Everybody talking about the running back market coach.
Let's go, go, go. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Why did this happen with Dalvin Cook, coach? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.
The salary cap is a real thing and the decisions that Kwasi and our front office, you know, have to make, they're never easy. Earlier on the show, NFL writer for The Athletic, Mike Sando, senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer. Still to come, ESPN NFL analyst, Lewis Riddick. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Lewis Riddick of ESPN joining us, slated to join us momentarily here on this program. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial.
We've been chopping up quite a bit here today. Everything going on in the NFL training camp world and then also, of course, in Major League Baseball trading deadline. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial here on this program. We already had great chats with Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. Already also with Mike Sando of The Athletic. It's his list that he came up with talking to 50 unnamed executives and coaches in the NFL.
About tiering quarterbacks. If you missed any of that, don't worry. We re-air right here on the Roku channel as soon as we're done. Every single day, 12 to 3 Eastern. And when we're done on channel 210 on the Roku channel, we just re-air right away. There's also our podcast. If you are somebody who listens to those, guess what? All three hours of our show available every day, whenever you want to listen to it on through the Cumulus Podcast Network.
We're also available YouTube. Our handle, at Rich Eisen Show, works for Instagram, works for Facebook, works for Threads, works for TikTok, works for X. No, it does not. God, the X got you bouncing again. X is not a thing. I don't understand. Did you see it came down off the building?
It did. A big, bright X that was ruining people's sleep patterns in San Francisco. It's something Elon did as a bust.
But I don't understand why if you think we, I appreciate that you think that we have influence and we have a platform. We as everyone, the collective we, just refuse to call it this. It's still Twitter. Don't update your app. So you still have the blue bird on your phone.
Don't do it. And then we'll just move on. And therefore... We got to take it back.
Take a stance. Take back our community. Twitter was once a cool, fun place. Yeah, for like the first month. And it can be again. And that was 2009.
One month. Aaron Rodgers talking now. I don't recall ESPN and NFL Network showing live, live coverage of Zach Wilson's conversations.
His dating life I'm into. I don't recall like, hey, let's check in on what the Jets quarterback has to say. It's been a while. Joining us once again here on The Rich Eisen Show, one of my favorites from the worldwide leader in sports, Lewis Riddick, back here on the program. How are you, Lewis? What's up, Rich? How you been? I'm fine. Are you any more sold on the Jets?
Seeing what's going on. Dalvin Cook is potentially interested in joining. Are you still skeptical of the lineup front?
What do you got for me as we're now here in August? Until they play games, my concerns remain my concerns, right? And I'm probably even more, I don't know, I may be, I don't know if I'm more bullish, to use a stock market phrase, than most on this team, offensively. But I do like the composition of the running back room, tight ends, wide receivers, the wide receivers that he brought in with him, with Allen and Randall, Randall Cobb, Allen Lazard. I mean Nathaniel Hackett, I mean I like all that familiarity. Guys who can help spread the message to the rest of the guys, the young guys who are trying to learn this system. I like Aaron's approach, his attitude. It seems like he's someone who wanted to be there this offseason as opposed to last year.
I spent some time with Jordan Whitehead just a couple weeks ago out in Pittsburgh. And on defense he said, look man, we're fired up about Aaron being there and they've got good players all three levels. So I'm good with the squad except for that old line. And it's a legit concern. And you know, it could derail everything. It could literally derail everything, especially if they can't run the ball at all. They're in second and long a lot of the time.
Aaron's running for his life more times than not. You know, this is a team that was 28th, 30th in run block win rate last year. Bottom half of the league in pass block win rate. Packers that are suspect. Wayne Browns all the time, Beckton can't stay healthy.
It's just, at the end of last year, the two teams we covered in the Super Bowl. Outside of the quarterbacks, one of the things we talked about was, man, Jason Kelce is like a dominant center. Lane Johnson is a stud.
Jordan Milata is like a ridiculous, you know, former rugby player. Kansas City is Creed Humphrey. I mean, it's Joe Tuni, how good they are and how much Patrick can just sit in the pot.
There's a reason why these teams are good. And if the Jets don't have that, it could really derail everything. And that's the only thing I'm watching that very closely. I don't care about anything else. I think everything else is going to be fine.
It's just that unit. Louis Riddick here on the Rich Eisen Show. You mentioned Pittsburgh as a spot where you, you know, you were physically. Do you think, give me the scenario for the Steelers in 2023.
Give me what you got on this one. Yeah, you know what, almost a similar situation. Well, OK, the offensive line has been a work in progress the past three years. The past two or the two years prior to last year, it was a combination of Ben Roethlisberger's, you know, skills are diminishing. You know, coupled with the fact that the offensive line couldn't protect and they were throwing all these wide receiver screens and jet sweeps and stuff because the offensive line stuck.
