The Kevin Sheehan Show - Path Cleared For Bieniemy

Episode Date: February 14, 2023

Kevin opened with the news that Todd Monken had been hired by Baltimore which would seem to enhance Washington's chances to hire Eric Bieniemy. Meantime, John Keim reported yesterday that Washington will also interview former Ravens OC Greg Roman. So where is this going? Al Galdi jumped on to discuss this with Kevin as well. Galdi also talked Ted Lerner, the Nats' current state regarding their sale, and more on the team including if Steven Strasburg will ever pitch again.  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. I will start the show with a review from Bonefish Flat who reviewed us via Apple Podcast. Gave us five stars. Thank you, Bone Fish Flat.

Don't forget to rate us and review us if you haven't done it, especially on Apple and Spotify. Bone Fish Flat writes, Love the Kevin Sheehan Show. Two requests. One, can you talk Nat's sale and Nat's a bit more? I'll get to the other part of his review, but let me just answer that one right now. Yes and yes, and we're doing it on today's show with my good friend Al Galdi.

Yeah, Galdi's going to be on the show today. I called him up after Ted Lerner's passing, asked him if you would come on today. If you missed Tommy at the end of the show, the news was breaking at the end of our recording yesterday, Tommy and I wait in on Ted Lerner. Tommy wrote a great column today in the Washington Times on Ted Lerner. But Galdi, who is one of the sharpest baseball voices in town, really he is. We'll get his thoughts on that. But of course, Galdi and I will start with some Washington commanders' news and discussion. Yeah, there's some news related to the commander's offensive coordinator search. I'm going to get to that here momentarily. But back to the back.

to Bonefish Flats review. He then writes, how about having Gary Braun on sometimes when you don't have a co-host? Would be great to get some of the old TK show regulars back on. That is so interesting, Bonefish Flat. I called Gary like three days ago. I have not talked to him in a long time. Gary and I are friends.

We just have not talked in a while. And I reached out to him three or four days ago, left a message. He's out of the country a lot on business, but I just reached out to say hello. We hadn't talked. It's probably been at least six months since we've talked. I love Gary and his wife, Kim. And it's always good to catch up with him.

It's very funny because Gary and I worked together not only on the Tony show for years, but Gary and I were John Riggins' Rigo's co-hosts on the John Riggins show in 2006, 2007 on the old triple X-E-SPN radio station, which was the first sort of for A into radio for Red Zebra, which was owned by Dan Snyder. And they put Rigo and I together, and Gary came in as well on that show. We had the best time on that show together and great memories from that show as well. And same goes for all of those years on the Tony show. I mean, Gary's been a regular on Tony's show forever since the beginning.

I think Gary was one of Tony's original producers on the Tony Kornheiser radio show. But Gary's great. It's funny about Gary and I. We've been friends professionally, personally. But I don't know that there's anybody that I used to get more feedback on with respect to the comment. Man, do you guys like each other? It was, Gary and I used to get that all the time because we would really, really jab at each other constantly as part of the Tony's show.

But, you know, it was honestly all in fun, always all in fun. Gary's a great guy. And yes, I'm going to reach out to him and we'll see, you know, if he'll, you know, he's very busy. Very important, too, just ask him. And we'll see if we can get him on the show. Please, rate us and review us if you haven't done that, especially on Apple and Spotify. Just as I'm about to start this show here recording it this morning comes the news that Todd Monkin, the Georgia, that would be National Championship Georgia Bulldogs, offensive coordinator, has taken the job as the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens, by the way, put out a statement that they had 21 interviews with.

with 14 different candidates for the position of offensive coordinator to replace Greg Roman, who John Kime reported yesterday will be interviewed by Washington this week. Remember when Ron Rivera and Martin Mayhew held the, you know, two to one run-to-pass ratio press conference at the end of the year, and it was very obvious that Greg Roman, more likely than not, was on his way out from Baltimore. And that's when I said, look, if you're really into the two-for-one, the two-to-one ratio on run-to-pass, back it up. Prove it to me. Hire Greg Roman, draft Anthony Richardson, and let's go all in on running the football. I mean, let's turn Anthony Richardson into the next

Lamar Jackson. By the way, with better receivers because the Ravens have never had good receivers. and let's get the architect of dual threat football in more places than anybody else has done it. Because Roman was in San Francisco with Alex Smith, but really more importantly with Colin Kaepernick in 2012, and then was with Tyrod Taylor and Buffalo, and then has been with, you know, Lamar Jackson in Baltimore for a while. Coolie's called Greg Roman, one of the great, you know, run game designers he's ever seen or been or. round. So Greg Roman, now why so late interviewing Greg Roman? What's been happening with Greg Roman? I don't know the answer to that specifically. I would guess that Greg Roman was hoping perhaps to get a head coaching job. But now that Arizona more likely than not is going to hire Gannon, the defensive

coordinator in Philadelphia, and the Cardinals have hired, I mean the Colts, excuse me, have hired Shane Stichen, the Eagles offensive coordinator, it looks like there's no opportunities left. There aren't any opportunities left. By the way, Stuyken officially hired by the Colts. Right now, the Gannon thing is not official as of now to the Cardinals. We'll see whether or not that happens. So both of the Eagles, both of Nick Siriani's coordinators appear on the verge. to being hired as potential head coaches. That may be the reason. Maybe Roman was just hoping that he got an opportunity to be a head coach

and maybe told Washington earlier, no, I'm not interested, but maybe he is now. But Eric B. Enemy is going to, you know, certainly be interviewed here this week. I think it will happen after the parade in Kansas City. But, you know, the Ravens were rumored to be, reported to be, the other team that was really interested in Biennesty. Well, they have their offensive coordinator now. So Eric Beenemy, the path to hiring him, it would appear is much easier and smoother for Washington

if they interview him and they like him and they offer him the gig. I mean, Bienemy, look, anybody that comes here to interview for a job, and I'm not talking because of the past history of the franchise of it being a total train wreck. I'm talking specifically right now about the ownership situation and Ron Rivera's future in the organization. If you're coming here to interview for any job, you're interviewing them as much as they're interviewing you. Now, I don't know what other choices Eric B. Enemy is going to have, but he does potentially have the choice of going back to Kansas. City, although I want to be clear on something. Eric Biennami's contract is up in Kansas City. Matt Nagy is on that staff. He was the offensive coordinator before becoming the head coach in Chicago,

and then Beenemy became the offensive coordinator. It's very possible, and I think would be telling in many ways. If Beenemy doesn't get an offensive coordinator position, because he's not going to get a head coaching position if Kansas City even hires him back. The B-enemy thing is very strange. I'm going to talk to Galdi about it as well. It's very strange. Here's a guy that's been a part of the most lethal offense for, you know, several years now working under, you know, a Hall of Fame coach for sure now and Andy Reid.

