The Kevin Sheehan Show - My Favorite Howell Play

Episode Date: August 15, 2023

Kevin opened with his favorite Sam Howell play from the preseason opener Friday night in Cleveland. He had some amended thoughts upon further review of the starters' action in the win over the Browns. Al Galdi jumped on for a Nats, Commanders, and "name" discussion with Kevin. Kevin finished up with a thought on the player that Jahan Dotson predicts will break out in 2023.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Third and six. Robinson in the backfield. Out of the gun. Press in, steps out to the left.

He's got some room going to use his legs. Said Howe gets the first down and out of bounds. That was the third play from scrimmage the other night in the preseason opening win over Cleveland. A third and six scramble to move the chival. by quarterback Sam Hal. I think it was his most impressive play of the night. And I will explain why I think that coming up here in a moment. One guest on the show today, Al Galdi is going to be on with us.

Haven't had Galdi on in a while. We'll get his thoughts on the game Friday night and maybe get to a little bit of Nats talk as well as the Nats completed the series sweep of the Oakland A's yesterday, rallying for six runs. and the bottom of the ninth. Nats are really, I think, very much an overachieving team this year. So maybe we'll fit some of that in with Galdi as well. The show today brought to you by our good friends from My Bookie. Football is back and so is winning season at My Bookie. NFL college football and a brand new cash out system. Give you options to bet and win all season long. First two legs of your parlay hit, cash out early and use the funds. on another bet or let it ride for the chance at a bigger payday.

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And as I've said to you many times, they offer the best point spreads, the best pricing. This is the place where if you are interested in betting this upcoming football season, sign up with an account at My Booky. So I did have a chance to go back and watch. I didn't watch the whole game again. No, I did not do that. But I did go back and watch the three offensive series again. And I watched a couple of defensive plays from, you know, the starters. And so my recap, late Friday night, early Saturday morning, has been amended a little bit. And I'll explain coming up here in a moment. Let me just mention, if you didn't listen to my postgame wrap on early, early Saturday morning,

morning, Jahan Dotson joined the show, live from the locker room, and he was great. By the way, he mentioned a player that he thought was going to be a big contributor this year, and I think we've talked about him a little bit, but I'm going to play that soundbite for you later on in the show. But I, first of all, I said this on Friday night. I was impressed with the quarterback play. I was impressed even more so with the receivers. and the running backs. I think Washington has a stable of playmakers that is, you know,

upper tier of the NFL. Like, I don't know where it would rank. I haven't given it a lot of thought, but, you know, it's not crazy to say that their combination of receivers, running backs, and tight ends, which is, you know, kind of the question mark area, is top third in the league. I mean, the duo of McLaurin and Dotson alone is a top third of the league, wide receiver, and wide receiver two, and I don't even know which one you would designate as one versus two. I am a big fan of Jahan Dotson. Most of you know that. I think Jahan Dotson has a chance to lead this team in receptions and yards and touchdowns this year. And this time next year, we're talking about really a dynamic duo that the league knows about. I like their running backs. I'm clearly

in the minority on this. I liked it with B-Rob, Brian Robinson, Jr., and I'm a big Antonio Gibson fan. And by the way, I thought Gibson had a run the other night, which was a physical run. I don't think he gets enough credit for being pretty effective between the tackles. I'm not going to say that he's better than Robinson Jr. And I may say at some point he's not even better than Rodriguez. Chris Rodriguez, their sixth round pick from Kentucky. But he's fine in that role.

He's better in space. But we've seen him be a pounded out between the tackle. back and be pretty effective. So there are a couple of things that I'm going to amend to my post game after watching, but I wanted to mention really quickly that the third and six run by Sam Howell, I think may have been my favorite play from Sam Howell all night. The reason being kind of threefold. One is that this was the series in which they faced the Cleveland starters.

Now, Cleveland did not have their best. players playing in the game, unless Deshawn Watson is one of their best players, and he might be. He was super impressive in that one drive. But, you know, you didn't face Miles Garrett. You didn't face Nick Chubb the other night. You didn't face Grant Delpit. You didn't face Denzel Ward on defense. I mean, they didn't have their full allotment of star players playing even when their ones were

out there. But that series was the series in which Cleveland played as many. starters as they would play all night long. So one of the reasons I loved it is it was against, you know, players that are going to play in the NFL. That third drive may have been against some players who are not going to be in the NFL, although many of those players will be backups for the Browns and the NFL. The second reason I really like this play is that I don't think he had a lot.

Now, the all 22s for the preseason games, I'll comment on that. at another time, but it wasn't like there was something quick that was there. I also don't believe there was a pocket to step up into. So I don't think that there were a lot of options on the play for Sam. And then thirdly, I just thought he was poised and decisive. And we saw Taylor Heineke make plays with his legs, not as many as I would have liked. But, you know, in watching him, you know, get out of the pocket, flush left, and understand almost immediately. This is the right decision because even though I can keep my eyes down the field, which he did to a certain extent, and maybe make a play, why do that when I can move the sticks with my legs right now? I can get six yards.

I can probably get seven or eight. You know, on that scramble, and I've said this before, and I don't know why Sam Darnold keeps popping into my mind, I think it's because of number 14. Also, he looks a little bit like Andy Dalton, who's worn number 14. But he has that build that isn't sleek. It's more kind of boxy. And that's who he reminds me of. He reminds me of a Jets Sam Darnold. Now, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Sam Darnold, I've kind of been a fan of, but I also recognize he's probably not going to be an elite quarterback. in this league, I still think he is a borderline starter in the league. And I've always liked Andy Dalton using another comparison there. Dalton's not the same build. But I loved the fact that against their starters or some of their starters, there wasn't a lot there and he was super decisive. And he moved the sticks. I like the touchdown pass to Jahan Dotson. I loved the fourth and three conversion to Cole Turner. but that came against backup players and in some cases, players that may not even be in the league a month from now. I liked how in a true drop-back situation, third and six, and let's hope they don't have a lot of drop-back situations.

I'm not sounding the alarm bell yet on the offensive line after a preseason game. I'm not doing that, but I have a feeling that too many third and longs are not going to be healthy for this team. They're not healthy for any team, but you want to see an effective first and second down offense this year. Your third downs you'd like to see in the third and one to third and four range, which keeps run as an option and makes a defense, puts the defense in a bit of conflict. Pure dropback. What you saw with that play is you saw a guy that made it look easy.

And he's going to need to do that, I think, a lot this year. and I thought that that was encouraging. All right, so let me just amend a couple of things from my postgame the other night, where, you know, the things that I liked were the receivers and running backs, Sam Howl, Jacoby Brissette. I really thought Brissette looked really. Brissette's a big dude. You know, Jacoby Brissette is a big, strapping guy.