So that's been a work in progress for two years now under Matt Canada. Now, they have to transition to be in a more vertical team and being more explosive in the past game and the run game. Don't have Najee Harris running jet sweeps and running Paul's perimeter run. Have him go downhill and they have to get the ball downfield to George Pickens and Deontay and Allen Robinson. They have to.
Structurally. Kenny can do that. Kenny Pickens can do it. The offensive line should be much better. Now it's going to be it's a combination for me of can Matt Canada get this offense structurally, philosophically pushing the ball downfield and being more explosive. And then can that their offensive line with all the additions they've made, you know, draft product Jones, the first round out of Georgia. You know, they have Isaac Samalu to get from Philly this year.
Daniel last year. Can these guys get better than what has looked like a terrible offensive line in the last couple of years of Ben's tenure there? If they can do that, they'll be right in the mix in the north. They'll be right in the mix because defensively, you know, Mike's just going to have Mike Thomas is going to have them playing at a high level. And they added some nice pieces, especially with Joey Porter Jr. You know, Lincoln Fitzpatrick's one of my favorites in the league. TJ will be there. He'll be good. They just gave high Smith an extension.
So again, it's offensively. Can they be more explosive? Kenny can't be average in rich six yards per attempt. That's not going to get not an AFC, not with it, not with long range bombers. They got in that in that conference. So they can do that. Then Mike doesn't have to overcoach the team.
It has to be perfect on everything and make great time. They called all the time just for them to be in it. They can just let their talent kind of compete with everyone else's talent. But it's philosophically and structurally, offensively, they can't bomb. They can't get you down the field and not have to go 7, 8, 9, 10 plays 60 yards, 7 yards all the time. If they can't do that, they'll never be able to compete even in their own division. They won't be able to compete with Lamar. They won't be able to compete with Joe Burrow. They won't be able to compete in the division with the Miami's and Buffalo's and KC's and LA's. I mean, these teams are, these teams will light you sky high, man.
So that's what I'm looking to see offensively with them. Lewis Riddick from ESPN here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's go to Indianapolis now. Let's just say you're Chris Ballard. You fall in love with Jonathan Taylor. Who didn't?
Who wouldn't? He blossoms into what he blossomed into. Last year was last year. We all know what the hell was going on there last year. And now the kid demands a trade, steps onto the luxury bus, the owner, clearly that things didn't go very well there. Zach Moss breaks his arm. What is going on through his skull right now, do you think, Lewis?
What's going on through JT's mind? No, in Chris Ballard's mind. Put me in the mind of the general manager. You said, that's right. I'm sorry. I was fixated on what you were saying about Jonathan.
Yes, sir. If you're Chris Ballard, you're just like, are you bleeping kidding me? That's what's going on in his mind. Like the one guy who, obviously, you know, last year, Jonathan gets banged up in his ankle also. But Jonathan is by far their best player. He's the best player, the best person. He's an A-plus kid.
You know how. Jonathan Taylor is the salt of the earth, man. So now he's hurt and now he's at odds with the organization and wants to be traded. And he's feeling like, you know, like all the other running backs going, you know, they're just going to use me up, make excuses for why they can't pay me. Because I'm a workhorse anyway, so they're really going to use me up. I'm going to get banged up and I'm going to be ticked off like every other running back. And if you're Chris Ballard, you're going, look, I get the business part, Rich. I mean, I always get the business part.
You know I get the player part, too. And with him right now, all the good feeling this offseason of you're starting new, you get a new office, you got Shane. And he gets Anthony Richardson.
You start having visions of Shane doing what he did with Jalen. I can do this here. I've got Michael Pittman. I've got Alec Pierce. I've got Isaiah McKenzie. I got Jelani Woods, who's a stud. I'm going to get this offensive line back on track. We're going to be multiple. And now my best player is talking about, is worn with us on social media and talking about he wants to get traded.
That's how stuff can flip on you so fast. And if I'm him and he knows he's in a, I don't want to say a make or break year, man, but at some point in time, you got to figure the heat's going to start really coming down on him. Considering the kind of investments he has made in certain individual players, they're the kind of bets that they have made on certain players that didn't turn out how weird last year was with Jeff going in there Saturday and being, I mean, it's just a weird situation. And now here you have another weird situation with your best player.
Jonathan Taylor has never been involved in anything controversial in his entire life. I know. And that's why it's so out of character here, Louis. So do you knock on the toxic it is, man?
Do you know how toxic it's become? But do you knock on the bus door? And again, I don't know the sense of, you know, negotiations, but, hey, Jim, you once let Andrew Luck walk with 25 million of your money as a, you know, a retirement gift, even though he left us in the lurch here. Let's say I offer Jonathan a two year extension and it's 12 million per. It's more than the franchise tag that's going to be. And we at least give him that. He saves face. We got our best player.
