The Kevin Sheehan Show - O.J. + Draft Two Weeks Away

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

Kevin and Thom today opened with the passing of O.J. Simpson. Next up was Commanders' QB talk with Kevin feeling like there is some scant evidence out there that would lead him to believe that Jayden Daniels will be the pick two weeks from tonight. The boys finished up with a response to Jared Goff's criticism of the Detroit sports media and why Kentucky can't hire a coach to replace John Calipari. 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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Windonation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. Mentioned my name for a free, no obligation.

Quote, Wind Donation's offering, buy-to-get-to-free right now with no payments and no interest for two full years. 86690 Nation, windonation.com. Mention my name. They will take really good care of you. Tommy and I are doing the podcast just a couple of hours after the news broke

that OJ Simpson passed away at the age of 76. We will hit that here in the opening segment. We've got a lot of football. We've got a lot of other things to get to on this show as well. But I wanted to mention to you because Tommy, Tommy just, we were going over Tom's very, very complicated schedule because he's got so much international travel. And I just wanted to make sure that I had it all down.

And Tommy said, I'm back on May 4th from Ireland. And I said, all right, well, then you can do that Tuesday, May 7th. And he said, no, I don't think I'm going to be able to do that May 7th. So probably give me May 7th off. And he said, but I could do the 8th instead, the Wednesday, which we've done before when you haven't been able to do Tuesdays. And I said, all right, that makes sense. And then something just came up where I said, well, oh, oh, I said, Monday night is your cigars and kerp balls auction at Shelly's. That's why you can't do May 7th.

And I said, why didn't you just tell me when you were saying, I can't do the seventh, but I'm back on the fourth, that it was going to be a late night the night before, and you weren't going to be able to do the following day. Of course, I'll be doing the following day, and I'll be doing radio as well, but that's beside the point. And you just said, I don't know why you didn't know that that was the answer. And I sense because in my phone I have it for May 13th. I put it in on the wrong Monday. And I am... What did I say? You said, you got to get it together.

You're a mess right now. And I said... Actually, what I said is, how did you manage to get this far? Something to that effect, yes. And I said, my wife has actually said that to me recently as well. I'm not... I'm pretty organized typically as a person, but I don't know. I'm out of it these days. Do you know this morning, May 6th, by the way,

I will be there at Shelley's for the Cigars and Curveballs. Auction, can't wait for that night. Monday night, May 6th, not Monday night, May 13th. I just put it into the wrong Monday night into my phone. But this morning... As we're talking about that, let me just briefly say that Nationals manager Davey Martinez is expected to be there. Awesome. Let me see. Former NFL players, Ken Harvey and John Booty, are expected to be there. You're obviously going to be there. The great Doc Walker is going to be there. Andy Paulin will be there. And there may be others. There's at Lane Thomas, National Foutfielders, says he's coming. That's a good crowd. What about Rizzo? Is Mike Rizzo coming? He's never missed one.

He says he is. You know, but I don't want to. put them down for a commitment yet. Right. Okay. Well, it's a big, it's a star-studded event. I mean, there's no doubt about that. But what I was going to say to you is one of the reasons I'm just out of it today in particular is, my God, the pollen is so awful

the last couple of days. Anybody can look, you know, at their car and see how it's, you know, all the green stuff. Tommy, right before I went on this morning on radio, 10 a.m. was the time that the show starts, and it's not like we can just start at any time we want and say around 10 a.m. It starts at 10 a.m. It starts at 10 a.m. every day live. And at about 9.50, I started sneezing, and I sneezed 12 straight times. I lost count, but I'm guessing around 12 times for about a five-minute period. I couldn't even breathe at the time. that I was done. And when I got on this morning, I was pretty sure I sounded like a different human being. But I started to talk about, and I got several people that tweeted me on this,

I take Allegra, you know, which is one of those allergy medications, and it's a 24-hour allergy medication. You take it once a day, and it's supposed to, you know, alleviate the symptoms of runny nose and sneezing and all of that stuff. I don't think any of that stuff works. The hardcore stuff like Benadryl, that works. If you tell, and there's a difference in the two. One is like, I think it has, one of them is a decongestant, and the other is more of an antihistamine, I think, are the differences.

Well, those... Yeah, that's the Benadryl is the antihistamine. Oh, I think that's the decongestant, no? No. Are you sure about that? Am I sure about that? Would I stake my medical degree on it? Yeah. No, but I'm fairly certain.

Okay, I'll go with you on that. That's the antihistamine and the others are the decongestants. Yes. Actually, I think that Benadryl is a combined antihistamine and decongestant, and I think it's the decongestine. So everybody's right. Look at that. No, but the other ones are just antihistamines.

They're not decongestants. and the decongestant part of it, I may be completely off on this, is the part that really works. And it's also the part, I mean, for me anyway, that makes me incredibly kind of sleepy. It's a great feeling, Benadryl. But it's really, I think Benadryl is more for acute symptoms,

whereas the others are more supposed to be, preventative of the systems, of the symptoms, excuse me? I don't think the preventative stuff works. I think the hardcore heroin benedril works. That's what works for me. But the last time I took a benedril before I went on the air, I had a struggle speaking English words for three hours. So I decided not to take the Benadryl before the radio show. And I didn't take it actually before the podcast either. Listen, Benadryl is definitely an antihistamine. You can take it if you have a rash or an it.

Right. As well. Yeah. That's not a decongestion. That's an antihistamine. Right. But there's something in Benadryl that's not in Allegra or any of the 24-hour allergy medications.

