NFL Draft Storyline Power Rankings

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Get an expert now on TurboTax.com. This is The Rich Eisen Show. What was that? The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Tom Pelissero.

Tom, you don't put dirty drawls in melon tea yourself? Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I'm a member of the Lakers and we're going away with a victory.

When I was watching that video, I was like, there's no way I'm playing. Earlier on the show, head coach of Select QB Athletics, Daryl Colbert Jr. Coming up, senior MLB writer for The Athletic, Andrew McCullough, the ringer NFL draft analyst, Todd McShea. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Tom Pelissero. How many times, TJ Jefferson, have I hosted this show now? I'm going to say five. Five times for long stretches, right? Probably different.

20, 25, 30 shows. Somewhere in there, right? Yeah, a bunch.

The only drop we have for me in the open is you talking about mailing dirty drawers for myself. Yeah, which I still, I, you know. Which really loses the context of that conversation.

Saying, what you doing, though? There was a lot more to it. There's a longer story. It was a longer story, but the bottom line is still drawls that were dirty were in a box mailed home instead of just...

Remember I tried to put you on game? I tried to teach you going to the bathroom. Just wash them out in your sink. See, now that sounds so much worse. Wow.

Why? You're making it sound like they're dirty, dirty. These are just worn. Well, what's the difference?

They've been... Wow. You're saying wash them out? Yes, I are.

We do not, we're not going to go down this road. All I'm saying is, out of context, Tom, don't mail dirty drawers to yourself is a little unfair. It's a little... Because if they didn't know the backstory, they might be like, well, what are they talking about? Correct! Yes!

But the balls are hot. I'm on a trip right now and I brought plenty of everything. Extra drawers? To get through. I brought the sufficient number of them.

I don't need to send a package back that my wife will open. Let's just make that clear. All I'm saying is, you know, when I used to produce and we lived on the road for weeks at a time, you know, you did what you had to do to make sure everything was washed and fresh is all I'm saying. We can revisit that discussion a little later. Andy McCullough is currently with us and wondering what the hell is happening in the couple of minutes before we get to him. Senior MLB writer. It looked like you had a question, Andy.

Anything you want to know here before we move on? Was there not like a, was there not a Target or a Walmart? Exactly. Like I just, how did you get in a position in life as a grown man where you had no access to just a new pair of underpants? So you, you in spring training, I imagine you go on an extended trip, right?

To Florida and or Arizona. So I do the same thing for the first couple of weeks of training camp. The issue is not that I don't pack enough. It's that I choose to travel only with one carry-on bag, which is stuffed to the absolute brim when I leave.

And then rather than be moving things into a laundry bag, which never quite fits back in well enough, I get a few days into the trip and I mail a box of laundry, go to FedEx, box up the laundry and send it back. I don't think that's crazy. That's crazy.

Yeah, no, look, I'm, I'm, I'm all for guys sort of, you know, forging their own solutions. I love the book hatchet when I was a kid, but like that's, that's psychotic behavior. I would say the strangest thing you do on spring training, the thing that is the least like your normal life when you go to spring training. Oh, I mean, I'm just, I'm so bad about booking flights and things like that. There's multiple text chains with other writers about my, I've been doing this for 15 years and I still don't know how to travel. I once flew from Los Angeles to Monterey, Mexico through Detroit. You know, I, I, I once took like four flights to get from, I think Chicago to DC. I'm just very bad at booking travel. I always book flights at six in the morning.

I've booked flights where I was in Houston and had to go to Atlanta, but I had bought a flight that sent me from Atlanta to Houston, which I didn't realize until I was, you know, at TSA. So I'm just, I'm an incompetent man to begin with. I just try and keep it incompetent in a way that does not get me committed. If that makes sense. You know what I'm saying? That does, that does make sense. I actually feel like I'm, I'm pretty put together from a travel thing.

I've got a formatted email that I send it and make sure everything is set up. What you can't predict is last summer when I was out here and then I remember when the world's, all the communication for everything went down on flights. And then I ended up driving after hosting this show.

I live in Minneapolis, I ended up driving from Salt Lake City to Minneapolis, which you don't have to go, it's about 29, 29 hours on that drive. Stayed a nice American in Chamberlain, South Dakota. There you go. We all need, we all need a, a couple of war stories here and there. What, what is the biggest story, we're two weeks into the baseball season, biggest story in baseball that does not involve torpedo bats? Oh man, I was going to say that the, the Milwaukee Brewers should get a tip from all the bat companies for the millions of dollars they've been made by having a terrible series against the Yankees to start the year. Because every hitter now wants one of these freaking bats. That's a good question.

What is the biggest story? I don't, it's, it's fairly early still has, that's a pretty revelatory statement. I think that sort of the Dodgers pursuit of a dynasty is, is going to be something that's, you know, fascinating to track as the year goes along. I think there's, you know, a lot of competitive division races, you know, the, the Atlanta Braves getting off to such a sluggish start while I don't think it's going to have like long-term consequences in terms of them, you know, missing the postseason. I think they should be fine. It does put a real crimp in their sort of championship potential and like winning the division in a competitive.

And at least I think the ALE should be fun. So it's, it's kind of hard for me cause like I try not to assign too much meaning to anything that happens really in the first month or so of the season. Like I like to say, like all of these games count, but they don't really matter per se.

