The Kevin Sheehan Show - Commanders On The Clock

Episode Date: April 28, 2022

Kevin and Thom today with a ton of draft discussion. Who will the Commanders take; who should they take. More on the idea that they still might be interested in drafting a quarterback and Kevin weighs in on Washington's goal for the entire weekend. Thom wrote a column on Ovechkin/Putin....the boys discussed that too.  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 Sheehan Show is Kevin. Yes, the pick is in. And the DC Podcast Association selects Kevin Sheehan and Tom Levero as podcasters of the month. Yeah, it's Draft Day, Tommy, 2022. You and I used to be quite busy on draft day.

I have no responsibilities on draft night tonight. Other than calling in Craig Hoffman is hosting the coverage on 980. They're going to call me at some point. But other than that, I get to sit and watch the draft tonight. I'm excited about that. Well, you know, Kevin, it's not riveting television. Yes, it is. I mean, you know, no, it's not.

Oh, yes, it is. It's not riveting television. It takes way too long just to go through one round. and we used to have a lot more fun doing the draft shows at night in a bar somewhere than you will watching it. We used to have a lot more fun. You know, we had a lot of fun,

and you and I did a lot together. Doc and I did a ton together. I think Doc and I were partners. And I think many times you were in a different location. And Doc and I were always sort of co-hosting the, you know, the overall coverage of our draft night. And I have to tell you that some of my best memories of working at the radio station were draft night with Doc Walker. And, you know, how both of us would essentially understand that we were not experts on the draft.

You know, anybody, this is an industry that is very niche and there are, you know, certainly a lot more people now that consider themselves. to be expert at mock drafting and at evaluating drafts. And most of those people are people that have never, ever had the responsibility of actually picking a player. But Doc, you know, would do his, well, Sheehan's Big Board thing. And then I'd say, well, you know, Doc's got his mock. So who's coming up next? The best ever, though, was one year we were doing it at Buffalo Wild Wings out in Rockville.

That was a location a couple of years in a row. Yeah, you were there. I was there. And the NFL network was on in Buffalo Wild Wings right in front of us. And the NFL network would, you know, pop up the pick. And the radio broadcast where we would throw it to the commissioner for the latest pick, we were about eight seconds behind. So for about seven straight picks, Doc basically said, you know, Kev,

Coach, I just have a feeling it's going to be, and he would rip off a name. And then we would go, all right, well, let's go to the commissioner. And Doc hit on seven or eight in a row, and people were going bananas. They were like, how is Doc getting all of these in a row? And then I said to him, I said, you've got to miss the next one just to make it seem real. And then you can get back on another four or five player run. But we had a great time doing that. The thing is, though, I've always felt this way.

Anybody that's really into the draft isn't listening to it on radio. It is a very good television show, and it has been for years on ESPN. And I know now the NFL Network's had it for years, and they do a good job. And now tonight you get ABC. Like tonight it's on ABC, okay, with Reese Davis, with Pollock, with Desmond Howard. Herb Street's not going to be there because he's actually sick. He's got like a blood clot or something going on. RG3, Jesse Palmer.

That's the ABC broadcast. Then on ESPN, you've got Mike Greenberg, Lewis Riddick, Mel Kuiper Jr. By the way, Todd McShay is also on the ABC broadcast. Booger, Chris Mortensen. And then you've got the whole NFL network show with Rich Eisen and Daniel Jeremiah and Charles Davis and David Shaw and others. I mean, you have a lot of options on television. The original, when it was just on ESPN, was fabulous. you know, because that was, to me, one of the only things that Berman did exceptionally well

when he was with Kuiper and with, you know, Dr. Z way back in the day. But, you know, in more recent... Yeah, exactly. I thought it was always great. And, you know, the Kuiper showdown with Bill Tobin, the Indianapolis Colts GM back in 94. You got a problem with this move? I think it's the typical cult move. I mean, here's the team that needed a franchise quarterback to pass up a

Trent Dillfer, when all you have is Jim Harbaal, give me a break. That's why the Colts are picking second every year in the draft, not battling for the Super Bowl like other clubs in the national football league. One question, Bill, a lot of criticism about not taking a quarterback here. Your response? Well, you know, we got a guy up there. Who in the hell is Mel Kiper in a way? I mean, here's a guy that criticizes everybody, whoever they take.

He's got the answers to who you should take or who you shouldn't take. In my knowledge of him, he's never ever put on a jockstrap. never been a coach, he's never been a scout, he's never been an administrator, and all of a sudden he's an expert, he's in our papers two days ago telling us who we have to take. We don't have to take anybody that Mel Kuyper says we have to take. Mel Kiper has no more credentials to do what he's doing than my neighbor, and my neighbor's a postman, and he doesn't even have season tickets to the NFL. I think it is a great television show, but I haven't been able to, I think 16 out of the last 18 years I was figuring out late last night before the radio show this morning. I always had

hosting duties and I don't tonight. Well, I just felt I just think we had more fun doing it than you will watching it. So you didn't get a special invite to the commander's draft party tonight at Ghost Townfield? Well, that's another thing that you and I did several times. On the Saturday of the draft, how many times were we out at FedEx Field? doing stuff. Yes. How awful was that? I remember being there the day they, RG3 landed on a helicopter in the middle of the field.

