The Kevin Sheehan Show - Back to 980 and Keim & Field Yates

Episode Date: July 17, 2019

Kevin opened with the reasons he's heading back to The Team 980 while continuing this podcast. He talked Steve Buckhantz being officially out as Wizards' play-by-play voice after 22 years. Then it was John Keim jumping on to talk Brandon Scherff, Trent Williams, Derrius Guice, Dwayne Haskins and more. Where the Redskins rank on a 3-yr future power rankings analysis and then it was Field Yates/ESPN on to discuss his tweet this morning about the six Redskin players who had their salaries reduced for not meeting the mandatory minimum on offseason work. Kevin talked Nats-O's too. <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. I'm here. Aaron is here. 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. John Kimes is going to join the show today. Talk some skins. Also an interesting tweet from Field Yates at ESPN about the Redskins. I'll get into that. and a three-year future NFL projection of all 32 teams. I read that column this morning, Aaron. Very interesting where they have the Redskins. We'll do that as well. We're going to start the show today with some information about this show

and another show that I will be a part of soon. Some of you know this because of the announcement that 980 made yesterday, but I've learned over the years that a lot of this stuff that comes out about media hires and firing, etc barely connects with most of you in the moment I get it I'm in the media I can't tell you how many times Aaron has said to me hey did you see it at such and such just left this station or left this website and I usually look at him and say nope didn't hear it so I know most of you are disconnected from it so for those of you that are and haven't heard I'm going back to 980 which I am very excited about an opportunity was presented to me that

made sense for me. And a lot of what made sense about it was that I didn't have to give up this podcast. The podcast isn't going anywhere. This podcast venture has been a revelation in so many ways. For starters, I feel so lucky that so many of you have found it and listened to it. I did not know what to expect when we launched this Aaron in September. You know, right at the beginning, it was the Friday, I think, before the Redskins opener in Arizona. I had no idea what to expect. The truth of the matter is, I really didn't listen to podcasts. You know, I'd listened to Tony's a few times. I knew it wasn't difficult to listen to a podcast, but I thought it would be difficult for a lot of people, and I think it was. But I had no idea what to expect, and it turned out much better than I would have thought.

and really what anybody told me to really expect. Secondly, I had no idea if I could turn it into a business, but I have been able to do that, and that was a bit of a revelation. I was told that if you get a certain number of listeners that you can monetize the audience with advertising, and that has worked out, and it's been growing significantly,

certainly going into the summer, and we have a lot to look forward to with respect to the fall as well. But I didn't know it could be a business. I knew Tony was creating a business around it, but that's Tony. Tony's an international star with an international following. It's apples and oranges. But that was a good result of this because there was the possibility that I was going to launch this podcast and would have some listeners, and I'd be able to do a sports talk.

talk show every day, which I did not want to give up doing, but that I wouldn't be able to turn it into a revenue generating activity. But we've been able to do that, which is great. And lastly, you know, reuniting with Tommy on this podcast has been my favorite part of the podcast. I know so many of you feel the same way, and I hear from so many of you about Tommy and I doing the show together two days a week. After doing a talk show together, for seven and a half years, the sports fix on 980. I really missed doing something with him when our radio show ended back in 2016. So I've loved having him on this podcast a few days a week.

That's been the best part of it for me. And so hopefully that will be able to continue as well with the podcast. It was another significant reason that I wanted to continue with the podcast. Now, some of you have asked me on Twitter, why radio this thing is going so? So, well, it's clear. It's better than an AM signal. We get to listen when we want to listen to it. Well, you know, my show with Cooley was podcasted as well.

So a lot of you, especially outside of the market, listen to Cooley and Kevin via the Team 980 app or, you know, the Team 980 website. So that show will be podcasted, and then we'll do this show as well. So I'm not giving this up. But with radio, and I've said this on the podcast before, that I have missed radio, not so much that I would have gone back for anything other than the right situation. And the situation that was offered to me was a really good situation. So that's that part of it. If the opportunity didn't present itself, I would have been

thrilled and fine with just continuing to do this podcast. Aaron and I have had a great time doing this. We're going to continue to do this. It's really, again, I didn't know what to expect. It turned out so much better than I thought. Aaron had experience with podcasts, which was one of the big reasons I wanted him to be a part of this. He knew how to, you know, engineer and edit and get up, you know, and get the podcast up on the various platforms. He knew how to do that. Plus, he was an excellent producer at 980, but it really turned out well. So I've loved doing it. But, you know, with radio, the, first of all, I was at 980 for 5. 15 years. And the year that I was away from it, it went quickly. It really did. And I like all of the guys

there. It always felt with the guys on the station and the regular guests and the callers. It always felt like you were part of a club and that many of you were part of it as well because you got to weigh in, you know, on the phone lines, et cetera. I told you guys many times. I miss not being able to take calls, something that, you know, we did a lot of. We didn't do it every single show. show for an entire show, but I always loved feeling the passion, especially during football season on a Monday or a Friday going into a football weekend from a lot of you. And that was sort of missing here, even though I got a lot of it on social media. But it always felt like a bit of a club, and I missed not being a part of that. I did. So returning to being a part of that is a good thing.

I'm not going to do the Redskins pregame show. A lot of you asked me about that. I did it for 12 years. last year not doing it. I didn't miss not doing that as much as I missed doing the radio show, a weekday show. So I'm coming back August 5th to 980. I will do a show from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Galdi's going to do an hour before, and then he's going to join Doc from 10 to 1.

And then the rest of the lineup is what it is. With respect to a co-host, don't have any information on that right now. Keep you posted on all of that. But the podcast continues as well. And in terms of what the difference will be between the radio show and the podcast, we're still trying to figure that out. But there's a lot of possibilities depending on how everything works out with the radio show.

But I've got a lot of ideas. And at the very least, it would just be the fourth hour of a radio show. But anyway, I appreciate all the feedback from a lot of you that did hear about it. By the way, just a quick programming note, no podcast tomorrow or Friday. I'm actually taking those two days off, and I'll probably take a couple of more days off between now and really the beginning of Redskins Training Camp or that first week that I'm back at 980, but I'll keep you posted on that as well. Before we get to John Kime, and we'll bring John on, I want to get an update on Brandon Sheriff and Trent Williams and a lot of other things Redskins related. Um, the Wizards made it official, or I guess NBC Sports Washington made it official. Um, look, don't, don't be fooled by this. You know, Ted and Zach Lianzus are making the decisions on who their play by play, um, you know, team is, who their, their broadcast team is. Uh, Buck was officially, um, um, ousted yesterday. I think we all expected that, you know, back in the spring. Um, but it was announced yesterday that the Wizards are, um, going to hire Justin Coutcher to be the new play-by-play announcer, and he will do games with Drew

Gooden, who I thought was very good, and Karan Butler will be a part of the broadcast as well. The announcement said that Gooden will call a majority of the games, so I guess when Gooden isn't there, Karan Butler will do the games. I think Gooden's very good. I enjoyed Gooden on the calls. I actually enjoyed Carol Lawson. I think she really knew the game and was very good. But, But nothing that this group does is going to replace Buck and Phil. Buck and Phil are icons in this market. They had been a pair for 22 seasons and miserable seasons, most of them. And they made watching the games enjoyable.

Phil's analysis, the relationship and the chemistry that they have. And most of you know this, Buck is a longtime friend. And the first person that I worked for and was a... a great boss, a great boss. And I have loved Buck ever since working for him many years ago. I think Buck was great. I think he is a great play-by-play announcer, and I think he just has continued to get better. And I thought, really, over the last couple of years, he was as good as he's ever been,

which is what infuriates me so much about the decision, because they're clearly going younger with this guy Justin Cocher, who's 39 years old. And, you know, that may be the wave of the future with a lot of these legendary announcing teams. And I think I've said this to you, Aaron, before. I think that the future of play-by-play, especially on radio, even more so than TV, in these local markets, is going to be super young and super cheap. That's my guess, especially on radio. Why? Because I don't think as many people listen to games on radio anymore.

