REShow: Tom Telesco - Hour 1 (5-9-2023)

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Only those who wish to listen may do so.

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He's here, he's present, and when I say present, I mean he's fully engaged and it's really cool just to watch him operate from play to play and in the way he works. Today's guests, Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco, Falcons General Manager Terry Fontenot, NBA on TNT analyst Kenny the Jet Smith. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Ah yes, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We are live on the Roku channel every single day from 12 to 3 Eastern and that's the time frame in which we're live today.

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Isn't that wonderful? Through the Cumulus Podcast Network. We're here on Sirius XM and Odyssey as well every single day. Had a great show yesterday. Have another one in store for you today. Kenny the Jet Smith, part of NBA, the NBA playoff coverage on TNT last night. Terrific double header. Tonight we've got another one coming up and it's all game fives. The Suns are at Denver and the Sixers are in Boston and that's on Turner tonight. We'll have Kenny the Jet Smith Emmy nominated on our show in hour number three of this program. A couple of NFL newsmakers. The general managers of the Los Angeles Chargers and the Atlanta Falcons are on today's program. We've got Terry Fontenot in hour number two in the first up. Tom Tolesco of the Los Angeles Chargers. He's currently on the clock with Justin Herbert perhaps trying to beat Joe Burrow to the clock because we all know whoever is going to sign the next quarterback deserving of a huge rich contract.

We'll just have to go Lamar Jackson plus one in the same way he went Jalen Hurts plus one. So Tom Tolesco will be joining us in about 18 minutes time. Good times on all that front. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you today, sir?

Great, Rich. Good to be seen. Good to see you, DJ Mikey Diaz. Good to see you, Mike. T.J. Jefferson candles already lit for tonight's game five and of course your appearance here on this three hour program.

What's up, Rich? So, you know, yesterday, as I said, you know, one of the many things I love about doing this show is it's just a total mystery as to what is going to be the lead subject matter. And certainly the lead subject matter in an NBA playoff season.

For instance, yesterday it was Jokic having a jump ball with an owner of the Phoenix Suns. And that turned out to be what we all expected. No suspension for anybody involved. Good. Good. OK, everybody go back to their corners. And look, Jokic, if you find yourself in the corner of an opposing arena, let's not use your elbow. And hey, governor of an NBA team, if the ball winds up in your hands and a player on the court's coming to go grab it, it should relinquish the basketball. Drop it like it's hot. Let it go.

Drop it like it's hot. Yes. So who knew that we were going to talk about that, right? And now today, coming into today's program, coming off of the Lakers hosting the defending world champion Golden State Warriors. Who knew? The first player to mention would be Lonnie Walker, the fourth. And for good reason. Once upon a time, this Lakers team, dead in the water, losing 10 of their first 12 basketball games in this campaign.

They were 2 and 10. Everyone's wondering, how's this roster going to work with the new head coach Darvin Ham, right? How's this working?

What's going on? How's LeBron going to stay healthy? The man who Charles Barkley dubbed street clothes, how's he going to stay healthy? How's Russ going to keep working, coming off the bench and finishing games and this roster? Who's going to step to the floor and be those outside shooters and other scorers that LeBron needs?

Or, as we all know, constantly searches for when he has the basketball. And Lonnie Walker, the fourth, was part of the starting rotation of this team that started 2 and 10. And when the changes to the roster arrived, and we were still skeptical how any of these maneuvers were going to work out and pan out for a championship run for these Lakers, they finally did arrive, and the guy who found the bench was Lonnie Walker, the fourth. This kid who was a 2018 draft choice by the San Antonio Spurs and had been playing there for a while, and now he's with the Lakers.

College basketball fans may recall him as a Miami Hurricane back in the day. And he wound up on the bench and bided his time, and slowly bided his time, and found his way into the lineup on occasion, off the bench, and then found his way into the four of this playoff series against the Warriors. And started, you know, putting the ball in the basket during some garbage time. But as Stan Van Gundy said, there's no such thing as garbage time, just garbage players. I liked that line during the game last night. Did you catch that one when Stan Van Gundy dropped that one? Because he said, you know, hey, even when the game is over and players are coming in and playing hard, coaches notice everything. And in this game where the Warriors showed up, and man, were they picking and rolling their way to whatever the hell they wanted, and Steve Kerr made the interesting button push of putting the mitten, Gary Payton the second, don't call him junior, Gary Payton the second. So it was a battle of Roman numerals. The first half it was the second, and then came the fourth.

