Lincoln Riley: Is Caleb Williams too sensitive for the NFL?

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Learn more at Discover.com slash credit card. Limitations apply. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Do you think enough kids these days know who Jerry Rice is?

Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Jerry Rice, he had 118 catches in the playoffs. Travis Kelsey just passed Rice.

He's got 156. Earlier on the show, host of the Greenlight podcast and two-time Super Bowl champion Chris Long, ESPN Sports Center host Scott Van Pelt. Coming up, Emmy Award winning actor Eric Stonestreet, USC head coach Lincoln Riley. And now it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. And hey, everybody, we're doing all right here.

Thanks for asking. It's raining really hard. And again, Lincoln Riley must be like, you know, what happened to Los Angeles people where they're just freaking out over raining, like canceling plans because it's raining.

It's raining really hard. As a matter of fact, we are collecting animals by two. So let me know if you have any eight, four, four, two or four riches. The number to dial right here on the show. Great chat with Scott Van Pelt, our two two time Super Bowl champ Chris Long. He played in two Super Bowls and he won them.

Eric Stonestreet has attended two Super Bowls and he won them. And he joins us here on the Rich Eisen Show right now in advance of another trip to the Super Bowl. How are you, Eric? Good to see you. Good.

How are you? Is that the real deal? Is that the real deal back there? 100 percent is the real deal. It's Lindsey got that for me for Christmas after our first one. And it's from the same guy who makes the replicas for all the coaches and coaches, wives and all that.

So, yeah, it's it's as real as it gets without winning one. So it one more you're going to use one is a hood ornament for for the truck that you drove me around in Kansas City. What do you think? Well, I could use a little more for that.

I also have a little more thanks to me as well. It's so funny because once upon a time, you know, I'm like years when we first met well over a decade ago, you know, and I'm like saying to you, hey, you should give such a fan. You should come to the Super Bowl.

You should. And you're like, no way. I am not going till the Chiefs make it. Now you're now you're a regular.

You're right. And I feel like I'm starting to wear out my welcome, because, you know, as you remember, Roger invited me to go when I was in place where I wouldn't go unless the Chiefs were in it. And and I asked for a rain check and he said, sure. And then we went the first year and I said, so can we make an agreement that I'll only bother you if the Chiefs are in the Super Bowl? And he goes, yeah, yeah, we can do that. And now here I am again. I'm like, ah, Roger, we're back.

You need my tickets. New phone. Did he do the new phone thing?

Who it is? No, he didn't do that. He's a man of his word.

Oh, I mean, it's truly I mean, I'll ask you this question again. I mean, this is this is the night that the Chiefs trade up from Mahomes in that draft in Philadelphia. If I told you this is what it would be, would you have believed it at all? I don't think any anyone would have predicted this exact run. I mean, I think there's no doubt that everybody thought that Patrick was going to change the franchise's trajectory. But this is history we're watching right now. I mean, this is potential all time Super Bowl run here.

So I don't think anybody would have said that. But I mean, anything's possible, right? I mean, you have that kind of generational talent, total life changing, I mean, totally life changing. And then, you know, I know nothing hurts me more than your disapproval, Eric. I'm not going to lie.

And you're so willing to share it whenever whenever I might not see eye to eye with the way you view the football world. But I mean, has this turnaround even surprised you at all? I mean, Christmas was terrible. There was an awful Christmas tape when I was there in person. And I said we would write the ship and we would be fine. I was nervous. I think that San Diego game or sorry, L.A. Chargers game really was a big thing for us as a team. I heard one of the coaches say it. And I think it's so true that watching those guys that usually are on special teams and then the second and third stringers go out there and play their tails off really rallied the team. And that was you know, we were winning one and losing one, winning one and losing one. And that was win win. And I think that just set us up, getting Travis the rest, getting those guys the rest, set us up for for what we knew we needed to do. Champions peak when champions are supposed to peak. I mean, I've said that from the beginning.

I've watched it with so many other teams throughout my life that broke my heart. Right. In baseball and in football and in hockey and things like that. So we're we're directed by the great Andy Reid.

He knows what he's doing. And I don't think it was a switch anybody turned on. But I think, you know, they figured they figured it out and they changed a little bit of what they were doing. And people stepped up when it was when it was Showtime.

You got a story about Mahomes that I don't know about, whether it's from the Big Slick, you know, your charitable weekend with your your friends and all your I've been there before. It shows up, you know, the thing I can say about Patrick and Travis and Creed this year, we invited Creed. I was like an alignment represented. Those guys all showed up.

The old line showed up Thursday night to the hospital to do a magic show for the kids with our friend Blake Voigt. And Patrick always shows up. Patrick and I always put twenty dollars on Texas Tech, K-State football and basketball, and we never pay each other. So we're kind of owe each other some kind of money. Well, I mean, he would have probably owed you about one hundred bucks with that tournament run last year, that's for sure. You know, yeah, we yeah, we we we always we always throw it over to football or vice versa, whatever it is.

