REShow: Mike Florio - Hour 2 (4-6-2023)

We wake up every day saying how can we make this show better than the day before because we're lead pipe wielding professionals. This is the Rich Eisen Show. The MVP race is over. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

As you know I'm a yokage guy. I'm a big Giannis fan as you know. I gotta tell you, Joe LMB deserves to be the MVP of the NBA. Today's guest, host of Peacock's Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. From the new film Sweetwater, actor Everett Osborn, UConn head coach Dan Hurley. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number two The Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Moments ago, Chris Brockman with a huge news update as he said that the Jets quarterback room has shifted with a former Green Bay quarterback. His name is Tim Boyle. And I said, you know what, same intensity New England Patriot fan this fall when Aaron Rodgers finally does show up.

And your quarterback is Bailey Zappi because Mac Jones has been put on the market and somebody does acquire him. And the man who's helped me with that information kicks off our number two of this program. Very rarely do I get just straight to it, Chris. Bam!

We're getting straight to it. His name is Mike Florio and he's back here on The Rich Eisen Show with the Pro Football Talk and so much more. How are you, Mike? Hey Rich, doing great buddy. How are you? I'm great. So, boy, did you have me at hello with that post a couple days ago. Walk me through your reporting on the Patriots and Mac Jones and the availability of Mac Jones. What do you got for me there? You know, it's funny.

For a lot of people, it's the splash of cold water that wakes them up to the existence of a problem. For a lot of us, it's just the next logical step in what has been dysfunction that has rained for a year now for the Patriots and Mac Jones. The first-round pick in 2021 has a rookie year with Josh McDaniel as his offensive coordinator, makes it to the Pro Bowl, makes it to the playoffs. Never mind the fact they lost by 30 to the Bills.

They still made it to the playoffs, something that they've only done once post-Tom Brady. Then this year, McDaniel's out and in comes the Frankenstein monster of a couple of failed former head coaches who weren't offensive coaches who take over the offense with Matt Patricia, offensive line coach, ostensibly offensive coordinator defacto, Joe Judge, a name who doesn't get mentioned enough in this concoction of toxic offensive stew. He was the quarterback's coach when he had never been a quarterback's coach, when he had been a special teams coordinator. My understanding is people were surprised when Joe Judge came back in that job. Like, oh, yeah, he's coming back. He's going to work with special teams.

Nope. He's going to be a quarterback's coach. Mac Jones is the one who saw what it was like with McDaniel, saw what it was like with Patricia and Judge, and he wasn't happy about it. And so different than Tom Brady who internalized a lot of his complaints as it related to Bill Belichick. Mac Jones pushed back. Mac Jones didn't like what happened. Mac Jones was talking privately. He was getting back to Belichick. One thing Chris Simms said earlier this week, Mac Jones was calling Alabama for help on how to better run an offense that Patricia and Judge were running into the ground. And Belichick's had two occasions so far this offseason where he's been asked point blank about Mac Jones being the starter. End of season, he said he's proving he can play in this league.

Not, what are you talking about? He's my starter. And then last week at the league meetings, he made it clear there's a competition between Bailey Tappe and Mac Jones. But this next step, and what happens is, and we've been doing this 22 years now, 23 years, however long it's been, it'll be, I don't even like to think about it.

It's been so long. But when you know people throughout the league, when you talk to people throughout the league, sometimes just writing about or talking about a topic will attract more information on a story that you further develop, and that's what happened. We wrote about earlier this week the dysfunction arising from Mac Jones going outside the building, calling Alabama, getting some help with the offense, and that's when I tripped over. I tripped over this notion that Bill Belichick was talking to other teams about the possibility of moving Mac Jones earlier this offseason. Doesn't mean they're going to do it. Doesn't mean he's even looking to do it. I don't know.

Maybe he's trying to send a message to Mac Jones, like, hey, if you think you're so great, we'll see if one of these other teams wants you. Oh, they don't. So just shut up and get back to work. Regardless, there's clear tension. There's dysfunction. It's almost Shakespearean when you throw in the fact that Robert Kraft put Bill Belichick on the hot seat last week, and we go forward with the Patriots, basically the fourth best team in their own division. Well, lots right there.

Let me pull on a few of those strings. So when you spoke to the folks filling you in on this subject matter, any idea what Belichick's plan was once Jones was offloaded? If he did, in fact, get the deal that he would be looking for? Was he looking for something specifically?

What details surround either the offer and then the plan after if it was successful? I don't know specifically what it would have been. They've got Bailey Zappi, who's already been flagged by Belichick as a guy who will have a chance to play this year. That's what he said last week. Both will have a chance to play, and you can interpret that as, is he going to go two quarterbacks like we thought he was starting to do in that Bears game?