All that matters is kind of like injuries and things like that. So yeah, the torpedo bats are the biggest story that even though they've kind of petered out and I think the Yankees scored like six runs this week against the, against the Tigers. And so maybe it wasn't just the bats, maybe the Brewers just had a terrible weekend. Oh, and from what I understand too, the Yankees were integrating these last year, just nobody noticed that they were doing it. And so that it became this massive thing. It's not like, it's not like this is, you know, I mean, rocket science actually would have solved this quite a while ago. I was gonna say, it's not rocket science. It's like, hey, should we have the bat be better at the part they hit it on?

No, no, no, no. Let's keep it at that other part that if it hits that, it just kind of makes a weird sound and wobbles down the first baseline. Like that, that was just how it was for like 150 years. It's, it's like every innovation in sports that as soon as it happens, you're like, well, yeah, three points are worth more than two.

Like you should take more of those. You're like, well, if you hit the ball over the fence, that's better than trying to bunt, you know? Or like if you've played Madden, you know, going forward on fourth and two will drive your friend crazy.

You know, he wants you to punt there. So, yeah, it's, but it is, I do think it is an interesting sort of innovation. It's something that a lot of hitters have been sort of clamoring for. They feel like they're losing the technology war to pitchers. Pitchers have a lot of ways of like sort of, you know, shaping their individual offerings and things like that. And so hitters are, you know, viewing it as a way to maybe, you know, even the playing field in some ways. And I think for some guys, players who make consistent contact in a certain part of the bat that maybe might not be the barrel, it could have a real positive effect. But is it going to revolutionize the sport?

No, no, it's not. You mentioned the Braves and the slow start. Again, we don't want to make a lot out of a small sample size, but what's the level of concern, if any, about the start the Braves are off to?

Yeah, it's troubling. Like I said, I don't think it's going to, you know, wreck their season. I think teams go through bad stretches, but it is more of a sort of narrative problem when it happens at the beginning of the year as compared to like a random week in June. You know, the injury to Ronaldo Lopez is a real problem for their starting rotation.

You know, Jerks and Profar getting suspended. He was kind of their big offseason addition, you know, to sort of bolster the lineup. They're really hoping that Ronald Acuna, you know, the former MVP outfielder and Spencer Strider, their former All-Star starter, when they come back from injury, that those guys will be able to sort of buoy the club. And I think the players both will be effective and good, but coming off injury, it's just hard to pencil in Acuna as being this like seven-win superstar that he was, you know, before he tore his ACL. Or, you know, for Strider's case, you know, coming off of an internal brace operation on his elbow, that he's going to be like a number one starter right away. He looks good facing minor league hitters. You know, he should be fine.

They both should be effective. But it's hard to say like, oh, they'll just be the guys they had been. So still a good club, still a lot of talent, but they're in a very competitive division and they're scuffling to start the year. When you look at the Pirates and the start they're off to, obviously they've got one of the bright young players in the entire game, Paul Skeens. In your mind, did they do enough to build that thing around a dynamic type of a talent at this stage in his career? Well, no, but I don't even know that they ever said they were going to try to do that right now. I mean, their pitch to their fans is that their farm system, you know, is going to produce guys who they can pair with Skeens in the coming years.

And we'll see how it goes. You know, sometimes those sort of gambits do work. I think the Baltimore Orioles have done an excellent job, you know, building up their farm system and getting to a place where they're in contention. You know, the Pirates very clearly are not interested in significant expenditures. And so you could make an argument that when you have a player as good as Paul Skeens, when he's healthy right now, your window is right now. You know, you could create a team around him that no one wants to play in a short season in the postseason because you'd have to see a short series in the postseason because you're facing Paul Skeens likely twice in a five game series. But yeah, I think there's a lot of teams who are sort of not being aggressive on free agents. And you know, that's nothing new. It's something that, you know, close to a majority of the sport has been doing for several years. When you talk to these executives, you know, in individual context, they all, you know, will say sort of what we all know is that free agent spending is the inefficient way to build a team, right? Like we know that giving long term deals to guys on the backside of their careers, you know, what by the time they get to free agency, those things often don't work out. But you look up in the postseason and who's there? It's usually the teams who give out those sort of contracts and are willing to take on the risks.

And so, you know, like in within context, it makes sense for the individual moves. But it's just a tough thing to sell to your fans over and over and over again. It's not just Pittsburgh who's doing this. And that's what I was driving at with a rather in eloquently phrased question there, which is it almost reminds me of in the NFL now when teams have started looking at this as, OK, you used to have the veteran quarterback. Now you're in the championship.

Now it's, hey, you got a guy who's cost controlled for three, four or five years. We can spend all this additional money and try to win right now. I know baseball is different. The roster size are different. The inherent one on one nature of the game.

You just said it. I mean, this may be the best opportunity that you have, especially as a smaller market team that is going to be challenged as you get further down the road to lock up a player long term. Just the economics of the game would seem to indicate if you have something you can build around in a market like Pittsburgh, you may have to take your shot or otherwise you're selling something that is going to be expired by the time you actually get there. Yeah. Well, you're also banking on everything working out with schemes from a health perspective, you know, and this is not like it's not there's no inside info to suggest that as a pitcher, he is at risk for injury every time he picks up a baseball. It doesn't matter that he's this six foot six monster who looks like built in a lab to do this, like he's a pitcher and pitchers get hurt.

