REShow: Matt Schneidman - Hour 3

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Only available for participating stores. See Uber.com slash Uber One for details. Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Live from the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. What if the house comes with two first round draft picks? Sell the house!

And keep the planners! I'm the greatest. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

He is so good and he's so powerful to be around. With guest host, Andrew Siciliano. Earlier on the show, host of the Business of Sports podcast, Andrew Brandt. VSIN Tonight host, Matt Yeomans. Coming up, Packers writer for The Athletic, Matt Schneiderman. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Andrew Siciliano. As we like to say, hey everybody! It is not yet the weekend, but we welcome you to another hour of the Rich Eisen Show.

As you heard, my name is Andrew. I do a show called NFL Now on NFL Network. Every day, 1pm Eastern Time. It's something you should watch. It's kind of like a newsroom thing.

Well it is in the newsroom with all the reporters and it's a good watch. We recommend you tune in. The last couple of days, however, we've been doing a frenzied free agency show. Free agency frenzy officially.

13 hours of that for yours truly the last 3 days. So that's everything that's kind of in my head right now. Yes, there's college basketball going on. West Virginia leads Maryland. 51-48 with 10 and a half remaining in the second half. Virginia leads Furman early second half, 42-30. Furman. Furman. And Missouri leads Utah State 18-13.

They are a bad eyes 8 and a half minutes in. And we are just tipping off the one seed without Bill Self. Bill Self not coaching KU today. Kansas a one seed against Howard from my hometown.

Our nation's capital. No score. They are 18 seconds in. And now that we do have 4 games we can officially do a red zone channel for college basketball. Which I did one many years ago kind of sort of.

I was going to say why doesn't that exist? Because CBS owns all the properties obviously and they kind of do one in studio. Whether it's TruTV they have all these studios hot at the same time. They're going to go back and forth between games. So they do something similar and they cover all the games. Westwood One broadcasts all the games as well. And so many years ago flew to New York sat in a studio in New York.

Actually like 3 doors down like legitimately down a hallway from the 60 minute set. Which was really cool in the CBS broadcast center in Hell's Kitchen. And did that kind of thing on the radio and that was a blast. But we'll keep you updated on the college basketball. Certainly one of my favorite NFL writers period Matt Schneiderman. From The Athletic who covers the Green Bay Packers. He is a fellow orange man. Syracuse not in the tournament by the way.

Big up to Adrian Autry. And he will join us from Green Bay to give a Packers perspective here. We had Nick Mangold on yesterday on NFL Network right after Aaron did his thing. And you know a Jets perspective.

From a Jets perspective I get it you're all in and like you owe it to your fan base. Spend the money make it happen. What's your next best option?

Lamar Jackson we'll get to him in a second. Is that your best option? Maybe. Go get Aaron. I'm all for it. I just hope.

Liking Aaron a lot and I do truly. Despite the fact that there's a lot of passive aggressiveness there. And despite the fact that I think he might be doing this for the wrong reasons.

I just hope it works for him. Because if it doesn't it can get ugly early. Now it got ugly early this year mid season. He's playing through the injury. And then they went on a run late.

Then they lost week 18. But when you say you're going to retire. Which is what he said yesterday.

I think lost it all this. The fact that he said he went into the darkness retreat. And he was 90% retired.

I think out of everything he said yesterday and he spoke for almost an hour with Pat. That was kind of the biggest headline for me. I was out. Out. And then they pulled me back in. Godfather 3 he's back. By in essence spiting me by daring to suggest that we wanted to move on. And by the way that's Chris Brockman, Jason Feller, TJ Jefferson as always. Gentlemen thank you for dragging me on your collective backs through these three hours.

As I have not done this for a long long time. So I thank you. But that's what was the standout or the headline to me. Big time. Alright. 90% done. So if you're 90% done are you playing to prove them wrong? Maybe.

Sure sounds like it. Okay. Sure. What other reason could there be?

I wouldn't doubt you. Cause he was walking away from 60 million dollars. Right. Well that's the other thing too. Is that I don't want to say baloney. But do you really think he'd walk away from 60 million? I personally don't but you know Aaron's a different cat.

Inflation's tough these days. What did Gudekus call him? An interesting fella. He's an interesting fella. Which he is. So I don't know maybe he would.

I wouldn't. He's made a lot of money in his career. I think I love Aaron.