Funny how that works. In the fourth quarter. And in the IV quarter, with the Lakers coming back from a double digit third quarter deficit, when the Warriors were making their shots and backdooring their way to open shots and transitioning up the floor, and the transition defense of the Lakers was porous. When James and Davis had done their jobs and the rest of the team was trying to find their way, in comes Lonnie Walker IV and all he does.

This is amazing. Scored all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter. And the last time a Laker came off the bench and scored those many points in the fourth quarter of a playoff game was 1997 when a rookie reserve in game three against the Utah Jazz in the second round of the playoffs came in off the bench and scored 17 points. His name is Kobe Bryant.

That's what Lonnie Walker IV did last night. And this is why we watch sports. This is why we love sports. And I know fans of the association aren't terribly happy when the Lakers win a playoff basketball game. I get it. I get it.

There are many different locales across the mat from east to west. And as a matter of fact, TJ, you embody both of those coasts when it comes to the NBA. Sixers and Clippers. You are not happy when this happens. And you as a Celtic fan, not happy.

Nick Phan. We're not terribly happy. I mean, we could go on and on and on and on and on. Especially when, OK, so the Lakers, they're going to do this again.

OK, really? This team that started 2-10. This team that made a move for Rui Hachimura and Malik Beasley and DeAngelo Russell. By the way, it was nailed to the bench. And they're going to make these moves.

Jared Vanderbilt. OK, this is what the team's going to do. They'll send Russ away. That's how they're going to remake their roster and make a run. Yep. And then when they're in trouble at home, maybe losing the advantage that they got by taking Game 1 in Golden State. Letting the Warriors have a road playoff win in a 29th consecutive playoff series. They're going to get bailed out by Lonnie Walker, the fourth. Yep.

The answer to those questions are yes. And look who's one win away from not only moving on to the Western Conference Finals. But assuring the association world of a new champion. It's the Los Angeles Lakers in front of Jack Nicholson and Diane Cannon like it's winning time all over again.

For them, baby. OK. Like, yeah, that's what's happened. That's what's up. So. That happened.

And it's the Lakers again, man. And you you got to give it up to Rob Palenka. You got to. Yeah. OK. You really do. You got it.

He's he had the most impossible Rubik's Cube solve. Now, again, they got to win one more and they've got to go, you know. Back up to San Francisco, and if the Warriors win that Game 5, then the pressure's on in Game 6, because if you don't win that in Game 6, not only the Warriors get their road win for the 29th consecutive road playoff series, then you got to go up to San Francisco and win in Game 7 again.

And I understand that. That's a long road to hoe for the team that's down three games to one. But the Lakers are sitting right there, and when they were two and ten and they were having to hoping Lonnie Walker, the fourth could be a starter in this league for a team with championship hopes, not expectations.

You didn't see this coming. But guess what's here? The Lakers, one win away from eliminating the Warriors and moving on, thanks to Lonnie Walker, the fourth, who stayed ready from the start. The greatest feeling you can ever, ever imagine. You know, as a kid, this is something I've been dreaming of doing, not just being a part of the playoffs, but impacting it, yet alone and winning the playoffs. And, you know, I'm just I'm truly proud of myself. You know, it really shows my capabilities and just my mental fortitude. I think the hardest thing of, you know, being able to play a lot and then not playing at all is sticking with it. You know, there's a lot of uncontrollable things that you can't control. And you just got to take it day to day, stack the days. And every single day you're trying to be better than who you were yesterday.

So that's what I'm always trying to accomplish is just reach my best self. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. If I told you yesterday, hey, media, you're going to be asking for Lonnie Walker, the fourth to come out of the locker room and tell us his story, because that's the story of game five. When Steph Curry triple doubles.

And Davis and LeBron combined for 50 in a playoff game. But get us Lonnie Walker, the fourth, shall you, please? Because we want to hear from him.

Could have made some money knowing that. The hell going on. That's it.

The hell going on? Heater up three games to one, too. But I'm not surprised about that one. That doesn't seem as close as this series. No, no. Yeah.

No. Different three ones. Totally different three ones right now. And, you know, game five tonight will be played out in Boston with the specter of the heat lingering.

And that's a fact. Yeah. Everybody's rooting for the Knicks in Boston tonight.

Both sides to keep that thing going and keep the heat going. So what happened to Jimmy Butler's ankle? Wasn't supposed to be bummed, right?

