49ers Deommodore Lenoir shares his thoughts on teammate Brandon Aiyuk

This radio commercial was made to convince you to stop speeding. We can't use siren sound effects on the radio, so we'll use other equally jarring sound effects to get your attention. Like telling you that whether you drive a little over the speed limit or a lot, you can crash just the same. You could hurt yourself or worse others.

And the damage you cause will be beyond repair. See, we didn't have to use crash or siren sounds after all. Speeding catches up with you. Brought to you by NHTSA. This radio commercial was made to convince you to stop speeding. We can't use siren sound effects on the radio, so we'll use other equally jarring sound effects to get your attention. Like telling you that whether you drive a little over the speed limit or a lot, you can crash just the same. You could hurt yourself or worse others. And the damage you cause will be beyond repair. See, we didn't have to use crash or siren sounds after all. Speeding catches up with you.

Brought to you by NHTSA. This, this, this is the Rich Eisen Show. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Tom Felicero. Earlier on the show, NFL network analyst Chase Daniel. Coming up, 49ers cornerback D'Amadore Lenard, best-selling author Joe Posnanski, plus latest news and more.

And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Tom Felicero. It is blowing my mind every time that we have an NFL guest or we talk about the NFL. The players are trickling into buildings right now. That's how close we are to having actual football. Eight more teams having their rookies report today. Lamar's in the building along with the Ravens rookies.

He got full teams reporting later this week. The Texans coming back to work tomorrow. The Bears on Friday.

The Chiefs and the Ravens on Saturday. We are, we are rapidly moving toward the NFL season. D'Amador Lenard from the 49ers had one of the shortest off seasons in the NFL this past year.

He's going to join us here in just a couple of minutes. Fascinating division, certainly in San Francisco with, with San Francisco in the NFC West, with Seattle, with Arizona, certainly being one of the, the sexy teams right now. And of course, you got the Rams who every year with Sean McVay, every year that Matthew Stafford is still there.

Still some contractual things to work out with him, but certainly going to be a top to bottom, you would say very competitive division. Meanwhile, news right now, literally as we're getting ready to bring on D'Amador Lenard from my colleague at NFL network, Mike Garofolo, 49ers All-Pro wide receiver, Brandon Aiyuk has officially requested a trade after an off season of unsuccessful attempts to reach an extension. Good timing to bring on D'Amador Lenard. Man, I'm telling you, D'Amador this was not a set up. Okay. This, this literally hit as I'm, as I'm getting you up on the zoom call here, man, 14 seconds ago. Oh no, this is gonna be true.

This is, this is the truth. Despite a recent meeting, the Niners haven't been willing to engage in negotiations since May. So Aiyuk has respectfully asked out. Now I don't want to put you on the spot to speak for your teammate here, D'Amador, but you've, you've watched him play the past few years. You've guarded him in training camp. How important is that guy to your team?

How important is it to, to figure a way to work this thing out? He's extremely important to our offense. You know, the stuff he can do, the amount of targets he had in a production, you know, it's kind of second to none. So with just hearing that news, it's kind of crazy.

When you have things going on, you know, a couple of years ago was Deebo, right? His contract situation carried out through the whole off season and into training camp. Nick Bosa, you know, had his, his hold in, so to speak, where he was there, but he wasn't doing anything.

How much, if at all, does that impact the preparation and the other guys on the team, knowing that every time you turn on the TV, every time you log onto social media, you're seeing a bunch of stuff about uncertainty in your own locker room? You know, at the end of the day, we feel like, we go out there, we risk our bodies, you know, to play the game we love and we kind of deserve, you know, what we asked for, but, you know, for IU, you know, he's a big part of this team, you know, one of the reasons why we even made it this far, you know, thus far to the Super Bowl, you know, without his contribution, you know, to the team, you know, he means a lot to us. So I know, I'm banging on it, getting, getting the job done, you know, we was two for two with Deebo and Bosa. So I feel like we, you know, there's going to be some type of agreement that comes soon.

Well, at some point too, you know, they got to save money to pay the D'Amadore Lenores of the world. You're, you're coming up on a pretty big season for yourself here, right? Oh yeah, yes, sir. You know, I'm just putting it all in God's hands.

I'm just go out there and give it 110 percent, like I always do. All right, so setting aside for a moment, the Brandon Iyuk news, him requesting to trade officially from the 49ers, as reported a few minutes ago by Mike Garafolo. There's a long history of the D'Amadore, the team that, you know, goes deep in the playoffs, specifically the team that loses in the Super Bowl, and history would suggest, it's hard. You lose all that rest time in the off-season. You have that near miss hanging over you mentally, physically, emotionally. How would you describe just the off-season for the 49ers on the field and off the field, the vibe surrounding this team as you get ready to come back for camp? We always been close, you know, even after the Eagles loss in the NFC, you know, it just brings us tighter. You know, when we was able to get, you know, another step further, we didn't come with the job. I mean, we didn't finish it away with the win, but I feel like this year, you know, we got to get that taste out of our mouths. How do you do it? You know, it's easy to say, you know, you want to take that next step.

How do they, how they officially, you're there. You have the game. It's not as if, you know, there is luck involved. There's bad bounces. There's a single play that can define the season. How do you, in your mind, how does this team, again, muster that sort of intestinal fortitude to come back and finish the job this time? Really just with finishing. I just feel like our whole, all last year, you know, it had something to do with finishing, you know, finishing in the fourth quarter, finishing big games, you know. I just feel like that's what we got to preach this year, just finishing because we got the, we got the pieces in the locker room and we got the players that's willing to do it and we got the coaches that's willing to call the right plays.

