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14-year NFL veteran Levante David. Coming up. Basketball Hall of Famer Chris Weber. NFL Network Insider Tom Pellisero. Actor Wilson Bethel.
And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Kirk Cousins is signed with the Raiders. A lot of head scratching going on for that one.
You gave my two cents at the top of hour number one, thinking it's a really smart move. Don't have to start Fernando Mendoza right off the bat. They might do it anyway. Not forced to do it. But Tom Pellicero is going to be joining us in 20 minutes' time to give us.
uh some uh considerable Meat on those bones. Uh, 844-204-rich number to dial phone lines roll it because Raider fans are kind of the same way. Um, but lit with excitement or curiosity, not the other way. Oh, it is Vegas. Anyway, all the um, joining us right now is a basketball hall of famer, one of my favorite humans on the planet makes me happy every time I see certainly that block M in the middle of this man's chest, Chris Weber back here on the Rich House Weekly Spot.
What's up, C. Webber? How are you? What's up, fellas? You know, I don't, did you hear a lot of our conversation about Duke Caton?
Did any of that come back to you? Because it certainly came back to me when we talked last week. you know about you know I saw so many other publications taking that kind of that argument.
So no, I didn't even know it was that. I didn't even know it was out there until you told me. It's out there, and you and I chopped it up. Where were you watching the end of Duke Yukon? I was sitting on my couch and just screaming, and everyone came out from the other room to see if Dad was okay.
Yeah, it's crazy. I was with some family and friends and I missed it. And I ran up and everyone was telling me what was going, you know, going on. But that was just, man, that was just an incredible play. You know, you got to feel sorry for Boozer after playing so well all year.
You know, I know he'll fight back through that and have a great career, but he has to just be down right now. But you think of just never giving up, coming back. And, you know, pressure defense late in the game can cause turnovers. And it was a great play by UConn to get that shot. Man, no doubt about it.
You know, and Caravan having. You know, the presence of mind to not force it up himself and get it back to the freshman to shoot the three. And win it. Like, that was a really savvy move in crunch time, but that's what happens when you've played in. The final four, you know, two out of your first three years of your college life, Chris, right?
Yeah, I love it. You just made a great point. And I try to make this to young players all the time when I talk to them about hero ball. The best players should always, always take the shot. But when you're in a game tying winning situation, the best shot needs to be taken.
And that's when you really trust the team. We've seen stories from Phil Jackson on Michael Jordan talking about it all the way up to today. It's a common theme. And passing it back from the best three-point shooter in the conference, because two guys was in his view, he would have the right to take it. But if he didn't feel that confident, and that doesn't mean not trusting yourself or being ready for the moment, meaning like, oh, no, this is not the time.
passing it back, I just thought was a really unselfish and selfless play and just as important as the shot because he had the right to take a bad shot. And then now it's Yukon versus the fighting Alinae. in in that um pars portion of m the final four And Chris, you know, I obviously am over the moon about what our school is doing, and that Arizona game is going to be nuts, and we'll get to that in a second for many reasons. since you will be working it, and we'll talk about that in a second. Um that That UConn versus Illinois is just for the right to be the Washington generals, to use a phrase that you were using a little bit a couple of weeks ago on your spot here.
That the Arizona-Michigan game is the de facto national championship game. I kind of think that's ridiculous. I'll give you the floor. On that, though, Chris. Yeah, you can't buy into that, especially if Michigan were to win and go up against Illinois.
You always know that in a conference play, there's a different familiarity with that. And so you really can never just say, you know, David's going to beat Goliath. But when you look at Illinois, I've been preaching, I've been preaching about, I feel like I've been preaching about ACOF, Illinois, and San Antonio all year because it was just themes that I thought was coming out. And the fact that, you know, you have, if you really think about not only the bloodline, not only the relationship to Jokic and its agent. Not only The unity of that Illinois team, why wouldn't they continue?
Why wouldn't they? They're playing better on the defensive end, and they have some great scorers on their team. They have guys that have lineage to the league, so they're ready for big moments. They want more. I loved it.
You know, I look at Stoyakovich's De facto nephew. And I get so proud sometimes just from the little things. And you know what I was most proud with him is when they made it to the Final Four. It was an interview in the locker room with him, and he expressed how joyful it was, but he was like, we're not done. And that's the mentality you have to have.
