This is the Rich Eisen show. So what's the latest on love? The Rich Eisen show.
The first two preseason games for me enough that I need to see. Live from the Rich Eisen show studio in Los Angeles. I saw the clip that your show account tweeted the other day and I responded to it with the gift from my favorite Christmas movie I'm Polar Express with the conductor of Polar Express saying all aboard. Today's guests from the Fantasy Footballers podcast, Mike Wright and Jason Moore. ESPN college football and NFL analyst Robert Griffin the third. And now it's Rich Eisen. Facts.
These are facts. The Rich Eisen show is on the air. Live from Los Angeles, California here on this terrestrial radio affiliate Sirius XM Odyssey and more. We're also thrilled to be right here on the Roku channel where you can catch us live every single day between 12 and 3 Eastern time.
844-204 Rich is the number to dial right here on the program. Outstanding guest list for you right here. And preseason football final week of it is underway. Lots to discuss certainly with Robert Griffin the third when he joins us. And Fantasy football is going to be first up. The Fantasy Football podcast, number one on all podcast lists for sports. Jason Moore and Mike Wright are here.
Same as Andy Holloway, but he drew the short straw. He's here, but just not on the air. Good to see you over there, Suze.
How are you? Does he want to take my seat? I can move over. My ego's not that big.
It's pretty big, but it's not that big. There is no I in Suzy or Schuster. No, not one.
Really? Not one. You're willing to get out of the chair.
Rich, I've been on TV off and on for 20-something years. I can move over. I can sit by the new the new pool table in the set.
I can sit with the Seagulls who are in from New York. I can do whatever. We can do that. Yeah. We can do whatever.
Team player, Rich. Maybe we'll do that. Maybe we'll do that. There's an I in Michael. Also, I know nothing about fantasy, so I might as well sit out for that segment. Don't say that.
Normally we act more interested in the people that come on the program. It's all right. I think I'm being selfless here.
No, that's true. Let's move on. As Bryant Gumbel would say, let's move on.
You need to take your glasses off when you do that. Oh, hold on. Yeah. Yeah. Hold on, man.
From your from the real sports days before. There we go. Let's move on.
Well done. To a fantasy segment that I know nothing about. Mike Del Tufo, how are you over there, brother? I'm good.
There's an I in Mike. I'm not moving. You're not moving? No.
Is that moving? TJ, is the candle lit? TJ Jefferson, how are you, sir?
I'm great. The candle's lit, you know, and you know, people get mad when Suzy doesn't get enough airtime and camera time. So I would suggest her not moving because we're going to hear about it if she does. That's true. So that's true. The people want me here. Her Q rating is insanely high.
It's the highest of all of us. Nobody tweeted out yesterday. Where's Brockman? I didn't see that, right? I mean, there's so many tweets come in.
I can't count on people. I'm doing Chris dirty. A lot of really nice tweets, though, about your appearance on Giovanni's podcast.
Ah, yeah. I had a nice time with my buddy Gio yesterday podcasted with him when we were done with yesterday's show. And again, lots to get to right here. All three hours.
Stay right where you are. It's going to be a good one. And I already see phone lines are lit. Greatly appreciate that.
844-204, which is the number to dial. The AFC deep end of the pool, everyone agrees that. As a matter of fact, we're all assuming with all due respect to those in Detroit, many in the National Football League media and fan base assuming two weeks from today, we are talking about the Chiefs curb stomping the lines and they had no business being in that spot to kick off the season. You know, Dan Campbell's going to be playing that up significantly over the next 13 days.
Because my home's is my home's really good. And then in that division, Justin Herbert is expected to be an MVP candidate this year, right? Russell Wilson's got to be better, got to be better because Sean Payton's there.
Jimmy G is coming to Las Vegas, where he is hooked up with the guy who is the coordinator when he took over for Brady back in the day for a hot minute in New England. And he'll be the one who can actually move things along for Josh McDaniels in a way that maybe Derek Carr could not. Then you've got Trevor Lawrence.
We're going to be predicting the AFC South later on in this program. Trevor Lawrence, he took a big leap last year. It's going to be another big leap this year.
Oh, my goodness. Deshaun Watson has a full training camp and he's got a full season in Cleveland. Lamar Jackson has been pizayed. We're expecting a big season out of him. And Joe Burrow, whenever he comes back from his calf, could be two weeks from Sunday.
He's Joe friggin Burrow, right? And then you've got the AFC East, my God. Josh Allen and the Bills and Aaron Rodgers is now there, and Mac Jones has got his new offensive coordinator and Bill O'Brien, who was Brady's offensive coordinator when Josh McDaniels left to go to Denver back in the day.
And of course, Salty Tua. I bring all of this up to say the AFC is so deep and it's one quarterback after another, after another, after another. And then there's a group of. Rookies, Ryan Tannehill, we're expecting not DeAndre Hopkins, but few people talk about him. Who am I leaving out? Oh, Kenny Pickett. This guy, all he's done in the preseason is lead touchdown drives.
That's it. Five drives in the preseason for Kenny Pickett, every one of them. And in the touchdown, including two more last night. Kenny Pickett, what if this guy takes the leap? What if the Steelers have solved the quarterback issue?