Let's go. I again, I don't know, like why we're in these positions with the running backs who are all a plus people. Saquon, Josh Jacobs, Austin Ackler, these guys are spilling their guts out on the field.
Henry, you know, who actually is getting. But you know what happens, Rich, honestly, like and I don't think you know what's happening whenever I say something like I'm about to say, people go, oh, man, you're just mad. You're sour. You didn't get the job. You didn't get the job. That's what you're saying.
But this is what happened. General managers from office people, they really do think that it's them all the time. I'm smarter than everyone else. I have all the answers with these guys. These guys are just interchangeable. Commodity, especially when we're talking about running back, just look, history's on our side. Look at all these guys we can find. Second round and lower.
Pre-agentized. Look what Brett Beach did with Isaiah Pajetko. Look at what he maybe found this year in undrafted free agent and Eric Trent out of Tulsa.
This happened all over the league. He's running, but we don't need to, we don't need to, you know, from a business perspective, extend ourselves. But as I've also said, and I get that mentality a little bit. I do, because I understand that it's a business, but it's also a business for people. And you're right.
You're absolutely right. When you're talking about a guy like Jonathan, that kind of kid in particular, and I know him very well. And that's why I will go out and extend myself a little bit more about this one, because he's so damn reliable as a person, as a player. I would be willing to say, hey, you know what, although my job is to minimize risk to the club, play for future performance, you know, pay for future performance projections. I'm not going to factor in the, you know, the kind of wear and tear he has already. I'm not going to factor in the ankle injury or nothing. I'm also going to take into account how we have used this kid already and what he's done for us already.
And I'm going to reward him a little bit for that too. And I'm not going to let everything else going on with everyone else in this running back market sway me. I'm not going to listen to, I'm not going to take calls and get on the phone with my other GM buddies or team president buddies or other ownership buddies and go, hey man, can you believe what's going on with Jonathan? Like, you guys didn't pay so-and-so, but we're going to hold the line too.
Because that stuff happens too. I would just say, I would put myself in my room and get with Jonathan and his reps and go, look, unless there's something I don't know, I'd be like, look, I'm going to hook you up. I'm going to take care of you because of what you've meant to this organization, what you mean to this city, what you mean to this franchise, what you mean to your teammates.
And what I still believe, especially with this new coaching staff, this new quarterback that we have, and the new direction we're going in, I believe there's a lot of good carries left in here. I would do that. And I would be the first to say, and I'm going to say it now, my personal feelings would come into play with a kid like this. They would. Because of how I feel about them.
And you know what? That may burn me. It may be one of those situations where people come back and they roast me like they roast Dallas for paying Ezekiel Elliott and call it one of the worst contract extensions ever, blah, blah. But I wouldn't give a damn.
Not with a kid like this. Because like we just said, and we agreed upon, Jonathan Taylor has never been involved in anything controversial in his life. And he's tweeting now about the discrepancy, you know, the difference in stories about his back and all of a sudden. For him to do that, you know he's pissed off. It feels like somebody is lying on him and trying to make him look bad. And that is just, look, yes, business, but that's bad business.
You do not want kids like that, young men like that, feeling that way about you. But yeah, I would do a deal that maybe hurts me in the wrong one, maybe it doesn't, but you know what, as you just said, it ain't like it ain't been done before for other people. So I definitely work for him. No question. Lewis Riddick of ESPN here on the Rich Eisen Show. Okay, the surprise team in the NFC, your best guess. I mean, I guess surprise teams, I'll just throw a few out at you. Commanders finished in last last year, the Bears, as we all know, three and 14.
The Rams, I got Cooper Cup on the show tomorrow. A lot of folks believe they're toast with all those rookies in camp. They are toast. You think they are toast? You do, huh?
Yeah, I do. I'm not laughing, you know, disrespectfully. They're just so young. This is what happened. They won the Super Bowl.
They sold out. They got a trophy, but they're going to have to go through it now. But I know what you're asking about. You know what, I know last time we talked, Seattle was one of my, like right now, Seattle and Detroit are my teams this year in the NFC that I think are going to make noise, major noise. But I'm going to give you a different team in the NFC.
I'm going to give you the Washington Command. All right. OK. And that's because one new ownership group has, you know how that goes.
Oh, yeah. Your bosses and stuff are those kind of people. And you come into the building and you feel supported. It's positive, all going in the same direction. But yes, that pays huge dividends down the road.
Maybe you can quantify, maybe you can't, but that's huge. Eric the enemy. Eric is motivated. I talked to Eric this off season. I know how he feels about this roster and he feels offensively and what he can do with it.
