Pro Football Hall of Famer Rod Woodson

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Welcome to Sports Center alongside all of you. This is the Rich Eisen Show. It's time for the Beast Quake. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Joe Flacco is going to be the starter.

I think we knew that. Earlier on the show. ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy. New York Atlas face-off specialist Trevor Baptiste. Coming up.

Co-host of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, Andy Holloway. Pro Football Hall of Famer Rod Woodson. And now. It's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air live here on the Roku Sports Channel, live here on Infinity Sports Network Sirius XM Channel 375 and Odyssey 844204 Rich.

Is the number to dial here on the program. Getting ready for Rod Woodson to join us in a second right here on the program. Let's take a quick call. Jim in South Bend, Indiana is joining us right here on the program. What's up, Jim?

Hey Rich, long time, first time.

Okay. Thanks for taking my call. Love it. Love having you here. Craig.

I wanted to ask you a question regarding the Monday night football matchup between the Vikings and the Bears. And I was wondering if any time in your twenty two years, if you can recall a quarterback debuting his first start on a bigger stage, Then week one, Monday night against a division rival who drafted the number one overall pick in a quarterback for him in the same draft. And maybe what the resulting narratives Would be Indiana Bell. I don't know the history. Interesting.

First of all, interesting that we get a phone call from South Bend, Indiana with somebody asking about a quarterback from the University of Michigan on a day that Lloyd Carr's grandson CJ gets named the starting quarterback in South Bend, Indiana for Notre Dame. It's kind of a full circle sort of moment. I don't know the history of Monday Night Football. I know Sam Darnold made his debut on Monday Night Football, threw a pick six, and then still won the game. uh against the lions that was on monday night if i'm not mistaken Um, so no, I mean, it's a pretty big game.

Thank you for the call, Jim. Um, because you've got. Caleb Williams. Chosen first over all in a draft. that had then two quarterbacks taken directly after him.

And then another one taken after those three, surprisingly, by a team that didn't need Michael Pennix Jr. Right. And then A team that Just lost. Kirk Cousins, to the team that drafted Michael Pennix Jr., trades up a spot to take J.J. McCarthy.

Leaving Bo Nix for Denver, and he might be the. The one that goes You know, the furthest. Yeah. At the end of the day, even though Jaden Daniels just made the NFC championship game last year, it's kind of wild. But yeah, now they're division rivals and they're going to go against each other.

And J.J. McCarthy's getting his first career start on that Monday night game, and it's three weeks from last night. on ESPN. Joining me here. On the Rich Eisen Show.

is one of my favorite grandpas. That's right. He's Rod Woodson, Pro Football Hall of Famer. How's that for an introduction, Rod? How's that for an introduction?

I've never been introduced by being called the favorite grandpa before. I don't know if I'm the favorite grandpa. I'm their only grandpa, but I'm the grumpy grandpa. Oh, yes. That I know.

That one I will take. I'll take the grumpy grandma. Why do you like coming across as grumpy when you're not, Rod? I mean, you're not a grumpy guy unless it's bad football. Right?

Bad football makes you grumpy. Being told what to do makes you grumpy. I've seen this. Those are the two things. But overall, you're not a grumpy guy.

I wouldn't call you grumpy.

Well, you know, just grumpy in a sense that they ask me for things and I say no.

Okay. And they think that's grumpy.

So, you know, but I'll take it. I'm going to take it. Good to see you, Rod. What's going on in the football? Yes.

Congratulations on seeing you back on ESPN. Did you like that one? I like it. A little old school. I know that goes way back.

You know, I I just I Joined ESPN in 1996. If I'm not mistaken, February of 96 was just one month after you pointed at your knee in front of the entire football world. Rod, correct? Didn't you point at your knee? It was that year.

It was that year, early in the year for the Super Bowl. Yeah, what caused you to point to your knee in that Super Bowl again, Ron?

Well, you know, you know how Michael is. Michael does like to talk, and he still likes to talk, but he was a talker on the playing field. He said some things, and I just thought I had to let him know that it's not exactly true what he was saying. Which is about that your knee, you weren't the same anymore. Michael Irvin was talking smack to you, Rod?

Michael's saying, oh, you know, he can't get on the Autobahn. You know, when you get on the Autobahn, you know, you got to go fast. And I'm like, well, heck, I didn't know Michael's ever fast. You know, so I just, I just dropped down to Michael's speed. That's all.

Come on now. Did he not know that you were speaking of Autobahn, you ran track in Berlin because you were holding out on the Steelers once upon a time, right, Rod? See, that was wanna hit that way back machine here. I tell you what, that was a fun time in 87. A lot of people don't even know the little history 87.

It had to hold out in a scab player, so to speak. And then I got to run track overseas for, gosh. Two and a half months, and I got to go to Berlin, Nice, Monte Carlo. I had a ball. That's it.

That's it. See, I know your history. And now you obviously know mine. But thank you for what you said about. you know, doing Sports Center last night.

Um wh wh what's the what's the Ravens' expectation level here? Rod, walk me through this here. Super bad. I mean, both of us all know that, but what do we got going into this? I mean, last year I thought.

