The Kevin Sheehan Show - Terry Thoughts

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Kevin is back and recapping all he missed while away last week. The opening segment is all about the Terry McLaurin situation which escalated into a trade request late week. Ben Standig jumped on to talk about the most impressive performers in camp so far and look ahead to the first preseason week which includes a joint practice with the Patriots on Wednesday and then the Commanders' first preseason game on Friday night. Kevin finished up with the Nats' record-setting series with the Brewers, Terry's place in the Top 100, Jayden Daniels' comments on the McLaurin situation late today, and a first-ever on college football's opening weekend.  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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. So did I miss anything last week while I was out? Wow. What an action-pack news week we had for D.C. sports fans.

You know, last week is the week I typically target if everybody's schedule can come together for, you know, our week-long vacation. when we take one as a family or something approximating a family, because not everybody was there for this one. And I typically target last week because it is the quietest of the summer weeks. You get the first three or four days of training camp. That's usually when all the news happens. You hear from Quinn, you hear from Peters. I was here for that.

Then, you know, the next week is kind of quiet. And then the first week leading into the first preseason game, things start to amp up a little bit, the regular season, obviously. But not last week. Last week was busy, news-wise, Terry-wise, stadium-wise, and otherwise. And I will catch up on all of it on today's show,

Monday, August 4th. Yes, a show for today. Ben Standing will help out. He'll join me in the next segment. The show's presenting sponsor is always Windonation, 86690 Nation, Windonation.com, if you need new window. I am far from caught up on all of your tweets and emails from last week,

although I did read this right before I started to record today's show from Zach. Zach writes, Kevin, this week was the perfect week for you to be out. He's talking about last week. This was the perfect week for you to be out. I wouldn't have been able to deal with you scolding Terry for reportedly asking for more than Metcalfe and then requesting a trade. What a blessing did not have to listen to you this week. Hope you're having a nice vacation and I really loved listening to Cooley's film breakdown of Jaden Daniels before the 2024 draft.

That was awesome. Thank you for that last part, Zach. And I think I understand the first part of what you wrote. Yeah, it was fun for me to listen to what Cooley thought of Jaden Daniels before the draft last year. I was thinking about things to do for last week, and so many of you offered to help, and I appreciate all of that. But I found the Cooley film breakdown of Jaden from April 12th or whatever it was, 2024, and I thought you would enjoy hearing some of that. And then this was on last Wednesday's show while I was out, and then Cooley's film breakdown of Jaden's first two preseason games. Anyway, he saw what was coming, you know.

He didn't see what last year turned out to be. Nobody saw that coming. But I hope you enjoyed some of the shows I left for you last week. And, of course, I recognized that while I was out, I missed a lot. I didn't anticipate that. The stadium vote, I knew that was going to happen. It got done. RFK, here we come, 2030.

And, you know, the more immediate news of the Terry holdout, continuing, hold in, continuing and getting a bit uglier by the day last week. I'll save the RFK stuff really for Tommy on tomorrow's show. I want to start with the Terry stuff. Zach, by the way, I think I can guess how you view Terry McLorne. You're like others who get a bit sensitive if anybody, me or anybody else, says anything that makes Terry look or sound like anything less than what you think he is, which is a superstar. You think he's elite. You think he's, you know, top five. you know, he's not. I hate to break it to you. He's not. And it's becoming clearer by the day that the team doesn't think of him in that realm either. But, you know, not thinking of him and by extension,

not wanting to pay him like he's a superstar doesn't mean that you don't like him. There's a lot of room between superstar and not very good. I think he's really good. I've said that repeatedly. I think they probably think the same thing that he's really good. I really want him signed to a long-term deal. I think the team wants that as well, although there is a financial case that you can make for them just paying him the final year of his deal and then using the tag if they have to next year.

But I would not have scolded Terry last week, and I'm not going to scold him today. I think his agent might be the biggest problem in this standoff between team and Terry. There's been a lot buzzing around about him for a few weeks. I mentioned it, you know, three or four weeks ago that he might be the issue because Terry is his biggest client. He hasn't done many, if any, deals like this one.

And we know that the Eastern Motors, you know, press conference marathon a few weeks back was, you know, at best questionable in terms of the decision to do that. So let me give you my thoughts on all of this for the first time on podcast or radio in over a week. I tweeted out a few thoughts, and I'll incorporate some of those into my overall takeaway on the situation as it exists today. I'll start with this. I still think a deal will get done. I know I've been dead wrong all off season predicting that a deal would get done by training camp, maybe by late June, a couple of weeks before training camp. but worst case right before training camp begins, I was wrong about that.

But I still think a deal will get done. I think there's a three and four chance, a 75% chance. That's down from where I was, you know, at 90% plus. Now, I am a lot less confident than I have been at any point. And my confidence is, you know, I'm losing it day by day. In part, I'm losing it because of what happened last week. You know, I'm less confident because of the information that's out there about what Terry may be asking for. You know, we didn't know.

