REShow: Damien Woody - Hour 2

What is it about the running back position that seemingly fight for value in a way that other positions have not been forced to? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Let's compare.

If I'm looking at some of the backup receivers out here that are still making more than me and I'm the starter, I get more carries, I touch the ball more, I have more of an impact, that's going to piss me off. Earlier on the show, five-time World Series Champion David Cone. Coming up, ESPN NFL analyst Damian Woody, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Yes, hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

Great chat with David Cone in hour number one. He does not think the Angels have, as he said, the stomach to trade Shelly Otani. That's what David Samson said.

Didn't think Arden Moreno has the guts to do it. I'm gonna dive into that subject. By the way, not just later on in the show, every day between now and August 1st. Yeah, yeah. What else are we talking about? He's on the mound tonight, so he is indeed against the Astros, who are five in front of the Angels. Big series. It is, and then the Yankees come into town and he'll take the mound against them as well. And they're four back of the Yanks. Astros and Blue Jays have the same record. They hold the final two wildcard spots. Orioles up five on those guys. They're so good. Orioles have the same amount of losses as the Rays.

I think the Orioles end up winning that division. I do too. I love watching them play. They're really good.

Really fun. The O's, as they might say in Baltimore. And there's two O's in our next guest's name. I have no other way to make the transition. Well done. I'm sorry.

I don't know how else to do it. Formerly of the New York Jets and your Patriots, Chris, where I guess he, you know, he did something like win the Super Bowl. Cool. In between sports centers, fresh off a first take today from the worldwide leader in sports, Damian Woody, back here on the Rich Isaac Show. How you been, Damian? I'm good, brother. How you doing, man? I'm doing great.

I am doing just fine and dandy. Why don't the Jets want to do hard knocks, Damian? Why?

I don't know, Rich. I mean, honestly, I thought I had, listen, when we did it back in 2010, it was a blast. It really was, man. It was, obviously, we had a lot of juicy storylines with Reeves' holdout and, you know, all the different characters and personalities we had on team. But the one thing that Rex talked about was, man, let's, if we're going to do it, let's, let's, let's go all the way with it. Let's have some fun with it. You know, we did all types of crazy stuff. Shake weights and all, you know, pranks and, you know, you had everything in there, man. And so I think sometimes these guys, I know there's a lot of pressure on, you know, on the Jets this year when you're acquiring Aaron Rodgers and everybody wants to be, you know, kind of buckled up and everything, but this is an opportunity, man, to kind of expose and let everybody see what this organization is really all about.

So just embrace it and have fun with it. Well, I mean, they made the splashiest splash of the off-season, if not the last few off-seasons, and I understand what happened the previous off-season with Tyreek Hill going to the Dolphins and Devante Adams going to the Raiders, even though Rodgers did return to Green Bay, but this is as big as it gets. And I'm, there won't be a situation where an NFL film's camera is in front of Rodgers and he says, turn it off, and the guy or lady holding the camera says, turn it off. The lady holding the camera says, tough.

So you want to go ahead and lay out for those listening and watching right now? What is it like to be on Hard Knocks, Damian? Yeah, man, listen, I think that the, first of all, the people at NFL films, they're the best in the business. They do a really good job of kind of blending in behind the scenes and making you feel really uncomfortable. And then they're not going to ask you to do anything that you're really not comfortable doing.

You know, that's the thing that a lot of people need to understand about this. They're very accommodating. They understand that you're in training camp and you're in a grind and all those types of things. So, you know, when they do request to talk to you and, you know, some players want to get it more than others, they're very conscientious of your time and, and you going about your business. So it's, it's, it's a pretty cool environment.

They, you know, they stay behind the scenes, do their thing. And ultimately when the product comes out, man, it's really cool. I mean, it's really cool, man. So again, I had a great time with it and I know a lot of other guys on the team did as well. And the, you, as you mentioned, when the Jets were on Hard Knocks, Reavis was holding out and I do remember that was pretty damn awkward.

And certainly from a fan's point of view, watching it infuriating. And so with the news yesterday that the Jets signed Quinnen Williams and that he's as happy as, as Rogers, that's, that's, that's huge, Damian. That was huge to get to check that box.

Yeah, man, it's huge for, for a variety of reasons. Number one, you know, obviously you don't have the awkwardness of not having, you know, Quinn, uh, locked up long-term. He'll put, you know, if that situation hadn't played itself out the way it did, he would have been, uh, you know, one of them, uh, what's it called, like a lock-in, uh, what would guys do now that, you know, it would have been a situation like that.

But now all of that is off the table. You got your best player signed to a long-term deal. And by, oh, by the way, this, I think this is like the first time in, I don't know how long with the Jets where, you know, they had a first round guy, homegrown talent to move, to, to sign to a, a second contract, which is big for the, big for the Jets organization. So you don't have to worry about that distraction moving forward. Damian Woody from ESPN here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Okay. So, um, the one thing that concerns me about how it's not going to work out is that line up front, because nobody talks about that. We're all talking about Rogers and how he got a lot of the receivers that he's familiar with and happy with and Breece Hall coming back. Nobody talks about that line up front.

Obviously you can, so go for it. What's going on there, do you think? Well, I think that's the biggest question mark with the Jets, to be honest with you, is the offensive line.

