The Kevin Sheehan Show - Jayden Just Misses ESPN's Top 10 QB Rankings

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

Kevin is back and solo with plenty of catch-up to do. Kevin opened with thoughts on Jayden Daniels just missing ESPN's Top 10 ranking of QBs entering 2026. He caught up on Aiyuk, the USA's blowout loss last week to Belgium in the World Cup, AJ Dybantsa's summer league performances, the Nats getting swept at home by the Yankees, and John Riggins' #44 to be retired in 2026.     For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match   Ready to do your own spring reset? Join Thrive Market with my link www.ThriveMarket.com/SHEEHAN for $20 off your first three orders plus you’ll get a FREE $60 gift.   Chime is not just smarter banking, it is the most rewarding way to bank. Head to www.Chime.com/SHEEHAN. It only takes a few minutes to sign up.   Search Whatnot—W H A T N O T—in the App Store, download, and you can start selling right away. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. It's Monday, July 13th, and I'm back from some vacation last week. I'm going to open the show with this from EB21. EB21 writes, Kevin, I need you back soon.

I'm a Brandon Ayuk junkie, and I need a hit bad. Cold turkey just isn't working. When the hell are you going to be? back. I am back, EB-21, and I'll give you a little Brandon I, yuk, here at the start, but not a lot. Not a lot. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, Window Nation, 86690 Nation, windownation.com, if you need new windows. No guests on today's show. I've got a lot to catch up on from being away much of last week. It was a great trip. I'll share some of the details of my trip. on tomorrow's show when Tommy's on with me.

So back to EB21's email. I don't think EB21's withdrawal symptoms are indicative of how most of you are feeling that somehow you missed Brandon Ayuk conversation. I didn't miss it. I can tell you that. But I do know that EB21 isn't by himself. I got this from William in Alney last week. William wrote, Kevin, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm missing your reaction to today's Iyuk video.

I'm pretty sure Jaden is out on his old friend. Wish you were here to weigh in. Okay, boys, I'm going to weigh in with a very short Brandon Ayuk hit today, EB21. This is going to have to be enough for today. for me, a week away from talking about him was actually a nice break, even though I did, I did follow his social media sandbox games from the road. It's not like I ignored the sports world, especially as it relates to the things that are important to all of us. But at least I didn't have to really think about it and dissect it on a daily basis.

That was getting old at the time, even though, let's face it, this is. time of year, something like this is going to, I think, you know, require some conversation. And we have certainly given it some conversation. But I did have a reaction to his IG Instagram video from last Wednesday, I think it was, where he was telling, you know, his audience that Jaden Daniels had indicated to him that he doesn't want to be a part of IUC's internet saga anymore. You know, Jaden, that's how this video that I think Williams specifically is referring to, that he starts off by saying, you know, you don't want to be a part of this internet thing.

And Jaden apparently tells him, hit me up, you know, call me directly. So the conversation between the two of us can be private instead of it being a public conversation. And then Ayukes seems to be upset because at the very end of that video last week, he claims that he called Jaden, and Jaden didn't answer. Hence, the reason William Inalny believes that maybe Jaden is out now on his old Arizona state teammate. And then, by the way, the next day he put out a video saying something to the effect that when he is back in the league, he's still going to be doing, quote, bullshit on social media, closed quote. So here's my short hit of Ayyuk for today.

I'll start with this. Nothing's changed for me. I have not changed my mind from our last conversation or 10. I'm a big no on Brandon Ayuk to our team. He is proven. He's proven to be incredibly self-destructive as a human being. He's immature and he's taken no. real action to change his current situation.

He's chosen to run his mouth on social media, which, by the way, some of you have actually believed was part of some brilliant grand strategy on his part. God, some of you are so pathetically easy. You're just so easy. You're marks for some of this stuff. Some of you have actually told me over the last few weeks, and I've caught it. And I think I even read a couple of these before. where I left, basically accusing me of being a sucker, being an idiot, or worse, actually,

for taking the side against him. I mean, you people, honestly, I have a feeling it's some of the same people that thought we should keep Taylor Heineke and then Sam Howl and build around those two super talents at quarterback. God, some of you just incredibly easy to mark for, um, for, even somebody like Brandon Ayyuk. But I would imagine that even some of you have come around at this point to realizing that this guy is as of this moment, is as of this moment right now.

He's untouchable for our team. It's nobody's fault but his. I mean, it is self-sabotage at an unreal level. In the last two years, this guy has gone from one of the truly elite, level wide receivers in the league, you know, top 10 and climbing to a guy who is thrown away 30 plus million dollars is going to be arrested at some point for a video that he shot himself breaking the law. He videotaped himself breaking the law and then posted it to social media. I know it wasn't a serious offense. It's a misdemeanor, but still the stupidity of doing what he did

doesn't reflect well on him, obviously. He's revealed himself over, you know, the last, what, now five to six weeks to be either unwilling or too afraid or, quite frankly, too dumb to take the actions that he can take to give himself the best chance to get to where he wants to be, which is released by San Francisco and signed by Washington. but instead of doing something about his current situation, taking action, he's instead done nothing but run his mouth about his current situation on social media for over a month, which has been received poorly by the masses, including those closest to him, including now perhaps the one guy

that he was counting on more than any other, his college quarterback and friend from Arizona State, Jaden Daniels. And I'm sure some of you are going to tell me, oh, oh, you're not, you're not seeing this clearly. This is part of their grand strategy. Working Jaden into his stories is all part of the big, brilliant plan, and Jaden's playing a role, too. Sure, that makes sense. Let's put together some, you know, sketch, some improv to make you and Jaden look foolish. Yeah, that makes sense to absolutely nobody.

I say all this and once again, as I've said previously, things can change. I think right now everybody's out on IUC. That would be my guess. I am definitely perplexed a bit as to why the team hasn't distanced themselves from IUC with, you know, a drop of some information to an Adam Schefter or an Ian Raup. of, you know, getting a report from Schefter saying, I've learned from sources close to the team that Washington would not be interested in Brandon Ayuk if he were to be released by the 49ers. That has not come out yet. It's possible that they don't feel like they need to do that. Like they don't want to participate in any way. And when they get to the point in which he is

released, if that ever happens, and they're asked about it. And by the way, they're going to get asked about it early in camp whether he's released or not. But they will have the opportunity to say, we can't comment on a player on another team. But if asked as to whether or not there would be any interest if he were to be released, you know, that's not necessarily a tampering answer, although maybe that could be construed as a tampering answer. Maybe everything about why they haven't said anything publicly or revealed it to somebody, you know, on back channel is because they're just concerned that they don't want to be a part of any of this, any of his shenanigans, even though he brings them up, you know, on almost every video. And he brings up the

quarterback of their team a lot. I guess perplexed may be too strong of a word, but I am curious as to why they haven't figured out a way to shut it down from their standpoint. But look, things can change. You know, there is still time for Ayyuk to take a different approach, to start behaving like an adult and apply for reinstatement, be a man and confront the 49ers professionally, you know, make sure he's in the best shape of his life and even consider, you know, some level of contrition about the way he's handled himself.

