The Kevin Sheehan Show - Tiger, Reuben Foster, and Thrones

Episode Date: April 15, 2019

Kevin opens the show discussing one of the great moments in sports history....Tiger winning the 2019 Masters. ESPN's Mark Schlabach was in Augusta and called in to talk about it. Kevin talked about the no suspension for Reuben Foster. NFL Draft analyst Dane Brugler/The Athletic was a guest on the show with his latest mock pick for the Redskins. Caps, NBA Playoffs, and a Game of Thrones recap ended the show. <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, I am here on this Monday with Aaron. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to windonation.com and tell them that we told you to call. Okay, quick tweet, Aaron, to start the show so we can get a ruling on how to handle the Game of Thrones discussion. This was from Greg, and Greg wasn't the only person. to ask us to at least give a spoiler alert before we start talking about the previous nights show. This was his tweet. He sent it on Friday.

He says, What's the Game of Thrones policy going to be on the Kevin Shian show podcast? I know you are going to want to talk about each episode. HBO etiquette says you have to wait a day. And Tom Leverro is not going to sit through a dragon-laced recap. That's true. That would be really fun if we tried. Yeah, he said, will there be a regular Wednesday segment?

I had no idea there was an HBO etiquette thing. Is that a real thing? I don't know. That's a real thing. That can't be a real thing. I don't know. That's a real thing. Here's my take on it.

At least, especially for this final season, when it comes to premiere TV like this, you treat it like a live event. This is something, it's not a movie. It's not something you have to pay to see. It's no different than the Masters was yesterday. Somebody could have recorded it and missed it. Someone could have recorded it and tried to avoid it. Right. What we will do, though, we'll save it for the very end of the show.

Get all the sports out of the way and save it for the very end of the show. I think that's a reasonable compromise. I mean, we'll do it on Mondays, end of the show, spoiler alert provided in advance. Yes. That'll make it easy for those of you that care and just as easy for those of you who don't care about the show. By the way, I put something together. It will be very clear when we're about to start talking about. Game of Thrones, so you can bail. Very good.

Last 10 minutes or so of Monday shows then for the next six weeks. Just a short tease, I liked last night. And not everyone did, but I did. All right, that's a quick tease, and you can save your thoughts for later on. We'll start the show with sports, and we'll start the show with Tiger Woods, which I think watching that yesterday was one of those memorable sports watching moments of my sports watching life. I don't want to exaggerate this at all, but I think when people say about a sports event,

I'll never forget when yesterday was one of those. I'll never forget the day that Tiger Woods won the Masters after 11 years without a major. I'll never forget that, and I think most of you will never forget Tiger Woods winning yesterday's 2019 Masters. I mean, there's a lot of those I'll never forget, you know, taking the local stuff out of the equation, like none of us will ever forget that we're around for it.

Rigo's run in Super Bowl 17. I mean, there are lots of Redskin plays and no one's ever going to forget the caps of winning the title. You know what? For sports fans, I bet Ovechkin's one of those moments. I'll never forget when Alex Ovechkin finally won that Stanley Cup. You know, I'll never forget when Hank Aaron beat Babe Ruth's record, or Ali beat Foreman, or The Miracle on Ice, or NC State beating Houston or Villanova beating Georgetown. In golf, it's, you know, before yesterday it was I'll never forget the 86

Masters and Nicholas's run on the back nine to win the 86 Masters at 46 years old. It's in that category. It is. I don't want to, I don't want to overly, you know, exaggerate it. You know, I don't want to put it, you know, I don't want to put it in a place where it doesn't deserve it. but I think yesterday Tiger Woods winning the Masters deserves it. It moves the needle he does. Tiger Woods does.

Like no other athlete in this country, let alone maybe he may be the biggest needle mover in the world. I mean, somebody may say a certain soccer player playing a certain game would be the biggest needle mover, maybe. The completion of his comeback is the greatest of them all, the greatest comebacks of them all. You know, you can scoff at that and say, well, it's golf, but the man could barely walk three years ago. He's had four back

surgeries. The last one was a fusion of his L5s1 back disc. For those that have had lower back issues, and I'm one of those, I've had two L5S1 surgeries. You know that there is very little from a pain standpoint that compares to nerve pain. It's the worst. He had no quality of life, couldn't sleep because he couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep. He was on painkillers, maybe even addicted to painkillers. He couldn't

leave the house. He could barely function as a human being. The pain was debilitating, and he was trying to do everything he could to just limit the pain so he could sleep, so that he could leave the house. Pain killers, sleeping

pills, Xanax, all of it. I'm not going to make this about me, but I do want to share a story that I've shared before because it, for me, was personal, and it weighs into what we saw yesterday, and my claim that yesterday was the best comeback of them all in terms of athlete comebacks. Some of you remember that listened to Cooley and I on radio. He showed up for his tournament at Congressional, the PR day, which was a few months in advance. This was about three years.

This was three years ago, and we had scheduled an opportunity to sit down with Tiger and record an interview. Our show was over, and we recorded the interview, and he walked up to where we were, and he started walking over towards our table, and there was an uncomfortable look that he gave towards the chair that was seated in front of us, and he looked at the chair, and he looked back at the person that had walked him over. I guess it was somebody from his group. And I got up because I knew exactly what he was referring to. The chair had no back. It had no back to it. And he wasn't going to sit there. And I said, don't worry.

You're not going to sit in that chair. I'll go get you a more comfortable chair. And I went and found another chair for him to sit in. And while I was away, CJ or Coolly or somebody said, Kevin's had multiple back surgeries too. So when I got back with the chair, he asked me about it. and that started a 20-minute conversation with Tiger Woods about our back surgeries. I had had two L5S1 dyskeptomies.

He had already had three of them, and the next one was going to be, and I remember saying it to him, I said, if you need it again, it's going to be a fusion, right? And he said, yeah, the next one's a fusion. And we talked for 20 minutes about our respective back surgeries and talked about how much the pain affected and impacted his life from picking up his kids and holding them. His kids were young, which, by the way, parenthetically, is one of those motions that can completely wreck your lower back. I remember when I was going through it too. My youngest was still young, and you had to be careful about bending down and picking them up.

In fact, Jason Day in the opening round of the Masters the other day, threw his back out. You know how he did it? picking up his young son or daughter, one of his young children. So Tiger that day talked about how he hoped that his most recent L5S1 surgery would be enough. But he wasn't sure, and I remember him saying when I asked him about the fusion, I said, is a fusion surgery next? He said it would be, I'm trying to hold off on that because if I have that surgery, it probably means I'll never play competitive golf again.

And the fusion surgery is supposed to take away a certain level of explosiveness that you have with that lower back. But he said, if I get there, I'll have to get there because I have to be able to live more comfortably. Anyway, I'll never forget that conversation. And I told him, by the way, before we ended up starting to record the actual interview, I just said to him, I go, lots of ice. And he just smiled and said that ice packs had become. become his best friend. So this is the greatest comeback story ever from my perspective. Ali won a title at a very old age, but he beat Leon Spinks. Peyton Manning appeared to have an

injury that wouldn't allow him to throw a football again. That was a remarkable comeback in the first year in Denver, and the numbers he put up were amazing. When they won the Super Bowl, they did it with primarily defense. Jordan came back after two years of trying to play baseball, and he was still at an age and still athletically gifted. Agassi, Andrei Agassi fell out of the rankings and fell so low in the rankings that he had to play satellite tournaments before returning to the main tour for what turned out to be a monster second act of his career. Actually, it may have been his third act.

And it was unexpected, but he was still relatively young. By the way, Agassie's career ended in part because of age, but mostly, in part because he had major lower back issues going on towards the end of his career. Tiger Woods had to take shots, had to take painkillers, had to take, you know, high level, you know, anti-inflammatories just to function. We're a year and a half away from him not even being able to swing a golf club. That was just a year and a half ago. This is the greatest comeback ever. And it was completed yesterday. He's been in the process of making it the greatest comeback ever just by competing at the level that he's been competing at. Remember, he was in the lead at the British Open last summer on the back nine, and Molinari ended up winning that tournament.

He shot 65 on the final day of the PGA championship in August and nearly beat Brooks Kepka from behind. He won the season-ending tour championship in Atlanta. You know, it was already close to one of the greatest comebacks of all time, and he just completed it yesterday. It was an amazing sports moment, an amazing sports moment. From a year and a half ago, not even being able to swing a club, from having to go to a surgery that a lot of orthopedics would tell you, took away a lot of his explosiveness, and some doubted that he'd ever be able to compete, you know, at that level. they did say, I remember we had actually my orthopedic surgeon on the show, and he's become a good friend of mine, and he said, he'll be able to play golf again. It's just a question of whether or not he'll be able to get it to the point where he can play at that level, although he didn't discount it.

A couple of observations from the tournament from Tiger's Day yesterday that I didn't want to forget to mention. First of all, I'm surprised that Molinari fell apart. He appeared to have a bit. He appeared to been a machine for this entire tournament. And by the way, coming into this tournament, he's been playing so well. He won here for his first winner ever at Congressional last summer and then went on to win the British Open and he's been, you know, he's been a monster every since. I was really surprised. He fell apart. You know, he hit it in the water at 12 and then hit a branch that knocked it into the water into the creek at 15. And he was done. I mean, he went from a two-shot lead to a two-shot deficit in a few holes. I was also very surprised that Kepka missed the putt at 18. I thought he was

going to make that putt and force Tiger at par 18 to avoid a playoff. At the beginning of the day, I felt Kepka was going to win. He's become the clutch performer in the sport. He had won, you know, three majors in the last seven, two of the last three coming in. And he had had some injuries. He didn't play in the Masters last year. He looks to me like the guy that's going to win. He's in six, seven majors. Not 14 or 15, Tiger got his 15th, but I thought most of the day

the winner would come from either Kepka or Molinari. I really didn't think watching it that Tiger was going to win. I was hoping it was a compelling watch, but the tournament really changed at 12. When Kepka first in the group before, Tiger, Molinari, and Fiena,

Kepka hit it into the water, and then Molinari did as part of Tiger's group, and Tiger hit it on the green and two putted for par. Second observation about yesterday is that Tiger didn't win in fluke fashion. You know, terrible weather, or the best players were out of the field, or most of them didn't play well. I mean, Rory didn't play well this weekend, and he was a prohibitive favorite, and Rose was either the second or the third favorite,

and he didn't make the cut shockingly. But Tiger won against many, many of the young ones. playing great. Kepka, Dustin Johnson, Day, phenow, ROM, Xander Shafle, who was in it, Cantley was in it. You know, again, Rory wasn't a factor this weekend, but Tigers survived a push from some of the world's best on the back nine at a major. It was not a gimmy, it was not a fluke, not at all. Third observation about yesterday. In watching this, I was not sitting there on social media. I just, when I'm into something, I'm

not sitting there tweeting about it, unless it's a Redskins game or a game of one of our local teams. My son was, and he's like, he's blowing up Twitter. And I did have a sense, not even being on social media, that yesterday, even though it was a Sunday morning, early afternoon,

that the whole world was watching. You know, it was an odd start because they wanted to beat the terrible storms that came in yesterday afternoon for a lot of people in the southeast, and in the Midwest. But, you know, it just felt like you were sitting there participating and watching something as Tiger took the lead in the back nine, that if you're a sports fan, casual, or, you know, really into it, or just anybody in the world knew what was going on in Augusta, Georgia, yesterday,

late morning, early afternoon. The next observation about yesterday, there is nothing better than a redemption story in sports in particular, especially when that person or athlete has achieved a level of greatness previously that few have achieved. To see that person have a second act, uh, third, whatever, whatever it is, you just, it's, there's something so incredibly compelling about that. It doesn't matter what the person did. Most of us root for that person to fight back and win again. Tiger cheated on. on his wife with waitresses and porn stars and just about anything that moved. And none of that mattered yesterday.