We know this about all of them. And so, yeah, it's basically banking that like if everything goes right with this guy, everything else will go right to catch up with him. And we don't have to make sort of major financial gambles as their owner would probably view it in order to do it.

Yeah. So I think it's just it's a tough look for the sport when you have certain teams, the Dodgers and the Mets, who are clearly just funneling millions upon millions to build these potential super teams. You have other clubs like Philadelphia has done that in years past and they're kind of set. San Diego has been really aggressive in spending. And then you have, you know, the other clubs that like the Cleveland's and the Milwaukee's and the, you know, the Pittsburgh's and since then you can go on and on and on. They're mostly in the central who are just kind of hanging out and, you know, hoping things break right and hoping to win eighty six to eighty eight games, get into the postseason and do some damage there. You know, and it's like I get it. It makes sense from a from a sort of game theory or, you know, probabilistic standpoint, but it's a tough sell to your fans when you see other franchises being so aggressive and trying to add talent.

I live in Minnesota. Everybody I know is a Twins fan. Another great example. A lot of people there actively are rooting for that team to lose and the poll ads to sell because all of a sudden you start hearing that the books indicate that they're millions and millions in debt somehow while simultaneously not actually spending on the baseball team. You have pieces there, but if you don't do really anything to buoy yourself and make a big move, it is. You're right.

It's hard. And it's indicated by how few fans are in the stands in some of those stadiums. For sure.

Yeah. And folks who are in the smaller markets will point to the revenue disparity of the amount of money that they're taking in versus what teams like the Dodgers or the Yankees are doing. You know, the Dodgers with Shohei Ohtani have created this sort of money machine that sort of pays for itself. I mean, every every 15 minutes they announce a new sponsor, you know, they have official they have like an official beef jerky now of the Dodgers. It's crazy how much money is coming in there.

These other clubs don't have access to that because they don't have Ohtani. And so, you know, the thing, though, is that they also have access often to, you know, revenue sharing, to ways from the general pool of funds to sort of stay afloat. But there are more clubs who are dealing with debt, you know, as the the twins are. They're looking to explore a sale, especially, you know, with the threat of a, you know, lockout coming down the road. I think there's going to be more of an impetus on some of these clubs who are half in, half out on whether or not they want to maintain ownership to try and do it before, you know, the lockout potentially comes in and causes some problems.

So, yeah, I just I just feel like there are a lot of franchises that are very stagnant and that is creating a lane for the teams that are interested in spending now to really make some hay. Last thing for you, Andy, and really this is just a question for me and you. So for anybody who's tempted to not keep listening, we are going to get back to the NFL draft left topic later.

Don't worry, there's a lot more coming. But who is the greatest early 2000s emo band and why? Oh, man, that is a tough one. That is a tough one.

I will say that they would these guys would be very mad if I describe them as emo. But I feel like the one that has had the best longevity from that era is thrice. That is that is an off book answer.

I thought you were going to something slightly more mainstream than that. But thrice is a go. I would say thrice.

And if I hear from Riley Breckinridge, their drummer, that will be very to be described as emo. But of the of that sort of post hardcore, you know, emotional, hardcore genre, I would say thrice has had the best career. The only guest that I can ask that question to. And he had a very well thought out answer on the spot. Andy, thanks for being here, man. Appreciate it. Thank you for having us. It's fun. Andy McCullough from The Athletic.

We will get back to the NFL draft, as promised. Thanks. Thanks for indulging me for 60 seconds there, Brockman.

I appreciate your response to the question. Who would have you have gone with? Early 2000s emo band? Answer your own question.

I probably would have gone brand new. Who are now back. The cycle of the cycle of early 2000s emo bands is basically you hit your peak, then you make some albums that become increasingly eccentric. One of your members gets canceled for something, apologizes in a notes file. You go away for like five years and then you come back, which is what brand new is doing now and embarking on a new tour file. Yeah, that would have been that would have been my answer. But after this, I am going to reveal the 10 biggest questions, not just specific draft picks, but the 10 biggest questions around the NFL with two weeks to go.

The draft kicks off in Green Bay. Stick around for that. And so much more here on a Rich Eyes in this edition of the Rich Eyes in Show. Looking upset because they just got a ticket for using their phone while driving. And what about the fast scroller who can't drive five minutes without updating their social feeds or the nightlighter who has that mysterious glow illuminating the inside of their car after dark?

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That's OReillyAuto.com slash Eisen. Taking a 747 and driving it into a building, did you really do that? That actually happened then? Yes, we did. We really did it. We looked at doing it with miniatures and CG and set builds and everything. When you added up all those numbers, it occurred to us that it might actually be cheaper to buy a real plane. Originally, we had our eye on 737, something like that. We went out to the airplane graveyard where we could buy old 737. While we were looking at the 737s and started looking across the field, you could see the MD-11s and 747s.

I thought, hang on a second, why can't we get one of those big ones? I actually had the unique experience of impulse buying a 747 and then getting to crash it. Before I let you go, what is your remote drop movie, Christopher? Wherever you're watching television and you see a film that is a favorite of yours or you just don't mind binging it.

Even if it's not yours, obviously. Which one is it? Just a fan of film. I hadn't heard the remote drop as a phrase. That's a fantastic one.

There you go. Yeah, I love it. There are so many.

