REShow: Andrew Brandt - Hour 1

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. The Rich Eisen Show. Today's guests, host of the Business of Sports Podcast, Andrew Brandt. VSIN Tonight host, Matt Yeomans. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Andrew Siciliano.

I have not done this for a while. I beg your forgiveness in advance. It should be fun. This one or this one?

I register. Rockman? Which one? This one? Left or right? Left or right?

That one? Okay. I should be able to figure out how to look at a camera. Hi, everybody. I'm Andrew. You're on TV all the time. I'm on TV. From the Red Zone Channel on DirecTV.

It's my first day on air. And from NFL Now on NFL Network. On Daily 10 to noon Eastern.

No, that's Pacific. 1 to 3 Eastern time on NFL Network. The 2-12 as we like to call it. But the last week. Nothing but free agency frenzied. We've had nothing but frenzied free agency coverage. Of which I have hosted for a 13 hours of free agency coverage. So I know that there's a college basketball tournament beginning today. This is the first time I'm looking at a bracket. Alabama, Houston, Kansas, Purdue, evidently are the teams that are considered to be good. I promise you, we will give you guaranteed, guaranteed picks today for the NCAA tournament.

I don't know if I'd promise. About which I am now learning. And we'll talk football and Aaron Rodgers as well. In all seriousness, it's great to be here. It's been a while. I'm very grateful to Rich for having me in this chair. Very often when he asks, I'm doing my show on NFL Network and so the times don't always work. But it's good to be back.

Happy that we could find a day where everyone's schedule works and it's great to sit in this chair again as I have in the past. As I kind of joked off air moments ago, I am a bit rusty. My world is often confined merely to the NFL. And so full warning, this will be an NFL-centric show. Maybe with some talk about The Last of Us and zombies and things like that.

I hate zombies. But I promise we will talk college basketball and the World Baseball Classic and Edwin Diaz and Kendre Morales. Kendre, stay out of the S. All those other things.

And it should be fun for the next three hours. As always, Chris Brockman is here. Good day to you, sir. Hey, Andrew.

What's up, man? I saw you recently. It had been a while. We watched the first round of the Genesis over at Rivera.

Yes, I forgot about that. We went to the golf. We went to the golf. We did the thing with our buddy Michael Berger and others. And as you were leaving, we were walking by the 18th tee. You left a little bit ahead of me. These kids turned around and went, that's the red zone guy.

And? That's how it is when I go places with Andrew. Did you say something like, it's not that special?

Everyone asks him for pictures. I mean, not necessarily. Back in the days when we used to go out and watch games on Saturdays. Of all the people, of all the people back in the day. That was a long time ago. That was before you had a family. It's when you had more hair. Before a lot of things.

Yes, before a lot of things. Yes, we used to hang out on Saturdays and watch college football and college basketball. And what else? Sports. Sports. We watched sports, man. The red zone guy.

Way, way back in the day. Who are you most confused with? Like, when people recognize you, do they confuse you for a Hasselbeck, right? Yeah, Hasselbeck.

Tim, one of the Hasselbeck brothers. The guy, Matthew Reese from the Americans and Perry Mason, he was just in here. I get that.

I get that I look like that dude without hair. Oh, I saw that. I saw you put that on the Twitter.

Yeah, I put that on the Twitter. But no, I mean, I got mistaken for a Danette once in Las Vegas. I'm like close. Which Danette? Wrong show.

Not sure. They're like, hey, great job. We love you on Dan Patrick Show. I was like... Not fritzy. I was like, I don't look like any of those guys. Do they think you look like Todd Fritz?

I certainly, you know, I'll do respect to Fritz. I hope not. I mean, he's the one with the least hair. I guess.

I mean, I don't know. This is way too inside World Baseball Classic right now. Happy to see you, buddy.

Happy to see you as well. I often get confused for Ian Rappaport. Well, because the height thing. The height thing. And it's also you're the short guy with the black hair on TV. You must be right. Schefter. Also short.

People don't realize that. Ian. Yeah, we're basically all the same height. As is Jay Glaser, by the way. I look nothing like Jay. Jay, by the way, has put in three fantastic seasons on Fouda. You guys don't watch Fouda? No. Look it up. Jay is amazing on Fouda.

It's the best show on TV. With a T? F-A-U-D-A. Fouda. Look it up right now. Is that a cheese? Fouda. F-A-U-D-A. Oh, I see.

