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Try some more. The Rich Eisen Show. Go deep to the end, bro. And it's intercepted by Jalen Ramsey. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.
Jalen Ramsey is now going to be a Pittsburgh Steelers trying to win right now. Why not? Aaron Rodgers is not getting any younger. Earlier on the show. Steelers radio network host Jerry Dulac.
Miami Herald Dolphins columnist Omar Kelly. Coming up. Jaguars Chief Strategy Officer and AEW CEO Tony Kahn. Author Jim Murphy. And now.
It's Rich Eisen. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial. We're all still just reeling from the NBA news today. Um that the Milwaukee Bucks are Taking Damian Lillard's contract, extending it over the next five years, stretching it is what they're saying, and cutting him.
Sending him packing. and signing Miles Garrett with the Miles Turner with the savings. Um And And You know, I'm just thinking more about it and reading more about it during the commercial breaks. you know, our buddy Brian Winhorse pointing out that Damian Lillard is going to be on the The cap sheet for the Milwaukee Bucks over the next five years to the tune of. $23 million a year.
Yeah, I know. It's wild. And that based on some of the math with these things, again, stretching this, stretching that, that the $113 million is a new. Cut and stretch. Record?
That sounds like a curb your enthusiasm thing. A stretch and cut. Like, oh. I think this is where I'm going to be sitting on the line here. That The um The record previously to this was set 25 years ago, a $31 million.
Stretch and cut? Bison Dale was that guy? Brian Williams, R. A. P.
And um So This is Wild. Wow. Yeah, Windhorse ec equated it to, you know, Um You know, I I guess Mortgaging your car, mortgage, you know. Hitting your mortgage so you could buy a new sports car? It's good.
Was his uh analogy? I can't blame him for thinking this way. that hopefully Miles Turner is the man. And that Giannis is cool. with everything.
Once again, Chris Haynes popping in to say. That Lillard didn't even uh hear from The um Bucks on it. Man, if that's true. and that he learned about it publicly, just like we all did today. I mean, we can't be surprised.
It's not the first time that we've heard something on this. No, no, of course people hear about stuff over two years to the day since Lillard's first trade demand was made public out of Portland. And he's rehabbing an injured Achilles. out for this coming season. And when he comes back from it, I guess You know.
Um That's Mm-hmm. He he he I don't know. Stay out east so you can Haunt the Milwaukee Bucks? Does he go to the Pacers? I mean, is this a case where he could go back to the Bucs?
Oh, I think it's a good idea. Back to the bucks. They just cut them. And why would you, you know? And I mean, like we said, we don't know how these contracts, you know, dumping salary.
I would find that hard to believe, TJ. To be honest with you. But that's for down the road. Yeah. He's got to get a bunch of stuff.
That's a stunner. That's an absolute stunner. And Miles Turner better work out. I mean, Because Lillard's going to be on their cap sheet.
Well, they wouldn't have had a lot of people. $23 million a year. But the number of, I know that, but the number of times that you. you hear about um You hear about they're capped out. They only you could get a $14 million exception if this happens, but only $7 million unless you make this move.
I I don't know. Kind of hamstrings you, but at least this was done to make sure Giannis is happy, I guess. Mm-hmm. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial on the program. Let's go to Logan in Sacramento, California.
He's been hanging on for about an hour. What's up, Logan? You there, Logan? Oh boy.
Some people just put us on hold and then he's like talking to a muted phone. All right, put Logan back on hold. Our daily segment. Let's do it. Yeah.
84412 for Rich. Who wants to be a Hall of Famer? Is that your final answer? It's time for who wants to be a hall of famer. We've been doing this for a week plus.
We're wondering if an individual no longer plays another down, another snap, another. Game No more at-bats in baseball. No more. No more sports days for whatever reason. Is this person a Hall of Famer based on what?
they've already put out there. Today's candidate for who wants to be a Hall of Famer is Derrick Henry. Oh, wow. 136 career games played for the thirty-one-year-old. 2355 carries, that's 32nd all time.
His rushing yards total is 19th all-time, 11,423. He's ahead of Marshawn Lynch, Earl Campbell, and Jim Taylor.
Okay. 106 touchdowns. That's tied for sixth all time. Yeah, that's really good. With Jim Brown.
Those who are looking up at him on the all-time list are named Marshall Falk, Barry Sanders, Jerome Bettis, Eric Dickerson. They're in the hall. Um His 99-yard single-game. longest rusher of his career. It's time for first all time what Tony Dorse said.
Five-time Pro Bowler, first team all-pro, once, only once. Three time, second-team all-pro. He won Offensive Player of the Year once 2020. He's led the league in rushing two times, rushing touchdowns three times. He had the most rushing yards in a single season by a player older than 30.
That just was this past year, 1,921 rush yards. Beating out Tiki Barber's 1860. Tiki, as we know, is not in the Hall of Fame. His brother is. Only running back in NFL history with two 1,900 or better rushing seasons.
Rushing yard seasons, obviously.
So I'll start it. Since I put him in the Hall of Fame three years ago, you know what my answer is. You did. Three years ago, I came on this show. It might have been after he had that 99-yarder.
