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Now, now. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Show. Show. And here to kick off Super Bowl Week, I'm excited.
Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show. Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman. Coming up. NFL Network Insider Tom Pellisero.
Three-time Super Bowl champion Mark Schlaren. Jaguar's Chief Strategy Officer Tony Kong. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Why don't you tell me the name of the movie you want to see?
Right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Everybody, 844-204-Rich, number to dial, phone lines are lit. We appreciate that. I imagine being on ESPN helps that cause. We always love being put wherever our friends at Disney and ESPN want us.
Disney Plus and the ESPN app is every day, 12 to 3 Eastern Time today on ESPN. Hour 3 is going to be on ESPN 2. Same thing for the rest of the week for us on ESPN 2. Our third hour of our shows from San Francisco will be on ESPN 2. And we've got a heck of a guest list that we're going to let you know about at the end of this hour before we get out of Dodge on ESPN, heading to ESPN 2, and then we head up to San Francisco.
And we're also, obviously, on ESPN Radio every day, SiriusXM Channel 80. Our podcast is how you can also listen to us every day, get the three hours and listen to whenever you want. And that's your God-given right as a podcast listener, wherever you get your podcasts. Overreaction Monday on a Tuesday is about to come up. Overreaction Monday is a podcast that we also do around these parts.
And our Super Bowl preview version of that has been up for about 24 hours. You can see that as well. On our YouTube channel, youtube.com/slash Rich Hidsen Show. I believe all housekeeping's been taken care of. Tom Pellisero is coming up in 18 minutes to tell us what he knows, and he better tell us everything that he knows.
We can shout out. We can shout out no contest since we're just throwing. Yes, sir. Yeah, man. No Contest Wrestling Podcast Wednesday.
O'Shea and I will be interviewing. Say it. Say it. Best in the world. Hey.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Woo! For the second time, CM Punk. Yeah, and that'll be from our set in San Francisco. Yeah, where he will be in the main event of WrestleMania this year.
It's Roman Reigns.
So it's going to be huge to get it chopped up with that. Outstanding. What a match. Outstanding. And I believe he also got money in the bank by our Thursday guest, the Liar Liar Pants on Fire host.
This is also Seth Rowland. He was champed for like five minutes. Seth said, give me that. Not even five minutes. I got to be honest with you guys.
I watched WWE Unreal and Next. Oh, yeah, I haven't watched that. I was a little upset that we weren't a part of that. We weren't. I was waiting for it.
Like, this was a big part of that whole ruse, guys. And they didn't even mention it. What a bummer. We'll have to get on that. We need to.
You know what? Get me Triple H on the phone. I know O'Shea's got. As O'Shea would call him. Give me Paul.
Give me Paul. Hey, Shea, call Paul. Call Paul. All right. Let's go to the phone lines.
Maureen in Denver. You're on The Rich Eisen Show, kicking off hour two. What's up, Maureen? Um hi Rich. I know there's been a lot um said about Bell Tech not making the first draft, but I'm really concerned that rubber craft has been passed over for over a dozen years.
He's now 10 years older than Pep Boland was when Pep Bolan was posthumously inducted after he'd been passed over and over. Being from Denver, but originally New England, I just see this as such a travesty of people who've contributed so much to the game. And aren't being recognized for whatever reasons. Maureen, you and me both. I am obviously partial.
To Bob Kraft, because if it wasn't for him, NFL Network, and you mentioned Pat Bolan, is another. Owner who were very instrumental in NFL Network's creation. Um so obviously, um, I'm biased when it comes to him. Um and everything that he has done for the NFL is I I feel silly even mentioning his resume. As to why he's Hall of Fame worthy in the same way for Belichick.
So, um Plus one is what I'm telling you. Maureen.
Well, thanks for your support. I just wish that the Hall of Fame would stop with their petty biases and recognize people who contributed so much to professional football history. Maureen, thanks for the call. Maureen in Denver, listen, there may be, as you point out, petty jealousies and things of that nature, or whatever Robert Kraft's role in the gates were. Um anything else in his world and his life.
um that could be counted as a Minus, you know how you sometimes write down Um Positives and negatives before you make a decision, right? Pros and cons. Pros and cons. Pros and cons. Thank you for the welcome.
Check it out. Got you. Appreciate it. Um On the pros side. This is the 12th Super Bowl the New England Patriots have made, 11 of them.
Eleven of them. have been under Bob Craft's watch. That is an absurd number. And the first one came. when he got Parcells and the rest of his staff all together.
They draft Drew blood so They draft McGuinness. They start drafting Hall of Famers all over the place. And they make the Super Bowl. Like that. They lose, I understand.
