This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Life gets easier with great assists, and State Pharm is here to dish one your way. Get in touch over the phone or on the app to get the teammate you need. State Farm with the Assist. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.
Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability and eligibility vary by state. The Jack Welch Management Institute at Strayer University helps you go from I Know the Way to I've Arrived with our top ten ranked online MBA. Gain skills you can learn today and apply tomorrow. Get ready to go from make it happen to made it happen and keep striving.
Visit strayer.edu slash jackwelchmba to learn more. Strayer University is certified to operate in Virginia by Chev and its many campuses, including at 2121 15th Street North in Arlington, Virginia. How about the cowboys? This is the Rich Eisen Show. Would this suffice as breaking up with the team?
We need to stop the run. We need to get the ball back. Kenny Clark was a big part of this. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Michael Persons gets traded.
Holy crap. Earlier on the show, Seahawks defensive end Demarcus Lawrence. Coming up. ESPN announcer Chris Fowler. NFL network insider Tom Pellicero.
National Championship head coach Mac Brown and now Insur Rich Eisen. All right, everybody. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen show on the air. It's a what's more likely Friday, and I'll be honest with you. When they left Thursday show, I did not think it was likely Micah Parsons is going to be traded to the Green Bay Packers for Kenny Clark and two first-rounders.
Nope. And then get signed to a contract that's $48 million. more in total than what Jerry Jones paid for the Dallas Cowboys. back in his day. Didn't see that coming.
So, when Tom Pellicero joins us in about 20 minutes' time, very simple question. WTF? Here on the RE show. I tweeted Tom. He could have warned me.
He's going to join us. And so we'll get some answers best we can. But Um, this man's very busy. Whether, I mean, this is the time of year where he's uh at the Billie Jean King. Tennis Center.
in New York City for the U.S. Open and then traveling to Places like Columbus, Ohio, where he's about to join us for a big college game day on Saturday, reunion for Lee Corso, and then NFL stadiums. Um Let's just bring him right in. Lots to talk about with the voice of college football from ESPN. My buddy Chris Fowler.
Good to see you, Chris. Hello, Rich. Awesome to see you. Welcome back, first of all. Thank you.
The mothership. I will take that. I will take that and run with it. What was the last sports center you did? Was your last sports center, Chris?
Come on. It was in a different century, I think. I don't remember the last. You're much better about that, knowing the exact dates and times. I do focus on that sort of stuff, I guess.
But yeah, last century? You have not done one in the 21st century. Probably so. I moved out of the Bristol metropolitan area in the sort of mid-90s.
Okay, so that would make sense then.
Now you're in Columbus, Ohio. But you're calling LSU Clemson, correct, to kick off the season, right? On the other hand. Yes.
So you are in Columbus 4. I give you the floor, Chris. We all know why you're in Columbus, but go ahead. A day tomorrow that many of us Thought about for years, dreaded, has arrived. It'll be a celebratory morning as Lee Corso appears on College Game Day for the last time.
and makes his last headgear pick in the place where it all began. Columbus, Ohio. And it's going to be, it's going to be powerful, Rich. It's going to be very emotional for him, for a lot of us, for a lot of viewers. Um it's going to be a a one-of-a-kind game day show, leading in, by the way, to a monster Texas Ohio State game, which is on another network.
Yes.
But the Fox is sort of collaborating in a way. I can't tip too much, but There's going to be some surprises. It's going to be an extravaganza there as it all builds to the end. I'm loving watching these pics. Thank you, Pics.
Here he is as the Trojan warrior there.
Well, I mean, and this one is great. I like this one that looks like Ricky Fowler there to the left. And put the one up with Namath, if you don't mind. What's this one? What's the backstory to this one?
These distinguished guys in fur coats. You know, Namath had the famous fur coat. When he was with the Jets, I don't know whether he wore it at Alabama, but he tried it out for this, and Lee Corsa was ready for it and had his own. I'm not sure that's faux. I don't believe if any minks or actual animals were sacrificed for the sake of that shot right there.
But yeah, that's the thing, though, as you know.
Some of the funniest people on the planet wanted to come out and play with Lee Corso. You know, from Bill Murray to... Um, Will Farrell to Vince Vaughan, on and on. These guys wanted to be part of the guest picker segment because Lee Corso was over there doing his thing, and he got they got to play with him and and. Everybody from From those guys to Alice Cooper to Katie Perry, of course, one of the most famous game day picker segments.
All of them had a blast and he was always sort of the ringleader of the most 15 important minutes of the show.
Well, as you know, chemistry can't be manufactured, right? Uh and that's the magic of television. That's the magic of of again that shot of you and Lee and Herb Street, and that was how College Game Day sort of was known for a while was through the three of you. And we all know what it how it expanded, what it's become. But Walk me through the chemistry, and when you realized something was up.
when Lee was around. The very first time he and I were together on his set, I was an emergency fill-in as game day host in 89 when the host, the wife was having a baby and he raced away and they called me late at night. And I was, I never did anything like that. I would like to say that I was calm, but I was pretty nervous. And here he was coaching a true freshman, doing something he hadn't done before and filling me with confidence and belief when others around me were looking skeptical.
When Bino Cook was telling me, he's a famous figure that worked with Lee Anes back in those days, but it's like, Fowler, you're going to. Mm-hmm. Your pants. You're not going to sleep at all tonight before this show. And so, countering that on the other shoulder was a nurturing, loving, Coach, which Lee Corson to me is always a coach at heart, giving me confidence and belief.
The next season, I was the regular host of the show, and it was just he and I, Rich, and he would say some crazy stuff. I mean, before he was this. Lovable grandfather figure. People old enough to remember Corso, especially before he had to fight back through the stroke. I mean, he was so quick.
