The Kevin Sheehan Show - Getting Close w/Terry?

Episode Date: June 16, 2022

Start with the last two minutes of the show today. Kevin got some info just before the end of the podcast recording about Terry McLaurin and a possible contract extension. Before that, Kevin and Thom discuss Taylor Heinicke, Carson Wentz, McLaurin, and Snyder's response to the request to appear before congress. Thom has a story about a Nats' stadium-naming rights deal that fell apart. Also, the NBA Finals and Ryan Zimmerman's jersey retirement this weekend.  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. Tommy's with me today. He was out at minicamp yesterday. Asked a very good question, he tells me.

We'll find out what it was here in a moment. I want everybody to know that today's show is sponsored by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.com or MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and they'll match your first deposit dollar for dollar all the way up to a thousand bucks. So if you deposit $1,000, you'll have $2,000 in your account to wager with. You know, deposit $100, you'll end up with $200 in your account. They've got all of the NFL prop bets that you would want.

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Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. If there's something already written in the promo code area, erase it and write Kevin D.C., and they'll take good care of you. Tommy, I wanted to say before we got to minicamp and some of the news of the day, I had Randy Whitman on the radio show, and I think you probably remember, maybe not. I was a big Randy Whitman fan as a coach. Like, and I just knew. I thought he was a good coach. I thought he was an excellent coach. And, you know, there were a lot of people that didn't think he was a good coach and that they needed a better coach. And, you know, you'd ask some of these people, well, why do you think that?

And they, they wouldn't have many answers. I remember on at least two different occasions, coaches in town, you know, if I ran into them or if I had a conversation with them, or even on air, went out of their way to talk about, why does Randy Whitman, you know, not get the credit he deserves? he's one of the best exes and O's coach coaches in the league. He was an excellent coach. He's an excellent guest. So I would recommend that people listen to the interview in the conversation with Randy Whitman from my radio show this morning.

You can listen to it at the Team 980.com. He was very much, you know, first of all, you know, John Hinkley got released yesterday. He is now a free man. No longer, you know, visitation rights, which he's had, out of, you know, where has he been at St. Elizabeth's all these years, I think. You know, and he's now a free man, you know, some 41-plus years later after shooting Ronald Reagan in front of the Washington Hilton on that Monday afternoon in March, 1981. What? Really what?

Are the commanders are going to invite him to the training camp? To speak? Yes. So the reason that it was interesting to me to have Randy Whitman, it's not the reason I had Randy Whitman on today. I had him on to talk NBA finals, which he did. But he was on the Indiana team in 1981 on the day that Reagan got shot. It was the day of the national championship game between Indiana and North Carolina.

And I said, do you remember what happened on that day? He said, not only do I remember it, but you know that Hinkley, got released yesterday and I said, I did know that. And I said, well, how was that day handled? He said, we did not know until 8 p.m. and the game started in the spectrum in Philadelphia that night. It was a 9 o'clock tip off. We didn't know until 8 p.m. if the game was going to be played or not. And it really was an odd championship game night. I remember it very well watching it on TV after being glued to the TV. all day long with the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. And anyway, he was a great conversation.

Were you in Washington when that happened? Were you in the district? Yeah, I was living in Bethesda. I was in high school. So I was home, and I had gotten home, and I remember, you know, the news came through and we were sitting there glued to the TV all day. Where were you? I was in Easton working at the Eastern Express when that happened.

That was stunning. Oh, yeah. I remember watching it, TV all day too as well. And there was a lot of other really interesting parts of the conversation. We talked about Steph Curry. We talked about the three-pointer. You know, Randy Whitman was a great shooter in the NBA. Phenomenal shooter and played on some really good Atlanta Hawks teams

with Dominique Wilkins and played in one of the great game sevens of all time when Dominic Wilkins scored 47 and Whitman Randy had 22 in that game seven against Larry Bird and the Celtics and they lost by two points in game seven which you know Boston was amazing but Dominique Wilkins I always think he's also one of these guys that just doesn't get enough credit for being the great player that he was. But, yeah, Whitman says Steph Curry is the greatest shooter of all time. But he thought Isaiah Thomas was better in a lot of other areas. But of course, Isaiah was his college teammate at Indiana.

Anyway, it was a really good conversation. I've always enjoyed Randy Whitman as a guest. And I really liked him as a coach. And he's still working in the NBA. Not in the NBA anymore. Excuse me. He's a consultant at the NBA. University of Indiana, helping out his former teammate Mike Woodson, who is the head coach

at Indiana. So just a recommendation on a good interview to listen to. So how are you doing? How was mini camp yesterday? Minicamp was fun. It was nice. Everybody was very nice to me, very welcoming. They treated me very well out there. I got to watch some high-level NFL play. from the quarterbacks out there. And I got to say one thing, when you see Carson Wentz standing next to Taylor Heineke, you would think Taylor Heineke was the ballboy, just there to hold the whole ball form.

Carson went towers over him. He's a big man. He really does. He really does. It's really a stunning difference. And, you know, both had good plays, both had bad plays. you know, Taylor Heineke, on a couple of plays, he managed to run into the end zone, and the offense loved that.

They, you know, here's the one of the things I think is going to be an issue, and it may not be, is that, you know, that locker room really fell in love with Taylor Heineke last year. And, you know, they liked his guts. And he showed a little bit that, that yes, as much as you can show in minicamp. but it was a good day. Did you say, did you introduce yourself to Voodoo Jack at any point yesterday? Yeah.

No, no, I did. I wasn't able to get close enough to Jack to introduce myself to him. Look, my policy is I'm not going to go out of my way to invite, you know, to basically invite any trouble like that. But if, you know, I was there, and if he had anything to say to me, he could have walked up and said it to me. That was the whole point of being there. Just so everybody understands,

Tom would not avoid confrontation at all. But when you say he had his chance to come up and talk to me, that would assume that he knows who you are and knows what you look like. Okay, if he was so pissed with me that he blocked me, And then the firestorm that followed that, you know, you initiated the firestorm by making them block you with whatever you said. Well, I think I helped kick it off.

