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Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Our long national nightmare is over. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Where is AAROM?
I know the world was saying all types of different things that, you know, I kind of knew for two weeks. Earlier on the show, Jaguars head coach Liam Cohen. Coming up. Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman. Rams general manager Les Snead.
And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Marcus Freeman of Notre Dame Football will be joining us in just a matter of moments, in about 20 minutes' time. Lesneed, the general manager of the Los Angeles Rams, is going to join us in hour number three of this program. I wonder if there's anything to talk about with him.
844-204-Rich is there to have a chat with all of us here on this program. Over Reaction Monday, Chris Brockman and I have already recorded it. And that's in your RSS feed if you want to listen, or there's our YouTube channel, youtube.com/slash Rich Eisen Show. You got that Bill O'Brien drop? Remember, you know, because he says this to his quarterback every day.
You know, he says it every day to his quarterback. Um as he said to the uh um If you don't have it, you don't have it, Mike. It's okay. Your trigger finger is a little bit off right there. Yeah.
Because what's up, Trevor, every day. Anyway, long story short, there's only one guy in the history of the Jacksonville Jaguars who coached a team to more wins than this man did in last year. In his 13-win AFC South Championship season. That would be Tom Coughlin back in the day when they won 14 games. What's him, Trevor?
There you go.
Well done. Liam Cohen back here on the Rich Hat Show. How are you, coach? Good to see you, man. How are you?
Hi guys. What's going on in your neck of the world? Oh, man. Just trying to finalize rosters here and getting ready to go. I was about to say: what is that process like for you?
Well yeah. Yeah, it's it's you know, James Gladstone is in the personnel department doing a phenomenal job, but It's collaborative. We're constantly trying to upgrade and create competition and within your own roster. And then obviously having to look outside a little bit as players are getting cut, released. Potential trades.
It's kind of non-stop within this window right now, but it's going to settle in here pretty quickly.
Well, and let's jump into that one right here. Don't usually start an interview with a guy who won a division the year before with stars on the roster to talk about the backup quarterback position, but it is a crucial position. In the National Football League, and you went ahead and acquired Quinn Ewers from. The Dolphins, another team. And so, how do you.
Like walk me through a mindset uh to to To go ahead and get somebody who you're going to have to bring up to speed, if you will, two weeks before a season. Yeah, definitely a challenge to get him onboarded here in the short term. And I think Quinn, you know, I really followed him a ton at Texas. We interviewed him coming out of the draft and really liked the guy. He's got a great center, you know, football.
He gets the quarterback position. He's played it at a high level. He was highly recruited, five-star quarterback, all those things. But really appreciated what he put on tape last year in Miami when he got some of those opportunities to go play, beat Tampa in one of those games there back at home. And I thought he did some really nice things.
He's got arm talent, that's for sure. And now it's just about getting him on board. Nick Mullins and Joey Aguilar are here right now as well with us. And all these guys are all hands on deck trying to get him up to speed. Spencer Whipple, our quarterbacks coach, obviously very involved.
And myself and Grant Yudinski will be a little bit more involved with Trevor as we lead up into the game. And obviously Trevor coming off of a remarkable season last year. What do you feel like You together unlocked in Trevor Lawrence that's going to cascade over to 2026. Coach. Yeah, I think just being him, like being the best version of himself.
I mean, when you try to sometimes do too much or you've been in multiple systems, and now even in year two of our system, you may look to do too many different things. And when Trevor keeps it simple, goes through a read, and then, hey, man, he doesn't like it. He has the opportunity in athleticism. To use his legs as a weapon. It's something that we benefited greatly from last season, especially in the red zone.
And just continuing to urge him to be himself, to go be the quarterback that you are while using your arm as a weapon. But don't forget about using your legs. And that's such a huge advantage. I know our defensive staff hates preparing for a quarterback that can extend plays with his legs and be able to get out of the pocket and make plays.
So just encouraging him to continue to be him. I thought we saw a really great version of him towards the back end of the year as he got more comfortable. And we've got some playmakers that he can get the ball to in space. And we protect him, good things can happen. Yeah.
