RE Show: George Pickens - Hour 1

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Broncos Country, let's rock! Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

I've been pleased with his progress and where he's at. Final assessment from you here Kurt Warner, let's get it on Russell Wilson. The Rich Eisen Show.

Can Russell either take that jump to become a better pocket passer, or does Sean have to adjust the system to get back to who Russell Wilson is? Today's guest, Steelers wide receiver George Pickens, hosts a mussin' with the boys, Will Compton and Taylor Luong, ESPN senior writer Don Van Natta Jr. And now, Rich Eisen. That's right, that's right.

Can confirm and there I am. Hey, boy do I love doing this show every day and one of the many reasons why is because we are, we are afforded the opportunity with all of our partners to talk to people that interest us and put us all over the map. And I can't imagine any more far bookends on a guest list than the guys who are bussin' with the boys and Don Van Natta. I mean Taylor Luong and Will Compton at once in hour number two and then Don Van Natta, the what would say Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter of note for the now the former great lady of New York Times and now the worldwide leader in sports all together. Look, all I'm saying, Rich, I've seen Don at the beer Olympics.

That's all I'm saying. Don Van Natta, would he survive at the beer Olympics or Compton and Luong trying to go deep dive with the NFL ownership? Like tell us what's going on with, yeah, five thousand words on Dan Snider, go.

Who would be able to cross those streams? Well, we'll ask, maybe we'll do quarter bounce with Don Van Natta and Can we shotgun in the break with Don Van Natta? And then, and then first up, George Pickens, baby, George Pickens. Oh, let's go.

Yeah. Must must have in fantasy this year. And then and then words that Chris Brockman, you just said to start this program during the during the open, during the open of this program, words that I love hearing. Fill in the blank just changed his Twitter bio. And then the word is fill in the blank is Joel Embiid. So let's keep let's stay on that. Let's stay out there.

Put a pin in that because TJ Jefferson might need some time. I remember his name is troll. It's in his bio.

It's in his name. But these are all things to you. These are all things moving. They're moving. They're shaking.

That's what's happening here on this. We got a game tonight. Oh, we got a game tonight. Got a football game tonight. Browns and Eagles this evening.

Hey, shout out to my boy. Super Bowl preview. Super Bowl preview.

Look at you. Game tonight on I believe it's on my net. Yeah. NFL Mets. 730 Eastern.

All right. And just want to say this on behalf of everybody who works NFL Network. OK. And then I felt plus NFL Media Group folks. If you are turning on NFL Network in Cleveland, you're turning on NFL Network in Philadelphia. You're not going to get the game on NFL Network. Look locally to the local TV listings. Do you know how many people were lighting up my friends and colleagues at NFL Network last week when Trey Lance was starting for the Philadelphia for the San Francisco 49ers against the Las Vegas Raiders, and it was blacked out on NFL Network here in Los Angeles. And I'll tell you what, I know there's a lot of you folks out here in the TV business. They were calling us up complaining. It's called KTLA in Los Angeles.

You've got it on Pico Boulevard. OK. And then on top of it, the Raiders, by the way, it's a local market here. We're a local market for the Raiders.

Yeah, that's true. We are. We are. All right.

I've gotten off my soapbox. So tonight, Cleveland and Philadelphia local. We'll see who live local late breaking in Cleveland and Philadelphia nationally on NFL Network at 730 p.m. Eastern time here end of the lesson. Good to see over there, Jay Felley. How are you?

Good to see you. As a matter of fact, we should tell Del Tufo. He must be up in Pico Boulevard right now, right? I assume so. He's either working at FS on Fox. Who knows?

And slagging on his FS1 colleagues or waiting for a refrigerator to be delivered his place. I don't know what it is. That's accurate. Wow. So here's how we're going to start this program. In honor of our first guest joining us and now 15 minutes time. We're going to make one handy catches. Yeah, we could do that. We could do that.

Appreciate you finishing my sentences for me. Sing the Georgia fight song. So we could do that.

George Pickens is joining us from the Pittsburgh Steelers. I have a top five list. I'll start with a list.

It's one of those. It's that time of year filled with lists and fantasy drafts and things of that nature. I have a top five list. Top five second year players. In other words, they were rookies last year. Oh, okay. Top five second year players ready to take the next step in 2023 headed.

NFL Films Music, please. For my juices to get flowing here. Number five on this list. Yeah. Yeah. There's some there's some haters for this guy. I'm looking at one of them. I'm putting Brock Purdy on this list.

He is going to take the next step. I you know, you know, what's the dumbest statistic? Of all of training camp is interceptions in scrimmages. What? Yeah. Dumb stat. It's a dumb stat.

It's a dumb stat because these guys are working on things. This is where you're going to try and hit that window is when you're going to try. If you're Brock Purdy with some sort of surgically repaired arm to try and air it out. Now, you're not doing it against the Pittsburgh Steelers in week one. You're going to do it now.

