The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cooley on Wentz

Episode Date: March 11, 2022

A Cooley and Kevin day for much of the show. Cooley weighed in on the Carson Wentz trade and more. Kevin also had Jeff Ermann/Inside MD Sports on the show to talk about the Terps' loss to Michigan State last night and the MD coaching search. Kevin finished up the show solo with his thoughts on a crazy Washington Commanders' week and shared some info on why Washington felt like Wentz was necessary.  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 Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. It doesn't cost you thing. Rate us and review us on Apple and Spotify.

I'll read a few more of those very kind reviews, including many which also say they love it when Chris Cooley is on the show. Well, guess what? Boys and Girls, Surprise. Coolie's on the show with me today. live from Wyoming. He doesn't know much about what's gone on this week, or at least he didn't yesterday.

Have you caught up? Are you now fully aware of the details involving the Carson-Wenst trade or not? I think I'm aware of many of the details involving the Carson-Wenstrait. I actually thought it was a good idea. I think you dismissed it when I said yesterday. My segment should just be,

you catch me up on the news. I know, but on the, I... Especially the, like, the Washington football, oh, wait, Washington's news. I can't do it yet. Especially, like, with Washington's news. Yeah, I, yesterday when we talked, Cooley did not know about Russell Wilson being traded to Denver, about Carson Wentz being traded to Washington.

I did know, I did know yesterday. I did know yesterday when we talked. You didn't know that Frank Reich had apologized to Colts ownership for vouching for him. And I called you to share that with you. You did. You did share that with me. But you were pretty much unaware of everything that had been going on this week, and you suggested a great idea.

A great idea would be a segment on your podcast each week where I come on and you, meaning me, catch me, meaning you, up on all of the. the news of the day because you're really not on your podcast. Yeah. I don't have a podcast. I know. On my podcast, yes. And I said I like that idea, but I think this week, because I think what people really want to hear is not you saying, oh, really?

I had no idea. I had no idea. I'm not going to say I had no idea. I'm going to react to the news. I know. As if I first heard it, which is exactly what the case would be. Right. But you know, you're getting a true reaction. You're not, you're getting a true reaction. I haven't read through. I haven't made decisions on things. You're getting my true feeling on Carson Lent at that point. But I think a lot of people, what they prefer from you, this is just my opinion. Yeah, I got it. I got it. When you do the, okay, I went back and I watched all the tape from 21, watched the game against Jacksonville that, you know, he played horribly in when they were 15 point favorites and all they needed to do was.

win the game. I've looked at Malik Willis. I've looked at, you know, Kenny Pickett. I looked at the Tribusky stuff. I looked at the, and people like when you're prepared, because one of the things, and I've shared this with everybody, of all of the former athletes that I've worked with, you were always the most prepared. Like, you were ready to go. You had spent a lot of time preparing for our shows, especially the important ones. There were many days where you walked in and we were both winging it. But on the important days, you were prepared. So have you done anything to prepare for the answer to the following question, which is, what did you think about Washington acquiring Carson Wentz?

It is the best they could do. I actually loved Carson Wentz for a couple years in Philadelphia. I think he's a player. I think he's a stud. I think there were some moments when watched the Colts last year where he had something to him. There's obviously something missing, and this happened well before Indy. I mean, this happened early in his Philly career. I think we had talked about this. He had a lot of problems with Philadelphia after Nick Poles won the Super Bowl. And then Philadelphia put up the Nick Bulls banner, like as they run out of their locker room or into the whatever, wherever it was, they put up a giant Nick Bulls banner.

Right. And brought Carson Went back. You're the guy, and I think some of the team really believed in fools. I think some of the coaches potentially really believed in fools. And I think that really was hard on Carson Wentz. I don't think he has great leadership ability, even though you said yesterday, it's not so much with the players. But he doesn't, his social skills are not great in a football environment,

apparently, according to multiple reports and multiple things. and then you have Frank Greg probably the person who knows the best in the NFL apologize to cold the Colts

for vouching for him and he's not coachable and then where it's interesting is the Rivera regime

wants obey obey obey they want those dude to do what they want I think it'll be a really interesting

situation and And then you pay it all, which they can afford. You let India off the hook on that. You pay it all, including whatever the $5 million bonus and the $28 million salary. But that doesn't hurt them. They can afford it.

The trades don't really hurt you. I don't have a problem taking a risk. And then I think you just hope for maybe Scott Turner is his dude. Really? Maybe he hasn't. I don't. If it's not his dude in the quarterback's room and as an OC and potentially as a head coach, you've got problems.

He's caused problems two times in a row, two different places. I promise he'll do it again. But maybe they're saying, you know what? Scott Turner could be his dude. Ron Rivera might be his dude. We're all going to be buddies. But I told you yesterday, I said, well, even if Ron can't coach him, I'm sure Dan will get a lot. great with him.

Oh, great. That's awesome. Dan's going to get a lot of right now. You don't think, you don't think, you don't think this thing reeks of Dan, do you? No, I don't. I don't think it wreaks of Dan. Okay. I really, I don't, I think that you took a shot at Russell Wilson.

You probably either don't think you can get Deshaun Watson or no Deshaun Watson as going to play this year. And I think they draft somebody. I still think you go out and draft somebody, with the first pick, or with the first overall that you have, excuse me, your first round pick. I think you've got to still take a shot in a draft on somebody because you really can't sit here and say, we know it's going to be Carson's for the next five years or the next 10 years. It's just impossible to say that after his previous history.

So, yeah, I mean, I think if they like somebody, they should draft that somebody because this is a one-year flyer. on Jalen Hertz. They can get out of it. There's no pain at the end of the year. And to me, if there had been multi years of guaranteed money on Carson Wentz's contract, I don't think that they would have traded for him. I think this is a one-year flyer. I talked to somebody late yesterday that said they have to be competitive this year.

The new name, the new brand, the lack of excitement. They have to have a competitive team. And they think that they're close. Now, I'm not saying that they use those words verbatim, but they implied that they think they're close because they were six and six. They had the toughest schedule in the league. And then all of a sudden they got COVID, you know, rampant throughout the team. And they feel like COVID destroyed their, you know, their possible run through December and into the postseason.

And all they needed was just an upgrade at quarterback. You know, they preferred a massive upgraded quarterback with Russell Wilson, but, you know, they feel like Carson Wentz is an upgrade over Taylor Heineke, and that they're close and they have to be competitive this year. And if it doesn't work out like it hasn't with his last two places, which, you know, is the massive red flag, as we've discussed. I talked to Cooley about this yesterday, but just repeating, you know, Philadelphia took the largest salary cap hit in the history of the league

to run him out of Philadelphia. By the way, after trading all of those picks up in the draft in 2016 to draft them, the Colts sent a first and a third to Philadelphia, and then they ran them after a year before Philadelphia even used their first round pick. So, you know, that's, to me, that trumps all else in terms of the conversation. That, you know, Doug Peterson and Frank Reich, after all that they had invested, said, nope, we don't even want him in the building after a year. See ya. And those guys, by the way, are pretty accomplished offensive coaches and pretty respected coaches as well.

But I wanted to read this quote which Ben Standing put in his athletic column today, which actually came from Ron Rivera's interview with me on the radio show. I just didn't remember it because it was so long ago. It was all of like a month and a half ago. but he put this quote in there talking about what they were going to be looking for in their next quarterback. Quote, the biggest thing for us is leadership. On the field, in the clubhouse, out in public, the guy has to set the example for the team. He's got to be the complete leader. Well, Ron just acquired somebody that does not fit that description, which is why I said yesterday and the day before, this move reeked of panic.

You know, they couldn't get Wilson. They realized the guy like Tribisky, who they liked, was probably not going to pick them in free agency. In fact, the Giants appear to be the frontrunner for Tribusky. Gropolo was going to be, you know, whatever the Garoppolo situation, he's hurt right now. And they had to make a move. And they picked a guy that doesn't fit any of that description,

which Ron Rivera described. to me about a month and a half ago on the guy that they were going to be looking for. So this is a one-year flyer that Scott Turner and Ron Rivera and for whatever reason their organization has a chance to turn

them around and even if they don't that he provides better quarterback play on a team that's close. He's a better player than Trubitsky. I would rather have Carson Went as a player than Garapolo. I know that

Garapolo is a phenomenal dude. We both watch Trubisky, and I think he's soft. I'd rather have, I'd rather have a flyer on Went than Trubisky. There's nothing for me with Trubisky.