Look it up. He is amazing. And his ability to go back and forth between Hebrew and Arabic in that show is amazing.

And break NFL stories. I get confused with Ian. I get confused with Adam. The worst ever. And I mean this with all due respect. Because I say the worst because it made no sense. I was in during an NBA finals. I was in Cleveland. And I didn't go to the game that night.

I actually watched the game. It was kind of cool because the Corey Kluber was throwing for the local nine. They were playing at five. They were called by a different name that day. So they were playing at five. And then the Cavaliers, still then called the Cavaliers, were playing at seven across the street. So I watched the Corey Kluber game and then watched the game from a bar.

If you've ever been there, the buildings right next to each other. And a woman comes up to me and says, Hey, my boyfriend loves your show. I say, OK, great.

And then said something about, But you should have let Bill Plashke win yesterday. And I went, Excuse me? She goes, You're Tony Reali. And I said, No, I'm not.

No, I'm not. I'm like, I like Tony. Tony does a great job. Tony also, name ends in a vowel. Dark hair.

Much taller. Looks nothing like me. Thankfully for Tony. And I said, I'm not Tony. OK. Comes back three minutes later. You're lying. I said, I'm not. It's like my boyfriend says, You are lying. I go, He can come over here.

Which one is he? You don't need to play messenger anymore. I'm not lying. So then she comes back again five minutes later.

Same thing. Belligerently drunk at this point. You're Tony Reali. And he's not having like, Then tell him to get his rear over here. Just take a picture of him. Tony.

Anyway, I digress. It is eight after the hour again. Andrew Siciliano sitting in for Rich. Joking aside, the NCAA tournament is getting underway with West Virginia and Maryland and then Furman and Virginia up first. So all the teams within driving distance of where I grew up in Fairfax County, Virginia, West Virginia, College Park, the Terps and UVA in Charlottesville all getting ready.

Brockman, I'm not kidding. And I mean this because I'm in such a myopic world here when it comes to the NFL. I really have not watched a lot of college basketball this year. I watched some Syracuse games because obviously we are both alums and it's important to me. UCLA is on the TV every now and then.

And I'll flip it on here in L.A. I know they're in the tournament. Yay, they're good at basketball. But in all seriousness, I will not sit here and try to pretend because that's the thing about the NCAA tournament. Much like the Kentucky Derby, right? We get to the Derby. Everyone's going to throw in 10 bucks on the Derby because they heard that some team is good.

This obviously is a lot different. And by the way, gamble at your own risk. I can't do that as an NFL employee, nor will I ever. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I know anything about this bracket. So this is like death for sports talk radio. Somebody coming on saying, I don't know.

But I will never lie to you. I don't know who is good in this tournament. There is nothing worse than sports talk radio where somebody is trying to prove that they know something because they feel that they have to, speaking from a position of power on your radio or your podcast. I won't do that.

So Chris Brockman, who the heck here is any good? I don't know. TJ, you got any ideas? Hey, I just want to say good morning, everyone. Hey, TJ.

I'm sorry. Good morning to TJ. Good morning to Jason.

And good morning to you and yours watching at home. Happy NCAA tournament to you and yours. My friends and I were talking. We couldn't remember who won last year. I was like, was it Baylor? No, that was two years ago. Kansas won last year.

I mean, Bill Self not coaching. Oh, really? Didn't I see that?

Am I wrong? He was sick. He was sick. I saw that headline.

Okay. But they're a one seed. Kansas, obviously the defending champions. I think he's just going to miss the first wrong game.

I went with Houston because it's Jim Nantz. Hello, friends. Yes. Last Final Four. The last time he gives away his necktie at the end of the tournament. And he's not doing it anymore. Right.

And he famously went to Houston, roommates with Fred Couples. Yes. Oh, that's cool.

That's kind of karmic. Let's take Houston to win the whole thing. Listen, we're doing this segment like this for full transparency because all across America. Okay. There are people gathering in sports bars. COVID's over, right? That's what people are doing now again for the tournament. Sure. Right. Gathering in sports bars, taking Thursday off, calling in ill.

I know that when we were younger, we would think of doing that all the time. Right. We're going to be at a Q's here in Brentwood. We're going to watch games. We're going to call in sick.

How fast can you get here? Right. Like bring your laptop.

And we're going to watch games. And people still do that. A.

