The Kevin Sheehan Show - Tunsil React + Diggs Wanting #7

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

Kevin opened today's show with his reaction to the Laremy Tunsil injury. He talked about Washington's challenge against a schedule right now that features last year's best defenses. He had thoughts on Stefon Diggs requesting Joe Theismann's #7 jersey. Mitch Tischler jumped on from Asburn to talk Tunsil and more. Javier Gorriti (96.3FM in Portland, Maine) joined Kevin to talk about Diggs last year in New England.   For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match   Search Whatnot—W H A T N O T—in the App Store, download, and you can start selling right away.   Ready to do your own spring reset? Join Thrive Market with my link www.ThriveMarket.com/SHEEHAN for $20 off your first three orders plus you’ll get a FREE $60 gift. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. I've got two guests on the show with me today. Mitch Titchler from Monumental Sports in the J.P. Finley podcast will join me from the park in Ashburn to talk about the Laramie Munsel injury following Mitch, Javier Goretti, who talks Boston sports on a station in Portland, Maine.

We've had Javier on the show before. jump on to talk about Washington's acquisition late last week of Stefan Diggs. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, Window Nation, 86690 Nation if you need new windows. Mention my name, they'll come out and give you a fast-free in-home estimate. You can also go to Window Nation.com. So, training camp couldn't just be a few weeks of boring Twitter play-by-play. A boring Twitter video of Sam Hartman throwing strikes to Jaden Bradley and Nick Nash. Those players are players way down the depth chart in case you didn't know.

No, the news had to get real and it had to get real quickly and very seriously on Saturday morning when Laramie Tunsell got injured. Look, the news at the end of last week was good news. Headline worthy, Stefan Diggs signs with Washington. I think most of us received that in a favorable way. I think there are some of you that don't like it, but my guess is the majority of the fan base really approves of adding Stefan Diggs to the team. But what happened on Saturday morning practice,

Ashburn, the worst kind of headline-worthy news for this time of year. A key player, a very important. player. Laramie Tunsell, tricep injury, four to six months. Four months is best case. That would put him back and perhaps eligible to return to the lineup in early to mid-December. More likely than not, he is lost for the regular season. But he could rehab quickly and be available if they're in a playoff race by the time we get to the 12th month of the year, December, which would be four months from now. You know, every year on radio, I do a number of caller topics around the football team.

I usually have 10 to 12, you know, topic ideas for that particular summer. And there are a couple that are carried over year to year. One of them is a question that I ask almost every year. summer, and I haven't done it yet on radio this training camp. But I'll ask the question, and I'll answer it myself, which player on the team can the team ill afford to lose the most? I would have presented it this summer with, you know, after Jaden Daniels, who can the team, you know, ill afford to lose the most? If I had done that caller segment prior to Saturday, Tunsell would have been the answer for a lot of people.

I think Terry would have been mentioned. And it's not necessarily a question about who is the second best player on the team. It's, you know, who is the player that if they lose that player, it may be because of depth, it may be because of the position the player plays, will it, you know, be felt the most? And I think Tunsel would have been a very popular answer had I done it. I haven't done it yet. I can still do it, but now it's not going to be Tunsel because he's gone.

So after Jaden and Tunsel, who's next? It would probably be Terry at that point, I would assume, for most of you. Look, I know in this league up here, as Coach Joe would say, it's always a next man-up mentality. They're used to it. You know, these injuries happen. They're a part of the league. Every team has to deal with it.

You hope you're not dealing with it as much as Washington's dealt with it. last year and now with the loss of Tunsell. And you hope if it does happen in numbers, it's not your best players like it was last year and here already in training camp. But when it does happen, teams are always, you know, the same in their response. We're part of a next man up league, man. This is what happens. It happens a lot and we are prepared for it.

We'll see if they're prepared for it. but they move on. We are not part of the team. We're observers and fans. We'll eventually move on, but in the moment, we can have a perspective that isn't next man up. And the perspective that I have is this is a really bad injury for the team. It's not a devastating injury.

That would be literally, you know, Jaden Daniels would be the only player in the team that you would say season over if he had a four to six. month injury in training camp. But it's a pretty bad injury for the team. It is a really tough blow to lose arguably the second best player on your team at really one of the top three or four positions in the game. After all of the blows they took last year injury-wise, this is really, really difficult to deal with. Laramie Tunsell was traded for last. Last off season because flat out he was one of the best. Now I'll get into why they traded him some of the

reasons I believe they traded for him last year that are now more applicable because of the player that's going to replace him, Brandon Coleman. But they traded four picks. It was a net of three picks because they got a pick back for one of the better left tackles in the game. They saw, by the way, remember the environment that we were in, you know, last off season. Wow. We were 60 minutes away from a Super Bowl. We're close. We got to take advantage of the rookie quarterback contract. They had already remembered traded for Marshawn Latimore.

There were questions in the offseason as to whether or not that was going to work out. But they really wanted to invest in protecting Jaden Daniels. Tunsell was available. They went out and got him. And then they drafted a tackle in the first round. Josh Connerly, Jr., who was a left tackle at Oregon, but they had plans to play them at right tackle. But, you know, it is interesting to consider that after 12 wins and two playoff wins

and 60 minutes away from the Super Bowl, with a player they selected in the third round of the 2024 draft, Brandon Coleman out of TCU, who played in 15 games as a starting left tackle as a rookie. All of the success, by the way, really attributed. to the offense so much more than the defense, a player they selected and had to be excited about, but they went out and traded for Laramie Tunsell. They went out and picked a tackle in the first round.

That says and said to me at the time, and we didn't know it. As a fan base, we were like, wow, that's a hell of a third round pick. You've got your starting left tackle for the next several years. You know, at least many thought that. it's so hard to evaluate offensive line play for us. You know, you can tell the great ones usually,

but everybody else leave it up to those in the trade to do the evaluating. And they evaluated Brandon Coleman and they said, we got to do a lot better than that. And oh, by the way, we can't just move them to right tackle. We got to move them inside. That's what they thought. There's no doubt they thought that. And then when they moved him inside, they benched him early in the season last

year before week three against the Raiders. And they put Chris Paul in, and Chris Paul never lost the job. Now, does that mean Brandon Coleman is a player they don't think is any good? No, obviously they think he's good enough, or they wouldn't have put him immediately right into that left tackle spot for Tunsell when he got injured on Saturday and say, that's the answer. That's what we have as our answer. They didn't want to shuffle it around. They didn't want to move Connerly Jr. from right to left. Quinn said we wanted the least amount of change possible, and that meant taking somebody like Brandon Coleman and replacing Laramie Tunsell with Coleman.

