The Kevin Sheehan Show - Tyreek Hill + Free Agency "Fireworks"

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Kevin opened with Tyreek Hill getting cut by the Dolphins while wondering if he'd be a good fit in Washington with the Commanders. Kevin then reacted to an NFL Insider who said he wouldn't be surprised if Washington's free agency included some fireworks. Kevin followed up on Kirk Cousins Friday appearance on the show. Kevin finished with the NBA All-Star weekend, some college hoops, and another sad passing of a former Washington Redskin. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Two-up. Lost it. Tyreek Hill on Kiel. You're not going to catch him, are you?

No. Touchdown. Explosive Miami play for 78 and a score. Here comes a blitz from Washington. Trying to get the two-up. One-on-one. Hill. He found it.

He's done. God, another long touchdown for Tyreek. This one for 60 yards. Tyreek Hills two long touchdown receptions back on December 3rd, 2023, at what was then FedEx Field. The show's presenting sponsors always, Window Nation, 86690 Nation or Windonation.com, if you need new windows. So back on that early December day, late 2023 in Landon, over. Tyreek Hill caught just five passes, but for a whopping 157 yards and two touchdowns as

Miami routed Washington, 45 to 15. That was over two years ago, but it was also the last time that Hill eclipsed the 150 yard mark in a game. Why Tyreek Hill to open up this show? Well, he got released a little while ago by the Miami Dolphins. And before you ask or wonder, the answer from me is, I doubt it seriously. I doubt it seriously for two reasons. One, he had a gruesome injury this past season. Week 4, late September against the Jets, dislocated knee, torn ACL, other ligament damage. He turns 32 next month.

So this will be his age 32 season. And we already know about our front office that they believe in wide receiver aging analytics. We learned that last summer when they were going through Terry McLaren negotiations. The other reason I doubt it seriously is this is a player who's had multiple off-the-field issues. I mean, the chaos that has surrounded him throughout his career continues. He's currently involved in multiple active lawsuits. I just don't see it with him. Don't get me wrong if he were healthy, if he weren't involved in all of this off-the-field chaos. Sign me up despite the age, because as recently as the beginning of last season, he was still one of the

scariest players in the NFL with the ball in his hands. But I don't think so. I really don't. Now, the Dolphins also released today Bradley Chubb, Edge, pass rusher, Bradley Chub. Miami's clearly in the midst of a purge. They cut a few other players as well. First year GM John Eric Sullivan trying to create some cap space for Miami, as they are very much, I think, in recalibration mode at the very least down there. We'll see what happens with Tua. But Chubbs off a major injury in 2024, but bounced back this past season in 2025,

playing all 17 games, had eight and a half sacks, had his third best pressure rate of his career. And Bradley Chubbs has been a total pro, total high character player since he got picked number five overall by Denver in the 2018 draft out of NC State. He's entering his age 30 season. He might be more interesting to Washington. I went back and looked at his game in November. in Madrid against our team. It was the worst game of the year for him, per a lot of the advanced analytics. Part of the reason for that was him being matched up against Laramie Tunsell, who had a very

good game that day. Yeah, Chubb, I guess, would be more of a possibility than Hill, in my view. But going after Hill, if they did it, would be a sign that the front office is willing to roll the dice and take some risks in this upcoming off season. And how about this from Ian Rappaport over the weekend during one of those NFL network shows? He said this about Washington and this upcoming free agency period. Now you have where the commanders are this year and they still have a lot of cap space. They're coming off a really disappointing season. A lot of the players they used to build two years ago when they made the run to the NFC title game have no offense to them,

gotten a little older. It happens to all of us. It even happens to me and you, Mike, you get a little older and someone says, indeed, it's time to maybe turn the page. Don't turn the page on us. But for the Washington commanders, I wonder how active and offseason they have. Adam Peters has been aggressive. He has made trades, made a couple of big ones last offseason. It is an essential important year for Washington. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some fireworks here, just knowing how important it is, how much space they have. And the window they have with a good young quarterback, the time to spend is now. Wouldn't be surprised to see some fireworks, the time to spend is now.

That from Ian Rappaport of the NFL network. The fireworks line has some of you pretty ginned up. I got this from D. D.D. writes, Kevin, Rappaport says the free agency fireworks are coming soon. Get ready for a return to the Snyder days. This is going to be a hoot. Thank you for that, Dee. But Dee, remember Snyder's big spending days were in the first 10 years, the first decade of his ownership, when he and Vinny were running personnel.