You know, he looks different in the pocket than Sam Hal. I think that Jacoby Brissette is an outstanding. standing NFL backup. I think Jacoby Brissette can start in this league for several teams. Not a lot of teams, but several teams. And I do think that Jacoby Berset had he been on this team last year for 17 games, that they would have found a way to win one more and be in the postseason. Also on my good list the other night was just, I love the way the defense kind of flies around. I think that's just sort of a hallmark and has been of Jack Del Rio's defenses. I think they are, they play fast, they play aggressively, they hit.

But what I'm going to amend here is a couple of things. The O-line pass protection, it was primarily Wiley's two holds and Wiley in particular. I actually thought Sam Cosmi and the interior held up. Now, Nick Gates on a screen, the screen that was third. and forever or second and forever, the second and forever, which created a minus two, which created third and 30. And then Antonio Gibson, I think, caught a pass and picked up some yardage. Gates was a little bit, you know, he struggled to get out there a little bit. It's going to be interesting that position in particular, Gates' position. I know they want a true veteran

center on this team, which is why they went out in Sign Gates. And they like versatility, obviously, with their offensive line as well. But, you know, the guy that actually played okay last year in place of Chase Ruey was Tyler Larson. And, you know, he's back and healthy. But I don't know. I think Gates is definitely going to be the starting center. I just thought that the line overall maybe wasn't as bad as I had described it and watching it. I love the run that started off that final drive.

it was the last play of the first quarter. There was some good quickness, good athleticism. And I didn't think Chris Paul played that poorly. And I kind of ripped the entire offensive line. I think it was more wily more than anything else, you know, that that was a bit of an issue. Now, I did count the dropbacks, and I said seven to eight dropbacks. He was pressured.

It was probably more like six of the 12 dropbacks. there was legitimate pressure. And the sack that he took, I actually think, was probably more on Sam. I do think he had a receiver. And that's another thing that I want to talk about a little bit. I don't know the answer to this. And maybe we won't know until we start watching regular season games and you hear coaches talk about it.

But they left free rushers a couple of times. something I think the Chiefs never felt uncomfortable doing. You know, they weren't going to go max protect for Patrick Mahomes. You know, Patrick Mahomes' responsibility was always the free rusher, whether he made a miss and extended a play or whether it was really more about, okay, there is going to be a free rusher, the ball's got to come out right away. If that's on Sam, then that sack was on him for not getting it out. I do think that that pass to Gibson out of the backfield that got deflected on a third down

that I think would have resulted in a big play, a first down for sure, maybe more. And Sam had it deflected by the free rusher off the edge. Sam's height, I wish more than anything else things that we know about. I wish Sam Howe are 6'3 and not closer to six feet, which is what he appears to be. But whatever. He's got a big arm. We know he's mobile. decision-making, you know, understanding the offense, communication, all that stuff will become important.

But I think it's going to be interesting to see if that is part of the offense. You know, Patrick Mahomes can account for a free rusher with quick release or with play extension. I mean, we see it happen all the time. I mean, how many plays is there pressure? And all of a sudden it turns into a big play because it's Mahomes, because it's Kelsey on the other end or Tareke Hill before that. I wonder what I'm not sure what I was watching the other night with on those couple of occasions where there was obviously an unblocked rusher. I don't know if it was intentional and that's going to be part of what they do or they're going to scheme around it when the season begins and they're going to block it up and give him the time that hopefully he can to be in the pocket and deliver a strike to receivers that I think are going to get open. So that was kind of another observation along with the offensive line I didn't think was nearly as bad.

Just the idea of how offensively this will work. And I do think first and second down offense and getting the ball out quickly and on time, I mean, they have some really tough covers in Terry, in Jahan, in Curtis, in, you know, I think even a quarter. Cole Turner, the Logan Thomas injury bothering me a little bit just because it seems to be nagging and lingering. Somebody on Twitter compared it to the Curtis Samuel injury of his first year here. You know, it was always, ah, we're just resting him. You know, it'll be fine, and then it wasn't fine for the entirety of that season. But, yeah, that was kind of one amendment to the initial thoughts on the game Friday night.

and early Saturday morning. The other one was this. It's specific to the defense, the starting defense. Deshawn Watson, I think, was really good. And, man, I'm a big, big DTR fan, Dorian Thompson, Robinson. I think that he was drafted too late. We'll see. I think he's going to win that backup job from Josh Dobbs.

DTR can flat out play. in two preseason games, preseason, understood. Okay, completely understand what's going on here. But he was 9 of 10 the other night for 102 yards. Also rushed, by the way, for double-digit yards. And in that first preseason game, the Hall of Fame game against the Jets, he was 8 for 11 for 82 yards and a touchdown. And rushed for 36 yards in that game.

I just liked him whenever I watched him at UCLA. Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. The starting defense got punched around a little bit. And I'm not concerned because they're not game planning for Cleveland. And I thought Deshawn Watson made a bunch of plays. And the truth is there was an opportunity for a sack from Chase Young. And that was the other observation I didn't make Friday night that I wanted to make. and that is that Chishung looked explosive.

It was only four plays. That could have been a sack. It wasn't a sack. By the way, it was against Jedrick Wills. Just so everybody understands, because a lot of you tweeted me and said, he beat a first round pick, a big-time lineman in Wills. I mean, Wills has been a disappointment in Cleveland. He was the 10th overall pick.

That was a mistake. Tristan Wurst is what Cleveland, wishes they had taken at number 10 overall. It's kind of like what the Philadelphia people say about Jalen Rager when Justin Jefferson went the pick after. Jedrick Wills has been a disappointment as the Cleveland Brown's left tackle since they took him in that 2020 drafted at number 10 overall. Eight picks, by the way, after Chase Young was picked.

But, man, I saw a guy that looked Chase Young-esque, powerful, quick, explosive. and if he's developing more around that pass rush and he's disciplined within the scheme. You know, I know he got a stinger and, you know, Ron said that everything's fine. I have no reason not to believe him. But, um, Chey Shang, man, that is, God,

can you imagine how good they could be defensively if he turns in to a wrecking, uh, defensive end pass rusher? Uh, hope all is well with him. Phil Mathis out early, you know, in that game as well. I mean, second round pick, Phil Mathis. He's got to be healthy, but it doesn't sound like there's anything serious.

A couple of players got injured to practice today. Sam Cosmi was out. St. Juice was out a little bit, but nothing major doesn't appear. The other observation that I didn't make Friday night that I wanted to add to is this. The communication, remember, between Bienemy and Sam Hal and Sam Hal and the Huddle, everything seemed to go well in their first chance. Remember, these preseason games are a chance for Eric B. enemy to get into a rhythm as a play caller from the sideline as well.

And I think that's going to be a big deal. I didn't mention this the other night. No real issues. Now, you know, the play clock got down to one or two a couple of times, I think. But for the most part, they were on time. And that part of it, you know, worked well. So that's important to these coaches. It's important for them to be in sync on September 10th.