There's always a team in sports willing to give guys with talent, with a lot of talent like he has, second, third, sometimes fourth, fifth, and sixth chances. But it certainly seems to me, and I think this is kind of obvious, that the ball is in his court right now. It's not in the 49ers court. It's not in anybody's court but his. Sure, they could just release him.

I think they can release him even as a. player who hasn't been reinstated. But they don't have to. There's no benefit in them doing that. In fact, there is potential salary cap positive positives that would come out of him continuing to play it this way and maybe even a chance for them to go after more of his money that they've already paid him. So the ball is in his court.

If anything's going to change for him, he's going to have to take action, which has obviously not done to this point. And there have been actions that he could have taken. All right, that's it on IU today. Did you see the quarterback rankings on ESPN.com? So ESPN.com. And we do this every summer, or we have for the last, I think it's seven years they've been doing this, where ESPN takes roughly 70 NFL executive.

coaches, scouts, front office execs, coaches, scouts, and they submit ballots on voting for the top 10 players

in each position group. The position groups are running backs, they already did running backs, cornerbacks, edge rushers, defensive tackles, tight ends,

offensive tackles, interior offensive linemen, quarterbacks. They've done all of those so far. Still to come, off-ball linebackers, wide receivers and safeties.

So today they unveiled to start the new week, a week that, by the way, is the slowest week in sports, the All-Star break, home run derby tonight in Philadelphia, the game tomorrow. Talk a little bit about the Nats later on in the show. But for the last seven years, I believe, they have unveiled, you know, day by day, each of these position groups, and they've given a top 10, based on votes. They've then listed a few honorable mentions, and then they list a few more that they title also receiving votes.

The quarterbacks were unveiled today. By the way, just so far, running backs, cornerbacks, edge rushers, de-tackles, tight ends, offensive tackles, interior offensive linemen, and now quarterbacks. Prior to quarterbacks rolling out today, just one Washington player has appeared on these lists, either in the top 10, honorable mention or others receiving votes. And that one player is Laramie Tunsell, who was number five on the list of offensive tackles.

If you want to know who was ahead of him, Penae Sewell was number one, Trent Williams was number two, Tristan Worf's number three, Jordan Milata, number four, and then Laramie Tunsell was number five. one NFC executive wrote or said about Trent Williams, quote, underrated to me and bulletproof in both phases. He has another gear that others don't, still violent. Another NFL defensive coach said he makes mistakes and blows protection assignments on communication. That was the negative on Tunsell. But he finished fifth among all offensive teams.

tackles. But before today, that was the only Washington player, not just top 10, but honorable mention and others receiving votes. So today the quarterbacks got unveiled and laid out for everybody. There were 10 quarterbacks listed, the top 10 in order. And then there were another one, two, three, four, five, six, seven honorable mentions. And then another three that received vote. So essentially, they gave you the top 20, you know, they give you the top 10 numbered, but then they list the honorable mentions in order. I'm assuming they are in order of how the votes were received because they're not in alphabetical order. They're in no other order than the order that would make sense, which is based on how they finished in the voting. And let me

lay it out for you. So number one, for the first time in a long time, because, Patrick Mahomes has been the number one quarterback for a while now in the NFL, but Josh Allen has supplanted Patrick Mahomes, two AFC quarterbacks in their primes. Of course, Mahomes missing a lot of last year because of a serious injury. Josh Allen was phenomenal last year. Allen finished in front of Mahomes who came in number two on them. list. I'll tell you what, I think Josh Allen right now, there's been something about Mahomes that's just irked me the last couple of years, and I've mentioned it a few times, more than a

few times, where I think that, you know, he gets a bit bored and he gets to the point where he's trying to make something into a play that doesn't need, you know, to be made. He makes a play into something that it doesn't need to be made into. And I don't know. I also think his accuracy isn't as consistent. I see why Josh Allen finished ahead of Patrick Mahomes. It was barely ahead of Patrick Mahomes. Jeremy Fowler, who basically runs this thing for ESPN,

said that this was incredibly close. And actually, Mahomes still got more first place votes than Josh Allen but the composite of all the votes put Josh Allen at number one. Mahomes was two. Number three was Matt Stafford after his MVP season. And this is not about, you know, last year. This is about right now heading in to the 2026 season. Number four was Joe Burrow.

Number five, Lamar Jackson. Six is Dak Prescott. Prescott was not in the top 10 last year. He actually just got others receiving votes. Justin Herbert 7, Drake May 8, Jared Gough 9, Caleb Williams finished in a tie for 10th, but the tie was broken by several of the voters who were asked to pick among the four players, four quarterbacks who were tied for 10th, and Caleb Williams was selected. I'll tell you the other three players he was tied with in just a moment.

You know, that top 10, I had a caller this morning, one of my sharper callers, who's been a part of the show as a caller for several years now. His name is Avine. And he said, you know, I kind of put this quarterback list into like two different categories to start with in terms of looking at the veteran quarterbacks before we get to the young quarterbacks. and he said there's an established elite group of quarterbacks, and then there's an established franchise quarterback list. And he gave me the quarterbacks. The established elite guys are Allen, Mahomes, Jackson, and Burrow. Those are the established quarterbacks, the veteran quarterbacks,

who were considered to be elite. He didn't put Stafford into that group. I think I would, actually. And then he said in terms of the established franchise guys, so the elite guys, Jacksonborough, Mahomes Allen, I'd throw Stafford into that group. So there's five of those. Then for the established franchise quarterbacks, not elite,

but franchise guys that you don't want to get rid of, he had Prescott, Herbert, Goff, and Jordan Love. And then he's like trying to slot, either below all of those guys or in between the elite guys and the established franchise guys, the younger guys, the younger guys being right now, Drake May, Caleb Williams, and Jaden Daniels. Because Jaden Daniels last year, he finished fifth after his sensational rookie year. And I remember being excited about that because I think from the moment their season ended, I was suggesting that Jaden Daniels already is, you know, a top 10, but probably closer to 5 than 10 elite level

quarterback. And he'll be perceived that way. And he finished fifth last year. Fifth. It was Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Jackson, and Daniels. This year, he finished in a tie for 10th with Caleb Williams. Sam Darnold and Jordan Love. Those were the four that finished tied for 10th.

Let me just tell you, there's no way that Sam Donald should be in a tie for the 10th best quarterback in the game. Sorry, I'm not buying that. But he was the Super Bowl winning quarterback last year. Yeah, you know, I'm not going to put him in the captain. category of Nick Foles. All right, I'm not going to do that necessarily. Although there are similarities with Nick Foles

because Foles wasn't very good before that and then was really good and then wasn't after that. We'll see what happens with Sam Darnold. It's certainly a good offensive fit and they have weapons. You know, they gave up on their Super Bowl MVP running back, but they added another running back in the draft. But, yeah, Darnold, wouldn't be anywhere near the top 10 for me.