You did? You know, you're kind of out of it, so you really can't really speak to it. I'm not going to act like I'm really involved in following the social media back and forths between media members and coaches and players. That's true. Okay. But my point is I would think that he would have said at some point. if he was really pissed about it, to his PR guys,

you tell me if this guy ever shows his face. You point him out to me. But the point of being there is not necessarily to watch minicamp. The point of being there is I have a philosophy when possible that if I'm going to criticize people or a team, I'm going to show my face. So if they have anything to say to me, they can say it to them. me. How long were you there?

I was there a whole morning. Awesome. So did anything stand out to you? No. I don't know what I'm looking at. What was the big question? You know, it's mini-camp. It doesn't mean anything. What was the big question you asked? Both quarterback, they had some, okay, they had some good throws, they had some bad throws. What was the big question you were bragging about before we started to record this?

Okay. You know, they bring the coach up there for a press conference. conference in the media room. He comes into the podium and talks. Then they bring numerous players. And the first guy they brought in was Taylor Heineke. And he was being asked, you know, questions a little bit about how he prepared for the dirty offseason, things like that. But just the first time they wrote the media really got a chance to talk to him.

And I asked him, you know, does he think that he has any chance at all to change anyone's mine in that building about the starting quarterback position, or is that not even an option? You know, is that that, that's a, and this is what he said. He looked at me and he said, look, he said, I don't think that's an option. And he used his hands like to point the distance between here and there. You're paying someone $30 million and you're paying someone else $2 million. Right. You're paying this guy $30 million. dollars to play. And then he said, I hope when

succeeds, my job is to back him up. But it was pretty telling that that basically he kind of chalked it up to the size of the wallet of the starting quarterback. I had, I don't know, it was a couple of weeks ago, maybe it was like more than a month ago, I had

somebody call in and say this needs to be an open competition. This is what's been wrong with this team. They don't make people earn the position. There should be an open competition, and if Ron Rivera's worth his, you know, a weight in gold, then it should be declared open competition. And I just said, what planet are you on?

There are 28.3 million reasons why there's no competition, people. Like, I don't, you know, and the guy said something like, you know, that's the problem with people who've never competed before. They don't understand it's got to be earned. And I said, I understand competition. Don't start that competition thing with me. I also understand commitment. And $28.3 million in all these draft choices that they sent to Indianapolis means that Carson Wentz is going to start.

And he's going to start every single game until the season's over or he sucks or gets hurt. Taylor Heineke's not going to be competing. It sounds like Taylor Heineke would have given the same answer. Yeah. Yeah, but let me just say that sometimes, and in this town in particular, things take a life of their own. Okay. Now, Taylor Heineke, rightfully so has the sparring partner mentality right now.

You know, he's basically a sparring partner. He's there just to back up the backup quarterback. He's not there to win the fight. Okay. He's there to help the champ get better. So, and that's probably the right kind of mentality. but sometimes the sparring partner wins the fight. You know, these things sometimes spend out of control.

You have a locker room that loves this kid, and then you have the starting quarterback who got basically run out of town in two different organizations, in part because he wasn't a favorite of his teammates. Okay? So that's a volatile combination right there. must you have a fan base, a limited small, minute fan base, that pretty much I think loved Taylor Heineke last year for its guts, okay? I mean, he's a sweet, you know, he was the swat.

He was the underdog, and people love the underdog. So it won't take much in terms of bad play by Carson Wentz for the fan base to turn against him. It won't take much at all. Okay? I love how these conversations always turn towards like the worst case scenarios here. And no, no, no, hold on, hold on. I'm not saying, I'm not saying that you are wrong to consider that this is a guy in Carson Wentz, who has not been, at least in Philadelphia, a locker room favorite in that Taylor Heineke has been.

And what if Carson Wentz totally soils the bed at that point? But do you, well, let me ask it to you in boxing terms since you use sparring partner. What percent chance do you think Taylor Heineke turns into Larry Holmes? Very unlikely. Okay. Look, this is an unlikely scenario, but there are components. that could contribute to this that aren't present in a lot of different places. Right.

You don't have many starting quarterbacks who were pretty much vilified in the two places they played before. Okay? I mean, that's a volatile addition to this whole thing. So I'm just saying, look, I'll never forget Lennox Lewis. He had a chance. there was a fight lined up for him to finally fight Ridic Boe, probably the biggest money fight

in boxing history in 94. But he couldn't help himself. He took a fight before that against Oliver McCall. Alan McCall was a spartner for Mike Tyson, Tim Witherspoon, a bunch of other guys. And I remember Lennox Lewis saying, this will be easy. He's there to hit. well, I'll recall knock Alanis Lewis out in the first round.

Okay. And the sparring partner became heavyweight champion. He wasn't a very good champion. Right, he was. He didn't last long. Yeah. Okay. But for a brief moment, he became champ.

These things happen sometimes. Look, if you... But Taylor Hyatt, he's right. He gave the right answer. Yeah, no. He, you know why? Because he's actually really bright and self-aware. And, you know, and, oh, by the way,

two years ago he was on his sister's couch taking derivatives courses at Old Dominion and now he's making two million bucks a year as an NFL backup with by the way, starters experience. But you know, look, it's not just the fact that Taylor Heineke was a starter. He's popular.

