The Kevin Sheehan Show - Gruden Follow-up + Mariota Yes or No?

Episode Date: February 15, 2021

Cooley and Kevin today with Kevin opening the show with some follow-up on the Jay Gruden interview podcast from over the weekend. The boys debated Marcus Mariota's worth to Washington as well as the report that Alex Smith wants to play next year. JJ Watt, Zach Ertz, and some Terps' hoops on the show too.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. All right. It's a Cooley and Kevin Monday. We're going to get to a lot of things today.

The Marcus Marriota story from over the weekend from Michael Lombardi. Alex Smith wants to play next year. Will it be here? Washington just hired Chris Pollian to be their director of pro personnel. Polion was in Jacksonville for a while. He's the son of Bill Pollian. And there's a lot more to get to during the course of the day. I do want to just start by saying to all of you that had very nice things to say about the interview that I did with Jay Gruden on Saturday.

First of all, if you haven't heard it, go listen to it. It's worth it. Jay was great. I totally agree with you. He was direct. He had a great sense of humor. And I do think he would be an outstanding analyst and an entertaining one if he finds his way into broadcast. You've already told me before this podcast began that you did not get a chance to listen to Jay, but you knew Jay pretty well. And you know, he's just a little bit more open and direct. And he was always pretty open and direct to begin with.

Yeah. It took about at least a year to learn how to not be as open and direct. Right. I think they made Jay go and do media training after the first year. He did not tell me that. Because of the rough. Well, I think. think that was in news. It doesn't matter if it was or wasn't. But after the Robert Griffin stuff, where Robert blamed everybody, it said everybody's got to play better than Jay put it on the quarterback. I think they made him go do some media training that week. You know what? That offseason. I brought that up to him. I said, you know, and I, we sort of went in chronological order from the time he got here. You know, I asked him whether or not, you know, he had to sort of make

make a promise to Dan and Bruce about working with RG3 and developing RG3. And he said, yeah, but I kind of felt like I could, you know, having worked with Andy Dalton and developing Andy Dalton. But I brought up what happened at the end of that season with the interview that he did with Albert Breer where he really was publicly critical. And he said that he regretted that, but he had gotten frustrated because after that Tampa game, which we all remember was a disaster. That was the game in which you had begun your film breakdown as part of, you know, the show that you were doing with Zabe and Galdi.

And you said, you can't even evaluate the offense. The quarterbacking was so bad. And he said, it's true, though. It was still, that was true. I know it was true. He said that what really got to him was Griffin essentially blaming and throwing everybody else under the bus for that performance saying, you know, Aaron Rogers, you know, can't, Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady can't be Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady without having their guys around them play better. And he said that, you know, that was sort of it.

I also asked him about that year when Colt started and won at Dallas in that Monday night game if he wanted to stick with Colton. He said he did, but he also understood the importance of, you know, Griffin being back. And part of that year was about evaluating whether or not they had anything with Robert. but he said he knew almost instantaneously that it was going to be really difficult because Robert thought he was a drop-back quarter. This isn't new to all of us. Robert thought he was a drop-back quarterback, and it was pretty apparent early on when they couldn't even complete a pass against the Patriots in Richmond in those workout periods that it was going to be a long haul. But there was a lot to it. If you haven't listened to it, he was great talking about Deshaun and Pierre. Remember Cooley the play at the end of the first half against the Eagles when Kirk took the knee and the clock ran out? First of all, he totally took Kirk's side and he said that was not Kirk Cousin's fault.

He said Pierre was supposed to run a fade with six seconds to go and Pierre refused to run the fade. And he said Pierre couldn't stand running the fades and he said if you go back and look, Kirk look, to throw the fade and Pierre had told us he wasn't going to run it and he said I've never had a player not a receiver not try to score a touchdown when the play's coming to him and he said that the dynamic between Pierre and Deshaun and then Pierre Deshaun and Kirk was you know he didn't use this word but in some of the situations that he described was dysfunctional and that you know he loved Deshawn but Pierre you know you could tell was a difficult guy, even though he said he was probably one of the most competitive

guys he had ever been around. But he said, if you go back and look, Pierre, he refused to run the fade. And so, which by the way, just to be fair, does not take the heat off cousins. Cousins could have spiked the ball or could have thrown it over his head or thrown the fade and, you know, risked the, you know, the intentional grounding. You don't take a knee off. You know, you know, freaked out. I think he should have just snapped it and threw it right over his head right at him. Yeah. Proven a point.

Yeah. And the, you know, he said, fortunately, the game ended great. And, you know, he said that was, he talked about some of his most memorable games. And he said that was probably his favorite because they were really, you know, good offensively. But he also thought that, you know, the Jacksonville and Tennessee games at the end of his final season were. you know, with Josh Johnson, or at the end of 2018 with Josh Johnson, and I remember, you and I talked about it, I thought it was one of the best coaching jobs he'd done in those two games with against those. Certainly.

In those two particular games. They won one. They had a chance to win the other. Anyway, there's a lot in there. If you haven't listened to it, listen to it. And I appreciate all of the compliments about it. He was great. I agree.

And we'll try to get him on again. maybe down the road. All right, I want to start with this, and that is a story that came out over the weekend from Michael Lombardi, who I guess is with the NFL. No, I'm sorry, he's with Veezen. He's with the Musburger Gambling Network, the same one that Aaron works for,

the same one that Tim Murray works for. And he said, quote, I know there's one team in the NFC East, the Washington football team that's extremely interested in Marriota. This is, you know, another report about another quarterback that Washington has shown or expressed interest in. What do you think of Marcus Marriota and what would he be worth to you? Well, it's fun because Marcus Marriota is like the seven and nine quarterback of the quarterbacks that were available to start this year. It fits this team perfect.

He's the wild card who slipped in at the last second. Had a good game late in the season. Right. He did. When Derek Carr got injured, he played really well against the Chargers, even though they lost that game. Yeah. I remember that game. He came in and completed like 10 passes in a row at one point and was running around.

And he was running a ball all over the place. And look, I think Marriota is one of those guys that doesn't fit a lot of NFL teams. Doesn't fit a lot of NFL offenses. It's hard to say in a backup in one game what they're going to be. even it's hard for me to say what heinecke did in one game because it was so vanilla it's amazing that he did what he did i don't know how vanilla mariotta's game was against oakland i obviously i watched that game on tv but without going back and watching it you don't know how vanilla they went to a play calling scheme with uh he didn't execute well for lefleur in that system and he had struggled in the past couple years and whatever system they were in in Tennessee. But doesn't it seem like the Scott Turner system somewhat fits Marriota? Yes. Like that all gun, a lot of misdirection, depend a lot on the quarterback having some mobility

and moving around. Definitely. He seems to fit what Scott Turner's trying to do, more underneath stuff, more immediate, at one read ball out quick and now maybe turner's going to continue to develop and wanted to do different things but you know even with alex when alex was healthy they were still ball out quick not not a lot of deep shots mostly gun stuff rPO stuff i think mariotta fits it just a first glance thought is i think he fits it okay what do you think about him as a player well i think you go back and say that there were some systems that he clearly didn't fit in Tennessee. He had a couple bad years in Tennessee, Kevin, especially when he was benched for

Tannahill. I mean, he was really struggling at that point. So I don't know exactly what to make of him as a player. The funny thing is, is their system in Tennessee with Tannahill using Tannahill as also a bit of a dual threat guy was good for him, I thought. You would think, but I mean, that's. that's an entire Shanahan Bay system. What's he worth?

