The Kevin Sheehan Show - Gruden Should Have Voice in QB Decision

Episode Date: February 22, 2019

Kevin opens the show with discussion about Jay Gruden's influence on the Redskins' offseason QB decisions. Scott Van Pelt joined Kevin and talked pay for college players and Terps' basketball. Andy Pollin joined the show to talk Robert Kraft's pending arrest and the signing of Albert Haynesworth 10 years ago this coming week. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now, here's Kevin. All right, I am here. Aaron is here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. Van Pelt will be on the show today. We'll talk about the Duke Carolina, the Zion Williamson thing. I've got a little bit more on that as well. Andy will be on the show today. He wants to talk about an important. anniversary date as we do all the time with Andy on Fridays. A few things to start, and I'm going to start with a Redskins-related topic. If it's true that there was Redskins' interest in Joe Flacco, it certainly wasn't Jay Gruden's idea. That's what I've got to start the show. Not much more other than what most of you think, and what I've talked about on this show, going back to really the day that Doug Williams admitted his surprise about the Alex Smith trade,

and Jay Gruden admitted that he never even looked at any of the quarterbacks that were potentially available in the 2018 draft. That was about a year ago, you know, right around a year ago. Not even a quarterback that could have been taken in the mid to late rounds in the 2018 draft. Jay Gruden said he was never asked and never looked at any of the quarterbacks, and Doug Williams admitted that he was surprised about the Alex Smith trade. What we learned then and what we know now is that Jay Gruden's influence on who the quarterbacks are on the Redskins roster, his influence is minimal.

Bruce Allen, who in recent weeks has tried to subtly sell the fans and media on his insignificant influence on decisions related to things like coaching staff and players, is the key decision maker when it comes to coaching staff and key players. I don't know Aaron and have not been able to confirm that there was indeed legitimate interest in Joe Flacco, but I'll believe the reports that have already been out there over the last week that at the very least someone in the organization was doing some poking around with Baltimore about the availability of Flacco. I'll believe those reports.

I haven't heard it personally from the people that I, I might hear things from every once in a while, but that's all right. I'll take the reports at face value and at least deduct or take away that they were poking around on Flacco. But the person that was doing the poking around wasn't Jay Gruden. Jay Gruden's going to take whomever Bruce and Dan and Eric and Kyle and Doug give him when it comes to the quarterback position. and he's going to go from there. That's what Jay does. And let me just say that lots of organizations work this way.

I don't necessarily have a general problem with personnel getting the players and coaches coaching the players. There are probably many coaches, several anyway, that have minimal influence on the roster makeup, on player acquisition. And there's nothing wrong with that in a lot of the cases. But there's plenty wrong with it here. The people in the front office haven't made good decisions when it comes to the most important position on the field,

now going back eight years. They traded for Donovan McNabb when McNabb had very little left, and not only did he have a little left, he really wasn't interested in starting over after 11 years with the same coach in the same place. They then gave up a King's Ransom to trade up in the 2012 draft for a player who had made, major football flaws, but he also had major personality flaws, all of which were spelled out by one of the more respected head coaches when it came to developing quarterbacks in the history of the league. Now again, and I've mentioned this many times, Mike Shanahan was very up front saying

that he was on board with going after Robert Griffin III, or Andrew Luck, whomever had fallen to number two overall when they made the trade with the Rams to move up, but that he spelled out very clearly to Dan and Bruce what the limitations were and how they were going to have to play football for the first year or so because he was not a pocket passer. He was very limited in many ways, but he felt and Kyle felt the two of them felt that they could really make it work and that eventually they could develop him into more of a traditional or somewhat traditional quarterback. They spelled that out for Bruce and Dan. So when Dan and Bruce got really upset in the 2012 season about how much running around Griffin was doing and how much

read option they were running and all, you know, the pistol and read option and turning Griffin into a potential running quarterback on a lot of plays. It worked. He had one of the great rookie seasons in the history of the league. They got to the playoffs. They won the division. But they tried to act like it was news to them. It wasn't. The Redskins should have signed cousins early. as I've mentioned just a few times over the years. But they definitely should have traded him after the 2016 season when it became apparent that they were not going to get him for some bargain. They weren't going to be able to keep him for a bargain.

The market had heated up too much for him. They should have traded him in 16. He had his eyes at that point, especially when Sean McVeigh left, on free agency. They put him in that position to get to free agency. So they should have traded him. traded him to San Francisco for a first round pick, which for those of you who have debated me on that, you know, we pointed this out a few months back. Kyle Shanahan admitted as much in a Monday morning quarterback story last year when he was talking about the Garoppolo trade,

that they would have ended up, they would have tried very hard and given up a lot to go get Kirk Cousins. You know, and remember part of that story is that a lot of people think the Redskins didn't trade him to San Francisco or wouldn't have considered trade. him to San Francisco because of Snyder and Allen's dislike for the Shanahan's. You talk about childish, sandbox stuff. If that's true, if there's any truth to that, and a lot of people that really would know believe that there's some truth in that, how ridiculous is that?

They should have been much more cautious in giving a 34-year-old quarterback a lucrative long-term deal when the truth of the matter is your head coach more. likely than not would have preferred to have started Colt McCoy for a fraction of what Alex Smith cost. So with the recent history understood of Bruce, Dan, whomever else, you know, making decisions about that particular position, why the hell would anybody feel good about Bruce Allen leading the discussion and having the most influence over the new, over who the next quarterback is. I personally don't think Jay Gruden is a very good head coach. I think he's average. My position on that has not changed over five years. I doubt he'll ever be a good

coach. I think he'll always be an average coach. But I would trust Jay Gruden a lot more than anybody else in the organization to be the lead voice and the lead decision maker on what they do it quarterback. Of the people there, he's the one I would turn to and say, you evaluate everybody, pro-college, existing quarterbacks on the roster, and you tell us what you want, and let's go try to make it happen. I would not say to him, hey, you know, I think we might be able to get Alex Smith. What do you think? Jay's go along to get along. I've spelled that out so many times. It's not his style to push back and to confront. When the Alex Smith thing came up, Sure, yeah, I could work with Alex.

No, put him in charge. Give him the lead voice. You've got to empower him. Bruce says to Jay, you've got my support. Tell us what you want. You're the one that can evaluate this position. I can't. I haven't done it well here.

I've never done it well. We'll do it your way if it's feasible. I mean, you can't tell us that you want Aaron Rogers. We can't go get Aaron Rogers. It's my opinion that Jay Gruden's preference next year would be to use all of their available resources to build out the rest of the roster, receiver, pass rusher, corner, safety, guard, O line depth, and let him move forward with Colt McCoy as his starter in 2019. That's my belief.

I could be wrong. Cooley tended to agree with that last week and essentially say the same thing. and he's also practical in terms of what are they really going to be able to get anyway. But it is my opinion that that's Jay Gruden's preference. You know, Kyle Smith, you know, Bruce, I can't imagine at this point that Jay doesn't roll his eyes with Bruce Allen leading some of these conversations or being intimately involved in making some of these decisions. I'm sure he's got some confidence in Kyle Smith.

