The Kevin Sheehan Show - It's Okay To Doubt After Skins' Draft

Episode Date: April 30, 2019

Kevin opens up talking about the delirious reaction the Redskins' draft and the sudden sentiment that the benefit of the doubt should be given to Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen. He weighs in on the Dwayne Haskins/Joe Theismann #7 jersey debate. JP Finlay/NBC Sports Washington was a guest on the show with his far-too-early 53-man roster projection. Kevin finished up the show with some NBA Playoffs, Nats-Cards, and the Houston Rockets memo to the league about having last year's NBA Championship stolen from them. <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 is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them that we told you to call. Tommy is vacationing again, this time in Italy. He was bored and called me from the airport yesterday. I think he just wanted me to say something about its column. which I hadn't read yet, but I did. Sarcastic per usual. By the way, some of you really have to stop taking Tommy so seriously. It's what he wants you to do, and he's just not that serious about all of the stuff.

I do want to answer many of you who have asked me why I don't try to get Redskins players or Redskins coaches or Redskins front office people on the podcast like I did on the radio show. And the answer is, I have been trying, and I'll continue to try. I'm not holding my breath. I want to start with this. Did the Redskins draft change the narrative on the franchise in the 2019 season? A few tweets that I would like to read. This from Dan.

Dan wrote to me yesterday. Kevin, you've got to admit, the outlook is much different now. Ruben Foster is eligible. Landing Collins, the draft was phenomenal. they got your guy sweat. If they can survive the early part of the season and the schedule, they could be the surprise team this year in the NFL. From Lisa on Twitter,

you and Tom and even Cooley have to change your tune. Their draft was great. And for you, Kevin, it wasn't knee-jerk. It was, as you said, with the future in mind. H-T-T-R. And then from Jesse on Twitter. Kevin, we've waited for a draft approximating the 19-19. 81 draft forever. A real franchise changing draft. Franchise QB, all pro pass rusher, pro bowl

receiver and running back. Okay, perhaps too optimistic, but at least the pundits had nice things to say. I understand that it was nice for Redskins fans that other people who have often made the Redskins the butt of their jokes were saying nice things about them over the weekend. I get how that can be a good feeling. It can be. By the way, the 1981 draft, quickly for those that don't remember, produced six starters on future Super Bowl winning teams. Mark May, Russ Grimm, Dexter Manly, Charlie Brown, Darrell Grant, and Clint Didier. If the 2019 draft can produce something similar, it would be incredible. We need to put the brakes on a few things though right now.

Here it comes. It's fine to be more optimistic today than last week. But the appearance that they didn't soil themselves in the draft is not a reason to basically throw away all the other things we've been talking about here in recent months as if they didn't exist. The fact that they didn't soil themselves in the draft is certainly better than the alternative. But now what? In 2000, when they went Chris Samuels and Lavaire Arrington 1-2 in the draft, plenty of optimism.

You know, it wasn't that different than in 2005 when they went Carlos Rogers and then drafted Jason Campbell in the first round, trading into the first round. And remember after that draft, we were all geeked up because it wasn't Snyder or Vinny Serrato. This was Joe Gibbs picking Campbell, we all thought. And by the way, it was. In 2008, when Vinny and Dan were so proud of themselves for trading out of the first round and taking three players in the second round, they took 10 players overall in that 2008 draft, which had been the most for the Redskins in six years, many of you were also very optimistic.

It seemed like a change in philosophy, and everybody got excited about it, but what we didn't know then in the moment, and this has been confirmed over the years, that draft featured Dan and Vinnie doing their own thing. They didn't pay attention to the board that the scouts had put together, and they instead went receivers and pass catchers on three straight picks in the second round,

one of whom apparently wasn't on the, aboard Malcolm Kelly because of an injury history. Devin Smith and Fred Davis were the other two. A draft that turned out to be one of the worst in recent modern NFL history. It's no exaggeration. And then to make things worse, they had Jim Zorn trying to coach it. I went through yesterday how recent drafts in 2015, 2016, and last year's draft of 2018 were actually very highly regarded in the moment.

Beyond the obvious, the initial reactions to NFL drafts are often proved wrong down the road. I think that's obvious. Beyond that, though, we still have one of, if not, the worst owner in the sport, the lowest ranked and least respected team president in the sport, and an average to less than average coaching staff. Let's not lose sight of that because of one weekend of guesswork.

I listened yesterday to a shitload of excitement and a lot of lecturing by some about skepticism. Oh, people are still skeptical. You know, it was like if you're skeptical and you're not blindly and faithfully following this, somehow you've turned into like a curmudgeon. I mean, come on, give Dan and Bruce some credit. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Seriously? Nah, I'm not going to do that.

Nor should you. It's fine to like the draft. It's fine to be more optimistic than you were last week. And of course, we're all going to follow it and hope for the best. But for me, not at the expense right now of, giving Dan and Bruce the benefit of the doubt. This is what some people believe now. I could be exaggerating that feeling.

I bet the majority still understand that this is a troubled franchise, despite what appears to have been a successful draft. There's only one thing I'm willing to give some leeway on. And I was thinking about this late last night. I was thinking about the people in the organization that I actually think have some credibility, people in the organization that I actually believe are fairly competent.

You know, Jay Gruden, I think is an average coach, but I am more inclined to give Jay Gruden some benefit of the doubt than Dan or Bruce. You know, I was thinking about Gruden and the last two years of 45 combined players on injured reserve and somehow being able to go seven and nine in back-to-back years. That's quite the accomplishment. I said about the 2017 season that I thought Jay did a phenomenal job in coaching that team. That team was decimated with injuries. Decimated. They had no chance offensively along the offensive line, and yet there were games like that Seattle game where he coached them up, man. Last year against Jacksonville and Tennessee at the end of the year, those were gems by Jay Gruden.

I think the Tennessee game that they lost was one of the best coached Jay Gruden games of his career here in Washington, and they lost the game. I don't want to get off the message here, but this organization's leadership makes any season, whether it be this upcoming one or any in the future, limited, not limit less. You're naive to think differently. We've felt this way about drafts in the past. and what did they produce? Maybe this is the one.

Maybe this is the one that provides the franchise with a top five quarterback and a top five pass rusher. You never know. Haskins and Sweat could be the anchors of Super Bowls to come. Could be. I choose right now to wait and see on giving Bruce and Dan the benefit of the doubt. I'm going to wait until giving Bruce a contract extension

because of the draft. I'm going to wait on that. Someone tweeted me late last night that Dan doesn't always get it wrong, man. He loved Sean Taylor and made the skins draft Sean Taylor. That's not true. Actually, it's one of my favorite Redskins draft stories ever. And I will admit that I'm not entirely sure if it is 100% true. But I got a bit of confirmation from Joe Gibbs a few years back.

But the story goes like this about the 2004 draft. Clinton Portis told me this story on air, I don't know, five, six years ago, something like that. But Vinny, Dan, and Gibbs were all in on Kellynne Winslow Jr., the tight end from Miami in the 2004 draft at number five overall. Clinton, who had just been, remember in 2004, Clinton was traded for, Champ Bailey in a second for Portis. Portis got win that they were going to draft Kellan Winslow Jr. that he was the number one player on their board at number five. And he told the story about how he called up Gibbs and said, Don't do it.

You should draft Sean Taylor, not Kellyn Winslow Jr. Gibbs told Clinton that they needed offense and that he and Dan and Vinny really liked Winslow. And Clinton said, if you need offense, draft Sean Taylor. That was his answer. He'll give you more offense than Kellen Winslow ever will. Clinton knew the both guys, knew, you know, they were Miami guys. And the skins took Sean Taylor. I asked Gibbs about that story, I don't know, four years ago, three years ago, whenever it was.

