The Kevin Sheehan Show - Ron Talk: Interesting, Not Important

Episode Date: February 9, 2023

Kevin and Thom today on Super Bowl Trivia mishaps, Thom's new favorite Karaoke song, and lots on Ron Rivera's many comments yesterday about Sam Howell and Chase Young. Also, Thom's Super Bowl pick, Kevin's early alternate line Super Bowl play, and thoughts on the NBA's wild trade deadline including plenty on Kevin Durant to Phoenix.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's with me today. No pod yesterday, and I apologize for that. We were going to do a pod.

But the pod that I'm going to do on Saturday will replace the one that I was going to do yesterday. All right? I did play golf. That was part of the issue, Tommy, for no podcast. Is I had something scheduled to get a podcast done, and then it got a little bit sideways. in terms of the scheduling. And so I chose to go out and play golf on a 60-degree day

rather than wait till later on in the afternoon to ultimately what would have been getting the podcast out at about 5 o'clock. So I wasn't going to do that, even though I know some days we get it out late. But I will have that show that I was going to do yesterday available for you on Saturday. Tomorrow, I think Cooley will be with us to preview the Super Bowl. He is in St. Lucia vacationing this week. but we'll have a full-fledged Super Bowl show tomorrow. Tommy will give us his Super Bowl pick today.

I thought we could name today's show Ron Rivera, colon, interesting but not important. Because that's kind of how I view him now. What he says is interesting, as he would say, but really it's not that important, because if you take it too seriously, it changes. we're going to get to all of the Ron Rivera stuff from what he said yesterday in the interviews. And we have to be careful with Rivera because he might do interviews like this afternoon

that completely contradict to what he said yesterday about Sam Hal and about Chase Young. We're going to get to all of that. Look, I've said all along, they're just winging it out there. They are. They really are. Winging it. They're just going day to day. And now they don't even have the ability to kind of do what they want to do or what they'd like to do

because I don't think they're allowed to spend any money personally. I don't think any big, big decisions where any kind of money is going to have to be put out there in free agency or anything. I don't think those decisions can be made right now. That's a guess. That's not a report. I want to start this show off, however, by sharing with you a story from the radio show this morning. Remember, Super Bowl Week, we have a lot of memories, the two of us together during Super Bowl Week. Whether it was together in various cities, you know, having Super Bowl shows on Radio Row,

or whether it was one of us in the Super Bowl City, the other one of us back. But one of the consistent themes of Super Bowl Week for us on our show, and it started with doing the show with you, was something that we called Super Bowl trivia. which gave you Ajita every year. Yes. Yes, because of the circumstances involved, it was a commitment that was beyond the scope of reason, and I can't believe I still could say that I went along with it.

The commitment being we could never get the radio station, and by the way, I still can't, to get the radio station behind like a legitimate prize for somebody that won Super Bowl trivia, which for those of you unfamiliar, you know, I, no, Tommy did a lot of the things on the show, and there are certain things that I took and ran with, and the Super Bowl trivia thing was my thing.

And I created a lot of the questions, and, you know, we would have three levels of questions, an easy level, a medium level question, and then a very, very difficult question. It really turned into hard, much harder, and impossible were the three levels. And if you got all three, you won a prize. And because we couldn't get, I think, that first year,

the radio station to commit to anything other than like, it was like a signed Fred Davis football. I think that was like the first thing. We give us signed Fred Davis football. We've got one in the back room that we couldn't give away at the last auction. And we're like, no, we're not going to do that. And so we decided, I decided, but I got you to come along with the, on the ride, that we would give out of our own pocket. What was the, was it $500?

$500. $500. $500. $500 out of our own pocket. Out of our own pocket. To run a contest for the place where we worked. Yes. Yeah.

Imagine where you work. imagine where you work at some point you know you have an idea and they think it's a great idea but they won't help you with it you say that's okay boss I'll pay for it

we did that we did that I think this was going to be on your list of OSHA complaints that in the that in the low speakers that nearly knocked me unconscious on multiple occasions

we used to have these speakers that hung from the ceiling in the main studio. And if you were taller than six feet, which I am, I mean, you had to duck under when you walked. And one of them was... And, man, sometimes you would hit it. And I would think, oh, that's it. I'm doing the show.

I'm doing a show by myself the rest of the day. I mean, and it was always because one of them hung right above, remember my seat and where my setup was in the studio. And occasionally, I was such an idiot. get up, stand up, and boom. And it was, I know one of them was at least a mild concussive, concussive hit. I was, I was concussed. Well, you know, in fairness, not in fairness, but another point of view here, I mean, you sort of deserved it.

Why would you sit in that seat? I mean, that was in the back, that was to hide your back to the producer. Well, since you were running the show, you needed to see. Me, I'm sitting in the seat where I can look at them into the booth, see what the producers doing. You've got his back to him. You should have been sitting in my seat all along. I know, but you took that seat and I wasn't going to... Oh, no, no, no.

I tried to switch with you on numerous occasions. Hope Mark and I tried to talk to switch. You're right about that. You know why I like sitting on that side? I loved being able to look out that big picture window. I like looking out windows. And we had a huge, huge picture window fourth floor looking out under the lovely Rockville Pike. Pretty much.

If you sat in my seat, you would have never hit your head on those speakers. No, that's true. And you would have been the one struggling with trivia contests. I would. Because I wouldn't. I would have to stand on a stool to hit those speakers. So this morning, you know that pretty much. I put together this whole Super Bowl trivia contest.

But I've had help over the years from two people in particular. One I'll name Tim Schovers. Tim worked at the station for years and Tim loved kind of helping out with Super Bowl trivia. And still, Tommy, every single year, two weeks before the Super Bowl, I get an email from Tim saying, here are a couple of questions for Super Bowl trivia. He's great. He's awesome. As he says, it's a traditional.

unlike any other, him participating. And I also have somebody else that kind of contributes a little bit, and I'm not going to discourage that person because I really like that person. But occasionally, I should probably double-check some of the answers. And this morning, I had a level two question. That is a good one, because typically what I do is I'll put together There are a lot of level one questions that have to do with the two teams that are playing in the Super Bowl and then a lot of Redskins Super Bowl trivia. Okay. You know, for those that have never listened to it, like an example is, you know, name the three MVPs. Name the three Redskinned MVP's in their three Super Bowl wins.

I mean, if you're a Redskinned fan and you can't get that, you're not really a fan. You know, Riggins, Doug, and Rip. Okay. And then we get to the level two questions, and I have some skins questions in there as well. And one of the questions today with a caller, his name was Augustine. He had a very memorable name, Augustine from somewhere in Maryland. He called and he got to level two. And the question was, name the four quarterbacks who played and started games for the Redskins,

but also started in Super Bowls for other teams. Now, the answer that I had in front of me, by the way, can you name any of them off the top of your head? No. You just don't want to play along. You could get, you could think about it and come up with one or two of them. Yeah, but this has so many bad memories for me. Okay. So name the four quarterbacks who played and started games for the Redskins, but also started in Super Bowls for other teams.

Now in front of me... Brad Johnson's one. Brad Johnson is one. So in front of me, I have Rich Gannon, Donovan McNabb, Brad Johnson, and Rex Grossman as the answers.