That we all knew was going to be coming when Big Ben was chiming in, when Brady and Peyton Manning were not. What about Kenny Pickett and George Pickens, Rich Isenshow favorite? Oh, he's who is our fantasy, as you know, as you know, he was on this program. He is friends with Kenny Pickett, but Kenny's not his girlfriend. They don't go to the movies together is what he said. They don't go to the movies, but they go out to dinner in Pittsburgh where they know him.
And maybe they don't pick up the check because someone else does. Let me tell you something about Pickett to Pickens. George, Kenny Pickett has had five drives in the preseason, all of them touchdowns. George Pickens has been targeted just three times in the preseason, all of them for first downs, one of them for touchdowns. And last night, Pickett threw one up to Pickens, a nice old 50-50 ball, 35 yards. Got it to the one yard line, Najee Harris popped it in. TJ Watt is out there sacking people. Now, the Falcons didn't start their starters, the Steelers did. What if? That's a big what if entering the season, what if Pickett to Pickens is the pick to click? When Brockman said on overreaction Monday, these guys are on fire, that's it, Steelers are winning the AFC North as an overreaction topic.
And I said, that's not an overreaction. They got stars on defense. Patrick Peterson has been added, as if this is not brought to you by the letter P enough in Pittsburgh. Which is part of the reason why I wanted Mark Cabali on this program later on today. Mark is going to be joining us from the athletic. He's been covering the team since 2002. And so here we go.
Can the Steelers do it? This is what Mike Tomlin had to say, because we can't play enough Mike Tomlin soundbites on this program. This is what Tomlin had to say after the game last night on Kenny Pickett. You know, I think the growth is probably associated with with being him and not necessarily the surface level things associated with the position, but the leadership things, the communication things, bringing people together, things when you got a higher level of comfort in terms of what it is that you're doing, then those things probably happen more. And so, you know, that is significant. It's not, you know, play related, but it is because he he is the catalyst for that unit. He controls the pace and the tenor of that unit. And I just think if he's comfortable, that unit has an opportunity to be comfortable. And I think that's probably the most significant difference that is done.
There is a I'm sorry, I didn't who can make it. Yeah. It has been really solid. It's been really solid. Well, we know how you feel about that word, though. That's because there's room for improvement.
That's what I'm taking out of that. You know, I feel about the word solids, right? You know, very, very well. He's like one of one when it comes to feeling that way about the word. Oh, he has issues with a lot of strange words. You know, I was thinking, by the way, and listening to you do your lead in. What's your favorite name to say in football?
What do you mean? I'm so used to hearing you hit names like Peterson. Yeah. Peterson Peterson. Right. I feel like this morning there were there were a couple of words out there, a couple of names out there that enjoy on the tongue.
Soos, I think I think it's very obvious and I have every right to say this, that his favorite name in all of sports at the moment is very simply just Aaron Rogers. That's it. That he loves that word. No dance. No, excuse me.
It doesn't. And later on in this program, I've got one more thing to say before we send things to the weekend where he's actually going to play football. And in terms of that, maybe I should take my cue from Mike Tomlin, who we can't get enough sound bites from. Now, the fact is, I understand you all might be out there thinking, all right, Steelers started their starters, Falcons didn't. So of course, he's going to look like that.
And the answer to that would be, what's the alternative? He doesn't look like that against the Falcons backups. And suddenly we're going into the season thinking they aren't performing up to snuff and they won't be any good in this division. And they've got the forty niners coming into their house in week one. They are going to be really steamrolled because this kid is not ready.
And they also did not get this choice right at quarterback. The alternative is that instead of what we're seeing here. And Mike Tomlin had this to say about playing his starters in the preseason.
You know, I don't really need validation. I just think it's difficult to box without sparring. And so, you know, preseason, the opportunity for us to spar and sharpen our sword for the battle. God, I love this man.
Wow. It's difficult to box without sparring. He told George Pickens, do the routine routinely. He routinely gives us sound bites. That's a new drop, sir.
Can't box without sparring. Please make a note of that audio executive, Mike Del Tufo, who is doing something else right now other than this program. All good. It's all good.
Mike, my peripheral vision is on fire right now. OK, there you go. Thank you for taking that note or at least acting like you took notes right there. Were you pretending that you're worried or thinking about backtracking on Aaron?
Like, what if he doesn't play well? I'm not ready to discuss this. Just I'm just curious. This is not ready to call this the New York City Jewish backtrack. Oh, my goodness. You might call it that.
I don't think I can hypothesize in advance of what's going to go wrong. No, catastrophizing is another word for it. That's a good word.
A very good one. Thank you. But I'm not doing that. Just checking. I'm taking inspiration.
You can't box without sparring, Rich. Thank you. Write that one down.
Oh, my gosh. We got a bunch of people that want to play the win loss game on this program calling in, which is outstanding. We're going to take those calls on this program. We will predict the AFC South. Chris Brockman did prior to going to Kansas City for his fantasy draft.
By the way, I mean, it's like you. Is he already started to pick? Do we know that?
I have not. Or did he go there just to go eat barbecue the night before? So he's there today or and it's a three day thing because there's no time limits on choosing players.
I don't understand. But he left at any rate. He did leave behind a group of what's more likely subject matters, which you will.
Happily because I didn't assemble. It's all great, but it's all right, but you have to host it. Yeah, so that'll be great. Also, everybody is waiting to hear my AFC South predictions because yesterday you're going to have me just sit here while you guys did them, akin to how Rich does it on NFL Sundays. Oh, my gosh. And by the way, I'm ready. You are. Yeah, I know that you have a graphic. I mean, that's how ready you are. I have a graphic.