I'll be honest with you. I don't know that I'd always operate the way that he operates. I love watching him play football. I don't agree with him politically with a lot of things. I love watching him play football. I love watching him yes play football.

Haven't interviewed him much over the years. But when I have you know he'll push back on you. Like you don't ask the right question. He'll let you know.

But guess what? Just be ready to push back. Cause he appreciates you pushing back. Right. Like he appreciates the tete a tete. He appreciates the intelligent conversation.

Right. He appreciates different viewpoints. And that's why I love him. And that's why I do think his stuff on the podium over the years has been great.

Especially the last couple of years when he's opened up. But if you're the Jets go to that. The Packers now have you over a barrel. They do. Whether Aaron meant to give them the leverage or not.

Because the way the contract is structured. They don't have to do anything now. And if they want to wait and hold the Jets up. And say you're giving us a one. Or giving us whatever. More than a conditional four. Which is what the Jets gave up 15 years ago for Brett Favre. It's going to be more than that. Now Aaron was asked yesterday.

Will you wear 12? Will you take Joe Namath's number down with his blessing from the rafters. He said I don't want to go there yet. I got a better idea. Namath said it was cool. I know. I got a better idea.

Me too. What's your better idea TJ? Don't do it.

No no no. Don't wear 12? Don't wear 12.

What is your better idea? I feel it's a great way to endear yourself to those fans if you don't take that number. I feel like there's going to be some people who are just going to be mad. Because people are going to be mad about anything. But I feel if he goes in there and doesn't take that number.

It's going to be some good faith I would think. I agree with you. Some of my friends are Jets fans from school. And they said the same thing. Like their fathers.

Namath was their greatest favorite player. Can't do it? Can't do it. They don't want to see anyone else. And I feel the fact that if he's given permission by Joe and he declines it.

I think that will take a Jet fan that's on the fence and go like okay. Right. Okay cool.

I agree with you. Here's what he needs to do. I can't believe no one's thinking of this. I brought it up to Nick Mangold yesterday.

He laughed. You need to call DJ Reed and get four. Someone else. Get four.

I saw a tweet with that yesterday. Put on Brett Favre's jersey. Go watch.

What that four couldn't do? Watch me do it. Do it.

I don't know about that. Do it. I actually love that idea.

Do it. Now you're just completely following in his foot. So now are you going to go play for the Vikings the year after? It's the same reason why Kobe switched to 24. He wanted to be one better than MJ. Roger's going to four and being like look this guy came here and it was a failure.

I'm not going to be a failure. So then why doesn't he do five? It's not the same. Other Jets quarterbacks have worn five to not a lot of success. Taking four. Well, Mike White wore five, right?

Did Mike White wear five? Yeah, you're right. But taking four and having success, taking the Jets deep in the playoffs, maybe god forbid they make it to a Super Bowl? Dude, it's the cycle of life. Look, it's eerie just how this thing is played out, right? The trade to the Jets like Favre of all those years ago. Love waiting for three years.

Picked was a 24 or 26 and Rogers was picked 20, whatever the other pick. It's everything is the same. So wear the jersey. Play the crowd. Play the part. Play the part. Make the joke.

Do it. Now, I know Aaron and Brett had their differences years ago. Seemingly, at least, they say that they've come back together. Maybe you think with all Favre's stuff going on right now that it's toxic. You don't want to wear that jersey? Well, also, Andrew, guys, remember Aaron goes on Pat McAfee's show.

Who's suing Pat McAfee right now? Favre? Brett Favre.

There's another way to stick it to this guy. Has anyone heard from Brett Favre on this, by the way? Unlikely because, I mean, think about how it's kind of sad here. Like Favre can't even comment on this.

Not sad. Not defending any alleged actions here. That's not what I'm saying.

But like we can't even hear from Brett Favre because Brett Favre wisely probably isn't speaking right now. Right. Yeah, exactly.

Is what I'm saying. Yeah. He's got other things going on.

He's got other things going on. Okay. Yeah. I watched John Oliver last week.

Anyway, did you? No. You know the little snarky British guy? HBO.

He makes fun of everybody. Right. Anyway, Andrew Siciliato sitting in for Rich Eisen, who's taking a much needed break. Hopefully, he enjoys a little bit of time away. NCAA tournament. Four games going now with Howard hanging with Kansas. Eight to seven.

Four minutes in. Real quick, want to get back to Lamar Jackson. Because I mentioned, if the Jets don't get Rodgers, then what do they do? Okay.

