REShow: Zack Rosenblatt - Hour 3

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Brock, Del Tufo, Whistle, TJ, my brother from another mother, love you. Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. This is The Rich Eisen Show. With guest host, Kirk Morrison. Earlier on the show, senior writer for The Athletic, Daniel Popper. Cleveland Plain dealer, Browns Beat writer, Mary Kay Cabot. Coming up, Jets writer for The Athletic, Zach Rosenblatt. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Kirk Morrison. Hour number three. Yeah, this is the power hour coming up here on The Rich Eisen Show.

Kirk Morrison filling in for Rich. So excited to be with you guys. As always, Brockman, Del Tufo, TJ, we in the house powering through this Thursday. We getting ready for Friday. One of the last weeks before football officially returned. One week away from the Hall of Fame game. And then a week after that, it will be one of those days that we always talk about.

It's the first weekend of football all the way through February. Oh my God, I can't wait. We went six months.

Six long, grueling months. We're almost there, man. We're so close.

We're so close. People always say, oh, people don't watch preseason. Don't say that if you don't watch. I watch preseason. I'm watching all of the games, too.

Because there's a lot of young players, like I said, I'm invested. As a college football analyst, seeing some of these guys who played in college, and they'll watch them in their NFL uniforms. It's always fun to see. Always fun to see.

Do you think starters should be playing, the guys that are starting should play preseason as a football player? Ooh, Mike. That's a good one. I always wonder about that.

See, it's different generations. I see the Sean McVeigh method covering the Rams. He's not about his starters playing in the preseason because he wants them available in the regular season. So you have that risk. If you play them in the preseason, something can happen. And then there's also, they may not be ready mentally, too. So how do you get that mental aspect of the game ramped up in training camps to where they're ready to go in week one? That's always difficult. It's always difficult. Because if you lose a starter, everybody's like, oh, why are you playing your starter?

You know you're going to need them. And then if you don't play them in the preseason and they come out in week one, they're flat. And you say, well, Bill Belichick uses, now I feel like the actual first couple weeks of the season like a preseason.

You know what I mean? It's no longer, you know, week one is very important. But honestly, the NFL season to me truly starts after the first four games.

That's just the old, you know, football player in me that the NFL season starts week five. And I say that because the NFL scouting evaluation takes four games. A team is who they are after four games, as we always say. You are who you are after four games. Every time a coaching staff or a team, when you do a scout for the next team, you look at the previous four games. That's always. So that's why you always see some guys who come out hot the first four weeks.

And then all of a sudden that next four to six weeks or after that, you're like, wait, what happened to it? You know, you remember last year, remember Tua? Was that week two? Week two, I think it was Tua and the Dolphins played against the Baltimore Ravens. And Tua had like six touchdowns. And everybody was like, whoa, man, this offense, this is. And that's the first month of the season.

We don't know who you are. They didn't know how Tyreek Hill and Jalen Lotto would be used. And something, you look down the stretch a little bit. You know, after those first four games, the production went down just a tad. But that's why I always say first four weeks of the season, it is truly the Wild Wild West.

It is the unknown. But after the first four weeks, now you can truly game plan. Teams know who you are, what you like to do on third down.

Your personnel, all that stuff. So, you know, I mentioned watching guys from college get to the NFL. You can't wait to see play. I remember doing a Penn State game and watching this kid number 26 at Penn State, Saquon Barkley. And I was like, golly, I went down to the sideline by pregame. I was like, this guy probably has the biggest legs I've ever seen on a running back before. I was like, his legs look like the defensive lineman's legs on a running back position. And I remember we kicked the ball off to him and he returned it. And I was just like, wait, this dude returns kicks too?

Oh man. But this was Saquon Barkley in college. So you knew he would be a great player. Comes to the National Football League and he's been a great player. Now he's had an injury history and he had the franchise tag put on him this year. And was he going to report?

Was he not going to report? The Giants come to an agreement with Saquon Barkley. He comes into training camp and now it seems like things are, I guess, on the up and up for Saquon Barkley. But he finally had a chance to meet the media. So we want to hear a couple clips of Saquon Barkley.

Here's Saquon just arriving at camp and what it means to now be a Giant again. Why did you decide to report on day one and not skip at least summer camp? I had an epiphany.

What's that? The reality of it is, I mean, one, I kind of just followed my heart. Obviously I heard what everyone was saying in the news, on social media, but I kind of just followed my heart. And then you got to look at it as a business point from a business view. I felt like what's the best thing that I can do? And some people may agree or disagree with this.

To sit out or sit in. And I feel like for this year specifically, the best thing that I can do for myself would be coming back, going out there to play the game that I love, playing for my teammates, doing something I wouldn't do since I was a little kid. And I understand I know what's going on with the running back situation and me being tagged and the value of the running back continue going down. The only way that I feel like, you know, someone that's going to change, someone got to make a change.

And God willing, hopefully I could be one of those people. I like that. That's Saquon understanding that when you're in the running back position of a franchise tag, you're in a no win situation.

I've always said this. It's a no win situation. Once you get the tag as a running back, it's a no win situation.