He couldn't remember all the details, but he did confirm and remember that Clinton pushed him to draft Sean Taylor. Anyway, sidetracked there for a moment. Back to the draft. I liked the draft. I said it yesterday. I did. I say that with the understanding, as we've discussed many times before, that these drafts are guesswork for all of us.

And again, I was not a Haskins guy. I would have preferred Rosen in a trade similar to what Miami pulled off. But, you know, Haskins' talent is intriguing. And thank God they didn't trade up for them. My general feeling about the quarterbacks, and I said this before the draft, and I think many in the organization felt the same way. Not Dan and Bruce, but I think many of the football people felt the same way, is that Murray was the only quarterback worth taking.

at 15 or higher. So thank God they didn't trade up for Haskins or anybody else. Haskins at 15 is a hell of a lot better than Haskins at three or nine if they had had to trade up because they would have never had a chance to get sweat. I give them credit for being patient because I think there was a big push by the owner of the team. I think everybody else said, just be patient. We're going to have a chance. I think once the Giants went Jones, they felt there was a chance and they held tight. Good for them. I like the draft.

You know, again, the caveat, we don't really know. You know, it's guesswork. By the way, on Haskins, I totally agree that the selection of Haskins is, in fact, raising the interest level right now in the team. Did they just become the favorite to win the East? No. But, you know, the profile of the team, the interest level in the team, which is, something that, you know, the team cares about right now. You know, it needed to care about that from a business standpoint. I totally get that. But I don't take satisfaction in my team being a team that

has become interesting because of anything other than winning. When are they going to become a team of interest because they're good? Let's get there. Right now, being excited to see how, you know, the Haskins-Daniel-Jones decisions play out, it doesn't do it for me. Whether or not Dan, and Bruce one-up Dave Gettleman and John Mara means nothing if the Redskins go seven and nine the next four years. I am absolutely interested in seeing what this class becomes, don't get me wrong. Can't wait to watch Montez sweat. Cannot wait. I hope they got it right on him. I hope they got the medical right, the background stuff right. He's so talented and he may provide something they have not had in years.

And by the way, something that translates to winning games. Getting after the quarterback on third down. They haven't had that guy. I would have loved it if Greg Williams or Todd Bowles were coaching him and the young defensive talent. The Minusky thing's going to be interesting. You know, let's not forget that while the talent on defense keeps improving, they tried unsuccessfully to replace their defensive coordinator

a couple of months back. Let's not forget overall that the one big question mark among, well, one of the big question marks right now isn't just whether or not they got the draft right, but whether or not the current coaching staff is the staff that's going to coach it here for the long term. I still think it's more likely than not that this time next year, there's a new staff in place. I thought the same thing last year. By the way, that reminds me of this. Somebody sent this to me yesterday. Bleacher reports 2020 way too early NFL mock draft. Guess who has the number one pick in the 2020 draft, and they're all too early mock draft of 2020. Oh, no.

The Redskins do. And by the way, they've got them picking Chase Young and Edge Pass Rusher, Ohio State. Not Tua because they just drafted Haskins. but let's be fair here. I don't know that they'll have the number one pick in the draft next year, but if they do, Jay Gruden's not here next year. Right. None of the staff would be here next year.

Let's also be clear about what this means for 2019, even though there is this sense of optimism. Like Vegas did up the wind totals a little bit, but upped it from 6 to 6.5. I still saw 6 on my site. Oh, really? I got 6.5. Oh, did you? Yeah. Yeah, I still saw 6.

In fact, I did look at the futures, the NFL futures, and the Redskins are near the bottom of the NFC. Yes. So yes, there's a sense of optimism, but maybe not for 2019. None of that means anything. Although, you know what I would like to see? I would like to see over the years the way too early mock drafts for the following year after that draft. And to see if any number one projected selector in the next draft ever made the playoffs. because usually that's something on the top two or three picks, they get pretty close to right. Sure. You don't get a projected five-win team suddenly winning 10 in general.

Well, five-win, yes, but not three-win team, usually. But again, it's the NFL. It's so, so hard to predict and figure out. It just never, ever ceases to amaze that all the pundits, all the experts, all of us that love it so much, get it wrong so often. And the reason is the league is designed for this. It's designed for everybody to have a chance. And then, you know, there are obviously year in and year out or over a period of years, a few standout franchises that do things better than everybody else, and a few bottom. feeders that just can't seem to figure it out. But everybody else in between 28, 27 teams all have a chance to turn it around. And you know, the truth of the matter is the Redskins are usually in that group. They're usually not one of the bottom two or three. And clearly they've not been one of the top

two or three. They're usually one of those teams that I've always felt, you know what? If everything breaks right, they got a shot. They got a shot to do what? Who knows? I think one of the things that will be very interesting, and I've mentioned this the last couple of days, going back to Friday after the first round and yesterday's and sort of recapping the draft, is I don't necessarily believe that we're going to learn anything about whether or not, you know, based on Haskins' availability or him starting early in the season or him even starting next year. My guess is, and somebody said, you haven't, on Twitter yesterday, actually was a friend of mine texted me, Do you think he's going to start or not? I guess I haven't definitively said that. Yes, I think he's going to start.

I think more likely than not he will start this season. If I didn't make that clear before, that's my guess. I hope they don't rush it. If he's ready, go for it. Like if it's obvious here over the next month in mini camps and in OTAs and then we get to training camp that he is the best, of course. You drafted him 15 overall. If he's better than Keenham and McCoy, play him. And by the way, it's not. not a stretch to think that he may be the best option. I mean, we're talking about Case Keenham and Colt McCoy. But if he's not ready, I don't want them to push it. More likely than not, they're not going to be a playoff team next year. They should be thinking about the long-term best interest of him, because the best interest of him is the best interest of the team. They didn't draft him to keep Case Keenum on the roster for the next five years.

I do think he will start the opener, though. That's my hunch. And I think it's going to create this. If he deserves it, it won't create any issue at all. And again, I'm suggesting that there is a chance he may earn it, especially based on the competition. But if it's pushed by Dan and Jay and Matt Kavanaugh and Kevin O'Connell and the staff know that he isn't ready, then that could be potentially harmful. I do think that that is in play also. All right. I wanted to get to the Dwayne Haskins wearing Joe Thaisman's number seven here for a moment. This has become a topic here over the last few days. First of all, when Haskins was asked about this on Thursday night, his answer was perfect. I don't know if you guys saw this. Did you see this, Aaron?

He was asked about it at his $50 per head draft party in Gatorsburg, right after he got drafted, somebody said, what about number seven? And Haskins said the following, quote, I got to talk to Mr. Thysman first before I get that number, closed quote. That was a pretty quick answer that reflects an understanding of the team's history. Good for him. I mean, for guys like me, that's the perfect answer. The perfect answer. Now, Joe was on JP's podcast yesterday. J.P.'s going to join us here shortly. He was on J.P.'s podcast yesterday. And this is what Joe Thysman said about Dwayne Haskins wearing number seven. Joe, I got to ask, based on the tweet, are you okay if Dwayne Haskins wears number seven on the field for the Redskins?

