The Kevin Sheehan Show - Preseason Panic + Dianna Russini

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

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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. One guest on the show with me today, Diana Rusini from the Athletic will jump on with me in the next segment. The show's presenting sponsor is always, Window Nation, 86690 Nation, Windonation.com, if you need new windows. This from Trey to kick off the show.

Trey writes, Kevin. I really appreciate you and tend to agree with you on most of your takes. But you really drive me nuts this time of year with how lackadaisical you are about the preseason. Sure, there were starters missing, but you had Johnny Newton on the show, and he played against the Patriots, and he's going to play in the regular season, if you're right about him. The preseason sets the season tone for team attitude, and last night's game was a bad tone. I think you are too flippant about the preseason,

and while wins and losses don't mean much, attitude does. Thank you, Trey for that. Trey obviously wrote in on Saturday. I did have Johnny Newton, by the way, on my recap podcast Friday night following the 48 to 18 30-point loss in Foxborough. I thought in his limited snaps,

he looked quick, athletic, made the play of the night for Washington, the sack-forced fumble in the first half. There weren't many plays to choose from in terms of positive. But Johnny Newton did play the other night, and he is going to be, I think, a contributor and I think a good player for them this year. It's not because of what he did, though, against New England on Friday night. Now, as far as being lackadaisical about the preseason tray, I'm not sure if that's strong enough for how I feel about the preseason.

I am completely unconcerned about anything that happens in preseason games except injuries. You know, unless the team plays its starters against the other team's starters for like three quarters or more than a half, but that hasn't happened in years. injuries are the only thing that I'm ever concerned about. By the way, let me digress for one moment. Eagles pro-Bull guard Landon Dickerson, injured in practice yesterday. We will know later today I think they are doing an MRI

in terms of the seriousness of the injury. It's knee-related, but he needed to be carted off the field and teammates were on their knees praying. You know, Brandon Sheriff is still out there as an unsigned free agent. But Landon Dickerson, for the Eagles, that would be a big loss if it's serious. Injuries are a real thing, obviously, in preseason games. Player evaluation is a real thing, too, but more so for coaches than for us.

You know, player evaluation in preseason games can be tricky for us because we're not really sure how the player's performance is affected by who they're going against or who they're playing with. Not to mention that a lot of what happens in preseason games, the goal isn't play success or game success. It is evaluation. And the coaches know what they're looking at. Now, there are examples where we can clearly evaluate as fans. A kicker misses a kick, like Matt Gay did on Friday night. A running back fumbles. You know, a wide receiver drops three balls.

A quarterback misses over and over again with no pressure and wide open receivers. Of course. Like, you know, especially I think more so, you know, struggling performances are easy for us to evaluate. But for the most part, you know, the coaches use these games to evaluate players and mostly players who won't end up being on the roster. By the way, I saw that PFF, my guy, Nick Ackridge, they put grades out on some of the players. I think even Nick would agree that this evaluation for PFF isn't easy.

You know, and the coaches can sort of put it side by side with the practices and even the joint practice, but it's hard for us to figure it out. For me, I just don't see any reason other than that. again, losing key players to injury, I don't see any reason to be concerned about almost everything else that happens in a preseason game. So, Trey, when you say the preseason sets the season tone for team attitude and last night's game was a bad tone, I mean, I will say what I said Friday night after the game, I thought it was sloppy, I thought it lacked energy and I pointed out that last year's preseason no matter who was in the game there was energy

there was enthusiasm Quinn said the same thing after the game he was disappointed with the energy level he said it was way too sloppy but while I acknowledge that I observed Friday night a lack of hustle if you will and a lack of execution I am not concerned even a little bit. 30 players did not suit up on Friday night against the Patriots and included in those 30 every projected starter for opening day against the Giants with the exception of kicker, punter, long snapper, and then maybe Josh Conner Lee Jr. their first round pick. He played 21 snaps in the game on Friday night. Other than that, 30 players who all or almost all will be on the final 53-man roster did not see the field against the Patriots.

Trey, by the way, wasn't the only one who reached out pressing me on my lack of legit interest in preseason games, and by the way, being a little bit alarmed about the result. This from Austin. Austin writes, Kevin, I know you don't care much about this, but it looks like they're living off last year's success. Overconfidence would be devastating to a team that overachieved as much as this team did last year. Living off last year's success, we got to do better than that, people. We have to.

The players who play in the games that matter for our team starting in September did not play on Friday night. How could Austin you possibly see evidence of the team living off last year's success when the majority of the players who played in the game won't even be on the roster when we get to week one against the Giants? Look, do the math on this, right? 58 players played on Friday night, position players, not kicker, punter, you know, long snapper and holder. Trusway is the punter and the holder.