And then Parcells complains about Kraft not letting him shop for the groceries and things of that nature. Then he starts again with Pete Carroll and then starts again after that. with Bill Belichick. And they draft Tom Brady Yada yada yada. Right.
But Now they've done it again. That makes three different Super Bowl appearances of the 11 with different coach and quarterback. Think about it. Create a Blood so Parcells is one. Brady Belichick is two.
May and Vrabel is three. Honestly, how many franchises have been to three Super Bowls at all? Hmm. Enough, I understand Cowboy fan, right? But many of them are like this guy sitting here.
All right. And The Patriots of the Eleven. have made it three times with a different Coach, quarterback. and grocery shopper Combination Cracking the code like that is absurd. Then here's his role in ending the lockout, thank God, because I couldn't lose any more hair than I did in 2011.
Jeff Saturday will tell you that story. There's that. There's the creation of NFL network. There's also what he's done outside philanthropically. Just look up what that blue square means.
fighting for people like me and my children against Jewish hate. Honestly, it's just absurd.
So, if it is petty jealousy, get over it. And if it is this new from what I do suspect, Enough people were sitting there saying I guess what the the fellow from Kansas City is like uh these three members of the Senior committee may never get another shot, so I'm going to vote them in. That's why I didn't vote Belichick or or Kraft, because they're going to get in. Crafts84. What are we doing here?
What are we doing here? So That's my opinion on that. Although I just got to push back. I know Troy Aikman mentioned in hour one about there being potentially clout over the Hall of Fame class in 2026. And I know that's the way we're feeling about it now, and I think it's a legit point by Troy.
But by the time this hits in August I hope that cloud will dissipate, and the people who get in will have their say without this being the conversation of who should be there. It happens a lot too. This won't be the first class. Everyone's like, this guy should be there. This person should be there.
Some 844-204-Rich is the number to dial on the program. It's a Tuesday, so it's time for a Super Bowl 60 version of Overreaction Monday on a Tuesday. Hit it, please. That was terrible. That was crap.
That was garbage. That's why it sucks. Overreaction Mondays. On a Tuesday. All right, Christopher, what do you have over there, sir?
Often imitated, never duplicated. We are back over Action Monday on a Tuesday. What's up, guys? You guys good? Oh, great.
Great to see you. Great to see you guys. Can't wait for this. What do you mean by often imitated? I don't know, it's just a phrase people use.
Okay, got it. But also because other people. What try to do it? Oh, they're doing it? A couple of them.
Guys, breaking news: it's the Seahawks and the Patriots in the Super Bowl this week. Bet you didn't know that. If Drake May wins the Super Bowl on Sunday. The real architect of the Patriots dynasty was Josh McDaniels. Two.
Hey. By the way, I just mentioned in moments ago. Prove me wrong, Richard. I just mentioned here moments ago that this is the 11th Super Bowl. For Robert Kraft's stewardship of the Patriots.
11 of the 12 have been since he's owned the team. This is the 10th Super Bowl Josh McDaniels is coaching in 10. Tenth.
Well, he's not going to get on the first ballot, so he's eventually get the family. Mm okay. Do you really mean this or you're just trying to You're trying to get a goat here. Are you trying to get aggregated? Here's what I'm saying.
It's already up. Here's what I'm saying. What are you up to? Melichek, defensive mind. When he hired his buddy to run the offense, we saw how that went.
Delichek could coach any side of the football and be the best at it. You know it, too. Brabo, I get that all Brabo does is catch touchdowns, but a defensive guy, defensive mindset. The OC for the second run.
Okay. Nick Daniels. Got it.
Now, new quarterback, different quarterback. I got it. And by the way, now second year back. An integral part, a crucial part, a secret sauce, an overlooked part, all accurate. The architect?
Architect. Architect. Dynasty.
Okay. Like he's Seth Rollins. Overreaction. Really? Onward.
Wow. Interesting. You don't even believe it either. I think he does. Guys, if Sam Darnold wins Super Bowl MVP this week on Sunday, let's go to the other side: Seattle.
Sam Darnold. That means Mike McCagnan, Jets GM, was the true architect of the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl win. The guy who chose Sam Darnold for the Jets. No, no. If Sam Darnold wins this award, guys, he's on a better Hall of Fame trajectory than anyone in the 2018 QB draft class.
Untrue. Only one with a ring, Richard. I get it. Come on, man. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson.
We didn't even get to the Super Bowl. We already. I did this bit. I shouldn't say bet segment in the summer. If this player never, like, who wants to be a Hall of Famer?
