The Kevin Sheehan Show - A Redskins Free Agency Suggestion

Episode Date: February 19, 2019

Kevin opened the show with some college basketball including a quick prediction on tonight's Maryland-Iowa game and tomorrow's snow/ice storm. Thom called in from Nats' spring training. They talked Nats, Kirk Cousins tweeting, Flacco, and more. Kevin then finished up the show with a player he would like to see the Skins sign when NFL free agency starts next month. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right, I am here. Aaron is here. Tommy will call in from spring training. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. The Caps did what they were supposed to do last night, and that has beat the Kings. They did it three to two. They needed to get that one last. night. I watched Virginia and Virginia Tech last night, Aaron. Virginia won the game 64 to 58. One interesting note, if you didn't pay attention to the game, Virginia Tech shot three of 28 from behind the arc. This is a 41% three-point shooting team that went three for 28. And so if you know anything about Virginia, you just say, well, there's Virginia's defense, you know, one of the best defensive teams in the country. And actually, if you watch

the game, you would have been shocked how many of those threes were wide open looks. And so Virginia Tech was close there. They had a legitimate shot to beat Virginia last night. I actually, Buzz Williams is one of my favorite coaches. I think the Hokies with the right draw could win a few games in the tournament. The truth is, they could have won last night. They get Duke next week at home. They need one of these big ones because they really haven't gotten one all year long. They beat Purdue early in the season when Purdue was still trying to figure things out. That's their only win over a ranked team the entire season. They're going to be in the tournament. They're likely a five seed or a six seed somewhere in that neighborhood unless they

beat Duke and make a run in the ACC tournament. But I like Virginia Tech. I think they're well-coached. I thought Buzz Williams did a great job at Marquette. I just think it's a good team. And last night, they had a legit shot, legit shot to beat Virginia had they made a few more of their open looks from behind the arc. Three for 28 is an awful night. And many times with Virginia, you know, it is their defense. And if you're just a box score reader, you probably just thought it was Virginia's defense last night. No, Virginia Tech had a lot of open looks, which gets me to Virginia real quickly because they've got two losses on the season, both of them to Duke, at home and end away. The recent loss was at home in Charlottesville. They've won three in a row since that

loss, including two road wins against ranked opponents. So bear with me, as I say what I'm going to say, because they have beaten two ranked opponents on the road in the last week, North Carolina a week ago in Virginia Tech last night. But Virginia looks sloppy to me recently. They don't look like the same team. They're turning the ball over more. think personally it's that they're a little bit disinterested right now after that second loss to Duke, a game in which Duke shot lights out and beat him. I mean, if Duke plays the way they played against Virginia in Charlottesville a week and a half ago, they're not going to lose. It's scary that a team could be disinterested and still win in Chapel Hill and then last night against a ranked

team in Blacksburg. Virginia looks different to me. Again, I don't think it's anything. I don't think it's anything to be concerned about if you're a Virginia fan. Because I think this Virginia team's really good. I actually think it's better than the team last year because they'll have DeAndre Hunter. They're going to have a lottery pick. They didn't have him in that lost to UMBC. They're going to be a one seat. I think if you're a UVA fan and beyond the team, you're probably thinking the same way they are. Let's get this regular season over. Let's get Duke in the ACC finals and beat them. and let's get to the tournament real quickly so we can begin the process of putting UMBC behind us, as much as you can put it behind you, because it'll never actually leave. It'll never be completely behind you

because you will always be the first team as a one seed to lose to a 16. But I think this is still a team when we get to the beginning of the tournament that will make a run to the final four. Now, the draw will have something to do with that. You know, they've had some tough draw. when Tony Bennett's had some really good teams. They had Michigan State in back-to-back years, and Michigan State bullied them pretty much out of the tournament in back-to-back years. They had that huge lead against Syracuse and the Elite 8 and blew it.

That was the chance for them to get to the final four. But, you know, Virginia has not been to the final four since 1984, and it was the year after Ralph. Ralph's senior year, they lost to NC State in the regional finals, and the East Regional Finals at the Omni in Atlanta, the old Omni in Atlanta. And of course, NC State made their run. NC State had to win that game in the ACCC finals against Virginia to get into the NCAA tournament. And then Jim Valvano's 1983 Wolfpack team made that incredible survive and advance run through that NCAA tournament,

which culminated in another win over Virginia. and then a win over Houston in the national championship game on the Lorenzo Charles Dunk at the buzzer. You know, I'm just thinking actually they beat Virginia in the ACC finals and they beat Virginia in the eastern regional finals, and I'm not sure which one of those games was at the Omni. One of them was at the Omni. The ACC tournament may have been elsewhere. I can't remember. I'm going to look that up, though, real quickly because I'm actually interested to see where they're

played that. I know most of you couldn't care less, but I care. The ACC tournament was at the Omni, and the Virginia game in the final, oh, that was the West Final. Okay, that was the West final, Ogden, Utah, my fault. So it was, it was the Omni in the ACC tournament, and then when NC State made their run, they were in the West region, as was Virginia. So I'm assuming that I wonder who the number one seed in the east was that year. It may have been North Carolina. It may have been the number one seed in the east. But perhaps, yeah, it must have been.

Or maybe it was Georgetown. Georgetown may have been the number one seed in the east that year. St. John's, I believe, looking it up now. St. John's was one seed in the east. Yes, it was St. John's and North Carolina was the two. Yeah, North Carolina was the two in the east. But St. Johns did not beat North Carolina in that tournament to get to the final four. They lost in the Sweet 16.

Yeah, they lost in the Sweet 16 because I want to say in that East Regional, that particular year was Houston over Louisville in one semifinal, NC State over Georgia in the other semifinal. So Georgia came out of the east. Georgia came out of the East as a four. And Georgia beat, who did they upset? Did they upset North Carolina or did they upset St. John's? I can't remember. They upset St. John's.

Well, both of them. They beat St. John's in the Sweet 16 and then North Carolina and the elite eight. There you go. Where was Georgetown that year and what were they seated? That would have been the second year of Patrick. George Town was in the Midwest. And was that the year they lost to Memphis in the second round? Correct.

