RE Show: Joe Banner - Hour 2

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Please welcome Rich Eisen. What a story. Can't believe it. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

This was done out of the goodness of the giant's heart. Taequann Barkley had resigned himself to the fact that he just needed to show up. Now Josh Jacobs, not inclined to show up anytime soon. Earlier on the show, NFL Network reporter Mike Garofalo. Coming up, former NFL executive Joe Banner.

Grammy award winning artist Tim McGraw. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air.

844204rich is the number to dial. Great chat now. Our number one with Mike Garofalo. My colleague from the NFL Media Group calling in from the Giants training camp.

Taequann Barkley did not speak today. We're all wondering if anything can be read into that. Both Josh Allen and Stefan Diggs spoke at Bill's training camp.

We'll get to that in our number three before Tim McGraw joins us on this program. Joe Banner's about to hit us up. A former league executive who always tells you what time it is for players and general managers. And who has leverage and who does not. And why it's being exacted and why contracts wind up the way that they do. In light of the running back market and in light of the quarterback market being what they are now apparently.

Where quarterbacks get paid big time and running backs do not. Figured it would be a perfect time to have Joe on this show and he's going to join us in about 18 minutes time for that. I'd love to hear his thoughts. Before I get to the top five training camp storylines that I have.

Let's talk about my college head coach Jim Harbaugh. When the NCAA comes knocking on your door and asks you about a couple of items that are on their list. Thinking that you have not been on the up and up. And you tell them to pound sand. By giving them an answer that they think is not truthful. And they find out that your answer is not truthful.

They're going to come at you. Now you hear four game suspension on the docket for Jim Harbaugh for the University of Michigan football program. And you hear that a couple of assistants might get one game. And a former coach who's now the current defensive coordinator in Baltimore getting a show cause. Meaning if he comes back he gets a one year suspension if he comes back into college. You sit there and you think what the hell is going on at Michigan.

The crux of this is apparently during the COVID times. A couple of commits to the program showed up to the campus. Jim heard that they were on campus just to see things. You could sit here and say alright. But the story is he went to an establishment called the Brown Jug which is a terrific spot.

To have lunch, a little dinner, maybe want a beer at night what have you. Great spot. Used to hang out there? Oh yes. Oh yeah.

There might actually be a confection or two on the menu named after yours truly. What? Dude.

How are you holding this information? Dude come on. The Brown Jug?

I think it's information that's readily available. I think Schefter's got a sandwich. At any rate they should now name the cheeseburger after Jim Harbaugh cause apparently he bought these two kids cheeseburgers. And then when the NCAA comes knocking on the door about the cheeseburgers and whether they were coaches were. Let's see here this is according to the Yahoo Sports report. Harbaugh's alleged initial cover-up was worse than the crime itself from the NCAA's perspective in a notice of allegation sent to Michigan last year. They talked about meeting with two recruits during a COVID-19 dead period. That's the cheeseburgers apparently.

Texting a recruit outside of an allowable time period. Having analysts perform on-field coaching duties during practice and having coaches watching players work out via Zoom. That's it. And apparently him not being truthful about the cheeseburgers and who bought them. And then him not saying, him telling NCAA investigators, oh yeah I did buy the cheeseburgers I was lying to you.

That that's going to cost him four games. Wow. It's so ludicrous. This is how ludicrous it is. Now again you can sit here and say I'm biased and I love Michigan football as you all know.

True that. But this is how ludicrous it is. That Jim Harbaugh is being defended in this situation by Paul Finebaum.

That's how through the looking glass we are. Paul Finebaum who basically doesn't like the way Jim Harbaugh breathes. The way that Harbaugh walks and talks and breathes and coaches. That guy.

Really? Went on ESPN today and said that he's actually he was even gobsmacked himself that he was defending Harbaugh. That's how ludicrous it is. So everyone's wondering are you are you upset with your coach or whatever. Look if he was not forthcoming to investigators that's how they come and hit you. Four games so it's kind of.

For a burger? And I do get from my friends and some people on Twitter and social media saying well where were you when Jim Tressel lied about his players trading some of their memorabilia for tattoos that cost Tressel his job. What was your subject what was your thoughts on the subject matter then? And at the time they were different times like that's the norm like that would be like an NIL thing right now like you just these are different times were batten eyelashes at things that used to cost someone like Jim Tressel his job. So these are different times now. And I think the fact that this isn't costing Harbaugh's job it's just four games and then we're talking about how ludicrous that is shows how evolved I think we are as a people when it comes to this. And you know to my Ohio State fans friends who think I might be hypocritical about on this I'll just thank Jim Tressel for laying the groundwork here.

Tressel lost his job so Jim could just get four games for buying two kids hamburgers and letting I guess somebody who's coming to cover the game get out there form a player and start winging it around with the players and they're zooming you know coaches are zooming when they shouldn't be. Texting. Okay. Awful. Get out of here. Two games per burger. So.