All the stars were in linement with the Ravens because we won in 2000. Then Joe Flacco and Ray Rant, they won in 2012. And then it was 12 years later, it was 24. And I'm like, shit, it is dustin' for these guys to win. And they just couldn't get past Buffalo.

But I think the three best teams in AFC by far are. Kansas City, Baltimore, and Buffalo, and not in that order. I think, obviously, you're going to still give a lot of love to Kansas City. They got Patrick Mahomes, but I just think. If you look at the Ravens roster, they're so solid across the board, offense, defense, special teams.

You get Hopkins that come in to be that red zone guy, has a great catch radius. Um, you know, it's it's going to be interesting to see how they play out for these guys. Because, I mean, day one, opening season, they're going their opening regular season, they're going to go play Buffalo. And the issue that they've had once the playoffs start, I'm not talking about the regular season. I think they're going to be fine during the regular season.

But when the playoff gets here, Buffalo and Kansas City has been that thorn in their side that they have to get past. Bingo, Rod. And even we could sit here and say, well, that's such a crucial game in week one because you don't want to go back to Buffalo. Certainly, when this is going to be Buffalo's last run at it in High Mark or whatever, the old Rich Stadium, like, you don't want to go there. In January, when it's freezing and the Bills fans are all like ready to finish this stadium up with a win and all that business, we could sit here and say that sort of thing that you don't want to be on the road.

But two years ago, they were the one seed and they had the AFC Championship game in Baltimore for the first time in half a century, and the Chiefs still walked in there. and came out with the wind because it all seems to Clearly, the regular season matters. Clearly, you can't just roll the footballs out. It is the National Football League. But it always seems that something happens in January.

Something happens. The ball pops loose. Zay Flowers looks like he's going in for a touchdown. Boop! Ball comes out.

For instance, Right. How do you coach again? How do you coach a team to not have that? Right. It just seems like it's karma.

I don't know what it is, but how do you call it? I don't want to call it doing that. I mean, you know, I thought last year because. Lamar has not played his best games in those situations. But last year, Lamar even made the statement that he knew he...

He was pushing and not having his best games in those situations in those types of games.

So I'm thinking since he already made the announcement, he knows it's happening to him. It's not going to happen. And again, he goes out, he throws a pick early. He gets a strip sack later in the game about the third quarter. You know, just one of those games that, I mean, he is so dynamic.

And I don't want. his legacy to be He's the best in-season, regular season quarterback, but once the playoff starts, they can't get to the Super Bowl because he's the only two-time MVP in the National Football League that has not won a Super Bowl yet.

So, could it happen this year? Absolutely. I think they're stacked. I like them. You know, I love Lamar, and I loved how he has grown as a player and throwing the deep ball.

We know how exciting he is when he runs with the football in the open field.

So that's a given. But his precision of throwing the ball down the field has gotten better, and he's only in year seven. And that's the crazy part about it. He's still in his prime. Yeah, he was in the best shape of his career too last year.

I mean, without question, whatever the workout habits that you hear the whispers about from his first few years. Uh in a league, that's gone. And he looks great. Derrick Henry looks great. You look at this roster, and the Ravens are loaded, as you pointed out.

But so I'll just take one one last swing at this thing is What does it take? Because it's not John Harbaugh either. I mean, this is a guy who's on the way to a Hall of Fame, and it's not the front office, it's certainly not ownership. It's just, it's something like, what are you, like. How does one play your best when it's one and done, and everybody knows you're good enough?

But it hasn't been good enough over the last few years. How do we deal with this? And I don't want to say they don't have leaders because I think they do. Um But the times they've won the Super Bowls, I mean, Ray was. That you know that alpha guy in the locker room on the sideline And I think something like that has to happen.

Somewhere along the line during these types of games, you know, somebody has to rally the troops. It always can't be the coaches. It can't be the coaching staff. It can't be the head coach. It has to be the players that rally themselves on the sideline or talking to themselves on the sideline.

And Lamar is not an outgoing-spoken person in a sense like that, but he is a leader. And for me, I think we need another guy on that offensive side to be more vocal along with Lamar. Defensively, we know Roe is there. They got some players. We know Kyle Hamilton, even though he's young, people are going to listen to him because he is a player.

So they have the pieces to the puzzle on that defensive side. I just think they need another voice on the offensive side to go along with Lamar during the games. Or maybe it's just Derrick Henry. Running it 25 times in the cold. And making people make business decisions.

And let's get him a buck fifty in an AFC division or championship game. And good luck trying to stop that. Like that, that was the idea last year, right? That was the idea going in. Last year.

And he was awesome. But they didn't, they didn't throw, they didn't run as much as they would normally had done in the previous. season and in other playoff games. prior. And it's going to be different this year because You you yeah, you got Derrick Henry.

You got Justice Hill who got a nice little contract. But Keaton Mitchell If he comes back and he is. Looks like he did in the first preseason game. And he has that explosion that he had a year and a half ago. I don't know how you play all those guys.

