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Brian Padda, senior defensive lineman from Miami. Gun down. The key to this case, it's Brian. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit.
You want the truth. They just want a conviction. Being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murderer you.
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Now, on with the show. Live. Live. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The opening of the baseball season.
The season has begun. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Web swing on Drive it again. Drive first, he's in there with a triple. Today's guests: NFL Network Insider Tom Pellisero, two-time NBA L star Carlos Boozer, actor and comedian David Cross.
And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show: Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio. And SiriusXM channel 8844-204-Rich is the number to dial right here on this program that's hosted. With Emmy-nominated freshness. Wait, so yesterday we were cool and we played it cool, and now today that's how we open.
Well, could you imagine if I did that throughout the entire show? I said that and then I took a sip of my coffee and went, hmm. That's necessary. Every time. How many times can I do that?
At any rate. I'm just uh Setting the stage for today's program. Tom Palisero is going to join us in 20 minutes' time. That's right. Thank you so much.
My goodness. At 844-204 Rich, number to Dial. Tom Pelliser will be joining us in about 18 minutes' time. We also have Carlos Buzer joining this program, national champion of Duke in his own right, as two sons trying to match that feat. And just four wins away from doing that.
They're taking on St. John's on Friday night. Uh, I don't know if you guys know, but Carlos Boozer apparently. Turned down St. John's to go to Duke back in the day.
Wow, great move. I've done my I've done my, listen, guys, I've done my research prior to that because I'm. And we nominated fresh. Where was this yesterday? Take.
I'm gonna keep doing it. Why not? What did this yesterday? Yesterday, yeah. I was trying to get you to puff your chest, and now they're not.
I'm not puffing any chests. I'm welcoming guests. And David Cross will be strolling into our studio doors in hour number three. You may know him from back in the day, Arrested Development, Mr. Show.
Uh, he and Bob Odenkirk brilliant together. Um, good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you? Hey, I'm great. I'm just trying not to strike out four times today.
Good to see you over there. Jason Feller, how are you? You've got your Dodgers championship belt.
Okay, very good. Neither of you have played a game yet this year. The Yankees have their 1-0. The New York Metropolitans are joining the fray. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson.
What's going on? I mean, it's great to be seen. Awesome. What a time to be alive on opening day. Awesome.
And there was an opening day game last night. The Yankees beat the Giants in about two innings. but they had to play seven more. Um and we'll discuss that uh later on in this program. But we start today's program.
With some NFL news. We have Quarterbacks. Future? Passed? Maybe present.
Yeah. All of them. together. Let's start with the future. Quarterbacks.
Ty Simpson. University of Alabama. Trying to get drafted in the National Football League in the first round. And the question is is will he? Kid had a great first half of the season last year, an average second half of the season last year.
You hear from people in Alabama and also in Ty Simpson's camp. Um and folks like Dan Orlofsky? Saying that Simpsons' second half of the season. should be somewhat discarded. He had gastritis.
Kid was less than 200 pounds. He was gaming. He was a gamer. Not gaming, that would be different. He was a gamer.
He was doing his work. Despite not being healthy. won a uh a playoff game. As a matter of fact, that College playoff win for Alabama, interestingly enough. Might have kept Kalen DeBoer as the head coach there and Kept the seat open at Michigan for Coach Witt to show up because if Kalen DeBoer had been one and done, who knows?
But that's for a different day. The question is: on Thursday. of draft day Draft night, will Ty Simpson hear his name called as a first Round drafted quarterback. He has had apparently Chats with the Rams 13th overall. Should they want to utilize their draft choice?
On a Stafford's successor. The Jets are sixteenth overall. That's the Indianapolis Colts draft choice they got for. mortgaging away all of their past stars. to try and get set for a future.
with stars that they might actually keep and try and win with. Will the Jets go there? Ty Simpson, should you be a first-round draft choice? He was asked that very question after his pro day. Absolutely.
I feel like that. I've done everything that I can, but it's not up to me. And I just know wherever I go that I'm going to give it my all and make sure that, you know, I'm going to put my best foot forward. You know, there's going to be a lot of, you know, questions around my name, but I know what I'm capable of. And I know that, you know, whoever's going to get me is going to get a really good player.
And a guy who loves football and a guy who loves the team and loves being a part of something bigger than himself.
Well He's chewing gum right there talking. Does that matter? I don't know. Let's see what Colin Coward has to say. Colin?
No, I'm sorry. Yeah. Sure me off. No backward hats either. Excuse me.
