The Kevin Sheehan Show - We Believe The Report

Episode Date: March 6, 2021

Kevin and Thom today on the report yesterday from The Junkies/106.7 that Beth Wilkenson's report will include as one of two recommendations that Snyder be forced to sell the team. The guys discussed this in detail and then got to the reports about social media bots being used to enhance Snyder and the organization's image. Some Alex Smith talk too and Kevin recapped the Ravens' crazy "overtime" proposal.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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. Tommy's with me today. Cooley will be with me on Monday. Sorry we didn't get a pot out yesterday.

But we're getting one out today. And actually, it's better that we get it out today. There's more information on what was, you know, a breaking story yesterday morning, courtesy of 1067 the fan. And the sports junkies. We're going to get to that. We'll get to Alex Smith. It became official yesterday.

And I also wanted to just quickly respond to the Ravens Overtime proposal. But I pulled Tommy in off the beach. By the way, I got several text messages yesterday from friends, all right, including my youngest son and some of his friends, saying that they love the picture of Tommy at the beach. They love... Well, you know what? I was getting some feedback, some response from people wanting to know what I thought of the 1067 report about Snyder. And I really did want to deal with it. So I put that out there to tell people I was busy. Is that what you did, really? Yes. Yes.

You really, I mean, it's a great look. It's all black. It's a black t-shirt. It's black gym shorts and black shoes on a white... Andy Beach. And it was, you know, as one of my son's friends said, it's a good thing that the shirt was on. And I agreed. I agreed. It was a great picture. Man, you look so relaxed. Man, that beard is really, I mean, when's the last time you trim that thing up?

Oh, a couple of weeks. I am, you know, a homeless person on the streets of Sarasota call me Grizzly Adams today. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good look on you. We'll leave it at that. All right. So yesterday, I'm doing the radio show. I have Mike DeCorsi on this show. I'll actually really like Mike. Mike has written and covered college basketball for years for sporting news, and he's a big part of the Big Ten network. And we're talking college hoops. And all of a sudden I get in my ear from my new producer, Brendan Dar, who's doing a great job. He said, we've got breaking news. He goes, check your email. I just sent it to you. And I checked it. and it was this story from the junkies.

And the gist of it is, I'm assuming that most of you have seen it at this point. But the story was that I guess Jason, Jason Bishop from the junkies, I know Jason, great guy. They reported that they had obtained information from the Beth Wilkinson report, the 130-plus page Beth Wilkinson report. They had gotten information from it to where there were two recommendations. The top recommendation being that Wilkinson was proposing to the league that they forced the owner to divest his ownership of the team. And the second recommendation in the report, if the NFL doesn't want to force the sale, was to suspend the owner for a significant period of time to allow time to repair its infrastructure and culture. This is what they had on their show yesterday morning.

And immediately, immediately, every NFL reporter, every local Washington reporter, you know, followed up with the league. And the league's statement to, you know, Mike Jones, Mark Maskey, you know, everybody, was that they said that the report on the Washington football team is absolutely false. and then they also said that they have received no such report. Your reaction first, and then I'll give you mine. Well, first of all, you don't make this kind of report unless you don't issue this kind of story, unless you're pretty sure, unless you're 100% sure you're right. I mean, and, you know, the junkies were very definitive in what they said. They didn't hedge this, really.

So, I mean, I find the NFL's denial, you know, standard operating procedure. But really, I think just a matter of semantics maybe. They didn't get a full report, you know, all kinds. of things. So I, you know, my, my reaction is that this is a true report in the NFL is backpedaling. What about you? 100% agree with you. I don't, I mean, let me just start with this. You don't put something like this out unless you know it's right. Well, look, you can speak from two angles here. You can speak from the angle of being a reporter,

and you can also speak from the angle of being a sports talk radio host. And sports talk radio hosts. And I've mentioned this before in the past when I've had some stuff. It's not what we do. We don't need to do it. And they've had stuff in the past that they've been right about. And I just, my immediate reaction when I saw it and I saw from where it came, a sports talk radio situation that, by the way, to their credit, you know, they've been on the air for as long as they've been on the air, they've been successful. They've had stuff before that turned out to be right. This wasn't some, you know, sports radio hack who just, you know, who got a call from a listener and said, hey, man, look at what I got, and then they went with it. I immediately thought it was