They went back and forth. It was Mack, it was Bailey, whatever. I think they were going to work Mack in more.

I can't remember how it ultimately played out, but both guys played, and we were thinking, is this the end game here? We're going to see both like a college coach will often do. Zappi is the obvious candidate, but then if you make the move early enough in the offseason, you have the opportunity to bring back a Jimmy Garoppolo if that's what you were thinking of doing. This is all something that I would assume happened before the dust settled on the musical chairs as it relates to quarterbacks and free agency. The seats were filled, and plans were made, and maybe there's a back end to this after the draft if teams eyeing quarterbacks in round one either openly or secretly don't get who they want. The sooner you do it, the sooner you can explore your other options to replace Mack Jones, whether it's Bailey Zappi or somebody who's currently not on the team. Mike Florio, you said moments ago when Bob Kraft put Bill Belichick on the hot seat.

What makes you think that? Well, Bill Belichick has had four seasons with no playoff wins since they won Super Bowl LIII, and last year at the league meetings, Robert Kraft expressed his disapproval and disappointment with the fact that they hadn't won a playoff game in three years. So this year when he met with reporters, at one point he was asked this question, and I'm paraphrasing, but I'm going to try to get it as close to verbatim as I can.

You had two out of three losing seasons. Can Bill Belichick survive another one, or will he be here to catch and surpass Don Shula for the all-time wins record? Robert Kraft's response wasn't, yes, he'll be here. He waded into this notion that, well, we want our players to accumulate great statistics, but ultimately we're here to win football games and I want to get back to the playoffs.

And it felt to me like one of those situations where anything other than yes is no. And the moment I heard it, I said, well, playoffs are bust for Bill Belichick this year. Now, would Robert Kraft ultimately do it, or would he just think about doing it?

I don't know, but this is unprecedented territory. Now, we had the Steelers struggle at times in the post-four Super Bowl championship years of Chuck Knoll. We had the Cowboys who weren't the Cowboys in the 80s, that they'd been in the 70s, and Tom Landry was still there until Jerry Jones bought the team. But this is the greatest run we've seen in the free agency era, the six championships, but now mediocrity.

And this year could be as bad as it's been rich. When you consider, and you know well as a Jets fan, how the Patriots ran roughshod over that division for years and how, in many respects, that contributed to this run of the AFC championship game every year, every year, every year. When you go 6-0, 5-1, whatever, against your division, and you rule that division, you get the one seed or the two seed. You win a division around, damn it, boom, you're in the championship like that. It's like clockwork, and it makes it easier to get to the Super Bowls and win them if you're in the AFC championship game every damn year. So, now we're at the back end of this where they haven't made it to the playoffs two of the last three years. They've had losing records two of the last three years.

How long of a grace period does Bill Belichick have after winning six Super Bowls in today's NFL? And I think that's what Robert Kraft's wrestling with. And then just again, I don't know, we've both been around it long enough, Mike, that sometimes things are said publicly as a message to be sent to fans or messages to be sent within their own house and organization.

And some things are just said just because it's said off the top of someone's head. Robert Kraft letting it be known that Meek Mill said, hey, Lamar wants to play for you and just putting it out there. Is that, from what you gather or hear, a message to Bill, hey, I'd sign that check.

I'd stroke that check if you're interested in getting him. Or is it to just tell the fans in New England, hey, we kicked the tires through Meek Mill. I don't know. I don't know what that really accomplishes other than just maybe, hey, this is a fun thing for me to say into a microphone and just let it be known. That was wild is what I'm saying. Well, yeah, I agree with you. And I think the general message was, and it's something that he repeated several times last week, Bill makes the decisions.

Right. Bill makes the decisions. And if there's a mess, it's on him, not me. If we get to a point where what we're doing isn't sustainable, it's not my fault. It's his fault.

Blame him. Just like last year with what Kraft called a failed experiment. And he didn't like what happened. And Matt Patricia got put in a bad spot last year. How can you expect this guy to become an offensive coach after years and years and years of being a defensive coach? He made it clear he did not like the decision Bill Belichick made. So they're Bill's decisions that he will be evaluated based on those decisions.

