REShow: Tom Pelissero - Hour 1

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Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I've identified these five teams. One of them is Miami. Would Denver do this? Do the Bears go for it? What about the Los Angeles Rams?

What about Dallas? You want to get Jonathan Taylor? The Rich Eisen Show. Today's guests. NFL Network insider Tom Felicero. Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith. Packers beat writer for the athletic Matt Schneiderman. And now it's Rich Eisen.

Yes it is. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We are live right here on the Roku channel on a Thursday two weeks from today. We'll be kick off of the National Football League season between the Lions and the Chiefs.

Oh my gosh we are so close we can taste it. We're live on this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate Sirius XM Odyssey and more. We say hello to anybody who's out there watching or listening and if you're listening on our podcast it is your right. We appreciate you doing that all three hours every day available through the Cumulus Podcast Network.

844-204 Rich is the number to dial to have a conversation with us all day long right here on the program. Tom Pelicero our colleague from the NFL Media Group and NFL Network is going to be joining us. First up he was the one along with Ian Rappaport who was on our show yesterday in the third hour saying I'm expecting some medium news coming in.

Medium meaning not like A++ breaking news or anything like that. But I mean Sam Darnold getting the two shot over Trey Lance. To be expected? I don't know. I know he's eating a lot of barbecue in the new documentary on the NFL Draft. The pic is in that's going to be seen on the Roku channel on Friday night.

But I guess he should go on Hot Ones if his definition of medium is that. We broke the news that Sam Darnold is getting the backup job to Brock Purdy in San Francisco over Trey Lance. They broke it together. Tom's going to be joining us in about 18 minutes time on this program. Jonathan Smith the head coach of the Oregon State Ducks is going to be joining us. And I'm fascinated to talk with this guy because he's a former quarterback of the Oregon Ducks in 2000 when they went 11 and 1. Best season in the history of Oregon State.

Pardon me. Beavers. Oregon State Beavers. And he is now the head coach of the team as they're one of the remaining teams of the Pac-4. And I can't wait to talk with him to ask him about how what's going on in his brain. Our number 3 Matt Schneiderman of The Athletic who covers the Green Bay Packers will join us on this program. Good to see you over there Mike Del Tufo. How are you? DJ Mikey Diaz and Deez Nuts right there.

TJ Jefferson good to see you or you are and the candle is being lit. Chris Brockman is in Kansas City because he's a loser. Wait a second now. Do you want to start with these people again? Yeah exactly. Do you want to start with them again?

No. He's in Kansas City because the Chiefs won it all. But he's in Kansas City with all of his buddies sitting there all weekend long doing a fantasy draft that lasts all weekend long. Sitting in a hotel room.

Coffee breath B.O. to use the phrase from Midnight Run. We love you Chris.

Enjoy your time in Kansas City. Susie Schuster is sitting in for Chris although she'll be joining us right in the middle of this segment. As she's pulling superwoman duty dropping our oldest Xan off at school for his first day of high school and then coming in there's her bag. She just threw the bag down. She's in the bullpen warming up. She's warming up. Just know folks she didn't bring champagne but she did bring donuts. Of course she did.

That's how Susie gets it. Very good. Alright so there's lots going on in this program. Here's what we're going to start with and I understand the Niners made that big move and I know we're two weeks from the NFL opening game but I woke up this morning gutted. When I heard the news that was revealed late last night on the Pacific Coast and I'm sure a bunch of people on the East Coast woke up the same way to this news. That Shoei Ohtani blew out his pitching arm. A torn UCL and that right there folks is Tommy John written all over it. Now they're saying you know that surgery is to come but I guess sometimes we in the sports world can't have nice things. And to borrow a phrase from one of the best sports movies or books because you know The Natural was a book originally by the brilliant author Bernard Malamud and it all is from the Black Sox scandal of Joe Jackson apparently. But say it ain't so. Say it ain't so that Shoei Ohtani in a doubleheader yesterday pitches the opening game against the Cincinnati Reds and strikes out two of the first three batters he faces and then steps to the plate in the bottom of the first and hits his 44th home run of the season to give himself a 2-0 lead.

And it is something that you know in so many different instances think about it how that would stand out but now we just take it for granted. Oh okay so Ohtani hit his 44th home run which leads to Major League Baseball and you know with 10 wins already under his belt on the season struck out two of the first three to give him 167 strikeouts on the season. And now you have to wonder is this the last time we're ever gonna see that? If he has Tommy John surgery does this mean he won't he might not want to pitch anymore? Because he's already had Tommy John surgery that's the good news here. 2018 this happened to him before. And he only came back and became the best player in baseball but can he do it again? Does he want to do it again?

