Albert Breer: Will NFL Teams Allow Players to Play Olympic Flag Football?

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No. With guest host, Susie Schuster. Caitlin Clark and Angel East. I love this rivalry. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. First of all, it's not a rivalry.

Not when you lose about 35. Caitlin Clark is in a different level. Today's guest, senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer, MLB network analyst, Kevin Millar, plus your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Susie Schuster. Well, hello everybody. Back for another day with you.

Susie Schuster in for Rich Eisen. He is taking off a couple of days, a little bit of R&R. He kind of needed it.

I'm just going to tell you straightforward. He needed a little break. And so I'm here. He will be back tomorrow. After this show, What the Football is Back. Amy Trask is going to join me for another season of What the Football.

And Mike Florio will be with us to kick off this year's edition. TJ Jefferson, good morning. How are you?

The candle is lit. Great, Susie. How are you doing? I'm really good. I'm not sure why. Well, the thing is, I feel awkward because it was like someone thought we had beef yesterday.

I would never have beef with you. Oh, why? I don't know. Were you in the comments? Were you in the comment section? Stay out of the comment section. I definitely was not in the comment section. Okay.

So I got a little heads up from a friend of mine and he said to me, you are getting killed for your take on Caitlin Clark and Angel. You got to leave that alone. And I said, I'm I'm halfway through a martini right now. So that's great. I'll double down.

I could care less. I had a crystalline tequila icy martini last night with orange and mint. And my friend Laura Wasser's birthday. That sounds fancy. Happy birthday, Laura. She loves her birthday.

Super fancy. But I mean, one and done. And I feel great this morning. So maybe it'll be my nightly drink. It's having your wife be friends with Laura Wasser.

Is that frightening for a meal? So, yes, it is anybody out there. Laura, one of my oldest and best friends is a divorce attorney.

She represents most of Hollywood, the Kardashians, you name it. And she was in my wedding party. So that's how this marriage started. And you're still here. I know. Right. I mean, you see you standing over there. You better act yourself. Right. Rich eyes. That's right.

That's right. It was so funny, you guys. And we'll get to sports in a second. I told you guys this earlier, some guy walks over and say, this is a great looking table of women like you guys look great. And all the girls like, oh, we're so cute.

I'm like, guys, we're sold. It's patronizing. Was it the waiter? No, it wasn't.

It was nobody being paid. It was some guy walked by. We were at Craig's in Los Angeles. And some guy walked by and said, what a great looking table of women.

And I'm I'm like the youngest in this crowd. And oh, shots fired. Wow. Right. Well, Mary, Mary's happier out of your friends.

That's right. I got to stand my ground. But the guy was with a girlfriend. So we said, well, why would he play it that way? And they're like, well, that's weird. He would say that if he was on a date.

I said, no, no, no. He looks so nice. He's telling the old ladies at the table that they look cute.

That makes him look good to the girl. Stop. But I digress.

But I digress. Yeah. So Albert Breer will be joining us soon. We'll talk about the number. We'll stop by that.

We'll talk about the touch and we'll talk about flag football in the Olympics because I have a thought. Why? Why?

Here's my thought. It's going to be sick. What are you crazy? It's going to be amazing. I cannot wait. We've already started putting teams together. That's what we should do today.

What's your dream? Is it all or nothing? I mean, it's not going to be the whole team stacked with NFL players. Yes, it is. I think it's gonna be mixed with no amateurs, too, isn't it?

Too bad. It's going to be Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen and Justin Jefferson and and Travis Hunter and crazy. And I'm so worried. Oh, God, I'm so worried as a sideline reporter about which knee I'm going to have to talk about at some point. Of course, like I'd have to be back on a broadcast for that, but I do all I can do is injuries, injuries, injuries. Is that wrong? A little bit. Don't put that out there.

Ricky Bobby Bobby. Like, come on. Well, I can't wait to talk to you about that. I also want to talk about how does everybody do win loss when they don't even know where Aaron Rogers is going and what he's doing and how much personal time he needs. And like people are already calling, so please call with your win loss.

844-204-RICH is the number to call. Hi to everybody out there on ROKU channel. Do you remember last year when we were doing all this and it was there were a couple of teams that were just the automatic wins for everyone. It was the Titans and it was New England, too, is kind of just like, oh, that's a win.

I was thinking about this yesterday as people were doing it. The Saints are an automatic win for everyone this year. Have you noticed that so far?

I really have not paid attention. I've been paying attention to some of the teams that are just automatic wins. The Saints are this year's.

The Saints are marching in. They're this year's automatic win loss game win. I just heard Don Bowie curse you from the back. I think Don knows and is hoping for a two and fifteen season. Just get a pick out of it.

Get something out of this, right? His name is Arch Manning. Archibald J. Manning. How much fun would it be to watch him take the home field? That would be every single game would be standing room only. I bet it now, TJ. I mean, I'm just going to look to see if it's even an option, but just yes. Yes.

All of the yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Where's the draft next year?

It's Pittsburgh. OK, great. Can't wait.

Arch Manning, number one. Let's go. Book it, Dano. Let's go in. Book it. OK, so we finished that. We talked about flag football. He's plus two thirty to be the number one pick. Let's go.

That's awesome. It's going to be great. Shut up. The Packers await the Packers. Tushpush proposal, guys, is up for a vote.

