REShow: Will Anderson Jr. - Hour 2

Meanwhile, back at the Jets' Ranch. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Robert Sala confirming Aaron Rodgers will indeed get his first pre-season 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. Joe Boro. Earlier on the show, Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young. Coming up, Texans linebacker Will Anderson, NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

Yes, hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Will Anderson, the third overall pick in this year's draft, is going to be joining us in the middle of this hour. He's on a practice field for the Houston Texans right now. Houston Texans getting set to open the season at the Baltimore Ravens. Welcome to the NFL's CJ Stroud, everybody. And the Ravens are salty, having lost their 24-game pre-season winning streak. Record will never be broken. That is not the week one storyline, by the way.

That is not it. But, at any rate, Will Anderson is going to join us. Ian Rappaport, top of hour number three. He is going to tell us what is going on with Jonathan Taylor.

Why have we gotten to this point in time? Is Josh Jacobs going to come in from the cold? Chris Jones tweeted out in response to a fan that if the Chiefs don't pay him, week eight, he will just hold out in the middle of the season and show up at the last possible minute for his contract to remain on target for him to get out of there, I guess is the point. Week eight is when he's going to show up. That's what a fan asked. Week eight.

Yikes. We'll talk about that in hour number three because in hour number three, the first of eight straight days on this program where we will predict a division and the AFC West is up first. That's in hour number three after Ian Rappaport joins us on this show to give us the 411 on all of that. OK. As you know, I'm on record that I'm genuinely concerned Aaron Rodgers is going to play football this weekend. Yeah, yeah, I think that's a fair feeling to have. Right now, he appears very healthy, and that's the way I want him to be the first Monday night of the season when he's getting set to take on the Buffalo Bills. But he knows best about what makes it work for him.

And so far, so good. He wants to do it. He wants to take on the Giants. He wants to suit up. That was part of the hard knocks.

Episode three is hot. Mike caught him saying on the sideline of the second preseason week that he's playing this week, right? Robert Sala said it. Oh, yeah, we're going to play the big guy on week three. Well, the big guy spoke yesterday on the subject matter of why he's suiting up and playing in a preseason game for the first time since twenty eighteen. Yeah, I mean, there's always that risk reward, I think over the years.

It just hasn't made sense based on a number of different factors. But I used to enjoy playing the preseason back in back in my younger years just to kind of maybe take that first hit or feel the kind of the nerves in the first drive. So I look forward to being out there. It was not much of a conversation with Robert. I think he was a little more nervous.

I might have said no, but I was already leaning towards asking him to play. So it was an easy conversation and I'm not sure how long it's going to be, but it'd be good to be out there with the guys. And obviously there's been some shuffling around some somewhere front back in today at practice. It kind of looked the way things were trending the past week or so.

So be nice to be out there with those five. Let's not take the first hit. Let's not take it. In his younger days, he wanted to take the first hit.

Sounds good. First hit comes in week one Monday night. I want to see boots, but not too much. Don't run too hard. I want to see play fake and three step drops.

First hit could be the last hit. Again, he's talking about shifting offensive line and that he does believe that the line is suddenly coming into play. If they're still working on it and they're still tinkering or injuries are causing the tinkering to happen or they're still gelling. Let's have someone else be behind the gelling. Let's have a gel and let's have him out there.

But I understand the idea that the first time he does it. Helmet on new spot. Pads on new spot. Helmet pads on new spot behind new line. You don't want it to happen on Monday night football against the Buffalo Bills.

So I understand that. That's what the guy wants. That's what the coach wants.

That's what they think is best. But can we come up with a like don't can he put on a red jersey? Can we do that? Yeah, that's the one I want him wearing on on Saturday night in the Snoopy Bowl. He should just come out in that and see, you know.

If NFL operations will let it fly. And I'll just say, hey, my socks are the right length. What do you care? I got everything else right.

It's still so weird. We're going to put we're going to we're going to we're going to put him behind a gelling line. And and OK, Kayvon Thibodeau, does he he plays this? Is he going to play?

We're going to do that. I think if I was him, I'd want to play now. You know what?

I thought to myself and I did my top five list of second year players going to make the leap. I left him off. And I think that's a mistake. Yeah, he's going to take that into effect. Well, I think not. I don't think he knows or cares. Oh, he knows. I don't think I move that needle for anybody to be honest with you.

Rich, I don't know. I appreciate that. No, you guys. No, you're right.

You're right. I'm very influential. You're twenty five years in the game. We're almost at six hundred twenty six. Actually, twenty seven. Well, I mean, including my my days in reading. Yeah, my days in reading.

If you want to clear that, it's twenty twenty nine. You think Kayvon Thibodeau doesn't know that you didn't put him on your list? Well, I mean, he went to University of Oregon and I did my first TV work in a in Redding, California, with an affiliate in Medford, Oregon. So it's entirely possible that before his parents even thought of having Kayvon that they they were watching me do local sports in northern California. Yes. These are all you're right. I'm very influential.

