The Kevin Sheehan Show - JD5: "Potential Face Of the NFL"

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Kevin opened by responding to Steve Young saying that Jayden Daniels "has the potential to be the face of the NFL". Lots on John Keim's story today on ESPN.com about the reasons for the standoff between Terry McLaurin and the Commanders. Fred Smoot joined Kevin to talk training camp standouts and a lot more including the player he things will surprise this year. 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 Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Fred Smoot will join me on the show today, starting in the next segment. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, Window Nation, 86690 Nation, windownation.com if you need new windows.

This from Trippy to open up the show, Trippy writes, Kevin, One of your favorite quarterbacks ever said, Jaden Daniels is on his way to being the face of the NFL. And then he attached a Steve Young photo. I saw that, Trippy. I saw what Steve Young said about Jaden Daniels. He said it on the Dan Patrick show, I think yesterday. He said, quote, in today's game, he, meaning Jaden Daniels,

He is the ultimate prototype. He's threatening the line of scrimmage every play. He has the potential to be the face of the NFL. Steve Young is one of my favorite quarterbacks of all time, in part because I've always thought in the conversation of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Steve Young is sometimes an afterthought or he's a bit underrated. He's not in everybody's top 10.

He's in my top 10. I've compared Jaden Daniels a ton to Steve Young over the last year and a half. I think their skill sets are so similar. Both accurate passers, both fast processors, both quick mechanics, ball out, both of course with the dimension of mobility to the nth degree. Steve Young is one of the great mobile playmaking quarterbacks. of all time. You know, when Steve Young said he's the ultimate prototype, he's threatening the line of scrimmage every play. And I know I've talked about this before, but can you imagine Steve Young

in this era of dual threat quarterback football? I mean, he would have been an incredible zone read, you know, option quarterback, designed run quarterback, and of course as a scrambler, one of the great scramblers of all time. That is quite the compliment. I don't know if if Jaden's going to become the face of the NFL or not. But it's a hell of a compliment. This from Janet. Janet writes, Kevin, I listen to you, but from a distance as you are always in my husband's ears at night. My apologies, Janet.

Am I crazy to think that there's a good chance that this season won't be as good as last season? I just remember so much luck, and I think it'll be hard to replicate. No, Janet, you're not crazy. I think many people believe the same thing. We've had this conversation previously. Hail Mary to win a game, you know, the kicker being out in the giant game. Washington almost loses that game, 21 to 18, with the Giants forced to go for two and every fourth down. The drop pass by Devante Smith on third down in the game that Washington came back in 136 to 30.

If Smith makes that catch and it's right in his hands from Kenny Pickett, that game is over. The Saints nearly walked off Washington with a two-point conversion. But I would also point to, you know, the tough spot on the Zachert's fourth-down catch in the Pittsburgh game, the missed P.A.T. in the Dallas game after that incredible touchdown pass to Terry McClearn. And those were two losses that could have easily been wins. Here's the thing, though, about the luck factor with them last year. So much of it was about the quarterback. So much of it was.

I know that I gave you a couple of examples of it not being about the quarterback, the kicker in the giant game. The DeVante Smith dropped. But so much of what they were able to accomplish the close games, the Atlanta game at the end of the year. Obviously, the Chicago game and the Philly. game and we could, you know, go on through the entire list if we wanted to, but we all know the games in which they, you know, were strapped to Jaden's back and he carried them to victory.

There's no, with quarterbacks or teams that have quarterbacks like Jaden Daniels, there's no like, you know, first of all, there's no regression to the mean on something like this to begin with, but there's no like, oh, it's going to even out. Nobody says that about Mahon. Nobody says that about Allen. They just keep strapping their teams to their backs and winning games, winning close games. Last year, Mahomes, seven game winning drives, five fourth quarter comebacks. Is anybody saying that he can't do that again this year? No.

You expect that from him. Josh Allen, I went and looked this up. Josh Allen, in his first full year of starting, had. five fourth quarter comebacks. The next season was an incredible season, not only for him, but his team. And this is where, you know, you could think about Washington and maybe if they take a step forward offensively in year two, and maybe if they're a little bit improved defensively, maybe they don't need the luck because they're hammering people. Josh Allen, the year after he had five fourth quarter

comebacks and took the bills to the postseason, the next year he threw for 1,500 more yards, 17 more touchdowns, and the bills routed everybody on the way to a 13 and 3 record. He finished second in the MVP voting that year behind Aaron Rogers. The point is that if Jaden Daniels is who we think he is, they're going to continue to be good, The luck factor will look less lucky and more just about who they are or who he is.

Yeah. And, you know, like Alan in his second full season of starting, it's very possible that they just end up being a lot better. The bills average 32 points per game that season, and they rolled people. You know, not every season are you relying on as much as what Washington relied on last year. You know, there could be, you know, more games this year where there aren't a lot of fourth quarter, you know, there's not a lot of fourth quarter drama. I did see this thing, though, on ESPN today. It was this ESPN bet feature where they essentially said the three best bets for each team in the NFL. And Janet, just so you know, there are others out there that think those.

way you think. The three best bets for the Washington commanders this year per ESPN's ESPN bet or the, I don't even know who those people are with the ESPN bet. The commanders under nine and a half wins. The commanders to finish third in the NFC East, which is plus 260. And the third best bet, as it relates to Washington this year, the Giants plus six. seven in the opener in Washington. Actually, that line's six and a half. You'd have to buy that half point and pay minus 120 or more, I would imagine, to get seven. Who knows what it'll be like when we get there.