And then Turner's a Coriel Bay system. What's he worth? Well, what's he worth and what are they going to get for him are two completely different questions? I'd really, Kev, before I told you for sure, go back and watch a lot of the Tennessee stuff and see exactly where he was at. I think he could get a second for him.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a second. for Marriota. I can't imagine anyone giving a first for what is a completely unknown entity. He's only got, he's got a year left with his deal because he signed a two-year deal in Oakland. Right. So he's got a year left, which is good and bad. I mean, it's good in the respect that if you really did like him,

you could probably work out a deal right now. That wouldn't be a kill you deal. And I don't know if Marriota would take that deal because look at what these guys are getting in free agency. He would have the opportunity to say, give me a prove it year. But if he were to have a gear that he proved it, then what are you paying him? Well, let me just mention this about this final year on his deal. He's due to make $10 million in 2021. But the contract has so many incentives in there that if he ends up starting and playing a lot for you,

it could end up being twice that, according to Lombardy. That's fine. That's fine. I think that's fine too. Now, what he said is he said this could be something that prevents teams for trading for him. It may, but it wouldn't prevent this team for trading for him. Because obviously, if you trade for Marriota, Alex Smith isn't coming back and isn't going to count 24 million and you're going to save the 13 or 14 million with him. would you, if you traded for Marietta, would you consider Marietta the starter coming in? Or would it be a competition with Kyle Allen and with Taylor Heineke, the three of them competing for the starting job?

I think you have to, I don't think Marietta's done enough over the last two years to be handed a starting job. Now that said, you're talking about Kyle Allen and Taylor Heineke. So I think that there could be some competition. and also understand that this is a completely new system for Marriota, where Allen and Heineke are going to be able to operate. So I don't know if I would necessarily name him the starter, but then things go back to what you're doing with the contract and what you're doing with Mariotta.

And if you're going to truly commit to him, it makes it interesting. Like, I don't, the deal doesn't scare me, Kev, that he could make up to $20 million this year incentives. I would love to have that deal with the quarterback every year. $10 million and he could make another 10 in any given year based on how he performs. I think those are the best deals for teams, in my opinion. Well, remember, he's only got one year left on it. That's the problem.

I know. That's the thing that scares me. So I'm just going to sit here and say, okay, if he plays well in this one year, not amazing, but he's the 16th best quarterback. What are we going to pay him per year? Because as you get down to the middle of the pack, I mean, Derek Carr got $125 million contract. Alex Smith got a $94 million contract. Teddy Bridgewater, big time contract.

I mean, as you get to the middle of the pack, you're now going to give Marriota in the ballpark of above Teddy Bridgewater money for a pretty good year. What was Bridgewater again? Bridgewater was like $63 million over three years. So $21 million a year, basically? Yeah. And if he plays well as a start. And Bridgewater wasn't a starter.

He played a couple games in New Orleans. If he plays well as a starter, that's what you're going to end up paying him. What you would really probably end up doing is offering him a Bridgewater-type deal. You don't want the one-year $10 million incentive deal to sit there on the table and not know that at the end of the year, he's your guy. Not unless you can get him for like a fourth or a fifth. If you get him for truly a mid-round pick, then maybe you roll the dice that you can get him signed if he ends up winning the job and playing well. But if you end up trading a second for him, you don't want to lose. that second rounder after a year. I mean, it's essentially, it's a second rounder as a looksee

on a guy. A couple of things here before I ask you some either oars. Number one is, my, my thought is I've always liked Marriota, but I feel like there's a lack of urgency with him when I've watched him play. And that's what's always bothered me. Like, he has talent, a lot of talent, but there's this, this casual, you know, a laid-back approach that I think, you know, ends up being hard to watch at times if he takes a big sack or if he fumbles or if he throws a bad ball on third and ten and somebody's wide open. It's just, it's not that he isn't super competitive. I remember the game where they came back against the Chiefs. He was outstanding. Derek Henry was outstanding. I'm talking about the playoff game against Alex Smith in 2017.

when they were down 21-3 at halftime, Tennessee was at Arrowhead, and they came back and won the game 22-21. It was a crazy game, and Marriota was good in that game. Derek Henry was phenomenal in that game. But I don't see him, and I'll get to some either-or-ors with you, like I would not pick Marcus Marriota over Sam Darnold. I'd rather give up a first for Sam Darnold's upside than a second for Marcus Marietta's upside. There are a couple of others. I'd much rather take a roll of the dice on Winston, although I don't think he'll be available. If Marriota's gone, Derek Carr's not gone,

unless somehow they pull off a deal for Watson, and I don't see that happening. I like Marriota, but I like others more. So if it came down to, Mariotta is the only guy to add to a quarterback competition, I'm all for it for a third rounder. You know, I don't think a second rounder, but maybe a third rounder.

But if Darnold's available, then I want Washington to swing for Darnold. I think that that is a bigger upside possibility. If Dack Prescott's actually available, I want a big swing for Dack Prescott. There are just other guys that potentially may be available that I like more. Russell, first of all, guys on Wilson, if Seattle trades him, which, by the way, they'd be insane to trade him. if they do, Wilson's going to end up with a team that he wants to play with. Now, I do know he grew up in Richmond.

We all, most of us know that if you don't know that. He grew up in Richmond and he was a bit of a Washington football fan. If you tell me we can get Russell Wilson for, you know, two firsts, sign me up for that. I don't care how old he is. But on Marriota, to me, there's just other guys, just other guys I would prefer. but if he was the only guy left standing in this quarterback carousel, you know, looking for a ride, I think I'd give up a third and see how he competes with Heineke and Allen. I do agree with what you said, and as you were describing it, I'm like, yes, gun quarterback.

Lots of, you know, lots of zone stuff out of the gun, lots of RPO. the Zone Read would be incorporated much more than it was, obviously, with Alex a quarterback. And, you know, he does have sort of a slow delivery. There's some things about him that I don't love. I liked Winston much more in that draft coming out. I thought Winston deserved to be the number one pick. But what about you? What about the either-orrs?

Like Marriota or Darnold. Darnold first, Marietta, a... second, let's just say. And I think that's high, but let's just say you have the choice. I would take to Arnold first. Okay, for a first. Yeah, I would, I don't care what the trade value is on either of them. If I'm making a trade for a guy right now, unless, like you said, the Mario iso is a fifth, which is not going to happen because Oakland's not going to give him away for a fifth. I would, I would trade more for the guy I wanted. Right. then I would trade anything for the consolation price at that position. It's not your backup tight end we're talking about here.

