Ian Rapoport: It's Possible The Cleveland Browns Trade The Number 2 Pick

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For the ones who get it done. NFL Network Insider, Ian Rappaport. NFL Network Analyst, Daniel Jeremiah. Green Bay Packers Head Coach, Matt Lafleur. Pro Football Hall of Famer and Super Bowl Champion, Kurt Warner. ESPN NFL Draft Hosts, Reece Davis and Mike Greenberg.

And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, yes sir, it is draft day in Green Bay, Wisconsin and we are live on the Rich Eisen show from downtown Green Bay and there's two men clapping. That didn't sound great, I'll be honest with you. Oh what, no? The claps?

The claps of the golf claps. So we've given it more? It's draft day! Let's go! Everyone in this place, here we go!

That's better! Bring it all here for them! Yes! Let's do it! Thanks for watching, I'm out of here. Cool.

Now that's later on. We've got three hours of this show, we've got tons of great guests. Ian Rappaport making his way here to be first up to tell us what's going to happen tonight.

He's got the script. Daniel Jeremiah is going to be sitting with me every single pick, one to Mr. Irrelevant on NFL Network. Eight Eastern time is when the Titans get put on the clock, seven Eastern time, six o'clock local is when I'll be sitting in the host chair with Joel Klatt and Charles Davis and also Daniel Jeremiah to I guess preview everything that's going to go down in the parking lot of Lambeau Field tonight. And then we've got the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, Matt LaFleur joining us here in studio, my Hall of Fame friend Kurt Warner, part of the NFL Network broadcast tonight. He will be in studio hour number three and then there are the two hosts of ABC and ESPN's coverage of the NFL draft, all three draft hosts together sitting chit-chatting my old ESPN friends from back in the day, Reese Davis and Mike Greenberg will be here.

You at 844-204-RICH, number to dial on the program. Good to see you over there Christopher. Mitch, what's up man? Chris Brockman, TJ Jefferson, how are you sir? Just waiting for the Cowboys to disappoint me tonight. You know what? I don't think they will.

I think they're going to come away with a big time offensive player that you'll be very happy with when we're on Friday show. Why are you shaking your head Chris? Because that's not what Dallas does.

What do you mean? They don't do that. They do the prudent thing and they beef up the offensive line.

They get a defender. Like the Patriots are going to do tonight. See, that's what I don't want to have happen. It's going to happen. See, I'm just looking for right now the inflection point by when things go off the rail this evening.

Like what has to happen? And because Cam Ward's going first, Travis Hunter's going second. Right. The Giants taking Shadore Sanders at three would send things a little bit off the rails.

Yeah. Because that would mean the Patriots get Abdul Carter. No, but from what I've read, that's not what's going to happen. Even if Abdul Carter is there, they're still taking Will Campbell, which will infuriate me. Well, I mean, Abdul Carter dropping would be an off the rails thing.

Yes. Shadore Sanders being drafted would be an off the rails thing. I think so. I guess, would you consider Jacksonville taking Ashton Gente fifth overall an off the rails thing? I think that'll be an eyebrow razor and then all of a sudden that kind of adjusts some things, especially for the Raiders who probably have assumed that they were going to get him for the last couple months.

How about this is an off the rails thing? Your Patriots are on the clock with Cam Ward, Hunter and Carter going off the board already and the Bears get itchy and move up from 10 to go get Ashton Gente fourth overall. I think that really begins to shake things up. That Ashton Gente goes off the board four, right? Right. Because, you know, in the last week we've heard, OK, Jacksonville is now a Gente spot. They're the betting favorite, all the Mocs now have him going five. Right. And I think that kind of now resets their board.

What do they do? Do they go back to what the Mocs said before and take Mason Graham or do they go receiver? Like, I think that begins to shake things up if the Pats move out. If Ward, Hunter and Gente go in the top five tonight, it would be the first time since the 2012 draft when three of the top five picks were three finalists from the previous Heisman Trophy Manhattan. I love that. Grouping, you know, when Andrew Luck, RG3 and Trent Richardson went one, two, three. That was the last time three of the four Heisman finalists that showed up in Manhattan for the award were in the top five together.

Wow. And I think that's going to happen tonight. I think we're going to see that tonight. The question is, where does Gente go? And, you know, these are all interesting aspects about tonight's draft. I'm wondering who else would be the player that drops that someone would trade into the top 10 for? Would it be Mason Graham if he begins to drop?

Would somebody want to trade and get Membu? You know, Daniel Jeremiah has got his latest mock draft out and he's got it Ward, Hunter, Carter, Campbell, Gente, you know. And then the first sort of eyebrow razor is that the Raiders at six would would take Kelvin Banks of Texas.

Oh, wow. As their tackle, leaving Membu, the third Texas third tackle taken off the board. And part of the reason why, you know, D.J.

thinks this is because of the Pete Sarkeesian connection from USC back in the day. And that's something that he threw out there. But Daniel is going to be joining us in hour number two and we'll ask him about all that. I just want to take one last shot at this. This is going to be my last chance to do this. 4.0? No. Well, this could be the fourth time I actually dig into it.

So this could be the 4.0 of me saying the same thing. I would godfather offer for Travis Hunter. I would call the Browns and ask them, what's the way we can do this? I can't stress enough how there is no proper evaluation for this talent out of Colorado.