B. There are plenty of dudes and women showing up at the bar, looking at the bracket for the first time here for the experience saying who is good here. Right. Absolutely. We are doing that with you.

Solidarity. Okay. And by the time we get to the end of the first weekend, everyone's going to think they're an expert. And this is the year, truly, that the person who is going to win your office pool or your neighborhood pool or whatever it is you do.

Or the one on the Rich Eisen show, look us up on ESPN. Okay. The person that's going to win it is the person that knows nothing. The hell going on? DJ, who did you pick to win? I picked you, silly. What was your final four? Do you remember? Yeah. I picked Alabama, Duke, Houston and UCLA. That's a good one.

I just changed mine. Full disclosure, over the last 30 years, I picked Duke in the final four at least 26 times. Well, it's kind of like Chris Berman would always take the Bills and 49ers to make the Super Bowl. True.

And he'd be right half the time. Jay, did you fill out a bracket? I did not. Great. You still have three minutes. You have three minutes. We're getting ready for tip-off. It's West Virginia and Maryland, a border war.

A border war? Hey, I grew up there. Come on. I didn't grow up in either West Virginia or Maryland. I grew up in Virginia, not West Virginia. Huge difference. Very big difference.

Don't laugh. There's a big difference between Northern Virginia and any part of West Virginia. And for those of you who may be listening and or watching in West Virginia, I love West Virginia. It's a beautiful state.

I'm just not from there. I am from Virginia. But when you tell people as you leave Virginia that you're from there, they think of one of two things. You're from the Deep South, which Northern Virginia is not the Deep South, or they think you're from West Virginia and that it's all one state. It is not one state at all.

Maryland being a third state, obviously. Anyway, so those two games are about to begin. As mentioned, plenty of NFL here today.

Coming up in about 10 minutes, we're going to have Andrew Branton, former Green Bay Packers executive, now does a great sports podcast, The Business of Sport, also teaches. And if anyone has any insight here on Aaron Rodgers and the contractual pickle that the New York Jets now find themselves in, it's Andrew. And if you guys think that this thing is going to be like done tomorrow because Aaron Rodgers had his airing of grievances yesterday, I got a lot of problems with you people.

Then think again, because the Packers hold the cards here and you could argue and we will that Aaron Rodgers gave the leverage to the Green Bay Packers yesterday. He wants to go to the Jets and it seems pretty clear the Jets are the only team that wants him. So they're not giving him away. And contractually, the way this thing is constructed, they have until September. They can squat on Aaron Rodgers. They don't need to do this deal tomorrow.

They don't. The Jets right now are kind of sort of in quarterback purgatory. Most of your Jets fan base is thrilled. We're going to get Aaron Rodgers.

Yep, probably. But you're not getting him for a conditional fourth. For those who don't remember, that's what the Brett Favre trade was 15 years ago. It was a conditional four. That's all they gave up. The four eventually turned into a three. The Packers eventually packaged that three, traded it to New England, and moved back into the bottom of the first round to take Clay Matthews. It worked out well. But they gave up Aaron, I'm sorry, Brett Favre, feels the same, right?

For a conditional four. The Jets, I think, thought they could do something similar. That is not going to happen. Because Rodgers made it clear yesterday, he's not going back there, right? And we could dissect that hour. I mean, that was a meandering hour there.

That was a passive aggressive meandering hour. That's what he does. I'm not mad at him. I'm not necessarily mad at him. A lot of what he said, seeming it was heartfelt, came from a very good place. The stuff he said about Jordan Love, I know it's very easy to be snarky about everything Aaron Rodgers right now. I'm not. I like to hear what he has to say.

Even though a lot of it is exceedingly passive aggressive, here's the hint, most of us can be that way as well at times, right? But he ain't going back there. And the Jets, honestly, are in a pickle. All right, Andrew Brant's coming up. I'm told this is the time we break, right? Break.

Okay, good. We're coming right back. Thanks to everyone watching on Roku, listening on Sirius, or the Odyssey app, or watching on the streamers and all that fun stuff. You can follow us at the Rich Eisen Show. You can watch us on YouTube as well, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show, and the phone number is 844-204-RICH.

It's Andrew Brant. Coming up next, more insight on how the Jets are kind of backed into a corner. Men, do you get distracted during the day thinking about your underarms sweating, itching, or emitting an odor? Do those thoughts keep you from showing care when it counts? New and improved Dove Men Plus Care Antiperspirant with 72-hour sweat and odor protection and one-quarter moisturizing cream helps you forget about your underarms so you can be present for the moments that matter. Don't let underarm insecurities keep you at arm's distance from the ones you care about.