And I don't think we'll ever pay each other. But he's I know he's just one of those dudes, but anything with it from the from the softball game or anything. Have you been around the team to show up? Well, you know, you saw him throw me out throwing the ball backwards. I was up to bat and I hit the ball and he threw me out with a backwards pass to first base. I'm like, bro, you had to do me that way. It was one thing to throw me out, but you threw me out without even looking and throwing the ball behind your back like it's embarrassing already. What do you mean? So you ground it? But where was it to him? He picked it up and running this way, he just threw the ball back that way to first base and threw me out.

You can find it online. Bring it up, Chris. OK, I got it. It's amazing.

OK, well, we'll share that out there. I mean, he probably could have planted his feet, pivoted and fired to first, right? He could have probably done that. He could have, but it was just easier for him to get momentum.

And look, it's not like he was in a hurry to get it to first base with me running. Oh, my gosh. Eric Stonestreet here on The Rich Isaac Show.

All right. So what's the story with Sneed? What do you have here, Eric? So during training camp, he tweeted that he had a bunch of raccoons on his back porch that were like wreaking havoc on his porch. And he's at camp. Well, I see this tweet and I'm like, he doesn't live very far from me.

And the boy's PE coach is his neighbor. So I told Lindsay, I'm like, text his neighbor and see if his neighbor wants to reach out to the luxurious and ask him if he needs me to go over and take care of the raccoon problem on his back porch. And so he texts him and says, hey, I got somebody that'll come humanely trap the raccoons and release them. Do you want them to come do it?

And I said and he said, how much does it cost? Which I so appreciated that that was his first question. I love that.

More guys need to think that way, right? So he said, well, it's actually Eric Stonestreet and his guy that works for him that'll come take care of it. So Darcy, that guy in the picture right there, and we roll over at 11 o'clock at night, set traps on Lageria Sneed's back porch, catch all the raccoons.

And I text Brett Veach and say, I may not be on staff officially as the fixer, but I just fixed a major problem. So Lageria can concentrate on training camp and we I think we trapped five raccoons and released them out at my property in Leavenworth. No kidding. Yeah. So handled. So you just locked. So does that make Darcy's a shut down trapper?

Yeah, I mean, it's a lockdown. What do we call Darcy? What do we call him? I just love that Lageria was also watching, like on his cameras, like these two dudes show up at a UTV because he literally lives. In the neighborhood across the street. So we drove over at like 11 o'clock at night.

And Darcy, that guy gets out of his car, his house and goes into the backyard and says these traps. And and it over the course of like five days, we were we were over there for five days getting the problem handled. I love that. Yeah, we handled it.

Look at the handles. Look, Darcy, is that a recent photo of Darcy with the that was the the cult game? I believe.

OK, the Miami game. Oh, my God. Oh, wait a minute. He's dressed like that when it's minus twenty six. Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, he has to do that. Wait a minute. Really? I'm serious.

I'm serious. That's if we zoom in on that picture. Yeah, that's the Miami game. He does that on purpose to make us all dolphins. You're right.

That is the dolphins on the field. Get out of here. Yeah, that's how he was dressed. And you saw how I was dressed, right?

Yes. Well, we saw that juxtaposition me embarrassed. Ryan Fitzpatrick looks like it's a very Fitzpatrick type. This is how I'm dressed. Look at that. Oh, my God.

Pull it to your right there. Look at that. Oh, my God. That's how you were dressed.

And Darcy's just like, la dee da. That is funny. All right. So your level of concern rests where right now? Monday before Super Bowl Sunday. Come on. My level of concern is not playing from behind, getting the lead, scoring, not turning the ball over, all basic football stuff. But Kyle Shanahan won't make the same mistake that the other two coaches, in my opinion, made, which was abandon the run. Like, he's going to run the ball, so we can't let them get ahead. So I think as long as our offense comes out and clicks, doesn't turn the ball over, and we score. And I'm not saying that that's easy to do against anyone or in the Super Bowl, but we've proven we can score.

Look, Buffalo, in my opinion, and I think other people that are a lot smarter than me's opinion, was the toughest team we played. That offense was awesome. Josh Allen is a stud. I love Brock Purdy because he's a Big 12 guy, and he's a great story. But he's not Josh Allen yet, and he is not Lamar Jackson yet. And we handled those two guys. Spagnola put together a plan that obviously all the guys trusted would work, and it did work. So we can handle him.

Christian McCaffrey, Ayug, Debo, obviously, are all prolific weapons. So slow those guys down, you know? And I think we'll be fine. I think we match up pretty well. I think their interior line matches up pretty good against our Chris Jones and things like that. So I think we'll get after him and make him be a great quarterback.

Yeah, I don't know what the Spagnolo mind trick is. You're right that McCaffrey, I assume, will get more than six carries in this game, as opposed to just six running back play calls for toting the rock in the AFC Championship game for the Ravens. If I told you that before the game, you're like, oh, then Mahomes must have lit it up. And we've got to be up by at least three, four touchdowns for something like that to happen.

