RE Show: WR Tiers - Hour 1 (8=4-2023)

Happy New Year! This is the Rich Eisen Show.

Ticks the snap, back in the pocket, up in the pocket, throws down the middle of the field and that is picked off! They got it! Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. So what is going on in San Francisco?

Is it possible this year? Trey Lance just gets released. Out! Today's guests, CBS Sports NFL analyst, Amy Trask, Basketball Hall of Famer, Jerry West. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Suzy Schuster. And the last minute add to that guest list, Phil Nevin, the manager of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. What do we call them now? See for me, they're always going to be the Anaheim Angels.

That's from my years with them, TJ Jefferson. Good morning, how are you? Good to see you Suzy.

Good morning. Friday, you're here so everyone at home knows what that means. That means Mimosa Friday.

That means Mimosa Friday. I try to take care of my boys, I'm just saying. Jay Felley and Chris Brockman, I try to come in here and come correct with sidecar donuts and mimosas. Because Rich brings nothing and here's what I bring. I bring great guests.

You guys, I try. When I sit in for Rich, and it is my great pleasure to be here with you on Roku. I'm so happy to be back.

844-204 Rich, call in. I also have great guests for the day and mimosas and donuts. So I mean, I feel like that's a great recipe, don't you think? We should be here more often. I mean, it was my birthday and I'm bringing you guys gifts. And here's the greatest gift of all, me. Happy birthday to you.

Thank you so much. She turned 23. California Angels. The California Angels, whatever. Those are my Angels. Right, right. Oh, that's Reggie Jackson Angels. California Angels. Right.

I have so many good stories. The A with the yellow halo and the hat. Those are the coolest hats.

Yeah, I guess so. I mean, my Angels will always be the Mike Scioscia 6 and 14 Angels that went on to win the World Series. Those are my Angels, but I'm happy to have Phil Nevin on.

And I have great stories for Phil Nevin, but you know, they're probably off-air stories from having covered him in baseball. But I'm excited to talk to him about Shohei Ohtani, when Trout will be back. And I wanted to have him come on last minute just because I don't think he's been on here for a while. Has he been on at all? I don't know if we've ever had him. Was he on that 98 Padres team?

Yeah, yeah. With John B., right? I've got stories to follow up on that, but that's, again, for another show.

But I wanted to have him on just because I am obsessed with Shohei Ohtani. And we will talk about this in the second hour of the show. Because honestly, the first hour has got to be devoted to the demise of college football as we know it. Requiem for a conference, isn't it, Chris? I wouldn't call it the demise of college football. I do. I don't like it. I'm not here for it. The Pac-12 is kind of disintegrating like it's the Avengers Endgame.

So, you know, it's fine. Chris, to me, college football was about tradition. And it was about rivalries.

And it was about conferences. You know, it's funny, you know, Suze, we love you and you're... Uh oh, but there's a but coming here, right? Make it start.

You're Naya, how do you say that? Naivete? Naivete is showing. It's never been about those things. Money, money, money. College football has always been about dollar, dollar bills. Dollar, dollar, dollar. Billions is back, speaking of which, but that's a whole other conversation.

Yes, I know, Chris, I get it, but there's a part of me... It was never about rivalries and pageantry and all that. I liked the pageantry.

I liked... They fooled you. They pulled a wall over my eyes? It was like, don't look, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

That's like with a cat, right? Pay no attention to the rivalries and roses and oranges. Right, right, right.

Dollar, dollar bills. Oh, I'm sad. I mean, we know that Colorado left and we know Dion wanted a big splash. Now it's Arizona. What's left of the Pac-12? And I can say to you, Pac-10, because Amy Trask is here in the second hour, and she and I were just joking around before the show. We still call it the Pac-10, even though apparently we have been out of this conference for way too long. But I just think it's sad. We're devolving into what?

What's it going to be? Just like the NFL? Will it just be like the NFL eventually, Chris, do you think?

I mean, it's been the NFL's AAA for a long time. Why not just make it official? But what do we need conferences for anyway, to be honest? Well, also, I mean, geography makes no sense anymore at all, doesn't it, in these conferences? Absolutely not.

So stupid. These poor kids who play the non-football and basketball sports who suddenly are now are in the same conference as West Virginia. So you're telling me UCLA's volleyball or field hockey team is going to play a Tuesday night game in Morgantown? Apparently not. How are they going to get there? Nope.

Four connections? You try to get to West Virginia? Not easy. By the way, I've been there. No direct flights from LAX? No direct flights from LAX.

You've got to fly into Pittsburgh. Who's paying for that? The kids are supposed to be students first, especially in the non-football basketball sports. What are we doing? We're destroying college football as we know it. I don't know. What are we doing, Chris? I think the whole thing is kind of depressing, TJ.

I'm OK saying that. And I don't know. I just feel like we're going to maybe talk to somebody in this hour about this devolving of college football and about the changes and what have you and about the money, right? Because it's kind of like this is a little bit show me the money. This is about who's going to get the most money to air what on what network? And I mean, I get it, Chris.

I understand. I think it'll be interesting to see what happens with some of these teams leaving and going. Don't you think SC probably wanted when they left the Pac-12, when they went to the Big Ten? Don't you think they wanted to be the only maybe SC and UCLA, the only Pac-12? I'm sure they thought they would be the only ones joining the Big Ten. And now what Arizona?

Is that what's happening? Arizona is joining the Big Ten. And if Arizona goes, then all these other schools are going to join the Big 12. And so it's going to be the Pac-6. That's I mean, that's the Pac-3.

That's kind of fun. Easy way to an easy way to a big bowl game. Easy way to the Rose Bowl. Rose Bowl path just got a lot easier for Washington State.

Are they are they sticking around? It's a mess. But let's be honest, the Pac-12 hasn't mattered in football since when? I don't think it did. I mean, the problem is the mid 2000s. So it's been almost 20 years when I was covering.

