The Kevin Sheehan Show - McLaurin & Morris

Episode Date: June 29, 2022

Kevin with plenty on the Commanders' Terry McLaurin extension, the Wizards' trade for Monte Morris and Will Barton, with guests J.I. Halsell and Josh Robbins to help out.  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 Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. Back-to-back, busy sports days for D.C. sports fans on this June 29th. Yesterday, the Terry McCorn contract extension. Today, a big NBA trade involving the Wizards.

I've got a lot on both topics. Yesterday, Tommy and I had finished. We had just published the show. and 10 minutes after the show was published, the news on Terry McClure had broken, and I had already left the studio. I considered coming back to do one of those emergency podcasts or an emergency edit to yesterday's podcast.

But I made the executive decision that a contract extension, no matter how important and no matter how good the news was and how welcome good news was for fans. of this football team. I thought it would be okay to wait until today. J.I. Hallsell is going to be on the show. He will help break down what we know about Terry McLaren's contract. And then Josh Robbins, who covers the Wizards for The Athletic, will be our guest as well. I wanted to read real quickly from Banana Bob on Apple Podcasts, his review. Love the show. I wish that you guys had some shorter shows But other than that, it's pretty good.

Thank you, Banana Bob, very much for the review. To all of you who haven't rated or reviewed the podcast, especially on Apple and Spotify, if you can do that, it's really helpful for us from a revenue generation standpoint. Just makes it a lot easier for us to sell advertising and for our advertising brokers to go out and pitch our podcast to advertisers. as well. When there are lots of ratings and reviews and the ratings are really good and the reviews are really positive advertisers are much more interested in spending money on the podcast, and that's

crucial for us. So if you haven't done it, do it. If you can find the time, it would be all of like 30 to 60 seconds to rate us five stars and write like Banana Bob did a quick one sentence review. I wanted to start the show today with two emails that I got. I read one on the radio show this morning. It actually led to a call segment. It was from Doug. Doug wrote Kevin, finally some good news.

Do you think we can take a day off from Dan Drivel and celebrate instead? Scary Terry. I don't like that nickname. Scary Terry, it's just so unoriginal. Scary Terry's in the fold for the next four years. This is the best moment the organization has had in years. Wow. You deserve and we deserve a break from all of the wait for it. Media negativity. Oh, Doug, you were so close to a really, really solid email, media negativity.

I think at this point, I know it's more than a few people that are in the fan base, but certainly these are, you know, simple-minded people who actually believe that the criticism of the team is somehow media. generated, as if to say the team doesn't have any responsibility in all of the criticism that has come their way. I know that's not what everybody means, but whatever. I'm not going to waste time with that. Here's another email that I wanted to read. It's from pain. Pain wrote me via our podcast email ability. And he said, Sheehan, looks like people do want to play for this team. back years, John Allen last year, Terry McClorn this year. What do you say now about the desirability of Washington and playing for Riverboat Ron? Question mark, question mark, question

mark. Thank you, Payne. I appreciate that. What do you want me to say to that? This team under Bruce Allen in particular for the better part of 10 seasons was not a premium destination for anybody. Bruce Allen, remember in that USA Today poll of agents, was voted the least trusted football executive in the NFL. Bruce was going to nickel and dime an agent to death and try to get the better of the deal. He wasn't one of those guys that wanted both sides to walk away feeling that they had both been screwed on the deal, which usually is an indication that it was probably a good deal. He wanted just one party to walk away feeling screwed. He is going to be screwed into the ground when he passes.

This guy was literally bargain basement shopper. And, you know, the players that he acquired pretty much reflected what they were paid in most cases. So, you know, for years, this organization was not the place that agents wanted their players or players wanted to come to. You know, there were certain, you know, aberrations. There was the Deshaun Jackson availability, the Josh Norman availability, the trade for Alex Smith. You know, and Alex Smith did sign a longer-term deal, but for the most part, really and truly, Washington was not a desired place for a long period of time, in part because of Bruce. Before that, players were, you know, were jumping all over themselves to get an offer from Dan and Vinny because they were paying 20 to 25% above retail. You know, they had offers that the other teams couldn't even come close to.

This group is a professional group. It's a well-respected group. Ron Rivera is well-respected. You know, Jack Del Rio is well-respected. Marty Herney and Martin Mayhew are well-respected. And players, look, they're looking for, you know, the best place and also the best financial situation. John Allen, you know, is from here. Terry McClorn didn't have many options.

He was under contract next year. You know, he had leverage in so that the other receivers had signed these big deals, and the amount that he was going to get paid was growing with each subsequent deal that got done. But he was on, you know, in the fourth year of a rookie deal that was going to pay him $2.8 million. He didn't want to do that. And he couldn't do, he couldn't go anywhere else. He couldn't demand a trade. He wasn't a free agent.

The team really controlled his rights for, at least two more years, if not three, with multiple franchise tag options if they had wanted to. So it's not like Terry this year had a lot of options. But, you know, I'm not even suggesting that that's the only reason that he signed here. There have been other players. I mean, J.D. McKissick got out of the deal with Buffalo to stay with this particular group. You know, last year they got, you know, William Jackson to sign a deal, Curtis Samuel. Now there was some familiarity with Samuel and the coaching staff.

here. That always helps. We've seen a lot of Carolina come north because of their previous experience, which by the way, is a good sign. I know a lot of you have had issues with the whole Carolina North thing, but I haven't had that as an issue for me. I think it's an indication that they like the people that are here that came from Carolina, that Ron brought with him from Carolina. I don't think, you know, making a big deal out of back-to-back years of players signing here or resigning here is somehow like a knock against people that have said in the past, me included, you know, it's hard to attract really good players here because it was. You know, this place was not top of the list. It still isn't. It still isn't. But there were compelling reasons for John to stay. It's home.

and Terry McCorn, even though waiting helped him in terms of the deal that he got, the bottom line is he couldn't go anywhere else this year. And to ensure generational wealth, he pretty much had to do a deal with this team. But again, that doesn't explain J.D. McKissick. That doesn't explain, you know, William Jackson or Curtis Samuel last year, you know, or others. Look, I think that they've got a well-respected football group. I do. You know, it's not the most well-respected. It's not an elite group. It's not a brilliant group, but it's far from, you know, a bottom feeder from a football operation standpoint.