We talked about that yesterday, 11 and 13 after 2017 in postseason playing. Now 22 and 16 with two Super Bowl. He joins that list of 13 coaches that have won two or more now, and will likely with Patrick Mahomes, you know, reach the upper echelon of Super Bowl wins. Belichick's got six, Chuck Nulls got four, Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs each have three. Andy Reed, you know, is the only active coach with two. And there's only three active coaches actually with one, Tomlin, Pete Carroll, and Sean McVeigh.

You know, Andy Reid's headed for that. But the Beannamy situation, you know, let's not tip-y-toe around this issue. The fact that he hasn't gotten the head coaching job is, you know, there are lots of reasons that people come up with, and a lot of them inject race into the conversation, but there have been plenty of African-American black head coaches hired when Eric Bianami's been out there interviewing in some of those same places where black coaches ended up getting hired.

So, I mean, what happens if Washington interviews Bianemy and doesn't hire him? Now, Andy Reid was doing a huge job of really pushing Bianemy after the Super Bowl the other day, talking about how tremendous he is, and saying, quote, I'm hoping he's. he has an opportunity to go somewhere and do his thing where he can run the show and be Eric B. Enemy, closed quote. Some of the players talking about some of the adjustments, you know, in-game, leading up to the game, that were made by Eric B. Enemy. We'll see.

There's a reason, okay, that we don't know. I know that there's been some discussion out there that he's tough on his players. he's not super close with his players, that he doesn't interview well, all of that. But with Baltimore, not even interviewing Eric Bianmi, they requested an interview with Eric Bianami, but they did not even interview him. They have hired Todd Munkin instead.

So now it looks like it's Washington and Bianmi or Bianami either doesn't coach or goes back to Kansas City, maybe not even as the OC. That would be a really interesting situation for Andy Reed and the Chiefs. If they really want to elevate Matt Nagy back to his old spot as offensive coordinator, and Eric Bianami is not under contract right now, be interesting to see what happens there.

But if Washington interviews Bianmi and he's super impressive and they want to hire him, I mean, I don't know how much competition they have for him right now. It doesn't seem like a ton. The Greg Roman thing is really interesting to me. Roman made $3.5 million bucks in Baltimore last year. I don't know if Washington's looking to spend that much on an offensive coordinator. You know, and remember, again, let me emphasize, these guys should be interviewing Ron Rivera as much as Ron Rivera's interviewing them.

I mean, the number one question from a candidate has to be, what's the state of the ownership and how does that impact you? I'm going to be working for you. Are you going to be here? So a few more things before we get to Galdi. And I want to start with this. I want to start with this tweet from Tom. You can follow me on Twitter at Kevin Sheen, D.C., and you can tweet me that way.

Tom writes, Kevin, enough of Jalen Hertz winning the Super Bowl MVP. Tom was right. Patrick Mahomes was the best player and he was on the winning team. That's the way it works. So I know how it works, although I bet many of you actually don't know how it actually works. Because I didn't know this until last night when I looked it up. Do you know how the Super Bowl MVP is selected? Here's how it's selected. 16 hand-picked media members covering the game. cast an MVP ballot. That accounts for 80% of the vote weighted. And then the other 20% comes from the fans who can vote online at NFL.com.

Now, believe it or not, the votes are actually due in by the two-minute warning, although there is a lot of flexibility around that. If the game is really close, then they allow the media members who have been picked to select the MVP to wait until the winner of the game is clear and then their vote is due. I didn't actually, I thought it was a 100% media vote. I didn't realize that there's been a 20% fan vote for a while now, but that's how the voting actually works. Of course, an MVP from the losing team can be selected, but it's only happened once in the history of the league. And that was when Chuck Howley, as we discussed on yesterday's show, won it in a bad Super Bowl game,

but a close Super Bowl game, Super Bowl 5, when the Colts beat the Cowboys 16 to 13 on the last second field goal. And Chuck Halley had already been, because back then, I guess they required the votes, even in a close game. Got to have them in by the two-minute warning. And the voters had selected at that point, they had selected Chuck Halley to be the MVP. but I'm not coming off my view that, by the way, I think Tommy also agreed with me that Jalen Hertz was the best player in the game, but I think he agreed with you, Tom, that that's not the way it works. So I'm not coming off of Jalen Hertz being the best player on the field.

In fact, I'm more, I don't want to say more confident now because I was never going to come off this anyway. But I had Nick Ackridge from Pro Football Focus, a data, analyst for PFF on the radio show this morning. He's been on the show with us plenty of times on the podcast. Nick does a really good job, you know, in part because Nick, for us, does a good job because he's a huge Washington fan as well. So we end up kind of getting a PFF perspective and we did during the course of the year on Washington's players. But Nick told me this morning that Jalen Hertz was the highest rated player in the game with a 92.2 pf grade, and he was the highest rated quarterback they've ever had in a Super Bowl game, and was the highest rated PFF-graded quarterback for any game this year.

Now, you know, am I a PFF disciple? I'm not, but they've gotten a lot better over the years. Coolies kind of pointed that out to us in recent years. And I, you know, I really felt like Jalen Hertz on Sunday was the best player on the field and that he was exceptional in every way, shape, or form. He had the fumble, which was a key play in the game, for sure. But yeah, he was 92.2. Patrick Mahomes was the second highest graded player at an 89.5. He was exceptional, too, in that game. But anyway, What was interesting about Jalen Hertz's PFF grade is the passing portion of his grade was a 92.9, which meant the rushing part of his grade was a little bit lower,

that actually lowered the overall grade to 92.2. And he set the NFL Super Bowl record for rushing yards in a game by a quarterback. Yeah, Jalen Hertz was spectacular in the game Sunday. He really, really was. in my opinion, and I guess in PFF's opinion as well. So the season is now officially over with Super Bowl 57 in the books, and it being February 14th, what are we? We're roughly seven months away from the 2023 season beginning.

