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Now. On with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Oh, it was low. That will definitely be a hat tapper next year.
From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Today's guests, NFL Network Insider Chang Telicero. Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr. Actor and comedian Jeremy Piven. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Okay, welcome to this Friday edition of The Rich Eisen Show. And as I always shoot you straight, coming straight on the air to let you know my lower back has reached the taking steroids face of all of this stuff.
So this is a performance-enhanced edition of The Rich Eisen Show, everybody. Can you send some of those my way? I don't know. I don't know if I can spare a square. At any rate, call us at 844-204-Rich, number to dial.
We're here on Disney Plus, not usually Disney Plus information. The ESPN app everywhere and ESPN Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. We're on SiriusXM Channel 80. We say hello to our podcast listeners. You're just as important as those who listen to us live.
And we say hello to everybody who likes to maybe catch up on stuff on our YouTube. Channel. Our interview with our celebrity True or False with Charlie Sheen is taken off there on the old YouTube machine. Oh, has it? It was a fun third hour yesterday.
And today, Jeremy Piven's gonna be dropping by. We're gonna go down some memory lane with him. Uh entourage heat. The Larry Sanders show, he's coming in support of his new stand-up tour.
So, Jeremy Piveny and our number three is also a Bears fan. They're on a bye week. We chatted with Roma Dunze the other day with Xavier Worthy and Jackson Smith and Jigba on Thursday. And then today, Travis Etn of the. Jacksonville Jaguars taking on the Kansas City Chiefs in the final game of week five on Monday night football on these families of networks of the wonderful world of Disney.
Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you? Rich, and what's up? I'm what's up. I'm great.
What's up? Are you sure? I'm actually not great. I switched my survivor pick in a couple pools to the Rams. I started them in fantasy.
And then I don't think there was a baseball game yesterday, so I'm good there. Yeah, not great. We might hit that on this program. Not great. Good to see you, Jay Felly.
How are you? What's up, Rich? Good to see you, Amanda. What's up? And then, Amanda stopped following baseball earlier this week.
Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. How are you? Well, apparently there was an explosion about four miles from my house last night. I know. Credit slipped through it.
Oh, good for you. Oh, my goodness. Didn't hear it for you? Oh, for you? Oh, my God.
Well, it's on brand because you slept through it because the Mets slept through most of September.
So that's great. Good to see you over there, TJ. Oh, I'm on fire today. Wow. That was necessary.
No, I'm on steroids. 844! Thank you very much. I sent an email from Disney. You're getting suspended for two weeks for steroids.
That's okay, sorry. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. I'm on a regimen.
That's going to last into the London week. I'm telling you that. I'm just saying what you're saying: traveling international.
Okay. Yeah, right. Let me tell you something, guys. Let me tell you something, everybody. The San Francisco 49ers are a revelation, officially.
Uh you know, I knew I I said over the the um Summer, that I needed to see it from the Niners before I could believe it. And what I'm seeing, I cannot believe. They are like the dark knight of Monty Python's Holy Grail, one after another, losing one limb and just saying it's just a flesh wound. As they sit there in a bloody mass on the floor and you're thinking, well, that's the way that one goes. And they are not dead.
They are the opposite of not dead yet. They are quite alive right now, leading the NFC West through five weeks. Having not one, not two, but three of those five wins being division wins, and two of them being on the road at Seattle and now at the Rams, which are the two one would think toughest places for them to go and win. Certainly, when in week one, they were. George Kittle halfway through.
They don't have Ayuk at all. We're wondering where they're going to get some of this production now that Debo is in Washington and Brock Purdy finds a guy named Jake Tongas in the end zone. And yes, he scored another touchdown last night. Jake Tongas. This one.
from Mac Jones and of the five wins of the 49ers. Not one. Not two, but three have come courtesy of Mac Jones. Who? Who's like the Undertaker?
Coming off of the mat, let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. Mac Jones. I saw Mac Jones. Finish.
That's a quarterback. of the New England Patriots. and be finished as such as well. I called the game in Frankfurt where he threw not one, but two footballs directly at Indianapolis Colts to the point where Belichick's like, we gotta zappy this guy. And they did.
It was the Bailey Zappie show after that and yada yada yada. Belichick was no longer coach of the New England Patriots. Mac Jones fell completely apart. the minute Josh McDaniels took the job. In Vegas and the Mac Jones project was left in the hands of.
This is crazy to say this about the greatest NFL coach of all time. Um, Belichick, Joe Judge, and Matt Patricia.
Well, they ruined him.
