REShow: Hour 1 (7-5-2023)

Welcome to the program. Great to have you with us on the day after all of this. All of those fireworks that I'm sure cut into your REM cycle just like Uncle Brian, but will not slow us down. Memo to my neighbors. We do not live in a war zone. I appreciate pyrotechnics, but some of us have to work this week while challenging.

Try to go to bed at a reasonable hour when the entire area is on fire. But we are feeling good. We got a ton to get to. It's a jam-packed Wednesday. I'll always create opportunities to get you involved. We took a phone call yesterday.

I believe that's historic. I have not taken a call as I've had the wonderful opportunity to be in for Rich and the fellas throughout most of the major holidays in quite some time. So, let's maintain that momentum. 844-204-7424.

I give out the number with the goal in mind to get you to pick up the phone, but I realize, because I do come with a lot of content, if you want to chill in the shadows of social media and not directly participate, you can lob some ideas my way on Twitter. That's B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. I think we have a winning game plan established so we're not going to mess things up and ever overwhelm you with guests. In fact, none again today until we get deep into the program. Coming up, hour number two, 1.20 Eastern Time. In addition to the NBA, I'm going to talk in 20 minutes. And yes, we're mixing it up. I have a sense when the audience gets full, like I was full of fireworks last night, after about a half hour, somebody could have shut it down.

Still, nobody in my neighborhood cares that I'm a working man out here. We're going to jump right in talking baseball and a terrible, awful, no good day for the Angels and what the implications of what happened yesterday mean for the rest of MLB as we close in on the trade deadline. But, as I mentioned, just two good guests coming up, 1.20 Eastern Time will take you across the NBA. There are a few remaining free agent moves that have yet to come together.

Plus, we remain on Damian Lillard. Watch, watch, watch, watch. Looking forward to checking in with Jonathan Von Tobol of Vison. That is a regal name.

Sounds like he could be a Duke in Liechtenstein. And then we'll wrap up the program. Final content block, 2.40 Eastern Time. We'll talk about NFL free agents that still are looking for homes, namely DeAndre Hopkins, Dalvin Cook. Is Ezekiel Elliott going to go back to Dallas at a discount? We'll take you through all of the big talking points as we're closing in on the start of NFL training camps. I realize this is a slow period in the NFL if there is one that fits that description. But I'm looking forward to checking in with Trevor Sikkema, who does a marvelous job of tracking the NFL for pro football focus.

844-204-7424, the number to call. Hopefully by now, if you've endured my performance filling in for Rich, you know my mindset. I move quickly.

I got a lot to get into. But I'm also dealing with the bird of expectations. This is an Emmy-nominated show.

Thankfully, from your perspective, you don't have to soak in the visage on a big word Wednesday, because there's no simulcast on the Roku channel. But nobody does it better than Rich, and he does it family-style. So I have to measure up to what Rich has done in our industry for decades, along with the camaraderie offered by Brockman and TJ and Del Tufo. So, can I step my game up? We'll find out together. The good news is, I've already been scheduled to come back tomorrow, and don't tell anybody.

I'll be here Friday as well. So I think I have a little bit of job security, but like a major league pitcher, segue, you're only as good as your last outing. And yesterday, because I don't want to overwhelm you with nonsensical NBA conversation. I will be transparent. Again, if you've heard me in the past on any of the shows I fill in for, or any number of now-defunct Brian Weber shows that have been canceled on a variety of platforms, I try to be up front with you. I consume a lot of sports media.

That was my interest in getting into the business. And theoretically, I should have evolved over the years, but I guess I'm just that shallow. So when I'm not on the air, I watch a lot of other shows. I'm not purloining. I'm not stealing content, but I like to get a sense of other opinions as I frame my own perspective. And candidly, during a holiday week, I want to get a sense of what other people deem newsworthy. Because if you just were to go through, not a newspaper, I know you're not 117 years old, that's my act, but just log on to any website, there's not a lot of, as I channel my inner Larry King, there's not a lot of news news.

