Hello and welcome to my podcast. Do me a favor, subscribe to the John Keim Report wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that like button. Hit that subscribe button. You can find us there as part of Empire Media. That's always much appreciated when you tune in. Don't forget you can read my work on ESPN.com. I have a few stories up on the site now. A couple about the whole agreement between the city and the Commanders to get back to RFK and then also about a new player for the Commanders, kicker Matt Gay. So give that a read. Those are all up at ESPN.com and I'll talk about them in a minute. In a few minutes I'll be joined by Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris. I had the chance to talk to him for a few minutes after all the pre-festivities on Monday and I think he was kind of worn out by that point but I wanted to play the last, it's about seven and a half minutes or so. So if you really don't want to hear what I have to say about defensive ends, about the RFK situation, talking to some council members, skip right ahead to the last about seven and a half, 7:50 or so of this episode and you can just listen to Josh. It is an audio interview. So, I know you'd like to see the video, but when I'm sitting there at a table with a one-on-one, I'm not going to put a camera up there. It gets awkward. So, much rather have a good conversation. You can listen to it on audio, but you'll get to see my pretty face for the next five, six, seven minutes before we get to that point. So, isn't that a big bonus for you? Lucky you guys. Anyway, so just wait a few minutes. I'm going to get to him in several minutes. Again, if you want to skip right to the end, 7:50. There you go. You have been told. So, I don't want to hear any complaints about like, oh, whatever. Get to the last 7:50 and get on. There you go. If that's all you want to hear. If you want to hear about others, let's go.
Matt Gay signed, Zane Gonzalez waived. They signed Gay to a one-year deal worth up to 5 million. He will get 4.35 million guaranteed. You give a kicker a contract like that, you're going to keep him. So, they let Gonzalez go. And for those wondering about competition, that was the competition. Gay just won it. So, typically teams don't like to bring in multiple kickers to a training camp unless you absolutely don't have a guy because it takes up a spot for another spot that they'd like to try guys out who have maybe a better chance to make the roster. We've also seen with kickers, with punters that you don't, listen, they didn't have any of these kickers in camp last year. They went out and got Slye and Gonzalez and they did fine for the year. So, that's why. But anyways, now they got Gay and you know, you have to tip your cap to Gonzalez. He came through when they needed him. Won the Tampa Bay game with a doink. I also think one of the positive things he did for himself for what he goes through is bring attention to the OCD and he embraced the situation. The cameras caught him, it was kind of made fun of but then he used the platform to talk about what he goes through and I think that was always appreciative and I think also impressive so hats off to him for what he did here but now they have Gay. Now Gay is about an 85 and a half percent kicker for his career but he's got two two-year chunks that were very different and it's mainly because of the distance. So from 2021 to 2022 he made 94% of his kicks. The last two years it was about 84% of his kicks. The big difference in the better years he was 11 of 14 from 50 yards or longer. The last two years 11 of 22 from 50 or longer. That's going to bring down your percentage. Been very good on extra points. Been very good overall. It's just that 50-yard kick that's been the measuring stick or that's been the difference between great years and some mediocre years or average years. Right? So anyways, but he's their kicker. There you go.
I want to talk about RFK for a minute because that's the whole topic with Josh Harris. Obviously, people want to know what's going to happen with the DC council. So, is it going to get approval or not? You talk to some people who are very familiar with the process and they feel pretty confident that it will be passed. However, the devil is always in the details. And so when these council members start digging into what the details are, it's a little bit somewhat akin to an agent, you know, coming out and saying, 'Hey, my guy got three years and $70 million.' Well, then when you dig into the details, you realize maybe the last year is worth 60, so it's really kind of a fake contract. And it's not quite the same here. This isn't fake, but the devil's in the details. And I think once they dig in the details, I think you're going to see a lot of questions being raised for sure. And I think the way it's constructed now, I don't know that it would pass. I talked to one member who did not think it would as it's constructed right now. That doesn't mean it won't. It just means there probably is going to be work to do to get it across the goal line, right? And to get that shovel in the dirt. And that's the key phrase for me. Shovel in dirt. Once that shovel's in the dirt, then you believe for sure. I do think there's more optimism with this, but it's going to take some maneuvering and there are some people who are now, they need seven votes and one person predicted to me that they'd get, he said the over/under on the votes would be eight and a half. We'll see, right? And this person is familiar with these council members and all that. So, anyways, so there, in other words, there's optimism, but there's also going to be trying to get something for your constituents to make this palatable for them. There's going to be some who, I think, will probably not vote for it regardless, unless you give up big concessions. Does that mean everybody's in that mindset? No. But for some, the parking garage, I think the number of parking spaces is just too high. And I think what some people would rather do is maybe take that money, invest in the metro stations around there and maybe build a new one to help give people other opportunities to get to the game other than just the DC Armory because if you have 65,000 seats, obviously, if you have a lot of people just taking the metro, then it gets really fogged. And I think they'd like to if you can open another one, maybe that makes it easier. That's the feeling. Anyways, I think there's work to be done to get this across. But for sure there is optimism by the people involved that they can get it there. And you know, just have to wait and see. But I think it's going to be something I'm obviously a lot of us are going to be talking to people in the city just to see what they think of it and the chances of getting it through to see can they get it done and will they actually be playing at the site of RFK or you know what's going to happen. I don't have a guess because I just don't know. But I do think if it gets through that it'll look a little bit different than it does now because I think they're going to have to appease some of the council members to cross that goal line. But that's what this team has been very active dealing with the council members over the last couple years. And somebody told me it's like really when Bruce Allen went out that's when they increased their presence with the council members. So, and just, you know, talking to them, what do they want and trying to work with them because you have to have a working relationship. And it's funny because somebody asked me on the live stream last night about would they bring in the Dell to do that. I think that would be a mistake. You don't need to bring in muscle here. You need to work with them. You don't got to kind of bring in the mower to maybe intimidate or whatever, but you got to work with them to get it because they are their first and foremost care should be for their constituents. And what do they want? What's best for them and what's best for the city. Can you get it to that point? That will be the key. And so, we'll stay tuned for all that. Once they have not received the official budget yet from the mayor, once they get that, then they have like 70 days to approve it. I don't know that it'll take that long, but there's certainly going to be a lot of back and forth to try to get it to the deal that they're going to need to make it palatable to get seven votes from the council.