But they asked, the ESPN crew, asked several of the voters to help break the tie at number 10. They got input from several general managers. And Williams barely, Caleb Williams, barely won out that number 10 spot. Because one GM said, quote, he's the most dynamic of the group. He's got the armed talent and overall athleticism. suited for today's game. Closed quote. Another NFL personnel evaluators said, quote,

he's a closer. End of games. He has shown that. Closed quote. So those were the top 10. Caleb Williams came in at number 10. The honorable mentions in order were Sam Darnold, Jaden Daniels, Jordan Love,

Brock Purdy, Baker Mayfield, Trevor Lawrence, and Jalen Hertz. And then others receiving votes included Bo Nix, Daniel Jones, and C.J. Strouds. So based on the way they laid it out, Jaden basically is the number 12 quarterback in the NFL according to this. We're going to get all of these other rankings too, but this is, you know, 70 NFL front office execs, GMs, coaches, scouts, etc. You know, this isn't a players list. This isn't one personal columnist or writers or reporters list. this is, you know, taking a lot of people in the league in decision-making spots to come up with this list.

So, Jadenet 12 overall, I think it's too low for him. I understand why he is where he is. It's a recency bias thing. The bottom line is Drake May and Caleb Williams among the young quarterbacks. And then, by the way, you know, Dak Prescott and Matt Stafford, who weren't ahead of Jaden last year, had phenomenal seasons. It's a recency bias thing. And there is definitely some thought that, yes, there's an understanding that Jaden was hurt.

He was injured last year. But there's also probably a concern about him being hurt moving forward. And the last time they saw Drake May and they saw Caleb Williams, Caleb Williams was backpedaling 50 yards in the snow against the Rams in a divisional round playoff game and throwing a Hail Mary and forcing an overtime. And Drake May was quarterbacking a team to the Super Bowl. Now, to be fair, Drake May was legitimately horrendous in the playoffs. I don't think that that's a harbinger of things to come. I actually really was impressed by Drake May last year.

Very impressed by Drake May. But Jaden at 12 is because out of sight, out of mind. When you only play in four complete football games, you're out of sight, out of mind. And the bottom line is, you know, the last complete football game he played was back in, you know, October or early November. So, yeah, he just was hurt. And here were the quotes about Jaden, which were very positive. NFC execs said, quote, I know he was hurt in 2025, but I think this is the year he really makes his stamp and he's the guy we're all talking about as having taken the next step,

such a good decision maker and very accurate. Another NFL personnel evaluator said, quote, I would still take him over the other quarterbacks from the 2024 draft class from a pure quarterback and decision making standpoint. Yeah, I would take him in front of of Sam Darnold, I would take him in front of Caleb Williams, and I would take him in front of Jared Goff right now. Like if I were a voter, I would, you know, be influenced a little bit by the fact that he missed so much action. And there is sort of this predisposed feeling, even though the actual facts don't back it up, that he looks a bit breakable, you know, and that was part of the concern when he was drafted, even though he played in 52 of 54 college games.

And it is now, even though he played in all 20 games as a rookie. I think I would certainly, well, I would take him in front of Drake May in terms of if I had a choice of one or the other. And obviously I'd take him in front of Dak, Herbert, and even at this point, Matt Stafford, because of the age. I still think Jaden has a better chance of being near the top five like he was on last year's list than where he is now after this upcoming season. I think he's going to prove a lot. He's got to remain healthy, but I think he's that good. I don't think anything last year changed

my mind on that. Nothing did. I think, you know, when you think about the young quarterbacks, I mean, Drake, neither Drake May or Caleb Williams came anywhere close to doing what Jaden Daniels did in his one great season. Because Drake May and Caleb Williams each have one really, really good season out of their two. It's just the more recent season. And Jaden Daniels has one really good season out of his two. It just happens to be the one further in the rear view. But none of those three, you know, the one out of the three, that was clearly the best player

when the biggest games were on the line. That was Jaden Daniels. He was sensational during the 2024 post. season. Drake May was abysmal during the playoffs when they finally faced some really good defensive teams. That would worry me a bit if I were a New England fan. Now, I think I saw enough from him to believe in him, but when they faced the best defensive teams on their schedule, he was horrendous. And Caleb Williams, look, he did deliver in some big spots. There's no doubt about it, but Jaden's performance in the 2024 postseason was still, you know,

miles ahead of what Caleb Williams did. And let's keep in mind that New England had, by the time we got to the postseason, an excellent defense, the bears were rounding into form in all areas. Jaden had much less support, had a bad defense, and had average players around them offensively. I've said this a million times, and you guys know this, doesn't really need to be repeated, but I will anyway. Jaden Daniels is the only rookie quarterback in NFL history to carry his team to a championship game in his rookie season. There are others that have done it, but they all did it on the back of a great defense or on the back of a combined great defense and great running game.

Washington did it on the back of their rookie quarterback. This is all silly season stuff, list, ranking season stuff. but I was curious to see where he would rank and if he would be in the top 10 after being number five. I didn't expect him to be in the top 10. I kind of expected him to be right where he landed at 12. You know, I bet you some people would say, I still think Jordan Love has got more of a future than Jayden Daniels or, you know, maybe Trevor Lawrence does. I don't know. I would put him, I would have voted him eighth or ninth on this list. I would have because I would have just said, look, the only season I have to evaluate him on legitimately is 2024. I don't have another season

to evaluate him on. He barely played last year. So coming up, by the way, will be wide receivers later this week. Wide receivers on the 15th, so what's that Wednesday? And I think that's going to be the only other list that includes a Washington player, and it'll be Terry McCorn. I'll predict right now that Terry won't be in the top 10, but I think he'll be on the back half of the honorable mention list. So somewhere in the neighborhood of 14, 15, 15, 16, 17, something like that on the wide receiver list. That would be my guess. And I think when all is said and done, all these players listed on all these lists, Washington will have three.

Tunsell, Jaden, and Terry. That's it. I thought maybe O.A. would get listed among maybe others receiving votes for pass rusher. I thought Chigacanquo had a chance to be sort of others receiving votes among tight ends, but they weren't. All right. Lots to get to on the show, including soccer and AJ DeBonce's Summer League performances. Both of those things and more after these words from a few of our sponsors. If you're tired of the following bad combination,

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download and you can start selling right away. That falls for the Kaku. And he will find the nets. He so often has his say. Belgian celebrations fill the Seattle air As the Red Devils roar into the quarterfinals, United States of America won, Belgium, four. Well, that wasn't much of a game. That was the final call of last Monday night's round of 16 Belgium blowout of the United States,

four to one. I watched that entire game on a plane in my seat as we waited two hours at the gate for storms to clear before taking. off two hours on a plane in my seat until they cleared us for takeoff. Not much fun, although we did have the game to keep us occupied. And when I say we, much of the plane was watching the game. This segment of the show brought to you by Window Nation. Window Nation's got a great deal going on this month, the month of July. 50% off on all window styles, plus zero down, zero interest and no payments for two full years. If you've been thinking about replacing your older windows with newer windows,

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You're paying half price, and then you don't have to make a payment for two full years without being charged interest. WindowNation.com, you can certainly ask for your in-home estimate there, or you can call them at 866.90 Nation. whichever way you do it, mention my name. They'll come out and take really good care of you. I promise you, Windonation is the real deal. 86690 Nation, Windonation.com. So I was in France in Paris last Tuesday through Saturday, kept up with the World Cup. I've been into it, you know, as most of you who have been listening to this show, no.

