck for Ben Johnson. Okay, but Ben Johnson didn't want to coach. Now, maybe he didn't want to coach here. He referred to them as a bunch of basketball guys, you know, Harris and the group. But he really didn't want to coach. It was his wife that didn't want to come to D.C. Okay, well, maybe whatever it was.

Like, there were other teams interested in him as well, but he didn't, he wasn't ready to take a head coaching job or he would have taken a head coaching job during that cycle. He didn't. I think the more interesting guy, if we're going to talk about that period of time, is Mike McDonald at this point. Clearly, he's a Super Bowl winning coach in year two and he is a defensive. he calls the defenses. He is the defensive coordinator. Quinn decided he was not going to be that in his second go-round. So that would be, you know, yeah, my preference has always been,

I'd rather have an offensive head coach. That way you're not, you know, replacing your offensive coordinator every couple of years because they get, you know, promoted and they get, or they get head coaching jobs. But Mike McDonald was a pretty damn good hire. In Seattle, it would appear. Yes, but he had not been around that long, I don't think. No, he hadn't.

It's kind of an aggressive hire. It was an aggressive hire. But Washington was very impressed with Mike McDonald. They were very impressed, but he really liked the Seattle opportunity. But they also were blown away with Quinn. I wanted to read this from Zach. Here's something else I wanted to get to in this segment. Zach wrote, Kevin, heard you say you didn't think Jaden had a bad year.

Yeah, I've been saying that for a while, meaning last year. And he writes, and we have the rose-colored glasses. His season was definition of step back, down in every statistical category imaginable. He's breakable and headed for an RG3 ending. Man, there are a lot of people that think he's headed for an RG3 ending, don't you think? well I know that I know that certainly the whole Jersey controversy

fed into that yeah yes yeah yes even though he himself has given no indication personally that he has those tendencies

yeah of course of course not so Zach honestly well if it's let me ask you a question Okay, go ahead. I've talked about this so many times. It may have been the biggest, like, true aggravator for me during the off season

was to hear people say that Jaden had a step-back season. I think that is such a, it's not only wrong, it's just lazy. Maybe lazy is not the right word. It's just completely ignoring the first. the fact that he barely played in 2025. How can you have a step back season when you play seven out of 17 games, and of those seven, you only play in four of them

start to finish, and only three of them start to finish healthy? I mean, it's just such an absurd take. You know, I remember I had Bill Barnwell, who I really liked from ESPN, and he had written something about Jaden. And I had him on, it was on radio, maybe, you know, right after the draft. And I said, you know, it's just a knit to pick with you. But when you started getting into the weeds about Jaden's season statistically,

did you consider for a moment that essentially he barely played football? And he's like, and I said he only played, you know, in four games out of the 17 start to finish. isn't is it kind of absurd to really analyze numbers and statistics when you really haven't played that much? And he actually backed up and he said to a certain degree, no, you're right. And I did say that it was an injury marred season and so take it for what it's worth. I just don't know how anybody who, and our fans specifically, national people, it's like, you know what? he had a bad season because he was the quarterback of a five and 12 team. Now, some people nationally understood what happened, but our fans, like Zach, it's just such,

you know, like, were you paying attention to the season, sir, all due respect. I mean, you're right. I mean, come on, man. And then to suggest that when he did play, he was bad, that's also not true. he was let's take the four games that he played complete games in the giant game the Green Bay game the Charger game

and the Bears game the Dallas game he got hurt very early in the second half by the way he was playing pretty well in that game the Seattle game was an absolute mess ironically statistically it was far from his worst game but it was a mess because of the receivers they had out there etc and then he got hurt at the end of the game

and the Minnesota game they barely had the football and he got hurt early in the third quarter. So if you take the four games that he played start to finish, he was fine in the Giants opener. He wasn't 2024 Jaden in that game, but it was the season opener and he threw for 233 and a touchdown and he rushed for 68 yards and they won the game 21 to 6. The Green Bay game, the whole team was bad and he also wasn't great.

The Charger game looked exactly like 2024 Jaden Daniels. I mean, after the first two drives, he was lights out the rest of the way. And the Chicago game he was outstanding in until the rain came and he fumbled the handoff, which cost him the game at the end. They were, all he had to do was secure the ball and they're four and two, and he's played some pretty good football in consecutive weeks in early October. I just think it's really an absolute horrible take. And it's one of those takes that makes me think, yeah, you didn't really pay attention to last year.

