The Kevin Sheehan Show - Doc's Early Camp Observations

Episode Date: August 1, 2023

Kevin was joined by Doc Walker who has been at Commanders' training camp every day including today's first padded-practice in Ashburn. Doc thinks the defense is on the verge of a big year and one player in particular will have a bigger role than most people think. Offensively, he discussed his early impressions of Sam Howell, the potential of the revamped offensive line, and much more.   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. One guest on this show today. Doc Walker will be on with me for at least a segment, who knows, maybe two. Doc coming up on the show.

A show today presented by my good friends at MyBooky. Go to mybooky.com, mybooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., to secure a first deposit bonus. of up to $1,000. I've talked about all of the NFL prop bets for the upcoming season. They've got all of the week one lines. Well, all of the college football stuff is up. Remember, we are here at the beginning of August, the first month of football.

Some of it fake, as in preseason NFL, and some of it real, as in the beginning of college football season. And they've got all of the week zero and week one lines. up right now. Week zero is that week before Labor Day where you get a few games. This year, Notre Dame and Navy will play a game from Ireland, and the Fighting Irish are 20-point favorites over Navy in that first weekend. Yeah, that's a Saturday, August 26th. We will get real football for the first time college football style. We'll get Caleb Williams, by the way, in a game on that first weekend zero. USC a 30-point favorite over San Jose State in week zero.

Then week one starts with Thursday night games and the biggest game maybe of the weekend and it's not a great week one of college football is that rematch from one of the games of the year last year in week one. And that was Florida and Utah. This one's going to be played out in Utah. and the Uts are eight-point favorites against Florida without Anthony Richardson. So all of the football is up at MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.com.

MyBooky.orgie. ag. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., to secure a first deposit bonus of up to $1,000. So today was the first day of padded practices out in Ashburn. Ben Standing was on with me and we'll find out what Doc thought. Ben thought that the offense looked a little bit rusty. Look, there's a new offensive system being installed here, and it would be a little bit unrealistic to think that they're going to be running smoothly here in the first week.

New system and a quarterback without any experience. Speaking of that quarterback, I talked a lot about Sam Howell at the beginning of the show. yesterday. And that was before I had heard what Terry McClure said about him. I had mentioned yesterday that I went back and watched the Dallas game, knowing that, you know, when I did watch the Dallas game in real time, I wasn't paying that much attention to it. I was because Sam Hal was playing in the game and I wanted to see what he looked like. That was the only thing attractive about that meaningless season finale. But, you know, it was. was not a game in which a lot of you, some of you have definitive opinions about Sam Hal,

but it's not a game that a lot of you really were, you know, knee-deep into. And I guarantee you many of you haven't gone back and looked at it. You're just going based off of the memories of watching it simultaneously with a lot of, you know, other games that were going on that meant more to the NFL playoff picture. But I went back and watched every Sam Hal throw in every Sam Hal run. And I talked about it on yesterday's podcast, and I said, look, what's really obvious is he's got big time arm strength. He throws a deep ball with really good touch. He's got quick release. You know, the accuracy is a TBD and the decision making is a big TBD.

And then I talked about his mobility that, you know, he didn't strike me maybe as as athletic as I thought he was from the Carolina days. He's still mobile. you know, he still can move. He's still going to make plenty of plays off schedule. I'm not concerned about that, but he's not, you know, an elite runner at the position, which is why, by the way, guys that I've had on that were much more familiar with his game at North Carolina, didn't think that he was a dual threat kind of a guy. Didn't think he was Lamar Jackson or Jalen Hertz or Justin Fields.

And I don't think he is. By the way, I mentioned the comparison to Sam Darnold yesterday. Body type, they are very similar, although Sam Darnold's a little bit bigger. But I think the other part of it was that they both wear number 14. Sometimes when quarterbacks wear the same number and they're kind of at the same build, you immediately think, oh yeah, he reminds me of that guy. That may be why I mentioned Sam Darnold. But anyway, I wanted to play for you right now.

A few things that Terry McClurent said after practice yesterday about Sam Howl, because there is a bit of a theme when it comes to Sam's physical abilities. I put together kind of a collage of some of what Terry said yesterday after practice about Sam Hal. Here it is. One thing about him, he's not afraid to throw the ball down the field, which is exciting. and he's going to give guys a chance to make a play down the field, and he throws a really nice deep ball. So with this being a passing league, you still got to stay aggressive.

It's really cool to see a young guy who's not afraid to continue to give his guys' catches or guys' opportunities down the field. I think one thing that strikes me with him is we have a nuanced connection. Even with Deiom, he just has a good feel of throwing the ball down the field, and we really don't have to talk about landmarks and putting air under the ball. He just has a really good feel of throwing the ball down the field. And that's a strength of my game. I know that's a strength of a lot of our receivers game.

And I think that's something that we're looking forward to being trying to put on the field this year is taking those shots down the field. You think Terry's impressed with Sam Howell's ability to stretch the field to get the ball down the field? Yeah, that was a theme to Terry McLaurin yesterday in his post-practice presser. Look, that's the thing that we can observe. It's really hard, especially in training camp, when they haven't even been in pads until today, to really get worked up about much.

