REShow: Joe Person - Hour 3 (7-5-2022)

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Good Dan, how about you? No complaints, no complaints. That's good, we don't want to hear them anyway so... That'll wrap it up for this show. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

That's a fact. We don't want to hear the complaints. We don't want to hear it.

We absolutely don't want to hear complaints. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Dan Schwartzman and now sitting in for Rich... Hit the drop! It's Dan Schwartzman. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich on a Tuesday.

I'll be back on Thursday and Friday. Brian Weber in for Rich tomorrow. Quick update, Novak Djokovic, he like toys with other tennis stars, right? He's facing what, 10th seeded Janek Sinner in a quarterfinal match at Wimbledon. The All England Club loses the first two sets. In fact, looks bad in the second set doing so.

7-5-6-2 and then it's like, all right, time for me to play. I'm done. What was this guy's name? Janek Sinner. Is he a good boy then? I don't know. Gotta ask Janek, are you a sinner or not?

It's the Joker versus the sinner. How about that? There you go.

That's very good, right? So then Djokovic comes back and wins the next three sets. 6-3-6-2-6-2 and surprise, surprise! Top seed in the world moves on to the semifinals of Wimbledon and boy, what if we end up with a Djokovic Nadal final?

We've seen that movie a few times as well. It's kind of sad to see Federer not in there as well. He's 40 years old now, but I was always a Roger Federer fan.

Always respected. Djokovic's kind of like the bad boy, right? Nadal's always like this good guy. Federer's like the great guy. Everybody I know who's met him is like, oh, he's the nicest guy ever.

He'll say hi to you, know your name. He's like the nicest dude ever. You can never wish wrong on Roger Federer, right?

That guy has never done anything wrong. And he's been out with the knee injuries. He does intend to come back, but he's not with the knee injuries. He does intend to come back, but at 40 years old, he'll probably pull a Serena Williams, get knocked down the first round. You're like, all right, I think it's time.

You're done. Djokovic is what? 34? 35? Still got a few years? Nadal?

I mean, he's starting to break down a little bit, but still playing at a high level and that guy could win the French Open with one leg. Won the damn thing 14 times. Impressive. I do like tennis. I gotta be honest. I do like tennis. I can't watch.

I'm one of those fans. I have to see marquee matchups, right? It's like me with golf. If Tiger's playing, I'll watch Tiger. I'm not watching the rest of the field. I don't care about the rest of the field. I don't care that Scottie Scheffler is the number one ranked golfer in the world.

I don't care. I'm a Tiger fan. Tiger's ranked like 5,000th in the world. I'll still watch because it's Tiger.

The unimaginable could happen with Tiger. And with tennis, it's like, give me the marquee matchup. Djokovic plays Nadal at the final of the Australian Open. I'll be up at 3 a.m. and I'll watch it because it's great tennis.

All right? The best of the best versus the best of the best. It's like Top Gun to tennis. No offense like David Goffin playing ninth seed Cameron Norrie.

Neither guy moves the needle for me. And Serena still moves the needle for me because, you know, you think you're going to see history. She might win that 24th Grand Slam title, which at this point seems like she's not, but you never know. She can put it all together for one tournament and win.

Didn't happen obviously here. Maybe the U.S. Open, you know, kind of like a home court advantage. Maybe at the U.S. Open coming up in a month or two she can shock the world at 40 and win. So Djokovic moves on.

Nadal is, I think he plays tomorrow in his quarterfinal match and the rest will be history. Now, how's our boy doing? Who's that? Kyrgyos? Oh, Nick Kyrgyos.

He's in court, actually. That guy is, that guy is, that was the one, that was wild, man. That whole Kyrgyos versus match against Tsitsipas was wild. That was crazy. I mean, when he's yelling at the chair up, I think he called him dumb. Tsitsipas is hitting a ball into the stands. I mean, that was just, complete control was lost. Insanity.

That's good stuff. I mean, against Tsitsipas, he's argued with the chair umpire. He accused his opponent of not having respect. Got a $10,000 fine because he spit in the direction of a specter that was heckling him. I mean, you don't want to talk about a bad boy at tennis. That's the guy. I mean, but he's actually a bad guy, apparently, because he's in court for potentially assaulting his ex-girlfriend. So next month, he's got to show up in court, I think Australia, for an alleged assault of a former girlfriend last year.

So it's some serious stuff here at Nick Kyrgyos. I can't root for a guy like that. I mean, I like the bad boy of a sport, but one that's not potentially criminally bad, you know? But he is just nuts. I mean, this guy is just nuts.