So well, he definitely I will never forget it seeing that. And I'm like, what happened to the guy who was grittying all over the Pro Bowl? After his rookie season. That guy wasn't in Germany. That guy wasn't with the Patriots.
That guy. is with the San Francisco 49ers. Mm-hmm. Are four and one, they. are A revelation.
They are playing lights out. Football. On the defensive side of things as well, all you would hear from a 49er fan in the same way that Mac Jones wasn't the same the minute Josh McDaniels took a head coaching job. elsewhere. The San Francisco 49 fans, every single one of them will tell you.
The defense wasn't the same the minute Robert Sala left to take a head coaching job. Elsewhere as well. Look who's back. Look who's balling out. Look who stopped.
The Rams. On the goal line in regulation, as Kyron Williams is getting set to score his third touchdown of the night, but first on the ground. Boop. Yeah. Recovered.
They go three and out to make the Rams burn all their timeouts. Rams force overtime. The Niners get the ball first in overtime. Stop me if you've heard that one before. And they score just three.
Stop me if you've heard that one before. And then the Rams. March down the field in overtime with another. You know, one shot to Puka, one shot to... Devontae, and then a big shot to Tutu Atwell.
That's the way it's been going. Ask the Colts how it went with 2-2-Atwell last week. And then four out, four and out later, game over because they stopped Kyron Williams on fourth and one defensively. Salah's on the turf. He's going nuts.
The entire crowd's going crazy because Brockman sold his tickets, and so did Del Tufo, I'm sure. Everybody's the SoFi is a secondary ticket market for the 49ers. Every time they come down here. And it was the Niners' house after all. And we got to stop looking at this team as, yeah, they're.
They're about to fall apart, even though. They did against the Jaguars at home just four days before. This was a stones win. This is a gut check win. This is a win that obviously...
Kyle Shanahan. is proud of and he was proud of Mac Jones getting it done. last night. I was real pressed. He played his ass off, man.
It was unbelievable in the first half. Got banged up a little bit there in the second half and battled through it and protected the ball going against that defense. throwing the ball that many times and not having to turn over and protecting like he did, I can't say enough good things about Mac. 33 of 49 for 342 yards, two touchdowns, a passer rating of 100.9. Second most completions and pass yards in a game in Jones' career.
His six passing touchdowns in the first three games that the 49ers have tied. Jim Plunkett. For the most passing touchdowns, been an Ironers player in his first three games of the team. Christian McCaffrey's all over the place. 30 touches.
Dude.
So they, you know, short week, they're like, screw it. We're going with Superman. 22 carries, 57 yards, eight catches, 82 yards. and a touchdown. He's unbelievable.
And then the Rams turnovers. My guy, Blake Coram, took one right off the hands on a flip play. The Karin Williams one was an absolute killer. I would love to get this stat. The number of teams that have fumbled on the one-yard line in a football game.
What is going on with that? And then gone on to win. That's a tough one. Cardi had a rough night. Another blocked extra point.
Another blocked team missing. But he at least got one at the end. I thought they were going to block that one too, and then we wouldn't have overtime.
So Mac Jones stepped to the podium to talk about The inevitable question. That always happens. Whenever there's somebody who performs well as a backup quarterback. It's the higher register question of like, well. Maybe you should be the regular quarterback around here, Mac Jones about.
Taking the gig. I think they brought me here to play as a backup, and that's my job. Brock's the starter of this team and Right now he's dealing with something and for him to go out there last week and play when you know he probably wasn't at full full health. Like he cares about this team, so. I'm just trying to get some wins for him so it helps us down the line and Um At the end of the day, that's what it's all about.
Like, I've been in his position, I've been a starter. and you want your backup to go in there and win because at the end of the season that could be the hit or miss between a playoff or not. He's unbelievable, man. Nice jacket. Nice jacket.
Radio audience, half of it red, half of it black. Don't ask any questions, but Harvey Dent is an outstanding backup. That's right, two faces. All right, there we go. Good one.
Who war better? Who wore it better? Who wore it better? It's pretty awesome.
Well, I mean, again, the two-face aspect of this, again, was. The scarred part is the New England quarterback. And then the happy-faced one is the San Francisco quarterback. I'm telling everybody. When we saw Mac Jones prior to that game in Frankfurt that turned out to be his last start as a Patriot.
When we saw him there, he looked completely lost in our broadcast meeting, and he was just needing a hug. I'm not kidding. The guy just needed a hug, and it looks like Kyle Shannon's given that hug. And one thing that is not going to happen here if Brock Purdy is healthy is Mac Jones is the quarterback there. What he is basically doing is putting on film and everybody to say, I'm the next Sam Darnold.
