REShow: Ian Rapoport - Hour 3

Over here. Meanwhile, back at the Jets Ranch.

Now you got it. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Robert Sala confirming Aaron Rodgers will indeed get his first preseason action. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Do you think they're going to put him in a position that something bad is going to happen?

Anything can happen. Earlier on the show, pro football hall of famer Steve Young, Texans linebacker Will Anderson. Coming up, NFL network insider Ian Rappaport. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show and I start this hour by just expressing that last couple hours are exactly why I love doing this show.

Last couple days, love why I'm doing this show. Couple celebrity interviews. Paul Rudd called in from Romania to choose a player in our best ball draft. Or having a conversation in hour one with Steve Young Hall of Famer about what he thinks is going on with the 49ers quarterback situation. Or last hour talking to a young stud like Will Anderson. And then just out of nowhere, having a conversation. When I woke up today, I had no idea I'd be having on the show, which is Ryan Clark body shaming Tua Tungovailoa.

I had no idea that was coming. But these are things that we react to. We rock and roll with them.

That happened. Also, I got to say, we are at the front of the Salty Tua stuff. Like the number of people who have tagged us in this video in the last hour.

Yes. Too many to count. Yeah, we get it. We see it.

Too many to count. We love the salt. We got it, people. We even improved upon his sound bite for him. Cut out all the nice stuff.

Just say he's been out a league a while and he should keep my name out of your mouth. We're just trying to help him become more salty. It just would lead to more wins for the Dolphins.

We all know that. Another reason why I love doing this show is I get to be on the Roku channel and watch us along with the channel expand and grow. On Friday, a documentary, NFL Films, created with the Roku channel in a Roku original called NFL Draft to pick us in.

NFL Films cameras were embedded in the draft rooms of Carolina, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, and Dallas, followed around a handful of other folks involved with the draft, including yours truly and our guest, back on the Rich Eisen Show, at Rap Sheet on X or Twitter, right? Ian Rappaport, back here on the program, my colleague from the NFL Network. How you doing, Ian? What's going on, Rich? How you been? You good?

Yeah, I'm good. I was about to say, did you just get something? Is there a trade? What happened?

Something's going on? No trade. I would say there's something that I'm waiting on that will probably happen during your show. Oh, okay. Okay. All right.

Of medium importance. Hopefully during your show. I've been waiting for an hour.

Is that a lunch order? Because I saw you eat like a fiend during this documentary that's going to be airing on Friday. Guys, I've got to tell you. You could put it away, Ian.

I would say, in defense of myself, I was very hungry and the food was very good. Well, again, for those who have yet to see this documentary, which is pretty much everybody listening to us and everybody looking at me right now on this set, there is a moment. Actually, do we have, Hoskins, do you have that be able to play here? Are we allowed to play? Well, yeah.

Dude, this is the Roku channel, pal. So here's the deal. They wanted to illustrate day three and how long it is and how drawn out it may be for those who are involved in it. So they showed me on the set doing this.

Anybody out there in contact with anybody who might have any idea about lunch, if it exists on the planet for us? That's what I'm saying. Okay.

Right. And then they show right after that, somebody eating like he's Henry VIII, all the barbecue in Kansas City, and that would be you. So I'm starving and you're in the orchestra pit, like eating like a king. I mean, look, part of my job, Rich, is to make sure that I know how to get things. Sometimes it's information. That's, you know, a lot of times my specialty.

Yes, sir. But it's not just information. Sometimes it's things. I think in this case, the ability to get an absolute massive barbecue tray delivered to my set so I didn't have to move. I could just devour it and feed the entire crew, which we did, except for you guys. Yes. It was a great thing.

And I thought the Kansas City Barbecue Fest or whatever that was did a nice job in filling up my belly. Well, interestingly enough, and I think we can share this for real, Ian, is you saw the documentary or at least your parts of it first. And I think you should share why you wanted to review it before anybody got to see it.

Ian, go for it. Well, you know, I think what I do is, you know, obviously I report things and make them public. But a lot of what I do is behind the scenes conversations about trades, about prospects, about where I hear people are going. I talk to a lot of coaches and general managers, and I was nervous that somebody would be able to tell who I'm talking to. You know, really what I was nervous about.

So I wanted to I had no issues with it. Of course, they did an amazing job, but I was I was nervous that someone's going to hear a voice on the other line and say, hey, why is he talking to him or why is she talking to him? So I think they did a great job in sort of masking everyone who I've talked to. But also, you know, exploring what my world is, which is a very, very strange place. And there's, you know, some parts of that world will be like, man, like I really knew what he was talking about.

