The Kevin Sheehan Show - Murray Measures Up

Episode Date: February 28, 2019

Kevin opened with the Kyler Murray measurements and what it means to his draft projection. Jay Gruden and Doug Williams spoke in Indy....Kevin weighed in on some of that. Kevin did a MD-Penn State recap. Thom called in...so did Scott Van Pelt. Kevin and Scott talked Bryce Harper and Terps-Penn State. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now, here's Kevin. All right, I am here. Aaron is here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. Tom will call in from Florida. Scott a little later on as well. Jay Gruden spoke today at the Indy Combine. We'll get to some of that. I'll have a brief Maryland Penn State recap shortly, very brief. The game was over early last night in State College. I did, I had that one, Aaron, last night. I had that one. And a quick self-congratulations in the form of a tweet from Steve late last night. Sheehan, you really do have a system, don't you? Others in town, and he said, like, everybody on your old station like to rip you off every once in a while on the smell test, but you're two steps ahead when it comes to handicapping. Thanks for the Penn State tip, Steve said.

Thank you, Steve. By the way, nobody rips me off. We all ripped things off from each other. There's very little original anymore. But yes, the smell test is a system that has worked, sort of. You know, it was born out of a hard knocks situation. The kind that I guarantee you, Tedliances, Aaron hasn't been through. There's no foolproof system in gambling.

Trust me on this. You will eventually lose. But, yeah, over the years, I've been able to spot some winners with the smell test. And Penn State was an easy winner last night. And someone else tweeted me and said, did you really bet against Maryland last night? The answer to that is, yes, I did. I did bet against Maryland last night. I was hoping for a Maryland one-point win, because I have.

I was plus two last night with Penn State, bought the half point. And I will bet against them again if the line reeks. And all of my dopey friends think that Maryland's a lock, laying a point and a half or two points. But, yeah, unfortunately, that was one of those situations you see in college basketball, you know, two dozen times a season, where the line reeks. You know your team, too, that this is the kind of game they can lose and probably will lose. and look, Penn State's playing well. And I'll get to all of that a little bit later on with a brief recap of the game. But we start with the measurements are in.

All right. Kyler Murray, 510, and in eighth he measured out in Indianapolis this morning. He's 207 pounds. Okay. And his hands came in at nine and a half inches. That is great news for Kyler Murray. and really the truth of the matter now is unless he really messes up the interview portion of the Indy Combine and Pro Day

and conversations with NFL executives, he's not going to go any later than four or five and more likely than not these measurements, believe it or not, these measurements, just made it probable that he will be the number one pick in the draft. So if you're a fan of the Redskins, and you were hoping for, you know, the splash pick of all splash picks,

you're not getting Kyler Murray at 15. There's zero chance of that happening. Again, I shouldn't say zero. He could completely flub these interviews, and he could give indication that baseball's still an option, which could scare people off. He could look horrendous in his pro day. That won't do it, not as much as the interviews would.

The interviews and getting a sense that he is committed to football will be the last box checked. The tape don't lie. If he has a bad pro day, it's not going to hurt him. What would hurt him is something that comes up in an interview. But right now, the only way for the Redskins to get Kyler Murray would be to trade into the top five. Now, that would be splash. Yes.

That would be splash. There are a lot of teams in the top five who are going to look to trade down too. Yeah. Jay Gruden today in Indianapolis on his team's quarterback situation. He said, quote, we have. we have to address it in free agency and probably the draft close quote he also said the organization feels good about colt mccoy but we always want competition the redskins are going to be looking for a quarterback i think that that is obvious um the question is whether or not at 15 they can get anybody

uh i'll come back to that in a moment because i want to just real briefly talk about um the you know Kyler Murray and these measurements, it seems crazy to probably many of you that an inch or two is the difference between number one overall and later on in the first round potentially. And for people like me who used to really believe in height when it came to the quarterback position, I really did. Tommy and I had these conversations over the years and I would say, I need a 6-3 guy. I need a guy that can stand in there and look imposing. and see, you know, the field. Good size, you know, at one point was paramount.

But it isn't anymore. And I don't feel the same way anymore. And what changed that really more than anything else were two things. One, what happened in 2012 with a new style of football, it wasn't that it was the majority of an offense in Washington, all right, or Seattle. But Russell Wilson and the new style of incorporating, the dual threat portion of a quarterback's talent into an NFL offense is what makes height not nearly the same in importance anymore. And the fact that you've got coaches that can

scheme up a way to get quarterbacks outside of the pocket. Not that that's new. I mean, Joe Thysman threw a lot of his throws with Joe Gibbs on the move, bootlegs, sprint outs. But you have Russell Wilson and you have the majority of NFL teams that have incorporated into their offense a dual threat segment to what they do at the quarterback position. That's what's changed with the height thing. And that's why I think it is now more than likely that Kyler Murray gets picked number one overall. But when you say that these measurements are, you know, overrated, keep in mind that for NFL teams, you know, to look at a 5'10 plus Kyler Murray versus a 5'8 inch Kyler Murley, and by the way, as an aside, I'm surprised that he came at 510.

I think he looks so much smaller. Well, he looks smaller, and this is the first time I can ever remember where the college, I guess, the college program undersold it. Normally they oversell these things. What was he listed at? I think he was listed at 5'9. I don't think he was. I think he was listed as 510. I mean, either way, if he's 5.10 and an 8th, they would have listed him as 511, typically.

Yeah, no, the program height. He looks smaller than 510. I mean, but whatever. Like Russell Wilson, to me, in envisioning both of them playing, Russell Wilson seems bigger to me. Russell Wilson was 510 and 5.8s, and Kyler Murray came in at 510 and an 8th. actually Kyler Murray's weight is impressive to people he's put on clearly some weight whether that be muscle or fat I would assume it's muscle and he is 207 Russell Wilson was 204 when he came out and Russell Wilson was 510 and 5 8s Russell Wilson had huge hands and that's another thing but Kyler Murray's hand size is pretty decent you know that's not going to scare anybody off they're not the biggest hands but they're far from the smallest so the reason that these things are important is because put yourself into the position of a general manager

who's working for an owner who says, he's tiny, what are you doing? They can check the box off that says he's 510. Russell Wilson is 510. If you were 58 or 59, you know, it's a little bit different in terms of the perceived risk. I think it's ridiculous. There shouldn't be a difference between 59 and 510. I think the weight actually, and Cooley talked about this a little bit yesterday on the podcast. If you missed Cooley, it's there. Kevin Sheehan Show.com or any other place. We spent 90 minutes yesterday talking about a lot of nonsense, but talking about a lot of football as well. And he loves Kyler Murray. He had done a film breakdown of Murray. But Murray, with this height, this is what the NFL was waiting for. This is what many general managers were waiting for. They were waiting

for another Aaron box to be checked. You know, not a big question mark of, oh, my God, he is not only the smallest ever. It's not even close. He will be the shortest quarterback ever taken in the first round. But it's so close to Russell Wilson, which is where he needed to get to pretty much, to ensure this. And hands size bigger than Baker-Mayfield, like a lot of things that are better. Bigger than Ben Rathlisburgers. So to me, whether it's to Arizona or to,

someone who trades with the Cardinals, he's gone more likely than not number one overall, and I doubt that he would get out of the top five. Like that to me is now a lock that it's a top five, but I think he's going to go number one overall. I really do. I think we're going to see two teams trading up into the top five to take quarterbacks. And I'll get to what that could mean for the skins, too, here in a moment, because I don't know that the skins are going to be one of those teams.

They may be one of those teams that gets aggressive and trades up into the top five. I wanted to mention this, because I had you look some stuff up while we were. We were sitting here a while back. You know what's amazing? And this is why you don't get hung up on a lot of things when they are written a year or less, or eight or nine months in advance of when something is going to happen, especially in the NFL.

It's like the NFL is just the most unpredictable sports league that there is. Kyler Murray is going to be more likely than not, the number one pick in the draft, worst case top five. less than a year ago when the 2018 draft ended, nobody had this. No one had it. Remember, Baker Mayfield was just leaving. Kyler Murray hadn't played yet. But Kuiper last year, right when the draft ended in early May,

Kuiper gave his projected quarterback order. And he broke it into seniors and underclassmen. The seniors were Drew Locke, Will Greer, Ryan Finley, Thorson, out of Northwestern. and I forget who else was on that list. You gave me somebody else, but it's not important because the underclassman list was the most important. Listen to the underclassman order of quarterbacks that would be drafted in 2019, that Kuiper had in May of 2018.

