The Kevin Sheehan Show - "Easiest" Defense We Faced

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

Kevin opened with lots of NFL news from today and over the weekend including the first 2026 "schedule" announcement. Josh Edwards/CBSSports jumped on to talk about the 10 NFL new head coaches and look ahead to the draft including what he thinks the Commanders will do at #7 overall. Kevin finished with a quote from John Keim's story over the weekend from an opposing coach who referred to Washington's defense as the "easiest" they faced all season.   For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match 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. How was the first weekend without football in nearly five months? For me, painful and depressing. I've got one guest on the show with me today. We'll look ahead to the NFL draft here on day one of Super Bowl week.

Josh Edwards from CBS Sports will be my guest. I'll also get Josh to kind of break down that, 10 new NFL head coaching hires. Yes, all 10 openings have now been filled. The show's presenting sponsor is always, Window Nation, 86690 Nation, windownation.com if you need new windows. The last two hires, Clint Kubiak to the Raiders.

Clint is Seattle's offensive coordinator, and Mike LaFleurr, the Rams offensive coordinator to the Cardinals. Mike LaFleur, Matt's younger brother, has been the O.C. for Sean McVeigh in Los Angeles for the last few years. And he becomes the fourth consecutive offensive coordinator under Sean McVe to become a head coach in the NFL. It started with Mike's older brother, Matt LaFleur, who was with Sean in his first year in L.A. in 2017. Of course, Matt's been the Packers head coach for the last many years. Then it was Kevin O'Connell. He was with Sean in L.A. as the O.C. in 2020.

And in 2021, they won the Super Bowl in 2021. Then he got the Vikings job. O'Connell did. Then it was Liam Cohen, who was with Sean for just a year in 2022. He actually left L.A. and did not go straight to Jacksonville, where he is the current head coach. But he went to Tampa so he could call plays. Remember, you don't get to call plays in Los Angeles as the offensive coordinator because Sean calls the plays. But Liam Cohen is now the Jacksonville head coach. And so, yeah, that's four consecutive offensive coordinators.

Matt Lafleur, Kevin O'Connell, Liam Cohen, and Mike LaFleur. They've all become head coaches. also remember Zach Taylor, who was not an OC with Sean McVey in 2018, but he was the QB's coach. He got hired to be the Bengals head coach in 2019. On the defensive side of the ball, Brandon Staley and Rahim Morris were defensive coordinators for Sean McVeigh, and they became head coaches. So seven head coaches off of Sean McVeigh's staff.

since he arrived in Los Angeles. That is pretty amazing. And I'm not sure if you remember this. Maybe you heard about it. Sean McVeigh was here as the offensive coordinator for Jay Gruden, the tight ends coach before Jay got here for Mike Shanahan. A staff that you may have heard about this included Matt LaFleurr, Mike McDaniel, and Raheem Morris, along with Kyle Shanahan.

not a bad staff in 2012. I'm not sure who the next OC will be for the Rams, but that person will likely be a head coach. Nate Shilhoss was interviewed. He's the and has been the passing game coordinator under Michael Lefleur and Sean McVe. He got several head coaching job interviews in this cycle. maybe he becomes the OC and shortly thereafter a head coach. By the way, McVeigh and GM Les Sneed both signed multi-year contract extensions today to stay in Los Angeles.

You know, I was thinking about Sneed, and I had to look this up. But Les Sneed has been the GM in Los Angeles since 2012. He was a first-time general manager. in 2012. First year of being a general manager when he made the big trade with Washington sending number two overall to Washington for three number ones

and a number two. And of course, using number two in the draft, Washington selects Robert Griffin the third, quarterback, Baylor. That trade for less need was four picks, but two. turned into, after they traded some of those picks, eight players. I also looked up a couple of other things. Sean's record since arriving in L.A., 92 and 57.

This was actually in the story about the contract extension, seven playoff appearances in nine seasons, three NFC championship games, two Super Bowl appearances, and one Super Bowl title. but something from the ESPN story actually surprised me, and I went to look this up. He is the all-time winningest Rams head coach. He's 92 and 57. He became the all-time winningest coach late last year at the end of 2024, when he passed John Robinson on the all-time wins list for Rams head coaches. But what interested me about that footnote in the story that Sean is the all-time

winningest head coach in Rams history is that George Allen's five years in L.A. were legendary years. Now, he only coached there for five years and there were fewer games back then, and he had 49 wins well short of John Robinson's and now Sean McVeigh's number. But George Allen's win percentage in Los Angeles, 742, which is an all-time best in that franchise. Allen's overall win percentage is a head coach in Los Angeles and in Washington, 712. That is fourth all-time in NFL history for regular season win percentage. Sean McVeigh getting it done in L.A. and man, if you are on that staff,

you are likely to be a future head coach if you rise to the level of coordinator on either side of the football. Some other NFL news from today, Anthony Weaver is the Ravens' new defensive coordinator. Jesse Minter hired him. Remember, Weaver was interviewed for the head coaching job here in 2024 before getting the defensive coordinator job in Miami.