I'm anxious to sit down and talk to Dwayne about that. I'm not opposed to it. I'm not saying yes yet. But I really want to sit down and talk to the young man and get a chance to meet him. I know he's reached out and said he wants to ask me. So as early as I can get back into town and be able to set up an opportunity when he gets into town to be able to sit down and talk to him about it. All right. So that was Joe on J.P.'s podcast yesterday. My first reaction to this when I read about it was that it's nice that Joe is open to it, but it's not Joe's job to protect his own legacy.

It's the organization's job first and foremost. And then it's up to the fans to let the organization know how it feels. And for me, my immediate reaction was no. That's Joe's number. It's not retired. Many of you know the skins don't retire jerseys except for Sammy Baugh's number 33, but many have been protected over the years, and Joe's number seven is one of those.

We had this conversation, Aaron, right, about a month and a half ago about Sean Taylor's jersey with Landon Collins. And I basically said I didn't care. one way or the other, but I also emphatically suggested that no player during the Dan Snyder era has earned a jersey number worthy of protection. But I said about Sean, if the owner, because of his relationship and his love for Sean, feels that protecting his jersey will make sure that he's never forgotten and that's important to him, I didn't have a problem with that at all. But, you know, Clinton Portis and Cooley and Santana and Chris Samuels, take your pick of

the better and more popular players of the Snyder era, none of them, in my opinion, deserve jersey protection. That's my view. I think the team actually has gotten that right here over the years. They haven't protected any of those numbers. Joe Thaisman was the franchise's first Super Bowl winning quarterback. He's deserved the jersey protection over the years, in my opinion, and my first reaction when it came to Joe was not his job to say yes or no. This team is his team, but from a public trust standpoint, it's also the fans team to a certain degree. I mean, I'm not saying that we should have a voice that's bigger than anyone else's. I think the franchise and Dan Snyder and the franchise should make the decisions on this. But I can tell you this,

that if someone said to Rigo, hey, we just drafted the best running back, the Heisman trophy winning running back and he wore 44, you know, at Ohio State last year. And, you know, are you okay with him wearing the number? Rigo would probably say, I don't care. Just don't bother me. I'm fishing. Like, it's tough to leave it up to the guy whose jersey is protected. Asking Joe is awkward. What if Joe Thysman said when asked, I don't want anybody wearing his jersey? My jersey. I don't want anyone wearing my jersey. It's not fair for him to be put on the spot like that. The organization should make the call on this, and it already has for years. Joe's jersey has been one of the several protected for many years.

Why change it now? I'm not in favor of leaving it up to the player. I'm just not. First of all, you know, it's not fair because in some cases, unfortunately, the player's not around to answer. You know, but secondly, it's just, I think it's too awkward. Well, it puts them in a position to be the bad guy. What if he says, no, I don't want anyone to take my name? Then he looks petty.

By the way, Joe says he wants to talk to Dwayne, Haskins. What if after talking about it with Haskins, the result is that Haskins comes out wearing something other than number seven? That's weird. What does he want to talk about? That would be interesting if Joe meets with Haskins and says, nah, don't want you to wear the number. I mean, in the interest of both Joe and Dwayne, the organization should stick with its decision of keeping it protected or, and by the way, I'm open to this, just dropping the protected jersey thing all together. Or maybe another option, choosing the numbers you want retired and retire them.

You know, I think most of us that have been lifelong fans and devoted fans of this team and really know the team, don't most of us know who should be on that list? All right. Number 9, number 33, number 44, number 42, number 49, number 70, number 81, number 28, number 7. I mean, that's the list. I mean, Hamburger, Houston, Grimm, what about Cliff Battles or Turk Edwards? I mean, it's not that easy. You know, you run out of numbers after a while. 7, 9, 28, 33, 424, 49, 68, 70, and 81. And, you know, again, 21 is fine with me too. These are the numbers in the jerseys minus Grimm's 68 that have already been protected.

I'd just stick with that list and say, sorry, Dwayne, it's a protected jersey. I don't know. I'd leave Houston. Houston and Hamburger and Grimm have been let. I'm talking about Hall of Famers. Kenny Houston, who is, by the way, the greatest safety in team history. Not debatable. But he played for two teams.

Chris Hamburger got in on the senior vote. And others have already warned their numbers over the years. You know, I don't know. To be honest with you, I'm just getting dizzy talking about this. Because the truth is, I really don't care that much. I know I just spent 15 minutes on this. but if Haskins rolls out number seven next year, I'm not going to be outraged. I guess the only annoying thing is that we're giving away a protected jersey number to a rookie

who hasn't thrown a pass or won a game. I think there's some silliness to that. But again, I've got other things that I'm more concerned about when it comes to the team. I did, however, I was interested in this. I was interested in what people thought. So earlier, I put a poll out. Did you see this poll that I put out? I haven't seen this.

I put a poll out because I was thinking about this last night and early this morning, and I'm like, I'm not sure what fans think. And let me just check the polling. We've had it up for two hours and we're approaching 1,500 votes. And the question was this, to Redskins fans, do you have a problem if Dwayne Haskins wears Joe Thaisman's protected number seven jersey? 17% say yes, 57% say no, and 26% say don't care either way. I think my answer really, even though I think that the organization should make the call and keep these, the players out of this, I think, again, if Haskins rolls out in seven next year, I'm not going to be like totally off put by it. It's not a big thing for me, but I do think there should be some sort of, rule here. They should figure it out because where will it end? Let's just say that they end up going 3 and 13 and they have the number one pick in the draft next year. And let's say they draft

well, they're not going to draft a running back number one. But let's just say that there was a wide receiver that wore number 81 in college. And turns out Jerry Judy, all right, the Alabama wide receiver, he doesn't wear number 81. But let's just say that he didn't wear number 81. But let's just say that he did. And they think he's Calvin Johnson. Yeah, and they think he's Calvin Johnson. And Jerry Judy says, I want to wear 81. Are we going to go to Art Monk and put him on the spot? Seriously? They got to figure that thing out, I think. I think they really have to figure that out. All right, quick word about Window Nation. Have you started your spring checklist? Does your hose work? Does your lawnmower start? How about your windows? I urge you to check your windows right now because there's an opportunity

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And again, there's no risk because the in-home estimate is free of charge. Call 86690 Nation today or go online at windownation.com. 690 Nation or windownation.com and tell them that I sent you. All right, let's bring in J.P. Finley, who of course does the Redskins Talk podcast, which you can get anywhere. You get a podcast, and he works for NBC Sports Washington. And we just got through the draft, and I woke up early this morning to see that JP had tweeted out his way too early 53-man roster projection. And I said, well, let's talk about that today. They now have pretty much what they're going to have.

I mean, there still could be some moves here and some additions made, you know, post-June 1 and in training camp when cuts are made. But we have an idea of how the 53-man roster will be crafted. But before we get to that, I haven't talked to you since Thursday where you jumped on and you made the pick, you know, based on the mock draft that Aaron and I had put together. but overall, just give me your thoughts on the draft. Sure. I think I got it right on your podcast. Yeah, you did. You did. I think they did great. I think they really did well. They addressed positions of need. They got a lot faster.

I think team speed had been seriously lacking, and they added it at different spots on the field. You know, defensive line, linebacker, receivers, certainly. I really like the draft. I think ultimately it's going to become, a referendum on if Dwayne Haskins can develop into the passer they hope he is. I think getting him at 15 without trading up, he's a really good quarterback prospect. I know you're not high on him, but plenty of folks are. And I listen to, I guess your Friday podcast, when you're like, look, I could be wrong. You know, we don't know what's going to happen.