Should he do it again? All the conversation when he came from Japan you know enjoy watching him play in the field and then pitch every fifth day because he's not gonna be able to do it and he does it for three straight seasons and now this happens. To clarify which he can still hit though right? Well the amazing thing is he found out as he came out of the game in the second inning of the doubleheader yesterday in between games they find out that he blew out his elbow. They actually gave him the MRI or the test required and he found out in between games that his right elbow is potentially blown out there is in fact another tear in there on the UCL. And he goes out and he plays the second game and he winds up on second base and the infielders of the Cincinnati Reds are all around him. Ellie Dela Cruz who is without question as you know here on this program we've been talking about him for ever since the minute he came up we're talking he goes up to Otani the one of the greatest phenoms of the game and he poked him on his left arm.

As if to say are you for real like I just want to see if you're real like and they were bowing down to him and Otani played along. He played along knowing he had blown out his arm. And by the way the Angels earlier in the day put trout on the IL again.

He's a team's general manager after the game. A couple injury things to address obviously and you know Mike Trout is going to go back on the IL. So I tried to swing yesterday didn't go well. So we're going to put him back on the IL give him some rest to see what that goes and obviously Shohei left the game today. We did imaging in between games. He does have a tear you know and he won't pitch the rest of the year. So we're going to get a second opinion go from there but it's basically day to day. Obviously he had so you know that's that's where we're at. That's a UCL tear? Yes. Yeah.

So again I don't have as far as plans and details I don't have those yet. You know he's going to have been in contact with his representation. Obviously he hit the second game.

He's played with this in 18. So you know but with that being said we'll take it day by day and and we'll see where it goes. So obviously disappointing news I felt terrible for him. You know but it is what it is and you know if anybody can bounce back at him. Perry Minasian sounding like he had just been gutted just like the rest of us with the news. And Suzy Schuster is here. Hey Suze.

The first thing I said to you this morning first thing I said to you this morning other than good morning is Otani blew out his elbow. I know. And you were like get out of here. And then I left for work thinking that's what you meant. But no.

I actually meant get out of here. I was devastated. I was so bummed Coop and I were set to go watch him pitch.

Yeah next week. Because nobody's more thrilling than him but what I think is so crazy is oh yeah then he went out and he hit again. It's like. What are you doing? Give me a guy who's going to go out there and keep playing. And again play along with some playful opponents who have no idea he's just been told this news. You've blown out your arm again.

And I understand the immediacy of what this means. This guy is truly one of the most special athletes on the planet. We're all wondering are you for real?

Elie Delacruz poked him. Are you even human? And this torn elbow proves yes he is human. And it's only human for us to while we're gutted by this news. Wonder what does this mean for his free agency tour? He's going to have to be surgically repaired. I mean one would think.

And then what do you do? Do you throw 700 million dollars at a guy who's coming off of Tommy John? Because he can pitch and hit for you?

Are you going to do that? If you're the Angels do you sit there and just think the rest of baseball? Think about this sort of stuff. Obviously you just saw the human reaction from Perry Manasian the general manager of the Angels. Just be a human for the guy right now. Because that only also by the way is the right thing to do. It serves you well when you're trying to tell him hey the worst moment for you. Look at what we've done.

And I understand that that sounds maybe in first blush reaction cold. Calculating. It's a business. But that's the fact that he's the greatest free agent in the history of free agency.

And I know what I just said coming. 700 million bucks. Because take a look at what the best hitter and the best pitchers in Major League Baseball are paid.

Put it all together and then toast it off a little bit something extra. Because everybody in that stadium is wearing Otani jerseys. And all the signage in the stadium are international brands. Which he personally is. What a remarkable way for this season for Otani to turn out. It's his walk here all first half of the season long.

We're wondering does Otani stay? Is it possible he hits the trade deadline on the block? And the Angels perform well enough in the first half of the season to start pushing that to the side. Then Trout gets hurt just before the All-Star game. After which without Trout the Angels go on just enough of a run.

String just enough of wins together to make it without a question. That the Angels keep Otani. After which they then have the bottom fall out from underneath the team. Only to get Trout back for an impossible stretch run. He gets put on the IL because he can't swing pain free and Otani blows out his arm.

And will hit free agency with that as the backdrop. You can't make it up and it's so unfair. Life is unfair I get it. Sports is unfair unfortunately. Get out of here with this news.

You got to be kidding me. And if it is the last time we see Otani pitch and hit on the same day. Just know this he becomes the first player ever, ever, ever to have a season with 40 more home runs and 10 more wins. It's never been done.

Period. Mic drop. I hope he picks the bat up though.

Gets his arm taken care of and comes back and shows I'll do it again. Because I'd love to see it. That would make his unbelievable two-way talent that much more enjoyable to watch and another guy to root for and be well. Is he going to be in the lineup for real? Is he going to hit again? Are you going to do that?

Why not? You know we don't know if he's going to have another Tommy John. Obviously you mentioned that he had one. It looks like he's got to have one. I looked up the list of pitchers who have had two. And?