58 players played in the game on Friday night against the Patriots. Of those 58, about 19 of them will make the team. 19. So 39 of the 58 position players who played in the game won't be on the final 53-man roster. I did the math on this. Follow me. Of the 30 that sat out, okay?

29 are pretty much locks to make the team. Then you add kicker, punter, long snapper to that list. That gets you to 32 spots accounted for. Add another 1 to 2 players that are not on the roster right now, but will get added between now and opening day. And that accounts for 34 of the 53 spots. That leaves 19 spots not accounted for, 58 players played on Friday night, 39 won't be on the roster.

Some will be on the practice squad, but if you're going to get nervous or worked up over a preseason game in which 39 of the 58 players who played for your team won't be on the roster when the real games begin, you've got to take a deep breath. Now, two things. One, the players who for the most part aren't going to make the team, they did not play well. They did not play with enough energy and enthusiasm, as mentioned. And two, listen to this, because I looked this up. In the preseason, it is notable that giving up 48 points is unique.

Losing by 30 or more happens. I'm not concerned. I'm just mentioning something that is notable. The 48 points scored by the Patriots on Friday night in a preseason game were the most by any team in the league in a preseason game since 2022 when the dolphins beat the Eagles 48 to 10. So three years it's been since somebody scored at least 48, and the Dolphins scored 48.

It's actually been since 2018 since somebody scored more than 48 in a preseason game. The Packers put up 51 on the Steelers in a game back in 2018. Now, the Eagles, after getting beat in the preseason in 2022, 48 to 10 by the Dolphins, they did go on to a 14 and 3 regular season.

and oh, by the way, the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Chiefs. I'm sure in the moment three summers ago, there were Philadelphia Eagle fans not happy with losing 48 to 10 in the preseason, but it is meaningless unless there were a lot of injuries in the game. This from Jha. Jha writes, big night for Terry McLauron on Friday night. You keep saying the team has all the leverage, Kev, but did you see how bad the receivers on the roster are? No, I actually didn't see how bad the receivers on the roster are because a few key receivers who will be on the roster on opening day did not play.

Debo Samuel did not play. And your guy, my guy too, I like Terry McLaren a lot, he didn't play. He's going to play when the real games begin. Also, I'll add to this, I thought the Louisville kid, Jacori Brooks, I thought he actually, you know, evaluating the player as best as we can for whatever it's worth from our seat, which is not, you know, the best seat to evaluate a player. But I thought he stood out as much as anybody did from the game on Friday night. So no, I didn't. I saw a lot of this sentiment on social media. I'm personally completely discounting it. No leverage gained at all on Friday night.

In my opinion, if they were so concerned, if the team were so concerned, they would have signed a receiver at some point since the joint practice in the game on Friday night. You know what? They have not. They actually worked out 14 players yesterday. Not one wide receiver did they work out in the 14. Not one. They signed three of the players that worked out for them today. Not one wide receiver.

They signed cornerback Esseng Bassi, a cornerback Antonio Hamilton, and a linebacker Duke Riley. They released a couple of players, including Dominic Campton, a draft pick from last year. So that's the first draft choice of the Adam Peters era that has been released. Also, the tackle they signed. a few weeks ago, Lucas Nying, tore his ACL, so they had to put him on injured reserve. But Dan Quinn today, just a little while ago, was asked about not adding a wide receiver, or not having a wide receiver worked out with the 14 players that came in and worked out yesterday. And he said, quote, we're always looking to improve, but we do like what we're seeing. And then he said, but you have to push it.

So I guess he was just, you know, we like what we're seeing, but they've got to get better. But they weren't alarmed like, you know, like Jawa was that somehow, you know, the appearance in joint practice time against the Patriots or in the preseason game against the Patriots was super alarming. Yeah, I mean, Debo is not on the field. Luke McCaffrey was sick. Noah Brown's still working his way back to, you know, 100. And Terry's going to be there. Look, I think Terry has the same amount of financial leverage he had last week, which is none. Does he have leverage in other areas?

Emotional, you know, as we've talked about previously, you know, the supposed non-quantifiable risk of why isn't the team taking care of a guy like Terry and, you know, some sort of, you know, fallout from that with their own players and agents, whatever, you know, maybe there's some leverage there. But like I've said, in my opinion, not enough to overpay him by a lot. I just, I think a lot of that stuff is overrated. I think it's important and I think that they would be willing maybe to come up a little bit for Terry, although, you know, where we were as of last week and we're going to talk about Diana. We're going to talk to Diana about this coming up about the situation and what she knows about the situation. But if that gap is between 25 and 33, you know, it's still a big gap. But Terry's under contract. You know,

I did not see Terry gain, in my opinion, I did not see Terry gain much leverage financially last week. Unless you get a slew of injuries to the position, I can't see him getting any leverage financially in his conversations with the team, unless he were to hold out a regular season game and the team really struggle for a game or two. And that would provide him with just some financial leverage. Before we get to Diana, I did want to mention a couple of things from preseason week number one. In Jacksonville on Saturday night, I'm sure you guys saw this, Jags kicker Cam Little made a 70-yard field goal at the end of the first half against the Steelers. It's the longest field goal ever made in an NFL game.

