The Kevin Sheehan Show - Redskins Draft Talk with JP

Episode Date: April 15, 2020

JP Finlay/NBC Sports Washington joined Kevin on the show today. Lots of Redskins draft talk along with a few Trent Williams trade scenarios. Could Tua be the surprise guy to fall in the draft? That along with Dr Fauci's opinion on the return of sports....some Kirk Cousins and Christian McCaffery talk too. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right, happy Wednesday to everybody, even though all morning long on my radio show, I thought it was Thursday. Getting a little confused these days. I kept referring this morning on the radio show to the draft starting a week from tonight. It would actually be a week from tomorrow night. Today is Wednesday, April 15th. For those of you still keeping track, day, I don't know, 35 of the, you know, quarantine, lockdown, stay at home, virus orders. I hope everybody's doing well. It would have been tax day today. That would have been a deadline today, April 15th.

That's been extended out until July. There is some good news today. Actually, a lot of good news or encouraging news anyway. Some of it from Dr. Anthony Fauci himself. I'll get to that here moment. But let me just let everybody know that in about 10 minutes or so, J.P. Finley will be a guest on the program from NBC Sports, Washington. Yeah, there's some decent news like today. We have, first of all, the news of the PGA tour, this according to Gulf Digest, that there are plans to resume tour play June 11th through the 14th. They're going to do that at Colonial in Fort Worth for the Charles Schwab Challenge.

No fans in attendance. This again, again, according to Golf Digest, no fans in attendance, but this would get the tour back into a schedule with no fans for the foreseeable future. And they would be following, according to the Golf Digest article, health and safety guidelines set by, you know, obviously government and health officials. UFC President Dana White says his sport is coming back May 9th at a location to be determined. So there is all of that. You know, the president announced last night this task force on reopening America, and he talked a lot about sports, and he's going to have sports commissioners and team owners as a part of that task force. Adam Silver, Roger Goodell, Rob Manfred, Gary Bettman.

so the four major professional sports commissioners are going to be on that task force. And then owners, Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Mark Cuban is going to be on that task force as well. Interesting that Cuban has recently said that he's considering a potential run for the 2020 presidency. It's too late, obviously, for him to get the nod as a Democrat or Republican, I would think, unless there's some sort of brokered convention for Cuban, my guess is he would run as an independent. But I don't know. So he's going to be on that task force, and so you have that.

Now, here was the news early this morning from Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci says with respect to sports returning, quote, there's a way of doing that. Nobody comes to the stadium. Put the players in big hotels wherever you want to play. keep them very well surveilled, have them tested every single week and make sure they don't wind up infecting each other or their families, and just let them play the season out. That from Dr. Anthony Fauci. Now, Fauci, interestingly, also said that he's interested in seeing the Nationals defend their World Series championship.

He said, quote, I want to see them play again, close quote. So Fauci, who lives in the district, apparently a Nats fan. So that is encouraging news. Remember, we had the report recently from Jeff Passon at ESPN that the sport, Major League Baseball, was considering a plan that would have them playing games in the state of Arizona at spring training stadiums and other facilities, including Chase Field, the stadium where the Diamondbacks play. You know, Tommy pointed this out, and it's a really good point.

You know, you get to June, July, and August in Arizona. It's too hot to play outdoors. So that may not be the best plan either. But, you know, we're getting at least this into the conversation. And I think the biggest thing is for me anyway, and I think for a lot of you, right now, you know, no baseball, no hockey, no basketball. you can live with to a certain degree. But if we get to September and there's no football, that would be problematic. That would really be a jarring, you know, habitual change.

You know, right now, you're not watching every baseball game. You're not watching every hockey game or every NBA game. Now, when you get to the playoffs and the NHL playoffs would be underway at this point. I think a lot of us would be watching a lot of the NHL playoffs. and I know I watch a lot of the NBA playoffs. And so I will miss that definitely, but not like football. We get to September, and it's supposed to be, you know, college football on Saturday, and then, you know, for the opening weekend, Labor Day weekend,

and then we're supposed to have the Chiefs opening up on a Thursday night at Arrowhead to defend their title and a week one slate of NFL games. if we don't have that, that's going to be tough. I mean, I think we've mentioned this already, but imagine if this had happened, you know, after week one or week two of the football season in September, and football was shut down, and we were, you know, a month and a half later,

and we're in late October, and there's still no hope of playing football. I do think that there would be mounting pressure for the games to resume, not in front of fans, but in some of the same ways they're thinking about baseball, and other sports, but there'd be even more pressure. This country is wild about football. I mean, we've mentioned this many times, and all of you know this,

the NFL is king in this country. There's nothing that is close to it. And then college football is number two in this country. And nothing is close to that in terms of what lies below it. You know, it's the NFL count five spaces, college football count three spaces and you get your next most popular sport in terms of attendance, television ratings, et cetera. You know, so it's part of the pop culture, you know, phenomenon in this country.

It is a big part of what we are as sports fans is the fall into winter NFL college football rhythm. And not to have that would really feel like we really are, you know, in a different century, in a different world in so many ways, shapes, and form. Before we bring JP on, I wanted to just mention real quickly something. So last week, Ron Rivera talked about his relationship with Dan Snyder. And he said about Snyder that, you know, Dan just wants to be, you know, kept in the loop. that, you know, Dan felt like he's been hands-off for a while, and he wants, you know, Ron's communicating with him daily, if not every other day, and that Dan just wants to be in the loop. He doesn't want to be

his hands-off. He doesn't want to be laissez-faire. You know, this is what he talked about last week in that presser that he did. And I thought it was, I didn't, I have no problem with that, by the way, I'll get to that in a moment, but he then followed it up with an answer to a question about what kind of timeline he thinks he has to get it done, you know, in a timeline that relates to the fans and, you know, and everybody else. And he said, quote, well, I think the truth of the matter is there is no time frame. There really isn't. But I do know that it's got to happen soon. I can tell you that much. I understand I get that part. of it, closed quote. So a couple of things to keep in mind. Number one, the fact that Dan Snyder

is, wants to be more in the loop than maybe Bruce kept him. Okay. I don't have a problem with that. I'm fine with Snyder getting daily updates. I am. You know, I just want to know, and I don't know if we will know this, we'll just have to monitor it from afar. I just want to know that for three years minimum, Three years minimum, that his involvement is as a totally supportive owner for anything that Ron Rivera decides when it comes to the football operation. Three years minimum, hands off, no influence, basically making a football call that does not match up with what the football people think. I want to know that Ron has final say, and that if there's a decision that's being debated among the football people, Ron's decision is the one they go with.