And the Wizards have never been, you know, noted for being, you know, overly generous with respect to compensation in the first place with their broadcast teams. But Buck and Phil had a chemistry that you cannot guarantee. I promise you, and I've mentioned this before, that when you put two people together or three people together, you don't know until they start doing it, even if they're friends, you don't know if they're going to have chemistry and Buck and Phil had great chemistry. I actually thought Buck and Kara really developed some chemistry. The talk about them not having chemistry and it not working, it actually started to work for me

because I thought Carol Lawson was very good. Buck is a professional, first-rate, play-by-play guy. He lets the action speak. That's my preference. You know, it's almost Summerall-esque. Buck at times is. I love that about him. He doesn't rush a call, but he never gets a big call wrong. It's always exciting. It's always, you know, timely. It's never off. I just thought Buck was a phenomenal play-by-play guy. And I'm sure there will be opportunities for him to continue doing play-by-play in various places if he wants to do that. But 22 years, Buck was the TV voice for the Washington Wizards. We went through this with Phil a year ago and now with Buck, and they own the team. They have the right to do what they do. I'm a great believer and you don't fix what ain't broke. And I'm a bigger believer when it comes to broadcast teams in a lot of different broadcast formats than when you find two people or three people that have chemistry, that is something you've got to grab onto and hold on to because it is fleeting and it is not guaranteed ever. In fact,

more times than not, it's very difficult to create that chemistry. It's natural. Sometimes it's developed. What Buck and Phil had was natural over the years, and it was a great watch and listen. We'll talk to Buck at some point. Maybe today Buck sleeps in a lot. He sleeps late, so I've texted him, but I'd like to get him on so that we can talk to him, and we'll try to do that today, if not the next time we're on. All right, quick word about stamps.com. If you are a small business, you need stamps.com. I'm a small business here at the Kevin Sheehan Show podcast, and we use Stamps.com, and it saves not only time, but it saves money as well.

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Kevin D.C. That's K-E-V-I-N-D-C. That's Stamps.com, Kevin, D-C. All right, let's bring in John Kime from ESPN and John's got his own podcast as well, which he's been doing with Bram Weinstein, and it was

great to be on your podcast. Recently, I felt like I owed you, I feel like I owe you about a hundred podcast visits for over the years all the time that you've spent with us. Gratis, by the way, over the years. But John joins us right now. Of course, follow him on Twitter at John

underscore Kime, and the podcast can be found in any way you get podcasts, same way you get mine, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc. All right. So I have not read the following tweet to the audience today, but I wanted to save it for you, but somebody sent me this tweet about an hour ago, and it was from Field Yates, who is an ESPN guy. field tweeted out the following. By skipping the off-season workout program, not meeting the contractually mandated minimum of 90%. Six Redskins players had their 2019 salaries reduced by, and then colon, and then he lists

them. Josh Norman by $200,000. Landon Collins by $175,000. Trent Williams by $150,000. Paul Richardson by $150,000, Quentin Dunbar by $100,000, and Vernon Davis by $50,000. When the friend of mine tweeted me, he said,

he said, this can't be possible, is it? And I'm like, I guess it is. But I need more information that you may or may not have, and that is, is this typical for NFL teams? Is it high? Is it low? essentially there is a rule, right, John, that says, as a player, you are mandated to show up for 90% of the off-season workout program. And if you don't, then you get your salary reduced.

And this is what Fields referring to. What do you know about this? Yeah, not a whole lot more than what's there. And, you know, usually these, you know, you'd have a situation a couple years ago, like, for example, Deshaun Jackson skipping the off-season workouts and costing them a half million dollars. That was a bit extreme. And I think when you look at these, you know, I'd like to know more about how the language is written with them because like in some of these cases, they were players who, you know,

Paul Richardson was limited. Quentin Dunbar was limited. Trent Williams wouldn't be able to participate. So, you know, I don't know how that factors in. Is it, you know, and are they, you know what I mean? So I think there's like there's more. more that I'd want to learn about the language of these deals. And I would venture to guess that it's fairly standard, but that's something I would need to, you know, to poke around more because

we haven't heard a lot about this in recent years. No. It's not like, you know, that's so, you know, I would like to know a little bit more about just the mechanics of it as well. Well, there's, there's something that's interesting is that this is the only team that he tweeted this out about. So there isn't a list of other teams. I'd be curious, obviously, to know how many other teams and how many players on those teams have the same situation. But in going through the Redskins list, I would imagine that this, if you're injured and you show up, that counts is showing up. I mean, if you can't participate in you're there, it counts as showing up. I would imagine that we would both agree on that without even understanding the contract or the CBA. But what's troubling is

you know, like Landon Collins is a new player on a team where he got paid the biggest salary in the history of the league for his position. And he missed more than any player other than Josh Norman. It's a bit of a red flag. We know he was injured and perhaps he wanted to work out where he wanted to work out. And we've seen that with players in Washington over the years as they feel more comfortable working out in their own situations. But that was the first. thing that struck me. Trent Williams was obvious. He's missed a lot of this stuff over the years. And then I looked at Quentin Dunbar and I thought, man, can Quentin Dunbar just afford, can he afford to just give up 100K? I guess so. And that's, but yeah, that's, you know,

it was, there were, there seemed to, there seemed to be more guys missing in the, and again, let me stress. And we always have to say, these are not, you know, a lot of those workers are not, they're not mandatory. So, um, um, So you always have to kind of remember that, and they are voluntarily giving up this money, which is a hard thing to fathom for most people. But there were more guys missing this spring, it seemed, than in other years. And part of that was just a lot of veterans that they have, you know, Adrian Peterson, obviously Trent and his situation, Landon.

But, you know, there were times where Landon was there where he wasn't able to participate. So I would like to see, you know, the times that we were there, he was usually there. He just couldn't participate. So I don't know how the breakdown was in the times we weren't there. You know what I'm saying? So I think it's hard to say how much, you know, he missed what counts against them. Is it participating in them or is it just showing up, you know? And so I think those are all, those are, there's a little bit more that I want to learn to get a better, more context in all this.

But I do know that I will say that there were definitely seemed to be more absences this offseason. Vernon Davis wasn't there that often. Josh was only there during the mini-camp. So which, you know, that's been a trend. You know, maybe this is just more interesting to me than it is to most people. And I'll concede that point. But this is why it's interesting because you brought up some of these things. The first part would be, how does this information become available?

Is it available on all of these teams? It would appear to me that if it was... You're going into a database to get contract information. So why did he just give the Redskins information? I don't know. And that's something I'm waiting to find out. And then the second part of it is what you started to address is why all of these absences this particular season. You know, I have this gut feeling.

I don't know anything about his particular situation. So it's just a gut feeling on, you know, they're running with the Bulls and him not showing up for workouts and a lot of other things that Josh Norman isn't into it right now with this football team. What are your thoughts? Well, at the end of the season, he made it clear that he wasn't going, he was going to be doing his own thing in the off season. And if you remember a couple years ago and he was on Dancing with the Stars, he made all the workouts in the offseason, despite having to, he would be here. He'd fly out to L.A. and tape and then he'd come back.

So he made it a point to do that a couple years ago. And I think he hit a point a year or so ago where he just wants to start developing his off-field life. And I think that continued this off-season. So listen, I still think with him, I don't know that it's going to affect his play as much, but you do sense with Josh that, I mean, and not just sense, he says it. He wants to be more than just a player, and this is his attempt at doing that and building a brand beyond the NFL so for when he retires.

And I don't have a problem with the guy doing that. Vernon Davis is doing that too this offseason with some of the movies he's acting in. So I don't have a problem with that. I think the bigger issue for Josh will be how they use him and how he, how he meshes with Ray Horton. And I think that seems to be pretty good. I've heard from people who know Josh, who say that they think that will be a good thing for him,

that it'll click better than he did with Tori and Gray, for example. So I think that will be a bigger issue. But I would agree that, I mean, listen, he even said at the end of the season, if they win his football, he's out of here. So I think it's as much, whether he's invest in the team or not, I think it's as much, you know, where is he at in terms of his NFL,

career right now in terms of that investment. And I'm not saying he's not like, I'm sure he's going to come into camp in shape. I'm sure he'll be the same guy. But I definitely, I mean, he has said that he is looking at life beyond football. And I think we've seen that play out this offseason. And, you know, it's not like you're running with the Bulls to prepare for life after football, but a lot of the other stuff he was doing was about that. You know, it's the, I just think about these guys.

