REShow: Howard Beck & Michael Lombardi - Hour 3

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No refunds. It's Kirk Morrison. Our number three here on the Rich Eisen show.

Kirk Morrison filling in for Rich. I am excited. I've had my coffee. I am ready to roll. After this show is over, I go into full on tailgate mode for the NFL Draft. I'm tailgate. I'm getting ready. Well, Kirk, is that really what you got to do after the show?

Isn't there something else you got to go pick up? Okay. All right. Yeah. Let everybody behind the curtain.

Why not? There's also a pottery barn and crate and barrel outlet that my wife was like, yeah, so I heard you're in El Segundo today. I'm like, yeah, you know, that's where El Segundo, California, where the beautiful Rich Eisen studio is. But you know, there's also a pottery barn or crate and barrel outlet near you. Could you go take a look at a couple of things for me? So yes, I will postpone my tailgating for the NFL Draft just a little bit.

As I go stop by a little outlet shop here. I blame you guys, by the way. I blame you guys. But my honey do list was all about the NFL Draft last night, right?

Yesterday. That was my NFL honey do list. Was getting ready for today NFL Draft. But somebody threw a wrench in my plans and it was the NBA with their four games last night because they were all fascinating. Had me watching and I had to use multiple devices. Watching the TV. Had to use the, you know, the laptop.

Had to use my tablet. Had to use a little bit of everything because there was so much action going on. And the guy who saw it all is Howard Beck, the host of the locked on one of the hosts on the locked on network and a contributor to GQ Sports at Howard Beck on Twitter. And how would you describe the four games on Wednesday? Because I looked at I was like, man, the NBA is doing four games on Wednesday. Why is that?

And I realized before I finished speaking. Oh, yeah. The NFL Draft this Thursday. So why would they put four? I see why they did four games. But man, all four games they delivered, Howard. Yeah.

And great to be with you, Kirk. It's not really about the NFL. It's the first round of the NBA playoffs. Just everything when you're planning for the potential that every series could go at least five. And we had a bunch of game fives last night. Figure out the NBA TV versus TNT versus ESPN versus ABC schedule.

So it's really it was all that. And there actually would be more than one game tonight if other series hadn't ended yet. So it's there would be a bunch of games tonight, too. Like there could have been a whole stacked plate. It's unfortunate because those were all four really important games last night. And it was impossible unless I only got one TV myself.

I don't know about you guys, but unless I was going to set up like laptops and iPhones and everything on my on my coffee table, I was not going to be able to watch all of them simultaneously. And I think my brain would have exploded anyway. Yeah. I see, Howard. That's what I had to do because it was too much as a resident Warriors fan born and raised in the Bay Area. I had to have the main TV on that one. But then all of a sudden I'm watching what's going on in the top right corner of the broadcast. And all of a sudden that score between the Bucks and the Heat start getting closer and closer and closer.

Oh, I got to watch this. So I was watching that game last night. What is your biggest takeaway of just the four games yesterday?

What was the biggest takeaway, I think, of the whole night? Was it the Knicks advancing? Was it the Bucks being one seed, being bounced, Lakers losing in a game five scenario where they could have they could have eliminated the Grizzlies? Or was it the Warriors winning three straight?

I mean, all of them were fascinating for their own reasons, but I mean, you've got to start with the Bucks. You have to start like a number one seed losing to an eight seed in the first round in the NBA playoffs just doesn't happen very often. And in this case, you weren't just losing to an eight seed. You're losing to Miami Heat team that had a losing record 40 and 42 that had to make the playoffs through the playoff tournament that lost Tyler Herro, their second best scorer along the way in the series, that didn't have that much firepower to begin with. That just wasn't that good.

And they just knocked out the Bucks, who won the championship just two years ago and have a two time MVP and Yanis Adekunbo. And, you know, listen, there's the unsightliness of it all losing in five games besides not even being able to extend the series as I was certain they would. You know, not calling time out, you know, at the end of regulation there when you had a moment to advance the ball and set a play. Everything, every aspect of it, not even getting a shot off at the end of overtime either.

It was just a disaster on every level. There's going to be consequences because there always are in this league, especially if you're a team with legitimate championship expectations to go down that way. They have a very long and tough offseason ahead of them. He's the host of the Locked On NBA podcast.

Follow him on Twitter at Howard Beck, joining the Rich Eisen Show. Kirk Morrison here filling in for Rich. So Milwaukee is out, but it does set up an intriguing matchup, one that everybody's excited. I know the guys here, we're excited about a Eastern Conference semifinal matchup between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks, bringing us back to our NBA Jam days, right? The 90s basketballs will be alive and well when it comes to the Heat. Nicks, how impressed are you with the Knicks just getting out of the first round and getting to that second round, something they haven't done since 2013?

