Who Is More Valuable Than Jayson Tatum Right Now?

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I'm living my best life. Yeah. Yeah. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Here's the other surprising part. With guest host Brian Weber.

Yeah, big shoes to fill. Eisen's a legend. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Rich Eisen Show. Do you know who I am? I'm a guy on television.

I have my own show. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. It's another hour of the program, and it's great to have you with us on an active Tuesday. Not a slow news cycle at all during this holiday week. Let's remember I said that today when I'm back with you on July 4th, and we are talking about the greatness of Joey Chestnut not being on Coney Island. But we're taking it one show at a time. Always a delight to have the opportunity to fill in for Rich and the fellas throughout this holiday week.

It's become something of an annual summertime tradition. 844-204-7424, the number to call. Continue to hit me up on the X platform. B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. Hope you enjoyed our conversation that wrapped up the previous hour of the show. Really interesting story that was detailed by Jesse Luketka, the Arizona Cardinals linebacker, about how he came from Canada and how he's playing a little bit of fullback.

You can tell that is a young person who is deeply committed to his community and great to have a platform like this to share a very positive story. Coming up in 40 minutes, even more football. I do my best to be aware of what I'm throwing out there every show. Incidentally, if you miss any portion of any program, if you didn't catch that nice conversation with Jesse, be sure to check out the podcast available right after the show is done, as I did yesterday.

Not out of sheer egomania, but I try to have a balance show. And yes, we will talk some soccer coming up in the final hour of the show. I watched the entire match. Can we have a quick sidebar here?

And maybe I'm a stickler or just caught up in a different time. In my world, it's a soccer match. It's a volleyball match. We know it's a tennis match. The announcers, I'm not going to bash anyone on Fox, although find someone who enjoys himself as much as Alexi Lawless does, and you're going to have a good travel companion.

Man, Alexi Lawless loves me some me. And again, this gets probably back to the old days of watching the English Premier League on tape delay. At the end of the game, they have a man of the match. It's a soccer match, not a game.

But I watched the entire debacle yesterday, last night, 6 o'clock local time here on the West Coast. Beyond the broadcast, which was almost literally unwatchable for the first half of the first half, when the international feed was a camera from Mars, the International Space Station, you could not figure out who the players were, and maybe that was a good thing because the United States was playing so wretchedly. We'll talk about the state of American soccer in an hour. We're going to do an entertaining fashion. I am not breaking down set pieces, but yesterday was so heavy with NBA conversation, which is going to be the focal point of where we start coming up in a moment. I wanted to get more football into the show today, and if you're looking for more football in your life, a reminder, there is another version of Hard Knocks that's debuting tonight. HBO or the Max streaming platform, because after all, this program typically streams free on the Roku channel. Be sure to check out the outstanding simulcast every day. Rich and the gang are working.

I am a radio only performer, although part of me feels like, come on, hanging in there for 54. But there's a new edition of Hard Knocks. Off season recap of the New York football Giants, who are candidly not that interesting a team other than, say, head coach Brian Dabel suddenly dropping 50 pounds. Maybe that'll be covered.

What are they going to do with the cameras in the room? Say, you know, we made a terrible decision by giving Daniel Jones all that guaranteed money and let's not pay Saquon Barkley because we don't know what we're doing. But if you're looking for football tonight, it's available. I'm talking Aaron Rodgers in 15 minutes, according to reports, and this feels like it's been verified. And as Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk dot com points out, potentially a strategic leak by the Jets. We now know why Aaron Rodgers was not there for the Jets mandatory minicamp. I'll give you the particulars and we'll pose the question. Does it make Aaron's decision after saying repeatedly, this team needs no distractions, no B.S., it's got to be all about football.

Does it make his no show in any way more understandable? That's coming up. And then in 40 minutes, we'll take you across the NFL, whichever Sycamore, a pro football focus. But I'm not working for satellite radio. This is not a podcast.

This is a massive platform. And the NBA is still the most important thing for now with free agency effectively winding down. And it's not like last year were based on the way the calendar laid out. For example, we had a lot of Victor Wimber, Jana talk coming off the draft and the summer when we go into Vegas. Remember when he was there for summer league, the kerfuffle involving Britney Spears.

