The Kevin Sheehan Show - The Josh Harris Era Begins

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

Kevin today on the firing of Ron Rivera and the hiring of both Bob Myers and Rick Spielman. Kevin addressed all of the GM and Head Coach names that the team has reportedly sought out for interviews as well. Plenty on yesterday's season-closing blowout loss to the Cowboys and then David Aldridge/The Athletic jumped on with Kevin to talk about the day.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. So there's a nickname for the day that follows the end of the NFL's regular season. The nickname is Black Monday, and it refers to the firings that take place among the 18 teams that did not make the postseason. Not all 18 teams, but usually there is a percentage of the first season.

those 18 teams that start firing coaches and front office executives because they did not make the playoffs. And it becomes a huge newsday in the NFL. Well, no team of the 18 teams that didn't make the playoffs made more news than our team today. Wow. We knew about Ron Rivera getting fired. That's been a given for a long time. But they made two hires today. that I don't think any of us were expecting. Lots to get to on a very busy show, a show that will include David Aldridge. David Aldridge covered the NBA for years,

now rights for the athletic, actually spearheads the Washington group of the athletic, covers all the teams in town, but during David's years of covering the NBA, he got to know the Golden State Warriors organization very well, and Bob Myers, who was one of the two key hires by Josh Harris today, he was the longtime team president and general manager of the Golden State Warriors during their dynastic run.

He will join us on the show in the final segment of the show today. A show presented, as always, by Windonation. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to Windonation.com for the best deal. of the year. So, where do we start? I guess chronologically, as far as today goes. In the next segment, I'll go back to yesterday, and we will do a very quick recap of yesterday's season ending 3810 loss to the Cowboys,

a loss that sewed up the number two overall selection, nailed down their schedule of opponents for next year. So we will get to a lot of that in the next segment. It also marked Sam Howell starting the 17th game of the season. Will it be his last start as a Washington quarterback? So we'll get to a lot of what happened yesterday in the next segment. David Aldridge following that. But before that, we start with what started to happen early this morning.

First of all, Ron Rivera was fired. this was not a surprise. You know, this is a day that we've kind of marked, I shouldn't say we. I think many of us have marked as kind of a new beginning day, the first day, if you will, of Josh Harris's ownership and really presiding over the decisions relating to the football franchise. It's a new page. It's a new leaf being turned.

It is certainly a clean slate. something that he did not have when he took control of the team at the end of July and training camp was about to open in the first preseason game was just 10 to 14 days away. They just couldn't do much during that July time frame. So we always thought that January 8th, 2024 would be the first day where you really start to observe and, you know, at some point, grade out the Josh Harris ownership. He's got a long leash here. If today is day one, we got a few years before we start to say, hey, remember January 8th, 2024, those first two hires you made?

They didn't really work out. Those guys picked the wrong guys. Who knows? But it does feel like a new day, you know, like we're breaking new ground here on a new possibility. We don't have to suspend reality anymore. Dan Snyder can't fuck it up anymore because he's not here. This season that just concluded, which we'll talk a little bit about in the next segment, was arguably the worst season in franchise history.

Snyder's fingerprints were all over it. Josh Harris's fingerprints were not. By the way, I'll start there. I'm glad that he didn't fire Ron Rivera at any point during the season. It didn't make sense. It wasn't going to prove a point. He made a commitment to observe, sit back and watch for a year. There were a couple of decisions made, like trading Chase Young, trading Montez sweat,

firing Jack Del Rio. But the big decision, which would have been in in-season firing, never took place. And as we sat here this morning and took in all of the news of Ron Rivera being fired, and then Rick Spielman and Bob Myers being hired, it really, to me, seemed like, yeah, was absolutely nothing that could have been gained from firing Ron Rivera in season. In fact, in many ways, it probably ensured the 4 and 13 mark and the number two pick overall. But Ron Rivera fired. Look, deservedly so based on production.

There were a lot of statements put out by Josh Harris thanking Ron Rivera and his family and for his service. Very nice, classy message from the organization. In part, Ron Rivera put out a lengthy statement. I'm not going to read either one of them. They're both very long, but very classy in his exit. Ron Rivera, by all accounts, is a good man, is a very well-respected football guy. I mean, if you watch the game yesterday, Greg Olson gushing over his former coach at points during that game, there seemed to be a genuine and very healthy respect between Ron Rivera and,

the new owners. And they treated each other like adults during their relationship and upon the exit of their relationship. But Ron Rivera's overall mark while he was here just wasn't good enough. And he did preside over the worst season, I think you could say, in franchise history, certainly during my lifetime. This four and 13 season, that ended with a minus 189 point differential, the worst in the NFL, the worst, by the way, for the franchise during the Super Bowl era, you've got to go back to 1961 to find a worse point differential. They were annihilated week after week.

It ended yesterday with a 38 to 10 thumping at the hands of the Cowboys, although there was a point, right? During that second quarter, did you start to get worried a little bit? But we've known, I think some of us have thought that this day was very likely going back to the ownership change in late July. It was going to take 10 wins plus a playoff win or more for Ron Rivera to have any chance of coming back. And obviously that did not happen ending the season on an eight game losing skid. And really with not a lot to blame for it. You know, it's not like Washington had a brutal schedule.

It's not like Washington was ravaged with injuries. They just sucked, start to finish pretty much. Certainly when they started to play better teams and better defensive teams, it was obvious that they were the worst team or one of the two or three worst teams in the NFL. The DVOA metric ended with them being the 31st worst team in the NFL, only Carolina being worse. the offense finished 26th, DVOA-wise, the defense, the biggest disappointment and the biggest surprise of the season finished 31st, and it was abysmal throughout.

It was abysmal with Jack. It was abysmal with Ron, and I know there were a lot of new players playing, but wow, was this team bad? So we've known, if you didn't know it before the season, you certainly knew it the night of the Chicago game, that Ron would be fired on this day or beforehand. So Ron is gone, and we wish him the best of luck. He's not going to coach again. He's certainly not going to be a head coach again.

Who knows? Maybe he'll stay in football as an advisor. I doubt he'd be in coaching anymore at this point. But I wish him the best. I got to know Ron very little. I had them on for a season, and we had many conversations during that season, but that was two years ago at this point. I occasionally will have communication, but really, for the most part, the people on the beat got to know Ron the most. And I think everybody, to a certain degree, respected him to a certain point.

There was a lot of politician in Ron Rivera while he was here. There was a lot of double talk. There was a lot of confusing talk. But as I've said for a couple of years running, nobody hired by Dan Snyder ever works out. And then Ron Rivera didn't come into a place that was normal Dan Snyder toxic. It was beyond what anybody could have imagined

with the investigations, with the name change, with COVID, with, Ron personally becoming sick in that first year and getting cancer and then beating cancer. This was a mountain way too high to climb. Really and truly for Ron, I think his only chance to have succeeded here was to have been just the head coach and to have had a really good strong general manager to handle roster construction. By the way, Josh Harris had some things to say, which I'm going to play for you as well from a press conference earlier today.