There is no way to quantify what he can do in terms of compensation. At one point, I'm telling you all, I see him being this good. At one point, there will be a conversation when it's time to, what, franchise tag him?

Because if there's anyone who's going to wind up being franchise tagged, it's somebody. And I know I'm talking like this is five years down the road. Five years.

2030. I understand. That's how generational I think this is. I don't think I'm going too nuts here. And I know this sounds nuts. But at some point, there will be a moment where someone's going to have to pay him a second contract.

I'm knocking on wood here. And I know that that's taunting the football gods by talking about someone's second contract before they've even been drafted. I've never done this before. You've been around me for this long. We've never seen a guy like this. Correct.

This is my 22nd draft for NFL Network tonight. I've never seen anyone like this. And I'm saying at some point when you're trying to pay him a second contract, how do you pay somebody who does two things? How do you pay somebody who's in two meeting rooms? How do you pay somebody who means something so much to two different parts of your operation?

How do you figure this thing out? You defer their money like the Dodgers? Well, you are making the Otani reference that Andrew Berry made last week, the general manager of the Browns, when he talked about Travis Hunter. And there is a wide conversation going on right now. How does he play both sides of the ball in a professional operation that will be pulling him in multiple directions? Tonight, Daniel Jeremiah is going to say this on the NFL Network tonight. He may even say it in hour number two.

I don't care that I'm curb stomping it right now. But he wants to see tonight when the Browns draft this kid. What position they say? No, no, no, no, no. Or whoever drafts him.

No, no, no. Let's just say the Browns are going to draft him. Okay.

I'm counseling the godfather offer here. But Daniel wants to know, he wants to be right on the Browns cam in the draft room. Okay. Owner is going to be on the phone.

Okay. You're going to see Jimmy Haslam on the phone. He might pass the phone to his wife, to the owners of the team. Then he's going to pass it to the general manager, Andrew Berry.

Or Andrew Berry may pass it to the owner. Then the coach is going to get on the phone. Which coordinator is the first one on the phone? Oh, interesting. Oh, right.

Who will be the first one? Which coordinator will get a shot at Travis Hunter? And I said to DJ, because this was in our rehearsal last night. I said, I guess I got to put him on speaker.

Right. And he's speaking to the two coordinators he will be dealing. We don't know how to deal with this kid. And I think, as I mentioned to Jamie Urdahl, our first guest yesterday, when we were talking about Travis Hunter, I say there should be no governor on him.

There should be no limits on him. It's like, kid, go for it. And you tell us when you need the Gatorade. You tell us when you need to sit.

We are going to go ahead and play you every frigging snap until you tell us the wheels are about to come off. And I'm being told that's not feasible in the NFL. I'm being told that there's so much to learn on both sides of the playbook. There's so much for only a body can take at the next level that there is no, you're not in the Big 12 anymore. Right. Like, this is a different beast coming at you and that he's going to have to learn. And then there is the issue that Jamie did bring up is meeting rooms.

Like, who's going to get them? Like, there's going to be a tug of war between the coordinators to have him sit in a wide receiver room. And if he's not in the wide receiver room, he's in the cornerback room. And if he's in the defensive back room, he's not in the wide receiver room.

How do you split up the day? Someone asked this of Kevin Stefanski just yesterday. Here's what the coach had to say.

Not to get into all the specifics, but Travis is somebody that is uniquely equipped to do both. You know, I remember having a conversation with him about, you know, there's only so many hours in the day, so you're going to have to meet extra with this coach or that coach. And he made a comment that he's a fisherman.

He gets up at five in the morning quite often, so that's not a problem for him in terms of maximizing his day. Yeah. He's a prize catch, man.

This is a kid with his head screwed on right. Very much. This is a guy who understands what he's undertaking. It's not just like I'm – listen, everybody thinks Deion's just sending someone to the next level with a bunch of flash because that's all he's about.

No. He is sending someone to the next level who understands the endeavor he's undertaking. He's a kid that understands the professionalism that is required to pull this off and the body work that's required to pull this off. And he has a guy, again, we are going to show you tonight, the last players in the NFL in this century to have started a game at both wide receiver and cornerback. There's three of them. In an NFL game this century who have started a game at wide receiver and at cornerback, Antonio Cremarti did it for the Jets first up in this century. Wow. Champ Bailey then did it later on for the Denver Broncos. And then there's Deion Sanders who did it.

Okay. But I – wait a minute, I don't think it's this century. I think it's of the Super Bowl era actually or since 1990. Regardless, it's impressive. Deion's done it eight times. Deion's done it eight times.

And I can guarantee you the eight times he did it, he also got out there on special teams to return the punt that he brought about due to his three downs on defense to start the next series on offense because he calls himself a five down player. Deion is sending this kid to the next level ready to play every snap. And I will say this. This is how wild – I'm already out the gate.

I mean I'm out the barn in terms of the crazy town by talking about this kid right now. Okay. I will say this. We have a terrific opportunity here this year to watch this kid play football and see somebody for the first time ever win Offensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Rookie of the Year. Sweep those awards. Because you know there's no pitching rookie of the year and no hitting rookie of the year.

Okay. There are just rookies of the year in two separate leagues in Major League Baseball. The NFL separates it by which side of the ball you play. They don't separate it by conference. They don't separate it by anything else other than offense and defense. And there's a kid who if you allow him to play every snap has a chance to sweep both awards next year at the NFL Honors.

