Top 5 Toughest NFL Divisions

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I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Wow, this place is great.

When can we move in? The Rich Eisen Show. In front of God Country and Chalamet, the New York Knicks have to do it. And that means Brunson's got to do Brunson things. Right wing three. Brunson off the dribble. He got it and won!

Four point play opportunity for Brunson. Earlier on the show, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix. Still to come, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, actor Scott Porter. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Wow, all right. Hour number two of The Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

Not to go all around the horn, but we already have errors and corrections going on here after hour number one. We got a call from FETI in Italy playing the Broncos' win-loss game. First, I have too many international editions of the win-loss game. We do not. We do not. But it just shows you that we're heard around the world, which is the most important thing. But you had mentioned that FETI was on the Adriatic.

I'd never heard of that. Susie has. She's already texted me. She wants to go. Thanks, FETI. Okay. So we just know which week we can't go because that's where I postponed my jury duty to. But just know you will be there at some point. No, I guess we're going to FETI.

We're not going to McDonald's, I'll tell you that. Right. Okay.

FETI just cost you a grip, bro. That's okay. We were going to Italy anyway.

I just don't know. But I said that at Albany, every time I hear the Adriatic, I think of this song from Cheers. And I said it was a cliff studying to be on... Jeopardy. Jeopardy. I received a message at, well, Pilar Sorenson, thank you, Pilar, saying it was Coach and Sam studying for Sam's high school graduation. Oh, okay.

Albania, you border on the Adriatic. That was the song. And now we're done. And scene.

Stats and corrections. RIP George Wendt. Yeah. You know, absolutely. And big slicks going down this weekend without him, you know, because he was always there because he was Jason Sudeikis' uncle, correct? Yes, Sudeikis' uncle. And last year they did, oh, the year before they did the Bears scene.

With Travis Kelce was involved in it too, right? Yeah. God. For Children's Mercy Hospital, it's all going down this week. Sarah's there, right? Sarah's there right now. She will be playing softball at... Tonight. At Kauffman Stadium tonight, correct? Correct.

Okay. Very good. Against the Tigers. Big game. Big series. It is that. The Tigers are running away with the American League Central, just like the Yankees are with the East.

Taking care of business. Oh, I'm just, again, I'm looking up. There's no disputing. I mean, I wish I could get back. I'm looking up. I'm looking for the Red Sox. I was looking to my right there to see... I wish I had any retort.

I do not. Yankees come into tonight's series with the Dodgers with a better record than the Dodgers. How about that? Max Fried going against Otani and Freeman tonight.

That'll be fun. Fried's been unbelievable. You didn't think he was going to be this good, did you? I was hoping he would be a great number two to Garret Cole. And then all of a sudden, Garret Cole's like, oh, my all.

Needs Tommy John surgery. Rodone's been amazing. Rodone's been amazing. The Yankees rotation in May has been spectacular. Yeah.

I have Rodone in fantasy, so I don't know how it is. Cody Bellinger coming back to Dodger Stadium tonight, former MVP of the league. He's been great, too. You know, a judge who's flirting now, hovering around 390. Jeez. Oh, my God. I cannot.

I will be there tonight. Freddy Freeman is two in the league and hitting at 359. Right. And Goldschmidt, who's playing first base, is third. Fourth. Fourth. Who's third now? Jacob Wilson jumped him by a point.

How dare you? Goldschmidt, 347. Will Smith, 338. So we got four of the top five hitters in the league. And by the way, speaking of Harvard-Westlake baseball, where Max Fried is from here in Southern California, Pete Crow Armstrong is the latest Harvard-Westlake alum.

He could be the MVP of the National League right now. Yeah. So PCA.

PCA. It's a new nickname in Major League Baseball. And, you know, fortunately, my jury duty prevented me from coming in here and having fun at your expense of Soto now around 220, but the Mets losing to the Chicago White Sox. That was fun. Yeah, we won the series two games. Unfortunately. Unfortunately.

Unfortunately, OK. No, no. Yanks had the broom out in Anaheim and actually applied it. So that happened.

We beat you guys, too. Mike Trout coming back tonight for the Angels. Trout is back tonight. Yes, indeed. That's what I just said.

Not back tonight for the Angels. Wow. Emphasizing the point. Wow. Is this what you did with Susie yesterday? Is that what happened? No, she was repeating me yesterday. OK. I guess it's contagious.

It's still left here in the studio. Not great. It should be two time, two time.

844-204, rich number to dial. So when I was going through security at the Superior Courthouse yesterday, getting ready to go up to the jury assembly room, hoping that I would be either excused from jury duty or be able to postpone it. And I postponed it to later in July.

But just to make sure that next week's like Taylor's graduating, you know, so at any rate, I'm just saying I'm not shirking my civic duties here, coach. But the reason why I'm mentioning this here is because as I was going through security, you got stopped. The police officer who was there said to me, go easy on my Cowboys. First thing he said to me. And I said. In the nicest way possible, because, you know, he had a tie, a tie, I'm like, why would you say that to me?

