I just learned Discover credit cards do something pretty awesome. At the end of your first year, they automatically double all the cashback you've earned. That's right, everything you've earned doubled all the cashback from eating at your favorite soup dumpling restaurant. Doubled all the cashback from that trip where you sort of learned to snowboard. Also doubled. And the best part, you don't have to do anything ridiculous to get it. Nope, Discover does it automatically. Seriously, though, see terms and check it out for yourself at discover.com slash match. This is The Rich Eisen Show.
I like that they have personality. I'm living my life, man. The grass is so freakin green here.
You have no idea. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The 47 year wait is over. The Denver Nuggets stand on top. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Tom Pelissero coming up. NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport. Free agent running back Leonard Fournette.
Senior writer for Golfchannel.com Rex Hoggard. And now sitting in for Rich, it's Tom Pelissero. Big news in the NFL today, completely made up by us, but let's just go with it here.
The NFL expanding to 36 teams and based upon some very strange rules that have been put into place, all players that are currently on NFL rosters are available in a four round expansion draft. The four of us going to go around the room here. We need to randomize the order. We have a high tech randomizer.
I believe Brockman. All right. You want to draw this out here for the order? This is going to be a snake draft.
Everyone knows the same track format course she go across one through four and then you go back five through eight. You're drafting the four players. You're making the cornerstones of your team. Now, important to understand here too, you're getting the player right now. If you draft Aaron Rodgers, you are not getting 22 year old rookie contract Aaron Rodgers. You are getting 39 going on 40 year old Aaron Rodgers.
Same thing with Aaron Donald, everybody else. You're getting the player exactly at this moment in the exact contract situation. If that guy's up for a $30 million per year contract decision, you're the one taking them off.
There's no specific salary cap, but keep that in mind. You're building within the structure of the NFL. Brockman, who has the number one overall number one overall NFL expansion draft 2023 expansion draft is give it to me myself.
All right, second overall pick. What are you? What are you doing, Mike? The hell going on? I don't know what to tell you, man. Second overall pick. Not me.
DTF Del Tufa. Okay, I like this. It's good now. I like it.
I'm back. Third overall pick. Well, I'm hoping this is Tom.
T. J. Jefferson. I don't dislike the back end back to back here. I think I'm okay with this. I'm listening to some top quarterbacks. Tom, Tom.
No, I gather that was for your fourth. So here we go again. Snake format draft here. Any player on NFL roster is available. Chris Brockman, you have the number one overall pick whack with the first overall pick.
The Brockman bandits. Take Patrick Mahomes. No surprise. Patrick Mahomes still only 27 years old.
It's kind of stupid, actually. Two Super Bowls, two Super Bowl MVPs, two MVPs. Sorry. That was easy.
Sorry. Real top pick by Brockman. Now it gets interesting. Del Tufa. What are the second overall pick?
The Del Tufa. These nuts. I'm taking my Parsons. I am taking selection over all the draft is falling the way I need it to you. Wow. J. Jefferson Mahomes and Parsons off the board. Who's got a number three? Well, I'm gonna have to reconfigure some stuff here.
Give me a second. You had to do it, Mike. That's a great pick. TJ made the mistake of saying that out loud during the production meeting, and then Del Tufa just swept right in there. Great pick, Mike. I guess I mean, I guess I got to go with the guy who's he's super cool under pressure.
No need to act ill. The TJ Terminators will select Joe Burrow. Gotta pay Joe Burrow. Gotta pay Joe Burrow, Tom.
You got $60 million per year salary cap potentially going out the window there. Well, you know, it's a quarterback. It's the most important position on the field.
Agreed. Great point, TJ. Joe Burrow. I don't want to get stuck with, you know, Kirk Cousins. What do you got against Kirk Cousins? You and Cam Jordan just bagging on Cousins out of nowhere.
I just said that because of Minnesota. So now this is an interesting spot here because I've got two picks. Del Tufa, let's talk trade.
See you get in the next round. Why don't you find out the cost controlled veteran contracts here? Or do I go with one of the young guys who's going to get paid top dollar, right? Jalen Hurts is on the board. Justin Herbert is on the board. I'm going to go with a guy who I already know he's locked in.
He's still young, coming off a season where he had some injuries, still performing at a high level. One of his wide receivers may or may not be in the building today. We'll take Josh Allen at number four. I'll take my quarterback. Well done myself.
Josh contract looks better and better with each guy that signs. Now it's right. All right. It's right back to me here.
This is interesting. Do I protect Josh Allen? Do I go elsewhere? I'm going to give him a weapon. Yeah, not going to be digs. It's going to be the guy who replaced digs. I'm going to go and Justin Jefferson with the number five overall pick again.
Another guy who's going to get paid top dollar, but I feel like with the Allen contract locked in, I've got a little bit more flexibility. Justin Jefferson goes number five and we go back to TJ. Well done, Tom. Strong cornerstone.
By the way, having this be clockwise, this is far less confusing than it could have been in the studio. This is back to you, TJ. You got Joe burrow. Joe burrow a weapon. Are you protecting him? Well, Chris, you hunt the passer.
The fact of the matter is football is played on both sides of the ball, right sides of the ball. So I got to get a, I got to get an animal three face on the other side and just, there was a guy I want, but I'm going to go by his age in this contract. I'm not going to pick him. Hopefully I can get him in the back end.