So caller Augustine says Stan Humphreys. I think to myself, I go, oh, yeah, Stan started for the Chargers in the Super Bowl. And he started games

for the Redskins too. That's one we didn't have. So I immediately said to him, you know what? I'm going to give you more time for this question. The answer now is named the five quarterbacks who played in started games for the Redskins but also started in Super Bowls for other teams. And he goes, okay, thanks, appreciate it. And then he says, Jeff Hostetler. Oh my God. And so I'm like, oh my God, that's true too. Started for the Giants. that Super Bowl 25 for the Giants over the bills. Norwood Wide Wright. And he started for the Redskins in 1997 in the 97 season.

No, not in the 97 season. Hustettler started in the 2000 season, right? Yeah, 2000 season with Norv in that last year, right? I think so. Whatever it was. And no, it was the 97 season. It was the season they played at the end of the year where they had a chance for the playoffs and Gus was hurt, I think.

Anyway, so I totally fucked that whole question up. And so since he had already, then he had named Gannon and Brad Johnson as well. And so I finally said, look, the question was four quarterbacks to start. You've gotten four of them. So we'll move you on to level three. Now he did not answer the level three question, which was really, really hard. I forget what even I asked this morning. but I completely fucked it up, the level two question.

You know what? It's my fault because I should be checking these answers. That would have been one where you just have to go find the list of starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl, all of the Super Bowls, all 56 of them, and then go down the list and just say, yeah, he started for Washington. He started for Washington. Yeah. And by the way, for all I know, there could be another one that I'm missing. Easily, there could be another one. Yeah, there could be.

So at least you're not participating in this. I'm not giving money out of my own pocket, if that's what you're going to ask. That's what I was going to ask to ask you. Yeah, I'm not. You're not. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

I mean, because let me just point out to everybody that you haven't told them yet that when we did this, I mean, the third level question, you assured me would be so difficult. that nobody could possibly get. Right. That was the part of the deal. Okay? Yes. You would come up with a question that nobody would get

so I could keep my half of the money and not have to shell it out. My 250 of the 500. But after a cut, I think it was like the third year we did it. Oh, I think it went more than that. I think it was like the fifth or sixth year. Somebody finally got it.

And then remember part of it. got it. And remember they came in to the station because part of it too was that they would come in and be able to sit in on a show. And they came in. We gave them the money. We took pictures with them. They hung out with us. I can't remember their names or his name.

No. Right? They came in. We paid them right that day. We each had our $250 in cash. We handed it over to them. Yes. Yes. No, this contest is more um is more about uh tickets i by the way i wasn't even told tickets to what so it was like i don't

know somebody wins we'll find him tickets to a caps game or a wizard's game or a terps game something like that i'm like fine whatever you know as you know and i know and i think probably many of you who are listening it's really not the prize it's the it's the contest and the play along and everybody playing along as they're listening in the car, criticizing me for impossible questions. By the way, somebody who I played golf with yesterday, Patrick Judge, who, you know, it was into the Super Bowl trivia,

asked me a trivia question, and this is a good one. And this has nothing to do with sports. Name the four colleges slash universities that are colors. There are four of them. Not the nicknames of their sports teams, the actual name of the school. Four of them are colors.

You want to take a swing at it, big trivia guy? Well, Brown University. That's one. Auburn? Very good, Tommy. That's two. I can't think of what the other... One of the other two is, you know, quasi-local.

State you? I don't know. I was like, you mean magenta State University? Navy. Navy is three. And then the fourth one is impossible. Sienna

University. Sienna is a color. What's funny... I hate to tell your buddy Judge, because I just Google this now.

Yeah. There's also a Barry college and a Rust college. I think he was, you know what, then that's unfair to him because I think he did say the four Division I colleges that are colors. Okay. Yeah. So there you go. Sienna would be the one that no one would get.

Let me just tell you, we struggled with this. And the last one we ended up getting was Auburn. I mean, because he finally gave us. a clue and he said the last one's actually in a Power 5 conference. So we went through everything and then finally we landed on Auburn. Okay. Are we done with trivia? Well, we're done with trivia, but we've got another part of the show before we get to

the meet, okay? Yes. You know, a little appetizer. Okay. Last night was karaoke night. Oh. It wasn't pool night? You weren't in the pool by yourself?

No, I wasn't in a pool last night. Last night I was karaoke night. Okay. And I introduced a new song, and it went over big. What was the new song? Best reaction I've ever, it's called Tawson and Turning. It's an old 60s tune by a guy named Bobby Lewis. It's a great jumpy tune.

And I really nailed it. I mean, it's the best I've ever done. This is the one I am going to use. all the time from now on. Because the reaction I got was just amazing. Do you want to send it to me and I'll put it at the end of the podcast for everybody? I don't have any video.

Not everything I do in Florida is on video. Well, I mean, speaking of on video, did you see the juxtaposition of Michael hitting, you know what, I forget what shot it was, to be honest with you? And LeBron

hitting the big shot the other night to set the scoring mark. And the difference in the two crowds. Did you see that or not? No. So with LeBron, every single person, with the exception of one, and that one was Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, they're all holding up their phones recording it.

And then with Jordan hitting a big shot, and nobody's got a phone. That's interesting. I just don't understand the going to a concert, going to a game and in the most important part of the game or in the encore of the concert or whatever

or a lot of concerts are just people just go there and video the whole thing why not enjoy it yourself I'm with you I don't get that either I still don't get it why not be in the moment you know what as Ron Rivera would say be where your feet are

be where your feet are that's right Didn't? Yes, that's what you need to do. Be where your feet are, not where your phone camera is. Didn't Eric Bianami say that the other day? Or somebody else said it? Yes, he did. Yeah.

In fact, I think Pat Fitzgerald, the long-time Northwestern football coach, did a whole spiel on that a couple of years ago that was like a two-minute rant on, you know, basically this generation in their phones, you know? And it went much beyond just being, you know, trying to be in the moment. I just, I mean, maybe some people feel like videotaping it puts them closer to the actual scene. It doesn't make any sense to me. These people were all court-side for $75,000, apparently, for some of those tickets the other night.

We'll get back to that. We'll get to some of the NBA stuff at the end of the show. What we will get to next are all of the things that Ron Rivera said yesterday. We'll get to them right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Well, I think he most certainly can be. I know this. We will go into OTA's mini camp and training camp with Sam Howell, more likely at QB1, and we'll see what happens. I mean, is his opportunity?

This is a challenge to him. You know, if he comes out and does the things that he's capable, if we believe he's capable of, he can most certainly be our guy. That was Ron Rivera talking about Sam Howell with pro football talk. We'll get to Hal here in a moment. We'll get to what he said about Chase Young here in a moment, a few other things as well. I do want to remind everybody, if you've got time to rate us and review us, go ahead and do so, especially on Apple and Spotify on Apple. They give you a chance to give us up to five stars and write a quick review.

It's very helpful. This from Snelling 770, Kevin and a consistently great cast. of guests have created the most entertaining and informative DC sports talk for almost two decades. It hasn't quite been, by the way, Snelling 770, two decades. But it's approaching two decades, actually. The chemistry between Kevin and folks like Tom and Chris and Andy, as in Andy Poland, Andy was on the show with me last week, is unmatched, and it will always make for a great listen. The topics of discussion will keep you on your toes from Lorna Dunes' pinball machines,

And getting befuddled by Carly Simon to Bullets' memories, the glory days of the Gibbs era Redskins, and the woes of the current commanders, regardless of the subject. It's always worth your time. Thank you, Snelling 770. That was outstanding and very much appreciated, and he gave us five stars. From Maddie 34C, do you think that's Maddie, who is an actual 34C? She just writes, I'm assuming it she, after giving us five stars. More Tom, exclamation point, exclamation point.

