The Kevin Sheehan Show - Daniels Differs From RG3

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

Kevin opened with thoughts on those who think Jayden Daniels is just an RG3 repeat. He also looked forward to Washington's 2024 season now that free agency and the draft are behind us and talked Lakers-Nuggets as well. Fred Smoot jumped on to recap the Commanders' draft and more. Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Sheehan for a first deposit match up to $100! 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. Here's Kevin. One guest on the show today, Fred Smoot, one of my favorites will be on with me. Today we'll get Fred's thoughts on Washington's draft. You know, I think when Fred was on with me last time, which was probably a month or a month and a half ago, he was not a big Jaden Daniels guy. He was much more of a Drake May guy. We'll see how he feels now that the draft is in the books. We'll get his thoughts not only on Daniels, but everybody else in the draft as well. The show, as always, is presented by Windonation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. Mention my name for a free, no obligation in-home estimate.

Speaking of Drake May and Jaden Daniels, Adam Schaefter mentioned this on draft night, but then on Pat McAfee's show yesterday, he reported that Washington's top two quarterbacks were Jaden Daniels and J.J. McCarthy, not Drake May. So if Washington had, for whatever reason, soured on Jaden Daniels, and they never did, J.J. McCarthy was next in line. I bring that up because at some point, you know, down the road, hopefully we're all still having. these conversations with each other. But if Drake May lights it up, somebody will say they should have taken May and I'll say yes, but remember, May was not the guy that they would have taken next.

It was McCarthy. Or if McCarthy lights it up and Daniels doesn't, they should have taken McCarthy. I think that's interesting from this standpoint. I would have much preferred May over McCarthy. I don't know anything, and I understand that, especially as it relates to McCarthy, because there just wasn't enough to see at the college level. And I can see how, you know, the intangibles and the winner and the championship medal, etc. is a big part of who he is, and he can really throw the football, and he's mobile.

I see all of that. And I do see a good fit for him with Kevin O'Connell in a show. Shanahan-style offense in Minnesota. But if they had actually, for whatever reason, soured on Jaden Daniels and selected J.J. McCarthy, I would have gone with it. I would have gone with it. But for all of you, Drake Mayers out there,

I would have been with you. I would have been like, look, if it's not Daniels, you got to go with the guy that looks a little bit like Justin Herbert, like he could develop into Justin Herbert. Anyway, I wanted to get that on the record, so to speak. So as we have conversations in the future, we remember that Adam Schaefter, one of the most dialed in guys, said that Washington's top two quarterbacks were Daniels and then McCarthy, not Daniels and then May. All right.

So I put together a few tweets and emails yesterday from over the weekend, and I put together another batch. for today's show because I think this is actually a subject worth addressing. I don't know how many of you agree with this, but I think a lot of you see Daniels as RG3 number two. There is fear from some of you out there that Daniels is going to be RG3 repeat. This from Martin. Martin writes, I'm afraid that Adam Peters drafted another RG3. Daniels is a run-first QB, and he's going to get hurt. This from Charles. Kevin, I see RG me in Daniels. I would have preferred May or even Pennix more than Daniels.

He looks breakable like RG3 did. This from Walter. Well, you got your guy. I hope you're happy. This pick is no different than, RG3 in 2012. He's a dynamic runner but can't read defenses. He takes too many hits and he's built like a number two pencil.

You're going to regret your push for Daniels, but not as much as Adam Peters and Dan Quinn will. And then this comes from four-star. Four-star writes, I'm with you on Daniels Sheehan, so I'm happy they picked him. But did you hear Jaden say that Robert Griffin is one of the people he will look to for advice? Please tell somebody out there how bad of an idea that would be. So let me address that last comment from Four Star first. I do think I heard something.

I didn't hear the quote, but I think I read something that Daniels mentioned RG3 and someone he would, you know, look to for advice. I don't think there's much any of us can do about that, you know, four-star. You know, hopefully Jaden Daniels has good judgment when it comes to the advice he decides to take and the advice he decides to pass on. Look, RG3 may offer some good advice, but I'm going to move on from that because I want to dispel this idea that Jaden Danes. Daniels is a replica of RG3. He just isn't. There are massive differences between the two, in my

opinion, but in the opinion of others as well. Let's start with just the football part. Football wise, Jaden Daniels is a much more advanced passer than RG3 ever was coming out of Baylor. By the way, he's a much better runner than RG3. And that's saying a lot. because RG3 could move. But Jaden Daniels has vision. He's got elusiveness in the open field to go with the speed. Griffin pretty much just had the speed. But the biggest difference, and we heard this from Cooley,

you know, Cooley said Daniels is a more advanced passer. Cooley didn't think John Beck essentially said the same thing. Neither thought that you have to have like a dual threat attack for Daniels to make it's so that he could be on the field as a rookie. Cooley said, you'll have some of that, you'll have some of that dual threat stuff, but emphasized the maturity and the poise that Daniels has as a pocket passer. That was not Robert coming out of Baylor. In fact, that was never Robert even in the NFL at any of the stops along the way.