I'm just saying I have a graphic. That's my brother's birthday. Happy birthday.
Happy birthday, Scott. OK, very good. We're off and running. Yes. So Mark Kabali of the athletic covers the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Our number three. You also T.J. and have a very special segment in advance of the college football season, correct? I do. You know, a few weeks ago, I saw someone post the list of the college football's all name team. OK, kind of did something with it last year. OK, but I decided I took that all name team guys, and I decided that I would give them NIL deals based upon their names. Very good. I saw fit. OK, you know, so they have names, they have names, they have images and they have likenesses.
Yes. So you're going to give us those names and hook them up. I'm going to act as almost like a brand ambassador for some of these companies who might not really, you know, sometimes you see something and don't realize what you have right in front of you.
The table set. Some of these companies might not realize there is gold in these guys, rich, and I'm going to help them sell some product. But T.J., I think it's great because that's building out the brand for Rich Eisen Consulting, isn't it?
So basically taking Arias Consulting a step further. That's good on you, T.J. It's what we do. I appreciate you bringing that up, since you're not in that graphic of the Rich Eisen Consulting. I should be. Well, it's based off of Anchorman. You could be the Christina Applegate character. We could do that.
You mean uptight? And no, sure, sounds good. I don't know. I don't know.
I can get into the lion's den. And I don't know if I'm Ron Burgundy. OK, all right, let's take a break before I tell San Diego something I shouldn't.
San Diego. All right, we take a break. We've got Jason Moore and Mike Wright, the co-hosts of the most popular sports podcast there is on planet Earth at present.
The fantasy footballers here in studio give you much needed advice when we come back. So. Are you currently enjoying the show on the Stitcher app? Then you need to know Stitcher is going away on August 29th.
Yep. Going away as in Kaput gone dead. Rest in peace, Stitcher. And thanks for 15 years of service to the podcast community. So switch to another podcast app and follow this show there. Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.
On those teams that I was fortunate to be part of. Search BLEAV podcast wherever you listen. Ah, yes. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show here on the Roku channel. Our terrestrial radio audience will rejoin in a matter of moments. And that's when we'll get to the meat of what the fantasy footballers are here to talk about. The number one fantasy football podcast and regularly the number one sports podcast in the country. They are going to be live right here in Los Angeles at the Palace Theater this weekend. Correct? Yeah, that is right.
Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Good to see you, gents. How are you? It's great to be back, Rich.
Seriously, it's a delight. What's it been, like three years or something? Four. Four. Yeah, too long. It has been.
A couple of call-ins in the meantime, but being in the studio, this is just beautiful. Well, that's a you thing, isn't it? Don't you live in Arizona? Yeah, we do. OK. Unfortunately. Wait, we're allowed to just pop in?
Yeah. All right. I'm moving.
Don't say things like this, Rich. I'm just going to be knocking on the door. OK, very good. Mike, you got to open her microphone, Mike. You got to open the mic. I got it.
OK, very good. I just come up, you guys. I just show up. I basically, like, you know, let some air out of Chris's tires and I just come. You can do that, too. Yeah, we'll be there. What, let air out of his tires? Yeah, sure.
OK. This is what happened. TJ, that's why you never miss a show because if you leave, you take a beating. I get Wally pipped, too.
So we got to do that. And Andy Hallaway is walking around the studio right over there. Say hello to Andy. He's right behind us.
OK, no? He's around here somewhere. He's around here somewhere? In spirit. All right. So let's let's get into this thing right here.
By the way, again, the fantasy footballers you can check out all the time. You're number one as we currently speak. So congratulations on that again. And thank you. You know, I'm sure what you and Pardon might take a flip flop around.
Yeah, it's usually between the two of us right now. Right now we're winning. So this is our season. This is this is right. Exactly. I love it. Fantastic.
All right. So we're right here on the Roku Channel. Our terrestrial radio audience is about to return.
And we're going to dig into some very important information for a lot of people. The Rich Eisen Show radio network is back on the air. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.
Grainger has the right product for you. Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by as Jason Moore and Mike Wright, co-host of the Fantasy Footballers podcast have done once again. Good to see you again, gents.
Let's talk. What's the most what's the biggest conundrum you think for fantasy players entering the season? Is it Jonathan Taylor right now?
Yes, I'd say right now, Johnny Taylor and Josh Jacobs of I mean, these are, you know, first round pick type of talents. And what is actually going on? Is Taylor hurt? Is he just mad that he wants another contract? I think he's physically unwilling to perform. Right.
Yeah. He's hurt in the wallet right now. Because I mean, if he's looking for a trade like right now, clearly the first question is like, so is he hurt or not? I don't think he's hurt to the point where he can't play football right. Right. So that said, Josh Jacobs, though, I think is going to be back week one. I really do believe so. So in, you know, this current collective bargaining agreement, like people don't hold out.
It's not as common as it used to be. Yes, I would absolutely bet. Josh Jacobs is there week one, day one. And when he's there for fantasy purposes, people are like, well, you know, he missed camp.
He missed preseason. Will they throw him right to the wolves? Yeah, they will. They'll just throw him out there.
Every snap. He'll be on the field. He'll be great. So you think draft Josh Jacobs as if this holdout never happened, right? Is that what you would say? Uh, that the league's leading rusher is in the mix. If you are a keeper league, you keep them. Is that what you're basically saying? Yeah, I think that you should. And the nice thing is you don't have to draft him in the first round. You can still get like the dip because of the holdout.
