The Kevin Sheehan Show - A Commander-Less "Top 100"

Episode Date: June 20, 2024

Kevin solo today opened with a quick thought on the passing of Willie Mays before getting to the first of what should be many "NFL Top 100 Players" lists. This list is short on Commanders although a trade for Brandon Aiyuk would give them a top 10 wide receiver. Kevin also talked about ESPN's Seth Walder's NFL off-season grades, the Nats, some news on the RFK site bill in the senate, Caitlin Clark, and the "QB salary cap" idea.Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Sheehan for a first deposit match up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Wind Donation. If you've been thinking about new windows, especially during this heat wave that we are enduring right now in the DMV, give Wind Donation a shot.

Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. Mention my name, and they'll give you a free, no obligation, no risk in-home estimate. Just me solo today. No guests on the show today. Tommy will be back with me tomorrow. And I'll save most of the Willie Mays conversation for Tom tomorrow. Tom watched his career.

He didn't cover Willie Mays. He's not that old. But I don't remember Willie Mays as a player. I did read a lot this morning and watch a lot this morning on Willie Mays because the thing, that I did know is that Willie Mays is considered to be one of the two or three greatest players that ever lived. Most of the lists that you pull up, you know, top 50, top 100 baseball players of all time, has Mays either one, two, or three, typically two behind Babe Ruth.

I did learn something, though, this morning, and maybe the majority of you probably know this already, especially if you're of a certain age. But I did not know this. And if I did know this, I just didn't remember it. But the thing that I learned in reading and watching Willie May's stuff this morning is that he missed essentially two years. He missed the majority of 1952, all of of 1953, for the Korean War. He came back in 1954. He hit 41 home runs in his first season back. He hit 51 home runs in 1955. He is sixth all-time on the home run list with 660 career home runs.

If he doesn't miss the majority of those two seasons, I think he played 34 games in 1952, missed the entire 1953 season as he was in the service. If he doesn't miss those two years, he would have been the one to pass Babe Ruth's all-time 714 home run mark, not Hank Aaron. Aaron did it in April of 1974, 50 years ago this past April. Mays would have done it a few years earlier. He would have done it in 71, 72 probably. I didn't realize that he missed those years,

and those years would have been probably big home run production years given that he hit 92 in the two years right when he came out of the service and came back to Major League Baseball. But Tom will have a lot more on Willie Mays tomorrow. So rate us and review us if you get a chance, especially on Apple and Spotify. follow us, subscribe to the show. That helps us if you can do that. This from DH23, who gave us five stars on Apple and wrote the following. Love the show, really love when

Cooley is on it. By the way, I think Cooley will be on the show on Friday. He is coming into town. He's doing a card show at the Delis Expo on Saturday at 2 o'clock. I'm sure you can find information on that, and I'll have more information when he's. comes into town. But he's coming into town. He is actually staying with me. We're going to play golf once or twice, I think. And I think he'll just come in here maybe on Friday and do the podcast with me. At least that's the plan. With him, you're never quite sure whether or not it'll work out that way. But that's the plan. That's my plan. Anyway, but anyway, back to DH23, who gave us five stars on Apple and wrote, love the show, really love,

Cooley is on the show. But the idea that Brandon Ayyuk is better than Terry McClorn is a real stretch. Forget the numbers which lean in Terry's direction. Ayuk is on a team coached by the great Kyle Shanahan on an offense with the best running back in the league, the second best tight end, and another top 20 receiver. I agree with most of your takes, Kevin, but Iyuk over Terry, I'm not buying. Thank you, D.H. 23.

I would imagine that's D. Hall, 23. Not that it is DeAngelo Hall, but that his handle is, since he's a Washington fan. D.H., DeAngelo Hall, did wear 23. I believe you were 23 here. Look, Terry is very good. All right? I know that some of you think that I don't think that Terry McCorm's really good. I do think he's really good.

I just don't think he's at that elite level, and there's so many great receivers. I'm not even sure what level he's at. We'll do that over the summer at some point. Well, it is the summer almost. We're coming up to the summer solstice. I just think that Iyuk is better all around. I think it's close.

I think Iyuk's a better route runner. I think actually he's an exceptional route runner. I think he's better after the catch or at least slightly better after the catch than Terry. I think he's a better blocker. You've got to be an excellent blocker to play for Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, or you don't play as a wide receiver. Brandon Ayuk last year averaged 17.9 yards per reception. That led the NFL among guys with at least 70 catches.