We just got to finish. Speaking of guys who are going to get paid sooner than later, your quarterback, Brock Purdy, certainly on that list and we're talking about he's going to become eligible for another year. He's the best bargain you got for a little bit longer here, but at some point he's going to be getting that crazy number in all likelihood. You're around that guy on a daily basis. I've spent some time around him. He is about as normal of a human, it feels like, as you're going to run into just as a dude. What do you see from him on a day-to-day basis that gives you confidence? This is the guy to help you put another Lombardi in the case. Just his poise and his confidence, you know, the swagger he played with, just seeing him come in and taking reps with the threes and then becoming a starter, you know, his walk started to be different.

You could tell that he started to get the locker room and everyone started to believe. Do you ever get him, D'Amador, in practice? Have you gotten a pick or two off him, you know, through training camp or during the week? Oh, I got him before.

I got him before. Tell me about it. What was the play? It was on an out route. He threw like an out route. It was like when he was on scout team though. This is when he was taking reps with the threes and he threw an out route. I want to say that Willie Sneed and we was kind of in the goal line and it was a pick six though. But, you know, after that play, I think the next, I want to say the next week, he probably, I think it was his first start against the Bucks, I believe. And he went like 23 for 26. He was, yeah, he was zipping them. And that's when I, that's when I kind of knew I was like, he legit because like to just process Shanahan's scheme and then go out there and just be that efficient.

You know, it was crazy. Week one, all the focus is going to be on the other quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. This is a high profile. It's a Monday night game.

National TV. The entire country is going to be watching. What kind of statement do you hope the 49ers can make and also what kind of statement do you think you can make on Aaron Rodgers finally getting back out there after missing almost all last season? Just, I know the emotions is going to be high game one. So when we come out, well, I'm speaking for us Niners, when we come out, you know, it's going to be that different feeling. You know, it's like, it's really smashed my football and we're going to take it up a notch, you know, and if I got to be the leader to say something or, you know, get the juice and get it started, then that's what I got to do. Do you like going up against the old guys? You know, Rodgers was drafted like 05.

You're what, four years old or something at that point. Do you like, you know, those NFL legends who, especially when they're coming into your place, do you like going up against guys like that? Oh yeah, yeah.

You know, because I've been watching them my whole life. So to see them live and game and just be able to make a play and then have them after the game, you know, looking, looking at your name to see the guy that made the play on them, you know, that's always a great feeling, you know, just like when I played against Tom Brady and, and I have, I want to say I have like two people use and then just speaking to him after the game, you know, talking to him and then to, to let them know, like what he let me know that he was actually like watching me, like he was scouting me and stuff and he just telling me to keep going and he was like, you're going to be a great player. But that was like a good feeling for me.

Did you get the sense that he was biting, biting his tongue and he really wanted to tell you that he was pissed off that you broke up a couple passes on him there? And you said it was genuine from Tom Brady that he actually appreciated your game. That was like the first, I mean, I ain't, I ain't even really, because usually I observe, I observe people like body language and stuff. It's like, I don't know, it's like this weird feeling like part of being a DB, like we observe like body language and stuff. So I was, I was kind of like, I was like starstruck because I was like, this is Tom Brady. Like I've been watching, like I didn't watch him in so many Super Bowls and just, you know, being a Tom Brady fan.

So it was just like, it was, it was crazy. So there's a lot of people I think who are still learning your name as a young player in the league, you played really good football. You're one of the bright young stars at the position. You, you get a pick off Aaron Rogers.

That's going to help. You're also, and I'm always fascinated by these things. You're the only player in NFL history named D'Amador. Can you tell me about the name, where that, where that comes from? So my dad's name is Commodore Lenore. He said, he said his, his dad named him because his favorite group was the Commodores. And then my mom's name is Denise. So when I was born, they didn't have a name for me. And then my uncle just came out and said, D'Amador.

That, that is a very logical, logical explanation here. So, and, and you grew up in, you grew up in South LA. You had these dreams. What's it like being, you know, you at this, this point in time, you've played in the Super Bowl.

You're beyond the precipice probably of hopefully getting a big time life-changing money type of a contractor. Just, just take me inside what it's like to be you right now. Um, I feel like coming back to my city, I feel like, you know, a superstar because like I didn't done it at the highest level and I got kids, you know, looking up to me, that's from my area. That's like, you know, we see he can do it. So now we can do it, you know, so it's kind of like, you kind of kind of be a role model, you know, I'm starting to get in that role model stage to where, you know, I'm trying to give back and, you know, show, show kids how it's done and it can be done. Well, I want to let you go here in a minute, D'Amador, cause I'm guessing there's a player on your team.

You might want to give a call and try to figure out what in the world's going on, but if, but if he can't get a hold of Brandon, if his phone's jammed up, do you want to just give me, give me the pitch to, to Brandon here about how much, how much you want him back? Man, he, he, he know, we talk, we talk all the time. We, we love you bro. You know, we just, we got to get it right.

You know, hopefully nothing serious happens, but just stay ready. Let's, let's go win that bull. I feel like I'm breaking your heart here, D'Amador. I swear this was not a setup. We didn't mean for this to come down at the same time, man, but it's obvious. It's obvious you care about the dude. Yeah. Good friend. You know, we've been going at it since college and then we've been drafted to the Niners.

We actually got close. Well, best of luck. Hopefully everything works out. Call Brandon right now, sort the thing out.

If you get them back on board by the end of the show, we're on for another like hour and 45. Call us back and say all is well. I've resolved it.

I got him and Lynch together and everything's fine. All right. I got you. Appreciate you, D'Amador.

That is D'Amador Lenore, San Francisco 49ers. That was, hey, I, I really listen. I appreciate we have a lot of guests on this show. I appreciate him giving, I mean, it's obvious how emotional he is about it here, but I appreciate him, you know, giving us literally tweeted it out as we were welcoming in. I was buying time.

