The Kevin Sheehan Show - Sam's Summer QB1 Spot Stands

Episode Date: June 8, 2023

Kevin is joined by Michael Phillips/Richmond Times-Dispatch to recap Commanders' mini-camp. The boys discussed Ron Rivera's confirmation today that Sam Howell has maintained his QB1 spot heading into training camp later in the summer. They talked Eric Bieniemy, Howell to Dyami Brown, the running backs, tight ends, and Michael's pick to be a surprise contributor in 2023. Kevin finished up talking about the Wizards' introducing their new front office today along with thoughts on Denver's impressive Game 3 win in Miami. 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. Did Sam show you enough through Mity Camp to kind of keep this QB1 spot for now going into camp? And is that, you know, kind of the plan? Yeah, he's pretty much showing us what we want to see. I mean, again, he's young.

We know he's young. He's a second-year player who, you know, got an opportunity to start last year. But there was a lot of room for growth. And we know that. But he's got a good skill set. he's mobile, he's got good foot movement, he's got quick twitch to him, good decision maker. He's still learning to make those decisions, but he's also got the armed talent, and that's the thing that, you know, that excites us.

That was Ron Rivera earlier today after the final day of minicamp had concluded. They practiced indoors because of, as Ron called it initially, the AQ1, but it's actually the AQI, the air quality index. We all know what's going on here for those. of us that live here. It's unhealthy out there. The Nats canceled their game, postponed it until June 22nd,

and they moved practice today out in Ashburn indoors. And one of the people that was there, and he was there all week long as her good friend Michael Phillips from the Richmond Times Dispatch. And he's joining me right from the top because I actually want to start with that answer. That was Sam Fortier asking Ron about whether or not Sam Hal had done enough to continue through the rest of the summer into training camp as the

QB1. And he said, yeah, I mean, there was a quick yeah. And then he got into, you know, he's a young player. He's progressing and ended with the thing that I think that they are most excited about because they haven't seen it in a while. And that is his arm strength, which he definitely can make all of the So I wanted to start off before we get into other observations from you from these three days of minicamp with the quarterbacks, Michael, because, you know, I was thinking about this on radio this morning. We have not had a legitimate quarterback question, and I would frame it at least as a question right now between Sam Hal and Jacoby-Berset, even though I would say that there's an 80% chance that Sam Hal's the starter on opening day, and I'll get your assessment here in a moment. But think about this. Last year it was Carson, no debate. Year before that was Ryan Fitzpatrick during the summer, no debate. The year before that really was Dwayne, no debate. I mean, it wasn't going to be Kyle Allen. And in 2019, even though Dwayne was a rookie, I think we all felt it was probably Case Keenum. There was probably more debate that summer. Year before that was Alex and the years before that were Kirk. So we actually, for the first time in a while, I know it seems like it's every summer, but it's really not. This is more of a question about, you know,

who the starting quarterback's going to be this year. Do you see it that way or not? I unfortunately don't, so I'm glad we're coming right off the top of it. I got 95% for Sam. Look, Jacoby Brissette has been good and would be good if he needed to quarterback this team, and I think could very easily quarterback them to nine and eight or eight and nine. Everything has to be framed that this is Ron's last year, and this is the last year of this group with the new ownership taking over,

and they can't play it safe. They can't afford to start with Jacobian play it safe. That's an admission that what you have isn't going to get it done. They have to try Sam. They have to see if he's it because you have to find it to get the power. to hang around after this year. So I think they're yoked to him whether they like it or not. I don't think that has anything to do with ice performed on the field. I just think conceptually, either this guy's it or you don't have a quarterback, you didn't find your guy. Thank you for playing.

We're moving on to the next guys. So interesting because, you know, perspectives, everything. And when you said they can't play it safe, in many ways, I actually think the safe way for them to play it is to start the guy that has, you know, little known about him and try to develop him. And therefore, you know, there isn't a lot of pressure on them to win this year. And because if they start Sam How, we know, unless it's Patrick Mahomes, most second year quarterbacks are, let me just, let me back up. Most quarterbacks starting for the first time don't end up in the postseason. even if they end up being great quarterbacks down the road and there's great development in that first year, it's still probably going to be a six, seven, or eight win year if Sam Hal starts.

So I think it's interesting, and I know what you were saying from the way you put it, but I think in some ways if I'm in Ron's shoes or maybe even Eric B. Enemy's shoes, because I think it's going to be his call, playing it safe would be, hey, we're developing the young kid. We think we've got something here, and, you know, it may take some time, but this is the high ceiling, and you have to have one of these guys. So we're going to do this. I could see where you're coming from, for sure. I think that's more interesting for Bienomi, just because he comes in with so much juice behind him.