This is like this is like the whole like proverbial when I walked 10 miles in the snow with no shoes on when I was covering the Pac-10, right? All the games were on so late, but we had we had the Pete Carroll years. We had good football for a while. So people wanted to see. It was awesome. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah.

And people actually cared for all of eight minutes. You know, now it's just been, you know, kind of the SEC dominance recently. You know, an Ohio State mixed in there, a Clemson, a Florida State kind of sprinkled in as well. But yeah, they're seemingly the only conference that matters when it comes to football, despite what Rich would have you believe here on a daily basis. It's SEC. And now with Texas and Oklahoma joining next year, the other conferences are going to matter even less.

I was texting Rich on the way here. Like, remind me where Texas is again. I couldn't remember because you're so like, you know, where's Texas again? I'm confused. Do we have a year left in the big 12 before SEC? I literally thought to myself, I have no idea where they were.

Of course, instead of looking it up, I just texted my husband thinking like, oh, that's a lot easier and a lot faster. Right. So he's he's on the way to Ohio for a Hall of Fame weekend. He is breathing, exhaling and putting any disappointments from last year behind him, much like Zach Wilson. And by the way, I kind of feel bad for him.

Why bad for Rich? No, well, he's a Jets fan a little bit, but I feel a little bad for Zach Wilson. Really? Yeah.

You want to know why? His birthday is way overshadowed. His birthday was yesterday. His birthday was yesterday.

And by the way, it was mine. So for anybody in the Rich Eisen universe, you know, it was my birthday. Also, a guy named Tom Brady, his birthday. Poor Zach Wilson.

Nobody cares. They're worried about my birthday or Tom's. Can you imagine your NFL quarterback is sharing your birthday with Tom Brady?

Nobody cares because it's Tom Brady's birthday. I mean, so Zach Wilson, a nice night. Aaron Rodgers out there with some heads on, possibly calling a play in Nathaniel Hackett's ear. I can't think of Nathaniel Hackett as anybody other than Paul Hackett's son because of the first year that I covered USC in the Pac-10 was when Carson Palmer was the quarterback. And Paul Hackett had absolutely fried his brain with the Jets playbook that Carson could not understand. And he was a mess. And that's when Pete Carroll came in, cleaned house and got rid of the old Paul Hackett Jets handbook.

But yeah, I mean, so apparently Zach breathed in, exhaled and went on to forget about the transgressions of last year after he was booed off the field against the Jacksonville Jaguars. And I heard Rich talking on the show yesterday and he's so giddy because he thinks this is his year. It's so cute. Sweet.

Sweet. He should know better. Don't you think?

You think after 50 years, 50 years of being losers, he would maybe, like I said, one year to sprinkle then Chad Pennington, that he would know better than to get his hopes up. This is going to end. And then what is it? Tom Cruise said everything ends badly. Otherwise it wouldn't end. How do you think this season is going to go?

Not great. I don't know. I mean, we're just so I say that because I'm an angry Patriots fan. The arrogance of you two Patriots fans, I swear. Oh, we're so annoying. Yeah, I know. It's earned arrogance. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to see Rich happy.

I mean, it's 20 years of marriage. On occasion he's happy. Jets-wise, I don't know. But we do have a soundbite Mike Hoskins has ready and we want to hear from Zach after last night's performance. Great call by Aaron Rodgers. He called that one? Had to give him a little shout out there.

Yeah. Backed up, taking a shot down the field, you know, kind of pick your match up. Those guys were kind of just playing single-sick to the man. And, you know, I think that's great for preseason ball to see what guys can win and separate. Malik's done a great job while training camp, so I wanted to go to his side.

I like to match up with the corner as well. And he did a great job winning. Did Aaron call the entire series or just that play? I think it was just that play. He wasn't on the headset. Hackett's calling the plays, but I think it was his suggestion of the play.

So I had to give him love there. He wasn't on the headset. Rogers wasn't on the headset. Hackett was calling the play.

I don't know. I kind of feel like maybe Aaron was calling the play. And by the way, look who's going to be a future coach right there. There he is. Aaron Rodgers. Do you think he has the temperament to be a coach? I kind of do. I think he'd be, I think he would.

He's all about breathing and zen and living in the moment and having lunch with strangers. I think he'd be, probably end up being a good head coach. I don't believe so.

I bet Nathaniel Hackett, though, real quick. What is this goatee thing he's got going on? Is he trying to confuse us with that he wasn't the guy who sucked last year in Denver?

Like if you just add some facial hair or grow a beard? Like the world's worst costume? We're just going to forget all of that? Like Bobby Valentine sitting in the dugout? What is he doing?

Like the world's worst costume, right? I mean, it's like they're in the midst of training camp. He can't worry about his appearance. We still know what happened last year, bro. It's a new year, Chris.

It's a new year. You know, Aaron's talking about keep my coach's name out of your mouth after Hackett's getting, you know, crapped on for doing a poor job. So what's the first thing Aaron does after that? He takes over the headset and starts calling plays after he's trying to hype up his coach and make it seem like he's competent.

Yeah, I don't know. Like, I usually don't put a twist on things, but like that looks kind of funny to me. Like you're saying like, leave this guy's name out of your mouth and he can get the job done. And next thing you know, you're calling the play.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I kind of wonder who Aaron Rodgers is right now. Don't you kind of wonder?

This is all kind of fascinating. If you look back at who he was and his transition to the Packers quarterback and how he took over and how he felt like he wasn't mentored. Maybe he's decided that he's going to mentor this kid the way he wasn't mentored. Yeah, perhaps. It's got to be that.

I mean, what else could it be? We all covered that transmission, that that movement from Favre to Rodgers. We all saw it. Favre didn't show much love. He didn't teach him how to breathe or exhale. Did he?

Not at all. I mean, he wanted nothing to do with him. So maybe there's a part of Rodgers that's working through cathartically, maybe in the in the tent.

