REShow: Daniel Jeremiah - Hour 1

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Oh, it looks good on you, though. Today's guests, NFL Network analyst, Daniel Jeremiah. From NBC Sports, Peter King. Senior writer for The Athletic, Nicole Auerbach. Plus, Baseball Hall of Famer, Pedro Martinez. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

Yes, it is. Welcome to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show, live from Los Angeles, California. I'm your humble host sitting in the chair here on NBC Sports on Peacock. And we say hello to our Sirius XM Channel 85, NBC Sports audio audience, and our Odyssey app audience. And, of course, our terrestrial radio listeners coast to coast on The Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio network. Our podcast listeners, we say hello to you.

YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show for everything that you may miss over the next three hours. All 32 teams in the National Football League have training camps open, and it is glorious. Football is back. We made it, people. We made it. We made it.

It was a long seven months, man. As Barry Manilow might say, we made it through the rain. And, by the way, right around, if this is a Barry Manilow song, right around the end of hour two will be a key change. And we'll just go higher. That's when we get Pedro Martinez calling in. Oh, baby. Gonna go to a memory lane. Hey, David Ortiz is in the Hall of Fame with him. The Red Sox won last night. It's great. We're back. Yes. The energy has shifted. We didn't give up 8,000 runs. Go figure.

The energy has finally shifted. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you, brother? Good to see you.

Hey, man. Look, Mac Jones is a top ten quarterback, and I am excited. D.J.

Mikey D. is in D's nuts. Good to see you over there. Good to see you.

I like Mac Jones, too. T.J. Jefferson has lit the candle already. What have you got over there? I'm just all twisted over here with my necklace and everything. I'm having a moment right now. You gotta focus. You gotta focus. There we go. We're back. This is great.

Focus. Listen, this is how we're starting the show. I'm gonna make a very bold claim.

Oh, gee. A very bold claim. This is gonna be the best show we've ever had in almost eight years.

This show is gonna be the best show we've ever had. Why would I say such a thing? This is because there's one reason. Because Chris Brockman. D.J.

Mikey D. T.J. Jefferson. It's a team effort. And I will just tell everybody who's listening and watching. All three of these guys did their independent study last night. Yeah, I did. I actually did.

It's going to be showing up in this show in ways that you perhaps can't even imagine. These guys went home and got on their iPads. And did all four hours. That's required of them every week on this program to do independent study. Chris, you gotta do your independent study on putting together the best possible overreaction Mondays. And the best possible what's more likelies.

The best possible postings on social media. Mike Del Tufo, your independent study is frightening. I don't know what you're doing. Take that for data. Thank you.

D.J. Jefferson, your independent study. You went out last night.

I'm back in the world. And you still even did your independent study. Of course. Because I know.

I'm a professional. I have put monitors in all of your homes. Oh no. Oh, you saw that? I've done it.

Uh oh. You saw that you focused. You didn't just turn your tablets on. I have taken a page out of the Arizona Cardinals playbook. You should do that.

Thank you very much. I have done that. I have done that because, you know, even though your natural talents take you to a certain spot. And you have shown your ability here on this program with your natural talents, just your regular instincts in real time on this program. I've seen it happen.

With microphones in front of you. It's gotten us this far. Facts. But I think you guys needed a little bit more study time to focus on the Rich Eisen show.

I'm always trying to hold my craft. And, you know, you guys may have balked at the clause I put in all your contracts. But you eventually signed it and I appreciate your commitment. We have contracts?

With the program. I appreciate your commitment. Yeah, sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mine has two hundred and thirty million in it. I've been I've been I've been around this football world for a while. I'm pleased to say. OK. And I've never heard of anything like this before in my entire life.

I've been around the sports world. I've never heard anything like this in my entire life, certainly when you're generationally enriching the individual who you do not trust to do the hard work on their own time. It is called an independent study amendum between Arizona Cardinals, the club and Kyler Murray player for the contract years of twenty twenty two to twenty twenty seven and the club option for twenty twenty eight, which means the independent study time starts now. What does that mean?

Independent study. What does this mean? Well, item I guess item one under the category thirty six. This is what the player agrees to satisfy the following off field requirements. Line one player shall complete at least four parentheses number four hours of independent study parentheses as defined below each week parentheses excluding any by week. Oh, he's off for by week during each playing season as defined below during the term of the contract.

Let's go to below. Independent study means player studies the material provided to him by the club in order to prepare for the club's next upcoming game, including without limitation, any such material provided via an iPad or other electronic device. Time spent in mandatory meetings shall not constitute independent study.

You're not an independent when you're in a meeting player shall receive no credit for independent study, zero credit for independent study for any period during which player does not personally study the provided material in good faith. In good faith. Wait a minute, this keeps going for the avoidance of doubt. The avoidance of doubt. Write that down, Chris. That might be a great.