He was incredibly witty and funny and would say crazy polarizing things that really pissed people off. And he didn't care. He was a hot take guy way before that was unfortunately invented, right? And so I was sitting there, there's nobody else on the set. And I've got to have an answer or a response to some crazy statement he's just made.
And it really wasn't a host role. Uh, traditionally, Craig James came in the next year, Herbie came in a few years after that, and then they could really play off of each other, and that took the chemistry to another level for a while. It's just me. Figuring out how am I going to balance out the nutty stuff Corso's saying? The not so fast, did that, was that always around, or were you there for the birth of that?
Yeah, I think he would say that like off air. And so he just brought that onto the air. And then the Dixon Ticonderoga pencil became part of the routine. And I think people would make pics on the show. The guests would come in and they'd want to disagree with Corso just so he could turn and say to them, not so fast, my friend.
And I, you know, everybody from Michael Phelps, who was pretty fast, to Carl Lewis, who was really fast. I mean, he would say it to anybody and we would try to do just enough research about. Their careers, if they'd made movies or songs, he would try to know just enough about it to work a few of those things in, which always amused them. And were you on the set when he called the kid a midget? Not so fast, midget.
Were you on the set for that one, Chris? That's one of those things. You know, when you go over, how old was the kid? How old was that kid when he said that to him? Was he like 10?
10, 12. It was at the Rose Bowl. I mean, it was like you go over it and you think, all right, listen. Don't say this, don't say that, and then of course it comes out. I mean, he was never one for being politically correct, and that's one of the beautiful things about him.
I love it. Chris Fowler walking us through some memory lane here with Lee Corso on the Rich Eisen show before. His Corso's final college game day. Again, I don't mean to spoil any surprises, but you're there. Today, for a banquet, right, in honor of lovely course.
Yeah, so it's a kind of a luncheon. He's got a bunch of people coming in. People have flown in for it, who worked with Lee in the past, other places, and a lot of family and friends. It's going to be a pretty informal thing, not a bunch of speeches, but just kind of a chance to get together and for him to see a lot of people because he'll lock it down. You know, he's been thinking about this for a long time.
He'll be very emotional. He'll, he'll. You know, he'll conserve his energy as he always does on Friday, and then obviously go out there and have a pretty significant role in game day beyond just the pick segment more than he has in recent years. But this is a chance to just kind of informally get together and hug him and take some pictures. Are you going to stick around for College Game Day or are you heading out to I am going to stick around for a throwback segment?
Yes, there's a throwback segment early in the show, and I'll enjoy that a lot. and try to keep it together. And then I'll just sit back and watch, like everybody else, the rest of the show unfold and the pick. You're not wrong, man. Keep it together, right?
Because I'll say here all the time, and I felt it again. Two Mondays ago, Chris. about um About keeping it together and reunions and throwbacks and things like that, involving an ESPN show, and obviously that would be Sports Center, but. This is the sort of stuff: it is the marking of passage of time, you know? And you use the word of.
You know, dreading this moment that Lee would not be on the set anymore, but thank goodness he's around, right? That we're not talking about him as if he's not around, that he is part of it. And I imagine you You have not been part of College Game Day itself for a bit because you're in the booth. Yeah, I left after the 2014 season, which was a tough decision. I still see Lee from time to time because the show will be at the same place as the games we're calling on ABC.
And obviously, we both live in Florida, so I get a chance to see him in the offseason. He's been thinking about this all spring and all summer. But this, you're a great student. Of TV history, Rich.
So I don't know. I think in the world we live in, this is sort of comparable to like Johnny Carson's last show, but the tonight show, right? That show will continue, but he's one of one and his presence. can't be duplicated. And if you're a Letterman fan, as I was a huge Dave fan, I think you were too, when he left.
I think it's one of those moments in TV Sports where it's been since 1987. that he's been he's he was game day from day one i joined it a few years in but i mean that's a hell of a run and it's a run that we're never going to see in this business again i don't think regardless of we're talking college football or any sport it's a run we'll not see and and that's why that's why it's to be celebrated and that's why so many people are going to get misty yeah i mean television personalities uh are welcomed into homes They're part of your day or tradition, or in this case, uh a Saturday morning And um and so Obviously, it is that emotional. It really is for somebody like Lee Corso to be part of something that has been part of so many people's Saturdays. And people have said things, Rich, you know, because you do grow up watching sports on TV and it makes an impact with you. And Lee Corso's impact on the sport, growing the sport, making the sport measurably more popular and more fun with his presence for generations of people.
I can't tell you how often I get approached. And it must be tenfold for him. Listen. My brothers, my dad, we sat on the couch Saturday morning watching you, watching game day. And those are like beautiful, powerful memories for so many people, so many families and so many fans.
And, you know, the young guy who works on the show as a production assistant who now hands lead the headgear has told him, I was five years old, like running into the living room at the end of game day to watch you make that pick. And now he's working with him as the end is approaching. And there's so many thousands, many thousands of people that have that same experience. And then in the few minutes I have left with you, Chris Fowler, the front row seat you've had to. the Corso-Herb Street relationship.
And you could see Kirk views him as a family member. There's no question about it. Uh, father figure, grandfather figure, however you want to put it, not to get, you know. um psychological here but you could definitely see how he's been hugging him up, loving him up. Um and and being there for for Lee.
Um in a way that you just don't see on television. And I'd love for you to give voice. Chris. Yeah, I get moved with the way you describe that. I really do.
You know, it's, I think it was a parental kind of. Beloved uncle figure, as well as being a coach. He was a coach to Kirk. He was a coach to Desmond Howard. He's talked about that.
