The Kevin Sheehan Show - The Howell Draft-Drop Fallacy

Episode Date: May 4, 2023

Kevin and Thom today on the reason given more often for Sam Howell's 5th round availability in the 2022 draft which was he didn't have his star players at UNC for his final season. Plenty from the guys on the Washington Post story about the RFK site too. The boys talked about DeMatha stars Chase Young and Hunter Dickinson and the Nats' 3rd straight win as well.  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.

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This from S. Jackson. I don't think it's Scott Jackson, our good friend. I grew up in Great Falls, Virginia, but I've been a lifelong Rams fan. In 2021, a friend told me to listen to Kevin's show because Chris Cooley had picked the Rams as his lock of the week in the wild card against Seattle. Even as a Rams fan, I wasn't feeling confident,

but Cooley's breakdown was excellent. And sure enough, the Rams with a nine-finger Jared Gough beat Seattle by double digits. I've been listening to the show since it makes me feel like I'm back home. Well, thank you very much. That is a perfect reminder for me to remind everybody that Cooley was on the show yesterday and did a film breakdown of both Emmanuel Forbes and Kwan Martin, the first two picks of the draft for Washington. So if you haven't listened to it, go back and listen to it.

Not that long on either one. And Cooley's going to do a few more, I think, next week for the next few draft choices. So we will stretch that out as he is able to do it over the next couple of weeks. Now, to me, Cooley's best call, he's had a lot of really good calls, but he basically picked the Rams to win the Super Bowl before that postseason started in 2021. with Matt with Matt Stafford. That playoff game... Well, you know, he obviously,

and this doesn't mean what he did, this doesn't diminish what he did, but he knows what Sean McVeigh can do. Yeah. Okay, he has a tremendous respect for Sean McVeigh. They were tight when they were in Washington, right? Right, they were. Cooley was, I've told you this before,

and everybody knows that this that's listening, or most of you know, Cooley suggested in 2015, maybe, 2016 on the show. He said, as much as I like Jay Gruden and Jay's a friend of mine, I think the best move for the organization would be to elevate Sean McVeigh, the head coach right now and see if Jay would take it to motion to offensive coordinator. He goes, because if not, they're going to lose him because the first job that he applies for, he interviews for, excuse me, he'll get hired.

And it was true, the first head coaching. And he said this before anybody knew that Sean McVeigh would be an obvious choice to be a head coach. But the year the Rams won the Super Bowl, and they won, remember, a road game at Tampa Bay, and then beat the 49ers in the NFC championship game. They were not the favorites to win the Super Bowl. He said, once they signed O'Dell Beckham, Jr., he said, it's over. and he goes, they're going to win the Super Bowl. He said they can't cover Cup and Beckham Jr.

on the same field, and they've got a quarterback, and they've got a scheme. And look, last year, he picked the 49ers to win the whole thing and said when they, you know, he said when they signed Christian McCaffrey, when they made the trade for Christian McCaffrey, he basically said it's over. He said, you just made it a million times. easier for Jimmy Garapolo, who was quarterbacking at the time, to read out a defense. He said, you've now made it, and he wasn't suggesting that Garapolo wasn't capable of doing it, but he said, you just made it a hundred times easier for Garoppolo by putting McCaffrey on the field

with Debo and with Kittle, et cetera, Iuk, and he said they're going to win it. Now, Garapolo got hurt, and Brock Purdy became the quarterback, and then Brock. Purdy got hurt in the NFC championship game, and they basically didn't have a quarterback to play against Philadelphia for the final two and a half quarters. So he may have ultimately been right had they had a quarterback. God, as much as the Eagles are being, you know, propped up as, you know, the favorites along with the 49ers in the NFC, and people have been, you know, drooling over Howie Roseman. It's kind of making me sick for the last couple of days, to be honest with you. I don't know what it is, but I just don't dig the whole Howie Roseman love.

I think he's really good, and I think the Eagles are really good. I'm not suggesting that. I know we talked about this the other day, but I wonder what would have happened in that NFC championship game had Brock Purdy stayed upright. And then this year, they've got, you know, Purdy coming off this really serious injury, and they've got Trey Lance, and it's going to be interesting.

Like, they are the only team that's given an opportunity to go to the Super Bowl. without their quarterback situation being resolved. Like, it's really amazing how much respect Kyle Shanahan gets. Now, they have a dominant defense, but it's really incredible that this is like the only franchise you look at in the league and you say, well, they don't need an obvious franchise quarterback. It's their system and it's their ability to run the ball and combine with the best defense in the league, you're certainly one of the best two or three.

It's also... And a great tight end in George Kittle. And just an incredibly unique player in Debo Samuel and in Christian McCaffrey. I mean, they've got everything, but they don't have... I mean, I'm not convinced yet that Brock Purdy's a franchise quarterback after a few games. He played well. He played well, but it really is kind of system over the actual quarterback in San Francisco. And it's not that way anywhere else, right?

I don't think I'm, you know. You mean it's not like that in Washington for Sam Howe? It's the system that's going to propel them to greatness. So that's a perfect transition. We've been doing this well recently. Perfect segue without planning it into this tweet that I want to read from Stephen. Stephen tweeted, Kevin, why are you so pessimistic about Sam Howe? You felt much differently about a certain 2012 fourth round pick and never gave

never gave up on him and you were right. Of course, he's referring to the name that seems to trigger a lot of you, but I'm going to say it anyway, Kirk Cousins. And then he writes, why so sour on Sam? His last year at North Carolina is what dropped him. He didn't have his best players. I just want to make this clear. I'm not pessimistic about Sam Howe.

I don't know if Sam Howe can play or not. That's different than being pessimistic. I've been pessimistic about some of their quarterbacks. I was more pessimistic about Carson Wentz and Taylor Heineke than I am about Sam Howe. I don't know anything about Sam Howell, nor do you. Here's the difference between Kirk Cousins. You thought Kirk Cousins could play pretty early. Yeah, and I, by the way, remember in our you heard it here first, bold prediction two years before they drafted him, or a year before they drafted him, or a year before they drafted. that I'm predicted. Either him or Dak Prescott, I think, was the segment. I said either him or Dak Prescott are going to be the quarterback.