And that was the biggest piece of unknown information, two pieces, what they were offering, what Terry was asking for. And last week, Adam Schefter reported that Terry's asking for considerably more than what D.K. Metcalf got from the Steelers. If that's true, it's too much. Considerably more than Metcalf? Hell, even if it's not considerably more, if it's just more than Metcalf, that would put Terry into the top three to four wide receiver contracts in the league. Guaranteed money, I understand, is the most important number. But if what Schefter reported was that Terry wanted an extension that paid him more per year than what Metcalf is making, then that would put him in the group with Jamar Chase,

Justin Jefferson, and C.D. Lamb. Maybe just in the category of Chase and Jefferson ahead of Lamb, if that's even remotely close to true, the team is not going to do that. And that's why I'm starting to lose a little bit of confidence here. I mean, there are lots of ways that, you know, a deal could get structured so that the deal looks good for Terry, but it also accomplishes what the team wants. Maybe that's what we end up getting at some point. But just dealing with the idea that Terry wants a bigger deal than Metcalf is probably, not probably, is likely an issue for the team.

First of all, you know, they and many others probably view the deal the Steelers did as an outlier and as a not-law. and as a not great deal to sort of measure anything against. Secondly, and this again, I know is an issue for many of you, but Metcalf is younger, and he is a freakish talent. He's taking games over before. I heard from a friend of mine. I did not see this, but a friend of mine told me that this morning on ESPN, Kimberly Martin, the longtime NFL reporter,

they had a, I guess they were talking Terry McClearn holdout and trade request. And she said that she talked to a GM in the league who told her that if she were to ask 20 NFL general managers to pick between D.K. Metcalf and Terry McClearn, most would take Metcalf. Now, if you want to live in Numbersland, in the comparison between the two, then Terry is your guy. If you want to know what NFL GMs think, the majority of them, according to an NFL reporter, would choose Metcalf. So maybe Adam Peters feels the same way. You know, I've mentioned before the Amman Ross St. Brown contract done just over a year ago with two of the top three dealmakers in our organization. I would not be surprised if they're like, look, he's better than Terry, and he's at 30 a year.

Yeah, so I'm starting to wonder as this thing drags on if the team might just throw in the towel at some point and say, you know what, it's actually more financially beneficial for us to pay as we go, meaning we'll pay you, Terry, the $15.5 million of remaining base salary for this upcoming season. You're under contract. And then if you play well again, we'll either work out a contract extension next off season or we'll have the flexibility to slap the franchise tag on you and pay you $28.6 million in 2026. See, do the math on this from the team standpoint.

Okay, make no mistake. The team's got all the financial leverage here. 15 and a half this year, 28.6, if they were to tag him in 2026, that's 44.1 million for the next two years. That's just over 22 million per year. If he wants 33 million or more starting next year, you know, they don't have to come out of pocket if they sign him to a contract extension right now, which would be 50 million plus or more at signing. The pay-as-you-go doesn't allow for cap flexibility. I get that, but they don't really need it this year or next.

It also doesn't lock them in beyond 20-26, but the 20-27 season would be his age-32 season. So you're looking at, you know, $44.1 million over two years in a pay-as-you-go situation versus essentially paying him a lot more, like $10, a lot more. 11, 12, 13 million more on average, 11 million or more on average, and 50 million up front, minimum. So I do think the team wants to do something that keeps Terry in D.C. for the majority, if not the entirety of his career. But if the gap between what they think is fair and what he wants is large and too wide to close between now and the season opener against the judge,

Giants, then the team might be okay going the route that I just discussed. Pay him this year. He's under contract. Use the tag next year. It's a lot cheaper overall for two years, and you pay as you go. You don't pay up front. Make no mistake. Trade request or no trade request. The team has all of the leverage, financial leverage right now. Perhaps Terry has some, you know, emotional leverage in that he's a great guy, he's a fan favorite because of the player he is, the man he is, the years that he had to slog it out for a franchise that was a total joke, and he wasn't. I just don't think the team is going to overpay him because of that. I don't, and I don't think they should.

Bottom line is, he's under contract for the upcoming season. He can't trade himself. And personally, I think the chances that the team decides to accommodate his trade request is zero, zero percent. They would never get enough back. You know, when part of a trade includes a major ask on a contract extension, the actual trade compensation is naturally lower. You know, I saw some suggested trades out there that, you know, include like a third round pick or a fifth round pick or a fourth round pick. That's what you are going to be, you know, that's what you get back for Terry right now. Understand that. These are suggested trades from NFL people out there.

And I think that's one of the things that we always get wrong, trade compensation. But when you're going to pay him what he wants to get paid, it's going to lower the trade compensation. And then there's just a possibility, a distinct possibility, that other teams don't view him the way our fans do. And then on top of that, you know, I think all of this is coming together. in terms of he's going to play for us, even though I'm less confident in a contract extension, but I'm very confident in him not getting traded. They won't get enough back.

Other teams won't view them the way our fans, some of our fans do. And then on top of that, let's be honest, the team needs him. Even though they have all the leverage and they do, they need him. And he's probably more valuable here on this team, than he is on other teams.