That was the biggest crowd by far ever for one of those draft day parties, which, you know, we for many years, I did, but I think you would jump on this, you know, when we would say to a lot of our listeners and friends, look, there is this one, you know, faction of the fan base that will just never think that the team has done anything wrong and will spend a lot of their disposable income on the team. And we would refer to, and we continue to refer to, Harvest Fest and the draft day party at FedEx Field. I mean, and if the team, you know, which I think they did for many years,

based sort of what they believed the fan base to be off of those two events, it's no wonder they were kind of delusional and caught off guard. by the massive erosion of fans at games and television ratings and, you know, internal approval ratings of Dan and Bruce because it was. It was a fun fest with a lot of people that just ignored all the bad stuff forever. But there were a couple of years, several years in a row that after RG3, where I think they were lucky to have 3,000 people at that thing,

2,500 people at that draft day party with Larry hosting. on the field and you and I up on the club level doing a radio show, which... I mean, the good part was a lot of times they'd have Redskins alumni there. And we'd get to interview some of those, some of them. I always enjoyed that. That's true. As well. That was always the case.

That was always a lot of fun. That's true. Yeah. But my one memory, and it's not a great memory, but for some reason it really sticks with me, was when Mike Shanahan with the third pick drafted Josh Laribus. Yeah. And I kept calling him, John Volusci.

We couldn't find any information on him. Didn't know anything about it. We saw a picture of him. And I said, that's John Belushi. Yeah. There was nothing on Josh Laribis anywhere. And the two of us... And he was the third round pick.

Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, we threw out, I don't know, is he going to be like a chef at LaFirm? Like, what's going on here? We had no idea who he was. No idea. See, I. Our scouts had not scouted that guy.

Chris Russell did not have any information on Josh Laribis. But you know what? That's the same draft where you and I, on that day, we were sitting out at FedEx Field. because the L'Aribus was taken in the third round. But I think the third round was Saturday because we were together. It could have been a Friday night. I don't know. But I do remember when we were at FedEx Field when they picked Kirk Cousins in the fourth round.

And I remember just looking at you because on one of our, you heard it here first, bold prediction segments like four months earlier, you know, during the college football season. I said Washington's going to pick Kirk Cousins in the upcoming draft, and he's going to be their starting quarterback within two years. Do you remember that? No, I don't. I should remember. I'm not doubting you. I'm not doubting you.

But I tend to remember things about me, not about you. Well, that's true. After you, everybody else comes first. But I did do it. Don't you remember, you do remember our you heard it here first segment, our bold prediction segment that we did for like seven straight years once a week, don't you? Yes. You're not in the business of life, so I'm sure you did.

Okay. I gave you Kirk Cousins during his final year at Michigan State. And when they picked Kurt Cousins, it was a, I mean, I was like, oh, my God, they picked the guy that I gave out on you heard it here first. But remember it quickly turned into a conversation about, oh, my God, they drafted Griffin and they just drafted another question. quarterback. And I had no issue with it at all because I just remember saying, you got to have two in this league. You can't have one. He's not the starter. He's not a second round pick. He's a fourth

round pick. You know, this shouldn't be a big issue considering that they need two quarterbacks. And I think most people thought it was a big mistake. And maybe it was a mistake because RG, turned out to be a rather hypersensitive young man. But it turned out to be the right thing, too. I mean, they got, you know, a couple of really good years out of cousins before he left for free agency

after two franchise tags. Yeah. Before they gave him away. Yeah, some of those... Maybe they'll draft two quarterbacks tonight. Boy, that would really drive Carson Went up up a wall, wouldn't it? You know, it's one of the topics I have for the show today.

And we can start there. That's not where I was intending to go. But we can start there because I, on the show yesterday, I said, look, I want them to draft Kyle Hamilton if he's there at 11. I don't care about any of the receivers. I don't think they'll draft Kyle Hamilton if Drake London is there. I think if Drake London is there, that's going to be their pick at 11. If they pick at 11. but I'd like them to draft

Kyle Hamilton for a lot of reasons, most notably, I think he's a top three or four player in the draft. It would be huge value. And I think he is a really safe pick with a massive upside. And he's dropping because of his 40 times. And, you know, he's coming off an injury

too. And I am actually wondering now if the injuries is much of an issue with some teams as the 40 time. But I have been, as you know, since the Wentz trade, very adamant that if there's a quarterback that they really like and they believe has, you know, huge boom potential that they should take that quarterback in this draft.

Because I just don't believe Carson Wentz is the long-term answer. I mean, they're hoping he is and there's a chance that he is, but the chances in my mind's are less than 50-50, which means if you think Malik Willis has big upside, which Ron Rivera kind of referred to a quarterback the other day, that he likes, that he would have taken early. And I think it might be Malik Willis. Of course, the report from Jeremy Fowler yesterday indicates it could be Matt Corral. That's a possibility too. But I just think if they love a quarterback, they take a quarterback.

It's a contrarian opinion, a minority opinion amongst most of you that are listening because you want to surround Wentz with weapons. And I say to what end? Nine and eight, ten and seven, one out of every three years of the next three years and maybe one playoff berth. No, Malik Willis could be the star of this draft ultimately if he reaches his, you know, potential. And I think a lot of people feel that way. I just think a lot of people feel that he's got a massive low end too. But I think they should take a quarterback if they like a quarterback. I don't think they should take one if they don't like one.

But if they think one's got big, big boom potential, I think they should draft one. What do you think? Well, I think as a general rule in draft for NFL teams, I think you should draft a quarterback every year, just not necessarily with the first pick in the draft. I think that you should have enough, you better have talented enough evaluators, enough good talent evaluators to be able to look at the draft in any given year and say, this guy's worth a shot. Let's draft him in the fifth round or the sixth round.

You know, that's the kind of quarterback that I think they should draft, not the first round on Malik Willis. Well, what if they told you internally they had a first round grade on Malik Willis and they thought that he needed a year, but that he was going to be a star quarterback down the road. Well, they have to go with what they believe then. I mean, you know, that they could be wrong, but they have to go with where they believe.