Um, you know, I think, you know, the one thing, it's not for a lack of resources. I think Joe Douglas is, since he's become the general manager of the Jets, he's poured a lot of resources into the office line. Uh, I think they got a lot more depth than they did last year, but they got some question marks, you know, particularly at the offensive tackle position, you got 38 year old Dwayne Brown, who's coming back off a torn, uh, rotated cuff.

So, you know, at that age, you gotta wonder, you know, can he hold up for 17 games this year? And then obviously McCobb Beckton, who, you know, the former first round pick Joe Douglas is, you know, first, you know, pick as a general manager, uh, he's missed basically two years of football. Um, he's in great shape by the way, he's in terrific shape, but anytime you've missed two years of football, there's a big question mark.

So, you know, those are, you know, those are the things that, that, you know, that's going to bear watch. I think that's the biggest story in training camp is the office line. I know it's not the sexiest thing, but it's the thing that's most relevant as it relates to the New York Jets. Well, in terms of two words that aren't usually associated with the Jets, few holes, um, two words that aren't normally associated with Beckton, great shape. What do you mean by great shape? Is he truly in great shape? Is that, is that actually occurred?

Okay. Yes, he's in great shape. He really is. He's, uh, he's, he's, you know, rededicated himself, obviously, you know, you missed two years and of, of not playing football and on top of that, they didn't exercise as 50 options. So he's in a contract year. And so, you know, he basically changed everything, rich.

He's lost like, you know, 60 plus panels. Like he's just completely transformed. His body looks really good. You know, now the next thing is you got to go out there and do it with the pads on, you know, it, you know, anyone can look good in underwear football. Now you got to go out there with the, when, when it's, you know, when you got to go out and move 300 pound men, that's the next step in this whole thing with Makar Beckton.

So hopefully he, you know, he gets that done. Damian Woody, two times Superbowl champ from ESPN here on the Rich Eisen Show. We were just talking, going to break, um, Damian about a report in New England saying that Belichick's close friends are worried about his job security going into the season. I laughed too.

I laughed too, to be very honest with you. But what do you think about these 2023 Patriots as they are currently constituted in a very deep division as established? Well, listen, there's, you know, I think the AFC East could, you know, you could make the case that it's the toughest division in football. We know what the Buffalo Bills are. Miami Dolphins have loaded up. Obviously the Jets have traded for Aaron Rogers.

So they're gunning for it. And then there's the new England Patriots. You know, you look at the Patriots, obviously they added Bill O'Brien, I think was, you know, listen, last year, that was a disaster at the offensive coordinator position. And that was Bill Belichick's doing by the way.

Uh, so bringing in Bill O'Brien, I think that's going to help the office out tremendously. But when you look at the Patriots, man, it's just like, who scares you on offense? You know, you got Juju Smith Schuster. You got Devante Parker, you know, Kendrick Bourne, Ramondre Stevenson, who I really like in the backfield. That's the one. That's the one.

Damian, if I had to peg somebody, it would be him. And that's why maybe adding Dalvin Cook or DeAndre Hopkins adds that juice. But that's not usually the move that the Patriots make, certainly right at the outset of training camp. That's kind of out of character.

Yeah, absolutely. And listen, I love Ramondre Stevenson, but we're talking about in a passing league when you don't have a threat on the outside, you know, that's, that's troubling. Look at the rest of the division.

Look at, look at the weapons in the rest of the division. So, you know, listen, I don't, I don't, I don't subscribe to the job security thing with Bill Belichick. I do think that, listen, he has his eye on Don Shula's all time record. Um, but there are words from, from Robert Kraft that, you know, Hey, there's expectations here. We are the New England Patriots, you know, we've been the preeminent franchise over the last two decades. So I don't think Bill Belichick would ever get fired, but I do think has the, has the stove been turned up a little bit?

Yeah, I do think so. Damian, what do you hear on the Rich Eisen show? Give me the NFC team. You're like, we're so focused on the AFC, the NFC team you like going into 2023 and training camp starting next week is I'm rich.

I'm more mobile believer in the Green Bay Packers. Okay. Okay. I am. Let's dig in. What do you got? I, I, listen, I don't subscribe to, you know, everyone has doom and gloom on the Green Bay Packers, obviously, you know, going well from Aaron Rogers, join love.

I get it, but here's what I also know. That is a very talented roster, very talented roster. I think that defense is going to be very good. And they got a lot of talent on both sides of the ball.

They got to lead all from salon. They got two really good running backs. They got wide receivers last year that showed you glimpses. If Aaron Rogers had been in, you know, been in the all season program, maybe those guys would have been clicking a lot earlier in the season, but they have weapons on the outside. They added to it in the, in, in the draft. I think the Green Bay Packers are going to come out and surprise this year.

I do. I think they're going to vie for the NFC North because they have that type of talent. And I'm a believer in their coaching staff.

And then how far do you they go? Cause obviously that's Jordan Love. Are you just describing to the fact that, you know, they're going to do it again at the quarterback spot with somebody who sat there for three years, waiting on an all-famer. Are you really thinking that?