You're going to take your shots. You're going to try and fit it in windows that you wouldn't even attempt to do in Pittsburgh because you've got neck up ability like this kid. He's got the opportunity to start week one. He has the full faith and credit of his coach in the entire locker room. Brock Purdy is going to start for the San Francisco 49ers and this team is going to prove out and so will this kid. He's going to take the next step from that wide-eyed guy who looks like when he's showing a work with his backpack like he's walking on the quad. No, he's going to be a grown-ass starting quarterback. Man for the San Francisco 49ers this year number four on this list. I think he's going to take the coaching.

Well, maybe he is having a mud hole stomped in him right now by his offensive coordinator. I think he's going to take it. Well last year this kid had seven touchdowns despite having only 35 catches and 523 yards. I say Jahan Dotson of the Washington commanders is going to take some next steps this year. I like him. You've seen him already in some of these scrimmages and practices.

You've seen Jahan Dotson is going to have some opportunities with Terry McLaurin. Potentially getting a little bit more attention and this kid is going to ball out I think seven touchdowns last year for him. 35 catches, 523 yards, seven touchdowns in 12 games.

What if he plays the full? Number three on this list. A thousand yard receiving season for him as a rookie. Just near four touchdowns with 72 catches and that was with the mishmash at quarterback he was dealing with. Chris Olave is going to have a big season this year, I believe. And Derek Carr is going to find him.

And let's hope Can't Guard Mike is going to get out there and be healthy and draw some attention that Chris Olave will take advantage of. I like it. That's a second year player getting set to take the lead in 2023.

Number two. I'm going to pull a TJ Jefferson. It's a combo. It's a combo platter.

It's a combo platter with some Heinz ketchup on the side. You can be aqua sure. The Pickett Pickens combination is about to take that next step. I like your style.

2023. I approve this message. I think Kenny Pickett to George Pickens is going to be the pick to click in Pittsburgh, PA.

Very alliterative and a very productive combination getting set to show everybody Pickens and Pickens full years coming out of the box. And by the way, against the 49ers, how good is that week one game going to be? It's a bird thing sneaky San Francisco with Pittsburgh sneaky. Oh, baby. Give me the Steelers. Okay.

Oh, all right. Look at you. So you will you like that number two pick right there? I think Kenny Pickett is awesome. I love that pick. Here we go.

Number one on this list. Call me a Homer. I don't care.

I don't care. This kid had me at hello. He had me at hello when he wasn't even supposed to be that guy. Then he became that guy. He became that guy and took his team and showed them the way when he had the opportunity to be that guy in college. Then the coach had a man crush on him when he first saw him at the combine. And then he had a very nice rookie season for a team that everybody thinks is going to take the next step.

Aidan Hutchinson is number one on this list. I think he is going to show up dangerous on the first night in Kansas City. I'm not saying he's going to win. He's going to have multiple sacks of Patrick Mahomes. I think he's going to make his night more difficult than Chiefs fans think. And then he's going to just take off from there and lead the Lions defensively.

We're all talking about the Lions being the team because of what they can do on offense. I'm believing in Aidan Hutchinson because he's got that it factor. He is number one on this list of the second year players ready to take the next step in 2023. We need one more. All right, we'll get one more.

Let's do one more. A lot of folks did not see him coming last year. When he got out there, boy, did the fans love watching him play big time. And this year, a lot of folks think you won't see much of him.

But I think he is going to be the guy who a lot of fans will be chanting for a lot to get out there and show what he can do. Zappi is on this list right here. It's Zappi time. Bailey Zappi is going to take that next leap for the New England Patriots.

When they turn to him and fans start chanting Zappi, Zappi, Zappi. He's not going to start a single game this year. All right. Come on, guys.

All right. This joke has run its course. Here's the here's here's the one. Here's the one more one more. I thought it was going to be Einstein to be honest.

Here's the one more is that this guy burst on the scene last year and we could not get enough of him and he was all over your television set. In fact, it is Einstein getting ready to take the next step. Brilliant. He's going to have a new data plan. I'm just going to say flat out to the camera to the people who can make this happen. Don't two of the people who can make this happen and just call up. Call him up, call up Paul Giamatti and say, of course, you want another seven figures for dressing up like Einstein, don't you? And he'll say yes, and we need to see him again. It'll be great. He's ready to take the next step.

New data plan, new phone. Who did? Let's go. Wow. That's my list.

It's a pretty good list. I don't know. Maybe Zappi can push Mac in the in the in the in the quarterback room.

I don't know. The only way Zappi plays is if Matt gets hurt. No, as if week 18 playoffs are already locked up and Zappi starts.

He's not starting this year. Come on, guys. But what did you think of the list? Otherwise, you don't know. New joke. I find the joke funny. I like it. Thank you.

I appreciate that. I thought you were going to have Garrett Wilson on there, but no, I can't. I mean, Garrett and sauce, one rookie of the year, you know, the next leap is, you know, in that Justin Jefferson chase, Tyreek class, I guess. Although moments before we went on the air, Aaron Rodgers, it was tweeted, had much time in the pocket and found Randall Cobb on a beautiful, deep throw.

