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Let's do this. Do this, do this. This is the Rich Eisen Show. With guest host, Andrew Ceciliano. The kick is...
No go! Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I get a lot of fans, including my father.
Son? Yeah, dad. Who stop me and say, why are you talking about the Cowboys? Because this story right here moves the needle. Today's guests.
NFL Network Insider Tom Pellisero. Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Thomas. Longtime Golf Rider Alan Shipnock. And now, sitting in for Rich. It's Andre Ceciliano.
Hey, it's Substitute Teacher Day at the ballpark. Hope everyone is doing well. Hi everybody! Hey buddy! Welcome to another day as I adjust them.
I am not Seth freaking Rollins. I am Michael Thompson, my old radio partner. Hi, I'm Andrew Ciciliano, by the way. Michael Thompson, my old radio partner, former number one overall pick, and now known as Father. Of Clay Thompson, right, used to, he's a huge wrestling fan.
He's Megan the Stallion father. Yeah, Foxy. I was thinking about going there as well, but I did not. Good for you to get. All right.
Keep it going. Much love. Michael used to always refer to a wrestler, Hoggs, like Hogsworth, some little person. Oh, the little person, the little Irish scout. I'm Michael.
Exactly. I'm Michael. How do you not know who that is? I'm like, Michael, I'm an adult. I don't watch that.
Oh, here he goes. First of all, number two, I'm sorry. I don't know all the random, like, I appeared in an episode once in season three characters of your favorite primetime drama.
So I'm sorry. I'm not tall. Anyway, but we're happy that you're here. And I'm not Seth Rollins. Seth was great.
I'm here. He did a great job. He did a great job. He did an amazing job. I saw some clips.
He's a very, very, very talented dude. I was shocked you didn't come in wearing, you know, a sequin jumpsuit and giant sunglasses. That's all. You know what? I just sent him the Goodwill last week.
I forgot to do it right before. Christmas tax donation time. I just took them out of there. Let's say hi to the entire crew. Chris Brockman, it is great to see your shining bald head.
How are you, my friend? I've had a rough week. I've been sick all week. I've lost like 10 pounds. Oh, no.
If the jawline looks a little sharper, wait. Yeah, haven't eaten much. What do you got? I got a stomach. Yeah.
No, not contagious. It's a little stomach. Sure. I think I'm okay.
Okay. Yeah. Little stomach thing? We don't need that imagery, but thank you. Thank you, Darren.
But I'm good.
Okay. Good. Baseball's back. Baseball's back. Hottest team in baseball.
Going to Wrigley this weekend. Should be fun. There was nothing to watch last night. Although I did finish quarterback on Netflix, fantastic. But before I did that, I'm like, there's nothing to watch.
I'm going to go see a movie.
So I went to see the Superman. O to be single with no kids. O to be single with no kids. That's another issue right now. But yes, went to see the Superman.
It was good. Review coming up. It was in Cleveland, by the way, a lot of it. I don't know if you guys knew that, a lot of it. Like the final shot in the arcade, some other shots.
Great scene, obviously, at what used to be Jacob's Field, now Progressive Field. Big battle at the ballpark. It was awesome. They needed Albert Bell for that battle in the ballpark. That would have made it that much more.
Yes, I was at that game as well. Game one divisional series after 1995, after in the rain, he tied the game. Off agular. Jason Feller, how the heck are ya? Hey, what's up, man?
I just got back from Tokyo. I'm looking at your Dodger hat, more on that later. Everywhere I go in Tokyo now.
Well, now. Hadn't been there in years. Dodge your hats. Dodge your hats everywhere you go. Wonder why.
Wonder why. Every single bit. Obviously. Every single Dodger game is on TV there with. Joe Davis and Oral Hirschiser.
Wow. Not like a Japanese theme. Joe Davis international. Joe Davis Live, Godichi Y. In Tokyo, right?
Now, I don't know if they run those awful local Oral Hirschiser car commercials that always run during Monday night football or Thursday night football. I don't remember. Are those online? They have to be online. We need to send out to the audience.
I'm sure the dealership here would love it. The Oral Hirschizer, they've been gone for years now, these local car commercials. Like. Almost to the In every local market, there's that one really awkward commercial where it looks like it was produced, even with today's production ability. Where's my phone?
This thing right here that I hold in my pocket, all of you have one of these as well. Right? This thing right here has more television producing power than, and I mean this, any local TV station's entire building, say the year 2000. Oh, yeah. Truly.
Like, I tell, when I talk to kids at Syracuse, I'm like, I graduated in the. 90s. And when I graduated, we had the top of the line, like everything at SU. But, like, if you take all the computing power and all the television production power out of that building in that year, Brockman goes for you as well. This one phone in your pocket is more powerful.
With all that said, Some local TV commercials are just the worst things you've ever seen. And this thing with Hirschheiser is so bad here locally. I think it's almost a bit at this point. Like they want it to be corny. Either way, uh I don't know.
If If They Show those in Japan. Hopefully they do. TJ Jefferson, also huge in Japan. Good to see you, sir. In Japan, they call me Ichiban.
TJ Jefferson. Number one. There you go. Yes. You know your Japanese numbers.
Ichi, Nissan, Shigo, Roku, Ichihachi, Kyuju. Good for you, buddy.