So, yeah, I would trade definitely more for Darnold. And I think they will get a first for Darnold if they end up moving him. Me too. I just, I don't know what Marriota is going to end up getting you. That's the thing I'm not, I'm just not sure on. And I don't know what Oakland would accept. you know, as you look for me, I would have something pretty low on the table right now for Marietta. Because personally, Kev, I think once this draft happens, and I wouldn't come off my asking price unless I knew somebody else had a better offer and I really wanted him, it wouldn't come off until after the draft.

Because five other teams aren't going to want a quarterback after the draft. Right. And so your range of competition is much different once the draft occurs. So I think right now if you had a third on the table and Oakland scoffing at it, they might not scoff at that after the draft. I do think your point, though, like if you had to give up, I don't know, even a third, if you're going to give up a second or a third rounder, let's just say for Marcus Marriota, then you have in your mind the idea that there's a pretty good chance he can win your job and be your guy.

And so if you... Anybody can win your job and be your guy. I know that. But from their standpoint, I'm getting to what you suggested, which is you probably would end up trying to extend him after the trade. Or, you know, simultaneous with the trade. I don't know if second seems high. If I can get him for a third or fourth, then I don't even know if I extend them. You know, you just hope that you've got the kind of group here in Washington that you don't see guys fleeing when they have a chance to flee.

If he plays well and he's the starter, then he'll want to stay here. I know that that's risky, you know, but if it's the right fit and he plays well, and he hasn't started in a while now. It's been a while since he's, you know, he doesn't look like an NFL starter to most. people right now. Washington could give him a chance to start at quarterback. Yeah, they can't give him a chance to start, and that's I think why you want to extend him, but you're

going to have to pay him Bridgewater money. Yeah. That would be the comp deal, in my opinion. If I were Marriota's agent, I would look at that deal. I would say we want about 20 million bucks a year

on a three-year deal. Yeah. Which is a lot. And if you're Washington, you're going to say, why don't we stick with what you got going on? Let's do that $10 million a year. And based on the type of year that you're having, then we can provide a bunch of incentives. I mean, that's what I would at least attempt to do, is incentivize that deal. It's really crazy the quarterback situation in the NFL right now. And yet, right, correct me if I'm wrong. Only one actual move at that. this point, and that's the Stafford deal. I mean, of all the discussion about all of the

quarterback stuff, we've really only had one thing happen so far. I mean, Carson Wentz hasn't been dealt. Dak Prescott is still up in the air. The Aaron Rogers thing sort of fell apart. He's staying in Green Bay. You know, the Russell Wilson thing just sort of developed. Deshawn Watson, I still would be shocked if they end up trading him. I think he's going to end up playing or holding out. and not playing and not getting paid, at least for the first year, until it becomes really untenable for either or. But we've only had, am I forgetting anybody? We've only had one actual deal.

Nobody else, you know, the Winstons, the Fitzpatrick's, the Darnolds, the Wilsons, the Trubiskeys, the Cam Newton's, I mean, the Marcus Marriottes, the Derek Cars, the Garoppelos, the Deshawn Watson's, all of them. We're sitting here right now with one move having been made, but everybody's expecting so much more to happen. So, all right. Which is also why I'd be scared about making any kind of trade right now. Unless it were for a real top flight guy.

Unless it was cool. Well, I mean, making any kind of trade for Mario, I'm with you. This is weird for me because I've never really. loved Marriota. Same as you. But I do see some fit. Somehow, like for some reason, that seems to make sense. But I don't want to give away a second if I don't have to. It's not that, by the way, it's not, I've never loved him, but there's always been something intriguing about his game to me, you know, especially as you described in the right fit. Like, there are much worse quarterbacks you could go put out there on opening day next year.

Well, yeah, I mean, the day before the Tampa game, we would have said you could have been a Taylor Heineke, you'd be putting out there. Stephen Montes, because he was right in that boat. Wentz or Marietta? Not that you can get with Wentz. Okay. Well, here's the difference, though.

I got to really sit down with Wentz. I got to really start to understand what this guy is. Right. What he is as a leader? Because if this is Robert Griffin the fifth. Right. What if he is? What if he's just completely uncoachable, self-absorbed and difficult? And I don't want him.

I know. And by the way, Ron won't either. They'll know that. This is, this group will do the due diligence to find out about somebody's character unlike the previous 20 years. Right. And so if that's it with Wentz, that'll hurt him across the board. That'll hurt the trade for Wentz across the board. car or Marriota easy for you car yeah well John Gruden made the same decision

Kev I know Justin Fields trading up for or Marriota where's Justin Fields going to go on this draft top top six or seven

let's just say you can make a move with Detroit to get to seven but you got to give up a first and a third to swap you know the Andy Reid deal with Buffalo oh you're giving up this year's first and a third, which is not going to get you seven.

You're giving up next year's first, this year's third. And this year's first. You're moving to move up 12 spots. You're swapping first and then you're giving up next year's first and this year's third to move up 12 spots. I can't, honestly, I can't answer that question. I know you can't. I haven't watched Fields.

If Fields is the guy, then yes, I would absolutely do that. If you believe that he's the guy, if you go back and you watch whatever he played, whatever seven games this year and you said look this is the guy he's got it then yes i would absolutely do that this is um this is the assignment for you not that you weren't going to recognize it as an assignment anyway but you have a much better sense obviously of the pro guys we need we need your sense of the college guys so that they can make a decision here because they have to have to know pretty much here in the next couple of weeks whether or not the quarterback of their future is getable in this draft.

Right? I mean, that's what they need to know. If it's not at 19 or a move-up, and they really feel like they have to upgrade, then they're going to have to make a move. I think one of the things from all of these stories about Washington offering for Stafford, Washington being interested in golf,

Washington expressing interest in Carr and Marietta. The one takeaway more than any other is that Rivera and Mayhew and Herney are trying to upgrade at quarterback. So for those of you out there, and there are many of you, and I'm not being critical here, because I don't know if you're right or wrong, I don't have the answer on Taylor Heineke or Kyle Allen. Taylor Heineke is more the guy for many of you. But they aren't anywhere near as confident as some of you about what they currently have. that's what this offseason so far says.

They got aggressive going for Stafford. They were, according to reports, interested in Goff, Carr, and now even Marietta, if Lombardi's right. And by the way, Lombardi's been wrong a lot when it's come to the Washington football team, and he's been right on some occasions as well. It seems to me like they found the two guys they love to back up for their team. Right. They feel great about both of those guys being their backup quarterback, but they need their starter.