As I say that, I'm reminded of Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors. He's always discussed as a guy that is more valuable to his team than he is to other teams. Now, this is not an apples-to-apples comparison. Draymond Green is going to be a Hall of Fame NBA player. But it's very possible that other teams view Terry as a really good receiver, but probably more valuable to Washington than he might be. be on their team. They might see him in that way. He is a good fit here. This is where he should be. The team needs him. He needs the team. I think that that's one of the reasons ultimately they have

a chance on getting a deal done. But it's, yeah, they're not trading him people. That's not going to happen. Team needs him. He needs to play. He can't hold out and miss his age 30 season. That's not going to happen and hope that what, the situation will improve nine to ten months from now? That's not going to happen. He's not getting traded. And I've been saying this for months now. The worst case in this Terry McClaren situation is that he plays out the final year of his contract this year. And, you know, one of the things working in the team's favor is that he is such a professional. He's such a pros pro that he's not going to let the, I'm sure the team feels this way. I'm sure everybody feels this way.

He's not going to let not getting a deal done affect his play. The team knows that. I like Terry. I like him a lot. I want him to be here to follow up on what was easily and very obviously the best year of his career. I want him to follow it up with another one. And I hope he does it on a new deal. I do.

But I trust the organization right now. I've said that repeatedly, you know, partly because of what they've already accomplished, But specific to Terry, without knowing for sure, okay, just the reporting that's out there, I think the way they are evaluating him, you know, vis-a-vis the most recent wide receiver deals, it makes sense to me. I think that he's much more T. Higgins' Brandon Ayuk than he is upper upper echelon. I agree with that if that's the way the team feels.

Now, I don't think he's Cortland Sutton, who signed a deal last week that did not help Terry very much. years, 92 million, 23 million a year. Sutton's a major talent. Don't get me wrong. I've been a big fan of his over the years. But he's had, you know, multiple injuries and he's missed games. I think 23 million a year is maybe good for Sutton in his situation. That's too light for Terry. I would certainly agree with you on that. So, you know, but it's a long way from if he's asking for 10 plus million more a year. So it's a lot. It's not a big help for him at all, even though it's not a direct comp. Although Cortland Sutton Man is a good receiver.

He is talented. And, you know, I did see a lot of this last week as I was, you know, following it as much as I could on social media. This idea that some have just pay him already. He's been such a great guy. He deserves it. You don't pay for services. rendered. It's not the way it works. He's already been paid for the great guy, for the years that

he's spent, you know, in a horrible organization. You pay him for what he's going to provide you moving forward. This idea of just pay him because you might ruin the good vibe you had last year. I'm not buying it. You know, our GM does not owe, you know, him or anybody else and overpay after one really good season. And as far as what Terry did before, Peters wasn't here for that. He's got a bigger picture in mind. Don't set a precedent where you get overpaid in D.C. if you're a good player and a great guy. Don't do that. You don't want them to do that. Will it impact the locker room? I don't see that, man. I mean, over the years with Cooley in particular, players are into their own situations, their own personal lives. They may want what's best for Terry. They may really be

rooting for Terry, but they're not going to risk their own situation by somehow letting it get to them that Terry didn't get what they thought he deserved. Players pay attention to the money game. I get it, you know, and maybe because of that, there are players in that locker room that agree with the team. You know, have you considered that that Terry might be asking for too much. Anyway, I think there's still a good chance that a deal will get done. I'm going to stick with that, even though I've become less confident in it happening than I was before. But I am more confident in the team's front office business jobs. I trust them. I do. And again, if a deal doesn't get done, it doesn't matter because 17's going to be in a Washington uniform.

on September 7th against the Giants. I think there's a 95% probability of that. He could hold out in regular season games. I don't see him doing it. Ben Standing next after these words from a few of our sponsors. So guys, if you're starting to notice your hair thinning when you look in the mirror, join the club, you're not alone. Life gets busier and busier and you don't have much time to think about it

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most popular deal of the year. 50% off on all Windows styles with no money down, no payments, and no interest charge for two full years. Schedule your fast free estimate right now at 86690 Nation. We're head to windownation.com. All right, the best man to join me on my first day back after a week off to get me caught up to speed on everything that's happening out at training camp is Ben Standing, of course, last man standing on substack, last man standing podcast. You can find out a lot more about all of that by going to X, going to Twitter and following Ben at Ben Standing.

So I do want your thoughts on Terry McLaren in that situation, which has been the number one storyline of training camps so far. We knew it going in and it has continued because there's no contract extension and there's still a holdout or it's a hold in now along with a trade request. We'll get to that. But let me just ask you about this first, you know, week and a half, I guess, of camp at this point. Of the players that are more veteran in nature, meaning non- rookies, we'll take all the rookies out of the mix right now. Who has stood out the most to you on offense first and then on defense? Oh, let's think this is an evolving topic. I'll say on offense. I mean, you know, obviously there were a lot of questions about DeBuff, Samuel, like, you know, what he got left, all that. He's been, he's made, like, one or two big plays down the field every practice. You know, he's getting open on crossers. He's making catches down the field. He and Jaden hooked up with one today of perfectly thrown past from the quarterback. So, you know, I think, you know, in a world where Terry McCorn has not been playing, Steve, Curtis, I keep doing that. I think people of Samuel, you know, being a bright light in that receiver room is a big deal.

You know, any notion of him being out of shape or whatever, that doesn't look accurate. You know, how this translates to the game. Obviously, we'll see once they, you know, start getting tackled. But right now, he's been pretty impressive on offense. Defensively, I'll probably go with Mikey Sanders still. he's, Joe Whitman in this today, like, pretty much like every practice it feels like he gets his hand on a ball.