Well, I mean, now that you just gave him all the way, I can't say it. I just counted to 10. Yeah, I was going to do it, but you just took it from me. I could say like 10 things in Japanese, and they're all numbered one to 10. I can say Shinsuke Nakamura.
I have no idea. Oh, him. Yeah, gotcha. There you go. Hadeki Matsuyama.
I can say Nibiru Onegashimas. Two beers, please. Andeo Nomo. Yeah. Adeo Nomo.
That's a good one. Eo Sirs. Io Sky is the most important Japanese thing I know. I could say Okanjo Onagashimas Jamata. Like, hey.
Check please. See you later. That's about it. That was awful. All right, let's tell what's coming up for the show today.
Coming up, Tom Pellisero will be here with all the NFL news. Hall of Famer Joe Thomas will be here to tell you who to start at quarterback this year for the Browns in your fantasy league. Also, do you know that he's a. He's a cattleman these days. Hold on, brother.
If you're starting a Browns quarterback in fantasy, your team is a disaster. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to tell you right now. He can't. He can't tell me right now.
I can say that. If Joe Flacco is starting week one at home against Cincinnati. You're playing Joe Flack. He's a top 12 quarterback week one.
Well, you and your one-quarterback fantasy leagues. I play in a real league where you play two quarterbacks. That is not a real league. You and your, I take the easy way out with the low-hanging fruit. Let's just play the Stars League.
Wait a minute.
So you get points from both quarterbacks? You have to play two. Yeah, it's a 14-team. It's a 14-team league as well. Yeah, that's not normal.
Wait, not super flex, just a straight-up two QB league. You got to play two QBs. Wow. Yeah. It's miserable.
Okay, that actually seems like it I don't know. I gotta. Decide if that would work or not. It's miserable.
Alan Shipnuck will be here as well. The golf is going. British Open. I'm sorry, the Open Championship. And it's raining.
We'll give you that update coming up shortly as well. Let's get to the NFL. TJ has a new deal. What? I don't know that there was really any thought.
that it wasn't going to happen. With all the news You know, because there is no news the last couple of weeks, well, maybe they're listening to trades. Uh Hmm. I don't think that was ever going to happen. The numbers, and I want to see the real numbers: three years, 123, 108 guaranteed at signing.
It's 41 APY. And that's the number, 40, meaning average per year. That is the number that they had to hit. And that was the number. That my 10-year-old nephew could have told you they were going to hit 41 APY, meaning $41 million average per year.
Why? Because Miles Garrett was $40 million average. Per year. When, if you go back the last couple of weeks and look at the reporting or the speculation that maybe the Steelers would trade TJ Watt, you have to consider a couple of things: the Aaron Rodgers trade, the Jalen Ramsey, or trade signing, the Jalen Ramsey and Januo Smith and DK Metcalf. You're not going to make all those moves and not bring that.
Exactly. Is that any team that were to trade for TJ? First of all, it's after the draft, so those picks would not in any way assist the Steelers this year in their let's ride or die season. But also, any team that would trade for him would have to give him the contract the Steelers just gave him. And for a player whose age begins with a three, NFL teams don't do that.
They just don't. You could trade for Jalen Ramsey, for example, who's about to turn 30, but you don't necessarily have to give him a new deal. Matter of fact, the Dolphins eat some of the money.
So it doesn't work that way. And so, for teams or for fans that say, well, let's trade for Trey Hendrickson, great. His age begins with a three. He wants to get paid a deal similar to TJ Watt, which sadly I don't think he is going to get. And Then you have to give up the picks as well.
It ain't gonna happen.
So TJ Watt gets us 41 APY. $41 million average per year. And this, in all likelihood, will be his final big contract. At this point, for guys like TJ, Maybe for Miles. I think Miles has a little more staying power here.
And for potentially Trey Hendrickson. You will eventually get to the point where you're doing von Miller-type deals, which are basically. One year, they'll dress them up as more. Maybe there'll be two-year commitments, but they're in a different economic stratosphere. The Steelers had to do this deal.
You don't Get Aaron Rodgers. Trade for and pay DK Metcalf. bringin' Jalen Ramsey. Bring in. BFF of Arthur Smith, John U.
Smith. You don't do all those things. and then get rid of TJ. The season for the Steelers, and I know you're already sick of the attention. To me, it will be far more interesting than anything the cowboys do.
Far more interesting than maybe any other storyline in the NFL. What we got to do with this? Because it's either boom or bust.
Sorry, TJ. We'll get to the Cowboys later, because they do link to this story. It is boomer bust. And it has to be boom or bust. All the cynics that say, oh, they're going to go nine and eight again, or they're going to get in at ten and seven, or eight and eight, and eke in with a wild card eight and nine.
And then lose in the wildcard round or be one and done, regardless of how they get in. Maybe they win the division, but are still one and done. There is no worse scenario for the Pittsburgh Steelers. than being one and done here. If I am a Steeler fan.
I am not. I was raised right. If I am a Steeler fan, I am hoping for Super Bowl. or top five pick. There can be no in-between.
Like if it goes badly It has to go. horribly. Because if you are picking at 20 or 21 again. You've gained nothing. You're spinning your tires because then Rogers isn't back.
