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Now, on with the show. The business we are in is a performance-based business. This is the Rich Eisen Show. And that same fan base, they cheered when I got hurt. The Rich Eisen Show.
It's a disrespectful thing. Today's guest. ESPN NFL analyst Marcus Spears. Senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer, BMW Championship winner, Wyndham Clark. Comedian Sam Morell.
And now, it's Rich Eisen. Ha ha ha. What a day to be on the air here on the final Monday of... The month, oh actually it's not true, where it's it Hello, August. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial right here on the program.
I shouldn't be sticking my head in the calendar. Days are flying by right now. It's the National Football League season in full bloom right now. I know we're only two preseason weeks in, but it kind of feels like we're already in the middle of the season based on all the stories flying around. We'll talk about it throughout this three-hour show.
844-204-Rich, number to dial on all these fronts. You just heard who our guests are. It's going to be a lot of fun. Wyndham Clark on the show in hour number three. He just won again the BMW Championship.
He is a die-hard fan of the Broncos, so we're going to surprise him with a win-loss game there. And he's also a fan of the Oregon Ducks. Speaking of which, hello, TJ Jefferson. I'm going to be first to start the week that way. You're flipping it around.
Baby, candles lit in the corner. Candles lit in the corner. Good to see you. Oh, it's not lit in the middle. D is indeed nuts.
Good to see you, sir. How are you? Good, good, good. DJ Mikey D sitting next to Chris Brock. When we just already recorded the latest action Monday, it's already out there in your RSS feed if you listen.
Or our YouTube channel, if you watch youtube.com/slash Rich Eisen Show.
So. Deshaun Watson is going to start week one for the Cleveland Browns. It has been reported all over the place. Todd Muncin has made his decision. And he's the guy.
And man. When this whole Calendar years started. And Watson was deemed healthy. All I was hearing at the Combine, all I was hearing at the draft, all I was hearing between those two dates, and everything I've been hearing ever since then. Yeah.
Competition, sure. But there is a thumb on the scale for Deshaun Watson because the Browns want to see if he has anything from twenty nineteen left in him. I know that was a long time ago. He had a good COVID year as well. His career year of COVID year was actually.
Almost a 5,000-yard season. For the Houston Texans. They want to see if that guy that they acquired in the middle of this entire scandal that was tearing his personal life and professional life seemingly apart. Is that guy still in there? And it doesn't really matter how much Shador is being a professional and showing up and showing out in any practices or preseason games, it's going to be him.
And after this weekend, And what happened this weekend I could not be more sure of what I heard back in the spring and throughout was the truth. Because I did not see Deshaun getting this gig. Even though He took his relationship with Browns fans. And Lit it on fire. Again.
Now you could say the Browns fans brought it back up. themselves because they booed him In his Home, if you will, debut. of the preseason And his first action in the stadium since he tore up his Achilles when he heard cheers. From some in the crowd. You could say Browns fans play a role in it, and they do.
And they do, but we want. Or at least Franchises want their quarterbacks to be the professionals and adults in the room. And Mm-hmm. Three things about Deshaun Watson. are certain.
Three. about his 2026 season.
Okay. He's the starting quarterback. Two He and his relationship with the Browns fans are in shambles. And three. is whatever he says he has done.
to turn pages in his life. There is one page he is yet to turn. And that is the way he felt. Hearing cheers When from some, not everybody. in Cleveland when he was down on the turf.
Tearing up is Achilles. And that was apparent. After Saturday's preseason game against the Bills, in which he came on in the second half. And look terrible. to be straight up.
And this is his reaction when he was asked about how he felt to hear the booze. Man, I didn't have no reaction. I think The biggest thing is, um I think you guys know too, and I think the whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance. It's a little bit personal than that. I think that's uh It's a disrespectful thing.
So, yeah, I mean, I'm going to keep whatever I feel with me and my family internally on how I feel about that. Um and yeah, just move on. Last time I played on this field I took my Achilles. And that same fan base, they cheered when I got hurt. So Does that does that have to do with But does that have to do with anything about performance?
when a person get hurt, especially for your own city. And they cheer. First things first, he's not wrong. It's terrible. It's not right.
Fans who cheer, players who get hurt. Regardless of how you feel about them.
So sure, he could sit there and say. It is personal. The personal comes from the fact that the professional just wasn't there. on the field. Your best ab ability is availability.
