The Kevin Sheehan Show - The Rivera Reveal

Episode Date: April 8, 2020

Kevin by himself today recaps Ron Rivera's 30-minute press conference yesterday. He also came up with a "Redskin 2010s All-Decade Team". A few thoughts on Maryland's Jaylen Smith entering the NBA Draft too. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right. It's just me today. Aaron's at home. He's going to edit this thing and get it out there for everybody. But it's just me today. Tommy will be with me tomorrow and then maybe Cooley on Friday. Really the primary part of the podcast today is going to be going through Ron Rivera's press conference yesterday. There was a lot to it. He spoke for 30 minutes. A lot of his answers were lengthy, you know, nearly Bill Callahan length. But there was also a very telling short answer.

So we're going to get to all of that here momentarily, and we'll take you through all of it. Real quickly, there were a couple of pieces of news yesterday in sports. You know, locally, Maryland lost Jalen Stick Smith. He's going to the NBA. That's not a surprise at all. I think we all, as Maryland fans, expected Jalen Stick Smith to go early after sophomore year, which was a spectacular year. Sticks average 15 and a half points a game, 10 and a half rebounds.

He was an elite shot blocker at the college level. And he was a huge part of what Maryland did this year in winning the Big Ten regular season title. He ranked first in the conference, third nationally, with 20. one double doubles. He's 610, 611, long-armed, an excellent rebounder, as mentioned, a great shot blocker defensively. And what we really learned this year about sticks is he can stretch the floor offensively and shoot it from behind the arc. He was probably their most impactful three-point shooter this year, and that was a team with Anthony Cowan and Aaron Wiggins on it. So I think he is going to be a good NBA player. You know, I had Mike Schmid,

from ESPN on the show, on the radio show this morning. Mike is excellent as an NBA draft analyst. And I asked him about Sticks, and he said he thinks Sticks is a first-round pick. Because I've seen them mocked, you know, anywhere from mid-first, you know, close to the lottery, all the way to mid-second. You know, you got to be careful at this time, you know, with a lot of the mock drafts. This year's going to be different because there was no tournament and there are going to be no NBA draft camps.

you know, where players can really make, you know, make an impression, especially athletically. And so it's going to be a lot more of the scouting by watching the tape, you know, watching games. And sticks delivered, man, he was, he really, you know, for all of you turgeon bashers who say he never develops players, which is bullshit. Bruno Fernando got better here recently, and sticks got a lot better between freshmen. and sophomore years. He really delivered this year, and it's just a shame we didn't get to see Maryland in their 24 and 7 regular season and their Big Ten Co championship season. Get a chance to see them in the postseason with a guy like Stick Smith, and obviously Anthony Cowan as well. I mean, two exceptional players. You know, the best one-two tandem for Maryland, you know, in a long time.

And they had more. You know, they had more. But it was, you know, you had, you know, in recent years, you know, you had teams that had talent. Clearly that team with Diamond Stone and Jake Lehman and Rashid Suleiman and that team was a talented team, you know, with Mellow Trimble in the back court and Carter Jr. at Power Forward. But this was a really good basketball team led by two. two exceptional high-caliber college players, one of whom in Jalen Stick-Smith, I think will be a good NBA player, a really good NBA player.

By the way, he played big and big games, too. Let's not forget that even if you go back to his freshman year, Maryland was struggling a little bit early in this season. They had lost to Virginia. They had lost a Purdue at home. They had lost a Seton Hall at home. And they had a huge game sort of opening up the post-Christmas break, Big Ten schedule with Nebraska at home. And Nebraska was ranked at the time.

And Sticks had a game-winning shot, a little floater at the end of regulation that gave Marilyn a huge win over Nebraska. This year he had the big pick and roll against Indiana finish. It was a really good player. If you go back to the game against LSU in the tournament as a freshman late in that game, Maryland needed a three to tie the game, you know, late in that game, and the game that they lost, you know, pretty much at the buzzer when Tremaine Waters hit a shot. But it was Sticks who delivered, you know, on a three-pointer down 67-64, you know, with, I don't know, 20 seconds left, something like that.

And, you know, he wasn't even thought to be a good shooter. I remember early in this season and even late last season saying about both Bruno Fernando and sticks. These guys have great strokes. I mean, coach should turn them loose off that pick and pop because it spaces the floor. And if you're not going to come out and guard him, they can make shots. It's too bad. We didn't get to see him in a second consecutive NCAA tournament with a chance at a big run. He's going to be remembered as a really good Maryland player two years.

You know, if he had made a deep run this year, you know, he would have been thought of, like Anthony Cowan's being thought of, is one of the better player, Maryland players of all time. He didn't get there, really, because he needed a tournament run. But, you know, you go 15 and 10 as an average with two and a half block shots per game. That's one hell of a season for a college basketball player. On a team, you know, that had players that had talent, he wasn't the go-to guy always. You know, anyway, I think he'll be a good NBA stress.

four. I think he'll develop his offensive game, but it was great to watch Jalen Stick Smith, even though it was only for two years. And I'll miss the fact that we didn't get a chance to see him in the tournament. One other quick note before we get to all of the Rivera stuff. So I was reading Mel Kuyper, and Kuiper was answering on ESPN.com questions that were opposed to him via Twitter. I don't even know if Kuyper's on Twitter, but they gave him some Twitter questions and he answered them. And one of the questions was about the Redskins. And the question was, if you were running Washington, meaning the Redskins, what's the minimum trade package you would take from Miami to trade back from number two to number five?

