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Now, on with the show. Activating. No. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Here's the other surprising part.
With guest host Kirk Morrison, live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show. Chief's head coach Andy Reid. Coming up. Golf channel analyst Randall Chambly.
Senior NBA writer for the athletic. Joe Varden. NFL VP of Broadcast Planning. Mike Knorr. And now, filling in for Rich, it's Kirk Morrison.
It's somebody. You just won back-to-back World Series. Like, who are you mad at? Right? It's like, what do you want to be mad about?
You can't win them all. You know what I mean? But you can't win them all, man. Let's be real. You can't win them all.
But those are some of the types of things that I've kind of looked at over the last couple of weeks. I'm also too, by the way. Going to break down the Raiders schedule, so that's coming up here as well. The Raiders release their schedule. I'll give my breakdown because it has a lot, I think, of storylines going into the season: Fernando Mendoza, Kirk Cousins, and also new head coach Clint Kubiak.
So, a lot to get to as far as that. And also, some other team schedules that we have not had a chance to break down. I know Rich is going to probably break down the Jet schedule because I know he's looking at that one, but that'll probably be coming up next week. Or I'll give you what I think about the teams that were shut out. Shut out.
There were five teams, by the way, shut out. of prime time guys, you know that? Like, I always thought the NFL would give everybody, you get a charity game, you know, on prime time, a standalone. Like Shout out to one of my guys, man. He gave me the tweet yesterday.
Like, like, the raider, you couldn't even put us on Tubi? You know what I'm saying? You couldn't put us on something. I mean, come on. But we pause now because, look, there is a major going on, and the PGA is taking place right now at Aronomic Golf Club over in Newton Square, Pennsylvania.
And my guy breaking it down for us is Brando Chambly, the golf analyst from the Golf Channel. And, Brando, what's up, man? How are we doing today? Just get right into it. What did we see in round number one that makes us look a little bit more of a focused eye as we have this round two that's ongoing right now?
I think the golf course won in round number one. It certainly surprised everybody. Everybody was talking about how it kind of seemed like a pushover Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, how the fairways were wide, there were no trees, the rough wasn't very thick. I didn't hear any bitching the first three days. And that is so unusual for any major championship, but it was almost if these guys just thought it was going to be a walk in the park.
The last time they played here, You know, 2018, there were five scores of 62.
So there was a sense that the course was going to be pretty simple. Anything but yesterday. Lowest score yesterday was 67, and it's playing brutally tough this morning. Cold conditions, the rough is a bigger factor.
So Rory McElroy was a big surprise in round number one. Bryson DeChambo was a big surprise shooting 76. Scotty Scheffler played some really solid golf yesterday, but there were a number of Surprises uh 'cause there were seven players tied for the lead after round one. You know, Brando, as I look at the scoreboard now, kind of currently, and what you talked about from yesterday, there's nobody kind of just walking away. We always want to look at who's that early guy that's just kind of walking away from the field.
He's our leader for the weekend, but it seems like everything's jumbled up. You know, one guy is pretty much, you have a group of guys who are one, two, or three shots off the lead right now. How does this kind of play out when you're talking about the cut today on a Friday?
Well, the cut's probably going to get to four over par, five over par. The players that played late yesterday, early today, were on the wrong side of that cut. It blew yesterday afternoon. It was real cold this morning and blowing. But just at the top of the leaderboard, again, I've Since they've been playing majors since 1860, there had never been 33 players after round number one within two shots of the lead.
And that's what we had yesterday.
So it's a bit like a marathon where everybody's starting in different places on the track, and you really don't know who's leading to the final round. And it's kind of got that feel to it. You know, it's not as ominous as Oakmont, or it doesn't look as ominous as an Oakmont. You know, of course, sort of just pickpockets you all day long. It's like paper cuts all day long.
So I can't say that I've ever set at a golf tournament, and I've been here and now it's the fifth day where I have less of a feel for what type of player it's going to define out. At this point, right now, it looks like nobody's going to avoid the train wrecks, and it's going to be more of a scrambling and a putting contest. Yeah, Brando, I would love to just get your thoughts on this one because when you have a course like this and you've mentioned it, the way that it's starting to play. Then how do you win this tournament? Cause it seems like it's a little bit different than everything else.