Here's the thing, though. He's actually a really good tennis player, and if he stopped being so emotional on the court, he probably actually would win something, you know? Does it remind you of McEnroe a little bit?

No, and I'll tell you why. The difference was this. First of all, I don't think McEnroe was criminally bad, right, like Kyrgyos might be, but McEnroe won a lot. Like, McEnroe was, like, number one, right? He was like a champion, a guy who won Grand Slams. Nick Kyrgyos has not won anything of substance. He's always kind of made noise for the wrong reasons, and he's always had incredible talent.

It's like, you know, like Kournikova was a really talented women's player, then when she, you know, got the moniker of being hot and this and that and was modeling and things like that, she kind of left tennis behind and made money on the modeling side, right, and the Page Six side of things. Kyrgyos is kind of similar in the sense of, like, he's a really talented player, but he is, you know, he's never been, listen, he's, he's, the highest he's ever been ranked are at his 13th. He's never advanced past the third round of a tournament in a Grand Slam until this year at Wimbledon.

Excuse me, the quarterfinals. He got to the quarterfinals, the Australian Open once, and this is his second quarterfinal run at Wimbledon, and he's got to face, I think, Nadal next, so good luck to him. So he's never won anything. He's won six career titles overall.

He wins 63% of his matches. He's good, not great, so he's more known for being a bad boy of tennis than for his actual play on the court. McEnroe, on the other hand, won a bunch and was legitimately a all-time great tennis player, and that's why I think there's the difference, but yes, in terms of antics on the court, that's the case. Yeah, I mean, you know, if you look at McEnroe, he won Wimbledon three times, won the U.S. Open four times, so he won seven singles titles and was a number one ranked player, so, but it looks like it looks like he's playing Christian Garin tomorrow. Oh, is that, oh, so he's playing, wait, so he's playing, oh, in the quarterfinal match, then he would, I guess, face, he would face Nadal in the semifinal matchup if it got to that. He's not going to get that far. He might, no, he could beat this Christian Garin guy. I mean, you know, he's unceded, he's an unceded player, so he could win that match.

No, we'll see. And Nadal's playing the American, by the way, Taylor Fritz, who's ranked, who's seeded 11th. There's two Americans left, by the way, and in the women's, it's this Amanda Anisimova, I think she's like 18 or something. You know, she's just turned 20, and she's 20 years old, so, I mean, you know, we have an American in there, too, in the women's division, too. So, you know, listen, I get very patriotic when it comes to international things like this, right? So I root for the Americans.

So as much as I respect Rafa Nadal, I will be rooting for Taylor Fritz tomorrow morning to move on to the semis to potentially face Nick Kyrgios if he beats Christian Garin in the quarterfinal. You like tennis art? Oh, man. It was Chrissy Everett. Chrissy Everett when I was growing up. Oh, my gosh.

Oh, you're a big fan. Isn't she with Greg Norman now? She?

Oh, wow. I think so. I saw her. She was on ESPN.

It was part of the coverage. People forget how great she was. I mean, you know how much she won?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, she won, like, what, like, 18 grand slams or something? I mean, yeah, she won 18, I mean, unbelievable. She was ranked number one for 260 weeks. When people talk about the greatest female tennis players of all time, everybody's like, oh, Serena this, Serena that.

I mean, Chris Everett's in that conversation, too. She was unbelievable. She almost won 90 percent of her matches.

That's incredible. Let me give you one more tennis fact here before we move on to college football. You know who the greatest female tennis player ever was? It was probably the the woman that Chrissy Everett couldn't beat, Martina Navratilova. You know, that's a good one.

No, you know who to me was the greatest? Monica Seles. Wow.

Yeah. People forget that, you know, when Monica Seles got stabbed in that match in Germany, she was like 21 years old or something. By the time she was 20 years old, she had to be able to win eight grand slam titles. Isn't that incredible?

Listen to this streak, right? From 1990 to 93, and again, 93 got cut short because I believe she was stabbed in 1993. She had won.

Ready for this? She won the French Open in 1990. She won the Australian, French, and U.S. Open in 91. She won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open in 92. She won the French Open in 1993, and then got stabbed.

