The Kevin Sheehan Show - Mariota + Another Cowboy

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

Kevin and Thom today recapping everything the Commanders have done so far in NFL Free Agency including the signing of Marcus Mariota to a one-year deal. Like yesterday, there was news coming in during the show and the boys reacted to Washington adding Dante Fowler Jr. and long-snapper, Tyler Ott.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Windonation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. Mention my name.

You'll get a free estimate. No risk. Right now, buy two, get too free with no money down, no payments, and no interest for two full years. Tommy is still down in West. palm for spring training. Is there a game tonight that you're headed to or not? Yeah, there's a game.

There's a game tonight. I mean, you know, this is a day-long thing. You know, you get here like at noon or so or earlier. You know, you go into the locker room. They have workouts there in a day. You do interviews. I've already done an interview. Who did you interview with?

Who'd you interview today? With Lane Thomas. Wayne Thomas. He's a good interview. I had him on the show last year. No, he's not. He's not a good interview. Oh, I actually thought maybe I'm thinking of somebody else.

He's not a bad guy. He's a nice guy. Okay. And we'll try to answer everything you want. But generally the answer ends up with, I just going to put my nose down and put all the work again. I remember having him on the show. I remember him being a nice guy.

That's maybe what I remember. Okay. Yes, he's an extremely nice guy. and maybe the best player at a NASF. Who do they play in that? So I interviewed him. I don't know. I mean, you know, it's a spring training game.

Who cares? What do you mean you don't know? I don't know. They're either the Marlins or the Cardinals, somebody. How about this? How about the Mets? Are you sitting in a bar in Sydney right now? Is that what you're doing?

No, no. Missing out on all the opening ceremonies and all the big events? I've been here since Friday. I haven't written about one game. Okay. And I've seen one, two, three, four of them. Okay. All right.

Well, you know what? You're back in nice weather. I wrote about Davy Martinez for today's paper. I did a column about the manager, Davy Martinez. Now, I didn't do one on Monday because I wrote, that was my first chance to respond to the arena debacle. So I wrote about Davey yesterday and I'll have some more columns. I have a column tomorrow about Dusty Baker's son, Darren Baker, who's here in spring training camp for the nationals.

You did have a really good line in your TED column, and I'm trying to pull it up right now. It was something about him coming down with the commandments from Mount America Online. Mount America Online. Yeah, it was very funny. Hold on. Let me just see if, oh, God. trying to pull your columns up on the Washington Times.com website.

Oh, I know, I know. It's such a burden. You know, anything good is worth working for. Oh, you, they make you work. That's for sure. Okay, here it is. You can look at the political, yeah, you can look at the political squabbles in the financing debate, and the transportation questions raised about the arena since the news broke in December of the move. But ultimately, it comes down to the one man who, Every time he opens his mouth believes he's issuing commandments, he's carried down from Mount America online.

Yeah, fully robed as he's coming down from Mount America online. That was a good one. That was a good one. Hey, by the way, go to the end in a column. The last line. It just timed out on me for some reason. Hold on. Your hope.

Hold on. I mean, it's not that big. The thing just, it's really, I'm not going to say anymore. That's right. You're not. Okay, I got it back up. All right, what? Read the last line and a column. No shame, and if transparent Ted has any regrets,

they'll likely go to the grave with him with a smile on his face. The Undertaker may have to use all their power, all their skills for that one. What's that line come from? What movie? Use all your power, all your skills. He's all of your power, all of their skin. Okay, I'll tell you. Is that taken?

Liam Neeson? No. What? No, it's the godfather. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's when Marlon Brando tells the undertaker to clean up his son, Sunny, you know, who has full bullet holes. And he has to use all your powers, all your skills. So that's a God, a hidden godfather reference.

What do they call those Easter eggs? Is that an Easter egg? Yeah, with some money involved or candy? I don't know. But they call those Easter eggs where they have like little hidden things that are connected to another movie or something like that. I don't know. But we're not here to talk about Easter eggs. I was thinking of that line where he says, I have a particular set of skills that I've acquired through, you know, a long professional career that make people like me a nightmare for people like you.

and then he says something like that. Something like if you let her go now, I'll let you live. If not, I will come find you. I will search for you. I will find you. And when I find you, I will kill you. That's my line. That's my line.

That's what I do. Yeah. All right. Let's talk some. I do it with a keyboard. Let's talk some football. So let me just tell you that yesterday, I wish you had done the show with me yesterday, actually, because, you know, recording a podcast is different than doing a live radio show.

A live radio show, you're live. And so you are reacting to everything you're seeing in the moment. And there's no putting it back. You know, it's out there for good. And when your time's up, your time's up. It's not like you can hang around, wait for news to break, and then jump into the middle of somebody else's show who's doing a show. And that's not what a podcast is.

