Is Wander Franco's career over?

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Learn more at Discover.com slash credit card. Limitations apply. Oh, my God, you guys are my favorite. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Rich Eisen. I know what I'm talking about.

That's the headline. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Dan Schwartzman. OMG. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

Oh, my gosh. And now sitting in for Rich, it's Dan Schwartzman. All right, our three of the Rich Eisen Show on a Friday final show of 2023. Dan Schwartzman in for Rich.

Well-deserved break for him. I'll be back Monday. I lead you out of 2023.

I bring you back in 2024. A lot of NFL talk, NBA talk as well. Baseball free agency continues at a snail's pace. Some huge names out there. A two time Cy Young Award winner still out there.

Former Cy Young Award winner has been cleared of any criminal charges. Is also apparently going to come back from Japan and a sticky situation going on down in Tampa with a young Rays star who's got one hundred and eighty million dollar contract. Lot to get to in baseball. No better person to do it with. Our good friend, baseball writer for the athletic Keith Law joining us.

Keith, happy New Year. Let's start off with what's happening in Tampa. The Wonder Franco situation is starting to come out a bit more. He doesn't show up after being summoned in the Dominican Republic to talk about the allegations of relations with underage women. There's two, in fact, that have come forward. The Rays have so far said very little.

He hasn't played recently, obviously. What's going to happen there? And if you're the Rays, what do you do? Do you kind of keep him on leave as long as this as long as this is investigated? Well, there's a whole legal process here that probably has to play out before we can.

I mean, I can't say anything definitive, right? We're right now police authorities are after him. He's been on, I think, the restricted list since the beginning of August. He's not going to play again until this legal thing is resolved about.

That's about all I can say for sure. And the fact it certainly doesn't look good that multiple times they have tried to get him to come in and speak to them. And he obviously has not. And he may be on the run from authorities. That's what the news reports sound like, which is if that's true, that's also really not good. I mean, if you're asking for my guess, I don't think he ever plays again. My guess is his career is over. And yeah, that's one hundred and eighty million dollars left on the table.

If I'm the GM of the race right now, I am planning for a wonder list future. I am just proceeding as if he's never playing again. He is if that's wrong and if he's able to return, he still has a contract with the Rays. And obviously you make room for a player of his caliber, assuming that you still want him on the roster. But right now, it looks like he's not going to play. If he ever plays again, it's going to be a really long time. And I think they just need to proceed as if they're never not going to have him this year. And so they have to address shortstop. And that's a huge hole in the lineup offensively, just from a baseball only perspective.

That's an enormous loss. He was blossoming into a real superstar on the field. And so that's a pretty big challenge for a club like Tampa Bay that really depends on having stars who are relatively speaking, who are underpaid.

And that's what he was. He signed a long term contract while he was very young. They weren't paying market price for for his level of production. Yeah, 11 years, 182 million. They thought to themselves in November 2021, 70 games into his career, they got themselves a steal. And he probably thought, I'll be a free agent again at what, 31?

I'll sign another big deal and make more money. But I'll tell you, you know, with you saying that, you know, putting it out there in terms of he's potentially on the run. You're right. I never thought of it that way. But it kind of seems that way because he won't show up and meet with the officials in the D.R. Now, that said, what's mind boggling to me and I know the baseball players union is the most powerful union maybe the world has ever seen.

But how does a guy and I understand what guaranteed means. But how is there not apparently a clause in a contract where if you can ever get out of a contract, wouldn't this type of situation be it? Well, they don't have to pay him if he's unable to play.

Right. If he is obviously he's in prison, they're not going to have to pay him. They would actually still retain his rights in a baseball sense. So say completely hypothetically, he gets like a one year prison sentence. I have no idea.

I need that number up. We don't really know. And these charges are way more serious than that. And if that were the case, in theory, he could serve a short prison sentence and then return to the race. And the contract would resume. He wouldn't be paid for the time when he's unable to play. You know, if they wanted to simply void the contract before that, they'd have to pay him. I mean, that's we've seen that happen in several other cases, generally involving some kind of domestic violence or sexual assault allegations. So the Rays aren't going to do that.

Right. They're not going to just assume that liability. They'll just keep him on the restricted list and say, well, we don't have to pay him anything until, you know, assuming he's either in prison or suspended by Major League Baseball.

That's the other thing that can happen. We've seen many times where there's no criminal charges, but Major League Baseball finds more than enough evidence in their view to issue a suspension. And then the players don't get paid until the suspension ends. So there's several scenarios here where the Rays are also not paying Franco for a short period of time or maybe even for for the remainder of the contract.