I'm like, this dude. is a Hall of Famer and you're like, I don't know, not yet. I can't wait to hear your answer on this one now. You bet he's a Hall of Famer. It's not only he's a Hall of Famer, I've got what his bust would look like.
There it is. It's going to be a great bus. That should be it. As you know, not many busts have a helmet on the player. They want to have just see their face, but maybe we'll just do this face.
Hopefully, the bust has the bust ever. Yeah, maybe better have the braid, TJ. You know?
So You bet Derrick Henry's a Hall of Famer. He doesn't have to play another snap. He could just say, you know what? I've had enough. And I I'm telling you guys.
He's got 11,423 rush yards. If he keeps this thing up. You know what I mean by this. He's currently 19th on the all-time list. He will pass Steven Jackson.
In maybe his first drive of the season, he's only 15 yards behind him. Yep.
Now again, Stephen Jackson's not in the Hall of Fame. he would pass Fred Taylor. For 17 on this the all-time list 17th. With 270 yards. Yeah, he'll pass Fred Taylor in like week three or four, probably.
Or, or, you know. Quarter w Two of week two. You never know. I know I'm a strap. He should pass Thurman Thomas.
Frank O'Harris, let's just give him a thousand-yards rushing again this year, right? No, I know. He goes all the way up to 11th. He goes all the way up to, he beats Jim Brown out there. Yeah, he'll pass Jim Brown this year.
Let's give him 1,500 yards. He's in the top 10. Yeah. This is a big year for Derrick Henry, but I know we're talking about if he never plays. By the way, yeah, all that's great, but that's not really.
I'm saying to you, all of this that if he continues on and plays as long as, let's say, Frank Gore did. He keeps his body healthy. He keeps on chugging like he keeps on. over year after year after year where we think he ain't it. Anymore.
I don't know if Emmett's going to have to start looking in his rearview mirror.
Well I don't want to I don't want to go there I just did Well, that that that's I mean, you're really jumping the gun, but This segment is all about jumping the gun. Oh, I understand. He would have to have, so Saquon Barkley's career to this point, he'd have to have that career starting now. To come close to get close to Emmett. Less than 7,000 more rushing yards to get him.
Yeah. Well, Saquon has 7,200 career rushing yards.
So he would need Saquon's career to this point from now moving on. And Saquon had 2,000 of those yards just last year. Seems unlikely. 1,000 yards a season for the next seven seasons. And you know, this season he's going to have more than 1,000 yards if the guy stays healthy.
That's the if. He's set to have the career of careers. He's a Hall of Famer right now. Christopher, you want to chime in here? Yeah, so when you first brought this up a couple of years ago, he was not there yet.
And I wasn't sure how his career was going to age just because how big he is, the style of play he's in, the offenses, just the sheer volume of carries, that normally doesn't age well. But man, His last three seasons have been incredible. Led the league in carries in 22 and 23, had 325 last year. He probably could have been MVP last year if Saquon didn't have the season that he did, despite not being MVP, but he was offensive player of the year. 325 carries, 1,900 yards last year, led the NFL in touchdowns.
He's absolutely a Hall of Famer if he never played right now. He has a. I know we don't talk about him a lot for all the other stuff, but he has a very similar career as OJ Simpson, who has and he's already has more rushing yards than him, more rushing yards than John Riggins, who's obviously an all-time great. Derrick Henry is outstanding. He may be all three levels: high school, college, NFL, the greatest running back ever in that aspect.
He's awesome. I love him. Absolutely Hall of Famer. All right, TJ, you want to make it a clean sweep? Have we had a clean sweep yet?
I don't think so. No, we disagreed on Tyreek yesterday. Yeah. I mean, look, what I said earlier, all those stats you were giving me if, if, if, if I was, you know, ifs. This game doesn't count in ifs.
We're talking about today as of 10-11 a.m. Today, on July 1st, would he be a Hall of Fame or not? If he averages that in a third. Yeah. Yeah, the only two guys above him rushing wise that Are not four guys, I'm sorry.
Fred Taylor, Steven Jackson, Frank Gore, Adrian Peterson. Are all four of those guys going in? I think Adrian Peterson does. AD gets in, Gore gets in. Do Fred Taylor and Steven Jackson?
Fred Taylor's been a finalist recently, but he probably won't get in. Neither will Steven Jackson, but he's better than both those players.
Now, the fact is, he's accomplished more in nine years than Russia. You're only above him because in.
Well, I know it's about today. I know it's about today.
So, to make a long story short. First ballot? No, but yes. If Derrick Henry never played another down of football as of July 1st today, at some point he would get in the Hall of Fame, yes, but not as a first ballot.
Okay. So we just did a clean sweep. He is a Hall of Famer.
So when the Ravens take the field in Buffalo on. Um The first Sunday night of the season, you could say there's a Hall of Fame running back on the field right now. I think so. Yeah. Now, doing your game where you're looking ahead rich-wise, I did the math here.
It's a fun look ahead. If you take his lowest yards per year. per season over the last three seasons and you Provided that or added that for three years, he'd end up with almost 15,000 yards rushing over the next. three seasons.
So that would place him Of his last seven seasons, only one were less than 1,000 yards, and he played eight games in that year and had 937 rush yards. He averaged 117 rush yards per game.
