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Now, on with the show. Live from the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. This dude is a freaking animal. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Earlier on the show.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton. Bears general manager Ryan Poles. Commander's head coach Dan Quinn. Coming up. Seahawks general manager John Schneider.
Eagles head coach Nick Siriani. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show of day number two of four is on the air right here from the NFL Scouting Combine. We say hello to everybody out there streaming us on Disney Plus and the ESPN app and listening to us live on ESPN Radio. Thrilled to be joined in.
In kicking off this third hour of our program, by the man, there's only one guy who can be a general manager in this league at a combine with a 32nd overall pick and a trophy in his back pocket, and this is this man, John Schneider, the Seattle Seahawks. How are you doing, John?
Sounds pretty cool. It's pretty cool, right? Yeah, that sounds pretty cool. It's the truth, though. There's only one of you that walk around here, and you're that guy this year.
Congratulations. Thanks, I appreciate it. How's it hit you? How's it? Yeah, you know, you go through these moments where you're.
You know, especially we got going right away. I would say the. The parade was probably the biggest. Like, holy smokes, you know, this is. It's happened as we talk about the fans, the fans, the fans, the fans all the time, the 12s, and.
To see all those people out there celebrating and knowing that they were in the entertainment business, and this is what drives us to Do what's best for the 12s all the time, and to see them out there was pretty special. And, brother, you made history. Um That's one way I was thinking of introducing you here. I'll just say it here anyway. Ozzie Newsom.
And Howie Roseman are the only general managers who have ever won Super Bowls with two different head coaches and two different. Quarterbacks, but you. You think there'd be more, right? That was it coming into this season, but you did it one better. You're the only general manager.
Have you heard this or you haven't heard this? Who's won a Super Bowl with completely different rosters? Yeah, my son. All 53 are new compared to. The Super Bowl that you won in MetLife all those years ago, how does that hit you?
I feel very blessed to have the stability, ownership stability, and being able to hang in there with Paul and you know Jodi you know, showing the confidence in us to uh To flip this thing and keep moving forward. But it's pretty cool, though. I could say it on behalf of you. My son sent it to me. My son Jack sent it to me.
What he sent it to you, what, that night? Yeah, I was like, that's pretty cool stat. It is pretty cool stat because it's so difficult to obviously have longevity in this league, period, and then to have a totally remade roster. What can you say that is the through line, though, between both rosters? To be Super Bowl champions.
Is there a through line? Yeah, I think that the stability in the building, like our foundational pieces. You know, I'd worked here in 2000. uh with Coach Hong Roon and Ted Thompson and Mike Reinfeldt in that group. and really got to know a lot of the people that were in the building.
and uh Sam Ramsden, Mo Kelly, Eric Kennedy. Um Just a great group of people. Dave's been here, Pierce has been here forever, too. And you just knew, you had the feeling that it would be. A place that we left and went to Washington.
We were there eight months. We got fired, but that's different. Different story. But. You know, there was data position opened up in 2005, the general manager position opened up, and I was hoping to get an interview at that point.
My wife Tracy and I just knew we didn't, and so we just kind of kept an eye on it. And just knew that in 2010 when it opened up and then hooking up with Pete, that that was a place we wanted to go and that you could have success, you could take care of the players, you could take care of the coaches, great place to work, great place to live, and then you have all these people that are just. Amazing at their jobs. Right. Yeah, I think that's...
Really been the common thread. You know, Pete bought into that, we all bought into it right away. And then now Mike, you know, McDonald coming in and trusting, like, hey, you know, the strength staff's amazing. Sports science people are great. The trainers are great.
They're elite. These people are elite at their jobs. What about the roster you've built? Is there any I mean, obviously we see the defense. We could see a quarterback that can make plays in crucial moments, but what about from Europe?
You're the one who built them. Yeah, they you know, just the speed on defense, you know, the run game. the way both groups played for each other. That group, the 48 group, was they were a little bit more edgy, a little bit more swaggy, kind of like it's us against the world, you know. Right.
Sherm was always mad at me that I didn't draft him around higher. You know, Marshawn, you know, was upset that I didn't trade for him earlier, you know, so it's kinda like, they were like us against the world. Yeah, these guys are very much uh They're about like our team, not the opponent, playing for each other, being connected, and uh. You know, it definitely showed up in the Super Bowl. Why did you hire Mike McDonald?