In fact, the 2023 season will open up on Thursday night, September 7th, at Arrowhead Stadium, where the defending champion chiefs will play the first game of the year. And I was looking at their schedule for next year, their opponents for next year. My God, does the NFL have a lot to choose from for that first game of 2023, that Thursday night season opener. Last year it was the Rams and Bills. Really good Thursday night opener on paper anyway. I mean, turns out the Rams were awful and had Matt Stafford injured for much.

of the year. But the Chiefs next year on Thursday night, September 7th, will open up at home, and I was looking through their home slate. It's unbelievable. In addition to the division teams that they have, the Chargers are a possibility with Justin Herbert. The Broncos with Sean Peyton, that would be an interesting opener. The Raiders, especially if Aaron Rogers ends up in Vegas reuniting with Devante Adams, I think that would be the lock. Like, I think if Rogers ended up in Vegas, Raiders chiefs book it at Arrowhead for the opening game of the year. But listen to their other home games next year. They play the Eagles at home next year. You could get a rematch of the Super Bowl in the season opener next year. Now, that's only happened one time

previously. It was Carolina against Denver. And that was Denver, remember, after beating Carolina in the Super Bowl, not having Peyton Manning. He retired after that. So it was a whole new Denver team, and they had the Panthers in, and they beat the Panthers, 21 to 20, to open up that season. That's the only time we've seen a rematch of the Super Bowl in the very first game the following year. Philadelphia is on Kansas City's schedule at Arrowhead. So I'm sure NBC would love to have that as the season opener. My guess is, though, if I remember how the NFL schedule,

schedule works. There are CBS and Fox are, I think, the highest paying of the networks, of the NFL networks, and they get to protect certain games. And I don't know if Fox or CBS would have that game, but I would bet that number one on the list of protected games for Fox or CBS would be Philadelphia at Kansas City. They're going to want that game in a 425 spot on a Sunday afternoon in, you know, October or, you know, November. That's my guess on that. So I don't think it'll be Philadelphia, Kansas City, in the opener. But listen to some of the other games they have.

I mean, their home slate next year is incredible. I mean, at least, you know, on paper right now. By the way, the AFC, they get nine home games next year, eight road games. NFC, Washington included eight home games, nine road games. Kansas City, in addition to those division teams and Philadelphia, listen to the other home games, the other five home games they have. The Bengals, all right, you could pick the Bengals and the Chiefs, rematch of the last two AFC title games. They have the Bills at Arrowhead next year. They also have the Dolphins at Arrowhead next year. Miami's a pretty good team.

Out of the NFC, in addition to Philadelphia, they play Chicago and Detroit. at Arrowhead? Look, Detroit is like the fourth pick to win the NFC title behind San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Dallas. Detroit's going to be everybody's popular chic, you know, playoff pick, division winner next year. I mean, that is an unbelievable choice of games for the season opener. Philly, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Detroit, Miami, and then the division teams, the if Aaron Rogers is there, the Chargers, the Broncos. By the way, their road schedule, they're at Lambo. The Chiefs are.

They are also at Minnesota. They also have to play at the Patriots and at the Jets and at Jacksonville. I mean, brutal on-paper schedule. We know how these things go, and you know my opinion on that. The NFL schedule, even though I do a mock schedule and enjoy doing it, it is in many ways to mock the fact that you really don't know how tough your schedule is until you start to play it. You know, who you play isn't as important as when you play them. But lots of choices for the NFL schedule makers for the season opener,

September 7th, 2023. I mean, we've got a lot of, you know, a lot of off season to go before we get there. It'll fly by just like the season did, you know, seven months, less than seven months away from that. but I was looking at that earlier. By the way, all of the Super Bowl odds, Washington on my bookie right now, there are only three teams in the NFC with worse NFC championship odds. The Falcons, the Bears, and the Cardinals all have worse odds than Washington. Washington's not going to get as much respect from the odds makers before this season starts, unless they make a big move at quarterback, as they did last year.

I mean, say what you want about Carson Wentz, and we all understand what a disaster that was, but going into it last year, they had an over-under number that climbed to eight, eight-and-a-half on wins, eight-and-a-half being basically a 500 record. I mean, they nailed it on that. I would bet that their over-under number in Vegas is going to be closer to seven and a half, you know, if they go with Sam Howell. It's just too much of an unknown. Even in an NFC that looks light, you know, compared to the AFC, Washington really is going to be picked near the bottom by odds makers. Maybe not so much by those power rankings that are starting to come out. Like ESPN had their all too early 2023 power rankings.

I saw Washington come in 18th, I think it was. That's not that bad. But anyway, real quickly, before we get to Galdi, the Wizards last night blew a 15-point first half lead, lost to the Warriors. They've now blown a 20-point lead, a 23-point lead, and a 15-point lead in four of their last, and three of their last four losses. Look, a 15-point lead in the first half

is not much of a lead in the NBA. The Wizards can really score, and last night, Beal had 33, Porzingus had 34. Beal crossed the 15,000 point mark. Now the franchise has two 15,000 point scorers. Elvin Hayes and Bradley Beale. Bradley Beale will become the all-time bullets-slash wizards score. He will pass Elvin Hayes.

I also wanted to mention some college basketball that I didn't get to yesterday because we were totally focused on the Super Bowl and some of the other Washington commanders-related stories from over the weekend. Saturday night, I mean Duke, and it is rare to say this, Duke got completely hosed, in their game at UVA. The ACC admitted that they got this wrong. I don't know how many of you watched this, but in a tie game with 1.2 seconds left,

Kyle Philpowski, who plays for Duke, took an in-bounds pass, drove to the bucket, got the shot off with 0.2 left on the clock. They called a foul, which clearly happened before the red light on the backboard came on and the clock expired. They called it as a foul. He should have gone to the free throw line with 0.2 seconds left in two free throws to shoot in a tie game. And by the way, if you're wondering, he shoots like 76% from the line.