Maybe he came out of the sweat and found that he had to be a better role model. It's got to be something like that. Don't you remember? Chris, you have to remember so well. I do.

I do remember all of that. It was clear that Favre didn't want it. Also, it was clear that Rodgers didn't want Jordan Love. So he kind of did the exact same thing Favre did in Green Bay. And maybe now he's he's realizing it wasn't the way to go. And he's going to maybe take Zach Wilson under his wing. Maybe the AfroGone had told him to be a better role model.

Maybe. I think I'm going to get you some. One thing, Chris, and I'm surprised you haven't brought this up. Remember, January of twenty three, Zach Wilson had that famous quote when it was reported the Jets might bring a new quarterback in and make his life hell. I'm going to make that dude's life in hell and practice every day.

I'm going to go out there and do my best to show the coaches that I deserve it. Like so I wonder, is he making Aaron's life hell and practice, do you think? I don't know. I think he realizes that, you know, his career kind of needed a reset, probably too much too soon for him. Just couldn't handle it. Things kind of got away from him. And I think he's understanding it's going to be probably a couple of years before he gets the opportunity to really play again. You know, barring something, you know, injury wise happening to Aaron. So you got to learn, take it all in, soak up, be a sponge and kind of just embrace the moment when he does get a chance to play, whether it's practice, whether it's the preseason and just kind of do your best and try to learn as much as possible from this guy. Probably the best thing that's happened to his career, right?

I would think 100 percent. Especially if Aaron's willing to have him sit under the learning tree and if he is willing to pass that knowledge on. I mean, that's you thought this guy was your quarterback of the future.

Now you've got someone to show him the way. He didn't have that way being shown to him before. So, you know, two years, if you get two years of Rogers and then turn over the Zach Wilson, if he can't succeed after that, then, you know, I know. And we have you know, we have had a good time kind of slagging on Nathaniel Hackett as a head coach and kind of deservedly. So he kind of earned that. But he's a really good offensive coach.

Yeah. Really good coordinator. One Aaron Rodgers won a couple MVPs with him. That's why he's there.

Rogers is there in New York, mainly because of Nathaniel Hackett. So hopefully Zach Wilson can learn from him as well. I think oftentimes you get a job and again, we say this with all these guys who make so much money playing for the National Football League.

But a lot of these guys come out of college. We don't know how they're going to be. You just don't know how college football will translate, maybe for coming from a Saban program. And you're you've already played technically or maybe not technically, but you're up. You've already played NFL football in college. Well, they've been in Georgia. Yeah, exactly.

Some of these you've been paid, which I'm OK with. You you've already been playing against giants of the game. And again, not National Football League players, but you're prepped. Right.

But Zach wasn't prepped. Let's face it. And you get thrown in there.

I would even say this adequate this. TJ is like I I did radio a lot after I'd already been on TV. If I'd done radio first, I would have been better on TV. Oh, yeah.

A hundred percent. And I feel like right now, Zach's getting his radio. He's getting his radio.

He started off on TV. He's getting his radio now. He's getting those reps. And what he can learn from being with Aaron Rodgers. And now that we have a new Aaron Rodgers who's willing to be the mentor, he's got to be so much better. And now he's got a coach that can help him develop. He just didn't have the chances before. I mean, that's all I can think of at this point of giving him a second chance. How many quarterbacks get a second chance?

Not that many. And he's going to get it. Getting those reps behind Aaron Rodgers. We didn't see that. Chris, you made that point. We didn't see these pictures with Jordan Love.

He wasn't out there helping him out because he had learned originally how not to be a team player. Right. So we're getting this new-fangled Aaron Rodgers that my husband is clearly in love with. Well, Suze, you know what they say. With age comes wisdom. Well, I would know because I'm 51. So I'm still waiting for the wisdom.

And with Suze comes? Mimosas. You know, let's pop that mimosas. Thank you. Wow. That was good. Wow.

Thank you. Fresh squeezed orange juice because I bring the best for you. I did bring ice cream for Amy Trask, who will be an hour or two. Donuts. Ice cream and booze. Also, you guys, I've got donuts, ice cream and booze. Oh, my.

On the Roku channel. But I do want to invite you all out there, 844-204-Rich, to call in if you want to talk about the game last night. If you want to have a random Rich Eisen question or you have questions not only for Amy Trask, but for and I always say the great Jerry West because the logos here. Yes, that's right. We're taking questions.

So get in now for Amy. If you got football questions, group questions or life questions for the logo, Jerry West, we're going to take your calls with them an hour or two. That's sick.

An hour or three. Yeah, that's sick. No other show. We'll be able to talk to Jerry West. That's cool. Yeah.

I mean, I mean, on his mood, I guess it depends on the mood, but that's OK. Gentlemen of all gentlemen, I was so excited that you would come in because, you know, we will every time I come on the show. Let's face it, I have a retinue. I've got like a little bit of a rotation here.

I got some regulars. Chuck. Yep. Yep. You know, Marshall.

I know. And I thought about Marshall with everything that's going on in Indianapolis, but he's already on the golf course. He's at the hall. He's at the hall.

I also thought he's probably going to sleep in because he probably went out last night. And sometimes, you know, your guys will love to know who to count on for like an early morning call. Marshall's not one of them.

Marshall's not a guy I want an early morning call. So, yeah. So we so we went to Jerry and I kind of did that for you, TJ, because I know that would make you happy.

And I know that really let's go over the list of things to make you happy. OK, mimosas. They definitely make me smell donuts. Oh, they're delicious. Jerry West. I like them.

You're welcome. The logo. Yeah. Birthday is it?

I mean, my God. What was yours? That's previous was Chris and Tom's birthday. And Tom Brady and my friend Janina. Happy birthday.

I forgot to text her. Actually, a lot of good August 4th birthdays. Who are they? Barack Obama, Billy Bob Thornton, Greta Gerwig, Roger Clemens. Roger. Roger. Roger. Let's see. Anybody else?