But here's what's written about Washington. I know the commanders are a trendy pick to contend in 2025, but I'm a bit skeptical. Everything broke about as perfectly as it could for Washington in 2024. Jaden Daniels turned in one of the greatest seasons ever by a rookie quarterback. The team converted 20 of 23 fourth down attempts. That's an absurd outlier. That is impossible to replicate. You know what?

I would agree that 20 of 23 and fourth down may not be replicated again. But the reason they were 20 for 23 is back, the quarterback. The Terry McLaren holdout, they write, isn't helping anything in training camp. I don't think this team is going to bottom out by any stretch of the imagination, but I can easily see the commanders landing on eight or nine wins this year and getting leapfrogged in the division by a healthier Cowboys team. Yeah, we'll see.

I mean, look, I'll save my season prediction for, you know, the week leading in to the opener. but I certainly view Washington as assuming health, good health, as a playoff team in the NFC. I think when you have the best quarterback in the conference, and I believe that Washington has the best quarterback in the conference, I think you're going to be a playoff team many more times than not. You know, last year, Joe Burrow is certainly, you know, one of the best quarterbacks in the AFC. You know, top four, worst case, maybe, you know, top two. Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, and of course, Lamar.

And they won nine games. They averaged 30-something a game. The offense was amazing. The defense was terrible. They were still sitting there right on the doorstep of the postseason on the final Sunday with a nine-and-eight record. And that's kind of what I see for Washington, long as Jaden Daniels is upright and healthy for 17 games, I see a bad season being a 9 and 8 season,

you know, and just missing the postseason. But I don't see that this year, but we'll wait for the prediction. And we need another three weeks to fine-tune the Washington prediction for this year. So before we get to Smoot, I wanted to share with everybody if you haven't seen it already. A really good story that John Kime wrote on ESPN.com titled Why Commanders Wide Receiver Terry McClorn are at an impasse. I had John on the radio show today because I, the story came out this morning. I read it during one of the breaks of the radio show. I called him. He came on and we had a really nice conversation. about what he wrote. He had some news in here that's actually gained some ground today. He wrote that one league source said he could see the commanders eventually agreeing to pay $28 million per year.

So remember Jeremy Fowler's number last week, 24 or 25. Terry's number is a D.K. Metcalf number at about $33 million. So this was, you know, something that was new. And John had it in his story. One league source said he could see the commanders eventually agreeing to pay $28 million per year so that they'd be willing to come up to $28. The question is whether or not that would be enough. John writes, according to various reports in multiple sources, D.K. Metcalf's contract has served as a guide for Terry,

though whether that's in terms of average per year or total. guarantees remains uncertain. Yeah. John then goes on to kind of describe why they are at this impasse. First of all, as it relates to the D.K. Metcalf contract. Washington just doesn't see Terry and D.K. Metcalf as the same situation, even though they are in the same draft class. First of all, and we've talked a little bit about this, D.K. Metcalf got traded to Pittsburgh. He's not going to, you know, He's not going to play for Pittsburgh unless they give him a new deal.

So this is not an existing player under contract. This is a player who had some leverage to say, well, I'm not going to sign that contract, and it would have killed the deal. D.K. Metcalf is also two years younger than Terry. And I mentioned this the other day, but Kimberly Martin from ESPN said last week that she had a general manager say to her, If you asked 20 NFL GMs to choose between Terry and D.K. Metcalf, the majority would choose D.K. Metcalf. So the team doesn't see the D.K. Metcalf deal as a deal that is a comp, regardless of their draft class, regardless of their statistical, you know, careers.

They see it much differently. And I understand why they see it much differently. John writes that age is the biggest sticking point because it frames the argument for Washington because they rely heavily on analytics. And the analytics as it relates to age are that the numbers are not kind to receivers at Terry's age. According to ESPN research over the past five years, only three receivers, 31 years or older, have played at least 10 games and averaged 70 plus receiving yards per game. Six have averaged 60 yards receiving per game.

John goes on to share the ESPN research, which includes some great receivers, Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, A.J. Green, Andre Johnson, who all dropped off noticeably once they turned 31. years old. Now, Terry's turning 30, but year two of the contract would be his age 31 season. You know, John also points out that these are players that fell off after the age of 31, and they were players that had much better careers than Terry going into their age 31 season. Now, some of them had better quarterback situations, better offenses, better organizations. We all understand that. So age is a big point.

part of this. And analytics associated with the age of Terry and the position that he plays are playing a big role in this. Another big part of why the team is where they are is something that John calls precedent. They do not want to set a precedent of overpaying by a lot, a player. Why? Because this time next year, or I'm sorry, starting in January, March of next year, or January, because these players will be their own. After the season ends, maybe it'll end in February for this team. Laramie Tunsell is probably going to be a guy that they signed to a contract extension. Frankie Louvo may be a guy that they are looking to sign to a contract extension. Marshawn Latimore could be in that conversation.