And at one point, it was. You know, Bruce was not trusted and Bruce was cheap. And then you had all of the other shit going on in the organization, not to mention the losing. Anyway, a couple of thoughts on the Terry deal. Then I want to get to the Wizards trade. briefly and then we'll bring on the two guests. Look, on the Terry contract extension, it's really good news. It's excellent news. It's news that I expected. I'm not patting myself on the back. Most of us that, you know, had been following this and even had some information, you know, knew that this was much more likely than not. It made too much sense for both parties to get it done. But beyond that, you know, I had mentioned on the podcast a couple of weeks ago during minicam.

that it was going to happen much sooner rather than later, that it wasn't going to be a John Allen last-minute training camp deal, that it was borderline imminent. And I think Jeremy Fowler reported the same thing. In fact, I think he reported the team thought that they were so close that they thought there was a chance he was going to be there for the final day of minicamp. The discussions, I guess, went cold because Ben Standing reported

that it went from zero to 60 this week. I have no idea why they went cold or not. But bottom line is you have to sign to a long-term contract extension early rather than waiting until you're forced to franchise your best offensive player coming off his rookie deal. Terry McCorn's been their best offensive player. You know, is he an elite wide receiver in the NFL? I don't believe so, but I'm not limiting that position. potential and upside for him with much better quarterbacks. He's played with eight of them since he got here in 2019. None of them very good. And maybe that'll change this year. But he has been their best

offensive player. He has a chance to become even better with better quarterbacking, and by the way, with growth and development. And then after being the best player on offense and one of the best players on the team, which is also true, top three player on the team, top five player worst case on the team. He is, along with John Allen, most representative of what Ron Rivera's been talking about since he got here. And that is, we've got to overhaul the culture of this football organization. And culture reform has been one of the goals and one of the top priorities, for Rivera since he got here. In the employee handbook under culture reform are two pictures, John Allen's and Terry McClurens. And you can't have the two players who are really good

players, two of your best four to five players on your team, and you're leading two culture reformers. You can't let either one of those two players go. What does it say to the rest of your locker room if you don't sign Terry McClellan? into a long-term deal and things become contentious and he's entering his final year and potentially he's going to become a free agent. You can't allow that to happen. You don't want it from a football standpoint because he's really good and you don't want it from a culture standpoint, especially in this organization. You've got to do right by him, which is a signal to the rest of the players and the team that you're taking care of the people that should be taking care of. And by the way,

that signal extends to the rest of the league. Oh, look at what we're going to. Washington did. They took care of their best player who's also a great dude and he signed and he wants to stay there. All of it was good. My expectations for Terry moving forward is for him to just keep doing what he's been doing. Be the deep threat, be the intermediate threat, be the close contested catch threat, be the yak guy, maybe even improve on a yak guy. He's got more talent around him. He's got a better quarterback. You know, he can't control if the ball comes his way or not, but when it does, just keep doing what you've been doing. Make plays. I was sent this particular statistic, excuse me, from my son last night. I had not seen this one. I knew about the eight different

quarterbacks, and I went through those on radio this morning. Sixty-three percent of the balls thrown to Terry last year were catchable. 37% were not. The 37% of non-catchable passes thrown to Terry McLaurin, highest rate of all receivers that were targeted at least 100 times. Obviously, that speaks to Taylor Heineke,

more than anything else. Might speak to the offensive line and pass protection, but it really speaks to Taylor Heineke. And we know we saw a lot of those games that Terry had beaten his man was wide open and the ball was later. The ball was behind them or the ball never came to him. But 63% of the balls thrown to him were catchable. 37% were not. That 37% was the highest rate of uncatchable passes in the NFL among receivers targeted at least 100 times. Crazy. I'm really happy that Terry McClaren is staying here. I mean, it's not the most thrilling moment as a fan of this team. Game and game results are much more impactful. But going back to Doug's email from earlier about this being the best moment in years and try to indulge it a little bit more than just, you know,

bringing up more Dan dribble, as he described. I thought about this, and we did it on the radio show this morning. I did the segment of, you know, 301-230980. The signing of Terry McCorn to a contract extension is the best moment for this organization since fill in the blank. And there was one thing that immediately came to my mind as I read Doug's email and thought about, you know, when was the last moment for this organization? It's pretty pathetic that a contract extension of a wide receiver is like the greatest moment in years in the organization. But what was the last moment? For me, it was the win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2020.

I thought that was a real moment. The Steelers were undefeated. They were playing them at Heinzfield. They were playing them on a Monday afternoon because of COVID reasons, and Pittsburgh had played a game on Wednesday the previous Wednesday against the Ravens. So the Sunday game got moved to Monday, which meant that it was nationally televised. And there they were the last undefeated team in the league. And Washington went in there and they were down 14-3 and they came back and they were incredible in the second half.

And they won the game. They won the game with Montez Sweat, you know, deflecting a pass late in the game. And it was picked off by John Bostic. to seal it. Cam Sims had a big time game. Logan Thomas had a big time game. Alex Smith was fantastic in the second half. The defense was dominant. And all of the sudden, it was like, whoa, you know, this team that looked just dead and gone early in that season, when they started off that season one and five, remember they beat Philly and then they lost five straight and they benched Haskins, they turned Haskins into a third stringer, and then Kyle Allen came in, and then

they destroyed Dallas on Thanksgiving Day. And then a week and a half later, they're in Pittsburgh against the last undefeated team, and they beat the Steelers 23 to 17 after falling behind at halftime, 14 to 3. That was a moment. I know that they weren't a really good team, but that was like win three in a row, it was part of a four-game win streak. We knew then, even at five, and seven, they were in the division hunt because the division was so bad. And it was like, oh my God, they are playing well. I remember saying this at the time. Forget their record right now because they are playing pretty good football and they're playing excellent defensive football. And they're beating some teams with bad quarterbacks, although we didn't know Rathesberger