But I think ultimately, Ron was doomed the minute he took the job with a Dan Snyder-owned organization. But specifically, Ron was probably doomed when he took on both responsibilities, head coach and head of football operations. He just was not cut out to handle both well. enough. He was a good coach at Carolina. Don't look at just the number of winning seasons. Two of those seasons were startup seasons with the first quarterback, the number one pick taken overall. And they went from six and ten to seven and nine with two losing seasons before they started to win and win divisions and get to the playoffs consistently there over a five-year period. And then injuries to that best player on his team or one of the best players on his team really kind of curtailed the end or

derailed, excuse me, the end of the Rivera era in Carolina. But here, he was not a good coach. He just wasn't. And I think part of it was he became more of a CEO coach and a delegator because he had so much on his plate. So we got that news to start the day. And then shortly thereafter, the news broke that Washington had hired Bob Myers and longtime NFL front office executive, Rick Spielman. to be a part of Josh Harris's search committee to identify, interview, and then hire a head of football operations and a head football coach. When I heard Bob Myers' name, I'm immediately impressed. Bob Myers is a legendary front office executive in the NBA with nobody ever saying anything other than he's brilliant.

It was also assigned to a certain degree that Josh Harris was thinking a little bit outside the box, you know, hiring a basketball executive. And I liked it. I mean, I don't know specifically what his role will be. Harris explains it, and I'll play some of that sound for you coming up. but whether it is as, you know, a chief advisor on kind of the kind of people, the kind of culture and how to build a culture, you know, the way he did it at Golden State or whether it's actual football decisions, who knows?

Time will tell. I'll ask David Aldridge about some of that. But having a Bob Myers in your organization as you try to hire really solid people to run your organization, it can't hurt. Secondly, Rick Spielman's hiring. Now, I was a little bit less impressed based on name. I'm very familiar with Rick Spielman. Rick Spielman was the general manager of the Minnesota Vikings

for a near 10-year period. He was the man responsible for signing, you know who, Kirk Cousins, to that massive, fully guaranteed deal back in 20. 18. Spielman was a big Kirk guy. By the way, Kirk is a free agent. Understood. I don't know that Rick Spielman's got ideas on bringing Kirk Cousins back to D.C. because that's not his responsibility. His responsibility right now appears to be advising from a football standpoint on who to interview and then being a part of those interviews. But Spielman had a long time success. I mean, he's been in the league going back to his scout days for 34 years. So Spielman was the vice president of personnel for the dolphins, the GM for the dolphins, and then got to Minnesota in 2006 and was finally let go after the 2021 season, and they brought in a new general manager who hired Kevin O'Connell as the coach.

Spielman was responsible for hiring Mike Zimmer back in. in 2014, who was the coach for the Vikings for several years. They got as far as the NFC championship game with Case Keenham at quarterback before they lost to the Eagles. And that NFC title game, the year the Eagles beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. So Bob Myers, Rick Spielman, a one-two punch from an advisory standpoint, search committee expertise to lead Josh Harris through this next. process. We've been wondering for a while. Who's he talking to? He's not going to just sit down with

Mitch Rails and put together a list of the people that they want to interview. How will he know who to interview? Will he use somebody like Kevin Colbert, who was with the Pittsburgh Steelers forever, and Josh was a minority shareholder in the Steelers, and Colbert's been out of that organization for a year or two? Is there somebody that he knows from his Philadelphia ties with the Sixers, or from the Jersey and New York area in football, whether it's the Jets of the Giants organization, who will he use to help him formulate the list of people to interview? What should he be looking for in a general manager and a head coach?

Well, now we know. Bob Myers, Rick Spielman, both hired to be not the team president and general manager, but to help find the general manager slash head of football. operations and a head coach. Big time hires, no doubt. He's not going to sit there with Vinny Serato at dinner at Morton's and say, here are the big names available. Let's see if we can get the jet out to pick, you know, Jim Fossil up and bring him into town and see if he wants to be our coach. This is somebody who is going to rely on people who know how it works and who to bring in and what to look for in football.

So I overall am, I'm impressed. Now, part of me thinks, man, they're going to have a lot of cooks in the kitchen trying to make decisions. Will they be able to pull it off? Because this search committee that will be looking for the head of football operations and the head coach includes Josh Harris himself. He has the ultimate responsibility of making the choice. It involves Mitchell Rails.

It involves Blitzer, you know, his partner with the Sixers and the Devils. It involves Magic Johnson. And now it involves Bob Myers and also Rick Spielman. So then after that news broke, there were lots of reports. I'm going to go down the list of the reports right now. So on the GM side, Ian Cunningham, Washington has requested an interview with Ian Cunningham, the assistant GM to Ryan Poles in Chicago, the Bears organization. Washington's also requested an interview according to reports with Glenn Cook, the assistant GM in Cleveland.

Alec Hallaby, Assistant GM in Philadelphia. Mike Borgonzi, Assistant GM in Kansas City, and Adam Peters, the Assistant General Manager. in San Francisco. I will just mention here that Bob Myers and Adam Peters go way back, according to Mike Garofalo, who wrote, same high school, both are UCLA alums. They've had a relationship for quite some time. Peters is definitely Mike Garofalo reports.

Mike Garofalo, of course, with the NFL network, reports that Peters is definitely a strong. strong candidate for the commander's job. So we will see. He is among the most sought-after GM names, and he turned down interviews a year ago with the Cardinals and the Titans to stay in San Francisco and work for John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan.

Bob Myers, by the way, was a UCLA basketball player, a walk-on at UCLA. He was on that Tyos Edney National Championship team in 1995. There's a picture of him holding Tyos Edney up when Edney went coast to coast with four and a half seconds to go to beat Missouri and stay alive in the second round of that tournament. One of the more incredible endings, although there are so many of them, but a memorable ending in NCAA tournament history. So those were the GM names that were reportedly asked for interviews by Washington.

What about head coaches? Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, the defensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, the O.C., Aaron Glenn, the D.C. for the playoff-bound Detroit Lions. Both of them have been asked for interviews by, Washington. Rahim Morris, the D.C., the defensive coordinator for Sean McVeigh with the Rams. They're headed to the playoffs as well. Also has been requested to be interviewed for the job. Anthony Weaver is an assistant head coach and the D-Line coach in Baltimore.