Next time I come in, can you get ready for me, please? Feli, the great Susan Waldman. You've got to get that one for me. Can you find that today?

How fast can you find this? Well, I don't know what that is. OK. Louis Vuitton's birthday. What is Louis Vuitton a person?

Yeah, he was alive from 1821 to 1892. I never thought about it. I never thought about it being a real person, TJ. You know, Susie, I have a funny story similar to that really quick. OK, I went to Spain a few years ago and it was something for Prada. And then I'm sitting at a table with this woman and this girl leans out. She goes, you know, you're sitting next to right. And I'm like, no, she's like, that's Mrs. Prada. And I was like, well, Chia Prada, Chia Prada. And I was like, wait, she like that's the real. And I'm sitting right next to her, having dinner, making her laugh.

And I had no idea that I was sitting next to Mrs. Prada. The guy we have a time does not look how you would expect. Can we pull up a picture? Sure.

We'll get that for later in the show. Let's review what the first segment of the Rich Eisen show was today. It's Friday. Talking about my birthday. Talking about muchia Prada.

Unbelievable. Threatening to tell bad Phil Nevin stories on the air. Promo-ing the great Amy Trask. Contradicting everything Rich has been saying in the chair for the last few days.

Poor Rich. He leaves for one day and I've totally screwed up his show. Don't forget we got Susan Waldman here. Susan Waldman on the way. What? It's in George's box. And Roger Clements is coming back. He's your friend.

Just follow up with the. I didn't know where that was headed. Louis Armstrong. A lot of great birds.

Louis Armstrong. I see skies of blue. This show is a hot mess and I'm here for it. Let's get a break when we come back. We'll talk more college football. The Requiem for a conference.

Chris doesn't agree. Are you currently enjoying the show on the Stitcher app? Then you need to know Stitcher is going away on August 29th. Yep. Going away. As in kaput. Gone. Dead. Rest in peace Stitcher. And thanks for 15 years of service to the podcast community. So switch to another podcast app and follow this show there.

Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. What is your best sports memorabilia that you have that you're you're most proud of or something that you love? Oh, it's I've got a bunch of things that I love. But the one that I would have to say is the coolest simply because it's not because I was a baseball player. So baseball stuff means a lot to me.

One year, a girlfriend of mine said, if you could have anything for Christmas this year, what would it be? And I said an autographed baseball glove from Brooks Robinson because Brooks was from Arkansas. He grew up in Little Rock, North Little Rock. And I just loved him. You know, when he played with the Orioles.

And so I thought that's never going to happen. But if I could have anything, that's what it would be. And she chased him down. She got all the publicists and everybody else on the case. And Christmas morning, I opened it up and there was an autographed book, a Brooks Robinson glove. And it said, and of course, you know, the glove from him. That's the thing because it was fielding, you know, and it said from a huge fan, Brooks Robinson. I'm like, Brooks Robinson knows who I am. I'm done.

This is this is all fine. Did you ever put on the Brooks Robinson glove, like literally put your hand? Oh, I put it on. But boy, do I protect it. I finally put it in plexiglass because it's, you know, the name might rub off, you know. Yeah, you don't want to do that.

Boy, that's a that's a real dandy thing. McGuire also gave me a bat right after he broke it, you know, right after he broke the Marist. No, no. After he broke his bat, he ground it out to third. No, you should say it was home run number 67, home run 62. But it was that year.

OK. It was that year. And yeah, he ground it out to third against the Dodgers and he gave me the bat and his batting glove, which had dirt all over it and everything. So I've got that.

And yeah, I got some good stuff over the years. Welcome back to The Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. I'm sitting at The Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger has the right product for you. Call, click, Grainger or just stop by. It's a double fisted Friday here on The Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you all.

Suzy Schuster in for Rich Eisen. Hi, guys. Cheers. Cheers to you, TJ.

Good morning. Thanks for being the official poorer of The Rich Eisen Show. I appreciate that.

You're on the Roku channel. I'm sure they don't really drink that much. So, you know, this is this is big for me. I do. I don't drink very much. I'm a one drinker, but I do rarely at nine twenty in the morning on the West Coast.

I think that's Freestyle Friday. You said age and wisdom. I'm not sure wisdom goes with drinking on the air at nine twenty in the morning on the on the West Coast. But you can find The Rich Eisen Show on the Roku channel. Sirius XM radio stream for free on the Odyssey app or Odyssey dot com. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram at Rich Eisen Show.

Subscribe to our YouTube page, YouTube dot com slash Rich Eisen Show. TJ, you did quarterback tears earlier in the week. Well, we didn't necessarily do it. It was a quarterback tears ranking system came out.

I'm not sure where do we get that from? Was it the athletic? Mike Sandow, the athletic, does his yearly quarterback tears where he speaks to 50 personnel front office players, coaches around the league, and those came out early in the week. So that got TJ and I kind of thinking about tier systems. Yeah. So, TJ, you're going to do wide receivers. I'm going to do running backs next week, next week. Yeah. And we're gonna have fun with it. OK, we're gonna try to.

What do you got? Well, you know, I looked at this more so from not just a real football, but from a fantasy football perspective, because, you know, we always say we're not all 22 guys, we're not breaking down tape. So it's a lot harder to look at it that way. But I kind of looked at this from a fantasy point of view and kind of put together a list of receivers who target them at various stages, various points of your draft to help you take home a trophy. You know, I'm a three time champion here, so I kind of know what I'm talking about. Susie. OK, so let's start off with tier five. If we could get that put up. Now, these are guys who, you know, they're basically wide receiver one or two on their teams, not necessarily ones. I should say twos or threes. These are guys who I think you could really target later on in your draft.

Wait to the later rounds and they should be there and they should help you get some success. And that's Adam Phelan. You know, he's got a rookie quarterback there, so he could be a, you know, a safety blanket. You Hollywood Brown, Chris, we know Colt McCoy is going to be the quarterback for we think we think for at least part of the season. I don't know what the Calamari situation is, but I think Hollywood is still definitely someone you want to get on your team and he'll have some value later on in your draft.

