The Kevin Sheehan Show - Bruce Allen on Trent Williams

Episode Date: June 10, 2019

Bruce Allen talked briefly on Friday about the Trent Williams situation. Kevin opened the show with his thoughts on that and then had JP Finlay/NBC Sports Washington who got the interview with Allen on to discuss. Kevin talked NBA Finals, Nats, and gave an early guess or two on the Skins' 2019 MVP. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right, I am here. Aaron is here. It's a Monday. The show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Windonation.com and tell them that we told you to call. J.P. Finley will join us in a bit and we'll get the latest from him on Trent Williams. He had a conversation with Bruce Allen on Friday. So we will follow up. On that, the NHL Stanley Cup finals will have a seventh in deciding game on Wednesday night. I'm going to watch that, Aaron. I did not watch much of last night's game, but I will watch a seventh in deciding game of any sport. And hockey game sevens are always exciting. It's too bad what happened to Big Poppy. I guess the latest news is he's going to survive and he's going to be okay.

Yes. But still, what an awful thing that happened to him. ambushed really by a gunman in the Dominican Republican shot hospitalized, but he's going to survive the video of that was initially when I watched it very early this morning, I couldn't figure out which one was Ortiz and which one was the gunman, but then, you know, a few times slowing it down, you saw it and it was pretty stunning. But anyway, hopefully it turns out well for him. The latest, by the way, on Trent Williams from my seat, as we sit here on Monday morning, June 10th,

is the same as it was really on Thursday, and even prior to my conversation with Cooley on Friday. Cooley was really good on Friday. I had a lot of, forget the Trent Williams stuff, had a lot of thoughts on Haskin so far, and Keenham so far, and Sweat so far, and Jimmy Morland so far. Cooley basically said Jimmy Morland is on the team.

He's making the team as a seventh rounder and has a chance to be the starting nickel. But this is my position on Thursday hasn't changed much on Trent Williams based on the information that I have. And that is that this is more about a new deal than it is the medical situation which was reported. And as of now, the Redskins don't have much desire at all to give him a new deal. So there is an impasse of sorts. Doesn't mean that the Redskins won't change their mind. doesn't mean that Trent Williams won't change his mind and report to training camp at the end of July and say, hey, all is well.

But I don't expect Bruce Allen to change his mind. Someone else, namely the owner in the organization, would have to decide to trump his team president and give Williams a new deal if Williams is going to get a new deal. Bruce Allen to J.P. Finley on Friday, and again, we're going to have J.P. on here shortly, said, Quote, I know what Trent told me, so I know what the truth is. I'll leave my conversation with Trent between the two of us. Trent has been a valuable player for us, and that's why we signed him to the contract he has. I've talked to Trent a few times. He's explained some things to me, and I'll leave it at that, closed quote.

So we did hear from Bruce Allen. Not a scheduled PR thing, but JP hustled and found out where he was and talked to him, and we'll ask JP how that came about on Friday. But, you know, Bruce Allen isn't, you know, and I've been told this, is not eager to give Trent Williams a new deal with two years left on it. And I think that one part of the quote, where he says, quote, Trent has been a valuable player for us. And that's why we signed him to the contract he has. I think that says a lot. I think it says a lot.

I don't know what the tone was, and we'll get that from JP. But this would be in line with what I've heard. He's not interested in talking New Deal with Trent Williams. And I would guess that Trent Williams isn't that pleased that the team doesn't want to talk to him about a new deal. And perhaps the medical frustration, which was reported by Jason Lockenforah last week, is a legitimate frustration. I'm not suggesting that it isn't. But it also could be a convenient add-on to the bigger frustration, which is wanting more money. and, you know, from Trent standpoint, the more you throw in there that makes the team look bad,

perhaps you either get your deal or get somewhere else where someone is willing to give you a new deal. My personal opinion on this hasn't changed either. I would not give him a blockbuster extension. If it's a modest extension, maybe, but I'm not giving him a huge new deal. if I really believe that he won't report to camp and this is all about, you know, a new deal that he feels like he deserves, I'm trying to trade him. I'm trying to trade him right now. I'm actively trying to trade him. You know, if this is more than him just letting out or letting off some steam, you know, because of the new deals that were signed in the online. off season. I, you know, that's one thing.

If I believe it's about letting off steam, then I'm going to sit back and I'm going to be patient. I'm going to be patient anyway if I'm the team. But I'm actively putting out there that Trent Williams is on the trade block. I'm going to find out what he's worth now. And I'm also going to obviously simultaneously worry about replacing him, which is not easy. Who replaces him?

It's a good question. We talked about Donald Penn being available, but between now and mid-training camp, someone with experience playing left tackle will become available. It's not going to be Trent Williams. What could you get for Trent Williams? I'm not sure. I can't imagine, though. I cannot imagine it would be less than a second round pick. Cooley said initially on Friday a third rounder.

I think I talked him off that. I can't imagine it would be less than that. than a second. Teams that might be interested, well, first of all, anybody needing a seven-time Pro Bowl tackle would be interested in a 31-year-old before this next season starts. Cleveland could use a left tackle. They believe they're a bit of a contender. They have cap space. The bears could use a left tackle. There are other teams out there that don't have as much cap space, but would love Trent Williams. There are teams out there that drafted offensive linemen that aren't sure about their rookie offensive linemen.

And some of those guys like Dillard and Howard, Titus Howard, and Jonas Williams, they might be right tackles to start their careers. So maybe Trent Williams would still be a possibility for those teams. One more thing on this, and I don't know that I've said this so far. The Redskins weren't prepared for this. If they had been, they may have addressed free agency differently. they may have addressed the draft a bit differently, looking for Trent Williams's replacement. Eric Flowers was not an answer for the off chance that Trent Williams may have wanted a new deal this offseason.

Eric Flowers, more likely than not, isn't an answer to anything right now. He's not a tackle, he's not a guard. He may not even be depth on this team. He's not the answer. That wasn't them preparing for the, possibility that Trent Williams would want more money and might want out. I'm not saying, by the way, that they should have been prepared for this. I'm not saying that at all. I'm not being critical of them right now. I'm just saying that I don't think that they had prepared for this or were prepared for this.