Wow. All I hope is that you know and this is leaked just before Harbaugh steps to a podium at the Big Ten conference media day and all I hope is it's fine sit him for four games and I know the way Jim's going to play it or should play it and the players are going to play it. Us against the world. Us against the world. Nobody wants us to win. Which by the way may be true.

I mean I don't Rich. That's my two cents on what's being called Burger Gate. They should have gotten the ten ounce sirloin steak. They should name the brown jug cheeseburger after Jim Harbaugh.

Bo has one. Okay. That's great.

That's what they should name it and Harbaugh should take a picture of him eating a cheeseburger and tweet it out. 100%. Or X it out. What are you doing? Is that what it is?

You X it out? He's got the ten ounce sirloin steak already Rich. Yeah I was trying to see what you already know. Honestly. Paul Finebaum is caping for Jim Harbaugh. He does not like the man to people who might not know. By the way he went hand in hand saying Ohio State with their new quarterback has a better chance of giving Georgia a game than Michigan with their 14 returning starters. So again he's not completely through the you know trolling Michigan looking glass.

Where did that start? I don't know. I think he's terrific by the way Finebaum. Obviously his Michigan takes irk me. Of course. But the just the point is he's saying this is ridiculous and he's saying Harbaugh looks good for telling the NCAA get out of here with this hamburger stuff. It's crazy.

What are you going to bust me for fixings? We're tater tots involved with that and he does have a famous brown jug burger already named. Oh does he really?

Yeah. Who Harbaugh does? Jim Harbaugh. No no no that's his Jack Harbaugh. Is that Jack?

No it's Jim. You sure there's are you on a different menu? I'm looking at Brown Jug. But Schefter's got the Sicilian deep dish pizza. Do I have anything? I'm looking we're looking. I've been searching for your name I see.

How does Schefter get the Sicilian deep dish pizza? Maybe I'm just conflating it with the room keys that my face is on. You should have one. We've got to change this. At the local hotel there.

I told you I have a friend Jane who was in Ann Arbor last week and she sent me a picture. She's like looking for my room key. You've got to change. We've got to get you on.

You've got to get something on this. Absolutely. This is my goal. Even if I don't it's fine. I'm going to do it.

I thought I had one. But if I don't I don't. We're doing it.

You might. TJ and I are taking over. Rich gets something on that menu. We have Desmond Howard's meat lover's pizza. Next year for next year's draft when we're in Detroit I'm going. And you know I'm just going to go up to two people and buy them hamburgers and tell the NCAA. It's coming. Come at me. 8 4 4 2 0 4 Rich number to dial.

Mike Del Tufa I need NFL films music. Let's go. Top five training camp stories. They're all open. All of them. All 32 teams. Oh baby.

Let's go. Number five on this list of the top five training camp stories. It's every year. You just fill in the blanks.

It's like a mad lib. Different proper name. Same story.

Same copy. Same paragraph. Holdouts.

Holdouts, holdouts, holdouts. Best offensive lineman for Dallas. Not there. Zach Martin. Not an Oxnard. Best defensive player. Defensive player of the year.

Don't you know? Nick Bosa. He's not in San Francisco. Santa Clara. Wherever they're doing it right now. Let me get this right.

So it can at least be accurate. Santa Clara at the SAP Performance Facility. No Chris Jones. No Josh Jacobs. Holdouts. How long and how will it affect these guys when they get back because this always happens.

Players hold out and the dreaded three words, creeping, soft tissue injury usually happens to somebody who holds out. They come back. They haven't had all the reps. They haven't done this.

They haven't done that. They get out there. The dreaded soft tissue injury. Holdouts. Always a training camp story. This training camp no different.

Number four. How many reps for the rookie quarterbacks? Keep an eye. We already heard today Bryce Young is QB one in Carolina. No surprise there. And Jay Stroud will be QB one in Houston.

No surprise there. What about Anthony Richardson? The owner is, I mean, Jim Hersey has basically said everything except I want this kid to start. He's basically said this kid's the starting quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts. Anthony Richardson, how many reps for him? Does Will Levis get any? Does something happen with Tannehill where Will Levis gets a few? I just want to keep an eye on all of that and the odometer of the snap count for the rookie quarterbacks. And if Anthony Richardson starts, by the way, how about Anthony Richardson being unwrapped against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Indianapolis for week one? How does that one hit you?

That's a sneaky good one, isn't it? For week one. And then, of course, you know, holdouts as well with Indianapolis. Talk about Jonathan Taylor, what's going on with him and is he going to hold in what's happening there? Anything happening there?

Is he not happy about stuff? And so we got, by the way, a great Chris Ballard soundbite coming up later on. But number three, let's talk about a specific team. Now, training camp doesn't usually reveal what I'm about to ask about or that I am wondering about pre-season. Usually maybe not either. So I might be front loading one of my top five storylines for the first month of the season.

Okay. But what is the Ravens offense going to look like, man? Odell's there.

Rashad Bateman saying he's going to break every record, he feels like, right? And Lamar's paid. And they've got a new offensive coordinator.