That's me.
Next year's job is. I'm next year's hot free agent. He's one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the NFL. Hands down.
Well, he's dealing. He's confident. He's hitting a back foot and throwing. He knows where to go with it. The number of times he hit Kendrick Bourne last night, I forgot.
I've. I I can't remember. That pass to Tongas for the touchdown. When you watch that, just like. Oh, boom.
Bam. What a great one. Jamar Chase wishes he had Mac Jones. Career high 10 catches. 142 yards.
For born. Most receiving yards in a game by a niner since Brandon Ayuk last year. But he's not the starting corporate. And listen, I understand the Niners are the. absolute avatar.
in the National Football League of What a mess the quarterback situation is while they go to the Super Bowl. At the same time. What a mess, man. Jimmy G's. Like, what are they doing with?
Um Going ahead and And drafting Trey Lance. Oh God, when are they going to put Trey Lance in? Oh God, that's when they're putting him in. Oh God, they can't trust him. Oh God, they got to get Jimmy Garoppolo back.
Oh God, it's now Brock Purdy's time. Oh God, we're in the Super Bowl.
So now they signed Purdy to all this money. Mac Jones is doing what he's doing, and I'm sure there's even one person who's in our studio that's sitting here saying Why pay him all that money when you could just do it with Mac Jones? Oh, it's too late now. Money's already too late. And the fact that maybe Purdy didn't look that good against Jacksonville, he shouldn't have been out there yet.
Because when he played Purdy, or like I was saying a year ago, he could have made Purdy play out his last year. Decide if he's the guy or not. Oh wait, we already have a guy. That wasn't going to happen. That's what the money is for.
Because you can't, well great job. Great first ever use of that job. But the money is for him. Hitting the market, and you can't sit there and go, We got Mac Jones. Get out of here.
No, no, no, no, no, no. You say we have me, Kyle Shanahan. I'm the guy that can make it all work. Yeah, well. He has proven it over and over and over again with guys that you wouldn't think are top-tier quarterbacks.
Guess what? In the meantime, it's a moot point. Brock Purdy has been paid. There is no way they're going to get out of that contract. Nor should they want to at this point in time.
Nor should they sit there and say anything but. This is what Mac Jones is for. to win these games, to keep us afloat, to go into SoFi on a short week, short-handed, and come out with the win. And now they got a mini-buy. And now Kittle could potentially come off of IR.
Ayuk might be around the corner. And you got Jawan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall getting that short week off.
Now they've got the mini-buy to get back. They're at Tampa, home for Atlanta, at the Texans, at the Giants, last place schedule.
So, they definitely have shown me a lot. And what they have shown the rest of the league is they are 3-0 in division, 4-1 overall. And the two games that they've won in division already of the three. Are at the spots of the teams that you think. are the only ones that could beat them this year, with all due respect to Arizona.
Well done. Indeed. And every single time you're going to sit there, well, Niners aren't this, Niners aren't that. Niners don't have this. Niners don't have that.
Then you look at the standings.
Okay. You know, about seven weeks ago, I said there were seven teams that I thought could win the Super They were one of them. Niners were one. I got destroyed. I know you said, Don't read the comments.
I got destroyed in the comments. Talk your talk, TJ. Putting the Niners on there. Yeah, put that banner up at week five. Look, man.
Doing all this and missing all these players, what's going to happen when everybody's back healthy? This is a standing rhetorical question because I think we know the answer. It's going to be a problem. And McCaffrey This dude is he's amazing. He really is.
Do we do we do we talk about him as a Hall of Fame? Trajectory? It's a little early. Gaffrey? Yeah.
No, on a trajectory for the Hall of Fame. You say no? I say absolutely. As of today, the 3rd of October. Do we put him in now?
No. Is he? That's why I use the word trajectory. God. I guess trajectory.
If he keeps doing what he's doing, because guess what you do when you don't have your wide receivers? You turn him into one, and they did. Because I remember him at the Combine. He ran the rap tree better than every other receiver at the Combine. Wasn't it DJ that said he wasn't the best receiver?
He was. And he did say that. Yes, sir. I said that Irons are going to win the division, but.
Okay. You guys are great. And I'm glad that we're all on the same team. No, because I said I needed to see more. And the Rams, you know, we'll talk about them later.
I'm sure people are ready to discard them. Having lost two of three. Just a bad faith or one call. Stafford was balling. Yes, he is balling.
We'll talk more about that. 844-204 Rich is the number of dollars. Cam Schlittler was throwing balls last night. Jeez. Oh, my God.