Okay, well, I, you know, when we first moved from Pennsylvania to Maryland back in the mid-80s, after the first couple years, I never had allergies before. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. And there were a couple of years where I would get sinus infections that would be 102 fever and would sideline me for a week at a time. and it happened for a couple years before I stopped finally doing that. Now, I generally take some kind of allergy medicine, September, October, April, May.

So I'm taking one now. I also take this stuff during that time called Emergency. It's a powder. It's like a vitamin C, antioxidant powder that, that, you know, helps ward off the symptoms supposedly. It seems to work for me. And I do a nasal spray every day during this period. And I went for a walk this morning and I was okay.

Well, good for you. I used to do a lot more stuff and then I'm just like, I don't want to do this for all of what turns out to be maybe a two-week period. For me, it's the tree pollen. If you have that stuff in the fall, I think that's ragweed. in the fall, September, October. In the spring, it's, you know, grass, it's tree pollen followed by grass pollen.

The tree pollen is what's particularly awful in this area because we have so many trees. And the oak is the pollen. I'm pretty sure the oak is the pollen that ends up making your car like turn yellow, which is much more noticeable on a darker car than it is on a lighter car. and I have a darker car.

So it was very yellow this morning. But anyway, I feel great right now. I feel awesome right now. So let's do a show. O.J. Simpson passed away today at the age of 76. It's a big story, obviously, in not just the sports world, but in the world in general. Because, well, I don't know. I'll let you go first.

When you heard that O.J. passed away. What did you think of first? Well, the trial and the impact it had on this country, on society, on media, on culture. One of the most remarkable moments of the 90s, certainly, and maybe of the last 30 or 40 years. I mean, there were so much that you could draw from that trial as to what it happened, because, look, I still operate on the impression that OJ was guilty of killing his wife and Ron. Ronald Goldman, yeah. Ronald Goldman, the guy that was with him.

And I think a lot of consensus based on what we know about the information that was available, reasonable people would come to that conclusion. yet a jury found him innocent and that was that spoke volumes about so much including race including uh in that town LA

the uh the years of police corruption coming coming home to roost in that one particular trial right there where I mean there were people on that jury that were not going to believe the police and the defense managed to create this doubt about chain of evidence and things like that. The fact that the prosecutors were, you know, were minor leaguers who had a chance to play in a major league,

where OJ had a major league defense team, this all-star defense team of Johnny Cochran and Robert Shapiro. who was the other guy? He wasn't a lawyer, but his good friend Kardashian, which kind of launched the Kardashian fame. Yes, yes, it did. Yes, it did. And look, I think back to, like, there were so many mistakes that the prosecution made,

but the biggest one was not hiring their own hired gun in a big trial like this. And instead, using, and I'm a big fan of civil servants, but in this case, using civil servants. uh in a trial like this i can remember the mike tyson trial in indiana yeah the prosecution hired a private attorney high power private lawyer to actually prosecute the case for them in court okay because you know they kind of knew they'd be outmatched uh their their little uh county uh state's attorney's office there so there was so much going on in that

Everyone remembers where they were, when the verdict was read, everyone remembers where they were when the white Bronco chase took place when they were trying to catch O.J. It's a seminal moment in the 21st century America. Johnny Cochran, Robert Shapiro, Robert Kardashian, F. Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz, Barry Sheck, all part of OJ Simpson's dream team of lawyers. Barry Sheck, who went on to start, I think,

as some kind of project to free innocent prisoners based on DNA. His thing was DNA evidence. Right. And it was, I met Robert Shapiro once. He was a big boxing fan. I met him. Actually, he boxed, too, for, exercise as well.

And I didn't meet OJ, but I saw OJ in Perth. This is my OJ story. I'm at the Kentucky Derby a while back, and, you know, they have the workouts for the horses, like early in the morning, 7 in a morning, 7.30 in the morning. And if you're covering the derby, you've got to be there. That usually made for some rough nights because you probably didn't get to bed until 3 at the morning. drinking out on town in Louisville, and then you're up at seven, you know, at the stables,

watching the horses work out. Well, O.J. was there once with a group of people, including this young, blonde girl that he was with, and they have, like, he stands that you can stand on to get a better view of the horses working out. and his acquaintance was standing on this stand, and OJ decided it was time to go. They were leaving. So he said, come on, we're leaving. And she just ignored him.

And he said, come on, let's go. She just ignored him and kept watching. So then he screams. So everybody heard, get down now. Really? You've never told that story before. Really? Uh-uh.

I think I have. He had a quick temper. What year was this again? The derby, I covered the derby in the early 2000s for three years. Three straight derbies. I forget which one it was. So I saw that temper in action and in person. O.J. Simpson was my introduction to college football.

I got interested in college football when O.J. Simpson. was a star at USC. Yeah, of course. You know, those iconic games in the Rose Bowl and against UCLA and him winning the Heisman Trophy. I don't remember those games, but I certainly know of those games. I think I agree with everything you said. I'll try to add a little bit more to it.

You know, whenever OJ's name has been mentioned, I always think of that period in the 90s before I think of him as the football player. I mean, you know, you think of two horrific deaths and the tragedy that those two families had to endure. But, you know, it's that surreal period of the Bronco chase during the NBA finals and the days after that. and the, you know, leading up to the trial. And remember, that's a part of the 90s where we started to see trials televised all the time. And, you know, there were, you know, even before OJ, you know, you had the era of now people have cameras. They have accessibility to cameras to, you know, to videotape things like the Rodney King beating.