He meant a whole lot to Desmond as well, and to me, as I've described.
So whether you View him as a coach or a parent. Early on. He nurtured us, he helped me. He was very, very helpful and nurturing and supportive to Kirk. But then, as time passes, as we know, when our own parents get older, the roles kind of shift and reverse.
And so, Kirk's done a phenomenal job. purely from the heart, helpingly, all of us were. you know so Fearful would he suffer that stroke? It's been a long time. It's been since 2009.
Coming back from that, how would it work, Rich? Would the gears mesh? Would the mind and the mouth connect? And To see him come back and spectacularly battle and overcome that. And I think later in recent years, he has needed all of that love and support from Kirk.
And Kirk has a wonderful way with him. And I think you'll see that again tomorrow. It's going to be fun to be part of a throwback segment for me because I don't miss. A lot about game day. I like not having to get up early.
I like having a Friday night. I love what I'm doing on Saturday night, but I do miss some of that stuff. As you said, it's precious and it's priceless. And I'll have a good time tomorrow morning. Everyone's going to be watching, man.
Everyone's going to be watching. I would be remiss before I let you go if I didn't give you the floor on the game. Uh, that uh that is going to be played there, uh, it's pretty monumental. Um It is. I wish we were calling it, man.
I'm sure. We're going to watch a little bit ringside before we get on the plan to go down to Clemson. And we're thrilled to be at LSU Clemson, too. That's a monster game, tremendous quarterback matchup. You're going to be talking about these guys in the coming months and all the way to the draft, Garrett Nussmeyer and Kate Klubnick, because along with Arch, of course, who has the moment of his football life here tomorrow, these guys are the top of all the quarterback boards.
There may be six first-round quarterbacks in the draft. And the guys I'm talking about in these two games are right there. It's unclear if Arch is going to come out. He's sort of walked that back a little bit. Let's see what kind of season they have.
But to come in here in this environment, and throw the ball. In meaningful pressure situations, which is not something he's really done against quality opponents yet. We saw glimpses of it. Trust me, in practice, he throws it beautifully, but he's been mostly like a change-of-pace quarterback, a runner. He can still do that.
But Sarkesian is hoping that he's not going to get too caught up in his own hype. I think he's pretty well-grounded. I think he's raised by. A grounded family, and he's got some very good. uncle, mentors, and a very smart coach in Steve Sarkeesian, who's telling him, don't.
Be Superman, Arch. You don't have to put the cape on. You just have to manage things. You get us going. Take care of the ball.
You've heard this a million times, but that's what football is at the highest level when you play good teams. It's got a great defense. And Julian Sand for Ohio State is going to have to make his debut at home, which is nice, but against the great Texas defense.
So, this is what we have in the sport: you know, a monster opening weekend with so many unanswered questions that'll begin to sort of reveal themselves in all these big showdown games.
So, it's going to be a blast. Saturday, Sunday, and even Monday night when Belichick tape against TCU. I mean, there's a lot of want to see there. You know, I think so. It's just a monster.
Big long holiday weekend of college football. And then you go back to New York City, where I just was a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if there's something in the water, but this past week at the tennis center, Kind of off the rails. You know, arguments at the net, weird questions in the press rooms, smashed rackets. Dude, it's at the end of a long hole.
Wandering photogs. I mean, you know, what the hell happened this week? That's a good thing. Everything happens. I mean, I think everybody's brain at the end of this long tennis calendar, I feel refreshed, but all the players are kind of like tapped out.
And that's why weird stuff happens at the open, you know, and then we got a whole other, what, 10 days to go. That's right. And it's one in the morning and crazy stuff happens. But in the meantime, have a great luncheon. Have a great time there.
Soak it in, man.
Soak it in and enjoy it. I really can't wait to see what you and the rest of the College Game Day crew have cooked up. I'll pass along your best. Thanks for giving me the opportunity, Rich. I appreciate you to come on here and talk about this stuff that is so near and dear.
Appreciate you. You bet. That's Chris Fowler getting ready to fetch this man on your screen, Lee Horso, right here on the Rich Isaac Show. Man, it's going to be beautiful and enjoyable and sad and exciting and. All at the same time, exciting because he's going to put that headgear on one last time and then the game's going to kick.
And then college football starts. Like in earnest. Oh, basically. That's a legend though, man. And again, we're going to put that on a reel on our Instagram.
Uh tomorrow. Rod Woodson's Lee Corso story of being recruited by Lee Corso as Mr. Indiana. It's a great story. That'll be on our socials tomorrow.
844-204-RICH, number $1. Let's take a break. Tom Pellisero, when we come back, a very simple question for him. WTF. Yeah.
This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. From streaming to shopping, Prime helps you get more out of your passions.
So whether you're a fan of true crime or prefer a nail-biting novel from time to time, with services like Prime Video, Amazon Music, and fast-free delivery, Prime makes it easy to get more out of whatever you're into or getting into. Visit amazon.com slash Prime to learn more. This Labor Day at Lowe's, shop member-only Doorbuster deals for a limited time. Save $50 on an Ego string trimmer, now $169. Plus, get 50% off select Holland Pavers.
Not a rewards member? Sign up for free today. But hurry, Labor Day Doorbuster deals won't last long. Lowe's, we help, you save. Ballot through 9-1 while supplies last.
Program subject to terms and conditions. Details at lowez.com/slash terms, subject to change. Gatorade is the number one proven electrolyte blend, designed to hydrate better than water.
So you can lose more sweat. and raise your game. Gatorade. Is it in you? Back here on Roku channel.
Radio audience will rejoin in a couple minutes.