I watched the France-Morocco quarterfinal on. Thursday night on a street with several outdoor cafes and bars. It was quite the scene. Although not every television was synced up in each of these places and the place that we were kind of parked for much of that game, the TV was about 10 to 15 seconds behind many of the others. So France, when they scored the first goal, there was a loud roar and we hadn't seen the goal yet. but 10 seconds later, we got it. So it sort of ruined the suspense of it.

But quite the scene to see, you know, a World Cup quarterfinal game in the streets of a major city in a country that really, really, really cares about it. You know, I've been told that England and being in England or being in Argentina and there are other places that are much crazier than France, but it was pretty crazy that night. and really to see how important it is to the rest of the world is kind of the interest or part of the interest that I have in all of this. So it was cool to watch a game like that in a country that feels that way about its World Cup team. By contrast, and I'm going to tell you a quick story because I do believe this story to be true. It comes from a good friend, a good friend of this show, in fact, who shall remain nameless until I clear.

with him that it's okay that I mention his name in relation to this story. But he told me that he was watching the game last Monday night in a place with a lot of people. And when Belgium scored the first goal of the game, the place went nuts. The people didn't realize that it wasn't the U.S. who had scored the first goal. It was actually Belgium. True story. I I bet you that's been the case with, look, a lot of people that have been into this don't really know what they're watching. And you get these outsized watch parties and crowds and a lot of people are there just for the party itself. And to be a part of something, they're not necessarily really into the game and don't really understand the game. I don't understand the game.

I did understand the difference in uniforms. I knew which team was the U.S. and which team was, uh, Belgium, the Red Devils. But that aside, that aside, look, I don't know much about soccer, as I have readily admitted many times over the years. But I know enough about sports to recognize an ass kicking when I see one. And that was an ass kicking. That was one of those where, you know, even if the score had been one-nothing or two-to-one,

you know, as a final, I would have recognized Belgium to be the much-sum. superior team. You know, I can't tell you if they were just the much better team that night or if they are just as a team in a different class than the United States. I've watched a lot and read a lot post that beat down on Monday night as to why the U.S. is still inferior to the powers in the sport. You know, I know there's a lot to it and that it's much more than, you know, just, you know, soccer in this sport isn't, you know, played by our best athletes.

That's not it. You know, it's more than that. A country as big as ours should have as many top-tier athletes playing soccer as any other country. We have a lot more people to choose from. It goes much deeper than that. But last Monday night, man, that was a mismatch. And the U.S. was favored.

The optimism was high. telling me the U.S. is better than this Belgium team. They're old. Their time had passed. Now, I did share with all of you last Monday with Tommy on the show that I had on a happiness hedge wager bet on Belgium. I mean, when the president got involved with Balligan and FIFA, and everybody then thought the U.S. was going to win, I'm a contrarian. I took the other side. I took Belgium plus 180 on the regulation outright win side. And that paid. That's what I call happiness hedge.

Either result. And I'm pleased. If the U.S. had won, great. They won their onto the quarterfinals. If they didn't, I won some money. And Belgium smoked them, man. I mean, absolutely smoked them. Now, the Christian politic thing, you know, with him talking about being hurt and now, you

know, and because they're done now, he's able to rest. Man, he took a bunch of blowback for that. I didn't know really the Christian Polisich, however he pronounced its story. But it certainly seemed like there were a lot of people that came out of the woodworks to say that they weren't real fond of this guy leading up to the World Cup, and they're definitely not real fond of this guy after the World Cup. You know, the word that was used the most is that he's too aloof. I don't know.

I don't know enough about it to weigh in on that. I do know that back to the, you know, why can't the U.S. be at the level of the France's and the Spain's and the, you know, Belgians and the Argentina's and the Brazils and the Portugal's, you know, I think they're ranked 15th in the world rankings, but there clearly seems to be a separation after the top five or six. I mean, part of it, and I've read a lot about this over the last week, is that that our country in terms of the way our athletes are cultivated, trained from a very young age, and then how they compete is just much different than the rest of the world. You know,

we have college sports in this country. The rest of the world does not understand our obsession with college sports. Their best athletes are identified at a very early age, and they are paid for by those countries to train and to become professionals. And they become professionals at much younger ages. And so they're competing against much higher levels at younger ages. That's probably a big part of it. We don't do that. And in our country, whether it's youth soccer, and I can't speak to that as much as I can speak to things like youth basketball, AAU basketball, all, you know, the cost of entry is is borne out more times than not, not every time, by the parents and those families that can afford it. That's not always the case, even at very young levels.

I have watched and been witness to and been a part of, you know, those without means being, you know, helped and aided along when those young, you know, players, young athletes, young children, and kids had talent. So it's not always about which families can afford it, but it is different the way we do it versus the rest of the world. I mean, our high school athletes aren't professional. Our high school aged athletes aren't professionals. They're a long way from it.

In other countries, they are. They're already professionals. We have them go off to play college sports for at least a year in basketball anyway. In football, sometimes it's at least three years. before they're able to play professionally because college sports are massive money-making operations, and there is an obsession with college sports. I've had this conversation many times, I bet many of you have as well, with people that you know from other countries that just don't get the college sports thing.

It just doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. We're the country that obsesses over college football and college basketball. Did you see the TV numbers from this thing? I mean, they were outrageous. Over 50 million viewers for the U.S. and Belgium. Over 46 million for that England-Mexico round of 16 game from Mexico City. This is by far in a way the most watched World Cup of all time in the States. The U.S. Belgium game became the most watched sporting event that

wasn't an NFL game since Nancy Kerrigan and Tanya Harding skated in 1994. So what does it mean? You know, you're going to see a lot of people pontificating on these wild numbers. I mean, way higher than anybody anticipated. 50 plus million is a lot of people to watch a sporting event in this country. Of course it doesn't compare to the Super Bowl or even championship games, but it compares favorably and a lot better than everything else. The question is, is it a one-off or is it something that is an indication that our country is

really starting to become soccer enthusiasts? And we are now going to follow the sport more closely. We're going to watch it more often, whether it's the MLS or whether it's the Premier League, or La Liga or Bundesliga or Italian A or all of these other really good leagues, which are available on television in the U.S., are we going to start watching those in greater numbers? Are we going to watch our U.S. team when it's qualifying versus when it's actually playing in the World Cup?

I don't know the answer to that. My guess would be no that this is very much like the Olympics. It's in every four-year thing. It just is at a grander scale. it lasts longer, you know, and your team is part of this incredible theater worldwide, which is the World Cup. It really is quite the spectacle, and the U.S. has done it very well, you know, at their stadiums with these games. I know there's been lots of controversies about various things. I'm sure there are every four years in this event.