What was the meme? I was unfamiliar with your game. I was unfamiliar with Cam Schlitz. Sugar's game.
Well, we'll talk about that, that series, and the one that ended in Chicago with the San Diego Padres. barking at the umpires as they left the field. With every right to. The Tigers survived the Guardians, and the Dodgers are just smoking them if you gotta get ready to throw Otani at the Phillies. We'll talk about the baseball playoffs.
But when we come back, Bucky Irving, is he in? Is he out? What is going on with Lamar? Everything else that you need to know for week number five. Tom Pellisero just checked in, and the flow looks outstanding.
That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Tom Pellicero. Tommy P is here, everybody, here on the Rich Eisen Show.
We're back on ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance.
Okay, I looked down during my commercial break at my fantasy team, as one would. And I saw the word out next to Bucky Irving. No. Uh is that a fact? He has officially been ruled out now.
Todd Bowles said that after practice, not a surprise. He was in a walking boot for that foot injury through the early portion of the week. Bowles didn't completely shut it down, but he said he'd have to be out of the boot today to have a shot. Usually, when that's the case, plus, you're flying all the way across the country to Seattle. I don't know if that's a five-six-hour flight.
That can cause issues if you're still in the boot just because of the swelling and things.
So, not a surprise. We'll see if Bucky Irving can go next week. But for this game against a really salty Seahawks defense, Rashad White is going to get seems like a big part of the load here.
Okay, and then Sean Tucker would be the backup in that regard.
So you might get more run, literally, figuratively. From him, what's the scoop with Lamar Jackson? Yeah. He's not on the practice field. They're out there right now for the Ravens.
Certainly seems like they'll announce it in a few hours, but I anticipate that he's ruled out. You never know with Lamar just because he's a little different character. There are a lot of examples over the course of time where he's not out there Wednesday, Thursday, and you're going, Well, this guy's not starting. And all of a sudden, Friday, he shows up and ends up playing in the game and playing well. But all the signs were pointing, Rich, toward this being the outcome for this week.
You're talking about a hamstring injury that happened in the third quarter last week. For everybody out there saying, oh, he just didn't want to play anymore. They pulled him out. John Harbaugh said there was no way he could go back into the game. When you hear that about a hamstring, that's not like a little twinge.
That's something significant enough that if you were to roll him out seven days later, you'd run the risk of potentially suffering a setback that could have Lamar Jackson hobbled or out for the long haul here.
So take a look at the schedule. They got the Texans this week. I believe they have the Rams next week. Then they've got a week seven by. The prudent way to go about this would be to hold Lamar Jackson out of both these games prior to the buy, give them almost a full month to recover from the hamstring injury, and then have them ready.
Like, I know that the Ravens need a win here, but they need a healthy Lamar Jackson for the long haul, even more. This is why they went out and they spent some money on the backup quarterback position, which they really hadn't done in the past. They had drafted guys here and there, they'd kind of cycled through the Snoop Huntleys of the world, but they gave Cooper Rush two years, and I think it was $6.2 million with upside because they felt like they needed: hey, if something happens to Lamar, we want a guy who's proven within the league that can go out and win a game. Cooper Rush's play style. Could not be more different than Lamar Jackson's playstyle, but Lamar also has developed as a pocket passer over the course of time.
So it's going to be on Cooper Rush to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers, at least offensively. You know, those guys are available right now, and they might have to put up some points in this game because if you look at what's going on, Rich, defensively for the Ravens, Nambi Matabuke is out for the season. You're going to have no Marlon Humphrey, no Roquan Smith this week. Neither of those guys has practiced. Kyle Hamilton hurt his groin in practice Wednesday, hasn't practiced the past couple of days.
I know Nate Wiggins was banged up. Jadobi Awuzier was not out there today. I mean, they are playing with, I hate to call it a JV type of defense, but you know, you're talking about five Pro Bowl-type players who are not going to be out there this week. And we'll see whether or not a Texans offense that, at least in the fourth quarter last week against Tennessee, showed some signs of life. If they can get after these guys and try to, you know, force Cooper Rush and that offense without Lamar to put up some points on Sunday.
I don't know. Maybe the theme of the week could be the banged up teams you don't expect to. Have much of a chance to go ahead and win, as we saw on Thursday night with Mac Jones becoming a 3-0 backup quarterback for the now 4-1, having won two of three division games already on the road at Seattle. And at the Rams, San Francisco 49ers. That's what we saw on Thursday night.