Avoidance of doubt. That's pretty good. Or is that just a is that a cover band that you don't want to go to and your friend invite you? Yeah, that sounds like a 90. Hey guys, good.

Come to this bar. Avoidance of doubt is having its new we're dropping our new album, our new song. Whose headline? Players shall not receive any credit for independent study with respect to any time periods during which any material is displayed or played on an iPad or other electronic device. If a player is not personally study or watching the material while it is being displayed or played or be player is engaged in any other activity that may distract his attention. For example, watching television, playing video games or browsing the Internet.

While such material is being displayed or played, I don't think Kyler's playing Ms. Pac-Man. Watch out for banking. Pretty good.

Here comes Clyde. It's pretty good. Just three words. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. That's three.

She's this. If you remove the codifying of more iPad time, remove that. Otherwise, Susie and I are going to take this contract and make our children sign it so they know their allowance is, in fact, tied to their study time. This is great language for all parents on planet Earth of young children.

This is amazing. I don't want to give you more iPad time, but I'll tell you what, man. If you if we're going to make you study your allowance is at risk. And the number of times I honestly the number of times that we tell our kids, hey, get off your phone, get off your iPad, give it to me because you're watching television. The Arizona Cardinals are going to have to monitor Kyler Murray's second screen time, like Susie and I do with our fifth grader.

How, though? Now it comes into focus why the Cardinals didn't immediately give him the contract upon. The piece of paper I still have on the desk when his agent, Eric Burkhart, asked the Arizona Cardinals or told the Valley of the Sun that things weren't going well between the two sides.

Body language they were concerned about his body language, and now we see they're concerned about even if I'm going to give you, you know, one hundred sixty million dollars guaranteed, we're going to make sure you study. Now, a lot of people are saying this shows you the Cardinals don't know what they're doing. The Cardinals had no choice but to pay Kyler Murray. Could you imagine? If Arizona didn't pay him and refused to pay him and let him either hold out or come in and be disgruntled and then play on his fifth year option and let this whole thing play out again. Could you imagine if they did all of that and the reason why is because they didn't trust him to do the extra work that every other terrific quarterback in the NFL clearly does not have to be told to do. What are they going to do? Let him go?

Really? Let him walk? Let him hold out? Let him not get this contract when he has placed all of this on the table? I mean, they also knew when he told the New York Times that he was blessed with the cognitive skills to just go out there and see it before it happens. I'm not one of those guys that's going to sit here and kill myself watching film.

I don't sit there for twenty four hours and break down this team and that team and watch every game because in my head I see so much. They knew that guy said it to the old gray lady. New York Times for those who may not know. That news was fit to print. They knew it.

They know who he is. So they felt the need to put this in the contract and what does this say about their coach who can't even affect this on their own? Inspire him to be more inspired to actually do the work that is required of every quarterback in the NFL to know what's what and spend every last second. Just look at what Brady did with Belichick and that behind the scenes look that NFL Films gave us a couple of years ago where they're breaking down Ed Reed's every last twitch. Kyler's not doing that.

No wonder maybe why they go down the tubes after November when things get tough and windows get tighter and red zones become more red. You know this ultimately if anybody's embarrassed by this it's Kyler Murray they feel like what are they going to what like will they have a camera on his iPad they'll know when it's on and they'll know he's looking at it or human beings looking at it or will the cameras on on the on the pardon me tablet by the way. You know it's a Microsoft tablet that these guys are supposed to have.

The NFL and Microsoft are very sensitive about that sort of thing. So they'll have a camera on the tablet when he turns it on will the camera be on so they'll see it's him and not a buddy who clicks on it. And will they know that he's not going to be he's not playing what Minecraft at the same time. Will they know that he's not going to be watching a second screen. Hey Arizona if you need my help on that I know exactly how to tell somebody get off iCarly and focus on your tablet. I'm very good at that.

Susie is expert that if you need our help this is nuts. Never heard of it before and if I'm a Cardinal fan I'm wondering what the what. I wouldn't wonder what the what about Arizona had to had to sign him. They had to again.

Are they ever we ever going to see a team that's going to let somebody walk because they feel he's not fully committed to the preparation role. They didn't have to give him that much money. They had to get this market value.

This is it Chris. Market value for what a guy that's never won a playoff game. Well maybe this is why they didn't give him every last dollar guaranteed either.

Still 160 is a lot. It is it's a market value for somebody who has shown a remarkably generationally talented ability with arms and legs. It's the question about what's in between the temples and what's in the chest. Because I'll tell you what Matthew Stafford's doing. I'll tell you what Trey Lance is doing. I'll tell you what Drew Locke and Geno Smith is doing in the division. They're not doing anything that requires a clause to be placed in their contract to make sure that they're studying.

