Mina Kimes on Michael Penix, Seahawks’ #16, Huskies, Mariners

Mina Kimes of ESPN joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to discuss how and why she became such a huge Seattle sports fan, Michael Penix entering the NFL Draft from Washington, what the Seahawks will do at #16, plus Huskies football and the Mariners.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Coming to you live from the ElliotAvenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJR FM. This is ourweekly visit with ESPN's Mina Chimes, brought
to you by Bridge Physical Therapy andWellness. Just do find ninety and Mercer
Island. Bridge is your independent goto clinic for quality care for the whole
family. Taylor to you and yourgoals cult today in two six four O

(00:23):
two six three three nine to schedulean appointment and to let Bridge Physical Therapy
be your bridge to wellness. Nowwith Mina Chimes, here's SOFTI and Dick,
this is gonna be fun. Man. First of all, big thanks
to our friends at Bridget Physical Therapyand Wellness on Mercer Island, Women owned,
Women Operated. Check them out onthe website by the way, at

(00:44):
Bridgeptanwellness dot com. Today, well, I'll tell you what My wife is
fired up, Dick, that MedaKimes is hopping on the show with us
because her dogs Welcome People Tolerated signthat she has on the set for ESPN.
We have the same sign on theback of our our toilet downstairs near
the litter box, and so sheloves her for that. Meta times of

(01:04):
ESPN is with us on the air, Mina, how are you hey,
I'm doing great. Thanks for havingme guys. You bet, it's great
to have you on. And Ithink anybody that watches you on TV knows
your affinity towards Seattle. We seethe Seahawk paraphernilia and the Mariner parapherili,
and you talk about it as wellon your podcast, But I don't think
a lot of people know why.What is the connection for you to Seattle.

(01:29):
Yeah, my dad's from Seattle,born and raised, went to Franklin
and actually went to the University ofWashington, So I didn't grow up in
Seattle. Actually grew up all overthe country because my dad was in the
military, but because he was fromSeattle, our whole family was always all
Seattle sports from the beginning, andthen we would go back to Seattle every

(01:53):
summer visit. My grandparents would goto Mariners games, and you know,
I was a little bit older goto Seahawks games. So it's really through
my dad. Yeah, Well you'relisten, you're preaching of the choir about
the Huskies. You're talking to twodiehard, almost maniaco Husky fans here on
the radio show. So why don'twe start there. With the draft coming
up a week from tomorrow, Washington'sgot a ton of guys. What thirteen

(02:15):
guys of the combine? When youtalk to people around the country, when
you talk to people at ESPN,what's the kind of general feel about what
Michael Pennox has to offer the NFL. I wish I could give you an
answer about a general feel, butthere is no general feel. It's really
mixed depending on who you talk to. I find opinions around him to be

(02:35):
all over the place. He's apretty polarizing prospect amongst you know, folks
around the NFL that I've spoken to, And that's obviously, you know,
just starting with, of course,the injury history, which certainly will affect
his draft status and take him offof some team's boards. But beyond that,
I actually think views on where hisceiling is, what kind of offense

(02:58):
he would best be suited for,are pretty variant as well. My belief,
and this is shared by a fairamount of folks I've spoken with,
is that he comes to the league, he should be given a chance to
compete, to start right away.He's a you know, as we call
a somewhat max st out prospect.He's played a lot of football, he's
a little older. It's not thekind of player you want to stash on

(03:21):
a bench and develop, and youwant him an offense that's, you know,
bombs away. It's not too dissimilarfrom what we saw at you dub.
I've been preaching that I love himfor Vegas for a while now for
all the reasons I just described.And on top of that, you guys
are Huskies fans, you know,obviously it's not just Michael Pennix that's in

(03:44):
this draft. And I would arguehis receivers, the top two in Adonsday
and Polk are actually really similar tothe receivers in Vegas and Adams and Jacoby
Myers. So to me, itwould be a great fit. Men.
You were talking on your show aboutthe offensive line last how strong it is,
and it is totally one of thestrongest positions in the draft. And
there's a couple Huskies there as wellat the up top with Faltano and Rose

(04:09):
and Garden. But from a Hawksperspective, do you think the Hawks have
kind of backed themselves into a cornermore than they usually do as far as
having to take an offensive lineman highsince they've been so weak there the last
year or two. I don't thinkthey have to. I think there's a
reason why so many folks have linkedthem to offensive Fautanu in particular, by