They're super young, relatively speaking, and for some of them, they're going to regret this one day. Like the amount of money, I understand the size of these contracts and these deals. And for guys like Landon Collins and Trent Williams and Josh Norman in particular, they've essentially made, you know, they have generational wealth. and so $200,000, $150,000, $175,000, it may not matter, but how many times have we seen athletes, you know, go through this money faster than anyone could ever imagine? I just think at some point, you know, down the road, you know, at 40, 45 years old, they're going to say, you mean all I had to do was go to just 90% of these workouts,

which were easy? I got to, I get to hang out with teammates and eat great, food and and really not work super hard for a hundred thousand dollars and i didn't do it what an idiot i was yeah and and just just one thing i i had received a text during this time and there are some other teams that do this the redskins do have a built-in de-escalator clauses apparently the cowboys apparently do this too i don't know that it's a popular thing where you say every team does this um and you know when you look at this from a player's perspective it's more not losing money. It's just money not earned.

So just to be, just to clarify some of that. But yeah, the one thing, again, from a, average person standpoint, you mean that this was an additional 150,000 for Paul Richardson if he shows up for 90% of the workouts? It's not a reduction of his base salary. That's what I, my understanding is. Okay, but still, still, it's an easy 150K. It's an easy 150K. And I think there are a lot of people who would say I'd do anything for that. But they're also, you know, Paul Richardson got a deal last year where it's like if you can't, if you can't live on that for the rest of your life, 150K is not going to make any difference. You know what I'm saying?

I mean, if you're not, if you can't live on, if you're making $8 million a year for the next few years, and if you somehow blow through that and you're 45, that $150K would have been gone too. Let me just make sure I'm clear, though, on the text that you received that this isn't done or this isn't part of a collective bargaining agreement where every team does this. This is a team-by-team, you know, control. It sounds like it's team-by-team, and this is something they do. And again, I think, you know, clearly even if their salaries are reduced, the money's not coming out of their pocket, in other words.

It's just money that's not coming to them. So if that, and I don't know that makes it any better or not, but it's trying to clarify how it works. I can just see Bruce Allen sitting back there going, look, Dan, I saved $825,000. All right, let's get to some other things here. What's the latest, if there is a latest on Trent Williams? Well, camp opens next week, and I think it's still very much up in the air,

whether he'll be there, and I think that would be up in the air would be the optimistic viewpoint. In other words, like that, there's still a choice. At this point, I'd be a little bit surprised if he's there on time, and I think they might be as well, but there's still several days between or a week between now and then that who knows what could happen. That's why I would say up to the air would be the optimistic part of it. So I think that's where it stands. And I think from the Redskins perspective, I don't think they're sitting there thinking, oh, we're going to have to trade him now because he's not going to play or have to do something. I don't think they would get to that point until the end of the summer.

he's still not there and if it's clear that he's not going to show back up. But I don't know that Trent is even at that point where he knows exactly what he wants the ultimate outcome to be. Are we still in the dark with respect to how much of this is medical related and how much of this is just wanting a new deal? Yeah, I think there's, I definitely think there's a part of both. And I've always felt that, like, you know, in talking to some people that I've gotten the sense that, yes, on Trent's end, there were some definite medical concerns. I think there's a difference of opinion to the extreme, which would happen or to what happened on the Redskins side as far as, like, the overall how it unfolded and all that. So I think, you know, in talking to people over there, I think the feeling was that, yeah, that a couple things. one,

Trent looks, first of all, Trent was, I think the fact that he was hanging around Antonio Brown one time and posted a picture

on Instagram or whatever was that, you know, I think there's part of what's going on. You look at an Antonio Brown, you see a levy on Bell

and the way they use the system to try and put themselves in a better spot with a contract or whatever, and you look at that, say, well,

when are you going to have, how long are you going to have a certain amount of leverage? And this might be the best, most leverage Trent has over the next few, years because he has two more years left. I agree with that. Yeah. So let's say

I'm going to give you a couple scenarios. Let's say you get to the end of the deal and if things go the same way they've been for him and he misses like four games each of the next couple years because of injuries and he's playing through all this stuff, well, what kind of deal are you going to get at that point? Now, he'll still get something because he'd still be probably a good player, if nothing else, and he'd still have some value. But are you going to get the deal that you ordinarily would have gotten if you hadn't in your mind sacrificed some things along the here. And then, then here's the other factor. Let's say, let's say something goes, you know, and it's not, listen, it's not inconceivable or think this, that this becomes a bad season for them. And let's say

a lot of guys get clean, you know, they have to clean house, whether it's front office and coaches or just coaches or whatever. Now you're bringing in a different group, and what if they have a different opinion of what they want to do at that position? And it's like, well, we're going to blow it up anyways, why don't we just get rid of the guy with the big contract who's not always available? You know, and that's, you know, whether or not you think, how good you think Trent is, that's a thought process and especially if you're going to, again, rebuild. And so, you know, so what's going to happen from them? So right now is the best chance I think he has to make a play if it's, if he wants to do that.

And how much of it is it really tied to medical? Only he can say he hasn't given any sort of on the record interview or anything like that. So I don't know what the breakdown would be for him. But I do know, like in hearing from people who talked at length to him, that there is a definite concern with the medical side. Or that that is a legitimate issue for him. And I think the question we don't know is how much money will it take to, you know, appease that concern. Look, he's got a hell of a lot of leverage in part because of what this roster has at left tackle, which is nothing. That's the other problem.

Yep, that's the other thing. But I, you know, on the flip side of this, John, and this has been in my position since all of this came out now a month ago or even longer than a month ago, is the Redskins have some ability now, too, to make the most of the situation if they consider moving him. This is perhaps the opportunity for them to really get something meaningful back for him. You know, if this isn't going to work, if the only way it's going to work is for them to pay him, I'd prefer that they trade him. And I know that they don't have anything behind him. There are some veteran players out there. You know, I think Donald Penn's still out there and a couple of others that they could potentially bring in off the scrap heap. But to your point, it would look genius in hindsight if 2019 goes poorly and there's a complete reboot in 2020. if they were able to get back a second and a third for Trent Williams in a deal. Yeah, and I think that's something they're going to have to consider. And I think that's why I say, like, it may be like after the final cuts when they have a good sense of where it's going. And I don't know that it's going to get to that point, but I do know that's a scenario that clearly is out there.

I mean, if he doesn't show up at that point, and if you don't get a sense he's ever going to come back, then, yeah, you'd have to do something like that at that time. And, you know, and it's funny because long term for the organization, it may be better, but it's yet another blow to a coaching staff that needs to win now. Right. And, you know, they might be in better shape if you look at, I mean, you look at this roster, and there are some building blocks on defense where you say that's really good. And there are some things in offense that could be really good.

We just don't know yet. We don't know about Geise's health, the receivers, who's going to emerge and all that from the young guys. There could be a couple guys emerge, and then you look at it differently than you do now, because right now they're unproven. But then you add some young more picks, you can do this. Then you can look at some of the flexibility you have moving forward, and it could be pretty good. And it opens up cap room and things you can do in the audience. So there is a flip side to it for the long-term benefit of the organization. But, I mean, it certainly would not help them right now.

And if I'm Jay Gruden, it's like, you know, do you start calling? moving companies just and start packing your boxes because, like, how is that going to help you now? I mean, it's not. And so I think that's where, like, this organization is in a weird, it's kind of in a weird spot because you have some guys like that Dwayne Haskins where you have, the key of developing them long term, don't rush them. But how is that going to help this staff now? And how are they going to help them keep their job?

One last thought on Trent, and I was just sitting here thinking about it as you were talking, and that is, you know, there may be some benefit to the Redskins if he doesn't report early on, and there is this perception, actually more likely than not reality, that there's a standoff between Trent Williams and the Redskins if, let's just say, a contender or a perceived contender loses a left tackle. What if Bakhtiari, you know, went down in Green Bay in their first preseason game? And now all of a sudden the Packers are like, oh, my God, well, maybe, you know, we'll give the Redskins a first for Trent Williams. That is not out of the question in terms of potential over the next

month, that there's a serious injury to a left tackle on a perceived contender, and they get desperate and they say, well, we're going to have to overpay for a guy that's unhappy where he is, and the Redskins could take advantage of a situation like that. Absolutely. Let's move on to Brandon Sheriff. So I guess it was Aaron Hawksworth from Channel 7, not Channel 7, NBC Sports Washington now. Aaron reported that there have been multiple offers to Sheriff, but they're not close. Is that what you've heard?