Like, if you actually think last year was a season in which the quarterback regressed based on some statistical, you, of course his stats weren't great. He only played in four games and then in four complete games. And the others he played in, he basically had a crew off the street playing with him with the worst defense in the NFL. So anyway, I get that a lot from... I get you wound up. That one gets me wound up. I know I am a big Jaden fan, understood.

But I'm going to call balls and strikes if I see a reason to call a ball and a strike. In this particular case, anybody that describes Jaden's season as a statistical, you know, clear example. of the guy regressed. It's just, it's a completely lazy take. All right. Let's get back to David Blow for a second. Okay.

And that take. Quinn had his mind made up based on what you've talked about, you know, when David Plow first walked into the building, pretty much. Right. So that means when Mike McDaniel

was available last year, He wasn't even up for consideration. Wait, say that again? Sorry. When Mike McDaniel, who wound up with the Chargers as the offensive question. Oh, Mike McDaniel. I thought you were saying Mike McDonald. Yes, I'm sorry.

Mike McDaniel. I would assume that to be true. Yes. Well, that seems to be a real oversight on his part. Or maybe great vision on his part. Blow turns out to be great, like he thinks he's going to be. Yeah. Yeah, it could be.

But Mike McDaniel is great. Yeah, but Mike McDaniel probably is also very short term if he ends up having great success. Well, you know what? Pia Quinn is very, very short term. Look, and bottom line is, is Blow could be short term as well if he has great success. We've seen it too many times recently. Yeah. It could be the next Sean McVeigh.

Yeah, look, there's no doubt. There's no doubt that they could have, okay, they could have hired a defensive coordinator with experience and an offensive coordinator with experience. I mean, I say that. I don't know that Mike McDaniel would have come here because apparently his wife wanted to be on the West Coast, because I've heard that too. But Mike McDaniel had made it clear that he had a love of. fair with Dan Quinn.

No doubt. He loved Dan Quinn. That's true. But yeah. I mean, remember, Rehim was like the guy we thought defensively made the most sense, you know, because he had been with Quinn already in Atlanta, but he's with the 49ers. And then a guy like Jonathan Gannon, who was head coach, was out there. And then the Giants guy, Derrard Wilson.

for a mention. Okay, maybe he didn't want a head coach in waiting. Okay. You know what? Quinn doesn't strike me is that? I mean, because Kingsbury was in some part a head coach in waiting. Had last year gone the same way 2024 went. No, a head coach in waiting to take his job.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. You know, imagine that, imagine if they had had another great year offensively last year. with Kingsbury and Jaden, you know, basically replicating what they did in 24, and another horrendous year defensively. And Cliff was up for a bunch of head coaching jobs. Oh, they're not firing Quinn in that case. I agree with you. I agree with you.

But if Mike McDaniel comes in here and has great success, then the team probably had great success. Not necessarily. Not necessarily. If you want to fire Quinn in the moment. middle of the season, it's easier to do if you have somebody you think you can turn to. Yeah. Okay.

Well, guess what? If that's, if you, I don't believe that to be true. I don't think that that was in his thinking. But if he, if we get to a point where they're three and, or they're two and six or one and seven, and it's like he's going to get fired, you are correct. There's not an obvious head coach and waiting in the. building. Well, there is. Anthony Lynn has been a head coach. Anthony Lynn. Yeah. Anthony Lynn. Right. That's it. Yeah. David Blow, big year for you, young man, and he is a young man. Big year.

All right. Let's get to this Clippers-Kauai Leonard's story. We'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, creatine is one of the most researched and effective supplements available. But as the category has exploded, most brands have focused on flavors, formats, and marketing instead of actually making the creatine itself better. That's why Momentus created signature spec creatine, their most advanced creatine ever setting a new standard for creatine quality. Momentus signature spec creatine is one of the only creatines to be manufactured in a pharmaceutical facility using reverse osmosis water purification and verified through an expanded six-stage testing process with four independent agencies. That's the momentous standard, the relentless pursuit of better in what you can always expect

with momentous products. And the benefits of creatine, they're real. It supports strength, power, lean muscle growth, recovery, and even improved cognitive performance. So if you're going to take creatine every day, make sure it's the best. Choose Momentus Signature Spec Creatine. If you want to try Momentus Signature Spec Creatine, head to LiveMomenus.com. That's LiveMomenus.com and use code Shee for up to 35% off your entire first order. That's LiveMomenus.com. L-I-V-E-M-O-M-E-N-T-O-U-S dot com, promo code Sheehan, for up to 35% off.

