The Kevin Sheehan Show - Anthony Davis To Wizards!

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Kevin opened with his reaction to the Wizards' bombshell trade for Anthony Davis. Josh Robbins/The Athletic-Wizards jumped on with his information and thoughts on the deal. Mike Ginnitti/Spotrac joined Kevin to talk Commanders' salary cap situation, the teams' free agency possibilities, and a lot more. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match 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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. The Wizards traded for Anthony Davis today. Yes, that Anthony Davis. And yes, those wizards.

The show's presenting sponsor is always Windonation. If you need new windows, call them. 866.90 Nation. You can also go to Window Nation. dot com. The rundown for today's show has changed significantly in the last hour and a half. Obviously, we are going to talk a lot about this trade. Josh Robbins from The Athletic will jump on with me in the next segment to discuss the trade. I'm not going to wait. I'm going to get to it here in the opening segment in a minute or so. Mike Genetti from Spottrack, the site that I

always use to discuss salary cap numbers and contracts. He will be my guest in the final segment. I recorded my interview with Mike Genetti before the trade. If I had not done that, I would have asked him about the trade because SpotTrack does a lot with the NBA as well. But Mike's going to be on to discuss Washington's salary cap situation, players he thinks, makes sense to release, he'll look ahead to free agency. even talk a little bit about whether or not he sees Terry McLaurin playing beyond

2026 in a Washington uniform. Real quickly, before I get to my thoughts on the trade, Frank Reich is going to be the O.C. in New York for the Jets. If I didn't have this on yesterday's show with Tommy, Matt Nagy to the Giants, right now, it's very possible that Cliff King, Kingsbury gets left out. Personally, I don't think there are 32 offensive coordinators better than Cliff. But I do think that the under-center thing, him being the lowest among the coaches in the league

to run under-center quarterback snaps and the way this season kind of evolved with some of the better teams being more of the under-center teams. But let me just mention this real quickly. The good news for our team is if Cliff doesn't go somewhere as an offensive coordinator, I think the chances of Marcus Mariotta being back are much greater. Mariota loves Kingsbury, so does Jaden. And I thought that Cliff landing somewhere as an OC, there was a good chance Marioita would follow him. Now I think there's a good chance Marioita is back, even though the offense will be, you know,

different, I think, under David Blow. And the fit with Cliff was perfect for Marcus. I think Jaden's got more versatility in terms of the types of offenses he can succeed in. Marcus can too. I mean, he's a veteran quarterback. But man, the fit with Kingsbury and what Kingsbury did offensively was a good one. But maybe it means Marcus Mariotta's back. I think that would be huge for Washington.

All right. Let's get to this trade. Anthony Davis to the Wizards. A stunning trade. Nobody had this. I heard Lonzo Ball in connection with the Wizards, a bonus in connection with the Wizards, like all of you that followed the team, you know, read here in the last week or so. Nobody, nobody had Anthony Davis to the Wizards. An absolute shocker, you know, 25, 26 hours before tomorrow's trade deadline. And here's the thing about the deal. The Wizards didn't give up much at all. This is a low risk trade for the Wizards and a very high reward trade for the Wizards because Anthony Davis has been during his career at times,

when healthy, and that's a big if, a top five to top 10 player in the league. But they gave up none of their serious draft capital and none of their better and most promising young players. The deal was this, Davis, Jaden Hardy, DeAngelo, Russell, and Dante Exam, from Dallas to Washington, for Chris Middleton, A.J. Johnson, Malachi Branham, Marvin Bagley, and then two unattractive first round picks, and three second round picks.

They retain their most important draft pick, their own in the upcoming June 2026 draft, as long as it's within the top eight, they don't lose it, and it would be malpractice if they lost it, having it be outside the top eight. That's not going to happen. One of the things that's going to come out of this trade is the same thing that came out of the Tray Young trade. We're not going to see a lot of Anthony Davis this year. He's hurt right now, per usual, as was Tray Young when they made the trade.

They're not going to play a lot, if at all, for the Wizards in 2026. The Wizards are not going to risk, you know, a potential. potential Darren Peterson, AJ DeBonsa, Camboozer, windfall from this pick. They're going to be in that lottery. And hopefully they get some lottery luck this year. But they didn't give up any of their best young players either in this deal. This is a deal that has big time upside and just very little downside. I can't see why you wouldn't make this deal 10 times out of 10.

By the way, if you are a Dallas Mavericks fan, essentially what you got for Luca Donchich, a 25-year-old superstar just over a year ago, is Chris Middleton, A.J. Johnson, Malachi Branham, Marvin Bagley, two unattractive first-round picks, three second-round picks, and 27 games from Anthony Davis. Worst trade in NBA history. The Wizards keep that all-important 2026 first round pick. And really, you got to give Winger and Dawkins in this organization some credit because when they arrived, Bradley Beale should have been traded already but wasn't.

He was traded a year later than he should have been traded. and they've essentially turned that into Anthony Davis, Trey Young, a few promising young players, and an opportunity to maybe get a generational player in the upcoming draft. So why did they do it? Well, an obvious reason would be that they decided they are ready and they are willing to start playing next year to win. You know, forget about a continuing slow build

towards maybe winning, they're going to go for it much sooner than anybody thought. You know, Ted and Winger and Dawkins, they sought out and found a way to kind of, you know, cut in line. They're putting themselves talent-wise next year in the conversation of NBA Eastern Conference, dare I say it, contenders. Yes, contenders.

I'm excited about this, and I'm probably going to get a little carried away here. I'll dial it back here in a moment, but this trade likely puts the Wizards in a group next year, and we don't know exactly what everybody else's roster will look like because they change so much in the NBA year to year. But the East is pretty wide open this year. Next year, pretty wide open maybe. We'll see, again, who knows at this point. but with the roster they have after this trade, they're going to be among the teams considered to be

not necessarily contenders to win the Eastern Conference Championship. Okay, I'm not going to say that. But they're going to be a team that people are going to think can win 45 games. They're going to be a team that people think can finish in the top four or five in the Eastern Conference. That's a big leap forward from where, where they were headed before this trade, which was, okay, maybe next year we can try to win 35 to 40 games and maybe sneak into the play-in.

The upside's much greater than that. I don't think that's unreasonable, but of course, the risk is health, because Anthony Davis's health is the biggest downside of this deal, but again, very little risk to acquire just the possibility that Anthony Davis has in him an Anthony Davis superstar kind of season. But you put him next to Alex Sar, okay, for those of you who don't know, Alex Sarr was their number two pick two years ago. He is second in the league in block shots. Balal Kulabali, their first round pick from three years ago, a hell of a defender. How about Davis, Sarr and Kulabali as your back line defensively?