I know there's many. obvious reasons but you know, in this day and age, where maybe you want to hire an offensive-minded head coach to connect to your quarterback and he's the play caller and you don't have to worry about losing the play caller because he's the head coach and you got two such guys in your division in McVay and you got Kyle Shanahan. Why did you go in this route? What was that thought process? I'm down here.
that season and and uh It was one of those games where when the game's over, you're kind of like, what was that? Like, what just hit us? Yeah. You know? Um.
And uh You knew something was really special. Obviously, he did a great job at Michigan, too. And um And then, you know, the uh throughout the interview process, We weren't able to speak with him right away, so I was relying on You know, guys that had interviewed him already: Dan Morgan, Chad Brinker, Rich McKay. And to a man, they were all like, man, your your guys' personalities would really fit. Um The the like You know the Like the clarity of communication.
When we sat down for the interview, it was like a two-hour interview that felt like 20 minutes. You could just tell he had a huge brain. Was a competitor want to be on the cutting edge and of what football was going to look like in the future? Yeah, that was really what stood out. And when did you realize you got the right guy?
When did that happen? The first day he walked in the building, I mean, he was We were behind, so we were kind of working on a staff behind the scenes. Right. You know, and he came in. Uh that morning.
We went in his office, we had boards set up of you know, running back coaches and, you know, every all position coaches you could think of, right? mixed with with his And we started working on that right away, you know, and we went and got lunch about, this is at like 10 o'clock in the morning, we went and got lunch about two o'clock, and he's like, hey, I don't. I don't mean to be a weirdo or anything, but uh Do I sign a contract or anything? I was like, oh, yeah, that's right. We got to do your contract.
That's really suddenly. Yeah, yeah. He's like, well, what point do I sign a contract? It's like, that's a really good point, brother.
So then you had the paperwork drawn up. Gave him a pen, and off you go. But he just went right at it, and he was just. Yeah, we're just We were just going for it right there. We're competing right away.
And it's amazing how things happen. You trade away DK Metcalf, you trade away Geno, you give JSN the spot, you hire the kid from... From Yakima, right? And then, you know, and you bring Cooper Cup in, and you let JSN fly, you give yourself a shot at Sam Darnold, you land him, and that, I mean. I guess Tank Lawrence is another one.
You go ahead and do all of that. How close was it that you didn't get Darnold? Yeah, so that's what this week is for. I mean, this is, you know, we're down here, you know, our guys are. Our guys do a great job of meeting with every agency, working all our relationships, trying to figure out where everybody's going to be, contractually, what the spring's going to look like, just getting a lay of the land.
It was really you know It was really just, you know, things just, there was a chain of events that Happened in, I can't believe that was a year ago already. Yeah. And but it was really. I was down here answering questions about DK and Geno and and then all of a sudden, you know, the next week, you know, things that Things just moved, you know? When you make decisions, do you.
Do you ruminate about them? Do you move on or do you wring your hands over it? No, no, no, we move on. Yeah, because it's like our preparation, we had met with everybody: hey, if this happens, then let's go, we're going to pivot to this. If this happens, we may have to pivot here, we may have to pivot here.
And so we, you know, that's what, again, that's what this week is for. And then when we got back, you know, it was like, okay, we got back home. To Seattle, we were sit down with you know with Clint and the offensive staff and work through what the uh different possibilities I remember we were sitting at the cup of coffee a couple weeks after that. You know, Clint had just come and interviewed with us and he was talking about you know, Tyler, who's like the sweetest hum human being you can meet. TK and Geno and how he's going to use these guys and everything.
And then we're sitting there having a cup of coffee and now it's like Cooper Cup's on our team. Jackson and Sam Darnold's our quarterback, but really the sitting down and really going, you know, studying Sam and then working our relationships. Kevin O'Connell obviously helped us out a lot with terms of, and Clint had coached him the previous year in San Francisco. I mean, beyond your wildest dreams, right? I mean, right away, obviously you put a team together thinking we're going to win a Super Bowl, or we want to win a Super Bowl.
Bottom. Yeah, I mean, this is. I mean, work like it's up to you, pray like it's up to God, really, and then you just have to be like ready to rip. Right. And that's really, that's how that week went.
And then to. To your point, to look back at it now and think, holy smokes, we won a World Championship's kinda It's overwhelming. He's pretty cool, man. Yeah. And I'm happy for you.
Yeah, I appreciate it. I'm happy for you.
So, did Kenneth Walker really? Use the podium. No, I told you? No, I totally panicked. I'm not going to do this for a living like you do, so we're in front of all these people and you know, like Ken Walker, and you're just standing right there and.