We come in here, we record, you know, the podcast, and we get it out. And it can be dated, you know. But that's why the show that we do isn't always datable, if you will, because there's more than just, you know, breaking news on this podcast. There's a lot more than just sports all the time on this podcast. But yesterday, Tommy, recording the podcast, I did it as if I were live on radio because I started off with the plan of,

okay, I understand when I put this out, it could be dated because so much news was breaking. I'll tell you this, I thought yesterday was one of the busiest first days of free agency I can remember. It just seemed like it was all a free agency wrapped in to one afternoon and evening and then late night. And of course, it wasn't even the official start of free agency.

agency, but it was the legal tampering period, which is really for us the beginning of free agency. But when I started to record, there were two signings for Washington at that point. Dorrance Armstrong, the defensive end from Dallas, and Tyler Beaudish, the center from Dallas. Now, I was continuing to check my phone as I was recording because I thought, you know, who knows, something might break here. And then came the news at the end of the first segment that, Frankie Louvo had signed the linebacker from Carolina. He's my favorite of everybody that they've signed so far. And then at the end of the show, thought I was wrapped up, but no, here comes Austin Eckler in for them.

And then shortly after I put it out, Nick Allegretti was signed, Brandon McManus was signed. But it felt like doing a live podcast, even though it was only live for me. It wasn't live for anybody else. But a crazy day, a crazy first day of free agency. I was following it on social media and then watching on ESPN and stuff. And it was a very, you got your money's worth yesterday if you're an NFL fan. Yeah. I want to go through because there were players signed after we recorded the podcast.

You know, more thoughts on the players that they did sign when we were recording the podcast. get your thoughts on them. Today, as of the recording of this podcast, two players have been signed. We may get more information by the time we're done. But this morning, they signed Cleland Farrell, the defensive end who played with the 49ers last year, but was the fourth overall pick in the draft back in 2019 of the Raiders. And then, and then they signed Marcus Mariotta to a one-year-old. A quarterback.

Six million dollar deal with 10 million potentially in the incentives as part of the deal. And so that's what they have so far. Now, we'll get to Marioota because that's the bigger piece of news as of for today. But as of this moment, only two of their free agents that were on the roster this past year are gone. Antonio Gibson and Jacoby Berset both to New England. And then there were reports. Now, before this Marioita signing, there were a few reports. Peter Schrager from Fox reported that Washington was looking at Sam Darnold

and interested in signing Sam Darnold, who ended up signing a one-year $10 million deal to be the quarterback in Minnesota. And there were even some stories last night. that Washington may be involved in trying to sign Derek Henry. Derek Henry now is in Baltimore, two years, 20 million men. That's going to be a combination. Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry. Yeah, it will be.

But that's what we have so far. We'll continue to check, you know, what's going on here this afternoon as we're recording this. I'm not going to get this one out nearly as late as I got the one out last night. Although there are still some big blockbuster names out there. Washington has not made a blockbuster signing at this point. I kind of said this yesterday. They've signed eight players at this point. The eight players are players that fill a need.

They are players for the most part that people in the organization are very familiar with. They are players for the most part, not in every case, that are sort of entering their prime years of their NFL career. And none of them got signed to, you know, a big-time blockbuster deal. This has been a, you know, recalibration free agency more than a, you know, let's go for it, free agency. But it's a lot of players because they had a lot of needs and they have a lot of cap space. I'm still trying to nail down all this contract information to see how much.

of next year's cap has been filled with these signings. I'm going to guess it's somewhere between 30 and 35 million, leaving them with still probably 45 million left to spend if they want to. But let's start with the big news for today, and that is Washington signing Marcus Mario da Vinodagh to a one-year, $6 million deal with the potential to earn up to $10 million He was with Brian Johnson last year, obviously, in Philadelphia. So that's a huge link there. Johnson was the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia. You know, he knows Marcus Mariotta well.

And Adam Peters and the 49ers in 22, you know, I went back just to remind myself, make sure that I was right in remembering this. They were interested in Marioita. Marioita ended up signing with the Falcons because a starting job existed. in Atlanta for him that particular year. But this is interesting on a lot of fronts. I'm not sure there's anything definitive that comes out of it for me, but let me ask you first. What does it mean to you, Washington signing Marcus Mariotta to a one-year deal? Well, it would seem to me that this means the end of Sam Howe as on the roster for the Washington commanders. I don't see him keeping

three quarterbacks with some NFL experience on the roster. So I would think at some point they're going to trade damn how, because I think he is a tradable commodity for somebody. It also tells me that Jacoby Percette probably didn't really, I could be wrong about this. Maybe they didn't want Percent. Maybe they wanted Mariotta more. But it seems like if they're willing to spend $6 million on Mariotta,

they would have been willing to spend $8 million on Peret, which is what he got in New England. But maybe Jacobi Peret wanted to go play for the Patriots and didn't want to be part of what was going on here. Those are my two takeaways. Yeah, I mean, Jacoby Percette, there was a thought about New England, the team that drafted him from the very beginning. And, you know, they've already traded Mac Jones. And even if they do go quarterback at number three, you know, it's, possible that, you know, he's the mentor, the veteran, the spot starter, the bridge starter, however you want to describe that. So I don't think for me that it means anything for sure.

My first thought, of course, was, well, that means the end of Sam Howe. They're going to try to get something for Sam Howe. They're going to trade Sam Hal. But there are a lot of things it could mean. You know, it could mean that, you know, Marcus Mariotta is coming in. He's going to be the veteran backup, the bridge, the spot starter. But, you know, Sam is still on a rookie deal for a fifth rounder. It doesn't cost them much. You need three quarterbacks on a roster, not two. They don't really have, you know, a third. They've got, you know, the kid, the Georgia quarterback that's been on their practice squad and was elevated there for the last game. But I don't know that they would just trade Sam if they don't get something significant back for

him. I remember the stories from a couple of weeks ago where it was reported by somebody I'm forgetting now that Washington could get a third round pick for Sam Halen. I'm like, that's just it or more. Actually, whoever said that, it reported that it was a third and maybe more. And I'm like, no way. is somebody going to give up a third and maybe more? Like I could see a fourth rounder, a conditional fourth slash third, you know, if he ends up playing.