Of course, yeah. I like sweat a lot at 26. I think the thing that impressed me is that they were patient and aggressive, which usually you can't really blend those two, but they didn't do anything dumb and trade up and give up a lot to go get Haskins, but then they were aggressive late in the first to go get what to me is a top 10 talent in Montez-Sweat. You know, the only potential thing there is if there's any issue with the medicals or anything else that a lot of other NFL teams passed on him, but I think he's going to be a star for them. Yeah, that's my, I guess I haven't said this, although I have said it, you know, going through,

you know, player by player, but my two favorite picks were sweat, who was the guy, you know, going back to, you know, November. I was like, God, if they could get Montez sweat. So I'm thrilled about that. And of course, the medical and all of the other stuff, the due diligence on the background and all of the other stuff, hopefully, you know, was, you know, made them comfortable. But he is a ridiculous talent. And he could give them something that they really have not had for decades. And it's something that helps you win football games, you know, being able to really threaten a passer on third down. You know, it's the way you win games and you win games late in the season, too, and they just haven't had that over the years. And you throw him into the mix

with all of the young defensive talent, that's the part of the team that, you know, if you're going to be super optimistic, that would be the part of the team to be super optimistic about. But I loved Bryce Love too. Because JP for me, when they made the pick, it was like, I just, I was so thrilled because I'm like, damn, they are sticking with their board. This is how you draft. You don't worry about, you know, if the medical is cleared, you're worried about the future. You're not worried about, you know, we're close and, you know, we need somebody to fill a need here who doesn't have the same potential as a Bryce Love. And I loved that pick because this guy could also be a massive, impact player, you know, down the road. I talked to somebody I know out at Stanford, and he said he's a genetic physical freak. And I think if you go back to the 2017 season, you saw that. I wonder if he had gone out, if he had declared for the NFL draft that year, he would have been a first rounder, obviously, you know, struggled a bit the senior year

and then had the big injury. I think love, I wrote about this over the weekend. And this is reality of the NFL. Chris Thompson's in the last year of his contract. Bryce Love, a year from now, seems like a much cheaper and possibly better replacement for Chris Thompson. Yeah, the thing about the 2018 draft, I think one of the reasons he didn't come out is it was such a running back heavy draft. And there was a lot of debate right after Berkeley about what the order of running backs was after Berkeley. I don't know that Love would have been the obvious number two or number three,

and maybe he thought, you know what, it's not a lock that I'm going to be a first round pick. Right. Darius Geist's slipped to the second round. Yeah, exactly. There was more to that, but, you know, he's still a really big talent. But if he had had a similar season this year and didn't have the injuries, in this particular draft, I think he would have been certainly a late first, you know, early second, worst case. Because in this draft, there was nobody with his.

That's right. as speed-burst skill set. I know the Memphis kid was really good, but I don't think people would put them on the same level when Bryce was healthy. Exactly. I also liked Harmon in the sixth round. I think that they got great value there. All right, let's get... I like the JMU kid, and it's a total just hunch play, but I just love his attitude and demeanor. I mean, for a seventh rounder, I just think he could really play. Yeah. Who knows? I mean, most of those, most of the players they drafted, I haven't seen, and most people haven't seen, the ones, the skill position players that they took in the defensive player that they took in Montez-Swet were players

that you saw play a lot in college. All right, let's get to your 53 man, because first of all, you're brave to do it. No one's going to hold you to any of this, but I think it's a good piece to start discussing the roster. And I don't, you know, I'm not a guy that gets hung up about, you know, roster spots 45 through 53. But I think there's some interesting, you know, top 40, top 35, you know, situations. And I think we're, I think we're pretty safe in saying that the quarterbacks are going to be Haskins, Keenham, and McCoy. But I would ask you, if you, if Haskins, let's just say, immediately impresses to the point where it's like,

oh, okay, he's definitely our starter. Like, it's clear how much better he is than Kek, Keenham and McCoy. Do you think there's a chance they would cut McCoy or try to trade him before the season starts? Well, that conversation compounded with the injury McCoy's dealing with. Right. He's going to make that. So it may be impossible to trade him because of that. Yeah, it's going to make it a lot more interesting than I think people think. I, you know, I reported, I don't even know what week it is anymore, maybe two weeks ago, the Colt had a third surgery on his leg. Right. Jay Gruden talked about it, he was asked about it, I think the last day of the draft, I just don't know

enough about when he's all the way back, when he's fully ready to go to sit. I don't think Gruden wants to cut cold at all, but Gruden also is on the record said he doesn't want to carry three-quarters. Exactly. So, I mean, in that 53-man roster projection I did, there's a lot of places where I think things could look different by the time we get to September 1st. and QB is one of them. It wouldn't shock me if they go Haskins-Keonem, but I just, Colt knows the offense, Jay Gruden loves Colt. I think they go with three this year. I really do, but the injury is kind of the big caveat there. Well, it also matters, you know,

if they've got, you know, a battle at another position spot where they'd like to keep, you know, two guys rather than one. I personally think that, you know, we will have a sense by the time we get to, you know, a week or so into training camp as to whether or not Haskins is going to be the starter or whether or not there's a legitimate chance that he could start. Because, you know, the competition, let's be honest about this. It's not like super stiff. It's not like, you know, this is not a Brett Farr of Aaron Rogers situation. You know, it's not even an Alex Smith-Patrick Mahomes situation, you know, and not even close to it. It's a, one of the things, we can monitor when we're, when we get to Richmond, it's just reps.

Yep. And if Gruden, if Haskins looks impressive early on and he really starts to get a lot of the work, that's kind of going to tell you where this thing is headed. Right. And if he doesn't look good and then it's Casey Colt really battling it out, that's going to tell you where this thing is headed. I think there's a chance. They're just two quarterbacks.

And I think if there are three, it's because Haskins isn't anywhere near ready. I also think, and I'm sure we'll get to this, I do think there's a chance that defensively they open up an extra roster spot that they might be able to play with elsewhere. All right, let's stay on offense. You've got the three running backs, AP, Geis, and Thompson. First of all, what do we know about Geis right now, health-wise? Gruden said the other day that he's ahead of schedule. Certainly if you follow him on any form of social media, he's always posting videos. Yeah, he is.

I don't know that we know much until he gets hit, though. And the only thing I kind of caution is that this is a guy that had knee trouble in college, too. This didn't come out of nowhere. This wasn't one fluke play. So I just think folks need to kind of keep that in mind. He says he's ahead of schedule. So I don't think he should come anywhere close to – I don't think he should play in the preseason.

I don't think they don't really hit much in training camp anyway. but I don't see maybe you want to get him some work in the third preseason game to make sure he's ready but that would barely be a year out from when he sustained the injury. I don't see any sense in rushing him back despite

what to me seems like Darius wants to be back as fast as possible just to prove he can do it and that he belongs out there. But I think the team should be super cautious and just try to play it as smart as I can. You've got Bryce Love's starting the season on the Pupp list

if he is healthy, which apparently he has said he'll be ready for training camp. I don't think it's inconceivable that you end up with four running backs on the opening day roster. I'm with you that P. Ryan and Byron Marshall are based on what we see now are probably roster casualties. I agree. P.R.R.in is an interesting one because Gruden talked about him for 10 minutes when we were at the league meetings about wanting to get him more opportunities. And then if you think about Bryce Love, he's a fourth round running back, so was P.Rine. You know, it's not like they're that different as far as how the NFL graded them as prospect.