I don't know how the hell that happened. You know, I don't know film and scheme enough to understand what they did and what Spagnolo dictated to the Ravens to do. But I know that they still could have attempted to run the ball a little bit more to try to establish it a little bit and not go to Lamar so quickly. I felt really good in that game going into it. I felt more confident going into the Baltimore game than I did the Bills game, to be honest with you. And I think winning at Buffalo was nothing against the Ravens and nothing against that atmosphere. But winning in Buffalo, I think, was a bigger, bigger win than even against the Ravens, given that it was even to the AFC, you know, to the Super Bowl.

And how great was that moment? Because I know you love linemen more than most. You know, they take the shot of the suite, and we're all expecting to see Taylor Swift. And it's Jason Kelce without a shirt and a beer in his hand, just like a bear, just like roaring like a bear, man.

That was hilarious. I got to tell Jason at the Super Bowl last year, you know, I've only met him twice, once when I was on their podcast here in Kansas City at the draft and there at the Super Bowl. But I told him, like, man, there's nobody better than you. And you are a Kelce. And Kansas City loves Kelces. And this obviously was before all this stuff. And they're just a great family.

They're great for communities. And I mean, they're just all world dudes. I mean, they're just all world guys. Look at that.

I mean, I wish I could roll around like that without my shirt on. Looking at it with that beer, that beer looks like it's a mini can in his hand. You know what I mean? He's just, he's a stud. He's, you know, let me tell you a cool story about Jason and what a good guy he is. So I went up to him after the Super Bowl, and he was standing on the field watching the pageantry of the Chiefs win. And I had gotten up, gotten down on the field, and he was standing there. And I debated whether to say something to him in that moment or not. But I felt like, well, there he is. And you know, I wanted to love him up a little bit and just say how much we love him. And it didn't go his way and this and that.

And that he's always, you know, a Kansas City and as far as I was concerned. And told him great game and walked away. Well, then the documentary comes out that they were shooting. And I was like, holy crap. I walked up to him in this moment where the cameras were on him.

He's mic'd up. I felt like a real turd. So then I saw him at his podcast. And I said, Jason, I got to apologize to you. Like, I realize now that that was a documentary, you know, going on. And I feel terrible that I interrupted that moment. And he said, buddy, you made that moment better. I was like, that's a very nice thing to say to me to make me feel better about kind of interrupting what potentially was going on in your world that I had no idea was going on. So I appreciate it.

That just shows you what a good guy is. That podcast is the one that he and Travis did at the draft? That live one, you mean that one? Yeah. All right.

Listen, I think the world of those guys, no doubt about it, the whole family. OK, so I will see you this weekend. You got your game day gear all picked out?

You got to like, what do we got? You know, it's been a struggle. It's been, I want this Vegas hat that I've seen.

And I can't get the Vegas tarmac cap with the Vegas welcome to Vegas. OK. I'm looking for that. So hopefully, how's my hair look? It looks great. No, it looks great. Yeah, thank you. I want to get that hat.

I don't know what I'm going to wear yet. Oh, that one right there? The one that?

Oh, that, yeah. I saw Coach Reed getting off the plane with one. And I know he'll never wear a flat bill hat. And I almost texted him and said, hey, save that hat for me. I think you know the right people to get one of those. That is cool.

Oh, I'll find one somewhere. I think that's such a sharp looking hat. It's awesome looking.

That is cool. OK. Yeah, so you got your stuff already? Oh, yeah, I've got my suit picked out. I got my suit. I think I'm going to go blue pinstripe. It's a Super Bowl.

I think I'm going to do that, a little nice dark suit. Stay neutral. Stay neutral. Oh, right down the middle, sir.

Right down the middle. I will not be neutral. I remember the first year that we got the Rogers suite. I had to call his secretary and be like, hey, just want to make sure that I can wear what I want to wear in his suite because I'm not coming neutral in any way, shape, or form. He's cool with that.

You're fine. He's cool with that. At least you're not going to wear anything baseball in there like you did, Chris, right? You brought a Red Sox hat to the commissioner's suite, right? I always wear a Red Sox hat, idiot. So yeah, I'm going to wear it when I'm at a football game.

Yeah, I got it. Yeah, he's like the guy that wears some random team's jersey to another home game. No, he actually calls those people out. You hate those people. Yeah, you hate those people. Yeah, actually, he was the first one I reached out to when I was walking into the Rose Bowl, Michigan, Alabama, and crossed paths with a guy wearing his Maryland gear.

And I'm like, dude, you've got the wrong stadium, wrong day, Maryland gear. What the hell? Is that person just basically saying to the world, like, I like sports too.

We don't know what those people are doing. So yes. I don't get it.

I don't get it. No, just, yeah. I'm excited. I'm excited. I can't wait to see you, Chris.

I've forgiven you for all your tweets. Well, I've gotten daily FaceTimes after the Chiefs win from Eric through the playoff run, yeah. Oh, I had no idea. Yeah, yeah.

Boy. Well, it was the whole it's too cold move that game people that were so annoying to me. Let me tell you something about that. Hey, I'm sorry for caring about others, Eric. You know what I mean? I'm sorry. I'm just a humanitarian in that way.