credible given that it came from them. There are some shows and some people in the market, if it had come from them, I would have definitely rolled my eyes. I didn't with this. And then to see the reaction, they didn't really deny anything other than to say, as you said, it was semantics to say, it's totally false. We haven't gotten that report. Well, if you haven't gotten that report, how would you know that anything, you know, that they said about what they saw in the report or what was told to them is in the report is false? So I think the more, so, you know, it sounds like you and I can move on from the conversation of whether or not we think that this is true. that they had a legitimate source that had information about what was in the Wilkinson report,

told them, and they shared some of that information. I believe that that's true. I absolutely believe it's true. I believe the information that they have and disseminated on their show yesterday is more likely than not true. So let's get to the information. The information centers primarily on the top two recommendations that Beth Wilkinson, will give to the league regarding Dan Snyder. The top recommendation per their report, per Jason Bishops and the junkies report on 1067

the fan yesterday, the top recommendation is to force the owner to divest his ownership of the team. The second recommendation that will come from Beth Wilkinson to the league is to suspend the owner for a significant period to allow time to repair its infrastructure and culture. Those are the two key pieces of the report were the two recommendations. You know, if the league top recommendation is get them out, force him to sell the team. Second recommendation is if you don't want to force him to sell the team, you got to suspend them for a significant period of time.

So obviously, first and foremost, I'd love to know what's in the report that led her to recommend as the top recommendation that he sell the team. because as you know, and we don't necessarily agree on this, I don't think that anything I've read in any of the post stories leads me to believe that there's enough there that's directly linked to him that would basically compel the commissioner and the other 31 owners to vote him out. I don't think that there's enough there. You tend to disagree, but I think where we agree, correct me,

if I'm wrong, is we agree that whether or not you think there's enough there for them to vote them out, I don't, you do. We don't think ultimately they will, based on what we've read at this point, because of the, you know, the fear that it could be them at some point down the road. Well, you see, that's where I'm conflicted, because the logical part of me says that these guys would jump on the chance to be at at a Dan Snyder business. Right. The only reason I would not agree with that was that my feeling is that there's so many

weasels who have their own closets to cover up that they fear that, you know, there for the grace of guy go I. But logical thinking tells me that no one would want to be business with Dan Snyder and any opportunity to get out of it, they would jump on. I agree with that. I just don't think that this, from what we know, and we don't know what's in the report, but what has been written specifically in the Washington Post-exposés,

I don't think there's enough there that would make these owners force them out because there for the grace of God, go they, go I. And I think that, you know, even the $1.6 million settlement that was written about, you know, a few months ago on the plane ride back from the country music awards or whatever in Las Vegas. I mean, I would bet you that there are at least a couple of owners that have had $1.6 million quiet confidential settlements with various things. So my guess is that there isn't anything that we've had so far that would put the owners into a position to forcing themselves. But the fact that this may be the top recommendation certainly intrigues me

as to what Beth Wilkinson has. What else is in that report? As I understand it, look, there's a dead president who would rise from the grave to tell you this. It's not the crime, it's the cover of. Yes.

And according to the report, Wilkinson, Beth Wilkinson has been very frustrated by the lack of cooperation and the roadblocks by Snyder in her investigation. And that would seem to be the prime motivator that would result in that number one recommendation. I don't know. Did the junkies have that in their report that there were concerns about a cover-up, or was that someone else who followed up on that with?

No, I think, look, I could be wrong, but I think it's the junkies that the issue is the lack of cooperation and the things that he's been doing to block the report as much as he can. And that's just not going to fly. I mean, it's an NFL investigation. You know, it's not his investigation anymore. You can imagine what it would have been like if it was his investigation still. That would have been rich. So let's just assume that they haven't been cooperative and that there's some level of cover-up.

you think that that may be the reason for the top recommendation versus something that was uncovered about, you know, something that happened with him and a female employee in 2012. That's what I think. I think that that, I mean, again, it's just a guess based on the reports that we've seen, but so many times the cover-up is worse than the crimes. And that's in Snyder's nature. I mean, this is what rats do. when they're cornered. You know? They chew off their own legs sometimes to get out of it. So I could see Snyder doing something like that, you know, worried about, you know, not wanting people to know the dealings that he's had and doing everything he could to stop

because that's his nature. See, this is why if they suspend them, that's useless. that's absolutely useless because he's not going to change he'll come back he'll come back warring

you know chomping at the bit whether it's two years one year that that's not going to do anything a suspension uh you know I've had people

totally agree totally agree with that I mean what's the point suspending an owner it impacts nothing yeah uh look I've