That's right. Love slipped because of the injury, obviously, but there's no sure thing that he comes all the way back. And two things, the very early 53-man roster projection is a page straight out of the Rich Tandler playbook. I thought it was the – well, that's a better playbook to refer to, because I was going to say it's the Chris Russell playbook. I think Russell – I think Russell used to do – when he was at the radio station, did his 53-man rosters starting when the season before ended. And he just kept updating them.

They were insufferable. But, you know, it's a labor of love. But I hear you on the running back thing, and on the P-Rine comparison, he was a fourth-rounder. And just with, I tend to not listen to players on their own injury updates. And I think if we hear from a coach or next time Doug Williams or Bruce Allen speaks and they're like, yeah, we expect Bryce to be ready to go in August, then I think it matters. Because the other part of it, if he starts practicing at camp, then that changes entirely their roster options. They would then have to go with IR versus if they start them all.

on the pup. He can come back at any time, but it doesn't cost them a roster spot. So I think you slow play this thing with Bryce Love. All right. Let's get to the first area where I think there's some interest here, because you've got three tight ends making the final roster, and one of them is not Vernon Davis. Economics. The team loves Vernon. I really like Vernon. He's a great person, but he's scheduled to make $6 million. None of it's guaranteed. If they cut him after June 1st, They save $5 million against the cap. He's 35 years old.

I just don't think the production matches up with the price tag, and that's the tough part of this business. I don't think they're going to cut Jordan Reed because the potential is still so much higher with Reed, but I just don't see – now it's entirely possible. They restructure with Vernon, and they're able to get a new deal done, and then he's back. But I don't see him coming back at that number.

Okay, the other interesting part of your tight end, 53-man way too early final roster projection, is that Matt Flanagan, who I think the coaching staff really likes and thinks is maybe their best all-around tight-end. You have him making the roster. Jay Gruden talked for 10 minutes about the personnel problems with his tight-end groupings and how he cannot run the ball when some of the guys are on the field, and he cannot throw the ball when other guys are on the field. It seemed to be driving the head coach crazy, and they've got to fix that.

I mean, their tendencies were so obvious in run or past situations when they were out there in the two tight-end personnel that I think they have to address it. I thought it would be addressed in the draft, and it wasn't. So I think they liked Flanagan. He played well late. He can help you on special teams. That's another part of this.

Tight ends are usually a person. position group that give you a lot of help on special teams. With Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis, you really, Jordan never, but Vernon not much, are you going to play those guys on specials? Matt Flanagan will be on every special team group you got. Wide receivers, you've got Doxon, you know, not, he's going to be on this roster, don't you think, and they're going to give him one more year to make it work? I have them on there.

I think the big question with Doxon, and we'll know this week, the deadline is this Friday. If they're going to give them the fifth year option, which, I'm not sure they are, and frankly, I'm not sure they should. No. I'd be very surprised if they do. What would the option, what would the fifth-year contract value be for him? It becomes a fully guaranteed. I can't remember the number of the – he was what, the 22nd overall pick.

So it almost – if I had to guess, it would probably be 11-mill, something like that. That's a – that I'm guessing. You know, no chance they pick up the fifth year. Right. Yeah, no chance they pick up a year after. That's too much. That's right. I agree with that.

You've got Richardson, Trey Quinn, and then you've got McLaren and Harmon both making the team with Cam Sims, which wouldn't leave anybody out significant other than, you know, Robert Davis, who was a guy that, you know, had some promise a few years back as a sixth-round guy. The offensive line, just real quickly, to me, it's about who went. I think Cam Sims is no roster lock. If Robert Davis is all the way back and healthy, I think he could push for that.

But I think the two rookies are on the team. Who starts at guard? Flowers or Martin? Because that appears to be what it will come down to right now. It is April 30th, and I have not seen either player work out. But give me Martin. I think this ends up with Flowers being more of a swing tackle backup because Trump Williams had surgery.

I mean, there's a lot going on with both of those tackles. I think they are hoping West Martin is plug and play. And with the strength he has and his ability to go down downhill, I think he helps them a lot. He needs help in the past game. But they hit on Chase Ruei two years ago. I think they're really hoping they hit on one of these guys too. Did they give Eric Flowers any real guaranteed money?

No. Yeah, I didn't think so. I'm sure there's some level of a veteran minimum contract with bonuses. I haven't seen the deal, so don't quote me direct on that, but I would be hard-pressed to believe otherwise. What's the status of Brandon Sheriff's Extension? That I don't know, and that is a little weird.

In my mind, they have through Richmond to get it done, but I wonder if the team is at all hesitant about paying what is the new top-of-the-line guard money, which is what used to be top of the line tackle money, and sheriff's going to command it. And everything I've heard is that he's fully healthy, ready to go. I don't think it will be, but you certainly hope it's not a situation

where the skins try to lowball a player who's in the top five in the league in his position. Well, I mean, I think that the mistake they could make, and I hope they don't, is once you allow that player, an agent to sniff unrestricted free agency, they want to get there. And that would force the franchise tag to keep them next. Which would cost a ton. A ton of money.

I mean, the way the high end of the guard market now is such that it's going to cost you a lot of money to use a franchise tag. It will indeed. All right, let's go to the defensive side of the ball and your roster projections. You, we all know Alan Ionitis pain and I think settle. How much do they like Caleb Brantley? Because I've heard a lot of discussion that they think this guy has a chance to really be a good player for him. Well, if you remember two drafts ago, there was a lot of talk of him landing with the Redskins because they needed D-Line help then early on. Now, he had a bad situation where I think he was accused of something like two weeks before the draft,

and his stock plummeted. I think he was a fifth or sixth round pick. but the accusation proved to be false and you know the guy probably lost millions of dollars because of that but so that's that part of it and then Cleveland did cut him a year after

you know he had one year in Cleveland and then they released him so I've heard the same thing a ton of potential you gotta love that Jim Tom Sulla's coaching him I mean you look at what Jim Tom and Matt Ionitis deserves a ton of the credit for what Matt Ionitis has done but I think Jim Tom deserves a healthy amount too.

I think Grantley is on this team, assuming he gets through the offseason and, you know, does everything they want him to do. And whatever happened in Cleveland was a Cleveland thing. They also, Cleveland also had a change in management, you know, Dorsey took over, and sometimes you just see a little bit of roster cleaning up to get it the way you want it when a new GM takes over. The thing with the D-line, and this is. the tough part that's like two nuanced to try to explain in the roster projection article.

I think the top four guys are very obvious. I believe Brantley is too, so that's five. Jojo Wicker I have on there because he's currently on the roster, and they've historically gone with six-down linemen. I am not sure they'll do that this year, and I think they could go with five because they believe in certainly the top three, but I would include Settle a lot. And if you go with five, do you remember, I guess it would be three, four years ago now, when the conversation was they were going to convert Trent Murphy from an outside linebacker to a three, four, D end, and he had the size and the strength to do it, I'm not entirely convinced something like that might not happen with Ryan Anderson.

And then you have more versatility that he can still be outside for you, and now he can also play inside for you. He's a big guy. He has probably the size to do it and the strength to do it. Actually, I don't remember that Trent Murphy thing. I'm sitting here trying to think about it, and I'm like, I don't remember that. You know, remember he had. So I'm trying to, so they were all off-season.

They were moving Trent Murphy inside, moving Trent Murphy inside, and then one of their outside line- In the same way that they moved Carrigan inside sometimes in nickel packages. No, no, no, no. This was like a positional change. Yeah, I don't remember that. Interesting. Zoster on there, he might remember. Yeah, he's, I'm not, no, trust me, I'm not questioning you. It's just, it's one of those things.