The significant majority of you, the audience, wanted him to win and have been rooting for him since he came back just over a year ago. I mean, Michael Vick did one of the most heinous things ever, something that people absolutely said they would never forgive. Yet many were really rooting for his redemption story when he started to play well in Philadelphia. There really is nothing like a, you know, someone who's fallen, the way Tiger had fallen, personal life, professional life, physical health,

and then comes back from that. People love to watch people, you know, come back from, you know, rock bottom, which he was at in 2009, 2010. The next thing that I wanted to mention, Have you ever seen anybody of Tiger's ilk, one of the most famous people on the planet, a must-watch performer, be such a boring interview? He has nothing to say. The attraction in Tiger Woods is solely in him as the performer.

The attraction to him is his greatness as a golfer. The recent attraction to him. him, as mentioned, is also sort of, what's involved in that is the journey back from rock bottom. That's a big part of how people feel about him now. But watching him pursue it is different than watching him talk about pursuing it. He is truly, truly one of the most boring interviews of anybody with that profile that I have ever seen. Ali was must watch, in the ring and outside of it. Jordan, you know, I know he didn't have a lot to say,

and he was so narrowly focused on everything, but Jordan had some incredible charisma to him. You know, Tiger, in an interview, there's nothing there, man. I'm not saying he's not smart. I think he's very, very bright. I just think he has this very protective shield. Like, it's a very, he's very mechanical in the, way he handles these things. Anyway, that was just an observation. The next one is this about

him and yesterday. You know, the question of, will this lead to more? Nobody knows if he'll win another major, but I think that it's like unquestionable. By the way, all of this presumes health, right? I mean, we're having a conversation about his future, and obviously the assumption is that he remains healthy, because if he doesn't, that he's not going to win anything else. But if he remains healthy. He's going to win more tournaments. I don't know if they're going to be majors, but he's going to win more. You know, he's going to contend at majors. He had already contended at the last two coming into the Masters. He had the lead at the British, as I mentioned, and had a chance to win from behind at the PGA in August. He's now had a legit chance in the last three major

championships. And yesterday, he closed it out and won. I don't know. will it open up the floodgates? He's playing Bethpage next month in the PGA championship, which if you didn't know, has been moved from August to May. Players championship got moved to March. So you're going to have an order now moving forward. Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and then the Open championship, the British Open in order. So the major championships in golf will be over by the time we get to late July. No August. You know, they're not, they don't want to, they They didn't want the PGA championship to compete with, you know, people on vacation. It was the last. It was the least important of the four majors.

You know, believe it or not, preseason football had already started when, and people actually watch that, even though it's the worst product in all of sports, I think. But I don't know. I mean, he's had a chance now to win three majors in a row. Of course he's going to contend. Yesterday wasn't a fluke, as I mentioned. it wasn't against a soft field, it wasn't against some sort of extenuating weather circumstance. Golf is nothing without him to most of you.

And now with him in it, God, it makes next month's PGA championship at a place he's won, Bethpage Black, a must watch. He's won at Pebble Beach. That's the U.S. Open in June. Best thing about a West Coast U.S. Open is you're sitting there watching it into the late, like 10 o'clock at night, it's still going on. On the East Coast, it's a prime time event. I got news for you right now.

If you want to see ratings, imagine the prime time ratings of a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach with Tiger in contention on Saturday night and Sunday night. That will be the all-timer. He's at 15 now. You know, Jack's at 18. And now that's really what the rest of this is about. will he get to Jack's 18. He's 43 years old. He's got three more majors this year. He's got five to seven more years of playing at least four a year, maybe more than that. I mean, that's the thing about golf now. If he stays fit, he's got 28 to 38 more majors in him as a legit contender potentially. And he's only got to get three more to tie Jack? You know who had a good weekend at 48 years old? Phil Mickelson.

He was in it. He was finished after day one. He was in second place. He had a good weekend. I would bet you right now that if he stays healthy, he will in his 50s lead a major at some point, 51, 53, 55 years old. I mean, Tom Watson led the British Open at 58 or 59 years old, whenever that was. What a day. What a day. What a day. Tiger's master's win of 2019 is one of those sports moments as a sports fan that you'll never forget.

Never forget. You're not a golf guy, right? I'm not a golf guy. Were you watching? I was. I was in the press box at Nats Park, and it was funny. It's such a big thing. They even had some of the TVs on the Masters,

and I also pulled it up on my computer. I can only imagine that they had it. I mean, they don't normally put stuff up on the other TVs. Nobody wanted to be anywhere yesterday if they had to be other than in front of their television watching Tiger do this. I still, going back to my first, you know, point, I'm surprised he won. I didn't think he was going to win. I thought he needed to be in the lead after Saturday. And he was in the final group, which was a big step to get into that final group. And the only reason he was in the final group was because of the weather. And he got into the

the final group because they went to threesomes, teeing off front and back nine to get the final round in before the weather, the expected weather was to come through. If it had been normal weather, he would have been in the next to last group. Fienau and Molinari would have been the final pairing because Fienau got to his number first, first in, last out. Tiger would have been in the next the last group. I wonder if that would have changed things if Molinari and Fee now had been able to go around without Tiger in their group. You know, there was clearly, you know, there is an impact to these players when they play with Tiger. Now Molinari came through it at the British, you know, over the summer. But Tiger, I felt going into it, needed to be in the lead. This is his first major

championship coming from behind. The previous 14 were either with him in the lead or tied for the lead in the final group on Sunday. Anyway, an incredible sports day. I loved, by the way, just loved it that it started at 9 in the morning yesterday. It was great. Oh, I definitely liked that a lot better. I know it's not good for ratings, but it was great as a viewer. Yeah, I don't know.

Have the ratings come out? Yeah, apparently it was a point lower than last year. Yeah, I mean, the time of day was going to impact that for sure. They also replayed it. It re-aired it, but most watched it in the morning. But I'm sure that I wonder if there is a way they could combine the re-airing with the, whatever. I love, the British Open never rates well because it's a morning telecast. But from a convenience standpoint, what's better than waking up on Sunday morning and watching the Masters?

It was great. We'll get to Mark Schlebeah, who was there. Mark, of course, has been with ESPN forever and has been one of their key college football writers forever. I've had him on the podcast and the radio show talking college football, but he covers golf for them as well, and he was there. And we had Scott on last week. We had Sands on Friday. I'm going to, Scott will be on again Thursday,

so we'll talk a lot about the Masters when he's on Thursday. And we're going to try to get Barry at some point, who is there covering it for the post as well. Quick word about Windonation. It's Windonation's Spring Cleaning Sales event right now. Are your windows having issues, cracks, hard to open, unusual moisture or are you just window shopping? If so, call Wind Donation today and schedule a free in-home estimate. There's no risk of free in-home estimate. Wind donation will save you

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Every window is backed by a company with an A plus Better Business Bureau ranking and over 10,000 positive online reviews. These are the main reasons when donation has installed over 4,000,000, 475,000 windows in more than 80,000 homes, including mine. I've had Window Nation install windows twice over the last 10 years, and many of my listeners on radio and the podcast have done the same, and it's worked out for all of us. Harley, Aaron, Eric, I want to mention them because they are friends,

and I know how good they are at running a company and what great entrepreneurs they are. And I also know that these savings won't last long, but if you call 86690 Nation, that's 86690 Nation, and mention my name, they will take good care of you. 86690 Nation. Also go to windownation.com. All right, let's bring in Mark Schlebeah, who has been always one of my favorite guests talking college football over the years. He was in Augusta covering the Masters yesterday for ESPN and ESPN.com. And I want to just start with this because I've spent some time already here this morning,

talking about it from, you know, a sitting on my couch watching it from the television standpoint. And it is one of those moments for me as a sports fan that I'll never forget. You know, it's in that category of incredible moments. What was it like to be there? You've been at a lot of big sporting events over your career. What was yesterday like? It was probably at the top. I mean, I've been there before when I was with the Atlanta Journal.

I was there when Ben Crenshaw won. I was down on field. won the first time. I was there when Tiger 1 in 02. I was there for Game Norman's collapse. I think I was in college at the time. You know, and I've been to Super Bowls, and I was there for game

six when the Cubs won the World Series, and I'm a huge. So that was huge. But, I mean, just the you know, just the backstory of what he's come back from, some of itself inflicted, you know, at that place, which I think is the most special place. You know,

morning venue on earth and just listened to the galleries and the patrons roar every time and the way he did it coming from two shots back at the start of the day. I think he was down three after 11. You know, it's good for golf. It's really good for the PGA tour. I think to see guys like Bernhard Longer and Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson, you know, waiting around to congratulate him, I think they know what it means. I mean, it's, you know, the ratings speak for themselves, speak for themselves, the interest, I think will be back up. And now, you know, we've got a race or a chase to see if Tiger can catch Jack Nicholas with 18 majors. We'll get to some of that here in a moment. Watching the tournament, I felt like I didn't believe that Molinari was going

to break. He did at 12. And I definitely didn't think that Kepko would miss. that put at 18. In fact, the whole day as I'm watching it there with one of my three sons, I just said, it's going to be Kepka at the end of this. This dude just seems unbreakable, unflappable, and as clutch a performer as there is in the sport right now,

which of those things surprised you? I mean, did you have a similar sense watching it, or did you think Tiger was going to prevail eventually? Ultimately. You know, we were sitting there Saturday, and one of my editors said, you know, you should start writing a Tiger wins.

column and I was like he's not going to win and then you know I watched how the rest of the day transpired where you had four or five guys within striking distance and tiger it was just a couple of shots back and it's just in my gut you know I just felt like it was going to happen that you know it was meant to happen it was meant to happen for him it was meant to happen for golf and so I started writing Saturday night and had the column ready to go right when the putt fell in on 18 but you know Mollinarie was the biggest surprise to me because the dude is an absolute machine. He won boge in the first 54 holes. I think back on Thursday, you know, he made putt after putt after putt through the front nine, the first nine. And it just seemed like every time

you thought Tiger was maybe going to get a stroke, Molinaw, I drained one from 12 or 15 feet. And to see him plunk it in the water on 12 and then clip the tree on 15, you know, it was really surprising. he has been, you know, since the open championship last year, probably he and Rory, the two most steady players in the world. You know, and I wrote Saturday night when we were picking who we thought was going to win. I picked Tiger, and I said that, you know, one guy was going to sleep better than everybody else, and it was going to be Tiger Woods because he's been there, you know, five times. And he knew, you know, he's been there four times.