I'm having flashbacks to being in this very hot studio 52 weeks ago in the same chair that really is not adjusted properly for my back condition. But in terms of what's going on across the league, as we started the program with detailed thoughts on Klay Thompson, the other thing that stands out today is Jason Tatum getting generational wealth for several families. I'm Brian Webber working for the man during a holiday week in for rich eight four four two four seven four two four is the phone number. B.W.

Webber Webber with two B's on the X platform. Tatum receiving the most lucrative deal in the history of the NBA. Five years, three hundred fourteen million.

Now, we could parse this on a variety of level. Do you want to go down the deserve road? Does Tatum deserve the contract?

Of course he does. Now, deserve is a loaded word. You could also say, is he worth it? Well, nobody is worth that kind of astronomical figure. If you want to get deep, we can have a more societal thought about why don't we pay teachers and firefighters and first responders that kind of money.

But that's not the point of this program. We're all about raw capitalism, as we're seeing in the NBA. What this really is a reflection of is how the collective bargaining agreement is structured. And as revenue continues to climb, do not believe the narrative somehow that the NBA is in any kind of trouble. There are those out there, I think largely for political reasons, but I don't talk politics, especially not as a fill in guy who will point out, oh, the NBA ratings are tumbling. Look at what the WNBA is doing compared to the NBA or the NCAA final with Kaitlyn Clark in there.

And that is a stretch and that is a straw man argument. NBA ratings in the cycle of the finals were down because everything other than the National Football League is down. Why? Because you and I now have 5000 things to watch on our phone. Forget about the 75 inch TV, which is more affordable than ever. Back in the day, there were 13 things on TV. So everything got a gargantuan number.

So it's got to be a relative analysis. The NBA and we'll talk more tomorrow about the Celtics being now on the block and being put up for sale. NBA has a crisis coming up in the short term with local broadcasters, with the slow death spiral of the regional sports network. But they're about to get historically paid nationally by NBC jumping back in the hoops, by ABC, ESPN getting into the streaming world with Amazon. And that's just going to mean the next person, the next Jason Tatum, if you will, is going to get even more because these supermax slots are a byproduct of total revenue and the players get a percentage.

It's just basic math. Now, if we're talking about value, who's more valuable than Tatum right now? I'm not talking about the MVP award.

Let's just go old school. Best player on the best team. Jason Tatum, while I am not as big a fan of his approach and I think his mindset as others are, I can't sit here and say he's not a transformational talent, all NBA first team for three consecutive years. Now, if you want to go sports talk radio 101 and follow the breadcrumbs that were laid by Jason Kidd in the NBA finals, and I do think that was gamesmanship after the beatdown in game one. Remember, Kidd said like he was filling in at WEEI in Boston, this was straight out of our business. Well, you know, Jalen Brown's their best player and he sided defense. It doesn't matter because they have both of them. As long as Tatum and Brown are cool, and they should be, they just want to ring. They bend to the Eastern Conference finals together virtually every year. They were in the NBA finals two years ago and they're both in their mid-twenties. And now they're both locked up for years to come. And they both got massive paydays because while Tatum is getting the freak out reaction of $314 million, I was with you last summer filling in for Rich when Brown broke the bank and got $285.

Again, I don't want to get the calculator at, but even I can come up with not a huge difference there. And a lot of it comes down to the cap, fluctuates year to year. Tatum has a couple other kickers based on being a first team NBA performer.

This is horribly boring. But what I think is much more interesting is the forecast moving forward, not only for this season, but how the NBA looks for the next half decade. Now, let's take a step back. Remember, we have never seen more parity in the NBA than right now. In fact, the last time we had six consecutive different champions, and we were ensured of that happening when the Nuggets got knocked out in the second round by Minnesota. That has not happened in the NBA since the late 1970s. Now, the pushback would be, especially for casual fans, this league is better with dynasties. No league has had more sustained dynastic runs than the NBA. Well, what team has the most championships?

Now they have 18 of them. Boston being, I think, in very good shape to, should we do LeBron together? Win?

Not one, not two, not three. Let's just say be competitive for titles for the upcoming future. I think it's very good for the NBA because of their heritage, because they're a legacy franchise, and that will continue to motivate casual fans, despite what you heard about the ratings of the finals. And if you look around the league, beyond the fact, as I pointed out, we've now had a stretch of six consecutive different champions. That's all about a reflection of parity and competitive balance.