And then Trey Young and Trey Johnson in the back court, I mean, two veteran all-star players who really fit together, Trey Young and Anthony Davis, that pick and roll, that pick-in pop, that combo of two-man veteran, all-star, you know, talent is intriguing offensively. And remember when they acquired Trey Young, you know, one of the knocks, and justifiably so, Trey can't guard anybody. you have to protect him with size and shot blocking ability and rim protection. Well, they have that in spades now with Anthony Davis and Alex Sar. You know, and on the perimeter with Trey Johnson, he's already proven to be a dynamic shooter. I mean, he is an absolute stone cold long-range shooter. I think he's a good score too. And then you add Kishon George and Will Riley, who I think has played really well

and is very intriguing all of the sudden. And then you've got a shot at, you know, a Peterson or a DeBonza or a boozer. You know, I would imagine that a new head coach is a decent bet in the offseason as well with this roster, a job that will be much more enticing now than it's ever been. I mean, wow. From the idea that perhaps they were, you know, on this long path, but still, and maybe the right path, but three to four, five years away from knowing for sure about whether or not

what they've been doing the last two and a half years would actually work, to now having a 10-time All-Star in Anthony Davis, one of the best two-way players of the last decade, five times in all defensive team selection, three times a league leader in block shots. over the last three weeks. You know, Trey Young, Anthony Davis. Trey Young, I said this. He's not my favorite player.

Okay. He's not a player that you're going to win a title with if he's your best player. But they're setting up a possibility that maybe he ends up being their third best player down the road. But you do have defensive protection behind him. You've got a great score and a creator and a passer in Trey Yon. young. I do think, and I can envision the fit with Anthony Davis being a good one. And they still have their best young players and they're very important first round pick in the upcoming draft. I mean, low risk, high reward.

They didn't have to give up Luca Donchich to get Anthony Davis. You know, you look at the Mavericks from their standpoint. They're now just, they've decided we're building around Cooper Floss. lag. This was basically a salary dump and we got Anthony Davis. It's rare that you see this kind of a deal when it's not pressing in the immediate, meaning, you know, they've traded for Trey Young and Anthony Davis and they're probably not even going to use them this year. You know, it's a next year deal. It's like, oh, yeah, that's right. We traded for Anthony Davis and Tray Young when we get to opening night in October of 2026.

I think if everybody's healthy, that's a big if. And I'm going to get to Anthony Davis in a little bit more detail here in a moment. If everybody's healthy, they can win 45 plus games next year. And then beyond that, yeah, Davis is owed another 58.4 million this year. He's under contract in 26, 2027 for 62. $1.7 million. This is a player that you could only get this way. The Wizards have never been a destination for free agents.

It's the only way you can get a player of his talent is to trade for him and have him still be under contract for, you know, next year. Now, look, he's always been a risk. I've made fun of Anthony Davis and leaving games with, you know, hangnails. and he's not exactly durable, that's for sure. He's not exactly the toughest dude that's ever played the game. Here are a list, by the way, of the injuries during his career and the number of games he's missed.

I mean, there have been so many articles written about his injury history. I'll just net it out for you. Total reported injuries, Anthony Davis, during his career, whether they've been serious or not serious. 296 reported injuries during his 13 and a half year career. 51 unique body parts affected. 51. Over 50 plus of the 296 have been foot related.

Over 20 have been back, ankle, and Achilles related. By the way, currently he is injured with a hand injury that's got him out for the next five or six weeks, but apparently won't require surgery. But he's missed 232 career games over 13-5 years. Yeah, he's going to drive me nuts. He's going to drive me nuts next year because he's injury prone. And many times, man, the injuries have not looked serious. And there's a drama to him getting hurt on the floor that really is, you know, kind of

of hard to watch at times, you know, bumped in the hip and all of a sudden he goes down and he's writhing in pain and then he's on the bench and then he's headed to the locker room and all the sudden he's out for a week or two. But for the price, you know, even though he's going to be 33 next month, I mean, I'm ready to see this team become relevant again. For a half century, it's been mostly irrelevant, barely recognized at times as an NBA franchise. for, you know, 35 out of the last 47 seasons. It's been 47 years since they last won 50 games, and that was 1979, and they lost as defending champions in the NBA championship.

They were 54 and 28 last year. They won 49 in 2017. They've never won 50 or more. I don't think it'll be 50 or more. I definitely think 45 plus, and solidly, solidly, in the playoffs next year in the Eastern Conference, with nothing but an upside. You know, worst case,

you got these young players getting a chance to play with Anthony Davis and Trey Young. Anthony Davis's health is everything to what they can be with Anthony Davis. I get that. And I'm not counting on him to just, you know, all of the sudden become tough guy and a toenail injury, not have him knocked out for two weeks. But the guy's talent is his next.

never been in question. His production when he's healthy has been, you know, top five to top tenish whenever he's been available and playing like Anthony Davis. And it's been a few years. It's been a few years. So look, I'm excited about it. I am. I can't wait for next year. We're still rooting for them to lose as many games this year. You want them to have the best opportunity to get the number one pick. But it's going to be like, we're going to get to next year and it's going to be like, oh, here's the team that they traded for last year, you know, three weeks before the trade deadline and then at the trade deadline. Here comes Tray Young and Anthony Davis out onto the floor with Alex Sar, Kulabali, and Tray Johnson. And here comes, you know,

Kishon, George coming in off the bench, Bub Carrington coming in off the bench, Will Riley, and maybe, maybe, you know, somebody like AJ DeBon, or Darren Peterson, who two years after they draft them might be the best player on the team. I mean, that's the hope here. Of course, nobody's got it really figured out. But I love the trade because they just didn't give up much to get Anthony Davis on their roster. Josh Robbins covers the team for the athletic. He'll join me next.

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You can follow Josh on X at Joshua B. Robbins. So I'll just start with this. How surprised, how shocked were you when you heard this? Pretty shocked. I thought that the Wizards were looking to add a big of some kind. I didn't think it would be this big. And by this big, I don't mean this Titanic a move. I mean this particular big.

In other words, in the last week or so, I'd heard rumors that they were sniffing around on Jared Jackson Jr., Zion Williamson, Walker Kessler, to pair alongside Alex Sar. And it did turn out that they were looking to add a big, just not the big I had expected them to bring aboard. Yeah, I mean, look, Anthony Davis, we can agree on this, right? When he has been healthy and he has played,

he has been a top five to top ten player and arguably the best two-way big man in the league for 10-plus years. I think that is mostly true. I think we could quibble about the number of years or whether he's top 10 or top 15.

But I think we can agree at his best when he's healthy, when he's dialed in and wants to be somewhere. He's an excellent player. I mean, Josh, this is the biggest upside player. When I say upside, the most talented, the most gifted, the most capable of being a true elite superstar player they've had on their roster in decades. John and Brad were not at this level.

True, but I think it was fair to perceive John Wall, if everything went right, to perceive him as a potential perennial all-MBA player. Same with Chris Weber. But yes, I think the real concern here with Anthony Davis is, A, his age, and B, his pension for injury. with the caveat being that they traded almost, just like with the Trey Young trade, they traded almost nothing in the way of draft capital to get him.

Yes, so let's get to that. Let's start with how you would evaluate this trade and how you would grate out how the Wizards did and the reasons why. In terms of the outgoing cost, it's minimal, minimal. There are players going out in the deal. Martin Bagley, the third, AJ Johnson, Malachi, Branham. These are all nice people, for sure, who are very valuable to have on your team as people, as human beings, okay?