And then there's some parts of it where you'll be like. That guy did not know what he was talking about, so it's a perfect way to encapsulate everything with the draft. And then there are moments like in the broadcast that are revealed. Well, I mean, moments in the draft that are revealed that show that in all honesty, what we're talking about on the draft is far afield of what's actually happening. The perfect example that I was talking about earlier in was the trade the bills made to go get Dalton Kincaid, figuring the Cowboys were going to go get him.

And these cameras reveal they didn't mention Dalton Kincaid once while this was all going on. They had no intention of taking him. And I'm just wondering if this documentary might reveal to the bills. Yeah, I mean, you got the guy you wanted, which is all that matters. But, you know, the Cowboys weren't going to take the guy you wanted. I'm wondering if they might learn that from the documentary, you know?

Yeah, I think they will. But, you know, it's interesting because this always happens. Now, a lot of times we don't know about it, but this does always happen. You know, when teams make trades up and I think the Steelers did one with the Jets.

Same thing. Not with the Jets, but over the Jets. Yes, with the Patriots.

Right, with the Patriots. And so, you know, it's basically like, you know, the Steelers make a trade up. They take the top tackle available and everyone thinks that the Jets are about to take it. And in reality, the Jets are going to take a pass rusher. And I think, you know, similar situation for the Cowboys. But, you know, if you're the Bills, you say, all right, all we have to do is give up. I can't remember what it was, a fourth round or something like that. And are we going to be right? Are we going to be wrong?

I don't know, but I like this player enough that this gamble is worth it. And I think, you know, that's why teams do it. And so that's why what I reported on draft night, which was this has to be a tight end because everyone thinks the Cowboys want a tight end.

And so one part was right, but it turns out the Cowboys did not want a tight end. It's unbelievable. And again, it's a terrific documentary. And I love that, you know, seeing you doing your thing and everybody else, it's really awesome. Again, it's Friday on the Roku channel. And it's an interesting time for a documentary on the draft to come out because we're at the point of the calendar where all the bets that were made on that draft weekend, it's now on the table. And the cards are going to be in the air to use, I guess, the more of the gambling phrases that it's now time.

It's now time. And it's it's just amazing to me as I'm watching. I was watching this documentary last night in our in our house at NFL Network. Ian, that, you know, watching the Colts and and sweating it out and then getting the guy that they want and getting the guy they want in Anthony Richardson. And here we are on the verge of the playing season and they've got a massive Jonathan Taylor problem.

And I'm wondering, how did we get here on that front? Well, I think, first of all, I learned something in the documentary, too, which is that when, you know, the the Cardinals were talking to teams about moving out of three. You know, it seemed that at least one of the teams they talked to with the Colts and then Chris Bauer decided not to move and they still got their guy.

I thought that, but I didn't quite know that. And I think that's something that's something we learn. You know, the other thing with the Jonathan Taylor situation, you know, if you're an organization, all you really want to do, you know, the inner workings of your locker room is draft well, develop those really good players, and then reward those players with big contracts so they can be happy, so they can get what they deserve. And so other players can see that when you work hard and you succeed, you get what you deserve and the team will take care of you. The Colts, because of the kind of season they had last year, decided that they were not going to give any contracts. And when you have a really good player who's one of the best in his position, who's 24 years old, and who wants what he believes he deserves, that's a big disconnect. And I think that started the process of how we got here. You know, Jimmer's taken to Twitter and just weighing in on the running back market for sure did not help things, for sure.

But this all contributed to a really difficult and challenging situation. So where does it stand right now? What do you have for me? Well, he has permission to seek a trade. His agent, Maki Kawa, has spoken to teams. There are several teams interested. A trade is for sure possible. I don't know if one's going to happen, but it's definitely possible.

It's complicated. He'll eventually want a new contract, all of those things. But he is a great 24-year-old player, one of the best in his position, and there's a market.

There's a real market. So we'll see if he actually gets traded, but all that is going on as we speak right now. So when you say eventually he's going to want a new contract, is it possible that a trade gets consummated and then he goes to a new spot, and what, doesn't get a new deal already on the table laid out, that they'll deal with it eventually?

Is that possible? I would say that teams would know that he's going to want a new contract. Is one going to be done in conjunction with the trade?

I think that's possible. But we've seen it happen. I think the Bradley Chubb deal was the latest example. He gets traded from the Broncos to the Dolphins, and then I think it was two or three days later he gets a huge new contract. So we've seen that happen in the past.