Name a team, I can hear you through the radio, but just think in your head, not if you're driving, do the exercise with me. Even the worst teams, even the teams that are abysmal, have at least one star. The NBA has never had more depth. And for all the hand wringing about what's going to happen to this league, if and when LeBron ever leaves, and I'm not convinced that's ever going to happen, the guy is super human. You can take shots at him for many reasons.

You can never question his ability to grind it out, his tenacity, resolve. Remember, here's the problem for the Lakers, because LeBron doesn't take nights off. He just does not believe in load management, and he does believe when he goes on the road, and the Lakers play their only road appearance, there are people showing up to see him, and he's going to play.

And that's a great mindset to have. Load management is horrific. I understand the analytics behind it, I get it, but remember, this is show business. It is sports entertainment, and the customer is never wrong. And imagine being a family of four, and socking away hundreds of dollars to pay for the tickets, and the parking, and the hot dogs, and a souvenir, and LeBron doesn't play.

Come on. That is a sports crime, and I'm not picking on LeBron because, in fact, it's the opposite. He always plays. But the Lakers got over 140 games combined from LeBron and AD, and what did that get them? One and done in the playoffs, because this league is deeper than ever, and it's not just having bright, shiny luminaries out there. There's got to be cohesive fit, and that's why the Celtics are so good. I could go through the whole roster, and I'm guilty of doing this occasionally, but I am working alone now as I feel like I'm beating up myself, and I have to be as good as Mr. Eisen, Brockman, Jefferson, and Del Tufo. There's a lot of pressure on me, even though I'm not on TV.

Still, I'm wearing makeup just in case. The Celtics work in addition to having a transcendent one-two punch that fits so well together because of everybody else. Remember, despite the fact that he unfortunately reverted to his history of injuries, Porzingis played the majority of the regular season and was terrific. Drew Holliday backed up the defensive reputation that he had built in Milwaukee and was a lockdown defender.

They just paid Derek White yesterday because he was another important player on that team. It works from the team perspective. It is not a skills competition, although Boston has as much skill as anybody. So as we think about the handful of moves that truly matter throughout free agency, it's not done, but as I'm here trying to curate content all week long, I'm going to be talking less NBA.

I'll do it strategically and when appropriate because I want to keep a mass audience engaged. You're not going to care about whoever the Lakers wind up with at this point. I think same point can be made for the Warriors.

But yes, Paul George to Philadelphia, although let's again be fair with the analysis, Paul George has had an injury history and he's 34 years old. And he's joining a team that is held hostage, unfortunately, by the continuing uncertainty surrounding Joel Embiid. And I'm a huge fan of Embiid and I admire how much he wants to be on the floor, but he just can't stay healthy for long stretches, even though he does everything he can to get out there, as we saw in the playoffs when he wasn't nearly close to 100 percent coming off his latest knee injury.

But let's just think about things in the most positive terms. If, and it's a massive if, Embiid stays healthy or is healthy when it matters, can play off time because I think we've seen repeatedly seeding is virtually irrelevant at this point. The Heat made the finals last year as an eight seed. The Mavs were a four seed this year coming out of the West, but a relatively healthy, I'll go that direction, Embiid plus Tyreeks Maxey as their number two, taking over the James Harden role with a far better personality and less baggage. And Paul George, you have a quote unquote big three, and I think there's a second best team in the East. Knicks, I enjoy what they're doing culturally. I was a Knicks fan a million years ago.

That's irrelevant. But their trade for Mikael Bridges may prove to be as important as Paul George going to Philly. So you got the Knicks right there where they were last year with even more depth. And they're going to get Julius Randle healthy because I think that's the concern for the Knicks. They don't have that rim protector as we saw in the postseason when Randle is not available.

And I'm not ready to throw dirt on the Bucks just yet. But Giannis can't stay healthy. Still, you got Giannis and Dame.

You got a powerful one two combination. Boston, though, in my mind, still clearly better than all those teams, better than Denver, which I'm not fully certain that the Nuggets know what they're doing as we continue to see the slow attrition of the nucleus of that championship team. Yes, so long as Joker's out there, everything's going to be fine and Murray's going to sign his extension at some point. But Bruce Brown gave him valuable minutes.

I'm a big KCP guy, really like that pickup for a young Orlando team. So I'm not even of the mindset that Denver is that much better than anybody else in the West. And remember, OKC was the top seed and some of that was because the Nuggets chose to rest heading into the postseason. I think you throw Minnesota, OKC, Denver all in a hat.