There's a lot of contrived what-if scenarios. So I'm not getting to the NBA for about 15 minutes, because I do get a sense, as I read your tweets, and you can hit me up on the old Twitter machine, B.W. Weber, Weber with two Bs, I'm Brian Weber, Ain't For Rich, Wednesday edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

Some of you have hit the wall when it comes to the endless cycle of speculation about Damian Lillard. So when we get there coming up in 15 minutes, I have a different perspective, plus I need you to hang with me, another 30 seconds, another 60 seconds, we're all on the clock together. But if you enjoyed yesterday's program, I spent a good chunk of time talking baseball, again, could be an antiquated point of view, because I got my start a long time ago when baseball was still king, but part of me feels like on the 4th of July and this entire week, heading into the All-Star break, especially with the renaissance of the grand old game, the pitch clock has been a wonderful addition. Baseball is much more watchable.

It's a good piece of content, for a lack of a better term. That's not the reason why, for all the challenges baseball is having, and they're going through the same thing the rest of our business is with cord cutting, remember, baseball, however you consume it, if your local regional sports network no longer exists, baseball has the phenomenal economic advantage of effectively being 162 episodes of TV. That's why even if you watch a game, there's 12 people there, no need for a GoFundMe for the owners, baseball has never been healthier financially, because we're all looking for content, because we have more platforms than ever, and everybody needs a hook to get you to stop as you're flipping around mindlessly. But, in addition to my goal this week, to talk more baseball, I couldn't avoid the Angels yesterday, and it's not just geographic bias, as I come to you from the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger.

Rich has been the king of Southern California since he took his talents to LA in 2003 as the first on-air performer for NFL Network. This is not me being lazy and thinking about, okay, I watch the Angels a lot, let me force a national audience to hang in there with me because I didn't do any research or did not prepare. Mike Trout, two nights ago, winced in obvious pain as he fouled a pitch off in San Diego, and the timing of this program did not align with the announcement that came out about a half hour after we got off the air that the Angels made it official when they took the first step, putting Trout on the injured list. That's just the formality. It's going to be, it seems like, a much longer situation than merely the ten days that come with being on the aisle. In fact, the broken bone in his hand could have Trout sidelined anywhere from a month to eight weeks, and there's still the possibility of surgery.

Not good. That was all coming into focus before the game started, and yes, I watched the game, in part because it was on TBS. I like to get the national perspective as well. Secondly, I love any game played at Petco Park. I'm not doing my Mount Rushmore of stadiums, but if you want to have a destination vacation, even if you don't care about baseball that much, especially now with the pitch clock, in person, the game really moves.

Make a point of going to San Diego. In addition to all of the charm of the ballpark, there's so much to do in and around Petco, so the game's on and there's a good crowd, and San Diego's drawing, even though they've been the second biggest disappointment in all of baseball, second only to the Mets, they still have loads of star power. That's what makes their situation all the more puzzling because they're pitching well, they just can't hit despite having all the marquee names you know about with Machado and the rest of folks that would look good on your fantasy or rotisserie baseball squad. But watching the game last night, it was pretty clear Otani didn't have it. And this came before he left the game with the health concern that we found out pretty quickly afterwards was just, quote unquote, a blister. Now I say air quotes because it's not my finger, but when he had to have the visit from the trainer on the mound, you're thinking, this is not good.

And he left immediately. I was just holding my breath to a degree, and we're going to link it to a macro review of what Otani means to baseball and why he should be generating much more national attention in a moment. It does point out, however you view MLB now or if it's just not your thing, if you're listening to this beyond my very compelling personality and over enunciation, I'm guessing you like sports. And I think the primary reason we're all drawn to it, in addition to most of us played as long as we could for me, I maxed out in the eighth grade.

I'd even make it to high school football. That was it for me, as we said goodbye in junior high, but it reminds us of a better time in our life. And then beyond that, it's all about celebrating excellence. Look, any day we all spend above ground is a good day. But if you think about most of your routines, let's take the rhythms of a holiday week out of the purpose of this discussion. Starting next Monday, you're going to get up at the same time that you're probably going to get up on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Probably going to have a similar breakfast.

Probably going to take the same driving route to work. Are you picking up what I'm putting down? Life can be monotonous. Why do we love sports? It's bigger than us.

It celebrates excellence and achievement. And it's thoroughly unexpected. It's the old cliche of drama without a script. So we should be appreciating Otani every time he plays because, given the fact we have literally not seen this level of performance since a fella named Babe Ruth. This is a once in a century kind of happening. We know this is not sustainable.

There's a reason nobody else has even attempted this in decades. Because of the inherent challenges of going out and being one of the best hitters in all of baseball. Reminder, Otani's got 31 home runs and today is a significant day for the Japanese star. Happy birthday, Shohei. Turning 29 years old today.