Like, I'm not that bad, am I? He goes, you, you give it some business. Yeah. So he knows. And then pointed out, I'm not even in the same, just to paraphrase what he said, area code universe is Steven.

That's true. OK. He's a hater of the highest degree. And I'm, I'm about to show my ability to be fair and balanced because right now your head coach is getting roasted. Who? Everybody.

For what? Talking about DAP being in a developmental quarterback stage. I feel everyone is developing their skill set constantly. You at 27 years in the game, you're still developing your skill set. You know what I do every day?

I don't host. I hone. Yeah. You learn your skill set. That's developing. You're getting better each and every day.

That's a problem. Yeah. I just replaced the last two letters of that word host with hone. I'm honing every day. Are you honing?

Always. If you're not honing, what are you doing? Yeah. I know what you're doing.

What? Molding. You're honing. You're molding. You're molding. Honing and molding. You are, you are remediating.

I am. While you hone. Del Tufo doesn't need a hone.

Yeah. He's already at the top. He's already, he's already working at such a high level. He's collecting Emmys while hand feeding rodents in his neighborhood. He did not win one this year. Oh, he didn't? No. Oh, he must be pissed.

How dare, how dare the Academy snub a man who doesn't need to hone his craft anymore. Yeah. Why? Old.

Too old. Actually, we discovered that yesterday. You could, you could, you could, you could also use the newest drop is that the Academy told Del Tufo to go, go chew bark. Thank you. Chew on bark.

Chew on bark. At any rate. We digress.

Your coach is getting roasted. By idiots. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Well, here's the sound bite that everybody's up in arms about.

Let's hear it. Well, I mean, it was asked about Joe Milton, the man who caused the Patriots to choose too far away for the players they wanted in the draft. It's Joe Milton, as you know, he's a winner. Yeah. One of the biggest games that he starts, he's, he's a one and oh starter in the national football league.

That's perfect. He's not actually. Is he not? Drake May started that game. Oh. Yeah, but no one remembers that. He gave Drake May the win. I remember, I remember that. He gave Drake May the win.

I'll remember it for the rest of my life. When Travis Hunter is a two way star, not in New England. At any rate, he was asked about Joe Milton, who was acquired by the Cowboys earlier this off season. Milton, is he more, because he just got in the league last year, he's more in the developmental phase in terms of how you're trying to get him to grow?

I think they all are. I mean, I think Dak is in the developmental phase and that sounds crazy for guys played that much, but like there's things that we're tweaking with Dak, you know, so I don't think it's just for Joe. Joe is a guy that we obviously know all about the talent, but you know, the, the system that he came from in Tennessee, you know, created some challenges in terms of just what he has to learn and things like that. But the minute these quarterbacks think that they figured it all out, that's when it's probably time for them to think about doing something different because the way defense attack in this league, it makes it almost impossible to ever relax. So how could somebody of Dak's stature be in a developmental phase? What people are asking.

That's because people want to draw their own narrative and not just listen to what the main says. 31 year old quarterback with a lot of games under his belt. He's only the highest paid quarterback. Do you think your basis after three Super Bowls decided he was just going to stop growing and he had nothing else to learn? Like that meant you constantly are evolving. You're constant learning. Like, well, let me give you the pushback here.

Let me give you the pushback to that before the pushback before, cause I might be going back to the same courthouse. I gotta be nice. This is the way you talk about your quarterback who's a veteran and who's going to go ahead and give you a shot at the Super Bowl. Just as a, for instance, this, this is what folks think you should be saying when your quarterback's name is mentioned or you bring up the backup, you don't bring up your starting quarterback to say, everyone's still learning, right? This is the way you talk about your starting quarterback woke up the other day and say, I got to get Justin Herbert to the hall of fame.

Let's get Justin Herbert to the hall of fame. You woke up and said that? Yeah. Yeah.

It's just one of those things that you wake up and kind of like three, three 34 in the morning and uh, sometimes that's when your best ideas come. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Yeah.

You kind of process that and that, that would mean winning a couple of Super Bowls and uh, and that'd be a lot of, it'd be a lot of people would benefit. Have you ever said those words to Justin Herbert? I'm going to get you to the hall of fame or I want to do that. No, I haven't. I just, that was, uh, really you're the first person I've said, just as a, for instance, you know? Okay. He also said the chicken was a nervous bird and we can, we can go down the list of things. I know I'm, I'm holding up, um, a, um, an unconventional example as a contrast. That's again, you know, potentially a learning curve moment, a learning that, you know, when somebody is bringing up a newly acquired backup quarterback to a head coach, you don't just say he's developing, but so is our $60 million a year quarterback.

So let me ask you this. If Schonheimer had said something, the effect of deck is great. He's fine. You know, he doesn't need any development. He's good. You know, with him, the pushback would have been like, well, he's never won anything. Look at this post.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That would have been TJ. He was asked about the backup and in an example, he then mentions how his $60 million a year quarterback is still developing himself. And a lot of folks are wondering what the hell is he talking about when you see it out of context. But when you do hear it, you do hear what he's saying is that he's still working on some stuff and also you could take it in the idea that he's developing in whatever system they are installing, even though the idea was the McCarthy way is going to still be the way since Brian Schottenheimer's there.