Three years, three year honeymoon period, hands off. By the way, not hands off in that. I want Ron to keep him in the loop, and for Dan to understand that, you know, he's getting updates and he feels good that he's in the loop, and he knows what's going on, maybe more than what Bruce did. All right, Ron, that's a problem. That's totally reasonable. He's the owner of the goddamn team. So he needs to know what's going on a daily basis if that's the kind of involvement he wants. I just want to know that Ron Rivera isn't going to be interfered with, that he's going to get three years minimum to do it his way with his word being the final word. We're not going to know for sure, you know, for a while if that's happening. You're naive if you think it's definitely going to happen for six months or,

a year or a year and a half. You don't know any more than I do. Okay, he hired Mike Shanahan at a rock bottom moment, the two years of Jim Zorn, and he brought in Bruce Allen too. And what happened in the first couple of months after Shanahan got there? They went out and traded for Donovan McNabb. Okay, Shanahan made it clear. If you trade, I want Mark Bulger. If he's not available and you got to go to McNabb, make sure we don't give him a contract extension, which they did, and make sure that we don't give up any more than a third round pick, maybe a fourth. And they traded a second and a fourth for McNabb. So don't think it can't happen.

I don't think it will. I think Ron's going to get some time here. Coach-centric, culture change. Remember what Dan did in that introductory press conference? He threw Bruce under the bus. He basically blamed Bruce for everything that's happened. And remember, Bruce was essentially blaming J for everything that had happened. That's the problem with this organization over a long period of time.

It's never their fault. You know, it's never their fault. Hopefully, Dan has gotten so desperate being in a, you know, a stadium that's four-fifths empty for the last year and a half, and he is going to get updates, feel like he's in the loop, feel good about what's going on, but defer to Ron Rivera and the football people for three years minimum. And that's how much time I would give Ron Rivera on this thing. I think three years is fair. Three years they should be in the playoffs are pretty damn close to having this thing headed, you know, clearly in the right direction.

You know, context is everything, but by 2022, I want the Redskins in the postseason. And maybe it happens sooner, but I want the arrow pointed up. I want the culture changed. I want a professional operation going on. And I want a team that is contending for the postseason. you know, more times than not with Ron Rivera. And I think three years is a fair sort of measuring time frame to get it to that. Again, if he doesn't make the playoffs in 2020 or 2020 or 2021 or 2022,

but in 2022 they were 10 and 6 and it was just a loaded NFC, but the arrows clearly pointed upwards, you know, I'm going to feel good about it more likely than not. Look, Jay Gruden got, you know, five and a half years. But I'm just saying three years seems to be a fair time frame. A quick update, just to mention my radio show now on the Team 980 and also 95.9 FM is on from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. You can listen to it on the Team 980 app. I would encourage you to do that.

Also on the Team 980.com. And also through Alexa or Google Home at home. All right, just yell out Alexa, Team 980, 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. New hours for the show. The whole schedule's changed. by an hour. Doc and Al, follow me 9 to 12, Brian Mitchell and Scott Lynn from 12 to 3. And Zabe is now on 3 to 7, that last hour. If you miss the first hour, is a repeat of the first hour. J.P. Finley is our guest, of course, JP with NBC Sports Washington at J.P. Finley, NBCS on Twitter.

And of course, you can listen to his Redskins Talk podcast as well. Thank God for free agency and the draft. because I don't know what any of us would be doing or talking about. We'd make it up, you know, do our best to make it up. But before we get to some Redskins stuff, first of all, you are one of those people that I know that has very young kids. And I've said it a few times. I think you guys, you know, other than the people who are not well and aren't healthy, I think you guys have the toughest chore, which is entertaining young kids,

sun up to sundown. How's it going in the Finley household? I mean, it's a zoo, dude. It's really, really hard, and I know people are dealing with much worse, so I don't want to compare my situation to those dealing with, you know, significant health problems, but it is a lot. It never stops, and it's hard, man. It's fun, mostly, but hard.

Yeah. Now, do you get out much? I mean, who's going to the store, are you getting everything? delivered. How are you guys handling it? When we needed to go to the store, I've done it. We haven't really done much else. I had to go to the hardware store a couple weeks ago, but outside of giant and a little bit of whole food, it's been mostly here at the house and a lot of long walks. It'll walk over to your house, what do you think that is?

A mile and a half or something? That's not even a mile and a half. I mean, you should, you know what? I'm out. walking the dog, I swear to God, no less than twice a day. I mentioned yesterday or the day before. I've been trying to get, you know, 10 to 15,000 steps in a day minimum. And, you know, we've had nice days. So one of these days just text me and say, you're headed out for a walk and I'll meet you halfway because we probably don't live more than a mile apart. Maybe not even a mile apart. Yeah, I mean, I'm like 10, on foot, I'm about a seven-minute walk to Mass.

I imagine you're about the same, right? So you're a seven-minute walk to Massachusetts Avenue coming from your direction, and from mine, yeah, it's no less than that. Yeah, so we're 15 minutes apart from being six feet away, but having a great conversation, at least one that we would enjoy. And alcohol. Alcohol has been a big part of my quarantine. So I was telling, I think I was telling Tommy yesterday, or maybe it was CJ the day before.

Actually, today on the radio show, I thought it was Thursday. I'm getting mixed up with my days, but that one of the things that I have not done, except on Easter, I haven't had any alcohol. I've cut out alcohol, sodas, and I'm not eating after 7 p.m., and I've lost basically 15 pounds so far, trying to drop, another 10 to 15 during this thing. I'm not a big, highly productive person when I have all this free time, but this is for me productive. And a lot of it is the walking too, but, you know, if you cut sodas and alcohol, you don't need to lose weight. You're thin as a rail. But if you need to lose weight and you're someone like me, cutting out alcohol, sodas, and not eating late, especially as early as I get up, is huge, huge. I mean, I've done the opposite.

I have enjoyed alcohol. I'm literally drinking a Dr. Brown's cream soda right now. So we're going opposite direction, but good for you. Well, you know what? More times than not, I would have been in your direction. But I, you know what, part of it was just sort of this, this. It wasn't that there was anxiety, but I was like, you know, shit, I don't want to get this thing. And if I do get this thing, I want to be in fighting shape.

You know, I want to be in much better shape. than I'm in now. So I think part of that, I think part of it was that. Let's get to the Redskins. First of all, before we talk draft, do you hearing anything about Trent, you know, at this point? And what's your prediction on that? I think he gets traded next week around the draft. I just, that's the time to do it. I don't think anybody wants to keep it dragging out. I think there are teams out there that want him that believe they can, or even, have a deal ready and they will increase their offer at draft time. I think, I think, I think, I think kind of two things will have, but I think the Redkins might

lower their demands a bit and another team might increase their offer a bit and this thing just gets done. What do you think they would lower their demands to and from what? Did you see the story I wrote yesterday on Bill Barnwell did a hypothetical, draft trade for every team in the NFL, and he worked out a, you know Bill Barnwell is, right? He has been very familiar with Barnwell and his Warren Peace-length stories, which I like, but they are rather long. Sure.

So he has a number of trades in there, and some of them are crazy, some of them are real, who knows? But the thing that caught my interest was he had a potential trade, and it was a three-way trade involving the Redskins, the Vikings, and the Chargers. And it boils down to, for our conversation, Trent goes to Minnesota, the Redskins get two-fourths a fifth, and the Vikings left tackle Riley Rice. And I think that is doable for both sides on a number of different levels. I can see Trent Landon in Minnesota with Kirk.

you know, the Vikings kind of makes sense. I mean, they're a playoff team. You know, you get one of the, you add one of the best offensive linemen in football. That helps the run game. That helps Kirk. For the skins, they're being flexible

because they're not getting that second round value back. You know, if you look at the draft value chart, the second round pick is roughly 400, 400, 420, 430 points. If you add up the three picks, they be getting from Minnesota in this situation, in this hypothetical situation. You're only getting to like 140, 150 points.