I have no idea what they knew before the draft or before free agency started with respect to Trent Williams. If they knew that Trent Williams was going to ask for more money, then they were unprepared and perhaps that is on them. But, you know, he does have two years left on his deal. So perhaps they were justifiably, you know, looking elsewhere and not considering this as a possibility. They weren't worried about the Trent Williams contract being an issue. I think that's justifiable. If they said they were caught off guard, I don't think that that's unreasonable that they were caught off guard. Now, the Trent Brown deal in Oakland,

was signed on March 11th. You know, that could have been something that Bruce and Jay and Doug and Eric Schaefer said, ooh, that's a big deal. Trent Williams might want more money. Where is he now on the list of offensive linemen contracts? Oh, he's seventh now? He may want more money. We should probably prepare for that.

But I don't think you can put this on the Redskins. Two years left on a deal. Next year, if he came in and wanted a contract extension with one year left, on it, you could put this on them that they didn't have any vision whatsoever. I'm not going to blame them unless they knew this was coming and they still decided not to address it in the offseason. I did say, Aaron, before the draft, that at 15, an offensive lineman should be a possibility, that they should be thinking about Trent Williams's eventual replacement at this point with two years left on his deal and a guy that's been injury prone. But I don't know if an offensive

Lyman was on their board at 15 or, you know, maybe even at 26. I don't know how intent they were. I know they were intent on drafting a guard. We know that. Interior offensive lineman, but, you know, a tackle, even with the loss of Inseki and the lack of depth, was not necessarily a priority for them. Anyway, J.P. Finley, with a lot more coming up on this. But netting it out, my position is the same. You know, if I believe he is serious about a new deal and about potentially holding out, I'm trying to trade him. I'm trying to trade Trent Williams. I'm not giving him a monster extension.

If it's something more modest, you know, I would certainly consider it given the bind that the team is in. All right, the NBA finals could end tonight. And after what we watched on Friday night, and I haven't had a show since Friday night's game four. But after watching game four, you can't pop. Possibly. You couldn't be possibly surprised if Toronto closes out Golden State tonight, could you? After watching Friday night? No, I mean, how could you be? Yeah, I mean, they were the better team on Friday night.

They were the better team in game three. They were the better team in game one. And, you know, game two, you know, got away from them a little bit. But there's no way anybody at this point having watched these four games would be surprised if Toronto ends it tonight. Now, Durant status is questionable. He returned to practice yesterday. The question throughout this postseason has been, can the Warriors win the title without Durant?

Well, they won one title without Durant, nearly won a second before he got to the Warriors. But winning this one against this Toronto team looks like it won't happen without Durant. Durant, of course now, it's obvious, would have made a difference in this series. They didn't need him to close out Houston. They didn't need him to sweep Portland.

But they do need him to contend with Toronto. You know who didn't make that much of a difference in game four? He played very well. Don't get me wrong, Clay Thompson. But the Raptor still won. After game three, I suggested on the Thursday show, I guess, that if Thompson had played game three, it may not have been the difference between Toronto winning and losing.

It may have been a closer game. Well, we saw Clay Thompson back for game four, and Toronto won the game going away. By the way, going away after playing a poor first half offensively. They shot 33% from the floor on Friday night in Game 4 in the first half. They were two for 17 from behind the arc in the first half of that game. They could not get a shot to go in. but they won the game going away on Friday night because of Kauai Leonard.

He's now on the verge of completing one of the greatest postseason individual performances in NBA history. His third quarter on Friday night was spectacular. Spectacular. He came out, their down four at half, should have been more. Came out, he knocked down two threes on the first two offensive possessions, to basically say, we're winning this game tonight and we're going back to Toronto with a chance to win the NBA finals. By the way, he doesn't say anything.

He's all action. Toronto had its first lead of the night after those first two threes. It set the tone and the rest of that third quarter on Friday night was Kauai Leonard's quarter. 17 points on 5 of 7 from the field, 5 for 5 from the free throw line, five rebounds made every round. right pass in every situation, had a steel, had a blocked shot. The Raptors put the first nail

in Golden State's coffin in the third quarter on Friday night. It was Kauai Leonard's quarter. He took over the series and put the Raptors on the verge of winning the title. They outscored the Warriors in the third quarter on Friday night, 37 to 21. Leonard finished the game with 36 points, 12 rebounds, four steals. Leonard now has 14 games in this postseason of 30 points or more. He joins the following on a short list of players that have had 14 30-point games in the postseason. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Akeem Elijah Juan, and Alan Iverson. That's the list that Kauai Leonard is on. By the way, eight of his 1430-point-plus performances have come on the road in the postseason. More than half of them have come on the road.

Only Kobe Bryant has more than eight 30-point-plus performances in the postseason on the road. He's got nine. Kauai Leonard has 684 points in this postseason so far. If he scores 16 or more in what's left of this series and Toronto wins the series, he'll join MJ, Elijah Juan and Shaq as the only players in NBA history to score 700 points or more in the postseason and win the title. It's a pretty good company. Historic is the only way to describe what we have watched Kauai Leonard do in this postseason.

back to Friday night for a moment. The Warriors really, really looked worn down, tired. Part of it was Curry looking so worn down. And remember, he had to carry them in game three. Without Clay Thompson, he went for 47 in game three, and they couldn't win that game. But on Friday night, he missed shots, he missed free throws. He looked dead tired when the game got to the second half. And in fact, the team, the Warriors were wobbling.

I mean, they were a boxer having taken just pounding after pounding round after round in games three and four, and they looked done. Now, maybe Katie could change that tonight. If he comes back tonight, it is set up for him to be an all-time hero. Aaron, this is the perfect setup for Kevin Durant. Oh, yeah, he couldn't ask for anything more. If he's healthy and he can come back and lead them from 3-1 down, it's all-time. And by the way, he cements his legacy.