And you are in no position. to go get The future franchise guide that you so desperately need and have been trying to find. And maybe you have it in Will Howard. I hope you do. Will Howard smiling at Shane Gillis's Michigan jab, sitting there at the Espys a couple of nights ago.
I like Will Howard. Sixth round pick, though. Are you really ready to throw him the keys? I don't root for injuries, but if Rogers somehow can't make it through September or October or November, yeah, then you toss the keys to Will Howard, and then you see what you have. But somewhere in the middle.
i.e. status quo for the Steelers after all this cash spent. The Steelers are in no way the Bengals. They're in no way the Bengals in terms of cash spending. But like the Bengals, they don't like making guarantees more than one year out.
They have done that here. with DK. And they have done that here. With TJ. They have to win this year.
I hate the pressure word in our business because everybody in this business, the NFL business that is, has pressure. Every single position. From the The QC, meaning the quality control, glorified coaching interns that do a lot of the prep work for the coaches. They cut up film, although it's not actually cutting film these days, it's digital editing. It's all like those guys that prepare the play sheets and do all the back-end work for the coaches.
From QCs all the way up to ownership. There is unspeakable pressure on. Everybody. Broadcasters, everybody. It is a pressure job.
It is the biggest stage in American sport and entertainment. It is a pressure job. So I hate to say, oh, there's a lot of pressure on this team this week. Yeah, no bleep.
Okay. Yeah, sure. Yeah. And it'll be that way Sunday. or Monday or Thursday.
or Saturday in December, every week, every game. But with the Steelers There is more this year because it does mean more this year. Because they are at the fork in the road and they chose to go that way, which is spend all the money and try to win.
Well, they're all trying to win. Yeah, but they're really trying to win this year. And if it don't work... There will be a Tear down. You can only tear it down so much.
You can't get rid of DK. You just paid him. There's only so many moves you truly can make, but it will be a total. What was that show, like Total Home Makeover? Extreme home makeover.
Extreme home makeover team edition. That's what it will be.
Now let's hide to the Cowboys. Because Micah Parsons has still not gotten paid. And Jerry Jones has said for years, I don't care, man, or weeks or months, whatever. I'm going to wait. I'll wait it with Dak.
I'll wait it with CD. I'm going to wait with him. Who cares?
Okay, well I guess you like Burning money. Because you could have had this deal done. And you waited.
Now, it takes two to party. Takes two to tango. Micah might have wanted to wait, but here's what's going to happen. Where's the whole recording list? Uh Dallas, Dallas, Dallas July 21.
Okay, so what's today? Monday. 18th. On Monday, the Cowboys veterans report here to Southern California by Oxnard up a 101 parking lot. And uh Micah will be there.
He'll report. And I do not expect Micah Parsons to practice on your field or on your television anytime soon. And I wouldn't either. gonna do the old hold in. TJ Watt did it a few years ago before his previous contract.
So he will, I'm guessing, hold in and he will wait. And if the APY was forty one, For TJ, then this will have to be 41.5 at a minute, but more 41.1. It'll have to beat TJ. You look at this two ways. Hey, we have the template now.
Just beat that by a dollar, and the Cowboys can do the deal right now. They could actually. Like at this very moment, you can do this deal. Maybe you add a little bit of a premium because Micah's like 25 as opposed to like in his 30s. Micah's an ascending player.
There are some around the league that think TJ had a step back last year when it came to his play. But they could do the deal right now. I don't think they will. I think it's going to take a while. And I think this has become a thing.
Again. As for Trey Hendrickson. No player has more sacks collectively the last two years than Tray Hendrickson. He should get paid. The Bengals are not going to give him a $108 million guarantee.
I will walk home. It's only about like four or five miles. It's not that bad of a walk. I will walk home. If they give him $108 million guaranteed.
So I love doing the show. I could actually ride my bike here. And I don't mean like the Mike Del Tufo motorized cheapo, but like. Every, by the way, I saw him again like two weeks ago. He told us.
Hey, hey, it's like just waving his arms. Um Yeah. They're not going to do it.
Well, why don't you trade him for a one? Because nobody was going to give you a one. How about a two? I don't think anybody was going to give you a two. I like Trey Hendrickson a lot.
He's not viewed the same way as TJ Watts, sadly, around the league. He's not viewed the same way as Miles Garrett Micah Parsons. He's a heck of a player. His stats will tell you that. Just turn to the film, it will tell you that.
He's not viewed the same way. And no one has given you those pics.
So my question for Tom Pelicero coming up shortly. When does the stalemate end in Cincinnati, and would Trey Hendrickson actually miss games? NFL network insider Tom Pellisero answers that question and gives you a Micah Parsons price tag. That's coming up. It is the Rich Eisenhower.
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So I played 11 years. They have been to the Super Bowl nine times. Damn. And now they get their warrants. Think about that.
And I was one pick away from being drafted by the Patriots. What happened? The Chargers drafted me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I know that's what happened.
They didn't, they didn't. They didn't come up and come get you.
So I went to, so I went on the visit to the Patriots, and that's when Charlie Weiss was office coordinator. And I go to Boston, and I really like the visit. I like Charlie. I love Charlie Weiss. Did you meet with Bill?