So that value doesn't add up. But you send Riley Rife, who's an average left tackle, but he can start for you. The skins don't have anybody to start right now. It's not going to be Jaron Christian. And then you can release Rife next season and save 12 mil against the cap.

I kind of think something like that is where we're headed, where there's some picks, but they're probably day three, and there's a player, but it's probably not a star player. That, to me, just like the hypothetical nature of it makes sense. So it would depend on where those fourth rounders are, because you included Jackson. Did you say Jacksonville's the third team involved in that? San Diego. San Diego and the Chargers. Okay, so, yeah.

First of all, I actually think Riley Rife can play a little bit. I don't know what his contract situation is. You're saying that he's got one year left and you can release him next year? He's got two left. Okay. But this year, you probably wouldn't release him because you need a starter anyway. And the cat, you're still taking like a $4 or $5 million cap hit. Next year, you can clear like 10 mil if you release him.

Yeah, so two-fourths of fifth and Riley Rife. I actually think I would consider that because Rife can actually play and, you know, everybody's going to listen to this and say that I'm protecting Kirk Cousins here, whatever. It's been a very sketchy offensive line for Minnesota the last couple of years. They drafted Garrett Bradbury, the center last year, you know, in the first round. And he looks like the part. But they still have holes along that offensive line. so they'd be looking to upgrade certainly.

And by the way, one thing too, and I've mentioned when Minnesota's names come up before, Trent Williams and Kirk Cousins were, Trent Williams was the biggest vocal public supporter of Kirk Cousins during, you know, the 16, 17, into 18, all of the hullabaloo around Cousins. He's the one that came out and said, he's got to be the guy, he's our guy. They got to get him re-signed. We need Kirk Cousins back. And I was found... Even beyond that, what I always remember, I'm sorry to interrupt you, Jeff.

No. Do you remember there was a game where... It must have been a Sunday night or a Thursday night game or something where the guys were miced up on the sideline. And Kirk kind of sold out to get a first down. Like, he did like a head first dive to the big shot to his shoulder. And there was a clip of Trent talking to him on the sideline after the game. Like, man, you got to protect yourself.

That's a $100 million shoulder. You remember that? Yeah, I do. I always stuck with me, too, and, like, around this conversation. I remember we had Trent on during a training camp thing in Richmond, and I asked him about cousins and, you know, what everybody thought. And he went on and on and on and beyond, like, you know,

sort of just the normal, typical throwaway stuff. And during that 17 season, he was the one publicly. And I think Morgan Moses did, too. I think some of those offensive linemen really, really liked him. But in terms of your trade or the Barnwell trade, you'd be getting a starting left tackle in the NFL. Riley Rife is a starting left tackle. He's not at Trent's level, nowhere near it. And then you're picking up, you know, two fourths and a fifth.

You know, part of it's some of, like my first reaction to that is maybe it doesn't equal a second exactly, but it's not that far off. It's probably not that far off. So I tweeted this out. And so this is interesting. I tweeted out the proposed trade just to skin fans and did a Twitter poll. 65% of skin fans were into it. They said yes. And then Junior Gillette, like Junior Gillette used to play for the Redkins,

quote tweeted me and said, yes, you get a quality veteran tackle who started over 100 games and has done a solid job for Kirk on top of two fourth and a fifth. This is a no-brainer. I do my best to stock up on picks in a rebuild year for D.C. Yeah, I mean, I, it didn't. My first reaction is, I think I would do that. You solve your left tackle problem. You've added, you know, two-fourths to the two that you already have, you know, where those force would be, I don't know.

And you're adding, you said a fifth as well. So now you can potentially package those fourths and maybe a fifth to get up into the late second, you know, or somewhere in that area. Although we just said, you know, the player. Four fourth round picks is real ammunition. I can tell you this, again, this is from Barnwell, right? So I don't want people attributing this to me. But the picks would be 112, 132, 151. Okay.

All right. So, by the way, I agree with you, too. I think this thing's going to be resolved one way or the other by the end of the draft, between now and the end of the draft. And I think if it isn't, then we're going to start getting conversation about what it's going to take for Trent and Ron Rivera to sit back down and try to figure something out. Because if they can't trade them for even less than what their demands are now, and maybe at this point, we also have to consider whether or not a team is willing to trade them

and give them the new deal or risk it without a new deal, you know, there's still plenty of possibilities. I know you think less about the possibility of Trent playing here next year than I I do, and I don't think very highly of it. I give it a one and four chance. I think 75% chance he's traded. But if they don't get what they want or something slightly less than that as we approach the draft or during the draft, and more importantly, if somebody's not willing to pay him, there may not be another alternative other than to give him away, which they're not going to do,

I don't think. All right, let's talk about the draft. It's a week from tomorrow night. They're on the clock. What do they do? Chase Young, I don't think there's really, everyone, all the sorts that I've talked to, there's no trade offer happening. There's no trade conversations coming. And what the Redkins would want, I don't think there's a team willing to offer it.

Because I don't think any team is that desperate for Tua. And I think coronavirus honestly had a decent chunk of why. If Tua was traveling around the country, going to different visits with different coaches and wowing them, and everybody got to hear the, when you hear scouts and people that know him talk about him, the reverence is almost unparalleled. And so if he was flying around and meeting coaches and owners, I think particularly owners, you could see some owners falling in love with him. And then he has this pro day and everybody would have been at his pro day. I legitimately think 32 NFL head coaches would have been there. If not 32, then maybe 25, but a lot of them. And all of those things would have built the Tua hype.

But none of those things are happening because of the coronavirus. And in turn, I don't think there's a team. The Dolphins want Tua. I think there's a very realistic chance. They can just get them at number five. And I don't know that I see another team going up ahead of Miami to get them. So I think it's Chase Young, and I don't think there's much else to discuss. Yeah, I agree with you completely.

And I had Mike Loxley on the radio show this morning, and, you know, he obviously coached Tua. And it really is interesting to listen to people talk about Tua and the kind of person he is and the talent that he is. Also, I think the injury concerns are a big one. I would never risk number two with Chase Young there and available on a player that could potentially have. an injury problem. And to your point, would you take shake if they didn't draft Haskins last year? I would definitely, if they didn't have Haskins, first of all, I would have wanted them to have been aggressive on going after Bridgewater in free agency. So I'll say that, because I still think, and for whatever reason, I've just been a fan of Bridgewater, and I think he's going to end up being a

decent quarterback in the league. And I would have been fine with a move like that. But at that point, I would have thought seriously about what it would take for me to get to number one and take Joe Burrow, you know, and be thinking about moving up a spot and offering Cincinnati something to get the quarterback that I like. If Tua were a completely healthy quarterback, personally, I like Burrow. I think Burrow is going to be a great NFL quarterback. We're all. always wrong on this stuff so I can see that going in. You know, most of us are, the experts are. But I'd make a strong run at Burrow.