And Kuyper's answer was, I'd want Miami's top two picks number five and number 18, and their top second round pick 39 overall at the very least. He went on to say, that means I'd miss out on Ohio State edge rusher Chase Young, by far the best pass rusher in the class, but I'd get one of either Clemson lineback or Isaiah Simmons or Ohio State cornerback Jeff Okuda with the fifth pick plus two more starters. And remember, the Redskins don't have a second round pick, so this would be a valuable haul. It's not enough. It is not enough. You know, if, If we didn't talk about this the other day, and forgive me, because sometimes the radio show overruns with the podcast,

and I forget where I mentioned what. But the Redskins at number two, if Miami even feels like they need to trade up to number two to ensure that they get the quarterback that they want. I've been reading now recently that Miami might be just as interested in Justin Herbert, and if that's the case, they don't need to move up. Nobody's taking Herbert between one and four. They'll get the guy they want. But if they were to sort of decide that two is the guy and they need to trade up to ensure that nobody else trades up after Cincinnati takes Joe Burrow if that's the way it goes, the draft value chart essentially says a move from five to two is worth one other first round pick. Five to two is worth one first round pick. Five to two is worth one first round. pick in the middle of the first round. In fact, it's equal to, on the draft value chart,

900 points, which would put it at the 18th pick overall in the first round, which Miami actually owns. What Kuyper's saying is he would take 18, but then would also ask for the second rounder. I'd ask for more. Context is everything in a trade like this. You can't use the draft value chart. The dolphins are trying to get up to take what they believe to be is a franchise quarterback, and the Redskins are passing at that point on what should be a franchise pass rusher. So the draft value chart is gone. It means nothing. If I'm the Redskins, the only way I would consider trading back to number five is if I got Miami's number five, number 18 and either number 26, which is also in the first round owned by Miami, or next year's number one.

And then I would also demand their second round pick at 39 overall. So I want three number ones and a number two for Miami's to give up number two overall. And basically, really, I'm looking for two additional firsts, all right, and a second. Because the, two and the five is a swap of first rounders. So I'm getting, for my first rounder, I'm getting three first rounders in a second. For a swap, I'm getting two first rounders in a second. I would think about it for that, but no less than that, no less. Which means that more likely than not, that's not going to be in the cards. But anyway, Ron Rivera said something about the number two pick in the press conference yesterday, which we're going to get to momentarily. But I was actually

surprised that Kuiper didn't, you know, if he's playing the, you know, Redskins GM, that he's not looking for more than that. One other quick thing, too, because I saw this, actually after the radio show, Doug Williams did an interview with John Kime on John Kimes's podcast. And Kime asked him about Darius Geis. I had Kime on the radio show last week, and I know you've heard me say in recent weeks that I think that they may be a bit skeptical about Geis for multiple reasons. One, the injury history, that would be obvious. But two is a bit about the maturity level. There's no doubt that Ron Rivera is in the midst of a culture change, and he wants mature players. Dunbar, he talked about Dunbar. You'll hear what he said about.

Dunbar and why they got rid of Dunbar here momentarily. But I had John on the radio show and I said, do you think it's more than just injury history? Is it maturity? And John said, I think you're on to something. And so I think I've heard some of the same things maybe John has heard about Darius Geis. Not that he's a bad kid at all, right? Not that he's a bad teammate at all. But that there is a bit of a maturity issue.

And, you know, you've seen it with Geis. on social media and various things. Anyway, Doug Williams said this about Darius Geis on Kimes' podcast. Quote, Geis is my little hard-headed guy. You know when you carry your kids out to the mall and you're walking, you've got to put that little stretch band rope on him, you've got to keep reeling him in.

What a great guy, man. He's just a happy-go-lucky kid with passion, and unfortunately the last two years haven't been kind to him. Hopefully, he can get himself together, close, quote. Look, he said some very nice things there at the end, but you sort of get the point, right? If you're listening to Doug say he's a hard, you know, he's a little hardheaded guy, the kind of guy that, you know, like your kids, when you carry out them, carry them out to the mall and you're walking around and you've got to put that little stretch band rope on them. First of all, I don't know if I've ever had a stretch band rope on any of my kids at a mall. I felt like I wanted to do it before. but he says you've got to keep reeling him in.

You know, Ron Rivera is not playing, man. He wants a maturity level. It's the reason that they brought Adrian Peterson back with the option. It's a reason that he brought Thomas Davis in. It's a reason that Dunbar and Nicholson are gone. The Trent Williams thing is a little bit different. We'll get to that. But he's got to change a culture.

He's not reshaping a roster right now. he's reshaping a culture. And this is very important that he gets to know guys and guys that he doesn't have a great feel for. I don't think he's going to waste a lot of time with. I think it's one of the reasons they brought two running backs in. I think it's one of the reasons they would have gone after Kenyon Drake had Drake made it to free agency. Geis was a second round pick. He was a guy that Bruce Allen basically broke his arm patting himself on the back,

forgetting, a guy that they were able to trade back late into the second round and get a guy that should have gone in the first round. You know, we've heard that from the Redskins many times over the years. Well, I mean, there was a reason perhaps Geist dropped to late in the second round. I think the injury piece is a big part of it. Don't get me wrong. It's more likely than not the biggest part. The irony, of course, is that for me anyway, is I think he was awesome when we got a chance to see him last year in particular in the game against Carolina, even early in that game against Green Bay at Lambo. And I was not a massive fan of his. I, coming out of the draft, I liked him. I liked other guys a lot more at the running back position. I really liked

Kerry on Johnson. You know, and I'm talking about after Sequin Barclay, of course. You know, Barclay was the obvious best back in that draft. But after that, you know, you had guys like Sony Michelle and Nick Chubb and Rashad Penny and the guy from SC Ronald Jones and Carri-on-Johnson and Darius Geis. There were a lot of running backs that were thought, you know, late first, second. And Geist was one of those guys that they thought could go in the first. I like Johnson more. The Redskins actually, according to Schefter, were going to take Carri-on-Johnson, and then Detroit took them, and the Redskins decided to trade out of that spot, their spot and trade back, and they got Geis at the end of the second. So, you know, I thought there was a reason that Geis lasted that

long, and part of it was injury. Part of it might be some of what I've been talking about. But, man, he looked great last year. He really looks the part. He's got to be available. And the coach has to like him. And they brought in two new running backs. And they would have, I think, gone after Kenyon Drake in a major way had Drake made it to free agency. But anyway, I saw that comment from Doug Williams on Kimes podcast. And just, wanted to throw it out there. All right, let's get to the Rivera stuff. All right. So Rivera yesterday did a 30-minute conference call via Zoom with local media, the beat, you know, the people on the beat, as they call them. You know, just for those that