Carson Wentz had some issues as a leader. The bottom line is Carson Wentz isn't that good? I mean, you know, I'm not saying that he's a lot better potential-wise than Taylor Heineke, because I do believe that. I think they got better at quarterback. But it's not like they, again, they didn't trade, you know, pull off the trade for Russell Wilson. They didn't, you know, end up with a bona fide, you know, top 10 kind of quarterback. You know, I didn't do a show yesterday. And if I had done a show yesterday, one of the

things that I did on radio yesterday is we're at that point in the off-season before, you know, we get into a summer before training camp begins where all of these top 100 lists come out. You know, the NFL network does the 22 top 100 players, and that's a players voted on list. In CBSSports.com, Pete Prisco has been doing his top 100 list for a while now. And I used it on the radio show just to give the perspective, because I think sometimes, I've said this many times, our fan base here tends to watch this team and not watch a lot of the league.

Some of us watch and consume the rest of the league as much as we consume this team, especially in recent years. And Terry McClorn wasn't anywhere on that top 100 list. In fact, you know, on the others receiving votes, it essentially made him the 18th best receiver in the NFL. And if you see, and whenever this top 100 list comes out with the players, I don't know, maybe he'll be higher than that. But that's kind of, you know, the 12 to, you know, 18's pretty low for me. But the 12 to 15, 16 range is pretty much where everybody in the league that watches the league has him.

He's not considered to be an elite receiver, just considered to be a very good receiver. Well, when it comes to quarterback, I mean, Carson Wentz is nowhere near this list. In the ranking of quarterbacks, you're pretty much going to find a solid 18 to 20 quarterbacks listed before projected starters before you get to Carson Wentz being even in the conversation. So to your point, long way of getting to, it's not just the, his recent history and Taylor Heineke's recent history and Taylor Heineke's popularity. But it's that Carson Wentz just hasn't been that good of a quarterback. You know, he had a decent year last year.

But, you know, a lot of the advanced numbers, the PFF numbers, you know, said that he also had a kind of a lucky season, that he threw a lot of turnover worthy balls that didn't end up being turnovers. so we'll see. I don't think, I think as long as he's healthy and as long as the season doesn't go, you know, awry early, I'd be surprised if, you know, he doesn't start 17 games this year because... That's what the odds are certainly in favor of that.

Right. I'll just say it won't take much for a fire to start. So let's go down that path. What will it take? Well, I tell you what, how much do you think we'll see Carson once in the one preseason game that's at Commanders play at Ghost Town Seals? I don't think we'll see much of them. Well, that's the first preseason game is their only home preseason game against Carolina. The debut of the new fights on.

Well, yes, that's good. That's exciting. I can't give you an answer on that. I don't know how much it would happen. I don't think, again, this fan base is so raw with emotion. Hold on. Were you just suggesting that something could happen in a preseason game? No. Okay, good.

That's when you're going to see, but that's when you're going to see Taylor Heineke. Right. In a pre-season game. And fans aren't going to care about that it's a preseason game. They're going to see him go. Yeah. They're going to see him go 17 for 20 for two. 150 yards and run for two touchdowns, and they're going to say, what the fuck are we doing here?

No, they're not. They're not. No chance. That's not going to happen. That's, you know, that could. The team's not going to say it, but the fans will. I mean, that certainly could have happened, you know, and that wouldn't even have happened last year with Ryan Fitzpatrick. They have for two straight years told you, we need a quarterback, and with their actions, you know, made that more than, clear. I mean, by the way, the initial actions of trying to trade for Stafford and Russell Wilson, there's nothing that Taylor Hineke... No, Taylor Hineke can't do anything in a preseason game that's going to get people to start saying, are we sure that Carson should start against Jacksonville? No. No, but they're going to point to it in week three if Carson went to shit in the bed

and say, look what Taylor Hineke did a couple weeks ago. You know, and as far as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Everybody loved Ryan Fitzpatrick. I know. There's not a person in the NFL that didn't love the guy. Yeah, it would have, like, this is where, by the way, the schedule and the expectations that they've kind of put on themselves really creates a pressure situation in the first two weeks of the season. I don't think I'm overdoing this. I think opening up with the two worst teams in the league last. year, Jacksonville and Detroit.

And the expectations that Rivera and others have kind of put out there for this upcoming season and the big time trade that they made and the fact that it's against his former coach and against the team that basically eliminated the Colts last year from the preseason, you know, you could, you could if they lost those first two games and Carson, and Carson Wilson Wentz shit the bed. And Taylor Heineke against the Chiefs in the second preseason game came in midway through the second quarter and went 18 for 20 for three touchdowns. And Mahomes was still in the game and he was dueling Mahomes.

Yeah, you could have something that early in the season, no doubt. That's scheduled, Tommy, early on puts a lot of pressure on this franchise. and Carson Wentz. Yeah. I mean... I can't believe you're not jumping all over that. No, I think you're right. Look, I think they'll win those games, though.

But what if they don't? I mean, I think they're good enough that they'll win those games. Well, yeah, what if they don't? Absolutely. The shit will hit the fan right from the start, right away. But I think they'll win those games. I think they will, too. And look, they're getting, you know,

they're getting all-time great defensive line contribution here in the offseason. Warren Sapp was out there yesterday in Ashburn, invited by the team. Martin Mayhew was in Tampa when he was there. You've got some coaches that have worked with Warren Sapp. It must have been nice to see him out there at Manny Camp the last couple of days. Well, I guess it was for the commanders. To me, what I thought of was was this is the same warrant sack, who was fired by the NFL because of two domestic violence allegations against him, which he pled guilty to both of them, one of them involved prostitutes in Las Vegas. This is the guy who's lucky, he didn't go to jail, and he's invited by the organization

that's under investigation, congressional investigation, for sexual misconduct. I mean, they can't get out of their own way. They just can't get out of their own way. I obviously set you up for this because I knew what your answer would be. Do you think anybody out there even knew that about SAP? No. I don't either. It didn't even occur to anybody. Maybe they can bring Ray Rice in. Maybe they can bring Ray Rice in tomorrow to talk to the

running backs. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, why stop at Ray Rice? Nice. Let's go with OJ. Okay. We can do OJ. I mean, hell, while we're at it, maybe Ray Carruth was a Carolina Panther. Let's see if he's got anything to say to the team. I mean, it's just, it's a tone deficit.