And then if not, you know, with Tua's injuries at two, I think I would take Chase Young. I think I would. If they hadn't taken half since, I'd be all over to them, all over to them. And I think to go up to one when you have Tua at two and you have to pay whatever those cost would be to get up there, I'd be very happy to take Tua number two. I think, I think Tua is a star. I really do. The injury stuff scary. I get that. You and everybody else, by the way, and I understand that. I would, I like Burrow more than Tua if Tua never had an injury. I felt that way since watching Burrow all year long. And it's really funny because I liked Tua when he played.

I did, but watching Burrow blew me away this year. To me, he is an Aaron Rogers, Russell Wilson type of talent. So I would rather... It was amazing this year. I would much rather give up part of my future to get the guy that I'm much more confident in than take a guy that I think is injury prone. So to answer your question, by the way, if Burrow fell to two in this draft with Askins, I would take Burrough, which it's not going to happen.

And if it did, I don't think it would be really interesting if Cincinnati all of a sudden said, you know, Chase Young is just so far in a way the best player on our board. We're not going to pass on them. We'll play Andy Dalton this year and get somebody next year. But I would definitely take Burrow. But if in your scenario, I would probably take Chase Young. I think Chase Young is a generational defensive talent. And the Redskins haven't had one of those in forever.

and he's going to help you win games. I think he is. I'm with you. You know, I actually thought that last time you had Cooley on the podcast, on your podcast, I thought it was really, really insightful on Chase Young. And just like I combined what Cooley said with what Ron said during his last media availability about, you know, you want the guy that's going to change your team. You can't just worry about more picks.

And since that conversation, I've kind of given up on the trade. I think the only spot Ron would trade back to it, I think he would go no further than five. Because I think at five he can still get Isaiah Simmons or maybe even Jeff Akuta, who I know that team would love to get, who's a star also. To me, I would take Akuta ahead of Simmons. I know I'm maybe I'm, I think actually the draft will bear that out. corner has so much value and as good as Simmons could be, whenever you get into those positional situations, you never know what's going to happen. I just, I don't think any of it's

going to happen. You know what I mean? I think we're going to keep talking about it and keep talking about it and they're just going to take Chase-on. I don't know if I agree with you on Akuta in Simmons necessarily. I know what you're saying. I think these corners are so hit and miss. and when you have a front seven player with that kind of versatility and that kind of athleticism and that kind of range and closing speed, I would take Simmons before Okuda. But I think your larger point about, you know, the trade down possibility, it just isn't going to be there. You know, I love before every draft JP, you know, you'll get this and I get this all the time. They need to trade back and acquire more picks.

Well, yeah, but you have to have somebody that's. willing to trade up. You know, it's not like it's just your, it's not just your decision. It's like free agency. You know, I had a bunch of people tell me, oh, I thought you said they were going to be aggressive and they were going to get Cooper and Hooper and Kenyon Drake. And I said, well, they tried to get Amari Cooper. I think they would have tried to get Kenyon Drake.

Had he not been transition tagged? And they made, you know, somewhat of a run at Hooper. But it takes two to actually make a deal. And let's face it, in free agency, this, franchise still right now today is not what you would call, you know, an A destination. But on the draft thing, Miami, I've seen this now with Kuiper. I had Dane Bruegler on the radio show this morning from The Athletic. He's got the same thing. The Dolphins may take Justin Herbert at five. And if they've got no interest in trading up to get Tua,

because Herbert's their guy anyway, well, then you go to the Chargers, you know, and then the Chargers don't really have enough dry powder to move up into that spot. They've got their first rounder. They've got one second rounder. Now you're talking about future ones for them to have to get up there. So I just don't, I think your first point about this one is spot on. I don't think there's going to be an opportunity. I don't know that they're going to get an offer.

Detroit might get some offers, you know, if you get to three and, you know, and the Chargers aren't sure what Miami will do, you know, and they want two. Who knows? but I don't know that the Redskins are going to get an offer. And by the way, would it come from the back of the pack? Jacksonville isn't that far the back of the pack. And they actually have, you know, not only nine overall, but they've got a second first rounder,

and they've got a second rounder that's early, a third round. So they might be able to do it if they wanted to do it. But I think you're right. Donick-Igoy, too, is a player that's grumpy and wants a contract. Yeah. And by the way, it's good. The Raiders has been second. there. And in God who played in Maryland at that angle, which oddly the skins have added a ton of local people this all season. I think it's closely just coincidence, but it happened. Yeah. The Raider, I mean, there's crazy talking about the Patriots. I just don't see any of it happening. Or I certainly don't see any of it happening at number two. Now, let's say crazy things happen. The Dolphins take Herbert and the Chargers decide, you know, two is not our guy either. Isaiah Simmons.

to them, who knows, right? And then all of a sudden you can get Tua at seven. Then I think you can see the Raiders make a move or the pass or some quarterback needy team. I just don't think it happens at number two. And I think with all the technical issues that could come up at this draft, because everybody's remote and, you know, nobody's in their war room and all that stuff, I mean, I think that stuff could be an issue too. I think that could reduce the amount of trades and kind of interactivity that we get used to. Yeah, I do too. You know, I thought of another team from the back of the pack. And the only reason I thought of this was just Matt Patricia, Bill Belichick. You know, the Patriots, I was looking at what they had last night. They've got

23 in the first round. Then they've got three threes. So, you know, this year's first, next year's first, and three threes to move up, you know, and maybe it's more, maybe it's a player, because the Patriots often involve players and their deals. But it, But at the same time, and I talked about this this morning, and I don't know how much you have sort of followed the Jordan Palmer, you know, QB whisperer thing that he's got going on. Jordan Palmer, for those of you that don't know or don't remember, he was actually drafted by the Redskins back in 2007. We got cut pretty early in the season, I think.

He was on the team with Jason Campbell and Todd Collins. And so Jordan Palmer's become this like quarterback guru over the years. He's got a training facility. He's worked out, you know, a lot of different guys over the years. One of the guys that he's worked out here recently is he actually coached and worked out Joe Burroughs, Joe Burrow last year before this past season. So he's pretty high on him. You know, he's worked with a lot of different guys like the list includes Sam Darnold,

Josh Allen, Mahomes, Kyle Allen, Drew Locke, Daniel Jones. And a lot of people really respect Jordan Palmer's opinion on quarterbacks and what he's been able to do for some of these guys. It's a long way of getting to this. I was reading about him either last night or the night before. And he said about Jared Stidham, who he worked out and he helped get ready for last year's draft and the Patriots took him in the fourth round. He said about Jared Stidham, like he went overboard on Jared Stidham and said, Jared Stidham is going to be a star in the NFL. And I'm looking for the quote right now because it's really, it's not what he said about all of his guys.