What if Kayvon's dad played for one of those football teams? That's true. No, you're right. By the way.

No, I should have thought that myself. This is my 19th year, in case anyone cares. I don't count. Well, you're. I'm old. Oh, God.

I'm sorry. So Rogers is going to play very good. Maybe they'll have a gentleman's agreement, Rich.

Yeah. Two hand touch. Won't just like smash him. Two hand touch for Rogers. Lay him down real nice. I got you.

Put him to bed. Jerry Jones says that he's he's fine with the running back room. That's the way it is. Yeah. Very comfortable with it, is what he said. Quote unquote. Very comfortable.

Interesting. Do you want him? Do you want Jonathan Taylor? Who wouldn't?

Excuse me. You want him for 14 million a year? Do you want him knowing what it would require to give up 40 million and knowing and knowing that, you know, there is less pie, to use his phrase, just takes a nice chunk out of the pie. It would. That would.

That would. Do you want him at that price? Knowing. Look, we got to pay Micah, you know, we we got to pay Micah. Micah's got to be the highest paid defender. Yeah. So right. Well, Micah's rooting for Nick Bosa, if that's what you're asking.

And Chris Jones. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So the way our bank account is set up, I don't know how we'd be able to move those funds around to page on it.

I'd love to have them. But yeah, Jerry's worth 10 million dollars, figure it out. That doesn't matter, as you know, it should. Everybody's working to get I mean, I know, but still, you know, everybody's very rich in the NFL. Yeah. Most everybody.

Most everybody's pretty. Yeah. OK. Wealthy.

Wealthy. So in theory, Rich, I would love to have them on the Cowboys. But in reality, I just like I said, I don't let me tell you something about the Dallas Cowboys and the running backs and what I saw last night. This documentary that's coming out on the Roku channel on Friday called NFL Draft. The pick is in NFL films embedded themselves in the Carolina draft room, the Jacksonville draft room. They embedded themselves in the draft room of the Colts and the Dallas Cowboys. And what I saw from the Dallas Cowboys on this documentary.

It is it was it seemed very collaborative. Jerry goes around the room and asks everybody their opinion of the players that they are about to pick, they're about to be on the clock. They're not on the clock just yet. They're about to be. And they're like, we're thinking of these two players.

And it's it's amazing. I was sitting on the set of the draft the night that, you know, the Cowboys did draft Mazzie Smith. They were about to be on the clock and the Buffalo Bills jumped in front of the Dallas Cowboys. And Jacksonville allowed them to do that. Jacksonville traded out the pick. So we watched Trent Baalke on the phone with Brandon Bean basically say to him because they had just already moved down as well and they moved down a second time that they wanted to get the left tackle, whose name escapes me, who tell me who Jacksonville did wind up picking. That everybody thought that the Buffalo Bills were coming up for the tight end. They didn't want the Bills to come up and take the guy that they were going to take at tackle on the spot.

You heard how Trent Baalke says to Brandon Bean, you're going to have to give me a little more information before I make this trade. Jacksonville took Anton Harrison. And the Cowboys, we all thought the Buffalo Bills hopped up because we all thought with Dalton Schultz gone, they were going to take Dalton Kincaid, come heck or high water. And this documentary showed the conversation that the Cowboys were having while Trent Baalke was making this trade with the Bills. And they didn't mention the words Dalton or Kincaid once. They were not talking tight end at all.

And I saw that last night and I'm like, huh, okay. But they were talking about the tackle that the Jacksonville Jaguars took or Mazzie Smith. And in the middle of this conversation, the Chiefs call and offered the 31st overall pick and other choices to move into the spot for the Cowboys and Jerry Jones looks around the room and has a full on conversation about how gutted they would be.

I think the word he used was throat cut. If they moved down to 31 and don't get either of these two guys that they're discussing and they stayed put and they took Mazzie Smith and then the Jaguars having no idea that the tackle that they wanted so badly almost got taken by the Cowboys. I'm just wondering if this documentary is going to show the Jaguars how close they were to not getting the player they got and how the Bills hopped up in front of Dallas. Are they going to learn right here that Dalton Kincaid wasn't on the Dallas Cowboys radar screen? I just say this.

I love that stuff. It's on site now with Buffalo and Jacksonville because they tried to get over on this. And the reason why I am bringing it up right now is the drafting of Deuce Vaughn by the Dallas Cowboys. We all saw the story when it hit because the Cowboys did have some, they always have cameras on Jerry and the microphone and the phone and they do their draft coverage on their social media quite well and have for a long time. So we saw Chris Vaughn is a long time scout for the Cowboys and his son Deuce was fallen in the draft and the Cowboys wound up drafting him. The lead up to that moment and then that moment itself. I'll tell you what, man, I've never in my 20 years of NFL Network and the six years, seven years of ESPN on top of that, 27 years of being around the NFL in some capacity, I've never once had Jerry Jones make me cry.