So there's a good chance that he's going to crack. He'll definitely crack the top five. There's no question at the end of the day. He just gets 1,000 yards in the next three seasons. If he plays five more seasons and averages 1,300 rush yards.
Yeah, I didn't want to go that far to the end of the day. I don't like this result. He's had, as a 30-year-old, he had 1,921 rush yards. As a 28-year-old, he had 1538. As a 26-year-old, he had that's when he joined the 2,000-yard club.
As a 25-year-old, he had 1,540.
Okay. If he averages over the final five years of his career, 1,386 rush yards, he passes Emmett Smith. He's in hailing distance. We never thought we would talk about that sort of thing. I don't want to talk about it.
Well, I mean, I understand why. I get it. I want that record to stay on the street. And it just shows you how incredible that record is that we're talking about Derrick Henry in this position as he's turning. You know, 31.
And also, Rich, we talk about his longevity. We've seen the way the man turns down cake, Chris. He told us about his diet, the things he keeps himself in extraordinary condition.
So there's really no reason to believe that his body wouldn't be able to hold up for the next five years, just based upon the way the man eats and trains and does it. When we spoke to him two weeks ago, he seemed engaged. Yeah. Even just playing the 75%. Let's play 78% rule.
He gets 75% of his previous year's yardage in the next three years. That's 3,300 more total yards. That puts him at 14,700. That puts him just behind Adrian Peterson for fifth all time. Yeah.
And just one last thing on on me pounding this drum. 1,386 yards. If he gets over that this year. The average number of yards he needs in the final five years of his career goes down. to get Emmett.
And the last time he didn't, he didn't have, he had 1,167 in his last year in Tennessee. That's his lowest, that's the lowest amount of his career playing all the games. And he does have another game to do. And that's where he's got. He's got his lowest average.
And I know he's got another game in the regular season to add to it that Emmett didn't have. Yeah, I'll be using that in my arguments for sure. 136 games played right now, and he's 19th all time. This dude is a Hall of Famer, man. All right.
What do you say? 844-204-Rich is the number to dial. We take a break and coming back is. None other than Tony Khan, the CEO of AEW Wrestling, and of course. Uh intimately involved with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
franchise So we take a break when we come back. Tony Kahn here on The Rich Isen Show. This episode brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out?
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If you went on a road trip and you didn't stop for a Big Mac or drop a crispy fry between the car seats or use your McDonald's bag as a placemat, then that wasn't a road trip. It was just a really long drive. Ba-da-ma-ba-ba-da at participating McDonald's. Back here on the Roku Sports Channel as well. We'll be joining the radio audience shortly.
We got a lot of runway here, which is good because this man has so many titles that would take up the entire 20-minute segment. He is the CEO, general manager, and head of creative of AEW Wrestling. And the chief football strategy officer of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ladies and gentlemen, back here on the program, Tony Khan. It's great to see you.
Good to see you. Thanks for having me.
Now, listen, you know, I never BS you, okay? Ever, ever. I'm straightforward with you. We have not removed. Your neck brace since You signed it and put it right there on our.
Um bust facts. Since last year, when you were here, it has been there every day.
Now, I know you can't really fact-check me on that, but it's the truth. I swear to you. I really appreciate that. It means so much. And that was great to be able to come here and have that neck brace, be a part of something really special we did for St.
Jude and what you do. You do so much great work for Charity Rich, what you do with Run Rich Run. You're a hero for the work you do. And of course, that's a big part of the NFL draft coverage every year, and that ties back to that neck brace.
So we could circle back to that at the end, but I'd love to talk more about what you do with St. Jude.
Well, listen, what you did as well, I'll say it here as well. You gave six figures, you have $100,000 with that as well. And you're an angel for that sort of thing, brother.
Well, you are. Thank you for saying that. It's the truth. And I'm back here this week because, of course, tomorrow night, Wednesday Night Dynamite is the 300th episode of Wednesday Night Dynamite. Saturday is going to be the 100th episode of Saturday Night AEW Collision.
And with all these great milestones, I came back here. My most important point of being on the show with you today is that I wanted to tell you that again this year, I'm going to be giving $100,000 to St. Jude.
Oh, my God. And I wanted to tell you in person. Tony, yes. Thank you. God bless you for that, man.
Thanks for having me back, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about AW and the Jags and Fulham on your show. You've been such a great friend to me, and what you do for the charity is so great.
So thanks for having me back. Couldn't be, I'm blown away here back on the Rich Island Show Radio Network. Tony Kahn is here. Honestly, we're just as a gag mentioning how the. Neck brace that you wore during the draft two years ago and signed and put on our studio and donated $100,000 to St.
Jude in the process. And you just did it again. And I cannot thank you enough for that. You're a beautiful man. You're a great man.
Thank you. Right back at you. What a great way to start this interview.
Well, we're out of time.
Now, once again, now that the radio audience is here, you are here in Southern California because I give you the floor.
Well, thank you very much. Tomorrow night, Wednesday Night Dynamite, we're celebrating the 300th episode. We're live on TBS and now streaming on Macs. And we're having the best year in the history of AEW right now. And I would love to talk more about that because, well, it's a great success story.
And I'm really proud of it because this is the first year of the Simulcast. You're a Simulcaster yourself, sir. Yes, sir. And you know all about it and the powers of it. And it's been great for us.