I mean, I think that what he does this season will be very closely watched. I mean, I think the dynamic there is very interesting. he is calling 100% of the shots offensively and some of the shots team-wide in terms of when they practice and how they practice. And, you know, one of the things Ron announced at the end of the last mini-camp practice was coming back for the very last day of OTAs. I can't think of any coach we've had here in a long time who would have done that. You know, he's going to fly everybody back into D.C. Tuesday for one day of on-field practice. because of the penalties they've had, every other coach would

and the names, too, Gibbs, Shanahan, you know, onto Zorns and Gruden, all would have said, let's bag that day, great effort boys, catch a training camp. So I think it's fascinating how

much the enemy has influence here, and I think he will have a definite say in how things go. He hasn't been giving Sam Howell, I mean, the lion's share of the snaps. I don't want to exaggerate. say 65% of the snap, you know, when they do 11-on-11 work, are going to Sam Howell. He very clearly wants to accelerate this development, wants to accelerate how he's going.

I don't think there's anything to read into in that regard other than I think they feel perfectly fine with Jacoby Rosset if they need to, and this off-season, and this OTA mini-camp program in particular, was all about let's push Sam Hal forward, let's get him up to speed. By the way, I loved what you just said, and I want to make sure that everybody understands what you said about the last OTA days. So there are three sets of three OTA days that are allocated to NFL teams, but Washington got docked two of their three days in their final session because they were too physical last year in their OTAs, so they had two of those days taken away. Well, they've already had six of them, and they had an opportunity to do one more as a standalone day. day next week, voluntary, just like all the OTA days are, after this just concluded mini-camp. And to Michael's point, I think everybody expected that they would probably not come back for that

just one day. Maybe if they had all three still available to them, they probably would have taken advantage of it. But with one day left, most coaches, here anyway, would have said, see ya, we'll see at the end of July, early August when training camp begins. And what you're suggesting is that the reason they're coming back next week is that Eric B. Enemy wants them to come back next week? A hundred percent. That is absolutely what I'm saying. And he coaches them hard. And he is a demanding coach. And, you know, look, you can feel however you want to feel about that as a player, they have the chance. Right. Like when Jay Gruden left, one of the veteran players who say, man, I don't think the young guys appreciate how much they

need to win with this guy because we're never going to get a guy like this again who's so player friendly. Like, say whatever you want as a player. You had the chance to beat the Cleveland Browns last year. And by the way, Scott Turner might still be here if this had been a playoff team. You had the chance to beat the New York Giants and one of two chances against them. And you would be, you know, this wouldn't have happened. So whatever Eric Behanemy does, he's got a blank check from me. This is a guy who's walking in with rings. This is a guy who's walking in with a reputation. Far be it for me second-guess any of his approaches. Now, I think it will be interesting as the season goes on. If there's a losing streak, if there's two, three losses in a row, and he's riding them hard,

does that wear-on players? You know, that wasn't really an issue for him in Kansas City. You know, what do you do with a bad team or a losing team? I think that will be an interesting thing to watch. But at least now, in the off-season workout, yeah, do your thing, buddy. You got more credentials than anybody else around here. You know what's going to be really interesting, Michael, is how many of those offensive players show up on Tuesday? Very much, though. Because it'll, you know, I would not trust me for those listening. I'm not going to make a big deal out of it if like seven offensive players don't show up and make it into a B-enemy thing.

Because it's way too early for that. And by the way, I'm with you. It's about time that, you know, they try something else. like riding them hard and understanding that they haven't been, you know, haven't had a winning record since 2016, and that maybe they should take every available minute of practice allocated by the CBA and use it rather than say, oh, we're good, you know. But I think it will be interesting because it is voluntary next week,

and a lot of these players may have planned on not being here next week. Who knows? Yeah, you know, one thing we, I think fans may be over there. look sometimes a lot of these guys don't live here in the off-view. Exactly. Most of these guys. And so, you know, for your Charles Leno is a guy who I would say right off, that probably won't be here and probably doesn't need to be here.

But even your Terry's, you know, you know, your Curtis Samuel's like it's a three-day effort to fly in, spend the night, you know, do the practice, spend the night and fly back. It's a big time investment. Boo-hoo, you're a professional football player. But it is easy to see how there could be more of them sitting out next. week than normal. Stay tuned for next Tuesday's final OTA day.

Oh, we've got so much excitement. All right. One last thing on the quarterback, because 5%, you know, you said 5% chance he doesn't, isn't the week one starter, right? Yeah, that's correct. I'm at 20. I'm at like, you know, a 1 in 5 chance that he's not. But the reason that I'm at a 1 in 5 chance,

and I had Sam Fortier actually on the podcast yesterday, and he started off in that general area, but when I was done saying what I'm going to say, he moved his way up towards 20%. I'm not putting any pressure on you, and I want you to stick with you. I want you to stick to your guns. But see, here's the thing that I don't think any of us know,

and I'm not even sure they know. And that is, as we get closer to the season, and we're in August, and they've got a preseason game against Cleveland, and it doesn't go very well. And what they're seeing every day, and what the players are seeing every day is that there's one player that really is a project. I mean, he's a developmental project. And there's no guarantee that at the end of this project, you have yourself a starting NFL quarterback. and you do need to compete this year. I mean, certainly Ron does. And Eric needs to either show great development in a young quarterback

or he's got to take an offense that was pretty lame the last few years and have it make a big jump. And if it does, by the way, this should be a team that competes for a playoff spot because they're good everywhere else except what we've seen recently at quarterback offensive line offensively. And so I don't know why there would be a 95% chance that that won't happen, that they won't come to that conclusion at some point. I don't think it's the favorite, like I said, to me, there's an 80% chance that won't happen.