I mean it that way. Yeah, yeah. Somebody got hurt, and then they moved Murphy back outside to outside line. You know what? Now when you just said it that way, now I think I do remember it. As you get a little bit older, you don't remember the same way that you used to remember. And that's happening a lot. I can't remember who I had on the show yesterday.

Who did we have on the show yesterday? Trevor Madich was on the show. He's excellent. How great is Trevor? I love Trevor. He's awesome. Outside line backers. So they moved Trent Murphy. He got up to 276, and then somebody got hurt, and he had to move back outside. So I think something like that with Ryan Anderson, and the amount of time they spend in their nickel defense, where you really only need the two down linemen, and you have Kerrigan and sweat on the outsides. I just, I don't know that they're – I mean, this team has not committed full-time to a real nose. They're not going to this year. Outside linebacker, I think, is fairly easy and really on defense is where I still think there could be some changes between bringing in a veteran or somebody gets released. That's a surprise. But you know, Kerrigan, Ryan Anderson, Montez Sweat are all very obvious. And then, you know, Gruden has talked about Casanova McKinsey.

Oh, he loves him. And you know what? I thought he flashed at times last year for them. And I think the seventh round rookie Brailford has a chance here. I don't know anything about him. Kevin, I don't either, but they need the bodies, and he led the Big 12 in sacks last year. So we saw Trey Quinn make the team last year as the last pick of the NFL draft.

You know, Brailford is the last Redskins pick of this draft. But here's the other thing that you'd look around the NFL, like not just the skins, but all over, if you look at the bottom 10, 12 guys on rosters, there are more rookies than ever, and it's all about the economics. It's all about a really cheap contract. So I'm not counting Brailleford out.

I don't know that they'll go six down-linmen and five-O-L-Bs. That number could be, you know, five and five. And then you got a – this is my wild card that I didn't write out because I didn't feel like dealing with the comment section. How much has Jay Gruden talked about a fullback over the last two, three years? And he's never really been able to come up with a roster spot for it. But if you listen to Kyle Shanahan, how he's – talks about what a fullback does for your offense.

Jay Gruden says they want to be a grind-it-out, run the ball team. If they can trim a roster spot and they move Ryan Anderson into a D-line spot or just they don't need Jojo Wicker, whatever it is, I think this could be the year Gruden finally sneaks a fullback onto his 53. Well, he doesn't have him on the roster right now. There's a guy Elijah Wellman, but certainly there's no one I would project there, but fullbacks are usually guys that are available. Real quickly on the inside linebackers,

do you think that, I mean, if Sean Dionne Hamilton continues to grow the way he has, and let's just say that between Harvey Clemens and Cole Holcomb, you know, that guy's speed and special teams, you know, potential, is there any chance that Mason Foster may not be on the roster when we get to opening day? Yeah, there's a chance. I thought they were going to release him when we got to,

you know, the start of the league year. I thought Vernon David, we, you know, we had all predicted, you know, Zach Brown and, and a couple of others, but I thought Vernon Davis and Mason Foster were candidates for that as well. Mason Foster, though, he's a tackling machine. He's the only guy that has proven he can do it in their inside linebackers group. It's true. It's true. And I saw the other day he was getting into it with fans on Twitter again. Oh, God. That doesn't do him any good, but the coaching staff loves him and players inside the locker room he is very well-respected

it's tough because i'm going to say this and people will get mad at me because his his social media behavior doesn't back it up he's a really good i was just i was just going to say because i have had him on the show multiple times on the radio show and a lot of times sitting down with him at the park and i always liked him your first instinct about mace Foster after having a conversation is he is a good kid. And I say kid, he's a young man, but I've always liked him, and I've always liked him as a player. I think he makes plays, too. If you can have Mason Foster out there with Ruben Foster and somebody would speed, it'd be a really good combination. People love Sean Dionne Hamilton. I'm not sure I do, but he doesn't have really good

size for an inside linebacker. But, you know, they're going with an all-Alabama defense, so maybe that'll... All right. Maybe he's the guy to keep Ruben Fawson's head on. So are we confident that it's Norman, hopefully Quentin Dunbar, fully healthy, Fabian Moreau, you know, that nothing's going to happen with respect to Norman, other than maybe we get a contract restructure, but I doubt that at this point. Confident isn't the word I would use.

I put it in there that, you know, you could save... more than $8 million. Eight and a half million. As a post-June 1 cut for Norman. I don't think it happens. I think next year's when it happens because the numbers really get crazy,

the amount of money the skins could save. And they need a quarter. They need Josh Norman. He had seven turnovers last year. He's still pretty good. He probably has never lived up to the dollar amounts of the contract he signed, but that's not his fault.

They've also never really used him to his biggest strengths either. I think Norman is on the team, but I would absolutely not be shocked if he's gone. Corner, I think, was the hardest group to project. They just signed Dominie Rogers Cromarty, but he also quit playing football last year. I do think he could help them if he's all the way in.

Josh Hosey blew out his knee again last year. Danny Johnson, I just don't think, played that well last year. I like the kid, Moreland. I just think he has kind of the guts to stick around as a late-round NFL rookie. I think what would really help them this year is if Adonis Alexander could take a step up. He has every physical tool. Yep. Yeah, definitely.

Lastly, who's going to start next to Landing Collins at Free Safety if we don't get Monta Nicholson back and eligible and if he still got issues? They have gone radio silence on Monta. We asked Doug about it. We ask Jay about it. You get some iteration of, yeah, we're working on that. I mean, there's no information on that situation. And I think it wouldn't shock me if some veteran past rusher, outside linebacker lands on this roster before September 1st,

and it wouldn't shock me if a veteran safety lands on this roster before September 1st. There's still plenty of guys out there, and we'll see what happens. I think you and I both, it was either you and me or Cooley and me that talked about, I guaranteed that a wide receiver in safety would be a part of the first four rounds in this draft. They didn't draft a safety at all, which also tells me that they drafted their board, which I love. But, you know, that is still, you know, Monta Nicholson to me has ridiculous talent. And I loved him the moment we saw him early in his rookie season, but we don't know about whether or not he's going to going to be there for them. I agree with you. I think that the safety thing is, you know, dynamic right

now, and they could add somebody or even trade for somebody between now and training camp. I don't think that's out of the question at all. You know what wouldn't shock me at all if, and we've always heard whispers and rumblings about Josh Doxon trades and stuff like that. What if they, a trade is actually a good call, Kev, because you see more and more of that going on, and maybe it's, It's one guy that underperformed for us versus a guy that underperform for you, and we give everybody a fresh start. I don't know. The other thing, and I think I put this in the article,

is the undrafted guy they signed out of Washington. I'd be interested to see him play because that's a guy Kuiper really liked. He was productive in the Pac-12. I think McIntosh is the name. So just another guy to keep an eye on it. As far as competing for a roster spot, I don't know that he's the starter. But especially if, something does happen with Monta where on the T. I mean, right now, I think he's still suspended. I'm not

really sure what his role is. It's very much kind of in limbo. Remember, they used a fourth rounder last year on Troy Apke because of his speed in the 40 time. I don't know what they think of him now. Maybe you, maybe you do. I don't. Think about the fourth rounders we've named Monta, Samajai P. Rine, Troy Apke. You know, past late. and some of these guys got to start delivering. All right. That was early, admittedly, but it created some good conversation

about some key decisions that they're going to have to make here, some of which they may make before we even get to training camp. And I do think that that Brandon Sheriff thing is very interesting because, I mean, he is, you know, according to them, a real cornerstone, somebody they want to play here and make Pro Bowls for 10 years. and if they go at this thing without the, you know, the aggressiveness that say they went after Jordan Reed with, you know, in the moment, they could be forced to franchise this guy because the market for guards has increased here in the last couple of years, you know? We obviously had the deal for Norwell, but then what's his face?

