REShow: Albert Breer - Hour 2

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Perfection wears red and black. The dogs have done it.

65 to 7. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I think Jameson Williams asked Aaron Rodgers for his jersey and Aaron said, I'm going to hold on to this one. I'm going to hold on to this one. That's what he said. I'm going to hold on to this one.

And Tarico heard that and goes, well that's something. The Rich Eisen Show. Today's guests.

Senior writer for the MMQB. Albert Breer. Super Bowl champion and NFL on Prime video analyst, Andrew Whitworth. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air here on the Roku Channel.

844204 Rich is the number to dial. Andrew Whitworth of Amazon Prime. And of course the currently reigning Walter Payton Man of the Year award winner is coming here.

And reigning is definitely also operational for what's happening here in Los Angeles, California. Not just literally on our heads, but points in SoFi Stadium last night. The former home of Andrew Whitworth as the Georgia Bulldogs win 65 to 7. If you're just joining us, we started the show with 10 minutes soliloquy of me saying how great Georgia football is. And then Chris Brockman conveniently forgot it completely. When he pointed out that he thought that Georgia played so well that Michigan definitely would have lost to them last night.

And I refuse to agree with that. It created a very awkward moment. And I have to apologize to you, Chris. I apologize to you.

That yes, Georgia could have beaten anybody last night. I'm also tired. The power is out in my house. The alarm went off with a battery that I couldn't find at 1230 in the morning. So I'm tired.

Sorry for derailing the opening. I'm cranky. I'm cranky. I'm cranky because I watched a national championship game between the two teams that have eliminated Michigan over the last two years.

And Jim Harbaugh is apparently zooming with the Denver Broncos. So all that together. Oh, really? Yeah, it's not great. Got a lot of ish going on. I'm a 53-year-old man with a lot of ish going on. So is that it?

Yeah, thank you. Pretty much everything else is great. My left eye is twitching. And I say hello right now to Albert Pryor joining us here to kick off our number two of the Rich Eisen Show here on this post college football championship game Tuesday edition of the program.

How are you, Albert? Well, first of all, thoughts and prayers to everybody out there on the weather. Sounds like it's really horrible. Bro, I know when it says it's raining really hard in L.A. and people are like, get out of here with that noise. It's kind of nuts. I mean, there is a flood warning.

At any rate, it's enough. I will say this. The thing about weather is it's all about, I really do think it's all about how prepared you are for it. And I can remember the, and Rich, you were there, I can remember the Super Bowl in Dallas. It wasn't that the weather was that bad, it was just that they weren't prepared for it at all.

Well, Albert, I remember, I remember, you know, going to the media day at that Super Bowl at the Jones Mahal in Dallas. And it was it was sleeting, it was icy, it was snowing. And I thought we were in deep trouble when we were passing by this this large depot where all of their deicers were stationed. And I didn't see piles of salt, which if you're from the East Coast, you know that the salt is what is what breaks up the ice. And I saw big, huge piles of sand. And I said to the driver, I'm like, what's that? He goes, we sand when it's icy out here. I'm like, oh, God, that's not what you do. You know, I should have been on the deicing committee.

I would have told you, get some salt, get some salt, not sand. But anyway, I mean, I never understand stuff like that. Are we like keeping those secrets from people? I don't know. I don't know.

How does word not get I mean, I understand where you may not have like like a couple thousand trucks the way that we do here that take care of it. Right. Yes.

And I'm invested in that. But like, don't you at least have the information? You know what I mean? Like, this is how you do it. Well, I mean, let's just get into. Yes.

By the way, that's a yes. Albert Brie here on The Rich Eisen Show. Before we get to pro football, you know, I mentioned how last night Georgia is proving that they're the best.

My gosh, they are terrific. And how me as a Michigan guy sitting there like, how do we lose to a TCU team that looks like this? I wonder and I know I'm heading towards the third rail here, but I'll give you the floor as a Buckeye. What do you think watching that game? Well, I mean, it looked to me like it's hard not to think that like last night would have been a heck of a celebration if we had been able to kick a 50 yard field goal or get a few yards closer for a kicker.

So obviously you have those thoughts as a fan and maybe it's not the most rational way of looking at it, but that's obviously the way you're going to look at it. You know, Georgia is incredible. And I will say this, like just having talked to, you know, scouts who've gone through there and done a bunch of work over the last few weeks on college football playoff teams. It's, you know, what they all uniformly say about Georgia is you go there in a school call. For those who don't know, school calls like when you go there in the middle of the week, right? Like, so you're out of practice and you get to see these guys up close if you're a scout and they all say like you get there and your head's on a swivel and you're like, who's that?

Who is that? It's like, oh, well, that's the true freshman who's not playing yet. That's the that's the red shirt sophomore who's stuck behind a first round pick at his position. And it's just like the depth. That's what it is. You know, like TCU actually has this isn't this isn't Mountain West TCU.