That meant, you know, Chris Paul, obviously now is the starting left guard. We know that the starting center will eventually be Nick Allegretti. Fingers crossed, he gets healthy faster than he's taken a bit too much time. here in getting healthy. They've got to have him available here for some preseason games to get into some rhythm with not only Jaden but David Blow's new offense and the calls he'll have to make. I think it's going to be a big miss if he's not available and it doesn't look like he will be for the joint practice on Wednesday against the Dolphins. Hopefully he can be back for that joint practice later against Baltimore. If it happens, we'll see if it happens. Remember the Ravens

canceled the last time they were scheduled to do it. But, look, Brandon Coleman is 25 years old. He's in year three, and there could be a lot of maturity now that maybe he didn't have. Because there were some issues for sure with him getting benched at left guard last year, no doubt. And when I say issues, not terrible issues, but issues of maybe playing when you're not super injured, maybe being in a little bit better shape, taking care of your body a little bit better. They saw something in that rookie season that said, we can't risk it that he's going to be the primary protector of our number one asset,

Jaden Daniels. They feel that way now. There are other players out there, Taylor Decker, who's got some experience with David Blow from Detroit, is available, has not signed anywhere. but there's some discussions about him not being completely healthy. We'll see what happens between now and the opener, but for now, Brandon Coleman is going to be the starting left tackle.

Connerly Jr. staying put, Chris Paul will be your starting left guard. You know, Chris Paul credited being next to Laramie Tunsell last year. It's a big reason he played really well in his first major opportunity to be a starter. No Laramie Tunsell next to him anymore. the guy that he's been competing with will be next to him. This has ramifications. You put Laramie Tunsell one of the best tackles in the game, number five on the list of best tackles in the game

when ESPN put out its top 10 list a few weeks ago. Number five in the league, you just leave them out there and say, we're good. Doesn't matter who you're going up against. We're good. Now, they're going to go up against some really good defensive teams. I'll get into that here in a moment. moment. Now you've got a game plan around that if Coleman can't hold up against the best. We got a chip.

We got a double. Now we got Connerley, who may not get the help that maybe he needs. Tough blow, for sure, losing Laramie Tunsell. Fingers crossed. This is it. The season's not over because they lost Laramie Tunsell. I know what they did in 2024 without Laramie Tunsell. We all do. But every years a new year and you don't want your second best player to be lost for the majority, if not the entirety of the upcoming season, especially when you just gave him a two-year contract extension that pays him $30 million a year the highest of any left tackle in the game. What's interesting is last year, the Chargers made Roshan Slater the highest paid left tackle average annual in the game. He got hurt during training camp.

and was lost for the year. This is the biggest injury of the preseason in the NFL so far. Let's hope that for this team, it is the last serious injury before they start playing games. Don't want to do last year again this year. They will miss him. And the Coleman answer, I hope they're right. I really do. I'm rooting for him, and I thought he played well.

But clearly none of us really know what we're talking about. in the evaluation of offensive Wyman because they saw it differently. Not only did they see it differently, they didn't even really feel in the moment that he was good enough to play right tackle. So they went out and drafted that. Big blow.

All right, when we come back, I want to talk about one of the challenges that I don't think's been talked about enough when it comes to the offense and now without, tundsel the challenge up front against some of the teams they will play. We'll get to that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, I want to welcome What Not as a first time sponsor on the show. I have a feeling many of you are familiar with What Not. What Not is the largest

dedicated live shopping platform where sellers are building real thriving businesses. It really doesn't matter what the product is. It can be beauty, collectibles, electronics, luxury fashion, even cookies. Anybody can sell whether your business is big, small, or yet to exist. People selling on What Not sell 10 times more than on any other major marketplaces. That's because you're not just listing products. You're building real connections with buyers. Across What Not, the number of sellers making over a million dollars a year. has doubled. Consistency pays off.

This isn't a side hustle. It's a real path to building something that lasts. What-Nought buyers spend more than an hour a day on the app. They're not just browsing. They're engaged, buying, and coming back. You go live, show off products in real time, and turn what you love into real income. Search What-N-O-T-N-O-T in the App Store. Download and you can start selling right away.

You know how much I love the NFL schedule release in May. Used to be in April. Now it's in May. I do my own mock schedule. I talk a lot about this schedule. The schedule's become a big event on the NFL calendar. People love looking through their own team schedule to see the primetime games, to see if they're involved in any holiday games, etc.

I love everything about discussing the NFL schedule in May. But I stop short of assigning any legitimate schedule strength or weakness to what is laid out. Because I'm a strong believer that every year in the NFL is like its own entity. And things change dramatically. And it's not about who you play. It's about when you play that team. anybody that had Washington on its schedule last year probably said, damn, they're coming off an unbelievable season. The quarterback is insanely good. This is going to be a very difficult game to win.

But of course, injury struck. The quarterback basically didn't play in 10 games and only played four start to finish. And Washington ended up being an easy game on this schedule. We know, most of you know, especially those of you who bet the NFL, you realize that it's really hard to predict what a team's going to be like when you get there. Now, with that said, and in light of the Laramie Tunsell injury, and by the way, I'd throw the Nick Allegretti uncertainty at center right now, Washington right now has a schedule with a lot of very good defensive teams based on how the teams played defense last year, and what they have coming back. Now, again, I admit, may not look that way when we get there.

I mean, Seattle had the number one defense in the league last year in week three. Maybe Leonard Williams and a bunch of their key players are out, and you don't have to face those players. And by the way, defense is variable. It has great variance year to year, and sometimes there's no real reason for it. You know, last year's great defensive teams sometimes end up being not so great the next year. And you can't really figure it out.

Sometimes it's injuries. Sometimes it's chemistry. Sometimes it's a coordinator change. Who knows? But the one thing I would just point out is as of now, the Washington commanders have 17 regular season games. And of those 17 games, 11 of them will be again. teams that were in the top half of the league last year on defense per the DVOA metric. Not only that, Seattle was number one.

They play the Seahawks. Houston was number two per DVOA. They play the Texans. Minnesota was number three defensively in the league last year. They play Minnesota. The Rams were number four. Now, they weren't that way at the end of the year, but the Rams might be the best defense on paper heading into the year.

this year with the addition of Miles Garrett and Trent McDuffie and the return of Aaron Donald, etc. But they were number four last year per DVOA. They're on the schedule. Number five per DVOA last year was Philadelphia. They're on the schedule twice. The top five 2025 DVOA defenses are on Washington's schedule to the tune of six games because you're playing Philadelphia twice. Jacksonville was seventh in DVOA. They've got Jacksonville on the schedule. Atlanta was 11th. Indy was 15th.