Now, I know Derrick Henry is going to be the bell cow. He's going to be the main guy, but then does Keaton Mitchell, is he coming in next? Keaton Mitchell, can he, you know, I know Justice Hill, he was at third down back for him, but, you know, I know Keaton Mitchell has to prove that he can protect Lamar on third downs to get his reps at third down. But it's going to be interesting to see how Todd Munkin does this thing with those guys. Are they going to go old 21?

Personnel, which not a lot, not a lot of people use that anymore.

So you're seeing two backs back there, but you can see two backs where Derrick Henry. And Keaton Mitchell or Justice Hill in the backfield, and the defense stays in their base. And now you can take those that third-down back at either Hill or Keaton Mitchell and motion them out of the backfield.

Now he's matched up. Either with a linebacker or safety, and you know that if they got to rotate down, you know, they're going to be a man if they're rotating down, and now you can have your way with them.

So it's going to be fun to watch how Todd Munkin uses these guys and these weapons that he has, especially in the running back room. Rod Woodson, the biggest threat to the Ravens in the AFC North is? I don't think there is one.

Okay now.

Now, I will say this. I would say this. I think the Steelers. are gonna be better than what people think because they did load up on defense.

So, if you paid attention to their offseason, they loaded up on defense, they brought in Aaron Rodgers. And if they can protect Aaron Rodgers. In the pocket. Aaron Rodgers, he can still throw the football. Listen, I mean, when Aaron Rodgers is 60 years old, he's going to get out of bed and he'll be able to throw it 50 yards down the field and hit a target.

So he's always going to be able to throw the football.

So, my question is with those guys: can they protect him? Cincinnati, you know, what's, you know, Cincinnati does have, I mean, obviously, Joe Burrow played lights out last year, could have been MVP, you know, defensively. I'm not exactly sure. You got a new, you know, you got a new coordinator there, you know. Cleveland, I think Cleveland's Cleveland.

But I think if anybody gives the Ravens a run in the North, it'd be the Steelers. Steelers.

Okay. Because, you know, Roger's being protected. uh clearly is is that Yeah. Big issue. And plus, running the football.

I mean, Jalen Warren's going to have to show, and the kid from Iowa that they drafted is going to have to show that they can do that. Like that is That that's that's definitely the question.

So, but other than that. No threat. The Ravens aren't threatened in the division. Not in the North. I just don't think so.

I think they're so loaded. The Ravens are so loaded. And just having a player like Lamar, and you added Derrick Henry last year, and you saw the explosion of that offense. And Lamar didn't even run as much as he did in the previous years. He didn't have to.

Because Derrick Henry was taking, he took over.

So, I mean, but if he had to. He can get back to that same form. And it's going to be fun to watch. I don't think there's a guy, a team that's gonna, if unless. Unless Baltimore stood themselves until early in the year, because that first four weeks.

It's tough. Because you got Buffalo, you got Cleveland. You sure do. Detroit. and in Kansas City.

That's a tough schedule, man. No doubt when they get Houston, Houston and the Rams after that. I know it's home. And I know a lot of people look at Cleveland and go, you know, and even I said Cleveland's Cleveland, but Cleveland always plays the Ravens well.

Well, I mean, you got Joe Flacco, Revenge Game, bro. I mean, come on now. Flacco versus Lamar. Come on now. Let's call it the way it is.

Before I let you go, Rod. Uh Travis Hunter. Do you have you have doubts, questions, no questions? No, I don't know. What do you got for me about him being able to play corner?

And receiver.

Well, I'm not going to watch it. What do you got? He's not going to play. like he did at Colorado. Why not?

He's not going to be. that many Plays code. Why not? Come on. Could he get to the point where he plays?

I mean, let's think about, let's throw back, have throwback. Let's throw back. From centuries ago. Everybody played both ways. And he was very blessed to be with the head coach in college.

to allow him to play both ways in prime. And so Prime does know that, but the coaches in the league, they're not Prime. They didn't play both ways. They're going to give them an opportunity to make some. Have some plays on offense, be on defense.

Is he going to play? 85 plays, 90 plays a game. for 17 weeks? Man, that's a tough ask on your body. If anybody's gonna do it, he's gonna be the one.

But I think that's a real tough ask on the body. If you wanna play at the highest level that you can possibly play at the cornerback position and then add to something at the receiver position, that's a real tough task because. The running backs that are going to come through, it's like. I mean, how is he going to tackle Derrick Henry? if he played the Baltimore Ravens.

I mean, all those bigger size players that he's going to have to see at the cornerback position will take its toll on his body. But athletically, can he do it? Absolutely, he can do it.

Now it's just, you know, how much will the coaching staff allow him to use his skills on the offensive side of it. Do you ever play receiver? When was the last time you played both? When was the last time you did that? When you were in Indiana?

when you missed with high school high school as miss no purdue my last game i got to play I got to play both ways in that last game against IU. I played offense, defense, special teams. I think I was only missed. three games or three plays excuse me for for our field oats. But in the league.

Shoot, I only played a handful of plays on offense ever. Hmm. And that was because of Bill Cowers trying to get me to sign that contract that I didn't want to sign. Yeah. I officially didn't sign it.

