Justin Jefferson: Kirk Cousins Is Great

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Learn more at Discover.com slash credit card. Limitations apply. Live from Las Vegas, home of Super Bowl 58. It's the Rich Eisen Show. It's humbling because I never thought I would be in this mini Super Bowl game. You look at the 49er logo, you think of success in Super Bowls. Earlier on the show, Pro Football Hall of Famer and Super Bowl Champion Rod Woodson, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins.

Coming up, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson. And now it's Rich Eisen. Yes, it is hour number three of day number one of our three-day residency here in Las Vegas for the big game.

Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, live from Las Vegas at the Turbo Tax Studio. We have had a wild day here inside the Super Bowl experience with the Nickelodeon, having their kids' day off. We weren't expecting that. No, it's not. It's all good. It's all good. You know, it's just it's not like I didn't come to Vegas to get rid of my three children.

Nothing like that. You know, I love my children like being around kids at any rate. Hour number three is on the air. If you missed any of our show already with Keegan-Michael Key and Steve Young and Rod Woodson and Seth Rollins, and we had Nate Burleson crash the set, we are going to re-air on the Roku channel as soon as this hour is over. And there's our podcast as well. We appreciate everybody checking us out today. Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings is going to be joining us shortly in our studio from Las Vegas. But joining us right now, courtesy of Advanced Auto Parts, is one of our favorites. One of my favorites from the Buccaneers.

What a superb season he had there. Good to see you, Baker Mayfield. How are you? Great to see you.

Doing good, guys. Thanks for having me. You got it. How often do you come to Vegas? Are you a Vegas guy at all or no? Few and far between.

Is that right? Yeah, special occasions. OK. Like bachelor parties and stuff like that? First time was a bachelor party.

Fresh off the 21st birthday. No money. So definitely borrowed some from a lot of friends. Survive in advance. That's the motto.

It is. I was saying that when I came off the plane, I remember my first times coming to Vegas. And I would just be like, this is going to be the greatest weekend ever. And then about 10 hours in, I'm like, how long until my flight two days from now? Like I've had those experiences here.

Yeah, it's an interesting place. Ran out of money the first time I was here. Had to ask friends just to get a water. Did you really? I've had some lows here.

Waters are expensive. Looking to have some highs. But let's make this moment that high.

This is the high right now. Absolutely. Well, again, congrats on a great season. Because I know making the most of opportunities is what it's about in the National Football League.

You crushed it. And I know I asked you this before. But now that you're fully through the season, why do you think it worked out in Tampa for you in such a great way? From the very beginning, they told me going in, just from free agency stuff, be the best version of you. All we want is for you to be you. And that's kind of rare to hear, instead of somebody saying, hey, you need to act this way, do this and that. But Todd Bowles, Jason Light, those guys just said, hey, be you.

And we know who that is. You're healthy. We want you to come in and play with that fire, that passion, get the guys going. And yeah, it's an empowering feeling when you hear that. Right, and obviously, winning a division, going to the playoffs, winning a playoff game, being involved in a tight, big time affair in Detroit, as you were, now that you look back on it, what are your two cents on the season you did put out there? I mean, it started out hot. And we didn't really know what we were doing offensively.

I mean, everybody knew the basics of the scheme. But then we lost six out of seven there in the middle of the year. And so for our guys to stick together, for us not to try and reinvent the wheel scheme-wise, that's something to be really, really proud of, to be where we were at, at four and seven, say, all right, we still have a chance to win this division. If we just fix the things that we can control, play with each other, and go from there, that's something to be really proud of. So the guys just bought in.

And that's rare to have when you're sitting at four and seven. And now the guy who was coordinating your offense and calling the plays is now the head coach of the Carolina Panthers. Yeah.

What do the Panthers get in Dave Pinellas? The most positive guy I've ever been around. Is that right?

Yeah. And even in those moments of the four and seven, and I give him a lot of the credit for not changing up what we were doing, just saying, guys, we need to get the little details fixed. If we can do that, we're going to be fine. We have the talent that's there. We have everything we need. We have all the pieces.

We just need to put it together. And so I'm excited and happy for Bryce to be able to have somebody like that that's going to instill that belief in him. I don't think he's lost it by any means. But it's tough when you go from the number one pick to not having a lot of success. And so for him to have somebody like Dave in his corner that's going to be a positive attitude guy every single day, and he doesn't waver on it.