And this is, you know, a lot of dust up that's talked about on the last weekend of May while we're waiting for football to actually start to be played. And you are right. Brady, I'm sure was working on things deep into his forties. No one ever called him developmental in his thirties. That's another way to put it. Well, he also had a coach who wasn't in his first year and not a whole lot of, uh, experience talking in front of media types. So this is, this is much ado about nothing when it all, when it all comes down to it, when it all comes down to it.

But I would just counsel the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys to just, when he mentions Dak Prescott, talk about how he's going to win Superbowls, there's no one would fault him for that. All right. But you do realize the amount of pushback and crap he would take. Why? Why? Okay. You're, he wouldn't. Excuse me, TJ Jefferson. It's a what's more likely Friday.

Let me give you one in advance of what we're going to do later on in this program. What's more likely the Superbowl that you're hoping for to hit in Dallas to remind you of the days of yours, sir. What's more likely it will be won by Dak or another quarterback who is either in college in high school or yet to be born.

What's more likely going now he's not, his parents haven't even met. Okay. I know you're maybe using that as your umbrella, but do you really believe that? You really believe that right now? I've got 30 years. Dakota Prescott will not win a Superbowl for the Dallas Cowboys. No.

I feel like I should come over and give you a hug. For what? Because that's sad. What's sad about it?

You know how many other teams, whether they want to admit it or not, have to understand their team, your team, you're never going to win a Superbowl in your lifetime. Sorry to tell you. Oh my goodness. You're probably, how dare you say such a thing to me, I'm like, I'm like fame.

I'm going to live forever. Well, I hope you do. On top of it, on top of that, hold on a second. On top of that, of data that says, excuse me, Washington commander spans two years ago. That's true. We're in the dumpster fire of grease fires. That's true.

Okay. They're sitting there reading the Washington Post every other day about one more hair raising story involving their owner. Jimmer say, may he rest in peace, spoke out and then poof, he's gone.

Now look at him. If you asked a Washington commanders fan, what three years ago, right? Four years ago, whenever Snyder was ousted, are you going to see a Superbowl in your lifetime? I'm sure they'll say yes.

They would not have, I don't know that you could have said that to them. You're not going to see one in your lifetime. Number of people walk up to me saying, is Dan Snyder ever going to be sent packing? That was the number one question I got from a commander Washington sports fan.

Okay. Now look at him. The chiefs, every chief's fan we know, every chief's fan that's celebrating the big slick and raising money for children's mercy this weekend, Mahomes came out of the sky. Burrow comes out of the sky, Josh Allen comes out of the sky. There's only one of those guys who've won a Superbowl. Well, what's more likely they will win one of the next several or, or not never. I don't know.

You can't tell me, you can't tell me. And you, I feel that's why I want to come over and give you a hug that you think here Dak Prescott will not win you a Superbowl. Oh, I ever hear sitting in this chair is Dak stinks and the Cowboys stink. I don't see that ever.

Okay. You know how I feel about Dak. I feel like I'm losing my mind right now.

Like this is groundhog day and, and like, and what, what are we talking about myself? Every person who calls, that's the narrative that Dak stinks. The Cowboys can't win.

They haven't won a Superbowl or a playoff game in 30 years. So how about this? I believe, how about this going to win?

How about this? Well, I do try to make, you're making me sound like I'm crazy or something because I do think that I do think Dak's going to win you that's you're alone in that, but how about that? And I, and I'm not crazy because then why don't you sign this piece of paper?

If you feel that way, why would I sign it? Just because I don't think you're going to win a Superbowl. What? So then I go to the next team and they don't win the continuously jumped squads until I find the next new England Patriots dynasty.

We could, we, we could, we could put up a certain meme with all these penance and how many football teams are on there? There's just one. Yeah. Okay. Exactly. One. One. Is this the opposite of a giggle fest?

No, this is, I can't believe we're having this conversation fast right now. Yes or no. You, you break the tie.

Does he do it or he never does it? And brought man. If you say anything other than, no, let me, let me soften it. Let me soften it. Let me soften it.

Was it a piece of steak? Hold on. Hold on.

Do they make it? No. No.

Does Dak Prescott have the ability to do it? Oh yes. Hell yes. Hell yes.

Can I be, I'm looking directly into the camera. Does Dak Prescott have the ability, the heart, the soul, the execution to win a Superbowl, to be a Superbowl winning quarterback? Hell yes. Absolutely. Will he have the roster around him and the right coaching staff?

Now that's the question. Yeah, exactly. The coaching staff and the front office has not done Dak a lot of favors, but he has the ability.

He's also been very unlucky with injuries the last few years. Correct. This is not a Dak hating spot, sir. I've got more faith than you do. I'm timestamping this at 10 18. Please. I don't think we disagree. Can he do it? Hell yeah. For sure. Does he have that within his body, within his work ethic? Hell yes, he does. Which is why the Cowboys pay him and keep them there because they feel the same way.

Despite his developing situation. I'm going to come over and give you a hug. I'm going to take a break. I'll hit you with this kendo stick.

