The Kevin Sheehan Show - Swing Big For Watson?

Episode Date: January 28, 2021

Kevin and Thom today. Thom got his vaccine shot. Would either get aggressive and trade for Deshaun Watson even if it included dealing Chase Young? They answered. Is it time to trade Beal and would either rescind the Wall for Westbrook trade if they could? Lots on that and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. All right, the show today brought you by Window Nation. They've got one of their best deals of the year. All right, listen carefully, buy two, get two free with no limit.

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Tommy's here with me today on this Thursday. We're getting the podcast out a little bit later. My fault, mostly. It may have been your fault if you had to stand in line for a long period of time to get your vaccine. but it went really well, didn't it? It went as smooth as government can go, baby. It went that smooth. That was really well done.

That was really well done. I'm glad you acknowledged that in a very sort of sarcastic way, that it's not always smooth. Well, this one couldn't have gone smoother. I'm so happy for you. I mean, we went on the website. And we had been on the website about three or four times before. You know, the way they set this up sometimes is you had to get on the website,

and the website wouldn't open until like five in the morning. So you had to get up. And everyone says like a mad dash to get on the site and to get an appointment. So we had a couple of failures, but eventually we got one. The thing is down here, they've made a point of that you've got to be a Florida resident to get this vaccine. And I thought, part, you know, that was a reaction by Governor DeSantis down here. That was a reaction to people who were taking, like I described, vaccine patients. They were coming to Florida to sit in the sun and get a vaccine.

That's all they were doing. Well, is it easier to get a vaccine in Florida? it is in Maryland? I guess it is. Well, for one thing, I think in Maryland, they're still doing 75 and older, and here they're doing 65 and older. Got it. Which one did you get? Moderna or Pfizer?

I got the Moderna. Okay. Did you have a choice? Not that I was aware of. And this is... Look, I was on shaky ground here, and nobody had indicated that I was on shaky ground, but I wasn't going to buck the system and say, well, no, I don't want that one. I'll take the other one.

It's not a buffet. Yeah. So isn't the Moderna the one or maybe both of them are where you're going to need a follow-up booster shot? Yes, and I've already got an appointment. When you leave, they give you a card that records that you had the vaccine and your appointment date to get the second shot. So I've already got one for the same time, February 25th, 9 in the morning, at the same location. And it was the thing where, you know, you're supposed to report a certain time you get there. You stand in line maybe about 10 minutes, tops.

And then there's about a dozen different stations of nurses waiting to give you the shot. It's very efficient and very – and at the end you've got to sit. for 15 minutes in a big room to make sure you don't pass out or something like that. And they had a record player in there, and they were playing records. Oh, I'm sure. They had an actual turntable in there. Playing some Sinatra maybe for the crowd. Was there coffee and donuts?

No, I didn't see any coffee and donuts there. That's too bad. You know which I eat. I eat or drink, by the way. I know you don't. But it felt like a great moment of empowerment. Now, from what I've read, it takes about 12 days for you to get the protection in your system. And when you get the first shot, you're about 52% protected.

So you're going underground for a while. Well, no, I mean, I've been careful all along. I mean, I haven't eaten in an indoor restaurant since March. You know, I wear a mask when I go outside most of the time, unless I'm, I'm smoking and walking. And so I've been pretty careful. I've been pretty diligent about it. When we eat out, we eat out and out for restaurants only.

So I just got to do what I've been doing. Okay. I mean, it feel pretty good the way I've been handling it. And, you know, I mean, I don't know what the first place will be once I am fully vaccinated and protected. But I can tell you what's high on the list is Shelley's back room. room. I haven't been in about 18 months. Yeah. Well, I would imagine that a lot of people haven't been to Shelly's. That's got to be one of those, you know, incredibly socially distanced environments. Not to, not to mention, I mean,

it's tough to breathe in there anyway when you're in there. I'm kidding. I love Shelly's. Oh, it is not. I'm kidding. I love Bob and I love all the people down there. And you know what? When you go down to Shelly's for your first cigar, in beer, call me and I will meet you down there. Just to be downtown and be able to walk into a restaurant. Now, I've gone to restaurants, as you know. I've gone to restaurants. I've sat inside, socially distance.

I've sat outside. It's not that I'm reckless. I've done it carefully, but I've certainly done that. But what a nice day it would be for two vaccinated good old friends and business cohorts to have a cigar and a cold beer down at Shelley's when this is all over. I'm ready for that. You know, when's the last time we saw each other? Face to face?

It's got to be March or April? No, not April. It's got to be March. I think I didn't. Well, you were the first one. Okay, let's be fair here. you really did have this before anybody else had it. I mean, you had it before the Chinese had it, before the U.S. had it, before anybody else had it.

You in February were talking about this virus, and you were the first one to call tournament. What are you talking about the tournament? They're not going to play the tournament? That was actually an incredible call about a week in advance, because I remember I'll never forget saying to you, You know what's really strange, Tommy? On Selection Sunday, they ought to pick some extra teams because what if a player or a coach gets infected? That team might actually have to forfeit. And you just said to me, extra team.

There's no tournament. They're not going to play the tournament, you dummy. And I just laughed. And I said, well, of course they're going to play the tournament. But you were right. And that was probably a solid week and a half in advance of all hell breaking loose with Rudy Rudy Gobert, who really started it. And, you know, in hindsight, clearly, and hindsight, as Steve Spreyer said, many years ago,

it's 50-50, they could have played everything, and everybody would have been fine back then. Anyway, it would have been a hell of a tournament. Would have been a hell of a tournament. Yeah, it would have been. Uh, so I'm happy. I'm happy. And the other thing, and the other thing I noticed is everybody there is in such a good mood. Oh, sure.