Justin Herbert from Oregon, Jared Stidham from Alabama, who I like a lot. I want Cooley to do a film breakdown, and he's going to, Shea Patterson, the Michigan quarterback, who, by the way, is really tiny. Like he actually looks like Kyler Murray tiny and isn't nearly as good. Nathan Stanley from Iowa and Jake Bentley from South Carolina, Kyler Murray wasn't even listed on the five underclassmen that were the top quarterbacks of the underclassmen. And if you throw in the seniors, he wasn't even listed on the top 10 quarterbacks. And here we are a year later in Kyler Murray is the Heisman trophy winner

and is well on his way to being the number one pick in the draft. Hell, Bleacher reports early projection of the draft, and this was in, what, August of 2018, Jarrett Stidham won, Justin Herbert 2, Drew Lock 3, Ryan Finley, 4, Will Greer 5. Those were the five quarterbacks that would be taken in the first round, and it's going to be Kyler Murray. And by the way, Daniel Jones, I think he'll work his way in the top five. I told Cooley yesterday he was going to do film breakdowns yesterday of Dwayne Haskins. And he was going to do somebody else, too.

I forget. Oh, I think he did Daniel Jones. I think he did Jones and Haskins. And I said to him on the podcast yesterday before, I said, I'm going to make a prediction right now that you're not going to like Haskins. And if you've listened to this podcast since it started in September, I'm just not a Dwayne Haskins fan. I know he's a local kid.

You know, and I know people that know him, I just, for whatever reason, every time I, and we get to watch almost every Ohio State game. Almost every Ohio State game is televised. And I got to see him in person. like almost at field level at State College that night that they came from 13 down against Penn State and won. And his numbers are incredible. But for whatever reason, and I've had this argument with so many people, I just think that Dwayne Haskins is going to be a bust.

Like, I just don't see it. And Cooley called me last night. And he said, oh my God, Haskins is going to be a bust. He's like, he's not any good. and somebody's going to make a huge mistake in the top 10. And so we ended up talking for like an hour. And he's going through all these different games. I'm like, yeah, I remember that Michigan State game.

Remember the Michigan State game? They couldn't even move the ball. And Haskins, every ball, listen, he'll listen to his film breakdown on his podcast, and he'll come on here next week and do some more quarterbacks, including Haskins, too. But I'm with him on this. I have felt this way since the beginning of the season

that whoever drafts Dwayne Haskins is going to regret that pick. I like Locke better. I like Murray. I'm intrigued by Murray more than anything else. And I like Jones. I like Locke more than any of them, except for Murray. Murray's like almost in a category of his own. Murray could absolutely bust, but he has the highest ceiling.

Yeah, I mean, who isn't intrigued with him? And now that he's coming in with more physical stature than you, you actually thought he had. But anyway, Cooley will continue to come on the podcast here leading up to the draft, doing some film breakdowns. And you can also listen to his stuff on his own podcast, which you can get, you know, any way you get a podcast plus at Redskins.com. All right.

Real quickly on the Maryland game last night, it was a terrible start again. They weren't competitive enough. I know that that is a harsh accusation at times when you, when you, when you, criticize a team or a player for not being tough or competitive enough, but last night they weren't. Last night they got bullied around early, especially by Lamar Stevens, so I love his game. Miles Dredd, the announcers had no idea what the relationship was between Miles Dred and Anthony Cowen and the players on Maryland's roster and the coaches on Maryland's bench. Miles Dred played at Gonzaga, part of one of the best high school teams I've ever seen.

certainly in the last 10, 15 years anyway. And Maryland didn't offer. A lot of teams didn't offer Miles Dredd. Penn State did, and he's at Penn State, and if you were watching that game last night, and you knew the backdrop, the backdrop for this, Miles Dread was out to basically punish Maryland. Like, do you know my name now, Turgeon?

Do you know who I am now? Did you see Miles Dred hunting for shots? This is a freshman. He's played well at times this year. He's had some good games. Okay, he had eight shot attempts in the first five minutes of the game. He was on pace for 32 shot attempts in the half and 64 for the game. Yeah. All right?

Oh, boy. I just pulled up, by the way, I pulled up his offer list. There weren't many. It was Penn State, George Mason, James Madison, Manhattan, and Towson. Yes, he was very underrated and overlooked. And this was him saying to the school, the big time school that was closest to him, Georgetown too. Georgetown didn't offer him, right? Yeah, no, it was those five. But they're not in the Big East. So he gets to play Maryland. And the announcers completely missed it. But immediately, anybody that knew what was going on could see that Miles Dredd was out to make sure that Mark Turgeon and his coaching staff never forgot who they didn't recruit. Dread had 15 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, first of 11.

minutes of the game. Now, he ended up for the night. Actually, Maryland, when they adjusted, he didn't get much the rest of the night. He finished with 17, but almost all of it came in the first five, six minutes of the game. Lamar Stevens is a load. And to me, I believe that Lamar Stevens is a pro. He's 6-8, 235, 240, and has every move imaginable. Yeah, Maryland wasn't competitive enough. Fernando played poorly again. You know, this is a two or three, games now, especially early on, where he's just way too passive for me. He's got to be more aggressive. Forget foul trouble. Take the ball on the post, make a hard, you know, dribble, you're up and under, but dunk on somebody at some point. Sticks got pushed around last night. It was, it was ugly.

There was, it was a no-chance game four minutes into it. If you're watching this, you know that Maryland starts slowly, but I'm watching this, and I also had the perspective of knowing that Penn State was the right side last night from a gambling perspective. But also that Penn State, and I've said this about the Big Ten, and Penn State among other teams at the bottom, they're a good team. They may not have a good record, but right now they are a good team. They've won now five of their last seven games. They beat Michigan. They blew out Nebraska. They should have beaten Purdue at home. That game went to overtime on a terrible call. They had Purdue dead to right at home. They have had close losses. This is a good basketball team and a team that no one in the Big Ten is going to want to see in the

Big Ten tournament. They actually have a chance now to finish in top eight, nine, you know, with the way they're playing. I also think Chambers does a pretty good job. This league has a lot of really good coaches. And the last thing I'll say about last night is, boy, detergent take a pounding on Twitter on social media, as he does often after games like that. Last night's not the night. Not for me. I think that Penn State's good. I thought it was a dangerous game and a difficult game going in. I think every good team has games like this. Maryland's not an elite team. They're a good team, though. And they're close to being a very good team. And everybody has nights like this, all right? Iowa's been a pretty good team. They got blown

the F out at Ohio State the other night. Michigan came in and got it handed to him by Penn State a few weeks ago. It's not a bad loss. This is not a bad loss. If you didn't like the way they played, you know, that's justified. You know, but I expect them to play well Sunday at home against Michigan. I think they will. Here's my one concern. I'll continue to harp on this. I don't think Maryland, you know, especially, look, they've won five road games. I saw a lot on Twitter last night. People saying, this is what always happens to them on the road. They're five and five on the road in the Big Ten this year. What are you talking about?

They've won five games on the road in this league that is brutal this year. So I just, last night's not the night. I'll stick with what I have had problems with all along. I think Maryland doesn't play fast enough. I don't think they try to score when they can score without facing a set defense. Penn State threw a lot of half-court trap at them last night, which Iowa did. Maryland handled it for the most part, but they handled it in a very passive way, not an aggressive way. I think you can score more. I think they should be more aggressive on that.