I think he's done. There's some interesting stuff with Garapolo. Is there any other potential trades or moves you could make throughout the year? They probably gotted those. and so I'm not going I wouldn't think it's a panicked move

plus they already knew they're in the business of of knowing that Carson Wentz is going to be available at some point so I don't think it's a panic move I just think it's plan C yeah it's definitely plan C or lower I mean I don't know however you want to

plan A was like you know one of the real big names. Rogers, but Rogers wasn't a possibility. Wilson Watson. They were probably going to have to wait too long, and they didn't want to wait and then be left at the altar. Wilson was the guy. They went heavy after him. They offered a bona fide, big time offer, and Seattle wanted to trade him to the AFC.

Didn't want to trade him within the conference, and Wilson preferred Denver over any of the other options, which I think included not only Washington, but Philadelphia as well. But in terms of some of the other options. Well, let me ask you this, first of all. You do agree that Wentz, no matter how bad of a guy he is, he's an upgrade on the field over Taylor Heineke.

No question. Okay. Sam Monson, the guy from... He's like a bigger, stronger, faster, Taylor Heineke. In some ways, when you watch him play, they both move around quite a bit. They both take some unnecessary risk. They both make some unbelievable off-script plays, they can make throws on schedule, both have accuracy problems. They're a lot of like, which is just the bigger, stronger, faster, Heineke. And not a phenomenal dude. Because like, everyone, like, Heineke's the best dude ever. Right. From everything I heard. Exactly. Much better arm strength, like NFL starter arm strength. I mean, Wents has legit talent.

You loved Wins. There was a couple years. I mean, that second year in Philly before he got hurt, he was so special, so special. And I'm not going to blame Philly for putting up a banner of Nick Fultz, but seriously, we're in the business now of, like, egos. You know that's not going to make any your starting dude feel good. even if Fulza's his friend. Like, that was crazy to do that. They should have put a poster up together or something.

I don't know. But that's Philly. Like, Philly's going to put a statue of Rocky Balbollah. What do you think, you know, so the reports are, you know, and I've had multiple people on, you know, I've had somebody on from Indy, I've had somebody on from Philly. We've all, as Washington, you know, followers. See how I didn't even say fans anymore? And I certainly didn't say commanders.

As Washington followers, we've all read the stories. And you know what? I don't even think we needed to read the stories. The fact that Indy moved on from him after a year, after investing a first and a third, with no clear-cut alternative to him. It's not like they had like a young quarterback that they're going to go to like Trey Lansing in San Francisco.

They've got Sam Ealinger as the quarterback. You know, we've heard the, you know, Ruben Frank from NBC Philadelphia said, you know, entitled, difficult to coach, narcissistic, you know, not a bad guy, but, you know, doesn't get along with everybody, kind of clickish, certainly, you know, a leadership profile that was flawed. I mean, how does that work when that person is your quarterback in the building? I mean, you were there when Griffin was there. Griffin, though, wasn't as established. he was a rookie, but, you know, obviously entitled, narcissistic,

you know, all of those things applied to him as well. What's that like as a teammate? Here's what it's like. Win more games than you lose or win 60 plus percent, 65 percent of your games, and they're getting praised and hyped, and they're pretty good. Start losing games? Not good. Problems. They were nine.

What coaches call? we find our character when we lose. Some of it's actually true. Right. And you find your real character in a quarterback when you lose. He plays poorly. And how does he handle it with the media? How does he handle it with his team?

And how does he handle it working with his coaches to practice the next week or the next couple weeks after that? Can you shrug it off and say, that's it? Let's go work. Let's get better. Or no. And that's a big part of it.

And he doesn't have that. So if Washington is close and they can go 11 and 6 or 12 and 5, it'll be fine. He'll be fine. You go 7 and 9 and he starts taking to blame, I'll bet there's some coaches unhappy with it. Yeah, 7 and 10, remember, 17 game schedule. 7 and 10. I got the first couple, right? Like 11 to 6.

So Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus was on with me yesterday, and I just was curious as to how they had evaluated him last year. They evaluated 38 quarterbacks. He was 22nd. He said essentially the 27 touchdown passes and seven interceptions were misleading. He had a high number of turnover-worthy plays during a stretch in which he had like the fifth best QBR in the game during like a 12-game stretch. He also led the league in turnover-worthy throws. So he kind of suggested that he got a little bit lucky last year to a certain

degree. But he also brought up a quarterback name when we started comparing the alternatives. And it's a guy that I've always liked. And he, you know, he got injured last year, tore his ACL in the one year starting for Sean Payton. But Jameson Winston would have cost hardly anything. There would have been no market really for him, for whatever reason. And Sam suggested that Winston just has a much higher ceiling, even though he comes with lots of chaos as well in terms of all of the turnovers, et cetera. Do you think Wence is better than James Winston as an alternative? No. I think James Winston has great leadership. everything I've heard about James Winston.

Coaches love him in the building. He works his butt off. And the funny thing about the turnovers is we're still talking about a young dude. You know, especially his last year in Tampa. Is this third year or fourth year? It was more than that, right? No. It wasn't more than this fourth year in Tampa.

It might have been. But in the longevity of quarterback. The draft, the draft was the fifth. The draft was the 15 draft, right? He was drafted in 15 with Marieto, right? One, two. So it would have been his... It was fifth year in Tampa.

The year that he had 30 and 30, or whatever the numbers were. I think it was 30 touchdowns, 33 interceptions. Or maybe I had that flipped around, and it was 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. Something like that. Yeah, it was 33 touchdowns and 30 picks. And he really had to try hard to get those last couple picks in that last game, which was impressive.

to have a 30 for 30 guy, 30 and 30 guy. But I think it helped, I think it really helped by going to New Orleans and being around Breeze and Peyton. And I'm not so afraid of the picks, Kev. I just, I think that you can overcome throwing a lot of interceptions, my, my belief. because I think you just try to limit risk. I think as a coach, as a coordinator, let's limit risk, and let's talk him out of risk,

and let's talk through the process of what we want to do here. I mean, it's like me and you're playing golf, man. You're like, okay, where can I not hit it? But then four holes in, we're like, screw it, we're out. Yeah. Okay, in the water. Like, ah, man, but if it had a drawn, If I could have had just one more yard to dry,

it would have hit the bank and rolled up. Yeah, I think I would have rather had James than when. I want to, I'm with Ron's initial quote. Like, I want top-to-bottom leadership, a guy that I can consistently build around, a guy that I can work with, a guy that everyone loves in the building. I want a guy that gets in the huddle, and everybody looks at and says,

let's go, score, we're going to score on this drive, and everyone believes in it. That's who I want at quarterback. It's who I think I have to have at quarterback, and I think it's how every young quarterback should be trained in a lot of ways is to be a leader. And in some ways, most quarterbacks are. They are in charge.

So, yes, I think Wentz would be below Winston for me. I think the one interesting one that I saw was Jordan Love. but he had such a terrible performance in the one game he played for Green Bay this year at the time he played Green Bay was off. I forget what you thought of him coming out. I'm not, I was in no... I don't know what the Packers saw to move up

and trade for him, or move up into the draft and get him. Yeah. He's a Utah State guy. I think I've met him, I've played catch with him, great dude. And again, all those leadership intangibles, I think he has. I thought Jordan Love, and I watch closely,

his senior year. I thought in big games, he pressed and I thought he played with a lot of anxiety. And I don't know if I can get that out of a dude. When he settled down and played, he could really play. But when he was pressed and thought he had to make plays and that first round grade got put on, I thought he panicked a little bit. And you don't like seeing that when the big lights come on the diminishing performance. I don't love that.

And that's the same thing he did in Green Bay. He had big time opportunity to be an NFL starting quarterback this upcoming season. If he played well in a small sample size, he would have been. They would have had great trade value in him, or they would have moved on from Rogers, one or the other, probably the trade value. But now you're looking at love as, like, I mean, we can see what he is if we bring him in. You said something. It's interesting.