So, you know, maybe there really isn't that much of a market out there for Sam Hal. And so why not keep him? You know, you need quarterbacks, and he proved that he could be a backup quarterback. But clearly they're not signing Marcus Mariotta to be a third string guy. Okay, so, you know, you'd be. talking about if you kept Sam Hal, basically Sam would be the inactive quarterback as a third quarterback on the roster. Now, there is this idea that some of you have that, oh, this is an indication that they're not going to draft a quarterback. And they're going to have Marcus Mariotta

and Sam Hal battle it out for the starting job. And that, you know, they... That's the way to fill that stadium, buddy. Well, I mean, that shouldn't be the goal. That'll get it. That'll bring them out. Or that they don't love any of the top quarterbacks in the draft, and they're planning on trading back and maybe taking a Bow Nix or a Michael Pennix Jr. A little bit later in the draft.

I like Pennix Jr. And then just seeing how it all flushes out when they get to training camp with all three of them. You know, you would have a later first or a second round pick. You know, you've got two seconds, which would allow you to get back up into the end of the first. And if you trade it back from two, you're going to have all these picks. I mean, there's a lot of things that are possible. I don't think I consider not drafting a quarterback a possibility. That's just where I am now.

I'm not saying that it's impossible that they hate every quarterback in the draft, that they just are not going to spend their draft capital on the options they have. but I hope they draft a quarterback. I hope there's a quarterback that they fall in love with. And I just think the odds that there isn't a quarterback there that they like enough to take a swing on are that high. Yeah, look, I think, I mean, anyone who really works through that kind of formula that thinks that they're not going to draft a quarterback is thinking too much, you know?

they're going to draft a quarterback with that second pick. I mean, you know, you've got to. You just have to do it. I mean, and so, I mean, Cliff Kingsbury didn't come here to, you know, let to run Sam Howe and Marcus Marriota out there on the field next year. No, they're going to draft a quarterback. But you're right. It's not an absolute, but I think it's almost a certain.

look the thinking too much crowd on that subject i don't have a problem with people who say i'm just considering the possibility that they don't fall in love with a quarterback and if they don't then they shouldn't push it i don't mind that thought the people that say i just don't think they should draft a quarterback even if they love one they should trade back that's the move that i don't get at all That is just, to me, not 20-24 NFL. That is, you know, 10, 15 years ago discussion about an NFL roster. Now, the other part of this is, you know, does it mean anything in terms of the type of quarterback that they're considering? I don't think so.

The idea that because Marcus Mariotta is a dual threat quarterback, you know, maybe that means, more, maybe that means they are more interested in Jaden Daniels than they are Drake May or J.J. McCarthy. Look, the reports were that they were more interested in Darnold to begin with. You know, by the way, a Darnold signing actually would have been even a slightly different reaction in that I think Darnold's looking for a chance and got one to start. Now, he may be mentoring a young quarterback in Minnesota if they end up drafting. somebody there, a Penex Jr. or Bo Nix, but he's not going to be mentoring the number two pick in the draft more likely than not. Or number three, although Minnesota could trade up,

it's possible. But the fact they were talking to Darnold is interesting to me because I put Darnold at a different level than Mario D'Ota. I put Darnold is still a guy that some people in the league believe if he's given the right opportunity with the right players around them, right coordinator, et cetera, can be a starter. He could have a Baker-Mayfield kind of, you know, second, you know, life to his career here, where I don't think that that's Mario-Ota. So them talking to Darnold is interesting. Now, as far as does the signing of Mario-D mean anything, look, they were interested in Darnold.

Okay, Darnold's not more like Jaden Daniels. He's more like J.J. McCarthy. And the bottom line is all three of those quarterbacks in the top. three, the perceived top three, they're all mobile. They're all mobile. And I will also just mention this. They aren't sure yet. I believe that they are not sure yet on quarterbacks. I think they like probably more than one, and maybe they have a hunch about the one they like. But this is going to be a process, and we haven't even gotten to pro days yet. So I think that the Mario Yoda style of quarterback is not something you should take as an indication

of which of the quarterbacks in the draft they prefer. That would be me. But I do think that the odds are it certainly means that Sam Howell isn't going to be the backup quarterback on the roster next year. That he would, if he's kept, he'll be a third quarterback. But it's very possible, and that was your first reaction. It was my first reaction, too, when the news broke earlier this morning. You know, they will probably shop him. I mean, Denver still doesn't have a quarterback or a backup quarterback. I mean, I know that Sean Peyton has spoken highly of Jared Stidham. And there are other places. The Giants just signed Drew Locke. There are other places that will be looking for, you know, backup quarterbacks.