Oh, please. And tell him what I told your son when I FaceTimed you. His son was there so cutely on the phone. And I was like, here's what I can tell you about your dad. He will never let you be cold outside to make sure you're taking care of. He's got gloves and scarves and hats and everything else.

But here's the deal. Like, that game that you saw that I've dressed like a wolf in the Arctic and Darcy's dressed like he's going to Palm Beach, that was an emotional moment for me, like sitting up there looking at how full the stadium was and thinking, like, so many people bought cheap tickets and came to that game. It was an emotion. It was like I always cry at parades. And that brought a tear to my eye, seeing all those people out there in that cold weather. So I think it was a really important moment for the Chiefs. I think it was an important moment for the city that we all came together, froze our tails off, and got the W. Eric, you're the best, man. I'll see you this weekend. You be well. Thank you. You got it. That's Eric Stonestreet getting ready for a third ring, if he can.

I mean, right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Room on that shelf for another trophy. We'll find out. That's wrapped in, that's really just chocolate. I'd be OK with that, too.

No, that's the real deal. I'm sure. How funny is that? I'm like, you should put that as a hood owner. And he says, no, we have the Lamar Hunt trophy for that.

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That's coming up before Lincoln Riley joins us. On the Bigger Pockets Real Estate Podcast, co-host David Green and Rob Abasolo interview real estate investors and entrepreneurs about successes, failures, and hard-earned lessons. Joined by author Dave Meyer. Who wrote a book? I did write a book. It seems like you're coming out with a book every four minutes. You're one to talk. You've released two books this year.

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The podcast available wherever you listen. And then Mahomes, the memories of you just sitting next to Mahomes, just sitting right next to him as soon as he comes off the field, just chit-chatting. How do you think that helped his development and did lead to the guy who's like, let's use the wasp in the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl, trying to turn things around?

Yeah, listen, it's a trust thing. I know he wants to be the best. He's not gonna sit there and boast about that and tell people, but he wants to be, he wants to maximize all of his potential. As a coach, you love that. So he wants you to give him one more thing and even be greater than what he already is. And you can appreciate that.

He's gonna do nothing but get better rich. That's what's so great. I know, it's crazy.

It's crazy, right? I mean, what does he have to improve on, Andy? What do you think?

Well, I joke him. I say, listen, quarterbacking's a lot like being a farmer. Like the work's never done. There's something in the game that you can work on. And then it's our responsibility to give them new challenges. And so there's so much you can do offensively in football right now.

And there really, there's no rules as far as, I mean, there are certain rules. We still got to stop at red lights, but there's a lot of ways to get to it. So the expansion, I guess, of offenses with the way the colleges are playing now is greater than it's ever been.

And we're able to utilize more field than we've ever used. And so let's explore that. And let's not say anything's impossible until we prove it's impossible ourselves. Let's try that. And then we'll see where we end up.

You know, who knows? All right, that was Andy Reid back in the day. YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show for all of our archival material. Lincoln Riley's gonna join us from USC in about 15 minutes time. We'll have a chat with him.

844-204-rich number to dial on the program. So when we go to the Super Bowl, are we going to have another monster bomb drop from the NBA in WOJ? Last year we're sitting there on the set and all of a sudden it's like, oh, Kevin Durant's coming to Phoenix. Like, well, for the Super Bowl, really?

No, as a player for the Suns. What? That was wild. Wasn't it?

That was wild. That was quite a day. That was the Thursday before the Super Bowl. It was Wednesday, super late. Wednesday, super late.

Got it. Trade deadlines coming up Thursday again. LeBron James. There's no way he gets traded. There's no way he gets traded, right? No. No way. Correct? They already said he's not getting traded.

Who cares? They said that two days ago. Everything's changed now. How has it changed?

How has it changed? They won two in a row. They beat two of the top teams in the East. Celtics and Knicks.

They beat one in three. Well, now he thinks maybe I can win in the East. This guy. He doesn't believe that. LeBron is not leaving. His family's here, kids in school, his son's in school.

They got schools in New York. But he didn't respond to the future, past this year. He wouldn't commit.

I'm talking about right now. Yeah, McMenamin asked him about the hourglass emoji. And he wouldn't answer that either. He wouldn't even answer it. Even, just put it to bed.

Just say, oh, it was for my upcoming partnership with DraftKings. Just say that. Puts everything to bed.

No, no, no. He loves the drama. Like a mutter. He loves the slop.

LeBron loves the drama. He eats the slop. He eats the slop. His mutter was a mutter. His mutter was a mutter. What the hell does that mean? Could have easily put this to bed. To say what?

Oh, hey, I was just teasing my upcoming tweet the next day. So what is he trying to do? Is he just trying to make life tough for everyone on the beat? I don't know. Beats me. But he doesn't look happy playing right now. I don't know.

I mean, they just won two in a row. And he didn't look, by the way, and look at how he was after the game. He didn't look. What do you want him to do?

Just pop champagne? Start putting plastic on his locker? Will he kill you to smile? Hey, he just beat the two best home teams in the E-Brah. James Chris, he's done enough smiling in his life, dog. He's 39. He's talking like he's 79.