I'm sure he's got some confidence in Doug Williams to a certain. degree in terms of evaluating maybe a quarterback position. But you know what, Jay does have a lot of personal belief and confidence in his ability to design an offense and to coach up a quarterback. I think it's his preference next year to go with Colt McCoy. If someone reached out to Baltimore about Joe Flacco and there was interest in potentially trading for Joe Flacco, which by the way, just could not make sense economically. I mean, what are you going to have, 38 million, 40 million into the quarterback position next year? Seriously? I mean, it really couldn't have happened. I mean, it was probably another one of those situations where they were very detached from the

reality that there was actually a market for Joe Flacco, that someone was actually going to pay him a trade for him and pay him his 18 and a half million bucks next year. You know, they just seemed to be missing on understanding the value of certain players over the years. Anyway, I personally don't think that Jay can win with Colt McCoy. That's the irony for me in this conversation that I would trust Jay Gruden more than anybody else. That's true, anybody else that is there. But I think if he believes that he can win with Colt McCoy, I don't agree with that. But I still would lean more on Jay than anybody else in the organization, because there isn't anybody else in the organization as qualified as Jay and or Doug to make that decision. I absolutely don't trust Bruce Allen or Dan

Snyder to come up with the quarterback solution on their own, or to be the lead voices on that. You know, if they draft somebody, they could get lucky. You know, that's really, if you're a fan of this team and you still can't wait for 2019 to start. And hey, you know what? Maybe they can, you know, with pain and Allen and ionitis and they're developing and Ruben Foster and getting healthy. Maybe just maybe they can actually, if you're thinking that way, all right? And I will eventually get to the point where I start thinking that way.

I always do. I don't know why anymore. But when we get to August, late August, I'll be trying to figure out how they can go 10 and 6. Of course you will. Oh, there's a 40% chance game. They'll win that one, though, but, you know. But I, this is the only way that, you know, the near future ends up being productive and successful. And that is if they get lucky by drafting a quarterback that ends up being really good, who can play.

I don't think they would do it based on their ability to evaluate well. I think that that position, there's a lot of coin flip in that position with most organizations evaluating the position, not just theirs. But if they were to get lucky at that position, you know, and take, you know, Daniel Jones at 15 overall and turns out that, you know, he's Patrick Mahomes number two. Things could turn around and they could turn around quickly. Next topic before we get to Scott. The Zion Williamson shouldn't play and college athletes should get paid topic was front and center yesterday all day long in the sports world. You know, you had the Jesse Smollett story in the non-sports world, and you had the Zion Williamson, his shoe broke, and oh, by the way, he's getting screwed conversation in the sports world. You know, Boogie Cousins was among a group of many NBA players weighing in.

A lot of people were watching that Duke Carolina game. A lot of people watch the Duke Carolina game every year. And it's not always because of Zion Williamson. They watch that game every year. Celebrities show up to that game every year. And Zion Williamson wasn't at last year's game or the game the year before. Duke and Carolina are brands. Yeah.

This was the third biggest, most watched college basketball game in ESPN history, though. Was it? Yes. What are the top two? I don't know. I didn't say, I didn't see what it was. You know, for a while, the Maryland Duke game in 2002 at Duke in January of 2002 was number one.

I don't know, you know, and now in a more fragmented space, I wonder if that one still is up there. I don't know. It didn't list on the press, but it was the third. Okay, so let's get to what Boogie Cousins said. This was Boogie Cousins being asked about Zion Williamson and college, you know, basketball in general. Well, knowing what I know now, college is bullshit. College basketball in the NCAA enforcement. So my advice is doing this is doing.

for you and your family. Obviously, college it can't really, it does nothing for you at this point. You're proving your, you know, the number one pick coming out, you're proving your talent. You know, you're ready for the next level. It's happy. That's my opinion, knowing what I know now.

All right, so that was Boogie Cousins. College basketball bullshit the whole thing. A lot of you probably heard it got a ton of attention late last night this morning. There's so much to this. and we talked about it yesterday, and I just want to a few more thoughts on it today, and then we'll get to Scott.

First of all, I have a lot of problem with the crowd that is decided that the NCAA is screwing college athletes like Zion Williamson. Let's make one thing clear, and most of you know this, but many of you who don't pay a lot of attention probably buy into this notion that the NCAA is somehow forcing Zion Williamson to play for free instead of being in the NBA right now. It's the NBA that doesn't allow Zion Williamson to play, not the NCAA. Though that apparently might change.

Yes, I'm going to get, yeah, the NBA requires you to be 19 years old to play in the NBA. In reaction to the Zion Williamson injury and all of the discussion yesterday, USA Today reported that the NBA is now considering changing the rule to 18 years old and allowing high school players to go from high school straight to the league once again, the way it used to be. But it's not college basketball that is preventing Zion Williamson from playing in the NBA. It's the NBA. Just make sure that if you didn't know that before, you understand that now. Zion Williamson isn't playing at Duke because the NCAA forced him to do it. It's because he didn't have the choice to go to the NBA, because the NBA had a rule that you've got to be 19 years old. All right?

Now, in reaction to the Zion Williamson injury and the NBA now considering changing the rule to 18 instead of 19, they should. Have at it. Change it back to 18. Let them all go if they want to go. The Zion Williamson's of the world should have a choice. They should. Many 18-year-old phenoms will ultimately make the wrong choice,

but they've got the right to earn a living if they've got a unique talent. And in this particular case, basketball in particular, and I believe this more strongly about basketball than football, where the physical maturity more times than not coming out of high school isn't good enough for the NFL. You know, you're still a few years away from being physically capable. But in basketball, it's a little bit different. If they've got a unique talent, they should have the right to earn a living.

you'll have four to five each year ago from high school straight to the NBA and some of them they ultimately regret it when they're 28 years old and playing in Europe but one to two of them will end up being an NBA All-Star actually it's probably one out of four I think was from the last statistic I saw was of the last 39 players before the rule

changed back to before they changed the rule to 19 years old 10 of those 39 that went from high school to the NBA became NBA All-Stars. I don't know what the results of the other 29 were. I just saw that particular statistic. So 29 didn't become NBA All-Stars. That doesn't mean that 29 didn't earn a great living. But my guess is that half of them at least ended up playing overseas or not having a career at all.

By the way, if an 18-year-old commits to the NBA draft and doesn't get picked, the NCAA should let them go back to college and play. It could wreak havoc on recruiting. I understand that there will be an argument about, well, you know, how will we recruit these kids if they're committed to the NBA? Look, who cares? You'll figure it out. It's better for the kid.

If a kid gets picked in the first round, he's got to go, all right? But if a kid doesn't get picked or he gets picked in the second round, you know, then he should be able to come back. You know, and I know that the, you know, if he gets picked in the first round, let me just back up a little bit because I want to make sure I'm clear on this. If he gets picked in the first round, he should be required to go, even if it's at the end of the first round. Why?

Because you don't want to mess up the NBA thing either. If an NBA team uses a first round pick on a kid that's committed to the draft, but the NCAA has a rule allowing that kid to back out of that NBA commitment and come to college for a year, well, now you've messed up the NBA side. So I would make it that if you get picked in the first round, you cannot go back to college. But if you don't get picked in the first round,

if you get picked in the second round or you don't get selected at all, let the kid come back and play college basketball, even if it somehow disrupts the recruiting cycle. Who cares? It's better for the kid. Go ahead. To go off that last,

point, do you think that should be the case even for non-high schoolers? If you're drafted in the second round, you should be allowed to go back in school. Definitely. I think a kid that decides after his freshman year he's going to enter the NBA draft. If he doesn't get picked or he's picked in the second round, I think he should be able to come back. If he does not get guaranteed money, he should be able to come back. I do. Again, colleges will tell you, well, that screws up our recruiting because we just signed his replacement. Whatever, you'll figure it out. All right. Caliparries never had that problem. No. Now, I mentioned yesterday, as I have in the past, that in my view, the relationship between player and college university program is much more economically fair than many believe. It's my belief. I mean, I've done some of the math, not all of the math, but I've read enough to know that, you know, those of you that think they're getting screwed and they're free labor, they're not free labor. There's a huge economic benefit to playing college sports.