People are scared. So he drops to the back of the second, the third round. And I'm scooping him up. And Jonathan Taylor, how do you handle that business? So he's a little bit of a different situation because of where he is with the team. Yes. And his is again, is he hurt?
Probably not. But that's all just our speculation. But just for fantasy football purposes, he's already in a tough situation because he has a rookie quarterback that'll be starting the whole season. And we know historically that that does not usually pan out for fantasy running backs. Jonathan Taylor's a different type of dude.
He's the incredible Hulk. So he has that going against him. And then on top of that, the arc type of Anthony Richardson, he's a mobile quarterback.
He's going to use his superpowers. And a lot of time that turns that takes checkdowns away. Like you've kind of seen that like Lamar in Baltimore there. You don't count on their running backs to catch a ton of passes like. So this isn't the Philip Rivers checking down to Jonathan Taylor all the time.
So he's got Taylor's got a bunch of things working against him. He's just so difficult to evaluate though because he's like a top three running back in the league when he's healthy and good to go. But there's a lot of things about the Colts offense that are scary for fantasy.
Jason Moore and Mike Wright of the Fantasy Footballers podcast here on the Rich Eisen Show. So non-PPR league number one player is still Justin Jefferson? Non-PPR, I mean yeah, Justin Jefferson's probably just as safe as it gets. Even though it's not PPR, you know he's going to be up near the league lead and yards. He's going to have touchdowns. Last year he should have had more touchdowns. Like he should have as great as he was last season based on his yardage and his targets where they were on the field, he should have positive touchdown regression coming. So I think yeah, he's the number one pick. You don't know the health of running backs. And so even though like a guy like Derrick Henry, way better in a non-PPR, I think with the number one pick you could still go wide receiver. Derrick Henry I've had the last couple years and watching him run off the field every third down has driven me insane. As if his backup makes things better ever. Like just the fact that he's standing there would mean so much, I would think, in the same way as Suzy would recall from back in the day. Reggie Bush should have been out on the field at the end of that Rose Bowl game against Texas, you know what I'm saying?
I mean so that's the way I feel. I think of that moment every time I watch Derrick Henry run off the field on a third down. That said, Justin Jefferson being number one overall, my favorite stat about him, and you've probably heard this but I'll say it again anyway, he not only has the record for most receiving yards and touchdowns and receptions through your first three years of an NFL career, but he has it for the first four years of an NFL career. And he's going into his fourth year this year. He may be the greatest wide receiver in the history of fantasy football.
Would you throw that out there right now? He certainly could develop into that, but you know, football is crazy. When you go back and you think about like, if you were to go back and look at your fantasy lineup three seasons ago, you'll have names where you're like, oh yeah, I forgot. There was one point in time where Odell Beckham was going to be that. He was the next Jerry Rice.
Yeah, it was over. He's the greatest wide receiver of all time. Then injuries happen and life moves on and Odell Beckham is now, you know, he hasn't been a top 12 wide receiver since 2016 or something. It's like, it's almost a decade.
You just don't even realize that. So McCaffrey's the first running back off the board? Yeah, McCaffrey's the number one guy for me.
He just, the situation for San Francisco is perfect. He's probably like the number two target in the team for the team. Deebo is probably still number one there. If you look at the target breakdown for those small sample, but the four or five games it was that we had Brock Purdy. Deebo was his number one guy and then it was, and then we had McCaffrey and he just, the fact that you're going to get 50 plus receptions plus all the goal line work, you want, for your running backs you have to get high value touches and that's where it's at. A target is in fantasy as long as you're in like a half or a full point PPR.
Statistically, just the target is worth about two and a half times more than a single carry. So that's why we're always trying to target guys who can catch the ball and with all the platoons everywhere, McCaffrey's not in a platoon. He is the guy. And what about Eckler? Is he second off your list or you go Derrick Henry there?
Where do you go here? I know Mike is not as into Eckler, but I still, just a little worried. I still have Eckler as number two. There's only a handful of guys that will catch the ball or at least be targeted like a hundred times and then actually right now for me, after Eckler, it's the rookie.
It's the sensation. It's Bijan Robinson. I'm fine taking him in the first round. He, you know, we don't know if the passing volume in Atlanta will be good enough to give him a hundred targets, but we know he's good enough. And rookie running backs, they're just, they're, they're a good investment in fantasy.
Yeah. I mean, Chris Brockman, who's, who's not here today because he's in Kansas City going through his annual keeper league draft, had third overall pick status. And he's, he, he left thinking I'm going to take him. Because you know, when you come back, he's gone. So it doesn't matter if you take him third, you know, if you're going to go take him seventh, what do you get better value? I mean, you're just going to get him if you, if you like him. What's your concern with Eckler?
What are your concerns? It's just the, the, the age, which it's, you can say, well, Christian McCaffrey is also a little bit older. So he, Eckler is... Age, huh? That's a stat in, in fantasy? Yeah. It's the, the running back age cliff is a real thing. And it's right around 27, 28, which I'm just telling you what the historical trends are for running backs, which Eckler is an outlier in himself to be an undrafted player, to become what he is on the field, which is just awesome.