I mean, all but the one year that Marty was here and had total control. But Snyder and Vinny overspent the market by 20 to 30 percent with almost every, you know, player they brought in, which is why every March, every player and his agent were standing at Washington's front. door getting ready to fleece the unsuspecting duo of Snyder and Serato. Bruce arrives in 2010 and it all changes. I mean, with the exception of, you know, Deshawn Jackson, Josh Norman, a couple of one-offs. They were pretty much bargain hunters during Bruce Allen's time here. They were one of the very best teams in the league at getting very good deals.

They just happened to have been very good deals on very average. players and sometimes not even average players. But the fireworks line from Rappaport has some of you thinking, well, what does he know? And that's where I would start. You know, when you get something like this from a Rappaport or a Schaefter, any of the top-tier guys, NFL reporters, when you hear those guys in a discussion where they are expressing their opinions, This was not reporting from Rappaport. This was a conversation on a show where the participants are expressing opinions.

I think this show was an NFL network show with Mike Garofalo, Garifolo. I always forget how to pronounce his name. I like him, though. I like some of the NFL network guys. He's good. Rappaport is good. Schefter, obviously really good. Jeremy Fowler at ESPN.

When he writes something on ESPN. com when any of these top tier guys express opinions rather than report something because they are so clued in, I think all of us always consider the possibility that are they expressing this opinion because of what they know or what they've heard or are they just, you know, giving a hunch? You know, because Rappaport, again, isn't reporting something. it's an opinion, but because of all of the people he talks to, because of all of his information, you do have to wonder whether or not it's something that's influenced by something he knows. It's very possible that it isn't anything about what he knows, that he's just riffing based on what we all know,

which is Washington's got tons of cap space, Washington has many needs, Washington has a high-level quarterback on a rookie deal, So it could be just that. Or it could be that he's aware that Washington's gearing up to be an active spender in free agency. Honestly, I don't have a hunch one way or the other in terms of, is he just riffing based on all of the obvious things? Like, look, Washington should be aggressive. There should be some fireworks based on their needs and their cap space.

Or is he saying that because he knows something? look more often than not I think when the Schifters and the Rappaports are on these shows it's important to listen when they get specific because I think more often than not it is informed opinion versus hunch but anyway you know a few things to keep in mind as we are now less than a month away from free agency free agency the new league calendar begins March 11th 4 p.m. Eastern. You know, a couple of things to keep in mind. First is this. We know that our team has major needs. We also know that they have major roster spots to fill volume-wise. Washington has 29 unrestricted free agents. They've got three restricted free agents, 32 players in all that could walk, could walk. Now, I don't expect all of them to walk. You know, 90 show up for minicamp, OTAs, training camp. They essentially have nearly a third of the roster to figure out.

So you start there when you start thinking about Washington in this upcoming free agency period. They have a lot of their roster to complete, to fill out. Number two is this. We know that Washington has a lot of cap space. per Spot Track, the fifth most cap space in the NFL, at 66.5 million currently. Now, that's based on a 303.3.4 million dollar salary cap total or sealing. That's what Spot Track is using. The NFL announced recently the cap would go up to between, I think it was 301 million and

306 million. So Spot Track is essentially using a number in the middle of that. projection. So Washington has 66.5 million currently under that $303.4.45 million number that SpotTrak is using. But remember that Washington's cap space is likely going to increase. It'll increase because they'll release players. Marshawn Latimore is definitely going to get released. Nick Allegretti would be a cap savings. We'll see what happens with Duran Payne. Ben Standig reported a couple of weeks ago that it was more likely than not that Duran would stay for his final year and play under the current deal, which is a $28 million plus cap hit next year, but that would be the final

deal, final year of his deal. We'll see what happens because they could save a lot of money by releasing Duran. You also have some contract extensions like Laramie Tonsils, which I think is a given, and that could lower the cap or increase the cap space by lowering his cap number for 2026. Somebody like Frankie Louvo could get a contract extension. So that $66.5 million number of available cap space top five is likely to change and likely to change for the better between now and early March. We also know that Washington draft pick-wise, they've got six picks. and they're missing a second and a fourth rounder. They dealt those picks to Houston for Tunsell last year,

which makes trades, I think, less likely and free agency the much more viable path to roster additions. And then lastly, you know, after understanding that they've got a lot of holes to fill, they have major needs in terms of quality and quantity, they've got a lot of cap space to do it. That cap space is likely to increase. They don't have a lot of premium draft picks this year. Lastly, that leads me to this, you know, and the idea that it could be a fireworks free agency.