So among the best receivers in the game, Brandon Ayyuk's 17.9 yards per reception was number one. Terry averaged 12.7 yards per catch, one of the lowest among receivers with at least 70 catches. I think you could make the case that Brandon Ayuk is a better vertical threat. You know, he threatens a defense better vertically than Terry does. I think Terry is a threat vertically. Don't get me wrong. I think Terry's an excellent receiver. I just think Brandon Ayuk's a little bit better.

And by the way, there's no doubt that the feeling about Terry McClorn might be a lot different if he had spent his career playing with better quarterbacks, better talent around him, and not to mention better coaching. I'm going to do something here that I probably shouldn't do, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm going to take a list that I just saw earlier this morning, and I'm going to use it in an effort to sort of make my point to a certain degree on Ayuk versus Terry McClearn. The reason I shouldn't do it is that the author of this list is not one of my favorites. I don't think he's got the sharpest opinion, but he's a longtime NFL guy, and he does this thing every summer right around now. and that is Pete Priscoe from CBS Sports and his top 100 player list.

He puts it out every year right around now projecting the top 100 players entering the next season, in this case the 2024 NFL season. And I want to share this with you. Look, we're going to get a bunch of these top 100 lists, including the one that the NFL network does, which is the list. the players put together or vote on. So that list is coming from contemporaries. This is coming from a guy that just does this every year and has, you know, been a long time.

Pete Priscoe's, you know, been a long time NFL reporter, analyst, etc. I shouldn't knock him too much. There's just some things that he's written over the years. specifically we go back to like the era of RG3 and what Washington was doing offensively. And I just remember he and a couple of others that were very highly respected guys had no idea how to explain

what Washington was doing with RG3 in 2012. And there are just some guys that are NFL guys and they don't watch college football. And I always felt like he was one of those guys. but he does cover the NFL, and he puts this list out. So I'm using this list because it's the only top 100 list that I could find. There will be more coming. So in his top 100 wide receivers, all right, he had set in his top 100 list of players,

he had 17 wide receivers. Terry was not one of the 17. He was not in the top 100. And then he had an honorable mention list, which was listed in the order of who he thinks is the best player, because it's clearly not done alphabetically. It's not done by team. It's not done by position. So it's a continuation of his top 100 list, but he calls it his honorable mention.

But there are 17 wide receivers in his top 100. Tyree kills the first receiver, followed by Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, and C.D. Lamb, he's got at number four. And then he's got Devante Adams at number five. A.J. Brown comes in at number six on the receiver portion of this. Amon Rae St. Brown, 7. Jalen Waddle, 8. And then at 9, he has Brandon Ayuk. Brandon Ayyuk on Pete Priscoe's top 100 player list is the ninth receiver listed. He's got him as the 45th best player in the NFL heading into next season. Puka Naku is 10.

George Pickens in Pittsburgh is 11. Garrett Wilson, 12. Nico Collins, 13. Debo, 14. Devonte Smith 15. DJ Moore, 16. Mike Evans, 17. Those are the 17 wide receivers he has in his top 100. By the way, there's not one Washington player in the top 100. You know, the two that we would have thought had a chance, or maybe

the three would have been Terry, John Allen, Duran Payne, but off of last year's defensive performance by this team, I wasn't expecting to see John Allen or Duran Payne. I'll get back to that position on the list, defensive tackle. But Terry is not the first receiver on the honorable mention list either. T. Higgins is. T. Higgins, by the way, also a holdout looking for a new deal. You know, we haven't talked about the possibility of T. Higgins. My preference would be Brandon Ayuk over T. Higgins, but I do like T. Higgins as a receiver.

And then Terry comes in. So basically the two honorable mentions after the 17 in the top 100, T. Higgins would be 18th, and Terry McClure would be the 19th best receiver on Pete Prisco's list of the 100 best NFL players entering 2024. Let me just mention that other guys on his list, honorable mention list, include guys like Cooper Cup who come in after Terry, Calvin Ridley, you know, DeAndre Hopkins, Michael Pittman Jr. I'm not saying that all of these guys should be in front. I think Cooper Cup should be, actually.