And that's the last thing I would just say for all of you that reached out to me after the game and talked about certain things that you're very concerned about or certain things you're very excited about. I had a caller this morning that just said, they're going to the playoffs. This is obvious. Well, nothing's obvious for me in the. these games. I just think that these games are total headfakes. Like, they're mirages. I just, I'm not buying into anything other than the individual evaluation and hoping that nobody gets hurt. Like, I'm excited about what Chase Young did on the play in which he got a stinger, but I also recognize

that Jedrick Wills, despite his draft status, has been a disappointment at left tackle for Cleveland. Like, he's not terrible, but he's not, you know, Tristan Wirthes, who's made a couple of Pro Bowls at this point already. But I just don't see the preseason games being predictors of the regular season. They're just not. They're important for the players. They're important for the coaches to kind of validate or invalidate what they've seen in practice or what they saw on tape, which got those players to Washington. But other than that, I just don't, I don't think I even need to say this to most of you. These games are not a predictor of what's going to happen in the regular season. I still think we learn more from listening to coaches and players talk about themselves and

other players than we do from watching these players. Two things real quickly to add. I don't know why Kendall Fuller didn't play in the game. I still don't know because I don't think Ron answered that today. Did he? I could be wrong. Maybe he did answer that today. I'm going to look for that real quickly to see if there's anything on Kendall Fuller and why. I don't think, no, I don't think anything on Kendall Fuller. I'm guessing veteran player, hour and 16 minute delay, they didn't really need to see them. They got a lot of depth in the secondary. They've got a lot of depth in the secondary.

I'm impressed by some of the talent. You know, one of the other things I didn't talk about, I talked about Percy Butler, and I talked about Christian Holmes on Friday night. Percy Butler can run, man. He can just flat out fly. But, yeah, I just, I'm not. Oh, the other thing was I talked about, thank God the game didn't go to overtime. I even asked John Dotson, you know, how would you have felt if the game went to overtime?

He's like, I'm glad it didn't. Well, they don't play overtime in the preseason. In 2021, they eliminated overtime from the preseason, which was smart. And so even though they went for the two-point conversion and the game could have ended in a tie, we saw, and I mentioned this on Friday's show, Kevin Stefansky chose losing the game over kicking an onside kick and potentially injuring somebody. All right, Al Galdi next right after these words

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My guest is my friend Al Galdi from the Al Galdi podcast. You can get his podcast. anywhere you get a podcast, including the same places you get mine. He also is the co-host of the Nats Chad podcast. Now that I'm thinking about it, I actually mentioned it on the radio show today because I was talking about how the Nats have been doing. Actually, I didn't intend on starting here. Galdi's got a Nats chat podcast with Mark Zuckerman.

And I am a bigger baseball fan than I think most of my listening audience believes that I am. but it's usually, you know, September, October, and if the Nats are really good. Real quickly, I mean, don't you think this is a very much an overachieving season by the Nats? Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, I think the best thing that you could have said about this season at the beginning of the season is it expedites the timeline for the rebuild. Like it makes you think that the rebuild is going to pay off sooner than you previously thought. And right now, I don't know how you don't think that. I mean, the Nats now are two wins away from their win total of all of last season.

The team has won 15 of its last 23 games. The team has gone from having not swept a series of at least three games since June of 2021 to now having authored a three game sweep in three of the last four weekend. And not all of the sweeps have been of bad teams. Like, yes, the Oakland days are horrible. Cincinnati. A few weeks ago swept the San Francisco Giants. Yes, swept the three-game series at Cincinnati.

So the ads are beating some good teams. The farm system is in much better shape. You know, it's a funny deal because there still are like bigger picture questions with this team, like the ownership situation and is the team actually getting back to drafting and developing players well. But if you're a Nats fan, I don't know how you don't feel appreciably better about things now as compared to just a few months ago. So who gets credit for this? Because, you know, at this rate, it's, you know, they're probably going to win 70 games, you know, which is going to be, you know, significantly more than they won a year ago. And I say that it could be, it could end up being more.

They've got 43 left, but I think I figured out basically, you know, going 17 and 26, the rest of the way, you know, puts them, you know, at that 70 number. Who would get the most credit for that? Davey or Mike Rizzo or both? Well, I think they both get credit because you are seeing these young players get better and or do well. Like this season, you look at like Josiah Gray and McKenzie Gore. Now, they've kind of faltered a little bit lately, but all things considered, those guys this season have done a lot of things well.

And Gray in particular, it's had a big time step forward season. So I think you have to give Davy and his coaching staff at least some of the credit for that. But when you look at, you know, Gore and Gray and C.J. Abrams and Kaybert Ruiz and these guys in the minors, you know, Mike Rizzo got a lot of these guys via the fire sales of 2021 and 2022. It's a weird deal because the reason that this team had to rebuild was that the team was really bad for a really long time at drafting and developing players. That falls on Mike Rizzo. But Rizzo has kind of done this like Ernie Grunfeld-esque thing of he hasn't drafted well. but he has traded well, and he sort of has cleaned up the mess that the bad drafting created.

And so he's trades of, you know, Max Scher and Trey Turner and a bunch of other guys in 21, and the Juan Soto trade of last year have replenished this organization with a lot of premier young talent. Now, they're not all going to work out, but that really is the foundation of the rebuild. But that's why I say, we still don't know if the drafting has gotten better. You know, this team is in this position, basically, because it cashed in a bunch of trade shifts like Max Scherzer and Trade. Turner and Juan Soto, et cetera. So it's kind of an odd deal in that regard. But I think you definitely have to give my credit for, at the very least, at least right now, you say, well, he picked the right prospect to trade four. And, you know, that in conjunction with some really high picks in recent

years, you know, like this Dylan Cruz pick. I mean, Cruz already is killing it for the low-end pressure. He had a two-homer game the other day. I think he was the Carolina. Whatever that league is, he was the player of the week. Hit like 430 or something like that. Yeah, he went, he on Sunday. they got on base six times. He went five for five with two homers in the walk. Wow. It's such an unusual situation because usually when a team falls off, the way the Nats fell off, everyone gets fired. The GM gets fired. The manager gets fired. And it is a new regime

that leads you out of the darkness. In this case, nobody got fired. And it might be the previous regime that ends up bearing the fruits of the rebuild. That is so unusual in sport. forget about baseball. Like in what other circumstances in sports do you see this? And yet you might have this year, you know, because of this unique dynamic of the team being up for sale and the team having just what a World Series a few years ago and the learners doing things the way that they do things. And so it is a very unusual circumstance. Five for five, a walk, two home runs, four runs scored, and six RBIs for Dylan Cruz on Sunday for single A Fredericksburg.

Holy Christ. I mean, yeah, well, look, I mean, I've talked to you about this. I've talked to Zuckerman. I had Mike Rizzo actually on the podcast a few weeks ago and asked him about it. I don't know that any franchise could have had worse luck in the last five years or because of the pandemic anyway than the nationals had. First World Series, you know, since 1924. And, you know, you can't even sell tickets. to games. You can't even celebrate it in proper fashion. And so the huge revenue bump that comes with winning a World Series, especially for the first time, they weren't able to take advantage of. And it, in many ways, is the reason that they ended up being in the position they were in, which was having to deal players at trade deadlines, big players, because, you know, the learners aren't going to take a lot of money out of their own pocket to pay for some of these players. But it seems, it seems, It seems like here's the exit question, if you will. What year do you think they'll be ready to contend?