Sam Howell in that one game, and at Carolina, the thing that you notice, and it really sticks out, to me anyway, he's got a gun for an arm, and it's not just a drop back and throw it as far as you can. He throws it with great touch as well. And if they can protect and if they can run the football, I think we're going to see something that we haven't seen a lot of the last two years,

especially when Taylor Heineke was in the game. And that is a legitimate threat to stretch the field vertically with your quarterback. That will be huge for this offense. Yeah, I'm excited about that part of it, and we're not going to know anything until we start to see games. But it's pretty apparent that everybody that is around Sam Hal, and it's pretty apparent after watching and rewatching that Dallas game from January. The dude can sling it.

And there's a lot more to just being able to sling it. I mean, there's a lot of intangible stuff associated with that position, as we know. But I think they're going to be able to stretch the field in this upcoming season. Offensive line will have a lot to do with it. Their ability to run the football will have a lot to do with that. And that's what I'm going to get to. next. Doc Walker will join me. We'll talk about his

observations from training camp so far through, you know, coming up on a week. Remember the rookies were actually out there this time last week. And we will talk a lot about the defense to start. All of that right after these words from a few

of our sponsors. All right, this segment of the show is brought to you by the Circa Million and the Circa Survivor pools out in Vegas. I'm going to be in Vegas, end this week on my way to see Christopher Cooley in Wyoming. Doc Walker's with me right now, and I will talk to him about that here in a moment. But the Circa Million and the Circus Survivor pools out in Vegas have $14 million in guaranteed

prizes. Entries are available until September 9th at 2 p.m. The Circa Million, you pick five games against the spread each week. The winner at the end of the year with the best record wins a million. but there are another $5 million in guaranteed prizes. The Survivor Pool is like any other Survivor Pool. You pick one team straight up every week, no spread to win. If that team loses or ties, you're out. But if that pick keeps winning, you could win up to $8 million at the end of the year.

You've got to register in person at the Circus Sportsbook in Nevada. Weekly picks can be made through a proxy from anywhere. Doc Walker joins us from Ashburn after the first padded practice of this training camp. We'll get to that in a moment, but I don't know if I told you this. I am going to go out and hang out with Cooley in Wyoming for two days, you know, over the weekend

and into early next week. Do you have any recommendations? Yeah, you told me. No, just enjoy it, man. We're too rich guys. You go play golf. You go hang at the club. You go to a polo deal with me.

It's not like It's not like you guys can't figure out what to do and with Cooley, you don't have to do anything to have a good time. You know, it's a win-win. You know that there won't be any polo matches. In fact, I don't think I've ever been to a polo match. I haven't.

I know you have. I know you've spent a lot of time out in Middleburg in the Gold Cup and all of those events. Yeah, I've been to the gold. I know you have. I know you have. You probably have seen it. And you have two.

Yeah, you have two. I have been to the Golden Cup. That's true, but you went every year. I went maybe two or three times. Well, no, I haven't gone every year, but I think it's a hell of an event, good time. Yeah. Just no different than you being at the clubhouse, at the club. I mean, when you're around quality people that have a low level of stress,

I mean, you can never go wrong with it. Yeah. It's a winning combination. I'm not mad at you. Now, I'm going to tell you something that one of the things we are going to do, and it's not going to be any of those, you know, upper-crusting. activities because that's not who we are. That's more who you are. We are going to go fishing and Cooley will have with him in the event that we run into a bear. He'll have a pistol with him.

This is not your favorite thing. You're not a real outdoors kind of a person. You would not be thrilled seeing a bear out in nature, would you? And neither would you. Don't try to act like you're Daniel Boone because you're not. Okay. Yeah. I don't mind going anywhere as long as somebody has the proper tools. As you mentioned, AK-47, M-16, whatever. That's an AK-47. Yeah.

Well, you need to have something dealing with a wild animal. But I won't have that problem because I respect everyone's habitat. I have no urge to go in and just bully my way. You guys feel like you can just bully people. You get what you want, do what you want, and everything is supposed to just lie down to you. And I understand that. I wasn't born that privilege.

So I don't invade other people's turf. I don't claim everything in the world would be mine. I'm used to sharing. Have you ever gone camping? Yes, I have. And what happened? Was it a bad experience? Yes, it was.

What happened? Yeah. Tell me because I don't, I'm not, I was not, good at paying attention to directions. And so we went up in this camp, and I wasn't keen on it, but I figured, you know, I've always felt that everything has a place, the time and a place. And so we're up in this deal, like a tent, it's pitch black. And I decided to say, man, we're not going to just lie in here, are we?

We've got to go out and explore. So we got out, and, I mean, when you used to do that. see the stars light up. It was beautiful. We ended up sliding us down this embankment and just falling. Free fall, sliding, though, in the embankment. Not knowing where you're going to end up terrified of what was out there. And I just kept saying, if I survived this, you'll never have to worry about me again

invading anybody else's territory without our armed guard. And we went about 60. It was a Boy Scout type of thing where it was all. I remember a bunch of guys who went out. It might have been a religious. I don't know what it was. Was it in California? In California, yeah.

And I didn't follow instructions. And we got out and tried to explore and hit it in bank, but just slid down about 100 feet. It felt like forever. It was probably, you know, two yards. But it was terrifying. And I just kept thinking, hey man, this ain't for me. And I kept thinking, uh-uh, I'll never again.