Debo Samuel, who will be not under contract when this season ends. could be in that conversation. And as these potential deals loom, John writes Washington does not want to set a precedent with McCorn of paying what it perceives to be too much. This is, I think, good business. I think this is common sense. You know, there are a lot of you that have said over the years

they don't use analytics enough. They don't, you know, when it comes to, you know, paying players, they're not adults. I mean, you know, past organization. And now here they are. They're using analytics. They're being thoughtful. They're being analytical. And they don't want to set a bad precedent with a player that they think may start to trail off significantly

after he turns 31 in 2026. And then, of course, John writes about what we've been talking about. talking about for a while, and that is they have the leverage. They just have the leverage. Why? Because Terry's under contract. And not just because he's under contract, but because at age 30, Terry just doesn't have a lot of options. There aren't a lot of cards for him to play here. If he were 24, 25, 26 years old, there are future opportunities to guarantee 50, 60, 70, 80 million dollars in one contract. signing. The opportunity for, let's just call it 50 million, because if the team came up to 28, which is what one source told John they'd be willing to do, that's probably around 50 million

and guaranteed money. The opportunity for 50 million dollars guaranteed is now for Terry McClure. It's now. It's not in the future. It's a long shot that that kind of money, that kind of guaranteed money would be available to him at age 31 or at age 32. The team has all of the leverage right now. And I do think it's going to result in what Diana said to us the other day that Terry's going to give. He's going to give. At some point, they are going to understand that holding out or the team coming up to their number is delusional. It's not going to happen.

and a bird in hand, 50 million and guaranteed money, it may not be as big of a bird, but it's a bird versus the possibility of none in the bush next year or the year after. That's the common sense answer. I know that I have been bullish on a Terry contract extension going back to when the season ended throughout this spring, the early summer. I was dead wrong that it would be done by the time.

training camp began. I still, though, think it will get done. I will say this, though. At some point, the team might say, here's the deadline, Terry. You know, after this date, the offer no longer exists, we'll just pay you the final year of your deal, because I've said this a million times over the last month, three weeks anyway. The team may feel that paying him the final year of his deal and then perhaps using the franchise tag in 2026 is all they need. And that is less money and it's pay as you go. There isn't 50 to 60 million guaranteed. You know, so I think it's better that he gets into camp now.

I think the chances of a deal getting done are still high. And I think sooner rather than later, like within the next seven to 10 days. and then once you get beyond seven to ten days, let's just say you get beyond the last preseason game, man, I don't know that the team keeps that offer, whatever the offer, or the opportunity to move up and meet him at some point. I don't know that they keep that on the table with him.

We'll see. Interesting couple of days or a week to 10 days coming up. I'm actually really interested to know whether or not the team has some sort of, you know, expiration date on their current offer. All right. Fred Smoot next after these words from a few of our sponsors. During this hot and humid summer, if your air conditioning has been working 24-7 to keep your house cool and comfortable, I've got an idea that could change all of that. That idea is high-quality windows from Window Nation, custom-built high-quality windows from Window Nation, to replace those old builder-grade windows that have been allowing that cool air to escape from your home.

Window Nation measures three times to ensure your windows fit perfectly and keep your home comfortable year-round. Their installation crews finish the job in a day or less. You can get the windows you want right now to protect and beautify your home. And you can choose from over 1,500 styles and colors. Installation crews, they average 16 years of experience. You can trust Windonation to get it right the first time. 96% of their installs go off without needing a follow-up visit. They offer a lifetime warranty on all their windows so you can relax knowing your home is protected.

far into the future. Right now, Wind Donation's offering their most popular deal of the year, 50% off all Windows styles, where you don't have to pay anything until the year 2027. No money down, no payments, and no interest for two full years. So by the time you start paying in 2027, you're still going to be paying half price because you got 50% off all Windows styles. The Windonation, experience starts with a free in-home estimate. Call them now at 86690 Nation or go to windonation.com to schedule. All right, joining me now and back by popular demand. Every time Fred is on the show, I get no less than two dozen tweets saying, could you do this weekly with him? I can't do weekly with him because he's so busy. He's got about 35 different jobs. He does the pregame show

on Big 100 for the Commander's games. He does the post game show. He does the pregame with Michael Jenkins. He does, of course, the post game with our good friend Scott Jackson. He's a big part of the commander's YouTube and website programming. You can follow him on X at F-Smoot 21 Sean T. and of course everybody knows Fred because he was one damn good cornerback for seven seasons here as a Washington Redskin. So before we get to some of your observations of the team so far this summer, I wanted to start with this. During your career when you were playing, is there a player that comes to mind, a young player, a draft pick, an undrafted free agent, that when you saw him for the first time during training camp or maybe even the offseason leading up to training camp,

you knew you were watching a future star. Yeah, a couple of times. You've got to realize that nothing is more flawed than the draft process. The draft process is not looking for people by pure talent. They're looking for reasons why not to draft you. That's the thing about it. So when these guys come in as free agents, they end up London Fletcher who's going to be a future Hall of Fame.

Think about this. I remember the first time with my two classmates. I remember watching Antonio Pierce. I remember talking to Antonio Pierce, and that's all I need to do. I'm like, this is one of the smartest football players I think I've ever been around, and I watched him move, and I watched him orchestrated defense. He wasn't getting any reps. But I said, hey, AP going to be that boy one day.