No, no. The chances of that, where you just going to, you know, going from back to back to back, as far as hall of fame quarterbacks, I'm just, I'm, you know, I'm not there, but I do think Jordan Love has a, you know, he's in a situation where he can be successful coming right out of the gates because he's surrounded by talent. He's been there three years. He knows the system. He knows the inside and out. He knows the guys on the team. He knows the personnel.

He's comfortable with the personnel. So I think he has a chance to hit the ground running. They have talent on both sides of the ball. So that's the team I'm looking at, Rich.

I'm looking at the Green Bay Packers to do well this year. Yeah. I'm with you with the, that I think the receivers that showed some flat last year will, I think, be well-served to have their quarterback be someone from their age peer group. I do think there is, there is some plus to that, right?

I mean, you've been in locker rooms, left, right, up and down. Don't you think that there's going to be some sort of added benefit because of that, right? Absolutely. And always, and also subscribe to guys making big jumps from year one to year two.

Okay. And so we see the, you know, the struggles that, you know, Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs, you know, had in year one and they got, they got better as the year went on. But I think now with a full off season and working with Jordan Love in the off-season program, those guys can come out blazing this year as opposed to last year being rookies and not really having that chemistry with your quarterback. I mean, they're going to have that chemistry with your quarterback, especially during the off-season. So who has a more successful year?

And by that, I mean threatened to win the division and then potentially win it, make a playoffs, win a playoff game, become a, you know, a final four team in a conference. Which has a better shot to do that? The Packers with Love, Rogers with the Jets. What do you got for me, Woody? Let's go. I'm going to go, I'm going to go Jets with Aaron Rogers.

Okay. I'm going to go Jets with Aaron Rogers because you're talking about a Jets team that was one of the best, had one of the best defense in the league last year. And they're returning nine out of 11 starters from that group.

So they should be just as good, if not better than they were last year. And Rich, you watched the Jets game as well as I did. The Jets quarterback situation was one of the worst, one of the worst situations in the league. And this team was still on the verge of making a playoff late in December. And now you're telling me, Oh, by the way, we're going to put Aaron Rogers on this roster.

Are you kidding me? Like, come on, man. Like, uh, determine ready to go Aaron Rogers on this Jets roster.

I'll take that all day, every day. That's cause you know, Zach Wilson and, and Mike White and Flacco when they all had to get in towards the end of the season, squandered the terrific start that they got off to because of how terrific that defense was in a place, by the way, like Green Bay, you know, Quinnen Williams was in, you know, Rogers was in Quinnen Williams lap, like Quinnen was a mall Santa Claus, man, you know? So, so that, that was huge, but they, they squandered that. And part of the reason why the Jets did get off to that start was not just the defense is because of how terrific Breece Hall was. I mean, before he blew his knee out, one of the best home run hitters to be drafted that I've seen in the 20 years that I've been in the NFL.

And that's a fact, that is not Jets fandom coming out. I mean, the way he would hit a hole, the matchup problems that he created on a poor linebacker that got stuck on him. That's, that's what I want to see in hard knocks. I don't know if the Jets will let that one out, but I want to see how Hall looks. I want to see if we can see how Hall looks in training camp, because if he looks the way that he looked last year and he comes back and Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner, your reigning rookies of the year are playing step up type football in year two. Man, that offensive line has to protect just to bring it all full circle. I'm with you. I'm with you.

Yeah. I can't, I can't understand how valuable Reese Hall was to the Jets last year. Like anyone who watched the Jets particular offense, Reese Hall was that guy. Like he was the guy, he would have been the runaway, runaway offensive play rookie of the year last year, if he hadn't gotten hurt.

And if he comes back, right. Oh boy. I mean, man, watch out.

That's all I can say. Yeah. I mean, we weren't talking about how, you know, Zach was not reading defenses properly when Breece Hall was just blowing past second lines of defense. Obviously it helped that the Browns blew that week two game against Flacco and the Jets, but put it all together though. You think the Jets have a better shot at a successful season than the Packers would love, even though you think the Packers would love her being overlooked, just to put a final word.

Yeah, I do. I think that, I think that, I think the Jets will look just a little bit further along. Obviously Aaron Rodgers, the Jets defense is elite. They got weapons. They got weapons all over the place as well. So I get the edge to the, to the Jets, but I just think that the Packers, people who are, you know, just down on Packers, think the Packers going to be in fourth place.

I think that they're mistaken. I think the Packers are very talented and they're going to be, they're going to be sneaky good this year in my opinion. Well, Damian Woody, thank you for the call. Go do your SportsCenter thing as you've already done earlier today. Great seeing you on First Take. Great seeing what you're doing and look for more of my phone calls as the season approaches and goes through. Thank you. All right, man. I appreciate you having me on.

Back, right back at you. That's Damian Woody, two-time Super Bowl champ, not with the Jets, but with Brockman's Patriots, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Well, I mean, to be fair, the Super Bowl probably wouldn't have any Super Bowl champions from the Jets on the show, so. This guy over there. Joe Namath has appeared on the show.

He has? That's it. Okay. I'm just getting so riled up when I talk about the Jets. Yeah, it's the first time you've been excited in your life. Because it's real. No, because this one's real.

Yeah, of course. This one's real. Great team. The Rex Ryan years, year two was coming off of a championship. Yeah, that was an AFC Championship game appearance. I'm like, okay, this is real.