And this is before she turned 20 years old. So when people talk about maybe the greatest streak of greatness, no question for me, Monica Seles was the greatest. I mean, that three or four year stretch, she was far and away the greatest tennis player we've ever seen. I mean, you know, she was the greatest. I mean, she was the greatest. I mean, she was the greatest stretch. She was far and away the greatest tennis player we've ever seen. I mean, incredible. She was like 50 and one. No joke here, Art. She was like 50 and one in grand slam tournaments for like a three year stretch. That's amazing.

Yeah. I mean, no one, no one's ever done that. No offense to Serena Williams. She's had the longevity of it, but no one has been as dominant for a stretch in tennis, I believe, than Monica Seles was until she was stabbed. She was literally 20 years old, actually, maybe. I don't even know if she was 20. I think she was still 19 when she was stabbed by that Steffi Graf fan in Germany.

And she, of course, only won once after that. So, you know, we can talk about Serena with 23 grand slam titles, Margaret Court with 24. Monica Seles could have won 30 grand slam titles. She could have.

Now could have, would have, should have. I get it, but it's an abnormal circumstance when you are literally stabbed on the tennis court by your rivals crazed fan. I'm just saying, if you ever get a chance out there, read up on Monica Seles and what she was as a player, because if you don't know her history, you will be absolutely amazed by her greatness for that short stretch, that short stretch of time. Eight grand slam singles titles before her 20th birthday.

She won the French Open at 16 years old. I mean, all right, I don't think I have to sell Monica Seles to you anymore. Yeah, absolutely. You don't even think about it, right? Like when you think about the greatness, it's not a name that comes to mind until you hear the actual greatness of this.

Yeah, yeah. What do you think, Billy John King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert? It's because they played a longer period of time, obviously.

Monica doesn't really come to mind, yeah, absolutely. No, because it was a short run. It was such a short run and, you know, obviously the circumstances.

Listen, you know, you get stabbed on a tennis court, you will never feel comfortable again on a tennis court. The psychological, you know, the psychological aspect of it is she probably kept looking over her back, you know, every time she took the court. And that's why she was so young. Yeah, it made it stayed with her, stayed with her. She only won one grand slam title after that.

And, you know, that's, it's, it's, it's terrible. And by the way, I think that guy just felt like no time in jail. You know, Europe's very kind of lax when it comes to things like that. And, you know, I think he spent very little time in jail and some, you know, if, if any at all, and, uh, really a crazy story. And then like Steffi Graf, who obviously was the reason why Monica Seles got stabbed because he was a crazy Steffi Graf fan, apparently only visited her in the hospital in Germany once.

If you have a chance, somebody just read up on it. It's a, it's a wild story. That is just a crazy thing where they, the, uh, women's tennis association wanted to, uh, wanted to suspend her ranking at number one while she recovered and all the other players voted on it. And I think like only one player, like maybe it was like Gabriela Sabatini voted to do that. Everybody else was like, nah, don't do that.

Like let her fall down the rankings. It was, it's crazy. Like the, the, the cat fighting or the infighting amongst the other tennis players was insanity of what to do in that situation. Man. I mean, I mean, you know what? I'm going to go read up on it again after the show. It's really wild. It is crazy stuff, man. You want to talk about just treating a person wrong after a violent incident? Read how tennis treated Stephanie, uh, treated Monica Seles after she got stabbed. It is crazy. All right. Craziness of college football.

Forget the NILs, right? Guys making millions of dollars, but Miami gets some recruit that apparently he's going to make like nine and a half million dollars over his career at the University of Miami. And he turned money down, could have made more money elsewhere.

I think at the University of Florida was offered to use, I offered like $11 million in NIL deals. That's the badness of college football in terms of the individual level, but in terms of teams and conferences, USC and UCLA, four or five days ago, they jumped to the big 10 that will take effect after next year. And that kind of leaves the pack 12 in limbo.

What happens now? Right? Like Oregon's a top team. Washington's pretty good, but here's the, here's the difference. LA is the number two media market in America after New York. USC and UCLA are the two big schools in Los Angeles.

Okay. They might as well be the pro football teams in that town because they were for a long time until the Rams came back. So for the big 10, they wanted to gobble up the Los Angeles media market because there's money in that. And they did it.

Congratulations to them. The problem for Oregon is regardless of the fact that they are a good school at football and they have all this Nike money and great facilities, they're not offering you a TV, a TV market of substance, right? Portland, Oregon is not a major market.