I did meet with Bill. You know, we sat in his office right above the stadium, right there where you're looking out at the stadium. And we really just sat there. We really didn't talk about much. We just looked at each other.
What do you mean? But you just looked at each other. Like just kind of staring in each other's eyes, you know, I guess. Yeah. So, you're saying it was awkward?
No, I mean, I just, you know, you know how Bill is. He just, there's only a few things he probably wants to know about you. And I guess he was trying to get a sense of You know, was I passionate about football? That's most coaches do. You wanna invest a first-round pick on a guy, you wanna make sure they're passionate.
Do you think they would have chosen you if you were available?
Well, they said they were gonna choose me. Charlie Weiss promised me if I was there at Sticks. because they needed a running back. They need a running back. bad that year and so uh Yeah, when the Chargers drafted me, I think they took Richard Seymour.
Richard Seymour. Yep. They worked there. Goodbye. Have you ever brought up to Brady when you've seen him?
No, never brought it up. He could have been robbing his bat man. I always thought about, you know, what would that be like? With all due respect to Antoine Smith. All due respect to Antoine Smith.
Would have been a little different. A little different. No way. I'm kind of getting freaked out. Straight Ladanian Tomlinson back in the day there.
Hi. It's Andrew sitting in for Rich, who is back, I'm told, on Monday. reveling, reveling in his improving golf game. He will be. back soon.
So, as expected, TJ Watt got his bag, another bag, $108 million guaranteed. Although, as I said earlier, the big number here, the number that you. Is out there for the press that people care about is the APY, the $41 million average per year. Miles Garrett got $40. TJ Watcott 41.
And as we welcome in friend of the program and a man who hosts this show as well, when Rich is not here, the great Tom Pellisero of NFL Network. Great to see you, sir. Tommy, please. See you, although you look like Color Bars on my end.
So I assume you look great as usual, Andrew. What's up to my boys in the studio? And they're involved. Hey, what are they? Yes, Color Bars, which is a name for a band.
It would be great. I would assume that the number for Micah Parsons needs to be like 41.1 or 41.5. And they could do this deal, Tom, before we get off the air today, hypothetically. Couldn't they? It'll be higher than that.
Okay, so that's 40, or let's say 42. According to Jerry Jones himself, they had a handshake deal done back in March, but that ended up not getting finalized. A big piece of this is always the Cowboys want to do longer deals, strong cash flow up front, but then buy up team-friendly years on the back end of the contract. Micah's got a very experienced agent, David Mulliguetta, whose name I'm sure by now Jerry Jones knows, who prefers to do shorter deals. And so I don't know that at this point, there's necessarily a rush based upon the fact that in Micah and Jerry's conversation, they knew where the number was going to be.
It was always going to be north of 40. I believe it was always going to be north of 41. The real issue here is what does the structure look like and what is the length of the deal? I anticipate, and I know the Cowboys anticipate Micah showing up to Oxnard on time next week. Whether or not he practices remains an open question.
He surprised them by actually doing some things back in OTAs in the spring that he did not. Have to do at that time. You know, and then also you've got a couple other situations looming out there as well. In my mind, the Micah Parsons number was always going to be north of this. It was going to be closer in all likelihood to 45 than it was to 40.
You've got 45. I'm not saying it will be 45. I'm saying closer to 45 than 40 was likely the number, just because Micah is younger than Miles Garrett. Obviously, Miles is an unbelievably accomplished player, perennial defensive player of the year candidate. But just based upon how these deals tend to go and how the markets tend to work, if a roughly 30-year-old player gets 40 and now a soon-to-be 31-year-old player gets 41, what does that mean for?
I think Micah's 26, a 26-year-old Micah Parsons. And then Aiden Hutchinson is another one. He's coming off of a. Obviously, significant injury, everything seems like it's all systems go. He's in a different spot because they don't have to necessarily do something.
But if the Lions want to get ahead of the market, and once Micah gets out there in training camp, or excuse me, once Aiden gets out there in training camp, it looks like himself, maybe the Lions try to jump in here too, just because Micah's deal is in all likelihood going to blow this out of the water. And all that is with the backdrop of Trey Hedrickson, who is almost exactly the same age as TJ Watt, has not been asking for upwards of 40 million. The Bengals, to this point, have not wanted to do the type of multiyear commitment in terms of an extension with Trey Hendrickson that he wants. And there's a fair argument. I'm not saying that now this adjusts the expectations or anything else.
But if TJ Watt, who has been you know, more beat up physically. Did not produce as well down the stretch last season. Had fewer sacks than Trey Hendrickson is the same age. If he's getting 41, Why would Trey Hendrickson not be right in that same type of a bandwidth? You know, so there's a bunch of different interconnected parts.
We talked about this, Andrew, on Super Bowl Sunday on NFL Network: that this was going to be the offseason of the pass rusher. You saw Max Crosby, Miles Garrett, Daniel Hunter get their deals early in the offseason.
Now you see TJ Watt. The big pieces remaining are Micah Parsons, who I believe that that one ultimately will get done. I said a couple of weeks ago on this show, TJ Watt will get done before training camp in all likelihood. It'll be north of Miles Garrett. That part happened.