I compared Ron Rivera's path to success when he first got hired to the Steinbrenner, George Steinbrenner and the Yankees suspension in the early 90s. You know, and people are comparing the possibility of a suspension by Snyder to what Steinbrenner went through. George Steinbrenner was suspended for two years, I think, in the early 90s

for actually for things involving a smear campaign against Dave Winfield trying to sabotage Winfield and a guy who he had

signed to a long-term deal and wound up you know his enemy and that gave the Yankees a chance with Gene Michael and Buckshaw-Walter to keep Steinbrenner from trading away the core group of young players they had. Derek Jeter, Andy Petit, Jorge Bassada, Bernie Williams, that kept Steinbrenner from doing his usual thing,

trading away prospects for washed-up named players. And that was the core that built the Yankees that won four World Series. But people forget, when Steinbrenner came back, he fired Buck Showalter in 1995 after making the playoffs. Wouldn't that be, Rich? He goes away for two years. They make the playoffs two years. They get to the NFC championship game.

And then he's back. He's reinstated and he fires everybody. Yeah. So Steinbrenner fired. What I pointed out in my column last December, what stopped Steinbrenner was the early success and the popularity of Joe Tori, winning like three World Series in the first four years. He was on the job that made Tori so powerful within the Yankee fan base

that Steinbredder couldn't really cross him. And that would be the only path, I think, to hold off Snyder still if Ron Rivera had that kind of success. Other than that, if Snyder comes back from a suspension, he's been doing this for 22 years. What makes anyone think this is going to be any different when he comes back from a suspension? So that's absurd. It's a got-to-go situation.

If he's not willing to cooperate with an NFL investigation, no matter what you think he's done or hasn't done, that's got to go. So my fault for not, you're right. And I just found it because in the story that I thought had encapsulated or even, quoted the entire segment where they broke this news on their show yesterday. They didn't have the following quotes from Jason, from Jason Bishop 1067, The Fan, The Junkies Show. She was recommending this to Goodell mainly because of the cover-up and lack of integrity throughout the internal investigations. Apparently, he was trying to persuade or instruct other employees not to talk to Wilkinson's firm about what they were investigating. Once she reported back to Gadell that this was

happening. That's why she's recommending he needs to go because of the cover-up. So, yeah, there you go. Now all we need, Tommy, is we just need 18 and a half minutes of missing tape. If we can just find a gap in a videotape, right? Not audio tape. We are in the 21st century. If we can find an 18 and a half minute missing gap in a video of maybe the cheerleader situation, that would be a got-to-go situation. Yes. Okay. Let's get two predictions here on this right now.

Obviously subject to change based on more information. March 6th, 2021. How does this play out? I think Snyder's forced to sell. I think he forced to sell. I think that, I mean, as this goes on, I don't think he's going to change anything. anything, his behavior. I think what you, I think what we know in the report from 106-7,

I'm sure it's a lot worse because it always is than what we know. And I think if once, if, and when that comes out, it will be a situation where they can't tolerate him as a business partner anymore. I think this will be a, I think, I think, I think they can convince the only I need two-thirds to the NFL owners. So, you know, to do this. So I think they could convince the two-thirds of the NFL. I thought it was three quarters. I thought it was 75%.

I think it's, well, I could be wrong. Okay. I don't want to lose it. But my point is, go ahead. You can, I think you can convince two-thirds of the NFL owners to look in the mirror and say, I'm not going to be, I'm not that big of an asshole. That guy, that's not me. I may be an asshole, but I'm not that much of an asshole.

So yeah, let's get rid of this guy. My prediction, Tommy, is I do not think he will be forced to sell the team. I am hesitant in being really definitive about that prediction, and I don't know if I would wager actual money on it, but that's my guess as of today. What makes me hesitant are a few things, including something you just said, which I'll get to in a moment. But the first thing is this, I don't know what's in the report.

You know, if there's something in that report that's much worse than any of the things that I've read in the Washington Post stories and other stories, then maybe there is something there. Maybe there is a direct link to an event that he was involved in that was, you know, more than just inappropriate or more than just sort of, you know, the culture of the organization, you know, that he oversaw. I'm talking about a direct link with him and something untoward. I don't know. Maybe the investigation will uncover something like that. Number two is, you know, the league can't tolerate even these kinds of cultures in this day and age. The time we're living in won't really permit it. So I wonder how much pressure they will be under from a PR standpoint to do something about Snyder and the culture that exists here.