I think by Kubrick, it's a remote drop. Some of the great comedies too. I mean, Talladega Nights, I'm never going to be able to switch that off. Okay, now then. Really? What? The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a Christopher Nolan mic drop movie. Is that what you're saying?

If you ain't closed, you're lost. You're not wrong, Christopher. You're not wrong. That's fantastic. Does Will Ferrell know this? Did you just reveal that? He does now.

He does now. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. I'm Tom Pellicero 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. 844-204-RICH is the phone line. Sorry if you tried calling in over the last couple of days. If we had any calls, apparently my call screener's been down. Oh! Didn't mean to ignore you.

Oh no. We're happy to get to the phone. We're back. Call us.

844-204-RICH. Let's go to Spencer in North Carolina right now. What's up, Spencer? Hey, y'all. How are you guys doing? Fantastic.

How are you? First thing, the best mid-2000s emo band is clearly Thursday, so let's get that out of the way right now. That's another solid one.

Slightly less mainstream, but also, yes, very good band. Good call. So I'm a Cleveland Browns fan, and number two, I think we should take Travis Hunter, but I think the best thing for the Browns to do at this point would be to trade with the Raiders to go to six, and then also draft Chidor, because when you look at teams that have done that, like 2-0 with Jalen Waddle, Jalen Hurts with Devante Smith, Joe Burrow with Shamar Chase, they already have a relationship, and if Travis Hunter wants to play both sides of the ball, getting a quarterback with a receiver that he's comfortable with would be a good way to start, and plus, it's the Browns, so it can't possibly be any worse than anything else we've ever done. I appreciate the call, Spencer. That is an interesting idea, because you're talking about going all the way from the top of the second round up to six, which is not going to be inexpensive to do.

Right, it's going to cost you. It might be more realistic if Chidor slides further down in the draft, and again, we'll have Todd McShea here to go through some of these scenarios. I know he's got trades in his latest mock draft, but it's an interesting theory. Travis Hunter, because of how rare he is as a talent, is going to be hard to pass up. The Titans, again, nothing final, but we anticipate it's Cam Ward at number one overall because they just can't pass up that quarterback. But in a vacuum, Travis Hunter, as a wide receiver and a corner, an overall athlete, whatever you decide to do with him is that rare, and he is on the very, very short list of players in this draft that anybody is going to say is elite. So if you don't regard Chidor Sanders as an elite talent, you don't want to drop out of the elite talent to go to a step down. There's four or five players who are going to be across the board. They're the blue chippers in this draft. Is Chidor there? I would say probably on more boards than not, he is not there. He has the opportunity to be a very, very good player for all the reasons that his trainer, Darrell Culver, Jr., said earlier here.

The question I would have would be, what does it cost? Let's say, in Spencer's scenario, six is the spot. You're coming from, and I can't remember because there's tiebreakers here, I want to say they have the 33rd pick.

To go all the way up from 33 to six is a long way. And you were talking about next year's first and more to get up there. At a time that the Browns, just now this year, this is the first year they've had their picks since the Watson trade. Three first round picks, this is now year four, so they finally have their own pick again.

Do you once again empty the cabinet to go up and get the guy? And if Chidor is worth multiple first round picks, then you consider him elite, take him at two. That's what they would have to work through.

I could see it more, and never say never. We see wild stuff happen in the draft. I think it's more likely that somebody trades up to get Chidor if he doesn't get taken in those top three. Because after that, you have real variance in terms of, all right, do the Saints like him enough to take him? Do the Raiders like him enough? Do the Raiders like him enough after paying Geno to take Chidor Sanders? If not, then you're all the way down to the team he's with today, the Steelers, at 21.

We're starting to cross over some of the similar ground here. Of course. Before we get to that, Tom, do you remember, what did it cost Houston to get back up to go to three so they could take Will Anderson? They had, well, they owned another pick that was up there. They had another first round pick and they swapped. Right. And then I believe they gave up a future two as well. So, again, it was a hefty price to get up there. But they had another selection that was in the first round. They weren't coming all the way up from the top of two.

Got it. And that's the last time we saw someone come up and take back-to-back picks like that. That's correct. In a move that was foretold by Daniel Jeremiah's mock draft. And it worked.

Those guys are really good. And it was accurate. Did he have a little bit of advice that he should probably put that in the mock draft? Who knows? Wow. Who can say? Let's present this. Let's dig a little deeper in the draft. We have to do it in power rankings form. This is my power rankings! There are many like it, but this one is mine! Power rankings!

Wow, you are buff in that first shot. I'll take it. I've never had shoulders like that.

I've always wanted them. You know? So, alright. So, the power rankings. We're going to go through the top ten questions. With the draft two weeks away, the top ten questions going into the draft. And these are not strictly draft-related. They're all the other things that could happen up to, during, or right after the draft.

Let's do it. Number one. You'll be shocked by this one. Who is going to be the Steelers quarterback? Who is the Steelers QB one? They continue to wait on Aaron Rodgers. I believe there will come a point at which the Steelers will not be able to wait any longer. That point, just logically speaking, probably is under 14 days that we have to the draft. Because they've had all the other candidates. Shadore, Jackson Dart, Jalen Milro, Tyler Shuck.