So this just in the Jets offensive line can, in fact, was it against like the video that got posted yesterday? Aaron Rodgers. OK, how about Christian Watson? He's another one that could have been on that list.

That's true. He had a great time. Romeo Dobbs as well. I mean, all touchdown yesterday against New England.

Can only have five. And I just think Pickens. And that's not just because he's about to call into the show is just he's ready with Pickett and Pickens together. Yeah, I mean, that would be a heck of a draft for the Pittsburgh Steelers as you're looking for who is going to be the next quarterback there for a long time. And the kid was in their backyard and they drafted them.

And then who could be the next the Pittsburgh Steelers who don't get credit for always drafting terrific wide receivers until they start out until they start proving out. And it's just like they're all higher register, like, hey, did you see the Steelers hit on another one? It's like, yeah, that's what they do. They never miss. That's what they do. Did you see the catch that was circulating yesterday that Darnell Washington made?

Yes. TJ, that one hander. And he said he said he's getting more opportunities to catch footballs than he's ever had. He's 290. And he's George's college teammate. So that's how we're rolling. 844-204 Rich is the number to dial right here on the Rich Eisen Show. When we come back, one of the most highly touted second year players, George Pickens of the Pittsburgh Steelers is calling into this show. That's next.

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Subscription auto renews. All right. No, I don't believe the Rogers to Cobb throw was on air. It was not on air. They were all on air anyway. I mean, did you see Micah Parsons swinging up in Oxnard? Were they fighting?

I had his own teammates. That's what happens. Is it me or it just seems to be more fights than ever. Is it more fights than ever?

Because we're not if there were if there were camera phone, if there were camera phones in like the 70s, you think Deacon Jones wasn't beating somebody up every single day in training camp? Come on. That's probably true. Probably true. Like, come on.

Didn't Deacon tell us once when he on the show that he used to, they used to take the screws out of the helmets that would go into the helmets and put them outside out. So when somebody head slap, it would hit their hand. Yeah.

Cause her hand to bleed. Yeah. Yeah.

Come on. We just have more access to everything in this world now. So that's why.

Is that what it is? And you just feel like the world's closing in on you because you're seeing every bad act, every bad actor from every corner of the planet Earth is all now being. But you're also seeing more great dog videos. Yeah, true. And cats like our new sponsor, new affiliate. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's true. That's coming, right?

We got that coming up. Oh, I thought you meant when you said cats. I thought you were referring to the favorite cat treat of Japan. Oh, that too. I believe Otani Homer last night, speaking of Shohei Otani and all the advertisers that they have. There's no hitter into the eighth, huh?

Angels had a no hitter into the eighth on Texas. Oh, that is the sport. I no longer follow, right? Oh, there it is. It's churros. Japan's number one cat treat 500 for you guys. It's not 1996 anymore when the Yankees beat the Braves nuts.

Not 1999. It's not walking through that door back here on the Rich Eisen show. Eight four four two oh four rich number to dial here on the Rich Eisen show.

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Call click click Grainger.com or just simply stop by. I believe George Pickens is getting checked in as we speak. Nice. We got Tyler Lockett on tomorrow's program. Why just roll wide receiver show? We're rolling. We got the boys on their way to our studio.

How about them apples? They showing up in a bus? No, they're doing shows here.

I thought they were charged. They don't have their bus. They're out here doing shows. Well, they can't, but I'm not invited on the shows. Well, you don't want.

Well, no, you've made a stand. I've excuse me, just so I everyone can understand this in advance of Taylor, Lewan and Will Compton coming on this program. In about an hour from now is when we'll start talking at the Super Bowl, at the draft. I told we were set. I was going on their pod that when they're there, they just want me on the bus in Nashville. I would have zoomed in a long time ago. I would have done there. I would have done their show this week. I'd like to go to the bus to I wouldn't mind seeing it.

Yeah, they want me on the bus. I have to be on the bus to check these boxes and get Jack McPherson, their social media man, his Chevy Silverado. Is Jack still posting daily photos? He is that. How has he not run out yet? Um, because Rich has been a celebrity for 25 plus years. The amount of images out there of this man. He did respond to the tweet you posted last night with.

It's a sick world we live in. I've just been told that George Pickens has to push about eight more minutes. So he'll be on. He'll be on. He'll be on shortly. So what did Joe LMB do? What happened with him?

We might as well hit that right now. I just saw it. Apparently he took Philadelphia out of his bio on Twitter. Why? I explained that to you earlier. What's up with that? The man's a troll. That's what he does. Look at his name. That says it all right. What's the point? Who's he trolling?

Everybody who's going to start talking about this right now. There are rumors that he is, you know, Houston would look to acquire him. Right. Other teams would be interested. Every team that plays basketball would be. I'm sure Miami wouldn't mind having him. Do you know what the I don't know what that Sixers are going to do with Harden. I don't know what the Sixers are going to do. Well, Ramona said that he's going to make it even worse.