So, um, despite our, I think our, you know, differences in how we look at life and maybe politics. I got a wild guess where you're going with. I'm going to the area. Can we do Nick Bosa?
That's a nice, that's a nice path. Maybe you could have a sit down with Nick and bring them back to, you know, your side or just get him a supplier. Don't do wasn't no idea who to make. I know I got it. I know what I got to go for. I got to do this only because I got to do it.
The reluctant I knew I wanted to take, but I can't do it. It would have been for rich. I got a good Garoppolo. I need a QB.
What? Okay, great. I'm taking Jimmy G. This is why we have Mike involved.
We got Jimmy Garoppolo who, whose foot Mike, he's got, he's got the unlimited, he's going to be fine guys invites I'm in. Yeah, but you don't get to go to the ranch. Yeah. He'll take me as a plus one. Is that really running a football organization?
So much as he's running a party party. That's why we did it. All right, so we've got Brockman took my homes. Number one overall.
It's coming back to him at number eight. I'll give you a second to think you got two picks here. Brockman del Tufo's got Micah Parsons and Jimmy Garoppolo.
TJ's got Joe burrow, Nick Bosa. I've got Josh Allen, Justin Jefferson Brockman. You're up at number eight overall. I'm up at number eight overall. I got to protect Patrick Mahomes. I got to take Laramie Tunsil. Ooh, let me tonsils making a lot of money. That's fine.
Mahomes is basically on a discount right now until he gets an upgrade on that contract. I got it. I got to protect.
It's true. He is locked in. All right.
I got to protect you at number nine now. All right. Options here. A lot of options. I need a playmaker on the outside.
This comes down to personal preference. I'm going to take AJ Brown. AJ Brown, a veteran roster here for Brockman as he starts out this expansion team. Mahomes, Tunsil and AJ Brown. Del Tufo back to you for the number 10 overall pick. Will it be another quarterback to back up Jimmy Garoppolo in case just in case? Well, since Saquon's not happy in New York, he's coming to these nuts. And I'm taking Saquon Barkley, the franchise running back. Del Tufo is building interesting roster right now.
This is great. Where's your team based? Are you also in Vegas? Oh, we're in Vegas.
We're north of Vegas. All right. TJ, back to you at 11. You got Burrow. You got Bosa. Stick with the Bs. Are you going to branch out here?
I think I will. That is a B. Branching out. Brian Branch. That's it at number 11. This is tough. To me, I'm still going to go with that saying that defense wins championships. So I'm going to put a lot of pressure on you boys. So give me Cleveland. This is for you. Let me get Miles Garrett.
Miles Garrett and Nick Bosa on the same defense. I'm hunting. You're doing something over there. All right. Wow.
You know, we're the TJ Terminators for a reason for everybody's. We've already got two picks. Yeah, we got three defensive players off the boards.
There's a lot of depth there. There's some good receivers still sitting out there. Receivers still there, guys.
What do you do? You know what? I'm going to take Jamar Chase. Reunite the L.S.U. receivers Jefferson and Jamar Chase with Josh Allen slinging it all over the yard to him. Tom might be killing us. We don't know who's blocking for him. We don't know if we can stop anybody. But we've got a plan on offense.
Do I go three wides here? I mean, Devante Adams is still on the board. Devante Adams is still out there. Stop throwing names out there.
You might have forgotten. Come on. You guys are veterans.
So I got two. I got two guys on rookie contracts right now with Jefferson and Chase. Jefferson, by the way, is in real life on the field right now with the Vikings, as expected, showing up for minicamp after not being at OTA.
So he is not following the lead of the mysterious Stefan Dit situation. I'm going to go back to offense. I'm going four in a row. We'll figure out the defense. I've got a rare opportunity last words and it's not it's not a wide receiver. It's not a running back.
It's not even protection. Give me Anthony Richardson with the number four. He should be. He went number four. This is the number 13th back 13 overall pick.
Second quarterback. You can never have enough. He's got all the upside. Maybe it works out.
Maybe it doesn't. But this is about amassing assets. He's going to be on a rookie contract. I got him for the next five years.
Josh Allen in his prime. Depending how the development goes, I could trade one of those guys in the next couple of years. Fill some of those hours. But this is a long term. Wow.
Team building type of picture. I send it back to you at number 14. Is this our last pick? Yeah, it's our last pick.
Our last pick. I got my hunters on D. Now you got some hunters. I know I want to protect Joe. I need to protect Joe. But I also got to give Joe someone to toss the rock to. So I stole Chase out from under you there.
You should have done it the first time around. You could have gotten Garrett here. Could have chased last time. It's all about the strategy on the board. You got to know what other teams needs are.
You know what? Since I'm building the TJ Terminators on the strength of my defense. I might just stick with that.
And you got some good receivers. I got to stop those guys. So my plate needs to have a little flavor on it. My team plate needs a little sauce. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. That's such a good pick. Raining defensive rookie of the year on a rookie contract for the next several years. I like that pick. I thought that's where you were going. No, you didn't know. No, I did. I thought maybe you'd take Trayvon Diggs just because you need a cowboy. Yeah, I wanted to.