It's hard to coach that kind of anxiety. there is kind of an innate ability. Like you either go out there and you believe and you're calm and you're cool. I guess, you know, reps get you to that place that's much more than, much better than like anxiety ridden. But, you know, that was one of the things I actually thought in watching Dwayne Haskins that was positive. When he was out there, it really didn't seem like he was anxious, you know, or overwhelmed,

or nervous. I'm not saying that that made him bad, but it was like natural to him to not be rattled necessarily. Again, it didn't lead to great results, but that's one of those things I think that is kind of innate, especially when you're walking out there for kind of the first time. I want to just mention go back to the drafting of a quarterback, because my position is this. if they really like somebody a lot that has a big time upside, like maybe Malik Willis, which I think he has a big upside. And yes, people I've asked Cooley to watch Malik Willis tape

and give us a breakdown of the quarterbacks before the draft. And other players now, because some people don't want them to take a quarterback. If there's somebody in that draft that they really like, I would absolutely still take the quarterback. But here's one of the stories that came out, you know, about Carson Wentz, that the drafting of Jalen Hertz, oh, sent him, you know, over the edge. Like, how could you do that? Well, I mean, I guess they had concerns about him.

Like, if Washington traded for Carson Wentz on kind of a flyer, and they pass on a quarterback that they really like, let's just say Malik Willis is there at 11, and Marty Herney and Martin Mayhew and Ron Rivera, and Gribble and Stokes and Polion and all of them. If they all decide, if they all love Willis, they should draft Willis. The chances that Carson Wentz,

it turns out to be the long-term answer, are less than 50-50. So if this is a one year we needed to upgrade, we needed to be competitive, well, then you're still in the long-range thinking at quarterback. there's no way that they can be convinced that Wentz is like their next five to seven year answer. No way. No, I don't think there's any way, but there's also no way Malik Willis gets to 11.

And I don't see them getting past potentially eight where, like someone like Atlanta. Why did you say that about Willis? Have you watched Willis? No, but I've looked at all the pre-draft stuff in terms of conversation. I started to do all the things I do like high. weight, stuff, stats, all the things, read some things about what people say about him before I watched it. But it's also the NFL. And he's probably going to go very early.

And I'll bet you if they really thought, hey, this is the year we draft a quarterback, they think Kenny Pickett might go before 11. Yeah. Quarterbacks, man. Quarterbacks. And I know most people have picket like around 15 to 20 or whatever in their mock drafts. He's a quarterback. A first round quarterback climbs like nothing I've seen in the last 10 years.

You know what his hand size was, right? Was it tiny? Eight and a half inch hand size. He'd have the smallest hands of any starting quarterback or projected starting quarterback in the NFL. This has been a... He can't really spin it. So do you...

He can spin it, though. So do you think this is an overrated thing, or do you think it's a relevant thing? hand size. Well, I think it's one of those things that, first of all, I think anything like that could be overcome. But on the analytic basis of it, how many small-handed quarterbacks have had great success? Fair to you. Well, Joe Burroughs got nine-inch hands. I mean, they were, that was a concern for him when he came out, is that they were kind of small. Pickett's hands are a half-inch smaller. Do you have big hands or not? Didn't we do that? Somebody asked me the other day. Somebody said, and now I don't even know who they were talking about,

somebody said they were listening to a show and the guys were talking about hand size and somebody made the comment. Sheehan and Cooley did this or Sheehan had big hands. Did we do that for the show? Because I do have big hands. I don't know. I don't remember what they were measured at, but I can very easily palm a basketball. So I know that my hands are not small. I don't know if they would register on the scale of extra large. I put it this way. I wear a double XL golf glove. A regular XL is too tight on my hand.

So my hands are probably bigger than average hands. So did we do that on the show? I'm about the same. If there was a, if there is a triple XL, I'll get it. Because the double XL after four or five times, when that leather shrinks, then I rip it. Did we do that on the show? Did we measure hands on a show once or not?

I don't think so. I don't remember doing that either, but this person said they were, and I forget who it was. Maybe it was Chris Russell was talking about Cooley and I doing it on the show and that, I don't know. Anyway, I don't know either. I don't really recall that, but there's a lot of things. We had a lot of time together.

So it seems like that. It seems like one of the things you would have wanted to do. Yeah, no, I'm actually not interested in that, though. As you say that right now, I'm looking at my hand. I'm like, I don't, I'm thinking, because we've got measured at the combine, but I don't even remember my size of my hand. You don't? Well, if you, if you buy triple X gloves, golf gloves, you've got, you know,

bigger than average hands, obviously. Well, but here's the other thing with my hands. What? I have like sausage fingers and like my wrists are really big

so it's they might not have the I have the girth not the length in the hand no I don't know I mean my hand's not I don't have a short hand but my

my hand would weigh six ounces more than your hand yeah no I remember you've got kind of chubby fat fingers like they're like pause. Yeah.

My son has, like, my son actually has pause. Look at his hands. Like, this is weird with those weird hands on you. They're so big for a four-year-old. Adam Schaefter. But, yeah, I don't, I don't know. I think he could be overcome. Because of the point, like, and nobody thought Drew Brees could be great

quarterback because he was short. And for the most part, I don't want a short quarterback. But Drew Brees could be my quarterback. right you know and you go through that list of what people overcome and what they do better I don't know it just depends on the guy I guess um hold on I got the uh so do you want to know the quarterback with the quarterback with the biggest hands in the NFL you want to take a guess of like starters uh for the charger Herbert

He's got big hands, not the biggest. He's a quarter inch shorter than the guy with the biggest hands in the NFL. Oh, so I was pretty darn close. I don't know. Russell Wilson, 10 and a quarter inch hands. I actually did know that. That's funny, I have heard that before. I wouldn't have remembered it.

Then that's followed by. I mean, listen to the quarterbacks with big hands and consider where they rank among the elite quarterbacks. Russell Wilson, 10 and a quarter inch, Aaron Rogers, 10 and an 8th, Josh Allen, 10 in an 8th. Matt Stafford, Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, Tua, Tungaviloa, and Carson Wentz all have 10-inch hands. Then Rathosberger, this is from last year starters and cousins, their hand size 9 and 7-8s. And then it's Hertz Jones, Mac Jones, and then at the bottom of the list, smallest, hands last year of anybody that started a game, Taysom Hill, eight and three quarters.

Burrow, Tannahill, and Gough, all with nine-inch hands. Burrow would, on the list of like the back half of the league starting quarterback by hand size, Burrow and Mahomes, nine inch and nine and a quarter-inch hands. The rest of the quarterbacks aren't that good. You know, Mayfield, Bridgewater, Heineke, Darnold, Fields, Carr's got small hands. Tassum Hill has the smallest, but if Kenny Pickett starts a game in the NFL next year, he'll have the smallest hands in the league.

It's a thrilling conversation. So listen, I want to read this tweet to you. Adam Schefter last night at 838 p.m. The 49ers have given quarterback Nate Sudfeld a one-year fully guaranteed $2 million deal with upside to get it to $3 million per a slur. source. There were two other teams interested in Sudfeld, with in the words of one source, quote, all believing he has starter potential in the league, closed quote. The guy that Philadelphia put into the game to tank the game against Washington at the end of

the 2020 season has starter potential in the league. Did you ever see that with Nate Sudfeld? because Kyle Shanahan believes that Nate Sudfeld's good enough, and there was competition, and he signed a $2 million base salary deal with upside to $3 million, and people believe that Nate Sudfeld could be a starter in the league. I like Nick Suddfeld a lot, and I didn't think that Philly tanks the game by putting Sudfeld in. There's a lot of ways you can tank a game with anybody in.

But starter, no, I didn't see. that per se knowing him. I think he'd play. But the same time, two to three million is really, it's not, it's nothing money for a backup quarterback. Yeah. And I think every team is going to say,

especially if they're trading Jimmy Garofalo, just to ease any anxiety of fans, like, yeah, we think he could start. We think he might be a guy. And we really see something. And then if they had to play him, they said, we thought we acquired a starter where we got him.

they don't say, hey, look, this is a backup or this is a, we'll see what he can do. Because then when you throw him in the game because you didn't get anyone else, or you didn't like Trey Lance for some reason, you're like, yeah, this is all we had left. It's just, I think that's right. I think that's what you do. I would love to see Nate Sonsfeld be a starter. I think it was a great dude. I just didn't see it as it.