19, I mean, the numbers speak for themselves. 19 starts, 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 3 rushing touchdowns for a guy who, in his three stellar years in Houston, 3,365 yards, the aggregate of his three years in Cleveland, would have been 300 yards fewer than his worst single season. Number of yards. 2019, as a matter of fact, he had 3,852. He topped 4,000 yards in the season before and after.
It absolutely is performance-based, and that's part of the problem as well. difficult for Browns fans to swallow. Is for him to basically say, this is all personal. It has nothing to do with what I'm putting out on the field, which. In its subtext.
In the underpinnings of that Opinion. It sounds like he just won't be held accountable, which is one, or hold himself accountable for his actions, which is. The fault line. With Deshaun Watson. Because if that's something that he hasn't reconciled with, then that's another bright, shiny.
Red like But at the end of the day When you're down on the ground and your Achilles is torn and you're hearing people cheer you, it's tough to get past. Clearly he's not through it. And he knows At the time, if he's the starter. What's the phrase you use? 17 road games?
17 away games. Quarterback job is tough enough. Can you defeat that negativity? I don't know. I don't know.
You know, it's a mental battle every day. You know? I feel like uh feel like I get more love on road games than I do home games, so If it is my my spot and he does make me the name, maybe it's 17 away games then. I don't know. It's not great for him to just come out and say it like that.
It's just not great. It's not great. Those are things that even if he feels it, I know he's a human and he's got rights to emotions. But I would have counseled against him saying something like that into a microphone. Browns fans are incensed.
They're livid. Todd Muncin basically gave Deshaun the answers to the test after he stepped to the podium and had been informed what Watson had to say. I am proud, again, like I said, of the way he's worked to get where he's at. And that's part of it. I know you asked him like, hey, how's it feel to get food?
I mean, it's a pretty easy question. It sucks. I don't want to get booed. It comes with the territory. You want to get booed?
Let's play good football. Let's play good at quarterback. Let's play good on offense. Let's play good as a team. And then you don't have to worry about all that.
Because it can turn just like that. Win, play good football, and everybody will be fine. That's just part of it. I didn't That's why I told him you could. We're good.
Part of what we do. It's the full Hyman Roth. This is the business we chose. It sure is. This is the business we've chosen.
Fans are. Out of their skulls. Not every Browns fan was cheering. On the ground. But you've just painted the entire thing by the broad brush.
And then another thing I would say is: did you look up in the stands? In the second half? The place had about a handful of thousands in it, and you're going to paint the entire Browns fan base with that brush? Those people who are going to come to hopefully cheer you, I mean, that's the answer to the test right there. And Watson is fortunate that Muncin's his coach, or that the management of the Browns are like.
You know, we we n we know we're going to piss off the fans, but He's still a starter. And Moncan was given that sort of heads up. You know how you do that with friends or loved ones? Kinda giving you this heads up that something's coming you're not going to be happy with. He seeded the ground the next day.
when he said this about his decision that was coming. I'm not going to let one half a football, one frustrating moment. Dictate what our decision is going to be that we think is in the best interest of the Browns moving forward, and especially week one. Hmm. And then, in terms of how he's reconciled this, this is what he had to say as well.
about You know His decision that was coming about Watson. working hard and everything like that. He basically talked about the guy that he's seen. is not has been working hard. to get back to compete.
And then I added this. I've been really pleased with how he's worked, how he's approached every day. And I Listen. We didn't play well enough collectively. Um, and I'm sure that was frustrating for him, and it was for us as well.
But, like I said, we control that, we control that with how we coach, how we play, and I mean. None of us like to be booed. We all like to be appreciated. I think that's just human.
Okay. I think he emptied his heart a little bit. And I don't think that says who he is. I see the competitor him. I see the everyday work he puts in.
And he wants to be back he wants to get back to where he was as best he can. And that's hard. And You know, again, I think the moment just got him after the game, and it can get all of us.
Okay. It can't get all of us. And hopefully he has emptied his heart. Ed can turn the page. I don't know if Browns fans are gonna.
That said, That said. There's a reason why Todd Monk and listen, we have quarterback controversies and we have quarterback competitions all the time. Sure. Where, A, quarterback one, you get one start in preseason. A, quarterback two, you get the other start in preseason.