From over the weekend, our team said goodbye to a few defensive coaches, including Ryan Carrigan, who was let go over the weekend, as was Jason Simmons, who now is part of the Pittsburgh staff. Assistant defensive line coach Sheree Floyd and player development coach Pete O'Negean were also released over the weekend. clearing the way for Durante Jones to bring some of the people that he wants on his defensive staff. The Brian Johnson situation on the offensive side of the staff is still up in the air. Washington's assistant head coach and passing game coordinator, and of course former Eagles offensive coordinator before coming here,

was up for the Denver OC job, but they just promoted Davis Webb to offensive coordinator. So Sean Payton got rid of Joe Lombardi and promoted Davis Webb. Davis Webb was a candidate for the head coaching job in Buffalo. Joe Brady got that job. Remember that Davis Webb is Josh Allen's best friend. Webb, by the way, getting that OC job means that the giants who were interested in Davis Webb and several others, including Cliff Kingsbury,

But Webb staying in Denver means that John Harbaugh still does not have an offensive coordinator to coach up Jackson Dart. I guess Kingsbury could be headed there. I think it would be a good fit. But if not there, maybe nowhere for Cliff. That would be interesting. More NFL news. Did you know that we are roughly 100 days away if it happens that about the same time it happened last year? from the NFL schedule coming out.

That means the mock schedule will come out in about 95 days or so. But the league did announce today that it will play a game next year in Paris. Now, that was not on the initial list of international games. The NFL is going to get to the point, and it's not going to be that far off, where they are playing one international game. every week of the season, or at least through, say, 16 weeks, maybe the final two weeks of the season won't include international dates. But already they had announced three in London, one in Munich, one in Brazil, and they also announced today another game next year in Madrid. But then they also announced a game in Paris, the first ever game in France.

and the reports are that the Saints will host the Browns in that game. Not exactly the most attractive of matchups for the French in their first NFL game. But the Saints were a much improved team at the end of the year. By the way, the Saints will be the host team in that game. And remember that Nikki Javala about a month ago reported that Washington was going to play an international game for a second consecutive year. Now, it's not going to be in Australia. That's the other place.

Sorry, I left out that. The NFL is going to play a game in Australia. That pretty much has to be two West Coast teams, right? You would think because of the travel. Washington not going to play in France. So Brazil's a possibility. Munich's a possibility. Or one of the three in London.

I guess Madrid again could be a possibility. But keep in mind, the NFC plays nine home eight away in 2026. So the international hosts will be the NFC teams. So Washington will be giving up a home game in Landover for an international game in 20206. My guess is one of the three in London. I don't know. I mean, it could be Munich. I doubt it's Madrid again.

And it certainly could be Brazil. That Brazil game has been, you know, a very early in the season football game, that Friday night. Although that Friday night I don't think is available this coming season because of the Labor Day lateness this year. All right. I got this from Greg in D.C. I wanted to finish up the first segment of the show. with this from Greg. Greg writes, Kevin.

So I'm assuming you support the Vikings firing their general manager because he took his available paternity leave a few years back. That's usually your Neanderthal position. Thank you, Greg, for that. For those of you who don't know what Greg's referring to, Queseidofa Mensa has been the Vikings general manager. since 2022, and they fired him on Friday. And since the firing of Adofo Menza, there have been a ton of stories on why he got fired, including some real hit pieces,

where you can tell people in that building and maybe some outside of that building were chomping at the bit to bury this guy. Look, the only thing I know about him as an NFL fan is that A, and as a Kirk Cousins fan, he was the guy that didn't want Kirk Cousins back. Kevin O'Connell did, and that's why Kirk ended up signing with Atlanta. They offered him, Adofo Mentsa offered him kind of a short-term deal

and told him, Kirk, that they were going to draft a quarterback in 2024 to eventually replace him. Atlanta told him that they weren't going to draft a quarterback, but then did anyway, and drafted Michael Panics Jr. I digress. The thing that I know most about Adofo Mensa is that his drafts have been very much, you know, meh. They've actually been criticized the first two is borderline disastrous. He picked Lewis Seen the safety in his first draft in 2022 in the first round and then took Andrew Booth in the second round of corner and neither one of those players has turned in to anything.

So there's been a lot of discussion that his drafts have been poor. It's kind of early on the draft in 24 or even this past draft. And the draft in 2024 was the draft in which they took J.J. McCarthy. It's too early. We know that on quarterbacks to know whether or not it was a good pick or a bad pick. But what we do know from some of the reporting over the weekend is that Kevin O'Connell didn't necessarily want J.J. McCarthy to be the starter this year. And Adofo Mensa absolutely was pushing for J.J. McCarthy off his injured rookie season to be given clearance to be the starter this year,

which is why, in part, and I'll get to this in more detail, Donald, Daniel Jones, and even Aaron Rogers, weren't a part of the Vikings roster. Adopo Mensa wanted a clear path. for J.J. McCarthy to be the starter. Kevin O'Connell was a bit queasy about that and didn't think that J.J. McCarthy was ready in his first full-season playing to be good enough for Minnesota to kind of pick up where they left off last year, which was as a 14-win team in 2024 and a playoff team. Now, you know, the idea that Sam Darnold went to Seattle and has had all this success and he's in the Super Bowl and that they, just let him go. Something that Justin Jefferson actually mentioned over the weekend. He said, we probably should have kept Sam Darnold or, you know, a veteran quarterback, maybe even Daniel Jones. I've said this before, but why would Sam Darnold as an unrestricted free agent in 2025? Why would he have resigned with Minnesota when the GM was chopping at the bit, itching to get J.J. McCarthy in there because he drafted him, traded up a spot and drafted him at number of.