But I would also suggest to you that they aren't going to be devastated if they come back with the two of them competing for the starting job. And perhaps they still are thinking about Alex. Let's get to him next because there was. a report about Alex Smith's intentions for next year from Jeremy Fowler at ESPN. We'll get to that right after this word from one of our sponsors. Jeremy Fowler on Sports Center over the weekend with the following on Alex Smith. I'm told that Alex Smith, after a great comeback year, going five and two down the stretch, he does want to continue playing football.

He's leaning that way, but he's got a large cap hit. Washington could save $13.6 million if they did move on. And many people around the league believe their answer to quarterback is not in the building. So maybe they could work something out with Smith, but he does want to play somewhere, closed quote. Good for him. I mean, who's going to tell him not to do anything anymore? I just, where would the interest come from? Washington should not bring him back at a $24 million cap hit.

We both agree on that, correct? Yeah, nobody's going to pay him that. Right. So what would you, like if they don't go get Marietta or Carr or anybody else, what would you pay Alex Smith to come back and compete with Allen and Heineke? Four million bucks a year. Backup quarterback money. What do you think someone else would be willing to pay? I'd give him starter incentives just like we were talking about with Marietta.

Two-year deal, four million bucks a year if you end up starting, every game you start, you get X amount more money. I'm fine with that. Do you really want him back? Yeah, I do. I would love to have Alex Smith back. I don't necessarily believe that he's my starter, and I'm not going to lie to him and tell him that I think he is.

But I think he's a great asset for the building. And I don't necessarily love losing great assets. Urban Meyer would probably be interested in him coming down and mentoring and Gregory Trevor Lawrence Very interested in him You know at this point Alex Smith at 37 years old though does you want to go live in Jacksonville Rather than living here I mean it's warmer

It's warmer there's some nice places in Jacksonville would he be would New England be interested Um who's New England starter Are you talking about as a starter? As a potential starter? Or are they going to draft a guy this year? And would they want Alex Smith as a part of that? I think if you're bringing in Alex Smith at $4 million to be a backup and a mentor, I think that that makes sense.

If you are bringing Alex Smith in with a backup deal but with major incentives thinking that he has a chance to be your starting quarterback for the year, then you've got a quarterback issue. And you're not... New England currently has a quarterback. I understand that. But you haven't solved your quarterback issue. No one's going to bring him in and guarantee him a starting job right. I didn't say that. But if you pay, if you pay him, you know, upwards of 15 to 20 million

bucks with most of it coming through incentives, if he ends up being your starter, if he ends up being your starter, what is your team really? I mean, I say that. I hate saying that about him now because he's a playoff. He made the playoffs. And he played and he played well at times, really well. I mean, shit, that Detroit game was awesome. The cowboy game on Thanksgiving. I mean, but he, and maybe this injury at the end of the year was maybe another year of getting back into shape and getting stronger. Maybe he'll be a much better quarterback. I mean, he's six years younger than the Super Bowl winning quarterback. Maybe his best days are ahead of him. I mean, I don't even know what to think, but I don't, I just can't imagine that Alex Smith is going to be a starting quarterback for 16 games for anybody.

And if he is, that you're going to be a great team offensively. Well, giving him incentives as a backup, if he were to be the starter, isn't saying he's the starter. I know that. I'm just telling you that if he ends up being your starter, then you, you, you, you, you, didn't really come up with the solution that you needed to come up with. And you're telling me, you're telling every NFL team who currently are all trying to come up with solutions, all these teams that need a guy, are trying to come up with these solutions. What's your guess? Is he a Washington football team player next year? Yes or no?

No. I don't think he is because I think they have their two backup quarterbacks that they like. They paid one of them. It's not like you can go acquire a, I think they're going to try to get a guy, either draft or trade or somehow some way get another guy. And I think they love Alex, but I think they have to move forward trying to get another guy. So that would mean you cannot pay Alex, anything. I think you're right, and that would be my best guess.

And by the way, I prefer that they go out and get somebody. but it's not a within their control item. So just because they want Marcus Marriota or Derek Carr or it doesn't mean that they're going to get them, even in the draft if there's somebody that they love, they can't guarantee that they get them. So I think in the back of their minds, they're like, look, plan A is to go get somebody. We tried with Stafford, and here is our other list. of guys that we're going to go try to get to be the starter. Worst case to compete with the other two guys with the other two guys, you know,

potentially being backups. But if we strike out on all of these fronts, then we'd be interested in bringing Alex back on a backup deal with incentives. But they can't make that decision now. No. And maybe they don't have to with Alex. That's a good point. Maybe Alex is willing to help him out.

I mean, he's under contract. They don't have to do anything, and he can't make a move on his own. You know, they can be totally patient before making any sort of decision on Alex. I'm sure that there would be a preference in the building to, if they're going to move on from him, give him a chance to catch on with somebody, give him the best chance of catching on with somebody, rather than a post-draft or post-June 1 release. But then again, if they know they're going to do that, it's not like Urban Meyer is going to say,

we've got to go get somebody now because we're not sure we're going to get Alex as a backup. Right. And also, Urban Meyer is going to tell Alex very clearly, like, you're here to help Trevor Lawrence get better. Right. And so if Alex Smith wants to play, He can't go into Jacksonville. And I think he wants to play.

So he's got to go somewhere where there's a legit opportunity, which also Kev may mean he's going to stay here as long as he possibly can, potentially restructure here. But he's got to wait until the end to find out. Because if you're Alex, you're sitting there saying, I just can't go somewhere that might want to acquire a quarterback. Because as soon as they do, I'm out. Right.

he's got to be the last guy he's going to play musical chairs with this one one of the interesting things to just contemplate here the hypothetical is if he were to come back here and there were a competition between Kyle Allen, Taylor Heineke, and Alex Smith who would win the competition?

Who would be the starter opening day? That would be fascinating. I bet you if Alex is healthy, I bet you it would be Alex. completely healthy. I think we can both agree that he would be the best quarterback in that situation. They didn't think so in October. It wasn't healthy.

What do you mean? He was healthy. He was still not quite there. Well, they thought Kyle Allen was the direction to go in. Yeah, I know they did, but they also hadn't seen Alex Smith play a football game yet. That's true, but even a devastating injury. Nobody knew. Look, look, don't say that they would have. nobody in the world thought he was going to play again.

Even when he came in and played, the second era Donald landed on him. Everyone watching that game was like, oh, no. Totally agree with you. I totally agree with you. So now they know he can survive games. Yeah, but at the end of the year. Running around better and moving better.

At the end of the year, Ron Rivera, without being asked about it, offered up that he thought they would have been in the same spot had Kyle Allen not gotten hurt. That was telling us. especially knowing that Ron loves Alex or at least we think yeah I mean if all three if that's the August training camp you know battle I mean it's not very sexy although I say that and a lot I know a lot of you listening think what are you talking about did you watch Taylor Heineke play I know I did I watched

the game it was a playoff game I wasn't going to miss that one and I thought he was great I'm not sure about Taylor Heineke. He's played a game and a quarter. He's played five quarters. And by the way, every single game, and I had him on the show last week, on the radio show last week, and I said to him, I said, are you concerned that you've essentially every game you've started in in your career you've been injured in? And he said, I can see why people would think that. But, you know, I was also playing as if it were my last game and my last opportunity.