And then Jordan Schultz had a report that Washington was reaching out to Jim Harbaugh's agent, Don Yee, to request an interview with Jim Harbaugh, who was coaching, of course, in the national championship game tonight. On the GM side, I'm not going to fake it, man. There may be some people out there that will tell you that they have a strong hunch or a strong feeling about any of these GM candidates. If they're not hiring somebody that's been a GM before with a track record, you know, I can read about these guys just like the next guy,

but we don't know until they actually take over as, a general manager and get that opportunity. I mean, it's fit. It's personality. It's the owner and the general manager, you know, is that the right fit. Many people are great working for somebody, but not great when they have to manage people, when they're in charge. I think you just have to do what I'll do, which is read from a lot of people in the markets in which these names of potential GM candidates exist and even, you know, hopefully get a chance to talk to people who have worked with these people before. I think it's, you know, right now, just one of those things where you'll trust that Josh Harris, Bob Myers, and Rick Spielman, you know, are going to hire somebody that's

capable of doing the job the way they want that person to do it. If you've noticed, the reports on the GM front have all been people who have not been general managers before. That's what we've heard so far. As far as coaches, again, this is something where I think a lot of us will have more of an opinion because we know Jim Harbaugh. We know Rahim Morris. Remember, Rahim Morris was here with Mike Shanahan staff in 2013. You know, if he becomes a head coach and a successful one, He'll be another one that was part of the Shanahan tree in Washington. Ben Johnson is the hottest offensive coordinator head coaching name. We've known that all season long.

He was hot last year and turned down offers to stay with Detroit. As far as Harbaugh goes, I think he's leaving college and heading to the NFL after tonight's national championship game, win or lose against Washington. Is it possible his path crossed with Bob Myers when they were both in the Bay Area at the same time? Myers is the GM at Golden State and Harbaugh coaching the 49ers. By the way, Adam Peters did not join the 49ers organization until after Harbaugh had gone to Michigan. Peters was in Denver with the Broncos before joining the 49ers when Harbaugh left or after he had left. I don't really think that Harbaugh is going to end up in Washington personally.

Just like I don't think Bill Belichick is going to end up in Washington. I think there's a better chance of Harbaugh ending up here than Belichick ending up here. I know there was a conversation this weekend our guy Mike Florio talking about Bill Belichick to Washington and that Josh Harris is enamored with Bill Belichick. I mean, who isn't enamored with Bill Belichick to a certain degree? But I'm not buying that. there was other reporting. Ian Rappaport said that there is not interest in Bill and Bill Belichick from Washington. I think some of the general manager names that you're hearing and some of the coach names that you're hearing,

I think Washington could look for a proven coach. I just don't think it's going to be Belichick, in my personal opinion. And I would bet against Harbaugh, too. The Harbaugh thing, though, would be interesting. I mean, he wins and wins big. everywhere he goes. I know that he did not win the Super Bowl and he is not yet won a national championship in college that may be coming in a few hours. But his overall college coaching record, 88 and 25. His overall NFL coaching record in San Francisco after four seasons, 4419 and 1. He just wins wherever he goes. But lots of requests for interviews and those will continue. I was struck by the fact that Washington seemed to be leaking all of their request for interviews.

I'm not sure why that was. I talked about it when I was on radio kind of in the moment. I said, you know, not, and I was not being critical. It was an observation that all of the news. news for a period of about two or three hours this morning was Washington has requested to interview with such and such. And, you know, Arthur Smith got fired in Atlanta. The Carolina job's been open, the Vegas job, et cetera. And I just made that observation. Again, not being critical of it, I was just curious as to why this all, you know, was all getting

leaked to Adam Schaefter and Pellisarro and, you know, Ian Rappaport and other teams weren't necessarily leaking as much. And Diana Rusini, our good friend, actually somebody had sent this to me after I mentioned that, sent me a tweet. She said, Washington's making a big statement. They want fans to see that they are casting a very wide net. On the contrary, just now, I texted with another team looking for a head coach, and they told me they won't be leaking their names until the interviews are complete. So there you go. Just different ways of doing it. And yeah, Washington is casting a very wide net and they're doing it with a big committee, you know, and there are other organizations that may have one or two people involved in making the decision with just a few targets as well. That's

possible too. So real quickly, I wanted to play a couple of the Josh Harris soundbites from today's press conference because I thought they were interesting. Nikki Javala from the Washington Post asked about the front office structure. We've been wondering, is it going to be GM coach? It certainly looks that way. What's his preference in building a front office structure, an organizational structure on the football side? And specifically, what are you looking for? What is he looking for in candidates?

You'll hear Nikki's question and then his answer. Hi, Josh. Nicky Jeff Bala with Washington Post. How do you envision the general structure for the front office? You mentioned, obviously, the head of football operations, but what is your vision for the structure? And then what are you looking for in candidates to fill that role? Yeah, so we're looking for the best people to build an elite franchise that's going to consistently compete and win championship.

So that's kind of our goal. In terms of the structure, obviously, I start with talent. best talent. And sometimes, you know, you let the talent, you know, to sort of influence the structure. But my orientation, obviously, is that being the head of football operations, being, in essence, in that lead role, that's an 80-hour-a-week job. Being a head coach, that's an 80-hour a week job. I think there are two roles there. And so I think it's harder. I mean, there are certainly individuals that control everything. I think it's increasingly hard. So my orientation is not to do that. But on the other hand, I'm going to let, you know, I'm going to really be

somewhat flexible around talent. So that's kind of how I'm going to think about it. And I hope that answer your question in a bit. What I really liked about that answer from Josh Harris is the flexibility in that answer. I know a lot of you are like, no, general manager, general manager hires the head coach, two different positions, and I'm kind of with you on that. That would be my preference. But you heard him say, talent sometimes dictates structure. You want the talent. You want the right people. If the right people don't fit into your org chart box, change the org chart. So I kind of liked that answer from him. So this was a question. from Barry's Verluga from the Washington Post as well on, you know, whether or not the person that they end up hiring to head up football operations, if you end up with two different positions, which I do think is the bet right now, will it be that person, the GM, that hires the coach? This was his answer. You'll hear Barry's question as well.

Is it your desire to have a head of football operations in place and that person hires the head coach or will you do that in concert with that person? How will that work out? Yeah, so my desire is to have the head of the football operations in place and then to work to listen very hard to what that person wants to do in terms of the coaching staff. In other words, I think those two things have to work together. And obviously, as I've said before, I want to have. get the best talent here and then hold them accountable and work with them, right?

So what that person wants to do or not do is really important in our decision process. It doesn't mean that you are not involved in it, but it means that you're, you know, to a large extent you're relying on that person to bring a series of candidates to the table. And so that would be my ideal scenario. On the other hand, you know, there are, we have to move quickly here, so it's not perfect, but that's my orientation. The orientation he's speaking to from my standpoint is that he's looking for the head of football operations to hire the head coach, but he wants to ensure that they're on the same page

because successful organizations, you know, your person picking the players is on the same page with the person that will be coaching the players. There were two other Josh Harris soundbites that I wanted to play. One on Eric B. Enemy, which I'll say for the end, and one on an update on what he's thinking as far as the name and branding goes. Michael Phillips asked the question from the Washington Times about where he is on name, branding, etc. You've spent a year now with the commanders, the branding, the name. Have you had discussions about where to go from there and what have those been like in terms of the name and the branding?

