This is The Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody! Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere.
Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast, so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel.
Subscribe at youtube.com slash rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment.
Now, on with the show. Lego. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Broncos look like they may pressure this a bit. They block it.
The ball's bouncing around from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Intercepted, DeAndre Tillman on the rebound. And that is a Denver touchdown. Troy Franklin. My answer were to you.
I'm comfortable. That'd be silly. Today's guest: NFL Network Insider Tom Pellisero. MLB insider Jeff Passen. Actor Woody Harrelson.
And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Well, hey, everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eyes Intro Live in Los Angeles, California on ESPN Radio, presented by Progressive Insurance. Perhaps you're watching us on Disney Plus and the ESPN app. And for those listening, and maybe you're watching, you can see it right now. I don't care that this thing is buttoned maybe one button a little bit too much. I don't care.
I'm feeling good about myself today, and I don't care what people say. But we do. 844-204-2022. Rich is the number to Dow. Are you channeling Brett Gelman from yesterday?
You know what? If I do, why not? You've seen stranger things. I have seen Stranger Things. Woody Harrelson's on this program later.
And we've got a great celebrity, true or false, just like we did for Morgan Freeman in this very spot last week for the same movie, Now You See Me, Now You Don't. And so Woody Harrelson's never been on this program, and that will change in hour three. It's exciting. Jeff Passon will join us in the middle of this hour. We haven't spoken with him.
And still, one of the top videos of our YouTube page channel, youtube.com/slash Rich Eisen Show all week was our Monday review of games six and seven of the World Series. And I understand we live in a football-driven universe, but the number of people that have reached out or talked to me or whenever I run into some folks just want to talk about the World Series first, I've lost track. Of course, we do live in the The city in which there's the back-to-back champions reside and play. But Jeff Passen's going to join us. There's a little bit of a hot stove talk to hit with him, and Tom Pellisero is first up on the show.
There's always you at 844-204-Rich, number at all. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. Rich, what's up, man? Jason Feller is sitting in today. Good to see you, Jay.
What's up, Trevor? Playing with your new drops, I see. The kid can't even give me drops. Good to see you over there, TJ Jefferson. Candles lit.
What's up, man? How you doing? I'm great. Got that button, though.
So let's start this program with the Thursday Night Football. Do we have to?
Well, listen, I will handle it this way.
Okay.
Okay.
That you normally come on this program to talk about the aftermath of a game and how it leaves. Either one of the teams, certainly when one of the teams is left at 8-2, sitting atop the American Football Conference through 10 weeks. uh of their season. Like the Denver Broncos are, and I will always shoot you straight. Certainly, when I normally start a program with how a game leaves either one of the teams.
But um we have to start by How this game left us broken. Watching the game. Broken and staring into the abyss, looking for something stronger that might be filling our drinks. And again, you know, I understand I'm an NFL network guy. I'm an NFL guy.
I am an NFL employee, but I always shoot you straight. And this game stung. Um my goodness. Both the Broncos and the Raiders. This game was so bad.
How bad was it? The Broncos and the Raiders each. Had 10 first downs and 11 penalties. It's the second game since at least 1950, according to NFL Network Research, in which both teams had more penalties than first downs. And, you know, again, when you see.
These stats, like at least since 1950, that's when the research folks just go, Yeah, we're not doing this anymore. We're just not gonna look further back. How far back? It's kind of made our point. I'm done.
You know, when you're talking about. you know, Truman and Eisenhower realm. Yeah. Yes.
Well, how about it is an old gen stat. As I mentioned, just the second game, right? Since 1950, in which both teams had more penalties than the first downs. The only other game. was when Seattle won at Tampa.
13 to 10 in week six, nineteen seventy six. And both of those teams Were expansion teams that year, both 0-5 entering the game. That's how bad last night's action was. Cheers. And um I I thought Calling the Denver jet game in London was uh particularly uh Thank you, sir.
Well, it's certainly since it's in London, which once upon a time taxed us without representation. Yeah Al Michaels had to be sitting there. I would have loved to have heard what he was saying during the commercial breaks. I should reach out to him and just say, just give me a little sense of it out there. Second quarter.
Give me a little bit of it. Second quarter, he was going down memory lane, and I'm like, okay, Alice, check that out. Almanac. It's the only game in the Super Bowl era to end in regulation. And featured two teams that each had at least 11 penalties, seven punts.
An interception. and a missed field goal. Oh, by the way, there was also a blocked punt. You had it all. There was also a third and one that Sean Payton dialed up to give Cortland Sutton a shot to throw the football that got blown up.