don't understand that, there are people like Kine, okay, like J.P. Finley, like Ben Standig, like the post reporters who cover the team, Riannon Walker for the Athletic and others. That's their job. They're on the Redskins beat. They go to the park every day during the season. They interview players. They talk to people. They're there for every press conference. And we used to at the radio station have a Redskins beat reporter. Ironically, taking you behind the curtains a little bit, ironically, when the Redskins got involved, more heavily involved in running the radio station a few years back, they took away the Redskins beat reporter. And we said, why would you do that? We cover the team. We've had somebody on the beat for, you know, 20 something, 20 years. We don't want

the radio station a beat reporter out there anymore. Now, I've mentioned this before, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time. When they really got involved, the Redskins did in the running of the radio station, which was really more recently, like call it 2015, 2016, 2016. that time frame. They did their best to make sure that the radio station did not have much of an advantage and actually was at a disadvantage in covering the team. It was crazy. No one understood it. They were very paranoid about the talk shows and the beat reporters that we had. Anyway, the beat reporters they cover the team. Most radio stations, the other radio station in town has, I think, two beat reporters covering the team. And our radio station doesn't have one on the beat. But we use a lot of

guys like Kime and Standing and J.P. Finley and they're great. And those guys do such a great job that in some ways you don't necessarily need it. But anyway, so Rivera holds this press conference yesterday for the people on the beat. And there was a lot covered. And there was also a lot that people didn't get to, but it wasn't their fault because the answers were super long. I'm going to start with the shortest answer for the entire day. And this answer was about Trent Williams. The question simply put, what is the latest on Trent Williams? Can you give us an update?

And he said this. Well, for the most part, guys, it's one of those things that, you know, we've started a process. And during the process, we've had several conversations, several conversations with a boyfriend and his agent and being respectful in this situation. boys, we're not going to really get into details about that for the most part. We are still trying to do that. And again, we're not quite sure what's going to happen. But in the line, he is a player under contract.

He's a Washington Redskin. And we're going to leave it at that and just see how things unfold. That's the shortest answer he gave during the entire press conference yesterday. And I thought it was a bit telling. First of all, I'm wondering if we learned something when he said, you know, it's one of those situations where we've started the process, and during this process, we've had several conversations with both Trent and his agent. And he said, being respectful in this situation, we're not really going to get into the details about that for the most part. We are still trying

to do that. And I'm wondering if he was saying, we're still trying to make something happen here. Now, obviously, that could be trade. You know, it's not going to be release. You know, the last three sentences or two sentences when he says, he is a player under contract, he is a Washington Redskin and we're going to leave it at that and just see how things unfold. You know, he's not releasing Trent Williams despite Vincent Taylor's request that he get traded or released. I actually believe that the chances of Trent Williams playing for the Redskins have increased here over the last couple of weeks. And it's not a probability, okay? It's still a long shot. You know, it's about a 20% shot. I put it at 5 to 1, maybe 5.5.5.000. Maybe

four to one, all right, that it won't happen, four to one that it will happen. You know, so more likely than not, he's going to get traded. I don't think it'll happen until, you know, during the draft, before the draft, during the draft, or right after the draft. But if I were them and I didn't get what I wanted, I would sit down with him as coolly suggested last week on the podcast and just say, hey, Trent, let's work this out. You know, Bruce is gone. Larry Hess is gone.

You don't want to sit out another year and lose a lot more money. And if you do, you're not going to be very valuable next year. People are going to look at you and say, you didn't play football for two years. We have a need at left tackle. The locker room loves you. The players really like and respect you. And we think once you get to know this coaching staff and we get to know you, we're going to like each other. You know, let's give it a shot.

And if it doesn't work out, then at the end of the year, year, we'll make the commitment to you that we won't franchise you. And we'll take, we'll let you go to free agency and we'll take the third round compensatory pick for you. You know, it wouldn't be a bad way to go. The Redskins have a need. They've got a young quarterback. You know, then they don't have to address left tackle necessarily in this draft. You know, if I'm being offered a third rounder or a fourth rounder for Trent Williams, I'm trying to work it out with him. It'd be one thing. if it were Quentin Dunbar, who's already proven to be very disruptive and mouthy, you know,

on social media and making demands. Trent's agent has been upset, and Trent came in here last year and really went after Bruce Allen. But, you know, Trent, for the most part, I can tell you this, is well-liked, well-respected, and I think in many ways it could work. And if the Redskins make the commitment that, say, Seattle made to Judavian Clowny last year, which was, we won't franchise you. You know, you'll be able to become a free agent after the season next year, an unrestricted free agent. I don't know. I think it could work. Maybe I'm nuts. I think it could work. All right. The next thing from Rivera's press conference that I wanted to play for you was he was asked about trading Quentin Dunbar and releasing Monta Nicholson. Here's what he said.

Well, I think the biggest thing as far as the Quinn Dunbar decision really was, you know, after having met with him and having, you know, conversations just felt that, you know, as the situation progressed, he was looking for something that we weren't prepared to give. And that was a new contract. He was already engaged with second contract. He had a year left on his contract. We didn't know him. And just felt that because of that situation and circumstances and, you know, his agent and his attitude just didn't seem to. changed. We just felt that, you know, we were going to move in another direction. So we decided to move on. We felt good about the fact that we got what was value for, fair value for a called

three-agent player that came out and had played well. You know, he played a limited number of snaps, unfortunately because of injuries he's had the last couple of years. But that's why we felt good about the value we got. He believed he's a quality football player. He didn't want it to be here. But, you know, again, you know, just as I said, not knowing players, not knowing how they fit or they're going to fit into your system. That's kind of a tough thing to restructure somebody's contract and give them a new deal. So we just felt it was time to move on.