Then they did it again, but of course, wound up just shy of the Super Bowl, and then they haven't made the playoffs since. I'm the general manager of the New York Jets. Let's get a snack. John Isaac, man. Yeah, did you see Mike Tannenbaum retweeted the news of Quinnen Williams signing his deal, and he said, it's great to be on Hard Knocks without a holdout.

Something along those lines. Yeah, I bet. That's when you don't want the cameras, when there's a holdout.

Because then they could technically follow the said holdout at home. You know, but not the Jets' problem this time around. Well done to take care of that, man. It's just, you know, it's all in your quarterback.

What's more likely? Also, my colleague from the NFL Media Group, Tom Pelissaro in hour number three, and your phone calls. 844-204-RICH, number to dial right here on the Rich Isaac 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. The caller there right now here on the Rich Isaac Show. Who is this person? Hello? Hello, Rich. This is a guy that's not all that keen on fresh guys, but I want to tell you, happy birthday.

Oh my God. Happy birthday to you. No, I'm going to sing a happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, old Richie.

Happy birthday to you and a whole lot more. It is your old pal, Joe Willie, roll turn and go just name. Joe, this is the greatest thing of all time.

Thank you for doing this. How are you doing? I just, I'm a fan. I've known you for a long time and all of a sudden you've lived a long time and I hope you live a whole lot longer too.

Oh my God, Joe. You don't have no idea what this means to me right now to get to get a call from you on my birthday. You know, I mean, thank you so much.

I can't, I don't even know how to say it. As one of your fans, you've got millions of fans out there these days, man. So keep up the good work.

I love listening to you and seeing you on occasion. And I appreciate that, you know, cause you know, I was born the year you won the Super Bowl, Joe. That's the year I was born. That was a good year.

You see that? That was a very good year. It was a good year and a day in the life.

It was a good year and a day in the life for sure. But, you know, I'd love to be able to not have to say that, right? I'd love to be able to talk about some, some other championship other than that, Joe, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, well, that may come about. So once again, I don't want to take your time up here much. I know you're talking about some important things.

I know you're talking about some important things. But I love you. Thanks, Joe. And I look forward to seeing you around campus.

Now that I see that again, was Namath Telesco-ing me? Yeah, you gotta go. I know you got important stuff to talk about. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. I'm 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. Let's take this phone call. 844-204-rich number to dial. Let's take a phone call here. Justin in North Carolina. You're here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Justin? You there, Justin? Hey, Rich, how you guys doing? Hey, what's going on, brother?

Not a whole lot, man. Long time, long time fan and listener, Rich. Just real quick before I get into my call. I want to tell you, man, every time you bring up Stuart Scott as a long time North Carolina Tar Heel, the little release of serotonin happens. I love Stuart Scott to death.

Me too. Anyway, wanted to tell you real quick, Rich, I got my tickets to the Joint Jets Panthers. Also a long time Panthers fan practices. I wanted to offer my services to R.E.S. Consulting. If you really want to know what's going on, I will be live in person and offer myself to do call-ins, if that's what you need, Rich.

I see something going on with Aaron Rodgers or any of the other Jets because I know that's really what you care about. I do. Okay, I just wanted to offer that up to you. I appreciate that. When are the Jets Panthers joint practices for what you have tickets?

August 9th and 10th to Wednesday and Thursday. I had two tickets. My wife kept asking me to go with me and I kept telling her like, hold on, I need to try to get a hold of Rich just in case Rich wants to be my plus one. I appreciate that.

I appreciate you giving me. You guys took a week off and, you know, she finally was like, you know, she gave me the eyes long enough and, you know, so I'm taking the wife with me. By the way, even if we didn't have a dark week last week, I would have counseled that as part of R.E.S. Consulting.

I would have said that that was a wise maneuver. So here's what's going to happen. You know, when you, I'm assuming the practices happen between the hours of 12 and 3 Eastern. They're in beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina.

Actually, it's in Spartanburg for college. I was trying to tell the wife it's going to be hot because that's why they go there. Okay, very good.

So you're giving the misses no illusions. Just give a call and we'll pop you on and then we'll get some great 7 on 7 reports from you. How does that sound? Absolutely, Riz. Absolutely. Great to finally talk to you. Right back at you. Thank you. I told my wife, you know, I said my shrink says that I have to listen to Rich five days a week, you know. And what does your shrink say?

I have to listen to Rich five days a week. Very good. Thank you very much.

Appreciate it. You be well. Justin seems like a very well-adjusted individual with a shrink, understanding that his wife is front and center in his life. He'd probably bring her to things. What would you rather go to? Jets, Panthers, practice, T.J. Jefferson? Anything else. Be Taylor Swift concert.

See Jets Panthers practice. Yeah. What are you going against? Why aren't you? What do you got against Taylor Swift? I don't necessarily have anything against Taylor.

I mean, I'm the one that actually has something. You know, I just anyone like ask me, would I rather go to see the Wu-Tang Clan? I'd be like, yeah, of course. Suzy went to took Taylor, took Taylor, our Taylor, our Swifty, to a Taylor Swift concert in Vegas. And on this tour here?