Pete Carroll watched Kenny Pickett have to come on the field because Geno Smith was going in and out of the blue tent, staying in the game. See, Hurt is. It's quad because the um The Broncos kept sacking him over and over again.
Okay.
Okay.
I've gotten that out of my system.
Well done. But At the end of the day. Despite how Wildly unsightly. The Broncos offense looked against a Raiders' defense that was beyond resurgent in a game in which. You know, um Max Crosby didn't show up that much in the stat column.
I think he had more. Holding penalties. Drawn And uh Pre-snap penalties. Created than he had quarterback rushes last night. But The Raiders' defense showed up.
Uh angry. And the Broncos offense showed up. As they have shown up for most of the year, asleep. And the fourth quarter magic, just like the game in London that I called against the Jets, didn't really show up. There weren't points of Palooza.
There was another. After another, after another, mystifyingly ineffective. Poorly executed. Offensive set. after another by Bo Nix.
And the rest of this offense. But. That block punt did give them. Quality enough field position. From which to go three and out and kick the go-ahead field goal.
And the Raiders, despite Getting Terrific field position. Because I guess It looked like to me Nick's was throwing Two Troy Franklin and Bryant got in the way. crossing in front of Franklin. Because it looked like Franklin was Ready to catch the ball, but Bryant. Had the ball sail over his head, and it looked like, oh.
Nick's just missed another receiver over his head. No, he's throwing right to Franklin, who had. Bryant sort of Create a distraction. He doesn't catch it, unlike the only touchdown. Reception of the night.
For both teams. And the ball pops up in the air. Second interception of the night. For the Raiders And uh Carlson misses the field. And all the Broncos had to do was just get first downs, which, by the way, Was a lot.
It was a heavy task. And I understand there was a heavy wind and the winds were gusting. And oh, by the way, of the punts as well. The Broncos punter, man. What was happening?
Honestly. You see the shot when the special teams coach just looked at him on the sidelines? You're just like, what? What was that? You know how many times, again, Jeff Passett's coming on in our number two?
The number of times we're like, I've never seen that before in the World Series in a good way. The opposite of the number of times I've never seen that before in the bad way last night. He almost kicked it off the bottom of his foot at one time. It was like, how? I was like, did he get chosen to punt because the regular guy was out?
I thought McAfee pulled him out of the crowd and offered him $500,000 to punt. Like that's actually a lot of fun. That's backupy thing. I've seen a lot of those kids flick upright. I know Pat will probably tell you, along with his bank account.
Well, at any rate, the Broncos win the football game is what I'm basically trying to say. Yeah, I know, right? And I guess. You were looking at the standings. There's no pictures.
And this doesn't, you know, this doesn't. At all What's the word for it? Stink. For the Broncos, they are a half game in front. When the Colts now go to Berlin to take on the Falcons to kick off four windows of football, glorious for four windows of football on Sunday, and then the Patriots are at the Bucs.
for a big football game for both. And then there's the bills. in Miami At 6-2. The Chargers taking on the Steelers 6-3 versus 5-3, respectively. The Jaguars at 5-3.
Broncos are sitting back. Just like the Chiefs. And guess what? They're two and a half games better than the Chiefs. going Into This mini buy And their next game is against the Chiefs.
So one would think they'll have to improve offensively in that respect, but this doesn't sound like a quarterback who's won eight of his first ten games of the season. Yeah, stay level-headed. You got to understand that it is the NFL, and seven wins in a row is hard to come by. Um so you're doing something right, but at the same time You're also doing something wrong because there's plenty left on the table, I think. And between.
penalties and just some Sluggish football. We're just not playing very good. And starts to me, I gotta be better, and then the rest of the guys will follow along. But we gotta find some juice somewhere. We gotta find something.
And especially against a good defense like that, there's plays to be had. We just gotta find them. Yeah, there were plays to be had. At one point, you could see, like, Herb Street pointed out, didn't set his feet. in that Three and out sequence after getting the block punt, where Evan Ingram was wide open in the end.
So you could even read Nix's lips when he went back to Sean Payton to say he was wide open and he just didn't reset his feet. It was just a honestly, the whole thing, watching it, the players playing it, it was like a fever dream. It's one of those when you wake up and you're like in a sweat and your fever's broken, but the whole night you had these weird dreams. It was wild. And you know, the Broncos will eventually.
come out of this by and take on Kansas City. and any of the detractors out there, and there's always detractors. Tough time beating Tennessee in week one. You know, and then they lost two in a row in which they couldn't pull it out and should have. And then, you know.