So I'll go ahead and weigh this against that. We see that all the time. There's a reason why Deshaun Watson got start one. And Shador got stark too. And it's not because the thumb was on the scale for Watson.
It's because Start one was on the road. Start two was on the road. Was at home. And the thumb, maybe being on the scale for Watson, was: start two at home. Guess what we're gonna do?
We're gonna put you on the second half. You're going to go against the twos and the threes. And you're going to look great. And you're not going to hear booze. And we're going to get ready for the season together.
We're going to get this out of the way. We're going to turn the page. And that's what coaches want to do. They want to coach you up and your page turning. Your page turning.
Unfortunately, though, Watson looked like hot garbage, and the team did too.
So the thousands of fans that were there booed him again. And all of that old stuff got dredged up and we found out It's going to be tough to turn this page. And Todd Munkin can sit there and say, as well, he should. Because this is what coaches do. They control the controllables.
You can control what you can control. And as he said, it's all about what we do as coaching. Just to get things better. Because if you play better, you don't hear booze and people make you feel welcome. And if that's something that you need as part of your professional career, Then we're going to set you up for success for that, which is what they tried to do in the preseason.
And guess what? Didn't work out. But it's just the preseason. And many coaches have gone into a season saying, I got this, I'm controlling it, and then they find out, as I'm sure Muncin knows, the National Football League in many ways is uncontrollable. Can't control fans, can't control circumstances, the way the ball bounces, things of that nature.
All of it. I get it. But Monkin also knows the first two games of the Cleveland Browns' regular season schedule are guess where? On the road. They're at Jacksonville and at Tampa.
They have If you will, a Florida primary. before the general.
Okay. And I don't know. Problem is, the Jacksonville Jaguars won their division last year, and the Buccaneers. Are a team with a chip on their shoulder, and they would love to just tell everybody we're here too. and Baker Mayfield would love nothing more.
Than to send The Shawn Watson and the Browns home O and Two and stir that thing straight up, and plant the flag on the Browns organization and screw them up.
So royally that they send Watson home off of a multiple interception, dreadful, awful quarterback rating performance. Reuben Bain looks like his short arms ain't a problem, right? And they would Baker would love nothing more than to serve that up And send The Browns' home for Watson's first home start In the regular season, since. The day he can't turn the page from. which he has now fully admitted, To the point where he just didn't care.
that everybody knows what he thinks. That's a problem. But it's there. Or the Browns show everybody we're young, we're good, we got the coach who clearly is in tune with what the problem is and is doing his best to dial things appropriately for success. He gets it.
He knows it again. He put Watson in start one on the road. He put Watson in his second appearance at home in the easiest possible circumstances, and it didn't look good. He knows it. And he knows going to Watson first and turning into Shadur is something Shadur can handle, and Watson can only handle.
So he's doing it. Even though the Browns fan base is like, what are we doing? That's the truth. That's the situation. I didn't see all of this playing out.
Between hearing Watson's the guy He'll be named the guy. And the day Watson is officially the guy, he's been named the guy. I didn't see that in between. Browns fans did, and are basically saying, How did our front office? With all the Ivy League diplomas on the wall, not see it.
And how are they with everybody in town no doubt calling into the radio shows? And if people write letters to the editor anymore. How livid they are about it. Wow. Welcome.
to your first head coaching gig, Todd Munkin. Seriously. And the Browns make it official, as always. With a social media post. That's the way things work in this day and age.
What do you think? 844-204-RICH, number to dial. Got a 49ers four downs. We've got Four guests. We are four wide today.
Albert Breer, top of hour two, to talk about it. We've also got Wyndham Clark in hour three, as red-hot a professional player as there is on the tour, any tour, anywhere on earth. And the reason why is because he watched me win Skins' money in a tournament Back in May. That's absolutely it. I will not rest until I get him to admit it later on.
You inspired him. And Sam Murrill. Nixon 5, Sam Murrell will be joining us at the very funny comedian hour three, and you threw out 844-204-rich. Number to dollar. Marcus Spears, though, is next.
on the Rich Eisen Show. Mm-hmm. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. O'Reilly Auto Parts gets you back to savings. Buy five quarts of Syntec Full Synthetic Motor Oil and get a free MicroGuard Select Oil Filter.