He can do that over the next week with three wins, with three great performances, coming off the injury deck and leading his team back from the dead. Here's my question for you. I don't think this is the case. But if I tell you, the Warriors can get three, Kevin Durant can come out tonight, be healthy and be healthy going forward. Right now the Warriors are plus 400. what would you bet them to?

I thought it was plus 450. I thought I saw a plus 450 last night. I think it's actually come down since the announcement that he could play, that he's questionable. I don't like it. I wouldn't play it. I mean, look,

if you get the Warriors to win three games in a row at any point during the regular season, plus 450, you're all over it against this opponent. And here's the thing about KD. I'm highly skeptical about his health. Oh, sure. But I'm just saying I'm playing the if game here. Yeah, so if I saw tonight him come out and look like KD, let's say in the first half,

and go for 17 in the first half, and they've got a four-point lead at halftime, and it looked like he was completely healthy and without rust. I would immediately then play the Warriors at plus 325, or whatever it would be at that point. Plus 350, maybe. If they were up 10, it might drop to plus 300 or plus whatever. But I'm skeptical about his calf injury. You know, they've been floating this idea about him playing for, you know, 10 plus, 10 days or more now. And if that calf injury was as serious as it likely was, he's not playing this summer.

That's a month-long plus return. But we'll see. I mean, that's it. That's their chance. They're not winning, they're not winning two times. in Toronto and three straight games with the current group of players against the way Toronto and Kauai Leonard are playing. And it's not just Kauai Leonard, it's the whole team. By the way, the other thing about Friday night, had a friend text me during the game, you're really watching

this? I said, yeah. He said, this is shitty. It's a shitty game, poorly played game. Man, I didn't feel that way at all. I thought that game was so intense from the junk. You had a desperate champion doing everything it could to survive knowing it had to win that game. You had, by the way, blood everywhere with Van Vleet. Did you see him take that hit from Sean Livingston? Certainly non-intentional. But seven stitches. By the way, he missed the fourth quarter.

I thought that was huge in the game. I thought it was going to hurt Toronto. I thought the game was what you expect in the middle part of a series with one team desperate. to win and the other team going for a knockout punch, I thought it was great. Was it pure, you know, flawless basketball? No, but it was the intensity, it was the defensive intensity that made the game at times sloppy, but at other times not sloppy at all. Like Toronto in the second half, how about Serge Abaka? Whomever it was who relentlessly attacked me on Twitter last year. When I said

Abaka would be the difference for the Raptors and it gave him a chance to win against Cleveland, that Abacca being on that team was going to be the difference with De Rosen, you know, that team. And I've just always been a Serge Abaka fan. You can take that back now because Abacca's

been spectacular. He's been so good for the Raptors, so important to what they've been able to accomplish here in the finals. I thought Kyle Lowry once again was a huge factor without the numbers necessarily for the Raptors. He makes every right decision.

Speaking of getting it right, the Warriors, remember the discussion about the box and one and Steve Kerr not knowing what to do against the box and won in Game 3, Aaron? And coaches agreed. I mean, they didn't rip him for it, but they're like, you just don't see it in the NBA and clearly they were caught off guard. Well, he did know how to handle it the other night. They went to it. Toronto did briefly.

And they put Sean Livingston right in the middle. of that two-two zone portion of it, and they got the ball right to the middle, and they got open shots. I don't think they made them, but they knew how to attack it. By the way, overall, I know the ratings are down. I know a lot of you aren't paying as much attention to these NBA finals as I am, but I have really enjoyed this series. These playoffs, really, since the first round, first round was terrible. Once you got to the conference semis, you know, the Philadelphia Toronto series in that seventh and deciding game and the Kauai Leonard buzzer-beater, It's just been a pleasure to watch. Leonard in particular. These 2019 playoffs will forever be remembered for Kauai Leonard.

Not the Houston Golden State series, maybe Durant's injury, but Kauai Leonard's historic run through these playoffs has been a pleasure to watch. They are just one and a half point favorites tonight. They were a two and a half point favorite in game two and I think it went up to three in spots. unless Durant is legit healthy and can be Kevin Durant tonight, I just think this series is over. I just don't see any way after watching four of these matchups, Aaron, that the Warriors can win three in a row, two of them in Toronto, especially without Kevin Durant. I just don't see it.

One last thing before we get to J.P. Finley, the Nats had two good wins Saturday and Sunday to split the series with the Padres. Yesterday, the Nationals became just the... the first team in Major League Baseball history to hit four consecutive home runs. Several teams have done it. They're the only team to have done it for a second time. They did it the first time in 2017. But in the eighth inning, Howie Kendrick, Trey Turner, Adam Eaton, and Anthony Rendon hit back to back to back to back home runs off Craig Stammon.

All right, the four homers, by the way, off stamina, came in the span of seven pitches. Seven pitches thrown to four guys, four home runs, and the Nats won that game yesterday to really win, you know, to get that second win. They could have won either of the first two games, both five, four losses. And the Friday night loss, which I was up in watching, was painful. A one-run lead in the ninth, do little on the mound. And with two outs, he gave up back-to-back hits, and they lose five to four. Gave up three hits in the inning.

And I think two of them were to lefties and lefty-lefty matchups. And they lost that game five to four. They're seven back at this point. Lastly, actually, before we get to JP from over the weekend, I had a friend text me the story about Capp's watch parties on Friday night, I guess it was. Friday night. Did you hear about this? I did not, but they replayed Game 5.

I guess they replayed Game 5 from the Vegas series, and there were watch parties for it. Yeah, that would be fun. That's fine. Yeah. You know what? I'm not going to knock that at all. Here's what I would knock.

Several comments from people who were at these watch parties that said they were extremely nervous. They were extremely nervous in the third period about whether or not the caps could pull it off. That's a little much. Yeah, it's a bit much. That's sort of, sorry. sort of goes hand in hand with sort of the poser thing that you had a lot of a year ago.