So anyway, Marcus Mariotta. Let me just mention this. You didn't watch the Netflix thing on the three quarterbacks, did you? No, I didn't. So it was very well done, you know, cousins, Mahomes, and Mariotta. What happened in Atlanta during 22 with Marcus Mariotta, I think was a ding against him. He bailed on the team when he got benched. He, for all intents and purposes, quit. And the Netflix series, you know, has Mario Yoda featured heavily.

and then at the end, they barely haven't featured at all. And they don't ever really tell the story as to what happened. Now, I know he was injured, but not to the point where, you know, he, remember, at one point, he left the organization. I thought that that was, you know, not necessarily the best look for him. But, you know, there could be a reason for him. Well, apparently, they don't have the same problems with him. we are still in, right?

You're still in the new regime we trust, right? Yes. Yeah, I am. If they think that Marcus Marietta should be their backup quarterback, then that's the guy. Yeah, and look, again, Brian Johnson was there with him in Philadelphia all last year. The 49ers in 22 when they had Garoppolo,

and then obviously they drafted Purdy in the seventh round, they were kicking the tires on Mariotas. So Adam Peters was a part of that. So there are people obviously there that like them. Now, I don't know, maybe Darnold was their first choice. But they want, bottom line of all this, and this is actually the lead, they wanted a veteran quarterback in their quarterback room, period. They don't have one.

Sam Howell's not a veteran quarterback, people. He just started 17 games. He's not a veteran mentoring quarterback, backup quarterback. back. All right. Well, interesting. And we'll see what that means. The Darnold thing is as interesting to me as Marietta.

Because Darnold, and maybe they were interested in him saying, hey, we're going to draft somebody. We want a veteran backup. And remember, Peters knows Darnold really well, him being in San Francisco last year. But Darnold, you know, perhaps wasn't interested. them because Minnesota offered more money and then offered a chance to start because they don't have another option there as of now. So anyway, all right, well, let's get to the other moves and go back to yesterday and get your thoughts on what they've done. And we will refresh the screen to see if anything's broken in the last 30 seconds. We'll get to all of that more right after

these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show is brought to you by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. And MyBooky will give you a cash bonus on your initial deposit. All of the conference tournament action underway. Last night, James Madison blew out Arkansas State. Tommy, you know what Arkansas State's nickname is?

Team nickname is? The Piglets. The Red Wolves. Close. Oh, okay. And the James Matt, that was why they apparently didn't get, you know, didn't push Red Wolves was because they couldn't get sort of exclusive ownership of the mark or whatever it was. I forget what they were going to have to pay Arkansas State for, I forget what it was now. You know what?

I don't really care about that conversation right now. No, no, no, no. Don't go down that road. The Red Wolves especially, which I always felt, you know, it sounded like a fifth grade CYO. team name that the kids came up with. But it is conference championship week, and James Madison's off to the big dance. Congrats to them. Do you know they've won 13 games in a row? They are 31 and 3. And you couple that with the incredible football season that they had. James Madison is having themselves a powerhouse athletic school. Yeah. And it's such a good school. And there's a bunch of

alum and, you know, many, you know, JMU Dukes that listen to this podcast. So congrats on the tournament there. All of the conference championship action is available at MyBooky. Fair points, spreads, fair totals, fair money lines, all the prop bets you want. They'll have everything for the NCAA tournaments, both men and women. Plenty of contests available also at MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.ag. use my promo code, Kevin D.C.

So since yesterday, well, let's go back. Let me get your thoughts on what they've done in free agency so far, and then I'll weigh in a little bit on your comments, and then I will weigh in on what they've done since the recording of the podcast yesterday. So how have they done in free agency, Tommy? Okay. I don't know. I think you're right.

They seem to have filled needs. You know, and if you believe in the coaching staff and the front office, they, like you said, they brought in people they're familiar with. They brought in players they know. Now, we came to curse this idea when Ron Rivera was here and the Carolina connection where we didn't get any of the good Carolina players, you know, the ones who weren't so good, you wound up getting. So it became a negative, the idea of the coach bringing in their old players that they know,

their old players kind of thing. But we're not at that stage yet because you've got a brand new group that either has to prove themselves as to be smart talent selectors or dummies like the last group. So at this point, if they're comfortable with these guys, and they certainly all feel needs, that you can just, justify, I'm okay with everything. I'm okay with it all. They didn't go to spend, they didn't bring in anyone to embarrass them. They didn't spend a ridiculous amount of money on anybody. That's all I can go with at this point. I'm going back because everybody refers to, you know,

the command thurs and all that they did when Ron Rivera arrived from Charlotte in 2020. other than Curtis Samuel and the quarterback, Kyle Allen, who they traded for. And then some coaches, understood. The coaching staff, I get it, other than, you know, Del Rio. Who were the other players from Carolina? I'm going back and looking at their free agent class, you know, from that particular year. I mean, there were a lot of non-Carolina players that they signed. Logan Thomas, J.D. McKissick, Sean Davis, who didn't make it.