We will talk to Albert Breer about that as well. I mean, we've gone over this a bunch of times. I mean, also, like how many different ways are we going to chop up? How are we going to approach the tushbrush here?

We've got, you know, little changes to the proposal to try to get it through. I want to see pushing any player. I know they're calling it a rugby player. Now, a rugby play. They're calling it a rugby play, not a football play. Have you seen what it looks like when the guys do this in rugby?

It looks even worse. It's so crazy. They're they're actually picking guys up in advance. They're also like half that.

I've said it to some of the girls last week on women's sports now. They're they're also like putting their hands underneath the shorts to hold them up. It's a lot to look at. It's a whole lot to look at. In a good way. Not sure. OK, I'm going to be honest with you. Got it. Not so sure.

It's a great look. But, you know, hey, there's there's rugby for everybody. That said, is it a football play or is it a rugby play? That will be up for debate. We will ask Albert Breer what he thinks about that. We'll talk to him about Aaron Rodgers.

There's got to be something new. I mean, we need some kind of breadcrumbs on Aaron Rodgers. I mean, there's a lot of personal decisions to be made. I mean, I make personal decisions every day, but I'm here.

None of them affect the Pittsburgh Steelers and the rest of the NFL. And here's my question about Rodgers. And you can answer this, Chris.

I'm nobody better to answer this than nobody. Do you? Yes. Is he? Yeah. No. What?

What's the question? Quiet. Is he is he is he still that great?

No, no. He can sit here taking this time. And how many other players would teams be willing to allow this kind of behavior? Well, seemingly it's only one team is allowing this behavior. And it's because Pittsburgh has backed themselves into a quarterback corner here. What about the Saints? The Saints should call him as well.

It's two teams now. Yes, but he hasn't been linked to them in any way, shape or form throughout the entire offseason. I mean, Aaron Rodgers was very publicly working out with Pittsburgh's newly acquired wide receiver at UCLA, DK Metcalf.

So he had already kind of put that out there that he was dipping his toe into the black and gold waters to see if this was a situation in a marriage that could possibly work for a year or two, however long that he wants to play and can physically still do it. He was pretty decent at the end of last year. And I imagine if he does play this year and his head is in the right space, he'll be as good as Russell Wilson and Justin Fields were last year. I mean, he's good enough to get them nine or ten wins. And but he's good enough to get them into the playoffs, but not win a game.

That's kind of what the Pittsburgh thing is for the last year. Why? So then why? Why ego? Why else? Why?

I almost feel like ego money. You don't want to go out how he went out the last couple of years. Injury on the fourth snap of the game and then a very lackluster jet season in which he won less games than Zach Wilson did the year before. That's that's not how you want to go out when you're a player like Aaron Rodgers, the first Ballot Hall of Famer, four time MVP. That's not how you want to see your career. I'm not sure that's how I want to go either going as, OK, you're playing as well as Russell Wilson or Justin Fields.

No, no. How does that cap a great career? It doesn't.

It doesn't. He's just playing to play at this point. He's playing because he still wants to and he still can. And the want to is the big question with him. I mean, this is the guy who famously said he was 90 percent retired when he went on the darkness retreat, came out of it and said, I want to play for the Jets. OK. And then now he's spent this whole entire offseason.

Yes. Personal issues and and things going on behind the scenes in his life. You know, notwithstanding, he has yet to make a decision and we're almost to June.

So where's where's your head at, buddy? My my concern also is I just think it's a bad look for the rest of your team. We've said this so many times. If you're going to be a team player, then you actually have to be with the team. You have to go through those training camps. You've got to go through those.

Workouts, you got to go through that to get a show, especially at Three River. Now, you think like, don't you think that in a place like Pittsburgh, you have to show that you're one of the people as opposed to you're going to fly in on a private plane, drop in and hopefully win 10 games? I think I'm more equipped to answer this as someone from there. Absolutely. They don't want they don't like that there. Yeah. They don't like people who, you know, I mean, of course, there were reports years ago, like Ben Roethlisberger wouldn't wait in line in the club and he would cut the line to get in that cause. And I were like, right.

That's just not how that that area that's not how those the people of that area like. Yeah, it's May 20th. It's May 20th. Pittsburgh, the Steelers OTAs begin on the 27th.

They begin a week from today. I would imagine in the next couple of days, maybe by the weekend, we'll have a decision. Aaron Rodgers will take. Will he take his talents to Pittsburgh?

Yeah, he's going to take his talents to Pittsburgh. Should we make a wager about when this happens? Let's bet something. I will not bet a Philly Cheesesteak. I will not do it.

Beat me to it. I will not do it. I'm so sorry Philly, you're great, but no. I think I'm going to have about a weekend with OTAs set to start on Monday and then and then we'll be off and running. And I think we can finally put this whole thing behind us and we can talk about what they're going to look like with him and what type of chemistry he's going to have with DK Metcalf.

And there are other weapons that they got. So I think I think we'll be good to go soon. All right. I mean, I would be willing to wager on when, because I think that's the only thing we can wager on with him right now. We think he's going to play.

But when we can do some kind of betting on this. See, I mean, with all due respect, I don't know if that's how this job in the show is supposed to work, but I don't care. Like, I feel like we're being held up. Yeah, I just I'd rather talk about people who are signed and ready to play.