Week four, that's when they destroyed. Jake Browning at Philadelphia. They had to pull one out of their orifice with an 18-point fourth quarter, but they did. They barely took care of a Justin Fields Jets team that we all know. has fallen apart.
and dismantle themselves, they Had to pull one out of their orifice against Jackson Dart. Yeah. They took care of the Dallas Cowboys. I think that's their most impressive win of the year. Because they played start to finish complimentary football.
Makes Smoked Dak, and then they took care of that Dallas defense. Davis Mills had to pull one out of their orifice in Houston, and then we all saw last night when we were the ones. pulling our own heads out of our own spots. To try and watch this game. Yeah, this game gives me last year's Viking vibes.
Like they're gonna go in the first round of the playoffs and just get absolutely worked. I don't know about that. If not, if they're going to be at home, and again, you know. At some point They're going to, I think, show up more like the Dallas game than they have over the last few weeks. But you are 100% right for saying what you're saying.
That's a tough watch. But you are what you are. What they are is 8-2. That's the other thing. That's it, man.
It's hard to win seven games in a row. Like, he's got a point. Yes, he does. You don't get extra points for style, right? This isn't gymnastics or diving.
You're not going to win.
Well, take a look at their remaining schedule. They're on a mini-buy, and then they take on the Chiefs coming off a bye. We all know Andy Reid's record there, but they're at home to do that game. And then after the by themselves, they're at Washington. Who knows, Jaden Daniels might come back with his.
With his arm. And a brace. Handing off. Yeah, brace and handing off, like Kurt Warner said he did with the same injury. By the way, the same week.
Um then they're um Then they're, as you can see, at Vegas. Great. Home for Green Bay. That's a big, big game. Home for Jacksonville at Kansas City, and then the game at who knows, those last two games could be for the division with the Chargers.
Visiting in that final game. Oh, they play Christmas against KC. Wow. That's right. In Kansas City.
That's a big one on Netflix.
So listen, bottom line is: you are what you are, and they are eight and two. Last night was unsightly. Absolutely unsightly. Cooper was begging to have this how change it? Yeah.
Something else? He only wanted to play MLB the show.
So, and I kept telling him. Dude. Not only do I do this for a living, I gotta watch this game, and on top of it. I have Nicks and Sutton in one guillotine, and Nicks and J.K. Dobbins in another, and I'm just waiting for something to happen.
And by the way, nothing did. At any rate, long story, that's right. There's still lots more football to be played this season or not, but. Denver's eight and two, and they've got to be feeling really good about themselves. And all they got to do is root heavily for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they're in an even better position sitting on their mini buy.
With cushion. Caution.
So There's all of that. But the West is still wide open. The Chiefs have two against Denver. And We shall see, but the bottom line is they're going to play their first game against Denver. Two back in the loss, three back in the win.
which is what you want when you're the Denver Broncos. And this is exactly what they would have signed for in the middle of the season when the bandwagon was completely full and filling up to the point where they were selling seats to future bandwagons to get some people off the flight. And At the time, if you had told Sean Payton, you get out of week 10, sit on a mini-by at 8-2, and the Chiefs are 5-4, sign it up. Then you'd show him the pictures from last night and he'd go, I'll fix it. Yeah, 'cause that's him.
True. 844-204-Rich, number. What in the world happened where the Jets trade Sauce Gardner for two ones and A.D. Mitchell? Still wondering how that happened.
Tom Pellisero texted me that he's got the whole TikTok on this thing. And kids, that's not a video or reel. What it means is he's got the time line all nailed down on how that all went down. Kyler Murray has a foot injury, Guz. A lot of people don't believe it.
I'm sure he wouldn't just willingly go on IR. No. Yeah. So, all of that coming up 844-204 Rich. It's a what's more likely Friday.
I've got my top five other games for the rest of week 10 to look forward to, and Woody Harrelson. Tommy P, when we come back. Rich Arzen here for Sonos, the speakers that bring every game to life in my own house. With studio quality sound, Sonos makes you feel like you're right there in the stadium. Whether you're cheering on your team, binging your favorite show, or listening to the hottest songs, Sonos fills every room with incredible sound.
Setup is easy. Just plug in, open the Sonos app, and you're ready to go. Want stadium quality sound at home, just like me? Because I love Sonos. You will too.
Explore soundbars, speakers, and more at Sonos.com.