And Keith, we just saw that right with Trevor Bauer. He was out the year and a half, pretty much. But some people didn't legally agree with that. And maybe there's a case there be ending. I think he's probably suing, but it's a case where in the end he was not found guilty of anything.

So I don't know if he did it, didn't do it, but he's now attempting to come back from Japan. He's a former Cy Young Award winner. He's still age wise in the prime of his career. Is there any market there in baseball for a team to take a chance on Trevor Bauer? Now, to be fair, he was never a, you know, a clubhouse guy per se.

But do you see a team bringing in Trevor Bauer? Is he that toxic? Regardless of the fact, again, he was never nothing criminal ever ever came out of this. Nothing criminal was found.

He did have multiple women accuse him of some kind of misdeeds. And Major League Baseball found enough evidence in that case to issue the longest suspension at the time, at least the longest suspension ever under the domestic violence and sexual assault policy. So I just take from that.

Look, they found something, something untoward happened and they decided it was strong enough evidence to issue a suspension of that length. Other teams will look at it the same way. And there are multiple things you have to consider.

Obviously, Trevor Bauer in the just in the abstract on the field helps your team. However, your fans are probably not going to like this. Some will. Many won't. There will be a pretty significant backlash to bringing someone with those allegations against him and a suspension of that length against him. And you may have players on your team or members of the coaching staff who are opposed to bringing him in. If he comes back, my guess is he probably doesn't. I don't think there's going to be a lot of market for his services.

But if he does, it would likely be to a team with very little to lose. I think it was Craig Calcutta who wrote this. Baseball writers got a great newsletter.

I think he wrote something like this. It's going to be a team that has kind of no downside. A team that doesn't have a big fan base or isn't likely to care or hear much of an outcry if they do bring him back. He mentioned the Oakland days, right?

One of the Oakland days have to lose at this point. No one's showing up to that stadium anyway. And you can get him for cheap, right? I mean, they don't like to spend their money. He can't get a big contract.

He's going to play for one year anyway at this point. Kind of a prove it thing. Can you behave yourself? So you're right.

Oakland makes sense. Yeah, it's crass, but you know, it's also capitalism. Would I sign him? No, I would not. If I were a GM, I would say we don't I don't agree. I don't want to sign somebody with that kind of history and I don't want to bring that into our clubhouse.

Not everybody thinks that way. And, you know, that is just how I would operate if I were a GM. But there may be GMs who say this guy's going to make us a better team.

That's worth doing, even with the backlash, even with the downside. And Keith, in terms of pure baseball talent, he is a he's an ace. He's a frontline starter. He would make a pitching staff better, no question about it.

And again, he's not going to cost you a lot of money. But you're right if you're an established team. But then again, you know, I was in Philly, Keith, when the Eagles announced Mike Vick's coming back to them after a prison stint.

Right. And there was a lot of backlash. And that's an established team with an established fan base. And Andy Reid was a coach and they weathered the storm. Animals and obviously sexual violence against women are possibly different in people's minds.

So maybe that's where things differ. But we've seen it happen in other sports. Right. Guys who you didn't believe could come back somehow had a home to come back to amazingly. So, you know, if I'm a betting man, do I think Trevor Bauer plays again in Major League Baseball? Well, unfortunately, I think the answer is probably yes, because talent wins out.

Pretty crazy talent does win out there. There will always be. Someone there's a price, right? There's a there's some level where someone will say I'm not speaking of Bauer specifically, right?

But there's always someone they'll say this is worth it. Frickin Deshaun Watson of all right. That guy should have played again. And yet there was a market for him. But there is some some GM exists at some level who will at least consider it, at least say that it is a possibility there. It is a you can make some kind of mental calculation over this.

You know, to me, it is as much a moral argument. I simply don't want a player with that history in my organization. Some people won't look at it that way. They'll say, is this guy going to make us better?

Is it is he cut? Like you said, he might come cheap because he's just trying to reestablish himself. I also think in cases like this, it also matters a lot of what the player does. Does the player take responsibility? Is there any accountability?

Has he apologized in some sense, right? There is a process you go through that can ease the player's transition back into baseball. Obviously, a lot of that may just be, you know, word salad out there just to try to get in people's good graces. I'm not saying I always believe it, but just looking at history, that does happen.

Yeah, no, it does happen. We've seen it in the past and that's what agents are for. They write up a nice little contrite sounding thing and next thing you know, the players, I'm changed man, whatever it might be. And that's the excuse that the teams and organizations who are desperate will use to bring him in saying he's a different man. Now he's going to win us a bunch of games. Keith Law from The Athletic joining us here on The Rich Eisen Show.