Yeah, as you can see, we're a little busy. You know, in addition to basically picking a new head of the front office, a new coach, I see Mark in the front there. We're busy at work, working on the next improvements to our stadium. in terms of fan experience, in terms of premium areas, and fixing a lot of different things, and investing in the stadium. We're going to be rolling out a big investment program in the next few weeks, and there's an enormous amount of detail that the business staff

and some of the ownership group are working on. And then we've got, obviously, our new home and thinking about that. And so right now, our focus today is on sports, first and foremost, and then these other things. And so, you know, those are our focuses right now. So very obviously, they are busy right now, very busy trying to hire a head of football operations and a new head coach because the number one priority is winning and getting on the path of trying to win and create sustained winning because that's going to draw people back more than anything else.

Understood. With that acknowledged, I do think that they can walk and chew gum at the same time. And I would bet you that they have been walking and chewing gum at the same time. So now that the season's over, maybe more of an answer to that question rather than a non-answer is appropriate. I'll leave it at that. The last thing on the list of sound bites that I wanted to play for you was a question from Steve Wino from the Associated Press. about Eric Bienami. Here's how that went.

Josh Steve Wander from Associated Press. What did you make of Eric Bienemies season as offensive coordinator and will you be considering him for the head coaching vacancy? Yeah, so I've enjoyed working with Eric and obviously he's had success over the years. And I'd say that, you know, I spoke to Eric today. And, you know, he's hard at work managing our franchise. And I look forward to hearing to hopefully, if I could write the script, having our senior football operations executive in place,

and then approaching the coaching search with Eric and others. So that's the right answer on Eric B. Enemy. He's still under contract. He signed a two-year deal. So let the new head of football operations make the decision on whether or not it makes sense, A, to interview Eric B. Enemy for a head coaching availability. and then B, let the new head coach, if he's hired, determine whether or not it makes sense to retain Eric Bienimi as part of the new coach's staff. Remember, not everybody from the old staff gets fired.

It's hard to hire out a complete staff. A lot of people don't want to leave where they are. A lot of people take other opportunities. So the new head coach isn't going to get every single assistant coach that he wants. And many times, coaches that worked under one staff remain and work under the new staff. Happens all the time, both front office and coaching staffs. I still would bet heavily against Eric Bienemy becoming a head coach here or anywhere else in 2024. As far as, you know, a coordinator position, I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility, but I doubt it would be here.

That would be my guess on Bienmey. Window Nation wants to make it easy for those of you who've been thinking about buying new windows but can't make up your mind. Well, call Windonation at 86690 Nation. Go to WindowNation.com. Mention my name and you'll get access to 50% off all style windows. You're going to pay half price on anything you buy. If you want to finance the purchase, zero percent interest rates for five full years. you don't have to do anything other than call them and say, hey, give me an estimate. The estimate's free.

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All right. Up next, a very quick recap of yesterday's season finale. Who they're playing next year in terms of their opponents have been decided. And a lot more right after these words from a few of our sponsors. 32-yard attempt from Auburn. It's up and it's blocked. Washington scoops it up with room to roll. Jay's Whitaker's got it with a convoy. down the sidelines he goes still in bounds and finally taken out got his hand on it and then Whitaker with a monstrous return

anybody else start to get a little concern there in the second quarter maybe not after that blocked field goal in the touchdown that tied it up a few plays later but how about after the interception of dac prescott and the field goal that gave Washington a 10 to seven lead with seven minutes to go in the second quarter come on admit it. You were starting to wonder, oh, God, is Washington going to go out and win this game and ruin their draft position, which was locked into number two once the Patriots lost, but the Saints beat the Falcons, which ensured that Washington would have an easier strength of schedule. And by losing to the Cowboys, wrap up the number two slot in the April NFL draft. Yeah, I was wondering, you know, they came out, they basically were running trick plays, they were doing everything they could to be competitive, and there they were with a lead. You know, you saw a little bit of concern on Dallas's faces, especially given that their field goal kicker this year, all right, Brandon Aubrey had not missed a field goal all season long.

He was 35 of 35. They block one, and then he misses one as well. Did you catch Mike McCarthy's reaction? He was yucking it up with Dak Prescott. And then when that Brandon Aubrey kick missed hitting the left upright, he turned and said, what happened? What happened? Anyway, no worries.

After taking a 10 to 7 lead with 7 minutes to go in the second quarter, Dallas proceeded to score the next 31 points. And the only 31 points left in the game to win 38. to 10. The game take, which is very brief today, is brought to you by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie.

Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and you'll get a cash bonus on your initial deposit. The National Championship line up to five, five and a half. So a lot of short money coming in here late on Michigan.

I do not have a smell test pick for tonight. I would lean, Michigan minus the points. But I've been burned betting against Washington a couple of times. It's not going to happen tonight. There is some public action on Washington, more public action on Washington than Michigan, but it's not an overwhelming number. There is sharp money starting to come in on the Wolverines.

I like Michigan to win the game tonight. Something like 34 to 20. I just don't think Washington's going to be able to stop them. The key to the game will be whether or not Michigan can slow Washington down with their great defense against Washington's outstanding quarterback, slew of NFL wide receivers, and a really good offensive line. And a quarterback, by the way, that just processes much quicker and faster than Jalen Milro did for Alabama last week. So Michigan minus five at my bookie right now. The total's 56.

I kind of like Michigan laying the points. It is not a smell test pick. The smell test one and two over the NFL. weekend. I had the Titans plus the points, had the Panthers and also the Bears. So those were the two losers. The Titans were the winner. Plenty of smell test picks coming this weekend with the NFL playoffs. I like some of these point spreads already. MyBooky.ag for fair point spreads, fair money lines, fair totals, fair prop bets, and plenty of prop bets on the national championship game. Use my promo code Kevin D.C.

And you'll get a cash bonus on your initial deposit. MyBooky.ag promo code Kevin D.C. So look, my game take is really quick. All right. There are a couple of things I didn't like. There were a couple of things that I liked. This was just a culmination of an absolute beat-down season. One of the worst in my lifetime that I can remember in terms of an on-the-field product.

It started quickly this year with two wins, and after that, Washington went two and 13 and ended the season on an eight game losing skid, where six of those eight losses were by double digits. And really, the only two games that were competitive were games in which they were getting absolutely run out of the building until Jacoby Brissette came into the game. They did the right thing, by the way, by moving Jake Fromm up to backup quarterbacks. So had Sam either gotten injured or had he played really well and the game had gotten close, they had the option to go to Fromm to keep the draft position safe. But it was never in doubt. Washington's defense was horrendous throughout the season, and it was bad again yesterday, even though there were new players out there with names and numbers that we had not seen all year long.

were unrecognizable for most of us. On that blocked field goal, who was it prior who blocked the kick? I may have heard of him. The guy that returned it, I do not know, had no idea that Chase Whitaker was a part of the program. But organizationally, they did a nice job to get a lot of players out there that they could look at and simultaneously sort of decrease the possibility of pulling off a stunning upset.