Yeah. And she says Taylor Swift is on as long as Springsteen. Yeah, she plays it like three plus. Yeah, she plays at that.

Three plus. You get what you pay for for that concert. And you've got to get you've got to get there about 10 hours before if you want a sweatshirt.

Oh, yeah. Like the merch sells out like way in advance. Like you show up two hours before the concert starts and you're like, wow, they laugh at you like, yeah, we had that seven hours ago. You see my man, Ron, in the parking lot after the show. Yeah, you got to get the Taylor Smith.

No, that's not official gear with your man, Ron. Tyler Swift. Exactly. Tyler Swift. Tyler Swift. You get it. Don't sweat it. Look, if you're like six, you won't know the difference. You watch those things one time, they completely disintegrate.

They disintegrate. Tyler Swift sweatshirt. Official Tyler Swift.

Tyler Swift gear. And my man will hook you up for a fraction of the cost to pay inside that ten dollars. I always wanted to do that back of his trunk. I'm surprised you didn't do that growing up. No, I actually had the coolest gig at the Springsteen concerts.

I worked with the state police to catch the scalpers and I was actually cool when I was a cop. That was actually a fun, fun gig I did. OK, to catch that together. We're about to I love it.

We are about to see this is where we unfold stuff. Yeah. So, so let's let's dive in. Hi. Hold on a minute. First of all, I know Susie's on a flight and she's calling in right now. Yes, hon. You there from the plane. Hold on.

Yeah, Suze. Hi. I'm so bored. Flight is delayed.

So I heard you guys talking about Taylor Swift that I would call him. OK. Also, the behavior of people trying to get on planes right now is so ludicrous and people are so out of control. But it's just. Oh, my God.

What happened? You know, just people are pushing in line and cutting. And quite a way, there are all these people that pretend that they need to get on board ahead of time. So they freeboard when they, you know, not sues, you know, you know, like, you know, lines at airports aren't respected very much. But, you know, where it's just like you just walk up like you don't even have to chat.

You just cut. That happens a lot. The gentleman sitting next to me on the plane is lovely.

He's got a way to see his family in Maine. And he and I were astounded at the amount of people who got on the plane ahead of time when they were perfectly fine. They were like cutting, going under the ropes. And the guy in charge was having none of it.

But there was this incredibly rude behavior. I just thought I'd give you a live update on the retirement. Thank you. You greatly appreciate the airport. Thank you.

You're welcome. I'm just so bored. Well, when are when are we pushing back here? What do we got? I don't I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I'm looking at the pilot.

Let me go on the site. He's not in a huge rush. Okay. That's a good indication. Susan, when it comes to the pilot. Where you know, by the way, should I just read the text that I just read from you or do I read it?

Do I not read it? Well, we always she's watching. She's watching on the Roku app right now. We read her text on there all the time. No, she wrote your look. You're much better looking now than when you did the Joe Namath interview. She's actually said that seven years ago. That's nice. She's told me that before. You're aging well. Yeah.

How do I take that? You know, you were married to me seven years ago, too, Suze. You know, right. I know she was questioning. She's blocked that part out of her mind. I mean, well, how am I supposed to take such a thing as a compliment? Twenty seventeen.

Rich Eisen is offended. Well, because you were clean. I was clean. Now you got a little stubble, not quite a beard, but some stubble. You've always had a baby. Then, guys, men look so much better as they get older. Like we start to look like dehydrated spoons. But you guys start to look like kind of like handsome birds. I've never looked better. Well, I mean, Chris, I mean, I've seen you look better, but whatever. But anyway. All right, Suze.

Put that straight. Mikey, I ordered Taylor Swift's sweatshirt online after the concert, which I think was in May, and they just got here last week. How much were they, Suze? Can I ask? She's too much. Great to talk to you. That's right.

She's pushing back to the table. Hey, Suze, you know, we have to run because not only well, we have what's more likely to get to before the end of the hour. And before we get to that, Mike just said when we were talking about Taylor Swift or Tom that that Mike said back in the day, because I mentioned how Taylor plays as long as Springsteen based on your report, knowing you've gone to dozens of Springsteen concerts. He said he used to work undercover with the New York, New Jersey State Police looking for scalpers outside of Springsteen concerts. And I have to dive into that.

I think that is so exciting, so cool and so insane. And I will tell you the biggest difference between Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen is that she changes outfits a lot more than he does. Not bad. He usually sweats in his. Well, I need to. Mike, Mike, pull out your badge, Mikey. Yeah. All right. And I'm I need to unpack that story, much like you need to later on tonight, unpack that way overstuffed carry on bag that you have above your seat that you probably had no business bringing on this flight. But it's all good.

I have my stuff taped up the entire plane. There you go. All right.

Suze Schuster, everybody, just down the road on the on the runway. That's great. Elbow and people. It's funny. Suzy said people were elbowing. Do you think she was people? My wife is people.

People magazine, Mike. So, OK, so I you know, I was young, like 18, 19. When you were you were on the police force locally in Livingston, New Jersey, as a teenager, a firearm. Well, I knew a couple I used to do for a lot of concerts. So basically I wanted younger guys to go around. Yeah. And kind of poke. I did the T-shirt guys, too.

I go up to those guys. Are you saying you entrapped Garden State? Exactly.