And just seeing him. have a command. you know, in a way that uh I Feels like an extension of you. You know what I mean? Like, and that's what you want to see as a fan, or certainly from somebody in my position.
I want to see how is the coach and quarterback connected.
So how would you say he is an extension of you? This guy works extremely hard. I don't know if he gets enough credit for his preparation, the way that he goes through a game plan. He's a smart dude that gets it, but he works extremely hard at it. We put a lot on our quarterback, right?
As you know, I mean, there's a lot that goes into playing the position in the NFL in general, but specifically in this system, what he's asked to do from protections, kills, Oscars, alerts, all those things that he has to do. Never mind, just snap the ball and go execute a play. He works at it. Our relationship, I can't be happier about it from in terms of. Both on and off the field.
We've been able to spend more time together since the season ended, spent a lot of time this spring working together. I've got a tremendous amount of respect for Trevor, both as a player and as a person. And I think his leadership is just continuing to grow and escalate in terms of. Man, he can go. This is his team.
And I want it to be that way. We all do. And so he has the ability to let players know: hey, man, this is the standard. This is what I'm looking for from you and continue to demand more from himself and his teammates.
So are the Cohens and the Lawrences having a game night? Is that what you're saying? We were able to spend time, Rich, out at the Super Bowl this year. Obviously, he was up for the comeback player of the year, and we were out there to celebrate him and be able to spend some more time together. And I got a different side of Trevor.
I got a little bit of the person seeing him off the field, his responsibilities that he has when he has to go to some of these events and some of the fundraising and the volunteer work that he did. He's such a special dude in terms of in our community here in Jacksonville, what he does for the people, the fans, the kids. He and his family have really made an impact here. Liam Cohen, head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, here on The Rich Eisen Show. Despite Trevor's terrific year, You know, Brian Thomas Jr.
had a step back from his rookie season. What's the third year Brian Thomas Jr. going to look like? Do you think, Coach? I'm excited to see it.
I am. I really have been extremely pleased with. The way that he's attacked this offseason starting from the spring. When we got back here in OTAs, Th this guy was locked in. really took to some of the three better, three best ways that we talk about development and things that we need to improve upon, but also lean into the great things that he's able to do.
He's attacked this offseason in the right way. His relationship with Trevor, I mean, you got to go back and think in twenty four, They didn't play together a ton, right? A lot of that season, uh, Trevor was hurt, and so really building on that chemistry, that relationship, he's been extremely engaged, he's been awesome to work with. Uh, and he can roll, man. When he's playing at a high level, our offense is just different.
It is, and so he has that ability to draw you know, number one coverage on the defensive side of the ball. Uh, you know, you have to double him sometimes if you feel like he's getting past the third level of the defense.
So, we're really excited about it. We've seen some really cool stuff this offseason so far. Yeah, and you got Jacoby Myers for a full year now. Um, you know, Parker Washington had a great step-forward season last year.
So you know where I'm going with this one, 'cause you know how I feel about this player. Do we see Travis Hunter in this wide receiver groom coach? Yeah, absolutely. He'll definitely be packaged on offense to be able to get him some opportunities on offense. There's been a steady increase in his defensive work just by nature of where we're at on defense and continuing to try to create some consistency.
And what I told him was: hey, we want you to be a game record, we want other teams to put you on their list. As somebody that they have to prepare for and have a plan for. And so there's been a lot of detail and time on task this offseason. He'll absolutely have a plan on offense where we're, look, I can't coach some of the things he can do with the ball. And so we're going to continue to try to put him in positions where he can be successful with a major focus being obviously on the defensive side right now.
Yeah, I mean, you talk about a steady workload coach. I mean, the steady conversation in my end of the business. Based on the steady workload on the defensive side of the ball, is that the idea of Travis Hunter being a two-way player. is over. Uh would what would you say to that?
Narrative. I'd say not so fast. You know, let's let's let's pump the brakes and just Give the guy a chance to get back from obviously a pretty serious injury in which he's worked his tail off to get himself into the position where he can continue to do those things. What the exact number of reps looks like, I can't say right now, but I do know that he's a playmaker. He's somebody that we want to get the ball on his hands to.