People are making that mistake. It's not like this is like a legitimate TCU team. The receiver is going to be a first round pick. One of their offensive linemen might be a first round pick. The defensive end, I think, is a top 100 guy.

Like they've got talent. The difference is Georgia can come in waves. And Georgia has a guy who's probably going to go in the top 50.

Nolan Smith is a pass rusher who didn't even play last night. You know what I mean? Like, so Georgia's got like just this pipeline.

It's similar to what Kirby was part of building at Alabama. You know, where it's not just like that they have a handful of guys that you and I are going to be talking about for the month of April. It's that they can come in waves. And it's there's so many of them. And I think like last night was such a vivid display of that. You know what I mean?

Yeah, certainly. And certainly from kids who aren't even draft eligible right now, Albert. And then, you know, I think the one of the ways that you can measure how terrific Stetson Bennett the fourth is and how he has become is not just his presence at the Heisman Trophy ceremony this year. But I don't think, you know, he's lost the sneaky on the sneaky athletic phrase. I mean, like he is just flat out athletic. What is his draft status, do you think, going into coming out of back to back championships? He's 25. But man, is he a self-made winner. What do you got for me on that?

What are you hearing? I think he's going to get drafted. And I think before the year, like a lot of NFL scouts might have told, yeah, like he's probably going to be selling insurance for 2023. I think he legitimately gets drafted now. And I'm not saying he's going to be a first or a second round pick, but I think someone's going to take him in the sixth or seventh round with the idea, like the size is the question, right?

Like he's not quite as big as these guys, but can I make him my K's Keenum or my Colt McCoy? And there's real value in that too, you know, like some teams are spending, you know, five or six million dollars on a backup quarterback. If you can have a guy in a rookie contract like that, like for four years and you think he can play and oh, by the way, not only does he have some physical ability, but this is a guy who is like is never going to shrink, you know, when the lights are bright, right? Like we know that about him. Like we know, like if he's put in a big situation, he's not going to melt down.

There's real value in that. What about the idea, Albert, what about the idea that there's another number 13 who was drafted last in the draft? And I know Purdy is two inches taller at 6'1 and quarterbacks who are 5'11 are just overlooked for many reasons, physically as well as figuratively. But do you think that might be playing into it? Like if Purdy can do what he's doing, put Bennett in the right system and who knows?

What do you think? Yeah, I mean, there's definitely, there's definitely some like similarities from an intangible standpoint. And I know it's a different level of college football and everything, but like Brock Purdy was seen as that guy. I would say, you know, like great intangibles, a leader, like he sort of helped them get to a level they hadn't gotten to before, which again, like different level than like the level at which Stetson Bennett did it at.

But yeah, I mean, there's, there are definitely some intangible, intangible, you know, similarities there. And that's where like, you know, again, like I like physically, is he ever going to be a starter? No.

Like, could he go out there and if he's throwing to Deebo Sam, Deebo's been out, but Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, if he's behind Trent Williams, if he's got Christian McCaffrey out there behind him, could he go out there and look like pretty functional? I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say yes. Right. Right. Yeah. Just surround him. You surround him.

I love it. And I think such a big part of playing that position too, is like how you handle the big moments. Cause that's, you know, like that's what separates the great ones, you know?

And that's what, I mean, look, that's what's made Tom Brady, Tom Brady over the, I think he's nailed every one of them, you know, over the last 23 years. So, you know, I think that that part of it is actually like significant, you know, and if you're in a draft room and you've got a handful of guys with day three grades at that position, I mean, I don't see how that wouldn't be a tiebreaker, you know? Like if they're all looking, if you look at like four or five guys, like these guys are like relatively even, you know, wouldn't you take the guy who, you know, has been just nailed on the biggest stages?

I think you would. Albert Breer here on the Rich Eisen show from the MMQB senior NFL reporter. And let's continue on with the middle of the Venn diagram between college and National Football League football. Jim Harbaugh zooming virtual interview with the Denver Broncos today. I mean, if you had to peg it that this is a leverage play, despite having signed a five-year contract just one year ago to try and get more money from Ward Manuel, the athletic director of Michigan, or he really is trying to scratch that NFL itch that he said he put away last year when he signed that five-year contract, where do you lean on all this for Harbaugh? I think right now it feels to me like he's gathering information.

You know, and I think we talked last week about like the difference this time around. It's kind of how, you know, maybe he felt his mortality as a potential NFL coach over the last couple of years when it was hard for him to get back in when he really wanted to get back in, you know? And he turns 60 next year or this year and it's, you know, like, how many more shots am I going to get at this? You know, I think he wants to give it a very legitimate look, you know? And so I think, you know, what you're going to see, you know, is he's going to go through a process of looking at these things. And if he gets an offer, I think it's going to be hard for him to say no. Now, I think Denver's committed to running a real process, and obviously they've got their toe in the Sean Payton pool. You know, I think the Colts, you know, it'll be interesting to see, you know, where the interest lands there. You know, the Texans are another one who people aren't talking about, where, you know, I think if the owner is in control of that one, if it's not Nick Casario fully running that process, the Texans could throw the bat in the ring. So I think, you know, Jim's going to gather information here and, you know, if he gets an offer, I think it's going to be hard for him to say no. But I also know that it's like he's got the Michigan program in an awesome spot.