You know, that was a massive story a couple of years before OJ. You had, as you mentioned, the Tyson trial. You had the Kennedy rape trial. It was a Kennedy family member, but his last name, I think his last name was Smith, right? I think that's what it was. I'm forgetting his first name. It was up in Connecticut or New England someplace? I think so.

But anyway, I am old enough to remember OJ as a professional football player. I don't remember him as a college football player. introduced to him in college football through OJ Simpson in the late 60s when he was at USC. I remember in 72 when he was the first to rush for 2,000 yards. By the way, Larry Brown was the actual MVP of that season, Washington's Larry Brown. I remember him in the booth with Gifford and with CoSell on Monday Night Football. I remember movies he was in. Capricorn One. I can remember that movie, everybody went to it because O.J. Simpson was in it. But what I wanted to ask you, so I agree with you, it's the first thing I thought of was two people murdered. I believe that O.J.

was responsible for those murders. He was obviously acquitted of those charges in a criminal trial, but found liable in a civil trial. But yeah, there was a lot of what you described, you know, the conduct of the LAPD and that trial. kind of bringing it home to Roost. A lot of that was going on. Man, did it divide America in the moment? But I also think of O.J. And maybe I'm wrong about this,

and you will tell me that somebody prior to him fits this description. But OJ was kind of the first crossover advertising, marketing sports superstar. He was just as popular with white consumers as he was with black consumers. And they called that sort of crossover appeal back then. And OJ was definitely at the top of the list for that era. I don't know if anybody other than maybe Arnold Palmer or somebody like that had more commercials, did more commercials,

and was more marketable than O.J. Simpson. Am I right? Or did somebody have that kind of crossover appeal prior to O.J.? No, I think you're right. Look, at O.J. Simpson was the Hurt spokesman running through the airport. Of course. You know, when they rent the car, I mean, that was a big advertising campaign, and he was the face of it.

Yeah. So, yeah, he was a huge salesman at the time. And I don't recall any black athletes before that having that kind of impact. Because he had a huge impact in so many ways, you know, and commercially acting. He was in a film once with Elizabeth Montgomery came out in 1977. Bewitched. And, yeah, from Bewitched. And he kissed her on screen, which was a big deal back then.

You know, that was a big console. he represented so many landmarks for black people in this country. But I don't think that was his goal. He wasn't an activist. No. But he, I mean, again, like I think of Ali, polarizing, other famous black athletes of the day, because they were such activists, that by almost extension, made them polarizing for the day.

O.J. Simpson wasn't. Like, he wasn't threatening to anybody. And he was easily, which is ironic, right? I mean, is that nobody, everybody loved O.J. It didn't matter what, you know, what you work, you know, color, religion. It didn't matter. God, I'm looking through right now. I mean, he was the most marketable person almost in the 70s.

I mean, the Hertz deal for sure. Advertising age, Simpson was so important to Hertz that company CEO Frank Olson personally negotiated his contract, and Hertz used him as an unusually long time for a celebrity endorser well after his career ended. Now, we saw that become with Jordan, with golfers like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicholas, with Tiger Woods, you know, become more the norm. But a lot of those athletes, once they were retired, they weren't used by advertisers anymore. But he killed two people. Yes. See, that's why when people mention, and you'll see a lot, you'll see that word polarizing used about OJC,

Simpson in descriptions today, but I think you're accurate. He wasn't polarizing until he killed two people. Right. Then he became polarizing. But there's nothing polarizing about killing two people. Right. Okay? In the seven... To me,

that's not an either, either you're on this side or you're on that side. I hear what you're saying, but but he was acquitted in the criminal. trial. So that's where if you want to say it gets complicated, it doesn't for me, but if you want to say it gets complicated, that's where it gets complicated. But I want to go back to, you know, that he wasn't polarizing. And I want to make sure that I explain this the right way, and you can add to it. In the 1970s, and I'm a child of the 70s, but I know this is black athletes, black

entertainers were not endorseable if they were controversial. And OJ was the first, for me, that I remember that came around that wasn't controversial at all, wasn't polarizing, wasn't threatening in any way to people's political beliefs or people's racial beliefs. Like, that's what made him work. Obviously, he doesn't get to that point without being an all-time great running back. which, by the way, we haven't even talked about, he is. He's one of the greatest running backs in the history of the game.

But he was just, there was nothing about him that was unlikable until he killed two people. Yes, a comparable. Jim Brown was a movie star long before O.J. Simpson was. Right. Okay, Jim Brown was in the dirty dozen. He was in a movie called A Hundred Rifles. He was in a lot of movies. Okay?

Jim Brown was never marketable as a spokesman. Because he was an activist. He was such an activist. Yes. Yes. But he, but he, before OJ became a movie star, Jim Brown, was an athlete who crossed over into films. Right. But it never trained.

He never came into your living room selling deodorant, particularly in the 70s. You know, but yeah, because he was an activist. Yeah. And O.J. was more of the Michael Jordan school, or Michael Jordan was more of the OJ school, however you want to say it, where OJ figured, you know, Republicans by sneakers too. Right, exactly.

Yeah. he's six years old. I didn't know he was sick. I mean, I don't really pay attention much to OJ. I know a lot of people that said that on Twitter he was an entertaining follow for many years, but I had no idea that he was sick. His family let everybody know that he passed away of cancer and had been suffering or had been dealing with cancer for a while. But I mean... Now, you know, it's interesting. What? If you look at the first, and I remember this, OJ, when he first came out of college, was kind of considered a bust. He was? At my bust. Really? In 69, his first year, he only ran for 697 yards.