And some have suggested, go get Lamar. Okay. Well, you'd have to give up at least pick 13 this year and then a number one next year. It's a $200 million commitment, you would think, at a minimum. Minimum.

At a minimum. But he is also 15 years younger. So, why not go get him? Or, as my friend Daniel Jeremiah has thrown out there, why don't the Colts at four go do it? Do you really want, let's say Arizona trades out at three, the fourth quarterback in this draft?

Do you want to let three other teams dictate who you're taking at four? Or, would you rather have a 25-year-old Lamar Jackson? If you're the Atlanta Falcons, and I know they just signed Taylor Heinecky, love the story.

Guy was sleeping on his sister's couch in Georgia a couple of years ago, studying for grad school, and now he has a contract to go play at home. But if you're the Falcons, wouldn't you trade eight and next year's one? I would've. I think I would've, too. I would've.

I would've done it. The Bears are already down to nine. If you're the Raiders, the Raiders, they signed Jimmy. Okay, they're out of it. But you get my point. You get my point. I do want to get on this thing about Lamar and the agent, however.

I respect his independence, totally respect his independence. But, he should've had a new contract two years ago. People want to blame the Ravens. I'm not blindly defending them or any NFL organization. But with an agent, two years ago, this would've been wrapped up. I'll use Kyler Murray as an example, who has not done anything close in his career to what Lamar Jackson has done.

At all. Last year, when the window opened after three seasons in the NFL for Kyler Murray to get a new contract, even though he had two years left, the same window opens this offseason, right, for Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow. Kyler Murray's agent, Eric Burkhart, on the Monday that the entire league was arriving in Indianapolis at the combine, posted a message on Twitter, in all caps, what does your significant other say when you text in all caps? Stop yelling at me.

Okay? In all caps, it was basically a ransom note that Kyler Murray demands a new contract. He got it. I don't know why the Cardinals did it, to be honest with you. They had the... What was he going to go do?

Go play baseball? Okay. I don't think you would've, but they wanted Kyler as their guy. They did the deal.

That's fine. Organizational decision. He's a good football player. But they didn't have to do it then. Might Joe Burrow or Justin Herbert pass through this offseason without getting a new deal? Unlikely.

Right? But they have an agent to handle that. Kyler's agent handled that and got the deal done.

Got it done. Period. And that's why you have an agent. The last two years, Lamar Jackson played for a grand total of $25 million. Grand total.

That's good American money if you can get it. But he deserved more as an MVP and as a franchise quarterback. Last year, he played on the fifth-year option.

Right? $23 million. Baker Mayfield's was $18 million. But Lamar had skins on the wall, so his was jacked up to $23 million. The year before his fourth year, Lamar Jackson played for $1.7 million. $1.7 million. So $25 million combined. Less than $25 million cash out in two years.

Your time to draw the line in the sand was two years ago. And an agent would have done that for you. And honestly, the return you could have gotten, and I don't like most agents, I'll be honest. I don't like paying commission. Right?

At all. But the job you could have gotten, the money you could have gotten was worth the cost. And everyone says, give the man what he's due. If he had taken an offer, whatever the offer was, an agent would have gotten him a pretty good number. Let's say you could have gotten something similar to the Kyler deal. Right now, we'd be a year away from him getting a second big deal. Still, in his mid-20s, you start that cash flow early.

That's how you do it. The guy that didn't do it, Kirk Cousins. Now, Kirk Cousins didn't have a five-year commitment initially, because he wasn't a first-round pick. Lamar was, 32nd overall pick. Ozzie Newsome trading back into the bottom of the first round.

In retrospect, brilliant for the organization. They get the extra year. Kirk Cousins played out the tags, and then he got his huge money. So, if Lamar wants to play out the tags, fine. But that's his business decision.

Once again, not defending blindly the Ravens. But if 133, with real guarantees up to 177, which was what was reported this week, was actually on the table, if you had taken that a year ago, depending on the cash flow, right now, we'd be a year out from another big deal. And that cash would have been already flowing.

Flowing downhill. But two years ago, he played for 1.7, which no reasonable agent would have ever allowed. Ever. I am rooting for Lamar. I want him to get what he believes he is due, whether it be in Baltimore or anywhere else.

Anywhere else. I just hope he understands the game. Or I hope he is getting advised well. Let me put it that way. Because if his advice, if the advice he's getting is to play out the tags and keep getting one-year guarantees, go for it.