Lamonte, you know, in light of the things that he, you know, situations that have come up with him in the past couple years, we felt that a fresh start for him. And for us was probably the best thing to do. So he told you right there what he thinks of Quentin Dunbar. You know, bottom line is he's not given somebody a new contract that. hasn't played enough in recent years, and he doesn't know well enough. And really, in many ways, doesn't know his game well enough and how it necessarily would fit into his scheme. This is Ron Rivera, and this is his new, this is part of his

attempt to create a new culture. It's also practical. You know, you're not going to start handing out contract extensions until you know enough about the player. And if they don't understand that, that's their problem. You know who hasn't gotten a contract. contract extension yet in Seattle, Quentin Dunbar. I'm not saying that he won't get one, he might get one, but Ron Rivera didn't want to give it to him. I still believe that if Quentin Dunbar and his agent had handled it differently and hadn't made demands, you know, and had said, look, just want to let you know, welcome to town, would love to be able to sit down with you, know you're busy, but whenever you have time, we'd love to sit down with you to talk about my future here.

got one year left. I'd like to be a red skin, and maybe the best time to do that is through some sort of contract extension now. And if he had handled it that way, you know, potentially, look, John Bostic got a new deal. I understand that he didn't have a deal, and they had to make a decision on him. But John Bostic, a really good guy, a smart guy, you know, at a need position, middle linebacker potentially, they brought him back. Quentin Dunbar is a better player. Dunbar had handled himself differently, maybe it would have worked out, or maybe worst case, what Ron would have said is, we really like you, we really appreciate you handling this and approaching this in a professional way, give us some time.

Worst case, you know, we're going to start the process of trying to get to learn who you are and what you can do in our system, and, you know, we could do this right before the season started, you know, or, you know, early in the season. but they didn't handle it well. And Ron, you know, as he said, essentially his agent and his attitude just didn't seem to change with respect to what they wanted. And he said, we just felt we were going to move in another direction. So we decided to move on. And he took a little bit of a shot at him too.

You know, he said he played a limited number of snaps, unfortunately, because of the injuries he's had the last couple of years. But that's why we felt good about the value, fifth rounder, that we got for him. About Monta Nicholson, another. We said it when they released him. This is part of the reshaping of the culture. Montaickelson, I think, is a talent, but clearly Ron said it. In light of the situations that came up the last couple of years, we felt a fresh start for him and for us was probably the best thing to do.

All right, this is what he said about the team's overall free agency approach. A couple of things I thought were interesting here. especially as it relates to the culture. Listen to what he says about Thomas Davis, the linebacker that played for him in Carolina, and him bringing Davidson. What we're looking to do was Phil needs. And again, as you look at the things and the guys that we have,

you know, and I can show you just simple examples, you know, bringing in a guy like a Thomas Davis. I felt there was a need for the guys to understand the culture that I want to develop here. Thomas fit that bill. But Thomas also is a very productive player of the last few years. I know him personally.

He's been on my football team when I was in Carolina for eight seasons. I watched him last year in San, and with the Chargers, excuse me, I getting mixed up with Sandia and L.A., but the Chargers, I thought he did an excellent job, still plays at a very high level,

so I thought he'd come in and help add a little veteran leadership on that defensive side. They're a very young group of guys. But more so more important for me personally is a guy that can help share what my ideas. What my belief in is in culture is, and I think that can help get across, get the message across. You know, let me go down the list of guys, and I got my list over here, so I'm going to be referring to it just so you guys see where we are.

We felt John Boscoe be a guy that you bring back who helped lead the defense. He was the Mike linebacker for these guys for the most part. We believe he has the kind of tools to help lead that group. You know, he's a very popular player amongst his teammates. So, you know, there's a guy that's going to add some continued league. leadership for it. We went out and we brought Kendall Fuller back. Here's a guy that has position flex in terms of he can play the outside corner position and then you need to bring him inside. You can have him come in and play the nickel or play a matchup game with

them. And if you get into a situation or dire straits, he's a guy that even go to play free safety for you. So we feel good about him as a corner and as a nickel for us as well. We think he's got some very value, very good value for us as far as a concern. Sean Davis is a guy that we like that free safety. We think he's a guy's going to come in come in, compete to be the starter. You know, he's a guy that we think can match very well, you know, with the guys that we have in the secondary already. So I feel very strongly about him.

And then, you know, we added some other pieces to the puzzle that we just feel that we needed guys that we know they're going to come in. They're hungry. They're going to compete. One thing that we tried to do when I was in Carolina, we tried to look at guys that we ID and said, you know, this guy's on the cusp of becoming a solid starter. You know, not a, not a, not a, a, a flash in a pan type guy that you're hoping,

but a guy has done it steadily over a couple of years. We ID'd a few of those guys, and we went out and brought those guys and had them become part of our football team. So we feel good about the young guys. We feel good about some of the veteran guys. We just think it's a good mix right now. Again, as we develop and grow,

you know, it's not going to happen overnight. And that's one of the things, too, that we feel is that we have time to be patient and develop these guys. That answer tells you so much, right, about what Ron Rivera is looking at. He wants, certainly, you know, needs filled in free agency. But he wants guys that he thinks are character guys, smart guys, guys that he knows,

guys that he knows can still be productive in his system, but guys that he knows personally like Thomas Davis, who, by the way, was on the radio station the other day with Brian Mitchell and Scott Lynn. Such an impressive interview. He also, you know, said, look, he was in San, not San Diego, in Los Angeles last year playing for the Chargers, and he thinks he can still play at a high level. But he wants him to come in, be that veteran leadership,

you know, preach the Rivera gospel to a lot of the younger guys. And about John Bostic, you know, again, another guy that they're bringing back because he's a guy, he said, that helped lead the defense. He was the Mike Linebacker. He said he has the kind of tools to help lead. he's a popular player amongst teammates, so there's a guy that's going to add some continued leadership. These are the guys he's looking for. In that answer, he spent about as much time talking about Thomas Davis and John Bostic as he did about two of their bigger free agent

acquisitions, Kendall Fuller and Sean Davis. Next up was him being specific in free agency about two players, Amari Cooper and Austin Hooper. You know, one of the things I mentioned to you a month and a half, two months ago is that the Redskins were going to go after Cooper, Hooper, and Kenyon Drake. They never had a chance to go after Drake because he didn't become a free agent because they tagged him after trading David Johnson for DeAndre Hopkins in that Arizona-Huston. But this is a pretty honest answer. Listen to what he says about Amari Cooper.

