The Kevin Sheehan Show - Mock Schedule!

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

Kevin went early with his Washington Commanders 2026 "Mock Schedule" this year. Too much noise about potential schedule leaks in the coming days pushed Kevin to get it out today. ESPN's Tim Bontemps joined Kevin from MSG to talk NBA Playoffs. Kevin finished up with a Diggs vs Aiyuk conversation.   For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match   Right now, buy one prescription pair and get 20% off any additional prescription pairs at WarbyParker.com/[Sheehan   So if you are looking to make Mother’s Day perfect, or just want to impress your friends and family with an epic meal next time you host, go to www.GOLDBELLY.com and get free shipping and 20% off your first order with promo code sheehan.   Chime is not just smarter banking, it is the most rewarding way to bank. Head to www.Chime.com/SHEEHAN. It only takes a few minutes to sign up. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. Couldn't wait. Mock's schedule out on this very show. A show who's presenting sponsor is Window Nation, of course.

86690 Nation or Windonation.com if you need new windows. I do have one guest on the show today. Tim Bond Tem, senior NBA writer at ESPN, will join. Join me from Madison Square Garden in the next segment. The Nixon 76ers tonight in game two, no Joelle Embed. He is out with multiple injuries. I thought the 76ers would bounce back in game two and potentially win it. Certainly would keep it much closer than in game one when they lost by 39,

but without MB, that will be a difficult task. very end of the show today. I'm going to talk about what I talked about on radio today, and that is Ayuk or Stefan Diggs? Stefan Diggs was cleared of the two charges by a jury in Boston that he was facing a strangulation felony charge and then a misdemeanor assault charge. So Stefan Diggs is certainly going to sign with somebody. Which of the two would you prefer if I told you. you, one of them was on Washington's roster in week one. I will give you my answer to that in the

final segment of the show today. So let's get to it. My 2026 Washington mock schedule. I mentioned earlier in the week that I might wait until early next week to do it or even do it on Friday show, but it does appear as if there could be some leaking of some of the games here over the next few days. And I want to get my mock schedule out in advance of all of that. I don't want to be influenced by, you know, the announcement that Washington's going to, you know, be involved in one of the Thanksgiving Day games or that, you know, we know what the international games are. We know what the international schedule is. And we know several of the host. teams and we know that Washington is hosting one of the London games at Tottenham Spur

Stadium. I'll guess on the date because that has not officially been put out there, but I just don't want to be influenced by a lot of what I think will start as early as the end of this week with leaks. This is a true, you know, mock schedule without influence. Yeah, so that's why I'm getting it out today. Plus, I worked on it. all of last night, and I didn't want to hold it back anymore. So let's start with this. Washington's 2026 schedule is a schedule that features nine home games, although one of those home games will be as a host team in London.

So they'll actually only play eight regular season games at FedEx. They will have eight road games, the NFC and AFC switch every year. one year you play nine at home, eight on the road. Next year, you know, it switches conference conferences, and that conference plays nine at home and eight on the road. This year it's the NFC's turn to have nine at home and eight on the road. And again, Washington won't play nine true home games because one of their games will be an international game.

They play the NFC East, of course, Dallas, Philly Giants, home and away. They play the entirety of the NFC West, they play the entirety of the AFC South. And then the three games that are different from Dallas, New York, and Philly, and these are the only three games that are different from the games that your division teams play. They will play Minnesota, who finished in the same third spot in the NFC North. They will play Atlanta, who finished third in the NFC. South, and they will play Cincinnati, who finished third in the AFC North. So Washington finished third in their division, and this is the division rotation for the other three games on their

schedule. So those are the only three that Philly, Dallas, and the Giants don't play. Minnesota, Atlanta, and Cincinnati. They play Atlanta and Cincinnati at home, Minnesota on the road. So if you're new to the mock schedule. I should have said this to start with. I've been doing this now for 17, 18 years, something like that. It goes back to when I was doing a show with Rigo. It may even go back further than that. I just was always fooling around doing mock schedules. I was more interested in doing a mock schedule than I was a mock draft. And, you know, I'm sure other people were doing it, but I think I was certainly one of the first to do it in sort of a public setting, you know, a media setting.