Another reason why I wanted to deviate briefly from the NBA. If I was Haki Magoo, I would ask you to give me a call at 844-204-7424. What do you get for Otani? What kind of birthday present is fitting for the man who quite literally has everything other than much more money than he's going to get in the off season when he becomes a free agent and can do anything? But when I saw Otani need that visit to the mound from the trainer and leave immediately, I just had that moment of thinking, oh no, is this going to be something serious? And maybe I was prisoner of the moment, having spent a good portion of yesterday's program talking about Mike Trout, also watching that game because the Angels just can't get out of their own way. Maybe we can talk about the curse of the Angels somehow. It's connected to Walt Disney and Anaheim and Pirates of the Caribbean.

I'll leave that for you on social media. They also lost their third baseman, another guy who's overpaid because that's what the Angels have consistently done, Anthony Rendon. Rendon went out with a shin contusion. So while this is a mild injury for Otani, strong possibility it means he's not going to pitch in the All-Star Game, which is another missed opportunity for baseball because even though All-Star Game ratings are a fraction of what they used to be, you still have a chance for a casual fan to flip on by and learn more about the Otani story, which they should be fully versed on by now. But because baseball does a miserable job at marketing its stars, it gets me back to my central point.

Shohei Otani, undeniably, is underrated. And some of this is the byproduct of where we are as a sports culture, and I don't want to belabor the fact that I'm nostalgic, and I don't believe everything was better in the past, but that's my frame of reference. If Otani was pitching in the late 1980s, early 1990s, and in the top five in strikeouts, leading all of baseball in home runs, top three in RBI, he would be the biggest star in all of sports. And now, clearly he's the biggest name in baseball, but what does that really get you? Because we just don't appreciate baseball the way we used to, from a national point of view, because football consumes everything in its path.

So thankfully, it was a minor issue. No need to work on a baseball obituary with the blister, but it just got me thinking last night. We should be appreciating Otani far more than we are as a collective. He should be celebrated in much more vivid detail, because he can't tell me he's not underrated. And I'm not doing my list of all-time underrated athletes, but in some ways, there's a comparison to, say, Tim Duncan.

Now, it's going to sound like a stretch, but just follow me here. Tim Duncan never said anything by his own plan. I interviewed Tim Duncan when he was getting ready to play for the U.S. national team, international competition, coached by Stanford's coach at the time, Mike Montgomery, and this was after Tim had already graduated from Wake Forest. So, young guy making his way into the NBA, because what do you know?

The Spurs somehow always find a way to get a transcendent big bet, from the Admiral to Duncan, and now, Wembley Mania running wild with the French sensation, getting set to make his Vegas Summer League debut on Friday. Tim Duncan, at the age of 22, in a very casual setting, I was the only reporter there, in a very friendly atmosphere. I didn't come over and ambush him. I did not ask any hard questions. He said four words because he just did not enjoy the interview process, which is fine. That's his choice. Well, Otani has a personality, as we see through his interplay with his interpreter, as we see in the dugout when the Angels have their wacky Viking celebration, but Otani, unfortunately with the language barrier, doesn't have the ability to be highlighted in as many interviews as he would if he was an English speaker. That's a thought. Secondly, the reason I feel like Duncan is underrated, if I said to you, who's the greatest power forward of all time?

Shouldn't take you that long to get to Duncan, but for whatever reason, because he did not have the most effervescent personality, because we hold it against him that he's quote unquote part of the San Antonio system, I don't know that Duncan gets the level of celebration he deserves. But back to Otani, as we wind down this thought on the most interesting player in all of baseball and should be one of the biggest stars in all of sports, and he's not. What does the Mike Trout injury mean for Otani and the Angels in the near term? Trade deadline coming up August 1st. This team has been hanging around in the wildcard conversation, but they lost again last night to San Diego.

Here's what's coming up. They'll renew the freeway series rivalry at the Dodgers. Dodgers have a better roster. Then they take on the reigning world champs, talking about the Angels facing the Astros. Then they take on the Yankees. Aaron Judge could be back by then. Then they take on the Pirates, who are better than you think, even though the overall body of work in the annual central is lousy. If the Angels implode without Mike Trout, even though he's having a pedestrian year by his standards, he's hitting less than 270. If the Angels fall apart in the next three weeks, don't they owe it to themselves to seriously shop Otani? Because he's going to get paid wherever he goes, but he's also made it clear, winning is a priority. Ask Mike Trout what you're going to win if you spend a decade with the Angels.