And then we go down the list. Remember, John Moran was a nonfactor this year, but a couple of years ago, Memphis was the two seed. That's how deep the West is. But for all of these combinations, and I love doing it because it should be clear, I love the NBA as much as the NFL based on all of those twists and turns and the headline moves of Klay Thompson joining the Mavs. And I didn't mean to omit them right there in championship. Consideration again coming off the run to the finals last year after all of that calculus. It's still Boston and then everybody else. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. I am not covering much baseball today, and that's by design.

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You can let me know what you're thinking on the X platform. BW Weber, Weber with two B's. Coming up in 20 minutes, we move around the NFL with Trevor Sikkema, a pro football focus straight ahead. More football to tackle.

Now that we reportedly know why Aaron Rodgers missed the Jets mandatory minicamp, does it make his absence any more understandable? That's coming up as we continue on this Tuesday edition of the program. Weber in for Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show. This Rich Eisen Show podcast is sponsored by Progressive Insurance, whether you're driving, cooking or doing laundry. Progressive knows the podcast you listen to go best when they're bundled with another activity, much like how their progressive home and auto policies go best when they're bundled. Having these two policies together makes taking care of your insurance easier and could help you save to customers who save by saving. Their home and car insurance to progressive save over seven hundred seventy five dollars on average. That's a whole lot of savings and protection for your favorite podcast.

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Do it yourself and you can find what you need in store or online. So stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit us at OReillyAuto.com slash Eisen. That's O'Reilly Auto Parts. O'Reilly Auto dot com slash EISN. O O O'Reilly Auto Parts. I'm Brian Weber. Welcome you back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions. For every industry, Grainger has the right product for you. Call, click Grainger dot com or just stop by. 844-204-7424 is the phone number and you can always get a hold of me on X. It is B.W.

Weber, Weber with two B's. Appreciate picking up followers along the way. If you enjoy my approach, I was going to say my act, sadly it's not an act. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

This business is a lot more straightforward. I'm back with you tomorrow all week long as Rich and the guys enjoy a much deserved holiday break. Coming up in less than 15 minutes as we move now into the football portion of this hour of the show. Looking forward to our latest conversation with Trevor Sikkema, a pro football focus. Aaron Rodgers has become increasingly polarizing. Let me give you a sense of the evolution of my thoughts about Aaron. And it's hard now to divorce the personal from the professional because he's become even more outspoken. He's become even more transparent. And I have no issue with people expressing themselves on a variety of topics.

But when you try to be too clever by half, let's go back to the I'm immunized situation, and you traffic in conspiracy theories, you lose me. At the same time, I can fully appreciate the brilliance of Rodgers. For years I said, and I'm not going to walk away from this football assessment, he's the most skilled quarterback in my lifetime. For years I said it was John Elway, clearly a different playing style, but if we're just talking about pure quarterback ability, Rodgers, to me, is at the top of the list.

Now, we're not getting into the GOAT discussion, we're not talking about championships, because Brady's in a different realm. But as Rodgers has gotten older, and remember he's closing in on his 39th birthday, and he's coming off the Achilles injury, he has gotten stranger, or maybe he's gotten more comfortable in expressing who he is. So, for all the talk about Rodgers wanting to change the culture of the Jets, and believe me, I grew up not too far away from Shea Stadium. My old man was careful with money.

I don't want to call him cheap, but let's just say he enjoyed saving a dollar. It was a lot more affordable to go to Jets games than Giants games, so I wound up a Jets fan. I'm not going to go through the whole list of the misery of the Jets since Joe Willie Namath was running out of the Orange Bowl, waving the I'm number one figure after Super Bowl III. Aaron Rodgers is, right now, even though he's only played four snaps, clearly the second best quarterback in the history of the Jets. But when he made such a public display at the end of last season, and he repeated it in his last media availability, saying, it's got to be all about football, no BS, we got to focus on the main thing, and then he doesn't show up for the only mandatory portion of OTAs, and I'm not going to lose my mind over the offseason program.