What do you got for me? Who had four? The list is not what you'd call marquee. If anybody can do it I would imagine it would be Otani. But you know I looked up there was one reliever who had four like I mentioned. Nathaniel Hudson. Jameson Tyon. I'm not sure how to say his name. Yeah, yeah.

Tyon. Yankee. Now Cub.

Nathan Nivaldi, small group of pitchers who found success after Tommy John. How many home runs have they had right? I mean it's kind of crazy. It's kind of crazy that we are now in this position. So we'll take a break right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

When we come back we jump right into I guess it's all about arm surgery day right? Of throwers. Brock Purdy. He's number one again on the depth chart for the Niners. And look who's two. Sam Darnold.

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Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen. Back here on our show 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on the Roku channel. Good to see everybody here. Suze, very grand entrance for you today. Well, I was taking your kid to school. Your kid. Your kid.

It's not Suzy's kid. I take that. And, and, and.

Aren't we a team? Also, I stopped and got donuts on the way in. I had time for that. She did kind of have to do that.

She has to. That's just who I am Rich. I'm a team player. I want everyone to feel great. Have a nice healthy breakfast like fried bread with sugar on it. Yeah, we hit Starbucks.

We got to school on time. Okay. I slowed down to let him out. Okay. Mother of the year. Yep. Wait, wait. Does she have her sign over there? Where's my sign? It's right in front of you Rich. On the table to your left. Your right.

Look to your right. There you go. Just in case everyone wants to know, she stopped. She slowed down in order to let Zan out safely.

Well, it seems as though she pushed him out, judging by her hand gesture. Hold on a minute. Hold on a minute. This is the first time you did do a drive through at his new school. I did. Did we, did we stop for everybody? Did we, did we? We waved. We waved.

Said good morning. No. Okay.

That's it. Is it appropriate to go the appropriate speed over the speed bumps? I mean, like. It's a suggestion.

A speed bump is nearly a suggestion that you might want to slow down. Can I say this for tomorrow? It's like a t-shirt.

That's like a greeting card. That is. You two, I pray, have to come to work together. I don't care. Not going to happen. Uber to school. Like we'll have someone. We need you two in the car together.

She's got to take my child. Don't forget. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger is the right product for you. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Tom Pelissero, kind enough to stop by. Very busy day, obviously, as we've got so much happening in the National Football League. Two weeks to the day.

Fifteen days. From kickoff right here on the Rich Eisen Show is Tom Pelissero. How are you, Tom?

Doing well, Rich. Currently awaiting the start of the final joint practice in the league, Vikings and Cardinals getting going in Minnesota. We're winding down. We're five days away from final cut down. So let's go. We've got a lot of loose ends to take.

All right. And before we get to the top story news, Tom, I've heard a rumor. Kirk Cousins has some very interesting facial hair that could rival Arthur Smith's facial hair in terms of roiling the league.

Is that true or false, Tom? There's a definite Village People vibe to what he's doing right now. Oh. Full handlebar.

He's got some chops on the bottom of it, too. I don't know how long this is going to take. Maybe if he pairs Aaron Rodgers out of the division so he doesn't have to be dismantled at training camp facial hair. I'm going to see if that's gone by week one. Okay. I don't know where you are with your phone or your ears or whatever. It's very difficult to pick up. It's very muffled, and it's going back in and out, Tom. I'm not going to lie. Is there some spot we can get you before we get into the meat of this? We've got a little bit of wind out here. I think that's the issue.

Is this any better? Yeah. I'm trying to hide right now behind the medical tent. Are you blue tenting for the Rich Eisen Show? Is that what you're doing right now?

Is that what's going on? I think I'm going to be cleared. I'll be cleared to return.

I'm pretty sure of that. All right. Yeah.

We'll see how long I can stay back there before I get booted. If you can huddle mass right there, that would be fantastic. That would be great. Are the winds coming in from the west? I don't know. Do we get a weather and traffic? I don't know. Do we get a weather and traffic?

With Chompa-Lisaro? Okay. Let's just jump right into it here, Tom. Why did Kyle Shanahan make the move that he made that you and Ian broke first yesterday?

I think there's a variety of different factors to it, Rich. The most basic one is Sam Dardle had been the better quarterback through the course of camp. There was a reason that the 49ers, at a time where they weren't sure what was going to go on with Brad Prudy's elbow, he'd be cleared before camp, signed Dardle to deal with a lot of incentives. He was a guy whose skill set had always intrigued Kyle Shanahan.

Kyle wanted to bring him into the system. With Trey Lance, he's had a good preseason, a good camp overall. He has shown signs of improvement, but this is not one year ago when they wanted to get Trey Lance the reps and they wanted to kind of play through it and grow on the field. The 49ers are a team that thinks that they should be a Super Bowl contender right now and they really don't have the time to let a young quarterback kind of figure it out on the field.