Dan Schwartzman in for Rich on this Friday. I love baseball and I'm happy spring training is frankly pretty much right around the corner, not that far off. As we hit 2024 this weekend, are we, look, are we in for one of these crazy beginnings of spring training where you have some big names that have yet to sign? We're going to be two, three weeks into spring training and big names like Blake Snell haven't decided where they want to go.

We had that with Bryce Harper, right? Is that what we're in for this year? Man, I hope not, but my guess is, yeah, a couple of guys, I think we're going to see more signings coming up. We'll get to the new year.

And I think by between that and say the end of January, the majority of the free agents out there will still sign would not surprise me at all. It's funny you mentioned Snell cause he's the one I keep thinking of because Scott Boris is his agent. Boris does like to hold out his premium guys until late in the off season. He likes to be able to say, you need a starting pitcher.

I got the only one left, the only good one left. And in Snell's case, he could say, I got a two time Cy Young Award winner beat that. But there are a lot of teams that look at Snell and say he's had two very good seasons, obviously, when he won the Cy Young.

And that's it. He's never pitched a full season any other time in his career. He is not reliable. He has not been able to handle those workloads consistently. And in the years when he hasn't won the Cy Young, he also hasn't been anywhere near as effective, even working in in less time in a lower innings total. So he's a really hard one for guys to value. And I think if the price is pay me like I'm a two time Cy Young winner, that is going to hold him out till later in the off season, because I don't think teams are going to be willing to meet that price because they see risk. They see too much volatility in his track record, even just his track record in the last couple of seasons. Do you also, if you're a big market team, kind of worry about his his makeup for a big market?

Winning in San Diego, winning in Tampa, you don't exactly have a great fan base sitting there yelling and screaming at you, right? So could he make it into New York or a place like that? I would worry, I don't know anything about Snell's individual makeup to answer that side of it. I will say now that a lot of years, even in his good years, he's keeping me pretty wild, like he can walk a lot of guys and get away with it because there are other things he does well. He misses a lot of bats.

He in his better years keeps the ball in the park, et cetera. If you go to New York, you go to Philly, I live right near Philly, for example, and you start walking a lot of guys. It's not going to go well.

Now, how he handled it from there, I don't actually know. But you can you end up on the back page of the paper a lot and not for the good reasons. If you're walking five guys every couple of starts, like people are not a big fan.

Keith, I love Shohei Ohtani, I think he's the greatest baseball player I've ever seen and maybe of all time, 10 years, 700 mil. Forget the deferred money. It's still a heck of a lot of money. It's still 700 million dollars. I haven't heard much reaction from others around the league, not players who obviously are happy when a guy makes that kind of money, but other front offices. Maybe there is nobody talking, but are people shocked with that dollar amount? Are people maybe disgusted for what it means for the market? How Juan Soto may be a 45, 50 million dollar guy now for the Yankees if they try to resign him? What is the quiet reaction to Ohtani's massive contract?

I haven't heard anybody disgusted by it. I mean, there's some people just sort of shocked by the the raw dollar figure. And that was before we found out how much was deferred in present value for folks who are sort of a little economically inclined.

It is more like forty six million dollars a year, which is kind of cheap for. But when you think about how much Ohtani is worth to a club, he is a unicorn and not just on the field. He is so valuable to you that whatever major league team employs him now, it's going to be to the Dodgers.

He was to the Angels. He brings in so much outside revenue before he even takes a swing or throws a pitch. There's almost nobody like him. I mean, that's that's just he is he's his own market. He has his own tier of free agent. There's just no comparison for him. And so while people in the union will tell you anytime a guy signs a record setting contract, it pulls the top of the market up.

Everybody who follows behind him makes a little bit more money because of it. Ohtani might be the exception because you just you can never compare if you're an agent. You can't compare your guy to Ohtani. Nobody's like him. We've never seen anybody like him. Not in the free agent era.

And I had told my kids, I said, I don't know if we ever will. I don't know if we'll ever see anybody close to him, his talent level or his popularity around the world. And so I think people are generally saying, yeah, this guy's he's an outlier and that's great. It's good for him. It's good for baseball. I think to have him in a giant market like that, everybody wants to see Ohtani in the postseason.

I don't think it changes what Juan Soto is going to get. And look, he's he's a good looking guy. He's beloved by other players.

He seems to be a really nice guy. He's incredibly marketable, right? I mean, Ichiro kind of shied away from that.

Ohtani seems to be different from that. I think in terms of forty six million dollars a year, they're going to make that in merchandising. Plus, I remember when, you know, Hideki Matsui came to New York and Masahira Tanaka came to New York. You would have Japanese tour groups that would make the Yankees a stop. And every Japanese tourist in the city is wearing a Yankee cap.