But they were bad on defense. In so many ways, yesterday didn't look any different than when they, they had all their starters out there on defense. I'll tell you what, Ron Rivera defensively, it's not like it was addition by subtraction after the trading of Chase Young, and it's not like it was addition by subtraction after getting rid of Jack Del Rio. They got worse in some ways defensively, and that was hard to do. All right, quick game take this week for a game that just didn't matter.

I'll start with this. How about Eric B. Enemy pulling every trick left in his playbook out of the bag in the first, half. I actually think for the second straight week, it was like a responsible approach offensively given their limitations. You know, the limitations, however you want to describe them. But part of the description involves the quarterback who was very limited this year as a pure dropback quarterback. You know, the quick game suited him. Having the ability to run the football helped him. And they did both of those things and a lot of those things in the first half and they moved the football a little bit. So I give Eric Bianami some love for a second straight week, especially in the first half. I loved

Kwan Martin all year long on special teams and then really started to, you know, mention him in these game takes when he really became a more prominent feature of their defense. He's a keeper. He really is. I mean, this is a team that the draft got, you know, incredibly scrutinized by a lot of people to me way too early, you know, to be talking about draft class disaster. You got to wait a couple of years on that, as we've talked about many times. But, you know, eventually I thought Juan Martin and K.J. Henry and Chris Rodriguez in particular all played pretty well. I thought Andre Jones showed some ability. It's Forbes. That is the big problem so far in this draft. And we didn't get to see Stromberg because of the injury.

But I thought Kwan Martin stood out before he injured his ankle. He looks like a keeper to me. And then on the list of things that I liked, how about blocking the field goal? How about ending the stretch for the kicker for the Cowboys, Brandon Aubrey, who was 35 and 35? So those are the things that I liked. There wasn't a lot more that I liked in the game. Three turnovers on the list of things you don't like if you wanted them to win the game. Brian Robinson Jr. had a fumble.

Sam had two interceptions. Sam's on the list of things that I didn't think really went very well. I thought he was okay at times with the play calling in the first half, but the first trick play, the Logan Thomas option pitched a hal and the throw to Terry McCorn. It's a touchdown. He under threw it so badly. It should have been picked. He got picked twice. He got hit by DeMarcus Lawrence on one of them. The other one was the deep shot to Terry that he underthrew. The one throw that he had, the third and 12, that he completed. pleaded to Terry. Olson on the broadcast was gushing over. If you look at that ball, it's not well thrown, but it was completed for a big play. But Sam was a C-minus in this game. That's

pretty much where he's been over the last two months, you know, C-minus or worse. They've got to look for a quarterback. I don't think after 17 games, Sam Hal is a guy that you'd spend, you know, more than a half a minute discussing in terms of building around him. No, you're looking for a quarterback. And if you don't love the quarterbacks in the draft, you look at free agency very strongly. If they hated all of them or they couldn't get somebody that they liked in free agency and you had to build around Sam, I just re-signed Jacoby Brissette and look at him as a starter. It's going to be interesting to see how the new group evaluates Sam, but I don't think after 17 games it's a tough evaluation. He is a low-end starter, high-end backup in the NFL. He is Gardner Minchu. He's

Colt McCoy. He's not what I hoped at one point during the season that he could develop into an Andy Dalton type. He is certainly not based on his size and his limitations processing wise in the pocket. He's not an elite quarterback. Look, he could surprise everybody and he could get into a system that does nothing but accentuate his strengths and moves away from any kind of weakness that he has and you try to build an offense around total West Coast quick game, running the football, et cetera. But eventually in this league, to be an elite quarterback, you've got to stand in the pocket on third and nine, third and ten, and make a completion, make a throw. And I don't think he's built for that.

don't. But that will be a big part of the off-season conversation. They got another punt blocked. That's on the list of things that I didn't like. That's the second time in three weeks, right? Three weeks? Because the jet game, they got one blocked.

And defensively, they were an absolute mess. Gave up 440 yards and the Cowboys weren't even trying in the fourth quarter. 31 first downs. Six of ten on third down. How about Dak Prescott? against Washington this year.

31 of 36 yesterday for 279. He could have named his number, four touchdowns and a pick off the deflection. In the Thanksgiving Day game, he used 22 of 32 for 3.31 and four touchdowns. The dude threw for 6, 10, and 8 touchdowns in two games against Washington with like a 79% completion percentage. Ridiculous.

How good is C.D. Lamb, just as an aside, so much better than I ever thought he was. He is elite. And speaking of that, I'll end with Terry McClure, getting that last, you know, quick screen to break the franchise record for 1,000-yard seasons in consecutive years four. I'm okay with that. I wasn't, you know, sitting there like many were, and that was demanding that they get the ball to Terry McClure.

He's a great dude, and he's a good receiver. And I'm glad he got it. But I don't know, for me, it's about winning. It's about playing and meaning. games and it's just, you know, it's the mark of kind of a loser where at the end of a four and 13 season, so many just want Terry McClure to set a franchise record for thousand-yard seasons. I mean, Terry McCorn is a good receiver. He's a number one receiver. He's so far down the list now that we've seen this season added to the others when you start

putting together a list of the best receivers in the game. I mean, Terry McClorn finished 28th in yards this year with 1,000-2. 28th. All right. In receptions, his 79 receptions, he finished 24th. Okay, this is not an elite receiver. A number one receiver, a top half of the league number one, yes. CD Lamb, no. All right, in his own conference. Amon Amon Ross St. Brown? No. A.J. Brown, no. Cooper Cup went healthy? No. Yeah. I mean, he's in that, you know, after you get through the elite guys in the AFC, which there are more of, he's in category three. Elite, next level, and then category three that encompasses Terry and DJ Moore and

Devante Smith and Chris Godwin. I mean, shit, Chris Salave may turn out to be the guy that Washington should have taken at number 11, although I would have taken Kyle Hamilton at 11. But I didn't have an issue with the tradeback in the selection of John Dodson. I didn't. But congratulations to Terry McLaurin. He got his fourth straight thousand-yard season. He's a hell of a guy, and he's a really good receiver.

You know what they need to look for? for their young quarterback that they draft, in the draft, another receiver, somebody who they think can develop into a big-time threat, a big-time scare-the-defense threat. I thought that could be Jahan Dotson, but after this season, who knows? All right, one more thing before we get to David Aldridge. The schedule of opponents for next year set. Washington knows who they will play in 2024.