Sonos. They look as good as they sound. As many of you know, supporting pediatric cancer research is something I care deeply about. That's why I'm proud to share what Hyundai is doing through Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 27 years, with every Hyundai sold, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research.
Alongside over 850 dealers, they've raised more than $277 million, helping over 25,000 kids and supporting more than 1,400 research grants at 175 institutions nationwide. This year alone, they've committed another $27 million in honor of the 27th anniversary of the program. And they're proud to have national youth ambassadors like Jackson Trin and Emmy Cole who bring hope to kids across the country by sharing their stories. Because at Hyundai, hope is our greatest feature and it comes standard. Visit HyundaiUSA.com and search Hyundai Hope on Wheels to learn more.
The Rich Isis Show Podcast. It's Peering Radio presented by Progressive Insurance. Tom Pellicero is here. All right, Tom. Um walk me through how Sauce Gardner wound up a cult.
Please. This was fascinating, Rich, because there's not many. out of nowhere blockbusters where there's not been whispers, there's not been reports, rumors, or anything. And it turns out, the more I dug into it, that this was something that had been in the works for a while. In the initial phone conversations, and this is like three weeks ago, they kind of agreed, hey, if this is going to actually happen, we got to keep all this really, really tight.
The first call I was told was from the Colts assistant general manager, Ed Dodds, to Darren Moogie. And it was the usual kind of feel-out calls of, hey, like, who's available? Who would you move? And Mooji's answer more or less was anybody on the teams available for a price. At that time, Mooji was focused on moving Michael Carter, who was a slot who was making a lot of money, eventually traded him to the Eagles.
The Colts didn't need a slot. They got Kenny Moore. They needed an outside corner. And so that night, Chris Ballard, the Colts GM, called Mojie back and was like, hey, What would you think about moving sauce? And so there was a little back and forth.
Then last week they kind of reconnected. And at that point, Chris Ballard knew that the price was going to be really high to get Sauce Gardner, and he was still kind of on the fence about whether or not he was willing to go there. Then, from what I was told, the Colts and Ballard kind of did some research on the history of these in-season trades. And there's like no precedent for a 24-year-old all-pro corner who is cost-controlled on a fresh extension that was signed like three or four months ago. To move teams.
It just never happens. In other words, this was not just like a lot of these trade deadline deals: a guy in a contract here, Jalen Phillips, Jacoby Myers at the end of his deal, where it's kind of like, hey, we're going for it right now. They viewed this as both the short and long-term type of a fix. And so by the time we got to this past Sunday, just a few days ago, They kind of concluded, like, we might have an opportunity to do something really interesting here.
So, Monday morning, uh, they talked again. Then, Chris Ballard basically said, Hey, I got to go to my owner. That's Carly Ursa Gordon, who everyone knows has been really involved, taking notes on the sidelines. She has been training for this for years, understanding every different aspect of roster building and of the organization, including how the scouting process works. And so, they had conversations with Chris Ballard, Shane Stike, and Carly Ursa Gordon on Monday.
And essentially, it got to a point where I was told Carly said something to the effect of like, All right, why don't we just go get the best guy? And so by Monday night, Chris Ballard was coming back and saying, all right, we will do the two ones. Darren Moody said, Hey, I got to talk to Woody Johnson. He's over in London. Tuesday morning, Moogie calls back for, as a lot of these big trades go, one more ask.
And it was, hey, how about you throw in A.D. Mitchell, a talented young wide receiver who the Colts have been shopping him. They had some different offers for kind of low-level compensation. Would you throw him into the deal?
So Ballard went back. He talked again with Carly and with Shane, and they decided, okay, let's do this thing. One of the timing complications was most of the Jets organization was at Nick Mangold's funeral at that time.
So they had to keep it quiet for a few more hours. Then once the Jets brass was able to leave and not have their phones lighting up during the funeral, that's when Sauce was called in and told he was being traded to the Colts, which then led to, again, something that is very, very rare. In this day and age, which is Sauce Gardner breaking the trade of sorts by putting out on social media, like, basically, thanks for everything, New York. I'm out, which then set off the frenzy of phone calls. Ian Rapperford, a couple minutes later, puts out Sauce has been traded to the Colts.