You know, you can scoff at the value of an academic scholarship if you want, but for most of the non-NBA players, which, oh, by the way, is almost all of them in college basketball and almost all of them in college football with respect to the NFL, you know, those players are getting in some cases $250,000 worth of academic scholarship over a four-year period. You know, beyond that, the free coaching, the free training, the free meals, the free medical, the free tutors. stipend, all of that. And then perhaps the biggest benefit of them all, which doesn't get quantified very often in this conversation, but is unbelievably valuable. Just intuitively, most of you, I think, would agree with this. And that is that college sports are a free marketing platform

for these high school athletes that go to college. You know, a high school kid has no name, no personal brand recognition, but when he goes to the SEC to play football at Alabama, LSU, Florida, and Auburn, and he's on TV all fall, and he's playing in these massive games at Ohio State or Michigan or Penn State, or SC or Texas, or any high-profile college program, Duke, Kentucky, Carolina, and all the others in basketball. You know, no offense to most of these kids, but the brands in college sports are the schools and the coaches. You know, Bama, SC. Kentucky, Duke,

hardly any of you knew who Cam Reddish was before he suited up for Duke this year. Or R.J. Barrett. Do you know that R.J. Barrett was the number one high school player in the country per R. R.Ivals.com. Not Zion Williamson. Zion was number two. R.J. Barrett was number one. How many of you sincerely had ever heard of R.J. Barrett before Duke played?

You did, Aaron. And all of the recruiting geeks like Aaron, they knew who. who R.J. Barrett was, but most sports fans didn't. Most basketball fans didn't. You know who he is now. And you know how he benefits? R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish, when they are picked in the top five of the June 2019 draft, they get immediate, immediate endorsements without ever taking a shot. Millions of dollars in endorsements before ever dribbling a basketball in the NBA. Why? Because they had this platform at Duke to build a personal brand. They would not have had that had they not gone to college for a year and played. They would not have had that had they gone to Europe for a

year and played. You know, if the NBA is going to continue with this rule, and I think they're going to change it now, and the reports are they will. But if you can't jump from high school to the NBA, again, if you don't go to college, you don't have a marketing platform for yourself. And you won't guarantee yourself if you really are NBA good. First round, good. You're not getting free money before you dribble your first basketball, endorsement money. No one's going to know who you are. By the way, I would argue it will impact your draft status to a certain degree. Now, some of you will say, well, it doesn't with European players. And you're probably right, but if a kid doesn't go to Europe and he's not playing college basketball and all he is doing

in that year off to protect himself from injury is working out with a trainer and his high school coach and running some pickup games at the local health club could impact his draft status, no matter how talented he is. College basketball should do a better job of communicating that their players aren't working for free. I don't think that they've done it very well over the years. And in some cases, the other side has much better communicators, like Jay Billis, as an example.

Jay Billis has been very much pro-paying players. And he's just a much better, he's a more visible voice, but he's also a much better communicator than some of these school president types, the academic types. They shouldn't be the ones out communicating the value proposition for college athletes. They need someone who can explain the basics, you know, that first of all, most of our institutions here in the NCAA don't make money. You read about the millions and billions in television contracts, but that is a gross revenue number, not a net profit number. So paying the players for 90% plus of our institutions is a pipe dream.

Can't happen. We can't do it. We'd have to shut down the athletic department. Plus, they should do a better job of communicating that the players themselves, the only reason they are there is that the NBA has this rule. It's not our rule. It's the NBA's rule. We're not forcing them to come to Duke, Carolina, Maryland, Michigan state, or Michigan. And then they really have to do a better job. They've got to have a better communicator in explaining the value proposition if someone chooses to play college sports, beyond the non-quantifiable value of being part of a team, being part of a university community, the life lessons that come from living on your own, in the community of 18 to 20, two-year-olds all trying to figure it out. All of the life stuff. And most of you would say that

the academic portion of college wasn't the biggest learning portion of college. It was everything else, living on your own, developing relationships, learning how to be a part of a team, a community, a dorm, whatever, a fraternity, the whole thing. You know, beyond the non-quantifiable, they should do a better job of communicating that, on average, four years of tuition, books, room and board, free coaching, training, medical, meals, travel, and the marketing platform could be worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in future revenue. Versus going another route. I just don't think anybody in college sports has done a really good job of communicating that, you know, Miles Brand and, you know, all the different, you know,

NCAA types and academia types, school presidents. They're just not, they need better communicators. The educators, the academics are not the people to communicate this. I don't have a great idea on who that person should be, but they are not employing players for free. There is a pretty fair economic relationship. And in most cases, the players benefit. significantly. By the way, the player that never goes to the NBA or the NFL, that was a good college basketball or college football player, or college anything player, do you know what that visibility provides that person in a work situation and in a job application situation? You're going to tell me the kid that can't play in the NBA but played in two elite eight

games for Villanova and a national championship game for Villanova isn't going to have a better opportunity in life coming out of Villanova. He's not going to get interviewed by, he's not going to have more application, more interview opportunities than the kid that didn't play college sports. Anyway, I mean, I'm sure that there's even more that I have forgotten. Let me real quickly mention Window Nation before we get to Scott. Wind Donation, if you're considering Windows, if you think you need new windows,

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windows for every two you buy. There is no limit and no interest. Zero percent financing for five years. That's 86690 Nation or windonation.com. Tell them that I sent you. All right, let's bring in Scott. We'll get to Maryland and the game they have tomorrow against Ohio State. which I think you're going to. But I wanted to get your thoughts on all of the hand-wringing since Zion Williamson's injury against Carolina the other night. The, you know, should he play, shouldn't he play, the NCAA's screwing all these college athletes, etc.

Well, on the show the other night, I do a segment called One Big Thing, and it's a commentary segment if people haven't seen the show. It's on at midnight. You should watch. It's great. I watch quite often. Yes, I do.

But what I said on the show the other night is people will spend all day Thursday telling you that Zion should never play another second for Duke. And what that presumes is that your frame of reference and what matters to you is what matters to him. And it presumes that the only thing that could possibly matter to him is to be the number one pick in the draft and that he doesn't want to compete with the guys that he has been there with all year, and that he's done. It presumes all these things. Now, here's the thing, Kevin.

If he huddles with his parents and says, you know what, the risk here is really too great, I'm not going to play, I would understand it. It would bum me out just because I love college basketball, and I'd love to see what they could be. but this this reaction from people is so entirely predictable and it's gotten so bad as a result as it relates to these guys shouldn't shouldn't play a second at risk that it's just I just tune it out you know because you knew it was coming and you know he's got it he's insured he's underinsured but he's insured for loss of value and Duke pays for that I don't know if people know that schools do that.

You know what? I didn't know that. I did read, you know, a Darren Revelle tweet, I think, yesterday that he had an $8 million insurance policy. I did not realize that the school paid for it. Yep. The premium for that has to be pretty significant. Like 50 grand, roughly 50 grand.

And schools can and do that for the highest profile players. So, I mean, if people's reactions, well, that sounds like they're cheap. That's not illegal. And it's not unusual. either. Interesting. I didn't know that. Back to the whole thing here with Zion.

I followed up in the same segment last night with the news from yesterday about Zion, and it was a great one niece brain, and he'll be back if he wants to be. And I also followed up with, if your suggestion is that he's been exploited by a system and he hasn't benefited from his time at Duke, then you're an idiot. And what you don't understand is, was Zion Williamson Bell to the masses, before he went to Duke. The masses, maybe not. He was certainly well-known.

Had a huge, you know, social media following because he was this phenomenon on, you know, YouTube videos. There's a wild dunking, you know, athlete that had no peer in high school. It was, he was known. But what he became at Duke is a phenomenon. The stage, that program,

the machine that types them, which is fueled mostly by us, you know, most of the games are on ESPN and, you know, the ESPN plus thing, you know, the behind the scenes with him, he benefited from that. And whatever he's going to be able to command for a shoe deal now is so much more than it would have been before he went to Duke. And if you don't understand that, and if you don't understand that had he gone to the G League and was playing in Fort Wayne, Barack Obama wouldn't have showed up to watch him play. He came to watch and play against Carolina and Cameron. All those things you don't get as the benefit he gets from his time, as opposed to him getting $10,000 a month or something, then I don't know what to say to you. He benefited from his time at Duke.