was on the verge of sort of imploding the rest of the way, as did Pittsburgh. We thought that was a big time win. That was the last moment. I don't really personally think yesterday was like the greatest, you know, moment. It is, you know, certainly some good news in, you know, a desert of just horrible news as it relates to this team over a long period of time and certainly, you know, a long stretch here of several weeks. So that's nice, and I understand it. It's a nice little, you know, it's a, It's a diversion. You know, it's a diversion from what it's been. But, you know, ultimately, the results on the field are real moments. I mean, I guess if you draft a quarterback number one overall or Chase Young being picked number two overall or some massive trade that, you know, you feel like you just got, you know, Tom Brady kind of a player in a trade, you know, those can be moments. but yesterday I understand the desire for some good news,

but I don't really put it up there with like, you know, a game result. But I did think about like, you know, the last moment, that was it for me. You know, that Pittsburgh game, that was kind of a surprise. They were an underdog. I remember I gave Washington out as a smell test pick. Picked them to win the game outright. Pittsburgh was reeling. They were tired.

They had played like three games in like 12 or 13 days because of COVID. and the opponents that they had. And so they were ripe for the loss, but the comeback in the second half was exciting, and they got the win. All right, more on McLaurin coming up with J.I. Hallsell in a moment. So the Wizards were involved in a big trade today. They sent Contavius, Caldwell Pope, and Isch Smith to Denver

for Monty Morris and for Will Barton. Netting it out, good trade for the Wizards. They got their point guard, Tommy Shepard, told me last week on radio that the point guard was not going to come via the draft, that it was going to come via free agency or a trade. Well, they made a trade today, and Monty Morris is part of that trade. Will Barton's part of that trade too. Let me just say, I'm going to miss KCP a little bit.

I thought he was really solid and consistent on both ends for the Wizards last year. But they needed a starting NBA point guard. They didn't have one, and they got one in this trade with Monty Morris. coming to town. Morris can really score. He can really space the floor. He is a good shooter. Morris has had some big games in playoff games. They played a game last summer against Portland in the, I think it was the second round. It may have been the first round. It was one of the best games of the postseason. Damian Lillard, by the way, in this game was incredible. But Denver won the game 147 to 140 in double overtime. This was a game that Lillard, I remember talking about this game

for a while. Lillard went for 55 points. It was one of the best individual performances of the postseason. But in that game, with Denver, by the way, banged up, no Jamal Murray, no Porter Jr. They didn't have them this year. They did have Porter Jr. He hadn't gotten hurt yet. But with no Murray, he was gone. by the way, fully healthy is going to be a contender next year out west. But Morris didn't start, came off the bench, 28 points off the bench in game five in a 2-2 series, then followed that up with a clinching win in the series with 22. He was outstanding in the postseason last year in their six-game series win over Denver. This year he played well. They got beat by Golden

State in five games. A couple of competitive games, but he was really solid for them. In the game they won against Golden State. They got beaten five games, but they beat Golden State in game four, I think it was, 126 to 121. Morris had a big game in that one as the starting point guard. He went for 24 in that one. Yokic had 37 in that game. Morris had 137 in that game. Morris had 24 along with five assists. Here's one thing that you're not going to get a lot of with Morris. You're not going to get as many turnovers as we've seen from this position with this team in recent years. You're going to get a guy that can score that can shoot that will space the floor that will make the right decisions. Bradley Beale can play off the ball, can be more in what

Tommy Shepard would like to see, which is catch and shoot a lot more, although he's still going to have the ball in his hands a lot. I love the addition of Monty Morris. to this team. Would I have loved Conley, Jr.? More, maybe, but that didn't seem like a possibility. Malcolm Brogden, I guess for all intents and purposes, people are staying away from him. There is some discussion about just, you know, what kind of leader he is as a point guard, I guess. Jalen Brunson's getting way too much money in New York, although I love the way he played with Donchich during the playoffs, especially when Donchich didn't play in some of those games in the postseason that was just completed. But I like Monti Morris. I think that's a really good addition. Will Barton

from Baltimore? Good God. Will Barton's name, how many times have we as Maryland basketball fans, those of you that are listening that are, how many times have we mentioned Will Barton as one of the guys that got away? Barton was part of that was a highly recruited player back in 2010 and he chose Memphis over Maryland. I think Arizona may have been in the mix as well. Kentucky may have been in the mix. some big time schools. He ended up leaving to the state, grew up, played a high school basketball in Baltimore. He was one of the top 10 or 15 players in that class back in 2010. And it would have been a huge get for the Terps, but he went to Memphis and then was selected in the second round of the NBA draft back in 2012. Will Barton can flat out score.

By the way, doesn't have much. There's no shyness with Will Barton. offensively when he's out there, he believes. I think they got a really good player in Will Barton. I think in many ways he will be a little bit better than KCP was offensively, probably not as good defensively. That's what I would say. I think the Wizards did well with this trade. I think they got a point guard,

and now really all you're hoping for next year is for that inside straight of everybody being healthy. Because a team with Porzingis and Beal and Kuzma and Hachamura and Morris and Obdia and Kisbert and Gafford, if everybody, especially Porzingis and Beal, if they stay healthy, play 70 plus games, I think this is a team that's, you know, in the mix for the middle of the pack

in the Eastern Conference of the playoff teams, I'm saying. Like they're, you know, a potential six-seat, five-seed maybe, somewhere in that range. You know, 45 wins, 46, 47, 48 wins. somewhere in that range. They're not a title contender, but they did fill a need. What else do they have? I don't know. I think they're probably done. We'll ask Josh Robbins about that when he comes on. He covers the team for the athletic. But I think a good trade overall for the Wizards. I think it's a helpful trade. They certainly filled a need with Morris being able to come in day one and be in the

starting back court with Bradley Abil. All right. Up next, J.I. Hallsell will jump on with us and we will talk more specifics about the Terry McClorn contract right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Call Windonation at 86690 Nation or go to Windonation.com. Buy to get to free, no limit with no money down, no payments and no interest for two full years. You won't pay for the windows until 2024. If you've been thinking about new windows, they'll give you a free estimate.