No, it was him because Dak came two years later. Yeah. So it wasn't like Kirk Cousins came along, and all of a sudden you got on board. You were at the starting gate for Kirk Cousins, and you promoted him for quite a few years. And you had reasons to knowing what the coaching staff thought of him. okay i mean this coaching staff it's like it's like they're they're schizophrenic you know how can you how can you think that the coaches love this guy when they had to be talked into playing i'm in

the last game in a season it's not not even close to a comparison it's not but i there's another part to this which is really what i wanted to address because i have said very clearly i am not I have no idea about Sam Howe. Okay, it's not pessimism. I'm in the same position I believe they are in, actually, which is hopeful. But the last part of Stephen's tweet, this is what I wanted to address, because we have not talked about this before. Why are you so sour on Sam? His last year at North Carolina is what dropped him. He didn't have his best players. There's been this theme of, you know, this, quarterback who everybody knew, and one of the reasons everybody knew Sam Howl is because if he had come out the year before, everybody believes he would have been a first round pick, if not a very high first round pick. A lot of the mock drafters heading into his final season had him as a first rounder. And, you know, everybody has, you know, said, look, if it wasn't for that last year at North Carolina, he would have been. a first round pick. I want to push back on that notion because I just don't think that's true. I don't think that his last year at North Carolina,

which, by the way, was not a bad season at North Carolina. It was actually a pretty decent season at North Carolina. He increased his rushing yard total by literally 600 yards, in part because he lost some of his best running backs. He had two early round, first round, not first round, but highly drafted running backs. He lost, you know, Diami Brown for that last year, a big time receiver. But Sam Howell, in his final season at North Carolina, still threw for over 3,000 yards, okay, about 500 less than the year before, still through for 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions, still had a 154.2 passer rating. and rush for 828 yards.

He carried the team. He actually had, in some ways, a year in his final year that was like, whoa, the guy can throw it. He can also carry a team with his legs. But that's not why I want to bring it up, because I just think that the notion that somehow his drop-off statistically by 500 passing yards and by six touchdowns dropped him four and a half rounds in the draft is silly. All you got to do is look back to Josh Allen. Okay, Josh Allen, his next to last year compared to his last year, were much different. He threw for 3,200 yards in his next to last season, just 1,800 yards in his last season. Now, he played three fewer games, but still, he wouldn't have made up a 1,200-yard

difference in three fewer games. He had 16 touchdowns in his final year, 28 in the year before. that. And yet Josh Allen still went number seven overall in the first round. It's really ridiculous to suggest that Washington got a first round player in the fifth round, but it's because everybody knows statistically he took a major step back in his final year. No, you don't drop four and a half rounds. And by the way, a terrible quarterback draft. when you had teams with lots of quarterback needs because statistically he was a little bit off in his final year. That's bullshit.

We have to stop with that narrative now. That is not a true narrative. He dropped four and a half rounds because the feeling about him changed a lot. For whatever the reasons are, and I can't enumerate them or I can't list them, but it wasn't 500 yards of passing when he had 700 more yards of rushing. And he carried that team in his senior year. It's just stupid. If they really were off put by him statistically, then he may have dropped to the third round.

You know, supposedly all of these teams had second and third round grades on him, but he just dropped to the fifth when he had a first round grade the year before? Come on, people. You're not that easy. That's naive. Oh, yes, they are. I'll tell you what. People in this day and age will talk themselves into believing anything. Daniel Jones had a step-back final season. He moved up. He moved up the board. Nobody thought Daniel Jones after his junior year was going to be the number six or what was he, number six overall? I think number six overall pick. And he had a step back season, his senior year,

in terms of passer rating. Actually, it wasn't a step back passer rating. It was a step back in yardage and in overall record, all right? And in rushing yards. And Daniel Jones was a dual-threat guy at Duke. And he flew up the board. These guys aren't drafting based on stats, people. They're drafting based on what they see translating to the next level at that position.

And they change their mind on Sam How. But it wasn't because of a major step back statistically, because he didn't have a major step back statistically. Anyway, what were you going to say? Anyway, as it... taking it in a different direction, but in the same direction of people will believe what they believe. In my column that I wrote about Josh Harris and the draft, which he retweeted like five minutes ago, I might point out.

So you didn't have a chance to read it. No, I didn't. Am I going to regret retweeting it? No, you're not going to regret retweeting it. I mean, some of this is what we talked about. I just retweet it because you're my friend, and I want to help you in any way I can. I don't know that. I'm a big help for a.

But you seem to think because you certainly remind me enough to retweet your columns. You must think I can really help you with your columns. Well, all I know is that I have a look. When we were at the radio station, and I don't want to go too far into this, but I retweeted almost every. other person's show when it was about to come on. Okay? Because I think it's being a good team player. Right. That's all. It doesn't mean I support. I retweet your podcast. Unless I have this discussion again. I retweet your podcast almost every day, even when I'm not on it. And I don't listen to any other days. Okay. So I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Well, see, but you're much more active on

Twitter than I am. And you spend a lot more time on Twitter than I do. So I also, by the way, there was a time. I want to just say this because I think people are saying, oh, she ends a bad teammate. You know I'm not a bad teammate. And I used to retweet all those shows, too. I will tell you that it's a bit of a different environment at the station in recent years than it once was. And by the way, I'm not, that's taking myself off the hook. I should be much more active in promoting nobody else does it. Nobody else does it at your station at the other station. You know what? I'm going to start doing that more for the station shows. It's fallen out of favor. Anyway, if you had read my column,

it's like some of the stuff we talked about on Tuesday, and it's the idea of Josh Harris having to sit back and watch Ron Rivera pick the players that he's going to wind up possibly having it. in a couple of weeks, and how frustrating that may have been for him, I pointed out in the column, like we've discussed a number of times, about the context of this is the same coach who didn't know his playoff team's chances were at stake in the Browns game, the next the last season of the year. Several people pushed back and said, no, that's not true.

He was just making it up to tease reporters. Oh, my God, stop people. Stop. Yes. They think that he was just matching with the media. He admitted it a few days later. He admitted it. He admitted it the day later in the press conference.