You're probably going to have to take a deal that may not be the above market deal that you're asking, but that's the deal that teams are willing to offer. I remember what it was just a couple of weeks ago, I was, you know, saw what Le'Veon Bell had to say. Le'Veon Bell messed up.

He ruined his career by trying to prove a point. Oh, I'm more than this. I'm more than the franchise tag number. I want the long term.

I'm sitting out. He wanted to be paid as a receiver as well as a running back, which he was putting out receiver numbers. I understand that wholeheartedly, but it did come to a point where this is what it was going to be. And he decided, you know what, I'm going to prove a point. And once he decided to prove that point and sit out. See, Saquon Barkley probably saw that.

It was like, yeah, I don't want that to happen to me. I'm not going to sit out game. You know, Le'Veon Bell is never going to recoup that money that he sat out. No, he ended up getting a contract with the New York Jets and was out of the league in two more years. Guys, what did he miss out on, like $15, $16 million? No, running back tag at the time about like $12, $12 and a half.

No, wait, what did you say? No, it wasn't $15, was it? I felt like it was more than that, actually. It was a significant amount. It was a significant amount.

It never recouped it. But when I listen to Saquon Barkley, he realizes he's in a position of lose-lose. Number one for running back on the franchise tag. He wants to prove a point.

Right now, Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas, well, not technically a Las Vegas Raider at the moment, because he's on the franchise tag, until he signs that tag, he's currently not necessarily a free agent, but under the control of the Las Vegas Raiders. This is what happens. You decide to stay away from the team. Then all of a sudden you're ready to sign your tender right before the season starts. And now you're not ready.

You're not prepared for the season. So automatically your production may not be where it once was. And that production starts to go down. Then the fan base, which I think a lot of times, they don't care. They care now, but then when the season starts, you're not there. It's almost like you're doing this to us now. So the fan base will turn on you quickly. And it's like, wow, look what you're doing to us.

We're ready to go for a Super Bowl, and you're not on board because you're worried about your money. That's just what the fans do. I've seen it before, and I'm like, wow, it's unreal. And I bring that up because I remember Josh Jacobs this morning, he had a tweet this morning. Common sense, not too common, clearly. Because everybody saw what happened with Saquon Barkley, and it automatically goes to Josh Jacobs. Like, hey, you see what happened with Saquon? Why can't you do the same thing?

So you have that part of it as well. Saquon realizes that the only way that he can increase value with himself as a player is to go out and surpass what he did last year. But then you look at what Nick Chubb said. Nick Chubb says, well, if he goes out and surpass what he did last year and takes on the bulk of the carries and more, they're going to say, oh, well, he's going to be run down the year after. So he used up all of his good stuff this year.

Next year, he won't have the same juice. The running back position is just, it's a bad situation. It's tough. It's tough.

That's just the way it's going to be. I looked at this. I did a little research about two and a half, three months ago, and I was just looking at all the running backs in the national football. Well, the teams that have won Super Bowls since 2013, the teams that have won Super Bowls since 2013, the leading rusher for that team made $2 million or less at the running back position. Now, the only outlier was, I think, Marshawn Lynch, who was making $8 million. This is when the Seattle Seahawks just obliterated the Denver Broncos. That's when they won the Super Bowl. But if you look at it, I did the research.

I go back and I was like, wait, what? No, the leading rusher for that season for all of these Super Bowl teams has made under $2 million. I'm serious. Is that Fournette, who was the highest paid out of all those guys?

No, no. Just remember when Fournette signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he was still under, it was a one-year deal. Remember, it wasn't the deal that was coming off of his rookie deal. This was a one-year deal.

Remember, he was released. Last year, Isaiah Pacheco, he's on his rookie deal. I saw twice the leading rusher was, he just signed with the Rams right now, Sonny Michelle.

Sonny Michelle, yeah. He was on his rookie deal with the Patriots, rookie deal with the Rams. So, Olivia Bell turned down a five-year, $70 million deal from the Steelers. But he was complaining that it only had an actual guarantees of $17 million. And then he refused to sign the $14.5 million franchise tag in 2018. So then sat out. Then sat out and his career was over. He's only 31 years old right now.

Yeah. He's 31 years old. He's sitting down. He's out of football. And I think he realized, you know, in a message to Steelers fans a couple weeks ago I saw, he said, you know, look, hey, I'm sorry. I messed up. I messed up.

I shouldn't have. And that's maybe why Saquon said, you know what, I didn't want to sit out. I'll let Saquon tell you.

Here's, because I know people ask him, here's Saquon Barkley on why he didn't sit out. You said there was a point where you changed your mind in the process. Were you seriously considering sitting out camping maybe even part of the regular season?

Yeah, I was. That's a play that I have. But I'll be completely honest. If I sat out this year and, say, if the New York football Giants and I sat out and we didn't have a good record, you think that's going to make another team in free agency or the Giants want to have me come back the next year after I sat out a whole year and be like, oh, we want to give you $15 million a year now. Like, I don't think I don't think that's how it's going to work.

And after, you know, having conversations and really breaking it down, when you sit there, you break it down like that. The only way that I will make a change or do something that's going to, you know, benefit for myself and my family is doing what I do best. Yeah, that was a play in my back pocket. I had it, but I know that the only way I can increase my value is if I go out there and play. Maybe next year when the salary cap goes up, there's probably a little bit more money to play with. We can probably come to a deal. And if they franchise tag him again next year, it's going to be 120% more than what the franchise tag for him is this year.