And that would be something to see. That's why I would godfather offer. I would say I'll give you my one this year, my two this year and even a one next year to go ahead and take this kid and shut down half of the field on defense and light up your offense. He, again, I'm stealing lines here from last night's rehearsal for tonight's draft coverage. Joel Klatt's talking about how when he's in the route as a wide receiver he is the best pass catcher in this wide receiver-cornerback combination. He is the best high pointer of the football. Ball skills. When he's in a wide receiver position against the opposing cornerback and when he's the cornerback against the opposing wide receiver he's the best high point catcher out of that tandem. That's how good this kid is. You didn't just award him the Heisman Trophy because he's nice or Dion is his coach.

I've never seen anything like it. I think, and again, his head's screwed on right. He loves football and he's a fisherman who gets up first thing in the morning to catch the big fish and put it on the mantle and mount it. And he could do that for your team all day long. Why not? Based upon everything you said, if I'm the Browns, there's no way I'm going to entertain any offers. I don't think they will, but if I'm, again, if I'm Dallas, I'm saying here's my one, here's my two. I'm not worrying about this year's draft because I got the top wideout and I got the top corner. So why would I just say I'll take the best corner at 12 and I'll take the best wide receiver at whatever their second round pick is when you can just do both and then worry about next year's draft next year and get everybody talking about the Dallas Cowboys again and have C.D. Lamb out there and then over there is Travis Hunter and Trayvon Diggs and the rest of your terrific defense and that's Travis Hunter over there and that's the side of the helmet with the star on it and that's Deion Sanders showing back up here in the Jones Mall and let's go.

Rich. That's my two cents to kick off draft day, everybody, right here on the Rich Eisen Show in Green Bay. That's Ian Rappaport. Get off your phone, Ian. What are you going to learn now?

I mean, literally, oh, everything. There he is. Ian Rappaport getting the latest scoop.

Wrap sheet is here. Ladies and gentlemen, this is excellent acting. Everybody, Ian Rappaport next right here on the Rich Eisen Show. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today.

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Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Oh, no one can work a cell phone quite like Ian Rappaport, who just hung up the phone with somebody breaking news, giving him news, and then he takes a selfie and is posting it right now. Posting it literally. You're posting it right now at rap sheet. Got to tag the show.

At Rich Eisen's show there, sure. I photobombed it. You did? I did.

I leaned in, you know. What's the question? What's the question? What's the question? What's the question? What's the question? What's the question? What's the question? What's the question?

You know, I think you framed the Roku channel in the Rich Eisen show, Mike Flagg, perfectly. I did. Well done.

I did. Okay. What's up? You guys ready or what? Anything going on?

No, seriously. How often does your wife tell you to put the phone down? Is it frequent? Rarely. Because she, I mean, obviously understands.

It's not understanding. It's when I'm on my phone and I'm like really cranking or making calls. I remove myself from the world.

You do. So like I get a phone call. I go to the other room or I need to like focus, send a tweet or something. Yes. I will get up from the table without, usually without saying anything and just be like, or I'll be like one second. And then if I get up, she knows it's real.

But there's not a lot of like mindless scrolling or whatever, because if I need to do that, I just leave the room. Okay. So how old are your kids? 10 and 11. Okay. I think.

I haven't seen them in a little while. Boy and a girl? Two boys.

Two boys. Yeah. I have a girl. I'm on the phone, honestly. And, and she will, she will be very upset when I'm on the phone.

She will, it's just because I'm mindlessly scrolling. I mean, so is your phone, is your watch going off too? Yeah. It's a watch in the phone. In case I miss it on the phone, I got it on the watch.

I got that too. Yeah. Cause you need, you need, you know, you're breaking news all the time. Well, I just need updates. You know what I mean?

You need updates on your, on your bets. Yeah. Well, I don't know. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. It's because when I would like go in the pool at our beach club, I would be spending the whole time being like, is my phone ringing?

So I got the Apple watch to be like. Oh, is that what you're, you're not checking other people out at the pool at the club? I'm most certainly not. Wow.

Cause that's when you're asked to leave the room. Yes, indeed. Very good.

All right. Ian Rappaport is here. He's putting his phone away. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you. Call click.

Grainger.com or just stop by rap sheet is here. My colleague Ian Rappaport from NFL network will be sitting in the draft hall with Kurt Warner this evening as part of our first night coverage. Good to see you, sir. Great to see you.

I'll be very cold. What's the first draft you covered ever anywhere? Last, last radio city, last radio city draft was my first friend of our network. That's where I made my obviously much discussed cameos and draft day. So me and Daniel Jeremiah are in the background of the radio city music hall stage. We were on like a little tiny desk.

Not like the fun tiny desk where they do the music stuff, but the other tiny desk. And so you could see us in the background of the movie. That was the first. That was the first one. And I didn't know anything.

What do you mean you didn't know anything? I didn't know how it worked. It was so fast. It was crazy. It was so crazy. It goes faster than you think, man.

Right? I mean, the crazy thing in my world is like, I probably spent this year because it's such a weird draft and so many different things can happen. I probably spent more time on the phone this year than any year ever just trying to figure out, because everyone's evaluations are so different and a player who I think could go like nine or something could really go like 26. Like it's that kind of draft. And so, but like when they come to me on the broadcast, you get like five seconds of heads up maybe. So like it has to be, you have to think so fast.

