The Kevin Sheehan Show - Tiger King

Episode Date: March 30, 2020

Kevin opened the show talking with Aaron about "Tiger King". He's 5 episodes in and loves it. Then, plenty of Redskins' news including the acquisition of CB Ronald Darby, the latest on Trent Williams, thoughts on Kyle Allen's chances of starting, and how close the Skins got to landing Austin Hooper. There was an updated ESPN NFL Power Poll and a quick discussion about Tom Brady's meeting with the Bucs. <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 Aaron and yours truly today. Kooley was going to join us. I guess there's still a chance he could do it, but I think he got tied up with something today. So we may miss him today and catch up with him Wednesday maybe, because Tommy will be on tomorrow. You know, all hell's breaking loose around us. You know, Governor Hogan was just, holding his press conference now issuing essentially a mandatory stay-at-home order. Just so you guys know, we are media and we are broadcasters, so we are actually deemed to be in this kind of a situation essential so we can get to and from our studio.

And we are in a very, you know, isolated studio situation. And Aaron and I have kept not only clean and sanitized, but well within six to eight feet of each other as we've been doing this the last couple of weeks. So our plan is to continue to do the podcast. We may take a day off here and there. You know, some of the advertising stuff is dried up, to be perfectly honest with you right now. But so we don't have dedicated advertisers as we've had. So, you know, but they'll come back and I'm not worried about that at all.

but we're going to continue to do the podcast as long as we can. And as long as there are things to talk about, which I will start with what Aaron and Greg Huff, my radio producer, have been asking me to watch for over a week now. I finally got to this weekend, and that was Tiger King. Aaron, I am five episodes in. I've got two episodes left. It's exactly what you said, which you're. is just trust me on this, start watching, and you'll be glad you did.

It is honestly, I've never seen a collection of more sort of WT wingnut wackos on one show in my entire life. It is hysterical to watch from, you know, Joe Exotic to Carol Baskin to Doc Antle, to all of them. I mean, it is unbelievable. I don't want you to spoil it for me. No spoiling. Because I haven't seen the final two, but it's truly, it's impossible. Like I was saying this morning on radio, you know, you and I are both in huge Game of Thrones fans.

And I'm not a fantasy guy, but I got into Game of Thrones and I swore to all of my friends that also were like, I'm not watching a show about White Walkers and Dragons. I'm like, no, no, no, no. Trust me on this. It's a character-based show. You're going to love it. Every single friend of mine, with the exception of one, Scott, Scott Van Pelt still has never watched Game of Thrones. He did not trust me on this, even though I know he would love it.

And this is the same thing. People hear exotic animals and wingnut rednecks, gun tote and rednecks in the Midwest and in the South involved in all sorts of, you know, tiger hoarding and tiger breeding. And you're like, eh, I don't think that's for me. Oh yeah, it's for you. And it's become in this coronavirus, you know, hunker down era. I mean, on social media, there's not a bigger topic other than coronavirus itself. It's the number one streamed show on Netflix right now. Unbelievable how it's just taken off.

So there are a couple of things. And I'll just, I know the answers to these, but for those of you that didn't listen on radio, I'll ask him to Aaron anyway because I asked them of Greg this morning. But a couple of questions I have for you is, number one, do we ever get to find out what happened to Don? Carol's second husband? I mean, do we, who apparently she fed to, you know, the Tigers, but we don't know that for sure because it's been an unresolved disappearance of 20 years. It's still an unresolved disappearance. So it remains that way.

Yes. Secondly, I know from the first five episodes because every episode starts with Joe Exotic in prison, you know, talking via a phone interview, that he's been sentenced to 79 years. So I am assuming, and don't tell me the answer to this, but I am assuming that somehow he either killed Carol Baskin or it was some sort of murder, you know, for hire plot of some sort. Am I in sort of the right direction there? You're in the ballpark. Okay. But he is in jail for good, right?

Well, you'll see. Okay. So I asked Greg the following question this morning. We actually took calls on it. Who's your top-seated wacko on this show? Is it Joe? I don't think it's Joe. I really don't think it's Joe.