All right, let's stop. Every time. Let's stop. The guy is apparently, you know, working to rehabilitate his image and doing a lot of things for, you know, whatever. I don't know his current situation other than, you know, some of the things I read. It doesn't matter what he was. I know. You're right.

You're right. This is the only team in the league that can't do that at least. Somebody should have said, not a good idea probably, and I know you're close with him, and he's a great guy, and he's really done a lot of great things here in the last couple of years to get his life together, whatever. But it's probably not best for our team to have Warren Sap be part of the attention at mini-camp. Maybe they'll invite out. Albert Haynesworth for the beginning of training camp to address the team.

Oh, God. Oh, boy. All right. You know, that seems like another world. Just think, Albert Hainsworth. I mean, we're in the same shit. Different people. Same pile of shit.

Yeah, the Hainsworth thing really just a bad guy. Like, you know, you hear things. about players and situations, and lots of times you'll hear, you know what? I'm actually surprised because the guy was really a decent person. And I think that this was just a difficult circumstance, and he sort of got in talked into whatever. Albert Hainsworth, you can't find one person that enjoyed his company when he was here. Not one. No. But remember the press conference? What an introductory press conference that was. He was great.

He was great. All right. So Ron Rivera did have a lot to say yesterday about Terry McLaurin. And there was also finally an answer from the organization's attorneys, Dan Snyder's attorneys, back to Congress about testifying next week in front of the House Oversight and Referpt. committee. We'll get to that. We'll get to the NBA finals. Ryan Zimmerman's jersey is going to be retired.

We're going to get to a bunch of things before the end of this show. But first, this word from one of our sponsors. When a player like this does make the impact he's made, not just on the football team, but, you know, around the community and everything, you have to be able to take care of

that guy so everybody understands that, you know, this is the type of player we want. This is how, you know, guys that do it this way, And so that's why, and I've said this, you know, we're not trading Terry. We're going to, everything we're doing is we're trying to get this done. And like I said, just to tell you guys, you know, we've been talking with these guys for over probably the last seven, eight days. And we intend to do this because we believe in who Terry is for us and what he can bring to the table.

That was Ron Rivera yesterday talking about Terry McLoren and how important. a player like Terry is to the team, to the community, and then really the headline of Ron Rivera's address to the media yesterday, we're not trading Terry. I don't, I've never thought they were trading Terry. Apparently there's been some conversation, and there was some guy that was on with Grant and Danny the other day. My radio producer, Brendan, told me, that said there's a 65% chance.

some NFL reporter in India, I think, 65% chance that they're going to trade Terry and that Terry had liked on Twitter something Reggie Wayne had said about the Indianapolis Colts minicamp. You know, he's from Indianapolis, Terry McCluret. So I guess, you know, that coupled with the fact that he hasn't shown up for minicamp and didn't show up for the OTAs, you know, has a lot of, you know, people concerned. I just think that they're going to get a deal done. And I think Ron is being completely honest when he says we're not trading Terry. You know, to your point the other day, and it was a good one, it's like, and I didn't disagree with it,

they didn't, you know, trade for Carson Wentz. They didn't, you know, take the actions they've taken, not that they were super active in free agency, but in the draft, drafting players that are more seasoned and ready to contribute right away, they haven't said all along how big 2022 is with the expectation that they were going to trade their best receiver. They're not trading him. I do think it would be really interesting if they are far apart. And Ron, you know, suggested in another bite yesterday that they are, you know, making progress, that they've been talking for the last six to seven days.

He said, you know, guys, I want to give you a little tidbit. We've been talking with his folks probably the last week. working on some stuff. Hopefully it'll be taken care of in a matter of time. It's never been contentious. I can promise you that much. So we're feeling pretty good and pretty confident at some point this will get done. That's what I believe. I just think that, you know, if you look at who benefits from a contract extension, they both do. Who doesn't benefit if they don't get it done? Both parties, you know, don't benefit. So I think it'll get done. I think it'll get done by camp.

I think there's definitely been a divide in numbers. And somebody told me yesterday that, you know, to focus more, because we've been talking about average annual salary, you know, somebody kind of in the nose said focus more on the guaranteed money. And that's always true. I just think it's easier for people to understand a certain average amount per year and those rankings. Well, you know, the top five are basically 60 million, I'm sorry, the top seven. or 60 million and up in guaranteed money. That's Cup, Hill, Diggs, Adams, Michael Thomas, Hopkins, and Cooper. The A.J. Brown deal was, you know, a 57.2 million guaranteed.

So if there is some sort of divide on guaranteed money, maybe they want to only give him 50 and, you know, he wants 60 or something like that, I don't know. I think they're going to end up, you know, Ron said coming to some sort of. middle ground. But they're not trading them. I think this deal gets done. I feel pretty confident in that. Well, Ron would look pretty foolish if they turned around and traded them at this point. He pretty much said they're not trading them. I mean, that's pretty definitive. You know, he looked pretty foolish. Look, I think when reporters, you know, talk about conversations, trade conversations, I think that's probably accurate because I think probably a lot of GMs in the NFL have called the commanders and asked if they're going to trade Terry McCorn. So that constitutes as a trade conversation.

Well, Ron said, remember a couple of months ago that no one's reached out to them about trading for Terry. Do you believe that? No, because there was another report that said that Indianapolis actually had made inquiries as to whether or not McCorn would be available. Yeah, I don't believe that. I mean, look, people, GMs in all sports talk about, you know, talk between each other about acquiring seemingly untradable players all the time, let alone tradable players, players that you would like to have. So I'm sure there's been conversations between GMs and the commanders about Terry McClorin, and that would fall under the category of trade conversation. So that would be accurate. I don't think he's being traded either.