Okay. And Memphis made, actually I think Memphis may have lost to Houston that year. That year, Houston ended up playing in. NC State in the finals in 83. They beat Maryland in the second round of that tournament. That was Bias' freshman year, and Bias hit a shot at the buzzer in the first round to beat UT Chattanooga. They played then the number one seed in the draw was Houston, because they were the number one team in the country, I believe, at that point. And they played Houston in the second round. By the way, in Houston, all right, in the summit, I believe it was, in Houston, Texas.

led at halftime because they slowed the game down. I think they led or were, either down one or up one at halftime and lefty walked off the floor at halftime pumping his left fist into the air like they had won the game. They ended up losing by I think eight or ten, something like that. But anyway, this is what happens on this show every once in a while. We just end up getting sidetracked. Anyway, Virginia, the following year after Samson was eliminated by NC State in the West Regional final in Ogden, Utah. The next year they went to the final four without Samson. And that was the final four that featured,

no, that was not. That was the year Georgetown won it, winning the finals over Houston the following year. But Georgetown, did they beat Virginia in the semifinals? Or did Houston beat Virginia in the semifinals? See, now we're going to go back and look that one up. The 84 tournament, the 84 tournament, I think I have the final four right there in the 1984 tournament.

Here it is, I got it. It was Houston over Virginia in the semifinals and Georgetown over Kentucky in the semifinals. And then you ended up with Georgetown winning their national championship over Houston, 84 to 75. By the way, one of those games where I remember exactly what the point spread was, because I had Houston for the maximum mulberry. allowed plus eight and a half and they lost by nine. Anyway, all right, so we got sidetrack there. Virginia is going to be a tough team this year.

I like them to make a run. You just don't want them to get up against a team that's really athletic and physical. I think those are the teams that perhaps they have the most trouble with. Maryland tonight, here's a prediction, bold prediction to start the show, or at least early in the show. Maryland finally wins a game under Mark Turgeon on the road against a ranked opponent. They are on the road tonight at Iowa. Iowa's ranked 21st in the country. Maryland is only a two-point underdog in this game, and the public's all over Iowa.

I like Maryland to break that string. I spent a lot of time yesterday talking about the Michigan game and the Owen 19 run Turgeons had at Maryland against ranked teams on the road. tonight, another ranked team on the road. And this will be the last opportunity to play a ranked team on the road this year to break that string. But Iowa is a different type of team than most of the teams in the Big Ten. Iowa leads the league in scoring. They average over 80 points a game. Actually, I think they average about 81.5 points a game.

They get to the free throw line a lot. They like to play up tempo. they will pressure you. It's always zone pressure. It's usually, you know, a 131 or a 1-2-2-half-court or a 3-quarter court trap where they're trying to trap you when you cross half-court. They'll drop sometimes the zone, but they want to play faster. They are big. You know, they've got, I always got the kid from Murray here locally, Luca Garza, who's turned into a really good player. I don't think Maryland recruited him. I could be wrong about that. you'll go back and check the rivals list of teams that offered. I don't think Marilyn offered Garza.

Garza was 6-11 played here in D.C. He's a sophomore now at Iowa. He's a good player. I mean, this kid can play. He's got a lot of good low-post moves. Did they offer him? No, they did recruit him but did not make an offer. Yeah, I didn't think they offered. Maybe it was because he was never going to stay home and he wanted to go away. but they're big. They've got multiple guys of 6-9, 6-10, and bigger. They have Jordan Bowhannon, who it just seems like he's been there forever, even though he's only a junior, and he can really shoot it and has been able to shoot it, and he's hurt Maryland in the past. This is a big one for the Terps tonight. Huge game for them. They didn't get Michigan. They were a solid underdog

against Michigan. I was disappointed overall with the overall. The overall, game against Michigan. Tonight's big. They need it. They could have a big week with respect to seating if they could get Iowa tonight in Ohio State at home on Saturday. They didn't move up at all in the rankings after beating Purdue and losing to Michigan. I actually thought they would move up a little bit, but they remained at 24. None of that really matters. There's somewhere between a five and a six seed right now in the NCAA tournament. But to get up to that four line to get into that top 16, give themselves perhaps a chance to play in D.C. They've got to make a run. They've got to make a run starting tonight. They've got five regular season games left. There are

two-point dog tonight. They'll be favored Saturday against Ohio State. They'll probably be favored at Penn State, even though Penn State's playing better. They've got Michigan at home in Minnesota at home. You've got to win four of the five here, Aaron. And one of them, you know, That means one of them comes either tonight or against Michigan at home. I think they got a really good chance to win tonight. I like them to win tonight. It could be a real, you know, turning point for them. If they're going to limp into the tournament and be a seven or an eight seed,

you're not looking at a second weekend kind of a run more likely than not. They've got to be on that four or five line. They don't have to be. Matchups are everything when you get to the tournament. And they could be an eight seed matchup super. you know, really well with one of the one seeds. Although, to be honest with you, I don't think there's one one seed that they would really match up well with.

You know, not Duke, not Virginia, although they had a chance against Virginia. Tennessee, probably, or Kentucky, Gonzaga, no. Yeah, Gonzaga would be the one I want the least out of all this. Well, Gonzaga would be the one, yeah, they're loaded and, look, Maryland's good. I'm not going to short sell them here. Go beat Iowa tonight, please. That would be nice. There was some news, too.

More news with Maryland. I know we're doing a lot of Maryland here, but Maryland got another transfer that this, Josh Jackson, who quarterbacked Virginia Tech last year before getting hurt, he's 6'4, he's a dual-threat quarterback. You know, those that follow college football or you Virginia Tech fans know that this guy's pretty talented. Florida State wanted him to, just like they wanted the four-star recruit from Louisiana.

And after they didn't get the four-star recruit from Louisiana that Maryland got, then Maryland also went after Josh Jackson, and Florida State wanted him, and Jackson committed yesterday to transferring to Maryland. Now, he, more likely than anybody, including the four-star that they got, has the best chance to start now. year. Yes. You know, this is... He is the odds on favor to be the starter week one, even over piggy. He's a bigger dude, you know, I don't know what his height is. What's his height? He's got to be

6-2-6-3 somewhere in that range. You know, a bigger dude who can run. He broke... 6-2-16. Okay, so he broke his leg, right, you know, early in the season? There were a number of things. There were also supposedly some off-field stuff and just some conflict with the coaches, but yeah. So Marilyn with Kasim Hill coming off a second ACL and Terrell Piggum, who is tiny, you know, they continue. Look, this is not a surprise to anybody. Well, he's probably not on the roster anymore. He put his name into the transfer portal.

Oh, Cassim Hill did? Yes. I didn't see that. Yes. Was that because they recruited the other kid? Well, I think it's a combination of the recruiting and the fact that he's probably not going to play next year and he just probably needs a fresh start. Interesting. I did not see that. Cassim Hill was a big get out of St. John's.