Yeah, I just totally panicked and I don't know why. I don't know why I said that. Because you're trying to entertain. You're trying to entertain. Man, sorry, man.
I didn't know what. I thought to myself, he hardly says a word. And the fact that he would actually start negotiating with you instead of his agent. I mean, we had a cool moment on the field, man, right towards the end of the game, where. Oh.
Like he was he was staring up the scoreboard and I was like Hey brother, you're going to be a Super Bowl MVP. He goes, You think so? I was like, Heck yeah, man. Like, you know, I guess you could have gone with a couple, I mean, he had a great game. He sure did.
Yeah. So, what's your plan for him right now? That's what this week's for: to figure out where we're going to go. Like, what does this look like? Talk to his people down here and get working on things.
I'd love to have him back, obviously. Sure. It was a really big bummer for Zach. You know, Zach. You know, the season Zach had to, those two, you know, playing off of each other, and then.
For Zach to have the injury was just heartbreaking, but Zach's a total stud too and You know, he'll attack his rehab and get back as quickly as possible.
Okay. And Darnold, do you do anything with his contract? Or you're on. You're the former player now? No, no, no, I know.
I don't mean to put you in a position here. No, no, you know how it works. I mean, like, you want to keep somebody there forever, but you also got a great contractor. We want him to be our quarterback for a long time for sure. I mean he came in and fit in like...
Just like seamless. Everything everybody said about him, you know, we didn't spend that much time with him when he was coming out of college because we knew he was gonna get drafted so high. Right. But just to be able to talk to everybody at You know, like Scott Fritter and Dan Morgan, those guys in Carolina, and then the people with the Jets that have been there with the Jets, and then Minnesota, and then obviously our San Francisco guys, too, to see him come in and just fit in right away and be that. Like Humble, tough, leader-like.
He's just got a really cool way about him. The thing that I've been told about him, Jordan Palmer told me that he's internally motivated. He is not externally motivated. And it sounds like your coach is the same way. Yeah, I agree with that.
Am I wrong with that? Right, like your coach is exactly the same way where it's just something's bubbling beneath that surface that you just. I totally agree. Great way to put it, yeah. That your coach seems that way, and Donald seems that way, too.
Yeah, it's like that. that person you're talking to that's looking like actually like they're you know gonna Like they're gonna you say something wrong, they're gonna kick your ass. Yeah. Well, so what is the next few weeks? You're here, and then you figure out your free agency period.
And at what point do you think? I have to get caught up. I'm a little bit behind. We're good with free agency after free agency meetings. Spending time with agents down here, again, trying to get a lay of the land, what the spring's going to look like, but just personally spending time.
I have to be disciplined with my personal study of time, getting filed for the draft. What do you mean? Getting caught up. Like, I missed, I was out of some draft meetings. We were interviewing.
You know, we were interviewing offensive coordinator guys, I missed a couple days there. And so I think it that's uh you know, where I feel a little bit behind is like just getting caught up on You know what our board looks like and getting ready for the job.
Well, then I appreciate you spending all this time with me. This is all stuff that you could be doing instead of chatting with me. No, this is all good stuff. Walk me through your offensive coordinator, who he is, and why you hired him. Brian, yeah.
Right Flurry. Really cool background. His dad was a seventh time. uh state champion in Maryland. We played quarterback.
called defensive He was a defensive coordinator calling defensive plays at Sacred Heart when he was like 24, 25 years old. He's primarily been on the defensive side, really cool background, Mike Petton. Shoot, bunch of you guys. But. And then defensive side of the ball with Robert Sala in that group in San Fran, and then Kyle moved him to.
To the offense and uh never called plays before, too. Just to really defensive plays, yeah, talking about offensive plays, what I'm saying, yeah, no, no, and you went out of house for it too, and I guess yeah, it was really like more about like, yeah, yes, Brian did an amazing job and in his interview, but You know, like the collective of the whole group, trying to keep that whole group together. It's difficult when you lose an offensive coordinator to be your head coach at that time of the season.
Well, you couldn't take enough from the San Francisco 49ers. You take the division, you take their one seat, you take their stadium, you took their locker room. Come on now, man. Geez, man. Shit.
You know, you completed the dream for the Seahawks fans, right? Are you aware of that? But you should take care of the Niners. You take care of the Rams. You avenge the Patriot loss.