Q4, last year, AEW has been on TV. TBS. We've been on TNT. Every Wednesday night, we do a show called Wednesday Night Dynamite. The 300th episode on TBS is Tomorrow Night.
300. That is a significant number, Tony. It is. Since I last saw you, we became the longest-running primetime pro wrestling show in the history of Turner Sports. And that's pretty special because there's been a lot of great wrestling, the history of wrestling on Turner Sports, multiple companies dating back to the 70s.
And Wednesday Night Dynamite is the longest running now. It's the 300th episode tomorrow night. It's a very, very special thing for us. It's also the 100th episode of Saturday Night Collision this weekend on TNT.
So it's a double milestone week, which is why I wanted to come celebrate it with you. And for For AEW, in Q4, we had a great audience and we signed a new deal, an extension, to stay at TBS and TNT, but also to simulcast on Macs.
So in Q1, not only did we become one of the top streaming shows on Macs, but our audience on TBS actually got bigger. The overall audience and the demo share. See, so many people don't understand that streaming is a component. It's not a. a deterrent or a competitor.
Or and when you see all the ratings, I know the NBA is like driven nuts by the ratings talk and all that sort of thing. And obviously, you know, our sport as well, Tony, when you're talking about aggregate viewers, Streamers are an important part. I mean, we're sitting here on Roku, obviously, where you can get all streamers sitting here. And pretty much everything that you've just said, you could see right here on the Roku portal. Yes.
And it's a significant way of doing business now. Absolutely. Obviously, I'm a huge proponent of it. No, and rightfully so. It's been fantastic for this show, and it's been great for AEW.
So we just got the Q2 numbers officially in. Q2 just ended yesterday and Q2 was up from Q1.
So two straight quarters on both TBS with Wednesday Night Dynamite and TNT for Saturday Night Collision.
So ratings have been going up each quarter, and we've been building a streaming audience.
So like you said, you can build an audience on cable. And, you know, these days, it's nice to have a success story on cable. But also, like you said, the power of streaming, you've seen it. And for us, Max has been such a great partner.
So it's a really exciting time for AEW with what's going on on TBS, TNT, and Max growing and building the audience. But for the wrestling fans, the shows have been better than ever. The quality of the show is fantastic. TJ is a big fan. I think he could tell you.
We've just been having absolutely fantastic shows this year. And It's a really exciting time to come back and hitting our kind of a peak going into the 300th dynamite, the 100th collision. And then next week, we're at Globe Life Field doing the biggest show we've ever done in North America, our biggest ticket sales ever, and the biggest thing we've ever attempted. It's normally the show we do at Wembley Stadium, but it's the first time we brought it to America, ADW All In. It's next week, July 12th, next Saturday.
So it's kind of the biggest week ever. That's why I wanted to come here, celebrate it on the Rich Eisen Show, and make the announcement that I'm going to be donating again $100,000 to St. John's. Unbelievable. And listen, I know we've talked about this before.
And you know, talking to your dad about this idea. Have you had a How Do You Like Me Now moment with your dad at any point in time? No, not a single moment. No, no, honestly, he's been so great. No, I've been supporting you.
Yes, absolutely. And honestly, Time I did famously twist his arm to your point. And Christmas 2018 was like a scene out of succession where I was saying we need to make a big eight-figure investment and invest millions of dollars in this. And I have no guarantees. I didn't even have the TV deal.
We didn't secure that until months later, officially May of 2019. But I had been working on it. And he later said, This is a great example of why parents should sometimes trust their kids, even when they don't necessarily believe in the idea. You just got to have faith. Yeah.
Yeah. It's the best dad ever. Exactly. That's right. You're the best dad ever.
I am. I am. But I mean, I might have to move over for Shahad if my kids ever ask me for a. You know, a 10-figure idea or anything like that, you know, to be to partner up. But I've got Tony Khan here on the Rich Eisen show.
TJ, I know you've got questions.
So, what do you got?
So many. First of all, Tony, congrats on the 300th episode. Truly, I mean, you understand, and I hope people at home understand how incredible and how amazing it is to reach that milestone. I guess off the bat, there's so many, but one thing is, you know, the internet wrestling community is loud. A lot, always a lot of noise, right?
And I find that most of it is, you know, bad noise that you don't want to listen to. But every now and then, there are some gems in there. Yes. So. Do you really pay attention to the noise?
And if so, like, how much do you do? Put into what the people are saying. And do you find that you see a suggestion or something that makes you go, wow, I never thought about that? Yeah, absolutely. I've been reading about wrestling online for a long time.
I'm I've been part of the internet wrestling community for 30 years since I was a 12-year-old kid, since 1995 dial-up AOL and going to Big Ten football and basketball games as a kid. Rich, you went to two of our rival schools with Michigan and Northwestern. Very aggressive move in the guest green room having your degrees up. Yeah. A little bit of a flex.
I mean, you know. You know, I mean. There's a brain, is all I'm saying. You're a highly intelligent human being. We all know that.
He's not just a pretty face, though. And he's a very pretty face, too. Thank you, sir. And it's great, you know, to be able to talk about sports and talk about Big Ten. But right now, the Alliance and I are having a bit of a moment ourselves in both football and basketball.