And the answer is, bupkis. So we'll talk about potential landing spots for Otani. With the understanding it'll be a rental, because this is his walk year. Give me a team other than the usual suspects, which include the Braves, who have more talent with eight All-Stars and more depth than anybody. 8-4-4, 2-0-4, 7-4-2-4. We'll get back to the baseball coming up an hour from now, but I did want to make sure I didn't just continue to hammer away, hammer away, hammer away on Damon Loward. That said, one adventurer guess as to what's coming up. To the Blazers, owe it to Dave, to send him to Miami.

I have thoughts on the word obligation, plus, because I'm doing my best to frame this differently and give you perspectives you might not have heard elsewhere, can you make a strong argument Loward would be a better fit on the Sixers than the Heat? It's all coming up, we just did 20 minutes together on baseball, and I hope I spoon fed it to you in an entertaining fashion as I perform the self high five. Hit me up on Twitter, B.W.

Weber, Weber with two B's, just getting warmed up on a very busy Wednesday, always a delight to be in for Rich, I'm Brian Weber, it's the Rich Eisen Show. Are you currently enjoying the show on the Stitcher app? Then you need to know Stitcher is going away on August 29th.

Yep, going away as in Kaput gone dead. Rest in peace Stitcher and thanks for 15 years of service to the podcast community. So switch to another podcast app and follow this show there.

Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show radio network. Brian Weber with you. I am sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickrainger.com or just stop by.

844-204-7424 is the phone number. Twitter is still functioning. I keep checking with a optimistic frame of mind after all of the hiccups this weekend, but we're humming along on the old tweet deck B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's.

No guests in this first hour. Coming up in just under an hour because I super-sized that monologue. We're going to talk more NBA when we say hello to Jonathan von Tobel.

He's a senior NBA analyst and host for Vson. Coming up in 20 minutes we'll talk football. It's the silly season with a slow week when it comes to actual news in the NFL as these are the only weeks in which executives and real news makers can step away before things ramp up with the start of training camp coming up at the end of the month. ESPN ranked all of the rosters just talking about pure talent, not coaching, the players themselves top to bottom. I thought the selection of the second worst roster in all of football was pretty jarring.

Details coming up. Let's head back to the NBA and I'm not trying to be too self-congratulatory, but some of this also is a byproduct of being a solo performer and that's why Rich is shrewd because he wants to show when he's here I think to sound more like a bunch of friends talking sports. So when you have Brockman and T.J. and Mike it has a different vibe than I have a microphone and you will listen to me.

But I realize the audience is always changing and it's my responsibility to come up with different ways of discussing the same topic. And if you're tired of Damian Lillard I fully understand I have some bad news for you. I don't think we're going to have resolution with Lillard winding up in Miami which I do think is going to happen at least for this week. I think this will spill over into next week and if you're just looking at it from a purely pragmatic standpoint, what's the rush for Portland? There's no deadline whatsoever. Not even a made up deadline because it's the first week of July. I guess the only thing that would be the tipping point would be the start of training camps in October because you don't want players showing up and being asked across the NBA, hey how are things looking?

Here's my follow up. Would you like to have Damian Lillard as your new teammate? That's the only thing that would provide any urgency. And Portland is doing what a responsible franchise should do by slow playing this and trying to get as many compelling offers as they can to make sure that they fulfill their obligation to themselves as a franchise to maximize the trade value of the face of the franchise because they're losing the only dependable performer they've had for a long time on a team that's been less than stuck in the middle for far too long. I applaud the loyalty of Damian Lillard. He has tried to make it work and the only recourse he had to get the Blazers to upgrade the roster and get more help was to threaten to leave. But we've been having the Lillard conversation for several summers and I say that to you as a veteran of doing sports talk when the marquee host have a chance to step away as they well deserve that opportunity because they're in it every day.

But Lillard I think was extraordinarily patient, probably waited too long, burned a couple of years in his prime. So at this point, it's clear both sides want to make it as amicable as possible. Portland would like to fulfill the trade request.

Remember, it's not a demand. First of all, let's just get into the semantics. Other than Damian Lillard speaking for himself on podcast, and he's been asked hypotheticals about what about Miami? What about Brooklyn?