Oh, my God. Come on, people. Stop with that. He had no idea. He was caught completely off guard. If you want to say it didn't matter that he didn't know, that's one thing. But to think that he was just joking with people, that's ridiculous. Just like some people still think happy Thanksgiving from Dan was a joke.

I mean, no, it wasn't. People will talk themselves into believing anything. So it's not surprising about how the Sam Howe narrative has taken off in one direction. I just, one of my favorite things about your columns, as you know, is that they're very easy to digest and consume. And I just did that. I just read it as we were talking. I skimmed through it very quickly. By the way, I think that's the attention span of most people today.

I think you, whether you do it intentionally or not, it's actually smart to cater to that. Because like Bill Barnwell, who I do read occasionally, is just, you know, you've got to basically carve out an hour to read one of his columns. But it seems. Yeah, they're like 60 inches long or something like that. So did you come into Tuesday's show with this column already written, or did you take some of our Ricky Stromberg stuff and talking about, you know, the phone situation? which I said to you, I said, I thought it was an embarrassing situation, and you said, yeah, and look, I think it could have been very innocent overall. But, but, you know, we talked about how in the context of the overall organization and all of their blunders, it probably would have made sense, social media-wise, not to tweet out that little, you know, as I called it, a bad community theater episode, and you called it an Abbott and Costello performance. So did you have that idea before our podcast? Because you have taken ideas off of the podcast before and written columns.

Of course I have. But was that a before or after? If you verbally talk things out, ideas come up. Right, of course. So yes, of course I have. Half the stuff I do, I steal. I got it from you, but I didn't get it from the podcast. You mentioned it on Sunday when we were at the NFL game.

Oh, got it. Got it, got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I went back and looked at the video. Oh, it's embarrassing. And read the transcript. It's embarrassing. Yes.

Yeah, I agree. I agree. So that's where I got it from. Now, there's one part of this. When you say, where did newly hired offensive coordinator, Eric B. Enamey watch it, because you had been talking about, you know, by the way, the first two picks being defensive picks, remember that some of their big off-season acquisitions were offensive linemen.

and one of Eric Bienemey's former offensive lineman, Andrew Wiley, from Kansas City. And then they did draft back-to-back lineman, and they drafted a running back in the draft. So, yeah, but I didn't, I did not see the quote that you had from Rivera about talking about Bianami I had not seen. It's been very interesting, very energetic. I mean, the dude is constantly on the go. I love his responses to the readings, meaning the draft. readings. I love his comments. His insight's very good. We've all really pretty much learned very quickly what he's looking for for what we

want to do offensively and how he sees a player's fitting. And then he went out and drafted. And then you're right. So is Bianami running around the room telling Rivera, good one, Ron, another DB. Defense! Defense! But they did, you know, they addressed some of these things in free agency. Well, what they did is they threw a lot of bodies at free agents through free agency. Yes, they did. Yes, they did. I don't know if they really addressed anything, but they have people. Yeah, they've got people. We'll find out, you know, and I said this the other day, and then Sam

48 said it to me this morning on radio. We'll find out whether it's quantity over quality when I guess they start playing games. Speaking of playing games, I don't want to get ahead of the thing, I think, because I know, you know, you project weeks in advance what you're going to do. And, you know, you're like a well-oiled planning machine. Thank you. Next week, May 11th is this announcement of the NFL schedule. You are going to do your mock schedule next week, aren't you?

Of course I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it with you on Tuesday's show. No, not on Tuesday show. Oh, that's right, because you can't do Tuesday. I'm doing Monday and Wednesday. Well, Wednesday's the 10th. I know. I can do it on Wednesday.

I'm doing it on radio on Tuesday, though. I already said that. But nobody listens to your radio show. Come on. Don't worry about it. Okay. I'm actually excited about this particular mock schedule. You know, this is a big year.

You know what? Here's the thing. You're not the only one. There are people out there that are excited about the Kevin Shee and mock schedule. I'm one of them. Did you know that several people sent this to me, that the team is doing a mock schedule contest? Really?

Yeah. And many of you reached out to say, did you trademark it? No, I didn't trademark it. They would have, can you imagine like trying to trademark that? They'd actually say, this is too stupid to trademark.

But, you know, I've mentioned this before, it relates to the mock schedule. I do think that I was a pioneer on the mock schedule. I don't want to shortchange myself at all. I also know as an entrepreneur, having started several businesses in my past life, often the first in is the one that ends up with arrows in their backs,

and the second one in or the third one in usually has much greater success. But I am pretty sure very early on doing the mock schedule, I think is probably I've been doing it for 15 years, maybe, 14 or 15 years. And I started it because I used to do it in my free time. I used to do it by myself when I wasn't on radio. I don't know why. I had this fascination with the schedule. It's actually, like, one of, I think they, now they have, you know,

this is all now technologically produced in many ways. But when they used to do this. Well, Amazon Web Services, does the NFL scale? schedule now. Okay. So when they used to do this by hand for the lack of a better description, I think I would have been great to help them. I mean, but that kind of thing for whatever reason always interested me.

But what I wanted to say was the Rams when they were in St. Louis, I remember, and I think it was Rigo who said it to me, because it must have been the time when I was still doing a show, because that's where I did it for the first time, was on, you know, would have been 2006, when 2007 time frame when I was doing a show with Riggins and Gary Braun. And I think Rigo was the one that said, did you see this? Or maybe it was Gary. The Rams are holding a mock schedule contest on their website. And I'm like, hey, you know, the teams are starting to do it. But several teams have been doing it for several years, but I think this is the first year the Washington team is going to do it. Now remember, well, great.

ideas require great execution, Tommy. My execution of this has been flawless, even though the results typically don't generate much, but that's really not the point of it. I wonder whether or not they'll execute this thing well. What are the odds on them executing anything well? Well, the odds are very low, and I would suggest that anybody listening over at the park would reach out to you and ask you a simple question. How do you do this? this. You know what? You should one up. You should one up the team and do a mock schedule for 2024.

How's that? I would show them. I hope they've done this and figured it out. I mean, there's an easy way to kind of put it together, I'm sure, technologically, where people can play with it. It's like one of my recent favorite things that ESPN's done is this playoff machine that they basically make available for like the last third of the season. So, you know, essentially, you know, for the last six, seven weeks of the season, they have this thing called the NFL playoff machine at ESPN.