Grumpy Woodson. Grumpy Woodson. Before I let you go, Ron. Lee Corceau at the age of ninety. is going to have his final appearance on College game day in a couple of Saturdays.

In advance of that, please tell me. your Lee Corso story, and you know what I'm talking about. Rod Wilson, please tell this story. Please tell this story. Yeah.

So I'm. Getting recruited out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. I'm thinking about going to IU. Leave Corso. Drives up to the house from Bloomington to Fort Wayne, and he knocks on my door.

Um And I'm like, oh, hey, coach, how are you? And he's like, hey, before I get into this whole thing, I just want to let you know that, you know, I just found out that I was fired. over the radio. But he still gave love to IU. And I was like, wait, wait a minute, coach.

They just fired you on the radio. They fired you on the radio. You still want me to go down and do an official visit to IU? No, I can't do that.

So again, you're being recruited. You're Mr. Indiana, right? In high school. You're clearly.

Rod Woodson. And he's coming to your house. To recruit you, finds out on the way over on the radio, he's been fired and still tries to recruit you to Indiana. That's really cool. Still tries to get me to go to Indiana, and I'm like, coach.

If they treated you like that. How are they going to treat me? Mm. And I'm just a player.

So I was like, nah. That's okay. But I tell you what, but I gave him much respect because that's a long drive. He could have been angry. He could have been talking to him.

He could have talked bad about. Ayu. And all he did was give them love. And he still tried to get me to go down there. That's Lee Corso, baby.

Awesome. Rod, now tell me the Illinois story. No, don't worry about it. Rod, what's the name? See, I know too much.

Oh my gosh. Too much. Do you want to tell the Arizona state story? Oh, Arizona mistake when I went to the recruit, and my host took me to see Gandhi. A three and a half hour movie, and we had an intermission, and I remember.

We got done about nine o'clock at night and he was like, what do you want to do? I'm like, you can take me back to my room. Tell your guys I'm going to Purdue. Arizona State fans, you could have Rad Woodson. But the kid who was showing him around campus took him to see Gandhi.

Can you get the total running time of Gandhi, please? Oh, I'd say Lisa. Good to see you, Rod. Good to see you, buddy. Good to see you, brother.

Love you too. Three hours, 11 minutes. That's why he went to Purdue. That's why I went to Purdue. Love you, Rod.

Take care. Bye, Rod. All right, take care, Dad. That's Rod Woodson, everybody. All right, we'll take a break.

Don't go anywhere. We're going to talk fantasy football with Andy Holloway. Of the fantasy footballers. We're going to find out. Do they kick us out of this league or what?

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We're going to do whatever we can to bring Lombardi back here to Western New York. Catch Hard Knocks, training camp with the Buffalo Bills on HBO Max. Then watch or listen to the Hard Knocks Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Listen, the way you sleep is unique to you, and that's why having a sleep number smart bed is so crucial. Cause you can adapt to your changing needs for just right.

Can't wait to nestle into bed luxurious comfort.

So whether your needs softer or firmer, cooler or warmer, you are never stuck. You can adjust your comfort whenever you like. And it gives you your best night's sleep night after night, year after year. I love my smart bed. My sleep number setting is 60.

My wife's is 70, just 10 numbers apart, but it means the world of difference because I can change my side of the bed to however firm or soft I want. And the same thing. For Suze.

So, why choose a sleep number smart bed? Again, so you can sleep just the way you like. The only bed that lets you make each side firmer or softer whenever you like, your sleep number setting. Sleep number's biggest sale of the year is here. All beds on sale up to 50% off the limited edition smart bed limited time, exclusively at a sleep number store near you.

Sleep number, official sleep and wellness partner of the NFL. See store or sleepnumber.com for details. Are you still playing fantasy football? You still doing that? Not really.

No, I'm in a league, but I don't control it. All my buddies control it for me.

Well, because I know we've had conversations about this before and that there are some interesting, I guess, tasks that the loser of this league must undertake.

So are you, if you lose, even though you're not part of the day-to-day. Yeah, they'll hold me to it. Absolutely. I don't even know if I can tell you who's on my team right now, but if I were to lose, they would absolutely hold me to it and we'd have to go take care of business. What are some of the fails that I guess that you have to do?

What are some of the responsibilities of the Losers of your league. What is uh last year the loser uh had to go to Alaska. For a day. What do you mean? Like for a t for For a day?

Yeah. Okay. Going to a place called Nome, Alaska. That's where the Iditarod goes through there, I think.

So the Lutheran flood race. Regardless of the geographic. Spot in the United States would have to, for a day, get on a plane. and proof of purchase of the ticket and then take a photo. Oh yeah, I mean there was tasks involved.

I think he went in March.

Okay. But it was, yeah, it was a whole thing. And that was just one year. That was just last year's. This year it'll be entirely different.

What other previous years? Any other examples? Because that's amazing. You have to go to Nome, Alaska. The year before the loser, you know, Far School Sports does the rough and rowdy, the boxing deal.

Be fought in that. At the Super Bowl, the year we were there, he was fighting in the boxing on Friday night before the game there. Oh my gosh. You do not want to lose your fantasy league, Jerry. No, you don't.