You know, health is a big deal, but I think Cooper Cup is a receiver that I would have on a list of receivers ahead of Terry. But there are guys in the top 17 that I might not have in front of Terry right now. Look, it is the position, by the way, on this list that has the top. most players. They've got 17 in the top 100. We've talked about this ad nauseum over the last couple of months. Wide receiver is the deepest position with greatness or very, very good in the entire league. And more are coming this year, as we know, with the rookies that were drafted in the first round. So IUC comes in at 9, 45th best player in the league.

Terry McClurent doesn't make the top 100 and comes in at 19 among the receivers. It's just one person's opinion. I understand that. And it's not even a guy that I would point to and say really, really love his work. Pete Priscoe's been great with the NFL stuff, but whatever. I mean, take it for what it's worth. It's one list, and we'll see where Terry comes in on other lists. But it's just, I think it's a league-wide opinion.

that I happen to share with people around the league, and that is that Brandon Ayuk is at least slightly better or perceived to be a slightly better receiver than Terry McLoran. But, you know, again, a lot of this and a lot of the results on this, it's circumstance. It's the teams they're on and the people around them. I mean, Iyuk's been in the perfect situation with Kittal, with Samuel, with McCaffrey and with Kyle Shanahan. No doubt. Cannot argue that point. And if it were Terry in his shoes,

the league would probably have Terry higher than Ayuk. But I just personally like Ayuk as a player, and I've liked him since he's come out. And I still am not changing my mind. I would trade for Brandon Ayuk. You know, several of you reached out to me to say, Why would you give up a second and a mid-round pick and then pay this guy, you know, a crap load of money? When every year in the draft, it just seems like there are three or four or five of these guys getting picked, why don't they just pick the next great receiver in the draft next year and have them on a rookie wage scale? That's an excellent point. no doubt that's an excellent point can't debate that the wide receiver you know a draft next year is

not going to be at least right now as you know based on what we know right now and things change it's not going to be the draft that this past draft was there may be fewer kind of first round guys projected first round guys in next year's draft when you in i'm just taking you know these mock drafts. I mean, Travis Hunter, the guy that goes both ways for Colorado, is going to be a guy that has a chance. There's a guy out of Missouri Luther Bird in the third, who's a projected wide receiver in the first round. There's a guy out in Arizona who's a projected late round, first round guy, McMillan, and there's a guy at Oregon. Those are kind of the guys right now that are being talked about first round, but nobody as high, except for Travis Hunter, but remember, he's, you

really more of a corner too than wide receiver. He can just play both. But this next draft isn't going to be the wide receiver or quarterback draft that 2024 was. But I get that. And I think that's a great point that many of you made. And I should have thought of it that way that, you know, this isn't the year that they're going to contend.

You know, we don't think that this is a year that they're going to contend. and therefore, you know, why spend a lot of money and why trade, you know, valuable draft compensation for Brandon Ayuk. I still would do it. He's entering his prime. He hasn't reached it yet. Washington would be getting, you know, the last year of his rookie deal and then the contract extension on top of it, on top of it.

So you'd probably have him for five years. He would be able to grow with his friend and former teammate at Arizona State. Adon Daniels, it would give Daniels another weapon. It would give this offense and Cliff Kingsbury another weapon. It would give you something that you know is top rate rather than, you know, perhaps drafting somebody next year where you're not entirely sure. A lot of these receivers, just like quarterbacks, don't hit early in the first round. A lot of receivers are big whiffs in the draft as well. So I would still do it. And the other thing, by the way, I would do, and I fail to mention this the other day, is with the money, I'd give him basically, you know, I'd frontload the

hell out of it so that it hits the 2025 cap where they've got the 2024 cap, the upcoming season, where they've got so much room. So you'd want to front load that deal giving you cap flexibility, you know, towards the end of the deal with a guy like Brandon Ayuk, if you did the deal. A lot of what I've been reading, it seems to indicate that if the 49ers were to trade him, and I still would bet heavily against that, that the Steelers might be the front runner for him. Back to Pete Priscoe's list, because I told you I would give you, not one Washington player on it. So there were 10 defensive tackles in the top 100, and then there was one before Allen. Allen essentially, no pain, not even in honorable mention,