So you always have that play in store. Well, I know there's a big fight in Vegas this weekend, right? Is it Errol Spence and Bud Crawford? So it's going to be a lot of punches being thrown back and forth, back and forth. I can't wait to watch that fight, but it's also a fight that's brewing between the Jets and the Broncos right now.

And the Jabs have been flying. First it was Sean Payton. And now we've got a counterpunch coming from Jets head coach Robert Sala. I'll have some Robert Sala sound for you. Coming up next as Zach Rosenblatt, the Jets writer for The Athletic. He'll join the program, kind of break this all down. Jets camp, Robert Sala, also Sean Payton. All of this coming up next here on The Rich Eisen Show.

Kirk Morrison filling in for Rich. Are you currently enjoying the show on the Stitcher app? Then you need to know Stitcher is going away on August 29th.

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Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. We're now at the top five power rankings of NFL quarterback birthday parties I'd prefer to attend. Number five is Josh Allen. Let's go hang out with Josh Allen. I don't know what this is photographs from. Is it from a murder mystery party or something like that? Like Halloween? I don't know. But let's go hang out with Josh Allen.

All right. Number four on the list. Who wouldn't want to go to Tom Brady's birthday party?

I think that would be number one. No, no, no, no. Single Tom Brady, bro? Tom Brady.

Tom Brady on a boat. Yeah. And the one and it's on his cheat day with no one day where he's drinking to the word. OK. All right. OK. Number one. Number three on this list. Who wouldn't want to go say happy birthday to Joe Burrow?

Oh, yeah. Look at Joe. Come on now. Joe Burrows throwing her birthday party. I'm going and everybody on the RSVP list is going to number two.

And the only quarterback birthday party I would want to attend is Jimmy Garoppolo's birthday. Yes. You bet. Tom's going to be there. And you just I mean, I will just I'll stand in the corner and look and it'll be creepy. I'm not going to lie.

I'm not going to lie. It'll be creepy. There'll be some birds. It'll be creepy.

But Jimmy, too. Kind of women at that party. I wouldn't be able to go to Jimmy Garoppolo's birthday party because Susie would say, oh, and you're home.

OK, the pigeons will be clucking. Number one atop my power rankings. And I have quarterback birthday parties.

I would like to attend an NFL quarterback birthday party. Hands down. Number one, Gardner Minshew. It's not just starting quarterbacks, I said NFL quarterback.

Number one, Gardner Minshew. Oh, back here on the Rich Eisen Show, it's so much fun as a training camp is underway, but now you're starting to get a lot of these jabs going back and forth. We've been talking about it all show pretty much that, you know, Sean Payton, new head coach over in Denver, the former Saints head coach, has been talking about maybe the prior regime that got here.

Well, that got to Denver before he was there. And he's saying he's having to play cleanup. But then he's also saying about teams who have the spotlight on them during training camp and that they mean, you know, it may not work out in their favor.

And he's talking about the New York Jets with a lot of the spotlight, hard knocks. And Robert Salah heard some of these comments coming from Sean Payton. Here's a little Robert Salah responding to the comments of Sean Payton. Well, I'm not going to acknowledge Sean on that.

He's been in the league a while. He can say whatever the hell he wants. But but as far as, you know, what we have going on here, it's, you know, the I kind of live by saying if you ain't got no haters, you ain't poppin. So hate away. You know, it's obviously we're doing something right if you got to talk about us when we don't play it till week four.

I get it. There's a lot of external noise. There's a lot of people who are hating on us. There's a lot of people looking for us to fail. There's a lot of crows pecking at our neck.

But all you can do is spread your wings, keep flying high until those crows fall off and suffocate from the inability to breathe. How do you guard against sort of playing Tennessee football and seeing the name and saying, oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. Versus making sure it fits what you're building overall here. You're 100 percent on it, Kaz, because there's you know, you want to make sure it fits. It's not you're not trying to build a team of names.

You want to make sure that it fits. And I feel like that's what we've been able to do a really good job of. Not trying to build a dream team, but but making sure that everything fits for a reason. There's a purpose for what we're doing and being very cognizant of not getting caught up in fan noise and and and pulling in names just to pull on names. Dream team. Right. So we talked about dream team haters popping. Can we get that on the shirt, please? No doubt. That should be the theme for the New York Jets. Hard knocks.

Hard knocks. If you don't have any haters, you ain't popping. You don't think this beef is going to be in episode one?

Of course it is. Oh, this is the beef that's going to go into the season. It goes all the way into week four. And somebody who couldn't tell me how this beef is starting to brew is my guy, Zach Rosenblatt, Jets writer for the athletic co-host of the Can't Wait podcast. Zach, this is probably I know you've been covering a team for a while.

Tell me, how fun is it this year? All of these storylines I could just tell you're having so much fun covering these Jets. You know, I would say covering the Jets, there's always weird stuff that happens, but usually it's not the kind of stuff that gets the attention of everybody in the country.