No, that's why I try to put a lot of faith in my buddy at the Roman farm. Youtube.com/slash Rich Eisen Show for the Rich Eisen Show YouTube channel. Please check it all out. Just be careful because just make sure you get some time on your hands. You would have had a wormhole.

My apologies to Andy Holloway of the Fantasy Football is a highly popular podcast for being a little bit late to the conversation. But Andy Holloway joining us back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you, Andy. How are you? Sitting there on your set looking very, very nice.

What's going on, sir? We're doing well, man. Thanks for having me, Rich. We're in the throngs of it, man. Everybody's undefeated right now in fantasy.

Okay. Very good. That's very good. Appreciate it. Facts.

I'm just. I'm just glad you said throngs and not thong. Uh that would be an interesting uh way of doing it. Listen, Andy, uh before we get into the conversation about um pics and things like that. Um Who won the league last year?

Uh in which um Was participating. Because I know you have many, many of those leagues. Who won the league? I'm racking my brain on that. I think you won the league, right?

Oh, Chris Opera as well. Let's give Chris a current general manager. TJ Jefferson as well. I helped with the draft, and that was. But you were there in spirit.

Yeah, for sure. Mike Deltofai had absolutely nothing to do with that. I had nothing. But Andy, when's the draft for this year? When's that?

I think we're targeting maybe the week of the 26th. I think you can come back and try to defend it. Also, no, just back. Are we so- You've been invited back to the bottom. We don't boot the winner, man.

No, okay, I just want to make sure, because you're aware that's next week. And we just want to make sure that it's happening. It's happening, Rich. It's happening.

So we can't. We don't want you with too much prep time. Give us a lead of six days. Yeah, we'll do that. You better have your head on a fantasy swivel.

So, okay, so this is good. We're good. Yeah, you're back.

Okay. Fuck. Don't be so thrilled about it. We just started exchanging emails with Damon like an hour ago. Oh, is that right?

So we're good. We're good. We're good. So we're good. Why don't you tell me that?

Well, we're in the middle of the show. I understand that, but now here I am kind of grilling Andy. Yeah, but that makes for good content.

Okay. I think we still have some championship rings that we need to send you. I think we've got some stuff going on. Is there something? Is there something?

Yeah, we got some stuff for you.

Okay. Whatever. Does it say our margin of victory? Because we really don't. Don't do that.

Don't do that. Don't do that. I'm not sure we. I'm not going to lose all the scores.

Okay. It's all good. You guys did well. It was a good performance. Jesus.

That's all we're looking for in a return passage. No, it was great.

Okay, a laurel and a hearty handshake. You could say uh Blazing saddles phrase. All right, Andy Holloway, let's get into this. Is the ultimate draft kit 2025 available at thefantasyfootballers.com, the highly popular podcast? as well.

The first overall selection in in a fantasy draft. Should be who? Who is it? I think it's Jamar Chase. I think Jamar Chase feels nice and safe this year.

Okay. He's the safest pick in fantasy football, Jamar Chase. Yeah, I mean, last year I think the pendulum swings in fantasy all the time.

So it's like, you know, the running backs perform. Everybody wants to run to the running backs. And then when they let you down, they run to the wide receivers. But, I mean, Chase is part of that perfect storm in Cincinnati. Great quarterback.

No defense. I mean, that's fantasy gold.

So Chase feels safe.

Now, you haven't had. Number one fantasy finish at wide receiver repeat since I think Antonio Brown. back in 2015, but We play on probability, and it seems like Chase is the highest probability to do it. The most safe running back. To choose.

Yeah, I mean Probably Bijan and Atlanta or Saquon. I mean, both of those guys. Saquon's coming off so many carries, so it's like sometimes when you're an older running back, it worries you a little bit, but. It's hard to look at that offense and that team and not think he's going to come close to repeating.

So I think both of those guys are in the conversation for if you don't go Chase, you can go either of those number one. And I think it's fine. This conversation on the running backs, it's Saquon had too much volume last year. to be safe. And Bijan.

I guess um The pushback there is what does the offense look like with panics, right? Like, what are we. What do we do? Those awesome Phantom Cam slow-mo runs that we see from him? Is that what he was doing?

Yeah, I'm being honest. I'm not being facetious here. No, it's great. Like Saquon, what was awesome about him last year was Not just the volume, but you had all the big plays, like the 60-plus-yard touchdowns. Like, that wasn't really Bajan's recipe for success.

It was just chunk after chunk after chunk.

Now, You know, they dealt with worse quarterback play than people expected. Kirk Cousins that went sideways, and he still performed for fantasy.

So I think some people that want to lean to the younger side and maybe try to be risk-averse, worrying about like Saquon had all the carries, but then he had the playoff run where he piled up even more.

So, look, we all try to split hairs to find something wrong at the top with these guys. There's not really anything wrong with either of them, but you are betting on the mystery that is Michael Pennix Jr. and you know, you can be optimistic, but the the I think Vegas line for them is like eight point five wins somewhere around there.

So you want a winning team for a running back to have success. That's normally a part of the equation.