I got it as the days go on. I don't know what they're going to do. On offense and defense with Nick Nurse, I don't know. There's one thing I do know. The Philadelphia 76ers are not doing anything with Joel Embiid except welcoming him to training camp, right, giving him his uniform and say, go play basketball for us.

That is what Dallimore is going to do. Come on, man. That's what I'm saying. Get out of here. But meanwhile, Harden, I got you know, I get I get I get emails all the time from PR people, you know, nonstop.

I guess my my my show address must be somewhere. I don't know, but I'm getting all that. And I guess like, hey, it's like coffee month.

Would you want to have somebody on to talk about? Like it's you get we get I get all the time. Seriously, I get pitched all the time on stuff that clearly does not fit right on our show.

I got an email today. James Harden, you know what else he's doing over in China? He's pitching his wine wine. I did see selling all types of wine like he's Gary V. Somebody bought like 10,000 bottles or something. A Japanese Chinese influencer. Yeah.

Ten. He sold 16,000 bottles. But in all honesty, it did seem to me. With the soundbite we heard the other day, if you won't mind teeing it up one more time here as we wait for George Pickens, Mike Hoskins, it sure sounded like. James Harden was on corking a heck of a lot of wine. Is it vintage? You tell me if this doesn't sound like he's vintage wining.

Go forward. Did he? Did people have to translate that for all the folks that were there for his event? Just to get a look at him. Let me say it again. Let me say, you know, I'm serious. Yeah, let me say it again.

Like he's given a TED talk. So what's worse? What's going to be worse than him going to China and and telling everybody who needs a translation that I'm I will never play for the Philadelphia 76 is again. You said what's worse? Yeah.

Well that or is there something to compare it to? What's going to he says that Ramona says he's it's going to get worse. Yeah, he's going to make it worse.

Like what? More uncomfortable. How uncomfortable is he going to gain 20 pounds and then show up with his phone in his sweatpants like Ben Simmons did last year? Because that was weird because that was weird.

Unbelievable and yet somewhat. But why would he show up out of shape? Because the Clippers are going to want him in shape.

Right. And if he really wants out, OK, if he wants out, he has totally destroyed the value. Yes, that the Sixers can get back. He's totally destroyed it.

They're not trading him. James Harden was actually awesome last year. He led the league in assists. He was a 20 and 10 and went six rebound guy. He did what everyone thought he couldn't do was play this role. Be the distributor, not the number one guy deferred and bead while he won MVP. He was a great player last year, but Chris was awesome in the playoffs actually for the first time.

A couple of games, a couple of games. Chris, he was the reason Philly had a three, two lead in that series against Boston. But then he did what everybody, like you said, knew he was going to do, which is at the biggest stages of the playoffs, somehow find a way to disappear. But he got him there. He got them there and got them there. Harden was awesome in that in the Celtic series or in the games that they won. Yeah, I don't know. Look it up. I thought he had a good year. Last year had the first game, the game one where MB didn't play and he went off for 40 points. But you know, first of all, you show your hand when you say I only want to go to this one place, right? The total just ruined.

It's a terrible strategy. Sixteen thousand bottles of wine. Must be good. Sixteen thousand bottles of wine on the Great Wall of China. Sixteen thousand bottles of wine. If one of them should happen to fall. Fifteen thousand nine hundred ninety nine thousand bottles of bottles of J.

Harden wine on the Great Wall. Is that the way it is? Is that how it works? Yeah, man. I mean, I don't feel this way, but Twitter was having its fun yesterday. Who looks bigger, Harden or Zeke right now? Dude, Zeke ran on the field? Baggy shirt. He looked good. Okay.

I'm incredibly proud of what we accomplished in our first year of J. Harden wine, starting with massive success in the US and now expanding worldwide, said Harden. I will never play for a Daryl Morey winery ever again. I don't want any grapes from the Morey Vineyard. Oh, hey, wait a minute. Do you know where he's going to visit with his United States fans on Thursday?

Next Thursday from six to six to eight, where maybe Shams will show up with his camera phone and we'll hear if he wants to say something about Daryl Morey again. And Houston? Oh, yeah. His first love, Houston. Houston's total wine and more, but definitely not Morey.

Total wine and Morey, everybody. When is that? TJ, you want to go and be our correspondent?

You want to do a site survey? Should we get Jimmy driving? How far is San Antonio to Houston? Oh, I think that's kind of far. Texas is so big. I'm aware of that.

I mean, that's only three hours. It's available in a California Cabernet, Red Blend and Prosecco. Oh, yeah.

So there you have it. Maybe he could be the official Prosecco of when Suzy hosts and we can make our mimosas. Hey, listen, you let's take that up with Suze. I don't, although I don't, she doesn't like, she doesn't like people who whine and complain. She doesn't like it. She doesn't like it.