How do you win this tournament? But also, Keep the patience on where you're used to scoring, scoring, scoring. And this is all about honestly, a par is actually your friend when it comes to this course, right? It is, you know, again, there's been relatively few big tournaments played here, but the three where we do have data, great data, the players that have won were, so those three, they were first in Strokes Game Putting, first in Strokes Game Putting, and third in Strokes Game Putting.
So it's pretty clear previously that this has been sort of just a putting contest. And if I start to look at all the data right now, the data that most looks like the leaderboard is who's putting well.
So thus far, it's been a bit of a scrambling contest. I mean, obviously, someone could ball strike their way to winning, but as of yet, it doesn't look like anybody can go through here and find all the fairways and find all the greens and hit it very close out of the rough.
So it is, it's a bit like, you know, you're at a party and a guy looks like an accountant, and he turns out to be a Navy SEAL. And that's what Aronimic is. Brando Shambly, the golf channel analyst, joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show. Kirk Morrison here filling in for Rich. One of the things that I've enjoyed this year is that we've had some first-time winners on the PGA.
And you've seen that week in and week out. And is there anybody that you think can kind of make a name for themselves this weekend? It's playing some good golf right now, but it's a name that, hey, we should just keep our eye on as this tournament continues.
Well, Alex Molly's never won before. And the last time I looked, he was right up at the top of the leaderboard. Haneki Matsuyama, who's a phenomenal scrambler up there. Alex is one of those guys that gets on tour. He's not really long enough to where he's going to get out there and razzle dazzle you.
But when you actually start digging into the data, you're like, oh, okay, it makes sense why he's there. You know, he's a, from the data standpoint, he's a sort of a top 20 player. His world rank is 78th, but he doesn't have all that power. This golf course is not that long. It's only 7,300 yards long, so by Tor standards, that's pretty short.
But in general, Kurt, I'm just saying, you go back now 14 years on the PGA tour and you're almost, so we're talking 57 majors in a row. Where there's Absolutely no surprises in major championships. The average world rank. of the major championship winner In the last 14 years, it has been better than 15th in the world.
So the game is almost without underdog stories anymore. Whereas there used to be an underdog story almost every year in a major, it almost never happens anymore. It's the Scotty Schefflers, it's the Bryson DeCambos, it's the Brooks Kepkas, and it's the Royal. Mackerels. Scotty and Rory have won four of the last five major championships.
And right now, even though Scotty looks a little out of sorts, he's only Well, he's two back as we speak.
So, you know, it looks like Scotty's to win or lose at the moment because I have a feeling at some point over the next couple of days, it will occur to the players not particularly experienced at the top of this leaderboard what they're doing. Yeah, what is the expectation for Scotty Scheffler? Obviously, it's always at the top, it's winning, but the expectation is I'm watching him week in and week out. I think what last week was a runner-up opportunity for him. But how do you describe his year, his season so far?
Well, he's played the worst golf that he's played in the last five years. He's played this year, and he's still by far the best player on tour. That'll tell you the distance between where he was the last two or three years and where everybody else was.
So, again, he's not played particularly well by his standards this year, but he's still miles ahead of everybody else. We're looking at it in Scotty Scheffler, potentially one of the greatest players of all time, certainly a player I didn't expect to see again post-Tiger Woods. He has separated himself in not maybe not exactly the same way Tiger Woods had, maybe not quite to the extent that Tiger Woods has, but he has separated himself in a way I never thought I would see again. He is demonstrably the best player in the world. You could cherry-pick Rory McElroy's best every year over almost 20 years playing the PGA tour, and you're not going to find a year where he's as good as Scotty Scheffler has been.
So, what we're looking at. Is one of the greatest players of all time, still in the prime of his career. Wow, that's unbelievable. Brando Chambly joining us, golf analyst right here on the Rich Eisen Show. And something cool has been happening.
I believe it's been this week, Brando. And I'm a big. I won't say I'm a big, huge analytics guy, but there are certain things that analytics gives me, and I'm like, oh, okay, I like that. But I believe, I want to say the Golf Channel has a... Show the swings of a lot of the players.
And I believe they had Xander Shauffley, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McElroy. And they just had a silhouette of a golfer, and a golfer swings, and they say, oh, that's Rory. That's Tiger 2000. That's LeBron James. That's Michael Block.