First of all, what does that really mean? I think he means big names, big money spent. That's what I think it means. But, you know, free agency has been interesting in recent years. I think we talked about this last year. More and more, you're seeing the best players retained or tagged, by their existing teams. And that leaves, you know, a pool of players available in free agency that lacks some of the name power,

lacks some of the big, big contract power, or at least, you know, it limits the number of those people. You know, I was looking at, and I'm sure you've all spent some time, some of you have, looking at the, you know, lists of the top free agents. I mean, it is very possible after a couple of tags that Trey Hendrickson, edge pass rusher, Cincinnati Bengals, who they kept last year after he was coveted during the offseason and said he won it out. So he played his final year and he played seven games, was injured and missed 10 on the year. And it's very possible that after, say, a George Pickens gets tagged or a Kyle Pitts gets tagged, that Hendrickson's going to be at the very top of the available free agent pool this year.

He's 31 years old and he's coming off injury. That's what I'm talking about. It's not the, at least it hasn't been in recent years, you know, free agency availability that's super sexy, super enticing. I mean, Brandon Ayukes out there. That's going to be a big conversation. That might be considered firewall. work worthy, but you really don't have to give up much probably for him, and you probably don't

have to pay him that much or pay him for that long to get him after the way it went down in San Francisco. There are plenty of names. We'll be throwing these names around between now and March 11th. Like I've said many times before, there's much more to what you've watched on the field as a fan, or what I've watched on the field as a fan. when a really good player is available in free agency, your first question, if you're a good GM, should be why? Why is he available? Now, sometimes it's just the existing team can't afford to keep that player, or the player truly wants out and the team isn't going to make him stay by tagging him.

you know, there are reasonable, you know, situations for a player to reach free agency. But more often than not, and when I say more often, I would say, you know, 55, 60% of the time, maybe more. There's a reason that player is available. Now, if you look at the two Super Bowl participants, New England and Seattle, first of all, they did an unbelievable job. New England in particular, of revamping their entire roster, not to mention their coaching staff. Seattle did a great job, too. These two teams made it to the Super Bowl using free agency in a major way last offseason. But if you look into it closely, there really were two high-profile deals.

The Sam Darnel deal was in Seattle, and the Milton Williams deal was in New England. most of the deals were more about volume of players over big, you know, huge, you know, conversation-worthy contracts. Anyway, I also will just say this because every time we talk about Adam Peters here recently, there really seems to be a lot of negativity. and heading into the next month plus, I'm just going to say it. I'm fairly confident in Adam Peters in the front office. I think he's done a decent job. I do, and I don't think there's much to evaluate from last year. Just like I don't think it's very fair to evaluate the coaching staff last year.

I mean, right now what we have is we do have two off seasons. We do, but some of the biggest, you know, moves ended up, getting hurt in this past year. But you go back to 2024. Yeah, the deals were mostly short-term deals, but the multi-year deals that Peters did all were significant to the 2024 season, which was 12 and 5, two road playoff games and wins, and a third that, you know, you were 60 minutes away from the Super Bowl. Look at the multi-year deals that he did in 2024. In a year, which You know, it was all about sort of recalibrating, as Quinn said, as they both said. And they really were dipping their toes, but they had a lot of holes to fill because they didn't inherit a very good roster.

But Louvo, good deal. Eccler, good deal. Beaudish, good deal. Armstrong, good deal. The shorter deals, the one-year deals all contributed to 12 and 5, 14 and 6 when all was said and done. Wagner, Ertz, Zakias, Fowler Jr., Mariotta, McNichols, Chin, Belor. I get frustrated when I hear some of you who have lost all confidence in Adam Peters and one I'm fired. You know, many of you have to this season fire everybody.

By the way, it's like six months since the last significant opinion on Peters or the majority opinion, which was let him cook. You know, he's playing chess to everybody else's checkers. Look, the drafts will know at the end of this upcoming season what the 2024 draft really was, what the 2025 draft might have to wait another year. I think it's three years on a draft. I actually don't think that this past year looks anything but intriguing and more likely than not to be successful, but it's early. I think he did a nice job in 2024 and free agency.