And I was not ready for that in my first year. You were not. So how do you tell when somebody's full of it or not? I mean, how, how can you, cause I'm assuming people are calling you for information almost as much as the other way around. Right. Okay. And so how do you know when you're getting something that somebody's not playing you?

How do you know that? I usually get it from other teams. Like I, what do you, what does that mean? Like, so let's say, let's say someone, someone picking in the top 10 calls me, let's just say, and they're like, what do you think is going to happen? You kind of run through like what you're hearing, whatever. And they'll be like, all right, so you think this, this, this person are going to be there and you'd be like, yeah. All right.

And I don't, and I'll say like, what realm are you thinking? Like, you know, some teams are like probably offense or people be like, yeah, I mean O-line or maybe like if a receiver is there, like they'll give you like a little ballpark just so you could sort of sound smart when you're on the clock. Of course.

Be right. But then you talk to other people either like. About somebody else's pitch. Yeah. And they're like, all right, well actually they scouted this guy a lot and they heard they like this guy and they're like, all right, they asked about this, this other team hears they like this guy.

I know they did a visit or I know they had like, well secret meeting at the combine or like whatever it is and you kind of piece it all together, but I can't report any of it. So it's really just really fun. So I do like a mock draft every year that I send to Garofolo, Pelosero and Breer and then like a couple other people. And I like, like to see how right I'm going to be.

And that's always really fun. Where is this mock draft right now? In my email.

In your email. Yeah. Do you want to throw it out there? No. Okay. So let me ask.

I can send it to you privately. No, no, that's, you know, that's okay. I always think you're right. Don't ruin it. Don't ruin it for me.

Okay. So, um, what is your best guess then as to, uh, the first surprise of tonight's draft? What I would like to know is what happens at two. That means that the two is in play, like it really is in play. Cause I just spent the first 15 minutes of this show saying I would put two and play if I'm some other team, I would make sure two is in play.

I would say, I think, but don't know that Travis Hunter is probably the best guest to go there. Yeah. And I don't know, like right now it's the Browns and I would say likely probably Browns. Um, but there's some interest, there's some real interest. I talked last night on, on insiders about the Jaguars preparing a bold move and I really wonder like, are they a team that tries to come up from five to two for Travis Hunter?

And like, it would be a lot, um, like what, what would it be from five to two? Cause I'm talking about the Cowboys going from 12 to two. Yeah, I don't think that's happening.

Okay. Um, Cowboys could go back or they could stick. Um, but you know, it would be enough to where, like if the Browns don't come out of this draft with a franchise quarterback, if a trade happens, which again, I don't know, but if the Jaguars are going to do something bold, if they're going to, you know, do something, I was told the Jaguars are not going to be timid.

I know less need, I know James Gladstone was learned from less. It's like anytime you hear a Rams rumor, probably true cause they will consider all the things and I get the sense James Gladstone's kind of the same. Um, so I think they're at least considering it, but, but let's say the Browns don't come out of this draft with a franchise quarterback. Then it's like you need enough draft capital to help them go get whoever the next one is.

So maybe that's a one, maybe that's future one, maybe that's a two plus, like whatever it is, it would have to be enough to where in the future it helps them get whoever the next guy is. Well, since everybody in their mothers believes Cam Ward is the only, if you will, first round quarterback that is worthy of where he's going to be picked, I think that's the way that I can sort of dance around calling it that, right? That how would the Browns then come out with a franchise quarterback without us knowing when he plays, he turns into one.

You know what I mean? So how can we say that they're coming out with a franchise quarterback? They're not really going to be able to say that unless they go ahead and trade back up into the first round and take one possible, right? I think we could see some action in the back. So who is that other? Like, I guess that's a way.

So here, here's what I'm saying. If the Browns trade out of two, which I'm not saying is going to happen, but I do believe is possible. If that happens, then I would say, even if they come out of this draft with a quarterback, it probably isn't someone they anoint. Now let's say the Browns trade back in and take Jackson Dart, I don't know, and he plays next year and is great. Well then, okay, cool. You're done. Then game over, you have your guy. If he doesn't, then it's like, okay, well we have an extra first round pick.

Next year's quarterback class is probably going to be pretty good and they have enough ammo to go get someone. Okay. Ian's phone is blowing up right now.

I got a rap sheet here on the Rich Eisen show. So got to use AirPods because if you're talking on the phone and it beeps so much, it's like, what are you going to do? For a second, it's like, hold on. It's the day of the draft. Okay.

So she had to see me on the Peloton before. What's your take on Shadore Sanders night? I believe he's in play at three. I don't know that they're going to take him, but I believe he's in play and he should be in play because if you're the Giants and you need a quarterback, and this is a quarterback who is worthy of going in the first round, and there are definitely people who believe he's a franchise quarterback, not everyone, definitely people, then there is sort of some wisdom to be like, just take him. Whatever you think, just take him. And quarterbacks have been overdrafted for years and some pan out and some do not. So like we saw two last year, Nixon, Pennix probably went earlier than almost anybody had them.

And both I think are going to be really good. So I believe Shadore is in play at three. If he's not taken at three, then it gets really interesting. And then it threatens to, or not threatens because it'd be interesting, but take over the draft like Johnny Manziel did, where like every pick you're like, is this where Shadore is going to go? And then it's like, when you get to the Steelers, are someone going to try to trade up over the Steelers? And it's like, who is that? Who would come all the way up? Or is it a team that has a quarterback right now, but might need one eventually Rams, Seahawks, someone like that?