So, it comes down to Brock Prudy now is the number one quarterback, Dardle is the two. Trey Lance was not in the building yesterday, my understanding is he's supposed to be back today. Kyle Shanahan even said that Lance is still going to play in tomorrow's preseason finale. Now at the same time, there are obviously a lot of teams around the league right now who are going back to their pre-draft grades and looking at the tape on Trey Lance and trying to figure out is this worth a shot at a cut rate on somebody who I would think a lot of teams within the league had first round grades on, if not high first round grades. What's the price tag at which the 49ers trade Trey Lance? Kyle continues to say that he hopes that all three guys are there, but they also got Brandon Allen who they like, who's a veteran in the room.

We'll see what direction this goes. This is not a situation where I anticipate the 49ers are just going to take whatever they can get and give away a guy who they traded a lot of draft capital to go up and get at number three overall. But if there's a reasonable offer, I certainly believe that a logical outcome of all of this is that Trey Lance gets a fresh start someplace else. Well, I mean, how much leeway is going to be given to Lance to be part of that decision, do you think? Where, you know, if I'm Trey Lance, I'm sitting there thinking to myself, well, now I'm in a spot where I don't even know if I'm going to get on this field, even though I'm in the spot where number three quarterbacks start NFC championship games, right? And he could sit there and go, if I'm going to go somewhere and be developed, it's got to be as good of a spot as here.

And I just don't want it to leave it up to the Niners to take the best possible deal and wind up in a spot where I'm behind a guy that's never going to give up the starting role and has a team or a franchise that doesn't have the same pedigree of quarterback development as the 49ers, right, Tom? I certainly think that the reason that Trey Lance wasn't there yesterday was, you know, intense disappointment of exactly how this shook out. And so, you know, give him a day to kind of catch his breath and then revisit things here. Now, I'd certainly anticipate Kyle Kacinan is a good communicator. I'm sure that he will spend more time with Trey kind of talking through things in the coming days. You also have to remember, you know, Trey's contract here, he was the third overall pick. So he's making decent money right now. It's a fully guaranteed contract. So a new team would have to take on that deal. And also the decision on his 50 year option will come up after this season. Well, if he never sees the field in San Francisco, now the option in all likelihood is not getting picked up. Or maybe at that point he's traded. There's a lot of different parts of this that you have to talk through.

It's not as simple as, hey, you know, sell them off to the highest bidder here. It's also the team's got to have, you know, the cap space and the willingness to take on that type of deal for a player who, you know, really he needs time to develop here. You know, with Trey Lance, it was always going to be about a projection. I went back and I actually tweeted my part of my synopsis when I talked to all the coaches and scouts before the draft and what they were saying about Trey Lance.

And everyone said the same thing, which is, you love the kid, you love the makeup, everything about him. But it is a total projection because, you know, the tape's a little bit up and down. Accuracy was an issue that's continued. Injuries were an issue that's continued.

And he just hasn't had the reps to be able to get through that and develop into what the 49ers thought it could be. So what's the market for him? There will be a market. You know, I mean, in Minnesota today, this would be a logical place. Kirk Cousins' contracts up after the season, you know, they drafted Jared Hall in the seventh round. They got Nick Mullins here. But they don't have that, you know, high end, talent, developmental type of quarterback. So a team like this, I would think would be certainly interested in Trey Lance.

And I would anticipate there's other teams, you know, in that same direction. Now, what's the price tag on a Trey Lance trade? It's such a unique situation because it's not like this has been a Zach Wilson-style lay-mount. He literally hasn't seen Trey Lance on the field, but for, you know, I think four starts in his career. And he's only started, I want to say, 20-something games over like the last six years.

I mean, he's barely played football. So you're really, you know, figuring out, okay, if you had a first-round grade on him two years ago, you know, what are you willing to put down now? Nobody's going to give up a first-round pick. I wouldn't anticipate for Trey Lance. But you know, is it a day-two-style pick with, you know, an extra conditional pick or something like that? I mean, that'd probably be a fair type of a deal.

But again, the fact that a new team would also be taking on guaranteed money is a factor you have to consider to that price tag as well. Well, I mean, he's from Minnesota. That would be a homecoming, in a way, for Lance. Grew up in Marshall, went to North Dakota State. His mom's still here. I saw her when they came up here for joint practices last year. His mom was out here.

Yeah, it would make a lot of sense. He's still young. How old's Trey Lance? I think he's 22. He's 23.

He's 23. And we just, we haven't seen him play football. You know, obviously, yeah, the accuracy is something that's been an issue. You got to wonder about that. Ball placement was a concern coming out of college.

But how are you supposed to work on that when you're just not on the field? So I want to ask you this, Tom. And you tell me what, if this is a conversation in the league or it's just chatter.