It's more just like a local thing. And now you have Aaron Rodgers here and you have people talking smack about the Jets because he built up their roster and they got Rodgers and they're talking about the Super Bowl. So I guess this all comes with, and it's definitely been fun because, you know, there's a lot more people looking at my stuff, so.

See, look at that. Everybody, look, Zach Rosenblatt is a very popular guy out here in the streets of the NFL universe. But Zach, I guess let's start here. Obviously, the attention now on this football team because of what Aaron Rodgers has brung with his status as a quarterback in the National Football League. How has this changed Jets camp compared to where it was last year? Not knowing with the quarterback situation and Zach Wilson, but now having a solidified guy in Rodgers, how has it changed sort of the temperature of training camp? You know, there definitely is a different vibe around here.

It is very interesting to me, kind of to Sean Payne's point to a degree. You know, they're talking, this team is talking about the Super Bowl, like they're not shying away from talking about it. And, you know, the energy is different, you know, the attention on this team is, you know, every single practice, what we're talking about, what we're writing about, people are looking at it. Because you have a team that just traded all they did for Aaron Rodgers. He's the most famous or infamous quarterback that, you know, the league has maybe ever seen. And he's considered one of the best quarterbacks to ever play in a position, and they haven't had very good quarterbacks on this team in a long time. So you're seeing the difference in terms of just having him there, what he's doing for the rest of the roster, pulling guys aside, going into the other position meeting rooms.

And so you feel a different vibe, you feel a different level of energy. And in New York, you know, usually the Giants are the priority. They're the ones getting the headline on the backstage of the New York Post and Daily News, but it's turned into the Jets, it's turned into Aaron Rodgers, and I've never seen it like that here before. You know, Zach, kind of explain for myself especially, but also the listeners out there, when everyone hears that Aaron Rodgers had $100 million left on the contract. And he rips the contract up, and he takes a $25 million pay cut to make sure that the Jets are able to go out and get players, and they're able to go out and be a team for the future. And kind of solidifies his, what he's been saying is that this isn't just a one-year deal for him.

This is a guy who wants to be here for multiple years. What is this contract really? Is it a restructure?

Is it regrouping? Is this for the future? What was this new restructuring of the $100 million with Aaron Rodgers? Honestly, I'm not sure there's ever been a contract redo like this one. He pretty much gave back $35 million to the Jets, guaranteed money. And so his contract is technically a two-year deal for $75 million, but what they did is they spread it out over five years so they can spread the cap it out, you know, give them a bonus now, and you're able to spread that out over the five years. So he gave them cap space next year, which they didn't have. I think he was said to have like a $100 million cap it.

And I mean, you just don't see guys giving up over $30 million of their money. You could say whatever you want about Aaron Rodgers, but I think that really does say a lot about what he thinks about this team. And I think that does kind of cement, you know, the idea that he wants to be here for more than one year.

He's referred a few times and he's talked about it. Like, you know, who knows what's going to happen with my health and who knows what will happen this season, but it's pretty clear his intention is to play at least two seasons. So basically the Jets are all in for this year and able to do something again come next year.

And I think a lot of it is some of the pieces that they have, you know, obviously the wide receiver Garrett Wilson. We all know that, you know, they'll get Breece Hall back and then it seems to be there is a visitor in Jets camp today in Dalvin Cook. What are you hearing about the Jets possibly acquiring Dalvin Cook? Yeah, I believe his visit will technically be Sunday. He's flying in today.

I think he's going to be on Good Morning Football tomorrow and then he'll have his visit on Sunday. I think a lot of that is that two sides are going to know each other. They want to check on Dalvin's medicals, but I would say there's definitely mutual interest. And I think the fact that this is happening immediately after the Aaron Rodgers contract restructure, I don't think that's not insignificant. You know, they believe Breece Hall is going to be ready for week one.

He hasn't been activated and practicing yet. But, you know, this team is all in on winning right now. A guy coming off an ACL like Breece, he probably won't be the same level of guy that you saw last year until the season. Like, you know, halfway through the season or something like that because that's just the way the ACL things work with a running back. So having a guy like Dalvin who you can lean on for the first half of the season, I think that's very appealing, especially because he can bring something to the passing game, add another weapon. And, yeah, I mean, this team needs to score points. Their biggest issue last year was the offense and the defense was very good.

And if you can bring in another weapon for Aaron Rodgers, I don't think that's a bad thing. Jets writer for The Athletic, Zach Rosenblatt. Follow him on Twitter, at zachblatt. How's our guy, Mr. Wilson, doing? We don't talk about the backup quarterback too often, right? Because last year you think about him coming into the season and everybody was all about the Jets do it right, Zach Wilson. He's got a big year to prove and now he sits back.

And I'm just wondering, how is Zach Wilson right now, Zach? Yeah, you know, I think the best thing possible for him beyond, you know, Aaron Rodgers, who we said was his hero before Rodgers ever came here, I think the best thing for him is the lack of attention on him. Like you just said, like you don't really hear about the backup quarterback that much and there's not really pressure on him going into the season. And you saw last year as things got worse, his confidence got worse and worse. He got to a point where he was a shell of himself and he wasn't able to go out there and really function as a quarterback of any level. So I think this is all a reboot for him. You know, he's in his third year of his career.