If you come. Tom Polisaro is not in his usual spot. I don't know where he is. I'm not. I'm really not. Tom's not in his usual spot.

We're going to find out where he is. Well, you told him he had to get his hair right. I did not ever say such a thing. Well. I said, don't cover it up.

It's a big difference. He's got to make sure it's right. Maybe Tom's in Italy. That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Welcome to AutoZone.

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Ask your doctor about Evglis and visit evglis.lily.com or call 1-800-Lily-Rx or 1-800-545-5979. The Clippers ever going to win one? No. Oh my God. My God.

What are you doing? Are the Mets going to win one? Yeah. Absolutely. In my lifetime we will.

So which one, which are your teams? Can we put, would you mind if we pop that on? We do have the meme that we have, the famous Rich Eisen show, TJ Jefferson meme. The New York Mets will win a world series. Cowboys know. The Cowboys know.

The Sixers know. Florida State will win a national championship in football. What about Penn State? Penn State, I'm not sure.

The Penns, yes, they will win another Stanley Cup. Georgetown probably not. Duke, yes. Clippers, no. There you go. Okay.

What about Wambunyama? If we put that one up there. We will win a title. We need to know where Archibald Jay Manning. We need to know where he's going to end up. Okay. Do we know where that, do we know, do we need to find out where he's going to end up?

Well, yeah, before we do that, because that banner will, will be added. Tom Pelissero, let's pop him on right now. Tom, where in the world is Tom Pelissero? Where in the world is Tom?

In the world. You might be able to tell from the occasional flickering of lights bouncing off the walls behind me, Rich, I am high above Times Square right now. Oh. Actually, taking a weekend with my wife, who's currently on a work call downstairs, so you can see how these two tend to go.

And yeah, we are, we are seeing a couple of shows that I believe you've seen. We're going to be with Mr. Clooney tonight. Okay.

Good night and good luck. Very good. That's, it's well done. It's so great.

I never want to correlate a flicking light with Times Square though. Are you going, I know, right? Are you going to see Glengarry, Glen Ross as well, Tom? That is also on the docket. Sarah is currently pushing for a double header with a Saturday matinee to also fit in Sunset Boulevard, which I thought I had a chance to talk her out of until we checked into the room and we were literally overlooking a 100 foot high end with Nicole Scherzinger for Sunset Boulevard, which also has sort of gotten me on board with the whole thing.

Well, that's a sign, literally and figuratively. Tom, kind enough to take time out of his personal, his PTO, if you will, in NYC to join us here on the program. I don't know what it is, man, but I'm hearing out of Cleveland that Shadore is impressing, Tom, that Shadore Sanders is 100% in a mix for a starting quarterback job at the Cleveland Browns. I understand it's organized team activity. I understand there's a lot of shorts. There's a lot of, you know, guys that aren't, he's throwing on air maybe, but what are you hearing out of Cleveland, Tom?

Well, let's start with this, Rich. If you said, what type of quarterback is going to thrive in that environment in OTAs where it's a lot of seven on seven, there may be some 11 on 11 mixed in, but there's no pass rush, really no pass rush. There's not, yeah, helmets, you're trying to play within rhythm. It's going to be a guy who's really, really accurate and Shadore absolutely is. So it's not a surprise. Now, I know there've been the statistics that were kept in that first OTA practice that was getting sent around. It doesn't sound like those stats were necessarily accurate, nor can you go apples to apples on one OTA practice, particularly when not all practices this time of year are open, but it would not shock me at all if we're talking about this Romanian Open competition with Shadore Sanders as a part of it as we get up towards training camp. The real questions are going to be, Rich, if Shadore or Dylan Gabriel, if two guys are drafted outside of round one, typically, quarterbacks drafted round two or later are not in the mix to start, certainly not round three or later, as both these guys are, would not surprise me if they're at least alive because you're talking about 40-year-old Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett as the other guys in the room. Let's see where we are as we get into training camp.

Let's see how the reps are divvied up. I know Kevin Stefanski, every time he's asked about who's going first and who's with us too, just keeps saying, don't read into it, it doesn't matter. It will start to matter when you get into training camp because that's a limited number of reps. You're trying to not just figure out who your quarterback is going to be, but how do you build the rhythm and timing and tempo in the passing game? If it's all Joe Flacco with the ones as we get through the first couple weeks of training camp and into the preseason, then that would probably be a pretty strong sign that they're going to go with what everybody has thought all along would be the option. If suddenly we see that these other quarterbacks are gaining opportunities, maybe they're more open-minded than perhaps it might have seemed on paper. So why are they splitting reps in Tennessee, Tom? What are you hearing from there? Will Levis even basically admitted he's not starting for the Tennessee Titans. Quote, he was speaking this week, quote, anyone who's ever been in my situation would agree that it sucks, end quote. What's the point of bringing them along slowly or splitting reps?