And I'll ask this question, you know, in honor of Brockman, who's not here today. What does this mean for the evaluation of Lance by Shanahan and the Niners? Did they miss on him or what's your, what's the general sense on that, Tom? Well right now, it obviously looks like a miss because we're talking about him being the third string quarterback if he's on the roster at all in year three. But I think you also have to remember that was, you know, the 2021 draft.

So you're talking about, you know, coming off of COVID, there were still certain restrictions. He only played one game in his last year, and it wasn't a very good game against the lesser opponent. You just, you were completely betting on what you could develop them into. I mean, this was Kyle Shanahan making a gamble.

I mean, there was nothing on the tape. There was no way you were going to be able to answer all the questions the teams had about Trey Lance. And there are certain, you know, evaluators and coaches who, if you ask them, they will say they would never draft a quarterback with as little starting experience as Trey Lance had just because yes, you may have unlimited upside here, but you also may have, you know, unlimited downside to a certain degree. So there were definitely people who would not have signed up on Trey Lance being drafted in the first round period, but you know, for Kyle and knowing, you know, his offense and the way that it's run, he could have drafted Mac Jones who, you know, Mac Jones in terms of the way he profiled was kind of carbon copy of Kirk Cousins, Matt Schaub, Jimmy Garoppolo in terms of, you kind of know what he is, you might be a little bit better athlete than those guys, but you know, Mac, it would have been, you're running the same offense with Trey. The thought was you could get this additional dynamic because of the athletic ability, the mobility, the things that you could do with him in terms of the movement game and things like that.

But again, you never had time really to develop it. So I wouldn't say it was about the evaluation the 49ers didn't have outside of the fact that they ran that second pro day and kind of helped talk themselves into taking a Trey Lance. They didn't really have a lot of information that everybody else didn't have. Nobody had sufficient information, but that's, you know, that's what scouting is about. It's about projecting and what they projected Trey Lance to be. Maybe he still can become that he is still a young guy. He just hasn't been on the field. And again, it really, to me comes back to, you know, last year, the 49ers were in a different spot.

Okay. We're turning over the range to him. He's going to play through this. He's going to get 17 starts. We're going to get into the playoffs.

We're going to grow over the course of the season. Now, you know, you've got a guy in Brock Purdy who can play and you think you can go win a Superbowl. You just don't have time to start devoting a bunch of reps to a guy who, you know, if things go well, is never going to see the field.

That makes sense, Tom. And I know you earlier said something along the lines of, you know, they don't want to give the reps to somebody who needs it in a, in a situation like this one where Purdy's ready to roll and Sam Darnold has 55 games of experience and appears ready to roll. And they just don't have time for school, right? Last year though, do you think they did? Do you think they would have gone into the season? They were going to go ahead and, and ride or die and go through the growing pains with Lance that just got unfortunately ended in week two by him getting carted off, Tom?

That was absolutely the plan was, I mean, he needs to play football. You know, there may not have been a number three overall pick ever who has played as little football as Trey Lance had, but you know, and remember they were trying to trade Jimmy Garoppolo last off season, he had surgery, he wasn't healthy and the market never really materialized. I mean, he wasn't even supposed to be on the roster, you know, and Brock Purdy was one of those guys who Kyle, every year he identifies one or two quarterbacks that whether it's a draft pick or an undrafted guy who he thinks has a shot in his offense.

They liked Purdy. They got him at the final pick in the seventh round and, you know, lo and behold, he got his opportunity and he absolutely sees that it's just, it's different now. And I, you know, I don't want to put words in Kyle Shanahan's mouth, but I think that, you know, truthfully, if let's say you have a similar situation to last year and Brock Purdy gets hurt and Sam Darnold gets hurt, Brandon Allen might be on the field before Trey Lance would at this point, if you were playing like a must win type of game, if you got the rest of the season, this all happens in week one, maybe, yeah, okay. Now you're back into let's let Trey develop here, but you have one game to go win.

You're going to go with the guy who you know, and you trust to run the offense and to throw the football accurately. Cause if there's one thing Kyle does as well as anybody in the NFL, it's get people open. He wants the quarterback to be automatic. He wants the ball to come out because the guy's going to be open against a certain coverage. And if you're not doing that, or if you're not delivering the ball accurately consistently, it's hard really to, to ride with you.

They're just not in that position right now to let Trey Lance go through all those bumps. All right. Last one for you, Tom. I, uh, I send you off with a sports talk radio question, meaning you must give only one answer.

You're not allowed nuance or gray area. Okay. So who is more likely to be traded before the season begins in the next two weeks, Trey Lance or Jonathan Taylor? I would say Trey Lance right now, just because the Jonathan Taylor, uh, trade is much more complicated to do.