It can be done online as well. if you mention my name, but 86690 Nation or windonation.com, tell them that I sent you. All right, let's get a little bit more from an expert on the Terry McClorn contract extension or good friend, J.I. Hallsell at salary cap 101. J.I. is a player agent. He was with the team for years in their cap division as a cap analyst for the Redskins back in the late 2000s. and he joins us right now. So I did have you on, I don't know, it was a month ago, and we were talking about, you know, the kind of deal that Terry might get, kind of fell into that range.

But why don't in you, you know, in an agent's description, kind of give us what you think of the deal that Terry McCorn reportedly signed? Yeah, when you think about the wide receiver market and Stefan Diggs is at $24 million per year, and then there was a drop-off to DJ Moor. $20.6 million per year. You know, when we talked a month ago or so, you know, we thought that it could land in that gap somewhere,

and it did, but it landed closer to Stefan Diggs, where Terry's at like 23.3, Diggs is at 24. So he landed closer to Diggs than he did more. So I think from an average per year standpoint, and, you know, that's not the most important metric when we look at deals, but it's the easiest one to follow. From an APY standpoint, you know, I think it's a reasonable deal for a guy that Washington had to extend, both given his production on the field and what he means in that locker room and the culture that they're trying to build.

So, you know, when we talked, you know, we were a long way off from training camp, and we're still, you know, a month away from the beginning of training camp. And deadlines make deals. we kind of had a sense here recently that this thing was going to get done before training camp. But, you know, the team clearly didn't benefit with the passage of time

on this thing. The player did. But as we talked about, I think, before, I'm not so sure the team could have gotten a deal in January or February because Terry's agent probably would have said, no, no, no. There are too many receivers up. We're going to wait this thing out. But here was the one surprise for me.

I'm not a major surprise, but I'm not a major surprise, but I'm curious as to what you thought. Why only a three-year contract extension versus what almost what everybody else got in terms of the big deals that have been done, which were more in sort of the four-year contract extension length? Yeah, no, that's a great metric or part of the deal to kind of highlight

is that three-year extension. When you think about deals from an agent perspective, you really want your client to be able to get back to the market as the salary cap has increased what we think will be a material number over the next few years. So to do a three-year extension is a big win for Terry and for his agent. From a club perspective, when you look at this deal, you very well could be having Terry McLaurin contract conversations two years from now. Because think about this.

He's going to play 2022 under the year. this deal. He'll play 23 under this deal as well. But now as we get into the 24 season and given the trajectory of his productivity, if he continues on that trajectory and we continue to see the increases in the cap, we very well could by the time we get to 2024 be having conversations about Terry McCorn getting a new contract and then the conversation is going to be, well, he's got two more years on his deal. The team will then say, well, we've got to, he's got to play at least one more year on this deal. Well, now, three years from now, we're definitely having a Terry McCorn conversation if he's still playing at a high level because there's no way he's going to get

to that last year of this deal. So, again, the end game for the player and the agent is to get back to the market or get back to the conversation as quickly as possible. And that's what the three year extension means for Terry. And that's a great characteristic of this deal for him. Is that always the case? Because the team could come through with you know, major blockbuster deal, like the Tarik Hill deal, you know, 72 million guaranteed, 30 million AV, four-year deal. And, you know, and by the way, he's entering his age 28 season. I'm assuming that it's not always the best thing to have a shorter-term deal for the player, right?

Well, the question becomes how much compensation am I receiving, particularly in terms of guaranteed money and money paid in the first three years. of the deal relative to the amount of time I'm allowing the team to control my rights. Because now, particularly once you get done with the guaranteed money, it's a year-to-year proposition on these deals. So in a Tyreek Hill example, he may not even get to year four or year five. Or if he does get to year four and five, and there's no guaranteed money, well, now you're just allowing the team to kind of squat on your rights and say, ah, we're not sure if you're

going to be here or not. you may not even want to be here, but we retain your rights, so we control the outcomes here from a club perspective. So therefore, more often than not, as long as the dollars and cents makes sense, you're probably from a player-agent perspective, better off with a shorter deal so that you can get back to the market. Do you think that may have been a key piece of the negotiation? Like if, let's just say Terry was looking for an,

A.A.V. and the A.J. Brown or higher, you know, $25 million or more. Do you think that that may have been, well, we'll take a little bit less, but we want a shorter-term deal? Absolutely. And that's how a lot of these conversations go, right? Is that at the end of the day, both the club and the agent slash player want to be able to hang their hat on something, right? And from a average per year AAB standpoint, the agent and player are going to start really high with that number. The club is going to start really low. And in this example, it is plausible that the agent said, look, we will take the three-year extension in exchange for coming down on our AAB, which maybe we pre, you know, just under

Cooper Cups 267, so maybe we're at 26. We're willing to come down to 23 if we can get that three-year. extension instead of a four or five year extension. All right. The only other thing that I would say, you know, you seem convinced that this was a win for the player, the three-year deal. The only thing I would just add, and I want your response to, is that for a player like Terry McClarn, who is 26, by the time his, you know, fourth year, the, you know,

this upcoming season, which is the fourth year of his rookie deal, and then the three-year extension on top of that, when he starts negotiating, even if it's early, you're starting to negotiate the years of extension with his age 31 season. You know, it's not an age 29 season or an age 28 season. He will be, you know, after this contract is over, he'll be heading into his age 31 season. season, I thought that maybe it was kind of, you know, splitting hairs on the three years that it's good for him because he gets back to the market. But for the team, they may not be committed to him for that last year when maybe, maybe, I'm not expecting this with this kind of a player.