And Greg Roman's gone. The offense where you find out that they have five fullbacks on the roster and one of them is ball faking. And that sometimes it takes 12 plays to get down the field unless Lamar just cocks his arm and fires at 80 yards to somebody. What's this Ravens offense going to look like? How is it going to look? Is it going to be a quick passing game potentially? Like Lamar hits his back foot and gets it out and they won't even have the threat of him running sometimes because they just want to move it? I doubt it. I don't know.

But what if they do have that package all of a sudden? I can't wait to see what this looks like. Number two on the training camp stories list, top five is the running back landing spots. Dalvin Cook, where does he wind up? Does Zeke wind up back in Dallas?

And if not, where does he go? What if he winds up in like Cincinnati, right? What if Zeke lands in Cincinnati? What if he lands with the Jets? What if he lands with one of these teams? What if he lands in Miami instead of Dalvin Cook? What if Leonard Fournette does go to New England and it's a Ramondre Lombardi Lenny one-two punch there? Kareem Hunt is a former like Josh Jacobs last year, but like Zeke, he's a former Russian champ sitting out there at home.

ATC, as you said. And then when one of these guys signs, does it mean because somebody got blown out? Mike Garofalo mentioned in our number one that JK Dobbins blew out his knee in the preseason. Remember it was Dobbins and Gus Edwards went boom, boom, back to back. So obviously these guys landing somewhere might be part of a larger storyline for a team.

And number one on this list, it's so simple. It's so easy, but it appears to be already decided from what you're hearing because he's healthy and he's got no limitations. But the quarterback competition for the San Francisco 49ers is the number one training camp story for me. Brock Purdy is ready to go. Does that mean he's just that he's the guy? That's it. He won the job last year. It's over. Trey Lance.

Okay. He's, he's just going to be number three. Is that what's happening? Cause Sam Darnold is going to just beat him out. Is that really what it's going to be?

And what does that look like? How does this, how do we see this if Purdy has no limitations, but they're going to treat him like he's on a pitch count and then pre-season games, what happens? What if Lance comes out and like pre-season game two, which is now like pre-season game three used to be and just lights it up while it's just pre-season well, he was going against the ones of another team. Does that make him too? Is it possible he could potentially beat out Purdy?

I don't know. I doubt it. The front door looks like it's Brock Purdy's job to lose, not win.

And those are my top five training camp storylines for 2023. I think we need one more. All right. All right. We'll get one more.

And I'll just come straight through the front door. We were going to do this yesterday, so we had to Omaha. We had an audible. It was the, it was the quarterback contracts, plural. Herbert's hit his, what does it mean for Burrow? Joe Burrow's contract. What's that look like?

What does it mean? How do the Bengals perform years from now when now Burrow's contract sitting in the middle of it, eaten up the salary cap space that we're assuming it's going to have to because Joe Burrow is going to sign a contract. And the question is how much further out does he push the quarterback paying market? Can he finally hit the speed limit $55 million a year?

Is that possible? One thing we know for sure is it won't be Jalen Brown money. And those are my top five training camp stories for 2023. Let's talk about the quarterback market with Joe banner. How much does this totally throw everything out of whack or is the salary cap growing? And we're just going to see quarterbacks suddenly with no playoff wins in their career and just show how three years of incredible generationally apparently talented ability means a $60 million contract just for you.

Is that coming? Because it sure looks like it is just making the playoffs one out of your first three years and look really good doing it and throw it around and you know, we've seen enough. You're definitely the guy for us, but that's now $60 million a year. Well, hey, running back that scores 18 touchdowns. You don't get paid. Go find a trade partner and then slink back.

It seems like you got that money fairly easily. Eight four four two oh four rich number to dial Joe banner, former NFL executive on this very subject and more. All right, everybody. We're back here live on the air, which that menu in that place is good, man.

I mean, I'm like being TJ. We'll go to the Brown Jug anytime named after the it's amazing. You know, the Brown Jug is what's at stake between Michigan and Minnesota, right? That's right. Yeah. So, I mean, there's some interesting names of people who have, well, this gets leaked just before Jim Harber hits the podium at the big 10 media week. How about them apples?

Meanwhile, the American athletic conference is holding its media days. Charlotte 49ers head football coach Biff Poggi Biff, did you go to, did you go to school with him? No.

Um, Biff Poggi, you take your damn hands off her. This was quite the, um, this was quite the, uh, um, moment for him at the podium. Uh, it didn't last very long. Oh, check it out. Any other questions for coach? That's it?

Three questions. Maybe that's because you have us ranked last. That's all what you think of us. So that, that we get that message. Thank you. Oh yeah. I like that. Ooh. I like that.

But it's not for play. Most upset Biff since, uh, back to the future. Oh, he's lost the, uh, almanac easily. Good one.

Biff hasn't been that upset since, uh, three questions. That's it? People. What were the questions?

How's the weather out there? What else? What else for the Charlotte football program?