He will reap rewards financially for his time at Duke, period. And people don't get that. I just, you're preaching to the choir. I don't really understand it. And one of the things I emphasized today before having you on the show is I said that, you know, the NCAA has to become better at communicating the value of playing sports in college. And, you know, it's beyond the, you know, most people will scoff at the academic scholarship value. But for a lot of people, a lot of these players that end up staying four years, it can be worth $250,000 to $300,000.

But beyond that, it is the free coach. the free training, the free medical, the free meals, the free travel, and most importantly, and they've got to get somebody to communicate this, is what you just said, and that is it provides this marketing platform that would never exist if they decided to take a year off, have their pop coach them, work out at Bethesda Sport and Health, and get ready for the 2019 draft. Would they make an endorsements before they ever take their first snap or their first shot? is a direct result of playing for these branded programs and having the ability to build a brand, a personal brand.

It's unbelievable that people don't understand this, and that that is probably for the ones like Zine Williamson and R.J. Barrett and Cam Ruddish top five, top ten picks. That is, they'd be crazy not to go to Duke. Now, the NBA is going to change this rule, which I think they should personally. But in the meantime, You know, for those that don't or aren't going to be picked in the first round coming out of high school,

they're going to have a chance like Trey Young did last year. Like Cam Reddish and R.J. Barrett are doing it right now because you made the point. Some people, Zion Williamson is one of those exceptions to the rule. But nobody, really, unless you're geeky like Aaron and you when it comes to recruiting, knew who the hell R.J. Barrett was or Cam Reddish was. And these guys are going to get endorsement deals when they become top five picks because they went to Duke and played college basketball. I don't know.

Yes. We agree. But this is where, this is where people, lots and lots of people say they have to get paid. And that's where I turn. That's where, all right, let's make this like hitting a tennis ball back and forth. Right? You just hit it at me and say they have to be paid. Let me hit it back to you.

And here's where you can't hit it back to me. Here's my question. With what money? And you're going to say, oh, all the money that they make off of them. Okay, do you know what that money does? It funds all the athletics in college sports. And are you familiar with Title IX? Do you know what that means?

That has to do with equity for women in sports. Because if the men are getting paid, then guess what? Then the women are going to get paid. With what money? Who gets paid? How much money do they get paid? Are you telling me Zion Williams is going to get, what, millions of dollars because of who he is? Well, then what's, you know, what's Sorrell Smith that Mary?

Ellen gets. He plays college sports. He's not a starter. You know? Like, how do we equitably break this down? You can't. Who gets what? Who did what money? And then what happens to the rest of college athletics? Because you got mad because Zion Williamson isn't getting paid right now. Tell me how they get paid. Tell me what the number is. Because the number's not going to be enough to make you not be outraged about how much more money is. Of course. Of course. So please tell me how it works. That's where the game is. Because you can't.

And again, I'm not anti what you're saying. I understand that the amount of money being made is preposterous. I understand that. But I also understand that there is no, to date, I've not heard anyone explain to me how you sort this out. And nights like the other night where Zion Williamson, who is an outwire, a truly rare, maybe even unique type of situation in college athletics, when he goes down and gets hurt, there wouldn't have been a number of stipend he would

have been making too off of college athletics that would satisfy people from saying he's being exploited, even though when he decides his deal with Nike, he's probably going to set a record because of the time he spent at Duke. Yeah, I mean, there's an echo in here right now because you're 100% right. 90% plus of all college sports programs don't make money. Dumbies out there just automatically hear hundreds of millions of millions. and billions of dollars, and they don't understand that that's a gross revenue number. It's a top line number. It's not a net number.

The cost to fund these programs and all of the other sports means that most of these major top five conference, power conference schools, do not make money. I don't know why people don't understand that. Quite honestly, I've always been shocked that Jay Billis doesn't understand it, because he's been a major pro-pay players guy. This is where the NCAA needs better communicators. They need people, not academics, not school presidents, to explain what the – so, okay, so you want to pay players. So what do we do with the schools that aren't making money now?

Do we just – we abolish all of the other programs. We take basketball, football, we separate it from the rest. Now women, we abolish Title IX. We get rid of all of these other programs. And now, guess what, we might be able to pay these guys 50 grand a year. And to your point, people would laugh at what they'd actually be able to afford to pay a roster of 100 football players at Texas, because Texas is one of the places that makes money. There are a few of them, Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, and if they want to cede from the NCAA and start their own little college thing, have at it. You know what, it won't be successful.

It won't be. Not if they're only five or six of them. But who can communicate that? The NCAA really comes up short in communicating what is obvious to... Well, everybody hates, everyone hates them. You know, everyone hates the NCAA because they manage to mangle with things that ought to be obvious as it relates to, like, eligibility and this, that, and the other thing. So, I mean, philosophically, I understand what you're saying when you,

because it's really easy to say all the money that's being made off the backs of this free labor, even though as we know, it's not really free because scholarship shodd yada, but not actually getting money. But then when you ask someone to tell you who gets the money, how do we decide that does Zion get more than the guys that don't start, and how do we handle that? There's no answer. No.

It's just people are just mad because it's mostly just the way the world operates. Everyone just pissed off about everything. So, you know, this has been a predictable sort of 48 hours. My guess is that he'll play again because he went to Duke to play for Duke with the guys he went to play at Duke with. And games like Carolina Duke, a game that Michael Jordan, by the way, played quote unquote, for free in six different times before he became a billionaire. You and I agree wholeheartedly on this. With that said, you know, I am open-minded as a sports fan, as a college sports fan, a big college sports fan, to, you know, additional benefits. you know, a bigger stipend, you know, a guarantee that, you know, when this, when the guy's done

with his professional career, he can come back at any cost, whatever it is then for free to finish his degree, if that's what he chooses to do down the road. I threw into the mix of additional benefits insurance policies. I did not realize until I saw that tweet from Ravel yesterday that schools were allowed to pay for insurance policies. I think that that is a huge benefit of 50,000 premium, you know, I mean, for an $8 million benefit, and which, by the way, that he is underinsured from that standpoint. So maybe there should be some sort of group that determines future earnings projection and then requires the school to take out a policy, Lloyd's of London, or whoever does it now, and paid whatever that premium is. But there should be some additional

things, but no, it is not free labor. People that say that are just dumb or just aren't paying attention to the real economic relationship between player and college school. But you do, do you do agree with me that you're okay with the NBA changing the rule and going back to 18? Yeah, I said as much on the show last night. To those that we, I said, you can make a logical argument that he shouldn't have to have played a second at Duke, even though you and I believe he benefited because of the reason we've explained, he shouldn't have had to do that. Right. I want them to have the choice. Of course, of course.

And then, then we won't have people crying about those that decide to go to college because they will have made that decision on their own. It wouldn't have been forced on them. But a guy like Zion has clearly demonstrated this year that, you know, physically he's ready to take his talent to the NBA and see how they translate. So, you know, that's coming. That won't be until 2022. that means we will have to endure, you know, a few more seasons of people who are so horribly

outraged about this exploitation. Yeah, it's weird. For whatever reason, I thought we've had this conversation over the years, and I don't think that we have until today, maybe. Anyway, great minds think alike. You're going to be in town tomorrow for Maryland, Ohio, state. They beat Iowa this week. They didn't beat Michigan in a big opportunity six days ago in Ann Arbor.

What do you make of the Terps right now? I'm just happy they won the other night because it ends the conversation about losing on the road against ranked teams, which had gone on for going all the way back amazingly enough to when they beat Carolina in 2008 when they were number one, which I remember fondly. I remember at the end of that game thinking Hansborough was going to make this shot. You're going to put a ball in his hands, right? He missed them.