It doesn't necessarily mean he'll transfer, but I don't blame him for doing it in this situation. The one thing I think everybody knew Loxley would do is that he was going to be able to recruit. He was going to recruit and he was going to get talent to College Park, which, by the way, was already getting talent under Durkin. Durkin had put together back-to-back top 25 recruiting classes, something that I don't think had ever been done at Maryland before. I don't think Ralph had a back-to-back top 25. I know he had a couple of top-25s, but not back-to-back. Yeah, that sounds right.

And certainly I don't think that, you know, anybody, Vanderlinden or Duffner or anybody that came before him, including Bobby Ross, ever had back-to-back recruiting classes like Durkin just had. and now you got one of the greatest recruiters in the game in Loxley, and you're in an area with a lot of talent. Maryland football is going to be talented. They're going to have talent under Loxley. We'll find out if he can coach it when the games start.

But he can sell, man. He can recruit. One last thing I wanted to get to real quickly before we get to Tommy, who will call in from spring training, is weather. might as well because I got asked about it this morning I was on Tony's podcast and a lot of you want a weather update I will just tell you that these are the kinds of forecasts that really end up busting on the low end that the warm air comes in aloft much sooner than the models necessarily indicate now what that ends up

what you end up seeing with that is you end up seeing less snow than is what is forecasted. And I would say in the two, three inch area and more ice. But I think if you're in the city and the immediate suburbs, I think it's going to be rough tomorrow morning. But by the time we get to tomorrow night, it's going to be rain. That's what I think. I don't think this is going to be nearly the big deal others are making it out to be. It could be. I mean, the forecast will change multiple times between now and tomorrow morning,

but I just have a sense that this will bust on the low side in terms of overall snow. There is a chance, however, I'll just give you a heads up. First weekend in March, a big storm in March, which is not unusual around here for us to get possibilities of huge snowstorms in March. In the meantime, it's going to be in the 50s by the time we get to the weekend. rain, but it's going to feel better. Give me a minute real quickly to tell you about a new sponsor that we have on the show. It's scentbird.

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$7.50 when you go to centbird.com slash KSDC. Sign on. Smell Amazing. All right, let's bring in Tommy. Tommy is down at Nat's Spring Training in

West Palm, which has to be lovely this time of year in mid-February, where we're expecting tomorrow several inches of snow, followed by, you know, some ice, and just beautiful weather for February up here. I'm sure it's nicer down there. Although you did tell me it was too warm for you. Oh, I didn't say it was too warm. I just said it was warm. It's 86 degrees down here, you know,

and I'm all lathered up, which is, I'm sure, a great visual in sun tan lotion. Yeah. And sunny out. Last night, at 10 o'clock at night, it was 82 degrees here. Wow. I mean, see, there's, and no humidity to you. this time of year. I mean, it's just... Well, it's a little bit human today. Today's a little bit human. I'm not...

For me, it's not uncomfortable. But if I was out there shagging fly balls and chasing ground balls, it might be a little rough. Well, what... In a full uniform? What's the talk down there? I mean, how much of it is just dominated by Bryce Harper?

You know what's amazing? And, look, I don't want to start, you know, jumping on the Bryce Harper. Nats are better off without. him trained and that he was a detriment to the team. That's all BS. Okay. That's fantasy.

That said, I'm struck by how his absence does not hang over to clubhouse. And it made me realize his presence was not that big inside that clubhouse. I mean, I think Bryce Harper's presence was bigger outside. the locker room that it was inside. And, you know, he wasn't a bad teammate. It wasn't like guys didn't like him. He was never a leader. No, yeah.

And that's so evident now because, I mean, it's business as usual. Life has, life is moving on without him here. And unlike when Worth left and there felt like there was like some kind of a hole, although I thought that was overinflated too, there's no vacuum here. He didn't leave behind a space that seems to have to be filled, at least not inside that room. And I'm a little bit surprised at that.

Do you think that... I guess it wasn't obvious to me until I got here. Do you think when we get to opening day and we start playing real games, though, that fans will miss him? Yes, I do. I do think, for how long by then, you know, No, who knows. They may have adjusted to it by then. If he signs with Philadelphia, if he signs with Philadelphia, the hardcore fans are going to be upset about it.

But I think in general, him every day in the lineup, you know, over 162 games, was a reason to pay attention even more than just, you know, the team and how well it was doing. I agree. I was kind of surprised how much anecdotal conversation I would have with people this winter where they would all they would ask about was Bryce Harper and someone of them would say they've got to sign Harper. I'm not even going to pay attention to them. Again, it's just a handful of people maybe tell me that, but it was the conversation about the National. So yeah, I think his absence outside, you know, among the fan base, we'll have an impact unless the Nats get off to a good start and are competing early and then people will move on and concentrate on winning. So what are the other storylines there other than Bryce Harper?

I mean, it's pitching. What are the things that people are going to be focused on over the next a month and a half? Well, yesterday, actually, Juan Soto arrived at camp. Today's the first full day workout for all players. Yesterday was the position players reporting, Juan Soto reporting. And he has a present. Like him reporting was a big deal. You know, usually on every team,

there's a handful of guys, three or four or five guys, who when they come to camp, they hold a big, they hold court, like a mini press conference. When they come, it's a big deal.

Juan Soto was one of those guys now. And he wasn't even in, the Major League Clubhouse last. spring. Last spring, he was a minor leaguer, and I remember after he got an exhibition game last spring and drove in a run with a double, we had to interview him in the hallway at the other side of the building. Now he's got his own locker inside the clubhouse, and he's well-liked by his teammates, and there's a lot of high expectations for him. The other story that is kind of a baseball insider thing, but has really struck me of late, is how.

how excited they are about their catching duo of Johnny Goams and Kurt Suzuki. They're going to split the catching between these two veteran catchers, either one of which by themselves would be an improvement over what they've had the last couple years. But the impact these catchers are having on the pitching staff is as much as any catcher who not named Molina can probably have on a pitching staff. and it really sort of brought home to me, probably what a burden it was to carry Matt Weeders for two years and the damage that Boris and the Lerner family did by forcing leaders down their throat, both at the plate and behind the plate.

I think those two catchers, if the pitchers are healthy, this could be the best Nats pitching we've ever seen. With Patrick Corbyn, you know, added through three agency, and Annabelle Sanchez, who's going to be, right, Tommy, the fourth starter? Yes. Right, Scher, Corbyn, Strasbourg, and Sanchez? Yeah. Who's the fifth starter?