Remember the story about before they traded for Carson Wentz and before we found out what they offered Seattle for Russell Wilson, the story that Washington began their quarterback search with 42 potential quarterbacks on a list. And I think it was John Kime who had reported that they reached out to every single team to inquire about quarterback availability and cost? Well, I mean, that doesn't even make sense.

I mean, there are certain teams that there aren't quarterbacks on the roster that you should be interested in. So that was always an exaggeration. But, yeah, no, you're right. I mean, teams inquire all the time about players. And let me tell you something. The Colts would be one of those teams where it would make sense. Because other than Pittman, of course, they had a great running back in Jonathan Taylor,

other than Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis didn't have the weapons that Washington has this year, as long as Terry McClearns in the fold. And they need another, you know, receiver in the fold. Because, by the way, all the reporting out of Indianapolis is that Matt Ryan has taken control of that team, and people love it there. I think that team, just as an aside, has a chance to be a really good team next year. Although I thought they had a chance to be a really good team last year, well with Wentz a quarterback.

But yeah, they're not trading them. They're going to sign them, I think, and they should sign them. I wanted to mention one other thing real quickly, Tommy, because I don't think this was part of our conversation the other day, and if it was, and I'm being repetitive, my apologies. But, you know, there's been a lot of conversation about, and this is going to sound like I'm defending the team, which I haven't done a lot of in recent years,

but how they did it again. They didn't anticipate the market. They didn't have any vision as to, you know, what was going on. And they should have been aggressive and they could have gotten Terry at the end of January or in February. And this would have all been done before the receiver market exploded. Well, that's just foolish thinking because it takes two to get a deal done. and there was no way that Terry's agent, if the team anticipated the receiver market exploding, and let's just say they did and they tried to get a deal done, they went after it, Terry's agent

understood that as well. So they weren't going to sign a long-term deal with all of these receivers coming up for deals. They were going to wait to see where the market went. They may still be waiting on guys like Metcalf and Debo Samuel to further, you know, increase Terry's value in the negotiations. And the other part of this, and Nikki Jabala was on with me this morning, and she reminded me of this, and it's totally relevant, Terry wasn't going to sign a long-term deal until he knew who the quarterback was here.

You know, he wasn't going to tie himself to Taylor Heineke for the next three to four years. So I think a lot of people who believe that they screwed this up by not doing it early, I think you're wrong about that. I don't think Terry or Terry's representation was that they were ever going to sign a deal early. They were going to let this market, you know, marinate a little bit, which worked in their favor, and it still could with a Debo Samuel new deal or a D.K. Metcalf new deal. So anyway, I just wanted to work that in, because I don't think I mentioned that the other day. Maybe I did. I think you're right. I think you're right, but this team has a way of screwing everything up.

Not this group, not this group as much as the last group and groups before it. I mean, you know, here's the one thing that you could say definitively, football-wise. I'm talking about football-wise. This is the one thing in hindsight, and maybe with foresight, a lot of people think that they should have moved as well. And that is, you know, God rest his soul, not trading Dwayne Haskins and being totally transfixed on a quarterback in the 2020 draft. Ron Rivera came in here as the head coach with basically carte blanche, you know, we were told as a football decision maker in a coach-centric system. But I think you and I both believe that part of the quid pro quo was,

Yeah, I'm going to give Dwayne a shot. This is your guy. He went to high school with your son. You love him. He's a D.C. guy. You believe in him, Dan. You went in and drafted him in 2019. I'm going to give him a chance.

I'm not going to guarantee he's going to be our starter. But I'm going to give him a chance because I think Ron probably felt 2020 wasn't going to be a contending season. But really, the mistake there was, I think they knew there was. there was no chance that Dwayne Haskins was going to be the long-term answer a quarterback. And if they did know that and they didn't act on the opportunity, by the way, at that point to probably get something for him in a trade. You know, that was only a year after the fact. And by the way, some of the games he played in 2019 weren't terrible.

And so they could have traded him and then they could have really considered, you know, Tua, but, you know, Ron's told me before that they weren't going to consider Tua because of the hip injury, and that they were, you know, it was all about Chase Young at number two. But, you know, obviously in hindsight, you would have drafted Justin Herbert. You know, you would have, but that's, if you're, in terms of football decisions, I think that's the one that you can be the most critical of, because I bet you that Scott Turner and Ron Rivera and, You know, and the offensive coaches probably didn't think that Dwayne Haskins had a very good chance of being their long-term QB solution. Okay.

Okay. We'll see. I mean, I don't think Terry McLaurin's going to get traded. I think they're going to make a deal at some point. I think he'll regret it, but I think he'll make a deal. I, you know, getting back to maybe something positive about the football team, I actually legitimately do believe that they've got a chance to be pretty good on offense. You know, assuming Terry McClurend's in the fold.

And I'm really excited about Jahan Dotson, very excited about Dotson and Samuel, if he's healthy. You know, I think they will miss something if Logan Thomas isn't ready to go at the beginning of the year. but I think realistically trying to be objective here, they've got a chance to be pretty damn good offensively. I think a part of that belief for me is that they have upgraded at quarterback, even though I'm far from convinced about Carson Wentz. But I also do have faith in Scott Turner as an offensive coordinator with a lot of these weapons.

We'll see. They'll get a chance early to get off to a quick start against Jacksonville and Detroit. Tommy's already got him winning. both of those games to open up the season. So Dan Snyder, through an attorney, and I think it's a new law firm that they're using, it's certainly an attorney's name that I haven't heard mentioned, and her name is Karen Patton Seymour. They responded to, you know, chairwoman Maloney and Chairman Krishna Morthy of the House Oversight and Reform Committee about their request that Dan testify on June 22nd next Wednesday on some of these matters of workplace culture.