I know that a lot of people, and I think you and Mark have talked about this before, which is could the Nats be next year's version of this year's Cincinnati Reds? I know they don't have a superstar or a budding superstar like the Reds do, but could they make that big of a jump next year? Yeah, I think they could. And they could have a superstar at the major league level next year. I think Dylan Cruz could be playing for them at the major league level next season. So, yeah, I think absolutely that that next season could be the Reds of this year.

I think that that's next season could be the Orioles of last season, a team that takes like a really big step forward in terms of the win total and is in, say, wild card contention deep in the season. So no doubt. I mean, I think at the end of last season, you felt like, the absolute earliest that the Nats could be even decent again was 2025. Now you say to yourself, okay, 2024 might be that season. And, you know, let's see how this season plays out.

The NAC might end up with a win total, you know, like you said in the 70s. I mean, avoiding 100 losses was considered an achievement coming into this season. This team has a shot to avoid 90 losses now, which is remarkable, given where things were not that long ago. They're going to absolutely annihilate the season win total, which was. It was 58 and a half. Denton looked it up this morning for me. 58 and a half, it was them and the A's at the bottom. Now, the A's are not going to go over the total.

And the Nats are. All right, well, I did not intend on starting the conversation about baseball. So let's get to what most of the people that are listening to want to hear us talk about, and that is the football team. So give me your two or three biggest takeaways. from Friday night. I thought Sam how it looked good. I liked what we saw.

I think, you know, you attach all the usual caveats of, you know, preseason game, no game planning, all sample size, yada, yada, yada. But I thought what we saw was good. And I would expect within the next week or so an official, official declaration of him as a starting quarterback. And, you know, away will go. But I think the upcoming joint practices with the Ravens and then the actual preseason game with the Ravens are kind of the piece.

of the preseason, and I think you get through those things, and if Sam does okay or better than okay and isn't injured, then I think we'll get that official stamp on them. I would assume, you know, early to mid-next week. So that, to me, was the biggest thing. I thought Jacoby Percept played well as well. And, you know, I think I saw what everyone else saw, which was an offensive line that early in the game was really overmatched. And, you know, it's especially worrisome, given that Miles Garrett didn't even play in the game. And, you know, the offensive line had all kinds of issues. It wasn't just the two Andrew Wiley penalties, yet Charles Leno gets blown

up on the first offensive play the game, yet Nick Gates getting blown up on the screen to Brian Robinson for minus two yards. But, you know, again, it's one game. I don't think you like, you need to go nuts with any of this stuff, but, you know, with the offensive line in particular, like, I think we all had concerns coming into this season

given what we saw last year, given, you know, the off season, like, yes, the team did a lot with the offensive line and the off season, but was enough done with the right move made, you know, I think those are two legitimate the questions. I think those questions remain. And, you know, I had to laugh with the defense, because what we saw with the Brown's first offensive drive, I feel like we have seen that so many times the last few years under Jack Dorillo, where the defense, especially early in a game,

gives stuff up. There is this tendency for the defense to do that. But at the same time, the defense ends up, you know, bending but not breaking. We've seen that play out a lot. I don't know why that is. But, you know, you had this, like, ridiculous juxtaposition of the defense getting carved up for so much of that drive. And then those final two plays were great. That goal line stand was tremendous. So, you know, you sort of take all that in. I mean, it was a mixed bag, but I did think that there was more good than bad on Friday night. Yeah, I mean, you know, Cleveland carved them up in that game on New Year's Day. Three straight touchdown drives to start the second half was, you know, totaling 170 yards or whatever it was. I actually, it's funny, because

Because, you know, we watch these games and we are very focused on, you know, the individual matchups of the team we are talking about, which in this case is Washington. And yet, for me, my notes at the end of the first quarter were, wow, Deshawn Watson in that first drive. If they, if he plays like Deshawn Watson, like Cleveland and Washington are similar. In the same way to me, the Jets in Washington were similar. last year. It's like they actually have good rosters. They have good defensive players. They have good skill position players. Quarterback was the problem, although really for Cleveland

last year, even with Berset, it wasn't the issue. Their defense was inconsistent. But Cleveland with good quarterback player, outstanding quarterback play, man, the AFC, I mean the quarterbacks in the AFC, Al, the teams that have a chance with elite quarterbacks to really make a run. Cleveland's actually one of those teams if Deshawn Watson is the Deshawn Watson at his height that we saw in Houston. And I thought he looked really comfortable the other night. Yeah, he did look a lot better, no doubt. It's amazing, man. I mean, we've all followed the NFL for a long time. Has there ever been this big of a discrepancy in terms of the caliber of quarterback in one conference versus the other? I mean, this really is something which you have in the

AFC right now versus what you have in the NFC right now. And, you know, I think that's part of, you know, with our team, like, if our guy is just decent, you know, like, Dan doesn't have to be great if he's just decent. And this team has not had at least decent quarterback play since, you know who was the starting quarterback. So if you can get at least, if you can get at least that from the guy, that can be good enough for this team to make the postseason this year. Like, you're not competing with the Herbert and the Mahomes and the Allen's and

the NFD. It's a time unlike any that I can remember in the NFC in terms of what you have a quarterback right now. I mean, you could easily create a top 10 list of the quarterbacks in the NFL right now and have one NFC quarterback in it, and it would be Jaylen Hertz. Now, you know who would be awfully close to number 10, which makes him, by the way, I think number two in the NFC. And I know some people want to make Dak Prescott, you know, and Jalen Hertz, and maybe even Jared Goff ahead of You Know Who. By the way, speaking of You Know Who, did you watch Netflix, the quarterback documentary? So I haven't watched it yet. I know I'm like way behind on that. I know. I want to watch

it, though. Because our guy gets immortalized in that, which I just love. And I know that that eats away. It's so many people. Oh, my God. You know who was the star of the show. And you know who you just said was immortalized. It's amazing how many people when I talked about this reached out to me to say, you know, your boy, you know who? I feel totally different about him than I used to. Anyway, you should watch it. I can't wait, yeah. I actually really believe I'm, you know me, I don't, you know, I think that we, you know, I think that we don't know anything and that, you know, the boys in the desert know a lot more than we do. And it's not always the case, obviously, because occasionally they're wrong.

I just can't believe that Washington is sitting there as a six and a half over under number. I just think they're better than that. I felt that way last year that they were better than the seven and a half number. It all comes down to, you know, how even more so than the offensive line. but I man their skilled position players just are I think they're outstanding I think they are better than that I am like you though I've seen that and I've said to myself okay what am I missing here because we know that Vegas doesn't just randomly come up with these over under win totals and so I've tried to say all right make the case for this team having you know six and a half wins or less and you know I guess the

thinking would be so the schedule does set up to be harder than last season schedule so I think get a lot of ways to start with that. Clearly, there is a distrust of, you know, Sam Howell and the offensive line. And, you know, there also is this thing with the defense of, I mean, I think we all see the potential for the defense to be great. But, you know, it's been a weird deal, right? If you look at Washington the last few years, 2019, awful defense, 2020, good defense, 2021 bad defense, 22 good defense.