Like, do they come up or do they just take like, that's where it gets really crazy. And that would be the belief that Pittsburgh would take him if he's there at 21. What's your reporting on that? I mean, I believe he's in play at Pittsburgh. I don't know that he's definitely going to be the pick because if you're, you know, if you're Pittsburgh and you think there's a reasonable chance Aaron Rodgers is coming and you don't think Shadore is a first round quarterback, you probably don't take him. But the other thing is, you know, and there's like a little bit of a kind of a backstop here because if you don't come out of the first round with a quarterback, if you're one of those teams, you're the Giants, the Browns, the Steelers, whoever, there's going to be a pretty decent clump of quarterbacks probably early in the second round that are just there and you could pick one you like. If you, if you think Rodgers is coming, don't you use the 21st overall selection on going all in on Rodgers in his final year? You're certainly, if you only have a one year deal on the table for him, as opposed to maybe setting up for the future. They might, but if it was me, I would always take a quarterback. Why is that?

Just cause? Historically, like if you view a quarterback to be, you know, if the value fits with a pick, you're never going to be like, oh man, I got too many of these quarterbacks, like what am I going to do? Like it always works out. You can trade one, you can trade the other guy, like nothing's more important than the quarterback. So that's why like I got so much stuff last year for kind of standing up for the Falcons pick, Michael Pennix, and I still think that was one of the best picks in recent years because they have a guy, if they were going into this year without a quarterback, it would be very challenging. Can you imagine what the Browns conversation would be like if Miles Garrett was still holding out?

It would be insane right now. That would be, that would be the dominant conversation of, they did a nice job getting that done and making him happy. And like that's, you know, that's probably what should have happened. Like I think that's the right call.

Was it about money all along? Be careful because I'm a very glass half full guy. I'm an optimist and this man has made me a cynic.

So I'm kind of, I'm kind of on, you know, I'm very sensitive. Here's what I would say. He made a great deal from the Browns. He would have gotten a huge deal anywhere. He is one of the best players in the NFL and he is in his prime.

So I don't believe it was about the money. I just think it's like, you know, it's so hard at the end of a long season where you just suck, suck. Everyone sucks. The whole team sucked. The team was terrible. Everything in life just sucks. And it's like, if you've ever been a B reporter and you walk around a locker room in week like 15 and the team sucks, like it's awful. Everyone hates everyone.

It's terrible. So to make a decision like, like that, like I think he was feeling some sort of way. I think the Browns did a good job reeling him back in and I think this was the right outcome.

Okay. So you're saying the first surprise could be second overall pick is in play. Jacksonville could come up to go get him. It's entirely possible that Chidor goes three. If he doesn't, that could be a long night for Chidor. It'll be a night where, you know, we're sitting there on the draft set us in the back of the, of the draft, if you will, area. You're up front. You warm and cold.

But you can warm yourself by the burning phone that you've got going on right now about what's going on with Chidor. What else, what else are we missing? What else are we, are you thinking of playing this evening? I would say Tetro McMillan, TMAC as they call him. I think he's going to be one of the more fascinating picks because it's like the whole draft season, everything was about how he wasn't good enough and wasn't kind of what we thought, you know, is he fast enough? Then he runs and it's like, is that really what we want?

And sort of wasn't a great time. And you're like, but I think he's going to go early. I think I would be surprised if he's not receiver one. Is that him? I would say it is not. I did see him last night though.

Actually. It's funny. I got a text from a team wondering if he's going to be there and I sent back the selfie of me and TMAC. It was a great moment.

You're like, he may not be there for you, but he's here literally right here, right now. It was very funny. I'll tell you, I'll tell you the team later if they pick him. See you at the clutch party last night. A lot of prospects, a lot of prospects here from clutch.

They're all in very good spirits last night. But I think he goes, I mean, I think he's in play at five for the Jaguars. I think he's in play at 12 for the Cowboys fees and play at 12 for the Cowboys. And maybe someone comes up over the Cowboys to take him. That's where it gets, I think, really interesting. What could be the deals that Jerry Jones was teasing about that, you know, before and after the draft?

I didn't get the sense there was much there. Oh boy. I would never doubt Jerry Jones ever. I would never doubt Jerry Jones ever, but we'll see.

I don't want to, I don't want to rain on his big trade parade. Okay, but you're saying it's more likely that one of them doesn't happen then? Probably right.

All right. And why isn't Mike assigned? I mean, if he says that the term and the dollar has pretty much been guaranteed, like what is happening?

Why is this not happening? I don't believe that's the case. And for the Cowboys, I would say, you know, usually like they like long term deals. They like to lock their players on long term.

They're very, very smart financially. And with CeeDee Lamb last year, one of the reasons it took so long is because they wanted a longer deal than he wanted. Players want another bite at the apple. And so if you're Micah and you got it, you know, let's just say they offered him a five year deal and you're like, well, I'd like a four, like that's a big deal.

That's worth just saying, I'm not ready yet. The other thing is like, you know, Aiden Hutchinson probably comes in, lines that a Kirby Joseph contract yesterday, Hutchinson's probably next. I think that would be one to.

Why not get it done before Hutchinson? Like you want more money. If you're Micah, you mean? Yeah. Yeah.