In fact, I don't even think it's a top 30 market or top 25 TV market. So there's not added revenue in terms of television dollars for the big 10 if they bring in Oregon and same with Washington. So the fact is big 10 doesn't need Oregon and Washington. And they told them as of now we're standing pat because they're waiting to hear back from Notre Dame. If Notre Dame wants to join the big 10, which by the way, they should because geographically it makes sense. Although with USC and UCLA joining the big 10, that throws any sort of geographical conference alignment out of whack. And if Notre Dame goes to the big 10, if I'm Clemson, I'm calling up the SCC tomorrow and saying, Hey, when can I join?

Right? Clemson is in South Carolina. Clemson belongs in the SCC.

It makes sense. And maybe if the SCC wants to take out Vanderbilt, because they're only there to keep the GPA up of the conference, but they never win anything, maybe go get Virginia, who's a, you know, equally as good academic university that I think is a little bit better football, maybe bring them into the SCC potentially, whatever. But again, that's the bottom of the barrel. But you've now gotten a system where you have two power conferences and everybody else.

There's no power five. Big 12 is a joke, right? Oklahoma and Texas are going to the SCC. That's why the big 10 had to react and go get teams out of Los Angeles.

They needed the market. They needed the marquee teams. USC is a marquee school. UCLA is along for the ride because of the rivalry and also the LATV market. So where does that leave the Pac-12, the big 12?

It's a joke as well, by the way. The ACC is a joke. Where does it leave all of them? You can't call them power conferences anymore. What's the power team of the big 12? What's the power team outside of Oregon of the Pac-12?

Outside of Clemson, what's the power team of the ACC? And again, Clemson should be bolting for the SCC. They're going to be bolting for the SCC.

They're going to be bolting for the bolting for the SCC any day now. And Notre Dame should be bolting for the big 10 to finally be affiliated with a conference. And the ACC is not going to be it, although they play in the ACC for every other sport. And for basketball, you might as well stay in there. I'm just saying it makes absolutely no sense when you break it down and how you have to look at the conference alignments now in college football and what it means for everybody outside the big 10 and the SCC. All right, when Callaway engineered ChromeSoft to be the best tour ball, it didn't just make the best players better.

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23 past the hour, it is hour three of The Rich Eisen Show on a Tuesday, Dan Schwartzman in for Rich. NFL mandatory mini camps happened last week. We're not that far off from training camp. The countdown has begun, you know, the NFL is now a 365 day a year sport to follow. You got the season, the postseason, combine, draft, free agency, OTAs, mini camps. Next thing you know, it is training camp, exhibition games, and then back to the regular season.

They do a great job of it, hence they are the number one revenued sport in the entire world in terms of the league. What's going on the latest? Our buddy Joe Person from The Athletic joining us and Joe, you of course are based in Carolina. I want to get to the quarterback situation with the Panthers. What's the latest there? I mean, is Sam Darnold the projected starter or are they still trying to figure out a way financially to bring in Baker Mayfield? Yeah, I think that's still pending, which is pretty incredible as you said, Dan, like they report in three weeks. They report Tuesday, July 26th.

And here, yes, the bottom line is the short answer. They are still interested at least some in the building at the right price. And I think Matt Ruhle is among those who would like to seek a quarterback upgrade.

I mean, listen, they've made no bones about it, right? They were in on Deshaun Watson. They were linked to just about every quarterback in the draft. They took a quarterback in the draft in the third round and a person of Matt Corral out of Ole Miss. And they've been continued to be linked to Baker Mayfield, to a lesser degree, Jimmy Garoppolo.

And I think if it were up to rule, this would already be done. But, you know, I think the owner, David Tepper, despite being worth 16.7 billion dollars, it's like, you know, we're already paying Sam Darnold 18.8 million on that fifth year option. Somebody convinced me, David Tepper, that Baker Mayfield is that big of an upgrade over Sam Darnold. Or even if he's just a marginal upgrade, let's figure out a way where we're not paying two guys 18.8 million bucks. And so, do the Browns get a little more cooperative and drop their price as we get inch closer to training camp?

You know, maybe. I don't know, you know, it's been a game of chicken now, dating back to around the draft night. I mean, these two teams, second night of the draft, the night they took Matt Corral, the Panthers, these two teams were in pretty serious talks then, or at least, you know, somewhat serious talks for Baker that night.

So, who's going to blink first? Or does another team sneak in and then grab Baker and then the Panthers, you know, then they do play with either Sam Darnold or potentially, you know, pivot to Jimmy Garoppolo, but it remains a pending situation. Yes, Seattle could obviously hop in and take Baker Mayfield. They need a quarterback. Now, if you want, give me David Tepper's number. I'm a lifelong depressed Jets fan, so I can make the argument to him that anybody is an upgrade over Sam Darnold, and if you want to join in on the conference call, Joe, you're more than welcome.