Live Momentus.com, promo code Sheehan. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, Shelly backroom at 1331 S-T-N-Northwest in the district. It has a lot of great features about it if you're a cigar smoker. last time we talked about their great food menu, particularly their appetizer menu and their meatballs and marinera on that menu. Yes, very good. Yes. Yes.

But again, first and foremost, it's a cigar store. It's a cigar bar. It's a place where you can buy cigars. It's a place where you can smoke cigars. And it's a place, most importantly, where you can keep your cigars. Shelly's has over 200 humidors available for annual lease. Okay. And if you're really a cigar condessture,

you want to keep your cigars fresh at a umidore, but you don't want to carry around with you all the time, so you can keep them under lock and key at shelley's. They provide easy access to your cigars and preserve them until they'll be at your peak when you care to smoke them. You have to sign a lease. You know, it's a fair price for a lease for a humidor, and, you know, you get to keep your cigars wherever you want.

You don't know it. If you're a cigar smoker and you release a eumidor, you don't necessarily have to go in and buy the cigar at Shelly's. You can have yours waiting for you in the humidor. When you walk in the door, to find out more, go to shelley's backroom.com. So this Clippers thing that came down yesterday after I had recorded the podcast, I'm glad I didn't spend time on it yesterday. I'm glad I'm here with you doing this.

This is so interesting. For those of you that don't know, Kauai Leonard is probably and has been one of my top five favorite team sport athletes for a long period of time. Kirk Cousins is in that mix. Bryce Harper's in that mix. Serena Williams was definitely in that mix, not team sport. but I have loved Kauai Leonard.

Let me just tell you, Kauai Leonard is definitely a guy that not everybody in the NBA associated with the NBA likes. They've really despised his uncle and agent, Dennis Robertson, for years. Definitely slippery,

very difficult to deal with, and very demanding on behalf of his nephew over the years. And look, Kauai's gotten pretty much what he's wanted every step along the way because he's truly been one of the great players in the history of the game. This will, the trade to the clippers will go down as one of the worst trades in NBA history,

in part because he missed so much time, but really in part because of what came down yesterday, which was the NBA punishment of the clippers for salary cap circumvention surrounding what Kauai Leonard was able to generate in endorsements from four key clippers sponsors. This has been investigated for a while. This guy, Pablo Torre, a former ESPN guy, basically uncovered all of this. What, Tommy, six, seven, eight months ago, something like that. About a year ago, he started, yeah.

The NBA essentially, and I'll give you in late layman's terms, before I give you what the actual punishment was, I'm sure many of you have seen it, they essentially didn't find an actual direct involvement between the clippers and these sponsors in paying Kauai. They didn't facilitate it necessarily, but they introduced these sponsors to Kauai's uncle and agent, and Kauai ended up making a ton of money in endorsements because of that, and the NBA views that as circumventing the salary cap.

That this should have been compensation, counting against the cap, and it didn't. he didn't do anything for that money this was like a no show job on the soprano right that's basically what it was add to that he didn't do much for the money exactly so the NBA came down hard on the clippers and on owner Steve Balmer

and much less so on Kauai Leonard in my opinion yes they did it was so you know that that's so funny I mean obviously They didn't want to fight with the union about this. That's a good point. They don't want to deal with the union. And it's so funny because the clippers, they're saying they're going to sue this. They're going to raise hell.

They're all going to do this. And Kauai beat them to the punch and basically came out with a statement saying, I'm sorry I did all this. Well, I'll cut to that right now because here was the statement from Kauai yesterday. integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am. I accept full responsibility. This is my favorite part for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle and regret the distraction.

The situation has caused the fans and my family. By the way, just real quickly, there's all kinds of money involved in the punishment, but the real punishment is docking the clippers five first round draft picks starting in 2029. So 2029 through 233, they lose their five

first round picks over that five year period. There is precedent for this. The Timberwolves in 2000 were docked five first round picks for an illegal agreement, by the way, with free agent big man Joe Smith, as in Maryland's Joe Smith.