I do without coming close to a big spend during a season in which they were just trying to figure it out. Last year, aggressive on trades. Yes, they changed the game plan when they went 12 and 5 and nearly made the Super Bowl. They got aggressive. Lattimore during the season. That is the worst move that Peters has made. That is an F-minus on the trade. grade,

uh, grade, uh, post-haste. Tunsel, A-plus. Debo, B, B-ish. Um, so I'm not where some of you are. Uh, we'll sit back. We'll certainly have opinions. A lot of it we won't know for sure until they start to play games. Um, because, you know, especially now that there's a different

offensive coordinator, different defensive coordinator. The schemes may be different. Um, you know, we'll be able to, some based on what the market expectation was and where they got said player. But, you know, fireworks, fireworks, everybody reacting to that. What does it mean? How about a trade for Max Crosby? What would they have to trade for Max Crosby? I mean, you'd have to trade next year's first, maybe even second, along with this year's third and fifth. Imagine Crosby, here's some fireworks. Crosby gets traded for. They also go out and sign Jalen Phillips. They also go out

and sign Devin Lloyd and Torek Wullen. They're your big defensive ads. You know, that's one, two, three, four new defensive starters. Kyle Pitts, Alec Pierce, you got a tight end and you got another wide receiver. Add Moffey to it as well. Let's get another D-Lignment. Let's get another pass rusher up there. The only thing I know is this, in all reality and seriousness. Adam Peters is definitely, definitely in the spotlight right now. These next few months are about him in that front office because it's got to deliver a roster to Quinn

and his new coaching staff that they can win with. I think it might start pretty soon, meaning we'll have some cuts, we'll have some extension news, We might even have a signing or two of some of their own guys, like Trasway, was re-signed. That's a little bit different than maybe a Chris Paul or Chris Rodriguez. Rodriguez and McNichols seem like they're going to end up being here. I mean, that kind of news seems like it could be coming in the next, you know, days to, you know, week or two.

As they look at their own and decide this is what we want. We want to keep these guys. Let's see if we can get these guys. in the fold before we go out in March. But the pressures on Peters, no doubt. I do agree with all of you that say that he's got to deliver a legitimate roster for this upcoming season, and that means veteran players, because the draft is a crapshoot, man.

I don't care what pick they have. It's still an unknown. It's more known in free agency. And you've got to build a roster around Jaden Daniels, both sides of the ball, offense and defense that Quinn and the new coaching staff, because it is pretty new, can win with. All right. Kirk Cousins was on Friday show, and for the most part, you guys really seemed to enjoy it. I'm going to go through just a couple of parts of the interview with Kirk on Friday that seemed like the parts that you guys were most interested in hearing my reaction to. We'll do that next after these were.

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lack of playoff wins and other things. But for the most part, it seemed like you enjoyed it as much as I did. From Peter and Manassas, epic interview, The Man is a jewel, and I pray to God that he comes back somewhere. From Tom, fantastic listen with our guy, Kirk Cousins, who is smart, classy, and winsome. His breakdown of the Shanny Gruden, trees with McVeigh-Ben Johnson spin-offs so good and fascinating to hear his take.

If the Redskins had beaten the Giants in 16, maybe McVeigh stays. Yes, those were two areas that seemed to interest a lot of you. This from Reese. Reese writes, Kevin, what a week of guests you had, but by far and away, Cousins was the best. I'm trying to think we had Dan Quinn on the podcast. last a week. Kirk Cousins on the podcast last week. On the radio show, we had Joe Gibbs. We had Will Dawkins, the GM from the Wizards, had Buzz Williams. I'm trying to think who else. But on the podcast, we had the head coach, Dan Quinn last week, and then we had Kirk on Friday.

Anyway, Reese writes, what a week of guess you had, but by far and away, Cousins was the best. I've never really been the fan that you've been, but add me to that. list now. I took I took him more seriously when you linked to a video of Minnesota players and coaches standing in line to say hello to him after they played his team last year. Yes, I remember that, Reese. That is, that was quite the testament to him. I wish I'd thought to ask him about that. That was an NFL film's Kirk was miced up for the Falcons game at Minnesota into, 24. It ended up being one of the last games that he started. And after the game, I mean, every player, every coach, employees were lined up to say hello to him, to thank him.

I thought it was really something you see typically with a player returning, but I don't know if I've ever seen it to that length and to that effect. Anyway, Reese continues. That was amazing and very telling. And after an hour with you, I can see why. He's smart, he's self-aware, he's self-deprecating, and funny. And his explanation of the Shanahan and Gruden trees, and his relationship to them was fascinating. He's got a future in TV, but like you, I now want to see him play and get one more chance to win something. Thank you for that, Reese. And then this from Brian D.