They've spent extra time with all those guys. I would think if you know, prior to April 24th, we are getting Aaron Rodgers. That does not eliminate, but substantially lowers the chances that you are taking a quarterback at 21. I do believe that they need to get the long-term solution. When they were talking about bringing Justin Fields back, they were still looking for... That was probably going to be a one-year deal and you were looking for the solution.

I don't think that it eliminates anything at 21. But certainly they would like an answer. That is a decision with so many different ripple effects. One of which we'll get to in just a little bit. Number two question leading into the 2025 NFL draft. Where is Shadore Sanders' land? Just went through all the different scenarios there. It is one of the biggest mysteries because if you told me Shadore goes at number three to the Giants, I would not be shocked.

If you told me Shadore slides all the way down to the bottom of one or the top of two, I would not be shocked. It is one of the hardest evaluations and it's not going to be the same on every team's board. Need is a big thing. Four teams, if you need a quarterback, you've got to figure out where you're going to get one. But there's maybe a half dozen teams that's a real threat to draft a quarterback in the first two rounds, let's call it. Which history would suggest if you're not drafting them in the first, you're not getting the starter. Not a lot of second, third round picks to work out. There's the Russell Wilsons that pop up every now and then. There's a Drew Brees, somebody taken down there, but there's not a ton of them. Where is Shadore Sanders' land? Huge question going into this draft.

Number three. Does Kirk Cousins get traded? At this point, the Falcons have already cruised past the only checkpoint that we have, which was another $10 million portion of his base salary in 2026. Already became fully guaranteed.

That happened weeks ago. Now they owe Kirk Cousins $27.5 million fully guaranteed this year. Plus, they're on the hook for that $10 million in 26.

It's subject to offsets. So they're kind of looking at it as if Kirk Cousins is playing in 2026, he's making over $10 million. We're not going to pay that. But $27.5 million this year would make Cousins easily the highest paid number two quarterback from go in NFL history.

We went through this yesterday. I would still say if we're talking about the options with Kirk Cousins and you list him as he gets traded to the Browns, which would make sense unless they execute Spencer's plan and get a quarterback high. It's traded to the Steelers in the world where Aaron Rodgers does not go there. It's traded someplace else.

I just don't know where that would be. There's some backup jobs open, but there's not other starter jobs open. Or Kirk Cousins gets nothing and stays on the roster. Of those four options, I would say the least likely, or at least in aggregate, there's a less than 50-50 chance that Kirk Cousins goes into next season as a starter. They could hold on to him into camp, see if there's an injury. They could hold on to him for a while. Kirk Cousins going wire to wire as the Falcons backup quarterback in 2025, to me seems like the least likely of those scenarios. Kirk Cousins has no trade clause. If we get into camp, we get into the season, he might go, you know what?

I don't want to move my family again. I don't really want to be dropped into a situation where I don't know the offense or the coaches or the players. I'm just going to collect my money. We're not there yet. Kirk wants to play. Let's see if something happens these next two weeks.

Number four question heading into the 2025 draft. Does Trey Hendrickson get traded? Now, a lot of the teams...

He is not happy. He's made that abundantly clear and the Bengals keep saying things publicly that make him not happy. A lot of the teams that were in the mix for Trey Hendrickson, and there were 10, 12 teams that checked on it. A lot of those teams then spent money on other pass rushers. So it's getting harder to pay him at this point for other teams, but it's not impossible.

There's things that you could do. And it seems as if the Bengals, based on Trey Hendrickson's comments, as well as my understanding, has been that they're not looking to do a big money deal that covers several years for a player who is 30 years old. For Trey Hendrickson, he's going, I led the league in sacks two years in a row. Last year I requested a trade.

You didn't do it. You said, come back and play. We'll address the contract this year. I came, I led the league in sacks again.

What else is it you want me to do? Again, they made them offers. They've negotiated.

But it has not sounded like they're close to the Bengals at some point. And they had, I mean, they had offers. They had at least one firm offer for Trey Hendrickson, from what I understand.

They decided not to take it. They have been stuck on, we need a first round pick for the guy. What was the offer? Which is a lot.

What was the offer? Not quite a first round pick. OK, so for a 30 year old pass rusher who you've got to give a ton of money to.

Right. I do believe they can get something for him still that's significant. The Bengals don't make many trades.

Let's just monitor this one over these next couple of weeks, because this is really a binary outcome here. It's either Trey Hendrickson gets paid in Cincinnati or Trey Hendrickson gets paid somewhere else. Trey Hendrickson, I don't know this, but Trey Hendrickson playing for what he's do right now doesn't sound like that's something that he's particularly interested. Number five question going in the 2025 NFL draft. Will we see any other big trades? Usually there's something usually something comes out of the woodwork.

It's not always as big as. Do you remember when Hollywood Brown got traded during the draft a few years ago? Most people don't even remember that happened because it happened like five minutes after the Eagles traded for AJ Brown. It was the same draft. It was minutes later. Yeah, the word the news broke because the league entered it on what they call the pick line, which is where the networks can see the stuff. It was just Hollywood Brown's been traded for this first round pick and it was just like, wait, what? Oh, hold on. There was no there was no break. There was no no breaking news. It was just Hollywood Brown's been traded. Hold on.

I remember getting that text me like, what? What now? But there's usually something that pops up. You have some other unresolved situations. You have certain wide receivers who maybe you aren't happy with where they are contract wise. You've got Jair Alexander, who's been available for some time. The Packers former Pro Bowl corner for a long time is the highest paid corner in the game, barely played last season.