But the third thing that gives me some hope that maybe he will be forced to sell the team is what you were just talking about. And I think it's really important for those of you that, you know, heard it and sometimes maybe even roll your eyes at sort of the anti, you know, owner sentiment from the fan base and from some of us in the media, especially those of us who are lifelong fans and want a better own team. nobody likes Dan in the league. You know, he is not influential. He is not well respected. He is not well liked. The owners view Washington and Snyder's ownership of this football team as a hot mess. It's been an embarrassment.

And it's such an important market. You know, it's important demographically because of the lucrative opportunity that Washington provides. And they have been disgusted. in recent years to turn on televisions and see eight, nine, 10,000 people in the stadium late in the year, to see some of the television ratings sync to the levels that they've sunk to in recent years. They don't want him to own the team anymore. They want this market to thrive and they don't think he can do it. And from what we've been told, and Tommy and I and everybody in the media,

we've been told this many times over the years, He's just not well-liked. He doesn't have much influence. It's one of the reasons Bruce was always sent to these league meetings. He's uncomfortable. He's become a recluse in recent years. A recluse from league-related stuff. Ron's going to probably be the guy or Jason Wright, the guy that attends all this league stuff.

He doesn't want to be around people that don't like him, that don't respect him. So I do think the incentive to find something to get him or force him to sell is there, but they just, it has to be overwhelming. It has to be something where the other owners say, well, this is so bad, we have no choice but to force him to sell the team. Because if it's not in the so bad category, then there are too many owners that I fear will fear themselves of who's coming for them next. I do want to see this investigation. I do want to be able to read this report. I want to know what was investigated and what the conclusions were.

You know, I hope it's made public. It'll give us a chance to come to do a more reasonable conclusion after, you know, a thorough investigation of what's gone on in this organization. I really do. Well, you saw the Washington Postal or editorial. I did. I read it. I mean, you know, that's a powerful. statement from the newspaper to speak on their editorial page about something like this.

And that was the point of my column last Monday, last Tuesday, about, you know, saying if it's not made public, Jason Wright and Ron Rivera need to speak out against that. It's to pressure the NFL to make it public, because that would be the right thing to do. There should be tremendous pressure right now on that. Now, here's the other thing that comes into play. Don't you think the owners will do what Roger Goodell recommends them to do? I don't know the answer to that. I have no idea.

I think they would in a case like this, because then they can blame the commissioner if they get any, if it ever becomes a legal battle or something like that. At least they'd have a fall guy. But look, at the NFL, And rightfully so, is very sensitive to their reputation of dealing with women, okay? As an entity, I mean, they hired Kathy Lanier, the D.C. police chief as the head of their security, they're still feeling the effects of the Ray Rice investigation. Kareem Hunt, et cetera, yeah.

And yes. So they're very sensitive, rightfully so, in the perception of how they deal with women. This would be an opportunity for them to say, we have zero tolerance when it comes to organizations that are part of our league dealing with females like this, zero tolerance. Yeah, well, it would give them an opportunity to basically, I mean, because I think the opposite, they'll get, they'll get ripped for. I think if they don't, if they don't, I think that a lot of, you know, female fans and not all, but I think there'll be some female fans that'll say, you know, this is the same old NFL. I think the criticism for not forcing him to sell based on what we know will be harsh. and we'll put the NFL back on its heels again when it comes to dealing with a fan base that, according to some reports, is nearly half their fan base. I don't know if that's true or not. But so I think the whole Ray Rice hangover could have an impact on this decision.

Yeah, I know. But it didn't with Bob Kraft at a rub and tug. And there's just too much that they haven't really acted on or been a grass. on. So I just think... But what is Bob Kraft? Yeah, I understand. The other is the owner that they can't stand. This is my point. I mean, this is why I'm not definitive.