But if it isn't, I'm not sure what's going on here. All right. How long will the Packers sit on Aaron Rodgers, and how is this thing playing in Green Bay? Coming up from the athletic, from Green Bay, Matt Schneiderman's going to join us.

Andrew Siciliano. Thanks for listening, everybody. I'm Matt Schneiderman, sitting in for Rich. We'll be right back.

Don't mind me. Brockman and I are just over here telling Jim Boeheim stories and Syracuse stories off there during the commercial. Hi, it's the Rich Eisen Show, everybody. It's Andrew sitting in for Rich, the Rich Eisen Show radio network. This is the Rich Eisen Show desk, which is furnished by Grainger. We're thankful for that. Grainger, with supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger has the right product for you. Call, click grainger.com, or just stop by.

All right. Continuing with the Syracuse theme, although I promise you we are not going to tell tales from Jim Boeheim press conferences past. Joining us now from Green Bay. I believe he's still in Green Bay, even though it is the off season.

Covers the Packers as well as anyone, and I mean that for the athletic. It is another fellow orange person, and that is Matt Scheidman, who joins us on the line. Matt, how are you, man? Not too bad. Pretty calm here in Green Bay. Nothing too much going on. We have notes.

Nothing's going on. Curious locally, how did that whole thing play yesterday? Yeah, I said to Chris before I came on, and I won't go into the Jim Boeheim analogy, but it's kind of like with Jim Boeheim, and what I mean by that is I feel like I have a pretty decent gauge on the pulse of the Packer fan base. The majority of them, maybe it's just a vocal minority that I'm hearing the loudest on Twitter, but it seems they're ready to move on, whether that's because of his play last season, things he said that they don't agree with, this saga that has played out over the past three off seasons, it seems Packer fans are ready to move on, if not tired with him altogether. But I think as time passes, and maybe it already has, there will be a grand appreciation for what Aaron Rodgers did for this franchise. I put out a call on Twitter yesterday for people's favorite moments of him as a Packer.

I'm putting together a story with a top ten most memorable moments, and there were near a thousand responses. It's undeniable what he did for this franchise may never be matched again in Packer history, but I think there definitely is a sense, at least locally, that just like it was with Brett Favre a while ago, it's time to turn the page. Do you buy it when he said that he was 90% retired when he went into the darkness, or, and I hate multiple choice questions, journalists at home, please don't do it.

Kids, if you're learning, if you're going to Newhouse, don't do it. Or do you think it is a self-defense response to the fact that the Packers don't want them? That's a good question. Covering Aaron Rodgers these past four seasons, I have learned to not take everything he says just at face value.

You really got to look into it. I tend to believe that, but then again, a couple seconds later to Pat and AJ, he says, oh, no chip on my shoulder. The Packers wanting to stop me didn't motivate me to want to play coming out of the darkness. I don't buy that.

You never know what's full truth with him, but that's part of what makes covering him fascinating because it's always interesting. If he was 90-10 and that day of contemplation in the dark and envisioning himself playing did the trick, then so be it. But I have a hard time believing that he was not driven to play for anyone, for the Jets, for the Packers, for the Raiders, whatever, by coming out of that cave in Oregon and learning from his pals around the league that the Packers were shopping him. Any competitor, and especially Aaron Rodgers, who's one of the mightiest, would be driven by that.

Of course. I totally get it. And we're talking to Matt Schneiderman here from the athletic who covers the Packers there in Green Bay. I made the point earlier, though, Matt, that if you are playing or asking for the trade to Detroit, I'm sorry, to Detroit, Detroit just popped up on my Twitter, to the Jets, out of spite, it's the wrong reason. Now, I mean, if spite is the ultimate motivator and we know he can still play football, hopefully the thumb is healthy, and if that drives you to one more season of greatness, good for you. But if it goes badly and then you look back and say, I'm doing this to prove others wrong, that's a bad road to go down. Yeah. It's like, I thought of this analogy, I don't know why I thought of it.

But if you just get with another girl or date another girl if you're a guy to make your ex-girlfriend jealous, it's not going to turn out well for anyone. And there's a sense this is not based on anything I've heard. I'm wondering if Aaron Rodgers just wants to do that to prove to the Packers that he still has it. Listen, there is no doubt he thinks Jordan Love is going to be a good quarterback. But at the same time, as you heard him say yesterday, he said he's arguably the best player in franchise history.