But in terms of their long-term value as basketball players, not that much. I mean, I know it sounds terribly harsh, but Chris Middleton is no longer the second best or third best player on an NBA championship team. In terms of the draft picks going out, the Wizards are sending out one guaranteed first-round pick, and that's it in terms of first-round picks. It's going to be the least valuable of OKC's pick this year or Houston's pick this year or the L.A. Clippers pick this year, which in essence means it's going to be the 30th pick in the upcoming draft.

They're also giving up the 2030 Golden State Warriors first round pick that only conveys if it falls from 21st to 30th. So even if the Wizards were going to get that pick, it was going to be in the bottom third of the 2030 first round in that draft. So a minimal cost. The real cost here is could they have packaged the people who are going out and the picks going out for someone or something better. We don't know the answer to that question. It's an upside play at a low cost. What would have been to something better that maybe they were looking at?

Sabonis? I don't, well, Daman of Sabonis is the better offensive player. He is the more durable player. Sure. He's maybe a better, he's probably a better defensive rebounder. but he's a he's not a good defender he's not a good defender um but really i think let's just say they were indeed interested in jaron jackson junior well look at the price Utah paid to bring him aboard and Matt price was in the form of three future first round picks in this case the wizards

traded two first round picks in name only definitely one first round pick and then a conditional pick in 2030. So if you are going to compare the cost for Jaron Jackson Jr., who is at this age a better, more durable player than Anthony Davis, and I suppose you can argue with that, the cost for Anthony Davis that the Wizards paid pales in comparison to the cost the jazz paid. Josh, you and I have talked a couple of times over the last couple of years, and this was always going to be a process. This is the third year of, you know, the tanking tear down, if you will, and adding, you know, as much young talent as you can and see where it goes. And this was to be

the last year of that and to end up with a pick, hopefully in the top three. So you've got a shot at, you know, Darren Peterson or or AJ DeBonsa or Camboozer. And then next year was going to be the year you'd try to, you know, make the play in, and then the year after that, you know, three years, four years down the road, we'd kind of know. They basically cut that process, you know, short and decided, we want to actually try to contend next year. Why do you think they decided to do it that way? Well, I disagree with you on two aspects. A, at the start of this season, it was unclear whether the 26-27 season would be a year where they're trying to really win. I could have made the argument that if the draft lottery went very badly,

that they might have had to take another year. Got it. Okay, fair. Yep. All right. So that's a possible. Now, there are many, many drawbacks to that. And I think that that scenario got thrown out the window the moment they traded for Tray Young. Right. Okay. Your second part about them trying to contend for 26, 27, if I'm correctly interpreting your statement. Yes. I don't think that they expect to contend next year. I don't think that that's, I don't think that that's a realistic.

I think they're certainly intending to make progress, as much progress as they can make. But this is, in large part, to help bring along the core, the nucleus that they have. We can argue about how good is Alex Sar going to be, how good is Trey Johnson going to be, just all down the line. These are fair topics to state. But I think we can make the point that we can agree on that having a healthy Davis, a healthy Trey Young, should help bring these guys along in a way. that is fundamentally different from how they've been brought along this year and last. They will be playing in closer games. They'll enter a lot more games with a realistic chance to win.

For the long term, that's good for the young guys. Interesting. Clarify something for me. Do you take exception to my description of the team trying to contend next year? because you don't think Anthony Davis will be available enough. Or maybe you think Anthony Davis is too far removed from the Anthony Davis who was a top five to top 10 player. And let me just make one thing clear. When I say contender, I didn't mean contending for an NBA championship or even an Eastern Conference championship.

I talked about this in the open. My idea would be that they would take a major step forward and they're planning on taking a major step forward as a team that could win, if they're healthy, big if, 45 plus games and be a top four seed, you know, in the east or certainly contend for that. I mean, I see two veteran all-star players that actually go well together in the pick-and-roll game, pick-and-pop game, with really an imposing potential defensive backline, you know, with, you know, with Davis and Sarr and even Kulobali, along with a guy that we can already see is going to be a legitimate NBA shooter in Trey Johnson, and then whatever they get with the top, hopefully, top

two or three pick if they land there, which we're all hoping they do in the lottery. I mean, I see a team that could contend for 45 plus wins. it sounds like you don't. That's interesting. Is it possible? Yes. And I'm just working through your statement because I haven't really had the chance to really hash out all the permutations. I think 45 wins is probably overly optimistic.

At first glance, I have not seen enough yet from the core at their age now or what it will be next year. to think that they are ready to make that jump. But I concede your point that with Tray Young and Anthony Davis carrying the load, they don't need to be world beaters next year, just the young guys on their own. So I see where you're coming from. I am tempering your statement only with the thought that Anthony Davis, even healthy, is not the player he was five years ago. Tray Young

might have possibly lost a step recently. We'll find out. Without question, I think you and I can agree on this. A team that in December looked maybe promising, but not all that interesting, suddenly has become one of the more interesting teams in the league. Can we agree on that? Definitely.

Look, look, part, for sure. Yes. Anthony Davis has been a very frustrating player for me to watch because he gets hurt a lot and a lot of times I feel like he shouldn't be on the bench he should be out playing through whatever he's playing through and that's been the knock on him is that he's too soft for somebody as gifted as talented as big and strong as he is

but if you got you know an Anthony Davis all-star MVP caliber or in contention, you know, kind of a season. And you're right, to your point, we haven't seen one of those in a while. But if you got that with Trey Young as a creator, and by the way, when I had you on and we talked about the Trey Young deal three weeks ago,

you and I both agreed, look, he's a terrible defensive player. You've got to have backline, you know, protection for him. And Sarr might be that, but Sarr and Davis combined, being that is real protection for a bad defender on the perimeter. But anyway, yeah. Yes, agreed. Sorry to interrupt you, but yes, you and I are an 100% agreement on that. Yes.

I guess, you know, I don't want to be, I'm a fan, and I have waited forever for them to be relevant again. And I enjoyed the Beal, you know, John Wall, you know, Ney, Gortot, Trevor, Reza, Paul Pierce. I enjoyed those teams. I mean, I thought they're the best teams since I was a kid when they actually were really good in the late 70s. But I look at this, and I think, to your point, they gave up hardly anything, and they actually could, if Davis is healthy and plays at his top five to top 10 level with a Trey Young, they could win a lot of games next year. And yes, to end to amplify your point.

they didn't give up any of the young people who they drafted or traded for any of the prime young people they drafted or traded for over the last three years. Right. So the whole draft and developed philosophy, they're not abandoning that. In some senses, they're actually doubling down on it. They are having them develop starting really next year. in a way that they are not developing now. I think they're doing all this work.

They're doing tons of work behind the scenes, tons of work behind the scenes. That part is true, but there's a difference in on-court development. All other things equal if you're playing games that are competitive and that... So true. Versus now.