And now everybody's doing mock schedules. The teams put out contests for them. So everybody puts out a mock schedule these days. So let's get to it. Let's get to these 17 glorious games over 18 NFL weekends. Remember, the NFL this year opens on a... Wednesday night. Wednesday night, September 9th, Seattle at home as the defending Super Bowl champions will open up with somebody. It won't be Washington, even though Washington is on Seattle's

schedule, but they play in Landover here in 2026. Thursday night, September 10th, is 49ers Rams in the first ever game in Australia. That's why Seattle's opening up on Wednesday night, September 9th, the first Sunday of the season, September 13th, pretty late for a season opener, and that's because Labor Day is very late this year. Eventually, when this league moves to an 18 game schedule over perhaps 20 weeks with two by weeks, this season will definitely open then on Labor Day weekend. But not this year, not this year. Real quickly, a couple of things about the process that I go through and putting together the mock schedule, because I know you care so much. But there are four things that I typically take into consideration at the very

beginning of the process. Number one is the season opener. Number two is the season ender, and that's always against a division team. Number three is the buy week and number four is how many standalone nationally televised games would be appropriate for Washington in the upcoming season. How will schedule makers view Washington in those standalone nationally televised spots? Not all of them are prime time. The London game is a Sunday morning game, late season, Saturday games aren't in prime time, sometimes Christmas Day games, were day games. Also, the Thanksgiving day games, you know, two of the three are not in prime time. But what number would be appropriate based on what Washington is supposed to be in the upcoming season? Keep in mind. Keep in mind,

Jaden Daniels is a little bit of a wild card in that process because he's a very appealing player. And so maybe Washington, even if the expectation levels aren't super high, they might get an extra standalone nationally televised game than maybe a team that doesn't have a star player. But those are the things I think about, you know, as I get the process started, like with the season opener. The season opener to me always comes down to have they, opened up at home a lot more than on the road or vice versa in recent years. Or as in the case of 2023, when that was going to be the first season without Dan Snyder, I actually got that season opener correct. And my rationale was the schedule makers are going to recognize that there's

a bit of a celebration to be had with no Dan Snyder. So let's give them a home game in 2020. and let's make sure that the opponent isn't an opponent that travels well. Don't give them Philly, don't give them Dallas, don't give them Buffalo. And that's why I chose Arizona as the season opener in 2023. I got that one right. Few and far between over the years, but I got that one right. So with the season opener this year, I looked at how many recent season openers have been at home versus on the road. five of the last six season openers have been in Landover at home.

So I've got them on the road this year. The season ender, the last eight years, seven of the games have been against Dallas or Philadelphia. They've only played the Giants once in the season finale over the last eight years. So yes, there's a strong likelihood the Giants are going to be Washington's season finale in my mock schedule. The buy week, they've had late by weeks for several years in a row now. So I've got them with an early buy week this year. I did the same last year as well. And then standalone nationally televised spots.

Let me just mention I don't have them on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day. I had them on Christmas Day last year. So I had the day right. I had the opponent wrong. I had Green Bay last year. They played Dallas on Christmas Day. This is one of the reasons I want to get the schedule out now. Because these are the games that sometimes you get some, you know, online chatter about, and sometimes it's right.

Last year, there was a pretty strong consensus that Washington was going to be on Thanksgiving or Christmas, one of those two. And then it sort of started to come out that it was probably leaning towards Christmas Day, getting Jaden Daniels and Washington on Christmas Day. I don't want to be influenced by that. So let me just mention no Thanksgiving Day, no Christmas Day game, but I do have five stand-alone nationally televised spots on the schedule and a potential sixth late in the season in sort of a Saturday or Sunday TBD opponent and date. All right, let's get started. They're going to open up on the road because five out of the last six opener.

have been at home. I've got them opening up on September 13th at 425, part of the Fox doubleheader on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. Season opener on the road against Philadelphia. Week two, a very good defensive team coming into town for the home opener. I've got the Houston Texans. in week two against Washington on September 20th. That being a one o'clock kick.