Show up out of shape. She doesn't, absolutely. She doesn't, she doesn't, she doesn't appreciate it. You know, you guys think that she's not putting, I mean, she's not putting that person's Prosecco in your, in your cup, in our glass, in our glasses. In our flute.

In our flute. You think the main problem with Harlan and Darryl is the fact that he signed that deal for 35, thinking he was going to get an extension. What's the lie? What's the lie?

What's the lie? Well, he was probably told he would, and then he got on the court. And even though he didn't play well, you realize he's 34, you're not going to give him a contract that size.

So I'm sure he was, he thought he was promised this extension. That's why you got to get it on paper. Always.

I think you can't just do handshaking. Yeah, I think, I know what you're going to say. The demand of being, I'm going to opt out. You're going to sign me to a long-term deal. Oh no, or I'm opting in. And then he's like, I'm opting in now.

Now trade me. I bet you the opt-in, because when he opted in, my first thought, I just saw the headline on the stack, right? When he opted in, my thought was, oh, okay. So he did like playing with Embiid and Nick Nurse is going to be the new coach. It was just Doc. He needed a different voice.

I don't know. Then I saw, I opened the article and the article was, oh, he's, he intends to get out. He's done this to get out.

And I'm sure it was, it wasn't an immediate. He's opting in and he's going to be a clipper. And it was just like, okay, I even came to you on the show and I'm like, hey man, that's a win-win for you. You know, your team gets rid of somebody who doesn't want to be there. And your other team that you root for out of the 11.

See, here you go. That you, you get to have him here. And by the way, we're assuming Kawhi is going to be there, and Paul George will be there, and Russ will be there. But you know, you know, they asked for a man back. You know, the six, wouldn't you? If you're Daryl Morey, who do you ask? Who do you ask from the Clippers?

It's got to start with T-Man. Everybody, you know, you're probably, he probably asked for Paul George to be honest. Nah, that didn't happen. I mean, you have to ask.

You have to ask. So I'm talking with you even before that, at the beginning of last season, remember he signed the deal. He declined money to give them more flexibility. The Sixers went out and signed PJ Tucker. I feel he thought that he was going to get rewarded for that.

And I'm sure he was told, Chris, that, you know, you take this pay cut much like Aaron Rodgers, we're going to give you a new one, and that didn't happen. So I think that probably is what he means by the liar comment. I guess. Such a weird situation. In the meantime, he's on foreign soil selling shoes and wine.

Nice. And eating honey buns. And having, do you think he takes, he ships those out or do they have sound bites of the summer, translated into multiple languages to confuse fans? Why is James so angry? And again, like I said yesterday, Daryl Morey had some problems in China.

Harden does this in China. Was this calculated? Great move by the PR folks there to send me that email. Hey, does that mean I should send back this? Can we get James? Does this mean I can get James? Yeah, I think that's the move.

And we'll take a case of wine. Yeah. Well, and also like, hey, man, I mean, congratulations on 16,000 bottles being sold in the country with a billion people in it.

I mean, what's that margin? Well, you put it that way. I think it was 16,000 in like 10 minutes, though.

Wasn't it pretty good? 1.4 billion people. How many of them have access to internet, though?

I don't think all of them. So let's take a break. We'll see if one guy by 10,000. Let's see if George gets out of his meeting. We're back here on the Rich Eisen Show. 844-204-rich number to dial right here on the show.

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Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. All right, we're back here. Yeah. Waiting on George Pickens and getting hammered on James Harden's wine. I'm in, let's go. Yeah. Waiting on George Pickens.

Is that the new, that's our new fantasy? We gotta pick our name soon. I've got a list of like 50. Okay.

What do you got? There's a lot. Windy's travel agent. So Windy's travel agent is based on Brian Windhorst flying to Paris for like five minutes, right? Akbar's Gambit. Akbar's Gambit. I don't know what that one was about. Oh, that was him. About the Derek Henry trade. Derek Henry. Still, by the way, not traded to the Eagles, but he say that the Gambit was all the way, he's allowed to get all the way to the trade deadline.

Did we give him all the way to the trade deadline? I don't know. You know what's not going to happen? That.

That's not going to happen. Breers tanning season. Breers tanning season. We're in it. Zach Wilson's DMs.

Let's slide on in. Motor City Poop Cart. Is that one of them? D.K. Metcalfe when he took the cart.

Oh, yeah, the Motor City Poop Cart. Upper Body Pump Friday. The Heavy Lift of Hope. I like that one. That's a good one for a fantasy team name.

Cheerleader with an AARP card. I don't know what that is. That's a long one. No, that's me. That's you.

Equally Dispensing Justice. An AARP card, by the way. And number two.

Britney Stans on Threads. You get one when you're 50. It's not like I asked for one. Pierce Brosnan's Sliders. What is that?

I think that was when Adam Devine was here. Actually, this one is great. Elbowing out Gilbrant. Michael Jackson's Toilet Water Glove. What?