It was, as much as we kind of had anticipated and knew that there was a lot going on surrounding Quinn and Williams, there was not really a whiff of this with Sauce Gardner. It's doable because rather than doing a lump sum signing bonus when they extended him back in July, they put a lot of the money into a $20 million option bonus in 2026. The Colts now are responsible for that. The Jets get the opportunity to really remake some things and have a ton of draft capital, plus a flyer on a young player that they like. And the Colts get a guy who's already locked in on a pre-negotiated contract that brought instant energy, I was told, to the building after the trade.
And we'll get our first look at him Sunday morning in Brazil against the Falcons. All right.
So, three things to follow up. Up on. First one, real quick. Boy, you really had the opportunity there. And feel free to use this moving forward when you have these conversations.
You had the opportunity to say that. The Colts flipped A.D. Mitchell to the Jets, but you didn't do that. Number two. If they did, they would do it at the appropriate time after crossing the goal line of the trade.
But it turns out I was trying to be subtle, and then you came in. You didn't have to hit the nail on the head. Just leave the subtlety to me. Listen, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Totally get it.
But was there anything going on rumor-wise that sauce could be had? to lead the cult to say what about sauce i mean he said he didn't ask for a trade But As you point out, I mean, 24-year-olds under contract, you know, control, freshly under contract control, were as good as this kid. They're not available for any price. Why did Ballard ask other than just? Was there something there?
Is there something there? This is why, Rich. It's the Colts recalling everybody in the NFL and trying to find a corner. there was just not a lot out there they had another trade that if this had fallen through maybe they would have gone through with it but my understanding was their thinking is even if they made a trade for one of these other guys you could get for let's say a mid-round draft pick it wasn't going to be that much different than what they had already in order to get a true upgrade not just for the rest of this year but for the long haul you needed to do something really big and bold i mean they still were asking those questions into last week they were i got certain calls from people there as well to say, are there any corners? And there just, there really wasn't anything in the marketplace.
So, no, this was the classic anytime you've got a team that, like the Jets, I mean, a few weeks ago, they were winless. They finally got their first win before the buy, where you call and you're just like, all right, what will you listen on? It was the same thing with the Dolphins last week, where in essence, they told everybody, you know, we're willing to listen to anybody on the roster. Ultimately, you know, the one move they made was trading Jalen Phillips to the Eagles, but there was a price point at which Jalen waddled. Would have been moved.
There were price points at which there are other pass rushers like Bradley Chubb. Would have been moved. Brandon Bean, the Bills GM, said it well in his press conference a couple days ago: which is 99% of the players in the league are available at a price. There's just all kinds of things that go into it in terms of how would you use those draft picks, the cash and cap that goes into it. There were really not, other than Jalen Phillips, there were none of these trades that were predicated on being paid down.
Kyle Duggar was, but that was the previous week. There was no buying of draft picks outside of a little bit of Miami, but even that was like $5 million. With Sauce, he was not somebody that they were actively pushing. He was not unhappy there. If you look at all the advanced metrics, Sauce has been one of the best corners in the NFL this season.
But for the Jets, I think it's always important to look at it this way. You know, they were, as these Cawks were going, they were going 0-6, 0-7. They were not a sauce gardener away from winning at all. The combination of things that they got. out of these trades.
They now have two first round picks in 2026. They have three first round picks in 2027 plus extra second round picks. Maybe the most fascinating thing, Rich, that came out of all these trades was that initially Dallas had a 2026 first rounder as part of the deal, along with a lower pick. I was told a fourth rounder in 2027. It ends up with a second round pick in 2026.
And a first-round pick in 2027. A lot of people would look at that and say, well, you're downgrading that first-round pick.
Well, A, they get a better, the additional pick ends up being a higher pick, the second-rounder, but B, the Jets actively wanted the extra pick in 2027. Why would that be? 2027, based upon all the scouts and GMs I've talked to, is generally regarded as a better draft as a whole. And quite possibly with all the questions about the quarterbacks in this year's class, 2027 might end up being the stronger class for QBs at a time that the Jets are a little further in their program. Their 2027 first round pick, their own, might not be as high as their 2026 pick is.
Now, all of a sudden, you've got an extra 2026 pick to move up if you find that QB, but you've also got three picks in 2027 where if your own pick is in the middle of the first round, Bundling all those together gives you a lot of leverage to try to go up and get the quarterback if you're still needing one in 2027. And the final follow-up on this subject matter is the two ones that the Colts were willing to part with. And again, I just love. you know, uh Carly Ursa Gordon just saying, why aren't we doing the the biggest Boldest. most surefire thing possible.
and just damming those first round torpedoes. But does that indicate they found their quarterback for not just now, but the future? That this is Daniel Jones as a gig?