Barring that. I need a cowboy. It's a good call on sauce. All right, Del Tufo after. This has been a fascinating one.
The Del Tufo deez nuts. I don't know what Daniel Jeremiah would be saying about Micah Parsons, Jimmy Garoppolo, Saquon Barkley. Mike, don't listen to these guys. Don't listen to these guys. You're killing it, Mike.
You're doing a great job. I am taking a tight end. Travis Kelsey. Even better. Travis Kelsey.
Even better. I got a good quarterback. He's going to be fine.
His foot. He'll be taken care of at the ranch. He'll come back. We'll be fine. And I guarantee you, we'll score touchdowns.
The chickens are cooking. Are you even going to play a game here? This is an amazing. This is an amazing team. You are going to have the best looking team. This is an amazing team. And the most fun party team. That's what I'm doing.
I drafted for party. Del Tufo Steve is going to be hungover. I'll be DJing. We'll be good every weekend. Get in that DJ booth at the ranch.
Yes. We'll actually create a new club. Let's welcome Crystal. Buddy Ranch got a pool.
The Del Tufo Ranch. All right. Brockman with the final pick.
All right. In the expansion draft. You got Mahomes, Laramie Tunsil, A.J.
Brown. You're going to go four for four on offense here. I'm not. I'm not.
I'm trying to decide. T.J., I love where your head was at with a defensive player in the defensive backfield. I love punters.
Punters are people too. Tommy Townsend is out there. I'm going to take Patrick Sertan. Nice.
I like that one. You got to stop my receivers. You got to stop Tom's receivers. Patrick Sertan is a guy who people would be talking about a lot more if the Broncos didn't win five games last year. He's a really, really good first team all pro with sauce. Last year, I was looking in the direction of Chris Jones. I like I want someone to rush the passer, but I feel like I feel like we can fill that later on.
I got certain on a rookie deal and have to pay him soon, but I'm confident there. Let's get these if we can on social. I'm curious which team people would believe in. I got a wild guess what Twitter is going to think of Delta.
Well, we'll get to some reactions in the show. We got to take a break right now, though, because Leonard Fournette, who's really available right now. Actually available. All 32 NFL teams get a call in and join. It's really interesting to see the Lombardi. Lenny's got to say about what's happening right now with the running backs and his own future. Where is he going to be playing in 2023?
We'll ask him after this on The Rich Eisen Show. 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 and odor 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.
Buy new and improved dove men plus care antiperspirant wherever personal care products are sold. Get an inside look at Hollywood with Michael Rosenbaum, actress Kristin Ritter. Your parents let you travel by yourself. It was a different time. They just put you on a train. As a 15 year old girl, you went to New York.
I went on a bus and I did get picked up at Port Authority. They thought I was a runaway. What would they do?
They detain you and get people on the phone and then they finally let you go to your modeling job. How many times does it happen? Once or twice. It just seems like it wouldn't happen. It happens.
Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum, wherever you listen. It's kind of difficult to describe to people who were unfamiliar with it, as you might have been. Have you met Patrick Holmes? I have. Yes, I have met Patrick Holmes. He's one of my heroes. Oh, is that right? That's true.
I root for that team, even though I've never lived there. Yes. I think he is just phenomenal to watch. Apropos of...
Nothing. I was going to talk about the season finale of Barry and you were talking about the season finale of two Super Bowls ago. I was hoping Patrick was in it. Next time you come on, we'll make sure Mahomes is on the phone.
We'll do that. You like him that much, huh? I think that his ability is such a cut above. He is so passionate in the way he plays. He is so improvisorial in the way he plays. He is so sure.
I just think it is instinctually great, actually. Okay. Well, he now knows that and we'll make this happen.
It would be my honor. Does he listen? Yes. Patrick, hi.
He does. How are you? Are you listening? So can I just say, no, if Patrick is listening, I'd like to... We make a great chicken stuffed with ricotta and spinach with an unbelievable reduction. It can be yours if you're here in LA. Well, the Chiefs come play the Chargers, right? The Chiefs play the Chargers. They do, actually.
We'll make this happen. Those guys are good, too. Yeah, they are. I mean, they're good quarterbacks. Yeah, they are. They are not Mahomes.
That is correct. Tom Pelissero in for Rich Eisen, pleased to be joined right now by a guy who is a Super Bowl champion, two-time 1,000-yard rusher, always a fun guy to talk to, currently a free agent. Leonard Fournette is with us. Lenny, how you living, man? What's going on? I'm good. How you doing, my guy? Doing fantastic. So tell me, all right, you're a free agent right now, first time really in your career that you've kind of been in this position at this time in the calendar year. What are your days like? What are you doing, training, and everything else right now?
Oh, man, training-wise, wake up like at five-ish, workouts at 5.30. I mean, just overall, this experience has been a blessing, too, because when things go on in your life, man, it brings you closer to your family. This is one of my first obstacles I've been through. And there's more to come in life, but it only helps you grow.
You learn from it, and that's what it is. So what are you looking for? I assume right now, based on the way you're talking about your training, you're looking to play in 2023. What do you hope to find? Where do you want to be? My dreams, aspiration, man, is a home where I can be there until I retire, instead of going from team to team. And I believe it's going to come to me. I've still got it. Running, catching, blocking.