And you do it in the home of the San Francisco 49ers instead of the locker room of the 49ers. Those two Rams games had to be like some of the best games of the season. Dude, there was that week 16 game? Unbelievable. And your coach was kind enough to join my show the day after.
Oh, awesome, yeah. Which is good. And I'm glad you guys don't hold grudges. No, no, no. Because I remember I was the guy, I'm like sitting there on my set, you know, took all the Pete stuff down, and he's creating his own thing, and I'm like, I don't know about that.
I was wrong. That was a little overrated. That was overrated. I know that. And you told me that, and I'm Mayor Culpa.
Clearly, this guy knows exactly what the heck he was doing. He didn't erase the whole thing. You know, pay a little bit of homage to the past. We moved him upstairs. I got it.
I know. We put together every Seahawk win. That's pretty neat deal. It is a pretty neat deal. Yeah.
By the way, that sounds like a peat phrase. Pretty neat deal. Yeah. It sounds like. Cool.
People be like, that's cool. Cool. Hey, man. Pretty cool watching you do your thing. Congratulations to you.
You know how I feel about you. Same. And thanks for having me. And thanks again. Congratulations on winning the Super Bowl, sir.
Thanks, Beth. You got it. That's John Schneider right here on the Rich Eyes and Show. Don't go anywhere. We're back with more in our second day, Nick Suriani.
Speaking of hoisting a trophy, it's coming up next. Uh The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. In a world in need of a hero, one man rises to the challenge in style. He is just driving the kids to soccer practice. Make every day feel epic in an all-new Hyundai Palisade hybrid with up to an EPA estimated 619 miles of range on select trims, advanced tech, and class-leading interior space.
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So I'll ask you the question I asked Howie Roseman on Tuesday's show. Do you like the drama? In Philadelphia. Do you like it? You know, there's so many things that you have to be able to block.
You have to be able to block out things in this league. I don't care if you're in Philadelphia, Buffalo, wherever it may be, Indianapolis, it doesn't matter. There's always going to be a distraction, whether it's, and there's always going to be ups and downs within your life. There's always going to be ups and downs within a football season. And your job is to, I always say to the players, like, our job, what were we taught as, we just, me, you and I got done talking about Michigan basketball.
Yes. But when we were young in the game of basketball. Mm-hmm. We were taught to focus, when we went to the free throw line and there was distraction here and a distraction there and a distraction there, and the game was on the line and you had to make your shot. Yes.
Your job was to focus on the process. Your job was to focus. We were taught, hey, focus on the dribble. What was your dribble routine? Mine was one.
One breath, let's shoot. I don't know what yours is. Do you remember? No, I didn't have a routine. What was Ramil Robinson?
I've never had a routine in my entire life about anything, but keep going. What was Ramiel Robinson's? I want to actually. That one was definitely something. He was focused on the process.
Oh, my God. He was hoping, at least in that one. And so your job is to focus on the process in the midst of everything. And it is a good thing, you know, whether you're going through good times or you're going through bad times, you've got to focus on the process because that's what gives you the best opportunity to win each week.
Well, it's the same thing when the crowd's going crazy and you're in the midst of a Super Bowl game or an NFC championship game. Your job is to focus on the process and what you can control and go after that. Yeah, but I mean, for this analogy, it seems like in Philadelphia, you know, certainly in the last few years, it's like distraction when you're shooting a free throw. Shooting a jump shot, when you're trying to sit on the bench, when you're trying to hear your coach, it seems to be non-stop. And do you sometimes think, oh, I just wish it was just a rock and chair here.
You know what? You know what I mean? You know what? We've won a lot of games with it being ups and downs. Right.
And I wouldn't trade our success for anybody. We've had a lot of success. We've been able to get to the top of the mountain in my first five years here and an opportunity to play it in the game at another portion of it. And so, yeah, it works for us. It works for us.
And our job is to be able to block out everything, focus on the process, and be able to go to work and do it. It just seems that there's always, like I said, something going on with your team. And that there's always a question of like, what is going on there? And I think that, you know, you can only, again, As you listen, and you and like my job again is to focus on what we're doing there and the relationships that you have and not what is perceived of what's going on, right? I think there's a that can happen a lot.
Like, hey, here's what we think's going on there.
Well, you know, people in the building are the only ones that really know, you know, day in, day out, and so you can only interact, you only can judge the interactions that you have with your guys on a daily basis. Like I said, we're able to block out everything and be able to truly focus, zero in, and focus on the process to be able to put ourselves in the best position to win each Sunday. We weren't able to do that this year. At the end of each year, there's one team that's happy at the end of it. And our opportunity to be happy was after last year, and now we're back at this.