And that... So this amplifies that. it's not ending the draft and developed or trade for and developed philosophy that this front office is truly working on, but it's ratcheting it up through a whole other lens. It is extremely valuable, or at least ought to be extremely valuable for these young guys, these so-called Wiz kids. really good point you just made too because you know playing games that matter are so much better for development than playing games that don't matter and that's essentially what they've been doing for the last two and a half seasons you know playing games where the standings don't matter

the opponents are coming in and perhaps not taking it as seriously as they should uh i sometimes think, Josh, that regular season games are so much different than playoff games, that it's really hard to evaluate a player just through watching them in the regular season, you know, especially with 82 of these every year. But it's a really good point, man. They have not been playing games that have mattered. And next year, they'll be playing games where they'll be keeping an eye in the standings. You know, are we two games out of the seven spot? Are we four games? And out of the five spot or we are a game out of the, you know, play in where we don't have to win, you know, two of them to get into the main draw. That kind of thing is much better for

player development. I completely agree with that. Confirm something for me real quickly because we talked about this with Trey Young when they acquired him a few weeks back. They're not going to play Anthony Davis much the rest of the year. He's hurt now anyway, but they're not going to do anything to risk falling out of that bottom four in the league, where then they would risk losing their pick if it fell outside of the top eight? Correct with a caveat. The caveat is that I have not spoken with them about this aspect of the deal at this point. Having said that, I cannot envision any scenario in which they are that reckless to play

Davis and Young so much down the stretch where it jeopardizes their future, not the team's future, the franchise's future. If they somehow come out of this lottery with a top two pick,

okay, with apologies to Cam Boozer and Caleb Wilson, if they come out with one of those guys, either Peterson or DeBanza, then their franchise trajectory changes in a way in such a way

that it makes Anthony Davis deal and the Trey Young deal look relatively insignificant. That would be it's not that would not just be the icing on the cake. That would be the cake. I'm mixing up all my metaphor.

No, no. I mean you know, you never know for sure you know with these players that are you know, 18 years old. But it certainly seems like one of those, you know, top two of an NBA draft situations where if you come away with one of the two, you got a shot.

It's not Wembeenjama, but it might be more significant than Cooper Flag and flags having a hell of a year. Right. And by the way, part of what makes this draft special is that the guys who are slated at three, four, and five, maybe even the ones at six and potentially seven, they're supposed to be really good, too. Yeah. When they started the year, okay, when the wizard started this season, the wizard saw something

in Alex Sar that perhaps you and I and all the intelligency around the league, all the fans around the league, did not see. That's to their credit. Having said all that, I think it's fair to say that the Wizards entered this season thinking that whoever it was who they drafted in 2026 had the real potential to be the most talented player on the roster. Right. No doubt. Yeah. So let's just say they'd come away from this lottery somehow falling. Let's just say to seventh. Okay. I'm just picking it seventh or eighth. the very worst potential scenarios there. All right, if that happens, that would be bad.

But now that they have Trey Young and Anthony Davis set up for next season and probably beyond, they now have given themselves some insulation to move or a backup plan and a pretty darn good one to help move the people they already have forward. And I think that's a very responsible thing that they've done here. It might not work, but you can view it in one aspect as insurance against the worst-case scenario of falling to seventh or eight in this draft. Two more for you, and I appreciate the time. Real quickly, what have we seen from Will Riley so far? I like it.

Do they? Do you? Yes, I think they do. like him, I only couch it by saying, um, no team is, is, well, you can't trust anything out of any team's, um, mouth these days, right? I'm not picking on the wizards here, okay. Um, when was the last time you ever heard the team say, oh, he's all right?

Yeah, no. Such and such process. Uh, no, but they appeared to very much like the qualities he brings. He's got a really excellent feel for the game. Really good feel. Yeah, he can get a basket on his own. And he plays really hard. Oh, and by the way, he's probably now 6'10 in sneakers. Yeah.

So pretty important. Yeah, those are some very important abilities that the feel for the game, the effort. the ability to score. And oh, by the way, he's 6'10 in sneakers. And he appears to love the game. Like a lot of the guys on that roster, love the game. All right.

Last one. I think most Wizards fans, me included, have thought that once they get into position where they're playing to win, where they're playing to try to win enough games to be in the postseason, that they would probably move on from Brian Keefe as their head coach. Have you agreed with that? And if so, do you think it might be this off-season? I think it's a possibility.

Anytime someone has been the steward of a rebuild, will that franchise keep that person? It's the same question the Baltimore Orioles had with Brandon Hyde. And they did keep Brandon Hyde until they went two years and out in the playoff. the same question with the Philadelphia 76ers with Brett Brown. He made it to the playoffs they never achieved in play. It's a fair question to ask. And by the way, that's one of the reasons why I asked Michael Winger about it

at his state of monumental basketball press conference a couple of weeks ago. What Brian Keith has done is not to be undressed. it's not to be underestimated. He has a very difficult job. He's not expected to win.

In some ways, he's expected and needs to lose, and yet at the same time, he needs to get these young guys better. Putting in a structured, get tough.

I mean, much tougher than you and I can really fathom. And I think he's done that with a kind of a grace that we don't get him credit for. Look, he purposely shrouds his personality in these press conferences, right?

There's a lot more to Brian Keith that he showed these press conferences, believe me. And he's needed every ounce of his ability and his smarts and his ability to form a staff to help get... Alexar is better than he was three months ago, let alone a year ago. Kishon, better.

Bob Carrington, better. We can just go on down the list. Yeah, it's fair. And that's... Yep. But those are two different skills... Those are two different skill sets. Exactly right.

Exactly right. Exactly right. And, yeah, it's tough to know what kind of X's an O's coach he will be, and it's except to say that there are a lot of other teams in the league that would covet their

ball movement, their player movement, and their unselfishness on offense. I cover another one of them, the Orlando Magic. And so those are achievements not to be underestimated. But to answer your question in just a few words,

I'm not sure that he's back next year. I haven't heard anything from the Wizards to suggest that they're looking to move on, but it's a potential scenario. Well, the bottom line is they've been in no position to attract anybody of note, given what they have been trying to accomplish.

And now that changes next year. So perhaps there are more candidates. You know, I lied. I've got one more for you real quickly because we didn't talk about, you know, Hardy, DeAngelo, Russell, or Exum, the other players involved in the deal. I know Russell's been hurt recently. you know, he's had moments, certainly in his career. Did they get anything else player-wise that you see being a part of, you know,

next year or beyond in a significant way? Have not had the chance to ask that yet. I think that Jaden Hardy has some capabilities that A.J. Johnson, who they're not the same player, who is much younger, is thought to have. So he might possibly be part of the future, maybe. I don't know. But for the most part, this is all about Anthony David. Yeah, of course.

Thank you very much, Josh. Really appreciate it. I know you've been busy all day. We'll talk soon. Great. Thank you. All right. Let's get to some football.

Mike Genetti from Spot Track will jump on with me. We'll talk about Washington's salary cap situation, possible cuts, possible cuts, possible free agency signings, et cetera. We'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors. The big games almost here, and there's no better way to cash in during America's biggest sporting event than with prize picks where it always feels good to be right. And since the big games right around the corner, that also means it's your last chance to get into the football action before next season.