With the bills? In 13 games. In the NFL. Yeah. Tommy, who was he drafted by in the NFL? I don't know. Well, this was after the merger. So the Buffalo was in...

Oh, that's the first year of the merge draft, even though technically the merger didn't start division-wise until 70. Right. Okay. Got it. So he only had 697 yards in 13 games, his first year. He was hurt his second year, missed about six games. So he had 488 yards.

And at his third year, in 14 games, 740,000. yards rushing. This is not superstar status. This is a good production status, but not Heisman trophy kind of status. Then he took off. The next year, 1251 yards rushing. Wait, wait. 70, hold on. Oh, oh, right, right, right, right, right, right, right. I said that incorrectly earlier. The 2000 yard season was 73, not

72. Right. And it happened, 72, 151, right, Tommy, final game of the year? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Then he had, after 2,000 yards, he had 1125. Then he had 1817 and then 15003. So from 72 through 76 were his peak years. But initially, he was not considered a huge success, considering the hype he had coming out of college. Yeah. Interesting. I didn't know that. I don't remember that those years at all. But I do, I remember his running style. Now, I bet you Gail Sairs was kind of considered in the same way. And Barry Sanders, much later on. But he was not Jim Brown. He was a finesse runner. He was a make you miss. He was a stop on a dime, turn the other

direction, kind of a runner with big time speed too. But, he was spectacular as a football player. He really was for those years after the start of his career. His Buffalo teams were good. They were playoff teams many of those years, but they were in the era of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Miami Dolphins and the Oakland Raiders in the AFC, and that was a dominant period in the AFC by those three teams.

And his team, I'm going to say, I'm going to look this up, I'm going to say he was in the playoffs at least three times with the electric company, the offensive line. Joe Ferguson was the quarterback. But I don't think they ever won a playoff game with OJ Simpson. I don't think they did. Man, you talk about a stacked conference in the 70s. The Dolphins winning those Super Bowls, the Steelers following it up, the Raiders were great. They only won one Super Bowl during that stretch in the 70s.

but they were always one of the great teams. So OJ in the play, oh, we only played one playoff game? Interesting. I thought it was more than that. 1974, he played in the postseason, and it was against Pittsburgh. They got beat 32 to 14 in three rivers. That would have been the Steelers,

that was the Steelers first Super Bowl, right? No, 75 was. Seventy-four would have been a Dolphins playoff, I think, season. So, okay. Did we cover the football and the other part? I think so. I don't think we heard anybody in the production of this as part of the podcast. I don't think anyone was injured.

I don't think anybody got hurt. No. All right, we'll get to football here in a moment. But first, let me tell you about my prize picks for tonight. First of all, prize picks, the place to go to for Daily Fantasy Sports. Download the Prize Picks app today. Use my code Sheehan for a first deposit match of up to $100. But it's the best and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports these days.

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This segment of the show is brought to you by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. If you want to bet the Masters, they've got stuff all day long, before tomorrow's round, the weekend rounds, lots of head-to-heads, lots of prop bets. Next week, the NBA playoffs get underway. Caps tonight in a big one against Buffalo. My bookie's got everything you need.

for your sports betting requirements. And the numbers are fair, the pricing's fair, you get paid, and you'll get a cash bonus if you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. You've got to use it exactly that way, Kevin D.C., and you'll get a cash bonus on your initial deposit. MyBooky.ag promo code, Kevin, DC. So two weeks from tonight, Tommy, the NFL draft, a very anticipated NFL draft.

And I have become, I think at least slightly influenced by some stories the last couple of days, including one this morning, including something John Kime wrote this morning, which we'll get to in a moment. But I think I've got a feeling, a slight feeling now that Washington's going to select Jaden Daniels, that he's going to be the pick at number two. And the things that are making me think this more so today than recently, it has nothing to do with the fact that that's my preference, nothing to do with it. It's Adam Schaefter, number one, Tommy. He doubled or tripled down the other day.

Again, he is essentially saying Washington's taking Jaden Daniels and the draft begins at number three when New England is on the clock after Caleb Williams goes one and Jaden Daniels goes two. Hearing Adam Schaefter, you know, be that adamant, be that insistent that Washington's going to take Daniels, even though, you know, he's hedged a little bit saying he's not reporting it. But, you know, I also thought about the fact that, you know, who does Adam Schaefter coaching family know better than anybody? The Shanahan's. Covered Mike in Denver, wrote Mike's book, close with Mike, close with Mike, close with Kyle. Adam Peters, a product of, you know, Shanahan and the Shanahan influenced 49ers. So that's number one as to why I'm starting to think that Jaden Daniels is a pretty good bet now.

I would not wager on it, by the way, because I just think that there's still a lot to be figured out. But if you forced me to do it, I would say Jaden Daniels. The second thing is this. and somebody on radio this morning, a caller suggested that I'm in my own Jaden Daniels bubble. I don't think that that's it at all. I read a lot, I watch a lot, and right now, Jaden Daniels appears to be for most the number two quarterback in this draft. It's not just that you see him mocked it to more than Drake May or J.J. McCarthy. many of the respected evaluators, you know, the people that have done this for a long time,

the people who are hired to do it, not the guys who have played Madden for a bunch of years and are doing it on substack. Okay, I'm not paying attention to those people. But the people that are respected draft evaluators, the back of the envelope accounting of this is that Jaden Daniels is the number two quarterback, according to, most of them, not all of them, but the majority of them. Like in the athletic this morning, Ben had a really good story. He interviewed 17 different sources on the condition of anonymity.