I was tap dancing there at the top of the segment because I was making sure that his zoom was up and running. And then literally as I'm about to bring him in, I see that tweet. But I sincerely appreciate that he gave us a real, a real answer. I mean, listen, this is an important guy to the 49ers.

There, there, there is something to be said. I mentioned it there, which is you're paying everybody. All the people who say the salary cap's not real. That's just not true. You can manipulate it in a lot of different ways, but every dollar you spend hits the cap eventually. So if you're a 49ers team that is paying Deebo, that has paid Nick Bosa, that's going to have to pay Brock Purdy probably $60 million or something totally nuts in a year or so from now and pay the De Amador Lenores, your next wave of stars coming up and oh yeah, pay the guys you signed up for agency like Jevon Hargrave.

At some point, somebody has to not be the one who, who gets paid. You want to turn off your phone over there, Del Tufa? Sorry about that. What was that ring tone right there? You don't even want to know.

You don't even want to know. The best part was I walked into Del Tufa over here. I was dying.

That's somebody, one of my friends has that ring tone. Wow. That was funny. Physically jumps up out of his seat. We played you in the home run Derby earlier.

I think that was the best athletic thing I've ever seen Del Tufa do. Phone in the pants. We got to move here. I have ringtones for everybody. I have special ringtones. I have ringtones for everybody.

That is a lie. I'm calling you right now. Let's do it. Text me. I bet you'll get a weird text me. There's no chance. Yeah. Do it. Hurry up Brock and set himself up. I'll do it.

Text. You shocked by this iU trade request? No, but this is something that had been going on for a while throughout the course of the off season here. So iU is on the books for about $20 million, I believe on the franchise tag, which is still, you know, it's not the contract that he wants. The top of the market right now is 28, 30, 32 million.

Justin Jefferson just got four years for 140. But, you know, obviously if Brandon iU were to get to free agency next year, which again, that's not totally in his control because the 49ers can have them play this out and then franchise tag them and work out a tag and trade or try to do a next year. But what I know is it doesn't get less expensive. These things always get more expensive, especially when the wide receiver market is growing the way that it is. In fact, if this deal had gotten done six months ago, maybe a number that they'd be willing to do now would have been good enough, but not with Ahmaan Arasim Brown signing a big deal, not with AJ Brown getting a new deal, not with Jefferson getting the money that he did.

It's the same reason that the C.D. Lamb deal isn't done yet in Dallas because now all of a sudden 35 became the number on Justin Jefferson, where if that deal got done a year ago, maybe the number is 32. And then you feel more comfortable here.

C.D. might want to have Justin Jefferson be the floor. Brandon iUke certainly is going to want to get closer to Justin Jefferson.

He's not going to want to play for $20 million this year. They met a couple of weeks ago. iUke had set up that meeting. My understanding was that it was a good meeting.

Both sides said some things that needed to be said and they agreed after the 4th of July, they would circle back and revisit. That obviously has happened. It's not to the liking of Brandon iUke. The 49ers have shown no urge, no want to trade him. Yeah, they got calls before the draft.

They were getting calls on iUke and Deebo Samuel. Why not? Because there's rumblings going around. You don't have a deal done here. But they wanted to have significant compensation, talking about a first round pick and more.

Well, guess what? The draft has come and gone. Any pick you get now doesn't help you in 2024. We're talking about a 2025 type of a pick for a team that was just in the Super Bowl and is trying to get over the hump here. So there's a lot of different directions that this thing can go from here with Brandon iUke. They certainly can revisit and find a way to come to a long-term contract agreement. But right now, based upon the trade request that Mike Garofola reported a few minutes ago, that doesn't appear to be in the cards. So now at what point would Brandon iUke come back to training camp?

Remember, it's a rookie deal. So if he holds out for all the training camp, you can waive fines. Those fines could add up to like two, three million dollars. The 49ers would have to make a decision on whether or not they're willing, of course, to waive those fines. If he starts missing game checks, now you're talking about a million a week. If you're sitting out during the season, we've seen other guys do that. He'd have to come back by the middle of the season or else his contract would toll. So one way or another, I would think Brandon iUke is going to suit up for the 49ers this year. That's certainly been the 49ers intention through the course of this thing.

But by now putting out there for the first time, and as of a couple weeks ago we had not requested a trade, by doing this now and saying, I want out of here, this certainly does alter the dynamics to a certain degree because it thrusts it to the forefront again. We know iUke has wanted all the attention on himself. He talked about it when he talked to, was it TMZ or something, saying like, yeah, I wake up every morning, they're talking about me.

Mom calls me and says they're talking about me at the office. He's enjoying the attention. He's recording Zoom calls with Jayden Daniels. He's posting him MFing the security gate at the 49ers facility when he's going in there to work out. He's enjoying the attention. Now Brandon iUke, once again, the center of attention.

It doesn't mean no deal gets done, but it'll be interesting to see exactly how this entire thing plays out. Let's take a break here. We'll talk about more about this, more NFL coming up right after this.

A lot to dig into on the Rich Eisen Show. We all know about the speed of sound, but have you ever thought about the sounds of speeding? If you drive over the speed limit, there are lots of different sounds that you might hear. Drive too fast and you could hear the sound of your vehicle crashing. The sound of ambulances and first responders desperately trying to free you from the wreckage. You could hear the beeps of a heart monitor. You could hear doctors and nurses in an emergency room as you're being treated for your injuries. You could hear the sound of worried family members in the hospital waiting room hoping to hear that you're okay.

You could even hear the sound of people crying at a funeral. Because if you drive over the speed limit, whether by a lot or by a little, you could do damage that's beyond repair. You could seriously injure yourself or worse, you could hurt and even kill someone else. When you speed, you put everyone on the road in danger. One way or another, speeding catches up with you. Paid for by NHTSA. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts people.