I just don't know if one is directly going to come with the trade. What's your sense why the Colts don't want to pay him in a manner in which other teams are willing to trade for him and then pay him? What's your thoughts on that? I just think they decided that because of the way last season ended that it just doesn't send the right message to pay anyone. That would not be the way I would go about things if it were me, but it's not me. I think that's part of the deal.

It doesn't seem like anyone is getting a new contract, and Jonathan Taylor has to bear the brunt of it I guess. And at the risk of asking a dicey question, I will do it anyway. I did it to Breer the other day, so I'm an equal opportunity dicey question asker. That's correct. We can all handle it. Understood.

I know that. It just strikes me as Chris Ballard gets the quarterback, brings in the coach, that seems to be a great coach quarterback combination. He knows the owner is more itchy in recent years, and the seat he sits on is potentially hot. He's going to let this happen in the last couple weeks before a playing season that is crucially important here? So what I'm asking is, is this ersay just saying, I'm not paying people after that.

Too bad. Over. And Chris, we're going to figure it out. Or is the GM lockstep with the owner on this, Ian? The owner writes the checks. So when we're talking about overarching contract decisions, I don't know specifically if Jim ersay made this decision, but the owner writes the checks. And so at least this is something that it appears ersay believes because he is ultimately in charge and Chris Ballard works for him. And that was, I think, the way it was with the chef Saturday situation during the season.

Clearly. Chris Ballard works for Jim ersay, and that is what was going on. And ersay made the decision to hire a coach who had never coached before. And so I don't know who exactly made the decision, but certainly this is something that Jim ersay is very much on board with.

And I think it's Chris Ballard's job to figure out the best he can do with his team as best way he can. Wow. So crystal ball it for me. Crystal ball it. I know you don't have a crystal ball. We actually have one here in the show, but it's too heavy for me to go pick it up and bring it over.

What do you think? I do have a magic eight ball. It's actually in my hands right now. What's the question I should ask the magic eight ball then?

What is it? Where does Jonathan Taylor get traded? I don't have team names in here. So I'll just ask you, where do you think he gets traded? What are the teams interested?

I don't know. I would take a look at some of the teams that still have some money and still have a need there. The Denver Broncos have been a team that in the past has had a running back need. The Miami Dolphins have had a running back need.

I think those are probably a couple of them. Let's see who else. There's some teams in the division I think might have a running back need. I don't think that's going to happen. Nobody wants to trade to anyone in the division.

I would say the Buffalo Bills, I know we're in talks at some point with the DeAndre Hopkins thing, at least they considered bringing in a high value, big money veteran. You wonder if they'd have some interest. There's some teams I think that have some interest, but we'll see if a deal is able to come together.

It is very challenging to do, but it is not impossible. So then let me ask this one for you before asking a couple more questions and you get on with the rest of your day. More likely, Jonathan Taylor gets traded or comes back to the Colts and the Colts just put a little bit of money on top of his contract for a face saving and go to work? What do you think? I have not gotten the indication that the Colts were willing to do anything. It's hard for me to imagine that he just comes back and everything's fine. I would be a little surprised, honestly. I'd be a little surprised if he plays for them.

Anything's possible, I just don't know how it would happen. This is a relationship that's not good. So we'll see.

Last one for you, Ian. Chris Jones tweeted out in response to a fan asking when you're coming back. He said week 8. What's going on there in Kansas City? Week 8 is the day for him to get into crude season. He's tweeted a lot of things or Instagrammed a lot of things this year. In some ways I follow players on social media and in some ways I do not.

I would say this would be one where he's tweeted a lot of different things this year. I think everyone's best to take it for what it is and take a deep breath. There's still time to work out a deal. We'll see if a holdout is in fact his reality. But I know this, he's another one who has earned a very, very large contract. Of course. So he wants Aaron Donald money or bust?

Is that what it is, pretty much? Everybody wants all the money they can get. I don't know that it's Aaron Donald money or bust. I know he would like a lot of money. It's really a question of is he going to be right below it? Is he going to be a little above it? Not impossible, but hard. Could he end up being the highest paid defensive tackle not named Aaron Donald?

I think he probably should be. We'll see where it ends up. All right, Ian. Thanks for the time, brother. It was great to see you in this documentary and we'll see you on Friday night and I'll see you before then if not.

Take care. I look forward to watching it for the first time. Well, I mean, usually from now on I'll watch everyone else. First time I'll watch this. It's great, man.

It really is so well done and the Deuce Vaughn drafting moment is, as I said earlier, first time Jerry Jones has ever caused me to tear up. For real. It's something else. It's pretty cool. Yeah, I look forward to that.