They ranged from active GMs to former GMs to active position coaches, scouts, former players turned analysts to a couple of them quarterbacks to kind of rank the top guys, Tommy. And Caleb Williams was clearly the number one guy. And of the 17, you know, sources for Ben, 14 of them picked Caleb Williams as number one. And then Daniels was clearly the number two, way ahead of Drake May, who was barely the number three over J.J. McCarthy. Daniels got the other three first place votes.

Yesterday in Kuyper's mock draft, Kiper had Daniels to Washington at two and said, I'm sticking with Daniels, and I have him ranked higher than Drake May and J.J. McCarthy. This morning, ESPN.com did a story titled, 2024 NFL draft, latest buzz, questions on all 32 teams' picks, and Kime, John Kime, answered the question, did the commanders have an early lean on which quarterback they'd want to take at number two? and he wrote, the commanders have been tight-lipped, so it's hard to say if they have a true lean.

But what is clear is that most of the coaches I've spoken with, as well as ex-coaches who still study prospects, say it should be LSU's Jaden Daniels, and none have said North Carolina's Drake May should be picked over him. He also wrote perhaps one clue, Coach Dan Quinn. said, among other things, he wants somebody who can handle when coverages change post snap, and he said Daniels processes things quickly, and that's in addition to his ability to make the big plays with his legs. Matt Miller from ESPN this morning wrote, it's widely accepted at this point that the commanders will draft a QB at two. When I asked a dozen NFL scouts and executives about the selection, I kept hearing

that Daniels is the most likely. pick. So for me, Schaefter, doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on Daniels. And then what's become obvious to me is that Daniels is the number two quarterback in this draft for most of the people, not all of them, but most of the people that do this for a living, then by extension, I'm going to assume that with Adam Peters and Dan Quinn and a professional competent front office, that they'll agree with a lot of the people who have Daniels number two, and they'll select Daniels number two two weeks from tonight. That's where I am right now.

Are you anywhere on this? Well, I think, look, I think you're right to connect the first dots that you connected. I think if Schaefter is feeling that confident about Jane Daniels as a number two pick, I think it's probably, if he operates like most of us do, based on conversations he's had with people in the business who believe that as well. And his connections with the Shanns is part of the connecting the dots. So, yeah, I mean, Adam's commitment multiple times would indicate to me that, yes, that it is Jane Daniels. Now, can you put the caveat in that things can change? Can they change at this point?

Yeah. And they have visits coming up with these guys. You know? Daniel's in May back-to-back. And they've got, I think, McCarthy they're visiting with this week. When they have these visits, do they take them to see the Air and Space Museum and the monument, stuff like that? No, but they take them to Shelly's for a smoke and for a beer. and they apparently, that's their favorite part of the trip.

Well, that's good. Maybe I'll run into them then. So something could change. But I think you're right. I think it right now the smart money would be on Jayden Daniels. And I think it would be an upset if it was anyone else. Yeah, by the way, just to follow up on Tom, I didn't see the J.J. McCarthy part. But Daniels, May, and McCarthy, all three with top 30 visits.

with Washington next week. You know, I've heard conflicting information on the importance of the top 30 visits. I went on and on, I guess, last week, and I forget it was, if it was with you or not. I said, I think that this group is going to take it right through the top 30 visits. I mean, they may have a preference, but they're not going to make and come to a conclusion until after that because sometimes the top 30 visits are actually super important. You know, they get them into their building, which for the first time. They get them into, you know, one of the rooms with a whiteboard.

And they start, you know, they start, you know, finding out what they really know, even more so than they get together at the pro day or certainly at the combine. And I've had people say, and the reason I said that is I've had people tell me before that these top 30 visits sometimes are more revealing than anything that they do prior. and then I had somebody reach out to me to say, just so you know the top 30 visits are really for confirmation. They probably have a pretty good idea of what they want to do. And they do want to see what that guy's like inside their building,

and they can do things with them. But they spend a lot of time with them on the pro day. You know, they spend a lot of time with them sometimes the night before or the night after or the night of the pro day. and they get to know these guys really well. And at this point, they have talked to everybody that they need to talk to. They've talked to, you know, the coaches that have coached them, the trainers who have trained them, the friends, family members,

anything they've been involved in. They've talked to all of those people at this point. So I don't know, maybe that's why Schefter continues to get even more insistent. on this. I would love it, would love it if he got drafted at number two, but like I've said before, if they deem that May is more of the guy, then that'd be fine also. In Ben's story in the athletic, there were some really interesting quotes on all of these guys, but this was one of the quotes that really stood out to me about Jaden Daniels. This is an assistant NFL coach. Daniels is so good. He's so much better than May and McCarthy.

It's not even close. Daniels can play in the NFL right now. And then on Drake May, there were some positive quotes, but then there was this, which was the most memorable quote of Ben's entire story, from a personnel executive in the league. He scares the hell out of me. Longer thrower with a big arm, but not quick release. Nothing feels like it happens in rhythm.

and accuracy is average, needs a year on the bench. Others said very positive things about May. Like scout number one says May reminds me a lot of Herbert. Somebody else said his accuracy, you can't teach. This goes back to what I said last week. It's just amazing that a former GM, he's got accuracy you can't teach. And then a personnel exam, executive in the league. He scares the hell out of me. Longer

with a big arm, not a quick release, feels like nothing happens in rhythm, and accuracy is average. I mean, guys that do this for a living have massively different opinions on all of these quarterbacks. You know, the one that would scare me is panic. I mean, he could wind up being better than all of them. Oh, yeah. I love Pennex. I thought you were going to say because of the injuries or whatever. Well, but I think there's, I mean, that's one of the things that holds him back, or the injuries. But, I mean, he could wind up being the best of the bunch.