Jaden is a much more advanced pocket passer than Robert ever. was. Now, don't mistake that for, you know, Robert not having a big-time NFL arm, which he did. He had a big arm. But he just lacked so much as a rookie passer that Jaden doesn't lack coming in. Now, are they similar in how much of a threat they are to defenses with mobility? Yes, definitely. Very similar, but in a different way, in my opinion. As I mentioned, I think Jaden has real, very vision as a runner. I don't think Robert had very good vision at all as a runner. Are they similar in how much their ability to move, their mobility can be used and created around? Yes, there are similarities there, but with a big difference. You know, Mike and Kyle built a new kind of offense in

many ways in the NFL at that point. They did it around what Robert did well, while. avoiding what he didn't do well at that point coming into the league. I think with Jaden, Kingsbury will be creative around what he does well, including what he does well from a mobility standpoint, from a running standpoint, but I just don't think there will be a lot for Kingsbury to avoid when it comes to Jaden Daniels. Mike and Kyle went to Bruce and Dan and said, if we do this, we're going to have to play football a different way. He's just not advanced enough as an NFL pocket passer. He's just not there. We're going to try to get him to that point, but we can still put him on the field. And we can do that by, you know, lining him up in the pistol and running a lot of

zone read and presenting him as a runner in an offense. that's going to be unique for the NFL. They don't need to do that with Jaden. They'll do some of that, but they don't need to do that to get him on the field. I think there are massive football differences. I think there are some similarities, yes, but I think there's some big differences.

Look, physically, I actually think Robert was physically stronger and built better, but again, the lack of vision and the track kind of a body, I mean, Robert got injured and torn ACL in college. You know, Jaden's never been seriously injured. I am still, though, concerned about the slight frame. That is going to be the number one concern I have until I don't have it anymore because it's not an issue at the NFL level.

Hopefully that's the case. Beyond the football differences between RG3 and Jaden Daniels, Griffin was drafted by a team, we've said this many times, owned by Dan Snyder. You know, there was no chance really, even if Robert Griffin the third didn't allow or pushed back on the entitlement. But with Dan, you had, you know, you had first of all this star blanker, you know, with every star player in the organization, you know, 50, you know, 45-year-old. 50-year-old, 55-year-old man, wanting to be best friends with 23-year-olds. And then, of course, the meddling and the entitling. And unfortunately, in Griffin, he had a willing student.

You know, he did. Griffin loved the attention, and he was either too immature or too self-absorbed to go back at Dan and say, hey, I appreciate it, but no thanks. I have a coach, and he's the one that I report to. Jaden Daniels isn't going to have to deal with any of those shenanigans. And by the way, he doesn't strike me as the kind of person that would take advantage of it if it was offered anyway. I just don't see from afar Daniels and Griffin being the same type of personality. The biggest difference, I've said this before about RG3.

He was 22. Much of what happened here was on the owner. It was on the adults in the organization, not him. He didn't fend it off, true. He was an attention seeker, true. He was a one-man, you know, hashtagging self-promoter. That's for sure. But Snyder is the one that made it worse because he allowed it and he enabled it.

Daniels has Dan Quinn, Cliff Kingsbury and a much more, I think, professional environment that he will be working in. With all that said, none of it means anything. None of it means that he's going to be successful, but what it does mean is he's got a much better chance to be successful. Griffin, in his defense, and it's hard to defend him, obviously, but he didn't have much of a chance, as a lot of players didn't have much of a chance entering this organization.

So one other thing commanders related, Washington football team related, that I wanted to get to here in the open, because I did this on radio. Now that the draft and free agency are over, the two biggest off-season roster events, I mean, there will be more transactions, probably not major transactions, unless the 49ers end up trading one of their receivers. and I'm not suggesting that they would trade one of the receivers here or that even Adam Peters and Dan Quinn would be interested in either one of them, although I would be. I would be interested in Iyuk for sure. But there are currently like 92 players on the roster. You've got to be down to 90 when training camp begins. But what you see is what you are going to have pretty much minus maybe another, you know, lesser transaction or two. But what you see is what you are going to have pretty much minus maybe another, you know, lesser transaction or two. but what you see is what you're going to have entering training camp at the end of July 1st part of August. And it's never too early to have a hunch on 2024. And I was thinking about this and did this on radio today and took calls and, you know, what do you think? Now that you can see the roster, we knew that there would be a lot of roster change in January, and now we know what it's going to look like going into 2024.

and it'll probably look a lot different in 2025 than it does even now. But it is a big time change in players, maybe even talent. I would say that they've certainly upgraded the talents on defense for sure with the additions of Louvo and Chin and Wagner and Armstrong and Fowler and Farrell. You know, I'm very, very pumped to see what Frankie Louvo can do with a Dan Quinn defense, Bobby Wagner having that kind of brainpower and leadership at that position on defense. And yeah, I mean, look, I look at 24 and I think this isn't going to be our year. We're not going to contend for the Super Bowl or even perhaps for a playoff spot.

But I do see a chance for doubling up on the wins. I could see eight wins. very easily in 2024. Jaden Daniels is the number one key, the quarterback position. I think he'll be ready week one. That would be my guess right now, but if it's not week one, it'll be soon enough. I'm sure they're planning on him being ready week one and getting him ready week one. It was funny during his press conference. He was asked about if he's ready for the NFL, and he said, well, I haven't even gotten my

playbook yet, so I'm not ready. quite yet. Anyway, you have, I think, an improved defense. I mean, it'd be hard for it to be worse. It was the 31st ranked defense per the DVOA metric last year. I mean, it was awful. The offense wasn't much better. You have a real coaching staff in place that isn't, you know, a complete mess.