10. Why would Sam Darnold pass on a lot more money and a guaranteed starting spot for the next few years in Seattle in the exact same offensive system with Clint Kubiak to stay in Minnesota where there was going to always be talk anytime he didn't play well if he actually even got the opportunity to start to play J.J. McCarthy. That doesn't make any sense to me. Daniel Jones, a little bit more sense. Like you could have paid Daniel Jones the going rate of a low end starting quarterback and maybe said you're going to get to compete with him.

But he had a good opportunity in Indianapolis. By the way, if they had wanted to franchise tag, either one, to keep them, do you know what the franchise tag was for quarterbacks in 2025? $40 million. Not exactly the Kirk Cousins' 2016 or 2017 franchise tag price. It's gone up big time. So I don't really get the Darnold, you know, was allowed to leave Minnesota.

I don't think anybody should get blamed for that unless they made the decision. And maybe Kevin O'Connell wanted to make the decision to start Sam Darnold and to make J.J. McCarthy kind of a Jordan-love understudy, you know, to Aaron Rogers. Maybe that's what he wanted. Anyway, back to, you know, some of these hit pieces and some of the information that's come out over the weekend about Adofo Mensa. Arif Hassan, who covers the Vikings, wrote a story, I mean, that just buried him. He had people, you know, in the building referring to Adofo Mensa as a clown, as arrogant, as the smartest guy in the room, a guy who was completely disconnected from many in the building, including those he was asked to manage. Diana Rusini, actually it was Diana's report that my emailer, Greg, is referring to.

Diana reported that Adofo Mensa took two weeks of paternity leave during training camp in 2023 for the birth of his first child. Now, she reported that many around the league were blown away, that someone in his position would take two weeks during training camp. She came back later on Friday or Saturday and reported that while people around the league were blown away that a general manager would take that much time off, people inside the building were apparently supportive of it, whatever. And of course, you know, the predictable responses from Diana's reporting came from all corners. I'll just, you know, put them into two buckets. There were the people that thought, my God, it speaks so poorly of the NFL that people around the league would eye roll at somebody taking paternity leave. And then others on the other side of that, you know, who believe that there are certain jobs where you just can't take two weeks off. for paternity leave, especially during training camp when you are the general manager of an NFL team

and should be working tirelessly at that point of the calendar because you're pairing down that big roster to the final 53. There are trades. There are other players that are getting cut. It's a very busy time, obviously, for a general manager, and he took two weeks off during that time. So, Greg, here's my take on this. it might be a little bit different than what you're expecting. I do believe what I've always believed when we've had these conversations in the past.

I do believe there are certain professions where the same liberties that many have with respect to things like vacation time and floating holidays and yes, paternity leave, they just aren't necessarily very high on the list. It's not something that you talk about in an interview. You know, if you're interviewing to be one of 32 GMs, you're not talking about, you know, how many holidays do we get? How many floating holidays? How much for paternity leave? It's not one of those things that pops up in conversation. And actually, Greg, there isn't necessarily a paternity leave policy in the NFL.

You know, this is one of those professions where the tradeoff for. very high compensation is, you know, doing whatever it takes to get the job done, including working on Thanksgiving and Christmas and not necessarily getting paternity leave. Look, in pro sports, you know, team sports in particular, it's not only highly competitive, it's very short-lived if you don't succeed. And many of the jobs in pro sports, including being one of 32 general managers, you're also responsible for the livelihoods of others in that organization. You know, if you don't succeed, their livelihoods are going to be impacted.

You know, it's not a remote job that pays commission only, you know, where if you work hard, you make good money, and if you don't, you don't make good money, but others don't lose their jobs because you're not working hard. Pro sports and a lot of other jobs are completely different. I don't think that's a Neanderthal position, Greg. But let me give you a much less than Neanderthal position. Because I do think that there is some middle ground here. First of all, let me just say this.

I don't think the two weeks of paternity leave on its own is why Quessia dofo Mensa got fired. But I also think the disconnect that he may have had from the type and level of sacrifice that certain jobs require probably didn't help him overall. But I think there's a lot of middle ground here to discuss. You know, the middle ground between what Joe Brady said when he got hired in Buffalo last week. He talked about and he revealed that he missed the birth of his child to coach. He missed birthdays, holidays, funerals. And, you know, that's what he said. said. And then you had Quessia dofo Mensa taking two weeks of paternity leave during training camp. I don't think it needs to be the extreme in either case. In Adofa Mensa's case, did he really need two weeks

of paternity leave during training camp? I mean, personally, had that been reported then, or had I been working in the organization, one of those people working tirelessly during training camp, I would have rolled my eyes. I would have. It's just kind of where I come from on this. But at the same time, could Joe Brady as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, you know, miss an afternoon Wednesday practice to attend a loved one's funeral? Yeah, I don't think that's unreasonable. You know, could he be there for his wife if she's having a baby and it's not actually during a game? Yeah. I mean, there are extremes to this and then there is kind of a middle ground. And there are situational differences here in this conversation. Every situation is unique and different.