Micah Parsons, I would tell you, was always going to be north even of this number. I still anticipate that gets done prior to the start of the regular season, but it may not be in the structure that the Cowboys want. Aiden Hutchinson will see when they decide to put the pedal to the medal here. He's got no reason to be in a rush himself. And then Trey Hendrickson is the one that's, of course, been the ugliest of all these.
Yes, TJ Watt also skipped minicamp, but Trey Henrickson has literally shown up during a practice and held a press conference about how ticked off he is with the organization. Are we going to get another one of those as the Bengals get set to report to training camp next week? I know Trey's been up in that area, you know, doing community work and things like that. It's entirely possible. That's the one that's the most curious in this, particularly because, again, For anybody who doubted that a pass rusher on the wrong side of age 30, as it historically has been, could get 40-plus million dollars.
Well, TJ Watt just disproved that. And if anything, the Trey Hendrickson price you would think just logically now has to go up. Yeah, let's unpack that one because to me, Trey Hendrickson is the most fascinating of them all. I agree with you. Micah, look, the Cowboys report to what used to be the Residence Inn in Oxnard on Monday.
I, I, whatever, he'll be there. And when he practices, call me when he does. Trey Hendrickson, though, I wouldn't be stunned, Tom, if he doesn't show up. He's actually two months younger than TJ Watt. I don't think people realize that.
And the last two years, collectively, the. 23 and 24 seasons, nobody has more sacks in the NFL than Trey Hendrickson. Nobody has more sacks. Yet. And listen, TJ has pushed through a lot.
Okay. I don't mean to in any way minimize what TJ Watt has done. But if you just look at the injury report, he's had some pretty significant types of injuries. Look down the stretch of last season. If memory serves, I don't believe TJ Watt registered a sack in the Steelers' last three games last year, including the playoff game.
And the whole defense didn't play well. Obviously, there's all kinds of issues that Pittsburgh had, which is why now they've revamped the roster the way that they have. But Trey Hendrickson is a guy who, remember, a year ago, back in the summer of 2024, demanded, you know, requested a trade and then ultimately showed up and went through it because the Bengals had challenged him, according to Hendrickson, to say, hey, go out and do it again, and then we'll get the contract addressed.
Well, he goes out and leaves the league in sacks. Yet, here we are talking about whether or not they should make a multi-year extension offer to a guy who remains one of the most productive players. TJ Watt has got $108 million, fully guaranteed. Trey Hendrickson has not been asking for $108 million fully guaranteed. He hasn't been asking for over $40 million per year.
To this point, the Bengals have not been willing to give him what he is asking for. Do the Bengals move at this point? Does this get even uglier? A trade is hard to imagine because when they actually did at least explore that and accept calls before the draft, nobody was willing to offer him a first-round pick. There's a lot of different directions that one could go.
Obviously, Trey Hendrickson means a lot. To the Bengals' hopes, you would think, in 2025, particularly in a time that they're still going through it with their first-round pick as well. Yeah. And you took. You kind of went where I wanted to go, and that is with Hendrickson and T.J.
Watt.
So you have the Bengals here who have the Shamar Stewart thing hanging over their head. They wrote the check for Jamar Chase. Before that, they had written checks for Joe Burrow and Orlando Brown, Brown coming from Kansas City. That had been a big check and free agency a couple of years ago as well. T.
Higgins got that deal. It's not as much guaranteed beyond year one as I think a lot of people think, but regardless, they wrote a check, they signed both those guys, they denied all the skeptics there, and they got those deals done. Mike Brown is not one to just like open up the cash spigot and say, Hey, here's more cash for all of you, Trey Hendrickson included. He is one to tell you, Hey, I have a deal and you have a contract and you're going to show up and you're going to play.
So, I guess my question is: if the league doesn't, whether it's fair or not, see Trey Hendrickson the same way they see TJ Watt, and some of that is media creation and the Steelers everything with that. I get that. And we're past the draft to your point.
So, a deal right now doesn't seem likely doesn't help the Bengals this year. Is there a scenario in which Trey Hendrickson goes Carson Palmer? Where Trey Hendrickson goes, you know what? I am the latest in the line of Bengals big name guys who later in their career, throw Andrew Whitworth in there as well. He eventually sucked it up and then he went to LA and he wrote the next chapter in his career.
But is Trey Hendrickson the guy, Tom Pellisero, to go, you know what? I am willing to sit at home. He's already said he's not playing on this contract. He said that directly when he showed up in May to an open to the media practice, walked onto the practice field, dressed in like khakis and a polo shirt, and said, I'm not coming in for that.
So I do not anticipate. Listen, all these things are fluid, Andrew. We've seen things that seem to be going one way, and then they all of a sudden the pendulum swings back. I do not believe without a new contract that Trey Hendrickson is reporting. I think they're a next Tuesday report date for the veterans.
I don't think that he is there throughout the course of the preseason without a new contract, at least up until the point that he would need to play. And it would not surprise me. I'm not saying this is going to happen. I'm not putting words in Trey Hendrickson's mouth because I am absolutely certain that more words will come out of Trey Hendrickson's mouth if it keeps going on like this. But I would absolutely not be surprised if he sits out games.
You know, you're talking about missing a million dollars per game check, but you're also talking about a guy who this is his time to get one more really big bite at the apple. He's determined to get that.