Because, you know, I'm never going to say that Ron Rivera was a bad coach. in the NFL because he wasn't. But he certainly had a lame duck status that he was dealing with last year. And it led to them hiring somebody that no one else in the league wanted to be the offensive coordinator. That created another level of dysfunction. And I think the players they had on the team last year, that there were probably better players than the way they played last year, but they've replaced a lot of them. They're going to be

four to five new starters on both sides of the ball. At least, I think that eight wins, six and a half is the over-under number right now, somewhere around six and a half, but I think eight seems reasonable. The key to 2024, or let me just say, the thing that I think I want to know when to 2024 is over is I want to have a strong sense that they got it right with Jaden Daniels. You know, last year we talked about you want to have an idea after a certain number of games, maybe 17, maybe a fewer number of games, about whether or not they're going to need a quarterback in the 2024 offseason. This year, you know, you got a quarterback. You drafted him super high. This is typically where, you know, franchise quarterbacks come from. They come from

a lot of different places, but more often than not, the early portion of a draft. And so 2024 is about finding out if they got it right with Jaden Daniels. I mean, you know, we can look at, you know, Jaden Daniels at the end of 2024 and have a sense as to whether or not we got it right with Adam Peters and the front office. But in terms of on the field, I mean, I don't see how they could be a four-win team next year. I know six and a half is the total. I know that a lot of people think they'll be drafting in the top five, top ten again. I don't know, seven or eight wins.

Subject to change. I'll ask Fred Smoot about it as well. One more thing here in the open before we get to Fred. This came from Stan. Love the podcast. After listening to your Open the other day, day. I just had to give a hearty amen to your rant with Tom about the NBA playoffs. Here in Baltimore is a guy who leans on your podcast as my primary source of pigskins info,

love the coolly breakdowns, but I love it most when your passion for the NBA comes out. Then he writes about his longtime passion for the NBA and for the bullets and the bullets, and the Bullets Wizards as a Baltimore fan of Earl the Pearl in the late 60s. And he writes, each spring I tell myself to stop staying up so late for those Western Conference games. But like you, I get sucked in. Please, please, please, please keep talking hoops, exclamation point. Thank you, Stan, for that.

I was up late last night watching Lakers Nuggets. Wow, what a basketball game. What a series that was. Five games, it's over. The Lakers are going home. The defending champions are moving forward into the second round.

But game two last week and game five last night were incredible. Jamal Murray hit the game winner with 3.6 seconds left. LeBron James, was amazing. And I'll just say what I've said to Tommy and even without Tommy. I think we're seeing LeBron James at a level that I don't know that we've seen before in his career. He's a better shooter, better three-point shooter than he's ever been. I think he's just a better shooter in general. He is bigger, stronger, in some ways even more athletic. It's crazy at 39 years old. I have a new appreciation for LeBron James that I, that's crazy to say, right, after the career he's had.

But I was always in that, you know, Mike's better, magic's better. He doesn't have the killer gene that Kobe had, et cetera, et cetera. LeBron James is special, spectacular. I mean, he is on the short list for sure of the greatest ever to play the game. And he was sensational. He had 30 again last night. First player, second player, excuse. me, an NBA history, to go for 30 or more in back-to-back playoff games at the age of 39 years of age or older. Kareem was the other one. The game was great.

Yokic was great. Jamal Murray, incredible. Michael Porter, Jr. is just on fire as a shooter. The game changed when Anthony Davis got, you know, bumped into, and it really was just a bump, and went down like he had been shot by an AK-47, and then kind of held his shoulder and rubbed his shoulder in the game. He stayed in the game, for the most part, the rest of the way. And we've seen this from Anthony Davis before. I mean, bless his heart, he, I'm sure, is a sweet guy. Toughness is not his strongest attribute. And look, if he's legitimately hurt, and maybe it's coming out right now as we

speak, that he, you know, he has a separated shoulder or something like that. It was not a violent hit. I mean, there's so much contact in these games, this was a brush. But we've seen it with Anthony Davis before, and it's a shame because he's such a great player. He is going to be a Hall of Fame. I mean, he's a Hall of Famer with the career that he has had. And he is a spectacular, two-way player, a great defender. I mean, he's great. He's always been great. But you've had some so many of these incidents over the years. And he gets a little boo-boo, and it's really tough for him to overcome it. And they were playing four-on-five offensively with him in the game the rest of the way

from about the early third quarter through the fourth quarter. That's what made last night even more amazing, is that without Anthony Davis playing at an Anthony Davis level, they had leads. They had a chance to win the game. LeBron was just incredible. Reeves was incredible. The game was incredible. I will say this. There were 3.6 seconds left when Murray hit the go-ahead bucket to make it 108-106 Denver. And the Lakers didn't have any timeouts left. They'd used their last timeout on a challenge. It was a successful challenge. I don't know how that was successful. Man, the replay booth in the NBA in this postseason, I just think has been off so many times. But maybe LeBron sort of bought that call with his. complaining after game two.

But there were 3.6 seconds left, and the Lakers had no timeouts left, and they had no plan. They just, ball came in quickly to LeBron deep in the back court. He got cut off by Yokic. He threw it to Prince at half court, and he threw up a, you know, a half court prayer. With 3.6 seconds left, as an NBA team, as a college team, as a high school team, you practice these situational things. You know, under five, no timeouts left, this is what we're going to do.