That's correct. He has said to Pat before this offseason that he still thinks he can play at an MVP level. Deep down inside of him, even if he claims, and I believe him when he says this, he understands the business of it, the timeline of moving on to Jordan Love. He was once in Jordan's position, as we all know. Deep down, even if he understands all that or claims to, there has to be a little bit of slight, and whether if he truly wants to play for the Jets, truly thinks they can be Super Bowl contenders, is really just doing it for Nathaniel Hackett, or if this is my best option and I need an option to go prove the Packers wrong, I don't blame him for that either. This isn't me saying, oh, he shouldn't be doing that. It's just a matter of trying to figure out if he actually means what he said.

It'll be fascinating to watch nonetheless. It's interesting, too, you bring up Nathaniel Hackett. I almost forgot that part of it yesterday. So Rogers was angry. He was adamant that they didn't hire, the Jets didn't hire Nathaniel Hackett because of him, that Nathaniel Hackett is a damn good football coach, and that it is insulting to Hackett to suggest that the Jets hired him to lure Aaron Rodgers. But then he went on to say, but my desire, my need, my want to go to the Jets does have something to do with the fact that Nathaniel Hackett is there.

So it's like the chicken or the egg, but it's one of the reasons he wants to be there. Now they just have to figure out the compensation. And the Packers have all the leverage. I mean, Matt, you know how this contract is structured here. They have the leverage.

What is it that you, do you think, I can't even talk here, Matt, sorry. What is it do you think they want? Well, I know it's not two first round picks.

I know that was floated out there. I don't know what exactly they're asking for, but it is not multiple first round picks like we saw dealt for the likes of Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford. In terms of the leverage, I find it interesting.

I agree with you. I find it interesting that people are like, oh, the Jets have all the leverage because Rodgers wants to go there and everyone knows the Packers want to get rid of him. Well, no, because he's still under contract with the Packers. They don't have to trade him. And they can wait until the start of the NFL season until they would have to pay that $58.3 million option bonus, which they're not going to do. They could wait till after June 1st to spread this $40 million dead money hit over two seasons, about $15 million on this year, $25 million on next year.

Don't think they'll do that. This trade will get done because the Packers, if Brian Gutekunz has a single brain cell, which I know he does, need the draft capital, whatever draft capital it is, they get in return, they need it for this year's draft to help build around a 24-year-old quarterback right away. Whether it's a second-round pick, whether it's a first-round pick and a third-round pick, whatever it is, they need that right away. So this trade may not happen in 30 minutes, I mean it could.

It was the first Thursday of March Madness last year when the Javonte Adams trade went down. But this trade will get done soon before the draft. But yes, I agree with you that the Packers have all the leverage because as people seem to forget, he is not a free agent, he is still under contract with Green Bay.

The timing is interesting. It was a year ago, I think, today that the Deshaun Watson trade went down and then the Browns had the awkward thing with Baker, whereas do you tell him to stay away? And they did, hey, stay at home, and they didn't pull off the trade with the Panthers to send Mayfield to Carolina until much later in the summer. You think it gets done by the draft. If it doesn't get done for the draft, then we might have that. Now Aaron obviously hasn't been a big off-season guy the last couple of years anyway, but it would be a headline.

Camber is outside Lambeau. Packers back at work, Aaron Rodgers told to stay away. They don't want that.

No, they don't want that. And listen, Aaron Rodgers wouldn't show up to the facility and start lurking around Jordan Love's locker. But for Jordan's sake, for the Packers' sake, all parties want this to get done. This isn't a Brian Gudis goons who's like, nope, I'm not trading him. They want to trade him. It's just a matter of playing a little bit of hardball, as you should if you're a GM in trade negotiations. If Jordan Love came back for OCAs or minicamp or training camp and Aaron Rodgers is still on the roster, that's one more unnecessary distraction. And I take questions from media because they would be asked, I know I'm one of them, asking Jordan what's it like with Aaron still here? The Packers don't want him to have to deal with that when he's preparing for his first season to start for the Packers. So it's common sense that this trade will get done, I believe, before the draft if for no other reason than the Packers don't want to make the trade two weeks after the draft and then not be able to get whatever they get to turn for another 10 months.

Talking to Matt Schneiderman here from The Athletic, Matt, two more real quick ones here. Do they firmly believe Jordan Love is ready? And there's two things. It's one thing to be ready. It's another thing to be good. Do they think he is ready to be good?