I mean, it's really like a feel good place because the people who are given out the shots are, you know, feel good about making these other people feel good. And everyone feels good who's getting the shot. I mean, it's, it's such a remarkable feeling of everybody being happy in the same place. Well, that's why they had the music going. I mean, you probably in the waiting room probably could have gotten a quick dancing. You're a big dancer. People were happy.

You should have brought a cooler in with you and broken out a couple of red stripes. A couple of red stripes after the shot. See, that would have been a great photo of yourself in the waiting room after the shot, you know, swigging down a few red stripes, yucking it up with some of the other people in there. Was it basically a 65 and older crowd, or were there people that were eligible for the vaccine that were younger because of health vulnerability? I didn't see anybody. Everybody I saw was strong and like bull like me at the age of 66. Very good.

What was the, what was the, what was the, what was the play, the musical that, that was about the four seasons, Frankie Valley in the four seasons? Jersey boys. So we saw, I remember Kara going, hey, do you want to go see Jersey boys? I heard it's pretty good. Because we actually, the Sheeans actually like musicals and the boys, we've taken them, you know, to New York and to various places around town, arena, stage, whatever, for musicals over the years. Well, it's not that we're super... It's a revealing moment.

Well, I've told you, I've told you that before. Karen and I, I mean, I actually enjoy the theater. I love going to New York. There was a stretch there for many years where we would try to go to New York once or twice a year to see a show, get dinner, meet friends, the whole thing. Whatever. Anyway, I've told you before, like, my all-time favorite Broadway, musical is Rent. And my boys grew up listening to the soundtrack of Rent for their entire

childhood. They can basically sing every single song from that soundtrack, which is a great soundtrack. Anyway, the reason I brought, we saw Rent, we saw Rent at the Warner Theater. Yeah, I've seen, yeah, I saw it there too. And it's stunk. Yeah, you're wrong about that. I think I've seen, I think we've seen it seven times, something like that over the years. Anyway, that's, you know what, that was, this would have been perfect for that segment that we talked about doing years ago, which is tell me something that I don't know about you. And that would have been a perfect one that, uh, that I've seen rent probably six or seven times. That's not an exaggeration. Anyway, back to Jersey boys. I remember we went to, I think maybe we saw it at Warner Theater.

I forget where we saw it. But Tommy, I remember walking in and looking around, and I thought maybe I had shown up at the place where they were giving vaccines. Because there's no way that I wasn't the youngest person in that place by 40 years. I couldn't believe it. Now, to be fair, I think it was a matinee. So that may have made a difference. But I don't know what made.

I guess what made me think of that is the waiting room for you today at the vaccine place. What were you going to say? Well, they weren't playing any Frankie Valley on the turntable. I don't even remember what they were playing. Yeah, probably more like Glenn Miller. You probably had some Glenn Miller ban going. I never saw that play. I saw the movie.

I liked the movie, but I was not a big four-season fan growing up. Me neither. I mean, that's really before my time. They had that Who Loves You Baby song in the 70s and a couple of others in the 70s when they made a comeback of sorts, I guess. But anyway, enough on that. What would you trade for Deshawn Watson?

He is officially available. Or, I'm sorry, he has officially demanded a trade. Now, apparently, this has been a well-known fact for a while that he demanded that trade. You know, they hired the coach last. night for the Texans. Did you see who they hired? Yeah, the older guy. You may have met him a few hours ago.

He's like my age. Yeah. Yeah, he may have been in the line with you down in Florida for the vaccine. Yeah. The hire of David Cully. David, David, yeah, David Culley, okay. It actually was a very interesting hire because when the story broke last night, and I'm looking for it right now. Hold on for one second. When the story broke last night, here it is.

Here's on ESPN.com. This is the second paragraph. Cully 65, who has spent the past two seasons in Baltimore, just completed his 27th season as an NFL coach. Along with serving as the team's assistant head coach, Cully was Baltimore's passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. and then the next line. The Ravens finished the 2020 season ranked last in the NFL in passing.

So they hired the Baltimore passing game coordinator, and he coached him up to a last place finish in passing statistics. You know, I did not know this until just an hour or so ago. But Brian Mitchell apparently either played for Cully at some point along the line or knows him and has been talking up David Cully as a head coach candidate for years on his show. And I didn't realize. I had never heard of him, Tommy. Had you?

No. I never heard of him. Cully was in Philadelphia, probably when Brian was there in 1999 and 2000 as the wide receivers coach. He had never been a coordinator in the NFL, never had risen to the level of coordinator. He's a head coach. By the way, he is the, in terms of head coaches go. the second minority hire of the seven general managers, three minority hires out of the seven new general managers. But David Cully apparently didn't impress Deshaun Watson very much because they immediately went public today after the announcement of David Cully as the head coach with We Have Demanded a Trade.

And that's been the story here this afternoon about Deshawn Watson. So in all seriousness, I think if I'm Houston, you'd have to absolutely blow me away with a deal that would allow me to replace Watson with either a player that I'm absolutely confident will become at least Watson, like a Trevor Lawrence maybe, or with an existing quarterback that is at or near his level or even exceeds it like an Aaron Rogers. or I would not trade him. I would, there's no chance after he signed a four-year, $156 million contract in September, would I trade him no matter how much he demands to be traded unless I got the most unbelievable deal back. I don't know how you feel about that.