If they had a plan, they did not go to the plan. And you can, 3.6 seconds left, you can get off a much better shot than a half-court defended Eve. I mean, that's a chuck from half-court. It was just, they were, I think they were shell-shocked in the moment. But thank you, Stan. And yeah, the game was great last night. That was as good a five-game series as you'll ever see.

The Lakers led for 165 of the minutes in the series. 19 minutes the series was tied. And 56 of the minutes in the series Denver led. And yet Denver won four games, and the Lakers only won one. Denver, Minnesota, Anthony Edwards. That's going to be a series in the next round. All right, Fred Smoot next, right after these words, from a few of our sponsors. All right, guys, now with the NFL draft behind us, it's time to focus on springtime games, like real games,

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With Windonation's semi-annual sale, you can replace your windows and save big. Schedule a no obligation in-home estimate now. Call them at 86690 Nation or head towindonation.com. Mention my name. They'll take good care of you. So Fred Smoot is with us, and 23 years ago, Fred Smoot was the second round pick of the then Marty Schottenheimer-led Washington Redskins. But I think you've told me this before. You went in the second round, the middle portion of the second round, but in a lot of the mock drafts, you were supposed to go in the first round, right?

Yes, I was. Yes, I was. But, you know, on draft day, it ain't about 32 teams like you. it's about one team like you. And you know what? It reminds me of what just happened to Johnny Newton. Nobody thought he was going to be there in the second. Everybody said 15 to 20.

And when he was there, I could see it. And that's why I know this team said, we go on best player available no matter what. And when he dropped right there, they ran to the poll of them to get that there. And he's a dominant player. So it reminds me similar to what I had to go through on draft day. So let's start with the draft. and we'll start with Jaden Daniels, because the last time I had you on, he was not your favorite quarterback.

You liked him, but you weren't sure about him at number two. Now that he is a Washington commander, what do you think? I had a chance to sit down and talk to him, and I was blown away by the conversation because he said some things that you rarely hear from a number two pick. And he said, you know what, I'm not a finished product. I'm going to get better every day, and I'm going to do everything in my power, too. That's why I use my VR machine.

I use this. And it wasn't never that I didn't like him. I just felt like him and Drake May. Both of these guys was a win-win. It don't matter who you asked for the prom. Your prom date was going to be one of the prettiest girls there. But now that I really got and got to talk to him and see how he's wired, and then that the comps to Lamar Jackson,

I like, oh, I understand. what the team is trying to do right now. They don't need Fred Smook then to be a love with the product. They need Adam Peters to, and Adam Peters loves him, and now he's our quarterback. So what did you like about him other than maybe some humility? Well, you know what? After I went back and really, really watch the film, his deep ball, and I knew it was a potent deep ball, but his positioning on them deep balls,

throwing them outside shoulder, early release on it, And I mean the guys can make those throws consistently. They can make it once or twice. But he made it over and over and over again. And I was blown away by that. And, of course, he broke some very long run. Only thing I would want him to do is when he leaves the pocket now in the NFL, I would still want him to not be in a rush to run,

but I want him to run to pass. And if there's nothing there being run, and I think that's what you're going to see his game graduate to. That's what he's going to become. And that's what I need to understand about all of these draft picks. None of them are finished products. Their career just started. You think the fan base is all in on Jaden, even though it was split?

I think more people wanted Jaden, but I think a lot of people felt the way you did and wanted Drake May. But it seems like a moment in which everybody seems excited, right? Yeah, everybody decided. I was at the draft party, and the fan base erupted. And I must say, he has been when it comes. come to the fans boat. He has been the fan favorite. And I think, you know what, he was on our time schedule. We want a guy that could come in here and start from day one. I don't think you get that with Drake May. I think Dre needs to sit a half a season or so. I think they like Dre,

but he just wasn't ready-made. He wasn't microwavable right now. And the guy that we have, he's ready to play. He's ready to get out there and get his bumps and bruises so he can move on to the next level. So I think the fan base is ecstatic about it. Everybody I talk to walking the from BC. Everybody I've talked to, they love the pick. So, week one starter, or does he have to wait a couple of weeks behind Mariotta? I think, I think, I think he's a week one starter because we're talking about a guy that matured over his time in college. We're talking about a guy that's played a ton of football. The only thing that could stop him kind of hold that off for a little bit of.

bit is him not learning this playbook. But I know the officer coordinator. He is very college quarterback friendly. So I don't see him not being able to learn this playbook. So I don't see anything stopping him from starting day one. Do you have a sense of what we're going to see offensively with Cliff Kingsbury and now that we know that it's Jaden Daniels? Like, do you ever envision him being under center?

Well, you know what? Yes, I did because it was a great, I knew it was one of the other. I knew it was one of the other. Now, this offense, I think what he's going to do is a great thing that catering the offense to Jayden's scrimts, especially his sprints early on. Maybe see a lot of bootleg, a lot of quarterback waggle, a lot of get the quarterback outside the pocket so he can create his own pocket, quick throws, making him make quick decide decisions.