Kevin Pierre Lewis, Thomas Davis, okay, Carolina, West Schweitzer, John Bostic, Kendall Fuller. Kendall Fuller and Curtis Samuel were two good free agent signings. J.D. McKissick was an excellent free agent signing. Yes, he was. But anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. So I want to just kind of go through them, chronologically.

going back even to some of yesterday's players that they signed and talk, you know, about some of the deals and some of the things that, you know, not necessarily I've learned, but thought about and then weigh in on some of the players that happened after the recording of the podcast. So Dorrance Armstrong, and I talked about this yesterday, it's a fine signing, you know, there's no big money on this signing. You know, you're talking about basically three for 33, $11 million a year for a guy who's been productive, who's coming into his prime, you know, is probably right in the midst of his prime. They're super familiar with Dorrance Armstrong. My biggest concern is I mentioned yesterday, and I'll reiterate, and we had Mickey Spagnola from Dallas Cowboys.com on the show yesterday. Mickey's always great. Is that, you know, he wasn't the guy. You know, he was a rotational guy with Micah Parsons and to Marcus Lawrence.

And, you know, hopefully they'll continue to be busy in adding defensive end and edge rushers, whether it's free agency or in the draft or, you know, resigning. But I can't tell you that Dorrance Armstrong, when he hasn't been the guy before, in that role, if he's in that role, where he's more of the focus of the offense, where he doesn't have some great players that he's in a rotation with. I don't know how he's going to handle that. He's a productive player. He has the ability to rush the passer.

He's pretty decent against the run, and he's coming off his best season per the advance numbers. Tyler Beaudish, I love that signing, because we talked about before Free Agency, they have to get a veteran center. If you're going to put a first year rookie quarterback out on the field this year, you don't want to have an inexperienced center. They've had so many issues with centers and center injuries in recent years, and they needed a guy that is healthy. He's coming into his prime years.

He's had a pro bowl season. Was he the best available center? I don't know. It could have been Cush and Barry. It could have been Morse. It could have been whatever. But he was one of them. and they're familiar with him, and they know him as a person,

and they know whether or not he'll fit what Kingsbury wants to do. So I really like the Tyler Beattish signing. I said this yesterday. The Frankie Louvre signing is my favorite, and I just, I slapped myself when I saw this news break when I was on the show, and I talked about this, because he's exactly the kind of player that Dan Quinn and Adam Peters talked about. when they talked about the player traits, or the player traits that they're in alignment.

They've got an aligned vision, Tommy. They've got an aligned vision. Yes, they too. And this is the kind of guy that fits what they're looking for. Competitor, relentless motor, hitter, finisher. He's automatically day one, the best linebacker on the team, a team without many linebackers. I also wonder what it means with Jamon Davis. Like, will they play him?

him differently. Will they turn him into a situational pass rusher? But all of the numbers, all of the advance numbers are in love with Frankie Louvre. But really, the tape, if you haven't gone and watched some of him on tape in Carolina, and who's paying attention to Carolina? I understand that. But he jumps out as a guy that, you know, I'm going to give you a comparison of a player on the team that I've talked about. Like Khalik Hudson, every single time he was on the field for Washington, he stood out to me. Now, the problem is it's hard for him to stand out because he's like five foot 10.

You know, he's super undersized. If he were six feet, six one, six two, you know, and bigger, they'd be in love with him. So many teams would be. But it's that kind of like, you know, you just always noticed number four. on the field. The Echler signing, I don't have a problem with it at all. In general, I don't think it's good practice to sign running backs that are potentially on the backside of their highest productivity years. And running backs fall off a cliff more than any other position does. And he

did not have a good year last year. It was the worst year of his career. He was injured. I understand that. There were injuries around him, too. It wasn't the same offense for much of the year, and there was turmoil with Brandon Staley, you know, in L.A. The Charger's situation was all effed up the last couple of years. I loved Echler, you know, as a player in that offense, whether it was with Philip Rivers or with Justin Herbert. And they wanted, you know, a versatile pass-catching back that could also run. And they got that. Let's just hope that what we saw at times last year was more about injuries or coming off injuries rather than what we're about to see, which is running backs typically, you know, they don't age well. But they didn't pay

them anything. I mean, this is not a big deal. You know, the deals that we're all talking about are shorter-term deals, which I talked about before free agency began, that this would probably be, you know, attack that they would take. And none of them are blockbuster money deals with huge guaranteed amounts. Nick Allegretti, the Guard, go ahead. Did you want to say something? I was going to say something. Do you like Cowboys at defensive ends?

Why, did they just sign another one? Yes, they did. They signed Dante Fowler Jr. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Dan Quinn likes his guy, doesn't he? He does.

Mickey Spagnola mentioned. We talked about him, and we talked about him, and we talked about Jordan Lewis, the slot corner and even, you know, Terran Smith, the left tackle. Are we going to start calling these guys the cowmanders? The cowboy manders? There was a time when this would have been unheard of to have so many cowboys on the roster. This would have been sacrilege. Yep, here it is.

Yep, Dante Fowler Jr. signs with Washington. So they've now taken, you know, two non-starting defensive players for the Cowboys. Now, remember, the Cowboys had an excellent defense with, you know, some real high-level starting players on that defense. You know, Dante Fowler Jr.'s been around. He was on the Super Bowl team, right?

He was on the Super Bowl team with the Rams a few years. years ago with Sean McVeigh. Then he was with Atlanta. Now, that would have not been a Dan Quinn, or one year it would have been Quinn. And then with Dallas the last two years. This past season, four sacks, six sacks in 22 with Quinn. I'll look up his snap percentages. This is going to be a guy that was a part-time rotational backup in Dallas. And right now, Dante Fowler Jr., you know, and Dorrance Armstrong can be penciled in based on their current roster as two starting defense events. Yeah. You know?