Do you not care because Pittsburgh is going to be kind of a non factor this year, or are you just so sick of Rogers, the story and the just kind of looming over the week and not even like Rogers specifically, but like, look, you're not there and every day we're going to talk about it. It's just like, OK, like when you're ready to make a decision, he said there were outside influences, right? Right. That were, you know, he was handling some personal business. So let him do what he needs to do. And when he's ready to come back, then, yeah, let's talk about it.

But, you know, if you want to get held hostage all summer, you know, all spring and summer, like where's Aaron going then? Sure. Yeah.

Well, I hear you find out soon enough. That's all I can. That's true.

That's true. That and ours is. And let's go. Let's go.

You got Drake May season coming down. He cares about the Jets, so let's go. Sorry, you guys.

It's just a dig at my husband. That's all. Come on. This is how we roll.

I know. Like I said, I don't know if that's wrong for me to say that, but like, you know, it's just like, all right, let's either poop or get off the pot. Like, what are we doing? I feel like Cam, we're the Steelers.

Do you want to play for us or not? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, it's good that you've got a candle lit using that expression. But anyway. All right. Game one of the association is tonight at five thirty with the Western Conference. Thunder Wolves, baby.

Let's go. And it was funny. I was thinking to myself as I watched Julius Randle kind of bawling out.

Right. So it's been six days or so since he's played 42 minutes, twenty nine points, five assists, five rebounds. I remember covering when I was hosting the official Lakers podcast and talking to him before he got shipped out. I remember you did that. And I thought to myself, there are three or four players from that team still going deep into the playoffs that were on the team Caruso. OK. Josh Hart with the Knicks, who was just a baby. Hart was on that team?

Yeah. And Julius Randle. And I thought, boy, I think Rob Palinko would like to have a couple of those guys back.

I mean, think about it. Those are three players playing deep into that from the 2017 Lakers. And there they are playing in the Eastern and Western Conference finals.

And I just thought with with what we how we saw the Lakers go down this year, I just thought, boy, I bet Palinko would love to have those guys back. Right. Just like, you know, if those guys are there, then do you get LeBron? Because he wasn't there yet. Right. Oh, LeBron was there. Was there when you were.

Well, did you do get Luca? I don't know. It's like it kind of like the fact that changes everything. Sliding doors, right?

Sliding doors. But I just thought ironic because I remember when they traded him, I just thought like he said he was such a role player. Maybe he just wasn't where he needed to be.

But he's playing his lights out now. I saw a funny meme on Instagram. It was a picture of four guys on the twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three Knicks. And it was one of these four guys is going to win a ring. The Knicks had in twenty twenty three Brunson still in the Knicks. Isaiah Hartenstein now in the Thunder. Right. Julius Randle now on the Wolves and Obie Toppin, who's now on the Pacers.

So they have one. They had one guy on that team now in the final four. So some one of those four guys is going to win a ring. And they were all on the Knicks two years ago. Wow.

That's so crazy. There's going to be a lot of people seeing Shea Gildas Alexander, who they maybe don't know who he is that much. Maybe they haven't seen him play that much. They're going to see a lot of him. They're going to see a lot of Anthony Edwards. As we said, he's a highlight reel.

Stephen A. Smith talked to him at length yesterday. If you missed that one, go back and watch it on the Rich Eyes and Show YouTube page. But I'm excited to watch this night. Koop and I are going to sit down and take it in. I'm excited to watch this throw down tonight. Did you're going to watch right? Of course, like we're down to the final four right now.

And like I said yesterday, Chris, like it seems like youth is actually going to be served right now. You know, we're going to have perhaps the new face of the league is going to come out of this out of the series, these two series, right? You're going to have someone be crowned champion for the first time. And I stand corrected yesterday. Sonics fans do not count what's going on with Oklahoma City.

No, they do not claim Oklahoma City at all. Yeah, no. So yeah, you're going to have a team winning for the first time since 1973. This is this is going to be awesome, man.

And you know, it's a whole new cast of players that most of America isn't truly familiar with all of these guys. So, you know, buckle up, sit down and enjoy this. This is going to be awesome.

Yeah, it's great. Now I know we got to go to break because Albert's coming up and I want to talk about this a little bit later. We are in a new era of the NBA in the last six.

We're going to have a new champion again for the sixth or seventh straight year. And I want to talk about that's good for the week. So that's just a tease. We're going to talk about that later.

Kind of the end of the dynasty run of the NBA here. So I want to get to that a little bit later. So save your thoughts.

All right. I'll save my thoughts right now. Let's go to break that when we come back. Albert Breer will join us and we'll ask him about the Tush Bush. Let's do it. Love asking a grown man about a Tush. Just saying that's just how I roll.

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See store or sleepnumber.com for details. Over your left shoulder, I couldn't help but notice there's Montana. You know, over your right shoulder, there's Dwight Clark reaching out for a pass from Montana. Have you spoken to Montana? You got any relationship with him at all?

Bronc? A little bit. I spoke to him actually at the Super Bowl event. It was the first time I saw him.

The last time he was in, I think, Santa Clara. He was here for the Chiefs game last year. I wasn't playing at the time, so I didn't really have an opportunity to talk to him. But when I have talked to him, he's been nothing but great. He's supported this team and how I've played and stuff. And so, just to be able to hear him show some gratitude and stuff for me, it's like, dude, that is a legend. That's the guy. That's the guy. When you look at the 49er logo, that's who you think of.