He's got a really good team coming back next year. And I do think he genuinely really likes the job. You know what I mean?

I just think there's some push and pull there. And I will say this, like the Michigan people are taking it seriously. Like I talked to a couple of people last night, you know, who are connected in these circles and everything else that, you know, Michigan is already doing, you know, research on potential candidates should he leave. That shouldn't, you know, sound any alarms in Ann Arbor or anything.

It's a smart thing that you would do. You know, you would naturally get yourself ready in the case that something could happen, but I think it is a sign that they're at least taking, you know, Harbaugh's interest in NFL jobs very seriously. Albert Breer here on the Rich Eisen Show. You just mentioned about Jim Harbaugh's, you know, either fact-finding tour or genuine interest in accepting an NFL offer should one come his way tour.

Sean Payton looms as well. We already know about the jobs that are open. And in terms of that, let's take this a little bit one at a time.

The only one I want to choose about what's open is the one that just came open, Arizona. Why this? Why did Michael Bidwell eat all this dead money when that's not really his usual?

What do you got for me? Yeah, I mean, I think that the organization was just sideways. Obviously, you know, yeah, I know, you know, she's kind of a little bit.

I know him, too. We hope the best for him and everything and that he can get everything in order with his help and everything else. And, you know, I just think that for Michael Bidwell, it feels like this was a chance to address, you know, adjust or address problems in an organization that has really gone sideways. You know, I don't think the relationship between Cliff and Kyler was in a great place at the end. You know, and then obviously, you know, Steve has his issues.

And, you know, I think you're looking at this and this is an important point. I think in all these cases, when you get a quarterback signed to a contract like that, you can't stroke a check and make it go away. You can stroke a check and make a coach go away.

You can stroke a check and make a GM go away. So, you know, logistically, if you are looking to turn things over and change things, you know, there was really, really the only choice you have here is we got to just see if we can get the quarterback right because we are logistically hitched to him. And so, you know, I think that's the way of addressing, you know, an organization, again, where so many things have gone sideways over the last year and really going back to the end of last season with that blowout loss to the Rams and the divisional and the wildcard round. And so I think they're going to take a very serious look at internal candidates. You know, I think Quentin Harris and Adrian Wilson are two very well respected people who've been in that organization a long time. And then I think Vance Joseph, who had a good relationship with Kyler Murray and has been their defensive coordinator the last few years, I think he's going to get a serious look as potentially their head coach.

I think it's fair then to ask the question, if you do think your organization's got issues, shouldn't you be bringing in, you know, outside voices? My counter to that would be, you know, Michael Bidwell's always looked internally first, and so if those guys show well in the interview process, it wouldn't stun me if those are the three guys running the organization. No shot at going YOLO and saying, you know, instead of having Kyler hooked up with a guy who, you know, was interested in him as a high school recruit and coached against him in college, why not get the guy who won a Heisman Trophy for him? You know, is there, just even making a YOLO call to USC? They're just throwing a Hail Mary at the Coliseum.

What do you think? I think it makes some sense, you know, and obviously, you know, Lincoln Riley and Cliff Kingsbury, there's some, there's some scheme carryover. Both those guys played at Texas Tech. I think Lincoln Riley was actually one of Cliff Kingsbury's backups there, is that right? I think that's what the case was, but yeah, I mean, it would make sense to at least make that call.

I can't imagine Lincoln Riley would leave SC after just a year, especially with like the Heisman Trophy winner coming back and the amount of money he's making there and everything else. But, you know, I think if you're Michael Bidwell, you should be compelled to at least make that call. I'd also say this, like, I don't think, like, I think Cliff's scheme is good, you know what I mean? Like, so I don't think like Michael Bidwell's problem would be with the offense, you know? I, you know, I talked to enough people over the last couple of years about what they do where, like, I had defensive coaches tell me, like, that's the most difficult offense, you know, in the league to prepare for because it's so different with some of the things that they do. I've had offensive coaches say they studied their tape because it is different.

And so, yeah, I mean, if you, if you wanted a path towards getting the most out of Kyler and continuing forward, you know, with the offense that Cliff built there over the last four years, then Lincoln Riley absolutely would be your worst call, your first call. I just don't know that. I know Lincoln's got NFL aspirations. I have talked to him about that in the past.

I just don't know that he'd do it after just a single year. Right, right, right. Albert Breer here on the Rich Eisen Show.