It's been this ping-ponging back and forth of good, good-bad, good-bad. and just when you think that the defense has arrived or is at least poised to be good, like we thought going into 21, you get surprised. I think we're in a new era now in the NFL in which defense has never been more unpredictable. It's never been less reliable. It is such an offensive league now. Even the good defense is give stuff up that if your biggest strength is your defense, I don't think that means what it used to mean. Because even if you have a quote-unquote good defense, that defense is still going to give. stuff up. That's the way that the league is now. And so especially if you don't have a good

offense or at least a trustworthy offense, it's hard to have faith in a team, you know, having a good season. And I would think that that's kind of the perception here. Like, the defense might be good, but the defense might still have games in which it gives up, you know, 28, 31, 34 points. Like you're going to have to score. Is this team capable of doing that? You know, I don't think you're wrong to have questions about that. No, I don't either. And we're not going to know until we see real games. I do, and I'm trying to think of who the person I had on from PFF to discuss sort of the unpredictability, as you just described, of defense year to year, that it's less reliable to be what it was the year before. And the reasons for that, look, bottom line is,

if you've got good players and they're well-coached, as long as they stay healthy, there's no reason that there should be a regression or a significant difference other than opponent. And, And in 2021, they faced murderers row in terms of quarterbacks and dynamic offenses that they faced. And they don't see anything like that this year, although they see a slight upgrade over what they face last year, at least on paper as we speak. Now, I just think it's more than that, though, that I feel like six and a half is low. I think that even the other night, and I talked a lot about it once again in the open, and that is John Dotson and, you know, I think their receivers and their running backs are really, really upper tier in the league.

And we're not sure about the tight end situation. I'm actually a little bit concerned about Logan Thomas missing all these practices. But let's just say it is Cole Turner, big target. They have really good weapons and they're going to employ a system that is, you know, West Coast style heavy on RPO, more likely. than not, which makes the offensive line pass protection thing a little bit less significant if you're not dropping the quarterback as much as perhaps they did last year, even in play action. I don't know. I just think that they've got too many playmakers to suck on offense. Yeah, I think the receivers certainly are good. I think the running backs could be good.

I mean, if you look at a lot of the advanced stuff, the running backs did not great out well last year, but the run blocking left some things to be desired. So I think with better run blocking, the running backs can look better. And also, you know, we have to remember, Ryan Robinson, Jr. was coming off having been shot multiple times last year. And he himself admitted a few weeks ago. He never felt right last season. So I think it's fair to say, hey, how about we see what this guy looks like

when he hasn't just been shot, you know? So, you know, that's something to keep in mind. I'm also excited about this. I think Sam Howell this season has the chance to have the most productive rushing season for a Washington quarterback since Robert in 2012. You know, we had Taylor Hineke the last few years for whatever reason. He was never exploited as a runner of the way that he could have been. Alex Smith, of course, had a reputation for running, but, you know, we got him.

He was older, and then, of course, he had the horrendous injury. So you think about, like, once the last time the team had a real true run threat that the team was, you know, willing to exploit in terms of the quarterback position, I think you could have that with Sam Howell. You know, he's got not necessarily like blazing speed, but I think, you know, think he's a smart runner. I think he can be evasive. I think we've seen that in the limited time that we've watched him play. He's sturdy. You know, he can take a hit. If, you know, you watch him in his final season at Carolina, he had one of actually be more productive rushing seasons that a Power 5 conference quarterback has had over the last eight, 10 to 15 years. So, you know,

I think that that's something that really could be a benefit to the team this coming season. And I think it could be a real weapon for them this coming season. I do too. I went back a couple of weeks ago, and I watched the Dallas game again. I mean, I watched every single offensive snap. And I was actually, because I had had various people on the show talking about Sam Hal, including Phil Longo, the offensive coordinator at North Carolina for a few years. And he didn't see Sam as necessarily a dual threat quarterback, which is kind of the way I thought about him. And I, he saw him as a guy that can certainly extend plays and use his legs and to really hurt defenses, but not necessarily in a Jalen Hertz role or, you know, a Justin Fields role,

or, you know, from 2012, you know, an RG3 or, you know, Russell Wilson from those years. And I was surprised at that, but when I went back and looked at it, he isn't, he's not an elite runner. He is an effective runner. I think that's what you said, and I totally agree with that. He's also a physical runner, which you don't necessarily want at the NFL level. Now, I like the way he got out of bounds, and we saw a couple of plays last year where he slid. He knows how to slide. He's an all-around athlete.

But he's not Lamar Jackson. He's not Justin Fields. He's not Jalen Hertz. He's not that level. With that said, I still think, like you do, they've got to use him in the run game because we know how using the quarterback in the run game affects the rest of the run game and also how it affects sort of pass rush and past protection. So we'll see. Where are you on Eric B. Enemy right now?

I know we've had a conversation about this before, but with the comments last week from Ron, which, you know, I called incredibly unnecessary and a major sort of unforced error on his part, which your gut after one preseason game, after some of the. reaction to that on BNAMI? Well, I'm excited about what BNAMI can do. I think, you know, like we were talking about with the Nationals earlier, this is such a unique situation because, you know, you have this like mutual using going on where, you know, Ron is using Eric, the save Ron's job as head coach.

Eric is using Ron in this predicament to get himself a head coaching job. So, you know, like if this goes the way that we want it to go, Eric won't be here next. season, or at least he won't be in the same position here next season. So, you know, that's always kind of an odd dynamic to begin with. I thought what happened last week, and I'm with you, I think most people think this, like, why Ron had to put that out there, I think is a little strange. You know, I think it's worth keeping this in mind. He got asked about it. So I think it's worth wondering the people who asked him about, I think Nikki asked him about it. You know, she probably had gotten some intel on it. So you know, you do wonder, well, who

gave her that intel? Like, who's speeding this to the media that players had had concerns about the enemy. Did that come from the players? Did that come from the enemy? Did that come from Ron? But I think that's worth keeping in mind. Like, Ron wasn't asked that out of the blue. There's a reason that he was asked that. So I think that's something to wonder about. But I disagree with you on that front. He wasn't asked that. He was not asked whether or not players came to him to express concern or excru. No, but he got asked about the adjustment. He got asked about it in a way that opened that door. I don't think she, I think it was a follow-up to the earlier question, which, by the way, he gave pretty much a benign answer, if not a positive answer. I actually, I thought about immediately, did Nikki, did she have some information about this? I think I disagree with you. I don't think she had any thought, and I think Ron offered it up free of charge. He offered up the fact that players came to him. The question was whether or not, you know, players have struggled to adapt.

to an Eric B. Enemy's style, not whether or not players had come to Ron to express frustration. Right, but I think I don't know that it had to be that she had come to him, although she may have known that, but when you ask, have they struggled with that, I don't think that that came out of the blue. I don't think she said, yeah, go ahead, sorry. Well, Kym has brought this up, too, that players have had some issues with this. And so I think this may have been lurking with some people. I could be wrong, but that was the sense I got from that exchange and also what has been out there.