I personally think we're going to get to football season here in nine weeks. And by the way, nine weeks from yesterday, week one of the NFL season. Eight weeks ago, seven weeks ago, Saturday, the beginning of the college football season. So we're getting close to real, you know, conversations about the things we love the most. I don't see this translating to much higher MLS numbers. I do think there's a chance that this could translate to more interest in the lead-up to a World Cup, meaning in 2030, the qualifying stuff starts, you know, a year, year-and-a-half, two years before. And some of those, I think they're called concaf matches in our region of the world,

North America and parts of Central America, all of the qualifying leading up to the next World Cup and those games are important. I think maybe the interest level in some of those because it'll be the national team will be maybe heightened, higher than what we've seen. I don't see the newbies in that 50 million number all of the sudden becoming MLS.

watchers. But I bet a lot of the new watchers were younger and that can be unpredictable in terms of what they're going to fall in love with and what they're going to consume. I still find personally soccer to be a tough game to watch. The best part about it is it's no more than two hours. I mean, it is the shortest of, you know, the sports that, you know, we consume or the world consumes. I mean, many times, you know, that thing is over in, you know, two hours or less, but you know it's typically not going to be much longer than that. It's just not, I think, I've said it before. I think from the flopping to the clock to the lack of true action,

and I know the pushback is an NFL game only has 10 minutes of actual real action. It still seems like more action to me than in a soccer game. Some of these games that are very defensive. of in nature are really painful to watch. You know, where you've got, you know, essentially 10 men sitting back saying, you can possess the ball all you want, but you're not going to get a good look. And we're going to slow this game down. Yes, there are sports we see.

Basketball is a game that can be slowed down. Yeah, I think this is, you know, going to perhaps lead to more interest in the national team, but it's not going to increase significantly. interest in soccer outside of these big national events or even the qualifying run-up to these big not national events, international events. Just my take. I've enjoyed some of the other games. France, Spain, tomorrow, England, Argentina on Wednesday and the two winners play Sunday in the Meadowlands. And I'll be there. And I can't wait to see what this thing is and looks like live. I know that the final is more of a corporate crowd than maybe some of these other games.

I am personally hoping for England, Spain. England, France would be fine, but I want England in the final. I think that would provide the best atmosphere in terms of fans, although I know Argentina's fans are nuts too. I do know this. Man, New York is going to be crowded next weekend. That I can sense already. All right, more to catch up on and talk about when we come back after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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No minimum balance required. Checking account ranking based on a JD Power survey published October 20, 2025. For more information on APY rates, my pay, spot me, and travel perks. Go to chime.com slash disclosures. Up ahead, Devonsa, he wants three. Wow. Confidence. Devonsa with the cross, got a good screen from our car and drains the MIDI.

As the gods in the nose, took a shot to the face earlier. That's DeVonza with the block. Livingston. I had the DeBonza with the finish. That's great job by DeBonza. AJ DeBonza put on a bit of a show last night in Vegas. 23.7 rebounds, three steals, two block shots in what may have been the final game for him this summer. This segment of the show is brought to you by My Bookie.

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You can bet up to $500 on that first World Cup wager, and it's a betback bonus. That is a gimmee of up to $500 to take a swing on hitting on that first wager without any risk at all. Go to mybooky.orgie.orgie.com, and in the process of signing up or making a deposit, it. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. If there's something already typed in to the promo code section, erase it and type in Kevin D.C. My bookie is the spot to bet on these final four. There are still four World Cup games left. You've got the two semifinal games. There will be a third place game on Saturday and then the final game on Sunday. So, AJ DeBanza, he's looked good last night and last Thursday night in the Wizards win over Utah. They beat Sacramento

last night 104 to 85. The talk is that the Wizards have seen enough of AJ DeBons in the Summer League. They don't need to see any more. And that last night may have been the final time he'll play this summer. The win last Thursday night was a win over Utah with Darren Peterson. He went for 27 and 7 in that game. So the takeaways from most are that AJ DeBanza has really looked good in these NBA Summer League games. And I know some of you believe that you've seen enough that the verdict is in. The Wizards got it right. A.J. DeBanza is him, as the kids say.

And he's going to be the next great NBA superstar. and two Summer League games was all you needed to see to feel certain about that. Well, let me throw some cold water on that certainty. If you feel that way, you're entitled to feel that way, but it's really silly to feel that way. AJ DeBanza might turn out to be a superstar in the NBA, and I like AJ DeBanza. You guys know that.

Now, I do believe that Darren Peterson and maybe even Caleb Wilson have bigger upsides. I said that before the draft, but I liked Abanza a lot. There's a lot too like. And this was just, you know, a draft in which there were three players, maybe four at the top. And one of them more likely than that, maybe two of them will end up being star players. I would bet you that all four don't end up being superstar players down. the road. DeBonsa might turn out to be a great player, an MVP caliber player down the road. But it's never going to be because of what you saw in Las Vegas in his first two Summer League games.

You know, in the game last night, the starters for Sacramento were three rookies and two second year players, role players at that. In the game against Utah last Thursday night, rookies insignificant role players in the starting lineup. Darren Peterson did play. Played well too. These games, people, if you don't know this about the NBA Summer League, they mean nothing. They tell you almost nothing and should never be taken as a legitimate tell on the future.

And let me just, you know, give you some substance to sort of back up that thinking. Okay, they're not playing NBA teams like they'll play in the regular season. The NBA veteran players, the true superstars of the game, the true starters in the sport, are not playing in these Summer League games. Some are that are very young, but most are not. Here are the MVPs of the last five Vegas summer leagues. You ready for this? 2021, people raving in the summer leagues.

Summer League about Davion Mitchell and Cam Thomas because they were the two co-MvPs of the Vegas Summer League in 2021. Let me just tell you, I was a huge Davian Mitchell fan coming out of Baylor. He was a really good player, and I really liked him coming out. And five years in the league, he's on his third team already, Miami. He's played some good basketball. He's started some games. He's about a third of his games in five years he started, but he hasn't turned into anything special. Cam Thomas, he can score for sure, but two teams in five years, no NBA All-Star games for any of these people that I'm going to mention. And he has started in roughly a third of his games, so not a regular starter for much of the five years that he's been in the league. Those were the two co-MvPs of the 21 Summer League.

The 22 MVP of the Vegas Summer League was Keegan Murray. I actually really liked him in college. He's played four years in Sacramento, a starter and a decent player, but nothing special. No All-Star games. But, you know, he was the 2022 MVP, and I guarantee you there were people saying, wow, Sacramento got it right. This dude's going to turn into a superstar. And by the way, it's really early to say anything definitive about any of these players.

they're still relatively young players. I'm just giving you a recent history because A.J. DeBonsa may end up becoming the the Summer League MVP. The 2023 MVP was Cam Whitmore. He's a current wizard. He's on his second team in three years. He has started a grand total of three NBA games

in his three seasons in the NBA. In 2024, Jalen Wilson, not Jalen Williams, Jalen Wilson was the Summer League MVP. He's been with the Nets for three years. He has started a grand total of 27 games. He's barely a role player so far. Last year, Kyle Filipowski in Utah for two years. It was the second year player.

He was the MVP of the Vegas Summer League. He has less than half of the potential starts for him. He's had some moments. Last year, I thought he was impressive at times for Utah. Again, it's early. But if you even go into the first and second team players from these summer leagues, you know, they vote on a first team, all summer league team and a second all summer league team. I mean, the majority of players over the last five years are essentially players that are totally irrelevant right now in the NBA.