You watched him last year, and after that third week, he literally just fell apart the way he did in New York. So, if you're up for it, we can call Tepper and we can make the argument. You in? Well, absolutely.

I'm always a good billionaire owner. Yeah, so here's the thing. Sam Darnold, by any measure, did not play well last year or the last several years, to your point. I think the thinking is, again, you know, again, to be clear, I think Matt Ruhl and general manager Scott Bitterer are up for exploring an upgrade, so to be clear. However, if they do have to tee it up with Sam Darnold, I think the hope is it's kind of based on two things. They have improvements along their offensive line, bringing in from the Rams, Austin Corbett, starting right guard, from the Ravens, Bradley Boseman, who will compete at center and probably start, and then signing, or excuse me, drafting Iki Iquanu out of NC State, number six overall, to play left tackle. So, I think that's one part of it, and then two, as or maybe more importantly, the hope that Christian McCaffrey can stay healthy and give Sam Darnold a safety valve and a pretty dynamic weapon in the run game and the passing game for more than the, you know, seven games he played last year, the seven or ten games he played last year.

So, that's the hope, and we'll see. Joe Person from the Athletic joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich. You're coming back from the Washington, D.C. area.

I want to head there real quick. The Lamar Jackson contract situation. How do you view this, right? Lamar Jackson is an MVP. He's won the award, had a great season. He's also a guy that is such a threat with the legs, but he's taken a lot of hits, and the question is, can he be sustainable as a starting quarterback if the running threat leaves him, where he has to be more of a pocket passer? Questions that the team has to weigh as they decide on a long-term contract. Joe, if you were running the Baltimore Ravens, what would you do in this situation with Lamar Jackson?

Pay him a fortune, or would you be skeptical? You know, it's a fascinating debate, and I have not covered those negotiations very closely, to be quite honest, but I did cover for its entire NFL career, with the exception of his one year in New England, Cam Newton's career, and I saw a guy who was just a unique, generational playmaker, both with his arm and with his feet, and interestingly, and ironically, in Cam's case, his arm went before the feet, and that was as a result of, you know, you can't separate them, right? Because of the way he played, Cam had ankle surgeries, he had a couple of shoulder surgeries, and by the time he left here, sadly, he was not the same quarterback, nor was he when the Panthers brought him back late last season.

And I give Cam and Lamar Jackson a ton of credit. Like, they don't want to change the way they play. Like, that was the theme, these same questions were asked of Cam back in the day, and his famous quote was, what are you going to do? Ask a lion not to roar? Like, I am this type A personality.

I am the alpha. I'm not going to start, you know, running out of bounds. And, you know, could he have prolonged his career some? Yeah, I don't know. Like, his last big hit on his shoulder came in a Thursday night game at Pittsburgh when TJ Watt barreled into him, and Cam never saw him coming. And so, I mean, like, you can't prevent that. I mean, so not all the running out of bounds at the end of a scramble is not going to prevent everything. So, it's the same kind of debate with the Ravens.

You know, I don't know. Lamar has meant so much to that franchise, but I understand why these conversations are certainly taking place. You know, Joe, wide receivers are getting paid boatloads of money now.

That position in a passing lead has taken on even more importance. What's your thoughts on the amount of money being, you know, really shelled out to the AJ Browns, the Terry McLaurins who just signed a massive deal? You know, obviously, DK Metcalfe's going to be next in line to get a massive deal as well. Is this something where teams are breaking the bank for a position where literally in a draft, you can find good wide receivers, right? McLaurin was a third-round pick. AJ Brown was a second-round pick. DK was a second-round pick. Are you a guy that looks at this and says, yeah, break the bank for these guys?

Or, man, you're hurting yourself. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, this is like the diplomatic, dopey diplomatic answer, but the Panthers, and I'm not saying DJ Moore is necessarily the same player as a Metcalfe or a McLaurin, but he's pretty darn good. DJ Moore on some winning teams, I think, would be getting pro bowl run. He's had three consecutive 1,100-yard receiving season, all of which I say that to point out that the Panthers just gave DJ Moore an extension that was good, solid money, but it wasn't, as you said, break the bank, crazy money. How are we going to fit this under the salary cap money?

