The Kevin Sheehan Show - PFF On Washington's Window

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Kevin opened the show answering emails including a few on Myles Garrett to Washington and one on Josh Harris' declaration last week on the name. Nick Akridge/Pro Football Focus jumped on to talk Super Bowl, the gap between the Eagles and Commanders, what Washington needs to do in the offseason, the NFL Draft, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, Windonation. If you need new windows, give Windonation a shot. Call them at 86690 Nation or head towindonation.com. Mention my name.

They'll come out and give you a free, no-risk-in-home estimate. One guest on the show today, Nick Ackridge from Pro Football Focus, We'll be back with us. We'll talk to Nick about the Super Bowl, but we will focus in on Washington and Philadelphia. How big is the gap, and what does Washington need to do in this off-season to close that gap? I start with a few emails today.

This from Paul. Paul writes, and this was kind of in response to me talking about Philadelphia's dominant Super Bowl defensive performance. Paul writes, the Broncos defense in Super Bowl 50 versus the Cam Newton-led Panthers was as dominating as any I can recall. A defensive player was even named MVP, Von Miller.

Newton was hammered in that game and was never the same player afterwards. Yeah, Paul, the Broncos defense was great in that game. Von Miller, incredible in that game. And remember, Remember, the play in which he knocked the ball out of Cam Newton's hands, fumble on the ground, balls right there for Cam Newton to jump on it. It's a close game, fourth quarter, and he doesn't jump on the football. That was a memorable play from that Super Bowl. By the way, I think Cam Newton

has expressed in recent years regret for not jumping on that football. But I don't think what Denver did in that game was what Philadelphia did to Kansas City on Sunday, Paul. I went back and just kind of looked at that game briefly and went kind of drive by drive. The Panthers moved the football enough to stay in that game. You know, they were down 13 to 7 at the half. They moved the football on the opening drive of the second half into short chip shot field goal range and Graham Ganoe missed a kick that would have cut the lead to three. They moved the ball again deep into Denver territory before turning it over in a six-point game in the

second half. KC could not move the football at all. I mean, beyond midfield, nine drives to start the game and they never got past it. They averaged on those nine drives five yards per drive. drive. Five. They couldn't move the ball until the game was over at 34 to nothing. So I just don't think that there's much of a comp for what we saw in the first three quarters of the Super Bowl on Sunday. I mean, that was Patrick Mahomes. That wasn't Cam Newton. You know, that was Andy Reed as the head coach and, you know, the offensive guru. They could not, you know, as Doc would say, they couldn't bust a grape until the game was already over.

And Philadelphia took their foot off the pedal and started to put subs into the game. You are right, though. Cam Newton was never really the same after that season. Now, the truth is, he never had a season like 2015, which was his MVP season. That was an outlier season for him. He had some good seasons before and even after the MVP seasons, but nothing remotely resembling the 2015 season. And really for Cam Newton, health became an issue for him. He just, his body didn't hold up, you know, for those last few years of his career.

This from Greg, Greg titles the email in the subject heading, urgent. Miles Garrett. And he writes, hey Kevin, I've been a listener for over 15 years. Absolutely love your show. Well, thank you, Greg. I appreciate that. It's just crazy to hear that people don't want to trade for a game-changing pass rusher. And what's even crazier is that you have to explain why we would need to trade for him. We have an X-factor on offense, and this guy would definitely be an X-factor on defense and would elevate the play of everybody around. him. Unfortunately, this ain't a T.J. Duckett trade, so you can't let this guy go to the Eagles because it will make it even harder to get the division, and it's definitely a move they would

make. We have to go get this guy like yesterday. The time is now to make a move to get us over the hump. First of all, Greg, real quickly, I don't know that many people disagree with going after Miles Garrett. I don't, when you say it's just crazy to hear that people don't want to trade for the game-changing pass rusher, there have been an email, there's been an email or two, and I know I read one yesterday or the day before, and I took calls on this last week, I'm pretty sure, on radio. I would say the majority of people want and think that it makes sense to go after Miles Garrett. By the way, the reference to the T.J. Duckett trade is great.