And we're like everybody else coming in and hungry to do it again.
Well, again, I say on this show all the time, I think your quarterback is the perfect guy for Philadelphia and for a situation where there's always something up. Because he never Adds a drop of fuel to the fire, like ever. Once and it can kind of frustrate fans like to want to know why was there a struggle on offense here? Why was it so difficult to get A.J. Brown the ball?
Why didn't Saquon get the ball? And he'll just, he'll say the same things like he did after. Winning with four touchdowns. And he never adds any fuel to the fire. He's consistent.
Is he that way behind the scenes as well? He comes to work every single day. Completely locked in on what he needs to do to help his team win and bring the team together each and every week. And so, Yeah, and he you know, he he Excuse me. He's just so locked into doing his job and to continuingly to get better at the job.
And that's what you want. I mean, that's what we're looking for in players here. These guys that love this game so much, that are tough, that have high football IQ. And that's all the things Jalen has. And that's why you continue to see him win football games and play good football as a quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Well, I mean, in the number of times that I've gotten to. meet him and interview him. The one time he let anything slip, the one time, was when I was interviewing him for NFL Network game day morning prior to your Super Bowl win last year. And I said to him, You know, you've got another offensive coordinator this year, and it was Kellen Moore. And I'm like, everyone knew that he was walking because he was going to get a gig.
I'm like, you're going to get one next year. And he said, tell me about it, is what he said. And it kind of like just a little bit of a glimmer of like, here he goes again.
Now, Sean Mannion's. another Offensive quarter. I'm sure you've seen this. Like, I think Shane Steichen is the only. coordinator he's had in back-to-back years of this entire career since high school.
And I I'm I'm wondering how you try to help handle The constant change at the offensive spot. How do you handle the consistency aspect of it? You know, obviously the consistency is Jalen and I, right? And so being able to, you know, kind of, when Jalen's not in there, you know, throughout this time right now, to be able to say, hey, here's what we've done well in the past. Let me take you through some of these things, because that's the consistency part.
And just because an offense changes, like, there's some things you can do too to try to keep some verbiage as similar as you can year in, year out. I think I read about that with Coach Saban, who went through a lot of different, you know, different coordinators. They're like, hey, his theory, one of the things that I always remembered seeing was, hey, we're going to keep terminology as close to as possible as we can when it's where you're able to do that.
So you try to do that with that. You try to keep elements of things like... Of what you've done well in the past and sprinkle that into some of the new things. You know, because we've had a lot of success, you know, with Jalen behind the center and being able to mix some of those things into some of those things that we're bringing in with Sean and continuing to evolve. I think it is like, hey, man, this is what we want to do.
We want to change because we think this is going to be best for our football team. But you still have elements of, hey, this is what's worked well, and you try to add and keep those consistent. Is he going to, you got the same terminology, is what you're saying? There's going to be things that are similar terminology because at the end of the day, Sean and the new coaches have to learn it because in the heat of the moment, when Jalen's going up there to maybe check a play, you want him to bam right at the thing.
So, terminology, again. It's just a matter of what you call three by one, what you call three by one with this guy in this position, what you call three by one with a bunch, and then changing these guys around.
So you try to keep things as systematic as possible. And for our offense, keep it, you know, being able to keep some of the things similar terminology-wise. If you don't mind me going down this road of narratives here about what is the case and what isn't, was there gear grinding with Jalen Hurts not wanting to run the offense? That Kevin Petulo was putting in there, or he just didn't want it, he didn't like it, he was doing his own thing, he was going rogue. I mean, we're Jalen will always do whatever he needs to do to win each and every football game, and I think you've seen him.
Like do things like in let's say 2022 where he's passing for all those yards, running for a lot of yards, scoring a lot of touchdowns, and then in 20, go to a Super Bowl. And then that system and that style, right, looks completely different. I wouldn't say completely different. There were still elements of that offense that were still there. But Jalen took a back seat to Saquon and made plays when, you know, handed the ball off.
And Saquon made a lot of plays. And when Jalen needed to make plays, he made plays, right? And so I think. All I've ever seen from Jalen Hurts is to do everything he can do to win each and every football game.
So it kind of bothers you when there's a narrative out like that.
Well, it bothers me, let me phrase that. Sure, yeah. When there's a narrative out like that, it's like, well, he didn't want to do this or he didn't want to do that. That could be more further from the truth. Jalen is a great team player.