And what that looks like, we're continuing to work through. But, you know, I'd love to see some guys maybe give him a little grace and time to understand what he just went through and the work that he's put in. I'm extremely proud of him to be at the point that he's at right now. I think he's got a shot to be pretty good. Yeah, I know your job is not to manage expectations in the media.
But your job is to definitely, I'd imagine, how much of your job is to manage his expectations? Because I imagine he wants all the snaps on, you know, just like in Colorado, just like the reason why you went and moved up a spot to go draft him as high as you did, right? Yeah, he's a competitor, man. That's the whole reason why we drafted him. Obviously, the two-way ability was a huge part of it, but it was truly why we drafted Travis Hunter was because of the human.
Because of the competitor, because of the football and natural play style that he has, the energy that he brings on a day-to-day basis into our building. You know, the room lights up when he comes in the room. And so he just gets it. He's a football player through and through. And we're going to work with him to get to being the two-way player that he wants to be.
We all want to see it. It's also, like you mentioned, hey, making sure that we're taking the proper steps and getting him back, obviously, from the injury that he had and continuing to be patient, but also understand: hey, we want to try to get you involved here as much as possible. A few minutes left with Jaguars head coach Liam Cohen here on The Rich Eisen Show. Walk me through how you view your running back room because, you know, you did lose to Travis. For sure.
He's now uh in New Orleans. Walk me through your plans for your running back room, if you don't mind. Yeah, I think that this group is eager, hungry. Um have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. You know, they hear everything out there as well.
And so we look, we can't replace what TJ was able to do for us at times last year, right? Like, that's not the case. We're looking for consistency, efficiency, and for these guys to just go be themselves because they're not going to compare themselves or we're not going to do that to those guys, right? They're totally different players. I think Tooton has had a really good camp, especially the last two weeks.
In his joint practices against Carolina and Tampa. I thought Chris Rodriguez coming in, being somebody that I have a lot of experience with and have worked with in the past. Being a little bit more of that thump and be able to get some of those difficult, hard yards that we all know you need in this league. LaQuinn Allen is one of our running backs that's specific to third down, and he's our pass protector. He's a savage.
Love him. And then Amir Abdullah is a guy that's a twelve year, I think, vet. That just continues to do the right things. He's a great example in the room, but he also has some juice too now. And so we're excited about that room, Rich.
I think it's a room that's going to maybe surprise some people. Yeah, and your defense was takeaway machine last year, and Devin Lloyd no longer being there. It's another opportunity for you to rally your guys and basically tell everybody the opportunities are there. And in that regard, You mentioned chip on your shoulder before I let you go here. Kind of spend a little bit of time before the show on the NFL Network site counting up all the Caleb Williams photographs that I saw.
Uh Seemed to be that wasn't a shot at Caleb or when I was over there. That just so happened to be on the show. I'm having a little bit of fun. I'm having a little bit of fun. But it's more so the point that you're making is the point I was making.
Yes. Guys, we know it's not out there. We understand that. But our whole motto is: you know, anyone, anytime, anywhere. And that's the mindset we have to have as a team.
Got a ton of respect for every opponent that we play against, but we have a lot of respect and appreciation for the locker room that we have and the team of staff that we have here. And that's the focus, right? It's more so we can't control the narrative. We can't control the outside respect other than just doing our jobs and going and putting the best product out there for our fan base and the people that truly support us. Yeah.
I mean, and because again, You're not going to be sneaking up on anybody. That's for damn sure. Certainly when you go to Denver week two. I mean, they're they're They're going to be ready, and you know that. I mean, and again, I know you weren't making fun of Caleb Williams and you respect the hell out of him, but.
You're kind of making a point here: is that you won the division last year. A lot of folks are looking at you. as potentially take a step forward and others are not. And I'm just wondering how you are, what you're going to say to your team, you think. Yeah, it's You know?