The flip side to that is, if you're Washington, would you be, would you just swing big and say, this never happens, a top five, top six quarterback, franchise quarterback at 25 years old, available with a decent cap number of the next couple of years. Houston, name your price, and we will put an escalator in there. And this is our offer, but we will increase the offer to this amount if we have to. Would you do that? You know, there's a big part of me that would say yes, but my basics,

philosophy of team building would say no. What's your basic philosophy of team building? I'm hiring guys that will find my quarterback for me. The personnel people I have working for my team will find my quarterback for me or else they're not working for my team. You're saying find your quarterback in the draft? Yes.

Okay, because they might also find your quarterback for you via a trade or free agency. Right. I get that. But I have to give up too much. I have to give up too much for that. I don't have to give up anything if I just, you know, when it's my turn to pick, pick my quarterback. That's how I would generally operate if I was operating a team. But trust me, I understand people who would say, you know, open up the cash drawer for Deshawn Watson.

I get that. Adam Schaefter reported earlier today that Deshaun Watson hasn't spoken to the new GM yet, Nick Casario, nor that Jack Easterby guy, which apparently he's the problem in the organization. Watson officially requested the trade per league sources. It was announced today, even though it may have happened a few weeks ago. The new head coach hire David Cully has not and will not alter Watson's thinking. I wonder if Eric B. Enemy would have. I wonder if there was a coach that would have made Deshawn Watson say,

okay, I'll stay, I'll play for him. It could become very costly for Deshawn Watson, and this is where you get into the kind of organization Houston is versus others. I think there are some organizations that would just cave immediately and say, you don't want to be here, fine, we're going to trade you. And others, I mean, Bruce Allen, you know he would have dug his heels in and he would have fined him the maximum and would have said, you're going to come back once you start missing paychecks.

By the way, he doesn't have any options. It's not like he can trade himself. You know, he has to rely on Houston to trade him. Once he starts missing minicamp days, if they are mini camp days, it's $95,000 plus a mini camp session. For each training camp day he misses, it's $50,000. And I'm talking about fines before we even get to, you know, what he would be missing for, you know, a salary. And, you know, if he were to retire to say, you know, basically you can all go to hell, he'd have to pay the Texans back $21.5 million.

There is sort of an economic reality that I think a player in Deshawn Watson's situation may have to deal with. You know, being emotional and not liking your employer and not liking that they didn't consult you and not liking a specific person in the organization is one thing. But when you get to understanding that, oh, that paycheck, you know, it wasn't direct deposited into my account for $627,000 for, you know, the one game that I played or a million dollars or whatever it is, you know, you start to think twice. I mean, there's a real reality to the economics that doesn't hit the player unless the team really decides to make the player feel the pain. I think this is a fascinating situation because McNair apparently is a bit of a hard ass. And to be honest with you, he is a special player. And Tommy, he signed this deal. He signed this deal.

Do you know he signed the deal after D'Andre Hopkins was traded? Like it wasn't the DeAndre Hopkins trade and Bill O'Brien and this guy, Jack Easterby, and the promise to allow him to be involved in picking the general manager. It was because he signed it after Hopkins was traded. He should have thought about this before signing that deal in September that he might want to leave. Well, I'm sure he probably thinks he's more powerful. I mean, he can pretty much, I'm sure he thinks. thinks, and from all accounts, Deshaun Watson is a terrific young man.

Yes. And I'm not saying this as a criticism, but he probably thinks, if I want to leave, I'll leave. Yeah. I'm Sean Watson. Right. But he, again, he can't just leave. The reality is, if they decide, well, you can't. want to leave and you can think you can just leave, but you can't just leave and go somewhere else.

Tell me another situation where this has happened, where the player eventually gave in. I mean, a player of this stature. Yeah. Have we seen a player of this stature five months after signing a big deal demand to trade? A quarterback, a franchise quarterback, an elite quarterback. sign the second biggest deal in the history of the league and then six months later? Five months later? The fire is going to win in this. He's going to win. I think you might be right.

I think you might be right about that. I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just telling you what I think I would do. I'm not trading him if I can't replace him with a comp. And that's going to be hard to do. I mean, you know, it's going to be real hard to tip. Because he has a no trade clause, which allows him to sort of dictate where he gets traded to if they decide to trade him.

Well, he'll be jumping at the chance to play in Washington for Scott Turner. Apparently he's already made it. As many pedals as we wanted to throw at Scott Turner's seat this year, and he did do a good job. I don't think quarterbacks are jumping at the chance to play for him yet. I think that he's already sort of indicated that Miami and even the Jets, which are the two teams that would have significant, you know, capital, draft capital, and player capital,

for that matter, in Darnold and or Tua, although it's neither one of them appears to be Deshawn Watson, you know, that that might happen. I think I agree with you. I think eventually Houston will say, wow, I don't know how this happened.