Be careful. This show is hosted. Careful. Yeah. Rich.
It's been a great pleasure speaking with you. Thank you. And I gotta say, this coffee. Damn fine. Thank you so much.
And hot. Thank you. Cool. That's Should Ty Simpson be a first round drafted quarterback at this point in time? I don't see it happening.
Really? I don't. Really? Okay. Why would the Rams go ahead with one year at least with Matthew Stafford left take a thirteenth overall selection and choose a quarterback of the future?
Well, they're gonna get Joe Burrow or Josh Allen soon, so I wouldn't have to. You could say that. with tongue-in-cheek or not so tonguey and cheeky or just cheeky. But if I'm the Rams and you see the way that Lesnar does, you know what? We need, here's what we need: we need a cornerback.
So, we're going to use our own draft choice right now, and we're going to get Trent McDuffie. We're going to go to the top of the food chain, and we're going to pay him in a way that the Chiefs won't. That's the way they think. All right. And I don't think what they're going to do is utilize that draft choice on a shiny toy.
For the defense? Or somebody that they can add to the offense for Matthew Stafford right now. That's what I'm thinking. Agreed. Certainly, if something's up with Puka Nakua off the field that causes them to not want to pay him or get him off the team or something, we're having a weird offseason for Puka.
So. I don't see Ty Simpson going there. And the Jets. Are doing their due diligence on Ty Simpson. They're doing their due diligence on him.
I get it, okay? Every move that they've made is to put their draft capital in next year's draft. Why? Because they like some sort of a wide receiver in that draft. Really?
Huh? They like a pass rusher? If they like a pass rusher so much, they're going to take him second overall in this draft. He's there now.
Okay. They're putting their capital in next year's draft for the quarterback.
So You want to look at the Steelers 21st overall? You want to look at the last third of the draft at somebody trading up for Ty Simpson? You you you You've got my attention. But outside of that Yeah, I think it's a good idea. I don't see it right now, and it's not against Again.
If he's not a first-round drafted quarterback. Ty Simpson Obviously It would suck for him to go to sleep Thursday night. And have to deal with the draft night again on Friday. It won't be that long on Friday. Astrew Brees going to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first ballot Hall of Famer.
If he and his bank account are fine being a second round drafted quarterback. Just as a for instance. It's just stuff for us to talk about right now. I understand.
Now let's talk about a quarterback of the present. Yeah. Guys. Patrick Mahomes. Strong.
Throwing. Look at him. Yeah, throwing on air. Look at him fading back. Look at him go.
Look at that left leg, you know. All sleeved up. All sleeved up. He's got what he's got the angel Rhys sleeve. What he's got going on?
Look at him. He's sleeved up. And he's fading back and he's throwing on air and he's putting it online and he's basically telling us right now. By doing that. He's telling the world week one.
That's what he's telling everybody. That's how I took it. He's telling everybody week one.
Sorry, Justin Fields. Welcome to the program. But grab your clipboard and your earbuds. It's more, 21st century is an earbud thing, right? Referring to the backup quarterback as a clipboard holder is more of a 20th century thing.
It's more of a tablet. You know, well, they don't really hold a tablet. They have the earbuds in so they could hear the play call. Yeah, I'm saying, but there's no clipboard. There's no more.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So Charlie Whitehurst would be earbud Jesus. If they were earbuds in the 20th century, still playing. Correct. There you go. Right.
Very good.
Okay. That's what I see. I see a guy week one. Yeah, I thought week one when I saw that video yesterday, I'm like, huh.
Okay. He wouldn't be putting that out if he thought it's iffy. Right. Sorry? What week was he injured again?
15. Yeah. Okay. But it was also an ACL and an LCL. This is no joke.
Like, he really. That's what I'm saying. He didn't have the trifecta. He had a significant injury. No, you want to say week one, but if you're running that team and he is your absolute future, you're looking at that going, you know what?
Even if he's ready by week one, let's give him a month. No. Why would we do that? What? 'Cause Kelsey's back, man.
That he's going for it. We're going. We're great.
Okay, so we're going one extra month. I don't know. You he. His knee was completely. I know, but you can't run the risk of being one and three.
Last year, they were owing to they got out of that hole and then they started going in the other direction. Yeah, but you can't even want to risk it with Denver and the way the Chargers look, and who knows what the Raiders are going to be like. You can't. I'm with you. All I'm saying is that he has a choice: do I hit send on this or not?