He actually wasn't out there today. I don't know why. It's not a big deal for the moment. But, yeah, he's just been constantly out there. And look, the defense is always ahead of the offense, right, at this time of the year, that's just pretty standard stuff. But the secondary has definitely been ahead of the receivers for the most part.

Again, without Terry, this is not a group that is, and Noah Brown's barely been out there. So this is not a group that's particularly stacked. and the cornerback room is just so much better compared to what was a year ago. And Sandor still, even though he was sort of like the one main holdover, he just continued to look pretty good. Who ends up being the starting corner opposite, let's just say Marciaan Latimore? Will it end up being Mikey Santer still,

or will Trey Amos or Jonathan Jones be that guy moving Santer still inside? Yeah, I think Trey Amos, I mean, we're talking on a day that he had, his biggest, most notable day from like a highlight perspective. He intercepted a Jake and Daniels pass out to the flat that was maybe a little bit behind the receiver, Chris Moore and Amos got that. Then a few plays later, he knocked away a path deep down the field to Luke McCaffrey. He was running stride for stride and at the last second, turned his head around, knocked the ball away.

So, you know, again, the receivers are not particularly, you know, it's not Malik neighbors out there, but he, you know, on the outside. outside at least. But yeah, I think Tramos is probably at the starter. Sanders still in the slot. Jonathan Jones as the next outside guy, knowing binogany, can fill in as well. He's been active

for sure in camp. So, yeah, I mean, it's, again, I've mentioned this before, to look back to where they were a year ago at this time is, and then compared to the depth charge, it is, it is wild. I mean, the quarterback depth chart, it is arguably the top

position room on the team. and again a year ago it was like, oh, my Lord, cover your eyes. Like, this is not good. So it is a big difference. Okay, but they haven't played an actual game yet. So are you telling me that Marshawn Latimore looks great? Or that you're hearing that they're really, really confident that he's going to be great? Well, as Joe Witt said today, first off, he's healthy and out there.

That's a big step. So there's that. And that, yeah, he's looked more confidence than he certainly was last year. when he was here. Is he going to be a pro bowler again? I don't know. Everything that's mentioned, you know, obviously, when anybody's asking me how to so-and-to-look-in camp,

it has to be, based on what camp is. I don't know what it is based on the regular season because we're not there. But based on camp, he's looked good. Again, the defense knows, like, the offense is trying different things that the defense is reacting to that, so this is not necessarily, you know,

it doesn't automatically translate to the game. but for what it is now, it looks better. And I think on top of it, having Latimore and Amos out there, probably will allow Joe Witt, Jr. to be more aggressive with the front in terms of like sending guys at the quarterback because he likes the press coverage, and if he feels comfortable with his outside corners, he can do more of that. So, you know, even if Latimore isn't necessarily a pro bowl corner anymore, his ability to be able to be out there by himself, you know, the confidence with that will allow.

how you don't wait to send more guys at the quarterback, which is what they want to do. So you've already mentioned Mikey Sanristil from last year's draft class. What about the rest of last year's draft class? Has anybody stood out, whether it's to you or in something coaches have talked about over the last week or maybe something you're hearing? You know, we get so caught up in the most current draft class when, in fact, more times than not, year two of the draft class, in this case from 2024, those are the players you want to keep an eye on even more so than the current draft class. Has anybody stood out from the 2024 draft class in addition to Mikey Sandor still?

Well, I asked both Queen and Witt today about Johnny Newton, you know, the interior line play is always a little tricky to see from where we're standing on the sideline, but, you know, they both were enthusiastic about what Newton is showing, obviously last year, just had no off-season at all because of the foot surgeries, and now he's had that full year. So they seem to be confident that they're going to get the version of him that they're anticipating as the high second-round pick. So I would probably say him, if the question on some level is how of Luke McCaffrey has been looking, you know, I think they both have had some moments, but I wouldn't say that they're

like crushing it. You know, McCaffrey has, to my eyes, has struggled to create separation on passes down the field. And, you know, there's been, you know, a couple times he's got the ball, particularly when Jayden's throwing it to him. But, you know, like, if you said to me right now, Terry's out week one, right? I would probably guess Michael Gallup would be the other starter. And I don't say that with like Michael Gallup's killing it.

I say that, well, at least we know he's a viable, you know, he's proven to be. be an NFL receiver. He can do so with the subtle things to create space and opportunity. And I don't know that the Capri is fully there. It's still time to go. Cliff King's very today that he said he was pretty, that Luke is significantly better than where he was a year ago. I'll defer to him on those things, but I haven't seen as much.

Senate, he's had some good moments, but, you know, he, you know, he, again, I wouldn't say, like, wow, what a jump. But, you know, he's had some moments in the right zone. All right, let's get to the rookie class. And what you've seen or what you've heard or what coaches have said, who's really stood out among the five players they picked a few months ago? Well, I mentioned Amos already. I think Jalen Lane, other than Curtis,

I did it again. Other than Debo Samuel, Jalen Lane is probably the receiver that's been the most impressive in camp. One thing that I thought was interesting, I have been saying I going into all these practices. I want to see Jaylen Lane making plays down the field because when you look at some of the highlights and plays at Virginia Tech, it seemed to be a lot of getting the ball around the line of scrimmage and let him make the plays from there

because they didn't have necessarily a great offense, quarterback, etc. Cook King was very kind of said the same thing today that he was curious what Jaylen Lane could do down the field, but he's showing that in camp. He's made a bunch of plays down the field over the middle, in particular, where his speed is getting there. There was one plate of, you know,

highlight in camp, where he, a lob into the back of the end zone, he jumped over two defensive backs to make the catch. We can argue that the, Mikey Tanner still was there. He was like, about his feet right of bounds.