Yeah, really impressive. The whole season by the Knicks has been pretty impressive. There were times earlier this season where it looked like, you know, they're going to hover around.500. They're going to have a good solid season. Maybe they grab the sixth seed. Maybe they're a play-in team. And really, ever since they picked up Josh Hart in a really smart trade with trailblazers in the middle of the season, they've just taken off and have reached a whole new level.

And I think what's so impressive is this is not, you know, by most standards, the traditional build of an NBA power, right? Like, this is not a star-laden team. This is not a team with, you know, an MVP candidate and a bunch of All-NBA guys on it or anything. Like, Jalen Brunson was a second-round pick who developed with the Mavericks, who chose to leave them for the Knicks, who the Knicks people questioned whether they were overpaying for him.

And the guys have been an absolute stud. Didn't make the All-Star team. Probably won't end up on any of the All-NBA teams when those are announced. But Jalen Brunson's playing like a top-ten point guard.

Julius Randle, who might make All-NBA again, is very up and down. Didn't have a great series. Got hurt again in their closeout game last night. But they just play tough. They play way beyond what their names would suggest or their resumes would suggest. And that, in a lot of ways, is reminiscent of those 90s Knicks teams. Like, outside of Patrick Ewing, it's not like they had a ton of high-level talent to go toe-to-toe with the Bulls or the Pacers or anybody else. So, in a lot of ways, this Knicks team and this Heat team that they're going to face, it's a little like the 90s. And Jimmy Butler, like Jalen Brunson, a guy who's just kind of a self-made guy.

Didn't come into the league with high expectations or with jump-out-of-the-gym type of athleticism. This is going to be a cage match, I assume. Yeah. There was four games on Wednesday. There is one game, actually, today.

Thursday, NFL Draft Day. By the way, it's the Boston Celtics taking on the Atlanta Hawks as the Philadelphia 76ers await that winner. Whether it's the Boston Celtics who can close out in Game 6 tonight or will this be a Game 7? What are you looking to see in this game tonight?

If the Hawks are able to go 7, do they have a chance outside if they don't win today? Listen, the Celtics should have put this thing away a couple times already. I've seen it before in this league where the team that's clearly more talented and heavily favored starts messing around.

You let your guard down. You pull a big lead. The Celtics have done all the ways in which you can be a great team that doesn't stay focused long enough to close out a team. I still think the Celtics are winning the series. I think they're closing it out tonight.

Maybe it's even a blowout. The Hawks have been basically a 500 team all season. They're a team that on paper always looks like they should be much better than they are.

Trae Young is absolutely a gamer and certainly has taken his game to another notch in this series. I just don't think that they have the overall firepower to keep up with the Celtics. The Celtics at their best can be a suffocating defensive team.

They've got much better depth. The bottom line is that the fact that this is still a series, some credit to the Hawks, yes, absolutely. But this is really more about the Celtics and the indictment of their focus.

Listen, if you blow it a couple times, you could blow it a third time and have this thing go to seven. I don't know where this is going. Veteran NBA reporter Howard Beck joining the Rich Eisen Show. Follow him on Twitter at Howard Beck, also the host of the Locked On NBA podcast. Howard, before I get to the West, because there's still some unsettled series in the West with the Warriors and Lakers and obviously the Kings and the Grizzlies. I was kind of putting together an all NBA first round team, right? Because I feel like the playoffs gives us the opportunity to focus on some guys that we may have overlooked in the regular season. And I'm looking at Malik Monk, who's having an outstanding series with the Kings. Obviously, you mentioned Jalen Brunson already. Trae Young is reminding us why he's one of the better players in the league and yet people say he's one of the most overrated players. I'm looking at Murray over in Denver, the outstanding series he had. And then Jimmy Butler continues to prove to us that regardless of what happens, the dude is still one of the baddest dudes in the NBA.

Is there anybody else I'm missing on this list? Just for the first round. I'm not saying for the whole entire, but just showing what playoff basketball is really all about to you. I don't want this to sound like the typical New York bias of a guy based in New York, but Mitchell Robinson absolutely just owned the Cavs frontcourt. Jared Allen has been an all-star. Evan Mobley is considered to be one of the bright young players in this league, runner-up for rookie of the year last season. And this season, he's been outstanding and to the extent that the Cavs have a long, great future ahead of them, it's partially because Evan Mobley, people think, can turn into a superstar. Mitchell Robinson just absolutely outworked those guys, rebounding-wise, shot-blocking-wise, everything. So he's another one I'd put on your first round All-NBA.

Yeah, guys, I think about Fred Van Vliet a couple years ago on the Raptors run, and it was just like, okay, then all of a sudden, boom, you watch them now in the playoffs and they become superstars the following year. So I put that list together, but as we head to the Western Conference, we got a doubleheader on Friday, two game sixes. The Warriors, they can close out against the Sacramento Kings after the Kings have went up 2-0. Draymond Green suspended in game three.