But I can't go to 95% chance that the guy that they didn't even want to start in the final regular season game last year that was meaningless for them. that there's zero chance that he can, you know, cave in training camp and change their minds in terms of what they've been selling all offseason. I'd like to present that same set of facts back to you from the 95% perspective. Eric B. Enemy, I believe in Eric B. Enemy. I believe he's an upgrade over Scott Turner. I'm drinking the Kool-Lade. I'm buying what he's selling. But there is no guarantee he is going to be a good NFL offensive coordinator and play caller and assistant head coach and all those things. He has never called the plays before.

He has never, you know, done it at this level before. And you never know until you know. And I think it's very fair to expect growing pains for involved. And so I think it's reasonable that Eric Bionemi has some growing pains here as he grows into being a play caller and doing that role. Would you rather expose yourself with a kid who's in Sam Howell, not a sure thing, and certainly would take some of the heat, or a known quantity like Jacoby Brissette, who you may say like, whoa, you know, hey, this offense is not working.

What's going on here? Well, that's not the problem. They found a veteran quarterback who won games with the Cleveland Brown. You know, let's look elsewhere. So I think it's too Eric the enemy's advantage to do this with Sam Howe, to be a little more aggressive with the arm strength that's available to him, to call more of those downfield shots to have a better chance of him sticking around long term and him finding his way as opposed to the other way around.

Now, the players may see that very differently, but I see a lot of advantages to Eric Biener going with the unproven option here. Yeah, but you're now asking. You're asking me to buy into the Eric Bianami defensive approach that he's unsure of himself right now. I mean, it's like, let me provide myself with cover while I'm learning how to call plays and be the guy offensively, and the cover is this project who may or may not make it.

I don't know that Eric B. Enamey ever thinks that way. But would it provide more cover? I guess that's true. but here's the issue. The issue, Michael, is what if he, you know, has his belief that, you know, he's just got to get his sea legs under him, two to three games, and he'll be fine. But he still doesn't and isn't sure about Sam, but with Brissette, who I believe would be, it would have been an upgrade last year. they can really take a jump offensively and potentially be a much better offense statistically, certainly throwing the football, and by the way, you know, contribute mightily to an 8, 9, 10 win team

if the defense is as good as we think it can be. I don't know if he doesn't win as much, if not bigger, that way. Is 9 and 8 enough, though? Is just a playoff appearance enough? For him or for Ron? For Ron, it's not for sure. Yeah, agreed. For him, if the offense is a big contributor to that, yeah.

Considering how people would look at the offense of the last couple of years, look, it would be much better if it happened with a developing young quarterback on a rookie deal. And everybody said, my God, look what he did with Sam Howell. But what I'm saying is if he doesn't think that he can, then the other way I think would help him as a guy. well. All right. So I'm just going to go all the way there because this is one of the interesting subplots

of the season, right, is does Eric B. enemy get to be the head coach next year? And one of the biggest factors is new ownership, right? So I believe that new ownership will install a general manager first at the end of the season and then work backwards from there and get a coach. That seems to be the way they operate teams with a strong general manager and the coach working behind them. I don't know that for sure.

But, you know, how you do that is interesting. One of the other interesting stuff, is if the season's kind of moderately going off the rails, it's maybe dangerous to fire Ron mid-season and put him in because if you get a little bump, if you get a little juice, you're in a Steve Wilkes situation in Carolina, where you've got to keep the guy. I know they didn't there, and they took a lot of heat for it.

I don't think the first thing you want is the new owner is to walk into that situation where you're the guy who denied the enemy his shot at becoming a head coach. The other interesting thing to me that I would put on the table here is this is a fascinating schedule in that your first two games are really favorable. You got Arizona before they gel and you got Denver before they gel. Those are both winnable games. If they come out of that stretch, O, and two, there's going to be some hand-wringing, and I think

deservedly so. But I don't think they will, but I think those are really good opportunities for whichever quarterback you pick to really get his opportunity to establish himself and get some Ws right out of the game. Yeah, I mean, those first two games, I mean, maybe a little bit less so at Denver, but last year the Jacksonville at Detroit, the two worst teams from the previous year, was a perceived very soft opening. And there was no possible way they could go 0-and-2. God forbid. And they nearly did go 0-and-2. They were behind by eight points in the fourth quarter at home against Jacksonville, and they pretty much got, you know, thumped at Detroit. And by the way, both of those teams ended up

being much better teams last year than anybody thought going into the year, which could happen with Denver. I don't know about Arizona. I'll tell you what, they better beat Arizona. That's for sure. You'd rather play them in week one than week 17. I know that much. Yeah. Anyway, The big point just is that the level of quarterback talk is high every offseason, every summer. But this summer, it's actually more justifiable because there's actually more, comparatively anyway, more of a reason to think about a quarterback competition this summer than there has been in recent years. All right, let's move on. Move on from the quarterbacks, I'm saying, onto another topic involving what you saw out there the last few days.