A, I don't know what's in the rest of the report. B, it's the time we're living in. And as you described, part of that for me is just the feeling in league circles that these are issues that they have to be on the right side of. And then the third part of it is he's

so despised in and there's not a whole lot of hell of a lot of respect for him. You know, I'm just going to, I'm going to mention a couple things that I haven't mentioned so far. Number one is he's also incredibly litigious. So they probably look at this thing and say, oh my God, if we go down this path, it's going to be a long path. It's going to be a long road before he's out of here. And it's going to be, you know, it's going to put a lot of stuff in Washington on hold. Number two is, you know, from his.

standpoint, I don't know how he could enjoy owning this team other than, you know, Matt McConaughey, Matthew McConaughey, as he told Chris, his first name is Matthew, not Matt. You know, George Clooney, all these guys, you know, they know who Dan is and they parked their yachts next to each other on the Amalfi Coast and they have a great time and he's somebody. He's one of 32 guys. This is, you know, I'm sure a big reason why he puts up with all the other stuff, which is when he's he realizes, well, I don't know if he realizes. His family probably realizes just how despised he is. I mean, how much fun could he and his family have owning this team when they're here? It just can't be very comfortable. He has to be taking all political figures out of the conversation,

the most despised Washingtonian of all time, right? Well, you see, Snyder wins it because of the lengthy career of despising him. I mean, I would argue that at that moment, Bob Short, who moved the senators out of town, was probably as despised. Okay? Yeah. But that faded. I mean, Snyder, it's 22. 5,000 people were going to those games in 1970.

That doesn't mean there weren't a lot of baseball fans. It was 1971. I know that. It wasn't 2012. I don't think they're comparable. The number one's slow. Absolutely. I mean, Bob Short was, I think, equally as despised in the moment.

It just didn't sustain. For one thing, he didn't own the franchise. Hadn't own the franchise very long. He owned it for 10 years. Yeah. So, but Snyder is, it's the length. It's the length. length of, and it's not like Jerry, where they had three Super Bowls, you know, in their

early year, Jerry Jones in his early years of ownership, I mean, you could, you can start from the, from the Marty Schadenheimer era. There are fans in this town that have despised him ever since. So, that's 20 years. Right. So there's one other thing that I wanted to just slip in, and that's this. It sort of dovetails on what I was just saying. I have been told in the past that, you know, the family doesn't love, you know, the situation. But beyond that, he's got three minority shareholders who hate his guts and he is at odds with. One of them may have actually been involved in a, you know, a misinformation smear campaign against him. You know, all of this stuff, I can't wait to see how all this stuff is resolved.

between him, between Sharr and Bruce Allen and Jessica McLuhan. I mean, I can't wait to see how all this gets resolved. He can't buy them out. He can't afford to buy them out. But he also has the right of first refusal on anybody buying them out. I don't know how comfortable it is as, you know, majority owner to have three minority owners who hate your guts and want you to sell the team.

Beyond that, you know, one of the reasons he can't buy him out is he, I think he's too leveraged. to buy him out based on league rules in terms of how much you can finance. And number two, you know, he may, I think the liquidity issue, I think a lot of his, you know, a lot of his net worth is tied up into this team. I'm not saying all of it is. I don't have, I don't have his books, but I've been told that it's, you know, it's not, he's not one of the wealthiest owners in the league.

So this opportunity now, if he were to sell coming off these new TV deals, which are about to be finalized, which are going to double the revenue, from Fox and CBS and NBC and ESPN, this organization would be sold for an amount of money that would be, I think, the largest sale of a North American-based franchise in history. An NFL franchise, a long-standing NFL franchise, with a pent-up demand for a new owner and new ownership, being able to completely rebrand the team in a lucrative demographic market

with the federal government here where, you know, as so many people have lived here, you know, have said about this market for so many years it's recession proof because of the federal government and all of the revenue opportunities that come through selling and partnering with various, you know, federal government-related businesses. It is going to be a massive sale if the majority owner sells his stake. And, you know, look, you've said this before. You believe that football is doomed long term. This may be the height of the NFL sales ability, selling a franchise.

This could be it. He could cash in more than anybody else ever. Now, at the same time, he's going to lose his status as one of 32. And maybe that's what he fears more than anything else. Or maybe he really wants to leave this team to his son. Anyway, who knows really where their mindset is? And it wouldn't surprise me at all if the way they feel about owning this team changes, you know, with the wind. You know, he is, I think probably one of these people who change their mind a lot and are impulsive and can get petty.

You know, maybe there was a sense at some point here recently that it might make sense for the family to move on from owning this team. But then, you know, Dwight Schar and Bruce Allen and Jessica McLuhan, you know, created this and Mary Ellen Blair created this misinformation campaign and that pissed him off. And so his heels are dug in more than they've ever been. Who knows? Anyway, one more thing, actually, Tommy, before we get to our first break. In Michael Phillips, Richmond Times Dispatch uncovered a lot of this.