Yes. That's so the age is like, well, maybe, maybe it could be an issue. And his, he's been so overly efficient in touchdowns, which again, he is an outlier of a player, but the rate at which he has scored touchdowns has been, uh, well, well above where he should be. And then his, so last year you had Keenan Allen missed that a huge amount of time with the hamstring injury, Mike Williams kind of on and off the field. In the games where he was playing without one of those guys, his target share is just, just catapults way up. And then if everybody's actually healthy, which right now everyone is, and you kind of presume you got to hope that guys are going to stay healthy and plan for that.
His target share was a little bit lower. So it, and it's not like I'm out by any means on Austin Eckler. I just, I have, uh, I've got him, I think a spot behind Bijan. All right.
Mike Wright and Jason Moore are the fantasy football, footballers podcast here on the show. Fifth, sixth overall pick fourth. You take Kelsey is Travis Kelsey. Yeah. That's, that's a no for me. Uh, why? Cause he's a tight end.
No, because I think that there's a better value. I think two rounds later getting Mark Andrews is put it this way. Travis Kelsey. Who's great. He's awesome.
He's Zeus. He has never, ever been drafted this high and he's 34. So this is the year we're going to take him number five overall because Sky Moore and Caderius, Tony, and so on and so forth. I mean, that's the guy and the number of times where you keep saying, well, teams aren't going to let Kelsey beat them.
Then Kelsey beats them. I mean, yeah, this is the year that you do that. I would, I, if I was sitting there fourth or fifth, I would do it in a PPR league. I mean, you don't think that the first person when Mahomes turns his head is looking for his 87. And I loved the shot, the screen grab from last week's preseason game against Arizona, where the one where Mahomes threw running out of bounds, leaping up in the air for Arizona Cardinals chasing him and running to his right.
Okay. And Kelsey is outside the numbers on the other side of the field, raising his hand, saying I'm open because he knows that Mahomes will always look for him. And Mahomes might might, there it is, technically have eyes in the back of his head that this is the mentality that you take Travis Kelsey.
Yeah, the, the, you know, I'm more on board. Like I think it's a fine pick to take Kelsey there. The, the argument against taking him there is because last year the tight end position was such a dumpster fire, which it's, it's never great for fantasy football, but the, the score scoring disparity between him and the other tight ends was larger than it should be.
And like it has been in the past. So the advantage, if you're just looking at the point scored of last year, it's like, Oh, look at this huge advantage that Kelsey gave me. It's not normally that big because you had Mark Andrews end up getting hurt. I mean, it was like, and Lamar and Lamar also got hurt. Darren Waller got injured.
Yeah. TJ Hockinson, I think ended up as the number two tight end last year. And it was not, it was like a good year, but it wasn't any means of like, this should be the number two tight end on the year. So that's, that's my only hesitation is I like Mark Andrews in the third. I love Darren Waller, love Darren Waller in the fifth or the sixth round.
Because of Daniel Jones is going to use him as the security blanket. Kelsey over Tyreek Hill. I know you say no.
Yes. I would take Tyreek. You take Tyreek. Kelsey over Devante Adams. I know you say no. Do you say yes? I would take Kelsey over Adams.
Yeah. And you're, so I would take Kelsey over Devante Adams. You would? I would. So I shouldn't speak for you.
I apologize. No, it's, it's just, you know, Jimmy Garoppolo scares me a little bit with whether or not he can handle it. Yeah, exactly.
I'm, you know, that's a little fantasy football metric as well. How lost in his eyes can you get? And Jason just loses all control.
Well, I'm more worried about Devante Adams being lost in his eyes and then dropping that ball. Nicely done. My eyes have great peripheral vision. Certainly when my wife is in my peripheral vision, she has been somewhat checked out.
Totally checked out. But what happened, what happened when Jimmy Garoppolo's name got mentioned? Yeah. Wait, what did you say about Jimmy? I was, I was multitasking over here as Mike sometimes does.
And then you said Jimmy Garoppolo's too handsome. And I was like, wait, what, what's that? Say yes. That's my kind of fantasy football. Yes.
That's why they pay me the big bucks guys. And we're back. Yeah. At any rate. Okay. So the list of quarterbacks worthy of a second round selection.
Go. Well, there's three that are, that are somewhat worthy. You could go somewhat where I still believe right now for fantasy this year, you've got the big three who dominated last year, right?
You've got Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen in any order you want. You can make a good argument for, for all of them in the second round. In the second round is where they're going in a lot of drafts this year. But what I have found is even like, they're going to be great. You know, it's not going to be a bust pick if they don't get injured, but you're giving up a really good running back, a really good wide receiver there.
And only one team wins the championship. You can be good when you draft them. But the best team is going to be who got the best value in the draft. For me, I like the Justins. I like Justin Herbert and Justin Fields because you get them several rounds later. And then I get that second round running back or that second round wide receiver. And if they hit, then I'm the best team. That's, that's how I'm approaching this season.
What about you, sir? I shy away from the early quarterback. Again, talked about the scoring discrepancy for tight ends. The quarterbacks was huge last year.
The top three, it was a really, really big advantage, especially compared to like the, the middle tier, you know, quarterback four through six or seven, which over the last four years or so that the, the points per game difference of a, of the QB four is only like two or three, but it was a huge spread this past year. So I'm more with Jason that I'd love to get Fields a little bit later. And then if I'm, if I miss out because I, I pushed too far, I gambled and lost, then it's, I think for me, it's Geno Smith. Okay.
I think he is the, the late round quarterback to go after. The golf? No? He is just, no thank you. He's up and, he's so up and down.