They responded yesterday with a letter, a long letter, that basically said, yeah, thank you, no. Dan is going to be out of the country on business. and, you know, we had asked for things like, you know, what, you know, essentially they wanted the questions before the testimony and they weren't provided that at all. They asked for another time. They apparently offered somebody else as well. So, you know, this is hardly a surprise, although it is kind of a surprise that Roger Goodell is going to speak next Wednesday. day. I said, now, I did say I thought he would. This is one of the things commissioners get paid to do. Yeah. Yeah, you did. So, I mean, I thought that, you know, I think the committee is probably disappointed. He's not going to be there in person. I think he's doing it by Zoom. And, I mean, I had some conversations early on with a member of the committee who recognized that Zoom does not have the same dramatic impact.

that live test, that in-person testimony does. But they'll take what they can get at this point. You know, I'm sure they would have loved to have Dan Snyder via Zoom. But apparently, you know, wherever he's going, Mongolia, or, you know, someplace like that, they don't have Zoom there. He's going somewhere where apparently they don't have Zoom. You know, with this letter, and for those that haven't read it, it's a long letter for, you know, no, we're not showing up.

And part of the reason it's a long letter is the letter, you know, really emphasizes what the team has tried to emphasize here recently. And that is, and what Dan has essentially said via attorneys in the past to allegations of workplace culture of misconduct in particular. And that is, look, these things happened a long time ago. They happened basically with other people in the organization. And he, you know, wasn't, you know, basically on top of things. But we're a totally different organization today. The last, you know, several paragraphs of this letter is about how Tanya Snyder has been a trailblazer within the commander's organization, serving as CEO of the team, one of the few women who have ever served in that role in the history of the NFL,

representing the team's interests before the NFL and becoming a leader in the NFL's diversity and inclusion efforts, all while helming the Snyder's generous charitable foundation and doing impactful work in breast cancer awareness, which, by the way, she was the, you know, NFL pioneering NFL owner-wife that did this. And then the commanders now have, it's written by the attorney, the most diverse and inclusive executive team and football staff in the NFL. The commander's leadership team includes the first black president of an NFL franchise, one of just five minority head coaches in the NFL, the first black general manager in franchise history, and the first full-time black female coach in league history. In addition, Mr. and Mrs. Snyder have substantially strengthened the team's anti-horaping. policies and supported those policies through trainings and other resources focused on inclusivity and ethical conduct. These enhancements have led vestry late an organization with substantial expertise in workplace culture to praise the team's ongoing substantial transformation of its culture, leadership, and human resources practices, closed quote.

By the way, I'm not disputing any of this, and it's all, I think it's all factual. But this is really what they want. In the same way that Ron wants us to stop talking about the past and focus on the future, this is what, you know, the Snyders want. They want you to understand they're a completely different group. They've finally hired the right people that are doing the right. things, whereas in the past, they, you know, unfortunately hired some bad people that did some bad things. It wasn't their fault because they weren't involved in it, but, you know, they oversaw

that and, you know, but that was a long time ago. That's really been their position all along, and it's really emphasized in this letter. And again, to be clear, they are right now the most diverse front office and organization in the NFL. And they have had, you know, an audit slash consultant come in and look at what they've done here over the last two years and said they've got very progressive, you know, HR, you know, practices now in the organization. So good for them. Yes.

You're right about all that. And I'm sure there's people out there that don't think this is what should be to focus and that Congress has no business doing this. But this is about victims left behind. That's what this is about. Victims left behind by the organization and giving them a voice and demanding accountability and responsibility for that.

That's what it's about. I mean, you don't get off on your past life just by simply saying now I'm a good guy and the past five gets ignored there has to be a responsibility and some people believe consequence that comes with that there's never been any consequence to speak of

well the consequence that everybody wants including you know this House Oversight and Reform Committee especially the Democrats on this House Oversight and Reform Committee is they want Snyders hide. And by the way, their interests align with the massive majority of what used to be the fan base and what's left of the fan base. And you're right. I mean, there are a lot of women. I mean, 42 of them, you know, by last count, that were victims of this toxic work. place culture. And, you know, I still find it incredibly ironic. You know, it's just like what you

said about WhatsApp. Like, did anybody know yesterday? Like, whenever they keep talking about this was a long time ago, does anybody realize that Dan says that he was kind of out of touch in recent years? But we all know during the first decade of ownership at the very least, he was, he had his fingerprints on everything in the organization and almost all of these allegations line up with when he was really involved. I mean, that's always, I don't, that's the part of what, has anybody ever just said to them, stop talking about how these things were all in the past and, you know, how you weren't, you know, in touch. No, you haven't been in touch at least according to, you know, in comparison to the past in recent years.

But back when all these accusations were made, this is when you were in there every day, you know, making every chess move. So, whatever. I mean, I thought that there was very little chance that we'd see Snyder up there. And now the issue is, will they subpoena? And there are all kinds of issues with that

and all kinds of ways to delay that. and if it were to even happen. I guess the next step here is to wait to see what their response is to the letter. Obviously, the team wanted this letter to get out there. And part of the letter, again, the last three paragraphs are all about how great they are right now. And again, I'm not disputing that, you know, but to your point. But I think they'll subpoena him. And you're right.

That doesn't mean that he'll be there the next day to testify or else he's going to jail. It could be a long drawn-out affair. And right now, they're playing against the clock in their mind, and the clock being in the November elections. Right. Yeah. Exactly. All right.

We've got a few more things to get to, including I've got a prediction on the NBA finals. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. If you didn't read Tommy the other day in the Washington Times, he broke some news about the Nationals. Explain to everybody what news you broke, and then we can talk about it. Well, basically, I found out that, you know, it's been called National's Park since it opened the stadium. It's in 2008.