He comes off the bench in games four and five. It's been three consecutive victories for the Warriors. How do you see this one playing out?

Does this series end on Friday, Howard? You know, I picked the Warriors to win the series and I picked them to win in six, so they're up 3-2. I expect that they should close out, but the Kings have been really impressive and very steady. And for a team that, you know, look, the franchise hasn't been in the playoffs in 17 years, and most of this Kings roster has not really had any playoff experience to speak of outside of Harrison Barnes, who obviously was with the Warriors back in the day.

But the Kings have not seemed at all in awe of where they are, of the team that they're facing, of the playoff atmosphere, any of it. They have been incredibly steady, so I still give them a chance. De'Aaron Fox, despite the broken finger, still had a pretty impactful game. Malik Monk, as you mentioned earlier, has been good.

The bonus has not been quite at the level that they need. Credit to, you know, Kavon Looney and Draymond Green for kind of, you know, nullifying him at times. I expect the Warriors to win. It won't shock me entirely, given the Warriors have been kind of up and down this year, if the Kings somehow won that one at Chase Center and forced it to Game 7.

But I would lead Warriors. Last question for you, Howard, because the last piece of that Western Conference puzzle with the Suns and Nuggets already into that conference semifinal in the West, the last team to qualify will either be the Memphis Grizzlies or the Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers put up a dud last night, especially in that fourth quarter. I'm saying this now, Howard.

Tell me if I'm wrong. Lakers don't win at home on Friday. I think the Grizzlies take this series.

That's how important. I feel like this is actually the Game 7 or the elimination game Friday night for the Lakers, because if they go back to Memphis, I just don't see them winning. I mean, I totally get that.

Two, a couple different things there. I mean, one, obviously being on the road, and it's a long flight back to Tennessee from L.A. Two, the Grizzlies have the younger legs, right? Like Ja Morant is banged up the wrist thing. They're down bodies because they don't have Steven Adams and Brandon Clark, two key front court players. But they've got the younger legs. The travel's not going to affect them as much. The longer series isn't going to affect them as much. Being at home is certainly going to give them that extra boost.

You've let them stick around this long when you had the opportunity to put them away. Yeah, I think it's incredibly dangerous not to close this thing out in Game 6. I'll never bet against LeBron James, even this version of LeBron James.

But yeah, they really do need to close this thing out in L.A. Sounds good. I know you'll be watching tonight, Howard, the one lone NBA game tonight, the Celtics and the Hawks. Look forward to hearing you on the Locked On NBA podcast and all your coverage of the NBA at Howard Beck on Twitter. Appreciate the time, Howard. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. That's Howard Beck, veteran NBA reporter.

That's interesting. You don't necessarily think about that as much, but the younger legs of the Grizzlies is probably a little bit fresher than maybe LeBron and AD, where last night they didn't have enough and the Grizzlies' younger legs came out in the fourth quarter and looked a lot more fresh. Friday could be the elimination game or it could be the Game 7. I know it's Game 6, but Lakers don't win Friday. I just don't see them winning a Game 7 over at the Grindhouse.

Lakers looked pretty gassed in overtime two games ago when they won here in L.A. and you could kind of tell, all right, it's going back to Memphis, they're going to win this game and then we'll see what happens. But young legs? Young legs.

Young legs. I thought it was interesting. TJ, I mentioned to you before the show. Memphis won by a pretty hefty margin. Every single player was positive and plus minus, except for Dylan Brooks.

Dylan Brooks was minus seven. That dude's had a real rough week. I just think as a people, we need to all come together, give Dylan Brooks a group hug, say it's okay, man, you made a mistake, you called LeBron old, shouldn't have done that. You poked the bear, shouldn't have done that.

It's like Animal House, Mike. You effed up, you trusted us. You know you effed up. Let's take a step back. We still like you, we still think your hair and your outfits are funny.

What if they win, though? Are we doing here more Dylan Brooks? Like, is he now does he go at Steph Curry? I think he's learned his lesson. I think he's learned his lesson. He can't do all that. Then turn on the media and go where the media is projecting me to be the villain.

You decided to put the mask on, bro. So, you know, he has the energy up, because if you do end up winning, you're going to want you're going to he's going to need to carry that energy to continue to where they want to get to. So it's all about the series that you want. Do you want the trash talking Grizzlies versus the Warriors, or do you want LeBron and the Lakers? Lakers, Warriors.

Sacramento's got something to say about this. I want Grizzlies-Kings, to be honest with you. Grizzlies-Kings, all of those games will be in the 170s. It would be awesome basketball. I mean, the first time ever, all the games on NBA TV.

I've spoken like a Laker fan over here. The Saturday one o'clock NFL playoff game. The Texans disrespect. You already know. It's the middle of the season Thursday night football game.