Joe Ross? Well, you've got Joe Ross. You've got Eric Fetty competing, and you've got Jeremy Halleckson, who was the fifth starter at the end of last year. And I wouldn't be surprised to see another face pop up sometime this spring, maybe a veteran out there who signs their minor league contract. What they missed last year was I called that AAA stash, that stash of pitchers at AAA that they could call up when they needed an emergency start or their pitching was stretched out because they had to go to the bullpen a lot and they needed an innings eater. You know, they had Edwin Jackson and then they lost them to Oakland last year and then everybody made that up.

So I think they're better versed to do that this year. I know that this really ultimately doesn't matter much, but I'm just curious. Is it in order of starters, like when we get to opening day and Scherzer's the opening day starter, I'm assuming, is it Corbyn, who goes next or Strasbourg? I'm thinking Strasbourg. Okay. I mean, he's the guy who's been here the longest. His status, you know, in a way, I think Strasbourg is glad that Scher is here because he's, he's the guy. He'd rather not be the man, you know, the number one guy.

But I don't think he'd be crazy about, you know, being dropped to third. I don't think he should. I think he's their second best starter. And Doolittle's the closer, right? Yeah, yes. Like there's no other guy in their bullpen. I mean, I know that Trevor Rosenthal closed at times in St. Louis. Remember, he closed in that playoff series for St. Louis.

But it's Doolittle, who is the earmarked closer on this staff out of this bullpen? Yeah. Yes, he's their ninth inning guy. Okay. Absolutely. I'm just thinking about the starting lineup in general, because there are going to be some new faces. Brian Dozier is going to start at second base, right? Yes.

A guy who has hit 42 home runs in one season. I don't know where those home runs came from because he's not very big. But again, look, as we all know, hitting and power has nothing to do with size sometimes. Right. And then Tommy, is the outfield Soto, Eaton, and Robles? Unless something happens this spring to force Michael Taylor into the picture as a starter. And I don't think I don't anticipate that. It would be Robles and Center, Soto and left, and Eaton and right.

Who's the favorite in the National League East going into the season? I think the nationals are. Okay. Now, that could change depending on what happens in Philly this week, you know, with the Bryce Harper Free Agency. But, I mean, everybody has given the Nats an A for the off-season moves that they made to make their team better in the bullpen and behind the plate. end on the mound. I mean, you know, they've been universally hailed for their offseason moves. We'll see if the reality is that they work out.

But, you know, the Phillies, people forget, the nationals finished ahead of the Phillies in the NAA's last year. But if they sign Harper, the Phillies are a legit contender. Most people will view them that way, right? I think they're become the favorite then, whether that's fair or not. I think they're a legit contender without. Hartford. And again, I think this is the most competitive National League East the Nats are going to have to deal with with the Braves who actually won the division and the Mets who still have

that great pitching staff. And I've added guys like Robinson Canoe and others, they'll be good. So you're going to have a real competition in the NEO East between those four teams. Yeah, I remember last year you and others were saying that, you know, the Phillies and the Braves were both on the come. I mean, these were teams that were going to be improved and were going to be better, you know, over the next few years. And obviously, the Braves took that step much earlier

than anybody anticipated. The Phillies basically finished, I think they finished around 500 last year. And the Mets obviously were disappointing, even with the starting pitching. But yes, that division, which at times over the last five years, has been one of the worst divisions in all of sport,

you know, dominated by the national. is now highly competitive. Yes. Like I said, it's not going to be a cakewalk. And 89 wins could wind up winning that division instead of your typical 90-plus win season because these teams are going to play each other so many times. All right. Let's switch subjects.

You weren't here yesterday. We usually aren't here on Mondays, but I wanted to get your thoughts on a couple of things. First of all, did you watch the All-Star game? I'm just curious. No. Okay. Why would I watch the NBA All-Star? Well, because I think, well, you wouldn't.

Well, here's what I would say. You love basketball, and you love the NBA, and you love the history of the NBA. And I can't stand any of the All-Star weekend-related stuff. And I'm not even a massive fan of the game, but I sat down and watched the game. And I'm not going to bore everybody because I talked about this on the podcast yesterday. but it's just so obvious that this is the greatest collection of athletes on the planet when you put the best of the best in the NBA on one floor. And by the way, don't ask them to guard each other, basically.

You see things from a skill level that you don't see in regular games that to me is actually entertaining. I just, the argument you hate soccer and I'm not a big soccer guy either, I do appreciate and can see and understand and respect the skill level required, the athleticism required. But to me, and I got a lot of follow up on this after yesterday's show about soccer again, NBA players are the best athletes in the world. I just don't even think it's close.

And I think if you watch that all. And I think even more so now, since there's no positions really in basketball anymore, you know, everybody kind of plays. Right. Like the same position, so you have to be able to do a little bit of everything. You do. More than ever. So I can see that.

I understand that. You read the story over the weekend, right, about Joe Flacco to the skins, that the skins are interested. By the way, there was a follow-up story yesterday from Albert Breer. Albert Breer confirmed, or I guess they were giving him credit for breaking the story. He didn't. Somebody in Denver did on Sports Talk Radio. But Albert Breer basically also. confirmed that the Redskins were interested in acquiring Joe Flacco.

Well, you know, I find that kind of curious. Since I read from a number of sources of local reporters, how it would be stupid and foolish, and the Redskins would have no chance to sign a guy or to get a trade for a guy like Flacco. And if that's true, then they must be really dumb to have basically pursued such a foolish exercise that they had, according to some media, had no business pursuing in the first thing.

Your sarcasm is seeping through, and you're taking a subtle shot at, I don't know who in the local media. But the funny thing about... Who took a victory lap when Flacco wound up getting traded to Denver? Who walked around the internet saying, see, I told everybody? I have no idea, actually. JP Finley. Oh, JP did? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Was he saying there was no, because I've said to you when you came up with your dream of Flacco to Antonio Brown that it wasn't going to happen, that they couldn't afford Flacco, that there would be a market for Flacco. Look, I didn't think it was going to happen either.

I know you didn't. You know? But I guess, let's put aside the sarcastic remark. about J.P. Finley from you because actually I think you hit on something. And that is how they didn't realize that they wouldn't be able to get him if they actually were interested. Now, I will tell you that I, from the people that I sometimes know stuff that I get stuff from, they had no idea. They were caught completely off guard by that story. It almost made me believe that it wasn't true. But the fact that Albert Breers reported it now, multiple people have reported it. To me, what you just described is probably the reality of it, which is, yes, I think sometimes those of us in the media can actually

forecast on these things a little bit better than even the team can. So it's just like the... That's a bit frightening. Well, it's been the case. Remember, Bruce Allen, I mean, this is something Cooley said on the air that he was dumbfounded at how the Redskins could have possibly misjudged the worth of Cousins by $30 million, which apparently the Redskins were completely caught off guard, that a team, well, not just one, but that at least two teams would be willing to give Kirk Cousins not only 30 million more in aggregate contract value, but 30 million more and guaranteed money. So they were completely caught off guard.

