00:00So, B, we've gotten to this, like, what's the right way of phrasing it?
00:05There appears to be some consistent flirtation around Stefan Diggs coming to the commanders.
00:17I would hardly say anything official.
00:20I would say.
00:21Flirtation with who, the fans you talking about?
00:23Even Diggs at this point has mentioned a few times that he would love to play at home.
00:30Now, I also think Diggs would love to play in Atlanta or L.A. or Seattle.
00:37A lot of things would be if the price is right, right?
00:42I continue to hammer this point.
00:44I remember during the Bruce Allen days, a lot of folks made it personal with Bruce,
00:48and I tried my best to just mention his record running the organization
00:53because the numbers are what matter ultimately, right?
00:55Like, the personal stuff is whatever.
00:58But Steph Diggs, last year, coming off knee surgery, had a 1,000-yard season for a team that went
01:05to the Super Bowl.
01:06Yeah.
01:07That's a pretty marketable skill set.
01:09Yeah.
01:09He was the best receiver on their roster.
01:11Yeah.
01:12And some of that might be the Pats didn't have the most depth at receiver,
01:17and some of the draft picks they had hadn't really panned out.
01:20But Steph was good, and he didn't play that many snaps, and he was good for them throughout the season.
01:26Had a good playoff run.
01:28And I think you are of a place where you don't see it as a necessity to add to the
01:37receiver position for Washington.
01:39But if they did, where would a guy like Diggs be on your radar?
01:46I think when you look at the fact and you look at the love or the, I'm going to say
01:53the, what's the word I'm going to say?
01:55The attraction, the seem to be the absolute want to have Iyuk.
02:04Look, if you want him that bad, then you need to think about Steph as well.
02:09Who would you rather have of the two?
02:12I think it comes down to the ultimate price.
02:15Sure.
02:16You know?
02:17And the thing of it, we're talking about Iyuk based off what he was two and a half years ago.
02:23If you know he can possibly get there, then I think now you start to be concerned about, well, we
02:28can go either or.
02:29But if he doesn't get back to that, then Steph is the best, right?
02:34At this point.
02:35Steph, last season, had over 1,000 yards receiving, and he got about a little north of 50% of
02:42the snaps.
02:42Yeah.
02:42He got 54.6% of the snaps.
02:45Right.
02:46So that's a productive player.
02:48Hell of a productive player.
02:49And I checked with folks in New England.
02:52He was a good locker room guy.
02:54No problems.
02:55I do think, especially if you go back to the Minnesota days, maybe there were maturity questions then, right?
03:01Like, that's also over 10 years ago.
03:05He was drafted by the Vikings in 2015.
03:09That's 11 seasons ago.
03:11He'll be going into his 12th year in the NFL.
03:13And I think getting into your 12th year in the NFL requires a level of maturation and growth.
03:20True.
03:22People just, dude, were you a different guy when you were 22 versus 33?
03:27Because I was.
03:28Hell yeah.
03:29Like, I'm a different guy today than I was at 33.
03:31But, like, I mean, people act like you can't.
03:35One thing about receivers.
03:38Receivers are those who we want to want the ball.
03:41And when they want the ball, and sometimes they go aboard asking for the ball, we knock them for it.
03:47But you want them to be that way.
03:49You want them to call for it.
03:51You want them to demand it.
03:52But I just think that right now, when you look at it, who do you know can perform based off
03:59of what you saw over the last two years?
04:02Steph.
04:05No one can say that about Ayuk.
04:08Now, Ayuk can come back and be better than he was before.
04:11Totally.
04:11Or he can come back and never reach it.
04:12We don't know.
04:14But it seems like a lot of people want to wait for it.
04:18And it seems like we're waiting for it.
04:21What Steph said most recently is, and he's been doing a lot of charity events where he'll do, like, a
04:26couple-minute talk with the media.
04:29Steph Diggs said, that's what everybody is talking about right now.
04:35We're going to talk about it real soon, though.
04:37I would not be shocked at all if Diggs actually has a visit with the commanders.
04:43Honestly, there's probably a number of veterans coming in and out.
04:46And sometimes you have the meeting with a veteran player in May or June, and nothing happens until August.
04:54Or even later, right?
04:56Because you want to see, hey, this is how we run our program.
04:59Where are you?
05:00How do you feel about our program?
05:01What are you thinking?
05:03You kick the tires, baby.
05:04What are you thinking your role needs to be?
05:06Do we think there's a sympathical role for you here?
05:09Like, there could be, especially with veteran players, or hell, you see this in-season all the time.
05:17We'll walk out of the locker room, and there'll be four gigantic dudes sitting in those little chairs in the
05:21lobby.
05:21And I don't know who they are, but I know enough that, like, all right, they're bringing in some young
05:27D linemen just in case.
05:28And maybe that's for a practice squad role.
05:30Maybe that's for, all right, we know we've got two guys battling turf toe, and we don't know if we're
05:34going to have to put one of them on the IR.
05:37And we want to have our options prepared.
05:40So, like, some of this is just team building and planning.
05:44But should we see a report, perhaps this week, that Diggs is taking a visit to Ashburn?
05:51That doesn't mean a signing is imminent, but that's a player that makes a lot of sense to me.
05:56And I think what people have to understand is, if they were to kick those tires, it's not about stunning
06:03anybody, growth, or stopping anybody.
06:06Yes, you've got young guys on this team you want to see grow, but you also want to win this
06:10year, okay?
06:12And when you saw the schedule pop up, if you've got somebody of his caliber, they can help you in
06:18those first two, three, four games, right?