Do I post it or not? He's not posting if he's not sitting there saying to himself, Oh, I got this. Week one, we're in. It was also just one throw. I mean, it was a quick eight-second video.
You know, it's one, you know, it wasn't like a full-on workout vid. Right, that's kind of my point. It's just something, hey, we're talking about it. It's like, hey, here I am. Don't forget about me.
Hey, Brockman, remember that one quarterback who had that one throw and then he got drafted like number two off of. Yeah, I think he's on like his fifth team now.
So, you know.
Okay. That's we're talking about Zach Wilson. I know.
Okay. I'm ignoring you. It was for Coop. I was letting Coop know. It's okay.
Coop's here today. It's spring break. What up, Coop? Listen. We've got one more quarterback to talk about.
From the past. Oh. Or maybe the present. Oh. And speaking of the past, we used to have a drop.
When it was all being talked about, Tom Brady, is he really retiring? Is he not retiring? Remember once upon a time he retired and then he. He went to a Premier League game, right? And he comes back like, I'm back.
Remember, he took that video with the, it looked like he was wearing a Nantucket or something on the beach. Yeah. It's once again time for. A Tom Brady heat check. I plead the theft.
It's time for a TB12 heat check. I love that graphic. I like it too. I really do. Maybe one of our best friends.
That's pretty good. Why are we talking about the Tom Brady heat check? Why, really?
Well, he was slinging it around this past weekend in the flag football classic presented by our friends at Fanatics. And um I knew it, we knew it. I told that to Coop. He said that over the weekend, is Tom Brady going to come back, Dad? And I said, I guarantee you, we are going to have conversations like that on shows like this.
And we had that conversation. It's like, okay, it's not going to happen. Guys turning 49 in August. He and Susie share the same birthday. Yeah.
Right, right. Yeah. At any rate. Um He went on CNBC today. And was asked if he has actually.
Kick the tires. On being an owner of the Raiders and also coming back to play. And he gave this answer. Funny enough, you ask. I actually have inquired.
And they don't like that idea very much.
So I'm going to leave it at that. We explored a lot of different things, and I'm very happily retired. Let me just say that, too. I loved being out there playing in the fly game. I love not getting hit.
Um I've got a lot of really fun things I'm involved in. And uh, it's never going to be old, you know, and get old thrown passes to incredible athletes on the football field, but it's. If anything, that game reconfirmed to me that I'm very happy in my retirement. There he goes, Tom Brady. has kicked the tires on checking it out.
Last year, two years ago, maybe? Let's not trade for Gino. I'll do it. Let's see what we got. That would have been great.
I told you guys. I just wanna see him in the uniform once. Here's the thing. It's been amazing. Here's the thing.
Halloween's coming. Here's the thing. The Halloween's coming. Good one. I like it.
Good one. Thanks. He. When would he have done it before they traded for Gino? Right.
Haruban. Yeah. Okay, like let's check it out. Let's just at least kick a tire on it. Then he probably realized a couple things.
One, as he pointed out, It's great to throw. with flags on me. I'm not getting chased by, say, Miles Garrett. Mm-hmm. Different story.
When Miles Garrett is chasing you down in flag football, and all he's going to do is just rip that thing off the side of your hip. Or in Football hits you. Break your hip. And yes, I was going to go hip pointer. You went a little bit more graphic.
I understand, Jason. It's all good. Yeah. So there's difference. Plus, when you're not getting hit in the booth and getting paid.
I can do the math for you right here. Mm. By Fox. 533 333,000. $333,000 less than a transition-tagged quarterback in the NFL.
Fox paying him $37.5 million to call games. By the way, congratulations on your Emmy nomination, Tom Brady. Emmy nominated freshness in the booth next to Kevin Burckhardt. Yeah. Yeah.
The transition tag is $37.833 million in the NFL this year. Wow. And I know what you're thinking, Chris. Do you want to give it voice here or not really? What you said before the show?
What about owners? Oh, telling him he can't.
Well, yeah, Tom said, Look, I don't think they're into the idea. What are they, nuts? Do they hate money? Do they hate people watching games? He would be the number one selling jersey in the league.
What do you pay? Who cares? Whatever. Who cares? Whatever.
What do you mean, who cares? Whatever he wants. Aaron Rodgers got paid what? Made what last? Do you count on the cap?
Of course.
Okay, but who's paying that salary? Him to himself? How do we account for that? He owns like 5%. He's not exactly the same.