And he didn't knock down Brooklyn as the destination. And we'll talk about the significance of that in a moment. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen.

Wednesday installment of the program, you can slide in at 844-204-7424 or we're open for business on Twitter, BWWeber, Weber with two B's. Everything else that has been couched in the framework of news is the byproduct product of strategic leaks. And that's how it works. So you have Dames Camp leaking on Saturday. It's official. He wants out official again.

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. And then you have the follow up primarily from Shamshiranya that Miami is the only place he's really interested in going. But it wasn't an ultimatum.

It was just crystallizing what we all knew to be true. It's the preferred destination. At the same time, we're getting a leak from the Portland point of view that the initial offer, reportedly from Miami, with the headline being Tyler Herro leading the way, perhaps with Duncan Robinson and the slew of picks.

Well, Portland apparently is an interested hero. They just don't think he's a good fit with all the young talent led by Scoot Henderson, who's going to be the ball-centric dominant player on that team after they believed in him enough to take him with the third overall pick. If you've not seen Scoot play, check out the YouTube highlights and check out what he's going to do in summer league. This guy is going to be an all-star for many years. Dynamic talent. How'd you like to be Tyler Herro right now? So they clearly don't watch you. Now, it's not an anti-Tyler. It's a much more pro Damien lowered. But Miami's put his name out there.

Portland's made it clear they're not interested. Gotta be a real self-esteem boost. Good thing his last name is Herro. If your last name's Herro, you gotta believe in yourself, right?

You're walking down the street with your shoulders thrown back. So now we're looking at a third team. Maybe a fourth team. I mentioned the Nets. Well, they got loads of assets because they've already gone through what Portland is currently experiencing. When Durant won it out.

When Kyrie won it out. So they've piled up all of those draft assets. And now Brooklyn, because we're in this silly season of NBA speculation, according to reports, is just joining the cavalcade of names being thrown out there. And there's a report that's been floated saying the only way Brooklyn will play ball to get this done as a three team deal is if somebody will take Ben Simmons. Somebody.

Anybody. Because at this stage of his career, he's just a non-entity. He can't stay healthy. And unfortunately, it appears his confidence is still shot. I know he actually played. Relevant, productive minutes briefly this season for the Nets.

I saw it with my own eyes. But you have to have major concerns about what Simmons is going to do for anybody moving forward. So that's where we stand right now. But as I go back to the word O, does Portland owe Damian Lillard anything? Now, if we're just talking about what's the right thing. Ethics, for lack of a better term.

We're getting deep on a Wednesday. Certainly, I think they would like to send him to Miami as a thank you for the years of service. But contractually, they don't owe him anything. And I gave you the conventional wisdom in the NBA. Not only do we know it factually, I'll give you a couple exceptions coming up, but the vast majority of the time when a superstar wants out and he's got a preferred destination, he gets it. We just know that's the reality of a modern NBA. In fact, the NBA for decades going back to Kareem wanting to come back to Southern California after he won the title in Milwaukee, forced his way off the Bucks and was able to duplicate the success he had at UCLA with the Lakers with his glorious career. So that's what we're working with under the what do we accept as a fact. But it doesn't have to be that way.

There are exceptions. There's also the notion that if Portland doesn't do the right thing, well, the next time a superstar has the option to go to Portland and not many have chosen to do that. And that's not bashing Portland. One of my favorite cities and a great basketball town. If you've got to a blazer game, you know how electric the atmosphere can be in whatever they call in that building now, the motor center.

But to me, it's always going to be the Rose Garden. So there's also the standpoint of protecting your brand. And you don't want to have the reception because clearly it's a small collective of transcendent players in the NBA who matter. They talk their friends.

They are basically CEOs of their own corporation. Portland does not want to be perceived as being unfriendly to superstars. Another reason why they should find a way that Lillard winds up in Miami, even if we're talking about a third team or a fourth team. But if this thing drags out, and I think it's going to, there's the real possibility of another team that we've not talked about jumping in.

And I've tried to be exhaustive, giving you all the possibilities. How about Utah? Danny Ainge is a master deal maker, able to get four first round picks for Rudy Gobert. And if you're the Blazers, it's got to be at least four first round picks because that's the precedent not only set by Gobert, that was just a fleece job in that deal. But think about the terms of Kevin Durant going to Phoenix, four first round picks among other assets involved. But I've given you the Nets, the Sixers, the Spurs as an outlier. What about the Celtics? Isn't it interesting that Boston and Jalen Brown have not come to terms on his supermax contract? We're going to hit pause on the NBA here.