Michael Jackson's Toilet Glove. Are we going to that Cowboys party? Has that already happened? At Nobu? Yeah.

In Malibu? I don't know. I thought you were making calls for us.

They're not still here, are they? Yeah, I'm not making, I haven't made a single call. Come on, Rich.

Sorry. Waiting on George Pickens, everybody. We might have to do this another day. Waiting for tonight. You know what we're also doing? Is doing a lot of waiting for a fantasy draft that we're in.

Joe LoTruleo is going to be on our show, the actor Joe LoTruleo, on Monday. He's a diehard Jet fan, like yours truly. Also, he is the commissioner of a fantasy league, the best ball league.

Why do they call it that? Best ball is because you don't have to actually set a lineup. It just automatically takes your highest scoring person. Right. And then and whoever we draft, you're stuck with all year.

No moves, no moves, no waiver wire, no ad, no drop, no trade. Right. And it's if somebody gets hurt, too bad. Tough. Somebody gets benched, too bad, too bad.

If somebody that you grab in the 15th round, just on a flyer, becomes a pro bowler, boom, to salute. Good for you. Right. So that's the way it works. And there's 12 guys. You and TJ are a team.

I'm a team. Yep. Some other famous people. If we want to name, we're famous.

Is that what you're saying? I think we're pretty famous. You just said some other famous people. I got to think that you guys are some of the least famous people in this group. I disagree with that. I disagree. We're actually on TV more than all of these people per hour. Yeah. I mean, the three of us combined. I think we need a poll question.

30 hours a week. I drafted sixth overall. But and there's there's eight hours for somebody, eight hours per pick. So like last night, it was like 1030. I'm going to bed. John Ham's on the clock. Name drop.

Yeah. And then through the night I wake up at six and I'm like, oh, who did Ham pick? Still up Ham auto picked through the night.

Took C.D. Lamb right in front of us, TJ. Paul Rudd. Another name drop is doing is is on the job in Romania, apparently. Right.

Nine hours ahead of us. But he's not auto picking. God bless him. He was up at four a.m. making picks.

I mean, his four a.m. or our for his four a.m. OK, when you when you use those two names, then I can understand where you would say Brock and I aren't that famous. OK, so I get it. Let's let's get into it. You guys pick ninth overall, right? We pick ninth. All right. Yeah, you pick sixth.

All right. So who would you can we have a poll question? Who would you rather have as your first two picks in the PR fantasy league? OK, you chose B. John Robinson and Nick Chubb. Yep. And I grabbed Austin Eckler and Davante Adams. Mm hmm. OK, so who's off to the better to pick star? You know, our our thought process was the wide receiver position is so abundant.

Pretty big. There's a lot of guys we can get. But those top notch running backs, man, there's a handful, two of them to have Nick Chubb, who low key is one of the best backs in the league that no one ever talked. And then you texted everybody. I can't believe you let us get Bijan is what you texted TJ and I. Yeah. Mm hmm.

So Nick, he's going to win offensive rookie of the year. OK. All right. Just saying. So I don't know, but what what I think is going to be great.

I I am not discounting that. Yeah. But what's your what's your vision for him?

What's my vision? Yeah. Like, do we know what's going to happen? 2000 total yards and 15 plus touchdowns. Wow.

Probably about 50 catches. Yeah. MVP consideration, you know. Seriously. Seriously. Seriously.

Working on a second. Stop. Stop. OK. The world.

I don't mean. He's the he's the betting favorite for offensive rookie of the year. So, you know, who else is on that list? Jameer Gibbs and and Jackson Smith and Jigba, who else would be on that list? All of the quarterbacks, quarterbacks who are all starting week one. That'll be a tough road to hole, though, for some of these guys.

Yeah. And then and then there's then there's this. I had the opportunity to get Derek Henry Derek Henry, Jalen Waddle, Garrett Wilson. And I once again, once again from this chair, I hit the button to draft this guy from this chair. I once again put some very important eggs. In the Las Vegas Raiders basket, I did it again. Why did I did it again? Why did you do that? I did it again, because for some reason, Jay, I don't know. Jinx us again. I'm not by the way. How dare you blame me for last year's debacle?

Wait, my fault. That was my fault for saying in March. I like the addition of Adams for saying in March. I like the addition of Chandler Jones for saying in March. I think whatever the hell happened last year, McDaniel's is going to dial it up with Derek Carr. Max Crosby, let's go.

And then Josh Jacobs. Do I get credit for that then, at least? Yeah. Give me that one. All I'm saying is this.

The Raiders are on the clock again in my life, and I think Davante Adams is going to have a big year. How about that? Yeah, sure.

Why not? Thank you very much. Here on the Rich Eisen show for the very first time is somebody who has gotten the attention he had a lot of us at hello with some of his training camp preseason catches last year. And then I called his touchdown winning grab on Christmas Eve night. That was the last game of Derek Carr's Vegas Raiders or longtime Raiders career.