And God, you know, the McNair and Casario are going to say, this is a terrible precedent to set. Because, you know, the NFL does not want to be the NBA. It does not want to become a league in which the players sign deals and say, I don't really feel like living up to this deal that I just signed four months ago. So they don't want to become the NBA. And this would be the ultimate NBA move. You know, this is massive deal years, years left on the contract, not a year, years left on the

deal, just signed, just committed to. You got an organization that's been planning around this. and I know they have effed up in so many ways. It's been a bad franchise here. Terrible franchise. Bill O'Brien made some horrific deals. In so many ways, I think if I were the owner of that team, I would have gone to Deshawn Watson. I wouldn't have promised him inclusion in the selection of a general manager or head coach.

I would have just gone there as icing on the cake. Like, hey, and surprised him. Hey, can you come in and spend some time with Nick Casario? We're interviewing him for the Open GM job. Hey, do you mind coming in and sitting down with David Cully? He's in Baltimore. A lot of people, he comes highly recommended. I want to get your thoughts on him.

Like if you had done it that way, you know, without promising him and then not allowing him in on the conversation, I think that would have played better. But the NFL doesn't... That's, you know, what's interesting is, for people who are offended that they're not included, if you can give them the illusion that they were included in decision, they're usually satisfied with that. You know what? I think it's... If you invite them in, even though you have every intention of hiring this guy to sit in on the interview,

I mean, nine times out of ten, he's probably going to... he's probably going to go along with it, unless there's something, you know, so abhorrent that would be obvious to both of you in the interview. So that would be smart business to say, I got this powerful young player who is a little bit sensitive. You know, let's convince him he's involved in the decision-making. You know what you've just described. You've just described what Ron Rivera is having to deal with all the time with the owner. This was the recommendation, right? The recommendation was make him feel like he's involved

and that he's really contributed to the big decisions, but don't let him make the decisions. Oh, don't. Okay, big decision here. Houston finally takes your call, and they say, you know, you give him their pitch on the draft picks and all that, and they say, well, how about that Chase Young guy? Yes.

What about him? I wouldn't say yes right away. I would say no right away. And then I would say, we've got a couple of other guys. You know, we'd love to give you Montez Sweat. We've got a couple of young players here. No, we want Chase Young. Yeah, I mean, I would really hate to do it.

But the bottom line is, if it was the only way to make the deal, 100% I would trade Chase Young. Absolutely. I mean, if that's the one that gets the deal done, your past rusher that you fell in love with is not as valuable as one of the top five quarterbacks in the league. It's just not. I did this on radio today, and basically I said, who would be an untouchable in a trade for Stafford? and I said there's one untouchable in a trade for Stafford and it's Chase Young. And for me, the reasoning is the 33 years of age. And the truth is Stafford isn't Deshawn Watson.

However. I agree. Two different deals. However, for Deshawn Watson, and I tried to explain to callers who disagreed with me vehemently. And it's fine because I do think that there is, first of all, debate if you wouldn't trade Chase Young for Deshawn Watson is that you don't think Deshawn Watson is a top five quarterback. You don't think he's truly one of the elite quarterbacks. And if you don't think that, then that is a fair conclusion. I happen to think

he is and that he's going to get better. And so if you do believe he's an elite quarterback, like one of the top three to five quarterbacks and maybe he even climbs on that list, you know, as he starts to enter his prime, which, by the way, he's still a couple of years away from. You do it so quickly that it's such a no-brainer. And I put it in these terms, Tommy. If Deshawn Watson had been on the team this year and Chase Young weren't on the team, I think they would have won 10 games minimum, 9 or 10, and there would have been a chance that they'd still be playing.

Now, I think they probably would have lost to, you know, Green Bay or maybe even Tampa Bay, and they would have played Tampa in the first round. But let's just say that they ended up having a – they would have been a team that would have been two to three games better and would have had a chance to win playoff games this year. And by the way, would have been a future next year, year after, Super Bowl pick for a lot of people. Now – I agree with all that. Chase Young, they won seven games. Now, he missed some games, and by the way, he was a rookie, and he got better and better and better.

And I'd hate to trade him, by the way. I want to make sure I'm really clear on this. He was my favorite player on the team. Even though I was very critical of his game against Tampa, I did not think he played well against Tampa. I think the defense as a whole basically didn't post against Tampa, and that's why they didn't have as good of a chance to win that game, despite the magic of Taylor Heineke and now all the pedals being thrown at his feet. But I absolutely think that Chase Young is a player that has a chance to be the best player at his position in the NFL.

And that's the first player on this team that I could say that about since Sean Taylor. You know, Trent Williams was never the best player at left tackle in the league. He was never the best left tackle in the league. He was, you know, a top three to five guy, never the best. within a year or two could be the best four three defensive end pass rusher, you know, in the NFL. It would kill me to trade them. But for a top three to five quarterback, it's no-brainer. No-brainer.

Now, what else would be in that deal? To me, Chase Young is a first-round pick and a high first-round pick going into a second year. And if they're requiring three firsts, what it would be is it would be number 19 this year. it would be your first round or next year, and it would be Chase Young. And people are like, what are you talking about? Chase Young and two firsts? Maybe it's Chase Young a first and a third or a first and a second, but you're not getting away for Chase Young for Deshawn Watson straight up,

which should tell you automatically that if you don't think you should trade, that you should throw in Chase Young as part of a deal for Watson, there isn't anybody in the league that wouldn't do that straight up, unless they had Watson evaluated as not as high as most people do. If you don't think Watson's at top, you know, an elite quarterback, well, then you don't do that, obviously. But if you think he's an elite quarterback, you go for it. This is just the football part of it.