And you can, you know, go through the whole thing. And it's got all of the playoff, you know, permutations figured out. So you pick the games and then it produces what the playoff picture, looks like. That's actually a lot of fun to play around with if you're, you know, if you've got issues like I have. But anyway, yes, I will do the mock schedule with you on Wednesday. Okay, I got one other question. Sure. When they write your obituary, where in the obituary do you want the mock schedule credit? Do you want it high up like the first six or seven graphs? Depends on how it will be described. If I'm going to be mocked for it.

it. That probably would be inappropriate at that moment, but if I'm going to be given credit as a pioneering spirit on the mock schedule, on the now very popular mock schedule, that would be fine. You want that high up then. By the way, speaking of mocks, I think we've talked a little bit in recent shows about the all-too-ear-ear-off drafts for next year. ESPN's Todd McShay came out this morning with his mock draft for next year. And I think I talked about this on yesterday's podcast, but it's surprising to me how low Washington is being projected to finish. Like, I actually don't think they're going to be a terrible team next year. I don't. I saw six and a half wins someplace on some odds.

After the draft. After the draft, it's true. It's dropped from 7.5 to 6.5 in some places. You're right. So people were not blown away with their draft. But McShea has... McShea actually has Washington finishing... Where does he have them finishing here?

Hold on for one second. Sorry. Most of the all-too-early mock drafts and even the power rankings basically have Washington finishing with anywhere from like the third worst record to the ninth worst record. Although CBS Sports had him 18th overall, which is kind of, you know, near where they finished last year, which was 16th overall. But in Todd McShay's mock draft, he has the Cardinals trading with Washington. I'm sorry, he has the Cardinals trading with Tampa Bay at number one. so that the Bucks can select Caleb Williams.

And then he's got the Cardinals with the second pick. Remember, the Cardinals have their pick and Houston's pick next year. He's got the Cardinals selecting Marvin Harrison Jr. And then with the third pick overall, right now earmarked in his mock draft for Indianapolis, he has the Colts who selected Anthony Richardson, trading with Washington. that Washington can trade up to the number three overall slot and select Drake May quarterback, North Carolina. And here's what McShay writes. May is a 6-4. By the way, if you don't know who Drake May is, he's the North Carolina quarterback that replaced the great Sam Howell.

Now, Sam Howell ends up being what many of you think he will be. Well, Washington won't be trading up for the quarterback. Drake May is a totally different prospect. Drake May is a sure fire. I say sure fire because anything can happen. But if Drake May goes back statistically, he's still going to be a first round pick. He's 6'4, 220 pounds, massive arm. McShea writes, not only did he throw 38 touchdown passes last season, he also ran for 7 and almost 700 yards. Barely eclipsing, I will add, parenthetically, Hal's 867-yard rushing performance his final year. Washington might be comfortable with Sam Hal and Jacoby-Berset at the moment, but the former is a fifth round pick with one career start, and the latter is a 30-year-old veteran backup on a one-year deal. I understand that Commander's passing on quarterback down

the board at 16 in the 2023 draft, but if they've got a chance to get someone like May next April, it could change things for the franchise. Washington was outside the top 20 in nearly every passing metric last season. Now, where does he have him trading up from? Number six. So he's got them finishing with the sixth worst record next year. And if they do finish with this sixth worst record, and among the top three picks are, you know, like the Colts and the Cardinals, look, I don't think the Cardinals are going to pass on Caleb Williams personally, even though they just paid Kyler Murray. But anything's possible. But if, like, Indianapolis had the third pick, or say Houston had the third pick. Well, Houston doesn't have a pick. It's

Indianapolis's pick. If the Colts have the third pick and they just selected Anthony Richardson, they might be in the market for trading it. Yeah. And if Washington's at six, now you're in range of trading up to that spot. But if you finish, as we've discussed, with six or seven wins or eight wins, and again, they had eight wins last year, which Taylor Heineke and Carson Wents a quarterback, well, then you're not going to be in position to trade all the way up to get Drake May or Caleb Williams, and you're going to be in the business of guys like Quentin yours, you know, J.J. McCarthy in terms of the other quarterbacks that are, you know, right now projected as kind of first round possibilities in next year's

draft. Oh, I wanted to mention something real quickly. Did you see K.J. Henry's father their fifth round pick, the pass rushing, edge pass rusher from Clemson, KJ. Henry. They had a video of him, you know, here getting the call from Washington, and then his father comes down the stairs in a Jeremiah Trotter Redskins jersey. And he's got a Redskins cap on in the whole thing. What's interesting is K.J. Henry plays with Jeremiah Trotter Jr. at Clemson. And Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is a consensus projected first round pick in 2024. But anyway, apparently KJ. Henry's father, big skins fan and very happy that his son got selected by Washington.

Which, by the way, sets up another really good transition. which is in... And what is that? It's into a quick conversation about Chase Young, who's an edge rusher for Washington. And we'll have that conversation right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show is brought to you by My Booky Golden State tonight,

a seven-point favorite Tommy over the Lakers in game two. Did you watch Game One? No, I did not watch. game one. Okay. You said you were. You said you were going to try to watch the game. No, I said the day of the game, this will expose you a little bit. I was having surgery. I know you were. But you also said that you were going to try to watch the game. I didn't watch. No, I didn't. Yes, you did. You want me to do this again? Do you know how many times I've done this in the last couple weeks, at least twice where I've gone back after the show and found

where you said something you said that, like you just said, I didn't, and then I just played it. If I did it, if I did it into the show, I inserted it into the show, because, but of course, you don't listen. If I did it, I did it just to placate you, because I would have a surgery that day. How did your surgery go? I should have asked you that. It should have been more empathetic to your surgery, but it's a child surgery.