Yeah. That's what we called it, okay? That If they did not play another down, would they be in the Hall of Fame? Don't you think Josh Allen And Lamar Jackson are either there or approaching. If they never played again?
If they never played again. No chance, did they? No, no. What?
Okay. I clearly don't know what a Hall of Famer is anymore, so. Good one.
Well, if he wins the game on Sunday, he looks like Sam Darnold.
So Sam Darnold could win another one. I guess you'd have to. You'd have to give it up. Like, if it's about Super Bowl. Jump them.
Let's be honest. More than Josh Allen. Josh Allen, who's discussed as the best player in the NFL by even you, have said that on an Overreaction Monday pod multiple times this year alone. Josh Allen's about to be a father. He's got no time for football.
Okay. Seriously, though.
Now I give me Sam. Rings count. Rings count more than anything else that's been done. Yeah. So Joe Flapper.
What world do we live in? His first seven years versus Josh Allen's seven years aren't even remotely in the same universe.
So, one ring leapfrogs him over Josh Allen. I wouldn't. You put all of Sam Darnold's rings in a box, and you put all of Wamar and Josh's rings in a box. What if Sam doesn't wanna open them up? Who's got more?
What if Sam doesn't win anymore? Another one.
Now he's Russell Wilson. Oh boy.
Well that's a pretty good path. No? We like Russell Wilson's career, yeah?
Well, but Russell Wilson, his first seven years and Russell Wilson's first seven years aren't even in the same universe. Come on now. Come on now. Sam Darn. Hall of Fame.
Overreaction. Onward, onward, onward. What else? Joe for the Hall of Fame, men, right? Onward.
Onward. Did he play quarterback? Page turn. I've turned the page, and he's already changed the music. All right, the Giants have a new offensive quarter.
It's Matt Nagy. Yeah, that's right. Tawn plays for Jackson Dart and all the Malik Neighbors is back, Scott Abuya. Behind it, they're going to have Giants top 10 defense and offense in 2026. The Giants are going to win the NFC East.
You want to handle this one, Cowboy fan? Yeah, a couple weeks ago, we asked the same question, and I was like, the Giants won't make the playoffs, but. You know, I personally have no problem. rewinding and saying that I'm wrong about something the more I think about it. They could.
Okay. They definitely could. There's a difference between could make the playoffs. And what's at the topic bar at the bottom of the screen here on three different platforms of viewership?
Okay. All right, see, I'm going to come. NFC East champions winning the division, leapfrogging your Cowboys and the Eagles. Eagles are in disarray. In the Washington Fortune.
Disarray, he says. We don't know what the quarterback's going to look like in Washington next year, and they're going to have a different offensive coordinator, right? And Dallas may not have George Pickens next year. Oh, they will. Don't worry about that.
Really? Oh, yeah. Haven't even been able to. We asked CeeDee Lamb when he shows up on our set that's costing a new contract. I'm just saying, Washington, sleeping.
I don't think this is overreaction. I think they might make the playoffs, but winning the division, I'm not going to sit here and say you're. It's got to be season next year, Rich. He'll be back. I hear you.
I look forward to seeing what it all looks like. That's for damn sure. And I'm excited for Giants fans because it appears to be. I'll never say them again. In the right direction.
I'll never say them again. Look at that shot. I can't believe they got so lucky. Look at that. John Horabal.
Smiling. It's like Picture Day. It is like Picture Day. That's the great. I didn't.
I didn't know the Giants turned their place into Sears. You think they still give out those little combs? Remember those? Maybe. You got a comb right beforehand.
I've never used that comb. John and we'll ask him how he prepped for this one. I needed a pick. Look how smile. He's smiling.
20 million a year, head coach of the New York Giants. He's smiling. Jackson Dart and everyone else. I'm going to be an NFC East Champ. We'll ask him what he thinks.
What else you got over there? After the Belichick and Kraft first ballot snubs. Yeah. By the way, Craft was not a first ballot, Snub. He's on it.
First time finalist. Oh, I got it.
Okay. First time. All right, I don't mean to interrupt. What do you got? It's time for a Hall of Fame to completely revamp the election process.
Well, they need to separate. Revamp. The hall should just take it over. No more electors. What do you mean?
The hall should take it over. The hall has taken it over, and they've selected these selectors.
Well, they get rid of all these guys. No, I'm not. They clearly don't know what they're doing. What if somebody did vote the way you wanted, and you want them out too? Just because you're sweeping one big house clean?
Yeah, you can. No, you change the rules. Pardon me. You change the rules. You change the voting process.
But for Pollyan. If you don't like it, you keep. You keep the way that they're electing those who are in their first. You know, years of eligibility. You keep that.
That stays like before, like the rent and godfather part two.