And so, you know, is there a way to do it? I mean, teams draft a lot of receivers in the third and fourth round every year, and they don't all end up coming out looking like and performing like DK Metcalfe. So I would lean towards in a passing league, as we know it has been for quite some time now, I think I'm paying these guys if you find one you really like and you trust. And a guy that obviously did break the bank, Devante Adams, he's now with the Las Vegas Raiders and his college quarterback, Derek Carr. His name has been debated recently because some people have said, hey, don't expect him to do what he did with Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback who's one of the greatest in the history of football, then now with Derek Carr, obviously, who's not in the same category. Do you think Devante has somewhat of a letdown a bit? Or do you think because of his familiarity with Derek Carr, we're going to see the 1,500 yards that we've gotten accustomed to seeing out of him? I think he's gonna have a big year.

I don't see a big drop off with him. I understand the question. I remember, I forget what draft year it was, but the Panthers had kicked the tires on Devante Adams. It might have been the year, frankly, they drafted Kelvin Benjamin.

But I'm traveling so I don't have it in front of me. Sorry. Point is, I like Devante Adams. I think he's going to, I think he's going to be just fine, especially as you said, the familiarity with Carr and their background. I mean, I don't know, I know Derek Carr is a guy too, and he ended up resigning. But like, I started hearing around that when all the quarterback musical chairs had been happening the last two offseasons, he was a guy whose name Derek Carr, I would hear from a lot of different teams and personnel types in this league that like, hey, if he ever became available, I think he's, again, he hasn't gone and played in a Super Bowl or anything like that yet.

I get it. But well respected around the league and I think for good reason. You are correct, by the way. Kelvin Benjamin picked 28th overall by Carolina. Now the good news for you guys in Carolina, it wasn't as if Devante Adams is the next receiver to go off the board. Legendary names such as Marquis Lee, Jordan Matthews, and Paul Richardson were kind of in between Kelvin Benjamin and Devante Adams who went 53rd overall.

So, you know, we can at least play that game. I appreciate that I haven't, you know, I haven't forgotten everything I once learned and knew, but yeah, Devante, that was a pretty good draft for receivers. I think, again, the Panthers were picking late that year back when Ron Rivera had them going to the playoffs quite a bit, three years in a row. And, you know, in Benjamin, they were looking for, I know this is not what you asked me about, called me today, but they were looking for a bigger type receiver like Dave Gettleman was here as GM at the time. And, you know, obviously Benjamin, he had a couple good years and then got hurt and struggled with his weight. And, you know, it obviously did not pan out super well for the Panthers, Benjamin over to Devante Adams.

No, and neither for the three other wide receivers that are sandwiched between them. Last question for you, you know, the AFC West is really good with obviously the Chiefs, the Raiders, the Chargers, and the Broncos bringing Russell Wilson. Now, are you a believer in Russell Wilson taking the Broncos to that next level where they're going to be right up there with the Chiefs? Or do you think that potentially, even with the addition of a future Hall of Fame quarterback, we're still looking at a third-place team, the AFC West? Yeah, I'm probably a little more skeptical on them becoming instant Super Bowl contenders.

I think he's going to raise their level, of course, and, you know, that defense, I know they're trying to, you know, rebuild that, not rebuild there, but kind of tweak some things there. It's such a good division. I mean, again, like that's, it's like a couple other teams are going to make the playoffs. And I think the AFC West is, I mean, what a quarterback division.

I am huge, like everybody else, right? I mean, I think the quarterback play in that division is so good. I'm trying to think. Panthers, I don't, again, I don't have the schedule in front of me, but I think, I will tell you this, and I don't mean to make everything a Panthers conversation, but that is the team I cover. They were, when I'd mentioned them being in on so many quarterbacks this off season, their general manager, Scott Fitter, Panthers general manager spent like two decades, 20 years in Seattle. And so even though it looked like Russell Wilson was going to end up in Denver this off season, Fitter did call the, you know, pick up the phone and call his old boss, Schneider in Seattle, just to see, Hey, could we at least let me ask about Russell Wilson in Carolina, where Russell played for three seasons at NC State before transferring to Wisconsin. But at that point, Schneider told Fitter, no, this is where Russell wants to go.

And this is pretty far down that path already. Well, you do not face AFC West this year. The Carolina Panthers, they will be facing the AFC North playing Cleveland, uh, Cincy, Baltimore. Uh, actually they are playing Denver on a week 12.