They're studying. That's what the competition is doing. But Kyler got to where he got in Oklahoma and got to where he got on the first round of the draft by doing all of this that he's done.

And now he's been generationally enriched without having to do this work. And I guess that's why they felt the need to put this in a contract. So there's a lot of question about who should be embarrassed. Arizona had no choice.

If I'm bidwell, I'm not scratching a monster escrow check without that being put in the contract. And if the coaching staff hasn't reached him to the point where they feel the need in management to put this in a contract, it should be on Kyler Murray. This is embarrassing. This is way more embarrassing than what happened at the Super Bowl when he showed up on this show and Dan's show without any plan on how to answer the question of are you playing baseball or football. Why leak this to make him look bad?

I don't think it's been leaked. I think, you know, this stuff gets around. I've told this audience and you know it, too.

The chatter, the talk, the scuttlebutt, the chit chat, the Rams. By the way, the rest of the league already had to have known this is Kyler Murray's M.O. They had to have known this. And the Rams had to have known if they put an extra wrinkle here or there that Kyler Murray would not be able to just instinctively handle that they've got them right where you want them. And the Cardinals had to know that, too. Everybody, the whole league knows. And I'm sure every agent in the league who's got a quarterback or a client wanted to see this contract. How did the Cardinals, what did they put in this thing to not fall into the same trap, if you will, that was laid by the Haslam family? How did they not pay Kyler Murray every dollar guaranteed?

What's in there? I would want to know that if I'm an agent. If I'm an agent, I want to know what's in this contract so I'll know what to ask for the next time. If you're the agent of Joe Burrow, wouldn't you want to see the contract? But Herbert, next guy's up, we're going to finish year three. I want to see it. I'm not saying these are the folks who did it, but it's I'm just pointing out that this contract is definitely been disseminated across the entire landscape of the NFL business world.

And somebody saw this clause and like, I think this would be interesting fodder for the rest of the world to know. So Kyler Murray, as if he doesn't have enough pressure on him with the amount of money that he's been paid and the fact that DeAndre Hopkins is not there for the first six games of this season. That does include a game against the defending Super Bowl champions for the Arizona Cardinals in week number three. After a week one game against Kansas City Chiefs, do you know what Patrick Mahomes will be doing the week leading up to that game against the Arizona Cardinals? His own independent study without Andy Reid or the Hunt family having to codify it in black and white. And that's what I would tell Kyler Murray is when you face Derek Carr's team in week two, when you face Matthew Stafford's team in week three. And you bet when you face Baker Mayfield's Carolina Panthers in week four, guess what they'll be doing leading up? Their own independent study, and we don't need to babysit how much time you're doing and making sure you're not watching TV or playing a video game while you're supposed to be doing it. And that's what I would tell Kyler Murray, infantilize him because this contract clause being made public has done exactly that.

And that in the end might be the best piece of news for Arizona. It's time to grow up. 844-204-rich number to dial here on the program. Daniel, Jeremiah, I wonder what he thinks of all this. Oh, man. Also in hour number two of this program, Peter King will be joining us on this program. And hopefully he will not leave us hanging for six seconds like he did to Josh Allen yesterday. Virtually shake Peter's hands.

Oh, that'll be fun. He's on his training camp tour. We'll definitely get under the hood with a Hall of Fame reporter. And Nicole Auerbach of the Athletics, she's at the Big Ten media week where Kevin Warren, the Big Ten commissioner, said there should be federal legislation for the name image and likeness conundrum.

And I will tell you this, the cavalry that cannot figure out how to get together on anything, it seems in Congress, ain't coming. Pedro Martinez is on hour 3844-204-rich number to dial back with you and that much more with Daniel Jeremiah when we come back. Does your antiperspirant keep you dry all day? Dove Men PlusCare dry spray goes on instantly dry for a cleaner feel and offers 48 hours sweat and odor protection.

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Goes on dry, clean feel all day. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show 844-204-rich number to dial. Oh, boy, is there a lot to talk about with this guy. He's one of our favorites. I love doing the draft with him and the combine.

He is the best of the best. And he is the co-host, along with Bucky Brooks, of a terrific Move the Sticks podcast from the NFL media group on the Mercedes-Benz Vans phone line, the great Daniel Jeremiah. How are you doing, DJ?

I'm doing great, Rich. Got my first inside training camp coming up today, three hours of live coverage, which I can give you a little preview as you've got plenty of experience in terms of let's go inside the let's go inside the production room on that one behind the scenes. OK, we have we have the Chargers doing a goal line period. We've got that going. We've got looks like we've got the Chiefs seven on seven.