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find offering the Patriots at plus five. If you like the underdog Sunday, go to my bookie.com or my bookie.ag. Use my promo code DC reload. You'll get a 50% cash bonus when you sign up for the first time or if you go back to reload with a new deposit as an existing customer. But if you like the dog, the Pats right now plus five minus 110. You're not going to find it anywhere else that I can find right now, but my bookie is offering it. They've got everything you need for the game, all the prop bet opportunities. Again, mybooky.com, my bookie.ag. Use my promo code, DC reload. Joining me right now is Mike Genetti. We've had Mike on the show before. Mike is the founder of SpotTracks. Spot tracks the site that I often reference when it comes to salary

cap numbers and contract information. You can follow Mike on X at SPOTR. A C. So let's talk about our football team here, Mike. They appear to have a lot of cap space and they have a lot of needs. So just give us a quick description of what it looks like from their salary cap standpoint and the opportunity they have with free agency right around the corner. Well, I appreciate you having you back first of all. And it's kind of round two of this, right? I think last time we talked last year this time, it was. how do we build on this huge momentum? And obviously the Jaden Daniels situation, and there were some swing and misses and some hits, and now they get another crack at that.

So there's plenty of room right now, over $60 million according to our numbers, and that's based on that range of cap that the league has posted. That's 50-plus contracts on the book, so you're going to have to double that over the course of the next six weeks or so once things get rolling. But they're in pretty good shape. Top 10 cap shape in terms of the league.

and certainly an attractive site because of the situation in the opposite side of the ball. I'm curious if you have opinions on a couple of players and what they'll do. I mean, I think we all believe that, you know, Marshawn Latimore is going to be released. There's significant savings by doing that. The one that's in question, Mike, is Duran Payne. He's got a $28 million plus cap hit next year, but there's, you know, close to a $17 million dollar savings if they were to release him. Do you have an opinion on what they'll do with Duran Payne?

Yeah, that's tough. He's sitting at that age where it's time to pay him again probably in the coming days here. It's an expiring contract. It's a higher cap hit. You know, that's the recipe for let's do something with this. And in one way or the other, my gut feeling is that this organization has looked at those players as replaceable.

and maybe that's not the case in terms of intangibles that we're not seeing behind the scenes. But I do believe that that's a situation where you're wink-wink trading that player behind the scenes right now. If nothing develops over the course of the next couple of weeks here, he becomes a March 11th, March 12th release. And they rise to the top of the league in terms of cap space and become a very, very aggressive output in terms of what they can do and build an ad. But it's always a tough call with that age. 28's the prime years for these type of players. you can see them playing to age 32 as we've seen across the league. But this organization specifically has been pretty good about punting at this time

versus giving that big third contract. Yeah, I think, by the way, the last time we talked was during the Terry McLaren, you know, off-season contract negotiations. So there is another big contract that they have to do here in the off-season. They've got to extend Laramie Tunsell, who's going into his final year. They traded a lot to bring him here. He had an outstanding season in 2025. What do you think a deal for Laramie Tunsell looks like?

Yeah, this is one of those positions you just don't mess with. You mentioned the big part of it, which is, you know, they gave up more than they probably needed to to get him in the door. He's played admirable. He's one of the best value players in our system, which is easier said than done on his basic average salary here. Look, you're going to have to go to the top of the market. This is going to turn into a mini version of Trent Williams,

which I know you're familiar with the past, where it's just going to feel like an overpay every single year, and yet you don't want to move off of it for any moment because that is the one position you need to stabilize year after year. So he's a $30 million player just mathematically in our system. That's, you know, we're at the top of this market right now, and things are only going to escalate with where the cap has gone now over $300 million. So, you know, you're walking in the door telling yourself,

this is another four for 110, 115 extension for a player that's 31 and a half years old right now. You know, we've seen worse contracts, we've seen better contracts. It's just one of those things you bite down and you do it because you've got too many other holes

and roster needs at this point in time, so you have to address that one first and then move on. By the way, just because you brought up Trent Williams, have you ever seen a trade? I mean, there have been many bad ones over the years. I'm not saying this is the worst trade of all time. But the fact that they were able to acquire one of the great left tackles of this generation of really the last 15 years and maybe the best for basically, you know, a third round pick. I mean, how dumb was Washington during that time frame with, you know, Snyder running the organization?

You track all these things, trades, contracts. Like, just this doesn't rise maybe to the top of the list with like, you know, an Adam Archelette deal or an Antoine Randallel L deal. You know, but it's up there, right? Yeah, the Haynesworth one definitely. Haynesworth, of course, yeah. You know what? I'll go back to the point I just made, which is it felt like they got pushed around

by a player in a position that they just didn't have any leverage against. You know what I mean? Like, he's been doing this whole career, by the way, William. He does it every year to San Francisco. He's going to do it again in the coming months here because he's on an expiring contract himself. So look, they got a third and a fifth. It didn't turn into much in terms of what that turned into.

So it's certainly a swing and a miss. And San Francisco went and gave him the highest offensive tackle contracts in the history of football, not too long after that. So if that's what they were trying to avoid is having to pay that money, then I guess they did their job. But certainly that's not one you look at as a positive note in terms of the last five years of commander's football. What's the risk in extending tonsil at the levels that you said entering his age 32 seats? season. Worth it.

Yeah. It's one of those things, like I said, you just, you know there's risk to it. You know there's injury factors. You know that, you know, it's going to get expensive in terms of the capits that are going to be over the next three to four years. You just understand that you've got the quarterback right now, and he's cost-controlled for 18 to 20 more months here. So you know that's a situation you have to figure out immediately on the fly.

He's worthy of that in terms of his production. So it's risk. I wouldn't say it's high risk because he is a productive player when healthy. So you're giving them the free-year guarantee and just look them the other way. Frankie Louvoo's entering the final year of his deal. And I've suggested that this is maybe a guy that they're going to go to to try to extend. He didn't have a great year after having an all-pro season, his first season here, but he might be a better fit for the Brian Flores type of scheme that Durante Jones,

the new defensive coordinator is bringing. What would it take to get Louvre into? you know, a longer-term deal. What would it look like for a player like him? You know, that's an interesting player because he does have a bit of an inconsistent pedigree, but man, you can just tell that's an intangible guy that has been a bit of a glue for the past couple of years there. I don't think it's going to move too much off of his current 10 and a half million,

especially as the approach is 30 years old here. So it's one of those situations where maybe you're just tacking on years versus starting over with a brand new valuation. But you want to tell me you can walk out. to something like two for 28 around there and guarantee the next two years and make it look good in terms of what the cap hits look like. I think everybody's happy in that regard because I can tell you right now, Kevin, this off ball linebacker market, man, it's about to skyrocket based on what I'm reading here. A huge draft class for it and maybe six or seven of the top

off ball linebackers about to hit the open market either via free agency or because of bubble situations on their roster. So you might have your pick if you're looking at. to replace this player on the open market a little bit. And this guy can certainly get to the quarterback as well. So I like that. I like the balance that he brings to this team. And if it's not going to be near that top of the market, you know, 20 million plus, is the guy who keep around for a couple more years?