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The whole Jared Goff, the loser, has to fly to Alaska. That's good stuff. Hey, it's Andrew Siciliato sitting in for Rich. Thanks to Rich for letting me sit in here. I appreciate it.

We're here for all three hours today. This is the Rich Eisen Show. I am sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk. It is furnished by Grainger here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. Grainger, with supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Alright, the NCAA Tournament is underway. West Virginia is leading Maryland 9-4. Early action here, first half.

Furman and Virginia is about to get underway. We'll keep you updated on all your NCAA scores throughout the show. We could also keep you updated if and when anything happens with Aaron Rodgers.

Here's a hint. I don't think anything is going to happen any time soon because regardless of where you come in on what Aaron Rodgers had to say yesterday, his meandering hour-long conversation with Pat McAfee, one that started with kind of an airing of grievances that ended with him talking about how difficult it was to use the bathroom when he was in a five-day darkness retreat. One thing sticks out to me from that interview yesterday. I wonder if Andrew Brant agrees, MMQB columnist, business of sport podcast, long-time NFL executive, particularly with the Green Bay Packers. Andrew, it's great to have you. The one headline to me was, this thing is going to take a while, isn't it? Yeah, always good to be with you, Andrew.

Hope you're doing well. Yes. But for a moment, if we could, the one thing that just strikes me from the conversation yesterday that we all kind of assumed and everyone just kind of has already moved on, but let's just say it for clarity's sake. It's over with the Packers.

I mean, that's the real headline. And I think people are kind of assuming that and people are kind of like, yeah, I guess they're going to go to Jordan Love and yes, time, but that was confirming. And it was not only confirming from Aaron's side, but more importantly, he held it from the Packers side. They didn't kind of say it in those words, but he kind of really intimated that the Packers are ready.

They're done. And that is a massive statement. 15 years, 18 years as starter. And personally, Andrew, as you mentioned, I was there. We drafted him.

I was there as early part of his career. I went through the whole thing with Brett Favre and Brett Favre complaining about sitting with his replacement every day for three years. Aaron Rodgers just sat with his replacement every day for three years. It's not a great thing to happen to anyone, but it did.

And its symmetry is unbelievable. Now Jordan Love ascends, just like Aaron Rodgers did, first round quarterback that sat in the bullpen for three long years and wondered if he ever was going to play. And now it's happening. So we now have to figure out what's next. And what is also amazing to me is that there appears to be, and I don't think this is going to change, only one, only one suitor for Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers. Everybody has filled the musical chairs. Jimmy Garoppolo, Baker Mayfield, Derek Carr, they're all done.

And these teams have all filled their seats. So we've got a negotiation where the Packers only have one suitor and the Jets, it seems, only have one target. That's what makes for a high-stakes negotiation where we're waiting for either side to blank. Andrew, there are so many ways to go with this, and I would love to go down memory lane here with Favre, but I kind of am fascinated with the idea that the Packers, with the way they have structured this contract, and that was your specialty here, they have the ability to in essence squat on him. Now it isn't ideal, and the idea that the full bonus doesn't kick in until September, you don't necessarily want to go that far down the road. But they have the ability here to basically tell the Jets, we're not giving them to you until you meet our price. I was amused a year ago, Andrew, when he signed that contract, and many respected media and fans said, well, now the Packers and Rogers are committed for two, three years. It looked at it as a one-year, $42 million deal in 2022, and now we're at the pivot point. This contract was meant to be traded. It has an option clause that starts tomorrow, but lasts until September. So any moment between March 17th and September 1st, the Packers could or could not exercise that option. That obviously is meant to transfer to another team at some point, because the Packers aren't going to exercise that option, and it's going to transfer to, it seems, the Jets. So what do you think they want?

First round pick. Do you think they're going to get it? They're going to wait. Now, if they were satisfied with the trade compensation this deal would be done, obviously it's not. Do I think they're going to get it?

That's a tough one. I think they're going to get more than what's been offered, because leverage in any negotiation is determined by status quo. The party that is most comfortable with the status quo has the most leverage. The Packers have a starting quarterback. The Packers have Aaron's cap on their roster. The cap only goes up, not down, when they trade them. The Jets have no starting quarterback with no other options.