You know, I've got to tell you something. I question Malik Willis's judgment since he went to Liberty University. Well, he transferred to Liberty. Sorry. Yeah, he transferred to Liberty. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

What? Because of Falwell? Well, no, because I just think that, I mean, that's certainly not a place if you want to be a great NFL, a great quarterback in college football, you would go to play. Well, no. Well, he was at Auburn, and it didn't work out. He wasn't going to get an opportunity. He went to Liberty and made Liberty, you know, a fairly competitive team, you know, over the last couple of years. But, you know, Carson Wentz was at North Dakota State.

We've certainly seen quarterbacks come out of smaller schools. Joe Flacco was at Delaware, you know, playing on the FCS level. I mean, Liberty's Division I, North Dakota State's FCS. You know, Delaware was FCS. So, you know, you find players everywhere. Here's the net of it on this. They better be right. They better be right.

They're sitting there at 11 in a draft without much hype about the quarterbacks. It's a dismissed quarterback class by virtually everybody, which means, by the way, at 11, they might have the opportunity to draft the best quarterback in this draft. They're not going to. I understand they're not going to, but I do think that if they really believe that Malik Willis had a massive upside, which I think he does personally, I think they should take him. And I would not care about not adding another weapon to Carson Wentz because Carson Wentz is not going to be the quarterback that leads you to a 10-year run of sustained success under this shitty owner. You need something a hell of a lot better than that.

You need Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Aaron Rogers. You need to hit on one of those. and so if you think somebody in this draft has the potential to be one of those, then you should take them, period. But most people don't agree, so I'll move on from that. Most people don't agree, but the excitement would be through the roof, at least as much as, you know, even if it's a small roof for this franchise right now, the excitement would be significant if they drafted Malik Wallace in the person with the first round.

Or Willis, yes. Lee Willis. Yeah, no, it would be. There's no doubt it would be. People, yeah, of course it would. And of course, Carson Wentz, they'd have to pry him out of the basement of his house. Because he wouldn't leave. Yeah, but don't you think that's a problem?

I mean, I hear you like... Of course it's a problem. That gives you the answer almost right away. Like, you can't push this guy? Aaron Rogers went out and won two MVPs when they drafted Jordan Love. I understand he's had a lot more success. Look, I actually think it would be exciting, but I think it would also anger the hell out of a lot of the fans that are really into this.

Because they would be like, well, why did you? It's the whole thing. Well, then why did you do whence? If you loved Willis, why did you do whence? Look, it's a moot point. They're not drafting Malik Willis. Here's what they have to do. They got to get this thing right.

That's what they got to do because right now it appears, is if two out of the last three years, God rest his soul, they have missed on first round picks. And by the way, if you go back four seasons, the guy they drafted in 2018, they're going to let go after next season, Duran Payne. So Dwayne Haskins, Chase Young, we still have hope for. And by the way, Montez Sweat, we have a lot of hope for too. I have some thoughts on him here in a moment as it relates to the draft. But Jamon Davis, I'm not giving up on Davis. I'm not.

But Jamin Davis at this point looks like it was a bit of a whiff or certainly a reach at 19 overall. So this group better get this one right tonight. No matter who they take, it better turn out to be a number 11 overall should be a significant contributor to your franchise for the next many years. Not a guy that has a lot of his snaps taken away by David Mayo at the end of the year. They've got to get a player at 11 that all of us agree pretty early on. They got it right. They got a starter. They got, you know, a potential Pro Bowl or all pro caliber type of player.

I know that they think this draft is strongest in the middle of the draft and they want to acquire more picks. So they have more than the six that they have. I know most draft experts believe this to be a draft that doesn't have a guaranteed superstar, but it's got a lot of good players. They've got to get it right at number 11 here. Okay, now, so let's talk about who we think they really will pick in the first round in this draft. All right, let's do that because I want to hear what you think they're going to do and what you'd like them to do. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

Don't forget to rate us and review us especially on Apple. This from Sand Guy 554 via Apple Podcasts. He gave us five stars. Sand Guy 554. He wrote a perfect combination of D.C. Sports Talk and humor with excellent rotating guests. Tommy, Cooley, and even Zabe. Yeah, we've had Zab on a number of times.

Topics as diverse as the Adams Morgan fire. Yeah, it wasn't a fire. The Knickerbocker Theater snowstorm collapsed that theater a hundred years ago in 1920. The biggest snowstorm in the history of our town in fact. And we did a show on that. And I'm forgetting the name of the guy that we had on, who's written extensively about it. But God, he was so good. Occasional gems like that, along with Billy Packer in Jay Gruden. And each of each and every one of them sounds like

an old friend chatting over a beer. Thank you for that. From Radley 81. Thanks Tom and Kevin for riding with me on the emotional roller coaster of being a Washington fan. Again, write us and review us if you can on Apple and Spotify. Apple allows you to write the reviews as well. Spotify more of just a quick rating opportunity. And if you haven't done it, take 30 seconds and do it right now, if you can. It's great for us and we appreciate it. All right, Tommy, I've already given on yesterday's show and I think in the last segment. I want Kyle Hamilton at 11. I think they'll draft Drake London if he's there. Who do you want? Who do you think they'll take? Well, I think they're going to draft the guy from Notre Dame who everybody likes who you talked about. Kyle Hamilton.

You've talked about before. Yeah. I think if he's available, that's who they'll draft. I think if Drake London is available, that's who they should draft. But, I mean, I don't think they should pick defense one more year with their first round pick, and they need offensive help. And I think Drake London would be a good pick for them. Let me ask you a question. What about James and Williams? I know he's coming off at Torn ACL, but if he wasn't, wouldn't he be the top receiver in a draft, the kid from Alabama? Yeah, most likely he would be.

Yes, yeah. Would you take a chance on that guy? Well, I think, you know, Ron Rivera keeps talking about how important this year is, and he may not be ready to start the year. Now, if you're thinking for long-term best interest of an organization and Jameson Williams is the best receiver on your board, you should take that player if he's the best player at that spot. I'm not big into taking a receiver at 11. I'm not going to have an issue with it because there are so many good ones and potentially one or two of them are going to turn out to be really good. I just, I think that they are in that position where, you know, Charlie Casserly and Bobby Betherd over the years have said, you make your biggest mistakes when you draft for need.