Brian D. writes, Kevin, I don't get it why it took you so long to get him back on the show. He seems to like you and know that you're a fan. Was he avoiding D.C.? Brian, that's a good question. You know, he wasn't avoiding D.C. Although I don't think he was in a hurry to come back and be on in D.C. But I will tell you guys that back in 2015, before the 2015 season, I was at 980, Tommy and I were hosting the sports fix together.

And every year, you know, before the season started, you know, sometime during the summer, whomever the program director was would come and say, hey, you know, we don't have a lot of money to spend on getting you a weekly guest from the team. here are a couple of ideas. This is what we can spend. And I said before 2015 began, it was in late July, early August. I said, you know what? Because I'll tell you, there was a player that they offered.

And I said, I don't really want him. He's not very good. I'm not going to mention the name. He was a good player, but he was not a good guest. And the bottom line is, honestly, unless it's like some massive superstar, guests typically don't move the needle. Players in particular typically don't move the needle a lot, unless they're really good. And the guy they were offering that particular summer to Tommy and me, we both were like,

yeah, no. And I said, and this was before he got the starting job, I said, you know who I'd like? I'd like Kirk Cousins. And they said, why? He's the backup quarterback. and I said, A, he's really good. We've had him on before. B, I think he's going to be the starter at some point during the season.

Swear to God on my three boys that that's what I said. Tommy will tell you that. And they kind of just blew it off, laughed at it and said, and I said, fine, if you don't want to do that and it wouldn't cost that much because he's the backup quarterback, then I don't really. want the player that you're offering. I'll try to think of somebody else. And for whatever reason, I don't know if that was the year that we had Pierre on. I think it may have been, we ended up getting Pierre Garcin on the show, and he was on for just a few weeks because he said something. I can't

even remember what he said now. He said something that ended up basically becoming super newsworthy. And then the rest of the year he was on, he would barely say anything. And it was a terrible terrible hit. But let me wrap this part of the story up. Grant Paulson at 1067, the fan, had the exact same idea, and their program director didn't laugh at it, and they went and had Kirk Cousins, signed Kirk Cousins, to be on the show, his show, before the season began.

True story. and that was where Kirk's loyalties remained to the station that first put him on the air and paid him before he was the starting quarterback. And he felt loyal to that. And I told him, you know, because there were a couple of times when he was still playing here. And right after, you know, he moved to Minnesota where he said to me, you know, in those early years, I appreciate that you'd like me on the show, but I'm not doing it. I'm exclusive to them. And even when he wasn't exclusive to them anymore, he felt loyal to them, which I said,

I totally appreciate and understand that to me made, you know, him even more worthy of being a fan of. Now, in recent years, you know, I've texted back and forth with him during, you know, different things. Not a lot, you know, occasionally here and there over the course of, of a year. You know, I'll send him a quick note to say something. He sent me a quick note when he was on last year during the playoffs with Scott to say that I'm sitting here with your guy. And, you know, we talked, texted back and forth a little bit. But in one of my last text to him, I said, you're coming on the show when this season is over. And he said, all right. And then I asked him last week. And he said, fine, let's do it. So it was good.

to have him on the show. So there's, he, I don't think he was avoiding D.C. It's possible after he went to Minnesota. I can't tell you if he, how many times he was on in the market. I wasn't auditing that by any stretch.

But he was definitely loyal to 1067. And Grant in particular, because Grant's the one that said and went to bat and said, I think this guy's going to be the starter. I want him. And he's a really good guest. And if you recall, and 15, 16, and I think 17,

he did a weekly hit with those guys on their show. And yeah, Tommy will tell you. That's who my idea was at the same time. And our people just laughed and said, yeah, we're not going to do that. So we got Pierre. I'm pretty sure that was the year we had Pierre. Pierre got in big trouble. Tommy will remember specifically,

I can't remember right now what he got in trouble for. I think it may have been a dig at RG3 that got some run. And after that, you know, basically he would barely say anything other than specific to something that happened during the game. All right. I wanted to play a couple of the things that Kirk said on Friday. And one of the things that a lot of you said to me was, wow, his thoughts. on RG3 that rookie year were very interesting.

I asked him about 2012, and I said the perception from the outside looking in, especially after that season was over, is that 2012 must have been chaotic. Because, and we didn't think that in the moment, we thought it, you know, a little bit after the fact, that 2012 was, you know, Dan and Bruce, RG3 was their guy. and Kirk was Kyle and Mike's guy, and Kirk and Robert didn't get along, and it just seemed chaotic. And I just said, you know, you'll hear me set it up,

but I said, were those things true? What was it like? You know, kind of take us back there, and here's what he said after my lead in. I think people have had the impression over the years that the quarterback situation during those years was chaos. You know, Dan and Bruce loved Robert, Mike and Kyle loved you.