Marquez, Valdez, Gantling. Look, any time Patrick Mahomes is your quarterback, you're going to have some value. I don't know who the wide receiver one there is going to be. I mean, well, you know, it's Travis Kelce.

He plays tight end, but I think MVS is a guy who's caught passes from Rogers catching from Mahomes. He's a guy you might want to get. George Pickens.

We're big fans of him here. Look, if that catch we saw him make in practice the other day is any indication Pickens going to have a great season. Can't guard Mike Thomas. We don't know about Mike Thomas. A healthy Mike Thomas would be a tier one. I think we're all in agreement with that, but he's had injuries.

We're not sure where he's at. So I stuck him down there in the five and then, you know, the round out, we have Odell Beckham Jr. Brock was not sold on them. I think Odell is going to have a good year with Lamar, DJ Chark, Gabriel Davis, Jahan Dotson and Michael Pittman Jr. round out the tier five guys. Now, moving up to the tier four. These are, you know, you're going to look to pick these guys, you know, probably in round four, three or four.

I think that's a good spot to maybe start taking some of these guys in tier four. We have Mike Williams of the Chargers, Tyler Lockett of the Seahawks. D.J. Moore, the Bears, who look, he and Justin Fields might have a chance to do something really special in Chicago. A lot of people aren't sold on fields as a quarterback.

We're going to see. But he's got a great target. And D.J. Moore, Brandon, I look one of the best route runners in football for the forty niners. We've got Jerry Judy in this tier. Deontay Johnson of the Steelers and George Pickens are going to really do some big things with Kenny Pickett.

I believe Christian Kirk, Jordan Addison, a kid who sat in the studio, Susie sat in that guest chair. I got a sneaky good suspicion that Jordan Addison is going to have a great season playing opposite Justin Jefferson. So pick him up if you get the chance in the Jackson Smith and Jacoba. And, you know, maybe this is a homer pick, Chris, I don't know. But wherever Brandon Cooks goes, he puts a thousand yard seasons.

I don't see why this season is going to be any different with the Cowboys. He's going to be a guy who's always readily available in your fantasy draft, even sometimes during your waiver wire. So Brandon Cooks is a guy that I would say, look, look to getting on your team, because I think he and Dak could despite what everyone's saying about Dak throwing picks.

I think there's something special there. Yeah, TJ, and I think when you look at that tier specifically, you look at guys who could be maybe tier one or that upper part of tier two. I think you're looking at like at a guy like D.J. Moore. If Justin Fields does throw for 4000 yards like he said he wants to and is capable of doing, D.J. Moore is going to be a guy that does have 1400 yards, 10 touchdowns. He's going to be the number one receiver in Chicago, probably along with Cole Komet. And that's what you're looking for here in tier four, especially in fantasy. You're looking for value.

Absolutely. Who's got the best breakout potential? Christian Kirk.

Think about how many more looks he's going to get now. Single coverage looks he's going to get now with Calvin Ridley down there, who I'm sure you're going to have coming up very soon. So that's what you're looking for. You're looking for value here. Who's got the best chance to skyrocket and get into that lower end of tier one, upper part of tier two? But Chris, what's your reservation on Odell?

I'm just curious about that one. Haven't seen him play in a while. When was the last time we really saw him play? He played one half of the Super Bowl and was pretty good, obviously. He dominated. Could have been on his way to being an MVP, perhaps.

I don't know. But sits out all of last year. He's another year older. A second knee surgery he's coming back from.

Very, very difficult. And just, you know, Lamar Jackson as a downfield pastor. We haven't really seen so far throughout his five year tenure here in the NFL. So just just a lot of unknowns, I think, and especially with the offense, new offensive coordinator. Are they going to air it out more or are they going to still be kind of a run first team? Just just the unknown to the Baltimore offense. I think that's one of those battery mates that I'm looking forward to seeing, though, the most.

I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what that looks like. The names, obviously, got big personalities, big playmakers, Lamar MVP. So you're just you know, obviously you're hopeful.

You're a Ravens fan. It definitely excites you. Big names definitely sell tickets, get butts in seats.

But is the production going to be there? You know, it's not two thousand eighteen, seventeen, six. You know, we'll say older players. I get it. But still, I mean, I'm a known skeptics. Really? I had. Wait, wait. Really, you. I had no idea. Believe it or not. Yes.

I had no idea that you tended to go dark. All right. So now we're going to move into this tier three of wide receivers. These are all guys who, like on any given Sunday, could give you big production. And the guys you definitely want to have is your own personal wide receiver, one or two.

Devontae Smith of the Eagles, Drake London, Debo Samuel, just because of what he can do, both running the ball and catching it. T. Hagan's Christian Watson. We don't know about Jordan Love, right, Chris?

There's a lot of question marks. But if you watch Christian Watson last year, you saw this guy develop into a really great wide receiver. And if he and Jordan Love, if Jordan Love can do what the Packers are hoping he's going to do, then that's going to mean that Christian Watson has to have a big year. And I think he's got skill set to do it.

Chris Godwin and Mike Evans again. Baker Mayfield is quarterback. I personally think that that is going to help Baker. Chris is not of that mindset.

He doesn't think Baker is going to get it done. So that could hurt the fantasy seasons of Evans and Godwin. And you got Calvin Ridley who brought him and talked about we're both Trevor Lawrence fans. Calvin really coming back off of just a dumb suspension, in my opinion. I think Calvin Ridley is going to ball out and then you got Keenan Allen and other guys known for great route running, kind of declining in his numbers a little bit. But Justin Herbert's got that big contract now. So maybe, you know, I don't know how that's going to reflect on Keenan Allen, but he's a guy who I love to have in fantasy because it seems like he's always going to end up with 100 catches in the season.