And I'm saying, how do these guys know just off the setup, just off the swing, the downswing, the upswing? How much does analytics or how much did you or anybody else watch other people's swings while playing just to see what they're doing, how they're generating the power? I just thought it was fascinating. And how much does that go into also watching other golfers and how they go about their business? Yeah, that was a fun bit.
It was a good social media bit. I'm not exactly sure who put that together, whether it was CBS or PGA of America or ESPN, whoever did it, it was a good bit. But I can just tell you that you're not going to stump golfers at all. You're not going to stump professional golfers. You throw up golf swings.
You can black it out. You can hide it. They know the second. They know almost from the setup. They know before it can swing.
Just mannerisms, the way someone grips it. You know, I could just look at Scotty Scheffler's hands. I could see nothing else. I'd know it was Scottie Scheffler. I could see his feet.
I'd know it was Scottie Scheffler. And it's that way with every single player that you've ever seen swing a golf club. It doesn't matter if it's LeBron James or Charles Barkley or Annika Sorenstam or Nellie Corda. You're just going to know it. It's a good bit.
It really is. I think it's really resonated. I mean, you talking about it certainly is evidence of that. But it just speaks to how nuts golfers are about golf swings. But I think it also shows that where the PGA is actually moving.
Too, in terms of just the social media access, the players, and the access that they give us, and where the game is going. Obviously, the big conversation piece is always the live golfers and what's going to be the future for those guys. Is there a path back to the PGA tour? What other types of conversations are being had right now about possibly those guys returning back to tour at some point? Because you get spoiled, right, Brandon?
You get spoiled seeing. the feel the way that it is with some of the best being a part of it. But we know once the major's over, those guys go back to that course to their league, and then you're you're you know, looking at the guys who are a part of the tour.
Well, I wouldn't say it's the fault of golf or the fault of the PGA Tour that the best players in the world are not playing together. It's the players who chose to take the. The profit over the principal. They left and chose to go play tournaments that hardly anybody's watching, and certainly don't mean anything historically and have no legacy. And subsequently, with the exception of Bryson, and you could even argue now, Bryson is struggling, pretty much everybody who's gone to live, their game has fallen off demonstrably.
So You know, they chose to go play in events that nobody watches, nobody cares about, that have no meaning. And when they do come back to play major championships, You know, it's the one place where they can play now. And claw for some relevancy.
So you got to believe that they are highly motivated when they come back.
Now, we can argue whether or not that's the ideal place to be in to play the game. But There's a lot of debate about whether or not even Live will hang on next year because I doubt it's going to be any private equity, any investors anywhere in the world that want to annie up with all of those expenditures in the line. They still got to pay, from what I understand, half of John Rahm's guarantee, which is something in the neighborhood of $175, $200 million. Nobody wants to pay that. Nobody wants to pay what Bryson DeCambo seems to think that he's worth.
But if it does hang on, they're going to be playing for pennies on the dollar. And it's. highly unlikely that Anybody's going to go watch that. But the way I understand it, John Rahm still contracted to play two, three more years. How do you get those players back is something that has occupied most of the conversation in the game of golf?
Because they're going to have to come back and pay huge fines to come back. They're going to have to come back and play some time penalties, spend some time in the penalty box, so to speak. Not going to just give it up. There's very few of them. That are even exempt.
And the ones are, when they come back, they're probably gonna have to play lesser events before they get onto the signature events.
So it's gonna be a while, and the road back's gonna be punitive and it's gonna be bumpy. Yeah. That's why I'm going to enjoy this weekend of seeing all the great golfers together. And then I'll ask you. When it comes Sunday, what do you think is that final score?
Where do you think someone has to get to win this tournament?
Well, right now it's not looking like anybody's going to get to double digits. Although tomorrow it's going to feel like June. Right now it feels like February here. It's been kind of chilly the last couple of days. Very chilly by my standards.
I live in Scottsdale, Arizona. But anyway, tomorrow it's supposed to be warm. Those scores, I suspect, will get it lower because guys will hit it farther. But eight, Seven, eight under par is kind of what it feels like right now. And uh, I picked Scotty Sheffler to win Wednesday night.
Really went out on Kurt. I picked the number one player in the world to win. Uh, but I'm sticking with him as we speak. He's he's He's in a great spot. He's just two back, and he's gotten off the slow starts this year, but closed really, really fast.