So odds are he would have knocked down one of them. They went to replay and they came back and they said it all happened after the buzzer. It's just bullshit. It was not even close. and the ACC had to put out a statement afterwards saying that they got it wrong. I mean, I can't remember Duke ever getting that kind of a call to go against them. Usually it goes the other way, but they really got hosed. Also, I went to the Maryland game Saturday against Penn State,

sold out crowd for a 12 noon game against Penn State. There's definitely some excitement back in the program. But for those of you who have reached out and said, you know, total resuscitation of a program that was dead, Sheehan, your boy, turd, this and that. What are you talking about? In 2019 and 2020, they were ranked in the top 10 much of the year. They were ranked as high as two, I think, at one point or three at one point, and so many of their games that year were sold out.

And that was three years ago. I mean, come on. I mean, again, the truth will do, people. Okay? He won a lot. He won more than anybody except Izzo in Payne, in the Big Ten, but he didn't win enough in March. That's true.

I totally agree. He needed to do more in the month of March. He won a lot. He was an excellent coach, but he just didn't get enough going in the month of March. Unfortunately, that 2020 team never had a chance because of the pandemic. But yeah, I was there Saturday. Terps are, I mean, Kevin Willard's doing a phenomenal job. I love the changing defenses, the different

kinds of defenses that are sometimes hard to really even identify the desire to play up up tempo, using pressure. When they shoot the ball, well, a lot easier to pressure more often. But Maryland's sitting there right now at 8 and 6. They are tied for fourth in the loss column in the Big 10. And they've got a shot to finish in the top four. They get Purdue Thursday night. I'll be at that game 630 start.

those super early starts. And Purdue lost to Northwestern, who's excellent. And so Purdue's now ranked third in the country. It would have been nice to get a number one Purdue into town. But Maryland's playing well. Willard's getting just so much out of these guys. They're turning the ball over less. They're still not shooting it great.

They shot it well against Penn State. They ended up, I wanted to mention real quickly for you, Terp fans. Hakeem Hart has developed into a really good player. I love him. He's 6-8. He's long-armed. He can do everything. He can post. He can drive. He's an excellent passer. And I, you know, even though it's an odd-looking shot, he shoots the three pretty well. Hakeem Hart is really turned into an excellent college basketball player. By the way, for you TURP fans that don't know this, you know, Hart, Young, and Scott apparently can all come back next year for a COVID year. All right, let's get to Al Galdi right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

This segment of the show, presented by MyBooky, go to MyBooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And MyBooky will allow you to cash out of your account once you wager your initial deposit just one time. Most books don't let you do that. MyBooky right now is letting you do that. You have to use my promo code, Kevin D.C. You deposit whatever amount you want to deposit. You wager that amount one time and you're eligible to cash out.

My bookie's got everything you need on the NBA, on the NHL, and certainly college basketball and March Madness is right around the corner. Bet anything, anytime, anywhere with MyBooky. Again, mybooky.ag use my promo code, Kevin D.C. As I mentioned in the open of the show, I'm excited to have on the show. Again, we've had Al on in the past, is my good friend Al Galdi from the Al Galdi podcast and 980 days together for many, many years together, sitting very close to one another in our bullpen area.

But Galdi's got a great podcast, which you can get every day. It's the Al Galdi podcast. Get it wherever you get a podcast. Follow Galdi on Twitter at Al Galdi. He's also got a Nats chat podcast that he does with Mark Zuckerman from Masson. It's kind of a post-game podcast to Nats games, but they do some off-season stuff as well. And one of the reasons I wanted to have you on today is Tommy was on with me yesterday, and the news broke about Ted Lerner and Tommy spoke about Ted with me at the end of the show.

And then you're as sharp in opinion baseball-wise as anybody in town. And I wanted to get your thoughts on Ted Lerner's passing, what it means to the current sale process and really what his legacy is. We will get to that. But let's start with the number one thing that people would prefer that we talk about, which, of course, is our football team. And I'll start with, you know, the breaking news here this morning. The Todd Monk in the OC at Georgia is now the OC hired by the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens didn't even wait to interview, excuse me, officially Eric Biennamy, even though they requested permission to do so.

And Baltimore was considered to be the other main contender for Biennesty. So do you think Washington's going to get Beenemy now? It certainly feels that way. I mean, I know that Washington on this Tuesday is interviewing Greg Roman, So maybe that's the fallback plan or for some reason things fall apart with the enemy. My understanding is the chief parade and rally is on Wednesday. So I'm assuming that the interview of the enemy would happen at the earliest on Thursday. But barring just some awful interaction between the enemy and Rivera, boring, you know, something else popping up.

I mean, it feels like this is happening. And, you know, this is one of these small things, but sometimes the little things are the big things. So Adam Schaefter a day or two ago tweeted out that Washington was still a possibility for the enemy. I think it was Monday. I think it was Monday. It was the day after the Super Bowl. Last week when Schaefter tweeted about the enemy, he included the Ravens in that tweet. And then in the latest one, he did not include the Raven. And so it is kind of feeling like this is lining up.

I mean, if the enemy is going to leave the chief for another offensive coordinator job in which he's actually calling the plays and in which the offense is entirely his baby, This would seem to be the spot. You know, the Colt hire Shane Steichen as head coach, so the enemy doesn't get that head coaching job, the Ravens tire Monk in his O.C., so the enemy doesn't get that O.C. job, to whatever extent he may have wanted it,

this seems to be setting up quite perfectly for Ron. Yeah, but is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well, I don't know. I mean, I think if you look at the enemy and you see, okay, for the last five seasons, he's been the offensive coordinator for the offense that everyone on the planet most envies, you say, okay, you're getting someone who, in theory,

has a pretty good understanding of how to do offense in the NFL in 2020, even if he's not actually calling the plays. He is intimately involved in the game planning. You know, it is odd that he hasn't gotten a head-coating job. There has been stuff out there that he can be overly harsh on players, although, you know, that came primarily, at least recently, from LaShawn McCoy, who was fading during his time with the chief. So I don't know how much of that is, you know, a biased opinion or a guy

who is disgruntled about his experience. But certainly Andy Reid says a lot of good things about the enemy. Patrick Mahomes says a lot of good things about the enemy. I've talked to people about the enemy. He is well regarded. It's not like he's looked at, you know, as some buffoon or anything like that. So I would like to think if you bring in the enemy and you let him run the offense that he wants to run, that the potential is here for some very good things to happen.