And part of it is because it's presented so much that you get to see. Like he's definitely a wacko But man, there are a lot of wackos on this And he's somehow, and probably just because we've seen the most of him, He seems the most fleshed out of the wackos So I almost think that Carol's a little more wacko I think that Why am I blake up?

The guy who... Doc Antle? Actually, he's... I mean, he's clearly created a mini cult. He's created a cult, but I don't know if that makes him a wacko Neurtle Beach, South Carolina. Does that make him a wacko or does that just make it? I don't know.

I mean, they both have sort of created a cult. created these cults. And she has too, for all intents and purposes. You know, she's got volunteers that are, you know, loyal to her. You know, the funny thing about Carol is, you know, um, you know, Big Cat Rescue, where she's, you know, creating this, this impression that she's rescuing all these cats. She's doing the same thing that they're doing. Right. She's basically imprisoning all these big cats. Yes. And turning it into, you know, a circus of sorts. I think Jeff Lowe is up there on the He's been introduced to me in the last two. Yeah.

Yeah. And I love the fact that, you know, Jeff comes in and basically completely snows Joe Exotic because Joe clearly at that point is in big trouble, you know, financial trouble, et cetera. You know, so look, watch it. Trust us. It's crazy. A couple of things. Number one, man, are those baby tigers cute? Oh, yeah.

They are so adorable. and I can only imagine that in these, you know, these mini petting zoo environments they've created with the baby tigers, how cool that is to be able to see that and be a part of that. They are just adorable animals. But really the scary part of all of this is that these things exist, that people actually have these exotic zoos in their home. You know, I went back and read the crazy story of Terry Thompson, Zanesville, Ohio. Do you know the story or not? I don't know if I know this one.

Oh, well, you have to read this story. First of all, by the way, Tiger King is nonfiction. It's a documentary. It's real. These are real people doing these real things. The story of Terry Thompson is 2011, Zanesville, Ohio, right outside of Columbus, Ohio. He was a very depressed guy with one of these exotic, know, zoos. He had like 20 tigers, 20 lions, you know, grizzly bears, cougars, leopards, wolves,

baboons, monkeys, the whole damn thing. And he cut him loose, Aaron, in 2011. And he shot himself after opening up all the cages and these animals were running loose. You know, this is the concern. They were all shot. All but one animal was apparently found. It was like a monkey. And they believe that probably one of the lions, bears, or tigers ate the monkey. But they had, you know, you had police coming in. They were familiar with what this guy was doing. And it's actually a fascinating story because one of his neighbors who had horses was seeing his horses get a little restless, you know, as he looked out his window and he walked back

there and they had sort of a young horse who was really going wild and he went out there. and he went out there and he brought that horse in, and then he saw the lions approaching, you know, his property free. Yeah, that's one of the craziest stories that happened in 2011. All of those animals were killed very sadly, but this guy was depressed. He was crazy. He was like in his 70s, I think, you know, age-wise, he shot himself. And, by the way, then allowed for his animals to eat him.

But turned all, you know, cut these cages open and turn these animals loose. You know, there were, it was a major story. Like, if you lived in that Columbus area, you had, you know, you were driving around potentially, you know, come upon a lion. Like, and so I started to think about this. Think about, like, you have no idea. Like, I was like, I could be walking my dog one night and all the sudden come across a grizzly bear. I mean, from some dude who, you know, they can't be sure of keeping these things caged. A mistake could happen.

like Joe Exotic has 230 tigers on his property, full grown. Yes. And now, Doc Antle apparently is euthanizing all of his tigers after they run their course of usefulness in terms of revenue generation because it's the baby cub tigers that are really the draw for people to come in and be able to take pictures with them and hug them and play with them. And that's what people pay big money to do in these places. Yeah, I'm pulling up the prices now for Joe Exotics or formerly Joe Exotic Zoo.

And it's, you know, general omission is $15. But then it's like private playtime, $50, sloth encounter, $50. Exotic Animal Tour, $55. I can see how they can rack up just on one visit. I mean, if you haven't seen it, this guy is a mullet-wearing gay guy with two husbands who's probably addictive. to meth who had one of the private, largest private, exotic zoos with, you know, 225 tigers, lots of lions, bears, wolves, the whole nine yards.