But whatever the case, Ron did not have to reveal what he revealed, and he does have this thing of, you know, kind of talking too much and he can't help himself. But the other thing is that, so I've seen the conspiracy theory of Ron put that out there to make Eric the enemy look that. Like, I know that that's a theory. I don't necessarily buy that, but I know that people have said that. But what I think is so funny about it is, I don't think what he said made the enemy look bad. I think it made the players look bad. I think it made the players look soft. I think the overwhelming reaction, especially from fans, was anti-player on that.

You know, like here's a team with an offense that hasn't been good in years, and these guys are complaining about a coach who's, you know, working them too hard, and it's too demanding and is too wanting of attention to detail. So, you know, I think it made the players look bad. and so, you know, and that was kind of what stuck with me. I thought the enemy handled himself exceptionally well, and his pressor later that day. You know, that was kind of a funny thing, too. He had a previously scheduled post-practice press conference that morning,

haven't spoken to reporters officially all of training camp, and then the day ends up becoming this referendum on his coaching style. Like the day should have been about, hey, how did Sam, how old doing, has the offensive line doing? Instead, he had to answer questions for 10 plus minutes about his coaching style. I'm sure he wasn't thrilled about that, but I thought that he handled the questions well. So, you know, look, you can move on from this.

I'm glad that he coaches the way that he coaches. It guarantees nothing for the offense coming season. Like, we don't know if it's going to be good or not. But I think that, I mean, if I would have said to you at the end of last season with the way that things went down with Scott Turner, you're going to go from Scott Turner to Eric the enemy running this team's offense. I think most people would have signed up for that. I know I would have.

Yeah, and I'm not going to sit here and beat the dead horse I've beaten for a while. I just didn't feel that way after I watched what, you know, kind of he went through, which was zero teams being interested in him other than Washington. It's funny, I was listening to the NFL network on radio on my drive back to Jersey, and I was listening to this interview with Todd Bowles, and I didn't realize that basically they've hired a new offensive coordinator. He interviewed six to seven people, Todd Bulls did, before deciding on, oh God, I'm blanking on his name now, the guy they hired,

and did not interview Eric Biener. I don't want to make a big deal. I've talked about this so much. Look, if you had told me this time last year or in the middle of the season, Eric Bienemy is going to be your offensive coordinator next year. Yeah, and by the way, I don't have a problem with the move that they made. it's just like other moves that this organization is made in recent years, it's on my mind that they were the only team interested.

That's all. I mean, that's just a fact. That's fair. I mean, he's 0 for 16 on head coaching jobs. Dave Canales. Dave Canales is the guy that Bowles hired to replace, I guess, Leftwich, right? And he was talking about how he literally interviewed six to seven people. He's ripping off names, and they were all.

all so impressive. Why didn't he interview Eric Banymy? Todd Bowles. But anyway, yeah, I, I, uh, whatever. Ron created a mess. I, I think, I think there was a, I think there's been a lot that's been on Ron's mind. I think, I think Jason Wright's been on Ron's mind. I think Jason Wright doing that interview with Jason Reed probably was not something that Ron or a lot of people were thrilled at, you know, him building up Eric B. Enemy into being almost head coach worthy right now. There's a lot, you know, it's like with all the great news and in all of the great news, so trumps all of the other stuff that happened last week. So we talk about a trade we would have made a year ago.

Hey, you're going to have Ron step all over himself in a presser. There's going to be some issues between Ron and the team president. and who knows, maybe even Ron and the offensive coordinator that he just hired, but Dan's going to be gone. Yes, we will take that every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Terry McClorn or Jahan Dotson, who leads the team this year in receptions and who leads the team this year in yards, assuming they both play the same amount of games? I would guess Terry leads in receptions and yards. I know you're not at this, but I would say Jahan leads in touchdowns.

But I do think that it is a conversation of like, let's say a year from now, who do you as the best receiver on the team? And it's not a shot at Terry. But, you know, it does feel like this team really has something special in Jahan Dodson. And, you know, to go back to, you know, back in the day, art Monk, Gary Clark, like, I think the perception from the outside is Art Monk was the number one. But for those who were around for those years, you know, you could argue that Gary Clark was a superior receiver. Like, I don't think you're wrong to say either one. They were different receivers.

But, like, you had two really great receivers in those two guys. And, you know, I think you could have that with Terry and John. You know, they're different than Gary and Art were. But I think you get the idea. I think it's awesome what they have. I mean, Jehan Dodson, just as like a pure route runner, already seems to be at like this supreme advanced level. We know that he can run. We know that he has good hands.

It's awesome to see what they have in that guy. And, you know, the more we are removed from them trading down in the first round of the 2022 draft, and, you know, again, you attach the caveat of, you know, you've got to let it play out. We've got to see what happens in a few years. But them turning their first round pick in 2022 into Jehan Dodson and Brian Robinson, Jr., and Sam Howell, and Cole Turner. Look, we might laugh at all that in a few years. I get that. But it's also possible that we look back at that and say, wow, that was some trade. And right now, you know, them trading down and still getting John Dodson looks pretty good. Yeah. And at the same time, Alave was pretty

damn good in New Orleans last year without, you know, much quarterback play either. Like he was an outstanding player and it looks like he's going to be a big time player for the Saints as well. That's the player that the Saints trade it up to take. But sure, if it ends up being four really good players, one of which at wide receiver is equal to, if not better, and you got three other guys, including, well, it'll come down to the starting quarterback for sure. All right, one last thing that I wanted to ask you about, because you and I were talking a little bit about this before we started to record this interview. So our good friend Sabah has pestered me. Sorry Sabah, Sabab, but that's the verb I'm going to use, to get the people from Naga, the Native American

Guardians Association on the show. And I'm not resistant to it necessarily. I just think that we're into this mode now of the ownership's changed. I've made my position clear. I think they're going to change the name a year from now. I don't think it's going to be to the Redskins, but I think the chances of Redskins is greater than it was before John. Harris and company came in. I just don't think the league's going to allow them to do it. I think there would be too much corporate pressure and revenue pressure against doing it. But Sabah keeps pestering me and telling me you had this group on your show. So I'm going to ask you, were they impressive? What did you think of them? And then where do you think we are right now on

the name issue? Yeah. So July 13th was the three-year anniversary of the team retiring the name Reds. And so, you know, we're in the middle of July, and there is a ton going on, and I thought that it would be an interesting thing to bring on some people from Naga, which I was familiar with, not overly familiar with, but, you know, I knew about the group. I'd seen some of the stuff they'd had out there, so I said, all right, let me interview them and, you know, run the interview on July 13th. So that's what I did. It was episode 6109. I spoke with two people from the group.

one who is Native American. She was the first presiding president of Naga, Eunice Davidson, and then another person who is not Native American, but is a big fan of the team and is in charge of Naga's, like, social media operations, this guy, Tony Andrews. And, you know, I had him on for like 30 minutes, and we had what I thought was, you know, a good conversation. I mean, it was a nice, civil, you know, fact-oriented conversation.