He didn't say that, but that was the vibe. Now, as it relates to Lamar Jackson, something else Kraft said last week to reporters made me think that he would not be inclined to do it. Because the one thing that we never talk about when we talk about Lamar Jackson, because we get caught up, as we should, in the fully guaranteed contract that Deshaun Watson got last year, $230 million, five years, fully guaranteed, that has gotten into Lamar Jackson's head and he can't get it out. Well, the other side of it is everything the Browns gave up to get in a position where they could pay Deshaun Watson. Three first round picks plus. And Kraft talked specifically about the importance of draft picks, the value of draft picks. Draft picks allow you to go out and get players who can become key players for your organization at a very low cost, relative to what it's going to cost you to get Lamar Jackson. So not only are you giving a huge piece of your salary cap to Lamar Jackson for years into the future, you are forfeiting the ability to get scratch-off lottery tickets, which is what draft picks are. You scratch off a winner or you scratch off a loser, but the cost of that ticket is low. And if it didn't work out, it didn't work out.

But if you have enough of them, you're going to have guys that work out. And if you give up a bunch of them, somebody else is going to have those lottery tickets, and I think that's important to Kraft. So I don't think he would want to do it, but his message is, it's Bill's decision.

Were you taking it back strong? Did any spidey sense go off yesterday with the Ravens press conference three weeks and one day before a draft to say, let's have a draft press conference even though we're admitting the board isn't set and we're not answering any questions about Lamar Jackson? Because I'm looking around at my screen, my Twitter screen, the NFL Network feed. I don't see any other teams having a draft press conference three weeks and one day before the draft. I mean, they will all have one, I think. But what was that about yesterday? That's a great point on the timing. They are required to have one. I confirmed that today. So it wasn't something that a team could just pass on.

I assume that whatever the window is to have it, that was probably the earliest day or damn close to it. Because, yeah, you go and you answer a bunch of general vague questions about what your draft plans are. And I think people who have done this years and years know how to say things without saying things. But the idea that they wouldn't answer the questions about Lamar Jackson, I mean, my reaction today was, hey, you know, first of all, you should welcome being able to rattle off your same old talking points because every Lamar Jackson question you get is one less question you get about your draft board, one less opportunity to say something that may accidentally tip your hand. Why wouldn't you just rattle off your same old position about Lamar Jackson? We want him to be here over the long term. We would like to work out a long-term deal. If we can't do that by July 17 and we are restricted to a one-year deal, we will do our best to work out a one-year deal and we'll do it all again next year.

We want him to be our quarterback indefinitely into the future. What's so hard about that? I wonder whether they were concerned that they'd be asked a question they don't want to answer. And Rich, the question I'd want to ask is this. When Lamar Jackson told you he wanted to be traded, do you believe that's a negotiating ploy or is it Lamar Jackson saying, I'm done with you? Specifically, Ravens, has Lamar Jackson told you I'm never playing for you again?

That would be pretty important information, and now they could dance around that as well. But depending on how they answer it, they may be inviting Lamar Jackson to go to Twitter and state his position with a couple of emojis on the back end as he'd want to do. So to me, that's the only question.

That's the first question. And maybe there's others, but that's the biggest question that I wouldn't want to answer if I'm the Ravens if the answer is, yeah, you know what, when he had to be traded, he made it damn clear to us he's done playing here and he wants to play somewhere else. Yeah, I just found it interesting. Maybe they just wanted to have it early because they know if they have to have it close to the draft. And Lamar still hasn't been signed to an offer sheet that there would be more questions.

They didn't want to have it. I just found it wild that out of the blue, the Ravens are, I'm sitting here at work and like, you know, my coordinating producer gets in my ear saying, Eric DeCosta is talking. I'm like, really?

And I looked up at the screen. I'm like, how many other teams are doing this today? Oh, none of them?

It's really, you know, that one just sort of set off an alarm bell. I don't know. It could be that they just wanted to get it done now.

So they have nothing more that they have to say. And Lamar can tweet whatever he wants to tweet over the next three weeks and they won't be in a position where they have to react to it on the record. So who knows what's going to happen over the next three weeks.

And I personally think, Rich, nothing's going to happen. I think we are in a cycle where we see if the Colts, for example, get a quarterback they like at number four and if they don't, maybe they make a run at Lamar because you can still go after him with an offer sheet after the 2023 draft. The compensation becomes, if the Ravens don't match the offer sheet, 2024 and 2025 first-round picks. And there may be other teams out there that are secretly lurking for a quarterback like the Chiefs were six years ago with Patrick Mahomes. Nobody knew that they wanted Patrick Mahomes. So there may be teams out there saying, boy, we'd really like to get this guy. Oh, crap, we didn't get him.

Well, what can we do now? Let's go get Lamar Jackson. And it's kind of apples and oranges, but it's not because if you're looking to upgrade your quarterback position, you're looking to upgrade your quarterback position.