So they're going to make a fortune on him now. They don't just bring in Ohtani. They get Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is a three time salamuda award winner, the Japanese sayang. I've always thought and I'm half Japanese, so I'm a little biased here, but I've always thought when people talk about the Japanese players and I remember, oh, Ichiro can't turn on an inside fastball. There was possibly some, you know, ulterior motives as to why a Japanese Japanese player.

Yeah, right. This guy wasn't just good in Japan. He was great. Teams obviously thought that, offering him big money. Is it fair to say there's somewhat a consensus that he should be an ace pitcher?

Yes, the only concern, I mean, that's not a qualified yes. Yes, everyone I talked to said he's probably an ace. At worst, you've got a really good number two, but he's probably an ace. It's a stuff. It's a production.

It's a control. He's got a tremendous track record pitching in, you know, arguably the second best major league in the world. Right after Major League Baseball, the best place you can pitch is Japan. The only knock I have really heard on him from anybody, and this is even from scouts who really, really like him. He's small. Now, the one scout in particular who I talk to kind of the most because I've not seen Yamamoto live only video and I talked to many scouts who saw him, but the strongest report I got on him said, yeah, he's really small. He might be about five, eight. He doesn't weigh very much, but he's super athletic. He does hold his velocity deep into games.

He's got multiple ways to get you out. The scout in particular that I'm thinking of said I'm still in. Yeah, he's small and he's going to have to prove that that's not an issue for him. This is the winter of small free agent starters, right? Sonny Gray got a contract.

Marcus Stroman is out there. Those two guys, I think, are really good cops because they're both I've met both of those guys. They're not much taller than I am and I'm only five, six, but they're two of the best athletes you will see on a mound in Major League Baseball. And I do think that matters. You can get away with being short and all that that includes not just about health, but about the plane, the actual angle that which the ball is approaching the plate to give you a disadvantage to be shorter. If you're athletic, you have a better chance to work around that. You have a better chance to make adjustments. And that is why people were so optimistic about Yamamoto, even though he's not 6'2".

Yeah, well, I'm going to be selfish here. And I just love talking baseball and I do follow Japanese baseball because there's a high talent level there. And Keith, I know you love baseball around the world as well. You mentioned the knock on him is height. There's a guy behind him who's going to come over in the next couple of years who may be even better, rookie Sasaki, who doesn't have a height problems.

He's 6'4". If Yamamoto is getting 325 over 12 years, teams have been salivating over Sasaki for years now. You know, we're talking 400 plus million for him, I would think, right?

Easily, easily. Well, and it's not quite a fair comparison because he's younger. And so if you were getting him with just with less mileage, right, you'd pay more. If you think he's as good as Yamamoto and they're pretty close, you're right.

And but you think you're getting a few more of his prime years, you pay more. You know, a lot of the better Japanese starters who come here have been effective for a couple of years and then tapered off or gotten hurt. And it's nothing to do with being Japanese. It's just that you're you're they've already had a major league career in most cases before they've come here. They pitched a lot. And, you know, that that will be the question about Sasaki because he throws harder than Yamamoto. He throws, I believe, as hard as any starter in Japan. Right. As anybody we've seen over there.

So and that's going to happen more and more. But he's one of the first. He might be the first Japanese starter to consistently hit 100, working as a starter in NPV.

So there'll be some questions about how long does that last? You know, hopefully stays healthy. But my guess is it's probably about three years before he comes over because his team and forgive me, I forget which team he's on right now, but they're not going to let him go for just the posting fee. They're going to keep him for a couple more years and try to win. And that's what we're seeing with a lot of teams in NPV and KBO in Korea, too, is hold on to these guys until they got a year or two left before true free agency and then cash in for the posting fee. But meanwhile, just try to win while you can, because they're elite. You know, when you have one elite player like that, it can make a huge difference in a league like that, where the top players are as good as if they are an MLB. It's the worst player on an NPV roster is like a double A or A ball player over here. Yeah.

Well, it's a Chiba Lotte Marines. And in 2022, his, his fastball average 98.4 miles per hour. So, yeah, is that good? I think that's, I think it's decent. We'll go 158.3 kilometers.

If you do that on the highway, you're getting a lot of trouble. So I think it's pretty good. Keith Law, read his stuff as knowledgeable as they come on the athletic. Keith, happy new year to you and the family. Appreciate you hopping on. Great conversation as always. My pleasure.

Awesome stuff. I love talking baseball. All right. I have to extend the segment because I love talking baseball. You got to Keith Law to come on, talk baseball.

I could talk hours and hours with Keith Law. Just telling you. All right. We got to take a breakdown. I've blown past the break.