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Here on the Rich Isen Show, Overreaction Monday is already in the books. Chris Brockman and I recorded it before everything has been going down right here on our program. 844-204-Rich being that number to dial right here on the program. Sam. Morrill is going to come here in our number three of our program, and we'll chop up what's going down with.
I don't know if he's a Jet or a Giant fan. Hey, by the way, hey, Jet France. Let's hit this before Marcus Beerce joins us. Got a quarterback. All right.
Hey, for one preseason. Set of snaps. in Pittsburgh, PA. Geno Smith back in the jet green. The football DeLorean.
Okay. By the way, maybe write that down for a fantasy team name. Jeff Delore? No, the football Delore. Oh, football Delore.
The football DeLorean.
There he goes. Setting the time back to whenever he had good times for the Jets, whenever the hell that was. And people were writing him off and then he began to not write back. Right up until the time he got punched in the face. Hey man, don't bring up I.
K. NM Poly to me when I'm feeling good about Geno Smith. I hate this team. Dodger fan. Leaving the Yankees behind, you're not allowed to start ripping on the Jets when I'm feeling good about them.
I've always ripped them. Don't bring me down. Don't bring me down. I'm a child. All right, I'll go there.
Gino shows up. like the Seattle genome.
Okay. Right? Brees Hall shows up. Like First, second year of Brees Hall before he blew out his knee, right? Braylon Allen shows up like the guy from preseason week one who just finds a crease and he takes it to the house.
Garrett Wilson shows up like offensive rookie of the year, Garrett Wilson. A.D. Mitchell shows up like A.D. Mitchell does in every game that he didn't fumble purposely accidentally right before the goal line. Omar Cooper shows up like the kid at the end of the Penn State game when Fernando Mendoza, Mendoza Mania.
Running wild. You know, first really hit Indiana. Right? I like that game. All right.
Hold on, I'm not done yet. Mason Taylor shows up like, you know. Um Brian Kelly going for it, right, on fourth down. Oh, there you go. Right?
Went in a big-time football game way back when he was promising recruits numbers. He took away from them once they showed up. Is this thing on?
Okay. Kenyon Sadiq shows up like the kid, the freak, the f the the freak. Hey The defense for the Jets. Shows up like they did in preseason week number two in Pittsburgh. They had not one, but two.
I said. Two interceptions. Actual interceptions. As in One team throws the ball. And then we got the Jets defense.
And the Jets defense catches it. and takes it away. We talking playoffs or what? I don't know, man. But here we go.
I'm giving you road maps. Make a Fitzpatrick, right? Demario Davis, real solid, long-standing veterans, at least in Davis's case. Let's protect them. Let's stay healthy.
Gets her a higher registered team. Not that bad. Just throwing it all out there, okay? Marcus Spears. Back here on the Rich Islands Show.
How are you, Marcus? Good to see you. What's up? What's up, Rich? Good to see you, man.
What's going on in the Browns locker room right now? Give me your best guess. What's happening? First of all, I want to publicly apologize for privately just getting to you, man. I know we've been texting back and forth.
I'm just happy to be able to be on with you. Listen, I'll be there for you no matter what. You know, unless, of course, one of my kids becomes one of the hottest recruits in all of college athletics. You know, I'll give you a lot of passes, Marcus. Let's put it that way.
Yes, sir. What do you think is going on in the Browns locker room right now? Your best guess. Rich, let me uh I've been hearing the banter, and obviously Deshaun obviously been named the starter. News broke this morning from Shefty.
It's about two hundred and thirty million dollars. The locker room not important. This is ownership unwilling to make a to admit that they made A tremendous mistake bringing Deshaun Watson in. It hasn't worked out since he's arrived there. Unfortunately, he suffered injuries that have derailed him.
I think he's missed almost 50 games, 40-something plus games, since he's shown up there. But this is when we have conversations about the business of football. It's simple for me. I mean, we look, Shadur Sanders should be the starter. One, because you need to figure out if he can play at a very high level.
From a pragmatic standpoint, if he plays well and you still want to move on because you got those first-round picks, now you've increased value for a trade, which would help your organization and franchise. But this is ownership. This had nothing to do with Todd Munkin or Andrew Berry. This is about 230 guaranteed to a player who was coming out of Houston with all of those allegations and dealing with a lot of turmoil. Mentally, I think Deshaun is obviously wrecked from that standpoint, trying to perform with that going on.