It will not count as an official record because it's the preseason. So Justin Tucker's 66-yarder in Detroit is still the record. But Little's kick was good from 70 yards out, and the kick wasn't indoors or in Denver. And if you look at a list of the longest field goals in NFL history, many of them, if not a majority of them, are indoors or at altitude in Denver. This kick was 70 yards, outdoors, and not at elevation. There is that K-ball rule that's in effect this year.

They change the rule in terms of being able to. a break in the kicker balls. They use a different football for their kicks. The rule was previously that you could try to break them in starting an hour before a kickoff. Now they're allowing teams to break these footballs in before the game on whenever it is, Sunday, Monday, night, Thursday night, etc. I don't know if that will lead to more super long field. goals. I've thought for many years it's only a matter of time before we get a 70-yard field goal

in a game. It doesn't count in the record books because it's preseason, but still, what an impressive kick for Cam Little, who was outstanding last year in his first year in Jacksonville. I think he was like 27 of 28, something like that, and was five of six from 50 and beyond. Also something else from this weekend's, you know, preseason slate. It's a bit strange, and I don't have an explanation for it. But there were a lot of points scored in preseason week number one. In fact, 14 of the 16 games went over the over-under total. Eight teams scored 30 or more points. I don't have an explanation for it. Obviously, we know New England scored 48 most since 2022. I don't have an ex- I really don't have an explanation for it. Last year, I just went back and looked.

Last year in preseason week number one, all of the games were low scoring. The unders went 12 and four, and only two teams scored 30 or more points versus eight teams scoring 30 or more this year. But yeah, the overs were 14 and 2. The overs. If you bet preseason football and I don't, but I do look at it. The totals are very low for preseason games because usually the games are low scoring. So most of these games sailed over the total. And by the way, of the two unders, one of those was the Detroit game where the Lions player got injured and they stopped the game. They ended the game in the fourth quarter. He's apparently doing well. I think it was a concussion, but there was major worry in the moment. Vegas has moved up.

a lot of their totals for this upcoming preseason week number two from where they were prior to this past weekend. Washington plays Cincinnati on Monday night. It is the highest total in preseason week number two at 43. It was 39 on Friday. And then all the scoring from over the weekend, they bumped it up to 43. I would think a week from tonight against the Bengals, we're going to see starters. for at least a series or two. You know, Cincinnati played many of their starters

against the Eagles the other night. Joe Burrow included two touchdown drives against the Eagles. The Eagles were not playing starters, but Jamar Chase was in the game, T. Higgins was in the game, Chase Brown, a lot of the starters on the offensive line. And that's the plan for Zach Taylor because the Bengals have started off seasons so slowly. So he's trying to change things up.

and play his starters more in the preseason. By the way, football-related, but not NFL. Three weeks from tonight, Bill Belichick's debut as North Carolina's head coach, Labor Day Night in Chapel Hill, or Chapel Bill, they call it now, against TCU. That's the Labor Day Night, week one college football slate game, Belichick's debut as the Tar Heels coach. That should be fun to watch. By the way, cannot wait for real football.

I mean, we are now less than two weeks away from week zero. We'll have games a week from Saturday, including a game of ranked teams, Iowa State and Kansas State, in Dublin. That'll happen on the 23rd of August, and then August 30th is the first full Saturday. And we'll have a one-versus-two matchup, although the AP poll came out today, and Texas was number one, but in the AP, Penn State was two, Ohio State was three.

In the coaches poll, Texas's one, Ohio State is two, and that will be the first ever week one matchup between number one and number two. There are other really good games. LSU at Clemson, that's Saturday night of opening weekend. LSU's ranked ninth Clemson is ranked fourth in the AP. That will be a hell of a football game. Cannot wait for real football. This is painful for me this time of year. I watch it because I have to. Our team, I don't watch any other preseason game.