So you could basically Hire anybody you want. Make him an owner and pay him whatever you want.
So what you could do, the NFL? What are the rules? I don't know why you're taking ownership side here. I'm not. You have to codify it.
There are 31 other teams in the league that could say, oh, you're doing that? I'll do that. There's no rules for it. Let me ask you a question. If there's a loophole, Yeah.
in the NFL. Might a franchise take advantage of that? Yeah. Who's that? Doing it forever.
I know.
You might wind up forfeiting your draft choices over it. Really? That's sort of the same thing. They're going to forfeit Raiders' chance to have the greatest player of all time. Play games?
Oh, this is such a terrible idea to have Tom Brady back in the league. What are you guys, idiots? What? I think 80-year-old billionaires are proven they don't know what they're doing. Careful.
One of them just took your team to the Super Bowl because he made the right moves. He made the moves? You think? You don't think? Come on, people.
This was such a blown and missed opportunity for you. I'm with you. I understand.
You have every right to say what you said, and you have. I'm just saying there's some rules. That you have to figure if you figure out the rules. And then we can figure that out. Rules.
You can't just take an owner and throw him on the field and say, you're paid the league minimum, Tom. Oh, now, if Tom wasn't the owner of the Raiders and he was a free agent, would he take the league minimum wherever you want? What do you really? Not even Rogers took the league minimum from Pittsburgh. Right.
Now he's getting more. That's why he's not coming back. I know.
And other ventures. I don't know why you're against this. I'm not against it. I'd be for it. I'm totally against it.
I'm not completely against it at all. The owners are not your boss in like a week. Yeah. Like, you can be for this. No, it's got nothing to do with me.
me going against my bosses. Get outta here. It's got to do with... Coming up with the rules and understanding, you gotta figure out how do you pay him? Does it work into the cap?
What if other teams did it? Come on, now. Other teams don't have the opportunity to do it. Maybe they'd find a way to do it. Didn't Mario Lemieux do this in hockey?
Wasn't he an owner? Hoskins, you're the expert here. He believes that's accurate. Hey, good, because I was guessing. He also wants us to go to break because Tom Polisero's with him.
So, those are two things. All right, Tommy P is going to join us next on all of these subjects and more. Tom Policero, when we come back on the Rich Eyes and Show, everybody. If you're ready for an oil change, trust the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts to recommend the best products for your vehicle. Right now, get five quarts of Valvoline full synthetic motor oil and a Wix filter for $35.99 and receive a $15 O'Reilly gift card after rebate.
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With that other person being someone who is not an on-field official. But if you suddenly have, even if it's just New York being able to weigh in on ejections, even if a flag is not thrown, or the more nuclear one involving a potential work stoppage with the NFL Referees Association that would allow New York to correct any clear and obvious issue, that is going way down the line. You know, we'll, time will tell, Rich, whether or not that even comes into play. It's March. Football games aren't played in March, but there's clearly a very contentious negotiation going on with the referees association.
And so the NFL, whether you take this as a warning shot or you take this as them reacting in advance to some of the fail merry style mistakes that happened last time, they didn't have the regular officials on the field. They are sounding that warning shot at this week's meetings in a vote that I have to imagine is at minimum going to be tabled and quite possibly will be passed. Tom Pellicero here on the Rich Eisen Show. Our radio audience rejoined in the middle of your. Your commentary on what's going on with replay at next week's owners' meeting on an up or down vote, or maybe to table it to future ones.
Um the the that Rule that was proposed by the competition committee to say the NFL official department can correct clear and obvious misses made by onfield officials that impact the game in the event there's a work stoppage involving the game officials represented by the NFL Referees Association at the risk of going down labor conversation, which makes fans of shows like this one have their eyes glaze over and their ears start bleeding. What can you tell us? Anything?
Well, I think this is not, you know, it's not super like nuanced or technical or jargony. It's very obvious stuff that I think a lot of fans have been clamoring for that the NFL is currently pushing. They want things like more access to training, including during the dead period that extends for a significant amount of time after the end of the season. They want to, for instance, reduce or eliminate the impact of seniority on postseason assignments. They want it to be the best, the highest-rated officials, get postseason assignments.
They want to have only the highest performing officials have access to the bonus pool at the end of the season. Basically, you want increased training and increased accountability, which, of course, we all sit there and go, yeah, absolutely. But what do unions fight for? They fight for hours and wages and working conditions, and these would be significant changes to all three of those. And so that's where the union has dug.