I don't know what it's going to look like. I think that's the great thing about it. Nobody does because if you study Cup Kingsbury, you get two different versions of him. In Arizona, people don't understand, he ran 40 plus percent of the time. He ran the ball a tone. And the best way to protect the quarterback is good defense in a running game. So I'm looking for him to mesh those things and marry those things together, and this office is going to grow.

I promise you, the office you see in the first year, won't be the office you see in the second year because they're just going to keep adding things to it. So we don't get the rough draft this year, and we don't get the A report card probably next year as he continues to learn his offense. Yeah, the year that Kingsbury was the head coach in Arizona, and I think, you know, you mentioned it. But that was the year that they went 11 and 6, they actually started out even better than that. They ended up losing a playoff game to the Rams in the first round. But they ran, they threw it. It was like 56-44.

You know, 56% of the time throws, 44% of the time runs. That's not an overwhelming pass-to-run ratio. They had, you know, James Connor. They had Chase Edmonds. Also, he threw to the tight end a bunch. Zach Gertz had a bunch of catches. Had, I think, 56-57 catches that year. So, all right, so you're in on Jaden Daniels.

You feel good about it. I'm glad that you're there. Tell me about Johnny Newton, the first pick for them in their three second round picks, the detackle out of Illinois. What did you see on tape? Quick first step. Run disruptor, even better pass rusher. Like I said, I'm sure the front office had no clue that he was going to follow there. I'm sure he was high on a draft board, But I'm sure they labor him undraftable because we got to draft a quarterback at number two. They are ecstatic to have this dude in the building. And don't forget, this guy played with a Jones injury and his foot the whole entire year and still dominated.

So you're talking about a guy that's going to get a chance to truly get healthy and got too great interior defensive alignment to learn from it. It's guys that limit with Johnny Newt. Like, he's a cornerback's best friend. I wish I had a Johnny Newman when I play. I'm trying to think of who the detackles were. You had a couple of years you had Cornelius Griffin. You had a good detackle on Griffin.

Yeah, I had Cornelius Griffin. I had Cornelian. I had Nick Darrylinson. I don't have some guys, and I played with Big Pat Williams and Williams brothers. Oh, yeah. I had some guys, but I think this guy, I think he's been the best interior defense alignment for the last two years, if I'm not, if I'm not mistaken. Big 10 defensive player of the year.

Yeah, so at the end of the day, you're talking about a steel. We got a steal right there. And I think the fans going to fall in love with this guy. Because when I hear from Illinois, he's a work hard guy, and he's a captain of their team. And that's what most of our draft picks out. I looked at them. Most of the guy that are the leader of their team and they wear cap. Mike Santer still, Michigan, big part of that national championship team,

corner. This is your breakdown. This one's for you. What did you see in him? I see a smooth defensive back transition out of breaks and cuts very quickly. X Y receiver. Don't forget he's only played two seasons at cornerback.

He has the ball skills of a wire receiver. You could tell you can still tell that he thinks like a wire receiver. That's why he's always a step ahead. The fan base is about to explode with this kid. Sky's the limit. He plays inside and he plays. He plays He plays a little bit of thing, and I'm going to say it again.

He was the captain of their Michigan defense of their Michigan team, so he's most definitely a leader, and he plays with such energy and such passion. Like I say, two years at the cornerback position, he's already mastered. His floor is high, and it makes his feeling. You don't know what he's feeling in. We don't know how good this kid could be, but you heard from the best coach of the best college coach of all time. say power for pal, he felt like he was the best player in this draft.

Professor, they're saying a lot, man. Yeah. It was a packed draft. And for Nick Saban to say that, Nick don't just say that. And Nick don't just say that, Coach, don't say that. He just don't say that about any player. He must have been in love with this guy. You know Nick Saban is a defensive back guy.

For him to say that, it's all I really need to hear. I didn't need to see no film. I went to all the film anyway. But I didn't need to hear nothing out after Nick Savan said that. Have you heard anything being out there? as much as you're out there. Have you heard anything as to what they think of Emmanuel Forbes, what Dan Quinn, what Joe Witt Jr. thinks of Emmanuel Forbes?

Oh, yeah. They chopping at the bid to work with them. The one thing about good coaches is they know you got to the league because you can play football. What they want to do is get the best football out of you, right? And they know he was poorly coached last year. But they know there's tons of talent there. And don't forget, Coach Queen,

Coach Rick, they're about cornerbacks with ball skills. Now, you can take a lot from Emmanuel and say he didn't have a good year, so big. We all have bad years. But you know this guy can get the ball back when he feels comfortable. And just like any football player, when you understand the defense is set up to protect you and have your back, that's a totally different thing. I think they cannot wait to get him on the field because they like long cornerbacks.

Blan. They like guys with wide receiver ball skills. Charles Woodson. So he fits everything they wants to do. Their question is, can I build his cup of this back up? Can I give him to play the way I want to play? Because if I can, we can get this guy to the football. I think they love for them. They just understand his situation last year. So do you see like the three corners being Benjamin St. Juice and Emmanuel Forbes on the outside

and Sanra still being the slot corner on the inside? It's hard to say because we got guys, we got a lot. a lot of new guys, but we also have a lot of guys from last year that played a lot of football. It's hard to say who starts from the door, you know. They might even like St. Juice inside. Who knows? I like him outside more. So it's hard to say.