Also very charismatic. We have to point that out. And an incredibly charismatic dude who ran for president in 2016 and for governor of Oklahoma in 2018. You know, not the brightest bulb on the bush. None of them are. Actually, the only normal dude through five episodes is the campaign manager. And I think you've got to normal is compared to the others. Relatively speaking.

Yes. He was a Walmart employee selling ammunition to Joe. Joe has two husbands, one of whom is John, who may have three teeth in his entire mouth. Yes. And the other one was poor Travis Maldonado, who in episode five shoots himself. I'm laughing, but what's crazy about it is the camp, well, the funeral was unbelievable, but the video of the campaign manager witnessing the shooting of himself, all you see is the reaction, you don't see Travis actually shooting himself.

Anyway, we're talking about a lot of things that are familiar to some of you, not familiar to others. Just trust us. Tiger King, which has become an internet in social media, sensational. It's on Netflix. Just, I can't wait to get home today to watch the other two episodes. It will be, I'm sure, worth it. Like, one of my sons said, no, you don't understand, like, some of the best stuff and some of the craziest stuff is yet to come. Is that true?

Yeah, there's some good stuff in the last two episodes. Yeah. There's some really good stuff. Here's my question for you, just off that last part. Would you pay Joe Exotic to speak at your funeral? No. I would. Let's hope we have no funerals in store.

No. Crazy time we are living through. I mean, Aaron and I actually started the podcast late because we were listening to the governor of Maryland, address everybody in a press conference. And, you know, I think, and I really trust Hogan, actually. I think, and by the way, he's an excellent communicator and he's, he's matter of fact, and he's, you know, he's very direct. And at the same time, tries to be reassuring.

But you can sort of sense over the last. last couple of days that, um, that, you know, it's gotten more serious. Like, if it weren't serious enough, it seems to be getting more serious. The expectation is that there are going to be a lot in New York cities. That's the, that's the problem and that's the fear, unless we continue to really, um, really hunker down. All right. Um, several things Redskins related happened, um, over the weekend. We'll get to the Ronald Darby, you know, uh, acquisition. I'm not overly impressed, just to be perfectly candid with you. But I did want to go back to Trent Williams for just a moment because I found something

that maybe I missed during the show on Friday or maybe it came out afterwards. I can't recall. But Les Carpenter and Sam Fortier wrote a story, you know, off of the interview that Vincent Taylor did on WJFK about Trent Williams, which we went through in great to tale on Friday. But there was this paragraph that I found interesting. You know, we heard from Vincent Taylor about how bad, you know, and how off-put Trent Williams was after meeting with Ron Rivera for roughly 15 minutes. Taylor said, you know, there was no relationship.

Ron wanted him to prove himself. And he just realized that there was no relationship and it was time to part ways. Well, according to this story in the post, the Redskins, Ron Rivera in particular, had a much different reaction to the 15-minute meeting with Trent Williams. Soon after the meeting, when Vincent Taylor told the Redskins that he was demanding that they trade him, Williams demands surprised Rivera and the Redskins' front office, a person with knowledge of the situation said. Rivera, who was said to have made recruiting Williams back to the team one of his early priorities, came away from the meeting with Williams believing it was cordial

and the start of a relationship that would build over the coming weeks, according to the person. Rivera has said publicly that because he doesn't know any of the players from last season's team, he wants them to come to off-season workouts to show they will buy into the culture he hopes to build before considering making a long-term commitment to them. The Redskins, according to this story, and according to Les Carpenter and Sam Fortier's sources, The Redskins were shocked when Taylor called a few days after the meeting and said, If you aren't going to extend Williams' contract, then trade him, the person that apparently was in the no said, adding that Taylor told Washington officials that Williams will not play for them.