In the few minutes I have left with you, let's hit some jobs that aren't open that might be. Is anybody in your estimation coaching for his job in the playoffs? Yeah.

You know what's weird about this, Rich? It's like the expansion of the field, I think, has sort of changed the dynamic here, you know, where now you've got 14 teams going in, so there are more teams that are sort of, I guess, quote, unquote, middling that are making it through. You know, the three that were sort of, you know, floated to me over the last week, you know, in kind of gathering information ahead of Black Monday were Dallas, the Chargers, and Tampa. And, you know, I don't think any of those guys deserve to get fired, but there were just three that were put on my radar over the last couple of weeks. You know, with Dallas, I just think McCarthy's done a really good job this year for all the hits that he's taken. You look at it, and it's like, you know, like they lose the left tackle, they replace him with a rookie who'd been playing guard in camp, and the rookie does great.

They do an awesome job, you know, with Cooper Rush in there as their starting quarterback for five weeks. You know, he was responsible for bringing in Dan Quinn, so I just don't think he deserves it, and Jerry shot it down. And this morning on Dallas radio said no, but I don't think that one's going, but that one just hasn't seemed to go away. With the Chargers, I think it relates directly to Sean Payton, you know, and whether or not like the Spanos family would do something bold. Again, I don't think Brandon Staley deserves to be walked out on the plank after two years as the head coach, but maybe the Spanos look at this as a unique opportunity with their young quarterback to go and get somebody like Sean Payton. Maybe they are willing to spend in an area where they haven't been willing to spend in the past.

I don't think so, but maybe. And then, you know, like the third one, Tampa, you know, I just think so much of this depends on what Tom Brady is going to do after the year. And, you know, like I think regardless of what happens, there are probably going to be some changes made to the offensive staff. If Brady is gone, you wonder if, you know, maybe the way that the Glazer family looks at the organization is more, you know, sort of in a total sense, like looking at the organization from a total view rather than looking to make tweaks further down the line.

What about the Rams, Albert? You were the one who came on this show a few months ago and just like, you know, keep an eye on Sean McVeigh, who, you know, had some ideas to maybe join broadcasting in a booth. Those opportunities are not there right now unless another bold move is made. You want to talk about bold moves by a television executive, but and then we're hearing he wants to take time away or is going to take time away.

I got Andrew Whitworth in hour three. I'll ask him about that. But what's the latest on that?

What's your reporting there? Yeah, I mean, it's been a long year for Sean. I would say that, like, I think, you know, between everything, you know, he's the real life stuff like, you know, losing his grandfather and going through, you know, going through things with his wife. And, you know, for those who don't know, I know you know this, Rich, but those who don't know his wife's Ukrainian, you know, and then obviously going through the season that they went through, I think it was a lot.

You know, I think it was a lot. And so, you know, I know and I've made the comments. You have been pretty consistent in saying that going back to the summer that Sean has one to five years left. Well, that one was always in play. And I think it's sort of always been based on where he was and how he felt at the end of the year. And I think it also ties again to those four players that are that serve as the core of the team. Matthew Stafford, Cooper Cup, Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald. And where are those guys at?

And are those guys locked in for 2023? And you heard Aaron Donald come out and say it like, you know, I'm here as long as Sean is, you know. So I think, you know, all those things are in play as Sean sort of, you know, unplugged over the next couple of days and give this some thought. You know, but I certainly think it's something that he's very seriously thought about. And I also know that, you know, he I think he thinks my feeling is he thinks that it'd be a bad, bad move to make a decision the Sunday or Monday after. And I think he knows himself well enough.

He's self-aware enough to know, like, he's going to need a little time to get away from it to under to be able to make the right decision, not only for him, but for everybody around him. And, you know, guys who are on that staff, guys who played for him, I think he knows how it affects all of them, too. One other thing on this, too, like, I do think, like, you know, you look at the Rams. I look like I think if Sean walked away last year, Raheem Morris would have been the head coach. And that's even if Kevin O'Connell, who's in a fantastic job with the Vikings, even if he remained. I think Raheem Morris would have been the head coach if Sean had walked away last year. And so I that's got to be a factor, too, here is like, you know, Raheem is interviewing with the Colts. He's going to interview with the Broncos a week from today.

Does that sort of give us a little bit of a timeline? Because, you know, if Sean's going to walk away, well, you know, then it could affect, you know, who the Rams can get to succeed him and whether or not that could be Raheem Morris. Well, and then before I let you go, Albert, I know we've been talking quite some time, but I do want to hit the number one overall draft choice here.

And the two questions I have are this one was kind of touched upon by Ryan Pauls, the general manager of the Bears today. But the first things first, did Lovey know he was going to get fired and he just goes out there and he's like, we're going to play to win this game, even though I'm serious. Like and did he, you know, kind of like the wrath of Khan spit spit in the eye of Captain Kirk before he blows up his ship. Did he do that? Did he basically say we're going to play to win this game? And even though it, you know, the Texans, I'm sure would have preferred him to lose one more.