And now, you know, the recent press conference is standing up there and talking about the fans and his response to the fans and the booing. I don't think any player should be booed when they get injured, no matter what the circumstances is. But that happened. But the tumultuous relationship that has ensued since he shown up there suggests he shouldn't even be on the team. He shouldn't even be in the locker room.
So, this is why we always, I'm always conflicted because we are such. A quarterback-driven league. And that's the narrative around every single team that we talk to. We won't mention anything without mentioning their quarterback. And this particular situation is the opposite end of the spectrum where everything has gone absolutely wrong.
And you got ownership that's not willing to admit that they made a catastrophic mistake and it's turning their franchise into a joke. is what has become now. You got a young Second-year player that you drafted out of Colorado in Shadur. Um you also have the kid from Oregon that you drafted. And your unwillingness to admit that I made a terrible decision and a terrible mistake with bringing Deshaun Watson here.
What's this, Rich? Four years, five years now that this trade has taken place? It's over. It's bad. Naming him a starter is not going to change anything about your franchise or organization going forward.
You still going to have to find a quarterback if you don't think one is in the building. And obviously, you don't want to give the young guys a shot.
So you're going to be back to square one. Where you were last year. And, you know, this fan base obviously has been through the ringer with the quarterback situation in particular over years. But more importantly, like the unwillingness to admit that the ownership in Cleveland, because that's what this is about. This ain't about a damn coach.
This ain't about a camp competition. This ain't about who throws the out route better or who can scramble. This is about $230 million that we gave to Deshaun Watson, thinking that he would be a franchise quarterback. and the unwillingness to admit That he ain't. And you are going to, the stubbornness of this ownership is going to say, nah, we're going to see and we're going to let him play, and maybe we'll salvage something if by a miracle he comes out and plays out of his mind, which I doubt.
Doesn't want to be there, Rich. He doesn't want to be in Cleveland. He doesn't want to be in Cleveland. when he's playing in front of the home fans. He probably wants to be in Cleveland when he knows that this is the way through.
to another spot. Professionally, he does want to be in Cleveland if he loves his teammates or he does genuinely like them. You know what I mean? Like, this is the reality. And I know what you're, like, you just gave the true reality that you think that.
A big haslum thumb, if not his whole entire body, went on the scale, even though. You know, they admitted before the 2025 draft that they made a mistake with Deshaun. And now here he is back. And the thing is, though, it's just like, where do you stand on Watson's honesty at the podium? You know, where yes, he feels this way, he's a human, he should be able to say it, or You know, he should swallow it and say, you know, I don't like to be booed.
It's just because I haven't played well. I need to play better. We all do. And I hope I get the chance to show everybody. Like, if he had done that, we wouldn't, this thing, this situation wouldn't be like a fully involved house.
Yeah, right. I understand that, Rich. And I think, you know, he obviously could have handled. The press conference is different, but when we put mics in front of guys, we want true honesty. And that's what Deshaun feels.
Um as honest. You know, it's relative to everything that has transpired since he's shown up there. Right, came in with all of that stuff going on in Houston, and Cleveland decided anyway. That we're going to bring him in and he's going to become our franchise quarterback because of what he did in Houston. Let's not forget, okay?
Because. It's okay when you are just fresh in that window outside of what's going on. Because obviously, they felt like it was enough that it was going to, you know, the situation that he had off the field and the legal stuff that he had going on, they felt like that was going to get resolved.
So they made a strictly football decision because of what he had done in Houston. Deshaun was ascending to being one of the top five guys in the league. at the position. And there were arguments being made that he could eventually be the best one.
So that's the football element of it, in which why they gave him $230 million. The circumstances in which you gave him $230 million should have been more evaluated and probably put a little more thought into it. Because now this is why you stop.
So you were playing. I hate this idea, Rich. Um That Everything is a monolith, and it's one way. Deshaun Watson has every damn right to be mad about blowing his Achilles and people cheering. That that would make anybody mad.
Regardless of if you're playing well or you're not. What he doesn't have a right to be mad about is people booing because of football and the way you've played and performed over that period of time. And people boo because your ability to be your unavailability has become as much a part of the play.
So, again, like there's a lot of reasons for these fans to be mad. There's a lot of reasons for them to boo. They're gonna express it, they're gonna tell you how they feel about it. But it really boils down to two sides Two things can be true. I can be absolutely pissed off about somebody booing me after I'm laying on the field with a torn Achilles, and they have every right to boo him based on his play.