(04:30):
the way he just mentioned, ishe's a guy who's constantly linked to Seattle,
and I think for a good reason. I mean, I think the
signing of Lake and Tomlinson at guardsort of mitigated the desperation there, but
it's still a position that they couldobviously upgrade at and then you're you know,
hoping that obviously Abe Lucas comes backhealthily. But I thought this the

(04:51):
George Fan signing too, gave youa little bit of security there. I
mean, don't get me wrong,this is it was not just in need
now, it was in need.I thought during the right season last year
a problem the interior of the offensiveline, and it is something that Seattle
has to address. I just don'tthink they're desperate to doing so. If
there's not an offensive line prospect theylike, and there's some you know,

(05:11):
edge rushers defensive tackles they liked morewell. Meda Kimes is with us.
And again it's been a need forthe Hawks for a gazillion years. I
mean really going back to twenty thirteenwhen they actually had the highest paid offensive
line in football and you know,won the championship that season. But why
is it so hard for them tofind offensive linemen? And is this a
problem all around the NFL? Oris it specific to hear in Seattle?

(05:35):
Well, I'll pushpect they did findtwo good ones. I think the tackles
are good. Crossing fan fan wasjust I'm probably not fan a Lucas he
was just hurt last year. Andand Cross I think at the over this
course of the season it was stillsuccessful of maybe a little bit not as
successful as the year before, butI still think he's a really good prospect.

(05:56):
I also thought Damian Lewis was agood draft pick. I think he
just got priced out of Seattle.But I thought he was playing good football
too. I just think there's beeninjuries. There have certainly been misses,
don't get me wrong, and someof that, you guys are going back
to twenty thirteen. That was,of course, back when Tom Cable was
coaching the offensive line and there wasyou know, philosophical questions about I mean,

(06:16):
you know, he took care ofSweezee switching positions. We could all.
You know, you can go backand point to problems with the individual
picks and how they were developed andutilized. But I don't think it's been
It's like they've had a ton ofmisses recently. I think they've just been
a little bit unlucky with certain injuriesand maybe the if the front office is
to be faulted, it's for notinvesting in depth there rather than just drafting

(06:39):
players. Many kinds joining us broughtto you by Bridge physical therapy and wellness.
So John Schneider, we kind ofknow them. Right. He's got
the sixteenth pick and he'll trade itfor the twenty first, then he'll trade
it twenty twenty seven for the thirtieth. But do you think that there are
some players there? And if you'reJohn Schneider, are there are some players
to you that could be there atsixteen that you're like, I don't care

(07:00):
about the extra picks. I wantto get this guy here. Yeah,
I think there are a few.And that doesn't mean they won't trade back
because you're right, But I fautanu. I do think if he's there,
I would take him. I wouldtake him above the defensive players, not
just because of the need, butI think or because, like you guys,
I'm a bit of a husky himber, but because of the positional versatility

(07:23):
he would give you I think isreally valuable for Seattle. You play him
at guard, but again, youknow you've got some injury history at tackle
on the right side, so theability to kick him out there and even
have him backing out cross too wouldbe just really really appealing to me.
I think he's very polished and proready. I think he would help so
much in the run game, bythe way, so that to me,

(07:44):
he's my number one draft pick atsixteen, and I think it's plausible.
I look at a lot of mocks, like you guys have been doing a
lot of them. The offensive linemenare going in like all kinds of orders.
I mean, Joe Fault is usuallythe first one off the board,
but after that it's anyone's guests who'sgonna go where. So it's totally possible
that he's there at sixteen. Andif he's not, I also like the

(08:05):
idea of taking either Byron Murphy Juniorout of Texas defensive tackle or one of
the three edges. I mean,I think Dallas Turner will be gone.
But if I were to lat Tooout of UCLA or Jared vers aut Fsu
are there, I would also prioritizetaking them over trading back because I view
both a defensive tackle and edge apretty I think those the players I just

(08:26):
mentioned are all in tier one,and after that there's a pretty big drop
offs tier two. Yeah. Wellmea times again is with us, and
I agree that on Fatano. It'sfunny because Humellan is with us, and
he's he's buddies with Mike Gettings.He finded pro scout as you know,
a mina back in the day,and he thinks that Troy Fottano could be
a Hall of Famer at guard ifhe plays guard in the NFL. Would
you go that far? I don'tlet me put this say. I don't

