The Kevin Sheehan Show - Chase Young Concerns?

Episode Date: July 27, 2022

Kevin opened with the Nats' 2nd straight win in LA and his thoughts on Rivera's comments about Chase Young being the biggest concern of the players starting training camp on the PUP list. Also, Kevin's thoughts on Rivera's answer regarding a "playoffs or bust" question and how he's dealing with all of the outside organizational noise. Speaking of the noise, Neil In Rockville on a potential Snyder/Congress showdown tomorrow morning and Kevin and Neil discussed the two Fight Song lyric options. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. A quick show for you today. I'm headed out of town this morning for a few days. No show tomorrow.

We'll have a recap of the first few days of training camp and more out on either Friday or Saturday. We'll get to some of the things that Ron Rivera talked about yesterday afternoon in his pre-training camp press conference. the Pup News list came out. Also, did you know that it's possible, as I record this podcast, that we are just 24 hours away from Dan Snyder testifying via Zoom in front of Congress? Remember, we had Neil and Rockville on earlier in the week talking about July 28th being a big date, and, you know, Congress hadn't responded to the Snyder offer of testifying via Zoom. Well, Congress did respond yesterday, or a few days ago.

We heard about it yesterday. So Neil's going to jump on with us at the end of the show to give us a quick update and kind of discuss the possibilities of Snyder actually testifying tomorrow morning in front of Congress. Also, I'm going to save my thoughts on the two fight song options to discuss them later on in the podcast when Neil is on with me. because Neil, like me and many of you, is a lifelong fan of the team and not overly thrilled with all of the new stuff. So I will talk about that stuff with Neil at the end of this show today. Real quickly, before we get to the Puck News and the Rivera press conference, the Nats beat the Dodgers again last night, 8 to 3.

And the game drew the largest crowd of the season in the major leagues. thousand thirty-two there to see the game for the Nats. Maybe it was Juan Soto that drew the largest crowd of the season at Dodgers Stadium, who knows. But the biggest crowd of the season saw the Nats win a second straight against the Dodgers who had won 16 of 17 coming into this series. The Nats can actually sweep their first series of the season with a win this afternoon. They'll be a big underdog again. They were plus 270 on Monday night. They were plus 205 last night. They're going to be plus two something again today, I would imagine. I can't think that many of the odds makers believe that the Dodgers will be swept by the worst team

in baseball. One other quick thing before we get to the commander's training camp, which is opening up this morning. Julio Jones to Tampa Bay yesterday on a one-year deal. You know, he's just 33. He should have productive years left, many of them, or at least a few of them. But nothing should be more complimentary to a veteran receiver than Tom Brady wants you. So the Bucks now have Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Julio Jones, Cameron Brate, they signed Kyle Rudolph last week. They still have the rookie from rookie. The third year player now, the rookie that I loved coming out Tyler Johnson from Minnesota, I think he's still got a chance to be a really good player. I think they have Scotty Miller still. I mean, the bucks are going to be right there again this

year, you know, unless Brady plays his age finally, and I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. So, training camp underway in Ashburn this morning. And there was Pup News, physically unable to perform list news yesterday. Four players announced. that they will begin training camp on the Pupplist. Chase Ruey, the center, the starting center, and the news from Rivera on him was the most optimistic in terms of a timely return. That's a little bit different than the news we had the other day. So on Chase Ruey, the starting center for the last few years,

the news is pretty optimistic, even though he is going to start training camp on the Pupplist. Tyler Larson, the backup center, is all. also on the physically unable to perform list. Logan Thomas is there as well, although Rivera seems encouraged by his progress. And then there is Chase Young, to which Rivera said yesterday, quote, Chase Young is probably the one that's going to take the most time. It was serious, obviously. And any time you're talking about an ACL, it's just down the line.

We'll have to wait and see on that one, close. quote. I'm not sure what to make of his comments regarding Chase Young yesterday. I love that he's not setting any aggressive expectations on Chase Young. None of us want to hear ever again all in for week one. But I don't know if he's keeping public expectations low because they're really concerned about Chase Young's availability early in the season or if he's just playing possum, you know, and he's got, you know, a quiet confidence. They have a quiet confidence that Young will actually be available. I don't know what the answer is.