I don't see wide receiver as a need. I think that they believe they need another playmaker, and they could certainly use one. I'm not suggesting that they couldn't use another playmaker. But if the best player on their board is Kyle Hamilton or Derek Stingley Jr., or sauce Gardner, if he were to drop as a corner or one of the offensive linemen, I would want them to take that player. I don't want them, you know, if there's a significant difference between the highest rated player on their board and the player that they, you know, most need, they're just not in a position of being like one player away from contending for a title. That's just not

who they are. I don't, I think Drake London is going to be the pick. I'd prefer Kyle Hamilton. So you and I are a little bit in opposite. You think Kyle Hamilton's going to be the pick, and you'd prefer Drake London. Drake London wouldn't even be my number one wide receiver. Garrett Wilson would be the number one wide receiver if they were going to go receiver. But there's really not a lot separating a lot of these receivers.

But Garrett Wilson, to me, looks, as I've said now for two months, like Stefan Diggs. And Stefan Diggs is one of those picks that they didn't make back in 2015 that I was very angry about. They took James and Crowder instead. and two rounds later, Diggs went. And I know what the issues were with Diggs in 2015 were and why he went in the fifth round. He had some injuries and there were some issues with Diggs that people were concerned about.

But I knew what a great, you know, talent he was. And Crowders turned out to be a nice player. No Stefan Diggs. Garrett Wilson would be my number one wide receiver. But I think they think Drake London is their best receiver or the highest rated receiver on their board. I'm pretty sure that that's how they feel. and I think they believe there's great separation with the others. And in part because they want to give Wentz a big receiver.

They want to give him a big receiver with a big catch radius because that's where he has excelled when he has excelled. The Alshan Jeffries, the Michael Pittman Jr's, etc. I think, and I'm starting to hear that if both London and Hamilton are gone, I don't even know, let me just be clear on Hamilton. I think they should pick Hamilton. I think they'll pick London if he's there. If London's not there and Hamilton is, I'm not convinced they're going to take Hamilton. There's the possibility that there are mixed feelings in that building on Kyle Hamilton.

So if that's the case, I don't know who they take, but I'm starting to think it might be Chris Olive, the receiver from Ohio State, who I think McShay or Kuyper, one of the two, mocked Alave to Washington in their final mock draft. Because there is a belief that Ron Rivera and Scott Turner, you know, love Drake London more than anybody. But of the Ohio State receivers, they love Alave. I think 11 would be too high for Alave. But at the same time, they should, you know, take the highest rated player on their board. There's not a lot separating these receivers, as I said. But to your question, Tommy, if they didn't get London and they didn't get Hamilton and they were intent on a receiver and they didn't want Garrett Wilson,

then it should be James and Williams, even if he weren't ready for the beginning of the year. Because he's got, you know, yes, he would have been the first receiver taken had he not had the ACL, I believe that. Well, I agree with you on that. I mean, he's the guy, you know, I haven't seen that much college football this year. But, you know, I mean, I know enough about him that I think he's worth the risk, you know, coming back from that.

but you're right. I mean, you know, they don't, it's funny because we don't think Ron Rivera would get fired necessarily. Right. If he didn't have a good year. But we do also think there's a time clock ticking and we think he feels that. He certainly put some pressure on himself with some expectations for this year when he didn't need to do that. But no, I agree with you. I don't think he's going to get fired. Let me just mention one other name because, Duran Payne, the possibility that he won't be here after next season. Jordan Davis, I had Josh Norris from Odyssey Fantasy Football on this morning.

He had the best mock draft last year. Ben Standings won that title two times. Josh Norris won it last year and had the most correct picks in a mock draft in history. He got 16 of the 32 exactly where they went. including Jamon Davis last year. And he and others have said that Jordan Davis, the defensive tackle from Georgia, is now considered to be in terms of interior defensive linemen, as highly rated as any interior defensive lineman ever coming into this draft

in terms of the measurables and the athleticism, you know, coupled with his 6-6-340-pound frame. Washington now might consider Jordan Davis. It was reported last week by Ben Standing that they were going to go down and visit with Trayvon Walker late in the process. Now, Walker is minus 400 to be the first pick in the draft, so they're not going to have a chance at Walker. But if Jordan Davis from Georgia is there at 11,

and let's just say Drake London, their fantasy pick, I think, is already gone, I know a lot of you would be upset that they let Tim Settle go and that they cut Matt Ionitis and that they aren't, you know, reportedly going to resign Duran Payne. And then all of a sudden they take a need position in defensive tackle Jordan Davis. But it's possible a guy like Davis could be the highest rated player on their board. Now, by the way, just so we're clear,

just because Ben reported that the plan is not to resign Duran Payne and let Duran Payne go to free agency, it's not like they can't change their mind, you know, he's playing for them this year on the fifth year option, you know, at the just over $8 million. And if he has a great year, there's still a chance they could sign him to a long-term deal and keep them. The big issue is trying to sign John Allen last year,

and then you know upcoming Chase Young and Montez Sweat are going to get deals. And one of the stories yesterday, which was not a surprise, and it was reported earlier in the week by J.P. Finley, is that they picked up the fifth year option on. Montez Sweat, which they should have. And then you've got the McLaurin contract hanging over your head as well. That's right. Ben has talked a lot over the last year and a half about how they're not going to be able to

sign all four of these guys. Eventually, one of them's going to go. And it looks like he's going to be right. Now, my position all along is if they were all great, young, sweat, Alan and pain, and they were the dominant part. part of the team and they were leading the team to winning seasons and playoff berths, even if they weren't, you know, championship contenders, that they would figure out a way to pay all of them.