And it's very, very dependable. And you got DeAndre Hopkins, who look, Ryan Tannehill isn't the sexiest fantasy name out there at quarterback, but maybe having to throw the ball to will increase his sexiness a little bit. And then you got Amari Cooper, who I think Deshaun Watson is going to have a great rebound season. And Terry McLaurin, you know, I'm not a fan of the Washington football team, but I got to admit, this guy's amazing. Great, great underrated receiver. And he's someone who I tend not to take players from teams I hate on my fantasy team.

But I'd have to make an exception for Terry McLaurin. Who's your first draft every year? Like, who's the guy you want when you get together with your boys and eat burgers and all that stuff? And that's tough. Who's the first guy you really want to have this year or just in general?

Both. Man, I always needed to have a top tier quarterback on my team, no matter what, what that is, who that is each year kind of changes, you know, depending on somebody sneaks up. But you know who you wanted. You either wanted you wanted Peyton Manning. You wanted Drew Brees. You wanted Tom Brady. You wanted Brett Favre. You wanted Aaron Rodgers.

You want guys who, you know, you don't have to worry about each week. I know I'm going to get 20, 25, maybe 30 points every week out of this guy, and I don't have to think about it. You really can't win your championship. I know we just this just this just morphed into a fantasy segment, TJ. I know you can't win your championship unless you have an upper echelon tier one quarterback.

And so I always make sure I have one of those. So who's this year? If I don't last year, I got stuck with Russell Wilson. How'd that go? Because dude took Jalen Hurts like two picks ahead of me when I was set to grab him and it didn't go great. Yeah. Yeah. How'd that go for you?

I finished second to last. So this year I'm looking at I'm looking at Herbert. If you can get Jalen Hurts, get him. But I think Justin Herbert is going to be this is going to be the breakout we've kind of really, really been waiting for.

So you showed him the money and now he's going to break out. I think that's how it goes. TJ, who do you who do you try to get? No, I don't play fantasy, so I have to ask questions. Well, just to piggyback off what Chris said about the quarterbacks, the worst thing you can do, and I've been guilty of this and it stinks. Having two quarterbacks means you have zero quarterbacks. There was one season where I had Aaron Rodgers and Carson Palmer in every week. The guy that I sat had more points in my starters. I'm talking for like 11 weeks in a row. You don't want to have to make that decision on a quarterback. Like Chris said, you want to get a quarterback that, you know, if you're down 25 going into a Monday night game that you have a good chance to win.

So I agree with him on that. It used to be running backs, right? The value of running backs was so high that you always want to get like Marshall Faulk or Lydani and Tomlinson. You know, those were your guys right off the bat, right off the top of the draft.

Now it's changed a little bit, but I'm still under the impression that we're under the thought process that because. This wide receiver group is so deep that you're better off getting still getting your running backs early because as this tier system showing you, there are so many wide receivers, there's so many guys I didn't even put on this, but we're going to move on to tier two with that. These are your guys who were like, you know, second round picks. I think, you know, they're dependable.

They're going to get you, you know, 15, 16, 17 points. Bunch of catches. If you're in the PPR league, these guys are great. Chris Alave, I think he and Carr are going to have a good season this year.

DK Metcalf, we know what time it is with him. Jaylen Waddle, a healthy two is going to mean that Jaylen Waddle could possibly win you your fantasy league. Then you got my guy, the Sun God, Armin Ross, St. Brown. Jared Goff doesn't get a lot of props. He doesn't get a lot of, you know, when you talk about your top quarterbacks in the league. But he made the Sun God one of the best receivers in football last year, and I think that's going to continue. Now you got Garrett Wilson, right? This guy is very talented. He's got Aaron Rodgers, unlike you two Jets haters.

I don't necessarily hate the Jets. I feel Aaron Rodgers is going to have a great season and the biggest benefactor of that season will be Garrett Wilson. AJ Brown. You're going to say rich, but OK. Well, him too.

He's going to have a fun time with it. AJ Brown. AJ Brown.

I mean, how can you not, Chris? AJ Brown is just the beast. CeeDee Lamb. You know, a lot of people try to knock CeeDee Lamb because of that.

But you look at the stats, you look at his body of work and you just look at his skill set. CeeDee Lamb is as good of a wide receiver as there is in football. And then I have Cooper Cupp in tier two and you see there's an asterisk there for our radio audience simply because, you know, he had that injury in practice.

I'm not sure how he's going to respond and react to that. Had he not gotten injured, he would have been on this tier one that I have. Now, these tier one guys, these are, you know, the top of the food chain. These are the guys you want to grab in the first round. These guys are going to put up 100 plus catches. They're going to get you 10 plus touchdowns every week.

You're going to plug these guys in and not worry about. And that's Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, Devante Adams, Steph Diggs and Tyreek Hill. I think these are the absolute best of the best when it comes to the wide receivers. Fantasy wise, these are the best of the best. And again, I would have Cooper Cupp there had he not pulled up injured in practice.

We've got to see how he is. But right now, you want to start a draft and grab one of those five receivers because you're going to have success with Jefferson Chase, Adams, Diggs or Hill. And that's just kind of my my fantasy tier rankings. That's how I'm looking to move into the fantasy season as we're starting to like draft and get ready for fantasy football.

Love it. Chris, who's yours? My top tier wide receivers. Yeah. Like give me two or three guys you really want. Jeez. I really want.

Yeah. I really want Justin Jefferson. I'm not going to get him. He's probably going to go first overall in my league.

I think Devante Adams, I mean, say what you want about Jimmy Garoppolo, but he's so handsome. That's that's what she's going to say. That's true. That's a great point. I think handsomeness does translate to winning, as we've seen with Tom Brady.

Yeah, I love it. I think I think Jaylen Waddle and Tyra Kelly, you can go you can't go wrong with either one of those guys. I think Miami has shown that they have such an explosive offense when they are really cooking and two is healthy. So if you can grab one of those guys, like T.J. said, you're not going to have to really think about it. You just know you're going to get 15 to 20 points out of one of those guys.