Hold up. Cowboys arrival. Take Cowboys arrival.

Dak Prescott walking into the building. I love it. I love all of it. You know what?

I also love Daniel and I don't know who's made this decision. I'll find out. But golf shirts for everybody.

Now, you know what I mean? No suit. No tie. Golf shirts for everybody, including including Ian Rappaport, Tom Pelissaro and Mike Garofalo. And they're all inside their home cameras. They even give them golf shirts.

They're not outside. It's remarkable. What a choice. You're you're talking you're talking to a man on the on the phone right now, Rich, who is sporting a blue polo, and he will be coming live from his home camera.

No, it's like let's smash cut to a month from now. You do that. You're in a suit and tie.

No more golf shirts. I don't understand. Yep. You know, the only thing the only thing is not wearing pants for either one. Daniel, Jeremiah, everybody, that's called a behind the scenes glimpse, if you will, into what's going on inside training camp.

All 32 teams. Let's roll. I got I got to start with this for this one first, Daniel. You've been around the block many a time.

Many a moon inside draft rooms, inside locker rooms. You've been there and you've done that, man. Have you ever heard of an independent study clause like the one that was placed in Kyler Murray's contract to make sure that he is on the up and up about studying and making sure he's ready for every single game? Have you ever heard of that, Daniel? Never.

Yeah, never, never heard of anything even remotely close to that. It's one thing, you know, I could see kind of that conversation of, hey, you know, we've agreed to the contract before we sign it, let's just have a pow wow here. You know, look, we can see we have the numbers on on how little you've been studying tape off of off the iPad.

We have all that information. You know, we're committing to you. But, hey, we need you. We need you to take this a little more seriously.

Put the controller down and get home. And we need you to watch some more tape, but maybe like a little heart to heart. But to actually put the language inside the contract that that was that was wild. Because what does that mean? What does that indicate?

I was talking at the top of the show about it, Daniel. And because it indicates that what you said, the normal just going face to face, coach to player, management to player and saying you've got to do more. They they needed to actually codify it in black and white.

And in something that is absolutely not enforceable or you can't babysit to make sure he doesn't have second screen time like we do Suzy and I with our children. You know, like so. So what does it indicate to you, Daniel, that this was put in black and white? Well, the other side of it. And I'm sure, you know, as you as you get older, you're around people, Rich, that they that look incredible. And then you hang around them and there they eat, you know, just candy and crap all day long. And you're like, holy cow, you look this good while you're eating all of that.

Like what other level do you have to go to if you actually took your nutrition seriously? Like that's the other side of this thing. I don't know anybody talking about. Kyler Murray is a really good player. I mean, he's a top. Everybody would say the top 15 quarterback.

You can go, you know, anywhere from, you know, probably 10 to 15 right now, I would say in the league. He's doing that with zero study like this guy's got a whole nother level. If he if he grows into that and matures into that again, it's bizarre that it got into a contract and you had to know when you put that into a contract, it was going to get out. And maybe that's something that the Cardinals wanted just to try and apply more pressure to him in that regard. But he's been a very good quarterback in the exciting thing. I guess if you're a Cardinals fan is there could be, you know, kind of a come to Jesus moment or kind of a maturation process for him. And he can he could achieve a whole nother level if he actually pulls out the iPad and looks at the upcoming opponent. But that said, he became a top recruit at a high school and then became a Heisman Trophy quarterback and then became the first overall pick for a team that bounced the quarterback that they drafted the year before in the first round.

All with hardly any study or one would presume any extra work, any nose to the grindstone off hours. So why would he change? Because now he's gotten generationally enriched with this process. Why would he change, Daniel, just because this clause came out? You know, I think, you know, you talked about the individual success, Rich, but I would I would say the reason why you can be hopeful that there's going to be a change is because along with that individual success came, I believe, what, three state championships in high school, a very successful time there at Oklahoma.

And he hasn't won big, especially when he's got the bigger stages and big games later in the year, he hasn't won. So, you know, that might be OK. I secured the bag. I got the money based off of the way I've previously, you know, worked. But if I want team success, if I want to kind of go good to great and take this group to the next level and start thinking about legacy at such a young age. You got to you've got to win big. And he's not ever going to be a championship caliber quarterback at the highest level at this level of the NFL without putting in some study time. Well, to bounce off what I also said at the top of the show with you here before we move on to another subject matter, Daniel, Jeremiah is what are the Cardinals supposed to do?

What? Just let him go. And then the whole country wonders why they would just let him go. And the answer is, well, he didn't study while he runs, you know, no, seriously, while he runs and throws like crazy for another team. And so we have now reached the point in the NFL where you are paying somebody the second highest per annual salary in the NFL.