What's with the golf, hey? The last nine weeks of last season in Amra Saint Brown. And you, you're talking about Bijan, what about Jamir Gibbs? I mean, he could be a significant game changer. Jamison Williams is going to come back at some point.
I mean, so. The issue with golf, when you, when you get to guys like golf, if you look last year, he had an excellent season, but it comes in a disgusting way. When, when you look at, when you look at consistency, he's just wrecking your team half the time.
So he's a good streaming guy. If he's at home, his home road splits were crazy last year. So he's just not someone I want to rely on week in, week out. I think right now you've got seven quarterbacks that you can say are plug and play. And then if you don't get one of those guys, sure, you can take a look at the opening schedule and say, do I like Jared Goff's week one, draft him to start him week one, but I'm not drafting him to just be my season long starter because he's going to have some bad games too. The latest you should draft your season long starter.
How late is too late? Last round. Yeah. I mean, no round. I don't. So you would take a, wait till like round eight, round nine to take a quarterback and it's not a problem. And then you wouldn't, you might wind up with one of the rookies then, don't you think?
I wouldn't pick it. I mean, by the way, I just started the show singing his praises. Yeah, he looked. Sam Howell, you know, I mean. Don't get this guy started on Sam Howell.
I'm a believer. I think Sam Howell is going to be good. Good for fantasy. He runs the ball as well. He's got great wide receivers. I'm excited to see what Eric Bienemy can do. So of course. So you're a big Sam Howell guy. We have one specific drawback on Sam Howell on this program. We discovered it about three weeks ago or so. And again, I mean, we're talking about looks, right? I don't know if this is a fantasy football metric, but it just like, is he ready to be an elite quarterback?
And certainly free here. And maybe this is a me thing. It comes down to hair and like, how can you follow the bed head into battle? Like, we don't know what's up with that. You know, like, can you, can you trust a quarterback who looks like he just woke up? Is he too, is it just because he's too young? No idea.
I don't know. Is he ready? I mean, Ron Rivera says he's ready. Does this look like a guy who could take the mean, mean words of of his offensive coordinator?
You know, like, can he handle the mean coaching? Well, Rich, are you sure this isn't just a hair envy? As somebody who's got more hair on his chin than I do in my head, I take offense. I'm like, very honest.
It was serious. What's going on here? This guy is the worst. I have to sit next to him in his beautiful hair every day.
This luscious lux. All right, all right. We're doing all right.
All right, you're doing terrifically. And you guys are doing great with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Tell me what you guys are doing with and for St. Jude, thanks to your immense success with your podcast. Yeah, so over the course of the years, our fans have helped us donate. We're about to cross the quarter million mark donating to St. Jude. Congrats.
Beautiful. You know, part of our fans, some some celebrity leagues that we've we've happened to win. Don't be so sheepish about it. Come on. All right, look, we were we were in a celebrity league with, like, Tim the Tat Man, Ninja, Zach Efron, smoked him. Yeah, we let them know you stay on your streaming platform. Stay in your lane. We'll handle the fantasy.
Don't come in your lane. That's right. Understood. And so how do people get involved? How can they donate?
How can they do this? Yeah, I mean, you know, we choose to donate from some of our live shows. So we've got a live show coming up this week. Whenever someone gets our draft kit, we donate a portion of that. So it's really just being along for the ride, being a fan of the show. And, you know, it's something that matters to us. Like, I had a best friend growing up who needed a lot of care and St. Jude's took good care of. So it's genuinely near and dear to our heart. And so we we appreciate them and like being part of supporting them.
Susie and I have three kids. And we talk about it all the time there. But for the grace of God, you know, we talk about it all the time and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, being there so people do not see a bill for the care or the lodging or the travel and all everyone has to do is take care of the kids. Yeah, it's beautiful.
It is a beautiful thing. Where can people go and see you this weekend? The Palace Theater? Yeah. So if you head to ballerslive.com, I think there's just, I mean, maybe a couple tickets left.
So if you're in the LA area, check in. I'm not sure where it's at right now. Who performs longer? You or Taylor Swift? Like how long do we get?
We can handle the Swiftie. How long is the show? How long do we go here?
So how's your stamina is basically what I'm asking. It'll probably be an hour and a half, do a bunch of Q&A after that and have a nice time. All right, so it's a whole night. Yeah, making a vin out of it.
Okay, so have dinner before basically what you're saying. Yes. Yeah, I mean, look, I'm gonna say something that is a secret. But if you're watching this show, you're gonna know.
Okay, I'm bringing a t-shirt cannon to the show. Oh, yeah. True story.
Oh, God. Yeah, it's a it is. It's a brand.
It should not be legal. Can I just give you a piece of advice? Mm hmm. 45 degree angle, at least. Oh, yes. No, it's going to the mezzanine. I'm not shooting that thing low. Not parallel.
You gotta have it in some sort of a 45 degree. Sure. Okay. Give me the name of the sleeper of the year. Jalen Warren.
That would be my pick. The second year undrafted free agent running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I think he is explosive. Reminds me a lot of Austin Eckler.
What we saw when he was an undrafted free agent. I think he scored last night, actually. Yeah. Yes, he did.
Yes, he did. Uh huh. Yeah.
All right. That's my pick. So you think he gets in there in a Tony Pollard type role? Yeah, exactly.