So I'm assuming you made it out okay. Well, you know, I mean, they're cutting my ears open. Lots of bad takes good habits. happen. They're not cutting your ears open. Yes, they are. They go in there. They put me out. I'm under anesthesia. And let me just say something. There are a few things better than being under anesthesia than being put under. It's so good. It's so good. It's so good. Lay in there with that oxygen mask on your nose. And the guy

says, okay, you're going to be asleep soon. And man, they do the countdown. They do the countdown. Yeah, you're in a foreign land then, baby. You're in Nevada. And then the next thing you know, you're waking up and it's all done. I, God, for whatever reason, I think we've had this conversation about this. But I, like, I had to get a procedure recently. I had to go get a colonoscopy. It was over the summer, and they put you under for.

that and I think I've been under anesthesia I don't know five times because I've had a few surgeries and it is truly amazing the feeling it really is I mean I wish I wish they could make home kits that you could use for yourself well well remember and I this is why I think we've had this conversation recently that's how Michael Jackson passed away remember he was having because he was having all those issues with sleeping. He was having basically that doctor, you know, anesthetize him so that he could sleep every night. And then eventually, you know, and I'm trying to think of the name of that drug. I know we asked for the name of the drug, and it's purpleful or something like that?

Figure out a home kit, you know, without all the dangers. Without all the dangers, yes. With all the tanks worked out. Yeah. I know we've talked about like anesthesia in the past. because I remember specifically having a conversation with you about pre-anesthetic. I mean, like, we are so lucky to have lived when we've lived, for that reason, maybe more than any other. Because all of these procedures, you know, where they just basically gave you a shot of bourbon and a towel and said, bite down hard.

I mean, that's not fun. Anyway, back to my bookie in the NBA. Speaking of anesthesia, let's talk about the NBA. Oh, God. That game the other night was just unbelievable. But Golden State's a seven-point favorite tonight. And I played golf yesterday with a bunch of guys, and they were like, man, you love the NBA. And a couple of guys, Jimmy Patzos was there, and Jimmy's like, oh, it's just, it's unbelievable, the whole thing.

And a couple of my friends watch it. A lot of guys are like, yeah, I just, I don't get into it. I'm like, have you watched it? No. And I didn't recommend watching last night's game, Philly Boston game two, because I figured Boston was going to hammer the Sixers after the Sixers won game one. And even though the Lakers Warriors is the, you know, the series with LeBron and Steph in it that everybody would want to watch, tonight's game two, I can tell you right now, the reason Golden State's a seven-point favorite,

and they were only a four and a half point favorite in game one and lost. is because the Lakers, I think, are going to pass on this one. I think the Lakers are going to say, we got our split, we were absolutely exhausted at the end of that incredible game the other night. And, you know, they've got older players, obviously, with LeBron James. And they took game two off in the Memphis series after winning game one. And we'll just get back to L.A. and get rested up for game three. So I do like Golden State tonight, laying the seven. And you can get it at MyBooky.

Maybe it actually, you know what? It just updated. My bookies now got it at six and a half. That's a good number right now. Go to MyBooky.ag or MyBooky.com. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. By the way, they've got everything that you need for UFC 288 this weekend with the most decorated combat athletes of all time. Sohudo and Sterling.

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Bet anything, anytime, anywhere with MyBooky. So I wanted to just quickly talk about Chase Young. because I think when they didn't pick up that fifth year option last week, it was kind of expected a little bit anticlimactic, as we've talked about recently with the sale news. And by the way, there was stadium news in the post this morning, which we will get to. And you had the NFL draft last week. And so last night, it just kind of occurred to me.

It's like, man, Chase Young's fifth year option wasn't picked up. and there's a 94% chance based on going back to 2011 when the fifth year option became part of the collective bargaining agreement for teams to have that option on first rounders. 94% chance that a player whose fifth year option wasn't picked up won't play for the team that didn't pick up the option in that fifth season. and I just thought Chase Young, more likely than not, actually the odds are heavily in favor of him not playing in Washington after this upcoming season.

Like let's just let that marinate for a little bit. It's stunning. Yes. It's absolutely stunning. Like even in 2014 after RG3's third season, Washington picked up his fifth year option.

As bad as he turned out to be, injuries being a part of it, and obviously everything else was in full swing at that point. And Scott McLuhan, I went back and found this quote from McLuhan. McLuhan said, well, he's a really good player. He's got really good tape. He had an incredible 2012 season, rookie year. McLuhan, but I think we know that Scott McClellan, and Jay Gruden didn't make that decision. Dan Snyder made that decision. Offensive

rookie of the year, by the way, 2012. Chase Young, defensive rookie of the year 2020, didn't have his option picked. Now, keep in mind, not only did RG3 not play for them in his fifth season, he didn't even play for him in his fourth season. He was gone. He gone. But Snyder made that decision. And then eventually, before the 2015, campaign got talked out of, you know, RG3 starting by Jay Gruden and Scott McLuhan and even Bruce Allen. But there were a couple of thoughts that I had on this. Number one is, I don't know that any franchise has ever had a number two pick whose option, well, RG3s did get picked up, but a number two pick who was an offensive rookie of the year and a defensive rookie of

the year who didn't make it past their first deal. because technically the fifth year option is part of the first deal for RG3. I bet it's never happened before. Secondly, I thought of this. If Dan Snyder, Tommy, were still the owner of the team, like with no, you know, without the sale pending, Chase Young's option would have been picked up. Oh, yeah. No doubt.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Would not have mattered. Local kid. Well, the football would not have mattered. Nope. The issues they have with him would not have mattered. There's no way he would have let the guy that he proclaimed to be, you know, such a great pick, and he's a local, and we got a local player.

If Dan Snyder were still involved and he's not... Oh, that was a big breath. You okay? There? Do I still have you? Yeah, I'm good. Okay. I'm good. I'm just thinking about the anesthesia again. and how you'd like some right now. But it's just, I agree with you.

It's just amazing. I agree with you that it's remarkable and that it's Snyder was still, you know, not on its way out, Chase Young would not be on his way out either. No, Chase Young would have gotten a fifth year option. No matter how much Ron Rivera, Jack Del Rio, and everybody else protested, it would have happened. But it didn't happen. And again, it's not stunning in the moment.

It's just stunning to think that at the end of 2020, if I told you, they're not going to extend him and they're not going to pick up his fifth year option, I mean, you would have had me committed. I mean, and I believe, and I think this is another inaccurate narrative on Chase Young's rookie season, I know that the numbers and the disruptive plays came later in the season. and the way he finished up that year was brilliant, which is why he captured the defensive rookie of the year. And it was everything you thought he would become.