Just right now, the timing is off, and I'm just putting the hard work in until somebody calls. So when you look around right now, and I don't know how much you're on social media, but Saquon Barkley was talking the other day about the running back market and what's gone on there with guys not getting paid. Josh Jacobs tweeted something the other day about doing it for the guys that come after us and taking the stand. When you look at what's happening in general with running backs, what is your reaction to it?
I feel the same way. I 100% agree with you guys. Us as the running backs, we get the ball 100% of the time. We have to block, pass, catch, and everything. So I totally understand where they're coming from, and I totally understand how they feel because the running back market is not valued how it used to be.
Is there a group text with the running backs? I feel like you guys all have to be curious between you, Josh Jacobs sitting out there, Saquon, Tony Pollard's trying to get a deal done, Jonathan Taylor is going to want to get an extension. Do you guys talk about what's happening here and where things are in terms of negotiations? No, we always talk. It's not a group message, but we might talk through Instagram or here and there, but we definitely have an understanding of where we want the running backs to get and where we want the market to climb back up to because running backs play a valuable part on a team.
I'm not going to lie to you. If you went back in time, would you play a different position? You've been a very productive back. You won a Super Bowl play in the running back spot. Yeah, but you know, I was always a much better linebacker than running back in my days. Those linebackers are getting paid, man. It's like 18 million a year for the top guys right now. Yeah, and I mean, I'm happy for them, man.
That's what it's supposed to be like, man. I'm happy. I'm proud of them. And I'm quite sure my guy, my best friend, Devin Weisdove, next look at that big contract. What do you make right now with the Bucks? Devin showed up today for mini camp. He had the trade request earlier in the offseason. They're in transition at the quarterback spot, obviously. They got some new coaches on the step. What do you make of where the Bucks are at going into 2023?
I mean, they have a great young team, you know, and I feel like they have all the weapons around them, you know, with the new coaching staff that they can make a big push. Leonard Fournette is our guest. You won a Super Bowl in Tampa with Tom Brady as your quarterback, the greatest of all time, allegedly retired this time for good. In all those years, the years that you spent with him, the couple of years down there, what's your best Tom Brady story you can think of?
I mean, there's so many, man. I mean, he's always been him. You know, he's comfortable. I try to make time as comfortable as I can, you know, instead of treating him like Tom Brady, treating him like my teammate, someone that I'm about to go to war with each and every day, compete with at practice. And I tell people, you know, I can't really get into details, but my greatest memory with Tom is his pregame speech he gave to us before the Super Bowl.
So, I mean, he had, that speech gave us some feel to go out there and do what we did to beat Kansas City 31-9. Can you not get in the details of it because of the number of F-bombs he dropped during it or just because it's private, Leonard? No, no. That's a good one.
No, no. It wasn't F-bombs, but it was private, you know. It was something that, you know, to win a Super Bowl, you know, especially for me and how I won it, you know, I got cut from Jacksonville. I had my fair share of what I was going through and I came back and won it the same year. So, I mean, it was nothing but a blessing. That was a weird Super Bowl too because that was the COVID year in 2020.
There were like, I want to say it was about 20-25,000 fans, Leonard, in the stadium, but then you had the cardboard cutouts on the other 40,000 seats. So, you kind of had sound. It was just, it was a different environment. What do you remember about that? I mean, it was just a game, you know. Just for me, I remember in the beginning of the season, you know, she's got the best of us and, you know, we had to, you know, I mean, we had to get back, man. I mean, that really was on my mind.
I'm not going to lie. So, you know, again, as you're looking out there, you know, in terms of your future and where you're going to be playing this season, like, give me the best pitch for Leonard Fournette. This stage in your career, you know, you've won, you've made your money, you've, you know, had some productive seasons. Like, what's, you're talking to a GM. I'm whatever GM it is. Like, well, what's your pitch for why you're the running back? I got to go out and sign as the missing piece on my team. I mean, for me, you know, Leonard Fournette, I've always been, you know, and I felt like my years, you know, at the Buccaneers, you know, I was the last missing piece, you know, we had AB, we had Mike and, and I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to compare that because on people, that team was probably the best team ever, you know, but I know what I bring to the table when some day, some games, the passive game wasn't, wasn't working. You know, I ran the ball, I catch the ball, you know, multiple games.
I call the ball 13 coming times, 12, sometimes to give my team the advantage we need to win the games. You know, even though it was close games, we still won, you know, it's all about winning at the end of the day. Leonard really appreciate the time and best luck in wherever you land this season. Thank you. I appreciate you. Thanks for having my guy. Always. Yeah, man. We'll talk soon.
That's Leonard Fournette. Always one of the fun guys to talk to within the league. A lot of, I love the pregame speech. I have a lot of questions now about that speech. I understand Tom wants to, wants to keep it private.
What all, what all goes into it? I just assumed it had to be a series of F bombs based on what we generally see from Tom. Did you hear Lenny snuck that in about Tom and he goes, he's always been him. He's him. He's him. He really is.
He was, I guess him. Yeah. I mean, that, that was the strangest, the strangest Superbowl that I've ever covered.
I mean, I think I've been to the last 10 or 11 in a row, whatever it is and like the environment. So I'm standing in the, in the stands and the cardboard cutouts are all around me and they're actual people's faces. So you had people, I think they could pay to do it. Didn't you do that Del Tufo?