I understand where they fit in overall in the scheme of importance in football. However, football is such a team game, if there's one thing that's mandatory, you got to show up, especially when you have a leadership position in a dysfunctional situation like the Jets. Well, come to find out, and this feels like, as Mike Florio, friend of the program from ProFootballTalk.com points out, feels like a strategic leak, we now know more details about why Rodgers was not there for the Jets' mandatory minicamp last month. Apparently, during his recovery from the torn Achilles, he had booked a trip to Egypt.

That's fair. And the trip coincided with the Jets' mandatory minicamp. Now, let's just pause right there. Does Rodgers not have a calendar? Does he not have a phone? Could he not text anybody and say, hey, I'm about to spend thousands of dollars because I want to go see the pyramids, and that's a whole separate conversation. We can only imagine the takeaways Rodgers emerged from after seeing the Sphinx, and of course, he knows aliens built the pyramids. Only way it makes sense in terms of geometry, but I have no problem with him taking this trip. Why was it scheduled during the one mandatory portion of the off-season program? And the answer is because he's Aaron Rodgers, and he can do whatever he wants to.

I get it. There are rules for stars in every industry. If you're the best sales guy, you can be late for the meetings.

You can even park in the boss's spot as long as you deliver the revenue. I fully get that, but it's the one week you got to be there for no other reason than to pretend like you care about your teammates. Instead, the Jets excuse this. I know publicly they said, he should be here.

We've had the conversation, but there were no obvious ramifications. I'm not saying he should be cut or suspended or held up to public ridicule. I'm just saying of all the weeks during the year, Rodgers couldn't have picked a different week, and I'm guessing it was an oversight.

And then he said, well, I already have this trip scheduled, and the Jets said take your trip. So this is not ranked on the short list of the most important things across the NFL, but I do think it speaks to Rodgers' mindset, which is very me first, and that's okay. That's how you often wind up being a Hall of Famer.

You have to think you're the man, but don't continue to speak out of both sides of your mouth. Don't get up at that podium and say, it's all about football, and we've got to put the BS behind us, and then say, oh, parenthetically by your actions, if you need me, I'll be hanging out on a cruise on the Nile. There's a major disconnect there, but it's the Jets we're talking about, and in some ways Rodgers is the perfect personification of the broken Jets because he's as dysfunctional. Now, just as a football fan and someone looking for content, I want him to stay healthy and I want to see how that team looks in a division in which Buffalo has gone through a major reset, especially defensively in parting ways with Staphon Diggs. Miami last year reiterated that they can put together a series of wins that look good in the standings, but they don't show up against quality teams. So there's a window here for the Jets, but a lot of that comes down to cohesion, continuity, and teamwork, not just a star who decides, hey, I need something to look forward to, rehabbing my Achilles.

If you need me, I'll be hanging out in Cairo. It just doesn't make sense, and the Jets can continue to spin it and justify it and enable Rodgers any way they want, but at some point you've got to tell it like it is. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. More football on the way. I mentioned the Dolphins. It appears Tua's on the clock after Trevor Lawrence got the massive payday from the Jags.

So if Tua is next up in terms of quarterbacks, about to get paid, how much of a difference maker is he really for the Dolphins? Looking forward to checking in with Trevor Sikkema, a pro football focus and the co-host of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. I'm Brian Weber, always having a good time with you.

And for Rich, we continue on the Rich Eisen Show. We'll be right back. We're completely out of buying MLB tickets. Download the GameTime app. Create an account and use my code EISEN for $20 off your first purchase.

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Shopify.com slash Westwood1. It's the Rich Eisen Show on a Tuesday. I'm Brian Weber. Appreciate the company. You can be a part of the show at 844-204-7424.

You can also slide over to the X platform. Don't slide into my DMs. You don't have to.

I think they're open. I probably shouldn't be saying that on national radio. But the best way to be interactive on this show, when I am lucky enough to be in the chair, is to X me. You can tweet me, B.W.

Weber, Weber with two B's. We are efforting a conversation with Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus. If he's not available, that's okay. Theoretically, the primary reason I'm here is that I used to work with Rich at NFL Network. So I'll jump into that momentarily.

If we cannot connect with Trevor, we'll get him on later this week because I'm back with you tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. Looking ahead to the final hour of the program. How did the NBA insider army, led by Woj and Shams, get it so wrong with Donovan Mitchell?