Well, he doesn't have to smile after every minute. Well, where would he go? Where would he go? The Knicks? I mean, the trade package for him would have to be through the roof.

Yeah, there'd be a lot of track picks. Not really. Really? You don't think so? To get LeBron James. If he goes to the Knicks, is he their best player? No.

So why would you have to blow out the trade package? You just hooked me in about... Don't talk about Jalen Brunson that way. I mean, I realize Jalen Brunson is good.

He's my guy. He's better than LeBron this year. LeBron is, he's still LeBron James, guys. Let's be honest here.

But the question is, who would the Knicks have to give up to get LeBron James? Jalen Brunson. No way. No, now you can pound sand.

Now you can take your sand and pound it. How much is draft picks? Randall? I don't know, who else? Hey, can we throw in Billy Joel? He sounded great last night in crypto.

He looked at home there. Play in the hits. Just for a year. You take Billy for a year in crypto. And Susie, I would love it, we're going. One year residency in Los Angeles.

I'm into that. And LeBron does a one year residency in Madison Square Garden. And he sounded great.

Seriously, Billy sounded like in his prime last night during the Grammys. All right, in all seriousness. In the home of the Lakers. Here's the problem about LeBron and his future, okay?

Yes. The whole play with Bronny thing next year doesn't look like it's happening. Bronny is, if you look at mock drafts, he's not getting drafted at all in the first two rounds, okay? So, odds are he's gonna stay in school. So, now what? Now is he gonna ring chase or is he gonna stay in LA? Cause he still wants to hold on to playing with his son. But why can't this team perform like they did at the end of last year?

And like they did for those two nights in Vegas? Why? Rich.

It's still most of the same guys. What, Rich, what? We've all had two good nights in Vegas. Nice. You know what I mean? Good one. But why not?

Why can't Austin Reeves catch fire again? Let me ask you this. D'Angelo Russell, better this year than he was last year? I think so. Okay. It's super underrated kind of. Rui Hachimura, better this year than last year?

Yeah, I don't know. Now we're drilling down. You're getting a great Anthony Davis season. Shame for that to go to waste. It's not going to waste yet.

Not going to waste yet. You don't like my Billy Joel for LeBron straight up? Draft picks, Billy Joel? Straight up. No, no, no. Could you imagine including an entertainer in a trade package? He is the...

Honestly. That would be incredible. Madison Square Garden touts that they're the home of the Knicks, Rangers, Liberty, and Billy Joel. You're aware of that though, right?

I know, it's great. We're going to trade you Billy Joel and Matthew Modine. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

The Knicks... For Snoop and Jack Nicholson. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't confuse it.

Don't confuse it. It's an even trade. No, I'm trying to figure out what else we can give so the Knicks don't give up too much that they can actually win it with LeBron. You wouldn't be able to get a ticket in Madison Square Garden. Can you get a ticket now? Oh my goodness. I'm sure you might be able to get one.

You can always get them on game time tickets. Well, I mean, obviously. But I'm serious.

Code rich. So who are we going to hear about on Thursday? Anybody?

What do you think? Unclear. I'm worried it's just going to be, you know, Killian Hayes or, you know. Yeah, not the same as Durant. Yeah. I mean, you're going to see probably like an Alex Caruso get moved.

Right, Caruso, yeah. So here's something else I want to talk about before Lincoln Riley joins us. So Dan Quinn gets the job in Washington, D.C. and thus a defensive minded head coach gets the job there. Ben Johnson, according, this is how it all starts. Ben Johnson, we were all thinking was going to be the next commander's coach because that's who everybody was essentially placing there. And the commanders were waiting for Johnson to be free of the championship weekend to speak with him to the point where they were flying to go see him. Our friend Albert Breuer, you see what he reported in MMQB?

Ben Johnson texted him, texted the commanders. Hey, I don't know what it exactly said, but bottom line is like. Turn the point around. Or, you know, I'm not meeting with you.

I'm out, I'm staying. And that they didn't get that text first, that the plain wifi was a little wonky. And so when somebody was on Twitter first and saw the tweet about it before the text got through. So they found out the way the rest of us did. And then do you break up with a team on text? I mean, what's the, what's the. So here's the thing.

What's the etiquette here? Tough to feel bad for owners. Players find out they've been traded all the time on Twitter.

Chris Paul found out by his son on Twitter. So, you know. Got it.

Bummer. But the reason why I'm bringing all this up about Ben Johnson is like, if Ben Johnson had gotten the gig, the commanders wouldn't be looking for an offensive coordinator, correct? Not one who you assume is gonna call plays. Right.

Right. And so it's Dan Quinn. So they need an offensive coordinator now. And I guess, I don't know, Cliff Kingsbury was set to go to Las Vegas.

And then all of a sudden we hear he's dropping out of that. And he goes to the commanders and Vegas gets Luke Getze who, you know, listen, I have no idea. Fitz or certain Fitz, maybe Fitz better what the Raiders are gonna do there.