What do you think? Well, I think that you look at recent history here and if you're Brian Callahan and Chad Brinker and Mike Borgonzi, all the power players in that organization were figuring out the best way to bring along a number one pick. You can look back at recent years and say, okay, how did other teams handle these types of situations? You remember Frank Reich named Bryce Young the starter, I want to say right around this time of year, it was like early June and he just flat out said, hey, this guy is going to be the starting quarterback. With the Bears, with Caleb Williams, there was no doubt about it. They essentially announced at the draft that, yeah, this guy's going to be starting week one for the team. And that's not to say that that's the reason those guys, it's certainly in Bryce's case may have struggled out of the gate, but there is something to be said for, okay, let's engender competition throughout the program. Let's set the tone that this is how it's going to be. We're not just going to say that's the guy. And then if Cam Ward falls flat on his face and Will Levis has some type of an epiphany and stops turning the ball over and plays great in camp, that you're going, well, we're going to play a guy who hasn't been as good in practice.

You want to send the message that practice matters. Again, we've seen other coaches handle things differently. Not to equate, obviously, Frank and Matt Eberfuss did not survive their first season with that number one pick quarterback. I wouldn't say that that's a direct impact on this situation, but certainly you're looking back through, okay, what has succeeded in the past? What types of environments have these guys come into?

And they obviously came to the conclusion that the best thing would be to send the message to Cam from GO. Even though he has tremendous work ethic, he brings people with him, he does all the things right, still send the message, hey, we're going to start this thing out by you earning that starting job. And every expectation is that by the time we get into the preseason, that certainly he's going to be that guy. Okay, so let's just open your book. You tell me, what is the big story for you that we're not talking about or should be talked about or you're hearing about, Tom?

Well, I mean, I think we've talked plenty about Aaron Rodgers. Well, I mean, what's the point, though? You know what I mean? I don't know, right?

Because the only way is to get in his head and to figure it out, right? Not to interrupt you, but... No, you're right. But I do think that, I know you asked me last week, what's the midnight hour, and there's not a clear answer on that because Mike Tomlin in particular has just made abundantly clear he's willing to wait. There is going to come a time, though, Rich. There is going to come a time where there's so much time lost, does it make sense for the Steelers, a blue blood type of an organization that has never kind of been strung along by a player?

Certainly not like this, certainly not publicly, much less a 41-year-old quarterback who hasn't played well in four years. That time is going to come. The next checkpoint is going to be the mandatory minicamp. That kicks off with the Steelers on June 10th. So you're talking about the next 10 days, we might have an answer.

If the answer at that time is, I'm still not telling you what the answer is, that really is going to raise the specter of, are we really going to do this for another six, seven weeks? And then in turn, the ripple effects on, what does that mean for Kirk Cousins, who doesn't have a clear place to go? If we get into training camp and Kirk Cousins is still on the Falcons, does he even want to get traded? Does he want to go someplace else where he doesn't have the reps and doesn't know players or doesn't know the offense?

There's the impact on that. And beyond that, there's really not anybody else out there for the Steelers to go and get. I can't think of another situation like this since probably the guy who preceded Aaron Rogers in Green Bay when Brett Favre took it all the way to August 18th with the Vikings and then showed up and had a miraculous run. I think that with Aaron Rogers, the part that we probably aren't talking about enough rich is this. In my mind, this is going to be an A or an F. This is either going to be similar to Favre coming in in 2009, where at an advanced stage in his career, he puts the whole thing together and just is able to, in this case, goose 17 games plus playoffs out of his body and hopefully not throw an interception to Tracy Porter at the end of the championship game.

But Brett Favre played at an unbelievable level. So that's the A scenario. The F scenario is it looks like it did last year with Aaron Rogers and he just doesn't play well. And then the Steelers become a team to watch in the 2026 draft because you could be talking about now, I know Mike Tomlin has a long history of finding ways to get to nine wins with his teams, but you might have a top 15 type of pick.

You got additional ammunition and you can potentially go up and get a quarterback. I think that's how you have to think about this in the big picture from the Steelers. Whether Aaron Rogers comes or not, 2026 is really going to be the target point for what they do going forward at the quarterback position here. And with Rogers, unlike Favre, Rich, we haven't seen it. You haven't seen Aaron Rogers play like Aaron Rogers really since 2021. 2022 was not his best year in Green Bay, 2023 last four snaps for the Achilles injury, 24 he's a 40 year old guy coming back from an Achilles.

It took time. You saw flashes down the stretch. We all saw some of the worst football that Aaron Rogers has ever played. So this is either assuming that Aaron Rogers comes, which we can feel very strongly about it. Certainly the Steelers believe that he's coming.

We'll see when that happens. But when he comes, in my mind, this is either going to work at a really high level or this is going to crash and burn in epic proportions here. And it's going to be up to Aaron Rogers and all the coaches and players around him who aren't getting that work with him besides DK Metcalf, who's been throwing with him out in California. All these other people now are going to have to microwave this thing and try to make it work with a guy who is finding time to speak in a variety of different platforms, but not actually call up the Steelers and say what he's doing. So it is possible he's told Pittsburgh he's coming, right?

And that's why they're chilling. I have been told that he has not affirmatively told the Steelers that he's coming. That certainly all indications, if you just look at it logically, are that he's coming based on his comments about, hey, there's a team that plays in Chicago that I might play for.