Nothing as bad as this, Aaron. Saturday morning, I took my car to get washed at the car wash on Wisconsin Avenue. It's like Wisconsin and Fessenden Street right there. And there's a coffee shop like two blocks away. And while the car was getting washed, I ran down just to get coffee real quickly. And as I walked in and as I was waiting for my coffee, there were two guys, I don't know, 40, 45 years old, early to mid-40s, sitting there drinking coffee with a laptop open, watching women's World Cup soccer.

Come on. Feel the excitement. Come on, Kevin. Please. That is Poser City. Real quick word about Window Nation. Their summer savings event need new windows. Now's the time to act.

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around going, is Bruce going to speak or are we going to hear Doug say something about this? And then on Friday, you had quotes from Bruce Allen. How did that come about? Got a call that Bruce would be at the mayor's office at the Wilson building down on Pennsylvania Avenue. And we hustled down there and we're able to grab him for just a two, three minute quick burst. And Tony Wiley, you know, let me talk to him. and it was Bruce. He doesn't say a heck of a lot, but to me, the most telling quote he said

was when I was asking, how much of a priority is it to get Trent back? Because Jay Gruden made very clear, we need Trent, we love Trent, you know, Gruden tried to be completely accepting of why Trent might be frustrated and everything else. And Bruce, I thought,

hit a different tone, especially when he said, we know how valuable he is, and that's why he has the contract that he has. That was the soundbike that really stood out to me. Yeah, it stood out to me too, and I mentioned it earlier in the podcast, that that was the line that to me, and I wanted to ask you about tone, if it was, you know, basically Trent's got a contract,

and we signed him to a really good contract because we really like him, but he's got a contract. And this would go hand in hand with some of the things I've heard over the last, you know, four or five days, which is, while Trent may want a new day, deal. Bruce isn't interested in a new deal. So A, it sounds like the tone was what I thought it was, and I just want you to confirm that. B, do you also feel that Bruce is not inclined right now to entertain a new contract for Trent Williams? Yeah, that's the tone I heard. And certainly, you know, what's funny is when this first started happening before, I guess the rap report,

When Trent wasn't at the first day of minicamp and rap sheet said he was holding out for a new contract, I reached out to some folks and one text I got back was Bruce isn't budging, which I found pretty interesting. And I sound like you've heard similar stuff. And then once everything became this medical issue, it kind of took on a different light. I still think ultimately this is going to be a financial issue. and I think it's easy to not budge right now in early June. I think if this actually gets to mid-August, it wouldn't shock me at all if Trent just doesn't feel like going to Richmond,

and this thing doesn't resolve until they come back to Ashburn. But I think the team can probably come up with a million bucks guaranteed money to add this year or next year. And just to kind of, similar to what the Falcons did was Julio Jones last year. They came up with a little bit more money, but the terms of the deal didn't really change. Nothing really changed. It was basically just a little bit of cash, which can go a long way. Well, that's interesting because I think as a fan of the team, I would be okay with a modest, you know, change to the contract or, you know, a modest extension, but not a blockbuster one.

I just don't think at 31 years old with the injuries that it's worth it. I would prefer them to actively try to trade him if he was sincere that he didn't want to play under the current deal. Let's, by the way, just both for the purposes of this conversation, because it sounds like we're in agreement, say that we think this is more about a new deal than it is about how a medical situation was handled. And I'm not suggesting that he was exaggerating or making it up. It may have been part of a long list of reasons that he wants, you know, something new. But the money, the new deal is at the center of this. We both agree on that, right?

Yeah, I think the medical stuff, I'm certainly not discounting it. I don't know that he would really vow never to play for the Redskins again. I think if we get to September and he's still on the roster and he has to play to get his game check week one, I would expect them to be on the field. I guess before we completely, you know, push the medical stuff to the side, I'm actually curious. I don't want to push it away either, I think it's important. I mean, it's a part of the story, but I do think the money is the bigger part. Yeah, so I want to do it just so we can focus on the conversation about how this gets resolved.

But one thing that I'm curious about as it relates to the medical part of this, and I don't know if you have an answer to this or not, what exactly, what specifically is the thing that made him unhappy, if something really legitimately did make him unhappy or uncomfortable about the way the tumor on his scalp was handled? Don't have that answer, Kevin. I don't believe anybody but Trent Williams does. Jay Gruden talked about maybe a problem with the diagnosis

or maybe the timing of the diagnosis. I kind of have two working theories. and they're completely speculative by me. One is that Trent doesn't understand why nobody saw this growth until it became a bigger deal and required surgery. That's one. Two is that none of this was talked about until the combine. And the only reason it became a topic was Trent posted a Instagram story,

a picture of himself going in for surgery on his scalp. And that's what tips myself and other reporters off to asking Jay Gruden about it at the Combine. And Gruden's comments were, I don't want to say dismissive, but not, they didn't make the matter seem overly serious. And I wonder if Trent didn't think the team was putting this in the medical capacity it's deserved. And, you know, if I was about to get something on my head operated, I would care greatly about that issue. So those are my two theories. I truly don't know. I am not a doctor or a medical expert,

but those are the two things that look easy enough for me to point at and be like, oh, well, I could see that bothering somebody. All right. So let's get back to Trent Williams wanting a new deal. Would a modest extension something that is far from a blockbuster headlining deal, would that satisfy him? extension you're talking about adding years adding more money to the remaining

yeah adding it you know a short extension with more money more guarantee you know what let me make it easy adding more guaranteed money to whatever length of deal it is whether it's the final two years or their years added to it but it's not a blockbuster deal it's a deal that maybe moves him into the top five instead of being number seven I don't think they would add years

and I'm not sure they should add years. I think you add cash, you had guaranteed cash, especially in 2020. I'm not suggesting the Redskins would cut Trent Williams, but they would save nearly $13 million if they gave him a June 1 designation. Before 2020, just to be clear about that, not 2019. For 2020, they would save, if they released him with a post-June 1 designation, they'd save about 13 mil and only have less, less, than $2 million in a dead money hit.