They opened up, remember, with Houston on the road in Jay Gruden's first year, and they played Houston in week two in 2010. So this would be a third time against the Texans very early in the season. Then I have Washington with their first stand-alone nationally televised game, and it's a primetime Thursday night game in the Meadowlands against the Giants in week three on September 24th. And then I've got the following game being their London game at Tottenham, and I've got the opponent being the Indianapolis Colts. So the first four games at Philly on Sunday, September 13th in the late afternoon window,

at home in week two against Houston at 1 o'clock. Week three is a Thursday night short week trip to the Meadowlands to face the Giants. And then week four is a London game against Indianapolis. Washington is the host team there. Then I've got the early by week off of the international game. on October 12th. This would be the earliest buy week they've had in many, many years. Then off of the buy week, Sunday, the weekend of October 18th, October 19th,

I've got a Monday night home game against the Rams, 820 kick. The Rams, Sean McVane Company, come in to Landover to face Jaden Daniels and Company on Monday night football. So I have out of their first five games, first six weeks of the season. I have three standalone spots. You may think that's a lot. We'll see. So October 18th, Monday night football against the Rams. Then Sunday, October 25th at Tennessee, I've got as a one o'clock kick.

And then here we go again. Back on national television, prime time stand alone, their fourth of the season so far. at home against the Cowboys Sunday night football, November 1st. Then on November 8th, I've got them at Jacksonville for a 1 o'clock kick. November 15th, home against Seattle. I've got that as a 425 game, so a big double-header game. Sunday, November 22nd, I've got them at Minnesota at 1 o'clock. And then Thanksgiving weekend, I've got a Sunday night game on the road against the 49ers.

on Sunday night, November 29th. So that would be the next to last game of Thanksgiving weekend. There would be a Monday night game. But at San Francisco Sunday night football, that is the fifth of what I am projecting to be five standalone nationally televised spots. December 6th, the Falcons come to town at 1 o'clock. That's December 6th. December 13th.

It's Cincinnati at home. 1 o'clock, and then on December 20th, heading into the holiday week, I've got them at Dallas, 425 kick. Then the following weekend, I have one of those either or. It's either going to be Saturday, December 26th against Philadelphia at home. That would be a standalone nationally televised spot. Or it'll be Sunday, December 27th as part of a Sunday lineup, TBD, on the time. Then on January 3rd, I've got them at Arizona, 425, maybe it's a 405 start. And then on January 10th to wrap up the season, I've got the Giants coming to Landover,

Washington finishing up at home against the Giants. There it is, the 2026 mock schedule. at Philly to open, Houston at home in week two, at the Giants on Thursday night in week three, Indy in London in week four, by week, week five, week six, the Rams on Monday night football at home, week seven, at Tennessee, week eight, Dallas at home on Sunday night football, at Jacksonville, week nine, Seattle at home, week 10, at Minnesota, week 11, at San Francisco, week 12 on Sunday night football. Week 13, Atlanta at home, week 14, Cincinnati at home, week 15 at Dallas, week 16, Philadelphia at home in either a Saturday or a Sunday, week 17 at Arizona, and week 18,

the Giants at home. I will post this on social media tomorrow at Kevin Shee in D.C. After I do it on the radio show. All right, Tim Bond temp's from Madison Square Garden to talk NBA playoffs and who the Wizards should hope to get in their draft in June. We'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Okay, guys, I'm about to tell you about the most incredible, unforgettable gift you can get Mom this Mother's Day. Have you heard of Gold Belly? Sure you have, because I've been telling you about it for two years.