He knew what it took. He knew what it was like to play in the front of galleries where the patron. are 30 deep and windy conditions with the storms coming in and, you know, his course knowledge and just having played it so much and won there, I think he's what put him over the top. But I agree with you. Kepka, Kepka's stud. I mean, you know, he may get Pebble Beach. He may get best days.

But that guy, you know, he doesn't get enough respect. And he'll be the first one to tell you he doesn't get enough respect. And he just seems to thrive off of it. You mentioned about some of the players who were sitting there waiting for him. was sitting there waiting for him. That was a surprise to me, but Kepka was there, and I thought Tiger's embraced with him was as warm as any of the other players. Did anything, did any of that surprise you people who were there, and was it a surprise that someone wasn't there? Or did you not give it much thought?

There was so many people. You know, I think that thing people don't realize, and I wrote about it in my phone, so gosh, you guys, two years ago, Tiger thought he was. done. I mean, he had that spinal fusion surgery and basically had to come back from scratch. And the first time he said this week, the first time he hit a driver, it went like 90 yards and he was afraid to take a full swing. And it was guys like Ricky Fowler and DJ and J.T. and Kepka, guys like that who were playing rounds with him down in Florida just to get him back into the rhythm of playing and playing competitive golf. And, you know, I, you know, I, you know, Charlie Hoffman said this week, he's a completely different person.

And, again, you know, a lot of the stuff he went through was self-inflicted with his ex-wife, the DUI, and some other things. But, you know, I think it humbled him. And they say he's a completely different guy. You know, he talks a lot more to his playing partners when he's in tournaments. He's a lot more interactive with the fans. He's more friendly with the media. I think he is a changed person. And I think that's what humility does to you.

I think he's learned a lot over the last few years. All right, let's talk about what's next. I think all of us that have watched, and since his comeback a year and a half ago when it started, I've missed very little of each round he's played everywhere he's played. And last year was so exciting at the end in Atlanta. And, you know, when he had a chance, legitimate chance with the lead on the back nine against Molinari

at the British and had a chance with that 65 on the final day against Kepka at the PGA. So he has contended, but I think so many people thought, you know, including me, is he going to actually come through and win a major? By the way, I don't think anybody doubted that he was going to win a tournament, especially after seeing him last year in a couple of those key spots early on when he actually did contend. But what do you think, moving forward? I mean, is Jacks 18 now much more?

range than maybe you thought it was before. You know, what's the postmaster's 2019 Tiger Woods career look like? I mean, he's won at Beth Page, where they're going to have the FGA next month. He's won at Pebble Beach, where they have the U.S. Open. He won about 15 strokes. It was a long time ago, but, you know, he said yesterday that when he won in Atlanta, the Tour championship,

that it proved to him that he could win a tournament, and then this past week proved to him that he could win a major, So I think he could grab Bethpage. I think he could grab Pebble Beach. I don't know that World Port Rush fits his game real well. I don't know if anybody knows because it's never been played there. But, you know, I just, I think you could get one more. But I think, you know, I don't think Brooks Kepka or Rory McElroy or Dustin Johnson,

you know, Jordan Speed can get his game together. Those guys are going to just step aside. But I think if he can get one more this summer, you know, I think he's got a legitimate chance. And, you know, he's 43 years old. I think he's got five or six more years in him if his back holds up and he doesn't have any other health issues. You know, Mickelson's about to be 49.

And he's going to be a factor every time he goes to Augusta. So I think, you know, I think, I think Jack's record is in danger. No question about it. Yeah, I mean, the thing about the sport, you know, obviously all of this conversation, you know, assumes health, because if he's not healthy, that changes everything. But if he's healthy, he's 43. He's going to play competitive golf, meaning four majors a year for at least the next five to seven years. And we know with this sport that we've had guys in their 50s at the top of the leaderboard, you know, whether it was couples,

you know, or near the top of the leaderboard at Augusta. I mean, hell, Greg Norman and Tom, Tom Watson was late in his 50s. I think he was 58-59 when he had the lead on the final day at the British, you know, whenever that was 10 years ago. He's going to have so many chances, Mark. This isn't a sport where, you know, age that the end is coming that, it's not that, the end age-wise is still in the distance. Yeah, if he, if the knees hold up and the back hold, the back holds up. but, you know, he played, you know, what was he, 44th in driving distance this week. Right. I mean, this is a guy that used to hit it 40, 50 yards past everybody,

and I think he's adapted his game and adjusted, and he's relying on, you know, Tita Green and he's relying on his putting, and that was the big question for me coming into the week was the putting just because he hadn't really putted well when he had played so far this year. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be fun, and I'm glad I'm covering golf now in addition to the college football, because it's going to be great. Yeah, I mean, you've got two of my favorite sports to cover. What's more likely that he gets to number one in the world again, or he wins, I don't know, two more majors? I think the majors, I just don't know if he'll play enough to get to number one. I think he's going to pick and choose.

I think he probably goes to Charlotte before the PGA, but, you know, I don't think he's going to be playing as much as the young guys. I think he'll get, what, is he six? Did he go to six this morning? Yeah, number six. Yeah, 12 to six. I mean, you'll get in the top five, but I still think there's a lot of good players. I think Justin Rose had a terrible week.

He's going to be up near the top cap, good macroa with, you know, guys will keep playing. These young guys coming. I mean, it's only a matter of time for Azander Schaftley or, some of those other guys that were up near the top. You know, it's deep, and there's a lot of talent. I just don't know that there's a dominant player, and I think that gives Tiger a chance. All right.

Yeah, we'll finish up. I'll finish up with a college football question. Is it going to be Bam and Clemson again next year or not? I think they're the two favorites. I think certainly Clemson with Truggle Wars going back in quarterback. You know, I said before last season, I thought he would win two Heismans at least, and I think we saw last year that he's certainly capable of that. I think as good as DeShon Watson was, I think Trevor Lawrence is a generational player.

I just think with the size and the arm strength and the mobility and his confidence, I think, you know, he's going to give points in the shot. They've got to replace all those defensive linemen, which isn't going to be easy, but I just don't see anybody in the ACC who can really compete with them. Alabama, you know, Tua's got to stay healthy. I think he was banged up at the end of last year. I think they replaced their entire secondary. You know, I don't think they're as talented as they were, maybe five years ago.

I think the recruiting slipped a little bit since Kirby Smart left and Jeremy Pruitt left and some other guys and a huge number of new coaches again this year. But, you know, I think Alabama's probably one in the SEC. I think Georgia's probably two. And Georgia's just got to prove they can be. family get over the home. And Ohio State's going to have Justin Fields as their quarterback next year in the Big Ten, which will be interesting to watch. I always love catching up with you on college football, but really enjoy the conversation about Tiger. You were lucky enough to be there yesterday. I can only

imagine what it felt like because the electricity at the end there was incredible watching it on television. Thanks so much, Mark, as always, appreciate it. Thank you. All right, thanks to Mark, someone who was there. yesterday at Augusta. I'm going to get to Ruben Foster next. Quick word about launch workplaces. If you live in the Bethesda Chevy Chase Upper Northwest D.C. area and you don't want a long commute, and it's too hard to get work done from home, check out the new launch workplaces in Bethesda. They've got affordable private office solutions so you can get work done. It's a beautiful new space, fully furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks, high-speed internet, and a lot more,

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240, 86714, or visit launchworkplaces.com today. That's 240, 86714, or launchworkplaces.com. All right, let's get to Ruben Foster. The league announced Friday that it will not suspend Ruben Foster. No suspension. Very surprising to me. I predicted he would get suspended. I thought he would, even after the charges were dropped for the Tampa situation.

The league found that Foster did not violate its personal conduct policy, but they did fine him two game checks for violating conditions that the league required of him after he was suspended for the two games last season to start the year in San Francisco. So Ruben Foster, no suspension. I'm going to start with this. The no suspension in the moment makes Bruce Allen and the Redskins look good. you know, it makes them look right. There's really no other way to spin it. You know, Tommy's going to be on with me tomorrow. I know he's got a spin of his own. He wrote a column.

It's hysterical. And we'll talk more in depth about why he thinks there's still red flags everywhere, and there are, but for different reasons from his perspective. But it's really hard. I don't even think Tommy would debate that Friday's news, that Ruben Foster wasn't suspended, made the Redskins look good and right. It really did.

It doesn't mean they were right, but it makes them look right. And for them, I can promise you this. There was celebration. You know why? Because while they had some level of confidence that this latest situation in Tampa was really nothing that would come back and haunt him in the way of an arrest,

and they thought that he would be vindicated and that they would look good for what happened in Tampa. They weren't totally sure. They took in picking him off waivers a risk. They were one of only 32 teams to do it. They took a PR hit. They took a business hit. But they believed in the moment that it was worth the risk. And for now, it looks like that.

that risk has started to pay off. So I will start this conversation by acknowledging that no suspension for Ruben Foster makes Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder in the moment look right, look good. I mentioned those two because I don't think anybody else was involved in the decision. They loved him in the 2017 draft, and when he became available, they did some quick due diligence, got comfortable enough after talking to some of his former teammates who were also Redskins? All right, and they did. They talked to some of them.