Now, you know, TJ even mentioned in the first block that What happens when the other guys get back? They're only going to be better. What can you tell me about the other guys now that we're through five weeks? Kittle's IR stint could be over. There's Ayuk maybe around the corner.
And then the other guys that are hurt. What can you tell me about the Niners who now look terrific and positioned?
Well, in the early portion of the week, it sounded like Juwan Jennings and Ricky Pierce all at least had a shot to play on Thursday, which would indicate that those are probably not long-term injuries for them. With Brock Purdy, he obviously aggravated that injury on the bottom of his toe and just wasn't able to make it back. We'll see if he's able to get back next week, but no IR in that case. It's not long-term for Brock Purdy either. Kittle, you're right.
I know the optimism was that once he went on IR, that he'd get back pretty closely after that IR stint is up. Brandon Ayuk remains a bit of a mystery because even through the offseason, that was a significant injury. That just wasn't just your regular old ACL eight to nine month recovery. It was going to be a long haul for Brandon Ayuk. It doesn't sound like he's close at this point.
Maybe sometime in November, potentially you could get him back. And then obviously, you got a bunch of guys like Nick Bosa. That are not going to be back this season. I mean, it's a credit to Kyle Shanahan and Robert Sala to go out last night because for Kyle, with a backup quarterback in Mac Jones, who's playing like the guy that a lot of people thought was going to be the number three overall pick back in 2021 to San Francisco, he's shown exactly why Kyle really liked him through the pre-draft process. You know, he's a better athlete than people give him credit for, at least when that brace isn't digging into his knee and calf and causing the types of issues that he was having last night where it looked like he was doubled over about to lose his dinner on the sideline there.
He's played at a really, really high level here. You know, and that's, you know, Kyle's gotten him ready. He's thrown to a bunch of guys. I mean, think about who he's throwing to last night, Rich, beyond Christian McCaffrey, who's doing most of his damage through the air. Demarcus Robinson was suspended at the start of the season.
Sky Moore wasn't on the roster. Kendrick Bourne was not on the roster. And Marcos Valdez Ganley was not on the roster.
So you're literally a bunch of guys who weren't even around in camp. And Mac Jones was throwing to backups, and you're just kind of, you know, patching this. Thing together, and at least on those first couple of drives last night, they looked like this was a real team. It's harder to Sustain that over the course of time, just like Robert Saul has got his work cut out for him. I mean, he's playing five or six rookies on that side of the ball, and lo and behold, it's Alfred Collins throwing one of the best punches you'll ever see.
Initially, he hits Kyron Williams, if you notice, in the face mask, and then still has the velocity to follow through and punch the football out. That was an unbelievable play by a young guy. You know, Saul is one of the best that there is in this game. I guarantee that he's happy that we're talking about the game and not a book game interaction like the week before. Which, by the way, if you want to know what was said there, Rich, because I've talked to people who are around that back and forth with Solid Liam Cohen.
Literally, the conversation was. As Liam's walking by, Robert Solas says, hey, it was a compliment. And Liam says, I have nothing to say to you. Keeps walking. Salah just is a little irked because he's brushing him off like that.
And he just goes, It was a compliment, dude. And that's where Liam turns back and goes, full, you know, Will Smith, keep my name out of your mouth. That's it. That was the entire interaction. You know, I think that Salah probably won't use the phrase sign stealing again, but you know, Liam Cohen's doing a really good job.
Salah took the high road and said, Hey, I really respect everything they're doing. The Jaguars are playing well. Salah had those guys ready to go last night, man, against the Tough Rams offense. And LA just never totally seemed to be in sync in that game.
Well, I mean, I appreciate the. Shedding the light on what was said between Salah and Liam Cohn. That said, I still do plan to bring it up with Travis Etienne Jr. when he joins us the next hour with the Jaguars taking on the Chiefs on Monday night. I've got Tom Pellicero here on the Rich Eisen Show.
At some point, we will end this interview with me asking you the same question I ask you all the time: like, what's the team that everybody's Blowing your phone up about when they're looking for information from you, or you're doing your due diligence with them. Last week, your answer was the Browns. That people are saying, what are the Browns doing? What are they thinking at the quarterback spot?
Well, we have a better idea now. because Dylan Gabriel is going to get the start for the Browns on our network. Uh, on Sunday, in the first of three games in London for our network, Vikings and Browns. What's the your reporting on why this happened and? what the uh pecking order is and why in Cleveland.
Tom.
Well, this is precisely why there was discussion in the league over the past couple of weeks about what the Browns' plan was, because you can only roll out Joe Flacco so many times and just see the offense performing at such a low level. The plan was always to have Dylan Gabriel play at some point this season. In a perfect world, he's not playing for the first time in an international game against a Brian Flores defense in London. That is not the The way that you draw it up, it just was time. It just wasn't good enough.