Yeah, and that's been the case for a long time. Right. And I haven't since, it's funny because back in January, there was a level of optimism that was relayed to me. and it was not directly by people involved, but it was more so indirectly, but the thought, you know, this is what I know they were telling some other people, that they thought it would be getting done soon.

And this is in January. And then the last they heard is that, yeah, they're not close and there really hasn't been, you know, a ton. I don't want to say a ton of dialogue, because I don't know the exact specifics on that part, but I do know that it's been a while, and, you know, and I don't know that it's changed a whole lot.

So, yeah, I mean, it hasn't seemed like it's been, I haven't felt like it's been close at all since that point. And that was the point where it was early on and you think, okay, they're talking and they're doing this and they'll get it done soon. And then nothing happened. And it's like, okay, that's not good. And the last, when I check, it was like, yeah, there is really nothing going on. You know what, John, there have been moments here. And the cousin's situation is one of them. And I'll use it here in a moment where I'm shocked at how detached.

from value reality the Redskins have been, Bruce Allen probably more so than anybody else. Remember, they thought 53 million was an overly generous guaranteed value for cousins. And a few months later, he got 84 million guaranteed. I remember it being relayed to me during that time that they thought that offer was incredibly generous and that there was no way he was going to get much more than that anywhere else. They were 31 million dollars off. and guaranteed money. And now with Brandon Sheriff, you look at the Martin contract, the Norwell contract, and if Bruce doesn't think that Brandon Sheriff can get that on the open market, I think he's, you know, once again, missed the mark. Well, and I think a lot will depend, obviously, on what Brandon does this season. Of course. He has had, he's had two and three years. Absolutely potential. And this is a different line when he's not out there. And we saw that. And, And, you know, you've talked, you know, Jay has been very vocal about how good. I mean, it's not vocal.

It's the same the obvious. The guy's really good. And when, you know, when they're out in space in the screen game, it makes a difference because of what he can do in that. And there's his ability to move. I mean, that all makes him such a highly effective player. The injuries haven't helped. And so, yeah, I think you could make a case.

And I don't know the exact offer. so it's hard to say. And sometimes when you even hear the offers, it's like it's not what it ends up to really have been. You know what I mean? Because you have to know the breakdown. You have to know the guarantees. You have to know all this.

But you can make a case like on both sides. I mean, if Brandon doesn't have that same kind of year or if he has a year like he had last year where he gets hurt again, where does his value go? Now, usually in these cases, agents know. Like I would say there's a reason why Matt Ionitis signed early because agents are smart. They're going to check around and find out the value of their client if they begin

on the open market. So I think with Brandon, I mean, he has good representation. Clearly, they're going to be doing that kind of a homework. And it's just a hypothetical situation. But if you're a good agent, you're going to find out, okay, let's say, you know, what would you think about, you know, this? And you get a sense of what the guy might. might be able to get. And just like it's, you know, I don't know that it's illegal or a lot,

but it's like, I'm sure that they're doing that. And so I think in his case, like, you would have to, you should know your value if you hit the open market. So that way it kind of allows you to say yes or no to a deal right now. Yeah, this is one of those situations. I'm not overly critical of all of their decisions on similar fronts. You know, they got to Jordan Reed early. They got to Trent Williams early. They got to Ryan Carrigan early. But like Trent, Trent and Ryan, I think, were more in August. Because, you know, so they haven't. But more than it, but more than a year out. More than a year out. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. But my point is like it's not always by this point,

are they done? Right. But I'm just saying that really the time to, to have gotten the bargain that Bruce, you know, strives for was last year at this time, not this year at this time. Yeah. I got you. Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, yeah. And I just, I just, I think those injuries kind of make it maybe more difficult. But it's, listen, it's going, he's one of the best guards in the game. It's an expensive position now because some of the projects have given out recently, the guys that you mentioned, and there's a cost of doing business, and they're not, they are not,

if you want to build a certain team, this is a guy that you want here. And it's a guy that, you know, you want guys like Brandon Sheriff in your locker room because he just goes about, does his job, and he's very, very good. But, you know, again, those injuries would at least concern me a little bit. So I don't know that I'm going to sit there and panic about, I wouldn't sit there and panic about this yet, not that you are, but, you know, others are going to get all bent out of shape. But, like, let's see how this still plays out, because they can still talk to him for he's not on the tag. It's not like they're shelving this until then.

And if they always wanted to, they could do the tag, which we know is not the ideal way. to go. But, you know, so I just, I'm curious where this goes from here. I think it's, I think, I'm surprised that they had got this done already because he is a guy that you want to keep around. One last thought on Sheriff and then I want to get to Geis. You know, the two Scott McLuhan drafts of 2015 and 2016, there's barely anybody left. Brandon Sheriff is the only one left from the 2015 draft. and Doxin and Ionitis are the only two left from the 2016 draft. And you know how insecure and spiteful this organization can be. And I wonder whether or not they're viewing sheriff as a McLuhan pick in valuing him in a different way.

Wouldn't shock me if some of that played in as part of the thought process. And I know that they did re-sign Matt Ionitis, but we also learned well after the fact that ionitis was. more of a Jay Gruden selection than a Sherep than a McLuhan selection. He was a guy that Jay pushed for. Right. It's still in that draft class. And so, you know, and I think with Sheriff, I know how much Jay likes him.

So I would be surprised if it was just about that. Well, except for the comment about, you know, we got a guard on that number five overall. But anyway. But yes, but he also knows, again, like, now, Now, having said that, Jay, we already know it's Jay in a sense of humor about his future. That's right. So it could be that like, he's like, hey, as long as the guy's here this year, after that, I don't know that it's going to matter for him. So, you know, and I mean, that's, that was, you know, that's what he said about the hard knocks thing.

So, but yeah, I don't, I wouldn't go to that necessarily with, with sheriff at this point because they have been talking to him. And they have a tendency to go very low with their early offers to players now. Usually it comes up to where it should be. I mean, you know, you heard that with Trent or with Jordan Reed, you heard that, and they end up getting good deals. So, you know, I just want to see how it finishes and all that. But so I don't know, I don't think it's just because it's a McLuhan pick. I'm not going to ascribe to that one.

Isn't it interesting just to put side by side the surrogate? and Allen eras in the way they negotiate with players where they would go in 30% above retail just to lock down the player and make sure that he couldn't leave the building and wouldn't say no. I think he did that with Josh Norman. Yeah, the Norman and Jackson things were sort of these, you know, these opportunities that weren't planned on that presented themselves. But for the most part, the negotiation tactics, which I don't necessarily disagree with if you ultimately get, you know, the player and the quality. the player. But, you know, Bruce Allen, obviously, is a completely different negotiator. It's been different, yes. Darius Geis, what's the latest on this hamstring injury and how much will impact him in camp? Well, he was going to be limited early on anyways because of the knee and, you know,

the tourney ACL from last August. So not to, I'm not downplaying it, but if he's limited early in camp, that was already the plan. I think the concern will be if, after, let's say, a week or two that he still can't do much because of the hamstring. And I don't know, I don't think they know that yet. And I would say the guy who talked to him on the other day, and it's like, you know, they had known for a couple weeks about this hamstring injury. And it's like there was, there wasn't a lot of panic in their mind. So, but I think the key will be, where is he at after a couple weeks? Because as we know, hamstrings can be tricky. And when you're coming back from an ACL, it's not unusual to, you know, because you're,

doing so much strength in need that areas around that could have an issue. So I think the concern, not a concern, but the question I would have is, is this going to be something that's going to, they're going to have to deal with a lot this year or not? So I think that's where I think the concern would start to come if, let's say, they get to the second preseason game and he's still really limited in part, not just because it was a plan, but because of that hamstring. And I don't know that that's, we're at that, we're not at that point where they're

feel like that's going to be the case for sure. All right. Last one, and I'll let your run. Do you have any gut feel right now as we are a week away from training camp about how the quarterback reps will go? Gutfield, no. I think, I mean, I'm really expecting either case or Colt to get that job early on because you hear from too many people, like, they understand with Askin that they can't

rush him. and there are certain things they need to see because he's a pocket passer, they need him to be at a certain point with the offense as opposed to other guys they've had, whether it's Robert or like you look at Carla Murray with Arizona, guys who can make plays with their legs can play earlier because you don't have to put the whole playbook in because they can get out of bad situations with their legs, so it's a lot different.