I don't, I don't see it. I don't see it. Doesn't mean he hasn't learned a lot where he's been and evolved over the last few years, because I haven't seen him in a while. But the starter would be like fall into Houston when they're on four starting quarterbacks in four years going to start in my opinion. But again, there's not enough NFL film to really evaluate exactly what he would be. There's not that longevity with that stuff. I still have this weird feeling. And maybe the Nate Sudfeld acquisition, which, you know, is a. backup quarterback and they already have Trey Lance there probably contradicts this gut

feel. But I've just had this gut feeling that the 49ers aren't going to trade Jimmy Garapolo. You know, I don't know why they would. Like if they're not going to get back a big haul for Garapolo, and by the way, he's injured coolly. He had shoulder surgery. He's not going to be able to

throw until, you know, like late June. I just, like, I know Kyle likes him. I know I know Mike likes him. You know, they love him personally. You know, they understand he's not an elite quarterback and that he's got some flaws, but they've gone to a Super Bowl and they were within a hair of going to a second one because they're really good at coaching players and they've got a really good run game and they had an excellent defense. And Garoppolo actually came up really big in a

few games, but I just have this weird feeling and I've had this feeling and maybe I should change it now that they've, you know, assigned a backup quarterback and it's. not Trey Lance, that would be the backup to Lance, that they're not going to trade him. But I'm sure I'm wrong on that. I wouldn't be surprised by that. Mike said it, whatever five years ago, like Kirk Cousins can take you to a Super Bowl. That's how, that's in some ways how they view a quarterback. Yeah, that's right.

That's true. I need a guy that can take me there. I don't need a guy that can win at all. I mean, you want to win the Super Bowl. I don't need a guy that can win every game for me. I need a guy that can help take my team there, part of the team. I wanted to circle back to something just about the leadership thing again, because you played with some quarterbacks who were kind of born leaders like Mark Brunel,

and then you played with guys like Jason Campbell who weren't really, they weren't extroverts, they weren't, you know, vocal leaders necessarily. And I'm just curious as... But Jason Campbell got along with everybody. Everyone liked Jason. Understood. But who were the leaders? on the team when Jason Campbell was the quarterback.

Clinton? Shoot. That was that weird year where we started acquiring Archiletta and Brandon Lloyd and I, and just so you know, I really liked, I really

still liked those guys that I played with. So I'm not saying, but that was that weird year where we started acquiring a lot of veteran players that got paid a lot of money and you're like who is like what is this team right it was a little bit i think it was a little bit weird i'm trying to think of who chris samuels was it was chris samuels was a leader chris samuel was

has always been incredibly respected is not an outward leader london fletcher would have been considered a leader of that team what about philip daniels great dude i loved him in the locker room had some leadership ability was not necessarily the team leader. It would have been London if it would have been anybody. What about Sean Springs?

Again, no. Okay. Amazing player, amazing dude. I think to really lead a team you got practice most days and Sean was famous for being like, yeah, I'll be out there on Friday and I will play.

And that was some of what Clinton did too. I was fine with that. But Sean was a guy that I talked to. Again, we had a group of a ton of the guys, and in my opinion, a lot of times, you just need that voice when you're in the huddle. If some of this leadership stuff is so faux, and you know I believe that. Like, I had a lot of really good friends on that team, and I would have played hard with

all those dudes and did. But the leadership ability comes out on the field when you need it. So. Like, that's the thing Brunel had. Like, I didn't need someone to give me a peptock, and I didn't need someone to tell me I needed a practice server. Oh, here's a good leader on that team. one of the people I looked up to the very most, James Fresh.

James Trash practiced harder than any person I've ever watched, and I modeled my practice after James Fresh. Yeah, interesting. And I know we've talked about that before. Yeah, by the way, what about you? Did people look to you for leadership? No. Not vocal. So what was the difference when you had a quarterback in the huddle like Brunel,

who was clearly a take-charge guy versus a guy that was just well-liked that may not have been as much with Jason Campbell. Confidence in the execution of the offense entirely. And the other thing that I, like, and leadership comes in weird ways, and I'm trying to think of who exactly said this. But I think it was my rookie year.

He said, we need you to make a play. You're a guy that has to make a play for us today. and I think it was like game three, my rookie year. I was blown away. And then my, and it's like, okay, well, they need it. I'll do it. And when your teammates can ask that, and that's in-game stuff, and Clinton did it multiple times, and Santana did it multiple times,

like, hey, we've got to have you make a play. We got to, that kind of stuff is not necessarily hype leadership. It's asking your teammates and friends to make a play. play for them or to make a play for the team. That to me was the best kind of leadership. I wish I had to have had more of it. I wasn't, I was always introverted as a kid. I tried in college to do some, to kind of, my senior year to kind of be a leader of the team. I'm awful at that. I'm awful at guys around my age, inspiring leadership. What's funny is I've coached football and I'm helping with some, like, I feel phenomenal around young kids because I can ask.

I can tell them what I need out of them. And I can help motivate them, and I can help them in different ways. So it's much different in that situation, but I'm also almost 40 now. And I've been around it a lot longer than when I was 26 or 25 and just playing hard. It's a big difference. What was Rex? Some people have and some people don't. What was Rex like in the huddle?

Rex is actually awesome in the huddle. Rex is the epitome of confidence. but Rex has never fully back like the other thing is like and this goes back to win the other thing is you have to the team's got to fully back the quarterback if he's the leader like Rex could have been

the leader and I think probably in Chicago it was Erlacker and Rex is a dude and Rex is always a guy that everyone like like everyone on the team pretty much everyone hangs out with Rex, plays cards with Rex, talks and he has confidence

But Rex has never backed. And you never knew it was going to be Rex the next week. Right. So that's, there's, that guy has to be believed in by the organization if you want him to lead your organization. They have to prove that too. And for Carson, in fairness, Philly didn't do that for him. What was Robert like in the huddle? I honestly was almost never in the huddle with Robert.

So I don't particularly recall exactly what Robert was in the huddle. What about in practice? Sorry. I played like four plays a game. What about in practice? Again, I don't have a, I think he was always really confident. But then I will say the next couple years watching him at practice, he was a different dude. He was a completely different dude and lost confidence by year three.

Yeah. So by year three, he just doesn't have his own innate confidence, which he did in year one. But as far as what he said, what he did, I wasn't there in there enough to have that. I just don't remember what he. Okay. I know you have to, I know you've got to go. So let's get you started on some, you know, quarterback and other. I think they're going to be looking at these two inside linebackers, Devin Lloyd and Nkobie Dean, perhaps at 11 overall.

There's some receivers in the draft. Free agency, you know, starts next week. So if you, you know, in the midst of a fishing trip, you know, just decide that you want to start watching some tape on your phone, have at it, and then you can join us and tell us what you think. It's going to be pretty warm next week here, so we'll see. It's going to snow here tomorrow. All right.

Thanks for doing this. Appreciate it. Up next, we will talk some college hoops. Talk Maryland, Michigan State. The Terps nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback last night in the Big Ten tournament. It fell short. Their season is over. Jeff Erman.

will join me to discuss who the next coach at Maryland will be. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. A chance to tire take the lead. Shot clock off. That's Russell. Step back three for the lead. No, Christy with a rebound and he's fouled. Yeah, last night, Maryland was down 20 and nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback.

It fell short. I didn't hate the shot. the stepback three from Fats Russell, but they had a chance to win it there, which was just incredible if you were watching the game last night. Maryland's season ends, first losing season for the Terps since the 92-93 season, which was the first season following probation. I'm here to talk about last night's game this year's season, but more importantly for most of you, what's next is Jeff Irman.

Jeff, of course, the owner, publisher, and primary contributor to Inside Maryland Sports. You can find that, Maryland.247 Sports.com. Follow Jeff on Twitter like I do at Jeff underscore Erman. So, obviously, we are now into the what's next mode. But I'm not going to lie to you, and I've talked about this on the podcast and the radio show. I actually really came to enjoy watching this team over the last, say, month and a half. And I really wish, and I think a lot of Maryland fans, it kind of kept up with the team. Jeff think the same way, maybe not.