But he said, while you're looking for that, when Kyle Allen did his conference call with DC reporters, he's still out in California training with Donald and I think Josh Allen. And the problem now is that, like, they can't go to the gym or any of the fields they usually work out at. So they're, like, just stay. They're just kind of like, I think just like renting houses near Jordan Palmer's house or something. It's a pretty interesting situation out there. Well, apparently Jordan Palmer has become, you know, a QB whisper. Here's the quote, by the way, on Stidham, who, by the way, Cooley and I argued about last year.

I'm like, Jared Stidham out of Auburn, and I had no idea where he was going to get drafted or Palmer or any of that. but I'm like Jared Stidham evaluate him. I think he's going to be a good NFL quarterback. And Cooley came back and said, no, you're wrong. He's not going to be. And I said, all right. And then New England took him. And I'm like, well, somebody in a good organization thinks he can play.

But here's what Jordan Palmer said about Stidham. He's at all? Didn't Stim start? No, I think he was at Baylor or something. Yeah, yeah, he was a transfer into Auburn. He was not like a run-first guy like those Auburn programs usually. No. He was like a big arm.

guy. I interviewed him at the senior bowl. I was quite impressed to him two years ago. He had that he had that game when they won against Bama in his, not his last year, the next to last year,

had an incredible game against Bama. They beat Bama, knocked them out of the race. And his junior year, by the way, he did start at Bailor. His junior year was actually better than his final year. But anyway, here's... Yeah, I remember that.

Here's the Jordan Palmer quote on Jared Stiddle. To be clear, I think Stidham is a star. He's going to be a big-time franchise quarterback. I have felt that way for a couple of years now, and I'm totally fine saying that. I don't care that he went in the fourth round. I think he's legitimate. He's going to be the leader for New England for a long time. Whenever that starts, go ahead now and jump on the bandwagon. That was just two weeks ago, I'm sorry, just two weeks ago that he said that about Stidham. I think that's one of the reasons that maybe Belichick wasn't as gung-ho on really pushing for Brady to come back at 42 years old. I also think, doesn't it kind of make sense to you that Belichick would love to win 11 games with Jared Stidham? No doubt. No doubt. The show goes on.

You know what I mean? Definitely. And I mean, didn't they go 11 and 5 with Matt Castle? They did. They did. Now, they don't have a ton of offensive talent, but they've got, I don't know. I'm not, I don't ever bet against Bill O'Belanchecks. The problem is, is they've lost a lot of players on defense, too, on what was a really good defensive team.

You know, to me, it's crazy to think that New England could actually go out there and be a contender next year. but, you know, if they do, it proves Belichick. Although personally, my feeling about Brady is that it's going to work. It's going to work in a big way. And even if it doesn't, it's not like it's going to tarnish Brady's career. We'll realize, okay, he's 42 going on 43. It had to end, you know, at some point. I actually think he's going to have a big year there next year.

I think to me the Chiefs and the Ravens are so ahead of the pack as far as the ASC team. I like the bills to actually win the ASD East. That'll be so weird to see somebody else win that. Brady and Tampa, the thing that not concerns me, I'm not losing to sleep over this, but Aryans love to go deep. Like that's such a huge part of his offense. And I just, I don't, like, I mean, you hear the whispers about Brady's arm strength at 42. Like, we'll see, man.

It'll be, if he does have a big year, not that he needs to cement it, but it'll just lock in that he's the greatest quarterback of all time. Yeah, I mean, God, I hope, you know, just talking about football, and I always enjoy this when you're on too. I just hope we have it, man. God, I hope we have football on time. Me and you both. I mean, we both.

Kevin, I'm doing arts and crafts in my basement. I'm dying for football. Yeah, I can only imagine. All right, back to the Redskins real quickly, and then we'll finish up. We both agree that a week from tomorrow night, it's Chase Young at number two. In part, I mean, I believe that that's going to be it regardless. I think even if they got a really good offer, that's what they're going to do. They'd have to get a killer offer, and I don't think it's going to materialize.

It sounds like you agree. We know what the holes are, right? I mean, they need a tight end. They need a left tackle, you know, if they can't figure out an answer for Trent. They need O line depth. They need another receiver. We know that they wanted to get one here. They need a corner.

they need another safety. Do you think that when we get to the third round, assuming they don't add picks, that it is a draft by need or a draft based on best player on the board? Do you have any sense of how they are conducting the draft and what their philosophy will be? I think it's getting me best player available.

I really do. And I think they showed us enough in free agency. And even if you kind of read between the lines, lines on Ron's public comments, this is a multi-year rebuild. And Ron knows that he has the juice to pull it off. They're not going into 2020 in a must-win situation. So if the best player for them at 66 is a linebacker or something that seems like, oh, well, you know, they just signed Thomas Davis and when he signed John Bostic and all

these guys, I think they'll draft the best guy for the next four, five, six years. And I think everybody there feels very, you know, safe and confident in the long-term prospects on this thing. And honestly, the only guy that has some pressure on him in this draft, I mean, the pressure on everybody involved in pro sports, right? But, like, the only guy that needs to kind of nail it is Kyle Smith. And if you're Kyle Smith, you just want to get the best players. you can to show your evaluation skills. And that, to me, almost locked in that it's going to be best player available. If there's a tight end there at 66 that they love, I think they'll take it and that'll

be great because they desperately need a tight end or if there's a tackle there. But I don't think if there's a running back there that they love or there's a safety there that they love, I don't think they're going to take a tight end because it's a giant hole in their office. a player anywhere, any round, you know, you're looking at this, you're a college football fan that you would love them to add? So I always joke about this on our podcast, and I allow myself like one draft crush a year, and my guy was Randy Mawson's son from LSU, Thadius Maw.

But the injuries kind of scared me off, and, you know, people are unsure where he's going to go. another LSU kid that I think would make a ton of sense for them is the big tackle. Charles is the last, I'm blanking on the first name. I think it's Shaquide or something. Charles is the last name. I think he would make a lot of sense. And I think that is a Saturday, you know, a day three pick that they should be in good position to make. I don't know.

Guys like that is kind of where I'm thinking. But like Chase Young is the guy. I've met him now a couple times. I think he'd be so much fun to watch in a Red Team's uniform. Ryan Kerrigan is criminally underappreciated, both in this market and certainly out of this market. And Kerrigan's been really good and been fun. But when you watch JJ Watt or Kaleel Mack...

Different. And it's fun. There's not that many defensive players you get excited to watch, right? Like, typically you're excited to watch quarterbacks, wide outs, running back, whatever. When you're excited to watch a pass rusher, I remember it was probably his junior season at University of Maryland when Sean Merriman had just a breakout year. And I remember

watching those turf games and just watching him off the edge. And it doesn't matter that they get to the QB every time, but just that constant pressure just puts so much fear on the offensive side of the field. Like, I'm excited to watch that. You know, it's funny, for whatever reason, I mean, I knew Merriman was good, but the guy and Kooley and I were, and actually Kooley was doing the show in the afternoon and I called him up one day and I just said, watch number nine for Maryland and Gokwe is his name. And tell me if you think he's an NFL pass rusher. And he calls me back the next day and he said, I ran in. I talked to everybody.