Again, like I said, just wants to win and not worried about anything else other than winning. And I respect the heck out of that. And so, you know, that's why I'm able to kind of fight back on that narrative right here because my interactions with Jalen on a daily basis for the past five years is a guy who's a winner, who will do anything to win, and for his teammates and his coaches. And AJ Brown, the number of times that he would post something and then take it down and then be at his locker and saying, I didn't have anything, that's not the way I feel. Then you would have to go on your radio show and you go in front of the podium and the media is asking you, Is there anything wrong with AJ Brown's relationship?
What can you say about AJ Brown?
Okay. I love him. And I love the obviously I love the talent that he is as a player, but I love the person. I love the teammate. And man, he's contributed so many big-time plays and big time plays.
moments and big time seasons. I think he's the first Eagle for 4,000-yard receiving thing, you know, years in a row. You know, and so again, you can only base There's speculation from the outside, and that's why it's so important that we focus on our process and not the things we can't control. Because all you can control is your daily interactions. And all my daily interactions with these guys have been positive.
Now, you have your ups and your downs as any season and any brother or any family goes through. Even in Super Bowl winning seasons. Even in Super Bowl winning seasons. Like, you know, I know that what do they do? That the show on NFL Network.
Yeah, the recap of the year. Every single year, there will be one in Seattle, and there's one for you. Sure. And then you highlight that. America's game, it's called, and there's always.
a moment in a season where things are falling Off or to pot or whatever, and it's not going well. Every team has that. I totally understand. It just, we're. constantly trying to fill a void in your world.
Of why something isn't going as well as it should, in the estimation of people. And this is a tough league. It's hard to win, it's hard to sustain success. And so I'm really proud of the fact that we have set this expectation of: hey, they should win the Super Bowl or go to the Super Bowl every year, because we've won and we've done a lot of these good things. You know, but again, it's about the journey, it's about the process, and it's about being able to block out anybody's expectations.
Our expectations for ourselves is higher than anybody's expectations can be for us. And so our goal is just to focus on the process as we go through it and be able to block out anything because it is. Like, throughout a year, there's going to be ups, there's going to be downs, and each week within the NFL, right? It's talked about, hey, they won the game. Hey, they're the best team in the world.
The big game. Hey, you lost the game. This is the worst team. They're never. How many times did I hear about the Patriots in 2010 to 2018?
They'd lose one game and be like, they're done. They're done. I mean, a million. Brady's toast. Yeah, and it's like, and so you try to learn from those experiences, and you learn from the ups.
And then they won, and man, they're the best team they're going to be ready.
So it's again, just being able to, through the marathon of a season and through the ups and downs of the season, and if you let yourself get outside of your building and your interactions with your guys, it will feel like a roller coaster because it is a roller coaster outside there. And our job is to stay locked in and focused on what we're doing. Yet, you made a headline on Tuesday with your podium where you said you couldn't guarantee whether A.J. Brown's back. Yeah, it's funny how when someone asks you a question, sometimes, like, is he going to be back?
And it's like, listen, I get it, guys, so I know what we're trying to do here. And it's like, I can only say I love A.J. Brown. Right. He is a great teammate.
He is a great football player. And like you don't go in, I don't like. Have you ever heard me say, I guarantee we win this game? I guarantee we do. You don't do that in this league.
And so when it's kind of put that way, you're just like. I'm getting asked the impossible question whether I answer it this way or that way. And so you just go, and again, all I'll say is I love AJ Brown and I love the player. I love the person. Man, I'm really grateful for the relationship I have with him.
That's why you get into this. You get into this for the relationships. You get into this to help guys achieve goals that they want to be able to achieve as a coach and be a servant leadership for them. And so, man, I can't say I love that relationship that I have with him. Yeah, you almost, in your answer, went at your podium, went full Kyle Shanahan, which is like, hey, Sunday we could all be out, you know, we could all be dead.
You know what I'm saying? You almost went full Kyle Shanahan. Like, I can't guarantee anything. We could all be gone by the weekend.
So, do you still like doing it? I love it. You do. I love it. Like you're energized, you're ready to roll.
Yeah, you know what? That's the moment I don't have the energy that I have to wake up every day and to say, man, I get to be a head football coach in the NFL. I get to coach football in the NFL. Really, it comes down to, I get to coach football. I love this game.
This is the moment I shouldn't be doing it anymore. And, man, I love it. I love the process. There's nothing like being able to. Set a vision for a football team and be able to try to, you know, kind of iron through that each and every day for an entire year to see if you can accomplish the ultimate goal.