Didn't you pay? I did that for, uh, SoFi. A cardboard cutout of yourself. You did the cardboard cutout for the Rams.
When are you back again, Tom? I'll bring it in tomorrow. Oh, I'd love to see it. Yeah. Oh, I'll bring it in. Oh, absolutely. Yes. You didn't do it. I did not do it. No, it was an option for season ticket holders.
They could do that. Ah, but so, but you see, you had all these, the cardboard cutouts. That was also the Superbowl where, because the, the press box, I might've told this story before, but the press box was so spread out that there weren't room. There was not enough room for everybody to be all the reporters to be in the press box.
So like, I got moved to a, uh, a suite with an extremely random collection of celebrities. It was like me, Rappaport, Adam Devine was there. Rebel Wilson was there. Uh, Hootie, Darius Rucker was there. We made it.
We made the most of it. Uh, we've got to believe a surprise, uh, mystery guest right now. Uh, we might've said this guy's name a few times on the show over the past couple of days. Delvin cook, joining the show right now.
Delvin it's Tom Pellisero. How you doing, man? What's up my guy? It's good to, good to hear from you. What, where are you at right now? Like what, what are you up to? I'm just training right now.
I actually, I'm back in Minnesota right now. Oh, just rehabbing and just getting my shoulder and getting back ready to play. Tell it, tell me about the shoulder. You played with that for several years. You, you know, you had to get it surgically repaired. How much of a impact, if any, was it making on how you were able to play and how good do you feel now that you actually got the thing fixed?
Yeah. Like a lot of people don't know, like the last three years I've been, I've been playing with a torn labrum and it's been, it's been different. Like, you know, I, I feel good sometimes. And then like, you know, I have an accident where to come out and I have to deal with it for like a week and put a brace on and come back and play. Just like learning how to fall, learning how to brace for hits and just, you know, it's been, it's been different. A lot of people don't know the backdrop on, you know, a lot of stuff of me going out to play ball every Sunday with a brace on or my shoulder possibly could pop out.
So people didn't know that. And me getting it fixed was, was ideal for me because I just want to be free now. Just, just go out there and just turn and loosen and just be down. And I'm getting back to that point now to, you know, I'm feeling good to go out there and just turn and loosen and be ready to play for what I want to play for this week.
How much were you even thinking about that? If you're, you know, for instance, taking on contact and stuff like that, you're such a, I mean, you are a physical runner when you need to be between the tackles. Like, are there times where you were even protecting that shoulder, having to move a different way, not wanting that direct contact on it? Yeah, I had to just being smart, just being smart about the whole situation. You know, the shoulder was kind of one of those things where you can't dodge as a runner.
You can't, you can't not take contact after the running back. So it's like one of those things where you got to be smart about it. And I came to the realization of, you know, this thing is possibly could come out if I put myself in a bad position. So I tried to put myself in the best position I could when, when it was, when it was torn. So what you're telling me is for the past four years in which you ran for a thousand yards every season and made the Pro Bowl four straight years, you were playing with one arm, basically.
That's what you're saying. Yeah, basically, not basically, not basically I was, it was just one of those things where like, I know, and I, it possibly can happen at any point, just to be smart about a situation. It kind of sounds kind of funny, kind of weird, but like, I kind of tried to put myself in the best position when I kind of score up on a defender or do some things.
I kind of like make those big decisions to put myself in the best decision to go back to take the next snap. So how much are you able to do now? I know there's kind of a ramp up progression.
Are you able to do basically everything in terms of training at this point? Yeah, doctor pretty much turned me loose about two weeks ago. He cleared me to get back into, you know, physical things to kind of ease my way back into it.
But yeah, I just been rehabbing and get my motion back and just trying to find it, man. Four-time Pro Bowl running back Delvin Cook is our guest. So obviously, you know, there were months of speculation about how things were going to play out for you in Minnesota. You get released on Friday. You're a free agent for the first time in your career. What's this experience like for you right now?
It's different, man. You know, I got a lot of love Minnesota. They bought a kid in that didn't know what to expect. And, you know, they embraced me. But you know, I'm looking forward to this to this next step in my life and it's gonna be fun. No, whoever whoever whoever gets down because they know what they get. And I just as it's plain and simple like, you know what you're getting out of me and I'm gonna come be a great team player, great teammate, no great person in the locker room.
You know, I'm just ready to go around the rock and help somebody win game. So I got to imagine when a guy like Delvin Cook gets released, you got to have every star quarterback, every player in the league sliding in your DMS trying to get you to come. How many how many people who are you hearing from right now around the league? Man is crazy. It's crazy. I play Madden a lot and I do free agency and like in a man in my fantasy leagues.
So we bid on players and stuff like that. But kind of like going through this process of like in real life, it kind of feel like a video game to me. It's like like it's funny, man. It's it's exciting. It's the next step in my life. And not I had a lot of people reach out to me in these past weeks and these past few months just to just to reach out to see what I was thinking. But it's been it's a lot of people reaching out. You want to get you want to tell me who you want to let me know where you're leaning right now.
Now we don't keep them anonymous anonymous. All right. All right. So let me ask you this then. So what are you looking for?