Okay. That stays like before, where there's a maximum of five out of all of the finalist candidates. That stays. You don't mention, you don't mess with that. Then you take your senior committee folks.
and you give an up and down vote. If there's three of them, all three get an up and down vote. Just like everyone else. in the finalist process. And the same thing goes for a contributor and the same thing goes for a coach.
And if there winds up 10 members of a Pro Football Hall of Fame class because everybody gets a yes. That everybody out of the finalists gets the requisite amount of votes.
So you get five there, and you get everybody from the. The Senior candidates, that's three. And then meet two others. and you get ten people, then everybody just Pack a late lunch. Yeah.
Or have a lunch, have a late breakfast, have a brunch before the noon ceremonies begin. And then you become just for everybody's sake. Keep your remarks You know, a little tie here. Tighten it up. And if we wind up staying there for four hours, three and a half, four hours, it's a long day, but.
Everybody has their say and I'm w we We go on with our lives. What's the big deal? Just get the sandman from the Apollo to come sweep somebody off the stage when your time's up.
However, they wish to handle it. A large cane? That's what he, yeah. That or a broom. A broom.
So, yes, this is a perfect reaction. Thank you for that opportunity, Christopher. You're welcome. You got one more or not? That's it.
Tom's checked in. He's ready to go. It's all right. It's all right. You got one more?
So I want to hear my boy's voice. Jimmy Cooper's one more. I love that. One more. I did not know.
I did not know that. He didn't know it. He didn't either. He really didn't. Football's got one game left.
That was so great because he just said it when sitting in for you, Chris. And I'm like, no, but Chris always acts over acts. Like, I can't believe there's one more. I had no idea. And so that's when he came up with that, my boy Cooper.
My bus Coop. Yeah. Basket college basketball are starting to pay a little bit more attention to that now with one game left in the football season. Either the men's or women's champion this year will have less losses than the Super Bowl winner. Oh, I'll get that.
So that's three, right? Yeah. Seahawks and Patriots each have three losses. Michigan can only lose one more. Right.
Arizona's undefeated right now. Yeah, yeah. Michigan, UConn. That means there's one loss. That means it's going to be somebody who's been on a heater all season doesn't get upset and cuts down the nets.
Exactly. And both men and women. On the women's side, UConn and the women has one loss.
South Carolina has zero, right? No, South Carolina. I can't wait. That's right. Um I'll do it.
Either one of them. Either one. Winner.
Somebody's going to have less. Love this one. This is something we'll keep revisiting all the way through to April. Keep tabs. The echoes of Overreaction Monday on a Tuesday.
That's going to be tough, man. It will be. I'm looking. Yeah. I mean, it's going to be tough.
Someone's going to have to stay hot.
Someone's going to have to beat Michigan. Ugh. God, I was so insufferable yesterday. Even I knew how insufferable I was being, but too bad. Too bad.
What's the name of the show? What's the name of this program? I forget what the name of the program is. It's on the tip of my tongue. Yeah, it's on the mug.
It's on you can't miss it. This is the Rich Eisen Show. All right, let's take a break. Yeah. Tommy P, Tom Pellisero.
Is he wearing the same suit? Yes. And the Zoom as he is, it looks it. What?
The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. 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, great 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. Tom Pellisero here on the Rich Hisen Show. Our radio audience just returned in the middle of Tom telling the story about how he broke the news.
Hearing about Clint Kubiak going to the Raiders while he was flying from Atlanta out to San Francisco. Highly impressive, detailed story, Tom. And especially, I salute you for dropping the fact that you were in a lay flat seat while getting from it. Did you guys catch that? I mean, you could have told that story without the lay flat seat.
It could have just been like, I was sleeping on the plane. It's not as dramatic because how far can you recline? It's like from here to here. But if you're in the lay flat seat, I had to do the full Undertaker in the coffin all the way up to a 90-degree angle. It probably scared the people next to me with how quickly I popped up.
You know, but that's why you got always a lot of tweaked drafts in the chamber because you got to know which ones might be coming. Don't skip Corday. That's it. Don't do it. Don't do it.
Certainly if you want to break news. Right. Kids. Tell the kids out there. Tom Pellicero, the first-class story right here on the Rich Island Show.
So are we done talking about Drake May's shoulder now or what? Are we done? It's a situation where we'll see the first injury report of Super Bowl week will come out tomorrow. Come on, the Patriots will have 15 questionable people. It's still the Patriots.
They may have changed the coach, changed everything. Unless the list of his full. Right. You're right. I mean, everyone was questionable last week.