Could he be on the move? Somebody else trade for somebody at a position that's just not that strong in the draft. Some teams need backup quarterbacks.

Could somebody trade for a backup quarterback? There's a lot of different things. Could we get a surprise? That is that's a big question. And a lot of times those are the ones that kind of bubble up and you kind of figure out based on what happens in round one and who no longer has their seat in the game of musical chairs. Number six question going into the draft, which wide receiver gets taken first.

If you do a survey and I haven't done my final round of calls to teams, we do still have two weeks left here. But I would fairly tell you, if you surveyed all 32 teams, you're going to see those top wide receivers in different orders on a bunch of different boards. Ted McMillan. Unbelievably talented.

His tape is crazy. The pre draft process, maybe not the best for him, but I don't think anybody thought that he was going to be a 4-4 burner. You know, Drake London, that was the talk of a couple of years ago, which was, well, he didn't run a 40. You know, he had a hamstring injury or whatever. Well, you know, is he not running because he's going to run slow. Falcons went, eh, we'll take him a number eight. Yeah, that doesn't matter.

Don't care. He's been great. He was great last year. Ted McMillan quite possibly be in that category. But Matthew Golden's pre draft process has been really good. He ran really fast. Emeka Egbuka.

Another name who seems like a riser could potentially go pretty high in this draft. As I get logged out of my computer, because I haven't been out long enough and I don't remember what number seven is. Number seven! Number seven, let's just flip that graphic. And Tom's power rating number seven is how many quarterbacks going round one? Yes! Should have had a paper copy.

Would have helped. How many quarterbacks going round one? More than you think, I think. What's the over under right now? I think the number's two and a half, I saw. Now, I can't give gambling advice. Of course not.

Why would you? But two and a half is... That's a pretty good over under. I think that a lot of the focus has been on where does Chidoor go? I would not be surprised at all. I don't think that five quarterbacks go in the first. But I would not be surprised if any of five quarterbacks go in the first. Including Jalen Milro, Tyler Schuck and Jackson Dart. Tom McShay hit the over in his mock draft. We'll get to him in a little bit.

Number eight question going into the draft. Who is the Vikings other quarterback? This one is a bit more of a thinker because the Vikings have put their full weight behind J.J. Mccarth.

When I talked to Kevin O'Connell, Kwesi Adolpho Menza down at the league meeting. They say he's done everything right. They're extremely excited about him. And at this point, there's no reason to believe he's not going to be the starting quarterback in week one. But they did make an offer to Sam Darnold. They did try to retain Daniel Jones until it got to the point that they realized Daniel Jones was not really convicted about coming back to Minnesota where a lot of quarterbacks want to be.

So they said, all right, we're pulling the offer. Go enjoy your competition in Indianapolis with Anthony Richardson. In other words, they wanted to have a veteran quarterback with J.J. Not to beat out J.J., but to take pressure off a guy who didn't take a single rep the whole season because he was recovering from meniscus surgery. Who that second quarterback is.

I'm not even calling it the backup, but it's probably the backup. The other quarterback in that room, they're going to add somebody beyond Brett Ripon. Do they do that via trade? Do they do that maybe after the draft signing a veteran? Do they do that through, you know, letting Brett Ripon roll out there?

I don't think that's it. But there are different avenues. Could they draft somebody? Could they see value somewhere in the mid-round? They don't have a ton of picks.

So that's probably not likely. But they need to add another quarterback to the room. Who is that guy going to be? Because if, no reason to believe it will, but if something goes wrong with J.J. McCarthy, if he gets hurt, that guy's going to have to play.

And they've been pretty clear by their actions. They want somebody else who, if they had to step in and play, would have experience and be ready to go. Number nine question going into the draft. Where do the remaining big name free agents land?

There's not a ton of them. Besides Aaron Rogers, who I think that we've covered a significant amount by this point. But there are, Keenan Allen does not have a team.

Right. Could Keenan Allen go back to the Chargers? Could Keenan Allen fill a void for a team like the 49ers? Could one of those teams that was in the DK Metcalf sweepstakes, such as the Chargers, still get back in on a guy like Keenan Allen? Amari Cooper is still out there. Amari Cooper is another pretty big name player who's had a lot of productivity in the league.

Where does he ultimately end up? Matt Judon does not have a team. The reason these are important questions is because, number one, teams will try to fill their needs a lot of times in the draft. And then if they miss out, well, hey, now we need an edge rusher.

Judon, we got Judon dialed up. Number two is because the Compense Story pick formula closes the Monday after the draft. So starting that Monday, if you're sitting there, just to take the Vikings, for instance, they got two compics coming for two quarterbacks.

Those could be two pretty good compics. They sign a guy now. It could offset one of those. Now you're down to one pick. You wait till the Monday after the draft doesn't count against the formula. So some of those big name guys that are still sitting out there. Stefan Gilmore is still a free agent at this point. There's a list of a dozen guys, some of those quarterbacks to Joe Flacco is another one in that category. Drew Locke. That's going to be interesting just to see whether that's during the draft or you can wink not agree.

Hey, we're going to sign you on Monday or you actually wait till Monday. That's an interesting question. And number 10. Last but not least, on this list of the big questions entering the twenty twenty five draft, will Green Bay win the draft? And I'm not talking about the pack.