I didn't watch any of it over the weekend. It's cool that football's back on TV. You know, that's comforting, obviously. But in terms of what's going on in these games, totally meaningless, except for those that are really in the midst of it and in the middle of it, coaches, players, etc. All right, Diana Rusini will join me next after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment brought to you by Window Nation if you're thinking about new windows because you've got

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Call them today, 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. mention me, all right, and they will take really good care of you. All right. Joining me right now is Diana Rusini, of course, an NFL insider for the athletic. And of course, locally here at Channel 4 for a few years, you know, I looked this up. Do you know it's been a decade since you left Channel 4 to really launch your national? That's what I'm guessing, that the move to ESPN launched your kind of NFL reporter national, national career, and it's been 10 years since that happened. How, how, how, how?

The thing is, I actually knew that only because I recently was around the commanders and got to see the great group of media that covered them so well and all my old friends, and it's just, it's like seeing, it was a reunion, it was like seeing family. Some of the best people I've ever met in my life, not even professionally, just in my life, I met in Washington and covered the team. Yeah. So it was so great to see everybody. And look, I will, here's my observation, Kev, from just knowing so many the reporters that cover the team.

When the team does well, it's like everyone's lives are better in general. It's like people are buying houses, having more children, are more in love. And I'm like, maybe this is correlation here when the commanders win, everyone wins. So yeah, time has flown, and I would not even, I would have nothing without my time in Washington. I can tell you that. I don't know about increasing, like, love and family size, but, you know, it is interesting that for years as we wallowed in this team's misery, you know, people that have done what I've done, which is, you know, hours upon hours every single day, you know, kind of long form, you know, sports radio, sports. podcasting, the whole thing. So many fans would say, oh, you love this.

You love the drama. You love how, and I'm like, no, no, no, you don't get it. Look, if they were good, if they, do you know how much more lucrative it would be for everybody if they were the Patriots? And, you know, sometimes I would say, yeah. I didn't know what that was like when I was in Washington. I didn't understand, because I used to hear that too. Yeah.

Like, oh, you know, you just want to stir it up. You want the drama. You want RG3 and Kirk Couss to fistfight for the ratings. And it's what we're going to happening is because the team is so bad, it's hard to keep the interest. So most bad teams fall apart. That's usually what happened. So it is a mix of us and them.

But it wasn't until I got to ESPN and the way they run their operation is, as you grow with the company and run up the ranks, you get the better teams. So by those last few years that I was there, I was covering the chiefs, the bills, you know, all the teams that were winning all the time. And I'm like, this is amazing. When you cover a team that's winning from a media perspective

because everyone wants to talk because everyone's happy because they won. And people are just, it's just simple human nature. Every just in a good move, their families are happy. So, yeah, just seeing that, the commander's success. And I know it's just one year, but we know that the potential's there. And I will perhaps see this again, this upcoming season. I sure hope so. But it just truly has an effect on everybody. Yeah, no doubt. It's much better. Look, you know, seven and nine, eight and eight

with no drama, that's not great either. And some of those days of real controversy, real drama, the whole thing. It was probably better if it wasn't going to be 12 and 4 in the postseason, but still, winning is so much better than anything else. And by the way, it's so much easier and more fun to talk about. Speaking of winning, let's just get to not the preseason loss the other night, but the big story, which remains the story today here in Washington. What are you hearing about Terry and his contract negotiation or lack thereof? with the team. What's the latest? I continue to hear of all the hold-ins and hold-outs and weird contract situations that are going

on around the league outside Washington, that this is the best situation in terms of people feeling like it's going to get done, that Terry wants to be there, that the Washington front office, and of course the coaching staff and the team and ownership, they want Terry there. And this is just going to come down to some give and some realities that have to set in for both sides of where things want to be. It's been laid out a million times on your show on what Terry's looking for, why he's looking for it, what the commanders are wanting and why they want it.

And I do think there's a lot of feelings in this one, and that always complicates it, because it's not just about the stats and the numbers, and granted, we know that they're using his age as a very, very big reason to all the reasons why the player wants to get paid, right? It's like, well, you're going to be 30 in September. You're going to be 30 in September.

You don't, historically, you know, receivers aren't getting better after the age of 30. And if you see around the league, most receivers aren't getting paid at the number that McClaren's Camp is looking for at the age he's going to be. So, look, when I talk to other people just around the league watching this, you know, it's, I had one GM described to me in the AFC. It's really champagne problems. I don't understand why they don't just kind of meet halfway unless it doesn't have to be as hard because Washington has such a good situation financially. They've got a young quarterback, and sometimes these are things you've got to do when you're going all in. And I just don't think Washington's willing to do that right now.

And I don't think the number that Terry wants is going to be the number that Terry winds up getting. And in the end, yes, that hurts for him. But, you know, Washington knows, and especially after seeing some of these practices, I saw them myself. Terry McCloran needs to be a Washington commander. So let's just start with like the assumption. You've had some reporting. ESPN's had reporting. We're finally like in that 25 to 33 range. Terry wants, let's just call it 33 to DK Metcalf dealer somewhere around there.