So, what an honor. What about Young? What about Steve Young? Yeah, he's been around too. Spoke to him the Sunday night game, actually.

He was on the field for a little bit. And how he was very just really nice about everything. He's like, dude, how you handled everything and your decision-making and your process.

And he goes, I want to sit down and talk to you more about it. So, just to know that he has our back too. That's awesome, man.

It's like a dream too. But what an honor for both of those guys to love what we're doing. In a few minutes, I have left with you. How do you respond to those who say you're just a product of the system there, the coach and the guys around you, and all you're doing is basically rolling the balls out and not making mistakes? How do you respond to that, Rock?

Oh man, I would just say, I don't really care in a sense. I just want to win. I want to help this team win. People can say what they want. That's cool. I just want to help this team win and reach our goals.

And then we'll see at the end of all this, if that's true or not. Oh, Mikey, I forgot to say good morning to you. Don't worry, Suze. I feel so badly. Suze.

Mikey. You are fine. But you didn't say good morning to either of us, actually. I just started talking. I don't care about you.

Thanks. Mikey, I forgot. You know I love you. You guys were talking. I know, but I never want to let you think that you're not top of mind to me. All right. I know, Suze. Come on. You never have to say that. Hey, Albert, thank you for taking the time.

I know you're super busy and that you're going from conference to conference and zoom to zoom and sharing your information with everybody. But I just like to ask grown men about Tush's. That's just why I'm here. So how are you this morning?

Well, I traveled all the way to Minnesota to ask grown men about that. And I think we've given it plenty of oxygen over the last couple of months. So hopefully this is the end of it. We'll see.

I mean, is this it? Is this the end of Tush Push Gate? Are we finally going to push this one over?

I mean, I think they're going to vote something through, Suze. I think the league office, the commissioner wanted out. Now, I think what's interesting about it is that really there's two trains of thought. There's the league offices train of thought, and then there's the other teams train of thought. The league offices train of thought on this has generally been, it's a dangerous play. And Howie Roseman kind of fought back against that at the league meeting where, you know, he stood up and said, well, show me the injury data. I'm all for player safety.

Show me where the data is. And there wasn't data, but what Dr. Alan Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer said at the time was because of the posture of the quarterback and the way the play is run, if something does happen, it's going to be catastrophic. So that's the league's concern. Then you have the other teams saying, well, this isn't even a football play.

This is a rugby play. And I think when there's like that inconsistency there, that's why the Eagles feel targeted. They feel like different people are coming up with different reasons to take something that they're really good at out of the game. And so, you know, I think part of the effort over the last two months has been to make sure this isn't strictly about the Eagles and the wording of the rule proposal in March was very narrow. The revision, which, you know, the Packers submitted to the league yesterday is much broader.

And it goes back to a rule in 2004 where all pushing and pulling of a teammate was prohibited. So that's what I, that's what they're going to discuss today or tomorrow when they talk about the football matters tomorrow. And, you know, my guess is they find a way to get something through. Now, I don't know if it'll be this specific rule, but they were at 16, 16.

Now they've revised it. They need to get to 24. I think it'll be close, but I think they're going to get something through. So then what happens? I mean, can they take this? Does that mean that it's out a hundred percent if it goes through? Does that mean that the Eagles can finesse and change things around?

Like what's it mean? I would actually tell you, Susie, like go back and look at a lot of those plays. The Eagles are so good at it. A lot of times Jalen Hurts is over the line before his teammates even get behind him. So like, I don't know that the Eagles need that actual extra momentum that the teammates behind him give him to pick up the first down in these situations because they're so good on the front end with the linemen and with Jalen Hurts doing what they do. You know, it just sort of feels to me like this could even, I mean, it's unintentional by the other teams, but this, I mean, I don't think it's impossible if this creates a bigger advantage for them because they don't need that momentum on the back end, you know, like, so it'll be interesting to see what happens there. I think the way you legislate is another question. You know, are you going to turn this into a penalty?

One idea that I've heard that's a little different than that is just giving the ref the ability to blow a play dead when he sees the pushing start, sort of like forward progress works. So it's hard to believe, again, how much time we spent talking about this and how tangled up the whole thing has become. And again, we'll see if they can untangle that and come up with something simple they can vote through tomorrow.

Where do the lines divide? Like who votes against who votes for in that room? I would say this one in particular was a little random, but you know, a lot of the, it's interesting, like a lot of the teams from that Shanahan tree were the ones that were more vocal against it.

I think he saw Sean McVay come out and say something. Obviously the Packers are in that tree with Matt Lafleur, the coach there. And, and they're the ones that, that submitted the proposal. And yeah, I've heard the theory that like, maybe it was best if the Packers submit the proposal because they don't have an owner.

So it doesn't look like there's some owner that has a, you know, what across his, you know, what about the Eagles doing this. No, I don't know what you're saying. A what? A what?