That is really advantageous to the team for a player who's going to be looking at a 32-year-old season who's dealt with a number of injuries. And if I'm Trent Williams and everything I've done for the organization and played through, I think you add more guaranteed money in the last year of my contract. That could matter a lot. All right. So how do you think the team's going to handle this? Back to that.

I don't know. I think they come up with a little bit of cash in mid-August, assuming this stretches to mid-August. Just because they are very, very bad at the tackle spot. Losing Ty and Seki hurts them a lot. Eric Flowers absolutely cannot play tackle for this team if they intend to win games. You're looking at, Gerard Christian, I actually did my post-minicamp roster projection. for the 53. I'm not entirely convinced Geron Christian

won't open Richmond on the Puppler. We haven't seen him work out. He hasn't been with the team at all in the spring. He's been off to the side. This is the guy that tore his MCL in November and wasn't that good when he was playing. So when you look at the tackle depth, I think there are tremendous concerns.

So if they get, to camp, he doesn't report, they are in a corner because of what the depth chart looks like. They do not have an answer, as you just described for him. Eric Flowers is not an answer for him. Tyenceki is gone. You just mentioned the concern about Geron Christian, and even if he were healthy, he may not be an answer in year two. So they may be backed into a corner. I'm wondering what happens if, you know, just some additional cash in 2020 doesn't get it done? Like, where I mean, let me go ahead and answer that, but I think more importantly is to answer what would come before that in these, and that is what would satisfy Trent Williams? I don't know. I don't,

I don't know, but I also think the into a corner kind of works both ways, because if the team He's not interested in trading him and they're not interested in giving him any other deal. I don't think Trent Williams would go the Leybion Bell route and really not show up and forfeit a year's salary or even a game check. I think, you know, the NFLPA has put notice to its players and to its agents. Look, there's a potential work stoppage in 2021. You guys need to be saving your money. I just, I think Trent loves football too much. I think he loves his teammates too much.

And I think game checks are so important in this league. I don't think we get to a true, you know, standoff. I would guess that Trent eventually shows up. Do you think it's fair or unfair to say that the Redskins weren't prepared for this? I don't know. Because Bruce N.J. made it very clear that they had talked to Trent. I talked with somebody around the organization that him not being there for minicamp was not a surprise. I wrote a mini camp preview, which sounds just absurd.

And I wrote in it that I didn't expect Trent Williams to be there. I thought it would be some sort of, oh, Trent's rehabbing from injury on his own, we're not worried about it. I didn't expect it to be this situation. But I don't think this came out of left field for the team. I think I don't know that they handled it. it very well. Here's my thing.

If they know that Trent hasn't bowed not to return to the team or they know that, yeah, he's frustrated with the docs, but it's not this terrible situation. Just end that speculation. I mean, Bruce had the opportunity to say that to me. Jay Gruden had the opportunity to say that at the podium. Just end that speculation. Why let that dangle? And I think the other thing that's crazy with this, Kevin, is that we, and I, I

know that there are some medical restriction. I don't know what the team or doctors are allowed to say, but we've asked, and we've never gotten an explanation on exactly what happened. And so when I have to write about Trent Williams Health scare, I'm writing it and me and everybody else. You have to be so general and vague because we don't know the specifics. And when you start talking about words like tumor, that's a big deal. That's not a sprained or a strained calf muscle, you know?

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think you're 100% right that they, you know, and, you know, good for you to be down there and at least get Bruce Allen on the record saying something, because if you hadn't been down there, he still wouldn't have spoken at this point. And I just, I don't know why the question of the medical, they can't just say, look, this really doesn't. We think we've got a great training staff. We think we have great team doctors. And if Trent's really upset about that, he shouldn't be because we feel comfortable with that. I don't know why they can't say that if that's true. Because the speculation, certainly after the lock and four report was, my God,

your best player is calling your medical staff out. You know, if I felt differently as an owner or as an executive, I'd certainly want to make sure that my consumers didn't believe that my players were at risk working for our company, you know, because of the team doctors or team trainers. But they don't seem to be anxious to do that because I think they believe, too, it's more about the money. Well, the one thing I can point through, Kevin, is in my reporting on Colt McCoy having to have a third surgery. Right. But, you know, there was frustration there that teammates, fans, other players didn't know why Colt wasn't there. And I'm not equating that to the Trent Williams situation, but it wouldn't shock me if there was some frustration for Trent and his team.

Hey, why doesn't everybody know how serious this is? Why doesn't, why don't teammates know? Why haven't other guys figured out why I'm not there for OTAs and all these other events that Trent doesn't have the best attendance record at OTAs? No. But he often shows up. But like he doesn't usually miss everything. He usually misses most of it, though. Yeah, but certainly like you know how the Redskins.com always does, I think, a very intentional job of doing this.

Whenever there are guys that miss the media sessions of voluntary workouts, but then are there later, those guys always make it into the Instagram video or the Twitter picture or whatever else. And I feel like there's been times where we've seen Trent after. That's pretty funny. I just, you know what, I don't have the exact dates. It just seems to me like over the years, the OTAs the first two sets, he's a no-show, and then he'll show for the last set.

I mean, I could be wrong about that. Right, which is usually leading into minicamp. Yeah, right. And it doesn't matter a tremendous amount. So do you think that they have, that they've pursued with teams that could be interested a potential trade? I don't know. I don't think so yet at this point, but they are very, very active on the tackle market. If you look at their transactions over the last six weeks, I mean, they've been adding tackles all the time. And a lot of them, they're cutting a few days later.

But that's kind of, you know, when you're shopping bargain basement, a lot of the stuff you return. But, you know, they just tried to put a claim in on, what's the guy's name? Is it Harrison, I think, a guy the Cardinals ended up signing. You know, they are very active on trying to get somebody. I don't know that they're going to be able to. And I just, you're, the problem with trading. a guy like Trent

Williams is you're never going to get dollar for dollar value. Whether or not it's a leverage situation. It's like you can argue the Giants did okay trading Odell Beckham. They got a first and a former first round pick and another pick, but none of that

that's ever going to be as good as Odell Beckham on the field. And I think Trent Williams on the field is in a similar spot. Yeah, I think, you know, I've heard people say that the Redskins because of this news would be at a disadvantage in trying to deal them. I don't know necessarily that that's true. It depends on what the other team desperately needs too.