I think what they want to do was leave this draft with rooms full of talent, and we'll figure out who's going to make this team work while and how after the training camp. But I think they want to accumulate talent. All right. What did you think of the tight end, Ben Senate? You call him Senate, I call him Sinat. Yeah, I made that mistake the first night. I thought it was Synod, but I went out, I went and looked at the, you know, how it was pronounced,

and it's actually Senate. S-I-N-I-T is the way it's spelled out phonetically. But whatever, it really doesn't matter. Synot, Senate, what did you think of number 34 in a K-State uniform? You know what? This is the epitome of what the commander's draft is about. They went draft to the guy that was a walk-on. A guy that started as a walk-on ended up as the number one receive on their team.

He plays full-back. He plays move tight-in. He does whatever you need. This is a definition of a commander. He reminds me a huge check. He's one of those guys that's going to set the standard type players, physicality type player. Coach, do you need me to take on that lineback in Agap?

I will. Coach, do you need me to turn the corner on the top? sweet. I will. You need me to go vertically. He can do that also. He's a jack of all trades. Listen to me. When we look back on his job, they're going to say about this guy. He is what we are. He hardworking blue-collar guy. I'm looking for this guy to have a long, long, long career, hopefully in the burglary and go. Brandon Coleman was the first of the third round picks, and everybody was screaming, You know, the fans wanted offensive line, offensive line.

They didn't reach for anybody. They tried to trade up maybe into the late portions of the first round. Didn't do it. So what do you see in Coleman? Do you see a tackle? Yeah, when I see a tackle, he played, what, 1,500 snaps in college? Yep. Only gave up 55 pressures in three sacks.

You're talking about a guy with a seven-foot wingspan. You're talking about a guy 300-plus pounds that ran a 4-940. his athletic profile is out of this world. That's what I hate when people say, hey, we didn't address tackle. Why? Because it wasn't in the first round? I got news for you. Half of those tackles drafted in the first round have a big chance to be busts, just like any round.

Like when you find a guy with this type of athletic makeup and you know you have great coaches in the building, you cannot tell me this guy don't have a chance to start that tackle. And at the worst, he can be a goal. I think he can most definitely play tackle on his lead. I think he could be elite because of his head. hand movements and he's never in a bad position. And if you really want to see some real, real great film,

go back to that year they made it to the championship and watch all of those games and watch them mauled people. Last year, mauled people. He moves people. So at the end of the day, we got a guy, and I want people to go do this. No, I'm not saying he treat wheels. I'm not saying it.

But if you go look at their athletic grade, it's very similar, very similar. So all I'm saying is get these guys a chance before you say, before people say what we don't have and we do have, because I think Colman could be one of those long stays on that offensive line. I really do. Especially if I watch this film over and over again, I like Coleman. I think he's going to be a great pro. What about McCaffrey, the receiver at the end of the third, Christian McCaffrey's younger

brother? And we're talking about everything from Bloodline to the Great Tudelich to a guy that played quarterback, running back, wire receiver, returns, kicks, a jack-a-ball trace, another guy that's only been playing wire receiver two years. He's got a high floor and a high ceiling. A guy that, listen, right now on the roster, he could be the biggest receiver we have right now. Right. But he also is a guy that can play inside.

He can play outside. He can play movies. He can do it all. He's a guy you don't pencil in in just one position. He's a jet of all trace. And he's a hand feet of fool to get down because he's so big, because he's so strong. and his athletic profile is over the roof. So you're talking about what they did,

all of these guys have so much in, so much similarities in what they've been through, how they got to where they hit. I think what they went into this draft is, we don't care about getting the best athlete. We want to get the best mentalities. And that's what they got. They got guys with all of the same DNA

and all of the same mentality, and they wanted some guys that did it. Like, think about these guys. None of these guys was really five. star athlete coming out. These guys built their self through college over the years, and there's no different from Luke McCaffrey. He will get better and better

if he plays while receiver more and more. Of the last three that they picked, Jordan, McGee, or Maggie, Dominique Hampton, Gene Baptist, did you take a look at these guys? Do you have any opinions on the other three? I love Hampton. Hampton,

a 6-3, safe, I mean a safety line breaker, a hybrid, this guy can, I mean, listen, this guy can go,

if y'all watch the Cowboys last year, y'all watch Curse, right? Y'all watch the safety linebacker hybrid, but this is what he will be for this team. He's long, professor, I'm talking about,

basketball-type reach, he can go sideline and side-line, a fluid guy can get the ball back. He's a guy that might be a late-round pick, but I'm sure they have some packages and they have a job and a slot for this guy on this team. And he brought up McGee from Temple. Listen, watch his film, please.

He's a downhill linebacker, side line and sideline. But he also is a great cover man. This guy, he's very sticky in coverage. And I'm going to say it again, he's the captain of Temple's football team. So yet again, another leader, yet again, a great guy to put behind Bobby Wagner. and you say learn from the best, because one day it'll be your turn. I think that's the perfect setup for him. All right, let's take a quick break, and when we come back, I'll ask Fred about 2024.

I talked about it a little bit in the open. We now have, you know, somewhat of a view of what the roster will look like. Let's get Fred's thoughts on what kind of team Washington will have next season. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, most of us are interested in our mental and physical well-being to a certain degree. And with that in mind, I'd like to welcome and introduce a new sponsor to the podcast. The new sponsor is Unified Healing, Unified-Spelled, UNI-F-Y-D healing. It doesn't matter if you're a big-time world-class athlete or just a somewhat athletic podcaster like me.