But Pete, the players, he likes Sam Howell. They have a bevy of running back. They got great skilled players. They have an improving up and coming offensive line and they have a defense that's one of the best in the NFL and scoring defense last year, one of the best on third down. They can rush the passer, but all those first rounders on the defensive line drafted Emmanuel Forbes out of Mississippi State, who's the all time leader in pick sixes in college football. Washington obviously always has a black cloud hanging over it because of all the other BS. This team, though, if Sam Howell can take that step and really gel with Eric and the kind of offense he wants to put in and Eric kind of builds it around him and his strength and some of the things he did early in his career at UNC.
This team is going to shock. They've got talent galore, man. They really do.
OK. And by the way, I love that you put the ownership thing up there first, because that is real. I mean, we had Alex Smith on last year and he you know, I know your colleague at ESPN. He he what he said kind of, you know, got aggregated, as they say, clanked around saying that that the ownership, you know, misdeeds absolutely distracted in the locker room.
They came and they messed with everybody's minds and the fact that that's now gone and Ron Rivera is still there and he's as he's as good as they come. That does count for a lot. It really, really does. There's no doubt. Can you imagine in the locker room here at training camp when you see a Magic Johnson walking out on the field? How that would make you feel. You feel so damn inspired, like you'd be like Magic freaking Johnson and he's our owner.
Of course, that's going to make everybody feel good. Josh Harris is a proven owner. Yeah.
NBA proven owner. Yeah. Yeah.
Winning time. OK, very good. Thanks for the call, Lewis. Always appreciate it.
Thanks for hitting the show up today. Look for more of me, basically. No doubt.
Take care of yourself. Always love talking ball with Lewis Riddick. Former Pitt Panther right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Just a quick push back. Of course, new ownership didn't work out for Denver last year.
Yeah, but the previous owner wasn't Dan Snyder. Anything. Oh, come on now.
Anything's going to be better than what they had. Dude, it's not even remotely. It's not even the same. You can't say it's not apples to apples. It's not even it's like fruits to vegetables. It's like maybe, you know, you're you're shopping for food and you actually wind up in a, you know, a Jiffy Lube. You know, even honestly, it's just not even it's apples to carburetors. Come on, man.
The bowling family selling to the Wal-Mart family. You thought the vibes would be there, though? This is like coaching situation, which this is Dorothy's house fallen. Well, the coaching situation in Washington is not great. You can now you could say that, but you're not a Ron Rivera fan. I am.
I got the enemy coming in. Is Del Rio still the D.C. there? Any of the dust up? It's not as the dust up is long gone. They know how to coach.
OK, the command is OK. I would say don't sleep on him. But then we saw Sam Howells headshot earlier. He's got the bed head.
I would love to wake up just one more time like that. You could understand when I look at my boys, when they wake up and they've got their hair all over the place, I'm like, that's my kids. But, Rich, you can know that's the thing. I can.
The dust up is still there by the way. Prime will lead you the glory like he's going to lead the Colorado buffaloes. All you got to do is believe in them. OK, OK. You guys are so positive. Here's how we're doing here. It's taking a break. We have phone calls.
We have phone calls. Dan Campbell wants an actual lion on the field. OK. And we've got a Belichick press conference moment of the day. Talk about finishing up strong. A lion?
Like a real lion? Look at that. Look at this guy. Don't sleep on a guy with bed head. It looks like Baker Mayfield. Look at that lid.
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Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. Tom Brady's birthday. Tom Brady on a boat. Yeah. And the one and it's on his cheat day with no kids.
One day he's drinking to the word. OK. All right. OK. Number three. Number three on this list. Who wouldn't want to go say happy birthday to Joe Burrow?
Look at Joe. Come on now. Joe Burrow's throwing her birthday party. I'm going and everybody on the RSVP list is going to number two.
Quarterback birthday party I would want to attend is Jimmy Garoppolo's birthday party. Yes. You bet. Yeah.
How is that not number one? 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. 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, for you, you're kind of women at that. I want to be able to go to Jimmy Garoppolo's birthday party because Susie would say, I'm on your home.
OK, the pigeons will be clucking. Number one atop my power rankings list. And I got about 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. It was fun back last year that made our Emmy reel.
That's what got us to sit in a dark theater for three and a half hours. Next to Ric Flair. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.
Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by. Pete in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Let's tee up Pete right here. What's up, Pete? Good afternoon. How are you doing? I'm good.
What's on your mind? You know, all these shows, you and everybody else, you're piling on the owners and the managers for not giving these guys long contracts. And sometimes it's right. Sometimes it's wrong. But no one ever takes the other side of it.
Which is? When they sign somebody the guaranteed contract and they're not worth anything a year or two down the road. And then the owners are still stuck paying them.