Biff? That's what we want to know. We really want to know what the three questions. He's going to go back to the players and go, so how was it the media day?

You know how much they disrespected you? Three questions. Well, we've got answers. You got answers.

Don't go out there and win one for my podium. It's a new one. It's a new one. Welcome back to 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 is the right product for you.

Call click Grainger.com or just stop by one of our favorites back here on the program. Whenever I'm scratching my head over negotiations and markets and roster decisions, I'm like, get me Joe Banner on the phone and longtime executive in the national football league is back here on our show. How are you Joe Banner?

I'm doing great. I can give him some names of some NFL coaches who will pay the media to only ask three questions. Was it always Andy Reid's idea to say the time's yours? Where do you come up with that? You would always say that, right? Definitely.

He came up with that. Time's yours. I mean, he's one of the only few guys, he just comes out, I'll say a couple of things, time's yours.

All right, let's just jump into this here, Joe. Why is the running back market the way it is from your perspective? So I actually think the answer is fairly simple, even though I'm making it really complicated. I mean, the positions correlate to how the league views the importance of the contribution to winning and the supply and demand ratios of the position. So quarterbacks make a ton of money because they have a huge impact on who wins and there's a shortage of really good ones. Running backs have a more modest, still important, role in who wins and there's actually an abundance.

We all took Economics 101 and they put supply and demand. So if you can do what the Eagles and the Chiefs are doing and many other teams, they've won three of the last five Super Bowls, and you're winning Super Bowls with running backs or late round picks or mid round picks or making a modest amount of money, and you're trying to be smart about building your team and making sure the positions that actually decide the games have the best players, then we have what's happening in running backs now. What's happened to the guys this year to me takes that, I think, reasonably sound logic too far.

Okay. Like if, you know, good running backs, very good running backs, top running backs is only three years ago making $12 million and the cap goes up $20 million a year. Three years later, offering them $12 million, which the Giants did, is not even close to fair. Even if we accept the premise of supply and demand is out of whack, you don't have to have a superstar running back to win, if you're going to sell that, I mean, we're really at the point where Barkley isn't worth what a top tight end is worth, top safety, a top guard.

So I'm actually really sympathetic to Barkley and the market should be in that, you know, 15 is, 16, 14, you can pick the number, shouldn't be at 11. But the reason that the group as a whole, they're out of whack on supply and demand and they matter. They matter a lot. We won in Philadelphia. We always had good running backs. We always had running backs also that are really crucial to the pass game, they weren't as good runners like Westbrook, McCoy, those guys. So there's the illusion that teams don't think running backs matter, at least all the teams I know of and everything we practiced and the teams that currently win the Super Bowls all know running backs are very important. But they also know because there's an abundance of talent, you're better off putting a little extra into some defensive tackle or corner or, you know, the other positions that are crucial to the wins. Because it strikes me again, Joe, because I'm not in the negotiations, obviously, privy to what's being said between Barkley and the Giants and that Joe Shane seems to like, what's another million and a half, two million, right? Like what, even if it's over three years, just so you can send your crucial player back into the locker room feeling in a way that he's fine talking to the media, which he did not do today, right?

So it just seems like, and again, I know when Tom eats ball, this might be old news, unless it isn't. I don't know. You're the guy who's maybe had experience with this. Why hold the line like that? I don't kind of get that.

I figured I'd ask you. Yeah, listen, I'll be very candid, I made this mistake very early in my career. I got perceived as being even tougher than I am and I'm willing to be tough in a negotiation.

And it's not constructive. I learned the lesson the hard way fairly quickly, that there is real value for what turns out to be a relatively small amount of money to keep your locker room feeling really good and pick some spots that would make you do pay a little bit more than you thought it was worth because you want it to be that way. Listen, here's the reality, they're going to tag him again for sure now that he appeared so easily and so quickly and for better or worse, when one hand I admire that he wants to play so badly and win so badly on the hand, you should fight for kind of what you deserve. But the fact of the matter is because he went in so easily, he's definitely getting tagged again.

He was probably getting tagged anyway, but now he's definitely getting tagged. So he's going to make about $23 million over two years. The fact of the matter is, it sounded like for like 23, 24, he would have taken a long term deal. Now the Giants are losing it for two years for sure, so I actually think there's both a monetary reason and a team cohesiveness, team leader argument for what was a very small amount of money to probably get a four or five year contract.

And if you don't want him after two years, you probably don't have any charge left, just move on. But they gave up the right to control his rights for four to five years over probably about a million bucks over two years. I don't think that makes any sense and I don't think him asking for, let's say, if it was 14, was it all unreasonable? He's really just taking with half a dozen guys, not like one deal, and he's not stuck on McCaffrey. He took like about half a dozen deals that were done two and three years ago that were all around 12, 12, 12.5. Camara's looks like 15 on paper, but it's also really like 12, 12.5. Now the cap's gone up since then.