We have a challenging schedule every year in this league. It's a challenge, right? And you have to earn it every given Sunday. And that's all we're really trying to focus on. We know that we're going to be going to some hostile environments.
And so how we prepare and how we continue to train in this weather here in Jacksonville, we feel is an edge for us. We feel like it gives us a mental and physical edge. Being down here and training in these elements, and we have to use every little advantage that we have to use as an edge. And so, when you go to Denver and you go to some of these other difficult places to play, hey, look, guys, we've been in difficult atmospheres. We train in it, we're ready for it.
And our guys are preparing for that. They understand that, look. We're not going to probably sneak up on many teams this year, but it's about us, it's about our internal focus. And not as much on the opponent. You get into it in game week, you know who their good players are, you go through their scheme, but it's ultimately about our execution, our effort, and our edge.
Yeah, and my last one for you. If you don't mind, I'm going to go beyond the week-to-week stuff here, man, because the goal is to go to the Super Bowl. The goal is to take Jacksonville to its first ever Super Bowl. And of all places. Here in Los Angeles, where you used to be part of the Ram staff, and everybody's expecting now that Aaron Donald is back.
For the Rams to be here on that day as well. What would it mean for you? To be the first head coach for Jacksonville to take a team to a Super Bowl and potentially win one here in Los Angeles. Maybe even against the Rams. Coach, what would that mean?
And that's the goal, right? It's every team's goal, I think, when you head into a new season. But I think our guys have confidence, Rich. I think our guys have confidence that we are a good football team, but we have to go prove it. And for me personally, This is all about trying to continue to create a respectable product.
that our fan base, community, ownership, Can all be proud of. Like, that's what we're hunting up. We're hunting up giving this city an organization that they can continue to be proud of and respect. And that's, you have to go take it. You have to go earn it in this league.
Nobody's going to give you anything. You had a good year last year. Absolutely. That's great. It's really about what we're trying to do right now.
To be able to go and play in LA would be amazing and compete against whoever that would be. And that is the end game. That's the goal. But definitely trying to take it one day at a time. Hey, man, great chatting with you.
Thanks again. I always enjoy our chats. Thanks again. I appreciate it, Rich. I'll tell Tony Khan he said hello.
Yeah, please do. We got his neck brace over there still. We got that still going on. A fame neck brace. Thanks again, Coach.
You be well. That's Liam Cohen, everybody, head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Again, one of our favorites. And again, Travis Hunter, I got to see him bum both sides of the ball. I know you know.
I'm always going to be pounding that trunk. I know. He's just so damn special. And the coach has got this team pointed in the right direction, which is at the opponent. Salty.
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Rich Eisen Show is back on ESPN Radio along with Disney Plus and the ESPN app. Marcus Freeman, head coach of Notre Dame football, is here. You know, I met CJ Carr for the first time as a little kid, you know, at a couple of Michigan events. Um it was Probably like six years old. And I had a great chat with him the other day.
He's just a really good kid with a lot of great stuff, you know, inside and the head and his shoulders. What's it like coaching him? Oh man, you it's almost like you create a A player. And what does that mean is that If you want a competitive football player that's a winner that is a leader That prepares, like he does all those different things, and he's gifted with ability. But I think the thing that you just mentioned is off the field, he's.
Just the perfect individual. I know he's perfect, but he is such a great human being. And it's a pleasure to coach him and be around him and to grow with him. And add on top of that, he's a heck of a quarterback. And so he's making our team better.
And as I told him, that's his greatest responsibility. It's not to. Throw touchdowns, win the Heisman, be a first-round pick. It's to Be the best leader he can be and make his teammates better. Because if he does that, the rest of it will take care of itself.
But that said, I mean, the Heisman hype is already beginning. How do you handle that as a coach? I think my job is to continuously remind him of where his focus should be, and that winning the Heisman is a reflection of a lot of different things. And so he can either waste time focusing on winning the Heisman, or he can continue to focus on the things that will make him the best football player he can be. And he does that.
But we all need reminders. And that's my job: continuously remind him of. What things are important? How do we take pressure off of you? When you think about winning the Heisman and winning national championships, those, those, that's high pressure.