The best years of his career are in the rearview mirror. I don't know, because, you know, you've seen Devante Adams is in his age 30 season and just, obviously got a blockbuster field. The thing about the wide receiver position is that, you know, a lot of these guys can play into their 30s. And even with the, we get to Terry's age 29, age 30 season, age 31 season, given where the salary cap is going to be in those years, a second tier NFL wide receivers APY could be $20 million down the road.

road, right? Because the top-tier wide receivers are going to be getting, you know, in excess of 30 million because Tyreek Hill technically is that 30 million today. So that's kind of the modeling and projections, particularly from an agent's player side of this that says, look, you know, even if we're going back to the negotiating table at age 29, 830, age 31, where the cap is going to be and where the wide receiver market we think is going to be, even if you're getting not a top-tier deal, you're still probably going to get a deal that's competitive to what you are making today. And so, you know, if you were talking about a running back where running back don't really get the third contract, maybe in that example you're willing to take the five-year extension because you don't think your client's going to get another deal.

But for a position where guys can play a really long time, you know, getting them back to the market as quickly as possible has been a philosophy. All right. Two more, a couple more things real quickly. Number one, the 28 million that he got in a, you know, a signing bonus is the most ever for a wide receiver. What should we make of that? I mean, it looks great from an agent player standpoint. From a cap accounting standpoint, it just means that now that $28 million is going to be spread out over the four years of this deal. So 2022, through 2025. So it actually helps Washington from a cap accounting standpoint. They do now put themselves at risk if for some reason they need to move on from this contract that they're going to have potentially a lot of dead money because of all this proration. But it's a win-win mechanism.

Player gets huge signing bonus, makes headlines, and then the club gets the cap accounting benefit of that signing bonus. So, yes, I see why that deal was done that way. And then it's $34.5 million fully guaranteed at signing. That's a strong number as well. You know, he's pretty much locked in for these next two seasons, at least. So who won the deal? I wouldn't say, I would try to say 60-40 towards Terry McCorn.

I say that, you know, Washington didn't lose this deal. Because of all the other non-quantifiable things that we've talked about before as it relates to why it's important to extend Terry McCorn. He's productive on the field. He's great in the locker room. He's the shining example of what you're trying to build as an organization in terms of the types of players that you want in the building. You didn't have to go to, you know, high-end wide receiver money.

He's kind of at that bottom of the top tier now. So it's a deal that just made sense. for both sides. One last question. I'm just curious how this works. When you have a guy that's got a year left on his deal, and in his case, it's $2.8 million in the fourth year of his rookie deal base salary. And now, you know, we've added $71 million for the three years that follow that, with $24 million guaranteed at signing or whatever it is. The signing bonus is 28. The guaranteed at signing is 34 plus. So when it gets reflected

and it's not reflected or described yet on SpotRack, which is the site that I use, they have not spelled out what the base salary is, the cap hit is. How does that, does he get paid that $34 million that's guaranteed at signing

in one lump sum? And then how... No. Okay, how does that work? Yeah, so let's talk about the $24 million. million dollar signing bonus. In all likelihood, you know, when I worked in the organization, we didn't have any signing bonuses, is that enormous, obviously. Not to the tune of 28 million, but anytime we had a really big signing bonus, you probably pay 33 to 50 percent of it at signing,

and the balance of the signing bonuses price split out and deferred payments over the next six to 12 months, if not a little bit longer. So let's apply that same concept to $28 million conceivably. He's getting $14 million upon signing from a cash standpoint, and then perhaps $7 million in April of next year, and then the other $7 million by September of next year. And that's just from a cash standpoint. The cap accounting of that $28 million is spread out over these four

seasons, 22 through 25, but $7 million per year. So that's how the cash flows go. What about the salary part? What about the salary part? Does he make $2.7, $2.8 million this year, and then next year he makes $23.3 million in base salary? Like, what do his checks look like, what it's based on? Yeah, so a lot of times what you'd want to do, and what you Steve done is they probably took his 2022 base salary down to

the minimum, which is probably in his case a little over $1 million. And they're like, okay, we're going to give you a, we're guaranteeing to you a $28 million signing bonus. Your base salary is not going to be a little over $1 million. That $1 million will be paid out over

18 weeks. And then going into year two, and I'm not sure if he has like a roster bonus in, when I think year two, meaning 2023. I don't know if he has a roster bonus. You'll probably see some split between a lump sum roster bonus and then a base salary that's paid out over 18 weeks next year.

Probably more, well, it'll be more than $1 million, but the big chunk of his compensation in 2023 is likely coming in a lump sum roster bonus. Do teams, when they guarantee contractually an amount that they're not paying in full at signing. Do they have to put that in escrow? I mean, I know it's the NFL and teams aren't going to go out of business, but do they have to contractually put it in escrow?

Yeah, you've hit all something, and I won't go deep into it, but it's called the funding rule, and it's a rule that came in the player, was created, I should say, probably in the early 80s, when teams didn't have as much money as they do today, right? And so anytime you fully guaranteed money, meaning money was guaranteed for skill, injury, and cap, and particularly in future years, that money had to go into an escrow account. That rule still exists today in spite of the value of these teams. It's actually one of the things that was most amazing about the Kirk Cousins' fully guaranteed contract in Minnesota was that because that deal was fully guaranteed from the start to the end of it, the Minnesota Vikings had to put.

a ton of money in escrow in the second year of that contract to ensure that, at least procedurally, ensure that Kirk Cousins got paid all that money. So yes, there is an escrow mechanism, although given the value of these teams and the cashloads of these teams, it's not really needed, and teams will hide behind that rule in negotiations as to why they cannot fully guarantee money at the start of a contract. Oh, they will. They'll say, well, we can't fully guarantee that number because we can't tie up that much cash. Exactly. Well, you know, it is interesting.