Did that happen? Power struggle might be a strong term for it, but I had heard like over the last couple of weeks that there was some push and pull on who was going to come out of this with the job, you know, and I had heard that Lovey went to ownership to make his case. The team was still playing hard for him and all the rest of that. And so I think Lovey knew, you know, his job was on the line the last few weeks. On the flip side, I think there were people in that front office who felt like that Lovey maybe didn't have a command over the game the way that the way that he needed to in 2023. And or he would need to in 2023 and that the schemes on both sides of the ball were lacking.

They weren't adjusting the way they needed to. You know, it's just I think all this stuff was sort of in play over the last couple of weeks inside that organization. And, you know, so I think Lovey had an idea that at the end of all this, like he might be the one left without a job, which obviously is the way it ended up playing out. But I don't think it was a secret to Lovey or anybody else in that organization that somebody was going to pay the price for the way this year played out. Well, I mean, talk about an O. Henry-like twist now that the Bears have the first overall pick and Justin Fields balling out the way that he did this year in a year that we thought he was just going to be fodder behind that line of scrimmage. And he did, in fact, get hurt. But I know they started 2-1 and then finished 3-14.

But still, what do the Bears do with that first pick? Yeah, I had a long conversation with Matt Eberfluss on Saturday about Justin. And they love him as a leader. They love him as a person. I mean, the thing about it too, like, you think about this, Justin didn't bitch about anything.

Like, you look back at it. And we've heard quarterbacks complain in these situations before. We saw, you know, Zach Wilson in New York and we saw Mac Jones with some of the sideline antics in New England.

This is a guy who got the crap knocked out of him and didn't complain once, right? So, I think they think they've got the right person, the right leader, all of that. The question is, is he the right quarterback? And so, you know, I'd expect over the next couple months, it's going to be like, we have to look. We don't know when we're going to have the first pick again, so we have to very seriously look at all of the quarterbacks and compare them to Justin Fields. Remember, those guys didn't draft Justin Fields.

Eberfluss and Ryan Polls. And so, I think that's something they're going to look at. But I do think that they feel strongly about Fields. And so, you know, I think over the next couple of months, that'll sort of play out. And, you know, I think that the great thing about the position that they're in right now is they probably get something significant for the first pick and use whatever they get to put something great around, something better around Fields.

And, you know, if they do that, they could say, okay, like, we'll do this, right? If we're not, if we don't think like any of these quarterbacks in the draft this year, and they all have flaws, it's the next Trevor Lawrence. We'll do this. We'll trade the number one overall pick. We'll get a bunch of picks. We'll give Justin a better situation. We'll get a cleaner evaluation of Justin in 2023. And then in 2024, we'll either have our quarterback of the future, Justin Fields, or we'll have a high pick in a draft where Caleb Williams and Drake May are going to be coming out. To me, doing that makes more sense where you're not like, you're not like 100% Justin is going to be the quarterback for the next year, but you're giving him a really fair shot, a better shot than he had this year. And then like having the backstop of, you could have an even better quarterback class next year.

And oh, by the way, if you trade that first overall pick, you could put yourself in a position where you have multiple first round picks to play with in 2024. Damn straight, Albert. You do that damn straight. Thanks for the call. Really appreciate it.

Truly. Okay, great. Be well, brother. Thanks, man.

Thanks, Rich. Albert Breer. Follow him at Albert Breer on Twitter. He's a must follow. Great.

Always makes me smarter. I just love talking to him, man. Love talking to him. And we talked to him for like 20 something minutes.

That's why we have this. This show is also in podcast form. There's like a nice little mini podcast right there. Go ahead and subscribe to our podcast. All three hours are available through the Cumulus Podcast Network. Come back. Phone calls.

Touch a little bit more on that Bears decision before I come up with maybe related top five non playoff teams I'd buy stock in for next year. Welcome to Talkville, the Ultimate Smallville Rewatch Podcast, where each week we watch every episode of Smallville, a show that changed our lives forever and perhaps your lives, too. I'm Michael Rosenbaum. Hello, I am Tom Welling.

What was the sign off now? Always remembers Talkville. That's it. Always hold on to Smallville, folks. We love you.

Can do without you. Got a great season two coming up. Catch up with season one or start season two on YouTube or wherever you listen. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show and the Rich Eisen Show radio network powered by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. You know, Albert Breer, we touched on so much with him right there. The first overall pick in the draft of this year is something we didn't see the Bears coming on that pike. Oh, before the season, though, Chris, remember when the Bears and the Seahawks played a preseason game where like this is for the first overall pick? We did say that and the Bears won. Right. Which led me to say it's Seahawks, Seahawks, the seven seed and the Bears are first on the clock after going two and one to start the season, beating Trey Lance and the Niners to start. That better be on the list tomorrow. And so the Bears are first over.