I just don't like the style more times than not that they play. I think that they're not a very difficult team to scout, which is why I'm optimistic about the NCAA tournament. I think in some ways when they get out of the Big Ten, and they're not scout. it as well. They have a chance to really look a lot better offensively. They didn't defend last night, which forced Turgeon to go to some zone, which I thought he was going to do actually at halftime. I really felt like there was a chance he'd come out and show it like he did against Minnesota in that game, and he actually did. But I'm not going to kill him for last night. And for those of you that want me to kill him for last night, I'll continue to criticize what I feel is, it's what I feel. I don't

love that they don't try to play more aggressive, take it to people, up-tempo basketball, more often than not. They don't. And I think that that's a missed opportunity for this group. And I think it makes it more difficult for them on nights against good, well-coached teams to score. I think we've seen that. Maryland, when they're scouted well, and they are going to grind it out and they're not going to try to get easier opportunities, they're going to struggle to score. They're going to struggle to score. On a lot of those nights, though, they've played exceptional defense, which has kept them in games and given them chances like at Iowa or at Minnesota or, you know, in a lot of the, you know, Purdue where they were down. They played good enough defense where it's carried

them. Last night, they got bullied around defensively. They were not tough or competitive enough last night. You wanted to say what? Yeah, I was going to say two things. The one thing, again, we've kind of harped on this the past few weeks really is the slow start thing. They've got to figure out what's going on there. The other thing, if you want to criticize Turgent for one thing, I really do feel he, and probably for good reason, I think he waved the white flag a little bit early. Do you know how many timeouts he called in the game? He had some left.

He called one timeout in the entire game. I noticed that. That's a good observation. I noticed that. And you know what? He said after the game, we treated the second half like it was a practice. And that's, you know what? The second half, fine.

I think the first half, though, I think you needed, you know, to try to stop the bleeding a little bit early there. I'll tell you what, seriously, last night I'm sitting there watching with Corvin, my son, who's at Maryland, and we're watching the game, and he said, it's just typical slow start, and I said, nope, it's over. He's like, no, come on, we were down a bunch of Iowa. I said, no, this one's over. This ain't happening tonight.

By the way, I didn't think it was happening before. game started. But it just wasn't, they didn't have it last night. And this happens. Teams, good teams play games like this. You know, they have these nights. Last night was Marilyn's night. Let's hope they bounced back. Michigan's been a tough matchup for them. It's not the best of teams for them to play, especially offensively. They've really been handled defensively by Michigan the last few times. Beeline seems to have them scouted up really well. And this is the last point I would just make. You know, Cooley has talked a lot in football,

and Sean McVease talked about it before. A lot of NFL coaches talk about it, and they talk about it, and they use the description, breaking tendencies. I think the same kind of thing applies to basketball, especially in these league games, where you're scouted so well, where everybody knows what you're running,

and everybody can see defensively when you come down, and you've got, you know, Bruno and, and the high post or Bruno in the low post or, you know, the way you align and where you're going to run your downscreens and your curls, they've got you well scouted. I think you got to break tendencies. I think, you know, last night was one of those nights that if you could have sniffed it out early and known that this was going to be a difficult spot for you, change up things that you do typically. Now, some coaches may say, no, we, we're not going to change the way we play because we don't practice other ways. well, practice other ways.

You know, in football, you've got a whole week to prepare for one opponent. It's different in basketball. I understand that. But Maryland really doesn't change a lot of what they do. Let me give you real quickly for you guys that really can't stand Turgent and don't think he does anything well. He does a couple of things very well. First of all, for the most part, Maryland's coached up pretty well defensively. Sometimes it's matchups that they get taken advantage of.

Like last night, and they just didn't have anybody that could. check Stevens in the post. You know, certainly it wasn't going to be sticks. And then they started to double him, which I thought was smart. But usually they're coached up pretty well defensively. Secondly, he runs really good sets out of timeouts. He's got a couple of really good plays that work out of timeouts. He's got a couple of really good inbound plays that work, especially underneath their own basket. I think, though, their offense needs to change a little bit. I think defensively they could have shown Penn State some zone early, maybe pressured early. break some tendencies every once in a while.

I don't know that it, to be honest with you, I don't know how often the great coaches do it, Izzo and K and, and, you know, but because sometimes they just have overwhelming talent so it doesn't matter. You know, it's like they can run their stuff over and over again. They just, they have better players. But when your players are good, but they're not all lottery picks, I think breaking tendency is a, is a, It's something that teams should try more of in basketball.

It's definitely something that happens in football a lot. Quick word on Window Nation before we get to Tommy. Before you wish for this winter and crazy cold weather to end, and if you're wishing for that, you're going to have to wait a little bit because it looks like we've got some winter coming in the next few days. But there is one thing you should do. Get your old and drafty windows replaced. Why now in the dead of winter?

Well, it's because that's when you unquestionably get the best pricing. When Donation's award-winning installation teams need work and the factory is running at half capacity, which means insane savings right now. For the next two weeks, buy two windows, get two windows free. That's two free windows with every two you buy. Buy four, get four free. Buy eight, get eight free. No minimum purchase.

Plus, pay nothing for an entire year. You don't need to make a down payment. you don't have to make any payments at all and no interest for 12 months. Keep wind donations expert installers in the factory busy. You'll save thousands of dollars. Call now. 86690 Nation or wind donation.com. You're wasting money on high energy bills by not calling.

Get two free windows with every two you buy. By four windows get four free. There's no limit. Plus nothing down, no payments, no interest for 12 full months. months. Give these guys a shot if you're thinking about new windows. Harley and Aaron are the best. They are two of the best entrepreneurs I have ever met. I've had Window Nation windows installed in my home twice over the last 10 years. It worked for me. I promise it will work for you. 86690 Nation or Windonation.com and tell them that I sent you. All right. Let's bring in Tommy. Tommy is still down in Florida. He'll be back in

studio next week missing all of the wonderful. When are you coming back? I'm on the road as we speak, Kevin. I'm driving through the great state of Alabama. Really? You're driving all the way back from Destin, Florida. Now, at your age, do you turn that into a two- or three-day trip? Or do you just drive straight through? Well, I don't drive straight through.

It is 15 hours. It's a one-night trip. Okay, good. That's good. Because my mother called from Florida this morning, and she said that she and her husband were getting ready to leave Florida to come back as well. and they turn it into like a two to three day trip. And I just thought when you get up to your age,

that sometimes, you know, you got to stop more often. You might drive four or five hours and pull over and get some rest. All right, let's talk. Well, if you don't drive 100 miles an hour like you do, it takes a little bit longer. That's true. I drive too fast, and hopefully that won't. You know what, I'm going to stop driving as fast as I drive. But I am going to Penn State tomorrow to pick up my son.

and the last time I think I made it back in about two hours and 40 minutes. All right, okay, let's talk about a couple of things. Before we get to Bryce Harper and the latest that the Giants are now back involved, a lot of talk down at Indy today from Jay Gruden and Doug Williams thus far. Doug Williams, basically in J.P. Finley and Ben Standing and all the guys are doing a good job of sort of transcribing the key things that they're talking about. Doug Williams said a couple of things that were interesting. Number one, he said the 2019 quarterback class doesn't look as good as last year,

that there's no clear cut number one. He also said if we bring in a quarterback nine times out of ten, it would be a young guy. But he said that trading up, the trade up option does not sound likely. He says if there's a quarterback they like at 15, then it's an easy choice. So the trading up possibility, it sounds like it's not. Look, I mean, we've got a long way to go between now and the draft. Tommy, I mentioned earlier. Do you know that after the draft last year,

nobody had Kyler Murray even on their board as a quarterback that would even be drafted anywhere near the first few rounds? And now he, after the measurements came in this morning, he's more likely the number one overall pick. I think he will be. Yeah, things could change pretty quickly. And we don't know the validity of what Doug Williams is saying as to whether that's actually what they plan on doing. Well, you, that's funny that you said that because right before you called in, I said to Aaron,

do you think Doug Williams is the kind of guy that will, you know, throw out a couple of head fakes? Or is he just telling you exactly what he thinks? I think you get exactly the way Doug's thinking, personally. Yeah, I do that, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's what they'll. too. That's true. Again, this is not, he's not calling a shot. No, that's a fair point. That's a better way

to look at it. That's a smarter way to look at it. Doug is probably being brutally honest, but it doesn't mean that his decision carries much weight. Right. So, Gruden also spoke, there are a number of things that he said. He said

that the organization feels comfortable with Colt McCoy, but they want competition. and it's possible that they'll take a quarterback at 15 overall. He said they're still talking to Josh Johnson, or to his agent anyway, that he likes Josh Johnson. But he basically kept all of the options open as far as the quarterback goes. Now, again, this is something important to consider.