Raim, it's overwhelming. But when you think about it, I got to have a good Monday and I got to be the best teammate I can be, and I got to encourage guys, I got to hold them accountable, and I got to prepare. We can handle that. And that's where his focus has to be continuously. I had my fun with him a little bit when we chatted, coach, because I asked him about how being left out of the college football playoffs last year affected him and how it's going to be potentially a chip on the shoulder of the team this year.
And he's like, not really. And then he revealed your motto for the year is leave no doubt. I'm like, hold on a minute. Like, that's not just coming out of the ether.
So is that your message? Leave no doubt? Based on last year? It's the interpretation of the message. A lot of people are running with this thought of, oh, we have a chip on our shoulder.
We have to leave no doubt this year because of what happened last year. No, I use it and we use it as a reminder to leave no doubt today. That this is the best Monday, that you prepared tremendously, you did everything you were supposed to do to elevate on this Monday. And that's how we're using that as a program: to leave no doubt with what we have guaranteed. And that's this game in front of us, that's the opportunity we have today, and a chance to get better.
And so, if we do that over and over and over and over. Then we'll leave no doubt for the season. But we're not focusing on that. We're using about leave no doubt today. Yeah, I know, but you're you're a whip smart individual.
You're Leave no doubt, like those moments that that put an L on your sheet. That cost you? Like, leave no doubt, because you could have. You could have won right I mean you you do see that part of it. Oh, yeah, 100%.
And here's how we also use it: we left doubt last year. And it's our ability to not make an excuse and blame somebody else for not getting into the playoffs or not getting what we want. I think if every opportunity that's a negative situation, you can either blame somebody else, but then you don't use it. How do you use it to get better? But if all of a sudden you say, we left out.
So it's our job to leave no doubt.
Now you use it as an opportunity to evaluate everything you've done. We evaluate everything we did from January to fall, I mean, through August, to say, how do we make sure that we're better prepared for week one? No matter who the opponent is, I don't care if it was Miami last year or Wisconsin this year, how do we ensure that we are at a higher elevation that doesn't determine the outcome of the game? That doesn't determine, it's not determined by what the score of the game was. It was determined by: are we intentional about how we practice, how much we practice, how much film?
Are we a fresher team? All these different areas to make sure we're ready to go week one. Marcus Freeman here on The Rich Eisen Show. If you don't mind, I ask this of all your colleagues with your stature in the sport. You could wave a wand.
and make a rule. to do something. about getting more sense of what appears to have few rules that everybody follows together. in the sport, what would it be? Oh man.
What would it be? That is a uh a tough question to answer with just one With one thing.
Well, if you want to expand it, go for it. You know, it's it's I think of a couple different things, right? I think of what's best for young people, the ability to transfer every year. whenever they want or to The ability to transfer maybe one time or whatever we come up with, but I don't think it's. It's best for young people to be able to transfer non-stop.
Without some type of not punishment, but a you there's something that your something is taken away, which could be you have to sit out a year. And I say that because. When you you have to learn to overcome Discomfort. You have to learn to overcome adversity. And It's not always aligned to do that when at the end of the season, if you don't love the situation you're at, or maybe somebody's offering you more money, do you just get up and transfer every time?
And so I am such an advocate for young people. And I might not have understood this at 18 to 22, but I understand this now at my age. And that we have to continue to find ways to help them learn to be self-sufficient and overcome some different challenges. And where do you stand on the fact that high school is no longer just the only feeder system into college, the National Football League as well? Where do you stand on that front?
Coach?
Well, we I think I was asked that in a press conference the other day. We, you know, we can't, number one, admit a kid into school this late and think that they'll have a chance to succeed in the classroom and on the field. And so our AD came out and said he's in alignment with the Big Ten and the SEC with not allowing guys that have signed professional contracts to come back to school. And so I'll let that speak for itself. But at the same token, like for me, when they say, The young man will not be prepared to have success if we admit them into school.