Can I leave that there, Susie? That's a good idea. But yeah, I think, I think it's, I think this is, there's a, there's a bigger strategy, a way that the teams that are, that wanted out have approached this. So happens that some of those teams are in the NFC, you know, whether or not you want to see that as a coincidence or not is sort of up to you. And then I think there are other teams that look at this and say, we don't want to create the precedent where one team gets really good at something. And now all of a sudden we're looking to remove it from the game. Like I can think all the way back to 20 years ago when this happened with the Patriots and, you know, Bill Belichick's strategy against the Colts was to manhandle the receivers and it led to, you know, Bill Polian who was on the competition committee, pushing some change there. And, you know, I, I know there were people back then that thought that was a bad precedent that like, just because someone's really good at something, now there's going to be a rules emphasis to try to change it. And the teams that are against doing this against a band going in, I think that's a big part of their logic is, and it'd be my logic too, quite honestly, like it's just because someone has gotten so good at something that it's almost unstoppable, should not be a reason to go in and change the rules on the NFL. Oh, I couldn't agree more. Albert Ver joining us right here on the Rich Eisen Show, Suzy Schuster in for Rich. What about flag football? That's up next.

Where does it look like this is with these owners? And is it going to be, how many players on a team? At first I thought it was one.

And then, you know, Chris is like, it's the whole squad. I mean, what are we looking at here? Oh, I think you first have to go to the reasoning for this, which, you know, like football's a really hard game to export because of the equipment, the insurance, the, the, the, the, the violence of the game, the number of people that you need just to play an actual football game. It's, it's not like soccer or basketball where you can export those, those, those sports very easily.

You, all you need is a bag of balls and either a goal or a hoop and you're good to go. So, you know, I think for the NFL, like as long as kids aren't playing it overseas, it limits their growth. So how can you work around that? Well, you can legitimize another version of the game, which is flag. So that's, they've been doing everything they can to try to legitimize flag football as something more than just a sidecar to the, to the, the, the actual sport, which is, I think how we all grew up with it is sort of like a, you know, like a bastardized version of the actual sport. And so they've done that by trying to put, put it in high schools as a varsity sport. They've done it by trying to like incorporate the game, that game, that version of the game overseas. And then eventually they wound up getting it in the Olympics. And so how this is going to work, I think is interesting because it's such a different game than the, than, than actual tackle football.

And you know, I think there are a lot of questions that need to be answered on that. Like, okay, so like, let's say, you know, you have one player from your team that wants to play for team USA, but then there's another country that wants another player. Is this going to be a situation like you saw an Olympic baseball once where I think Mike Piazza, I might be wrong about this guys.

Didn't he play for the Italian Olympic baseball team? Isn't that right? That sounds right. I think that's right. Right. Like, so, so do you, so for guys who aren't on the US team, then are they free to play for like the team Italy, team France, team England based on their heritage?

Like, could they do that? Like, those are all questions that I think we have to go through. And then to me, like the big broad question here is, are we really going to be that much better than everybody else if we're just putting NFL players out there or is flag football different enough from the regular, from the, from the regular version of the game where it might not be most advantageous to have those guys out there. I think those are all fair questions to ask and all that stuff is stuff that they, that they're going to have to work through. But this first piece of it is I mean, more or less like mandating the teams, allow their players to play, which I mean, could create real competitive issues in 2028. When you think about how important that run up to training camp is for players and getting themselves ready for the rigors of a six month season of tackle football, the fact that they're taking themselves out of that, the fact that they're putting themselves at some risk by playing in another competitive sport.

I mean, some risk, a lot of risk. Yeah. I mean, I think we all remember the Robert Edwards thing, right.

In 1997, I think it was on the beach, Albert. It was, but like, those are, I mean, those are the sorts of movements that you're going to be making. Well, I mean, Michael Irvin tore an Achilles at some kind of like crap game on the beach or like set next to the beach at one point.

I just think it's, it's taking a lot of risk. Yeah. I, Chris, I would say like what anybody with a team would tell you is like, there's a reason why we, like, we put stuff in the contract. Like, like, like the team isn't responsible for a guy gets hurt playing pickup basketball. Isn't this the same thing? You know what I mean?

Team isn't responsible for a guy gets hurt going skiing. Like this feels like the same thing. Yeah.

I don't think it's the same. I think this is the Olympics and the NFL really wants flag football to happen. They've got it to this point already.

It's in Los Angeles. I think you're going to see the A plus stars across the board. Lamar Jackson's going to be quarterback. Jamar Chase is going to be playing wide receiver.

All Aiden Hutchinson is going to be playing on defense. You're going to see all of the stars in this. And I think the teams in the league want it because they want a gold medal to come back to their team that they can show off at the stadium and show off at off season season ticket events.

You're going to see all of that. How do you make it even remotely competitive then though? That's not the point.

The point, this is like 1992 Olympic basketball. This is dream team. This is us going out and whacking everybody. I think that's insane. Do you think that's going to happen? And I don't know. I don't know if like we'll whack everybody, honestly. I told this story a little earlier.

There's some Latvian dude that's going to cover Justin Jefferson. Flag football is a very different sport. It's very different than regular football.

I'll tell you guys this, this is, this is the dumbest story ever. So I'll preface that with I'll preface what I'm about to say with that. But like, I remember you know, when I was in, when I was in college, we won our fraternity league and it was a bunch of guys, you know, we like a bunch of guys, a bunch of us had played high school football. And so we went out there and we won the fraternity league basically running like a, like a football offense and a football defense. So then like, we got like, kind of, okay, like, I wonder if we could go win the Nike league. And so like, there was a Nike league in Columbus that we entered in. And when I say we got the break speed off us, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into and flag football at that, like, and this was like a competitive level, even that, even there, like on like, you know, in some local league, it didn't even look like football. It was laterals reverses. It was all of this different stuff that they were doing.