I mean, I've seen some of the reports about offers and things like that. This isn't a, Hey, a bunch of teams are bidding with the Colts, you know, for who's going to get the most picks. You have to work out a new contract with Jonathan Taylor before you do anything else. And, uh, you know, his agent Malcom Kawa wants a deal that's, you know, at or near the top of the running back market, depending on how you slice it, like anywhere from 12 to $15 million per year. And Jonathan Taylor's a really, really good player, you know, he was the rushing champ a couple of years ago.

He was only 24 years old, but he's also coming off a season where he was battling an ankle injury, ran for like 800 yards at off season surgery, just left the team a couple of weeks ago to get further treatment, uh, for several days on that injury as well. And so you're now giving up, you know, top, top running back money at a time that nobody out there is getting top running back money. And then on top of it, the Colts want more for Jonathan Taylor than the Panthers got last year during the season for Christian McCaffrey. It's not to say it's impossible.

It's just, it's much more complicated at this point. And let's also remember, you know, there's a Tuesday deadline for them to work out a deal here, and that's for a variety of different reasons, including the fact that they have to make a roster move with Jonathan Taylor, cause he's still technically on the, cause they're unable to perform list. Um, you know, but you have that deadline here. If he, if nothing gets done by that point, the Colts are proceeding as if Jonathan Taylor is going to be a part of the team with the 49ers. They're really proceeding with Trey Lance being at best their third string quarterback, which all makes me believe that there's a better chance of Trey getting traded than Taylor. But we'll see risks.

This is the fun of the coming days here. So then answer me this question then Tom, um, the Colts want a Christian McCaffrey type return for Taylor, but will not pay Taylor like Christian McCaffrey. And the answer to both questions as to why is because they can, is that a fact?

Did I miss anything right there? Well, the more, I mean the markets, the market right now, I don't think that anybody is like eagerly wanting to on the team side, reset the running back market given where it is right now. But I think that that's one of the things that's been missed in all this is the Colts do want to pay Jonathan Taylor. They do eventually like they've always planned for that.

They've budgeted for that. He's one of their core players, one of the big hits for Chris Ballard. They will pay him. They're just not going to pay him $15 million a year right now.

I mean the entire team, including Taylor is coming off a disappointing season here. They've got him this year at whatever it is, $4 million or so next year, you can tag him, you can tag him again. There's not a lot of teams that would be jumping to do an early running back. I mean the last, the last really early running back deal that was done on a big scale was on now he had a degenerative need and you know, a year into that new deal, his career was virtually. Um, you know, there have been other deals that have gotten done, you know, with a year to go. Delvin cook got his done at a certain point, Albert Camaro as well, but you know, the, the economics of that were different and those guys were coming off of good seasons. Again, Jonathan Taylor is a really good player.

The Colts have wanted him there. You know, it's hard to speak to given how everything's gone sideways in the past several weeks here to say what, how they feel right now, but they've always planned to pay the guy. It's not like, well, we're not paying you and we're not trading you. They will.

If someone will pay this top of the market money, they'll trade them until that happens though. I, it's just, it's so many different parts that have to fit together. It's a, it's a really tough type of a deal to do. Tommy, the man. Um, and I'm excited to have you every Friday during the season right here on the show. It's a, it's a, it's a pleasure. Thank you.

You bet. That's Tom Pelissaro, who will join us every single Friday during the NFL season right here on the Rich Eisen show. But hopefully not from behind a medical tent. Well, I mean, if he's got to, that's true, we want the best out there. But as you heard, he had to, he definitely left the medical tent shield towards the end of the interview because he has to get somewhere. He told me, please have me off the air 20 minutes to the hour when he comes on. And I'm a man of my word, just want to say I hit that to the dot, but I also heard he had left his shelter, meaning something was going, this is a wrap, let's wrap. So just showing you how the sausages make you sometimes.

Yeah. So every Friday with Tom Pelissaro, love it. That's twice now. Ian said it and Pelissaro said it coming off a disappointing season in regards to the Colts. Ian said it yesterday, Pelissaro said it today. It sounds to me, Jim says like last year bit, I am not paying anybody off of that. And you know, and he's an owner, so he can say that sort of thing. And also not pay, not well, not pay, but also, you know, part of last year, Biden is him axing Frank Reich in the middle of it and handing things off to a guy who had never done it before on Jeff Saturday. Like there's that as well. And then playing musical chairs at the quarterback spot with people who aren't ready to do it.

But again, he aided in the biting of this abetted, abetting the biting, which might be a fantasy name. You think Sam Darnold is that much better than Trey Lance? I think right now he is. Yeah.

Oh, hell yeah. I think right now, if Brock Purdy, heaven forbid, goes back to the state of Pennsylvania and has another day where he can't finish the game, like his last visit to the state of Pennsylvania, because they're starting in Pittsburgh in week one. And heaven forbid for the Niners, they need someone to get in that game and take on TJ Blot, Cam Hayward, Minka Fitzpatrick, Patrick Peterson and the rest, they turn to Darnold for sure. They turn to Sam Darnold instead of Trey Lance. And it sounds like they might not even have Trey Lance there. So and Shanahan, I think, did Lance a favor by telling him right away.