Amari was something that we chased very hard all the way up to the very end when he decided to return to Dallas. We were in it. We were talking about the substantial amount of money. But at the end of the day, he made a decision he felt was best for him, and we respect it. And that's a tough one. We'd have loved to have him as part of what we're trying to do. We believe he had been a great veteran presence in the room, especially for those young guys. The young guys that played last year and had success for the football team.

you felt good about having a veteran guy like that who's had success in this league as part of what you're trying to do. The Austin Hooper thing is we really weren't in it as it's been portrayed by a lot of people. But the truth of matter is, he set the mark as far as tight ends were concerned. And that's something we most certainly weren't prepared to do. We wanted to get into it. But again, you know, once that money climbed very high and very quickly for him, good for him, we decided to move on.

Not that often you get a head coach who will tell you on a player that they missed that they really, really wanted him, you know, because he's essentially saying to the players he has, hey, I had a better guy. I really wanted a really star player at that position. You know, the players know it. They can read. They see the reports.

But, you know, he said that, you know, basically, They offered him substantial money. And he said, quote, that's a tough one. We would have loved to have had him a part of what we're trying to do. We believe he would have been a great veteran presence in the room, especially for those young guys that played last year and had success. You know how old Amari Cooper is? He's 25 years old.

But he is a veteran player compared to Terry McLaren and Kelvin Harmon and Stephen Sims Jr., obviously. But they really, really wanted Amari Cooper. Now, and Hooper, clearly, you know, he said we wanted to get into it, but the money climbed very high and very quickly for him. And, you know, he set the market on tight ends and that's not something that they were prepared to do, which is fine. They wanted Hooper, but not at that price. I think it's interesting that they didn't want him at that price. They paid more in combination for Vernon Davis and Jordan Reed last year than they would have paid for Austin Hooper this year. would have been, you know, 11 million per year for four years, 44 million is what he got,

Hooper got. You know, the Redskins still are sitting there, like in the top five, top six in available salary cap space with like $25, $26 million in available salary cap space. You know, there's no other huge names that they're really going to be in the hunt for here. You know, if they get rid of Trent Williams in his $12.5 million number, for next year. And they want to go after Jason Peters. Well, they're not going to have to pay Jason Peters 12 and a half million bucks. You know, he might be an $8 to $9 million a year guy for two years. You know, if that's the direction they'd want to go in, by the way, if I haven't said this in the

past, Jason Peters has the exact same agent that Trent Williams has, Vincent Taylor. But anyway, you know, they, he coached against Hooper, you know, Coley told us. He thinks Hooper is, you know, limited in some ways. Like, he loved Hunter Henry if Henry had become available, and he doesn't think Hooper's really in Henry's class. He liked Hooper, but, you know, he's okay with the Redskins not spending the big money on Hooper. So, you know, there he was, being pretty forthright and transparent when it came to, you know, how much and how disappointed they were that they did not get Amari Cooper. All right. This next soundbite from the Rivera Press conference yesterday dealt with Kyle Allen and Dwayne Haskins.

Now, the question was more about the competition between Allen and Haskins. And I want you to listen to the answer because there may be something a bit telling about this answer that maybe I thought about sort of after the radio show today a little bit more and in a conversation with somebody a little while ago. But listen to what he said about the competition between Allen and Haskins. I think it would be a good competition. I really do.

Mostly because having been around Kauffer two seasons and kind of watched him in Iraq with the quarterbacks that were in the room, he was in the room with a very strong personality in Cam Newton and Kyle handled himself tremendously. And I really do think, you know, and then we had Taylor Heinekew, who was really, he was Tyler's understudy and he was great with Taylor.

So I just know what kind of, person he is and just feel that he's the kind of guy that's going to go on this. He's not threatened by anything. What he's really concerned about is doing the best job he can. And if he ends up starting and being the guy, great, he'll be fired up about it. And if he's not, if he's in a backup role, he'll be fired up about that as well. I mean, he's, he's the right kind of person to that room. And that's what I felt really strongly about. And that's why, you know, we were able to make the deal with Carolina and bringing him in. I just think that he's got, he's got that real good sense about them that, you know, being part of something is better than being an individual.

So I want you to note one thing about the answer. He does not mention Dwayne's name one time. In fact, in the entire press conference, 30 minutes, Haskin's name isn't mentioned one time. I actually didn't pick up on that. And somebody I talked to before this podcast said, you know, he never mentioned Haskins' name. And I say, yeah, he did. He was talking about him when he was talking about Kyle Allen. He said, he never mentioned his name. I don't know if that is telling or not, but it was a question about the competition, which he answers first by saying, I think it will be a good competition. I really do. But then he focuses completely on Kyle Allen for the rest of his answer, saying that Kyle Allen was in a room with Cam Newton, a strong personality

in Cam Newton, that Kyle, you know, handles himself tremendously. that he knows what kind of person Kyle Allen is, that he's a great guy, that he's the kind of guy that going into this isn't threatened, that he's a guy that if he wins the starting job, great. If he loses it and he's in the backup position, he'll be fired up about that as well. He said, I mean, he's the right kind of person for the room, and that's what I felt really strongly about, and that's why we were able to make the deal with Carolina to bring him in. He's got a real good sense about him that being part of something is better than being an individual. Never mentioned Haskins in a question that was partly about Dwayne Haskins. Never mentioned Haskins in the entirety of the press conference yesterday by name. I don't know.

I mean, there was only one question asked about Dwayne, and it was that one. And he took it as an opportunity to sort of talk about Kyle Allen. My personal reaction to that answer was, Dwayne's the starter, Kyle's the backup. but he really likes Kyle Allen. When he got this job, he knew he was going to target Kyle Allen because Kyle Allen's the kind of guy that, again, understands what Ron Rivera wants, relates to Ron Rivera, can communicate and be a leader when it comes to what Ron Rivera wants in that locker room, and oh, by the way, can play and will be a solid backup,

and if he has to start, they'll be okay with him. Again, I keep coming back to one thing over and over again. I just don't think that Ron Rivera would have. this job right now. If he told Dan Snyder, I don't know about Haskins. I'm not really sure. One of the first things he said about Haskins in that introductory press conference was, at Carolina, we had a first round grade on him.