And, you know, obviously size had nothing to do with your ability to win. I mean, more or less, it was like a bunch of soccer athletes out there, you know, I think is the best way to put it, that were probably most well equipped to play that version of football. So I think that part of it's interesting. It's like, is it necessarily the NFL players that are best equipped for this with a couple of weeks to prepare or is it a different type of athlete who had years to prepare for it? Like, I think that's an interesting question to ask if this is going to all come to pass.

I think the biggest thing too, is these NFL players want to play in it and they are not going to want to go over there and get embarrassed. That's true. Yeah.

Yeah, that's true. And again, like I have no idea. I have no idea what this is going to look like, but I, I can tell you, like, I don't think it's going to look like a, like a football game. Like I think flag football is a totally different deal. A lot of laterals, a lot of weird moves.

Hey Albert, weird stuff that you have. Yeah. Let me ask you this. If you own the chiefs, do you want to see your quarterback? Do you want to see your franchise going and playing?

No, no, no. I, I, I I'll send somebody else's players. Like honestly, like, especially if you're one of these teams that's in a championship window, right? Like those opportunities to win a championship are precious. And I mean, ask the Colts about that. Those years they had Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. And like what that feels like, ask the Patriots about that. Like, did we take it for granted for 20 years that we were constantly competing at that level? Like those chairs, like the, the spot that the chiefs are in right now, right.

On a year to year basis there, those are precious. And so I, the opportunity that like the, the chance that like a year could be flipped upside down by someone getting hurt in one of these situations, I mean, it's a real thing, you know, like it's a very real thing. And I, and I, I, I don't know, like I, I look at it like, this is your profession.

You know what I mean? Like this is your profession. And if you're a professional football player, the idea of going and getting a gold medal is, is great. Is it worth like risking a chance to compete for a championship when you may only have a few of those? Like, I don't know that I would automatically just run to sign up to play flag football in the Olympics. It almost seems like the perfect spot for recent retirees, guys who just retired from the league.

That's where it looks like it would fit for me. And I love flag football. Taylor plays. I love what the league is doing about getting more girls to play more varsity sports across the country for men and women. I love that.

I think it's great. But if I own a team, there is no way I'm going to let my star quarterback go out there. No chance. Right. Like, I mean, the, the, the recent retirees things interesting, like, could you put a Rob Gronkowski out there?

Who's kept himself in great shape. You know what I mean? Like I'm with you on that, Susie. I think that 100% makes sense. Will Blackman out there, throw some of these guys out there who like, who still look like they can play and who still look, no, you want to see Aaron Darnell play.

He can play cause he's out. But I think it's actually an interesting idea to like use that as a pivot. I can remember having this conversation with Joe Flacco. You know, I think it was last year during the season after, you know, one of the Colts wins and, and Joe said to me, he was like, well, I'm going to be able to throw till I'm 50. I know that.

You know what I mean? He's like, I probably won't be able to move the same way anymore when I'm, when I'm 48, 49, 50 years old, but I'll be able to throw for a long time to come. And so you could find a quarterback too. I'm sure that could throw, that could still really throw it.

Who is out of the league, you know? So I think, I think there would be ways to do it. I think the question then becomes like, okay, like, is that enough to amplify the event? Like, do you need current or is the NFL going to be really pushy about that part of it where it's like, no, we want to amplify this and make it as big as we possibly can.

So we need the biggest stars possible in it. And yeah, I mean how all that works, we'll see. You mentioned Joe Flacco. How does this all sort out in Cleveland with all the quarterbacks? Yeah, I would say over the next five weeks, they've got to get a good read on what's going to happen, on what's going to happen in training camp. And like normally most teams will tell you like the stuff in the spring OTAs and mini camp is about education, getting the players up to speed on what they're going to have to do, installing systems, all that different stuff. And then the summer is about competition, but where they are right now, Susie I think that they have to at least get a read on where they're going to be come the end of July.

So what does that mean? Well, that means you've got the two veteran quarterbacks. Is there a gap between Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett? You have the two rookie quarterbacks.

Is there a gap between Shidoor Sanders and Dylan Gabriel? Do either Gabriel or Sanders look like, forget about starting, do either of them look like they're going to be prepared enough to be a backup where maybe you save the roster spot by cutting one of the veterans at the end of training camp. I think you have to start to ask all those questions now rather than at the end of July. Cause I just don't think there's enough reps to go around when you get in the summer based on the rules, the way they are now. And the fact that there's going to be 10 other guys in that huddle, you have to get ready to play a season, you know? So I, you know, running this, like this, this quarterback Derby with four different guys and not knowing who you're going to have back there, that doesn't do a service to the other 10 guys in the huddle that have to go out there in September and October and November and perform at the highest level they can. So I would, I don't know if they'll eliminate anybody in the spring, but you know, I, I, I would think that they would spend the spring trying to get a read on who their best options will be when they get to the summer and then maybe get the, maybe we'll see, there's a little bit of a weighted system when we get to the summer where maybe there's one rookie and one and one veteran, or maybe the two veterans are just so far past the rookies that you have those two guys get a huge amount of the reps when you get to the summer. I think you almost have to do it that way.