I don't think it's unreasonable to be concerned about Chase Young's availability for the early part of the schedule. By the way, I don't think it's unreasonable at this point to be concerned about what Chase Young will be when he comes back, his effectiveness when he comes back. And I do think, and I'm not sure. sure everybody agrees with me on this, not after last year, but I do think that he is crucial to the team's performance this year, the team's performance on defense and by extension, the overall performance of the team. He's one of their potential star players. He's one of their

A players. You know, they can't be who they are right now as a roster and not have all of their A players play like A players if a winning season is the expectation. If contending for the playoffs is the expectation. Let me emphasize this point a little bit. If Washington is going to contend for a playoff spot this year in the NFC, they need the players on their team capable of playing like stars to play like stars. And then they need one more thing beyond that. I'll get to that in a But Chase Young, Montez Sweat, Duran Payne, Terry McClorn, another receiver TBD, Jahan Dotson or Curtis Samuel, Gibson, McKissick, Thomas. These are the players that you need this year to be healthy and to play up to their top-end potential.

They obviously need Carson Wentz to be good to. Maybe not great, but good. And of course, I know the O-line, the linebackers, the secondary, all of those units need production and positive contributions. But the team has little to no chance of contending for a playoff spot this year without their biggest upside players playing near their upside. And Chase Young needs to be Chase Young. He needs to be the Chase Young.

The Chase Young we thought he would be when he got drafted, the Chase Young, who was the NFL defensive rookie of the year. I hope he is physically able to do that this year. I really do. And early enough in the schedule so that his impact on this season is near full season long rather than partial season long. The team can be okay without its best players playing well, or its most talented players playing well, but it can't be a playoff team.

Too many teams in the NFC right now who are better, even when Washington's best players are healthy and playing well. Chase Young's health is a big deal. I mean, that's an understatement, I think, but I have this sense that some of you don't think he's as crucial as I do. You know, Rivera was asked yesterday if it's fair to call this year a playoffs or bust season, and he said, quote, no, it's not. It's fair to say we expect to win and we'll leave it at that, closed quote. You know, I love that he didn't answer that question directly. There's no reason to put pressure on anybody out there with a headline, and it would have been a headline.

You know, Rivera says, playoffs or bust this year. That wouldn't have been very smart. Expecting to win is fine. It also requires an expectation that is star players have star seasons. You know, when I talk to people after the season out there, and I shared a lot of this with you guys in the January through March time frame, there was an absolute belief among that coaching staff that the loss of important players, some of their best players, Logan Thomas, J.D. McKissick, Chase Young, that the loss of those players

really derailed what was going to be a playoff push. They really believed that. At 6 and 6, they felt like they were really coming around, and then they lost, you know, they had already lost, you know, young, but they lost Thomas, they lost McKissick. COVID obviously played a big role, but the loss of several of their better and more talented players, their star players, they're convinced that if they hadn't lost those players, that it would have been a second straight late season run to the postseason. So, you know, they're looking at it this year. Keep those players healthy, have them play at a high level, and there's confidence, you know.

Maybe a quieter confidence than what Ron is. had pushed earlier in the off season, you know, this year three thing. But there is confidence out there that they can surprise a lot of people. But they need their best players to be healthy and play like stars. And Chase Young is a big part of that. And I think the news yesterday at least made me think, and again, I don't know anything, but it made me concerned about him and his availability and then his effectiveness when he does become available. It's good that they're not pushing it, and who knows, maybe they're just all playing possum out there. And Young will be back for the third preseason game, he'll dress, he'll play,

and he'll be ready to go for the opener against Jacksonville. But damn, if they're going to have a 9- and 8 season, 10-and-7 season, a 9-7-1 season, and be a wild-card team, they need him. They really do. All right, up next, you'll hear Rivera's most passionate answer of the day yesterday, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This Saturday night, Amanda Nunez in a rematch with Giuliana Pena. The last time they met, it was one of the greatest title upsets in UFC history,