So I don't have a problem with either one, but But John's got the age advantage. Speaking of Vegas, where do you put Ashton Genti? Yeah. Boy, Genty looks like he'll have all the volume. But you're in a really tough division.

He's going like back of the first round in fantasy this year.

So it's the whole like fantasy philosophy of it might be a boat, right? Like we don't know how high the ceiling could be for Ashton Genty.

So sometimes people take the more exciting young player just for the upside potential. I love what they're doing on offense. We love Brock Bowers. I love that they have a quarterback now. But it is a tough division.

So I think back of the first makes sense. And I think if you want to swing for upside versus. Maybe more safe than he's a. He's a great option, and there's a lot of excitement. I mean, I'm wondering how Brock Bauer's season last year, you know, I guess splashes onto Colston Loveland.

And Tyler Warren this year, right? Like, I'm wondering. How do you rate something like that right now, Andy Holloway? It's been two straight years with a rookie tight end finishing at number one in fantasy. Laporta did it two years ago.

And it really wasn't something that ever happened. And then we get, you know, the big performance by Bowers. And like, Tyler Warren's one of my favorite picks in fantasy this year. No kidding. He's a my guy for me.

The announcement this morning with Daniel Jones, I feel better about that from a stability standpoint, accuracy standpoint, getting him the football. Not that, you know, either guy was going to make you feel super confident, but Bowers had nobody last year in Las Vegas. At quarterback to trust. And he still put up record-setting numbers.

So we seem to discount the rookies because we don't know what's going to happen, especially at tight end. Bowers was like an eighth or ninth round pick last year. And that's where Warren's going again.

So I think if you're not drafting one of those top tight ends. then you can just keep waiting and I'd I'd take a shot on Warren for sure. I've got Andy Holloway here on the Rich Eisen Show. Last year, if I'm not mistaken, it could have been Jason Moore and Mike Wright who said you can win a fantasy league with Jaden Daniels. We drafted him.

We won the fantasy league with Jaden Daniels. I don't know if that's why neither of them are appearing in this segment today. Yeah, they didn't make the playoffs in our league, so I told them they can't come. By the way, Outstanding method of hunting and pecking for FaceTime, Andy. I appreciate it.

I totally appreciate that. But give me somebody who you can win. A fantasy league with a quarterback because that's the key: when to choose one, who you're choosing. You know, um Because I know Experts like yourself are probably like high-fiving inside when somebody uses a second or a third-round pick, even on somebody as great as Josh Allen. Or Lamar, right?

Or Jaden Daniels, I imagine, is going to be in that mix. this year what is your philosophy on when to draft one and who This year. Yeah, no, I I think this year in particular, like Um you know there's probably five Core top-end names. It's Lamar, it's Allen, it's Daniels, it's Hurts, and then. Depending on who you talk to, it's probably Joe Burrow.

Those other guys give you fantasy value with their legs, and that's huge, you know, picking up the rushing yardage and touchdowns on the ground. But Burrow, Burrow has just been a machine. Everything looks set up for him.

So, those five guys, I would probably, if I want one of them, I'm taking kind of the last of that group. as far back as they go, let the other four go off the board. Otherwise, if I'm waiting late, like I think there's tons of sleeper quarterback options this year. I think Jordan Love can bounce back in Green Bay. Like he was a top five fantasy quarterback.

Dealt with injuries last year, kind of off everybody's board. I think he could do a lot. I think Drake May in New England, if they surprise, like he's. Got rushing upside that, you know, he showed it the back half of the year, but they were such a bad team.

Sometimes people don't pay attention to that. Drake May is another guy, Bone Nick's in Denver. If he can take the next step, I think there are some later values. And what I wouldn't do is just kind of spend a middle-round pick. If I'm out of those top five, I wait a little bit longer and grab one of those guys with upside, even Dak with CD and Pickens.

So what about Stroud? You win a championship with Stroud here? How about you're already giving me that look. Yeah, it's tough. Are we winning a championship with Purdy here, Baker?

Golf? Yep. What do you got? I just much at you. No, Goff, to his credit, like he's been very consistent, but he's a back.

Like kind of back half QB1 the last three years. All the four names that you mentioned. What they have in common is that it's going to be dependent on pocket passing success.

So that really comes down to can they hit. Huge touchdown numbers. Like Baker last year, great for fantasy, up at that 40-plus mark. Really hard to repeat that. And so those pocket passers you see swing back and forth between relevance and irrelevance.

If the touchdowns dip, You don't get that baseline on the ground.

So I think you can win with those guys. Stroud's the same thing. I think he had about 200 rushing yards last year. You got to get up over 35 touchdowns to really be a difference maker if you're a pocket passer. You know, that's where Burrow, you kind of are confident he'll be 35 plus, maybe 40 plus.

Again, That's the question. You know, they all have the potential to do it. It's just, you don't want to lock in and like auto-start those guys if it's not their year. Be willing to kind of pivot and change and pick up somebody off the waiver wire. Couple more to throw out you, Andy Holloway.