They've got that history going way back, but they've removed people from the injury report this season as well. You know, we'll see. It's something in that at minimum, it caused them to reduce his reps last week. Does not sound like anything that people are concerned is going to drastically alter his ability to play on Sunday. You just don't know, though.
Drake said it himself when he was asked about it. He's like, somebody asked him, are we making too much of this? He's like, well, it's a quarterback's throwing shoulder. Yeah, exactly. You just don't know until you get into the game just how much, if at all, it might limit him.
There's different things you can do. to manage pain in those situations. What we have to see is just exactly how functional is he. I don't get any sense talking to Elliott last night, talking to other people. I don't get any sense that we're really concerned about Drake May.
He's going to start in this game, but, you know, just in terms of does it impact him at all? Could he have a, you know, a setback? I mean, we all, I think, still at PTSD from watching Carson Wentz's right shoulder injury get. gradually worse and worse and worse until you know he's basically being shoveled off the field um by the end of that game against the rams this season you just don't know again i don't get the sense it's something major but it is something to monitor just because it's quarterbacks throwing shoulder and he was limited going into the super bowl okay and um darnold's oblique are we done talking about that Not that I'm talking about because he's going to have to manage it. You know, it did not.
I was actually pleasantly surprised for Sam that it was not more of an impact in the NFC championship game because anytime you're talking about whether it's a pitcher in baseball or a quarterback, anybody who's a thrower, those oblique injuries can progressively get worse. You never know if the wrong movement is going to cause it to get worse. I never saw him hampered. I never saw him wincing at all through the course of that game. Again, they've been limiting his reps.
They're being very cautious because the last thing they want is an extra rep in a Friday practice, which is where he got hurt initially, was in the last practice of the week before the conference championship game. And all of a sudden, or maybe it was the divisional game, but all of a sudden he pops up on the injury report. You're like, oh, that's not a good thing here. But don't get any sense that we're concerned about that one either. Both quarterbacks should be healthy, just a matter of making sure they don't suffer setbacks in the game.
Okay, so what are you looking in your notebook about for Super Bowl 60 you'd like to throw out there? For everybody.
Well, one notable injury is Harold Landry for the Patriots. I mean, that's a pretty significant player. Their leading sack guy was not able to play in the AFC Championship game. They gave him a podium at Super Bowl Media Night. There was one guy who was camped out with a camera in front of him for about four hours by himself.
So he was very interested in Harold Landry. But I would say anytime you're talking about the best pass rusher on a team who didn't play in the last game, you know, let's see. They listened to him as questionable last week. Let's see if he's able to ramp it up and give it a go because that's a pretty big piece of this. Same thing with Charles Cross, the Seahawks.
No reason to think that he's not going to play. But again, limited through the course of the practice week. How effective is he going to be? If we zoom out, just in terms of some of the macro storylines here, you got two head coaches who have not been in this game. You got two quarterbacks who have not been in this game.
You got a lot of people on both sides who have not been at this point. Every team's Super Bowl week is a little bit different. I know the Patriots were out at Stanford yesterday. The weather was nice enough that Elliott told us he got sunburned at practice, which is a little different. Than 15 years ago when he was in Dallas with the Packers, and there was an ice storm and no one could get around all week.
But they were out there, they did a normal 90-minute practice. They're going through this like a normal week. You know, the Seahawks will get rolling really in earnest on the field tomorrow. You know, we'll see who handles these elements better. The weather is great here in Santa Clara, or I'm up in San Francisco now, but it looks like it'll be in the 70s on game day.
So that part should not be, you know, any type of a significant factor. But who better handles the entire week and just kind of the uniqueness of the extended pregame, the extended halftime, all those things? You know, if Rabel is in it, obviously, as a player, he does have that experience. Mike McDonald has plenty of different resources he can go to, but tons of players on both sides and coaches who have not been in the Super Bowl before. To me, that's always one of the biggest storylines: just who handles the uniqueness of this week better.
Okay. And do you have a story on either side or one player? In the Super Bowl, because you were talking to John Schneider and Elliot Wolf. Who almost wasn't acquired by a Super Bowl team in this Super Bowl 60? That sliding door did, in fact, open up, and that player is here.
Um, and it's a big difference. Do you got a story on that front? I mean, there's a bunch of them on both these teams. I mean, start out, and John Schneider took us through last night how they acquired Sam Darnold. I know we've talked about it before, but, you know, they started the combine.
You know, Geno Smith wanted a raise. They offered him a raise. If Geno had taken it, Geno Smith is still the quarterback of the Seahawks. Geno wasn't happy with what the offer was. All of a sudden, the Raiders pop up with an offer for Geno.