The point is, summer league isn't real NBA basketball people. for those of you who don't know, I think many of you do. It's primarily rookie second year players. This is a step up from the college games that they played in, but also less organized, you know, with less pressure. I mean, I think that there's some pressure to perform in these games because this Summer League has become a bit of a spectacle. And I mean, this was not a big deal 15 years ago.

It's more of a last decade kind of a thing. But when I say less organized, less pressure. I mean, AJ DeBonsa in the Big 12 last year played in some high stakes games, you know, and in games on teams that he was a big part of, and they were more organized, they were more together. This is just kind of thrown together a little bit. Look, the takeaways for me from a summer league, you know, two games set on a player like DeBanza are things like, man, his wingspan is legit, because it is. It's seven feet plus, and it shows up.

It showed up in college, and it showed up in this summer league. He really looks long on both ends of the floor, by the way, defensively and offensively. He's athletic. I don't call, I would not refer to him, and I said this about him as a college player, and in watching, I'll just tell you, I watched the highlights of the two games. I didn't watch these two games in full. But he's athletic. He's not through the roof, top, you know, elite level athletic.

I think he is crafty in getting to the bucket. I think he has, you know, good shot mechanics, even though the three didn't fall last night. I think he made one out of six or something like that. I love his competitiveness, for sure. He's intense, competitive. All things we knew about him coming in. The takeaways on a player like deba,

Bonsa should be things like that. Not after two Summer League games that, oh my God, it's over. The Wizards got it right. It's so obvious. He's a star. He's the next number one pick to become a superstar. Those takes are embarrassing. And you really shouldn't pay attention to anybody that is seriously putting that

kind of stuff out there after summer league games. Again, it doesn't mean that he won't be an eventual super. But there's no reasonable way to know that based on two summer league games against primarily players who won't play that much in the NBA, if at all. I did like him coming out. Again, I liked Caleb Wilson and I liked Darren Peterson in terms of their ceilings a little bit more. Peterson obviously was a tough case because you would have had to know everything about him to really have a definitive opinion about him.

But I thought DeBanza was third in terms of the ceiling after those two players. And he was definitely a safer pick than Darren Peterson. And he may end up being the best of the bunch. But it's not because of what somebody on Twitter saw in two Summer League games. Okay, please. I think most of you are smart enough to realize that. like anybody that's telling you that it's over that they've seen enough from two summer league games.

I mean, it's embarrassing for somebody of note anyway to suggest that. Meantime, real NBA conversation includes what will LeBron James do in free agency? You know, there's so much reporting on this. I think there are five or six teams that appear to be in the running. his agent, Rich Paul, said 27 of the league's, you know, other 29 teams because the Lakers were not a possibility that they have talked to. So there are only two NBA teams other than the Lakers that they have not talked to. So the Wizards are a team that maybe they have actually had some conversations with about LeBron joining the team. But I think there are five or six kind of contenders, Golden State, Miami, Philly,

Cleveland. I think those are the top four in some order. Maybe a team like Denver. I've read recently that some people think Minnesota is a dark horse. I don't see that. The Denver fit would be my favorite because you would put two of the highest IQ players in the history of the league side by side in LeBron and Yokic. And Yokic needs help badly, badly. The nuggets are not at Oklahoma City or at San Antonio's level with arguably the best player in the league on their team. They need more than just Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon. Gordon hasn't been available to them because he keeps getting injured during the postseason. Putting LeBron next to Yokic with Gordon, with Murray, with some of their other pieces,

I don't think that they become the favorite over OKC or. San Antonio, but I think it gives him a much better chance in a best of seven against those teams. But I don't think that's where he's going to end up because the nuggets don't have much money. That's the problem. Now, LeBron and his side has said this won't be a signing about money. It's going to be about, you know, tying himself to a team that he thinks he can help the most and help win the most. but the Nuggets literally have like the league minimum for a veteran available,

which is like $4 million, $3.9 million, something like that. He would become one of the most noted league minimum players in history if he signed with Denver. But that would be my favorite fit personally. My guess is one of the Eastern Conference teams, Miami, Philadelphia, or Cleveland. Because being in the east, I think gives him his best chance of getting back to the finals and to the highest, you know, week and a half exposure in the sport, which are the NBA finals.

I think San Antonio and Oklahoma City are both just a cut above, not only everybody in the West, but I think by the time we get to next year, maybe everybody in the East, including the champions, the Knicks, because San Antonio will be a year older. and Wemby presumably a year more mature and more advanced in certain areas of a game. All right, I'm going to finish up with the Nats and Rigo after these words from a few of our sponsors.

Left center. Cruz back. He's on the track. He's at the wall. He can't make the play. And it bounds back into center field. One run scores. Here comes Gisham.

He'll score. Rice is at third with a two-run triple. and his great first half continues as he gives the Yankees the lead. I thought Dylan Cruz had a shot at that. I don't know that he played it the best that he could have. Ben Rice's triple in the top of the eighth gave the Yankees the lead and their third come from behind win in the eighth inning or later over the weekend here in Washington. If you have a chance and you haven't done it already,

rate and review this podcast. It's really big for us to get ratings and reviews, especially on Apple and Spotify. Both give you a chance to rate this show up to five stars. That's obviously the best case for us. So if you think the show deserves it, just easily click on the five stars. And that's it. It takes all of a few seconds to do it. To write a review takes a little bit longer, but it can be a sentence or two tops. Apple allows you to do that. Following this podcast is a big deal for us. as well. That's really easy to do. Just hit the plus button or the follow button on Apple and Spotify. Man, another painful bullpen weekend for the Nats. Three leads into the eighth and ninth innings, three losses. And they go into the All-Star break. The home run derby is tonight. The game is tomorrow night. Now a game under 500. The bullpen's a mess, obviously. I read something over the last few days that suggested that if the Nats had just an average statistical bullpen, they'd be roughly nine games over 500 right now. And that would put them basically within a

game or two of the Braves for first place in the National League. East. They just don't have a bullpen. It's a shame because every other aspect of their team is so much better than anybody thought. Foster Griffin, by the way, added to the all-star team. So C.J. Abrams, James Wood, Foster Griffin, three all-stars for the National League team. I did think that Dylan Cruz could have played that better. He did not use his non-glove hand to sort of feel where the wall was. The wall snuck up on him and took him out of that play. It was a catchable

deep fly ball. I thought it was. I was watching that game as it happened. I had just gotten back and watched a lot of, basically from about the fifth inning on. And I thought he could have made that catch. I didn't think he played it great. Maybe some of you think I'm nuts, but

tough, tough loss for the Nats. Tough way to go into this All-Star break. There was certainly a chance for it to be much better. You know, they call this the completion of the first half of the season. The Nats have played 97 games. So it's not exactly the first half of the season, clearly. But they could have been in a much better spot, and they're not. And there's still a lot of baseball to go.

They, you know, I was watching Colco and Kevin Franzden, you know, calling this game, listening to them call this. game. I think it was Colco who threw out this statistic. How about this one? The Nats have given up 91 runs at home in the eighth inning or later this year. That's the most in Major League Baseball. The second most, the A's with 65 runs allowed at home over the final two innings. That's a 26 run difference. I mean, if you want to look at why the Nats are a game below 500, which by the way is still way ahead of expectations, it's that. I mean, it's so obvious. Like this is not one of those, well, it's a little bit of this.