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which windows in your home need to be replaced. They'll leave you with a quote and then you make the decision. 866.6.9 Nation, Windows. Nation.com. Joining me right now, the senior NBA writer for ESPN, Tim Bondtamps, at Tim Bondtamps on X. Of course, Tim used to write for The Washington Post, and he's joining us from Madison Square Garden, site of game two, between the Sixers and the Knicks tonight. So I want to go backwards a little bit, Tim, to start before we talk about what's going on now

and project forward through the rest of the playoffs. Tell me what Denver does next after losing to Minnesota, a depleted Minnesota team in the first round in six games. It's going to be an interesting thing to see what happens. I mean, to start with Nicole Yolkich, Kevin is up for an extension a year ago. He did not sign an extension when he could have signed one. And if he does not sign one this summer,

he can be an unrestricted free agent in 2027, which obviously would be pretty seismic news. if that became the case. So, I think one of the big questions in the summer for as much as everybody has talked about the presidency upcoming of Yadesthetic Kupo and whether he'll sign an extension, whether he'll stay in Milwaukee.

You know, the Kolo Yoko situation has sort of flown under the radar because, you know, I've just assumed Yokin's going to stay. Now, we got asked multiple times after game six when they lost the Minnesota that he wanted to be a nugget forever.

However, he did not definitively say, I am going to sign an extension, which when he last signed an extension with the nuggets, he definitively said, I am going to sign the extension when they offer it to me. He was given multiple chances to say that. Now, I expect him to sign an extension this summer, and I expect him to remain a nugget.

But until we see him sign on the dotted line, and you have to at least leave open the possibility that he does not. And if he doesn't sign an extension, I would expect knowing how Denver operates and how they have operated under San Juancy that they would potentially trade Nicole Yokic this summer to make sure they didn't lose it for nothing. So that would certainly be a very size of development in the league.

Assuming Yokic does stay, though, Kevin, the problem that Denver has is they just don't have a lot of flexibility to improve this team. They've used up all their graphics to send out salaries for the most part over the past several years in trades. They have to try to resign Peyton Watson, a talented young forward who spent a lot of the back

off of the season injured. They sent out their first round pick last year with Michael Porter Jr. to get Cam Johnson in a move that really flopped for them. He was not very good for Denver this season. Aside Chris Brown to an extension before the year, he had a very bad season. They're going to need him to bounce back.

And more importantly, when you just look at the Western Providence, if you look at Oklahoma City and you look at San Antonio, those two teams are just on another level of where I think Denver's capable of getting to. So even if Denver gets yokeets sign back and make some moves, I just don't really see a scenario right now where they are going to be a true championship level team going forward,

barring some kind of Black Swan event where they get some unexpected talent to show up on their roster. So the way the NBA is set up now, especially Kevin, and you follow it for a long time, these things tend to end really fast. and they end faster than ever now with the new rules. And Denver, I think, is going to be a fast team to watch this summer, not only because of the Yokic thing,

but to see what they try to do to keep up with the Joneses because I just don't see the path of them being as good as a young, a young ascending Thunder team and a young ascending Spurs team moving forward. And they obviously weren't good enough to get out of the first round this year. This is what I've been saying about Yokic for the last two weeks before the playoffs started, and since the game six loss, I kind of had this sense that this was a big postseason for him.

Obviously, with Oklahoma City and San Antonio in the West, I wasn't necessarily thinking he would make it back to the NBA finals. But when you think about 20, 23, Tim, we thought that was going to be the first of several, you know, at least trips to the finals. And he hasn't been out of the second round, since they won it all. And they just lost to a team who's so impressive.

Don't get me wrong, but, you know, was missing three major pieces in game six. And I thought he played well in game six, but for the entire series, it was not his best. It was far from it. And I've said that his legacy took a bit of a hit in this first round. What do you think? I don't know if his legacy necessarily took a hit. because he's already, you know, won three MVPs and won a title and,

you know, I think his legacy overall is probably largely secured. But, you know, look, if you want to continue to move up the ranks of all-time great players, at some point you have to start winning deep into the playoffs more, right? And like, doesn't mean he's not an inner circle

Hall of Fame or he is. Doesn't mean he's not an all-time great player he is, but, you know, I haven't been thinking about this lately. I can see at the end of the day his career lining up, looking something similar to Wilts Chamberlain at the end of the day, who obviously had an unbelievable career and certainly put off massive shots of a great accolades, but at the end of the day, he's not seen in the same light as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan and

probably not even Magic Johnson and Bill Russell and Michael Jordan and all these guys who, LeBron James, who all won four, five, six, and Bill State's 11 title, right? Yeah. And you don't get just won one and made two conference finals. Like that's just not the same level of a competition, and it's hard to see him really getting to that point. So he might end up just having a remarkable statistical career. And obviously the championship is a big difference. You know, I could pick the capstone for him, just like it was for Durt Novicki.