You love their jingle. You're going to love their friendly, helpful service even better because they're in the business of keeping your car on the road. And the parts knowledge they have, it's all you need for your maintenance and repairs.

They've got thousands of parts and accessories in stock either in store or online so you never have to worry if you're in a jam. The team at O'Reilly Auto Parts can test your battery for free in or out of your car. If it needs to be replaced, they'll find you just the right battery for your vehicle.

Need your windshield wipers replaced, a brake light fixed or quick service? They'll help you there and find the right part or point you to the nearest local repair shop for help. The professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts are your one-stop shop for all things auto. 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.

That's OReillyAuto.com slash E-I-S-E-N, O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. Mike Del Tufo over there when Justin Hartley of This Is Us was here on Friday, he planks weights on his back. Okay, there he is putting plank after plank. Those are 45 pounds. He waves on more weight.

See, come on, let's get some more. Del Tufo sees this and he goes, I could do that is what he said. He said he would do 145. Now, when you say when he can do 145, how much weight do you think that means?

Just 145. Right. No.

How long do you say you can do that? A minute. Come on. All right, here we go.

Mike. Don't be right spot in your mind, buddy. Come on.

Look at him. Always near the finish line. All we see is the victory. Victory is simple, baby. Don't worry about the body, baby.

Our mind is controlling our body. Our mind, we got this, baby. We got this. We're going to show the world. That's what you about. What do we got?

Show the world, baby. Don't worry about it. You got two blocks out. You got two blocks gone. Halfway home. You got two blocks gone.

You got two more to go. Just see that finish line. Look at the glory. Look at the chest touching the tape.

Get your chest on that tape. Look at you, baby. 20 seconds to go.

Look, come here in 20 seconds, baby. You finish this, man. I do that every day, people.

The gym. I can't tell. I do it. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network.

Turns out you have to unmute the mute button on the new box. I just learned that one there. 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 clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Tom Pellicero in for Rich Eisen. What do you know, guys? We've been talking about how close NFL season is. We've had a lot of news in the last 25 minutes or so. Inform D'Amedore Lenoir on live TV in the last segment that Brandon Iuch has officially requested a trade from the 49ers. Lenoir, pretty emotional about it. I really appreciate his time and his honesty in terms of his answers.

He's hopeful that something's going to work out with a guy who's a very close friend of his that he hopes to come back. Also can tell you, we talked at the top of the show, Bears Rookies reporting today. No Caleb Williams deal done just yet.

That should happen. But as I tweeted a couple of minutes ago, Roma Dunesay, number nine overall pick. That deal just got done.

Great timing with the person who called me as we were going to break. Four years, 22.7 million fully guaranteed with a fifth year option. So we are now down to just four of the first round picks who are unsigned. It is Caleb Williams. It's the two Vikings guys, JJ McCarthy and Dallas Turner, and then a Darius Mims with the Bengals.

The only four first round picks who are not yet signed. Not as complicated as the old days to be able to get these deals done, but certainly notable whenever somebody's not ending up missing time. Again, I would anticipate that we're going to have a deal with Caleb Williams to get him into camp. If not today, then by the end of the week, Veterans Report on Friday, that's obviously going to be something significant. To have that deal done, maximize the time on task.

There's not that much anymore to negotiate in these deals. There's always going to be unique though with Caleb Williams representing himself, the team of attorneys he has around him. There's a lot of rules about who you can and can't talk to on those things, but certainly I anticipate that this is going to get done here. Let's talk more though about Brandon Aiyuk right now before we get to... Do we have the helmet of questions, by the way? Are we ready?

We have all the questions. We're gonna... You gotta find the helmet. We have so many helmets back here.

We're just trying to decide which one to use. Track down this helmet. Probably use a Super Bowl helmet from last week. With Brandon Aiyuk requesting to trade, I broke it down in the last segment, there's a lot of different ways that this can go. I think that the important thing to remember here is the 49ers have proceeded as if Brandon Aiyuk is going to be on the team. You're right there, Brockman?

You got it handled? This is the helmet. There's a lot of different things at stake here, but part of it is the 49ers, thank you, have a level of leverage over this, which is he's under contract for this year and then they can franchise tag him for two years beyond that. So it's not as if he can just get out an unfettered free agency.

It is more complicated than that. Obviously, but let's talk about this actually happening. Where is he most likely to go?

Because everyone's talking about Washington. He really wants to play with his old college quarterback, Jayden Daniels. He's tweeting out videos of him watching commander's practice.

How does he get his hands on that? But also, Pittsburgh really needs him. So what is the scenario here where he's like, could someone come in with a trade? I don't know that it's any more likely with him requesting a trade that he gets traded than it was prior to the trade request. Because again, the 49ers got calls about Aiyuk. They had calls about Deebo before the draft.

They had a high asking price. It was going to be a first round pick and potentially more depending where that first round pick would fall. But now that you're beyond the draft, you're talking about a 20-25 pick.

You don't know where that's going to fall 100%. And on top of that, it's not somebody who can help you now. So then you have to start thinking about could there be a player for player type of a trade? Could you or have a player included somebody who could help the 49ers?

That potentially would change things in terms of depending who it is. Maybe it's something that's a cost-controlled lower money player that they would value. But these are we're getting into kind of fantasy football Madden type of stuff.

These types of trades don't happen on a regular basis. So Aiyuk, I mean the bottom line for this is Brandon Aiyuk wants to get paid. He wants to get a, if not top of market contract, a very very good contract that's in line with where the wide receiver market is going. The 49ers also would like Brandon Aiyuk to be a part of the team. But you do have by definition a limited number of resources with the salary cap when you got all these other guys including your quarterback who are coming up to get paid.