And the Jets went and kissed the ring in Malibu, California, with all their brass. So it seems to me the Jets have a much more urgent need to do this. And it's like I said, it's a high-stakes game of negotiations.

I am not, and people ask me on my tweets on social media, I am not suggesting this goes on for months. I'm not suggesting this goes on after the draft. I am suggesting we're not going to see a trade anytime very soon.

Ballpark, a week to two weeks, but every hour, every day, as you know so well, we have a frothing Jets nation wondering when this is happening. And I think that increases some pressure on the Jets. So I think the Packers will get more than they're asking for now, and then it becomes a question of whether they continue to hold out for what I think is a first-round pick.

But maybe there's a compromise. Maybe it's a first round in 24. Maybe it's a conditional first, depending on how Aaron plays, all those kind of things can be in this as well. I'm talking to Andrew Brant, you can follow him on Twitter, he just mentioned the Twitter, always a good follow, at Andrew Brant, B-R-A-N-D-T, the Business of Sports Podcast, former Packers executive. Andrew, curious, just as a human being here, someone who knows Aaron, what did you think of that hour-long interview yesterday? You know, I'm kind of an unabashed fan of Aaron, I have been, because I'm always interested in people who are interesting, and so many athletes, I'm not saying they're just duds, but they don't tell you anything.

And not only that, but every appearance by Aaron on McAfee, people may not like it, people may criticize it, but he's open and honest, and you never see that in sports media. And I just think that's interesting to me, yeah, I could do without some of the details of this silent retreat. Right, the bathroom breaks and all that, yeah.

Yeah. But I think it became clear that two years ago, as people know, Aaron had grievances with the team about letting guys go, that never left, okay? That never left, the way they got rid of players, and their attitude toward players, which is to get rid of them a year too early rather than a year too late, and what they've done in the past with his friends like Clay and Jordy and all the guys he was playing with. And he talked about my group on the scouting side, where we had John and Reggie and John Dorsey and John Schneider, that was the group that brought in Aaron Rodgers, that was the group that decided to pivot to Aaron from Brett, and we're all gone.

We're all gone. And he doesn't feel, and he has never really felt the love from Goudekins Murphy and the present administration. That to me came clear, like Aaron Rodgers was treated differently by a prior group in control in Green Bay.

I saw it two years ago, and I thought that was remedied, but evidently not. So it's clear he's moving on, and again, now we get to the Jets. What stood out to me was when he said I was 90% retired when I went into the darkness, but then I come out, Andrew, and now I find out that they're telling people that they don't want me anymore. So to heck with you in essence, cleaning that up, I'm going to go play to prove you wrong. And while I love the chip on the shoulder, and McAfee was joking about the chip stacking up on his shoulder, Andrew, it seems to me the wrong reasons to go play. I mean, spite can be a powerful motivator, very powerful motivator.

But to go to New York, to take on all those expectations, maybe it raises his game to a level that we saw a couple of years ago when he won his MVPs, or as he called them, the COVID MVPs, which sounded odd. But I mean, it is a lot to take on, because once you say you're thinking of retirement, or that you're 90% retired, that generally means you're retired, and I just hope that he doesn't look back and say, I regret doing this out of spite, if spite truly is his motivation. That's a good point.

I think with Aaron, you don't know, I was a little bit, I didn't come away totally that, I mean, again, this sounds hokey, but I came away his mind being changed somewhat. And maybe it isn't spite. Maybe it's just like, you know what, I do have it. And it comes from a positive place. Maybe I'm misreading it, but you know what I'm saying.

There's some of both, some of both. And I think Aaron has extraordinary skills that haven't diminished. And now again, the team was down last year, I understand that. But there's no doubt, you know, he's up there with the top quarterbacks, and he's got a suitor that, as I said, flew out and made their presentation to him. It's going to happen, right?

It's going to happen. And I know Jets fans are at the finish line, and they can't get the ball across the goal line at the one yard line. But now we're in a game of business and high stakes negotiations. Who will blink first?

What is the blinking point? You know, I go back to a completely different situation, which got negative connotations, of course, where the Texans made an admirable strategic decision last year. Before you could talk to Deshaun Wright, we had to pre-qualify your trade, pre-qualify. And four teams agreed to three number one picks. And then they could talk to Watson.