Now? For the game. We'll see how it plays out through the course of the season. You would have said for most of last season, Rich, that Sam Darnold was playing like the Vikings quarterback of the future. And as much as we don't want to reduce Sam Darnold's season, which was brilliant last year, to a game or two, he was terrible in week 18 against Detroit.
The whole team wasn't very good in the wildcard game against the Rams. If those games go differently and the Vikings make a run, maybe they are extending Sam Dardle. Maybe they are pushing off the J.J. McCarthy debut. I think that makes sense for everyone as much as, yes, Daniel Jones is playing at a really high level, particularly for a guy who's only making like $17 million this season.
If they're able to get something done with Daniel Jones, it is going to be a big money type of a contract. They can't lean on that. But I think the important thing to understand here is this is not just a, all right, we are going for it. Right now, you know, get rid of the picks because of anything. It's also this was getting a 24-year-old all-pro player that they have under contract for a certain amount for years to come.
They still got seven picks, by the way, in the 2026 draft.
So the Colts didn't give up like their entire class to do it. Certainly gives you less ammunition to go and find another quarterback. But even if somehow things don't work out with Daniel Jones, I think the Colts have already shown, and this was part of the idea with this of going with Daniel Jones over Anthony Richardson coming into the season, which was the Colts feel like they've built a really strong roster. You can plug in different quarterbacks there as long as they can get the ball to your playmakers, let that defense coordinated by Luan Arumo do its thing, they're going to have an opportunity with a bunch of different types of quarterbacks here. Though certainly Daniel Jones is putting himself in position to get a huge contract, and the Colts will be certainly be centerpiece of that, you know, of that plan.
A few minutes left with Tom Pellisero, a few quicker hitters, although this one's a little bit in depth. Kyler Murray, we last saw him on a week five. snap against the Titans. Snap goes off of his face mask. There's a fumble on the ground.
It looks. Innocent, to be honest with you, in terms of The injury it seems that he suffered trying to corral that football. We haven't seen him since. Jacoby Prissetta's played well. It seemed Murray was close last week.
The reporting we heard. Um, might have been even from you: is that hey, he can run, he can, he can, he can be himself when he's throwing it, but when he has to run it, he's not looking like himself, and now boom. Jacoby Brissette Monday Night Football win over the Cowboys later, he's now on IR.
So Is there anything other than just him trying to get healthy? At a foot, if you will.
Well, let's start out with what the injury is. It's a midfoot sprain, which is in. The Liz Frank area. And if he comes back sooner than when he's 100%, even going out there and practicing, there's some level of risk. If you go out there and play a game and it's not fully healed, you're at a greater risk of a setback.
So, the reason he was practicing in recent weeks was to keep his arm live, just to see if he could be able to take those steps forward. Then, what Jonathan Gannon said publicly, I believe it was on Monday, reflected the same thing that he had told Kyler Murray privately, which was, hey, we're going to go with Jacoby right now. We're going to ride the hot hand.
Well, at that point, does it make any sense for Kyler Murray at less than 100% and presumably not getting any reps during the week to try to just push himself forward at less than 100% and go suit up as the backup and then maybe get thrown into a situation where he can't run, he can't move the way that he's supposed to and isn't getting any reps and then looks bad or even worse, hurts himself? Once that happened, and there were some other pieces of this that kind of played into it, it just made sense to put Kyler on IR and allow him. him to get fully healthy. You know, we'll see these next four games now that he's going to be on IR, they could go three and one if they are. They may still well ride with Jacoby Brissetta.
Maybe Kyler is dressing as the backup. If they go one and three, they're going to have decisions to make about exactly, you know, what they do with Kyler returning and if it even makes sense to put Kyler on the field at that point. What we do know, Rich, is Kyler is due $40 million fully guaranteed in 2026. Another $20 million in 2027 converts to a full guarantee if and when he's on the roster the fifth day of the league year in March. In other words, they are tied to Kyler Murray with fully guaranteed money.
into next year and then potentially into 2027. It's TBD on the futures. There's not been in-depth discussions about this at this point. I think it's fair to say that his future with the Cardinals is in some doubt at this point, but we'll see how these next couple of months go before all the options sort of crystallize for exactly what direction this heads. Tom Palisero, a few minutes left with him here prior to the rest of week 10, the assumption, and we all know what that risks.