This moment has all the feels and it is unbelievable how they set it up and how this documentary unveils it and reveals it. I'm rooting for that kid, man. He's currently on the depth chart. They have three running backs on the depth chart in the fourth string position and he's behind Ronald Jones who's suspended. So I hope he makes it. I think he should, man. He is a play maker, Deuce Vaughn. Anybody who watched Kansas State football, you know. I watched a few plays this preseason, which made you go, this kid has a spot on the roster for sure.

And then, Rich, watching his dad make the call to him when he got drafted to ask his son if he wanted to come to work with him the next day. That was, oh, that was incredible, chill stuff, man. That's cool. Wait, wait, wait.

You see it in the in the documentary. It's pretty cool. And does, does Kansas State lead all time in having, you know, five foot seven and lower guys dominate, right? Marquise Noel in basketball. Obviously Daris Sproles. Sproles, Deuce Vaughn.

It's pretty sweet. But I guess that's the way of saying, like, if Pollard's healthy, I've never seen, I'll be straight up with everybody. I've never seen Rico Dowdle run a football once. Malik Davis and Deuce Vaughn and Ronald Jones when he comes back. I mean, one of them gets hurt.

You are, you are going to be hamstrung. Why wouldn't they even bring in someone like Leonard Fournette? I don't know. Who's still out there. Kareem Hunt's still out there. Kareem Hunt's still out there either. He seems a little Tony Power-dish.

Time's running out. That big bruiser. But Fournette could run downhill, right? Yeah, that's what I mean. Catch a few passes. Anyway, this documentary is on Friday night and Will Anderson being drafted is a significant part of it as well, because the first night, I mean, I, we were stunned when Arizona traded out and found out it was the Texans coming back to do it.

Although if I'm not mistaken, I think Daniel Jeremiah nailed that in his mock draft because he's DJ. I would say he usually... And him getting peed on by a puppy is part of this documentary as well. Oh, it's in there? It's a good moment. It's a good moment. Let's take a break when we come back.

Will Anderson himself, Alabama's Will Anderson Jr., now of the Houston Texans coming up next. Let's talk about AG1 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 with a bunch of products on top of it. So when you drink AG1, you notice an overall feeling of health.

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Subscription auto renews. All right. Let's show you a clip right here on the Roku Channel. Friday, NFL Draft. The pick is in. This is the moment in the documentary where Chris Ballard of the Colts is nervous as a cat, man, waiting to see if he's going to get Anthony Richardson and the cardinals in front of them make a trade. Check it out. They traded their pick.

Did you see that, Dad? There was a lot of tension when we got to the third pick and saw that Arizona made a trade. They're like, man, is this going to be somebody coming up to get a quarterback?

This one's the one that is lettuce or, let's just say. The Colts have been patient. We'll find out if it pays off. Arizona has traded their pick, Houston is now on the clock. Houston's 1-12 from Cleveland, 2-33, 20-24 first, 20-24 third, 4-0.

For 1-3 and 4-1-0-5. I got it. All right. Hey, we have a trade. Arizona. Major, major news, a big time trade. The Houston Texans are trading up to number three with the Arizona Cardinals. So the Houston Texans, who just shocked all of us and took CJ Stroud at two, are back up again. The Houston Texans have taken over this draft in Kansas City. Only the third pick in the 20-23 NFL Draft. The Houston Texans select Will Anderson Jr, linebacker, Alabama.

The pick is in on Friday night, right here on the Roku Channel. We just, back here on the Rich Eisen Show, just showed a snippet from the documentary I was just telling you about the NFL Draft the pick is in, a Roku original on the Roku Channel on Friday. And understandably, Chris Ballard of the Colts, the documentary was embedded with the Colts in their draft room, very excited when he heard that the Cardinals had traded the pick to the Texans. When initially he heard the Cardinals traded the pick, he's just like, oh God, somebody's about to take the quarterback I want. Then they found out it was Houston trading back up and they'd already taken a quarterback. He knew he was in the clear to get Anthony Richardson. But I'm just wondering if when it all comes down to it, will he be so happy when he sees Will Anderson Jr heading towards Anthony Richardson?

Because that's who the Texans went to go get. Fascinating moment that could be playing out for years to come and joining us on the Rich Eisen Show is Will Anderson. How are you, sir? Hey, I'm doing good. How are you doing?

I'm great. We just saw, you know, a behind the scenes moment of your drafting. How did it all play out for you on that draft night in Kansas City, Will?

Yeah, it was it was super cool, man, like for me, I was late to the news, like everybody else had already seen it, that they had traded the pick, whatever like that. And then, you know, it had traded late on the back and I said to get a phone call. It's all like, oh, they probably went with somebody else. And then they had said that Houston was on the clock and used to end up calling me. But I thought they were just calling in like, you know, hey, like we couldn't get you. But, you know, something like that. But then I've seen that they had like traded up. So it was exciting. Yeah.