That's what Maddie at a 34C wants in her life. She wants more Tom. You know, Tom's always been convinced if he was just on a, you know, a little two and a half hour train ride from here up to, three hour train ride from here up to New York with Carly Simon sitting next to him. She would probably marry him at the end of that train ride. certainly she would go out with him. She would have written songs about me.

All right. So I think we start with the Sam Howell stuff. Ron Rivera in this interview with Pro Football Talk live, you heard what he said coming in. The question, by the way, was basically, you know, what are you guys going to do at quarterback? You know, the biggest thing we decided is he will start. out as our QB1. He will most certainly get the first opportunity. We go into OTAs in mini-camp. He'll be QB-1. He'll fight for that position. We'll give him every opportunity to earn it and we'll see what happens when we get into training camp and through that. And then he was

asked as a follow-up question. Are you going to be active like you have been last year, you are signing Carson Wentz. And, you know, in previous years, going after Stafford and going after Russell Wilson as an example. And he said, no, no, no. I think the biggest thing is we have to find a guy to come in that's going to compete. But in terms of finding a guy you're going to have to spend a lot of capital on, no. We're not looking for a guy. We've got to spend a lot of capital on.

We're looking for a guy that's going to come in and compete first and foremost. closed quote. So we did, you know, this is not like a new thing with the Sam Howl QB1, because remember, Tommy, two weeks ago, there were reports that that's what he was sharing with offensive coordinator candidates. Yes. So, you know, it's not our first conversation about, you know, Sam Howell being anointed QB1. But yesterday it came out of his mouth. So I'll let you go first. What was your reaction? Well, first of all, whenever Ron Rivera has to speak to a question about a quarterback, he should have to read a prepared statement that says, before we have this discussion, let's remember, I'm the idiot who traded for Carson Went. That was me. I'm the guy. So take what I

say with a grain of salt. Okay. Now, we can talk about the commander's quarterback for next season. that should be required reading. I mean, because it's difficult to take anybody seriously if he was the guy, and maybe someday we'll find out he wasn't the guy behind the trade. But if he was the guy, it was the most absurd, ridiculous quarterback decision that I've seen in many a year by a football personnel guy trading for Carson Wentz.

That said, is he just saying this about, I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt here. Is he just saying this about Sam Howe? Because Sam Howe's really the only quarterback they have? Possibly. Going into next year? Possibly. I mean, they don't have anybody else. No.

I mean, who's going to be here next year. So, I mean, you know, I mean, in a way, he's saying it because that's their only quarterback. I mean, it's like, you know, so, I mean, so I'm thinking. maybe that's why. And it's the only... I'm trying to, because it doesn't make... It doesn't make sense to give this guy the job. And I don't care how he phrases it.

When you say he's the number one going in, it's his job to lose. That's not the same thing as a quarterback competition. And he has spoken in the past about his desire to hold quarterback competitions. And this may ultimately wind up being one, depending on who they draft. depending on who they sign in the offseason. So this just may be a case of, well, he's our guy because he's the only guy we got. I suggested that earlier on Radio 2. Look, it could be a situation where, first of all, I mean, the only two quarterbacks

under contract right now on the team are Sam Halen-Carsen-Carsen-Wence, and we know that Carson Wentz isn't going to be on the roster. Right. I'm pretty sure he isn't. And I think, and I don't know if you agree with me on this, or not. I think they're in spending freeze mode right now. I think they are in we're not doing anything big. We're not approving anything big

because we're selling the team. The ownership thing, I don't know how the Snyders are framing it with the employees because I've heard that some people in that building actually don't believe Dan's going to sell the team. But it could be that the owners of the team are telling

everybody, look, right now we own the team and if we get a right price, we might sell it, but there's no guarantee that we're going to sell it. You know, they may be just, they want people to continue to work and continue to run the business and not be concerned. Although, again, that's delusional and not really reading the room. Everybody in that room hopes they sell the team and hopes they end up with a new owner. But I do think it's possible that they can't do what they really want to do in the offseason. So, hey, I mean, this is, you know, we're going to push, this has been our plan all along. Here's what's ridiculous to me.

How do you go from one month ago, which was, one month ago yesterday was the day they played the Cowboys in the final game of the year, which for all intents and purposes, for Washington was a preseason environment. You know, they didn't have their full allotment of players. They were, you know, they weren't going to push anybody that was banged up. They had backup players. And in the week prior to that preseason environment, your season finale, which was meaningless because you had lost to the Browns the week before, starting Carson Wentz, the defense was horrible that day, too. I'll never forget that part of it.

Many will. But you at the beginning of the week were going to start Taylor Heineke. You didn't think that in a preseason environment that this was like the perfect opportunity to see what Sam had. Like it was the perfect opportunity. There was only one quarterback on your roster that had not taken a snap in a regular season game. And everybody knew Carson Wentz was done at that point after the Cleveland game.

Everybody knows that Taylor Heineke is a backup and you've pretty much told us that with your actions as well, benching him, which, by the way, I agreed with their reasoning for benching him. the offense had become completely stagnant. But how do you go from a month ago having concerns about starting a guy in a preseason environment to having him throw 19 passes in a game where you ran the ball 41 times in a preseason game? You didn't even give him a chance to just go back and sling it around all day to see what he had. and instead, now a month later, oh yeah, he's our QB1.

He's the guy. That's why the only explanation that makes sense is he's the only guy they've got. The only guy they got and the only guy that they're allowed to get. Now, the other part of what he said does not, it rules out, you know, Aaron Rogers and Derek Carr and Lamar Jackson and, you know, Gino Smith and Jimmy Garoppolo probably. And Daniel Jones isn't getting away from New York. And Gino Smith's not getting away from Seattle either, I don't think. But it still keeps in play what I believe will ultimately be the quarterback room next year, or at least the top two.

The top two being Sam Howell and a veteran at $3 million a year, $4 million a year. Jacoby Brissette, Teddy Bridgewater, Andy Dalton, Case Keenum, that kind of veteran quarterback. Because the other part of this, as we have talked about, is Ron, if he gets this final year, because new ownership comes in and they don't make any changes, they just leave everything, or the ownership thing takes a lot longer and it doesn't happen. But more likely than not, Ron understands, like we do, that this is more likely than not going to be his final year coaching, his final chance.

Is he really going to go into a season where you, He's got a pretty decent roster. You know, they've got, as he called it yesterday, a serviceable roster. They just need better play at quarterback. Is he going to go into that year and put all of his chips as he did last year with Carson Wentz? As we talked about a year ago, all the chips are in the Carson Wentz basket. Good luck with that. All the chips in the Sam Halbasket and his final year as a head coach?

I don't think so. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. I think there's a veteran. you know, low, somebody that they can get approved as a backup that will ultimately be in a, not an announced, you know, they're not going to announce a competition. Like you said, when you say what you said yesterday, you have essentially said it's his job to lose. I think that's the accurate way of describing it. You know, they're going to want them

to compete and they're going to find another guy to come in and compete. But when he uses QB1 as part of his answer, it's his job to lose. Well, Sam Hal's a fifth round pick. There's a chance he could lose the job. If he loses the job, if you're Ron, I don't think you want him to lose the job to Taylor Heineke. No offense, sorry.