It's kind of late for that to start. But, you know, the Jets still do believe in his talent. I think he's he's shown some flashes of improvement. You know, some of the things he was doing last year that were a problem, like, you know, working through his reads or, you know, throwing the ball to a place where only his receiver can get it.

And just like small things, he's he's shown some signs of improvement. I think I'm very curious to see how he looks in the preseason game because I think he's going to get a lot of work. I can't imagine they're going to want to play Aaron Rodgers as much, if at all. And this is going to be a real opportunity for Zach Wilson to kind of get his game reps and then, you know, in a worst case scenario, show that the Jets can rely on him if something happens to Aaron this season. Any other stand out so far as training camp is really underway and getting this team ready?

You're a week away from playing in the Hall of Fame game, like you just mentioned. Any other guys that really caught your attention that we haven't been focusing on? Well, you know, he actually got banged up today. It sounds like Gary Wilson looked like an absolute star in camp. I would say he's like the number one guy that stood out to me. Sausgarteners looked as good as he did last year, but, you know, a guy that's flown on the radar out to Jermaine Johnson, he's the defensive end they drafted in the first round last year. He's bulked up. He looks, you know, way more explosive and athletic. And he seems like he's ready to kind of go off. So he's a guy that, you know, he kind of flew under the radar because when you have the offensive and defensive rookie of the year, people forget they had a third first round pick also.

That was like pretty solid for them, too. So I think he's a guy that I think could have a really big year with the right opportunity. What does Coach Salah keep saying to everybody who comes around and, you know, wants to have these expectations of the Super Bowl or just this expectation of being one of the best teams in the AFC? How does he temper the expectations of so many because of the emergence in acquiring Aaron Rodgers? What has been the sort of his, I guess, message to the team? You know, and he said something about this today because pretty much every time, you know, we come out here, there's a lot more media that come that weren't there before.

So you get asked the expectations question a lot. And so I think today I don't remember the exact quote, but it was something along the lines of we're not trying to go 17-0. We're trying to kick butt every single day. So they're trying to focus on the day to day and not the bigger picture while still like letting these guys talk about the idea of Super Bowl because they know that's the end goal in mind. But I think the main thing he's doing is just winning each day instead of, you know, thinking about what's going to happen in week five when they play the Broncos or whatever.

He's Zach Rosenblatt, Jets writer for the athletic co-host of the Can't Wait podcast. No one talking about the Jets defense. Everything has been about Aaron Rodgers and we're going to talk offense all year long, how many points they're scoring.

But we can't forget that Robert Salah is a defensive-minded head coach. How good can his defense be this year? You mentioned Johnson who's coming to his second year.

C.J. Moseley is a bona fide Pro Bowler every single year. How good can this Jets defense be that can help out the offense? Yeah, you know, last year they were a top five defense and they did that without really forcing any turnovers.

Which, you know, I think some like experts would say that's a sign that they could regress a year later. But they brought back pretty much everybody from last year, give or take a couple players. They added a first-round pick in Will McDonald to a group of already a deep, stable defense defense. Carl Lawson is healthy. Quinnen Williams is coming off the best year of his career and just got paid.

This is a very talented group. I think there's some spots that lack depth. But talent-wise, I think this can stack up with almost any defense in the league. And if they can fix that turnover thing where they weren't forcing many last year, I really do think this can be a top five or top ten defense again. And if that's the case, then you don't really need the offense to be top ten.

You just need them to be solid because they were not solid for most of the year last year. Yeah, they needed to find a way in a division now that's going to have obviously two in the Miami Dolphins. We look at now the Buffalo Bills. The way that you see this team right now currently constructed, is this a team that is playing for a division title or are they playing for the playoffs? Yeah, I think they very much believe they're in the mix that could be for a division title.

I think if everybody's healthy, then I would say they absolutely can do it. I'm skeptical they can catch the Bills just yet. And I think they really need to answer some questions they have on the offensive line, which it was a question coming into camp.

And they really haven't done anything to stop those questions. A couple of guys have banged up. But I would say if the offensive line can improve from what it was last year, I do think this is a division-containing type team.

Last one for you before I let you go here, Zach. We're going to see hard knocks when it's released, I believe, in about a couple of weeks. What should we be expecting or what will surprise us when you think about the way that the Jets have handled so far this hard knocks, which is something that they said they didn't want to do, but they were forced to do it.

What may surprise us when we see the way that this team is constructed? The one thing I would go back to with that is I think Sos Garner, I think locally people know what Sos Garner is like and what he's about. But I don't know nationally how low-key of a guy he is. He has this flashy name, this flashy personality. But he's not a guy that goes out, he doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke. He goes home and he plays video games. And he has a whole community of people who watch him play video games on Twitch. And that's just kind of like his life. He lives with his dog and he has a very low-key lifestyle. I think you hear the name Sos and you see the chain he wears and all that stuff and maybe people think a little differently. And he's a trash talker and all that. But he's really just a normal kid who just loves football and then he goes home and he just kind of relaxes and plays video games. And I think that's the part that the national audience is going to fall in love with him.