Where and when that will be determined in May, when the actual schedule comes out, and I'll have a preview of that, of course, with the Mock's schedule in early May. But Washington's 17 games will include nine at home, eight on the road. Next year, the NFC gets the ninth game at home. They'll play eight on the road in the 17 games schedule.

They'll, of course, play their NFC East Brethren, the Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants, both home and away. And then their other home games will be Atlanta, Carolina, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Tennessee. Road games after Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants include at New Orleans, at Tampa Bay, at Arizona, at Cincinnati, and at Baltimore. So you might have the defending Super Bowl champions on the road next year. Who knows?

Maybe that's the opening game of 2024. The defending Super Bowl champion Ravens at home against Washington. outful that they would pick that game. But you never know. The NFL can pick any game for that season opener and it gets a massive rating. So again, Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, Falcons, Panthers, Bears, Browns, Steelers, Titans at home. Cowboys Eagles, Giants, Bucks, Cards, Bengals, Ravens on the road. It is a last place schedule and really the only difference between a last place schedule in the third or second or first place schedule in their division is two games. games. And the two games for them are the Cardinals and the Titans, both last place finishers,

in the other division that the NFC East will match up with. All right. Just want you to rate and review this show if you haven't done that. Five stars, if you see fit on Apple is a big help for us. And a quick one to two sentence review is very helpful as well, especially on Apple and Spotify. Follow us if you can. Subscribe to the podcast. Appreciate all. of that. All right, David Aldridge, when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Joining us right now, David Aldridge at David Aldridge, D.C. on Twitter. Of course, David writes for the athletic, heads up the DC office for the athletic. Subscribe to you the athletic, as I've mentioned so many times. I am a subscriber, and it is so worth it to be able to read David,

to be able to read Ben, all of the writers here locally that cover the local teams. It's completely worth the buck or two a month that it costs. David, I thought of you right when the news broke about Bob Myers being a part of the organization because obviously all of your years covering the NBA and knowing that you probably know Bob Myers. So let me start there. How surprised were you when you heard the news this morning that the longtime Golden State team president and general manager was going to be a part of the

Washington commanders. Well, I mean, once I got my car out of the ditch that it drove in when I heard the news, everything's gone swimmingly ever since. But no, I mean, that was a seismic shock. I mean, it just

wasn't something that you would think was remotely possible even though Josh and Bob obviously know each other from the NBA, but, you know, You just wouldn't think if Josh Myers is looking for help to hire to make the biggest hire of his life as owner of this football theme that he would go to Bob Myers. Regardless of Bob's talents, which is substantial, it's just not where you think he would go. But it just goes to show you he's willing to kind of do unconventional things and do them in unconventional ways if he thinks that person can help him.

And I strongly believe this, Kevin. I mean, this is not like a PR thing. You know, if you know Josh Harris at all, you know he is serious about his sports teams. And he doesn't do things for show or to win a press conference or anything like that. He thinks Bob Myers can help him pick a good football executive. And he's betting on Bob's ability to kind of read people, understand who the kind of not just talented people but good person is out there that can help this team, this franchise get better.

And I think it's important that going forward, the room of people that are making the football decisions have to not only be intelligent and capable, they have to get along with each other. And Bob is among the best I've ever seen at getting along with other people. He is amazing at it. Explain that, because you talked about the person, the people, part of these hires. And it sounded like when he said, you know, he's not an exes-a-nose guy. That's more Speilman. It sounds to me like you think Bob Myers is the guy that's going to say, yeah, this is

somebody that would work within the culture that you're trying to create. Well, you know, the analogy is simple. If you've been around the Warriors at all during their dynasty, the amount of talent and ego is no different than the amount of talent and ego on any other dynasty I've been around, you know, whether it's the Bulls and Michael Jordan or whether Spurs and Tim Duncan or the Patriots and Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, if you're that good, everybody thinks they're the reason why. Everybody involved thinks they're the guy.

that makes that that's what that makes that dynasty work. And so you have on the Warriors, you had Joe Lake up, who has no shrinking violence. Believe me, Joe is a very opinionated, very strong-willed guy who thinks he's very smart. He's the one that came up with who told the New York Times, we are light years ahead of everybody else when it comes to basketball decisions. You know, he is not someone who is going to be shy about expressing his opinion. Steve Kerr, while a very nice person, certainly has very strong views about how the game should be played,

and it has a very, very big temper when he gets angry. He has a hair-trigger temper. And Steve, as Tony would call Steve Sneaky-Tall. You know, he's going to think. So when he gets mad, he's mad, you know. Raymond Green, I don't need to say any more than Traymond Green. Steph's got an ego. Like, it's not like, you know, other people's got an ego.

Believe me, he's got one. Yeah. And, you know, Andre Agadala and Clay Thompson, all these people need nurturing, and they need people to listen to them when they rant. I mean, it's a big, it's a big, loud group of personalities. and if you ask each one of them individually, what do you think of Bob Myers? They would all say the same thing.

Oh, I love the guy. He's great. They all think Bob's their best friend. You know what I mean? Like Bob has his incredible ability to make everybody feel like he's their best friend. You know, and so to make that work, as long as he made it work in Golden State,

I think should tell people all they need to know about how he reads the room and how he gets people to relax and understand that he doesn't. He's not looking for, to take anything for them from them. He's an empathetic guy, and I think that really shows. Like, he really does want to know what you're thinking. You know, I wrote some stuff. I had to write some tough stuff about the Nets and Kyrie Irving over the last year,

too, on some really tough subjects like anti-Semitism and things like that, that were really tough. And, you know, Bob was one of the few people in the league that reached out unsolicited and just said, hey, that's, really. I appreciate you right now. You know, and that, you know, he's just a very empathetic guy. Are you surprised that he's going to do this? Very, just because I didn't think this was something he was interested in. You know, if you had told me Bob Myers is going to go run for Congress or run for the Senate, I would have

going, yeah, of course, like, yeah, I mean, he thinks the world has problems and he would like to help solve him, or he's going to run the Special Olympics, you know, but to say he is, going to help a football team get better. I didn't have that on my bingo card, no. So specifically, how do you think Josh Harris will use Bob Myers? I mean, the discussion about what a great people person he is and how he makes everybody feel like they're special and that, you know, he's their best friend and being able to bring, you know, people together. Specifically, how do you think that manifests itself in this organization? He will be Tom Hagan. And if you know the godfather, you know Tom Hagan.

Of course, yeah. He's going to be Tom Hagan. He's going to be the person that fixes problems. He's going to be the person that speaks. That's Josh Harris's voice to various constituencies. And he's going to be the person that's going to try to find common ground and solve things that seem intractable. Now, is he going to do that for everything?