And, you know, it may not be the right time now, but it certainly could be sometime in August if somebody loses a key offensive line and a key left tackle, or even potentially a key right tackle with an average left tackle that could be moved with a team that believes it's a contender. Exactly. So the Redskins could strike goal. in that particular situation if it comes to it. I still think that there's a reasonable chance,

J.P, agree or disagree with me after I state this, that he shows up for the first day at training camp and says, we're all good. Reasonable chance, 25, like 1 and 4? I actually told Tommy, I said, I think there's still like a 10 to 20% chance that that happens. I guess that's not I guess that's not reasonable, but that I think that, you know, the first day of camp, for the first day of camp, it's probably a lower percentage than at some point during camp. But I think that this could get resolved without significant, you know, damage either side. Both sides come out, tell each other how much they love each other. There's no significant, you know, contract decision, and they move on in 2019 and he plays.

Completely agree. I think this could all be forgotten in two months. All right. Last one, because I know you have to run. I'm not sure it will, but I think that could happen. What was Bruce doing at the mayor's office? The rookies presented Mayor Muriel Bowser with assigned football. Oh, okay.

Do you know Malcolm Blackin? Do you know Malcolm? God, that name sounds familiar. He's a great, great dude. Skins director of like player development, I think is his title. Okay, yeah, I don't know, I don't know him. Yeah. He runs all these kind of like how to grow up fast for NFL rookies.

And a lot of it is like learn the city you're in. So the skins rookies do a, they're kind of tourists for the day where they ride around in a bus and like see all the monuments. And they try to just make them aware of, you know, life outside of Ashburn and one loud. I like that. I love that. Yeah. Well, and, you know, it's hard to be, I didn't have a lot of time with Bruce, so I didn't get to ask him about the stadium. But it's hard to not wonder when you see Dwayne Haskins giving the mayor of D.C. assigned football. Yeah.

You know, at that point, they're probably a mile and a half from RFK Stadium. That's right. Yeah. I mean, all of that probably plays into it. But I love the fact that, and I didn't know that. Because so many times over the years I've said to Cooley, you know, about where he and most of the players live. You guys don't actually live in Washington. I'm like, Cooley lives closer to West Virginia than he does anything in the metro area. And you sort of miss the pulse of the city living way out in western Loudoun County. Not that it's not part of the metro area. I understand that.

It is part of the actual marketing, you know, statistical area. But it just, I think sometimes the Redskins, because of their location, that players miss out on a lot of that stuff. Totally. And in season, those guys don't have time to do anything. So I think it makes sense. Yeah. It was cool.

All the rookies were there and kind of shaking hands with the mayor. It seemed like they were enjoying themselves. JP has a podcast that, of course, you can listen to Redskins talk. And he also, and I just noticed this, but I think you actually mentioned it as well, JP just put together a post-minicamp, 53-man Redskins roster projection. So follow JP on Twitter at JP Finley NBCS, and you can see his latest 53-man roster projection, which I'm sure will change many times between now and September 1st. Yeah, well, you know, the defense is starting to look fairly stable.

I don't see a tremendous amount of change coming defensively, barring injuries or them signing somebody else. I think what will be interesting is that offensive line, I don't think we're anywhere close to seeing what the finish product is. I think there's going to be guys that are currently on other teams will finish on the Redkins roster. I'm interested in that. I'm interested in how the receiver position, you know, sort of evolves between now and the opener. And I'm interested to see, you know, geis and whether or not, you know, this is a guy that's healthy enough and ready enough to be, you know, a full-time,

guy. I mean, or are we going to see Adrian Peterson for the first four or five games primarily? You know, that's always interesting. And of course, there is the quarterback thing, too, that will be interesting between now and the opener. And I got him keeping Samajai P. Ryan right now, which I never expected. But when you watch him at minicamp, it's hard to say no. We got a lot of time. Well, Jay, as he usually does with running backs in particular, mentions all of them. But he did single out P. Ryan as a guy that was having that had really looked sharp.

And, you know, that's... You've done that every point this off season. All right. Hey, thanks. Appreciate it, as always. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks, Kevin. All right, thanks to J.P. Finley for joining us on the show today. The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast is presented by Wind Donation.

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A couple of things to get to, you know, over the weekend, this is the time of the year where, you know, every sports website comes up with, you know, they got to come up with. content, you know, an NFL content in particular. Like NFL.com late last week, a story about predicting every NFC team's most valuable player. And the Redskins' most valuable player guest was Landon Collins. And the writer who wrote this story, who was Dan Hansis for NFL.com, writes that it might be a time of transition on offense for the Redskins. Well, it's sort of been a time of transition on offense here for over a year now,

but this team has serious potential on defense, he writes. The unit imported a key playmaker when Washington signed former Giants All-Pro Landon Collins. Collins fills a huge need on Greg Minusky's defense and won't be held back by the shoulder injury that nagged at him during his final season in the Meadowlands. It doesn't hurt that he's playing in the same division as the team he didn't think was worthy of a pricey extension. with added motivation can do wonderful things. If I had to guess right now who the Redskins MVP of the 2019 season would be, I would look to defense first.