And I've loved the New York Yankees my whole life. But do you think five, six years from now Aaron Judge is going to be worth $36 million a year? I don't know.
I hope so. But that's, you know, it's a different sport. But yeah, you also need to pay your stars and make sure that the stars that your fans love to watch play are happy. But when they can't play, they don't turn around and say, listen, let me give you back this $10 million because I suck now.
No, I know that. It's a one-way street it seems. Well, Pete, I appreciate you calling in.
And, you know, obviously we'll just agree to disagree. And when it comes down to it, I mean, Joe Shane does get to look at the owners of the Giants and say, I got our guy in. And we saved, you know, maybe $10 million over the next three years and get to pay somebody. I thought I saw Tony Dungy tweet out, he retweeted a pro football talk tweet from Florio about how the Colts have done this before they let Edrin James walk years ago. And Tony Dungy retweeted that saying, yeah, we went with Joseph Adai and Dominique Rhodes. We got 1,700 yards out of him. Edrin got every, it was worth every penny that the Cardinals paid him, but we got 1,700 yards out of Adai and Dominique Rhodes. And we wound up paying, and he mentioned Freeney and two other stars, Dallas Clark, the tight end. They signed those guys using that money.
Worked out for them. That's what he's saying. So I understand Pete's point too, but when it comes down to it, getting Saquon $3 million here and then $3 million the following year and $3 million the following year after that.
And I know that you're already guaranteeing him the $12 to $13, just figure out what you think the franchise tag is, put a little bit more on top and see if he'll bite on it. And then if not, then you can tell people like me, like Pete, to pound sand. Pete wasn't with it.
844-204-rich number to dial. Pardon my take, I went on it while I was out there on Long Island this past weekend waiting for lunch at a fantastic food establishment whose name escapes me. Don't worry, Chris.
I would have known it if I'd only Instagrammed it out, but I didn't. I'm glad you enjoyed the moment. The reason why I bring this up is I'm waiting for the food of four bros, four dudes. They're like, you know, chit chat me up.
Oh, they said they enjoyed me on pardon my take. Hey, that's why I do it. Look at you. Hashtag for the bros. Unbutton another button.
Oh my God. No, no, it's all right. So I've got a button on buttons.
It's not that bad. I think it looks stylish. I like it on you. You're the one who should unbutton another button over there. It doesn't look good.
Like a Babbitt brother counting toothpicks on the floor. Here's how it looks on you. No, no, I don't need to know. Please.
We don't need to have something we can't unsee. But the point is fine, fine conversation with the big cat and PFT I had a few weeks ago, and now they had one with Dan Campbell who revealed that he called the league to see if it would be cool to have an actual lion, I'm assuming caged on the sideline. Here's that exchange. You talked to us last time on part of my take, you said that you had considered getting a pet lion on the sidelines. I did.
Did you, have you had any further conversations about bringing a live lion? I would say that Sheila was, she had no problem with it, but the league apparently frowns on those types of things. Roger Goodell. I'm not going to point out Roger on this, I'm just going to say that the league frowns on that. Let's just say that.
It's tough though to have a lion sitting behind Jack Fox being like, you better, you better punt that ****. It does add a little, little scare tactic. It does. You guys got to play for the job. It's a little extra motivation.
Yes, it does. Sheila being, Sheila Ford, uh, the, uh. It's a phenomenal idea. I love it. I mean, if your mascot is an animal, then you should have said animal in the building. Hold on a second.
Let's just say this. Um, the Seahawks do have a Seahawk. Yeah. I've seen a Falcon and a Falcon. It flies around.
Right? Have the Eagles had an Eagle? I imagine.
You would think so. Bald Eagle just flies down. At the very least, you know, um, the Patriots have actual Minutemen. The Broncos have the horse. The Broncos have the Bronco.
The horse running around. So I guess he's sitting there thinking. Look at college. Colorado has a big Buffalo right across the field.
College is different. Texas has a steer with like six foot antlers. They got Bevo.
I know. And he's thinking at some point, let's get a lion out here. How do you call the league up? I don't know who the lion person is at the league to find out.
That's probably an operations question. You be Dan Campbell. I'll be the NFL. Okay, great. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Can I get my voice that deep? Hey, NFL. Yeah. Hello. I want a lion on the sideline.
All these other teams have mascots. I want a lion, like an actual lion, like a real one, like sick feet and Roy lion. What? What do you mean? I want motivate.
I want to motivate my players. Just I want it to bite the caps and I want a lion. I don't care. Like what's the answer? You want a bearded lady too? What are the greatest showman?
What the hell is going on? What? You want a lion? I want a lion, a lion, the witch in the wardrobe. You know what? I love it.