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And again, use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. I wanted to play one Ron Rivera soundbite so that you could hear it and you could hear the passion in his voice. He was asked about all of the outside noise, the team being in the news all the time, and if it impacts his ability to do his job. This is what he said. Does it make what I do harder? Yeah, it really does. Because, and again, all that stuff that's happened, that's important, okay, it is.

but to me as a football coach, okay, what I have to do is I've got to make this team presentable as a football team on the football field and in the community, okay, the players and coaches, and we have to have success. We have to go out and play. Why? Because we need the fans behind us. Fans get behind us, give us support, help build this up, get some momentum going, and some good things can happen.

I believe that because I know what this area is capable of in terms of. of when the team's winning and they get behind them. I remember. I remember playing against, you know, Coach Gibbs' teams and just how impactful it is when that stadium's rocking. So that's what we have to do. That's what's important. Okay, and again, I said that other stuff that's important too, and I don't want to brush it aside,

but that constantly, you know, being in the news and people putting in the news, makes it hard for what we do. And again, I'm not saying it's not important, okay, because I know somebody's going to say, Oh, look, I'm trying to. I am because I want to get the fan base back. And I want people mixing up what happened back then with what we're trying to do as a football team. Okay, appreciate us for being the football team.

And the other stuff is over there. So I'm going to empathize with Ron Rivera's answer here in a moment, but not before I give a suggestion for what it's worth. I think when this question is asked, and sometimes, by the way, the question's not asked, he actually will incorporate it into, you know, an answer about something else. Sometimes he initiates this conversation he has in the past. But the question's going to continue to get asked because there's going to be more news. There always is. I would focus on brevity. I would focus on short and sweet. You know, does it make what I do harder? No excuses. We need to win.

that's what we're working towards next question. At this point, there's just nothing else he can say. You know, he took this job knowing that he was going to work for the worst owner in professional sports, certainly one of the worst owners in professional sports, an owner and an organization that always has drama surrounding it. And many great men with incredible resumes had come before him and left without any sort of success. Joe Gibbs left with a losing record. Mike Shanahan with a losing record.

Marty Schottenheimer one season, a 500 record. Between the three of them, one playoff win. That's it. One. He knew what he was getting into. Now, did things change? two years ago with the post stories and with the name change and Ron getting cancer and the was the drama much greater than he could have ever anticipated? Of course it was. The last two

years have been the height of, you know, noise with this organization. And I do feel for him. And I do understand that there is, you know, a constant drain, you know, that he, you know, that he, has nothing to do with. Now, there are others in the organization over the last two years that have something to do with it. I don't like when they talk about, you know, how things are totally different over the last two years. That's just not true. You know, you've had an owner who created a parallel shadow investigation of the Beth Wilkinson investigation. You've had a business and marketing side of the organization that has had one blunder after another, including one. recently with Trent Williams being left off of the next 10 for the 90 greatest.

You know, it hasn't been smooth sailing, you know, the last two years. Now, I know what he is talking about. He is trying and has, I think, to a certain degree, succeeded in changing the culture of the football operation. It's a more serious operation. It's a more competent operation. It's an operation with more competent individuals. Yes, I know there was a DEA raid last October.

You know, I'm not conveniently forgetting that. They have. I know that that person was hired by Ron Rivera, but I still believe he's a good man, he's a good coach, and he's a good leader, and that he's focused on, you know, a culture change and really the part of the organization that he really has his fingerprints on. even though this is a coach-centric and he's the lead voice in the organization, et cetera,

but really it's the football team. It's the football roster. It's the locker room. It's how his players represent the team in the community as he talked about. You know, I also know that he does want to get fans back because he remembers what it was. He played at RFK during the 80s and early 90s. He knows what this place was.