So because of that, I would be surprised that Haskins is a legitimate contender for the job early on. Now, he might go into camp and surprise everybody, with where he's at in his development, you know, in terms of like, even if it's just, even just calling plays in the huddle that's different and new for him, that it's not as, you know, it's, you know, it's, you know, it's, you know, you don't want it to become an issue early on. Let him get comfortable. When he's comfortable, he'll be really, I think he can be really good for them, you, you know,

and so I think you look at those first four or five, those first five games, I don't think you want him going into there if he's not 100 percent there. you know what I mean? And I just, I don't, you don't, if you're, you have to make sure that you don't have not so much a setback with him, but that you don't put him in a position to fail. So that's why I look at Case and Colt as the guys early on. And how it's going to go, I don't know. I mean, we know what Jay thinks about Colt. But the other thing, Kevin, is like everybody, we always talk about that. But every single time they've had a chance where there's been a quarterback competition in Colts here or a quarterback decision, they don't typically go with him. So, you know, now, and that's not demeaning him, but it's like that. No, it's just a factual. Yeah, it's factual. So, but his experience in this offense will matter early. And then, so to me, it's going to become his experience in the offense versus where

his, where his case, is he at that point where he got as a grasp on the offense right now? And I think that'll be the thing to watch. So I would look at those two as getting the most reps. And this is why, this is why I wish for their sake that they had had. a joint, been able to line up a joint practice because I think it would give Haskins a lot more opportunity to work on things that they need to see from him and help him develop. So, you know, but he'll get, I'm sure he'll get plenty of time in the preseason games, but I

would look at those two and then, and then go from there. And I'm sure Haskins will get his share of reps, but I just, I would, I think it's going to take a lot to convince them that he's ready to start the season. I think, again, and I've always said this, that, And you talk to, and you listen, and I'm going to say this because I know you're probably like, and it's about, from a football decision, the best thing is, it's not about week one. And I'm tired of hearing about that, or is he going to be ready because it doesn't matter. It's because, like, he could go out there and play week one. It doesn't mean he's necessarily there, and is that best for him and the team long term?

And I think the biggest, the best thing they can do is make sure he's ready and it's about long term for them. But that then comes down to is that just a football decision. Look, I would just disagree with a part of that in saying that what may be best for the long term is that if he is close to ready, getting him out there sooner rather than later. So it's not unusual to see a first round pick, a top 15 pick at quarterback play in week one or week two at the latest. It's not, but I think we're dealing with something different here. And I think that's why I say that. I think if he's close to ready, then I think that's a different conversation. I don't know that they feel he's at that point.

I hear what you're saying, and part of me wants to say, well, you know, I'm patient, and there's always the possibility that he's going to develop and he's going to get it, and he's a year away from becoming a star. But I'd also like to know that at 15 overall, with Case Keenham and Colt McCoy is the competitive landscape that this guy, you know, was close, at least talent-wise, you know, and it was obvious, you know, to them. I think talent-wise, he's going to stick out in camp because he's just, he's physically talented. He has a really good, you know, he's got that special arm count of the like.

I think that it's going to be in the details of the job, which is going to be harder for people to see. And I think, you know, I was talking about this with JP the other day on my podcast, just like, you know, you're going to see highlights of him throwing some stuff in one-on-one situation. is going to be this beautiful ball, and people are going to say, oh, you've got to put him in. It takes more than just that. And here's the thing, Dwayne knows that. And the one thing that Haskins is shown, when he went to Ohio State, he had to sit behind guys for a couple of years.

And I'm sure in his mind, listen, you know I'm an Ohio State guy. I'm watching the games a couple of years ago and thinking, they've got to put Haskins over J.T. Barrett, for sure. J.T. Barrett couldn't throw the ball down field. Right. But when Haskins came in, he did a really good job. Now, I know there's things he's got to clean up. Obviously, there's a lot of things he has to clean up. They know that it's, and again, I go back to mechanics of the position,

and it's calling plays in the huddle, making sure you're getting them out right, you know, getting it clear and concise. And then it's also footwork. You've got to be able to read the defenses a little bit quicker because the one issue that I'll have, and you'll see this, that when you break it down is when he's going through his progressions. I mean, he sees, Jay even said, I talked to him about this a month and a half ago, but he said he sees things that he doesn't expect him to see, and he's like, it's like a video game.

He just sees something, and that's really good. But then when you're going through your progression, you've got to keep your feet with you, because if not, then you're throwing just all arm, and he got away with that in college. But even he told me he's like, you can't do that in the NFL, not to the same degree, because quarterback is just better and faster. So I think there's like little things like that. So if he gets close and it's like, you know, why not? Then that's fine.

But if he's not close, even if we see the pretty throws, you then have to make sure. Now, the question I have, Kevin, is what's the plan to develop him if he's not playing? Because it can't, you know, you're like, what are you doing after practice? What is he doing in the film room to develop him? That, to me, will be the key. And having a guy like Chin Rete, I think that will help him. You know, Kevin O'Connell, guys who played quarterback in the NFL,

and recently, that all helps. And so the thing I wonder too, though, and it's like, it's great that they have all these ex-quarterbacks there, you know, Jay, Doug Williams, you know, Kavanaugh, but are there almost too many ex-coldbacks? How many opinions are going to be going to this guy? You know what I mean? I just going to let Kevin and Tim take over and, you know,

how is that going to go? Because people are going to have different opinions on things. But I think that will be the key. What are they doing away from the point? practice field to develop him because that to me is the key here. Yeah. And, you know, one last point to this, because I discussed this a few weeks ago, I think Haskins is also different than some of these other first round quarterbacks in recent years in that he is not mobile at all. And with a younger quarterback that you're going to throw out there that may be far from ready in your own mind,

but can move and escape and create, that there's a difference in the thought process there. When you look at Haskins, if he can't get the plays on time, if he can't figure out where the Mike linebacker is, if he can't figure out pre-snap, what's going on, you probably put him at more risk than some recent quarterbacks. And that's why I say you can't put him in the position to fail

is exactly that reason. And listen, I think one of the strengths of his game in college and talking to people and throughout his whole time, he's a smart kid and I think he'll be a smart quarterback but when you only have the 14 games to fall back on and you are just a pocket pass not listen he can evade in the pocket but he's not kailer murray right he's not Aaron rogers he's more along the lines of a philip rivers or eli in terms of the mobility ruffusber mobility in the pocket and more just pocket passers but you know there are there are things that he ran at ohio state that i think will translate well but there's

but it was not a necessary pro-style offense. It was an evolved offense, but it was not a pro-style offense that he's going to be running here. So there are more things that he has to learn and master because of that. And so that's why I say the kid needs to be put in the position to succeed because that's for the long-term health of this organization, that's what they need. If he starts the season and it's because they just like, well, you know, these other guys stink, but he's not really ready, but we have no choice. I don't know that that's going to, you know, yes, you get better by playing,

but I think you get better by playing when you know what you're doing and you can correct then what you're doing. He's going to have mistakes early on no matter when he comes in, but are you at the point where you understand what you're doing and why it's happening? I think that's the key too because we've seen quarterbacks play too early and they're and they're ruined, you know, I think it's true a lot of players. And so he is in a different position because of everything that you said. I think that's a big, it can't be, that can't be understated because it is a big factor here.

And again, I think he understands this. And, you know, I just, I hope he's able to be patient with it. Well, I mean, the story that you wrote a couple weeks ago, the quotes that you had from him indicated that he was willing to be patient and that he was not, he didn't want to be rushed. Right. I think that's, I think that's why the experience at Ohio State helped him. Yeah. Because he had, again, whether or not he accepted that who he's, because, you know, I'm sure he said. there seeing the same stuff that everybody else seems like I could have made this throw.