And when you have players that truly have that mentality and are in the process and enjoying the moment, you know, I always tell, I told my brother this the other day: you never want to fight a dude that's already crying before you fight. If you don't know that, that's a rule. Trust me, you never fight a guy that's crying before the fight. And I feel like you never really want to go up against a team that. Believes more themselves and in the moment is not satisfied than one that is just being giddy and happy to be in the process.
And this team is saying, you know, we got a lot more work to do.
So I really trust Illinois, but going up against UConn, that's going to be a slug fest. And no, it's not a given. It's not a given for anyone getting to that championship game. Of course not. I mean, anybody could take it now.
So let's get to the Michigan-Arizona game. Um not gonna lie. Little nervous, Chris. I mean, that Arizona team has been a wagon. Obviously, we have been as well, certainly leading up to this point.
How do you. How do you see Arizona and Michigan facing off on Saturday night? Chris? I like being nervous. I was nervous for every game I played.
That doesn't mean I'm scared. It just means, you know, our juices are flowing.
So I'm with you on that. But, you know, that's because Arizona is good and you respect sport and you know that anything can happen in sport. As I said before, I like Arizona a lot because they're tough, they're big, they play defense. They don't just rely on a three-pointer because I think that. you know, three pointers can come and go.
And so they have a steady play. They play inside out. They can get you in foul trouble. And I think the coach has done a wonderful job and they have some wonderful players over there. And that being said, you know, I really like what Coach May has done.
I think that. The player or the big. I mean, Mars started off the game the other day when he dribbled to his right, thought he was going to jump hook, came back, spent left and dunked it. And so one thing I really like is I see the player development. I don't know if he would have been able to do that move earlier in the year and still be great.
And what I'm saying is that As great as Michigan play, they always get better, even if it's coming out as a bad play. And that's what I look forward to in this: the consistency of Yaxel, the great play of our guards. We can't turn it over. And we got to play great defense like we've been doing and shoot the heck out of the ball.
So I'm excited. It's a great game for us and for great teams. Your best player, you know, your best player step up.
So it's going to be exciting, man. But I feel good about the Wolverine.
Well, me too. The reason why I'm nervous, just to, you know, I guess turn this into a little bit of a support group. Conversation is Michigan's superpower in many ways this year has been its versatility. And we saw that on display in the rounds of 16 and in the Elite Eight. Where they beat Alabama and Tennessee, two teams from the SEC that do two different things.
One in Alabama is shooting threes, playing as fast as they possibly can. They did, in fact, take Mara out of the game. Literally, literally, Dusty Mae removed him from the game because you could see. The type of game it was was not a Mara game. for his for his um his talents.
And then here comes Tennessee, totally different. Totally different. And Michigan punked them, to use the phrase. And that's what you need to do to survive and advance, certainly in a tournament where you have to do it in such a quick turnaround. Arizona appears to be a team that can play the same way, right?
And so here we go. Here we go. That's my level of concern. No, and let me add to your level of concern to make it, you know, to get you, you know, to make you even think more. But these are the games with foul trouble, man.
Two fouls early. Let's say in the first 10 minutes, it's going to sit out a great player for the rest of the, for the, for the half. And affect them during halftime and get them cold, and maybe take about two minutes to come back in the second half. You know, we're going to see how players handle, you know, how the refs are going to call it, if they allow it to be physical, because you have two physical teams, and then who takes advantage of the momentum early. And so, yeah, man, I think they're going to fill each other out.
But again, I'm worried that the fact that Arizona gives a lot of body blows, and body blows may not show up until the end of the fight.
So we're going to have to, you know, get out in the passing lanes and get some easy ones early. But, you know, that's what I think we can do. Chris Weber here on The Rich Eisen Show, speaking of support groups.
Okay. Speaking of groups, speaking of this game, Michigan. in Arizona. Chris, I am so excited that you are here right now.
So we can talk about what was announced quite literally when we came on the air in this hour and started our conversation. is that you And the rest of the Fab 5. are going to get together and conduct an alt cast coverage of The Saturday night Final four game between Michigan and Arizona. You, Jalen Jawan, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson on the call. It is happening.
Holy crap, man. Wow. That's awesome. And I'll give you the floor on however you want to talk about it. How you feeling?
About man, I feel great. You know, we've been excited. I've been working on this for some time now. You know, it's been great working with Jalen back at Turner and, you know, glad to be doing this with Juwan and Jay and Jimmy and Ray.