Okay? I think we know what he is, and I think they know what he is. If he loses the job, they want him to lose the job to like a veteran guy that can really play the position at a level with a really good team around them that you can legitimately compete for a nine-win season and a chance at a wild card birth in his final year. That's to me what's going to happen here.

And I do think there's a chance that Sam Hal doesn't open up next season week one is the starting quarterback. I'm not rooting for that. I'm actually rooting for him to be the starting quarterback. I hope they, for their sake, it would be a dream if you found your starting quarterback in the fifth round, and he's making $900,000 a year.

And it became super obvious in the offseason and in training camp and in preseason games. He not only went in as the guy who had to lose the job, he easily was our best quarterback. And then all of a sudden you're in a really, you know, you're in a huge win-win because that veteran backup Jacoby Bressette or Andy Dalton, they're not taking you to the Super Bowl. You know, no matter how good your defense is, you know, they're just going to keep you perhaps more competitive offensively than you were last year.

But then again, you know, by the way, I wanted to tell you real quickly, go ahead, add to that. And then there's the wild card that I think reasonable people would conclude, but these are not reasonable people that run this football team that I think you draft the quarterback in the first three rounds. Well, yeah. And I think that guy competes as well. I don't think he didn't, you know, I had a caller or two this morning say, do you think he ruled out drafting a quarterback? No, I don't think that statement rules out drafting a quarterback.

I think that statement rules out going after a big money quarterback in the offseason. That's what it rules out. Yeah, I think they should be definitely looking. Their priority right now, if they're thinking football, is quarterback. That should be their priority right now. Yes, you can do more than one thing at the same time. You can continue also at the same time simultaneously, be looking to improve your offensive line, add a linebacker, add depth to your secondary. All of those things are true to.

But you still have as a top priority quarterback. And I doubt very seriously if that building is convinced today that Sam Howell is the franchise quarterback moving forward that you need to have. You know, there may be some people out there that would say, we really like a lot of what Sam is about. He's a fine young man. He's got a big arm. He can really run. He's competitive.

He's smart. We think we've got a chance, you know, that this guy can play some quarterback and can be a starter in the NFL. Nobody out there is telling you today that they are 100% sure or even 50% sure that Sam Howell's the answer. But he is the guy that is there right now. But I think you'll end up with a veteran quarterback. As far as Taylor Heineke, because everybody wants to know it about Taylor Heineke,

my sense of it is, Taylor's probably asking for a lot of money right now. They're probably posturing for a big, you know, backup contract kind of a deal. And we're talking about $6, $7, $8, $9 million, something like that a year. And by the way, Taylor should ask for that. Maybe somebody will pay it. I don't think this team should pay it, though. But if he's available and no veteran is, I would. I would be fine with him as the backup for, you know, two, three million a year, you know,

if they can't find a better veteran backup. Go ahead. Okay. My theory is that Taylor Heineke will never play for Ron Rivera again. I think Taylor Heineke, rightfully so, probably feels betrayed by Ron Rivera and will never play for that coach again. So he's not coming to play for this team under any circumstances. betrayed by the guy and the team that gave him a chance to move out of the financial services business.

Right. Yeah. And then told him that he was the quarterback, and he didn't have to look over his shoulder, that he wasn't about to bench him and then benched him. He said a lot of different things with respect to his position. Well, again. Again, you know, I mean, you can only tell, you can only believe what the guy. in front of you tells you. Yeah, but he said both things.

He said both things. That's my point. He said, you know, you're the quarterback, and then he also said, you know, we'll see. I mean, when, you know, it was never publicly just given to him. Never. No, it wasn't. But he was pretty clear about what he believed he would do.

And that was, you know, that you don't want a guy looking over your shoulder. You don't want a guy worried about being pulled. Here's a question. Look, and I think Taylor Heineke, look, I think, you know, this whole narrative that Taylor Heineke turned around in that last week and said, no, don't start me, give it to the kid. I think it's entirely possible. They told him to fuck off.

They told who to fuck off? He told them, you know? I don't think so. I don't think I want to. I think it's very likely. Why would it be very likely? Okay, I think it's possible. Okay.

Yeah, because very likely would kind of go against what we kind of learned about Taylor Heineke as a guy and as a dude and as a locker room guy and as a coachable guy. It just wouldn't fit with that part of the personality. He was always incredibly appreciative of just the opportunity over and over again. And by the way, when they brought in Carson Wentz, never balked, never pushed back at all and said, I understand what my role is on this team. There's nothing about... And he based it on money. Yeah, well, there's nothing about Taylor Heineke's personality from afar to me that says that when they decided to start Carson Wentz against Cleveland,

he basically told him to fuck off when they came back to him at the end against Dallas. And I don't think, I totally disagree with you. Again, I don't know, but I disagree with you that it's likely or even possible that he feels deeply betrayed. I don't think that that's in his makeup. I think he's been on this incredible ride from his sister's couch and derivatives classes at Old Dominion, about to get into the financial services industry, and he's made a shitload of money in a few years, got signed to a backup quarterback contract,

all because of one team and a couple of people, Scott Turner in particular. But Ron Rivera had to sign off on all of that all along as well. I know that. I get that, but in Taylor Heineke's mind, it's entirely possible that he thinks that he saved Ron Rivera's season for what it was, and he got betrayed. I don't, you know, saving the season,

I don't want to go back through the whole season. They were not very good on offense. He ended up being ranked as like the 33rd best quarterback in the NFL, Wentz was the 37th. They had bad quarterbacking for much of the year. There were a couple of moments, trust me. The moment against the Giants, that last drive, spectacular. The comeback against the Colts, spectacular.

Here's a question for you, though, about Sam Howell. If, you know, let's just take them at their word. right now that they really are kind of into Sam Howell all of the sudden. Why would it be all of the sudden? And if it really isn't all of the sudden, and let's just say during the course of the year, there were people in that organization fighting for Sam Howell to potentially play when the offense really was limited at quarterback. Why didn't he start against Cleveland? Because I'll tell you what, the fan base actually, I think would have been more approving of that move, the move to Carson Wentz.

I mean, I think they would have had, I think they would have had a better result. Well, I don't know if they would have or wouldn't have, because they would have been, they also would have been playing a team that was completely out of it. I think actually Cleveland was still mathematically alive, maybe. I forget at that point. But the, but the point is, is how, again, we're a month and a week away from they were going to start Taylor Heineke and not let Sam Howell play in basically a meaningless game. and were six weeks removed from the decision that they wanted to make, I think, before the first giant game,

which was to bench Taylor Heineke. And again, like I've said, I understand and personally felt kind of the same way. Like the offense was a big problem in that giant game, and it really come to kind of a halt. And it was what it was, and it was a limiting factor, even though they had some really good players out there. Okay, I mean, I know that. Hold on for a second. But their best chance to win the game was not Carson Wentz, under any circumstances.

Well, it's a game that could have put them into playoff. Right, right, right. Malpractice. I didn't, I was fine. I was fine with either one, if you recall. I was, yeah. I didn't think it would go well. I didn't predict it would go well.