Right. But, you know, it might not, it might not have the same overall resume at the end of the day that, you know, some of the guys that look like maybe two, three years ago, he won that person. title, he might have a chance to rip off two or three or four. And then maybe he are talking about him at the top. You know, he's better than Tim Duncan then, maybe. I don't know, right? Like you could have him in that kind of conversation and he ends up with one,

he probably won't be. Yeah, I think that's, of course, he's an absolute lock, you know, first ballot Hall of Famer with the three MVP's. And just for my lifetime of watching the NBA, I think he's the greatest passing center I've ever seen. But without the rings, it looks more like Moses, you know, and Moses is not mentioned. You know, he's not mentioned with Russell, Wilt, Kareem, in terms of the center conversation, or even Elijah one, you know, or Shaq, I think I mentioned Shaq. And I think in 2023, I thought when he got done after watching what he had already accomplished, we were going to be talking about him

potentially is the greatest center of all time. And that's where I'm a little bit thinking now. It's going to be hard to put him in that conversation if we saw his last final trip in 2023. And with OKC and Wembe in the West, it'll be tough. Now, let me ask you, if he were to get traded, if I told you he did get traded, give me the two or three likely landing spots. Yeah, just to be honest, I'm not really.

going to do that, only because if that was to come the path, it would be such a seismic event that it would just be, it would be very hard to know what the ripple effects of him actually being on the market would be, and it would be hard to know really what the level of shooter would be, because that could open up a lot of potential avenues that you wouldn't even think about. So, you know, let's see what happens on 2.30th when he can find that extension of whether he actually does or not. And then we'll worry about where he might be. end up in doing. What does Boston do after that loss on Saturday night?

Anything? That's a big question. I'm not, I'm not sure. You know, my buddy Brian Winters likes to talk about all and guys, they're up for extension. Stanley Brown could potentially extend this summer.

I've got three years left on his deal. We'll see what happens there. You know, the Celtics did a nice job, cutting a bunch of money and resetting their books this season, setting them up well for some long-term financial success, but they're in a bit of a tricky spot because they don't have a lot of contracts

that they can move around to potentially improve the roster from here. Obviously to make trade, you have to have salary to send out. Well, right now they have three real salaries to trade. Or Janlon Brown, James Tatum, and Derek White, they're all really good players who, in theory, they want to keep. So if you're going to try to improve around them, there's not a lot of flexibility to do so.

Ultimately, I think they have to decide you that really want to make a big change or do they want to just maneuver around the edges? And, you know, assuming they don't want to make a big change, it's probably going to be minor stuff to try to improve some of their death, maybe get another center and then come back and make a run next season. How impressed have you been with Minnesota, not just the win over Denver,

especially without Anthony Edwards for the last two and a half games, without DeVincenzo, without DeSumo. And I know, you know, Gordon was out and Peyton Watson were out as well. But then the game won win. in San Antonio the other night. Just give me your thoughts on the Timberwolves. Did you expect this? Oh, I don't think anybody did.

I mean, I think if people did, they'd be lying. Like, for them to have the success they've had, with all the injuries they've had to beat Denver without Aunt or I.O. Or Johnson, in game six. So to win their game against San Antonio and games. game one and they've had a remarkable run through these playoffs. And I think they've got a chance to win this series.