Ultimately, at this point, you know, you've had a lot of personal success. You know, there's always the possibility to go win a Super Bowl someplace like what are you looking for? Beyond the money, which we can certainly get into that too. But besides getting paid, like what do you want? What does it have to be for this to be the right fit for you to come in and be somebody's running back right now?
I want the value. I want somebody that value to have because I want somebody that that want me to be there and want to give me the ball. You know what I'm saying? Like I just want to go into the right situation so I can just go help somebody win. Like you said, like the money don't come or whatever it comes with. No, you play good, but they gonna pay you. That's what comes with it. But I just want to go somewhere and feel like it home for me and go somewhere and help somebody win and just go be me.
Just go turn to lose. I'm just looking for a home. That's it. You might have seen Saquon Barkley's comments the other day about not just his situation being on the tag with the Giants, but also just the state of negotiations and same stuff you're talking about, like the value that he brings to that team and why you get paid at a certain level. You look around the league and you know, Josh Jacobs, there's nothing really happening on getting him signed. He's on the tag. Pollard's on the tag. Jonathan Taylor's going to get paid at some point.
We just had Leonard Fournette on a little bit ago. When you look at the just the state of the running back market and what's kind of happening to some of these guys, like what, what's your reaction? To me, honestly, it's kind of sad because, you know, you just named a bunch of great football players and there's the running back position. Like I think people overlook in this position, not thinking they are overlooking this position. They don't think, you know, the game don't start and stop with the ball being on the ground. You know, you control the ground.
I think the game is controlled. So I think the running back position is, is that a point to, we don't know, we don't know the certainty of a running back position. Like I think people think is this, you know, it is about the quarterback position, but you know, I think it's starting to start with the running back position. I think we got to get back to that. Just playing good football, man. And I talked to a lot of them guys that, you know, it's a sad situation to where people just don't value the running back position, but you know, that don't stop us from going to play good football. And I think that's what it's all going to come down to just keep playing good football.
And I think the position will get back to where it needs to be. So when do you hope to be signed by? Like, do you need to be on a team at the start of camp?
Are you good? Do you know, kind of taking your time? So, you know, things play out in training camp, like what, what's it going to take? And when do you, would you ideally like to be on a team just going to find a home time?
My, my, my, my shoulder's feeling great. So it's like, it's a waiting game right now at this point, just just trying to find that, that right situation. I don't think it's a rush for anything. Like as far as me picking up plays and going to play football, that's the easy part about the game. But, you know, I just think me, me feeling great, which I am. And I think me just being in the, in the right shape and stuff like that, just going to play football team. I think that's going to be the best thing, but I'm not in a rush to go, to go style with nobody.
I'm just trying to find the right fit for me and my family. It's the last thing for you. I mean, your, your tape is going to say a lot about what, what type of player some team is getting, but like if you're making the pitch to a GM about why you should pay Delvin Cook right now and bring them in, give it to me, man, lay it on me. I'm a GM. You're on the phone with me.
Why, why am I there guy? I think I'm all fixed up now. You know, my shoulder's feeling great. And like you said, man, you know what you're getting out of Delvin Cook. As soon as I step foot in the locker room or on the football field, you know, I'm gonna be the best teammate, be the best leader you can get. And I'm gonna show that by my actions and you know how I carry myself in and the things I do on the field.
You know, you cut the tape on that, speak for itself. But I think mostly what's important for me is the off the field stuff. You know, being a, being a right figure in the community, you know, just, just doing all the right stuff off the field, on the field is gonna come. I just want to be the best teammate I could be in. You know, you know what you're going to get out of Delvin Cook once I step in that locker room.
Well, I know you did a lot of that stuff in Minnesota, man, the off the field stuff. And you know, I'm not, I'm gonna miss, you know, I don't know if we're gonna have as many Friday afternoon chats at your locker anymore. So I'm, I'm gonna miss that stuff, man, but appreciate you as always.
Thanks a lot for coming on down. I'll see you. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'll find you wherever you are. All right, buddy.
Good luck. That is Delvin Cook free agent running back right now. Where's he going to land?
Where's he gonna end up? He's not naming names. I know though there's anonymous. There's a lot of, I know this, there's a lot of quarterbacks, a lot of head coaches. I got a place for him to a lot of guys. I know you got it. You always got a place for everybody, man.
They can always come up. Goodness gracious. All right, let's, let's grab a quick break here. We'll come right back.
Let's unpack from that segment. Frankly, Leonard Fournette, Talvin Cook. We'll talk about both those interviews here. Ian Rapport, I believe is still going to join us here in a little bit as well.
A lot of NFL talk the rest of the show. Join us. Eight four four two oh four.
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I'm good rich late last night. And then again this morning when I woke up dozens of texts, some claiming it must be real. Some saying this can't be true. And one said this is the best indication that hell has frozen over since the old four Red Sox or the 2016 Cubs. But I am here to assure you and everybody else that the fires of hell are still very much blazing because I am absolutely not on Twitter.
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Or just for you just for you rich. Yes, Bob. Make a special trip to the NFL combo. This is the real Bob Costas. We can confirm that now. Twitter needs that. Oh my gosh, your son tweeted it out that this is not you when I saw the the first screen grab that that Keith sent to me. Yes.