But anyway, I was really, I was thrilled they won for them because it was a game that they should have won. And then Iowa kind of predictably, because that's been their script. They fight back. You know, you lose that lead, and that's a game that easily could have gone the other way. So to win it almost feels like it's more valuable than just one win because you get out of there. on the road against the top 20 team of the victory. Now you get a chance to finally come home and play a weekend home game. Their schedule

stinks from the Big Ten's perspective. The thing that playing Illinois as a home game in New York City was ridiculous. It shouldn't have had to happen. It better never happen again because home games accomplished too valuable. We can't give them up. But they haven't played a weekend home game all year

in the league. It's terrible. Well, it's Saturday one anyway. So I'm just happy that I have a chance to come in for a game and play a team they beat on the road earlier this year that is actually pretty well regarded from like the analytic standpoint. Like the top 40 team in like the Ken Pomeroy ratings or whatever.

So it would be a good winning, another quad one win. I think to project it anywhere between like maybe four and six at the moment but trending towards the other direction. And they get a chance to play Michigan-R-Hill next week there. That's a game that for the program will be significant to win. because the one thing that the program doesn't really have in the past few years is a really significant, notable win. They've beat a lot of teams like the IAS in the 20s or whatever. Those are good wins to get.

But beat a top 10 team at home on a national TV game next weekend. That'd be huge. But you've got to get to that beat Ohio State first, and Penn State on the road will not be easy. they're a much better team that the record suggests. So big picture, I mean, where they are, they're comfortably in the tournament. Now it's a matter of seating. And I'll tell you this. I was texting back and forth with a coach.

I want to identify them other than to say top 10 program, top 10 right now. Going to be very high seeded. And I sent something to him about his team, and he sent me a doubt. He said, hey, your turps are good. And I said, yeah, I wish they pushed it more. I need to take more shots. and he said, I wouldn't want to play them. They're scary.

And I thought, okay, well, this is a guy that's going to be in a high, high, high feet line talking about Maryland like that. And I thought, well, that's nice to know because you've got no reason to say it other than that's how he feels. So I think they're pretty well regarded. Yeah, I think they are too. I mean, these last four games are important. I took your farm boy line from our conversation the other night and used it on the show yesterday. because I was just frustrated with the Jordan Bowhannon thing,

and it struck a nerve, you know, not that we haven't had... Well, when he complained about the officiating? Yeah, when he complained about the officiating, and then he said fake news to Anthony Cowan's retort that, you know, he got all ball, and, you know, I just... In a game where Maryland was calling for twice as many fouls, and they shot ten more, ten more fouls, they shot twice as many free throws,

and he's crying about not getting the foul call with every single move he initiates is when he throws his off-elbo. I just I just you know we've had this conversation a million times and I don't want to beat it to death for those that have heard me say it and the two of us say it together but

I just wish it were backed the way it used to be because there is just for me because at my age I don't have that much right now I'm looking I have a few things that really I'm really

into and you know Maryland basketball, like with you, is one of them, you know, beyond our families, of course. But when it comes to, you know, diversions and hobbies, you know, it's, I don't have, the Redskins are a loss cause that would seem at this point. And I just still, I screamed at you and I, and I, criticized you for not getting more involved in the decision to go to the Big Ten. I think you should have been there talking to all these people to prevent it from happening. Because I knew the way we would feel. And most of us...

Like I had a seat at the table or a vote. I think you should have worked your way into the conversation. But I knew how we would, at our age anyway, it doesn't mean that my kids will feel that way in 10 years. You know, they will probably be fully into Big 10 basketball and football, and hopefully football gets better. but I knew that on weeks like this week, you know, in February, where, you know, I don't even know if it was called rivalry week, but maybe we would have had Virginia and Duke this week. And instead we've got, you know, Iowa and Ohio State. And, you know, we're finishing the season with Minnesota at home. It's hard. I mean, you know that this is part of why the interest level in something that had massive interest level, has ticked down a bit in recent years.

It's because of the move to the Big Ten when it comes to basketball anyway. Yeah, I mean, and look, I know that this is a rant you get off quite a bit. I've taken my complaints to my show this week in particular. Like the Purdue Indiana game was just unwatchable. They combined to shoot under 30%.

Last night, we showed the Michigan highlight, and I'm screaming at Stanford Steve. You say, hey, look, another game where a team didn't score 20 points and a half. 2818, 2816 at halftime. And I think that bucket was good before that break. I think they reviewed it to get to 18 points. And I'm remembering, Kevin, years ago when I'm doing radio, and it was with Mike Tarrico.

And we had Tom Mizzol on, and I was screaming about how obviously Maryland wasn't in the Big Ten at the time. and I said I was yelling about how watching Big Ten basketball was like watching fat people have sex. It's just a horror fucking thing to see. You said that to him? I had said it before, and then I referenced to him. I said, you know, I made a comparison to fat people. And he's like, oh, I heard.

I heard. And he's laughing because it isn't, is those great. He and I've had a great sort of professional friendship for years. So he was just laughing about it. And now that's the league we're in. And we're in the middle of these difficult games to watch. I mean, look, it's what it is, man. The ACC that you and I grew up with that we romanticized is lawful.

And, you know, when the ACC told us a few years ago, our natural rivalry games, you're going to be Pittsburgh and Virginia. Like, it's like, oh, cool, Pitt. We didn't know nothing to have. I thought it was Pitt and Duke. You look around the league, and sure, you can tell me, oh, maybe we were playing Virginia and Duke this week. Maybe, and maybe we were playing Miami and Florida and Pitt or Syracuse or two other big East teams. Because that's what the league is.

It's a whole lot of big East teams that they brought in for football and it didn't work because Miami and Florida had many good, but that's an entirely different conversation based on football and what the league is. Sure, you miss the Tobacco Road games. I get it. Going out to Nebraska and Iowa and playing teams you had no history with is, you know, it's hard to romanticize. I would say this. If their fans and their teams are going to complain a lot about us and, like, we can get real mad

and find out, figure out who to hate real quick. We can figure out which teams we need to hate. You know, we'll figure that out, figure out who the rivals need to be. Who is it? This is the fifth year. We're in year five now. Who do we hate? I understand.

Who do we hate? Huh? Who do we hate and who hates us? It seems like a lot of teams hate us. They don't like the way. I saw Purdue fans, and this is where you make the mistake of allowing what you see said about your team via social media to reflect what those fans are. But I saw like Purdue fans were crying quite a bit about Bruno flexing during that second half. They didn't like that.

We were classless. That's always the description that gets used by those fans. We're this classless band of marauders or something. Whatever, man. Well, we got called the same in the ACC, but there was a badge of honor that went along with it. Now we're in a tractor league, and it's like, you know, the truth of the matter is there isn't a massive high-profile opportunity. in this league like there was in the last one.

And you're right. We probably would have ended up with Louisville and Pitt this week, but we still would have played Duke and Carolina once a year, which to me is a hell of a lot better than playing Minnesota twice a year. I understand. I mean, and this is what you know this philosophically. You know that you could not leave the league based on one home basketball game a year, and it wouldn't even be guaranteed to be a home game.

Given the finances of that league, that the Big Ten has benefited Maryland massively. from that perspective. It's just, it takes, it takes a while, you know. I mean, but it takes a while to, you know, create real rivalries and it's odd and it's different. But, again, I can't cry for something that died in the middle of mid-2000s. I'm just whining all the while understanding, understanding that there is no way to fix the punishment. It's not going to change.

Look, the one thing I've enjoyed this year, while some of the games, you're right, are unwatchable. It is a very competitive league, and I really enjoy, I do, the coaching in the Big Ten. I think the Big Ten probably pound for pound has the best coaches of any league in the country. I do believe that. I agree. There are a ton of really good, and you and I love Painter at Purdue. B-Lines is as good as anybody is, though, obviously. speaks for itself. But I mean, it goes beyond that.