You and Robert didn't necessarily get along. What's the truth about those days? Well, I don't know that I was necessarily ready to play right away. So I think it was in my best interest to be able to be a backup. And the opposite is true for Robert. I mean, he showed he was ready to play right away. And I'll never forget, week one, rookie year at the Superdome, on the backup. My locker's next to Robert as we're getting ready for the game.

and I mean, I was a playaway, I guess you could say, but I wasn't exactly disappointed that I wasn't starting in the sense. I felt like this is a big stage. We're going up against Drew Brees. Like, probably best for me to ease into this thing. And then to watch Robert do what he did that day and that entire season, I was really in awe of the no fear and just the fierce competitor and his ability to go out there with confidence as a rookie and play like he belonged

and like he had been there for a long time. And I took a lot from that. And you talk to Kyle Shanahan or Matt Lefleur to this day. They'll tell you that, that it was really impressive what he did with a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations on a big stage. It was not too big for him. And so we'll always say that. And so I look through it as really he was such a larger-than-life player and person and brand

that I kind of just wanted to stay out of the way. I didn't want to be someone who was pulling on him or asking for things. from him. And so I just tried to not be a distraction and just tried to kind of stay in my lane and make sure that I wasn't trying to be someone who was getting things from him because I'm sure he had plenty of those people. And so it was also really helpful to come into meetings. And they have Kyle and Matt and Mike, they have to teach to a rookie as a starting quarterback. So everything was getting taught at a pace that enabled me as a backup to learn it alongside the starter. Whereas if you go into a room with Joe Montana in his 12th years,

the starting quarterback, it's going to feel like, you know, you're just getting talked right over your head because they're not trying to teach to you. They're talking to a guy who's been there for a decade. So it did me a lot of service to be able to, you know, have it taught to us at a pace that we could learn it the right way. And then when Robert got hurt, that also afforded me the opportunity in the offseason to get so many reps with the starting offense and get a lot of experience your old-teasing training camp. So there were a lot of things out of my control that just kind of fell in place that helped me behind the scenes to develop. and get some of the things that you need as a quarterback to make it in this league long term.

What I really liked about this segment of the show in particular, in this part specifically, is it's a reminder of just how good RG3 was as a rookie. And Kirk's honesty about not being ready for what RG3 was ready for. RG3 came into that league in 2012 with an overabundance of confidence, certainly a ton of charisma, and they developed, the Shanahan's did, a scheme that highlighted what he did well and limited the exposure to what he didn't do well. And because of it, he had an unbelievable season. Now, by later in the season, Kirk was certainly ready to come in in that game. game against Baltimore and then start against Cleveland.

He talks a lot about the Cleveland game in our conversation from Friday. Also talks about the Seattle playoff game. At that point, he was ready for it. And any sort of chaos that, you know, happened during those times, I think we all know now through a lot of the stories, even though Kirk wasn't fully aware of it in the moment, although I think he was probably aware of more than maybe what he said. But the chaos with Robert and Mike, with Robert and Dan and Mike really started post-Cleveland game. When Robert wasn't happy that he didn't play in the game, remember he held his own press conference following the game,

and then was really unhappy after, you know, the offense was a bit different. You know, Kirk mentions about the Cleveland game in our conversation that Kyle called it. like 11 bootlegs in the game, whereas they didn't really run much zone read, although Kirk said they ran one zone read at the end, but he didn't keep it. He handed the ball off. But Robert Griffin, the third man, came into that league in 2012 and took it by storm, you know, starting with that New Orleans game. And he was the guy that was ready for that moment. And I thought Kirk's telling of how he was able to handle everything that came with being what he was in 2012, that even to this day that Kyle and Matt Lafleur, they'll all tell you how impressed

they were with how he was able to handle all of it. So that was an interesting part of the show. The other soundbite that I wanted to play was mentioned by a few of the emails that I read, And that was Kirk's description of the coaches that he's played for. And you'll hear him get into explaining, you know, where all of this kind of comes from, the Shanahan's, the Grudens, you know, the original tree that they all kind of come from. I didn't really even ask for that. I think the question was more in line with, you know,

you've played for all these guys, you know, Mike and Kyle and Kevin O'Connell and Jay Gruden before Kevin O'Connell. And this past year with Zach Robinson, who was a Sean McVeigh disciple in L.A., and I said, can you explain kind of the differences between these guys? You know, because we see him as all kind of lumped into one. How do you see him? And he said this. I think what happened is you really have two trees.