And it's a rare thing to have in the NFL. What does that feel like to hear that voice in the helmet that is always positive? It's, you can just, you can sense, he's just truly happy to be there. And I mean, obviously, he's worked extremely hard to get to this point.

But it just gives you your own belief. It's kind of that ripple effect that he instills in everybody. No kidding.

That is something to say. I know he started in Southern California, right? Yeah, he's an LA guy, worked his way up, got to Seattle with Pete. There's connections there. He just, you can tell, he's taken his time, 13 years in Seattle, learned from a lot of different guys, been around some great ones, and just took all that knowledge and is now using it for himself. Yeah, Baker Mayfield here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's your two cents on this game on Sunday?

What do you think? Good match up, really good match up. Obviously, the Chiefs, they don't screw it up. That's why they get to this point. They find ways to win and play with each other and make the plays when they need it. But San Fran, I think some of those pieces that were there a couple of years ago when they played in the Super Bowl, I think they have this one, they've had this one marked for a while as their revenge game.

So I don't know. I think San Fran will pull it out, but you can never count out the Chiefs. So what is your two cents on this national conversation that many in my business are having about game changing quarterbacks, game managing quarterbacks? What's your opinion as an actual bonafide playoff winning quarterback in the NFL on this subject matter, when you hear this? If you're executing the system to what's being called and what you're being asked to do, people can slap a game manager title on it, but you're executing at a very high level.

That's game changing. And so if you're able to do it consistently, like Brock has done, that's an elite level of quarterback play, and you can't ask for much else. And so that's, I don't know, I'm a big fan of Brock.

Obviously, short little quarterbacks, we try and stick together with the gritty attitude, the chips on our shoulder. But no, I'm a fan of his, and I don't think he's a game manager. Have you met him at all?

I have. What's your opinion? How have you been around him? I think he's just a hardworking guy that, similar mindset to me, of be in the locker room, be engulfed in that, and just try and be a normal guy for the guys in the locker room, but play your balls off when it comes out to it. Like a couple of those first down runs that he had in the championship weekend, he's showing exactly the heart.

He's wearing that on his sleeves, and I think that's a big thing for the guys around him, that he's going to lay it out on the line for those guys. Yeah, because the concept of game managing, I mean, you do it every snap. You break the huddle, you know what the play is, then you survey what's in front of you. And you're actually, every snap, you're managing a situation.

Exactly. And so just because it's not electric, you're not doing some Mahomes or Josh Allen or Marr plays, doesn't mean you're not doing it in the best way in your own way. And so everybody does it differently, but I respect the way he does it. And so what advice would you give him as the opposing quarterback taking the field against him in a playoff game, which you've done? When it comes down to these big games, it's always the teams who don't mess up. So do the little things right. Take the easy throws, take the easy completions, the stuff that's gotten them to this point of why everybody says he's a game manager, he's just put the ball in the right places. And it looks easy because Shanahan's drawn it up for him, but he's done it the right way. And so for him, just keep that same approach.

And they have a great team around them, so trust those guys, too. Baker Mayfield here on the Rich Eisen Show, courtesy of Advanced Auto Parts. What are you doing with Advanced Auto Parts? So obviously, this is a big weekend, Super Bowl Sunday, but not many people know the following Sunday is National Car Battery Day.

So that's a fun fact, February 18. And we've got the campaign going on with Advanced Auto Parts. False starts, kill drives. Everybody hates false starts in football. It's one of the most frustrating things.

It's the number one penalty in the league. It just sets you back. And so when you can relate that to your cars, it's a dead car battery. You're starting from behind. You're going to be late. You already have more yards to make up. But if you register at AAP, falsestarts.com, you get a chance to win free car batteries for life if there's one false start in the game. And these two teams that are in the championship, they are top 10 in false starts in the league, both of them. So all we need is just one false start. We don't want a sloppy game.

I'm not rooting for a sloppy game. Just one false start. That's all we need. And then you could win free diehard batteries from Advanced for life. For life. And that's not the length of your car life. That's your life. Your life. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah.

Damn. It's a big deal. So that's a lot on the line on Sunday.