If you don't do it through the draft, you look at your other avenues. So I don't think anything's going to happen with Jackson and the Ravens and any other teams until after the draft. And then after the draft, who knows, maybe the Ravens come out of it with a replacement for Lamar Jackson in round one. I mean, we didn't expect them to draft Jackson the year that they did when Joe Flacco was still their starter. So there's a lot that can still happen after the draft, but between now and the draft, I think the only thing that happens is Lamar Jackson starts agitating a little more loudly to get out of Baltimore if that's truly what he wants to do.

Last one for you, Mike Florio, before I send you on onto your Good Thursday. So three weeks from tonight, first round of the NFL draft in Kansas City, which team would you peg as the one to trade up or trade back into the first round of the NFL draft for a quarterback as we sit here right now? Well, your colleague Daniel Jeremiah was making the point earlier this week that the Titans or a team he's hurt could go from 11 to 3, and I assume that's the Anthony Richardson spot. If we assume that the Panthers go C.J.

Stroud or Bryce Young and the Texans go with the other of the two, then number three where the Cardinals are, that's the Anthony Richardson spot. So that would be fascinating if the Titans would do that. It sets up kind of like an Alex Smith, Patrick Mahomes thing in Tennessee. But we don't know, and I think that any team, there are in my mind six teams with clear, obvious franchise quarterbacks, and we can't do any better than what we have.

Chiefs, Bills, Eagles, Chargers, Bengals, Jaguars. And the other 26 teams in my mind can still go from where they are to superstar. And the thing about Anthony Richardson, when Chris Simms did his quarterback rankings, he got Richardson number three, but he acknowledges this is the guy who could be the superstar. So if you're looking to upgrade to the potential superstar and you believe it, I'd say any of those other teams could potentially try to get the number three to get Anthony Richardson before the Colts have a shot at him. There's also Hendon Hooker and a team that doesn't need a quarterback now, but would be happy to have a fifth year of control on his contract now and play for the future as opposed to getting a top player in the bottom third of the NFL draft, first round for their team. Which one do you think would be that team?

Who would fit that bill? A lot of folks are saying the Vikings right now. And with Cousins sitting there, what do you think on that front? Yeah, the Vikings, look, a couple of years ago, I had heard and I believe that they were licking their chops for Justin Fields to slip to them. They got leapfrogged by the Bears. So they're a team that understands and quickly implements to their GM, now at the time Rich Bielmann with the GM when they were thinking about Justin Fields, but the idea that they don't have a Josh Allen, they don't have a Patrick Mahomes, and they understand that and he admitted that publicly. Kirk Cousins has gotten them to a certain level and he can't get them any farther than that. So they would be a team that I would watch potentially to groom a guy with one more year for Kirk Cousins. What about the Ravens really at 22? And if Hooker just happens to be there and yesterday DaCosta didn't rule out taking a quarterback, he didn't rule it in either.

What he said was pretty obvious even though it made a headline. But any of those 26, the question is how badly do we want to take our shot here? Are we concerned that he's coming off a torn ACL? Are we concerned that he's 25? I mean, for quarterbacks, who cares? For a running back, maybe I'd be worried. For a quarterback, he's going to play 15 years anyway if he's good.

So what if he's 25 and not 21? So I think that as we get close to the draft, I think people are going to wake up to, and we hear, oh, the guys are rising up the boards. A lot of times the media has finally become aware of what the teams thought all along because the teams have always viewed a guy a certain way. And I know Simms had a real strong evaluation of handed Hooker as well. And again, if you don't have a franchise quarterback, you should be looking for one and you should be willing to take your chances because they're so hard to find and you never know what they're going to be until you get them into the NFL.

All right, and I lied. Throw a dart at a board. Give me the time between now and the draft. The Jets and the Packers make this Rogers trade we know they've got to make. Before round two starts, April 28th, I think it's going to come down to this. I think it's one of the two second-round picks, excuse me, the Jets have this year. So we don't have to worry about Thursday.

It's Friday night. One of those two second-round picks, and then the question is what's the compensation for 2024? What's the formula based on what the Jets or Aaron Rodgers will do in 23? Is it a first-round pick?

Is that the max? What does it take to get the first-round pick, second-round pick, third-round pick, et cetera? Kind of like the formula they had for Brett Favre in the 2009 draft. And then the last key sticking point, what protection do the Jets have for 25 in the event that Rodgers doesn't play in 24? He goes into the dark room.