Flacco wasn't good enough. The offense wasn't good enough. Tommy Reese, the OC, said it the other day that they're looking for a spark here.
So, what do you get in Dylan Gabriel? You get a guy who, when the Browns were looking at him through the pre-draft process, they felt he was a lot like the guy who preceded him at Oregon, who Dylan Gabriel broke all of his records in terms of total touchdowns and total starts, which was Bo Nicks. They got him at a discount relative to Nicks, who went 12th overall in the 2024 draft because Dylan Gabriel's 5'11 and not everybody wants a left-handed quarterback. The ball spins the wrong way. But they saw some of those similar types of traits in terms of the ability to see it.
And rip it. Dylan Gabriel, you know, some people would knock him for an average arm, but they think that he can push the football down the field as well. But that processing ability, that willingness and ability to play on time. That's what Kevin Stefansky wants in his quarterbacks. That's what Joe Flacco is supposed to be, a quick processor.
He's always had, even though Joe's kind of this, you know, I don't think a lot of people would describe him as an athletic quarterback, he's always had this arm twitch and this ability to see it and really get the football out quick. They think Dylan Gabriel can do some of those same types of things, you know, with regard to, and I'm sure you're going to get to Shaddur Sanders. This is the logical way to approach this, Rich, just like it was the logical way to not say, Hey, we're going to split the reps this week, have Flacco go out, and if he struggles, we're going to throw Dylan Gabriel in there in the second quarter. Yes, Dylan Gabriel took over in the fourth quarter in the proverbial garbage time the last couple of weeks, but they weren't looking at this as let's just roll Dylan Gabriel out there and try to spark the team during the game. They wanted to give him a full week of practice, just like if and when it becomes Shadur Sanders time.
And I do believe at some point this season, they're going to want to see Shadur Sanders. You'd like him to have a full week of practice too, not be elevated to the number two job, have no reps through the course of the week. All of a sudden, Dylan Gabriel gets nicked up on the first series, and Shadur's out there. Just having to kind of make it up. For 60 or 70 snaps.
You have to think of this globally too, Rich, with the Browns. They have two first-round picks.
next year. In terms of their ability and the capital that they have, if they want to go and get a quarterback. Their pick, depending how much of a spark they get from Dylan Gabriel, it might be pretty high. Plus, they have the Jaguars' pick as well. You want to find out: did we just get a guy at a steal in the middle of the third round with Dylan Gabriel?
Potentially, did we get a steal in the fifth round with Shador Sanders? They need to be able to answer at least some of those questions. At a time that they feel like they've got a foundation to win in the future, is this 2025 Browns team going to make a run, Rich, to the playoffs, to the Super Bowl this year? Never say never, but I wouldn't bet on it right now. They're really good on defense, they got a lot of things to figure out offensively.
They don't have a true number one wide receiver on the team. They've had some moving parts on the offensive line, but they think this draft class, this rookie class they've got, Between the two running backs, between Mason Graham, uh, Harold Fannin Jr., Carson Schwessinger is a dude on that defense, even Isaiah Bond, who is an undrafted rookie wide receiver. All those guys, this can be the class. What they've got to show is: hey, we're making progress, we're headed the right direction, let's experiment, try to win games, but find out what. What we have in these quarterbacks, because if we don't feel like we have one, it's a good chance the Browns will be drafting one in 2026.
And listen, I know you said, I'm just going to leave Shadur aside, to be honest with you, man. I mean, he is a third-string quarterback right now who's. trying to uh I'm I'm a you know Assuming Uh get better. And I believe he is trying to get better and microphones are being put in front of him and he's listening to what pundits are saying about him and things of that nature. If he's not going to play on Sunday, then let's just leave it alone and see when he can cycle back around.
I prefer to ask you about what's going on in Philadelphia. They're the defending Super Bowl champs. They're 4-0. A.J. Brown has got his locker circled because of the.
Um the uh The tweet that he sent out about essentially turning the other cheek, if you will, or Or that might be a future scripture. I don't know. Um that he's going to send out there. But here he is now having to explain why he's tweeting this, but not at anybody in particular. What's going on there?
Is there really any is there anything there? to this That this could signal the end of A.J. Brown at some point in Philadelphia, or not really. It's just. Stuff.
Tom.
A.J. Brown's making $30 million this year. And through the first four games, he's got, I think, 13 catches for like 150 yards and one touchdown. That's not what you expect if you're the Eagles that you're getting from a $30 million receiver. It's certainly not what A.J.