I don't think you could say that about Bo Nix, but I think you could say that about Penix. I think that's true. We've talked about this. I think Pennix Jr., for me, it would be Williams, Daniels, Pennix Jr. Those would be the top three. Here's what one assistant NFL coach said about Pennix. He finished fifth, by the way, just barely behind, no, distance behind McCarthy, who was barely behind May.

An assistant coach, Pennix is better now than May and McCarthy for NFL football. He can read defenses, throw accurately, is quick and has a strong enough arm. He's more of a sure thing to play in the NFL. But I'm not sure where he goes from here because he doesn't have the same upside. Yeah, I mean, people just have smart people, accomplished, experienced people have completely different opinions. You know, with that said, it does now, and I think this happened after the combine, or maybe during the combine, there is no doubt. and it's been this way for weeks now. No doubt who the number one quarterback in this draft class is heading into it,

and that's Caleb Williams. Like the quotes on Caleb Williams, there is, I know that there are some people, Orlovsky, Lewis Riddick, others that think that Jaden Daniels should be number one, but they're few and far between. Caleb Williams is the number one quarterback, and I think when people got comfortable at the combine, that he's not going to push for, you know,

something other than Chicago and whatever the personal concerns were, he's the number one guy in this draft, and he's the one that everybody feels, or the majority of people feel most confident, will be a good quarterback at the NFL level. I would agree. All right, we got more show to go.

We'll get to it right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, you know about Shelley's backroom being the host of the Cigars and Curve Balls fundraiser for the D.C. Grays on Monday, May 6th. And the owner, Bob Matarazzi is so generous, you know, offering that space to us, the Grays. And his generosity doesn't stop there. He also puts up for auction. You know, we have an auction of various items that night.

One of the items we're going to be auctioning off is a visit. to the sports, to the Kevin Sheen Show podcast with Kevin and me. You know? Right. So make sure. Can't wait.

You have to be there to bid on it. But the other thing Bob does, Bob always offers one of the humidor's that they have at Shelly at least for one year at one of the humidorers that they have at Shelly.

They've got over 200 humadors. They're a Shelly. And if you care about your cigars, and, you know, you think you're going to make Shelly's your second home. You don't want to be dragging your cigars down with you, and dragging them home and stuff. You want to keep them in a place where they'll stay fresh.

You know, I mean, you know, Shelley sells only the best cigars that you can buy. You want to keep them in a great location. You can find out more about leasing the human doors they have in both rooms. Shelly has two rooms, the main room, which we will be in this year for the first time, and a second room, and there's humodores on both sides. You can find out more about how to release those humidors by going to shelley's backroom.com. It's a first-class cigar bar. They don't skimp on anything, including a place for your cigars.

The best. Can't wait for Monday night, May 6th. I've been looking forward to Monday night, May 6th for a while now, and it's going to be a great night for, of course, a great cause. at Shelly's. So I sent this to Tommy before the show started today. Jared Goff, the quarterback for the Detroit Lions, was on a podcast with a former teammate of his Cal. Guy's name is Robbie McInerney.

And I'm just going to read to you what he said. I thought it would be a good thing for us to address here as Washington, D.C., local sports media members. Jared Goff on this podcast said, I probably need to drop this pretty soon here because I'm hopefully going to be in Detroit for a long time. But I have this thing with our local media where they almost like relish in negativity at times.

And maybe that's what gets clicks, maybe that's what sells, but it's no longer what they need to live in. Like, hey, guys, we've got a good team. We've had success. We can be happy about that. We can celebrate that and not have to write about how we're constantly the underdog. No, teams are going to be gunning for us now.

We won the division and all of that. I'm probably overthinking it in my head, and it's the chip on my shoulder and the competitor in me. Closed quote. So do you think that if Washington gets better here, this coming season like Detroit was last year? Do you think there's going to be a quarterback, a new quarterback in town who's going to say, hey, why is the media so negative? We're winning.

Oh, yeah, I think there will be. I mean, it's short-sighted human reaction. Again, I've always contended not everyone agrees that when you sign the contract and you put on the uniform, you put on the history that comes with it. and the bad. For the lions, that's mostly bad. Okay. They've been among the worst franchises. They haven't won an NFL championship since 1957. They've been a perennial loser. And you'll have to forgive the media and maybe the fan base if they're all a little bit skeptical or not willing to throw parades for Jared Goff.

I mean, plus, I have no impression that Detroit is a particular tough media town. You know, maybe it is. You have no impression, meaning you don't know. All right, right. Okay. I mean, the tough ones are Philly, New York, maybe Chicago, Boston. Yeah. And that's it.

Although people in Washington, look, we've gone through this with Washington, where people get up there and complain about, you know, the media, the fan base and stuff, as if what happened because they weren't part of what happened before. It doesn't count. I mean, it comes with the territory. I mean, and it's naive to think that, you know, people are just going to turn it on and be blissful after the years of suffering. There's a victimization that takes place here of a fan base if you suffer for decades and media as well.