Certainly, there are coaches that get home for their kids' birthday dinners, you know, during the season, even, and then head back and catch up on their work at midnight, you know, from midnight to 2 a.m. And by the way, I'll say this, there's a difference between a mother and a child that are at risk during a delivery. That's a completely different conversation. But look, I'm not for missing, generally speaking, the birth of a child for extra film study in January for draft picks, you know, on the draft. But two weeks for paternity leave in the midst of training camp, man, you're giving your, you know, employer a reason among maybe many others. to say no thanks if you don't succeed. You just are.

You know, we know as NFL fans, players, coaches, front office people, GMs, you know, they work Christmas, Christmas Eve, even if they have kids, Thanksgiving. You know, they miss a lot of personal important days, personally important days. The league is competitive. It's a zero-sum game, man. You know, no one's stopping to say, hey, let's wait for him to get back from paternity. leave before we make some of these training camp cuts. If you want to make $4 to $5 million a year,

doing that job, there are very often certain things you have to sacrifice. These opportunities are limited and they are fleeting. And if you don't want to sacrifice a lot more than, say, a nine to fiver, find another line of work. But does Joe Brady need to miss every childbirth as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills? no, there are certain, you know, unless there's a game being played, there is the opportunity to make a lot of that stuff. So I do think there's a middle ground.

And I don't think it's a middle ground because the day we're living in. I think in 1975, there was probably a coach that made the birth of his first child during the season. Probably not during a game, you know, because there are a lot of livelihoods counting on these people to do their jobs. But, yeah. All right, let's get to Josh Edwards after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, I've been telling you about Gold Belly now for a while. It's this amazing site that I order from where you can get the most iconic famous foods

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Call them at 86690 Nation or head towindonation.com to schedule your fast-free in-home estimate today. All right. Joining me right now is Josh Edwards. Josh has been writing for CBS Sports for a while now. You can follow him on X at Edwards, CBS. He's an NFL writer. He's an NFL draft writer, so we will get his initial thoughts on the draft. will be there before we know it. But let's just start with this, Josh.

Which of the hires of the 10 new head coaching hires do you like and which ones were head scratching? Well, I think you have to start in Baltimore with Jesse Minter, of course. You know, the work that he has done, he's obviously got a familiarity with Baltimore having been there in the past. But I think what has been so comforting to me is. is just the coaching staff that he has been able to build to this point. Because when you're talking about these younger coaches,

and we've seen a handful of them be hired in this process, you tend to wonder what kind of a coaching staff that they can build because their paths have not necessarily crossed with as many coaches throughout their shorter careers. But I think what you've seen for a mentor is very encouraging in the way that he has been able to build that coaching staff. And I think each of these hires

has a little bit of optimism. I think you can kind of talk yourself into just about any of them, but I would say the one head scratcher which is probably not difficult to figure out is Pittsburgh because this was an opportunity for them to kind of reset

and get off the hamster wheel of just not being able to find that quarterback. This is obviously a franchise that, you know, wants and strives for consistency. But that consistency is what has hampered them over, you know, the two decades or so of Mike Tomlin's tenure because they've been able to not get in position to take that quarterback. And I don't think that that's going to change. I think McCarthy, you know, although he has limitations, is certainly going to be competent

enough to kind of avoid that top 10 range moving forward. So it's really fascinating that they win that direction because the last two hires that they have made at head coach. And, of course, this is a franchise that, you know, has had three head coaches over the past 60 years, is that they have often skewed towards a younger defensive mind. I mean, that's what Mike Tomlin was. That's what Tower was before him. So it was kind of interesting to see them go with kind of a more veteran retread. and it kind of leads me to believe that, you know, they're happy kind of charting those middle of the road-type waters.

I think it was interesting. You said consistency has hampered them. I mean, I'm not disagreeing with you because it's been the fact that they've had these nine and seven and ten and six seasons over a long period of time without any playoff success that has kind of prevented their best opportunity for getting a quarterback. I just smile at that, having been here for 20 years documenting perhaps the most inconsistent franchise in the league. Real quickly on Pittsburgh, do you think this means Aaron Rogers is coming back to play for McCarthy next year or not? I think it strengthens the case, and I think Rogers is the type that you're going to have to pry him away from the game, because I do think, you know, given all of the opinions that people have of him off the field, This is a player that really loves the game of football,

and I think it's going to be difficult for him to walk away when that time comes. So having a familiar face in the building, a lot of history between those two. I do think that the chances of him returning certainly increased, but I think it's probably 50-50 at this point. The hope is that Pittsburgh gets an answer sooner rather than later because a year ago it kind of dragged well into free agency. and beyond the draft. So hopefully they get an answer sooner, I'm sure that that's kind of what they're working