06:21So, I don't think people really understand.
06:23When you're building a team, it's not just all right now, and it's not all for later on.
06:29It's a combination of all of that stuff.
06:32And if you've got somebody that can come in right now while other guys are learning this game, learning to
06:36play it, and they can still play it at a certain level,
06:41it helps that thing to get to a point where now you just keep feeding into it.
06:47Instead of completely depleting yourself, then have to build up.
06:51I want them to get to a point where the thing is, like, constant.
06:54Every year, somebody's starting to hit their mark, hit their mark, hit their mark.
07:00For me, with Diggs, when going into this offseason, when it seemed pretty apparent that Bobby Wagner wasn't in the
07:10long-term cards anymore, right?
07:13I was really excited to see what Jordan McGee could bring to this defense, given a larger role.
07:20And then Sonny Stiles falls to them at seven, and that's going to impact Jordan McGee's play.
07:25It just is.
07:26They already added Chennault.
07:28Like, that's the reality of the situation.
07:30But they did it because they think it makes them a lot better now and going forward, right?
07:34I mean, Stiles is a different player.
07:36It's a seventh overall pick.
07:38Like, I'm really excited about Antonio Williams and what he could become.
07:43But if they decide to add a player like Diggs, that does not immediately preclude Antonio Williams from having a
07:50good season.
07:51And perhaps he can learn something from a dude that's been in the NFL for 12 years.
07:55Totally.
07:56And I think in an offense with a lot of motion and movement, you can make things work out for
08:03both those guys.
08:04And I find it interesting.
08:08I don't know exactly how it's going to shake out.
08:12But if you look at Diggs over the years, he's had years where he was that true alpha dog.
08:17I mean, 2018 in Minnesota, went for over 1,000 on 149 targets, nine touchdowns.
08:24Honestly, 2019 in Minnesota, this is with Kirk slinging it.
08:28He went for 1,100 yards in 15 games.
08:32Then he gets traded to Buffalo.
08:34The first year in Buffalo with Josh Allen slinging it, he gets over 1,500 yards, 127 catches.
08:39I believe that year he led the NFL in receptions and receiving yards.
08:45Two more seasons, three more seasons of Buffalo, over 1,000 yards every season.
08:49Florida with 1,500 again in 2022.
08:52The touchdown production's there.
08:54Then he, I believe he got traded to Houston, right?
08:58That year's when he hurt the knee.
09:00It really didn't go right.
09:01But to rebound with the year he had in New England, and really was Drake Mays' go-to receiver.
09:1085 catches, 1,013 yards, four touchdowns.
09:15I don't, I have a tough time understanding how people could want Ayuk more than Diggs.
09:20Maybe I'm crazy and that's not a real thing.
09:22I know there are fans out there excited about the possibility of getting Ayuk.
09:28Step one for Ayuk.
09:30Because unless he shows up, if he shows up, he forces San Fran's hand.
09:35Because they've been very clear, he's not taking a snap for us again.
09:38Yeah.
09:39But unless he shows up, they can just leave him on the injured left team list.
09:44Mm-hmm.
09:45The reserve list.
09:46He has to, the thing about it, they are, they don't have to make any moves.
09:51Right.
09:52He's the one that has to show up.
09:54And then they could do something.
09:56Because if he shows up, guess what?
09:57I'm here.
09:58I'm on your roster.
10:00You got to pay me.
10:02And that looks bad for them.
10:05But if he doesn't show up, they could keep rolling on like they're doing.
10:09Right.
10:10Like the ball is in his court.
10:11Yes.
10:12Which is remarkable because he doesn't seem, maybe we'll find out, right?
10:20I don't know when Niners OTAs start, but he could just show up.
10:23Yeah.
10:24It doesn't seem like that's going to happen.
10:26I would.
10:27If I were him, the first day of their camps, I'm going to roll right on in there.
10:32Would you have ever given up $25 million?
10:36No, I wouldn't have.
10:38I don't, I can't be in that mindset.
10:40I don't know.
10:40With all of the IU stuff, that's the thing I find the most perplexing is it wasn't, we
10:48see players, especially once they've made some real money that have workout bonuses,
10:52right?
10:52Like, hey, it's voluntary, but if you have perfect attendance at OTAs, you make $500K, you
10:57make a million dollars.
10:58And they walk away from that.
11:00They want to work out on their own.
11:01They feel their finances are comfortable enough, whatever.
11:03Okay.
11:04Like, I couldn't make that decision, but I know that type of decision happens all the
11:08time.
11:09I don't know that we see players walk away from 25 mil.
11:12No, I don't think I've ever seen it.
11:15I don't think I ever will see it again.
11:18I mean, don't you think there's a decent chance for a player like Anthony Davis, who's
11:22probably made close to a half billion dollars, is going to show up in Washington because
11:26he knows there's almost $60 million on the line?
11:30Yeah.
11:30Hell yeah.
11:31Like, there's a scene in Mad Men where his second wife is like, why'd you do this to
11:38me?
11:38Because he kind of just broke her down, right?
11:40And Don Draper, the main protagonist, writes a check, slides it across the table.
11:46He says, that's what the money's for.
11:48Like, sometimes in life you do stuff that sucks and you do it for money.
11:52Yeah.
11:52Like, right?
11:53And like, I get how you may have been in a bad mental space and been unhappy with how
11:57he was treated with the team or whatever may have happened.
12:00Like, $25 million, in most cases, I would think is enough.
12:03He's going to make things a lot easier for you.
12:05He's going to make things a lot easier for you.
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