So that's when we'll bring in Tom Pelicero. Micah Parsons wearing number 11. Jaden Reed owns that number. Correct.
So, will there be a deal made, or it's just like, hey, you're new to the team and choose something else? I guess Micah is giving an indication that he's going to have to choose something else or he will. He wrote: Should I go zero or one? I have looked it up. Would you care to guess?
We could do this price is right rules here. Grand total number of Green Bay Packers who have worn the number zero in the history of the Green Bay Packers. Chris Brockman, your guest. Zero.
Well, I mean, I was gonna say, play the music. Play the music, Jay.
Okay, we'll do that. What do you got? You'll go one at zero? I'll go one. The the actual retail uh number is zero.
Hmm. That's cool.
Okay, very good. Wrong music. Yeah. Okay, I got the the grand total number of Green Bay Packers who have worn the number one. Ooh.
Chris Brockman have looked that up. Gotta be a kick or a punter. I'll say three. Three. I'm gonna say five.
He says five.
Well, I know Curly Lambeau wore one, so I'm gonna say one. Ladies and gentlemen. T.J. Jefferson knowing his history. The actual answer is one, and the only one to do it is Curly Lambo.
So, could it go Curly Lambo and Micah Parsons as the only number ones in the history of the. Or will they basically say there's It's really only number. one number one and it's You know, look at the stage. His name's on it. Unless in 80 years, it's going to be Parsons.
Could be. Could be Parsons. I only realized that when we went to Green Bay and I was just sitting there doing research. It's not like I had that committed. No, I just thought you were a Google internet.
Well, TJ and I said in the break, like, wearing zero is pretty hard. Like, that is going to be pretty badass. You should go with zero. No one else has done it. No one else has done it.
Yeah. The grand total number of Green Bay Packers to wear zero is, in fact, zero. That's my number of Super Bowl contenders right there. We have questions. He has answers.
He's Tom Pellicero back here in the Rich House. Good to see you, Tommy P. How are you? Yeah, yeah, Tommy Prime Minister. Good to see you, Rich.
What's up to my fellows in the studio? Yeah, what up, man? I don't know, Tom, a little upset with you. It's good to see TJ showed up for work today. I did not think that was a given.
No, I know. He was in his own darkness retreat yesterday. You could have given me a heads up, Tom. That's all I'm saying. All right, Tom.
A lot of people would feel that way. Tom. Tom, why did this happen? I know that the Joneses were talking up Kenny Clark. And I know that we're talking about.
stopping the run. But we we all know 26-year-old elite. First team, all-pro pass rushers. Don't get traded for three-time Pro Bowl, 30-year-old defensive tackles straight up. For a playing season, I know there's draft compensation, but for the 2025 season, it was essentially a trade of Micah Parsons for Kenny Clark.
That just doesn't happen.
So why did this happen? Tom. Let's start with the timeline here because there seems to be a misconception that, as Jerry Jones said last night, they got this thing done in five minutes. Was not the case, regardless of any rumors or whatever was reported out there. This had been going on for weeks.
The Cowboys, once Micah Parsons requested a trade in that lengthy statement back on August 1st, they inevitably started getting calls. And I know of multiple other teams beyond the Packers who made those phone calls. And in the early going, It was difficult to tell whether the Cowboys would seriously consider trading Micah Parsons. The compensation if they were to do that deal was pretty clear, which was it would be something in the neighborhood of the Khalil Mack trade back in 2018, which was actually a little bit less than two first-round picks because then there were some swaps and there was a two that went back to the Bears in that deal. But basically, it was going to be two first-round picks, give or take.
That was going to be the price. We now know from Jerry. That they eliminated some teams if they did not feel those teams had a defensive tackle that was worth them bringing in as part of the trip. Let's set that aside here. This trade with Green Bay in terms of the trade compensation was done three days ago.
The Packers and Cowboys had agreed. It was going to be two first-round picks. It was going to be Kenny Clark. This is the only team.
So in order to get to that, Rich, of this is the one team. This was weeks of them surveying the landscape of, hey, what else potentially could we get out there? The last piece of this then became the contract. And that was what was going on over the last 48 to 72 hours. David Mulageda, who presided over another really unique situation several years ago with Deshaun Watson, also presided over this one.
And Knowing that much like in the Watson case, regardless of what was going on in terms of off the field and potential disciplinary considerations, they had a lot of leverage because it was basically free agency. In this case, you had kind of a free agent vibe in terms of what he was able to do, not playing four teams off each other like he did with Deshaun Watson. But the reality that it's very rare players who are on one roster truly get to negotiate a contract with a different team, which effectively gave Micah Parsons veto power over that trade. In other words, if the Packers don't pay, What the price is, you simply say, I'm all good. I'm not going to go to Green Bay.
They're not going to give up two first-round picks in their starting nose tackle for a guy going into the last year of a contract.
So the Packers went. To $47 million per year in terms of the new money on the extension. Even if you consider this a new five-year, $212 million deal, which it kind of is from a team accounting standpoint, that's still over $42 million per year. That's still the biggest deal ever for a non-quarterback. The fact that Packers We're able to make that type of commitment to Micah Parsons goes against so much of how they have operated for decades.
Here, there are countless trades that they have been close to: Randy Moss, Tony Gonzalez. I mean, name all these players over the years where they're in it, and then it came right down to it. It's ah, we don't want to do that extra one round in the pick. They hadn't traded a first rounder, much less two first-rounders, since 1992 when they acquired Brett Farr. The year after that, they signed Reggie White as the first free agent.