But, you know, shaping this entire commander's offseason, at least so far, is that joint season-ending press conference back on January 10th, you know, the Ron Rivera Martin Bayhew loves on it to the running game-oriented offense. And so, you know, love Sonnet. Yeah. So that's what it was. I mean, that's what it was. And so we don't know, we don't know how much of that is going to influence what the

offense is. We don't know how serious they were about that because as we've come to know with Ron, he changes his mind like every five minutes it feels like on a lot of things. So that would be a concern. Is the enemy, if he comes here, going to be allowed to do exactly as he wants to do, or is Ron going to be telling him what he needs to be doing? The rhyming sonnet poet, Ron Rivera and Martin Mayhew, what a show that was. You know, I was just thinking about something that I haven't thought of before.

Maybe you have. I wonder if there's any chance that Ron Rivera can reach out to Alex Smith. Let me back up. The whole B. Enemy thing to me is suspicious. I just, I'm, there's just no chance that if this guy is top shelf material, head coach or coordinator, that he hasn't gotten a job by now. With as many interviews as he's been on, so many teams have had a chance to hire Eric Bianemy, and they've all passed.

And now it seems like second Super Bowl, Andy Reed pumping them up at the end of the the game trying to essentially pitch Eric Bienemy is an absolute slam dunk higher for anybody where he can run his own show. And I can certainly understand why Bianemy would be looking to move on and get more responsibility. I understand that, where he can kind of get beyond the shadow of Andy Reed. But I don't know, Al. It's like I mean, he might be just an absolute gem of an offensive coordinator.

once he gets beyond there. But how many teams, Baltimore didn't even wait for him. They requested permission. They didn't even wait for him. Nobody else has hired him. By the way, at this point, do we even know that if Washington doesn't offer him the job, if anybody else will? Something's not right here. Yeah, I don't think that's, I don't think that's illogical what you're saying. I think that's fair. You know, I guess I would say, well, he has been good enough to be Andy Reed's OC for five seasons, so it can't be that, like,

he's just horrible, okay? Like, there must be something good that he's bringing to the table here, and I know that he has been involved in the Chief's game planning, so he has had a role in the Chief's offensive success. But, yeah, I mean, maybe there is some sort of a personality difficulty, and I think it is important that, you know, the commanders actually conduct this interview with him and not just, you know, hand him the job without ever talking to him. You know, and I think also, I mean, it is interesting that Washington is going through with this

Greg Roman interview. Like, presumably, you wouldn't be interviewing Roman if you didn't have at least some interest in hiring him. So maybe there is some reluctance on Washington's part to go with the enemy. You know, I actually think Roman might make some sense. I know there are people who talk about him, like, he's just a complete moron with what he did with Baltimore. I actually think Roman has a pretty good track record.

certainly when it comes to scheming up rushing offense, and if you look at his passing offenses, they haven't been great in terms of like being past heavy, but they actually have been rather efficient. He's done some really good work with mobile quarterbacks when you think about Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick and Tyrod Taylor's best season was with Roman as the O.C. 2015 in Buffalo, and obviously with Lamar Jackson, certainly in his peak seasons of 19 and 20. So yeah, and the other thing, too, with Roman is he's been out there for weeks, and yet only now he gets interviewed. So that's been kind of interesting to me that this finally happens. But I don't think Washington would be interviewing Roman if Washington didn't at least have some interest in him.

I forget if I finished my thought before or not, but Washington, if Rivera's relationship with Alex Smith isn't so soiled, he should be talking to Alex Smith about both the enemy and Greg Roman because he played for both of them. And, you know, the Greg Roman thing could be as simple as Roman was kind of waiting and hoping for a head coaching opportunity. I think, you know, salary is going to matter in this conversation as well. I don't know what they're going to be allowed to do in Ashburn. I mean, Roman made $3.5 million as Baltimore's OC. And Eric B. Enemy is probably going to look for, since he's not getting a head coaching job,

you know, he's going to look for, I would guess, a top end OC salary. I think he made roughly two to two and a half million last year. I don't know, for whatever reason I have this weird feeling that I think the odds favor that Washington hires somebody outside of Zampezee, but not by a lot. Like it might be like 52, 48. Like 52, it's Roman or Bianami or somebody from outside the organization. and like 48% that ultimately it's like, yeah, we'll just spend a lot less and have Ken Zampeze continue to work with Sam Hal. Like right now, what you're- Can you explain this? Yeah. The whole, I know the budget thing comes up a lot. Here's what I don't get about that.

Why can't when Dan sells the team, assuming that's happening, why can't he just tack on to the sale price, whatever cost have been incurred since the end of this past season? Like, if Dan really doesn't have the money right now to be paying a big-time offensive coordinator. He's only going to have to pay him a certain amount if the team's about to be sold. Why can't you just tack on that cost of the sale price? I don't get why that's such a big part of it. I don't know if it's so much that. First of all, I mean, when you talk about a coach, you know, it's a salary. You're just, you know, you're not paying them the $3.5 million up front. You're not putting it into escrow because it's guaranteed like you would for a player. I think it's more or less that they may have a freeze just on

overall, you know, big-time hires because they want to allow potentially the new owners to do it. Now, there's certain things they're going to have to be able to do like hire an O.C. Because you could get to March, and if they decide to keep Ron Rivera, there may be nobody left, you know, at that point. But no, I think it's a fair point. And by the way, the numbers we're talking about, these aren't player numbers. Like if Zampizi was going to earn a million dollars as an elevated intram OC or just elevated to OC, and you're going to pay Bianami two and a half to three. You know, we're not talking about the big dollars at all.