I don't know how valid what Jay Gruden is saying either. Let's not forget what Jay Gruden said at the end of last year in his season-ending press conference wrap-up. It's important for them. I'm paraphrasing. But basically he said, some things need to change around here. We all need to be on the same page when it comes to coaching and personnel decisions. That was the way he ended the 2018 season.

I mean, I thought that was a remarkable piece of honesty that we don't typically get from Jay Gruden anymore. And I don't know what it means. We never really pursued it to find out what that means. And is that a big deal or a small deal? Yeah. I, um, I, it's really, it's hard to predict. It's so hard to predict because, um, the only thing you can predict is more likely than not

whatever they do has a better chance of failing than succeeding. That's really the only safe prediction when, comes to this franchise. I know that's really harsh, but it's based on, you know, just not, you know, Dan Snyder's 20 plus years. It's based on recent history as well. I like, you know, what they've done in the first round the last couple of years. You can compliment that. Remember the couple of weeks ago, you said, say something nice about them. And I said they've drafted a couple of really good young defensive interior players that look like they are going to be, you know, major impact players. That's a positive. You couldn't come on with anything.

One of the things that I wanted to say about the Kyler Murray thing that I don't think I've said already, and this is important for the Redskins, if you're disappointed that perhaps all of the quarterbacks could be gone, and it's possible. Like I could see easily Murray going, followed by Haskins, and I'm not a Haskins guy, followed by Locke and Jones, and all of a sudden the Redskins are there at 15 with no quarterback options. But what would happen if all of these quarterbacks go before 15 is you're going to have a really good player, a really good player that's a top five to top 10 overall board player, drop to 15. You know, they're going to have a chance to get like a Montez Sweat, who I love, or a greedy Williams, like a really impactful defensive player. And I bet they recognize that. I bet somebody like Kyle Smith, you know, and even a Jay Gruden recognizes, listen, if all these quarterbacks,

go and we don't love any of them to begin with, we're going to end up with a really good player at 15. Right. They probably will. It should be a good opportunity for them either way, however they choose to go. Have you discussed at all the possibility that's been put out there of if the Cardinals decide to draft Kyle or Murray and put Josh Rosen on the trading block? Yes, we have. And so here's the one thing, and I didn't mention this. The one thing when Doug Williams said essentially that last year's class was better than this year's class,

well, part of last year's class is Josh Rosen. I don't know what the Redskins think of Josh Rosen. I personally liked Josh Rosen, and I can't, it's really hard to measure what he did as a rookie because it was one of the worst situations in the NFL from a coaching standpoint, from a talent standpoint, from an everything standpoint. So if you just are to look at Josh Rosen's numbers, which were not impressive in his first year, I don't know that that really tells the story. You have to evaluate him, but Tommy, to your point, if Josh Rosen is on the trading block

because Steve Kime and Cliff Kingsbury want Kyler Murray to be their quarterback next year, would getting Josh Rosen with the 15th pick, would you view that as you're getting the best quarterback in the draft? because you have to view him almost as a potential, you know, rookie, except you got a little more NFL tape on him. And you, you know, so yes, we have talked about that. And I mean, I would say yes and yes. Yes and yes to what? What are the questions?

Answers that are that you would have to view him as a drafted rookie quarterback all over again. And yes, I would take him with the 15th. I would consider that trade, the equivalent of getting a good 15 pick in the first round. Yeah, I don't, that's one of those things where, you know, his tape, like the actual Josh Rosen, you know, tape of him playing in college, he looks the part. You know, he's big. He's got really good feel in the pocket. He can make every throw. The big issue with Josh Rosen coming out was some of the same issues, not apples to apples in terms of the actual content,

but the same overall concern that Josh Rosen may eventually not play football. Kyler Murray may eventually play baseball. Josh Rosen may, with the concussion history he's had and the injury history he's had, and coming from significant, you know, an affluent family, and a doctor for a father, a lot of people were concerned that he's too smart for this and that eventually, you know, he's a concussion away from saying, I'm not going to put myself into this position anymore. So you'd have to be really comfortable on a lot of things with Josh Rosen

and beyond just the football piece. That's a legitimate concern. So let me throw another stink bomb into that. That's particularly Redskins-like, not that we didn't need any more stink bombs. Josh Rosen is a very smart young man. Went to Stanford. He's different. He went to UCLA.

Oh, UCLA. I'm sorry. He's different. He's a different kind of guy. And there was a story out there I remember reading where he was on a Trump golf course and wore a bandana while he was playing golf there that basically cursed Trump out. What if this kid says to the Redskins. I'm not playing for you guys. You guys have a racist name.

I think we've talked about this. I mean, we don't need to beat it to death today, but it's a fair point on any new player that you're going to invest a lot in. You know, a player that isn't going to be invested, a player that doesn't have a lot of leverage that may feel a certain way towards the name is probably going to say, I need a paycheck. But a Josh Rosen, you know, you're right. It's one of those things that, Now, look, he wouldn't have a choice other than to say I'm not playing football. Well, his choice, Kevin, his leverage would be if you trade for me, I will speak out every time I'm interviewed against the name of the team.

That you don't want him on your team as your quarterback. You have no leverage if he's going to turn around and dump on. Look, again, I don't know if he would. I just wanted to point out, and 99 out of 100 players are not going to do that for a variety of reasons. But sooner or later, there's going to be a player where that's going to be a problem for the team. I don't know when it will happen, but it's something that pops up in my mind on Josh Rosen when I read about his background. I think that you have to look, I understand what you're saying, that with a guy like Josh Rosen, sort of a thoughtful, perhaps left-leaning, you know, a personality and political bent.

You've got to consider some of that even more so with a guy like him, but I think you have to consider it with almost anybody that you're going to make a big investment in. I mean, to me, you know, I think it's ridiculous, but that's not the way other people feel. Right, yeah. I want to get to Bryce Harper here in a moment, but Doug Williams continues to speak as we're recording right now, And I'm reading more about what Jay Gruden said. I don't think there's any question that right now, number one on the priority list for the Redskins, and I think it should be this, is to get Brandon Sheriff's contract extended.

They cannot let him get into this season and stare unrestricted free agency after next year straight in the face. They've got to get in there, get a deal done. They could potentially really help their cap out here in the short term by getting a deal done if it's structured the right way. and, you know, Jay Gruden essentially talked about that today. So that's number one. You know, the other issue, the Redskins issue, the other question the Redskins are going to have is whether or not to pick up Josh Doxon's fifth year option for 2020.

And Doug Williams was asked about that, and they said they haven't yet made a decision on that. To your point, we probably didn't learn a lot from any of these quotes. Other than, and I'll listen to both of these press conferences for all of you out there and have more on it tomorrow. but I do think they are thinking about how to address their quarterback situation. Hopefully they won't reach to fix that situation for a team that really and truly is not ready to win this year. So if they go with a big move, hopefully it's for a young player that they really, really like. And Josh Rosen would obviously be in that category.

I don't know how I would feel on trading the number 15 overall for Josh Rosen. We'd have to know so much more about him, you know, and be comfortable with him. Because the way this draft, I think, is going to play out. I'm getting more confident about this is that the Redskins at 15 are going to have a chance with, I think, quarterbacks, plural, you know, going before 15. They're going to have a chance to get an impactful player at another position, you know, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They're going to have a chance to get a pass rusher and inside.

linebacker or a corner that can come in and help them right away, that there would be a lot less, I believe, risk on if you were to take a Montez Sweat or a Devin White. Somebody like that who would fall potentially to 15 because the quarterbacks are going, you know, well before 15. All right, real quickly, Bryce Harper, what's your latest on, latest thoughts on him? I guess it appears is if the Giants are now back involved. They've got a second meeting with Harper scheduled or held a second meeting. I'm sorry with Harper. Now, what's interesting here is you have the West Coast version of the Red Sox and Yankees fighting for a player.

And that means Bryce Harper and Scott Borers finally got what they wanted. It may not be the Yankees and the Red Sox, but the Dodgers and Giants fighting for a player is pretty close. and now you could be upping the price with every meeting between the two teams because there's a bit of paranoia between both of them over not being shown up by the other. That rivalry goes back to their days in New York City, and it still exists, and it's still strong. Look, I mean, somehow through circumstances, not through any special knowledge, I still may wind up being right about him going to the Dodgers all along. Yeah.