I talked to Bruce. I talked to Kyle Smith. I told everybody you got to watch his tape. He's right here in your backyard. He's going to be a great pass rusher. and of course, you know, they didn't have a chance. I don't know who knows where he was on their board. My crush, and it's a good way to put it,

because every year I usually have one or two or three guys that I would love to see in a Redskins uniform. But I love KJ. Hamler from Penn State. Now, I'm a little bit biased, even though I can't stand Penn State as a Maryland guy, but I've got a son at Penn State. So I've seen a couple of the games up, you know, at Beaver Stadium. And to me, KJ. Hamler is Deshawn Jackson. And it's funny.

Lewis, you know, Riddick tweeted that out the other day and I, and I retweeted it, but that's who he reminds me of. Now, apparently he doesn't have the biggest catch radius and he dropped too many balls last year, and I didn't watch every game. I just know every single time he touched it, he was just un-catchable, untacklable. He's got a lot of, you know, Deshawn Jackson electricity, but there are a lot of guys in the draft at that position that have that ability. they're going to have a chance in the third round to get a tight end perhaps, a wide receiver, an offensive tackle maybe, although the tackles could be gone. I would bet you that some of these receivers are going to be there at 66. I think the receiver class is deep.

I think they could definitely get one. To me, and maybe I'm crazy on this, I don't, I think they wanted Cooper because they wanted Cooper. I don't think they feel they're desperate at wideout. Does that make sense? They saw Mari Cooper as a playmaker for the organization that you signed to a five-year deal. You have him in the prime of his career and that he's everything they want culturally, meeting rooms, workouts, all that stuff. I think that's why they wanted Cooper.

And it wasn't just chasing wide receivers because if they were just desperate at the position, they would have signed somebody else instead of Cody Latimer. You know what I mean? No, no doubt that they wanted Cooper. for a number of reasons. Number one, he's really good in getting better. And I think a lot of people do, a lot of people that love the NFL, believe, and really are analytical and, you know, guys that I've talked to that are in the league as an example. They think Cooper has top five receiver potential if he's not there already. It's funny the fans don't feel that way and didn't

seem to be that upset that the Redskins didn't get Cooper. I think the maturity, which was funny, because Rex Ryan apparently torched him on ESPN. I have no idea. Did you see that click? Yeah, I have no idea why he would say that because everybody seems to believe that he's a first-rate, you know, non-Diva, great teammate kind of players. But with that said...

Beyond that, to call somebody a turd, I thought it's so ridiculous. Outrageous. Ridicrous. But beyond that, I think they wanted to add a, weapon or two for Dwayne. You know, which by the way leads me into this, and that was Urban Meyer's comments from the other day. You know, we played him yesterday, Tommy and I talked about him, but just refreshing everybody's

memory. Urban Meyer essentially said that if you give him, you know, if you put talent, great talent around him, he'll be great. If you don't, he won't. What did you make of that comment? It was interesting. I think most quarterbacks you put great talent around them.

It should be pretty good. But I think that was more about Urban not trying to put himself in an awkward position between Burrow and Haskins than it was necessarily saying Dwayne can only be good if there's really good players around them. Thank you. J.P. is in the arts and crafts room, and we love it.

I'm sorry, man. By the way, are you, are you, You're not very good at Art, are you? No, awful. My wife does most of the craft thing around here. But I think specific to Dwayne, he started to look, if you look at the last two games in the last six quarters, he started to look pretty good with the weapons he had.

I think obviously they need more, and I think Irv pointing that out. But I didn't, I don't know. I didn't hear it as like this indictment on Dwayne or indictment on the redskins. I just thought it kind of I thought it was a little generic. Maybe I didn't listen to it live, so maybe I need to like take in the full context. I'm only read it.

Yeah, I mean, I essentially said yesterday, look, it could be what he says about every quarterback. Like he's just, you know, he's at Ohio State. They always have weapons, right? I mean, you know, I joke about it all the time, but Dwayne looked over, got a play, clap three times, and threw 50 touch. passes, you know. He had Paris Campbell and Terry McLorn and KJ Hill and and Weber and Dobbins and one of the best offensive lines and, you know, that's what you do, you know, at Ohio State. But if it was beyond that, if he met, look, you know, we always have these conversations, right?

There are quarterbacks that elevate the team like Aaron Rogers and Russell Wilson. They can win 10, 11, 12 games with, you know, average talent around them. And then there are the guys, like, you know, obviously Matt Ryan, Kirk Cousins, you know, to a certain degree, Drew Breeze, although I think Drew Breeze is a playmaker too. Drew Breeze may be the greatest of sort of that kind of quarterback of all time. And maybe he just thinks of Dwayne as, look, you got to protect him and you got to get some weapons, you know, and if you do, he can make every throw, and he's big and strong, and he competes and all of that.

But I don't know. Maybe he was saying he's not Aaron. Rogers, what he could be is Matt Ryan. You know? I honestly, I think that's pretty accurate. I don't think, I don't think never going to be the guy that leads. I mean, what Russ does in Seattle, so Russ is my favorite quarterback, just for full disclosure.

But I just see so much fun to watch. But what he does in Seattle is in spite of never having a true number one ride receiver, maybe D.K. Meck has become that guy. but it never had that. And the offensive scheme, the Brian Schottanoheimer runs, is beyond awful. I'd rather have Bill Callahan running my office. And Russ still is a magician out there. No, I don't think he's going to be Russ.

I don't think he's going to be Rogers. I think you're very right with that assessment of, listen, he can be a good player for people. He's got to give him good weapons and certainly protect him. I mean, early on, he looked here in the headlights facing an NFL pass rush. That got better. I think he proved to be more mobile than a lot of people expected last year. I weirdly feel like I'm higher on Dwayne for 2020 than a lot of folks are.

But we'll find out. I'm with you. I mean, we've had this conversation before. I mean, I get a lot of, you know, I get a lot of pushback. I'm sure you do too from the people that say they've seen enough. He's not it. And I'm like, wait a minute, did you watch the same games I watched? I watched a guy that, first of all, the thing that I saw from the beginning is he competes his ass off.

He plays with a level of urgency that sort of totally contradicted the narrative of, you know, sort of go along to get along, not a big preparer, et cetera, which changed during the course of the year. but I just saw a guy that kept getting better and that has a chance to be, you know, maybe definitely not, well, I say definitely, in my opinion, not Rogers and not Wilson and not Mahomes, but a top 10 to 15 legitimate, you know, top half of the league starting quarterback for years to come. I see that in him. And to your point, at the end of the year, he did elevate the talent around him. That team was a sketchy, thin team, man.

offensive line, no tight ends, an aging running back, three rookie wideouts, and, you know, and by the way, on the other side of the ball, a terrible defense last year, even though there was some talent on it, and he made plays. I think you hope it to be at least Kirk, and I think his feeling is Roppelsberger. Honestly, for me, I mean, that's the guy I see. He's big, he's strong. He can move more than you expect. He can throw, I mean, he can throw the hell.

out of the football. He can go deep at any moment. If I'm the skin, that's what I'm hoping this becomes is Big Ben. Not on the field, obviously, but I think the biggest questions for Dwayne are

adaptability. What we saw last year was a bad scenario for all parties. Jay didn't want them. He didn't respond to that. I think there are quarterbacks or players that in the last year's scenario would have said, you know what, Coach, you don't want me F you, I'm going to make you put me out there.