I've been inspired. I have a power ranking. Oh yes. It's time for a power ranking of team mascots. I want to see you on the sidelines rankings go give me NFL films. I want to see a commander and the commander I want to see is Russell Crowe. I know this is not the commander they're going for in Washington, but I want to dress like Russell Crowe and mastering commander. I want to see that type of commander, you know, dressed like Napoleon Bonaparte. That's excellent.
That's number 10. Here in Los Angeles, what do you need when you're in these stadiums? You got to power up your phone. The chargers should have an actual charging station at the airport. I want to see a charging station. You pass your phone up right to the front, you get a charge.
I don't know what else you got. You want to put like a transformer where the actual power or, or, or like Doc Brown powers in something and lightning strikes car, like one of those car power. We're just spit balling here, but a charging station would be functional. They should literally charge their tablets up during the game.
I got to walk in there, put a tablet in there, it's functional and it's, it's kind of maybe not what they're going for, but all right. Number eight, I want to see an actual gold prospecting forty-niner on the sideline. It's Gabby Johnson from Blazing Saddles.
I want to see dressed like this talking. What do you say? Frontier gibberish was the phrase used.
I want it to run it up and down the sideline forty-niners, an actual forty-niner talking frontier gibberish. Hey, you wants a lion? What's worse? What's crazier? That is crazier I think than a lion.
Number seven in Pittsburgh. I want to see somebody actually smelting steel on the sideline. How wild would that be? It'd be hot.
Right in the corner. They had a steelie McBeam. You got that, we don't need to see him anymore, but I'm serious, like it's cold, like sometimes you, you know, you got to get the heaters blowing.
Oh yeah. Let's get somebody out there smelting. Well, they were smelting.
Make it a lot warmer than it normally would be. I want to see actual smelting on the sideline. And then they should build something out of the steel that they smelt. That's not bad. Yeah, arts and craft by the fourth quarter, they build something and you auction it off. What a blacksmith? There's a bridge to the North side.
I mean, this used to work this out. Number six is any angry cat. There's a bunch of them. You got Jaguars, Bengals, Panthers, because if you're going to bring lions, you know what tigers it opens the door.
It opens the door. You know, it's a copycat league literally. So number five, we're getting to the top five of my power rankings of mascots. I want to see most Dan Campbell for this top five, actual jets on the sideline of New York jets game park at 15 or, you know, like Woody's Woody's Lear jet out of G seven, I don't know. Yes.
An actual jet on the sidelines might be too big for the stadium. I mean, once you're bringing lines and it's opens up number four, a Buffalo and Buffalo has to happen. Right? Mandatory, right? Yes. This is like in the Bevo vein here, sort of Colorado does it or just have one and have the bill just ram through a table or just, you know, it's not as good a guy named bill because you know, it's a Buffalo bill out of whatever.
Number three, we've seen it in the movies. It's got to happen. Now. Dolphins. We've seen it in age venture, a pet detective, dolphins, like they should have kids would love it. Dolphins come to the game and see dolphins on the sideline can have a hot tub with people in it. Why can't we get a dolphins? You know, they got the rays of Tampa.
They have the raisin. I'm horn is Finkel. Number two on the list is a bear and not just any bear, the actual cocaine bear on the sideline of a Chicago Bears game. Wow. That bear can't be. All right, let's get Liz Banks, her husband, Max out there being honorary captains, right?
The actual cocaine bear. Wow. Have O'Shea walking them around with a chain. And number one, number one, number one, that that's part of, you know, that's part of, you know, fourth quarter comeback or come down number one, number one on the list of mascots I want to see on the sidelines, scrolling my head, thinking about what teams are left and actual giant, like somebody like an actual giant, somebody who's like 12 feet tall, actual giant. Wow.
That's what I want. Oh, my God. Giants from Game of Thrones. Those are huge. Right? Exactly. That sort of giant. Like, down in front, down in front, people in the first five rows can't see the action.
Someone will be like, why are they carrying them and be like, he's not, he's wanted. And that's my power rankings. There are many others like it. I don't think so. But this one is mine. Actual giant.
You got me just that one. Thank you. Andre. An actual giant. Probably my favorite power ranking ever.
And now Boban out there. I'm like going through them. What else is there? What did you potentially leave off? I left off Packers. You can't have meat Packers, because I do believe that is a Packer.
That's what the Packer is. And then Browns. Like, what do you got? Like, Browns?
What are you doing? Like cardboard box? What would you put for a Houston Texan? Just cowboy? I didn't do Raiders or Buccaneers. Like a Raider potentially, you know, but Treasure Island did used to have a pirate sort of event that's been dormant for 10 years. Well, the Bucks literally have a ship in the end zone.
That's what I'm saying. So we already see this. And Dan Campbell's like, you know, we'll be good here on a real lion. Big mane.
This is like every single grandma's boy. He says the NFL frowns on it. I guess so. But there are animal.