So stay tuned on the Trey Hendrickson situation. It has not seemed like this was a deal that was like impossible to do. They're not on completely different pages in terms of like what the money would be, but the Bengals have not moved the way that Trey Anderson would want to move. We know what he wants. He's said it publicly, Andrew.
He wants a multi-year extension. He wants a multi-year commitment from the Bengals after that one-year extension he did a couple of years ago. He doesn't want to go down that road again. He doesn't want to kick the can and have to address this again in 2026. The Bengals are saying this is what we are willing to do.
Eventually, somebody has to blink. And I don't anticipate that at least in the next few days here, it's going to be Trey Hendrickson. All right. Rookies reporting for a lot of teams. The teams in for the Hall of Fame game already have their team.
Like, I mean, John Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh, I beg your pardon, like five feet from where we sit right now, has his Chargers on the field. And then his whole thing yesterday about like catching 22 foul balls was just bonkers. We'll play it. Interestingly, the Chargers, yeah, they had their rookies in a week. Week ago.
The Lions, who are the other team in the Hall of Fame game, are not reporting yet. They don't come in until tomorrow. There is some, it's always an interesting strategy because I've talked to people within the league, several people out of nowhere, just coaches have said, oh man, I talked to my buddies with the Chargers. I can't believe they're already in camp. There is some of that belief among certain coaches within the league that it's such a long season already.
Now you had the Hall of Fame game.
Now you're weeks out from that.
Now you're bringing in the rookies even earlier that you're going to wear people out. Obviously, the Lions had some level of concern about that by delaying even by a few days their report date here. We also know Jim Harbaugh, more is more. You know, he can't wait to get back to work. It's, I mean, he gave like seven different metaphors yesterday, Andrew.
And they're all biblical, too. It's like the birth of Jesus Christ. He went for the number of other, any number of other things here. Birth of Jesus to catching foul balls in an empty Tiger Stadium upper deck as a kid. It was.
It was an all-timer. It was a roller coaster. And yeah, and the Hall of Fame game is two weeks from yesterday.
So we're still a full two weeks away. But as teams report and as rookies report and as the second round picks start finally signing, that dam has broken. Tom, there's the speculation or the thought at least that Quinchon Judkins, who was arrested last week in Ohio with a domestic violence allegation, the Browns' second-round pick, the 36th overall pick, and their second second-round pick beyond Carson Schwessinger, who is signed and is ready to report here, that he will not be there today for the Browns as he focuses on his legal issues. What can you tell us about that?
Well, there's some moving parts here, Andrew, because you've got an active domestic violence case in the state of Florida. There have been documents that have been released on that. By all indications, not only do you have documentation of injuries suffered by the woman who identified herself as in a relationship with Quinchon Judkins, but presumably you also have photos, you have other evidence. The NFL usually waits for the legal system to render anything in terms of a suspension.
However, it's written into the collective bargaining agreement that if the commissioner believes that a violation, if the evidence leads the commissioner to believe that a violation likely occurred, then they can use the exemplif to take him off the field. In other words, Andrew, if Quinchon Judkins were to show up, sign his contract, the NFL, as soon as today could go, actually, no, you're not going to be on the field.
So it really behooves everyone to exercise some level of patience. We've not seen any statements, any quotes, anything from Quinchon Judkins or his agent. To this point, we know one side of the story, which is what the woman told police in a, you know, partially in a 911 call that was also released. And then, in terms of the document here, he was arrested. He was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence.
It's certainly a serious case. The NFL many times, virtually every time, has rendered greater discipline than the criminal justice system, even when ultimately there's no finding of any type of guilt in terms of the judicial system here.
So again, a lot of different moving parts with Quinchon Judkins. It would make sense that the Browns want him to focus on that because again, Andrew, even if he showed up, even if they did the deal, and by the way, at 36, that would be the next slot that potentially would be fully guaranteed. It just, it would not make a whole lot of sense for him to show up right now. For the Browns, it would be the proverbial distraction. Obviously, it's more serious than that.
I'm not trying to minimize that. For Quinnshawn Judkins, it might just lead to him going on the exempt list, from which, Andrew, there's no sign. It's not like that's a finite thing. He could end up on that for a long period of time. Taking their time, moving forward here, you know, is probably the best course of action.
While the NFL, again, continues to review whatever facts and knowing that ultimately, whatever the final outcome is from the NFL's perspective, that part probably doesn't even happen until after this has run its course in the legal system. I'm talking to Tom Pellisero, I have about a minute left here.
So this story, Tom, deserves more than a minute, but let's boil it down because that's the point of the question. When you hear, when the average fan hears last night that the head of the union, the NFL PA, Lloyd Howell, resigns, and honestly. it's midsummer and they couldn't care less about conflicts of interest with private equity and all of that and collusion. Like the average fan is on summer vacation. And when you tell them, oh my God, did you see this?
They're like, all right, well, how does it affect me as the average fan? Or how does it affect the game that I love? My first reaction is, well, when you have negotiation on a longer season, which we all believe that is inevitable, there will be a new person in charge on the other side of the table. Beyond that, why should the average fan spend a lot of time? of time thinking about Lloyd Howell.