I don't know. But this is the guy, Bears fans are like, go. Like this is the guy who's offense turned Justin Fields into a robot according to Justin Fields, right? And then Fields did play better.

I don't know, man. But all I know is Kingsbury is in DC where Caleb Williams went to high school. And Cliff Kingsbury was where Caleb Williams went to college the last year.

There he is dapping up. Number 13 on the sideline, all smiles. So he's going to a spot where they're second overall, one spot away from getting him. And Chicago had him in a few weeks ago to interview. Remember, I heard that I'm like, genius, get him, get Caleb Williams, boom, you got yourself a coach and quarterback who like each other and are attached at the hip and go do it. So the Bears say no to that. They get Shane Waldron from Seattle.

He's free because they bounced Pete Carroll, right? You see how one stone in the pond ripples elsewhere and instead he winds up in Washington where now the Bears, maybe they got Shane Waldron to get Justin Fields up to speed. They're not interested in Caleb Williams or Waldron can be Caleb Williams' guy. And Washington now does move up one spot and Chicago moves down another spot and stays put and gets a Kings ransom from Washington to just move down one spot and get whoever they wanted in the first place. Maybe it is Marvin Harrison, maybe it is Daniels or May. They're cool with that, with the rest of this and then they send Justin Fields elsewhere. I don't know, all I know is every single move that's made just makes this draft that much more interesting, that much more interesting.

And then Caleb Williams, you saw what he posted, right? My dog, congrats. Instagram story.

There he is. And we're showing for our radio audience an Instagram story of, I don't know how these things get made real fast. Did they change the actual clothing that's in the photograph of the person or take the head and just put it on, like whose body is that? I think that's Cliff and the ESPN graphics team. Just how do they do that? They just change it to a commander's thing? How do they do that? They probably had a Raiders one ready, a Bears one, they probably had everything ready.

Honestly, like all I'm saying is this, I don't plan on changing networks ever, but if they ever do this for broadcasters, put my head on a body that's a little bit tighter than the one that I've got, I would appreciate it. Cause if that, is that Kingsbury's body? I'm assuming it is. How do they change the color of these things? Well, I mean, it's photo shop.

It's easy when you know how to do it. I'm going in a less germane direction with that, but there's Caleb Williams. He's his dog and his dog is now coordinating the offense. That's one pick away. One. Just a quick move up. That's going to be an expensive move up pal. Expensive. Guess what? It's going to cost. Worth it. Who cares?

Who cares what it costs? Especially if Caleb Williams already told the Bears, I'm not coming, which by the way, it's too bad. He's going to. And the guy who might have an answer to all these questions about Caleb Williams and who he's like and what's in his head.

Well, guess what? That's Lincoln Riley. He's coming up next right here on the Rich Eisen Show. We will take a break right here on this Monday of Super Bowl week program. Lincoln Riley, the HC of USC when we come back. So Lincoln Riley is about to join us.

Radio audience returns in two minutes time. So moving out here to LA 03, Susie and I get married moving out here. Xan, our oldest 15 coop is going to turn 13 next week.

And he's bar mitzvahed later this month. Taylor 10. The reason why I bring all this up is when they're born, I kept thinking to myself, well, you know, and I remember having snow days as a kid. They're never going to have that feeling here in LA until today. Rain day. A rain day.

All three of their schools last night canceled due to concerns of flooding. I get it. Crazy is raining sideways. You know, normally we make fun of people in LA and rightfully so about we don't know how to drive in the rain.

That's correct. But what happened last night and today was different, man. Like I was up in Simi Valley driving back to over this way behind the airport. I literally saw five wrecks on the freeway and I could not see in front of me. I had my windshield wipers as fast as they could go. And it was the visibility was awful.

The rain was in the wind was moving my car. Wow. And on the road a little. I don't know what's more concerning that. Or again, he just mentioned again that he's driving behind the airport. You're freaking me out, man.

That's twice now. You're like, hey, so I've been driving by the airport. It's like, do you need something to do? We can have you over.

Bro, what are you talking about? You just driving behind airports? I live. That's where I live. I understand that. How many times you just keep mentioning that? But I'm driving behind the airport.

Well, because that's where I was rich. OK, guys, am I wrong? A little random. That's twice now. I think you're both right and you're both wrong. It is a funny phrasing. Yes, it's right.

So I'm driving by the airport. But it is accurate. Very accurate. I understand that. He's been there. He knows what I'm talking about. It's funny phrasing. That's just a little weird. It's funny.

It's funny. I'm on the Rich Eisen Show radio network now 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 clickgranger.com or just stop by the head coach of USC football. It's great to have Lincoln Riley back on the program. Good to see a coach. How are you? Good.

It's good to see you as well. So are you you know, are you used to the Los Angeles situation where we're freaking out over rain or this still just, you know, is a little bit weird to you that we're all freaked out over rain here? Still a little weird. Still a little weird. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, usually it's snow this, snow that.

I'm sure we're places that you've been to. But here we are. It's raining hard. So we can't go out, you know? Yeah. And then we make up these names like Atmospheric River. Oh, yes.