Alan was essentially listed in Prisco's top 100 as the 12th best defensive tackle. By the way, he had C.J. Stroud as the number six QB in the NFL, ahead of Justin Herbert, ahead of Trevor Lawrence, ahead of, I mean, a lot of guys, because they had 15 in the top 100. He had 15 quarterbacks in the top 100, but I thought it was pretty surprising that he had C.J. Stroud as the sixth best quarterback in the NFL. All right, more Washington football discussion

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as many of you were off of work today for Juneteenth, but it gave me an opportunity to watch the Nats afternoon game against the the Diamondbacks, and they just finished off Arizona, three to one. They lost last night, five-nothing. Jake Irvin actually had a rough outing, the first for him in a while. But today, Patrick Corbyn pitched well. Another solid starting pitching performance by the least likely to provide it. Corbyn went five innings, struck out seven, allowed three hits in just one earned run in five innings. Kyle Finnegan came in, pitched a perfect ninth, struck out two of the three batters he faced, and the Nats are back to within a game of 500. And as we stand at this moment,

with still games going on and still games to be played, but the Nats right now at 36 and 37 are tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wildcard. in the National League wild card race. Atlanta right now is solidly, solidly in that first wild card spot. But the Nats and the Cardinals, one game under 500 are sitting there. Look, there are so many teams.

They're basically right now in the National League only two teams out of playoff contention, the Marlins and the Rockies. Everybody else is within a game and a half, worst case, of one of the three. two wild card spots. So it'll flush itself out. There won't be this many in contention for the wild card spot a month from now and far fewer than this when we get to September. But Washington right now at 36 and 37, look, they are approaching the halfway mark.

Eight games short, right? 36 and 37, 73 games. Eight games short of the halfway mark. they have certainly been one of the surprises, and they have won eight now of their last 10. They get another with Arizona tomorrow at Nats Park. Mackenzie Gore will go for Washington tomorrow. So I found this as another conversation about our Washington football franchise, but in some ways it's just a conversation about the division. Seth Walder, who I actually really do like to read, he is the guy that pretty much is the senior analytics guy at ESPN. He wrote yesterday a story grading everybody's offseason, all 32 teams and their off seasons, now that the off seasons are truly over, right?

You know, no more OTAs, no more mandatory mini-camps. we are gearing up for a month from now, teams will be in training camp. Yeah, I think the earliest training camp report date is July 16th. Washington will have a rookie's report on July 18th. Everybody else reports on the 23rd. So we're essentially a month away from training camp beginning. And, you know, then it'll only be a week and a half until their practice with the Jets up in East Rutherford, and then they'll have their first preseason game with the Jets on a Saturday afternoon, August 10th at 12 noon.

That's their first preseason game. Anyway, Seth Walder graded everybody's offseason. And as I started to go through, you know, the list, I was like, Washington's going to have every bit of a B grade. You know, they're offseason as far as what we know. Obviously, this is subject to actual games being played by a lot of the players who have never played in NFL game. But a lot of the offseason are players that have played in NFL games. But we won't know for sure until they start playing games. But I figured a guy like Seth Walter would have looked at Washington's approach to free agency as pretty wise.

their draft to be, you know, obviously contingent on whether or not Jaden Daniels was the right pick at number two, but it was the right pick. He was the second best player in this draft or the second best quarterback in this draft by most accounts. And I was thinking Washington's going to be in that B, you know, area, maybe B plus, maybe B minus, but somewhere around a B. they were lower than that. They're all the way near the bottom. Seth Walder, in his grading, had Washington's overall grade, off-season grade as a C-plus.

There were only a few teams with worse grades, including, by the way, the Cowboys within the division. But he writes about Washington's off-season. Biggest move drafting quarterback Jaden Daniels, the move he liked the most, was the signing of Dallas edge rusher, Dorrance Armstrong. And then he writes, the move I disliked, and this is where you understand why they got a C-plus,

not upgrading the offensive line more. And he writes, The commanders are headed in a new direction with a new coach, and most importantly, a new quarterback in Daniels. How they fare will largely hinge on the Daniels' performance, though we're primarily judging how they have elected to build the team around him. The team made a slew of mid-level free agency moves to improve the roster, signing Armstrong, Senator Tyler Biotish, guard Nick Allegretti,

linebackers Frankie Louvoo and Bobby Wagner, quarterback Marcus Mariotta, running back Austin Echler and safety Jeremy Chin. Louvo and Wagner are a fun combination that could turn linebacker into a strength if Wagner has more left in the tank. and Armstrong is a solid edge rusher who recorded a better than average 18% pass rush win rate last year. The commanders have the second most cap space in the league and the third most projected in 2025 and should have used some of those resources on the offensive line. Of their five projected starters on the depth chart, Brandon Coleman, Allegretti, Biotic, Sam Cosmi, and Andrew Wiley only