He's got a big, huge upside and a lot of people are on this bandwagon right now for the Pittsburgh Steelers. George Pickens here on the Rich Eisen show. How are you, George? I've been doing good, man. I've been doing good.

I can confirm that. You have been. You have been. How do you find your ability to perform the way that you are in the NFL? It looks like your physical attributes are coming to the fore.

I'm wondering what it looks like and feels like to you, George. It's kind of something I've been working on the whole entire time, kind of like right before I got in the league. I just feel like I burst it on the scene now, but it's one of those things that coming out of in and out of rows, running after catch. Those are the things this year that I've been trying to improve on right now as far as upping my game. Well, Patrick Peterson says you're very raw, but he said he has competed against Justin Jefferson in practice and now you and confirm with Ryan Clark said on ESPN is that you have more talent than Justin Jefferson.

How do you handle that when you hear that George? Oh, I just really, you know, you know, people don't say like a lot of things. I take it. I take the compliment, but I just keep working and see how far I can, you know, try to take this thing. So what do you I know you said what you are working on. Why are you working on those things?

They are obviously fundamental, but I'm wondering why you're focusing on that stuff George. Oh, yeah, because for I feel like for a person like me, like you said, I got so much talent. The fundamentals could just take me to another level. So I've just been trying to do the little things right instead of, you know, like you said, I'm so raw raw. Sometimes I get out of get out of control on my routes and stuff like that. So I just tend to, you know, do the fundamentals the right way. What do you mean you get out of control in your routes? What do you mean by that? Oh, you know, just sometimes not coming off the ball fast enough or not going the right depth just because you're in the pen, you know, as a receiver, you got a ticking time bomb in your head.

Just if you got a 15-yard route, you want to come out early just because you might get the ball quicker. So just certain things like that. How much do you work on that stuff with Kenny Pickett, George? A lot. Me and Kenny are super good friends off the field. So on the field stuff is kind of routine. What are you doing off the field with with Kenny? What do you do? Just talking to chat.

We in training camp right now. So we've just been, you know, brotherly love, camaraderie of the guys. Mm-hmm. I'm just wondering, what do you go see a movie together? Do you go, is it movie night with the... No.

No, it's a QV, not my girlfriend. All right, so Kenny and George are not going to Barbie tonight. That's what you're saying.

That's not happening. Can we cross that one off? Okay. Dinner?

I mean, I don't know. I'm just throwing, I'm just seeing, what do you guys do? You're saying you're butting your friends. Just, you're talking about football business friends. Yeah, we've been to dinner before for sure. Okay.

But nothing crazy. Who picks it up? Who picks up the check? Quarterback? Wide receiver?

Split? Who does that? It's probably, we'll probably go to a restaurant where people already, you know, know us a little bit. Oh, okay. Pittsburgh's very nice. Pittsburgh's a nice place. Okay, on the arm.

It's a great place. Steel City on the arm. Yeah. Okay.

You're a star in Pittsburgh, Rich. Okay, I get it. All right. I like this, George. I like it. So, what is your goal for this year?

What is it? Me personally, I just, I'm a huge team guy after I won a few championships at Georgia. So, and I got the feeling of that.

So, my biggest goal, to be honest, is just try to help the team get to a Super Bowl. By the way, that was a very, I gotta be honest with you, George. That was a great flex right there about Georgia and championships right there.

That was very casual. Yeah. You went to Georgia, winning some championships.

Oh, okay. How did you get to Georgia from Alabama? How did that happen?

It was just the fight of recruiting at the time. I was actually committed to Auburn and I flipped on Saturday to Georgia. Why?

What happened? It was just, I just felt like Georgia had a better, better, for me personally, I'm from Alabama, so it was just beating Alabama for me. Whichever team had the best opportunity to do that. Okay. Had a better opportunity.

You felt Georgia gave you better opportunity to beat the Crimson Tide? Yeah. Did they not reach out to you? Is that what it was? Oh, no.

They reached out to me too. It's just at the time coming out, they also had a lot of guys. They already had spots filled and stuff like that.

I was one of the people, me personally, I want to play instantly, so. Do you feel that way about the Bengals and Browns and Ravens right now, George? Have you acquired that taste? No? Actually, no, I ain't even thought about it until you just said that.

Yeah, no, I've never, haven't been thinking about that. Just trying to make you better. That's all I'm trying to do.

You know, we don't need to go to the movies, but I can try and make you better through this conversation. What does Tomlin tell you? Can you take me inside your conversations with Mike Tomlin, what he says in your ear, George?

What does he do? Yeah, one of the biggest things he tells me personally is just routine plays routinely. So take the mystique out of it and just if a ball comes your way, make the routine catch, make the routine plays. What do you think he tells you that? I feel like it'll help the team.

You know what I mean? Me making routine plays, which with a lot of other guys making routine plays, that'll just help us collectively. Do you think he means that, if you don't mind me trying here, do you think he means that he knows you can make the spectacular, acrobatic, you know, athletically freaky play and that you do need to hit your spots? You do need to make sure you're not drifting.