This has nothing to do with whether or not you thought he was worth it or whatever. I'm just telling you they completely misjudged the market on that. And if they thought they could get Joe Flacco for a fifth and then restructure his contract where he'd take $6 million a year, they're on crack. Because anybody that... See, it's really interesting about Flacco. and I had this conversation with somebody yesterday afternoon, in the local media, by the way. NFL people think much...

NFL people respect Flacco and think he's much better than fans do. And therefore, there was going to be a market for him, Jacksonville, Denver, to start with, perhaps even Miami. But certainly Jacksonville in Denver. And Flacco was not going to get compared to people like Teddy Bridgewater. All right, he's better. NFL people will look at Flacco and say, if I've got a team around him, I can win with Joe Flacco.

I can get to the next step if I'm Jacksonville or if I'm Denver. The Redskins to not, if it's true that they went after him and thought that they could get him on the cheap, yes, it's an indication that they were completely clueless as to, you know, the market, which they've been before. Tommy, they have. They've missed the market on a lot of different things.

So actually, what you're telling me, and this is certainly possible, I guess, because they're capable of anything, is that the media who covered a team basically had a better grip on reality than the people who run the team. It wouldn't be the first time, would it? No, it wouldn't. Okay, so, I mean, I'm just saying, I mean, obviously the biggest example, not that everybody believed this at the time, but the biggest example would be, that the Redskins thought that they had offered Kirk Cousins' gold in terms of a deal. And it was so far under market value, projected market value.

They didn't see that. Yet almost everybody in the media that followed this the day-to-day knew that if he hit the open market, somebody was going to give him close to $30 million a year. Somebody was going to give him, you know, an $80 to $90 million guaranteed deal. and they were offering 52. Yeah, everybody knew it was going to be a record-setting contract. But they didn't because they thought they offered the record-setting contract. That's the way they made it out to be.

Tommy, this is not just, you know, the emotions tied in to fans and media members who have rooted for the team like me. I'm one of those who are just really angry and upset. This has been a team that has operated without much intelligence over the years. It's not just that... But it's true. I mean, look, they've never been...

They're in the bottom rung of all franchises. We know that. And part of what makes that up is that they're not very intelligent, and they haven't been for a long time. But anyway, I'm actually, as someone who's always liked Joe Flacco and thought he was better than most people thought he was,

not that he was elite, but just the January Joe nickname was completely, you know, applicable. It was appropriate because every big game the Ravens have had over the years in December and certainly in January, he's played great in. So I actually think Denver's a great spot for him. I think they've got a chance with another piece or two

to contend in the AFC. I agree. I agree. Look, I'm with you on Flacco. I always thought he was a better quarterback than fans wanted to believe. It would have been a lot of fun, though, if you had Joe Flacco and Antonio Brown at training camp in Richmond. A lot more fun than it's going to be. You know, Tommy, the other thing, and I mentioned this too, and I think you will appreciate this because you know how well-run the Ravens are, they would have never traded Joe Flacco to the Redskins. There was so much respect from Bashati, from Harbaugh, from all of them in that organization. They were going, they had to trade them.

And if the Redskins had offered a second rounder, they would have taken that. Or if a bad franchise, which would have been an awful place for Joe to end up in, had offered a deal they couldn't turn down. I'm not saying they would have turned that deal down. But apples to apples, they were going to try to do. right by Flacco and send them to a place where he had a chance to compete. Now, they would have preferred, I'm sure, the NFC, but there really aren't any NFC teams other than the Redskins that need a quarterback. That's true.

It's actually an interesting year in general with NFL teams. In so many years, there are no less than a half dozen teams, sometimes as many as 10 that are looking for a quarterback. really right now in the entirety of the NFL, especially given that some of the teams that have needed quarterbacks in recent years, whether it was the Bills or the Jets or the Browns, they've all drafted those young quarterbacks in recent years. You've seen so many of them drafted. So really the teams that need quarterbacks, you can count them.

Miami needs a quarterback. Cincinnati may or may not need a quarterback, more likely than not they don't need one now. Jacksonville needs a quarterback. Denver needs a quarterback. When you get to the NFC, the Redskins potentially need a quarterback. The problem is that they're paying one $20 million next year, so they don't have any room to pay them.

The Giants are going to need a quarterback at some point down the road. After that, there's nobody that needs a quarterback. I mean, unless the Arizona Cardinals have given up on Rosen, they drafted one in the first round top 12 picks top 10 picks 49ers have Garoppolo Seattle's got Russell Wilson the Rams got golf Tampa's going to stick with James Carolina's got you know Cam Atlanta's got Matt Ryan Drew Breezes in New Orleans Matt Stafford

that's one to watch here over the next couple of years Stafford and Detroit but you know there's just there are three or four teams Max that need quarterbacks this year which is why which is why, you know, Denver moving on Flacco before Jacksonville could or Miami could or potentially Washington could, maybe there was a little bit of push there, but I also think it speaks to, they think he's better than anything out there. And that may even include Nick Foles. But anyway, I did want to mention this to you.

We started on this a couple of weeks ago. I did, and then we did together. trying to get Kirk Cousins the hell off Twitter. I mean, he's just been out of control on Twitter. And yesterday, he finally made the big mistake. Now, I don't personally think that there was any ill intent in this tweet, but this is the problem when you consistently make, you know, first of all, he tweeted out a picture of himself on a private jet the other day,

which should be a no-no. But yesterday, he tweeted out the following. In 2010, I was mad at LeBron James for Lerner, leaving Cleveland. But I've been in Miami for a total of five minutes, and now I totally understand. So that was met with... That's just unbelievable. It's unbelievable. I mean, it's like RG3 took over his social media account. In fact, this is worse. This is worse. This is so tone-deaf. It's for a guy who should know better. Yeah, this is... I mean, for those, that have missed it, I've already declared that he's off-putting to me now. I'm going to root for him

because I want to be right that he ends up being a good quarterback. But the tone deafness, the detachment from the team's performance from a year ago and how much money was spent and how much anticipation there was for Minnesota to not just get to the playoffs, but to have a legitimate chance to go beyond where they'd gone the year before in the NFC championship game to the Super Bowl and they didn't even make the playoffs. There were a lot of reasons for that. One of the reasons was cousins at times in big spots wasn't good enough. But I mean, to get on social media the way he has in recent weeks, this tweet, look, if he hadn't had the year that he had, if the team hadn't come up as small as it came up, and they had gone to the

NFC championship game and they had lost to the Rams of the Saints and a thriller. And he said, I'm in Miami for a total five minutes and I can understand what LeBron James was doing and leaving Cleveland for Miami. It's not a big deal. Because I don't think he's saying, I hate Minnesota, it's too cold, Miami's great. I think he's saying what we all say when we live in colder cities in the middle of February, oh my God, how nice is it to be in South Florida or Arizona? in the middle of winter when you get a chance to do that if you do get a chance to do it. But it just reflects somebody that had no idea.