Because there's a lot of things that seem intractable right now with the commanders. Probably not going to do everything. but I'm sure is too strong. I think he will be dispatched to help Josh Harris figure out how to fix some thorny things that need fixing in this organization going forward on and off the field. So the thorny issues and decisions being things like the name and the stadium along with some of the, you know, football decisions as well? I doubt it'll be football related. I don't, you know, Bob doesn't, Bob's a football fan, but I don't think he would ever say he knows how to, you know,

whether the commander should be in zone or man more. I mean, that's not his thing. Right. That's not going to be, he's not going to offer opinions on that, but I certainly feel like he's going to be, again, where people intersect with one another, I think he is going to be, at least for a while. It may not be forever, but at least for a while, he will be present to try and figure out,

how do we get this thing resolved? You know, like, and again, I've been told nobody said anything to me about me reporting or sources or any of that nonsense. I just get the sense that if you think about a thing like the stadium, for example, you're talking about a lot of different constituencies, all of which are self-serving, all of which you're looking for to make a deal for themselves that makes their jurisdiction money and gives them prominence. Somebody's got to fix that. Somebody's got to solve that thing. You know, like, how do you solve it? And I could see Josh Harris utilizing Bob in that way. How do you fix this between Washington,

in Maryland and Virginia to get a stadium that makes sense for me. I could see him saying, not that he's going to make the deal. I'm not saying that. But he's going to be a person that can talk to other people to say, okay, you want X, this person wants Y, how do we get to Z? So we can all go have some dinner somewhere and drink some wine because that's what I want to do. And I think Bob will be really good at that. I think he could be really good at that.

Do you think this is a consulting gig, or do you think this is like he's an advisor to Josh Harris moving forward for, you know, however long Josh wants him around? I don't see consulting. I don't think Bob doesn't strike me as a consulting guy. Yeah, I meant more with respect to like length of time. Do you think he's here for a period of time or do you think he's just here? I don't think it's just, I'll put it this way, it's not just for the football operation search. but it's not forever. I don't think it's forever.

I don't think he's going to be an employee of the commanders. Right. I think he's going to be somebody that Josh leans on, again, in different ways at different points where there is a need to kind of get people aligned. Bob is really good at aligning people. And again, I look at the Warriors again, like they were. I mean, it's not that they were fighting all the time. I'm not saying that, but I'm just saying that if you think this was all, you know,

rainbows and puppy dogs and we just love shooting threes and everything's great, you haven't been around that team. Yeah. There's a lot. There's a lot of mouths to feed everybody is unhappy about something at one point or another, you know. And especially when you win and you win at the level that they won at, it's difficult to kind of get everybody, because, you know, like Riley always talk about the disease of more, more money, more shots, more everything, everybody wants more. You know, and somebody has to say no, and somebody has to say, yes, but not that, you know, X minus, not X plus.

And, and again, Bob was really good at that. He's really good at keeping the owner from going crazy. You know, Joe's a court side guy, Joe sits court side, very animated. he's got a, you know, he's just really good with people. I keep coming back to that, because I continue to believe that that's what he's, he's exceptionally good at dealing with people where they are. No matter who they are, no matter where they are, he sees their value in them. And when you're talking about whether it's billionaires or football players or politicians, they all think they're God's gift, right?

You have to kind of meet him there. He was the one that made the decision to move on from Mark Jackson and go to Steve Kerr, right? Well, I mean, he wasn't the only one. I mean, Joe Lake up had had enough of Mark Jackson for a lot of reasons, which your fans do not want to listen to. But he was certainly one of the people that said, hey, Steve Kerr is a guy you really want to talk to. Like, you really need to talk to Steve Kerr. Because they were going to go down, they were going to go a much different path than Steve Kerr. I'll just put it that way.

and they decided, and they did a 180 basically. And I'm saying it's all because of Bob, but I'm saying Bob was a person that said, look, before you pull the trigger on this decision, you should talk to Steve. Grinna and Kerr and Lake of New York, they play golf together, but not close. They weren't close by any stretch, you know.

And once he got in the room, it kind of changed the whole tenor of their thought process about the hire. I mean, that was the, I mean, that was Steve, Kerr and Marv Albert are doing playoff games on TNT. you're on the sideline. I was on that crew. Yes.

And Steve was agonizing about it. You know, it was a tough decision. Because he had a really good life. Oh, he was so good, too. He was excellent. He was great at it.

Yeah, he's terrific at it. You know, and so he could have done that. And the second Steve decides to stop coaching, he'll go right back into the booth and do it again for 20 more years.

You know, if he wants to. But yeah, no, I mean, he didn't, that was not an easy decision for him. Right. And the Warriors were better under,

you know, they had Mark Jackson, and Mark had made them better. They made the playoffs for the first time and forever, but they clearly weren't a championship contender, and they became one, and won championships for Kerr. My God, how long was Don Nelson there before Mark Jackson came? Oh, I mean, he had been there, I don't know, eight or nine years,

because remember Don was with Dallas for a while, and then they... Oh, right, right, right, right, of course, of course. I'm actually thinking more about the run he had with them, way back. Yeah, the strength of numbers team. Yeah, exactly. The Mullen, yeah. Yeah, the we believe teams and all that.

And then going back to run TMC, yeah. Yeah, he had a, Don had a couple of sense to go. All right. So what about the Spielman hire? What do you make of that? Again, I think, if you have a football question about one of these guys, I would call Rick Spielman, right? Like, that is a rock-solid choice.

a guy who's been in football, his whole adult life, had a very successful run. I think we would all say in Minnesota, you know, helping that thing get back to where it needed to be or where they wanted it to be, where they were contending, at least, you know, being a playoff team and trying to get there,

and they didn't quite get there, but who does in the NFL? I mean, very few teams break through. So, but, you know, he was better when he left and when he got there. I don't think we would all agree. And so I think it's a great hire. I think that is more limited to the search for a football guy.

And as it should be, I mean, Rick is really good at that. And I think he will be very, I think his voice will be very strong because out of that group, that's going to make the decision. He's really the only football guy. Like, you know, it's Josh and Mitch Rails and Magic Johnson and Bob and none of those guys are football people. He knew a football person in there and Rick's the guy. Rick would be the guy for that. Do you have a hunch on what comes next, on who they all end up?

I mean, the reports all morning long about who they've asked to interview, et cetera. Do you have a hunch? Are you hearing anything? Just, you know, something's going to happen quickly, I would expect, on the GM front. I think they're going to move very fast in the GM front, very fast, because they understand the competition. There's different levels to that, right? I mean, as we speak, obviously, we don't know what's going to happen with Belichick, but everybody seems to think that this is the end and he's moving on.

So you don't want to fight with the Patriots for a GM. Like, I mean, if I'm Josh Harris, I don't want that fight. You know, because no matter how bad they are now, that ownership group is Sterling, you know, with the crafts. I mean, they are highly regarded, as you know, around the league, and the son even more than the father. And as bad as they've been, they got tradition and history, and if you've ever been up, we were up there this year for the game.