Yeah, you know, Brando, right now, my uh the swagger of Min Wu Lee, I would love to see him go ahead and get up and hold up that Winemaker trophy. I think he's gonna be a popular win. He's a much popular guy for sure.
Well, I'll let you get back to the golf course. I know it's fun being out there and seeing all the great golfers. And so I appreciate the time as always, Brando. And yeah, we'll talk to you soon. Look forward to it, Kurt.
Take care. Thank you. That's the golf analyst from the golf channel, Brandon Chambly, joining us. And look, I'm a big major tournament guy, whether it's the PGA, the Masters. Not just in golf, even in tennis, right?
You got the French Open coming up, Wimbledon's coming up.
So I love the major tournaments because it brings a buzz around it. Like there's tournaments that happen throughout the year, but there's a buzz around it. And Obviously, my wife my wife kind of hates this 'cause I always bring my conversations back to football.
Okay, she's like, why is everything always got to come back to football? I was like, because that's what I grew up on, that's what I know. My life, and that's what the NFL. realized is how do we make our regular games feel bigger than what they really are. Like what did we do?
They realize that the NBA had Christmas Day for so long. And I've been to a Christmas game. I've been to a Christmas game. Me and my wife have been to a Christmas Day game. in New York.
That's nice. And she was like, wow, this feels different. Yeah, because it's Christmas Day. It's the New York Knicks, it's basketball on a day that everybody's watching, or it's a hot ticket to get to. And so I think the NFL has done a good job at doing what?
Finding moments that have always been. with family, but how about sharing family and sports together? Which is Thanksgiving Eve. Thanksgiving Eve was always the, wasn't that the time that you go back to hang out with all your high school buddies? Yeah, right?
That was like the good going out night. The good going out night. Yeah, Thursday night. Everybody comes home from college or Wednesday, yeah. Wednesday night, Thanksgiving Eve, you go out, see all your buddies from high school and college and all the people back at home.
And now, guess what? We can go to a bar and watch a football game. Right. We can now go watch football. We can go watch.
Football is family, Kirk, isn't it? Football is family. And there's the Thanksgiving week games Wednesday night, Thanksgiving Eve. Guess what? Right here in Los Angeles, right down the street at SoFi Stadium, Packers versus Rams.
I'll tell you this. I think a lot of people from Green Bay, Wisconsin may be trying to spend the holiday, Thanksgiving holiday here in Los Angeles. Why not? Would you rather be in Green Bay or in El Segundo? Without doing England.
We went to Green Bay for the draft. Tremendous people, tremendous place. Oh, it's a great place. Yeah. I live here for a reason.
Yeah, a great place. Love Green Bay. I mean, Tidal Town, you know, the Hotel Kohler across the street. They know me over there, by the way. Shout out to Hotel Kohler.
But you know what I mean? Like, would you rather be here or would you rather be there at that time of year? We're talking about. The Rams should take a note from the Sixers and they should start geotagging their tickets. That way, you know, Packers fans just can't come and vague because what you're saying is true.
Yeah. And then we got three games, obviously, on Thursday for Thanksgiving. And look, I'm just. I keep telling you, like, the NFL seized the opportunity. Kind of like majors.
How do we make A regular season game. Feel like a major. Feel like a championship, even though. Your championship is months away, but you want to make the game feel bigger, the stage feels bigger. And I know some players are against the whole international series.
But my friends at the NFL, buddies of mine who worked there who Just tell me if you have not been to an international game yet. This international series, I think it's nine games. If you have not been to an international game, When your team is playing, you need to go. Or if you just want to go just to go check it out, you should. Because I promise you, I've had buddies of mine that have gone.
I've had friends of mine who follow their team that they've went. I've played in the International Series game before. And people who have not, I think, participated in it. They may sometimes, I don't care about it. The NFL, what are they doing?
It is almost as it has a Super Bowl type of atmosphere. It's the same thing we see like the club soccer teams come here and play. The atmosphere in these arenas or sorry, in these stadiums, it's unbelievable. You get the same thing with the NFL as well.
So I get what's going on. I get what's happening, especially around this time when the majors are happening in golf. Yes, you make the little things seem so much bigger, and that's what's going on. But the best thing going right now. Is my Raiders schedule because I can't wait to break it down for you.
The stepbrothers, Fernando Mendoza, Kirk Cousins. How long will they Be stepbrothers until one wins the job. I'll break down the Raider schedule coming right here on the Rich Eisen show. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Save $2 when you buy two cans of Superior Products Coverall Tire Dressing.