And I was probably, and I'm paraphrasing here, I was probably playing a little bit recklessly. Okay. They've got three, if these three quarterbacks are the competition, you've got three quarterbacks at all miss games on the regular. So you may need all three of them next year again. But who would win the job would be fascinating? I think Kyle Allen would win the job. I think Alex Smith would win the job, but that's saying that he's healthy. Right. Assuming he is really healthy, I still think that Kyle Allen would win the job. Assuming that Alex doesn't come back and is not healthy, we'll find out because I would not be surprised if it's Taylor Heineckee, Kyle Allen, and then some other mid-round rookie. And we'll so we'll see who's going to win that job with Heineke getting a real shot.

I think if it's- Just understand like, like there's quarterback competitions and then there are legit quarterback competitions. I mean, you've got to be in a legit. legit quarterback competition to win a job. I've thought this with a lot of, in a lot of situations where it was like, this guy has to perform 20% better, 30% better. It's not just even. This one guy's got to do a lot more to win the job.

Still competition, but almost like one guy's got to either be amazing or the other guy's got to kind of lose it. In a straight up competition where Heineke's got a shot, I wouldn't be surprised to see him win it. If it's Heineke versus Allen. Yeah. I mentioned to him when I had him on the radio show last week what you said about him. I said that, you know, my friend and former radio partner and on my podcast all the time, Chris Cooley said about you that you played great in the game,

but he said guys like you that are gamers and are off-schedual quarterbacks, really good at off schedule plays and being creative, that a lot of times that that is not recognized in practice because you don't practice that. And he immediately goes, that's exactly right. He nailed it. He said, the way I play, you know, isn't seen in practice when you are, you know, three step, three step drop, reads,

make the throw, not getting hit. But they know. See, and I wonder if he'd even thought about that in his career. It took me a while, though we were going to realize that I wasn't a good practice player. It's amazing to me that you wouldn't know that. Like, if you're watching, first of all, they'd seen enough of Taylor Heineke, both in games and, by the way, I'm not suggesting that they thought about him that way here. Or he wasn't.

He's just like, that in general is probably why a lot of teams, you know, who worked me out or whatever. Carolina was the only team. Scott Turner was the only guy in the NFL interested. It was the same for him as a high school quarterback too. He's like undersized, don't look the part, the whole thing. I personally feel that if it's Heineke-Allen-Smith, it's Allen, and if it's Heineke v. Allen, that it's Allen.

But I have no idea. That's just a guess. And it's only because I know how much they feel like that they could have been in the same exact spot with Kyle Allen, had Kyle Allen stayed healthy. You can't do anything but make a guess here. I know. It's such a, everything's a guess.

Because you haven't seen enough of either of these guys, and you also know that they haven't seen enough of either of these guys. So your best case scenario is to guess. All right. There are a few more things, NFL related, and then a couple of thoughts from me. me on Maryland's win over Minnesota last night and whether or not the Terps are actually an NCAA tournament team right after this word from one of our sponsors.

So Houston cut J.J. Watt loose Friday or Saturday, whatever day that was. I think most of you understand this. There's no comparison to Deshawn Watson and J.J. Watt. Like the people that think, oh, they did a solid by J.J. Watt. They did him a solid, but they're not doing it for Deshawn Watson. Deshaun Watson is under contract for the next several years. Just signed a deal. He's 25 years old, and he's one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. This is nowhere near a comparable situation. With that said, would you be interested in JJ Watt at this point in his career? You know, he was not super productive this year when he, you know, in a year in which he was actually healthy for the first time in a while. I loved him as

a player at when he was healthy and great and in his prime. Where do you think he ends up? How is anybody not think he's going to end up in Pittsburgh with his brother? Right. Played defensive end in a three-four scheme like he's played in Houston just inside T.J. Watt and you have those two together. How would anybody not think that? I'm reading Tyler Boyd in Cincinnati does his best to recruit J.J. Watt to the Bengals. No. Okay. Sweet. Boyd made it clear when he tagged Watt in a post saying, bro, let's turn this S up.

Okay. Here we go. Hey, he said, let's turn this S up. I got to go to Cincinnati. Look, JJ Watt's going to go somewhere where you win a Super Bowl without a doubt at this point in his career. He's going to go somewhere where he thinks he can win a Super Bowl. Pittsburgh would obviously fit that mold. He would think he could win a Super Bowl in Pittsburgh. I would probably not be interested in J.J. Watt, just because I think we're pretty well set at those positions. Oh, yeah. Agreed. I'm not, you know, I mean, to me, Pittsburgh, you know, Bud Dupree got hurt, obviously.

Well, he doesn't play that position. Okay, so he plays Hayward's position? Yes. Okay, so you've got pass rushers in Watt and Dupree, is my point. And then in Hayward also. I mean, Pittsburgh's pretty talented on defense. I don't know how much of a need they have. His brother is just phenomenal.

There are plenty of teams. Like, you know, somebody tweeted this to me, Ryan Carrigan or J.J. Watt? J.J. Watt at this point. And I thought Ryan played really well this year. You know, that draft, Cooley, was a very interesting draft because it's one of those drafts where the 2010 draft, right, 2010, no, 2011, excuse me, 2011 draft when Washington traded back, traded back and ended up picking Ryan Carrigan middle of the first round. And they traded back from a position where they could have selected J.J. Watt. You know, they didn't, they traded with Jacksonville, right? Jacksonville was picking one pick

ahead of J.J. Watt. And I remember not thinking anything of it at the time. I didn't. And Ryan Carrigan was a really good player. And one of the things I remember, Bill Parcells before that draft was working for ESPN or somebody and said, he loved Carrigan. So I was sold on Carrigan. But my only point is, and I've used this as an example several times over the years, you know how a lot of times fans who will go nuts over. Trade back. Pick up more picks. Trade back. Well, you don't want to trade back and pass on a great player to get, you know, an additional chance at another couple of decent players. You always want the great player. Great player is the player that wins games. Yeah, JJ Watt has won games by himself for Houston over the years. He was largely

responsible for that team being a playoff team many years. Ryan Carrigan was never J.J. Watt. Never. Ryan Carrigan. It wasn't even close. Yeah. So they traded back and they

picked up Carrigan and whatever else they picked up in that draft and I forget where the other, I think it was Jarvis Jenkins. Actually, I'm pretty sure it was Jarvis Jenkins that they ended up getting with that extra pick. In the second round? In the second round. the guy from Clemson who stunk.

I think that was it. Anyway, my point is, you know, if you've got a great player there, you don't want to trade back. If there's a great player, a couple of spots in front of you, don't worry about a trade-up for a great player. It works both ways. And I think a lot of times, especially the older fans around here like me, just remember Bobby Bethard, always trading back, picking up more picks and it always working out. Well, he was a brilliant evaluator of talent, too. And they haven't had a lot of those guys around here for the last 20 years.