You know, the cap is, you know, you can be creative. A lot of teams are. But I think that the pain thing is a combination of, yeah, we can't afford them all, but more than that, he's the one that we like the least. You know, John Allen really proved that signing him to that extension last year was the right thing. He's not only a great player, he's a great team leader. Duran Payne has unbelievable talent, but he's just been inconsistent, Tommy. That's the issue. And I don't think that...

And he picked a fight with the wrong guy. He picked a fight with the wrong guy. I mean, they're apparently the best of friends, but, you know, the father came out, remember and criticized Allen and criticized the team for not having a quarterback and defended his son, which fathers tend to do, not necessarily all of them on social media, but he did that. But I think that really the issue with Duran is they see incredible talent and it flashes all the time, but it's not consistent. And the reason it's not consistent is he's probably not the pro that John Allen is.

And therefore, they're probably skeptical that he'll ever be a consistent dominant force in that position. You know, he's not going to be Aaron Donald or Fletcher Cox. Even though he's got the talent to be that, he's not going to be that. He would have shown that already. And maybe he shows it here in his fourth year. And they change their mind and they go all in on Duran Payne. and they end up franchising to run pain next year.

Who knows? But the point is that defensive tackle can't be ruled out, especially if Jordan Davis is there at 11 and the guys that they wanted to get are gone. You can't rule that out. Brendan and I were doing this quick segment at the end of the show. What would be the pick you could see Washington making that's a long shot that would shock everybody,

but on some level after you kind of thought, about it wouldn't be that surprising. And I said Jordan Davis is a possibility. I also think the corner from Washington, Trent McDuffie, is a possibility as well. And I also think that Devin Lloyd, the linebacker, and I think 11 would be too early, but I think a lot of people like them, and if they're split on Kyle Hamilton, you know, being kind of that Buffalo nickel, and therefore they're back to a linebacker, Devin Lloyd would be their kind of guy. because he's just super, super athletic. But so was Jamie Davis.

So anyway. All right. So you've got London. You want Hamilton, you think. I want Hamilton, but I think London. There we go. I wanted to mention one other thing real quickly on this draft. Because, you know, we're not going to sit here and do the Snyder bashing for that long.

But when they picked up the option on Montez Sweat yesterday, you know, I thought about Montez Sweat. He was a player before that draft that Cooley and I talked a lot about, and I loved him. And I'm like, I would love it if they picked him at 15. Well, there were some issues in that 2019 draft with Sweat because there were some medicals, heart-related, that had teams scared off. But I loved Montez Sweat. I loved that Mississippi State defense, which that year, by the way, in the first. round. You had, you know, Jonathan Abram, you had Jeffrey Simmons, and you had Montez sweat. You had three first round picks from that defense. That Mississippi State defense was

awesome. And I loved sweat as a college player, and I thought 15 wasn't too high for sweat. Well, the football people didn't think that sweat at 15 was too high either. That's who they wanted. They wanted either sweat or Darnell Savage out of Maryland, which he went six players later to Green Bay. Those were the two players that Kyle Smith and Jay Gruden and all of the scouts and all of the football people wanted. But that's not what happened on that April night back in 2019. Dan Snyder hijacked the draft room and told them that they have to draft, you know, that they've got to draft Dwayne Haskins. Now, Grudens told us the story, you know, in the past that, you know, he knew they were taking Haskins.

before that night because Snyder had made it clear to everybody that that's who he wanted. But the football people were not happy with it at all. And so, you know, rest in peace, Dwayne Haskins, by the way, but it was the wrong pick. And because of that, Snyder later in that draft had to satisfy his football people by okaying a trade back into the first round to take Montess sweat. Well, that trade cost them two second round picks. Their second round pick that year and the second round pick the next year, which Indianapolis parlayed into another pick in the 2019 draft. And then they used Washington's number two overall in the second round in 2020 to select Michael Pittman, Jr.,

who was, by the way, Carson Wentz's favorite receiver last year in Indianapolis. and just these draft nights are important and they're important from the top down. And there's been too much discussion about the scandal and the investigations. And we kind of forget that from a football operation standpoint, even though he was probably less hands-on over the last decade, the Robert Griffin III empowerment and what he did to the 2019 draft, that's got long-term implications. You know, these are things you can't have in an organization

that they've had over and over again with their owner. I don't think something like that will happen tonight. I don't think something like that will happen tonight. But, you know, that particular 2019 draft at 15 overall, imagine if they were able to trade back and get Montez sweat and pick up more picks, you know, and end up with a couple of really good players in the second round, you know, which is the way really,

good teams do it. Would you agree that it's far more damaging when an owner misses on a draft pick than when the front office misses on a draft pick? Of course. Of course. Because that owner's

never leaving. The other people you can get rid of. And the implications through the system, through the whole system that everyone knows the owner blew on, you know, blew this are far more different than a general manager, you know, not hitting on a first round pick.

People expect that. They don't expect the owner to be running the board. And when the owner runs the board and he's wrong, it's massively wrong. Yeah, it's bad. And, you know, I know people will say, well, what about Dallas? Well, look, you know, Dallas doesn't have many more playoff wins than Washington's had over the last, you know, 22 years while Dan's been the owner. Now, you know, Jerry got a couple Super Bowls.

He got three of them, but he had Jimmy Johnson, who was running the operation. Right. But, yeah, I agree. I don't, I think he's got too many things going on to deal with getting in the middle of the draft. I do think Ron Rivera right now is running this football operation. I think Martin Mayhew is a significant part of it. I think Herney is behind the scenes. I think the two coordinators have.