Now, you can blame all sides here. Why didn't the Packers do that? Why didn't the Jets do that before they talked to Aaron? Why didn't the Packers demand the Jets do that? Why didn't the Jets demand the Packers do that?

Now it's all 2020. But this is in that, we're in that situation because that didn't happen. Andrew, real quick, because I want to get one Lamar Jackson question in here. Talking to Andrew Brant, longtime Packer executive here and salary cap guy and great business of sports podcast host as well and professor, a man of many hats.

Do you think, Andrew, that, and this is a hypothetical, it's almost unfair, but I'll ask it regardless. If Jordan Love had not been there, right, do you think they would have been done? Like let's say they didn't have a good succession plan. Do you think that the current management is just done with him and they would have been happy to move on and now have to go find a quarterback or is this Jordan Love driven?

The latter, the latter. The Packers are a draft and develop team I know so well. We do not attract big time free agents for obvious reasons. We draft, we develop, we sign core players.

That was my whole role to get players early in their contract years, to lock them up long term. They never get a sniff of free agency as Aaron Rodgers never has had a sniff of free agency. They took Jordan Love to be the next guy and we took Aaron Rodgers to be the next guy.

The only question was when and now we have the when. So we're not, did they not, and people say they're going to trade Jordan Love. My God, they're not going to trade Jordan Love. They were never going to trade Jordan Love. He's the guy. And again, I spent three years of my life being asked everywhere I went, like, are you really going to go to Aaron Rodgers next and you're not going to get some stop gap of Jeff Garcia, Kerry Collins, Chris Chandler? I said, no, no, Aaron Rodgers. And that's what they've been saying for three years is completely Jordan Love driven. They believe in their scouts and this is the guy.

All right. On Lamar Jackson here, let's go back and let's pretend, Andrew, because I feel like I could do an hour and a half on this one as well, but let's go back and pretend here that the numbers Lamar Jackson was tweeting about a couple of days ago, 133 over three guaranteed. And then if you believe other reports, whether it's our guys, NFL Network, Schefter as well, you know, with the injury guarantees, like for all intents and purposes, it was probably 177. Now was 177 over three?

I'm not sure. The contract, as you understand it and what Lamar tweeted about and what has been reported, was that a good deal? The problem with an offer of 133 over three is not the 133 over three, it's the extra years that are non-guaranteed and we don't need to even get in the whole Watson precedent. But if I was advising Lamar and that was the offer 133 and then it goes up to 200 something with the non-guaranteed years, I would say back to the Ravens. I'll take the 133, done, done, 43 a year, whatever it is. And that's the end of the contract.

And I'll get three agent at age 29 and I'll make twice that. So I don't know if that was offered. I think the Ravens would probably say no, but to me, all these agent players have taken the traditional structure, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray, about one or two years fully guaranteed and then it goes to a team option situation. Lamar Jackson, the guy without an agent, seems to have been pushing the Watson precedent of a fully secured deal and he's being blown back by the Ravens who don't want to do that but they have the ultimate leverage of attack. So if I were advising Jackson, I would say take the deal and make the Ravens cut it off after the guarantee. So they have the precedent of Kirk Cousins getting a three year guarantee.

There's nothing new about that. I don't know if the Ravens would do that, but there's my idea for a compromise. And then if you're Lamar and for people at home saying, why would you take less money? Well, you're starting your clock to get to your next deal. You're taking your guarantee. You're locking in huge money and then you know, and look, bad things can happen, injuries can happen.

Sure. But you know that you're hitting free agency again before you hit 30. You know Andrew, the best young quarterback contract to me besides Watson is not Mahomes.

It's certainly not Josh Allen. It is Dak Prescott, four years 160 and he's a free agent at age 29. When you look back at Dak Prescott's earnings, they're going to be much bigger than these long deals like Mahomes because of that exactly what you just said.

Yeah. And look for Lamar, for example, if he had taken that deal last year, we don't know the full details. We can only speculate and we can only try to make sense of tweets and people's reports here. If he had taken that deal a year ago, right now, we'd be sitting here saying the Baltimore Ravens are one year away from having to redo his deal or figure out what to do to extend them, right? To get towards another deal. You start that cash flow early and as our, you know, my guy Tom Pelissero has said repeatedly on NFL Network the last year, if he had had an agent and I respect Lamar's desire to do it by himself, no agent would have let him play for the numbers he played on the last two years. I mean, look what Kyler did and Eric Burkhart did basically sending a ransom note the Monday of the combine last year as they were open for a new deal. They got that new deal. Not saying Lamar should have held out two years ago, but the time to put your foot down to draw that line in the sand was two years ago.