Wasn't that supposed to be a problem? He turned it south. I guess fake news. I don't know. Maybe he's got the Mahomes ligaments. I don't know. He took a he took a trip to Colombia and got some stem cell shot.

The hell rub some big face coffee on it. So I mean, you had an opportunity to have four. Series tied at two games apiece, and instead we now got only two series tied at two games apiece and they're get played tonight. So we have two. As you know, as we say here in the Rich Eisen Show, if you're somewhat new to us, where you been.

But welcome. Game fives are either pivotal or decisive. Tonight, you got pivotal because the series pivots on tonight's result. The game fives coming up in Madison Square Garden and Golden State. Interestingly enough, both teams down three games to one will be hosting game five. They could be decisive. And thanks to Lonnie Walker, the fourth, the Lakers can go up to San Francisco and end it.

Yeah. How big are tonight's games when the series is tied to two winner of Game five wins 80 percent of the time. That's how big tonight is. OK, Kenny, the Jetsmith will join us in our number three on that. Tom Tolesco is going to join us from the Los Angeles Chargers. And boy, does he have some interesting things on his plate, not just the draft that just went down. But he's got a quarterback that is due a monster sized extension. And then he's got a running back that wants something similar to that for a running back. And Austin Eckler ain't getting it. So let's talk to Tom about all of those subject matters out here in Los Angeles.

The deep end of the NFL pool, the AFC West and. Two days, as I told you, before the schedule release, it's happening on Thursday. It's happening. Big leak.

Did you see that this morning? What's the leak? I'm not going to like it.

Don't tell me. Donna Kelsey leaking a big time matchup. Oh, is that right?

Yeah. Donna Kelsey knows when when that that's taking place already. She has posted on her Facebook page.

All right. Let's put a pin in that. Mama Kelsey. She's got the promo code clearly that I don't have yet.

Ma. She gave up. She she delivered the meatloaf. She's got to get her travel plans together. Let's take a break. We'll find out that information. And I'm hosting the damn thing. It's going to the hell going on.

Tom Tolesco, GM of the LAC. Coming up next. Men, do you get distracted during the day thinking about your underarm, 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 hours sweat, no to protection and one quarter moisturizing cream helps you forget about your underarm 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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Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. Just as the general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers has done so. The GM of the L.A.C. kind enough to call into this show here two days before the schedule release. Tom Telusko, how you doing, Tom? I'm doing great. You think I could just do this in studio, right?

You could. Where are you? Where are you?

We're in Orange County. Oh, boy. Yeah. You know what? As the crow flies, not so bad.

But here in Southern California for the rest of America, forget that noise. Hour and a half. But why don't you just hop in the charger helicopter? You don't have one of them? You know what? I need to get out of the office a little bit anyway. So I should have driven up and sat in a big chair. Well, wait a minute.

I don't know. Were you with the team when Philip Rivers had that bus right that night? I was. Yeah. He had the Cadillac Escalade that was equipped with everything, right? Equipped with everything with an Exos and he'd watch film up and back and he had a driver.

He has a pretty good setup. That ride still doesn't exist? It's not in the garage somewhere? You send that ride down, I'll come right out. Yeah, I don't have that ride for you.

Tom, I don't have that ride for you. But I'm working my way. I'm working my way up that ladder. So what does your job entail right now, now that the draft is over?

Walk me through what GM's life is like right now. Yeah, it's about two months of non-draft work that shows up at your door the day after the draft ends, which is typical. It's six to eight weeks before the draft.

You're just totally draft driven. It's a large process with a lot of people and you're working through it and it's obviously important. But then there's the rest of the responsibilities that kind of come up that sometimes have nothing to do with football that you have to get to work on. And then this week we have our rookie minicamp that starts essentially Thursday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Getting ready for that and excited. Whenever you draft these players and to actually get them on the field, seeing them with Charger colors on, running around, make sure everybody fits, especially some of the college free agents, make sure everyone looks like they're NFL players.

It's an exciting weekend. And so if you have a list of things to do right there in front of you, maybe you do, maybe you don't, where on that list, figuratively or literally, does getting your generationally brilliant quarterback, the nine figure, multi-million dollar, mega salary deal that he is due, where does that stand? It's certainly on the list. The fact that he's under contract this year in 2024 helps. He's here, he's here this year, he's here in 2024. But obviously in the background there's negotiations that have to go on and the sooner the better to get something done just so we know what the cost is moving into the future.