A lot of input, Scott Turner and Jack Del Rio, in this process as well. Look, they hit on Chase Young, we think. You know, in 2019, step back year last year, for sure. But, you know, I think they did a really good job in drafting Antonio Gibson in that draft. They got Cam Curl in the seventh round. They got James Smith Williams. He's still on the team. Sadiq Charles, who knows maybe this year is his opportunity.

is there's certainly going to be chances for him to play to play guard. Last year, you know, Cosmy and St. Juice and John Bates, you know, look like players already. I think they really still believe in Diami Brown. They got their long snapper, even though they had to trade up in the sixth round to get him. They got a defensive end in Chakotony that's still on the roster that they like his talent. But their first round pick, Jamon Davis, is a big question mark. but I believe the football people are in charge. We'll see whether or not the football people are good at doing this.

This will be, believe it or not, their third draft. And really, their first true draft of a real off season without, you know, COVID affecting it. It was interesting. Rivera gave Kyle Smith a lot of credit for the 2020 draft the other day. You know, that was the draft board that he basically used was Kyle Smith's, even though he decided to bring in his own people and move. on from Kyle Smith. And now Kyle Smith's got, you know, Atlanta's draft. But he gave Kyle Smith a lot of credit the other day. All right. A few more things to finish up the show, including what Tommy

wrote about today in the Washington Times. That's next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. MyBooky's got all of your draft prop bets. Go to mybooky.com or mybooky.ag. and you can wager on the draft tonight and tomorrow night and Saturday and the NBA playoffs and the NHL playoffs, which start next week. Go to MyBooky.com. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. And they'll match your first deposit dollar for dollar all the way up to a thousand bucks. Right now, by the way, on the odds of the position that Washington will select, wide receiver is the favorite at plus 100, even money. Defensive back, you know, safety or corner, is at plus 125.

So pretty close to what the odds are for wide receiver. And then it goes offensive linemen at 6 to 1 plus 600. And quarterback at plus 1,000, 10 to 1 is fourth. Defensive lineman plus 1, 18 to 1. That quarterback number was actually third the other day. It's now fourth on the list. I'm not making any draft bets, although one of the prop bets that I do like is the quarterback over under number at two and a half. I think it's three in some places, but I think you can find a two and a half out there.

I do think there are going to be three quarterbacks taken in the draft. I think somebody will get back into the draft at the very end of the first round to get that fifth year, Tommy, of control, which you get with first rounders. so that wouldn't surprise me at all. Ben, by the way, just posted his official mock draft entry. Ben Standing did, two-time mock draft champion. He's got Washington taking Kyle Hamilton at 11 because he's got Drake London going to the Falcons at 8. I had Ben on the show this morning. Ben thinks that if London's there, he'll be the pick and thinks if he isn't,

it'll be Hamilton if he's there. And I'm looking to see, wow, Ben has what Brendan had this morning, which is Jermaine Johnson, who's flying up the board right now, going to the jets at four overall, the defensive end from Florida State. He has been climbing a lot of draft boards. That is really high compared to where he was a week or two weeks ago. Meantime, Kvon Tibado, who at one point during the season was the projected number one overall, Ben's going, has going at 13 in this draft. Ben's got the first quarterback being Kenny Pickett, Kenny Pickett, at 20 to the Steelers.

And then he's got Malik Willis going 32 to the Lions. So he's got just two quarterbacks. Oh, my fault. I missed it. He's got Desmond Ritter going to Tennessee at 26. and Willis as the third quarterback taken. Pick it to the Steelers at 20, Ritter to Tennessee at 26,

and Willis to the Lions at 32. So if Willis goes to the Lions, he'll go from the Christians to the Lions. There you go. Well done. Right? Yeah. I'll be here all day.

All weekend, actually, but tickets are hard to get. Okay, I just want to take two minutes here and talk about the weekend. for Washington. And then you can finish up with any other draft thoughts that you have. Because I think they are viewing this weekend, and by the way, after this weekend, with potential veterans that could get cut post-June 1,

I think they are viewing this weekend is really important to not the future, but the immediate future. You know, not the long-term future, but the immediate future. because I think they believe they can contend in the NFC East in 2022. They felt like at 6 and 6 with that four game winning streak last year, that absent of the injuries and certainly the COVID situation that they faced when they had to play, you know, Philly on a Tuesday night and then Dallas five nights later where they got run out of the building.

I think they felt like there was an opportunity to finish that season in contention had they stayed healthy. And that's with Taylor Heineke at quarterback. They believe that they underachieve defensively and that that can change this year and they can be back to what they thought they should have been last year defensively with maybe some more maturity and health. And with an upgraded quarterback, if they can, as Ron has talked about, you know, protect and add playmakers for Carson, that they can be a good team. Maybe they are realistic about where they are in the NFC because the defending Super Bowl champion Rams and the Buccaneers and the Packers are the three prohibitive favorites in the

NFC. And Dallas is going to be a big time favorite in the NFC East. But I think Ron and Jack and Scott and all of them believe that they're not that far away from contending for a division title and a home playoff game. I really believe that. And so in this dream, where you have a significant number of players, an unusual number of players because of the COVID situation and the extra year that people got. You've got a bigger volume of draftable players. You've got better players and it's a deeper draft in the middle of the draft. They'll view their fourth round pick as a guy that would have gone in the third round last year or the year before. And those players in many cases will be a little bit older potentially than the third round. They'll be a little bit older,

potentially than they would have been in previous drafts. If they can fill a couple of their need areas, you know, and we know what they think they are, they've got to replace Landon Collins, or they've got to have, you know, another defensive playmaker. They've got to have another offensive playmaker. They certainly need some depth along the offensive line. But they believe that if they have a good weekend

and a good post-draft period, post-June 1, period, that they've got a chance to be a really good team next year. And this is a big weekend. So I think, you know, if they go DB safety at 11 with, say, a Kyle Hamilton, that they will be focused on wide receiver in the second round. I think if they go wide receiver at 11 overall, they're going to be focused on a defensive back in the second round. Both of those positions have some depth. I know they like the kid out of Baylor, Petrie, the safety. I think there may be another safety or two they like. I'm actually a little bit concerned that the feeling being super mixed on Kyle Hamilton internally,

which I believe to be true, that if Hamilton's there and London isn't, they still might go receiver. Now, if they picked Garrett Wilson, that's my preferred receiver in this draft anyway. But I think that they believe they can fill some needs here in the first two rounds. By the way, I'm not discounting running back. They brought a lot of running backs in. And I think Kenneth Walker, the third out of Michigan State, even more than Hall out of Iowa State, is going to be a star back in this league.