They don't know. And I think it's a cop out answer, but it's the right one. I remember I asked Aaron Rodgers the night they lost to the Lions.

I said, listen, we don't know if we're going to talk to you again. If you retire or whatever, do you think Jordan's ready to be the quarterback of this franchise if he has to be? And Aaron's response was, you never know until he gets thrown in there. And Aaron said that he remembers waking up in San Diego, the off-season of 2008, to 50 text messages, woke up from a nap saying that Brett was retired. And it hit him all at once.

I'm the guy now. But you never really know if they can do it and do it well, like you said, until they're thrown in there. Listen, the Packers know what Jordan Love is in the classroom. They know what he is on the practice field versus the scout team.

But he's only played sparsely in game action. Until we get to see him in consistent, meaningful snaps, we don't know if he's going to be a guy or the guy, as Rodgers and Brett Favre have been. And it might not take eight games. It might take a season. It might take a season and a half. So there's going to be a lot of patience required from this fan base. And because they know they've been spoiled for the past 30 years, I don't know how tolerant they'll be with that. Aaron Rodgers opened 2-0, then they ended up going 6-10, his first full year as a starter.

But a couple of years later, they ended up obviously winning Super Bowl 45. Matt, finally, one thing, a lot of people have said that, hey, Green Bay is one thing, but there's no way Aaron's going to like the New York media. I don't think people pay attention to the job that you guys collectively do there. And as a regular viewer to Aaron's pressers, not the McAfee show necessarily, but certainly that as well. But over the last couple of years, I said it earlier on this show that I think his pressers are must-watch TV because you guys do ask good questions, insightful questions. And if you push, he will give really good and insightful answers. If you had to give any advice, I can't believe I'm asking, to the New York media, what would that advice be on how to deal with their soon-to-be quarterback? Right. The big, bad New York media and the small tissue papers off Green Bay.

I know how it's been painted. Listen, just from my perspective, the last four years, he is open to confrontation. He is, I don't want to use the word dream, but I almost might use extremely accessible. He's a fantastic quote, regardless of how you feel about him as a player or a person, he's a dream for a reporter to cover. And yeah, there's going to be questions about, you know, the Johnson and Johnson and playing for Woody Johnson with his stance on the vaccine, but Aaron's not like a 22 year old kid fresh out of college. Yeah.

He'd been in Green Bay his whole career and it's the smallest NFL media market, but he's almost 40 years old. He's a mature adult. He can handle awkward, confrontational, controversial lines of questioning.

Sure. He might snap back at you. I think he's, I think he wants the confrontation. Sorry, I'm out of control. I think he wants the, no, no, no. Yeah. He wants the intellectual back and forth. He craves it. And he'll go back at you, which I respect. I think it gets lost. Like the reporters are the only ones allowed to confront the athletes and the athletes aren't allowed to snap back.

No, they are. If we're allowed to ask, ask and cry, they're allowed to do the same with us and snap back. And that's what Aaron has done at times. And it provides for a healthy dialogue and ultimately a better understanding of the game, better understanding of the athlete. And I think he'll do just fine with the New York media. I have a lot of faith in a 40 year old man who has handled himself pretty well with the media over the years. He's a man. He's 40. He can handle it. Matt Schneiderman covers the athletic and does it in fantastic fashion.

And the Green, I'm sorry, covers the Green Bay Packers for the athletic man. I am getting tongue tied. I'm sleep deprived after three days of free agency. Matt, we appreciate your time regardless and hope soon that this is over for you and yours and you can move on to Jordan Love. Thank you, my friend. Always good talking with you. Appreciate you having me on. Likewise, sir. See you soon. See you maybe at the owners meetings. Matt Schneiderman, everybody from the athletic. Aaron craves the intellectual discourse. He does. And every football question, you know, how are you getting ready for Team X this week is intellectual.

There are a lot of softballs you got to throw up there to get the standard football answers. But I remember a time I was interviewing Aaron a couple of years ago where just something as simple as, hey, so, you know, you guys need to run the ball more this year. He was in the office. He goes, do we? I said, well, Donald Driver was on yesterday on the show. He said you did. So is that OK?

And he goes, like kind of smirked, OK, like just like he he wants to be challenged and he wants to challenge you. It's not everyone's cup of tea. But I like I've always had respect for the guy.