and we'll get to that with Michael Phillips right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Michael Phillips, Richmond Times Dispatch, joining us. You can follow Michael on Twitter at Michael P.RT.D. All right, let's talk about other things that you saw over the last few days. And I just want to ask you a general question first about Eric B. Enemy. Do you think that Eric B. Enemy will have essentially the final call on everything offensively? Yes. Yes, I do. I think he will get 100% of the big decisions, and I think that starts with which quarterback he wants. I think if the enemy falls in love with Jacoby Rosset during training camp, he can start Jacoby Reset if he wants to. I don't think he's tied to Sam Al. I don't think he's tied to anything else offensively. My only question would be how much juicy he had in the draft room watching them for in the offensive line two consecutive picks. That tells me, you know, that may not have been his show right there. But I think as it relates to the on-field product and even the cutting to the 53, I think he's pretty far away in control.

Yeah, I mean, I would say that, you know, he got maybe what he wanted in free agency with at least Andrew Wiley. Anyway, as far as the offensive line goes. All right. Give me your other, you know, you don't have to rank them, but give me another two to three, four major observations from the last three days from your standpoint. Well, it was interesting to see Chase Young and Montez sweat back, just in the way it transformed the entire practice, honestly. Like, you know, those guys come to compete and come to win during those sessions. There was a lot more batted down passes, a lot more, you know, jabbering from them.

They're talking about there, and they are both big physical players. It's hard to miss their presence out there. So it's kind of like, you know, you have two weeks of like, boy, Chase Young is a headache. Why would anybody deal with Chase Young? And then it's good to get three days of, like, ah, that is why you deal with Chase Young. Yes, of course. Like, he is larger than every other player out there. And, you know, he's ready to go dominate and has that competitive drive.

Like, you know, it was a good chaser to the shot of, you know, he was missing OTA. So I thought that was interesting to me. Watching the enemy coach the units, he coaches the offense, the running backs, the run game. and the line the hardest of all. And I know he was a running back, but that was fascinating to see. Like Antonio Gibson and Brian Robinson, he was really hands-on with both of them,

which I thought was fascinating to watch. I mean, he was very, very involved in what he wanted, how he wanted it to look, and demanding that they do it until they get it right, basically. Did you get a kick out of watching him? I know a lot of people that were out there the last couple of days, really had fun watching Bianami. He is the perfect candidate for a Mike Duff feature.

Should this group be forced into Heart Knocks, he would immediately become the star of every practice. There's no doubt about that. He's got energy. He's got passion. I think he towed the line of tough love very well. It is tough, but it is love too. And that's been very fun to watch. One thing that's been interesting, we talk about Sam, how I'm getting the majority of the staff.

But Terry McCorn did not catch a lot of passes any of those three days, which I thought was interesting. It just wasn't thrown to a lot, wasn't targeted a lot, which I do think with him trying to, you know, work in some of these other guys, work in some of these other concepts, maybe saying, you know, hey, yeah, it's all right, we're good. we saw so many screen passes, so many little short concepts, but then you talk to people who say, hey, behind closed doors, when you guys weren't here, Sam Howell was flinging it. He was throwing at 40, 50 yards. They were doing long passes. So I don't know if that's intentional or just the day we happened to be there.

But I do think there's very much still a big play element of this offense that's desired. With respect to the tight ends in particular, I mean, Ron talked about that actually today, and he seems the way he seemed every single time he's been asked about it, even with the loss of a player during OTAs, and that is they're pretty confident in their tight ends, aren't they? I'm pretty confident in their tight ends, too. I was very confident in Logan Thomas going into the off season, in that, you know, second year after the ACL, I think, you know, last year he was really

fighting through that all year long, you know, things of that nature. But I, you know, I'm less sold, having seen what I've seen over the last few weeks. I think that, you know, sometimes you have that major injury and you never bounce back from it. I hope that's not the case. I like him a lot. I think he'll be involved, but I was kind of hoping for a little more than we saw. But I think they're in good hands, Cole Turner, Curtis Hodges.

I like both those guys. John Bates can block. I've never sounded the alarm on that position, and I don't think I will after this week either. I haven't asked anybody this week. Is there any indication that there is like this connection, college connection, between Sam Hal and Diami Brown? There is not. But no indication of that.

Remember last year in training camp, like all Carson-Winz did was throw out to John Doxon? And we were all like, that's kind of funny. All Sam Hal does is put to John Doxon now. Like, I don't know if he's just like the world's greatest practice receiver or if they're calling a lot of stuff to him or not, but he is absolutely the get out of jail card that these guys, that Sam's been using all week. He's a great receiver.