I mean, you're not going to have to convince the owner who may love Chase Young for all I know, being the local star, you know, you're not going to have to convince the owner that, you know, he should trade Chase Young for Deshaun Watson. The star power difference between Chase Young in Washington and Deshaun Watson in Washington are two drastically different things. I mean, if your quarterback is Deshaun Watson in the nation's capital right now, let's say for the next five to seven years. Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, there's your marketing tool right there. There's your, there's what you thought you had with Robert Griffin III.

Yeah. Look, the bottom line is that's a major hypothetical, and Chase Young may not be something that Houston would require back anyway. They might just say, we need this year's first, your 2022 first, your 2023 first, and we also need a third rounder from this year. And it may be all draft capital. And Washington doesn't have the same level of draft capital that say the Jets or the dolphins have as an example. Anyway, or by the way, even New England has because the New England Patriots have a higher pick than Washington for the first time in 20 years. So you've got teams with a higher pick.

Hell, the 49ers have a higher pick. But the Jets and Dolphins each have two first-round picks. You know, the Jets have the second and the 23rd overall, and so they could deal those two and their first-rounder next year. And because the first-rounder so high this year, that might do it. Three first for Watson straight up. The Dolphins could do that as well. Look, my position has been as it relates to Stafford and Watson.

I would make no players untouchable in a deal for Watson. I would make Chase Young untouchable in a deal for Matt Stafford. And I know some of you think that you should make Terry McLorn untouchable too. Terry McLaren's nowhere near the level of Chase Young. Terry McCorn's not going to be the best player at his position in the league. I think he could be a top 10 receiver. Some of you think he is already. I don't know if he's that already.

He's clearly a top half of the league number one wideout with great potential. And by the way, a great culture guy too. I talked about yesterday or the day before how much Ron Rivera loves John Allen, which is why I would bet on a contract extension for John Allen, not him being part of a trade if I was forced to bet one way or the other. Chase Young would be my only untouchable in the deal for Stafford. I wouldn't have anybody untouchable in the deal for Watson, but the bottom line, Tommy, is I don't think Washington is going to end up with either one of those two players.

I think they're going to be better options for the two teams trading those players. I don't even know if Washington will be, you know, reach out. I think they should. I think they absolutely should be aggressive in going after Watson. I think absolutely they should go for it. That's the big swing you take on that position, that age, that level. That's where you're not Alex Smith for Kendall Fuller and a third and a whole new deal. You know, that's not what you're looking at.

Deshawn Watson is one of the top five or six guys in the league and getting better. I agree. And I wouldn't be surprised that the 49ers wind up with one of these two guys. I wouldn't either. I wouldn't be surprised if Miami, the Jets, the 49ers, the Panthers, the Patriots, the Broncos, the Raiders, you know, I wouldn't be surprised with any of that. Now, you know, there are just some teams with better situations draft capital-wise. Like a friend of mine who's a big cowboy fan said,

the Cowboys should go after Watson and to hell with resigning DAC. And I thought, well, you know, right now they have a need for a quarterback. They don't have Prescott under contract. But I went and looked it up. They don't have a first rounder next year. They only have a first rounder this year, which is the 10th overall. But they don't have a first rounder, I don't think, next year.

I think that's what I saw. Anyway. So, man, we're, we. We are agreeing on a lot of things today. We really are. One last thing real quickly. It must be the vaccine I got. One last thing real quickly.

I hope it is. Somebody, I can't find who it was. But basically the premise was or the interaction was, why are you so in love with Stafford? His record is 74 and 90. And that's been the sentiment of a lot of people in the Stafford conversation. And I just, I went and just looked up a bunch of guys and then people started tweeting me a bunch of records too. Jay Fiedler was 14 games over 500 as a starter in the NFL. Would you take him over Matt Stafford?

Mitch Trubisky is eight games over 500 as a starter. Mark Sanchez was a better than 500 starter in the NFL. Remember old Mark Wilson, the Raiders quarterback? He was 32 and 20 as a starter. Elvis Gerbach was 10 games over 500 as a starter. Kyle Orton was over 500 as a starter. Come on, people. You cannot, it's not, you cannot evaluate a quarterback where their record as a starting

quarterback is anywhere near the top of the criteria that you're looking at in your evaluation. It's not, it's not a, it's a relevant data point. but it's far from the most important. You evaluate that player. Then you evaluate the context in which he performed. There are very few guys that would have performed. No one was going to win in Detroit. Just like no one was going to do well here for a long period of time.

There are certain places where no matter how good you are, it just isn't going to work out. They had multiple coordinators, multiple head coaches, never had a running game. Most of the time never had a defense. talk to the people that really evaluate for a living and read some of what people have said about Matt Stafford. There's a reason reports are that a third of the league has reached out to Detroit about Matt Stafford. A third of the league.

Now, there are a lot of teams with quarterback needs this year. But Stafford is number two on the market behind Deshawn Watson. He is, you know, if we can't get Watson or Watson's too expensive, can we get Stafford? Those are the two right now. You know, who else? Do you want Darnold? I'd be intrigued by Darnold if the Jets are moving on from him, if they're going to draft somebody or if they're going to trade for Watson without having to give up Darnold.