It's been a while on the T.J. Duckett trade. For those of you who don't remember, in 2006, in the preseason, Clinton Portis got hurt in the preseason opener against the Bengals. He got hurt, by the way, by chasing down a linebacker, I forget his name, who picked off a pass, and he tackled him, and he separated his shoulder. and he was out for the first part of that season. And Washington panicked, and they traded a third rounder and a conditional fourth rounder for T.J. Duckett, who played for the Atlanta Falcons. It was part of a three-way deal that brought Duckett to Washington and sent picks to Atlanta. But the reference made by Greg really had to do with, there was a story at the time. that Washington did that trade, in part because they felt like they needed another running back

on the roster. They had Liddell Betts, who was Clinton's backup. But also because there was a discussion out there that Philadelphia was interested in trading for T.J. Duckett. And so Washington did it to prevent, I think it was Philadelphia. Actually, I'm now starting to think maybe it was the Giants. But whichever team it was, they wanted to prevent another team in the division from getting T.J. Duckett, who was an okay back in Atlanta. He was never anything super special. He did have a lot of touchdowns, actually, because he was a really good short yardage back. He was a physical big strong back, but he wasn't worth at that point a third and a conditional fourth rounder. And they really didn't need him because they had Liddell

bets and Portis wasn't out for the season. But yeah, back to the Miles Garrett portion of this, it would be sickening to see Miles Garrett in Philadelphia, you know, to see him and Jalen Carter together. But again, I think most people recognize the window of opportunity right now and the huge need for defensive help and how good the player is. There are a few that, you know, don't want to do it, that, you know, feel like it's, you know, feel like it's better not to give away that much draft capital. Look, there's an argument to be made against it. Miles Garrett, you know, there have been discussions in the past about Miles

Garrett taking plays off every once in a while. I had somebody on from radio yesterday. I had somebody on radio from Cleveland, excuse me, yesterday. He thinks that, you know, it's not definite that he'll be traded, but that there's like a 60 to 65% chance that he will. And he thinks the sleeper favorite is San Francisco. Imagine him and Nick Bosa together. But he believed Washington made a lot of sense too, and pegged Washington is kind of the second team that made the most sense. Remember, Washington's draft capital isn't super attractive, you know, having number 29 in the first round. So we'll see what happens. There's some talk about keeping Miles Garrett around until they figure out what they're going to do in the draft. There is Abdul Carter from Penn State, who is the best

defensive pass rusher in the draft. He could go as high as number two. That is certainly a possibility. I've seen him mocked as high as two. He was an outstanding player in Happy Valley. this is a draft that does have some depth at pass rusher, you know, at defensive end. Defensive line overall, it's a pretty good draft. Not a great draft for quarterbacks. And most people would say not a great draft overall, but there is some depth and first round talent on defense, especially at defensive end. So if you, you know, argue you don't want to part with draft.

capital that you can use number 29 on a pass rusher and maybe you end up getting a guy that is really good and good quickly. You know, it's not a terrible argument. I personally would just be going for it. Swinging big now and Miles Garrett would elevate everybody on that defense. Miles Garrett would provide not only great pass rush ability, obviously, you know, elite level pass rush ability, game-wrecking pass-rushing ability, but he also is a very good run-stopper, and they have to stop the run next year. And I just think that everybody else, you know, even if Payne and Allen are still a part of the team next year, you don't have to worry about moving pain out to defensive end, you know, which they did at the end of the year.

And, you know, any kind of double teams that Duron and John saw when they were in the game, and they probably saw the majority of double teams, you're not going to see those at all with Miles Garrett on the team. This from Garrett, Garrett writes, Kevin, I'm surprised you haven't made this comparison yet. The 2024 commanders are the inverse of the 2021 Rams. But the lesson is the same. Go all in.

The Rams had a loaded roster, but a mediocre quarterback. So McVeigh said, F them picks and traded for Stafford. Washington is in the inverse position. We have our elite quarterback, but a mediocre supporting cast. Having an elite quarterback is so valuable that it's the equivalent to having a stacked roster, but no quarterback. Both are just one or two bold moves away from true Super Bowl contention. The Rams prove that by going all in and it worked. Jaden on his rookie contract gives you the best window now. Go all in and trade for Miles Garrett. Love the show. Yeah, more on Miles Garrett. Don't forget too that the Rams traded for Von Miller that season in 2021 at the deadline. They added Odell Beckham Jr. To that roster late, that was a

huge ad even though he ended up getting injured in the Super Bowl, but he was huge on the way to the Super Bowl. But yeah, they remember, they thought they were close. I mean, it was kind of McVeigh's, and it has been McVeigh's mantra, you know, less need the whole group out there, because they went all in on Jalen Ramsey the year before, which was, what, a year or two after they lost the Super Bowl with golf. So they were always in that mode. But yeah, I mean, you said it.