Well, at this point, Lloyd Howell has removed himself from the situation, which is obviously an unfortunate ending that nobody expected when roughly two years ago he was named to that post to succeed DeMorris Smith, who had been close to two decades in the executive director post. You know, this is, there are parallels here, Andrew, and this is probably as close as I'll ever get to mentioning politics here or anywhere else, but there are parallels that I see to Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. When Lloyd Howell was hired, it was because of his business acumen. And this is based upon quotes from executive committee members, J.C. Treder at the time.
They wanted him. They thought that they had an overly bloated business. There were obviously a ton of long-term employees. They thought that they could be more streamlined. They thought they could be more efficient.
And so there were dozens, some of them long-time NFL Players Association employees, who suddenly were no longer employed by the union.
Well, what happened? Happens when dozens of long-time employees are no longer working someplace. There might be one or two of them that might not be happy with that. And suddenly you begin to have. Blowback that rightly or wrongly, and in leaks and other things that are directed at the person who ultimately was in charge.
And that person just decides to say, you know what, I don't need this. I'm going to do something else. That is a story, Andrew, that I think for anybody who has followed the federal government over the last six months can understand some of the parallels to that here. I would say why people should care is because sometime in the next five years, and I would say sooner than later, there are going to be negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. It potentially.
Quite likely will include a negotiation over going to an 18-game regular season schedule. It will include the possibility of ripping up the various broadcasting deals, extending them, rethinking, continuing to rethink them at a time that they've become more fragmented, obviously, to different streaming services and things. And ultimately, you're hoping, if you're a football fan, that there's no disruption and who the NFLPA names to that post is going to have a heavy hand in exactly. What direction things go. Lloyd Howell, again, came from a business background.
He was a businessman. He was not a formal former trial lawyer, a federal prosecutor like DeMorris Smith, who was, you know, again, you could argue this either way, rightly or wrongly, but he was very much, he did not mind confrontation. He was not afraid to fire back when you would see quotes. You didn't see that from Lloyd Howell. He felt the best way was to do deals and he did a lot of small deals, side deals and things to try to improve various aspects of the CBA while also having an eye to potentially opening up that agreement sooner than later.
In the short term, the Board of Representatives at some point, possibly as soon as today, is going to meet. They're going to have to take steps to name an interim executive director, which there's no clause in the CBA or the NFLPA Constitution for what happens if the executive director steps down. There are a few logical candidates, people who are or have been with the union. Tom DePasso, who's been the longtime head of, he's done a lot of things on the salary cap side, the legal side. He would be a potential option, but he was one of those people who was cycling out and was not going to be with the union after the end of this year.
Don Davis is another one who's been on the player affairs side. And then George Atala, who up until a few months ago, was the assistant executive director of external affairs, I think was his title. He was essentially the number two in many ways in command to DeMorris Smith. He left the NFL PA. He's one of the few people outside of D.
Smith who know all the ins and outs of it. I can see any of those three people being potential candidates to allow the executive committee, however they decide to run this process, to run a thorough, quite possibly more transparent process than they ran with Lloyd Howell to find the right person to set them up. Because as much as five years, Andrew, is a lifetime here in terms of how many seasons and how many of the guys that are even in the league now are going to be in the league by 2030. But for a football fan, if you're thinking five years out, that is not a long way to avoid. Work stoppages, ugliness.
You want to know that the train is going to keep moving forward here. And so the person hired is going to be very, very important. But for the next six months, Andrew, I would imagine, yes, the attention for most people watching this show certainly is going to turn to the action on the field. Yeah, but that's coming quickly. And there's another guy on the other side of the table.
The other guy on the other side of the camera is Tom Pelliser of the Great NFL Network. Insider. Have a wonderful weekend, sir. We appreciate you. Tom Pelsera, everybody.
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Getting the song Welcome to AutoZone. What are you working on today? Hey, that's the spirit. Right now, we're celebrating free with a free STP oil filter when you buy five quarts of oil and free Duralast brake pads when you buy two rotors. Like always, free battery testing, charging, and recycling at every store.
Celebrate free at AutoZone now through July 28th. Get into zone! Auto zone. Restrictions apply. All right, first one up, Brian Cranston.
True or false, one of your first gigs was a Preparation H commercial. True or false? Oh, come on. That is false. Oh, gosh.
Look at that photo. That's very Roy Schneider. Isn't it? Do you think that right there? If I trade it?
Roy Schneider is really good. What do you think? Or what's that talk show host who has those big red glasses? What's her name? Sally Jesse Raphael.
Sally Jesse Raffaele. Sally Jesse Raffaelle. Good call. Good on me. That was good.
Good call. Yeah. So what happened? This was truly a little bit more comfortable. It's called a job, Rich.
I know you haven't been job hunting in a while. Oh, Mr. Employment, steady employment guy.
Well, you're not, you know, actors, you got to say yes.
Well, this was, at least I was a spokesperson. I wasn't afflicted by hamorrides. You know what? Well, in real life, I am, but not in hemorrhoid. If I was afflicted, I would trust you.
To get me the right put that ointment on and go for it. There we go. Let's take care of this little problem. I didn't mean the administering of the operation. Oh, I just got the advice of like you should try a full-service spokesperson.