But I was fine. And to me, you know, that week leading up to the Cleveland game, I knew that they wanted to do it before the second giant game with the buy week, and they didn't do it because Taylor pulled off his magic act and pulled a tie out at the Meadowlands against the Giants against the Giants on Sunday night. In hindsight, it would have been better had they started Wentz against the Giants because they lost that game anyway, and then they could have come back with either Howl or Heineke against Cleveland in the game that they had to have.

but my point is if they really are high on Sam Howell, did it just happen because of the Dallas game? No. Did somebody try to convince Ron No one Carson, let's go to Sam against Cleveland? By the way, that would have been a really difficult pitch. And I'm not saying that some people wouldn't have been excited about it, but you've got one game to get into the postseason here, and you're going to go with a guy who has not played a down for you all year and was a fifth round pick and was the third stringer.

And he's not playing because people are hurt. He's playing because, you know, the starter got hurt and kind of benched, but really hurt. But he may have been on his way to being benched, as you had predicted before the year, week 10. The other, the backup wasn't very good. And then, you know, you were going to your last, I mean, it's possible that, maybe some people out there that like Sam Hal that have anointed him QB1 were fighting for him against Cleveland. But I doubt it. I bet they didn't even think about him against Cleveland because they barely thought about him against Dallas. But now he's QB1. Actually, though, actually,

given that they're not going to be able to go after, you know, Aaron Rogers, which would be the one guy that I would go after if he were actually available, this is drafting somebody. If they really like somebody. I would totally be in favor of that. This actually is a decent storyline. Just like we said last year when they had Wentz, the better storyline would have been if they had drafted Pickett. That would have been a better storyline if they were looking for something to really pump people up. By the way, I wanted to mention to you one thing too, that, um, Howie Roseman. Did you see what he said about Carson Wentz? Oh, yeah. Howie Roseman.

I emailed it to you. Oh, you emailed it to me? an email about the inquire story. Yeah. Howie Roseman, the Eagles GM, the Eagles are in the Super Bowl, Howie Roseman's one of the best GMs in the league. I want to just, before I read to you what he said, I want, you know, for all those people that when Washington traded for Carson Wentz and you were lecturing people like Tom and me and others about how we needed to get on board or get out and stop ripping the trade

and stop being critical of Carson Wentz and stop talking about, you know, his time in Philadelphia and his time in Indianapolis, don't you know she in? Doug Peterson left so the Eagles wanted to do a reset. It had nothing to do with anything other than that. And then in Indianapolis, it was totally about his vaccination status. I mean, some of you really bought into all of that. You really thought it had nothing to do with Carson Wentz. But it did have a lot to do with Carson Wentz.

Because this is what Howie Roseman said yesterday when he was talking, when he was asked about Carson Wentz in those years. he said Oh God, I got out of here. He said, the league is a competitive league. If you're worried, and if you have players that are worried about competition, and as he said this, by the way, the Philadelphia Inquirer story says, he begins to shake his head, like, you know, Jesus.

Look, you've got to be really good to start in this league. If you're worried, we're bringing in depth and talent, you're probably not the right guy at the position. closed quote. Wow. Him saying that basically drafting Jalen Hertz completely threw Carson Wentz for a loop.

Yes. Now, there's a lot more in this story, you know, in the inquire story, you know, talking, you know, once again, reiterating that Wence had shown major character flaws between 2017 and 2019. But, you know, the funny thing, too, about the Jalen Hertz story in Philadelphia

is they did not draft Jalen Hertz to become a few, starter for them. They drafted Jalen Hertz to back up Carson Wentz. A year before drafting Jalen Hertz, they had given Wence a six-year contract extension. You know, Wence had an injury history, and the Eagles were smart. They needed depth, and they wanted to make sure that they had somebody that they liked that could back Carson Wentz up. But the plan was not for Jalen Hertz to become the starting quarterback. It was for him, just like when they brought back Nick Foles. It was to, because remember, they had Nick Foles for Vic, and then they brought Nick Foles back to back up Carson Wentz. You know, this team would never have moved on from Carson Wentz at the expense

in which they did it, which was the largest salary cap penalty hit, dead money, dead cap money hit in the history of the league at the time, if Carson Wentz was somebody that could really play and somebody that was really desirable to have around. And the same way, way that the Indianapolis Colts, no matter how crazy Ursa is, Chris Ballard, a very well-respected GM, threw the quarterback under the bus before he traded him, which wasn't very smart. And they, after spending a first-round pick on Carson Wentz, one year they moved on from him. Teams in this league don't move on from good quarterbacks. They don't, okay, not at great expense to themselves.

And again, Ron Rivera traded for this guy. Not only did he trade for them, he basically bit against himself. All that was known before the deal was made. They were desperate. All that, all you just said was common knowledge. They were desperate. He was not Plan A. Plan A was Russell Wilson.

Plan B was probably Jimmy Garapolo before he had the surgery. Before Garoppolo decided, no, I don't want to get traded to Washington. and let me go have surgery to avoid that trade. And Plan C was a bucket full of people, Wence was one of them, and they could not come back with 2-22 right around the corner, a new name and a new brand and new uniforms and the whole thing, and say, we're rolling out Taylor Heineke next year as our starting quarterback. That was not going to happen.

They had to come back with somebody that people knew, and people knew Carson Wentz. And look, a lot of you out there bought in to Washington. This was the right place for him that it was going to turn around. No, Philadelphia didn't unload him because Doug Peterson had gone. And Indy didn't trade him because of the Vax. They both of those places moved on from him for the reasons we understand now, clearly, they moved on from him.

He wasn't very good anymore. And there were a lot of other flaws, including apparently not wanting any competition. in the form of a draft choice. So the other thing was the Chase Young stuff. So Ron Rivera was asked about the fifth year option. Interestingly, I think we talked about this earlier this week. I know I talked about it on radio, just about May 1st. And those numbers were set.

By the way, the number for Chase Young is $17.45 million. There are tiers on the fifth year option pickup. just to explain to everybody, because I know some of you have asked me to explain this, the fifth year option applies only to players who were selected in the first round of the draft. They give the teams that are investing in these first rounders and using first rounders on these players the option to pick up a fifth year on what is a rookie four-year deal. All of the other drafted players after the first round, there is no fifth-year team option on. But the fifth-year option has to be exercised in,

May, you know, basically a year and a half prior to what would be a fifth year. So Washington has for Chase Young until May 1st to pick up that option and commit in 2024 to Chase Young at $17.45 million. Not every team picks up fifth year options. There are lots of busts in the draft. But very rarely does the number two pick in the draft, not since this was instituted instituted a few years ago, have the fifth-year option picked up if he hasn't been extended already at this point. So Ron Rivera was asked about Chase Young and the fifth-year option.

He said the following, quote, you get an opportunity to sit down, look at his tape with our scouts, talk about the way he played, what do we see in terms of development and growth? We're going to sit down with the doctors, with the trainers, where is he? And then he compared, him to Duran pain. He said, if you look at what Duran did, why wouldn't you think of it that way? Believe me, that would be my approach, especially looking at what Duran did it and the situation he put himself in. It cost us with Duran, but it cost us in a good way because the young man played and he did things the right way. closed quote. I'll let you react to Ron Rivera telling everybody, okay, that they have not made up their mind.