And eventually David Stern gave two of those first round picks back to the Timberwolves. But yes, Kauai's statement was interesting because I have followed his career very closely. And the truth is, when it comes to the business of Kauai Leonard, he probably had no clue what was going on. I am saying that in all seriousness.

He may have had a clue, but he didn't necessarily know the fine line or the illegal line that his uncle who's handled all of his business dealings was involved with. So when he says, you know, I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment, not by me, but by people within my inner circle

and regret the distraction. The situation has caused the fans of my family. He got fined $700,000, which is nothing. And by the way, the trade, which happened months ago, trading him to Toronto,

which gives him a fresh start with the team that he last won the title with on, by the way, Tommy, a very talented team. They'll be one of the top four or five teams minimum in the East if he stays healthy and plays as well as he did last year. But yeah, he skates free from this, and this is quite the hammering. Steve Ballmer suspended for a year, others in the organization suspended for up to six months. you know, I don't know what this suspension of an owner actually means. What does it mean? He can't show up at the facility, can't go to games, you know. I would assume so.

Right. You can't have its face associated with them. The thing about the Kauai statement is it takes the wind at a team's fight. You know, it takes its wind at it herself. But what is their fight? What can they fight? Well, I don't know what can I think they have to go to court. I don't think there's any vehicle in the NBA for them to appeal this other than filing a lawsuit and going to court.

Yeah. But you're saying that essentially Kauai admitted that his inner circle, right? Yeah, he basically, he said 700 grand, sign me up for an admission, basically. Clippers. They're all cop to that. Clippers said they intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through every avenue available, and they're looking for an ethical and impartial arbitration process. Yeah, we'll see.

Yeah, let me just... Now, what was interesting about this is the whole fallout on ESPN, which had reported a few weeks ago that there was literally no evidence of any connection direct connection between following the money between the clippers and these advertisers sponsors. Right. But go ahead. No, I was going to say, but they did indicate that there was still an investigation going on to determine whether or not an introduction to those sponsors was still in violation of the, the, capitals. So ESPN didn't really report anything wrong there.

I don't think they did. But they're getting... No, they didn't, but they're getting roasted. They're just getting crucified because everyone was under the impression because nobody can read anymore that, you know, they said, basically ESPN wrote a story saying there's nothing to this Pablo Tory investigation. and that's not what they wrote.

That's not what they wrote. I talked about this and I said this isn't over because the ESPN report said that there's still an investigation going on with respect to would an introduction to these sponsors essentially mean the same thing

and for all intents and purposes still mean that they facilitated this. Right. Yeah. Now, they're still getting Crucify, including Tauri himself, who questioned the timing of the story. And you can question the timing, because they didn't really have the whole story. No, they didn't. At that point.

You know, so why run it? And Don Vanada, their ace Pulitzer Prize reporter was on that, a byline was on that, with two other reporters. So, I mean, the tone of it is bringing them criticism, but technically they didn't write, they didn't report anything that was wrong. So is Don Van Nata pushing back on any criticism? I haven't seen one word from ESPN in defense of what they wrote. Okay.

I think basically they've gone into a shell because they've taken such a beating. And I think I understand the tone, but technically they didn't report anything that was wrong. I'll tell you this. my biggest concern and the reason I have paid attention to this story is I didn't want the trade to be nixed. And hence, you know, Kauai ends up going back to a franchise that's been hammered this way. I want to see him in Toronto. I'm excited actually to watch him in Toronto. He had a phenomenal season last year and stayed healthy. And he's on a much better team, I think, this coming season. So, look, he's been a weirdo forever.

I mean, he is a massive introvert. He is one of these guys that essentially load management in the dictionary. Do they make dictionaries anymore? We'll have his picture next or encyclopedias or dictionaries. It'll have his picture next to it when it comes to load management, which has been a terrible part of the league. But the thing that I've always said is it relates to that is he gets a lot of the heat associated with load management.

He's also been legitimately, seriously injured many times during his career. These weren't fake injuries, you know. So it's going to be, yeah, Balmer, man, I'll tell you one thing as an owner. He's one of those dudes when you watch him, you know, in his seat watching the game. He is full on annoying. I mean, have you ever watched him in his seat? How, how pensions. videos of them.