So that was it. And then we were in South Africa for the Mervis Diamond deal that we did. And, you know, I just started thinking when I realized that the guy driving did not have an automatic weapon. And I said, sir, you're not armed? And he said, no. And I said, if I get back, I'll never go again. And then you could see leopard people, they were in the trees. You could see them looking at you, the lions.

I said, oh, man, no. No, I'm not. No, no, no. So you were an adventure. So you're a thrill seeker. I'm not. The wildest thing I'm going to do, I've already done it. And that was play football.

That's it. Um, when, so you just, you were shocked that he was not armed and you're looking at these leopards and their eyeball and you and everybody, but you were in a, but you were in a vehicle. We were in a vehicle, but we were not in an ATV or an armed vehicle. We were in a pedestrian, like a tour bus thing. Right. Rolling through the safari, like the jungle. And I'm looking at leopard.

I'm looking. the crazy thing I've seen in my life is that it's just the eyeballs to how they're piercing look from a tree thinking they can swing or they can get you and then when I saw the baddest boy is the rhinoceros and the hippopotamus

and you don't we don't grow up thinking that way though boy boy boy you know big boy can run big boy and I just said you know what if I get back and then the monkeys are nasty to throwing you know feces at you at the hotel and then nasty and they're running around. As night, you can't be outnumbered. It was just an experience and I'm glad I survived.

And I'm glad all you guys want to go see it. We love you. Go be a visitor. Well, I mean, Ronnie wasn't going to let anything happen to you. He's been on that trip a bunch of times. Ronnie has no control over a wild animal. That's true. That is true.

It's going to be somebody's going to be the experiment, not me. Yeah. I've never been. I didn't go on that trip. There was one chance I had to go on it, and I couldn't, and I forget what the reasons were. You were in London. If I recall, no, no, maybe that was another trip. But anyway, you weren't in a bed. But I would like to go on that trip, but I had a friend of mine discuss one of those safaris. and they were staying in a very nice place where somebody had decided to go out and shower in an outdoor shower at dusk. And that is not apparently very bright. That's feeding time, and that person was eaten by a lion. Yeah, when I heard that story, I thought, yeah, this probably isn't for me either.

Now, one of the things that's always interested me about you, and a lot of things have interested me about you over the years, is... Yeah, you like to make fun of me. This is the time of year where you start to put together your winter survival kit that you have in your car. Just in the event that you get stranded somewhere in a snow or an ice storm, you're always... Well, not yet, but yeah, but I do it. As a matter of fact, I just left. It's amazing. You know me too well.

I got to stop being around you as often as I am. I just left Dallas Electric. And there's a thermos. It's almost like a bike pack, but on wheels, a major thermos survival type kit on wheels that I would keep permanently in the carcass. But in the summer of refrigeration, it gets some things, and I might find a deal on some,

produce or whatever, you can't put in your car when your car is 100 degrees and I'm not going right home. I said, I need some refrigeration in my car as a backup. And then I saw,

I had a vision of it and I just left the place to see it and now I've identified what it is and that'll be all purpose whether I'm at 4th of July out on the lawn

at the Kennedy Center wherever now have, it has electricity, anything that you can't charge something with now is obsolete. I've got to be able to repower everything I have around me wherever I'm at. In your car? In this device. Right. In this cooler. Oh yeah. It's state of the art. But when will you have the entire winter survival kit put together in your vehicle? Oh, by December. By December. Oh, okay, by December. Oh, yeah. By December. Yeah. And, and there's never, I always, I don't

have an automobile that's not all wheel drive. I don't buy anything that's not all wheel drive. Have you ever, has there ever been a time where you needed the winter survival kit? No, only because of severe backup with ice when everybody was kind of stuck, which was the purpose of this. What happens if every, no accident, but everybody's stuck? You can't get off the highway and you may have to spend four or five hours in your car. Right. Just, general, practical thinking, everybody's got to have some type of container that will allow them a chance to not have to smell urine. So you can either have that.

You could get out of the car and walk to the shoulder of the road and be okay there. Okay, now everybody's stranded. You're not, see, you're so used to being driven. You don't understand what it is to drive places. Yeah, I've got a shirt. As a driver, if we're all stuck, yeah, okay, just go over where? Everybody's there. You're in a jam, and people are not going to.

I'm not telling you, it's not just get you a big gulp cup and you're good. But you have to think about this. So the same thing I tell my kid, what are you going to do if, what happens if? Some people get caught. Most people get caught. Oh, I wish I had a thought of it. I would prefer to be ahead of the game. No, you're not a planner.

No, no, no, no. you're a big time planner. I just think in the area in which we live, the odds on needing a winter survival kit in a densely populated area where you're pretty much always within walking distance to some

food place, some place with a bathroom, some place with shelter is a little bit much. But you're a planner and you're from California. I always have to remind myself, you're from Southern California, even though you've been here for

much of your adult life. Now, Doug Camer was on the podcast with me yesterday because we were talking about the storm. I had him explain the storm. If you missed that, Doug was great yesterday, but we ended up talking a lot about the upcoming winter. Doug thinks the upcoming winter may be one of the worst, coldest, snowiest winters we've had in a long, long time. So maybe this will be the year in which your winter survival kit will get some usage. Well, the dolphins played the bears. I'll tell you how long it's been. The bears were actually in a Super Bowl.

The last time we got caught down in Miami. I remember that. And we couldn't fly back. Remember that? Yes, I do. Yeah, because our better halves had to be in the dark for a couple weeks while we suffered through Miami. Don't you remember who got back, though?