And the Giants actually last year defensively were 16th per DVOA. They could actually be a better defense this year. Even without Dexter Lawrence, they've got two games against the Giants. Added up, that's 11 of the 17 games are against teams that were really good on defense last year. Again, no guarantee. And you don't know what it'll look like when they actually get to. the game. But I'll also point out that San Francisco had a lot of injuries. They would have been a great defense. San Francisco's on the schedule. Cincinnati added a lot defensively, including

Dexter Lawrence. They're on the schedule, but they were terrible last year. And without Laramie Tunsell, you know, Washington in part invested in their offensive line after 2024 because they felt like we got to be bigger, stronger, and just better in the trenches, because the team we're chasing Philadelphia is very, very strong in the trenches. So just something to keep in mind. Again, more likely than not what I just mentioned, half those teams are going to suck on defense next year. But two of the first three games, unless Philly and Seattle have a bunch of injuries are going to be tests for this new offense, especially now without Laramie Tunsell on that offense. I wanted to mention one other thing before we get to Mitch Tishler. So,

Stefan Diggs, we talked about this briefly last week. Stefan Diggs on social media basically said he wants to wear number seven. It's his high school number from Good Counsel. He's never worn it in the NFL. He's worn 14. He's worn number one. He's worn number eight. He wore 14 in Minnesota and in Buffalo. He wore number one in Houston and he wore number eight last year. He put out a social media post over the weekend, y'all got to help me. Get the goat, the greatest of all time. Thysman, to bless me with that number seven. That's what he put out on Instagram over the weekend. I do not blame Diggs all for this. It's not his job to know the history of the team or what happened with Duane Haskins and Thysman and Snyder. I know he's from here, but that doesn't mean that

he's a devout historical fan of the team. And that's a number he wants to wear. And he realizes that Joe Thysman wore it, and somebody probably told him Joe's one of the best ever. He's an MVP in this league. He's a Super Bowl champion in this league. And so he requested it. So I've no problem with Stefan Diggs doing this. It would have been great had Stefan Diggs said, yeah, number seven is a number I'd like, but that's Joe Thaisman's number. Of course I can't wear that. It is not, however, on Joe to make a decision about number seven with Stefan Diggs. And I hope Josh Harris and Mitch Rails and everybody else, Mark Eind, I hope they don't make the same mistake that Snyder made with Dwayne Haskins when he said it's up to Joe.

That was disgraceful what Snyder did. As the owner of the team, he had, he was responsible for preserving the historical part of this team. Joe and his jersey number, to me, it's a debatable number as to whether or not it should be retired. I've given you my list many times before. There are seven jerseys that I have always felt had to be retired. nine, Sunny Jurgensen, 28, Daryl Green, 33 Sammy Ball, 42 Charlie Taylor, which should be next years after Rigo's gets retired this year, 44 Rigo, 49 Bobby Mitchell, 81 Art Monk. 21, Sean Taylor's jersey is retired, and I've said many times before.

That, to me, was an owner-parogative situation. I understand it. I don't think on merit, obviously, because he didn't get to play his whole career. but it was a tragic situation and it's a one-off situation. I don't have a problem with Sean Taylor's jersey being retired. I had a problem with it being retired before some of the other jerseys were retired. But 928, 33, 42, 44, 49, and 81 are no debaters. Those jerseys should be retired and now most of them are with the exception of Charlie Taylor.

Rigos will be retired this year. on the just missed but debatable list for me, that list is led by seven, Joe Thysman. This is really easy. This is Josh Harris saying to Adam Peters and Dan Quinn and to Stefan Diggs, no one's wearing seven. He's not wearing seven. That's Joe Thysman's number. And it's a jersey that will be under consideration for retirement.

Even if it doesn't get retired, we are protecting that jersey number. He's got to find another number, period, end of discussion. That's the way I feel about it. This should not be put back on Joe. I hope that they don't make the same mistakes Snyder made. I bet they won't. Joe should not be put in that position like he was, what was it, seven years ago now. And I would imagine that Josh Harrison Company understand that.

And then to me, the answer is, sorry, he's got to find another number. that's a number that we are still considering at some future point in time. That's a jersey that would be considered for retirement. Whether we do it or not is immaterial. It will be considered. It's protected, period. Mitch Tishler next after these words from a few of our sponsors. If you're tired of the following bad combination,

inflated grocery prices and unhealthy shopping, I've got the answer for you. It's Thrive Market. I've been telling you about Thrive for over a year now. It's a membership-based online grocery service. For just $5 a month, $5 a month, you get access to a curated selection of organic and non-GMO brands, 90-plus dietary filters, weekly sales, free gifts, and the peace of mind that a thousand plus ingredients are already restricted. One annual fee, priceless piece of mind. My wife and I have already restocked for the summer from their frozen section and for our dog from their very vast selection of pet food items.

And we're doing it for a $5 monthly service fee and member pricing of up to 30% off plus weekly sales, plus price matching, plus free delivery on qualifying orders, all part of the membership. One membership covers the whole family, even when everyone eats differently. No more decision fatigue. Your filtered results only show what fits your household. The fact that I can filter the whole site by high protein or low sugar or any other number of examples in seconds makes this a no-brainer. Ready to do your own spring reset? Join ThriveMarket with my link, ThriveMarket.com slash sheen, for $20 off your first three orders. Plus, you'll get a free $60 gift.

brought you by Window Nation. If you need new windows, I recommend Windonation. If you need new doors, I recommend Window Nation. They're offering both Windows and doors at 50% off for the month of August. So if you reach out to them at 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and schedule a free in-home estimate by the end of the month, you'll get access to half price on everything you purchase. Add to that, no money down is required, no monthly payments are required, and you won't be charged interest for two years. So you don't have to start paying for these windows for two years until the year 2028, and when you begin paying for them, you'll be paying half price. When Donation's got plenty to choose from over 1,500 Windows styles to choose from. It all starts with

that in-home estimate. They'll come out to your home in an hour or less. They'll tell you which windows need to be replaced, which doors need to be replaced. They'll offer up options. You pick them. They'll deliver a quote to you, and then they'll leave you alone, and you make the call. If you decide to move forward with window nation, I promise you they're going to take really good care of you. They've got over 45,000 five-star reviews on social media, and they were ranked number one in a among all window installation companies. 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com. All right.

Joining me right now, Mitch Tishler. I love having Mitch on the show. He does a really good job in talking about the team, and he does it for the Beltway Football Podcast, which is a podcast with J.P. Finley. He is also with Monumental Sportsnet. You can follow Mitch on X at Mitch underscore Tis. Fisler, which I just told Mitch, I pulled up his Twitter account and balloons started flying

through the air because it's Mitch's birthday. So happy birthday to you, a young man. I hope you enjoy it. I guess the only thing you've done so far for your birthday is go out and watch practice at training camp. Correct. It was a bit of a hot and sweaty morning, but getting ready to head out and meet up some friends a little bit later tonight for some crabs and beer and a nice little relaxing evening on the water. That sounds like a lot of fun. All right. Let's talk about the big news from over the weekend.

Your reaction and how you would describe the loss of Laramie Tunsell. So losing Laramie Tunsel is crushing. Point blank, period. There's not a lot else that you can say about it. There's probably 29 or 30 other NFL teams that wish that he was there starting left tackles. That being said, Kevin, you are talking to probably the biggest Brandon Coleman fan in the DC media. Because through his 2024 season, I was very high on what I saw from him in that time and thought that he was building his way towards being a solid NFL starting left tackle.