It's the inverse because our situation is, I think, a bad. better situation. Give me the option of going and trading for the veteran quarterback with a great roster or having the elite quarterback already on a rookie contract with all the cap space. I actually like the position we're in because it's not a one year or two year window. It's the first window of several. And this window, if you go all in, you could be, you know, in the hunt for the Super Bowl. If you go, all in now next year, the year after, and the year after that. You know, with Stafford, there was always the question of, is it kind of a one and done?

Are we going all in here? Now, Stafford's played a couple of more years and played well. He played very well this year. That's going to be an interesting off-season thing. His cap number is so huge. And there's been talk about the Rams moving on from Matt Stafford. I can't imagine they would do that. But they can't afford him as currently strong.

structured contractually. This from Bill. Bill writes, Kev, are we giving Adam Peters too much credit for choosing Jaden Daniels in the draft? I think Adam Peters did well in the 2024 draft and made good moves bringing in the players after the draft, but focusing on the choice of Jaden Daniels may be skewing our evaluation of Adam Peters' first season. The choice of Jaden was a no-brainer. He was the Heisman Trophy winner, excelled in college, and interviewed well, by all accounts. The only decision to be made was whether to take Caleb Williams or Jaden Daniels, and that decision was made by the Bears. After they took Caleb, Jaden was the only choice. So while we are all pleased with Adam and the front office, let's not go overboard on the choice of Jaden Daniels.

There was no other choice. Yeah, I mean, let me just say that I'm giving Adam Peters credit along with his staff for the entire sort of first offseason, which includes hiring the head coach as well. But, you know, I don't know, Bill, Jaden became the number two, but it was later in the process that he became the clear cut number two. This time last year, Jaden was not the clear cut number two. Now, I thought he was the clear cut number two or should be, and others did as well. And I, you know, had him right there with Caleb Williams. And by the way, others thought he should be taken ahead of Caleb Williams. You know, Lewis Riddick or Lovsky, there were a couple of people out there that thought Jaden was number one.

But this time last year, there were a lot of Drake May people. There were a lot of J.J. McCarthy people. So I'm not sure that if every team had the number two pick, last year and had a need for quarterback. I don't know if, you know, the other, if all 30 of the other teams, you know, other than our team in Chicago, would have taken Daniels. I would have hoped that they would have landed on Daniels because I thought there was a difference between Daniels and May. Daniels definitely in McCarthy. Daniels definitely in Nix. And I thought Pennix was the third best quarterback after Daniels and Caleb Williams. But here's one thing I'm going to give, you know,

the front office credit for. I do believe them when they said that Daniels was their number one all along. It's easy to say that after the fact, because they didn't have the option of Caleb Williams. But I think if they had had the number one pick in the draft, I think they would have taken Daniels. You know, I talked about this at the time. I know, I know, know that the scouts and I know that the analytics people that there was a massive consensus in that building that jaden daniels was the guy and they were glad that chicago was taking caleb williams there was not much disagreement in the building on him but i think maybe there would have been other buildings around the league that may have come to a different conclusion

so i think by the time we got to draft day because you know i think a lot of the reporting was Washington was going to take Daniels, so everybody just kind of jumped on it as he's the consensus number two. But I don't know. There was a lot of J.J. McCarthy and Drake May talk. That is for sure. I'm going to read this from Steve. Steve, you're right about this. Steve's subject heading. Super Bowl trivia stinks this year. And then his email is, let's do better with about seven. exclamation points.

You're right, Steve. So, for those of you who don't know what we're talking about here, if you don't listen to the radio show and you only listen to the podcast, but I'm assuming that you listened to the radio show at least years ago, because we've been doing Super Bowl trivia during Super Bowl week for close to 15 years now. Tommy and I started it together. And last week, Steve, I didn't feel good about it either. and I expressed my thoughts about that.

I took accountability. I'm not saying that it was anybody else's fault. First of all, we didn't do it enough for starters. It's a very popular thing. I think it's funny. Super Bowl trivia. It's a very popular segment every year during Super Bowl week on the show. It always has been.

I mean, phone lines light up for people that want to play it. People love the same. segment. And I have, over the years, pretty much put it together myself with a little bit of help in terms of the trivia questions. That wasn't the problem. We had plenty of questions, you know, level one, level two, level three. We didn't do it enough. We probably did four or five total segments the entire week of Super Bowl trivia. And there were, yeah, I'm not going to get into the other reasons why I didn't like it. I'm not going to get into those reasons, actually.