Even though you've waffled over the last couple of months. Yeah. At some point, whoever he signs with at this point, you're going to be right because you've predicted just about everybody. Well, I didn't know, but I made it clear I didn't know, unlike some of the other geniuses in this business who claimed they knew. You know, I made it clear that I didn't know. But the Dodgers made the most sense, and that's where the Nationals' front office. he'd wind up when he started free agency. They thought he'd wind up in LA. But, look, Philly, they're already, if you go on social media and sports talk radio in Philly, he's already

public enemy number one because they think he spurned them already. Well, you know, this whole thing is so interesting because, I mean, we're continuing to talk about the same thing every time we bring it up because it hasn't been resolved yet. But if he ends up with a deal that's less than 10 years, 300, something north of $300 million, anything at this point, he would save some face. But if he ends up with a deal that's 10 years, 300 million or less, he is going to look like, I mean, like no one wanted him. And it's crazy to say that about because of the money, the actual, you know, literal value of the money involved. But it's amazing. to me that Bryce Harper, who won an MVP, but had a bad year last year, and some would make the

argument he's not even a top 10 player in Major League Baseball. I'm not going to make that argument one way or the other, but I know that that argument's been made here over the last couple of weeks, you know, his war number, all of that. But that's not what anybody expected two months ago, three months ago. They expected a massive bidding war between the nationals and the Phillies, and the Dodgers and, boy, nobody seems to really want him that much. Amazing. No, no, it really, I mean, he's diminished himself, and it's not anything that another MVP season, wherever he winds up,

won't fix. Right. But he can't afford to go into the first year of what contract, wherever he signs, in a down year. He'll do himself a lot of damage. All right, drive safely. I'll talk to you next week. Thank you, boss. Thank you, boss.

Quick word about Ferrisch, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep in Fairfax. If you're thinking about something new, a Chrysler, a Dodge, or a Jeep, give Ferris a shot. Their rebates right now are the best they've had all year long. Great deals on the Jeep Cherokee, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Jeep Rangler, Ram pickups. You'll get a great deal. Plenty of inventory on their lot, you'll be able to find the make, model, and color, and drive it home today. They're based right in Fairfax, the heart of Fairfax in Fairfax Circle. Ask for Ralph Perkins when you get there.

Ralph's a good friend. He'll take good care of you. They've got a great sales team, a terrific service team. Mark's been running their service department forever. You'll be taking care of if you head out to Farish in Fairfax. Go to Farish Cars.com. You can see live inventory. They're updated pricing with their best deals at ferrishcars.com.

All right. Let's bring in Scott Van Pelt. who joins us on the podcast every Thursday. I wanted to start with where I just left off with Tommy, and I don't think we've talked about this on the podcast with you, but what do you make of the Bryce Harper situation? We're here on February 28th, and he's still not signed with anybody,

and it just seems like overall, at least the way I have felt about it, is that this bidding war, this excitement over this great young player just has not developed. And, you know, he's going to end up signing a deal that really is a lot of money, but doesn't come anywhere near what was anticipated a few months back. Well, baseball is in a weird, not a weird place. It's in a different place as it relates to how they view these long-term mega deals. And I think the market or the lack of a market tells you how baseball sees him.

Like, look at his numbers. Like the MVP year was insane, right? Yeah. and I'm not saying he's not an excellent baseball baseball player he is but I just think baseball is like we're not giving you 300 million dollars for 10 years you're not that good you're not Mike trout I said on sports center the other night I like Nolan Aeronado better by a lot I mean not the same player but like he just signed for 32 and a half million a year with Colorado I'd much rather have him much rather have him than Harper and I think that boris just overplayed a hand and I don't even know what the hand is at this point I find that interesting. I understand that he's never, that for a couple of years minimum, we've known as fans and people like you who are really into the sport have said he's not trout.

Like there's a big difference, but he was the next best thing. And I know he had a bad 2018. I mean, there was a point early last year where he was hitting like 211, and he was really struggling. But when did he become, like last year was, I guess 2016 wasn't the best of years either. But when did he become so much less than some of the great players in the game? I don't know that he did necessarily. I just think that the market and the economics are such that, I don't know.

I mean, I don't know if some of this is Boris. I don't know if it's, if they, I mean, didn't, I mean, the reports are that the Nats offered 10 and 300, and he said no. Right. That is. Do we think that's accurate? Yes. Yes. I mean, do you think he's going to get better than that?

If he is, I don't know where it's coming from. I mean, at this point, he better get more than that. I mean, look, he could change everything and make everybody forget this with an MVP season next year and a great season or a great few seasons in Los Angeles or San Francisco or Philadelphia or wherever he ends up. But, man, they'll both have a lot of egg on their face if it comes in on a lot of, under 300 million. Right. And I mean, you asked, when did he become, you know, so much less than.

I think Kirkchin was all with me, and he explained that just the baseball, the GM model now is they just, they look at everything analytically. And I think they look at, you know, the past mega deals. And granted, the guys, the Pujol's and the Canoes and the Rodriguez's were older than Manny and Bryce. I mean, you're talking about guys in the absolute prime of their career. but the game's really hesitant to pay that kind of number in many instances. But in Colorado's case, I think they looked at a guy that was willing to not be a free agent next year. Just go ahead and do it now. And they're all like, look, we're willing to pay for this.

And this turns into like kind of, oh, his splits at Coors Field or so what? He plays the course field. So what? He still has to play big defense there. Bull glove third basement, best third basement in the game. and, you know, like I said, I said the other night on the show, I take Aeronado 100 times out of 100. I had a Harper.

Do you have a guess on Harper? I mean, the Giants are talking to him again. Tommy just said, look, one of the things that's actually pretty good for him is you've got the, you know, the Yankees' Red Sox version of, you know, the West Coast version of the Giants perhaps bidding against the Dodgers. And this may actually, you know, end up better for Bryce. I've always presumed it was the Phillies because they had all this dry powder, so to speak, they were sitting along. And there was some thought that they might go Harper and Machado if they could get them both.

They didn't get Machado, obviously. I don't even think they finished second there. It was the White Sox who were really bummed because they felt they were getting him. And I just, my understanding is that it's the Phillies that are willing to offer the longest term and the most money. But I don't even think, Kevin, we know for sure. Like we say, oh, the Phillies are bidding against, excuse me, the Dodgers are bidding against the Giants? But are we presuming that it's apples to apples because, you know, the Dodgers maybe want to go short term. Would Harper even do that?

Like, I don't know. Like, this is, it's Boris's job to create the sense of excitement and a bidding war. But now you're playing poker, and maybe you don't have a hand, man. Maybe you've got nothing. I mean, I'm not saying Bryce Harper doesn't have anything. Obviously, he's an excellent player. but is he a generational $300 million player? It doesn't seem like baseball is saying yes.

He's going to end up getting something giant. I just don't know what it is. All right, let's switch subjects and talk about the Maryland game last night. Do we have to? Well, I mean, you know, we don't have to spend a lot of time on it. I've already done that. I'm kidding. No, no, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on a loss where they never had a shot.

You had the same feeling I did. I mean, I gave it out yesterday that they were going to lose this game and the Penn State plus one and a half was easy money. But it's, the Twitter follow, I mean, I know we shouldn't react to this, but Corbyn's, you know, reading every single tweet about the negativity towards Turgeon. The Maryland fan base, when it comes to their coaches, you know, Gary went through a lot of this as well without social media being a big part of it. But last night was ugly.

It was ugly. But it happens to good teams every once in a while. Let me take this in order. The Turgeon complaining is pretty interesting. Like yesterday is the first real dud of the year. All right. And they got run, and it was ugly. And slow starts and turnovers are a year-long theme.

And they're concerned to me when it comes to neutral site games in the Big Ten. NCAA tournament, you don't want to be down 11 to 4 at the under 16 and turning the ball over because you're going to get run. And your season is going to be over. And so I'd say they need to fix it, but it's almost March. I think maybe this is just kind of what they are. They start slow and they turn the ball over. But when it comes to like this is some, you know, turgeon this and turgeon that and blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like, man, they're 21 and 8.

They're on the four or five line as of now. you know, if they lose out and they end up in the sixth line, I don't know, whatever they are, like, what is it you think they're supposed to be this year, as young as they are? Like, what was it you thought they'd be when they were picked seven before the season started and have one of the youngest teams in the country? And I'm not making excuses for turning the ball over. You've got to do better than that.