towards now with McCarthy in the building. Do you think Brian Flores will ever be a head coach again? I would say yes, unquestionably, if it were not for the lawsuit that he was involved with or he's involved with because I think he's somebody that warrants another chance. And I don't say that about every former head coach. I think some of them are very clearly meant to just be court. for life. But I think in the case of Flores, although he had his shortcomings, of course, budding heads with the young quarterback in Miami and, you know, perhaps having the, you know,

advantage of hindsight now, maybe he wasn't too far off in his evaluation of Tuatongavilo at the time. I do think that that is a coach, he is a coach who deserves another chance. And I think he ultimately will get another chance. I think he was probably fairly close this cycle. I don't think he's going to be a fit for everybody. I do think there's going to be a little bit of animosity and, you know, mixing business with pleasure in that regards for some teams. But I do think that there are some teams that are willing to give him that opportunity in the next couple of years that we probably will see that. Todd Munkin ends up in Cleveland, which means that John Harbaugh doesn't have the expected

offensive coordinator he was going to have in New York. Who is the Giants' offensive coordinator next year? Good question. I'm sure the Giants fans want to know that, too, because some of the candidates that they have interviewed for the process, I think there's mixed reviews, Cliff Kingsbury being one of them. You know, he's worked with young quarterbacks in the past, obviously, Jaden Daniels, Tyler Murray.

We saw the highs at times in Arizona. We saw a pretty remarkable rookie season from Jaden Daniels. So, you know, there have been exciting moments of his coaching career, but there's also been some downward trajectory, I think, once other teams kind of get a feel for what he wants to do on that side of the ball. I think adaptation is maybe a little bit lacking in that regard, and something that teams may have a little pause in regards to hiring him in the future. But when you're John Harbaugh and you were anticipating Todd Monk and being your

offensive coordinator and having that stripped away from you, I do think that he's probably coming at this from a fresh perspective. At least I hope so because the easy answer would be let's just go hire our good old friend Greg Roman, who has now spent time with both Harbaugh's. but I do wonder if perhaps Kingsbury's recent history working with some of those younger quarterbacks, maybe that's a little more appealing to him given the fact that they're trying to get Jackson Dart headed on a positive path now on his second offensive coordinator in as many years.

Do you have an opinion on the two hires Washington made offensive coordinator, David Blow, wasn't necessarily a hire. He was a promotion from within. And then they hired Durante Jones from Minnesota, who I think would have taken Brian Flores' spot had he gotten a head coaching position somewhere as the D.C. and Minnesota. What are your opinions on both of those guys? Yeah, Jones was going to get a defensive coordinator position somewhere. I fully believe that just with the amount of moving and shaking that we had in this year's cycle, I think that he was going to get some looks and be headed elsewhere regardless of whether or not that was Washington.

So I think in these two coaches, you have a couple of well-respected younger minds. I'm sure there's going to be some volatility. There's going to be some highs. There's going to be some lows as they try to figure this out. But David Blow is a player that has been around the league for a long time. Of course, he played and was a backup for many years. He's had the value of learning from a lot of the respected minds in the NFL. So I do think that this is a coach, although young in his coach,

although young in his career, that is ready for this moment. I think he is somebody that is going to, you know, really get along well, connect with Jaden Daniels well. I do think that they will have a very collaborative connection, communication between the two. So I think that's helpful for a young quarterback, just trying to figure out what he likes and what he does not like, especially coming back from the injury this year. So I think there's a lot to like with both of those hires.

I do think that there's probably going to be some moments where fans are questioning their decisions throughout the year just because they're still young trying to figure this out. But both coordinators that I think we're going to get opportunities, if not this year, then in the next two years, certainly. So I think that Washington, you know, given the fact that they've invested so heavily in veterans on the personnel side, could use some useful voices. on the coaching staff, and I think this was a step in the right direction. Josh does such a great job every year for CBS sports with the NFL draft, and this is the time of year, you know, fresh off the Senior Bowl, heading towards combine time to start looking ahead, especially if you're not in the Super Bowl, which we're not.

So let me just ask you, for starters, how do you describe this draft? Is it a strong draft, a weak draft, somewhere in between? I think it's somewhere in between. And I will say this with the context of what we had thought from last year. Last year's draft, we thought, was lacking in the true blue chip talents as we would refer to them and maybe being stronger in terms of depth. You know, having the players that contribute through day two and into day three, you know, I think we're seeing similar things in this year's class. Last year,

we had a lot of guys that were not taken in the first round that provided value to their teams. Harold Fanon, of course, the Brown's tied in, Nickyman Worry, the Seahawks safety. We saw value throughout all of last

year's draft, and that was behind the narrative of not having the true blue chip talents. Tedro-McMillan was fantastic as a rookie, a mecca-Egbuka, was good when he was healthy and available. Of course, Colton Loveland and Tyler Warren, and the list kind of goes on and on.