I'm going to get you my thoughts on that lack of movement coming up at the top of the hour and the implications. But just to get some finality here, Paul George made it clear he wanted to be a Laker. Where did he wind up when he was jettisoned from Indianapolis? They sent him to Oklahoma City. All we heard for years was Donovan Mitchell wants to go home to the New York tri-state area and play for the Knicks. Where did he go? Cleveland. So the Blazers don't owe it to Damian Lillard to do anything for him. There's no obligation. At the same time, there are radical differences between the relationship over the years forged by Lillard and the team to the situation that George had at the end of his run in Indy and likewise with Mitchell and Utah.

But I'm just trying to give you other thoughts so I'm not just going through the trade machine sin over and over and over again. Dame is taking his talents to South Beach. 8-4-4-2-0-4, 7-4-2-4 the number to call.

You can tweet at me, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. We'll return to the NBA in just over 20 minutes to tip off our number two of the program straight ahead.

As mentioned, ESPN, ranked the best rosters in the NFL top to bottom, is a recent, and I'm not talking that long ago, a recent Super Bowl champion, really the second least attractive team in all of football. That's coming up. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Brian Weber back with you always having a good time when I'm in for Rich and the guys. We're live, we'll do it live on this Wednesday. Rich Eisen Show's phone number never changes. 844-204-7424.

Twitter is your most straightforward path to expressing your opinion. That's B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's, getting closer to our number two of the show. We're going to ease into the second hour of the program heading back to the NBA. I haven't talked to a lot of Lakers.

I do my best with a national audience not to be too locally myopic. Still, one of the biggest brands in all of sports has their home here in the Southland. Conventional wisdom says the Lakers did very well in free agency.

I have no life and I try to look at as many resources as I can. I went through about four or five different NBA analysts grading free agency so far and the consensus at the Lakers lead the way. I'm seeing grades like B+, A-. I'm more of a skeptic. I'll tell you why coming up in 15 minutes. My opinion does not matter.

There is a fellow who does have an opinion that resonates. How should LeBron James feel about the move so far? We'll get there coming up and then we'll say hello to our first guest. 1-20 Eastern Time as we'll build on the NBA monologue and welcome in Jonathan Von Tobol, V-Sin, senior NBA analyst and host. If you're a football fan, I'm always going to make sure we satisfy your football jones. Coming up an hour from now, despite all of the buzz surrounding Aaron Rodgers and if you haven't heard he's now a Jet and if you haven't had enough coverage you're going to have to endure the Jets on hard knocks. AFC East feels like every show I turn on they have supplanted the Cowboys if possible talking J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets and I realize who I'm filling in for and I understand the team of Rich Eisen's childhood.

I'm going to tread lightly but coming up in an hour. Are we really buying that the AFC East is the best division in the NFL? I have a contrary opinion that is on the horizon. So it's time of the year when we have lists. Mount Rushmore's and even the great Joey Chestnut led a lot of programs yesterday.

Thankfully I had better things to do although we acknowledged his brilliance in the rain at the end of the show. ESPN this week with their ranking of all 32 NFL rosters not coaching involved. They're just looking at the analytics, pure talent and we've arrived in an era in which you can run the numbers and come up with your own analysis that is not necessarily connected to Pro Bowls or subjective evaluations. In fact coming up in the final hour of the program looking forward to my first conversation with Trevor Sikkema who does a nice job of covering the NFL for Pro Football Focus.

If you've been to that site with Chris Collingsworth the lead investor you know that's their entire business model. They evaluate everything with data-driven analysis and handout grades that we didn't have years ago for example interior line play. But I'm getting bogged down in minutia looking at the rankings and I'll skip the top for now because the better story I learned a long time ago in my early days of being a quote-unquote sports journalist.

Yes a paradox like jumbo shrimp. The better story is in the losing locker room. So according to ESPN the worst roster in all the football resides in the valley of the sun.

Arizona Cardinals checking in at number 32. You can't dispute that and you got the question mark surrounding Kyler Murray coming back from the torn ACL. Although everything I read throughout OTAs and players who are brought to the podium once they are asked about their own position any good reporter is going to do the follow-up. Hey I saw Kyler running around out there because Murray's not been talking and he's not always the most open guy with the media.