I like calling him Spider, even though I don't know him. I just think about watching Goodfellas and pretending I was all mobbed up growing up in the suburbs of New York City. Mitchell staying in Cleveland, maybe getting rid of J.B. Bickerstaff was enough to appease him. That is one of the subjects we'll cover coming up an hour from now, 2.40 Eastern Time, when we check in with Joe Vardon of The Athletic. And in 20 minutes, we're going to start that last hour of the program talking soccer in entertaining fashion. Another problematic night for the United States on the pitch in many ways, including an absolutely hideous broadcast. I know it's not Fox's fault.

How do I know? They told us repeatedly during the event. We are taking a camera provided by the international broadcast. Don't blame us. I mentioned, as we looked ahead to this segment, it could be the summer of Tua. Because we know, just as Jason Tatum got that incredibly large deal. Five years, $314 million from the Celtics in large measure because he was up next. It's all about slotting and timing when it comes to these unbelievable, astronomical contracts across sports. And it's most evident at the quarterback position because once somebody resets the market, once somebody raises the bar, the next folks in line all benefit. So we've seen in recent weeks, Jared Goff get paid in Detroit. And I'm very pleased for Jared. I don't root necessarily for people or teams. I'm in the storytelling business.

It's an amazing story. Left for dead by the Rams. And remember, he should never have been taken with the number one overall pick coming out of Cal. I'm here at our outstanding studios in Southern California.

I used to work in the Bay Area. I watch a lot of Cal football. Never once during his career did I think that guy was going to be the number one overall pick.

Although it's another reminder amplifying what I was just talking about. It's all about timing. In that draft class, the notion was it was Goff and Carson Wentz.

And that was a real debate. And looking back, even though he struggled at times with the Rams, although he did play in a Super Bowl. Got to say that was a slam dunk in favor of Goff and unfortunately Wentz not only went through a run of injuries, he got the yips effectively. He just lost his confidence after when he went down in the midst of what was going to be an MVP kind of season replaced by Nick Foles. They win the Lombardi.

You know the rest of the story. So with Goff having the Renaissance in Detroit and in many ways reflecting the rise of that broken franchise and great to see the Lions. Not only relevant, they should have won the NFC championship game.

I don't like to use the C word in terms of choking, but what else are you going to tell me? Dan Campbell got tight. The play calling was bizarre.

And yes, they had some bad bounces of the ball. Still, they should have been in the Super Bowl last year. And Goff deserved, as we had that conversation about deserved earlier, he was worthy of the money he got. Which meant that next up it was Trevor Lawrence. And now it's either Tua or Dak Prescott.

I have no issues with Tua. In fact, if I'm just talking about personality, seems like a wonderful person. Back to the selfless and team-oriented mindset that you want to see in any leader, especially someone playing the quarterback position. Community involved.

Self-aware. Took the time to realize that based on his injury history, dating back to playing his college ball at Alabama, his priority is to stay healthy. A lot of that comes with learning how to slide. Remember a year ago at this time we were talking about Tua as the karate kid taking jiu-jitsu courses. Trying to be more nimble and a joint in the pocket.

Also understanding that clock's got to be much more accelerated. Get the ball out on time and don't take that massive hit after he had, unfortunately, a series of head injuries the year before. So Tua, I think, is justified in getting the next big contract whenever the Dolphins want to give it to them. Now the longer it takes, you're going to hear more murmurs like, well, remember Mike McDaniel had nothing to do with Tua being drafted by the Dolphins. And remember, not too long ago, it was tank for Tua. That's how enthused the fan base was in South Florida because they've been looking for a quarterback since Dan Marino.

And in the microwave culture that we have, what have you done for me lately? Because Tua has not taken the next step in that playoff success. There are members of, quote-unquote, Dolphin Nation that feel like they can do better than Tua and I would have a strong counter. Okay, tell me who you're getting. Because even if you don't like a specific quarterback, you've got to have a plan.

Hope is not a plan. So if you're not a Tua supporter, tell me what you're going to do to upgrade that position. But the longer this takes to get done, although I heard Adam Schefter on ESPN this morning saying it's just a matter of time. I remember Adam dialed in as a Michigan man like Rich Eisen to Stephen Ross, the owner of the Dolphins, who is a very notable Michigan alum. If Adam says it's going to happen, so if not this week or next week, at some point prior to the start of the season or early on once we get past the kickoff game, Tua's going to get his money. And now it's up to him and Mike McDaniel for that high-octane offense to prove they can do it come playoff time.