But you're right. I didn't feel good about it last week. It felt very sloppy and sort of, you know, not organized enough. Next year will be better. I promise you that. But I thank you for reaching out and telling me that because I had that same feeling as we got towards the end of the week. All right.

There was one other, God, there's so many name emails. I just today, just after the radio show, just started responding to a lot of your emails and reading a lot of them. There are just so many of them on the name. All right, I'll read this one on the name, and then we'll get to Nick.

It comes from Bob. Bob writes, what you and Tom are missing on the name, change. I enjoy the pod every day. I'm a lifelong Redskins fan. Listening to you and Tom discussed Josh Harris's end-of-year presser and his statement about the name not changing. I can't believe you didn't discuss this angle, how Harris basically pulled the same lie to the fan base as previous ownership did. Remember Rivera, Jason Wright, and Snyder? They were asked for, they asked for fan submissions for a new name and they were to be put in a pool and to be voted on.

I don't remember, let me just interject Bob, it being presented quite that way. But yes, they wanted fan submissions for sure on the new name. Remember, they had the whole buildup, you know, to the new name with the various, you know, YouTube shows that they had. I can't even remember what the name of it was. Anyway, Bob continues. In the end, they chose the name they wanted. because commanders was never in the top of any pool of fan names,

but I believe Rivera and Wright pushed for commanders because of Ron's fondness, fondness, excuse me, for everything military. Again, let me interject. I don't think Ron Rivera had anything to do with this name. It was Will Missile Brooks and Jason Wright. This was a hit job, in-and-out-hit job, by the guy Will Missilebrook, or Missile Brooks, whatever his last name was. I don't think Rivera had anything to do with the name. I don't.

Fast forward to Harris, Bob writes, who at the time of the purchase made a statement when asked about changing the name. Quote, it doesn't matter what I think about the name. It matters what the fans think, closed quote. Yes, he did. He did say that. Now we get to the end of the season presser, and Harris makes a statement paraphrasing, the name commanders has meaning inside the building with players and coaches. Basically, Josh Harris said, the people on my payroll like the name, so we're keeping it.

I can't believe that Tom, who looks at every situation with a jaundiced eye, no pun intended, miss that. In my opinion, when it comes to the name Harris's group is just as tone deaf as previous ownership. You and Tom keep up the good work and we'll keep listening. look, I said after that presser that what was significant to me is that he didn't mention that the name has meaning or has grown in meaning outside of the building. He said inside the building. And my comment to that on that show, that day, which was what a week ago Monday, was all due respect, Josh Harris, the people inside your building aren't your customers. They're not your fans.

And you said when you took this team over exactly what Bob said you said, that it doesn't matter what you think of the name. It matters what the fans think. And the fans are at the very least divided, but really, and I don't have the latest polling post the playoff run, but certainly just a few months ago, overwhelmingly didn't want the name. You know, it was the post poll.

It was their own internal market research that got leaked. Look, like I said, 12 and 5, 2 playoff wins, and 60 minutes from the Super Bowl gave them the ability to take this path of least resistance for right now. I say for right now, not because I believe that they'll change their mind at some point. I think what we got from them is what they're going to do, which is they're going to stick with this thing, and they have more interest in the new part of the fan base and the younger part of the fan base. But I think we will get something from the brand,

and that will be more likely than not a change in uniforms at some point. All right. That's enough of that. There were so many other emails. There was another email, and I'm looking for it right now, that essentially said, look, the reason they're keeping the name is because they spent $6 billion, and it would take too long for the name to change, and that would slow down the revenue on the new named stuff. That's a really good point.

I can't find that email. Whoever wrote that email to me, you know, the, they can't, if they were to come out and say, were beginning the process of changing the name, then the purchase sales on the commander's gear would slow down significantly. I guess it would. That makes sense to me. And it would take forever. They need the revenue.

They paid $6 billion for the team. They didn't sell out every game. They did much better than they anticipated doing this year. And I would imagine they'll do much better next year. But to come out and to say, hey, we're, you know, looking at something and we're not, you know, we're not sold on keeping the current name and we're going to go through a process, would have slowed down the sale of the merchandise associated with the current name. Now, he didn't have to say anything, you know.

I mean, he could have said what he'd said before the season started, which is we're focused right now on winning. We're focused right now on the stadium. We're focused right now on engaging with the community. That is not a priority for us right now. He could have bailed that way, which is the way he had bailed previously. Anyway, all right. Let's get to Nick Ackridge.