So those would be my my big three. You keep saying when two is healthy. And I'm going to take this opportunity to say that I am very concerned about him. I know that he cleared himself.

I know that it's not a motherly instinct. It seemed like it right there. I'm not going to lie. I was watching I was watching the show yesterday and they're talking about how he's taking judo and how he's learning how to fall. And it's going to be so great for his health. Jujitsu, isn't it?

Judo, jujitsu, same thing. And I said to Ritz, you know, I said, I know it's been two months since Tua said that he was fine. But as someone who covered concussions nonstop at ESPN, at real sports, at ABC Sports. I mean, I'm so nervous about the Chris Miller syndrome. Remember Chris Miller? The he was the Broncos quarterback. He ended his career on a ding, a ding. And I happened to be there shooting him for real sports with Brian Gumbel on HBO. He ended his entire NFL career with the smallest hit because his head had been so jarred by so many concussions. And I watched this segment yesterday and I watched them all talking about with a smile on their face and Tua and health and all that.

And how judo, jujitsu, whatever is going to help him. And I have to just take this opportunity to say, hey, Tua, I'm worried about you. You've got little kids. That guy, I'm still traumatized by the video of Tua on his back last year. I'm still worried about it.

It's hard to watch. So I'm just that's my opportunity as a mom sitting here on The Rich Eisen Show to say, hey, a little concerned about you. I love you. I think your tears are great. I mean, you know, you've laid it out for a successful Dolphins season. I think they're going to be pretty good. I hope so. I really hope so, because, boy, I'm worried about that kid. Yeah.

I mean, look, it's understandable. He's he's a guy everybody loves and you're hoping that he is able to stay healthy. You hope so, because that's a good squad. Yep. You hope so. Let's take a quick break on The Rich Eisen Show.

When we come back, we'll wrap up the first hour looking ahead to Amy Trask in the second hour. Stefan Diggs here on The Rich Eisen Show. Josh told me when I interviewed him for the pregame show prior to the AFC Champions game that you and he are brothers, but very competitive, like that you actually compete walking down the hallway to see you go walk the fastest. Is that true? Is that really a true story? That story is true. Actually, he caught me one time walking from the weight room and I was like, why is he walking so fast?

So I sped up a little bit and then he continued straight up and then he just took off. So I was like, obviously there's a competition between quarterback and receiver and it'll never stop. Really? Yeah.

This is something that I'm never going to never going to give up. We compete on video games, who has the most kills and who carries who. I think it makes for a great relationship, though.

No, I hear you and I ask this question with the utmost of respect, Stefan, so please understand that. Talking about walking down the hallway fastest and playing video games, what are you guys, five? Are you guys five years old? Yeah, got to be five years old and we're writing on the walls, getting in trouble. We'll be joking around in the walkthrough and you'll have Coach Deball come in and he's super serious, but at the same time he jokes sometimes and he'll crack a joke and be like, all right, all right, get your butt back to work.

It makes for a great environment, great working environment. How are you a different guy now through this season than you were when you were acquired? It's different. I feel like I'm the same guy.

I just feel like my surroundings are a little different. I was dealing with a younger quarterback. A lot of the guys that were pretty much established or were in the league for a very long time, I was dealing with a young, charismatic, big, hard guy that wanted to jump over linebackers and run people over. I was dealing with a quarterback that's young and I came at a great time to grow with.

All situations are different, but this one was one that it coincided and it worked well. Happy to be back with you here on the Roku Channel. Suzy Schuster, in for Rich Eisen as he wings his way to Ohio for Hall of Fame weekend, otherwise known as the beginning of the football season, which is great news in our household. Jay Jefferson. Hey, Feli. How are you, Jay? And Chris Brockman with me here as we look ahead to Phil Nevin, the Angels manager, calling in at the top of the next hour. Amy Trask following for several segments after that. And the great Jerry West.

So now is your time to think of questions, to call in, because how many shows let you talk to these greats in person? That's my birthday present from me to you. I'm just saying to you. Well, thank you. I'm very chill today.

I feel like I'm down a couple degrees. I don't know whether it's just because I'm a year older and wiser. Happy birthday, Tom. Tom did not text me on my birthday.

How does your birthday hit now? Meaning what? That I'm over 50? Meaning what? I wasn't really getting at that. I just, you know, when you have kids, your birthday now seems super, super less important. So not important.

It doesn't really matter. And now that you are over a certain age, I don't want to say it, but does it hit a little bit different? How do you celebrate? I know you did a big thing last year for the for five. Oh, but last year, the birthday never ended. I think it ended a couple of days ago. I mean, I had a full on month.

I had a good year. So this is what happened yesterday. Got a little 630 workout in which I love. Right. My guys greeted me at the door, Saul and Corey with blueberry muffin that they wouldn't want me to eat anyway because we're about to work out.

Let's face it, woman in Los Angeles, you don't eat carbs that early in the morning and coffee. And they played. You say it's your birthday. Got a workout in. I did nothing the rest of the day. You know what I did? That's the best. I wanted no plans. You know what I gave myself for my birthday?

No plans. I literally watched the show. I watched all three hours of the Rich Eisen show here on Roku. I also did a lot of reading because let's face it, I had to catch up. Mom doesn't always catch up on the sports as she used to.

If someone's not paying me full time, I'm not paying attention. So I had to do a lot of prepping for today, believe it or not. You'd be shocked at how much prepping I did based on my level of being ready today. And then I played tennis with my Friday a.m. tennis ladies.

That's what I did. Cooper gets a kick out of this. I got a picture. I should put it up.

Does he join? No, but we have we've hats that say Friday a.m. tennis ladies. Angela Kinsey, the actress from The Office, who played Angela, is one of the four. So my friend Betsy Thomas and Rebecca Callister. Pick up that name real quick.