What does that mean? I'm talking about the city of Green Bay. Yes, there are plenty of Packers fans who are going, does that mean we're finally going to draft a receiver in the first? Probably not. History would suggest no.

Definitely possible. They never know. They got a really good young group, though, of wide receivers in that room. I don't necessarily know.

They have a habit. They build through the trenches. They draft offensive and defensive lineman. That's the Packers history in a lot of cases in round one. I mean, the city, because the moment that it was announced, the draft is going to be in Green Bay.

And everybody would talk to there'd be various grumblings about all Green Bay. What's there to do? It's going to be cold. They have the infrastructure. I will tell you that city has been built up. It has been preparing for bigger events. You're not going to get a Super Bowl there, I don't think. Hard to imagine. The draft is the biggest event you're going to have outside of, you know, the 10 Packers game days that you have every year.

Right. This is a huge moment. The title town district that they have built out near the stadium. I'm staying in a hotel that I didn't know existed until I was told I was staying there. And I said that I googled and found out right there, very close to the stadium.

It's a big moment on a big stage. Is the weather going to be great? Probably not. The extended forecast has fifty five and showers on Thursday, the twenty fourth. The best you can hope for is fifty five and sunny.

That is that is your peak possibility. The weather out there and give me 70. It's not going to be it's not going to be bright and sun shining, although it's a dice roll no matter where. I mean, in Las Vegas, you would have thought late April.

Pretty good weather weather in Las Vegas. The day of the draft during the day, super windy. They were making contingency plans about moving the draft indoors and conducting it with. I think it was a guy who was going to be in one of the like in the Caesars Hotel, who they were just going to call him. And he was just going to enter the picks. But it was going to all be it was wasn't going to be Roger walking out on the stage. They were going to change.

You never know. It was cold last year in Detroit, but still a great draft. I am excited that somebody lived in Green Bay for three years who enjoys visiting there.

I bumped into Ed Policy, the incoming president CEO of the Packers. Like I know how excited the organization, but the city is. It's a city of one hundred thousand people that gets a chance to shine in very limited capacities.

You know, there's very limited types of opportunities that you get. And this is it for Green Bay. And there's house bars. There's a lot of there's a lot of bars, some good dinner options, too.

I'm not going to say what they are now because I don't want to give them free publicity, but because I don't want them to be overrun when I'm there. I have all my reservations made. I will choose. Listen, I haven't decided yet what I'm going to eat. Night one of the draft. I'll be on TV all day right up until the draft. I usually get back to the room, watch it there, eat something. Never a bigger mistake than when I went to Gates barbecue.

Is your gates here? No, it's Arthur Bryant, Arthur Bryant before the Kansas City draft. And I got the bit like the forty five dollar thing. That's every meat you can imagine.

Like a pound of fries by about the sixth pick. I'm sweating. That was a long. That was a long night. All right. We got to take a break here. Let's get back a little more NFL Draft topic. We'll be right back. Federal Credit Union.

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A Minecraft movie only in theaters. Rockman just out of the blue. Where were you when you sent this tweet, Chris? I mean, was that on a Sunday? Was it a Sunday night?

I remember I was probably just at home. And you just said, you know, if the Eagles make the playoffs, I'll take a bite out of Mike Del Tufo's hat. You said I will take a bite out of Mike Del Tufo's hat. Yeah. Eagles have made the playoffs and you have avoided the inevitable for a week.

That ends now. I just sliced up a one inch by one inch cut out of Mike Del Tufo's Callaway hat. And I placed it like little Easter eggs into the half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Take a bite. Here we go.

Here you go. Rockman is taking a bite. Did you get a piece of the hat there? I think you did. You're the one who chose the peanut butter too. Nope.

We don't. That's one bite of it. Oh, he's taking it in.

Just swallow. Did you get it? Did you get a nice piece? It's down. It's gone. By the way, this is creamy peanut butter suddenly made a little chunky. Oh, I feel it.

It might be stuck in my throat. There we go. There we go, man.

You're champions of the NFC East Philadelphia Eagles. Oh, there's part of the hat sticking out. I didn't get it all. Oh, that is an awful piece right there in that sandwich. No, you may not.

As long as you eat it. Keep going. Keep going. I didn't go through.

This piece is right on my tooth. Keep going. You're almost done, man. I mean, I'm very proud of you.

Oh, I went down. Why did you even do this, Chris? You didn't have to. You took the McLovin bait. Because the Eagles stink. You took the McLovin bait. They're terrible.

They shouldn't have made the playoffs. That's why. If the Eagles make the playoffs, I'll eat a bite of Del Tufo's hat on air.

And you're doing it right now. That was on the 24th of November. Oh, my God.

That was Sunday. Radio audience, I can't even tell if that's a piece of glistening jelly or a piece of a glistening jelly glistened Del Tufo hat piece. Down it. I feel like I'm talking to Taylor eating her broccoli. Just eat it and we'll get off your case. Oh, he just went one bite. He finished it. This is not going to be good because that is peanut butter and it is jelly. And it is Del Tufo hat.

And you just jammed literally three inches by three inch piece of sandwich. It was a proud day for my future son. Oh, my God. OK, hold on. I stand by this. OK, like Andrew Perloff, McLovin had tweeted something outright because he's a Dieter Eagles fan. And that's what caused me to say that Dallas was way ahead in the division that year.