It really is cool. And you didn't get the medium hot news information during this conversation? I mean, hopefully eventually. At rap sheet for the later.

Later on. Thanks for the call, Ian. Appreciate it, man. We'll chat soon.

Take care. That's Ian Rappaport at rap sheet. Let me just say this. The Jonathan Taylor possibilities, as Ian says, he'd be surprised if Jonathan Taylor plays for the Colts this year. That would mean they figure out trading him and accept the reality that they will have to play football without Jonathan Taylor this year at a very crucial juncture. A very crucial juncture. And I know he's like, hey, Chris Ballard works for the owner.

Chris Ballard has got to be, I mean, the times that I've met him multiple times, straightforward, straight up, not very much of a filter on this guy. And I would love to just hear the straight up like trading Jonathan Taylor at age 24. That is the last thing a general manager wants to do when he has also a franchise tag next two years.

They can, I mean, this is it. And so I just find it hard to believe that a GM who knows that this is an important juncture, not just for the franchise, but himself is just ready to trade Jonathan Taylor. But if the owner's like, we're not paying him another time. And the kid's like, well, then I'm not playing for you.

Get what you can for him. And if you get what you can for him and ship him out of the conference, obviously all the better for your team. But if, did you hear a team that Ian mentioned that I have not heard, and he threw it out there, if the Buffalo Bills come off the top of their RV or whatever van and jump into the flaming table on top of the Jets doing what they've done and the Patriots doing what they've done. And the dolphins adding Vic Fangio and doing what they've done. If they come off the top and jump into the table right before the playing season and add Jonathan Taylor to this mix, adding already Damien Harris and Latavious Murray to this locker room. And I'm imagining the Colts would need one of those guys flipped back to him in this deal.

Yeah, Damien Harris, for sure. You know, like one of those guys gets flipped back to the Colts, the younger of the two. And they go into this season having added Dalton Kincaid to help with the red zone. And now you're adding Jonathan Taylor. What if the Colts ask for James Cook?

Let me just say this. If the Colts ask for James Cook plus picks, obviously, and it would have to be a late day to early day, three pick like James Cook, a three and a five. That's too much. Even James Cook is a young, like he's in year two, like you've got two more years of contractual control on him, rushing champ like Jonathan Taylor. I get it. But then James Cook and another pick like a four, three, a four right in between. You don't get the three and a five.

You'll get a four, four to six. You're the Buffalo Bills. I'm like, hell yeah.

Hell yeah. If the Bills pull that off, forget it. I mean, Monday Night Football, Dalvin Cook. James Cook, or maybe not anymore.

I don't know. Dalvin Cook and Jonathan Taylor. Didn't you get Jonathan Taylor to Buffalo?

Interesting. Can you hear the noise from back there? Oh, he took your camera.

That's what Hoskins is taking, the Buffalo Bill fan. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God.

You got to give up something to get some. I got it. Of course, I get it. But yeah, you do that. You do it now. Not later. Now you got to get them in, get them in, get them up to speed.

Wow. Eight four four two oh four rich number to dial the AFC West. We will predict it.

Patrick Mahomes has chimed in on the subject matter of Chris Jones saying I'm not coming back till week eight. That's coming up. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk about A.G. one people, a new partner of The Rich Eisen Show, a daily foundational nutritional supplement that helps support whole body health. And if you're like me, then it's so hard to keep up with a supplement routine throughout your busy day when it comes to the bunch of products on top of it. So when you drink A.G. one, you notice an overall feeling of health.

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Go to YouTube dot com slash presale to get fifty dollars off. This is a little early. I don't do lunch martinis. You're pouring a martini now into the martini shaker. I poured just a little in. It looked like there may have been some ice in it, but you won't complain. Don't send the drink back.

We just need to be old. The olives are already in the glasses. Don't bruise it. Don't bruise it. Some people at home. What about stirring?

There's a great bar called the Edmond over on Melrose. They like to stir. I like that. I like to shake a little bit. So are you more like Bond, shake and not stirred? I prefer I prefer actually bruising the vodka, making ice cold. OK. You know what I'm saying? Sure.

These are vermouth wash glasses. We have a little vermouth in there earlier. OK. And then we're in and out.

Why don't you take that one? This is my friend Rich Eisen. We toasting. I just want to toast seeing you again. You want to toast the Espen, correct? Well, we're toasting to ESPN's 40th anniversary. There is a big event going on this weekend.