I made sure to have Eunice acknowledged the opposing. view because I was like, look, you're Native American. You like the name Redskins, but what do you have to say to those Native Americans who hate the name? Because there are Native Americans who hate the name. How many, you know, I think is what is up for debate, but like there clearly are some. And so, you know, we acknowledge the other side. And they were good, you know, and they, since coming on my show, have launched this online petition to go back to the name Redskins that as of last check was at 92,000 signatures. Now, you know, I don't know if that's going to lead to anything, but I don't think that that's nothing. Like that

think that there is something to that. Another member of Naga, Bill Deekman, was on Fox News with Lawrence Jones over the weekend. So, you know, Naga is getting some attention. You know, I'm with you. Like, I think the likelihood of the name going back to Redskins is far-fetched, but I don't think that it's zero. Like, I think most people would have said, say, two months ago, it was zero. I think now it's, I would put it, you know, at less than 10%, but, like, I don't think it's completely inconceivable. I think it's really interesting. that at that FedEx Field Presser for the Josh Harris Group, all three of the owners who spoke, Harris, Mitchell, Rails, Magic Johnson, all said Redskins.

I thought it was interesting that the following Friday, July 28th, Ron Rivera, and a training camp presser when talking about Kevin Durant attending practice, referred to him as a Washington Redskins-slash-Commander fan. Like Ron could have said Commander's fan, could have said Washington fan. Ron actually made it a point to say Redskins fan. So this usage of the word recently by people with the team, I think it's notable. Does it mean anything? No, not necessarily.

But, you know, I don't think it's something that you just ignore. I also think this, if the word is so bad, how come these people using this word hasn't been like harpoon? Like, where's the out? Because it's not. Because for the majority we think, and maybe the significant majority, it's not. I think somebody else, like, and I'm forgetting who it is now, but somebody sent me somebody's tweet, and I think it may be a national media member. Could have been that guy Mike Freeman who wrote about this recently.

It's not the N-word people. Anybody that thinks that is stupid. Like, stop it. It is much more nuanced than that. there are still a dozen Native American majority high schools in this country that have redskins as their school nickname. Do you think there's one school in America that has the N-word as their school's nickname? Come on. Stop doing that. This is part of the problem is that when you're hyperbolic in your position, you become literally unbelievable.

Like you can't, you lose credibility. I don't know, I don't want to say it was Freeman if it wasn't Freeman. I know he wrote recently. No, I think it was Deadspin because I got sent that too. I think Deadspin wrote that. It's just not. That's not what it is. Take that out, okay?

The R word is not the N word. No one has ever, with any brain in their head, has ever suggested that the two are synonymous. They're not. One is highly debatable and the other one isn't. Now, the problem, of course, as you and I both know, because we've had these conversations together for years, is that there is a mic drop moment for those that, you know, hate the name and have always wanted it changed. And it is defined in some dictionaries as either insensitive or as a slur. And that may have been done, you know, inaccurately, or it could be accurate or could have been accurate and it's no longer accurate, which is, you know, again, what they should be working on.

But anyway, yeah, I, so prediction time. I think a year from now, they have already come to a decision to change the name to whatever they're going to change it to. My preference, if it's not Redskins, would be Washington, keep the brand Washington. And then they might need, you know, per the league, another year to become official, perhaps, I don't know. So maybe it's two more seasons as the commanders. I don't know how the logistics of that will work. That's my prediction. What's yours?

Well, I think the group is absolutely open to changing the name. I think that has been made crystal clear. If I bet, I'd say the name does change. But I always come back to this. If you're not going back to Redskins, I don't think that there's some other name that you can go to that's going to generate some like universal approval. And while it might generate more approval than commanders,

I don't know that it's going to generate that much more. Like there just isn't a magic bullet for all of this. there never has been, there never will be. Like, the most unifying name change would be to go back to Redskins. But as we've talked about, that probably isn't going to happen. But, again, I wouldn't say never. I also would say this, too, and I think that this more and more is being understood by people. The name didn't change because of, like, incessant protests or, like, overwhelming feeling

from people in this country that the name needed to change. The name changed because of the ownership view. The name changed because Brett Smith played the ultimate Trump car. on Dan Snyder and took advantage of the social climate in the summer of 2020. Fred Smith didn't all of a sudden find religion on the name and say, oh, yeah, it's such a terrible name that needs to change. Like Fred Smith delivered one of the lowest blows you could ever deliver, and Dan was, in essence, backed into a corner and forced to capitulate.

But it didn't change. You know, Magic Johnson, when he was on the Today Show with Craig Melvin, Craig Melvin, who's a commander's band, talked about, well, the name changed a few years ago off all these protests, and I was watching that. I said, no, that's not why the name change. You may think that the name needed to change, and that's fine. I think reasonable people can disagree on this. But the actual reason the name changed was because of the ownership situation,

not because of this overwhelming pressure to change the name. And I think it's important to keep that in mind. And more specifically, it was Dan essentially stiffing his minority shareholders on dividend payments that got them to start to look at the books, and then all of a sudden they had had it. I mean, they were already well on their way to, you know, wanting out. from Dan to either, you know, buy him out or get bought out. But Fred Smith 100% used that summer of 2020 and that social climate to, you know, to feel comfortable coming out with the statement that he did, which was change the name or FedEx is out. And then PepsiCo Bank of America, others

followed because it was very acceptable in the moment to do that. But you're right. It wasn't about this very progressive and very, by the way, smaller movement compared to those that actually wanted the name, but very loud for many years that pushed this agenda. It was, they had gotten past that really in 2016, to be honest with you. The Washington Post poll, which really was the slam dunk for the team and all of those that didn't want the name to change, 90%. nine out of ten Native Americans polled, not, you know, people polled, just overall people from every race, religion, and color.

Every single person in that poll was a Native American, and it was nine out of ten, said, no problem with it whatsoever. And that had pretty much shut down the debate. By the way, you know, this Twitter account, Native American Guardians Association, at Guardians Native on Twitter, when they post a new updated. total, if it matches up with an all-time favorite redskin jersey number, they put that jersey number. I mentioned when they hit 65,000, they had Dave Butts. When they hit 72,000, they had Dexter Manly. Well, you said that they're almost at 92,000. I think they should go

with Albert Hainsworth at 92. I mean, like I'm thinking about it. Who else? Like the number 92s, what other 92? I can't even think of another 92 other than Haynesworth. Um, was Chris Baker 92? Chris Baker? Yeah. Chris Baker was 92. Yes. So maybe you go with big swag. Oh, but you know, you can't go with Chris Baker. Um, that would be funny, though, if they put Big Al up there, especially recently with

what he said about, uh, our boy Cooney and Dee Hall and Clinton. I had Clinton on the show the other day. Clinton didn't really want to get into it at all, but, you know, you talk to any of those players from that era. they all have real opinions about Albert, and they're not favorable other than to say, oh, my God, what a freak of nature athlete he was, and could have been a great player.