You know, it's hard to really know for sure in this situation. I think the one thing that we can come to a pretty, I think, confident conclusion on is that Vincent Taylor's recent remarks are bullshit. You know, there's no chance that he, you know, hasn't demanded a new contract or that Trent's never made demands on a contract. It's never been about the contract. The contract's never been the holdup. all of the things that he said via, you know, that first statement, the Diana Rusini tweet thread, and the interview that he did with 106.7. You know, I just don't believe any of that. I think that's all bullshit. I think it's always been at least partly about a new contract. Because if it's not about a new contract, what are we talking about?

because if he's not making demands on a contract, then it should be super easy to trade him. If a team can just take this $12.5 million contract and maybe offer them a mini extension of sorts, and it's not about the money, then it should be much easier to trade him. Or if it's not about the contract, the Redskins, as we talked about on Friday,

have gotten rid of Bruce Allen, they've gotten rid of their entire training staff, they've hired a coach who is a player's coach, then come on in and play. What are we talking about? I don't believe anything from Vincent Taylor. In fact, I really think that at this point, given that Trent Williams lost $10 to $15 million last year, and we're going through this year, I think the agent really messed up big time for his client. I really do, and I don't know that Trent's ever going to get that money back. I wish him the best, because I've always liked Trent. I've reached out to him.

somebody asked me if, you know, you've tried to get Trent on. Of course I have multiple times. Reached out to him, texted him, you know, at least a half dozen times over the last many months. Trent, you know, is at this point not willing to do anything. And by the way, I did the same thing with the agent. And I think the agent got a lot of, you know, a lot of heat for the interview that he did. Because I don't think anybody believes the agent at this point. And look, we may find out ultimately that we were wrong and the agent, you know, handled this correctly or was, you know, forthright throughout. But as of now, the agent and Trent Williams look worse than the team. And that's saying a lot, you know, when it comes to this particular team. There was also something else on the Trent

Williams situation. This was from Josina Anderson, who's done a really good job reporting Redskins-related stuff. And she tweeted this out on Friday night, I think. There are people in the organization who still loved Trent and would appreciate him being back in the team, helping to block for a young quarterback in Dwayne Haskins. Those are just some sentiments, though, and he'd still need a pay raise up through now all sides, including the market, have not capitulated yet. So she says, of course, it's about the pay raise too, even though the agent has said that it is not about a pay raise. I have a pretty good contact that has shared with me that, yes, there are people in the organization who still love Trent, and there are a few people

in management that can't stand them now, that really, really, you know, I use the word betrayed in a conversation, and they said, that may be a bit harsh, but extremely disappointed in the way it's been handled, would be certainly more descriptive of the way several people in the organization feel, not just Bruce Allen. And I've suggested that one of those people, that may feel this way about Trent now is the owner. You know, Trent says he loves the owner because I think he wants the owner to do him what he believes do him the right way and move on. But I think that there's a lot of stuff that has come out over the last year that really,

really hurt the Redskins, you know? I think they felt like they were loyal to him, and maybe now they feel like they were loyal to him to a fault. Bottom line, my position hasn't changed, and it's not going to change. at minimum, they should wait through the draft. I'm not giving Trent away for anything but a second round pick. And if the, you know, my response to the agent, if he told me this has never been about money, then I would say, well, why don't you play for the Redskins then?

What's the problem? And if it's not about a new contract, how is it that somebody hasn't offered the Redskins enough? Interestingly enough, just as a side note to all of this, when he was interviewed on local radio and asked about the trade offers and asked specifically whether or not the Redskins had been offered at least a second round pick, he really skirted that question and didn't answer it, which would lead you to believe that the Redskins haven't been offered a second. So when he says they've been offered things and they don't know what they're doing or they're changing their demands, you know, tell me, Vincent Taylor, that the Redskins turn down a second rounder or better. And then I'll tell you that they are intentionally trying to hurt your client,

especially if it's a top half of the second round pick. But I don't believe they've been offered that. I think they could have gotten that, certainly a year ago, maybe even six, you know, seven months ago. And I mentioned to all of you maybe three weeks ago, the Redskins, I believe, could have gotten Jadavian Clowny straight up for Trent if they had wanted that from Houston last year. Now, they would have been in a position of having to pay Clowny, but they didn't want that.