Cosmi qualified and had an above-average pass-block win rate at his position last season. That's not ideal for a rookie quarterback. By the way, he had an above-average pass-block win rate. He had a pretty high average pass-block win rate because Washington's overall pass-block win rate per the ESPN next-gen stat ranked 14th. so it was clearly Cosmy that was carrying a heavy load there. Anyway, he writes, that's not ideal for a rookie quarterback. He also wrote, Kendall Fuller leaving in free agency could sting on defense as it leaves a weakness at corner. So look, we all understand that they did what they did in free agency with not adding anybody other than Biotto Schenalegretti.

They didn't add a tackle, but they did add Biotta Chenaligretti. Real quickly, just as a side thought, they need to resign Sam Cosmi now. They have all this cap space. Cosmy, you do not want to get to the end of next year and not have him locked up. He's playing the fourth year of his rookie deal. He was not a first round pick. There's no option on Sam Cosmy. They need to sign Sam Cosmi here in the offseason.

That should be a priority between now and the beginning of the season. Sam Cosmy was Pro Football Focus's third ranked guard this season and was their top ranked guard over the last seven games of the regular season. Cosmi is a keeper boys and girls. He's a legitimate upper-tier NFL guard. Guards are important. Centers are important. as we see the continued increase in interior pressure.

You know, Chris Jones and Dexter Lawrence and Quinn and Williams and the guy in Baltimore, Matabuque, and Derek Brown and, you know, Jeffrey Simmons. I mean, you've got big-time interior defensive linemen guard and interior offensive linemen have become very important. And look, I don't know what the offensive line is going to be. I personally believe, and maybe more than Seth Walder believes, I believe that a new offensive approach, meaning a new offensive coordinator, and a new quarterback, are going to be impactful on offensive line performance

and impactful in a positive way. It can't be worse than it was last year. Sam Hal held onto the ball too long and was asked to throw it too much. And I don't know that that'll be the case this year. Not to mention, you know, I don't think that's going to be the problem for Jaden Daniels anyway, as you know. But we're still a little bit in mystery land as it relates to Kingsbury and what they'll end up doing. I think we're going to see a team that is much more balanced than the team that played last year. I think he's going to try to run the ball more.

I think we'll see a lot of two tight end sets, a lot of 12 personnel, and I think we'll see Brian Robinson, Jr. and Austin and Echler, and even a guy like Chris Rodriguez, be tone setters for this offense. I don't see them just putting it on Jaden Daniels week one. But C-plus overall. Dallas had the – they were tied for – actually, they didn't have the worst grade. Their grade was D-plus. The Raiders and the C-plus, the Raiders and the –

Saints both had worse off seasons, according to Seth Walder. But the other reason that I wanted to mention this story is number one on the list was Philadelphia. They had an A offseason. They were the only team with an A. The Chiefs had an A minus. The Chargers had an A minus. The Dolphins, the Patriots had A minuses for their off seasons.

But the Eagles had the highest grade as an A. And I've talked about this. I think they were really impressive in the offseason. And I think it starts with the hiring of Vic Fangio, and to a lesser degree, the hiring of Kellyn Moore. I mean, that's going to have to be the right fit for Jalen Hertz. They cratered at the end of last year. They cratered because there's clearly a disconnect with Jalen Hertz,

but they didn't have a lot of speed on defense, and they probably weren't as well-schemed up defensively. Vic Fangio is one of the great minds of the last 20 years in the NFL on defense, as most of you know. But, you know, they did so much more than that. You know, they added Bryce Huff, the pass rusher, they signed Sequin. Barclay, we'll see if he can stay healthy. They drafted, you know, Cooper DeGene and Quinyan Mitchell. They brought back C.J. Gardner Johnson.