So that's nice. But I grew up on Big Ten football and basketball and wrestling. And really. Who's your wrestler? Who did you love?
Well, for me, I was a big fan of Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Sting. And one of the greatest things I've ever been able to do is have Sting's retirement run in AEW. And TJ will tell you, Sting had the greatest send-off, in my opinion, of any wrestler ever. And I think Sting would agree with that. He came into AEW, went undefeated for three years, from Revolution 21 to Revolution 24.
He had the greatest retirement match ever, ended as a World Tag Team Champions with his sons by his side in the Greensboro. Coliseum, where it all got started, and we set every business record in Greensboro, which is a great wrestling town with a great history. How much did you sit there going? You know, the little kid in you watching that thing happen and you were helping make it happen. Especially the proudest, I think the proudest moment, definitely in my wrestling career.
We've done some great things in sports. I think some of the things we've had happen at Fulham, I'm very proud of that. But definitely, I think. My proudest would be Revolution. And Rich, one other thing, when Tony said Sting's sons, his grown sons came to the ring with him.
They were both dressed as Sting from different parts of his career.
So you got three Stings that came out. His sons looked just like him, different versions of his face paint from different eras. It really was. As a wrestling fan, you treated him so right. And it's how we want the legends of the sport to be treated.
He got to go out. Normally, wrestlers go out on their back, and he got to go out on top, man. And it was just, it was awesome the way his whole run was ended. He didn't ask for that. He didn't demand it.
I don't think he wanted it, but I felt like Sting deserved it. And Sting and Darby Allen versus the Young Bucks for the World Tag Team Championship at AEW Revolution, I think is the greatest retirement match ever. And I think Sting really did the work on the retirement run because Sting to me is like the Tom Cruise of professional wrestling. You know how Tom Cruise in recent years has become this insane stunt man, the greatest stunt actor of all time. And that was Sting in his final years.
And everybody who's ever watched a movie knows Tom Cruise. Everybody who's ever watched a wrestling match knows Sting. And they both into their 60s, they kind of still look the same. There you go. They both went really hard and became crazy stunt men and did, I think, the best work of their career into their 60s.
Tony Kahn here on the Rich Eisen Show in advance again of the 300th episode of AEW Dynamite that's tomorrow in Ontario, California, just up the road at the Toyota Arena. And then the 100th episode of AEW Collision is also marked.
So I got to ask you about Travis Hunter, man. Yes. I mean,. Mm-hmm. draft room moment.
The Browns are on the clock. I imagine this was discussed ad nauseum in your building.
Well in advance, and it really speaks to the preparation. I think James Gladstone, Liam Cohen, Tony Bisselli, we have a great football leadership and really, really a lot of great communication. This was something that James and the team had been talking about for a long time. To me, I really think it's just brilliant. As an analytics person and working in football analytics, Travis Hunter had some of the most impressive statistics on both sides of the ball.
And to be able to bring in somebody that can add so much value to the team on both sides of the ball and with the great plan that Liam has to use Travis in. I just think he's going to be so great. He's also a great human being. And James believes in doing that kind of work. We had really a lot of great communication well in advance about it.
They had made the deal in advance, and barring anything unforeseen with the number one pick, this was going to happen. And I just think. For a person who's a first-year general manager, James had great composure and a great plan, and it was very impressive.
Well, I mean, Mass celebration, I imagine, right? When this thing got pulled off, absolutely. Right, and when this thing gets pulled off, and again, I know. Again, is you are the chief football strategy officer. You deal with the analytics more than most.
This to me could be one of the most analytics driven draft picks ever. because of what he can do at two positions. and what he can do at two positions. I didn't think, again, people are like, wow, it's not even for a quarterback. You're trading a first-round pick and then next year's draft for it.
I looked at it as like a Okay, even the second round pick you gave up, you could take the top receiver here. you won't get the top corner top of two. Second round. You could take the top corner here. You're not getting the top receiver.
In round two. Right. And you got the same guy in both. Right. And to me, That's a no-brainer, is the way I was looking at it.
I'm wondering what you saw from the analytics side of things, or if there's any numbers you can bring to bear to this conversation where you're like, this is what we've got to do. Absolutely. I think, like I said, James had great points about Travis being somebody who would be a difference maker on both sides of the ball that could contribute as a top receiver and as a top corner. And for us, I think Liam's got a great plan to integrate him. And knowing that, going into the draft and realizing if you're going to.
Try to account for the trade value of a player. This is a very unique situation. You're not accumulating exactly what you said, Rich. You're not just looking at the trade value of a top receiver or a top corner. You're looking at both.
And for the way Liam plans to involve him, I think it made a lot of sense. And certainly, from an analytics standpoint, I thought it was a great move. And I'm very excited about Travis Hunter in Jacksonville. And I think all the fans are. It's going to be great for the Jaguars.
No doubt. I mean, All right.
Well, that's twice you've mentioned about Liam Cohen's plans. What are his plans, Tony? I think he's been super open about it, that Liam plans to involve Travis on offense and defense. I think in our off-season activities already early in minicamp, and we've seen Travis work on both sides. And Really, he's been very impressive on both sides, and it's very early, but I think he's got a great group of coaches to work with on both sides of the ball.