So I am looking this up. OK, that was eleven twenty four. OK, they had just lost at a home to Seattle.

OK, seventeen to nine to fall to five and six, five and six. They won. They lost the next week at Miami and then won four in a row to make the playoffs.

All four division games, New York at Washington, Dallas at New York to end the season and make the playoffs. And then I had to eat that stupid hat, which I definitely was sick for like a week after. I'm sick looking at it. I'm also sick looking at the date and thinking, is that how COVID started? I think January seven, twenty, twenty question.

Two months later, you wouldn't need anything that anyone's touched, much less worn. That's a good point. The gamble.

Del Tufo started COVID. Reason news and uncertainties around the economy really hits home for all of us. One thing that stands out about Hyundai is their commitment to supporting American consumers and making investments in this country.

And no surprise, Hyundai announced that they will not be raising the prices of their vehicles through June 2nd. Not only that, they believe in investing right here in America. Twenty one billion dollars, to be exact, in the next three years.

That's meant to expand manufacturing, future tech and create more jobs for Americans. It's not just talk. Hyundai is about action. Latest episode of Women's Sports Now available right now on the Roku Channel. Very special guest. Jeannie Buss was in studio with Suzy and company to talk about Kobe Bryant. You are a pioneer. I mean, you had women's tennis. You were ahead of the time with that. Anne White, again, is a mutual friend of ours and you've had wrestling, but you're obviously best known for your role with the Lakers.

So let's just start off with what we're seeing right now in TV coming off of this huge Yukon win. You and I thought the same thing. And Renee, we've talked about this. We thought of Gianna. We thought of Kobe and the role that she could have had there. So I want to ask you right away, with your relationship with Kobe as close as you were to him, what would he think about women's basketball, women's sports taking the center stage in the world right now? He would he would be applauding.

He would be stepping up, talking about it. I have to say that when the WNBA launched in the 90s, the first people to really embrace it were the NBA players. And so Kobe was it was kind of natural that, you know, he he enjoyed the game and appreciated the athleticism of the women. But then when he became a girl dad and saw that same fire, the competitiveness that Gianna had, you know, he fed it.

He nurtured it. And he would he was he was very proud to be a girl dad. And he really, you know, helped women's sports even more than where we were. Women's sports now on the Roku Channel. Join Susie Schuster, Renee Montgomery, Colleen Wolf and Sarah Tiana on Women's Sports Now.

New episodes stream every Thursday on the Roku Channel. Fantastic interview, if you guys didn't see the whole thing, too, with Jeannie Buss, who has been immortalized in multiple current shows that are on slightly different portrayals, but very entertaining. The I'm blanking on the other name, not winning time. The other one, TJ, TJ, you're watching that. What's what's the name of that show? Why am I drawing a blank right now? I'm running point.

Yes. Mike Hoskins got in my ear right now. It's a better show than the memorability of its name. Let's let's put it that way. Very, very entertaining, though.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's actually it's actually I call it Rich Eisen Show, Jr., based on how much I like to show. My only knock on it is the basketball players don't look they're too short. Basketball like Tom Hanks son is in it.

He's a fun character, but he's built like a football player. They're all five foot 10 and like 220 pounds, like upper body. None of them really look to me like, you know, that's other than that, like it's watching Kate Hudson.

You know, that's always a treat. I mean, I made the same comment because it's not like you're trying. Well, Kate's Kate's a small person. We need small people. It's like, no, if you've ever met an NBA player, they're giant, much, much larger giant than anybody you're ever going to see. Have I ever told the Horace Grant story on the show?

So what do I got 90 seconds? So I was covering the Timberwolves back. This is 20 years ago. OK, last time the Timberwolves were relevant prior to last year.

They were in a Western Conference final series against the Lakers. I'm going there and working for a local radio station cafe out of Minneapolis. One night I'm leaving the game, walk into my car and also hear, hey, hey, can we get a ride? And it's Horace Grant and a young woman walking through the skyway. It's like, yeah, it's raining. My hotel's right over here.

But like, I don't want to walk. I'm in a I'm in a new suit. So I'm like, yeah, yeah.

Horace Grant, you can get him. So a week before this drunk driver had hit my Toyota Corolla. Oh, goodness. So the whole driver's side is mashed in. So I have to get into my car through the passenger seat. The young woman sits next to me, then Horace Grant, seven feet tall, crams himself into the back, which is something like this. And I was looking at my rear view and he's like that. He has no clue where his hotel is. So we're just driving in circles. Finally, he goes, let me out right here, man. He shakes my hand with one hundred dollar bill and gets out of the car and runs into the night. What the weirdest hour I think of my entire life. Stay around. A lot more to come.

Good pay rate, though. Every day when we're on the road, people around us endanger themselves and others by using their phones while driving. They think they're hiding it, but we've all seen them and know exactly who they are. For instance, there is the sneak peeker who darts their eyes between the road and their texts. There's also the got a ticketer looking upset because they just got a ticket for using their phone while driving. And what about the fast scroller who can't drive five minutes without updating their social feeds? Or the night lighter who has that mysterious glow illuminating the inside of their car after dark? Do any of these sound familiar? If they remind you of yourself or someone you know, rethink your behavior before you find yourself becoming the fender bender, the veering off the rotor, or worst of all, the driver who killed someone. Put the phone away or pay. Paid for by NHTSA.