I'm not playing in New Orleans. He took one visit. He's been throwing with DK Metcalf. He talks all the time with Mike Tomlin.

I know he's talked with Arthur Smith. There's all these signs that he's coming. But he's not affirmatively said, hey, June 9th, book me the ticket.

I'm coming in and I'm going to join this team. That has not happened as of this point. And so, yes, they're operating as if the guy is going to be there. But every day that goes by, you just have that sense of just, A, what's the hold up?

Why does it have to be like this? And B, is it possible that one of the most unique people in the NFL and in the modern era end up making a very unique U-turn at the end of this thing? I mean, June 9th, you mentioned that because that's when the mandatory minicamp is. And again, he's not under contract. So he doesn't have to go to a place that makes it mandatory unless he just wants to go and be a spectator.

Right? I mean, so he's not under contract. It's not mandatory for him until he's under contract. And one would think the only reason why you're mentioning that is that's some of the work that one would think is crucially important unless, again, the Steelers are quite content giving those reps to Mason Rudolph and the rest of the quarterback room. And Rodgers shows up when training camp begins, and that's when midnight is. That's it. Because it's not like the Falcons are making Kirk Cousins available despite him not showing up for a voluntary workout.

Tom. Kirk Cousins can be had. The price tag just has been too high at this point, and the Steelers have been committed to the idea of Aaron Rodgers. You're right. I mean, last year Aaron Rodgers was in Egypt during the mandatory minicamp, but he had been there through the voluntary OTAs for the bulk of it.

That was a little different scenario, but they have a couple of different factors here, Rich. Number one, the Steelers are a team that they don't have, it's not bad attendance, but it's not as high of attendance as you get with certain other teams. We know TJ Watt hasn't been there.

This is the time that all the veterans are coming together. This is kind of the launch point that you have into the offseason, which is part of the reason that it became such an issue, at least publicly, as well as to a certain degree behind closed doors that Aaron wasn't there last year. The second part of it, though, is think about the circus in an extremely quiet time of year, whether that is in June or July or August. There's not a ton going on around minicamp time, end of July to start training camp or even through the preseason, right? So whenever Aaron Rodgers shows up, it's going to be, maybe not the level of far of an 0-9, but it's going to be a big story, right? The media is going to descend, there's going to be a lot of buzz around it. Every player, every coach is going to be asked questions about it. If I'm the Steelers, if I'm a player on that team, if I'm a coach on that team, if I'm the owner of that team, I want the circus to happen as soon as possible.

I want the part about Aaron's coming in and what's he going to say and how's he going to explain. I want that done. I want that dead and buried before we show up to Latrobe for training camp.

I don't want that coming out there. I want it to happen as soon as possible. I mean, think about it. You got six, seven weeks after minicamp to the start of training camp, I think it's about six weeks, for everything to sit again and for all those questions to persist and for talk shows to lead with the story about what's Aaron Rodgers doing. You already, I mean, going back when Cam Hayward made a comment, what was that, a month, two months?

I don't know. This has been going on a long time. Basically saying like, hey, you want to be a Steeler or you don't. There are people in that locker room who I believe, Rich, would tell you they're already over this entire thing. They just want to know what's going on and they're sick of hearing about it and they're sick of asking about it. They don't want to discuss it anymore. Last thing for you, Tom, we found out, you know, a lot of people think, you know, Vrabel is just a Belichick 2.0 and maybe in this regard he is because I think somebody, if Belichick was still in New England, would have to explain to him who Cardi B is, right? And I think Vrabel probably knows who she is already and if he didn't, he sure does now. Is there anything going on with Diggs and the Patriots we should know about or just another instance of it's voluntary, he's not there, you know, he's still doing the rehab, he's still doing the work, no big deal? What's going on there?

Tom? Well, I certainly have questions about how on a boat of 12 people where the guy who paid for the boat ends up on the video that he goes viral and becomes an issue. I have a lot of things that are unanswered about that aspect of things. But no, I mean, listen, it's a voluntary part of it. I never totally get why players who are rehabbing injuries do it on their own because if you suffer a setback or something, that can jeopardize your guarantees and everything else. But Diggs is, you know, he's one of the hardest working practice guys that you're going to have.

He goes 100 miles an hour at all times. You can see it on his Instagram and the other videos, you know, of him, what he's doing to rehab. He's pretty far along in his process. They are certainly optimistic that when they get into the regular season that he's going to be ready to roll. You know, there's been no comment from the league. There's really not been a comment from the Patriots outside of Mike Vrabel saying they want everybody making good decisions, which, you know, probably speaks loudly on that front in terms of what he may have not regarded as the greatest decision to be in that position and to have that be on video.

But no, I don't get the sense that there's anything there other than this is one of those, you know, ridiculous things that we have a handful of every year. And some teams got to have a conversation about what in the world are you thinking, man? All right. Tom, thanks for joining. Good night and good luck has no intermission.