You have Mike Shanahan and you have John Gruden, and both of them kind of came from the Bill Walsh tree. So you have Bill, Mike and Kyle, you know, we're then around. different people in those trees where Mike was more in the San Fran space with George Seaford and those guys. But John goes to Green Bay and he's with Holmgren who had been in San Fran. He's with Andy Reed. And so John kind of sees it from there. And then they intersect again when Kyle Shanahan gets hired as a QC in Tampa to work for

John. So Kyle kind of sees how John does things after having grown up with his dad and being around Denver. And then you kind of get that again when Sean McVeigh, who had then been trained by John and Jay Gruden, he then crosses over to the Shanahan's in one. Washington, and he kind of brings his Gruden knowledge over to what the Shanahan's are doing. And so you kind of saw this cross-pollination, if you will, between John's philosophy and Mike's philosophy, which has some pretty unique differences where I wouldn't put them in the same

category, but then their disciples, if you will, have crossed over with each other to where they kind of now have cross-pollinated. And you get a little bit of John Gruden stuff and a little bit of Mike Shanahan stuff from each of them. And it's just a question of where do they fall on that spectrum as to they tend to peer more towards John Gruden or more towards Mike Shanahan. And all of those guys fall in a different spot on that spectrum. But they all have been influenced by both sides of the spectrum.

So interesting the way Kirk laid that out. And I think the most interesting part of it is Sean McVeigh and Kyle Shanahan, in part because Jay Gruden has said to me on the show a few times, reluctantly so. I don't think he likes to super, you know, stick his chest out and talk about, you know, his brother's tree. But he has said before when we've talked about Shanahan coaches, he's said, well, you know, those coaches were with my brother, too. My brother's tree is pretty similar. And the way Kirk laid it out, you know, Kyle's got the father exposure, and the first gig he takes in the NFL is with John Gruden in Tampa. And Jay Gruden was working with his brother at the same time.

Jay's always talked about working with Kyle together in Tampa. and then Sean McVeigh's first NFL job is with John Gruden. And then he goes to Mike in Washington in 2010. So he takes everything he knows from Gruden and then comes to Washington to work for Mike. Kyle already had in his disposal everything he had learned from his father and then goes to work for John Gruden. It is amazing to kind of go back and look at the Bill Walsh tree. because Mike doesn't really, Mike comes off of the Bill Walsh tree because of George Seaford, but he never worked for Bill Walsh.

In fact, Mike was a head coach before he worked for Seaford. Mike was an offensive coordinator in Denver with Reeves, then got the job in, you know, in L.A. I think the Raiders were in L.A. that year for one year didn't work out well with Al. He left and went back to Denver. and then eventually when George Seafurt took over for Bill Walsh, he became Seifert's offensive coordinator, where he was not only the offensive coordinator, but the quarterbacks coach for Steve Young and their Super Bowl win. But Mike has spawned a lot of people, and John has spawned a lot of people. And as Kirk said, there's been a lot of cross-pollination.

You start looking at the Bill Walsh tree. If you ever want to see something pretty fascinating, I mean, I think he's got to have. maybe the biggest coaching tree in the history of the game. He's actually off of the Paul Brown tree, but Bill Walsh's four initial kind of descendants were Dennis Green, Sam Weish, Mike Holmgren, and then Mike White is also off that tree. He ended up becoming a college coach. But Mike Holmgren's tree massive because he spawns Andy Reid,

Steve Mariucci, John Gruden, Mike Sherman, who became a head coach, and Jim Zorn, when he was. was in Seattle. Zorn doesn't have any branches off of his tree, obviously, but Gruden does and you know, Mariucci does, and Andy Reid's got a ton. But it all stems from Bill Walsh. Fascinating stuff, I think, for me anyway. All right, I got a few more things to finish up the show with. We'll get to those things after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, new sponsor on the podcast this week. I want you to pay attention to Mando. Mando is a whole body deodorant. This is important for many of you, especially for those of you that are back into the dating world. You're

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sorry, it's not for me anymore. The NBA regular season is barely for me. I love the playoffs. I think it's one of the best products in sports. Once they kick off in April and run through June, it is quite a show. But I was not into All-Star Weekend, and I know the world versus the U.S.,

but it wasn't really that. It was a round-robin of a world team, a U.S. team made up of older stars and a U.S. team made up of younger stars. They played a bit of a round robin and then had a championship game. One of the American teams beat the other American team in the final. However, there was one of these round robin games that I'm sorry I missed. I did see the highlights of it. My guy, Kauai Leonard, went off.