And bottom line is, the Redskins didn't make him available until recently, and now we're finding out what his current market value is, which is not what he thinks it is. From a contract standpoint or a compensation standpoint, neither one. All right, so that was the Trent stuff that I wanted to get to. Jason Lock and Fora, very early this morning, I guess. on CBSports.com. HQ. That's their streaming service. They're like some streaming service.

Yeah. I wouldn't even know what that is. But it's CBS. Yeah, CBS Sports HQ. So Jason Lockenforah was asked about the Redskins and the number two pick overall. And whether or not there was any interest or any possibility that they would trade back. Here's what he said. That's what it comes down to.

If they stay in two, I think they take the player. But I continue to hear that they are increasingly open to trading out, whether that means somebody trading up for Tua, in all likelihood, it would. And how far back would they go? If they do drop back a few spots, I believe strongly they would target Isaiah Simmons. And that's another player who I'm told is super high on their board. And they feel like he's such a rotational chess piece you could put all over the place. They're very intrigued by that possibility if they were to move down. That's interesting to me.

You know, when he says, you know, I continue to hear that the Redskins are increasingly open to trading out. First of all, Isaiah Simmons, you know, we know what Clinton Portis told us about Isaiah Simmons, right? He thinks Isaiah Simmons is the next Lawrence Taylor. Here's the issue that I think the Redskins are going to have. First of all, I wouldn't do it, but I'd be open to listening to any offer. but I just think Chase Young is going to be a star, and you better be sure that it's a lot that you're getting back. But here's the thing that I think we have to consider about the tradeback opportunity. If they're not a serious threat to draft Tua or a running back, then they're not going to get the best offer.

Detroit is. Detroit will get the best offer because nobody's going to go up to two. if they don't think the Redskins are going to take the quarterback. Now, if you get multiple bidders for three, now you get somebody to jump Detroit to two. But if there's, let's just say Miami is the team that really wants to get Tua. And by the way, they have the most to offer. And the Reds, Miami knows now Tua more likely than not is not going to be the choice at number two.

So part of this offseason of not, not being able to go through the process of, you know, interviewing these quarterbacks and bringing them in and working them out and pro days and having lots of stories and rumors fly. You know, oh my God, the Redskins love Tua, you know, to give Miami at least a serious impression that there's the possibility they could draft Tua. You know, now that they've traded for Kyle Allen, I don't see it. You know, I don't really see the Redskins being in the best potential situation. to reap the biggest reward for trading back.

Again, if you've got multiple teams willing to get up, the problem with that is Miami's got the most to offer. So what would the chargers have that Miami doesn't have to get up to two? They may not be willing to give you enough. Unless they do, unless they make the RG3 offer. Unless they say, all right, take our first for the next two of years after this one. Yeah, might take more than that. I mean, it probably would, but I'm saying that they just have to outbid Miami. Miami has more, but there might be a point, and it might be a

situation where, because they're moving into a new stadium, because of everything around it, that the charges are just more desperate. Obviously, it would work in the Redskins benefit if people legitimately thought that Tua was a possibility at number two, more than it not be, not being a possibility, which I don't think it really is a possibility. But anyway, that was Jason Locken for earlier this morning. Then there was this about Kyle Allen. I'm going to read to you what, Bucky Brooks, who I actually really like Bucky Brooks on NFL Network.

Brooks writes a column. He's an analyst for NFL Network and NFL.com. and on Friday or over the weekend, he wrote this about Kyle Allen. He wrote, do not be surprised if Kyle Allen runs out of the tunnel as the Washington Redskins QB1 when the team takes the field this fall, QB1, meaning starting quarterback. That's been sort of a recent thing in the last couple of years referring to it. The starting quarterback is QB1. The backup quarterback is QB2. I don't think we did that five years ago.