I'm going to drop that one on the floor. She's tiny but mighty. She calls her backhand, La Machette. But we played yesterday at five o'clock. La Machette.

Yeah, it's it's sometimes backhand can be rough, but she's tiny but mighty. But we play tennis like that's how you know, you're a woman of a certain age when you've got a tennis group and that's what you do for your birthday. And then my husband, who can't stand the idea of me not doing something special. God bless this guy. It's been 20 years of marriage, but he made a reservation at Mother Wolf, which is a cool restaurant here in Los Angeles. We pasta and pizza, drink some wine and went home, tried to watch a Fouda because I'm obsessed with Fouda. Have you seen Fouda? I haven't.

Sarah's watched it. Rich said you guys went to Oppenheimer the other day. We did. We went to Oppenheimer at the Man Chinese Theatre.

Three hours plus. I'm that loser. Everyone's eating all this crap. They're selling the granola bar. I got a granola bar.

I can't do it. Over buttered popcorn. He got the buttered popcorn and a Diet Coke.

Gorgeous. Good combo. Goobers or like peanut M&M's? Well, always peanut M&M's.

Don't be an idiot. I mean, come on. Who eats Goobers? That's like Red Vines.

What? Goobers, chocolate covered peanuts. Do you eat Red Vines over Twizzlers?

Twizzlers all day. Red Vines are disgusting. Red Vines are disgusting. You know what's even worse, what's even worse is when people use Red Vines as a straw. That is disgusting. How dare you.

Animals. It's disgusting. It's gross. Twizzlers are awesome.

I agree. When I worked in Bristol 9,000 years ago because the food there was disgusting. I did nothing but eat. I had Twizzlers.

I'd have a two pound bag on my desk and I had Twizzlers all day. That was healthy. It's great. Anyway, I digress. I digress. Let's talk a little bit about what money buys you in Montclair, New Jersey, shall we? Because I feel like it's a very Jets heavy Friday for a bunch of Jets haters sitting here. I'm ready to adopt the Jets. You're so I mean, is this because you want to be in with the rich? Like what's happening with you? I actually don't care about the Jets, but I do think they're going to be a better football team. Yeah, then you guys obviously think they're going to be.

But I have no dog in this fight. My brother just texted. You're letting people ask Jerry West questions. Yeah, I know.

I think it sounds like Scottie Schuster. He knows the number. Got annoyed by the way. Susie, Jack Schuster, Brockman and I are on a text chain and we all me and Brockman got these new Nike sneakers. Oh, really? Texting with Jack. Shout out to everybody who got a win on sneakers.

Jack and Sam. Hi, guys. All right. Let's just show you quickly what you get for nine point five million dollars. We got no time left. But still, let's look.

Wow. That's Aaron Rodgers new house like Cliff Kingsbury. Who does look at that house? Claire, you said Montclair, New Jersey. I mean, nice spot. Nice part of town. There's a view of New York City. Mike's not here to tell us where this is.

He would probably tell you that he owns the House. Exit 23. Or what exit it is.

Is it the parkway or the view or the freeway? That's sick. Can you imagine? That's what you get. That is pretty sick.

I can't imagine because that's the only way I could get in one of these is by imagining. Here's the thing that struck out to me. I know we were all talking about the price tag. Ten million. It's got ten bathrooms and eight bedrooms. He's the only one living there. That you know of. Is he Bruce Wayne?

Like what is happening? He should get some more dogs. Don't you think? That's that's a house that needs dogs. Does he have houseguests?

Is like Garrett Wilson? Who's staying there? Does his shaman come there? Oh, Sauce Gartner definitely has a bedroom. He has a bedroom there. He has his own dedicated bedroom.

He's got Sauce has got a room there for sure. Where's the ashwagandha tent? Where's it go there? In the backyard? In the backyard. Does he have like a darkness cave? Where's the steamer go? Right? Where's the room of respite? That's what I want to know. Maybe he's going to reconsider that thirty five million dollar pay cut. I'm going to get to the bottom of this.

All right. Phil Nevin when we come back at the top of the second hour. Then Amy Trask and then Jerry West. And I'm sure my brother will call in at some point and tell me, you know, what to do. And I'm happy to have that here for you with Susie Schuster in for the Rich Eisen Show.

We can also talk about this with Amy. It looks like according to Brett McMurphy, Nicole Auerbach, a bunch of others, Pete Thamel, that Oregon and Washington are also leaving the Pac 12. Money talks, people. They're going to join the Big Ten following a vote later today. The Pac who? So now the by the Big Ten is now going to have 18 teams. Now it's the Big 35. The Big 18. How's that?

This is where I started the show this way. This is so stupid. What's the hashtag going to be for the Big 18? This is so stupid. I mean, honest to God, just call it the NFL Junior. Call it NFL Light and go with like East West.

Just go east west. This is silly. Remember back in like 90 on the early 90s, 93 Penn State joined the Big Ten. And it was like that was such a seismic shift in the college football sports world when it came to conferences. And I can remember they the biggest thing they had was like, what do we do with the logo? And so they made an 11 kind of appear out of 10. And now it's like, I don't even know how you make it.

Do you use Roman numerals now? Like, I understand. I'm baffled by this. Also, how much money did Apple TV pay for streaming rights for the Pac whatever?

So now what happens? That's my question. Because if this is all about money. Aren't they thinking, well, who what games am I streaming at this point?

Who's going to be playing in these games? Obviously, this isn't going to take place this year. Too quick to make that happen. Too quick. But man, oh, man.

Twenty, twenty four is going to be crazy because it's also the first year of the 12 team playoff. Right. Let's go.

All right. Our one in the books. Two more to go. Two more people. Mimosa Friday.

Mimosas. 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 this dinosaur tastes like. It ain't chicken. It's like biting into a sinewy charcoal briquette. But chewy. Oh, that's disgusting. It sure is. Check out Arn every week, wherever you listen.