Now, once the team has an opportunity to trade for a five-time, all-pro, you know, probably soon to be Hall of Famer and Laramie Sunsoul, I understand why you make that deal. You only get that type of player every so often. So for me, for him to have an opportunity to get back outside and play less tackle, I think is personally a huge opportunity for Brandon. and I think it's also something that he's going to, I would say, surprise a lot of folks in terms of what that play is going to look like on the field.

Why do you think, and I talked a little bit about it in the open and on radio today, why do you think that after a 12 and 5 season, after two road playoff wins and 60 minutes away from the Super Bowl, a guy they drafted in the third round who was a significant part of the reason, the offense, that they won that many games. Why do you think they were so quick to pull the trigger on Laramie Tunsell and then move Brandon inside? Well, I believe that they thought they were in the Super Bowl window. I think they thought they were making, you know, the final couple moves to bring in some

big time players that were going to be able to push the team kind of over the edge to to get to that, to get to get to the Super Bowl. To me, the bigger question, and this isn't a knock on Josh Connerley because I think that he was, I love picking as many old linemen in the draft as you can.

But to me, the question was, why are you going with a left tackle that you're then going to try and move to right tackle when Brandon Coleman was in house? So to me, that was kind of a bigger question of the two. That being said, you know, you go into the beginning of last season,

and you have your bookend tackles with, you know, the veteran and pencil and the rookie in Connerly. Brandon Coleman had shored up and won the left guard position, which had been kind of an open spot for a while. And then you have Biotic and Cosby. You think you have an old line there, you know, that can compete with, you know, some of the best in the NFL. The problem with Brandon Coleman has been injuries. Going back to his rookie season, he was injured to start training camp. going back to last year, he missed parts of training camp as well. And then when you get into the season,

he's starting left guard. He gets nicked up, beat up, ends up missing a game. And, you know, kind of while he picked a little bit with Chris Paul. And I know some of the frustrations with last year's coaching staff, and it's not entirely different. Darnoff Stapleton was on that staff as well as an assistant offensive line coach, was the inability for Brandon to stay healthy and stay on the practice to him. fast forward to today and this offseason,

and then as he's getting ready for this season, Brandon went and trained down in Alabama with Laramie Tensel and Josh Connerly, and was talking to him on the field after practice today, and one of the things that he talked about is like, there's so much football I can learn from Laramie. And, you know, I think everyone can agree that, you know, that's obviously the case.

He's like, what I learned most was how Laramie takes care of his body and how he goes about, you know, making sure that he's doing the right thing so that he can stay on the football field. And Brandon Coleman said, I take responsibility, I take accountability for the fact that I wasn't necessarily doing that as much as I should have been

early on in my career. And to me, that's a mature response to a very real issue that was apparent, you know, to everybody that he was just kind of always beat up and unable to practice.

And you hope that it pays off in speed, you know, particularly given the opportunity that he has here, but the play on the field in 24 at left tackle, I always start with the week three game in Cincinnati against Trey Hendrickson. And Trey went out, you know, had a massive season, one of the league leaders in sacks that year.

And not only did Coleman hold his own, but they didn't sense help his way. They left him one-on-one outside with Trey Hendrickson, essentially the entire game. And he handled him extremely well. His entire 2024 season, he had 11 pressures and zero sacks given up. Were there struggles along the way? Absolutely. Don't get me wrong. There were some low moments.

But for a third round pick being thrust into a starting position, he showed so many flashes of the type of skill, strength, agility, all the different things that you want that a solid NFL starting offensive linemen has. And I think this is a real big opportunity for him. And a little bit of a second chance to go out and, and prove kind of who he is and kind of solidify himself both on this roster and in the NFL. Who do you think would have won the starting left guard job had Laramie not gotten hurt? It's interesting.

You know, as of the last few practices where Brandon Coleman was rotating with Chris Paul, he was getting the majority of the first team reps there, I think it certainly would have been a battle, but there's also the, I know like a lot of folks think like, oh, line, play as a line play. And, you know, if you can put your hand in the dirt and block somebody, you can do that from any position. But there are guys that are better suited versus inside versus outside. You know, you think about Eric Flowers, who came into the camp for the Redskins and whatever year that was. He was a top five pick and left tackle, flamed out, came in and

played guard. It was spectacular. You know, there are guys who excel at different things on the offensive line, and there's nuance to that play. And I think ultimately, Brandon Coleman is probably flates better as a left tackle, particularly with his lateral quickness and his ability to kick outside and use that quickness to slow down some of these edge rushers. I don't know who would have gotten that starting job. I just know that in David Giles' offense that is going to ask linemen to block downfield and get to the second level, I would rather have Brandon Coleman in that role than Chris Paul just purely for the athleticism that Brandon Coleman gives you.

You just brought up a name in Eric Flowers. Like, what happened to him? I mean, he had played some of the best football of his career here. And then abruptly, the career was over. I'm looking it up right now. I don't see any, you know, like obvious reasons he never got another opportunity after here. I mean, do you remember what happened? Because it's not like he, go ahead.

Yeah, he was a free agent after that. What season was that? Well, he, 2019 was the season that he came in and signed a one-year deal with us, right? Or was it 2018? I'm forgetting now. Hold on. Yeah, I thought it was 17, but I think it might have been 18. But either way.

2019, 2019. 2019, he signed a one-year, $4 million deal and moved from tackle to guard. Yep, the season expired, and he wanted 10, I think he was asking for 10 to 12 million a year at Sarve. Which at that time was amongst the top paid guards in the league. The Redskins basically, or I guess that was that football team? No, those Redskins were basically like, hey, we love you and we want you to come back, but we're not paying you at 10 million. You want to pay you double-digit millions a year. And ultimately, he helped steadfast.

in the money that he felt like he was worth and kind of never came off it. And just like everything else in life, you know, you have that opportunity in that moment. And if you don't, you know, if you let it pass by, sometimes it just passes by for good. Well, I just pulled up his Wikipedia. So he ended up signing a, I don't remember this, but he ended up signing a three-year, $30 million deal with the Dolphins in March of 2020. But he immediately went onto the COVID list during training camp. And then he was traded back to our team in 2021.

I don't remember this. I'm usually pretty good at remembering things like this. But he was traded back to our team in April of 2021 from the Dolphins in exchange for a swap of seventh round picks. And then he played some and then was inactive. Remember the end of that season when everybody was on the COVID list. Yeah. What was that quarterback's name who played? I forget.

But anyway, all right. Yeah, I think that you've said a lot here, and I think that, you know, in the setup to why. Yeah, Gail Gilbert, exactly. How about that poll? That was a good call. That was a good pull. And they played the Eagles. It was like on a Tuesday night.