So it is on the list, something that we're working on and we'll kind of see where it goes from there. To have your negotiating strategy laid out completely on the table, because as you point out, he is under contract. However, it's now become vogue, if not expected, in our league to give this contract to somebody just after three years.

What is your philosophy on that front, Tom? Certainly with a contract like his, from my standpoint, the sooner the better. Just to have some cost certainty moving forward exactly where we're going to be. We know building a football team, when your quarterback is taking up a higher percentage of the cap, and it's not just the quarterback, we've had some other players on our roster that are towards the top of the pay scale at their positions. There's a certain way you have to build a team, but certainly with our quarterback and respect to him, just to have some known certainty moving forward. Like I said, sooner the better, but this process, sometimes it goes quickly, sometimes it takes time. We're all a little bit different.

We'll work through it and get to the right spot. Because again, when you say sooner the better also in our world, in our NFL world, going sooner is also better because the price only goes up from your point of view. When Hertz signed and then Lamar signed, did you immediately go into the details of those deals, Tom? Yeah, that's part of the job. As contracts come in, you have to look at them because their side of his agents do the same thing.

But yeah, the prices always go up. I know when we signed Mike Williams a couple years ago, I know when we signed him, a lot of people thought the numbers were high, and then about two or three weeks later it didn't look too bad. But when we talk about years forward, look, there's always going to be the next player, there's going to be the highest paid player, there's always going to be the next player that has a lot of money due to him.

And it's just the nature of the business. But yeah, in these situations, where he is in his career and his age, the sooner the better for us. And then in the meantime, taking care of him as a player and causing him to get any better is part of your job, Tom Telesco. So walk me through what Kellen Moore is going to bring to the equation, your new offensive coordinator from Dallas.

What do you think here? You know, I have a fresh set of eyes, someone that has a proven track record as offensive coordinator and as a play caller at Dallas. I really like that quarterback playing background. So, you know, just to have somebody more likely on the sideline. I think Kellen will be on the sideline, not in the press box, but on the sideline that he can talk to. You know, Odd Eye and Kellen has been in that spot, albeit as a backup quarterback in the NFL.

But he's seen what Justin is seeing, you know, so when they have these discussions, they're coming from the same plane. And now we're really excited about Kellen. He was great to work with through this offseason so far, not only in the free agent process, but in the draft process. I love how he communicates what he likes in players, what he thinks fits his scheme and what doesn't fit his scheme.

He's been excellent to work with and we're excited about it. And again, obviously you're going to let him do his thing and Brandon Staley's got a defensive pedigree as a professional coach, but the guy's a former quarterback as well. The general sense that Herbert needs to push the ball down more or at least have a scheme that calls for it, is that something that you think is fair or not so much? And you're just going to see the same that we've seen the last couple of years from this offense?

I don't think with any offense you don't want to be put in a box and say we can only do this. The great thing about Kellen is he takes what our strengths are, tries to maximize those, trying to minimize the weaknesses. Yeah, we'd like to get the ball down a little bit more. We do need more explosive plays out of our offense. We do need to play better on first down, which is the most important down of each set of downs. So we don't end up in second and eight and second and ten. And I think he'll bring that to us. Trying to get enough weapons around our quarterback, along with protecting him up front, to give Kellen enough things on the menu to go to to try and manufacture some bigger plays downfield, some quicker scores, without having to go every single time, go with eight, ten, twelve play drives to score.

So that's the hope. Well, in terms of quick scores, Tom Tolesco, as a Michigan Wolverine fan, you choosing Quentin Johnston, I still have the scars of the Fiesta Bowl watching him run free. And you drafted him with your first selection in this year's draft. I could have helped you scout him, by the way, Tom. I don't know if you didn't reach out to me, but I could have helped you scout him. Yeah, well, we drafted three guys from TCU. I noticed.

I think you could have really helped out. I noticed that, including the quarterback at the very end, who I'd love to get to. But let's talk about the two wide receivers you got from TCU, Quentin Johnston and Darius Davis.

What did you like about them? Well, Quentin is a big, strong receiver that also has some vertical ability. He's a really good run after catch, which is something that we wanted to add to the offense. And, you know, this is a passing league, and receivers are very important.

It's also a very highly paid position. And we have two highly paid receivers right now. And, you know, you need three, you need four if you can have them, like legit receivers that we can go to. It's nice with Quentin, at 21 years old, we're going to have him for five years.