Yeah, I would be. But Darnold's record isn't very good as a starter, Tommy? No. You know, so he hasn't started a lot of games. I guess 12 years is, you know, people look at that and they say, he's been in the league 12 years. He's never won a playoff game. Yeah, but if you've watched him play, I mean, look, again,

I don't profess to know anything about football, but I can tell just from the eye test that Matthew Stafford is an upgrade from anybody who's played quarterback for this team for a while. Oh, yeah, massive. I mean, even when we were having the conversations and we were comparing Kirk to other quarterbacks and where he ranked, I always had Stafford a little bit ahead of Kirk. I liked Stafford more. People were surprised at that, given my love for him, just like anybody was always surprised when you rated anybody ahead of Colt McCoy. You know, Deshawn Watson, Watson after this year, his starting record is just three games over 500. 28 and 25 is a starter. He got hurt that rookie year. remember they were three and three, two. He was up to a great start. Then 11 and 5, then 10 and 5 is a starter last year, and then 4 and 12 this year. All right, a couple of other things to get to and

to finish up the show right after this word or two from a couple of our sponsors. Bradley Beale last night had 47 points for the Wizards, Tommy, and he became the first player in NBA history to score 40 or more in 10 games, the last 10 games where he scored 40 or more and not win any of them. I think it's time for the Wizards. What's that say about the franchise? It's really, it's worse than it's been. You never wanted to give it credit for anything. And I did. I thought there was that stretch with Randy and with John and Bradley Beal as young players and with Neyne and Trevor Rees and Gortot, et cetera, and then that year with Paul Pierce, et cetera, where I really thought they were making strides. And you know, I thought they were really well coached under Randy

Whitman. And most of the people in town didn't like Randy, and apparently the players didn't love them. But basketball people knew Randy could coach. I like Scott Brooks a lot. I don't think he's anywhere near the coach that Whitman was. And I think he's in trouble right now. And I think that the organization has to be thinking about what they can get back for Beal. You can't wait. If you're going to do it, you've got to do it soon. Bradley Beale is going to get traded and Scott Brooks will be gone by the end of the year. He's not going to get fired during the season. Not this. You're right. Not during this season. No, Ted doesn't want to pay him and not have him coached. But Bradley Beal's going to get dealt, and Scott Brooks is going to be gone.

Here's the thing. I would be okay if they traded Bradley. Bradley's really developed into an elite score. He's leading the league in scoring. He's averaging over 35 points a game. I think Durant's second, but he's five points back at like 30 a game. I mean, Beal is having. Tommy, did Gil ever lead the league in scoring? I forget if Gil ever led the league in scoring. I know he averaged 28-something one year. I'd have to go look at that. And I don't think Elvin Hayes ever led the league in scoring. He was close. He was probably very close to leading the league in scoring. I'd have to look that up. But Bradley Beale may become, I mean, he's going to lead the league in scoring this year more likely than not. They should trade him, and they should try to get back as much as they can. He is going to be a free agent at the end of next year, and if you get to next year, you're not getting anything for him. And he's not going to stick around, you know, unless you somehow snag a great player,

and Russell Westbrook's not a great player anymore. By the way, real quickly on Beal, my feeling, and I've shared this with you, Tommy, and those of you that are listening before, if you don't have a top five player, you're not going to contend for an NBA championship more likely than not. You're certainly not going to win one. The list of champions backs it up. The last team not to have an obvious top five player in their starting lineup to win a championship were the 2004 Detroit Pistons with Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton and Ben Wallace and Sheed and that team. Every other team since has had an obvious top five player on their team. The Wizards do not have a top five player. They have a leading score. They have an elite score. Bradley Beale is not a number one on a championship contending team.

He just isn't. He is outside of the top 10 or 12 best players in the game. He's not in the top five, and he's not in the top 10. So unless you're going to bring in... I agree. It's a part of the problem with the NBA. It's part of the many problems with the NBA, that they can't seem to fit. And at the start of the season, everybody knows there's only two or three teams that really have a chance to win, maybe even two.

Every year it's the same way. And, you know, I mean, the other sports don't have that issue. The other sports have different champions. In the NBA, it's pretty much the same actors. And, I mean, one of many things that's wrong with the game. I don't know how they fix it. But, I mean, the wizards are going to be stuck at the bottom of the hamletes. master cage until they do change it. Beale said after the game, when asked if he was frustrated,

he said, quote, is the sky blue? Closed quote. He is frustrated. He, you know, look, this team has really had it rough. I mean, they've had players out. They've missed games. They've played the fewest number of games in the entire league. Like, they have played 14 games, and the next fewest is 17 games because of all the games they've missed with COVID-related issues. They've had players out. Their record is part a reflection of what they are and part of a reflection, a reflection of their circumstance too. They've had it rougher than anybody in the league has had it. But there's one other question I want to ask you, and I'll answer as well. If you could do a redo on the Westbrook Wall deal, would you do it? We'll answer that right after this word from one of our

sponsors. The trade John Wall for Russell Westbrook isn't even two months old. It happened in early December, Tommy. What was your thought on the trade? I forget what your position was. Well, I was in favor of it. I mean, I didn't think it would help them that much, but I thought Westbrook was a better player and be more entertaining to watch than Wall.

See, I think Wall was a cancer, and I think that will come through at some point in Houston. And so I was happy with the trade. I mean, I didn't know that Westbrook would play every other game. I didn't know that was part of his deal. My position at the time was, I said, I think my position is going to surprise many of you, because many of you know, and Tommy knows, what a big Russell Westbrook fan I am. But if John Wall is going to be John Wall health-wise, I wouldn't do the deal.