Those two helped usher in this golden age of Packers football that really has remained undisturbed for several decades. But if you look around the rest of the league, At what the teams have done that have won Super Bowls, which for all the Packers' success, they have not yet done in the Matt LaFleur era in Green Bay. There's been something bold about what they've done in the trade market. Howie Roseman does it every year. He's in on every trade and he makes a lot of trades.
You had the Rams, of course, who were trading all their picks to bring in guys that could help them. Right now, the Chiefs have been very aggressive, not just trading four guys, but trading guys away in like the Tyreek Hill trade. And there's a corollary here, Rich, between that trade and what Dallas did in a completely different spot. You're talking about a Chiefs team that had gone to the AFC Championship game that year, that had won Super Bowls with Tyreek Hill on the roster, but they felt like. not just getting what at the time was a first and a third round pick.
But freeing up $30 million per year in cash and cap space would allow them to address all these other needs: rebuild the defense, rebuild the offensive line. They did that. They went back and they won two more Super Bowls and went to a third last year. For the Cowboys, you heard Jerry Jones talk a little bit about that last night: that hey, this is not just. The two first-round picks and Kenny Clark.
This could turn into five players. He wasn't talking about trading down in the draft. He's talking about we got all this extra cash and cap space because we're not paying a pass rusher now $40 plus million dollars per year. And I get the people that sit there and go, Well, you used those picks just to try to find the next Micah Parsons. What this was as much as anything, Rich.
For Dallas was a referendum that they did not ultimately believe that Micah Parsons was going to be the difference or not to them winning at the Super Bowl for the first time in 30 years. They tried to do the deal. Jerry thought they did the deal in April and March. In the end, Micah Parsons said, no, you need to negotiate with that with my agent. They were not willing on the Cowboys standpoint to do that.
They never talked with David Mulligetta. They never tried to do a deal. He did confirm reporting by our James Slater last night, Jerry did, that in the end, they made one last shot. Parsons and Mulligetta came to the Cowboys, like, hey, Well, we're still willing to sign with you. And the answer a few days ago from the Cowboys was.
You're on the fifth year option. You're under contract. Get ready to play next Thursday at Philadelphia. That was basically the end of Micah Parsons as a cowboy. It just took a few more days for the Packers, financially and otherwise, to finalize Micah Parsons being a Green Bay Packer.
Okay, Tom, you just said a lot there, and I appreciate it. Excellent information. You gave me what happened. I need why it happened. I need the why, Tom, because I understand.
I understand. They need to stop the run. I understand they need Kenny Clark. I understand even what you said that without.
Now I'm paying Micah all that money. They could pay other people that money, which by the way. They might have had room to do. a little bit. Had they signed people like Dak or C D earlier.
I mean But that's That's for another day. We've had those days quite a bit and waiting for resolution for this. You don't Trade away. generational Pass rushers. at the elite all-pro level.
for somebody four years older At a defensive tackle position. You just don't do it. We don't see it because you don't do it. These things you do not make. The Raiders did.
So, not for a defensive tackle. No, no, the Raiders did make a similar timeline, similar type of trade with Khalil Mack. He was this rich, though. They got the capital, right? They got the capital to go, all right, we're going to rebuild.
That was John Cruden's whole philosophy, too. Much like the Cowboys thinking, which is you tie up that much money in someone who's not your quarterback, it hamsprings who else are. But what did they get? Out of that trade, the Raiders drafted Ryan Edwards, a wide receiver who was basically never heard from again. They drafted a safety named Bless Austin.
They drafted Damon Arnett, a cornerback in the first round, who they cut after he put a video on the internet of him waving guns around and threatening to shoot somebody. And they got Josh Jacobs. That was the fourth player they got with the picks in that trade. It was a good player. Then they ultimately weren't able to re-sign him.
And now he's teammates with Micah Parsons with the Packers. You get all the picks, all the cap space, all the cash you want. Right. If you don't find your next Micah Parsons, we're all going to reflect on this and say it's a massive error. No, correct.
Obviously, on the Cowboys' part. And I get it. And the Cowboys have had an excellent history of drafting well. Recently, as well, you know, accepted the defensive tackle position, which is maybe why part of why we're here. Is there anything to the fact that they were sick and tired behind the scenes of Micah Parsons?
Because this was, in my mind, watching the Jerry Jones press conference on our network. the subtext of almost every answer he gave. I don't have a problem. The locker room's not going to have a problem. As a matter of fact, I feel better.
you know i think that you know i'm not saying that micah wasn't we greatly appreciated his time here But we're in a better position. We have a better chance to win. Which To a cowboy fan, and pretty much, again, anyone else, you do not trade 26-year-old kids at this position for somebody four years older in an interior lineman. You just don't do it. And they did it.
And there was a break of down of trust. There has to be some. Is there anything? to this Tom. It is fair to say, Rich, if you believe that a 26-year-old elite pass rusher who's had double-digit sacks, Pro Bowl, every year he's been in the league, if you believe that guy is one of your absolute core players, cornerstone dudes, locker room leader.
You're not trading. That's absolutely fair. And you go back to last fall. They got it done with CeeDee Lamb because he's one of their guys. They got it done with Dak Prescott because he's one of their guys.
They did try. Again, Jerry thought he had a deal done with Micah Parsons. And they could have strung this out and said, you're just going to play on the fifth year option. We're not listening to the trade calls. You want to lose 1.3 million a week or whatever it would be by missing games.
Go for it. We're going to take that money. If you don't show up by midseason, we toll your contract. We own you for 2026 as well. And then we got two franchise tags beyond that.
They could have gone down that road. But I still go back again, Rich. I know I've talked about it here before to what we reported on Super Bowl Sunday, which is the Cowboys were having these internal discussions about Micah Parsons going back to last fall. And it was not simply, though this was certainly a big part of the conversation, the fact they got $60 million a year in Dak. They got $34.5 million in CeeDee Lamb.