Oh yeah, I'll leave you with this one too. You forget about Quinnen Williams at times too. He just signed a big contract, he's under contract for a while. His brother Quincy Williams as well. There's a lot of names on this Jets team that I feel like hard knocks is going to give us an inside look on some of the better personalities around the National Football League that you don't necessarily see because of the way the team has performed over the last couple of years. Yeah, this is a locker room full of, you know, really fun, interesting guys. You know, Sos Garner, like I mentioned, Garrett Wilson, and Breece Hall. These are all guys' personalities. You know, you have a guy like Quinnen that you mentioned, he's here, his brother Quincy. D.J. Reid has a really cool backstory. He's the other corner that kind of flies under the radar because of Sos. Yeah, they have a lot of talent in that building and a lot of personalities.

It's going to be a fun group to watch on that show. You can follow him on Twitter at Zach Black. He's a Jets writer for the athletic co-host of the Can't Wait Podcast. He'll be covering the Hall of Fame game in one week as the Jets take on the Cleveland Browns. Zach, man, I appreciate the time. The most popular man in the NFL covering the Jets. Appreciate it, Zach.

Thanks, man. Zach Rosenblatt. That's fun.

That's cool. That is really cool the way that I think there's some other guys who will get a chance to really show themselves. Like, for me, I'm always going to follow linebackers. C.J. Mosley has been one of the good linebackers in this league for so long, but yet the team that he's on doesn't have the success.

The Jets haven't been a successful team. I think when you watch football, he'll get a Pro Bowl nod or he may get an all-Pro vote here and there. But he's not on the number one defense like the 49ers and be Fred Warner, right?

You know what I mean? He doesn't get the highlights because we're watching that one team play in late November. I mean, sorry, late December, early January in the playoffs. We always find hard knocks gives us players to root for and see. So as much as we're going to have our Aaron Rodgers Cup runneth over, I think it'll be other players. I'm interested to see Quinnen Williams. You know, the personality that he showed when he got away from Alabama for a little bit and you're excited to see him. And then you kind of forget about him because the Jets weren't winning games. They weren't playing, you know, prime time games.

So I'm looking forward to seeing that. Sauce Gardener too, I remember, you know, talking with his head coach, Luke Fickle, while he was at Cincinnati and his head coach still calls him Ahmad. He was like, he's like, yeah, Ahmad. I talked to Ahmad, I'm like, coach, his name is Sauce. He's like, no, he's he's Ahmad to me. He's like, he's Ahmad. I'm not going to call the kid Sauce.

You know what I mean? Like, that's my guy. I recruited him as Ahmad Gardener. Now, he's turned himself into Sauce, but I just remember the humble backgrounds of a lot of these kids.

So I'm looking forward to watching that on the hard knocks as well. Fellas, you know, Kirk, the thing about the Chris, we talked about this, the guys that they really tend to focus on. Sometimes the guys that you really get behind and you love their stories, right? Those are the guys that unfortunately seem to not make the team.

And according to what we know now, we're not even going to get to see that. So quick question for you is for you as a player. You've been I think you've ever been cut, but you I'm sure you've had friends. Obviously, you've gotten cut and you've watched hard knocks.

How do you feel about that moment? Because that's been going around. It's been a point of contention now. Some people want to see it. Some people feel that they don't want to see it.

What are your thoughts? Oh, man, that's that's a hard one. That's like the end of a dream. I've never I've never been cut in a 53 man roster cut. Never been cut.

Yeah. Now, I was released like at the like last in December with the Buffalo Bills. I was released, needed a roster spot. I understood it was my last year.

I know I was going to be pretty much done. It had to be a great circumstance for me to come back and play in 2013. Just because you just kind of know you're in a role in which you're a French starter, backup player, special teams. You've got to go to the perfect situation.

I knew that that wasn't going to happen. So I was, you know, got called up to the principal's office. Coach Chan Gailey wants to see you. What's up, coach? Hey, Coach, man, we're going to need your roster spot. I'm sorry, man. Coach, appreciate it. I appreciate the time, though, all that.

And then they call me back like the next week, like, OK, we need you back. I was like, all right, coach, I understand. I get it. I know the business of it. I'm not upset at you. That's the way it is. I still have my termination letter, by the way, from the Buffalo Bills.

I wish I could show it to you because it's it shows like you're terminated. But the boxes check that we believe that your ability to play is not up to the standard, which we are like, damn, like the writing on it is like it bad. Like so like I'm just a terrible player, but that's just the way the the writing is on it. When it comes to cut down day, that's a tough one. And watching people get cut on hard.

Well, I think watching people, you go back to different times. Like I said, I was not cut before, so I don't under I don't know what that feeling feels like. But I do know maybe it was my second year in the league. I know that they had moved my position from outside linebacker as a rookie to. Now you're going to be the middle linebacker here, which was my natural position.

But I knew the guy who was in that position was was there and it kind of moved him to the backup. And here I am as a starter, but I thought we will still be on the team and everything was good. And remember, they called a meeting that day, that morning. Everybody's at the meeting and it's OK, we'll see you guys a little later.