And based on what has transpired, giving him $230 million guaranteed to become the franchise quarterback, and you have been unavailable. And when you've been available, you haven't played to the level in which $230 million guaranteed warrants. Marcus Spears, ESPN's Monday Night Countdown, part of a newly revamped and exciting new crew on Monday nights. We'll get to that for a brief bit before we say goodbye to Marcus. The Cowboys this year it just feels more real.
I was saying on our Overreaction Monday show, Marcus, I've been saying it for months, by the way, that they've been in my top five of my POW rankings, whether it's way too soon or not. for months that I was saying that Jerry Jones Uh at best During the summers, it sounds like he's trying to speak things into existence, or at worst, tell you it's raining when it's a different liquid coming from above. You know, this feels real, though, man. It just does f feel real. And I'm wondering what you think.
Marcus. Rich, first of all, I could talk to you all day about sports, man. Like, I love that. I love that the way you address that. You know why I'm excited about Dallas and it's weird?
'Cause it's been quiet. It's been quiet. The George Pickens thing could have turned into what it normally turns into, and it didn't.
Now, it takes both parties to come to an agreement and everything to get settled and situated. He's in camp. Planned out of his mind based on the reports that I've heard, and there's no noise from that regard. You just Quentin Williams gets his contract done. No noise, just going about the business of getting it done.
You got Rashawn Gary, who was traded. That's not loud, but that could be super effective. I think Rashawn Gary is a really good football player. Devon Miller signing, it was very unassuming to get that type of player. And obviously, Vaughn is not the Vaughn we think about that's going to be a gold jacket guy, but he did have nine sacks last year.
Um, The drafting of Caleb Downs just felt super mature, right? Like everything you hear about Caleb Downs, mature football player, the history of safeties here with Darren Woodson, obviously, and the quarterbacking of the defense. The young linebackers have been playing well. The guys are showing up, but more importantly, man, just it's been business as usual. You know, camp fights, cool.
I don't mind that. That shows that you got some fight in you. You know, you got to deal with that. But outside of that, man, just quiet and to your point, going about their business. Rich, I think this team, and I say this like I'm walking a tightrope, I think they're going to be very good.
Mm-hmm. I think this is going to be a very good football team. I think this defense is going to be really, really good as well, and good enough. For what that offense should be doing week in and week out. To give anybody they play against a game.
And I'm looking forward to it. I probably haven't been as excited. About a season for Dallas. Going into the season as much as this one, and it's simply because it's been business, it hasn't been. You know, the noise that we usually get, or some storyline, or some conjuring up from Jerry about what should be going on, or what the narrative is about the Cowboys.
It's a true honest approach to trying to win a championship. The contracts have spoke to that. The draft has spoken to that. And you have a franchise quarterback that you can win a Super Bowl with in Dak Prescott.
Now, I'm not going as far as to say they're going to win a Super Bowl, but this is going to be a playoff football team. And when they get in, you never know, hitting the strides. I tell people every time during the playoffs, you just need a better three hours than the team you're against, not to be better than them. And I love the coach too, man. I love what Schottenheimer's coaching up.
The post-game locker room, and I know that's preseason, I get it. But the brotherhood that that does appear to be building there And what Schottenheimer went through in year one with injuries, and obviously. Marshawn Neely and what was going on with the team. It just seems like a tight-knit group. It seems like they got it.
They've hit it. I love that you said that, man, because what I think. Shoddy has done more than anything. And I've said this. previous probably three, four years ago.
Yeah. And I want to get your opinion on this, Rich. Mm-hmm. It feels like he's insulated the football team. Away from everything that goes on that comes with being a Dallas Cowboy.
Including the owner. Is that what you're saying? Including the owner. Including the owner. And regardless of if their relationship is great, and I think it is, I think Jerry is now starting to kind of acknowledge.
Jerry is realizing. And Jerry probably been at odds with me, probably been mad at me for years. But I think what Jerry is starting to understand is that I have people in this building that can do their job at a very high level. Let me still do my thing and put my stamp where I need to put it. But it seems like the football has just become football.
And that's what I have been screaming for for years, because I think you get to this point. Which we're projecting, but I think you get to this point a little bit faster. And it's not about Jerry not meddling. He's going to be a part of it. He's going to do his interviews and all of that.