Okay. The point was that he made, he made a plate in the air. That was a pretty, pretty standout. So I think those are the two guys. I think Kane Madrano has had a couple of nice plays. In recent practices,

oh, you know what, I'm an idiot. I didn't even mention our guys. Bill. Bill has been, continue to be really impressive. He had another big run today. So I guess as I'd do it. He had a big run today, really? Were they tackling?

Was Dexter Lawrence on the other side of the line of scrimmage? I wouldn't say it if it wasn't, it didn't look good. The burst through the line, like let's put it this way. I asked Kingsbury today. I said, hey, you know, the running game was effective last year, of course, but like, you know, you didn't necessarily have a big playability.

How does that change now that you have the opportunity to use Debo there when you want and that you have Bill, Kroski Merrick? I didn't ask about, I just said it flat out like that. He didn't say to me, well, we'll see about Bill. And he said, sure, we want to see what it looks like in preseason, but he didn't dismiss it as it's just preseason. So I do kind of take it that what we're seeing is what they are seeing as well. So ironically, I've just named all the guys.

they drafted except for the first round pick. You did. I'm keeping track of it. Actually, I was going to ask you about Madrano. You already mentioned him because he was one of my favorites when I went back and looked at him after the draft. I thought he had a chance to maybe make an impact. But yeah, you haven't mentioned number one as in the first round selection, Josh Connerly. Yeah, look, you know, they're saying all the positive things about it. And, you know, he's young, relatively speaking for a guy coming into the draft.

He only played three years in college, no red shirt or anything. So a true junior coming out. He's also having to switch sides that that's, you know, you ask anybody he's played. That's always a tough thing to do. And now he's going, you know,

in training camp against, you know, I know Dexter Manley and Charles Mann aren't out there, but still, you've got a bunch of experienced guys in this league, Frankie Louvre, Dorne Tom Strong, and others. And, yeah,

I think he's had some struggle. There have been times if it feels like the guys are sort of bull rushing him a bit. But the quick feeder evident, he's got the size, he just needs to continue to get used to the NFL game. And, you know, continue to develop. I've been saying all along, don't be surprised of Andrew Wiley as the starter for week one, which is totally reasonable, right? I did ask Dan Quinn the other day, what did you learn from the rotation last year

when they were going with Lucas, Cornel Lucas, and Brandon Coleman at times at both at left tackle, and how does that translate potentially to this scenario? And he, you know, largely punted on giving me a straight answer, said it was a battle, and we'll see. But, yeah, I think Connerley is a work in progress. The other guys have made flashier plays, but, you know, it is what it is. I don't think it's not panic, it's nothing bad. This isn't me watching Johnny Davis on The Wizards knowing it was.

over in 10 minutes. It's just he's not been, you know, as sharp as, you know, some maybe would hope as a first round pick, but, you know, you can see the upside. They just have to continue to work with them. All right. Let's get to Terry. You and I haven't spoken in over a week, so I don't know where you are at this point on the Terry situation. The last week was action-packed. I mean, we had the report from Schefter that Terry perhaps was asking for considerably more. than what D.K. Metcalf got in Pittsburgh, and then the week ended with Terry requesting a trade. So where are you on what has become the biggest story of our training camp and one of the biggest stories of the NFL preseason so far? The contract standoff between Terry McLaren and Washington's front office.

What do you say today about this? I maintain a confidence that something gets done, but it's definitely not at the level that it was, you know, a month or so ago. And, you know, at some point somebody here is going to have to budge. I'm assuming it's going to be the Terry side, only in that if you look at all that they have done here, I've been saying that they feel like they're running the negotiation playbook, if you're the player.

You know, first you hold out from OTAs and minicamp to show you're frustrated. Then you skip the start of training camp to show. No, no, no, I'm being serious. I'm really frustrated. Then you show up, make it a hold in, and then you make yourself public after almost every practice. Today was the first practice. He didn't show up afterwards to sign autograph and so on. And then you have put into trade request.

That's kind of like all the steps. The only thing now is sit-out games. Like, I don't know what else to do. And the commanders, they have all the leverage. We've talked about this the whole time, which is, you know, again, I don't want to criticize what the Terry side is doing, because I don't know all the details. I don't know. You know, maybe they're, whether they are asking for the sun and the moon, I don't know, but we also don't know exactly what the team is offering. If the team is, you know, offering something, it's not much more of a raise off the average of $23 million he's been getting the last three years, then, you know, what are we talking about on that side?

But the team has the leverage. He's under contract. They can use the tag on them next year. The tag as it stands right now would be less than $30 million. So, you know, they're the ones, they're the side that can dictate this more than Terry. I don't know if he comes in at some point. Just the heck would I'll play on my last year and we'll go from there or, you know, they can find an amenable compromise.