I mean, it goes, the depth of the talent of the coaching is good. It's just, you know, it's just odd, like, you know, just being in Iowa, being in, being in Nebraska, you know, in the middle of the basketball. Let's go kick everybody's ass. You know, I'd like, you know, we finished in the top four, the first three years. We finished second, third, and third. Last year was eighth. You know, let's go win the Big Ten tournament.

I mean, I think I'd like to get taken a little bit more seriously than it seems some of these schools have taken us because most of these schools do not have the basketball tradition or history that Maryland has. Well, no, I got a buddy. I got a buddy that's at Wisconsin. And I got really angry after that game just because I thought the officiating was just an atrocity. That Wisconsin game made me lose my mind a little bit.

I got real bad with it. And we were kind of jabbing back and forth about that. I called them Big Ten. I called them Big Ten Duke. I said, you get the worst whistle in the Big Ten in your building. In Madison. Yeah, without a question. And by the way, they've never fouled.

Because they don't coach, that's what I was his thing. Well, we don't foul. I'm like, well, that's a fun trick. That's a cool. Yeah, you could, that's really neat that you play without fouling. What a fun concept. And he was busting my chops about this and that. And I said, well, you know, there was a national championship trophy,

because I was Park if you want to come see what it looks like. And it's the most recent one anyone in the conference has won, which is true. Yeah. The Big Ten hasn't won a title since Michigan State, which was a couple years before Maryland. So, you know, you're right, though. The best way to be taken seriously is to win games, and they've got a chance to finish top four and get a double-by and hopefully go to the tournament.

You know, maybe it's Wisconsin. Remember Bo Ryan and how disrespectful he was, you know, after a loss here, he had a plane to catch. Yeah, he had a plane to catch. I actually, I think Greg Gard does a good job, too. I like it. But I don't like any of them. But I don't hate any of them yet.

All right, I got to go. Thanks. I'll talk to you later. See you. Okay, you got to go. Not me. Bye. Yes, I have to go now. I've talked to you for too long. You go do whatever you need. You go do whatever you need to. I'll call you later. See you. Scott will be there tomorrow at Xfinity Center so all of you

Maryland fans and college students can line up and just hound him from the moment he gets there. He is treated like a rock star. Aaron, you know this. Oh, yeah. when he is at a game at Maryland. I am not going with him tomorrow. I cannot go to the game tomorrow, but may be at the Michigan game next week with him, depending on how things shake out.

I also have to go pick up my son from Penn State because it's spring break. That's an early spring break the first week. That's a really early. I am going to the Maryland Penn State game in State College Wednesday night. Did I tell you that? You didn't.

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about something new, I promise it will work out for you. All right, Andy's here. And you're Just as you join us here, there is breaking news that Aaron just handed to me. And the breaking news is that Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, was arrested in a prostitution ring. Now, the way TMZ is reporting it, I'll just read it verbatim. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is a wanted man. Cops say they've issued a warrant for his arrest as part of a recent prostitution, human trafficking. sting operation in Jupiter, Florida. Cops say that Kraft will be charged with soliciting another to commit prostitution.

Officials say Kraft is accused of soliciting a prostitute on at least two separate occasions roughly a month ago. You know, I'm just thinking, you know, we're going to have to learn a lot more about what kind of prostitution this is. You know, the age of the prostitutes, all of that before you can jump to the conclusion that somehow he's going to lose his franchise. Because my guess is right now more likely than not he won't. This is not a, this is not right now, I don't know that this equates to a Jerry Richardson situation in Carolina. No, no, no, no. I don't think it is at all.

That was harassment of his employees. Right. Exactly. But I would, what I, you told me this, I immediately thought of a very odd video that he made not long after his wife passed away with a young blonde. And it just was kind of strange. I don't know if you remember this or not, but we're going back. Let's see. She died right about the time they reached the settlement in the contract of about 2011. So it goes seven, eight years now.

Is he remarried? Is he remarried? I don't know that. I don't know. For a guy his age, he's wearing sort of an odd haircut, wouldn't you say? Kind of a mullet look. I don't know. I don't know.

That's closer to your demographic. Yeah. I'll say this. I remember I introduced myself to him at the Super Bowl. I don't think his team was in it. It was when Dan Snyder was suing the city paper. And remember that? That's about anti-Semitism because they had drawn horns on a picture of him.

Yeah. portray him as the devil and he said it was anti-Semitic. So Robert Kraft is also Jewish and I just wanted to get his thoughts about it and he was hesitant to comment but I thought he was a real medge about it. I thought he was, he talked to me in a way that he wasn't talking down to me and I thought, you know, I thought this is a guy who's easily relatable. But, you know, everybody has skeletons in their closet and if this is his, this is not a good one.

Yeah, but you know what? I don't know if he's remarried. I don't know if he has a significant other at this point, but, you know, I'm reading more detail now because Deadspin just put the story out there. And basically, according to their sources, the investigation shut down spas that ran from Palm Beach County to Orange County, Florida.

And these were massage parlors where he was in and apparently involved in, you know, in sexual acts for money. I mean, I'm going to tell you this. Almost half of the people we know have done this before. So this is not, you know, this is embarrassing for him, but he's not going to go to jail for it, more likely than not, and he's not going to lose his franchise, unless it comes out that these were underage, you know,

and there's some, you know, some other, you know, deep, dark aspects to this story. Anyway, whatever. Just that will be a big story the rest of today. Also, earlier today, Mark Lerner and Aaron, why don't you specifically spell out what Mark Lerner said and to whom? Yeah, he was talking to Todd Dibis from NBC Sports Washington and he was talking, he was asked about Bryce and this is what I say. He said, nothing certainly changed on our end. We've moved on, as I said back then, and we had to, there's no way we could wait around. Bryce, I'm sure we'll

make his decision hopefully in the next few days, but we filled out our roster and like I said, we wish him nothing but the best, he went on to say. But there's also that the door's cracked a little. I have no clue at this point what they're up to. We really haven't heard from them in a couple months. It's going to be Philadelphia. Don't you think in the next few days? I don't believe everything he said, though. They haven't heard from Bryce and Boris and months, that doesn't make any sense. Like, if the idea is let's get as many, you know, get bidding wars going, they've heard from Bryson.

Boris. Wasn't, weren't there reports that him, that Boris and Ted had set down last month? There's a report. But, but again, you know, this is, this goes back several months now when Mark Lerner said on WJFK, they didn't expect to have him back. And remember, Boris was angry that he said that because they had closed the door on him and he didn't like that. So it's possible he hasn't talked to Mark, but it is possibly he's talked to Ted as he has in the past and made some deals above Mike Rizzo and certainly above his son.

One of them was very good when he brought in Matt Scherzer. So I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility that Mark hasn't heard from him, but Ted has. Yeah, look, if their number was $300 million after the Machado deal, it would have to be greater than that. If you just go based on Ted's past, which is, you know, he's penciled this thing out to the penny, you know. And so he knows what their number was and he's not going above it. Plus, they have a pretty good roster. And again, you know, Tommy was on with me yesterday and you've been with Tommy several times in the last week. And we'll be with Tommy over the weekend on JFK with Tommy down at spring training.

But, you know, the emergence of Juan Soto a year ago started to seal the future of Bryce Harper. in D.C., especially if the number got beyond what the learners were willing to pay, and I think it has. Yeah, wouldn't you rather have Soto and Rendon than just Harper? No, personally, as a fan, I'd rather have Harper. I think there's going to be a piece of, of, I think there's going to be a portion of the fan base that is not going to be as in tune during the regular season anyway, without Bryce there. He's a true everyday superstar. He was a true superstar in the sport that was playing in our city. You know, we've had them here recently, Ovechkin, John Wall, to a much lesser degree,

but Harper was this massive star, and, you know, I don't think they have a comp for him. You know, Max Scher's a star, but he's not an everyday star. But I'll miss him, and I'll also miss the fact that I think that his best years potentially are going to be spent elsewhere. He's still a pretty young man overall. But anyway. All right. What do you got for me today? What's the anniversary that we're going to talk about today? Well, it's actually coming up next Wednesday, but it's the 10th anniversary of the signing of Albert Hainsworth, February 27, 2009.