Wow. Wow. It was just remarkable. A couple years ago, we thought this was the position of strength. for this team. So snap percentage. And now they're signing guys off the streets from the Cowboys. 25% of the defensive snaps this year, 30% of the snaps in Dallas in 2022.

Armstrong had 47% of the snaps in 22 and 42% of the snaps last year. His best year was that Rams year, I'm guessing. Hold on for one second. Let me just check his career. numbers. So sack-wise, yeah, his best year was the Super Bowl year for the Rams, 11 and a half sacks that particular year. And since, you know, he came out in the 2016 draft, he was drafted very high. I want to say first round, third overall, third overall in that particular 2015 NFL draft.

behind James Winston and Marcus Marietta. So Washington now on their roster has the number two and the number three pick from the 2015 draft. The number five pick was that guard. We got a receiver and a guard, Brandon Sheriff, as Jay referred to him. So I'm looking to see if there's any contractual. This is going to be another, you know, short-term deal for a player that fills. a need that was, you know, a rotational piece in Dallas, but we'll have a chance to play a bunch here. Look, I still don't think they're done at defensive end. But we taught,

defensive end, when you trade away Chase Young and Montez Sweat, by the way, at this moment, Chase Young is not signed with anybody. I know. And the 49ers have added a pass rusher in the kid from Penn State, Gross Matos. And Washington took Cleveland Farrell, who was getting playing time in front of Chase Young. So you've added Farrell, Fowler Jr., and Armstrong to your defensive line. By the way, here's a report that just came out.

Chase Young expected to visit the Panthers and Saints along with the Titans this week. So clearly in the first, you know, round here of free agency, Chase Young was not sought after here. He's going to have to convince some people. Looking for work.

Looking for a job. Yep. Wow. That's remarkable. You know what, Kevin? And tell me if I'm wrong for thinking this. You know, I might be right, and you just may not agree with me.

I would think that OTAs now with all this new stuff would be very important, wouldn't she think so? What all new stuff? New coaches, new players. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, remember that Ron Rivera was trying to change a culture?

And Chase Young didn't really feel that the culture needed to be changed with him involved. But this is beyond this. I mean, I would think literally OTAs in a situation like, this are magnified and they're important. Look, if Chase Young can rush the passer, there will be an audience for one-year mercenaries to rush the passer. The big issue with him, and he had a good Super Bowl, you know, and he showed some of that athletic ability

and some of that ability to rush the passer, and there have been flashes of it since he came back. But the bottom line is people, don't necessarily want him to be a part of their overall operation. And if he were much better as a pass rusher, he'd be signed at this point. Even with all of the so-called baggage. It's a real fall from where he was. I mean, it's a shame.

I feel badly for him. This is not, and I've been saying this for, you know, a year and a half now, This is not just about the type of player he is from the injury. This is a lot more involved in Chase Young. But if he could dominate as a pass rusher periodically, he'll get these one-year deals. They might dress it up as a two-year deal, but there will be somebody out there that'll take a shot on a guy that can get to the quarterback. but that's why they're going to have to, you know, see him physically, you know. Yeah.

Yeah, crazy. All right. So there you go. Some breaking news during the podcast. Dante Fowler Jr. To Washington. So it's Dorrance Armstrong, Tyler Beattish, Frankie Louvre, Austin Eckler, Nick Allegretty, the guard that they signed with the Chiefs last night.

Nick Allegretti, by the way, played with a torn UCL. in the second half of the Super Bowl, had a better-than-average PFF grade in the Super Bowl when he replaced Thune for some of those playoff games. The kicker they signed last night, Brandon McManus, when I saw that early, early this morning, because I didn't see it late, late last night, I was a bit surprised. He gets $3.6 million one year. Now, this is another Adam Peters. He was in Denver when McManus was there. So McManus is very similar to Joey Sly and that he's got a big, big leg. His career field goals on 50 yards or longer, 45 of 82.

That is a terrible percentage. Now, from inside 50, he's been pretty solid and he's been really good on extra points over the course of his career. But he's, I mean, 45 of 82 on kicks of, he's got a massive leg. Like, he's one of those guys that, you know, not just because of the thin air in Denver when he was there, but he tried a lot of long field goals. But one of the things, and I was talking to Denton, my producer on radio, I'm like, is it my memory or did this guy miss a lot of big kicks badly? Like I just remembered him spraying kicks all over the field and clutch situations.

If you just Google Brandon McManus misses game winning attempt, you know, they're like five or six of them. And one of them he missed by like 20 feet. You know, it was so far left and hooked so badly. But they must like something about him. And, you know, kickers are weird, right? You sign a great kicker and he turns into something that he wasn't previously. You sign a bad kicker and all of a sudden he becomes great. There's so much mental involved.

But, you know, it's also a deal just so everybody understands. It's one of those deals where the amount of guaranteed money at signing and the rest is base is if they sign an undrafted kicker that comes into camp that just wows them and he's like, oh my God, we got the next big thing. They can release McManus. Cleland Farrell this morning, this is a guy that played a lot before Chase Young showed up. And obviously has been a disappointment based on where he was drafted, but another Adam Peters guy. And then we have already talked about Mariotta and now Dante Fowler Jr.