That is that Bucky Irving would be back after the bye for the Bucs, and it looks like he's not, nor is Chris Godwin for this big game against the Patriots. What's up with Bucky Irving? Tom, well, as we all know, Brockman certainly does. I can never give gambling advice. But if I did, I would say in the future, if you were, let's say, betting in a manner of speaking on a foot injury and how soon a guy's going to be back, bet the over.
But Bucky Irving was a hey, if he's out of the boot on Friday, he's going to be back without missing a game. Kyler Murray was, hey, questionable game time decision. Both those guys were a month plus later and they haven't made it back. Foot injuries just are really, really tricky. I don't, I'm not a doctor, so I can't compare the two, but it sounds like it's the same type of thing, which is there's a healing process, there's a risk factor.
Clearly, he's not yet gotten out of that phase for Bucky Irving to be able to come back. There's not a proclamation that he's not going to be back, you know, the rest of the regular season or anything like that. We'll monitor that. We'll monitor Chris Godwin, too, who hasn't practiced in quite some time because of another unrelated fibula injury here.
So the Bucks continue to be the team that find ways to, you know, kind of. Patch this thing together regardless of who's on the field. And they're going to be, it seems, doing that for at least another week here. And the team, obviously, we did a deep dive on the Jets trading and the Cowboys acquiring and the Colts acquiring. Um, the team that uh everybody reached out to you throughout this entire week's process of trades or trades that didn't go down, that everybody was uh curious about, what's that team?
Tom. I would say that the things that stood out to people within the league were the relative inactivity by certain teams. The Titans, you know, had clearly made a couple of trades. They traded Draymond Jones. It seemed like they got good value out of that trade.
They'd previously traded Jarvis Brownlee, but they never, you know, got anything really. It didn't seem like close with Calvin Ridley, who, even though he's 31 for a third-round pick where they would have paid down the money, I personally just thought that more might happen there.
So like those big trades with like their, you know, the running backs or the receivers, they never had anything. Trey Hendrickson, you know, with the Bengals, clearly they're in a mode of, hey, our defense is terrible, but also it was even more terrible without Trey Hendrickson the past couple of weeks. We're still scoring 40 points a game. We feel like getting him back, and we'll see because he's been hurt, you know, that that's going to allow us to take steps forward. You know, the Saints obviously moved Rashid Shaheed to the Seahawks.
They kind of came off their price a little bit. It ended up being a fourth and fifth round pick. I think that that, for what Seattle needs and the fact that he has experience in Clint Kubiak's offense. It's a great move, but the Saints, with one of the older, more expensive rosters in the league, with one win to not trade more guys, that definitely jumped out at some people. And then the Raiders are in another tough spot here because this was not supposed to be a terrible season in Las Vegas.
They trade Jacoby Myers because the Jaguars ultimately stepped up with fourth and sixth-round picks. But this was not slash and burn. I told you a couple weeks ago, they'd come to Max Crosby and said, Whatever the rumors are, this is not happening. Nothing ever progressed on that front. There's some of those teams that decided.
to just kind of stand pat uh with where they were. It'll be interesting to see, you know, in hindsight now, how do some of those decisions play out? Are some of those core players that they didn't move on from still a member of those teams as we get to 2026? In the case of Trey Hendrickson, he's, you know, in the last year of his deal. They could tag him, but it would be close to $40 million in order to do that.
You know, will they look back and regret not taking, let's say, a third round pick for Trey Hendrickson? Time will tell, but the Bengals, as they often do, are still very much playing for 2025. But in the 90 seconds I have left, what about the other side of it? People calling you up saying, I can't believe these teams that are in contention did not make a move. You know, there there's a bunch of other teams at the top that the Eagles Typically, as we saw, went ahead and made the moves, and other teams did not.
Anyone. Stand out there, Tom?
Well, I'd go back to, again, what Brandon Bean talked about yesterday with the Bills. And I can tell you they were very active. They were making a lot of calls, whether it was to fortify the defense, whether it was to find another wide receiver. It's just sometimes you get outbid on guys, and sometimes, you know, the prices are just too high out there in the marketplace. But certainly that was not for a lack of trying on their part.
The Packers, you know, had kind of already... had already shot their bullet with Micah Parsons in that trade. I didn't anticipate that they were going to go out, you know, make big swing moves. Even the Steelers, I mean, they were one of the most rumored teams. They had multiple deals that I thought had a possibility of getting done on wide receivers.
It just didn't work out whether teams decided to keep those players or traded them to somebody else.