Then we had E-F-A-O-L-A-T. You remember, he was a draft, eat him. And we didn't have. And we end up getting a lot of playing out of E-Face. So sometimes you see these guys, they just see through the cracks because maybe they didn't run the fastest sport at time. Or maybe they didn't have the most of them. But maybe they weren't the quickest in the drills. It's something.

They're looking for a reason why not instead of a reason why. Those are interesting answers. You know, when Antonio Pierce got the interim job in Vegas, Cooley said to me on the air, he said he'll get the, he'll get the, he'll get the, the full-time job. And I said, why? And he said, because Antonio's one of the smartest players I've ever played with and one of the best communicators I've ever played with. Now, it didn't work out for him, but he did get the job. He did get the opportunity with the job. I'm actually surprised, and look, you went with actually a better answer because these were guys that not everybody

was expecting things out of. I'm surprised. I thought the first person you were, were going to mention would be Sean, that the first time you saw him, you knew that there was greatness. I've been saying, that's low-hanging fruit. I know. No, you're right. You're right. You're like, the one thing, here go to the NFL.

You got the 1%, that's the NFL. If you make it to the NFL, you are legitimately part of the 1% athletes when it comes to to football in the world. Now it's the 1% of the 1%. And there's a couple of guys that just freaks, they're creatures. They're a little bit different than everybody else. Everybody else is great. They're good.

Their athletic profile is off the chart. But some of these dudes come with not only the athletic profile that's oddly different. Maybe they're big for their position. Maybe they're like too fast for their position. It's some oddly about these dudes. And then it's all about personality traits. And then it's all about how do they play football? They played with an edge.

So you knew Sean was different from day one. Like, we knew Sean was different from watching his Miami take. It wasn't hard to understand that this dude was going to be different. You know what? I'm going to tell you somebody who I think most people who agree with me with totally freakish athlete. I think we totally utilized him wrong. But I don't think we got the best out of LeVarerrant. I think if we was more of a three-four front and him working off the edge is a true outside.

edge rushing linebackers instead of forcing him to play in space, I think Hall of Fame, easily, easily. Like, it's just some guys, you get them to teams and they're just not utilized correctly. There's no way I would have had a 6-4-255-pound linebackers that can run with the win. I'm not having him just play in space. No, I'm not doing it. Well, I mean, how many times have we all talked about LeVar? Like, I think you and I have talked about him before because my, my,

belief, first of all, he was injured a lot, and that hurt him in his career, no doubt. But I believe this all along that if Marty stays as the head coach, LeVar Arrington becomes an absolute superstar player playing for Marty Chattano. Yes. Yes, you are correct, because Marty really had, he really had bit us to his wheel. Marty had us where he wanted us at the end of the year. People might remember that alpha start to that year, but we really got the rolling, and you got to realize that's with Tony Banks and quarterback. Yeah. So it ain't like we had the most explosive offense, but defensively between Camp LeVar,

we still had Bruce Smith rushing the past week. We had some dudes that could go out there and make some plays, and we made some plays on the back end. Let me tell you something. That season, and I know we've talked about this season before, but, you know, it's the O and 5 start. and by the way, LeVar turns it around with the pick six in Carolina against the Panthers. Carolina.

Carolina. Yeah, forget Carolina. And that starts a five-game win streak with, as you said, Tony Banks and Kent Graham at quarterback. And the game that I'll never forget was the game in Denver. All right, this is your rookie season. It's cold. It's sleeting out. Tony Banks is over there shivering on the side.

sideline, and Kent Graham comes in, and you guys shock Denver on the road to get to five and five. That team in that moment looked like a playoff team. Yes. We really got the role. And like you say, we was not singling. We was more the sum of our part. Right.

It wasn't a glaring. What we did have was the running game through Stephen Day. Yes. Like, that's what we could lean on. And we could lean on it like any time, any weather, anything. We had that. Yeah. You know, the game that killed us that particular year was going for six in a row at home against the Cowboys.

And by the way, we were nine-point favorites, nine or ten-point favorites at that point, because the Cowboys weren't very good. We lost that game. Do you remember who quarterbacked the Cowboys that day? That was one Quincy Carter who actually kicked off on the sideline. Yeah. Quincy Carter was the quarterback. Dave Campo was the head coach. Yes, yes.

I remember that game like it was yesterday. We had a real, we had a real good game on defense. We made some turnovers that we couldn't get past. Yeah. Yeah, and that ended up being the difference really in, you know, know, eight out of the final 11 with Tony Banks and Kent Graham, and anybody that, you know, knew even a little bit about football was like, well, this thing's heading in the right direction. Marty's about to turn around another franchise like he does all the time.

And then Dan wasn't having enough fun and decided that he'd move on from a guy that would have one double-digit games many times, and you guys would have been in the playoffs for many seasons to come. All right, so you answered that question that I gave you. I want the opposite of that. And I know that this is harder, but was there a player that came in as highly touted as a young player, high draft pick, maybe a highly paid free agent, that you knew the first time you saw him, he wasn't what the front office thought he was? Oh, so you want me to be GM, put it on that there. Yeah.