And I think Barstool Sports did as well. It's kind of a crazy story. Just think in terms of the last several months, and the organization's attempts to repair its image. You know, they've hired a ton of diversity. They've put a lot of females front and center, including Tanya. You know, I mentioned this to you months ago about how that whole hiring of Jason Wright, he spoke more about Tanya than he did Dan. You know, she's been sort of pushed into sort of a co-owner, you know, label.

The organization's really tried to repair its image. And at the same time, Snyder's been suing people and going after people who have, you know, tarnished his good name via this, you know, Indian website, you know, Dwight Schar and Jessica McClellan and Bruce Allen, etc. But something was uncovered by Michael Phillips and Barstool Sports yesterday, and I'll try to lay it out as quickly as I can and as clearly as I can. So one of the efforts by the team has been to, you know, generate, you know, more positive PR. And Michael Phillips wrote the following in the Times Dispatch yesterday. Quote, the efforts have also included a public relations blitz on his behalf, Snyder's behalf.

Facebook ads have been purchased that promote an article on a website named NYCTalk.org that lods his charitable involvement. The website is not updated regularly, does not have any contact information, and its domain name is registered privately. Also, a number of new users appeared on Twitter, all-female, all accounts created in October 2020 that have been tweeting out praise of Snyder's efforts. The accounts appear to be bots, which means they don't represent actors. people. So what this is suggesting is that Snyder or people on behalf of Snyder working for Snyder,

working for the organization, have tried to use social media to repair or, you know, positively influence, you know, his image or enhance his image. This is, this is nuts. By the way, I'll point out, typical of this organization. If they did do this, they did it poorly because they got caught. It's a rat chewing off his leg. A rat in a trap chewing off his leg. That's what he's doing. I mean, these are, these are piddling little efforts to try to,

I mean, this is like his yacht has a big hole on the side, and he's trying to patch it up with super glue. I mean, yeah, when you combine that with everybody that he's suing and, you know, everything that he, there is a literal sense of desperation. No doubt. Wow. Crazy. It really is. I mean, this is just, look, the NFL, really when you think about it, you know, all the media in town, say, for one,

basically has gone out of their way to say that the owner is poisoned and we can't stand him and we don't want him here and he's a horrific human being and this has been pounded like like you know like a drum uh constantly that can't that has to have an impact at some point it has to have an impact the whole thing is just interesting uh i think you nailed it I mean, he is desperate right now. And maybe he's desperate because he does sense that he's in trouble of keeping, you know,

that the possibility exists that he could lose his team. Well, you know, here's the other thing. Even if it doesn't, I'm sure a guy like Snyder, as weasily as he is, is probably super paranoid. You know? So he may,

he may have created, in his own mind, a worse scenario than might actually happen and wind up being a self-fulfilling prophecy. I mean, people do that. They think the worst, you know, because they are the worst sometimes, and they think the worst is going to happen to them. So I need to do this to get the people that are out to get me, and it winds up being worse. Yeah. paranoia could be it.

You know, it's one of the pitfalls of being rich. You know, who are your friends? Who can you trust? It would be interesting to find out down the road if this pursuit of those responsible for the smear campaign, the misinformation campaign in July, if it was just paranoia on his end. Although there are a lot of text messages and phone calls, hours upon hours, that might actually reveal that it isn't paranoia. Anyway, Alex Smith's release became official yesterday.

More on that, right after this word from one of our sponsors. So it became official yesterday. The Washington football team released quarterback Alex Smith, making him a free agent for the first time in his career. It clears somewhere between $14.5 and $15 million in salary cap space, off of the team's books. This is something that we knew would happen. There was no chance that he was coming back under his current contract.

You know, there was a chance potentially that he would come back, but it would have had to have been at a much different contract level. Ron Rivera, in a statement released by the team, said that Smith requested the release and that the two had a very honest and real discussion about the future before deciding to part ways. Here's the quote in the press release from the team. Quote, after the conclusion of that meeting, we decided that it would be best for both parties to move on

and we will be granting Alex his request to be released, Rivera said. I want to thank Alex for his contributions this past year. He made such an impact on our young roster and his leadership was one of the key factors in our late season success and in making the playoffs for the first time. since 2015. Everyone here in Washington wishes Alex and his family the best going forward and appreciates all that he gave to the organization, closed quote. I thought it was interesting the way it was phrased from Rivera and the press release when he says after the conclusion

of that meeting they met, we decided that it would be best for both parties to move on and we will be granting Alex his request to be released. You know, if it's a mutual decision, you know, if it's best for both parties to move on, hence mutual decision, I don't know why they had to throw in. We will be granting Alex his request to be released. You know, this goes back to a lot of the press releases from over the years with this organization. Like they try to cover their back sides. Like in this particular case, the truth will do.