Look, the bottom line is, unlike the conversations we've heard about Duran Payne and that we're hearing about maybe free agency and even some super big hires apparently on the other side of the building that they're not making right now, they have been pursuing the offensive coordinator position. They clearly have a green light to go out and hire an offensive coordinator. I wonder why Bianemy, also from the flip side, Al, why would Bianemy,

why would Greg Roman, why would especially Bianney where this next move is a huge move for him? Huge. This is his chance to show everybody that he can coach and that eventually he can be a head coach in the NFL. If you're going to be a career OC, you might as well stay in Kansas City with Mahomes and win more titles and keep earning more money. But it's a stepping stone to an eventual head coaching job. But why would you come here when I think it's so clear, isn't it, that Ron Rivera,

best case, he makes it to 23, is a lame duck heading into his final season, into his four out of five seasons. And that's if he makes it to opening day. Yeah. No, he'd be in trouble. There's no question about that. I mean, I think if you're trying to build the case for Washington, it would be, look, the bar is low. And so if you can just come here and make the offense decent, which it has not been since you know who was the quarterback, we're not allowed to say his name. You can say it on this show. You can say it on this show. Yeah. Okay, good. If you just take the.

offense from being really bad, which is what it has been since the start of the 2018 season. Make no mistake, really bad each season, okay, that's quantifiable. If you could just get it to a point of, like, being passable, to being palatable, to being decent, I think that's going to be seen as good work. And if, in fact, Sam Howell is the starting quarterback, and he actually looks okay, again, you're not asking for greatness, you're just asking for confidence, I think that's going to reflect well on Eric the enemy. So I would think that that maybe would be the same. So I would be the sell that, hey, you don't have to come here and put up all pro numbers offensively. If you could just make it decent, that's going to be looked upon fondly.

Plus, I mean, it's not like there's nothing with which to work offensively. They're clearly our big questions that quarterback and along the offensive line. And I would throw a tight end into that mix, too. But, you know, I think we all would agree. The receiving court is pretty good. The running back room is pretty good. Who knows would get added this offseason. And if Ron lets Eric run the show, then, you know, I think that would be appealing, too.

like the offense would be Eric the enemy's baby, and he can do with it as he cleanses. Since the two-for-one, two-to-one run-over-pass ratio Sonnet Day, I've actually really been on board with Roman because you knew he was leaving Baltimore. That had been rumored for a while. And if they really are going to do this, they should go for it. And they should bring in the guy that's been the run-game coordinator. Coolie said is good of a run-game guy. as any he has seen in the league.

Others have said that as well. And then with the dual threat nature going back to Kaepernick, Tyrod Taylor and Buffalo, and then the years in Baltimore with Lamar Jackson, go for it with Sam Hal or go for it with Anthony Richardson, if he's available, but just go for it. Because you can compete, like, you know, you may not be able to win a Super Bowl that way

because Baltimore has it with Lamar Jackson. And by the way, the receivers would be better here than anything Baltimore's had, but I think that they should just go for it. So exit question on the O.C. Right now, February 14th, Valentine's Day, who do they hire more likely than not by the end of this week? My prediction is B. Enemy. With the Baltimore hiring of Munkin now,

I think Bianney is certainly the favorite. I'll tell you what, it would be an absolute gut punch to Bianney if Washington interviewed him and did, He didn't hire him and he ends up back in Kansas City without another game. Exactly. And the other thing, too, is Andy Reid seemed to be saying goodbye to Eric with the way Andy was talking after the Super Bowl. So that's another sort of aspect to all of this. It felt like it was time for the enemy to move on.

And if he doesn't move on, no doubt, that's a big blow. Didn't he kind of do the same thing with Donovan McNabb when he traded him to Washington? Yeah. Funny how Andy Reed knows and Alex Smith. Andy Reid knows when to get rid of people and put him on Washington. You went Trotter? You want McNabb? Here they are. No, but at least he's not in the same division. He's in a whole other conference altogether.

All right now, who are the quarterbacks on the roster when training camp begins and who opens up the season as a starter? Yeah, I think it's going to be Sam Howell. I think he's going to be the QB1 come week one. The stunning 180 from, you know, Ron, not even wanting to start the guy in week 8. team, but you know, that's another conversation. And then it certainly does feel like a low-price veteran is coming on board. I mean, you know, it was funny to me when Ron made the media round last Wednesday.

I mean, he was telling the whole world what our team's quarterback playing is as off-season. I mean, so much for trying to keep your cards close to the vest, so much for, you know, maybe trying to engage in a little gamesmanship. Like, no, he basically told everyone, yeah, Sam Howell and we're going to sign a veteran quarterback, you know, on the low-price side of thing. So, you know, that would put you in that territory of, you know, the Andy Dalton, the Jacoby Preset, all the names that already have come up. You know, it's not, I think, given that Washington is going to be the first choice for guys like that. So, you know, we'll kind of see how those dominoes end up falling.

It doesn't feel like Taylor Heineke is coming back. I think it's possible. I actually would not have a problem with that. But, you know, especially, I don't know how much of Heineke on the Pat McAfee show last Thursday, you heard, Taylor said he was not pleased with the way he was told of his benching. So there does seem to be some tension there. And, you know, there's that obvious spot of Vegas now with Scott Turner as a past game coordinator that would seemingly make some sense, especially with the Raiders having the number seven

overall pick. You could take a quarterback, have Hineke be the placeholder, be the veteran QB2. Personally, I really want Washington to draft a quarterback, and I really want Washington to be seriously considering Anthony Richardson. I don't know that he'll fall to 16, but he could. And, you know, if he falls to say, I don't know, 9, 10, 11 somewhere there, and you can trade up for him. I do think that Washington should be open to that.