And then you have to put in black and white, some sort of babysitting clause. And I'm wondering what you do you think it'll ever go in the other direction where a team will let somebody like Kyler Murray walk away based on we don't think long term. It's a smart investment because he hasn't shown the maturity or the professionalism that's required for the country. I would I would say I know a lot of former coaches and former general managers who had very hardworking players with no talent. And I know a lot of current head coaches and current general managers who have a lot of very talented players with with suspect work ethic. So at the end of the day, I'd rather take the talented guy who's had success and maybe, you know, hoping that he's going to grow and evolve and become a better worker than to have the biggest bunch of tryhard guys.

And then, you know, kind of go the way of Eric Mangini. Daniel Jeremiah here on the Rich Eisen Show from the NFL Media Group. OK, so now everything's up for grabs. All 32 teams at work. Which team intrigued you the most?

I asked this of Mark Schlereth yesterday, so I'll ask you as well. Which one do you think is the most intriguing, interesting team entering 2022? Well, I think there's a lot of really intriguing teams that we've talked about for the last three, four months. And I don't know, maybe I'm just sick of talking about all those teams or all the kind of the drama we've had. I started looking at it the other day and I was like, OK, I'm trying to identify the teams that I have not heard one word the entire offseason about.

And I think the team that was number one on my list was the Minnesota Vikings. And that's why I love the NFL, because there's like there's so many great stories there. You know, with Kevin O'Connell coming in there, you know, he pledges allegiance to Kirk Cousins that everybody from the Sean McVeigh tree is supposed to do. They've got they've got talent on the defensive side of the ball. They've got Dalvin Cook. They've you know, they've got maybe the best young receiver in the NFL and Justin Jefferson. So this is a team that could be a double digit team, a double digit win team, you know, could make a little bit of a run in the playoffs. And we've heard bupkis about them the entire offseason.

So stories like that, how they get going, how Kirk Cousins does with a coach who 100 percent believes in him, which I think we would all agree he didn't have the last few years. Are we sure that Kevin O'Connell does, in fact, 100 percent believe in him? Are we sure that? Yes. Yes. You're not allowed to work for Sean McVeigh unless you sign a contract that says Kirk Cousins is my favorite player. Put more bean on those bones, Daniel. What do you mean by that?

What do you mean by that? Well, he just they were all together and they all love Kirk because, Kirk, you can kind of play quarterback from the sideline through Kirk because he's incredibly smart. And you can get to the line of scrimmage and kind of tell him what's happening and he's going to do it exactly like you say you want it done. So those guys were all together, kind of in Washington. McVeigh was there during that time.

McVeigh loved him. You knew Shanahan. There was all that talk when when Kyle Shanahan wanted to get him to San Francisco. So that whole tree is just always had an affinity for Kirk Cousins. OK, so what does it look like in the best case scenario?

What do you got for me here? I think they got a really good shot being a playoff team. You know, I think Green Bay is going to be the obvious pick in that division.

But if you were saying what could be kind of the upset division winner, I would I would go with the Minnesota Vikings. And again, this is the first conversation on a national show about the Minnesota Vikings the entire offseason. Well, there have been a lot of other interesting stories to hit.

So maybe that's part of it. What about an AFC team that might be intriguing to you that hardly anybody's talking about? I've got one that people have been talking about, but I've got the Miami Dolphins. It's fascinating to me because of Tyreek Hill talking up to a for the Heisman and Mike McDaniel coming in. A lot of track meet type players there defensively has been a strong suit for them prior to Brian Flores's departure.

What do you think? No, I think that's a dangerous team. And it's a you know, there's that division has been there's been a lot discussed there with Buffalo kind of, you know, almost been the favorite here in the AFC as we come into the season. You've got New England and all the talk about Mac Jones taking the next step and he's in great shape. But when you look at and obviously your jets with all the moves they made, but the Dolphins method, dynamic, dynamic group. And it's, you know, you could say it's all in the quarterback, but it kind of feels that way. They're going to be solid in just about every department and it's a matter of whether or not Tua can elevate if he can elevate.

Again, this is another team that's got it's got double digit win potential because they are there as explosive as any team in the league right now. Daniel Jeremiah here on the Rich Eisen Show. A dramatic improvement is what Bill Belichick said in relation to Mac Jones this offseason. Trey Lance, it's now his gig. We saw what the Jets added for Zach Wilson. Trevor Lawrence, again, has Doug Peterson now and not Urban Meyer at his side. And we all know Justin Fields has a challenge in front of him. That said, which second year quarterback do you think is going to take the biggest leap this year?

Daniel? Well, I'll say Trey Lance just because, I mean, he's got to start from the ground, right? We didn't get a chance to see him very much last year. And you get to a place where they have a good offensive line.