We started school last week and they've gone through all their admissions process. Like, that makes a lot of sense. We don't want to put these young people in jeopardy.
Well, the thing I was talking about here, too, is: what about all the kids that? were busting their butts in spring and summer. Thinking that they have earned a spot, earned a certain number of snaps, and then all of a sudden the Cleveland Browns cut somebody and you're going to have them come on a team two weeks before the season and say, Welcome, you know, come on. Like, that ain't easy either. That's not easy, and it's not right.
And somebody could argue that, hey, okay, what if you get somebody hurt for the year? Because you can replace a guy that's out for the entire season. I just still don't, I don't think that's great for college football to be able to do that. All right. A couple more minutes left with Marcus Freeman entering sixth season as Notre Dame head coach.
Who is. A worse helicopter, dad, Jerome Bettis or Larry Fitzgerald. Those two, you don't ever see him around. You see him at the game. You see him at the game.
they they support their their sons it's sometimes it's those ones that that maybe didn't play that uh They might be around more than the Larry Fitzgeralds and the Jerome Bettises.
Okay, so they're not helicoptering anywhere? No. Not making demands of uniform numbers or anything like that? We're not saying anything? No, no, no.
Now, like, I'm not listening to the one-on-one conversations.
Okay. I don't see my son's a wrestler at Cornell in his first year, and I'm never there. But now we do have some conversations on the phone that maybe somebody says, man, you're a helicopter dad.
Well, that's through the phone. All right. But they're not here at practice or things like that. That's a bummer. It would be pretty cool to have them around at some point, imagine.
Not too bad. They're accessible. I'll tell you that.
Okay, that's cool. And let's talk about your favorite Jeremiah Love story because he's on a launching pad right now. out there in Arizona. What do you got for me? Your favorite?
Jeremiah Love's story, Marcus. There's a lot of them, but the probably the one that sticks out is when we were doing a home visit when he was in high school, and I saw him at school and I said, Hey, we'll be at your house tonight. And we beat him to the house. And so his father and mother were giving us a kind of a tour of the house. And right in his room, like he had these perfectly aligned shoes, right?
I can't remember how many there were, but they were perfectly aligned. And I think we started looking at him. There's a couple coaches there, and his dad said, Don't touch one of those shoes because if you do, he'll notice. He knows exactly how they're placed. And that's a little bit of who he is, man.
He is, he wants everything placed perfectly, his locker perfectly. And, you know, that was something that I always remember about him. Did you think about maybe testing that out by touching one of his shoes and seeing? No, I didn't know him that well at the time. I was a little bit worried, like, man, is this dude, what's going on?
Is he going to come after us? Or something happens with his shoes. But Nick, once you get to know him, it's a little bit of that OCD. He. He wants it perfectly.
He wants everything aligned the way he has it. Yeah, I think that that would be helpful maybe for a football player and, you know, more that way than sort of like a stepbrother's drum set moment, which you don't want to have. You know, but just seeing him in the preseason action. It's just one of those things. Clearly, obviously, we're watching your games, but to see him with professional football players.
You could just see he's got it. You know, people were mentioning Adrian Peterson type of. you know, build and burst and things like that. Um which is a high praise. I I don't mean to put it on him, but he just looks at Right now.
That is high praise, man. I remember watching, I actually played against Adrian Peterson in the high school All-American game, and he made me look stupid in that game. And I watched him as he went on his college and his pro career, he did that to many other people. But I've only saw clips of one game where Jeremiah played, and I think it's this one versus the Raiders. And you saw him jump over somebody, you saw him do that spin move.
I always, even in college, I held my breath every time he had the ball because. I worried about man him getting hit when he did one of these spin moves, or you know, he's just got this unique body where I used to call him gumbo. Like, he's like, he can take hits and not get injured, but You know, I'm sure when he's in the air in the NFL, that GM and that owner saying, hey, man, keep your feet on the ground. And so I just want him to stay healthy because if he does, he'll play a long time. Yeah, I was watching that game next to Michael Robinson and Maurice Jones Drew on the NFL Network set.