(08:52):
trust my ability ability ability, pardonme to scout offensive lineman to be that
definitive. I do think he wouldbe a very good guard. So and
and I just to me, it'slike hand in love for Seattle. So
yeah, pray pray that he drops. What did you think of the Sam
Howell acquisition? And how much doyou think it decreased their odds of taking
a quarterback like a Michael Pennix highin the draft. A lot a lot

(09:18):
about him, so I thought itwas a little pricey, to be honest,
especially given you know the costs ofacquisition of some of the other backups.
I see why Howell has a littlebit more appeal to Seattle than some
of the other options. I thinkhe has more upside than I don't know,
like say you're Desmond Ritter types personally, you know, just he has

(09:43):
such an impressive arm and he's aplaymaker. It's funny because he does remind
me of a very very unpolished versionof a young Russell Wilson in some ways,
going down to his body type andhis mobility and the arm strength.
But he did get a real shotin Washington as well. It wasn't the
best situation, but he played afair amount of football there, so it's

(10:05):
not like he's this totally unknown quantity, which is I was a little bit
surprised to see Seattle trade as muchfor him as they did. It also
makes him appealing because you know,if you need him to jump in the
way Drew Lockett last year and playback for Gino. He's played, you
know, against the NFL defenses quitea bit. As far as what it
means whether they'll do in the draft, I don't think it limits them from

(10:26):
taking a backup quarterback, but Iwould be very surprised if they took one
as high as it will probably taketo get Michael Penkins. Here. Well,
I saw where the betting favorite tobe the number two pick is now
Jaden Daniels, and he's kind ofpolarizing because when he was in Arizona State,
we didn't see much out of him. He may have been in the
wrong offense and had the wrong coachingstaff. Clearly there was more there and

(10:48):
we saw that under Brian Kelly.But I mean, are you a fan
of Jaden Daniels that high in thedraft at number two behind Caleb Williams.
You know, I actually have mayDrake Mayetta you and see a little bit
of him just because of the playmakingability and because of what you just alluded
to, which is I think Danielsis a little bit more maxed out.

(11:09):
You know, we've seen a lotof him and he did develop and he
was fantastic last year, like reallyreally great tape. But if you're asking,
Okay, it can't get even better. I'm not one hundred percent sure
about that, especially he was insuch a phenomenal situation at LSU. I
think he benefits a lot from thefact that Joe Burrow transferred and he played
at LSU, and you know,people say, Okay, well, you

(11:30):
know, there's this recent track recordof a guy who transferred and then played
his best football later in his careerand came to the NFL and was awesome,
And I get that, but Ithink it's a pretty different situation.
I do think Daniels can be agood pro, though you know, I
hate his running. Ability is reallyspecial, if a little bit concerning,

(11:50):
given some of the hits he takes, and he does win from the pocket.
For me, it's more just whatit comes down to when I look
at him versus May. Is Ireally value quarterbacks now who can win outside
the pocket, outside a structure consistently, And while May has his flaws,
no doubt, I think that abilityis pretty special. Tell us a little
about this ESPN NFL Network crossover event, because usually you guys are kind of

(12:15):
on opposite sides covering the covering thedraft independently and you guys are coming together
this week. Yeah, super fun. I think tomorrow and no tomorrow,
I'm doing my buddy Daniel Jeremiah tomove to six podcast. He came on
my show a couple of weeks agotalk about the quarterbacks in the draft.
He was very by the way,very compy. He loves the U dob

(12:37):
receivers, but he loves the doomsdayfor the UDA fans listening. And then
he's coming on NFL Live. Soit is kind of a little bit of
home and home between us and them, and you know, you get a
chance to work with someone like him, it's always fantastic. Well. Mina
Kimes as with us and that,and that eliminates the possibility. I have
this fantasy of a NFL network ESPNRiff where you guys have like the fight

(13:00):
and the anchorman in the parking lot. Yeah, and somebody pulls out a
trident and a flamethrower. So you'resaying, there's not that kind of animosity
you're talking about. Okay, well, not between us and them, maybe
another network. I got you wellMina times again is with us on the
radio show. Courtesy of Bridge PhysicalTherapy and Wellness on Mercer Island. I
got to ask you about Jetfish overat you dubbed Mena. I mean,