Like, first of all, we don't know about Trent Williams. Trent Williams is often in the conversation here during the course of his career in Washington as a player who is one of the best players on the team, and very often the most valuable player on the team. And in the last two years, when he has, when he's been, banged up or hasn't played, it has been felt. By the way, that doesn't, you know, that doesn't, that hasn't gotten past me in the last few days of this conversation about Trent Williams. I understand his value. I do. I'm just, you have to understand that my viewpoint is that 2019 and more likely than

not 2020 are not Super Bowl contending seasons for the Redskins. That's my guess. Could be completely wrong, as we all are often when it comes to predictive. the NFL. But I just don't see this team in 2019 and 2020 as a contender. And I think that there's lots of change to come. And right now, if he doesn't want to be here without a big contract extension, I wouldn't give him the contract extension. And I would try to get as much value back for him as possible. Anyway, I do understand his value. And I do understand they don't have a lot of answers without him. But when you get getting back to the MVP conversation to guess, you know, right now who the Redskins MVP of the 2019 season would be, you would guess that

it's going to come from their defense. You know, a defense that really cratered the second half of the season, you know, gave up, you know, a lot of yards and a lot of points and were really at times during the second half of that season, not very competitive. And remember, most of their injuries run offense, not on defense. They had just awful, awful games against obviously the giants where they were down 40 to nothing, against the Eagles in the finale, against the Cowboys, the giving up big play after big play on Thanksgiving, against the Eagles in that Monday night game when Adrian Peterson basically had the only, you know, blast of offense the entire night with that 90-yard touchdown run. But defensively, I thought they would be better last year.

They were, and I think they've got a chance to be even better than they were last year in 2019. Now, I don't think they're going to be a top five defense statistically in 2019. You know, I think they've got a chance, certainly to be in that 10 to 15 range. You know, they have a chance to move towards that top 10 this year. You still have a lot of question marks at safety. you still have some question marks at corner, but to me, there is reason to be optimistic with John Allen and Duran Payne and Matt Ionitis and Alan entering his third year. This should be the year where we start to see hopefully one of the more dominant interior defensive linemen in the game in John Allen. Again, I've said this before. I don't see him as Fletcher Cox. I don't see him as Aaron Donald, but a step below that would be awesome to have that kind of player. And the combination of he and pain and ionitis and maybe the development of Tim Settle, and I know they like Caleb Brantley a lot, you know, you've got, you know, a really good defensive interior. You know, the inside linebacker position is still, you know, there are question marks there. Mason Foster, Sean Dion Hamilton, you know, whether or not this guy Bostic is going to turn into anything. Josh Harvey Clemens. You certainly have some issues at corner. You're not sold on anybody being a lockdown corner. You know, know we know that Josh Norman is better zone than man, that he can't run like he, you know, he's never been able to run. He's always had great anticipation, great smarts. They need him to

have a big year. They need Quentin Dunbar to have a healthy and big year. They need to find their slot corner. Is that Moreau this year? You know, who is that? What is Jimmy Morland's position? Is he your nickel corner? You know, there are question marks here. I see a defense that will be improved because of age to the young players and the addition of Landon Collins in Montez Sweat. And perhaps it would have even been better had Rubin Foster stayed healthy. But if you're going to guess right now on June 10th who the Redskins' 2019 MVP is, you first pull up the roster and look at their defensive players. And in order, you go John Allen, one. Probably landing Collins too. You know, he's, you know,

he's got a chance to make a lot of plays this year, you know, as a safety. I believe that we're going to see maybe not the dominance as a rookie, but the flashes of Montez Sweat in his rookie year. But that's not good enough to get you an MVP of the team. I think what we're going to see from Montez Sweat is what you see from a lot of rookie, you know, players. First of all, pass rushers can be pretty effective as young players. I think he will be effective. I think we will see flashes.

I think there will be four or five games where there is a wow to his performance. And then there's probably going to be some inconsistency. But I would guess the list of MVP comes from the following short list of players on defense, John Allen and Landon Collins. I guess Ryan Carrigan could really benefit from a Montez sweat, but I'll stick with Alan and Collins. Offensively, I guess the only person you could really say right now with any sort of level of confidence could have a very good year

and an impactful year is, believe it or not, Adrian Peterson. Because last year, Adrian Peterson's performance in many of the games that he played in really were what led to some of their wins. Adrian Peterson was really good when they won games last year. But it could be Jordan Reed if he's healthy. I don't see a receiver or any other offensive lineman not named Trent Williams. Maybe it's Brandon Sheriff. I guess you could throw Brandon Sheriff into the conversation.

So let's create a short list right now on June 10th of the potential Redskin 2019 MVP's. Collins and Allen on defense, Brandon Sheriff, Adrian Peterson on offense, because I don't believe Jordan Reed will play enough games. I don't believe it. That's the list. Right now, the MVP of 2019,

the odds are it may come from that list. If you're picking a running back, you're picking Peterson? The only reason I'm picking Peterson is because I'm not sure about Geisen. Peterson, if he's, if he does what he did last year, Adrian Peterson was more impactful in their wins

than maybe any other player last year. And by the way, impactful in a couple of the losses, like the loss to Tennessee late, he carried the team. But if you recall, like the opener against Arizona, the Green Bay game, he went over 100 yards, if I recall. The Dallas game, I think he went over 100 yards. The giant game was the game in the Meadowlands

when they got to 5 and 2, right? It was 5 and 2 at that moment. I think he had well over 100 yards, maybe even approaching 150 yards. I don't know. Adrian Peterson, to me at times, was like the guy that really put that offense on his back and carried it.

Maybe he can't do that at 34 years old. Maybe he won't be able to do that at 34. But I'm just saying, I would guess right now that Peterson's more impactful early in the season than Geist. That's my guess I have known. idea. Maybe Geis will be really healthy and really ready. There was something else I read from over the weekend. It was on Hogshaven. It was an offseason

discussion of where the Redskins rank in the division on offense, like each position group and where the Redskins position group ranks relative to the Cowboys Eagles and Giants. Again, these are all the things you've got to come up with during the course of the season. and during the, I'm sorry, the offseason. And the quarterback, the Hogshaven writer, had the Redskins third. Carson Wentz and Dak Prescott won two, but then the Redskins situation being better than the giant situation. And the reason I brought this up is I also simultaneously over the weekend read a story

about Daniel Jones in New York and the mini-camp that he had. Again, it's mini-camp. I get it. I'm not about to. proclaim that Daniel Jones is going to be a star for the Giants. But all of the reporting on the Giants minicamp was, a lot of it was focused on how good Daniel Jones looked, how smart he is, how ready he is, how quickly he's picking everything up, how mobile he is. Daniel Jones, if you watched him at Duke, had some wheels, man, he was an athlete.