Almost everybody, everybody with the exception of, I think, Alegretti and Louvre have, you know, are familiar to people in the organization. Which is how a lot of teams do business. You know? How a lot of businesses do business. You can only do business this way in free agency in the NFL because the players in college, you know,

it's a much longer shot that you've coached them or you've been a part of their careers that have been very brief. And they've been at the college level. So, yeah, I mean, I think they've done well. But I think they've done well from this standpoint. Addressing needs with people who they feel comfortable with and doing it in a way in which they, for the most part, are getting players at an age where they've got something left.

Most of these players don't have any serious injury history. And all of the deals, all of the deals are very, middle of the road, third-tier deals. You know, in this free agency period, second-tier maybe with the Louvo deal, but really third-tier deals. They had a lot of holes. They're going after a lot of players without spending an S load of money. I don't think it's a bad strategy right now.

Look, the bottom line is we're in this frenzied period of free agency. For this franchise, still, well, they do at number two and whether or not they land on a quarterback is the most important, you know, roster addition they'll make in this offseason. That's the one that they got to get right. They'd send all of these players back and maybe pay to send all of these players back if it guaranteed that they got the elite guy at number two. But so far, you know, I'm fine with everything so far. I would have liked to have seen maybe more. on the offensive line at this point?

Maybe a little bit more on the offensive line? They could use the left tackle, you know? They could use, you know, right now there are some really good guards that were signed for much bigger money that they didn't really seem to look at. Maybe they did. You know, it's possible that they looked at some of these offensive linemen. They got the center that they needed. Allegretti isn't necessarily a starter.

But they didn't go after, you know, the Jonah Jackson's of the world in terms of the guards, the Robert Hunts of the world. And in terms of tackles, yeah, I mean, you still have guys that are out there, including your own guy, Cornelius Lucas, who is pretty versatile. I guess the guy, and I'm just looking at the list right now, Jonah Williams from Cincinnati, would be the one guy that I don't think is signed yet that would be out there that, you know, can be a lot. left tackle or a right tackle. I think it means that Wiley's definitely coming back the way things

stand right now. Their offensive line is Cosme, Beaudish, Wiley. And then, you know, you've got a guy like Allegretti. You've got a guy, you know, in terms of your tackles, you know, you drafted this guy Braden Daniels last year. Trent Scott actually played pretty well for them when he played. But yeah, there's still some questions along the offensive line for sure. Anything else you want to add to the Washington situation? No, I mean, there's nothing on that list to be afraid of at this point. Yeah, and there's nothing to be afraid of in part because you haven't taken any big financial risk, you know? Yes.

They haven't spent crazy money on a player with question marks. Right. I think the most interesting thing from today is Marioada and what that means for, you know, Sam Howell, what that means for the quarterback room that they're trying to create. But it's very clear that they wanted a veteran quarterback in their quarterback room. and one that can play if called upon. You know, Mario daida had some decent games in 2022 for Atlanta. He really did.

I mean, he played well at Washington, if you recall. He had them all the way down at the goal line, down six in the final few seconds, and the ball got intercepted after pain got like a fingernail on it that tipped the ball up in the air. But he had some good games. Atlanta was in the, when they came here, that Thanksgiving weekend in 2022,

Mario da was having a pretty good season, not great, but pretty good, very much back to some of his dual threat ways with Arthur Smith as the head coach. And they were in playoff contention. You know, I think they were six and five or five and six, and Washington was right, you know, hovering around sort of contention as well. And that was a big win for Washington in the moment. And that turned out to be the next to last start, I think it was for Marjor. Marriota, and then he got benched, and then he left town. So, you know, and this past season, he did play in that season finale because they rested Hertz when they had nothing to play for against the Giants while Washington was playing

Dallas. Because Dallas, you know, they pretty much did what I think Dallas did the year before, which was just assume that the other team was going to win, and so they weren't going to win the division. And so they started and played Marioada in that one game. All right, we got other things to get to. We'll finish up with those things next. Tommy, beautiful weather up here.

I mean, it is spring-like, and it's going to be that way the rest of the week. Probably the perfect time to stop by Shelly's. Oh, absolutely. That our outdoor seating area. a great outdoor area where they'll wait on you, bring you, you know, some of the drinks that they've got from that great drink menu, a cigar from their great cigar menu, or food. Today's special for food is particularly noteworthy, at least for me,

barbecue chicken and bacon sandwich, grilled chicken breast, smoked bacon, and provolone cheese. On a toasted potato, Kaiser, roars. with barbecue sauce. That is awesome. And you can sit there outside in the beautiful weather, eat, smoke, drink, and watch the world go by. You know what was interesting? One of the things I did today in the clubhouse down here,

I interviewed Lane Thomas, who's one of my interviews. And I had a couple of cigars in my pocket, and he said, what kind of cigars of those? So I told him, I said, he was a cigar guy. And he said, yeah, a big cigar guy. I said, well, you got to go to Shelley's. And he was really interested in find it out more about Shelley's back room. So I told him all about it.

So don't be surprised if you're at Shelley some night, and you see Nationals outfield or Lane Thomas there after a game. A lot of athletes make Shelly's their stop. when they're coming through town or when they're playing for the home team. I remember Paul Pierce was a regular at Shelley's when he played for the Wizards. You know, it's that kind of place. It's a place where the guy coming through town at a convention stops, and the baseball player coming through town playing Major League baseball stops in as well.