So excited, man. You never know what you're going to get with Turner. And so I love the Turner family for doing this.
So one thing I will say is going to be fun. Adam Lefko's going to be hosting it. He's a cool dude.
So I know it's going to be fun, but I don't know what to expect when you work with such great producers and all that. But I'm excited. I don't even know what to say. Like you said, it's announced today. I know we've been talking.
Everyone has, you know, made sure that we could be together. This is the first time, you know, I know that I've been with the guys publicly and Quite some time, and so, uh, or all five of us being together in quite some time, so it's going to be fun, uh, but uh. Hopefully the fans enjoy it like we do and we're going to be rooting on Michigan, but respecting both teams and all the players that are there. But yeah, now I'm just going to keep rambling because this is something. I mean, what do you say?
You get to be with your boys. And watching the game, I mean, everybody at home should be able to relate. Hanging out with your boys, watching the game, and sharing it with the world is pretty cool. That is awesome. And I was going to ask you that, so let me follow up on it.
Just see if you can jog your memory. When was the last time the father of you were together? At all. Period. Oh, well, we all were together a couple years ago when we went to the Michigan game and ate dinner and hung out.
And we were on a text thread. We're always talking, all of us communicate.
So it isn't that. I just mean being able to really hang out in front of the world. Maybe the Michigan game when we came together when Jerran was coaching to support him. But it's been some time, but the funny thing is that everybody, when we get together, everybody goes back to being 18.
So it's a lot of fun. It's it's a lot of fun, a lot of a lot of a lot of A lot of talking, a lot of talking.
So it'll be fun.
So actually there's a text chain of you, Jalen, Jawan. Jimmy and Ray? That's it? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. It's been. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Everybody's on.
Oh, yeah. That's that's been forever. I mean, I think, you know, kind of to go back, you know, I don't think most people remember that when I came out of the NBA and I went to Golden State after that situation there, I was in control to choose any team I could go to, right? And so my bright idea was to go to the worst team in the league, which is the Washington Wizards at the time, to hang out. my boy Jawan and play with him.
And so, um. Our tech chain has been going on since You know, since phones, you know, since we had cell phones, but uh, if you go back and see the silly stuff we talked about of players or how this guy you couldn't have checked, this guy, or this team would have beat you just to kind of, you know, down-king the relationship and just throw something in the air to start some good arguments we have. And so, man, I love those guys. It's a lot of fun. We talk about everything from you know, family to favorite basketball plays with sincerely and true friends.
Jaylen and I have been friends since. About 12 years old, Juwan and I have been really good friends since about 14 years old. You know, it's all genuine, and that's why it's fun to be able to share this moment with the world. And again, Turner Valletta's dudes, they're crazy, and it's gonna be fun. It's great.
I couldn't be happier.
So, Palinka's not allowed on the text chain? Chris? Politna, he's too busy. He's too busy stealing draft picks. He's too busy stealing Luca from teams.
He has bigger things to worry about. Ah, stealing Luca from teams. Yes. That's what he's doing. I was going to mention, so no Dugan 5.
You were going to go Dugan 5 and go Dugan 5.
Well, we have our own chain, but I was talking to Freddie Hunter, who runs Detroit Pal the other day. We're going to do something. Then texting and trying to find Vosco.
So James Vosco hit me up. But, you know, he's an astronaut, so he's probably watching the moon. Yeah, the Artemis, too. Right, exactly. You know what I mean?
So, yeah, we all have our relationships. But it's really cool because, again, it's fun and we get the brunt of publicity. And, you know, we did a lot and we deserve it.
However, you know, when we talk about banners or anything like that, it would be unfair to put a Fab 5 anything because we would not be us without Chip Armour and all the players that we play with Sam Mitchell and other players. And so, yeah, we have text change with everyone else because at the end of the day, we are Michigan. But the Fab Five is a pretty. Funny tech chain, and hopefully, people can see that come to life this weekend. Nah, you know what?
But, Chris, it really is the dream of anybody fortunate enough to go to college and have experiences with friends and meeting friends and knowing friends. And I know you mentioned how you've known.
Some of the Fab Five since teenage years prior to college. But everybody wants to go back to school at one point, one day. Just go back in time and live like you did and have fun times and and connect and reconnect and keep that thing going. It's going to be a moment for the five of you at a Final Four, getting mic'd up, getting ready to sit down, looking around. There's the crowd, you know, the UConn.