And I don't want to break his heart and say that those days aren't possible anymore because I don't think that they are. I think there's a lot working against that. But he really wants to have a lot of these questions become much further down the list of questions that reporters want to ask because they're seven and three, and they've got a packed house and a big-time opponent coming into FedEx Field. He can control that to a certain degree, and he's got to get there with that. That is the only thing that he really should be focused on, and I'm sure a lot of this other stuff does distract. I'm sure a lot of this other stuff

makes players ask questions, probably not as many as we think. But that's the only thing right now that he has control over. He's got to win. 14 and 19 and 2 years isn't good enough. He's got to go 9 and 8, 10 and 7, play a playoff game this year. Do it with a team that plays hard, plays physical as he has talked about, you know, play smart and represents sort of the team in the community in a much more positive way than teams in recent past have.

I'm sure it's not easy the position he's in. It's not exactly what he thought it would be when he took the job, but he had to have some expectations that it wasn't going to be easy and that he was going to have to turn a whole culture around all the while doing it. with really an absolute reprehensible owner as his boss. But I do wish him good luck because I do think he means well, and I think he's a good person, and I think he's a good leader, and I think he's a good enough coach.

And I think they've got better players. I think they've got better people in the football organization. But I do also say that in the future, when he's asked about this, no excuses we have to win. we're working towards making that happen. Next question. Neil and Rockville on the latest on Snyder and whether or not he's going to be testifying tomorrow morning

and Neil and I will talk briefly about the two fight song options. Both of those things right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, let's bring in Neil in Rockville because I asked Neil to come on the show because I actually missed this story that came out yesterday, Neil, Liz Clark, Mark Maske, Nikki Javala, and the Washington Post, writing that the House Committee filed notice of a Dan Snyder deposition for Thursday morning, tomorrow morning, at 8 a.m. via Zoom. I don't know if it's going to happen. That's why I called you. What does this mean? Will there actually be some sort of testifying from Snyder tomorrow on Zoom with the House Oversight and Reforms? committee. So the congressional rules basically state that

you have to post depositions that are going to be taken. I believe it's three days in advance of the deposition. That's actually one of the reasons why they figured out, that someone figured it out and saw that Friedman way back when actually sat for a deposition. Now, it's unclear however, actually in the letter that was sent by Snyder's attorney, if he agreed to sit for a deposition or if he agreed to voluntarily be interviewed by the committee. And there's a somewhat of a

significant difference. A deposition is done under oath. A interview is not necessarily done under oath, but usually what happens is they ask and make sure that the person is. going to be telling the truth because lying to a congressional committee is, in fact, a crime. A deposition would be more formal. An interview is less formal. And normally, for a deposition, you would be subpoenaed for a deposition. So it still seems like Maloney is in the, we're going to do this via a subpoena and a deposition versus the offer was an interview and do it voluntarily. The original offer, the one with Goodell on June 22nd, right. But they changed the terms of that after Goodell and they wanted him to accept their subpoena to testify in front of them.

They were no longer interested in what he claimed he was still interested in, which was, was a voluntary, you know, testifying situation. Exactly. Exactly. So are we really any closer than we were? Maybe not, but at least it's been put out there that, you know, they can do it on the 28th because they'd at least file the appropriate paperwork to allow that. So that's where we are.

And I guess we'll have to wait for 8 a.m., you know, tomorrow morning. to see if in fact this thing goes forward. I was just going to say, I want to just make sure everybody's clear on this. This is a procedural matter that the committee has to take three days in advance, and it was reported yesterday morning, and I missed it, which is why Tommy and I didn't talk about it on the podcast yesterday. But essentially, it's a procedural matter that they have to go through three days in filing a deposition notice for Snyder to appear via Zoom on Thursday morning at 8 a.m.

There still have been no discussions between the two parties that have led anybody to believe that they've resolved their differences with respect to what kind of an environment this interview will take place under or this testifying will take place under. Right? So nothing's going to happen tomorrow morning. I mean, there could be a little drama, which we probably wouldn't see. I mean, my guess is going to be Dan's attorney is probably going to pop up on Zoom as long as she gets that email link. Right. And say, hey, we're here to voluntarily appear.