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Stop and buy. Now, my colleague at NFL Network, you can check out NFL Plus coverage of inside minicamps starting in, I believe, 15 minutes here. Ian Rappaport, kind enough to join us here in. Let's start with what has played out in Buffalo over the last couple of hours. Sean McDermott say it's Stefan Diggs is not at the mandatory minicamp. Diggs agent saying he will be at the minicamp. Where exactly do we stand right now on Stefan Diggs? Well, I mean, where we stand is that Diggs was at the minicamp, but appears to be no longer at the minicamp.
This is what I just got from Buffalo. Those couple minutes ago, he was there yesterday. He was there this morning. He did meet, it sounds like with Sean McDermott and then he left. So it's like it's kind of like the the sign fell over to stand is like I was bald. And now he's not there.
And so I guess where we currently stand is not there. So I tweeted it out earlier. Diggs contract got redone back in March. They flipped a bunch of his base salary into a signing bonus. So he's got a $23 million signing bonus that he already collected this year. I don't know the exact payment payout structure, but point being it's already been converted.
They have so much dead cap that it's not a tradable contract. We've seen Diggs, you know, quite frankly, tweet his way out of Minnesota before. I'm just trying to figure out what's the, the action item. Like what would Stefan Diggs possibly want by blowing off the mandatory minicamp? Yeah, I mean, I, what, whatever it is, it's a point. He is trying to show something and maybe it's just that he's frustrated. Maybe it's how many targets he gets. Maybe it's the way things are being drawn up for him.
Like there are certainly some options here. Hard for me to imagine it's money. He's got money. He's got a new contract. He talked about being with the bills for awhile or for it to end his career. We also saw at the end of, I guess it was the Bengals game, right? Some sort of theatrics on the sideline, a little bit with Josh Allen, some sort of sort of indicating that maybe all is not a hundred percent. Well, um, didn't really, didn't talk to reporters after the game, which doesn't mean a lot, but I would say something to clearly there is something that he's not happy with. I would also say this Tom, uh, it's June and if you're going to be annoyed about anything, June is a fantastic time to be annoyed about something.
Cause that gives a lot of time to make it right. And when it only costs you $99,000 to miss the entire three day mini camp, not the types of numbers and signing bonus collection that can happen if you start holding out, uh, in training camp. So we'll be monitoring that also monitoring the Deandre Hopkins situation. How about you being late to get to me because Dalvin cook called in.
Yeah, it's pretty great. I'm pretty good at this. Um, I would certainly not say that. I'm just saying if there's any reason to get to me late, Dalvin interrupting your show is a pretty solid one.
I would agree with that. So let's talk about Dalvin because you know, we talked about his shoulders healed up now. He had the surgery, he's feeling a lot better.
His doctor said is pretty much cut him loose to do everything. He says he's been getting blown up by everyone in the NFL did not want to name names. So we're going to keep them all anonymous based on what do you know, Ian Rappaport, where do we stand on one of the highest profile players to be released in recent years in his free agent journey? You know, this is a weird one because he is a great player and he really is an awesome player. And I would just say not that my opinion matters at all, but has long been one of my favorite players to watch just because any play can be a touchdown.
Like you just never know. He is explosive in a way that is kind of rare and most running backs aren't. So it is really, he is very fun to watch even though he is very coveted. I am still not sure the money is going to be outrageous because running back to make what they make. I mean, miles Sanders think I'm right about this mouse and his highest paid running back to create and see this year and got 6 million a year. And I thought that was a really, really good deal. So my guess is Dalvin gets somewhere around there.
Anything more is a great job. I would also imagine, you know, there's a couple of teams that probably right now are like, Hey, could I use a really good running back? Miami, Denver, you know, some other, and then after those, I would say, look at the really good teams who might be one piece away who might be, maybe they're not at the top of the market, but any of the 10 teams who you think are going to make the playoffs all could probably use it. DeAndre Hopkins also on the free agent market right now. He visited Tennessee Sunday and Monday. Great moment in timeline reporting earlier today when I had said that DeAndre Hopkins visit to England was on Thursday, you came back and said, actually it's Wednesday and Thursday.
So I stand corrected on that. Obviously he has to fly in at some point. That would be Wednesday.
And then Thursday most of the visit. I didn't see, I said it on TV, on the network that you're on. So thanks for watching Total Access last night. Jude had a baseball game.
I was not, I was coaching at that moment. Around the NFL account, tweeted it. There's various ways that you could find out this information, but all right, Hopkins, you know, the situation there, Tennessee, there was no offer yet. Certainly seemed like that's a logical fit.
There's also connections in New England. How and where and when does this end with DeAndre Hopkins? So let's talk about the Thursday visit, right? Because obviously the zoomie, I was not expecting the Titans to have anything. And like if you're DeAndre Hopkins, you have to take the Patriots visit.
You just have to, like unless Tennessee's going to offer you 20 a year, you have to do the Patriots visit. So either way, nothing was happening there yet. You know, I would say that it is possible something happens Thursday.
It is possible. And you know that DeAndre Hopkins is not going to visit really anywhere unless he knows that a team is going to kind of sort of be around where he wants money wise, right? Like he's not getting on a plane, obviously flying in Wednesday. He's not getting on a plane until he thinks that there's going to be something there.