And every single time that he did that, they're like, keep your feet on the ground, kid. Don't do that. But he's got such an incredible skill set. And obviously, being drafted as high as he was, that's why we're talking about him. Before I let you go, let's talk about Jadarian Price.
Jadarian's got like this opportunity here. He's playing for the defending Super Bowl Champs. Who dispatched or let the Super Bowl MVP walk? from that spot. How good do you think he can be?
What are you hearing from him as well? I know that's two questions in one, but what do you have on that front? I remember having a conversation with him after the season, saying, Hey, You know, you can come back here and be RB1 and to get all these carries and show the NFL, what you do with the opportunity to be RB1. And, you know, he obviously went to the NFL and still became a first-round draftic.
So now it's going to be interesting to see him do it at that level. And I'm as confident in him because of the way he works. Shadarian is a team-first guy, but will work tirelessly to be the best version of him. He's on a great, a great team with a great coach. And, you know, his running backs coach is Thomas Hammack, who was the head coach of Northern Illinois, who I've gotten to know a little bit.
And he reached out after they drafted him and maybe had minicamp and said, he's everything you told me he was going to be. And I'm excited to see what the fruits of his labor become here his first year as a rookie in the NFL.
Well, I say to you, sir, thank you as always for joining here. Best of luck to you, certainly against Michigan State. You and I. You know, we see each other like we see each other on that one. You would know where that's coming from.
And and you know, say hi to everybody when they're coming through. Jerome and Larry are two of my favorite people. I just saw them in Ohio for the Hall of Fame. And And I can't wait to see what you do with CJ Carr this year. Absolutely, man.
I appreciate it. I'll let him know you said hello. Please. And always, it's a pleasure to be on your show. I appreciate that.
I appreciate that. That's Marcus Freeman, the head coach of Notre Dame football, getting set to take on Wisconsin in Lambeau Field of all places on NBC. That'll be a lot of fun right here on the Rich Eisen Show. That's Marcus Freeman. Boom.
Love it. I think he's protecting Jerome. I think Jerome's a helicopter. We don't know. I saw both of them in Ohio, obviously.
Jerome, he's so. He's so psyched. Yeah. Wow, of course. He's so psyched.
Because he's like, you know, CJ Card. Just like me. Could have played for Michigan, but we decided to go to Notre Dame. All right, enough. Enough.
I get it. I get it. Both from Michigan. You could have played there. No, you go to Notre Dame.
I get it. Yeah. That was fun. All right, we take a break. Denver Broncos, four downs, and I've got also Les Need coming up.
And your phone calls at 844-204-RICH, right here on the Rich Isaac Show. Rich Eisen here for Gusto. On my shows, we talk a lot about what happens in the spotlight, the games, the highlights, and the moments that get replayed and debated. But in any successful operation, what happens behind the scenes matters just as much. Small businesses are no different.
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I've got myself a four-down season preview of the Denver Broncos. Boy, we're getting down to the nitty and the gritty now, huh? We don't have many teams left to season preview. No time. Go ahead and hit it.
Four downs with Ridge. Here we go. Why did he suck him? All right, four downs on the Denver Broncos season preview. Here are the burning questions, number one.
Davis Webb is calling the plays now, right? Mm-hmm. But. With all due respect to him, this is the way I'm asking the question first down. What in the world does Sean Payton not calling the plays look like?
What does that look like? Because again, you know, obviously Davis Webb. Will be the one in Bo Nix's ear. And it is remarkable that Sean Payton has decided to not be the guy in Bo Nix's ear. Head coaches Are the most control-freakish people I've ever met?
And Super Bowl winning head coaches. With Hall of Fame resumes. As Sean Peton has. Um Are the most control freakish people. And so he's gonna go ahead and just hand it over.
What does it look like? You know, two minutes to go, four minutes to go. Davis Webb is standing there, and Sean's just like arms crossed. To right hand, just pacing down the sideline. Like, what does it look like?
Curious. You know? And um That's first down. Second down. Second down.