And Aline Eye fans are, you know, just saw that game, but you're about to sit down and do your job like this for Michigan, Arizona. It's going to be awesome, and you deserve it. You guys deserve it. You deserve it. Thank you, brother.
And, you know, it's funny when Coach Harbaugh brought me back to Michigan to go to the football game, I didn't want to go to the team breakfast and everything else because I didn't want it to be a distraction, right? Because I knew if I were on the other side, I'd be like, oh, he's here. Watch what we do. And so we're going to have fun. And what's great is that we have a team that's already aligned and doing their thing.
And by us having a presence, we're not taking away from them, but actually saying how fun it is to honor this team and to come together for this team that we love, that we believe in, and we're excited for this team. And yeah, we're going to get a lot of the limelight, but it's going to be cool supporting.
So looking forward to it, brother. And definitely be texting you and be laughing the whole time. Richard Jefferson's jealous. Bibby's jealous. Whatever.
They're going to get it all. Who else? Kill Arena? Baby, Arena with Array. Miles Simon.
Miles Simon. Yeah, we got him. There's only one alt cast for this game. Chris, have a blast. We'll chat about it next week.
Take care. All right, man. Thanks, Chris. Appreciate you guys. That's the Hall of Famer, Chris Webb.
There goes Steve. See you, buddy. The reason why I got into Michigan, or I started looking at Michigan, is because of the movie The Big Chill.
Okay. It's an older film. Um, but it was about Michigan graduates getting back together after the death of one of their friends. By the way, played by Kevin Costner, who got cut out of the film. He's only in the first scene in the coffin, right?
You just see his wrist. That's it. That's it. At any rate, there's tons of Motown music to it, and it was written by Lawrence Kasden. uh who you know went to michigan And it's all about college friends getting back together and realizing how they've grown apart, still trying to remember about why they were together to begin with.
It's a brilliant film, and Lawrence Kasden spoke at my college graduation inside. uh Chrysler Arena as it was known at the time, which was The home of Michigan basketball still is. And his speech was essentially: you know, hey, everybody, your college relationships that you have made are so important. You need to realize later in life, if it's for a wedding, it's for a bot mitzvah for a bar mitzvah, for a confirmation, or for whatever. make the time and go and reconnect.
And it was a beautiful speech that really hit me hard. And the only thing missing was the Motown soundtrack as he was delivering that speech. And he's been on the show, and I've told him this because he's written. A million other things and directed a million other things, like every great Star Wars and Indiana Jones film. But he.
Gave a message. And I'm thinking about that right now. Yeah. That these guys, you know, they got back together for a college friend when he was coaching. And now they're all going to get back together.
I'm going to have to peek in on this thing during the game. I mean, on a far smaller scale, in about three weeks, I'm going to personify that when we head to Pittsburgh and do the show. Yeah, for the draft, right? I've been thinking about just my personal story and just like. For us to be able to go to Pittsburgh, where I, you know, I was born and raised in Altoona, but obviously I grew up.
In Pittsburgh, is where I learned to become a man. You know, I learned everything. You know, my boys are still my boys.
So, when we go back there, man, that's going to hit me like a ton of bricks for us to be able to. Are they going to come by the set? I don't know if you want them at the set. They're a little too rowdy. That was a different message than I got on my graduation day from Rudy Gioiani, which was.
Wait, wait, he spoke at your graduation. At Syracuse? Yeah. Okay. For real.
Let's take a break. Tom Pellocero next, right here on the Rich Isa Show. The Rich Isis Show Podcast. Rich Eisen here. Every time I travel for a major sports moment, whether it's a playoff run or a huge prime time matchup, I see firsthand what happens to a city.
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Oh, oh, oh! Oh, Riley. Auto parts. Rich Eisen here. The April 15th tax deadline is coming fast, but don't worry.
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Visit turbo tax.com and hand off your taxes to a turbo tax expert today. Tom Pellisero joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show, joining us still in Arizona after the owners' meetings. Good to see you, Tom. How are you, sir? Good to see you, Rich.
Doing great. What's up to my boys in the studio? I'm the baby. Tommy B.
Okay. Tom, you look like you're standing up super. Yeah, you look very tall. Very tall. Yeah.
Like you're long necked. I currently have one table. There's two tables in the room. One is stacked on the other, so I could angle it away from the mess that my children have created on this side. I think I did a pretty good job, to be honest.