You know, it's like they both want to move on. That's fine. You don't have to worry that the fan base is somehow going to be outraged that you're moving on from Alex Smith. Most of the fans agree with it. This was the public relations and media department that propped them. Not propped them up. They gave him that made a significant marketing campaign about his comeback.

So they're going to be more sensitive to basically cutting him loose than maybe even the fan base would be. I wish him the best of luck. You know, we'll remember him really for, you know, unfortunately the injury, but then even more fortunately, the incredible comeback and recovery from that. I doubt he'll start somewhere again. that's my guess, but doubting him hasn't worked so far. This is the right thing for the team, 100% the right thing for the team. They're doing nothing wrong.

All right. This is business, and they benefited from him playing this year, and he benefited from playing this year. But it was a risk on both of their parts for him to be out there. But it worked out, and now the organization can move forward. I did have Mike. Yeah, go ahead. One last thing. Remember, there was a lot of speculation last year about the relationship between Dan Snyder and Alex Smith,

since Alex was seen in the owner's box while he was coming back from the injury, you know, watching games with him and stuff from last year, I mean, from the year before. and do we have any sense as to how close that relationship ever really was? I mean, he definitely replaced Bruce there at the end of Bruce's, you know, rain. He was the guy that was videotaped more often with Dan over the final, you know, weeks of the 2019 season than anybody else. clearly, you know, I mean, I remember I was told that he was definitely fond of Alex, that the family was fond of Alex and Alex's wife. And, you know, I don't know what Alex thought of Dan. I mean, it's the same thing with a lot of people over the years.

It's like, you know, you sort of, he's befriending you. You know, you don't want to be an asshole and say, I don't want to be your friend. and then you get videotaped or you get talked about being a friend or, you know, a close confidon or whatever. I have no idea how close they really were. I mean, he took a couple of shots in the GQ article, you know. Again, I think the tone of that was probably different. And, you know, they sort of said that after the fact.

But is he leaving here? You know, like, oh, my God. I mean, thank God for the Snyders. And I'm going to miss Dan. I'm really going to miss hanging out with him. I doubt it. Don't you? Yeah, I doubt it too.

I bet you Alex probably being a part of this thing over the last year and Bruce and being around, you know, anybody that was, you know, on the inside is, they've got at least a chapter in the book. They've certainly got, you know, a couple of stories to tell, I'm sure. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Alex really wanted to get out of here, too. That's the net of it. I don't know anything to that effect, but it wouldn't surprise me if he's ready to move on from this place as well, even though this place is a lot better today than it was a year ago. Football operation-wise, anyway, you know, the truth is, actually, when you think about it,

over the years, the higher quality people that have been in this organization, like an Alex Smith, have never, ever had a problem leaving it. All right, Tommy's going to throw on his black t-shirt, black gym shorts, and black shirt. and head back to the beach. And I'm going to come back and tell you about this crazy Baltimore Ravens overtime proposal right after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, I'm going to finish up the show today by telling you about the Baltimore Ravens overtime proposal.

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The Ravens have proposed a new rule change, a new NFL rule change. You know, the Ravens have been one of the more innovative, out-of-the-box thinking organizations in a lot of ways over the years. This rule proposal, which is being referred to as spot and choose, would have one team select where to spot the ball at the start of overtime and the other team pick whether to play on offense or defense. So the purpose of this is to eliminate the importance or reduce the importance of the coin toss because you're going to get your choice of spotting the ball at an area on the field and having the other team choose whether or not they want to go offense defense first

with that field position, or take the ball or not take the ball first, and let the other team choose. For example, if the Ravens spotted the ball at the 10-yard line, that that was their spot after winning the coin flip, then their opponent would have to pick whether it wants to start on offense from their own 10-yard line or play defense. So there's a lot of strategy involved based on who you're playing. So if you're playing the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, you know, and you win the toss, do you want to just take the ball to ensure that they don't get the ball, but then they're going to put it at the one-yard line to start?