Don't you remember who got back? You did you with the Richmond? I did. First of all, first of all, so I warned, what's his face? Glass gal. Yeah, you're a guy. Your boy. I warned him.

I said, look, I'm just going to tell you right now, everybody after their show on Friday should be on the first flight out or they're not getting back until Tuesday. And he's like, what are you talking about? I said, this is a big one. This is going to be two feet plus of snow. And they, you know, he ignored me, completely ignored me. And when my show was over, because that's when I was doing the midday show with Tommy,

I found a flight to Richmond and I got back to Richmond and then I rented a vehicle and I drove back in a raging blizzard and I was home. And thank God I got back because I was the only, Tommy made it back eventually. but without it, we would have had no live shows on Monday after the Super Bowl. So there you go. I remember. And I felt bad because I was in Miami. With it, and we were so.

As I go, and I still here by the day. I know I was the idiot. I know I was the idiot. But you know how much I wanted to see the storm. So I got back for it. You were a storm chaser. Feel badly. I was in Miami.

And I'm riding to run the opposite side of it. But that's the real story. You tell you how long ago, the bears were good. Yeah. They were in a Super Bowl. I know. And that's how far the mighty have fallen. That's why today, I couldn't miss today,

because it represented the first day of practice for me. And, you know, just good clicks. It's not in the other pads. But, you know, because you can't play the game. The game is played in full pads. I'm sorry to be such a Debbie Downer. but this is not flag tackle football and the seated day the Christmas and the trash talking

in a constructive manner they weren't they're not idiots you know but but Chase Young and John Allen them going back in the office barking back and then I know a team is hit it in the right direction when they work over how I beat you or how you beat me and we discuss it after the drill So they're helping each other. It's constructive.

And it's fun. But, boy, it's intense. And I'm telling you, it just thrills my heart to see. Because if we're not physical, we've got no chance. We've got no chance. But if we're physical, we've got a chance. Let's start with that. Okay.

The talent on defense, you know, you've watched all of these teams over the years. This is the most talented defense. we have seen in decades, right, in terms of the players and the ability. So what are you expecting from the defense? And what have you seen so far that is encouraging and then maybe something that, you know, you might be a little bit concerned about? The only thing I can tell is that they're all in shape. And that's the only thing I'm looking for is conditioning.

Because I can see nothing in a walk through a non-padded practice. when the play practice is scripted. I try to, and I don't want to kill people's joy, because it's always like I'm the Debbie Downer, because people want to live in a dream world, and they want to come back and evaluate what they saw. You saw a flag. The defense is told what to do and what not to do.

The quarterback, you can't touch him. That's not how the game is played. So why would you fall in love with fake news? Because that's what it is. The only thing I care about is are they in condition? Are they smart enough to not jump off sides? Do they appear to have been able to translate what was put on a blackboard and then what goes on the field? Because that takes the IQ.

I play with some guys that weren't that bright. They have a very sharp, smart team that's in condition. They have a lot of large people. And eventually, if they can be as good as they're going to have to be, I think they're capable of being on defense, this could be something we smile about. You think the defense is well coached, don't you? I think the defense is coached. And I was concerned with Harris leaving because he had such a presence on the few.

He was like being to me on defense. But Jack, they're well-schooled, and I'm a Jack guy because of I believe that anybody that's up front enough to let you know exactly where they stand and not let them affect how they feel either way is my kind of guy. So he's not pretentious, he's not fake, he's real. And I think the fellas have adapted to that. Much in the way that they adapted to Greg Williams and Greg Williams was here, when others would have, but no other players got it.

all you got to do as a coach is get the respect of your players. They don't have to love you. They don't have to send your wife Christmas cards, but they got to respect you. And I feel that overwhelmingly on that defense. They're all on the same page. I like the fact that they don't run a cookie cutter defense, that they make you think about them in a way no one else has to think about that week.

I think that's smart. I would do that if I was involved in football. I would do anything but be normal. and they're abnormal all the way across the board, and by that, five-man front, when you start talking about Buffalo and Nickel, anything other than 4, 3, and 3, 4. I love it.

I love it, because it's attention of detail, and most guys just aren't patient enough to figure things out. So, yeah, secondary to Kid Emanuel is everything advertised that I can see playing flag, and now that they're playing football, I saw him today. He's the reason I was the first guy at practice. As soon as they ran their sweep.

And again, I thought I was smart enough to know. SEC-C-E-C- equals, ain't no ciss he's in it. And sure enough, he threw his body in there right off the time. And it wouldn't even lie. And I said, okay, he seeks contact. I'm done. I can leave now, close my book, and walk the other side of the field. Everybody checks the boxes right now.

I'm highly impressed and encouraged by the way they teach and the way they go through practice. Tell me about what you're seeing with Chase Young this early in camp. All he could show. I mean, today was the first day I paid any attention to him or any of them on defense. And he had a couple of good engaged, a couple good moves. He's got to build his base, his repertoire, because nobody at this level are you going to run through every player, run around every play?

You've got to make them think. It's like pitchers. You can't just have a fastball. even if you're throwing 102 miles per hour. Because the big boys, that doesn't mean nothing to them. So I think he's working on it. If he's healthy, I don't worry about him, but I got to see it to believe it. Because the other guy on the other side is just absolutely terrifying.