So we're really excited about it. And I think Liam's talked about it a good amount that he really believes Travis can contribute on offense and defense. I want, all right, screw it. I'm just going to walk through the front door here. Here we go, right?
Yep.
I want 100 snaps a game out of him, Tony. I'll just forward that to Coach Cohen. I'll tell him what he knows I'm knocking on his door. Yeah. I might as well say it in the microphone with you sitting here, Tony, because I've said it in the microphone without you sitting here.
I want to see 100 snaps a game. I want to see 50 on either side of the ball. And I 'cause he's too d this is And again, you are Not just in your capacity with the Jaguars, but also your capacity with what you're doing with AEW wrestling. You know, stars are so tough to come by. You know, buzz is so tough to come by.
You know, fan interest absolutely is a metric. And that translates and permeates. You've got one. You drafted one, man.
So that's what I want to see. I want to see 100 snaps.
Well, it's going to, I think there's going to be a different game flow. I mean, you're an expert. You're one of the leading commentators in NFL history.
So you know very well that different games have different flows. But I know he's going to contribute and play a lot of snaps on both sides of the ball. And it's going to be really great for the Jags, which I think we have such a great group of young players and a great young core. Yes. And now to be able to add a player like Travis Hunter, it's really exciting.
Yeah, and I know you're in a tough spot. I don't mean to put you in a tough spot because, you know, you delegate. You know what I mean? You're not going to put your, like your dad, you and your dad and everyone else are not going to put your thumb on the scale with a new head coach and a new coaching staff. I get it.
But I want to see him out there. 100 is a lot, man. But I'll tell you. What are the numbers? Do you have any number?
Have you run numbers about what it would look like or what percentages of coverages would mean? You've got the numbers in front of you. I love talking about stats and analytics.
So being able to talk about snap counts on TV with you is really special. But in this case, I think Liam's got a good plan, and he's been pretty open about it that he believes Travis can get involved as a top player on both sides of the ball. But I will let him know. He may be watching right now. Highly likely.
I want to see the first ever offensive and defensive rookie of the year be the same person. That would be really cool, wouldn't it? You know, I grew up, like I said, in Champaign, and he. Was the top player. He won the Heisman Trophy and he played on.
All three phases, and that's Charles Woodson when I was growing up.
Now, Charles Woodson became a Hall of Fame player and a top defensive player in the NFL. Yes. But, and, but growing now, I've never seen somebody that In my opinion, it is as versatile as Travis, which is really exciting because I think he can do so many different things. And to meet a human being that loves football and is just such a pleasure to be around and brings so much joy to playing football, it's really, really exciting. And I think the fans were already really excited about the core players because, you know, Brian Thomas Jr.
came in last year, is absolutely fantastic. And I think. Top, top player. Trevor Lawrence, I believe, is a top young quarterback, and to have so much talent around him, and now to have Travis Hunter. Defense as well.
You just had Josh Hines Allen. Yes, he did right in that chair. In this very chair, Josh Hines. He says hello, by the way. And I say hello to him.
And it's a great person. He's a real pro. Yeah. He's a great guy. Like, he's a pros pro.
He's a great talent. Right. And it's really exciting to be able to also bring a top player like Travis Hunter now to that defense with those great pieces there. He brought up a concept that I didn't, none of us thought about. Yeah.
He is I don't know if you saw this about that, that he is. Um going against In practice, the same people he's who's. room he's going to walk into for a meeting. Like he's going up against a corner, beating that corner, and now going to be in the cornerback room. And if he's a corner and he's going to be shutting down a receiver, then he shows up in the receiver room.
And he's putting stuff on tape that might not be beneficial to his. roommates, you know what I mean? And he's handling it. in a way that it seems But that's that's what when you're when you're when you got Dion. basically downloading you with this information.
And getting you ready for the world, I think he's he's a he's a I don't blame you for going again. I really couldn't be more high on it. It was a brilliant idea when James and Liam and Tony and everybody, we all got together. I really think James had a brilliant strategy here, and I hope it pays off for the Jags and the fans. One last thing on this subject matter: what led you to Liam and James, Cohen, and Gladstone to be your new core?
My dad did a brilliant job on this. My dad led a great search, and I think as a group, we all were looking for people that could really help us develop the team as a group, but also particularly develop the offense. We had great pieces. We think we have a top young quarterback with Trevor Lawrence, and Brian Thomas Jr. is going to be a top receiver.
And we think we have the pieces to build a great defense. And Liam had a great plan, put together a great staff. I think Liam is a great offensive play caller. Anthony and the group on defense are going to be tremendous. And James came in with a really well-organized plan.
Obviously, Liam and James have good experience working together here in LA with the Rams. With the Rams. And Les and his team were instrumental. They made great recommendations, and I think really helped lead us in a good direction on both people. And I've known Les and obviously Kara for a long time, and they're great people.
Me too. And I know you, when I first met you, you and Kara were working together. That's right. Yeah, yeah. I knew her back for my first ESPN days.
And interestingly enough, your opponent in. Wembley are the Rams, Rams Jaguars in London. That'll be an interesting day. But before that, the 300th episode of AEW Dynamite takes place tomorrow, Ontario, California. And it marks the 100th episode of AEW Collision.