It was strange that, well, that entire, you know, year was strange, 2020, even more strange. Remember, they played the Steelers when the Steelers were undefeated on a Monday afternoon. Absolutely. Strange days, for sure. But, you know, back to the question that I asked about why. You know, you added to it that not only did they go out and quickly trade for Laramie Tunsell, they went out and drafted the right tackle, moved him inside, and then ultimately he got benched. But the maturity, if that was it, hopefully he's got it.

He's only 25 years old because you're right. He does have ability. And I have found the person that seems to be not understood, by the way, I'm not putting words in your mouth. But of course you said it is really devastating that they lost tonsil. But you're supremely confident that they're going to be okay with Coleman at left tackle. I am. And I think the devastating part of the tonsil injury is I think Coleman is going to be. fine, too good at left tackle.

I don't think he's going to be great like Tunsel was necessarily. Maybe he grows into that. I'm not putting limitations on him. I think it just changes fundamentally what David Blow and what Arnold Stapleton are going to have to do with their blocking schemes. You know, because when you have a Laramie Tunsel on the left side, when you have a, you know, five-time all pro out there, it doesn't matter who the edge rusher is.

You're leaving them on island, one-on-one, every single time. And then you're able to use your other four-o linemen, whatever running back, tight end help you're doing to basically, you know, take care of the other three defensive linemen. Because it's not Laramie Tunsel on the left tackle, you're going to have to start having tight end chip over there. You're going to have to have running back when they're pass blocking. You know, with Laramie Thompson over there, they don't even have to look to the left side.

The ball snapped and they're looking at the, you know, up the middle and to the right of them to figure out where they need to help out in pass pro. Now they have to peek over to the left. They have to, you know, pay attention to what's happening over there because you don't have, you know, that superstar on the edge there. And on top of that, you know, for Jaden, you know, it was to set it and forget it for him. The ball snaps. He doesn't have to look to the left because he knows he's not getting pressure from over there. He knows there's not going to be free rushers coming from that side.

And now, you know, there is going to be a little bit of a peak. But that's also where I think the creativeness of David Blow's offense can help, you know, kind of abate some of those issues because we're going to see Jay, and, you know, rolling out a little bit more. We're going to see a little bit more under center and play action and, you know, different things that will slow down a defensive line. To me, you know, last year's offense got very stale, relatively stale, and so much so that you could, they would line up in, they'd break the huddle and line up. And, you know, I'm sitting next to JP Finley in the press box,

and we turn each other and be like, oh, this play is this, this play is that. And I'm like, if a couple media slubs up in the press box are able to call out what's happening offensively, you better believe the analytics and genius coaches on the other side of the football field know what's coming as well. So a lot more of the misdirection. I think we're going to see a lot more of the tight ends on the field, which ultimately make the defense have to go bigger, slows down their speed, getting out to the quarterback. I think there's a lot of different things, machinations of this offense,

that are going to be able to help kind of counter whatever that dealt a different. between Brandon Coleman and Larry be helpful. Yeah, it's going to be just an interesting year. Defense has high variance year to year. So there's no guarantee that your best defenses in 25 will be your best defenses in 26. But when you look at what is on the schedule and it matters when you play these teams, but I mean, you know, you're looking at some of the best defensive teams in the league last year. Seattle, the Rams, Houston, Indy, Jacksonville, obviously Philly,

you know, San Francisco, all these teams are on the schedule, and two of the three are there in the first three weeks of the season. So we'll find out pretty quickly what Laramie Tunsell's loss means. All right, switch subjects real quickly. Your reaction to them signing Stefan Diggs last week is what? I love it. I think, you know, at this point of the season, the players that are available are available for a reason.

And I think, you know, Seth, it felt like it was more of a when, not an hit with Stefan Diggs coming here. I think he helped up this offense immediately. The biggest place is losing Zach Gertz last year, who was such a security blanket for Jaden, knowing when he was that, you know, got to have it down distances that Zach was going to find a way to get open. And Jaden can trust him that he was going to be able to use his body to the wall off defenders and make a catch.

Obviously not a lot of yak after that, but was at least able to, you know, make those plays. And I think that's really where Stefan Diggs is going to be able to step right in and be a big part of it. Early on in the first couple days of him practicing here, his ability to find soft spots in zone is, it's like a feel thing. It's not, you know, they can coach these guys about where to be, but you see him kind of slightly drift, you know, using his body to kind of get into, getting into open lanes. And, you know, since a lot of there's a lot of young receivers in Washington outside of Darry McClure, and I think you see the difference between a veteran, a guy who's, you know,

had multiple thousand yards, 14,500, 500-yard seasons, and the guys who are just kind of learning how to play that position at an NFL level. I think he's going to help out a lot. I really like the signing. I think, you know, one of the biggest things, and this is going back to, you know, combine days or whatever, we have a bunch of friends up in New England who cover. of the Patriots. And obviously there's a lot of shenanigans with Stefan Diggs off the field with Party B and whatever other stuff was going on. And when you talked to them, they were like,

when he walked through the doors, none of that stuff matters. He walked in and was immediately one of the team leaders in New England. He worked with that young quarterback up there in Drake May, obviously had a thousand yards. You know, he was, he was a guy that the other receivers looked up to and led, and he led these guys. And to me, you know, for all the, you know, talk about culture and changing and, you know, who are commanders and all this and that. We can, you can, you can dislike whatever he's doing, you know, Sunday from 5 p.m. to the next Sunday at 1 p.m., but it's from 1 to 4 p.m. in the practice windows. He's so locked in, and I just think it's a really great signing.

I think it's somebody who can help out both the quarterback and the receiver room a fair amount, even outside of whatever production is on the football field. All right. We'll finish up with this. Before this weekend, it would have been an easier question to answer, but you've kind of already answered that you are confident about the replacement. But what is the area of the team that you're most concerned with heading into the season? And then what is the area of the team that you're most confident about? Well, Kevin, you're leading me right to my favorite spot to talk about. It's been my point of angst with this. coaching staff in front office since they let Tyler Beaudish walk out the window, walk out the door. It is the center position. And that's, I was concerned about it prior to the Nick Allegretti injury. But with the Nick Allegretti injury, it's emphasized even further.

I think Adam Peters did a great job of adding players, overhauling this roster, getting a lot more depth of a lot of different positions. And it was just so curious to me that as this coaching staff, pre-teachery, competition and preaches, you know, earning your role and fighting for it. You can look across the board and there are legit battles at every position. And at center, they decided to roll with Nick Allegretti, who doesn't have a ton of starting center experience in the NFL, you know, a rookie sixth rounder in Matt Goldman. And then, you know, I'm not trying to be mean about it, but a perennial practice squad player in Julian Good Jones. And Dan Quinn and company can talk up, you know, that there was going to be a competition between Julian Good Jones and Nick

Allegheny all they want. There was no competition. And they obviously felt like they needed to do something because they did make a big pitch for Tyler Lindervaum and free agency. And what frustrated me wasn't that they didn't get Linderbom because quite frankly, I think he went for too much money, but that they didn't pivot from that and bring in another veteran body who had, you know, starting NFL experience. You rewind to this time last year. and they had, you know, Biotic, they had Michael Dieter as your two centers, and feel like you do about whatever Dieter is. But he was a proven NFL player with NFL experience.