So even if you just adjusted for the increase in the cap, he's 13.5 to $15 million guy. I don't see why they got stuck. And I do understand why he said no, but then he kind of lost the benefit. Even if he wanted to listen, if I was his age and I would have said, come in the Tuesday before the first game, you eliminate the risk of getting hurt in all of training camp, you at least worry them and create some costs for tagging him instead of getting a deal done. You come on in that Tuesday, you probably won't play the first week, so we've really reduced the risk of injury. You still get to play all season, the if-it teammates, and if the Giants were meant to have a good season, they'll still have it.

In the meantime, you at least worry them that in the future they need to treat you right or there will be a cost. But what he did, he made it very easy for them to just tag him next year and frankly he sent the message to the league that you can hold out, play hardball with these running backs and even a deal as bad as $11 million. I mean, there was slot receivers getting $11 million or sort of nickel corners. There were centers making way over $11 million and that's where he's stuck now. So before we move on to the quarterbacks, Joe Banner, what was that part in the beginning of your career where you said you learned the hard way that a few, you know, couple million bucks is worth giving it to keep the peace?

What was that? Yeah, I mean, honestly, the names don't come to mind easily since almost 30 years ago now. But we had some tough negotiations with some players early over a pretty small amount of money. You know, we lost Trotter. We were very far apart on that deal and he ended up coming back to us after not being happy there for a year. You know, in the end we lost Dawkins, which I think everybody involved in still feels, you know, bad about. That was a little deeper, you know, into my time. You know, running back, I mean, rookie deals weren't quite as flotted as they were.

You could get into a fight about some of the language and offsets and stuff like that. Some of which I did and, you know, in hindsight was, you know, fighting for something that probably didn't matter. And even if it ended up manning with a small enough number of dollars, it wasn't worth the fight. Well, in terms of slotting Joe Banner, let's, Joe Banner here on the Rich Eisen Show, let's turn to quarterbacks because, you know, now, again, Justin Herbert is an incredibly talented guy. There's no doubt in my mind he is one of those unicorns that you hope to get and land in the draft, back in the day, prior to the collective bargaining agreement of 2011, the Chargers would have had to have paid Herbert whatever the market bore for the quarterback at the time coming out of the draft, which is probably the highest paid player in the history of the Chargers franchise, sight unseen, not a single snap being done. They changed the system.

Now they see at least three years from him, so they, they kind of know he's the guy, but he hasn't won a playoff game and he's making the most money in the history of the National Football League. Are the owners cool with that now? Is that, is this better than the previous system?

Do you think? Well, I think it's, it's, it's better at least in the sense that, you know, it sounds like a cold term, but we kind of flushing a lot of money down the table that could go to, you figure out who should go to players, but players, owners, whatever, on players that really weren't advancing the league, weren't really helping their teams, so they were just mistaken draft picks. I mean, the intent of the system changed and I was actually a part of the team that negotiated the deal, which both teams, both sides seemed to be in favor of the league, certainly more than the union, but they were both okay with it was by taking less of the money and putting it into a pool that ends up getting paid to players that really never achieve anything in the league, this money is still going to be in the cap, so it should go to veterans instead of, you know, rookies. So yes, everybody gets paid fairly or even too low, depending on how good they are for the first three or four years, but then there's even a bigger pot of money after that to pay, for example, the Herbert's of the league.

I actually think that there's probably ideas in between those two extremes, but I do think this is better. And all that money that was going into miscellaneous charges and devaluing the top picks and making it harder for the picks, the teams were picking high to get better, which is the intent of, you know, the upside down draft. So I do think it was a step in the right direction, it makes more sense for the Herbert's of the world, who at least are really good players versus some of the players that were picked in the top 10 that, you know, really ended up just taking a lot of money out of the league and away from other players, whether they're contributing anything to the league. So where are we headed with the quarterbacks, 60 million, 70 million a year? Like that's coming, right?

Yeah, we are. You know, I'd say that, you know, these guys got a ton of money, it's ridiculous what I'm about to say, but they all did deals that were too long. I mean, Herbert is under contract for two more years, plus he signed a five-year extension that controls rights to seven years plus tags. He may never get another contract. And four years from now, the cap is going to be probably 40% higher than it is right now when we're paying quarterbacks $52 million a year. So even the one extra year, even though it's way down the road from now, probably hard to worry about when you're looking at that kind of money, you know, there probably are costs for them to sell this a year that they're probably going to get paid the equivalent of 40, 45 million versus 70 to $80 million. Now, I'm talking six years from now with where the quarterback market is going to go, if it even maintains close to the percentage of the cap that it's taking up these days.

And it will, because they have more leverage than everybody. So how do you think Mahomes is feeling today, Joe? You know, he seems shockingly relaxed, doesn't he? Well, I mean, he's got trophies in the case. Everybody's seeing how, you know, how he ticks through his documentary. You know, life is great for him.

