Kevin Sheehan began the show on Wednesday by reading two notes for listeners writing in about the Washington Commanders and new head coach Dan Quinn, with the first writing that "I'd say you are the most optomistic you've been since 'you know who' [aka Kirk Cousins] was here."
The second: "I hear it in your voice, you're back in. Surprised that it was Quinn that did it for you, but glad to have you back."
Sheehan noted that many listeners responded to the past few days – including Quinn's introductory press conference with owner Josh Harris and general manager Adam Peters – noting what they perceived was the host of the eponymous show being "all-in" on the Commanders in 2024.
"All I really feel right now, is that it's nice to have an organization that has an owner that gives you a chance," he said. "And we don't know a lot about Josh Harris yet. We don't know a lot about the very large ownership group at this point. But we don't know it's not [Dan Snyder], that's one.
"Two, they have approached their first full offseason by choosing a structure that is more traditional in the NFL, hiring a general manager, hiring a head coach and then, presumably, giving them the ability to do their jobs. And so, from that standpoint it's nice to have Dan gone, to have a football team structure that is more traditional, something that we really have not seen here, not seen here since Charley Casserly was the general manager. You know, Dan Snyder was the de facto GM when [Vinny Cerrato] was here... and then we had the exit of Vinny finally in 2009... and then we got an administrative general manager type in Bruce Allen and Dan was still significantly involved."
Sheehan stresses that the traditional-style structure now in place in Washington is what he is optimistic about.
"It doesn't mean I'm going to be right to have been optimistic about it, it doesn't mean they got the right people to do these jobs," he added. "... it doesn't mean that it will work. But I like first and foremost, the traditional structure."
For Sheehan, the last three weeks – from the firing of Ron Rivera the day after the regular season ended until today – "have produced a good outcome" for the Commanders in getting the top GM candidate on the market and one of the team's top head coaching candidates.
"By the way, I feel better about the outcome in many ways," Sheehan said. "... that you dodged a bullet along the way because Ben Johnson clearly does not fit the mantra that they had going into this head coaching search which was leadership No. 1. He didn't wanna be a head coach, how could you possibly" be a leader?
Listen to the full segment from the Kevin Sheeahan Show above!