It's a couple of guys. Let me say this. We have not had a good goal when it comes to receivers last name Doxon. Maybe we should not draft. We've tried twice. Right. Just so you know, Josh Doxon, when they picked him, I thought he was going to be his star.

It's the one... No. I absolutely was dead wrong, but my son was at TCU. I had watched every game, and I'm like, this dude's big, he's an athlete, he's got hands, but he just didn't love football. That was his problem. Listen, I kind of watched him practice,

and I was like, no problem. I don't think a BB going to have not a problem with it. Like, he poses no threat. Yeah. Like, I was like, I don't know what... Why he was so highly touted, I don't know. maybe going against Big 12 defensive backs at that time.

Right. I don't have a clue, but when I saw him and I saw him run, I saw it. I'm like, no, this ain't it right here. This is totally not it. So, like, we haven't done good in that department. We might need to stay away from that. Who else did I see? I'm trying to think when I played when I was like, no, that guy ain't going to work.

Because, you know, I'm big on college football. Right. So I was always watching. I'll tell you of people, I ain't know. I ain't going to say that I knew was a bus. I'm going to say that I was shocked, didn't work out. How about we rephrased it? Okay.

All right. That's different, but go ahead. This is one draft where we picked the right picks, but none of them superbly blossom out. And that was the second round where we had three draft picks, I think. There was Malcolm Kelly. Devin Thomas. Devin Thomas and Fred Davis, right?

Right. Yep. All right. He goes to things. If Malcolm Kelly Nees actually gave him a chance, he was going to be good. So you got that one right, but you didn't get the help for it right. Right. Dalvin Thomas could have been converted to a safety hour corner from the first day he practiced. You are going to move him from wide receiver as a high second round pick.

Wide receiver out of what, Michigan State? Yeah. And you're going to move him to defense? Yes, I'm moving to defense because he had a defensive mentality. Okay. He was rough. That's why he was so good on special teams. Right, he was.

Yeah, listen to me. Sometimes you just got to know how to the one, the two positions that get misplaced a lot is why I receive in a corner because sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between the two. And this guy, skill set and mentality laid more to defense. And if they would have played them on defense, he probably would have had a tank. Your career star in defense, I think he would have been that good. So you miss positioning him, and then with Fred Davis, we all know how they went. Sleepy.

He couldn't get up on time. By the way, would you have been a good receiver? Yes. Because you had great ball skills. Yes, I would have been a great receiver. I got some plays in at Mississippi State. Clay, Y-Receiving High School. Only the reason I chose,

and me and Santana talk about this all the time. I was like, the only reason I chose cornerback over why I received it is because I don't want a quarterback to control my destiny. So I'm going to control my own destiny. And then Y receiver, I'm one bad college quarterback away from y'all, and I didn't know how good I is.

Right, right. You know, that 2008 draft, I mean, for many years, I would reference it as, maybe one of the worst NFL drafts of all time. If you look at that draft, 10 players selected, and the only guy that had any sort of career was Chad Reinhart, okay, in terms of the number of games. I mean, Rob Jackson and Chris Horton played a little bit here and there,

but you mentioned Malcolm Kelly. They knew he was hurt when they drafted him. It was a bad draft. But you're saying that Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas had some redeeming potential. Yeah, potential. Potential. Yeah.

Potential most definitely had off the chart. But it's a friend of David, off the chart potential. He was an athlete. It wasn't a friend on the field. It wasn't a friend on the field. It was a friend off the field. So it was different. So, and then you got to also realize, I always tell people that it.

I don't really believe in bad children. I believe in bad parents. All right. So that's where it starts from. So everything starts from how the franchise is being read. being read. Like, we didn't have a franchise that was good enough to nurture Fred at that time and make sure everything was right and have some checks and bad. So it was all about how everything was ran totality-wise.

You said that it wasn't Fred on the field, it was Fred off the field that was the issue. You said that like you're familiar with that description. No, well, it's no secret. Like, no, I'm just saying, listen to me. I say friend with a match Hill problem on the field. I'm talking about you. I'm talking about you. Oh, if your name French, you probably got both parts of them. You got, well, let me just say this.

Probably a Minnesota fan has a different view than someone like me, a lifelong Redskin fan, because you were awesome here. All right, well, so that's, those are good answers. All right, let's get to this team. are you on the Terry standoff right now? Man, you know, as an ex-player, I think we're so numb to it that we don't really, it's not really in our periphery when somebody has business to have. Like, this business, this, that's the NFL, the NFL, the NFL contract is all drama.

It's all he say, she'd say, I say, is you say, it's, it's, it's, I guess I don't pay no attention, so I'm not caught up in the, the semantics, like the, fan base is, I'm very numb to it. So I think it'll get fixed. They'll handle it. So you think it will get resolved. I hear you on not paying attention to it, not wanting to talk about someone else's money, but do you think that they'll get a deal? Look, he's under contract. He's got to play for the team this year. But do you think ultimately he'll get a contract extension before the season starts? I think ultimately it'll always get done. When does he's not like, this is that.

That's why we as athletes don't pay no attention because I think people be counting the days down and, oh, we've been doing this for 45 days. It's going to eventually, it always eventually works itself out. It always does. It just cuck of war. We're going to win a cuck of war, but they always end up in the middle. It always do.