The waddle effect. Hmm. Jalen Waddle on this team, what in the hell is that gonna look like? It's Cortland Sutton, you know, big, tall, physical guy. Then there's the other guys that are on the team with all due respect.
And now this kid comes in. For a first round pick, what's it going to look like? What's this? What burst to this offense will we see from number 17? You know, Broncos have not really had anybody like him.
and the Sean Payton. World. I remember before that too. What will the Waddle effect be? How will that open the run game?
What will he be in terms of, you know, first down guy, second down guy, third down guy? Is it third and waddle, right? Or is it what we're going to have here? First and Sutton, third and waddle, you know, or is it first and waddle, third and sutton? I don't know.
It's going to be really fascinating to see. Along with the running back room, R.J. Harvey, how many carries is he going to get with Dobbins? McLaughlin and the rest of that group. Third down.
Third down. Can the Broncos defense hit 70 sacks? Fed 68 last year.
So close.
Okay. Last team to have 76 was the 2022 Eagles. It's only happened four times. Sheesh. Can the Broncos be the fifth that came close last year?
You know, Jonathan Cooper starting the season on the On the commissioner's exempt list, not going to help, but I'm telling you, man. They're that freaking good. Vance Joseph dialing it up. Can they get 70 sacks? Fourth down.
Fourth down. Simple question, but I think it's on everybody's minds. And it speaks to the leap that he could potentially take. Can Bo Nix make. The gear three boneks make Him in MVP finals.
Can we get there? Can we get the next step up? Can we get him? Throwing those deep balls. Can we get him?
Making shaking care of the football. Can we get him? Just being dominant. Dominant, taking over a game. and doing it with consistency.
as we have seen him do on occasion. Can we get an MVP finalist campaign out of Bo Nicks this year? It's a tall order, but this is a Super Bowl-worthy team. This is a roster that can win a Super Bowl. This is a head coach that's won a Super Bowl.
It's there. They can win their division. They can win this conference. They can win this league 100%. because of any team that could possibly If they see the Rams, as they will in week three.
Possibly. Keep your quarterback upright with Donald and Garrett coming at you. The Broncos arguably have the best offensive line in the league. Mentioned it now or number one, I mentioned it here. And that's my four downs on the Denver Broncos.
Any thoughts? Anything I missed here? Yeah, I like the wide receiver room.
So like that one. Definitely, yeah, you know, a lot riding on boneks. His health. I think he's healthy. I'm not concerned about his health.
Okay. I don't think that's an issue. I really don't. Certainly, if the ankle was one lurking, well, it lurked and it hit at the worst possible time, and it's been fixed. Right.
Arguably. Broncos have eighth best AFC odds. That sucks. That is crazy to me. Bo Nick.
Give me the teams with seven better odds in the AFC than you.
Okay. You want to guess? Sure, obviously there's the Bills, there's the Ravens. Yep, one and two. There's the Chiefs.
The Chiefs, yeah, third. Are the Chargers even better than them? The chargers. Uh Bengals, Patriots, Texans. With all due respect to the 17th.
That's nuts. How do you take a team that was One sec. ankle snap away from having a much better chance At winning the ASC Championship game in their house. And the one seed that they earned. They arguably got better just 'cause Nick's is back healthy and Waddles been added.
You know, Sean Payton told us in London last year when we called that Jets Broncos game, he told us that the guy, you know, Harvey is really special, the one that's. admittedly holding him back. is Sean Payton. Right. And maybe that that's been removed now that Davis Webb is calling place.
I don't know. That kid's going to be better? I'm not arguing with you. I think they should be fourth at worst. I don't get it.
What do you just think that Knicks isn't a good enough quarterback? And. And there's going to be regression to the regression? I don't know. Less needs joining us in hour three coming right up.
Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show Podcast. You can watch and listen to The Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app, The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Hey, before you go, if your Saturday setup involves a packed living room, big reactions, and maybe a celebration that goes too far, your walls need to be ready. Bear Ultra Interior Paint adds an extra durable, stain-blocking finish that holds up for the whole season and beyond. It covers in fewer coats, goes on smooth, and helps walls stay looking new for longer.
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