Hey, that's what happens. Jags, Titans, Thursday night. You're like, what else is on? The actual lone Jets game last year on national TV.

National TV was the one game against the Jaguars on Thursday night prime video. That was it. Yeah. And now it's being the max. We're going to see five Jets games on prime time. Oh no, they're saying the max. They said they're going to get five is the max. But now they may, there's maybe a little bit of flexing going on.

They're going to be flexed if they're whatever. Oh yeah. Yeah.

A lot of flexing going on. By the way, hold on a second. Do we have a second?

Yeah, we got a second. What a fraud Fireman is. This guy, this guy quit the team years ago, gave up his tickets, refused to show up to games. Okay.

And now he's back posting Aaron Rodgers hype videos on Instagram yesterday. Get a life you loser. You gave up. You don't get to come back. Or is that just how sorry state Jets fandom is that they're going to let this guy back in? Yeah. Aaron Rodgers. Fireman Ed is back.

That's the one thing I asked. As soon as I saw that the trade was agreed upon, I said, you know what? Where's Fireman Ed? And the next thing you know, he's already back now. He's back. He's back.

Look, man carried that banner for years and years and years and they let him down. I get it. Sometimes you're just like, I quit. You walked away. You don't get to come back. He's back. When you quit the mob, you think they just let you back in? That's not how that works.

You go out on the boat and you never make it back into the store. All right, man. Fireman Ed is always family.

He's back. A guy who's also had my back before, Michael Lombardi, former NFL general manager. It drafted me. Let's see if we can squeeze a Kirk Morrison draft story out of Michael Lombardi coming up next here on the Rich Eisen Show. Nobel is a training brand for people who work hard and don't believe in excuses. Nobel's performance footwear, apparel and accessories are worn by some of the fittest athletes on earth and is now the official combine training partner of the NFL and the official on-field supplier of apparel and headwear for the NFL scouting combine. Head to www.nobleproject.com slash NFL to see how Nobel forever changed the NFL combine and to shop football training essentials and more gear for your day-to-day workouts. Stay tuned to the Rich Eisen Show and keep your eyes on our Twitter feed and YouTube channel as I'm hosting a new segment sponsored by Nobel called From the Combine to the Draft. I'll profile a few players' journeys from the physical and mental tests of the NFL combine as we head towards the thrilling moment when the picks are announced in Kansas City during the draft.

That's Twitter.com slash Rich Eisen Show and YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show. From the Combine to the draft, sponsored by Nobel. 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.

Buy new and improved Dove Men Plus Care Antiperspirant wherever personal care products are sold. Excited to introduce my next guest here on the Rich Eisen Show, a guy who drafted me, what is it now, 18 years ago, 2005 or in 2023, so 18 plus seasons ago. I got the phone call from the then Oakland Raiders, but the general manager at the time was one Mike Lombardi. You can follow him on Twitter at M Lombardi NFL and Mike, what do you remember about that 2005 draft, the third round where you made a young kid from Oakland the happiest kid alive? Any stories that you could share? Well, you know, we coached you in the Senior Bowl, if you remember correctly.

I do. Yes, I remember that. So, and, you know, we kind of got to know you and felt very comfortable, Rob Ryan, Don Martindale, both liked you a lot. I think there was one young man named Jordan Beck who had a great 40 time down at San Luis Obispo that was getting a lot of love in the draft room. Because remember, we are the Raiders' size and speed, and we were able to convince Mr. Davis to make the pick, which wasn't always easy. And we picked you, and then two picks later, Jordan Beck went, and then Pat Jones, the former head coach at Oklahoma State, was our tight end coach at the time. He naturally had to remind him that Beck went, and then I just took a beating from Mr. Davis after that. So, yeah, that's the one memory of the 2005 draft that will never go away from me.

I took a beating. Okay, was it that one or taking Fabian Washington ahead of Aaron Rodgers? Well, you know, we made a lot of those mistakes in Oakland. You know, we misevaluated our quarterbacks. You know, we constantly did that. And, you know, we spent a lot of time with Aaron Rodgers, and, you know, we knew that, you know, with Jeff Tetford, all that stuff. But, you know, what happens is when you're in this desperation mode and you kind of see it, you know, you kind of get the sense that you don't want to take a quarterback.

You want to use the assets on something else. But we had Randy Moss, we had a veteran team, and I think that that was the guy that was cast. And I think a lot of teams misevaluate their quarterbacks. It's one of my biggest regrets in my career in the NFL is how many times we thought we were good at quarterback.

I'll give you another one. We're sitting there at the number two pick overall in the draft, and we pick Gallery, who was supposed to be the cleanest player in the draft, and, you know, we don't take Rivers and we don't take Roethlisberger. Come on, Mike, you're hurting my heart here, buddy.