And people have always wondered why the learners have not cashed in on a naming rights deal to bring in more revenue. You know, it's not like Nat's Park is some kind of iconic name. You know, it's not like Grigley feel. Heck, it's not even like Camden Yards, for that matter. So I don't think there would have been much blowback about it. And I found out that last year in 2021, they were on the verge of signing a naming rights deal with an undisclosed New York financial firm that was, you know, masking as a defensive contractor.

for $18 million a year. Now, for an organization that supposedly needs money that has watched its players walk away, you know, great players one after the other, an $18 million year infusion would seem to be welcome. But apparently the learners, as they were apt to do, played hardball at the last minute before this deal was ready to be signed and said, no, no, no, we want $12.

20 million a year. Oh, boy. And then the company said, well, screw you, we're gone. See you later. We're out of here. So no deal was done. Zero. And it cost them $18 million a year in revenue.

What is a normal? What's a normal stadium rights deal in baseball? Well, I think the most lucrative is city field, which is $20 million a year for like 20 years. I think if I'm not right I think I'm right you know it was SunTrust Bank

and that's now Truest Bank in Atlanta they signed a deal for like I think $10 million a year a couple years ago So 18 million would have been a really good deal 18

Look I talk to people in the business saying the next deal is probably worth about 12 million So 18 million Yeah really good deal. I mean, because New York is not the same market as D.C. Right. Okay.

So don't use the Mets City Field as a comparable. Of course not. So did you learn anything specific? Did they have an agreement? Did they have, you know, basically a term sheet agreed to? And then, you know, they were getting ready, both parties were getting ready to sign it. And then the learners just said, no, no, no, no. actually we need $2 million more if we're going to do this deal.

Was it one of those like 11th hour kind of try to stick it to them and they just said, you know, basically F you, we're done? It was described to me as ready to sign. That's how it was described to me. So, you know, but I put this in the context of, you know, the sale of this team, it's not going to be easy, okay? because, I mean, you know, I've opened up the story, say you want to buy a box of paper clips from the learners?

Good luck with that. Yeah. Because every deal is contentious. So selling something as big as the baseball team, that's not going to be an easy process for anyone having to deal with this family. Yeah, you know, people have, there have been stories about the way they do business, in this town for a long time. That's too bad.

I mean, basically, I mean, I wonder if there was one of those. No, no, no, we didn't really mean it. The 18 million is fine. But really, you know, the way you describe it, that's one of those when you're on the other end of that and somebody tries to stick it to you, it's very revealing. And it doesn't matter if they say,

no, no, we're fine with the deal. at that point, you know who you're working with, and you, it's not, it's sort of a true colors situation. So anyway, so game six of the NBA finals is tonight. And I'm looking forward to it. I hope we get two more games. I hope we get two thrilling games, close games, haven't had any of that in the NBA finals, although I think game one was exciting. I think game four and game five. Game five was raggedy. Game four was really good, but the margin of victory has been double digits in all of these games. So it would be nice to get like a memorable game. We've had a memorable performance, but we haven't had a memorable game. I think Boston's going to win tonight, and I think there's going to be a seventh game Sunday night, because I think it's what's best for the league.

And I think for whatever reason, this is the one league, Tommy, don't you think more than any other, where there's always conspirators. theories around officiating and how, you know, games are rigged. And obviously we've seen some of that in the past. But it would be really good for the NBA to have a seventh and deciding game on a Sunday night between, you know, two big-name teams. What worries me, because I think the Celtics are going to win, but what worries me is just going back to the last two games and seeing the two best players, Jason Tatum and Jalen Brayette.

Brown basically meltdown, look exhausted and look defeated in the fourth quarter. And I don't think you ever see that from Steph Curry or Clay Thompson. There's always like an energy level. And Boston's a great defensive team. And you would think that Golden State would be worn down. But they're two best players. When you hit me the other day, and I didn't know that number, that Jason Tatum's got 95 turnovers in the playoffs. And, you know, I was talking to Randy Whitman about that today. And he said, you know, and most, he didn't know the 95 number either. He was blown away. He said, I knew it was a lot. I didn't know it was that much. But he said, unfortunately, the turnovers that he makes aren't the turnovers where you're throwing the ball,

you know, into the crowd. And you can go back on defense. They're all live ball turnovers. Their perimeter turnovers, which really allows, you know, and we've sought the other night, we've seen it in the series, Golden State to thrive and transition off those turnovers. If they turn the ball costing them points. Yeah, and it's been so hard for Golden State to score against Boston when Boston's set defensively because they're really good defensively. So, you know, they've had to rely on Boston, you know, committing all these turnovers and getting out on the break and scoring that way.

And then the other night, you know, they obviously benefited from, you know, guys picking up Steph Curry 80 feet away from the back. basket and then him, you know, facilitating and drawing a lot of the defense, which opened it up clearly for Wiggins in particular and even Clay a little bit. But I think, like, I'd like to see Boston win tonight because I'd like to see a seventh game on Sunday night. What worries me is I don't think Tatum and Brown really, I think what, you know, before the series started, one of the things I said is a, you know, typically experience league. Like, you've got to, you got to, you've got to go through it once or twice. And it was new to this Boston team. And yet they won game one. But Tatum

and Brown to me looked borderline defeated the other night. So that makes me worried that we could see Golden State end it tonight. And when we, you know, if Golden State does end it tonight, and Curry just, let's say, has a great game, you know all the conversation is going to start right away about Curry and where he, you know, should reside. You and I, I've already had that conversation, but that will be the big conversation. Fourth ring for him, an MVP for him, because if they win it tonight, he's going to be the MVP, and where he stands. But I'm rooting for Boston for a seventh game.