But I didn't know. And I assume that the Wizards thought, A, he wasn't going to be the same John Wall physically. And B, there was a lot of other stuff. You know, the John Wall gang video from Brooklyn over the summer really, really upset management. I know that. And I think that they had had it. I think they were tired with John. And that big contract, they had a chance to get out of that big contract and bring back a player who as a teammate is a totally different dude.

I mean, Westbrook is, you know, is team friendly when it comes to the kind of guy he is, work ethic, et cetera. John's looked healthy to me. I watched some of that game the other night. Come talk to me in April. Okay. But if John Wall continues, and now he's missed some games, some COVID games, some knee soreness, but when he's played, he has looked like John Wall.

That's all I'm saying. He's looked like the John Wall from a few years ago. Yes, he had. So. But he will wear it down. I would redo the trade right now and take my chances on wall. I'm one of the biggest Westbrook fans of all time. Westbrook, it's so frustrating to watch him on this team.

It is painful at times to watch him on this team. His best days are behind him. They're not in front of him. And I would redo the deal. Now, you know, the Wizards know a lot more and these teams know a lot more about what was going on here than I do. but based on the wall I've seen, I would redo the deal. I would redo it, but what do I know? What else you got today?

I got one thing I wanted to share with you. Okay. I usually don't read the comments on my column. In fact, I think I've maybe have done it two or three times over the course of my entire career. You know, they always have comments section on the websites where people can put in comments. Well, I read one for the first time in years the other day, and I fell in love with it. And I've made it my motto, my slogan. And I've even made it the background photo for my Facebook page.

And this is what it is. This guy wrote about me. If you wake up and feel good, reading him will make you feel worse. If you wake up and feel bad, reading him brings on the horrible. That is my slogan. Did you put it on your Twitter page? It's on my Facebook page. I haven't put it on my Twitter page yet.

It's my background for my Facebook page. I love that. Tommy can take the punches. Just understand that. He takes a lot of them. We all do. Tommy takes a bunch of them, and he's the one much more than I that will actually go at it with you on Twitter in 280 characters. He loves to do that.

I don't know why, but he's got more free time, I guess, than most of us. One last word when we come back on a friend of ours and another change at the radio station. right after I tell you about my bookie. My bookie, right now, if you go to my bookie, my bookie.ag, they will match your deposit halfway up to $1,000. So you deposit $500, you get an extra $250. You deposit $800, you get an extra $400. Deposit $1,000, you get an extra $500.

Now, if you deposit $1,500, they're only going to give you an extra $500, right? They're only matching your deposit halfway up to $1,000. They've got so many Super Bowl prop bets. It's unbelievable. Here are some of the main prop bets right now. Is the first offensive play of the Super Bowl going to be a rushing play, a running play, or a passing play? The favorite is a run at minus 140, Tommy. So you have to wager $140 to win $100 or you have to wager $14 to win $10.

passing the odds of it being a pass play, even money plus 100. You bet 100, you win 100. I think I would bet on the pass with Brady or Mahomes. You think they're going to hand the ball off on the first play from scrimmage? No, no. I don't think so. So there are all sorts of those prop bets. I often like the adjusted line bets that you can wager on or winning.

margin. Like if you think the Chiefs are going to win this game and a close game somewhere between one and six points, that'll pay 350 plus 350. So if you think they're going to win 27, 24 like they did the first time, you can wager on them winning between one and six points. A hundred bucks will give you 350 bucks. Now, if you want to wager on the Buccaneers winning by 43 or more, it's plus 9,000. So if you've got them 52 to $350,000. So if you've got them 52 to $350,000. So, you're You could win, you know, a lot of money. Bet a buck, win $9,000. Anyway, go to mybooky.orgie.org.

Use my promo code. Kevin, D.C. Live in-game betting, plenty of college hoops, NBA, NHL. They've got a live casino as well. They're totally trustworthy. They've got a ton of contests, too, as well. Mybooky.orgie.org, use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. So another big change at the radio station today.

Galdi, who's been at the station since 1998. Galdi came in as an intern in 1998 as a student at Maryland. It's funny, Galdi's show, as you know, has followed my show on the station for a while now. And Galdi, yesterday, Tommy, was the 20-year anniversary of the Maryland lost to Duke where they lost the 10-point lead in 54 seconds. So I did something on the game on the podcast and also did something on the game on the radio show. Galby was working for WMUC, the campus radio station at Maryland, right there on the top of South Hall, South Hill Dining Hall. Boy, that South Hill dining hall was quite the place to hang out way back in the day. WMUC located right on top of it.

Golby called the play-by-play of that game for WMUC. a student at the time. So at the end of the show yesterday, I had him on real quickly to tell me about it. Shocker today, when I get to the end of my show and they say, Galdi's not in today. And I said, oh, okay. And then Galdi posted something. And I talked to him. I had a long conversation with him. I'm really, really upset. He started at 980 as an intern in 1998, and he's been there ever since. Galdi, I mean, I know we've talked about Zabe, you know, in Scotland and CJ and Doc over the last couple of months, all of whom have been let go by the radio station. With Zabe, it was more of a mutual thing.

We've got a new owner of the radio station. And I have no idea what my fate is. I think that they want me to stay and I think I'm going to stay and I hope it works out. I do. I'm fortunate to have this podcast, which I love very much. And one day, I guarantee you, the only thing will be doing as a podcast, because that's sort of the way it's going anyway. But being at that station for, you know, basically the better part of the last 17 years, I got to know Al really, really well. First of all, Al and I remember in Rockville, Tommy, even back in Silver Spring, but in Rockville, you know, Galdi's desk was right out, right outside my office.