I thought it was just the Lombardi Trophy. Yeah, everybody's going to be watching Super Bowl Sunday, but there's a lot more on the line here. And there's always finger pointing, right? There's always finger pointing that it wasn't me, it was him. Exactly. Somebody drew me off, like there was encroachment. I'm not sure if guys actually realize that they have no input when it comes to the finger pointing, but it's a fun thing to do.

Seriously. No, he did it. So you've never seen a ref influenced by the finger pointing, is what you're saying? No, because they get together and they want to call it, however. They're not going to listen to it.

They don't? If they listen to it, then I'd have a lot more calls go my way. So I've been, on the other hand. So do you not complain at all? Do you don't lobby? Come on.

We're always lobbying in there. Yeah. You've got to speak your opinion whether sometimes it might hurt me, but sometimes it'll help. Understood. Absolutely.

Again, false starts being the number one penalty in the league. We need just one. Just one. And how does somebody get involved? You go to aapfalsestarts.com. Register before Sunday. Register before Super Bowl Sunday.

And you can get free batteries for life. Fantastic. I'm signing up right now. Baker Mayfield here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's your scoop over the next few weeks?

What's your timeline like, man? After the Super Bowl, going to take a little vacation. Where are you going? Going to Bahamas.

Take a couple of the guys, a couple of the big boys down there. Relax a little bit. And then I got a baby on the way. So wife's eight months pregnant. Is this your first? First one. Going to have a little girl.

I am so screwed. Little girl. Oh, no. Be wrapped around her finger. Truly. Being a girl dad is the greatest thing. It's one of the greatest gifts of all time. This is great. At first, we were both hoping for a boy.

But now we're really, really excited. Understood, of course. OK. And so when's the due date?

April 2. So going to get one more vacation after the Super Bowl. And then it's off limits after that. So it's a guy's trip to the Bahamas. Oh, no. They're coming too.

OK. Everybody's coming. Yeah. Makes sense.

Very good. And actually, Tristan Wurfs is going too. And his girlfriend is due a week before us. So we've got to enjoy a great friend that I've, you know, we've become very close quickly.

And then we're also on a similar life cycle right now. There you go. Yeah. Fantastic. Very good. And so when do you make your decision about what's next for your pro career? You know, the first step happened in Tampa hiring new OC.

So I'm excited about that. Somebody that I'm familiar with. OK. Liam Cohen? Yeah.

Great guy. Obviously, I think a big factor in that was the same system that we ran last year. So guys don't have to relearn anything. Terminology might be a little different. But same system, same scheme. And so just take the next steps from there. And then let my agent and those guys negotiate from there. But I'm thankful for that place. They gave me an opportunity.

But your first option is to stay put, right? I would love to. Just how they run things, how they operate, it allowed me to play free and just all about ball. Well, that's cool. Yeah. And you like living there in Central Florida? How can you not love it? Good weather.

Didn't know anything about it going into it. But we've settled in there. Fantastic.

OK, so that's your option to do that? Because, you know, the Patriot fan over here, he's lobbing hard. He's lobbing hard over there. I know. Like I mentioned, he's going to the Bahamas, B, Boston, B. You know what I mean?

I think it might be a clue there, you know what I mean? Yeah, the B's similar. Summertime in New England, Baker.

Nothing like it. Yeah, there's no ahamas after the B. I got it. It's Foxboro, not Boston. There you go. OK, so that's your next order of business.

Congratulations in advance. Let me know where you're registered. No, no registries.

Just donations of the foundation. No registry. OK, very good. And everybody go to AAP, fallstarts.com. Register before kickoff Sunday.

And then when there's a fall start, you have a chance to win free batteries for life. It's a big deal. It is that. I signed up for it. Yeah, we're in for it. Did you really? Yeah, we're in.

Why not? I like free stuff, Baker. OK, everybody likes free stuff. Thanks for coming on. Appreciate you guys. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

That's Baker Mayfield here on the Rich Eisen Show. Just want to let you all know before we head on out of here, Game Time tickets is there for you to get a ticket to the big game. With the code Vegas100, you can get $100 off when you buy a big game ticket through Game Time, which is the ticketing app that gives you complete peace of mind with your purchase, because you can see views from your seat. You get the entire cost up front with their all-in prices before you buy.

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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Justin Jefferson next. This is the Rich Eisen Show from Vegas. America starts the day with America in the Morning. Hi, I'm John Trout, your host for the latest news, politics, entertainment, business, and weather.