It's a lot of that. It's a little bit more of that. No, it's their bullpen, period. James Wood, by the way, five homers now in his last six games. He homered in all three of the games this weekend against the Yankees. 28 homers on the season. He's not a part of tonight's home run derby. He's tied for fourth right now in the league with home runs.

So be nice to see the Nats all. offensively anyway, do something really good tomorrow night in the game itself. But man, this season could have been, and still could be, but really could have been something different. And I just don't think they thought before this season started, they needed to invest in a big way in their bullpen because it was the difference between a National League East title, you know, and the playoffs versus not. They thought that, you know, There were other holes that were also, you know, holes that would lead towards, you know, not a contending season. But this could have been a contending season.

We'll see what happens in the second half. They kick off the second half or the first of their final 65 games on Friday night against the A's on the road. All right. I want to finish up this show with my thoughts on last. week's news that the team is going to retire number 44 rigos jersey it'll happen during a halftime ceremony week nine against the Rams at home in Landover this is something that I knew was coming I think most people could have anticipated that the next jersey would be Riggos to be retired I'm thrilled I also think it's overdue it's not long overdue that would be the wrong

way to describe it because this team just initiated this policy of retiring jerseys in 2020. They had a longstanding, you know, 70 plus year policy of not retiring jerseys except for the one that was retired, and that was Sammy Boas number 33. They had plenty of protected jerseys where they were protected and players couldn't wear them, but they weren't officially retired. Of course, some of those numbers occasionally got worn either by mistake or in the case of Joe Thaisman's number seven because the owner was too weak to tell his young quarterback, Dwayne Haskins, the player he preferred, the player that he drafted, that he couldn't wear the number that he wanted to wear. Dwayne Haskins wanted to wear number seven. Instead of saying no, that's a protected jersey. that's a jersey that belongs to a Super Bowl winning quarterback, a league MVP,

and one of the more memorable players in the history of our franchise, you find a different number and make that number special on your own. He didn't do that. He publicly went to Joe and said, Joe, please, you make the call on this. That was abhorrent. That was truly spineless, and the wrong thing to do would put Joe in a terrible spot.

But beyond that, 33 was the only one retired for many, many decades. There were protected jerseys. And then in the summer of 2020, with the world literally in total turmoil, the franchise in total turmoil, with investigation after investigation, with, you know, the team name getting taken away and being given up late that summer. the team did what it did quite often under Snyder. They tried to create, you know, a distraction. Hey, don't look over here because we're introducing a policy of retiring jerseys. And we're starting with the player that integrated this franchise, Bobby Mitchell, his number 49, will be retired during the upcoming 2020 season.

Look, I think Bobby Mitchell's jersey deserved to be the first jersey retired once they initiated the policy of retiring jerseys the second overall in franchise history. But make no mistake, this was not like something that they came up with in a normal environment. They were always looking for ways to, you know, focus on something positive when the organization was surrounded in negativity. But I would look at John's jersey being retired here in 2026 is overdue, because I, I think personally, John's jersey should have already been retired. I mean, this is nitpicking here, but I've had the list for many, many years now of what I consider to be non-negotiables on jerseys to be retired. If they ever initiated that policy, which they eventually did, and I've repeated this many times, I think there are seven in franchise history, seven jerseys that absolutely should be retired and there's no debate.

Sunny Jurgensen's number nine, Daryl Green's number 28, Sammy Baugh's number 33, Charlie Taylor's number 42, and I would expect his jersey to be retired next summer, the announcement to be next summer about a 2027 retirement ceremony for his jersey. Riggos 44, Bobby Mitchell's 49, and Art Monks, 81. At this point of those seven, five have been retired, Riggos will be retired, And I think the next one will be Charlie Taylor's in 2027. Charlie Taylor is the greatest receiver in franchise history. Art Monk, in my opinion, is the second greatest receiver in franchise history,

both deserving of having their jerseys retired. I would have had the order Bobby Mitchell, then I would have done Sonny's, and then I would have done Johns. I would have done Johns after Sunnies. And then I would have done Daryls, and then I would have done Daryls, and then I would have done Charlie Taylor's, and then I would have done art monks. Now, mixed in to this was Sean Taylor's number 21, which got retired after Bobby Mitchell's, the third jersey to be retired in franchise history.

They got that wrong, in my opinion. I told them, Jason Wright and Company, they got that wrong. And of course, they screwed it up seven ways to Sunday when they did it. What a disaster, all of that was. Sean Taylor's jersey has never been on the no debate non-negotiable. It was on the other list, which would have been debatable, and it would have been owner-parogative. And in Dan's case, because Sean was a player that was acquired during his ownership, and he was close to that player, and he lived through, as we all did, the tragedy of Sean's passing,

I always felt like that was kind of a standalone decision, and one of those that you could put into the conversation, because he was a very important player to a lot of younger fans. There's no doubt he was a great player getting better and would have been a future Hall of Famer had he lived. I don't have a problem with Sean Taylor's jersey being retired. I had a problem in the moment with his jersey being retired then. Before Sunny's jersey, before Daryl's jersey, before Rigo's jersey, before Charlie Taylor's jersey, before Art Monk's jersey.

The seven no debate jerseys, this is my list. You may have a different list. They should have been the first seven or the first six after Sammy Baas before we got to a conversation about Sean Taylor. The debatable list with the next group, Thysman, Sean Taylor, he's already had his jersey retired, Ken Houston's 27, Larry Browns 43, Chris Hamburgerer's 55, Jacoby 66, Grimm's 68. That's on the list of what I would call debatable. If they end up having their jerseys retired, I think it's deserving, but I think if they don't, you can make a case for that as well. Now, as it relates to Rigo, in my opinion, Rigo is the most popular and the most beloved player

in franchise history. I think Sonny's close. I think Doug Williams is close. the debate over whether or not he's the best player in franchise history, that's a different conversation because I personally think Sammy Boss, Sonny Jurgensen, Daryl Green, probably Charlie Taylor are ahead of Rigo in terms of the conversation of being the greatest player in franchise history. But in my view, no player in the history of this franchise has elicited the

caring the love like John Riggins says in the history of this organization. There's just something about Rigo. Obviously, he's tremendously charismatic. He's a personality unlike any other. Sonny was quite the personality as well. But Rigo was a great player. He was part of the first Super Bowl championship team, and he was the MVP. of not only that championship team in the Super Bowl 17 win over Miami,

but the entire postseason is a legendary few weeks, the most memorable you could argue, few weeks in franchise history, which culminated with the most memorable moment in franchise history, fourth and won. He was such a great player. I mean, for those of you that are younger, and didn't have a chance to see him. I think that there's this perception of John

that he was this big bruising fullback. And he was big. He was 6'2 and 2.30, which would be big now for a running back. And it was really big back then. And he was a bruiser. He was hard to bring down. But that's not what Rigo was all about.