It's just a shame that Fats Russell couldn't have played for one of their better teams, because I loved watching him. Yeah, that's a really good point. He would have been fun on a team where there were more pieces around him and, you know, an established winning culture, not a season that was lost like a month into this season, especially the version of that we saw him in the past month. I mean, not that he wasn't solid earlier this season, but if he'd been at that level all year, maybe, you know, maybe things go a little bit differently, but he was, he was the guy down

the stretch. He was probably their best player if you put the whole season together. I don't think you could really argue against that. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think, you know, in hindsight, actually, before we get to this, the game last night, I just want to mention this for the people that watched it. They really struggled with their front court. It got dominated.

Wahab was not very good. Reese was not very good. There have been moments for both of those players, and I actually, you know, have, I'm optimistic for Reese. I think he's got a lot of skill. He's just got to get much stronger physically. They went small. They pressured. and it was amazing what really happened.

Forget the 20-point lead. It was still like a 10-point lead with just a few minutes left. And they turned Michigan State over, and I thought there was a key sequence in the game, Jeff, and I'm curious as to whether or not you agree with me. Fat score got fouled, and they cut it to two at 70 to 68 with about minute five, minute six left. And Danny Manning pulled the press off for that one position.

possession. And I thought they had Michigan State totally rattled. I thought there was a chance they could have won the game right there on another turnover. And look, a lot of coaches will do that. When it gets, you know, a big comeback gets to one possession, they'll drop, they'll say, okay, we just need one stop now. They don't want to foul. They don't want to give up an easy bucket. But I thought he should have kept the press on in that moment. And I think maybe the result would have turned out differently. Yeah, I think you and everyone on Twitter, we're screaming. about that one. I can't knock him too much because like you said, I think

probably more than half of coaches in that situation say to themselves, all right, the press has gotten us back to where we want to be. Let's play this straight up, you know, not take any chances for this final minute. You know, kind of like football coaches are almost always going to go prevent defense in a spot like that, you know, just because they're just

conservative by nature. They don't want to be overaggressive, but you do have to question because Michigan State was an absolute mess for those final however many minutes it was. I mean, they couldn't get a hand on the ball. They're throwing the ball away on an inbound pass. So it would be interesting if you could redo it and see if he'd kept the press on.

And even if they'd press more during the season, at least the way it looks last night, obviously that's a really small sample size. And realistically, they probably don't have the depth to press a lot. That's right. They made it interesting at least. You know, they said, again, to erase two-20-point deficits against the same team in the same week, obviously it's a little. it's a little damning about your effort to start the games, which has remained,

which has been a problem now for years, but also shows that this team never stopped fighting despite the fact that it's been apparent that it was a lost season for months now. Yeah, I, you know, they fell behind by six and then they got, you know, with the pressure, got him back into it and they actually had the possession that we played coming in, the possession. Did you, do you agree with me? I didn't hate the possession. I didn't hate the shot there. He's made that shot a ton over the last month and a half.

No, you got a ride with the one that got you there. He's the one. He was the guy again last night, and it was a good look. You know, it's a shot that he makes probably half the time. And, you know, he's got that quick step back and freed himself and got a pretty good look. There's no one else you can say should have gotten that shot. I mean, Dante Scott had an okay night. Eric Ayala was struggling all night.

He was five of 17 overall. So I think it's a good shot. the shot before by Fats were the wild drive to the basket, where he kind of tried to flip it up and it just got nothing but backboard. That's the one that you would like to have back, I think. Yeah, they missed a couple of key free throws down the stretch too. Eric missed one. Fats missed one. Michigan State was insanely hot in the first half. I think the problem, and let's kind of move the conversation to the season, which, yeah, in many ways once we got past that Virginia Tech game and Turgeon was gone.

It felt very much like an interim season, a loss season. You know, it's funny, I say that, and I didn't miss a game. I kept watching. I thought that there were some pieces there. I didn't think they were as bad as everybody thought they were. In fact, I think, you know, had it stayed together, I think they would have been better defensively, and maybe they would have been a bubble team somewhere.

I mean, there were games in there this year. You know, the first Michigan State game at home. the Wisconsin game at home, the Purdue game on Super Bowl Sunday. You know, you turn two of those three results around, and they probably would have gone into last night's game on the bubble. I mean, I didn't think that they were, I thought that they, that they were good enough to end up with a better record. But a lot of that was circumstance and the changes and just the turmoil, I'm sure.

Yeah, they were clearly talented enough to end up with a better record. not nearly as talented as we thought. You know, obviously some of these guys simply were not as quite, you know, did not perform to the level. You know, you look at Caduce Wahab, CBS Sports at him radio that is the number four transfer in the country last year. I mean, that is lofty territory when you think about how many thousands of players are in the transfer portal.

And, you know, he didn't necessarily live up to that. The bench guys didn't necessarily provide what you thought. So you're playing the whole year without a bench. and with the team that just isn't good at three-point shooting. So that's hard to overcome no matter what. But either way, I think clearly it was not the number 21 team coming into the season, number 21 team in the country. And once Turgent gave up on the season, you know,

it would have been hard to fault these guys for quitting, you know. And then they didn't quit. Danny Manning did a nice job. And I think another thing that you look at this season is kind of speaks to the quality of the Maryland job is that, you know, you can have your worst season in 30 years and you're still only a few wins away from making the tournament. So that shows you that you can, you know, if that's the worst season that you've had in decades, then it's, I think it's inherently a pretty conducive job to winning. All right. So let's talk about that.

What are you hearing about who the next coach will be? You know, Kevin, there's a lot of different things swirling around right now, nothing concrete. You know, we've continued the names I've heard all along were, as I've mentioned to you before, Kevin Willard and Andy Enfield before he got this recent extension, which takes him off the board. Ed Cooley, who I don't think is going to end up being a guy, I think he'll take a nice big extension at Providence with the season that he's having. And Mike Bray, you know, during the past couple months, I've heard his name more consistently, and there's a lot of rumors flying around right now surrounding Mike Bray.

So he's another one to watch. And then, you know, I keep thinking that there's probably a mystery candidate or two that just hasn't leaked out. They've kept it fairly quiet throughout. And I just have a hard time believing that those aforementioned coaches are the only ones on the list. So, you know, something should happen before long ago. I know that they want to make a hire, you know, by mid-to-late March is what I was told,

you know, a few weeks ago with mid-March probably on the, optimistic side just because whoever you're, you know, whoever you're hiring might still be coaching. So let's talk about Mike Bray, because I've heard some of the same things here recently, and you and I both know that 10 years ago, Mike Bray was, you know, on the list and I think would have taken the gig. And, you know, there were a lot of people in the program that pushed back on it. You know, at the time, Mike Bray had had successful seasons at Notre Dame, but he had never, he had only once been at of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. And really up until, you know, those two elite eight runs in 15 and 16,

he's pretty much been a first weekend and out tournament coach. But, you know, they've had good teams and they've got a good team this year. They're going back to the tournament this year. And it's Notre Dame. I mean, Notre Dame basketball isn't what, you know, maybe it used to be, you know, back in the day with Digger or anything like that. And I think Marilyn, you know, has bigger upside than Notre Dame in basketball. But it just feels to me, and I don't mean this disrespectfully towards Mike,

because he's a great guy and he's a really solid coach. It just feels to me, but more importantly, I think it will feel to the fan base that this was a 10-year-ago hire, not a 22 hire. What do you think? Yeah, I don't think you could be more accurate. It is. It feels like it's a hire you make 10 years ago. And, you know, if you had hired him 10 years ago,

there's a decent chance that you've done, you've been more successful during the past 10 years. But now he's 62. He's tailed off a little bit. Obviously, he's had a good season kind of rebound this year, finishing second in the ACC. But the three previous years, he didn't make the NCAA tournament after that really strong run where he had the back-to-back elite eights and things like that. He's been solid. He's got a winning record in the ACC at Notre Dame, I think, around 50, 57.

He's like 65% over. So the numbers are good, but there's no, there's not really an excitement factor. He's older. There's nothing splashy about it. And again, it just feels like the higher you could have made 10 years ago, but not now. So, you know, again, nothing against Ray, who like you said, I think is a good coach, especially offensively. That would be an interesting aspect of it as you kind of be the reverse turgeon with

really good offense, but not as good defense. It's kind of the opposite of what we've seen, but I think the fan backlash would be pretty strong if they hide my break. Oh, yeah. Well, I have a feeling that whatever it is, there might be a lot of fan backlash. And this is what, you know, the concern was all along. And you know this, is that a lot of people in the fan base, we all kind of agree, okay? I think there was a bit of a divide, but yet I think we all agree on. on a lot of the basics.