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All right. Joining me right now, Nick Ackridge. Nick is a senior data analyst for pro football focus. We've had Nick on the show many times. You can follow Nick on Twitter on X at PFF underscore Nick Ackridge. Nick I love because Nick's a big fan of our team. He is from here. He is a huge skins fan. He looks at their game.

each week start to finish, even if he doesn't have the responsibility of grading it for PFF. And we will get into what Nick thinks Washington should be looking for in the offseason. But I want to start with what just happened on Sunday in New Orleans. And that was utter destruction by Philadelphia, crushing the Chiefs in Super Bowl 59. and Philadelphia is not only in our conference, but of course, as we all know, they are in our divisions. So let me just first ask you about the game Sunday from your standpoint, from a data analyst standpoint, how impressive were the Eagles,

especially on defense? Yeah, I mean, it was frustrating to watch as a Washington fan, but it was dominant. You kind of have to just tip your captain. They completely just destroyed the chiefs. offense from the start, and it was never really close. It looked like two completely different caliber teams from the start. And yeah, it was frustrating to watch with the crop to them. Their defense was incredible. Incredible indeed. I mean, for me, that's on the short list of the most

dominant performances defensively in a game like that that I've ever seen. I mean, the fact that an Andy Reid- Patrick Mahomes team didn't cross midfield on their first nine drives. And when they did, it was late in the third quarter and the game had already been decided. It's, you know, it makes you think of the old adage that I think many had dismissed. And I think I've talked about, you know, it being a bit outdated as well. But the old adage being, you know, offense puts people in the seats, defense wins championships. Well, the old adage played out on Sunday because defense. won that championship?

Yeah, if you play defense like that, it definitely does. The whole idea of the Eagle defense is, they're very big. It's the whole Fangio scheme that teams have tried to replicate for years now, is just keep everything underneath you. They live in these two high shells. They play a ton of quarters, and they just keep everything underneath them. And it looked to me that the Chiefs wanted to kind of attack that early on, and then they just got down by so much so quickly that they couldn't get back to what really kind of

exposes this defense, and that's the quick passes that we've seen Washington kind of live off of. The quick, short passes that you get the ball out of your hands quickly and then they got down by too much, you can't really afford to try to put together 15 play drives to try to score. And it was just a disaster. So what's the gap between Washington and Philadelphia? I think it's pretty large because right now, you know, Jane Daniels essentially put the entire team on his back. and what he did in the conference championship game, I know the stats aren't going to look too great,

and his grade wasn't that great, but they really didn't stop him at all until the beginning of the second half. I mean, the only people that were really stopping Jay Daniels was the teammates with the fumbles. And you just put him in a position where he's down by 20 already, and he just didn't stand a chance. But it just kind of showed you that the Eagles were able to capitalize

on all those mistakes put themselves up by that amount because their offense was just so efficient, their defense was capitalizing on everything, and that's kind of the difference between the two, the core of the team. I think quarterback-wise, you're always going to have a chance against them because of J. Daniels, but the core of the team, I think they're very, very far behind. Yeah, I mean, I think that that's fair, and I also think, you know, what you said is something that even Philadelphia fans

and Philadelphia players and coaches would admit, and that is the team that gave them the most difficult time, in terms of their defense was Washington's offense. I mean, they moved the football in all of those games. The Thursday night game I kind of toss out in part because it was such a short turnaround, first time facing Fangio. Washington still led, by the way, going into, you know, the latter portions of the game. But they move the football at will on December 22nd and then in the NFC championship game.

The only thing that stopped them was themselves. with turnovers. Why do you think, other than the obvious, the quarterback, are there any other reasons Washington was able to move the football against Philadelphia when Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid didn't have a prayer of moving it against them? I think Washington's No Huddle. That's kind of a good job of, you know, when you are working in that No Huddled game, you do have a lot of quick games, a lot of quick throws, RPO, screens, stuff like that. And that is something to kind of take advantage of with this defense.

It just kind of halters their pass rush, and you see if you're taking longer than the two, two and a half seconds to throw the ball, you're just not going to stand a chance against the defense. So I think really their game plan, you know, the no huddle that they've been running all season, the quick throws, the quick short throws, is a real good way to attack this Eagles defense.

And then you have to be, you have to put yourself in third and fourth and short, which they did in the competition game. And we really saw that in the first drive. but you've got to keep putting yourself in those situations. You get to third and, even really third and six plus. You're just fighting an uphill battle at that point against the defense. I can't believe Andy Reid didn't adjust more and go to a lot of quick game.