And they might say, no, you know, we are going to do a deposition. Are you going to accept a subpoena? she'll say no, they'll say what, and nothing will probably transpire tomorrow. This isn't a trick to get him to appear on the Zoom so that they can hand him technologically or virtually the subpoena, right? That is not allowed. It's got to be served physically. Well, I'll tell you, because when this all started going down, in the back of my mind,

I was posing that exact same question of myself as I was trying to figure out whether if Dan like appeared on the screen, if they like held up the subpoena in front of his face and said, you are to appear tomorrow at 8 a.m. Could that be deemed to be proper service? It would be creative and it could create some issues. So, I mean, that is, I guess, a offbeat chance that they might try something like that. And that's why I wouldn't be surprised that until they nail down the exact terms that they haven't been so already, Dan's not appearing on that screen. Okay.

I think that's all the update on that we need, right? I mean, was there anything that came out of the letter? I know you read the letter that Lisa Banks and Deborah Katz sent to, Dan Snyder regarding, you know, NDAs? What was that about yesterday afternoon? Well, I mean, that wasn't even like a letter to Dan Snyder. That was more of a back and forth between the attorneys, basically asking for clarification because the attorney said that Dan had released their clients from their NDAs so they could

speak with the congressional committee. They say, no, not really. That never happened. They talked about one in particular. And so they basically said, you know, by the 29th of July, you know, please advise us if you have fully released everyone from their NDAs. I don't think that is going to be responded to by Dan's attorney. They're not part of this at this point in time. So my guess is we won't hear anything more about that.

And they also tried to sort of walk back a little bit and clarify their op-ed that they did in the Washington Post about NDAs. But otherwise, it was just basically them trying to get Dan's attorney to go on the record on a few things, but nothing of substance. Okay. I teased at the beginning of the show that I would have the discussion with you about the two new fight song options. because for those of you that don't know, Neil and Rockville, a long time, born and raised, Washingtonian, long time attorney, went to school in the area, has stayed in the area, and he is one of us.

He bleeds or used to bleed, burgundy and gold, and has been on the side with me of kind of, you know, pro-redskins name until proven. otherwise by a throng of Native Americans who claim that it's racist, which we still have never had. In fact, we still only have the most recent of polling, which indicates nine out of ten Native Americans thought that it was non-pejorative. But we have two options with the same melody. So it's the same, hail to the Redskins, hail victory. but they've given the fans two options on the lyrics to choose from and vote on.

Option number one, you've read both of them, correct, Neil? Yes. Before I get to them, that didn't sound like you were thrilled with either option. As I replied to the... first time I was able to look at them and read them, I tweeted back, I apologize, I just vomited in my mouth. Yeah. This is hard.

You know, this is the stuff that's going to be difficult, although I don't know how difficult it's going to be for me, because I think the team had been really successful, and we felt the same way about the team that we did in 1991, or even to be. 2001 or even 2012 or for me even 2015 or 2016. Like if I still had that burning for the team, then this would be crushing. Everything associated with it would be crushing. But I think I'm already numb to the fact that it's all changed and it's never ever going to be the same again. So when I saw the two lyrics, option number one, hail to the commanders, hail victory, fight for our commanders, fight for old DC.

Run or pass or score, we want a lot more. Beat them, swamp them touchdown, let the points soar. Fight on, fight on till you have won all of Washington. Ra, rah, rah, rah. Hail to the commanders, hail victory, fight for our commanders, fight for old D.C. I want you to know that in option number one, all they changed or they claim to have changed was instead of, you know, hail victory, Braves on the warpath, they just changed that to fight for our commanders. Fight for old D.C. That's not true, though. They changed. Isn't it beat them, isn't it beat them, Wampum? No, I think it's always, I think it's been beat them swampum for a while.

Oh, always okay. I don't know. Here's what they did, though. They highlighted in yellow in the options what I believe they highlighted what they deemed to be the changes from the old song. Except they missed one change. I picked up on it. I don't know if you did. But fight on, fight on till you have won all of Washington.