I think that's a really good comp. He's just the more explosive guy that's going to work his way onto the field. And then he also has, he's the insurance option.
Should something happen to Najee, all of a sudden he becomes a league winner. Okay. And what about you, sir? And I'll go, I'll go Zay Flowers.
Rookie wide receiver. You're buying in. You got the Zay Flowers. I am. I'm bought in. I'm bought in for what the Baltimore Ravens should be doing. We have no idea, though.
That's the whole point. We have, we have at least some evidence of what Todd Monck in the new OC has done, which is, he likes to throw a lot. Okay. And he likes to play fast, which the Ravens have been the complete opposite of that. They're like, you know, we'll bring in a fifth fullback you didn't know we had, and we'll fake to him, and we'll have that, that 23 play drive that results in a Justin Tucker 16 yarder, you know, like those days are over.
Yeah. So the actual rate, like pace of play is huge for fantasy football by, because by the end of the year, if you're, you're getting just a handful of snaps extra per game, it, it really does matter. And, and we just, we believe they're going to throw a lot. We don't know who's going to be the number one guy. Rashad Bateman was their number one guy, kind of de facto, but he's been coming back from his foot injury. Is he really good to go? Odo Beckham.
Okay. Another ACL, and Zay Flowers just, I mean, that touchdown reception the other night, he looked, he looks pretty nice. Rich Isenshow, Grand Maester, TJ Jefferson just raised his hand as we're up against it.
What do you got over there, TJ? Really quickly, fellas, I was thinking the four rookie wide receivers, Quentin Johnston, Jackson Smith, and Jigba, Zay Flowers, and Jordan Addison, you mentioned Flowers, but those four, I need one of those guys. Who, are you saying that Flowers is the best of those four? Is that the guy should? Well, you probably would have taken Smith and Jigba if he didn't get something banged up.
You have to factor that in. I would take Flowers personally. Yeah, for me, we just did our My Guy show, and one of my three My Guys I picked this year is Jordan Addison. I think he is absolutely excellent, and his opportunity to cross the field from Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen ran the second most routes last year, and he's gone.
So I think he goes right in to a good role this season, and dominates. Well, I appreciate you. That was my pick, was Addison. Yeah, I know it is. I know you love him, and I appreciate you guys coming on and giving all those nuggets, and I found out, confirmed, what I already knew is that if Suzy did a My Guy show, top three would be Jimmy Garoppolo, all three of them, and I might, I might be fourth, right? Well, I mean, you know how it goes in our house. You usually say that you come behind the two dogs and the three kids.
That's true. Yeah, I'm sixth. You're my top draft. I appreciate that.
Yeah, the depth chart is deep. Thank you for coming on, greatly appreciate it. At the FF Ballers on Twitter, Jason Moore and Mike Wright, obviously you know where to find the podcasts where all podcasts are acquired.
The Fantasy Footballers podcast right here on The Rich Eisen Show. We're back with more in a moment. Can you tell me the story, the famous story, of you noticing John Candy in the crowd before that two-minute drill at the Bengals? Harris Barton was a people person, so we were free for dinner during the week, but, you know, practice and meetings, and then come back after dinner and more meetings. So when he would come back from dinner, he was like a little kid.
He could not wait to tell you about all the celebrities he saw while he was at dinner. And so I had, we were just standing there in between the tight end and his shoulder was a friend John Candy. In the crowd? He was on the sideline. Oh, he's on the sideline. And so I was, and I sat there and I I looked and I go, dang, I don't remember Harris saying he saw John Candy.
It's what you're thinking in the Super Bowl with minutes to go and needing to drive down the field. Well, yeah, so I walked over and said, hey, hey man, there's John Candy. And Harris stood like this for eight minutes, perfectly still. He was a little bit anal that way.
He would not move. He was like a little, I didn't do it to unwind him. I just thought he would appreciate seeing John Candy. Did you ever meet Candy or that was the only time?
Yeah, no, I had met John a few years before that. Um, my contract was up and he was, you know, one of the owners of the Toronto Argonauts. Okay.
He was trying to get me to go to Canada. Come on. Yeah.
They just didn't have enough money. But if the price was right, I might've had, I might've been wearing an Argonaut. Yeah.
You'd have a 55 yard line. So he legitimately said, you know, hey, you know, we had a couple of meetings about, you did. So this is real.
Like it wasn't just like an old, by the way. No, no, no, no. Wow. I love that. And I believe Joe Montana might be coming on next week too.
His name crossed the booking radar screen just today. So of course the answer to that is a yes. You're out with friends and few drinks become a few too many. You decide to drive anyway. What's the worst that can happen, right? Drive sober or get pulled over paid for by NHTSA.
Great information right there from Jason Moore and Mike Wright here on the program. I mean, it's a bottom line. It's a crap shoot, but being in a fantasy league with this guy's were like, well, QB four is usually three points, 2.3%, a little bit more like, okay. I'm just like, do I take this guy? Let me think. I'm in that deep. You know, it's like playing poker against all these people who know the odds, things like odds. Like, I don't know.
I never understood. I think my hand is good. Let me just put this in. You know, that's how I play cards. I go by feel sometimes, but Brockman gets mad at me. He's like, you got to play by the book. Well, sometimes you just got to go with your gut, rich TJ. I'm going to give you what you want. Oh, a cowboy Superbowl. Nope.
Thank you, Jesus. Oh, nope. Not that when Susie Schuster is in the chair for Chris Brockman, you like stories. I love stories.