My invitation is probably where yours is right now. So we just figured why not just do it ourselves? What a nice thought. You know what I mean? I haven't seen you in a very long time. My arm's getting sweaty. I like to toast.

I haven't seen you in a long time, Craig. I've been cultivating this caper to try and get you to come on this show. What if I only do your show?

I'd love to just do that because you're smooth and natural. Sold. I like Rich.

I like Rich. Let me just see what this is, because the ice was sitting there. Cheers to you. Nice to see you. Nice to finally meet you.

Cheers. It's watered down. Don't say anything.

It's watered down, but let's pretend it's not. This is what I say at a bar or restaurant, the big four up in San Francisco in Nob Hill. I take a sip. I go like this. I go. This is the greatest moment of my life.

Ah, the great Kilby. YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show for our full archive. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show radio network, part of the live Roku channel stream. 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. Why don't you? The AFC West, we're about to predict it. The major conundrum the Chiefs have on their hands is the fact that Chris Jones, one of the best players in the game, he was number 10 on the top 100 player list that the NFL network put together as voted on by the peers. He was number 10, Chris Jones. And he is without a doubt the quarterback of that defense. That's the simple fact of it.

He is other worldly and Chiefs need him. And he has been holding out. And you saw all over the Twitter verse, X verse, Internet tubes, however you want to put it. He sent out a photograph of what seemed to be some chalkboard outside of a gym in Miami. Maybe that's where he was working out of an inspirational message about not letting stuff bother you is essentially the message. And it was retweeted by a fan who essentially asked Chris Jones, when are we going to see you? And he said, week eight.

You know, if it's out of your hands, it deserves freedom from your mind. Also is what Chris Jones tweeted out. It was that that was the chalkboard. Week eight again, as Ian Rappaport just mentioned, is the week by which the latest he can show up to accrue a year towards free agency. And so a tweet went his way after retweeting the week eight from at Arrowhead Live, which is, I guess, a site that covers the Chiefs. That'd be a hefty tab, meaning all the money he would miss. And he wrote back, I can afford it. Oh, wow.

OK. OK, I can afford it. Patrick Mahomes spoke today. Chiefs, as we all know, two weeks from tomorrow, open the season against the Detroit Lions. It would be best for the Chiefs to, you know, hunt down Jared Goff. Yeah.

With this guy? Mahomes had this to say about Chris Jones saying week eight. I don't know how serious he is, but I do know he's not here. Are you expecting to start the season without him?

No, not necessarily. I mean, I I know that stuff. Contract stuff is hard to talk about because everybody wants to make money for their entire family and and everything like that. But I know how much Chris. Chris loves the Chiefs. He loves being part of this organization. And so I just try to stay out of it and just tell Chris that I love him and that whenever he does does come back, he'll be welcome with open arms. And we know that he's preparing himself so that whenever he does get back, he can be that dominant player that he always has been.

I mean, that's the thing to say he's supposed to say you're supposed to say. Do you remember when Brett Favre told Jevon Walker and your holdout get in here? Remember that?

Could you imagine a quarterback's like, you know what? Didn't Jevon Walker get paid too? I just remember that I was in early.

You looked that up. That was early NFL Network. Again, this is year 20. Was that was that 0 3 0 4 when Jevon Walker was holding out and Favre's like, get in here.

It's time then your holdout. Jevon Walker got paid by the Raiders, right? It's like just like Devante Adams.

Basically, my home was like, my name's Bennett and I ain't in it. He wants nothing to do. Well, because again, you can't really comment. How could you have a contract worth half a billion dollars and say he should end his holdout? I mean, Mahomes gets it.

He knows it. But they need him. Money, money will solve it.

Money will absolutely solve it. And I guess I don't know. Not to pull a Zach Taylor, he probably needs one rep to get ready. You know, it's not like. Yeah, just one rep. That's Jared Goff.

Go get him. Yeah, that dude's a record. Yeah. So I don't know if this changes your prediction or not.

It does not. I will just basically counsel everybody here predicting. Oh, you didn't give any prediction, did you, Mike? You're out of this predicting business.

Well, you also. By the way, Favre really did kind of throw Jevon Walker. I'm reading his quotes right now.

Wow. OK. Could you imagine a quarterback said that today? He said nowadays you're seeing more and more guys pulling that stunt. If guys continue to do that and they're successful getting away with it, then I'll be gone.

But I think the game will be ruined. My reaction to Jevon's situation was here we go again. Because can you imagine if a quarterback in this situation. You want to know why Favre was able to say that? Because he was in the middle of a 10 year, 100 million dollar contract. Could you imagine if a quarterback in this day and age said that about somebody else holding out for money? Rich, I'd never.