Is it really wise to pay what at the time would have been like 35 to 40 million for Micah Parsons? It ended up being a much higher number, but they had serious considerations. of is this the in the best interest of the cowboys to re-sign him Or should we? Trade him and get a bunch of compensation and kind of be able to address all these other needs that we feel we have.
Well, they clearly came to the conclusion that, well, when in doubt, sign the guy. They thought in Jerry's mind they had a deal done. And then Micah said, call my agent to finish the deal. And the cowboy said, no, we already negotiated this deal. There are other.
Factors in this. There is certainly, and you go back. Why did Michael Parsons, you know, slide not that far? But why did he not go top five in the draft? Part of it was just some of the things about, you know, is he an independent contractor?
Is he going to be one of the leaders on the team? you know the all this other stuff is he kind of on his own program and you see that You know, guys will be in OTAs where you'd like to have your guys around, and he's off sumo wrestling somebody in Japan. I mean, that's just Micah. He's into, you know, podcasting and doing all these other things, but he's a hell of a player. That's the thing.
Like, and the Cowboys have dealt with a lot worse than a guy who sometimes goes on podcasts and says things that you wish he shouldn't. There's clearly a whole Netflix documentary about how you can win with guys who are doing things much, much worse than anything that Micah Parsons is doing. But Jerry Jones is operated by a certain code. And you heard parts of this when he's talking last night. He felt like in his business life, in his football life, when you shake somebody's hand, you feel like you got a deal.
That's it. And he has done this with so many other players. Him and Bill Belichick are the two guys through the last couple of decades, two, three decades of football who would do this all the time. Bring the player in. Get with them, say, here's the contract, work it out.
Then basically call the agent and say, Hey, we got a deal. You can sign off on this now. This was the rare occasion where a player went, No, actually, I don't feel comfortable with this. He's got an agent who has done tons and tons of deals, and they simply never engage.
Now, Jerry, last night, when he was asked about some of the recent answers that he gave to our guy, Irv, among others, about not trading Micah Parsons, and he basically said, Well, why would I tell you I want to trade a guy if I'm trying to trade him? I would do the opposite, which is what exactly He did hear. And that again reinforces what we've reported, which is, regardless of the timeline of when certain information came out, Rich, this was a several weeks' process. They finally felt like they have. The proper compensation to pull the trigger on this deal with the Packers.
This was done sometime. I'm messing up my days now, but I believe it was around Tuesday. It was three days ago that they had the trade locked in, which then gives the leverage to the agent to go, all right. Packers, you want them? This is what it's going to take.
He ends up with a monster contract, and the Cowboys end up with what they hope can be a very small, sized-down version of the Herschel Walker trade that Jerry Jones invoked last night, talking about how that was the launching point from a dark moment in Cowboys' history, a one-win season, and then all of a sudden drafted a bunch of future Hall of Famers and winning a few of them markets. What can you share about what the market was then? I mean, clearly, because again, the Cowboy fans. Uh it's a bitter pill. The the Ice Bowl team, the Fav team.
The uh you know Rogers Team, the Des Caudet team, the team that won and done McCarthy team. Just a couple of years ago. Why Green Bay? And again, I understand they needed the cap and they wanted a player. Who else was in this mix?
How wide a net was this thing? That's it. There's a lot of Packers and Cowboys connections. I know that. And Terry said he didn't take into consideration that other than trading him in the NFC East.
We don't really care because you play half these teams on a yearly basis. Anyway, I mean, what I would tell you is there were, I mean, a bunch of other teams.
Okay. I got a lot of calls, I had a lot of conversations with GMs, coaches, and people in the league, all trying to get to the bottom of why is this situation so weird? Like, what is actually going on with Micah? And a few weeks ago, when I was talking to people, and inevitably, I would say, like, the price was pretty clear, but I'd say, Do you think that they really want to do it? And everyone's kind of like, we can't tell when they talk about it.
They talk about a price, which would indicate what it would take to get the player, but are they actually, is Jerry ultimately going to say, yes, we are doing this? That only became clear really over the last week or so here. The other thing that I thought was informative, Rich, was when some teams were digging into this with Micah Parsons, they didn't see a guy who necessarily was going to be an ideal fit. And I know that that sounds completely crazy. Again, I would go back to the draft when Micah came out, where there were some coaches who would say, well, what does this guy really do?
Is he a lineman? Is he a defensive end? What is he? The answer from the teams that liked him was everything. He can do everything on the field, but if you're going to give up.
$47 million per year on an extension like the Packers did, $42 million in change in terms of the life of the deal, and give up two first-round picks and give up a player. You better have a really good plan for him Monday through Saturday, as well as on Sundays to get the most out. Of Micah Parsons. There were some teams that just kind of backed away a little bit just because this is such a gut check, Rich. We didn't see 10 years ago, you didn't get trades like this.
Trades are a relatively new phenomenon in the NFL. We now have seen a handful of trades involving two first-round picks for a player. The Rams did it with Jalen Ramsey. The Seahawks did it with Jamal Adams some years ago. There's a few other examples, but it's not a really long list of times that teams have enabled Khalil Mack, obviously, although that ended up being, you know, in terms of the picks that went back a little bit less than 2-1.
It doesn't happen very often. Usually you only see. Those caliber trades evolving quarterbacks because that's the one position where you can really make a sea change. But for the Packers, again, a team that for decades had not operated like this to go. All in, it really seems like a reflection.