And, you know, rookie salary cap numbers, albeit first-round pick numbers, but rookie numbers nonetheless. To get him in here with Keenen Allen, Mike Williams, Josh Palmer, to give us a really solid, strong set of receivers that we can throw to. He has all the intangibles that we look for in a position.

There's still a lot of growth to come. Our receiver coach, Chris Baties, and I really work with him hard on, you know, coming up with that savviness in routes and the feel you need at this level. Because at the college level, when you're really big and talented, you can kind of rely on your flexibility, your separation quickness, your speed, your strength to win. But this level, you need all of that plus the route running technique that he'll continue to pick up here.

So that was important for us. And then Darius Davis is, you know, really a dual returner, punting kickoffs. And then, you know, he'll probably have some role in the offense that he'll have to kind of carve out. As we go into training camp, there's someone that can just get the ball in his hands quickly and let him go pick up the yards for us. And then, I don't know how much grinding of a quarterback tape you did, Tom, you know, obviously with Herbert. But you clearly did enough to snag Max Duggan in the seventh round, a Heisman Trophy candidate this past year. What do you see out of him, Tom? Well, first of all, like our scouting staff, they scout all these players no matter, just like we have an empty roster, don't have anybody.

So, you know, we're doing a work on the top guys, we're doing guys in the middle, guys. So, with Max, I mean, honestly, if you never watch any film on him and just watch the game on TV, it'd be hard for you to say that, like, that's the guy I want to be in a huddle with. I mean, just the way he plays, the grit, the toughness, the ability to move the team, great leadership ability.

I mean, that just kind of jumps off the screen at you. And then, as far as becoming an NFL passer, there's some work that has to be done there. I think he has some skills to do it, he's got really good arm strength, he's smart, he processes quickly, he's got great work ethic. So, we're excited to get him in here and kind of give him an opportunity to compete for a job. And, yeah, he's a fun football player to watch.

I mean, he was, you know, not a hard guy to scout. So, when you're stacking your board for the draft, you stack the board as if you don't have anybody on your team and you just go ahead and do that and quarterback might have been top of your draft board, right? Is that the way it works? Initially, yeah.

Initially, yes. We'll make some adjustments. You know, obviously, we weren't taking a quarterback in the first round, but there are certain instances I like to have the names and the numbers up there so visually I can see who will go off before we pick. But our scouting staff did a lot of work on those top quarterbacks. You never know down the road when you have to maybe look back at your college work on those players. And they're also players that we're going to play against, you know, as an opponent.

So, we like to do as much work on those guys as we can. Of course. And so, are you willing to share?

Who was the top quarterback on your draft board? That I'm not willing to share. Okay. Okay. At least I asked, right? I mean, I got to ask.

Yeah. So, then let's go back, if you don't mind. You just hit the wayback machine a little bit here. When you were on the clock and the Dolphins had a pick and they chose Tua and not Justin Herbert, walk me through those moments for you.

Tom, tell us. Well, obviously, that was the draft that we all did from home. That was the COVID draft. So, that was pretty interesting because I was essentially sitting by myself. I had my wife and kids in the room.

But, you know, I had everybody on Zoom in front of me. And, you know, kind of myself and our staff, probably a week to ten days before the draft, we do a lot of work on what we call draft management. Trying to get a feel for where players are going to go, how we can kind of attack the draft to try and acquire the players that we like. Kind of had a feeling that that pick was going to go off before us, but you never know until that name comes in. But that was such an interesting draft just because you're used to being in a draft room with your whole staff and being able to kind of talk some things out. But that one, you know, sitting in front of two screens, one with the draft on it and one with Anthony Lynn was on there and Kevin Kelly, JoJo Wood, and our whole staff was on the other one in the Zoom. And kind of waiting for it to come off. I know at that time we did not want to have to trade up.

We started working a trade back and it kind of worked out the way we'd hoped. Yeah, you'd think normally the biggest moment when your wife and kids are in the room for your life is when they're born, right? In a delivery room. But here was another very important moment in your life with your wife and kids in the room. You know, in the delivery of Justin Herbert, I guess, Tom. It was a pretty interesting area.

It really was. I mean, I told people it's going into it. I had a lot of reservations running a draft from my dining room. First, the whole logistics of it. The internet goes down. And then, look, you know, this is not a one man show.

There's a whole group of people involved in this. And, you know, we're going to be working through Zoom. And actually, our seventh round pick, KJ Hill from Ohio State, as we were getting ready to select him, the Zoom actually went out. Because we were trying to get so many people on there, so we were getting ready for the College for Aging process after the draft.