I think they'll win, but I'm a little bit concerned because they look tired. And, you know, Golden State's a champion. They might smell blood. They may, you know, be going in for the kill tonight. Do you have any thoughts on the NBA finals game six? night. Here's what's going to happen. Draymond Green's going to get called for a technical and wind up being suspended for game seven. And the Celtics are going to win.

That's your prediction? Exactly my prediction. If I were you, I contact my bookie and make bed on it. That would be the place that I would do it, for sure. Ryan Zimmerman's jersey is being retired this weekend. I mean, he really is. you know, since they arrived in 2005. He is Mr. Washington National. He's it.

You know, it's interesting. When I've talked to players who played with Zimmerman over the years, I mean, he is such a remarkably good player in terms of his personality, character, and style. There's no stories about Ryan Zimmerman. out there. You know, there may be stories that people aren't telling, but generally, there's not even humorous stories.

I mean, because when people talk about Zimmerman who played with him or who know him, the first thing they talk about is what a great guy he was, what a great teammate he was to have, and his overall presence as a guy who you wanted to be on the field with. I mean, it's kind of unusual that you don't have any stories about this guy at all that people can laugh at, you know, maybe, maybe get a smile out of years later, because the conversation about Zerman is always about his persona, how he always carried himself. And that's good. That speaks to what kind of person he is. Very well deserving of the number being retired. This would be the second number that the nationals have retired. The first one is the one all baseball has retired, and that's 42, Jackie Robinson. This should be the third number that the nationals retired because the second number should have been Frank Robinson, number 20. and it's still ridiculous

that this organization has not retired, Frank. This organization has a chance to connect itself to one of the greatest players in the history of baseball and they haven't done it yet. So that always kind of overshadows these kind of events

is Frank Robinson's numbers should have come before Ryan Zimmerman, who's very well deserving of this honor. Yeah, I mean, the organization in Montreal had retired numbers, but none here other than the one that's retired by every team in baseball being Jackie Robinson.

I agree with you. There was something else that I wanted to finish up. By the way, on Ryan Zimmerman, I know people that know Ryan or have spent time with Ryan, never, never have I heard one word other than, what a great dude. What a first class guy. guy he is.

Yeah. He gets it. As we like to say in the business, he gets it. So there was one topic I missed when we were talking about the commander's last segment. And that is this.

We talked a little bit about it the other day, but there have been more players that have weighed in on Del Rio and none of the players. They've all been supportive of Jack. They all accepted his apology. They all seem to be super supportive. Cam Curl, their safety, said that it was important, I think Sam 48 from the post asked him the question

that it was important for the commanders to handle Jack Del Rio's comments in-house. And he said, because, quote, the media likes to take stuff and spin it, closed quote, always the media's fault. But we talked about this last week, while it was a bad thing for Del Rio to do for the business of the organization, there was a chance. It wasn't going to impact his ability to coach his defense at all. And so far, based on what we've heard, you'd have to conclude that it hasn't had that much of an impact on the locker room. You would have to conclude that so far. You're absolutely 100% correct. There doesn't see any evidence that there was any fallout in that locker room from Voodoo Jack's

comments. Right. And, you know, there is what you've said before, locker room access, relationships that, you know, over the last couple of years that perhaps, you know, even before last week, could have led to somebody saying something about him. there's also the point that Nikki made with me this morning and she just said, look, the NFL has players whose contracts, and nobody defensively,

has a guaranteed contract. It's so much different. And she said so many people say, why aren't they outspoken like NBA players? Well, it's because NBA players make a lot more money and those contracts are fully guaranteed. So there's little to risk for, you know, NBA players being outspoken politically or responding to those who are outspoken politically.

These guys are in it for, you know, they've got their families and their own livelihood at stake. And I think that that's a fair point in this sport. Not that we haven't seen football players be outspoken, not that we haven't seen football players, you know, at least respond on social media with an eye roll emoji on a tweet that made. maybe one of their teammates or one of their coaches make. But so far you'd have to say, and it's what we've heard, Jack Del Rio is respected in that building as a football coach. That would seem to be the case. Yes.

You got anything else? I got one last thing. Okay. This came on Twitter from the Voice of D.C., his Twitter account, and he sent a tweet to Jason Wright. please stop letting Tom Laverro into your facility. He wants all of us to be as bitter and cranky as he is. Please remove him from all commander facilities

and let him continue his lifelong mission of becoming a grumpy cat. Who was that? Who said that? The Voice of D.C. Let me just give the Voice of D.C. a little bit of advice from somebody who's known Tom for a long period of time. The last thing they should do is do that. That would create a much bigger problem. The advice should have been, hey, Jason, you know, say something nice about Tommy publicly,

because then you would see a 180 that you wouldn't have believed was possible. Oh, God, that's funny. All right, we're done. the coach Ron Rivera is going to speak after this final day of minicamp. I'll have more on that and anything else that comes out of minicamp today tomorrow. Actually, before we leave for the day, let me just mention this as we are finishing up the recording of the podcast. It's very possible by the time that you listen to this podcast or maybe even listen to it late tonight or tomorrow morning, that a deal with Terry McClure on a contract extension could be done.

I'm not reporting that necessarily. Let me just tell you that I just got a piece of information that just wouldn't, it would not shock me, Tom, if a deal with Terry McClorn is very, very close to being done. Well, that would be a real positive sign for the fan base, who seems to be on edge about this Terry McLaurin deal. Yes, they do. So I am very, very optimistic that a deal with Terry McCorn will get done.

And I don't know that in this particular case, deadlines make deals because the deadline would be kind of the beginning of training camp. I think it's going to be done much in advance of that. And perhaps, I don't want to use the word imminent, but things are very positive, apparently, on that front. They could change. Who knows? But that'll be it for the day.

Hey, hey, champ, thanks for hanging in there with me today. And great job. I will talk to you next week. Okay, buddy. All right, boss. Back tomorrow.