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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 are one to talk. You've released two books this year. I've done half as many as you.

It is more about strategy than it is about just finding whatever the new buzzword happens to be. Bigger Pockets real estate podcast on YouTube or wherever you listen. All right, we're back here in Las Vegas. Justin Jefferson at Jay Jeffers, too, making his way here. Is that right? My cousin? Probably. I mean, yeah, we'll figure it out, but I'm pretty sure. Are they feeding the children candy? Because there's a lot of snacks, I mean, they're bouncing around. Yes, they're all over. This is amazing, though, man. This is why they're getting pictures of SpongeBob behind us.

I need one of those, by the way. Jason Feller and I got the voices of SpongeBob and SquarePants will be in the booth for the circle. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, OK. With with Nate, huh? With Nate, is Nate doing that?

Nate's doing it with Noah Eagle. Amazing. Yeah.

Those are the those are the broadcasts. Look over and watch a little of the slime cast. Why not? Will you do that? Why not? I once did that with the kids.

I'll get back to you. And that was the game. It was the Saints against the Bears. It was their playoff game. Remember that they played?

It was two versus seven. And there was a there is, I believe, was it? Was it was it Gardner Johnson who got in a fight? Remember that? Oh, yeah. There was like an actual fistfight. One of the Bears actually hauled off and hit. You can't get into a fight in the slime cast. What do we do? I know that.

And just like, how do you how do you teach the kiddos what an immediate ejectionable offense is? Now, that's slime under the seat. SpongeBob SquarePants, SquarePants. He's here in town, by the way, Caliendo. Oh, I thought you meant SpongeBob.

No. Oh, Jason Miller and I just took a picture with him, Rich. They are literally, truly right behind us.

SpongeBob and SquarePants. There you go. You can see right next to you, Chris. Turn your left. Turn your left. There is. Yeah, it's what is happening.

Well, that's the idea when you watch the Roku channel. Hey, what's it like at the Super Bowl? This is what it's like. SpongeBob, what's happening?

And SquarePants. They're both here. I'm going to get a selfie with SpongeBob. Do it. Right. Do it.

Do it better than Lady Gaga. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickrainger.com or just stop by in case everyone's wondering where we are, like literally truly where we are. We're in the convention center attached to Mandalay Bay. And we are in the Super Bowl experience, which is the place where families and kids and and children of all ages, if you will, will come here and run 40 yard dashes and look at Super Bowl rings. And it's like a it's like a museum in a way with some activities. And pretty much anything you could possibly think of that has to do with the NFL is an experience in here. Right.

Yeah. And we're artifacts. We're attached to Radio Row, the media center, which is where most of the shows emanate from Super Bowl week. And there's a lot of folks who just stroll around Radio Row. And that's why we sometimes like to just remove ourselves from Radio Row. So when a guest comes and sits here, they feel like they're not being pulled in 15 different directions.

Or somebody being like, hey, can you come do five minutes? And what would throw a wrench into that would be having 1000 children hopped up on sugar running around slime. And that pulls that pulls a little wrench into that. And so it's a it's a it's a bit of a walk, which is why Steve Young was saying this is like he climbed a mountain with a Sherpa, like a thousand mile walk or something he was talking about base camp. And I think, look, I know Steve was off. He looked a little winded. That's all I'm saying.

I hear you again. Is he chewing gum? He was chewing gum. And it wasn't it wasn't just like a piece of gum. It looked like he had like some big league shoes stuck.

I know. Seriously, I was like, is he dipping? He said, I'm an athlete. So he's an athlete. Yeah, I'm an athlete.

I was fun. And then Nate Burleson hopped in because the Nickelodeon crew are covering the line right now along. And his correspondent is Adam Schefter's daughter. Nice. And Schefter, I think, is around here right now. Oh, just walking around. I know he might be shoving some of the kids aside and cut the line for the 40 yard dash. I don't know.

I mean, that was the cool part. Nate just wandered over and he hopped. Oh, my gosh. So Justin Jefferson's making his way here. As soon as he shows up, we'll throw him right on the set here. The Minnesota Vikings. Do you think Kirk Cousins is going to go back there? I think so. To Minnesota. Yeah.