I see how difficult it is to be a general manager. Because Rick Gannon was coming off of an MVP season, you know, and I think this is going on a little bit right now, too, in the league. I mean, we had you on my show the other day, and you know how I feel about all these quarterbacks with the exception of Bryshon. I think we've overinflated them, and I think that for four guys in this draft to go in the top ten, I mean, it wasn't six months ago where everyone said, you know, Anthony Richardson should go back to school.

Now he's going to be a top ten pick. So when you overinflate, are you saying that teams are hyping these guys up because people want the young quarterback, or for me, always look at it like this, Mike. In a salary cap world that we live in in the NFL, getting the young quarterback gets you at least the fixed market rate of a rookie contract where you can control how much he makes and lets you reset your budget on how to build a team. Is it more about trying to get that piece, or is it really that we just need to get a quarterback?

I mean, I think I hear that all the time. It's, you know, you build a team around a rookie, but what happens if the rookie contract isn't, if the player isn't any good? Right. It's like the whole 76ers, the process, the process. Well, if you make bad picks, if you pick Michael Carter Williams, if you pick Jabril Okafor, if you sign Tobias Harris and Al Horford as opposed to signing Jimmy Butler. I mean, it all comes down to decisions.

It all comes down to the evaluation. Look, it's easy if Mahomes is your quarterback on a rookie contract. You're great. But what happens if you've got Malik Willis on a rookie contract?

Are you great? I think it really, we've made too much about it. You know, I mean, look, Desmond Ritter is going to be in Atlanta. They don't want Lamar Jackson. Okay, great.

That's fine. They don't want to pay the money for it, but are they sure he's a good player? Yeah, it's the difficulty of being an executive in the National Football League and those decisions that you make. Join now by Mike Lombardi, the former NFL general manager, host of the GM Shuffle Podcast.

And Mike, help me out here because you've been in these meetings, you've been here before. When it comes to all of this noise that we hear, where this team is thinking about doing this, this team is doing this, and you have all these smoke and mirrors. As a general manager, do you block that out?

Do you add to the smoke? Like, where does all the smoke truly come from when we get so close to the draft or we're trying to figure out what is the team thinking? Where do these reports come from? It comes from mostly from the agents trying to put a spin on it, you know, helping their clients. That's what they're paid to do.

So I think you have to ignore the noise. And we're seeing it all decent in the betting market. That's a big thing. We see today, Will Anderson has become the betting favorite to be the second pick overall in the draft. Is that true?

I don't know. But that's what the betting market seems to indicate, and the one thing we do know about the betting market is they're fairly in tune. So, you know, a lot of this is noise, and you as a general manager got to ignore the noise, and you've got to be able to stay focused on the task at hand. Is there ever a time during a draft where you possibly or just a general manager executive at some point gets anxious because there's a run on defensive end? Or, man, if we don't get our quarterback, is it Morgan? Like, how do you keep control, keep focus, and stay to the board where you're seeing that the possible picks you wanted are starting to come off the board?

I mean, I think you kind of know it, right? So you're Jacksonville. You know, you lost Taylor in free agency. You've got Cam Robinson who could get suspended. So, you know, you're sitting down there in the 20s, and if the tackles go early, you know, you may have to jump to get a tackle, or maybe you like a tackle where you're picking. A lot of it is based on your board, but you know this.

When it runs out, it runs out. So the object of the draft is to get starters and potential starters, right? And that's the first, second, and the third round, right? The fourth round is more about we're going to get a developmental player, maybe a guy down the road.

That's for next year's team. So, you know, it's hard to find a starting left tackle in the fourth round. When it comes to the Seattle Seahawks, Mike, pick number five. And they've got more picks than that. They've got five in the first or five in the top 83. What do the Seahawks do?

They pick five. They have another pick coming up at 20. What do you think the Seahawks do with that pick, with the deal for Geno Smith that is essentially a one-year deal? Do they go for a quarterback for the future, or do they just keep adding to the roster, which they did a good job of doing in last year's draft? Well, I mean, I think they've got to look at it both ways, right? Pete went to every single quarterback workout, so obviously he's interested in evaluating them.

And if they like one, I'm sure they're going to pull the trigger on it. You know, John Schneider has always been a guy who likes to trade down. I think he's made 34 trades in his NFL career as a general manager, and 20 of them he's traded down. So he likes to trade down. But will he trade down, or will he just stay there and pick?

I think this is a situation. Do they take Carter? I mean, I think with the quarterbacks talking about going as early as they're going, he's in a really good spot to get a good defensive player. He's Michael Lombardi, former NFL general manager, three-time Super Bowl-winning NFL executive, the host of the GM Shuffle Podcast, at mlombardiNFL on Twitter.