It went out. So we had a little bit of uncertainty there. We got to picking.

But it was actually very neat to have, you know, my three kids kind of see what the process looks like a little bit from home. And, you know, it's a once in a lifetime experience. Hopefully it never happens again. Well, of course, I know that. So I asked this of Brandon Bean the other day in regards to Josh Allen. But when did Herbert have you at—did he have you at Hello, Tom Tolesco? When did you know this was your guy?

Well, I'll tell you what. Our—we thought he made it clear the year before. So our scouts had done a lot of work on him.

Chris Hobbs and Justin Sheridan and Kevin Kelly. And they liked him a lot the year before. I got more into him his senior year. Now, I was at the Rose Bowl game. And, you know, that was kind of an eye-popping game for me.

You know, there's certain things, live games that you just—you can't get a feel on tape. And just being at that game, how he moved his team, especially the second half, not only throwing the ball but running the football and the enthusiasm he played with, that was one of those moments like this is what we're looking for. You know, a player who has the physical ability, you know, obviously can throw the ball and he's got big arm strength and he's accurate. But he's big, he's strong, and he's really athletic. We wanted a quarterback that could really move outside the pocket, run when he had to, go pick up—you know, on third and eight, he can go pick up 10 yards if he has to, if everything's covered up. And had all the intangibles we're looking for in the position, which is just as important and more important than the physical skills. So that was a big game, at least for me. And then even the Senior Bowl was such a great evaluation tool as well. And, you know, watching him throw the deep ball and how accurate he was at the Senior Bowl, playing with receivers that had just gotten there and, you know, how well he played in that game.

But in the end, you really have to put two years of work together with a lot of people's evaluations, all the testing that we do, and try to make a decision, but we're very happy with it, obviously. And then I'm sure, again, I asked Brandon this too, and then you meet him, you're just hoping before you meet him, boy, I hope I like him, I hope he's not going to turn me off. And of course, that's not that guy, right? That's, it's kind of true, you know, especially in that leadership position where people have to follow you.

Right. And look, everyone's personalities are different, everybody leads in different ways. And he leads in his way, which works.

He does. He's awesome, man. And, you know, he's one of our hardest working players. And when guys see, you know, when you're leaders, when they're your hardest working players, when your young players come in, especially as rookies, and they see your top players work that hard, they just naturally get in line with that because, you know, a player comes in and figures, you know, I'm not as talented as Justin Herbert, and look how hard he works. I need to work just as hard as him, or probably harder to get to the level I need to get to.

So that's a big part of being a quarterback. Last one for you, Tom Telesco. Where do things stand with Austin Eckler? Where do things stand with him right now?

Nothing's changed. You know, his situation is unique. I completely understand that, which is why we, you know, kind of allowed them to kind of look and see if there was something out there.

Available is not something that we had no intent, no interest of treating him, but, you know, fully knowing his situation, you know, if they go ahead and do it. And, you know, I gave, you know, I talked about this, I think it was last week with my former boss, Bill Polain, who's now in the media, which is hard to imagine, but, you know, as a GM, you have to deal with a lot of people's salaries, and it's a challenge. And it's not just players. Like, as a GM, you're dealing with players and coaches and scouts and for-office executives and support staff, and there's definitely a point in everyone's career that you feel like, you know, you're not being compensated appropriately. And obviously, you know, it's not just football.

It could be any business. But when I was talking with Bill, and I know he didn't remember this story, when he was a GM of the Colts and I was there, I was probably my second year with the Colts, like my fifth year in the NFL, and I go into his office because my contract was up. He slides a piece of paper in front of me, I look at it, and the number was a lot lower than I expected, and my heart just dropped. And, you know, I just felt, even though I was a young guy, I just felt like I was kind of, you know, showing more value than I was being paid. And it, you know, bothered me initially, but then, you know, the way it was then, and I was a young guy, you just put your head down and get back to work. But the perspective that I have now in this chair that I didn't have then that Bill had is, you know, there's just so many factors that go into somebody's salary that doesn't necessarily mean, you know, it's not always a reflection of how they feel about you as a person. And I didn't get that then.

I get it now. You know, I got to deal with a lot of people. But also with Bill, like, you know, you work hard for Bill, he would run through a wall for you.

And then I was lucky enough that, you know, things worked out well for me down the road. But, you know, dealing with people's salaries is not easy. And I understand people are going to be uncomfortable and maybe upset sometimes.