Yeah, it seems like it. But Pittsburgh is an interesting destination that Ron threw out. But Steelers aren't going to pay that much. Because here are the teams that are going to need a quarterback. OK, going to need a quarterback. Washington is going to need a quarterback, right? Yes. Patriots are going to need a quarterback.

Absolutely. These are teams that are going to need a quarterback. We had Antonio Pierce on yesterday, right? Head coach of the Raiders.

He said it's Aiden O'Connell and they're going to bring in somebody to compete. Do you want to throw the Raiders on that list? Sure. Yeah. All right. Then we will do so. Broncos are going to need a quarterback. Absolutely.

All right. Everybody else in the AFC South just drafted their quarterback. Think about it. C.J. Stroud. Trevor Lawrence is the O.G. with Anthony Richardson and Will Levis. Right.

That division's locked. Bengals and Browns don't need one. Ravens don't need one.

Nope. Dolphins don't need one. Bills don't need one. Jets don't need one. The Jets need to use their draft capital on protecting Aaron Rodgers or whoever's going to be there after Rodgers.

Right. Rodgers says two more years. I don't know if they're going to use they're going to use a draft choice on a quarterback. I wouldn't imagine so.

And then there's the Steelers. I don't know if they like Pickett, man. Rod wasn't sold on him. How about Rod? Rod Woodson, by the way, came on the show and he's just like, I don't understand what everyone is saying.

It's about Brock Purdy. He's young. You know, like if back in my day, like I was being toasted first two, three years of my career, they'd have labeled me a bust.

So let kids develop. And then I'm like, who's going to be the quarterback for the Steelers? And he goes, whoever they're going to try to try.

I'm like, well, what about Picket develop? He is. It's funny when it's your team.

It's just a different different set of circumstances. Yeah. All right. You want to put the Steelers down on this? Yeah, I do. I do. Absolutely.

But they don't need one, is what I'm saying. The NFC Giants, dude. I'm not putting the Giants on this list.

I am not putting the Giants on this list. What are you hearing? What do you mean? You know, he does have sources, though, Rich. He keeps them low key. What are you talking about?

Go ahead. I hear things. Russell Wilson might be in play for the Giants. If Russell Wilson comes to New York and performs in New York the way he did at the end of a Seattle tenure in his first two years in Denver, he will be filleted like a steak.

Get out of here. The Giants are going to what? Take on his contract. Now he'll get cut and then he'll be on the veteran's mitt.

Oh, I don't think he's going to get cut. Why not rest in Pittsburgh? It's about us.

OK, that is the best part about this show. I'm not putting the Giants on this list and the Eagles aren't on this list. The Cowboys aren't on this list. The Lions are not on this list. But the Washington football team, they already are picking to Atlanta. Atlanta needs a quarterback.

Yeah, you think so. I mean, I went back and forth twice with Ritter. Heineck is not the answer. They need a quarterback. Rams don't. None of the NFC West teams do. Seattle might take one. Seattle might take one. And then the NFC South, obviously, they're not going to. Panthers aren't taking one. Saints. The Bucks don't need one. They just left, you know. Saints are probably solid for another couple of years.

It's like six, seven. And look who's joining us right now. Hey, it's Justin Jefferson coming in here, man. We're live. How are you, sir?

Good to see you. Take that seat. Let's Jay Felley.

Give him a give him that mic. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. There we go. Man, who is number two on the NFL network. Top 100 list of players in the National Football League last year. One of the best in the NFL playing wide receiver courtesy of sleep member from the Minnesota Vikings.

We've got Justin Jefferson. Good to see you. How are you? How's it going? It's going great, man. Glad to be here. I know. Now you ran through all this, right?

Just to sit here. For sure. Do you need a second? You need a minute?

Yes. Hey, do you want to take the guy out? OK, well, you're a lot of kids at the time. There's a lot of kids who want to see Justin Jefferson. Hey, I'm not going to lie. If I had this experience as a little kid, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

You'd have run all over the place, right? What? This is crazy. This is my first time really seeing this. This is unreal. I know. You should. Well, then there's parenting one day.

True. Honestly, right now, this doesn't phase me at all. This noise is just doesn't phase me at all. It's a normal day, a regular Wednesday for you. So how are you doing? You good? I'm doing great, man.

Doing great, you know, just trying to enjoy all of the moments that I have. You know, of course, you know, I didn't like the season, the way it ended. So there's there's work to be done. So there's there's the grind.