There were a number of running backs that were successful as well. So I think the similar narrative applies to this year. I think it's lacking in the true blue chip, first round, all pro types that we are accustomed to seeing in the top 10. But I think there's great depth throughout this year's class as well, specifically at a couple positions. Defense to tackle, cornerback, wide receiver. You know, we've got some guys at the top with Carnell Tate from Ohio State,

Jordan Tyson from Arizona State, Mackay Lemon from USC. But I do really think that there's an opportunity to find players that fit certain roles and skill sets that a team may need into day three. So I think this is a year where you're kind of hoping and praying that you're one of the teams that does get one of those blue chip talents at the top, and maybe they're more difficult to identify this year. But I think there's also an opportunity here for teams to build out their depth charts and find some quality contributors even in the day three. You know, in talking to general managers over the many years I've been doing this,

one of the things they'll always remind people like me of is that just because somebody's drafted in the first round doesn't mean that we had a first round grade on them. And in fact, typically most drafts have, you know, maybe half of the first round where the players have true first round grades. And then you just mentioned sort of the distinction between first round and blue chippers. You know, true players that, you know, most people would agree the odds are lesser than everybody else that this is going to bust. It does. We know that it does. But that people feel really good about a certain number of players.

Washington picks number seven in the first round. Do you think that is high enough to get a true A-plus blue-chip talent? I do, and I think one reason that this year's draft is unique is because some of those blue-chip players that I'm referencing, and to your point, blue-chip, first-round caliber players, that in our system equates to all pro, and that doesn't necessarily mean we're going to have 32 on a given year. I'm a little bit more conservative. I'm probably around 10 at this point. And I think when you look team to team, their top 32 players is going to vary very differently this year than maybe other years.

So I want to provide that context first. But I think where there's an opportunity this year, especially in relation to the commanders, is that some of those Blue Chip players play non-premium positions, historically non-premium positions, because I do think we've seen the value of safety, you know, this year, the past couple of years specifically talking about Eman Worry a little bit ago, the effect that he's had on the playoffs, Kyle Hamilton, the effect that he has had on the Ravens defense. So I think safety is a position that historically is not viewed as being this premium position, but we've seen players that are able to impact a defense at that position. So when you're talking about Ohio

state, Caleb Downs, he's a player that in most draft classes may fall out of the top 10 because it's just not a premium position. Teams don't invest top 10 picks in the safety position, historically, going back to the Eric Barry's, the Jamal Adams, you know, the players that even were taken in the top 10, the result of those players have not necessarily backed up that level of investment. Linebacker, Sonny Stiles, Ravelle Reese, although I think you can make the distinction that he's more likely to be kind of an edge rusher type of the next level, despite having that LB next to his name and a lot of draft guides and stuff.

but the two linebackers from Ohio State, I think both of those guys are blue-chip top-ten overall caliber players. And maybe they would fall out of the top 10 in some years because, again, it's just not a premium position. So if you're a team like Washington, who Bobby Wagner is a free agent, he's done a lot in a short period of time for the organization. But if you're looking to get younger, you know, maybe you're inclined to take a guy like Sunny Stiles. I would assume Arvel Reese is gone at that point in time. But maybe you're able to get a Rubin Bain, the powerful pass rusher from Miami or Keldrick Falk, who to me is more of what they historically look for in the defensive end position. Maybe that's a fit for them there at number seven overall.

Or maybe you take a guy like Caleb Downs, who is one of those blue chip players, but maybe not at a premium position. So I think it's going to be interesting, but there's definitely an opportunity there for Washington to add a quality player. Who's the best player in the draft? I think it's Ravelle Reese. In terms of just wanting to take a chance on a player, Reese has the potential that I think could be really impactful.

I think the safe answer would be Fernando Mendoza or a Francis Maui Noah, the offensive tackle from Miami. You know, maybe that would be a safer option. But I think Arvill Reese is just the upside that he brings to the position. position, there's just something about him the way that he moves, the versatility that he provides. To me, that's somebody that kind of profiles as a potential number one overall pick, especially this year. If I told you Bain, Bailey, and Downs were there at seven, all three of them. Washington, as you know, has a desperate need to upgrade their talent defensively. They were

a horrible defensive team last year, even with the injuries, or even if they hadn't had injuries is what I meant to say. Which of those three players do you think should be the pick? I think I would probably lean towards downs, which is kind of surprising even to me, but I think he's a safer option. I think this is a team that, you know, would be, would do well to just kind of hit a double into the gap this year instead of maybe taking a bigger swing and potentially missing. So getting a guy like downs, I think would be really impactful to those other young players that they've already added to that secondary with Trey Amos and Mikey Sanris still, who was fantastic as a rookie, but had a little bit of a down sophomore season.

I think that would be a good fit for what they want to do, but I could also see them, you know, trading back if a team were willing. And that's the other thing. Everybody, every team in this draft is saying, just trade back, just trade back. The other part of that is somebody has to trade up. I'm not sure there's going to be a lot of players that are worthy. of teams moving up the board this year. So I would probably lean down,

but in the back of my mind, I'm keeping Falk the pass rusher from Auburn in mind because I do think that that's a player who's going to endear himself to the Washington coaching staff. Is Jeremiah Love the next Gibbs or Robinson in terms of a highly drafted running back? In terms of where he's drafted, I think it's possible,

just again going back to that conversation we were having earlier with non-premium positions in this year's draft class, if you're high on Jeremiah Love, which I know a lot of teams are, then you're probably more comfortable taking him in the top 10 this year relative to other years, where you may have a couple of pass rushers, a couple of blue chip wide receivers, a couple of quarterbacks. you know, and that running back is available into the teens and the 20s and, you know, in other years. But this year, I think Love is going to be a top 10 player for a lot of teams. And if you're not comfortable thinking that you have a blue chip talent at a premium position, then teams are going to be more inclined to take him this year because he's a little bit more of a sure bet.