Zach Martin got ridiculous money. Zach Martin got $14 million a year average salary. And Norwell's, I think, was 13 plus. Bruce Allen told me in Arizona that getting a deal done with Brandon Sheriff was a top priority. And the deal that's done is Matt Ionitis. And I think they're smart to get the ionitis deal done, and certainly one doesn't preclude the other, but it's interesting. Well, what it says more likely than not, is that they're at a financial impasse right now. What Brandon wants and what the team thinks is fair are vastly different.

That's what usually creates, you know, a lengthy, you know, period of time before, you know, the extension's actually done. Again, I think the Redskins have to be careful because once you get into the season, this guy now sniffs free agency. And we've seen here over the last couple of years. I think if they got into the season, he would shut down conversations or his representatives would. All right, man. If I was a player or a rep, I would. Yeah. I don't think anybody wants to see him go.

They've already had, you know, we've already had multiple issues at Guard here in recent years. Thanks for doing that. Listen to J.P.'s podcast, Redskins Talk, NBC Sports Washington, all of the places you get a podcast. Appreciate it. I'll talk to you soon. Okay, Kevin. Thanks very much. All right.

Thanks to J.P. for jumping on. I'm sure we will have more 53-man roster projection discussions down the road. quick word about launch workplaces in Bethesda. It is a beautiful new office solution right in the Mass Ave corridor. So if you live in Upper Northwest D.C., Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Potomac, right over the American Legion in northern Virginia, and you're looking to get out of your home or out of your current office situation, consider launch workplaces in Bethesda. They've got flexible and affordable private office solutions so you can get work done. It's a beautiful new space, fully furnished office.

offices, some big, some small, lots of choices, conference rooms, co-working desks, high-speed internet, complimentary drinks at cafe, and free parking and plenty of it. Get more work done today by moving your office to launch workplaces in Bethesda. You can call today for an exclusive free two-day trial, 240-86714 or visit launchworkplaces.com today. That's 240, 86714 or launchworkplaces.com. and they've got plenty of spaces in other areas of the metropolitan area, and you can find out where all of those are at launchworkplaces.com. Just to mention real quickly that if you are listening to us on iTunes,

don't forget if you haven't rated us or reviewed us to do that, that's so helpful for us. Also, subscribe. You don't have to pay anything, but if you subscribe, it helps us as well. And make sure to let anybody know that hasn't listened to the podcast that wants to listen to the podcast to go to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com. Last week was, I think it was our biggest week yet, wasn't it? It was close.

It was close. It was definitely had two of our biggest episodes, but I don't know if it was our biggest week. NFL draft, very helpful, and we appreciate everybody listening. All right, a couple of things to finish up the show with. First of all, on the NBA playoffs, and I know not everybody's watching the NBA playoffs, So that's why I saved it until the very end. But two quick things on the NBA playoffs. Number one, Kauai Leonard is spectacular.

I love them. Toronto lost Philadelphia last night at home, and that series is now one game apiece. I just love watching him play. He had 35 points last night, 7 rebound, 6 assists, but he carried them on the most crucial possessions, even though they didn't win the game. Jimmy Butler was phenomenal for Philly.

And what in addition, you know, he is. and how important it is. These are two players I really wanted the Wizards. I didn't even care if it was for a year. You've got to have a top five player to have any chance. And Toronto has a top five player in Leonard. And I think they're going to eventually win this series, and I think they're going to make it to the NBA finals out of the east.

The second quick NBA thing, actually it's not that quick. But I don't know if you saw this story yesterday about the Houston Rockets. they created a memo that described how officiating in last year's Western Conference finals loss to Golden State cost them the NBA championship. They had a memo and an attached report that tabulated the net result of 81 potential missed calls and non-calls in game seven of that series between Houston and Golden State. the quote from the team's memo was quote referees likely change the eventual NBA champion

there can be no worse result for the NBA closed quote that memo was originally scheduled to be sent to Byron Spruill the NBA's president of league operations but the Rockets never actually sent the memo because they ended up communicating that message to him and the league in person. This is according to multiple sources, and I think this story first came out on the athletic.

They presented this in-depth analysis of game seven. They had 81 calls, you know, described that were bad calls or bad no calls or violations that weren't picked up, and they said it cost Houston 18.6 points in that game. That's what it said. They did a report that resulted in them communicating to the league that the Golden State Warriors were the wrong NBA champion because 81 instances in Game 7 cost Houston 18.6 points in that game. Now, in its own reports, the league apparently does not ever attach point values, nor should they. because, you know, one thing begets another thing

that begets another thing. It's like, come on. But they don't attach point values to miscalls or non-calls. But the league, Mike Bass from the league, a league spokesperson said Monday yesterday, quote, as we told the rockets, we do not agree with their methodology, closed quote. And that was it.

What losers? I hope the warriors sweep the rocket. How many teams in the history of sports can complain that officiating costs them games and maybe even championships? The list is long. But complaining in the emotional aftermath of being eliminated is different than spending what appears to have been a lot of time, creating a lengthy report on how the refs cost them 18.6 points in game seven and cost them a time. title. By the way, that would have only gotten them to the NBA finals. Right.

I mean, it's just, I think, obsessing over the wrong thing. I guess here's the question. What's the point of it? Was the point to say the rest need to be better? And here's why we, here's why the rest need to be better? If that's it, okay. But if it's just that, oh, we just wanted to complain some more, then yeah, that's really stupid. I think once they, in their memo said that the referees change the eventual NBA champion, and there can be no worse result for the NBA, it was more about sour grapes. I mean, they included a lot of data to support

what they thought was a major screwing, but go beat them. You know, officiating in these sports, it's never perfect, never has been. It might even be at times biased. I mean, you think it was easy for the Detroit Pistons to eventually oust the 80 Celtics? The 80 Celtics got the better whistle

every night in the postseason. Just go win. And by the way, when it comes to Houston, you know, it probably starts with changing the way you play. Because pure ISO ball or 80% is more likely than not, never going to win a title, and certainly isn't going to be good enough to beat the Warriors. Having four players stand around, watching one player, no matter how great James Harden is, but to watch him 80% of the time, go ISO one-on-one with a lot of tricks to draw fouls is just not how you're going to beat the Warriors. I don't think it's going to be good enough to beat the Warriors. Interestingly enough, the two-minute report from the game one did indicate some missed calls,

but one of them was not Draymond Green on James Hardin at the end. What they missed was Curry on a play that he should have fouled out on at 103 to 100 where he knocked Chris Paul out of bounds, and Chris Paul, they called it a turnover, and Paul got the tech and got tossed from the game. They said they missed that call, among others. By the way, Paul, I think, was fined $35,000 for getting ejected from that game. But anyway, oh, what I was going to say is a story just broke about the officiating crew for tonight's game two, and apparently Houston's least favorite official Scott Foster is on the game. So that, I mean, that may be the league just saying, really? So you made this report, you leaked this report out about getting screwed last year.

Here's Scott Foster for you tonight in game two. Also wanted to mention that the Jeopardy champion, you know, the guy that we've been following here for a while, I don't know if you saw last night. I did watch last night. He barely won. He barely won by $18 total dollars. I did not watch last night. So you did?