He's really, really good. So I don't even, I try not to say flippantly because he is absolutely deserving of that role and being that safety that guy, but it's just funny because it was such a big deal with Carson. Like, I don't think it's a big deal with

Sam at all, but it's funny that it's happening for a second year. Yeah, I mean, well, I mean, last year, this time of year, it was all about, wow, we really did get it right in the draft. I mean, you heard that. We all heard how pumped up they were that Jahan Dotson belongs and belong day one. And by the way, I think we've kind of heard the same thing

about Emmanuel Forbes, don't you? Very much, and we've seen that on the field, too. And, you know, the first thing you see is the size. The first thing you see is the legs. They're very, very skinny. And you think he does not look like he belongs. But that kid plays. You know, he plays hard and he plays with an edge. I like what I've seen. I think they may have hit in the first round for two years in a row, absolutely. At running back, is there any reason to believe that Robinson, Jr. and Gibson aren't going to be the two, you know, sort of bellwethers, you know, one perhaps as the primary between the tackle guy and the other guy touching it a lot in a lot of different areas, or did anybody else step forward like the kid Rodriguez from Kentucky?

I didn't see Rodriguez get a lot of opportunities to do that. So it's probably too early to say to rule him out of that. You know, training camp will obviously be different. Plus some days with the pads where maybe he'll get a chance to have some true carries against a live offensive and defensive line. But, you know, one of the things that really stood out was this was a very basic month. This was a building blocks month. Here's how we're going to huddle. here's how we're going to call the play.

Here's how we're going to get to the line. Here's how I want you to run this play conceptually, which makes it very hard for evaluation purposes, right? Like, you know, we're used to having these competitive drills and who won today, the offense, or the defense, and who looked good and who stood out. There just wasn't a lot of it. It was a 101 class with Eric B. enemy of.

You guys, you know, not his words, my words, but essentially, like, you guys are going to get retrained here. you'd be a bunch of knuckleheads who won eight games last year despite having good talent. I'm going to show you how to run an offense. Let's take this thing from the very top, which is not unjustified, as I said earlier, obviously. And so tough to truly know the fitting in and the not fitting in there, especially in the run game. But you are correct. It was Gibson and it was B-Robb, you know, 99% of the time with the ones.

It'll be an interesting subplot to watch. can one of them flash in those preseason games can one of them flash at the joint practices because they really didn't get the chance this month. Do you think Bienemy likes Gibson as much as some of us do? I do. I think he really likes both going long, taking the shot, but also having a really talented option out of the back field to check it down to to throw it to or to run when needed.

I think Gibson is going to put up a thousand all-purpose yards. year. He quietly does that every year, I know, but I see no reason to think that will change. Did he have a thousand all-purpose yards last year? Well, counting kickoff returns, of course. Yeah. Well, they, you know, I don't know how much. How did he do you know that? But actually, I think he did a really good job on kickoff returns, although, let's face it. I mean, we don't even know if that'll be a real play this year with the new rules. That's right. You asked about it. Actually, you asked Ron Rivera about it today. I heard your question about kickoff returns. and they're still trying to figure out how they'll handle it.

All right, two more, and I'll let you run. He was asked about ownership, and, you know, he's asked what he's going to be doing for the next six weeks or after next Tuesday. And, you know, he's waiting for this ownership thing to get resolved and to get finalized. And he did say that, you know, they've had to tell, like, agents of players, hey, everything's on hold right now. You just have to trust us. We just got to get to the point where we've got new owners, and we've got to, you know, let them know what, you know, we think we should be doing right now.

What do you think are the big things that are on hold right now? Football-wise. I hope it's signing an offensive lineman. I hope it's signing a free agent, right? Like, I think they need another one. I think they need more depth there. That is my number one cause for alarm right now is not enough depth on the offensive line and not enough talent there. I mean, in my dream world, it would be, you know, they've got a guy on the hook but are waiting for authorization to sign a check.

Now, I would note they got Duran Payne done with the old ownership. So I don't know how big, big of a deal this is. You know, all the contracts, they got signed, got paid out. I don't know that this is truly a monster, monster deal. The biggest thing from a football perspective immediately will be Travelle, Wharton has not been named the offensive line coach yet. He still listed the assistant offensive line coach. Juan Castillo still listed as the tight ends coach.

He is not anymore. He's the run game coordinator now. And they said they can't finalize those new job until the ownership changed. So I don't know what the specifics are behind why that's the case. But I think that would be your number one immediate impact. And really why you'd like to get this thing done before training camp, I think, in a dream world. You didn't mention extension for Cam Curl? No, extension for Cam Carle. Yes, of course. Thank you. I continue to believe

Cam Crull will be extended before week one of this season or whatever the deadline ends up being. It just makes way too much sense for both sides, not to. Right. All right. Last one. Give me, and I've asked everybody this that I've had on for the last few days, give me the player that nobody's thinking about. When I say nobody, I'm talking about, you know, most fans of the team. Give me the player that you think ultimately has a big role and becomes a significant contributor in 2023 that we're not thinking about right now, or we're not obsessing about right now. Yeah, I'll take either two positions real quick because I want to talk about linebacker real

quick because I'm curious about the Kaleek-Hudson love, given that essentially he didn't do a lot the first few years. Now, I was a big fan. that tweener guy, you know, it looked like that was coming in vogue in the NFL, but he never really quite landed in that role. He's much more of a true linebacker now. He is on the Sam Howell Chris Paul Club, which is to say guys who dominated against the Cowboys, and that seems to have earned them, you know, at least first dibs on what's going on here now in 2020.