So in a lot of cases, it was not so much team standing pat as much as it was the prices were too high or they got outbid. That happens a lot, Rich. Even when some of these deals, even on Quentin Williams, I can tell you there were multiple other contenders that were involved in. The Quinn and Williams trade. The Cowboys were the one that stepped up with a first and a second round pick, you know, as well as a player in Mozzie Smith who could help them, you know, potentially another flyer, you know, get them through this season and maybe develops as a former first-round pick into a good player.
The Cowboys had the high offer. There's a deadline on this thing, and sometimes it's all a matter of who's got that high offer when it comes down to decision time. Tom, thanks for the time. We'll see you on NFL Network, on the Insiders, NFL Network, and NFL Plus, and obviously NFL Game Day in advance of the Berlin game for Glorious Windows of Football starting on NFL Network on Sunday morning. Good to see you, Tom.
Thanks for the time, buddy. Good to see you, Richard. Tom, Pellicero, everybody. Let's take a quick break. We're back to unpack a little bit of what Tom just said before Jeff Passon.
Joins us to talk a little baseball. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Granger has your back. From professional grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery. They're there to help you keep things running smoothly.
Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Granger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER, clickgranger.com, or just stop by. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. ESPN Radio is presented by Progressive Insurance, everybody.
Progressive Insurance offers 24-7 protection when you bundle home, auto, and motorcycle. Learn more at progressive.com. Listen. I have some generalities around here, certainly when it comes to the National Football League. They they they're they're not cookie cutter.
But If I'm hiring a head coach in the NFL, I'm hiring an offensive mind. Yep. Because I want to find the quarterback, connect him to the head coach. and just go to work. That's it.
And I understand that sounds ridiculous. Bill Belichick is going to go into the Hall of Fame this year as a clear first ballot guy, right? He he he He was Defense and special teams to start out. Obviously, he knows every aspect of the game. But I don't want to hire somebody on the Defensive side of the football, find the offensive coordinator, hand that relationship.
With the quarterback off to that coach, only to lose that coach because they're going to be hired as a head coach somewhere else. I just don't want it. But I understand it is a generality and And it it's Not always the way to go. And that's the way I always feel about. Going and getting aggressive and making smart choices.
With a high reward when you've got the high risk of trading away draft choices. I just heard Tom Pellocero say, you know, This team like the Bills, or this team like the Steelers, or this team. The Niners, right?
So on and so forth. I don't know their cap situations. I don't know off the top of my head what their draft choices are for 2026 and 2027. I just don't know it off the top of my head. All I know is if there was a receiver on the table.
Or running back on the table. for say Kansas City even. Wha why wouldn't they cough up a three for Brees Hall? You know If that is the truth, why would And I understand I'm questioning general managers who are championship quality. But You know, it's like if you got outbid, don't get outbid.
Deal with the fact that you're this close.
Now, deal with the now. You got the now. The now is now. The later is eventually later, and you'll deal with the later then. And trust your staff to find somebody in the third round when you don't have a second round pick.
Fourth one, and you don't have a third. Uh you know and again it's it's a risky move for the Colts to flip two ones. When their first round draft choice at quarterback a couple years ago in Anthony Richardson. is coming back from an orbital injury.
Some freak injury prior to a game that he's warming up. And if Daniel Jones doesn't work out, you're going to have to go back to him. And clearly you brought in Daniel Jones because you had questions about this guy's ability to play football for you long term. Mm-hmm. And now you don't have two ones to go get another quarterback.
And that's a big risk. Certainly, if Daniel Jones does turn back into a pumpkin and Or We're 7-2 with Daniel Jones. And you're Carly Ursa Gordon, and you're like, yeah, you know what we should do? Why would we get a Band Aid when we can take care of it long term with the best possible player? And Win with Daniel Jones now by getting him back on the field because let's just say this weekend when we're in Germany and Drake London coming off of his three-touchdown game in New England, we just stick sauce on him and hope to erase him.
And do the same thing. With Nico Collins, when we see him twice, and do the same thing. With Calvin Ridley, who's still on the Titans, and we'll do the same thing. with Brian Thomas Jr. if he is in fact the number one guy.
And we'll do the same thing on Rashi Rice if we play him. And we'll do the same thing on. DK Metcalf. I mean, just go down the line, and it's not perfect. Ask a Jet fan.
Sauce went from all pro to sort of all what's going on. But Kudos to them. Damn the first. Round pick torpedoes. Go ahead and win with the now.
You know. and try and take a seven and two record. And Be the one seed and win the Super Bowl, and then have somebody for the future at that position. Jeff Passeng coming up hour to the Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