Yes. Some of his answers truly do rub me the wrong way. I mean, I'm not a shrink.

I've certainly seen one. I do watch Shrinking. Hey, you watch that show. Fun show. You know, I love to sit back and psych one on one a lot of his answers.

And you saw McAfee do that yesterday doing the, you know, brushing the chips off the shoulder thing. I think it's going to go well. I hope it goes well. I hope the deal gets done.

And you know what? I think they do it for a couple of twos. How about a conditional, a two this year and a three next year that can go to a two to a one. OK, so give me a two this year. Give me a three in twenty four.

A three that goes to a two if they make the playoffs this year and a three that goes to a one if they win the Super Bowl or make the Super Bowl. What do you say? I say we got upset alert. Upset alert.

What do you got? Furman. Furman.

We got a teeth seed up sixty three sixty on UVA with two and a half to go. Quick, TJ, where's Furman? Ohio? Jason? Furman?

No idea. Brockman? Furman? Virginia?

Well, wait a minute. Furman's in Southern, so... Furman? Say it again? Georgia? Negative. You're close. Go. Virginia?

No. You're also close. Alabama. South Carolina. South Carolina. South Carolina, a private, a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina founded in eighteen twenty six and named for the clergyman Richard Furman.

It is the oldest of the oldest alleged private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. UVA tippin', down one, two to play. Well now I might like them now that I realize they weren't named after Mark Furman. So now I can cheer for them a little bit. Wow. Not how they were named. Good.

Good to know that. We are under two minutes remaining with Furman leading Virginia sixty three to sixty two. Full disclosure, as I mentioned earlier, I am from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Many of my best friends went to Mr. Jefferson's University there. Not you, Mr. Jefferson, a different Jefferson in Charlottesville. Chris Long must be going nuts right now. Chris Long must be, who calls Charlottesville home, must be going nuts right now. But as a Syracuse guy, and granted we did beat Virginia on the way to the final four some years ago, as a Syracuse guy, I can't say I'm pained to see Virginia potentially lose like this. This is madness.

I'll be opening night. Maryland and West Virginia is one point with eight seconds left. Missouri is only up four at halftime. You said Missouri early. I said it earlier.

That's the old line. Yeah. It's Missouri.

The summits Missouri for the people that live there it's misery. You've heard that. Yes. Okay. Is that a dad joke? That's a dad joke.

That's a grandma joke. Wow. Okay. I used to call St. Louis my summer home like for a couple of weeks for like five, six years. I don't think that way.

Although it is hot as you know what there in the summer. All right. We should break, right? Yes.

Okay. We'll come back to tell you the thrilling conclusion. Can Furman fully upset?

Where is Furman? So is it a final? Maryland is beaten.

Yes. Maryland has beaten West Virginia. The Terps UMD with the first Thursday win of the NCAA tournament. Maryland put them on the list. Has won. And then now it looks as if Virginia will hang on.

Although Furman. Is that a foul? That's a foul.

He's going to the line. All right. So here's the situation. Virginia's a four. Furman is a 13. Furman is now down four with what is it? 12 seconds left.

God, my eyes are so bad. Going to the line. Shooting two. That looked kind of sort of clean. Now I got him on the arm. All right.

Made the first. No context basketball here on the radio. They're within three. Furman it is. So Furman with 12 and a half to go.

12 and a half seconds that is. Hi, I'm Andrew by the way filling in for Rich. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

Rich is on vacation. I haven't even really gotten to what we thought of NFL free agency yet, but I think the Bears, I don't think the Bears are going to be like some 13 win team this year. No, but they've done a good job. They've done a really good job. Hats off to Ryan Polls. They're not going to have the first pick next year.

No, they should not. The Jaguars. Oh, a steal. Hit it. Furman. Oh. Oh. Furman.

What happened? Furman hit three with 2.2 to go. Furman leads Virginia 68, 67, a 13 leading a four with 2.2 to go. Wow. After hitting two free throws to cut it to two, you steal the pass at mid-court after trapping on the baseline and then a three from the wing.

Catch and shoot. Virginia is on the verge of another colossal, classic, heartbreaking first round exit. Wow. That was ridiculous. TJ's like, what happened? I got no T.J. What in the world?

You got no T.J. over there. J, play that cold blooded drop. What in the world? Cold blooded.

What was I talking about, by the way? Oh, the Bears. The Bears.