Rigo had great speed. You know, an all-time 100-yard-dash record holder in the state of Kansas. If you want to see Rigo's big body, I mean, I'm talking about motoring away from a defense. 1979 season finale against the Cowboys' fourth quarter, Washington up six, 2721, and Rigo on a draw bounces it to the outside, gets to the sideline, and outraces every Dallas defensive back to the end zone. 66 yards touchdown felt like in the moment the game was over. It wasn't. Dallas led by Roger Staubach came back and won that game 35, 34,

and one of the most memorable, I think the most memorable loss in franchise history. But Rigo was tremendous in that game. But Rigo was an all-around combination of brute and athleticism speed, quickness and he always said that his number one attribute I did a show with John for two and a half years John was a part of the pregame show that I did for several years I loved working with John one of my greatest thrills in broadcasting um but what he would always say when asked about what made him the player that he was, he said it was my eyes, meaning it was his vision. He had great vision, great spatial feel, like where to bounce to and then where to hit the hole. He saw it all

with great peripheral vision. The greatest running backs in the history of the game have been great vision runners. And that's what he always said was his number one attribute. Most people would say, oh, it was his size. It was his brute strength. It was his speed. He always said it was about his vision. Clutch, all-time clutch. We all know what happened in the January time frame of 1983 following the 82 season.

But before those playoffs, following the 82 season, he goes to bugle and says, tell the big guy I want the ball and I'll take us to where we need to go. And Riggins rushed for still a record, postseason record, 610 yards in one postseason. And each game had its own distinct kind of feel and moment and or memory. It started in that postseason with a big win over Detroit. remember that strike shortened season was, you know, was a shortened season down to nine regular season games and they allowed eight teams into the postseason that year. That was, you know, an accommodation for the short season. So it wasn't the normal playoff format. It was one versus

eight, two versus seven, three versus six, four versus five. And Washington was the one seed. They were 8 and 1 in that regular season. And they opened up at home on January 8, 8, 1983 against the Lions who were the 8th seed. Rigo rushed for 119 yards on 25 carries in a 31 to 7 route. And there was that one play where he breaks it to the skin sideline, which was the near sideline as you were watching on TV. And a corner comes up to make a hit on Rigo. And he literally lowers his shoulder and the player is.

lifted into the air and thrown for about 15 yards backwards. Then it was Minnesota in the second round at RFK. Washington won the game 21 to 7. Riggins rushed for 185 yards on 37 carries. A touchdown in that game, five yards per carry during that game. And of course, the famous bow at midfield when they took him out of the game at the end. The stadium literally shook and then came the chance of we want Dallas. And Dallas wasn't even the opponent at that point.

Washington played Minnesota on a Saturday. Dallas was playing Green Bay on the following Sunday the next day. But they didn't want Green Bay. We didn't want Green Bay. We wanted Dallas. Dallas won that game. And they came to RFK on January 22nd, 1983. for still to this day, for me, the most electric sports environment I've ever been in,

never seen or felt anything like that day at RFK. And Rigo was, once again, the focus. 36 carries, 140 yards, two touchdowns. And at the end, as they ran down the clock, and Russ Grimm told Randy White, we're coming at you. and Rigo just kept barreling through that great Dallas defensive front. And Washington had its NFC championship win. And they were into the Super Bowl,

a Super Bowl that felt anti-climactic, if you can believe that. But beating Dallas in the NFC title game for fans and players alike was the pinnacle. Now Rigo always said the Super Bowl was his pinnacle. He had always dreamed of playing in that Super Bowl. And of course, Super Bowl 17 was all about Rigo and fourth and one. And that run that gave Washington a 20 to 17 lead with just over 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The most famous play in D.C. sports history, I don't think that's debatable. 38 carries for a record 166 Super Bowl yards.

That record, by the way, would be broken a year later by Marcus Allen when he rushed for 181 yards in the Raiders' Super Bowl 18 win over the Redskins. You know, people forget that that postseason is obviously all-time record breaker, the 610 yards over for games. But Rigo's clutchness didn't stop there. In the 83 season, when the skins went 14 and 2, with just two one-point losses to Dallas and Green Bay on Monday nights, at the beginning of the season and midway through the season.

Rigo had some tremendous games during that season. They played Dallas and what we all refer to as the fatigues game when they got off the plane in fatigues, playing the Cowboys for the one seed for the NFC East title in the next to last week of the 83 season. Rigo, two touchdowns, 89 yards rushing, huge in that game and a 31 to 10 route of Dallas. And then in that postseason that,

before they lost the Super Bowl to the Raiders in Tampa. Riggins in the two playoff games at home against the Rams and 49ers, he went for 25 for 119 and three touchdowns against the Rams in a route of Los Angeles. And then in the NFC title game, 36 carries 123 yards, two touchdowns, plus he threw a pass in the game for 36 yards. And then in the Super Bowl, nobody played great. He had a touchdown in that game. But Rigo's clutch performances were not necessarily just relegated to one year.

Look, he's an all-time great. He is, I think, the player that is the most popular player in the history of the franchise. you know, it's not, you were now generations, you know, multiple removed from the last time he played in 85. But I still would argue that there are more 44 jerseys at home games than any other jersey. That's been the case for decades now. I'm thrilled for him. You know, obviously Rigo was not a big fan of Dan. Snyder in the previous regime. And I'm glad that it would appear that he is, you know, and has developed

a nice working relationship with Josh Harris and company. You know, Riggins didn't mention the commanders by name. He mentioned the Burgundy and gold in his statement on Twitter. I'll read it from the other day. After this was announced, he said, quote, I want everyone to know my deep sense of gratitude to Josh Harris and the entire Burgundy and gold organization for this honor. But this recognition, excuse me, is not for me alone. It should be shared with my forever teammates, coaches, and ultimately you, the fans. You and I are forever tied to 44. You gave me breath. I gave you heart. And I hope more laughs than tears. And he signed off Rigo. Yeah.

Man, there's many of us that have had the good fortune to work with him. And I'll end with this. You know, all of us have worked with in this business with a lot of former players. I've been really, really lucky, you know, getting to work with Doc for a period of time and over the years in a lot of different circumstances. Getting to work with Riggins and Cooley. John is, I think, the most interesting, not because of his personality, but because of his intellect of any player that I've ever worked with. John is forever curious and the last person to be judgmental.

Rigo's ego is next to nothing. It always surprised me. There just never was that. I think anybody that ever even had a small and a short window of opportunity to work with Rigo, and I got to do it for two and a half years on radio every single day, and then for several years, you know, as part of the season's pregame host where Rigo joined me on that. Just John was one of the guys. He couldn't have been easier and couldn't have been more fun.

to be around. Cooley in many ways was exactly the same when it came to lack of ego and intellect and being interested in almost everything. Yeah, this was obvious. He was going to have his jersey retired and I think it will be quite the scene on November 8th at halftime. Let's hope when we get there that this is a meaningful game. They waited until the end of the season for Sunnies. You can't do that. I'm glad they knew to do it earlier or midway through the season, so the game isn't insignificant.

You end up with more of the opposing fans than the home fans. No, this should be a special Sunday afternoon on November 8th when Rigo's jersey is officially retired. and how he'll come out onto the field, who knows. I do know that when it does happen, that the outpouring of genuine love, warmth will be as intense as it could be for any player that's ever played for this franchise. All right, that'll do it for today, back tomorrow with Tommy.