They talked to Sean Dionne Hamilton. They talked to Ryan Anderson, guys that were in the position group meetings and knew him. And they got comfortable enough to claim him. It's paid off so far in the form of his availability, his immediate availability. He will be available to the Redskins with no suspension. We'll see if it pays off in terms of performance. That's still to come. You know, for those, by the way, that thought it was stupid to claim.

claim him because he's not even that good, I said at the time, those people are wrong. He is a talent. I think he's got a chance to be a very good player. Of course, that implies that he stays out of trouble. Now, while I believe that Friday was a good day for Bruce and Dan, it still doesn't change the fact that they handled it poorly. These are two separate conversations. Some of you struggle with this, so I'll say it very slowly. The conversation is, the conversation. The conversation about how they handled it is different from the conversation about them doing it. Don't tell me what I said and didn't say back in November. I know what I said and I stand by it. I never presumed guilt or innocence. It was never about that. I didn't think the skin should be the

team claiming him on such short turnaround. I thought it was the wrong thing to do. All right? They've proven themselves right and they've made themselves look good in the moment by the fact that he was, that the charges were dropped and the league didn't suspend him. I thought it was too much of a risk. I was open to the possibility that the Redskins knew more than anybody else because of his Alabama connections with teammates in their locker room. I said there was a chance that they maybe had information that could fully exonerate Ruben Foster. but I also said at the time that I hated the way they handled it. I hate the way they handle a lot of these things. I think they're cowardly in the way they handle a lot of these things, including the

Scott McLuhan situation and the anonymous leaks to the post. They did smear him in the post with anonymous quotes. They did. That was the wrong way to handle it. Understand this, though. They were justified in their termination, and it was proven. The wrongful termination suit against the Redskins was not successful from Scott McLuhan's standpoint. point. The Redskins prevailed on that. I predicted that at the time, even though at the same time, I thought it was incredibly mean-spirited and low rent with the anonymous leaks to the post about a guy that was really struggling with alcohol issues. Now, on this particular situation, at the time, it was much more about the Redskins' handling of it. I hated the way they handled the Rubin-Foster thing.

They stuck Doug out there, and he messed up and then had to apologize. I believed and said at the time that Bruce should have gotten out there or Dan, but more likely than not it would have been Bruce as the team president. Dan doesn't speak. He's a recluse. Bruce should have gotten out there and face the media man to men and women and said, we did this because we want to win. He should have owned it. And by the way, he'd look even better today if he had owned it. We did it because we believed he could have.

help us win, period. If he did these things he was accused of, he'll never suit up for us. Our signing of Ruben Foster doesn't mean we condone domestic violence. Not even close to that. We don't. And then he could have listed the various charities and the events that Tanya Snyder and the team and everybody have supported over the years. But he should have come out and been direct and said the league's going to conduct its investigation and they'll tell us if he's eligible. And he might play for us down the road if he's eligible. He might not. He may not meet our requirements. But you're going to rip us regardless of whatever we do. And our only goal right now is to win football games. It's the only way out of this mess that we've gotten ourselves into over a decade plus. We think he can help us win football games if he's innocent of these charges. Questions. That's how it should have been handled. I didn't like the way they handled it. I also didn't like the risk they were taking. I was with the other 31 teams that didn't take the risk.

I don't think the Redskins should have been the team taking the risk in addition to I thought the risk was too high. But for the moment, right now, you have to say, I don't think there's another position to take that the drop charges and the no suspension by the league is a result that makes the Redskins right now when it comes to Ruben Foster, like they were right to sign them. Again, doesn't mean that you can't have a problem with the way

it was handled. It was handled cowardly by Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder, shoving Doug out there. There were other ways to handle it. They have not gotten that part right. They may have gotten Ruben Foster right. He can play. He can absolutely play. And you put him at inside linebacker, maybe with Sean Dionne Hamilton, and Payne and Allen in front of him. And who knows, Ryan Anderson on the outside? And I mean, it's just this defense, Landon Collins in the back, you got a lot of Bama players. You got a lot of players that have been very successful in college,

and at least two of them so far in Allen and Payne have been very successful, or at least at the beginning, it would appear, of successful NFL careers. Ruben Foster is a talent man. He is a talent. The Redskins made this statement that was very, very, to me, I liked it in that they did not self-congratulate at all. That would have been the worst mistake to make if they were, you know,

trying to shove this in the face of people that said that it was the wrong thing to do. Self-congratulation for them should never happen. There's nothing to congratulate themselves about until they start to win. And I'm talking about winning in January and February, which hasn't happened in years. to be exact 14 years since their last playoff win, right? 14 years, right? It was 2006, January 2006, when they went to Tampa and won. That's their last playoff win.

So it's going to be 14 years this coming year. But they also talked in their statement about a lot of things that Ruben Foster has to do and some restrictions. And it was a very protective written press release about how. how despite the fact that there's no suspension and the charges were dropped, they are still going to pay attention to the issues that he's had and try to be protective of them. Now, Tommy wrote something about, well, if there's nothing to worry about, why do you have to be so protective?

But we know why they have to be protective. He's had multiple arrests, charges, et cetera, in just a few years. So this is a guy that's gotten into some issues. Now, this particular issue with this particular woman could be as much about her, even mostly about her. But we also know that the Northern California district attorney, after she recanted those first, on the first charges, they all thought that she was beaten by him in that first thing, but talked about how victims of domestic violence often end up being put into that position of having to recant for a lot of reasons. But anyway, netting it out,

Hard to argue that Ruben Foster, no suspension, makes the Redskins look anything but right in the moment. As far as football goes, again, not to beat a dead horse, he can help. He can help a lot, and it looks like he's going to be able to help from day one. Predictions, I'm not going to predict, because you know what? The truth of the matter is, it's 50-50 on him moving forward. It's 50-50 on the personal side of it. Would any of you disagree with those odds right now, that there's a 50% chance that he never has another issue, and there's a 50% chance that he does. Most of you would put those odds heavily in favor of more likely than not,

there will be another issue. So it's 50-50 at best. As a player, hopefully, you know, he performs, which he can. He's got terrific talent, and maybe this was the perfect team because of the relationships he has with his former college teammates. Maybe this is the team he needed to go to to get his act together. You know, we talked about Tiger's redemption story. Certainly this wouldn't compare necessarily,

but rooting for second chances has always been something that I think is human and empathetic. And certainly anybody that's rooting against him has something wrong with him. I hope it works out for him. All right, that's that. All right, we're going to do a ton of draft talk over the next two weeks. We're actually 10 days away from night one of the draft. and Dane Bruegler, who is a draft analyst for the athletic. He joins us now.

Dane, thanks so much for making time for us. I want to start with Redskins-related stuff, and then we can move on towards everything and everybody else. First of all, they've got nine picks in this draft and lots of needs, yet much of the talk among fans of the team, the fan base, is whether or not they'll use one or some of those picks to make a move for Josh Ruff. or potentially move up to take a quarterback earlier in the draft. What's your guess on what the skins do at quarterback as of 10 days before the draft?

Well, they're in such an interesting spot because they don't have a top 10 pick. They don't have a top 5 pick. You know, they're picking squarely in the middle of the first round. And so, you know, they're kind of at the mercy of the first 14 teams in front of them in terms of pilot quarterbacks come off the board. how many quarterbacks are available, is the right quarterback there? Do any of these quarterbacks, you know, impress them enough where it's worth packaging ticks to go get your guy?

You know, there's so many different variables here with the Redskins and how they're going to attack this quarterback situation because, you know, obviously with the current depth chart the way it is, you know, I don't think that they feel overly confident in that. but, you know, is Josh Rosen a possibility? Or do they have their eye on one of these quarterbacks, whether it's a Drew Lox from Missouri, Daniel Jones from Duke? I think the toughest part about, you know, when you're doing a mock draft or you're trying to project these picks this year

is just figuring out what the quarterbacks are going to land. I think we all feel semi-confident that Kyler Murray will be the first picked Arizona. But, you know, at this time last year, we felt confident Sam Donald would be the first pick of the first. Cleveland Brown, right, number one. So, you know, we just don't know. And after, just say, Kyla Murray does go one, who's the next quarterback off the board, and where does he go?

Is it top 10? Is it the Giants at 6? The Broncos at 10? The Bengals. I mean, it's really a guessing game at this point trying to figure out where these quarterbacks are going to land. And the Redskins are right there in that mix. So it's really hard to have any confidence about how they're going to attack the quarterback

position. in this draft, whether it's going to be in the first round or maybe they wait until the third round and get a Will Greer or someone like that. So, you know, it's really hard to have any confidence. Even, you know, we're under two weeks or just almost, yeah, under two weeks now before the draft. And even now it's hard to have any confidence about it. Where would Josh Rosen be on your 2019 draft board of quarterbacks? He'd be number one, but the Josh Rosen discussion is difficult because I'll be the first to admit that all of us on the outside looking in, we only have so much information in terms of how to evaluate the quarterback position

because so much it's an intangible position. You know, so much depends on, you know, how he interacts with his teammates, you know, the leadership skills, you know, how he does during the week. And, you know, more so than any other position where, you know, you can really go based off the tape and what you hear and all that. But with the quarterback, you know, it's why Patrick Mahomes coming out of Texas Tech was such a difficult evaluation for everybody else because we don't know how he did on the whiteboard. We don't know mentally where he was in his development when he was coming out of college.

And that's kind of with Josh Rosen. The tape, there's a lot to like. There's a lot to like about the skill set, physical skill set, what he brings to the field. But there's also some questions about, you know, just the leadership, how he interacts with his teammates. and no one has a better idea of that than the Arizona Cardinals who had him in the building the last year and I'm a good understanding of how he does in those situations. So while I do believe that he would be the first quarterback, you know,

on my board in this draft, we only have, you know, so much of the information and it feels like there's pieces of the puzzle that are just missing for those of us in the outside looking in. You know, you just mentioned something that's so true for those of you who do this and those of us, that follow it and talk about who we like and who we don't. And for the teams as well. But on the outside looking in, we don't get the chance.

You don't get the chance to do the due diligence required to make sure that you're not just drafting a guy with great physical talent, but you're drafting a guy that loves football, that's going to work at it, that's going to be a good teammate, that has leadership ability, all of those things that, you know, as an example, the Redskins completely whiffed on when they made the massive trade in 2012 to trade up for Robert Griffin III. They missed on all of those, you know, for the lack of a better description, psychological, you know, due diligence checklist items. And so we're all guessing, like we've heard so much about Rosen and his interests off the field

and does he really love football and he comes from affluence and all of that stuff. But we don't really have any idea. But what you're saying is on the physical side, he would be your number one quarterback in this particular draft. But, like, you know, I think it's just a fair point. This is such a crapshoot for all of us. And it is to a certain degree for the teams, too, and they get a chance to talk to these guys and their coaches and their teammates.

Right, exactly. And, you know, I do this for a living. I mean, I do this 24-7, 365 days out of the year. I am watching tape, working on players, you know, working my contacts throughout the league. And, you know, I'm not arrogant enough that they're not. things that, you know, I can nail these quarterbacks because, yeah, like we said, we're just, there's a piece of the puzzle that we're missing because we don't get to fully understand where they are in that mental development and just how they interact. And because, again,

quarterback, it's a CEO of your franchise. It's more so than just the physical traits and what they do on the field. It's so much, such an involved position. It's an intangible position. So much goes into it. And so, yeah, it can be difficult because like you said, even teams that spend a lot of money, a lot of resources with psychologists and, you know, just all these different resources at their disposal to figure out what makes the quarterback tick. And, you know, just coming from the college level to the pro level and what they were asked to do in college and how different that is compared to the NFL, you know, it's so involved. And, you know, that's kind of the discussion with Kyler Murray.