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And so does comfort. Just make sure they keep their cleats off the seats. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for details. The Rich Eisen Show, man. It's so great to be here on this Friday as we've just had a week.
You know, it was one of those weeks where. You had the basketball part of it, the NHL part of it, seeing some just cool things. The one thing about my mind, it's always constantly going every which way, and I got to slow it down. Because I see so many things throughout the week, and I'm like, wow, like, oh, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool.
One of the cool things I saw this week as well, before I get to this scheduled breakdown of the Raiders, this week I saw that Lisa Leslie will be getting a statue. How many statues they got at crypto.com/arena/slash staples center? like s she will now have a statue unveiled And I believe she will join how many other statues is it? Eight or nine? Let's see here.
It's a lot down there at crypto.com. There are currently 15 statues at the Star Plaza outside of crypto. Yeah, it's the Lakers, a lot of Lakers. Magic Kareem, Shaq, Jerry West, Elder Baylor, Chick Hearn. Yeah.
Kobe Tribute with Kobe Tribute. The Kings have Gretzky, Robotai, and Dustin Brown. Correct? Oscar De La Hoya de la Hoya and Lisa Leslie. And then there's LA Kings Monument, which features sculptures.
Kings sculptures, yeah. Marcel Diona.
So, yeah, that's some of the things that I saw this week, too. You know, I always bring light of that. I'm like, wow, this is always sports news coming in. But Lisa Leslie, the legend of Lisa Leslie, she, yeah, what she's did in sports, especially USC and obviously the LA Sparks and the championships.
So, well, a well-honored, a big honor for her as well. I can't wait to see what it looks like as well. Leslie once scored, I think. 101 points in high school game in high school game. Yep.
So, yeah, get a chance to I think is this the first Kirkby? By the way, that that was all in the first half. Oh, yes. In the first half. She finished with 105.
She slacked. I mean, this is a big achievement. And I think this is the first female statue that'll be at the crypto.com arena. Obviously, you mentioned the Kobe tribute, but it's Kobe and his daughter. They have that tribute right by the arena.
But this is the first woman, Lisa Leslie, man. That's pretty cool. Pretty cool, especially when I walk down in there. I'm always down by crypto.com when I'm, you know, to the big events or basketball games.
So we'll see that coming up. That's pretty cool. But uh, you know what? The schedule was released. And my phone was buzzing.
My phone was ringing. When the Raider's schedule was released. It came out. And The first thing that you always do when you get the schedule is, when are we on prime time? That's the first thing I did.
Okay. I'm going through the schedule like, oh, Raiders, here we go. Where are we at?
So you look at all the Monday nights. Wait.
Okay, wait. Hold up. Oh, no, no, no.
Okay, they messed up. No, Monday. But I know they got us on a Thursday. We're Amazon. Uh Oh.
Well, is this the right schedule? But you know what? Let me see. My reach is right. But you know, Netflix got some games.
So let's see if we go to Netflix. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. To do. Me, wait hot like No.
Oh, ESPN. Oh, we're on ESPN. Oh, shout out to Dev. Oh, ESPN. Monday.
Oh, yeah. Without question. Uh Yeah. Foolf.
Well, that was the first thing that came to mind. No prime time game, zero. Zero. Zero point zero My first, this was a real reaction when I got the schedule. I got the schedule.
We're on Disney now. Don't curse. No, I didn't curse. But I had a tweet. Oh.
I'll put out the, or the X, whatever you want to call it. You want the X like Des Brian? I tweeted this yesterday.
Soon as I got the schedule. The Alonzo game. All about the Alonzo game. Yes.
So I said. When you look at the Raiders' schedule, And you realize That this season, all you need is Fox and CBS. I can cancel my subscriptions to Netflix, Peacock, and Amazon Prime. Because you don't need those channels, Raider fans. You don't need them this year.
We ain't on them. Saving the PSP. We ain't even on them. Save some of that money. Go on the ri on a road trip.
That's what this year's gonna be about. Road trip year. We're saving money on all the subscriptions because we're going on a road trip. We're telling everybody we're the underdogs this year. Everything is gonna be earned, Raider fans.
But this is the schedule right here in front of you. No prime time games.