Oh, it's just too much. He's way over animated. But when you're one of the top 15 richest men in the world... Who cares? Yeah, that's kind of like, I think that's kind of like what the satisfaction is in some of this story is that, you know, even though he's one of the 15 richest men in the world, you know he's, this is killing him.

He's not going to be able to be around the three. for a year. Right. All right. A couple of other things to finish up the show with after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show is brought to you by My Bookie. If you're going to bet on football guys this season, my bookie is a great place to do it. First of all, they're going to give you a cash bonus when you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. Secondly, even if this isn't your first spot, use it as a place in which A, you're going to get free money for signing up. Secondly, you're going to have an opportunity to get the best number on a game,

the best pricing on a game. When you have one place where you're making your wagers, you take their numbers. When you've got more than one, you have a choice. Create that choice. Go to mybooky.orgie.org or mybooky.com and use my promo code. Again, Kevin D.C. for a cash, Washington's still a four and a half point underdog at Philadelphia next week in week one. I'm telling you, Tommy, this is going to be one of the bigger anti-public plays of week one.

Washington's going to be on that, you know, no one has them side. And you know what that means? I'll have them. I know what that means. I'll have them next Friday. I definitely think right now there's a strong, strong possibility that I'll end up giving Washington. out as a smell test week one pick. I also think I'll probably be giving the 49ers out in the Melbourne game.

A week from tonight, a week from tonight, we have game two. A week from today, we'll be talking about the Seattle, New England opener, where MyBooky has the Seahawks as three and a half point favorites. MyBooky.ag, mybooky.com promo code Kevin, D.C. All right, I know you want to do... So a week from now, I have to... to come up with my picks, right? Your picks, well, you're going to have to give me the Washington, Philadelphia pick

after you give me Washington's record for 2026. And we'll, you know, on Tuesday, we'll start the process of picking the divisions, et cetera, and we'll save the NFC East and the Washington pick for Thursday. And then you'll also have to give a pick for the Eagles game, because that'll be the last time you're on the show. the Tuesday following the Eagles game. All right. You wanted to talk about this athletic report

that discussed the Diana Rusini relationship with Mike Rable. Well, it was quite a couple of days in sports journalism between the NBA investigation that basically vindicated Pablo Tori because when that ESPN story came out and a lot of people read it, as basically absolving the clippers. They thought Toray was wrong. They hammered him. Yeah.

You know? And he wasn't wrong. Yeah. Okay. And so, I mean, and then the following day, you have the athletic story come out about their investigation into Diana Rusini, Mike Frable, relationship. And it's a pretty watered down report, you know. They talk about this lengthy inquiry, but they,

They did not, the probe did not determine the full extent of the Rusini-Vrable relationship. So in other words, they had this lengthy report, but they didn't find out anything about the so-called full extent of the relationship between the two of them. Okay. And then they found scanned. Go ahead. Well, what did they say about? I did not read this. You read it.

What did they say about their relationship? I mean, I read the overview, which says it was in violation of newsroom standards, this relationship. But you're saying they didn't get into the specifics of the relationship. Right. They said according to them, they didn't look into it. Why would they not determine the full extent? Why wouldn't they have looked into it? Because they didn't want, because they didn't want to know what they were going to find out.

Well, why. Then how did they? This was a cursory investigation. You know, just to cover their ass and, you know, basically, this investigation could have ended in a couple of days when the photos came out. Okay, and the athletic said as much, they have a quote in near the end of a report, saying the totality of the public photographs are enough to conclude a violation of company policy. Okay. The photos ended this whole thing.

Right. That was it. You know, and all this other stuff is just window dressing to make the New York Times look like like their, they're this bastion of ethical journalism. You know? Yeah. So basically. They got into bed.

They got into bed with the athletic. And, you know, there are things that happen in sports that don't necessarily happen on the news side. And this was one of them. They did find that this relationship with Vrable, which violated newsroom standards, and I guess the pictures were all they needed for the violation of the newsroom standards. But they also wrote that it showed no clear bias from Rusini, from Diana, towards the Patriots head coach in her reporting. So is that just convenient?

for the New York Times to find that... He said, quote, scant evidence that it impacted Ruscini's bloody athletic reporting on Raybo and his teams. Okay, that's scant. I don't know how much scant is. Didn't say no.