You know, he's coming from an offense that was tailor made for him in a conference that didn't play defense. And so that's more so than just the size and some other factors. That's a bigger worry for me. It's just how he's going to translate coming from that offense at OU with Lincoln Riley and going to face the speed of the NFL and an offense that maybe isn't perfectly tailored to his skill set. So the quarterback position is so fascinating. And, you know, the Redskins are right in thick of it. What's fascinating is what you also said earlier, and that is at this point last year, everybody had Sam Darnold, you know, essentially is the top pick, and then it became Baker Mayfield. And for, you know, a month plus, maybe two months now, there's been this assumption that because Cliff

Kingsbury is the coach in Arizona, that the Cardinals are going to take Kyler Murray. What percent chance do you give it right now, 10 days before the first round, that Kyler Murray is the first pick versus we get a lot, so much happens here over the final 10 days, and it's a complete shift and it ends up being someone else? Yeah, and, you know, it's tough. I would say 75%. Okay. You know, it's, you try to kind of be very weary of what you hear this time of the year

because there's a lot of misinformation out there. But, you know, I think the fact that, you know, there's so many breadcrumbs here. The fact that Calder Murray chose the agent that he did, sharing an agent with Cliff Kingsbury, that is not a coincidence. You know, the fact that. that the Cardinals are an organization that have shown they're not afraid to move on from a decision. Just they made a year ago.

They fired their head coach after one year, brought in Cliff Kingsbury. And not to say that Josh Rosen wasn't just a total failure, but if they see an opportunity to upgrade at the sports, at any sports, most important position, then it makes sense that you would do that. And so, you know, I get why they would make this move if they feel like it's an upgrade at the sports most important position. So right now where we stand, I will say 75% chance that Kyler Murray will be the top pick. All right. Let's go back to the Redskins for a moment because I said we were going to start with the Redskins.

And then I got sidetracked based on some of the things that you said. But right now, if they stay at 15 and they don't trade and make a trade with any of their other picks to try to acquire Rosen, right now, and you can read and subscribe to the athletic, by the way, where Dane Bruegler has, you know, his mock drafts out there. But can you tell us right now in your latest mock who you have, have the Redskins taking at 15? I went with D.K. Metcalf, a wide receiver from Ole Miss, who is just such a physical freak. He's unrefined in some areas as a route runner. You know, he was only asked to do so much in an Ole Miss offense.

But, you know, when you run up 4-3 and you're 6'4, 230 pounds, you just, you have these physical gifts that can, there's so much potential there. And it's really hard to find an apples to apples comp for a guy like D.K. Metcalfe because he is so freaky. He's almost like a beefed up Ted Gibb, you know, because he has that vertical speed where he can take the top off of defense. But he also has a size. He has the size where he can box out and use that length to take, you know, give the quarterback, you know, a huge passing window that DBs can't really affect. So with D.K. Metcalf, I think it gives you a lot of options. I think, you know, right now, he's going to go somewhere in that 15 to 25 range is my guess. And, you know, I think the Redskins, that's one area that they're looking at, you know, helping the wide receiver position. I think pass rusher is something that I looked at there as well. That they're going to be right there in the mix in the mid first round for a Brian Burns, Cleveland Farrell. Those could be options as well.

but in my latest mock, I went with the wide receiver. On Metcalf for a moment, because you use the word unrefined, I think that's what you said. Chris Cooley, who was my partner on radio for a few years and comes on the podcast usually once a week and does a lot of his own sort of film breakdown in preparation for the draft. He essentially referred to Metcalfe in the same way. He said that they're just more natural wide receivers out there, including A.J. Brown, his teammate at Ole Miss, and they're better hands catchers than D.K. Metcalf. And they're just guys that look more like natural wide receivers than Metcalf does as a physical,

you know, with measurables, you know, kind of a guy that just, you know, did incredibly well at the combine. You see that in him. Is he the first receiver on your board? Would he be the first one taken at 15? Or would Marquise Brown go before him? Or someone else? On my board, he's the first one. My top 100 board, I actually have D.K.K. Metcalfe, Marquise Brown, A.J. Brown, very close together.

D.K. Metcalf is 27 overall. Marquise Brown's 28. And A.J. Brown, I believe it's at 31. So I'm not a huge fan of taking a receiver in this class in the top 25. You know, I think there's excellent value waiting to the second round, third round, finding some talent in the receiver position. but, you know, with D.K., I think that, you know, everything that, you know, we said is correct because it's, you watch this tape and it's just a high volume of vertical routes, you know, go routes, curls, comebacks, those types of things. Didn't really, you know, there wasn't any complexity to what he's doing out there. And it's going to take some time for him to learn that, you know, needs to just fine-tune some things.

And you're also the fact we're in the medicals, three years at Ole Miss. Two of them ended prematurely with a season-ending. injury. Most recently the neck injury. So, you know, that's just something that the doctors want to sign off on as well. And that kind of brings us to Marquis Brown, who had to lift spring surgery in January. He's supposed to be full go before training camp and over the summer. But, again, 166 pounds, long-term durability. The question, you know, it's where do you feel comfortable taking a player like that? Explosive ability that he brings off the charts. I mean, he's basically a Deshawn Jackson type of performer with that vertical speed, his tracking skills, the

start-stop quickness is really, really a weapon that you can use all over the football field. But the size, the durability, that's something you have to factor in. And AJ Brown, I think that I think you're right. I mean, he's one of the more natural guys. And he was basically a slot receiver at Ole Miss. That's how he was used, but very natural route, very natural hands. You see some jujuice and Schuster in what he does. So I think there's plenty to like about him.

And his athletic profile for a guy that's six foot and a half, 226 pounds. So a really well-built kid. And he ran a 4-4. You know, his three cone with seven flat. So, I mean,

solid times for a guy that size. A.J. Brown, he is worth a first-round pick, in my opinion, in this draft. But, again, none of these receivers are top 25 picks in my mind. But it'll be interesting to see where they come off the board. I think Washington at 15 might be the most realistic spot for the first receiver to come off the board.

One more on the wide receivers, because I want to go back to the pass rushers that you mentioned here in a moment. But on the wide receivers, you mentioned Marquise Brown as a Deshaun Jackson look like. And I've said about Brown and Campbell that both of them, Paris Campbell also, just remind me of Deshawn Jackson. And, you know, the Redskins had Deshaun Jackson here for a few years. And they have missed him dearly. him and Pierre Garsohn, quite frankly, since they left. I don't know what Garsohn had left after he went to San Francisco, but Paris Campbell, to me, out of all of these guys, at least based on all of your mocks, yours and everyone else's, he's the guy that could be available for him in the second round. Do you agree? I think there's a good chance.

Paris Campbell goes in the first round. It's just, you know, I think 22 to Baltimore is a possibility. I know they like him. They're trying to look at their wider. position and how they can help Lamar Jackson. He comes in, Paris Campbell comes in at number 43 overall on my board. You know, he's a guy who was that H-back in Irvine's offense, that Percy Harvin type of role, a lot of jet sweep, a lot of screens, bubbles, you know, underneath patterns.

So the question was downfield, can he track the football, can you run vertical routes? We know he has the speed, but what he did at the combine and not just the 40-yard dash, but positional drills, the way he did run downfield. and track the football and catch the football. That really impressed evaluators. And so I think Paris Campbell more so, I mean, the 4-3-1 was obviously outstanding, especially for a kid that's 6-foot, 205 pounds, well-built. But what he did in the positional specific drills,

that's really what I think caught the eye of evaluators and why he's being talked about as a top 40 pick. All right. On the pass rushers, you mentioned Burns, you mentioned Farrell. The Redskins, Dane, have not had an edge. speed rusher in forever. Ryan Kerrigan's a power rusher, Preston Smith, you know, sort of the same thing. They haven't had a fear-inducing edge pass rusher in so long, and it's been something that's really hurt them over the years. I'm wondering of the guys that could potentially be there at 15,

who's the best speed rusher that could be there at 15? I know Burns has certainly got edge speed and explosiveness. Who else in this draft or among your top guys are speed rushers versus power rushers? And I'm talking about true outside linebacker, three, four von Miller types. I mean, not a von Miller, but somebody approximating the kind of player he is with that, you know, explosive speed. I mean, really, it comes down to Brian Burns. It really does. I think Nick Bosa, Josh Allen, Montess, Sweat. We'll be gone. Good chance those three guys are gone somewhere in the hot 12 picks. And then you're looking at, okay, where's Sean Gary go from Michigan?

He's not exactly that speed rusher, but, you know, he has a lot of traits that are appealing. Cleland Farrell from Clemson. We haven't seen him. He hasn't run a 40, this pre-draft process. He got a turf toe. He just, you know, he's not that quick twitch guy. That's not who he is. It comes down to Brian Burns.

I mean, that's his forte, athleticism. He can stand up in space. He can move around. He has that instant burst, dip around the corner. There's a lot to like about what he brings to the table, especially the fact that he came into the combine of 250 pounds. That was a big question. What was, you know, he played around 220, 230 during the season,

got up to 250, and his testing numbers did not, he did not have to sacrifice that athleticism to get up that weight to 250. Now, can he hold that weight at 250 and still perform at a high level? That's something we don't necessarily know at this point. But I think there's plenty of like about him as an athlete. He was productive. He had over 10 sacks this past year as a junior for a Florida state team that really had a poor season, not a lot of talent on defense.

But Brian Burns is a leader for that squad. So he has one of the biggest wings fans in this entire draft, 83 and a half inches. So there's a lot to like about Brian Byrne. If say Brian Burns is off the board, say he goes, you know, one pick or two picks before the Redskins pick, Cleland Farrell, you know, they could go in that direction. You know, he's, ironically, he reminds me a lot of Preston Smith. Right. I think that's kind of who he is.

He's not necessarily the quick-twitch rusher, but he's well-built. He understands how to use his hand. He does a nice job breaking down the rhythm of blockers with, you know, more than just the athletic tools. He understands. He has a pass-rush plan. He understands what he's doing out there. So, you know, I think there's plenty of like there. But again, if they want that more, that quick-twitch guy, then maybe they're waiting to the second round, and you're going to go after maybe a Chase Winovich, you know, a guy in the third round, Max Crosby.