That's just, you know, nature of the business, probably nature of all businesses. But I get it. So, but, yeah, I guess that's a long answer to a question.

Hey, look, you know, nothing here has really changed. He's a big part of this team, big part of an offense that obviously we want to get more explosive. And, you know, he leads the league in scoring. He's a big part of that. So, you know, we added a receiver in the draft.

There's a couple of receivers in the draft. And hopefully we're going to get after that this year. Again, you know, he's, again, he's such good people.

And I know you'd agree with that. And in the same way that you want your quarterback to be the hardest working guy, you also want a reward. I imagine guys who are the Austin Ecklers of the world who just score touchdowns and are so crucial, but also come from nowhere, essentially, to be such a crucial part of this.

So, what is your relationship with him, if you don't mind me asking, before I let you go into the summer, where I'm assuming he will show up on time? Well, yes, he's awesome. We love him, and I love him. And, you know, I know there's this, you know, this, quote, unquote, running back devalued. And it's, like, running back's a hard position. You handle the ball a lot. You have to be used in the passing game, like we use Austin a lot. You have to be able to pass protect, which he does very well.

He's a selfless pass protector. But, no, I mean, I love him in interest. There's just always that business part of it.

You have to try and work everything together. But I can't, and it doesn't matter if Austin came from, you know, western state or came from University of Colorado. I mean, it doesn't matter where he came from. When he got here, he came in, earned a job, and he's been a big part of this organization for a long time. So, yeah, it's not always easy situations, but, yeah, I absolutely love him. Tom, thanks for the call.

Greatly appreciate it. I'll send the Philip Rivers ride, but all I got right now is just the Hoopty, the Rich Eisen Show Hoopty, and that's not for you. You know, he's probably using that ride as probably a DJ right now.

Daniel Jeremiah is a diva. You are correct. You are correct. I'm not going to lie. Did you see the dog pee on him, Tom? Did you see the... I didn't see it.

I heard about it, and, yeah, I guess that would be one of the highlights of the draft, especially on the third day that late. Yep. Yep. There's the dog named Patrick, by the way. I think he pointed out that a dog named Patrick in Kansas City peed on the guy who calls games for the Chargers on purpose. I think he said.

So, you know, that's what DJ said, Tom. Take it up with him. Yeah, I'll take it up with him. Take it up with him. He might actually be charging the Spanoses for dry cleaning.

I don't know. Check that out, the paperwork. I definitely will. Hey, thanks for having me on. Thanks for calling, Tom. Greatly appreciate it. You take care.

That's Tom Telesco, the general manager of the Los Angeles Chargers. Was he done with the conversation? I think I kept too long. I did the Jewish goodbye.

You know, the one extra thing. He was like, OK, Rich, I'm going to let you go. I think someone's at the door. He'll never come back. He had a good time, I think. I think he enjoyed it. I asked some tough questions. He was on for 20 minutes. Two minutes too long. That's OK. You live and you learn.

Should have kept him. He mentioned DJ should have left and just said goodbye instead of bringing up one more thing and then making one more joke. Right. One extra joke. See, this is you know, this is my evaluation to self scout, self scout support. Look, how old are you?

Fifty three. Oh, yeah. You can always get better. That right? Yeah. We haven't reached our peak ever.

We're always on that upper climb. Bill Polian. What's crazy is he played football in college.

Yes. And he was teammates with Chris Polian, Greg Roman, Josh McDaniels, Nick Casario and London Fletcher. Good team. I would have brought that up, but he had a run. Yeah, I thought about it at the end when I first saw it. I was like, let's call back Tom back on the line. We could just send the car. I kept him.

He'll be here too long. That's why it's my bad. It's my bad. It's my bad. Whatever, though, I should I don't I don't know when to leave, including this segment, throwing a break.

And five. I can help you. Don't go anywhere. Come on back. We'll join live. The boys of summer are playing on the Believe podcast. The product of baseball is much more watchable. Get your baseball fix from podcasts like Wake and Rake, Farm to Show and Ring the Bell.

He's not really hitting both through the screws. Plus, local podcasts like Believe in Astros and Believe in the Bronx. You're going to have to get some more innings out of the rotation. Just search BLEAV podcast wherever you listen. Fun stuff right there. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Tom Tolesco is back on the phone line because I missed him. No, he's not. He missed me. That's right. That's a one and done, right?

No, he'll come back. I got to call DJ. He's the one who made this. All right, I'm going to give it up. I've been the host of the NFL schedule release show for 20 years. 20.