Obviously it's this case. We will come back. A lot to get into next. Dan Schwartzman in for rich Friday, last Friday of 2023, the rich eyes and show. You know, in today's world, it seems the best treatment is reserved only for a few. Well, discover wants to change that by making everyone feel special. That's why with your discover card, you have access to 24 seven live customer service, as well as $0 fraud liability, which means you're never held responsible for unauthorized purchases. Finally, no matter who you are or where you are in life, you'll feel special with discover.

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To learn more go to safeplacetosleep.org today. The Browns have it at the 49-yard line with a first down a minute 38 to play first half Flacco avoids the sack looking to run Flacco will toss it complete caught down the sideline Jerome Ford to the 20 15 still going 10 to the 5 Ford gets in touchdown Cleveland the catch and run for Ford Joe Flacco plays the role of Houdini to keep it alive the Jets could not bring down Ford and the Browns make them pay. It was really cool unbelievable atmosphere so yeah to get it done in front of the home crowd to actually get ourselves into the into that next step in the season it was definitely made it extra special. That clip courtesy of Western one I need with the call. Browns clinching their second playoff appearance since 2002 Joe Flacco four and one as a starter they're 11 and five rolling along winners of four straight and you heard Joe Flacco after the game talking about this was public enemy number one in Cleveland for years he dominated he's like 18 and three career record wise and when he was the start of the Baltimore Ravens a team that people in Cleveland hate anyway because the Baltimore Ravens used to be the Cleveland Browns before Art Modell moved them for a better deal stadium and tax incentives and everything else Cleveland got their team back and they've had nothing but futility since starting with the drafting of Tim Couch number one overall they haven't had was that 1999 or something they haven't had very barely any success and Joe Flacco comes in and what some thought would be a lost season once Deshaun Watson went down Dorian Thompson Robinson the fifth round pick out of UCLA you know couldn't get it done and here comes Joe Flacco loses his first start against the Rams and after that they've beaten the Jaguars the Bears the Texans and now the Jets and they're playing at the Bengals to wrap things up week 18 of the season January 7th imagine not only do you know does an ex-raven turn this season around for Cleveland but imagine they're the reason why the Bengals don't make the postseason because Joe Flacco and Cleveland keep their Ohio rivals out in that final week weekend of the season that'd be something and they said on the broadcast that he got the call sitting on his mom's couch oh I believe it you know this guy's what 38 years old nothing to do nothing to do they're going yeah I got nothing to do look he doesn't have to work the guy made a ton of money he had a huge contract remember he had the richest contract in football I believe history at that time for five minutes for five minutes right but whatever we can't say that right we have no uh we can't say we had the richest contract in anything for five minutes right it would be nice though but I mean listen Joe Flacco's made a ton of money in the league good for him I don't begrudge him all I'm saying is he could sit on his mom's couch all day because he's earned 175 million dollars I looked it up he's earned 175 million dollars in his career that's not so bad remember because he had signed back in 2013 that six year 120.6 million extension after he wins the Super Bowl three years later he signs three years 66.4 million now when he's making 22 million dollars a year as a starting quarterback in 2016 that was a heck of a lot of money now quarterbacks are making 45 50 55 million dollars a year it's a different time but back then signing a 20 million dollar a year contract in the NFL when you're playing 16 games was considered incredible so he's cleared enough money to where he can sit on his mom's couch rest of his life and do nothing unless he went out there on the spending spree and blew all the money which I kind of doubt you can spend I mean I I wouldn't know because I've never had that kind of well yeah we see all the rock bands from the 80s doing so but this is 175 million okay yes take out the taxes you're still talking a guy that had you know cash wise what 80 million 90 million right like it's it's gotta be hard to blow that kind of money I can buy a five million dollar house in cash you still have a lot of money left you buy a nice car for 100 grand it doesn't really dent you that badly right I mean you know I don't think Joe Flacco's hurting for for money I don't think he's still playing now for six figures now he doesn't he doesn't look like he's got a drug habit either so no no you never listen you've never heard a bad thing about Joe Flacco right there's never been a criminal allegation against him you've never heard anybody say he's a bad dude he did this he did that he you know punched somebody in a bar got drunk in a nightclub and passed out I don't remember a bad word since he got drafted in 2008 right you've never heard anything like that right nothing so yeah I respect Joe Flacco I don't think he's ever been a great quarterback he had a tremendous playoff run leading the team to a Super Bowl and that postseason he was unstoppable no interceptions thrown and that's a guy who has thrown double-digit interceptions every year he's been a starter and healthy his interception to touchdown ratio isn't great it's like two touchdowns for every one interception I don't even think it's that good but he's got a Super Bowl ring he's made a boatload of money he brought stability to a position for the Ravens and anybody that's a first-round pick 18th overall in 2008 who is still playing in this league that's a pretty darn successful career right now I don't I don't