In on a number of different points, there was a scheduled two-day meeting down in Florida that the union showed up to. They presented, according to Scott Green, their executive director, a new proposal. The NFL, essentially, according to Scott Green, did not move on any of the deal points. And again, according to Green, they were not authorized to move on any of those deal points. And so the whole thing got the plug-pulled after like three hours.
It's not in a great place. But again, we still got five or six months. You're not playing games in March. This may well extend, Rich. We're going to be talking about this in July and August, even into September.
I find it hard to believe when you are exporting the NFL around the globe and you're going to have the biggest kickoff week ever with the Seahawks kicking off on Wednesday night that you're running the risk in the end of having some level of incompetency or lack of training. You don't have the best of the best on the field, but never say never. And the fact that there is a proposal on the table from the competition committee, and usually competition committee proposals have a good Chance of passing, not 100%, but they have a pretty good chance of passing to at least give the league office the opportunity to go, hey, fail, Mary, one guy saying incomplete, one guy saying touchdown. We got to look at this right now, giving them those opportunities. That's a fairly significant thing that also, based on the language of the rule, could extend to anything, clear and obvious issues.
You're talking about a very wide swath of plays, where the other proposal, which is strictly for ejections, is much more narrow. That one not tethered to a replacement official scenario. But this really is stuff. Yes, labor can be, um, you know, can be boring, but it's really stuff that can impact the game on the field. And again, what the NFL is pushing for, and not to take the league side, but what the NFL is pushing for, is the same stuff that we all hear when people call into your show.
We see it on social media. Everyone going, why aren't they more accountable? Why aren't they better trained? The NFL is saying we want to do that. The union, as unions do, is fighting to preserve the status quo on some things.
They're not going to impact the hours, the wages, the working conditions. Tom Pelicer here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's your sense of the Cleveland rule proposal that allows draft selections to be traded up to five seasons in the future? Is that going to pass? I know that Seahox GM John Schneider spoke up against it recently and talked about a lot of the things that I would say just watching it, which is just.
The NFL thrives on parody. The NFL, yes, it's a great media thing. When trades happen, it drives interest in the game. I saw Kevin Demoff, the Rams president, made those comments recently, and that is true. But also, you never have these long-term tanks like you do in the NBA.
You don't have to go 16 and 62 or whatever. I'm doing the math wrong there. But you don't have to have terrible seasons repeatedly for a long period of time in order to get back to competency in the NFL because you never dig that type of hole. There are teams pushing that further than we've seen. You see Miami doing it, really biting the bullet in a massive way right now with all the dead cap, trading away Jalen Waddell to get more draft picks.
free up more cash and cap. You've seen the Jets do it, trading away Sauce Gardner and Quinn Williams last year. They got five first-round picks over two years. When you start getting into trading out your first-round pick five years from now, I mean, think about that, Rich. You'd be talking about the team potentially trading a 2030 pick.
first round pick as part of a deal. It just. It would change the fabric of how the NFL is operated. It would make the haves and the have-nots separate. It's not a surprise that the Browns are a team pushing that because they've always put.
They've always pushed the limits of what is permissible under the rules. They were the team that traded $17 million for a draft pick and the corpse of Brock Osweiler once upon a time. $17 million for a second-round pick. That upended a lot of norms. They upended the norms on the Deshaun Watson trade, trading multiple first-round picks and giving them a $230 million fully guaranteed contract.
They've always. Push the bounds of those things. They've always thought very creatively, right, wrong, or indifferent. And so, what they're saying is that this would allow you to better match and be more creative with your trade packages relative to the player valuation. I just find it hard to believe that's in the best interest of the NFL for teams.
Listen, it's hard enough for teams to go, you know, if you're a Dolphins fan right now to go, okay, 2028, we're really going to be back to competitive. That's about as far out as you can push it.
Now, all of a sudden, it's like, all right, in five years, this team is going to be competent again. That just. You know, yes, it would. I mean, it would open up the possibility of does a team trade, you know, their starting all-pro quarterback for five firsts. I guess maybe you could do that.
The Jets have five ones right now. I'm not sure that the Bills are trading them Josh Allen. I'm not sure the Chiefs are trading them Patrick Mahomes. They've got the five first. What can you realistically do with it?
I just think that it opens up what, you know, to paraphrase what Schneider said, which is. You might have GMs who think that they can save their job and they're going to be more aggressive to use assets way in the future. That then, when they lose their job and the next group comes in, it's even more complicated than what a John Eric Sullivan or a Derek Moogie or Darren Moogie have been dealing with trying to get those franchises back on track. Tom Pelicero here on The Rich Eisen Show. Chris, will you look up the corpse of Osweiler?