So that will be, that's what I was trying to remember. It's that seven, basically that's that 17th game and they drew Denver. So Russell Wilson will be coming back to the Carolinas, uh, uh, on the visitor side. And ironically enough, after the bye week, they're facing Seattle. So, you know, I mentioned that Ron Rivera era, uh, here in Charlotte and that, that became an interesting cross country rivalry back then the Panthers in Seattle, they were playing just the way the schedules felt. They were playing a lot in the regular season. They played a couple times in the post season and they were really fantastic games back when the Panthers, obviously at Cam Newton, but Luke Kuechly and it took them a while to get over that hump. And when they beat Seattle halfway through the 2015 season, that was sort of the feather in the cap. And then they went from there and, and, you know, went 15 and one and went to the Superbowl, the magical season, Joe Person of the athletic covers the Carolina Panthers, Joe safe travels, my friend. Appreciate you hopping on the show. All right, Dan, have a good week, man.

Great stuff, Joe Person. Yeah, that was a magical season. 15 and one went to the Superbowl. They lost in the Superbowl, but Cam Newton's MVP season for that one year, he put it all together. I mean, literally put it all together, had like 36 touchdowns, like 10 interceptions, rushed for a bunch of yards, rushed for a bunch of rushing time. I mean, you know, that was one of the great seasons the quarterbacks had. What's interesting is, you know, when people talk about Cam Newton and his greatness or lack of whatever you want to look at, that one season he had is the one that stands out. Every other year, it's like 24 touchdowns, 13 interceptions, great running quarterback.

Never quite put it together passing wise the way he did for just that one season where they went 15 and one. Amazing, really was amazing, but wide receivers getting all that money. Man, good for them. Listen, I'm not going to begrudge any player for getting paid. Short careers in the NFL, make that money when you can.

Absolutely. More NFL Talk, wrapping things up on a Tuesday, Dan Schwartzman in for Rich. It is the Rich Eisen Show. Wrap it up on Tuesday edition of the Rich Eisen Show, Dan Schwartzman in for Rich.

I will be in Thursday and Friday as well. Brian Weber in tomorrow for Rich. Wrapping things up, a little NFL Talk with Joe Person from the athletic. Appreciate him hopping on the show, in transit especially. And we almost lost him there a couple of times.

I was like, oh my goodness, we're going to lose him and I hate that. And then boom, reappeared. Like the heavens opened up and Joe was back. You saw that art? I was like, ah, should I say something?

You know? Yeah, I was scrambling to get his phone number. Yeah, and then he came back. Boom. It's like Voice from the Heavens, our buddy Joe Person. Great stuff from him. My take on the Lamar Jackson is this.

All right, it's simple. I think Lamar's a good quarterback. I don't think he's great. I think he's a good quarterback. And the legs are what make him great. You stick him in the pocket, he's an average quarterback. Kind of like Kyler Murray, very similar. And when I don't think that long term the guy can really play effective football at the position because I think his skill set does not lead to a lengthy career, I'm not paying him.

I get it. Look, the Ravens are going to have to pay him, right? Because it's hard to find quality quarterbacks.

And when you got a guy who's won a league MVP in his first few years in the league, that's impressive. Not going to take that away from Lamar Jackson. I think the Ravens are between the rock and the hard place.

And here's why. I think the Ravens, frankly, are probably thinking, do we want to sign a guy to a 10-year contract that we don't believe once the legs start going and he takes more hits, can be an effective pocket passer to move the football down the field. And we're going to pay him $50 million a year to do what, right? But on the other hand, he's a fan favorite and he is a very good quarterback because of his attributes that are still sharp because he's a young guy. I think they feel they have to pay him. How do you sell to a fan base? We're getting rid of a quarterback because we think in four years his legs are going to be diminished and we don't think he's a good enough passer to be able to kind of compromise.

Like it's not going to be a popular argument, right? Like for a fan base that's accustomed to watching Lamar Jackson when they look around the league and being a Jet fan, they've gone from one quarterback to the next and they've never found their franchise quarterback and they hope that Zach Wilson's going to break that streak. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. But a Raven fan at least knows, hey, we have consistency with Lamar Jackson. We know he's good. He can win us games. I don't care about what happens four or five years down the road.

If he loses the ability to be as effective with his legs, can he win us games just throwing the football purely? They don't care. It's not their money. So if the Ravens were to let him go and try to make that argument to fans, it's not going to go over well. You'll have a minority of fans saying, yeah, I get it and let's go find another quarterback.