But, yeah, I think that's where we're at. I just think, like I said, watching this from the outside, it just feels like, The team is pretty confident where their stance is, and the Terry side is trying to do what they can to change the story, change the narrative. And at the moment, it does not seem to be working from what we can tell. The agent for Terry, how much of a factor has he been and where this, you know, is right now? Well, I mean, he's the one guiding and advising Terry what to do. You know, one thing we don't know is sometimes an agent can say, hey, I think we should do this. the player might say, no, I want to do this.

And ultimately the agent, you know, the player is the client, right? So the agent has to acquiesce the demand. I don't know that that is what is happening here. You know, again, I don't sense that Terry is like a bitter person. I don't know if you saw this, but when he, on Saturday, when he came out after practice, he walks out to the field, kind of what he's done all the time. He walked out of the building, walked straight towards like the back of the end zone.

And it just so happens, Josh Harris and James Daniel's mother, or right there, and he walked up to them and hugged them both, including the owner, which some people are like, wait, what is going? Why is he doing that? Aren't they in a bitter feud here? I said, I don't really get the sense of Terry is like bitter towards the team necessarily. It's just, hey, I think I'm entitled to what I'm asking for. So, yeah, I don't know.

I don't know where this goes at this point. I don't think there's, again, I don't know how many more levers he can pull, the only thing I guess would be they start to get nervous about their other receivers like if Noah Brown who's been in and out of practice is just for some reason

as a setbacker isn't ready I mean they don't have a lot of options but outside receiver right now I mean both Samuel and Lane are more slot guys but there's a wall here if this doesn't get resolved soon they don't have to figure out how to use one of them at least on the outside

and go from there so that would be my only thought the team looks at this and was like hey like you and I've had the debate whether they're going all in or not, but like, at some point here, you have to look at the receiver, I'm going, hey, do we have enough? If Perry's not here, do we, I mean, Jayden's great, he'll raise levels, but still, you know, they don't have a lot of upside there other than Jaylon Lane.

So that, that to me is the only way I could see the team sort of folding a little bit here. Again, we don't know exactly what the deal is. I've heard various reports about where the team is offering, you know, or he's offering. I really find it hard to believe he's asking for more than D.K. Medcalf, but, hey, we're here for a reason. So something is a miss. Interesting what you brought up in regard to, you know, how maybe the team would lose some of the leverage that they have right now because they do have all of the financial leverage. You know, the scenario in which the team realizes they're in dire straits without Terry. They just don't have anybody. and it's really going to impact them offensively. I just don't know that it helps Terry unless it plays out in a regular season situation,

meaning that he would have to hold out early in the season, and let's just say the Giants game and then four nights later at Lambo, there are seven drop passes, three to four drop touchdowns, and they start off O and two. and Jaden can't elevate what they have to a level that allows them to win or be competitive. At that point, yes, you would get leverage shift, but it would require him holding out. And I don't see that happening personally. With respect to a trade, I think there's zero chance of a trade happening.

What do you think? No, I think things would have to be like, like he'd have to go on some sort of, you know, major tirade or whatever to them be like, okay, I guess this isn't going to be a thing. So, no, I don't see it. You know, by the way, to your point of like a slow start, I, the one example I have of sort of this was, I think it was 1994. Emmett Smith. Yeah, he's holding out.

Cowboys go 0 and 2. He's back by week three. Right. Obviously, Emmett Smith was, you know, an MVP-level player. That's not what we're talking to here. But, you know, again, if we could debate whether the move that made signals in or out, but obviously not having, you know, all in or not, but, like, not having Terry would be a huge detriment, again, when you don't have, to my eyes, the receivers who are capable of filling that gap.

Again, who would have thought that Diombe Brown last year would have been, you know, really go-to-re receiver for this team down the stretch? that's a lot to do with Jane Daniels and Cliff Kingbury, but nonetheless, it's going to have to be like that type of surprise for this to be a reasonable scenario if Terry's not in there. Be interesting to see if this continues for another few weeks and we get closer to the regular season, and they're concerned that he might actually hold out of a regular season game or two if they would go out and sign an Amari Cooper or somebody like that.

that, Gabe Davis, I don't know. There are a couple of guys that are still out there. Nobody that is Terry right now, clearly. But it would be interesting to see if it gets to that point, if they would do that. Lay out the rest of the week. This is the first preseason week. They have joint practice time with the Patriots this week. And you just came upon a very interesting weather development for Foxborough this week. week. So lay out what the plan is for the rest of the week and then give us this weather situation that you just came upon. Sure. So Tuesday, they're traveling. Wednesday, the practice, I want to say, like, 10, 15, 10.30 in the morning, the Patriots do their work at

Gillette Stadium. So that's where they will be. The weather issue is that I just saw this before we came on, that apparently there's Canadian wildfires and the, the, the, the weather issue is that I just saw. It's and the smoke is coming in the direction of New England. So I looked at the, I pulled up the forecast for Foxborough, and it's saying Wednesday morning, they could have, you know, there could be, you know, a feeling of that smoking here. And I remember, you know, we remember here, I lost track of time when I was a year or two ago, a couple years ago. Yeah, we had it.