They still have Slaying Bradbury, but they've added speed to their secondary. Obviously, they lost Jason Kelsey, but. Seth Walder says the Eagles had the best offseason. I don't disagree with them. You know, the Eagles at MyBooky, go to MyBooky.ag, use my promo code Kevin D.C., and they'll give you a cash bonus on your initial deposit. But the Eagles now continue. Every time I go on My Booky, about a month ago, they were not the favorite to win the division.

The Cowboys were a slight favorite. About a week, week and a half ago, the Eagles were, you know, almost. most equivalent to the Cowboys. Now, they're plus 115 and the Cowboys are plus 140 at my bookie. So there's even some separation now in the betting markets with Philadelphia becoming a more solid favorite to win the division. They're my favorite to win the division. I'm not, you know, looking at the Cowboys as a team that's going to take a major step back like a lot of people will. I still wonder, you know, a team that I think should. should be more balanced, should run the football, who they're going to run the football with.

Is it really going to be Zeke Elliott at this point? I do like Rico Dattle. I thought he played pretty well last year. But the Eagles, the Eagles should be the favorite. And they are at plus 115 in the NFC East. The Cowboys at plus 140. As I mentioned, the Washington commanders are plus 800 to win the division, far ahead of the Giants who were at plus 1250 to win the division.

Anyway, I thought Washington's offseason probably deserved a little bit better, but I totally agree with the Eagles as an A. That's exactly the kind of offseason they had, at least on paper. By the way, I did see this story yesterday after the podcast, after Tommy and I did it, that Washington reached a $1.3 million settlement with the Virginia state's attorney. Remember, there are still these cases out there. And now new ownership has to take ownership of these things, even though they had nothing to do with them. But this was the case brought by Virginia and Maryland, by the way, right?

But the one with Maryland was already settled. but it was a two-year investigation into how the franchise handled the return of deposits on season tickets. Attorney General Jason Mears said in a statement that the agreement between the team and the state has Washington paying more than $600,000 back in deposits, plus another $700,000 back in penalties and costs to the investigation. So that one is over. All right, a few more things to finish up the show today with, including a trade in the NHL involving the caps that was just made. That and more right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, including EE system. So the capitals this afternoon were involved in a major trade in the NHL. I'll read to you from Greg Wyshinsky at ESPN. The Los Angeles Kings managed to get sent to Pierre Luke Dubois off their salary cap while addressing their goaltending need in a stunning trade with the Washington Capitals on Wednesday. The King sent Dubois to the caps for goaltender,

Darcy Kemper, in a one-for-one trade. Dubois, who's 25 years old, was acquired by the Kings in a blockbuster trade a year ago in June of 2023 that sent multiple players along with a second round pick to Winnipeg. It was a sign-in-trade deal, and the Jets, before trading him to the Kings, signed Dubois to an eight-year, $68 million contract extension before the trade with. LA. The Caps acquire much of that contract now. About $59 million left on that deal

with Dubois and seven years left on that deal with Dubois. Caps GM Brian McClellan said in a statement quote, we are thrilled to announce the addition of Pierre Luke to the Capps organization.

This acquisition brings a in a talented 25-year old with immense potential to become a top-tier center in the NHL with his size, exceptional skating, and high hockey IQ. We are confident he will thrive in our organization with increased responsibility and opportunity closed. Dubois fills a hole for the caps, you know, who traded Cousnets off to Carolina. Baxter stepped away.

He's pretty much done. And Kemper, remember, who signed a five-year-twenty. $26.5 million contract in 2022 was basically replaced by Charlie Lindgren, who was just the better goaltender for the caps. And McClellan commented on that this afternoon saying, quote, after witnessing Charlie Lindgren's performance last season, we believe he deserves a chance to play a more significant role within our team closed quote. So big time trade in the NHL. By the way, the NHL Stanley Cup finals still going on. After Florida had taken a 3-0 series lead, Edmonton one game four at home, and then last night won game five in Florida to close the gap to three games to two.