At the very least, they're telling you. They have not decided yet whether or not they're going to pick up the fifth year option on Chase Young, the number two pick in the 2020 draft. Well, I mean, it really raises a lot of questions that I think that, you know, have existed since year two of. of Chase Young about exactly how good an NFL player he's going to wind up being. It also raises questions about Durant Payne because it basically says, we couldn't get this guy to play until he had a financial reason to do so. This is what I said about Durant Payne. I mean, I don't know if you want to invest long-term in this guy,

because what you may have seen was a contract, you're run from him this year. And basically Rivera is saying, we got the most out of Ron Rivera because there was a carrot at the end of the stick. Yeah, it's not the best way to, A, put yourself in position to negotiate with Duran Payne, and B, kind of represent the year that he had. That's a really, really good point, because it kind of describes the season that Payne had as, well, he stepped it up when when he knew that there was a big contract at stake. Well, that should be a red flag. You know, I've suggested that the comparison

with Albert Hainsworth is a bad one because Albert Hainsworth was with another team and by the way, it was a bad guy to begin with. You know, but Duran, they know. They've coached him. You know, he's in the organization. You either know that he's an ascending player and worth paying

or you believe the reason he just had the best year of his career is that there was a big contract at stake. The latter is not is not very promising for the team if they go ahead

and sign him to a long-term deal. I'd like to... I'd like to think Duran Payne's just young in his ascending. Say that again? Okay, I think that he played in a contract year. Now, let's listen, even when he wasn't maybe

as good as they wanted him to be, he was still pretty good. I agree. Okay? I agree with that. You know? So, I mean, even if you're not getting Dron Payton at his best, he's still probably better than most of the other people you're going to put out there.

So you have to take that into consideration. But I think it's entirely possible what you saw from Durant Payne this year was a contract year performance. In his verbal public comments, and I don't blame him for this, but they've been mercenary. They have not been, you know, in terms of his love for playing for this team. Give me an example. I think I know what you're talking about. I know. I know some of the quotes I think I didn't know if you had one right there.

No, I don't have one right here. But, I mean, I just recall my reaction to the quotes. Yeah. It sounds like this guy's going to go where the money is. I agree. I felt the same way in reading some of his quotes. You're right about that. Yeah.

So, you know. He wants to get paid. That's his number one priority. I don't begrudge him that. But if you question his effort based on, you know, the fact that he was looking to get paid and played harder as a result, that is a red flag. I have to kind of put my bias aside on this one because I'm a Duran Payne fan and I have been from the jump. I've always felt like God he's got so much. talent. I mean, you just rarely see somebody that big move the way he moves and on certain plays.

And it wasn't consistent in his first three, you know, his first four seasons. But it was at times, he was their best player. I remember Jack Del Rio the first year before 2020. When he was asked about the talent and about the team, one of the things he said, he said, I'm really excited to coach Duran Payne because, you know, he stands out on film, which he's. He does. I agree with you. I agree, but here's the quote. Here's the quote he gave in January.

You know what I want, man. It's self-explanatory. I just want what I earned. Duran Payne's first four seasons, like you said, and I agree with you, those were good seasons. You know, they weren't dominant seasons, and I always felt like in some games I was disappointed that he didn't do more because I always felt like he was capable. of doing more, but he put it all together in this fifth season, a contract year. I'd like to think that it's just him maturing as a player, as a 26-year-old, figuring it out, third year, finally in a

system, and playing alongside a guy who's also just as good in a defensive scheme that was having success, and that he's ready to really blow up in his prime years, which are, you know, basically 26 to 31, you know, 26 to 30, whatever. And I'd hate to lose them. But Ron's comments, to your point, almost make me now more interested in whether or not they feel that Duran performed because there was money at stake. And shouldn't that be a red flag? Because it should. And then, by the way, here's the other part of this with Duran. You know, if he, if the quotes, as you just you know, read one of them, if they really are sort of mercenary in nature and he's ready to get paid, how pissed is he going to be when they tag him? I mean, that's not going to be, that's

going to be. If I'm right, and I recall reading this, I don't know if I have the right number, if they tag him, it's only going to cost them $20 million. Yeah, exactly. And it's not like an outrageous number. I mean, it's a no-brainer to me that you, He tagged this guy. Yes, but you have to have an understanding of what you're going to get from him, and maybe they'll say, well, we're going to get that it's another contract year for him. It's a one-year deal. Maybe.

You know? But again, like, this is where you would then get to the point where if you're Duran Payne, you probably don't sign that tag. You probably, you know, threatened to hold out and you ask for a trade. You know, and it's, by the way, one of the comments that Ron made in complimenting Duran Payne. He said, in addition to the things that I already read, he also said about pain, he did things the right way. He didn't sit out. He didn't withhold. He could have done that sit-in thing during training camp, but he didn't. And because he didn't, now we're in that

position where we have to find a way to say, thank you. Okay, you've earned it. See, I like what Duran Payne did. He didn't balk at that in the offseason. But I'll tell you what, from his standpoint, if I were his agent and I get tagged, I will balk at that. I will definitely, I'm not going to be quick to sign that tag, even though it's $20 million, because it is a defensive tackle, turning into a defensive tackle league Tommy sorry, in many ways. This is the position now that's red hot. And he was listed on ESPN's free agent board as the number four free agent in the league. He's going to get more than John Allen got. He's going to get some big time guaranteed money.

Anyway, I'm getting away from Chayshung. You told me what you thought. You thought that this says a lot about what they started to feel about him in year two. And I don't disagree with that. Here's the issue I have with Ron. And this is why I started the show off with, you know what, we really have to just chalk Ron's comments up to, you know, interesting, not important, because they change so much.

He talks a lot, you know? He's a good man. He won that salute to service award. He's committed to the military. He's highly respected. All of that is true. He also talks way too much. And even though I guess I'm being somewhat sarcastic and using his phrasing of, you know, we should take what he says is interesting, not important. The bottom line is we dissect everything he says. And he made headlines yesterday. And I don't think he needed to make headlines yesterday. So one of the things about this that pisses me off a little bit, is that, you know, if you were a little bit more skillful, you would have just said, look, you know, Chase came off a serious injury. He went through a long recovery and rehab. That was a much more serious injury than your run-of-the-mill ACL. And what a job he did to get back on the field for us at the end of the year. And he looked like the Chase Young of 2020. We love this young man. This young man's going to be a big part of our future. But in terms of May 1st, look, right now we've got, you know, we got free agency. We've got a draft. But yeah, no, we think Chase is going to be a big part of our future. And we're thrilled

that he was able to get back out on the field for us at the end of the year and get his confidence back. You know, you could see that with him in those final three games that Chase, you know, with that serious injury, had recovered and he'd got his confidence back. So we're thrilled about that. And we can't wait to see what that young man can do in the future. You know, he could have handled it that way. Instead, he made headlines. I mean, this was a headline. comment. When you talk about not picking up the fifth year option of a player that was picked number two overall, that's a headline comment. You know, when you imply that you're, you know, there's a chance you won't pick it up, that you're not sure what you're going to do with it.