And next weekend, AEW All-In, Texas, the largest domestic show in its six-year history. That's the affair that used to be, if you will, in Wembley Stadium the last two years. We're back to Wembley next year, too, by the way.
So, you know, Cold Play had booked this weekend out years in advance. Oh, Chris. Lamberton on Cold Play.
Okay. Thanks, guys. It's going to be great. I can't wait to do Global Eye Field in Dallas. Go back to Wembley next year.
We've put 81,000 fans in Wembley for AEW All-In, and I can't wait to go back and do it again next year. Tony, what can we expect out of All-In this year? It's going to be huge. Like, what are you personally looking forward to? It's going to be the greatest show in AEW history, I really believe.
I can't wait next week to go to Arlington, Texas. There's such a great history around Dallas, and I think we're going to. To put our stamp on it. It's our biggest show we've ever done in America. I think it's going to be our best show ever.
I know you're excited for it. I feel like Omega, Tony Storm, Mercedes-Monet. Like, I want to be in the building for that.
Well, you're coming. I hope you're coming. I'm going to see you there. Did you just invite yourself to Texas? I invited him.
He invited him. Oh, okay. I mean, I'm not going to tell you. Is Jerry Jones going to be there? Do you give Jerry a heads up?
Like, I'm going to be next door? I mentioned it, you know, and they've been very kind to us, actually. And obviously, it's, you know, working with the Texas Rangers also here in Global Eye Field. But the Cowboys have been very generous. If you show up to somebody's neighborhood that, you know, that you're in business with, you just say, hey, I'm in town.
You know what I mean? Was very kind to us. And Jerry and Stephen and Jerry Jr. and the team let us actually do flyers at one of the Monday night football games for the show. Very nice.
Maybe you have Micah Parsons. Come to the ring with Hangman. That's not his. No, no, no, no. Josh Hines-Allen is who he would put out there.
Micah's not his guy. That's okay. Good point. Good point. Well, I'm just saying Micah's right.
Keep it all in the family here. That's right. Good point. Tony, you are the best. God bless you again for $100,000 donation to St.
Jude.
You're going to save children's lives. You have no idea how many you're saving.
So thank you for doing that. Thank you for the great work you do with Ron Rich Ron. Thank you for having me here. And I really appreciate you. It's the least I could do.
And thank you again, what you do to support St. Jude.
You're a hero, Rich. Thank you, brother. You're kind to say that. Everybody, again, check out AW Dynamite tomorrow. With a Venmo debit card, you can Venmo more than just your friends.
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You were 29 years old when you were filming Ferris Bueller's Day Off, true or false? This is true. You were You are 29 years old?
Well, when I was actually... You were 19? When I was 19, I looked like a fetus.
So, you know, it kind of all, it just progressed. Yeah. Yeah, I'm knocking on Geezerhood's door right now. It's 29? Yeah.
I would never have guessed that.
Well, Roderick was 25. The only one that was really a teenager was Mia Sarah, who I think had just turned 18. Maybe she was 19, but she was actually a teenager. The rest of us, we're all in our 20s. And when the.
Publicity lady from Paramount found out how old I was. She almost choked on her own spit. Is that right? Yeah, because she was like, oh, oh, oh.
Well, tell people you're 25. That's okay, because Matthew's 25. That's okay. Okay, wow. She was scared.
And so, you know, on no Tiger Beat magazine for me. It's all worked out. You know, when I would be doing highlights with Mike Compadres, Steve Mariichi, and Deion Sanders on the NFL Network, whenever Adrian Peterson carried the ball, we would go, Peterson, homage to you. Whose voice were you doing when you were talking in Ferris Bueller's Day Off?
Okay, Matthew and I had done this play, Biloxi Blues, and we were directed by this wonderful guy who's since passed away named Gene Sachs. He was 65 then, and we drove him crazy because we were always screwing around, we were cutting up, and he'd get so mad at us, we were afraid we were going to give him a heart attack because he'd get real red in the face and say, I don't believe his soldiers, I don't believe you're going to go die in Italy, you know. And so Hughes said to me, I need a voice, give me a dad voice, an authoritarian voice, right? And so I didn't tell Matthew what I was going to do because Matthew was constantly walking around backstage imitating Gene.
So that was me imitating Matthew, imitating Gene. And I just sprung it on him just to see if I get a laugh out of him, you know? And then it worked. Bruno? Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Did you ad-lib the pardon my French? Don't do the whole line here, but did you ad-lib that, the pardon my French? You know, Hughes, and this is a fun way to work. He was very confident.
It's the same way we work on succession. You do it as scripted once, and then they'll say, We have some other lines. You want to try these? You want to try these? And additional takes.
And then usually there's one tick where they just say, make it up. Just give us whatever.
So, yeah, he was saying, Pardon my French, call him an a-hole. You know, I mean, pardon my French. Yeah, you know, shouting lines at me, you know. It's a fun way to work. It's amazing.
Alan Ruck, happy 69th birthday. Wow. To one of our favorite guests in the history of our program. Check it all out on our Cameron is 69 years old today. Nice.
Check it all out on our YouTube page or channel, youtube.com/slash Rich Eisen Show. I always. Ignore. you're nice When that number is mentioned, I just always just right through it. This is celebrating the man's birthday.