It was Sally and Galdi and me that would just sit there and yuck it up for hours upon hours. Your office was, you know, basically, the door was always shut, and you were in there, you know, basically basking in the glow of all of your glory and all of your trophies and pictures and all of your press credentials that you've saved over the years that you had hanging up all over the office. But Galdi, I don't think of all of the people that we worked with that anybody prepared and worked at it more than Galdi did. That's an absolute fact. No one.

That's not even an opinion. Right. No one worked as hard. You know that to be an absolute fact. No one worked as hard or is relentlessly and was as dedicated to everything he did, whether it was updates or shows or pregame shows or post game shows. He was the most prepared guy. There was.

It's funny because he and I have had these conversations over the years. you know, it's really been a shame for Galdi in recent years. You know, the previous two owners of the station really had zero interest in owning the station. And so the lineups were constantly changing, and Galdi was, you know, doing a show with Zabe and with Cooley, and then ended up, you know, with Doc for a little while and on his own for a little while. And then doing, you know, when Cooley and I did our show from 7 to 11, they wanted to wanted our show to start at seven because, you know, the AM station that we are on for half of the year when it's dark, it's very hard to get. It has a signal issue in the dark. And so they had us

doing seven to 11. They had Galdi coming in doing six to seven and then coming back and doing the show afterwards. Galdi worked with Doc. They had them with all sorts of people. I think Galdi was the absolute best at our station over the years working by himself. I think he preferred that and he was great at it. He was super prepared. He was always a guy that knew had so much information and

was egoless. And, you know, this business there is a lot of ego, although I think you know, for the most part, other than yours, most of the people that I've worked with didn't have big egos. I'm kidding, of course. Don't you think that's true that most of the people we've worked with over the years

really, there wasn't like a massive ego? No, prema. John is in the punch. Not one, right? Over the years at 980? Right. And Galby was just a total team player in every way. He was a pro. I don't get it. You know, I tweeted out and I really, when I got off the air and I saw a friend of mine, actually I think it was Neal and Rockfield, sent me to tweet. He goes, Galdy, and I go, what? He's off today. And he goes, no, did you see what he tweeted? And I looked at the tweet and I just, it was like a gut punch. And I call them and we talked for a while.

He's, I've always loved Galdi. I've always listened to Galdi. You know, you've worked with Galdi. He did that baseball show, which was a fixture on Saturday mornings on the station for years. Again, you know, it's another one of those days. I'm just being really honest. You know, some of you, so many of you have tweeted me today about Al and about the future of the station and everybody. I don't have the answers.

I'm not management. You know, I don't have the answers. I can just tell you what I've told you over the last month and a half as it related to Doc, CJ, Scotland, Zabe. It doesn't feel the same. It really doesn't. And I get nostalgic on days like today because I loved. There was a time where it really was like being in a fraternity going to work, wasn't it, in that bullpen in Rockville? Oh, absolutely.

A lot of camaraderie, a lot of fun. Yeah. Absolutely. And I started out with Galdi was a producer on the sports reporters. He wasn't the first producer I worked with. I think he was maybe the second or third. But that's what I got to know Al when he was a producer on the sports reporter. Al was he did everything. I mean, look, all of us did everything at various times. But Galdi just did everything and just did everything so well and so professionally. I don't know, man, I don't get it at all. Galdi's so versatile. Galdi can host a show by himself. He can host a show with a partner. He can do pregame. He can do post game. He can do post game. He can do, you know,

Baseball shows he can do, you know, Galdi with his wrestling, you know, knowledge. You know, the other thing about Galdi, and I don't know if it ever really came across on the air as much as it did behind the scenes. But Galdi had a very subtly, a very subtle sense of humor that was very funny, very wicked sense of humor at times. You know, he's going to land on his feet. You know, this is, you know, he didn't die. But man, that one to me just blew me away. I just, I didn't really, I don't get it. But, you know, when you're not the owner and there are new ones that come around,

they see things differently. They're going to miss not having a guy like Al Galdi as part of the station, big time. And I felt the same way about everybody else too. But I do wish sometimes we could just go back, you know, five, ten years. and have everybody back together. It was very much like a club, and by the way, I've said this before, and it's not at all an exaggeration.

So many of you that listen, I think I don't want to speak for everybody, but I think we always felt that you guys were part of the same club. Like, you know, so many of you that we know, by name or by voice, we're always a part of it. And it's just, it's different now.

It is. Different doesn't mean worse, I guess. but it's different. But Galdi was the best, man. The best. He'll land on his feet. He'll find something soon, I am sure of it. People would be nuts not to hire him. Anything else? I got nothing else, boss. I just got to stay, go in a mirror and look at my arm for a while and look at the spot that was vaccinated. All right. Well, did they say that you might get some, you know, some symptoms like fever or anything like that or chills or anything like that? They give you a list of possible symptoms and stuff.

But, I mean, it's been, you know, four hours and nothing. And I've never had a bad reaction to a vaccine of any sort. Yeah, I mean, considering what you've put into your body, a vaccine is nothing. All right, thanks. Everybody, have a great day. Sorry for getting it out so late today. We had a lot of stuff going on back tomorrow.