So it is consecutive. It is 12 Sundays in a row. 12 Sundays in a row, you get a break. All right, we get the break. Week 13.
That's going to be the buy. Then four games after that. And so when you look at the schedule. The FOP Already, number one. amongst Raider fans, amongst the national media.
Where's a good spot? for Fernando to start. Is it week one? Is it week four? Is it Chiefs versus Raiders?
Fernando versus Mahomes, both returning. Like, where is the spot? Or is this all about maybe the bye week? Because the one thing that we've always seen, I think, in NFL history, or revisionist history, if you want to call it. The times that you make changes at the quarterback position are usually when.
Number one, always the bye week. The bye week always seems like the time. Like, all right, give them an extra week of work. Name him the starter. He has the whole bye week, and then you have the next week of preparation.
Then you start him after the bye week. The other, like I always say, is those international games. Every time we had an international game, something bad happens. I always feel like you come back, a coach is fired or you or a quarterback situation has changed. But the Raiders ain't playing international, so you don't have to worry about that one.
So where is the spot for Fernando Mendoza? Or is there even a spot on the schedule because What if Kirk Cousins is playing at a p at a level That you don't want to go away. See, quarterback changes happen. because the team is not having success. We never talk about If the team is having success, because a lot of times people point to where, look at Patrick Mahomes, he sat the whole year and Well, the reason why he sat the whole year is because Alex Smith had the Chiefs off to a great start that year, by the way.
I believe they were like 4-2 or 5-0. And so no one's talking about the backup quarterback when your team is successful. And so, this training camp upcoming currently during OTAs and minicamps. Right now, let's say the leader in the clubhouse is Kirk Cousins. And I would think he would be the leader in the clubhouse to be the starting quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Why? Because he's got the experience. He's started playoff games, won playoff games. He's done things in this league. that Fernando has not done yet.
And so if you want to have Or be comfortable, have some faith in a guy right now. Obviously, Kirk Cousins right now is the president. That doesn't take away from the future, which is Fernando Mendoza. And I get it. Hey, you drafted him number one overall.
He should be ready. But we do know that if you give him time and an opportunity. I think he will be okay. Whether that's in the beginning, the middle, or the end. We know what the future holds for Fernando Mendoza, but we're talking about the now.
And a lot of times, and I'll go with this as a veteran player in the league. Because I was around when they drafted a quarterback number one overall. back in the day. And sometimes that quarterback may not be ready for what it takes to be. a franchise quarterback in the National Football League.
that Fernando can now ease his way into that position, of not only leadership. Production But what it takes to be a true professional. Kirk, let me ask you this. The Raiders culture, right? They kind of got that triple R.
New culture. New culture. That rough, rugged, and raw about it.
So new culture, new culture. Guys that look like Filler, right? You know, tatted up. But like Fernando comes across as like, you know, the Eddie Haskell that they're like, hey, I'm happy to be here type guy. How do you feel like that personality is going to work?
If there is a new culture, is it. Is this what Raider Nation is going to adopt? is his type of personality or do you how do you think this is going to work out? From what I've seen and what I've observed. what I've observed is Fernando Mendoza is One of the hardest working guys that I've I've seen coming out of college.
And this goes back to his time when he was at Cal Berkeley. When he was a quarterback there, I know a lot of guys on that staff. But the first time I'm meeting this redshirt freshman quarterback, And I'm like I'm watching him on the film, I'm like, this guy can spin it. Like, this guy's got the size. Like, how did y'all get him?
You know what I'm saying? Like, how did y'all get him? Because I'm watching him on film. Like, this guy has potential.
Now, I don't know what that was going to look like in three or four years down the road, but he's got potential. It was like, man, hey, he's the hardest worker. The guys love him. He's he's been our culture setter when he was at Cal. He's there for two years.
Or three years, where a red shirted then played two seasons.
Okay. Watched him out duel. Cam Ward in the game.
Okay, that was the number one overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, or sorry, 2025 NFL draft.
So I've seen him compete. Then, what I saw at Indiana only stamped what I had already saw in the previous time of seeing him while he was at Cal. He brings a Sense of accountability. A sense of leadership, a sense of I'm going to work and I'm all about the work. Remember, this week actually started with the president.
Donald Trump. Having to give him a pass because he said, I can't make the White House visit with my Indiana teammates because Fernando's got, as the president called it, spring training. We call it OTAs in the NFL. He had to organize team activity, but he wanted to be at the OTA because he knows he's in a competition. to try to win the starting quarterback job.