And it was noticeable. I mean, you know, D.C. was saying, hey, there's, you know, the air quality isn't good and so on. you know, I don't know, they're going to want to expose the players to this. You know, we'll have to see. Obviously, I have no idea you're the weather guy. I don't know what to make of this in terms of the potential, you know,

severity, and I don't even know, you know, what the team has to think. So something to keep an eye on the Patriots, I don't think they have an indoor facility. So that will be, that that will be something to watch. Anyway, after that, Thursday, off day, Friday,

practice, Dan Quinn supposedly will tell us on Wednesday, who didn't make the trip, who is probably not going to play in the game. If I had to guess right now, I don't know what starters are going to play. I would guess very few. I think Brandon Coleman probably does not make this trip. He left practice on Saturday, kind of hobble off the field. He was not out there today, and Dan Quinn said it's like sort of TBD for him this week,

and I was going to guess at this point he's out, and there could be a couple other guys as well, but he would be the most notable one that I'm aware of. and yeah, then they play Friday, and, you know, we all have a lot of debates about what we saw. Do you think Jaden Daniels will play or not? I'm going to say no. Like, my sense has been like he's only going to play like a series or two at the max in preseason. And if I had to guess, they say that for the Bengals on the Monday night, you know, as possibly, you know, like the second game has now become the old third game when they had four preseasoned,

the one where you play your guys the most, and then the third game you sit them. So if I had to guess, I would say Daniels plays in that game, and this guy, I didn't think Marriota plays in this game if I had a bet. So I'm guessing it's a lot of Sam Hartman and Josh Johnson. That should be exciting. I think, and I'm going back to check it right now, because I did this a few months back. I'm pretty sure both Quinn when he was a head coach in Atlanta and Kingsbury when he was a head coach, head coach in Arizona played their starting quarterbacks in the first preseason games.

Now, in the first preseason game, that's when there were four, but they played him for a series. I'm going back to look at Kyler Murray's second year in Arizona, because that would be the equivalent of what we just had. Oh, his second year was COVID, so there was no preseason. Didn't Jane Daniels last year, right, the Jets game was the first preseason? He played that series. That was the famous he audibles out. And that was the sign to me of the old. This would be really fun.

So there is that precedent. Now he's, now he's Jason Daniels in all capital letters, and I just don't know they're going to want to expose them. Look, I mean, look, they need to play.

I was at the D.T. Sports Hall of Fame event on Sunday at Nat's Park, and I was fortunate to be in the suite where all the athletes were, including members of the 91 team that were getting honored, you know, beat niches out there, Gary Clark's mother. Anyway, you know, they're all talking shop to some degree, and the Terry topic came up and all that,

and they were, and just practice in general, and they're like, you know, at some point you have to, in order to play football, you have to play football. You know, you can't just keep practicing. It's not even like these practices have been, from my eye, not even particularly physical. Always a highlight of training camp is when the offensive linemen and the defensive lineman go one-on-one.

That's typically a pretty lengthy process. You know, they get multiple reps. They did it the other day. I mean, honestly, the whole thing took maybe eight minutes. Like, you know, nobody got more than like a rep or two. So they haven't done a lot of that stuff, though. Again, at some point you need to do this, but this is also the modern NFL, where the teams become so risk-adverse

in terms of the guys getting hurt in camp because you don't want somebody to get injured. There's already been some injuries out there for other teams. You don't want a guy getting hurt. hurt before the games. And that's the balance these coaches have to deal with. So I'm not expecting them to play much, but sure, if you tell me he plays a series, that seems reasonable to me if you're trying to get ready for the season. I just went back and looked at Arizona specifically. Kingsbury did not play Kyler Murray in the first preseason game in 2021 or 2022. So that would have been his third and fourth year seasons in the league. 2020 was COVID, so there were no preseason games.

So if Kingsbury is making the call on Jaden and the offense, he's not going to play, I would guess, on Friday night. And we'll see Hartman and Josh Johnson, it sounds like, and no Marriota. You think it would be. Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, and this is the other thing. The joint practice is they're much more interested in that. That's where they get the work in. They control what happens there.

Jaden's not getting hit. You know, they determine how the whole process. works versus, you know, some rando UDFA is trying to impress his coaches and goes hardcore into, whether it's Jaden or somebody else, and takes them out. You know, I mean, not necessarily, but you never know. It's much more controllable in the joint practice. The game is a complete utter wildcard. So that's why these joint practices are important.

You know, the one practice is the Patriots, one with the Ravens, and that maybe is, you know, more impactful for them than, you know, whatever happens in a preseason game. All right. Thanks for doing this. anything major? I don't know about major. I think the stadium, obviously, it's progressed to the point where we can pretty much assume that's going to happen.

But in terms of the rest of the team, I don't think so. I mean, you know, there's a couple guys will have to see, you know, to what degree they are banged up or not. But, yeah, it's been pretty straightforward so far. I think we're all anxious to see or excited to see the joint practice because it's gotten a bit monotonous, you know, the same thing every day. and I'm sure it is for the players and coaches as well.

So it just seems something different. I think we'll be a lot of fun. All right. Thanks for doing this. Talk to you tomorrow, I guess, on radio. Awesome, man. Ben Standing, everybody. When we come back, what Jaden Daniels said this afternoon about the Terry McLaren holdout.