Yeah. I would have probably fought really hard about picking them before the series that I know an aunt would be ready to go fully for game one. Right. You know, the fact that well without Iowa or Dr. Dijenzo is awfully impressive. You know, obviously we're taping this so we'll see what happens in game two. I'll assume it's going to play in game two. That's a big boost for Minnesota, but you're there live in the fight.

in the series. They've obviously made the conference finals the last two years. They've had upsets each the last two years to get there. Chris Fitch is a hell of a coach. They play like their sharp player. They're tough. They're a little unpredictable. They're sometimes frustrating in the regular season because they don't always have the requisite focus. But when they get in the playoffs, they got a lot of tough-minded dudes who know how to win, and they're awfully fun to watch. And, you know, it wouldn't shock me if we're seeing Minnesota back in the conference finals again and spoiling what everybody had thought, including me, was getting a pretty clear collision for us between

the Pennsylvania and Oklahoma City here in a couple of weeks. Yeah, it seems like we all kind of were expecting to see that, and I'm with you. I think Minnesota definitely can win this series. With that said, I don't see anybody beating Oklahoma City, and I see them repeating again. What do you think? Yeah, I agree.

I thought that all season. I mean, you know, obviously there hasn't been a repeat champion in a record amount of time in the NBA. So people have sort of just been assuming that that might end up being the case again. But, you know, I think that's been selling short the talent level of the sound level of the thunder, just how good they are as a group. You know, I think when you look at OKC, when you look at depth of talent they have, when you look at the roster that they have

and the way they position themselves with probably the best player in the sport. Bigos, how Xander is going to win a second trade MVP at the controls. I mean, they really don't have any weaknesses. They can play just about every way. They have a championship experience. You know, I'll just be awfully surprised

if they don't make their way through to the end, especially if, you know, Minnesota finds a way to beat San Antonio, I think it's a wrap. San Antonio's at least shown some ability to contend with them this year, but at the end of the day, I don't think that the spurs with their youth are going to be able to beat OKC four out of seven times in the playoffs. And assuming they don't, the thunder really should take care of everybody else. So it will be a pretty pat-a-stropic disappointment, I think, if they don't. Who would give them the best test out of the four teams remaining in the east?

I mean, probably the next. It's probably the most complete team of them overall. It's probably the deepest. they got the most offensive firepower. I mean, when the Thunder have trouble, it's when they missed their three. So if you told me they got in a series with the Knicks and they just really struggled to shoot the ball

and the Knicks got going offensively, I think New York could give them some trouble. But, I mean, trouble is like maybe it gets to game six. I mean, I just really, it would take something pretty special for the Thunder and not come out of this winning the title in my opinion. They just got too much firepower and too much overall balance for anybody to keep up with.

My last one. Who should the Wizards hope is there, regardless of where they're picking? Who should they want to end up with out of the draft? Well, I mean, it's kind of hard to say regardless of where they're picking. I mean, if they pick certain places, they're not going to have certain players available. Understood. So, yeah, who? Well, no, look.

I was going to answer. I mean, when you look at where their team is at, I mean, after all the losing, they should want to win the lottery and get AJ to Bantza. Like that, you know, that clearly would be the player that makes a ton of sense for them. They obviously made the Anthony Davis trade. They obviously made the Trey Young trade. There's a lot of point guards to pick starting at five. That would get pretty awkward, having made the trade deal.

There's a lot, you know, like Camboozer and Caleb Wilson are really, really good. However, you've already got Alex Starr. You've now traded for AD. That could end up getting complicated. What do you do there? Right? Like from a positional, well,

the combination of talent and positional fit, if they win the lottery, they can take AJ to Bantz and they can plug them in a small forward. I think he's got to be a really, really good player. Fits positionally. Wads to be great.

It would be, I think, excited to be in a big market like Washington. There's a lot, I think, to be excited about the fit of him in D.C. So, you know, overall, I think obviously the Wizards are going to be a good shape, whatever picks they get,

because this is a loaded draft, and the top five players are all going to be really good. So I don't think it's the end of the world if they pick best. But if you're asking me, you know, what's the best outcome for them? Get the number one pick. Take the guy who I think will go number one at a position of need and go from there. Tim, thanks so much for doing this. Really appreciate it. Enjoy your work.