But the football of Dallas is what we've been talking about all season. I mean, all offseason. And think about how much of a change that is, Rich, from the conversations of the past five summers. You're right over there, TG? Are you jumping out of your skin over there?
I'm a resident cowboy fan. Your heart's pumping. Yeah, man. Swagu, I think shot it. It really is real.
I really feel that it is real. When you had Rashawn Gary in, what's up, Swagu? We had him in last week. Yeah. You asked about Jerry.
Had he been to his office? Had he met him? And he really made it seem like those two hadn't really crossed paths together. And he's talking about how the Rams were making kind of fun of them for running wind sprints after practice. And George Pickens was like, you know.
Move it, beat it. You know, like he's just standing there, like a team leader, you know. And I'm hearing all, again, I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but I am going to ask you a question that normally I shouldn't ask on the air. Can I keep you for a few more minutes? I've got to take a break.
You good?
Okay. All right. Marcus Spears here on the Rich Eisen Show. We're back with one of our favorites right here on the Rich Eisen Show in just a moment, right here on this busy Monday. Man, lots to talk about.
The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Rich Eisen here with some advice. If high-interest credit card debt is grinding you down, it might be time to call an Audible with a SoFi personal loan. It consolidates your debt into one low monthly payment with no fees required. And with as soon as the same day funding, you can make the right play fast.
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But I think this is a young team that could shock. Shock a lot of people. And Josh Hines Allen. Who rushes the pass as well as anybody in the NFL doesn't get talked about a lot? Um But this defensive line can get after people as well.
And Walker on his extension, like there's a lot to like about Jacksonville. Marcus Spears here on the Rich Eisen Show. Our radio audiences returned in the middle of all that. That was a question. Oh, yeah, ESPN Radio, sir.
That I asked Marcus teams that we're not talking about enough. He gave us Jacksonville in the AFC and the Saints in the NFC. Just to let everyone know, this show is partners with Gusto. We love Gusto. If you don't just do the job when you run a small business, you know you're already the hiring manager, payroll department, and more.
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Slash rich. Marcus Spears is still here with us on the program for just a few more minutes. Listen, I was having fun before about my, I don't have a kid that's going to be the top recruit in all the land, as yours is clearly on the hoop side of things, Marcus. But you know, my son, if he does want to play football, my youngest son, He already is demanding of schools to wear number 84. Are you fine with that if he winds up at LSU, Marcus?
If he demands to wear 84, I'm fine with that. There would be no cease and desist. There would be no shirt. Yeah, for sure, man. Wear it.
Jerseys are made to be worn. There are a few. There are a few people where they should be retired, but I'm okay with that. And Rich, I know what you're getting at, Richie. Look, don't cause no turmoil with me and my LSU family.
But I will say this, and Rich, you know I'm a man. I will say what's on my mind. It is crazy as hell. To send a cease and cis letter over a jersey number that. You ain't retired.
I don't know what Jaden Camp is thinking. I don't know why this even got to this point. Because even if you don't like it, How about we just have conversations with LSU and keep it personal? Um But that's the way I operate. That's, I mean, I know we're in 2026, and you know, everything got to be on TV and so publicized and on social media.
You know, that's crazy as hell to me that you would go to that extent for somebody not to wear five. Rich, listen. Listen. If LSU called me and A D Verge Osbury, called me and said, Hey man, The number one D-lineman in the country wants to wear number 84. I will personally deliver it to his house if it's going to make him sign there.
Like, so again, like, man, it's uh. Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. I think we, it's just a time that we're living in, man. Like, I, you know, call me old school and Rich, you make me this way.
Like, the asking of a Jersey retirement. is nuts to me. I think that's for other people to do. I think that's for the people at LSU to acknowledge and say, you know what, Jaden was so phenomenal with five on, we're never going to let anybody wear it again. And I will say this, and I don't know the statistics on it.
I know he won a Heisman, and that's a big deal. There's a Heisman given out every year. National champion didn't win a national championship, kind of don't, you know, don't know. What team-wise that team will be remembered for? We remember Jaden Daniels, though, and we remember the wide receivers and some good players.
And this is not a knock on him because if they retired, he's only the third highest Metrophy winner in the history of the school. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. This episode is brought to you by ChatGPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons Podcast. Have you guys heard about ChatGPT work?
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