That the time has come and the league has evolved, and it's worth taking this type of a risk. The Packers can justify it in their heads: well, it's not really two first-round picks. We'll just count Micah Parsons as our first-round pick next year, and we get him this year. And okay, one additional pick beyond that. But those first-round picks also are your young, cheap workforce that keeps your salary cap and your roster healthy, which is going to hallmark what the Packers have done.
Ron Wolfe hired Brian Goodakunst into the organization in 1999 as an area scout. Ron Wolf was the same guy who pulled off the fav trade and signed Reggie White. This was a Ron Wolf-style move from one of his at the time, very young, pre-committed. Protégés and texting and talking with people in the building yesterday, Rich at Green Bay. I said this on TV earlier, but Matt LaFleur has texted me with a few other words I won't mention in.
It was: I cannot sit down. They are floored about this magnitude of a move we can change out from the season. A jolt in the building in the 90 seconds I have left, Tom. Um Give me the split on the number of people around the league who are texting you saying this is wild, this is insane, or actually see the Cowboys' point of view. What's the split?
I would say that more people are surprised that the price wasn't a little bit more for Micah Parsons than anything. It really depends. It's impossible to go apples to apples with a trade involving a player because if the Cowboys viewed Kenny Clark as a guy that in isolation, they would have traded, let's say, a third round or second round pick for, okay, then basically you got two ones and a two or a three. But there were other teams that thought, you know, just based on how good the player is now productive, how young. That even with the cost in terms of salary that they would have anticipated that the Cowboys could have gotten a little bit more.
There's an understanding about the reset value of this. What people were floored by is just the fact that these two teams made this type of deal. Jerry Jones, who year after year has his pedal to the metal and is 82, 83 years old, and you wouldn't think has an appetite for a rebuild, is now talking about, hey, we're going to get all these picks over the next couple of drafts to build the thing. And the Packers. who never are the team that finalized this deal are all of a sudden the ones making an all-in type of move that just historically has not been their jam.
It's a fascinating storyline that we'll be following all season and particularly, Rich, looking forward to that Sunday night game week four in Dallas. Tom, thanks for the info. You'll be well. We'll chat next week. As a scientist, I can tell you that Sundays are only 24 hours long.
But with NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get every game every Sunday all in one place. That's upwards of 30 hours of NFL in one day. How can there be 30 hours and 24 hours, you ask? I have a theory. Magic.
New users get NFL Sunday Ticket for rate payments of $34.50 per month. Sign up at NFLSundayTicket.com. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday Ticket for Automarket Games excludes digital-only games and commercial use. Terms and embargoes apply.
Availability varies. Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless. And if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should. One. It's $15 a month.
Two. Seriously, it's $15 a month. Three, no big contract. Four, I use it. Five, my mom uses it.
Are you playing me off? That's what's happening, right?
Okay. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/slash switch. Up front payment of $45 per three month plan, $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra.
See Mintmobile.com. During the filming of The Outsiders, you turned 18 and the other boys in the cast pranked you by trashing your hotel room by saran wrapping the toilet and spraying fire extinguishers into the room. Is that a true story? Absolutely true. It was like, that was my college experience.
I was. Turning 18, it would have been the equivalent of going away from home for the first time. And that's my fraternity. Those guys are my frat brothers. What a shock.
And to this day. Jeez, look at that. It's a good group. Look how tough Tom Cruise is trying to look in that photo. Dude, Tom Cruise was such a baller.
He was, he was. He was probably one of my closest friends, and he was so great. And I always looked up to him, and he always had these cool things that he would come up with. And I remember. He was the first guy that ever came up with this conceit of Tightening the titles of the movies he was in to make them sound badass.
Like he did this, you know, the football movie, All the Right Moves. Yeah. But yeah, man, when I was making moves. And I was like, he's a badass. He's a fucking baller.
So baller. But then, you know, it was a problem when he'd be like, yeah, when I was making cocktail. was kind of a you know and I was I I liked No. The other one's no goody. He's long.
Yeah, when I was in tail. When I was in tail, you can't do it either way. You can't do it either way. It's no good.
So you'd go like winged? Is that what you do when you did? When I was doing West. When you're in West. When Marty Sheena and I were doing West.
You know, on the set of Boy, me and Charlie. No, yeah, and when I said boy, An oxygen blues sets up just blues. See, it's important to choose. If you choose the wrong one, it's not as good. There's always one that's cooler.
Like, which is like, like, when I was doing recreation, doesn't it? But if I'm doing parks instead of parks, yeah, man, Amy Poe, and I'm in parks, we laughed all the time. I'm Parks. Oh, the set of Wayne, I mean, just, you know. And by the way, you want to talk about Tom Cruise too.
This was the fact that blew our minds when the last Mission Impossible came out and he was running all over London. And that's the best movie's ever... broken ankle that had just healed or whatever is that he was he is right now the age in these movies doing this that wilford brimley was during cocoon That's a fact. That is. That's boom, like mind-blowing.
It's mind-blowing. And I don't know what it is. What makes it mind-blowing is that Tom Cruise is doing that at that age, or Wilfred Brimley was really that young in cocoon. I did a movie Wilfred Brimley. He was the first great character actor I ever worked with.
There was a movie called Hotel New Hampshire. What are we doing on that one?
So when you did Hampshire, no. When I was doing Hampshire, New Hampshire. It's better than hotel. When you did hotel. How about just Ross doing new?
When you did new, right? Ros doing new. When I was working on new with Brimley.
So much fun, man. We were talking about the Adam Ray yesterday when we were sitting because Adam Ray did. Christ just pod with Rob Lowe and we told him that story.
So good. Th that that is a non-stop Wormhole. Like, you could, we could keep going on and on and on with that game. Did you say Crisis podcast? Pert Greischer's podcast.