I love stories that give a window into our relationship. And we just heard in a way, you know, a little bit of that where we're talking fantasy football and she's like, whatever. And then they're like Jimmy Garoppolo and she's like, hello. Oh, hello. The chicken hog, Jimmy G. Zoinks.
It's okay. I don't know what's coming. She has no idea what's coming. So now here it comes.
I'm going to give some, just a little bit of an inside here. Jimmy, come on in from the back. Susie, Susie, always like, yes, no matter where we are, no matter where we are in our own home or on the road. And we're, you know, getting ready for sleep. She always has to choose the side of the bed closest to the door at home or in the hotel or anywhere, anywhere.
As soon as you want to tell them why. Well, if there's a fire, I am first out, first of all. Also, if there's a fire, I'm first out. And you get so upset about this. Yes, because.
I have to take care of our three kids. I understand that. Every single time that happens, just like I know, okay, you take that side. I got this one.
All good. I just keep thinking of the Costanza scene from Seinfeld, you know, where it's fire and just shoves, shoves me out of the way. Wait a minute, are you equating me to pushing out kids as I run from a burning apartment in New York City because somebody threw trash in the garbage? And I'm the kid. Yes.
Okay. Pushing down families. Now you tell me how am I supposed to handle that sort of thing?
Well, I mean, the saying is women and children first, right? That is what they say. That is what they say. I got a question, though.
I mean, I want to pair too deeply into your life. But I was reading the story the other day. The story went viral and there was a couple and they don't have designated size of the bed. The wife was like, we just get in bed on whatever side we decide to sleep in.
And that became like a big thing. So you're always on the one side. You don't decide, like, one day I'm going to take the door, one day I'm going to take the wall. Well, actually, we just spent some time in a rental because of what's going on in our house.
And actually, that was that was weird. But you took that side of the bed because the one that I was on had a direct shot when the door was open of sunlight. Well, so I was so that was the one time that you got the door, that I got the door. So had there been a fire at this Airbnb, you'd have been safe and we would be. No, I would have made sure she was out first. I would have pushed you out of the way to get out the door.
I would have yelled Falda Falda and I would have nicely done. But I have to agree. Who are those people? We're just like just masochists.
Like, what's wrong with them? Yeah, it became a big thing. Like, how do you how do you have a bedside table? Like, where do you put your stuff? That's right.
Where do you put your stuff? That's what all the questions were coming in about, about their stories. Mike, I'm just listening to you. I see a man in his boat, 90 percent of the time. Oh, what about the 10 percent? 90 percent of the time. But on the road.
Wait a minute. So nine out of 10 road trips, Mike is busy. One out of 10 road trips. Mike never gets busy.
Is that what I'm just to understand? This reminds me of when Brian Shaw and I used to sit there in hotels and watch the Lakers. Friends and associates roll in. Roll in. That one's going to the seventh floor.
That one's going to be 11th floor. Oh, yeah, the Yankees. I saw the Yankees one time.
But what about you on the road? Mike Del Tufo. Mike, my gosh.
It may be eight out of ten. Everybody in Fox Sports accounting is now running, combing through his expense. When did I get a second? Why are there two breakfasts?
Nine out of nine out of the 10 trips have the same amount of per diem. And then all of a sudden that one. Right.
Mike, we're going to be one of those. See, I told you I would give you what you wanted. You did. You did.
And a bonus Mike Del Tufo story on top. We know if there's a fire in your house, you are not going to make it. See you later. See you later.
She'll carry on. Nice knowing you. By the way, too, if you sit on that side, you usually need the air conditioning. So it's kind of like. I can't be near an air conditioning vent.
That's right, too. So I guess I catch a cold unless there's a fire. Hour two coming up. I told you, you get what you want. Like I said, I wanted to know something that we have to ask. Oh, and by the way, oh, no, before that, I'm sorry, Mike, let me let me handle this from here. You can do it. We saw this on your Instagram story last week, and I immediately snapped a screen grab of it because, you know, Instagram stories go away.
Missing someone you love and not seeing them for a while truly makes it all that more special when you finally see them again. You know who? And I sent that to the group saying that must be us because you were out two days last week. That's exactly who I was. Is that who was?
Is it us? You were right. I was talking. Who is it, Mike?
Don't worry about it. No one's watching. Let's go. Who am I? Come on, Mike. Come on.
Just us on the Roku channel and the millions of people. We have a more important question. Someone wants to know what you thought of the rich imitation that that the comedian I want to Roku and I want to know who the woman is. Don't throw her off.
She's on the set. Mike, look out. I've been on the business end of this before. I'm going to take a shower. If you were in the locker room, I have to walk away.
I can't answer the question. Like if you were someone he loves that he hasn't seen in a while. And it's very excited to see you and I want to know you. Come on. I keep it quiet.
It's on the down low, except when he wants to Instagram it out. Yeah, but it was you guys. That's it. Right. It's Brockman. Yeah, maybe not.
I actually do miss Brockman when he's gone. I told him that. Oh, what's wrong with me? Wait a minute. No, no. Yes.
Are you kidding me? Oh, my gosh. You are in a hole. That's a part out right here. Music. Roll your break.
Look out and break. 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? Phew. It ain't chicken. It's like biting into a sinewy charcoal briquette, but chewy. Oh, wow. That's disgusting. It sure is. Check out Arn every week, wherever you listen.
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