Like, Turgeon was a good coach, but he didn't get it done in March. And so therefore, it got stale. And so let's try something new. You know, 2020 may have changed all that,

but it, you know, we never had a chance for 2020 because of COVID. So it is what it is. And then I also think everybody believes it's a top 10 to 15 job, but a lot of people don't understand. No practice facility.

The compensation hasn't been great relative to a top 10 to 15 job. You know, they haven't had guys to step up in the past to look at buyouts and big numbers. And you've got an AD right now that, you know, what are you hearing in terms of this search? Is this a Damon search? Is this a Damon and Daryl Pines search? You know, how much are they relying on Gary? What are you hearing about how the search is going?

I think it's largely a Damon and search committee, or excuse me, search firm. Parker, yeah, Parker executive searched the firm from Georgia that he hired. Largely their process with Damon kind of providing the, or excuse me, Daryl Pines providing the final stamp. You know, I don't think he's going to sign off on anyone with much baggage from what I've been told, hence no interest in guys like Rick Petino. And Gary has not really been involved at all from what I'm told. He would love, I think, to be more involved.

He's said that publicly that he wants to help, and he's expressed kind of his desperation to see the program become elite before, you know, while he can still watch it. So I think he's been excluded. I had a report yesterday about that. He gave me a quote basically saying, Darrell Pines and Damon Evans will make the hire, and I know nothing about it, you know.

So kind of saying it without saying it, because he's never won, usually not one to air dirty laundry, but I think the quote was telling. So, you know, for whatever reason, they've decided not to really involve him in the process. Which is really unfortunate from my point of view. Because, yeah. So on Petino, it sounds to me like you think what I think, which is it wasn't, you know, it was as much, if not more about Maryland never doing. it, then Patino not accepting it?

Oh, absolutely. I think if Maryland really wanted him, there's a decent chance he would have taken the job. I don't think he comes out and makes that comment publicly about how it's a great job, but he won't be the guy to coach at Maryland if he thinks that there's any chance that they're interested in him. So I think it was just a rumor started by who knows, maybe some boosters who wanted to see, wanted to put some pressure on them to consider him. I don't know. I mean, obviously came from a radio show, but Yeah, that was on Maryland side. They just don't want to hire anybody with that kind of baggage.

And even if somebody with half the baggage Petino has, I don't think they would hire. Do you agree with that proceeding that way? Well, it's easy for me to say no because it's not my job. You know, that's going to be gone suddenly if he does something wrong and there's a scandal and all of a sudden, you know, you're looking for employment. but without that included in the equation, I would take a shot on him, to be quite honest. He's probably got a good five years left.

He's one of the best coaches of all time. He's one of only two. He's been in the final four at three different schools. He would immediately bring excitement to the program, and I'm sure he would be able to turn the roster over really quickly. So if it were me, I would have given it a shot, but again, it's not my head that would be on the chopping block if something happened.

I wouldn't even think twice about it. The season tickets would be sold out within a couple of weeks. He'd use the transfer portal to make this a top 25 team next year, and within three years you'd be competing for final fours in national championships. To me, it's brass tax time. The program is stale. I think one of the big mistakes, Jeff, that programs like Maryland can make, especially in a big market, is that that pent up,

interest and demand will just always be there. And it always has been throughout our lifetime, you know, through the probation years, you know, and Maryland basketball is a big deal. Some of you that listen to the podcast don't understand why I talk a lot about it. Well, there are a lot of people that are super passionate. I'd put the fan base up there with any fan base in town in terms of the true passion. And that program's won a national championship. It's in the heart of the best high school basketball in the country and it needs a real shot in the arm right now. It really does.

And if they hire some mid-major program guy that's on the rise and they don't get it right, it could really set this program back to a point that I don't think any of us would have ever anticipated it getting to. People's attention spans just aren't that long. There's too much competition. There's too much, you know, to do. and you've got to win.

And with NIL and with the transfer portal and with guys like Will Wade still, you know, coaching, I'm pissed that they won't go after somebody like Petino because I agree with you. I think if they were aggressive and going after Petino that he would come take the job. And there would be an immediate injection of enthusiasm at a level we haven't seen since Gary left or since, or since, say, you know, the year we went into it, you write number two in the country with Diamond Stone. 2020 was exciting, too. Don't get me wrong. I mean, they were selling out the building at the end of the year, and there was a lot of juice for it.

But I'm pissed that they won't go down that road. Yeah, I think some of it also is like the Big Ten is such a different environment than like the SEC. Most of these coaches, people have mentioned, you know, NATO's and Bruce. Pearl and these other guys. It's a whole different culture down there. You can do a lot of things that you can get away with a lot that the Big Ten takes itself more seriously. It's like this snooty academic conference, and they've earned that.

They do have a lot of really good academic institutions, but it's kind of like the, you know, they're the ones wearing the tweet jacket with the little patches on the elbows smoking their pipe at the SEC. It's just win, baby, you know. And so, like you, so, you know, we're at a school. somewhere in the SEC, like Georgia or somewhere. I could see them going after Petino without thinking twice, whereas Maryland is probably like, it's kind of like,

what are the neighbors going to think if we do it, you know, that kind of thing, in terms of the other Big Ten schools. John Howard just took a swipe at one of the other coaches after a game. I mean, I get it, and I think you make a really good point there. I mean, the SEC and the Big Ten are totally different. The Big 12 and the Big Ten are totally different. I get it. I understand that part of it.

But Maryland's the one team in this league that is in a big market with a shitload of competition that most of these other places don't face. Yeah, and sometimes you just got to go big, and that never seems – well, I wouldn't say never. They did go big with a football facility, you know, the new football facility, we'll see how things play out there so they did. But basketball is obviously where more of the interest is you've got people who are starved for deep postseason runs and better recruiting and things like that.

And even if you hire a mid-major guy who does turn out to be the right guy, it's going to take a few years to get the excitement going because no one's going to know who he is. And, you know, you're already at that point where the fans are so apathetic. I mean, I couldn't tell you how many times I've heard some version of, you know, I've had season tickets. I've watched every game for 30 years, and today I forgot there was even a game on. I read that on my site so many times this year you wouldn't believe it.

So you do have to say, but I don't think honestly, from what I've been told, I don't think that they're factoring fan opinion in all that heavily. I think they're just more focused on who they think is the right hire. Yeah, it's concerning because it's kind of like, you know, and I'm not saying that the move to the Big Ten ultimately wasn't the right move, but the people that made the decision to move to the Big Ten weren't Maryland people. you know, Wallace Lowe, Kevin Anderson, and it's like there's just, there's this sense that I have that there's not an understanding of the urgency of the situation.

And how big of an upside there is by making the right higher. I mean, Damon Evans, he's on the spot here. This is the biggest decision he'll make is athletic director at any place he's ever been. Yeah, and the thing you said about Maryland people not being involved is another there's another whole the whole can of worms. There's a lot of people who feel like, you know,

the people in the athletic department of traditionally in recent years not been Maryland people or not had any previous ties to the school until they were employed there and that they tend to kind of keep Maryland people out of it for whatever reason

and Gary Williams' current, you know, Gary Williams' lack of involvement in this search being an example of that or they felt like, you know, Mark Turgeon kind of went out of his way not to involve former Maryland, you know, Maryland alums or to welcome them in, you know, whether that environment is, you know, a matter of people being threatened by feeling, feeling threatened by having, you know, Maryland people in there. I'm not sure. But that's something

that people continue to complain about, just the lack of, you know, true Maryland people being involved in these processes. All right. Exit question for Jeff Irman, McLaughlin Group style here. Who's the coach? You know, I wrote last week that if I had to install a betting favorite, it would be Kevin Willard. I would still, you know, I would probably, honestly, right now I put Willard and Bray maybe at ties at the top of the list. But, you know, I still have, there's some rumors that Willard could have already or could soon sign an extension at Seton Hall. I still have a hard time. seeing the Bray hire for all the reasons you and I just discussed.