I would wait. He's not playing any football until, until, you know, July and then we'll see if it's not signed. What he does, like patience helps.

And the Niners, the Niners are 11th overall on the clock. Last night, Brock Purdy is there, right? He's he's a, he's at the, the off season workout program. Which is good. Do we read in, what do we read into this?

Not nothing, not nothing. I think they're, I don't want to say that they're close, but they're at least at a close enough point where you say like, all right, I could see a deal getting done at some point. And so he shows up, you know, when a quarterback holds out, it's like a whole different thing. So just easier for all of us when he shows up. Right.

I think that was the right move. But I do believe a deal will get done. Closer to Gino or Goff in terms of the number.

Gino, Goff. Yeah. I mean, I think I told you, I think it'll be a $50 million mid, mid 50, mid 50.

We'll see if he gets a mid fifties, but, but not six DAC DAC will still be the only one that starts with a six by the end of the day. You never know. Cause you never know what a deal looks like, but I would be surprised. Okay.

I told you guys, I told you guys, I did tell you it's whether they should do it. We're now we're also now arguing. So he could look at his phone.

I want to give him, I'm not even looking at him as for sure. He's typing now. He's actually typing.

Very good information, man. You know, is that anything relevant to tonight, Ian? No. What do you think he's ordering lunch? I don't know. I've been making dinner reservations. We don't know. I don't know. I can't have dinner reservation.

I got the draft tonight. That's true. Plus Pellicero makes all my dinner. Wow. No, he does. No, I'm serious.

No, it's a good thing when we're on the road. Come on. He says like, come on. He's your concierge.

Pellicero has got a concierge service. She's our VP of dinner planning and. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to downgrade him without it. You've given him a time. You've given him an executive status. I go with him. It's not like he makes him for me and then stays home together, but he makes all the reservations.

I had no idea. Does he get the, does he get your car as well? I mean, does he provide the, the, the wheels? There are other people for that. Does he order for the whole table?

Nope. I do that. I do that myself. Um, he, if he ordered for the whole, well, there's been times like we went to a place in Kansas city, uh, when the draft was there and he, and it was sort of like a small plates type place. And he goes, do you want to just get everything on here? He orders for you too?

No. He was like, you know, asking my opinion, he's like, do you want to just get everything on here? And it was everything that was on the menu and I'm like, we shouldn't get that. So he ordered like everything except for one dish on the menu. I think the most important thing is at the end of the dinner, when that bill comes, splits these splits.

There you go. It's not like that guy. Go get the check.

Sword arms and deep pockets. You don't wear glasses, right? Cause if ever contact, okay, so if you wore glasses, would, would he be your glasses cleaner? Like Jerry? No, no, no.

It's not like that. Nope. Does he cut your state? This is not information we just blew 60 seconds with this man over stupid. I wanted to give him a, just a breather from having to do all the work. Just let him catch his breath.

No breather until Saturday at 7 PM when I get to have a nice beer. Since we, since we have, um, you know, which is obviously, uh, we have to be fair and balanced with you and Pellissera. Tom was here yesterday. I gave him a scoop, so I'll give it to you too.

Okay. Um, you know, I'm going to ask Matt LaFleur to confirm this, but I think it's true. I mean, I saw it on the wall of an airport, the first overall pick for the Packers tonight is hydration. There it is. That's the first round pick for the, for the Green Bay Packers.

It's hydration. Um, it's out there. I think it's really weird that the Packers would put that information.

That's usually very proprietary. Probably trade out. That was actually my favorite quote of the week. Hydration is not worthy of sticking and picking.

Is that what you're saying? Be careful. I'm drinking water. I can see that right now.

This right here. Okay. That's it.

That's the first round pick for the, for the Packers. You just consumed it. It's really weird.

Really weird. All right. Have a good day, sir. Good to see you. It'll be something.

You okay? You love this, right? You live for it. This is a favorite thing of the whole year.

This is it. And are you looking forward to Monday? I mean, it's over Saturday night. Well, you usually go to the Derby. We'll be at the Kentucky Derby. I got my horse.

We don't have a horse in the Derby this year. Okay. But, uh, we, I got tee times lined up for Tuesday, Wednesday, you know what? I don't, but it's okay. I'm here with you. I hang with you.

Oh, thanks. You're very welcome. Good to see you. Thank you for being here. I said, both of you guys, what's the matter with you? Good to see you.

Good to see you. That's, uh, Ian Rappaport at rap sheet for all those who follow on every single piece there. Oh, there it is. That's on Instagram, that's the, uh, that's the photo. Is there a part of your brain that says, see ball, get ball, like that's it in the story.

I mean, you know, I mean, it's on tape, it's on tape. I mean, it does, you know, just sometimes, you know, you gotta just, you know, just be a football player and, you know, not even think, especially as a linebacker and just, I mean, you know, once you see the, the ball burn off the cue, you got to go get to the ball. Same thing for, for LB. Right. So, um, how did you get to that position? Did you always play that side of the ball or no?

So no, no, no, no. So I was playing edge in high school, right. And you know, just coming to Alabama, I had a meeting with saving. I just knew, um, Sam and Jack, my back was like, yeah, man, uh, you know, can you put it with a linebacker? I'm like, yeah, mind you, I don't even know what the position is. So he said, you know what that is?