And I remember this very well. I was doing the show. I think Zabe was off. I'm pretty sure he was. And Tom and I were doing it. And we watched his news conference on television. And he came out wearing a blue sweat. which is always a disarming look. I thought that that was carefully planned. And I believe we had the first interview with them because we're the Redskin Station. They put them on with us right after it was over. And we were ready to ask him about the André Garard incident

and some of the other things. He brought it up right away. So he kind of was ready for those questions. And he said during the news conference, I don't care about the money. He said, I put great pressure on my stuff. to be the best. And even if Dan Snyder had paid me half a billion dollars, I would still be out there because it's all about football. It's all not about the money. You remember how he

became available. He had a clause in his contract that if he hit certain numbers and he made the pro bowl, he would become a free agent. And the year before in Tennessee, he had eight and a half sack, 75 tackles and 22 quarterback pressures. He also forced four fumbles. I mean, he was a real force for Tennessee. And at the combine, Dan Snyder was seen talking to his agent, which may or may not have been kosher, but everybody sort of knew that they were going to get Haynesworth. And hours after the opening of free agency at midnight, they had a deal, which was reported to be seven years at $100 million. It could max out at $115 million based on performance. $41 million guaranteed, guaranteed deed money. And it wasn't long before we knew he was a pile of garbage. He came in 2009.

Now, this was the last year of Zorn. And Zorn, remember he was telling people how excited he was watching this free agent process unfold, watching Dan Snyder and Vinic Serrato do their work at midnight to get this done. Remember that? Yep. So he comes to camp and plays 12 games in 2009. He has four sacks, 29 tackles. He's also thrown out of practice on Christmas Day for getting into a great watch over something.

And that, of course, season ended with Jim Zorn getting fired. 2010, Mike Shanahan comes in and he immediately tells Mike Sanahan, yeah, these off-season workouts, I'm not going to be there for that. And this mini-camp,

yeah, I guess it's mandatory. I may or may not show up. Shanahan is really pissed. they take at that time his salary, his money, because Zori was the second year of the deal, his money, and also what they had given DeAngelo Hall just shortly before they had given him, Haynesworth the deal, I think it was a $50 million deal for Hall,

and they plowed that in, six years, $54 million, they plowed that into the salary cap for 2010. Well, we all remember what happened at training camp when Hainsworth showed up out of shape and Shanahan said he had to pass the condition, testing test in order to play. And in one of the conditioning tests, he was on his way to making the time, but said in the middle of it, I have to go to the bathroom.

So he went to the bathroom, when he came out, that time was added to the time, and he failed. I don't know if he ultimately passed the test, but sooner or later they let him play, and he was awful that year. I remember Shannon playing him in the final exhibition game? Yeah, there isona. At Arizona, yeah. Yeah, made him play the whole game. He was great. He also got a fifth rounder back from him, back for him from Belichick.

You know, go ahead, finish up. I just, I just say, played eight games that year, he had two and a half sacks. He was traded to New England for a fifth round pick in July of 2011. And then he got in a sideline confrontation halfway three season with assistant coach, Pepper Johnson, was immediately caught, finished the season in Tampa Bay. never played again. I have the list of his off-the-field transgressions, if you'd like to go through some of those.

Sure. I remember the waitress at the W and a bunch of others. Go ahead. March of 2009, he was indicted on a misdemeanor traffic incident going back to 2008 when he was driving his Ferrari 100 miles an hour and he hit a car driven by Corey Edmondson, who was partially paralyzed

in the incident. If there was a settlement or a civil suit, I don't know the details of that, but that's what's criminal charge in that. In 2010, he was sued for failing to make payments on a two and a half million dollar loan. This is a guy who basically stole $40 million from the Redskins, and he was defaulting on a $2.5 million loan. In 2011, he allegedly punched Joel Velasquez in the face after a traffic altercation in Virginia. He also, in 2011, pleaded no contest to an assault felony charge to the incident you just mentioned, the waitress of the W. Hotel, where he fondled

her allegedly, and he was sentenced to 160 hours of community service in order to stay away from the woman. And that's just some of the sort of history of one Albert Hainsworth. So, you know, a couple of things. First of all, I remember the day very well, because, you know, we all remember, you know, let's not try to act like we don't remember when we were right and when we were wrong. Some of us don't remember like my partner for many years and your partner now and my occasional partner on the podcast. He never remembers when he was wrong. But I was dead wrong about Albert Hainsworth because the day that they signed him, the next day Tommy and I are doing the show, and I remember saying, I love this signing. And here was the reason why I love that signing is the

Redskins had just butchered free agency so badly, and they had spent consistently too much money for aging stars at skill positions. You know, it was never, it was never interior players that they screwed up. But I mean Dana Stubblefield to a certain degree. And there were a couple here and there. But for the most part, it was, you know, the Antoine Randallels and the Dion Sanders, you know, all of the horrible signings, the overpayments of aging stars that never worked out. And Albert Hainsworth was really entering his prime, which should have been the prime years of his career. And he was an interior defensive player, which they had not really focused on, offensive line, defensive line for a long time leading up to that point.

And they had not had, for many years, a true defensive talent. and the one thing that is true is that Albert Hainsworth was talented. He was a gifted player. So I remember being dead wrong about that and being very, very optimistic that they had done it. And Andy, after that first press conference, oh my God, do you remember him saying, you're not going to remember Albert Hainsworth as a bust? You know, you're going to remember him as a great player. That's what I live for, and I dream of.

And he was so, you know, he was so engaging. He had personality. And I'm like, oh, my God. I mean, I got completely fooled. And I was all in on Albert Hainsworth. But the, but once, you know, Shanahan got here and everybody realized he was a pile of shit, for the most part. I remember the debates about the way Shanahan was handling him. And, you know, probably you and I on Monday morning quarterback got into it. Tommy and I got into it.

And I said, you know what? He doesn't want this guy. He's trying to run him out of here. He's trying to get anything for him. And if he can get any, and everybody's like, just cut him. Don't do him wrong. Yeah, that was the Zab. Oh, yeah, Zab's theory on him and McNabb. Take good care of him. This is a, you know, don't treat him wrong. Just cut your losses now. No. You know, they, Shanahan, you know, with McNabb, got a. a sixth that would eventually become Alfred Morris and got a fifth for Hainsworth, who eventually became a linebacker who played several years for the Redskins, and that name escapes me right now. But anyway, he is, the last thing I will say is when you, when you

Google the worst NFL free agent signings in NFL history, the Redskins typically have about four of the top ten. They've got more than any other franchise in the league. But Albert Haynesworth is a universal number one. Albert Haynesworth's signing is the, you know, when you, just Google, worst NFL free agent signings of all time, Albert send me

the list that doesn't have Albert Haynesworth at number one or worst case in the top three. But almost all of them will have Haynesworth in there. They'll have Dion in there, they'll have Bruce Smith in there, you know, they'll have Stubble field in there, a lot of Jeff George in there.