They get a third-round pick for him and get Sam Darnold for less money 10 years younger. plus a third-round traffic for a guy who led him to the Super Bowl. But it was that close. If Geno had been willing to play on his deal or if he had accepted the contract offer, he's still the quarterback of the Seahawks right now. Rasheed Shaheed, that was a protracted negotiation between the Saints and the Seahawks.
There was at least one other team that was involved on Shaheed. It ended up being a pretty significant price, but nobody right now is caring about whether it was a fifth-round pick or a fourth-round pick for Shaheed. The impact that he has made has been substantial for that Seahawks team. I mean, he's arguably the most. Most, you know, the most important player that they've had in terms of just the impact that he's made really throughout the second half of the season and into the playoffs.
On the Patriots side, I mean, there's a couple of them. Milton Williams, who there was actually a report that Milton Williams was going to the Panthers. What it sounds like happened, if my memory has served me correctly, was Milton Williams, the Panthers think they've got a deal with him. He's one of the highest profile free agents. Of course, he made a huge impact in the Super Bowl last year where he was like a backup type of player.
He played a bunch, but he was not like one of their frontline guys for the Eagles. He has a huge playoff run, a huge Super Bowl, has a huge offer from the Panthers. They think that deal is getting done. And like a minute later, the report comes out, and all of a sudden, the Patriots swoop in with, we'll do better. We'll pay, I think he got $27 million a year.
And they got him away from Carolina. Milton Williams was nearly not a Patriot. You know, it all comes back too to Drake May. And we talked with Elliott about that last night. You know, he said they were never truly close to trading that pick.
But they did take it all the way up to, I think I reported about 3 p.m. on draft day, they're staying because we all knew one-two was going to be Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels. It was going to be a matter of could the Giants or the Vikings, who both made offers, get up into number three? I know the Vikings. Like the last year, the night before, the day of, they sent one more offer over and involved pick swaps and other things.
Um, they took a good run at it, but the Patriots decided ultimately this they thought they knew what Drake May could be. They decided to stand in. There's some parallel universe out there where they decide, man, we can't pass up multiple picks for this. We'll trade back and we'll take Pennix or J.J. McCarthy or Bo Nicks, and Drake May goes to the Vikings.
That's not the universe we live in. Drake May is a finalist for the MVP and starting the Super Bowl in year two. I knew asking that question would yield results, then you stuck the landing there, Tom. But. Cycling through all of that.
Um Is the fact that the Vikings just fired their general manager and Sam Donald's in the Super Bowl. And I understand you've said before. That these things are not, you can't draw a bright line to connect both dots, that there's lots of other dots and things of that nature. But what exactly did the Vikings offer Sam Darnold? What did happen on that piece?
Because you just mentioned the piece in Seattle that had Geno Smith accepted the raise that. Was being given him that he'd have stayed. and the Seahawks would have gone into battle with him. But what about the other end? What about the other end of it, Tom?
My understanding is the Vikings' offer was structured similarly to the Seahawks offer. It was a multi-year deal, but it was really a one-year commitment. If you look at Sam Darnold's deal with Seattle on paper, it's a three-year, $100 million deal, but really they could get out after year one. And that's because the Seahawks, their contract structure, they don't do guarantees into future years in virtually every case. But it was for less money.
The money was there, but more important than the money, whatever that difference was, 10 million or whatever it was, more important was Sam Darnold could go there and be the guy. He was not going to have J.J. McCarthy still looming and being right there. And if things went wrong for Sam Darnold, and all of a sudden it's handing off to J.J. McCarthy.
I think that one of the things that gets lost here, Rich, is, and this is, I'm not knocking Sam Darnold, but go back. I think people have forgotten what the last two games of Sam Darnold with the Vikings looked like. Week 17. I believe it was, when they were hoisting him on their shoulders in the locker room and pouring water on him, and Kevin O'Connell was standing back like a proud dad. You know, a week later, week 18, they have the number one seed on the line in Detroit, and that was the worst game Sam Darnold has played over the last several years.
He missed Justin Jefferson multiple times wide open in the end zone. There were just red zone failures early. He flat out was off. He played poorly in that game, which then meant instead of having the buy in the number one seed, the Vikings had to go in the end to Arizona to face the Rams because I believe they were the wildfires at the time that relocated that game. And the entire offense didn't play well.
So as you got to the end of it, it wasn't this no-brainer, like, we have to keep Sam Darnold. He's an all-pro and he's going to go to the Super Bowl next year. It was. Sam Darnle, as well as he had played, he had played really well for 17 weeks. Those last two games made you go, is this the Sam Darnold that at other stops in his career when the pressure is ratcheted up?