I understand that. But do you think he sits there at any point in time and he's just like, okay, just at some point they got to revisit this thing because he's currently, you know, after Burrow, he's almost out of the top 10 of highest paid per annual rate. What do you think? Yeah, well, listen, I think at some point, even if he's not making an issue of it, going back to the conversation we said about the value of just kind of doing the right thing, that they need to re, you know, approach him and at least make adjustments even, and I'll take them all the way to where he, you know, would be if you start from scratch, for example. But you know, it's what I said about Barkley, there's a part of me, you know, I work in management that, you know, really admires and appreciates players that are really focused on the game and the winning and all that kind of stuff.

At the same time, you know, there's no reason you shouldn't fight for what you deserve and what's fair. And clearly at this point, I mean, his deal really averaged, you know, even if you're in all the incentives, it averages $50 million per year. And he's got a long way to go and we're already at $52.5 and when borrow signs, we'll probably be at $53.5 or something like that. So I don't think they have hit that point yet, but they're not far from the point where it actually just becomes the wrong thing to do to not make some adjustments. Do they, again, he's on your family tree, if you will, and Brett Veitch, does he reach out? Or do they just, they just like pass each other in the hallway and just give the head nod and just figure, let's just go win football games or what? They're still high-fiving after the game and still, you know, hiking each other in the hallways.

Right. You know, I'm just wondering, do you reach out to him first or you just, you know, got nine years left on it? So just keep playing?

If I'm reaching out, it's not for another year or two, but yes, I think at that point, assuming he's playing as he is, there's no reason to think he won't be, I do. I actually reach out and, you know, hopefully his mindset is, you know, my deal remaining average is 45 and the new deals were 55, okay, get me to 52. I mean, just get me someplace, you know, where I can feel like I'm being respected. You don't have to pretend that we never did the deal. I understood the advantage of taking a long-term deal early. I got those benefits. I'm not asking you to pretend that didn't happen, but, you know, at least get me into the ballpark of where, you know, I should be based on who I am now. Okay.

And a couple more for you, Joe Banner, before I send you off onto your Wednesday. The concept of franchise tags has been brought up more than ever before because of what happened with Barkley and Josh Jacobs and saying how players should push to get rid of the franchise tag. Will that ever be removed from a collective bargaining agreement between both sides? What do you think?

I don't think so, but I'm really not sure it's the right issue. I've actually had this debate with some of the people that have been involved from the players side and some of the agents and just kind of talking out loud about it. I mean, I think what the union should do is just fight for everything it can to get the cap as high as possible and the percentage of revenues as high as possible. I think they have to be aware of trying to do the best thing for everybody. And I just think that the competitive nature of most of the teams in the league, a larger cap will get spent and all of the players will benefit from that. There is some benefit to getting rid of the tag, there's no doubt about that. There isn't, and it isn't a crazy strategy, but to me, if they just put all of their energy into a couple of things they really cared about, some of those are pro alumni and other kinds of things like that, longer term health coverage, and then just focused everything they had on just moving the cap up as high as they can, I think it takes care of kind of a whole list of problems.

So again, you can make the argument either way, it's not a silly discussion. But my own opinion is that they should put all their efforts into getting as large a piece of the pie as they can and realizing when you're talking about 1,500, 1,800 players on active rosters, they're going to benefit the most from that. Last one for you, Joe, the best roster in the National Football League in your estimation going into the 2023 playing season, barring injury, is which? I'm really boring, I'm saying the Chiefs. But I also want to say I am not in the school of people that are down on the bills and worrying about Sean McDermott, who I worked with for about a dozen years. The Bills are still an exceptional team, I hear all this negative conversation about them, I'm just not there.

But I'm in a very boring way, sticking with the Kansas City Chiefs is the best roster. What concerns you about the Jets? What concerns you? Biggest is the offensive line. And then I just think any time you deal with 30, 38, 39 years old, obviously talking about Rodgers that you've got to be scared to death about staying healthy for 21 odd games, not 17 and assuming he doesn't even play in the preseason, to get to the Sioux ball it's still 21 games. So those are my primary worries.

Okay. And I saw something that the Jets redid a contract that it's a one and a half million dollar salary this year and 107 next. Did you see that, Joe? Did you see that? Yes, I did. How does that work?

How does it even work? I mean, if they're taking care of that before they finalize the deal, then yeah, no, I did. That structure in Green Bay was very strange, but I read it a long time ago. I didn't see their head escalated like that and become so lopsided. But you know, there was talk at the time that maybe he'd take a pay cut, try to help the team, maybe go in the championship. He didn't do any of that. He restructured versus renegotiated.

That's a big difference. Well, I mean, they're not going to, he's not going to get paid. But I mean, obviously they're already talking about him playing multiple years there. He said something about it. Sala said they expect it or they're, you know, and 107 million, that doesn't compute.

I don't get it. You know, if he gets one this year in 107, even though they even it off, so he's going to make $53 million a year, 53.5 up the next two years. So he's right with the top paid guy if we just assume they somehow paid him the same amount but over two years. But yeah, listen, the talk, you know, the rumor at the time that he, they did the deal was that he, you know, he said, listen, I'm not going to guarantee it. I'm not going to promise, but I intend to play more than one year.