And then you get your big money flowing and then you're looking at a second deal now. Regardless, Andrew, I appreciate your insight here. It's great stuff.

Happy to walk down memory lane there with Brett Favre and now Aaron Rodgers, we've seen it again. Good luck on your college basketball bracket if you're filling one out. Thanks so much.

My team, unfortunately, it's out of down year Villanova, but appreciate it. And in addition to all my little gigs here, I now do these reels on Instagram so people can see the reels at Andrew Brant too, all about these things. Beautiful. And we have the IG on the screen right now watching on the TV on Roku. Andrew, appreciate it, man.

Thanks, guys. Andrew Brant, everybody. It's interesting here with Lamar because I really am rooting for him. I want him. I want him to get the contract that he thinks he deserves. I am all for players getting as much guaranteed money as they can. I just think he's played it the wrong way. Like I respect the independence.

Absolutely. Keep your circle tight. Don't pay agent fees. But there's this idea out here.

We're running late, I'm sure. But there's this idea out here that, you know, like Hollywood agents, right? Oh, they take 10 percent. They take 20 percent. NFL agents don't do that, right? It's like capped out of like three and a half.

Yeah, it's very well. Like it's very low. And most agents for a big name guy like Lamar want your money so badly or want your business, right? Want the prestige of doing your deal. They'll take a far lower percentage. So everyone that says, hey, Lamar, keep your money.

Yes. Keep your money. You're not losing money or not losing the money that people think you are losing.

You're not. I'm at one hundred and thirty three. Let's just say that was fully guaranteed. His agent fee might be two million dollars, maybe. It's like if you're getting a point and a half, yes, you're not even getting two million. Is that worth the hassle of not having to deal with any of this stuff and then getting your money and then getting another deal and another deal when you're in your 30s, right? And if you could do one thirty three on your own and they can get you to two hundred. That's worth two million dollars, you think to me, at least I think it is. I hate paying agents.

I hate it in our business is 10 percent. All right, I'm getting yelled at. We're breaking. Andrew Siciliano sitting in for Rich Isaac coming up will give your NCAA tournament scores all that fun update. And I have a little more to get off my chest about Aaron Rodgers.

That's next. And it's the Rich Eisen Show, everybody. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Wherever you might be watching and or listening today, Rich is off today.

Hi, it's Andrew Siciliano from NFL Network at NFL Now at one p.m. Eastern Time every day. We've got college basketball. Got a tournament going on. West Virginia leading Maryland twenty one eighteen first half action.

And Virginia not related, leading Furman twelve to seven. Thanks to Andrew Brant for coming on earlier. The former Packer executive was there when Brett Favre exited stage left and went to New York for a conditional fourth round pick. And he told you what we told you on NFL Network yesterday, what Tom Pelissero laid out contractually. And that is the Packers now have the leverage here because they don't have to move them until September. The big option bonus, the big money. They don't have to exercise that until September.

As Andrew Brant said, this thing has been structured to be picked up by another team and they have to pay it. And the Packers now have the leverage. Whether or not Aaron Rodgers knew that he was giving the Packers leverage, nor whether or not he cares, honestly, I don't know. But he started talking yesterday, but he gave the Packers the leverage.

There is underneath the snark of what people thought of Rodgers airing his grievances and talking about his darkness retreat. And by the way, I would totally do that. I actually think it sounds fun. Maybe not fun. Maybe not four days, maybe like two or three. Maybe not four, but but I would do it. I would enjoy it. Regardless of what you think, I do think, I don't know if sadness is the word.

I'm not a Packers fan, but I'm trying to imagine being a Packers fan today and being with the world tuning in, the football world that is seemingly small compared to the rest of the world, but with the football world tuning in to see my quarterback sitting there wearing a stained hoodie. There were multiple stains on that hoodie if you zoomed in saying, this is it. I'm done. I'm leaving. Like that's how I find out, like this is how it ends there. To me, there has to be a sense of sadness that this is what it is come to. And I know we work in the snark business.

Snark is not analysis. Like there has to be a level of, man, this is, this is it. Like this is how we say goodbye. And Aaron had plenty of good things to say about the town, the team, the organization, everything that the state of Wisconsin and the city mean to him. He said great things about Jordan Love. I mean, to me, that was the classiest thing he said.