He must not be reading the responses. The responses range from, I'm in hopes that Miami will have a job available for you real soon. This one was, oh, so it was the cold weather. That explains it we just all thought you sucked. And it just kept coming. Let me put this conspiracy theory. to you. Kirk, when he was here in Washington, he was

very careful with what he said. He was not reckless. No. With what he would say, he was very guarded on social media, whatever. You know, and part of, you know, the psychological profile, I'm thinking,

is, you know, of him doing this now was initially, well, he's got the big contract. He wants to act like a star player. He's been waiting to do this. for a long time. He wants the limelight. He wants the attraction and all that comes with it, which includes social media.

But what if he has decided that the Vikings are a train wreck of an organization, that my head coach is a disaster, and I need to force my way out of town? No, I don't, look, I'm not going to discount it as a possibility entirely. I just don't, I don't, I don't, that's not my hunch. That's not, I just. But doesn't it seem like a guy trying to piss everybody off? Well, you know, to that point, it really was an organization, not because of the signing of him, but because there have been some issues with the head coach and the offensive coordinator and the offensive staff already over the years.

I mean, he basically ran Norv Turner out of there. So there's been some issues there. You had DiFilippo basically out of there before the end of the season because it wasn't working and he wasn't doing what the head coach wanted him to do and call the kind of game that the head coach wanted him to call. So it may have ended up being an organization that wasn't as built and ready to roll and ready to win big as, you know, Kirk may have thought. Look, by the way, I think Mike Zimmer is a hell of a coach.

I think he's a good coach. I think his defenses are really good. I think he's a good coach. But he also wants to play super conservatively on offense. It's his, he wants 20 points and then win the game 20 to 17. And they were throwing the ball all around the park early in the year, and it was keeping them in games, if not winning them games, because they couldn't run the football

and they couldn't stop anybody early in the year. But they had issues along the offensive line. But back to Kirk for a moment. I don't think he's trying to talk his way out of Minnesota after one year. I don't. I just think it's gone completely to his head. And the irony of this is that put aside some of the, you know,

agendized discussions about what a bad teammate he was that came from a lot of people in the front office, you know, during Hall of Fame. meetings, etc. You look at guys that have talked about him in Minnesota. They say he's a great teammate. He never throws anybody under the bus. Nate Burleson, I think I talked about this story a week ago with you.

They were talking about Kirk Cousins on NFL Network, I think it was, and Nate Burleson said, look, I'm still close with a lot of people in the league, and I know a lot of the guys in the Vikings. And the one thing that he did well this year is during all of the turmoil, you know, with the offensive coordinator, with the fighting to make the playoffs and then coming up short, is he never once through anybody under the bus, and he always took the shoulder of the blame during the course of the season, and teammates like that. And so at the same time, though, since the seasons ended, he's gone on this, you know, sort of self-absorbed,

detached, tone-deaf, social media crusade. I don't get it. Well, he seems too smart to do this. That would indicate to me that he may have a motive. It's a possibility. I guess. You know, somebody pointed out that when we had this conversation a week ago, somebody pointed out, Kevin, don't forget he wrote a book when he was a backup.

That's true. And that he was selling, you know, T-shirts and selling different things on his own website while he was the quarterback here. And he was trademarking catchphrases and, you know, how do you like me now and all that stuff? What was the first one from Tampa? Why am I blanking? You like that. What was it? Yeah.

What am I? Why am I blanking on it? You like that? Is that what it was? See? It was memorable, but apparently not for me anymore. Anyway, so there was some of that, so maybe there were some indications, but social media-wise, interview-wise, he didn't seem this way. And again, the negotiating of a contract is totally separate from this.

For those of you who say he was completely self-absorbed and detached as he was taking the Redskins money, that was a two-way street, and actually the reality is it was more of a one-way street because he would have signed a long-term, Dill after the 2015 season. But anyway, God, where are you right now? In the lobby of Nat's spring training complex. Okay. Was it windy? I mean, well, I didn't go out, you know, I would have liked to have done this outside,

but I was thinking of you and how sensitive you are to everything when it comes to sound and stuff. You're so ultra-sensitive, like you're broadcasting, you know, a signal to Mars or something. So I wanted to make sure there was no wind or anything like that, so I came inside. Listen, we've got the Germans basically chasing us out of Dunkirk, and we've got a big war that looks like we're about to start, so I've got to make sure that that red light works, and I can sit in front of the mic and fire away, Churchill style. All right, what else?

What else do you have? That's all I got today, Paul. All right, then I'll talk to you Thursday. Enjoy the weather. We don't have the same here. No, I know. I mean, tomorrow you got snow coming, right? Yeah. Yep, snow, ice, the whole thing. But by the weekend, it's going to be in the 50s, so it'll be fine. Oh, that's good. All right. All right, boss. All right, I'll talk to you. Thanks.

Okay, bye. All right. Do you know that I have never been to Nats spring training? Not once. You know, I haven't either. I've been to a lot of spring training, both in Florida and Arizona, but I've never been down to that part. Yeah, I've been to a couple of spring trainings, one in Arizona, one in Florida. But neither one of them was planned. I was just down there for spring breaks and playing golf and then ended up going to a spring training game, but I've not been doing that spring training. It's not like a big thing on my list of things to do.

I know for a lot of people, it's really fun to go down there in February when it's cold here and spend a few days. And now that they're not in, what was the place they were in before? Oh, boy, it was Vieira Beat now, not Vera Beach. It was Vieira. Yeah, it was Vieira. And then, which was sort of in the middle of nowhere. Yeah.