If you pay Brandon Aiyuk you might have to be trimming someplace else which is why they end up getting calls about Deebo before the draft as well. So time will tell in terms of exactly how this entire thing plays out but certainly will be interesting. Okay so we'll talk more about the NFL. We'll break down the NFC East in a little bit here. Right now I had this thought that you guys always have a variety of questions for me especially right now leading into training camp. So much NFL to talk. You also tend to ask me a lot of dumb questions when I'm in here hosting the show. So I said why don't we write them all down. I'll fish them out of this here helmet.

It's so strong. And let's see you know let's just find out. I'll do my best to answer whatever questions you put in here as long as they're not going to get me fired. Drum roll. Let's get the first one up here. Questions in the helmet. In the helmet oh questions. Helmet questions.

You really folded the helmet. Here we go. Who is the player before your time you wish you could have seen play? Oh I like that.

That is a that's a great question. I would go to some of the old quarterbacks the YA tittles of the world. The guys who you know Bart Starr's another one. The dudes who when you watch back on their highlights they're not throwing the football a whole lot but they're making throws that you're like that would play in the NFL today. Terry Bradshaw was essentially before my time as well. You go back and watch Terry Bradshaw like Super Bowl highlights. He's unbelievable.

Yeah and again no credit. I think he was like what was he 10. There was one Super Bowl it was on NFL Network the other day and he was like 10 for 23 passing in the fourth quarter. You're like how in the world but then you watch the throws he's making the style that they were playing. These are 2024 NFL type passes.

So I'd say that combination of players. I like that. All those all like the old Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

I would love to go. That's a great question. I love that real quick. What about you Chris just quickly. Is there something that pops into mind? Oh I was thinking running backs. I was thinking Jim Brown, RJ Simpson, guys like that. Jim Brown is who popped into my head as soon as you read that question Tom. I just it would have been amazing to watch him live. Yeah.

To see the destruction. Just that story Rich always tells about Merlin Olsen having visions of running over Jim Brown and he makes the play. He has him lined up and he comes too to see Jim run 70 yards down the sideline. I think that's the thing that I think about all the time like those types of players. Yeah like it's Earl Campbell. I got to see that or the tail end of Earl Campbell as a little bit.

I never saw Jim Brown and yeah you know even like Franco and Tony Dorsett. Guys like that. Yeah. Yeah. Now let's go back to the helmet here. Helmet.

Question two. Mike we need a drum roll. I know. Who is going to be the breakout star of 2024? Which I presume is the NFL breakout star of 2024. That's a good presumption.

It could just be any type of star. I mean Powell's having a moment you know what I mean? As the person who wrote that question I'll just say I did mean NFL by the way. NFL breakout star. So we're talking are we talking rookies?

Are they included? I always think breakout is the guy who hasn't done anything for a couple years and then now he's. By the end of the season we're like that guy is a star in this league.

I'm going to say Bryce Young. Okay. Wow.

I think that. He was the number one pick so it makes sense. The bar has been set so low by what a disaster last season was on every level right? It could not have gone worse. It could not have been a worse combination of the scheme, the coaching staff, the way he was being coached, the supporting cast, injuries. It was everything with Bryce Young. So if he even shows that he's a functional quarterback it kind of reminds me of Tua right? After Tua's first season with Brian Flores and it was he's you know he's benched he's in and out of the lineup.

What are we doing? And then he comes back. It's a new staff. It's a new vibe and he becomes a really good quarterback who depending what ends up taking place in Miami is going to be making 50 million dollars plus per year. I think that Bryce Young can have a similar trajectory. The reasons that I believe in Bryce Young besides the fact that they have addressed the offensive line.

They brought in new coaches with them but it's the way that he's wired. It's everything that I remember in the pre-draft process hearing about him. How smart he is. How fast he processes.

How much he wants it. Yeah he's not the biggest guy and he doesn't have the biggest arm but all those intangibles are there. Guys like that tend to have a pretty low fail rate and we can describe fail in different ways. You know is it all on Zach Wilson that it didn't work out in New York? Probably not but he certainly just didn't play good enough. We saw Zach Wilson play pretty good football at times.

It just there was more bad than good when you broke it down and they had to move on. We're nowhere close to that yet with Bryce Young. So let's see him again and let's find out what Bryce Young actually has under different circumstances.

Still has pressure but I don't think nearly the level of pressure and expectation that he did a year ago. I like that. Here it comes. Now we're talking. When does Bill Belichick coach again and with whom?

That is a fantastic question. I believe. I know this. Bill Belichick intends to coach in 2025. He's staying engaged in the game. He's showing up to roasts. He's now going to be on inside the NFL. We've seen him showing up to different events and high school. You know at the Maine Passing Academy. I would anticipate that he's out.

We saw him at the University of Washington where his son Steve now is the defensive coordinator. He'll be out. He'll be trying to better himself.

He'll be trying to remind you that he's not Darth Vader. That there's more to Bill Belichick. He's done a good job of that so far.

There's media stuff. I mean he did win a sports semi right Brockman? He did.

Unlike this show. He won a sports semi. He has one.

I thought you had one. I didn't. Rich has a bunch of Emmys up in there. I thought one of them had to be for the show. Well, Tom, the thing is it's an honor to be nominated. It's not.

That's true. That's total crap. I haven't been nominated.

I don't know how that's possible. No nominations for me. Don't listen to him. It's an honor to be nominated. I will say or to answer the question.

Handicap it. He's fully, he's fully invested in. He wants to coach again. He wants to pursue the all-time wins record. Those are things that really matter a lot to Bill Belichick. Where is that going to be?