They were two and one and then finished one and 13. That's how you do it. And Lovey Smith Lovey Lovey gives one last piece of assistance to the Bears. By playing the win in a game where I mean, when Albert said, when I asked him, did he know he was out when he's call it, when he's when he's hail marrying and going for two? Because if he did, that would be one of the I mean, he opened a spite store in Houston. OK, coffee, right? He had the beans. He wound up having the beans at the end. He had the beans.

Just don't do any heated coffee. And he he put those beans on the table. Right now, that's funny. OK. And and Albert's like, yeah, writing was on the wall. Writing was on the wall. And the Bears wound up getting the first overall selection. And whereas Houston would had a choice of any quarterback they want in the draft, any quarterback they want in the draft. Now, it's possible it would be quarterback number two. If two things happen, one, the Bears traded away this draft choice to a team that falls in love with a quarterback. And you're already beginning to hear the whole rumbling from the talent evaluation community. Yeah, there's no quarterback out there you're going to fall in love with to go trade up to go get. OK, OK. No one's that deeply in love with Bryce Young, C.J.

Stroud or keep going on and on and on. We're going to identify the quarterback class for you one by one between now and the combine and then the draft. As we're now in that part of the year, knowing who's first overall and second overall, we know the draft order.

So that's one aspect. Or if they decide to. Be the one themselves to fall in love with a quarterback. And trade away Justin Fields, like what would be more valuable to this team if you're stockpiling for draft choices? Go get the draft choices for Justin Fields, who's shown some incredible ability over the first two years of his career, while getting beaten up behind an offensive line that's just getting better.

But, you know, the Bears offense was definitely more higher register of being good than people thought, despite their three and 14 final record. What do you do? Ryan Polis, the general manager, was asked that very question in his press conference today. The first pick, there are people that said their quarterback might be available there.

You're saying Justin's your guy. Well, we're going to do the same as we've always done. We're going to evaluate the draft class. And I would say this. I'd have to be absolutely blown away to make that type of decision. OK, I'd have to be blown away to make that type of decision. And you heard Albert Breer just say, I spoke with Matt Eberfluss at length about this, about Justin Fields and their evaluation of him on Saturday night.

This fresh conversation. And Eberfluss said, you know, they will evaluate him. They love him. They think he's great. They think he's a leader.

They think he's done everything right. But they will evaluate. And even he said that maybe you trade away the first overall pick for a ton of picks. And then you have multiple picks next year. You use the picks this year to supplement Justin Fields and the team.

And what multiple picks you get for future years, you can maybe package together and go get. Caleb Williams or Drake May, two guys who might lead the draft class and quarterback right now if they were eligible. Caleb Williams, all you're hearing is that's the next Mahomes.

That's what you're hearing. The next Mahomes. That said, some people said that about Zach Wilson, too. Juries out.

I mean, who are these people? Tony Romo. Tony Romo. That's the ceiling for him?

The one time Tony Romo has ever been wildly off is about Zach Wilson, of course. That's that's it. Or do you trade Justin Fields? I don't think right now fans are down for that. I wouldn't be either. I wouldn't be either.

I really love what he's done. Can we get some Bears fans to call in? I mean, it's specifically one who might be sitting in the back controlling the phones or your friend in the barn. Who we had scream Iberfluss. I don't know what I haven't talked to him in a minute.

I don't know what he's doing. One from our family, Adam, and one from, I guess, our collective family. Ashton?

Sure. But this is going to be a non-stop conversation between this day and draft day. What does Jeff Garland do?

Non-stop conversation. I'll tell you what I think they should do. Trade the pick. I think or I don't know. What if Will Anderson is or Jalen Carter or there's a defensive player out there that that's their brand. That's your brand. Your brand is a Bears.

The Monsters of the Midway, man. Is a Bears organization. That is your brand. And then what's off-brand and newfangled is your current quarterback. Yeah. I mean, that's another option, too. But trading the choice. Linebacker at number one is not a thing that happens. Well, but I mean, linebackers also rush the passer to, I mean, I don't know.

Maybe Micah Parsons on a redraft would go number one. Don't you think? I don't know.

I'm just throwing stuff against the wall right now. Thursday, April 27th in Kansas City. Between now and that date, this is the conversation because the Bears are number one and Lovey helped make it happen of all coaches. Right. That's true.

Going out the door, opening a Spite store in Houston. I'm going to live the rest of my existence believing that Lovey did that for the Bears. Of course.

That won't be happening. That's probably not what it was. He did it for himself.

Probably not, but I'm going to believe it. There is an eye in Lovey and Smith. Much in the same way, I believe Jerry West gifted the Lakers Palgasol all those years ago. But wouldn't you like, you would have to get a draft choice. Whoever comes and gets it. Can you put the draft up one more time, Hoskins?