I don't know that they would have ever had success running the football in that game. So I don't have as much of an issue with that. I know a lot of people do. I don't know that they would have been able to run the football. And I think they just would have been banging their head against the wall and ending up with second and 11s and second and tens if they had tried to run the football. But I don't know why they didn't throw it quicker, why the ball wasn't coming out of his hands faster.

It was really strange. I mean, their very first play of the game was a really well-designed RPO. Yeah. Holmes gets the ball out of his hands quickly. They get a quick first down, 11, 12 yards, and you think, okay, they can start to move it. But they didn't really do that the rest of the game. I haven't watched back the film of it. I don't know what they were really trying to do too much.

But yeah, it definitely seems strange. It's kind of watching it off broadcast. All right. So we head into an off season. I think it's really important, and I've pointed it out a lot on the show, is that you're not just, you know, there is clearly a gap between Philadelphia and Washington. That's the team you're chasing. But the fact that that team's in your division makes it more imperative that you catch them somehow.

because if you don't win more games than them or you don't win a tiebreaker with the same amount of wins, you're on the road in the postseason, and that's the hard way of trying to win a title. And so where do you start in this offseason? What are the priorities for you? I think you have to start offense and defensive line. I think you have to not get even because you're just not going to get even with what they've built so far. they've got studs everywhere on both sides, but I think you need to

get closer to them. Right now, that was kind of a huge problem. A huge problem. There were three times they played, especially Washington's defensive line against Philly's their line. They just couldn't stand up to them. They were just able to run the ball at will. You saw those

massive, massive games, and yeah, you can bottle them up for as much as you want, but if you're still giving up those 60-yard games, every game, it's just, it's tough to do. So I think you start in the trenches there, D-line, offensive line, really kind of build that up because you've got a quarterback that you've seen can elevate other skill players around him. I think you still do need to go out and get somebody else, but I think it starts with offensive and defensive line.

All right. So if it starts with offensive and defensive line, do you have players in mind yet? No. In terms of draft, not really. free agency, you can go pick some guys from Philly. Milton Williams just had a couple great games back to back. He's a fantastic

pass rusher in the interior defensive line. Not as great of a run defender, but that's the type of guy you're looking at. You can go, again, pick from Dallas, Osa, Digi-Zua. As another guy you can kind of go for. So I think you can see those kind of, again, just building up the bottom, essentially, is what they've been doing with this roster

and just kind of, you know, just like I said, just raising that far, essentially, for the lower players on the roster, I guess, is just kind of just get that depth there. And I think you can see them build with those type of players. You know, Ronnie Stanley from Baltimore, there's going to be free agents that you can get. And everything that I've read so far of this draft is that defensive line is a huge position this year. There's a lot of guys that will be drafted later because of how the position is. On defense, you get to pick one position where you upgrade significantly. Which position would it be? It'd be ad rush for me.

Yeah, I think you just need someone that's more style in the wrong game, but you just need a game record there. And I think Washington's been looking for that for quite a while. Dante Fowler did a good job when he was in there. You just need more from your edge rushers. And I think that that would be the position that I'm looking at the most. How do you feel about the availability of Miles Garrett and perhaps having to give up two first rounders and maybe a night two pick to get him?

Yeah, I've gone back and forth on this. I think Miles Garrett is the best defense player in the game. I think he is the absolute game record that you would need on defense that I just kind of highlighted. But again, for a team that is still needing to build out a large part of their core, giving up that amount of draft picks, is tough to kind of swallow. I kind of lean with going for it because, again, I think just having someone like that, it's kind of the same on office.

When you have a guy like that at edge rusher, it elevates players around him. You get, you know, if Jonathan Allen and Painter still there, you get them more on one-on-one positions. you get the other edge rush around one-on-one positions. It allows a secondary. You're not have to be perfect every single play because no one's getting home. So I think I would go for it. Obviously, it depends on what the Browns are willing to do, but I would go for it.

I would kind of give up those picks for it. Yeah, I've kind of viewed it in a way in which, you know, it's surprising, Nick, right? Because of where we were a year ago and where we've been pretty much, you know, for the last 30-some years beyond your lifespan probably. But it's like this is the first time we've actually been able to talk about a window. Like there's a window open to go win the Super Bowl.