But right now there's not really another guy whose name has a lot of juice behind it. So I'd say, you know, conservatively those guys would be the top two, but I still just keep waiting for another name to pop up. So we'll just have to see how it plays out. I'm with you. I think there is, you know, maybe one, you know, big surprise name out there. And we'll just see whether or not, you know, it develops, over the next month.

But, you know, it's, I think either one of those two hires, no offense to either one of them, it's not what a lot of people thought they would get if they ran Turgeon or if Turgeon were fired or Turgeon departed or whatever. I mean, you know, it's not going to be musselman or oats, you know. It's not going to be Pearl or Patino. And there are lots of reasons for that. And if Willard is the next guy to kind of leverage this opening into a contract extension, it'll be amazing.

But that's kind of also what's been happening with a lot of the big time jobs over the last five years. I think Naki hit me with this stat. Like 33 out of the last 38 Power 5 conference basketball hires have been from non-power 5 schools. And the examples, the other examples are things that were kind of obvious, like, you know, Buzz Williams going back to his alma mater or Chris Beard going to Texas, you know, from Texas Tech. So, you know, it's ended up working out that way. So we'll see. Yeah, when Enfield resigned with U.S. when he got his extension from USC, I got a text from a friend that just said,

coaches don't leave good situations. And it's true, I think, with the volatility of the job, if someone has a comfortable situation where they feel like they're in no danger of being fired anytime soon and they have. have raises and contract extensions, even if the next job seems like a better one, it's become nearly impossible to pull them away. I think Ed Cooley will be an example of that. He's from Providence. I think I've heard that his wife is, or she's from that general area.

He's got a great setup there. They love him there. He's the only game in town. They've got a smaller arena, but they fill it up a lot. And, you know, he's going to be rewarded here after this season. if he wants to stay. I think he's a hell of a coach. I've always been such a coolly fan.

But, you know, there is an example. I mean, Maryland, you know, on paper is a better job than Providence. But he's really comfortable and he's got a great situation there. And, you know, there's some risk in coming to Maryland when you've got a really good situation. Because there will be pressure. All right. Thanks for doing this. Hope you're well.

Again, Jeff Irman, everybody. the number one Maryland sports site inside Maryland's sports Maryland.247 Sports.com to find it or just follow Jeff on Twitter at Jeff underscore Ehrman and you'll get all of his stuff.

Thanks for doing this. Appreciate it. Thanks, brother. Appreciate you having me. Up next, what Ron Rivera, Martin Mayhew, Marty Herney and all of the Washington commanders team brass really think about this upcoming season. Right after these words from a few of our sponsors. March is here and the

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deposit in now using my promo code Kevin D.C. to secure that free entry. Bet anything anytime, anywhere with My Bookie. Just a reminder to if there's something already written in the promo code when you go to sign up at My Bookie, erase it and write Kevin D.C. I want to thank everybody that continues, all of you that continue to rate and review the show, it's great. You guys have kept us, you know, the combination of all of the listeners and the ratings and reviews have kept us very highly ranked as a local. sports podcast on the Apple charts in particular, and that's much appreciated. It's still, just as a reminder, it's still true that about 88% of you that listen on a regular basis

haven't rated or reviewed the show yet. So if you guys get around to it, that would be awesome as well. We've got a lot of reviews and ratings compared to a lot of podcasts, especially podcasts similar to ours that are more kind of local content driven, even though we talk about everything. But I love the reviews and the ratings that have come in. This is from SA.E. Football via Apple Podcasts. The review titled Kip Rules, five stars, by the way. Look, he's an MD alum as a J.HU. J.H.U. Johns Hopkins. And Duke grad alum, his team is unworthy. Still the pod is the best pod for local teams about whom I care. Thank you, S-A-E football.

This from Sunny, love the podcast, especially love it when Tom is on. I really have no connection to D.C. Sports, but love the banter back and forth. I've become a dedicated listener. I appreciate that. Just great reviews. I could sit here and read them for a while, and I'll read a couple with each show. There was one that I had. singled out.

It was something about Kirk Cousins. Oh, here it is. King of D.C. Oh, that's the title. King of D.C. Thank you very much. From Mr. Tony's Chessie. Kevin is the King of D.C. Sports. Really enjoy his cousins' satire.

Anyway, thanks, keep him coming. It's really, really good for us. It allows us to do this. as much as we do it. So a final few thoughts for the show today. What a week. I mean, what a week.

I did not anticipate the quarterback, you know, situation being resolved, almost resolved, maybe totally resolved this week. I still think they should draft a quarterback. If they like a quarterback, I'm not suggesting that they draft a quarterback, just to draft a quarterback. If they like a quarterback and they love the upside of a quarterback, quarterback. I still think they should draft a quarterback, even if it's at number 11. I mean, if it's a trade up, if they really like them, I would not be against that. This is the most important

position. They have to keep swinging. There's no chance that they actually think that Carson Wentz is a slam dunk to be their quarterback for the next five plus years. They don't think that. I'm going to get to what I think they believe right now, because I talked to somebody last night. And there's some information that I'll share with you here momentarily. But there was so much feedback all week long. And I do think that most of you didn't love the trade. You know, the polling on our radio show off of my Twitter account, basically only 15 to 16 percent of the people. And it's like 3,500 to 4,000 votes somewhere in that area. I haven't looked at it recently. But it was roughly 16% of the people said they liked the trade. Most either didn't like it or were kind of mixed on the

trade. I, you know, some of you were highly critical of how critical I was about the trade. I want to make sure that my position is clear and that it is etched in stone here, you know, during the same week in which it happened. Because many of you seem to take creative license down the road and tell me what I said years ago and get it all wrong. Kurt Cousins is always a great example of that as I do some Kirk Cousin satire, that I thought Kirk Cousins was a Super Bowl winning quarterback and an elite quarterback and how could we let him go? I advocated for them to trade him when it was clear that he wasn't coming back. No, my position on Kirk Cousins was always very early on, even before he got the opportunity. There's a top half of the league starting quarterback there.

and we haven't had one in forever, and they should sign him, and they should sign him now, and he should be the starter, and they should then build around him if they can get him signed early and be aggressive and have the vision that this guy's a top half of the league starter, which he has been. Hell, he's been more than that. You know, he's been somewhere between 8 and 14, depending on the moment and time. Somebody out there will say, he's never been as high as 8. Yeah, he probably was at the end of the 2019 season and after winning a playoff game in New Orleans.

But with respect to the Carson Wentz trade, my position is this. I don't like it because two teams said no. And they said no in a very costly environment. Philadelphia traded up in the 2016 draft to pick Carson Wentz. and then after a near MVP season in his second season in 2017, said goodbye to him via a trade where they absorbed the largest salary cap hit in the history of the league. The team they traded him to, the Indianapolis Colts,

gave up a first and third round pick, a first and a third. And he was reunited with the guy that loved him more than anybody else, Frank Reich. And they booted him out of the building and said, Not the nicest things about him on the way out after one season. That's why I don't like this deal. There were times where I really thought Carson Wentz was a really good quarterback and was going to be the answer for the Eagles for many years to come, and we were going to have to deal with him twice a year, year and year out,

and what a bitch that was going to be. But, you know, I would rather rely on the opinions of people that actually do this for a living and are coaching him and playing with him in the NFL. And the last two teams with Doug Peterson, an offensive head coach, and Frank Reich, an offensive head coach. They said no, and they weren't nice about saying no either. This guy's flawed from a personality profile standpoint, from a leadership standpoint.

He comes in here with a lot of baggage, a shitload of baggage. that's why I don't like the deal. I also mentioned, I don't love it because, to be honest with you, and watching him here recently, he hasn't been very good. And that may be a product of him, you know, not being in the right fit, you know, his personality profile, rubbing coaches the wrong way, game plans getting dumbed down to a certain degree, as Sam Monson kind of told us yesterday on the podcast.

But maybe this is the place. it'll work. I wouldn't bet on it. This place has never been the place that it's worked. And, you know, the coach, after talking about leadership being the top quality or one of the top qualities, went with a guy that hasn't exhibited any of it. So it feels like a little bit of desperation and a little bit of a reach. I also thought that they overpaid. Now, they didn't overpay if they got their guy. But eating 28 million bucks and not having the Colts, you know, take on half of that, I thought seemed a little pricey given that they were probably going to release him. But some of the reporting from Diana Rusini, as an example, suggested that there were

other teams interested, or at least one other team interested. But my position is I don't like the deal because he comes in here with not just baggage, but massive, massive out loud warnings about what the next team is. is getting based on the results and the experience that the two teams previously had with him. Again, if you want to just say, hey, if he's a bad guy, you can get rid of him, but he isn't up great on the field, they'll be better offensively, even if people are bitching about him behind his back, even if he's not taking coaching, they'll be better with him on the field. Okay.