He has a case. There are animals in stadium. People train these. They're not going to get a line from the wild thing forever. It's like Dante and Dr. Chocolou and Grandma's boy.
They wanted to have a line because anyone can get by a dog, but you can't get by a line. There you go. You know, that's my list. I'm Team Campbell. All right. Thank you, sir. We've got a Bill Belichick press conference moment of the day, and Nathaniel Hackett has been given a podium by the New York Jets to respond or talk.
He looks happy. I could see it right now on the screen. That's next. It's time for kickoff, and the Believe podcast will get you ready for the new season. How do you live through this as a different sports fan? Believe has podcasts covering all 32 professional teams and many of your favorite college teams too. You solidified your defense.
You got better. Sideline to sideline. End zone to end zone. If you don't do those things, then you're not even trying your hardest to win at football and I don't know what we're doing. There's a lot of great players on those teams that I was fortunate to be part of.
Search BLEAV podcasts wherever you listen. All right. We're back here on the program. We're back. Suze is out on the floor. I don't know if she wants to pop on, but anyway, she's out on the floor. She'll be here Friday. Oh, by the way, just got a note from Coop.
I don't know if you saw the note from Coop. He's amidst the color war. Color wars. A double header. Double header. He had two RBI doubles, two for three in the first one. Scored a run.
Second one, two innings, no hits, no walks, four strikeouts. Coop Tani bringing it in color war. Now, what is color war?
What is it? Yeah. You take the two colors of your camp. In this instance, red and gray.
You split the camp up into a red team and a gray team and the kids that have been playing together as the bunk now are competing against one another. Okay. Well, that's simple enough. So.
Why? What did you think it was? Not what you're thinking. I don't think anything of it. So hold on a minute.
Let's just do this. You think this one button too many? Nope.
Too many? You literally made a reference to it. I meant unbutton another one. Yeah. He told you to take it down.
We'll show some of that. Take it down a little bit more. Tucker. Why? This is what it looks like when I do it. Let me see. Okay. Well, that's fine. That's stop.
You stop right there. All right. That's very, you know. Not a great look.
It's very Danny Terry, a very dance fever. But one more. But one more. That's good. Now.
Do one more up. Hold on a second. Like this? Right there. Yeah. What's wrong with that? I don't like it. Then you go up top and now suddenly, you know, like you're talking about 10 minutes to Wapner. I agree with Brockman.
I don't wear shirts with buttons very often, but when I do, I take it to the top. Yeah. Looks like a cholo on Easter. Wow. By the way. Great song.
That's the flip side of walking in Memphis, right? Back here on the Rich Eisen show. All right. What do we want to do first? Do we want to do Hackett or Belichick? Oh, we got to end with Bill.
Dealer's choice. Nathaniel Hackett spoke today. Coordinators usually don't get much podium time. But the Jets giving the coordinator some say, I'm sure the press in New York was asking for Nathaniel Hackett.
Of course. After his name or coaching job was in Sean Payton's mouth, to use Aaron Rodgers' phrase that he used with our friend Peter Schrager the other day. Here's what Nathaniel Hackett had to say in response to Sean Payton calling his performance last year, one of the worst coaching performances in history. You know, I've been involved in this business my whole life, 43 years. And as a coach, you know, as a coach's kid, you know, we live in a glass house. We know that. We all live in different rooms. We all got a key for it.
And it's one of those things that there's a code, there's a way things are done in that house. And, you know, this past week, it's frustrating and it sucks. But we're all susceptible to it. There are things that you do, mistakes you make. And it costs you time on the field, costs you your job, all those things. And I own all that stuff.
I mean, it's that fact. I got no excuses. That's how we live here at the New York Jets. That's how we've lived everywhere I've been. No excuses.
So I own all those things. And it's unfortunate that that had to happen, the comments that were made. But, hey, they did. I'll tell you, I was probably more surprised that they happen now.
I was definitely expecting them in week five. So I'm almost thankful that we got that out of the way. He's a sweet guy, man. I'm sure he's not comfortable saying anything like that. And I'm sure he's really pissed off deep down.
Unfortunately, though, this hasn't been put to bed. I can guarantee you week five will be a Lollapalooza of going down this memory lane. So. But Rogers has his back. Rogers is going to show at week five.
Rogers turned into Will Smith. Yeah. Keep my coach's name out your mouth.
OK. All right. Except Rogers will be allowed in the building. True.
Week five. Plus he didn't smack no one. It is unfortunate. I'm sure Sean Payton regrets it.
He said he regretted it 45 minutes after. I'm sure. I'm sure. But it will not be put to bed. That I can guarantee you.
We can't just accept his apology and move on. For sure. Let's go to Sam in Fort Worth, Texas. Been hanging on for a while. What's up, Sam? Not a lot. How are you today? I'm good. What's on your mind?