You're talking about sweat. The kid wears 90. Yeah, look it up in your program. Well, I didn't know if you were talking about who he was going against offensively. a tackle. No, no, you're right. You're right to do that, but your listeners understand me. Trust me.

We have a much better relationship than you and I do. Okay. Because your listeners, oh, I love him. I love him to death. Yeah. And so he is to me the most terrifying person on the defense. Love him. Because his talent to me is completely unlimited.

Now, I don't know if he'll reach it. But in terms of potential, that's the thing I focus on. will he maximize his talent? Because if he does, then this defense is going to be historic. It's got a chance to earn a name like the Purple People Leaders, the Steel Curtain, the 85 Bears. We're talking about celebrated unit. That's how much talent they have.

I don't know if they'll hit it. But I do know that he's the freakiest, quick-twitchiest guy. I can't figure out. Like, I don't know why he doesn't have, like, 18 to 20 sacks every season he plays. And I go, it's just a matter of, I guess, him learning it, buying into his coach, which he did last year a lot better. Now Chase is going to get Ryan Carrigan and Coach Z. So it's the best he will have been coached at this level in his life as a pro. Whether or not he'll listen to have no idea.

It doesn't bother me what he does because the results will tell me, because he won't beat these guys with the collegiate program. That ain't going to work. But if he develops and evolves, he's got everything else. Tell me about the linebackers, Cody Barton in particular. What have you seen? Love it. Well, Cody is the kind of guy that's on all really good teams.

You know, he's not a combine guy, but as soon as you like to put the pads on the day, he stands out like a sore thumb. He's a contact freak. He's athletic enough and got size. And he's going to be terror. He's a terror. Just like 47. You watch.

This kid, you look at him and you'll think, as you've rumbled to your program. I love it out. I know who Kay Hudson is. Everybody's been talking about him, and I was going to make sure because my audience and I have a really close relationship. It's not close you think it is. I was going to mention that 47 was Klee Kudson.

They would love to have me on more. But you won't do it. That's okay. Look. Not only would they love, I would love to have you on more. No, no. It's your show. And I'm not going to do it.

What they do realize is that I can't ask as much as I would like to ask. No, no, because I'm the feeling guy. You're very busy. You're not always available. You're the filling guy. It's tough to get you off the year. Like I told you today. Tough to get you off day in and time his yacht.

When you call me there, you said, hey, you say, hey, coolly can you feel, I say absolutely. I did not say cool he can't. Every day. I didn't say that at all. I know it's him. It's always him when something comes up. And I'm his, I'm here. I'm his backup.

You know, okay, no problem. A lot of people in the audience, an audience that I'm very familiar with and know very well, you're right. They do love when you're on. This is 100% true. I love what I'm all. They also know how much I love having you on, and that you're not just a fill-in for a canceled. I am a fill-in.

Yes, you're not. I am. I am. But that's okay. At least I'm on the team. All right. I'm on the team. So Hudson.

I'm on the team. So Hudson looks good. But I'm on the team. Because Hudson last year looked good. What? Explos. He's kind of like a groundhog. He's coming.

His statue is perfect for him. There's a guy going in a Hall of Fame that played. with the Miami Dolphus, War 54. Bonacani. No, not Nick, but you're close. He's an undersized lineback. He's just going in this year's class. Oh, God. Oh, oh, yeah, of course.

The short guy from Miami, him. Yeah, okay. From the University of Miami, sorry. Exactly, exactly. He is, this dude has the best leverage, I've told you all the time. Hardest guy to fight is a guy smaller than you, are undersized. Hate it. Hate it.

Give me the 6-5 guy, long arm. I don't care about that. The guy kills you if he's got natural leverage. Sorry, Zach Thomas. Zach Thomas. There you go. There you go. Denton, congratulations, Denton.

Denton's the best. Denton's not producing this show. I looked it up real quickly. Denton produces everything you do. That's why your ratings are going through the roof now because of that kid. Okay. I love him. So you love Kali Kuntz.

I love the way this guy. tracks. Today was the first day with Paz, and my God, man, they ran a lead with Robinson, who wears eight for your commanders. Man, my God. Had he not been a teammate, he would, I mean, he just, he loves contact, he feels, and now with 52's ridiculously stupid movie made in an automobile, I'm so, I'm devastated by the fact that something that happened in March, I just got wind of it yesterday. And that really disappoints me. March of 2022, not even March of 2023.

Yeah, you're right, March 22. So then it passed me by, and he's got to pay the cost for being a knucklehead. But now it's going to cost him because this kid we got from Seattle and the Wolverine, they don't need anybody. All they need is a ball to play. And now they're running that nose guy at five-man defensive lines. It may only be one of them out there at a time, you know, along with your safety. So it's an odd front.

I really like it because it makes the offense think. And I think any time they're thinking you're winning and they run to the ball. And it's how much will you push yourself? That's why I love Chase. Chase has an intangible. And it's an intangible that, like, that Dexter had. and the thing is that he's going to compete to win a drill. You know, he's going to compete to win a segment of whatever you're doing.

He's talking trash the entire day. I mean, everything he's challenging you. And guys like that, he prevents you for ever being flat. You're never going to be flat with a guy like that. It's amazing the energy he has, which tells me he's in great, condition, and now I just want to know who that guy is in our secondary. They have talent. They're highly skilled, but, you know, I'm looking for that. And again, I've had one day. One day, that's it. It'll get better and better and better, and we've had no casualties to my knowledge.