So at least I would say these two are very, very serious. It would make a little more sense to me and I would say some more to Dalvin. Like just wait, you never know what could happen in the off season.
We never know what needs can be created. Could always be an injury. Also like, you know, if you sign Thursday, what's the difference? You're not going to be practicing for a month and a half anyway.
So waiting actually makes sense. Last thing for you, Ian Rappaport, cause I know you got to run to do the big NFL plus inside mini camps show. You can sign up on NFL.com for that. A very good content from our friends at NFL media for the next couple of hours here. Saquon Barkley's comments on Sunday, certainly I think pointed out that they are not close. They're not really on the same page right now in terms of the negotiations, but at least as I keep saying, there are negotiations, which is not always the case with franchise tag players.
Where does this end with Saquon Barkley and what's the number in your mind that it takes to get this done? So I kind of didn't think his comments were that negative. I mean, I guess you could read some of the comments and choose some are negative, but like I'm kind of with you, like they are talking. He didn't say no deal is happening. He just said, we have a lot of time until July. I'm not going to anything until we get to July. And I was kind of like, Oh, like that's good.
Right? I mean, that basically is kind of like where you want to be. Um, you know, if he gets into the, I mean, I don't know what we'll get it done, but I would imagine, you know, past 13, maybe 14, maybe more, I don't know. Um, there's some, there's some good running back contracts out there. Um, there are players who are worth it. I believe he is a player that's worth it. I also believe the giants are not going to extend past.
They're comfortable to me. There is a deal to be made here. I don't know if it's going to happen, but at least they are speaking the same language and both sides want the same outcome, which is for him to be there for awhile.
So we'll see what happens in July, but at least there is a shot. Ian, thank you very much for coming on. We will be watching you on NFL plus as soon as the show ends, probably the highest rated portion of your show. I'll talk to you later.
Probably not. Uh, it's Ian Rappaport, my NFL network colleague there. There's a, there's a lot of superstar player storylines right now, which is kind of fun.
It's a little annoying for those of us who'd like to take a break, who cover this year round. Uh, but we're here where you're sitting on June 13th and you've got, we're talking about Dalvin cook, Deandre Hopkins, Saquon Barkley, to a lesser extent, Josh Jacobs too, which we'd be talking about a lot if Saquon weren't also sitting out there with everything that's going on, uh, right now with Las Vegas, you know, with the, the Deandre Hopkins situation, Ian's right. Like there is the pen, the potential that something could ramp up quickly at revisits the Patriots. Bill O'Brien got the best out of him when they were together in Houston. There's obviously the connection in Tennessee with Mike Vrabel as well. In my mind, Tennessee makes so much sense for Deandre Hopkins because they desperately need another wide receiver. They need some type of a playmaker on the outside. I know that they've got Treyland Burks who was pretty good.
He showed flashes last year when he was healthy, but you still need another receiving threat to kind of balance out the perimeter and take advantage of those match-ups that you get when you've got a Derrick Henry running the football here. So we'll see where it ends. But at this point, Ian's right. I mean, the mini camps wrap up for a lot of teams tomorrow. If they haven't already called them off yet, the latest teams are going is Thursday. Then you're into that six weeks prior to training camp here.
And as much as a player may want to know where he's playing, there's really not necessarily a lot of urgency to get in a building because nobody's in the building for several weeks. Meanwhile, with Delvin Cook, again, the biggest upshot there, and you know, Ian pointed out Miami Denver. There's been a lot of talk about those teams. There definitely are other teams where potentially they could get in the mix here, but it's not, it's going to be costly. I mean, you heard Delvin in our interview say, you know, I want to go somewhere where I'm valued. I want to go where I'm valued. Does that mean 11 million, which is what he was doing in Minnesota?
That'd be great. I don't know that it gets there, but it's definitely going to be a significant contract. I do not see Delvin Cook coming in and playing for five, six, $7 million. I think it's going to take a real contract to get him on a team cause he's got $2 million guaranteed.
He can afford to be patient. He said his doctors cut him loose in terms of the shoulder, which was a significant thing. I mean, did you hear what he was saying about all the things like figuring out how to fall and that?
That's crazy. We've all seen those, the clips, like there were a handful of times where he fumbled and it was always the same thing. It was either he got hit right on the shoulder or he got hit a certain way and then he came down on the ball and it popped out.
You erase those types of things. He's 27 years old. He's had four straight 1,000 yard seasons with one arm.
There's a possibility here that we're going to see the best Delvin Cook that we've seen. And I understand it from Minnesota's perspective, he wasn't going to work out a pay cut. They didn't want to pay a running back $11 million. They re-signed Alexander Madison for 3.5 and he also wasn't going to rework it to go to any other team.
So it trades next to impossible at that point. We'll see though, somebody is getting a pretty good running back coming up. Rex Hoggard Golf Channel coming up right after this US Open starting this week. Conspiracy theories, paranormal, UFOs. Science teacher Andrew Greenwood stated that a child ran into his classroom and was hysterically screaming and talking about the flying saucer outside. Hundreds of children ran out of their classrooms to go outside and see this unidentified flying object that was just above the school. Just imagine a bunch of kids running out of school. Most of them probably just ran home. Theories of the third kind on YouTube or wherever you listen.