He's like, I'm low on the totem pole. Like he works and he works to a point where What the Raiders' perception, I think, for many years were always the guys who were cast offs or guys who obviously were, there was always something to you as a Raider. Like the island of Misfit, yeah, always been that way. Like, that's just what the thought process has been. But if you stick around and you're around Clint Kubiak for like five minutes, you're like, oh, this dude's about ball.
And he's not about the bouquets. I don't want your praise. I'm all about the works.
So it comes from, I think, the top all the way down.
So it comes from Obviously, Mark Davis, who was now allowed. Obviously, John Spytek and Clint Kubiak to do their jobs, having Tom Brady as a voice and a sounding board to bounce ideas off of and get approval and thanks. And others like, hey, what do you think about this? Like it's it's been a collective effort. Over this past year, that I've seen That tells me that this franchise is moving in a different direction than it has many years ahead of time before that.
It's been constant turnover, constant turnover, and finally feels like this is something stable. Because this schedule is representative of what I love about where I think this team is headed. Because the schedule says prove it. No more are we going off to what we did in the 70s and the 80s, right? No more of, oh, man, we won a Super Bowl in the 60s and the 70s and the 80s.
They still count so, baby. I know they count, but same thing like the Cowboys. I didn't mean to bring the Cowboys. I had to, but we. The mystique of what those Super Bowls once were.
They're always going to be there. But at the same time, you got to show up now. You got to earn the respect. Kirk, let me ask you, you brought up a name there. When you speak quarterbacks, obviously, the mind goes to Tom Brady.
You mentioned a little bit about Tom. But let's really deep dive in this. What do you know about Tom and his position with the Raiders? How How involved will he be with this QB competition? Do you ever see him maybe hopping down?
Probably wouldn't do this in front of everybody, but. Maybe l you know, giving some pointers to to Fernando and maybe even Kurt still at this point in his career. How how involved is Tom Brady gonna be with this whole problem? I I think w when it comes to Tom, like, he just loves football.
So it's not just like he keeps his thoughts and How he played so many years and at a high level. Like, he's just going to be secluded. I'm only. gonna tell these guys. Like Tom Brady wants to talk football.
Like, when I see him at. Either at practice or where he may be calling a game. And I've seen him, and we have these conversations. Like, Tom is always intense. Like, I never see Tom just like calm.
Really? Like, I know, because when he steps in between the lines, when he's at practice, he is about ball. Like, how can we be better? Oh, I love that, or this, this, and that, or Kirk, what are you thinking? Like, just to have those conversations when you do see them, it's.
To me, it's refreshing because everybody wants to know what's his role, what's his role, his role as a sounding board. His role is to The greatest player I know that I played against. And I've seen go out and operate and work and have. Competed against, know what it's like, know what the process has looked like. the mind games that go on in a football game.
His opportunity is to give back.
Now, being with the organization, he can give back to the players. in which he's the minority owner of.
So to be able to have that. phone call, like to pick up the phone. And a player like Fernando or even Kirk Cousins, hey, Tom, you know what, man? Two-minute drill came up today. I just got a question: like, what are you thinking, man?
You're down three, we got to get to this yard line. But you know, what if I want to go and I saw a cover two and they shifted to a cover three? Like, those are the types of questions that you can ask somebody who's been through, who's seen every D. Like, who been like, I would want to ask him. Like, even if I was not a part of the Raider organization, if I'm a young quarterback and I have a landline.
To Tom Brady, I'm going to use it. The goat line. Like, the goat line. Like, I'm going to use it because I want to be great. You should use it.
I want to be great. Like, I think about Kobe Bryant and what he talked about with Michael Jordan, how he studied and wanted to be Mike. If you want to be the best, utilize it. And it just so happens the guy who's the best at that position of all time, in my opinion. Is in your building or is a phone call away who watches what you do, that's what his role is: is to be able to listen, be a sounding board, and it's part of the family atmosphere, right?
It's all a family now. Like, I think before it was always one guy makes decisions.
Now it's like, hey, I. We all can make a decision. We all can agree on what's next. And I will tell you this: I'm knocking on, oh my God, I got to find some wood here. All right, I found some wood over here.
Color, knock on wood. Knock on the head. But. This has been a fairly smooth off season. For the Raiders.