Ryan Polls, hats off to you. Man, that was cold blooded. Thank you, Gus Johnson. Anyone see the Gus Johnson Fox thing a couple of weeks ago, a documentary about him going back to school?

It was actually kind of cool. Patrick Mahomes just tweeted, Virginia, what are we doing? Chris Long losing his mind. All right, so what's the deal now? I mean. There's still two seconds left. Time out. Virginia, time out.

Oh my gosh. Like everybody, everybody is roasting Virginia for the bad pass, like the guy got pinned to the baseline. And then he just kind of threw it over his head, chucked it to mid-court. Kihei Clark got pinned to the baseline, under the basket, and he just kind of blindly flung it over his head towards mid-court, and it got picked off.

Three a beat, baby. He tried. All right, so Virginia now.

Virginia has beaten Virginia from the timeline, man, it's the backboard and rims out. I wanted to pick Furman too, and I should have done my research beforehand. They weren't named after. And then I would have picked Furman. So like of all my, I pled ignorance. I pleaded ignorance earlier because I hadn't been watching college basketball before.

Like it's, it's the truth. I wasn't going to sit here and try to give you some big winner or like, I'm going to give you the bracket locks. No. No, you called in the experts. That's what we do here. I called in the experts.

We don't know. We find someone who does. I would not have given you Furman as a 13 seed beating Virginia. Every year 13 wins, man. Last night, Brockman told me as I left work, he was going to pick Furman, and then this morning you didn't. I did.

I switched. Because you were picking Furman since the bracket got announced. That's the way it's just funny to say, Furman, like every year 13 wins, a 12, a 13, every other year 14 wins, like it happens.

I'm on the roller coaster of emotions. For those that don't remember, on March 16 of 2018, fifth, I'm sorry, exactly five years ago today, five years ago today, Virginia was the one seed in the south, and Virginia five years ago today lost to UMBC, to Maryland, Baltimore County, 74 to 54, and it won close. It was a blowout. No, you remember what they did?

Five years ago. What they did the next year? They won the whole thing. Won the whole thing. So next year, let's put the bet on the Cavs.

Cavs gonna win. And the guy that threw the pass, the ACC's all-time leader, in minutes, Kihei Clark. Did Seth Davis mention Furman earlier this week?

I feel for you, man. He brought the name up. I can't remember what he said.

Oh my gosh, that's amazing. All right, before Andrew, this guy's been on hold all day. I'm sorry, I don't have the call screen around this computer here, so I apologize.

Aiden in Athens, Ohio. What's up, brother? What's going on? Hey guys, what's up? What's up, man? I just wanted to ask you guys a question about Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.

Go for it. So I was wondering if maybe you would help, like in the contract negotiations, if maybe the Ravens went out and acquired one of these receivers that are apparently on the market? It's a good question here about trying to build a team around Lamar Jackson, but right now there isn't a great wide receiver free agent market going. Jacoby Myers and Juju Smith-Schuster were some of the notable names. They got modest contracts, comparatively speaking, to the $20 million contracts that were handed out last year to guys like Tyreek Hill and AJ Brown.

Both of those guys were traded. I don't think that's the issue right now. It's not an issue of Lamar doesn't want to be there because the weapons aren't right. It's because the numbers aren't right, and if the numbers get right, then they'll figure something out. But right now it is a contractual thing and a monetary thing, not something as simple as going to get a wide receiver. I think the Ravens wish it were that simple, but as Eric DaCosta said a couple of weeks ago, they have not had a lot of luck, obviously, drafting wide receivers.

And then some of those wide receivers he's drafted, Rashad Bateman most notably, Aiden thanks for the phone call, didn't say kindly to that. Guys, this has been fun, and we end the show today with a shocking, Fermin upset of Virginia. In all seriousness, Rich, wherever you may be enjoying your vacation, I greatly appreciate you asking me to do this, and I'm glad we finally had a chance to get it together again as I've been unable to the last couple of years, whenever you've asked, it's been bad timing. So happy to be here. TJ. Hey, Andrew. Jason.

Happy Austin 3-16 day today. Yeah. And that's the bottom line. Cracked open the beer for the Texas Rattlesnake. By the way, I had Virginia beating Alabama going to the Sweet 16, because of course I did. Virginia beating Alabama. Yeah. Going to the Sweet 16.

I don't know. Well, everyone, rip up your bracket. I'm Andrew.

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