By the way, awesome. It looks like you're already at Disney World, Tom. All right, let's get into it here. Where did uh Kirk Cousins to the Raiders come from. Tom.
The Raiders were pursuing Kirk Cousins ever since the Falcons released him. The issue that they had to work through was Kirk Cousins was due $10 million, fully guaranteed in 2026, even if he was sitting on the couch. He was not going to play in his mind for free, which means that he was going to need to make more than that $10 million if he was going to play somewhere. The Raiders and Cousins agent Mike McCartney came up with a pretty unique structure to work around that issue. And I know there's a lot of numbers that people have seen on social media.
Let me break it down to you this way: that there's really two ways this contract can go. The most likely one is for Cousins, this is a one-year, $20 million deal of which the Raiders are paying $11.3 million. The 10 million he was owed by the Falcons is subject to offsets. He took a minimum salary this year from the Raiders, so about 1.3, which leaves the rest on the Falcons books. But then to increase his compensation for 2026, they put a $10 million roster bonus on the third day of the league year in this coming March in 2027, which defers the cash and cap until March, but effectively means he makes $20 million to play this season.
There is more to the contract, though. The other version of the deal is this potentially could be a three-year, $100 million deal. Because if Cousins is still on the roster on the fifth day of the league year next March, That he is going to have an additional two years and $80 million in the 2027 and 2028 season become fully vested. It's basically a team option. And as much as it seems unlikely right now that they could pick that up, Rich, I would say this.
Kirk Cousins had one of his best seasons playing with Clint Kubiak as his offensive coordinator. In Minnesota. It's where Cousins won his first playoff game over the Saints. They were in the game the following week against the 49ers before they kind of ran out of gas. Cousins has played well in this system.
He's 37. He played a lot better once he got his opportunity last year than he had coming right off the Achilles back in his first season with the Falcons in 2024.
So let's say. Hypothetically, Cousins plays really well. Of course, the Raiders have the number one pick. We all expect them to draft Fernando Mendoza, but Kubiak has said himself a couple of days ago at the league meeting, in a perfect world, you'd like the rookie to come in and sit behind, this is Clint's words, a grown adult and see how he runs things before giving his opportunity. Let's say Kirk plays so well, they don't need to go to Mendoza at all in 2026.
There is a scenario here where Cousins plays really well. And all of a sudden, now you've got a two-year $80 million deal or two for 90 prior to the third day of the league year that maybe could be tradable for the Raiders. They have an exclusive negotiating window to maybe try to work out a restructure. They also have the option of a, hey, he played really well, but it's Fernando's time. Let's move on from you.
There is a scenario where they could trade Cousins. And oh, by the way, the other thing that I just learned about the way this deal is structured, that additional 80 million, almost all of it is in 2028. He's on the books for minimum salary again in 2020. 27, of course, in addition to the $10 million roster bonus.
So 78.5 or whatever is pushed out into 2028. It really gives the Raiders time here to figure out exactly how they would want to proceed. All this presuming that Cousins comes in, plays really well. It does give some optionality really to both sides because they don't pick up the option, which I would say is most likely. Then Cousins is right back in the same spot, except this time with no offsets and he's a free agent again next March.
And obviously, agents and front offices need to parse everything now to the final syllable for a contract. And of course, again, run the traps about how it could all work out in success in the long run, which is what you just laid out for us. And that all has to be figured out now. Get it. But Let's not put the the salary cap in the extra years cart before this horse.
which is What happens in September? What has, based on your reporting or knowledge, Cousinsman told About a week one possibility this year, Tom. What has he been told? Everything that Kirk Cousins, from my understanding, was told behind the scenes. This was not a recent thing.
This was going on for several weeks now. Match what Clint said during his breakfast with the media, which was, a perfect world. You'd prefer that the rookie sits.
Now, what does that look like through the course of the offseason? How does cousins perform? How does Fernando Mendoza, who by the way, is coming from a vastly different system where he hasn't really been under center, he hasn't had to turn his back to the line of scrimmage on play action, all those things that are fundamental to the system that Clint wants to run. Does he accelerate quickly enough where it's like, hey, we just, he's ready. He's ready to go.
What this does is this gives them. A fallback option. And really, I would say it's more than that. The preference for Khale Kubiak is that he's not throwing Mendoza out there in week one. There's still things to go here in terms of the draft.