Yeah, I think that if I had been someone who knew Jared Goff and knew how he felt about the local media's coverage of his team, I would have suggested that he not say it publicly. I mean, first of all, all due respect to the Lions season in 2023, which was a very good season. They got to the NFC championship game and nearly won it, but let's not break our arms, patting ourselves on the back for, you know, how great we are right now. It's one year. You know, it's one season, and they didn't bring home the Lombardi Trophy quite yet. But really what it's about is that I don't expect every player that comes. into an organization to know the organization's history.

But you should be somewhat aware if you're entering an organization like Detroit's or Washington's, just how bad they've been. You know, before you got there, just how long it's been since they've been relevant. I mean, they hadn't been in an NFC title game in over 30 years. The last one was against Washington in the 91 season. So, yeah, I think I would have, you know, suggested to him, you know, look, these fans, and this was more about the media, but this media has been covering a horrible organization for a long period of time. One decent season, a really good season, you know, it may take a little while. But there are people listening right now that are convinced that the Washington Sports Sports

media is the harshest, the toughest, the most cruel and the most negative of any city in America. It's just not true. It's not true at all. God forbid this particular franchise, if it had resided in Philadelphia over the last 25 years with Snyder. I mean, we talked about this many times. He would have needed three times the security that he had if he had been the Philadelphia Eagles owner for all of those years.

But I will say that I think if Washington has a turnaround like Detroit had last year, and you started to see it with Detroit at the end of 2022, because they almost made the playoffs at the end of 2022. But if we start to see that kind of turnaround, I mean, there will be people that will be hypersensitive to any criticism. But I actually think in this town, which I don't think is a tough media market, I don't think it's a soft media market. I don't think it's a soft media market when it comes to the football team. Don't get me wrong. But I think it will be hard to find negativity. I think people can't wait to.

It's not going to take a lot to please people, given what's happened here the last 25 years. Like, you know, a kind word at this point will make a lot of people happy. I think that there will be, I mean, other than the person that I'm talking to right now, I think there will be major positivity from the media. I do. I really do. I mean, I think our media will be fair. I hope I can be fair and talk about it in the way that it's happening.

I mean, right now I'm benefit of the doubt mode. Yes, you are. It's going to be, I mean, look, we all benefit. if they're good. I mean, there's no doubt about it. So I'm rooting for them to be good. If they're in the NFC championship game, that's good for all of us. Yeah. I can't imagine a lot of negativity if they get to the NFC championship game next year. Honestly. I mean, I don't know, maybe. You know, a funny thing. A couple of things. First of all, Dan Campbell is a very likable head coach.

Right. And I think that helps. that helps with the right message. So I don't know what Jared Kauf. Well, I don't know. Is the Ford family not likable to the fans? Because they still have the same owners that took them through all of these horrible years. Well, I think, I think, I don't know what the feelings are about the,

I can't imagine they're good about the Ford family ownership. But I imagine the Ford family's legacy in Detroit is a little bit complicated as it is in America. But what we know about Dan Quinn, he seems like a very likable guy as well as a face of the franchise. Very likable. So that may have an impact, you know, as well. But the ironic thing is here, Jared Goff saying this, if the Lions knew they could take Caleb Williams or Jane Daniels or maybe even J.J. McCarthy and not have Jared Gough as quarterback. They'd do it in a second. Well, I don't know about J.J. McCarthy, but...

Okay, well, the first two. In a second. Maybe. He's played awfully well the last couple of years in Detroit. I mean, awfully well. He's one step away from being Jared Gough. Tommy, Tommy, he's been an outstanding quarterback the last two years in Detroit. Relax. What do you mean, relax? Relax. He hasn't been an outstanding quarterback. He's played well. No, he's been an outstanding quarterback.

outstanding quarterback. Has he made the Pro Bowl the last two years? I don't know. Let's go to the videotape. I mean, I'll pull up the numbers. Yeah, I mean, he was the, he was a Pro Bowler in 2022. He was not a Pro Bowler, ironically, this past season. He was an AP, he was an All-Pro and a Pro Bowler in 22. And this past season, which was a better season for the team. In two seasons, he's got 59 touchdown passes and 19 interceptions, and he's thrown for over 9,000 yards. He's been outstanding, actually, the last two years. Now, I think Jared Goff is definitely a system quarterback, you know, and it's the perfect system for him

in Detroit. And Ben Johnson's done a great job of, you know, they've got weapons, they've got an offensive line. They've got a great supporting cast. I'm not saying you win because of Jared Goff, but you certainly can win with him if everything around him is good. And he's had 4,575 yardage just past year, 30 touchdowns 12 picks. The year before was 4,438 passing yards, 29 touchdowns, 7 picks. I mean, he's been in the upper echelon of quarterback statistically for two straight years. The bottom line, though, is, you know, when you're new to a town, he's been there for three seasons now, but that's still relatively new. It doesn't hurt to sort of figure out a little bit about the history of the team. But no, I think if Washington were to go to the NFC championship

game this year and lose like the way the Lions lost in a super close game, I think there'd be a lot of people that would be thrilled with it, and I think they would be fair. I'd love to. I'd love to know the column you're going to write about it. Anything else on Goff or this? No, no, that's okay. You know what? We'll do? We'll go to his Hall Fame induction together, you and me. Oh, Jesus.

Just admit, just admit that he is much better than you thought he was before I read off his statistics the last two seasons. It's okay. You can do it. You can do it. I think he's exactly who I thought he was. That's weak on your part. You had no idea that he had thrown for 59 touchdown passes and 9,000 plus yards in the last two seasons. You had no idea that he had been that good. How did he miss the Pro Bowl last year? How did that happen? Well, I guess there were, I'm trying to think of who the Pro Bowl or Pro Bowl quarterbacks were in the NFC.