On top of that, you had Nick Allegretti and Julian Good Jones both on the roster, who were guards, but also had center experience. You'd go into this training camp, and the only player on the roster, if you want to give them credit for having NFL experience at the center, was Nick Allegretti. And it just was kind of mind-boggling to me that they were willing to put, not even, you can trust Nick Allegreddy if you want and they could think that he's going to step in and be a great player

but to not plan for the worst. It felt like a hope for the best with no plan for the worst. And it was frustrating going through the off-season seeing it happen and then boom, immediately Aligretti gets injured and that was, you know, a little over a week ago now. They told us it was going to be one

week. Then this week we hear it's going to be another week. He's going to miss the Dolphins during practice. You know, probably not going to play in, you know, either the first two preseason games. We'll see what happens with it. But if they're not getting them back by the Ravens joint practice, there's going to be no practical, you know, play for Nick against another NFL team.

And you're going to go into week one, you know, not really knowing exactly what you have there. And I know they like him a lot because he's got a lot going on between his ears. He's really smart. You know, he was in the quarterback center meetings all last year. That's all great stuff. and a really important part of that position. But there's also the physical part of the position, and I have questions about that in and of itself,

but now that he's not out there, there are major, major questions. If he, for whatever reason, wouldn't be ready to go by week one, and I'm not saying that it's going to be the case, I don't know who they go with. I don't know who they would go with, and it would be troublesome with whoever it is since they have to, you know,

both to Philly and, oh, only state, you know, Jaylen Carter and Jordan Davis. Yeah. Yeah, in the opening game. Is there anybody that is a potential candidate via, you know, early September waivers like around the league? Because I know you love this particular part of the game.

And it sounds like you've kind of paid attention to it in terms of what may be available. I know there's nothing available right now. What about, you know, a 90s? to 53 cut down opportunity? I think their best opportunity, and I don't know, I'm not going to go through player by player, but their best opportunity is going to be a Tyler Biotish situation elsewhere, a veteran player who ultimately isn't going to have the role that they think

that they would have on that roster, and the team does them, you know, does them a solid and gives them an opportunity to find a home elsewhere. But I also don't know, there's no guarantees that that's going to happen. And that's what was frustrating to me about the way the offseason went. Even as of recently, Ethan Pollock was a starter in Cleveland last year. Got heard coming back from pretty major injury. And the Ravens, who are in a semi-similar situation because they let Linderbaum go, they go on the sign Pollock.

So at least they have a little bit of that, you know, center depth. And he might not end up being a good player, but you at least have somebody that you can reliably put in there and not, you know, be. Where did the Tennessee guy go? Cushenberry, where did he end up? So it's interesting. Cushingberry has, I don't believe he signed, if I'm not mistaken. Okay, because there was an injury there, right? Yes, and that brings me to, they brought in Daniel Brunckel, who has a very similar career arc to Nick Allen, President.

Nick, Daniel Brunstall was a starter for four years in San Fran with Adam Peters over there. Ultimately, left San Fran, signed a two years, $6, $6,000 deal in Tennessee to be there starting left guard. Ultimately, ends up getting a couple starting left tackle rep. Before Cushenberry had that catastrophic injury, Brunskill then went and played center, the final, I think it was six games or so in Tennessee. So he's a guy that the commanders brought in two days ago, three days ago. as you look at kind of the depth on the O-line roster, he's a guy that might be kind of the quote-unquote ninth O lineman that could make the roster and be a kind of emergency-esque center in that spot.

Daniel Brunskill, everybody, if you didn't really catch that. He is 32 years old, and he was signed by the team the other day to give them depth at center and even. at other positions, I would guess. Yeah. All right. Did you have one last thought? I didn't mean to interrupt.

I just wanted to make sure everybody knew who you were talking about. Yeah, no problem. I think as I go through all this, I think folks are like, well, what about Matt Goldman? What about Matt Goldman? What about Matt Goldman? And I think Matt has an opportunity to grow into being a starting NFL center. So I don't think it's a wasted sixth round pick by any means. But, you know, as young in NFL experience years, and I think, you know, we're seeing some of those growing pains as we're going through as we're going through camp.

He certainly, you know, seems to be solid in past blocking, struggling a little bit in the run games. And quite frankly, I just wouldn't feel that comfortable throwing out a big round rookie center with a, you know, with a quarterback taking some under center steps for kind of the more consistently for the first time, probably since he played pee-wee football. Thanks for doing. This is always happy birthday to you. Enjoy the day. Absolutely. Thanks much for having. Mitch Tishler, everybody, at Mitch underscore Tishler on X. We're going to go to New England next and bring on a friend of mine who does afternoon drive in Portland, Maine, where this subject during football season, the New England Patriots will get his reaction to Diggs in Washington after these words from a few of our sponsors. you want to bet on the NFL, my recommendation is you should have an account at my bookie. And if you decide to do that, which you should, even if you have another place where you're wagering currently, use my promo code, Kevin D.C. to get a cash bonus when you sign up. They've got everything up for the NFL season,

including the entire week one preseason slate for this upcoming weekend. Washington, right now I'm looking at, at it is a three-point underdog against the dolphins on Friday night. I don't bet preseason football. I haven't for years. I have friends that do it and swear by it. The line last week, though, was Washington minus one and a half. So they must have some information that Miami's going to play starters for a longer period of time. But anyway, that's what the number is right now, subject to change all of the week.

one lines are up. The season opener, New England and Seattle, on Wednesday night, September 9th, Seattle's a three and a half point favorite in that Super Bowl rematch. The next night, Thursday night, September 10th, the 49ers right now against the Rams in Melbourne, Australia. The Rams are three and a half point favorites. And then we move to Sunday, opening Sunday of the season, September 13th, the Eagles back down to a four and a half point favorite. over Washington. They were last week a five-point underdog. So Philly now a four-and-a-half-point favorite in that game.

The total is 47. MyBooky.com, mybooky.ag promo code, Kevin, D.C. All right, joining me right now from lovely Portland, Maine, the other Portland, is a longtime friend, business friend, because I've gone on his show many times, and he's come on my show a few times over the years. Javier Gorette is the host of the PM Jab on 963 FM in Portland, Maine, and they do a lot of Patriots conversation. He's been there for all of the glory years, and last year was almost another one.

It was certainly an unexpected season with the Patriots making it to the Super Bowl. But I reached out to you because of Washington's move last week in signing Stefan Diggs. Let me just start with just you giving me an overview of what Diggs meant to the Patriots last year. You know, I was skeptical of him coming in initially just because of the injury the year before, his age, and Diggs is a bit of a different personality. But honestly, and everything just sort of seemed to go the Patriots way. year where there was, you know, health, their team stayed super healthy all year. The schedule obviously helped a lot.