He takes a sip of ayahuasca. He decides I retire after one year with the Jets. Is there protection in 25 for a draft pick to come back from Green Bay to New York?

Those are the two sticking points. The Packers have come off their insistence on the 13th overall pick. So I think it gets done before the picks are made. And the very latest it gets done is when those two back-to-back second-round picks are on the clock for the Jets because they've now got consecutive second-round picks due to the Elijah Moore trade to the Browns.

Wow. I would sign for that. That means I'm on live television on Friday night counting it down. I mean, you know, I would sign for that, but I don't understand why that's got to be 12-0-1. I mean, if you're already off of the first-round selection, just do it already. But we know how it works. Just in case they blink?

Is that what it is? Nobody wants to go to their bottom line until the last possible minute. And the last possible minute is when that second-round pick this year that the Packers are getting from the Jets is being used. That's the last minute. So that last move. Because if you move now, the other side can say, I will wait, because they know they can wait. So don't move prematurely, because once you move, it's hard to put it back. So you wait.

It's the two circles of the Venn diagram. You wait to make them kiss at the last possible moment when the chariot's turning into a pumpkin. And I think that's why there's a chance you will be on the air when this happens.

And so, then throw a dart. Does Rogers show up on McAfee before the draft? What do you think? Or he's clearly staying off of everything. He hasn't said a word since he appeared on Pat's show a couple weeks ago.

What do you think? Yeah, and we're now three weeks and a day since he did, and we're closer to the draft than we were than when he did it. He explained that the Packers are dragging their feet. I will say at this point, he won't. I think at this point, he wants to see what happens at the draft. And I still think he wants to play for the Jets, but I don't think he said the word intention accidentally. It's my intention to play for the Jets. How many times have we heard teams say, we have no intention to trade a certain player, and then they trade him? Intention is a safe harbor to change your mind. It's my intention to play for the Jets, and intentions can change. There's no reason I think it will, but I think he waits and sees who's reasonable, who's unreasonable. Can they get a deal done by the time this draft ends? And then if they don't, look, I don't know, training camp at that point is the witching hour for getting a deal done, because he knows the offense.

He really doesn't need to be there, and he may not want to be there. Intention might actually mean he wants to do it. For instance, I have intention of buying Father of Mine, your book, your novel.

How does that sound? Well, I have intention of giving you a free copy. No, no, no, I don't want that.

I don't want that. I buy people's books. I buy friends' books. That's what I do. Because that's what, you know, you're selling it for a reason.

So, happy to do that. $4.99. It's $4.99. I've priced it to sell. I've priced it to make it accessible to the reader, and it comes out two days before the draft. You can read it on your flight to Kansas City. And if you click Read, you'll be engrossed. Got a good review recently.

I was very happy about that. And we're trying to get people to pre-order. Now, if it were me, I wouldn't pre-order something that's an e-book, because I could die between now and then. I'd live with my $5. So, that's just the way I'm wired.

Fortunately, not everybody's wired that way, and people have been pre-ordering. That's a very Kyle Shanahan way of putting it. Oh, my gosh. So, what comes out first, Father of Mine or Aaron Rodgers as a jet? Probably Father of Mine and Aaron Rodgers as a jet. I would put very long odds. I'd say it's minus $5,800 against Aaron Rodgers reading Father of Mine. Although he's a reader, I don't think I'm going to make it. I was about to say, you can't put an e-book behind you when you're on television. You can't do that.

If I'd done it under a pseudonym, there's a chance he'd read it, and there's a chance he'd like it. By Adam Schefter. There you go. Okay, very good. You take care, Mike. You be well, brother.

That's the great Mike Florio. Father of Mine. Wow. Oh, my gosh.

All right. 844. Wow, there's a lot to talk about. There's a lot going on. And we didn't even hit this, you know, Jim Irsay, what he's saying about his draft choice. What he wants the team to do with it, reportedly.

844.204. Rich number to dial. That's still to come. Oh, yeah.

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With supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger is the right product for you. Call clickrainger.com or just simply stop by. Robert in Texas. Let's take his phone call. What's up, Robert? Hello, Rich. Long time listener. First time caller. I'm here.

This is Colleen. I'm here listening to Florio talk about the Patriots and Mac Jones going through their issues. Yes. And we have Aaron Rodgers and the Jets over there at the fall.

And I was just wondering, what if the Patriots decide to go for it and just end up trading for Aaron Rodgers just to stick it to the just. No. Wow. Robert, you just driving around Texas full of spite. Let me call the Rich Eisen Show and speak something into existence that's never going to happen. Is that basically what you said today, Robert?