We weren't entrapping. We were seeing because here's the thing. There were back then the paper tickets. There were like fake tickets going around. Of course.

Today it's very hard to do that. So like bigger concerts, when they would come in, they'd want guys. Yeah. And I had a couple friends and we would go that were like state troopers. And they're like, Mike, if you want a little side gig, we like we want young looking guys to walk around and kind of make it look like you're looking for tickets.

We did a hundred different things. Right. But it was the greatest part about this was now I'm admitting another reason I'm going to hell. I would get tickets and I would be able to give them to my friends because these tickets, they weren't going to go anywhere. So my friends, I thought they were fake tickets, not always fake.

If you were scalping them and they were legit. Oh, so hold on a second. Hold on a second. Come on down.

That's a place in heaven. Wait a minute. So I have to understand this. You.

Yes. Being an 18 year old, fresh faced individual, 18 and a half. OK, 19.

Let's round down. OK, my God. Oh, yeah, it's like my child. Like, seriously, I heard that from my kids in a while. Dad, I'm six and a half. Yeah. OK, so older than whatever. You're a teenager.

Yes. The cops in New Jersey who are looking for scalpers use you as the bait. I was the bait. You were a bait. They wanted me to go outside of Brendan Byrne Arena.

Where were you? Brendan Byrne, Brendan Byrne, home of the Devils, home of home of the Devils. The Devils had just gotten there.

Eighty three. Yeah. Home of the Nets. The Nets were playing. Drosin Petrovich may, rest in peace, might have been hooping.

And then a giant stadium. That might be a little too old. I think that's too old. Yeah. You were older than that. It was great.

It was like the greatest. So anyway, you're out there and at one point in time you're looking for fake tickets, but you're also looking for people who might have been like last second. There was no, you know, secondary ticket market. You're like, screw it. My friend didn't come or my other friend didn't come.

I got two. I'll just walk around and I'll try to make a little extra scratch, which by the way, Ticketmaster is doing right now on our backs. Theoretically. With fees and all sorts of fees on top of fees. It's awful. You know, they've got the best of all worlds, right? They've got Ticketmaster. In the same way that the Live and the PGA Tour have an agreement to get an agreement, they got fees for the fees.

Ticketmaster got the green jacket. Okay. So you're looking for somebody. So somebody went to the game, went to the concert one day. Okay.

They go there and they walk up to this impressionable young man from Livingston, New Jersey, who is actually an undercover undercover. Okay. No. All right.

You, you took their tickets and you would then take those and use them. Yeah, of course. Of course. Mike, what do you think we're going to do with him? Well, that's a good move.

I respect you, Chris. Yeah. So nobody's going to use them. No one's got to use them.

Somebody's got to use them. By the way, that's what you say like week four NFL season when the Rams are hosting somebody and you don't want to go to the game. Cardinals, hit me up, DM me. Yeah, Pittsburgh's already sold.

DM me. Is that it? Pittsburgh's already sold. No, it's week six. My bad. Sorry.

Pittsburgh's already sold. So you would take it from somebody and say, that's illegal. That's illegal, but you're free to go.

No, but you could have arrested him. That was a high, back then it was big. By the way, I used to buy scalp tickets. I went to see you two probably 50 times on buying scalp tickets because I had a guy that actually did it illegally. His brother played for the giants and I will never, I will never mention his name. Peyton Manning's brother.

Okay. But basically his brother, he had a connection that would get us tickets in the metal lands. So I would go to every time he played. But yeah, rich, that was a, that was a great gig. I get the t-shirt. That was a great gig.

I get to hang out outside of concerts, get some free food, maybe get some tickets and go and see it from some poor schmuck trying to make $50. By the way, you missed one thing. Also drank beer, walking around with a beer in my hand. Right? Also walked around with a beer in my hand. And 18.

That's great. With a gun on you. Right?

With a gun, with a gun and a badge. Probably, that was probably, that was probably in his sock. Rich, I say this with all sincerity.

Livingston's finest. There is no doubt, 100%, there was no reason that anyone should have ever. But let's leave people, let's, let's go to break with a, with a positive spin.

Yeah. The fact that you're not doing that now, and you're doing this now. I would have been retired. People in New Jersey going to concerts and games, much safer. Well, at least they'd be much safer. They might get in without doing that. They might just wind their staff tickets.

They're making money like Ticketmaster. Oh my God. Wow. And that's the guy who scored a hat trick in one line. One shift, one shift. One shift. With my line. That's the guy.

Scoring it on one line. If you want to be my ticket scalper. No ticket scalper.

Repossesser. All right, we'll take a break. What's more likely when we come back, a favor, there he is. Hey.

Would you sell, oversell tickets to this man? Mikey Gretzky. Back here on the program. Okay. Do we have a photograph of, of somebody? There he is. Look at that guy.

Oh my gosh. Look at that guy. That was a good looking cop. And then so, so somebody walks up to this guy. I look like I'm 12 in that picture. I know.

And says, wait a minute. You look old in that picture. Aren't you the, the guy I saw score three goals on one line shift in that high school game? Year before that. Year before? The two years before that. What, the hockey was two years before the cop?

I was a cop. We're putting pieces together. It's like a puzzle.