Or are you going to say, we're going to spot it at the five-yard line, your own five-yard line, and then have Kansas City determine whether or not they want to start at their own five-yard line, thinking that they can go 95 yards to end the game or a field goal to, you know, take the lead in overtime. would still be the same thing. A touchdown ends overtime on the first possession. A field goal does not. But there would be some strategy involved. I think it's too drastic. The NFL adopts new rules all the time. This one's so dramatic, so drastic. I just don't see it happening. But I'm interested in it. I think that my personal preference as it relates to overtime is I like

the current rule, I would just extend the 10-minute overtime period back to 15. I think that you're still at a percentage of coin toss winners barely above 50% winning the game. So it's not like winning the coin toss that there's a significant, you know, overwhelming advantage to winning the coin toss. You know, you can only win the game by driving it and scoring a touchdown on that opening drive. you know, obviously the old rule meant that if you kicked a field goal, it was over, and so the other team never even had a chance to touch the ball. I like the way the rule is now. I would just add five minutes to the clock.

That's what I would do and have a 15-minute overtime period. My logic behind that is that I think the team that goes on a six, seven-minute drive, but gets stopped in the red zone and forced to kick a field goal to take a three-point lead in overtime, the team that is behind by three then doesn't have sort of an equal chance to score a touchdown to win the game. They're not in a position now where they can go on a normal drive to win the game with a touchdown. Now they're just trying to get into field goal range to tie the game in overtime. You know, if you're left with two and a half, three minutes to go, it's not the same as having, you know, if there was a 15-minute period after a seven-minute drive that ended in field goal, you'd still have, you know, eight minutes.

to be able to answer with a touchdown drive of your own. The Ravens proposal is drastic. I don't see the NFL adopting this. I think, I mean, it would be entertaining. You win the coin toss and you're playing a team that isn't very good offensively, and it's 13, 13, and overtime, and you haven't moved the ball, and they haven't moved the ball. You'd probably take the spot and say, you know,

you can't say your one-yard line because then they'll give you the ball. So you got to say, ah, the 15-yard line or the 10-yard line. Like coming up with a spot that entices them enough to take the ball so you start in defense if you think that that's the advantage. But at the same time, not so much that they give you the ball with your poor offense in a 13-13 game. In a shootout, the game that goes to overtime at 35-35, you win the toss. And it's like, okay, we want the ball. So we'll take the ball, but then you know they're going to give it to you from your own one-yard line to start, so you're going to go 99 yards.

So it certainly is interesting. Also, there's an element of picking the direction. So if there's weather-related, you can actually, if the coin toss, if you win the coin toss, you know, instead of spot or choose offense defense, you can choose direction as well. I don't see this passing. crazy, crazy suggestion. Leave it up to the Ravens to come up with a wild idea. But one, apparently, that the NFL will consider. Look, to me, I don't know why they haven't done the fourth and 15,

I would make it fourth and 18 in lieu of an onside kick. To me, that's drastic for the NFL, but it makes a lot of sense because of the super low percentage of converting onside kicks since they change the rules in terms of alignment on on sidekicks. So I love that idea. I think that's a really good idea to go with the, you know, you can't do it the entire game.

You can only do it, you know, say in the final five minutes, if you're down by one score or more, and maybe in the fourth quarter, you can do it if you're down at any point in the fourth quarter if you're down by more than one score. Something like that. But I love that idea. I would, I think, you know, you have,

Fourth and 15 seems like much better odds than converting an onside kick to make it somewhat equivalent to the old onside kick conversion percentages. I think something like fourth and 18. We looked this up. Cooley and I did all the numbers over the last 10 years of fourth and 15 versus fourth and 18 or fourth and 20. And I think we sort of came to the conclusion that fourth and 18 would sort of be the equivalent of the old onside kick conversion percentages. But I like that rule. This one, I don't know, it seems too drastic to me. I just would add five minutes to overtime to ensure that if a team kicks a field goal on a long drive,

the other team has a fair chance to win the game. I know that there's safety concerns, obviously, which is why they cut it back to 10 minutes, but the truth is that a very small percentage of games that go to overtime ever make it past 10 minutes of that extra session anyway. So you're talking about an impact of maybe, you know, a handful of games per year. All right, that's it for today, back on Monday with Cooley.