Just a couple more minutes with you, Mike, because there's a lot of chatter over the last couple days. And when I say chatter, you never really hear it coming out of Foxboro, out of New England, but with the Patriots right now scheduled to pick at 14, there's just been this talk of floating around that the relationship between the Patriots, Bill Belichick, Nick Casario, who's with the Houston Texans, their general manager, that the Houston Texans are willing to do business at number two. Could the Patriots possibly move up to go grab a quarterback, or do they stay pat with what they have already after drafting Bailey Zappi, who played last year, and now getting a real offensive coordinator for Mac Jones?

I can't see the Patriots. I mean, Bill Belichick's rally trades up in the first round. He did it with Dante Hightower.

He did it with Chandler Jones, but that was at the bottom of the first. I can't see that. I think that's a really bad rumor. Bad rumor. See? Bad rumors, you hear that, Brockman? See that?

Thank goodness. Mike, are we going to do something fun? Like, what are we going to do, Mike?

Come on, dude. Talk me off this ledge, because I'm worried Belichick's on the hot seat. He's coaching for his job. Kraft is unhappy. We have quarterback instability.

You know, it's funny you say that. He's coaching for his job. He's won six Super Bowls. Rob Rivera hasn't had a winning season in five years yet. He's not coaching for his job. It's hilarious.

He's the greatest coach of all time, and he's coaching for his job. I mean, seriously. Really?

I know, but zero in the last four years, Mike. Come on. We're irrational. We're fans.

You know how it goes. I know we're fans, but I mean, you know, when you lose a great quarterback, it's not easy, right? I mean, it's hard.

You've got to try to replenish it. I mean, they made the playoffs two years ago. I think they've got to get Mack Jones back to the level player that he once was. Yeah. So, is that wide receiver at 14?

Does that save flowers? I mean, I love that. I love, you know, I mean, you know, one thing about the draft, I think you should study the coaches, the movements of past performance, you know, of the draft. Everybody wants to take a receiver, you know, but Bill Walsh, I don't know if you remember Bill Walsh. He's a pretty good coach himself, right?

Yeah. And he said this all the time about receivers. You don't take receiver until it's the last position you need. He really was about defensive players because you can't hide defensive players. You've got to have 11 good defensive players.

Defensive backs. That's Joey Porter Jr. Mike, I need something. Mike ain't giving nothing up. I love it.

I don't know how to help you. I'm just giving you information. I mean, I think they'll be good. I think they'll make some good picks. Got a bunch of picks. You know, I think this will be a first, you know, what happens in the first round that they should be able to get a good starting player, whether it's an offensive lineman, maybe a defensive lineman. And then in the second round, you know, you've got an opportunity to make some hay.

Yeah. Hey, Mike, we'll be watching all of your coverage over at the VCN on Twitter live at VSN live. Also the GM Shuffle Podcast. Mike Lombardi, the former general manager, three time Super Bowl winning NFL executive and the guy who allowed me to switch my number from 53 to 52. I appreciate you, Mike Lombardi. Thanks for the time, my man. Appreciate it.

Thank you. That's Mike Lombardi, man. You know, I had to call Mike, you know, I had to call him. I had to, so I came in, so I was drafted by the Raiders.

Okay. And they say, hey, next week is minicamp. So this is how the Raiders do it. They, at the time it was, they didn't have like the rookie minicamp, right? Where you come in, it's just all rookies. It was like, no minicamps next week. So you go into a training, I mean a locker room with the full team. So I remember I walked in early because we're the rookie. So we had to be there early, a couple days early. I remember walking to my locker and it said, Morrison, 53. And I was like, ooh, I wasn't feeling that number. So I remember I called Mike Lombardi, general manager, calling to say, hey man, hey, I'm really grateful for this opportunity.

I love everything about this organization. But is it okay if I switch my number to 52? And he says, sure, that's not a problem.

Go do it. So he went, I went down to the locker room. I mean, went down to the equipment manager. He gave me pick 50. I mean, he gave me number 52 and changed my, changed my everything up. So I was all good because I was a big Raider fan, but I remember 53 like the year before was for Bill Romanowski.

It's like just hard for me to fill in the shoes of Bill Romanowski, like 53. I'm into that number stuff like that. And you were 34 in college, right?

Yeah. And I will be wearing 34 now had the NFL allowed us to wear our college uniforms like they're doing now. I wish they could have did that. I would have loved to wear my college number. Bo Jackson's number.

I mean, come on. You got 34 big shoes to fill in. 53. Yeah, but I'm 34. Yeah.

Come on. That would have been a nice little number to wear. 34, Bo Jackson. The old Tecmo Bowl days.

What was 52 about? You just didn't want to be Romanowski. Is that what it was?

Yeah. And I was like, Ray Lewis was like one of my mentors too. And I always, I was basically, they used to call me Five Deuce in college. That was like a little nickname because I know he think he baby Ray Lewis.