Was that a spinal tap album? Yeah. Is that what he's referring to right there?
Okay, look that up, please. All right. So, um, We're all looking to see if Max Crosby is just chilling so the Raiders can get the draft value up again and and try again, because Crosby would still prefer that. Where we're we're We're still in that mode. The AJ Brown mode, you and I, we've talked about it.
We've also talked about it with some of our colleagues as well. Tom, with you doing other things. And it seems June 1st, it's got to happen after that for potential cap reasons and things like that. Understood.
Now, one particular item that really didn't jump out at many people hit my screen and feed on threads that I sent to you, and I'd want to ask you about it. First thread I've ever been sent. Dude, you're on. I'm on threads. I'm off X, man.
That is just. Yeah, it's much nicer. Trust me. And you still get the information. You still get the information.
Threads could do a little bit better in terms of having more timely, everything in a more chronological order. I'm with you on that. But. Be that as it may. Why did the Browns move Miles Garrett's option bonus to September?
Did they do that? And if so, why? Why? They did alter the language of the contract. It does give them the flexibility, not just this year, but in years to come, to have more options available to them with Miles Garrett.
It's not a C-change type of thing. Miles also gets some money moved up in other years of his deals, but basically, it means that rather than triggering option bonuses in March, you're triggering them in September. A lot of teams use option bonuses. It's largely a cap mechanism. Miles Garrett had an earlier vesting than a lot of other Browns players have had in the past.
So they altered this language. It does not mean anything is imminent. It does not sound like anything is imminent in terms of Miles Garrett being traded, but it uncomplicates some things. If whether it's this year, next year, three years down the line, they decide to trade Miles Garrett, it erases a deadline that otherwise would have been in March and opens up the possibility you could have done it anytime in the offseason. And we've seen it.
You know, we saw Max Crosby be traded until he wasn't a week before the start of free agency. We've seen Micah Parsons be traded at the end of August. Trades happen now essentially year-round, other than during the dark period, you know, from the first week of November on. And so, this does give them those options.
Now, Miles also has a no-trade clause. Miles is the one who has not wanted to be in Cleveland. Miles made abundantly clear to the Browns last year. He did not want to be in Cleveland. He tried to get himself traded.
They flat out refused. He ultimately, because there was not a whole lot of other options for him, signed a massive contract and went out and had one of the greatest players we've had, seen a defensive, greatest season we've had, seen a defensive player have on another terrible Browns team that got a bunch of people fired.
So now, Jim Schwartz is out. You have a new defensive coordinator in. You have tons of questions about this. I don't know that Miles Garrett is any happier now in Cleveland than he was a year ago. And so, if you reach that point, whether it's this year and future years, that hey, we're going to max out the value and trade with Miles Garrett right now, this makes a small step toward making that simpler and erasing the timeline.
It does not, again, it's not as if it was impossible to trade him before and now it's imminent. It's not like that, but it does give them more optionality, which is something that certainly the Browns front office values.
Okay, let's talk quarterbacks. Would you agree two jobs open, Arizona and Pittsburgh? Or or not. An anything else that I'm missing here? I don't believe Arizona is open right now.
Depending what happens in the draft, it's pretty clear, from my understanding, it's Jacoby Brissett's the starter, Gardner Minshew's coming in as the two. That's how they're going to play it through the offseason. Again, they may draft someone, that may change up the reps or the depth chart, but that's how they're going into the offseason. I would say it's two. It is Pittsburgh.
They continue to wait for Aaron Rodgers. At some point, if Aaron Rodgers doesn't explicitly say, I am going to play and I am going to play for the Steelers, if that doesn't happen, at some point, you have to pivot and figure out what your other options are. And it's a pretty short list of actual guys that you would consider even potential starters that are still on the market. I don't see them running it back with Russell Wilson. They've been down that road.
I don't see Jimmy Garoppolo really being a fit. Then you're into like the Tyrod Taylors of the world. Kirk Cousins is the one, and I know that they called on him last year and the Falcons at that time. Didn't want to trade him, didn't want to engage in trade talks. He ended up playing because Michael Pennix got hurt.
But now Kirk Cousins is free. Cousins potentially could be an option. Again, if they pivot away from Aaron Rodgers, which hasn't happened yet. And Cousins also could be an option for the second spot, which I would say riches the Las Vegas Raiders. We don't know who the Raiders' week one quarterback is going to be.