I think that it's going to depend on a lot of different factors. I know that everybody's been connected to Dallas because he has a relationship with Jerry Jones. I don't see that. I'm not saying it won't happen.

I'm saying I don't see that as a fit. Number one, yes, Mike McCarthy's in a contract here. He's won 12 games each the last three years.

They got to do better in the playoffs. He knows that. Everybody knows that. I don't sit here and say I think Mike McCarthy's not the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in 2025. But also, even if he's not, I don't really see Bill Belichick functioning in an environment where Jerry oversees personnel, where Jerry gives press conferences after games, where Jerry runs everything the way that Jerry wants to. I mean, Jerry split up with Jimmy Johnson after two consecutive Super Bowl wins. If him and Bill Belichick can't be 100% on the same page, if Bill Belichick's walking to the podium at AT&T Stadium and being told, yeah, Jerry just was outside saying he didn't like that play call on third and seven. How's that going to go over?

I cannot imagine that that's going to come out well. I think that with Belichick, you have to look at what are the places that are in good shape from a quarterback perspective. Either they have one or they have the resources to get one. Who is in shape from a salary cap perspective, where they've got the ability to build things a little bit more quickly, where he doesn't have to go in there and spend two years making hard personnel decisions, cutting guys, trading guys just to get things back. Because he's going to want to be able to get this thing rolling. He's not getting younger. Bill's what, 73, I believe? 72 or 73?

You're only as young as who you're dating, Tom. You know what I mean? I'm going to leave that one right there. If there's a question in here about that, I might have to pass.

72. But I think it's got to be a spot where he's got a quarterback or he can get one. He's got cap space to go get additional players and where he's got the type of organizational setup that he thinks he can succeed in. So you've got to be thinking about the stable organizations, maybe some of the blue blood organizations and the owners who are going to let Bill Belichick be Bill Belichick.

It doesn't have to be the same way it was in New England. This stage of his career, Bill probably knows he'd be better off having a strong personnel person that he's working with. And he had that in recent years with Elliott Wolff, who's now the head of whatever his title is, football director. It's not, yeah, director of scouting.

It's not GM, but it's essentially GM. He probably knows he needs somebody like that with him here. So it's not Bill needs all the control, but he does need the right spot to set up the program the way that he thinks he needs to. You know, we use a helmet and not a fishbowl, which was my original idea.

Things come out the face mask sometimes. Who will be the most successful quarterback in the next five years? Caleb Jayden or Anthony Richardson. So Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, the top two picks in this year's draft. And then Anthony Richardson, the number three pick in last year's draft. Who's basically a rookie this year. I mean, he started four games and got hurt in three of them. He made some hellacious plays. With Richardson, it's literally about getting time on task. He's got every physical attribute.

He's 6'5", like 245. He's got a cannon for an arm. Did suffer the injury last year. Obviously now he's had the shoulder repaired.

Everything seems to be pointing in the right direction. He missed the last day of the mini camp because he was dealing with soreness, but I was told he threw like 130 balls or something crazy the day before. So just eased off him.

Everything seems fine in that regard, but he is going to have to learn how to take care of himself. Cam Newton is the biggest human who's ever played the game. And Cam Newton, after his MVP season in 2015, never got back there because those hits add up.

The beating on you adds up. You're just not as physical and as fast years later, even if you can still throw the ball down the field. With Cam, a big part of the way that he was so effective when he was at the top of his game was everybody, they were willing to run it so much with him. They ran so many designed runs and zone read and quarterback draws that you had to put somebody else in the box to deal with them.

When you do that, you got one-on-ones all over the place. And so he could pick you apart and throw the ball down the field. Anthony Richardson is going to be a similar type of formula, but you don't want to be running Anthony Richardson 15 times a game. You want him to develop as a passer. He only started, you guys can cross check me on this, like 13 games at Florida. So he barely played in college.

He barely played as an NFL rookie. You saw the flashes, but he's not consistent yet. He's certainly not consistent enough in terms of accuracy.

He's got to get used to the speed of the game. When you miss that much time, look at the Sean Watson. He missed basically two full seasons and it's taken him time to be able to kind of get into the rhythm of this thing.

It's just, yeah, he needs to be out there more. So we haven't seen Caleb Williams play. We haven't seen Jayden Daniels play.

I think that all of them have really interesting attributes. They're three totally different dudes. Caleb is shorter. He's kind of thickly built.

He's going to make a lot of off schedule plays. Jayden Daniels is, you know, as one scout put it to him before the draft, he's got Merton Hanks neck. He's a slender built guy. He weighed like a buck 90 when he was at Arizona state. He's bulked up now, but he's going to, he wants to run the football, but he has a lot of his damage from the pocket. And he's another guy who needs to learn. He can't take these ridiculous hits. He took cartoonish types of hits in LSU.

He's not gonna be able to do that in the pros. I would say just by virtue of the fact that Anthony Richardson has had a year in the league, even though again, he barely played. I think there's more upside to be unlocked because he hasn't played as much, but all three of those guys, if I'm a fan of any of those teams, I'm excited about all three. Start bench cut. Start bench cut those three guys. Start bench cut those three quarterbacks in the next five years. Start bench cut?

Yeah. I would say just because of the uniqueness of Jayden Daniels game, that would be the one you cut in terms of, if you're just saying, if you're mapping this out from an analytic perspective here, who has the best chance at success? I mean, you can also make the case that Anthony Richardson is the one to cut because there's something to be said for a lot of starts. There are coaches in the league who are big believers.

If you have, you know, it used to be that it was like the 25-30 start threshold. Now it's like Bohnack started 52 games in college, and there's coaches who like that. Sean Payton's one of them. So Anthony Richardson, I mean, between one of those two... AFC also more difficult right now, right? AFC is more difficult. I mean, there's that too.