He's come a little bit unglued. That's not happened in this postseason. Obviously, there were some things that went his way. The second game against the Rams, where there were some bounces and weird things that happened in that game. Zach Charbonnet picking up a rolling ball.
I mean, that kind of got the monkey off his back, the proverbial way. And it seems like Sam relaxed a little bit and he's played well after that. But at that time, at the end of last season, it wasn't like a slam dunk. I mean, hindsight's 2020. Could you go back in time and franchise tag him?
You could, but the tag was $40 million. He didn't even get, he got 33 per year on an extension. Usually you're not going to tag somebody at a number 7 million higher than what they're getting on a long-term deal because that gives the player all the leverage. And then the baseline that they would accept would be. 40 million plus another 48 next year, which is the second tag, 120%.
That's 88 over two. He wasn't getting anything close to that. And so, logically speaking, if we take the emotion out of it, logically speaking, it made sense for the Vikings to say, we're only going to go up to here because we're not going to make the type of multi-year commitment that's going to keep us from giving J.J. McCarthy his opportunity. I've seen other complete nonsense out there, quite frankly, Rich, this week that they were getting ready to trade J.J.
McCarthy and Quasi pulled the plug, that there was a toxic environment between Kwasy and Kevin. None of that is true. And I can tell you that, objectively speaking, as somebody who is pretty wired into the NFL and specifically wired into the workings of the Minnesota Vikings, Kevin O'Connell and Quasi Adofo Mensa are friends. They never had a personal issue. There were things they did not see eye to eye on.
They had disagreements. Certainly, the way that things played out at the quarterback position was not ideal for anyone. And everyone would love to go back in time and have the foresight to go, Sam Darnold's going to play like a top 10 quarterback. And go to the Super Bowl this year. Of course, you keep that guy, but really, when it came down to the firing of Quasi, it was a lot of different things in totality.
They don't have a quarterback answer. They have a salary cap issue that they have to clean up. The drafts, on the whole, there were certainly hits in there. Jordan Addison was a big one. The kicker Will Reichard was one.
There are, you know, there have been good picks. There have been some that didn't work out. They had to figure out what the path was forward. The Wolves always hold these meetings a couple weeks after the season to kind of have everyone take a breath and go out there. It seems like the Wolves asked some pointed questions.
They heard very honest answers from multiple people. They decided there was not a path forward for this particular group. And so Rob Brzezinski is a highly respected executive. He's going to run this thing through the draft. Kevin O'Connell is certainly going to be leaned upon and his staff more in the free agency process and in the draft process than they probably were in the past.
They'll run a GM search after that, and we'll see where that leads. But it was not strictly, you know, outcome-based Sam Darnold's in the Super Bowl. Let's fire the GM who got rid of him. There were a lot of different factors. And let's also not forget, Rich, plan B in this thing was to bring back Daniel Jones.
They had essentially the same offer on the table to Daniel Jones. Jones decided to go to Indianapolis. They pulled the offer when they realized Jones was just using them as leverage to go to the Colts. He went there for some of the same reasons, which is there was a clearer path. You're not as threatened by Anthony Richardson as you are by a guy, J.J.
McCarthy, who they had just drafted number nine overall. And you knew one way or another was eventually going to get his shot. Tommy P, you're the man. Thanks, Tom. Greatly appreciate it.
For various reasons, your information is outstanding. Two, I'm staying in the same hotel as you, and I'm checking out your room, and it better not be bigger than mine. King Bett. I know that's a man's big deal for you, Rick. King Bet.
You know what I mean? We're all set. But just to show you, there's nothing personal here, just leaving you in a better spot. I can confirm, in case you've heard the rumor, that I am checking a bag.
So you can break that into the bag. No, excuse me. You can break that news.
Okay, Tom? Go for it. You got a lay-flat seat from LA to SFL? I doubt it. It's probably going to be one of these things.
That's it. It's probably going to be one of these things. But I'll let you know when I see you. Let's play in. I'll let you know.
Thanks, Rich. Thanks, fellas. Let's see. See you. Tom Pellicero, the one and only.
Great stuff right there. All right, let's take a break here on the Rich Eisen Show. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial is phone calls when we come back. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast.
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Next guest we have, we've got Tony Kahn. Uh, who's going to be joining us in the middle of next hour? And we also have uh March thirth. Tid, tell us. His thoughts about Super Bowl 60.
Let's go to Sean in Cleveland, Ohio, everybody, where I believe. The new head coach of the Cleveland Browns was just introduced within the hour. What's going on? Chris, how you doing? What's up, buddy?
Hey, just wanted to first off say thanks for having me. I also just wanted to mention that I am a two time Ball Deep Fantasy Football Champion. Congrats. Congrats. Congrats.