In terms of production, I don't think he's going to have the same level of production. I think he's somewhere between those players and like a, you know, Travis ETN type. But at the end of the day, that's still going to play a lot for you and, you know, provide a lot of production at the same time. So I do think the teams are going to be willing to take him potentially in the top 10. I look at a team like the chief, you know, that could be in the conversation for him. Who's his comp? Who's his pro comp? I keep coming back to a little bit, a little bit of a better Travis E.T.N. He's a better pass catcher. He's got kind of a more upright running style. He's explosive once he gets in the open field. He's elusive, bigger back. So I've gone with that as my comp. And E.T.N was taken in the 20s when he came out of the draft. I think he's a free agent this year, has been a quality player, but not to the level of a Bijon or somebody like that. I think you're talking about a little bit better version of that,

where if you have your offensive line shored up and they can create holes, this is a player that if you just give him a window, he's someone that can take it to distance. And that's going to be really appealing for teams that do feel like they're already in a good spot in terms of their offensive line. Who do you like in the Super Bowl and why? You know what? I think it's going to be fun.

It's going to be, I hate to say, different because we've seen these two teams, playing the Super Bowl in the past, but in recent history, it's going to be a different matchup. I tend to favor the Seahawks. I think they're just playing so well defensively right now that I think that they can complicate the game plan for New England and create some different pictures pre and post-snap for Drake May that could lead him, even still as a young player, to make a mistake or two throughout the game. and then I know everybody's still waiting for the shoe to drop on Sam Darnold,

but I think he's just who he is at this point. I think he's a high-level quarterback for a very talented team. So the way that Mike McDonald has is defense playing, the way that Seattle has been able to find the hot hand in the run game and kind of lean on that player, you know, they obviously have Jackson Smith and Jigba, who's emerged as potentially the best wide receiver in the NFL of this. year, given the down year for Justin Jefferson.

And then you're getting complimentary roles from Rashid Shaheed and Cooper Cup and some of these other guys. So I tend to think that they're a little more well-rounded than the Patriots at this point in time, so I tend to favor them. But I do think it's going to be a fascinating, entertaining Super Bowl. Josh, thanks for doing this as always. Appreciate it. Looking forward to your next mock draft.

I appreciate it. you. Josh Edwards, everybody from CBSSports.com. When we come back, something an opposing coach said about Washington's 2025 defense. We'll get to that after these words from a few of our sponsors. The big games almost here, and there's no better way to cash in during America's biggest sporting event than with prize picks where it always feels good to be right. And since the big games right around the corner, that also means it's your last chance to get into the football action before next season. So close the season out right with prize picks by getting $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5. Prize picks is fun. It's exciting. It's a game of skill and it's so easy to play. Prize picks will present you with stat projections and all you've got to do is pick more or less. And with the big game almost here, there's no better way to cash in during America's biggest sporting event.

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Visit Cash.com slash legal slash podcast for full disclosures. Listen closely if you like the Patriots plus the points and you're planning on betting the Patriots plus the points in the big game on Sunday. My bookie right now is the only shop that I can find that is offering New England at plus five instead of plus four and a half. That plus five, by the way, is minus 110 on the price.

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and they're automatically going to give you a 50% cash bonus when you deposit. Same goes for existing customers at MyBooky. If you deposit something new, they're going to give you a 50% bonus cash bonus into your account on that new deposit. But right now they're the only shop with the Patriots at plus five.

I think I'm going to have the Patriots plus the five and the smell test on Friday. We've got a lot of time between now and Friday, but the public is definitely on Seattle so far. But there's going to be a lot of movement in terms of where the dollars are coming in, where the wagers are coming in, now, will that affect the point spread? I don't know. But a lot of late money comes in,

sharp money comes in late on the Super Bowl. It is the biggest handle of the season, clearly, for any sports book. But MyBooky's got everything you need for the Super Bowl, mybooky.ag, mybooky.com promo code DC reload. John Kime wrote a story on Friday, ESPN.com, of course, for John. he was kind of describing the biggest off-season needs for Washington. When he got to defense, he wrote the following. One opposing coach who faced Washington in the second half of the season called it the easiest defense they faced all season.

He said they weren't worried about any spots beyond the interior of the line, Duran Payne, and Javon Kinlaw in particular. Another opposing coach said earlier this week that Washington, needs to add a lot more talent on that side of the ball, regardless of who got the coordinator job. Yeah, I'm excited or at least intrigued by Durante Jones and a Brian Flores-style defense. I am, but man, they need talent.