I don't know if, you know, I know you follow everything that's going on here. But, you know, one of the discussions while the Terry McLaurin contract extension process was going on is that the team, in fact, was waiting because they, they aren't in a position that Dan's not in a position right now, given all of the ancillary revenue streams that have dried up for them, right? They're one of 32 on the TV deal, so they're getting a shitload of money off of the TV contracts. But the, you know, the ancillary revenues, ticket sales, in premium seats, in corporate sponsorships,

I mean, Washington's now pretty much dead last in the league on. so that, you know, there's been discussions that Dan just isn't that, you know, cash wealthy anymore. You know, he's not as liquid as a lot of the owners are. I mean, could that have played in to, you know, that, you know, waiting as long as they could before they were forced to put all this money into escrow? I mean, look, on the club side of this, you absolutely have a budget that you need to, a cash budget. that you need to work with in. And then you just structure the deals to kind of fit around that cash budget. And so if we're saying that Washington isn't as cash liquid as cash rich as they once were,

then yeah, you just, yeah, you defer the compensation from an agent perspective. You say, well, look, if my guy's not getting the money for another year or two, then, you know, we've got to come down. We're not doing a four-year extension. We're going to do a three-year extension. All those things do, you know, play. a role in the timing of when deals get done and how they get done. Thank you, Jay, I, for doing this as always. Really appreciate it.

Likewise. You know, the next one to watch is going to be Antonio Gibson, given the running back market in the sea, kind of what happens with him over this next season. I think the next one, just to keep an eye on, is Duran Payne. Now, the reporting from Ben Standig, and Ben's a terrific reporter, is that the team actually floated the possibility that he was available via trade, which would indicate that, you know, he's playing on his fifth year option, and they're not going to, you know, pay him in the long, you know, pay him an extension, that he's going to be the one out of all of the first round picks on the defensive line that they're going to let walk. I mean, do you have any feelings one way or the other on pain?

To be brief, I think that they're keeping all options open for as long as they can. you know, as it stands today on June 29th, yeah, it seems like he's going to play out his last year of this deal there. But there's a lot of time between now and March of next year when we get to the combine and free agency where, you know, minds can change. And, you know, we could get to a point where maybe they are considering extending him or they are considering tagging him or they are considering trading him. Or if they do let him walk, they're comfortable. maybe they're comfortable with getting the comp pick in return. But all those things are viable alternatives, and there's no need for them at this moment on June 29th

to make a definitive decision one way or another on any of those alternatives. We'll circle back later on on the Antonio Gibson comment. I was just thinking as you were talking, look, it may be a case where they want to see Duran Payne play a season with a contract on the line. Because I think that Duran... Exactly. I think Duran Payne's got an unbelievable amount of talent.

I think they believe that, but I don't think they believe he's been consistent enough. And maybe they want to see what, you know, he looks like this year in a contract year. Of course, you know, now with Terry signed, theoretically, if Duran Payne went out and had an Aaron Donald or Fletcher Cox in his prime kind of a season, and they couldn't get him signed, they could always franchise him next year. You know, if they were to go that route. But all right, great job, as always. J.I. Hallsell at salary cap 101. Gonzaga Purple Eagle, D.C.'s own living out west now.

Thank you for doing this, as always. Hey, as always. Thanks for having me, Kevin. J.I. Hallsell, everybody. Up next, Josh Robbins. He covers the Wizards for the Athletic. We'll go over the big trade from earlier today with him next. right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

Coming up here in a moment, Josh Robbins from The Athletic. We'll talk about the Wizards Nuggets trade here earlier today. I do want to let you know that my bookies got some of the best NFL prop bets you can find anywhere. I mean, they've got everything you can think of for the upcoming NFL season. I was checking it out earlier today. They posted their defensive player of the year odds. I was interested in that. one. I wanted to see if Chase Young was even in consideration for defensive player of the year coming

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They've got Chase Young as the sixth tied for the sixth best odds to win defensive player of the year in 2022. I've already talked about the fact that I think this is a big year for Chase Young, a pressure year for Chase Young. May be unfair with him coming off that injury, but he is right there with Joey Bosa behind Nick Bosa, Micah Parsons, T.J. Watt, Miles Garrett, and Aaron Donald. the head of guys like Khalil Mack and Von Miller and Daniel Hunter and Bradley Chubb and Derwin James and Max Crosby and Jalen Ramsey. Chase Young's got much better odds than a lot of those players. We'll see. There is so much talent there. There's so much upside there. He's obviously flashed in the past his rookie year. So there you go. Go to mybooky.ag or mybooky.com. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. They'll match your first deposit, dollar for dollar, all the way up to $1,000 bucks.

So you deposit $200, you'll have $400 in your account. Deposit $500, you'll have $1,000 in your account. Deposit $1,000, you'll have $2,000 in your account to wager with. MyBooky.ag or mybooky.com, use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. Let's welcome on to the podcast. Josh Robbins. Josh covers the Wizards for the Athletic. Of course, I tell everybody when we have an athletic person that comes on.

Subscribe to it. It's totally worth it. Obviously, following Ben Standing and reading Ben and reading Josh and reading David Aldridge and everybody else that covers the local teams, Tark Elbashir. It's totally worth it. It's really inexpensive. It's a nominal monthly fee. Subscribe to the athletic.

It's worth it. Josh covers the Wizards. You can follow Josh on Twitter at Joshua B. Robbins. All right. Josh simply asked, would you think of the trade? It feels an immediate need at point guard for the Wizards. I would think Monty Morris is going to slide in as a starter at that position. Will Barton, a very creative offensive player who brings some size to the wing,

familiar with Wes Unsel Jr. and vice versa. I like the trade for the Wizards. KCP, though, is a loss. He was, I thought, the most consistent player on that. team last year on both ends. So they're going to miss him, but I think this is the addition of a starting caliber point guard on a very team-friendly contract. So let's talk about Morris first, because I actually think they're going to miss KCP a little bit too. I thought he was consistent. I thought he hit some big shots. He obviously was one of the few that played both ends of the

floor. But in Morris, talk to people who don't follow the NBA but have interest in the wizarding. what kind of point guard Monta Morris is in Europe? Durable, a good shooter. He's shot 39.5% from three-point range, which is critically important in today's NBA, critically important. And I think he's going to give a good effort on the defensive end, particularly at a position where the wizard struggled almost all last year

at the point of attack. They were really awful at the point going. position defensively until they brought Tomas Sotaransky back. And since Satteransky couldn't play all 48 minutes, they struggled without Sateransky in that lineup.