(13:20):
there's a lot of people like meand Dick that think this guy's just a
short timer. We hope we're wrong, and he spends a lot of time
here, but his resume says otherwise, and Jed has even joked about that
for crying out loud. So Calende Board leaves for Alabama, Jetfish takes
over. What do you make ofthe new guy leading Washington? You know,
so I don't know him, butI have had the opportunity to spend

(13:41):
some time around the RAMS organization workingtheir pre seasons, and I'll tell you
this everybody around there, so soI guess the background people who don't know.
Jed was with the Rams for acouple of years, I think twenty
eighteen and twenty nineteen. He wasthe assistant offensive coordinator for the Rams,
and everybody fully adored him and thoughtsuper highly of him and just spoke to

(14:03):
how smart he was and how youknow, he was kind of a future
head coach. So no one hadany reason there to praise him to me,
so, not knowing of course thathe was, I'll say that,
you know, he was sought avery highly in the NFL and then of
course had really incredible success at Arizona. Tricky situation, you know, he's

(14:24):
walking into it. Tricky is maybea little bit harsh, but obviously it's
not we lose that much talent.It's always going to be challenging, but
he's got a very good track recordand has impressed a lot of people.
What are your expectations both this nextyear for the Huskies and the Big Ten
for the first season, and thenalso long term. I mean, where
do you see Washington five ten yearsfrom now in the hierarchy of Big Ten

(14:46):
football? Well, you know,I think we've we well, I'm going
to do we with the Huskies.We go for it. It's at this
point, like the the program issuch, you have a pretty decent amount
of consistency over the leaves. You'relooking back. You know, however,

(15:07):
what you want to expand your scopefive, ten, fifteen years. Obviously
there's downturns and there's going to besome struggles. I think this coming years
with obviously the loss of talent,but there's still a lot of impressive talent
in the building. A lot ofguys I like on defense in particular,
and you know, I think somereally interesting coaching hires. So I my
prediction, I guess my expectation iscompetitive. I think it's probably a little

(15:33):
bit of a step back year,But I don't think it's going to be
like entering a cold spell the wayit was you know a few years ago,
meana times with us and meaning you're, what twenty two, twenty three
and a long way to go.You're not as old as Dick and I,
you know, fifty years old.But will will the Mariners win a
World Series in your lifetime? Oh? My god? You know it's funny.
I got a seven month old kidand I gave him a Mariner's hat

(15:56):
and you put it on him,and I was like, am I cursing
him to my entire you know,childhood and adult life in our lifetime?
Sure? You know, it seemslike I feel like the odds are you
got to take that chance over neverbecause that's such a hopefully long time frame.

(16:18):
But I don't know, I thinkyou'd probably have to change an ownership.
Yeah. I think a lot ofpeople agree with you on that.
Yeah, I don't think that thecontroversial opinion in Seattle right here really,
I'm just asking for Dick and Ibecause we're old, so it's really about
us. So if you can tellus in the next maybe fifteen twenty otherwise
we're kind of pushing the envelope here, Mina. We just got to keep
stacking these series wins right starts aswell, So yeah, starting with one

(16:41):
is always good. And you know, were you subscribing to kind of the
panic, because there was a lotof panic here in Seattle? How they
how they started over the first twotwo and a half weeks, particularly offensively.
Yeah, no, not panics,because I think the players who were
struggling were players we know are betterJulio JP, right, the superstars and

(17:03):
the role players were actually hitting prettywell. So I would actually be a
little bit more nervous if all theeverybody but those guys were bad because with
you know, obviously, precedent suggeststhat Julio and we saw that, we've
seen that lately. Julio and JPare not as bad as they were to
start the season. But it wasa little dispiriting to see all the guys
who left, you know, hitso well as Hernandoz or whatever elsewhere,

(17:26):
And that's kind of a bummer.But I do think the team that we've
seen over the last couple of daysis probably closer to the team that we're
going to see over the course ofthe season. Mena Chimes, ESPN.
We'll visit a bunch before the draftafter the draft. Can't thank you enough
for doing it. Enjoy the restof the day and we'll talk soon.
Me and appreciate that a bye,guys. You bet Mina Chimes again courtesy

(17:47):
a Bridge Physical Therapy and Wellness onMercer Island, women owned and operated.
Check them out BRIDGEPT and Wellness dotCom.