They have great weapons around him. And he's got, you know, if not the best play caller in the NFL, you know, top 2-3 in Kyle Shanahan in terms of putting him in a position to be successful. It's going to look a little different. He's not going to play the position the same way that Garoppolo played it. But all that stuff that we were so fired up at the draft and he got picked about all the creativity in the run game that he could bring, you know, that group.

I'm hoping we get to see all that. But last year when he got in there, I felt like they kind of just ran the offense as is. I'm hoping, you know, if he kind of comes in and he's the guy, that it becomes a little more catered to his skill set and we can really see the creativity and have some fun with Kyle Shanahan.

Daniel, Jeremiah here on the Rich Eisen Show. So what do you think of the Cowboys entering this season, Daniel? You know, we're going to be so Dallas-centric throughout the year.

But now that Oxnard is open for business, what do you got for me on Dallas? Well, there's definitely stars as Jerry Jones loves having, you know, stars not on the helm but on the field as well. I'm actually, when I look at their group and I look at Dak coming back and it'd be another year removed from the injury, I think he has a big year.

I think C.D. Lamb is going to enter into that kind of DeAndre Hopkins conversation that we had a few years ago where it's just like you can't, there's nothing you can do to slow him down. I think his targets go way up. I think he could have just a monster, monster year as more of the offense gets funneled through him. They need the offensive line to stay healthy. You know, that's no secret there.

That's been kind of the bugaboo. But defensively, I think they've got a lot of depth and they've got, again, stars and playmakers. So I still think they're the team in that division. I know everybody kind of gets Cowboys fatigue and kind of goes against them when you talk about this, you know, preseason prognostications. But I just still think they're easily the best team in that division. You think? I don't know why I'm constantly leaning towards Philadelphia.

Everybody's jumping off. Well, I mean, I just think that they are they're not as good as they were last year. And we saw what happened with them last year. And, you know, Mike McCarthy could call his job status a media driven narrative as much as he wants, as he did today. But, you know, Jerry Jones is the one who put out there why Dan Quinn is staying, because every coordinator knows as long as they stay as a Dallas Cowboy coordinator, they got a shot at the main gig, which is what he said at the Senior Bowl. I mean, he said that on his own website at the Senior Bowl. Daniel, that might have been born out of recency. You know, I get not bias, but he was upset about losing in the playoffs.

I don't know. I just like Philadelphia a lot. I like what they've added, and I like those Georgia Bulldogs on the front and second level. I don't know how healthy Nicobe Dean's going to be, but that and I believe it hurts.

That's why I'm I'll lay that out at your feet there, Daniel. Yeah, no, I think they're going to be better. I don't think the Eagles beat many good teams last year.

And they look, there's no no way around it. They fought and earned their way to the success that they had. I just come down to it at this point in time. I like Jaylen. I think Jaylen going to be, you know, somebody that continues to grow and get better. I just think right now there's still a pretty sizable gap between him and Dak. So I'll give the Cowboys the edge there.

I love, you know, AJ Brown, Devante Smith. They've got some weapons there. They've got a good offensive line.

They've got some depth on that defensive line. I don't doubt the fact that you'll see a better version of the Eagles. I just think the continuity that the Cowboys have their the offensive coordinator spot and the quarterback spot and the quarterback being a little bit healthier than he was last year. I think the Cowboys end up winning that division. Last one for you, Daniel Jeremiah, the AFC West.

You are calling games for the Los Angeles Chargers again. You are intimately knowledgeable of this division and everything that goes on within it. Toughest division in football.

I think that's obvious. How do you see it sussing out? How do you see it shaking out? I think it's going to be one of those one of those years where we have so much talk about the division coming into the season. And look, they can't all win 14 games.

So I think they could beat up on each other and all the kind of everybody's expecting. We're just going to get three playoff teams out of this division. And it could end up being one of those years where, you know, 10, 10, 11 wins get it done because every single one of those games is going to be competitive and it's going to be taxing. So not only do you have kind of the emotion and then the quality of opponent that goes into these matchups, a bunch of them are going prime time as well. And then you've got to turn around and get right back up the next week.

I think there might be a little bit of a price to pay there. So I think it's easily the best division in the NFL. I think they're going to beat up on each other and I think it could be one of those deals where at the end of the regular season, we say, man, I thought we'd have a, you know, 13, 14, one team and we don't have that. And then that 10, 11 win team gets into the postseason and they're healthy and fresh and beat the brakes off everybody else. So who do you think's got the best roster, top to bottom, going in?

I mean, you know, I always preface it. I work there. I think the Chargers have the best roster, 1 to 53, in that entire division. It's just a matter of them being able to finish games and keep their key guys healthy. And I think Kansas City, I do think you'll see a little bit of a find your sea legs with them early in the season, but Andy's going to figure it out and Pat will figure it out and they'll be playing their best football as you come down the stretch. But I mean, who's finishing under 500 in this division? That's the challenge.