So I think he will be at the minimum an average defender with the possibility of being pretty good on defense. And he will add shooting. And he doesn't have to have the ball in his hands all the time, which

would give Bradley Biel a chance handle the ball, give Kuzma a chance to handle the ball, give Porzingis a chance to have the ball in his hand. So I think it's a good fit. Is he a superstar? Is he a star? Is he an all-star? No. Mati Morris isn't that player, but he's a good, solid point guard. You know, I think that team obviously fully healthy, which it hasn't been, would have been a very interesting team in the playoffs, and the last time they were healthy and in the playoffs, he had some big games. You know, he's capable, you know, in, you know, a big spot of coming up with a big game offensively. You mentioned that he's a 39% three-point shooter. If you watch him play,

he's got a great stroke. They're going to be in the back court with him and Beal on the floor a real threatening scoring back court, don't you think? Yes, I'm formulating an answer. do I expect Morris to put up big offensive numbers like more than the 13 points a game? I don't. But that doesn't, that's not really a problem because he can space the floor,

which in turn makes things much easier for everyone else. You know this. In today's game, teams have to be successful on the offensive end, unless you have an incredibly elite talent somewhere else. You've got to have at least four floor spacers on the court at any time,

preferably five. And that was a problem for the Wizards for long stretches last year. And as long as he shoots, 39 percent, that's an upgrade for them at that position in terms of spacing the floor. You know, I remember when Denver was healthy in, I don't think it was a bubble game. It was last summer. and they played just an absolute thriller against Portland. It went to like triple overtime. And Morris was unbelievable shooting the basketball off the bench. And they ended up winning that game and winning that series as well. We're talking to Josh Robbins.

Josh is covering the team now for the athletic. Does a great job. All right, let's talk about Will Barton. Is Will, in your opinion, just essentially, a replacement, maybe a better shooting replacement for KCP? Go ahead. Give me a minute on Will Barton. I think he's a very creative offensive player.

I remember in the months right before the pandemic started that Denver was angling to make a deep run in the playoffs. And if I remember correctly, Barton was heard at the time. And I was speaking with people who worked for the Nuggets. And they were telling me that they were really worried about Martin's injury

because he brought a level of creativity on offense that they wouldn't need when defense is tightened in the playoffs. So he's not someone to be underestimated here. Could he potentially take KCP's spot in the starting lineup at Small Forward? Maybe, maybe. Now, and again, KCP was kind of

playing out of position, KCP is really a two-guards. So we could see the Wizards maybe start Barton at the three, but if they don't, he'd be a more than capable backup on the wings. So I like what he brings to the table. Is he a defensive stopper? No. And they will miss KCP's defense on the wings. But I like Barton's game.

All right, let's, you've talked about KCP and what they've lost, and we've seen enough of Ish Smith around here. I love Ish Smith, by the way. I think he is, you know, N-line to N-lined has always been one of the fastest players in the game. He's a competitor, but he's a backup point guard. And this team was looking for one more piece, which was a starting point guard to go with Bradley Beal on the back court. And hopefully, by the way, you know, a lineup that includes, you know, Porzingis for

a lot of games in the upcoming season. We'll get to that in a moment, but what else do you think they need? Are they done or do they need some depth in the back court? Well, they certainly now need assuming Morse is going to slot in as a starter as it appears he will. They would need a backup point card. They would need a third string point guard. Almost no team ever goes into the start of the regular season without three point guards on its roster. So, yes, they need depth behind him, even though Beal could play the position in a pinch.

Heck, even Kuzma played the position in a pinch last year. But, you know, what do they need? Well, they sure as heck could use another star quality player. I know that's the most captain obvious thing I could say. But it's true. It's true. And while they have high hopes that Porzingis will pan out, and meet his potential and that

Brad will be his 30 point of game self, rather than his 23 point of game self. You need more. Particularly in a conference now, the East, that is better than it was two years ago. And if they're going to hope to make the playoffs,

a lot of stuff is going to get, they need a lot of stuff to go not just partially right, but exactly right. And, you know, they need, need someone, they need another top flight player. Again, I almost am stating too much of the obvious, but I think it needs to be said. I think it needs to be said that they need more high level talent. Well, yeah. I mean, and by the way, I think, you know, it is a somewhat obvious

statement, but not for everybody and maybe not for them. You know, I mean, the bottom line is resigning Bradley Beal, which is going to happen, you believe that is about to happen, is, you know, paying a top three to four salary to a guy who might not be one of the best 15 players in the game. And if you don't have a top five-ish kind of player, it's almost impossible to compete legitimately for an NBA championship. So, you know, if you really had championship as the goal, and look, I love Tommy Shepard, and I understand it's a business, and they need, you know, 46, 47 wins and the potential of three, four, five, six home playoff games, you know, next, you know, May, April and May, which would really go a long way towards the team being healthier from a financial standpoint.

That goes, by the way, for a lot of NBA teams, the majority of them. But if you really were hell-bent on championship contention or bust, I don't think you sign Beal to a max five-year, $248 million deal. What do you think? Well, if they were to let Brad walk... Well, it's too late now. I would have thought about this a year and a half ago, yeah. Put it this way. Re-signing him to a max deal of the kind you're discussing 248 over five years, it gives him a very narrow pass. It means for certain that Porzingis has got to be the best version of him. It means that the other guys expected to play key roles have to be healthy.

And it presupposes that Brad will be a 30-point-a-game score or close to it. Why do we say all this? Well, because when you're paying $45 million in year one to Brad and 33 or 34 in the year ahead to KP and then 36 probably the year after that to KP, it really makes it more difficult to bring anybody else aboard. And you mentioned Tommy Shepard. He arrived with a lot of impediments. The most important impediment was the fact that they owed John Wall a tremendous amount of money. And now they are out from that contract but are about to sign Bradley Beale

to a contract that's just as large, if not larger. So, you know, it comes down to this. There are, what, 10 maybe truly transcendent players in the league now. That's one for every three teams. If it were that easy to bring someone aboard, the Wizards would have done it a long time ago. And the road would be clearer to start from scratch, But as you say, Kevin, that ship has sailed.