And the team's offered like 25, which is basically a 10% increase from where he is right now. why do you think from the team standpoint they don't see him as worth more than that? Because of what I just said about the age. And I think a lot of Terry's case will call it of why he wants to be paid in that 30 million range has to do with what he's done. And I think it's hard for an organization to sign a player who is going to age. Now, you look back at his health, he hasn't missed a game since 2021. He's done all the right things. I can spend an hour on this show talking about all the reasons

by Terry McClure is the perfect commander. But for some reason, there's a philosophy here from the decision makers and perhaps maybe even ownership because a lot of these big deals, you've got to get the owner to sign off on this. So it makes me wonder of like what kind of conversations are being had about what's the point where they're saying, okay, we're willing to give here. because I do think the example you gave where you were like 25 to 33

I think those are the extremes on both side I think there's been numbers closer to between those discussed but I can just tell you that McCloren's camp really wants that number to be in the three

or at least that first number to be three I just realistically I just don't think that's going to be it and I hate to keep taking it of Washington, because I know you want me to tell you exactly what Adam Peters is thinking, and I don't know. But when I ask other general managers of, you know, how would you have handled this? You know, most of the should have just been done earlier.

You know, we're criticizing Jerry, obviously, all the time for the way he's handling the Micah situation and other general manager around the league are waiting too long. This is one of those where I don't necessarily believe it needed to get done this late, or at least people believe that as well. So now here we are, where we're going to get, we're in the meat of the camp, right? Where everyone, the coaches and the game planners here are going to start getting worried that Terry McClure is not out there.

And sometimes that pressure from the staff can change the way this thing turns out. All right. So how do you think it ultimately gets resolved? What's your hunch on how it finishes here? My hunch is Terry gives, which, you know, you've seen them out there with his agent Buddy Baker and, you know, not only are they professionally, you know, friends, but they're personally good friends. You know, they have a great relationship, Terry and Buddy. And there appears to be an amazing loyalty that they have

to one another. But I think at some point here, because I just have a hard time believing Terry wants to be anywhere else. And teams around the league don't think Terry wants to go anywhere. Yes, he asked for a trade. But Washington is not, they're not on the phone right now with the Houston Texans having a discussion of what that trade package would look like. Not from my knowledge. And by the way, I use that Houston, Texas is just an example. I'll try to think of a team that could use a receiver. But it's, so to me, this is all just deemed to get to what, it's almost like when you're going to do like a bad breakup and you're doing all these things.

Like, let's get to it. And I just think they have to get to that point where someone's going to have to give and it's going to probably be Terry in this one. Do you have a guess as to what he gives, you know, what the number is when he ends up giving? Is it less than 30? I made this horrible mistake on Dan Patrick last, or during the off season. What did you do? You had a guess. Oh, so bad.

And I text them or a Texas producer. I'm like, I can't believe I just did that because the guessing thing, when a reporter people think it's what you're saying and drive me crazy. I think it was about, it was before Aaron signed Aaron Rodgers. And he's like, all right, let's just guess. He's prefaced it. he like credit to Dan he was like just make a wild guess right there. Well that's why I'm asking

you just a hunch. A hunch? I think it lands between 27, 28. Okay. I think everyone gives a little Terry doesn't get the three but look that's another thing to

in terms of his value the number I get around the league is that. So it doesn't, it actually makes sense that that's what I actually, my instinct is going, is that. But even before this got to this point, and I was trying to understand how other teams would value him if they were in Adam Peter's situation, most have said to ground that number. So I think that's, I think that's how it goes. Are you, are you guessing something different? No, the one thing

that has been obvious, or at least I think it's obvious, is the team has all of the leverage here, because he's under contract. You know, he's under contract. And as you talk about, about age, age plays into the way they may see a long-term deal. It's like, you know, really, if we just pay him the final year of his deal and then if we use the tag next year, that is less money the next two years and we get to pay as we go rather than laying it all out up front and then into escrow, you know, 50 to 60 million. And I think financially, it actually in many ways makes more sense for the team to just have him play. Terry's going to play. He can't not play. And so, and then have the flexibility of the tag. And then in 2027, that's his age 32 season.