And now they're in West Palm, which is much, much nicer. Last year I got to go down in spring training called a Yankees game and Russell Wilson got in that bat. So that was kind of cool. There you go. All right. Look, Wind Donation real quickly. The deal that they've been offering for a while is, going to end this week. So you've got to take advantage of it. It is the deal where essentially they're

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and they'll give you a price. Again, right now, buy two, get two free, no limit, plus zero percent financing, no interest for five full years. 86690 Nation or windonation.com. Tell them that I sent you. All right. A couple of NFL-related things. Antonio Brown,

He met with, you know, Art Rooney the second. I mean, he met with their top brass. And apparently they have all agreed that it's time to move on. I think the Steelers probably tried to make a run at keeping him. It makes sense. It's going to be a painful cap hit when they trade him. Right. That's why this all seems weird.

This all seems really weird. I can't imagine them. First of all, if they are just saying, okay, you're done. You don't admit that before you trade him. You have no leverage now. No, you don't. The Steelers have always been smart in this particular area. But I think ultimately, once they reached out to try to start to gauge the market,

everybody was going to know that they wanted to unload him anyway. I mean, this has not been a secret, the entire Antonio Brown thing here recently. It certainly would make more sense for them to work it out with him if it was workable to keep him, because there will be an accelerated salary cap hit to the Steelers when they do trade him. In terms of the teams that are going to be interested, you know, I look at the teams like a Denver now, a Denver that's got a defense that has a quarterback with a big arm, that has a young running back in Philip Lindsay. They've got some talent on that team, but they need a number one wide receiver. Emmanuel Sanders is fine.

You add Antonio Brown to that team with Flacco. Now, can they afford him? I don't know. I mean, the Broncos are, I think, somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of available salary cap space. I'm looking right now at the odds that, boy, who is it? 49ers. Bavada. 49ers actually aren't the favorite.

The Cardinals have become the favorite. Cardinals at 9 to 2, Packers and 49ers both at 5 to 1, dolphins at 11 to 2, and then Colts and Raiders at 7. I was going to say the Colts have the most cap space, I think, in this offseason. The Raiders are up there, too. The Browns are up there. They do list the Redskins at 12 to 1. Yeah, the Redskins, Antonio Brown is not going to end up in Washington. I don't see that.

You know, look, it would have been better for the Steelers to keep him. If I'm a Steelers fan, I'm disappointed that it couldn't get worked out. But then potentially, if I'm a Steelers fan, I realize that it's just too much of a disruption to overcome, even though you've been a pretty good team for a long time now. And at one point during the regular season, it looked like Pittsburgh was a legitimate front-runner. to win the AFC championship. I mean, they had that long win streak when they were killing people. Remember on a Thursday night, they destroyed Cam Newton in the Panthers.

They scored like 50-something. They did the same to Atlanta at one point in the season. And then they lost that game at Denver when Rafflesberger threw the pick on the goal-to-go situation at the end of the game where they had a chance to force overtime, I guess it would have been. Then on a Sunday night game, they had a big lead against the Chargers and blew that, and then they went to the Raiders and lost that game when Ben sat for a big portion in that game. And that three-week stretch completely destroyed their season. You know, it's such a

fine line in the NFL every year, every game. I mean, the Steelers at that point, and I'm pulling up their 2018 results right now. They had the slow start, and then, yeah, they had a six-game winning streak. You know, they were seven and seven, two, and one after they beat Jacksonville. And that was the week after crushing Carolina. And they went to Denver. And Denver wasn't a great team. I had Denver that day. I do remember that. And Rathlisberger threw a pick into the end zone at the end of the game. I think it may have been on a first and goal situation. It was a drive, it was third and goal at the two, my fault. Third and goal at the two. And he threw the interception throwing for Antonio Brown. Then the following week, on a Sunday night against the Chargers, this was,

you know, the Chargers winning all these road games this year in big spots, you know, prime time spots. They led 23 to 7 at halftime over the Chargers, blew that one, lost 3330, and then the really weird game against the Raiders. Remember that game where Rathlisberger sort of sat for portions of that game because he was a little bit banged up and they were playing Josh Dobbs and all the sudden Derek Carr gets hot and here come the Raiders and they take the lead and then they put Rafflesberger in

and he gives them, drives him to take the lead and then the Raiders ended up driving back down the field and winning the game and it's like that's where their season was decided. They had this three games stretch at 7-2 and 1 where they look like the favorite in the AFC North they looked like along with Kansas City more than even New England at the time

with Kansas City as like like the two best teams in the AFC, and then they lost three games that were all winnable, all right there for them to win. And they lost all three of them, and their season, even though they beat the Patriots in Pittsburgh. Remember, in mid-December,

they ended up losing that close game to New Orleans, and then they didn't make the playoffs. That game to New Orleans was a backbreaker, because they played so well in that game. And they had, I believe, in that particular game, they had the lead late. Wasn't it super late? Here it is.

They came back. They had the lead through most of the fourth quarter, and Breeze drove them late. I think there was a controversial call in that game that I can't remember the specific stuff. But anyway, now they don't make the playoffs at 9, 6, and 1. Baltimore makes it, and now the team's going to break up to a certain degree. I mean, the Steelers, as we knew them,

with, you know, Antonio Brown from Raffles, Perth, Ben and Brown and Bell. Yeah, we didn't have been in a bell this year. But, but yeah. So anyway, that's their situation. A pro football talk put out a list of the top 100. They ranked the top 100 free agents. This is the first day of franchise tagging. I believe today is the first day of that.

DeMarcus Lawrence, who's going to be tagged, right? I can't imagine the Cowboys are going to get into a big. bidding were over. Demarchus Lawrence is a, is Dallas's defense, their front seven was incredible last year. It really was. He was already on the tag this year, though, wasn't he? He was on the tag this year, but they could. They could do it again, but I don't know if they're going to do it for. So, Demar, anyway, Demarcus Lawrence is number one on the list. Clownies two, Trey Flowers is three, Grady Jarrett's four, Frank Clark, who really, really, by the end of the year, I mean, this whole season was a havoc wreaker for Seattle. That's your top five. You know,

some of the big names, Lavian Bell's seventh on the list, Earl Thomas 10th, Nick Foles is 11th. All right, so he is the first of the quarterbacks ranked. Preston Smith on the list put together by pro football talk and ranking the top 100 free agents. Preston Smith is 13th on that list. You go down there, other Redskins on the list. Ha ha Clinton Dix is on the list. He's in the top 60, I think. Adrian Peterson's way down at the bottom of the list of the Redskins free agents. You know, most of that's about age. He's 99th on the list. Tye and Seki's in front of him, actually. He's an unrestricted free agent. There's a name that I've been wanting to mention for a while in terms of players who I would like the Redskins to look at.