There could be additional free agent moves, there could be trades. But if you look at the Raiders' office, yes, they have Ashton Genti, they have Brock Bowers. Those are two really good pieces to build around. They went out and they got Tyler Linderbaum to play center on a deal that is almost identical to the three-year $84 million deal that Cousins signed back in 2018, which was the massive deal that shocked everybody. And now his center is getting that eight years later, which tells you how the salary cap has gone here.
But if you look at the way that the Raiders are building this year, they know they've got more work to do at wide receiver. They got more work to do on the offensive line. Kirk coming in, in a way, is similar to Tyler Linderbaum coming in, which is, let's build out as many ways as we can to protect the rookie quarterback. Again, it's possible. Mendoza comes out, lights it up in the preseason, and they just say, hey, we're going to go with Mendoza out of the gate.
But unlike the other quarterbacks who granted do more. Guaranteed money, Rich, guys like Tua and Kyler, who went in on pure minimum deals. The Raiders are paying Cousins $11.3 million to play in 2026, regardless of whether or not he's on the field. That means I don't envision Kirk Cousins getting cut. I don't envision them trading him this year.
I would say, standing here right now, and again, we are five months out from this, Rich. I would say the most likely scenario is Kirk Cousins is the Raiders' quarterback in week one. His play and the progression of Fernando Mendoza. We'll determine exactly how long that lasts. I'm Pelcero here on the Rich Eisen Show.
And the other aspect of this that I was pointing out in the first hour, Tom, I want to hit you on is the Rogers part of it. Was Cousins ever on the Steelers radar screen, or are they just all It's Rogers. We're just waiting on his timing, and that timing is eventually going to. result in him saying, Yep, I'll play for the Steelers in 2026. Kirk Cousins was on the Steelers radar, just like he was on the Steelers radar a year ago.
They did call and check on his availability while waiting for Rodgers, which remember didn't resolve itself until June last year. They were checking on a bunch of different contingency plans. Cousins was one of them. The Falcons regime at the time just didn't really make Cousins available, but they certainly had a level of interest. And this time around, if Rodgers didn't come back, my understanding has been that Cousins was one of the possibilities that they could go out and pursue.
You're talking about a really short list at this point of experienced veteran quarterbacks who are still available on the market. You have Russell Wilson. The Steelers have already gone down that road. I don't foresee them doing it again. Jimmy Garoppolo, if he's on a team in 2026, I would think, especially with Cousins off the board, that it ends up being back to the Rams.
You got Tyrod Taylors still out there, but I don't envision Tyrod at this stage in his career being a walk-in-door day one. Starter, it's really Aaron Rodgers or the Steelers potentially are going to roll with Will Howard and Mason Rudolph and sign or draft another one to fill out the depth chart. Having said all that, Aaron Rodgers has not. Committed to the Steelers. He has not given them a firm answer.
I know that Mike McCarthy said at the breakfast for the AFC coaches that he talks to them every couple of days. All the indications, Rich, have not changed from what I've been told of the last two months, which is if I had to lean one way or another, I would lean toward Aaron Rodgers as the Steelers quarterback. In 2026, but at what point does he actually tell them that? At what point, if at all, do the Steelers simply say, We're down the road. You know, all those missed reps in the spring last year weren't helpful.
You know, when Rodgers was getting frustrated with some of his young receivers during the season, and it was, you know, hey, if you put in more time in the spring, maybe it wouldn't be that, you know, maybe it would not be that way. They're voluntary, even if he's under contract. But from a team-building perspective, even from a free agency perspective, knowing Aaron Rodgers as the quarterback might have made it easier for them to pursue some things in free agency. But they went out and got Rico Dowdle, who I know Mike McCarthy really likes and the fit for him in the backfield. They traded for Michael Pittman.
They have made some moves. Obviously, DK Metcalf coming back. It's not as if Aaron Rodgers would be walking back into an empty cupboard. I know that Art Rooney said that he hoped to know before the draft what the decision is going to be from Rodgers. That begins three weeks from today.
I would expect sooner than later, they're going to get an answer. And again, if I had to guess, if I had to lean one way or another, I would lean toward Rodgers returning. But this is Aaron Rodgers. Only he knows what he ultimately wants to do. I know he's out in California.
He has been working and training and staying engaged with Steelers personnel, namely his old coach from Green Bay, Mike McCarthy. Those signs all point toward him playing, but he hasn't actually said if or when he's going to do that. And so, once again, we await that news. The um Signing of Puka Nakua has certainly hit an interesting turn here, usually when you're about to try and hit it. Um Y or He's in a rehab facility in Malibu right now.