I mean, he's forcing fumbles. He's knocking down balls. He's picking up loose balls and scoring touchdowns. He's pressuring. He's getting sacks. But remember early that season, and I think you agreed with this, and I think we debated this.

Tom Boswell wrote a column about how Chase Young looked like a bust to him because he didn't have the stats early on. but he was playing decent football. He wasn't getting home as much. He got home in that opener that year. He had a sack and a half in his very first game against the Eagles. Remember, they sacked Carson Wentz like seven or eight times. I think it could have been nine times in that opener.

And he was making some decent plays, but the numbers weren't there. But I wasn't, I remember in the moment, discouraged at all. When I became a little bit discouraged, when it was when you started to hear they're having problems with him. He's not playing the scheme. And then they became public. Then those things became very public during 2021. And then he gets seriously injured.

But still after the serious injury, I would have never predicted in 2021, even with one and a half sacks before the injury, that he wasn't going to be a part of this team after his fourth year. But right now, that looks probable that, that Chase Young's playing his final season in Washington. Incredible. Do you think of Ron Rue... What's also unusual about it,

and I pointed this out before, it doesn't mean it always happens, but generally, when personnel guys, and Rivera is the personnel guy in this case, when it came to drafting Chase Young, do not give up on their picks because it makes them look bad.

You know, I mean, they don't like to admit a bust or being wrong. And for Rivera to do that, I wonder if he would do it if he wasn't going into the last year of his contract. Do what? I wonder if he would have picked it up. Let's say if this was year three of a six-year contract. Do you think that Rivera would have said, well, I want to give more time. We're going to pick it up. No, because, well, I don't know.

I don't know why it would be a big difference. Because I actually think this is an area in which I've given Ron credit. The mistakes he's made, he hasn't made them worse by doubling down. You know, like William Jackson, like Dwayne Haskins, if you want to consider his decision to give Dwayne a chance. a mistake rather than look harder at quarterback in that draft, which, you know, if you want to go back and say that Chase Young is his biggest mistake, you know, really the bigger mistake was deciding that we're going to take this opportunity in the draft at number two overall with quarterbacks that are all projected top five, and we're really not going to consider them,

although, you know, I think they would have considered Burrow. I think they would have drafted. had Cincinnati taken another player. I do think that. But, you know, that they,

he basically told Dan, I'm going to give Dwayne a shot. And if he knew, and I think he knew, that Dwayne wasn't going to be

the long-term answer, he shouldn't have done that. But he hasn't doubled down on, because it would have been easy for, as you said, you know, the mistakes that he's made to, you know,

continue to try to avoid the embarrassment of a quick departure from that mistake, but he hasn't done that. He didn't do that with Haskins. He didn't do that with William Jackson. He didn't, you know, he's not doing that with Chase Young. He's, look, he didn't. The biggest, Carson Wentz, midway through that season, he was still barking about how it was his decision, and he made the right decision.

And yet, he, you know, he cut him. at the end of the year? Well, come on. Come on. I mean, we're talking about, I know. I mean, there's no room to maneuver. There was no room to go anyplace else. That's true.

That's true. And there was room to go another direction with Chishung. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. The injury would have given him an out to say, well, we need to see him. We need to give him time to come back.

and be fully healthy and feel confident we believe in him. Right. So real quickly on this story in the post this morning, I know you read it, and I actually had Sam Fortier, who was part of the group that wrote it, with Michael Bryce Sadler and Megan Flynn from the Washington Post. I'll read to you the first paragraph. The Washington commanders are lobbying federal legislators to give D.C. control over the RFK stadiums.

which would pave the way for the city to offer it as a potential new home for the team. So basically, for those of you that don't understand sort of the context, that is land owned by the federal government. The federal government owns a lot of land around D.C., especially the land in which there are museums and monuments, et cetera, and, you know, public parks, et cetera. It's the Department of Interior technically that owns the land. But it's the federal government that owns the land. and the D.C., Washington, D.C. has been leasing that land from the federal government,

and their lease runs through 2038. So what the commanders are trying to do is they're trying to have the federal government give D.C. the control over that land so that they can then entertain putting the commanders at the RFK Stadium site, which, you know, that's a whole kind of part two to this thing. or as Sam explained, they would like at least for them to amend the current lease, extend it A, and B, amend it to allow D.C. to lease the land for something other than what it is currently leased for, which is sports and recreation. They want it also to be amended for mixed use so that they could do a lot of development around the stadium.

you know, retail development, housing, commercial, et cetera, to create a more year-round kind of destination for the area. So whether or not the football team will be successful in getting this done, who knows. But even if they got it done, you still then have to have the D.C. Council, based on the will of the people in the District of Columbia, decide to use that land for a new stadium and development around the stadium rather than for something else. So we're not there yet by a long shot, but at least they're trying to get the decision put back into D.C.'s hands.

Because the point is they're not going to just... The commanders don't want to just build a stadium. They want to build a stadium that has all of the stuff around it that creates the destination environment, pre-post-game, and year-round. Right. I think that, you know, there's probably a little bit of energy back into the movement because of the prospects of Dan Snyder on the brink of selling. Obviously, the Post pointed that out in the story. It's sort of like giving it some new life, but the D.C. Council still very much divided on this. And I don't see the federal government. And I did this point out in the post story, I don't see the federal government. making this move if they feel that there's strong division on the D.C. City Council about it, where if it's split evenly, I don't see them doing this just for the mayor, let's say.

Okay. Yeah. So I'm kind of pessimistic about that. This is why, this is where the new Josh Harris group, when they come in, this is where Magic Johnson can be very valuable. This is where Matt, you want Magic Johnson in the Wilson building as much as possible, meeting with these legislative, with these city council members, and lobbying them for what the team wants to do with the stadium in that area. I mean, that would be worth more than the money he's investing in the team. Yeah, I didn't even think about that. I mean, they have somebody that could really be influential. And by the way, not just influential with politicians,

influential with the politicians' constituents who are going to have a big say in this. Now, you know, there's another piece to this, too, and that is let's just say that they got the amendment to the current lease or they got control over the land. And let's just say then, hey, they're in favor. You know, they've got Mendelssohn, they've got Eleanor Holmes Norton. They've got everybody on board. you know, along with the mayor, to really seriously consider bringing Washington's football team back home.