I mean, I've done this a while, Will, and I don't recall a team choosing second overall and then trading back up to get the third overall pick. And I'm sure you just had to be stunned, right? Just like the rest of us. Yes, I was just as shocked as the rest of the world. So it was Demi, who was the one on the phone when you when you when you got the call? Demikos.

It was. What do you say to you? He's like walking through the Houston seconds and we're taking you and we're drafting you. And you know, obviously you've got a head coach with a defensive mindset, for sure. And so that had to make him a happy camper with him being the new head coach. What has he imbued you with? What has he told you? How are you taking his coaching so far?

Will? Yeah, I'm taking it great. He does a really good job of connecting with all his players, making sure that they're good, you know, checking up on them and everything like that. And, you know, just letting them know that just be you have all about the ball, chase the ball and stuff like that.

So it's been really exciting. You know, they get to play for Coach Demiko. He's a great head coach. He has a good job of just connecting with us. That's one thing I can really say about Coach Demiko. He knows the game.

He's played the game. So it's easy for him to understand, you know, what we're going through and how to help us. There was no Alabama talk in the initial conversation at all? Oh, of course.

You know, we had to get a road tied in before we. I knew there was something missing in this story, Will. I knew there was something missing because, I mean, that and that's got to be pretty cool for you, too, right? You've got that in common. Yes, sir.

Most definitely. So how has your transition from one level to the other been so far? It's been good. I think Alabama did a really good job of preparing us for this next level, you know, just making practice 10 times harder than you know what it is in the league, you know what I'm saying? So just how to practice. I think one thing that coach always talks about is practice like a pro and just being able to practice like a pro and be able to stay up off the ground and stuff like that and just work technique and work your hands and stuff like that, it's kind of been a really great transition. All right.

Hold on a second because I just picked something up there. Are you saying Alabama Crimson Tide practices are tougher or more strict or stringent than National Football League practices? 100 percent.

How so? Just like the intensity is the same, but I would just say as far as like the number of plays and reps and everything you get and I think it's just coach saving the way he wants to practice. You know, we do a lot of good on good periods and sometimes it's tackle and it's just physical.

You know what I'm saying? It's real physical and it's just, it's different and that's all I can say. Like you got to actually be in there to see it.

So have there been times during training camp or Houston Texans practices where you're like, oh, I got this because I had it, I had it like that in Alabama. Most definitely. Most definitely.

Huh? Okay. I mean, I guess the saving did get you ready or SEC football did get you ready or just college the way that things are run. What is then been the more difficult transition for you so far then, Will? Difficult?

I wouldn't say anything's been really difficult. I think like all the coaches and the players, they've been doing a really good job of setting the example for the younger guys and all the rookies, including myself on, you know, how to go about your day and just find a routine. I think the biggest thing has just been the routine just because, you know, in college you have a routine, you got school class tutoring, and now you just got all ball. You don't have to worry about class. So just trying to find a great routine for yourself.

How have you found one? Um, luckily I wake up early, so, but, um, like I said, like just watching the older guys and you know, the routine that they do, I'll probably like ask and stuff that they do or, you know, um, get with the nutritionist, get with the, you know, training staff coaches and watch, see how I can watch them doing this time when I can get treatment during this time. When can I eat this time? What time do you wake up in the morning? I wake up about five 30 every morning. Okay. And then what do you do at five 30? What do you got?

Five 30? Yeah. I just go through my normal routine, you know, I pray and everything like that. You're ready to head up to the facility. So you, you, have you, have you walked in and you're the first one in, has that happened yet?

No, no, no. It's a lot of great, it's a lot of great athletes and a lot of great people here that want to be great too. And I think we have a place like that where everybody's always in time, everybody's early and everybody, you know, is always at the facility early. I think that makes a really great team. What was your first pre-season action like, Will? It was good. It was fun, you know, just to go out there with the guys again and, you know, just to get to go out there and do what, you know, coaches been saying to just score, everybody gets to the ball and just be with the team again and be able to play under the lights again. It was really fun. And, um, you, you, you bagged a quarterback, didn't you?

Right? Did you, did you get, you got one? Who'd you get, Will?

Who'd you get? Miami. Okay. Okay. So did you get, did you, you didn't get two, all right, cause you don't do that to another Alabama guy. Right? No, no, no, no.

Okay. I was trying to see, did you get, did you get Skylar Thompson? Is that who you got? Did you bag him? I believe so. You sacked him up? I believe so. You bagged him up?

All right. What was that moment like for you? You know, it was surreal. You know what I'm saying? You know, um, I got to give a big credit to the rest of these guys because, you know, without them, you know, we all have to rush as one and they did a really good job, especially the interior guys did a push and, you know, penetration and stuff and knocking them off the path of the pulling guard to make me, you know, free up and go get a sack.