We'll have another meeting later on. But you knew it was basically to get everybody in the building. And then as you left out, you know, the Reaper, the guy, the Turk, the Turk, you know, you never want to see him. We knew who he was. So when you saw me like, oh, and I remember we came back for that meeting. And there was I remember he came in the locker room and it was in tears and he was a guy who mentored me named Danny Clark. Man, he mentored me. And put me in a great situation, taught me everything about the middle linebacker position in the NFL. And it's like, yeah, they just released me. So I was like, and I got to I start crying because I could see how much it meant to him and I know what he poured into me.

And he said, I'll be all right. And he ended up joining Sean Payton in the New Orleans Saints. He ended up playing with them. But I just remember just how difficult it was to see like, man, you go in expecting to be on a team and then you walk out and you're not.

And that's that's a tough one to swallow. I remember this was a lot of this was pre social media era, too. I remember when we really got into the social media era and I had to sit down and watch the Twitter feed of the Buffalo Bills in agony in 2012. Like, man, am I going because you will find out if you were cut on Twitter before you'll find out from the actual team.

I mean, that's how it is now. Players find out information quicker on social media and from their aging than before my team. I mean, just recently, I mean, what, a couple of years ago, Bobby Wagner found out he was released from the Seahawks on Twitter instead of getting a phone call from John Schneider or Pete Carroll. Different sport.

But Chris Paul says he found out that he got traded on a plane from his son texting that. That's how quickly things happen. So watching hard knocks and seeing those emotions. Yeah, man, it's difficult to deal with. I've seen a lot of a lot of young players.

The hardest ones I know for the guys who, you know, are going to get cut. You know what I mean? But they're doing everything possible to make the team. And then there's a guy who, you know, who makes the team that, you know, like, I'll rather switch that guy out because I know it means more to him. But we got to keep him because of contract obligations. Right. You know what I mean?

That's that's the hard part when, you know, there's some players who are better that you wish you could keep, but then you can't keep. So business, business, the business of the National Football League, or like I tend to call it the economics of the NFL tend to take over. All right, guys, coming back, we wrap things up here on The Rich Eyes and show Kirk Borson filling in for Rich. Where did you take in the Super Bowl this year? Were you in were you in Minnesota or you were not?

No, I had the opportunity to go to Minnesota, but we were in production on the series and I was still healing from a broken leg last last summer. So it seemed a little arduous, especially with the cold and I like watching in the comfort of my home. I feel like you can analyze the game better live.

It seems to go by so quickly. And I like to know the intricacies and nuances of who's hurt, whether they're coming back into the game, all of those things that you kind of miss when you're when you're there watching it live. And so what was what did it mean to you? I mean, who's your call? What I mean, what did it mean to you? I was sitting with my 14 year old son watching the game throughout with only a couple of I didn't want too many people because I didn't want distractions. I wanted only people football minded, focused people talking Brock Brockman's language.

I'm not going to one of those parties where you're explaining the game to casual fans or like, you know, people don't understand the importance, you know. And so I watched it in my theater. And even with the broken leg at the end of the game, I'm jumping. I have video of that. And I left the ground.

I was like two feet off the ground at the end of that game. And it's unforgettable. And also to have your son right there with you. And then we got on the phone with my dad back east and FaceTiming with him. My dad's got tears and he's not the type of guy to cry, but he's been waiting for this moment for 70 years. You know, it's really special when when it does happen. And the most emotionally affected I got was watching the parade. And Jason Kelsey's speech was unbelievable. But even before they got to that, seeing the people of Philadelphia, knowing what it meant to the mentality of the city, to the, you know, the future of the city in some ways, that really struck me. Just knowing how desperately the people wanted it. You look like you're getting a little choked up.

I could if I talked about it. By the way, he's got a little bit of a touch of the Vermeil right here. A touch of the Vermeil. I'll take that. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. And 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 click Grainger or just stop by. Oh, there we go. There we go.

Feels good now. I haven't been propped up on his chair all day. Rich likes to sit high.

He's high up in the chair. I like to sit a little lower. Low ride.

Yeah, I'm a low rider. Good to see you guys as always, though. We talked a little bit earlier during the show just about quarterbacks in the National Football League. Right now, currently, the best quarterback in the NFL is Patrick Mahomes. He's been to what? He's won two Super Bowls.

Been to three. Two times Super Bowl MVP. The league's MVP this past season.

He's won that twice, by the way. The Chiefs are, it's hard not to say they're a dynasty when they are. As long as Patrick Mahomes is there, he is the dynasty. But that being said, we know he's the best quarterback in the league. But who's number two?

That is a discussion that I wanted to have with you guys as we get out of here. Who's the second best quarterback in the league? Some say Joe Burrow. If you asked me last year, people would have said what? Josh Allen. Josh Allen because of, or previous or two years ago.

Was that two years ago or last year? Because we saw Joe Burrow on the rise. I think last year was another validation year for him that pushed him up higher. Josh Allen's in that conversation. Where does Lamar Jackson fit in that conversation? Justin Herbert just signed the richest contract in NFL history average per year.

Where's he at in that conversation? Are we going to base this on resume? Are we going to base this on ability? Are we going to base this on wins and losses? Like I'm trying to figure out how will we base, or who is the number two quarterback in the NFL and you still have some other guys? I mean if Aaron Rodgers comes out and does something crazy with the Jets this year, are we not saying that he's still one of the greatest quarterbacks in the National Football League and could be the best quarterback or at least number two before the season is out? I'm torn right now because I could throw a lot.