They got to fatten up on teams, but Diggs has been a ton to a team that really had, you know, a very inexperienced receiving cord, not a lot of guys that had done much in the league. Guys like Kishon Booty and Pop Douglas and guys like that that were kind of carrying, you know, probably the worst receiver room in the league for the last couple of years until last year. Then Diggs kind of changed all that. He was a leader in that room as far as showing guys how to work and how to play, how to be successful in the NFL. And his presence just on the field, too, opened up guys, everyone else on the field, too.

So surprisingly, I thought Diggs had a huge impact on the Patriots last year and on that receiving core in general, really helped open up that offense that you all saw score a million points, helped the running game. Like Diggs was a really important guy on a team that really lacked any. kind of, you know, identity in the passing game as far as their receiving core went. So, yeah, there's made a huge impact knowing them last year. So why didn't they bring them back? So that's a million dollar question, right? And I think it's, I think it's off the field stuff mostly, you know, again, I'm not in the

building every day or anything. So it's hard to say exactly what it's like interacting with things on a daily basis and those kinds of things. But I think that, you know, some of the stuff that's happened off the field, some of the accusations, some of those kinds of things, just felt like the Patriots were ready to move on. They kind of got what they needed out of Diggs last year. It really helped Drey Make and his development as a player as a downfield passenger.

And I think, like, they just felt like it didn't run its course. Not to say that Diggs was like a bad guy here or, you know, was disruptive, but I also think that there's enough there where, they weren't necessarily like super pumped to sign up for it for another year. Well, he had a huge trial. I mean, he was on trial for a felony strangulation charge for a misdemeanor assault and batteries. So, but you know, where you started was there was in, I think during Stefan's career, right?

You know, since going back to Minnesota, each move has been a move where what kind of guy are you getting? Are you getting a diva? are you getting a problem, you know, in the locker room or off the field? You felt that way initially, but ultimately it didn't prove out that way in New England. He was accepted and was a non-issue with respect to everything not football, right? Yes, and I think with Biggs, if things, I think things are one of these guys where, you know, taking the personality off the field out of it for a minute, just as a professional football player,

I think he's one of these guys that if he feels the people around him are competent, quarterback's competent and they're, you know, they're progressing and winning, I think is a good soldier. And I think in the one-year-provet type situation, I think he was a good soldier in Houston, he got hurt, they didn't bring him back. Same kind of thing in New England where he's a good soldier for the one year, not necessarily in love with bringing him back, but I think you can get a lot out of them in the short term. And I think as long as things go well, like you can expect that.

But if they don't go well or he's not getting the ball, their team's losing, or in your guys' case, God forbid, Jane Danes gets hurt again, then, you know, I don't know if it would go as well. What do you think Washington's getting in Stefan Diggs as a player on the field at this point in his career at 32 years old? I think you're still getting a legit, like, you know, maybe not 1A, but like legit high-end two. They can beat guys. I mean, you put him in single coverage. He's going to win. you put him in the slot, he's going to win. He doesn't have like a super top-end speed but he's got more enough speed to get away from you on a crossing route

and take it 40, 50 yards. Like he's still a really good player. And with Terry McLaurin, and I like Luke McCaffrey a lot, I think he's an ascending player for you guys. But I think with those three guys, I think Terry finally having like, you know, like Devo is okay, but this is a step up, in my opinion, from Devo.

Like, Terry has a legit number two that you have to pay attention to you, that will roast you if you're doubling McLaur in the entire game. Like, I think it makes a big difference to their passing offense. Obviously, you guys have offensive line problems, and we'll see if all that gets worked out. But as far as like you're receiving core in the passing game, I think Stefan Diggs is a huge ad for you guys. I thought it was, you know, something that the skins needed to do.

And I think that getting him to play in that role to help Terry out is going to be a big deal for Jane Daniel. How much of New England's, we'll call it regular season success offensively, because they didn't have much in the postseason when they played that kind of murderer's row of defensive teams, Chargers, Texans, Broncos, Seahawks. But how much of that success last year does Josh McDaniels get credit for? I think a decent amount. I mean, we all know, McDaniels are the Great O.C. has been, you know, he's proven it over and over again, over, you know, what, two decades or close to it. now in the NFL. But I do think that there is a product of everyone in New England last year with the schedule they faced, like you talked about, whenever they played anyone that could play any defense

at all, especially up front. They really struggled, right? And that's because their offensive line just got blasted in those games. You saw the Super Bowl, but happened in the Houston playoff game. It happened against the Chargers. Like, every time they played someone, even happened against Cleveland, Miles Garrett got five sacks on them. Now they won the game anyway because Cleveland's horrendous, but they give a foul five sacks to

Miles Garrett in one game. So they had such a profound problem up front that when they played teams that could challenge them, they really struggled offensively. But when they were on an even playing field or playing weaker defenses, I mean, they just tore those guys apart. So I still think if the patients had a better offensive line last year, it would have been a better team. It would have been less of a paper tiger.

It would have been less smoke and mirrors. But when they played teams that weren't just fundamentally way better than them, like their group, their group dominated and digs and that passing offense had a lot to do with it. You're familiar with this team down here and what Jaden Daniels did is a rookie. He didn't get a chance to play as much football last year because of injuries. But if you were going back and drafting the 2024 quarterback class, how would you pick them? Yeah, that's a great question. I'd still take Daniel.

I mean, I've always said I was taking. Daniels 1. I'd still be there with that. Obviously, his injury situation is, you know, I was worried about that him coming out. I'll watch him play a lot in college, and I'm sure you did too. And they ran him like he was Tim Tebow, right? Like, he took just hellacious shots in college, and that's continued on in the NFL. And I hope that maybe they can get that a little more under control this year. Going into last year, I was really worried about him getting through the year, and we also would happen. So, If they can keep Daniel's upright, I mean, to me, he is super electric.

I think people forget how good he is because of the injuries. I mean, even last year when he was healthy, you guys were very hard to beat, right? Still with a very mediocre roster and he still elevated everyone. So I still probably take him on. And then I think you'd fight about Williams and Drake May all day long. I think, honestly, at the end of the day, you got three guys you can play in this league. And I think now it just comes down to you. I still think Daniel is better than those guys.