So anyway, they needed JJ Watt. At the time, that was a position of need. The one thing I can see when you're trading back is, if there's nobody on the board that fits your role, trade back. Right. but most of the time there is I don't know

I don't know either I don't want to miss on it the best players are how you win games you win games because you have a great player Zach Ertz yes or no he's apparently available yes really I don't know what's going on with Ertz

over the last year and a half but after the 2018 season I would have put Ertz with Kelsey and Grong. Different type of player to some extent. But knack for getting open, ability to make big plays, I think even the 19th season, I thought Ertz was right there.

So yeah, I think Zach Ertz is big time. You got to make sure that he is, he checks out physically. There's no doubt about that. You got to make sure that he's ready. physically. You got to make sure he wants to be there. But gosh, it seems like when he's got a guy, when he's got a quarterback that he trusts or that's throwing him the ball, Kev, he was so good for about four years there. Right. So good. I love Dirts. Yeah, it would be yes. And he's your answer that is a starting tight end.

By the way, at my bookie, my bookie.orgie.orgie. Right now, the odds on where J.J. Watt will play in 2021. It's a prop bet being offered. The Steelers are the heavy favorites at plus 160, and then there are the Packers at plus 250. Some interesting prop bets actually, including Cam Newton, where he will be roster-wise at the beginning of next year. Baltimore is the favorite for Cam Newton at plus 300. Obviously, we are looking at backup quarterbacks. Jacksonville is the second favorite at plus 400, And guess who's not even listed among the top 10 teams for Cam Newton, Washington? Well, I can guess that. Is there any for not playing?

For the action, no, there's not an option for that. So for the action to actually be in play, he has to be on a roster, and then it's which roster is on. So if he retires, or he doesn't get signed by anybody, the bets avoided. I got you. MyBooky.ag, use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And they will credit you half of your deposit. So if you deposit $1,000 up to $1,000, you get an extra $500 to play with.

So they'll match your deposit halfway up to $1,000. I mention this all the time. MyBooky's one of those reputable places. You can go. You're going to get fair pricing, fair lines, fair money lines, and you'll get paid if you win. All right. A couple more things that I wanted to touch on real quickly. The first is this.

So there's this story ESPN.com today. Like guesses on where teams are going to be next year, where players are going to be next year. And there were a couple things that stuck out. First of all, the first question is which team that didn't make the playoffs in 2020 will make it in 2021? and everybody basically has every the Cowboys are the Giants essentially meaning that the team that won't make the playoffs that made it in

2021 everybody has is Washington they're the leader in the clubhouse which is interesting it's actually fair given the schedule and given by the way the potential for Dallas I think if they bring Prescott back but here's what I wanted to get to they guessed on Deshawn Watson's

where he would be where he'd be playing in 2021 and it was a bunch of the ESPN.com football writers and analysts. And only one guy had the Texans. Everybody else had a different team. So everybody else essentially does believe that Deshawn Watson will get traded. The dolphins, the Panthers. The Panthers are mentioned three different times or four different times.

The 49ers are mentioned a couple of times. The Jets are mentioned. you know, I just don't think that Houston's going to deal them. I don't think they should. I wouldn't do it. And I don't think they will. But I was interested that almost, I'm counting them right now, three, six, nine different ESPN writers, you know, Kevin Seaford, Matt Bowen, Jason Reed, Dan Gratziano, a bunch of guys, Jeremy Fowler, Clinton Yates. Every single one of them had a different team except for one reporter, had had, had, had, had, had him staying in Houston. I just don't see it. I don't see Houston dealing him. What do you think? And what would you do?

Well, we've talked about what both of us would do. You would try to make it right before you deal him. Yeah, we have talked about this. You're right. You would at least try to make it right before you deal him. And you have time to make it right. The draft's not tomorrow. You just need to deal him before the draft.

if that ends up being the case. Or get it worked out that he stays before the draft with everybody on the same page. Correct. But why? You're still going to get a boatload for him after the draft. It's just, if you're a team that wants to improve this year right now, you want this year's draft capital. I just wouldn't trade them.

That's why the Jets and Miami are so appealing. Carolina is appealing with the number eight pick, but the Jets in Miami both have two firsts. So if you're Houston, you're getting both those first this year. Probably a second this year. You got three big-time picks that you didn't have if you were to deal him right now. It's just if you don't work it out, the thing that's hard is to take that cap it and have him sit there. And he can afford it.

And he knows that. Yeah. It's so hard. I would do it. It's tough on your team. It's tough on your staff. It's tough on planning for the future. I think it's just brutal, Kev.

He's not going to sit forever. And by the way, you can start to go after that money, too. Oh, yeah, you can get, what did we figure? You can get like $12 million, $13 million of that money back? Yeah. Yeah, I'm not, you know, I'm not changing my feeling about this. In fact, I'm surprised that more of these, you know, writers, NFL writers, beat writers, aren't convinced what I'm convinced about,

and that is that Houston's serious about not trading them. And again, you know, I know what you're saying. but the only way I trade him is if I get him back or something approximating him back and that probably can't happen. Well, you can't guarantee that you're getting anything that replaces him back. That's for sure.

There's no guarantee that you're getting back back. If I got Russell Wilson back, I would do it, even though Russell Wilson's seven years older than him, so it's not even really like getting him back. I mean, you're you're, you're, You're certainly not getting him back if you get picks. You don't know that. What would the Seahawks have to give on top of Russell Wilson to get Deshaun?

Deshaun Watson? A lot. There's a seven-year difference in age. Do you think a lot? You know what, Cooley? I think Watson's, I think the upcoming years, Watson ends up being a better quarterback than Wilson. And I think they're both great. And I think Wilson still has a lot of great years left in him.

Don't get me wrong. I think Wilson's brilliant. I mean, I would love Russell Wilson to be my team's quarterback, but I would really love Deshawn Watson at 25 years old to be my team's quarterback. Either one you get, you got to give them control of your organization, which scares the holy hell out of me. Yeah, that's not going to happen. Not in my organization.

I mean, we've gone through this. I'm going to certainly, I'm going to go to some of these key leaders, especially if they're capable of leading and making sound decisions. and giving me sound input, but I'm not doing it with some sort of, you know, contractual control or contractual ability to pick certain spots. That's not how my organization would run. I would definitely, when I have a face of the franchise player, you know, at any position, but certainly a quarterback, I would certainly, you know, under promise and over-deliver on that person being a sounding board for me. And certainly doing my best to not only

take what they say and incorporate it into my decision making, but certainly make them understand how important they are, which is, you know, Houston told them how important he was going to be and then said, well, actually, you're not. That was stupid. That was the worst move they could have made. It's unfortunate for them, but I think he's got to understand to some extent, even though they told him that, that it could be made right. How can you be so mad about it? If they don't make the attempt to fix it? If they made the attempt to fix it, how can you still be so angry with that? I don't know. I don't know either. He just doesn't want to be there. It's this Easterby guy or it's McNair himself or it's the new coach or it's the new GM. But here's the

problem. You know, it's, it sucks, but when you make no Casario that much. I get that he didn't have a part in that, but how could he even know him well enough or the new coach? How could he know either of them well enough to make that decision? And if it was Easterby, then just move on. But then you're saying, what does Easterby know? Why is he staying? Yeah, I would get rid of him in a heartbeat. Something's weird there. But yeah, yeah, your point's a good one. How could he even know the Casario or the new coach at this point. How could he really know a lot? He's not around going to these events.