There must have been a couple that were better than him. Dak Prescott was clearly, you know, a Pro Bowl quarterback. Brock Purdy was a Pro Bowl quarterback. Honestly, I don't know how he wasn't a Pro Bowl quarterback this year. Who else was a Pro Bowl quarterback this year? But just admit that you didn't know that he had had two years back-to-back like the ones that I described. Because if you knew that...

I watched Derek off to know he's exactly the quarterback that I think he is. He benefits from a system, and if you put a great quarterback in that system, then we're talking about the Lions as the defending Super Bowl champions. Okay. Well, I wouldn't disagree with that. I wouldn't disagree with that. But we'll still go to his Hall fame ceremony together. Sometimes, sometimes you really are the insufferable person that many people think you are.

And other times you're not. Other times you're just delightful. How about Kentucky? They can't hire a coach to replace John Kalapari. Everybody has turned them down. Scott Drew just turned him down today. Nate Oates at Alabama turned Kentucky down. Jay Wright's not coming out of retirement.

Danny Hurley, I do not think, is leaving Yukon. I mean, this is supposedly the blue blood of all blue bloods. it's weird the way college sports, college basketball has gone over the last decade where a lot of these jobs when they become available, fan bases think, well, we'll pick the coach we want and that person will just come. And they don't anymore. They don't. Like these other schools can pay the money, especially in the South and the SEC,

and the other schools are comfortable and have NIL budgets. Scott Drew's got a good situation. Either Baylor, Nate Oates has a great situation at Alabama. No one would say either one of those two schools is a better basketball school than Kentucky. But I don't know where they turn. I'd hire Billy Donovan. I'd try to get Donovan away from the NBA. But kind of strange that Kentucky's now out there where others have been, which is we thought we could just pick our next coach.

It doesn't look like it. Maybe they're afraid what happened to Kalapari will happen to them. Yeah, there's a part of that that's true. It's like, do I want to go work at a place where if I don't win the national championship within the first two years, I'll get fired? If I lose a first round game after winning nearly 28 games during the regular season to a guy that goes, you know, hits 10 threes in the first round, am I going to get fired? Yeah, I mean, the expectations at Alabama for Nate Oates are nowhere near what they are at Kentucky. Actually, I was thinking more about the video of Kalapari walking his dog in a baby carriage down the street. I mean, my God.

I didn't see that. How could you hire a coach with that kind of image? When did that happen? Pushing of baby carriage with a dog in it. Did that happen in Arkansas the last day? I don't know. I think it happened in Kentucky when he was home still a couple of days before he got hired at Arkansas. Oh.

You know, I see that. When I'm in Destin, I see that all the time. I see men pushing baby carriages with these little white dogs in them. And I'm so, I feel so bad for all of them. It's not very masculine. That's for sure. I'm looking at it right now. I just pulled it up.

I don't want my basketball coach. pushing a baby carriage with a little white dog in it. A little foo-fooy dog? Yeah. I mean, if you're going to take your dog for a walk, take your dog for a walk. Yeah. Put him on a leash. Let the dog get some exercise and have some fun.

Well, actually, I'm looking at it right now. He does have a carriage, but the dog is walking beside him. I don't see the dog in the carriage. But he's got the carriage there, I guess, if the dog gets tired, he can put the dog in the carriage. and wheel it back. I love walking my dog. So much fun.

I get to be by myself, and I don't have to talk to anybody when I walk my dog. Do you still go on your walks? Yeah, I just went on one this morning. You did? I did, yeah, because I knew it was going to rain this afternoon. I figured I'd get it in early, so I went for a morning walk. Are you calling old friends when you're out?

Or are you calling old friends as you go for your walk? I don't like to listen to music and just think. What was this? I put my headphones on, listen to music, and think about the next time I'm doing the podcast with Kevin Sheehan. What was on Tommy's playlist today on his walk? I don't know. I just do random select. I've got like 800 songs, and I pretty much like all of them.

So it's from your liked list? Yes. Yeah. It's from my playlist on my phone. Yeah. But I purchased from Apple over the years. Okay, so you're not a Spotify person. No, I'm not a Spotify, man.

And what were you saying about the Beach Boys? You were listening to the Beach Boys this morning? Well, one of the songs I remember listening to was Sail on Sailor, which is my favorite Beach Boys song, but it's not a Brian Wilson song, ironically. Who wrote it? Mike Love? I don't know who wrote it, but he, Mike, I don't even know if Brian Wilson, you can barely hear him if he's in it.

It was in The Departed. Martin Scorsese used it as part of the soundtrack of the Departed. It's my favorite Beach Boys song. So, yeah, I don't like to talk when I'm walking. I don't like to walk with anybody. I don't like to walk with anybody either, other than my dog. Without a stroller. I actually have listened to some Beach Boys recently, which is interesting.

I've listened to a lot of pet sounds recently, which is just Brian Wilson's masterpiece, Tommy, as you know. All right, we done for the day? I think we're done, boss. That's all I got. All right. I will either be back tomorrow with the show or on Saturday. It all depends on Chris Cooley. Cooley's done a couple of film breakdowns of the quarterbacks.

He's going to have those available to do on the podcast. I just don't know if he's going to be ready tomorrow or on Saturday. So until then, see you. The Detroit Lions have answered a lot of pressure situations in the last two weeks. And Mike, I have to say, Jared Gough has been on. Unbelievable.