Who are the top of the market, you know, off ball linebackers in this free agency period? Yeah, I think the bears are going to move on from Tremaine Edmonds. And he's had his inconsistencies, but he's still near the top of this list. We're talking, you know, Devin Lloyd out in Jacksonville, this has an unbelievable rebirth. He's going to get 20 million, in my opinion. Devin Bush had a little bit of rebirth in that Cleveland defense. So we've had some guys sort of figure things out.

What about Nkobie Dean? Absolutely. Yeah, he's next. He's the next guy that Philadelphia's going to have to decide if they're going to continue to push this thing down the pipe because generally they extend this player already. And they haven't done that yet, which makes you think maybe they're about to pause the entire, you know, extend everybody process they've been in. But that's a guy going to the top.

He might not be at 20, but right around her that his age. And I can get you probably two or three more names if I'm thinking harder here that are going to be 15 million plus this off season alone. So it's going to be a nice year for that position specifically. What's the market for Bobby Wagner if he wants to come back and play? Yeah, it's so tough. And Levanti, David, these guys are just up there in age. The math never works in their favor, and yet they come out there

and they outkick their coverage every week four, right? So, you know, you get them out of one for seven, seven and a half, and then you build a ton of incentives and try to get it over 10 million if he's playing well and makes an all-pro team and does all that stuff. That's sort of how it's gone. But at some point in time, one of these 35-year-old guys in their age are going to say, look, we're still playing, you know, top, top all-pro football here. Let's get a multi-year guarantee on the books and then just call it a career. So we'll see if they go that route, but for now it's about one-year tenders around that 10 mark after incentives. All right. A lot of fans want to know what's going

to happen with Debo Samuel. What's his market look like? I think it's similar. You know, this is one of those guys, and, you know, arguably I didn't follow Washington very, very close to this year. They kind of fell off my radar here. But this is one of those guys, when I went to look at the stats and run the valuations and everything, it sort of popped off the page. I didn't realize he had that efficient of a year, despite sort of being, like I said, sort of quiet. I like where he sits right now at 30, just turned 30 a couple weeks ago here. I think it's a fit.

I think you keep him. The math only says $14, $15 million. I know he's going to want to go back up to that $20 million, despite the fact that he's 30, and we don't have too much precedent for that on the books right now. But if you can walk into a three-for-thirty-for-40 on Debo-Smanuel, I think I'm pulling the trigger on that at this point in time, it's going to be tough to see what he can get on the open market, though,

and they will let him test that, I think. There's a player that is kind of interesting from this standpoint. He had to play a lot this year because Jaden Daniels was hurt and missed pretty much most of the season. He was a really good fit for the Cliff Kingsbury offense. Marcus Mariotta was. Cliff Kingsbury's not back. And, you know, the value of a backup quarterback is, you know, it's one of those things that not every team takes seriously. I'm curious as to whether or not there is a market for Marcus Mariotta to compete as a starter. somewhere, and if not, what his deal would look like if he comes back to Washington as a backup

again to Jaden? Yeah, it's well said. A lot of people, there's about half the league is in that camp that still thinks they can bring in a minimum salary back a quarterback and get away with it by week 16, and I think we're seeing otherwise in most cases. So I think the going rate for the top of this market right now, legitimately, is about $8 million a year, which is what Marriott had just finished in Washington. He was sort of setting that market.

That's where Andy Dalton was living for a bit here. Davis Mills just kind of re-uped in Houston behind C.J. Stroud at that price. And that's probably the one I'm looking at closely because C.J. Stroud's stolen a rookie contract as is Jaden. You can get away with $1 to $2 million extra on that backup and not hurt yourself too much. So that's probably the going rate. But mathematically, mathematically, he's down to about $5 million a year because of his struggles and his inefficiencies and turnovers because he actually played quite a bit ball.

a ball last year, but we're going to see this escalate a little bit more as teams Spartan up and some of these veteran players fall out of favor as QV-1s and still want to stick around in the league like your Joe Flackos and Kirk Cousins have been able to do. Yeah. There's a player

that they actually picked up essentially off the street because they were going through practice squad after practice squad this year with all their injuries. But they fell in love with this guy. Former first round pick, wide receiver Traylon Burks. Picked by Tennessee in the first round a few years ago.

He actually played well, and it certainly sounds like they want to bring him back because they don't really have anybody outside Terry McLorn as a true wide receiver, Mike. And I'm just curious, I mean, what would it cost? I can't imagine it's much, but what would a Burke's cost to bring back? Is it an incentive-laden deal still, or is he going to get some guaranteed money? No, it's still down there at the one for five at the most with incentives built-in, right? You just don't have the sample size. I know he did flash a little bit in Tennessee at moments, and that was such a mess.

You kind of give him a pass in some cases, but I do think this is one of the situations. You can limp into it a little bit more here, especially if he's happy and comfortable and knows that a full season on that roster and that system could actually help. him reset his value. He's not going to look to get anything too troubling on the books in terms of term because he thinks he can get into something bigger in 2027. So you slow play it, building a bunch of incentives, and hopefully everybody's happy at the end of the day. All right. Let's talk about just free agency in general. And from a Washington perspective, defense, defense, defense, and maybe a receiver. So give me a couple of ideas that they might be

thinking about defensively and then the receiver market. Well, everybody in the world wants past rush at this point in time. It's easier said than done, right? So, you know, you've got your big wigs at the top here, and Trey Hendrickson, and, you know, Khalil Mack, if you want to get into the 35 conversations. Right. But, you know, I could see a world where this starts for Washington and some of those fringe playoff teams with a player like Joey Bowes,

who did show up well in Buffalo. Yep. It depends on the scheme a little bit. He's not going to break the bank. He's just turned 30 years old. you're going to have to sort of slow play his snap counts out there a little bit and put him on a pitch count. But that's a guy who's in the 12 to 14 million range. You can build in some incentives and make him happy and keep it.

So I think it does start right about there. You know, and then you go down the line a little bit, to me the big edge rusher, who I believe will have the market outside of a franchise tag is Adafia O'A. out with the Chargers who would move from Baltimore to L.A., and I thought thrived in that system. So he's going to be the breadwinner. He's the age. He's the production. He still hasn't hit the ceiling yet. So in terms of the pass-wrest, Kevin, those are the guys who are sort of identified right now.

I'm not pushing Henderson out of this conversation. I think he's got two good years left in him, but it might be a two-for-fifty situation that I don't think Washington ought to get into right now. Yeah, you know, they were the oldest team in the league last year. Ironically, it wasn't their old players until the end of the season when Zach Ertz got hurt that were among the, you know, significant injuries.