He's not at the Combine and Senior Bowl, all these All-Star games where these guys meet and talk. Look, you'd only have, there could be not much more than hearsay that he's got on these guys that he understands. Deshawn, I'm sorry, man. You signed the deal in September. I mean, we just,

this is completely inappropriate for you to ask out of the deal five months later. It's just not even, I mean, I would imagine that they've made it clear to him, but you've got to make it really clear that you are apologetic and you are sorry for the way anything went down that didn't go down the way you said. But unfortunately, that's not going to, we're not going to make two mistakes in a row and trading you. Trading you would be a big mistake. if I were the team that just gave up all my draft capital for him and who and whatever else like I saw the jets that said like this the two first a second next year's first and Quinn and Williams he's going to walk in that building and I'm going to say grab a playbook because that's what you do here yeah just so you know so we start off on the right foot you're not going to be the GM for this team and really we don't even actually. actually need one for the next couple years because we just gave up everything we have for you. So we don't have any picks left.

You don't have anyone to acquire. I think your advice, too, a couple of weeks ago, you know, starting from scratch, not with the, you know, the backdrop of having promised him something and then taken it away. But it's like, yeah, I'd love your input. But I need, if you're going to do it, you're going to do it the right way. You're going to watch hours and hours of film and you're going to write up a report in the way that, You know, our scouts write up a report. And we're going to see if this is something that you're good at doing. We know you're a hell of a quarterback.

Yeah, that one we figured out. Yeah, that one we know. We're clear on that. Yeah. But we have to learn more about your general manager, you know, capabilities. You know, whether or not, you really do. We understand that you play with these people, and this should give you an advantage. But there's a lot of work that goes into this.

and there's a lot of non-football work that goes into this. And so if you're willing to put in the work, I mean, we'd love your input. See how long that lasts. Exactly. One last thing before we go. Maryland last night, Maryland's case for the NCAA tournament is really going to be one of the more fascinating Selection Sunday cases because they are five and nine after last night's win over Minnesota.

in the Big Ten. They are in, I think, ninth place currently. And have a chance to finish. I think they're in 10th place currently. They could finish as high as eighth or seventh, I think, in the Big Ten. But still, they're four games below 500 in the league play. They're 11 and 10 overall, in part because so many games were sort of canceled early on in the year. Not the non-conference schedule was a little bit limited.

Anyway, Maryland is actually a good team. They are being coached exceptionally well, and I know that bothers a lot of you when I say that, but I think Turg is proving with this particular team in the best league in America, a league that's dominated with big men and he doesn't have one, how well he can actually coach. They were really good last night, and they beat Minnesota for a second time. They've got four wins over ranked teams. Their Ken Palm numbers up to 35, just as a matter of perspective. when you have a top 35 Ken Palm number, you're a lock for the tournament most years.

They're net ranking, the NCAA1 net rankings, they're up to 38th. That's a lock for the tournament. Now, again, or actually they're up to 36 after last night. They have four quad one wins, Cooley. They've played 14 quad one games. That's, I think, more than any team in America, including some of the best teams in the country. maybe Northwestern has as many as they do. But the point here is that Maryland has to,

they got to get to eight or nine Big Ten wins. They have five games, six games left, and I think if they go four and two, and they get to nine and eleven overall in the Big Ten, two games below 500, they're an absolute lock. If they were to go three and three with another win over a ranked team like Rutgers, then I think they would get in as well. and they would deserve it. They're one of the best, you know, 34 or whatever at large teams at this point.

But it's going to be a selection Sunday controversy. You watch. If they only win three or four of their final six games, and they're sitting there with an 8 and 12 or a 9 and 11 Big 10 record, there's going to be a lot of screaming about Maryland getting into the tournament if they get in, about how it was undeserving. But if you watch them playing, you know the league they're playing in, You know the schedule they've played, which is the third toughest schedule in the country so far. You know that they are more than capable of beating a lot of teams that would be in the draw as at large teams ahead of them. They're going to be in the tournament if they win four more games, four out of their last six. And they play Nebraska back to back because of the COVID stuff.

And Nebraska was idle there for about three weeks. So they play Nebraska at home tomorrow night. and then they play Nebraska at home on Wednesday night. And Nebraska is the only team in the Big Ten that really looks like their weak, except for the fact that they beat Penn State yesterday, and they nearly beat Illinois on Friday night, Illinois, a top five team in America. So it's the best college basketball league. I think Ken Palm put out something that this year's Big Ten is the strongest rated league

in the history of their rankings, that there's never been a league top to bottom that's been stronger. So 10 or 11 teams out of the Big 10 out of their 14 going to the tournament shouldn't surprise anybody. It would have been 10 or 11 last year because it was really good last year. And Maryland's record isn't going to look the part, but they've got a chance here over the final couple of weeks of the season to improve that look in terms of the record. But four wins over ranked teams. Cooley, they played a stretch of nine ranked teams and 11 games. They had 11 games in which nine of them were against ranked opponents.

And Minnesota was not ranked last night, but they have been as ranked as high as 14th in the country this year. And they were on a two-game winning streak having just beaten a ranked team in Purdue. And Maryland handled them last night for the second time this year. It's so hard when someone has four wins over ranked teams. When you look at the at-large bids, how many of those guys are going to have one win over a ranked team? Oh, Marilyn's resume from a schedule and a wins over quality teams is going to have a much better looking resume than a lot of teams that will have much better records than them, including better conference records than they have. And that's going to be the debate. Like, let's just say that they, right now they're 11 and 10 overall.

If they were to win three of their final six to finish eight and 12 in the league, and let's just say one of those wins is over Rutgers, and now they have five wins over ranked teams, but they are 14 and 13 overall. It's not going to look right to people, but they're capable of, they're one of the better defensive teams in the country, and when they shoot it like they did last night, they're difficult. The problem is they just don't have size. You can put that on Turgeon.

All of you that are sitting there saying, well, it's his fault that he doesn't have this size. You're right. He should have had somebody for Jalen Smith once Smith left after last year. By the way, I thought Galen Smith played really well last night. Super high IQ player, just limited physically. But I thought that was his best game of the year last night. All right. You got anything else?