They'll try to make a plan to replace him by then. I mean, that's, you do agree they have all the leverage, right, the team? I don't have to agree they have all the leverage. I think you can make some points that they need Terry. Like I know what you're saying, like Terry could play, but maybe Terry doesn't. I don't think he's got the stomach for it, but he may choose not to do it. But who knows? You don't know what happens when it comes down to it. You know, but the point that as someone that I was talking to, close to the commanders

was talking to me about, we were just discussing just the culture that's being built there, and we weren't talking specific to Terry. and honestly Terry is a big reason why things are so good and not only just because of the production but everything he does off the field in the meeting rooms and the way he's so beloved by everybody. But this contract situation has the eyes of every agent and every other player

of how are they going to handle this? How are they going to treat the good guy? How are they going to treat the guy? He's not only good as a character, but good, you know, as a player. This is the prime example. This is like the Dan Quinn guy in terms of how he wants his players

to be. So I think there's some of that in play here in terms of leverage, right? Where this can work, this is where Terry can have a little bit of like, hey, I'm the example of doing it the right way. Like, so pay me for that reason, whereas, you know, Washington's coming the other way. Like, we're not paying you for what you've done, buddy, because

that just doesn't work like that man afl. Right. So, so we'll see how this goes, but I, again, I don't, I don't get the sense that they're going to trade him for real or that this isn't going to work out. I just, I, I, I just, it's like, who's going to have the stomach for this in the next week or two to just go,

all right, I give, you know? Right. You know, look, I've said all along, there is some emotional leverage that Terry has, and that kind of speaks, you kind of just spoke to that to a certain degree. There's a little bit of risk that the team takes by not treating the guy, the good guy, in a way that everybody around the league says, yeah, that's how you should treat it, Terry McClorn. I have a feeling if it was 28-year-old, good guy, Terry, it would be done. Oh, my goodness, this thing is done. Look, Terry, I know what it's like. It stinks to get old as in general.

So when I was watching them practice in New England, I was up there in Foxborough. You know, I was talking to some people on the Patriots staff. I'm like, you know, I just love picking the brains of people watching it and who know what the heck they're doing. and, you know, one guy said to me, they sure miss Terry. And, you know, just as we're walking off, I'm like, yep, don't say that too loud in front of Washington. They don't want to hear it, you know, but it was pretty apparent, and I'm sure you saw the reporting on it as well. Yeah, I mean, I think that they also have this sense that Jaden can elevate everything around him. They have a true elite quarterback.

In fact, that's on my list of questions for you. Who's a better quarterback in the NFC than Jaden Daniels heading into 20? I sure as I can't think of one. In terms of just the presence, the understanding, the comprehension, everything you hear about him, he is a store. And being around him, you feel it. But, you know, if we were to rip through, obviously, I'm always going to show tremendous amount of respect to Matthew Stafford of what he's been able to do, what he says. I'll take Matthew Stafford.

Obviously, somebody dealing with back issues, something that he's been dealing with. with for a really long time. I'm curious to see how this is going to play. They've got Jimmy Garoppel in L.A. as a backup. Sean McVease appears to love the guy, so we'll see that. But, you know, Gary Gough had a good season or two. I wouldn't put him above Bade in no way. Look, probably the sexiest debate, you know, I could have right now if we want to do

it, is Jalen Hertz. You know, Jailen Hurts just on a Super Bowl. Yep. Is Jailen Hurts better than Jaden. you know, and I think you're going to get a lot of different opinions, but I think most are going to say if you continue to give hurts the roster that he got hasn't filled. He's going to keep having that success.

I just don't know if he has that same kind of success if you put him on the Cowboys, if you put them on the Titans. I'm just thinking of random teams that have some holes. So, yeah, I don't think you're a lunatic for saying that Jade and Dan, is the best quarterback in the NFC. I'm with you. How does the Micah Parsons thing end? Man, you talk about emotions.

This thing is wild. And look, it comes with the Cowboys. Like anything, Dallas is insane. So, about, I guess it was over, I guess it was two weeks ago now, when it, just a little over, where it started, and I started here rumblings about this, that he had in his draft, in his Twitter,

this letter that he wrote that his agent helped him with to basically say I'm done I want to trade I want out I never want to be a Dallas Cowboy again and it was watered down a bit once it came out it wasn't as sharp as I was expecting it to be

but the fact that there was confusion over what this one and a half to two day conversation was about his contract is really poking a lot of different people different ways part of the organization

and with Michael Parsons people. Obviously, you've heard and seen his agent, David Muligeta, who's one of the biggest agents in football. And so where we're at right now is until they have a conversation, until the agent and Jerry Jones talk,

because no one else is allowed to talk about this deal in that building. It's only Jerry. It's a Jerry show. By the way, in other contracts, there have been other people allowed to do the deals, right? Jerry's always got his eye off. and he's mentioning things, but he doesn't do every single deal in Dallas. This one, if you call their front office right now, let's say, let's say, Muligeta, you're transferred to Jerry's office.

They don't even have a conversation with him. Not saying Jerry picks up because he doesn't. So until they have a conversation, it's not going to get worked out. And every day that goes by, you know, you have to wonder because this is starting to feel very personal. Now I say that, and I had a conversation with it. the GM this morning about the situation because everyone's so nosy. And he said, oh, you know, this is going to work out.