What you want to do? Yeah. Something like that. You like that, Chris? You're making Chris's day. I'll be honest with you. Robert became just best friends.

I think this is a great idea. OK. I'm a Cowboys fan, though, so I don't really care about touching all the bases here on the program. What up, Robert? Hi, Robert. Where in Texas you calling it from? Full of spite.

From McAllen's Way South. OK. Very good. I appreciate the call. You hang on. You go.

You be well. There you go. Call back during football season.

I need all the fans I can get. That'll never happen because Rodgers didn't announce his intention to play for the Patriots. No.

Sorry, folks. Intention change. No, they don't. Why would they change? Do you know why his intention wouldn't change? Because he doesn't want to play for the Patriots. You know why he wants to play for the Jets over the Patriots? Why is that? Because it's a better chance for him to win the Super Bowl.

Really? And deny it. You can sit here and say that's that's I don't know about that. It's a better chance for him to win a Super Bowl.

And while he wants to eat the offensive coordinator, he likes is there. The weapons the Jets have are far better than the weapons that the Patriots have. It's your opinion. You would argue with that opinion for real, like for real. Like, put aside. Are we doing this? No, we're not doing the thing we're doing. We're legitimately talking.

Nobody wants to do the thing. We're legitimately talking. One team, one team, one team said, you know what? One team has a history of losing and the other team has 20 years of winning. Now you sound like now you sound like Bill. You complained about that the other day with Bill. What? Tell Patriots fans why they should not go down some sort of a wormhole.

Why should the Patriots have any sort of optimism? Well, the last 25 years and you come back and you're like, well, that's that's the past. But now here you're laying the past at the table. What I'm saying presently, a team that swapped out that swapped out Jacoby Myers for Juju Smith Schuster. That's the same.

It's a wash. Right. Well, I'm talking about who the Jets have. They got Alan Lazard, who's got not a ring, but to go along with the offensive rookie of the year who won that potentially because the running back got hurt. They've got sauce. Gardner, they've got I mean, honestly, whose roster would you take?

It's us playing offense. Whose roster would you take to win if you're somebody who's 39 wants to win? Whose position would you want? You want to go work for Bob?

Bill O'Brien, you want to go you want to go dial up plays with B.O.B.? Sounds better. Better ownership, better coach.

Got it. What else? Better fan base. That's toxic.

Better running backs, better tight end. OK. All right. That's your opinion. I have my opinion. I think everybody watching and listening in understands what's happening here right now. The Pats are getting Aaron Rodgers. OK. Look at Robert from Texas driving around McAllen. You know what I'm going to do?

I'm going to put a pin on this thing and I'm going to lob it all the way into El Segundo, California. Let me start something. You know how this goes, because it never works out for the Jets and it always works out for us. Does it last three years? This is going to go last three years.

You've wound up in the same situation. I forgot all those Jets playoff wins the last couple of seasons. We haven't had we haven't had one in 12 years. There you go. Twelve years.

Three Super Bowls since then. I understand. All right. You sound like Bill.

You can't you. You had a problem with Bill saying the reason why you should. I'm Rogers.

Now and now I do have some fun. That would be I would. Josh Allen and Dwayne Wade talking to SVP right now. Oh, yeah. They're all there. They're both at Augusta.

Everybody's there. Is Shane Lowry still leading right now? Hovland six under six under and still has the par fives coming sniffing the wire to wire. So I mean, if he shoots a sixty five today, it's look out. Wow. Still got the ring. Fun.

Fun stuff. Jim Hersey has said, according to. Well, I mean, he said it at the owner's meeting, Zach Key for our friend who writes for the Athletic is saying he wants to draft a quarterback fourth overall. Quote, It seems like there is going to be a great prospect there, he said, of the fourth pick, and we just have to make sure you know that he fits Shane's model, saying Shane Steichen, his new head coach, and really what he's looking for. And so Steichen was the quarterback's coach when Justin Herbert was a rookie. And then we all know he was attached to the hip of Jalen Hurts last couple of years. We all know what happened. Last couple of years, complete blossoming, complete bloom. And we also understand what's happened the last couple of years for the Indianapolis Colts is they went the.

Cocoon route. What they did was they took these these stones. Of and threw them into the pool and hoped that the old people would be young again. That didn't happen. Philip Rivers. He didn't start dancing around like Wilford Brimley, although he did take him to the playoffs. Matt Ryan. Seemed like he turned to stone. Yeah, that didn't happen in the pool house, the Indianapolis pool house.

They can go well. Nick Foles, all of it. So I don't blame Jim Mercy saying we are going young. The young is also somebody who is currently restless, and that's Lamar Jackson as well. He's sitting there.