But if they want a speed rusher in the first round, it's probably Brian Burns or bust. You know, I've been looking and reading all of these mocks and, you know, who the hell knows, obviously. But I'm hopeful that there's still an outside shot that sweat could fall to 15. I don't see it happening. he's the most, I actually think he's as explosive and maybe even a bit more explosive than even Josh Allen is. I don't know where you have those pass rushers ranked at the top of the draft, but sweat would be an unbelievable get if he fell to 15 for the skins. Oh, there's no question. He's number seven overall on my board. I think he's a legitimate, authentic. There's so much to like about what he brings to the table from size, speed, length,

point. You know, he had some demons in his past. You know, he didn't laugh long at Michigan State because of a lot of weed issues, you know, just didn't get along with the coaches all the time. And so that was the kind of divorce that needed to happen. But you talk to people at Mississippi State, and they talk very highly of who he is. And so I think there's plenty of life about Montess sweat and his maturity and kind of the player he's grown into. The heart issue is something that will be looked at differently by different teams, the heart condition that was flagged at the Combine. I talked to a team that told me that it's not going to affect them. The doctors consider it a low-risk condition. So, you know, is that something that could maybe drop them

a few spots? It's possible. But I would be very surprised. Not only is he a top 10, top 12 caliber player, but he plays the most important position on your roster besides quarterback. So those guys, those premium players go high. It would be a long shot to see him available at 15. Do you have Allen rated ahead of him or not? I do. I have Bosa one on my board. Josh Allen's three, and then Montes Sweat 7. But those would be the top three pass rush. I want to talk about safeties for a moment because the Redskins have a need there. I loved watching the Mississippi. Part of why I loved sweat is I thought Mississippi State had the best. defense in the country and the most entertaining to watch all season long. Is Abram a guy that

he'll be there at 15? It seems way too early for a safety in that spot, but give me your safeties and how high they go. I think there are at least four or five of them that are potential Redskins picks in the second round. Yeah, and Abram, he leaves a little bit to be desired in coverage and what he's going to bring you there. But he plays with so much energy, flies around the football field. There's a lot to like about just the presence that he brings. Watching him on tape was very fun. He's a fun football player to watch because he genuinely enjoys the energy that he plays with,

working with everybody. There's so much to like about Abram. But, again, he's not someone that you're going to trust as the lack line of defense in past coverage, making plays in the football. ball. That's just not really his game. But again, that's why he's viewed as more of a early second rounder and not a lot first round pick. So a lot to like about Jonathan Abram. If he's there in the second round, I think that'd be a terrific pickup. Second round is really a sweet spot for these safeties. Chonty Gardner Johnson from Florida, I think the best nickel in this class. He played

strong. He played three. He played nickel. They called it the star position at Florida. So he's done a little bit of everything. The aggressiveness he plays with the ball skills, the toughness. Really like that. Taylor Rap from Washington, that 479, it was a 478 official 40 at his pro day. That's going to knock him down a little bit. And so there are teams in the mid-second round kind of pumping their fists when they saw that 4-7, thinking that, okay, rap might be an attainable player for us now in the mid-second round. Juan Thornhill from Virginia's in that mix, Deontay Thompson from Alabama. So that second round is really a sweet spot for these safety groups.

I got a chance to see Darnel Savage, Jr. play a lot here with Maryland. And I'm not surprised that he's flown up the boards after workouts, et cetera. He was a playmaker at Maryland and one of the few that they had defensively. Where does he fall for you? Where does he go? Is he a third round? Is he a second-day guy or not? He's definitely a second-day guy.

I have him, like a late two, early three. there's so much to like about him as a defensive back, whether he's going to play corner, he can play safety, he can play nickel, can do a little bit of everything. I think the size worries you a little bit. He's under 5-11, he's under 200 pounds, but the speed that he plays with,

watching him on tape against Ohio State, watching him on tape against Texas, he showed up. And that quickness to the ball. Sometimes he's a little late seeing it, but he more than makes up for it because he's so quick to that speed, he closes so fast on the football, he'll make plays. So, you know, Darnel Savage might not be a top 50 pick,

but he's going to come off the board right after that, somewhere between 50 and 70, I would guess, is where Darnel Savage is going to hear his name called. All right, a couple more, and I'll let you run, and I appreciate the time. Would it be too early at 15 overall if the Redskins selected Hawkinson, the tight end from Iowa? Not at all. I mean, I think Hawkinson is a top 10 player in this draft. He's one of the cleaner prospects. He's a high floor. It just comes down to, you know, do you value the tight end enough?

Will he make that impact on your team? Are you going to use him so if you can justify using that high of a pick on him? And I think as long as you can justify that, you can't go wrong taking T.J. Hawkinson and 15. I mean, if you had a, there's no such thing as a, you know, a can't miss player in the draft. There's no such thing. But if I had a bet on any one of these players in this draft, he's near the top of the list. Because as a blocker, as a pass catcher, he's a high character guy, his Iowa coaches, just rave about him. They're just, he's a very clean player. It's hard to see T.J. Hawkinson busting and, you know, for a lot of reasons.

So if he's there at 15, I know it might not be the, the, you know, it might not be the, the sexiest pick, and there's some questions about, okay, do we value tight-end enough to take him there? But I think you're just getting an outstanding football player. On the corners, who do you have ranked as your top corner, and is there any chance that player is there at 15? Yeah, I think there's a good chance that we don't see a corner off the board in the first 19 picks. I think there's a good chance that we don't see the first corner drafted until 20, the Steelers. The top corner from me is Byron Murphy from Washington. but he doesn't have ideal size at he's under 511,

and he ran a 4-5-5 at the combine. So it's short and you don't have ideal speed. I think he makes up for it because of his instincts, his toughness, the competitive nature, just everything else that he has, but because he doesn't have the height, because he doesn't have the length, he doesn't have ideal speed,

that's going to knock him on a lot of draft boards, but a team in the 20s is really going to get a good football player. This corner class is really interesting. Greedy Williams has his warts from LSU. I really like Rocky Asin from Temple. Wouldn't shock me if he's the first corner drafted. So somewhere in the back half of round one, we're going to see these corners come off the board.

And if anybody's guess the order, they come off the board. Who's the longest armed corner in the draft of the top guys? At the top guys, I believe it is, I mean, Rocky Sin has 32-inch arms. Justin Lane from Michigan State. I think he had 33-inch arms. So he's a former wide receiver. They moved the corner.

Still getting things worked out, connecting the dots. There's some spacing issues there. But because he's 6-1-5, because he's a really good athlete with 33-inch arms, I think he's right there in that top 50 mix. Someone's going to take the upside pick with him. All right. Lastly, sorry, one more question. Just give me your quarterbacks in order.

And, you know, it's this way with every draft. it seems like or the quarterback conversation. This one's really interesting because I'm hearing, Kooley came on here a month and a half, two months ago and he said the guy that will drop significantly before the draft starts. He sat there for six hours and watched tape. He said, Haskins is going to drop. He's not going to be the second quarterback taken. It'll be lock. What do you have right now? And give me just sort of the projected coming off the board. order. You know, yeah, it really is tough.

I think because Dwayne Haskins, to me, he's my top quarterback. And because I believe in the arm. I worry about the lower body. I worry about his ability to find those second chance throws to maneuver through, you know, a confined pocket. Those are legitimate questions. And in the NFL, you know, there's really no such thing as a clean pocket. I mean, you have to be able to navigate through the mess.

that's all the noise. And I think with Haskins, you saw him get better as a season went on, but you're talking about a small sample size. And I think his issues are more experienced-based, not talent-based. So I'm trusting the arm with Haskins, not just the velocity, but the accuracy. I think it's above average. So I'm going to bet on that. But I think that, you know, Cooley's right.

I mean, Haskins wouldn't be surprised at all if he's the third quarterback drafted or the fourth quarterback drafted. Opinions just all over the map on him. Small sample size is definitely part of that. But there are a lot of Drew Locke fans, a lot of Dana Jones fans, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And that's so true with these quarterbacks. And so it's really the wild card of the first round

of where these quarterbacks are going to land. And it's going to be a lot of fun on Thursday night, first day in the draft, to see where they do end up. Dan, this was great. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate it. Followed Dane on Twitter. Twitter at D-P-B-Brugler, B-R-U-G-L-E-R.

He writes for the Athletic, subscribe to that, and get his mock drafts and his draft analysis. Really appreciate the time. Anytime. Enjoyed it. All right. Thanks to Dane Bruegler. We'll continue to do a lot of draft guests here between now and next Thursday. Quick word about the podcast. If you haven't rated it, haven't reviewed it on iTunes. If you'll do that, that would be really helpful.

also subscribe really helps us doesn't cost you a thing and mention to people that the Kevin Sheehan Show podcast is also at the Kevin Sheehan Show.com which is an easy way to listen. It really doesn't matter how you listen as long as you listen.

It just helps us if you listen for a portion of it every day and most of you listen for a significant percentage of it every day which is nice so we appreciate that. But again, review and rate it. That really helps us on iTunes or anywhere else you've got the opportunity to review it and rate it. All right, before we get to the Game of Thrones episode one, season eight recap, our conversation about it, let's do a little bit more sports with weekend DVR.

Did you have a busy weekend? Don't worry. We've got you covered. It's time for weekend DVR. All right, start with the Caps who got the overtime win on Saturday to take a two-nothing lead. I think the biggest shock in of hockey, though, is the fact that Tampa Bay is now down 3-0 to Columbus. And this is the nature of this sport. You know, whenever we've had these conversations in the past and people say, you know, you talk about the results in the postseason being random way too much. It's not that random. Well, it's the only sport, the only one in terms of long form with best of sevens,

baseball, NBA, and hockey. Anything can happen in a one and done. But it's the only sport where eights regularly beat one. like it happens every few years. Does Detroit have any chance against Milwaukee, or do the Clippers have any chance against Golden State? Zero. And you know who had a better regular season than Golden State and Milwaukee?

Tampa Bay in the NHL. They're down three, nothing to Columbus. But back to the caps, and that overtime win on Saturday. You know, that was, I think what we've seen in these first two games, and you can correct me if I'm wrong. I think we've seen two fairly even teams. You know, the hurricanes got behind. They've gotten behind now in both of these games early on.

In game one, three to nothing at the end of the first period. It was two to nothing at one point yesterday. And they've come back, and in the case of game one, they had multiple opportunities to tie it up and force overtime in game one. They did it yesterday, and then the caps got a Brooks, sorpic goal in overtime to win it. He's been sensational in these first two games for the Caps, game three tonight in Carolina. Yeah, I definitely agree. It's definitely been even. There's been some alarming things for the Caps. As good as they've played, especially the two-way hockey thing,

the power play has not been good. It was better in game one. They scored on their first two opportunities in game one. They also had a couple ones where they had no shots. Then yesterday, they had the five-minute major where they didn't look good at all on that one. So it's been a little hit or miss throughout, but overall, not much to complain about. Yeah, two even games. I think caps in game one at one point really didn't, you know, they carried the action for that one stretch in the first period and that turned out to be enough. What a pass by Kuznetsov, by the way, in the game winner, which came early in overtime. And Baxter, already off to just an incredible start to this postseason. Three goals now for Baxter, and he had an assist on the Wilson goal that

gave him the lead in the third period on Saturday. So Caps and Cains, Cain's playing their first home playoff game in 10 years. That's going to be a crazy invite. Tonight, it will be. But the Caps now looking ahead, I mean, they've got the Islanders who are in total command of their series against the pens of 3-0 in that series right after their win yesterday in Pittsburgh. So right now it looks like Barry Trots and then who knows in the Eastern Conference Finals. I mean, the path seems to be opening up for another Stanley Cup run for the Capitals. They've got to win a road game. Get a split here, come home and win at 4-1 seems like what may happen here.