Yes, we all anticipate Fernando Mendoza is the number one overall pick. But I think what gets lost in some of the analysis and the hot tickery that is inevitable at this time of year is the simple reality that, regardless of how you feel about Fernando Mendoza, the player, as great as he was on the biggest stages and You'd be hard pressed to find a player in recent college football history, put a team on his back like Fernando Mendoza did at times in the national championship game. He's still coming from an offense where he's going to have a ton to learn. Clint Kubiak is, you know, from the broader, you know, the Kubiak, Shanahan, McVay, that tree. It is precision-based.
It is a timing offense. A lot of it comes off of the run game. It's under center. It's turning your back to the line of scrimmage. Fernando Mendoza hasn't done.
a lot of that. And so he may well be the starter in week one, but the Raiders also look at him as the starter if he's going to be their guy at number one for the next 10 years. That's what you're getting him ready for. You may want somebody else to start in the short term. And right now, if I'm not mistaken, the only other quarterback on the Raiders roster is Aiden O'Connell.
They may go into OTAs or into the first stage of the offseason program with him as the only quarterback.
So I would not overlook that one if we're talking about starting jobs. You also got competitions, obviously, around the NFL. None of them more interesting than. In Minnesota, but Pittsburgh clearly is going to make some type of move. They're still waiting on Aaron Rodgers.
The indications I've gotten continue to be that it seems like Rodgers is going to play, but he's not said if or when that's going to happen. If he doesn't commit, at some point they're going to have to pivot to something else. And then the Raiders, at some point, they have to add a veteran to that room. I'd be stunned if they don't.
So don't overlook that as we're putting those final quarterback pieces into place. Where do you fit Ty Simpson into all of this? Tom, just to finish up, he had his pro day yesterday, said he should be a first-round draft choice. We are hearing. Our our colleagues From the spot that's paying for your last room?
uh at at uh the owners' meeting, uh that he's the best quarterback. In in the draft, where what are you hearing about Ty Simpson before I let you go? If you want to buy into Ty Simpson, if you're the coaches and scouts that want to buy into him, what you're doing is, first of all, you're taking a leap because of the limited number of starts. And because last year, after he had gastritis and lost weight, it was kind of beat up. It didn't look as good down the stretch.
What you're buying into is, unlike what I just described with Fernando Mendoza and the style of offense that he's coming from and that transition from being in shotgun and, you know, the some of the reed-based offense that they do, you've seen Ty Simpson under center a bunch. You've seen him turn his back to the line of scrimmage on play action. You've seen him make a lot of NFL type of throws and the processing and the rhythm and timing. There's a lot of familiarity. Coaches, when they watch the tape, you know, scouts look at the traits, right?
What are the traits that are going to translate? Coaches like guys where they look at it and they go, oh, this is a lot like what we're going to be doing. He's trained and had some of that stuff that he's been able to do through the course of his college career. You see him taking a snap of sorts from under center right there. That's what you're going to like.
With Ty Simpson. We're going to see, and I'll do my deep dive like I do every year in the next couple of weeks here. No idea where that's going to publish at this point, but I'll get it out there somewhere. ESPN.com, pal.
Well, don't you worry. Come on now. Let's go. What do we got? Garrett Nussmeyer.
Carsonbeck, those two are going to be really interesting ones to see. Do some people start to come around on them. Nussmeyer in the senior bowl game was really good. We had him on the insiders last night. Just a really impressive young man.
You know, dad's obviously the offensive coordinator for the Saints. He's grown up that way. You can see he's going to be a coach somewhere down the line. I'm not saying he gets into the first-round discussion or QB2, but those teams are going to like different traits with these guys. I still, and I've said this, Rich, on this show since back around Super Bowl week.
I still believe in the end, based on what I know. Ty Simpson goes in the first round. And that is because There's just not a lot of depth at that position. There's a fairly significant drop-off for a lot of people between him and that next group of guys. He is going to impress people in the interview process.
His workout was good. All those things are going to be positive. And you've seen him do enough of those things you're going to think he can do at the NFL level that you might be looking, even if you're a team that has an established starter, even if you're a team like the Rams, for instance, that has Matthew Stafford coming off an MVP season and they're going to work on a new contract with him. You're still going, we're going to need that guy down the line. They already traded one of their first-round picks for Trent McDuffie.