Tom, what do you know about this and how it affects the Rams' plans to? To pay him. Long term.
Well, in the short term, the focus is on Puka working through the issues that he has. And this was not, I know that the news came out yesterday, but this was known by the Rams. This had been known, frankly, within the league for the past couple of months that there were some potential issues there that were going to have to be addressed. I think that, you know, as much as you don't judge anybody off videos and things like that, there were signs in terms of just behavior and decision making that you could tell something had been a little bit off with Puka. In terms of his long-term future with the Rams, I don't get the sense that they were going to be in any rush, regardless, to get a contract extension done.
Unlike Jackson Smith and Jigba, Puka was not a first-round draft pick.
So he's got one year left at a very low number, where Jackson Smith and Jigba had two years left of that fifth-year option being a pretty big number. The math and the way that you spread those numbers out is going to be a little bit different here. But I would also say, you know, a player going to rehab doesn't necessarily mean. They're not going to come back and be better versions of themselves. We've seen Max Crosby do that for a long time.
When he first went away to rehab, something he revealed years later, I mean, frankly, I knew about it. Other people knew about it. These are private matters, and guys are going through real life and death types of things at times. You know, Brett Favre, once upon a time, went away to get treatment for a Vicodin addiction. There's all kinds of players.
And so the sense that I get is: you know, the Rams love Puka. He's obviously a phenomenal football player. Whatever he might have been dealing with last season, it didn't stop him from being one of the best players in the entire NFL. The focus right now is to get him back, give him the support he needs. I have no doubt if he comes back and plays well, that that monster contract is going to be there.
It's just not on the front burner right now. Right now, and again, I don't get the sense that this was really going to be something that was going to get done now, regardless. I mean, it's the first week of April. JSN did his deal in March. There's not many deals that get done.
Let's see where we are closer to the start of the regular season to see exactly how the Rams decide to handle this. Handful. Of minutes I have left, Tom. The story of the annual meeting was what? I would say it's the standoff with officials, which has really accelerated from, oh, well, you know, the deal's coming up at the end of May, but they've always worked it out in the past to, you know, if not a five-alarm fire right now, Rich, we've at least got some things aflame at this point, namely the flame throwing back and forth, namely from the NFL Referees Association and their executive director, Scott Green, who has not been shy about publicly, which he had not really in the past, in his time leading the NFL RA, taking public shots and laying things out there.
The dispute, it's multi-layered. There is a financial component to it. And that is the argument that Scott Green made in his most recent public statement. And it certainly has been made in the negotiations, which is just, you guys are all making a lot of money. We deserve a larger chunk of that money.
They're offering, the NFL is offering the largest year-over-year salary increases that they've ever offered. It's in the 5% to 6% range. The NFL RA wants 10%. They also want $2.5 million for marketing rights that the NFL essentially would say, we'll just give you the rights. They're not worth anything.
Nobody's putting a referee on a Wheaties box. You can have the rights. They're not of actual value here.
So that's one part of it. The second part of it is a resistance from the official side to anything that would resemble. Substantive change to how they are evaluated and how they are compensated. The NFL's pushes, it's a lot of things that we all, as media, as fans, as people around the game can say are common sense, which is extending the probation period as you're coming into the league, subjecting underperforming officials to additional work, including having to work UFL games in the spring if you are one of the very small percentage of officials that falls below the line. It is rewarding performance for playoff assignments rather than seniority, like it is right now.
If you're a first-year official, you're not allowed to work in the Super Bowl right now. The NFL would say, well, we're not going to ban a rookie quarterback from going and playing in the Super Bowl. Why would we ban a first-year official if he's the best for the job?
So there's resistance on a lot of those things. And for anybody familiar with municipal unions, what do they protect? It's wages. Its working conditions, its benefits, and its job security. This is not a traditional municipal union, but they are, you know, on a fundamental level addressing all those things.
They want to maintain the status quo. Just me talking, I would certainly say there is something to be said for if you're one of the 90-plus percentage of the officials who are above the line, you probably don't like the other 10% of the officials who are falling below the line and giving everybody a bad name.