I mean, Von Miller and Bobby Wagner basically played every snap that they were asked to play this year. But I wonder whether or not, you know, a Khalil Mack at, what is he, 35, 36 years old, is going to be somebody that they really have interest in. What about wide receiver? I mean, I like Alec Pierce. He's that age. He's got some talent. He would seem to be, well, George Pickens is number one, right, among the wide receivers.

Absolutely, but he's going to get a tag, so that's going to be a complicated situation. Right. So after Pickens, is it Pierce? It is, and the interest I'm already hearing in Pierce across the league is significant, which makes me think that that price tag is going to be much, much bigger than I think any of this, anticipating certainly what the math says. So that might be a situation where you're in a bidding war and, you know, cheers to the team that overpaid for Alex Pierce, despite the fact that I love the player,

I'd be looking at a player like Jvonne Jennings to match up with Debo again. I was going to ask him about, I was going to ask you about Jennings. Absolutely. I think that's a situation where he's got production. He does have a couple flashes in the pan, but I could see his value dropping a little bit, and if that's the case, perfect situation for Washington to get into there. You know, Rashid Shaheed and Seattle right now probably sticks in that organization. I don't think he gets the market, and he's not enough of a past catcher for what you guys are looking for there.

It just gets thin at this point, you know. This is where we fall into the Kendrick Borns and maybe the Wondell Robinson's out of New York, who certainly has a ceiling to hit. What about Dobbs? Yeah, sure. I mean, that's a player that... I don't know that we're going to get to a situation

where we're at, you know, over $10 million for most of these wide receivers. So it's going to be sort of bargain shopping and scheme fit. And once you identify what the office structure is going to be, and by the way, what you have, what you're retaining, which I'm not sure we know yet in Washington, Then you can start picking through the pile a little bit here. But I think number one is bringing back Debo and then finding the complimentary piece for him immediately.

What's the price for Brees Hall? Again, fringe franchise tag candidate. I just don't know how the Jets are going to operate, but he's not a $14 million player to go with that tag. I can tell you that. Yeah. He's about a 9 or 10 in our system. So let's just call it 11 and put him in that Kyron Williams-Jange-Cook conversation. I do think he has that kind of ceiling with the right setup with the right system or the right quarterback behind.

him. So he's the number one target for a lot of these teams. You know, I know the chief will be chopping at the bit. I can certainly see some NFC teams getting in there as well. But he's the guy. He's certainly the breadwinner this offseason. I know what Kyle Pitts is as a talent. I also know that Atlanta people aren't thrilled with the work ethic, the effort, the blocking, etc. You know, he came on a little bit, especially when Kirk ended up being the quarterback at the end of this year. after pits, give me the next two or three tight ends that would be worthwhile for Washington to pursue

because Zach Ertz had a serious injury late in the season, and I don't know if that's going to end his career or not, but they need a tight end, a pass-catching tight end for Jaden Daniels next year. If they don't pursue pits because of whatever, who's next on the list? Yeah, cross-bound there, I think Isaiah Lakeley is going to get a lot of run. just for the player that he hasn't turned into yet, but I think could be. I tend to look like Kate Aten quite a bit coming to Tampa Bay. He's been underutilized. I think there's value in that player.

I still think Tyler Higbee has value. He's going to leave the Rams because they're loaded with talent on that roster right now. He's getting up there in age, but that's a player with experience, and I think enough production in him. And then you start talking yourself with some older guys, right? Dallas Goddard, David and Jokou, maybe. T.J. Hawkinson might fall off that Minnesota roster this year. Same with Cole Commett in Chicago.

So those are certainly names to watch based on the bubble. But it won't be a situation where you won't have options. Let's put it that way. There won't be top of the market options at tight end. You'll have plenty of starting T.E. ones available to you both in March and maybe even closer to that draft when teams have to make their second-winded decisions. Yeah, the more I looked into it, it's like it's interesting. Like I really like Chigua a Kwonko because he's a turp and I went to Maryland and he was a great player and I think he's been underutilized and I can't imagine he's that expensive.

He's not. And the reason I didn't bring him up is I'm pretty darn sure Tennessee now with this new regime in there is going to fall in love with him and want him back in the inner folder. So I'm just assuming they're going to be able to find his feeling of the course in the next couple of years. What's Brandon Ayuk's situation? How is that going to get resolved? Man, well, it's a release. You know, when 31 other teams know that you don't want a player and he doesn't want to be there, you don't trade for that player.

So they're going to have to release him, which is going to feel a lot like the Debo situation where they take a $20 million cap bath and then walk away from this thing and wipe their hands. It's what happens next, right? Because now we know he's got that he's walking out there in a situation where he's talented, maybe the most talented driver's receiver available right there with Pickins when everything's right. But does he want to play football? Does he want, well, he sticks for a full year? And then what do you pay that type of player?

You know, he's still a near $20 million value in our system because of what he's been able to do and produce that. But I have a feeling this is going to go closely back to square one. Back to this one-year showcase contract where you're going to have to be here. There's playing time incentives. There's catch incentives. There's playoff incentives. We want to make sure you're part of this whole unit from A to Z.

It's tough. We don't see too much of this where there's just, the literal quit on a football team situation, and that football team is one of the best in the game as well. It's a very situation weird. A couple of others, and I appreciate the time. Is Malik Willis going to get a multi-year

starting opportunity deal? I just don't have this in me. I don't know where this is coming from. I struggle with this one so much because so many people that I respect in this industry are saying numbers and years that I just can't get my head around yet. No, he's a one for 12 or 15 for me. He's the Daniel Jones contract at best in Indianapolis last year because the sample size, the production is not there.

So unless there's some sort of practice session going on behind the scenes that we can't see that is just so lights out, I'm just not seeing that one. It's a one year. Show me you can do it for 18 weeks. And then, of course, we'll talk about 40, 50 a year after that. But I got to see it first on the field. You just mentioned, and I wasn't going to ask him about him, but Daniel Jones off that injury is an unrestricted free agent after maybe the best stretch of football, with the exception of the one year with Daible when they went to the postseason and won a game. What kind of market will there be for Daniel Jones? Really tough. Could be six teams, could be one. It definitely depends on how things shake out here, but you have to think that Minnesota and Pittsburgh and the Jets,

to name a couple are going to at least sniff around this one, right? And just see what the situation looks like health-wise and maybe what the Colts have offered him and things like that. I don't think we're walking into a franchise deck. I don't think the Colts are going to settle themselves with $48 million. 48 million. 48 million for the quarterback. Wow.

Welcome. A lot different than the Kirk Cousins price here in D.C. for two years. It was 195, and then I think it was 23-5 and 27. Yeah, you're exactly right. And yeah, that's all you need to know about where both the NFL and that position have gone in the past decade. That's it right there. But I don't think they can do that, strap themselves to that kind of cap hit right away in February and then have to kind of wiggle around the rest of their roster to get through it.

So he's going to test, he's going to get offers. I still think walking back in India on some sort of multi-year contract makes sense. And if I'm indie, I'm probably just going to give him the whole boat right now and just hope that health at his age, the ability to contain his mobility and keep him healthy going forward, and the fit in the system with Sikin just are going to work out in their favor. I think you have to bet on that yourself, when you've got a guy in the room, as the Vikings have found out with Sam Darnoff. Yeah. Speaking of Sam Darnold, I was going to ask you about him.