Dwayne didn't do that. But this year, I think Ron, it's a different scenario. But Dwayne has to prove that he can learn this playbook, know all the verbiage, all of that stuff, so that any of this Kyle Allen conversation is moot. Because Kyle Allen's not better than Dwayne has to. All he is better at is knowing the offense. So Dwayne needs to render that a useless card for Kyle Allen to play. And that's on him.

That's just learning. right and everybody learns differently but i think i met dwayne i know him he's a he's a smart guy he can learn the system he's got to do that and then any maturity questions have to be over it you're your second year in the pros you want to take over and be the starter show it prove it action's not worth i actually think he's more mobile than rothlisberger um but i agree with you in sort of the look and the feel and what we project if he's really really good it would be great if he's rothlisberger i want paulie to know paulie if he's rothlessberger i want paulie to know paulie if you're listening, which I'm sure you are. That was J.P. who brought up Kirk Cousins and Haskins in the same

sentence. I did it yesterday, and I get this tweet from a man, Pauley, he says, God help us if Haskins becomes Kirk, because then we'll need to look for another franchise quarterback. If you tell me that Haskins can become Kirk, you should be happy about that, Pauly, and everybody else should as well. No, I think you should want more. Oh, no, no, no, no, absolutely. I want more. I want more. But if the worst case is Kirk, I'll take that as a worst case right now. Kirk, by the way, had one of the... Top-12 NFL starter. And I think sometimes you put a good

team around him, he can be in that Matt Ryan category if he had Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley and, you know, some of the backs they've had. I think he's got a really good back. I think the throw in New Orleans to win that game, win that playoff game, has changed a bit of the narrative around Kirk. And yes, He wasn't won a massive game. I think it did a lot for him.

Yes, they've had Thielen Diggs, and they've had Dalvin Cook in the backfield. So, yes, this past year, he had weapons, although Thielen didn't play half the year, Polly, just as a reminder. You love Kurt. Yeah, I mean, I like Kirk. I mean, and I, here's what he is, no matter what. He's a top half worst case, top 10 to 12 quarter. quarterback, and by the way, a first-rate person, and that's one of the reasons, and you can't blame him for wanting to get the hell out of here when he got the hell out of here.

You know what I think would have helped, Kirk, like, late, like when we got to 2017, especially, is he always played so, he wasn't being honest. Like, everybody knows you want out. You don't have to say you want out, but don't pretend you want to stay either. You know, like, there was a different avenue to handle all that, and I think that's where, for a lot of people, it became, like, disingenuous.

And then that kind of changed the relationship. And in some crazy ways, some fans actually wanted to stick up for the team, even though the team had boxed that thing seven different times. Well, I think ultimately there's some truth in what you just said,

but the bottom line is, we really don't know, because the team never made him a bona fide offer that he could actually turn down. So he was able to continue to say, I want to be here or I really like a lot of the time, a lot of the time he talked about the area and his love for the area. But the team never gave him a chance to say yes or no. They just didn't. They basically lowballed them from the jump going back to 2015, you know, into 2016.

and obviously that offer that Bruce made that he held the press conference over and broke his arm patting himself on the back for it and threw Kirk under the bus publicly, which was just disgraceful, was an offer that was $30 million light seven months later. Like he wasn't even in the same, you know, galaxy in terms of understanding what Kirk was going to be offered on the open market. But, you know, things on that. Being in that, that one, the press conference. I was in that room. They called eight, maybe ten of us out there. Bruce read a statement and then walked out of the room. We weren't allowed to ask any questions.

They handed out a paper copy of his statement. That was it. That was one of the most of a lot of bizarre things in Redson Park. That was a really, really weird thing. So I'll tell you. Two, nobody ever blamed McLuhan on the Kirk saga. And that was his, I mean, in 2015, when they should have gotten that done, I didn't want to pay him.

And that's like a forgotten part of all of it, I would ask. McLuhan wanted to pay him, but not, you know, the 40 to 50 it would have taken, which would have looked like a total bargain a couple of years later. But on that Bruce Allen thing, and you've heard me and others from the station complain about sort of the Redskins when they took over the station and started running it and sort of ran it into the ground. Do you know that that particular press event, they did not invite. anybody from 980? I don't know that they invited anybody

if I were Hall, and I'm not trying to defend them because it was wacky, but they invited TOP. WTOP, they invited. Okay, well then that they did not. I remember there were people there

that thought they were going in that weren't allowed in. I'm not going to say who it was specifically, but there was some awkward moments outside of that thing. I can just tell. And it wasn't 980 person. It was a different person. Yeah, no, no, no. It was a specific short list of of invitations that went out for this thing, which was, again,

the Bruce Allen throwing Kirk under bus press statement when they didn't reach a long-term deal. And why didn't they reach a long-term deal? Because Bruce Allen was in, seriously, delusional as to what Kirk would get on the open market as a free agent. He was 30 million short. 30 million. He got 84 guaranteed. from Minnesota and they offered him 53 guaranteed. And remember this, the Jets were willing to offer 90 guaranteed. But anyway,

yeah, they put that event together and we bitched and screamed. They wouldn't let anybody from our station come and they invited somebody from TOP in the Post and you got invited. I mean, I've told you before how outrageously

confrontational and borderline sabotage-ish it became there, you know, in the last couple of years. It was crazy. And then by the way, the next day, if you recall, Gruden, Gruden Kirk, because of his relationship with Grant, but Gruden Kirk and Eric Schaefer all appeared on the other station and we didn't get anybody. I mean, it was just such, it was like, seriously, you know, just tell us that you hate us and tell us we've got no out of getting anybody. It was crazy. It was really

strange, actually. Nobody understood it. Nobody understood it. You go do your thing. I was going to... Yeah, I think I'm losing the troops here, man. Go get him back in line. Get him some chicken nuggets. I'm going to send you a picture of what this looks like. Please.

Text it to me. Chicken nuggets, pizza, grill cheese, ice cream. And then when you take the dog for the walk next I'm seriously texting me and I'll meet you. Yeah, that'd be fun, man. We'll do. Always good to catch up with J.P. Finley. Listen to his podcast, too.

He does a really good Redskins-oriented podcast. Follow him on Twitter at J.P. Finley, NBCS. J.P. is a good friend. Does a great job. And he's in the battle, man. All of those fathers and mothers with young kids at home, it can't be easy. That's for sure.

Yeah, not to spend any more time on that, but I'll never forget that day, July 17th. Now, I was on vacation. I was in Iceland, actually. Cooley was doing the show, and I called in to do the show, and I said, Cooley was going on and on about how, hey, they made him an offer, and I said, Chris, you're the one that told me he's going to get 80 million guaranteed. They offered him 53 million guaranteed. How could he possibly accept that offer?