Nope. I'm just going to continue to survive this cold here in Wyoming. How cold was it this weekend? I know it was brutal. What was it? Today is the first day legitimately that we should see anything over five degrees. Oh, my God. At one point on Friday, I saw negative 21.

You did send me a picture of just icicles hanging from your face. There were a couple of days that negative nine were the high. Negative nine was the high. So what do you do on a day like with that? Nothing. Right. Here's the wild thing. This is the craziest thing about this place.

I went out Saturday. to get a couple things in Powell, Wyoming, had to stop at the grocery store and go downtown. It was the busiest I'd seen downtown since I've moved here. School doesn't close, nothing closes, no one stops, nothing changes. It's just cold. And I mean, it was so cold. Kev, I got in the hot tub around noon on Friday.

My eyelashes had ice on them. Yeah. My eyelashes had ice on them. What was the high on Friday, negative 9? I think negative nine. Actually, I think Friday was negative 12 or negative 13. What was the low? Negative 21. It's insanity. Did you do the thing where you throw the hot water up in the air and it freezes before it hits the ground?

Hot water doesn't freeze before it hits the ground. I saw someone do this thing where they took a bowl of ramen and spooned it out and held the spoon for like 10 seconds and the spoon freezes in the air. Yeah, that's really cold. How much snow are you guys getting? We actually got quite a bit of snow. There's like six inches on the ground. That six inches is never going to melt. It's supposed to be back in the 30s this week.

Yeah. This week is supposed to get to the 30s. Friday, 33. That's going to feel like 70 compared to negative 21. You probably can play. You'll go out and play around to golf in 30-degree weather. I don't think I'll have to get an orange ball. Yeah, that would be true.

you would have to maybe clear spot to put the tea into the ground. It would be hard to get it into the ground, actually. It's amazing, though, because it gets cold here. And I remember from growing up here that it gets cold here. But even at this point, you talk to anybody, this is as cold as it's been in like five or six years. Well, does that have you, like, I know how much you guys love living out there. No, it's been one week. It's one week.

If it's, if that's all, if it's one week of the year that it's this cold, who cares? But what if it, what if it turns into like three or four weeks out of the year? Then I got to take a little bit longer vacation. But here's the other thing you have to understand. I think a lot of people do. When you look at the temperature, if it says 27 degrees here with a little bit of, like, partly cloudy, sunny, that feels like 42 where you're at. Yeah. It's just there's no humidity.

Yeah, it's dry. Anything zero or negative, that's cold. That's just anything under 10, it's cold. But once it gets into the 20s, it's the same thing as 40 in Virginia. We had, so Saturday, most of you know this because you live through it like I did. We had, you know, a pretty significant ice event, which is just the worst. I mean, I'll take anything other than what we got on Saturday, which was all day sleet freezing rain,

and it really was dicey out there. And then we're warming up. We've been cold, but not super cold, but you know, like below freezing cold during the day. Like all day Saturday during that ice event, it was like 27, 28, 29 degrees all day long. Now we're going to get up to, I think we're getting up to like, tomorrow 50, but then potentially, and they've been wrong about this so many times this winter,

but apparently there could be a big snow event Wednesday night into Thursday and then sleet and freezing rain on top of that on Thursday. Winter's the worst. See, I love, as you know, I love a big snowstorm. We've had the potential for a lot of snowstorms, but it seems like they've all sort of fizzled out. and we've ended up getting an inch or two and then ice. And then Saturday, give me 70, give me 50 and sunny over what we had Saturday. That doesn't do anybody any good.

Now, wasn't the level, we had an ice storm, I don't know, 15 years ago that basically we were, we were without power for a week and a half. We ended up staying in a hotel because it was so cold. You may remember that. I do remember that. That was brutal. That's not what Saturday was, but it was. was like one of those deals where it's like, oh, God, like you walk out and the sidewalk is just a sheet of ice.

The roads are covered in ice. And a lot of it was sleet more than freezing rain. Do you know the difference? Yeah. What's the difference? The freezing rain is immediately frozen on the ground. Okay. What are you trying to tell me the difference is?

Well, there's a difference between freezing rain and sleet. I'm curious if you know what the difference is. Explain it. So I understand. The technical difference. Sleet are the ice pellets that hit the ground and bounce. You know, they hit the ground and bounce. That's Sleet.

Freezing rain is actually rain as it's falling, but it falls onto a surface that's below 32 degrees and it freezes. Sleet just, you know, starts, it all has to do with where the layers, what the temperature layers are as you go up, you know, to the clouds. Sleet will start at below freezing, go through a layer of above freezing, and then another layer of below freezing so that it forms an ice pellet and it hits the ground. And by the way, Sleet can actually fall in above 32 at the ground temperatures. Freezing rain, it starts as snow and then goes through a layer where it melts into rain and stays at that level, but that when it gets to the surface, the surface is 32 or below and it freezes. on contact. So when you see it raining but it turning it freezing on the ground, that's

freezing rain. The sleet are those ice pellets that hit and bounce. That's the difference. Okay. Did I do a good job of explaining? Very, I completely understand it. Okay. Snow. Breatzing rain is frozen when it hits the ground. Is rain that, is rain that freezes when it hits the ground. Immediate ice sheet. Yes, sleet is those ice pellets that. But you, you did a nice job of explaining how that occurs. And snow, just so you know, starts in every single level of the, you know, from cloud to ground is below freezing. And that's, and so snow crystals form at the inception and then they stay all the way to the ground.

It's when you have different temperatures at different layers of the atmosphere where you can potentially get sleet and or freezing rain, or as the weather people call it, a wintry mix. We've had a lot of wintry mixed days this winter. It hasn't been a harsh winter by any stretch of the imagination in terms of the total amount of snow. But we've had several of those wintry mixed days over the last, I don't know, the last month maybe. And it looks like a couple more of them coming this week. So there you go. Or maybe not, because they have been wrong.

You know, you love Doug Camer. I love Doug. Sue Palka. They're all great. They have had a difficult year forecasting. They just have... It's like evaluating Taylor Heineken. They have sounded the alarm bell like a couple of days in advance for some of these winter events,

and they just have not lived up to the billing. Now, they actually, I think, get a much more... I think they get a harder time from their viewers when they don't forecast a big storm and then you get one. That is a worst... I think it's a worst-case scenario for them is not forecast. and getting it rather than forecasting it and not getting it. Although I hate when they get the latter wrong. And I'm fine when they get the, you know, get it wrong the other way because I'm rooting for more winter weather.

All right, we're done for the day. We will have Cooley back later in the week, and who knows, I'm sure maybe a trade at that point or some sort of movement on the quarterback front, which, you know, some of you have said to me, what about, you know, what are they going to do at left tackle? There's going to be plenty of time to talk about that. If you don't understand that the quarterback carousel in the NFL, and by the way, Washington's potential involvement in that isn't the number one story of this offseason in the NFL, you're not paying attention. It's the number one story in probably 10 NFL cities minimum right now,

and it is in ours as well. All right, back tomorrow with Tommy.