Well, then it's about, okay, well, what are the economics of this deal? What are the taxpayers going to have to pay for? Because as you've pointed out now for multiple years running, taxpayers, they don't want to pay for stadiums anymore. And this stadium, as a standalone, is a $2-3 billion venture before you ever get into all of the development, and the development and the infrastructure, et cetera. And so would they get, you know, when I say they, would the Harris, Mitchell Rails, Magic Johnson, you know, group get a better deal from Virginia or Maryland?

And remember, they're spending a shitload on the team to begin with. How much dry powder do they have to build a $3 billion stadium without any help? Yeah. Yeah. All the all good points. You know, even though I have said that, in the past two stadium deals that have been announced recently, there's been substantial public money have gone into them. Which two? The Buffalo Bills Stadium.

And Nashville? Substantial public money and Nashville as well. So even though I have maintained that, the last two recent stadium deals, there has been a public commitment. And part of what may have clouded, may have, you know, what was in play before, was the presence of Dan Snyder. There was zero politicians that were going to stand up there and say they're going to give Dan Snyder any money. Right.

Okay. Under new ownership, it's still going to be a tough sell. I'll give you the state of Maryland. When Jack Kent Cook built his stadium, Cook was a popular owner who couldn't get a stadium built anywhere else, but landover, and the state of Maryland only paid for the infrastructure. They did not contribute one dime. to the actual stadium.

I'd still be surprised in this day and age if the district offered to do more than pay for the infrastructure in order to have the stadium built. I could be wrong on that. I just don't see them working over public money unless there's some kind of... Look, I mean, they came up with a creative tax district

for Nationals Park where none of the money came out of taxpayers' pockets, but it created a district where people who did business in that district had to pay the taxes that wound up building Nash-Nats Park. I don't know if they could do something like that as well, where you basically don't take money out of people's pockets, but you create another tax that isn't a burden on the whole population. Right. So right now, let's just get your updated thinking. Where does the stadium end up?

I still think in Maryland next to FedEx Field closer to the Metro Stop with plans to develop the walk from the Metro Stop to the new stadium. Okay. By the way, Ben Standing just tweeted out, the Josh Harris Group is adding Alejandro Santo Domingo and his family to the investment. Esther group seeking to purchase the commanders. Source confirms. Sportico had this first, I guess. The Domingo family, one of the wealthiest in South America, is worth $12.1 billion per Bloomberg. Alejandro Santo Domingo is Colombian-American.

Is a Colombian-American billionaire financier and philanthropist? Yeah. It says his net worth here is 2.0.4. $12.5 billion, but Ben's got it as $12.1 billion per Bloomberg. He's married to Lady Charlotte Wellesley, who is an English socialite and photography producer. I don't know anything about him. But I don't, this, you know, all of this, you know, the actual group is 17 strong in terms of limited partners involved in the heritage. bid. So anyway. All right. We got a few more things, including Hunter Dickinson making up his mind on where he will play college basketball next year. And the Washington Nationals may be the hottest team in town right now. Okay, let's not get carried away. All of that and more. Those things and more right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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She wasn't. And sometimes maybe if you want to bring your date or your significant other, maybe they're not cigar smokers, it's a good place for them to maybe take a shot, take a chance. I saw on Sunday when I was at Shelley's, a guy came in with his girl. I don't know if it was his wife or his girlfriend or whatever. And you could tell it was the first time she ever had a cigar, and the Shelley staff is always very helpful to have a cigar menu there. And they'll go over the possible choices and what they think might work for a young lady who's maybe having a cigar for the first time. And she enjoyed the experience.

You could tell she enjoyed it. You know, this is what they do with Shelly's. They make all of it enjoyable from the food to the drink to the cigars with a cigar selection of the top 25 by cigar aficionado available for purchase. Shelly's backroom, 1331 F Street, Northwest, and the district, which will be hosting the D.C. Graze Cigars and Curveball Fundraiser on Monday, May 22nd, from 6 to 8. You can buy tickets for that fundraiser at the D.C.Graise website, D.C.Graise.com. Can't wait for that. I will be there with you, and a lot of people that you know will be there as well. So, Tommy, for me anyway, and for all of the Maryland basketball fans that are listening,

the big news today is that Hunter Dickinson, the Transfer Portal, Michigan Center, announced his decision and it's Kansas. There was a lot of belief from a lot of people that Maryland was right in there with Kansas there till the end, that it kind of came down to. The four schools that he said it came down to were Kentucky, Kansas, Maryland, and Villanova, I was kind of told that it was Maryland and Kansas all along. He seemed to really be going back and forth. But he took Kansas, and Kansas will vault into the preseason number one

and national championship favorite position with that addition. I think the Terps would have been a preseason top five team had he committed to Maryland, you know, preseason top seven, you know, eight worst case. They'll still have a good team next year. They're going to be a preseason top 25 team next year and a pick to finish third. or fourth in the Big Ten, and to be a tournament team. But the Hunter Dickinson wait is over. Jeff Irman, who writes for Inside MD Sports,

one of the schools sports teams' biggest fan websites, told me on radio yesterday, nobody knows exactly how much money he's getting, but it'll probably be in the $2 to $3 million range for next year. while. And, you know, we're in a new situation. And look, Hunter Dickinson's game isn't really a game that projects to, you know, high first round or even mid-first round next year in the draft. You know, I've seen a lot of mock drafts without Hunter Dickinson even in the first round. You know, he's got kind of shorter arms. His game isn't necessarily the kind that you think of with, you know, super

high NBA player, but a game that translates to the college game for sure. And this is where we are, you know, now that guys like Dickinson may make the most money playing basketball that he's ever made in his final, you know, season or two, because he's got a COVID-year possibility after next year. You know, so he could make, you know, six million bucks over the next two years playing college basketball, pretty good head start on life. So good for him with respect to the NIL money and good for all these guys that are capitalizing on that. I'm sad for Maryland, but I know Kevin Willard gave it a great shot and got pretty damn close, and he's going to have a really good team anyway.