I'm not making excuses for slow starts because it's a season-long issue. But what I'm asking is on February the 28th, if you were told you were 21 and 8 and you had a chance for the double by, what the hell did you think you were going to be? Like the top five team in the country with this group? Like this is where you lose me with this bitting and moaning that is such a constant with the Maryland fan base and the social media bit is, you can do one or two things.

You can choose to focus on it and then become riled up or you can go, what are you going to do? and just deal with the reality of what they are as a team. They got a game Sunday against the top 10 team, and if they win it, nobody will care. You know, it didn't surprise me they lost. What was troubling was that they got their ass kicked and were never in the game. It was the first stud they've had this year where they look like that. And not a good time to have it, but it's the kind of game you can flush and move on from,

particularly if you play better on serve on. Yeah, I think that that's right. I think everything you said I agree with. I'm curious, do you think he, I don't, I mean, we both know. him, but you talk to him more than I do. Does he know the criticism of him that's out there among the fans? I don't know. Like, I don't, like, I've never said to him, hey, you go on Twitter and search your name. I know that. Do you have, has he ever, I'm just curious if you have a sense. Yeah. I think so. I mean, I think you'd, you'd, I think that they, they, I think that he understands that there's a, you know,

There's a want for more. You know, I think he grasps that. Sure. I mean, you'd have to, you'd have to insulate yourself in, you know, in bubble wrap in a cocoon, you know, in a bomb shelter to not have some idea of what the climate can be. I just, I think it's, I think it's really an opportunistic time to use the, to use last night. I agree with that. I agree as the chance to weigh in.

Like, where were you when they were at when they beat Ohio State and we're 21 and 7? Yeah. Everything's cool. But now he stinks and this is, he's got to go. Like, okay, so okay, a mad Twitter person that he's got to go. What coach is going to go? So hold on, let me get this straight. I'm coming in and the team that was one of the youngest teams in the country that

finished top four in the Big Ten wasn't good enough. Like, what the bleep am I supposed to do? What do you think you are? Who do you think you are? How long has it been since you've been that? You've got to deal in the real time and what things are. We can all aspire and hope for more, okay? I think every Maryland fan does.

But right now with this team, this year, give me a break, man. Well, look, I don't want, you can do this. I agree with almost everything you said, and I said earlier, last night is not the night to rip in detergent. First of all, this happens. Secondly, Penn State's actually really good right now. at their record. I was diso...

They beat Michigan, but they beat Michigan. It wasn't quite as bad, but I mean, Michigan's top 10 team, and they were never in the game up there. Yeah, it went through everything. They won five of seven. They should have beaten Purdue at home. That game, they got robbed in with a bad call late, and they had them dead to right, and it's a good basketball team.

It's a really good basketball team, actually. I think the one thing that I would say, I agree, too, that last night's effort, the thing that was disappointing is they just weren't competitive enough. They got bull. lead. They got, you know, they just, there wasn't enough fight in the game last night for me, but whatever. Totally agree. It happens. The one thing, though, I think you just went a little bit beyond where I would be is that I'm not going to undersell what we should be, what this program

should be. This program, the potential, regardless of whether or not we've been there recently as a consistent top 20 team, a consistent second weekend or better program, whether we've been there recently or not, and we haven't, the potential is to be there if things are done the right way. And I think that some criticism of Turgeon and the way he coaches is completely justifiable. I think people go. Of course. Of course it is. But if you're going to cannonball off the roof after last night. No, last night's not the night.

and then conveniently ignore what this year is, then you can miss me with that. Like, sure. But this year – You and I both wish that they played – that they push the ball more. Because I think when you don't shoot – when you're methodical and you don't get shots, you've got to be way too close to perfect. You know, there's – there are critiques that are reasonable, but be reasonable. It can't just be fire turgent.

Like, who do you get him? Like, what – tell me your solution. Don't just scream this bull crap, and I almost cursed, but I mean, it can on a podcast. Well, good, it's bullshit, and it gets me needed. You're going to... We just lost Scott there for a second. It looks like the censor gods stepped in and said, no, but you can say bullshit. There you are.

We've got you back now. You can say bullshit on a podcast. Well, good, because that's what this is. If this is, if last night becomes your, you know, let me grab, let me, grab my, you know, torches and get the, you know, get the fan base piled up and we're going to storm the cast and fire him. And get who?

Who are you getting? What are you getting that's better? Tell me where the better coach store is. And that's where people, this is what happens to a lot of fan bases. You look at yourself in the mirror and you convince yourself that you're still in, like, high school shape with high school hair. But you're a little, you're a little soft in the middle,

and you've lost your hair. Like, the reality is, like, you're still okay, but you're not what you're thinking. you are. Like, what are you going to get? Jay Wright? You're going to get him? Come on. You got to be realistic. Rick Petino. No, thank you. Come on. You don't want that. Neither do I. Okay, but hold on for a second. In all seriousness. I feel the same way about Turgeon that you do. And I think that the critique sometimes misses out, or the criticism often misses out on a lot

of things that he's actually very good at. Like recruiting. Like more times than not, Maryland's coached up pretty well defensively. He's a good coach. He's not an elite coach. He's a good coach in a league with a shitload of really good coaches, by the way. But if Rick Patino – But if Rick Patino came in and took this program over – yeah, I personally, like, if you told me right now, would you bet on a final four within five years?

I'd bet a lot of money on a final four within five years. A lot of money. Okay. Well, have fun with that. Have fun with that press conference. I don't care about the press conference. I care about winning. But look, one thing about...

They're not hiring Patino. Look, this is what the baseline should be. What they are this year. You should be a ranked team and you should be in the tournament and that's a reasonable thing to aspire to have your program be. No, one other step to that. That wasn't good enough. That wasn't good enough.

The fan base is over Matt and Gary. You can recruit well enough. You're doing this, this, this. Maryland fans get you and moan and that's what they do. It's true. That is 100% true. but I would take it one step further, not a significant step further, but top 20 every year tournament, you know, pretty much, you know,

four out of every five years, but I think two out of every five, we should be playing in the second weekend. I mean, and with a legitimate chance to go further than that, and we can say that at the beginning of the year, we would have paid for 21 and 8 and ranked 17th in the country and a definite tournament team and a four, five, six seed. but after getting a load of this team, you're allowed to change your expectations. And this team is talented enough, talented enough to be a sweet 16 team this year.

And so if they go out in the first round or before the first weekend, before the second weekend comes around, it's going to be disappointing. Agreed. Okay. Kyler Murray's measurements are in, 5-10 and an eighth, 207 pounds. I said earlier, this is now almost a... I mean, it's amazing that an inch or two would make this kind of difference, but what it does is it checks a box for these general managers.

They don't have to explain themselves to their owner for taking a guy number three or number two or number one overall because he's at least almost Russell Wilson's height. Do you agree that today locked up him is at worst-case top? five more likely than not the number one pick in the draft? Probably. I find it all amazing. I mean, it's like, oh, as you just said, oh, okay, he's close enough to Russell Wilson.

We will say he's Russell Wilson. You know, if he was 5'8th and he's undraftable as if whatever he did on tape, he didn't put on tape. But now that he's over 5'10, and with an eighth of an inch to spare, Kevin, now he becomes number one. And we've got that video of Kingsbury saying you should take him number one and now he coaches the team that's got the number of things. I mean, I don't know. This whole thing is insane.

Like the Combine Twitter, I mean, we keep going back to Twitter, but that's where all the news gets shared these days. Like this breathless, you know, reporting of his height, which now means something. I just find it comical. But I guess, I mean, if you're giving me like over under top five, I bet top five, because that's the least. going to go because we fall in love with quarterbacks every year. Oh, this isn't a very good quarterback class. It's going to be in three, you know, two that go in the top ten for sure. Yeah, the thing that could hurt them are, you know, the interviews. Like somebody could get the sense or multiple GMs or teams could get the sense that he's not totally committed to football.