You do need to make sure if it's a 15 yard route, that's what it is and stuff like that. Oh, I wouldn't necessarily say that because he actually, he was telling me this before I even got here during the draft process and stuff like that. So he's been kind of telling me that before, the buzz and the hype, so I wouldn't really say that. Okay, let's chat more with George Pickens. James Washington's your teammate right now.

He made a heck of a grab that kind of lit up Twitter yesterday. So how good do you think he can be, George? Darnell, I've heard of James Washington, but Darnell.

Yeah, that's what I meant. Darnell, what about him? He's a specimen. I played with him in college. So it's kind of been some things I've already seen, like that one hand catch I've seen that a billion times, kind of like the stuff he's seen with me. So yes, he's gonna be a real help to the team for sure. So he says he's catching, he's getting more opportunities to catch than not so, than before in Georgia.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, Georgia is just like a block him, run first, block him. That was kind of like, that's what kind of sparked me, my buzz in the beginning too was how I block because that's literally what they train us to do is like block first and I wasn't really in like an air raid as you would say or passing offense, passing offense first. I was in a pro style.

So me and Darnell for sure know about blocking first. How come your Instagram handle is at one dot issue, George? That was like a long time thing.

I made that name in like high school. And it was just a thing like I'm the only like for every other team in the division. I'm the only problem. I'm the only issue. Do you feel like you still are? Uh, I just let my game do the talking for real.

I just want to let air but I want to see what you got. Do you think, do you guys think I am? I mean, well, I think you can be that's for damn sure. I see it. I'll be honest with you George when I called the Christmas Eve night game in Pittsburgh and spoke to your coach beforehand.

His face lit up when your name came up. That's for sure. Yeah, I just uh, I just give all the glory about it and I just keep working to be honest. So again, I know you want to be a team-oriented guy, but you don't have any individual goals some written down somewhere. Oh, yeah. Uh, Pro Bowl get over a thousand yards. That's pretty much it.

All right, that's right. And so how good do you think this team can be George? Because you know, I don't need to tell any tales out of school. Everyone's assuming Joe Burrow is going to be healthy and the Ravens paid Lamar what he wanted and Odell's there and the Browns fans clearly think they're going to be better and not a lot of people are talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers to be very honest. How good do you think you can be George? I feel like we can be a really really good unit a really good a good team. A lot of people, you know, I can say one thing and do another as well.

So a lot of people can say a lot of things like the other teams are going to be good or whatever, but all we don't do is just you know, keep our head down to keep grinding. All right. Okay. Have you what's the most impressive catch you've ever made where you said to yourself when you're getting up? Wow, that was really good.

Which one was that? It's been a lot. I've been let me see college.

I didn't I didn't did a lot of stuff. That's not on tape. Okay, that's like probably you guys can ask coach smart about for sure. Well, he's got to come on this show first. We can get Tomlin instead.

But what do you got for me? Professional have you professionally which one you are probably say the Joey Porter thing. I know a lot of people like that catch that wasn't me personally in one of my top. That's okay. What did you say to him when or the or the end game against the Browns? That's probably my my favorite one in game against the Browns and by the way Steeler fans love when you do it against the Browns that you do know that right like you are well-versed at least on that right George.

Yeah. Okay, or at least you understand that and you know, what did you say to Joey Porter when you handed him the ball back after mossing him? I didn't even say anything. It was just the gesture like what you seen on camera. I didn't even say anything.

It was just competing. Okay, George come back on this show. Let's do this again more often. Okay. I really like watching you play. Let's do this again. Appreciate you.

You got it at one dot issue George Pickens himself right here on the Rich Eisen show to conclude our number one. Love watching him play. Obviously, I really love how casual he is about being great what he says. Yeah, and the things that he says I want a couple championships at Georgia ball. Just you know, I got to write this down.

I like that because we're going to we're going to hopefully get Mike Tomlin before the season. What does it do make the routine plays routinely? Yep, the routine. What do you think that means? That means don't always try to make the spectacular.

That's what I said. I don't always have to think that's what it was 50 yards and make a one-handed catch diving into the end zone. I mean, it's make the right block on the outside run. It's do your job. It's another way of saying do your job.

It's another way of saying do your job. I think so, but you say that to somebody who might just be of the mindset like I'm going to make the most spectacular play every single snap. Yeah, right. But he also said, you know, he's focusing on the footwork and the route running. Because that is Patrick Peterson called him very very raw. Yeah. That's a quote and I think that George kind of admitted that that he's yeah, he's that raw the skill set obviously their supreme talent. It's the fundamentals.

It's the little things. He's still available in our best ball. Yeah, it's a little early for George. I think right now second round. Yeah, a little early. Maybe not next year. Maybe not next year.

Maybe not next round. All right, our number two is for the boys. Let's go right here on the Rich Izaad show.

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