It's crazy. I'd be retired right now sitting on a beach in New Jersey. Is that right? No. Mike, you can't quit anything.

You'd still be working. 86. You're leaving us next week to do a Yankees Angels game for yes.

Like, you know, because you love the Yankees. And yeah, I've got it. Those are dreams.

Those are dream gigs. Oh man. It's going to be awesome. I cannot wait to hear Josh Donaldson strike out three times.

Yes, please. Is Judge back? He may be back.

I don't know. I think the latest is that, is that Aaron Boone said he heard rumblings that Judge might be close. Rumblings.

He's the manager. He should probably know more than rumblings. Just hold on.

Look, I got Judge on my fantasy. Let's see if there's an update on the ESPN fantasy. A little more than rumblings. Hold on.

You're the manager of the team. There's no update. I heard rumblings.

No update. Are you kidding me? That's what he said.

I might have misread it. What are we doing, Aaron? What we're doing is we're opening up against the Rockies who can't win a damn game. So let's go.

They stink. You guys should be able to. Let's get two or three there, or if not all three heading into the good people of Anaheim and show Otani what it's like. Hey Shohei, don't you want to wear a star insurance patch on your arm? That's the opener. And hey, anybody who goes to those games, you watch out for Mike Del Tufo, okay?

Don't scalp your Otani, baby. Back here on The Rich Eisen Show. 844-204-rich. Number to dial. Okay, it's our Friday staple. Let's do it. It's popular.

The kids love it. It's time for What's More Likely right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Hit it. What's more likely?

Never say never, but never. All righty. What do we got over there, Christopher? This guy who's never here on a Friday looks at me and goes, do I play music? Oh my God. Yeah, you play music.

What do I do? I got it. Ready?

What do you got? Mike, we got four NFL, then we're going to switch musics. Perfect. Boom. You guys good?

All right. What's more likely? Who's more likely? The running back to beyond the field, week one. Saquon or Josh Jacobs? Saquon. Jacobs.

I do not have, I know that's your hope. I don't know what's going on in Vegas. I don't have any sense of them doing what they need to do, which is- He seems very not happy. I think they're like, hey man, you know, we didn't pick up your fifth year option. And then he won the rushing title. And then you win the rushing title. And guess what? We think $10.1 million is absolutely a good figure for you. We were going to let you walk and you proved us wrong. So here's $10 million.

I mean, look at what everyone else at the position is making. That is way up there, bud. And we just got here and we know you've been here. We know Mayock drafted you, but you know, we come from a system where, you know, Antoine Smith went into Corey Dillon and went into Lawrence Moroney. Like this is, we won titles with those guys. James White. LeGarrette Blount.

Yeah, LeGarrette. Let's play for $10 million. That's the way I sense it. The Giants obviously have a relationship with Saquon that they feel needs to be had for years to come. I will say Saquon week one is a better choice than Josh Jacobs.

How about this one? The more likely the free agent running back to find a home first. Dalvin Cook, Zeke Elliott, Leonard Fournette. I think it's Dalvin Cook and then I feel Zeke's going back home to Dallas.

Come on, man. They need him. We need somebody. They could use him. We mentioned Cincinnati as a good spot for Zeke before. Yeah, he's done well in Ohio. Yeah, he's fared well.

So let me just see here. Cowboys depth chart. I'm looking forward to Deuce Vaughn hopefully making that team. Yeah, that's right.

But that's not who's going to bang it in from inside the five. No. Malik Davis, Ronald Jones, Deuce Vaughn. Okay. Just saying. I'll just say Dalvin and then I'll even give you the order.

Dalvin and then Zeke and then Fournette. As scripted. As scripted. Left to right. By the way, when are those scripts coming in?

They don't. What's up, Chris? What do you got? Let's talk quarterbacks. Injured NFC West QB to have a better 2023 season. Stafford. Out on the list because apparently he's healthy.

Brock Purdy or Kyler Murray? Well, dude, Stafford was injured all last year and that's your point about how the Rams are going to stink this year because last year is indicative of who Stafford's going to be this year. He's not currently injured. Why wouldn't you even put him on the list? Because he's not currently injured.

I'll go Brock Purdy. He's going to actually probably start week one for a team that has a chance to win a Super Bowl. And Kyler Murray is still rehabbing. And then at some point the Cardinals are going to look at him and say, you stay where you are.

We don't want to risk you. We'd rather just tank the whole way. And then he might be in the Justin Fields spot.

He might wind up in the Josh Rosen spot where you're wondering, do we keep him or use the first overall pick? How about Murray said it's his goal to be back by week one. Got it. Okay. I'll go Brock Purdy and then Stafford and then Kyler Murray. Stafford again, not currently injured. I got it.

By all reports. Understood. Injured from last year.

Coming back. If he was an NBA player, they would sit him out a few games for load management. That's very possible.

That's very possible. All right. How about this one?

Since he just pooh-poohed the quarterbacks. More likely, the division to have more teams make the Super Bowl this year. Okay. Follow me.

I got you. The division to have more teams to make the Super Bowl. AFC, NFC West or AFC, NFC East? See, I've got to go AFC, NFC West, even though I think the East is the toughest division. I just think the NFC East doesn't carry the weight. They had the Super Bowl representative last year. I understand that.