Barely won. You know, it's one of those things where he bet enough to win. Okay. Like he could have been more. Could he have lost in Final Jeopard? Yes. If he had gotten it wrong, he would have lost. Okay, but he got it right.

He got it right. And, you know, he bet enough to cover the second place bid. The second place bid a little bit less than that. So he won by $18. But the second place guy last night, $53,99. It's the highest non-winning total in the history of the show. And I would imagine that if this guy, James Holeshouse, Hower continues to win.

The only way you're going to be able to beat him is to play the same way and go and go big on double jeopardies and final, you know, all of the opportunities you have to increase your bet size. Yeah. You know, it's the only way you're going to be able to do it. Well, or you just hope that you stay in range and then he misses final jeopardy and you make it. That's the other way to do it.

But staying in range is going to require you if you've got 8,000 and you hit double jeopardy to wager 8,000. You have to stay within the half end. So did this guy do that? Was he, was aggressive? He was. Or was he just a good player? He was just, I think he was just as good.

And he was actually ringing in, which was one of the interesting things, is that he had, as he's gone along, and this is getting really nerdy. He's been getting a lot better at the timing of ringing in, the whole hour has. Yeah. And this time was the first time where other people were really, at least the first time in probably 10 games that the other people were really ringing in with him and then keeping pace for the most part and then he hit a couple he had i think both uh daily doubles which gave him the lead uh going into final jeopardy but yeah i mean he was just right with him scott had him on the show on scott show the other night and he talked about how there are books out there about how to handle the the uh the buzzer oh yeah um and that he studied those before i mean they tell you when you take

do the thing like kind of where the exact right time is to do it but just you know it's hard to get it perfectly right because if you do it, you know, a tenth of a second early, they lock you out for about, I think it's a half second or three quarters of a second. All right. Well, he won again. So stay tuned to that. Thanks for all of the advice on the Game of Thrones being too dark. Had several people say, hey, why not just increase the brightness on your television? Hey, that's a great idea. I didn't think of that. Actually, I was surprised at how many people felt the same way. This was the number one complaint from the show

is that the battle scenes were too dark and hard to follow along. So I'm glad it wasn't a matter of me being, you know, blind and old, which could have been the case. But anyway, actually one other thing I wanted to mention today because I did watch some of their games over the weekend and I watched last night for a little bit and that is, you know, the nationals who are really struggling here.

in the first month of the season. Now, they're not like losing major ground in the National League East. I mean, I think there are three games out from Philadelphia. Philadelphia has won three in a row. I don't think they played last night. Three and a half games. All right, three and a half games. Last night was, you know, unfortunate in that they had a three-nothing lead early,

and Patrick Corbyn has not had a moment like this so far in any start, but he completely lost it in the top of the fifth. and really lost it, you know, with a couple of outs already in that moment, and all of a sudden, you know, they erupted. I think in the top of the fifth, I think he struck out the first batter and then gave up a solo shot, nobody on. But then, you know, all hell broke loose, and they erupted for six runs in that inning.

A lot of them coming with two outs. In fact, I think five of the runs, five of the six coming with two outs. in the top of the fifth. And that was his first rough outing. Over the weekend, they were lucky to salvage, you know, one of the three games against the Padres. They're back-to-back extra inning games. They got they got thumped in the 10th inning on Saturday. And then Sunday, actually, they were down six-nothing in that game early. Came back, tied it up, and then got a huge home run in the ninth from Matt Adams to win. And save the game on Sunday. to say? Yeah, they really did because Helixen got beat up in that game, and so did Fetty to a certain

degree. And then I think, I know Ross actually didn't pitch great, but SIP did, and I think Miller finished it up for him. But you're going to a lot of these games. What's, I mean, is there a legitimate reason to be concerned here early that they are three games below 500? I mean, at the same time, Robles and Soto and, and. And now the other young kid, Kee Boom, I mean, I think they all became the other day, was it last night or the other, it was the other day. Yeah. The first time in major league history were three players, 21 years of age or younger, all homered in the same game. Yeah, that's the set.

I mean, it's cool to see all these young guys, but yeah, I think there is a reason to worry. And if you look at their schedule coming up, obviously they're in the midst of the four game series with the Cardinals right now. Yeah. Thursday. You go on a road trip that includes three to Philly, three to Milwaukee, and then four against the Dodgers. That Dodgers series is on the road? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and you're playing the two best best best, so right now you're playing, I think, record-wise, the best team in the National League in St. Louis. Right. So you're talking about a stretch here where it's not unreasonable to think that they could be on May 13th, which is when that road trip ends. They have an off

day on May 13th. They could be a good five, six games under 500 at that point. And if that happens, I mean, A, that's a warning side. I think you could see Dave Martinez potentially fired, and I think it's something that they're going to struggle to battle out from. If they don't have a really good road trip and all of a sudden

you're looking six, seven games up, already they're in fourth place. They may only be three and a half games out, but they're in fourth place in the NL East. This could start spiraling quickly. And you have a situation, you know, Ryan Zimmerman just went on the injured list. We have no idea what's going on with Anthony Rendon. Rendon, you know, he was hit by a pitch. He has the elbow contusion. This was 10 days ago at this point, pretty much, or a week ago.

It should have gone on the aisle then. He didn't. They've been playing a man down all that time, and he's not getting any at-bats. It's not a good situation right now for the Nats. I'm not saying it's time to completely abandon ship, but it's not too early to talk about, you know, It's not so early in the season right now that you just write things off at this point. Who would be the solution for Dave Martinez in season? I'm not totally sure about that. There are people who are out there, you know. I've heard like Charlie Manuel's name thrown around and stuff,

people who have relationship with the learners and with Rizzo. I don't know. They probably just stay in house, but yeah, I'm not 100% sure who that would be. How about the season that Cody Bellinger has got. gotten off to. This is like historic some of the numbers he's put up in the first month of the year. 14 homers, 37 RBIs. He's hitting 434. His on-base percentage is like well over 500. His OPS is like 1.415 or something like that. It's ridiculous. His war is through the roof. I mean, Christian Yellich is the same thing in terms of the start that he's gotten off to.

I think he's got an equal number of home runs and near the same number of. RBI's, but both, the Dodgers here early, it's so early, but they look like a very, very worthy team right now in the National League. But what you said, I think, is the most important thing, is that, you know, even though it's only three and a half games now, it's four, it's three teams in front of them. And if you come back from this road trip and you're six or seven back and you've got three teams, you know, all three games are better in front of you, you know, say, leader is six and a half in front and the third place team is three games better than you. You know, now you're talking about a legitimate hole to climb out of.

Plenty of time to do it. Plenty of time. And they do have firepower on this team. And they still, you know, people still want to talk about their starting pitching as among the best. Which is great if you can, you know, if they can pitch eight innings, the problem is that every time you turn it. Even though, yes, on Sunday it looked like, you know, the bullpen's getting a little bit better. It's still got to do that a long time to have any sort of faith. them. It doesn't matter how good the

bullpen or the rotation is if the bullpen's going to blow these leads. I'll get Annabelle Sanchez tonight and he struggled mightily in his last outing. And I think that was out west against Colorado, if I recall. He got beat up pretty good. All right, that's it.

Tommy is on vacation. So you didn't hear him today. And he can't call in. I'm not going to have him call in from his Italian vacation. where I'm sure he's enjoying himself with his family members. He's getting to visit with longtime Laveros over there in Rome and then other small towns throughout the country.

All right, have a great day back tomorrow. Thanks.