So it's all a work of effort up front, you know, it's for guys rushing to become one. So I was like, it's just a, you know, really great to have those guys in the room with you and keep building with that and, you know, you know, building that, uh, that D line chemistry that we all can eat. Right. And, and, and if two had thrown you the football, as opposed to your teammate, um, as he did to start the game, uh, would you have been tackled by two?

Well, no, it would have been a touchdown. Okay. I just want to understand.

I just want to make sure that's all straight. Will Anderson Jr. The Houston Texans right here on the Rich Eisen show. What can you share with me about CJ Stroud's readiness? Will? Yeah, he's been doing a really great job. You know, he's taking it one day at a time that he's going to chemistry with, um, with the offense, of course, the old line.

They look really great. Um, CJ is just a down to earth guy. He comes to work hard every day. You know, football means a lot to him. So, you know, I have no doubt that he's going to be ready. Um, and I'm super sad. I'm super happy, you know, to call him a teammate or brother and I'm a friend. So I'm excited for him. Well, I, and again, I, you know, obviously it's a quarterback driven league and you've been brought on to make sure that there's no quarterbacks driving against the Texans, but you two back to back, as we've established in this draft, CJ Stroud, will Anderson, the two of you are going to be a foundation. One would think for D'Amico Ryans and the Texans, if everything works out, do you have these conversations with CJ? Like literally verbalize it at all?

Will? Um, you know, sometimes we don't, we don't like really get into all that. I think the most thing is just having each other's back, knowing that we got each other and knowing that, you know, if he's ever going to something, I got him. If I'm ever going to something, he got me and we just keeping each other level headed, you know, through this process. You know what I'm saying?

And making sure that there's no pressure. And we both just go out there and have fun, making sure that we're doing what we do since we've been little kids. And I think those are just been the conversations. Who have you met throughout this process so far, whether it's from a, an OG from the Texans organization or anyone in Houston, you know, name drop for me that you've gotten a chance to chat with or meet to talk ball or just anything, Will, you got one?

Yeah. Me and JJ, we had a really nice conversation. You know, we talked a few times, you know, he's been great giving me advice, um, letting me know if I ever need anything, you know, just to reach out to him and, you know, we can watch film together and stuff like that.

So he's been one guy that's, you know, been very supportive and helpful. Now I need more information. Um, what, what did JJ tell you? Can you, can you let me in on that please?

JJ what? Yeah. He was just saying like, you know, just good luck with everything. He's happy that I'm here. Like I said, like if I ever needed help with anything that he's, that he's here for me, we'll be down soon.

So we can get some work in, watch film and, you know, cut up some stuff like that. Are you going to take him up on that or are you already having, well, when have you done it yet? Have you done it yet? No, not yet. Not yet. He hasn't been down here yet. Okay. He's in Paris.

I saw. He's totally retired. I mean, he's tapped out. He's done. Yes sir.

But he's locked in with you. That's pretty cool. That is pretty cool.

That is absolutely, um, exactly the definition of cool. How do you, uh, in just a few minutes left with you, Will Anderson of the Texans, how do you respond to people that, okay, the Texans drafted second overall for a reason last year and, um, you know, we could just overlook them. You know, we're talking, it's a Jaguars division, maybe the Titans.

We're talking about the cult so much because of what's going on with Jonathan Taylor and the Texans are kind of an afterthought. I'm not going to lie to you. How do you respond to that? Well, I mean, we can only control what we can control. We can't control what other people have to say about us. You know what I'm saying? And I think that's been like the biggest focus this year is just being, we're all we got.

We all we need, you know what I'm saying? Like we focusing on us. We're just gonna keep building our team chemistry, you know, keep, you know, getting the leaders in here, you know, getting the works up the park and everything like that and just building that team chemistry.

That's one of the biggest things is in there where the rest can't handle it. So before I now play, we're just focused on ourselves and not really worried about the outside noise, but we're just going to continue to keep building and being great. All right. Well, before I let you go, Will Anderson, let's visualize you and I together.

Okay. Let's visualize it's week one. You're in the locker room in Baltimore, Maryland.

You hear the crowd inside the M and T bank stadium going nuts. What's going through your mind at that point in time for your first professional football game? What do you got for me? What's happening? Um, honestly, probably just going out there and just being myself, you know what I'm saying? Like, don't overdo it, you know, I'm just saying, just been doing everything that you've been doing in training camp, leading up to this moment and everything that you've been doing, right.

You know what I'm saying? I think that's what's just going to be going through my mind and stuff like that, you know, not making it bigger than what it is and just making sure that I'm homing on my technique and my discipline. And those are really two biggest things, just being disciplined, not trying to go through too much. So it's going to be fun. I'm super excited to go out with the team. You know, I'm super ready to see, you know, let's go out in action for the first time, especially coach D'Amico.

As a head coach, he's been doing a great job, staff has been doing a really great job and the players, of course, we've been working our butts off. So just to be a part of this is a big blessing and I'm super happy and I don't take anything for granted. All right. And then you're out there.