Christian McCaffrey. Where are we putting him? Oh, yeah, he's the most hotly debated player on our show almost every day, it seems like, because. The fantasy hitman Mike, he's got him at one-on-one, like the number one pick. And Like you can see the argument for that.

The last five years for McCaffrey. Two of them, he won you your league. And three of them he lost to your league.

So that's called super bust, my friend. And so for Mike, it's like you play to win, right? Like you, you're not there for third place. And I get that.

So if he gets the workload, like every running back in San Francisco right now behind him is injured. Like, I don't know what practice field situation they got going on, but they're all banged up. But you got to ask Christian McCaffrey to get through a whole season, and that is a tall task of late. But all the passing game work, the receivers that are hurt there, like. If he's healthy, he probably will be the number one running back.

It's just, do you want to go through the mental stress? You know, so many people drafted him and now they're burnt. And it's like, you don't have to do that. You could go Bijan, you could go Gibbs, you could go Saquon, and you could take the mental strain off. And of course, they could get hurt too.

So this is fantasy, right? But. But yeah, CMC, you know. Depends your, how much of a taste for danger you have. And lastly, give me the round in which I should take a flyer on Cam Ward.

Oh, see, I heard you talking about Cam Ward. I'm excited for their future. It's hard for a rookie to put up numbers that matter for fantasy. We haven't seen a lot of that. I think last year was like the first year we had a rookie call.

Quarterback gives double-digit touchdowns to somebody because Terry McLaurin got the double-digits with Jaden Daniels.

So you can get them with the last round pick. If you believe, you can take that shot, see what happens to start the year. They got all those rookie wide receivers they're trying to develop in Tennessee, but. I do really like what I've seen from Cam Warden. I'm excited to see what the Titans can turn into because they've been dealing with.

You know, no more Will Levis experience in Tennessee. Let's move forward with Cam Ward. Right. Okay. And then the guy that is a sleeper.

Yeah. I love Jameson Williams. I don't know if he quite qualifies for that. Absolutely, of course. Yeah, I mean, Jamison Williams in Detroit, I think he's got a huge opportunity this year.

They're kind of figuring out what to do with him. He ran a higher percentage of those go routes, the post routes, than even like Jamar Chase and Jefferson. I'm a big fan of Jameson Williams breaking out this season.

Okay. And I've got a sleeper for you. Do you know who I've got to say?

Okay. Okay, here's the sleeper. The sleeper for you is whoever's in charge of scheduling the draft. And getting around to informing the defending champs when it is. Yeah.

Yeah. That person is dead asleep. Who is the Rip Van Winkle of the Fantasy Footballers Operation here, Andy? Is it an excuse if he's getting married this past week? Is that an excuse for Damon?

Oh, okay. Oh, then delegate. Then delegate. Then Damon is to blame. I've got something for his registry.

Delegate. Come on. Oh, my goodness. We got to get him an invite in February next year. What the hell?

He's married. Whenever you want to get around to it. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, we'll let you know when it's starting. We'll let you know when the draft's starting, right?

Hey, guys, it's round two. Thanks for the time, Andy. Greatly appreciated. Everybody, check out the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. You'll be one of the last if you already haven't.

Love these guys. Me too. Two episodes at the gym yesterday.

Okay, great. Awesome. Rich the man was getting married. That's not an excuse. It kind of is.

No, it's not. You can multitask. Come on with a draft time and send it out. I do. I do.

I do. I'm not saying that whoever's doing this, walking down the aisle, should say, hold on a second, honey. I got one second. I got to activate this leak. I'm not saying that.

Rich goes from telling people, take a moment, step back, and just take moments to it. Years ago, I was looking for a job and getting married. That's true.

Okay, so this person can walk down the aisle and chew this gum. That's all I'm saying. Sleep at the Switch. What are they doing? Your buddy must have been stressful now, knowing what we know.

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This is the story breaking right now. Fox One is coming soon, which means soon you can be there live for all the biggest moments. See you. Let's go! And witness history as it's made.

It's not about me. It's about what this human spaceflight program is about. It's our national goals. Get all of your favorite news, sports, and entertainment with the side of. I think I'm here Peter.

All in one app, streaming live on August the 21st. Fox One. You and I were doing like, I think like, as they said, the 11 o'clock Eastern show. And all of a sudden, we get a phone call that we have to go on the air immediately because a brawl has broken out at Madison Square Garden because the Andrew Galata Riddick Bow fight went haywire.

So when that happens back in the day, we went haywire. We did. I remember that. We were like, you were like knocking on, I think, on my, on the door, like, we got to go down. No, I had a cubicle.

You had an office. Oh, that's just. I did start four years earlier. No, you did. I know that.

That's okay. Hello. But anyway, yeah. But we somehow put it together and did a fabulous ad-lib the entire program. Because it was one of those things, because you and I are both from New York City, and we're like, honestly, we were kind of, I remember we were walking down together, we're saying, okay, we're getting a little bit of bits and pieces as to why something had broken out.

And we both looked at each other like, if cops got called to Madison Square Garden, all holy heck had to have broken out. And you love boxing. I mean, you know, give yourself a little credit. I mean, you totally had like done your research on this fight. I remember that.