I thought you shortened it. I thought you said he did Crisis podcast. I'm like, Crisis.
So you just shortened it, shorten the name. Just the Crisis podcast. When he did the BERT, I don't know, because it's Birdcast. We're going to do Burning. I think I'm doing that in a couple weeks.
You are? Yeah, doing a home at home. You did that at the burnt cast or what's burning? The Tuesday in between weeks one and two. Um The two in-studio guests that are going to cross paths here.
Are Bert Kreiser and Al Michaels? Oh, goodness. We got to get them like together, right? Al and the machine. Al and the machine.
All right, where are we going here? Noah in Portland, Oregon. This is good. RES Consulting Unite. Here we go, Noah.
Morning guys.
So I'm going to find myself in New Orleans. in November and I want to I wanted to see if my Panthers were going to play. They're not. It's going to be Atlanta. I got tickets anyway.
Is it inappropriate? To wear my Panthers jersey.
Well, Noah, Noah, Noah, this is a big thing for RES consulting, and we may be swimming upstream on this one. But we think there is no bigger Stadium foul. Than wearing a jersey to a game involving a team that is not playing in that stadium that day. It's just a massive fan foul. We indicate to all of it, all of us.
It's not unanimous, but if we're an on-bank voting process. Yeah, I guess. Jay Felly. I mean, I wear jerseys all the time. Yeah.
I'm not going to wear it if neither team is there.
Sorry. You know, smart. I mean, as someone who, can I give a shout out? Uh Yeah. Real quick, and then I do have a couple of fantasy football names I wanted to run by you guys.
Okay, real quick. What do you got? Okay, so in honor of you guys, my family league, I'm with all due respect. Very good. That's an excellent one.
And in my bar league, this is from Goodfellows. It's blank. You pay me. The format allows me to spell it actually out. Right.
Good. Yeah. I mean, those are great. Those are great ones. Those are great ones.
And Maury the Wigman should be your avatar for that one. Thank you. No, importantly. Listen, when I went to the Mets Yankees game with Coopy-Doo, Fnatics Fest. I think was that weekend?
It was Yankees' Orioles. Yankees Orioles.
So it was, I went to Yankees' Mets, not with Cooper, with my buddy Paul. A guy wore a Braves Freddie Freeman jersey. And it's just like it's offensive to both. teams that are there. Also, Met fans don't want to see a Braves.
And a Yankee grant certainly wasn't Freddie Freeman. You know what I mean? And it's just like, what are you like to say? I know you're friendly. I know your friend.
That's what I'm saying. The thing about Saints-Falcons, too, that is a heated rivalry. And so you're going to stroll on with a Panthers jersey? Like, what are you doing? Like, you don't, like, you're a fan of football, enjoy it.
What are you doing? You wear a hat, but like a jersey. You know, I mean, hour three coming up. What's more likely? More RES consulting, more phone calls.
Well, I mean, in a second, we'll talk about it. Again, of course you disagree because you have so many teams that you work for. No, no, yeah, not just that. Like, as someone who in the mid-2000s, when the jersey craze was at its highest, I was definitely, I probably wore more jerseys than everyone here combined.
So I would wear a jersey just because I wanted to wear a jersey. But it's 2025. You're going to go to Giants Commanders in a Cowboys jersey? Yeah. If I want to, yes.
Why? Because you want to. How can you ever tell anyone what they can and can't do? It's like we're just saying it's a faux. Let's go.
Let's do it. It is a massive faux pas. Let me ask you this question: What is a bigger stadium foul? Wearing someone else's jersey in a stadium. that they're not playing in that day, right?
Or standing the entire game. With people standing sitting behind you. I would say standing is the greatest, is a great thing. Stand for the entire game, right? Who are you really bothering because you're wearing a jersey?
Like, you're not but like as a Clipper fan. No, you're just making yourself look silly. I mean, standing is egregious. As a Clipper fan, I would see so many Laker jerseys come through Staples when we were playing, and it was annoying, but it's like, whatever, that's your choice. But do you stand?
You're messing it up for people. Right. You are. Especially if it's like, I mean, look, fourth quarter, close game, everyone's standing. Awesome.
First quarter, you're the only idiot standing and clapping. Like, sit down, man. And that happens a lot at wrestling matches. Like, You know, people in the first few rows who've got great seats want to stand up the whole time, and then you're sitting there like, I can't. I forget the name of the band.
I forget the name of the band. I was in the NFL network suite for the Saints, Colts. Super Bowl and there was a band from New Orleans I forget they're they were standing the whole time. And I complained, and they stared at me like Like I was the asshole. And you're just standing.
And it's just like, excuse me. Whose suite are you in? It wasn't me. I wasn't paying for it. But it was the NFL Network suite.
Like, I have every right to be here. Wait a second, you're the interloper. You're the interloper. You're in a suite, though. Yeah.
Right. They're in the front row of the suite. Yeah, but they're standing in time. You can see over somebody in the suite, bro. I will tell you this.
I'm very proud of this fact.
Okay. I'm very proud of this fact.
I'm very lucky to do what I do for a living, and I'm very lucky to go to these Super Bowls. I will not watch the game at the game on a monitor. Or a television set. I won't do it. I'm at the game.
So I'm going to see. If I'm privileged enough to be there, I'm going to watch that. The Super Bowl between the Steelers and the Packers, I was watching the whole entire first quarter on the Jerrytron. And I'm like, I forced myself. I got to watch the action.
I watched the game in Jerry's sweep.
Okay, very good. Not anymore. Yeah. 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 Plois is 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.
Talk, Bill. Talk Bill. I just had a flashback. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Let's get into it.
Mm.