And we'll do it again maybe during the finals. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks, thanks, thanks for me. man, appreciate it. Tim Bontemps, everybody, from ESPN, and his mention of just the possibility that Denver could trade Nicola Yokic, that Yokic could actually look for potentially a move somewhere else, would be the bombshell in the NBA this summer. But we'll see what happens with his extension that he can sign at the end of next month. All right, we're going to finish up the show with a topic I did on radio today. Diggs or Ayuk. That's next after these words from a few

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and they'll add that in the form of a cash bonus into your account. All right, after the show yesterday, the news broke on Stefan Diggs that he was found not guilty in a Boston courtroom on a felony strangulation charge and also a misdemeanor assault and battery charge stemming from an alleged dispute with his private chef. Now, the NFL is, quote, monitoring all developments in the matter, which remains under review of the personal conduct policy.

Closed, quote, that from Brian McCarthy out of the league office. I don't know anything about anything, but I would assume that since he was clear, of all charges that there's not a violation of the personal conduct policy to the effect that he would miss games, that he would be suspended for games. I could be wrong.

We'll see what happens. But it does appear that Stefan Diggs now is available. And I think teams were probably holding off to see how this played out. And now that it has played out in his favor, he is going to get signed by somebody. Look, it may not. happen, you know, this week or next. A lot of times these veteran players, you know, they choose

to kind of wait so that they don't have to attend mini camps or OTAs and they can get their deal done and just show up for training camp at the end of July. So that may be a, you know, part of the Diggs plan. We'll see. But Stefan Diggs is going to play football next year somewhere. He had 85 receptions to lead the New England Patriots, over a thousand yards as well. and was their best receiver last year. They had several receivers, and New England had a really good first half of the season offensively. Josh McDaniels putting in a hell of an offense,

Drake May playing at a borderline MVP level, and Stefan Diggs was their leading pass receiver, both in receptions and yards. And look, none of them played well in the postseason. New England at the end of last year was led by its defense. you know, late in the season and through the postseason, the offense really did very little on their path to the Super Bowl loss against Seattle. But Stefan Diggs is 30. He'll turn 31 next November.

He's got years left. I mean, he's got two, three solid years left in the league. Somebody actually mentioned to me this morning during a call segment, which I'll get to the results of here in a moment, that Stefan Diggs was putting together a whole. of Fame career and that he's, you know, approaching that. I don't think he's near the Hall of Fame level yet. I mean, he's got four Pro Bowls, two AP, all NFL team selections. You know, he's played in the league for 11 years.

The numbers are certainly climbing for him, but they're nowhere near Hall of Fame level yet. But he puts together, if he were to put together another two, three, four years, years of really good numbers. Numbers-wise, he would start to approach a Hall of Fame level. But, you know, that's not the conversation. The conversation that I want to have is the one I had on radio today. I took over an hour's worth of calls on the following question. If I told you that either Brandon Ayyuk or Stefan Diggs was signed to a one-year deal by

our team, which of the two players would be your preference. The poll that we put out on Twitter on X came back basically 60-40 Diggs, and the calls were probably 70-30 Diggs. I was a little bit surprised at that. I think Diggs has a reputation that turns a lot of people, fans anyway, away. But it sounds to me and the result, through both the online poll and calls would certainly indicate that more of you would actually choose digs.

Now, some of you would choose neither, but that wasn't the question. The question is, if I told you one of the two was signed by the team, which one would be your preference? My preference would be Brandon Ayyuk. Because he's 28. his best season, 23, was better than Stefan Diggs's season last year. I mean, Brandon Iyuk was a legitimate top 10 receiver in the league in 2023. Stefan Diggs was not a legitimate top 10 receiver in the league last year. He's still very good.