And it seemed heartfelt. I'll say this about Aaron, regardless of the passive aggressive nature of some of his comments, and that's in all of us deep down inside, his heartfelt and his open and honest answers are refreshing. And I went to NFL management a couple of years ago, NFL network management that is. I say went to, it's not like I called a big meeting, but you know, I texted my bosses over there and I said, we need to put Aaron's pressers on as a show every week. Every quarterback is obligated though, if you know this, by the NFL to speak once a week before the game. Usually it's Wednesday or Thursday when the quarterbacks do their thing. Some quarterbacks do it on the podium, like Joe burrow, for example, on a Wednesday, others do it in front of their locker, like Aaron Rogers would do. Some guys give you a lot of cliches. They just want to get this thing over with.

Most guys are, are reasonably open, give you a couple of good quotes, but don't say much. Rogers, a couple of years ago, his Thursday, I think their Thursday appearances took a turn to me for the positive. And you know, people say that Aaron can't deal with the New York media that remains to be seen, but don't think that the green Bay media and Matt Schneiderman from the athletic is going to join us in a couple hours.

He's awesome. Not just cause he went to Syracuse. Don't think the green Bay media took it easy on him. They were as informed and on it. And and, and they asked intelligent, knowledgeable, insightful, direct questions. And Aaron often played with them. And sometimes he pushed back, but he gave really good answers.

If you asked a good question, he gave a good answer. I went to NFL network management a couple of years ago. I say, went to, I like text a couple of times that we need to put these on because these are the best quarterback press conferences going with the most insightful answers that you will get anywhere. I mean, the pieces have been written about how Aaron can tell you about every pick he has ever thrown a Google of these pieces have been written what the coverage was, what he saw pre snap, where his mistake was, what the defender did well, right? There are certain people that have that beautiful football mind. Say whatever you want about them, other aspects of their life, but they have that ability and recall. And he has it.

I love his interviews. Another guy I worked with Marshall Falk has that ability. Used to do Rams games with Marshall, right? Marshall can watch a play once from the press box and not only tell you what all 22 did, he can tell you what all 22 did wrong because he sees it. And Aaron has that ability and that recall, okay. But the one thing, and I said this to Andrew Brandt that I hope for Aaron's sake, because I do like him, despite the fact that I can be snarky on TV sometimes is that he's doing this for the right reasons is that when you say you're almost retired, you're not coming back and forcing a trade to another team just to prove them wrong because doing something for spite usually comes back to blow up in your face. And we're continuing here on Roku as we say goodbye to the radio audience for a couple of minutes.

Andrew Siciliano sitting in here for Rich Eisen. I've done things out of spite in my life. Sometimes I look back and say, yeah, I'm glad I did it.

I proved a point. Other times I'm like, what a waste of time and energy. What a waste of time, right? But that might've been five minutes out of my life.

This we're talking for Aaron here, a months long, potentially the Jets hope years long commitment. And if it doesn't go right, cause there's always going to be the far of comparison forever. Obviously.

Look, look, I mean the age Rogers and love and far, but like it's, it's, it's, it's uncanny. Okay. Does anyone remember how that year went for the jets? Yeah. There were nine and seven and missed the playoffs, but he started playing really well right out of the gate. Then he got hurt down the stretch. Talked to Nick mangled about this yesterday and that it all fell apart.

They didn't make the playoffs, right? Like the comparison is not going to be just once it is going to be every single day. And Aaron says he doesn't pay any mind, any mind to the media here. Come on. He's calling out reporters by name, right? He wants to control the narrative and pretending you don't know the name, kind of petty there, but you know, and you will listen, whether it's FAN or Twitter, I'm sure he's got a burner just be sure you're ready for what you're signing up for. All right, coming up more NCAA tournament.

I promise there's a basketball thing going on. No one in the wrestling business has experienced the trials and tribulations along with redemptions and longevity. Quite like Jeff Jarrett, come along for the ride on the, my world with Jeff Jarrett podcast. They didn't really brand belts in the heyday of boxing, you know, Muhammad Ali sugary Leonard. I mean, they had them, but along comes sports entertainment, professional wrestling, and now it is truly a part of pop culture. They've just branded what it looks like to be a champion. My world with Jeff Jarrett, wherever you listen.