Brown thinks he should be getting. But he is such a tone setter for this team, Rich. And even if he's not having the productivity, the other things that he brings to the table, the way defenses have to account for him, the way that he can block, those are all things that the Eagles really value. And if you're trying to make a run, trading away one of your best players doesn't make a great deal of sense. You remember we were talking about A.J.
Brown last year in the middle of the season. Why is he reading a book on the sideline? He obviously wanted to find the inner excellence. Wasn't that the book that he was reading on the sideline there? But it also was kind of this not all that subtly coded message that, like, hey, I got all the time in the world to go read.
And then eventually he started getting the ball and the book became part of the gag. I take a similar type of a type of reaction to this when I saw that. Bible verse that he put out there, which was along the lines, and I'm paraphrasing here, Rich. I'm not a Bible verse expert, but it was along the lines of when things are going badly, don't make a scene, basically shrug your shoulders and walk away. I don't think that means he's walking away from the Eagles.
It means you're not going to hear AJ Brown coming out and ripping teammates and ripping the coaches. That's just not who he is. But anybody in this position, besides the fact that he's making $30 million, regardless of what he does, anybody would be frustrated in this position because the way that AJ Brown is wired, and this goes back to Tennessee, is he thinks when he is involved, it helps the team win. He is not. Diva mode, you don't see him generally freaking out and screaming at people on the sideline and screaming at coaches.
But yeah, he gets frustrated because he feels like if the offense is not coming my way, we're not as good of a team. And you saw that a couple weeks ago, Rich. When they got A.J. Brown involved in the second half of the game, it was like, oh, this is the Eagles we're used to seeing. In Tennessee, you go back, A.J.
Brown probably. Per capita target was one of the most effective receivers in the NFL, but he was never like an 80, 90, 100 catch guy. It was, hey, he was the complement to what they were doing with Derrick Henry. He eventually got into a place in Philadelphia where he became a higher volume type of guy, but you still felt him. In those games in Tennessee, I don't know that you're feeling him as much if you're a defense right now, even though you're having to account for him.
I would take a wild guess, just like with the book last year, Rich, that as we move forward here over these next couple of weeks, you will see the Eagles and the opponent feeling A.J. Brown a little bit more, not because he called anybody out, but because it's the thing that makes the Eagles a lot better. I don't see it. We're still over a month away from the trade deadline. Weird things happen in this league all the time.
If one of them were the Eagles, who are still, by the way, Rich, 4-0, despite all the criticism and the speculation about them, they're a 4-0 team. They want to go back to back. I'd really be surprised if that doesn't involve A.J. Brown. All right, Tom, in the two minutes I have left, the team that's blowing your phone up because people are talking about them.
What's the scuttlebutt? What's the team that everybody wants to know? about from you. I would say that team right now, Rich, is the Bengals. They were not a good offense when Joe Burrow was out there for the first game and a half.
They have been terrible on offense in the two full games that they have played without Joe Burrow. And that is despite the fact that you have won before with Jake Browning. You know that he can play as much as any backup quarterback, if you get beyond two to four games, they're going to be challenged to sustain it. But you've seen that Jake Browning can play competent football in the NFL. You've got a ton of money in your wide receivers with Jamar Chase and T.
Higgins. You've got tight ends. They've been one of the best teams in utilizing the tight ends for recent years. I don't think that this is a terrible Bengals offensive line that he's playing behind. And so you just ask yourself, what do they need to adjust?
What teams in the league begin to wonder is: number one, Could they trade for a quarterback? And obviously, that's a question, Rich, that I ask on a weekly basis right now. There are some obvious candidates if they were to do it. I've heard nothing to lead me to believe that anything is moving down the road with Kirk Cousins, which makes sense because there's multiple reasons the Bengals went with essentially a minimum salary, a guy, a guy who's an exclusive rights-free agent as their backup quarterback, which is they feel like they're spending money at other positions. If they feel like they could win with Jake Browne, why would they put money into the position?
Taking on a large chunk of Kirk Cousins' salary and oh, yeah, 10 million guaranteed in 2026 when you fully anticipate Burroughs going to be back. That might be asking a lot. Kirk Cousins has essentially played in this offense, you know, going back to Kevin O'Connell. Zach Taylor, they came from the same tree as Sasha McVay, who is his coach in Washington. It's all variations of the same system.