So, you know, I'm sure that there's going through his mind, but he did stick it out. And he was when he came into play, he put himself in position to be a first round pick after only one year. So, you know, again, there's a lot to correct. And I know you know that and, you know, talk to Cooley about that and all that. But there's a lot to work with. And I think, so I think going through that experience, I think will help him handle this year knowing how to, how to respect. bond when you've had some adversity. I mean, you look at some other quarterbacks that, you know, maybe they don't face

adversity now. Well, I think he, I think he has. I think he's been a guy as talented as he is, has put in a lot of work. So I think that's he's used to putting in that sort of work and the work on the right stuff, you know, working on, you know, the drops and the film work and all that. That's always been a part of this game. So if you continue along those lines, and if, here's the other thing, Kevin, this is why, like if this staff, you know, it'll be really interesting to see this year how Kevin O'Connell

and Tim Rataia in particular, because they're going to be dealing with him closer, how they develop him, and then what happens? Like, if this is not a good season, do you just blow everything up? And then what happens with Haskins' development? And does a new coach come in who, does the new, if a new guy comes in, whoever it is, is this a guy that he would have won? Right. Exactly. It's a, look, we are a week away from one of the more interesting training camps and early portions of a regular season schedule as we've had in a long time. And I know there was some excitement over Alex Smith last year as well, but this is more about, you know, do you have the franchise quarterback for the next 10 years or not? And we start to

learn whether or not that is true or not true in a week. And I think that I think that'll be fun to watch. And I think the other, the one thing that helps this coaching staff is getting a guy like Montez sweat because if getting him in the first round it becomes their guy who can make an initial impact. I think that trade was huge for that reason because I think it kind of called them and said that, okay, now you can under because after getting him, like the what you'd hear from people over there was almost different. It was like, okay, they know that, okay, this kid's going to take some time.

We love this town. We love this. But they've got a guy who they think can make a really good impact now. That's big. John, thanks. As always, I always enjoy it from the Ohio State University. John Kime, listen to his podcast, the John Kime Report anywhere you get a podcast. And of course, John underscore Kime on Twitter and all the work he does for ESPN and ESPN.com.

Appreciate it. Talk to you soon. Thanks, Kevin. Congratulations on the new gig, too. All right, thanks to John. Always good to catch up with John. The intense summer heat is back. It is really, really warm. And it's going to be 100 this weekend. And what happens to your windows? Well, if they're not good and they're leaky, it produces unnecessary high energy bills. It allows damaging UV rays to fade your valuables and make your windows even less effective. Listen up.

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Call soon. This sale ends July 31st. All right. I did talk to Buck. We're going to talk to Buck on Monday since we're not going to have a show tomorrow or Friday. So we'll talk to Buck on Monday and wish him the best with his mother who took a fall last night. So we certainly wish the best for her and the family. But talk to Buck and, you know, this was not unexpected that Buck would not be back as the Wizards play-by-play voice.

But we'll talk to Buck on Monday about all of it. I did want to get to something that I read earlier this morning on ESPN.com. It was a story titled NFL Future Power Rankings, projections for all 32 teams for the next three years. It was a story titled, NFL Future Power Rankings, Projections for was written and put together by Lewis Riddick, Kevin Seifert, and Field Yates at ESPN. And basically what they did is they ranked various parts of the roster and the organization. They basically reviewed and evaluated the roster not including the quarterback. So the rest of the roster without the quarterback. Then they reviewed and evaluated the quarterback on its own, the draft, the front office, and the coaching.

And they gave grades to all of those categories from disastrous at the low level to elite at the high level. And they compiled it together and then it all ended up with a score. And that was how they ranked them. And the Indianapolis Colts with their roster, a young roster and their quarterback situation, was the number one ranked future power ranking NFL team for the next three years. the Colts. They wrote, they've got a general manager with a plan and experienced coaching staff with Acumen, a star quarterback who put lingering health concerns to bed last year, a developing defensive nucleus, a stud offensive line, exciting young pass catchers, and a healthy salary

cap situation. You get the point. The Colts have the makings of a team set to do major damage over the next five plus years. Indy plays in a competitive division, has holes to fill in the roster, it worked hard to improve its edge rushing in the offseason, but few teams, if any have a future as bright. Their general manager, Chris Ballard, is doing a great job there. Remember the kid we saw in week two last year, Darius Leonard? Darius Leonard ended up being a pro bowler as a rookie guy that was a second round pick by the Colts. A guy that was playing inside linebacker who was not necessarily a heralded guy coming out of South Carolina State, and remember the game he had against the Redskins in week two.

It was a dominant game where he had 19 tackles in that game. The Colts do have a really good future. And they went to Kansas City and the snow at Arrowhead and lost to a hot Chiefs team in the playoffs 311-13 after they'd beaten the Texans in the first round of the playoffs 21-7. can see why the Colts are high up on this list. The Patriots are number two, even though they've got a quarterback that is 42 is going to be 42 years old. The Eagles came in third, the Chiefs fourth, and the Seahawks fifth. That was your top five. The rest of the division teams,

after the Eagles at third overall, you then had the Cowboys come in at 14th overall, and the Giants were, where were the Giants here? I had that a moment ago. The Giants came in at 31. At 31 out of 32 teams. All right. So where were the Redskins? The Redskins came in at 27th among the 32 NFL teams.

even with this young defensive roster, young talent, good talent, a potential franchise quarterback who was drafted at number 15 overall, the Redskins' overall score came in at 27th overall of the 32 teams. Look, I haven't given this a lot of thought. I read through a lot of different teams. There are a lot of teams that seem to be well positioned for the future and much better position. for the future than the Redskins. And before even reading about the Redskins, the first thing I thought of is they've got a dysfunctional front office and a lame duck coaching situation. So right there, you've got to be near the bottom of the league in both of those categories. Remember, they evaluated these teams for the future based on the roster minus the quarterback, then the quarterback, and then coaching draft in front office.

and the first thing I thought of is the Redskins can't be high on this list with the front office and the coaching situation they have. And sure enough, their front office was ranked 31st overall out of 32 NFL teams. 31st out of 32 NFL teams. The only front office ranked worse than the Redskins were the Cardinals at 32nd overall. And again, this is Field Yates, a competent reporter and columnist and analyst for, ESPN, Lewis Riddick and Kevin Seiford. So the coaching situation for the Redskins came in at 30th overall. I mean, it's a lame duck situation potentially with Jay Gruden, and the defensive staff was essentially, you know, the front office preferred, the preference was to replace it

during the offseason. So right there, you get the front office at 31 and the coaching situation at 30, so you weren't going to be much higher than 25 on this list. The draft came in at 31 overall, and that is essentially the confidence they have moving forward that the draft will be handled well. They're essentially, you know, weighing in on also the scouting department, if you will, with that particular category. And that was 31st. So they're basically among the bottom three teams in coaching, front office, and draft. Now, the quarterback situation they had ranked at 19th overall, and the overall roster without the quarterback at 24th overall.

I think their overall roster, you know, without the quarterback, would be somewhere, and we've talked about this before, somewhere in that 20 to 25 range. Yes, they've got good young talent defensively. It would appear. That's it. That's the only thing you can point at and say, I feel really good about Duran Payne and John Allen and Matt Ionitis and Montez Sweat and potentially a guy like, well, Landon Collins on the back end,

potentially a guy in the future like Ruben Foster if he is able to recover and give them a chance down the road. But offensively, it's just a major question mark at every position, no bigger one than a quarterback. I'm not even sure I would have had their quarterback situation ranked at 19th out of 32 teams. that seems relatively high, given how much uncertainty there is at quarterback. Here's what the guys wrote. And each one of them wrote a separate section. Field Yates wrote an incredibly unfortunate injury befell quarterback Alex Smith late last season, likely sidelining him for 2019.

The Redskins had no choice but to address the position this offseason, landing Dwayne Haskins with the number 15 overall pick. Haskins and second-year running back Darius Geis provided he's fully healthy after an ACL to air, bring hope for an offense that lacks established playmakers. Defensively, the Redskins have a tough, hard-nosed, and talented Front Seven that helped keep them competitive last season. Head coach Jay Gruden recently made a comment, a joking one in reference to a question about hard knocks,

about not retaining his job if the team doesn't make the playoffs. That underscores the reality for Washington. It needs a strong 2019 or faces significant change. That from Field Yates. This from Lewis Riddick about the Redskins, and their ranking of 27th of 32 teams in terms of their future power ranking over the next three years.

This is an evaluation of the franchises for the next three years. The Redskins came in at 27th out of 32 teams. Riddick wrote, While I love the future potential of Haskins and believe he is a Pro Bowl caliber, quarterback talent, I have little to no faith that Washington management will do the right thing and get him the weapons he needs at receiver

or the guidance and tutelage he deserves. so he can realize his vast potential in the meeting room on the field and off the field. Having many people who want to weigh in with their opinion on his development is not necessarily a good thing, and I fear that could be what is shaping up to happen to this young man in D.C. Lewis Riddick, of course, of course speaking from experience within the organization he was here and knowing this organization well. Of course. I mean, this is the thing that Tommy points out all the time.