He had a really good last week of the season, and now here we are. So I've been as guilty of anybody of drinking the Kuli Kuhlade. Now he's got this one game under his belt. He's getting this opportunity. I think he's going to be a significant player here because you've got Jamon Davis and you've got the new linebacker Cody Barton.

He's kind of number three on this list right now. So I think he will play a significant amount out of the gate. I'm very intrigued to see how he does or doesn't do. So this isn't the pick of like, hey, this dude's going to flash. It's just they're putting a lot. lot of faith in him making that leap. Opposite way in the secondary with the other position I would say, which is you got six guys who I think have a legit claim to start in week one.

I think Juan Martin's probably the one who sits right now, but they love Juan Martin. They're using him a lot. He looks very versatile. He looks like he can play a lot of different positions. I think he's going to find his way to the field a lot sooner rather than later. Great job. As always, appreciate you doing this. We'll talk soon.

I'll look forward to it. Michael Phillips from the Richmond Times Dispatch, everybody. At Michael PRTD. Michael's always one of my favorite people to have on the show. I'll finish up with thoughts on Denver's Game 3 win last night in Miami, and the Wizards introduced their entire new front office. We'll finish up with that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right back up, Yokic Fakes, spins, the pirouette.

And the bucket is good. 32 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assist, a masterpiece from Nicola Yolkich. Denver easily last night in game two over Miami 109 to 94 with Nicola Yokic and Jamal Murray both going for triple doubles and becoming the first pair of teammates in NBA finals history to have 30 point triple doubles in the same game. an amazing performance last night from Nicola Yokic. Again, 32 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists. His 10th triple double of the postseason, 10th of the postseason, the most ever for any player in the history of the game in a postseason. He's got 10 triple doubles and 18 playoff games. He is, you know, he's got to get the titles, plural.

to really be considered as an all-time great. But in terms of his skill level, that conversation will be an easy one to have once he has the titles in hand. And I think he's on his way to getting, I think it'll be the first of at least a few over the next few days. Yokic was unbelievable last night.

By the way, he was great on defense last night as well. I actually think the story of the game in terms of why Denver 1 had more to do with Jamal Murray's performance. In game 2, Jamal Murray went for 18 points on just 15 shot attempts. In fact, he had 37 fewer touches in game 2 than he had in game 1. Remember, before game 2, they started Kevin Love, Eric Spolster did, put Jimmy Butler on Jamal Murray, and Jamal Murray had a real difficult night for him. and it was a big part of the story of why Miami won game two.

Well, last night, Jamal Murray was aggressive from the start. And unlike in game two, Jimmy Butler guarded Murray, but not as much. They did a lot of switching, and then at times other players, Caleb Martin in particular, and others were guarding Murray, not Jimmy Butler. I don't know why that was. Maybe it's because they felt Jimmy Butler needed a big, offensive game for them to win at home. And he was much more aggressive offensively than he has been.

He ended up with 28 to lead the heat. But I think Butler not guarding Murray exclusively start to finish was impactful. Now, he did start on Murray, and Murray got off to a quick start against Jimmy Butler. And I thought Jamal Murray was sensational. Look, they've got two superstars. They've got an all-time great, obviously, in Nicola Yokic. But Jamal Murray is a big part of what they do. And Murray last night really took it upon himself to get himself going.

By the way, with the help, of course, from Nikola Yokic. The screening, the dribble handoffs, just a lot of what Murray is able to get is because of Yokic. But he was great last night. The two of them combined to go 24 for 43 from the floor, four for eight from behind the and 14 of 16 from the free throw line. Murray's triple double was 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. Amazing, the performance last night from that duo. I thought that they were the hungrier team, the more aggressive team.

I thought by far in a way it was their best defensive game of the series. They were lost in all of the ball screen stuff in game two, even in game one to a certain extent. and off ball screens as well. The heat last night shot 37% from the floor. They were 34 for 92. They missed 58 shots in the game. That's one of the reasons Yokic ended up with 21 rebounds, and Murray ended up with 10.

I mean, they combined for 31 rebounds, the two of them. As a team, Denver had 58 rebounds, 45 defensive rebounds. Can't get that many rebounds if the other team's making shots. and Miami didn't make shots. I credit Denver's defense. I thought it really stepped up and it was much more connected and they communicated much better. And look, Miami, I thought won game two because of their defense,

but not to be overlooked was the fact that they shot 17 of 35 from behind the arc. Last night they were 11 of 35 from behind the arc. If they were 17 of 35 last night, well, that would have been 18 more points and they would have won by 3, 112, 109, just like they won by three in game two, 111 to 101.8. I know that things would have happened differently, of course. But the point was really more about Denver's defense forcing Miami into all of those misses, I think more so than them just missing shots.