And then if somebody shocks you when they get to the summer, you cross that bridge when you get to it. Who's your gut? Who's the starting quarterback? I mean, my gut's Flacco just cause I like, why would you sign Joe Flacco?

Like you can come up with reasons why you, why you acquire the other three, right? Like Kenny Pickett, like you're taking a flyer and a reclamation project. Dylan Gabriel checked every box. And Susie people have asked why they took him in the third round. Like he was excellent in the pre-draft process.

That's how that happened. And then Shandor, I think we've been over why you would take the, the, the, the, the, the chance on him. Like it, it just got to a point in the draft for them where his grade was screened, like the grade they had on him was screaming for, for, for where he was available there in the fifth round. So with those three guys, you're sort of like just taking a shot at getting and having like a long-term answer there. You bring in Joe to start and if Joe's not starting, he might not be around. So I would say they'll probably get a longer look at Kenny Pickett in the spring than they will Joe Flacco just because he's new to there. But I, I would think that, you know, Joe's probably gonna have the best chance to prove that he's their best option in week one. And I would say like, Joe would, Joe has probably got the best chance to start, but I don't think it's like any sort of wide gap or wide margin that he's, he's working wide margin for error that he's working with here. What are your thoughts on Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers? And is there any chance that the Saints are eyeing him now, now that Derek Carr is, is called it a day?

And when does this get decided already? Talk about guys needing to gel. I think this gets decided when Aaron is good and ready for it to be decided.

I, I, you know, I, I, again, like I think like the fact that he's got a personal situation, these deal with the thing, we can all respect that. Like I, I do think a big piece of this for the Steelers is making sure that whenever he shows up, they're getting all of them, you know? And so like if they had signed him on April 1st, everybody would feel a lot better about like, okay, like we know he's our quarterback now, but like then you're amping up the volume on everything. So, you know, like you show up for off season program for OTAs, where's Aaron? Where's Aaron? Where's Aaron?

You're creating noise that doesn't exist right now. Whereas now Aaron can take care of his business. And then when he comes in, he can be fully in. So I think that's why it's, you know, why it's happened the way that it's happened. Is there a risk involved with the Steelers doing it this way and not pushing for an answer?

There certainly is. He could change his mind. He could decide to retire. There could be an opening that comes up that wasn't open before, like happened with the Saints. But I still think the likelihood is that he's with the Steelers and I think the Saints are going to get their good long look at Tyler Shuck and Spencer Rattler and Jake Hayner and probably, you know, go through, I think, a little bit of an organic reset here when it comes to the roster.

You know, having a first year coach with Kellen Moore running the show. And Don Bowie is in the control room crying. Albert, thanks again for your time. I really appreciate it.

I know how busy you are out there. Say hello to Don for me too. All right, Susie. Indeed, I will. All right, guys, let's take a break when we come back. We all double down on my Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese thoughts. Yeah. Go back for more.

Don't please. Where'd the nickname Showtime come from? It was my godfather, Troy Hawkins, him and my dad, but really him. They was watching me play and I would make the diving plays and stuff like that in baseball. And they said that I was always it was Showtime when I was on the field.

And so they always used to call me Showtime, especially my godfather, Troy. Troy Hawkins. That is a name I have not heard in a while. Yeah, that's a Minnesota Twins connection with your dad, right?

Yes. He came up a little bit after my dad and my dad kind of took him under his wing, I think. And then literally ended up having a great career where he played 21 years in the big leagues.

I mean, he plays forever. It seemed like and he I've stayed in touch with him forever. He still comes to a lot of my games, even now.

And he isn't someone that has been a great another great mentor for me. Okay, Patrick. Look, I appreciate you calling in here greatly. And I appreciate the text exchange that I had with you the other day, where you were gentle in rejecting my suggestion to give you a new nickname of the petrol. I really appreciate that. It was it was a good idea. I just kind of was playing down the nickname as much as possible as I at that point. So it's okay. Great. So you're saying you're saying it works for you?

No, no, no, no, no second use. You're saying that it's not a judgment on the actual creativity of the nickname. It's just you attempting to be humble, tamping down any of the accolades right now because you're focused on winning.

Is that what you're saying? Well, yeah, I mean, just for me in general, I mean, it's all about the football. It's all about the team.

And so I know that the nicknames are cool thing to do with social media and everything that's around right now. But for me, it's all about just being a teammate and someone that's just a part of this organization and a part of a team that wants to win. So if you had an ego, let's just let's just again, let's put it in a box here. You have an ego.

You don't care about being humble at all. You're just you're just pounding your chest. Nickname of the patch rule. Do you like it? Be honest. Be honest.

I don't know. There's been so many nicknames that came out lately and I'm just going to kind of keep it at Patrick right now. You're being polite. I like how you're being. Thank you, though. I appreciate it.

That was fun with Patrick. My man, I tried and I failed miserably once again. I'm going to give up that goes. I'm going to give up that ghost until someone else. And I will just say I will just say to all the pats and mats of the world, I'm waiting for you to show up, shine out and see if you deserve it. Oh, boy.