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you by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.ag or MyBooky.com. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. And MyBooky will take good of you with a cash bonus on your initial deposit. You have to use my promo code, Kevin D.C. to get access to that free cash on that initial deposit bonus. My book, he's got everything you need for the NBA playoffs, for the NHL playoffs, and for the Kentucky Derby, which is coming up this weekend. Want to look at NFL futures? They've got all of their futures opportunities up, Washington's over under win total six and a half in 2024. We'll talk to Fred a little bit more about what he sees in 2024 coming up. But everything you want to see at this time of the year in terms of NFL futures bets, championship odds, Super Bowl odds, division odds, odds to make

the playoffs or not make the playoffs, MVP odds, it's all there at mybooky.orgie.org. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. So here we are. We're done with, you know, the two big events of the offseason, free agency in the draft. And we know now basically almost every player they'll take to camp. Do you like this team entering 2024? Yes, I do. I think it's a remade roster, a retool roster. It's like we cut off a lot of fat, but we kept the good points of the stake. We still got a number one receiving in Terry McLuhan. We still got Pro Bowl D. Tockels. We still got Brian

Robinson in the backfield. We still got core guys, and all we deal with those core guys is add a Franklin Louvo. All we deal with those core guys is they had a Jeremy Chinner and the rest of these guys. I think it's a better roster because it's going to be better coach. So let's start from the top first. They're going to be better coach. We got better

athletes in here. Now the only question is, how fast can they go from individuals to a team? And that takes a live time to jail. So we will see this, but I feel better about this roster because I feel better about the leadership. Are you glad that the draft is over? Did you get tired of talking about it at the end? Yes, I am draft fatigue. Because all of us, all of doing all that wishing, won't, and guessing. Like, I just want to see things happen to see, because the one thing we couldn't guess, but we couldn't guess that the Falcons was going to draft a court-beck.

at nine and turned the whole draft apart. But I can say this, the last time they drafted the quarterback named Michael, it went pretty good for him. Yeah, it did. And he was left-handed too. Yeah, it left-handed. So the last time they did it, it worked out pretty good. I actually think that was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen a team

doing the draft. And I'll tell you why. Well, go ahead. I want to hear your opinion first. All right. I don't think it was the dumbest thing in the world, because when I look at their roster, their offensive line is one of the best

offensive line in football, and most people don't even know it. All, second of all, they have a start and tailback. They have a number one wide receiver in Drake, mate. They got Kyle Pitts, offense solidified. I do have a 36-year-old quarterback coming out for Achilles, who is a pocket passer. All right?

At what point do I understand? I'm going to have to draft somebody anyway. Like they said, they didn't want to be in quarterback purgatory anymore. Where we've been for the longest. It's like the most important position in football is the quarterback. You either have one or you don't. So to have two ain't a problem.

So I think it's right because you don't know who's coming out in the next two years. We've seen draft where guys get drafted in four or five quarterbacks and none of them are good. Now, most quarterbacks in the NFL you can do a study that gets to sit for a year plus. You usually have better careers than guys that are rushed out there. So I think this sets Michael Pennicks up to be a long-time. started in this lead. And I thought he had one of the prettiest balls in this draft, and he has nice touch. And I know everybody wants to say, why not draft a pass rush? It doesn't guarantee my pass rush. I ain't a bus. Like, look at this. It's guaranteed. It don't matter just because I draft

the person. It don't matter that they, it don't make them succeed. I draft them people is, what do you need compared to what do you want? And they understand, I need a quarterback every year. I might want a pass rush, but I need a quarterback every year. liked the player too. I liked him a lot. And I really thought it was going to be crazy if he ended up not going in the first round. And I thought there was a really good chance he would go in the top half of the first round. But where my issue is with Atlanta is you got to know before free agency, when you spend $180 million, $100 million guaranteed on a 36-year-old quarterback, you got to know that you love Michael Penix then

because he was going to be there at 8. They knew that going into it. They didn't fall in love with him until after they had paid Kirk $180 million four-year deal. They should have taken that $100 million of guaranteed money and built a supporting cast and taken Pennix at 8. I think it's one thing to talk about the quarterback of the future when you've had a guy for a while like Aaron Rogers when they drafted Jordan Love or like Brett

Favre when they drafted Aaron Rogers in Green Bay, those quarterbacks were already there. They hadn't just brought them there for $100 million and guaranteed money. You got to know in the future as an NFL team, if you have a quarterback need and you're considering free agency in the draft, you got to know that you're in love with a guy in the draft that you're going to be able to pick before free agency, not after it. What would you, when you said, no, they should have went. If they knew they were drafted in Pinnock, they should have went, got him help. He has a number one receiver in Drake, May.

He has Kyle Pitts. He has one of the best officers. The defense was terrible last year. They could have taken, they could have used $100 million in free agency on defense. Sure. Yeah, you, the point is, why would you spend, $100 million on a 36-year-old quarterback when you were in love with a quarterback in the draft. And the reason was they hadn't fallen in love with Michael Pennock yet.