But how about the coach who said the easiest defense they faced all season long? So if you go back and you check out Washington's schedule, trying to figure out who said that. Second half of the schedule kicked off with Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions and Landover. And that was the easiest offense against a defense I think I've ever seen and said it in the post game following that game. I said, I can't believe how bad Washington was defensively and how easy it was for

Detroit. No one was near receivers on short throws or medium throws. Remember in that game, Detroit scored on their first. eight possessions of the game. And on their ninth and final possession, they ran out the clock. They didn't punt once. They rolled up 546 yards and 44 points. I think I said that particular night after the game, if they had not taken their

foot off the pedal, they could have scored 60 plus and had 700 plus yards in the game against Washington's defense. That would be my guess as to the team that said they had it. easiest against Washington's defense, although there are some choices here. Now, Seattle wasn't second half of the schedule technically. Where was it? Yeah, Seattle was the ninth game of the year. So it could have been Seattle, you know, and they had just as easy a time.

Maybe not as easy, but almost as easy. It could have been Minnesota. It could have been Minnesota because as bad as Minnesota was offensively, all season long. J.J. McCarthy lit them up. I mean, the Minnesota Vikings couldn't score. They couldn't move the ball against anybody. And they had that 19-play, 98-yard, 12-minute drive against Washington

and had their most successful offensive game of the season from a third-down conversion standpoint, fourth-down conversion standpoint, drive-success standpoint. J.J. McCarthy had... you know, pretty much the game of the year for him. Three touchdowns, no picks, 76.2 QBR. The defense. It was terrible.

A couple of other things just to mention to wrap up the show today. I watched Kansas and BYU Saturday afternoon, college hoops, a highly anticipated matchup between Darren Peterson and A.J. DeBonsa. expected to be the first two picks in the NBA draft in June. Maybe two of the first three. Cam Boozer is going to be a part of that conversation. But I think I said on this show last week that I really liked A.J. DeBanza to be the number one pick. I saw his game against Utah, and he's just spectacular.

But I'm changing my mind for the moment. I think Darren Peterson should be the first pick in the draft. He played in the first half, scored 18 points, had three steals. He's one of the smoothest, easiest college scores I've watched in a long time. There's just an effortlessness about him, and yet he's intense and good on defense. He's also got something going on because he sat out the entire second half. He's only played in 11 and a half games this year. Now, he rolled his ankle earlier in the year, but recently it's been cramps.

Now they led BYU by 20 at halftime, went on to win the game, but BYU cut the 20-point deficit to six in the second half. And there was no threat of him getting off the bench to come back into the game. It's not like he was over on a stationary bike, you know, working through the cramps or, you know, he didn't go in to get, you know, intravenous fluids. I think there's some load managing going on for this college player, maybe by his agent. They have agents now because of NIL, you know. I mean, they play Arizona twice.

They play Houston. They play Texas Tech tonight. Like, they're going to be in the tournament. That's one of those things you've got to keep an eye on. Is this guy just, you know, is he going to be one of those guys that gets to the league and doesn't play enough? He's spectacular, though. Spectacular. congratulations to Mark Turgeon, Maryland's former coach.

He is the new head coach at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. They're going to move to Kansas City. They've got lots of family he does in Kansas City. He's from Kansas. He's going to take over a program in the Summit League. His son Will is going to be a part of his staff. I'm happy for him. I know that he's been itching here recently.

he's been consulting other coaches for the last few years. He is, I've said this many times before about Mark, he is a highly respected coach in the profession. And when he left Maryland, there were many coaches that reached out to him, and he consulted many big-time coaches. I'm not sure I'm supposed to name some of the names, but he was watching a lot of practice film, a lot of game tape, and providing a lot of counsel for some big-time coaches.

in the game. And so he's stayed in it and he's going back to it and I wish him the best of luck. He is a terrific human being. He and his wife, Ann, and their family and they'll be missed in the, you know,

community around here. And I'm happy for him and I'm going to be rooting for him for sure at that new job. University of Missouri, KC. Georgetown's won three in a row. Props to Ed Cooley. They've got it going there. Mason came back. They still are rolling in the Atlantic 10. They have one loss. They're behind St. Louis, who is undefeated in the A-10. They finish up against each other. The season finale. That could be for an at-large berth. That game will be in Fairfax. Maryland lost for the third time this year by 30 or more. Purdue beat them by 30. A dreadful season, for sure.

And one in which it's going to result in some pressure on Buzz Williams in his second year next year at Maryland. Now, they have played a brutal schedule, and the schedule eases up the rest of the way. Maybe they'll win some games. But they are 8 and 11 and 1 in 9 through the first half of their Big 10 schedule. Some good college hoops over the weekend. And I watched a lot of it with no, you know, football for the first time this year. I did not watch the Wizards try to tank last night and fail trying to tank in their win over Sacramento, where they sat a lot of their starters in the second half.

I will say this. I've watched enough of them recently to know that I like Will Riley. I did not watch the game last night. But I kind of liked Will Riley coming out from Illinois, their first round pick, one of their first round picks last year. And he had, I guess, the best game of the season for him, 18. points, six rebounds, six assists, a steel. They got some good young players. There's no doubt about that. But Darren Peterson might be the next really good young player for them. Let's hope they have a shot at either Peterson or DeBanza. All right, that is it for the show today, back tomorrow with Tommy.

I know it's the four-year anniversary of 2222. We'll talk about that with Tommy tomorrow.