But now it all comes down to as we know. And Dana has proven this to some degree already, which is why I like him. He's played in big games. He's won big games. He's been the reason his team has won those big games. And I'm not sure that Kil Williams and Drake may have shown that yet. So I'd still take him one. But I think at the end of the day, all three of these guys are going to come down to, like,

which guy can win the playoffs, which guy can win big games, which guy gets to the Super Bowl. But I think they're all in that neighborhood, but I'd still take Daniels one. Yeah, you know, your point. such a good one because this conversation happens a lot, you know, because of the number of quarterbacks, six in the top 12 and one, two, three, Williams, Daniels, and Drake May. And Drake May was a legitimate MVP candidate last year. And Caleb Williams had a couple of playoff games and moments that were spectacular. And Jaden Daniels was out of sight, out of mind because he wasn't on the field. But the truth is, after two years of watching,

all three of them, there's a really good chance that we're going to all look back 10 years from now and say there's never been a draft, one, two, three at quarterback like that one. I mean, you probably, you know, go back to the, you know, the 83 draft of quarterbacks, obviously. But there's a really, nothing says, even though statistically the odds say that essentially out of the six, maybe one third, two out of the six, we're going to be, you know, big time successes. And the other four we're going to bounce around and maybe not even be in the league. There's no rule that says that, you know, the longer shot odds can't come through. And I have a feeling all three of those guys are going to be good quarterbacks.

I actually still believe in Pennix Jr. as a thrower of the football. We'll see what happens there. And just quickly, I like Bo Nix a lot too. I think Bo Nix, like, it's got a ton of my, like, I take that kid in a big game any day. You know, like, Bo Nix, his numbers, whatever. But, like, if there's a big game, I've got no problem playing Bo Nix in that game. Yeah, I mean, he, he's a, I think he's a different quarterback. And I think Sean Payton is the perfect coach to have Bo Nix.

But he proved a lot in some of those games, some of the big games they had, down the stretch. All right, before I let you run, obviously the A.J. Brown trade, the addition of Romeo Dobbs. I'm just real quickly, who's not going to make it out of that receiver room? Because now with Booty, and I've heard, you know, he's having a good camp, I was a big Kyle Williams fan coming in. DeMario Douglas had moments last year. Are all five going to make it, or is somebody going to get traded or cut?

I think someone ends up possibly getting traded in a cup. I know they love Mack Holland, so he's another guy that, you know, is there that, you know, I don't think is going anywhere. So it's going to be interesting. I think Booty's the odd man out just because he's basically a much worse, AJ Brown kind of, you know, he's a big down-the-field kind of guy. He's a good one-on-one jump ball kind of guy. And honestly, I think if they can trade him, you know, he had an okay career at LSU.

I'm sure remember he was like the number one recruit. crew coming out of high school. He never really lived up to it. And L.S.U., it feels to me like maybe just like a late bloomer. Maybe he's a little mature and it took him a while, but he's really improved the last couple years. But it feels like he's maybe the odd guy out. Kyle Williams, like you mentioned, like super fast, had moments, but at one point it was like the seventh string receiver in camp this year. So he's another guy that could be out. So it'll be interesting to see, like, which way they go on this. But I think Kayshan would like to be traded. I think they'd like

to accommodate him if they can. And, you know, I think, because I think, because I think, Pop Douglas is going to be in the slot. Obviously, Dobbs and Brown are going to take those top two spots. So I think for now, they're going to move them if they can get something for them, but I don't think they're going to dump them for nothing either. All right. So what are the Patriots going to be this year, Javier? Is it going to be, was last year in aberration?

Are they a candidate to be, you know, a Super Bowl participant, a best record in the – well, Denver, I actually I think had the higher scene. But anyway, are they a candidate to take a step back, or do you see them being where they were last year or better? Well, I mean, hopefully, I'm deep in the hard Patriots country, but I loatheets, right? I'm a judge fan, sadly, for my distance. But honestly, we'll see. I think it all comes down for them. Is their offensive line with the changes they've made with the draft page and free agency?

and then, you know, Campbell taking hopefully a step in year two for them. If their own line holds up, I think this offense will be really good, right? I think the passing offense will be dynamic. I love their two running back from Vermon-Drey and Trevon-Henderson. They both have their flaws, but they're both dynamic in their own way. Vermont is a big back. They can really move. He's ends up and downs, but, like, those guys can play.

So if they're a line holds up, that offense should be good. They should score a lot of points, and they should be a factor. And on the other side of the ball, it's a defensive line. their front, right? Can they stop the run? And then can they get to the quarterback? Because they have no pass rush. Like, there's no one. I mean, Harold Landry, guys like that, but there is no one you look on that front and say, oh my God, how do we stop that guy, right? So to me, if their O-line protects and plays well and plays well in the running game and they get pressure on the quarterback, they could be really good. I don't know if both of those things are going

to happen. If, like, one happens, they'll be pretty good. They'll be like a playoff team. Neither happens, then maybe they do fallback to like eight, nine. I mean, that offensive line struggles like it did last year, they won't beat a lot of good teams, and they have a ton of them on their schedule. Schedule, like, this team could be better than last year's team and have a much worse record because of the schedule they're facing this year. So I think all comes down like it always does, the trenches. If they can win in the trenches on either side of the ball, I think they'll be okay.

But I think there's real doubts about whether or not that's going to happen. All right. Last one. I'm sure there's been a lot of conversation about Brewery. with you guys in the off season. What's your thoughts on the situation that he's been involved in with Diana? And then how do the fans view it up there? I think it's like most things now, Kevin, we're like, if they win, no one will care.

If they lose, it'll be a big deal in November. You know, the initial reports, I think, you know, for the most part, Pat's fans sort of rallied around Ravel, right? I mean, you know, I'm sure there's some people that didn't like what he did and, and, you know, and maybe rightfully so. But I think for the most part, Patriots fans just sort of, you know, shrug their shoulders a little bit. But I do think this all depends on whether you win or lose. Like, they got the Super Bowl last year, so there's a lot of goodwill with Brable the Patriots right now. So I think, and ESPN, like, clearly tried not to report on it, right?

There's a lot of effort to avoid this story in, like, the greater sports media circle. so I think that helped. And then, you know, once the page six stuff and TMZ stuff started coming out, became more salacious than football. So I think for the most part, past fans don't care that much about it. But I will say this. Like if this team struggles, if this team's not winning games, I think it will come up. And then there is a real question of, like, do his players seem differently now?

Like, there are some guys, Trebion Anderson was pretty vocal about it on Twitter, when it all happened saying it really kind of lost respect for his coach. So we'll see. You know, when the metal hits the meat, as they say, in the trenches in a big game on the road, can Brable still lead those guys? I think it's probably still fine, but obviously we're going to find out. Yeah, fascinating story. I mean, they're in a locker room with felons all over the league. And this guy, it was a private matter. It was infidelity, obviously. But, yeah, if I were a Patriots fan, that would be the last thing that I'd be concerned about after last year.

Vrable's one hell of a coach. What's going on in his personal life is his own issue. And it can be a reflection of character, no doubt. But, I mean, I've known Diana for years. She's come on the show forever. Her situation's completely different because there's an ethical issue in the way she was covering the league for sure. But anyway, Javier, thanks, as always. Appreciate it.

I'm sure we'll be talking soon. Yeah, Kevin. Thanks for having me on. Always good talk to you. Javier Guretti, everybody. From 96-3 FM Portland, Maine, the afternoon drive show called the PM Jab. can follow J-A-V-E-R-H-L-H-O-F-F. That'll do it for today, back tomorrow.