I think we said starter, backup, third stringer. Friday Night Lights, I think. Okay. There are several movies document, you know, like high school sports stuff that that's where I think it really started. He's saying starting quarterback, QB1. He then writes, I know Ron Rivera said this week that the 2019 first round pick to Wayne Haskins is the starter even after acquiring Allen for a fifth round pick, but he also

made it clear that there would be competition for the top job. And don't underestimate the significance of Rivera reuniting with the young quarterback who made 11 starts under his direction the past two seasons. The Allen deal also matches offensive coordinator Scott Turner with a quarterback he developed from undrafted free agent to starter from 2018 to 2019. Think about that. A former quarterback coach is promoted to offensive coordinator in his new job and is reunited with one of his protégés as he begins the process of trying to turn around an offense.

Given the importance placed on trust and communication between quarterback and play caller, the connection between Turner and Allen is important, particularly in the midst of a chaotic period in which teams' offseason programs have been delayed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic. That's why I wouldn't dismiss Allen's chances of emerging as the Redskins QB1 at the end of training camp. Alan's knowledge of the offense should help him play faster than the incumbent at the position out of the gate. he then goes on to talk about Kyle Allen and the kind of player he is and yada, yada, yada. So this is sort of what we've alluded to in conversations that if we end up having an offseason that's so condensed and so short and even a training camp that, let's say, lasts a week to 10 days,

and then there's one preseason game and then it's time to start the season. You know, if we get into that situation, well, yeah, I could see Kyle Allen in that spot, but I'm telling you right now from my standpoint, I just don't see barring that. You know, Dwayne Haskins being a guy that doesn't do enough to learn the new offense, to get acclimated to the new offense, to be the starter. This has been the plan. This is one of the reasons Snyder offered the job to Rivera, because in many ways Rivera said,

I'm going to challenge him, but we're going to give him a legitimate chance in 2020. You know, Dwayne Haskins, remember, was told by Bill Callahan, or we learned from Bill Callahan about Dwayne Haskins, that he was coachable and that he was a fast learner. One of my favorite sound bites from Bill Callahan was late in the season. And this is, you know, following early in the season, when Callahan sort of referred to Haskins,

as a project, as a guy that wouldn't be ready until next year. And then late in the season, after he played a few games, he said he's not a mistake repeater. He doesn't repeat the same mistake twice. That when you hear from a coach tells you the coach finds this guy to be smart and coachable. And that's the thing we heard about Dwayne. Commitment was more the issue early in the year when he wasn't a starter. You know, preparation. Never anything other than intelligent, good guy, and obviously the physical ability.

is there. I think unless we have a super condensed training camp, and it's very possible, we'll get nothing until training camp. In the absence of a major short ramp-up period to the first real game, Dwayne Haskins is going to be the starter, and I think barring injury, he'll start all 16 games. And I like Kyle Allen. If you listen to last week's podcasts, I think he can play. I think he definitely can play. and I like him a lot. I just like Dwayne better, and I want to see the rest of this with Dwayne. So there was also the news that the Redskins had signed Ronald Darby over the weekend to a one-year deal worth up to $4 million.

So there are a couple of things here. Number one, I think Darby's just okay. I don't know if he's the starter or not. he gets a one-year deal worth up to $4 million. He played the last three years in Philly, the first two in Buffalo. He's actually missed 20 out of their last 48 games, 20 out of their last 48 games that he's missed. So I started thinking about him in terms of the other options, Bashad Breeland. I like Breeland more.

Quentin Dunbar, who really perhaps wasn't an option because of the way he handled things, Dunbar to me is just a better player. He's just a better player. Dunbar, by the way, and I saw this over the weekend, and this was before the Derby signing, Ray Horton, who coached the Redskins defensively last year, their DBs, was on some sort of blog or radio interview talking about Quentin Dunbar. And he said about Dunbar, he said, I compare him to Richard Sherman. He said to me, you know, because of the style of play, the hands, the anticipation, him being a former wide receiver, the competitiveness, really, you know, what you're getting is a young Richard Sherman. And this kid is hungry. He wants to be good, close quote. That's Ray Horton talking about Dunbar.

He also said he gives you a lot of position flexibility. Look, Dunbar's gone. He's in Seattle. Okay. He mouthed off too much. I personally liked him enough where I would have thought about extending him, but they didn't get to that point. And I think he's going to work out really well in Seattle. I don't think Darby is as good as Quentin Dunbar.