I was stunned. I hadn't been up there since they made the whole Patriot place thing. It's like a city up there. You know, it's like a whole city up there. So you're competing against the best of the best. You don't want that fight. So I think they're going to move very quickly to get the guy that they think is the best person.

And then they will work on the coach together. I suspect it will be collaborative rather than the football guy makes the pick. I think he will have inputs, but you will not maybe make the final call. Do you have a hunch on GM coach? I would suggest everybody read Ben Standix excellent articles in the athletic over the last few days that detail some of the top candidates. I think that out of that group you will find probably the person that's going to run this thing. and then the coaching thing may take a little longer just because there may be some guys that

they can't talk to while they're in the playoffs or however that way. I know the rules been changed, but there's still some reticence, I think, with some candidates to talk while their season is still ongoing. But I think they will get the football boss in position very quickly, followed by the head coach. Nothing. I think. I will know that, I think. Yeah, well, and not to mention, I don't think you can interview. coaches in person until January 22nd.

So there's that too. Right, right, right. Today was mostly about football and about Myers and Spielman in particular. Nothing was asked of Josh Harris about the other side of the building, the business side, Jason Wright, et cetera. Do you expect changes there? I mean, Kevin, I'm not going to pretend like I know what Josh is going to do. I get the sense that that is a lower priority.

I'm not saying it's not a priority at all, Sam, but I haven't heard or gotten the sense that it was imminent, that he wanted to move on that side of the building. Like you, like you, everybody heard, obviously. I'm not the only one that heard. He was going to do something on the football side. So I suspect that that there's a chance that, you know, Jason Wright and his group may,

may make it, may be able to kind of move to the next, next phase of this thing. I don't know that, but I don't get, I haven't heard or gotten a sense that that's something that that's a nail that Josh Harris really wants to hit with a hammer. You know, like, I think he understands the job that they have and the problems that they've had, you know, switching ticket brokers and all that sort of thing and the impact that that had on the ticket sales this year. I think he understands that and the distribution of tickets and all that stuff. I want to do like the makeup of the audience yesterday at FedEx, but I think he gets the understand that that's a longer-term deal.

That's not something that's going to be solved by no matter whether you hire somebody to replace Jason Wright or you don't. That's not going to get fixed overnight. That's a year's thing. That's going to require a new stadium. frankly, I think, and some other things and different things that are out of the control of any one executive. So I think that's a lower priority, but I'm not saying it's no priority. You're from here like I am, born and raised, were among the very few.

Did today feel like the beginning of something new to you? And I haven't asked you over the years, if you, like I have, kind of lost, some of that passion for the team, which I definitely did in recent years, you know, after 24 years of Snyder. So where were you before, you know, the last several months? And where are you today? I don't think anybody, like, you know, there's different levels, right? I mean, I can't be the person I was when I was 15.

Well, of course. I heard my life. Right. Like, you know, like, you cover them. I can't have that kind of fashion. anymore. It's better for business if they're good. I mean, it's not a secret. Like, I mean, it's, you know, it's tough getting people. How would we know? How would we know? No, we all assume that it would be, yes. Right. Parochially, I would like them to be better.

But, yeah, I mean, look, you could tell. It was just, it was just disappointing to me. It was, it was upsetting to me, to your point, as someone who grew up here and knows what this is. city is like when this team is good and is in contending knows that the positive impact it has in terms of really bringing people together. And I don't mean that in the cliche. I mean, literally bringing people together and making them feel good about something in the city because this is a city to get beat up a lot for a lot of different reasons, some of which is our fault, but a lot of which is not our fault.

You know, and so I know, we all know what it was like. Gibbs one. You know, we all remember. Those of us are old enough to remember, remember what it was like. When I always remember, you know, I always tell people, you know, the symphony orchestra,

the Kennedy Center used to have a Christmas show every year. And they would go through all the Christmas songs and everything and everything. And they play Hilda of the end. It was phenomenal, and everybody went nuts. And just loved it. Everybody was wonderful, you know.

And so, And that was what the city was like. It hasn't been like that for a long time. And most of that is because of Dan Snyder. He just sucked all of the life out of this franchise just by being a complete, as my friend Liz Clark would say, Null said as a human being. Just awful in every way and just made it impossible. Even when the team did well, you were like, yeah, but Snyder's going to get the credit,

so I'm not sure I feel about this. You know, so, again, long way to answer your question, but certainly, this is now Josh Harris' team in every sense of the work going forward. And I don't blame Ron Rivera for taking the job. I'm just saying, but Snyder did hire him, you know, so people still thought of him as Snyder hire. And so now Josh Harris has a very clean slate to totally remake this team in any way he sees fit from the, top down on the football side. You know, everything has aligned perfectly for him in terms of it was bad on the field. But I do believe that I believe there's a material difference when you're talking to maybe the top people that you want to hire for the GM job or maybe even for the coaching job.

Probably especially for the coaching job to say, yeah, we're going to have a, you know, we're going to have a pretty high pick in the first round. And we're going to have the number two pick in the first round. I think that's a material difference that might get the attention of some people that otherwise may not want the gig. But if I'm a coach and I get a chance to take a franchise quarterback at two, I think that makes a way different than I get to pick an offensive tackle at six. Yeah, I agree. Well, that's the perfect segue. And you may have just answered it into my last question, which was,

So they're on the clock number two, April, whatever, 2024. What would you like them to do? Well, I've written it and I've said it. Look, again, three weeks ago when I thought they were picking five or six, I said you've got to take a tackle. You've got to take two really good tackles in this draft, right? But at two, you have to take a quarterback. I understand that.

I mean, you have to take a quarterback. You have to. I get it. Like, you would be dereliction not to take a quarter. back, especially if there's more than two that are really good, and it seems that everybody believes there's at least three, and maybe there's four or five, if you count, if you count Knicks and Pennicks that are, that are worth considering. So I like Caleb Williams a lot.

I don't think that you need to make the, I don't think you need to trade up, though. You know what I mean? Like, I think you can, you're going to get a great prospect of two without having to sacrifice any additional capital. I don't think Caleb Williams is so great that you have to trade three first round picks to get them. You know what I mean? I just don't think that's the case.

They have to stay at two and he's gone. All right, take May or Daniels, whichever one you think moves the needle. I mean, I can live with that. I can live with either of those guys at two or three. I mean, I think Daniels has some unique skills because of the way the game's played now that make him intriguing. But if you just think, hey, Drake May's got incredible armed talent, and he's 6'5, and, you know, he's really smart and he processes really well. All right, take him.

I'm agnostic about this. So whichever one of those three you think is the guy, take the guy, and don't think twice about it. All right. Hope you're well. Thanks for doing this. Thank you, Kevin. No, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

I always like talking to you. David Aldridge, everybody, on this very busy day for Washington football fans. we knew it would be, and there will be more to come in the weeks ahead. Enjoy the national championship game tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with Tommy.