It used to be sons of Washington. Of course. So now because that's not inclusive enough, Sons of Washington? Yeah, but Sons of Washington is a reference to the players. Exactly. Yeah. So why did they change it? There are no women playing for the team, are there?

Well, we now have women coaches. We now have women executives. Okay, good point. That's fair. They are now members of the team? Yeah, I guess. I guess. No, no, no.

I'm all right with it. it. I just wanted to point out that they changed that, but they didn't indicate through the option one, option two, where they highlighted the changes. They didn't highlight that change. And I just picked up on that. I didn't know if others had. Maybe others have picked up on that. I don't know. I haven't been paying attention to the conversation about this. But, Kevin, here's the problem. Here's the problem. When it's played in the stadium, it's the The words are not usually played over the speaker. The words are put up on the boards and the fans sing.

I'm not singing those lines. I'm singing, and everyone else is going to be singing hail to the redskins. Yeah, I mean, that's... So it's going to sound like it used to. Keeping the same melody just means the keeping the same. And by the way, keeping basically the same lyrics with the exception of a couple of changes. you're going to have, you know, half of the 17,000 in the stadium singing Hail to the Redskins. The other half, you know, they won't know because they're rooting for the opponent.

That was a cheap shot. They should have more than 17,000 at the game, I would expect. Option number two, though, is hail to the commanders, hail victory, leaders on a mission, fight for old DC, run or pass or score, we want a lot more. Beat him, swamp him touchdown to the points, or fight on, fight on. until you have won all of Washington. Rahra, rah, rah, ra. Hail to the commanders, hail victory.

Leaders on a mission. Fight for old D.C. Now, I got to give Michael Phillips some credit here because he looked at this thing and he nailed it. He tweeted, if leaders on a mission isn't a perfect summation of the McKinsey Focus Group culture that currently leads this team, I'm not sure what is. Bravo Michael Phillips for that tweet.

That's exactly what it was. It was a deep dive, synergistic, core competent kind of phrase, you know, a mission statement kind of phrase from more likely than not the McKinsey culture that exists out in Ashburn. Jason, if you're listening, I love you. It's fine. We'll take option one, even though I don't have a lot of passion for either one. Anyway. So do we think Tanya created the words for the first one, and Mr. McKenzie created the words for the second one?

Yes. I don't know who created the words for the first one. I'm just saying that Michael Phillips nailed it. He nailed the leaders on a mission being the perfect summation of a McKinsey focus group. culture. Well, thankfully, let's just say this. Thankfully, they didn't do a, have a word mistake as they often do and put back in the original fight for old Dixie.

I mean, that, you know, that could have been a mistake that they necessarily wouldn't have known about. They could have had some spelling mistakes in the lyrics as well. I think they got all of the spelling correct, which was well done on their part. Okay. I don't care. You vomited in your mouth. We both agree that when they play this song for the first time in the stadium,

first of all, I hope it's option one, leaders on a mission. I don't care. I don't hope anything. I would bet that it's going to be option one. And if you told me and forced me to choose, I would choose option one. but I honestly don't believe that that anybody's going to sing those lyrics for at least a few years. I mean, some will. I think.

Some will. I think option two was just created, option two, I think was just created so you are basically forced to pick option one. Well, and, you know, this is all part of their, you know, inclusiveness when it comes to, you know, asking the fans what they think and letting them vote, you know, just like on the next 10 for this. for the 90 greatest now that they've got Trent Williams included and our G3 included as well now. All right. Anything else from you? I think we're good. We are good.

Thanks for doing this. I will talk to you soon. All right. Take care. Neil and Rockville, everybody. A leader, a leader for sure on a mission is Neil. Leaders on a mission. Are you serious?

Oh, God. I can't wait for the games to start. All right, that's it for the day. I'm off tomorrow. I'll be back on either Friday or Saturday with the next podcast. To the risky victory. Break on the B.C. Pass the score we want.

Eat a swamp of a clutch and let the point short. Until you have one, sons of wine. game