You're out there. You make your move. You make a move. Whatever your, what's your favorite move? Give me a favorite move. What do you got? I can't tell y'all my secrets, man.

I can't tell y'all my secrets. All right. So let's just, all right, so let's just make you make a Will Anderson move that caused you to be the third overall pick Texans went to go get you and, you know, make this move and standing right there is Lamar Jackson.

And the only thing between you and Lamar is grass. What happens then? Well, what happens? You got to go take the up field shoulder and make the play, man. Just do what I'm coach you do, take the up field shoulder and make the play. Make the play.

All right. Cause you know, this is Lamar's big day. He's got that bag now. He's got the bag, but you're there.

Just nothing between you and him, but grass. You go make the play is what you're saying. Yes, sir. Okay. Did that help? Did that visualization help at all for you?

Yes, it did. I was looking at it in my head. Okay. That's it.

You think of me when you make that play. I know. There you go. You know what?

In the middle of your first big play, you just go, Hey, I want to give a shout out to Rich Ivan. I'm going to do that. Okay. Yes, sir. Okay. Let's do that.

This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Well, thanks for the time. Again. I appreciate you coming on. Congrats on all your success to this point and can't wait to see, uh, that first game in Baltimore.

That'll be fun. Yes, sir. You take care of yourself. Thanks for the call, Will. You be well. Thank you.

No problem. You bet. That's Will Anderson Jr.

It's him versus Lamar. Let's go. Put up their schedule. Let's talk Houston Texans football.

Is he off the phone? Stop it. Stop it.

Brock Mcmahon. What? Don't be that guy. You don't have to be that guy. Don't be that guy. I'm trying to be honest, Rich.

I understand you can be honest, but here you go. First up, Will Anderson. You don't even know what I was going to say. Hold on a minute.

I know what you're saying. This is insignificant, but the reason why I'm doing this, Will Anderson versus Lamar. Will Anderson's first home game is against the quarterback that was taken right after him.

That's fun. That the Colts were celebrating the fact that the Texans were, they didn't care who the Texans were coming up to get. It just wasn't going to be another quarterback that they wanted. I smell a what's more likely that week. Then he's trying to take down Trevor Lawrence.

Week four, Kenny Pickett best not fakeslide because Will Anderson's going to come get it. Is that in the NFL? You can't. I know they banned that.

College kid. I think you're getting my point. This is what is happening. Week eight.

Look at week eight. His old teammate, his buddy. Bryce Young. He's going to try and bag him up. I think he's going to get a couple.

Joe Burrows in front of him. Week 10. Is Kyler back week 11?

Oh, for sure. And then a second crack at Trevor. Then is Russ.

Oh, my God. The Jets offensive line better be buttoned up. Aaron Rodgers, Tannehill, Deshaun Watson, Tannehill again, and Anthony Richardson again. He's going to be, he's got his work cut out.

Those are some serious QBs he's going to be trying to take down. And that's what I was trying to talk about with the Texan schedule, Chris. Oh, I thought you were going to win the lost game. No, no. And again, sometimes just let me play it out before you try and go in that default. But I didn't even say anything. You just I mean, I was T.J., I always turn to you as the voice of reason.

Yes, of course. You know what he was going to say as a betting man. I would bet that, you know, I thought I knew where he was going. Oh, I thought it's a betting man. Like what's what's the on your little gambling site? What is it? Four, four, five over and over and total. Yeah. What is it?

Texas? Little gambling. My guess is probably like four and a half.

What do you got? And loading five, five and a half. Six and a half. Well, look at him going to register on six and a half. That's a little shocking.

I got to be honest. I looked at that schedule and I saw five at most. Dude, they got two of the best college players of the last two, three years. Period.

End of story. Will Anderson was discussed as a first overall selection two years ago. He was in the Heisman running. Right. Correct. And C.J.

Stroud, you know, take away the games against Michigan and he's dynamite. Oh, boy. This guy. Oh, boy. Endorphins are flying, guys.

The endorphins are flying. He was the best player on the field against Georgia. C.J. Stroud was dynamite.

He almost had him in the national championship. I know. I get it.

And they probably would have had a better game against TCU than my school. All right. You don't have to say is what I'm saying is the ultimate headline of this entire conversation since we hung up with Will Anderson.

You think six and a half is good? You're going over. Oh, I don't know. I don't do these things. You know, I don't do these things. You do those things. I don't do these things. He doesn't understand these things. Oh, my gosh. I just heard that some of the best words in my ear from Mike Hoskins, our coordinating producer.

When you go to break, tease Salty Tua. Oh. And if I had to guess, if I had to guess, it's based on the he threw the first pass of the preseason game directly to the Texans. And then made a tackle and threw his friggin head into the tackle. Come on. I don't know about you, but that looked like money. Can we not do that?

Can we not do that? It didn't look like money. It didn't look like money. I if I had to guess it, somebody asked him about that. Oh. And then and then. Well, we'll see if I'm right.