Everything I'm reading indicates Murray is making the right kind of progress on track to see him week one of the regular season. Still this was a team that had limitations beyond the quarterback position before Murray went down with the torn ACL and you got the coaching change. Although I was never a huge believer in Cliff Kingsbury but I'm now violating the parameters of this list.

This is talent only. So even though Jonathan Gannon didn't do much to impress in his introductory press conference that's not supposed to factor in. We're just looking at the actual lineup of players. Cardinals worst roster in all of football. At number 31 and this really did surprise me although I can understand the thought process ESPN has the Rams.

Now just take a step back. When you think about the Rams lately obviously you have the Super Bowl victory and multiple Super Bowl appearances but I always think especially because I follow the draft closely and most people do it's a way we don't have to talk about spring training and a lot of us not me I love college basketball a lot of shows don't want to talk about anything other than March Madness. So in lieu of breaking down the Big Ten when you're in February we're on the path to the draft. When I think about the Rams I think about Les Snead chanting F them picks and he looked like the man who had made the right decision by going all in to maximize the window going to the Super Bowl twice and winning a Lombardi Trophy and part of that was a business decision with the team returning to Southern California and having to sell seats at that Taj Mahalo football over by LAX International Airport. Well that bill has come due and I can't necessarily disagree as I was looking at the depth chart this morning. Rams don't have a lot of dudes anymore. Now of course you're going to think about Aaron Donald who's been more injury prone but Bobby Wagner left Jalen Ramsey left. Offensive side of the football yes instantly you're going to think about how Cooper Cupp has maximized his skill set. Certainly not the most talented dude in the NFL but few players have his ability to come up with a catch in a moment when it's needed the most. You even know who the running back is for your Los Angeles Rams?

Cam Akers. All right they brought back Sony Michel and to me the biggest indictment of the Rams was the contract extension they gave for no reason to Matthew Stafford. Yes he did his job to be the starting quarterback of a Super Bowl winning team. He did not win that Super Bowl for the Rams. He threw a ton of picks that season if you go back and look because that's what Matthew Stafford has done every stage of his career.

He's a turnover machine. Oh by the way how do the Lions look since Matthew Stafford left? And how does Jared Goff now look in Detroit?

And if you want to say I am comparing apples and pomegranates let's just focus on Goff during his time in LA. He played in the Super Bowl as well. Now he wasn't the reason why the Rams made it to the big game. In fact that was a better roster because Todd Gurley was the featured back and won NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors with a very rugged defense with a younger and more impactful Aaron Donald. But if the goal is to squeeze everything you can out of your quote unquote Super Bowl window at some point you're gonna have to pay the price and that bill has come due and here are the Rams still in business with Stafford now a year older finished last season on the IR. Remember he came into the year with questions about his elbow and yes I read all the breathless reports Matthew Stafford looks good in OTAs.

Okay let's find out on the field because he does not have anything close to a resounding supporting cast. In fact ESPN has the Rams with the second worst roster in all of football and remembered the division in which they play 49ers on the short list one of five teams that I think has the best chance of winning the Super Bowl. Seattle defied expectations maybe an aberration but also shows you that Geno Smith had something left and that team believed in him. Let me complete my thought if you're wondering about who has the best roster in all of football. Don't think too hard. Who won the Super Bowl?

It's the Chiefs followed by the Eagles, Bills, Dolphins and Bengals. I'm Brian Weber winding down here in the first hour of the program getting ready for hour number two. I'm glad we got to the football and we'll revisit what's happening across the NFL. Final other program 240 eastern time when we check in which covers Sycamore a pro football focus. Straight ahead back to the NBA we'll take a break from game talk.

Why has Jalen Brown not signed his supermax contract extension with the Celtics yet and how should LeBron feel about the Lakers free agent moves? All that and more as we continue. Always a delight to be in for Rich. I'm Brian Weber. This is the Rich Eisen Show. How wrestling really works and how you get the ratings. Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson explain on 83 weeks. Collision has been struggling a little bit out of the gate with these ticket sales. A little bit out of the gate. This was a major show announced at a major network with what everybody thought was this huge star CM Punk. I said he was going to be the biggest financial flop in wrestling history and I think I'm being proven right every minute of the day. 83 weeks on YouTube or wherever you listen.