It would be not lit. I would have never thought it would be a guy like Jevon. I guess in this business, nothing should surprise you, especially what happens when guys get a little bit of success. Some guys handle it the right way and some guys don't. Like, wow. I mean, yeah, man. Number four didn't care, dude. Holy cow. Doesn't Dion have a quote about like not getting in someone's pockets?

Oh, yeah. Well, Dion's phrase is, you know, running backs, right? Right now, running backs are running with light pockets.

Anybody's looking for a contract. They're running with light pockets. And if they run with heavy pockets, they've just been paid. I thought you said something about not making comments about. Well, I mean, that's just the way it goes. So but again, I'm just kind of giving everyone a history lesson.

Like if anybody sitting here saying, oh, my gosh, my Holmes is going to definitely say that because what else is he going to say? Well, that. By the way, that was just like, what was that? Was that 04 or 05?

What was that? What are your what year? What year is that quote?

This is just a blog. It doesn't date. Yeah, I think it was 04 or 05. It was early on NFL Network.

It was it was a to do. So at any rate, over the next eight days, there's eight divisions in the National Football League. This will take us up to Labor Day weekend, after which it is the lead up to week one.

Oh, man. So each day we're going to predict a division and we're doing the AFC West first. And I'm just going to counsel you, T.J., and you, Chris.

Tread lightly. I that's I think the Chiefs last year, so I'm good. Kansas City Chiefs fans are the danger. I'm good. OK, I don't have to read about it on X so they can come in. Chris, you go first.

OK. I like the Chiefs to win the division because they're awesome. And they're probably going back to the Super Bowl.

I think the Chargers make the playoffs like they did last year. I see a big leap. Herbert's going to be in that MVP talk. I really like what they're doing.

Brandon Staley's job is safe. I think Denver is going to be third. I think they're going to be a lot better than people think. I don't know what people think.

I think people think they're not going to be that good. But I think Russell Wilson's lead mean. And Sean Payton has his whole legacy kind of riding on fixing this guy.

Now he does his whole life. I'm on. All right, you guys, I'm telling you, like and then the Raiders aren't going to be very good. Chiefs, Chargers, Broncos, Raiders. T.J. Jefferson, what do you have over there? I mean, it's like Brockman and our simpatico on this side.

The exact same thing. I got the Raiders at Fort. Look, I want no beef with Raiders fans. I'm going to say that right now. I don't want no beef. I don't want no smoke.

Let's treat us like vegans and vegetarians. I just think you're the fourth best team out of these four. So I kind of went back and forth at first when I submitted this.

I had the Broncos at two and the Chargers and three. And I thought about it because the Chargers tend to do charger type things. Right, Chris. Correct.

And someone whose team is also noted for doing kind of boneheaded things. I can say that. But I'm going to give them the benefit of the Dow rich. So I moved them up to to Denver at three. And then as long as Patrick Mahomes is still has two working knees and one and a half ankle, because they don't even need both ankles as we saw the Chiefs. I got the number one in the division.

All right. The Vegas Raiders are not going to be without Josh Jacobs in this season. I believe Vic Tafer of the athletic. He came on last week and said Jacobs will be back week one. I think he will be back week one. We had Joe Banner, the longtime executive of this league, say that what Saquon should have done was hold out all preseason long week one. And and even potentially skip week one, like make it make it really dicey for the Giants to skip. But but to say, you know, this is a great taste of what's going to happen next year.

And it looks like Josh Jacobs is doing that. But I think he will be back. And I think the Raiders are going to be better than you think. I'm going to put my eggs in that basket, except for third place this year, not first. And the one thing I will say, I do think, again, the Los Angeles Chargers should be better. I am looking forward to seeing what Kellen Moore is going to do with this offense and what Justin Herbert's going to look like and Quentin Johnston from TCU. And Mike Williams, can you please stay healthy? And same thing with Keenan Allen and same thing with the offensive line. Same thing with the team, like pretty much everybody is always getting hurt there.

Let's just see if what happens when you stay healthy. I do agree with you, Chris, that they should make the playoffs as well. And I think the Raiders, you know, I'm going a little high register that I think the Raiders are a sneaky team.

Like this is a sneaky division to get three in. I just again, I think Jimmy G is the exact vessel that McDaniel's wants. And Devontae Adams is still Devontae freaking Adams and Renfro. And if they all stay healthy, like let's see what they can do. And the Broncos, man, they are the shrug emoji team.