It just goes straight through. I heard. Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross has an intermission and a very quick first act. Didn't see Sunset Boulevard. Can't give any heads up there other than the fact that, you know, Norma Desmond is, it's all good though. Okay. You can just text me the best routes to the restrooms, Rich. I would also, that's the only other information I need.

They're all, they're all, they're all, they're all lighted and clearly marked. You'll be fine. Don't worry about it. Appreciate it. What's up, fellas? Sorry. Not as cool as when you, that's a new, that's a new musical saying hi to all the fellas in the studio.

Yeah. It's a Rogers and Hammerstein. Good to see you, Tom. Good to see you, Rich. That's Tom Pilsar, everybody.

Enjoy New York City. Rogers and Hammerstein. They did Oklahoma.

Aaron Rogers and Hammerstein. That's where we're going right now. Is that his new receiver?

Nope. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Knowing you could be saving money for the things you really want is a great feeling. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Average options are selected by the customer.

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Visit amazon.com slash prime to learn more. Rich Eisen here on the turf at Kauffman Stadium. It's Big Slick Weekend 2018 and it kicks off right here on this diamond where dreams are made or totally destroyed with one swing of the bat.

The celebrities come out and play softball. Some of them are good, a few of them are good, not many of them are good, but we're going to see the heart on display for this weekend. We're here for Children's Mercy Hospital. Last year, $1.7 million raised. The goal is at least $2 million this year. We're all here on behalf of making sure that sick kids get better and the parents of the sick kids understand that there are good things around the corner, even if it may be dark before the dawn.

The BigSlickKC.org is how you can check things out and the Big Slick Weekend begins here officially tonight. I'm looking behind my spot on the bench, I see Brett Saberhagen, he's an all-time gray. Look at us.

We're in the same world. Yeah, baby. No one can ever take this away from me.

Big Slick. I'm here with Charlie Day, we're about to face off Charlie, I'm not going to lie to you. Yeah, you're dead to me right now. When was the last time you played a softball game? It's got over five years at least, but I'm always playing a softball game in my mind. You're mental reps. So I feel prepared.

I'm with Rob Riggle, who's my team manager. What are you hoping to achieve here tonight, Rob? What do you want from your troops?

What do you want out of me? Really, there's only one thing. Victory. Five guys who are from this area who have become very successful in their own right all come back together and put their hearts on display. Folks drop what they do for a whole weekend to come to the nation's heartland and raise money for sick kids. And with Rudd and Sudeikis and Stone Street, Riggle and Koechner leading the way, we're all here to make sure that everybody has a good weekend and that kids have a long and happy and healthy life.

Beautiful, I appreciate you running that. Riggleandkoechner.org is still the spot for you to donate to, and that's all going down this weekend again in Kansas City. Everybody should donate. Give as much money as you can.

Children's Mercy Hospital is quite the spot, a lot of angels in that place. And so Sarah's playing tonight, right? Yeah. She's back out on that diamond?

Back out there. She has not been practicing much like you in the 40. So that means she'll still succeed immensely when she plays, if it's the same way that I go about it.

Is that what you're calling your play? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Immense success. You know what?

Go run another 40 in your suit. That's exactly what's going to happen. But it's not about me. Don't make it about me. That's what's exactly.

Don't make it about me. I'm wondering if Patrick Mahomes is going to hit another absolute bomb. Well, I hope he will be there. That would be great.

They are scheduled to appear this weekend, him and Travis. What name is she putting on the back? No, as you saw, mine was Bo Jackson.

I think they tell you not to put your name on the back. Oh. Oh, no, she always says that. Oh, so she did? Okay.

Maybe I did that. One year I put Balboni there. Oh, that's funny. For Steve. Yep. Yeah.

I did Lacock for Pete Lacock. Can you say that? I just did. Okay. I don't know why you would ask.

Can I say it? Who did Jean Lamont? Jean Lamont. Jean Lamont.

Jean Lamont. Okay. Okay.

Got a top five. Oh, whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. I know you're surprised. Slow down. I didn't see you coming. Slow down.

Yeah, you did. High five. One, two, three, four, and five. Richest top five.

Top five divisions in football. Give me my music. Here we go.

Give me my music. As you know, there's only eight divisions. Yeah. Right. I had to count that. I know.

Just doing some math. No, no. Forward. I got it. I got it.

I'd have to do anything. Yeah. Okay. Great. Number five on the list is the NFC West. Five. NFC West is five.

Okay. The Rams have a clear shot to win this conference, folks. Conference or division? Conference.

You just heard me say conference. I wasn't sure. Which makes the division is tougher than you think. The Rams came as close as anybody to beating the Eagles in last year's playoffs and they are going to... They're stronger.

They're stronger. I think Seattle is stronger. I think they're going to have a better offensive season. Clint Kubiak is there. We talked to Sam Darnold this week.

I like, you know, Mike McDonald. I like what they're doing. Cardinals are one of those sneaky teams that are always in a game. And guys, the Niners have to be better.

I expect them to be. Yeah, I think you're right. NFC West is number five in this list. Number four on this list is the AFC North. The AFC North is on this list and they're at four on a lot of people or maybe think it's a little too low, but the Browns are dragging them down.