Yeah, exactly. We haven't lost anybody yet. When they go- Yeah, because we need our depth. We need our depth. When they go five-man front, is it Big Phil Mathis? Well, you know, I would think that that's probably how it would be was Ridgeway today. Okay. But that could have been because Phil's coming off. Yeah, because Phil's coming off. Yeah. You know, let's move injury.

Yep. So I'm not as keen on personnel, because I don't know. I don't think it'll matter as long as it'll be one or either. Or I'm good with both. I'm good with Bada. I'm good with Smith Williams. Oh, my, I love it. Two Hill.

Man, them guys, I say they get a, getting a car jam in the middle of the night, call me. I'll come pick them up. because they are so good that you will be able to allow your racehorses to catch their breath and not lose a lot. Believe me. Believe me. And so I like the unit. I like the room. I really do. And I didn't know what I was going to like Chris Harris not being out there because he was the vocal leader on the defense as a coach. But they've done that. And they're communicating. And their staff is. really connected defensively.

I'm telling you, you would love it. I'm so excited about what they can be defensively. I really am. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. I just, you know, the thing they need, we've talked about this for a while now. They need more takeaways. And putting a guy like Barton who really anticipates well, can run, it seems to be where the ball is. Forbes is a ball hawk.

And if you can get 99, that's Chase Young, for those of you trying to follow along, into a havoc-reaking, you know, pass-rush situation. Maybe they can start, you know, making it easier for the offense as well. The offense, though, I want to talk. Yeah, go ahead. Okay. No, no, no, I was just saying, whenever you want to measure someone, like they talk, Chase, they talk about all these people that say,

hey, there's one, I tell him, I say, look, there's one guy. He's in Pittsburgh. when you get to that level, if you can do that for a court or call me, because I'd love to see it. And I haven't seen anybody as terrorizing. You're talking about TJ Watt. Yeah, it is Watt and the kid in San Francisco. So there's another level out there that we haven't even began to touch.

You're right. So I don't want to hear none of that. But I don't listen to anything they say. But Sweat and Chase Young have that ability. We just haven't seen it. We got to see sweat in T.J. Watt and Von Miller. We got to see Miles Garrett out of them. And we haven't seen that yet, even though you would agree that they do have that ability, right?

Chase Young does anyway. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I would say that Chase can do whatever he wants to do if he'll allow himself to be coached. He doesn't convince me that he will, so I don't know. The other kid's sweat. I'm at a loss as to why he didn't have 15-sack last year. Right.

Like, I don't know what he's missing because everything else God gave him. Well, what do you think is missing? Well, it's hard. It's hard to figure out how a guy can be a tenth of a second off like 20 times. You know what I mean? Yeah. He doesn't get close like just once. He's damn near about the decapitated guy every time.

But he doesn't get there. He doesn't finish in the nick of time, yet he's so close that you can't take your eyes off of it. So I haven't quite figured out there's something that's probably not mechanical. It has nothing to do with actually athleticism. This is a mental thing for him, to me. And if he can overcome it or figure it out so that he can get the best out of himself, I think he's like Miles Garrett, closest to Miles Garrett would be. because he's a terror.

You realize he's sick, six. Doc, I loved him in college. He had like 35 sacks in his two years in his last two years at Mississippi State. He was the best player on the field for two years. Now, go say it. You're going to say, but. But. Well, you're right.

He's gotten close. That's my part. He is so close. Tell you what. If you told me, hey, you can purchase. to have any one of the four who you take. I don't even blink. Oh, man.

Like right now, if you can have any one of the four, that's a real. Their careers. It's a really good, you mean they're, for the rest of their career? For the rest of their career. Yeah.

Give a him. I'll tell you what, 94, my, 94 is about, to blow up into one of the best two or three, four plays. players at that position. Yeah, he is, he is so physical and so athletic. He got so much bounce.

Duran Payne. John Allen, Alan, he just reminds me the more, because the best I've ever seen would play for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mean Joe. What means Joe Green, that's what John can do. John, just physically manhandle a grown-ass man. in front of him. I mean, he's just,

and he's got all the other intangibles. He's got the IQ, he's got the football savvy, he's downright honorary. He's got everything that is there, and all he's got to do is stay healthy. And that's hard,

it's not easy because he's so physical. But in terms of freakish, that kid, 90, man, it's just, you don't see, you don't see it. Like Miles Garrett. What do you think of Miles Garrett? Just an absolute freak.

game wrecker. But there you go. There you go. He's a game wrecker. And he can do it on demand. This kid can't do it on demand yet because he hadn't had the coaching up until last year. And that. So we'll see what happens.

But I love them all. And I love Smith Williams and Two Hill. And Rich, I mean, they've got stacked. Now they got baby Bama back. They've got six, seven guys. So they don't have to kiss anybody behind to play. If you don't play, you're out. Did you, I was just thinking about something, because when you mentioned Mean Joe Green,

when you were in Cincinnati, did you play against Mean Joe Green and Greenwood and Dwight White and and Lambert? Yes. Yes. Oh, my God. I don't think we've ever talked about that. You played against some of the greatest, maybe some of the greatest defensive teams in NFL history. First of all, the reason we don't is because I'm never on the show.