But the guys that knocked down shots the other night weren't. I mean, Vincent was two for ten from the floor. Strues, one for seven from the floor. You know, Kyle Lowry was one for four from behind. the arc. Butler was one for four from behind the arc. So they had a difficult time, but I give Denver credit. Look, Denver is the better team in my opinion. They're the more talented team in my opinion. And last night was really a terrific performance by them. They're still getting nothing from Michael Porter Jr. But it really doesn't matter if Christian Brown is going to play the way

he did last night. 15 points and 19 minutes off the bench. He was great. I mean, he was, you could see it Kansas. But Christian Brown was awesome last night and really gave them everything in terms of their bench play. Although I think Jeff Green continues to play well, every opportunity he gets at whatever age he is now. He's got to be 35 years old, maybe even older than that. Let me look that up. How old is Jeff Green? Jeff Green is 36 years old. He's going to turn 37 this summer. he's had a great role in this championship perhaps championship run. You know, he's getting, I don't know, roughly 15 to 16 minutes a night, and he contributes any way they need him to contribute.

But there were shots of him last night and sound of him, you know, instructing various players on what to do. He's talking to, at one point he was talking to Gordon about defensive positioning. Jeff Green's always been. a big time, you know, leader for sure. Game four is tomorrow night in Miami. And if they don't get that one, this series is over. I mean, I hate saying that when it comes to the heat. I really do. Because they have proven everybody wrong, you know, as big underdogs, how many big underdog wins do they have outright? I think you'll get the best that you've gotten from Miami tomorrow

night. And if they win that game, then you've still got a series. I still think Denver wins it. I hope it's seven. I bet on them winning in seven. I'm concerned about tomorrow night, though. All right. One last thing to finish up the show. So today at District E, which is that, you know, facility right next to Capitol One Arena, Ted Leonis introduced. Actually, Chris Miller did all introducing and he did a great job as emceeing this event, which was the big press conference to announce Michael Winger as the new president of monumental basketball, Will Dawkins as the new general manager. And it was really the two of them that we heard from the most. Travis Schlenk is also a VP of Basketball Operations. And then by the way, they announced also JT3 was promoted to senior

VP of monumental basketball. So good for JT3, who I still think should be coaching personally. But he's moving up the front office route and who knows, maybe JT3 is on his way to becoming a general manager in the NBA at some point. But I watched, we actually carried the entire presser on the radio station today and I was watching it simultaneously on NBC Sports Washington. And there were a couple of things that jumped out to me. Number one was just how much emphasis there was on D.C., this city, becoming a destination for basketball players, professional basketball players. This was a theme today in the conversation with Ted and with Will Dawkins and Michael Winger. Michael Winger got emotional talking about raising his kids, having the opportunity to raise his kids in D.C.

That was kind of, it was interesting. Anyway, Ted said, we should be a destination. You know, great city for free agents and their families. We've talked about this forever. You know, why hasn't D.C. been more of a destination for great players in the NBA? It's a great city. Those of us that live here know what a great city is. It's a great place to live.

It's a great place to raise a family. you just have so much. You've got the best in education. You've got the best in health care. You've got the best in so many different things. But it hasn't been. There have been the obvious answers like, you know, well, Florida and Texas don't have state taxes or the weather is not great here, you know, a year round. Too hot in the summer and, you know, people can't drive in the bad weather in the winter, all that stuff. But that's really, I don't think that's been it as much. I think the, I think the reason the Washington Bullets and Wizards haven't been a destination for great players is because it's a perceived loser. It's a perceived bottom feeding loser because it has been. You know, it's been 45 years since they won a title, 44 years since they played in a championship series. They haven't sniffed a title. They haven't sniffed contention for a title in 44. years. And so there was great emphasis today on what a great city this is and what a great basketball city it is. Will Dawkins talking about he knows he's entering a great basketball city.

And it's true. It's true. Now, it's not a great pro basketball city. It's never been a great NBA city in terms of, you know, true passionate fan support. I'm not saying that there isn't fan support because there is, and I'm a big fan. But I'm a big fan. But I, I understand the difference between the Wizards fan base and even the commander's fan base. I mean, the commanders fan base still dwarfs every other fan base, even though it has been, you know, cut by two-thirds. But I do believe in something that I've talked a lot about over the years, and that is this is a basketball city at its core. You know, the football team in terms of consuming the football team in the NFL, that's number one. But in terms of participation, there are more people in this city that participate in basketball as players, as coaches, as referees, as parents than any other sport.

And we have the greatest youth and high school basketball of anywhere in the country. Certainly it's debatable that it's the best in the country. The Catholic League, as we've talked about many times, the WCAC top to bottom, is the best high school boys basketball in the country. The girls' high school basketball in this area is sensational. Every single year, when you look at the max preps top 25, there are three to four teams from this area. And on the girls' side, the same thing. And it's just great. And those of us that have participated in it understand how great it is.

And I was glad to hear the emphasis on this should be more of a destination, that this is a basketball city. And by the way, it's a great city to live in. There was more. The other things that stood out, the relationship between Will Dawkins and Michael and Michael Winger, it was pretty obvious that they have great chemistry. They've worked together, and they did work together in Oklahoma City for many years. And that relationship is obvious. Clearly, Winger, when he got the job, the, you know, one of the top priorities was to hire this Will Dawkins. who's 37 years old. He's been with Oklahoma City his entire professional career.