I don't know what they're not going to get much in free agency in terms of wide receivers. That list is short. In fact, I'll go through the list right now in terms of wide receivers the way they are ranked. The first wide receiver on the list, I'm going to guess that it's Golden Tate, right? you've got to go all the way down. Golden Tate, 31st ranked free agent is your first wide receiver

free agent. And he doesn't even fit necessarily what the Redskins are going to be looking at. But anyway, it's not a year you're going to get a big, you know, a big free agent, wide receiver. What you can get this year in free agency are pass rushers.

and, you know, there are guys, and some of these guys are going to be tagged, so it's not going to be, they're not going to be getable. I mean, Preston Smith's 13th on this list, but we've watched him play. He's a good player, but he's an inconsistent player. But there was a player that I wanted the Redskins to draft when he came out as a rookie, the same year Preston Smith came out as a rookie. And I love this guy at Missouri, and I have liked him a lot at times in Denver, and he is an unrestricted free agent because Denver did not pick up the fifth year option on Shane Ray.

Shane Ray is a true edge pass rusher. He is also a guy that definitely can play an outside linebacker position as he did in Denver in a 3-4. He is a speed rusher. I want a speed rusher, an outside speed rusher, which Preston Smith isn't. You know, Ryan Carrigan isn't. You know, Ryan Anderson isn't. Pernel McPhee actually showed some burst. And the guy that Cooley liked that got some time towards the end of the year.

Casanova? Yeah, Casanova's got some speed too. Shane Ray's not even listed on the top 100 free agents. He's a guy that I would think about because he has huge upside. He injured his wrist in 2018, and so he missed some games this year and didn't have the results, which is why there's not going to be a big market for Shane Ray. But that's the kind of player that I think the Redskins need to look at. A true speed edge rusher to go with what they have on the interior,

which is real talent in Allen, ionitis, and pain. that's where their talent is. Now they need an edge rusher. Obviously, they can be looking at free agency for a corner, but again, the Redskins can't be big spenders in free agency this year. They're not going to have a ton of cap space. I mean, I think the estimated number right now is somewhere around 18, and maybe they can increase that with some cuts. You know, a Zach Brown, a Vernon Davis, you know,

those kinds of moves can add another $8 to $10 million in aggregate to the cap. They'll have some room. But, you know, typical of the Redskins, I doubt there will be a big name. I think there will be three or four guys that are going to be in the lower end spend. Shane Ray would fit that in the lower end spend. You know, maybe they add a Dante Moncrief for not a lot of money. You know, maybe they add a Kenny Vaccaro, somebody like that as a safety that's not a big spend necessarily. But that's been, you know, Bruce Allen.

That's been the Redskins in free agency, you know, over the years. I mean, if we're really talking about what they've done in free agency, if you take the Josh Norman thing, which sort of fell into their lap, the Deshaun Jackson thing that came out of nowhere as well, you know, we know what they do. They're not big spenders in free agency. They haven't been with Bruce Allen here. It's the Orlando Scandrix and the Pernell McPhese and Paul Richardson's and Kendall Reyes and Stephen Paya and Geron Johnson and, Jaron Johnson,

pot roast, Terence Knighton, that was a big get. You know, Vernon Davis was a really good free agent signing, but they've been the masters of signing average players for great deals. I mean, that's what Bruce Allen, if Bruce Allen, when he eventually leaves here, and hopefully sooner rather than later, the thing that I'll remember more than anything is how good he was at negotiating great deals for average players. and so to think about, you know, will they make a move for Landon Collins? Will they make a move for D. Ford or, you know, Taron Matthew or, you know, probably not.

It's not what they do. It isn't. I personally think that Preston Smith and Cooley said this the other day is a good possibility to stay just because the market's loaded with outside linebackers. I would love to see, I'm throwing out. the first name here and I'll have more names as we approach the beginning of free agency. Shane Ray, I was always a fan of coming out of Missouri. I was a fan of him in Denver, those first few years. If you think about the first few years, he was a good pass rusher. Then he's had some injuries here recently, wrist surgery, I think it was his second or third risk surgery that he had

in 2018. You know, health is key for him. You know, and he had some issues here and there with, some weed, I think, you know, back in the day at Missouri or maybe the first year in the NFL. But that is a guy with edge speed. They don't have anybody with true edge speed. I'd like to see somebody like that. If they're going to go the route of not spending a whole lot and being, you know, fairly conservative and free agency, you know, I want to see a speed rusher. I'd love to see a receiver, but there really aren't any out there.

You need depth along the offensive line, and you could use some defensive backs, both corners and safeties. That's sort of where I think the emphasis will be, but really expect, you know, expect the Geron Johnson signing or the Stephen Paya or the Greg Toller or Kendall Reyes. This is what Bruce does, you know, unless something really becomes an opportunity. You know, like the Josh Norman thing, unexpected that Carolina would rescind the franchise. tag. Unexpected that Deshawn Jackson would become available, you know, as late as he did. Those kinds of things are the, you know, are the outliers. Bruce Allen is looking for players that don't have big names, that don't cost a lot of money, that he's evaluated, that he believes he's getting a deal on. You know, that's how he shops. He's looking for the

great deal. We haven't found many of them. More of these great deal red tags. specials have turned into, you know, shirts with holes in them or pants the first time you threw them into the dry cleaner, gave them to the dry cleaner, they came back three sizes smaller. Nothing really has worked. I mean, Vernon Davis was a terrific free agent signing. He's been a contributor for a really good price over the years. But I think that's what we're going to expect when we get to free agency. They don't have a hell of a lot because of the contract that's taking up a lot of space in the form of a quarterback who likely won't play next year. Again, this is a lot of this, you know, feeds into why I believe the blow it up now option

should be in play. But it's not. It's not in play because they think they're close. Anyway, real quickly, launch workplaces in Bethesda. If you're looking for an office or a desk to work from occasionally, consider launch workplaces. They've been. got locations all over town, fully furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks, high-speed internet, free parking, 24-7 access, and a lot more. Go to launchworkplaces.com. Call 240, 86714. Ask about the Bethesda location. You'll get a free two-day trial if you mention my name. If you live near here and you're looking for something like that. Launchworkplaces.com or 240, 86714.

Barring the absolute unforeseen weather-wise, we will likely be here tomorrow to do a podcast. At the very least, I'll want to talk about whatever happens tonight because I am looking forward to the Maryland game tonight. Thanks to Tommy for calling in. Thanks to Aaron. Have a great day.