Okay. Then let me ask you a more, a question that is easier to answer for you. What's he missing right? now by not being in camp and practicing? Well, listen, because be good at football, you got to practice football. Like, there's just period. Right. It's a difference between working out and being in true football shape.

Like, football has to be, it has to be, like, it's this thing where you just have to do it over and over and over and over again. That's the only way to get in shape. And the only way to do that is the practice. And so for me to sit here and say he ain't missing something, but let's understand something about Terry. He's a professor now. So he's going to be in shape.

He's going to be in shape good enough to do anything you ask him to do. You don't have to worry about that. It's the callousness. Like the only way to get callous, it's to, like I say, have that repetitiveness going through it. I, sometimes the timing might be off. You're going to add new plays because you've got a new officer line that's going to anchor it way better than last year.

So you're going to run more deep a raft. and you're going to do more things. So, yeah, he's missing a lot not being there, but like I say, but when business is in the air, you've got to get it handled before you can get on the field. That's what's going on. So if he ended up holding out the rest of camp and then reported on that Wednesday before the giant game, the opener, for the first, you know, full practice before the opener, as a fan, should I be concerned?

No. He's a professional. He will be ready. Like I told you, he will be ready. One thing you don't have to worry about with Terry is, is he going to be ready? Is he going to be up for the challenge? You don't have to worry about that with Terry. He will be ready. The player that has stood out the most to you, because you've been watching a lot of these training camp practices, joint practices, preseason game, et cetera, give me the player on offense first that has stood out the most of you you've been most impressed with.

All right, all right. Of course, Marit has been good. Oh, Dollar Bill has been good, all right? I like what I see with him, and I always tell people, I don't know why people are so caught up in where we drafted at. That don't mean that's what type of quality players. You find a lot of quality, low rounds, and free agents. You got to realize we got a guy that has no treads on the tires from last year.

You're talking about a guy with springing his step, can run down hill, can make it happen. I'm very eager to see him run behind that first offensive line. I'm telling you, Jacori Brooks, the wide receiver, has been making plays every chance he gets a chance to make a play. Like, every chance he gets on the field. And, of course, because Tehrer is not there, he's been getting a lot more chances to get on the field. So I guess if you've got one underlying good thing that's happening

because he's not there, there's a lot of other guys get a chance to show that they can go out there and play also. So I would say him, Jaylon, has been also making it. to play. I would say those two wide receivers, and I would say Bill most definitely, they stand out as young, they got some explosiveness behind them that you don't see sometime. Let me just give you one legitimate stat about seventh round running backs. In the last 10 years, there's only one running back that's been drafted that has contributed anything meaningful to a team, and that's Isaiah Pacheco in Kansas City.

Every other seventh rounder is either out of the league or has been an insignificant player on teams. So it's a long shot at that position, at that position, to be a seventh round contributor. I'm listening. Well, Professor, let me counter. Let me counter. We talked about unique situations, right?

Right. Then we talk about that. I told you the unique situation of this kid not being able to, play his senior year in college, right? Yep. Everybody agreed that if he played his senior year in college, that he would not be in a seven-round pick, he would have been more of a fourth-fifth round,

third-round pick, maybe. So the talent was there. The unique situation is there. Most of those seven-rounders didn't have that unique situation. We all know how running back go when it comes to tread on the tires. All right, most of them that rush for the most yards in college, usually don't be great in the NFL. Too much trends off the tires.

This guy has a lot of trade on the Tigers. So I would count your seven-round statistic and say this. Yeah. The smoothonomics is going to make this because I like to do people first when it comes to football players. And I think sometimes people take the people prospect out of that. I know. And I would counter your counter with, I am open to unique situations. But at the end of the day, there are probably a lot of reasons that backs fall to.

the seventh round. So, bottom line is, I gave you the numbers on seventh rounders over the last 10 years. All right, all right, he's a one more little kickback in a unique situation, the seventh rounder finds himself in. Not only

he's going to the team with a legit dual quarterback, he's going to a team that went to the NFC championship last year. He's in a backfield that uniquely, uniquely, he has a true legit chance to play. Brian Robertson, Eckler, this guy has a, like usually family rounders do not have a chance to play on the playoff team.

That's why I'm telling you he has a unique situation that's going to give him a chance at one point this year. At some point this year, don't give him the chance to showcase his talent. And uniquely, he's going to do that behind who I just called the Wild Boys, aka the Divine Swine, his new officer blind. Let me tell you something. All right, when you speak it out and you care of you about this offensive line, because the potential of it, when it comes to Lamb and Thompson,

being an all-pro left tackle. When it comes to Coleman, I'm telling you right now, as good as he did last year at tackle. I think he's going to be a dynamic going with pro-bowl potential. Be honest as the pro-volar, all right? At right-going, the pro-volar, all right?