And And you just try to get better every day within it. And I love that because there's always, it's a constant growth thing. The moment you think, man, we're pretty good, is the moment you're going to be humbled. And it's just constantly trying to find ways to get better so you're playing your best football by the end of the year. I love it because I think at the end of the day, I'm 44 years old and I'm still a part of a team, right?
I'm still, I got a team at home with my wife and my kids, and I love that team. But I'm still a part of a team at 44 years old. And that's pretty awesome because I love being a part of football. I love football and I love being part of a team because you're all going after the same goal and that's pretty special and I don't take that for granted. Awesome.
If we finish up this conversation with just a bit of quiet, you might. No, I don't hear anything coming out of the competition committee room about banning the tush push. Isn't that interesting? That is interesting, yeah. Did you take notice of apparently nobody's.
Pushing to get rid of your play here. Yeah, you know, we have to do some things to coach it better, we have to do some things to execute it better, but it's been a fun play. I mean, they're making commercials about it and stuff like that. I got t-shirts and sweatshirts for it, you know, and so it's an exciting play. Why do you think it's exciting?
Well, first of all, it happens always on a maybe a time where it can be third and one or fourth and one, and that's a turnover on downs, or in the red zone where it looks to be a touchdown. There hasn't been many times we've run it on first and goal or first and ten. Right, and so it's a kind of an interesting time of when that comes out. Stakes are high, stakes are high. And man, it's like this team knows what's coming, and that team knows what's coming, and let's go.
Right, and I think there's a there's a beauty to that. And so, um Yeah, we'll see how it goes. I'm not counting that it is in, or I'm not counting that it's not in. We'll play by the rules that are whatever works. But why do you think there's less of a problem with it this year than apparently last year?
I don't know. I'm not going to speculate on anything. I can speculate for you. I'm not going to speculate. I'm going to speculate what you like.
I mean, you're not. Beating people up with it and hosting a trophy this time around. If you do that again, maybe they'll people start complaining about it. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see.
Okay, I don't want to get you in too much trouble. Thanks for taking the time here. Yeah, thanks for asking. Do I say go blue to you? I had no idea you were a Michigan basketball fan.
I mean, I don't know if I could, like, my wife is like, you didn't get, she went to Missouri and she's like, you didn't even go there. You can't be like, but this is what, like, I don't want to say that. The block M looks similar from Missouri and Michigan. There you go. Yeah, so you could say that.
I guess you could say that to me in during the basketball season. Hopefully, I reach out to you in April and we can celebrate this. There you go. Well, it's an Indy. It's right here.
I don't want to put expectations on it. You know what I mean? I'll do it. Great to see you, Nick. All right.
Nick Siriani, the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, right here on the Rich Eisen Show from The Scouting Combine. Back in a moment. Yeah. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. In a world in need of a hero, one man rises to the challenge in style.
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The all-new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for details. Not too shabby having a Super Bowl winning head coach in hour one. Yep. Yep.
Hour two. Yep. At hour three. Hey now. Sean Payton, Mike McDonald.
And now, we just said goodbye to Nick Siriani with our Super Bowl winning general manager in between with our friend John Schneider. No contest wrestling coming out later on today. Overreaction Monday came out on Monday.
So it's now time to finish up today's show with Overreaction Monday on a Wednesday. That was terrible. That was crap. That was garbage. This place sucks.
Overreaction. Mondays. Mondays. Monday. On a Wednesday.
Oh, that's awesome. On a throw. On a Wednesday. A couple more throws. On a Wednesday.
All right, what do you got?
Okay, here we go, guys. Let's run through this pretty quick. We're here at the Combine. The most popular, famous thing that the guys will do is the 40-yard dash, right? Rich Eisen.
The 40-yard dash would be so much better if it was a race between two or more. Yes. Let's make it happen. I would be saying that. It would be great.
The problem that I think that the scouts and everyone has is it's not an Olympics. It's just you versus the 40-yard dash line. It's not a race that they think they'd be afraid that there might be more injuries. Why? Because guys are trying to push it a little bit.
Yeah, come on. Exactly. But it's like you always say golfing, you're playing against yourself. Yeah, these guys are out here competing by the way. This is not an Olympics.
World records would go down. I like it, Chris. It's just not going to happen. What a bummer. Oh, I hate that.
Rich, make it happen.
Okay. You have the power. You'll just have to settle for me being simulcammed on top of actual. I mean, I love that. That's always a great idea.