So, now let's get, oh, by the way, before I get to, I want to talk about defensive ends in a minute, but I did want to give you just let you know about a product that I've been trying and I really enjoy. It's Huel. It's a strawberry banana black edition. It's a meal, folks. Anybody who knows me knows I'm very mindful of my protein. I get it in a variety of forms. When I want a quick, easy to grab meal in the morning, I'm going for this Huel, the strawberry banana shake. I really, really like the strawberry banana. That's my go-to. Pour it over a little bit of ice. Like the taste. I'm not hungry again until lunch. So, if you need a quick meal in the morning, give it a shot. So, if you want to get this, new customers get 15% off plus a free gift at huel.com. Huel.com, when you use my code, Keim. Don't miss out. Try it today. They've sold more than 500 million meals around the world. So, there's proof that other people like it as well. Anyways, that's 15% off plus a free gift for new customers using my exclusive code, huel.com. So, also make sure you read the description for the terms and conditions of this offer. Skip the stress, not the nutrition. Try Huel today for complete nutrition bottled. So, I appreciate you sticking through that.
Now, let's get to the defensive ends. So, we know that Washington still need to get some defensive end help. However, there aren't a lot of guys in the market that I think would qualify as legitimate help for them. I know people ask me about Von Miller, Za'Darius Smith. And talking to some people who are familiar with what's going on in Buffalo, they were not all that impressed with Von Miller down the stretch or last season. The feeling has been that the ACL, the injuries have added up and kind of really reduced his game. So, you'd get a big name. I don't know that you're going to get the player you think you would or you would hope to be getting. So, I don't know if they did sign him, I would say you'd have to cross a lot of fingers to hope that it would work out, but I don't, you know, again, he's a big name, but is he the same guy he was a few years ago? It does not sound like it. In fact, the Bills were playing him a little bit less toward the end of the season. Anyways, Za'Darius Smith, he's still out there. I think he's the guy to me that would make the most sense. I think he makes the most sense for other teams as well. So, we'll see. I think Detroit would be wise to bring him back. I don't know that they will. He had a good, he was playing pretty well for Cleveland. Did a nice job for Detroit. He's the guy I think would help because he can rush outside. He can rush inside. And he's a good veteran. He can get you in that 8 to 10 sack range. They don't have a guy like that. So, I think he would be the one I would watch that I would say like who should you really want to target? It's him. Because when you start going down the list of available free agent defensive ends, there aren't a lot there. And I'm going to be talking more about this as we move forward here, but there aren't a lot there that I think yes, he's better than what they have. Like that's the key. You know, he has to be better than what they have because otherwise you're bringing a guy in here who may or may not be a factor on Sundays. Maybe he doesn't play that much, but you need a guy who can come in, be a situational pass rusher. I think again, me, I'd go after Za'Darius Smith. I don't know yet the interest in him. So, I don't want to lead anybody astray and say that they're going after him. That's just a guy that I would look to because I think he's a guy who's still productive and can still help in multiple ways. Has some versatility, which is what Dan Quinn likes. Anyways, so there you go.
Hey, that's it for me, folks. I'll be getting into that in future podcasts as well because I think it's an important topic and just to look at the defense in general. Also, I will be joined by, I talked, I had a really good conversation with James Crepea who covered Josh Connelly, or Crepea covered Josh Connelly for the Oregonian and he has really good insight on him. I'm going to play that early next week. Also going to have an interview with Jay Gruden for Thursday. Want to talk about the Commanders' offseason and the draft. Jay pays a lot of attention to the draft. So, I wanted to get his thoughts on that. Always insightful from him. So, that'll come out Thursday. And I have a few other things for next week as well. And I talked to Brent Pry, the Virginia Tech head coach on Jaylen Lane. That will be next week as well. So, stacking up some shows here, folks. We also have rookie mini camp next week, a week from this Friday. So, folks, I'm done talking. Here you go. Here's Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris.
BetOnline is the world's most trusted betting platform and your number one source for all your sports betting action. Baseball season is in full swing. And we've just started the NBA and NHL playoffs, which has more ways to stay in on the action with the latest odds, news, and scores, even live in-game betting while the games are being played. With the largest selection of odds on everything from the MLB, NHL, and the UFC, BetOnline remains the number one online source for all your sports wagering info. In between games, head over to the BetOnline casino with all the top Vegas-style games, including poker and a live casino. BetOnline. The game starts here.
When does it hit you? Like what was the moment where it hit you like here it is? And what do you remember about that moment?