Let's just dive in a little bit on this. The draft order. You'd have to, if you trade the one, you'd have to, you wouldn't have to go fall, you can't fall very far. Well, you'd trade it to the Colts or Texans, right? Well, the Texans, but would the Texans give you a one next year just to move out one spot? I doubt it. If they love one of the two guys. But I doubt it.

I doubt it. The Colts, I mean, who else would come out and get somebody that they loved so much? The Seahawks? I don't know.

You sit right there. Raiders. I mean, the Raiders. The Raiders seem like they're either Tom Brady or drafting a guy. Well, they just, Chris, they were just evaluating Jared Stidham. Didn't you hear that? They wanted to see what they had in him, even though it's not like the mystery man to Josh McDaniel. He's had him in his system for years. By the way.

Put that up one more time. I saw Stidham make some passes the other day that made me go, this kid could play. The Panthers, the Falcons aren't moving up. The Panthers, I mean, I don't know who would move up because you're not going to move out of one and then fall all the way down the middle of the draft.

You can't. You're not going to get Carter or Anderson. Right. So I don't know if that draft's going to, that trade's going to be there. Like someone's going to trade you their pick this year to come up to one and next year to come up to one. So you'll have multiple picks next year. And then, by the way, who would trade the way Caleb Williams or or the kid from North Carolina to a team that's so quarterback needy? Like, who would who would tap out?

Somebody might be doing that same. You know, do we stick with our current guy or the or the new kid that we've fallen in love with? You know, either or that we're we're placing on the doorstep of the Bears right now, somebody might do that next year to their their already established planet quarterback. I mean, this is fascinating. And thank you, Lovey Smith, for spitting in the eye of the Texans to place this in front of us rather than just who are the Texans going to take first overall quarterback?

This has just opened up so many more pathways of interesting conversation for the draft. Way to way to go, Lovey. And thank you to the Indianapolis Colts defensive back. We decided to pick off a Hail Mary rather than knocking it down. And then the two pointer. Way to dial up that play. And then the two point conversion.

Yeah, way to dial up the two pointer. 1988, the last time a linebacker was drafted number one. I love it. Lovey's like, we're not playing for overtime when I could spit in the eye of the McNair family.

Our early mock draft to have the Bears taking Will Anderson. That's what I just said. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Because he can rush the passer, man.

He can get after you. Don't be fooled by the linebacker. Bryce Young, two. Jaywin Carter, three. C.J. Stroud, four.

OK. 844-204, Rich. Number to dial when we come back. The top five teams I have Scott Stock in after they just missed the playoffs. Top five non playoff teams. I'm putting Stock in for next year. That's coming up.

And then Andrew Whitworth of the Rams. If you don't know your numbers, then you need to make sure that you reach out to NetSuite by Oracle because you don't know your business. Otherwise, NetSuite by Oracle makes sure that you know every part of your business because they are the number one cloud financial system. And over thirty three thousand businesses know their numbers because they use NetSuite, which gives you visibility and control of your financials, planning, budgeting and, of course, inventory.

You can manage risk, get reliable forecasts, improve margins, everything you need all in one place. NetSuite helps you identify rising costs, automate your manual business processes and see where you save money. Know your numbers, know your business and get to know how NetSuite can be the source of truth for your entire company.

Right now, NetSuite is offering a one of a kind, flexible financing program. Head to NetSuite dot com slash Rich Radio right now. NetSuite dot com slash Rich Radio.

NetSuite dot com slash Rich Radio. Mike Del Tufo, I need NFL films music, gets me in the mood when they come up with one of my top five lists. There it is. Top five non playoff teams that I would buy stock in for twenty twenty three. Number five on the list is a team that I'm going to chalk up to injuries, hangovers and all of that stuff.

I'd buy stock in the Los Angeles Rams right now. I'm hoping Sean McVeigh finds those batteries recharged. Obviously, this is a personal decision for him. Obviously, we don't know what's going on in his life outside of football that might grind his gears in the football world. But we're assuming Stafford's back, Cupp's back, Ramsey's back, Donald's back. That means the Rams can be back. And I trust on less need using whatever picks he has an F to figure out how to protect Stafford. Let's hit that offensive line again and let's make the Rams great again. And I think they can be.

I'd buy stock in them for next year. Number four on this list is a team that was in the mix. I can't give up, man. They were in the mix until they weren't. And man, how bad how bad do you have to be to not score a touchdown in the final three games of a season when you've got Garrett Wilson at the very least?

And by the way, with three different quarterbacks starting those three games to boot. How bad do you have to be? Breece Hall, baby, wherever you are rehab. Elijah very Tucker's coming back that defense.