And you know, two or three is totally realistic. So they went into that deal expecting that it was very, very likely they had him for more than one year. I mean, when he leaves, they're going to have, you know, lots to clean up. Well, they put a lot on the credit card the last time they almost made the Super Bowl.

And got two years of a run out of it. Maybe they do that here. I don't know.

At some point, all these young kids were so terrifically talented are all going to have to get paid. So I guess that's down the road. Let's just try and win it this year, as long as you can protect them is what you're saying. That's about it. Jetspan, will you be happy with that?

Which is what? You get two really good year, I don't think a Super Bowl, and then you're kind of back to where you were. Joe, um, let me just explain something to you. I'm a 54-year-old man, and I'm waiting. I'm waiting.

And so yes, it would make me very happy. Do it. Let's go. Like, this is it. I can't, it doesn't, you know, Rogers said that it's all about how the Jets are going to handle success. And I told him, floor's yours on that, bud. I'll take your cue, because I don't know how to do it. I don't know what that feels like. Honestly. It's a good problem, right? Yeah, exactly.

And a child that was born when they last made an AFC Championship game is getting bar or bot mitzvahed this summer. Let's go. You know what I'm saying? I get it. Thanks, Joe, for the time. Greatly appreciate it. You be well.

Mine too. You too. Take it easy. You got it.

The great Joe Banner, back here on The Rich Eisen Show. We'll take a break. Lots to discuss. You know, lots to discuss the Bills, and I'm with him on the Bills. You know that. You know that.

I'm not ready to give the Jets the AFC East Championship, and there's the Dolphins sitting out there too. 844-204 Rich, number to dial, right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Don't go anywhere. Tim McGraw coming to the studio. Mike Del Tufo, are you out there, Mike? Yes, I'm here, Rich. How you doing today? I'm doing great. So what are you revealing? You've got right here. Right up here, above me, is a brand new Rich Eisen Show sign.

New Rich Eisen Show sign. Am I going to do it now? You see this. Yeah, here we go. Let's do it.

Here we go. This is going to be fun. Just hope it doesn't come down on your head.

What are the odds that he messes this up? I can't do it because the way it's set up. Put down the microphone, dude. I can't.

This is the worst reveal ever. Take down both. Just put the microphone down. This is good, Rich.

This is good. He's going to bring down the whole thing. Yes.

Pull both up. No, we cannot have this as the reveal. He does audio. This cannot be the reveal. He does audio.

He does not do manual labor. That's the way it's lit. It's messed up up there. I can't. Look, I can't.

We call this. Walk up the stairs. Walk up the stairs, Del Tufo. Okay. The not reveal.

He's going to walk up the stairs. I can't. I can't. Because I can't climb to where that is.

It's called the not reveal. Yeah, you can. That's up in the second story. No, you can't.

You got to have a cable. You guys don't know OSHA rules. See, they screwed me. They did this on purpose. I'm convinced. Yeah, it's against you, Mike. I'm telling you. Del Tufo, just tell everyone out there you don't have any change for them. Just pull it. Give them good Jersey pull. Put them up.

Yeah, there you go. Watch. Put the microphone down and pull it. Pull the other one. You're a big man, yank it. Yank it. All right, come back in here and screw off the audio now, Mike.

The sign is still there. And so are you, Mike. Yeah, I mean.

Come on, Rich. Oh, boy. We're going to be out there on our YouTube feed. I like that. I was set up. All right, we're back here on The Rich Eisen Show, everybody.

RITJ Jefferson, you Dallas Cowboys are back at it. Oh, yes, indeed. They're back at it. Let's go. Do we have a soundbite from yesterday's press? No. I don't even know what the, what's the setup for this?

I don't even know what it is. Oh, OK. Jerry Jones on the urgency, winning now. And it's just kind of a silly question to ask, Jerry Jones, because it's always urgent for the Dallas Cowboys to win. When is it not urgent? Again, I keep saying, I keep on talking about my age here, 54 years old, 54 year old cheerleader I've been accused of being the Jets. I've been around every single year the Dallas Cowboys is urgent to win. So why ask now?

Somebody did anyway. I think that when I look at where we are with Dak, when I think I look at where we are with Tyron Smith, when I see and what I've experienced on players that have played great for the Cowboys that aren't here today, we need to get it done now while we got them. And I think that's healthy, healthy for everybody. I think that's the way my competition is structured. My competition, the Cowboys competition. And so that causes you to really pop up in the morning and be ready to gnaw a leg off.

And I think that's the end of itself. I've often said that just getting to be a part of this thing, the NFL, the Cowboys, be around these guys, be around you. I've often said that that made me something I wouldn't have been had I not been here. I might not have been as aggressive or as urgent. So I'm very urgent. And if aggressive is a part of that, that's a part of it. And I am proud that I'm as excited and got the health to be that way.