I even talked to you guys about it. If Trevor Lawrence comes out and has an unbelievable year similar to what we've seen with Joe Burrow, Joe Burrow is only going into year four. Trevor Lawrence is going into year three.

He's on that same trajectory. Who's the second best quarterback in the National Football League, fellas? Oh man, it's such a great question. And I haven't even said Jalen Hurts' name yet.

It's such a great question. Hurts is in that top five, right? I mean, he's in the conversation there. The top five of number two candidates? Yes, top five of number two candidates.

I think for me, does Tom Brady count? Can I put him on the list or is he officially retired? He's retired, he's done. Yeah, I think he's done. I think he's switching up.

He's got some other stuff going on. I think just because he's done it a year or two longer than Joe Burrow, I'm going to have Josh Allen number two and I'm going to have Joe Burrow number three. And then four through, you know, four, five, six, whatever order you want to put him in. You know, I think it's based on ability slash accomplishments.

You know, Herbert, I know, has the 24 and 25. He only has, you know, no playoff wins, one game over 500. But he threw for 4700 yards last year.

He obviously has all the tools and the skill set. I like him in that top five. I don't know why nobody's talking about Kirk Cousins. The guy just routinely puts up numbers.

I know that doesn't really always translate to playoff wins. But Jalen Hurts, I like Trevor Lawrence, Aaron Rodgers. If you want to throw out last year for injury, why not Tua in that top five number two guys? You saw what the Miami Dolphins offense was last year when he was healthy, on the field, engaged, and it was all clicking. They were unstoppable.

What about Deshaun Watson? We got to see it. We got to see it. Two seasons. We got to see it. We got to see it. We got to see it from Deshaun for a full year.

I wonder, this conversation is going to be fun because it's going to go throughout the year. Like, we're starting it now, but at the end of the year, who are we saying is number two? I didn't even mention Lamar Jackson. This guy plays a full season and is super healthy. We know what the ceiling is for him. It's MVP. So, he's got to be considered as well.

We don't even go there with Dak Prescott? PJ, I know that's your guy. I know.

Look, that's my guy. I'm going to keep it real. I can't say that he's a top five NFL quarterback. I'd love to say that. And, of course, that was the first name I said when we were going to be realistic.

I can't say that. But, you know, pretty much I agree with Chris's list. Burrow Allen, kind of like 2A, 2B, depending on you're picking your poison. I have a sneaky suspicion that Deshaun Watson might be able to regain that form that he had when, you know, he had that three year run where he was pretty dominant. Trevor Lawrence is not a bad pick. You're talking about the number one overall pick in the draft. So, you are expecting a little bit more out of him than, say, like a third or fourth round pick. So, like I said, I think the only thing that's for certain is who's number one right now.

And then anything else, you can convince me. You can make a convincing argument for any of Hertz, Allen, Burrow, Lamar for that second. I'm going to throw this name at you. Quarterback of a team with a very full bandwagon heading into 2023. Jared Goff?

What about Jared Goff? 6th in the NFL in passing yards last year, nearly 4,500 yards. I saw that. I saw that. 29 to 7 touchdown interception ratio last year.

I'd have to do the quick math on what? Mahomes was 41-12. I think Jared Goff had one of the top touchdown interception ratios last year in the NFL. They're going to be an awesome offense again. We're going to see a lot of them.

They're playing the Chiefs to kick off the season. What? Six weeks? Yeah.

How many weeks from tonight? Ten? Something like that? Yeah. I'm not going to disagree. Jared Goff might be in that top five by the end of this year.

Who knows? I'm also creating what I call a wait-and-see list. My wait-and-see list is Justin Fields.

I said he's number two. We're talking about quarterbacks. I want to wait and see how I view them at the end of the year. Justin Fields said he's going to throw for 4,000 this year. Jordan Love is also on my wait-and-see list. Can't wait. That's a big wait-and-see though.

That's a wait-and-see. I want to see what Bryce Young looks like. He's already QB 1. He's going to look small. He's on my wait-and-see list. Speaking of small, I want to see how Anthony Richardson looks. Who's big? Yeah. We've talked this whole segment and not once have we mentioned Russell Wilson III.

I mean, it's fun that we have exercises like this because I can't wait till you go out there and you play the game because now we can truly analyze. Because there's a quarterback that is going to surprise us. Last year it was Geno Smith. Geno. There's going to be a quarterback that surprises us, that plays well, and is going to go out there and do their thing. I cannot wait to see who that is. You ain't got no haters.

You ain't popping. Brogman, Del Tufo, TJ Mann has been a blast. Oh, it's a treat. Always fun filling in for Rich.

This is Kirk Morrison right here filling in for Rich on The Rich Eisen Show. How wrestling really works and how you get the ratings. Eric Bischoff and Conrad Thompson explain on 83 weeks. Collision has been struggling a little bit out of the gate with these ticket sales. A little bit out of the gate. This was a major show announced on a major network with what everybody thought was this huge star, CM Punk. I said he was going to be the biggest financial flop in wrestling history and I think I'm being proven right every minute of the day. 83 weeks on YouTube or wherever you listen.