He's sitting there. And fourth overall, man, if I'm the Colts. To me, it's a choice between trading up one spot. The Bears trade for Mitchell Trubisky type trade.

Move up one spot and get the guy you want. The guy's Anthony Richardson, I believe, although, according to Ian Rappaport, as we speak, as we talk, as we chit chat right now. Yeah. Between you spouting nonsense and me talking facts. I was doing nonsense. That the Colts are working out Will Levis in Kentucky. They flew. Yeah, they flew to Lexington. Yeah, they did.

They went to Lexington. Oh, that's nice. Well, you stay there. We'll come to you. Will all greased up and jacked.

One would assume. Will Levis, because if they come away from that saying that we love this guy, we will take this guy. If they come away with we will take this guy, then stay put.

Because you're going to get him. And you could have your choice between Anthony Richardson and Will Levis if you stay put and you pull the old Braveheart hold as the horses apparently rampage for Arizona to try and trade up to get Anthony Richardson. Who's going to do that? Who will love Anthony Richardson so much to trade all the way up to three to make sure you get him? And if the Colts come away from this meeting and work out with Will Levis and they're like, yep, not that guy.

Or let's grind more tape. And if they also sit here and go, we're not going to trade any draft capital at all for anybody. We need to turn all those picks into actual real live young, talented human beings that we think we can grow. And we'll sit there and we think Arizona is just going to love Will Anderson so damn much.

They're not going to make a move and nobody else is going to trade up. We'll roll the dice that it's Anthony Richardson. And if they are sitting here on draft night. And I'll tell you, this is being the host of the NFL draft on NFL network three weeks from tonight.

Book it. If somebody trades up and goes and gets Anthony Richardson in front of the Colts and the Colts then draft Will Anderson or the Colts then draft fill in the blank, not named Will Levis on the spot. The first words out of my mouth after we're done analyzing the pick is Lamar Jackson. And then I will be pounding that table all night long until the end of the first round until the Colts do not trade back in to the first round of the draft to go try and get Hendon hooker. Or try and trade back in and get Will Levis if they walk through that first night of the draft. And there is no quarterback for Indianapolis and Hendon hooker is somewhere else.

Tennessee Hendon hooker is in Minnesota, and they are done with that first night of the draft. In the wrap up that I have with Joel Klack, Daniel Jeremiah, and Charles Davis, the words Lamar and Jackson, because Jim Irsay said it's draft choices that we are putting premiums on and he the 150 million guaranteed one would think that you got to hit. He said he's fine with a contract like that. Question is, would Lamar be fine with a contract like that? And I would proffer to say you bet.

At this point in time, you bet. Offer sheet. Problem is, though, you don't know where that first round pick is going to be in 2024 and 2025 and you might get the Ravens to match it.

And then what? Fascinating conversation about the Indianapolis Colts and where they sit and once again. Once again, that Texans Indianapolis Colts final game where the Texans and Lovey Smith spit their last breath at Indianapolis, Indianapolis wouldn't be this high up. And in this position to maybe get Anthony Richardson or Will Levis, you know, they wouldn't be this high up to have this possibility. And the Texans wouldn't be second overall. They'd be first overall. And the Bears would be second overall.

And I don't know if they'd have traded out by this point in time yet. And the Panthers might be sitting at nine. I mean, that final play. Where the Colts looks like they're going to win. Well, they lose. They're now fourth. Texans look like they're going to lose. They're going to be first overall. Nope, you're second. Panthers are now first. Holy cow. And Lamar sitting out there waiting for an offer.

844-204 Rich, number to dial. Dan Hurley of UConn Men's Basketball. They won the championship Monday night.

Oh, I heard that. He's joining us in just about, what would you say, 17 minutes. And then in hour number three, we've got an in-studio guest, Everett Osborne, the actor who plays Nat Sweetwater Clifton in the new movie, wait for it, Sweetwater.

About one of the first to break the color barrier in the NBA. It's a heck of a cast. Jeremy Piven, Carrie Elwes, Richard Dreyfus, our buddy Kevin Pollock, and Everett Osborne. He's in studio in hour number three. 844-204 Rich, number to dial. Our Monster Player of the Week when we come back.

844-204 Rich, number to dial here on the Rich Eyes and Show. We've got Dan Hurley coming up, head coach of UConn Basketball. I cannot wait to ask him, when was the first time he laid eyes on Adama Sanogo? First time he heard of some kid from Mali who made his way to our great basketball loving nation and a kid who didn't start playing basketball until he was age 14. And he was a soccer guy in Mali. He comes to America, starts playing basketball, and look at him now.