Like he think he because I was just burning around, just tackling everybody. So I was like, man, 52 would be nice. And then I remember Ray Lewis came to the Ravens practice at our college, San Diego State, because they had back to back West Coast games. So I had a chance to meet him because one of our former, one of my former teammates in college was starting safety. So I said, hey, Kirk, I know you wanted to meet Ray Lewis.

So I met Ray and still been tight with Ray ever since then. So I always wanted to wear 52, wore number 52. And then we'll see. So there it is like Aaron Rodgers moving to number eight. Think about that gang green wearing number eight, no longer number 12 and Starbucks.

I mean, I saw like, I'm sorry, Joe Namath was like, OK, we'll allow you. Look, I'll allow you to wear number 12. Yeah. Says, no, I want to go back to eight. Also, you know, we talked about that a few weeks ago when we kind of knew where this was going and Joe giving them permission.

Right. But my thought was he definitely can't take 12 because it's going to endear him more to that fan base. And I'm sure just looking now, the fan base was hungry for him and they're welcoming it anyway. But if there was anybody who was maybe on the fence, I feel like him taking that number could have turned some people. So to endure himself with that fan base, I feel not taking 12 is the only way that he could have went. Yeah, I know we got to take a break here coming up, but did you guys watch the Aaron Rodgers press conference?

Saw any clips of it? He saw a little bit. Had you never met Aaron Rodgers and you had never seen him? He looks like a general manager. He looks like an executive. If someone told me, hey, that's the new quarterback of the Jets. This guy?

No way. I mean, he's all cleaned up because cut the hair, shaved. But he's also still like six, four to, you know, 18, 20. But he just had the Jets polo on. I just wasn't used to that Aaron Rodgers. He looked more like normal really.

It was too formal. Brodman had a problem with the fact that the three of them had different polos on. He's like, let's get some uniform. Remember, Joe Douglas had the old polo with the airplane under the Jets. And meanwhile, Rodgers and Salah had the new it looks like the new freshy.

And I was like, oh, interesting. But you see, Rodgers on Pat and he's wearing cut off sleeves, wearing T-shirts with stains on it. It doesn't shave.

It's like, OK. Yeah. He looks like the dad on a sitcom. I guess he just didn't. I mean, I think I'm so used to seeing Aaron Rodgers in the Green Bay Packers gear. Remember, he used to have the ponytail.

He had the long hair floor where he's got a nice little beard going. Now he's in New York. And the one thing I did learn is that if you're in a place with bad cell service, you got to face time. You got to face time. I didn't know that.

I learned something new. I just figured if the call didn't go through, why would a face time go through? Because if the call didn't, because he was using Wi-Fi.

So I guess it's easier calling on Wi-Fi, I guess, through face time. I didn't know that. I learned something new. And now there's no excuses now. There it is.

For all the girls that don't return my calls. All right, man, I want to know what will you be watching tonight outside the NFL draft? Is it the players who your team's picking? Why are you watching the NFL draft tonight?

As we come back here on The Rich Eisen Show with Kirk Morrison filling in for Rich. What's one of life's biggest expenses that we can maybe talk about reducing? Housing. Is housing on the list? Buying a house is the number two expense of all these expenses. What's a way that we can reduce our housing expense? Move from Seattle to Florida.

Wow, it's looking like somebody with a little knowledge of that situation. Afford anything with financial journalist Paula Pant. You have many financial goals. You want to buy or pay off your house.

You need to replace your car. You want to pay for a wedding. Send your kids to college. Travel the world. And one day retire.

But how? And Webby Award-winning Brown Ambition with Tiffany, the budget niece to Eliche and personal finance expert Mandy Woodruff. When I was crafting my resume in my career, I wasn't thinking about the job I had. I was always thinking, like, what's going to impress the person who has my next opportunity and make them want to have a conversation with me? And I think people are not thinking that far ahead. That's why we'd be leading it to you, career coach.

So as you look to improve your financial literacy, follow Stacking Benjamins, Afford Anything and Brown Ambition wherever you listen. Oh, man, I'm serious. I'm excited about tonight, man.

I really am. Because I always say it's finally the deadlines here. Now, every team, we've had all the smoke.

We had all the mirrors. We've had this team, they like this. This team, they like this. And I said it before, this is the process of the NFL draft where it's about they build you up to tear you down. They build you up to tear you down. I'll always remember one thing my mom always told me when I got drafted. She says, I have tears of joy, but also have tears of sadness. I was like, how do you have tears of joys and sadness?

Like, well, that's kind of like oxymoron. You can't be happy and sad at the same time. She says, no. She says, I'm happy because you're accomplishing a dream. You're accomplishing a goal that you set forth that you want to play in the NFL and you got there.

I am so happy for this moment for you. But I'm also sad because it probably won't end the way that you want it. And I say, well, that's kind of deep. But she was like, that's just the reality of professional sports. A lot of times it doesn't end the way that you want. A lot of us don't ride out in the sunset on a white stallion and tell everybody, hey, I'm done playing football.