I point out a little bit less combatively, and that is that, you know, Dwayne Haskins might be a terrific talent, and he might have a great future as an NFL quarterback. And we also must admit that perhaps for that talent and that potential to be realized, if you believe he has it, it would have been better for him to go to a different organization. Kevin Seafurt wrote about the Redskins ranking.

What could change for the better? Well, the Redskins have a good chance to field a dominant defensive front seven in a few years with a group that includes three first-round picks, most recently linebacker Montez Sweat. Despite constant churn in the front office, a situation that has debilitated the franchise in some areas, this defense could have a promising future. I agree with that.

I actually agree with everything that Field Yates wrote, that Lewis Riddick wrote and that Kevin Seafurt wrote. And as far as the ranking goes, I don't know based on the organization and the coaching staff. I don't know how you could rank it much higher. It is the bottom, it's in the bottom quarter, best case of organizations in the NFL. It's really more in the bottom 10% of organizations in the NFL. But they have some young talent on defense that's promising. I do find it interesting in some of these columns about, you know, breakout players this year.

I haven't seen John Allen mentioned in any of them. You know, I do think John Allen has a chance to be a perennial pro bowler. I don't know that he is the next Aaron Donald or Fletcher Cox. I know I've said that before, but I think it bears repeating because I think a lot of NFL people agree with that assessment, that he has great talent and can be a very good player, but perhaps not in a least. beat player. I've heard some people think and say that Duran Payne's upside is perhaps bigger than John Allen's. I just love John Allen and everything about him. He's the kind of guy you have to have in your locker room and on your roster if you hope to win one day. I feel that way about Duran

Payne as well. Last thing I wanted to get to is just the Nats last night. And my God, Aaron, You know, Soto and Rendon in particular. They're rolling. They crush the Orioles, if you missed it last night, 8 to 1 in the first of 2 with the Orioles. Rendon was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI, Soto 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs, including a home run,

two-run shot in the 6 that gave them a commanding lead. He's now hitting 303. He's on-base percentage is over 400, is slugging percentages at like 5.50. Rendon's is, I think, somewhere around 6'10. So it also passed Griffey last night for, I think, fourth most home runs before 21. Before 21 years old. Amazing.

Those two right now, and, you know, and, you know, Eaton and Turner as well. I mean, you know, they've got some guys, and by the way, Matt Adams, you know, back healthy and produced last night as well. Dozier had a good game last night. And Austin both pitched well. Yeah. You know what, six innings? Yeah. It went six innings and just gave up one earned run on four hits.

The Braves lost last night, too, so the Nats picked up a game on them. Tonight, is there a decision on the pitcher? Is it going to be Strasbourg tonight or not? It looks like it's Eric Fetty that they're going to have pitch tonight, which means they're going to save Strasbourg for the Brave series, which I don't think it's something that Strasbourg wanted. I don't think that's official. Is that official?

If it's not official, it's unofficially official. All right. Well, I would have not, I would have pitched Strasberg when he's comfortable pitching and not worry about, you know, having him pitch one of these four games when they've got 14 left against the Braves. Last night, by the way, in Major League Baseball, Bryce Harper had the night of the year for him. He went two for three with five RBIs and crushed a 458-foot home run, a three-run, a three-run, Homer in the bottom of the second to give the Phillies a 6-1 lead, which they then gave up to the Dodgers in the 9th before Harper came up in the bottom of the 9th and doubled in the winning

runs, the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was the signature moment, really, of the season for Bryce Harper, who has really struggled this year at times. His numbers have increased here recently, Aaron, if you're curious, I mean, that batting average at one point this year, I think was somewhere in the low 200s, not where it was here last year, but I think at one point this year, his batting average was somewhere around 220-something. It's now up to 257. Last night he hit his 17th home run. He's got 67 RBIs. A lot of season left for Bryce Harper. And, you know, recently, his struggles have been June and July, you know, and then he is heated up at the end of these seasons after usually getting off to a fast start.

And here over the last couple of games, including last night, I think he's hitting 340 or 350 here over the last three or four games. Anyway, the Phillies won last night. The Braves finally lost a game last night. So the Nats are six and a half back of the Braves with the big series looming this weekend. in Atlanta, four games against the Braves in Atlanta, with Strasbourg and Scherzer now both scheduled to go. We think Scher's going to go, right? Won't Scher be back for the end of that series?

That would be 10 days. We think, but who knows. All right. Well, I could be wrong about that. I was assuming that Scher would be back off that 10-DL in time to pitch maybe the Sunday game in Atlanta. It's possible, but we haven't. been told that. All right. Well, Strasbourg will be ready to go in that series. Corbyn will be

ready to go in that series. Sanchez will pitch in that series, and hopefully it's Scherzer as the fourth starter in that final game on Sunday. That's a Sunday night national TV game, by the way, on Sunday night on ESPN. Big series, huge series in late July at that point. You know, this weekend, we, you know, last third portion of the month. But hopefully, Hopefully the Nets, even with Eric Fetty, can complete a sweep over a terrible Orioles team with the Braves scheduled to play another one tonight in Milwaukee. They got crushed last night to stop their five-game win streak. All right, you know what? I just finished going through all of the future projections, and we are able to bring in Field Yates to the show.

I talked about his tweet earlier in the show with John Kime. Field Yates from ESPN joins us right now. at Field Yates on Twitter. And I do want to start Field with your tweet this morning because I found it very interesting on so many levels. The tweet that basically listed the Redskin players who had not met the mandated minimum of 90% of the team's off-season workout program, which meant that these players were going to have their 2019 salaries reduced.

And just to catch everybody up to speed, if you're jumping around on the show, Josh Norman was reduced $200,000, Landon Collins, 175,000, Trent Williams, 150,000, Paul Richardson, 150,000, Quentin Dunbar, 100,000, and Vernon Davis, $50,000. So I found it interesting when I read this from a couple of perspectives, and I'll start with this. Is this typical or atypical for most teams?

Yeah, this is atypical, Kevin. There are not a ton of teams that rely heavily on what we call de-escalators and player-based salaries that are specifically tied to participation in workout programs, or off-season workout programs, which we know last for about, you know, whatever it is 10 or so weeks during the spring, usually beginning in early April. But the Redskins, the Cowboys, the Texans are among some of the teams that do rely upon them or do incorporate them as a mechanism in the contract. And so I don't want to necessarily cause, you know, a major alarm.

about these six players that saw a de-escalation in their base salary because, you know, Kevin, as we know, Trent Williams every year, not even just this year where he has had, you know, obviously there's some back and forth between him and the organization right now. It's been routine for him to not take part in the off-season program. I believe Josh Norman has been another player in that category as well. But, you know, some players would view it or some would view this as, players losing money. Others might view it simply as this is just the players bypassing earning money that they had not previously earned themselves. You know, I would say this. For me,

and I obviously never played the game and I never would have played the game at the professional level, not nearly talented enough to do that. I think it's easy for us to say, you know, it feels like this would be easy money to attain, work out, which is an integral part of these guys jobs and do so with their teammates. But, you know, these players have earned the right. These are not mandatory workouts. They have earned the right to bypass them. And in some cases, they can have financial implications positive or negative. So, yes, of course. I mean, one of the things I said to Kime earlier, I'm like, this is the kind of thing, you know, and those of us that have had more life experience than many of these players, but haven't earned anywhere near the amount

of money that they've earned can still say that at 40, 45 years old, you know, Quentin Dunbar may regret giving up an easy $100,000 in gross compensation. You know, you can always look at that from sort of a more life experienced or mature perspective. But I want to make sure I understand something. First of all, from an accounting standpoint, when you say de-escalator, is it a reduction in base salary or is it a missed opportunity on an incremental bonus? Right. It's a reduction in base salary.