I don't know. Carolina's been feisty in these first two, and these series change quickly. Like, I'm saying that it's over in the Tampa Bay Series, but it's really not in hockey. It's really not. Tampa could still win four in a row. It's happened. Well, when's the last time that happened? I mean, the Caps did it last year. Caps did it last year. In the first round?

No, they weren't down three-nothing. Oh, three-nothing. Four down three-nothing. I thought you were just like four in a row in general. I mean, was the most recent three-nothing hole, the Red Sox over the Yankees or not? or was there one in hockey more recently? I don't know. I would have to look that up, but yeah.

Other things from over the weekend, you know, I watched the Nats, you know, load up the bases with one out and not be able to knock, you know, the game-tying run home against Pittsburgh. They lose that series, two of the three against the pirates at home. And there was one other thing I was going to mention

sports-wise before we get to Game of Thrones. Will Wade? Oh, yeah, Will Wade? My God. Will Wade. it was just snuck in there. Will Wade, the LSU coach, reinstated. Yeah. I don't know when they put that press release out, but I saw it this morning. I thought it was earlier in the day when it turned out. It was 10 minutes before the Game of Thrones premiere.

Was it really? That's when they put it out. That was definitely planned. Yeah, because Will Wade, who basically, you know, paid players, or at least we thought he paid players, has been reinstated at LSU. I thought he was definitely going to lose his job at LSU, but has been reinstated as the LSU. basketball coach. So there you go on that. Oh, the other thing. It was the NBA playoffs from the weekend. That was the other thing. I nearly forgot to mention that. And I have a feeling a lot of you weren't watching a lot of the NBA, but I know some of you do, like I do. I'll be honest with you. I was watching so much of the Masters both days that I missed a lot of the NBA games. I did watch

Golden State and the Clippers. Man, was that a feisty affair? A whole lot of jawing back and forth. I mean, any game that includes Patrick Beverly is always going to have some level of high level, you know, over the top competition. But he really tried to get up into Durant. He tried to bother Durant all night long. They both got tossed late. Man, Durant falls for the bait so easily. And I think sometimes tries to be Mr. Tough guy. He's not Mr. Tough guy, and he doesn't need to play Mr. Tough guy.

He got tossed from that game, two technicals. And I think it's six. If you go beyond six, you get suspended a game in the playoffs. I also saw some of the Magic Raptors ending. You had on Saturday three of the lower-seated teams win. Three of the road teams won on Saturday. Yesterday you saw a typical playoff score. I mean, when was the last time in the regular season?

You saw 84-74, but that's what the Celtics beat the Pacers by. I thought the Thunder were on the wrong side of so many calls in the Portland game, which is really the only game I watched kind of start to finish of the playoffs. And bottom line in that game is the Thunder shot 5 for 33 from behind the arc. And Paul George was awful in that game. He was also hurt going into that game. But Portland wins for the first time. And they've been swept in their last two playoff series.

So they win a playoff game for the first time in a while. Anyway, you had the four games on Saturday, the four on Monday. And now we get to that stretch of the schedule where you've been. barely get any games. You know, you get series that could have been over in a week and a half that lasts two plus weeks, or certainly right around two weeks. I think there are two games tonight. All right. Let's get to the Game of Thrones, which you've been waiting for. I'll show, as have I. And go ahead and play the spoiler alert that you put together for it. There it is. That is our Game of Thrones, spoiler alert.

So if you haven't watched it, now's the time to go back and listen to another part of the podcast. Or maybe Friday's podcast or Thursday's podcast. You can do that too. We're going to do this at the end of the show. And we're giving you fair warning to check out now if you haven't watched. I can't imagine that people haven't watched it. That had to be among the highest rated television shows of all time last night, I would think. Certainly for cable. Yeah, I was going to say, certainly for cable.

Have we gotten any ratings information on it? I haven't seen it yet. but between streaming and that it has to be ridiculously high. All right. So here's what I want to do. I want to go through this in some semblance of, with some semblance of structure because there were so much. We could just go for an hour and throwing out lines and stuff.

And I want to keep it to, you know, 10 to 12 minutes here. And I'm going to start with a high level question to you. I liked it. And I mentioned that at the beginning of the podcast. A lot of people that I know did not like the first episode of the final. season. What did you think? I liked it overall. I understand the people who were disappointed by it, knowing that there

are only six episodes in this season. I didn't think that they could have done the typical first episode, which is what they did. They did the kind of the table setting episode where stuff happens, but really it's just, all right, we're putting the pieces in place and this is where the pieces are going forward. I think you wanted, or people wanted something a little bit bigger happening, knowing that now there's only five episodes left, and a lot has to happen in those five episodes. I liked it because at every turn, there was something else there that we had waited two years for. Now, they did get a lot into it. The only thing I think we were waiting for that we didn't get last night, and maybe it was too soon to get all this. And if that's the criticism of the

first episode, have at it, because you'd be accurate. I'm just not overly critical of it. I'm just not overly critical of it. I guess I didn't really care where I got it and it didn't feel rushed to me. There were a couple of scenes that seemed a little bit awkward and maybe it's because they were rushed. But the only thing we didn't get in that first episode, we got it at the very end, but how it plays out will be told in episode number two is Jamie's arrival in the north. I mean, we get him and Brin staring each other down. That's a good shot. And it's such an interesting show in that that is like, you know, a first, so much of what this last season is about ties back to the very first episode of the series in season one.

You know, it really is amazing. Think about, and the second thing I wanted to get to were all of the reunions last night. In all of the reunions, many of those reunions stem from the last time they saw each other were episode one, season one. You know, John and Aria as an example. Um, but the Jamie and Brand staring each other down at the end of the episode ties back to Jamie trying to kill Bran in episode one season one. And by the way, a significantly pivotal moment in the series. Almost every pivotal moment came in episode one off of episode one. And then of course, you know, a significant, you know, moment was the last episode of season one, and that was Joffrey deciding to behead Ned Stark.

But pushing Brand off that cliff and him surviving started everything. Yes. When you think about it, it started everything. So that came at the end. That's the only thing we didn't get resolved last night. And when I say resolved, in terms of, you know, things we were expecting to see in the first few episodes, which leads me into sort of this second topic, which is. the reunions. You know, this is going to be a matter of personal, you know, feeling. I thought

one of the most emotional moments of this series was when Sansa and John reunited. It was so, you know, it's that sibling thing, big brother, younger sister, and there was no reunification, a reunion, I'm sorry, more anticipated than John and Aria seeing each other. They had not seen each other, since the first episode of this series in season one, which established this relationship that they had, which was Aria just in love with her bigger brother. Not in love in the same way that much of the other parts of the series. They were the closest of any of the siblings.

They were so close. And she was a baby. And they didn't, last night was the first time they had seen each other since the first episode. And that was the part that I thought was a bit unrealistic. in that she watches him and DeNarius come in and he doesn't see her. And then they've got the big meeting with Sonsa and John and DeNarius with all of the leaders in that room in which, you know,

a little finger was, you know, sliced apart. And, you know, Lady Moormont had stood up, you know, King of the North, the whole thing. We've been in that room multiple times now in the last few seasons. Mormont also got some great lines. Yeah, she did too, again. But that room, Aria, wasn't there either. It took until halfway through the episode to get John and Aria, and then it was

even a bit awkward in the way they sort of interacted, but it was emotional, I thought. It was definitely emotional, and it was definitely awkward, and I think part of it was kind of to show that, you know, both of these people had grown so much. Yeah, she had the line that was like, you know, you look shorter now because I've grown so much. Right. And then his response, you know, they talk about needle is like, have you ever had to use that thing? They've become such different people. And she says, she says, once or twice. Right. They've become such different people that, you know, it was meant to foreshadow that they have because their relationship can't be exactly the same. But because of that, it also was a little bit awkward. It was, but it was also when they, you saw Aria, like Sonsa did, just run to John and jump into his arms. And that is, you know, that big brother, younger sister, you know, and what the two sisters have been through, through seven years. I mean, is just, this is why I think, you know,

so many people love the show. Is that, and I've tried to explain this to two of my good friends, Tom and Scott, who mock me for watching this show, that, and this is for others that don't watch it, you may not be into fantasy shows, these kinds of shows, but it's so much less on the fantasy, and so much more about the characters. That's what makes the show great.

It's the characters and their journeys, and their relationships, and their desire for power and their quest for power and all the things that happen, it's not about really dragons and white walkers. They're important to the story, don't get me wrong. But it's these relationships that you've been waiting and watching. I don't know, the reunion of John and Ariah was emotional, although awkward,

I will grant you that. The reunion of Ari and Gendry and Ari and the Hound were also interesting. I love that scene. That might have been my favorite scene. With The Hound or with Gendry? Just that whole scene with the two of them there and going from the one where it's, you know, he kind of had the begrudging respect for each other. Yeah.

And then two over to Gendry where it's, you know, I have almost the sexual tension there between the two of them. Well, the discussion between the Hound and Aria was, I mean, that relationship was so odd because he was a protector to Aria. At the same time, he was hopeful that Ari was going to bring him a lot. lot of gold. Right. You know, at the end of, she was, she was, you know, she was an asset for him. But their relationship through those seasons, or that one season was, was interesting. Then there was Sam and John, you know, and their reunion. That was, and how about Sansa? And remember, you know, in terms of number of episodes, it's only been a few episodes since John left to go south. Right. And ended up bending the knee to Denarius. But his return was also,

also important for Sansa again. And of course, John's return brings DeNarius and Tyrion to Winterfell. I love that scene. What, the Tyrion and Sansa scene? Yes. Yes. That was a great scene, which also produced, I think, one of the more revealing things about what may be to come. And that is, Aria tells John that Sonsa's the smartest person that she's ever known. And remember, this comes in total episode counts of three or four from when we thought Aria might want to kill Sansa. Right. All right. And John knows that Sonsa is smart because she saved the day in the battle the bastards by bringing in Little Finger in the Vale.

So you know that she has figured these things out here over the last, you know, eight episodes, you know, a year and a half of episodes of she's now grown into, you know, an adult woman with. power and it's now becoming apparent that she was incredibly smart to survive. She had these incredible intuitive survival skills. Remember, in the first couple of seasons, she hated the Lannisters, but played it the right way to survive, which took brains. You know, even Tyrion had recognized that she was, you know, fairly clever. But the scene in which Aria says that, and then she says to Tyrion, you really think Cersie's coming north with her troops? I used to think

at one point, you were the most clever person I knew. Yeah. Right? That was the line I'm paraphrasing. It was something like that. She knows. She's the only one, apparently, that knows. Jamie's going to tell everybody in the next episode, but she's the only one that's figured it out.