Well, the best story coolly ever told me about Haynesworth was how they were in the gym, and Haynesworth was working out with, like, 40-pound dumbbells. Like putting forth, like, the least amount of effort possible, given, like, who he was and what he was capable of doing. And that in a nutshell was Albert Haynes with, yeah, him calling any former Redskins player trash is like, that's one of the funniest things I've ever seen him actually doing that. He actually, he described himself in that diatribe. It was himself and he didn't even know it. But every one of his teammates was saying, yep, that's exactly what you were.

All right. Thanks for doing this as always. I hope everything is well. Al's the best, his podcast, the Al-Galdi podcast, get it wherever you get a podcast. Nat's chat podcast with Mark is excellent, and you can follow him on Twitter at Al-Galdi. Did I forget anything? No, I think you got it all. So thank you. I will talk to you soon. Al-Galdi, everybody.

One last thing to finish up with when we come back, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This last segment of the show brought to you by our good friends at Shelley's Back Room, 1331 F Street Northwest. Go to Shelly's if you're looking for the best cigar bar in town. But go to Shelly's too if you're looking for something really good on a lunch or a dinner menu. They've got really good food. And I've mentioned this before, but if, you know, the real smoky cigar bar bothers you, don't worry about it. That's not what Shelly's is.

They've got great ventilation in that place. And it's a really nice spot and a nice part of town to walk in. and if you're by yourself, you're going to see somebody there. You're going to have conversations with people if you want it. There's always an interesting group in there, a very eclectic group at Shelly's. Sometimes Tom as well, in addition to those that are truly eclectic. But it's a great spot for a cigar, for a glass of wine, for a good cocktail, for a good beer. They've got a great beer menu.

Go to Shelley's backroom, 1331. F Street Northwest. So, Jehan Dotson, I asked him the other night about, give me a player that you guys are excited about that maybe we're not thinking about that you think is going to make a significant contribution this year. Here's what he said. I think number two, Diami Brown,

I think he's going to have a big contribution to our team. He's a great piece for our room, a guy who can really stretch the field and get the ball down the field. And he has that great connections from college with Sam. I feel like he's going to have a big year. Diami Brown, not a surprise that Jahan Dotson would mention him. I think when Sam Hal got the QB1 label slapped on him, I think we all kind of connected the dots and said this should be a good thing for Diommy Brown.

They were teammates at North Carolina. But an interesting thing about Diommy Brown, this was a Scott Turner push. Scott Turner loved a few receivers in 2021, and they were going to draft a receiver in that. either on night one or night two. Now night one, they went with Jamon Davis instead of Elijah Moore or Cadarious Tony. I don't know where Tony was. I know that Scott Turner loved Elijah Moore, who you saw the other night with Cleveland. It did not work out for him with the Jets.

He was picked early in the second round of that 20-21 draft. So early on night two. I remember before night two throwing out Diami Brown and Elijah Moore's names because I knew that Scott Turner like both of them. Now, I didn't know if Scott Turner would get his way. They picked, remember, Sam Cosmy in the second round, and then they picked Benjamin St. Juice with the first of two third round picks, and then they picked Diami Brown.

Scott Turner was super excited about Diami Brown. He really thought that Diommy Brown not only was a great speed guy, but had size and was really good as a contested catch guy. And he really liked Diami Brown and thought, you know, with Fitzpatrick, if Ryan Fitzpatrick was the receiver, you know, this is a guy that Fitzpatrick's going to give a lot of chances to. And maybe if Fitzpatrick had been the quarterback in 2021, it would have been better for Diami Brown. Diami Brown in his two seasons has 17 catches and two touchdowns. And both of those touchdowns, right, I think, were in the same game against Tennessee with Carson Wentz last year. but Diami Brown is also an example of and this is I want to make sure that I give Ron Rivera and the current group there a lot of credit for some of the players that are on this roster.

I mean the drafting of Cameron Curl in 2020, the drafting of Antonio Gibson in 2020, the selection of Derek Forst in 2021, John Bates, maybe Diami Brown, Benjamin St. Sam Cosmi. Like, they've done a pretty good job. But the best players on this roster, unless Jahan Dotson develops into one right away, which I think is coming, were picked by the previous regime. You know, Jay Gruden,

Kyle Smith, to a much lesser degree, Bruce Allen. I don't know. John Allen was somebody that Bruce Allen, I think fell in love with. I think they all fell in love with Duran Payne. But now, if Di Ami

Brown turns into something. He's also kind of not a previous regime, but a previous employee. He really pushed for him. I don't know what Diami Brown's going to be here in Washington. I do think their receiver situation is interesting. It's Terry, Jehan and Curtis is your top three. I think Diomi clearly is four. But, you know, it's possible that in a lot of their three wide receiver sets, or even their three-by-ones, you'll have Brown, Dotson, and McClorn with dots and working kind of the slot with either size in the form of a tight end like Cole Turner or Logan Thomas or maybe even somebody like Antonio Gibson. So but who comes after Diommy Brown?

Pringle had a catch the other night. Camp had a catch that was actually challenged and overturned. Dax Milne's interesting. Dax Milne, Ben Standig says is having a great camp. but, you know, Kaz Allen may be the guy that they really want to be the returner that may make him expendable. Somebody suggested to me today on radio, why don't they trade a receiver or a DB for an offensive lineman? They do have some depth at wide receiver and in the secondary. They really do.

I guess it's possible that they could add, you know, an offensive lineman if somebody's got, you know, a surplus of offensive lineman. Anyway, a couple of pieces of news, by the way. Dalvin Cook signs a one-year deal with the New York Jets, all right? That according to Adam Schaefter, a deal worth up to $8.6 million. Zeke Elliott signs a one-year deal, according to Schaefter, with the New England Patriots, $3 million base salary, up to $6 million, if you count the incentives in that deal. then the Cowboys did get Zach Martin's contract finally figured out. So the all pro guard has a deal that's going to pay him $18 million plus for each of the next two years, fully

guaranteed. I think he was scheduled to make $14 million this year, something like that. Hell of a player there. So Dallas is not going to get Zeke Elliott back, but they are going to have Zach Martin as part of that offensive. line. By the way, the AP college football top 25 rankings are out. The AP, Maryland didn't even get a vote. I'm surprised at that. They got 10 votes in the coaches poll, which came out last week, but Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Bama, LSU are your top five. It's going to be an interesting college football season. And the last college football season, as we've known college football, with the leagues looking completely different.

And then, of course, the playoff expansion starting in the 2024 season. All right, that's it for the day back tomorrow.