even mean the money he's earned I'm just saying what he's accomplished in life he's thrown for over 40,000 yards it's been a really great career and it's awesome to see him do this because not only was he on his mother's couch but no one thought he could do anything you know the Jets had him in there you know in their facility for three years when Aaron Rodgers went down four plays into the season for the Jets have not to have picked up a phone and called Joe Flacco and I understand hindsight's you know 20-20 but still to not at least kick the tire on him instead you're going with Zach Wilson and behind him you didn't have any sort of an established you know backup Trevor Simians not good he's terrible a lot of bad quarterbacks in this league here comes the Cleveland Browns to lose their high-priced overpaid quarterback into Sean Watson the young guy doesn't do it the fifth round pick you know and here we are look what's happened Joe Flacco has kept them in this thing and they're thriving Dorian Thompson Robinson by the way PJ Walker wasn't any good when he played between Walker and Thompson Robinson in 14 games mop up duty some starts here and there they threw for two touchdowns in nine interceptions they weren't exactly heading in the right direction brutal brutal brutal and I give the offensive line a ton of credit by the way Flacco in five games has been sacked eight times that's it eight times you give any quarterback who has had success in this league time in a pocket guess what they're gonna succeed look at Baker Mayfield Baker Mayfield he's been great with Tampa to the point where they're gonna resign him you know they're gonna give him a contract he's reborn there and it was a right move for Cleveland by the way to get out now I don't think that Sean Watson was a right move I think there's a serious criminal issue there that I couldn't believe Cleveland brought him in gave up what they did to get him and then signed him to a fully guaranteed contract that was some of the dumbest things I've ever seen in pro sports that's just my opinion on it but you know divorcing from Baker Mayfield made a lot of sense for Cleveland they you know that ship had sailed and good for him to get another opportunity in Tampa after he bounced around a bit right with the Rams and things like that but it's worked out for Baker Mayfield in Tampa he's had a nice season statistically it's been very good they've won they've won some games and he likes it there and it looks like they're gonna keep him he's a Heisman Trophy winner isn't he what does that mean it means he had a heck of a college career right you go up and down the list of Heisman Trophy winners especially as of late and you see who they are and then you kind of put it together with their careers you're like wait a minute all right you know Jayden Daniels we don't know obviously he's coming out at LSU Bryce Young has struggled so far but I think there's a good future there uh Jamis Winston won a Heisman Trophy Kyler Murray RG3 Tim Tebow Jason White yeah Kyler Murray I don't think he's very good to be honest I think he's highly overrated Lamar Jackson's great Marcus Mariota was terrible Johnny Manziel awful you know Cam Newton outside of one season you know he's an interesting figure he had that one amazing year when they went 15-1 and he was the MVP right a lot of touchdowns really big season every other year though for Cam Newton is like 20 touchdowns 13 interceptions a lot of rushing yards yeah not great our Sam Bradford RG3s RG3 Troy Smith Tim Tebow Matt Leinart Tim Jason White Eric Crouch Chris Wenke Carson Palmer was pretty good Palmer was good Werfel Winky not good your boy Winky Winky yeah Chris Winky yeah Ricky Williams Gino Toretta Charlie Ward Ty Detmer you know Andre Ware chances are you win a Heisman Trophy you're not going to succeed in the NFL Eddie George Eddie George was good yes but you're talking running backs here take the handoff run it's a lot different than read this defense throw that football with accuracy and get rid of it in under two seconds in the pocket you know the big difference and what's asked of a player but the list is not a good list of Heisman Trophy winners although I guess lately it's been a bit better right like Caleb Williams wins it last year at USC I do think he's gonna be really good Bryce Young being in Carolina probably doesn't help him and also the way CJ Stratus played at Houston you know kind of makes people look at Bryce Young saying should he have been the first pick but it's so early this is he's not even done this first year as an NFL starter so let's lay off of him Joe Burrow's been one healthy fantastic you know we mentioned Kyler Murray I look I think he's a very talented guy I just don't think Kyler Murray's a effective NFL quarterback because while running the football is awesome you're a quarterback which means you have to be able to pass the football too and that's an argument I have art with a good friend of mine who's a Bears fan he's a lifelong friend of mine he's a big Bears fan and we've been arguing Justin Fields yeah yeah and both of those the Bears and the Cardinals have high picks are they going to go for quarterbacks and replace these guys it's easier for the Bears to do because the money situation right like think about it Justin Fields is on a rookie contract so you let him go your cap it's not going to be massive right you're not going to be like oh my goodness we have killed our cap because we let him go the way that it's going to happen with Russell Wilson in Denver now the issue when it comes to Kyler Murray and his contract is his cap hits are you ready for this yeah hit me starting in 2024 his cap hit is 51.8 million more importantly his dead cap hit is 81.5 million wow 2025 that's when you can start thinking about maybe getting rid of them his cap hit is 45.6 million the dead cap hit is 33 million still a lot of money to put on the books is dead money got to keep them for one more year at least two though probably 2026 it goes down to 20.2 million dead cap that you can live with