He's still very good, but he's not what IEuk potentially could be at 28 years old. That's a big if, I understand. 23s a long time ago. But I would assume that if Brandon Ayuk were on the roster, that he passed all of the important, you know, tests mentally fit, physically fit, hungry to prove that he's still one of the best receivers in the game. Happier because he's in a place where he wants to be. You know, I'm projecting that if he lands on the roster, they did all the due diligence, and he

past all the big milestone tests for clearing him as somebody that they can bring on to their roster, bring into their locker room. And if I'm getting somebody that Adam Peters and Dan Quinn and that, you know, that organization believes can really play again, I'd rather have that. Now, I wouldn't mind having Stefan Diggs because, first of all, with Diggs, you may not have to wait. with Iyuk, you may have to wait until the preseason is over, August 31st or near the end of the preseason. I've already mentioned this, but the 49ers do not owe him any money until September 1st. There's no reason why they should be in a hurry to move on from him. Why would they do him any favors?

Why would they do his next team any favors? Especially if that team's in the same conference, like Washington. I wouldn't want them to just move on and just do them a favor and also do a team in my conference a favor by cutting them loose early. Plus, keeping them until August 31st, there's always a chance through a training camp and preseason games that a team has a rash of injuries at a position and gets desperate and says, all right, we'll trade for them.

I still don't think that happens. But the point is Diggs could be a lot of. available much sooner than Iyuk, that might be something that would interest them. Let me just say this about Stefan Diggs. I know he's got a reputation as, you know, a diva wide receiver, as a guy that, you know, eventually, you know, wears out his welcome. Both of these guys I'm talking about contractually would be for one season. Iukes obviously got a bigger upside opportunity to stick around if it works out for him.

Diggs, you know, is a true game day tough guy competitor. He's a dog. He's a badass competitive dude. For whatever you want to say about, you know, the culture, the divaness, whatever you want to say about Diggs, in short doses, and that's what we're talking about here, he can play. He helped New England a lot last year. helped Drake May a lot last year. And here's the other thing to consider about Stefan Diggs.

During his career, he's always been the number one. And he's rarely had a big time number two. You have to really go back to Adam Thielen in Minnesota to find a high level number two that he played with. Buffalo didn't have a whole hell of a lot. You know, not a true, you know, upper tier wide receiver. Houston did with Nico Collins, but he didn't play. He was hurt. He played eight games out of the 17 in 2024.

And then New England didn't have a true number two. Diggs would be the number two in Washington to Terry McClure. Terry would be the best receiver he's been able to team up with in his career. Now he's had some quarterbacks, you know, playing with Josh Allen. I mean, say whatever you want to say about Kirk Cousins, Stefan Diggs had some of his most prolific careers, career years, best years, excuse me, in Minnesota. He had phenomenal years in Minnesota. And then had incredible years in Buffalo, too, with Josh Allen.

I mean, he was really unstoppable there for the first few years in Buffalo. Never had a season in Buffalo without 103. catches or more. Had 100 plus in Minnesota in one of those seasons in 2018. But last year, a thousand yard season, over 1,000 yards, 85 receptions, four touchdowns. Yeah, I mean, I think the situation of Terry and Jaden would maybe be the best wide receiver quarterback combination he's been around.

I mean, I guess Josh Allen counts almost as two. But Jaden, after 2024, was approaching that category. We'll see if he can do it again in 2026. I'd love either one of them. Here's what I don't want. I don't want them to stick with what they have right now. I want in addition to the wide receiver room. Now, it's not like I'm going to cower and fear if this is,

who they roll out in 2026, the players that they have. It's comparable to what they had in 2024. But I'd rather see a true number two. And Diggs, Diggs would be a friendly target. That's for sure. He gets separation and got it last year. New England had the number two wide open target DVOA number in the league behind Minnesota. meaning their receivers were wide open more than any team in the league except for the Vikings. Now, part of that's Josh McDaniels, but part of it was Stefan Diggs and some of their receivers. So, yeah, overall, the poll that we put out, the calls that I got in, you know, a blended number 6535, digs over Iyuk.

I'd go the other way. All right, that's it for the day. I'm glad I got out my mock schedule today, just in case towards the end of this week, some info starts to come out about the schedule. It may not. It may be that it's this time next week that we start to get leaks if the schedule release gets pushed back a week.

But I'm glad I got it out today. I worked on it all last night. So why hold it? Back tomorrow with Tommy.