You figure that somehow somebody's going to fall off there, but it's going to be fun to watch. I know that I can't wait for those division games. Yeah, Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes were two of the six quarterbacks that wound up in the tier one category of the athletic story that Mike Sandow put together with 50 evaluators and coaches and general managers in the league. Did you agree with that list of the six top tier one QBs and Burrow and Brady and Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen, along with Mahomes and Herbert rounding out those six?

Do you agree with that assessment? Yeah, I mean, I think you can argue about maybe the order within those guys, but to me, those are kind of those guys. Russell Wilson prior to last year, I'd say, probably gets his way in there.

There's some, you know, there's obviously the Sean Watson ones. I don't know how you stack him in there, where do you place him? But as a player, when he's on the field, Rich, he belongs up there in that conversation.

But, you know, again, that's a tricky one, how you sort through all that stuff. I think Lamar is, you know, maybe you could push him up a couple spots. I know that's the one that everybody's going to always point to when these lists come out and, you know, kind of the disrespect and I get all that.

But if you just said me personally, I would take, you know, to go play a season, this upcoming season, I would take those tier one quarterbacks in maybe a slightly different order. But that, you know, I could get on board with that group. Well, Daniel, I appreciate the time. I'm ready to roll. I'm tanned. I'm rested.

I don't know how you are coming off the summer. I know you are. I mean, I've been vicariously living through your vacation photos. Thank you. That was quite a trip. Thank you. I appreciate that.

I told Chris Brockman, who was very, very negative, shocked the world about it, saying that there were people who even responded on my Instagram saying thank you for posting these pictures. Nobody said that. You are absolutely making that up.

Nobody said thank you for spamming their feed with 8,000 pictures of noodles every day. Daniel is one of those people, right? He's being polite. No, you're not, Daniel. You're the evaluator. You're the eye in the sky. You don't lie. No, I would never steer you wrong on that. I have very high taste when it comes to social media.

And that one was one that I was just fired up about. I appreciate that. I love the choice. Wow. He's literally playing Indiana Jones right there. By the way, Daniel, I was getting ready to play. You beat me to it.

I'm literally on. Well, you could turn it off now, Mike, can't you, if you could turn it on? That's me. No, it's Daniel. Hey, Daniel.

He's doing that. I was going to do it, and Daniel beat me to it. Was that you, Daniel? I had it all queued up, ready to go.

Exactly. I loved it. What do you think? I'm wearing the hat right now.

What's your evaluation of it? Seriously, your actual evaluation of the lid. I have two things. Number one, you pull it off. It looks good. Thank you.

And number two, I'm just slightly concerned that the first wrong prediction you make during the season that your face is going to melt off. No, I close my eyes when I guess, you know, so that's how I survive. I close my eyes. All right.

I love that. I thought to myself, it sounds like it's coming through the phone. That was Daniel. I wouldn't have done that. It could be. Come on. Okay.

My very rakish hat. I was thinking about it. So the evaluation, it's a keeper, right? That's your evaluation of it? Absolutely. I just feel like if Tom Landry were still alive, that would be his hat of choice. It's a little more updated and a little more current, but yet, you know, it provides a sophisticated, elegant look. I like it.

And the mango smoothie to go along with it. Thank you so much, Daniel. Really appreciate it. Thanks for the time. We'll chat again shortly. See you soon. I appreciate it, Rich. Go get your wood tip cigarette and have a great day.

Thank you very much. Daniel Jeremiah, move the sticks here on The Rich Eisen Show. Oh, boy. Fun stuff right there. A fascinating Bill Belichick press conference. We're going to hit on that and more when we come back on The Rich Eisen Show.

Don't go anywhere. Breaking news out of Cincinnati as well. Dr. Jones.

Back here on The Rich Eisen Show, 844-204-rich number to dial. During the conversation with Daniel Jeremiah, it was reported by our friend Ian Rapport, our colleague. He was the first I saw on Twitter. Joe Burrow is going to have surgery to remove his appendix. He'll miss some practice time, but better now than later, says Ian. So Joe Burrow will be without his appendix very shortly. And we hope he's back at it soon. One of the six quarterbacks voted by observers, coaches, general managers in the athletic story written by Mike Sandow or aggregated by Mike Sandow. Top one, tier one quarterback. You know what I find amazing?

George Burrow. People get so hurt in their feelings about these tiers. These are just people's opinions about randomness.

And people are losing their mind about, like, this tier is a real thing or something. It's not just any people. It's GMs, it's, what is it, a third of the head coaches of the league or a quarter of the head coaches of the league? Yeah, they're actual football people. People who know things. Know things, but everyone else. Some of them think they don't know things.