But I'm about, as I have said before this offseason began, swinging big. and keep swinging big until you land on a guy that you, you know, have a chance to have as your quarterback for the next, you know, five to 10 years. So that what Ron Rivera talked about, sustained winner can happen. And I don't see that happening with Carson Wentz. I do think that the play on the field could be better. And I think there can, there will be some Mondays we come in here and say he was really good yesterday. They won a game, you know, against a good team and he played really well. But I don't see this as, you know, a 12-win division-winning contending team with Carson Wentz.

Best case, I see it as an improved team offensively. They still obviously have to reach their potential defensively. And then maybe they win another game or two and they're in contention for a wildcard spot. Something like that. Last thought I had. Not thought. last part of the show. I just wanted to kind of share with you some information that I got from somebody that is in the know.

This is not a report, by the way. I'm not tweeting it out. I talked about it on the radio show this morning. I had an interesting conversation with somebody yesterday who said, this is essentially what the thinking is out in Ashburn. They did swing big. They really wanted a Rogers or a Wilson. obviously came down to Wilson because Rogers really wasn't going to be available,

certainly not to them. They really did think they had a chance at Wilson. And they thought Wilson would come to Washington if Seattle ended up taking the deal. There's been reporting to the contrary. And I do believe that there were teams that Russell Wilson and certainly his wife preferred to Washington. But what I told you about what I learned from, the Pro Bowl weekend is true. Russell Wilson told people at the Pro Bowl that he would not be opposed to a deal to Washington.

Again, didn't mean that Washington was the front runner, didn't even mean Washington would be in his top five. But I think he had a sense at the Pro Bowl that Washington was going to make a big run at him. And he was doing a lot of due diligence stuff at the Pro Bowl with Washington-related people to find out what it was like. what the coaching staff was like and what the football situation was like. So they think they are close. It's not the exact word that was used, but it was implied that they think last season was a season derailed by injuries in COVID, that without great quarterback play and without a dynamic offense

and with a defense that underperformed, They were still six and six when they faced that five-game season-ending stretch against all of those division teams. The division round robin, as Ron Rivera put it. And it was derailed by COVID. And to be fair to them, they had to start Garrett Gilbert in that game against Philadelphia on a Tuesday night. Then they had to come back five nights later and play the Cowboys on the night after Christmas in a game in which they were depleted, even though they had gotten some guys back, but they got destroyed. And they felt like they had a chance to make a decent run.

Remember, let's not forget, they did lose, and they kind of got blown out even though the final score wasn't indicative of this. The Cowboys really were in total control of that first of the division round Robin games, coming off that win over the Raiders. I mean, they were down 24-0. Remember heading into the third quarter, down 27 to 8 with like six minutes to go in the game before that near miraculous you know, come back by Washington.

They lost that game 27-20. And then, you know, COVID struck and you had the Philadelphia game get rescheduled. Then they had to play it on a Tuesday. And in their defense, yeah, they really did, you know, get, they didn't have much of a chance in those games. Would they have won those games on the road at Philly and at Dallas? Had they been perfectly healthy? I have no idea. They wouldn't have been favored to win those games.

but would they have performed better? I mean, hell, they actually had a chance against the Eagles. They got destroyed by the Cowboys, and then they had a chance against the Eagles at home. But I didn't think that this was a playoff team last year. You know, they finished the season 7 and 10. If they were healthy and they didn't lose all those players to COVID, would they have gone 9 and 8 and had a chance?

Maybe. I'm not discounting it completely, just like with the Alex Smith season. I don't think they would have been a playoff team. I think they would have been eight and eight, but it's possible that they could have been a nine and seven team and eeked out a wild card spot. But they believe that that's what happened to this season. And they knew during this season that they were going to have to upgrade at quarterback. They knew that. And they knew Ryan Fitzpatrick was seriously injured and wasn't coming back.

And I don't know what his status is, by the way, for next. year. But the point is, is that there are two things at work here. One, they really do believe that they can be a competitive team and a playoff team in 2022 with, you know, improved defensive play, improved health, and a better quarterback situation. So they wanted to get a much better quarterback situation, but they weren't going to, and remember Ron Rivera told Ben standing this a couple of weeks ago, veteran, veteran won't preclude us from drafting a rookie will be probably how it out. Like he kind of, I think, knew then that Rogers and Wilson were long shots, but they were very much, you know, believers that they were in that Wilson thing until Seattle said the preference

was an AFC team. But they, you know, I don't know if Carson Wentz was veteran, you know, choice number one after failing on the big swing. You know, I think Trubisky may have been. But they felt like they needed an upgraded situation of quarterback and that they could. could win 10 games next year. And that, therein lies the second part to this. They feel like they have to field a competitive team next year. They have a new name. They've lost almost all of their fans. They have a season ticket base that is embarrassing relative to most NFL season ticket bases. The new brand thing, the new name thing, I've told you guys this for years. If they ever change their name, they better win right away. When you change something big, a name, a taste, whatever it is with a

retail product, that change better be successful day one. Or you have chased away a lot of those people that were emotionally tied to it and they're not coming back unless there is a great product. So they understand that this is a huge ear on the field. They've got to field a competitive team. They've got to field a team that's got interest during the course of the year that has a chance to be a playoff team. And so Carson Wentz is an upgrade. It may not have been plan A, it may not have been plan B, but it was overall part of a plan that gives them in their mind's eye a chance to field a competitive playoff contending team, which is crucial to the business. It doesn't mean that they believe in that they're totally sold on Carson Wentz being the long-term answer.

But they couldn't go into the draft and pick somebody and expect that person, even if they loved him and the guy was ready to play. We know that rookie quarterbacks typically don't win in their rookie season. And so they needed to win this year, which is why they were always going to go out and get somebody to upgrade the position. Even if it wasn't the best long-term plan, they were thinking 2022. They have to field a competitive team. They almost have to go to the playoffs.

And they think Carson Wentz, again, not number one on the list. They think Carson Wentz gives them a much better chance than Taylor Heineke or drafting a rookie and playing that rookie right away. It kind of reeks a little bit of 2017. You know, when Bruce Allen said we're close. They had 24 players on injured reserve. And the 2017 team, it reeks of 2018, excuse me, going into 2018, the 2017 team had so many lost games to key players. The offensive line was obviously a mess.

And it was probably a better team on paper if it had stayed healthy than the 2016 team, which went 8,7 and 1 and lost the final game of the year to the Giants to miss the playoffs. And then, you know, when they lost cousins, the reason they went out and got Alex Smith is they felt they were close. And they felt like they had to be competitive that following year or they were going to lose a lot more in the way of fans. Because already it was starting to dwindle the season ticket base. So there are some analogies there, similarities there, to the 2018 off season, four off seasons ago. the trade for Alex Smith that they thought gave them a chance to be competitive in the short term. They gave him a big contract extension. That's not what they're going to do with Carson Wentz.

I know some of you have reached out, hey, they can lower his cap number so they have more, you know, they've got more maneuverability in free agency here. I don't think they're doing that. No way are they giving him more guaranteed years to get a lower number in 20. I think this is a one-year flyer, but I think they believe that it makes them better offensively and gives them a better chance of being competitive next year than Heineke or a rookie would have in the upcoming season. That's it for today.

Back on Monday, we'll have the brackets, the NCAA tournament brackets, no locals. Virginia Tech's still alive in the ACC. That's not a local to me, but I know many of you are Hokies that listen to the show. And they look good last night. They've looked good two games in row. I think they've earned their way in. I know they're still kind of on the bubble, according to Lunardi,

but they've got a chance to play a couple more games at the ACC tournament. So we'll be back on Monday, talk about brackets, and then Tommy will be with me on Tuesday. Have a great weekend. Tomorrow is going to be a wild weather day for most of us. Snow, wind, probably the last gasp of winter, I'm sure. Enjoy the weekend.