Connor McDavid, by the way, two goals to assist last night. And so the series resumes Friday night. They're not going every other day. They're stretching this thing out as well. game six in Edmonton Friday night with a chance for Edmonton to win and force a seventh in deciding game. Three nothing deficits have been overcome in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Never been done in the NBA. It's been done several times in the NHL playoffs. There was a story on front office sports that I wanted to read to you, moving the conversation back to the football team for a,

a moment. Front office sports, A.J. Perez put out a story early this morning that negotiations over Native American imagery continue to stall the RFK Stadium bill. Basically, A.J. Perez writing that the senator, Steve Danes, from Montana, and we understand what the Republican senator from Montana has been involved in with the Wetzel family over the logo and somehow honoring that logo. Well, he apparently, according to front office sports and A.J. Perez is still holding up this deal. And Perez writes, the RFK Stadium bill that passed the House, remains stuck in the Senate, and is unlikely to move until after Thanksgiving. Why? Well, Senator Steve, Dave Danes has single-handedly halted the bill over the commander's logo from what he writes,

there are days. We know those as Redskin Days. Remember also what Tommy had a few weeks ago, what Tommy reported? He reported that Senator Chris Van Hollen from Maryland was actually the bigger concern, the bigger obstacle in the Senate, a bigger concern for the city and for the team than Steve Danes and the Wetzel family and the logo situation. Chris Van Hollen, if he votes for the bill in the Senate, would actually be voting against his state's best interest, or at least that's what people think. I think Tommy's reporting per usual was spot on. I had people call me after Tommy reported that and say, your boy is spot on. The team is more concerned about Van Hollen. They're going to work this

thing out with the Wetzel family, which front office sports is kind of reporting is still being held up. We'll see. Here's something that we cannot really refute at this point. It is a much different situation today than it was when this bill passed in the House at the end of February, I believe. At the end of February, people said it's a mere formality. It's a slam dunk. It'll skate right through the Senate. That's not true. It hasn't been true. There are two obstacles that we know of. And they've got to be cleared because the city can't do anything with the land without the RFK site bill being passed in the Senate. They have to take control of the land with an amended and extended lease. And the team isn't going to sit around and wait

forever. You know, they want to get this project rolling. They don't want to open up this new stadium in 233 or 2032. I think they'd like to have it done by the end of the decade. I think there was some hope at the end of February that by the time we got to the beginning of the 2024 season, they were going to be able to announce that they've got a deal with the city. The odds that it's going to end up in D.C. are less than they were at the end of February. I still think D.C. is the favorite, but not as much because we didn't have any obstacles at the end of February. And now there are at least two. that we know of.

A couple of other things real quickly, and then we'll finish up. One is that Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are hosting the Washington Mystics tonight. They played a few weeks ago. The Indiana game against the Chicago Sky last weekend on CBS drew 2.25 million viewers. Most watched WNBA game ever. And so, by the way, one thing about that game, because I don't think I've actually weighed in on this on the podcast. The flagrant foul by Angel Reese against Caitlin Clark was definitely

a flagrant foul. However, I personally watched it 10 times. I didn't think it was intentional. I think it was a flagrant foul, but I didn't think it was an intentional foul. But anyway, that game, the most watched WNBA game, I think of all time, or in 25 years or whatever it was. But how about this? CBS ESPN2, ABC ESPN, ION, and NBA TV have all recorded their most watched WNBA games ever this year. And every single network when they set that record, of course, they were televising an Indiana fever game with Caitlin Clark. She has been incredible for that league. Did you see this story? This I read from Tom Pellasaro, NFL Network,

that the NFL has discussed, or some NFL owners have discussed a quarterback's salary cap, that there's been discussion within the league at some point capping what quarterbacks make as a percentage of the overall team's salary cap. Now Pellasaro said it hasn't gained a lot of traction in part, because so many teams have recently paid quarterbacks, and so they want the other teams to have to pay the quarterbacks as well. I don't know if that could ever happen, right? Wouldn't the NFLPA say absolutely not?

We're not capping a position group. Anyway. All right. I'm done for the day. I will leave you with just this. You know, every June 19th, I think about what has. happened 38 years ago on June 19th. It is a day that for Maryland basketball fans and really just basketball fans in the DMV will live as one of those days where you remember where you were

when you heard the news that Len Bias had died. Thirty-eight years ago today, Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose. just one of the most tragic days in this city's history in terms of an individual passing way, certainly in terms of a sports figure. But it was a momentous event, ultimately, in that so much happened in the aftermath of that. And we've talked about that many, many times previously. And we've had, you know, Dave Ungrady who did the Bias podcast series, which I participated in as well. But anyway, we'll just leave this show with one of Leonard's famous plays. Back tomorrow with Tommy.