I mean, the Terps recruiting class is kind of a top 15 to top 18 recruiting class. And they've got Jamir Young coming back and Julian Reese coming back and Dante Scott coming back. they should be really good next year even without Dickinson. But with Dickinson, Tommy, they would have been, I mean, they were number two one year with Turch. They were, I think, five, one year, seven the other year preseason. So he had a couple of preseason, you know, two or three preseason top five, top ten teams. But they would have been a national championship contender next year with Dickinson. They'll still be pretty competitive, right?

Yeah, they're going to be really good. They'll be a tournament team. I mean, there'll be, you know, again, preseason, top 18, top 22, somewhere in that range, I think, when we get to next October. The whole NIL thing from what I've read is playing havoc on the women's side because a lot of the top women make more money in college that they would play in the WNBA.

Oh, of course. That's a no-brainer. I mean, the college athletes, female athletes, I mean, you know, you don't make anything in the WNBA. don't think. So anyway, one other quick thing before we get to the Nats, because I saw this story earlier, and I wanted to share it with everybody. So Bill Belichick in the draft last week was holding initially the number 14 pick in the draft. And if you recall, he traded back to 17 with the Steelers. And the Steelers jumped one pick ahead of the New York Jets at that number 14 spot and

selected Broderick Jones, the offensive lineman from Georgia. The Jets had talked about too much talk in the wake of the Aaron Rogers trade that they were going to get themselves an offensive lineman to protect Aaron Rogers. Well, this story from the Washington Post, Post. One NFL GM told the Washington Post that Bill Belichick just wanted to F the Jets when he traded with the Steelers during the draft. Belichick did it just to F the Jets. He sold low too because he knew the Steelers were going to take the kid the Jets wanted to take. So the Steelers, moving from 14 back to 17 should have netted the Patriots a third round pick. and he took a fourth rounder from the Steelers so that they would jump in front of the Jets

and take what was deemed to be the last of the four certain first round offensive line picks. I mean, Paris Johnson, Skronsky, Darnell Wright, who I think Washington would have selected at 16, and Broderick Jones were the sort of, you know, cinch first round guys. And so the Jets were stuck without their guy at 15, they ended up taking Will McDonald, the linebacker out of Iowa State,

who on tape really looks like an excellent player. But apparently, according to Kuiper was a bit of a reach, although Kuiper loved the player. But what's interesting about that is I wonder if Belichick had just stayed at 14 and hadn't made the trade, if he would have taken Christian Gonzalez there because he took him at 17, and if he had taken Christian Gonzalez at 14 without pulling off that trade, then the Jets would have taken Brodrick Jones, and Washington would have taken Emmanuel Forbes, but without all of the criticism with Christian Gonzalez being on the board.

But there's one more part to this, and that is Belichick told New England Patriots reporters that he was willing to trade back to 17 because he knew Washington would take Forbes before Gonzalez. and he could still get Gonzalez at 17. Now, to me, personally, I know it's Belichick over Rivera. I understand that. But there were a lot of teams that passed on Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, for whatever reason, fell from, you know, that Witherspoon or Gonzalez, which one is going to go first to 17. So teams didn't have Gonzalez rated as high as the mock drafters did. and so Forbes was just Washington's preference. But I also would just say that the Jets, because they've been a bottom-feeding franchise for so long, telegraphed their move and it cost them their player. You know, Washington kind of telegraphed their move apparently too

because Belichick knew who Washington was going to take. So they need to not do that moving forward. And maybe it won't be this group anyway. hopefully it's a new general manager who oversees all football operations and it's not coach-centric Ron when we get to the 2024 draft. But I thought that was an interesting story about him trying to, you know. He hates the Jets, man. God does he hate the Jets. That is a real rivalry in the NFL.

There aren't many of them. That's one of them. How about the Nats? How about C.J. Abrams for a second straight now? today, they played an afternoon game today. And they beat the Cubs again. They won four to three. They get great pitching.

Patrick, Patrick Corbyn, through seven innings, only allowed three hits. Look at that. With six strikeouts. Yeah. I mean, and they won four to three. Lane Thomas had a three-run Homer in the second inning. And, you know, they're getting some, they're getting some great. very good pitching of late, which is really helping them.

Now they're like 13 and 18. They've won their last three series, and they are hot right now. You know, they haven't played any interest against Pittsburgh. They've won two out of their last three series. They won that series with the Mets, and they won that series with the Cubs. They lost that series of the Pirates over the weekend. But I think they also won that series with the twins, so it would be three out of their last four series that they've actually won.

Yeah. Yes, three of their last four series. Right. That's impressive. I mean, Yes, it is. I pointed this out that they are clearly, even though they're still in last place in the National League East, their run differential is nowhere near the bottom.

They have been winning games here recently, but even with the exception to the 16 to one loss to the pirates, they've been in a lot of the games. that they've lost. Yes, they have. Now, they haven't faced any of their division rivals yet. Mets. They played the Mets. Except they played the Mets.

They did face the Mets. Yeah, and they played the Braves early. Didn't they open with the Braves? That's right. They opened with the Braves. Yeah. Okay. Well, they go on a road trip after this.

I think they go to Arizona and then the Giants out west. And then they faced the Mets again. Look, they've done pretty well. It's April numbers. I'm very suspect of the depth of this team lasting over 162 games to be competitive. But, you know, right, they could have went in the other direction in April, and they're going in the plus direction, not the minus direction right now. Yeah.

It's actually impressive. And I think Josiah Gray is going to pitch that first game at Arizona. I think his ERA is well under three. Yeah, he's been outstanding for them. Yeah. All right. Let's go down to the park one night. Let's do one of those nights.

I've done this two to three times over the last two summers. Go down to the park, take in five innings, and then go to the MGM. Okay. And finish the night with some gambling. That's not a bad night. Okay. All right. That sounds good.

You got anything else? Nothing else for you, boss. All right. I don't either. Tomorrow, Nikki Javala will be on the show, and I'm trying to get one more guest as well. But until then, thank you, Tommy. Great job today. You really brought it.

Glad your ears are okay. Thank you, sir. See ya. All right. I'll see you.