I do not know how this is all going to look, but I will push back on that. Sean Payton's legacy is on the line. His legacy is firmly entrenched with what he did in New Orleans. Now, if he does not so-called fix Russ this year, guess what's going to happen? It'll get rid of Russ.

I mean, that's it. And I know next year they're going to be stuck with him too contractually. Then Russ will be gone. Russ is the guy with legacies on the line. Russ is.

And I don't know how the weapons are going to look. Courtland Sutton, can he be the one that everybody believes that we've been waiting for? Jerry Judy. I know he can, Jerry Judy. Like, let's see it.

Again, I need to see it to believe it. And I believe they can do very well this year, but it's still the Chiefs division. The one thing I will say about the Chiefs is take a look at their receiving room. Yep. It's going to be a lot of Kelsey. Can Sky Moore step in here? Kadarius Toney, is he going to stay healthy or what? No idea. Because if Kadarius Toney has, you know, the questionable rate ranking and rating as much as he did for the Giants, you know, I hear you.

How talented he is. I'm just I'm just the receiving core scares me a little bit. Justin Ross, Justin Watson, MVS, Rashid Rice.

I mean, who knows? Me, Cole Hartman's with the Jets. Yeah, they lost a lot of juju's with New England. Exactly.

They lost some good players. But is it like the old Patriots offense? Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Well, quarterback. Right. And you got the tight end and you got Jerick McKinnon scoring wherever, you know, and Pacheco scoring in the rest of them.

I remember she race with someone who my homes worked out with before the draft and kind of gave his input. And then every time you think they're out, they just do it with different people. Yep.

So it could be these are just these are just warnings. Dynasty. But get Chris Jones signed, man. We gave. I mean, chief schedule.

Yeah. Put it out. Put the Chiefs up. I mean, obviously, Detroit, Jacksonville, home for Chicago at the Jets at Minnesota, a Thursday night game against Denver, the Chargers. And then at Denver, that's week eight. I mean, you're going to go Detroit at Jacksonville, home for Chicago at Jets at Minnesota, Denver, Georgia. I mean, that's based on, again, last year. They should they should win most of them. Do we get like Keckner or Riggle to call in and go over the Chiefs schedule? Oh, I think would be too close.

Seventeen. I think he's realistic. Eric's real close to the team.

He might not want to give him a loss. That's all I'm saying. And that's our our AFC West. Preview. You know what?

I do that in the bars this week when I'm in Casey, just ask people. I'll tell you what. The Chiefs have an interesting first month, an interesting first, you know, take your shot at the king month. Detroit, Jacksonville.

Bears, Jets. Take your shot at the king month. But you did not miss. True, right? I mean, I mean, those are the teams that are feeling themselves great.

First five for six weeks, seven. Well, I mean, at Minnesota's, that's that's not a they won 13 games. I know that.

But that's not taking your shot at the king. You're talking about Detroit. Jacksonville, Chicago Jets are all feeling like we have vastly improved our end of season last year. Certainly for Detroit and Jacksonville are like we are coming in with momentum and we are going to put our cards on the table and show everyone we are different and who better to do it against than the Super Bowl champs and Mahomes were coming at the king. And Chicago, I mean, didn't finish great last year.

Neither did the Jets, but they feel improved and they're going to come at the king. That's an interesting first month. Even just just another just offering a couple of caveats, while at the same time saying we're still paying rent in your world, Chief's Kingdom, eight, four, four, two or four rich number to dial here on the Rich Eisen Show, wrapping up the show in a moment. Between the kids being home and hosting, everything in our house gets used up in summer. With Instacart, I can save money by stocking up on all my favorite summer brands. I save time by getting everything delivered in as fast as an hour. And I save myself a sink full of dirty dishes by stocking up on paper plates for the annual summer cookout. Save more on summer essentials.

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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. Well looks like we found out what Ian Rappaport was waiting on.

Oh, what was it? He and Tom Pelissero have combined on the reporting. We'll wait till the radio audience returns in a moment. No offense to the Roku Channel audience. We love you and we want to bring you the freshest and most important information right away.

But you know, there's we have other children and you know, in this family and we got to wait till all the kids are together before we sit around the table and tell stories. Hey, speaking of which, Rich, real quick, that thing you went to, that was a Roku production, right? The Roku original production. So did we not get invited or? No, you did not. Wow. And people at NFL Network didn't get invited, didn't even know it was happening in their own building.

So no offense. Was Roku Joe there? Roku Joe was there. I had dinner with Roku Joe last night. How did the Roku Joe not, you know. Did they ask about us?