So he talks too much, number one. Number two is this. I think you're right. I think that they have really been dismayed, discouraged, frustrated with Chase Young following that rookie season. I think it started with him not posting for the OTAs. I know a lot of you minimize that, and I'm not saying that they're the end-all be-all, but they had 90 players on a roster, and there was one player, just one, and he had a C on his chest. He was a captain, and he didn't post for any of them. And he talked about going to get his money. You can go get your money, and nobody wants you not to go get your money. You deserve, go get it. These are short careers. You know, this is a tough business. Take advantage, strike while they iron's hot,

Nobody reasonable, in my opinion, should have a problem with Chase Young trying to make as much money as he can make in endorsements off a defensive rookie of the year season. But he certainly, certainly could have shown up for at least one OTA day. And I told all of you that they were pissed. They were not happy about it. And then we heard for the first eight games of 2021, maturity, adhering to the scheme, not playing their role, not doing their job. They were talking about Chase Young primarily. And so I'm leading to this. If they are really thinking about not picking up his fifth year option,

they're thinking that he may not be a part of their long-term plans. They're frustrated with him. They find him to be uncoachable, whatever it is. And I think that you may be on to something here. And it's not like all of us haven't thought of it at some point, going back to the first eight games of 2021. But certainly it didn't rise to the level of, well, they're not going to re-sign them or they're not going to pick up his fifth-year option.

But if they're seriously considering not picking up his fifth-year option, well, then you build him up publicly. You build him up. You talk about those last three games. They got three games of a sample size of him off that injury where he looks good, because you should be trying to shop him right now. You should be trying to trade him for as much as you can get for him. If he isn't going to be a part of your long-term plan,

you know, then trade him. And you don't trade him after you have gone public with. We're really not sure whether or not we're going to pick up his fifth year option and then compare him to Duran Payne where he's got to be incented to play at a high level with the threat of it being a contract year. That's just not smart. They got fleeced in the deal with Indianapolis. They're not the sharpest tools in the tool.

sheds. That's frustrating to me. There's no forethought. There's no, you know, planning ahead. There's no thinking. There's no, there's no plan. There's no greater message in that building that dominates everything. From the business side to the football side, you know, there's nobody to deliver that message, or if there is, no one's listening to it. You know, that affects everything. They lack that. lacks so much. They do. But we don't. We've got more show to come. Tommy's got a Super Bowl pick, and we will talk about the Kevin Durant trade when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This final segment of the show is brought to you by two of our sponsors,

my bookie being the first. They've got a unique deposit bonus that lets you cash in and cash out quickly right now. Make your first deposit today or any time between now and the big game on Sunday. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And you only have to wager your deposit amount one time and then you're eligible to cash out right away. My book, he's got everything you want for the big game on Sunday. All of the pregame stuff, all of the prop bets, all of the in-game action. Line's still sitting there at one and a half. 51 is the total. By the way, I bet Kansas City on the alternate point spread line minus six and a half plus 212. I have the chiefs in one of my bets laying six and a half.

They're getting a point and a half on the point spread. On the alternate line, one of the alternate lines was KC minus six and a half. Tommy, I think the result of this game is going to blow up teasers. So a lot of people will be teasing the chiefs or the east. Eagles and the total. I think the result of this game is going to be one-sided one way or the other, and I think it's going to be Kansas City that rolls. Anyway, go to MyBooky, use my promo code, Kevin D.C., bet anything anytime anywhere with MyBooky.

This final segment of the show is also brought to you by our good friends, Tommy, at Shelley's Backroom. Yeah, Shelley's back room. Look, I'm going to enjoy watching the Super Bowl on Sunday with my brother-in-law here in Florida. He's an Eagles fan. and it'll be nice sitting with somebody who has a real stake in the game and watching it with them. So I'll enjoy that, and I'll be picking the Eagles to win when we discussed that. But I really wish both of us were sitting at Shelley's watching the game.

This is, look, you can go to different sports bars. You can go to all kinds of other places around town to watch, but there's only one place where you can go and have a great glass of whiskey and smoke a first-class cigar with other people while you're watching this great sports event. And that's Shelly's back room. It's the only place in D.C. where you can do this in very comfortable seats with eight big-screen, high-definition TVs, available to watch it no matter where you're sitting in either room. They have two rooms, so they have more than enough room to accommodate you.

and if you really want to raise your level of Super Bowl viewing to a class, like maybe, just think if Humphrey Bogart were alive, you know where he'd be watching the Super Bowl? Probably Shelley's backroom. That's where he'd be watching it. So be like Bogie. Shelley's backroom, 1331 F Street, Northwest in the district. Before we get to your Super Bowl pick to finish up the show,

the NBA at the trade deadline, quite the show, I guess. I'm going to start with this. I hate the NBA when this happens, this stuff happens. I love the NBA playoffs. It's always a must for me. I'll sit there late nights in the spring. It's just part of my rhythm, spring rhythm, to stay up and watch TNT late into the night.

you know is Phoenix battles Denver in game three of a series I love the NBA playoffs the regular season now it's for schmucks basically I mean you know you don't know what you're rooting for you have no idea if the team that you're rooting for is going to be the team that you get to you know at the end of the year it's just it's it's it's I think this load management you know the popularity of the NFL I saw the other day that that stupid flag football game outrated like the highest, you know, a regular season NBA game. Somebody sent this to me. Listen, I think they're on to something with the flag football thing, by the way.

Okay. I didn't watch. I think they're on to something. Okay. I didn't watch it either. But I think that they're on to something in terms of capturing a level of interest in this country that doesn't care about football normally. The pro football flag football game on Sunday drew 6.2 million.

viewers on TV. The Stanley Cup finals average 4.5 million. I thought there was an NBA comparison there. Anyway, the trading of Kevin Durant ends this Brooklyn multiple championship threat team that started with Hardin and Kyrie and Kevin Durant. It's been one of the worst disasters in team sports history in terms of what it had the potential to produce and what it didn't.

Tommy, remember the 76ers teams of the 70s? At least they won playoff series, even though they loaded with one superstar after another, Dr. J, George McGinnis, World Be Free. I mean, Darrell Dawkins, they were the team that was supposed to win lots of rings. They never won one until Moses Malone got there in 1983, but that was not the team of the 70s. But at least they won playoff series.

and got to the Eastern Conference Finals and got to the finals once and lost to Bill Walton in Portland in the 77 finals. This team had maybe the three most lethal scores on one team we've ever seen and won one playoff series. In order, Kyrie Irving's at fault more than anybody else, in my opinion. Number two is, and I love Kevin Durant. I love Kevin Durant, the competitor, the player, But Kevin Durant clearly picked the wrong guy picking Kyrie Irving over Steph Curry,

major lapse in judgment. He realized it at some point in time. He won it out before the season. They told him to pound sand, and he finally got his way. And he's going to go to Phoenix, and he's going to team up with Devin Booker and DeAndre Aiton, and they're going to have a championship caliber team the rest of the way when he comes back from his injury. And, you know, maybe he'll finally get that title without Steph Curry.

but it's another built-to-win superstar-laden team. If I were the Nets, I said this last summer, I'll say it again. Unless I'm getting Kevin Durant back in the trade, I'm not trading him. You know, with Kevin Durant on your team, you still have a chance to be a really good team. You can't win or compete for an NBA title without a top five player. Kevin Durant's a top five player. He's a top three player. And so they didn't get back Kevin Durant in the trade.