Well, that's not true. Last time we talked about your UCLA days. the show. You don't talk to me if I'm not on the show. Why do you do this? Don't do this. We talk all the time. You rarely get back to me when I reach out to you and I'm thrilled when you do. If the people knew how you treat me. How good? I call you. How good? You don't even pick up the phone. How good were some of those Steeler defenses that you faced? Oh my God. Elsie Greenwood. First, second year, Monday night, first Monday night football game went three river.

And Vernon, um, tookie was our right tackle. And, uh, Vernon Holland, I was Tennessee State, first round pick.

And Elsie Greenwood, you know, first play you come out to huddle at a TV timeout. And he said some awful things to me. And he said that if you, if I hit him below his knee, he said some more awful things that he was going to do to me. And,

um, So we go back in the hole And I'm up and Suki With his nickname Werner said don't do it Because I was about to say something stupid To match his stupidity And

I got back in the hole Soggy say Don't play that game with him Just go right after his knee The first time you get a chance He said Don't talk about it Do it

And I learned that It was like Because with them dudes They were daring you to block them And I had Donny Shell, don't forget him. Oh, yeah. Don't say, but Donny Shell, Wagner, Shell.

Let me tell you up, Mel, Blunt? Yeah. Mel, this is before they changed the rules. Mel would grab you and punch you. And you go, the Steelers, no, man, it was, it was a rude awakening, a Monday night, and you realized that Lambert had his teeth out. His middle teeth was all out.

He was, like, sang, like Dracula. And, uh, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, mean Joe Green, just completely pick a human being up like a pack of a sack of potatoes and slam them down on the head. They were the most violent group. And then you learned, I said, and then don't forget the bears, play against the 84 bears. Well, I know that. The 84 bears. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, well, you play the, the 85 bears is the game where they absolutely annihilated us, 45 to 7, and Thaisman had a punt of one yard. He punted at one yard. Yeah, but no, but the bigger game was the 84.

The playoff game, we lost them home. They won at RFK. We lost that RFK. Yeah. We got sacked eight times. We had 81 yards rushing the first quarter. And then when Ken got hurt, you lose one guy. We lost a guard.

Yeah. And that was it. And it was Katie Bartador. Hey, Doc. How good was Ken Anderson? Do you think he's a Hall of Fame quarterback? I do believe Ken Anderson deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Bengals, if you recall, were an expansion club.

And the great Paul Brown, who's one of the greatest leaders I've ever been around. And when you think of, remember, Isaac Curtis, Billy Brooks, we had Bob Trumpy, and this guy through the hardest comeback, and I've never seen a human being. he had a gun. If he was throwing baseball, I mean, he's hitting 101, 101, 102 on the gun, like Bert Jones. Everything Bert Jones had and both Burke Jones could do, so could he, so could Ken. And then when you get to Super Bowls and you win as many games as he won, it's a shame that he's had to wait.

Like it's a shame that Joe Jacoby is not already in. and some of these things are hard to erase or replace because not everybody lives as long as they'd like to. So, yeah, I think he should. And I hope he does because it would be a little like Jake. I'm not saying it because he's a teammate. I'm telling you I've heard men cry and groan and feel like they're being,

their hearts are being taken out of their bodies by getting hit by this guy. So I just think it's a shame that it's had to go on as long as it's gone on. Right. Let's get to your thoughts on the offense so far through training camp, and we'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Doc is with us. I want your overall impressions of Sam Howell. athletic, big gun, and doesn't want to risk the other.

And if the defense is as good as I hope they will be, it will give him that six weeks he needs to go around the block. And with the running back room, the only way he can fail is if they just let fruit runners knock him out and gets no help up front like Carson Went had. What about right now? Like I had Ben today on the radio show, and Ben said you can tell that the offense is a work in progress right now, which it should be. It's a new offense with a quarterback that has no starting experience.

Are you seeing the same thing that it's a major work in progress and they're nowhere near there yet? No, I don't because I'm not looking at it like anything. that did not actually play would look at it. No, because no, it's not being, no, I'm just being honest with you. Yeah, all right. Okay, so tell us how you would look at it, yeah. I look at it to where if I don't see offside, if I don't see people that didn't look like they knew what they were supposed to be, I'm just testing their cerebral side of them now.

With fatigue, you know, fatigue makes cowards out of all of us. So what I'm looking for are their fumbles, bad exchanges, guys going the wrong way, and that's what I don't see. When I grade a practice, it has nothing to do with what you see because I know it's scripted. A lot of people look at practice, even a reporter, they don't realize it's scripted. They know what you, they plan what they're going to do. Stop evaluating something as if it's a competitive event. It's not.

It's an exercise. And nothing irritates me more, and I go, why am I getting upset about it? They just don't know any better. so I just set up. I don't say nothing. They have cards. They orchestrated so the defense can, the offense can win a segment and the defense can win their portion of it.

It's all staged. You might as well go out and what, that's why I said. I wasn't trying to be a jackass. I was telling you the pickleball I saw the other night. Pickleball league was far more intriguing to me than watching their practices if they don't have pads on. Right. Pickleball's great.

If they don't have pads on, yeah. to wait for my time. But you can evaluate, you know, skills and talent, which is you, we've talked about a little bit. So you like, you like Sam Howell's talent and ability. What stands out the most? Because I think he, the arm strength that we saw, even in that one game, was pretty obvious. Am I right or wrong? You're absolutely right.