And he said, well, I guess if you put it that way, he can't accept that offer. I'm like, it's an insult. They don't want him. It's clear they don't want him. And at that point, it became very clear to me. Trade him. Like, you got to trade him because you'll get a first rounder back and he's not going to want to play for you. You've made it very clear you don't want him with the last offer.

and there we went. We don't have to spend any more time on that. But the last thing is, yes, 980, the radio station. Bruce Allen, we are the flagship station of the team. We are owned by the owner's company Red Zebra, and we were not invited to that press statement, and another radio station in town was. That was, it was one of many slaps in the face,

but that one was an all-time run. a day that really it was important news in town when they did not come to a long-term agreement. All right, two more things to get to real quickly before we call it a day. Number one is the Christian McCaffrey deal, the $16 million per year making him the highest paid running back in the history of the game. I saw this tweet that I thought was really interesting because I don't know that everybody looks at Christian McCaffrey and says, that's the dude that deserves to be the highest paid running back in the history of the game. He's really good. Don't get me wrong.

Christian McCaffrey is one of the best versatile all-around backs in the league. But somebody tweeted out McCaffrey after his first three NFL seasons. Listen to this. Rushing yards, 2,920. Marcus Allen's first three years, 2,879. Receiving yards, first three years, 2,523 receiving yards. yards for McCaffrey. Marvin Harrison's first three years, less than that, 2478 yards. Receptions, first three years, Christian McCaffrey, 303. First three years of DeAndre Hopkins' career, 239 receptions.

Overall, total yards from scrimmage. First three seasons, Christian McCaffrey, 5,443 yards. Barry Sanders, less than that. 3191 yards. I thought that was a really interesting tweet to sort of put it in perspective. His rushing yards are more than what Marcus Allen had in his first three years. His reception yards are more than Marvin Harrison had in his first three years. His reception total is many more than DeAndre Hopkins had in his first three years. And his overall yards from scrimmage are more than what Barry Sanders had in his first three years. Christian McCaffrey is a great player.

And yeah, I guess he is deserving of that contract. Last thing that I wanted to get to was this comment from Mike Tannenbaum, former Jets GM and former Dolphins' GM. Tannenbaum was on a show recently. I think he was on with Get Up Greenberg. And he was talking about Tuatunga Viloa, and he said, quote, it would be irresponsible to take him in the top 10. He's close quote. He just said there's no chance that you can take Tua in the top 10 with his injury history.

He went on to say if your owner really wants him, if your coach really wants him, you have to sit down with those people and make sure that because you're the general manager, it's your ass on the line, that they understand that there's the possibility that we're going to get to next January and he wasn't healthy enough to play and that he looks brittle moving forward. And that is, it reminded me of when Mike Shanahan told us on the radio show many years ago about RG3, and I think much of this has been misconstrued over the years, he signed off on it. He was fine with Robert Griffin III. But one of the things he said that he told Bruce and Dan were two things.

One, if we take Robert Griffin the third, understand that he's not a drop-back quarterback. You have to understand. You've got to trust us. We are going to play him, but we're going to design a new way for the quarterback position to be played in the NFL. All right. So he's going to be a dual-threat quarterback until he learns how to become a drop-back passer, how to read defenses. And we're going to teach him that. He's going to get to that point, but not early on. So understand that. Number two is this kid's never faced adversity. And we don't know what will happen when he does. He has been coddled. He's had great success.

He's been elevated. He's been given a lot of say-so. And the only time in the interviews with Robert Griffin III, where I, Mike Shanahan, was a little bit sort of concerned, is we showed him a game in which he didn't play well in. It was a game. I think he said Oklahoma State. And we showed him the tape, and he was there with his father,

and he and his father were falling all over each other, throwing Art Bryles under the bus, saying it was terrible play calling, terrible scheme, and didn't take the responsibility himself. He said he told Bruce and Dan those two things about drafting RG3. He said, I'm all in, but I want you to know two things. One, he's not a pocket passing dropback quarterback. that's going to take time. We're going to have to play football a different way early in his

career. But we have some ideas. Kyle's been talking to the guy at Nevada, Chris Alt, and we've got some ideas. And number two, he's never really faced adversity, and I don't know how he'll handle it when he does. Those are the two concerns I have. Now, just let's make sure we're on the same page. Let's go get them. Now, if they hadn't been hit with that $36 million salary cap penalty, that particular year, which happened the day before free agency started. If they had been notified of that salary cap penalty prior to the trade with the Rams to move up to number two, they would have never made that trade. Or at least that that is the impression that Mike Shanahan had. But that salary cap penalty courtesy of one John Mara trying

to really submarine the Redskins was announced the day before Free Agency started. The Redskins had already made the trade with the Rams. But interesting from Tanenbaum to say he wouldn't take him in the top 10, and if his coaching staff and his ownership group insisted on it, he would have to sit down and be really clear that if it doesn't work out, this is a high-risk pick, that he gave them ample and fair warning of it. By the way, a lot of people, you know, Mike, you know, I'm not a big Lombardi fan. Lombardi says, no, it's not just his hip, it's his ankle, it's his wrist. He broke his wrist the first day of spring ball one year.

He's brittle. He's brittle. You can't deny it. That was Mike Lombardi, former NFL executive on his podcast. Rex Ryan said about Tuatunga Viloa. This is what he said on ESPN. He said he hasn't had three surgeries. He's had five surgeries in his college career.

And he said, do you pass on him? I'll tell you what. If I only have one first round pick, he's too risky. he's going to be the guy that falls in this draft, I think. We've plenty of time to amend that. But I had Dane Bruegler, draft analyst from The Athletic on the show today. I had Mike Loxley on the show today. He, of course, loves Tua.

I'd urge you to go listen to that interview with Loxley. It was really good. Two interviews actually from the last two days on the radio show, and you can find them on the website at the Team 980.com or on the app, the Team 980 app. But I had Cole Kublich on the show yesterday. He's an SEC Network college football analyst and a draft analyst. He was excellent talking about the draft.

If you're a Redskins fan, we did a lot of Redskins discussion about first round, about Chase Young, about potential trade downs, etc. I would urge you to go listen to that interview. And then Mike Loxley was great today. Talking about Tua, talking about Chase Young. these are all guys he recruited, you know, and in Tua's case, he coached. And again, you can find that on the Team 980 app and the Team 980.com. Helpful if you not only listen to this podcast, but if you go there and listen to some of the

stuff that I've got on the radio show. Anyway, yeah, I mean, not going to be surprising if Tua drops a little bit in this draft. I mean, Kuyper's updated draft already has Justin Herbert going to Miami at five, and then he's got Tua with the next pick. But many people starting to say that there's buzz around this injury thing, and a lot of people think that it's a high risk to take Tua in this draft, even though they all believe that he is talented. And many people believe he's more talented than Burrow.

If I had my choice right now, both of them healthy, both of them with no injury concerns, I would still take Burrow. I would. But that's me. I like Tua. I like him a lot. I think he's got a chance to be really good. I actually believe Jalen Hertz is going to be a surprise QB out of this draft and would not surprise me if he goes early in the second round to somebody with a quarterback need.

All right, that's it for the day. Enjoy it. Back tomorrow with Tommy on Thursday, tomorrow, April 16th.