Take over. He just absolutely took matters over the most outstanding player of the Final Four, helping UConn win their fifth national championship and joining the terrific group of UConn basketball players who went ahead and won most outstanding player. Kemba Walker, Emeka Okafor, Shabazz Napier, and Rip Hamilton.

They all went pro right away. Sanogo might stick around. And what he was able to do, sealing off, I mean, he was the king of sealing off. I mean, when he anchored underneath the basket, there was no beating him.

There was absolutely no knocking him off the blocks at all. And he came into the national championship game shooting 65% of the field or better with 20 points per game. And only three other players in the last 40 years had such a stat line. Christian Laitner, Corliss Williamson, Hakeem Olajuwon.

Speaking of Hakeem, Sanogo, over the last couple of weeks, was fasting for Ramadan from sunup to sundown. And look at what he did in the last four games in the last two weeks against Arkansas, Gonzaga, Miami, and San Diego State. Three double doubles. He just absolutely dominated. Dominated.

Didn't drink or eat from sunup to sundown for the last two weeks. And he wound up averaging 19.7 points per game with four double doubles in the NCAA tournament. Pardon me, he didn't start playing hoops until age 12. This is a remarkably talented young man, and that's what helps make him the Monster.com Athlete of the Week. Sponsored by Monster.com. Monster.com can help you tackle the job search and make your next career move. It's time to get off the sidelines.

Go to Monster.com and win the job hunt today. Can't wait to ask Dan Hurley all about him, and obviously some terrific basketball players. Tristan Newton, Andre Jackson Jr., Jordan Hawkins.

From all over the map, El Paso, Texas, Amsterdam, New York, Maryland, and of course Sanogo from Mali. There you have it. He's coming up. Let's take one more phone call before we're done with this hour. Uh, Ru in Bloomington, Indiana. What's up, Ru?

What's going on, Rich? I just wanted to ask, if the Colts do go after Lamar, are they as Super Bowl ready as everybody has been painting? I mean, as a Colts fan, we've talked about this team being, you know, just one missing part to a Super Bowl for what, three, four years now? But when I watch the games, it's not really that case, but then we beat the Chiefs this year. So, is Lamar, is getting Lamar or one of these top QBs really going to put us over the edge, or are we really missing a lot more? Well, don't you think they'll be a heck of a lot better and win the division potentially? And Lamar with Jonathan Taylor in the same backfield coming at you downhill? I mean, Pittman and Alec Pierce and, you know, the offensive line that had trouble protecting their iron deers on the front lawn, suddenly now have Lamar Jackson running around and through and out the gate. And Shaquille Leonard, if he's healthy, and DeForest Buckner and the rest of that team, you got terrific players all over the map. And one would think Shane Steichen coming in won't have similar issues as, say, Jeff Saturday in his first foray of being a head coach in the NFL?

That's a fact. Now, the question is, is Anthony Richardson, you draft him, everybody says he's not ready yet. So, week one, you're going to have to maybe get another veteran again. I don't know who that would be. I don't know who that would be. But Lamar answers, and thanks for the call, Lamar checks a ton of boxes for them.

A ton. And he's still, he's not even 27. So, you can't sit here and go, well, we're going the veteran route again.

You can't. He's only a little bit older than Hendon Hooker. So, hour three coming up. Five years younger than Stetson Bennett. And there'd be eight jerseys, number eight Colts jerseys everywhere. Yeah.

Everywhere. That's why I thought this was before the draft, before, you know, before they started kicking the tires on Richardson and Levis. And that has to be as they're watching Levis work out today in Lexington, according to Ian Rappaport. And when they talk to Richardson and they know they're going to have one of the two, but they can't guarantee they're the ones making the choice. The choice will be made for them by Arizona. Arizona will make the choice for them. That they'll make the choice for them. And part of the choice that they make for them is that they can bequeath to the Colts the opportunity for them to make the choice.

And you're running the risk. I think someone's going to trade up for Anthony Richardson and I think Arizona would be happy to trade down and out. The key for them would be Colts trade up. They get whatever draft choices to move down one and then somebody loves Will Levis and they trade up to go get Will Levis and they trade down again and have a ton of picks and don't move very far. But I always thought from jump, you know, part of this evaluation as they're going through it right now has to include Mark Jackson. I thought they should have just made that move from jump. Dan Hurley of UConn cutting down nets calling into the show. Get into the WrestleMania spirit with the podcast Heat Network wherever you listen.