They didn't get one superstar back. You could have made the case that if you kept Kevin Durant the rest of the year with this guy Cam Thomas blowing up in some of the pieces they got back for Kyrie that you could have still hung in there and been a three or a four seat in the east and kind of a wide open NBA postseason upcoming with Kevin Durant on the team, won a playoff series or two. but they finally succumbed. And they gave them up and they got a lot back.

I'm not saying they didn't get a lot back, but they did not get Kevin Durant back. And I can't imagine doing what they did for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. They gave them everything that they wanted, every single thing that they wanted. They gave Kevin Durant and Kyrie. And now you're Brooklyn and you've got nothing to show for it. And you don't have a superstar on your team. like after all of a sudden done, you've lost all three of those players, and what do you have to show for it?

I just think the net of it all is, you know, it's not that I feel badly for Brooklyn. You know, they didn't have to trade Kevin Durant. He was under contract for another couple of years. You know, you could have told Phoenix you have to get Devin Booker back. They wouldn't have done that deal. But I don't know, the NBA at this point, you know, trade deadline and teams changing.

And now all of a sudden the Western Conference is loaded top to bottom. We're beginning of the season. It was the Eastern Conference. I mean, by the way, I am going to be interested to see where one of my favorite players of all time, even though he's never been able to win anything, but just because he tries so hard, where Russell Westbrook ends up. He was part of a trade, a Lakers trade that brought DeAngelo Russell to L.A., along with Malik Beasley and Jared Vanderbilt.

and Russell Westbrook ends up in Utah, but they're going to cut him, and then he's going to have a chance to sign on with a playoff contender. I think somebody will sign him. I do. I think somebody like Miami, maybe the Clippers, who apparently are going to move on from John Wall. You know, he's been hurt again, Tommy, and apparently they may move on from him. I've been reading that. But, you know, at this point, I'm going to follow my local team and, you know, wake me when the playoffs begin,

because I will be in for that. You see, you follow your local team. This NBA and the way with the player movement and all the drama and stuff, it really is built and geared towards the 18 to 30 crowd. I don't think follow teams as much as they follow players. Right. And I don't think they watch games as much as they watch highlights. And so that's why the NBA is so popular,

in that sense. But again, my theory is that these 18 to 30-year-olds, when they become 35-to-50-year-olds, they're going to be different. Having been 18 to 30 once and now being an old man, things change. Your taste change. Your preference has changed.

And the NBA, the way it's set up now, given that the greatest population growth in this country is elderly, is getting older, not getting younger, that they're going to wind up paying for it. But this NBA, the way it's set up now, it's not set up for you and me. I know, but the young people today, this is what they've grown up with, you know, following players and following fantasy teams. So, you know, whatever the next change is, wherever this goes from players in fantasy to something else, they'll want players and fantasy back in 20 years. I think they'll get exhausted.

I think one of the things that I hope comes out of this, I think the whole, and it won't, by the way, it won't, it won't change. I think what Brooklyn did backfired so badly, giving the players as much power as they gave them to basically set it up exactly the way they wanted to set it up, that it may prevent teams from doing the same kind of things. in the future. Like it may, you know, it's not that I don't believe that players should get paid what they are deserving of. I totally believe that this is a players league and they deserve all the money in the world. I don't believe that they should be making all of the decisions and

running the franchise and essentially having the owners and executives work for them because it usually doesn't work out well. And it does not work out well in Brooklyn. And it may be a changing of that guard. I doubt it. I doubt it. I think this is a league run by the players and run by the best players in the league, the superstar players in the league. But man, what a complete and utter effing disaster the Brooklyn Nets were. I mean, that thing looked like it was, you know, multiple championship possibility. They won one playoff series. I feel a little bit badly for Kevin Durant, Tommy, from this one perspective because I do believe Kevin Durant is just a baller and just loves to play and dies to play. And he's had some injuries, some real injuries. And I don't think he recognized the flaws in

Kyrie Irving. And he got completely duped. He did not realize that Kyrie was about Kyrie and would completely turn his back and be unaccountable and basically leave him high and dry, which he, you know, proved to, he did in Cleveland. He did in Boston. He should have known. But, and if Durant wins a title in Phoenix, I don't know how I'll feel. I do love watching him play in particular. And the series they did nearly win against Milwaukee two years ago was one of the great individual performances by a player in NBA playoff history. Anyway, I'm talking too much about the NBA.

What's your Super Bowl pick? Well, my Super Bowl pick and your premonition about of one-sided. It's not the way I see it. I see a close game. I see the Eagles wearing down the Chiefs over the course of a game, physically beating them down to the point whereby the fourth quarter in a close game, the Eagles will wind up dominating both sides of the ball in that quarter and squeeze out a 27-20 win. How is that possible?

Now, I grant you, I think it's kind of nuts because when I read stuff, because I think Pat Mahomes is like a magician. You have Mahomes on your Mount Rushmore of all-time greatest quarterbacks. I know that. You got him etched out next to Unitas for crying out loud in Baugh. And you're not picking him to win the Super Bowl? And like, here's a stat. Mahomes have started 93 games in his career.

In those games, the Chief has either held the lead, or been within one score in the fourth quarter, 90 times. Oh, my God. That's a stat right there. Yeah. This is a little bit insane, but consider this Duran Leonard won. Okay. And as much as I love Ray, you know,

Duran beat him in that first fight because he beat him down. He wore him down. He was physical. Did you, were you, because I was a big Sugar Ray fan as well, but I also really loved Duran. At the end of that first fight, I'll never forget where I watched it. I watched it at the Capitol Center with a couple of friends.

And my father, I think, took us to see that fight on close circuit. I loved Ray, and I wanted Ray to continue to win. But my God, did I have so much respect at the end of that night for Duran? Because there was no doubt in my mind, even though I was biased, that Duran won that. fight. Like he won that fight and he, the desperation in which Duran fought that fight was incredible. So I don't see the Duran Eagles comparison. I see what you're saying with Leonard and Mahomes. But Duran hated Leonard so much. That was his moment. That was his career moment in Montreal that

night. Styles make fights, you know, and that style worked for Duran. Now, Ray didn't let him fight that style in their second fight when Duran wound up quitting. And maybe Mahomes wind up doing the same thing. But I like the Eagles. I like the Eagles to wear them down. I like the Eagles. And do you know if the Eagles win, they'll have won five NFL championships in the history of the franchise.

That's the same amount that the Washington football team has won. Yes, but they will have, more importantly, for Eagles fans and, you know, as it relates to their NFC, you know, brethren, they will have three Super Bowl trophies equaling what Washington and New York have. No, they won't. They only have two. Right.

Right. This would only be their second. Right. They'd be one behind. But with a past. That's right. They have the Foles one. That's it.

That's right. They only have one. That's right. But they'll have two Super Bowl wins because, you know, that's all I care about is the Super Bowl. I know. I know. And that's been something that you've been able to hold over them, but, you know, now it's too close to comfort. I can still hold over them three Super Bowls to two Super Bowls. Yes, you can. Yes.

It's five NFL championships to five NFL championships, though. And what are the odds about the Eagles win another Super Bowl in the next five years if they win this one? I think what's pretty amazing is that they will have won two Super Bowls with coaches in the second year of coaching the team. But then again, Gibbs' first Super Bowl was the second year. He was coaching the team. Year two. That's right. Yes, it was.

You got anything else for today? That's all I got, boss. All right. That's it for today. Hopefully back tomorrow with Cooley.