Could they use the other one on Ty Simpson? That might be a stretch. But those are the types of teams, in addition to, you know, the Pittsburghs of the world and the Jets and the teams with the obvious quarterback needs that I think that you can't overlook if you feel like we can get a guy and develop him for the next year or two and have him ready once we need a starting quarterback. Tom, I look forward to our next conversation with both of us as full-on ESPN Disney employees. Please look forward to that.
Um and the information will be just as fresh and the same. Otherwise Why would they be just the same with you without a mullet? It's awesome. You're just fresh. Fresh as that haircut, man.
Doesn't matter. Look at it down. Look at that. It looks great. The cuts, fresh and sosy information.
I'm crushing it. The boys and studio will still be here. All right. We'll chat next week. We'll chat next week after the owners' meeting, ladies and gentlemen.
That's Tom Pelicero here on the program. I don't know why you take video of it, TJ. It's absurd. Because he puts it on his Instagram and he likes it. He loves it.
Let's take a break here on the Rich Eisen Show. Don't go anywhere. One more item from the owners' meeting to vote on. Look at that guy right there. Same guy.
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Back here on The Rich Eisen Show is one big happy simulcast. Disney Plus, the ESPN app. ESPN Radio and this Rich Eisen Show Radio Affiliate, SiriusXM Channel 80. We played this soundbite yesterday. I want to give it a little better setup.
Because I really wasn't terribly familiar with what Joe Flack was saying. I honestly thought he was joking around. based on what I was uh reading just for the first line. of his sound bite, but he's clearly not joking around. He is not happy being a backup in this league.
Which I kind of dig. I kind of dig that you've got a sense of self and a sense of confidence and a sense of what you can do. And when you're not given an opportunity to do it, It pisses you off. But he still wants to play football. I think this guy could have a a job in T V right now if he wanted it.
But he still wants to play. 'Cause I think the Bengals are paying him perhaps more than a an An NFL partner would for the gig. But this is what he had to say when he took the backup job for the Bengals again. Joe Burrow to hit it. I feel like I have unfinished business.
That's part of why I'm still here and playing and doing all those things. And not being one of those guys to go sign somewhere, yeah, it pisses me off a little bit. But But at the same time, like, I'm very happy to be here. And that's and that's also why I don't see this as the end. Like, that's just not how I'm viewing it in my mind.
Like, I feel like I can help a team win. And yeah, it may be in a different role here, but I do still think I can help. this team win in that role. I had a lot of fun with Joe, and Joe's the guy. Um and believe me, I wish I was a guy somewhere.
And I think teams are dumb for not having me be that guy, but it is what it is. I'm not going to let them or it get me down. I'm going to be the person I am and just approach football the way I always have. He's talking like you, Chris, huh? They're stupid.
For not yeah, I just uh I don't know if I agree with him.
Well, obviously, you know, he's got a sense of confidence and a sense of that. I'm wondering if he's that, you know, if I had a peg. One spot. It'd be like, okay. Kevin Stefanski, did you not see what I did coming off the couch?
Were you not coach of the year? Was I not comeback player of the year? Interesting.
Okay. You know you'd rather have flacco or tua?
Now, Tu has got he's younger with a bigger upside, and also he's left-handed just like your other kid. Yeah. So if one's got to play the other That's an interesting one. Like really you're gonna go with two? Hmm.
who's already shown what he can do elsewhere. And I've shown you what I could do with you for you. Give me Drake London. Maybe Kevin's like you know, he doesn't want a left-handed backup. Again, those things can be overcome.
I mean, you made a valid point, though. I mean, it makes sense, but it's rare to have two left-handed guys throw a pass for the same team in a season. It hasn't happened since Brunel. Um did it with Jacksonville in his left-handed backup. It's been a long time.
Well, at any rate, I'm wondering if I had a peg one. Interesting.
Okay, Arizona, you're going with Jacoby Brissette? Played pretty well. I know he did with the guys.
So I understand. Listen. Yeah, I know. But I also understand why he's just like, yeah. He kind of had like a Josh Rosen.
Like there's nine mistakes and I'm gonna show them all.
Now obviously for Cincinnati, you'd love to use that. The problem is using that to your benefit means Joe Burrow is not playing. And that's a whole different story entirely. But I dig Joe Flacco saying that. And I dig him believe in it.
And I. I do hope he gets a chance to show it. That wraps up hour number one. Hour number two is just for us: 844-204-Rich. Nobody to dial before Carlos Boozer joins.
The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