A couple of things. One, I want to make sure you're not spending too much time with Joe Maganella because Susie is America's sweetheart. And there is no such thing as irreconcilable differences with that young lady, I assure you.
OK. That's a green boat. I appreciate that. I feel the same way. She's nodding. She's nodding. She's nodding her head in agreement. She agrees. What else you got?
What else you got? Does your position at the NFL Network make you overly affectionate toward the running back position when statistically, data-wise, however you want to stack it up, it's not a position you lose your mind over? I think the only thing, and thank you for the call and the compliment for Sus, the only thing I would say that the NFL Network affects on my approach to running backs is I have nothing but ultimate respect and love for Marshall Faulk, having seen him up close and personal and knowing what running backs need to do and how they operate at the highest level when they do, like Marshall did, and have ultimate respect for their job and how crucial they are to the operation. But unfortunately for them, they're not paid as such right now compared to other positions. Justin Verlander's a Houston Astro again, people.
Yep. I would sit here and say, well, there goes the Yankees' chances for making the playoffs or advancing in the playoffs, but congratulations to the Astros. They have got to be fired up. That is a huge difference maker, and the Texas Rangers will be like, okay, did we get the wrong bet? Because it could be Verlander versus Scherzer for a marble or a shooting match, and it would be just like the Mets if it's like nothing, nothing going into the ninth inning of that one. The Rangers got the right one. Scherzer has been balling. Rangers also paid for DeGrom. Yeah, so we lost. Well, it's a Mets-a-palooza in the American League West.
DeGrom to the Rangers' circle. I don't like baseball. Well, but of course Verlander's an Astro, you know, anyway, so congrats to him. Yeah, man. I think I'm done with baseball for the season. Great shape with that one, man.
Great shape. Man, he's been balling the last like two months. I feel for the Orioles. I mean, I don't know if they were in it or not, but. The Orioles, how about you feel for the Mets?
No, sorry. Nobody's ever felt bad for the Mets. New phone, who dis? Well, feel bad for me. How about that?
New phone. Okay. Chris, are you familiar with the story of Calvin Anderson? No. Do you know who Calvin Anderson is? I don't. Okay. He's on the Patriots.
Hey, who dis? He is one of, if I'm not mistaken, first free agent signings that you had this particular offseason. Yeah. So there you go.
All right. So he plays offensive line and he's battling it out for potentially the backup role to Trent Brown. Why do I bring this up? Well, he was placed on the non-football illness list. I don't know what that means. Is there a football illness?
Cause I'm, you know, I'm, I've got a fever and the only prescription is more football. I don't know. You know what I mean? Like I don't get it.
I can feel it. Unless this is a typo. He's on an NFI.
That's basically what he is. And Bill was asked, what's up with Calvin and when might he be back and what's going on? Okay. I believe it was Mike Reese asking the intrepid question.
Doing the Lord's work. Today's Bill Belichick press conference moment. I would prefer to win.
Calvin Anderson with his NFI status, is that the type of situation that could threaten his availability like this season, like long-term or is that something you think will resolve itself and get him here? Uh, we'll see how it goes. No point. Do you have any concern there? Or like if that seemed like it came out of nowhere? Yeah. Look, I'm not a medical doctor.
I have my doctorate degrees that were honorary, but I'm not a medical doctor. So Mike, look, it's always hard on those situations. If everything goes perfectly, then that's one thing. If something comes up and there's a setback or there's a change, then that's something else. So I'm not going to sit here and try to, you know, play fortune teller and looking at the crystal ball. And so this guy's going to be healthy on X date.
I mean, I can't do that day to day. They're better today. Then we do more tomorrow. They're better tomorrow. Then we do more in the next day. If they get set back, then we review it, revise it and go forward. So I don't know.
You tell me how it's going to go. I'm not sure. I wish I knew.
I wish I did too. That's that's the way it is with every injury. I knew he had a good off season, right, and then around and then, yeah, hopefully things will be great. But again, I'm not, I don't have a crystal ball dropping one of my favorite coaching cliches.
I don't have a crystal ball. You know who does? Well, I do. It's all the way over there.
Hey, give a shot of it. Yes, there it is. Wow.
That thing looks good. That's today's Bill Belichick press conference moment. Love it. What a way to wrap this up. We have a crystal ball.
We'll see you Wednesday. For over three decades, nobody has had a wrestling career like Arn Anderson. Conrad Thompson gets all the stories with Arn. After watching AEW's Double or Nothing, Amy wants to know, what's this dinosaur taste like? It ain't chicken. It's like biting into a scented charcoal briquette, but chewy. Oh, that's disgusting. It sure is. And check out Arn every week, wherever you listen.