You love the game. You know, you love the fight game.

Well, you know, part of the reason why I love the fun game so much, it was my way to get out of the Sports Center studio as Charlie Steiner stopped doing it. Yeah, how'd that work out? He stopped doing it and they asked me to take over the beast. One of the first fights I covered, Chris, was the Holofield Michael Moore rematch, Holafield Moore II in Las Vegas, Nevada. And I did a piece for Sports Center Sunday morning where Jack Edwards pooped all over it.

I've told that story on this show many times. And I did a story walking around. Las Vegas entertainment scene trying to get all the sound bites of like the Blue Man group and a whole bunch of other people who were on stage at the time in Las Vegas back in that day. And one of the people who said, Yes, I will do an interview and be part of your silly piece was David Cassidy. The first love of my life as a 12-year-old.

And she went nuts. You went nuts. It was the greatest thing Rich has ever done. He brings back an auto, you brought back an autographed picture.

Well, you said, if you can get anything, can I get an autographed picture of him? And instead, I got a photograph of you that you autographed to him that I got him to put up in his mirror in his dressing room. Incredible. It's just one of those moments. People are saying, oh, here's Rich in London talking about the old days at ESPN.

It has to be sports related. No, it was something as great as David Cassidy, the late David Cassidy. How sad he is. No, yes. I know.

But Rich, that's, I think, one of your top 10 claims to fame. For me, on my top 10, my sports center top 10 of Rich Eisen's greatest. That's David Cassidy makes the top 10. Ah, yes, LC, Linda Cohn, who I did a lot of those sports centers with back in the day when she was on this program in 2019. Radio audience is returning in how long, Mike Hoskins?

About 45 seconds. That was great.

So, Andy Holloway, that was fun with him. Rod Woodson, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. What does that mean? No regrets.

Okay. That was Mike Williams. Mike Williams. Ah, that's right. I remember all that stuff.

Very good. Is that Suze on the guest line? Let's pop her up. What's up, Suze? You there, Suze?

On the guest line, Mike? Hey, what's up? Hi. What's going on, guys? Hey, Suzy.

What's up? What's going on? Hey. What's happening? I don't know.

I got a text from TJ saying that I might be interested in the conversation, so I thought I'd see what's going on. What's wrong with you? I'm trying to start some of them. That was just a question I had to Susie. About what?

Well, we just got done saying that you and Susie were getting married, and you didn't have a job. Yes. So I was wondering why she went through with it. That's all. Oh, my gosh.

What is wrong with you? I'm just saying. She married a dude who was, he didn't have a job, bro. And she stuck by his side. I'm just trying to point at how strong that union is.

It's all I'm saying.

Well, my mom had already paid for the raw bars. That's your man over there. I'm just trying to make how strong you two are. Your men's okay. Don't look this way.

Sir, strong. The car was already delivered. The Jaeger for Dan was already there, icing. Yeah, the rabbi was there. We were all there.

What's the matter with you? I just like to know these things. I like to know you and Susie. I get to know you better. I had upside.

You dad. Look at them now, Suze. Like Crystal. Suze, your reaction to watching the tease last night at the Open of Sports Center was precious. I got to show you the video.

Yeah, I want to see that. Because that's all you kept saying. You couldn't believe it. That's crazy. You know, when you watch a video that you've taken and you're unaware that you're actually saying things out loud while you're watching for this, that's what happened to me.

I kept saying, oh my God. Oh my god, this is actually happening. Unbelievable. And did you realize how much it brought everybody together on social media, Susie? Because it was, people just loved it last night.

You know what's so funny, um, Coop went for a deep dive. And I would tell them, please don't read the comments. But mom, everybody was happy. One of those rare times. We're rich and watching social media together.

Yeah. Don't let the it was it was special. And you know, when when you were talking about Stewart, it reminded me of so many times. on the second floor hanging out and It was just it was it was it was a wonderful watch. It really was.

And I and you know me, like I'm from New England. I rarely say anything that positive, but it was it was it was really special to watch. Thanks, Suze. Thanks for calling. Thanks for marrying.

Thanks for going through at the wedding. Yeah, there's still time. Don't worry.

Well, not on the show. We're up against it. What the hell is that? TJ, what's about trying to say your union is strong? Go through with it.

TJ, I don't know if you've been to a wedding. It's for better or worse. That was the worst. Right. It's not like, wait a minute.

That wasn't the better. You just got it into a cardboard box. I'm out. Yeah. I'm saying I'm glad she didn't do that.

And had she done it to me, I would have had time to. Stage your fantasy draft. I am Michael Rosenbaum. I am Tom Welling. Welcome to Talk Bill.

Where it's fun to talk about small books. We're going to be talking to sometimes guest stars. Are you liking the direction below? Is it going in? Yeah, because I'm getting more screen time.

That's good. But mostly it's just me and Tom remembering. I think we all feel like there was a scene missing here. You got me, Tom. Let's revisit it.

Let's look at it. See what we remember. See what we remember. I had never been around anything like that before. I mean, it was so fun.

Talkville. Talk Bill. I just had a flashback. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Let's get into it.