That conversation hasn't been available to Washington fans to discuss for decades. But because they got it right at quarterback and, you know, he proved to be elite and he proved to be elite enough to take him to within one game of the Super Bowl, this is a window to go for it with him on a rookie contest. track. So I'm with you on Miles Garrett, and I agree with you. I think he has been the best defensive player. And I think beyond, and you can tell me where the PFF numbers come in, although I actually think I read from them last week. But he's an outstanding run stopper, an edge setter, in addition to being a dominant game-wrecking pass rusher. Yeah, no, I mean,

at PFF, Lelston, you'll get a lot of, we get a lot of crap from a Cilers fan forward because they obviously love T.J. Watt, but he's been a game record. He's been someone over the past five years. He's always been either one or two in terms of edge rushing grade. Run defense is obviously going to take a little bit of a step back to how great of a pass rush that he is. But when you have that type of guy there, it forces teams to always game plan for him, not just in the past game, but like in the run game. And I think that is, that's just the key that you've been looking for on defense for a long time. And I agree with you. I think if we were talking about a Washington season where, you know, they win six, seven, eight games, like we all kind of thought they would. You would kind of take a pass to this and be like, okay, we don't really have that right now. We still need to build up the core. But like you said, they were one game away from being in the Super Bowl. And I think this is the type of player that can take you to that next level. Yeah, it's even more than one game away from being, you know, from the Super Bowl. Because if they had lost in Detroit, I'd feel this.

same way. You know, if they had won 12 games and lost at the gun in overtime to Tampa, I think I would have felt the same way because ultimately, I could have started with this, but I know we've talked about it in the past, but right now, where do you put Jaden Daniels among quarterbacks in the NFL and then specifically in the NFC? In the NFC, I put him as one. I think he's already established it. It's crazy to say after just a rookie season, and I tend to struggle to say that with guys coming off of just one rookie season. I am a little bit biased, like we've mentioned, because I am a Washington fan, but I do think that he is currently the best quarterback in the NFC. I would put Jalen Hertz kind of right behind him.

Hersch's regular season was not great, but what he's done in his career in the Super Bowl and in the playoffs has been spectacular. No doubt. His career has been in the Super Bowl. this past week. But I would still put him there. I would put him at the top. And in terms of the NFL, I would kind of keep him, I would probably say five, six. Just kind of thinking off, I would put all the ASC guys ahead of him. And then for me, I'd kind of look at it between him and Herbert as that next sort of

spot. If I gave you the choice of, you can only pick one, the playmaker on offense being another receiver or a running back, which would you choose? I would go receiver. I just think you can find quality running backs a lot easier than you can find quality receivers. I think it's going to be tough this year. The receiver class doesn't look to be as great as it has in years past. You might get someone like an Egbuka from Ohio State falling to you at 29. That'd be a great pickup. You can go out in free agency. I don't know if T. Higgins is really something you want to kind of make that splash on. But there's guys out there that you can get. I think for me, I would be looking at, you know, kind of spending big and making that choice as playmaker for

a receiver. All right. Let's take a break. We'll keep Nick around for another segment. out who Nick thinks they should bring back among their own free agents, and we'll look ahead to the draft as well. We'll do that, and more right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So, guys, if you're like me and you've basically been buying and wearing the same type of underwear for years, in my case, boxer briefs, same brand, same type for a long time, well, not anymore for me. I want to tell you about skims for men. something I've discovered recently, the softest underwear I've ever worn. I got a few pairs of the 5-inch boxer briefs so comfortable.

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guys at Pro Football Focus aren't looking ahead to the NFL draft. And I am curious to know that what you think, because I know you've done some work on the quarterbacks in this draft, you know, who you think is, you know, worthy of, you know, a top overall pick, as an example. You know, you've got Tennessee and Cleveland, one, two, both of those teams. You could argue, desperately need quarterbacks. I don't think Cam Ward or Shadur Sanders measures up to the quarterbacks that I had at the top of my list last year, which were Jaden, Caleb, been. I actually thought Pennix Jr. was the third best quarterback in the draft last year. I'm not a big fan of Shaddera Sanders, to be honest with you. I do like Cam Ward, but what do you think?

How have you sized up the quarterbacks in the April 2025 draft? Yeah, I think I'm kind of in agreement with you. I think Cam Ward is going to end up being my number one guy, but like you said, I don't think I would put him above really any of. I wasn't as high on Penix and I was a little bit higher on Nix, but I think I would put Cam Ward kind of in that same group with those three, if we're kind of comparing the three being who? Nick's Pennix, Jr., for you? Nick, Penickson, Ward.

I would kind of put those three together. Got it. I would put him a little bit under McCarthy. I like McCarthy a little bit more than others, but I don't think he really comes close to what I graded last year, Caleb, Drake, and Jane Daniels. But yeah, I think Cam Ward's got some to him. I think his arm is incredible.