Back on Roku Channel. And you guys have got to stop rich from trying that. That has got to be put to sleep, guys. Dr. Chris Brock is your boy over there. It's my life mission.

Me. You got to encourage him only when it's applicable. And then they make sense, which is zero. You can't feed the beast. OK, you can't do it.

You just got to let those nicknames go to die. What if he comes up with a good one every now and then? No, he hasn't.

The next one will be the first one. They're not good. He's not Chris Berman. You never say never.

But, you know, OK, good point. Never let Chris have those. You know, we can't try the patch or the match right either. They're awful. They're awful. That was bad. OK, I can't get handle when it gets handled. That was I was pretty bad. You know, I had a natural natural started, you know, 15 years ago.

It's it's it's a tired bit. So bad. My nickname was Susie. Don't step on my blue suede Schuster. And he would say it every time he saw me.

He said he was. But let let him have a stick. Rich, let the nickname die. We will take all of your calls today. I see that we're all lit up. But at first I want to go to John in Phoenix, Arizona, for a comment about Angel Reese. What do you have, John? How are you? Thanks for joining us.

Hey, thanks for having me. Absolutely. Just on a side note, I don't know if you guys do polls or not, but.

Can you guys put up like a poll for the patch or the worst nickname ever given like in the history of humanity? That is so bad. Oh, my God. And then he circled back around and tried to like get confirmation, like, oh, if you did have an eagle, he tried so hard and watching from home was cringy. Anyway, what's on your mind? We've got about a minute before break. Apologize that ESPN gave another angle all day at that Kate and Kirk foul. It was a pretty significant shot. She shoved her down.

She got back up. It's not a big deal. And honestly, it's the best thing that can happen to the team. So I agree with your take on it yesterday. People need to relax, man.

It's just seriously, it's not that big of a deal. Also for Brockman, he's kind of making like a angel Reese isn't on her level. This type of, you know, a comparison yesterday, you know, angel or a Caitlin Clark did break the assist record, but she smashed the turnover record last season, almost doubled it. Her PR wasn't, wasn't top 20 in the league. So like we're giving her, she looks a lot better this year after the one game, but we're putting the cart before the heart before the horse right now, like she has not been that great yet. So let's let her be great. And then we'll make those comparisons. But as of right now, like, like I said, she wasn't top 20 in the league last year.

So, but people gave her all these followers anyway, though. So I really appreciate you calling in. We'll keep talking about this throughout this show and also on women's sports. Now that drops on Thursday.

I'll take a listen to that. I think that a women's sports now exclusively on Roku channel that will drop Thursday. And we will be talking about this because I thought John brought up a good point. She's only, you know, one, one game in two games into the season, but she's bigger.

She looks great. And by the way, I love every single thing about these two playing against each other. Stephen A said, it's not a rivalry.

Maybe it's not. They're, they're different positions, but everybody wants to watch the game when those two are on the court together. And that is the best thing that's happened to the WNBA in some time. But you're watching, hoping for something like that, that happened the other day. So is that good or bad for the sport? Well, maybe what you're saying is going in with a negative. People are watching, hoping for some type of confrontation. So is that some people, I'm not going in for that, but like I get what you're saying.

Like the average casuals. Yes. So I guess your hope, Chris, is that, yeah, you come for the circus and then you leave going, wow, there's some actually good basketball. That's still a positive, right? That's still helping grow the game.

What's what's the saying like no presses, no press bad presses correctly. So, I mean, I think if you look at it like that, we are talking more WNBA in the last two years than has ever been talked about. But that's because of one person. I think we need to be honest about that. It's because of one person.

Page backers. Definitely not. So, you know, she's driving the conversation and good and bad. But her fans also need to like tone it down. I think you're right.

One hundred percent. I think she's been nothing but dynamic for this league. We were here for a long time before Caitlin got there.

By the way, my kids wearing a Caitlin Clark T-shirt to school five days a week. But that's true. And that's and that's also like shows like your show and our show and everyone else needs to do a better job of amplifying and talking these girls up. And I think that that's been done in the last few years. And you're kind of seeing that pay dividends with with ratings and you know, the league pass and sponsors and they're adding teams.

So I think that's all it's a it's a growth thing. There's still a relatively young league in terms of the grand scope of sports. I mean, the NBA had been around for 50 years and it was close to being or 40 years. It was close to going away in the 70s and early 80s. So let's just give this guy give this league some time to grow.

And I think everyone's done that. And we're kind of reaping some benefits right now. And now give us a chance, TJ, to celebrate that Asia Wilson's to celebrate the Serena Ionesco's and we and to celebrate the Brittany Griner's and the rest of the women that make this league so strong. We'll talk a lot more WNBA. And I think that's great to have this on a normalized show. We'll keep pounding that every single show. A lot more ahead right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Former MLB All-Star Sean Casey, a.k.a.

the mayor, keeps hitting it out of the park. Take my 30 years of experience. Take the wisdom and knowledge I've learned from the failures when I got sent down my rookie year.

All the injuries I had to overcome. Your mind is the most important tool you have in life. Be relentless.

Keep charging. It matters how you talk to yourself, how you look at the world. That matters. We talk about that.

I don't know. I'm fired up. Baseball's back and it's going to be incredible. I love it. The mayor's office with Sean Casey from Believe. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.