I don't think Sean Davis is as talented as Montaigne-Nicholson either. I think the bigger issue here for the Redskins as it relates to their D.Bs, their defensive backs. I don't think we know anything. like Kendall Fuller is a talent. Everybody else is basically at this point, you're not really sure. I'm talking about the corners in particular. Fabian and Morrow, we don't know what they think of him. We don't know what they think of Jimmy Morland.

We don't really have an idea of what they think completely of Ronald Darby at this point. And I think the important thing is corners are interesting because scheme is everything. And it's the way these coaches sort of envision how they're going to fit into their scheme. You know, Jack Del Rios played defense. where he's played a lot of man and he's played somewhere he's played zone. We know that Ron Rivera has, you know, in the past, love to really get after the quarterback and have his, you know, D.Bs facing the action, not back turned, more zone than man. You know, Darby, you know, can probably play both, I think. But we don't know what, how they're projecting these guys, you know, into,

I think, you know, Darby can run. Darby is also injured too much. Fuller can run. Fuller can cover, I think, in the slot. I think Fuller can cover on the outside, too. I think Moreau can do both. You know, Morland, we thought, was more of a slot guy. I wouldn't be surprised if they might see him as an outside guy. We're just not going to know until they, you know, until we see this team in action. We're just not going to know. So I think that's the big takeaway. They're signing a bunch of guys for not a lot of money except for Kendall Fuller, and they've got a vision as to how this will work out. This probably means no Bichon Breelin, more likely than not, you know, probably means no Demarius Randall. But I don't know that it definitely means it.

The Redskins can still have plenty of cap space somewhere in the neighborhood of like 27 to 30 million bucks, somewhere in that range, probably top six to top eight in terms of available cap space. I'm not a big fan of Darby. He hasn't been available enough. Hasn't been available enough. So what else do I have on today's rundown? Then there was Austin Hooper from over the weekend. So we know, right, that Austin Hooper signed with Cleveland, four-year, $44 million deal, $11 million a year.

And I was under the impression, and I mentioned this about two months ago, that the Redskins were going to be aggressive in free agency. And a lot of you sort of snap back at me like, oh, they were really aggressive, She and this is like a Bruce Allen class. And it is. It's turning out to be one. I understand that. But they tried to be aggressive. They went after Amari Cooper. We know multiple reports that the Redskins offered Cooper a contract that would have made him the highest paid wide receiver in the history of the game. And he decided to stay in Dallas. And then there was Austin Hooper, who I mentioned, and I mentioned Kenyon Drake as well. Kenyon Drake ultimately was not available

because he got transition tagged after Arizona made the trade with Houston, David Johnson, to the Texans, for DeAndre Hopkins as part of the DeAndre Hopkins trade. So anyway, so we know that the Redskins had this mindset of being aggressive to add offensive weapons for Dwayne. I do believe that that was part of the plan. Austin Hooper, we sort of learned after the fact the Redskins just weren't willing to come up to a dollar amount that was close to what Austin Hooper, you know, wanted and needed. And he signed the, you know, the $11 million deal with the Browns. But Austin Hooper did have some comments from over the weekend about the teams that were interested. You signed a nice contract in Cleveland.

and I know your name was kind of circling the free agent market for a while. Were there any other teams that you knew had a strong interest in you? Redskins were definitely a team that had shown interest, I would say. Definitely a, you know, solid organization with another talented young quarterback. So that was probably going to be my next landing spot. I mean, it really came down to, you know, Cleveland and Washington. Yeah, at the end, I chose Beardown. So that was Austin Hooper telling you that the Redskins were, you know, essentially plan B.

I don't know what they offered him at this point, but it probably was more than what we thought, and they were closer to landing Austin Hooper than we thought right after the fact. Remember, right after the fact, the conversation really was more about, you know, that the Redskins weren't close and didn't have any real intention of going to the level that Cleveland went to. but it sounds like the Redskins were right there or certainly had a chance for Austin Hooper. You know, in thinking about Austin Hooper, two things come to mind. One, you know, Ron Rivera coached against him, schemed against him. He knows the player. And two, you know, what Cooley said to us and has said to us.