And then you got Connolly, who's learning at the right tackle. I'm telling you, this offensive line could be great. It could be great, especially going into the future. So uniquely, Dollar Bill, have the chance. All right, let's take a quick break. And when we come back, Fred, we'll talk about the player that has been most impressive on defense so far this summer, and a lot more. We'll get to all of it right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

If you get a chance to rate and review the show, especially on Apple and Spotify, and you haven't done it. it would be much appreciated. It helps us out a lot. Following this show, hit the follow button or the plus button, upper right-hand corner on Apple, left-hand side on Spotify. That really helps us out a lot as well. All right, we continue with Fred Smoot. Give me the player defensively so far this summer that has stood out the most to you. Pray Amos, listen to me. Trey Amos, as this, why you need confidence. When I say watching his kid in press coverage, brings a tear to my professor, pass me the tissue.

All right? This is what I'm going to tell you, because watching his kid with the patience at the line, he understands football, watching him, the plays through the practices with New England, watching him every day. He hasn't backed down from one challenge. I think uniquely, I think he got a chance to be very good

to play a very, very long time in this league. Like, seriously. Will Harris has been all over the place, all over the place. Like, I'm seeing him make a place. The one battle that I have uniquely just been watching, him and Zach Earth have been going blow for blow. And I'm talking about daily, daily, going edit. And it's been a heavyweight bout too.

It ain't one of these first rounds. They're going round for rounds. and they're going back and forth. So I've been enjoying that. Frankie Lulu, always jumping off the screen. Design Newton looks healthy. And if it went healthy,

this kid can play. Wait, who did you just say? Who was the last player you just said? Johnny Newton. Oh, Johnny Newton. I said his real name, Johnny Newton.

Yep, yep. And let me tell you this. I've heard people, especially all over the radio, talking about what's about Kinlo. Let me tell you something. this mountain of a man and what he's doing. Listen, I don't know if he got two guys in a truck moving company or what, but he's moving

people, right? And that's what they got this for. They got this guy for it. I'm going to tell you right now, they built this defensive line and this defensive team to win on first down, all right? They're going to win on first down, and they're going to give us to write the pass rush on third down, and I'm telling you, that's the recipe to win right there. That's why we got big up front.

We got big on both sides of the line of scrimmage. being on the office black, that big on the defense blind, they're going to give us a chance to go even farther. You know, I've been mentioning Johnny Newton for a while now because I had somebody out there tell me that they think he could have a huge year as a pass rusher, his quickness and his speed. So I think a lot of people are excited about him. I did want to ask you a follow-up to Trey Amos.

You've told me before, you know, corner is a thinking man's position as well. And it's a position that requires experience. If you go through the list of corners, it takes typically more time for a corner. There are examples, you know, the sauce gardeners, the Pat Sertans of the world, but more times than not, it takes time for a corner.

What do you say to that? You know what? I was thinking about what you just said. And the first thing came to mind was walking into a hospital thinking you're going to get a baby and you walk out with a 22-year-old, grown man as a child. Because this dude is a grown man. I feel like this.

He's an honest question. How do you feel I played my rookie? I remember thinking that you were really good as a rookie. He's going to be very similar to that. That's what he's going to do. Like, this is his mentality. This is his skill set. This is length.

This is, he got all the, he checks all the boxes. Shunt Spring was literally could not stop talking about him the other day when we were there practice. And you know, Sean. Sean is kind of prickly when it comes to giving people. Yeah, you're right. He's a tough grader. Yes, yes. And he was like, smooth.

I ain't seen to do that smooth. Like, he just could not. I would be very shocked if he had up in. But you know, cornerback position. is a position of flaws. Like, it's like a battle in a battles box, you know. You go three, three, four, for ten. You can be an all-star.

Like, it's a position of failure. So can you fail less than everybody else? Can you make the play in a timely position? Like, you've seen him against Matt Hollis the other day when they played New England. He never worried. Never. That's the one thing. He never looks like the fire alarm is going off.

Like, he's just, he's calm. His demeanor is calm. And that's going to help him a lot in that position. And we'll see, we'll see. We're about to go against Joe Burrell. We're about to go against T. Higgins. We're about to go against the best wide receiver in football, Jamar Chase.

So, yeah, they're going to test right there. But I'm telling you right now, it's only two guys still a part of this defensive backfield from last year, all right, when it comes to the cornerback room. All right. So they have rehauled this thing. And I'm telling you, between these three guys, Samir Steel is just a godsend. That kid is going to be special in his league.

He reminds me a faster run day bar, but he just got it all. This big of the back field this year, I'm telling people right now, going to be two times better than last year. I would just point out, as you pointed out, your rookie season, you had Champ Bailey and Daryl Green in your corner,

back room. That's not what he has in the cornerback room. Well, well, guess what he do have? He got two legit corners that are going to force everybody to throw at them like they were throwing at me, all right? You got to get them off you like I had to do and tell him you're going to throw back at him. So he's going to have to, it's the same situation.

Now, I had a champ. He got Samson still very smart. All right? So he got guys. He got guys. He's going to be fine. Plus he got a great defense of the back coach. He will be fine.

And this guy is all ready, like, some guys come ready-made. Like, some guys come ready-made to play in the NFL, meaning they're going to probably be better in the NFL than they are, then they had an NFL career. This is one of those dudes. You don't have to get those dudes in the first round of time. But the last two years, we've struck gold in the second round when it comes to cornerback. Yeah, for sure.