Oh, that's by the way, that's not making it up. I mean, there's an atmosphere and a river is falling down, coach. Not to go full meteorology on you here, but you know, I hear you. But that's that's what it is.

Yeah, I heard all about the L.A. sunshine. So we're not getting there right now. I know that.

Otherwise, you'd be in Vegas now, I believe so. I know exactly. So let's just jump into some of the news that's going on in the world. And and Caleb Williams is right there in the middle of it. And the conversations that I hear at the pro level about Caleb outside of the clear what the eyes see and the eye in the sky doesn't lie about is that is that the kid might be a little bit sensitive for the next level. And I just want to throw that in your direction. You know him very well and ask you to hit that subject matter on him.

Yeah, I don't buy that much. I think he's you know, he's comfortable in his own skin. You know, he is who he is. And I think, you know, the quarterback position, especially, and you're talking about, you know, the level of scrutiny that a guy like this is going to have a trophy winner and coming out of USC and likely to be a top draft pick. You better have somebody that truly is comfortable in their own skin and has that that inner self belief and confidence and is comfortable being themselves and that Caleb certainly has that. He's always had it. And I think that's important that you try.

You don't try to be somebody that you're not. And so he's very passionate about the game. He's very passionate about winning.

He does wear his emotions on his sleeve. Some people some people like that. Some people don't like that. That's just the nature of the business.

Just the nature of the business. But this kid's he's about one thing. He's about winning, about playing high level football.

And and he's got a lot of talent to back that up. Yeah. And just so you're aware, I find the the conversation unfortunate, but it is something that that I'm sure I'm going to be hearing about at the combine in a couple of weeks.

And then there's the draft. And you understand you've been through all this quite a bit and him crying on the sleeve of his mom after after that loss. And to me, I think it's great.

You know what I mean? Like, he's just he's still a kid. And he is somebody that just wears, as you said, his emotion on his sleeve. And and you have this whole conversation surrounding him is, I think, not a red flag whatsoever.

But what can you tell me about him that some folks may not know about him? Coach? Well, the other thing I would say to that is, I mean, I know they got captured on camera, but I've never had a guy that was a great player or turned into a really good player in the NFL. That if we if we lost a game wasn't just totally destroyed by it. I mean, that's, you know, for people on the outside that haven't been in those locker rooms at that level, man, it's these guys put so much into it and they want to win so bad. And it's you have to have that level of investment to me emotionally to be successful in those scenarios. But now this guy's made up of a lot of the right things, man. He's he's fearless. Now, I've said a lot, you know, when he made a decision to transfer, he could have went into a lot more readymade situations. He chose to come here with us to USC as we were, you know, in the beginning of trying to get a program up off the up off the mat.

And it's been a big part and certainly in us being able to do that. And so just I think the willingness to go into any situation, and be confident in himself and his abilities and not afraid of any challenge is something that's important. And and listen, whatever situation he goes into, like there's a reason why you don't have or there's a reason why you have one of the early picks in the NFL draft.

That means maybe everything hasn't gone perfect. And so when he gets likely in one of those situations, I think he's somebody that's going to face it head on. And I think that's an important mentality to have. And you also know what it's like to send quarterbacks to the next level, significant quarterbacks to the next level. And you just lost a member of your staff and clicks Cliff Kingsbury to the commanders, which, as you know, they they have the second overall pick in the draft. What what do you think Kingsbury could do for Caleb at the next level should somehow some way they connect in Washington? Coach? Well, they've had a chance to obviously build up a little bit of a relationship over over the last seven or eight months when when Coach Kingsbury was with us. And it was great to have him in the building.

He's a great friend and a tremendous coach. So you get a creative offensive mind like that that's developed. You know, obviously some phenomenal quarterbacks and a chance to pair those two up could be, I think, really special if that happens. And, you know, from my perspective, that's what you want, right? You want you want Caleb and any player you have to just get the right situation. I mean, we see all the time the young, really talented quarterback goes into a situation that's not very stable or not ideal.

And it doesn't you know, it doesn't work out. And in that league, more than any, it's so important about the fit, the right scheme, the right players around the right coaches. I mean, all of that has to be working together at a high level for there to be success. And so certainly hoping that Caleb can end up in one of those situations. And what did Cliff do specifically over the last year that you think helped out Caleb? Well, I think just his perspective from some of the guys that he's coached, his perspective from having coached in the NFL and just being a really good offensive coach was was awesome. I mean, he was limited in what he could do here for us with the with the college rules. But just, you know, being able to to go back and forth with us to help in game planning, to be able to help guide Caleb, just, you know, from a mentality standpoint and continue to grow his football knowledge was a big piece of it.

Yes. College rules. Lincoln Rally College rules. Where do you stand on the subject matter that's bandied about in our world in the media that the rules in college are still not well defined enough for folks in a position like you, which makes going to the NFL even more attractive?

What do you say about that concept? In coaching right now in college football, I think the thing I'm trying to stay focused on is, look, we still have a great product, man. But I love college football. I love being a part of it. It's been a part of my life for a long time now. And the product has never been better.