Usually it ends not because of you, but because someone else tells you you're done. So embrace your moment. Embrace all of it. Have fun. Accomplish a goal. But just know that there will be an end in sight. And you hope that it's there. It's for a long, long time away. I played eight football seasons in the NFL and loved every every season, you know, whether it was the two and 14 year or an eight and eight year, whatever it may be, man.

It was it was a fun ride and a fun journey. And I look forward to a lot of these guys seeing where they go and what they do. I pulled up something because Monday, fellas, Monday or Monday, Tuesday, May 2nd, May 2nd is the fifth year option day. Oh, that's the players who were drafted in the twenty twenty NFL draft. Will their fifth year options be picked up? And so I know this little exercise I'm going through just a little bit because three seasons ago, just want to go through these names really quickly with you guys and see, you know, kind of how this day the excitement of the twenty twenty draft and we thought how these players would pan out. And in three short seasons, these are what some of the players look like. Pick number one, Joe Burrow.

Hey, thumbs up. He's just had his option pick. Pick number two, Chase Young. Did not get his did not get his option picked up. And then also, too, are we say he's been very underwhelming in three short seasons in the National Football League. Jeff Acuda, the third overall picks. He's already on team number two traded. OK, Andrew Thomas up and down a little bit with the New York Giants. You say to a tongue of Bailoa, the fifth pick overall. Is the jury still out on tour? Is it the injury history?

Kind of scary a little bit. I mean, he mentioned retired time about retiring this past offseason. Remember, these guys were drafted three seasons ago. It's not that far along me.

Not that long ago. Justin Herbert picked six. I think that's a no brainer. He's picked up Derrick Brown. Defensive lineman.

It hasn't really made a ton of noise, but had a solid start so far. Isaiah Simmons at pick eight. Remember that in twenty twenty NFL draft. That dude was a monster at Clemson.

A monster at Clemson has not been a monster in the National Football League. C.J. Henderson already on a second team already.

Remember these? How many guys are on their second team already? These are top ten picks. And in three years are already on a different team. We're not even out of the top ten yet from the twenty twenty draft. Jedrick Wills.

Cleveland might not pick up his fifth year option. Makai Becton. Very underwhelming. Injury prone. We played fifteen games.

I won't even go. Number twelve overall. Henry Ruggs.

We already know his situation with the rate he's not in there. Tristan Wurfs. Superstar.

Redraft. He's the second overall pick. Tristan Wurfs is a Super Bowl champion. Javon Kinlaw.

49ers. Jerry Jeudy was in trade discussions, possibly. He got picked to the Denver Broncos. Still a good player.

But other guys. AJ Terrell has been outstanding. One of the bright young corners. C.D. Lamb.

Star. Austin Jackson. Pick eighteen. He's been up and down with the Miami Dolphins. Damon Arnett no longer in the National Football League in 2019. K. LaVon Chaison's been up and down.

Jalen Rager already on his second team already. Alright. By the way, I'll stop here.

But pick twenty-two that year in the twenty twenty draft. A guy by the name of Justin Jefferson. Star. Star.

But look how far we had to get to the star. He's top five in a redraft, yeah. Oh, redraft. He's top five.

C.D. Lamb, I think he's in my top five. Tristan Wurfs you mentioned. Tristan Wurfs and probably Herbert. Herbert goes second. Yeah, Herbert goes second overall, I think. And then obviously Joe Burrow has been the consensus number one. He's proved to be a quick pick. When you think about redrafts, you've got to remember, though, second round, it hurts.

Oh, yeah. We had to get to the hurts. There were some hits down there. I mean, T. Higgins in the second round. Jonathan Taylor was in that second round. Antoine Winfield was in that second round.

Trevon Diggs has been a baller. You mentioned Jalen Hurts, who's the highest-paid player in the NFL history. Jonah Jackson is another big name out of that draft as well. So you've got some players who have made some. Devin DuVernay is another good player out with the Baltimore Ravens. So, yeah. Tyler B. Oddish as well. Former Wisconsin center now with the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah.

See? So I bring that up as an exercise because obviously the fifth-year option day is on Tuesday. But just know that you could be excited tonight about what your team does. And in three years, that player could be with another football team. That's how quickly this thing can change in the National Football League.

It's not about who you are as a player. Sometimes it's about the situation you are going to. So you hope you're going to a stable situation, especially with the coaching staffs.

I've played for six coaches, man, in eight years. Sometimes it's just you can't help what happens to you. Sometimes it's unfortunate. But you're always grateful for the opportunity. You're grateful to be drafted in the National Football League. And so I say this tonight. Good luck to all of the players. I look forward to seeing where a lot of them go. Get them hugs in. Get into the WrestleMania spirit. Just search podcast heat wherever you listen.