Some of the things said about Lamar Jackson in the piece are just dumb. Some of them drink and know things, some of them don't know things. Ignant. Ignant. I like that. Twelve coordinators. But just the way people are just, like, losing their mind over these tiers. Like, these are imaginary tiers, people.

It's not real. But isn't it amazing, Joe Burrow is now, he's played one and a quarter seasons and he is- Tier one. Tier one.

One and a quarter seasons, tier one, and I believe it. Everybody sees it. No, you don't think that's a little much? Dude, everybody sees it. Everybody sees the way he rips it. Everybody sees the way that he handles the beating. Can we wait a year to see him do it again before we put him in tier one? Nah, I think you're gonna see it. I mean, I love him too, but like, you know, it's a little quick to just anoint him.

I think it is not an anointing. It is an evaluation of what he's done, who he is, and what he can do, and how it is not a fluke. I would put him in tier one as well. Tier one again, carry team each week, wins because of him, expertly handles pure passing situations, no real holes.

That describes Joe Burrow to me. Took a beating before finally his knee gave way in year one. Year two, unreal. Dude, he put up 500 on the Ravens.

And seemed like the only thing that held him back from hitting 600 was the clock running out. Everybody should keep sleeping on the Bengals. And then you should go to that town where Mo Green has no sign plaque or signpost and clean up, Chris. 20 to 1. As you know, I don't advocate that behavior because I don't do it myself.

Nicole Auerbach, I don't. Hour number two from the Big Ten, media day, and Peter King from Bill's Camp and more, hour two coming up. You know what else about this story, guys? Just a quick shout out, Evolution. You know, we're able to cut pieces of our body out and our body still goes along as normal. Shout out, Evolution.

You talking about Ric Flair, Triple H, Batista, Randy Orton, Evolution? You know, they've been doing appendix removals for quite some time. You know that, right?

Well, no matter if you had to use ether. That's the body evolving, Rich. The stuff that make you burn real slow? It's science. It's the evolution of science.

You can live with one kidney. Like, you know what I mean? Just shout out, Evolution. By the way, in the independent study, if you haven't hit it yet, is you're not allowed to talk about science on this program.

Got it. Rich Eisen shows science expert Chris Brock. Science expert. Green wedge expert.

Bill Nye, the science guy. I'm good at the green wedge. Are you really good at the green wedge?

I am good at the green wedge. When was the last time you did play Trevial Pursuit? It's been a while.

Which one are we playing? Because that's the thing. When you were growing up, we all had the version from 1980. So when the sports questions, it was like, who's the all-time hit leader?

And you're like, in 1980, you gotta go back and think about it. Do they update it? Yeah, there's a new version out. But I'm saying, the one that we all played growing up was, you know.

Well, the one that we all played growing up, the sports question of who's the all-time leader in complete games. That's still the same. Yeah, still.

That hasn't changed? The Super Bowl champions, you know, who's won the most Super Bowls in 1980. The Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers? Exactly. I think. You know what I mean?

Maybe we should try that. Let's do a sports trivia only up to 1980 and see which one of us would win. No, you want to play it up to 1995. Yeah, yeah.

I'm definitely going to win that. You're on any show where you've pursued updates since 1995. Should I bring up 1969?

That would be the last time your team won a championship. So maybe we could stop in the 70s. Why do we need to just go so harshly? Well, I went at him. I was minding my own business. I went at him. You know?

All right. I went at him over the Dallas Cowboys. Oh, every day.

Actually, the last time the Jets played the Cowboys, they beat him. People remember that too. One of my favorite moments.

Very memorable. Michael Irvin in London. All the game day morning guys. We had just called a game. We're at a great Italian restaurant. Jets are playing the Cowboys.

You know, it's nighttime in London because we're way ahead. And Michael's watching on Game Pass. I have my app open just on an updating, you know, no video. And I saw the dot just go zip for the Jets touchdown. Robbie Anderson from Sam Darnold. And that play had yet to show up on Irv's iPad. And Irv was getting up to leave. And I'm like, no, no, just wait a second. Maybe the Cowboys get off the field. Touchdown. And I'm like, bye. And they hung Darnold's jersey up in the hall after that game, right?

Bye. Jets got the Cowboys last. For the real story behind some of wrestling's biggest moments. It's Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson too. All-time Hogan opponents. Macho Man's got to be in the conversation. Where's Andre for you? I've always said Andre was number one.

Wow. Because even going back before, you know, Hulk Hogan was a baby face. Hulk and Andre were able to go in and headline at the New Orleans Superdome at Shea Stadium in Japan. Wherever they went, that was an attraction. It's Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.