The grind is is definitely about to take over. There's two questions I have for you that you don't know the answer to. But I'll ask them anyway.

How's that for a setup? Number one is, who's your quarterback that's coming here? Yeah, I don't know that. I don't know that. I have no idea. You know, it could be Kirk. It could be someone else.

I have no idea. But how is Kirk? How is he? I mean, Kirk is great. Kirk is great as a as a teammate, you know, as a person. I mean, just seeing seeing the difference from, you know, having multiple quarterbacks go to you versus, you know, having that one main quarterback.

So it is definitely a difference. You know, you kind of appreciate it a little bit more after like everyone, especially, you know, Vikings fans appreciate Kirk a little bit more now that we've seen him off the field. So it's definitely been tough, but it's been great to see him still in the training room, still interacting with us as a team. Right.

Still having that high spirit. So, you know, I guess we will see what goes on. What's your sense of how it might play out with him?

What do you what's your sense of it? I mean, I would like him to say I would love to have have him stay and have that connection with him. You know, it's going to be difficult to create that new connection with, you know, a whole new quarterback, you know, especially if, you know, if we don't know if we're going to draft one, we don't know if we're going to pick one up. Right. So it's a little bit difficult situation. But I mean, I would I would like to have him back.

I would like to have him, you know, in that in that locker room, especially with that leadership that he has and I see on his chest. All right. Now here's the other question that you don't know the answer to. Where is that bag? Where's the bag? Where is that bag?

I don't know, man. I'm looking for the bag just like you are. Hey, I'm looking for it just like you, dog. I'm waiting for the call. I'm waiting to, you know, experience that that whole thing with my family.

And, you know, it's life changing. So I'm waiting for it just like you are. Do you have any idea when the bag might arrive? But hopefully sooner than later. I mean, the new league year comes up, right? Yeah, sure.

In in March. Yeah. Are there are there conversations about where the location of the bag? There's there's conversations.

There's conversations, you know, that we're trying to have good communication and, you know, to stay on the same page. And, you know, I know it's going to come. You know, I'm not I'm not in any rush, just like I've been saying all throughout the season, because I've been you know, I've gotten that question asked plenty of times. Yes, I'm focused on football.

I'm going to let my football do to do all that or play. I know that I'm going to get what I'm worth. You know, I feel like I have the right people and the right, you know, support system around me to to make sure that I'm getting everything that I deserve. And, you know, no one is taking advantage of me. So I'm excited.

I'm excited to see what's what's new and what's going to come up for the future. Yeah. But, you know, just like I said, I'm waiting just like you are. Yeah. I mean, when you have as a just as a, for instance, a negotiating point. Yeah. That you set the record for most yards and catches and things of that nature for anybody through the first four years of their career.

And you did it in three. Yeah. You know, like you cut you shaved it off by a year. That's kind of a position you can take just that you need my help. Yeah. Yeah. That kind of sets it up.

And then you did the three year thing in two. But yeah, you keep on, you know, ahead of the curve. Ever since I got into the league, I'm always trying to over exceed the expectations, you know?

Yeah. You know, when I got into the league, I was, you know, shoot for a thousand yards. I thought a thousand yards is going to be a great season for a rookie, which it is. But I over exceeded that and got 14. Then the next year I over exceeded that.

And the next year over exceeded that. So just every year I'm always just trying to find new ways to better myself. I know I'm going to get the double teams, the triple teams. So I was all about just still trying to find ways to get open. Of course, you know, with the help of KO and the rest of the coaching staff by moving me in different positions, I got to learn how to be a slot, learn how to stay being an outside receiver. Of course, I get the press man a couple of times.

So there's always room for improvement for me. So every single offseason, I'm grinding, trying to find new ways to become the number one receiver. Every single year. Justin Jefferson of the Vikings here on the Rich Eisen Show courtesy of Sleep Number. What do you think is going to happen Sunday in this game? What's your opinion? I don't know, man. This is going to be a tough one because both teams have been playing tremendously. Of course, you can't count out Patrick Mahomes and what he does for that team.

But you also can't count out the different players that Francisco has and the defense that they had. So I don't know, man. It's going to be a tough one.

Well, now, listen, I'm going to turn you into a member of the media at this point in time. You have to choose. If you had to choose, which one do you think is going to win?