You know, the way Ron was talking last Wednesday, talking about not devoting a lot of capital to the quarterback position, this off season, it's hard to say if that precludes spending a first-round pick on a quarterback, but boy, it kind of sounded that way. And, you know, there's irony there, right, because he was doing this on Radio Row for a Super Bowl in which the two teams are like screening examples of being aggressive at the quarterback position with the Eagles drafting Jalen Hurts when they had Carson Went to the chief drafting

actually trading up to draft Patrick Mahomes when they had Alex Smith. But I don't get the sense that Washington is seriously considering spending a first-round pick on a quarterback, but I'd really think that that should be in play. What did Taylor Heinekees say on the Pat McAfee show beyond the, you know, I played like a minute and a half of it last, week. I mean, he talked about how, you know, they were, he was going to start, but, you know, he, you know, without going into great detail, kind of convinced the powers that be that Sam should start. And he had, you know, very complimentary things to say about Sam Howell, as if Hal's got, you know,

a ringing endorsement from not only him, but everybody in the locker room. What did he say that reflected tension between him and the staff? So it was a very quick comment. It was very much. like a passing, oh, by the way, comment. But he said that he was not happy with the communication. He said, quote, it was just kind of the communication of how it all went down that I wasn't very happy about, end quote. And he was talking about when he got bench in favor of Carson for that glorious

game against Cleveland late in the season. So, you know, now he did also say in the interview that he's open to coming back to watch. So it's not like Heineke was making it come across like he has no interest in being resigned. but he did say that. You know, he said that he was not a fan of the communication of how his benching went down. That's obviously a little jab at Ron Rivera, and, you know, I just thought that that stood out. But, you know, well, see, I don't even know if Washington wants to resign him, you know,

but I think it also could be that he doesn't want to resign either. It just feels like the Washington-Heineke marriage may well be coming to an end. I've had that sense since the season ended. Yeah, I think the perhaps surprising part and twist would be, if perhaps he's more willing to come back with Scott Turner gone. And I know that many people will say, well, she and Scott Turner is the one that gave him the chance. He's the one that suggested it back in 2020. I know that.

But I think that all of the coaches got to the point where they were frustrated and ready to move on. They wanted to do it before the giant Sunday night game at home, but he had pulled out, you know, pulled off that magic act at the end of regulation in the Meadowlands. Duran Payne, tagged, extended, or do they let him go? I think he gets tagged. I think Washington should seriously explore a tag and trade if you have major doubts about signing him to an extension, but that's kind of a forward-thinking thing to do,

and that's just not the way our team has acted in these situations over certainly recent years. I don't think that Duran, well, look, if you're going to sign Duran to a long-term contract, you're really going to have to overwhelm him with money. And as we all have seen, once you enter into the tag realm, it becomes harder and harder to lock a guy up. Now, what's interesting is this.

The tag number for Duran is actually at a level that might actually be a level that incentivizes him to work on a long-term deal, because it's at less than what could end up being the AV for high-level interior defensive linemen with that market expected to explode this off-term. season and next off season. In the past, you know, when we played the game with Kirk and Brandon Sheriff, their tag numbers were so high that there was really no incentive for those guys to work on long-term deals, certainly if the team wasn't going to aggressively pursue those deals. With Duran, this tag, I think it's like right around $18 million.

It is. Yeah. Correctly. Okay. So the expectation is that the AVs for these high-level interior defensive line that are going to soar into the 20s. If that's about to happen, then actually this tag of Duran could serve as what the tag initially was supposed to serve as, which is essentially a placeholder for further negotiations of a long-term contract. So I think that's kind of an interesting aspect of this. But yeah, it feels to me like we're headed toward Duran being tagged. Did it frustrate you as it did me last week, the comments about Chase Young and the

fifth year option? Not as much. I know you were very frustrated by them. I totally get where you're coming from. What it reaped to me of was 2021 when Ron Rivera took to publicly calling out, Chase. Oh, Chase, I thought you're going to compare to Jamie Davis. Sorry, go ahead.

No, yeah, with Chase. If you remember, a piece on the team's website by Michael Silver in which Ron called out Chase and also Montez Sweat. And then not long after that, a post-practice press conference at which Ron, for like 17 minutes, took question after question about Chase's struggles and was very specific with Chase's struggles. And I guess here's what I'm thinking. And maybe I'm giving Ron too much of a benefit of the doubt. But I would think, I certainly would hope that he has tried to address and motivate Chase privately.

And I guess those things have it worked. And so he feels like he has to do these things publicly. That's not ideal. There's no doubt about that. But he did that in 2021. And it was hard for me not to think about that with him publicly dangling. the fifth year option as he was. That is strange that he would do that,

but there may be a method to that madness, because, you know, I think it's become clear. Case isn't always the easiest guy to coach, or at least if you're going by the way Ron is behaved. So that's kind of what I took from that. Sale right now, where are you on when Dan sells and to whom? Well, I mean, like everyone else, I'm hoping like heck, it's by the league annual meeting at late March.

I don't know how realistic that is. I think, though, it's important to remember. It doesn't have to be by that. Like, the owners could vote on the sale, you know, in April or in May. You know, it's not like it's late March or bust for this sale, but it's just, you know, we all want this done as soon as possible. You know, I do believe the team is Jeff Bezos is if he wants it. What I think is interesting is to what degree does he want it.

You know, I've talked to a lot of people about the sale. I know that you have. If Bezos believes, as a lot of people do, that's the way that, the Seahawks are going to be up for sale in the next year, too, and he would prefer to buy the Seahawks, then it may well be that he's not going to go all in on trying to buy Washington, especially when you consider that, you know, there are complexities with Washington, like with the Seahawks, right, you would buy them, and you could hit the ground running with Washington. You buy a team. You got to figure out the stadium. You got to fund the stadium. You got to figure out

the diminishing fan base. You know, you may have to rebrand the team. That's another aspect of all of this. So, you know, I think the big question is to what degree does Jeff Bezos want to buy the commander? If he really, truly wants to buy the team, then I think he'll get it because even if Dan doesn't want to sell the team to Jeff, everybody has a price. And if Jeff can offer, you know, $700 million more than anybody else or whatever the number is, I mean, is Dan going to say no to that just because of everything that's gone down with the Washington Post? Like, I have a hard time seeing that. So I do think that a sale is going to happen. but it may not be to whom we're all thinking, and it may take a little longer than we all want.

All right, Galdi's going to stick around. We'll talk some Nats, and we'll talk about Ted Lerner's legacy, and whether or not his passing will impact what they've been trying to do, which is to sell the team, or at least a portion of the team. We'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, this final segment of the show is brought to you by our good friends, at Shelley's back room.

Shelly's back room, the best cigar bar in town. But trust me, they keep that air fresh. The food's great. The cocktail list is long. They've always got sports on and great conversation as well. This is Tommy's favorite spot in town. This is his hangout. 1331 F Street Northwest, Shelley's back room.