He had 31 points in 12 minutes. 12 minutes, 31 points. 11 of 13 from the floor, 6 of 7 from behind the ark. I've mentioned him a few times. The season he is having is otherworldly. I mean, he has been one of the top two or three players in the NBA this year. He's healthy. I have said this before.

I think he's one of the greatest two-way players in the history of the game, and I think he's going to be a very interesting, what if when his career is over? I think I talked about this last week. what if he had been healthy his entire career? Would he be a top 10 player of all time? Maybe not top 10, but no worse than top 15. He's been that dominant when he has been healthy. And at 34 years old, he's having that kind of season. Unfortunately, the clippers kind of sold off some parts, Zubots, Hardin, and they may end up being a play-in team, but certainly not a threat to go deep. into the postseason, but he apparently had quite the moment. He didn't take home the MVP

because they lost in the final game to Anthony Edwards' team. He got the MVP. But you could see by the player reaction to Leonard as he got into the zone. He's always among players has been recognized as truly one of the all-time greats. Didn't prove it necessarily in an All-Star game, but he's been proving it all season long. What else? College hoops. I wanted to mention a few things about the weekend. Number one is nobody locally did very well.

Georgetown lost a close game at Yukon. Georgetown's much better right now. Their last two losses were close losses to Villanova and to Yukon. Maryland lost Rutgers yesterday after winning two last week. They did not play well. they certainly didn't shoot well at all at Rutgers. George Mason got beat by GW, so a good weekend for GW, but Mason's really fallen apart here recently.

They've dropped four of their last seven. They at one point were leading the Atlantic 10, but now they're four games behind St. Louis. Nationally, I watched Kansas get blown out at Iowa State. I tuned in to see if Darren Peterson was going to play or if it was going to be another load management situation or flu bug symptom situation. He played and he did not look good at all. At times, to be honest with you, he looked a bit disinterested. That's going to be a very, very, you know, important

due diligence process for whomever has number one overall, maybe the Wizards. But Kansas got blown out in that game by Iowa State. Arizona lost as a the number one team for a second straight game. They won't be number one today. In fact, I'm looking at it right now. Michigan has ascended to number one in the rankings. I wonder when the last time Michigan was number one in the rankings. Virginia moved up to 14th. Virginia's won six in a row, I think it is, and they beat Ohio State over the weekend. Another big basketball-related story. I think I mentioned Jordan Smith last week. Jordan Smith, who is the number three player in the country,

number one guard in the country, plays at Paul V6th in Northern Virginia, part of the WCAC. He has been an absolute spectacular watch since he started at PVI. The last few years, it's been fun to watch him play. He'll be in the WCAC tournament next weekend. He committed to Arkansas.

He will be playing for John Calipari at Arkansas. Arkansas came down, I think, to Arkansas and Duke, but some people really believe that Jordan Smith is going to be considered one of the greatest players, if not the greatest, to ever come out of this area. We shall see. But we're really talking more about the high school career, and his high school career has been sensational. That is for sure. The last thing that I wanted to mention is sad news, once again, from our football team's universe. We had Sunny pass away. We had Barry Wilburn pass away.

Trey Johnson passed away over the weekend at the age of 54 years old. Trey Johnson was drafted by the skins in 94. Second round, the draft that Heath Shore was picked in the first round. Out of Temple became a starter for this team, really by year two, was a starting right guard, was a starting left guard. in 1999, Tray Johnson, number 77, had himself a year. A pro bowl season, a second team all pro season. There were some injuries along the way. He ended up in Cleveland and finished his career in 2002.

But for some in the area, you guys know what Tray Johnson has been doing for the better part of the last two decades. And I know what he's been doing for the better part of the last two decades. He's been a teacher and a really good. good teacher at the Landon School in Bethesda. I know a lot of young men who have been taught by Trey Johnson over the last 15 or so years. He's been a history teacher in their upper school for a while now, and he did take a leave recently for medical reasons, and he passed away over the weekend. The schoolhead wrote a letter to all the parents where he described Trey Johnson as a man of

great intellect and curiosity, a person of forthrightness, honesty, and moral courage, and a teacher who cared very deeply about his students in matters of justice. Rest in peace, Trey Johnson, sympathies out to his family and his children. He had five of them. All right, that's it for the show today. Back tomorrow with Tommy.