How good is sauce, by the way? He's better than what I even dreamed he could be. I know. Quinnen Williams has got all pro written all over him. I love the coach. It was the quarterback. I mean, that's let's figure out the quarterback. I think he's going to have to find a new offensive coordinator, even though Michael Flores is guy and maybe even. And by the way, I'm preparing myself for Zach being the week one starter.

Yes. I don't believe they really want to toss him aside. I know fan base has had enough of him. But maybe we get an offensive coordinator and a system that actually doesn't make him the square peg in that round hole, which is part of what happened, I think. But Breece Hall, let's go, baby.

Let's get him back and make the difference. Number three on this list is a team that has got a billion dollars of cap space. They've got the number one overall pick in the draft now. And I like the Chicago. I'd buy stock in the Bears right now.

I really would. They've got everything that you need. Like I said, the number one overall pick, a quarterback who wears number one, who looks absolutely terrific more often than not when he's actually protected. And this team has an incredible, as I mentioned, amount of cap space going into this year's free agency market.

I mean, that's their world. Most cap space, number one overall pick. And they were one in seven in one score games going into week 18. So I like the Bears.

I'll buy stock in them. Number two on this list is a team that drafted a rookie quarterback, played the rookie quarterback and has shown this guy's got it. And man, does he have a connection with a wide receiver whose coach told me and the rest of the NFL Network crew calling his game.

Get your camera ready. And we had. And Najee Harris is terrific.

And they've got playmakers on defense and a coach. Hey, look, Steeler fans, I know you've been retorting to me when I said that anybody who thinks that Mike Tomlin should finally be having his time up in Pittsburgh is dumb. I might have chosen a better word, but you're still dumb. Dumb's good. Honestly.

And I know that I got a lot of pushback. Well, Rich, just look at how few playoff wins the man's had. And it's been forever since they won a championship. And Steelers were about winning playoff games and championships.

Of course, everybody's about that. But sometimes circumstances require the coach to take you to a certain spot. And this year, the certain spot was to take a young team that need to learn how to win. I mean, Mike Tomlin told us in our meeting that sometimes the kids that you're trying to coach have to step in it to know that it stinks.

And they went from two and six to nine and eight. He still doesn't have a losing record in a season. And I, I like the Steelers next year. I like Kenny Pickett next year. Number one on this list, though, if I had to buy stock in any team that missed the playoffs this year.

I'm saying this with a straight face and you all know I'm right. The Detroit Lions are number one on this list. I think Dan Campbell's getting better as a coach. I think he's getting better as a coach in terms of knowing his team this year better than he did the year before. And maneuvering the game and understanding when to call timeouts and things of that nature.

There was one moment, however, on Sunday night, I wanted to see him pop off a timeout towards the end of the game and he didn't. But man, or at the end of the half as well, he's not perfect, but he's getting there. And I'll tell you what, this team knows what it is. And that offense is one of the best offenses in the NFL, I'll say it. And Aaron Glenn is coaching the defense up. They got playmakers and they're getting better.

And the front office knows how to funnel the right players to Dan Campbell, who knows how to coach him up. I'm saying that about Detroit Lions. I got to see how the Packers shake out and what the Bears do, even though I got stock in them and what the Vikings look like. But the Lions have a shot to win this division next year and I don't want a little high register.

But that's a team at 9-8 that absolutely balled out in the second half of the season. And you know you need momentum into the non-playing season to get into the regular season. I'm buying stock in the Lions. That's the number one non-playoff team I'm buying stock in in 2023.

I miss anybody? I mean I could have put the commanders on this list. I don't know. Definitely not even the AFC West or AFC South. You could put the Titans on the list maybe?

I don't know. You're off the Raiders? Browns? I got to see more out of them. They got the talent in all the other positions.

I don't know. I got to see more out of them. No surprise if they bounce their DC. I mean Browns fans have been very upset about that side of the football. No Richard, one team I'm surprised it's not on there because you've been on them all season. The Raiders? That's what I just said.

Amen. Nah, I'm just messing up. No, but they still do have the same guys that caused me to believe in them and we'll see what they do at quarterback. But all those blown leads and I do not know where their quarterback is going to be and I still got to see this coach win some football games first. Nobody in the South? Come on man. Falcons, Saints, Panthers? Titans?

That you would buy Stockin saying yes. Saints maybe. I don't know. I don't know.

Really? Who's their quarterback? That's the question. They got everything else. I know out of all these teams I chose the Jets and who's their quarterback but I think the Jets have a...

The narrative I think was right. Championship, defense, their window to win and play football games meaningfully in December arrived sooner than expected. The Jets have more talent than a bunch of these other teams. And then there's the Rams. Stafford Cup, Ramsey and Donald come back with McVeigh. Who's saying the Rams don't have a shot to win their division next year? And the way Cam Akers ran the last month. Right. By the way, that seemed irredeemable and then redeemed. Andrew Whitworth is joining us in studio when we come back. We did, but nothing compared to Vince.