They're going to pay them. And it's just going to be so over the market. It's good to be obnoxious. And they'll get it done before we've won. And this is one big waste of the summer. But I guess it's something we need to talk about because what else are we talking about when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys if we're not talking about this. Yeah.

Well, I mean, this, and I opened up the show with just trying to answer and calm people down about Washington's 30-point loss in a preseason game in which 30. Why is everyone flipping out? I see it on Twitter. I'm surprised. No, I'm not surprised. But relax. Yeah, it's silly.

It's silly season. But what you were just talking about, that stuff matters. Injuries matter. Contract negotiations matter. And I think the Cowboys thing, it sounds like that's what will happen. You know, it'll get done like the Sunday morning or they play Thursday night against the Eagles. And it'll happen like that Wednesday afternoon before the opener. which is crazy.

Exactly. During the National Anthem, you know, it'll break, and we'll be like, oh, so I told you. Diana Rossini, the athletic reporting, as the National Anthem's going on, that Micah Parsons just signed a contract extension, four years, whatever the millions, it would be, what would...

55 million a year. 55 million. Some overpriced, by the way, if it's 55. I called something on the show once. Because people still stop me about it. And I always say, I guess, but they viewed it through, like I was reporting, but we play the game that you and I would play together. What do you think?

How do you play? You know what I think it was ownership? I think it was commander's ownership. Who was going to buy them? Right. And I said that at the time Josh Harris and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever I said. And people like, man, she's the best. She knows.

She nailed it. If it turns out to be 55, call me the same. second it comes out whether it's me breaking or someone else, I will hop on the show immediately. We can laugh about it. You know what? That happens all the time. Sometimes you really are. You know, you just throw something out there. You got to take credit for those, though. No, but you did the right thing. That's self-awareness, Diana, to make fun of yourself accidentally, you know, backing into one with Josh Harris. All right. Last question. This time of year,

we know there's going to be a team that we think right now isn't going to be. good, that will be good. Last year, Washington went from 4 and 13 to 12 and 5. Do you have a guess as to the big turnaround team in 2025? The New England Patriots, and it has everything to do with their quarterback. Well, let me preface this with, I think 1A is their head coach Mike Brable. I think 1B is Drake May. We can debate what's more important, but the fact that something is building there that is not like what it was when Tom Brady was there, but has that same quality of discipline, detail-oriented. This team is a little bit more gritty, a little bit more tightness, obviously, because of

their coach, but it's like a Titan team with the quarterback that's good. And I can see on the sidelines when I've been around them just watching growth and seeing it's working. Sometimes a lot of head coaches come in, and it's interesting to watch how their philosophies are digested and how it shows itself in practice and on the field. And I've seen little things already. I'm like, wow, they're bought in.

And I think that's a good thing. I mean, it's a former coach of the year that's in charge. He's got tons of familiarity and insight and just a lunatic when it comes to game management and ways to take advantage of bad football. It's kind of the phrase they like to use around New England now. Like, how can we take advantage of bad football instead of trying to figure out how to be so great individually. So to me, they're going to be the team, I think, that makes a little splash. Also, by the way, let's also keep in mind it was so bad last year, right?

Right. Right. It's such a disaster. So I'm interested to see them. I'm interested to see the Houston Texans take a step. I don't know what happened last year. I don't know why C.J. struggled the way he did. But that's the growth I'm most interested in.

But other than that, those are the two teams that really stick out. Thanks for doing this, as always. Hope you're well. This is great. I'll see you the season, right? Yep. Bye. Diana Rusini, everybody. At DM Rusini on X on Twitter. Diana writes for the athletic.

You should subscribe to that, and she's got a podcast with former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel called Scoop City. All right, we've got more show, and we'll get to it right after these words from a few of our sponsors. If you haven't rated or reviewed this show and you don't mind doing it for us, it's a huge benefit for us. It takes 30 to 60 seconds to do it on Apple and Spotify. Following this show is a big deal for us as well. Just hit the follow button. It's really easy.

The follow button is down the left-hand side on Spotify. It's in the upper right on Apple. Dan Quinn today said that the team will hold an intrast squad scrimmage tomorrow. It's Burgundy versus gold. Now, the purpose of it, I would assume, is to mix things up because they had a game on Friday night and they don't have another game preseason game until a week from tonight. So a big gap between games between the Patriots game and the Cincinnati game. And from what I understand, it'll be the first team offense against the second team defense, second team defense against second team offense against the first team defense, which is pretty much what they do every day anyway.