but 81.5 and even 33 million you probably can't although the 12 million dollars between cat you know the cash difference in the cap hit maybe look at that and say we'd rather keep the cash and take the dead cap hit then i don't know i mean you know this is why it was kind of dumb for them to give him that contract when they did they could have waited a year to decide and after that year there's probably likelihood they wouldn't have given him that contract because he got a contract with 160 million dollars in guaranteed money that's incredible it's a ton of money for a guy that's accomplished what as an nfl quarterback well he watches he plays video games he plays a lot of video games and the red flag had to be remember that whole uh that that whole hoopla about the language in the contract where he had to watch film remember that instead of playing video games right and then people said you can't have that and then the arizona cardinals had to like back off and take it out of the contract isn't that a red flag to where maybe you don't give a guy a 230 and a half million dollar five-year contract yes absolutely where there's obviously a concern that he's not putting in the time off the field to learn to learn if michael vick who will readily admit this by the way michael vick is one of the most talented athletes we have ever seen in any sport if michael vick had showed an ounce of care early in his career about taking his job seriously he would go down in the discussion of greatest quarterbacks in history i'm not kidding you if you go back and watch michael vick tapes okay at virginia tech and even with the falcons forget the running ability the elusiveness i'm talking about even the passing great arm incredible spiral really i mean he was tremendous but you ask anybody that was around that atlanta falcons team with michael vick even before he signed the 100 million dollar contract he was the last one there the first one out okay and sometimes he would leave and have lunch with his pals and then come back to the facility and i'm not talking teammate pals i'm talking just like his buddies that was not much of a commitment and he was still as good as he was imagine if if if he had committed to being an nfl quarterback at the level a lot of guys do today where you kind of live eat and breathe that right i'm telling you art you remember michael vick of virginia tech there's a reason why he was a first overall pick yeah it was great he's great he's great and he didn't obviously put the time in and i think there's obviously regret with that all right we got plenty more to get into do you poke the bear in a few days before a massive game with playoff implications well jamar chase may have done that with the kansas city chiefs i'll explain you you'll hear from him next dan schwartzman it's a friday edition of the rich isin show all right folks let's talk about game time and let's talk about buying tickets to big time events because it can be worrisome it can be time consuming and it can be expensive so game time is the fast and easy way to buy 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lowest price guaranteed with so tick to for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis you could show off your skin again and you know what that means beach day as a tick to inhibitor so tick to is the only once daily pill of its kind for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis ask your dermatologist about so tick to today and learn more at soclearlyu.com that's soclearlyu.com so tick to decrevicitinib is a prescription treatment for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis who may benefit from systemic therapy or phototherapy don't take if you're allergic to so tick to serious reactions can occur before treatment get checked for infections including tuberculosis so tick to can lower your ability to fight infections don't start if you have one serious infections cancers including lymphoma muscle problems and changes in certain labs have occurred tell your doctor if you have a history of these events or if you have an infection or symptoms like fever sweats chills muscle aches or cough or if you have history of hepatitis b or c liver or kidney problems high triglycerides or had a vaccine or plan to so tick to inhibits tick to which is part of the jack family people 50 and older with heart disease risk factors who use a jack inhibitor are at increased risk for certain side effects sometimes fatal it's unknown if so tick to has the same risks as jack inhibitors call 1-888-S-O-T-Y-K-T-U to learn more hi i'm kelsey grammar wounded warrior project supports injured veterans by connecting them with fellow warriors by serving them through mental health and wellness programs and by empowering them to live on their own terms no one should face a battle alone join us at wounded warrior project.org what stands out about that secondary for the chief if i'm being honest nothing they just know how to play us they know the leverages they know what splits we in they just know what we gonna do certain movements um they throw a little double doubles at us and stop the two best players on our side and that's all they do i mean it's not really like they got a jail and ramsey on these squads so not much that is jamar chase of the cincinnati bangles asked about the kansas chief secondary one he will face this weekend and uh just giving them some bullet or bulletin board material kansas city struggling they have not locked up the afc west in fact the raiders still have a shot to win it they have to win out and the chiefs have to lose the next two starting again with this weekend and then they'll face the chargers in la week 18 that's january 7th right now everything's tbd in terms of kickoff times because it's all based on what happens this weekend week 17 of the season this is the most important weekend of the whole year yeah yeah absolutely because and by there's a bunch of teams that are still in contention here it's incredible still in contention and we don't know times for next week and it depends on