Exactly. You've got to figure it. In the future, you've got to figure that out before. And you have to pivot sometime. At the end of the day, you have to say, all right, we fell in love with this guy and we also got this guy. So guess what? for the next 15 years, we're good at the quarterback position. That's not a bad problem to have.

Like, I've seen people go out and get rushing. We've been out and got changed young. These are the people not changing the game like a quarterback. Like, at the end of the day, I understand what you're saying. Why double down on a position? Double down on a position because it's the best and the most important position in football. In four years, y'all will be looking for saying that wasn't wrong. It's not.

I don't disagree with you in doubling down on the position. When we drafted Griffin at number two, I was okay when they drafted cousins in the fourth round. When they drafted Heath Shuler back, because you're a student of this franchise. When they drafted Heath Shuler in 94, they drafted Gus Ferrat in the seventh round. I'm fine with that. I'm all for, you know, doubling down and creating, you know, the future to position. It's just the way they did it was asked backwards. They should not have spent that much money on.

a free agent quarterback when there was a quarterback there. Put it this way. If they had had the number two pick in the draft or the number three pick in the draft where they knew there was going to be a quarterback there somewhere, they were going to draft, whether it was Daniels or May or who knows, maybe they would have fallen in love with Pennix and drafted him that high. They would have never signed cousins. Never.

True. You are right. You are right. So the fact that they had the eighth pick and they went. into this thing, unsure about what they were going to do, I think it's just for me, and I said this yesterday on the show, it's just for NFL teams, this is going to be one of those lessons where you got to have a really strong sense before free agency starts if you're in the quarterback market as to whether or not there's somebody in the draft that A you love and B

you can get. Because if the answers to A and B are yes and yes, you'd don't sign a 36-year-old quarterback to a four-year 180 million-dollar deal. You take that money and you spend it elsewhere, like on a defense that really struggled last year. That's why everybody had, you know, mocked to them at number eight. They had, you know, one of the pass rushers. You know, Dallas Turner from Bama, a lot to from UCLA. Those were the kind of guys that were mocked because they needed. pass rush. But anyway, I mean, we could go around on this on a while. For a while, I just,

to me, when you brought it up, it's just another reminder to me. I thought it was insane what they did. But it did make draft night exciting. And I'm with you, though. I'm glad it's finally over. That was a lot of fun, and it was good for all of us to have a quarterback and all these quarterback conversations, but I'm glad they got who they got. Now I can't wait to watch him play. Yeah, me either. But I think, I'm not even mad at the Falcon's first pick, but the second one with Arroy, with their second pick? Now, that's when I was like, do they know what they doing? Right. Yeah, I mean, nobody knows anything, right? I mean, we all understand this. We will know three years, four years down the road who was right and who was wrong, but

You're right. Johnny Newton was the highest rated player on the board, and they took a player at the position that Newton plays, who was projected to go much later than when he went. So, yeah, maybe. All right. Well, so how many games are they going to win next year? Look, we're going to play this game. We got a first-year head coach. We have a rookie quarterback. We have a good running game, good wide receiver group, and we should be at least 10 spots better on defense in the NFC East. We played the Eagles pretty tough. The Giants are somewhat in shambles,

and we're watching the Dallas Cowboys decay in front of us. I would say there might be a good 8-9 win team next year. That's where I had it, too. I actually talked about this, I think it's way too early, but there's no reason on paper unless Daniels really isn't ready, or it turns out he really can't do it because, who knows, I'm optimistic, but who the hell knows if any of us will be right? But there's no reason why they can't double what they won last year and win eight games.

A lot of it's going to have to do with their improvement on defense. You said moving up 10 spots defensively. that would be, you know, that would still put them at just 22nd or 21st in the league, because they were one of the two worst defenses in the league. Isn't it funny, Fred Howell, this time last year, and I'm sure I had you on, we were talking about a defense that we thought was going to be really good. We did, we did. You know?

It's glad to me. We tried. We tried to go with the knowledge we had, right? We think if you could be good one year, you can even get better, or maybe it falls a just a tad big balance. was we imploded on defense. I'm going to say it here. That defense got Sam Howe traded.

I'm telling you that now. That defense probably got Sam Howe traded. Well, Sam Howe didn't help himself. Well, if you got a quarterback that's basically a rookie, and you're throwing him out there, and your defense is not helping you a bit. You're not running the ball because you're behind every game. It didn't help Sam Howe development.

That his defense gives up 500 yards again. There's no doubt about that. Look, I'm not a big believer in Sam Howe as a starting, as a high-level starting quarterback. I certainly think there's a place for him in the league as a backup, no doubt, or maybe even a low-end starter. But to be fair to him, you're right about defense. People who say the offensive line wasn't good enough. It was probably better in terms of some of the advanced numbers than most of our

fans think, but still it wasn't great. The Eric B. Enemy experiment just did not work. You had a lame duck head coach, and that created a lot of dysfunction around, you know, his final year. So it was not the best situation for a rookie quarterback or a second year quarterback starting for the first time. That's true. 100% true. Yeah. Yeah, it was terrible. It was set up to fail. Fred does great work with Logan Paulson and Santana Moss on the team's website and also on their YouTube channel as well. Go check all of that out. Fred, I always love doing this with you. Thanks. Anytime, Professor. You know, I enjoy my conversations with you. Fred Smoot, everybody. We're done for the day. Back tomorrow.