It said scant evidence, which really isn't the point in the first place. Okay? I mean, it really doesn't matter if she hammered him every other week while she was holding hands with him. Right.

here's part of the what the investigation revealed quote regardless of whether the relationship was romantic it was a breach and should have been disclosed closed quote my question to you would be if she had been absolutely forthright with her employer i want to tell you confidentially that i have i have right now a very, very close relationship with Mike Rable that borders on a romantic relationship. What would the athletic have done? What would the employer have done? You have to ask her to resign. Can't do it. You can't just put her on a beat that has nothing.

You couldn't put her somewhere else? She said, I guess you could. What else could she do besides? being NFL Insider. I guess the NFL Insider was her gig. That's what she got hired to do. You're not going to put her on another sport necessarily. And if you did, can you imagine the attention that that would draw?

But maybe she covers the league except for anywhere Mike Vrable is. I don't know how you do that. Can't do it. You got to leave. Got to resign. She's done. And look, this is common sense. Okay, it's common sense.

Yeah. Yeah. Although I found when this story broke, teaching journalism classes privately to fans every other day to try to explain why this was so bad. I know. You've talked about that before. I think the interesting thing is that this is nothing more than infidelity on the part of Mike Rable. He didn't violate any newsroom standard. He didn't violate any standard. I mean, Look at the people that get arrested and investigated in the NFL. They do a lot worse things. That's why, honestly, would I think differently of Mike Rable?

Yes. If I were a Patriots fan, though, would I want anything to change at head coach? Absolutely not. He's a great head coach in his first year. We went to the Super Bowl. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I thought the whole weekend of the draft when they said he's not going to,

We're not going to have him present for the draft. Why not? He's instrumental in picking players. I don't want us to suffer in our drafting because you want to be performative and put our coach in a corner and give them a time out. That was stupid. I get the whole Rossini thing. I mean, I got it from you from day one.

I understand. It was an ethical breach for sure. And I'm surprised we haven't learned that Diana hasn't popped up somewhere like Barstool at this point. Maybe that's – maybe that announcement's coming next week. I'd be struck if she doesn't at some point. If she does or doesn't? It doesn't. I would think that if she wants to, there'll be places for her to land.

Yeah. They won't have the credibility of the New York Times. behind them. No. But credibility is cheap these days. Who cares? There's not only that, but here's the thing about Diana. We've both known her, and I've had her on the show so many times over the years. She's a

really good guest in certain formats. She's got personality. She's fun, and she did cover the NFL and covered it quite well. I think she'd probably be very good in that role. I do too.

All right. Yeah. You got to, oh, wanted to mention one other thing real quickly, because I've already mentioned his name once. I know some Nats fans don't love the fact that I love Bryce Harper, but I do. It's not that I'm rooting for the Phillies, but I root for Bryce Harper. He's in the midst of right now an incredible season that has been completely under sort of reported, I think, in baseball, because it's all Otani and PCA at this point. Pete Crowe Armstrong, Shohei Otani. Harper's odds right now are up to fourth or fifth,

depending on where you look in terms of his MVP odds in the National League. He's not going to win it, clearly. But he is in the midst of a 35 game on base streak. He leads the National League and on-base percentage. He's fifth in the major leagues in OPS. He's the only player in all of baseball this season with 100 walks. And he's been on absolute full. fire over the last month of the season.

And I'll tell you, come October, I really hope that the Phillies, and they're going to be in the playoffs, I love watching him in these big spots. He's one of the great clutch performers for team sport athletes in the last 10 years. He is. He's fun to watch in those spots. So I'm looking forward to it. He's having a hell of a year and a hell of a month. Is my memory correct that he always had sluels?

starts to the season and then come like July or August, it was like lights out from that point forward. It's kind of the way it worked in Washington too, right? I'd have to go back and look. I can't tell you that off the top of my head. My head doesn't work as good as your head. That might be true. All right, let's wrap it up. You're done for today. I'll be back tomorrow, Tommy. I'll talk to you on Tuesday. Have a great weekend. Okay, boss. You too. I'll be back tomorrow with a full. full Friday football show, college football show, with smell test picks.