It's a nice consolation prize. All right, so much talk about the quarterbacks and what the carousel and the market is going to look like in free agency and what have you coming up, right? A backup quarterback from this past year. Yes. is going to win a playoff game.
Next year.
Okay. Well, I mean, I'm talking about Malik Willis, Mac Jones, Tyson Bagent might get moved. Everyone's talking about how he, you know. The Bears have admitted that people are reaching out for him. I think he's proven in the time that he's gotten in the preseason that he can play in this league.
One of those guys is going to want to play for Kevin. I'll still call this an overreaction. How does that sound? I like it, Chris. Is Kirk Cousins a backup quarterback?
No, we're going to talk about Kirk in a second. And when he leads the Vikings to the playoffs, is Kirk Cousins a backup quarterback? Can you just wait a second? All right, sorry. Am I overreacting?
Nah, give me two more topics.
Okay, what do you get?
Okay, so we're always looking for. Malik Willis. He's the hot name free agency. You know, people are saying he's going to get $30, maybe $40 million a year in his next deal. Who is?
Who is going to be the next guy, right? The next Sam Darnold.
Okay. And we think it's Malik Willis. Who's going to be the next Malik Willis, though? And I think that guy is going to be Anthony Richardson, is going to be the next Malik Willis. Why not?
Which means what? He's a backup somewhere else. He might be a backup on his own team. I think he already is.
Someone's going to make a move for him. By the way, Mac Jones being a farmer. I've already said I think Mac Jones is the next Sandar. He's already played for three teams, including the one that... is credited for rehabilitating things and helping Darnold reset San Francisco.
Now so he'll go to his 14 at some point. Yeah, buddy. But wait a minute. That's how I'm going to go. David Jones.
It's crazy. Indiana Jones is not going to be ready for the beginning of the season.
So Anthony Richardson needs to go to Green Bay. Won't he be the starter, though? Why not? All right, what else you got over there? All right, that's your cousin's one.
Well, I want to get to the Cowboys first. All this talk about George Pickens and the franchise tag. We're going to talk to these guys in the next couple of days. You know what? The Cowboys, TJ, you know what they should do?
They should roll the dice and pay George Pickens a top market contract. None of this one-year franchise makes him prove it. He did prove it last year. Pay that man his money. I would not do that.
I think that's an overreaction. How does that sound? Everyone from Pittsburgh's telling you that this thing is uh Is on an interesting ice, let's put it that way. That guy just showed you what he could do as a number one. You saw when CD-WAN was out.
True, but to pay two receivers WR1 money, I just don't know what he's doing for WR-1s.
Well, we're going to, again, we've got Brian Schottenev tomorrow. He'll pass. He's just the coach. Stephen Jones is on Friday. We'll get the latest from him.
We're seven. Our invitation. Rich, I might sit in for that one tomorrow. All right, let's talk about Kirko. Kirk Cousins is going to make the playoffs next year, and all of his former teams will not.
The Vikings won't, the Falcons won't. Washington won't. Get out of here. That is a hot one, man.
So, no. That is an overreaction. No Washington. No Washington. And we don't even know where Cousins is going.
I think we do, but anyways. The only former Kirk Cousins team that we know for sure is not making the playoffs next year is Michigan State. I knew you were going there. Oh, baby. What a spinning curve in the zone that was.
That is no spinning. Hold on. Let me see. Let me watch that tape measure. Yeah, there goes Little Brother.
I like that one. I like that one. Uh-huh. Yeah, I like that one. What else are you going to do?
Let's finish with this one. You saw what the UFL is doing, guys? Yeah, they banned the tush push. They banned the tush push. You know what they also did?
Yeah, the field goal. The NFL should follow the UFL's lead and make 60-plus-yard field goals worth four points. No, that's crazy. Why is that crazy? It is a weapon.
It's getting too crazy. Ties can kick. It's too crazy. Why? Because it's too easy?
It's getting too crazy. Listen, we're going to end. Dallas is going to end up paying Bregan Arbre $10 million, so you might as well. He wants more than that. This is the NFL, not the UFL, pal.
This is a good idea. I like it. We'll dive into it a little bit more, but I think that's an overreaction.
Well, good job, guys. Thank you. Thank you. Good job. I appreciate you coming out again.
Thanks for your show. Thanks for having me. Thanks for watching. No contest later today. No contest wrestling later today.
Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show Podcast. You can watch and listen to The Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app, The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.