The majority will say, but we had a guy, why get rid of him? So while I think the Ravens probably don't want to give him a long-term contract, like a Deshaun Watson type of contract, right, where it's fully guaranteed, what, eight years, like 240 or whatever that, six years, 240, where the heck it is. Crazy amount of money, especially for his situation.

We don't have to get into it. Patrick Mahomes' contract. Like Lamar's going to want that kind of money, right? He's going to want to break the bank because that's the natural progression of money at that position. You don't have to be the best player to be the highest paid quarterback. It's you have to hit free agency at the right time. Was Matt Stafford the best quarterback in football when he got his record-breaking deal?

No. You can make the argument that Patrick Mahomes was the best quarterback in the NFL when he got his record-breaking deal. You know, Deshaun Watson, excuse me, had not played an entire season.

He got a huge deal and he may miss another entire season plus. So Lamar Jackson's looking at it saying, okay, well, I'm not Patrick Mahomes. Not that he would say that. I'm going to say it for him. You're not Patrick Mahomes. So, you know, I mean, you don't deserve more money, but I do understand how it works at that position that you're the next in line.

So you probably will get the kind of money. So what is Justin Herbert worth when he hits free agency or the threat of free agency in a few years, right? You know, the charges already starting to think, okay, what are we going to pay this guy? Because money's ballooning out of control at the quarterback position. I mean, quarterbacks are going to be eating 25% of your salary cap shortly, right? Hopefully he goes far away.

Is that the Raider fan in you speaking that he goes far away from the AFC West? Yes, absolutely. Okay.

That makes sense. I don't blame you. It's all about the Raiders.

Yeah, but I'll tell you something, Art. I have to admit, I was not a Justin Herbert guy when he came out of Oregon. I really, I was not. I thought he was a, you know, I thought he was a product of the system and I thought he was overdrafted by the Chargers when they took him what, like seventh overall.

And I am one that will readily admit I was wrong. I mean, he is, he's something else. Yeah, he is. I mean, we can't, we can't hold this guy down, man.

No, he finds a way to win. It's like unbelievable. Listen, he's got it all. He's got a great arm. He's agile back there. He's smart quarterback, right?

Between the, he's good between the ears. So he makes a lot of right decisions. You know, he'll cut down on the picks. I think as he gets a little older and the game slows down even more for him, I'd like to see better coaching from, you know, from, from that team. But I honestly, I think, look, you know, he's proven pretty much everybody wrong. But then again, we use that art.

Look, we do it all the time, right? Well, no one from that program has turned out to be a good quarterback, so why would he, right? Oregon had a bunch of guys that were talented college quarterbacks that never amounted to much in the NFL, right? Joey Harrington, guys like that. They stunk. They were terrible quarterbacks.

What is it? Dennis Dixon, guys like that. It's like the USC argument, right? Like, look at all the terrible quarterbacks out of USC. Okay, you have Carson Palmer, but everybody else, like Matt Barkley is nothing, right? Mark Sanchez was terrible. Matt liner. Matt liner was awful. You can make the argument the guy that never played there and was a seventh round pick of the Patriots turned out to be one of the top guys.

Matt Castle. And that tells you how unsuccessful USC quarterbacks have been in the NFL. We have your boy, Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold, another terrible one. So you have like Carson Palmer and Matt Castle are the two best, right? And then you have a bunch of guys drafted high who haven't been very good. Ohio State quarterback, same thing, right? Look at all the record-setting Ohio State quarterbacks. And what have they amounted to in the NFL?

Not much. JT Miller, Braxton. Well, no, it was JT. Was it JT Miller? It was Braxton Miller, I think. Obviously, the late Dwayne Haskins was great in college, was struggling in the NFL when he passed away.

Not a lot of success. Terrell Pryor had more success as a receiver. So the bottom line is, you know, there is validity to say a guy coming from a program may be putting up big numbers just because of the program. But Justin Herbert certainly has taken that dynamic and he has changed my opinion on that because he came from a system at Oregon that produced incredible results in terms of statistics at the collegiate level, but no success at the NFL level.

And he has been incredibly successful his first couple of years in the league. And I don't see that ending in, boy, the Chargers better start saving up some money to get themselves ready for that. Do want to thank Howard Beck, Bill Shaken, and Joe Person for hopping on the show. Again, I will be back on Thursday and Friday in for Rich. Tomorrow will be Brian Weber. Always fun sitting in the big seat.

I'll be back with you on Thursday. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich Eisen on a Tuesday right here on the Rich Eisen Show. 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 babyface, 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. Something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.