I really believe that about Walker the third. The game he had against Michigan was one of the best games. We've seen a running back play in college football in a long time. I love his power, vision, you know, on the field speed. I think he's going to be a special back for somebody. And we've seen a lot of these great backs get picked in the second and third rounds, you know, in drafts. I don't think they're going to take a running back in the second round, but I think they're going to take, you know, if they take a defensive player in the first round,

they're going to be looking to add a playmaker. And as Ben Standing has told us previously, you know, they view playmaker as receiver or maybe a running back. So that's what I expect. And then, you know, the rest of the draft, they should, look, I think they should be taking best available all the way through. Would it surprise me if they took Matt Corral in the second round? It would, even though I think Jeremy Fowler is an excellent reporter. I would be surprised. Matt Fowler, Matt Fowler, Matt Corral did not interview well at all.

I think that's why they're doing more research in the event that he really drops. They want to just be super. sure that at 47 they shouldn't take them. But, you know, most of the other positions after the second round, I certainly wouldn't discount, including a quarterback like a Carson Strong. You know, if they were to acquire more picks, maybe trading back in the fourth to acquire a second fifth rounder, as an example, you know, if they took a Carson Strong in the fifth round, something like that. But anyway, the whole weekend's going to be interesting. Do you have have any other thoughts on the draft Tommy or not?

No, I don't think so. Okay. I read your column this morning before the show. It's something I think we talked about either earlier this week or last week, Alex Ovechkin's relationship with and support for Vladimir Putin. So have at it. Tell everybody what the column is about and let's discuss. Yeah, basically, I think it's a wake-up call,

and I think there'll be others who will follow, particularly with the Stanley Cup playoffs now and people all of a sudden realize people are playing hockey in America and there's hockey games going on, that Alex Silveskin continued support of Vladimir Putin is almost like giving aid and comfort to the enemy these days. And we're, for all intents and purposes, at war with Russia right now. I mean, you know, we're giving billions of dollars in money and money. weapons to Ukraine to fight the Russians. I mean, we're boycotting the Russians at every possible way we can not doing business. I mean, you know, I reported in the column that, you know,

U.S. officials at the G20 conference last week walked out when the Russians started talking. I mean, this is, and yet here's the star in the nation's capital with him and Vladimir Putin still on display as the profile photo for his Instagram account. And I think that's not acceptable. And if I was a CACS fan, it would make me a little bit sick. So what do you think will happen? Ultimately, I think you could see, I think it's a long shot, I think it's possible you could see Russian players,

not this year, but Russian players in the off-season banned from the NHL. Not this year. No, I don't think they're going to do. No, there's no way Gary Bettman is going to upend the Stanley Cup playoffs unless there's a nuclear bomb outside his office. But what if the war in Ukraine's over when the season opens in October? Well, then all bets are off. But, I mean, it doesn't look like it's going to be over, you know, for a while.

So a couple of things. Number one, you know, you talked about, you know, the tennis players not being able to play at Wimbledon, the Russian and Belarusian tennis players not being played at Wimbledon. I was listening to Patrick McEnroe on Mad Dog Show last week. And Cliff Driesdale, you know who Cliff Driesdale is, Tommy? Yeah, he's an Australian tennis, all-time Australian tennis player. He actually was a South African tennis player. Oh, South Africa.

And one of those guys with a limey accent. And so, and so McEnroe was telling the story that early on he thought it was ridiculous that Wimbledon was banning these players. And Cliff Drysdale had a conversation with him. They're very close. McEnroe calls Drysdale his broadcasting mentor. Drysdale's been doing tennis on ESPN for, you know, eons now. And he told McEnroe, Drysdale did. that when he was a player in the late 60s and early 70s,

there were a few countries that he was not allowed to play in as protests against South African apartheid. The U.S. was not one of them. I think he mentioned Sweden and a few other countries in Europe where he was not allowed to play as a South African. And while at the time he didn't necessarily agree with it, he thought, you know, after years of hindsight, that while, you know, it may have been symbolic that a lot of those gestures or those bannings of South African things or people from events contributed in some way to worldwide awareness of what was going on.

Anyway, McEnroe told that story of the conversation that he had with Drysdale, and he said it made him think a little bit differently about the situation and about the situation and about it. about whether or not, you know, not that the world needs, you know, to be told about what's going on in Ukraine. The late 60s and early 70s were a little bit different in terms of our communication ability. But McEnroe netting it out said it kind of changed his mind, but he said one of the big issues was would other sports follow? And Mad Dog said he goes, there's a big problem with that. Tennis doesn't really have a union. The NHL does. They've got a players union.

And the players union, you know, is there to protect the players who are members of that union. So I would ask you, do you think it would be tough in hockey with a union to oust Russian players? That's an interesting scenario because I can't think at that point, if we're at point come the beginning of next hockey season that the situation in Ukraine is worse and Europe, not just Ukraine, because people are worried about Europe in general, okay? If the situation is worse, not better, it's going to be an awfully difficult position for the NHL players union to take up. I understand they may do it anyway, but, I mean, at that point, you could always, you could

argue that it borders on treason. Yeah, I certainly wouldn't call it that. I wouldn't refer to it as that. There's still many other things that can happen with all of the NATO countries to make a much bigger impact than ousting Russian hockey players from the NHL. How about a lot of our NATO partners completely stopped buying oil from Russia because that's continuing to happen? Yeah, I get that.