I don't know. Now I can't wait. I'm just calling my shot. Now I can't wait. Bottom line, Salty Tua. Oh, baby.

We're going to report our three that's all coming up right here on The Rich Eisen Show. 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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So switch to another podcast app and follow this show there, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. What's the most pissed off you made Nick Saban ever? Oh, when I took the sack second at 26 in a national championship. You mean the one that you immediately made up for with an amazing play that puts you on the map? Yeah. That sack? Yeah.

Okay. So walk me through what he said to you, if you can, in a certain way on a live radio TV broadcast. I mean, I could only see it on camera, you know, how mad he was. That was probably the most pissed off though I think he's ever been.

I mean, he was squeezing his head set so hard and then, you know, like it was hard because the emotion was like, so mad to so happy, you know, so fast for him. And, you know, we got into the locker room when everything settled down. I mean, he was still the same coach, you know, put me to the side, like, what were you thinking, you know? After you won the game and you pick in confetti out of your hair, he still took a moment to revisit that sack. Being who he is, I mean, you know, he put me to the side, he said, you know, well, why did you take the sack?

Right. You know, and I thought it was a good time to joke with him, you know, so I, I mean, we won the national championship, so I told him, I told him, well, you know, we needed more room to throw the ball coach, you know, and like, he looked at me and like, I was laughing. He's like, that's not funny. So, I mean, I didn't know what else to do in that situation. I was like, okay, I'm sorry coach, so I shook his hand and he just moved on. I was like, oh man, that's amazing. I love that story, man made my favorite story the whole week. So you just figured, yeah, hey, I was like, oh, maybe, yeah, that was a good time to joke, but it wasn't. Nope.

It's never a good time, I guess, in that respect. And three months later, he was a Miami dolphin. I was at the Super Bowl in Miami back in the day, back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Ian Rappaport will join us in 15 minutes time, top of hour number three on the show. What is going on with Jonathan Taylor and the Colts and who could the trading partners possibly be for him? We talked about Miami earlier today, a lot of folks, when we had Breer on yesterday, he was at the Indianapolis scrimmage with Philadelphia and he mentioned the Dolphins and the Bears.

A lot of people are saying, those are the teams with cap potential desire to go get him. And the running room there is very former 49er heavy, Raheem Mostert, right? And Jeff Wilson Jr. are currently on the top two of their death journey. But really, it's the passing game there that makes things go.

Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle. And then of course, it's the man behind center, front and center, Tua Tungovailoa. And we've said multiple times here on the show, just to repeat it again, the best Tua is salty Tua, showing that he's got a salty side to him, a competitive edge to him.

And this is salty Tua. I had no idea Ryan Clark said this on ESPN, the reigning, by the way, best studio analyst. Emmy. Yeah. He's got an Emmy.

And Ryan Clark. What did he say? Said on ESPN, quote, of Tua, he wasn't in the gym, I'll bet you that. He might've spent a lot of time at the tattoo parlor. Oh, geez. But he wasn't at the dinner table eating with a nutritionist.

Uh-oh. Did he just call Tua fat? Because that was on Hard Knocks last night. Mike Williams called Quinnen Williams fat. Mike Evans called Quinnen Williams fat. And that was kind of weird.

Doesn't sound like a compliment. This was brought to Tua's attention. Oh boy. Tua baby. Day. Yeah. I don't know about you, but that looked like money. It's Salty Tua. He had some criticism about you saying that you didn't hit the gym in the off season.

You didn't follow nutritionist's advice. Yeah. If he were here, what would you say to him? I mean, he probably knows more about me than I know about myself. I mean, I don't know.

I mean, Ryan's been out the league for some time, so I don't know. It's a little weird when other people are talking about other people and they're not that person. So I know it's just a little weird. I come back.

I like my background is like I come from a Samoan family, like respect is everything. But you know, it does get to a point where, hey, you know, little easy on that, buddy, because, you know, we I think we're pretty tough minded people. And if we need to get scrappy, we can get scrappy, too.

Just saying. How hard did you work in the off season? I mean, I think we all worked hard throughout the off season, and I'm not someone to talk about myself the entire time, but I mean, it takes a lot. You think you think I wanted to to build all this muscle? Like not to some extent, like I wanted to you know, I wanted to be a little lighter.

There's I know there's a mixture of things that people don't understand that people don't know about that are talked about that go behind the scenes. So, you know, I'd appreciate if you kept my name out your mouth. That's what I'd say.

I don't know about you, but that was like money. All right. Wow. Okay. Now hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. He's getting there. You're too close to him.

You're still too nice. Got to be yourself. I get it. He's got to be himself. He is who he is. It's his upbringing.

I totally get it. Respect. All that. The nice.

I mean, like his initial answer. He's like, he's been out of the league a long time, which is I feel, yeah, he's like, look at the line, he called you fat, okay? He's body shaming tour. Is that a, is that a, is that a good fantasy team name? Body shaming tour?