He said that on KNBR and we've got some sound bites from his appearance in the local radio station in the Bay Area where he's like, I wanted to tell him as soon as I as soon as I decided. I mean, he could have waited till Lance was finished this weekend, kept everyone in doubt, kept the Steelers guessing who would be second on the depth chart, which, you know, some coaches will do. I'm not telling you my business. We don't need to know.

Nobody needs to know. Could have been played cat and mouse and kept Lance and Darnold as an either or in the second string. Susie's coach resembles that remark.

He played that game. So I don't know what you're talking about. So I I know, you know, that's a slag at Belichick. I get it.

There's a cowboy fan only can describe the man. Actually, that's what Todd Bowles did, as you know, with the with the first quarterback on his depth chart for Bette Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask. Right. I mean.

But he told him right away. Can Trey Lance wind up with more career wins than Sam Darnold and have a better career at the end of the rainbow? Absolutely. But right now.

No. Let's take a break. Eight, four, four, two or four, rich number to dial right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Don't go anywhere. Pack four football coming up. It's time for kickoff and the Believe podcast will get you ready for the new season. How do you live through this as an approach sports fan? Believe has podcasts covering all 32 professional teams and many of your favorite college teams to solidify your defense. You got better sideline to sideline, end zone to end zone. If you don't do those things, then you're not even trying your hardest to win at football. And I don't know what we're doing.

There was a lot of great players on those teams that I was fortunate to be part of. Search BLEAV podcasts wherever you listen. I got a recruiting story. You want to hear it? Please. You're saying Harbaugh's crazy. So I'm recruiting, right?

For Cal. Mm hmm. Is that fire real?

It is definitely not real. So I'm I'm it's a television set. I'm recruiting back in Minnesota and it's like January. All right. And it's snow and it's cold and everything like that.

The HC of Cal. So you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. So we're sitting around at a home visit.

Right. Family visit. Yeah. So the kids there, the mom and dad, little sisters are there.

Grandparents are there. And we're just kind of having hot chocolate. Right. Yeah.

And so it's kind of, you know, we're talking about go to Cal, you know, great school, the best in the world and all that stuff. Yes. And when you sit there for several hours, sometimes the conversation's good and sometimes it drags. All right. So so it started to drag and I was running out of things to say, if you can imagine that. Yeah. Right. So there it was snowing out. It was cold and it was cool.

It's just awesome being in there, you know, and there was a cat sitting over by the fireplace. Mm hmm. Right. Like just like this fire. Like this fire when it was a real fire.

Rich. Yeah. And it was a cat and it was all curled up and looked so cozy. So awesome. And then conversation was dragging a little bit. I went, ah, wouldn't you just love to be that cat right now? And then everybody looked at the cat and just as I just as everybody looked, it rolled over and started licking himself all over the place. And he looked at me like, what? That cat just kind of screwed me over a little bit. And he's like, wow, I mean, it looked like it was screwing itself over cozy for a while.

I love Malich, one of my favorite stories of all time, told by one of my favorite storytellers, all of his appearances on our YouTube page. Driving under the influence of marijuana is illegal, and law enforcement officers can tell if you're driving high. If you feel different, you drive different. Drive high.

Get a DUI. And that's paid for by NHTSA right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Is that a new read? I haven't heard that one before. It is that.

It is that. Do you want me to give you a heads up before every show and we get something new? I was expecting the Granger to come in. So we are going to have Jeff Passan of ESPN joining us in the middle of hour two. I still can't believe Otani blew his arm out.

I still can't believe that. And by the way, the Seattle Mariners have not lost many baseball games of late, and they overtook the Blue Jays in the American League wildcard standings, and they are right behind the Houston Astros, who they beat up in their win streak. If the Astros aren't careful, they might miss the playoffs entirely, if you take a look at the American League standings. I mean, this is a developing situation, as our old friend Sue's Bill Pito might call it.

A situation? There it is. Look at the Mariners. They have the same number of losses as the Astros. They're a game in front of the Blue Jays, who are just a game and a half behind the Astros. And the Rays, thanks to their huge start, are just surfing above it all. And look who has the most wins in the American League. Baltimore Orioles, man. So there you have it.

Right there. We'll talk about it all with Jeff Passan when he joins us. Jonathan Smith, the head coach of the Oregon State Beavers, who was the quarterback of the 11-1 team in 2000 for Oregon State. He is going to be joining us.

He's the head coach of Oregon State football, and I'm wondering what he's thinking. Was he there with Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh? So I did his games. Did you really?

Yeah. Did you go up to... Yeah, I did that. He played in the Rose Bowl. I think I did that game. He played... Well, I mean, I think he played... If he was on the team with them, then I definitely covered... 2000.