Now, I know a lot of people brought the Max Crosby stuff up, right? We saw it in all the release videos. But even still, In years past, that would derail. An off-season for the Raiders or even any other team. And yet it was handled smoothly.
Handled with grace. Max is a raider. He'll always be a raider. And I hope he stays a Raider. But that situation was handled.
Offseason was handled perfectly. in terms of the free agents. The draft was handled perfectly. We all knew who Fernando was going to be the number one overall pick. We all knew.
But they respect the process, they did the work. And they treated it. Like they were supposed to treat it, and they picked the best player. In the draft, and the guy who fits what they need to do in order to be at the best in their organization.
So. Kudos and shout out to the guys in the silver and black. And we'll see what it looks like. But if you're asking when Fernando's playing, I don't know. Come back to me in about a couple months about that.
But TJ, you said we got some standout players need to break through. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we may get to that coming up next year on the Rich Iser Show. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. If you've ever wanted real energy without choking down something that tastes like regret, bucked up is the answer.
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Fernando Mendoza, Kirk Cousins, be uh must see TV throughout this summer when we get to the NFL and training camps, which will be opening up next. But I'll be in Vegas a couple weeks. We got the mandatory minicamp. We'll have a little fun with that because I'm looking for. Stay hydrated, my brother.
I'm staying hydrated, but I'm looking for breakout players. For 2026, TJ. Yeah, you know, this morning I texted you. You know, we have a little thing we do like on this day, you know, date different things that have happened on this day, national blah, blah, blah day. And I noticed today was break National Break the Glass Ceiling Day.
So I texted you this morning and I was like, well, you know, there's got to be some players you got your eye on that you. That you expect to take that next step to break that glass ceiling to just become Pro Bowlers, you know, superstars this year.
So. I want to put you on the spot, man, but I'm putting you on the spot. Put me on the spot. I got a couple of guys that just, to me, right off the top. On the mine.
Uh number one.
Well, you're going to start with one? I hate. Oh, no, not number one.
Okay, you want to go five?
Well, no, just whatever. I just said a list. Yeah, come on, it's just a list. Oh, you're going to start discussing. I just said disgusting.
Disgusting. All right, here we go. You be quiet over there. Quick list, right? Speaking of my theme of silver and black today, Ashton Genty has to be on that list.
He has to be. Breakthrough, right? Because remember last year, you can't take a running back at six. That's too high. That's too high.
But all of a sudden, we're taking Jordan Love, I mean, sorry, Jeremiah Love at three. It was like, oh, that's the best pick. Like, how quickly things change in the NFL.
So I like Asengenti on that list. You had that whole thing about his stance last year. What was that all? The guy who told him to change it is no longer there. You know what I mean?
So I just go with that. All right, so you know who my next one is? Who's that? Because I saw the growth of this receiver last year.
Okay. They traded away DK. And we saw Jackson Smith and Jigba do what? Take off. Oh man, he blew up.
Okay. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers let Mike Evans walk in free agency.
So, to me, that means it's going to be a breakthrough for Imeka Ibuka. That's going to be my guy.
Okay. I think that he takes off. He had a sensational start to this season last year, then. Yes.
I don't know what happened. Kirk, it fell off a little bit. But he will be the number one guy. And I think this was now. that opportunity for him.
For some reason, um I don't know if he's a breakthrough or breaking the glass, but I just feel like. Under John Harbaugh's tutelage.
Okay, as the head coach over in New York, Jackson Dart. This is a breakthrough for him.
Okay. I think he's learning right now what he can do and can't do. He's on my breakthrough list. Jackson Dart. He's got to stay healthy off.
I just like the E-Man, the nickname, Nick E-Manwori. Breakthrough.
Okay. Okay. And he got that ring. I do. He got the ring.
And number five, it's not no listing in order, but I really believe. Brian Dable Is going to get Cam Ward playing at a super high level, which he did last year too, at the end of the season. Number one draft pick. He's got, yeah, you know, a lot. But he's a little talked about number one draft pick.
That's true. And I think this year is his breakthrough where we can now put him in the conversation with some of the good young quarterbacks in the National Football League.
So these are my young breakthrough guys that I love: Cam Ward, Iman Warrior, Ibuka, Aston Genty. Hey, they got it going this year, 2026, my breakthrough guys.