Bottom line when it came to Cooley, when it came to Austin Hooper, he's like, Hunter Henry's much better. Like if Hunter Henry makes it to free agency, that's the guy. You know, that's the guy we got to go get. Because Hooper is good, but, you know, as a blocker, you know, he said essentially just a guy, and there were some other things. So anyway, I wanted you to hear that about Austin Hooper. Lastly, before we run for the day, two things. Number one, ESPN put out their updated NFL power rankings.

The Redskins are 31st out of 32 teams. And I went Aaron and looked at the odds on sports books. dot com about where the Redskins are right now. Dead last NFC championship at 100 to 1. By the way, not even close to the second longest odds, which are, by the way, the Panthers at 75 to 1. And in the division, you know, they're a long shot. They're 20 to 1. The giants are 8 to 1. And then the Cowboys and Eagles essentially are close to even money to win their respective divisions. So the Redskins, you know, with this two weeks into free agency, are sort of being viewed even, you know, no greater than where they were and maybe even a little

bit less where they are. But again, you know, whatever. What does that mean? Lastly, I wanted to just mention this story that broke this morning about Tom Brady and going to Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay's general manager, Jason Lict, and Bruce Ariens, basically said that when they had a conversation with Brady, they didn't pitch Brady. Brady pitched them. This was from Lict, the general manager, Jason Licked in Tampa. He said, quote, we had a great conversation. Bruce and I, we talked to him for over an hour and a half. All right, Bruce Ariens and Jason Lick had a conversation with Brady for over an hour and a half.

And he made it clear in the conversation that he was very, very interested. It was almost like a recruitment on his part telling us why it would make sense for him to come to Tampa Bay. The next call we made, we signed him. But it was that phone call that we realized that we felt like we had him. I think this is so interesting because it speaks to Brady's, you know, feeling probably throughout his career that he hasn't arrived. It's one of the reasons that he's probably been so successful in everything that he does. He doesn't come in with a chip on his, he doesn't come in feeling like he's got it and that you've got to impress him. He comes in and he's telling you what he has to do to impress you.

You know, it's like I think I said this last week, if you ever go on a job interview, don't talk about what you've done. Talk about what you're going to do. No one cares about what you've done. They're about to decide whether or not to hire you or to give you a raise based on what you're going to do. You know, most companies, you know, they can be loyal, but they're only going to be loyal to a certain point. They need to know that you're going to produce even more, you know, and Brady understands that. You know, he understood that he came in, you know, I hope you're interested in me.

You know, let me tell you why you should be interested in me. I just find that so interesting and so probably reflective of why he's been so successful throughout his playing career, is that, and probably why he's been so respected, too, is there's never been a sense of entitlement. There's always been a sense of him that he has to continue to achieve and earn people's respect. That's interesting to me. Speaking of Ray and the Patriots, I just saw this gambling-related tweet I found fascinating. So this is John Ewing from the Action Network, said, according to Pointsbet USA, which is one of the bigger books, They've really started to come on in the past year.

Patriots are minus 218 to make the playoffs in 2020. And then he goes on to say, the New England odds to make playoffs in the past 10 years. Last year, 2019, minus 1100. Right. 2018, minus 1,400. 2017, minus 6,000. 2016, minus 325, 2015, minus 400.

2014, minus 5.50, 2013, minus 833. 2012 minus 900, 2011 minus 350, and 2010 minus 150. That's really, really interesting. Really interesting to me. Because, you know, when I went through the power pole, the ESPN power pole,

where the Redskins are first among 32 teams, you know what the most surprising part of it is? You know where the Patriots are? 13th. When have they ever been outside of the top 10? Oh, yeah. It doesn't happen. By the way, Tampa Bay in the Power Pool is.

10th. There we go. And the Patriots are 13. A lot of books right now have win total just matchups, bucks versus Patriots. I think the bucks are the slight favorite there. That wouldn't surprise me. All right. That's it for today. No coolly today. Hopefully we'll get them on Wednesday. Tommy in tomorrow. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Back tomorrow.