Now, he has said other things that, you know, are challenging to Haskins. You know, we need to see the leadership. We need to see the commitment. You know, we want him to be, you know, he's going to have to compete to win the job. But I believe that this is Haskin's job, and he'd have to lose it by a lot, not to be the starter on opening day. If we have, you know, normalcy at that point. We understand what, you know, if you end up in a different situation with a short, super short training camp and maybe a limited preseason into one regular season opener, you know, into the regular season opener, if Kyle Allen just gave him. a chance to operate the offense better because Dwayne didn't have enough time to learn it.

But barring that, I think Haskins is the guy. All right, this next answer I wanted to play for you was an answer to the following question. What's it been like so far to work with Dan Snyder? I probably talk with him daily to every other day. And really, it's about what we're doing, what we're planning on doing, what's happening more so anything else. I think the biggest he's really asked is really that he just wants to be informed. You know,

more so than just, you know, turning it over and then turning a blind eye. You know, he's, I think he did the laissez-faire thing where, you know, he was hands off out of the way.

So he just wants to know, and that's all it is. You know, we talk through things. You know, I've asked them for advice on certain things and certain issues. But for the most part, he's letting us do our thing.

I mean, he's, he'll call in and just ask how things are going. What do you think? Where are you guys now, more so than anything else. But like I said, the conversation is daily to almost every other day. So it's been good. It really has. You know, he's not here to impose his will or anything like that.

He's here just to make sure we have the tools that gives us the opportunity to do our jobs. I think everybody's going to react to this answer in different ways. And it really depends on what your perspective is. most of you that hate Dan Snyder, and that's the majority of you, significant majority of you, are thinking, oh my God, does he understand what this guy is and who this guy is and what he will do if you allow him to sort of be influential? And then others that, you know, I think, like me at this point, look, I'm one of those that believe Dan Snyders ruined my favorite franchise. Okay, I believe that. But I think that this is Ron Rivera basically playing it in a way that it was suggested to

John Kime. If you remember, John Kime wrote this column in December, and he referenced someone that he had talked to that said, the next coach just needs to know that Dan needs to be, you know, involved in the know, and sometimes maybe even made to feel like he's more involved than he really is. And I think Rivera's playing it that way right now. Rivera to me right now has final say. It is a coach-centric system, but Ron is playing it a little bit differently. And for those of you that heard him say, I think he did the laissez-faire thing where he was hands off out of the way. Just remember, Dan from 2000 to 2009, was a different owner than Dan when Bruce got here in 2010. In many ways, Dan, and we've talked about this over the years, has been much less involved in.

the day-to-day. Dan's been, you know, much, much less in the building over the last 10 years than he was in the first 10 years. He had his hands on everything in the first 10 years, not the last 10 years. It was Bruce. He really turned it over to Bruce. He trusted in Bruce. Now, he made a couple of big mistakes. The RG3 relationship really was damaging to the team and to the franchise and, you It took a couple of years to get over that. That was a big mistake by the owner, entitling, enabling RG3 through this relationship, through this direct line right to the owner,

above coaches, above players, above other front office executives. It was a terrible decision on his part. Getting involved last year in the draft was not great. He had people putting together a draft board for a year. And he came in and essentially said, We're taking the kid that went to high school with my son. And so that wasn't good. He may turn out to be right on Haskins, but that wasn't very good.

But for the most part, over the last decade, it was Bruce's show. It was Mike's show, and then it was Bruce's show. And I think, personally, Rivera's playing it in a way that, you know, others recently haven't. You know, look, with Jay, Jay was basically go along to get along. He was Bruce's guy. He reported to Bruce. Dan turned the franchise over to Bruce until last year's draft. And, you know, Jay was sort of a lummix.

You know, I mean, you know, Jay would make, you know, certain comments. But Jay and Jay, you know, had a relationship with Dan, but really it was Bruce and Jay. Mike, you know, Mike wasn't easy. He wasn't a big fan of Dan's football intellect. And he actually, even more so Kyle, Shanahan, probably let it be known that Dan wasn't really welcome in some of the football decisions. Mike's a little bit more diplomatic than Kyle was. Zorn, I mean, you've heard Tommy tell the story a million times over the years.

Tommy's in the parking lot at Redskins Park the day that Zorn got the call to say, hey, you're our offensive coordinator, but the owner wants you to go to his house to interview for the head coaching job. And Zorn's on the phone with his wife in the parking lot, and Tommy overhears him say to his wife, no, honey, they want me to be the head coach. I got to come home and get a suit on. Joe Gibbs was untouchable, but, you know, remember Joe let Vinny and Dan play in the sandbox, man. He let him do it because he was so enamored with free agency. Spurrier was, you know, more like Gruden for more money at the time, relatively speaking.

and General Marty, you know, was the one guy that basically said, you know, Daniel, we're going to do it my way or we're not doing it anyway at all. And Marty basically kicked Vinny out of the building, took parking spots away from some of the other owners, including Fred Drasner. They all hated Marty because they had only been in the thing for, you know, a year and a half at that point. And Marty was like, you guys don't know what you're doing. I know what I'm doing. If you want to win, let me show you how to win. And after a year, they weren't having any fun because Marty had complete control. He had given Marty complete control, so they fired him.

Rivera, to me, is playing, you know, a little bit dumb like a fox. You know, he is keeping Dan involved and making him feel like he's truly involved. But Ron's got the last say for now. You know, it's the old, you know, keep your, you know, friends close and your enemies close. I'm not saying that he's enemies with Dan Snyder, but he isn't going to make the mistake that Bruce may be made, that Mike may be made, that Marty may be made. He is going to, you know, work with him and make him feel like he is involved to a certain extent.

But hopefully, hopefully, this is what we all hope, the football people are making the decision. And I believe that there's at least a honeymoon period for that. Two more sound bites from Ron Rivera that I want to play. This one, when he was asked essentially to give the fans like a timeline on, you know, when, you know, he thinks this thing will start to turn around. Here's what he said. Well, I think the truth of matters is there is no time frame. It really isn't.