That could hurt, obviously, a lot. But the size thing isn't going to hurt. Look, I'm with you. I used to be a big quarterback height person. Like, oh, no, no, no. I, you know, you. You've got to be six. You've got to be at least six, too. You know, you've got to have some stature. You've got to be able to see the whole thing. But over the last six, seven years, the way football gets played, and Russell Wilson's a big part of that. It's just not as important anymore. So the difference between, I don't get the difference between 59 and 510. I actually think the difference between 170 pounds and 205 pounds is more significant. But the, he is, like, we watch a lot of college football, you know, and I love a lot of the people that weigh in on the

NFL draft. They don't even watch college football and they live and die on this particular weekend coming up, which I couldn't care less about personally as a fan of the sport. But this dude to me is really intriguing. You know, with the way football's played and the way certain coaches are able to devise, you know, dual threat, you know, the way it's played now. Kyleer Murray is, Kooley was on here yesterday and he, you know, he did a film breakdown of Murray and Ryan Finley and he goes, God, Kyle Murray, Jesus, he's electric, he's going to be great and it would be crazy if this dude doesn't get picked in the top five. Well, I defer to Kooley.

Yeah, me too. Years in mind, obviously don't. But more than anything, I think what we do is we look at, we look at Baker-Mayfield, who's not, who's taller but not much taller. or comes out of the same system and gets to the league and did it. And I think the mistake that gets made there is presuming that Murray and Mayfield are the same guy. All right, that they're the same, you know, intangibles in this and that. I think Murray is obviously faster.

He's the fastest guy in the field. But I don't know. It's really amazing to me how the league, how it morphs. And you and I've talked about this often, that first Robert Griffin, the third game against the Saints and realizing pretty quickly, oh my god they're running Baylor plays and it was working and then obviously we know what happened there he decided he didn't want to run that and here we are but now the league is in a place where a guy like mayfield can come in go number one which shocked me when it happened and now if Murray went one it wouldn't shock me at all I mean everyone's trying to you know McVe is successful all right

we all need some guy that just has anyone met McVeigh I'm surprised coolly's not a head coach yet he knows them. You know what I mean? Like, everybody in the league's trying to find that. So now it's like, okay, well, Mayfield could do it. So now it's okay for Murray, particularly because he measured 5'10. So, I mean, the one thing they're saying football is a tape doesn't lie. His tape tells you what it tells you. It'll be fascinating to see how it translates. Yeah, I agree. All right, I'll let you go. I appreciate the time. I'll talk to you later. My pleasure always. All right, thanks to Scott. Just want to mention launch workplaces in Bethesda. It is a place.

where if you're looking for new space, and actually I was riding the elevator this morning up with someone who had heard about launch workplaces from the podcast, and they were coming to check it out today. So it was nice to meet Paul today. But if you live in the Upper Northwest Chevy Chase, Bethesda area, you're working from home right now and you're looking for a place to move into that's not overly expensive and it's not too much space. Check out launch. Workplaces in Bethesda. Fully furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks, high-speed internet, they've got a cafe here, they've got free parking which is huge and plenty of it 24-7 access as well. You can get more work done today by moving your office to launch workplaces. Call today for an exclusive free two-day trial 240-86714 or visit launchworkplaces.com. That's 2408667.com. That's 240866. 1714 or launchworkplaces.com. They've got places and facilities, office space all over town. So go to launchworkplaces.com. If you don't live over in this area, you're looking for another

area in, you know, in Maryland, D.C. or Virginia, you can see all of their locations at launchworkplaces. Dot com. All right. A few other things to get to. First of all, the wizards, you know, I don't want them to win anymore. I want them to keep losing. You know, there are only three games out of the eight spot. It's crazy how bad the bottom of the east is. Disaster. But I did want, they beat Brooklyn last night on the road, really blew him out. Gave up a big lead late. I did not.

I was watching the Maryland game primarily, although that started at 630, but caught some of the Wizards in the second half. You know, Brooklyn, if you don't know this, Brooklyn's an above 500 team. They're actually like in the sixth spot, I think, in the east. So they've had a decent season, but the Wizards blew them out. But the reason that I brought it up today is Scott Brooks had some things to say about Trevor Eriza, who Eriza had a really good game last night. But this was before the game last night.

And he said he made the following comment about Trevor Eriza. He said the leadership that he has is something that he could have used in Oklahoma City. You know, it's why Houston has taken a bit of a step back a little bit. You know, Houston's missing Trevor Ereza right now. And there have been reports out of Houston about Areza's leadership being missed. And this is what we talked about, and I've talked about for years. I thought it was a major mistake when the Redskins, when the Wizards let Areza go because they wanted to clear space for Kevin Durant, which was such a ridiculous pipe dream. It was never going to happen.

And I think they blew a couple of years there of being a bigger and better contender than they were. and contenders, I'm using the word loosely, but it's a shame that they've gotten him back here towards the end of his career more likely than not on a team that's just not very good, in part because of the injuries, for sure, but for a lot of other reasons as well. But I thought that was an interesting comment from Brooks

because it also spoke to what he was dealing with in Oklahoma City when he had Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook at a much younger ages. You know, they had a lot of talent. They got to the NBA finals, those two did. They got within a game of eliminating Golden State in the Western Conference Finals really should have eliminated Golden State in the Western Conference Finals with the 3-1 series lead. But Brooks, you know, talked about how needed some leadership on that team,

and Areas is that kind of guy. He had a great night last night defensively in particular, but he went for 23, 10 rebounds, five assists, had two steers. and Beale had a big night. They gave up a much, they ended up winning by nine. They led by, you know, at one point, I think 28 in the game. But man, Beal continues just to put up numbers, man. He does. There are some nights, though, when I watch and I'm like, he's zero interest in participating on defense. But they won the game. Also, if you missed it last night, Dwayne Wade's game winner to beat the Warriors after he sort of lost the ball, had the ball knocked out of his hands, and just threw up a prayer, a three-point prayer at the buzzer that banked in, was pretty cool to see. The heat, you know, they're, they're hanging in there, I guess. The Warriors in the meantime, Warriors have lost like, you know, two or three times here recently. They lost that game to the Rockets on national television last Saturday night. They got blown out, you know, a week or so ago in Portland, I think it was. You've got to have a feeling that Golden State

just, when you get to that level, you just want the playoffs to start. There has to, be a little bit of going through the motions when you've won as much as they have and really the only thing that matters and the only thing you can really get up for are playoff games. They lost at Miami, 126, 125. And then the last thing I wanted to mention about the NBA, just real briefly. And those of you that have listened to me over the years know that this guy has been one of my favorite players over the years. I love Rajan Rondo. I just think that he is among the two or three highest IQ players in the game, I think he will make an excellent coach. But the Lakers won last night at home against the Pelicans, who are on a minute's restriction for Anthony Davis, by the way.

And I still think that if the Lakers were to get into the playoffs, it would just be an interesting team, not as an eight seed playing Golden State. They'd have no shot. But to see Rondo and the playoffs are just totally different than regular season games to see Rondo and LeBron on the same team in a postseason game where intelligence and experience and basketball IQ all matters so much. I just think it would be interesting. I'd like to see them make a run into the postseason. Rondo last night had 16 assists in the game to two turnovers. He was brilliant in setting up LeBron James and Coosma and everybody else. They've got talent. I mean, you know, there are a couple games.

out of the postseason right now, and they're a long shot to make it, right? The Clippers are still two or three games better than them in the West. But anyway, that's it on the NBA. Back to college basketball for a moment. Fran McCaffrey, the head coach at Iowa, got suspended for two games for calling a referee in the loss at Ohio State the other night, a cheating MFer. You can't say that to a referee. He called, you mean, you can MF probably these guys and get teed up. You can't, you can't refer to somebody as a cheating mother effort. Essentially doing it after the game, like chasing them down in the hallways. One of the calls that really pissed him off was a call against his son who plays for him.

Connor, who also drew a technical foul during the game. McCaffrey's a tough dude, man. He's a maniac. He is a little bit, it comes off as a total a hole at times. I think he's a decent coach. You know, he was at Sienna there for a while. I remember that. And he's been at Iowa now for, he's been at Iowa for a while now, right? How long has he been at Iowa? I'm actually interested in that. And what his record there is. It's actually a good spot for him.

Wow, he's been at Iowa now. This is year 10? Nine. Year nine at Iowa? Yes. 172 and 126 overall. And he's been to the tournament three times. Yes.