So Kirk could probably get up to speed relatively quickly here. But taking on that money, giving up premier draft capital. This is a Bengals team, Rich, that since 1973 has acquired a grand total of two players in in-season trades in 52 years. It was a guy named BJ Finney, an offensive lineman back in 2020, who was only part of a trade away of a player of Carlos Dunlap. And then last year they traded for Khalil Herbert because they were really shorthanded at the running back position after Zach Moss's injury.
It would be outside of their MO. It's also outside of their MO to trade away players. But part two of this, Rich, would be if they continue to struggle. And if they're not going to go out there and trade for a quarterback, whether that's Kirk, whether that's Russell Wilson, whether that's Jameis Winston, and of those three, I think Kirk is clearly the best fit. But if they don't do that and they continue to lose in a stretch where they've got the Lions on Sunday, They're at Green Bay the following week, and then they have Pittsburgh.
Week after that, 2-0 could quickly turn into 2-5 if they can't figure it out offensively. Are they getting close to a time where they'd be looking to be sellers at the trade deadline? Again, that is not the Bengals MO. They don't make very many trades. We've seen them evolve a little bit in recent years, whether it's their contract structure, selling naming rights to the stadium, their aggressiveness, you know, in various areas of roster building here.
But there will be some players on their team, not Jamar Chase, not T. Higgins, but. Trey Hendrickson on a one-year deal, they would start getting calls about some of those players if they get into a mode where this season is going downhill. Again, we're not there yet. I still think it's more likely that they are trying to figure out, okay, if we need to go get someone to compete, we're spending a ton of money on this roster.
But if it goes the other way and you don't acquire a quarterback and the losses continue to mount, the Bengals could be in a position where they are getting calls more than they're making calls, which is what people are speculating about right now. Thanks for taking this call, Tom. Have a great weekend. We'll see you here in this chair when I'm in London next week. Thank you, sir.
That's Tom Pellicero, everybody here. We're going to be back on our simulcast here on ESPN Radio. It's presented by Progressive Insurance. Progressive Insurance offers 24-7 protection when you bundle home, auto, and motorcycle. Learn more at Progressive.
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Terzo in Iowa has to be absolutely delirious this morning. What's up, Terzo? All right. What's going on? Yo, what is up, Richman?
Everybody. Everybody and their sheepdogs were on the lambs last night. And I can't believe that we come through with that win. Man Mac Jones. He impressed the heck out of me because I thought he was going to be knocked out of that game.
When he was rolling around, grabbing his left leg. I thought, here we go. We got the 16-year starter from Nebraska, Adrian Martinez, coming in. Nice. And yet Didn't happen.
And yeah, we We pulled it out, and I luckily had McCaffrey starting in my fantasy league, and also Kendrick Bourne. Oh, look at you, Terzo, putting all the eggs in the Thursday night football basket. He called the Rams the Lambs. Look at you, Terzo. Be careful.
Be careful. It's just only five games now. Come on now.
Well, what?
Well, Rich, I think I had the Niners at this point in the win loss at 3-2. I had him losing to the sea chickens week one and then the rams last night. Oh, the sea chickens and the lambs, everybody. I like it, Terzo. Keep talking with your chest, man.
Hey, man, I love it. Better here than in a courtroom for your clients. That's Terzo and Iowa.
Well, of course, of course, Rich. You know, at any point, you've got to be professional and be a lead pipe-lone professional. You know that. Thank you, sir. Terzo and Io.
Everybody. But Enjoy Carlson's weekend. Very good. Apparently, our friends from Iowa that went to that Cubs game. Called to just say that they enjoyed themselves, which is good.
I was looking for them. Every time they kind of panned out. I know, but then the Cubs didn't, you know, the Cubs didn't do anything. That was the one game they won. I know.
That's the one game they lost. All right, we're going to talk just Gave you an hour. We're talking baseball at the top of the next hour.
So, just letting you all know that. Gabe, me, why is it about me? Because.
Okay. We're talking baseball at the top of the next hour.
You're like Juan Soto. You know what went wrong? What do you mean? Oh, okay. You guys not making the playoffs.
That's what it means. Oh my gosh. Or three games this year. You guys, you guys, all around it. I don't know this thing you guys are speaking of.
It's called baseball. It involves a. It's a bunch of string covered by horse hide, and then you hit it with a stick. I heard about it. And you try to catch it, you try to throw it.
You try not to lollygag around the infield. Gotcha. Baseball. Man stands at a plate. It's time for individual team.
Achievement. When you go out in the field, you're part of a team. I don't know if you saw. The untouchables. Oh, gosh.
Okay. This is great. Great radio, great television. Good job, guys. Travis Etn of the Jaguars is coming up an hour, too, and you.
The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