All right. You've mentioned some players that have stood out. I want the player that not everybody's talking about, maybe you just named him, but that you're convinced is going to have a huge year. I did this on radio today, and it's, you know, the answer is not Jaden Daniels. The answer isn't, you know, something obvious. But I said Debo because I think Debo in a contract year with Cliff calling plays, with the best quarterback he's been a part of in his career, he reported in shape, health's always an issue with him.

I just have this hunch that Debo's going to have a big season. Give me the player. Yeah, a Debo year. He's going to have a Debo year. You are totally right. I would not be shocked, especially with Cliff King's Berry as a coordinator. He's a coordinator's dream on offense because he's just a – I want you to close your eyes and think about this.

We're coming out in four-wide. We bring in Austin Echler. The thing about it is, though, we got Austin Echler lined up at the wire receiver. We had a five-hour receiver. We motioned Debo Samuels back to the backfield. That cornerback that's checking him has to follow him. So now we got this cornerback in this box. This cornerback in this box.

What we don't do then is check till run right at the cornerback. And we're going to run Debo right at that cornerback for 10 yards. So it's going to undress the defense so quick because he's an alert guy. So I'm totally with you on that one. But my guy, I'm going to say here, because I know guys, I call these guys their job stillers, all right? These are type guys that if they get on the field, they might not get somebody their job back. And I see these guys on rosters every year.

I'm telling you right now, Tyler Owens is one of those guys. If this guy get on the field, I don't know who it is, but this dude right here, his athletic profile jumps off. His physicality jumps off. I'm telling you right now, Tyler Owens. Remember that name. He played well when he got opportunities last year. Yeah. I see that. You know, when I was talking about Debo, and I've referenced you before, I actually had forgotten about it, but I reminded myself when you jumped on Debo as well, you loved him in that draft.

Well, out of college. Oh, my God. You told me that with like the week before the draft, you said, whoever passes on Debo, Samuel is going to be sorry. And yeah, he's been a really, really good player. All right. Who's this year's NFL version of last year's Washington? Who's going to be the surprise, you know, big turnaround team this year? All right. It's hard for me to say just one or two. I'm going to give you at least two.

Okay. All right. We just played one in the New England Patriot. Right. I think with Mike Rable and what they did to it overhauling their roster and that officer to line. Drake May, everything's starting to slow down for him. You got him some weapons. You overhauled basically everything. They showed you the talent they got in the backfield with that Trayvon-Henison. He was my Debo of this draft. Before the draft, Trayvon

Henison was the one I was talking about like Debo. He just showed me from the door what he can do on the field. I would say, number one, the New England Patriots, they're going to go from a, what, two, three, four, win, ten. They were four and thirteen. They were four and thirteen. What are they going to be this year? They are eight-win teams. They are eight-win teams. Well, that's not a playoff team. No, no, they're not.

They're what I said. I got two. All right. Give me number two. The Jacksonville Jaguars will be the team that's going to the playoff. Man, don't you like Trevor Lawrence? Like something, he's got too much talent. The prince who was promised will deliver.

Zura High will deliver. this year. I think with the head coach, with the pieces they added. All right. The Travis E.T.N. could start for 25 teams in the league. He might not even start over tank. They, the receiving cord, they just added Travis Hunter to a receiving card. Like, they got these unique pieces. So I'm saying Jacksonville, Jaguars to the playoffs this year.

That's a good one. That is definitely a good one, because that's also a division that always, like the NFC South, always seems to be in play. All right. Last question for you. How hard is it to do a three-hour post-game show after a pre-season game in which almost every player playing isn't even going to be on the team when the season starts? I heard you were doing three hours the other night, and I just said, oh, those are the hardest show. goes to do. But you know what?

Because I uniquely love the draft, I find preseason different than people. I'm looking through a whole different lens. So I like to see how these guys look as pros, because sometimes you can't tell if they're going to be a good pro to you actually see them on the field with other pros.

So I actually find it fun because I want to, I'm trying to find that next guy that probably got drafted loaded. I'm like, no, man. he better than everybody thinks, man. This is where the Victor Cruz's of the world happened. This is where like the guys find talent all the time. So I've

seen guys turn preseason into a 12, 13 year career. All right, Kingslayer. Great job today. Always always appreciate it. Always fun. Hopefully we'll do it again before the

season starts. Thanks. I got you, Professor. But which one of those offensive line names, do you like more? Do you like the wild boys more, or do you like the divine swine? I like the divine swine. That's the best one. I've not heard that. I've not heard that. But you know what? It should be a much better O-line. It should be, especially when they get Cosby back. I'm going to say, did you say should? I'm telling you right now, Biottois is one of the best centers in football. I'm telling you that now.

He's one of the five best centers in football. Counsel, I'm telling you, I can watch this man, white people clean. All right, you got a left talc and you got one of the best centers. Sam Cosman is a pro bowler. They go three out of the five right there. Which are moving another mammoth of a man to guard in Coleman? Is it even hesitation? How are they going to be better?

The question is, how good are they going to be compared to? the other offensive line. Right. Yeah, well, unfortunately, one of the best resides in our division. But like you said, they got bigger on offense and on defense up front, in part because of the team they're trying to hunt down in the division. Yes. And we lost trench warfare in the NFC championship game. No doubt. And they said, you know what? We have to get bigger. It's mandatory that we get bigger. All right. I'll holler at you before the season starts. Thanks. All right, brother.