That's his way of saying at the end of it, I'm turning 81 this October. Damn straight it's urgent. Let's go. And what I have here in front of me, TJ Jefferson, is the Dallas Cowboys schedule. Now last year you were pretty darn close.

Hey man. Last year you were legit close. I was. And you weren't telling any lies and you weren't pie in the sky. You know, I call games that I thought we'd lose and you laughed at me and it turned out we were lies. By the way, I don't ever laugh at you. You laughed at my prediction. Let's go to the film's music, please.

TJ Jefferson, USA Today says you're going to go nine and eight. Let's unveil this. Oh man. Production value.

Production value. Unferment banners. Let's go.

All right. So week one, we kick off the season against the New York Giants. They got a lot of turmoil on that team, guys. I think there's going to be some infighting. They're not happy.

They're not happy franchise. That's a W. That's a W. That's the varsity game on Sunday night. Home for the Jets, Aaron Rodgers. Here's the deal. I want to say we beat the Jets, but the fact is your boy is six and three against us.

Okay. And I'm just going to reluctantly, and it makes me mad, the Jets are going to find a way to win that game. Oh, J-E-T-S-W-W-W.

Excuse me while I throw up in my mouth for saying that. Oh, but then there's a rebound against the Cardinals. Oh, there's a rebound. The Cardinals. That's two and one. That's a dub C right there. Then we got to New England Patriots. At home, these aren't your dad's Patriots. That's a dub for us. Three and one start.

Three and one. Now we've got the 49ers. Sunday night football.

Sunday night football. And if you know me, you know that my least favorite teams all come from the NFC East and the Niners. I don't like the Niners. But.

Look, they knocked us out of the playoffs the last two years, so I mean, I just got to be somewhat objective. Unfortunately, I'll I'll do I have to say it out loud that you got to say I'll take the L. OK, here we go. Three and two.

You're five. And you got more to go. Let's go.

All right. Here we go. The Chargers on the 16th. That's a night game. That's a W heading into the bye week. My friend.

You watching that at home in the barn to the barn. All right. So you're four and two, four and two. OK. The by four and two.

It's good. Now you're coming home for the Rams out of the by. I see no reason why that shouldn't be a W five and two to at the Eagles. My hatred of this team is going to make this game even more worse because unfortunately and it's probably going to be an L five and three home for the Giants. You sweep them, you sweep them, break out the brooms six and three at the Carolina Panthers. Well, that's a rookie quarterback seven and three home for the commanders on Thanksgiving Day. You know, that's always dicey.

That's dicey and I hate the football team. But that's a W. That's nine. You got wait a minute. You've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, eight and three.

Yes. Thursday night against the Seahawks. Both of you coming off of a Thanksgiving game. That's one of those games where something weird is going to happen and we're going to get hoodwinked and four letters home for the Eagles. Home for the Eagles. Well, you know, Dak has a great record against them. I believe we will split, so I'll take the dub nine and four at the Bills.

I went back and forth on this one, but I reluctantly give us an L on that. OK, nine and five at the Dolphins. We're going to take the dub. We're going to rebound against the Finns, 10 and five home for the Lions on a Saturday on ESPN slash ABC. Let's roll that up. Eat a W for James. Oh, my goodness. Eleven and five and at the Washington commanders to wrap it up.

Oh, man, it's just going to stink so bad when we lose that game. Eleven and six. T.J. Jefferson has them nice chunk out of the box to the Jets, the Niners, the Eagles, the Seahawks, the Bills and the commanders.

Eleven and six. Oh, T.J. Well done. No, I'll just say this, Rich.

The last two years, I've been on one game by my prediction. So before everybody rips me, it's no. I think this is more likely than nine and eight. I hope you're right. Oh, yeah. I hope so. I like that.

Tim McGraw coming up. All right, brother Jefferson, the Jets thing hurt. You got to understand because I want to because I because you already talk trash and you're going to stroll in the work. Let me tell you something.

Look at you. So I'm not going to do the one thing you will not hear me do this coming season is not smell the stink of the previous fifty three years. You got to let it go, Rich. I'm I'm I know I'm going to let it go, but I'm not going to I'm not going to lose my head and start talking smack.

But it's just us in the studio. No, no, no, no, no. It's just if you start if you start if you start in, I might, you know, I never started you fight.

You might be talking about anything. I might clap back. But you don't clap. I'm not going to clap. I'm going to I'm going to clap back. One thing I will do if if there's any gloating, if there's any gloating, it's going to be against that guy.

Oh, boy. You know, our relationship is it's I know that team that because Belicheck loves, yes, to beat the Jets, loves it. He lives for it. He breathes it and he knows how to do it. And he not only knows how to do it, he knows how to do it and leave the Jets in a pile of ash. He also loves Rogers and he knows this is he knows this is it.

He knows. So this is going to be great. It's going to be fun. And the team that's had the Jets seeing ghosts and basically personally showed B clown Zach Wilson as not the guy. So if the Jets come up with those dubs, we'll talk. You're going to eat them. Week three, though, I think we're cool. You know, those were cool posts week two.