I said, nah. He said, okay, well, that's our middle linebacker position. Um, you know, we were in a box and, you know, obviously sometimes, you know, in the apex or, you know, on the edge and I was like, okay, definitely. So, you know, that point right there is where I was like, all right, let's do it. Let's lock it in. And you know, we're going to go for a ride.

You know, we're going to accept this challenge and we're just going to keep on pushing with it. So, so Sabin was the one who looked at you and said, this is more than just an edge rusher. Definitely. Definitely. So then this is a perfect segue to the question I ask every Alabama player. And I, when I say every Alabama player, I've asked this of Tua, I've asked this, what's the best segment story? No, no.

What's the most pissed off you've ever made? Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was up here. He got up here. It was like off the screen.

Yeah. It was bad. I remember, uh, he was going up. I think he was playing like cover seven and I was supposed to, I was supposed to be playing that.

And I could like tighten the wrong way through the straw hat down. He got pissed off. And mind you, like he didn't say Jahaad and he said, Kim, he said, come on dirty. You know, that was back then when I was, when I was wearing number 30 jersey. So it's a lot of saving story for sure. So that was the most angry you've ever made him a hat throwing red faced mess is what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was, it was a couple of times, but that one for sure was, I was like, well, I mean, again, he's, he's Nick Saban.

You don't want to disappoint him. And you also don't want to be on the business end of that. That sort of thing. Uh, were you ever on the business end of a D's nuts joke?

I went there. No. Oh, pause.

Pause. So when there's a team on the clock next Thursday night, next Thursday night, next Thursday night, and your name is on the draft board, what do you want them to know about who they would get if they hand in your name on their card? Definitely for sure. I mean, obviously of course, a relentless football player, but you know, just outside of football, like the person that I am, that is, that's going to be in that organization in that facility is a very genuine, uh, connecting, um, person, you know, I love to, you know, I love to be around great vibes, you know, and also like to be in the community as well.

So I love the impact of it. So that's what they're getting. If they draft Jahan Campbell, Jahan Campbell was on our show last week is going to be in the house this evening. The question is, is how long of a night will he have in the house of the green Bay Packers? The head coach of the Packers is joining us shortly.

Matt LaFleur will be here, um, and then, uh, after him will be the, uh, other, if you will, um, draft hosts, Mike Greenberg and Reese Davis, along with Kurt Warner as well. Back on the Rich Eisen show right here in green Bay, our friends at Hyundai want to remind you that every Hyundai offers available class exclusive advanced safety features that can alert you to potential dangers around you. So it's a great peace of mind to know that Hyundai has over 130 IIHS top safety awards since 2006. And that includes the top safety pick and top safety pick and awards to Hyundai vehicles from 2006 to 2025.

Hyundai's always working to ensure the road doesn't get you. The road allowed this man to arrive a segment early. So I will take Daniel Jeremiah twice because that is nice.

He will lead off the top of the second hour as well as finish the first. Good to see you, sir. How are you? Yes, sir. Guys.

Are we okay here? I know Rappaport was on before you could hear me though. I didn't. Yeah. You can lift up the mic a little bit here. There you go. All right. Wow.

I love you, Daniel Jeremiah. So much fun. It's going to be a blast tonight. You know, I cannot wait for that and we'll, we'll dig into that, uh, um, a little bit more, um, and, and your, your mock draft, uh, as well. So how, how many people are calling you for information? How many, how many teams are asking you for your evaluation or showing the, I guess I'll even curve stop my question by asking more direct one. Has anybody shown you their draft boards or, or asked you to show the best I can, the best I can get out of these conversations, which I've had a boatload of in the last three days specifically is I get them to eliminate some players.

So this guy, we're not taking this guy, he's off our board. They will tell you that. They will tell me that it's the truth.

Do you think? Yeah, cause I've kept notes over the years and you kind of realize if somebody you can trust or somebody you can't trust, right. Doesn't tell me who they're going to pick. Obviously there's a lot more options, especially when you talk to people towards the back half of the first round.

Right. But it does give you an idea of where some of those teams have players. The most common question I get, whether you're picking five or 32 is who's going to be there when we pick. Like they're just curious about that. And, and you can help maybe navigate that sort of thing based on what you can, what you're hearing, just in terms of talking to people and knowing who they've liked, who they've brought in.

Like the, the, this is the merry-go-round I go on. I find out that they've, you know, they brought this player in on a visit. So then I will then call the college where he's from, where I know a coach and I'll get information from the coach. I'll then talk to the agent, you know, where are the places has he been, where does it make sense?

If I know somebody else in the building, I've, I've always done the track to people around. So if you were in this organization and got a GM job over here, I'm going to call your previous GM and see, what do you think this guy's going to like his track record? What does he like?

What does he not like? There was a, you know, there was a situation where there's a couple of these Georgia guys, these edge rushers. So I called somebody who had been with this defensive coordinator before in the draft room.

And I said, does he particularly like the bigger, more edge setting Mikel Williams or what he liked the undersized, more explosive Jalen Walker. So like those are the types of conversation that you're having. Interesting. And is it true you were in the draft room in Philadelphia when they were, or you at the time going to draft Russell Wilson? Yes.

Yeah. What, what happened again? We had kind of targeted him through the process. We thought we were higher on him than everybody else in the league. And so we're going to take him in the third round, the consensus, once he checked in at five, 10, that this guy is going to be a fifth round, sixth round pick and, and Andy Reed loved him.