And I did want to see what was your guys' opinion on this James Harden coming to Cleveland situation. Can it work? Is it going to happen? Um of course it can work. Uh I turned the clipper fan in the house.
For that answer, I mean We're just tapping out now, huh? That means you popped up in the middle, almost seemingly in the middle of the night. You're just tapping out. You're seeing shams come up like Clippers are. I saw that.
I'm like, the Clippers have actually performed well in the last four to six weeks. Like they've put themselves on the periphery. That's not where you want to be. You want to be in the mix. Forever is horrible.
But they've rebounded nicely, and then it's over with Hardin. Are you fine with that?
Well, as I told Chris Brockman and Jason Follower today, this is Super Bowl week, so I don't want to get into it this week. Come on, man. They're three under 500. But if this happens and they start to dismantle this team, we're going to have the very first document signed. Really?
He's going to do it. You're not signing the document. He's doing it. Not this week, because, like I said, let's get the Super Bowl out the way. We've got a lot of time.
But if they start dismantling now, it's like, what are we doing? Yeah, it's over. Are you going to have no team or are you going to jump on? I'm going to become.
Well, I still have the Sixers. Right, obviously. The good doctor. You should probably get rid of them, too. Maybe the Spurs.
This is a release of fandom from the Dallas Cowboys. That's been unsigned. I got a whiteout. We could fix it. You might as well go ahead and burn that.
No, I think there's a Clippers one around here somewhere. No, there's no Clippers. We've been talking about it. This is my golfing scorecard with Stuart Scott and Linda Cohn back in the day of Wampanong Country Club and West Hark. You should have that for him.
I don't have it here. Did we ever create a broken bro? We never made that. I didn't make that one. No, we never made it one.
I'll get on that. On it.
So I'm just saying, man. There is a trade that did go down about 10 minutes ago. What do we have? Sean's reporting. The Grizzlies.
I'm sorry, did we leave Sean on the phone? Did we just ignore Sean? Yeah. No, I just told you. By the way, if you're the Cavs, do you do this if you're the Cavs?
Guess it depends on what I mean who they want.
Well, it might be a one-for-one situation with Darius Garland. Finn Harland, yeah. And maybe a draft. And get Harden in there. But how is James Harden and Donovan Mitchell going to mesh?
Yeah, I don't see how this works. I don't see that working. Do you?
Well, they're going to petition the NBA to use two basketballs. Oh, well, if that's the case, they're winning at an eight-point line. I'm sorry, can you chop this up? Because I'm still looking for the paperwork. No, the paperwork doesn't exist, Rich, because they've never made one.
The breaking news is the Grizzlies, not John Moran, getting moved. Jaron Jackson Jr. getting moved, along with a few others, to Utah. Oh. For Three players, four players, and three future first-round picks.
Utah. Danny Ainge making moves. Yeah, I know. For what? For Walter Clayton Jr.
I know that. Tyler Hendricks, George Ngang, and three number ones.
So they're just remaking everything and hoping it finally turns the page? Yeah, in Utah, yeah. Also seems like this is just the first in a mo like Jaw's probably next, right?
So, yeah, so they're breaking it up there. Yeah, yeah, the Grizzlies are kidding, bro. Dude, I was stunned when I saw that alert last night, too. 17 of the last 20 months. I know.
And so now we're just going to get rid of Hardin? What's going on? Well, he's been at home the last couple of days, you know, due to some personal reasons. Stop it. That means that they don't want him to get hurt.
Yeah, exactly. You got me looking over here, too. No, trust me, it doesn't exist because it's never gotten brought up before. It's always football. Also, a rumor, Atlanta might be in on James Harden, which, you know.
That's keeping a lot of people through college down there. Oh, good luck. That's true. Because, like I said, when Susie was here, sometimes you hear some paperwork. You reinvest into the community.
This is Del Tufo's bandwagon fan transfer. Uh-huh. Um From various other oh, wait, you got one in there. I don't know if Billy and Cleveland's a big fan of um uh of of Mobley. He he might finally sign this release of him of all Cleveland sports.
I found all this stuff. What else do I got here?
Some Jets releases over here. No, I've got an autograph. I have an autograph of Mo Green. Yeah, I got that going on. Before he got popped?
That was telling me. But he signed it, Mo Green. Alex Rocco. No, it's the actor, Alex Rocco. You never know what.
I don't know what I need to clean out my stuff. By the way, great way for us to finish up on ESPN today, huh? They're like, wait a minute, what the hell is Rich doing? We're having a lot of fun. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.
Mm-hmm.