Sam, if Sam, if Sam were a bus, then you would have known it against the Cowboys. He wouldn't have finished the second quarter. They'd have been saying, get him out. He went in against a playoff team, and against a playoff team and beat him. And people are evaluating it. Well, is he ready?

No, your question you should be saying to it, why the hell didn't he play last year more? But nobody does that. Everybody just wants to continue to beat the dead horse. and evaluating him. It doesn't matter what round you drafted. Can he play? Yeah, hell, yeah, he can play.

And you're going to see it if they give him a chance. Now, if you're going to lead him anywhere that I'm not certain of. I need the defense to do the leading, but I guarantee you he'll pick up the slack. He's too gifted to, and their receivers are awesome, and the backfield, the running back room is awesome. The tight ends have got to prove to me that they're going to be more than show ponies. Because I need to run the ball. And so all that, you know, grace is fine.

But we need to run the ball to keep the ball in possessions. And that's why I'm hoping to baits. And Logan can stay strong as the other guys build up their stamina so they can, you know, compete at the line of scrimmage. What about the offensive line? Now, that's my biggest project because it's not one position. is five guys working as one. And that is going to be the biggest hurdle,

the biggest hurdle for the team. So that's why I need the defense to carry the team for September. And I need them to get four or five weeks under the belt because five guys operating as one. And as soon as you get going good, one guy will get nicked. And then all of a sudden you've got to basically, you know, reshuffle the deck and keep. going. It's the most complicated thing on football teams, the offensive line. But they've got a lot of

people that look the part, you know, big, strong, aggressive. Now we'll find out if they can play. And Sadiq Charles is the number one guy that I'm watching. I like Cosme, a lot at right guard. I like him and tackle. But we don't know. Here's the good news. They get to go up against a slaughterhouse unit. It couldn't be better for them. They're going up against our defensive front in practice, all nine of them. So you're getting quality work and every drill, every one-on-one, it's better, it's as good

as a game because we have a high level. If our D-line stunk, we'd be in a world of trouble. But we're not going to get shocked now by the game because you're getting it throughout the week. So that's why I think they can hold up, and I like the coaches. I like everything about it. I just need to see it.

And it's the first day wherever in Paz. And it gave me, I saw what I was hoping I would see, Nobody surrendered, you know, and no fist fight. I don't want a fist fight. I want football players. And they did that even though they were taunting them. The defense was taunt them.

But they didn't fall for the okey dog. So it's a good-looking group, man. They're going to be junkyard dogs. I don't think you're going to get, you know, I don't think there's Rush Grimm in the group. But that's okay. As long as they work together like the hogs, they got a chance. at receiver we both are big believers in Terry and I'm a massive believer in Jahan as a guy that's going to scare defenses

Curtis will be a part of it after that tell me who you think will be on the field Diami Dax Milne Marcus Kemp the guy they just brought in Pringle who's next I have no idea I would say Diami, based on what I've seen, them playing catch. But am I supposed to be impressed that pros play catch and they actually catch it?

I don't get the alarm. I mean, they're professionals. They're playing catch. I can't evaluate them until I see him in the game. And the game tells me all I need to know. I can't say, oh, my God, that guy is great. Well, why didn't have been great in the games? Well, he couldn't get him to the ball.

Okay, now that's. we got a guy that might be able to give him the ball, I should see more. Brown should be far more productive than he's shown. Well, we've got a chance to see it. The other guys, they have no idea, because they haven't seen them going up against a defense that knows that there's a threat or run. Practice is no threat or run. If our defense doesn't look like they could cover now, you should get rid of all of them.

Practice is fake. It's not a game. It's an exercise. So we'll see. Last one, because you haven't mentioned any of the pups yet. Other than Forbes, you talked about Forbes. So give me another player in his rookie year, undrafted free agent, drafted player that has really stood out to you so far.

You're usually all over a couple of these guys at this point. No, no, no. They put pads on the day for the first time. Who is that about? am I supposed to be excited about a receiver who can catch, who got drafted high? So you don't have an answer to that? I don't understand the question. No, none of them.

Okay. I can't evaluate them until they're in a football game. Okay. Well, we'll get back to you on that then in a couple of weeks after they played one of those really important preseason games. I'm being a jerk. I'm not being a jerk. I'm telling you. Am I supposed to evaluate a supermodel because she's good looking?

They're all good looking. Well, I mean, I don't know what the question is. You evaluated Emmanuel Forbes. You evaluated Emmanuel Forbes. Well, no, because he makes a lot of play. He's got. Yeah, but it's practice. I mean, they're in shorts and underwear.

He's got 50 reps. Yeah. 50 reps against receiver. I was just asking, anybody else strike you like Emmanuel Forbes has since you evaluated that record? No. Okay. No.

This incredible conversation was brought to you by the Doc Walker Winter Survival Kid. which includes lots of canned goods and blankets and hand warmers and bottled water and flashlights. And I don't know what else is in it, but I make fun of me if I'm doing something wrong. I'm so happy that he said yes today. And yes, I'll try to get him back more often. I mean, it's based on his availability because he's very, very important. And he just got back from Tanya and Dan's boat recently. Why do you lie to your people?

This was great. I love you. I'll talk to you later. All right. Good deal. Later. The one and only, everybody, Richard Doc Walker. That is it for the day back tomorrow.