But I do know that it's got to happen soon. I can tell you that much. I understand I get that part of it. But it's not going to happen overnight. What we need is we need everybody to come in and understand what the vision is, and they've got to buy into what the vision is going to be. Once they've done that, it gives us an opportunity to be successful. We also need to have the fans get behind us.

It's one of the things that I was very fortunate to happen for us when we were in Carolina. You know, our first two years, we showed promise. We gave the fans a reason to come out and cheer for us. And then by our third season, things turned around and really were headed in the right direction. But I will say this too in my first three years. I made a lot of mistakes as a head coach. I mean, I was the first time head coach and I made mistakes. And I think that was part of the growing process.

I'd like to believe now that I know I believe, you know, I like to believe I'm not going to repeat, make those mistakes. So hopefully, you know, like I said, it'll happen in expeditious manner in terms of being successful in the football field. But I'm excited about it. I like the young core of players that this team has added in the last three drafts. I'd like to add a few more to that core. and then get them on the football field and see what happens. So he says a couple of the things that he's said in the past. You know, when he took the job, he sort of said, you know,

we're not into five-year plans. And I think one of the reasons he took this job is he really does like, and he said, you know, I like the core players that this team has added in the last three drafts. And he says, we'd like to add a few more to that core. I believe that even though they haven't, they attempted to be aggressive in free agency, and they were aggressive in free agency, it just didn't provide, you know, a big return. You know, it's a two-way street, right? Amari Cooper's got to want to come here, too, and Austin Hooper is going to, you know, it needs to come here for the price they want, etc.

But I do think they believe that the coaching staff alone, that what they can do as a coaching staff compared to what it's been here, will pay immediate dividends. You know, he talked about the, you know, the culture to a certain degree. He said, you know, we've got, we need everybody to come in and understand what the vision is, and they've got to buy into what the vision's going to be. Once they've done that, it gives us an opportunity to be successful. He, you know, mentioned the fans. But he's got a culture to turn around.

But I think just from a football standpoint, I think they believe that with their coaching staff, that that's worth, you know, an immediate turnaround in wins, you know, whether it's doubling the wins from three to six or, you know, approaching something like 500 in his first year. I think he believes they can do that. I think he believes if they had gotten more weapons for Dwayne offensively, that they would have had a chance because he thinks he can really coach up the defense with Del Rio. All right. One more sound bite, and then we will get to something else real quickly and then move on for the day. This dealt with the second pick in the draft. And I want you to listen carefully because I think this may have been the most telling soundbite of the entire press conference yesterday.

He was asked about his plans with the number two pick and was asked specifically about the potential for trading back from number two. Here's what he said. The thing you have to do is, you know, no matter where you're picking is in the first round, Well, it does matter. When you're in the first five spots, those have to be immediate impact guys. They're going to be guys that you're going to put on the field right away, and they're going to play. That's always kind of in my philosophy. I've always believed in playing young guys if they're ready to play.

And if you go back and look at my history, every year we had at least one rookie start season off as a started. So I'm not afraid to play young players. secondly if you're going to make a trade and you're going to go back that guy you're going to take at that spot has to be able to make the kind of impact you need

to devalitate missing an opportunity to take a player that's a high impact guy you know in other words if you're going to pass up player A and you go back and you're going to take player D, player D has to be equal to player A. You know what I'm saying

because again if player A is going to to play for you for 10 years. The player D may not, then did you really get value and just get a whole bunch of picks? So you've got to be able to sit there and say that the next guy that I'm going to take is going to be that high-impact guy. And that's what I'm looking for. That's what I believe we need is we need a guy that's going to come in and really change our football team.

To me, there's a few guys on that board or those kind of players. His answer to me says it's Chase Young. Now, it could be Isaiah Simmons. I don't think they're trading back. Now, he could be playing, you know, possum here, and he could be trying to make everybody think that, you know, they're just not, this isn't what their philosophy is, and it's going to take so much to move up to number two.

You know, the more and more we talk about it, the less and less to me, the need for somebody like Miami or the Chargers to move up becomes. You know, the lions aren't taking a quarterback. The Giants aren't taking a quarterback. you know, it would have to be a team like Jacksonville who's still in the top 10, you know, that wants to make a big move, and they'd have to give up a boatload to do it. But anyway, you know, that, you know, one of those last lines of that response when he says, you know, did you really get

value or did you just get a whole bunch of picks? You know, in that following up the conversation about when you're in the first five spots, those have to be immediate impact guys. They're going to be guys that you're going to put on the field right away and they're going to play. That's always been my kind of philosophy. They could be thinking Isaiah Simmons. I think they're thinking Chase Young. Chase Young's the best player in this draft. Most people have them as the number one player in this draft.

The Redskins have a chance to get them because Joe Burrow, a quarterback, more likely than not, is going to go to Cincinnati at number one. I would be very surprised if two weeks from tomorrow night when the Redskins are on the clock that they move back. I'd be very surprised if they trade down, and I'd be very surprised if they don't take Chase Young. I think it would also be a big mistake unless they got so much that they couldn't turn it down. Just as an aside, in nine years in Carolina, the Panthers had a first round pick all nine of those years. Now, Ron Rivera didn't run the draft. Marty Herney, Dave Gettleman, others were involved in running the draft for the Panthers. But the Panthers

never traded out of their position one time in the nine years that Ron Rivera was there. Again, Rivera not part of, you know, not the key decision maker on draft day necessarily. I'm sure he was involved, but they had, you know, they had multiple GMs during the course of his time there. You know, interesting stuff from Rivera. You know, he's either really transparent and open and direct or, you know, he's playing koi and he's given out a lot of false information to try to lead people in different directions. My big takeaways from that is they're not trading out of number two. They're going to take

Chase Young, that there is a major culture change going on, which I'm thrilled about, that the Trent Williams thing is still open for almost any possibility. And I believe that his answer about Kyle Allen, even though he didn't mention Dwayne Haskins, I think we learned that Haskins is the clear frontrunner, and we didn't learn it. I think we felt that way already. I just don't see Dwayne Haskins being anything but the starter in 2020. I like Kyle Allen, too. I like Dwayne Haskins more. Last thing, and then we'll run for the day. So yesterday with Tommy, you know, I mentioned that the NFL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame put out this all-decade team, and for the second decade, there were no Redskins on it. There were no Redskins on the All-Decans.

team, the all NFL decade team for the 2000s, and there were no Redskins on the all-decade NFL team for the 2010s. So I did something last night, and it took me all of 10 minutes to do it, but you can respond to me on Twitter if you'd like with who I missed, but I put together an all-redskins decade team. And by the way, when you start hearing some of these names, and the reason I did this is because it really leads you. to understand why the Redskins were 6297 and 1 over that last 10 years, over that decade. Offensively, here's my offensive redskins all-decade team of the 2010s. At quarterback, it's Kirk Cousins. It has to be. RG3 had one season. Come on.