Positive. By the way, that was the worst back in my day. Worst ESPN two workout show. Body shaming tour.

It's terrible. Body shaping. Thanks, Mike. Geez, Mike. And that was the, yeah, yep. We know what he meant. Just Mike, just be quiet.

Just Google Denise Austin or his or her daughter and just be quiet. The priest is key on the Tom and to, he's body shaming you. All right. And I, I liked the whole, you know, I don't, you know, Ryan's been out of the league for some time. Like I thought we were just, we're getting there that go from that. Let's edit together.

Ryan's been out of the league for some time. I appreciate if you kept my name out of your mouth, that's what I'd say and get rid of all the other stuff. All the niceness. Yeah. You talked about building muscle. Whatever. I don't know. Whatever.

I was trying to get a little lighter. Nobody cares. Whatever. Tell them to shut up. Yeah.

Ryan's been out of the league for a while. I appreciate it if you kept my name out of my mouth, my name out of your mouth, that's what I'd say and leave it at that. So I'm after this conversation, a little hesitant to talk about his diet, more salt, more salt, more salt. Won't that make him believe it?

I know that it changes who he is and the guy that he is and his DNA and all of that stuff. Your body's shamed too. What's up? What's up with that? What are we doing?

Again, I don't know the context. You know? Oh man. And by the way, week one at Justin Herbert's house. I mean the two guys who are attached back to back at the draft forevermore. Herbert with MVP talk, Tua had some MVP weeks last year and he did.

He did. Let's go. Week one, two weeks from Sunday, just up the road, Chargers hosting Tua. Let's go. And if I'm Mike McDaniel and I need a light of fire under my quarterback, I'll say, get out there fat ass. Wow. Come on.

Wow. Tua led the NFL in passer rating and yards per attempt last year. Dude, he was really, really good. The guy that Mike McDaniel, the guy that Mike McDaniel FaceTimed with after he got the gig. You know that famous video of him on the PJ saying, and everyone thought, well, he's gone.

Mike's going to get rid of him. Nope. Nah, quick passing game. Boom, boom. Let's go. Let's go.

Their quick game does not suck. Stay upright. That's it.

And just envision when, you know, you want to beat your opponent. Just imagine. That's Ryan Clark's face. Let's see. Fantastic.

Well done, Mike Hoskins. This is what I'm, this is my message for you Tua. Do this. This, this. I don't know about you, but that looked like money. It's Salty Tua. He had some criticism about you saying that you didn't hit the gym in the off season.

You didn't follow nutritionist's advice. Yeah. If he were here, what would you say to him? I mean, he probably knows more about me than I know about myself.

I mean, I don't know. Ryan's been out the league for some time, so I'd appreciate if you kept my name out your mouth. That's what I'd say.

I don't know about you, but that looked like money. Ryan. Salty Tua.

Salty Tua. Tighter. That's nice. Wouldn't that be better? Economy of words. Economy of words. Less is more. Less is more. Tight. Like.

Except. More salt is not less. More salt is more. So much salt.

You're welcome Tua. Just trying to be helpful. Ian Rappaport coming up. Right? Right. Wouldn't that be better? Better. Great job Mike Hoskins.

Speaking of better. We got Bowie in there, and Monaco, right? We got three guys out there. Getting it done. It's a man room. Rich, you're on clock.

Got to get some ventilation in there. You're on the clock if you want to make a pick. I'll do it. Oh, there we go.

Doing it right now. Let's see if he's still there. I will hit refresh. And go to my queue. He's still there. You still have seven and a half hours. I did it. So there's no rush.

Yeah, that's true. Oh, who'd you take? I took Mostert. Raheem Mostert.

Just keeping the whole... That's a need pick and a content pick. Well done. Because we're talking dolphins. You want to see if Max is in a meeting? I'll find out in four minutes from Ian Rappaport if Mostert's going to be a colt or a second stringer. He could be a colt starting running back here. I don't know. In a couple days.

Mostert looks like money. I just saw a picture on Instagram that had Jonathan Taylor in the starting lineup of the Cowboys with Dak and Tony Pollard. Now you're in.

And now, guys, I've got to be honest, I wish I hadn't seen it because my heart started to flutter a little bit. Do you remember the photo when Zeke got drafted that somebody put together? It was him, Witten, Dez, and Romo. Was Romo still there?

When he got drafted? Yeah. Yeah. Somebody put him in that Photoshop. Man. You just got to wait for that. No, I wouldn't.

I needed to. For over three decades, nobody has had a wrestling career like Arn Anderson. Conrad Thompson gets all the stories with Arn. After watching AEW's Double or Nothing, Amy wants to know, what's this dinosaur taste like? It ain't chicken. It's like biting into a scented charcoal briquette. But chewy. Oh, wow. That's disgusting. It sure is. And check out Arn every week, wherever you listen.