But Quinn also weighed in on a couple of injuries on Marcus Marioita's injury, because he's been out now for a while. He said he's getting closer, but he's not there yet. Tunsell exited yesterday's practice early, Laramie Tunsell did, but Quinn said today that he anticipated Tunsel participating in what was going to be a jog through today before tomorrow's Intras Squad scrimmage. The big talk around the NFL this weekend was Shadur Sanders. His debut started for Cleveland in their preseason game against the Panthers.

he went 14 for 23, 13-138 yards and two touchdowns, and made a couple of very impressive, tight window throws. I was not a big fan of Shadur Sanders coming out. I did not think he looked to me like a first-round quarterback coming out of Colorado. The biggest thing with him is not his ability to throw the football. He can throw the football. He can also create.

It's just so many of those games. he just held it forever and seemed not to see it quickly enough. But the other night, the ball was getting out quickly. Again, preseason, people going nuts. The reports out of Cleveland today are that Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco is going to be the starter when the regular season starts. I think Kenny Pickett and Dylan Gabriel are actually banged up. Flacco turned 40 in the off season.

This will be his second stint with Cleveland. He led them to the playoffs two years. years ago, and then they got absolutely blown out by the Texans. Here's a schedule, though, for an NFL team to start 2025. The Cleveland Browns have it. Cincinnati at home, week one, at Baltimore, week two, Green Bay at home, week three, then at Detroit, week four. Then they play an international game against the Vikings, and then they're at

Pittsburgh when they come back. Wow, that is a brutal start. I think the Giants also have a really difficult start. The Giants start with us, then Dallas, the Chiefs, and the Chargers. That's month number one for the Giants. Jackson Dart apparently turned some heads in a positive way with his performance. He was 12 of 19 for 154 yards, one touchdown, no picks. People are excited about his performance.

but apparently Russell Wilson looked good. I think in New York, Russell Wilson's going to be the starter there because they've got to win. And starting a rookie quarterback, it's just more times than not, last year being an aberration in the year before with C.J. Stroud being an aberration,

but more times than not, you start a rookie quarterback, you're going to end up with a losing team. And Brian Dable, Joe Shane, they need to win. They pick Jackson, Apparently he's looked impressive during practices, but I bet they end up going with Russell Wilson. I'm telling you, I know I've said this about the Giants a few years running, but if they can get just average quarterback play, their defense should be really good, especially now adding Abdul Carter to the mix.

They added Javon Holland in the offseason to their secondary. The Giants, they're not going to be an easy week one opponent. I don't think they'll be easy. They ran the football a little bit last year. It's going to be interesting, though, in the quarterback front. How long before Jackson Dart gets his opportunity? I say it's not against Washington in week one. And then they don't play Washington.

We don't play the Giants again until December. So maybe it's that game that we'll see Jackson Dart. But the Giants should be really good on DeWson. defense. So the offense will get tested in week one defensively, I think, by the Giants. And last year, remember, going into that Tampa opener. That was going to be a test, you know, against Tampa and week one. And we talked about their schedule last year early on that Jaden and Kingsbury were going to get tested early against Tampa and New York in particular. And then they had Cleveland and Baltimore, remember, in weeks five and six. So they played four good defensive teams.

going into the season last year in the first six games. This year, you know, the giant defense should be good. Green Bay's defense should be good. Chargers defense, week five, pretty good. The bigger, you know, conversation will be about the offenses and the quarterbacks they're playing this year. But a giant game will be here before we know it. Right now, Washington, a six and a half point favorite at My Bookie.

to mybooky.ag and use my promo code. Kevin D.C., they'll give you a cash bonus on your initial deposit. How about the Nats weekend? They took two of three from the Giants in San Francisco. Mackenzie Gore had one of the best outings of the season following one of his worst outings of the season. They blanked the Giants, ate nothing yesterday. And McKenzie Gore went six complete, three hits, no runs, one walk, and ten strikeouts. That followed the disastrous start against the A's last week where he gave up eight earned runs and 12 hits in just three innings. By the way, James Wood hit leadoff against the Giants over the weekend and had his best stretch of games in a while. Over the weekend, he was,

went five for 14 with a home run and six RBIs. He had four doubles, too, in three games. He had been struggling a bunch. That's his first home run. You've got to go all the way back to July 9th for his last home run. So he's got 25. He was stuck on 24 for over a month. I think that's it.

That's it. Here is some news, though, on the big injury yesterday. Landon Dickerson's injury is a meniscus injury. They hope to have them back for the opener Thursday night, September 4th, at home against the Cowboys. So it appears as if it's not a super serious, perhaps season-ending injury. That's the report that just came out here via Adam Schefter of ESPN. All right, that's it for the day. Back tomorrow with Tommy.