And the building loved him. And it was like, we're going to take him early. We'll take him in the third round. So all of a sudden, lo and behold, the Seattle takes him right in front of us. And we were kind of devastated on that. So the Eagles were ready to go, if the Seahawks didn't jump the line.

He was going to be the pick. For the Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah. Who was the quarterback there at the time? Uh, I think, I don't remember if Vic was there at that time. Okay. So it was the, so it's the end of the Andy Reed tenure there. Yeah. Towards, towards the end. And the irony of it is, so he goes onto those couple of Superbowls and it's like, man, and Russell Wilson, I interviewed him at the car or at the senior bowl.

Okay. And he texted me once a week from the senior bowl to the draft texting me because he obviously didn't know how low I was on the totem pole, but he's texting me going, if the Eagles draft me, I'm going to lead you guys to multiple Superbowls, which I've never had anybody do that. But now that you know, Russ, you can kind of see him doing that. And that's kind of confidence he had. Well, he goes on and goes to two Superbowls and we're like, what could have been until the guy that we settled for and ended up picking when we didn't get him was Nick Foles.

And so it had a very happy ending for both organizations. So Foles. He was the fallback. The fallback. Yeah. And he, there's a, you know, statue of him and Doug Peterson out front. Yeah.

It was a happy ending. Can't make that stuff up. Is there another sliding door moment that you've had in a draft room that leaps out at you like that or whether it's Baltimore or Philadelphia?

Yeah. Just, there's all these crazy stories that you think about over the years and just, I always tell people the inexact nature of this whole event that we're getting ready to cover for the next three days is you've never seen a draft room more excited to select somebody than when we selected Danny Watkins in the first round with the Philadelphia Eagles who was within three years fighting fires. God bless him.

He's doing the greater good, but it did not work out as a football player. And in the same draft whole home, we took Jason Kelsey in the sixth round. I love stories. Like, isn't that amazing? Like, yeah. Oh, well. Yeah. We'll talk to Kelsey.

This Kelsey kid's athletic. We'll see how that works out. Unbelievable. Daniel Jeremiah here on the Rich Eisen Show will go over his thoughts and his mock draft for tonight's draft an hour or two.

Still here on the Roku Sports Channel for a couple more minutes. I can't get enough stories like that because honestly it is, um, you know, I'm sure the NFL would prefer a different analogy, crapshoot. It really is. You're in it.

You're just taking educated dart throws at the board. Rich, not anymore. There's several gaming partners with the league. My bad. I understand. Good point. Thank you. Thank you.

I don't know who they are still. Of course not. We didn't expect you to.

You know, it's still an educated dart throw here. People would be shocked to know some of the teams and general managers that get credit for some of their best picks. And it was all, they took our guy, we'll just take this guy. He goes, that happens all the time, all the time. So who, what are the other teams you've been in the draft room in Cleveland for two years, the first year there, we didn't pick till the fourth round.

So we did was eat cookies and tell jokes for the first, that was pretty boring. And then, uh, and then Philadelphia after that. So, so you never in a draft room for the, for the Ravens. Yeah.

Four years with the rate for the four years. So like I was in Baltimore when, um, you know, hello, Nada, we were, you know, we were stoked on that one. I was there when we had taken Ben Grubbs as an interior lineman who we loved. And then we're sitting there and it's the third round and we go, we don't really need an interior offensive lineman, but gosh, that guy, Marshall Yanda is up there at the top of the board. I mean, I just, I think we have to take him.

Um, so there's all these kinds of cool, cool moments that you, that you go through. I remember, uh, one year, uh, Rex, I don't know, I think it's been long enough that I can tell it, but, uh, he wanted us to take a safety early in the draft. And then we didn't, you know, it just fell the other way. And all that was left was, uh, safety DeJuan Landry. If you guys remember him, Ron Landry's brother, he ended up playing for a long time, but he came, Rex came into the room and was like, grabbed his card.

He hadn't run well. And he's like, this is all we've got. Like, this is who we're gonna, and he like, I think he like threw the card on the ground and then lo and behold, we draft him becomes one of Rex's favorite players. Rex goes to the jets, I believe.

And then ended up taking him to the jets as well. So you never know, you never know how this is going to go. It is amazing. Funny. I can't get enough of these stories because they're going to be, uh, you know, thousands of them over the next 90 hours that are happening in draft rooms and we have no idea. I'll give you one more quick one. Sure. Uh, just, I don't know why Rex is on the brain, but, uh, we, uh, the player with some, some issues, you know, and it was like, okay, he's not really clean as player.

And then he started to drop and drop. And then I'll, I'll never forget this line, but like, I just don't know if we'll take him. Cause we got a lot of ants around here. We can carry a cockroach. Wow. Fantastic. Yeah. I mean, you know, I know, right.

You had that story right at the tip of your toes. Oh, wow. I'll be here all week on two networks.

Wow. NBA veteran, Jim Jackson takes you on the court. You get a chance to dig into my 14 year career in the NBA, but also get the input from the people that will be joining Charles Barkley. I'm excited to be on your podcast, man. It's an honor. Spike Lee, entrepreneur, filmmaker, Academy award winner, but also how sports brings a life passion, music, all of this together. The Jim Jackson show part of the rich Eisen podcast network follow and listen on your favorite platform.