So, of the reunions, that was the next category of things. I liked, I mean, however awkward, however late and improbable. Because I think one of the first things John would have been looking for when he returned is, where is Aria here? But he didn't.

He waited until she found him, which seemed improbable. But anyway, that was an emotional moment. Yeah, I mean, it was all just really, really good. And then like you said, it's really the backbone of what this show is built on is the character relationships. But, you know, again, like as good as it was, it also kind of the table setting. there, all of those little conversations set the table for what I think we're going to get big time next episode, which is how do the past relationships now apply in this new world, basically.

Well, clearly there is tension between Sansa and everybody in the North and DeNarius and the Dithraki and everybody that she's brought with her. Not just everybody in the North, but Sam as well. And Sam as well, and John, with Sam, for sure. Now that Sam knows what he knows. Well, but it's basically everybody versus Dineris at this point. Yeah, and Circe's sitting back there, you know, now having relations with Uron, Greyjoy, which is just, he's such a repulsive figure in this thing.

And by the way, just as a side note, I was happy that Theon got back. We expected that to happen too, and it wasn't a significant part of the storyline, but to come back in Free Yara. But then Yara to say, go join. essentially your family in Winterfell. Right. Absolutely. Yeah.

But in thinking about that, obviously at this point, well, Sansa will know what Theon did. John still does not believe that Theon's been helpful in any way. Right? Because I think that's right. Anyway, that'll be interesting when Theon gets back. Correct. I wish Theon had stayed with his sister

and figured out how to just, you know, be a force in the Iron Islands. Yeah, or somehow convinced the entire Iron Island fleet to come up. Because I think YAR is a very underrated figure in the series. I've always, she's a badass. She's a badass, but she's been such a shallow character that, you know, I have no real feelings about her. All right, significant events. By the way, the best line of the episode is when Sansa is talking about, you know,

enough food for new armies and the Dothraki and the dragons and she says, what do dragons even eat? And Dineria says, whatever they want. I was kind of partial to Circe. I wanted elephants. Oh, yeah, I wanted elephants. I wanted elephants. Like that was, and by the way, I mean, that was a shallow and very much of a stretch, how he goes from, you know, she goes from saying, when the war has been won, you'll have me, to him essentially talking his way into her

bed. Part of that, though, was showing, I think that was showing her mindset that she has no allies in the war. She has nobody. She has absolutely nobody. Other than Clyburn and the Mountain. Who are Kyber in the Mountain? Caiburn in the Mountain, is it? Exactly.

So even if it's something that she really doesn't want to do, she's just like, okay, I kind they got to, you know, keep allies around. I got to have people close to me. By the way, it's a second time now in two episodes, the last two episodes, the mountain has stepped towards somebody and then step back. Yeah. Because Searcy decided that Jamie would live

and that Yaron would banger that night. And apparently it went pretty well for him, or at least he thinks it did. She at one point says, you're the most arrogant man I've ever met, and I like it. Anyway, the significant events, last night, the most significant event other than John riding a dragon, which everybody says should have been some sort of, you know, foreshadowing of he's, you know, he should know himself

that he's a Targaryen because he's riding a dragon. That never occurred to me. Here's one thing about that as a book reader in addition to the TV show. There have been non-Targarian dragonriders in the world. I didn't know that. Yes. But Sam tells John John, Sam tells John that he's a Targaryen and that, you know, he, and John seems, I mean, he's surprised by it. And what's interesting about John all along is that he's been reluctant maybe, maybe because of the bastard upbringing and the fact that he was always relegated to, you know, sort of second tier. But he almost seems like unwilling at this point to say, yeah, I'm the rightful heir to the throne. This isn't, and what this should be setting up for, but I'm not sure it will, is for him to ask DeNarius to bend the knee to him. And that's what we're going to get to at some point.

After they've had the conversation about how they've slept with each other as aunt and nephew. For her, that shouldn't be a con, like, that's not, she's going to shrug it off. She's going to say, you know, that's what the Targaryans do. Yeah. But this was the one scene I wasn't thrilled with. I thought it was, I thought, I felt it was rushed. Also, I thought it was strange. What, John and Sam?

Yeah. I thought that the way they did it, it was interesting that Sam was more wielding it as a weapon against DeNaris as opposed to, hey, you know, this is who you are. It's, well, right, but he's found, he's not very happy with DeNus right now. Exactly. And they set it up specifically that way. I thought that was interesting that they chose to go in that direction, that it wasn't, you know, them trying to push up. John, as much as Sam, in Sam's mind, it was this is how you bring DeNaris down as you tell Sam this heritage and how he should be the heir to the iron throat, and that brings DeNaris down.

That was interesting, and it was done for a reason that I haven't quite figured out yet. I didn't spend a lot of time trying to think, as many of you perhaps did, where this is going from here. you know, it could be, I mean, you know, the odds on favorite to sit on the Iron throne was Bran, right? Graham and John were kind of. Brand John and Denarius. Yes. Like they were the top three favorites, followed by, I think, Sansa and maybe even Sam.

Aria, I think, was up there a little bit. Yeah, but I think most people think that Aria, if a Stark sits on the throne, unless Sonsa dies, which certainly could happen. But I don't have a prediction about where it's going based on last night. I think right now, I mean, you have the White Walker's bearing down, the Knight King bearing down. That wall got busted down by the dead dragon at the end of season seven. And so how is that war going to be fought? Will Jamie join the group?

Will there be a short-term relationship to beat? down the whites and then somehow figure it out afterwards. Like part of me, to be honest with you, would love to see the threat from the North eliminated as part of the show and then move back to the Seven Kingdoms. And that seems to be where they're heading. We know the fights happening episode three. We know that already. Oh, we do by title?

Yes. Oh, I didn't know that. I think you did tell me that. They've already announced that it's going to be the longest battle scene in TV or movie history. Well, the White Walkers, the Night King's not winning that battle. I mean, can we, it would be

shock if they, if they do, then what happens? Then they go south? The fact that it's the fact that it is episode three leads some possibility to, they have to retreat back to the south. They don't, you know, kill everybody, but the prominent players have to retreat to the south

and then, you know, have another battle. That's possible, too. I guess that's possible. It's the least of the possibilities is that they wipe out everybody in the north, which would include then the Starks, the Dinerius, Jamie, everybody else that's there. Thion

would be back there at that point, and that somehow it's now Circe and the Greyjoys and against the White Walkers. As someone pointed out, you know, they had done so many shades of gray going into, you know, the first few seasons and, you know, there's not one

clear protagonist. Now everyone who's remotely sympathetic is on one side and You have zombies and demons on one side, and you have crazy queens and pirates and all that, you know, all the evil people on the other two sides, basically. There's one very clear good side right now. There is. Anyway, I enjoyed it. I guess I understand some of the criticism, but I didn't sit there at the end of it and feel like some did that we were, you know, two years of waiting, you know, wasn't worth it. I thought it was very much worth it.

And I can't wait for next week. Is next week an hour or two? Yeah, next, it's... The first three are an hour? First two are an hour and then 80. And then we get full-length movie, you know, versions for the final four? Not quite a movie, but 80 minutes for the last four. Well, getting close to me.

Next is going to be awesome because it's all, it's going to be all about Jamie. It's going to be all about Jamie in episode two. Did you catch, I caught like the very first, I try not to watch the next week on, but I call it like the first scene. What if Jamie admits to pushing brand? how is it I mean remember for a long period of time

they thought it was Tyrion I mean Cat thought it was Tyrion to begin with I think the big thing more than that one is going to be Jamie killed Dineris's father Yeah

Like that's going to be the big The Kingslayer My guess based on how they've They've kind of You know Built this as Dineris is now very hot-headed You can't trust her

Especially with the Sam thing is that she's going to want to execute Jamie on the spot and she's going to have to be talked down. Jamie's become, over the years, one of my favorite characters. I think everybody feels the same way. He was reprehensible for the first, you know, year, two years. I really enjoyed cocky, pretty boy, Jamie, though.

Well, I also, I think that there's still, where, Brienne went south. Remember, Sonsa sent Brian South. So there should be a return of Brienne, too, at some point. Yeah. Where is Brienne right now? Well, remember Sonsa sent Brin South right before they killed Littlefinger at the end of season 7. Right.

So, because you don't remember that scene where Brianne says, I need to be here to protect you with John not being here. And so to see Brieen and Jamie reunite would be interesting. Because, you know, I think at the end of season seven, Circe believes that Jamie's leaving for two reasons. He's leaving to basically uphold as the word that he gave, but he's also leaving to go find Brienne, maybe to a certain degree. Brianne was, wasn't she supposed to be with Deneres and John and them? Because she was part of the, the dragon pit. Yeah, so Sonsa had sent her, that's right.

Sons had sent herself, she was there for that. But then the promise is made, the deal is made. John's going to live up to that deal, in part because he made that deal with Brian too. She was there for that. Yes. God, that was such a deal. They played that final episode to season seven before. I did.

I'd not seen that final episode in a while. God, that was good. Yeah. That was so good. I don't know where it goes from here. You know, it's unpredictable. But last night, it was satisfying for me to, and can't wait for next week to see how the whole thing with Jane.

I would think somebody dies next week. Somebody probably dies next week. It could be Jamie. You're right. It could be. I don't think it's going to be Jamie. Jamie has too much for the and and you set up too much with the with brawn having to you know being paid to kill them I think you have to he won't eventually kill him I don't think but you have to give him that choice yeah

and then all the while here come the army of the dead they're they're plotting their way southward with a dragon and a whole lot of people and apparently they like wall art they like it uh all right uh that's it what else do we have from today that was it I mean I had I had significant moments, reunions, and just our overall thought on the show. I definitely would give it on a scale of one to ten.

I'd give it an eight for a season premiere. Solid, solid eight was satisfying, but again, just with only five episodes left, I do want more. Oh, we did forget one other key scene. And that was Braun,

Khyburn basically bribing Bronn with, you know, to kill Jamie and Tyrion. Yeah, that's why I say Jamie and Tyrion have to live to give him that possibility, even though I don't think... Bron's not going to kill him. No, he's not going to. Either one of them.

But you have to have that scene where he has the opportunity to and decides not to. All right, there you go. That's it. Game of Thrones discussion, season eight, episode one, was it more than 10 minutes? It was probably more like 15 or 20? Yeah, I think it was about 25 minutes in there. Whatever. It's a podcast.

We don't have hard breaks in this business. And those are the breaks. We're going to talk about what we want to talk about. Hopefully you enjoyed it. Hopefully you watched it. We'll do the same thing next week, too. We'll hold it off until the end of the show. Thanks to Dane Bruegler, who was on the show today.

Also, Mark Schlebeah. Thanks to Aaron. Enjoy the day.