Yeah. You know, Caleb's in a really good spot. I think that Caleb, everybody, the more that I dug into Caleb pre-draft, the more I came around on the idea that this guy has a really good chance to be successful in the NFL because for all the talk about, you know, the cars he's driving, he lives in the penthouse and he paints his nails and all this stuff, like he's, you know, he's into fashion. He's, you know, he likes to travel the world. Everything that I heard back from the scouts coaches who went through, there was this guy's teammates.

Love him. He, you know, when the quarterback has a birthday party, Caleb shows up. When he goes to the Heisman ceremony, he flies out all of the, all of his offensive linemen with him. There was one story, I might have the details on this slightly wrong, but it was along the lines of he bought Beats headphones for all his teammates. Then he realized he didn't get them for the support staff. And so he went out and bought, like all the other people around the building, headphones or some type of a gift as well.

So he does understand it. He's been growing for this since he was a little kid. Let's see here in the coming years, what, what takes place, but right now you give me one of those three guys to start, I'll take Caleb Williams. It's going to be fun to watch bears rookies in the building today, football. We got football coming. We got more football talk on the other side of this break.

Let's get into the non-negotiables this time for the NFC East. Daniel Jones talk today. We'll hear from him as well on the Rich Eisen show. Rich Eisen here for Sleep Number. They say opposites attract, and that's why the Sleep Number smart bed is the best bed for couples.

I can confirm exactly that. My sleep number setting is 60. My wife's is 70. It's just 10 numbers apart, but it is the world of difference.

You can choose what's right for you whenever you like. If you like a bed that feels firm, but they want soft, Sleep Number does that. You want to sleep cooler while they like to feel warm. Sleep Number does that too.

You have to feel it to believe it. Find the bed that's perfect for both of you only at a Sleep Number store. JD Power ranks Sleep Number number one in customer satisfaction with mattresses purchased in store and now Sleep Number smart bed starting at $999. Prices higher in Alaska and Hawaii.

For JD Power 2023 award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards only at a Sleep Number store or sleepnumber.com. This radio commercial was made to convince you to stop speeding. We can't use siren sound effects on the radio, so we'll use other equally jarring sound effects to get your attention. Like telling you that whether you drive a little over the speed limit or a lot, you can crash just the same. You could hurt yourself or worse, others. I'm at the scene of the collision and the damage you cause will be beyond repair. See, we didn't have to use crash or siren sounds after all. Speeding catches up with you.

Brought to you by NHTSA. So, I tell Mark Norman and Shane Gillis, my two openers, I say, hey, we're doing the mall arena. We'll do two shows. We do one show Saturday night. Sells out at Friday. Sells out Wednesday, at Thursday. Doing four shows. Guys, a little treat. Super Bowl tickets on me. Good seats.

You need $125,000. Well, you're going for the primo primo. I didn't know. My wife called and she goes, they just took $125,000 out of our account. Is something going on?

Do you need to talk to me about something? Are you going to South Africa for a month? I was like, no, we're going to the Super Bowl. I don't even like either of the teams. This is the rub. Oh no. They don't tell you in your seats until Friday. Get out of here!

You don't know where you're sitting. So you think Bitcoin's going to really do well? I hope this money turns out. Matt Damon said we're cool. I heard Tom Brady's involved. This should be a new win-win. I'm sorry. I'm laughing so hard and crying. I don't even know when I got my money.

It's the greatest heist ever. If I have bad seats, I'm going to be winning! I hate the Super Bowl!

I'm going to be rooting against both teams! Welcome back to the Rich Eyes and Show. Tom Pellicero in today for Rich. Some breaking news. At the top of the hour, Brandon Aiyoke officially requesting a trade according to my NFL Network colleague Mike Garofalo, who based on where he's zooming in from right now broke that on the fourth tee, I think. Where are you out there, Mike? We're on 17 now, and Alex is heading. Go ahead, Alex. Hey Alex, we're trying to conduct an interview here. Mike's got to push through and tell us about Brandon Aiyoke. Give us the breakdown here, Mike, in case you're up soon.

Alex has no idea what's going on. Yeah, Brandon Aiyoke has spent this offseason with the 49ers trying to get a deal done. They made it a run at it in May. The Niners made their offer. I believe it was our buddy Mike Silver that reported that that offer was in the area of $26 million. Or maybe it was before May that they offered that.

I'm trying to remember the timeline on this one. That's my understanding. That's where they were. You've got Devante Smith at 28. You got a couple other guys at 28. I think Jalen Waddle was at 28. That was higher than that.

Then you've got the big guns are in the 30s. Brandon Aiyoke was seeing this receiver market and wanting at least on par with those other guys. They didn't quite get there.

They had a reset recently. They had a conversation. Nothing came out of that except for some things that both sides wanted to get off their chest, from my understanding. There was no contract offer made after that. So now here we are with Aiyoke saying that, yeah, it's time to officially request a trade.

I know that some folks have said, you know, his agent has scoured the market for trades or whatnot, but not until today have we had an official request for a trade, Tom. Well, immediately Chris Brockman asked me on the air here, Mike, you know, where is he most likely to get traded to? And my answer was, I don't know, as Mike tees up his ball. This is fantastic theater. You're going to watch this. You're going to watch this shot. Absolutely. Can you, can you, can we back it up now? Watch this drive. See if we can do it this way.

What do you think? All right, here we go. This is a lot of pressure here.

There are trucks on the freeway. There is netting. So he's not going to kill anyone with his shot a little over the top. How do we hit it?

Careful poet. That's going to play nicely. Yeah. You see the semis behind me.

Yeah. Not like Augusta out here. What course is this? Where are you at the shore?