You know, I'm looking at one list right now. I was just pulling it up as we talked, and, you know, Al, there's a bunch, it's all Redskin signings, you know, over, you know, in the 2000, in the, in the, in the aughts from 2000 to 2010 primarily. I think the $100 million number is important, because I think that was important for Snyder. Oh, is the biggest contract ever paid to a defensive player, yes. Yeah, that he thought that was something of a win for himself to say that he made more than anybody else, which is, you know, Billiichick must be, you know, doubling over and laughter when he was looking

at that. And, and the guy, I don't know, they couldn't clearly at one point say that Haynesworth told his teammates, he just collected the money and knew he was never going to do anything. I think clearly said something to that. Well, I know this. They never, ever consulted the coaching staff. This was a Dan initiative, a Dan and Vinny initiative. And Greg Blosh didn't want him. Thought he a terrible guy. If you believe the stories about what Greg Blasch said at the time, the Redskins defensive coordinator, was, I don't want that piece of shit here. You guys are, you're missing out on the character of the guy. And he apparently knew, you know, early on that there was no chance that this was going to work. And that relationship wasn't good. And of course, then we had the

whole thing of Shanahan coming in, going to a three, four, and Haynesworth saying, well, I didn't sign a hundred million dollar contract to play nose tackle, you know, and playing a thornment three, four. But, you know, yeah, to your point, you know, there's still a joke. There's still the laughing stock of the league. But I don't think it was ever in terms of other franchises, front offices, laughing at the Redskins. I mean, they still laugh at the Redskins. But when it was just Vinny and Dan, and they were out there making these deals and overpaying players by 20% of what their market value was worth, there was a lot. lot of laughter going on in other front offices, no doubt.

Had to be. Had to be. And the guaranteed money of 41 million, I think the next highest, now, Tampa Bay had offered a similar contract, but their guaranteed money was like $30 million. And people knew, don't give this guy money before he does anything. Obviously, with the incentive to make the Pro Bowl with Tennessee the year before, he played his ass off. But with all the cash, he just sat on his ass. Yeah, it was a disaster. All right. Enjoy the weekend. Thanks. That was fun. I mean, that was, that truly is. I mean, there's very little debate that Albert Hainsworth is one of the worst decisions in NFL history and one of the worst contracts ever doled out to a player in NFL history.

Now, that's a hindsight thing, but there were a lot of people that felt that way in the moment. I know I didn't. I remember thinking, finally, they've got to defamation. offensive, havoc-reaking. They're going to focus on the offensive line, the defensive, this is a good move. This is better than a wide receiver. This is better than Antoine Randall L or Brandon Marshall. No, it didn't work out. And it was a lot like Jeff George coming off a good year.

The team he had didn't want to bring him back. He didn't go all out to keep them, which tells you something right there. Yeah, Jeff George had had other more failures, though. failures had already started to sort of pile up on Jeff George. You know, everybody in the league knew that this guy was an incredible talent, but would be a horrible teammate and you couldn't win with him, except for Dan and Vinnie. Yeah. Okay.

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Call today for an exclusive free two-day trial. Call 240-86714. That's 240-86714. Mention my name and you'll get an exclusive free two-day trial. You can find out where all of their locations are at launchworkplaces.com. All right, what do we got this weekend? I mean, we got some college basketball. Obviously, I'm going to be very much involved in watching Maryland, Ohio State tomorrow.

It's a big game for Maryland because you know what, Aaron? If you come away this week, it would be the first time in a few weeks where they had two wins in one week. They will vault in the rankings. If they get the Ohio State win, they're probably well inside. They're approaching the top 18. I was going to say 18-17 range. Somewhere around there. The latest Bracketology by Joe Lannardi has them as a five-seeds.

They're moving up there. They still have a shot to be a top four seed in a region, a legitimate shot. Look, three of their final four are at home. They've waited for this stretch, really, in many ways. They've waited for this particular stretch of games, having three of their final four at home, Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan at home, Penn State on the road. they will likely be favored in three of their final four.

I would bet that that Michigan line, if they were to beat Ohio State and Penn State, Penn State won't be easy. It's a point either way. It's minus one or plus one somewhere in that neighborhood. I agree. I think to get a top four seat, they need to beat Michigan, though. Barring a deep run into the Big Ten tournament. Yeah.

They would need that win on their resume to get a top four seed. It would be great to finish with four straight wins, be at that point approaching the top 10 being almost a guaranteed top four seed in a region, entering the Big Ten tournament as the number three seed or somewhere around there, and going to Chicago with a chance to make a bit of a run there. And again, I've been pointing to this one particular thing all year, and that is the opportunity this year, if they could be a top four seed potentially to be in the East region.

Now, Lunardi right now, in his latest Bracketology, has them as a five seed in the East region. Yeah, I was going to say you don't need to be a top four seed. No, you don't. You don't. But to be favored to get to the sweet 16, typically got to be a top four seed. Doesn't mean you can't get to the sweet 16. In fact, I would say on average of the sweet 16 teams, five of them come from below the four seed line.

On average. At least. But that would create the opportunity potentially for a Maryland Duke suite 16. game at Capital One Arena. That to me is the goal right now. I would love that, although I would not like the chances of beating Duke. And by the way, they'd have to win a second round four or five game anyway to get there, you know, against an LSU or an Iowa State or a Nevada or a Louisville or Texas Tech.

These are the types of teams that'll be in that four to five seed range. Ohio State is talented. Maryland really handled them. in Columbus, which is now over a month ago that that game was played. That was part of that run that Maryland was on, where they were really playing well. They won that game going away by 14. Ohio State went on like a six or seven minute stretch of not scoring midway through the second half, which doomed them. They do have talent. They really do have decent talent. They've been up and down though this year, but Caleb Wesson can really play. He is a player at six-

610, 280, something like that. I mean, he's a load. He, you know, he's the difficult matchup for them. I think Ohio State's a well-coached team. They got to win the other night against Northwestern, but I think I mentioned this to you, you know, Sunday at Michigan State, they scored 12 points in the second half against Michigan State. They can go on these scoring droughts. You know, a lot of teams in the Big Ten are the same. They just can struggle to score. Last night, Scott mentioned it, 28, 18 at halftime. The Michigan-Minnesota game at Minnesota. The Michigan-Maryland score was 27 to 18 at halftime.

Ohio State, when they beat Northwestern the other night, it was 24 to 20 at halftime. The final score was 63 to 49. I would assume that Maryland's going to continue with this mindset of grinding it out, lower possession games, which is what Ohio State plays, and you're going to end up with a, you know, 59, you know, 54 game, or maybe Maryland can pull away and shoot a bunch of free throws late and win 6856, something like that.

I don't know what this point spread is. It's not out yet. I'm going to guess that Maryland's going to be a six-point favorite, something like that at home. Seems about right. And it's a huge game for Ohio State. Massive game for them. They need to solidify their NCAA tournament resume.

They're in now, but this would really help them. a win at Maryland. They've got a couple of opportunities. They play Maryland, Purdue, Iowa, and I'm sure they're thinking, you know, this is a golden opportunity for them tomorrow if they can come up with an upset at Maryland. As Scott mentioned, it's the first weekend game at home in their Big Ten schedule, which really benefits Maryland because the crowd will be there. It'll be a big crowd. The Michigan game's already sold out. I think this one's near sold out already. And it's Just a different vibe, I think, when people can get there conveniently rather than a 630 or 7 o'clock weekday or weekday evening start. I like Maryland tomorrow to win.

I like them to win in sweep Ohio State, jump up in the rankings, and really have a chance next week with Penn State and Michigan. Penn State won't be easy, but to have maybe the most definitive week of the season for them, especially with the opportunity against Michigan at home. All right. What else? Did we miss anything today? No, nothing really. Thanks for supporting the podcast. Tell people about it.

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Subscribe if you can. Rate and review. you if you can. Have a great weekend. We'll be back Monday. Cooley will be on with me on Monday and we'll get his thoughts on everything Redskins, NFL related. You know what? I'll ask him this weekend to look at some of the quarterbacks in the draft. I'll give him an assignment this weekend and ask him to look at some of the quarterbacks in the draft so we have something to talk about on Monday. All right, have a great day and a great weekend. I just want to go out here and play ball and like I tell my agent that everything else.

to take care of itself. I go out there and do what I'm supposed to do, no matter what else. It'll take care of itself.