The velocity he can put on the ball is next level. I think he's a playmaker. He can get out. He's not the fastest guy in the world, but he's very kind of big and stocky and can make plays outside of the pocket. My biggest concern with him is he's kind of just a little too nonchalant. Yes.

He's really, really calm in the pocket, but it kind of causes him to, he drifts a little bit too much in the pocket, kind of keeps the ball a little bit too low, just doesn't have that sort of urgency that you would need on some downs. It's nice to be calm in the pocket, but sometimes you can be a little bit too calm, and that's kind of my biggest concern with him right now, is just kind of that pocket present. Yeah, there's no doubt. There tends to be kind of a casual look to him dropping back

and then not finding, you know, receiver number one or number two and how he handles that. But I would almost say the same thing a little bit about Shadur Sanders. There's a casual look to him. I just don't think sometimes in watching him, he sees it like Cam Ward does. What do you think? I think with Shador, it's kind of hard with him because of how bad his offense. And really kind of how bad his still group was outside of Travis Hunter. I think for him he was kind of having to put that team on his back at all times,

and I think that has really led to some bad habits. So I don't want to be too harsh on them, but if you're looking at it on the basis of, you know, he's got a decent offensive line. Some of the pocket presents he had was some of the worst I've ever seen. It's really, really bad at times. And, you know, you have to kind of think of, all right, maybe he's just kind of shell-shot because he's been getting hit

or he's been getting pressure on him in under two seconds on almost every single play. And sometimes he doesn't need to scramble, but he will always look to scramble. He kind of always, the drops are a little bit weird, and his dropback, I should say, is a little bit weird at times, and it does cause him to miss some things.

But when he is on time, and he is not kind of looking to scramble, he's a really cerebral quarterback. I think he really knows what he's looking at, really knows what he wants to get to, and his accuracy is really solid. But it's just, I always,

go back to that pocket presence. Is that something you can kind of fix when you go to an NFL pocketing? And if he gets drafted high, he's not going to be going to a great offensive line. So it's really a unique kind of evaluation for me. All right. Last one and back to our team. Who do you want them to keep of their free agents? I think Bobby Wagner.

If Wagner's willing to play another year, I think you got to bring him back. He was so good this year. It was so refreshing to watch some really, really good linebacker play from him and from Lulu. But I think he was so in a result to what Washington did on defense. Saved a lot of errors in the run game. He's not going to be the same guy. He wasn't covered. He just doesn't have that anymore.

But what he was able to kind of do in a run game was really important for his defense. Do you want Ertz back also? Yeah, again, they're both kind of in the same thing. If they want to come back and they're not ready to retire, I think they're so important to this team. What Urge did last year for Jane Daniels was incredible. I don't think we see the same type of season we saw from him without Zach Erd. He's got such a great feel for route running and knowing how to get open

and not just against zone coverage and finding spots. He's a really good man coverage runner. We charge separation on every single route, and he is at the top for almost all tight ends in the NFL, and he's up there with the receivers as well. So he's very solid. And again, if they are willing to come back for another season, I think they need to be a refund.

What's Jeremy Chin going to cost to bring back? Do you have any idea? That was more of a tough one. I think he had some flashes. I think he's a type of guy that he fits in this defense and what they want to kind of do, you know, him being more of a box safety. but if you are looking for someone with more range,

and, you know, Juan Martin isn't really your typical deep safety, and he kind of had to do that this year. So he's tough. It depends on, you know, really, I know that the draft comes second, but it depends on really kind of where you want to go with this defense. If you want to kind of keep playing in that single high look

and you want to keep him in the box, then I'm all for it. I'm all for bringing him back. But if you do kind of want to move, move more towards, you know, too high looks. I think it's going to be, it's going to be tough. We have a projected contract at three years, seven and a half per year, and that kind of makes sense for me.

There are some good safeties in free agency, right? Yeah, Justin Simmons, Justin Reed, Cambinam, Javon Holland is one of the best. So there's some guys out there. They don't necessarily fit. I got to watch them more, but they don't. necessarily fit what Washington does, and I think Jeremy Chin is a good fit. And I wouldn't really mind bringing him back at that kind of, you know, that value. Great job. Hope you're well.

Let's do it again soon. Thanks, Nick. Yep. Appreciate it. Nick Ackridge from Pro Football Focus, everybody. That will wrap it up for today. Back tomorrow with Tommy.