I just don't think they carry the weight top to bottom. I just don't. I think the AFC, NFC West, I would take those over the AFC East. I mean, three of the four teams we know can make the Super Bowl. And the AFC West, you know, two of the four.

Yeah, I'll stick with it. So AFC East, you got three. NFC East, you got one. Then you got the AFC West. You got the AFC West that's got that's got two, maybe three.

And then you got the NFC West that's got two, maybe three. So that's that's my thinking. So it's four, maybe six against three, maybe one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. Exactly.

Three, maybe four. That's it. Because, you know, the Jets have a much better roster than the Dallas Cowboys going into this season. Much better. So much better.

Yeah. If we did a redraft. What happened? Is his microphone off over there? We did a redraft.

Yeah, I had to turn it off so I wouldn't curse. And the only two players available are Micah and Sauce. What's the order? Ah, Micah and then Sauce. Because one can just take away the passing game from this one side of the field and just cause the quarterback to have to look to another side of the field. The other one can actually cause the pass to not actually leave somebody's hand. So. You understand that quarterback fades back to pass?

Like, if I'm a quarterback, let's just say TJ is sauce garden. OK, cool. That means I can't. I'm not even looking over there. That means I'm not even looking in that direction.

Like 40. I'm only looking over there. I'm looking at you and a former New Jersey police officer. OK.

However, if this is Micah Parsons, I might not be looking at anybody but the ceiling. That's that's a fact. OK. Yeah.

So what else, Chris? All right. Speaking of the Cowboys. No, but that's one guy. That's one guy. That's one guy. Quentin Williams could be that guy because he also affects the the running game from the middle.

I run out of time. OK. TJ, more like more likely to win a championship in Dallas. The Dallas Cowboys. Dak or Luca. Yes, Dak. Good one.

OK, Dak Prescott. OK, more likely out of the two of them, you know, he's going to say, come on. And I would agree.

And he knows what in his heart I would agree to be true. I would agree. You know, the Mavs ain't winning no title anytime. Although Luca's nice, although the Cowboys don't have anybody to smudge the opposing stadium, the Mavericks do have somebody who's going to go into a place and get rid of all the bad mojo cleanse that he left behind.

Cleanse. So, all right, Cox is our smudger. All right. Most of the disappointing team in the first half to most likely to turn it around in the second half Mets or Padres. Oh, Mets.

These are all easy. Oh, my gosh. I'll go Padres. Come on. And I love Buck.

And I love Buck. Dude, Scherzer and Verlander need to turn back the clock fast. I mean, OK, let's go back. Yeah. Yeah.

But they're old. Yeah. Is that it? One more. One more.

This is a fun one. Did you see the pictures of Lionel Messi at Publix last night circulating? He's in Miami. He's at Publix. The people don't know who he is. He's shopping.

Guys are taking selfies. But I noticed in his cart, OK, he had three boxes of cereal. The cereal from Messi's cart you'd most likely eat for breakfast. Mini wheats, Lucky Charms or Fruit Loops. Oh, you got to go Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops and then Mini Wheats in that order. See, I would go Mini Wheats.

No, please. Get out of here. Lucky Charms have the Lucky Charms have the little marshmallows in a man that just it's a little different texture.

It's really good. Fruit Loops are fantastic. OK, because you also have the sugar that's on the outside of the Mini Wheat fan.

Get out of here. I don't like Lucky Charms. Are they frosted or not frosted? Important.

Oh, that's because they're just like regular non frosted. That's a good one. That's a good one. Good one. By the way, great.

There's eight and three. I just want to point that out. Big finish.

Thanks for that information. Well, Tom Pelsaro coming up. Tommy P. Imagine if you're at Publix and there's Lionel Messi at 9 p.m. at night and you're just walking around and you're like, can we put that picture back up again? Does Messi not know about Instacart? Apparently not. Put it up here.

Put it up one more time if you don't mind. There were a couple others. This kid had a selfie with him. That's wow. There's this woman on the back on the phone has no clue who's in front of him.

What's going on with the plastic? Who's the most famous person you've seen in the grocery store? Why have you been? Yo, the other day, no joke, Roy Firestone asked me about ice cream.

Really? Just walked up to you? Whoa. He was in line behind me. I had these little mini cones and he looks at me and goes, where'd you get those mini cones? Did you start crying on the spot?

I was gonna say. Did you start crying? He was wearing an Orioles hat. And I thought it was him. And then I heard him on the phone and say, hey, he was like leaving a message for someone.

Hey, it's Roy. And I'm like, okay, obviously it's who I thought it was. Did you tell him where to find the mini cones? I did. I was like, they're about halfway down in the ice cream. I was like, those things are so good. I know.

Did he have you at home? Right. Big, taller person. Really? Yeah.

The most famous person in the crowd. Anyway, that was the last good one. Yeah. Messi goes plastic, not paper. I go plastic. I don't think he knows.

He should. But I reuse the plastic. I thought people who've been around Europe, you know, bring their own bags for others. My bad. I forgot the water.

There is only 90 degrees off the coast of Miami right now, by the way. No rules, whatever. Hi, Tom Pelissaro. When we come back. 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.