2000. Yeah. They went 11-1.

He threw 17 touchdowns that year. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. There you go.

Not funny. Small world. Did you go to the... Did you visit Oregon State? Yeah. Did you go there? Mm-hmm.

Okay. But it was the game in the Rose Bowl that I did when I had a very nervous producer at Fox who was screaming at me the whole time. Why was your producer screaming at you the whole time? Oh my God, screaming, get to the end zone! And he's really like, run!

And then I'd get there and it's like, oh, wrong camera. I was like, what? Oh, forget it. It may have been when they played UCLA, though, because they made the Fiesta Bowl that year. He was the MVP of the Fiesta Bowl. He's got to have a good Ocho story.

You think? Did you imagine being a college teammate of Ocho? Chad and TJ both had six touchdowns that year. I just remember that... Who was it?

There's one of the kids. Anyway, I'm going to digress, but TJ Houshmandzadeh and Chad Johnson, I remember doing like a sideline hit like, hey guys, two guys that grew up in very different environments. One of those kind of nobody cares storylines that you do when you're on the sidelines. How many people are a Fiesta Bowl MVP for the school that you also were the Pac-12 coach of the year for? And he was last year's Pac-12 coach of the year. And now it's the Pac-4. And nobody is saying, well, Big 10 or Big 12 or even the ACC is going to come and knock on Oregon State's door.

It's Oregon State and Washington State that are left holding the bag because Stanford and Cal are the teams that everyone's mentioning might get the life preserver thrown at them. It's such a farce. It's so ridiculous. So dumb.

I mean, that's part of the reason why I wanted them on, just to say, hey, what are you thinking? It's another day, Suze, that I know is near and dear to you. It's Kobe Bryant day.

It's 8-24. And we'll talk about that. I want some of your best Kobe stories. Okay. I can dig deep.

Dig deep into the memory banks there. As the Los Angeles Lakers announced today, they're putting a statue of Kobe out in front of... Is it crypto? Is that what we're still calling it? It's Staples. It'll always be Staples.

I know that. Isn't that crazy how people here in Los Angeles are like, it's always going to be Staples. This arena will always remind me of that store where I buy my envelopes. I mean, I call it the artist formerly known as Staples. But also, you think of it as the building named after a box with stuff inside of it. We think of it as Staples Center. Magic happened there, Rich. I mean, it was so special.

Maybe not that magic, but magic happened there. Once again, you're excluding me from the team that I think we are. So who's we? Now, we is you and Mike. We were there. Yes, me and Mike. Mike and me.

Sorry, Mike and me. We were there, honey. You were sitting in Bristol. That's true. I mean, we were there night after night.

Exactly. This mug was on the jumbotron, baby. I was like, Susie, are you good in your ear? I'd have to check her ear, make Susie's ear hurt everything. Words I've never heard my wife say before.

This mug was on the jumbotron, baby. She was stunting. Your 5 a.m. workouts are really getting me tired. Susie's stunting.

All right. Hunchy. Hunchy over here. On the program. You should get up anyway, right? I am up when you're up. I know that.

That's insane. I mean, yeah, I hear you. It's not like I'm sleeping through this, you know? Who's the first one that gets up if there's no alarm? Good question.

Thing would be you, Susie, right? What's that? I wasn't paying attention. Oh, my God. I got two people over there doing this to me. Susie, don't do that over there. I already get in enough trouble.

Thank you, TJ. What did you ask? Okay. When your alarm goes off, I hear it. When my alarm goes off, I don't hear it. No, you might ask the question. Who's the first one up if you guys have no alarm? I am.

By far. Because I'm conditioned to go get Dylan out of Cooper's room before there's an accident. Dylan is a dog, in case folks might not know. Yeah, we got it. Oh, no, no, no.

He sleeps past me every weekend that he can. You do. I know. But... I'm catching that up. My right eye just twitched when she said that.

I know. I just had shakes. You got one more week, Joe. I got one more week. Two more Sundays.

Two more Sundays. You know we're going to an Angel City game on Sunday, right? Did I tell you that? Oh, good to know. Yeah.

I thought you might want to know. Is he going? I am. He's going. Oh, I'll go.

Yeah. Those are fun games. Bank of California Stadium. I love that place. We got a laser tag on Friday afternoon you may or may not go to. That's news to me. You're not going, I don't think. That's news to me. Breaking news.

I need tags with frickin' lasers. Jonathan Smith going to be joining us in a moment. For over three decades, nobody has had a wrestling career like Arn Anderson.

Conrad Thompson gets all the stories with Arn. After watching AEW's Double or Nothing, Amy wants to know, what does dinosaur taste like? Um, it ain't chicken. It's like biting into a sinewy charcoal briquette, but chewy. Oh, wow. That's disgusting. It sure is. And check out Arn every week, wherever you listen.