And yes, they have been, if you're just looking at total wins, one of the most effective franchises in all of football in recent years. But it's all about how you perform in high-level situations, which gets us to the next quarterback conundrum, Dak Prescott. And I could, if I was just looking for clout on social media or ensuring I'll be back on Labor Day, I could call an audible and push this back to start the final hour of the program, because remember, if you talk Cowboys, good things happen. I'll take you behind the scenes in NFL Network.

I can show you, because I still have some of the research that I received. That's a league-owned entity. When we talk Cowboys, the numbers went up.

That's why you see so much Cowboy content and hear so much Cowboy conversation. And maybe now it just feels like Jerry Jones is trying to help us all out, knowing that things can slow down in the summer, although certainly not the case this week. And I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen.

You can hop aboard at 844-204-7424, or you can be a part of what's happening on the X platform. That is B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. As we think about what's happening right now with the Cowboys, the answer is nothing.

Inertia. Virtually no progress on any front that is important, other than that beef I was talking about yesterday with Malik Hooker, calling out his defensive teammate in Micah Parsons and saying, effectively, hey, man, no problem with you having a podcast, but if you're going to rip us publicly, maybe you do me a solid and tell me about it. To which Parsons, and I'm paraphrasing here, went on social media and say, hey, bro, you got my phone number. If you've got a problem with me, call me.

Why? Because we're talking about the Cowboys who put the fun in Dysfunctional. That's more media chatter, although maybe you could say it speaks to issues within the locker room. Do you really think Mike McCarthy is commanding a lot of respect inside that facility? Do you think folks at the Star in Frisco, Texas, are walking around saying that Mike McCarthy, he really knows what he's doing? Even though the Cowboys have now pieced together three consecutive 12 win seasons, that's largely lost in the shuffle because of that debacle of a playoff game that we all saw on their home field.

Jordan Love came down there and looked like a combination of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. So you have that piece to process because remember, Mike McCarthy, like his quarterback, is in the last year of his deal. And I'm not concerned about that because the Cowboys are always going to have a puppet, an extension of Jerry Jones. Nobody else was knocking on Mike McCarthy's door.

As much as he sold the notion that he had reinvented himself, remember he spent time in the barn, he said, working on analytics. Nobody bought that other than Jerry Jones because Jerry wants someone he can control who is not going to overshadow the owner and the GM. Might be Mike Zimmer taking over as the interim head coach because if big Mike McCarthy gets off to a slow start, he's clearly going to be the fall guy. But the key right now is what do you do with C.D. Lamb? And the answer is they're going to pay him and it's not that hard to process the numbers. Justin Jefferson reset the market for playmaking wide receivers.

C.D. Lamb is not as productive as Jefferson, so he'll come close, probably get less, and that should be a straightforward negotiation. As for Deck, he's got all the leverage because the Cowboys have butchered this situation so profoundly. Remember, they can't trade him.

They can't tag him again. No one has had this kind of leverage heading into his walk year in modern NFL history. You can throw out Kirk Cousins if you want.

Vastly different situation. And he's in the financial hall of fame. I need Kirk to be my financial advisor. Nobody has maximized his ability to get paid more than Kirk Cousins, although I think Dak is going to prove those numbers to be trivial because if we're now, what, at the mid-50s in terms of average annual compensation after Goff and Lawrence, if I'm Dak's agent, I'm saying I'm not taking a penny less than 60 million dollars. And if you don't want to pay me, I'm talking per year, we're going elsewhere.

And let's just do it theoretically together. If Dak hit the market next season, or let's just say he was available now, don't you think the Raiders would give him anything that he wanted? I mentioned the Giants are going to be on the off-season edition of Hard Knocks. Don't you think the Giants have realized what a ghastly mistake they made paying Daniel Jones and Dak would be an upgrade? Aaron Rodgers may retire after this season. Hey, the Jets could be back in the quarterback market once more.

So the more things change, the more they stay the same. And you have to put the Big D in dysfunction when we're talking about the Dallas Cowboys. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. A lot of business to attend to in the final hour of the program. We'll talk more NBA with Joe Vardon of the Athletic. Soccer in entertaining fashion. I'm old.

I've been told for 50 years Team USA would be good on the pitch. What is happening? What's going wrong? That's coming up here on the Rich Eisen Show.