I think that, and correct me if I'm wrong, I think the narrative that Minnesota should, you know, just let him go and should have never left, let him leave the bill. is not necessarily the right way to view it. Sam Darnold had a much better option as an unrestricted free agent in Seattle. No rookie quarterback drafted the year before that the general manager clearly wanted to play. The money wasn't as good. Why do people think that Sam Darnold would have re-signed with Minnesota when the opportunity in Seattle was just much better from, you know,

you know, it's a solidified starter for a few years standpoint and better money. And the same goes for Daniel Jones, by the way. Yes. Who was given a low ball offer by Minnesota to stick around and be that guy and said, well, that's fine, but the situation, my relationship with a couple of people in Indy and the money is all better there. So, sorry. So, yeah, to me, they messed up a lot.

They messed up a bunch of different ways in Minnesota, and certainly they paid for it missed in the postseason, and the GM is still paying for that, as we know. So it's just a really tough one to get into. We're not prepared for quarterbacks having second lives like this in this league. It has never been a thing. So we're learning as we go, and I do think we'll have some teams like Indianapolis with Jones now, just kind of bite down and say we just have to go to where the market is

and hope that everything else falls in place, including the health of Daniel Jones, because we've seen it now two or three times work against other teams. I guess my point being is I don't really blame Minnesota that, much because Sam Darnold, you would have had to offer him so much more than probably Seattle to get him to stay with J.J. McCarthy sitting there as the guy that, you know, everybody knew they wanted to play or at least see if he could play. Yeah, anyway, I'll move on from that. Last one for you. Jaden Daniels barely played this year, played four games basically start to finish. It only played in seven of the 17 total.

So this year was clearly not last year because of the lack of availability, but I don't think it changes his market when he comes up for a potential extension after 2027. What does that extension look like today versus, you know, a year ago? It's 50. It's the Brock Purdy extension right now. And, you know, we'll see what that looks like in six months and 12 months. And it goes from there because as we just discussed, this money is not going anywhere. But also, the idea that we have a mid-range, you know, the bakers and the Donald's and those, this is going to dissipate. It's just not how this position works. It's an all-or-nothing position. It will get back to that point once we'll figure out how to tread through this water a little bit better.

So, Jaden's just too talented. We can say that he had one great year, and that's certainly what the numbers and the I-test are telling us. But he's going to roll back in a form. It's going to look good. Even C.J. Stroud, who I think, really got run through the water here over the past 24 months or so, kind of came out looking at it. better by the end of this year despite the tough playoff series here. So I agree.

I just, yeah, you know, and they're going to have a conversation right now about some sort of extension despite it being probably one year too early. But so will Washington when the time comes. And the number 50, because the cap is 304, 305, wherever we're going here. And you can just do a quick percentages on where age plus that cap percentage is going to be and it's going to be 50 to 60 without even trying too hard. So we'll go to the low end right now for Jayden because he did have a big stepback year and the injury year,

but he's going to fall right back into 55 to 56 and then closer to 60 if things get right back on track, which most of us expectable. Which is where DAC is right now, right? So you don't think it'll be north of 60 two years from now? My expectations are 100% that they'll be north of 60.

I think Lamar, by the way, resets this thing in Baltimore in the coming months here. Right. probably purchased us in the 62s, the 64. And mathematically, that's what he deserves, by the way. So that will be the new barometer, but it's really the cap. If the lead cap is telling us, we should be increasing our most important situation that's about 9 to 10% clips.

That's what the quarterback money is going to do. So for this next wave, that is certainly a headline by Jaden and maybe Caleb Williams in the coming years here, that's where we're headed. That's just the going rate for these quarterbacks. I just want to make sure I'm clear on that. You think for the elite-level quarterbacks, the percentage of the cap should be what for that quarterback? You know, it's always hung around 19 to 20. Right.

It has moved into the 22 to the 24th most recently because they're being asked to do more. And because the value of this player specifically to your franchise has increased wholeheartedly over the past decade, as we referred to here. So that's just the going rate. If we've got a cap of 310 in 2026, that's where we need to be for a quarterback, 60 to 64, and then we'll be at 64 to 68 next year. It's just how it works. Right. Yeah, 20% of, say, 350 is going to be 70 million in two years maybe if that's where it gets to.

Crazy. And that would be, by the way, total value of a deal of a half billion or more, correct? That's right. That's forever headed. Jesus. Who do you like in the Super Bowl? Yeah, I'm taking the Seattle Seahawks. I just think it's too balanced and too defensive heavy to pick otherwise.

But, you know, I'm not going to be surprised by anything. So we'll go with that. I've got one more question for Mike. It's about Terry McLaren, and I will ask Mike that question after these words from a few of our sponsors. Have you ever fallen for a scam or know someone who has? Well, the holidays are all about finding the perfect gift. This time of year, however, not every deal. is what it seems. Scammers are getting more creative to trick people into sharing their payment

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Apps bank's bank partners, prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank member FDIC, promotions provided by Cash app a Block Inc brand. Visit Cash.app slash legal slash podcast for full disclosures. Quick favor to ask of those of you who haven't done it. Rate and review this podcast. It takes 15 seconds really to rate the show and maybe another 45 seconds to write a quick one sentence review of the show. Apple allows you to do that. Apple and Spotify both give you a chance to rate the show up to five stars. That's the best case for us. And it's really helpful if you do it. It's also a huge help to follow the podcast. Just hit the plus button or the follow button to make that happen. Mike Genetti, Spottrack, is with me, and I want to finish up with this. You and I talked about the Terry McLaren contract

negotiation over the summer. He ended up with what really amounted to, as you explained to me, a one-year contract extension. But there are more years beyond that, even though the team can get out of it. Do you think if he has a big year in 2026 that the team could potentially pay him the next year on the contract, or would they have to restructure it? Would that make more sense if they wanted to keep them beyond 2026? It's interesting. I do think they could get one more year out of that, Kevin. I think they could get through 2027, and then at that point in time,

you're kind of playing with fool's money. They could make this two more years. You'd have to adjust the cap a little bit, maybe, but where this thing is headed in two seasons, I think you could even tenure that a little bit. So I think it'd be great if he gets through two more years on this contract, and then both sides are probably ready to call it at that point. So that's the structure of the deal.

That's what they were looking for. They could walk away after 2026. Let's be perfectly honest. Yeah. But they don't have to, they don't have to in terms of what the structure looks like. Really good stuff. Really appreciate the conversation. Always enjoy it.

And we'll do it again. If there's either some sort of controversy that comes out of the Laramie, Tunsell negotiations, let's hope not, or something else pops up. The information's great. Thanks, Mike so much. It's my pleasure. Thank you. Mike Genetti from Spot Track, everybody. Really good stuff. All right, crazy day. That's for sure, with the big Wizards trade. Back tomorrow with Tommy to get his thoughts on his favorite team in town and get his Super Bowl pick as well.