Cousins had a good 15, a phenomenal 16, and a pretty damn good 17, and in 17, injuries all over the place. Cousins had to play on a team with a wretched defense, terrible defensive football team. If the Redskins had been just averaged defensively, Cousins would have quarterbacked three consecutive playoff teams in my view. But the defense was terrible. The special teams weren't great either. But Cousins is your starting quarterback. Sorry for those of you that I think that Alex Smith's nine games or RG3's one season was phenomenal. Cousins for the all-decade team is my quarterback. Running back's easy.

It's Alfred Morris. I don't even think that's debatable. The wide receivers, one of them's not debatable. That's Pierre Garsohn. The other one, I picked Deshawn Jackson over Santana Moss. Moss was a part of the team in the early part of the decade, and Deshawn wasn't here for the whole decade. I think Deshawn's impact when he was on the field and healthy,

was elite. In the same way I feel Jordan Reed is a lock at tight end over Cooley. Cooley didn't play enough of the decade. Reed and Jackson, when they were healthy and on the field, were two of the best players for the Redskins during the decade. Like, you know, very few players were considered A players for the Redskins during the decade of the 2010s. Deshawn Jackson, healthy and available.

Jordan Reed, healthy and available, were two A players. I picked Garcant and Deshawn Jackson as my wide receivers. Jordan Reed is my tight end. The offensive lineman, Trent's easy at one tackle. The other tackle's tough. I went with Morgan Moses because he's really been doing it now for five years. At center, I went with Corey Lichtensteiger over Will Montgomery. Brandon Sheriff is one of my guards, and then Sean LaValle is the other guard.

I mean, LaValle, Lichtensteiger, you know, these names, Moses, come on. But go list, go through the list. Chris Chester played, you know. You could put Lichtenstiger at Guard and Montgomery at center. You know, there are ways to go there, but I don't know, man. You look at that team. And interestingly, if like you took all those players and said, hey, this is your group starting in 2010 and they're all going to be healthy for 10 years.

It would have been a pretty good offense. You know, with Kirk and Alfred and Garson and Deshawn and Reed, you know, and if you wanted to add a slot receiver, you could have put Santana in the slot. Defensively, in the 3-4, which they were in for the entire decade, I put Barry Cofield at Nose Tackle. I thought he was the only guy until Duran Payne, but really Coffield was the only guy that could play nose tackle. Like they never had a nose tackle.

Cofield was pretty good. The other two defensive linemen, Alan and Ionitis. I don't even think it's close. The linebackers, there are two that are obvious, Carrigan and London Fletcher. And then the other two, I went with the other inside linebacker. I went with Mason Foster. And I went with Brian Arakpo as the outside linebacker. You don't have a lot of choices. You're going to go Preston Smith? You could. You know, who are you going to go? You're going to go with Perry Riley as an inside linebacker? guy was out of place more often than anybody. The defensive backfield. Corners, DeAngelo Hall's one of them. And then, you know, it's really tough to come up with another corner for the all-decade

team. I went with Quentin Dunbar. I went with Dunbar over Josh Wilson and Bashad Breeland. I think Dunbar's talent was unmistakable. I thought he played really well when he played. I mean, if you want to give Bree or Josh Wilson a nod, go ahead. But I took Dunbar. The safeties, oh my God.

I mean, you don't have much choice. There aren't many choices. Reed Dowdy. I went with Sweringer because I think that 2017 season, you know, was pretty damn good for Sweringer. And I also went with a player that actually was one of my favorite players when he was out there. And he just wasn't out there enough. But Brandon Meriwether could play.

They got him too late and they had him too little because of injury. That's the team. Punter was tress away. That's easy. The kicker, I went with Hopkins. I mean, you could have gone with Kai Forbath, I guess. And the kick returner, punt returner was easy. That's Brandon Banks. Banks was arguably one of the A players at his position during the decade.

You know, you look at that team. It went 62, 97 and 1 over the decade the franchise did. That team fully healthy that I just put together is probably, No injuries. They're all playing together in their prime. That's probably a team that averages 9 and 7. Most all-decade teams for franchises, you probably look at them and you'd say, oh, my God, you put all those guys together. It's a 13 and 3 team every year.

This would have been 9 and 7. The problem was defense more than anything. Because offensively, they were able to throw the football, that's for sure. And you can talk about the red zone issues in 16 and, you know, in different things. They also were playing in 17 with five new offensive linemen in midseason.

This team had a lot of injuries everywhere, both sides of the ball. Defensively, though, was really the weakness of the decade. They never had a nose tackle yet they kept insisting on playing the 3-4. They never had a dominant pass rusher. They had a really good, reliable

player in Ryan Kerrigan. And reliable he was, man. You know, you could almost say that Ryan Kerrigan and Trent Williams were really the two best players over the decade when you consider longevity and excellence. You know, they both were excellent players. Kerrigan wasn't, you know, in elite pass rusher by any stretch of the imagination. You know, Fletcher certainly was an A player. You know, not enough of the decade, but, you know, the Redskins have been bad because of some of the names that I had to put in there because

there weren't any other options. You know, Meriwether, swear. Werenger, you know, Dunbar, Mason Foster. You know, nice players, but on an all-decade team, Lichten Steiger, LaValle, you know, I mean, hadn't been great. Anyway, that's it for the day. All right, I'm done. Back tomorrow with Tommy. Stay safe.

Stay healthy.