I get that. But in a way, it's an end. insult. If we are at war with Russia, it's an insult to be sitting there watching Russian players play on American ice, as if nothing's going on. I think if we're really at war, and you can say that we're, you know, at some level of certainly aiding a war against Russia right now, but we're not at war with Russia. We're not enforcing a fly zone over there. We don't have boots on the ground. We don't have, we're not at war. We're aiding a country in defense of Russia who's attacked that country and is at war with that country.

I think if we were actually in a war, I might feel differently. I think if American soldiers were over there and dying in a war against Russia, I think I'd feel much differently. I absolutely would feel much differently. Well, to me, as far as I'm concerned, I think we are at war. I get what you're saying. And technically, you're right. Good column, as always, from Tommy. And did you hear anything from anybody with the caps?

No, no, I didn't. Did you reach out to them to get any? Yes, I did. No, I reached out to them to confirm if what ESPN reported that they had Ascovesant to either take the photo down or to deactivate his Instagram account, I asked him if that was true. and they responded with a request to talk to me on background,

but that never happened for various reasons. They didn't respond to the initial request as to whether or not that was true or not. They didn't deny it. They just didn't respond to it. Well, I would think that that means that it is true. Yeah, I would think so, too. The other part of your... My gut reaction is that they had a clue to this.

I was asking the question that something good wasn't coming and wanted to try to talk me down from it. That's just my gut reaction. And that's what good PR people try to do. Sure. The other part of your story is minimizing very much the reason that Alex Ovechkin perhaps hasn't taken that picture down from his Instagram account. And that is that there's risk to his family and friends over in Russia. you had academics and others that essentially refuted the seriousness of that. Well, just minimized it, yes.

And I point out there's no one of any note or credibility that has come forward and said that, that there actually is some risk. I mean, Ovechkin is a very powerful figure in Russia from what I gather. And, I mean, the Pannina is. and whatever his name is, New York Rangers hockey player who actually came out and criticized, you know,

Putin for the war. I mean, the only thing that happened to him is one of his old coaches accused him of hitting a woman 10 years ago, but nothing happened to that guy. You know,

if they're not going to mess with him, they're not going to mess with Al-Sovetskins. I mean, I'm not talking about criticizing. I'm just talking about, you know, you got lots of other photos on that Instagram, account. Put another one up there.

Right. Well, I mean, I read the comments from the various people that you had in the column, but we also know that Vladimir Putin has, you know, with both allies and enemies, allies

at various points. There have been lots of you know, poisonings and killings and survived poisonings, etc. So he may have, he may love Alex Ovechkin, and Alex Ovechkin may be super powerful now, but that guy's unstable. You don't know how he might feel if all of a sudden Ovechkin went rogue and started to criticize him,

which isn't what you said. You just wanted him to pull the photo. That's right. It's not what I'm saying. Yeah. Okay. Everybody enjoy the... I got with something else? I got one last thing.

Okay. I just want to remind everybody about the D.C. Grays Cigars and Curveball Fundraiser. May 9th. On Monday night, May 9th from 6.8 p.m. at Shelley's backroom. you can buy tickets you go to dcgrays.com we're going to have an auction of various items and one of those things that we're going to auction off is the chance to see Kevin and I do the podcast together in person for two people okay you'll come to this Kevin's uh you know new age high tech

studio 125 square feet yeah 120 25 square feet Tommy's going to require that not only do you have an N95 respirator mask, but that you provide a vaccine card and everything else. So just be prepared for that if you win this auction item. I'll sit here right next to you and do the show. I'll sit next to you and do the show anyway. One last thing. I was at Nats Park last night.

Yeah, I know. It wasn't a good thing. But I was there for business. Okay, and I came home with an autographed bat from Juan Soto that will be up for auction at the D.C. Grays fundraiser. Was that the business? Yes, and when Juan Soto autographs a bat, he autographs a bat. He pretty much wrote half his biography on the bat. It's an impressive-looking item.

From a guy who could wind up being one of the great baseball players of his time. Then that stink. I mean, they are awful. I mean, Patrick Corbyn's Pitch, circle on the drain. Patrick Corbyn's pitching today? What's the over-under on earn runs allowed? Seven?

What is his ERA right now? It's double digits, I'm pretty sure. Last night, it was a two-to-one game, and it took three hours and 20 minutes. How good was the Marlins pitcher Lopez? He's got a 0.39 ERA right now. he was very good Corbin's ERA

going into this afternoon 11.20 he has he's had four starts yeah when I said a lot of things have to go right for the national 11.2 Patrick Corbyn did that ERA that was not one of them

that's a shame I mean it's it really is I keep thinking about the missed opportunity of not being able to play a normal season as the defending World Series champions and the excitement that it would have been around that particular season. It just, everything went south after they won the World Series with the world. And it just, the timing could not have been worse for them.

But they are. It's driven. It's driven the learners to sell the team. They're horrendous right now. Basically. They are horrendous. You're not watching the NBA. playoffs. I know, but I don't know if I mentioned this on the pod yesterday, but the

John Morant dunk from two nights ago is one of the greatest dunks I've ever seen. Yeah, it's hard not to have seen it. It went viral. His head was above the rim and it seemed like he was still elevating when he just decided he'd finally come down. Wow, what a player. And you got a great series potentially coming up with Memphis and Golden State out west. All right, we're done for the day. Enjoy the draft. I'll be back tomorrow with the recap of round number one and a preview of rounds two and three tomorrow night.