So, if the financials got to a certain place, Rich, I think that the union potentially would be more meldable to some of these other things that the NFL is asking. Right now, though, it feels like they're nowhere, and the NFL is already. Based upon people I talked to at the league meeting, setting in motion some of those things that they're more than a warning shot, they're also a direct here's what our plan is going to be, and we are going to reach a point of no return. That includes they're going to start hiring replacement officials on a contingent basis as soon as next month in advance of the deal expiring. These are Division I, Division II, Division III college officials.
By hiring them in May, instead of waiting like they did back in 2012 with the Fail Mary and all the other things that people remember, this will give them June and July to put those officials through a battery of training. They will then send them to training camps to get the maximum number of live reps possible throughout the course of training camp so that they're best prepared for September. But on top of that, you had two rule changes that were approved at the NFL annual meeting. One of them was a permanent rule change, which is subtle but significant, that allows the league office starting this year to weigh in on non-football offenses or things that would be ejectable. You know, helmet hits, swien helmet hits somebody, DK Metcalf going after a fan.
This would allow, even if there's not a flag on the field, for the NFL to not only say you're out of the game, but also we're putting a flag on the field. That's the first time that's happened. And that opens up a can of worms in terms of the potential expansion in years to come. The second one is on a one-year basis that would grant the league office the power to overrule anything that is clear and obvious. And clear and obvious has been a tricky standard, ironically.
We saw it in the past interference thing back in 2019. But as Essentially, they're saying We can get by with a lesser caliber, a less experienced caliber of officials because if they screw up, we're just going to fix it. We're just going to weigh in and fix everything. That also, Rich, is going to be hard to come back from. If we go to an environment, Where the NFL is able to fix anything.
And I know for a fact there are coaches who brought this up at the meeting. If we're willing to do this on a one-year basis with replacement officials, Why wouldn't we do this with the regular officials? Part of that is because those things are collectively bargained. But just imagine if we get even a taste of the full-on Big Brother. And somebody at 345 Park putting down flags for past interference, overruling an official, what he just called on the field.
We are into a completely different territory that the Competition Committee has not gone, wanted to go to in the past, substituting one person's judgment for another. But it does open up the door to a lot of different possibilities that would fundamentally change how NFL officiating works. Tom, we got to run. Thanks for the time. Enjoy time with your fam.
We'll chat again next week, brother. That's good reception. Tommy P, everybody. Tommy P. Tommy P.
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Visit HyundaiUSA.com right now. Or call this number, 562-314-4603, for more details. Ben in Columbia, Missouri's been hanging on since we said hello. What's up, Ben? Bad.
for taking my call. I was wondering who you think has the better agent, Kirk Cousins, Sam Bradford or Chase Daniels, who I believe has the highest dollar per snap out there?
Well, Chase Daniel paid very well as a backup. We know that. Sam Bradford was the last quarterback drafted under the previous collective bargaining agreement where you paid the first overall pick the most amount of money anybody's ever been paid in the history of the NFL, and certainly of your team.
So I'll go Kirk Cousins, 11 straight years. Thanks for the call, Ben. And thanks for hanging on. Great. I'll go Kirk Cousins.
Yeah, and just in terms of overall dollars, he will have now been paid more in his career than Tom Brady. It's Tom Brady. It's so well done. He was saying his boss. You know what I'd love to see?
I'd love to see him compared to Major League Baseball pitchers since he's been drafted. Paid, fully guaranteed, like a thrower of the football, paid like a pitcher of the baseball. Is there a baseball comp off the top of your head, Brockman? Max Scherzer, $345 million. And how much is customer?
I think Kirk's going to get to $341 is the number I saw. He's been paid like Max Scherzer's been paid. Justin Verlander, the most pitcher of $409. Yeah. The fact that an NFL player is in that neighborhood, that highly respectable neighborhood, to use the midnight run phrase.
You know, it's a pretty respectable neighborhood. 328. Dude, he's paid like a major league baseball pitcher. a world with no salary caps and everything's guaranteed. An NFL quarterback.
It's nuts, man.
So, yeah, I mean, that answers the question right there. You know, 100%. Yeah. That's why it's hard to feel sorry for Kirk Cousins in any situation. He's doing all right.
No, I understand that, you know. Feel sorry for him. He's done really well in his career. It's just he hasn't had the results that.
somebody paid like that, which is like just get to a Super Bowl. You know, Wilson Bethel, the man. who plays bullseye in Daredevil Born Again games. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. From 30 for 30 Podcasts.
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