And lost. in the first four and then lost in the round of 32 has not been to the second weekend. He's got a good team this year. I don't know if it's a second weekend team. This tournament's going to be really interesting in that, you know, from my perspective anyway, about the Big Ten. I've thought that this has been a rugged, tough, deep, deep league, you know, every night, every single night you can lose to almost anybody in this league.

And sometimes, and I remember this from the days in the ACC, you know, the competition was so fierce that once you got out of that bubble, once you got out of your league bubble, it became easier. You know, you weren't as well scouted. The teams you were playing weren't as good, especially early in the tournament. So I don't know what to expect from the Big Ten. I do always consider what Gary Williams told me a long time ago, and that is you've got to be able to score to make a deep run in the tournament. And a lot of Big Ten teams don't score. I was actually one of those teams that can score. You know who can score right now? Penn State can score. Penn State and Iowa, Penn State likes to play faster, and it's not really

perhaps that coincidental that they're winning games. I mean, they beat Maryland 78, 61, they beat Illinois 83-76, they beat Nebraska 95 to 71. Those are their last three games, all wins. They scored 90 against Purdue. They like to play faster. You know, Michigan State likes to play fast. likes to play fast. So anyway, that was it. Oh, one more story real quickly. Did you see the story about Mike McCarthy? Mike McCarthy, former Green Bay Packers head coach, was involved in an incident during his stepson's high school basketball game on Tuesday night. They've got video of McCarthy following referees out of the gym after the game using poor language. According to, I guess, the school district.

Quote, or actually the high school's athletic director. This is a quote from the high school's athletic director. This parent chose to follow the officials and berate them, which is clearly unacceptable. Some things were said, some language was used that we don't want in our gym, unsportsman-like language, close quote. I'm always amazed at the guys that know more than anybody else, just to keep your mouth shut, you know, as a parent. And they lose it.

They lose it competitively when it comes to their kids. This is his stepson. And he lost it with a... There are some stories that have never been told about certain coaches and parents. I'll leave, though. And certain politicians and parents, and referees, I'm sorry. Certain parents and referees and coaches

and then certain local politicians and referees that I'll share with you at another point down the road. The last thing that I wanted to say actually was J.P. Finley had this one quote that we didn't read from Jay Gruden from his discussion out in Indianapolis, and it dealt with Preston Smith. He said that Preston Smith is going to demand some attention and that pass rusher is going to be an issue for the Redskins with Preston Smith heading for free agency. He then said, J.P. Finley tweeted that almost everything else is an issue too. But it sounds to me, maybe I'm reading this incorrectly, and we're going to talk to JP tomorrow from Indianapolis,

but maybe they have given up on the prospect of keeping Preston Smith around. I bet they don't think he's worth whatever the market's going to dictate. The interesting thing is it's crowded in free agency at that position. They're also going to have a chance. There's a lot of good past researchers in the draft. Yes. I think that if you're, like, from my standpoint, if they don't get a quarterback in the draft that they really love,

I'm going to be okay with that. And then I'm going to root for all the quarterbacks. Haskins, Murray, Locke, Jones, all of them to go early for the NFL, like it often does at draft time, lose their mind when it comes to the quarterback position, and they're sitting there with a chance to draft a great player that should have gone in the top eight, top seven. And they've got a chance now to draft a greedy Williams, cornerback, LSU, a Montez Sweat, you know, outside linebacker defensive end Mississippi State. I talked all season about how I thought Mississippi State was the best defensive team.

I watched all year long and how I was a massive Montez Sweat fan. If you watch this dude during the year, if you watch their defense, they were good. This guy is an outside three-four linebacker pass rusher who, you know, has jumped around on everybody's board. Now everybody's got him in the top 10. Devin White would be an incredible fit next to potentially Ruben Foster at inside linebacker. There are going to be some players that if these quarterbacks start to go, the Redskins are going to get and have a big time choice of some, you know, potentially major impact defensive players. Offensively, you know, I've seen this guy, um, uh, Hawkinson, the tight end from Iowa, climbing up draft boards, you know, into some top tens.

I think Kuiper had him as a top 10, you know, on his big board, T.J. Hawkinson, the tight end from Iowa. You've got Metcalf, the wide receiver from Ole Miss. You've got Marquise Brown, the wide receiver from Oklahoma in terms of wide outs. They're going to be, you know, you've got a lot of interior defensive linemen. Now, the Redskins don't necessarily have that need. It's probably the strength of their team with Allen and pain and ionitis. But there are guys out there like Quinn and Williams, and the guy from Clemens, whose name is escaping me,

a Farrell, Cleland Farrell. There are guys Dexter Lawrence. They're guys that, you know, interior guys, 4-3 and 3-4 guys, but it would be great if the Redskins ended up having like a Montez sweat or a greedy Williams drop to them, you know, at 15. You know, it wouldn't be bad if one of the offensive linemen, and the kid from Florida who's projected to be a top five to top 10 pick, Juan Taylor, you know, drops to 15.

These are the kind of players that could end up being there at 15. Now, Josh Allen, on everybody's board now, he's become that outside pass rusher, you know, along with Bosa, all right? They're probably not going to drop to 15. And if they did, you'd have to wonder. But John Allen at this point leading up to the 2017 draft, there wasn't any hope that the Redskins would get him at, what was it, 17 in that draft? Right.

You know, so maybe a, you know, an Allen or, you know, or Sean Gary or somebody like, like it could be. Montes-Swed would be a guy that I'd look at. Polites a guy that I would look at. I want a defensive game changer, you know, to throw, you know, side by side, you know, on the outside with Allen in pain and ionitis. Build up the defense, get young on defense. You're not winning in 2019.

Okay, they're not winning anything in 2019. build up a great defense talent-wise. Eventually find a decorinator you want in 2020. That's the way I'd be thinking. Best available player, and they're going to have a chance more likely than not to get a really good one at 15. I think that's it. Is that it?

Yeah, I think so. All right. Have a great day. Back tomorrow. We'll have J.P. Finley on from Indianapolis. And I'll watch some of the Combine here over the weekend to, it's not my favorite thing to watch, but I'm interested in some of the quarterbacks and what they look like. I also, and Cooley asked me about this when we were talking about last night,

he wanted to know, what are the running backs you like? Because I've been pretty good at picking running backs over the years. There's a couple that I do like. I will tell you this, the kid from Florida Atlantic, I like from the beginning of the year. I think I mentioned Devin Singletary early in the season on the podcast. I don't know where he's, I really haven't looked at the running back rankings. But he's a guy that watching him play has that incredible vision, stop-start, you know, ability in space. Similar to what I thought of Kerryon Johnson last year, although Johnson was bigger, I think. Anyway, I will start doing a lot of that as well. Singletary, by the way, according to CBS, projected as the number one running back.

Oh, really? Yeah. I had no idea. He's projected as the number one running back? He is, right, so this is, I've just pulled up CBS, NFL draft ranking, all 25 running backs to know, and they have Singletary as number one. This is Chris Trepaso. Wow. Josh Jacobs is getting a lot of buzz. Yeah, the Alabama guy. Yeah, I think this is the first guy I've seen number one, but he's definitely a lot of buzz around Singletary. I am that's interesting because I for whatever reason when I was watching him and I'm thinking it's Florida Atlantic I'm thinking he's like you know probably when I start looking at this closely he's

going to be a projected third round or fourth rounder he is he's got a lot of that you know in space vision make people miss then be able to explode from a from a standstill you know a little bit of what I liked about carry on Johnson he's a little bit I think he's a bit smaller than Johnson to me Johnson was like a poor man's Lavian Bell the way he ran. And look, when he was healthy last year, he was exceptional for Detroit. And the Redskins apparently wanted to draft him before they wanted to draft Geis. But I've had some guys over over a while, the last several years that I've, that I've been right about and several that I've been wrong about too. So I'll start looking at those guys in more detail. But I did like Florida Atlantic played in a couple of those Friday night games,

you know, that you're sitting around watching because you've been. on. And I remember early in the season going, that dude is a pro. I didn't realize, though, that he would be projected first round. All right, or first running back taken. I thought the guy from Alabama was the clear cut. Yeah, and looking through more, it does seem more people are looking at the Alabama guy, but he is listed as a top five running back mostly. All right. That's it for today. See you tomorrow.