Everyone feels welcome at Shelley's back room on 1330. 31 F Street Northwest. Everybody knows your name at Shelleys. Not really, but they'd love to get to know your name. That's the nice part about it. Yes. You know what that was from, right? Yeah.

Like everyone knows your name or everyone wants to know your name? No, where everybody knows your name. Yeah, I think I know where that was from. I know. Do you know the actual name of that bar? Do you know the actual name of Cheers? Why would I want to know the actual name of the bar? I know the name of the bar from the TV.

Isn't it like Bullfinch or something like that? Isn't that what it is? I don't know. Yeah. All right, guess what? Some more news. Some more news, Washington fans. Washington, according to John Kime, first reported by Tom Pellasarro,

Washington has a new long snapper. Forgot about their need for a long snapper. I totally forgot about that. Tyler Ott, three-year deal, was with Larry Izzo, Washington's new special teams coach in Seattle for four years. He didn't snap in 2022, but he was in Baltimore last year. He was a pro-bowl long snapper in 2020 with new special teams coach Larry Izzo. I forgot about Cam Cheesman, the disaster of Cam Cheesman. And then the fact that they finally cut him, I can't even tell you who replaced him for the last couple of games.

Yeah, I can't recall either. I'm going to look it up right now because I have no idea. I could not name the long snapper that replaced Cameron Cheeseman for all the money in the world. Well, if the long snapper is working right, nobody knows who he is. Tucker Addington could never have pulled that. Tucker Addington. forgot about entering free agency their need for a long snapper. Yeah.

Tyler Ott Boys and Girls. He is 32 years old and he went to Harvard. So there. Drafted by the, not drafted, but signed by the Giants back in 2015, has been with Cincinnati, Seattle, and Baltimore. but Seattle was as long stint as the long snapper. I would imagine, let's see, did he, he had to have long snapped in a Super Bowl for them, right?

2016, no, I think he just missed their last Super Bowl season. Okay, there you go. Tyler Ott, that's the breaking news on the podcast. Zach Gert spoke today and said, you know, he had his introductory presser after being signed by Washington last week. Again, he was not under contract. It wasn't a guy that was in the midst of an expiring contract. So Washington signed him last week. He's very familiar, obviously, with Cliff Kingsbury. And he said, quote, he was one of the best offensive minds that I had been around, and I still feel that way. I think the job of any NFL coach is to put players in

position to be successful and no one does it better than him closed quote. Zachert signing here in Washington because of Cliff Kingsbury and, you know, Zacherts has had a really good career and a really good career against Washington all of those years in Philadelphia. In terms of big news, free agency today, we mentioned Derek Henry to Baltimore. How about Patrick Queen leaving Baltimore to join Pittsburgh to play against the Ravens twice a year? He never turned out to be the linebacker that they hoped he would be. He played great once they signed Roquan Smith. That's for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. So there is that. You know, still only in terms of there. own players, Gibson and Berset at this point. I think what's hurting Curtis Samuel is the number of really good wide receivers in the draft. So a guy like Curtis Samuel, you know, is, you know, right now they can wait to see if they can get somebody like him in the draft if a team's thinking about him. Now, a player is somewhat similar to him. in Mooney, the Bears receiver signed a three-year deal with the Falcons today.

A guy like Cameron Curl, a lot of safeties available. Cameron Curl could be a possibility to come back to Washington. I mean, I don't think that that's that crazy of a possibility. And then Kendall Fuller surprised, actually, that he hasn't been signed yet. I thought that there was a decent chance. A very solid player. Yeah, I thought there was a decent chance he would go in the first two days of free agency. There's still a chance he'll end up going.

But yeah, a couple of other quarterback signings today. James Winston goes to Cleveland on a one-year deal. So Flacco's not heading back to Cleveland, even though he and Stefansky had expressed a desire to rekindle their second half of the season relationship from last year. Drew Locke signs a one-year $5 million deal with the Giants. And then, yeah, oh, Tyrod Taylor is going to be the backup to Aaron Rogers in New York. That's a legit backup in Tyrod Taylor. They got somebody that can actually play a little bit. They would have had a different season with him at backup if they had him.

Totally agree. And yet, you know, all of this movement with quarterbacks still leaves out there right now, Justin Fields. Justin Fields has not been traded yet. And I think what's curious about this, and I think it's piqued the curiosity of a lot of NFL people as well, is that in Las Vegas, where his former offensive coordinator, Luke Getzzi,

is now the OC for Antonio Pierce with the Raiders, they decided to spend $25 million two years on Gardner Minshue when they probably could have had Justin Fields for a third round pick and roughly 30 million for two years. They would have had five to six million this year's salary and then they would have picked up the fifth year option, which is 25 million. So basically for five million more and a third round pick, they said no on Justin Fields. Very strange what's going on there. All right. You got anything else?

We can wrap this up for the day. There may be some more news that breaks, but I can hit on that tomorrow. Do you have any baseball you want to talk about? Anything else you want to get to? No, I got nothing else for you, boss. I'll talk to you about it when I get back on Thursday. All right. Enjoy the game tonight against the Cardinals or the Marlins or whoever they're playing.

I'll be back tomorrow. Oriota. The pass. It's deflected in the Washington. It is. It's 10.