You know what I mean? And, but, but the Ravens are a class of the NFL that can win the Superbowl. The Bengals, if they could play some defense are the proverbial team you don't want to see in the playoffs. True. You don't want to see Joe Burrow walking into your building like ever just play some defense.

Sign Trey Hendrickson and play some defense. Yeah, the problem is their best player doesn't want to play for them. I understand that. You know what I mean?

But it's still just late May. And the Steelers are always, you know, in playoff contention. AFC North is number four on the list.

Number three on the list. The so-called money division of the National Football League that has the two teams that played for the NFC championship last year. And if the Dallas Cowboys can just get back to form, the NFC East could even be tougher than three overall. Giants, let's see what they can do. Uh, but the NFC East has got Jayden Daniels and the commanders as runners up to the defending Superbowl champs look out and your Cowboys should be better. TJ.

We were seven to 10. I mean, they're developing, they're developing. Who's dragging down their division more, the Giants or the Browns? I say the Browns. I'll say that, but the Giants are a one a in that department potentially.

Yeah. Number two on this list is the AFC West. The AFC West is the second toughest division in the National Football League. The chiefs 15 wins last year, went to the Superbowl. They're going to be, I don't know about 15 wins is good this year, but well, right. They're still, I think the favorites to win this division. Again, Jim Harbaugh's 11 win chargers. I love that running game now, man.

Oh, Marianne and, uh, Najee Harris as well. The Broncos, Bo Nix year two, and they're, they're, they're a complete team. You could say about the Denver Broncos. They, their defense is top five potential. They were playing like it last year, two defensive player of the year finalists. They were amazing. Yeah.

Last year. And they, they added some in free agency as well. They're good. Trey Greenlaw can be healthy with a fun on top of it.

Look out. And then, you know how I feel about how Pete's going to plus up the Raiders. 16 and 0, man. They are going to be an improved team. Geno Smith alone. They're, they're off the quarterback carousel.

Can we find him? Brock Bowers year two, let's go. Max Crosby and Christian Wilkins and the rest of that defense should be better. Number one on the list though, is the NFC North. You could make the case that the 2025 NFC North is the best the NFC North has ever been in our lifetimes ever been. And you could throw in the NFC Central days. I'm with that top to bottom. You could say this is the best this division has ever been.

And I don't need to go deep into it, but that's, that's the fact, man. The NFC North isn't just the toughest division in football right now, but maybe the toughest the NFC North has ever been when the Lions and the Packers and the Vikings and Bears have been this good at the same time. I can't recall the last time. And that's my top five, top five toughest divisions in football presented by Hyundai. The all new, all electric Hyundai IONIQ 9.

Space for up to seven range four miles. Do you think we need one more? Sure.

Oh, all right. We'll get one. That's not the right one. Just give me the give me the drop.

We're all looking for here. But it's one more. I did not know this. Coop and I were at the Angels Yankees game the other night. The gentleman who was in our section delivering food in the section came up to me and after handed the food to Coop, said, I'll bring you back one more. And I'm like, what do you mean?

I just ordered this. He goes, no, no, one more. And we appreciate people taking in our show. You need one more.

I'll give you. And I told this to Cooper. I'm like, Coop, you know, you know, you're one more at any rate.

That's awesome. This now leaves only three divisions. And I'm sorry, I'm leaving out both South divisions. I'm choosing the AFC East. Yeah, I'll choose the AFC East because the Bills are as Super Bowl worthy team as any. And your Patriots should be better, should be. The Jets can't get much worse. Stop it.

Mm hmm. Stop it. Stop it. And the Dolphins, let's let's go, man. Dolphins are a shrug emoji team for me this year. But I looked at the South and I looked at the South and the AFC and the NFC, and I'm like, there's no Bills in there. You know, I mean, the Bucks are a tough playoff team and the Texans are a tough playoff team, but they're a little older. Bucky Irving should break out.

Baker's still awesome. I mean, this could be proven wrong by the end of the year. But as we're sitting here right now, I'll choose the AFC East as the one more of my top five toughest divisions of football.

Any any pushback? AFC West too high, AFC North too low. I almost think the AFC North was too high.

You think the the it's not four? I think Steelers and Browns are both going to be pretty bad. You said that about the Steelers every year, and you have not been correct yet. Like pretty bad, like falling wheels falling off the wagon.

Yeah, well, you know what? They they kind of punched above their weight last year. I don't think they were that good of a team. I honestly think they should blow it up and rebuild trade TJ Watt and just. Oh, they they need they need to they need to kind of rebuild. They need to kind of rebuild. Never say never, but never. You're trying to get TJ Watt on the Patriots?

Is that what you're trying to do? It'd be nice for him to get a playoff win under his belt somewhere. It would be. I'd just rather not be with the Patriots. And I wasn't pushing for that. You know what I mean? I'm just saying you need to see that guy and playing some meaningful playoff games. All right. So you put the NFC West above the AFC North. I think so. Yeah. OK, how about them apples? Scott Porter on the Rich Eisen show in our number three. 1 800 Granger click ranger dot com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.