The on the field play, all that is phenomenal. We've got some issues right now. You know, we have some problems. We have some things that that we need to get corrected. There's been some advantages and certainly some positives with some of the developments over the past few years.

But there's been a lot of negatives to it, too. And it needs some work. And we need to get it fixed.

And we can. But it's going to take right people coming together. And it's going to take some some real well thought out plans laid out to to help college football because it needs it. There's too many good things going on right now for it to be tarnished by that.

But right now, it's just the world that we're all living in. So there is a committee that's just been formed between the SEC and your new conference, the Big Ten, which still blows my mind that USC, that you're a Big Ten coach for USC, Lincoln Riley. There's a new committee of athletic directors and presidents getting together. They reach out to you, Lincoln Riley, saying what does need what what do we need to do?

What what suggestions would you give this group? Well, we got to decide what we are. You know, are we amateur or are we professional? And right now we're somewhere stuck in the middle between both. And that's that's, you know, probably the worst place that we could be because it's just not definitive. And that's really what we need, right? We need we need clear lines. We need clear boundaries. We need to know, you know, what this is going to look like in terms of paying players.

We need to look like what what this we need to know what it looks like in terms of players and their responsibility of staying, you know, throughout a season. Just, you know, we got to just decide what we're going to be at the end of the day. And there's a path forward to both. But you can't sit here stuck in the middle and then pretend like that everything's going to work out because it's not. And so we've put ourselves in this position. We need to dig ourselves out of it. And I believe we will. And I think a committee like that between between the Big Ten and the SEC is a great start because it needs to be put together by the people that are on the ground, by the people that are dealing with this on a day to day basis and not people that don't have any experience with college athletics. In a couple of minutes, I have left with you. I'll give you the floor and the changes you made to your defensive side of the staff for USC. Why did you do it?

And what do you like about it? I would do it because we came here to win championships and you're not going to win championships unless you're playing the elite level defense. It doesn't matter what level of ball you're coaching at. And and we were excited. It's not even the right word for the guys we were able to bring in. I think it's just a tremendous staff, you know, getting Dan Lin to come to our defensive coordinator who did a phenomenal job this last year at UCLA.

Probably was the biggest turnaround of any defense in the country. Great NFL experience. We heard Eric Henderson away from Los Angeles Rams, who was a defensive line coach and did as good a job as anybody in that league over the last several years. Brought Matt Ince, who was the head coach at North Dakota State, won multiple national championships there.

Doug Belk, who's the defensive coordinator at Houston. I mean, it just it really just all came together. We couldn't have hoped for anything better.

I think it's a really, really high level staff and very confident in the job that these guys are going to do for USC. Coach, thanks for the time. Let's do this more often. I'm just, you know, I'm down the road a bit, but I would love to have you here any time.

Absolutely. You've got to reach appreciation right back at you. I'm seeing Baker on Wednesday.

I'll send him send him your best. I saw you right there. What a year he had. Oh, my God. I saw you were at you were at the Tampa game, right? You went to the playoffs.

I was pretty special to see both those guys doing it together. I love it. All right, coach, we'll see you soon. Thanks for the time. Any time. That's Lincoln Riley, the head coach of USC football right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Just a friendly reminder that you can stream the Super Bowl for free on Westwood One, sponsored by AutoZone. Every single NFL game you've been able to stream for free of the Westwood One broadcast on the of the NFL Live on the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports or on your Westwood One affiliate stations, digital platforms, Kevin Harlan and Kurt Warner on the call for the big game for free and get in the zone with AutoZone.

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AutoZone. Fun one, guys. When we're done, we are done. I went fast. You and I are about to stay after class.

I'm ready. Overreaction Monday is no problem. There's ponding on the one of five anyway. You know what you know, you should do ponding on the one on. It's just funny. So you and I are going to stay for overreaction Monday. Correct. Um, and then the Super Bowl preview. That is correct. That is correct.

And so, like I said, the one of five's got some ponding on it. You know what we should do? We should drive behind the airport, check things out.

Pull over, you know, look at the planes. I want to stay to be remembered when I start to come back. Just want to remember that this was the day that started. What's the comeback? Well, I mean, you'll see. You'll see. You're going to take off. You'll see.

Yeah. Listen, listen, man. Just want to go hang out by the airport.

What's what's wrong with that behind there? I've heard I've heard it's amazing. You should drive behind the airport. I've driven that way, so I'm not going to pile on. I'm not going to say hi to the airport for me.

The Rolling Stone Music Now podcast gets inside the biggest stories with Rolling Stone senior writer Brian Hyatt. And here's Lil Yachty with Tierra Whack. I've never been to a fashion show. I never did any Paris fashion week, New York fashion week. And I'll tell you why. Because I would always go to events and people would say to me, Oh, man, Yachty, man, I love your music, bro. I should be like, what's wrong? I didn't even at the time, I didn't love my music. I always feel like I'm in a room with all these artists and they all respect each other and I feel like no one respects me. Rolling Stone Music Now, wherever you listen.