All right, let's finish up with Al on the Nationals. By the way, you can listen, as I mentioned, when we introduced Al, to his Nats chat podcast as well. He does that with Mark Zuckerman from Masson. You can get that anywhere. You get a podcast. So, Al, what's Ted Lerner's legacy? And then Will his passing impact in any way, shape, or form what they've been trying to do, and that is sell either a controlling stake or non-controlling stake in the team?

Yeah, so with the second part, I don't think it impacts. the sale of the team. I think his death, while very significant, was more symbolic than anything else in terms of the sale of the team. I mean, Ted stopped being the managing principal owner in June of 2018. Mark Lerner has been the managing principal owner since then. You know, we don't even really know to what degree Ted was involved in operations to the nationals in recent years. So I don't think this moves the needle much with the sale. The sale really is all about this never-ending mass in dispute. And, you know, if that thing ever gets resolved, then the Nats will get sold. I think until that thing gets resolved, the Nats probably won't get sold. As far as Ted Lerner goes,

you know, it's a mixed legacy like a lot of people have been saying. I think he deserves a lot of credit for spending money on players. You know, that's not something we should take for granted. There are many teams in baseball that don't spend a lot of money on players. Ask any fan of the pirates, of the A's, of the Royals, of the Rays, you know, what it's like to be a fan of a team that just does not spend money on players. The learners for about a decade had the Nats as a top 10 payroll team, so that should always be appreciated. I think you also have to say, hey, from 2012 through 2019,

the nationals had a run that very few major league teams will have. And that is nothing but winning seasons, a bunch of playoff seasons, and ultimately a World Series championship. So Ted Lerner does deserve credit for that. But of course, there have been peculiarities with how the learners have spent money, you know, spending money on players, but not always spending money on infrastructure, not wanting to spend money on, you know, say, managers, right? I think everyone remembers the But-Black fiasco of the 2015-2016 off-season

where But-Black, not Dusty Baker, was the guy who Mike Rizzo wanted. Black agreed to become the manager, and then over like, you know, basically nickels and dimes, the contract negotiations broke down. The Nats have been lacking in scouting and analytics for years. I don't know that that was all because the learners didn't want to spend. on those things, but I think it's naive to think that the lack of spending on those things had nothing to do with ownership. You know, a phrase that has been used a lot with Mike Rizzo.

I think our mutual friend Tom Laverro has talked about this. Rizzo has had to manage up as much as he has had to manage down. You know, so, you know, it hasn't always been easy with the learners, and there definitely have been nits to pick. I mean, the Nats were horrible from 2006 through 2010. And a lot of that, you know, it wasn't just a product on the field, right? You had the Smiley Gonzalez scandal, you know, the Jose Rio thing. So, like, all of that goes on the plate of the learners.

But if you're just netting it out with Ted Lerner more good or more bad for baseball in D.C., the answer is he was more good, obviously immensely successful in real estate. And, you know, he and his family did do a lot of charity work. And I know that gets said about a lot of people, but, you know, they do deserve credit. credit for that. So, you know, I think there's a lot to be proud of if you're Ted Lerner, if you're a member of the Lerner family. I don't think we should just ignore some of the negatives, but there were certainly a lot of positives. Look, they had a stretch between 2012 and 2019, where I think they won more games than any National League team, not named the Dodgers.

They were in the postseason five times over that stretch, and they won a World Series. And by the way, created a lot of memories, even though they're nightmarish, in terms of some of their game five losses. But, you know, they really did create some memories and some history there during, you know, that stretch of eight seasons. The one thing that I was just going to ask you before we roll, and I know you've got another interview to do, is, I mean, is there any prospect for them being good anytime soon? I mean, they're the longest shot of all 30 teams to win the World Series, and they have the

lowest over under on wind totals for the upcoming season at 60 and a half. I mean, they're right there with the athletics as the presumed worst team in baseball again. You know, when are the benefits of the big trade they made of Soto going to pay dividends? Is there any light at the end of the tunnel for them? Well, I think there can be. I think it's too early to say, I mean, the Nats are going to be really bad again this season, boring, something shocking, and probably are going to be really bad again next season. The good news, though, is that finally the farm system is starting to crawl out of the abyss that it was buried in for seasons.

The ads in the recent top 100 prospect rankings that have been viewed as having four of the top 100 prospects in baseball, including three outfielders. So that's something. You know, you now have something with which to work. And the other thing is, and this really was one of the real aggravating things about the ads the last few years, the ads weren't just bad. They were old and bad. they were losing with a lot of guys who were older and who were basically roads to nowhere.

Now at least the Nats are starting to have the makings of a team that is young and bad. And so at least you could say, all right, you're losing with younger guys. You're losing with potential building blocks. So to me, if you're a Nats fan for this coming season, forget about wins and losses, okay? Because if you're invested in the wins and losses, if you're invested in the outcomes of games, you're going to be disappointed. But at least this season you can focus on people like C.J. Abrams and K. Bair, Ruiz. and Kate Cavali and McKenzie Gore and Josiah Gray and these young potential building blocks,

guys who could be a part of something in a few seasons. And I think that's what you focus on. And if those guys stay healthy and do well, that's a win. You know, then that's probably going to be a 100-lost team again. But if those guys are doing well and improving, then that matters, and that actually will provide some reason for us. Will Stephen Strasbourg ever be a starting pitcher again? No, no.

Strasbourg is done. I think we're just waiting for the day on which he and the team accept that. And I think this season is going to be the final season of dancing this dance. And I would not be surprised if you get some sort of negotiated buyout of his contract. Although that's not something we know the learners like to do. But, you know, I hate saying it. But he got hit with something that is just a career killer, this thoracic outlet syndrome. It is a career destroyer for pitchers. I can't emphasize that enough. and, you know, it's terrible, but he has not been able to pitch, and I don't see that changing. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see that change. Al Galdi, everybody, the Al Galdi podcast, the Nats Chat podcast. Thanks for doing this, as always. Hope you're well. I'll talk to you soon. I would enjoy it, man. Thank you.

All right, that's it for the show today. Back tomorrow.