They didn't. Was Roku Charlie there? Oh, no, he was not. I thought, well, he's got other things. I thought Joe was our boy.

We bonded with Joe. I thought he would ask about us. Guys, it's not personal. None of them is personal. It's business.

It's business. I got invited. I didn't go. We didn't make dinner plans. We didn't make dinner plans till well after the screening.

He's just like, do you want to go to dinner? And I'm like, of course. You know, I produce many TV shows. I have an eye. I could maybe have helped.

What do I have? Joe and I split a Caesar salad. Oh, nice.

You split a salad? Yeah, pizza. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah.

It was very good. You guys. Yeah. Yeah. Cool.

He picked up the check. I wasn't hungry. I told great stories, though. I made up for it. I'm social.

I'm worth this. I'm worth the middle seat. We're in the middle chair. Middle chair table. Middle chair table. Are you in the middle? Curb your enthusiasm. Oh, it was just T and I. It was just two of them. Oh.

Speaking of which, I had some great pasta at Chiconi's yesterday. I don't know what we're doing. We're giving the Roku channel people what they want.

Give them what they want. I made a peanut butter and jelly yesterday. That's good to know. I ate a prepped meal. All right. Let's get to this news. Let's get to this news. Let's go.

Let's go. So Ian Rappaport was on earlier saying medium news is coming. I don't think this is enough medium news. This is it.

I'm assuming this is what it is. He and Tom Pelissero have worked together. The Niners are waiting for a third preseason game, as we discussed with Steve Young.

It's Sam Darnold is the backup. Trey Lance is three. Exploring options with Trey Lance. What does that mean? I don't know.

I don't know. I mean, what are the options with Trey Lance? Are you going to send him somewhere to back up somewhere?

There's no starting job somewhere right now. And the number three overall pick of the draft from a couple years ago, they say the future's unclear. I'm going to say that Trey Lance stays put. You even heard Steve Young say earlier today, I would fight and claw to stay there because there are few places in the NFL quite like San Francisco in developing quarterbacks. And clearly they saw something in him two years ago to go trade all the way up to number three.

And anybody that sits here and says, this means Kyle Shanahan truly doesn't know anything about quarterbacks has lost their minds. Just let me say that has lost their minds and he just needs time to develop the forty Niners last year, I believe were ready to go into the season and take whatever lumps were necessary to work it out with Trey Lance. And he got hauled off on a cart in week two. They were, they were ready to have him work in a little bit in his first year, but Jimmy G was there. And then in year two, it was going to be his show and that's it.

And they would deal with whatever ups and downs they were. And they kept Jimmy G there in case the downs were so significant, so significant that they needed to go and have him give Lance a blow and take him out because it was working so poorly. And then Lance gets hauled off. Garoppolo gets hurt because the reason why they had Garoppolo there is they didn't really want to turn to Purdy and they did and found a gem. And they have the general manager and the coach, the full faith and credit of the owner who's not sitting here going, really, really, you're going with Darnold instead of this guy? Well, the hot seat is on gents.

Hell no, nah. And I think they hold on to Lance because if any team knows that the third quarterback on the depth chart better have their head on a swivel, it's Lance and the Niners know it. Purdy was on third on the depth chart last year, how'd that work out for him? He got his turn and he showed out. So Daniel Jeremiah mentioned Atlanta as a spot.

Remember that? He was saying Atlanta might get him, put him in the hopper there if Ritter doesn't work out. I don't know what team's going to flip for Lance and why would Lance want to go just to get possible second team reps that he's not going to get here? What is his value? I don't know. Anyway, a fifth round pick?

I don't know. But Sam Darnold, who I keep asking people was he brought in for Purdy insurance or Lance insurance is now both. He's insurance for Purdy if Purdy can't go and he's clearly in their minds an upgrade from Trey Lance. My first blush reaction to the news that it is Sam Darnold and you could see it in the preseason games. You really could, you know, but this could all be just rearranging deck chairs that never needed to be sat in because it's Purdy's gig.

And if he stays healthy, he's all 17 and I think this is a Super Bowl possible winning team even with Brock Purdy in his first full year as a starter. My two cents on the subject matter. We will chop this up considerably I believe on Thursday's show. So I want to thank Steve Young, perfect timing with him. I want to thank also Will Anderson and Ian Rappaport for joining us on this show. We will wrap up this show on the Roku channel on a Wednesday in a moment. 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 does dinosaur taste like? It ain't chicken. It's like biting into a sinewy charcoal briquette. But chewy. Oh wow, that's disgusting. It sure is. And check out Arn every week, wherever you listen.