And apparently he had a big-time read-option run for a touchdown at minicamp. Again, I know we're talking about minicamp. But the spring so far for Daniel Jones in New York has been according to many stories now. If you just Google Daniel Jones, and I'll do that right now, because I'll just read you the headlines. Here they are. Ready? Yep, and here they are. Giants, Daniel Jones, confident after Strong Spring.

Giants rookie Daniel Jones, impressive in minicamp. Daniel Jones, better than Dwayne Haskins, question mark. Of course, we're going to get that. Why the Giants are brimming with confidence about Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones, thinking quicker, his off-season program comes to an end. A lot of Daniel Jones discussion so far in minicamp. Just wanted to let everybody know, because you shouldn't necessarily. be paying attention to all of this.

It's mini-camp and OTAs. And you know my feeling on those anyway. But when I read the Hogshaven story and they had the Redskins, they write, you know, there's a pretty big gap from the top two teams to the bottom two teams. That would be Eagles and Cowboys, Redskins' Giants.

They had the Redskins ranked third in the division. We'll see. We'll see. They, you know, Eli Manning, I think, is going to be the starting quarterback in New York this year. going to take their time with Daniel Jones. And what we could see here is that the Redskins are going to sign Case Keenham. Would you rather have Case Keenham starting the first five games of 2019 were Eli Manning? I think Eli, but it's a lot closer than some would think.

It would be Eli for me. I wouldn't even have to think about it. Look, you need to protect Eli. You need to run the ball a little bit, but you got to do those things for Casey. Keenham too. By the way, the rest of the story on Hogshaven, the Redskins running backs were ranked third behind the Cowboys and Giants, of course, with Barclay and Elliot. The receivers were ranked dead last behind the Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants. It seems reasonable. Second tight ends, and that includes the return of Jason Witten. Remember Jason Witton's back in Dallas. But the Eagles

with Ertz had the best tight end situation. Redskins, the second best tight end situation with the Reed and Davis. You got to assume, for the purposes of writing this, that, you know, Reed's going to play. Offensive line, assuming Trent Williams is with team, is second in the division behind the Cowboys offensive line. I think that's reasonable. And that was it overall on offense. Offensively right now, if I were to just rank offenses, NFC East, it would be Eagles 1, Cowboys 2, and then Giants 3, Redskins 4. I would just take Sequan Barclay and say that his presence on the field elevates the Giants slightly over the Redskins as a slightly better offense. Not a good offense at this point, but a slightly better one.

The other things real quickly, Rafael Nadal won the French Open again, his 12th. He's amazing, just incredibly amazing. Also, somebody tweeted me that I had the total number of men's Grand Slam titles in aggregate with Roger Federer, Rafael, Nadal, and Novak Djokovic wrong. And he was right. Whoever it was that tweeted me, thank you for that. I think I said on Friday that it was 42, but it was actually 52. And after Nadal won the French Open, his 12th, it's now 53 major championships among Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic.

All right, Federer's got 20. Nadal's now got 18, Jokovic has 15, all basically playing in generally the same era. Roger Federer started in 2003 was his first major. Nadal's was 05 and Jokovic's was 08. But it is the most dominant era of men's tennis, not even close, really. Even though it's not for Americans, the most. most memorable or the most popular era. That came clearly in the 70s and the 80s when it was Connors and McEnroe and obviously Borg was playing at a high level, as was Ivan Lendell and

Boris Becker coming a little bit later on with Stefan Edberg, etc. Matt V. Lander, just ripping off some of those names from way back in the day. And then you had the era of Agassie and Courier and Sampros and Chang, but none of those eras, none of them match what tennis has seen over the last, you know, over the last 16 years, basically. If you go back to Federer's first major championship, 53 titles among three men. Amazing. And Nadal's 12 French opens are four more than the next closest for anybody at any other Grand Slam, and that is Roger Federer's got eight Wimbledons, all right, Nadal's got 12 French opens, 12 of them. Pretty incredible his career on Clay, and more likely than not, he'll win another one or two at this point.

Nadal's in his early 30s now, right? Sounds right, yeah. I'm going to guess he's 31 or 32. He is 33. 33. Just turned 33. So there you go. I mean, he could still win another one or two, I guess. I mean, how old's Federer right now? Fetterer is 35, 36? 37. 37, wow. That was a sport where Bjorn Borg retired at the age of 25 or 26, whatever it was. And, you know, once you approached your late 20s, you were considered to be done there for a long period of time. I think that's it. I think that's all I have for. today. Did you have anything else? Oh, the Texans fired their GM. And one of the names on the list of people that they're thinking about hiring is Martin Mayhew, who's been out of football, I believe,

since losing that job in Detroit. He's always been one of those guys I wish the Redskins would consider. I think Nick Casario in New England is also a guy that the Texans are considering as well. But I would have loved to have seen, like Martin Mayhew to me is a guy that when the Redskins finally do, you know, it's got to happen at some point, finally decide to go in another direction. If he's, you know, he's not in the league right now. By the way, just to emphasize a point I've made over the last few weeks, I know I'm bouncing around here, but, you know,

if the Redskins' scouting staff and if all these guys like Eric Schaefer and Kyle Smith were so brilliant and so talented and so sought after, why aren't they interviewed for any of these positions? They're not even mentioned. Todd McShay, you told me, was mentioned. The ESPN mock drafter was mentioned for the Jets opening. And how is it that Eric Schaefer hasn't gotten interviewed for a team president or GM role? Why isn't Kyle Smith interviewing for some of these jobs?

I don't know. All right. Anything else? Turch has just hired the new assistant, DeAndre Haynes from Michigan. Yeah, I did see that over the weekend, I thought. He was on B-line staff, right? Yeah. So Turgeon's filled out his staff replacing Kevin Brodus, replacing Kevin Brodus, who's the head coach at Towson, right?

Towson or Morgan? One of the two. We're lost on that. We're not in season right now. Morgan. Morgan. Morgan State. All right, that's it.

Tommy will be here tomorrow.