They just can't let him walk for nothing. Yeah. And starting from scratch, really what you're hoping to do is get fortunate in the draft in particular, like Golden State did, you know, many years ago, like OKC did, you know, for those few years. And, you know, or, you know, you go this route and you hope that Rui develops in. to a superstar. You hope that, you know, Porzingis is a number two, or maybe your best player, if he were to stay healthy for a full season, which really is less than 50-50, if track record means anything. Or, you know, a Johnny Davis, or somebody that you end up drafting

ends up being the next Jimmy Butler 30 overall, or Kauai Leonard, or Janus. I mean, you really have to kind of step into it, you know, with some good fortune. I couldn't have said it better. That's why you're a professional. Oh, stop. You know, you're so right. You're so right. You know, one of the things that have to happen, and it's one of many, they're going to have to hit on a draft pick.

And the draft pick is most likely going to be tense or later. Right. Because when you have a Bradley Beal, to his credit, he could make them, even if Forsyngus is hurt, you know, if heaven forbid that occurs from their perspective, Bradley Bill, at his best, is good enough to make the Wizards mediocre. And when you are a mediocre team,

you're going to get a mediocre spot in terms of a draft spot. And, yes, there have been these great examples of teams that got super lucky and properly scouted future stars down the road. Janice, Clay Thompson, Curry, Jimmy Butler, Yokic,

but Kauai Leonard, but they are relatively few and far between. That's right. All right, I know you've got to run, but I've got one exit question here. Let's just think positively. Everybody stays healthy that they've got

on the roster. Let's just assume they add a Chris Dunn or they just keep Satteransky, you know, Netto and those are your backup point cards. But they, the roster is essentially what it is now and everybody plays without serious injuries next year, you know, 70 plus games. What's the upside? Number of games and best possible spot in the east. So that's a dream scenario because almost no team stays perfectly. help. And Porzingis has got a very checkered injury history. I think they could top out, top out at fifth or sixth. Again, as you just said, it assumes that Brad is the best version of himself and that Porzingis approaches his, I think was 16, 17, All-Star Season in New York.

if those two things happen, yes, then they are an interesting team. And for that, so if those things occur, then I'm not prepared to say that they're a conference title contender. I probably wouldn't even say they'd reach the second round, but that would at least make for a season in which they could top out at six or six in the east. 46, 47, 48 wins, fifth or six. That's kind of where I would have it as well. And that's a pipe dream. It's not just Porzingis. It's Beal and it's others.

You know, it's really being available and improving. It's a lot of those things coming together. They do have some pieces that, you know, if you hit the inside straight, they could have a really exciting season. And by the way, be an exciting team to watch as well. Josh. Can I add one thing? Yeah, please.

What do you mind? I mean, I don't mean to hijack your show. No, do it. But let's just say they do finish 46 or 47 wins and end that season on some momentum. Well, you know, a lot of teams, a lot of star players are desperate to try to lure Bradley to be able to their team, which is an indicator that these players, you can't fool a player. They know who's good and who isn't good. if they are so eager to add Bradley Beal, let's just presuppose that he does resign long term.

Why is it impossible to think that Bradley Bill couldn't recruit a star-level player to Washington, D.C.? It's not impossible. Now, this is a great place to live. You're preaching to the choir now. I've been talking about this going back seven, eight years, when they had that group with John and Brad and Trevor and Nenay and Gortat and I'm like, come on. And they cleared the deck for KD. And for whatever reason, Josh, I agree with you.

It's a great place to live. It's a great place to raise a young family. It's got such potential as a true basketball town at its core with the professional team never having the kind of popularity that it could have because it's never been relevant in late May and June. and I hope you're right. You know, Brad goes out, averages 30 a game next year. They win 48 games and somehow, you know, they're able to attract a superstar that's on an expiring

contract. But for whatever reason, it hasn't happened in the past. Maybe it's because John was here. I don't know. Maybe they would feel differently about the setup now. But that's been something we've all wondered here for a long time, which is, by the way, as kind of, you know, a side note, why even though I think it might have been the best thing to move on from Beal, when you were at the height of trade, you know, value, the bottom line is he's one of the first stars and maybe one of the only stars in recent memory on this franchise that's wanted to stay.

And so I kind of appreciate that, even though I don't think it's going to lead to a title. Well, Josh. Yeah, go ahead. Well, everyone wants to see a scenario, and I get it. They all want to see a scenario where a team develops, as they say, organically, right? Like, as you mentioned, OKC, they drafted, I think it was almost in consecutive draft. Durant, Westbrook, Harden. Well, that's not going to happen.

That's a once-in-a-generation happening. In today's NBA, of course, it's preferable to draft the best. people who become your nucleus, like Golden State has done, to their credit. Like Boston has done with Tatum Smart Brown. That's great. But in reality, in today's NBA, there's another route to be ruthless in terms of recruiting people, and to have your best players recruit people. So that's, people are eager. All this talk about Joel Embed, wishing that, wishing that, Bradley Beal was his teammate, that's not made up. That's real. And so Bradley Beal is an attractive person to play alongside. So that's, you know, he's going to have to be ruthless in his own

right. Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, for a lot of these players recruiting Bradley Beal to a nicer climate, to a better tax situation, whatever it is, D.C.'s never, for whatever reason, And it should be a great place for a young person now because it's become a much better young person's town than it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago for sure. But they've never really been able to do that. I mean, hell, you know, a homegrown Kevin Durant has wanted nothing to do with his hometown.

Now, there may be, you know, reasons for that, that, you know, it's the pressure and it's, you know, the familiarity and lots of people that he knows always coming at him. I don't know what it is. But anyway, thank you for doing this. I appreciate it. I think we all thought something would happen, and it happened today with the trade for Monta Morris and Will Barton.

Appreciate it, Josh. Pleasure is mine. Thanks for having me. Josh Robbins, everybody, from the Athletica, at Joshua B. Robbins on Twitter. I appreciate him jumping on. It's a busy day for all of the guys on The Wizards Beat. Thanks to him.

Thanks to J.I. Hallsell back tomorrow with Tommy.