We don't just stop with talking about it. Come on. Is that why you brought your alcohol in your face? I bring my alcohol so I can soak my alcohol. Oh, yeah.
It just kills everything. True or false, you did your own stunts on Malcolm in the Middle, including wearing a suit of 10,000 live bees. That also is false.
Okay, that never happened. Oh, God. Keep on having with horrible bees. But those are real? Those are real.
That's 10,000. I forget how many count it was. But they would extract the pheromones from the queen. And they would put the droplets all over me wherever they wanted the bees to go. Then they'd open up the traveling chutes, and the bees would just start swarming and they swarm forever.
In order for them to stay off my face so the camera could recognize me, you take a little of the bug spray off or whatever, and they put it all over my face there so that they would crawl, oh, no, I don't want that, and they'd get off it. But it was about. About two inches thick of bees.
So I got stung once in the shoulder when they were getting them off. But once when I was doing that whole thing and I had to stand very still, one got between my legs and I got stung. And I said, oh, I think I got stung. Because when you're wearing bees, Rich. Yes.
The chance of being stung is pretty high. Yes. You're wearing bees, for God's sake.
So, but what I realized is that the sting of a bee is not really painful. It is mostly the shock that gets you. Yo, bomb, jeez. Just something, just. But when you're wearing bees and you get stung, it was literally.
Yeah, I I think I Did I get stung? Ah, I did get stung. And the beekeeper comes over ready with a little credit card thing and a thing to scoop it out. He goes, Where is it? I go, in my scrotum.
And he goes, can't help you. You're on your own. That's exactly what he did. Can't help you. Great stuff on the flashback there with Brian Cranston.
Right, like the old operation age stuff. Turn on the TV last night. Hi, it's the Rich Eisen Show. I'm Andrew. Just tying it in on the Roku side here, showing some Brian Cranston.
I turned it on and I see car insurance being sold to being by Ludacris and Danica Patrick. Have you guys seen that spot? Yeah, is that a foreign TV thing? Oh, no, not that one. Yeah.
Luda. Luda. Luda. Luda. Like, very calmly, not like the Luda that we saw Tuesday in Atlanta during the All-Star game, which was awesome.
It was awesome. Luda and Danica Patrick. Like, you know. We got it. Yeah, what you got.
Alright, the golf. Open championship. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Chris Brockman. Andrew. Brian Harmon atop the leaderboard right now. He shot a 69 at a 65. He is at 8 under.
But he was a 2023 champ, Brian Harmon. He does outstanding in these conditions. A lot of weather over there in Northern Ireland right now. A lot of wind, a lot of rain. We got a three-way tie atop.
How Tung Lee, the Chinese golfer, he is on 18 right now. He's four under today. Matthew Fitzpatrick, the 22 U.S. Open winner, he's also eight open. Scotty Scheffler looming one back.
Joe Thomas coming up next, Hall of Famer. Yeah, leaderboard is starting to jam up with a bunch of heavy hitters. Robert McIntyre, he won the Scottish Open last year. He is three back. He's sitting there at five under.
Terrell Hatton, he had a great performance at the U.S. Open at Oakmont a month ago. He shot a 69 today. Nice. He's three back at five under.
Harris English, Tony Feenow, all these guys are looming. Keegan Bradley, a lot of speculation. If Keegan maybe top 10s, he'll have enough points. To qualify automatically for the Ryder Cup, would he go on and pick himself, step aside so he can play? That storyline is going to heat up.
Roy McElroy, also a 69 today, Jay. Nice. He is three under five bucks. You know what's nuts?
So I'm right now, as you're going through the leaderboard, I'm reading along here, pgatour.com/slash leaderboard. Shows you how the world has changed. You guys know this, but just this is another example. And on the leaderboard here, it says: like, for example, Brian Harmon, eight under. Through.
He's done. He's in the clubhouse. You know, six under on the day, eight under overall, has a 69 and 65, 134 strokes, all that. The FedEx stuff there. And then the final column on the far right: odds to win.
Odds. And then with a green arrow or a red arrow, meaning they're up and down. Yes, sir. Odds to win on pgatour.com. Like we're talking real-time odds.
Yeah, it's like that across the board. Any official partner with anything you watch, obviously, has those real-time odds on the bottom of the screen. This is not some big revelation. It's just the first time that I have seen it here on pgatour.com, and it was like, oh, wow. Oh wow, look at that.
Yeah. Different world we live in these days, but hey, it's a world in which we ended the all-star game with a wacky home run derby. It was cool. And it was awesome. It was great.
It was fun.
Now, it would have been great if Shohei and Aaron Judge weren't already at 35,000 feet, pats out on the private jet. Right? That would have been a little more fun. Like, I didn't need David Aranda, who's a nice player. With his 21 career home runs.
That was so dismissive. He's a nice player. He's a nice player. But 21 career home runs. Instead of Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh in his 38th instead of Cal Raleigh, who understandably, Cal Raleigh's exhausted, exhausted, probably can't lift his arms above his head after Monday night.
And that was an amazing moment. And how about his brother, who they say is 15 but looks 24? He was a giant. I know. Right?
But like. I mean, if we do the home run derby again, could we do it with players we know? Yeah. We know this guy. Joe Thomas, coming up.
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 going to 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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