And by the way, I thought he was really impressive. I thought Winger was too, but I thought Dawkins was really impressive. And so that chemistry between those two, I thought, was pretty apparent. By the way, Winger said, you know, our goal is to pursue championships by any means necessary. Eventually, we'll hoist a championship trophy. I just can't tell you when. But yeah, that stood out to me kind of their back and forth, and they're clearly very comfortable with one another.

You know, they did talk about, you know, job responsibilities and who's going to do what between, you know, Schlenk and Dawkins and Winger and, you know, JT3. And, you know, Winger made it very clear that it's going to be collaborative. that'll be, it'll be very much a collaborative approach. I mean, I think, you know, there's a legitimate concern that there are too many hands in the cookie jar, too many cooks in the kitchen. But Will and Winger, Dawkins and Winger have worked together, and that's sort of how they've handled it in the past together. But Winger did say that, you know, Dawkins is going to, you know, be in charge of the basketball operation. But on the big decisions, you know, who they draft, the trades, who they sign, it's.

are they going to try to move Bradley Beale? Those are going to be collaborative decisions. I thought Ted, you know, was less long-winded than he typically is. He still says things sometimes that make me shake my head. I do want to point one thing out. For a person who has really had a problem over the years with every single person and every single press conference with the new person referring to Dan Snyder as Mr. Snyder, when in many cases these people have been older than Mr. Snyder, everybody refers to Ted as Ted. You know, to me, that is an indication of, look, he's got ego,

but it's not a runaway, you know, ego. And in Snyder's case, I mean, come on. I mean, after a while, does Ron Rivera a man that's probably five, six, seven years your senior, does he really have to call you Mr. Snyder. Everybody refers to Ted as Ted. Even Will Dawkins, 37 years old. That would have never happened had Will Dawkins been hired by Dan Snyder. It wouldn't have been allowed. But anyway, there was, there were a couple of things. I mean, Ted definitely likes to take these opportunities to pat himself on the back. And, you know, talking about all their championship teams, the Caps, the Mystics, their

e-sports team. You know, they've done it right in so many different ways with so many of their different organizations and now it's time to do it right with the Wizards. Okay. I just, I know that it's a growing thing, but I don't need personally as a die-hard, lifelong Bullets Wizards fan, I don't need to hear about your e-sports championships. And I don't care if my kids care about hearing about your e-sports championship. championships. This is a press conference today about the Wizards and the basketball operation.

And he also at one point in describing this, you know, media empire that he's building in monumental sports and how they own every aspect of media for their teams. And they do own a lot of it. I mean, they do, you know, do dole out the rights, the radio rights to, you know, stations like 1067 the fan. the team 980. And I would advise them that that's important for them. But anyway, he made a statement, he said, in talking about the media, that they've become kind of the gold standard of sports media owners, that monumentals become this behemoth. I don't know if it has or not.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I really have followed the monumental story that much other than, you know, the press releases I get every once in a while. I mean, I don't watch anything personally that's streamed on their sites. I watch NBC Sports Washington for games. That's it. I watch it for the Wizards games primarily and for, you know, Caps, playoff games when they're on. But he made the following statement. He said, in describing their media prowess, weren't it kind of an organization? as in we've got the it factor in the industry. You know, everybody's looking at us and what we're doing in media. It may be true.

I'm not going to sit here and say that it's not true. I don't have the information on that one way or the other. But I would say, like I've said about Jason Wright, when Jason Wright has gone on and on about, you know, they have created the best, you know, industry practices when it comes to their HR department. And corporations all over the globe are reaching out to them to find out, you know, how they did it. You know, they're the beacon of, you know, human resources organizations.

And that may be true too. But, you know, no one really cares. And I'm not saying that people shouldn't care because it's important, especially with the football organization. They didn't have an HR department. And we saw what happened there. But, you know, that doesn't, that's like. Bruce Allen saying we're winning off the field. It's tone deaf to what today was about. Today was about the basketball franchise and these new hires and what's going to happen here in trying to

once and for all build a winning culture and a sustained, contending NBA franchise. It's not about patting yourself on the back for being, you know, a kind of an it organization. You know, we've got the it factor, you know? It's like Ryan on the office when he got the big job and he kind of talked about himself having the it factor. You know, what is it? It's just, I don't need, again, might be true, might be true, but I care about their basketball team. I care about the, most of their consumers care about the results. All right, that is it for the, But let me just say, last thing, I was impressed with the press conference today, with who they hired. I have no idea if it'll work out or not.

There's good fortune required in the NBA in particular with injuries and with the draft. I mean, these guys have drafted pretty well, but still, occasionally you got to get a little bit lucky where, you know, Janice Atenticumpo's there in the middle of the first round. Kauai Leonard's there in the middle of the first round. Jimmy Butler at number 30. You've got to get a little bit fortunate, but you've got to have some keen evaluators and insight as well. All right, that's it for the day.

Back tomorrow. Convergence, viral marketing. We're going gorilla. We're taking it to the streets while keeping an eye on the street. Wall Street. I don't want to reinvent the wheel here. In other words, it is what it is. Buying paper just became fun.