So I have to look at, for example, if a player had a $1 million base salary, but his non-participation in a sufficient amount of workouts resulted in a 100,000 de-escalator, his base salary would go down to $900,000 for this upcoming season. So in the case of these guys, as we saw, the cumulative effect is close to $1,000. when you add up all six of those players and what they are sacrificing in base salary. And you said that not every team has this as part of, I would assume, their individual contract with said players. This is not a CBA thing, this mandated minimum of 90% of off-season workouts

with respect to, you know, a salary reduction, right? Yeah, so it's not there. It's not, in most cases, what we see with these, and the Packers are a shiny example. A lot of teams do incorporate workout bonuses that include an escalation of salary. So, or not even a salary escalation, I should say, but just a bonus, right? So I believe Aaron Rogers, I believe it's Darius Smith, Preston Smith, obviously signed this off-season from Redskins.

Those guys are all examples of people that if they participate in a certain number of the off-season workout to get a bonus, a check cut for them that is at least $500,000 for I believe it's $500 for Rogers and 600 for each of the pass rush for signed this offseason. So there are ways that this can be constructed differently that can work in the players' favor or it can work against them if they don't show. You mentioned it's atypical in terms of six players having their salaries reduced for not meeting the mandated minimum of 90% of the offseason workout program. The other teams that you mentioned, was it one player, two players that had their salaries reduced or none? I'm not aware.

So I would say this, Kevin. I don't know, I can't say that the answer is zero. I am not aware as of this time of any player who had his salary reduced based off not showing up in a certain number of workouts this off season. That isn't to say that the answer is zero. There may have been a Texans or a Cowboys or other players around the league. As of, you know, the time that you and I are chatting, I am not presently aware of those things. Let me ask you a couple of unrelated questions. but related to the Redskins.

What do you think Trent Williams' value would be if the Redskins tried to move them? Well, I think the first part is getting clarity on where his health is. Obviously, we know that Trent dealt with some scary situations this past year. If he's healthy, and a contract can be addressed, because teams, as we see around the NFL, part of the O'Dell Beckham trade being so unique was that barely is it when a player's got five years left on his contract,

about market value. So I think if Trent Williams was traded and a new deal was in place, then you could be talking about a potential draft pick that was fairly valuable to the Ratskins. And it's hard, you know, there's so many moving variables, so many variables there that I can't say first round pick, a second round pick, et cetera. I do think, though, that the accolades speak for themselves.

He's still a high-level player when he's fully healthy. You know, I think it would be an age. a contract and a health consideration for him. Because when he did his best, he is arguably the best at one of the most important positions in the NFL right now. Could you envision a training camp left tackle injury to a perceived contender and that team getting desperate and giving up a first? Who, that's an interesting one.

Yeah, I mean, as we've seen trade. Like, you know, it's funny, we try to evaluate what a player's worth would be in a trade before the context of the trade actually arises. And that's part of our job. It's inherent to what we do. But who would have thought going into 2016, I believe it was, that San Bradford could have fetched a first-round pick, right, a first and a fourth in a trade?

And the answer is probably nobody, right? I mean, he was, you know, one of three quarterbacks, Eagles had invested in that off-season, and clearly he was not for long there, given that they had also drafted Carson Wentz, number two overall. Well, the Vikings felt like they were a quarter-a-old. back away. If a team felt like it was a left tackle away and Trent Williams became available, then all of a sudden the value to that team could be a lot

different than right now when maybe not every team feels good about their left tackle spot right now. Let's not be, you know, let's not kid ourselves. But I do think that there are teams that are willing to talk themselves into the development track right now, or let's go with the young guy, or let's see if we can't get a guy who's working at left guard at left tackle. and they will be when the games actually begin. Last thing, and I'll let you run, and it's NFL related. One of my favorite things to think about before the NFL season starts is, you know, who are going to be those teams that nobody's expecting to be playoff contenders

and end up making the playoffs that are going to be those teams? Every year, you know, half the playoff teams typically are teams that were not predicted to be in the playoffs or weren't in the postseason the year before. give me a couple teams that you think sort of fit that description that weren't in the postseason a year ago. Nobody's expecting much from this year, but you could see having a surprise 10 and 6 kind of a season. You know, Kevin, it's interesting. I heard Dan Orlobsky does a great job here at ESPN. Yeah, he does.

One morning on Get Up, he said everybody, every division is good right now in the NFL, except for his opinion was that basically every division except for the AFC East was strong. So I don't know that there are a lot of teams would strike you as, you know, true surprises that I don't think have been discussed at length this off season. But there are a couple of teams that I like. I mean, I do think that the Jaguars have a chance

to get back to what they were defensively, which the numbers are pretty good last year, but it wasn't the same ferocity level from that defense as it was a year before. The Raiders, I don't know, the division is really good. They could certainly finish fourth in that division and it wouldn't surprise me. But how potent is that often?

If the offensive line plays well and Derek Carr reverts to form, which on Christmas Eve of 2016, he was in the conversation for NFL MVP, then there's at least a chance that things could turn in Oakland's favor. I'm not necessarily counting on it. Those are a couple of teams that come to mind that aren't getting as much pub as the traditional sort of postseason guesses right now. Yeah, I like the Jacksonville one because that defense was so dominant in 20th. and they've got, you know, a winning quarterback. I don't know if the fit is right or not,

but they have a quarterback that at least gives them hope. I actually have given out multiple times another team from the AFC West. I think the Broncos have a lot more than most people think. And I will say this field, I've always been in the significant minority of being a Joe Flacco fan. I think he's played his best in the biggest games of his career in some the biggest games in Ravens history. He's always come through. But that's another team like Jacksonville that has a lot of defensive talent and now may have a quarterback in a system that works for him. Yeah, I tell you what, that Broncos defense played the Chiefs better than anybody outside, really in the regular season. They played them as good as anybody. And then, you know,

even the Patriots in the first half of the AACC championship game basically shut down the Chiefs, and then the Chief came out in the second half and scored what 31 points, I believe, was. So the Broncos defense last year had a lot of right ingredients. You know, Joe Flacko's got to find a way to steady things on offense. And if he doesn't, which a lot of people are skeptical of, then all of a sudden this could be another team

that despite some of the requisite ingredients could be on the outside looking at. But I like that call as well. I really appreciate you making time for us and really clearing up, you know, the information on your tweet because there were a lot of questions that came out of it. And, you know, I don't know that it's a massive deal, but I think, you know, part of the tone here, you know, when following this team day to day and all the granular, you know, day to day detail is that, you know, not everything's great, you know, behind

closed doors and, you know, starting with, you know, Haskins being taken essentially by the owner against the football people's wishes at 15. Not that they didn't like him. They liked him, just not at 15. And, you know, Josh Norman running with the Bulls and Trent Williams' issue and Brandon Sheriff not getting a legitimate offer at this point. And then I saw this tweet this morning

and I'm like, wow, I don't know if this is normal or not normal. And so I really appreciate you jumping on and clearing it up. It was very helpful. Thanks, Field. Sure. I think, you know, also just to put a pin in this all is that you know, in July, there's a little bit less to be discussed than other times of the year. These kind of things do maybe, you know, generate a bit of intrigue.

And I don't think this is like some massive indictment on the players. I don't think it's a massive indictment on the organization. It's just information. And I think that NFL fans have a large appetite for things of this nature. And as a result, you see some interest in it versus, you know, other things that are sort of percolating through the news cycle right now of other sports. Well, let me give you a simultaneous compliment and thank you, because on July 17th, doing what we do, when someone like you puts out a tweet like that, it's a segment. It's a conversation. It may not have been nearly a conversation like it was today on September 17th,

but you provided some good content for us today. And I do appreciate that. And I found it very interesting because it was something that I don't think most people will read and understand the context, of it with respect to the rest of the league and what other teams do. So thank you so much for clearing that up. No problem at all. Field Yates, at Field Yates on Twitter. Thanks again, Field, talk to you soon. No problem. All right, thanks to Field Yates. That was helpful to clear up that tweet that he put out earlier this morning. If you're listening to us on iTunes, rate us, review us that helps subscribe as well. Doesn't cost you anything. You don't have to give up any information. You just get the show sent to you. That helps us also. And if you know people that want to listen to the podcast and they haven't figured out how to do it in podcast form or, you know, through

podcast platforms, just tell them to go to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com. We're taking the next two days off. Be back on Monday. And I think we'll talk to Buck on Monday about no longer being official, became official yesterday, no longer being the voice of the Wizards after 22 years. Have a great rest of the week. Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to John Kime. Thanks to Field Yates. Have a great day.