You'll hear it when we return after these words from a few of our sponsors. You can rate and review this podcast if you haven't done it already. It's pretty easy to do, and it's a huge help for us. us, especially on Apple and Spotify. Following the show on Apple and Spotify is a big help as well. Just hit the plus button or the follow button. How about the weekend for the Nats at home against Milwaukee? They got swept.

They gave up 38 runs, 16 to 9 on Friday night, 8 to 2 on Saturday, 14 to 3 yesterday. But how about this? In the three-game sweep, the Brewers. generated 56 hits, the most in franchise history. 56 hits over a three-game span, the most in Milwaukee history. The 38 runs were the fourth most in franchise history over a three-game run. In the Friday night lost to Milwaukee, the Nats gave up 25 hits in that game, the most ever in a game for

the Washington Nationals franchise. The Nats really struggling. They have lost five in a row after winning three in a row. They took two of the last three against Minnesota and the first against Houston, and they are sitting there right now in the midst of just a dreadful season. It's really gone off the rails. They are the second worst team in the National League and the third worst team in baseball overall. That top 100, that NFL top 100 list has continued. We talked about, you know, where would Terry come in? Where is Jaden going to come in? Would Debo Samuel be on the list? He was number 30 last year. Well, it's clear that Debo Samuel is not going to be on the list.

So the players that will be on the list, Laramie Tunsell came in at 76. And then we had Bobby Wagner at 74. Frankie Louvo came in at 70. Then we went through all of the 60s, and then most of the 50s before we got to Terry at number 52. That is 45 spots up from where he was on last year's list at 97. Remember, this is the top 100 players per the players. The players vote on this for NFL.com and the NFL network.

So Terry comes in at 52, and so there's one player left, and that would be Jaden Daniels. Where will he come in? I think I predicted somewhere in the low 20s, so we've got maybe another week or so before we get to where he is. But Terry at number 52, some of the receivers that are below him include Brian Thomas Jr., who came in at 61 after his rookie year in Jacksonville. Malik Neighbors came in at 67. Look, if you gave me the choice right now of Neighbors or Terry, obviously you would take neighbors just because of the age. But even if they were the same age, I think I would take neighbors. I think he's going to be a superstar.

T. Higgins came in at 77. Judy, Jerry Judy, came in at 82 on this list. And then Drake London and Ladd McConkey came in at 97 and 100. So there are a lot of receivers to go, a lot to go. Where Terry will rank, I'm going to guess it's going to be 10, 11, 12, something like that on the receiver list, according to the players, when all is said and done. How about Quinn Jan Mitchell after his rookie year? He came in at 49 on the list, a top 50 player in the league, according to the players. Quinnion Mitchell, after his rookie year in Philly playing corner.

All right, Jaden Daniels was on CBS sports today out at the park after practice. He did a sit-down interview with Evan Washburn, who does games on CBS. Evan's actually a guy that lives somewhat locally. He lives in Annapolis, I believe, and he listens every once in a while. I've had Evan on the show. He's an excellent guest. But he sat down with Jayden Daniels and did ask him about the Terry situation. here's what Jaden said.

I know this team and this organization is asking a lot of you. They are not going to ask you how to sign or get Terry McLaren into camp and figure that all out. But how do you handle a situation where there's uncertainty surrounding a player who I know means so much to you? Yeah, control what I can control. I know one day, 17 will be running out here. Hopefully soon, but I can't control what he has going on with his. business or the front office stuff like that. I got to go out there and try to be the best version of myself each and every day.

I mean, just hope one day it all gets resolved. And 17's back out of catching passes. 17's going to be out there catching passes from you, Jaden. I feel really, really confident in that. I guess what Ben and I discussed, you know, the way in which Terry could gain some leverage in this negotiation, it would have to happen during the regular season. He'd have to hold out in a game or two, and the team would have to really perform poorly on offense without him.

I just don't see him doing that. I think he's out there on September 7th against the Giants, if not earlier, either with a contract extension or without one. I want to finish up with this. The first college football poll of the year came out earlier. today. It's the USA Today coaches poll. Texas number one in a preseason poll for the first time in its program history. That's actually a surprise to me. And Ohio State comes in at number two. That sets up the first one versus two matchup on opening Saturday, August 30. If there is a week zero,

August 23rd, where there's a game in Dublin and a few other games. But the week one of college football is Saturday, August 30th. I think there are some games Thursday and Friday night. But Saturday, August 30th, Columbus, Ohio, in the shoe, the first ever week one, number one versus number two matchup. Texas and Arch Manning in the shoe against the Buckeyes. There are a couple of unbelievable week one games. That's followed by Bama at Florida State. And then on that Saturday night, August 30th, you get LSU at Clemson. So a team that plays in their own Death Valley on the road in Death Valley, South Carolina,

Clemson, South Carolina, that is. We're just a few weeks away from that starting. You know, college football starts with that week zero on August 23rd, then you get a full-fledged week, Labor Day weekend. So that all happens, you know, many days and a few weeks before the NFL season opens up. But a one-versus two week-one matchup, Ohio State and Texas. All right, I'm sure I'll have more on the stadium getting voted through with Tommy tomorrow. So come back for that.