20? Yes. Long time ago. It's one of the first things we ever did. We were just a few months old.

You know, half a year old when the schedule was coming out and we decided to make a show of it. And yes, it's about paperwork. But you know what's also about paperwork? The draft. The draft is paperwork. The draft is phone call. Oh, I'm going to draft this person, put it on a list and let everyone else know and process the paper. That's it. That's the draft.

Let's get the papers. That's the draft. And it's one of a gajillion people watched, right? Officially? Officially.

Over multiple networks. It's like the State of the Union now. You got choices. It's the same thing. It's the same speech. You just have different ways of consuming.

Whatever graphic package you like. And it's now in its 20th year of being made fun of. I've heard it all. I've heard it all. And I see everybody who's taking shots.

I see everybody who's taking shots. It's okay. It's okay. Just, yeah, we already know who's playing who and we already know who's playing who where. As if the ordering of it means nothing, right? As if the day of the week on which the opponent is coming to your house, you're going to them. It doesn't matter.

Oh, the bye week. That doesn't matter. Okay.

The December schedule. That doesn't matter. Because, I mean, okay. And so we hear it in NFL Network. I take it. We got thick skin, right? The thing that really bothers me is when we try to keep this so close to the vest because we don't want it spoiled. This year, for the first time, believe it or not, I have to sign an actual release in order to get it in advance. What?

Yes. I'm telling tales out of school. Because back in the day, we would try and keep it close to the vest like, hey, here's the schedule. Keep it to yourself. And I don't. And so I'm not going to make personal hat of I know the schedule and let me drop hints. No, because there's a whole show here that we're trying to put on for you. And then teams would give it to their local media. Honestly, Mike and the Mad Dog busted our bubble so many times. We're like, oh, we got this great show set up, giant schedule already out. All right. Happened all the time. It stinks.

I have to sign a release this year in order to get it. That's wild. And here we are two days before, and you're telling me Mama Kelsey has already given up a piece of highly interesting real estate? A Twitter account at nerding on NFL, which is a schedule update, maybe aggregator. OK, apparently Donna Kelsey posted this on her Facebook page four days ago. OK, well, it's just now being uncovered, which is what she said. Eagles and KC playing. Yeah. So before that, she said that the Chiefs are playing the Germany game in November this year. Oh, boy. I guess the Bears looks like I might be playing that might be a game I'm calling.

It looks like November 12th, Rich. So you might want to circle that Chiefs and the Bears in Germany. Does she know where in Germany?

Because that's another thing to Frankfurt. OK, that's what she has said there. They have no bye week following. They're going to play the next reading now.

Yeah. Week 19. And then someone someone commented under her about, you know, a great chance to see the Eagles play New England in Germany. And then she wrote, now the Chiefs are playing the Eagles week two at Arrowhead. Awesome. By the way, week two. We're not we have to wait now.

Let's go. So at Arrowhead, so they get their first two at home. First two at home.

So the first one is going to be challenging to begin with. Yeah. And then they'll have the Eagles Eagles off the mini by, you know, they'll have like an extra three days. Because that'll be Thursday. And then, well, the Eagles don't have the mini by. No, Eagles will not. So the Eagles got a short week trip to Kansas City.

Yeah, I'd imagine. I'm sure it's not Kansas City. It's definitely not Kansas City. She wrote Chiefs play Eagles week two in Arrowhead four days ago.

And she also wrote in a reply to some of my guys, I didn't drop anything. This is all public knowledge from the Kansas City Star May 4th article. Geez, darn trolls. So it isn't Mama Kelsey. It's some. The Chiefs already put this out.

Somebody's already got this. According to her. I'm just reading a comment that she left. Yeah. And I got to sign a release. I don't know. Should I put an addendum on the release?

I don't know. Just but I think maybe you should just like submit to your mom and have her release to Mama Kelsey. You should say you should sign for me and have her put it out to the schedule to my 80. So she doesn't want to read it. Don't do that to her.

That's going to send it all to her Facebook group. A kind of horror. As they would say in my household, I don't know what that means, but look it up.

It's Yiddish. There you go. You love Lala Kent on Vanderpump Rules. Now get to know her on Give Them Lala with her assistant Jess. What you did not see is when Raquel arrives and she wants to talk to me. I made her sit in a corner. Explain sat in a corner booth all by herself in the dark waiting for to talk to you. Waiting for me to finish dancing to 50 Cent. It's my birthday. Give Them Lala wherever you listen.