everything this weekend everything depends on this weekend and who doesn't love that right that just makes it even better like a lot of teams are in still to where their fan bases are invested still because even like the raiders right like art it's it's for the chiefs to lose twice more it's possibly a long shot and they can play a chargers team with a backup quarterback if it comes to that they're playing the bangles with a backup quarterback right so chances are they probably don't lose both but are you're heading into week 17 with your team still mathematically there yes where you can actually chart the path as to how they can get in you don't need well if this team loses and that team wins and then this that you don't need like three or four scenarios to happen it's a clear-cut scenario so you're invested now my jets are out so it doesn't matter but i'm saying is like you are invested and a lot of fans right now can say that yeah i'm i'm wearing i'm wearing out my jersey you sleep in that damn thing oh man oh you should see me you're like a two-year-old aren't you i am unbelievable but listen i give you credit it's not like the raiders have had a ton to cheer for uh as a fan for quite a while right so well a couple years ago we made the playoffs a couple years ago they made yeah a couple years but it's not exactly an every year occurrence type of thing it's been rough overall it's been rough it's been rough completely understand that so enjoy it while last i do hope it comes down to the and by the way we'll be back on here on monday we'll talk about all this because everything will be settled and there'll be a lot of fun to see where we stand heading into week 18 with all the tbds because the nfl wants to make sure got marquee games to watch right and you don't you know kill sunday with saturday so it's gonna be kind of interesting to see how it all plays out make sure by the way to stream the nfl and westwood one for free sponsored by auto zone all season long you can listen to every westwood one broadcast the nfl live on the nfl app by asking alexa to open wwo sports wwo sports or on your westwood one affiliate stations digital platforms that's right stream kevin harland kurt warner rich eyes and all season long for free and get in the zone with auto zone auto zone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local auto zone get in the zone auto zone restrictions apply jamar chase i get what he's saying he is actually answering the question accurately and i appreciate the honesty but sometimes you're probably better off not being honest because you don't want to give a team extra motivation it's hard enough for the chief secondary to realize they have to go up against a really really really really good wide receiver core of the cincinnati bangles one of the best in the league and you look at the names of that secondary for kansas city they're not great okay legerius snee trent mcduffie justin reed mike edwards these aren't all pro household names it's not jaylen ramsey it's not sauce gardener it's not guys like that these are good players not greats they're not really difference makers so why give them anything to get even more upset about as they prepare to face you honesty is nice but sometimes it's not bill belicheck you can ask bill belicheck about a quarterback he his team the patrons are playing come up and coming up on a sunday and it can be zack wilson who's horrendous right and what's bill belicheck going to tell you he's going to tell you that zack wilson is the best quarterback in the nfl or the best quarterback that they've faced or so talented this is the weekend that he wakes up that's what bill belicheck will tell you because he's going to tell you because he doesn't want to give the opposing team any more motivation to come out here on the cincinnati he pulled that again by the way on boston radio they kept asking about his future and he brought up ronson cincinnati not since yeah he brought up the uh he just said we're just looking ahead we're looking ahead 37 year old cincinnati there you go that's that's classic belicheck right there right he says we're not the buffalo they're asking like what's your future hold what have you heard from bob crabbs he's like oh i'm thinking about his buffalo just looking at the book 37 year old cincinnati you know what the funny part is uh art when it comes to belicheck and his press conferences it's comical right because like the answer is like that they're funny and at this point like you see his facial expressions things like that you talk to players who played for him he is a different guy he's funny he's witty like philosophical like you don't associate the word funny with bill belicheck right you don't sit there going oh yeah i bet you belicheck is a barrel of laughs apparently he is yeah i wouldn't i've talked to right you don't think that i've talked to multiple patriot players who have played for him multiple i've never heard one say oh yeah belicheck he's boring oh yeah puts me to sleep like he will make them laugh a heck of a lot more than he will make them fall asleep that's just the way he is i want to wish everybody a happy new year by the way this is the last rich eisen show happy new year happy new year art we will uh reconvene on monday yes it will be january 1st we'll know more of the playoff races in the nfl what it all means for week 18 have a happy new year be safe everybody i will be back with you on monday dan schwartzman in for rich on the rich eisen show you love lala kent on vanderpump rules now get to know her on give them lala i don't know that i would call it respect that i have for sandoval but the world hated him he still went out performed shows with his head held high he showed up to the reunion when we all were going after him like he didn't skip a beat the way he's handling it if i were in his position and i said it straight up to the entire audience thousands of people i would tell you all to and the room was dead watch what lala is talking about on youtube or search for give them lala wherever you listen