Right by my house guy way in Jersey city. Got it. So it's like, this is how we have to cut courses in here with the, uh, so, so Brockman asked me, where are, where is Brandon most likely a trade? And my answer was, I don't think he's any more likely to be traded now than he was prior to officially requesting a trade, because any pick you would get as the 49ers would be a 20, 25 pick. It doesn't help you try to win a super bowl. Now you could talk player for player and things like that.

Those are, those are pretty rare. We know Brandon wants to get paid. That's the bottom line on his end bottom line for the 49ers is it seems Mike and correct me if I'm wrong, they want to win a super bowl and they're plenty as if I UK is going to help them do it.

Yeah. I don't, not to belittle my own scoop here, but I don't think anything changes today from the 49ers standpoint, because he said, I officially want to want to trade here. Um, they have been adamant both privately and publicly do.

They have been adamant that they're not looking to trade him. And I think that's going to continue to be the case here. And I also think that they're going to lean on the fact that, um, they had this with Deebo Samuel, uh, last year or the year before his year before, right. Uh, they had this with Deebo, they were able to work their way through it, uh, and come to an agreement on a contract extension at some point.

And they feel like they're going to be able to do that once again. So, uh, the question now is what happens when we get the training camp and I believe Brandon, I will show up. I don't know that for sure. I believe he will show up, you know, what happens after that.

Obviously he wants to protect his money. Can they get something done? Can they re-engage at that point? Sure.

I mean, nobody says that they can't re-engage or anything like that. Uh, so this is going to be something that we're going to watch as they report and as they get the training camp. And then obviously as they get closer to week one, do you believe Mike, and this will be the last question. Cause I know you got the fairway wood out. How far are we from the, how far are we from the pin right here? No, no, I hit this up. See, I'm putting this away where you are now. So I left my Jordan run on, I played golf with him the other day. Uh, I left my range finder in, he has it.

I don't have a range finder. So I got to eyeball this. I got to go hold school and out. I want to say. All right. So last thing I'll let you go.

We only got one minute left to the segment. Anyway, based on your understanding, does Brandon Iyuk intend to play when we get to week one, forget camp. Does he intend to play if there's not a new deal in place or does he believe he's going to end up ultimately playing his next snap for some other team?

Uh, wait, if there's not a deal in place and he doesn't get traded, will he play? That was basically your question. Right. I think that being the case. I mean, I think at that point you're licked and you realize, all right, I want to play out this year and then I'm a free agent or I'm franchise tag, which is another thing at the 49ers have working in their favor.

So, um, I believe if nothing comes up anything here, then yes, he is going to, uh, he is going to play week one for the San Francisco 49ers. That wasn't my ball. Oh, I'm up here.

I'm even better. Mike nearly just, uh, lost his entire, uh, strings game. Two stroke penalty by hitting the wrong ball because he's busy talking to us idiots out here. So you got 100, 100 something to the pin here and we got to go in 30 seconds. But if you want to blast this thing real fast before we break, feel free.

Do you need to line it up? I got, I got the, I got the wrong club. How much time we have? We'll see.

All right. We'll save it for the Roku only segment, which starts in 20 seconds here. So stay sick with us. We can, we can mute Mike for now. Keep them up.

Keep the zoom live. We will have, uh, Mike's, uh, we will have Mike's follow-up shot here momentarily. And we'll also continue to talk more. I'm sure about Brandon.

I look through the course of the rest of this show, even though, as Mike said, not a huge substantive change yet. That's right. The radio heart, it's not for another 20 seconds.

I messed that up the first day, every single time we've had people on the phone before, like where if it's Cheryl than others, but to actually see their shot, that's the thing, which is an exclusive. This is, this is you want that sports Emmy. This is how you get, I want to hear, let's get back to, let's get back to Garofolo. He's, he's back in the cart.

He's got 90. I think that anyone watching wants to see now, Mike, the key is, is there anyone else who can hold the phone so we can see where this lands? I'd really love to see it on the green. We got freaked out slash annoyed with the way that I'm playing this round right now. And I just met him, like I said, a couple of hours ago, so I'm not going to have him do it.

Zoom in with us on the course. He doesn't know what's going on. He has no idea. Like Tom, you know, that point of the round where they go, so what do you do for that's why I don't play. I don't play with anybody. I don't know. That's why I don't play with golf.

I don't have that many friends and I refuse to go out there with people. I don't know. All right. We got 55 seconds. Mike let's, let's set it up. I want to see if you can get us behind you. I'd love to see the green.

If not just get the reaction after it's my careful you're in the shot. This is beautiful. I'm amazed.

Mike and Mike's camera work here above all else. I get the no practice swing. He's going right up to it. Alex is pissed off watching this shot. Swing. He's got a nice stroke.

Bite. Oh, he's happy. Doesn't like that. Doesn't over and over the green. I'm off the green to the right.

Pushed it. He is. He's hitting golf balls. He's breaking scoops.

He's driving around and ticking off his new friend, Alex, who is now not going to buy him a white claw at the 18th hole. Mike, thank you very much for joining the show, buddy. We'll see you soon on The Insiders.

All right. See you, buddy. See you guys. He's finished off vacation. I'm here.

Tom Palacero in for Rich. Joe Posnanski join us right on the other side of this break on the Rich Eisen Show. This radio commercial was made to convince you to stop speeding. We can't use siren sound effects on the radio, so we'll use other equally jarring sound effects to get your attention. Like telling you that whether you drive a little over the speed limit or a lot, you can crash just the same. You could hurt yourself or worse others. I'm at the scene of the collision. And the damage you cause will be beyond repair. See, we didn't have to use crash or siren sounds after all. Speeding catches up with you. Brought to you by NHTSA.