Yeah, right through it. We're life. I don't know what I'm saying. Age had to do it to be a birthday. Understood.
Congratulations. It's a milestone birthday. What are we talking about? Cameron's almost 70 years old. I can't wait to be that age.
I miss succession. I hope we get there. Man, I missed it. God, I miss that show. Do we have a movie or something?
Or can we get one more season?
Well, I mean, Mountain Head is very similar to it. Yeah, it's not the same. I understand. I mean Succession is like Wolf of Wall Street. Which is both are technically dramas.
but are laughed out loud funny. Because of how well they're going to be able to do it. If you can make the case that Wolf of Wall Street is Scorsese's comedy. You could. In baseball last night, your guy, Willior Abreu, Chris, had an inside-the-park home run where the ball.
Would hit on the railing of the triangle? Yeah, so the triangle is weird, but yeah, there's like a pad, and then there's like a one foot of fence, and it hit like where the pad and fence meet, and it just jetted fired out back towards left center field. And as soon as that happened, I was like, oh no, he's got a chance here. Right. And he and he also hit a grand slam in that game later on.
Which leads us to an old gen staff. Hit it, hit it, hit it. Old gen stats Courtesy of Sarah Langs of Major League Baseball. Oh, she's amazing. William Abrahou is inside the park home run and a Grand Slam Monday night against the Reds.
He was the first player to do so in two separate at-bats since Roger Maris in 1956. The others to accomplish the feat. It's not the first time in Red Sox history. Jim Tabor did it in 1939. Of course.
Charlie Gehringer did it for the Tigers in 1930. Everett Scott did it for the Yankees in 1923. The first to ever do it. Jocko Fields of the 1890 Pittsburgh Burgers. 1890 Burgers.
And Jocko's both of his home runs. Inside the Parkers. An inside the park grand slam. Wow. And just a straight-up vanilla inside the parker for Jocko Fields.
That's awesome. Good job, Jocko. And that's our old gen staff. Old Jan Stats First Red Sox player to have an inside the park home run and a regular home run in the same game since 2004, and we all know what happened that year. And somebody back in 1890 got his rookie card and has now got a fleet of boats.
Oh, I can't wait. I mean, knowing the USSR.
Somebody of the Jocko Field rookie cards, they have an armada right now. I'm going to be so rich. Hour three coming up. Commodore Jefferson over there. Happy Bobby Bonnia Day to you, sir.
Thank you. It's a gift that keeps on giving you. How many more years does Bobby get an annual $1.1 million? This goes until 2035. Yeah, 10 more years.
10 more years. He's got 10 million more. I guess he's 10 million because it's 1-1, right?
So he gets $1.19 million from the Mets every July 1st, famously. It started in 2011. He last played for the Mets in 2001. This goes from 2011 until 2035. He also gets a half million from the Orioles.
This has been going on for a little bit also, and this goes until 2028. How about that?
So I guess as a. twist on things. If Bobby Bo doesn't get another check. Izzy a Hall of Famer. Hit it.
Who wants to be a Hall of Famer? Is that your final answer? TJ?
Well When we look at Bobby Benilla's stats, he had a pretty successful career right over there. Maybe not Hall of Fame numbers, but the numbers that truly make the man a Hall of Famer are those that Chris just said. Those are Hall of Fame type of contract numbers. He's in a business hall, as our friend Andrew Brandt would say. The business hall.
In the year 2000, they didn't want to pay him $17 million.
So now they got to pay Bobby till 2035. And I tell you what, it's a great thing. I feel like Uncle Steve Cohen every year on this day should have the big check. Uncle Steve. Take him out.
All this is Bernie Madoff's. It's Madoff's. Oh, yes. But also, he has one of the greatest locker room confrontations with a writer of Bob Clappish of the Daily News.
So because of his financial status and his fleecing of the Mets front office, I'd have to say, yeah, there is a Hall of Fame, maybe not the baseball Hall of Fame, but Bobby Bernilla. Make your move. He moves in some Hall of Fame. Make your move. Make your move.
What was the name of that that uh that book on it? The The worst team money combined. By the way, the bad guys won, right? By the way, let's be honest, though. Bobby Bonillo was part of a stupendous Pirates team as well.
Okay, with Von. Mike Lavalier, right? Yeah, catcher. Jeff Jefferson. Kim Leyland's Pirates teams, he was dynamite on that.
Yeah. That was the early 90s. That's why the Nets thought they were getting themselves a steal. Early 90s, those Pirate teams were fun. It was like their last run before Bonds left, and they were a fun team.
Doug Drabeck. Last year with the Pirates of the League in doubles. Six-year, six-time All-Star, 287 home runs, 280 career hitter. And I will still say that former Pirates. Sid Breen was out at home against the Braves in that.
I studied that many times. He was out. Make you move. Make you move. Tower three.
Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because you're not playing me. With rapid fire takes. And a lot to get to, and I'm not sure you're gonna like all of it.
Honestly, I don't even care if you like all of it or not. I have a job to do. Scorching debates. On any given week, you have lots to beef about. Take advantage of it.
Get up in here. He's the Spitfire of Sports Smack. Which is not my fault. We will get to all of that. The Jim Rome Show podcast.
Get up in here. And we'll beef later on. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.
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