Justin Jefferson. This is a tough, tough question. I want to say 49ers. I want to say 49ers, but it's very difficult to see him because Patrick Mahomes is on the other side. Just like Baltimore.

I thought Baltimore was going to win, just what the different players that they had, the defense that they had, the energy that they carry themselves with. But Pat Mahomes did the job again. So it's like, you know, what can you do? I mean, it's like, do I have to go with Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City? Yeah. Do you have, like, is that the right answer?

No, you don't. There is no right answer is what you believe. You want to say 49ers, but you when you say that, you feel like you're not maybe paying the proper respect to Mahomes is what I kind of picked up. Let me ask you the same question. Sure. Who are you going to go with? Well, who are you picking? Here's the deal, Justin, is I have a job Sunday for eight and a half hours.

I'm leaning towards the Chiefs. Okay. That's how I am leaning right now. For the same reason you're talking about. Okay, I was just making sure that we were on the same page. It's just I've seen this movie before, you know, at the outset of NFL Network when I watched Brady win three out of four and go back to back and have an air of invincibility that, you know, Mahomes went into Buffalo, obviously, with his defense and his team and tell some atmosphere. Right. And then went into Baltimore and did that tough atmosphere again. Right.

And so it's kind of tough. And the only people who have beaten Patrick Mahomes in a postseason game, Tom Brady and Joe Burrow, your guy. That's company, right? That's the list. That's good company right there.

That's it. When did you first realize Burrow was special? Honestly, I mean, of course, you know, everything changed going into our junior year of college, but especially during that, like that spring going into summertime, we all knew that it was going to be that type of season for us. Just the way our offense was, just the way our offense was just, I mean, everyone knows LSU is known for their defense. We're never known for our offense. But that year we killed our defense every single practice, every scrimmage we killed them. So we knew that as an offense, we always knew that we needed to do our part as an offense.

Defense was going to carry that week. Would Patrick Queen agree with that assessment? He didn't agree with that during springtime. He definitely had a couple of fights with Joe. We definitely had a couple, a couple of brawls during the spring practices, but we knew that, you know, that's what it was going to take. You know, we knew that Joe was tough after that, just getting into those fights with different people, just carrying that swagger. He got into a fight with Patrick Queen? Oh yeah. You didn't hear about that, huh?

No. Hey, hey, Joe is something, hey, hey, he's something else. Joe is something else. I'll give him that. He a tough, he a tough sucker. I'll give him that. Like chest to chest, nose to nose?

Head to head, helmet to helmet, in each other's face. Yeah. Damn. Yeah. Is that why, did you see when, when Zay Flowers got flagged for taunting, did you see Burrow took to Twitter and he said they should just let us taunt? I agree.

You do? I agree 100%. I mean, it kind of takes it away from the game, the excitement of the game.

I mean, we all, we all know to be respectful. We all know that there's a limit towards it. Yeah. But I'm saying like, like if you getting tackled and you get up and then you kind of like flex and then somebody's just, you know, standing on the ground. Yeah. I don't really feel like that's really taunting too much. And that's exciting towards the game.

Everybody wants to see that type of stuff. I feel like there's a limit towards it, of course, but I feel like they definitely should take it, take it out. Justin Jefferson here, courtesy of Sleep Number, the official sleep and wellness partner of the NFL. My sleep number setting is 60. Mine is 70.

Look at you. Very close. Very close. Just 10 numbers apart. Very close.

And how is the sleep number bed working for you? Please. Do I look well rested to you or what? Yes. I don't see any bags. No, it's the makeup. I barely see a coffee.

I see one cup. It's just, yeah, that's it. That's it. That's it. Yeah.

Looking at Jenny, looking bright. I do feel that way. Hey man, I'm telling you, sleep number will do it for you, man. That's why 80% use it. Hey, it's, hey, the facts are there. Yeah.

The facts are there. So you, you, you like, you set that setting. You like your, your certain way. And I'm in love. 70% do it for me.

Okay. That's, that's what's been doing it for me this whole season. I feel like, you know, the, especially the recovery to coming back into on the field, sleep has definitely been a big routine for me. You know, especially with all of the different treatments, the different, the different, you know, physical therapy, therapy that I was trying to do, of course, trying to get back on that field as fast as possible. You know, my whole process and a whole recovery process, sleep was that, that number one thing for me.

And if you buy sleep number pillow, you get one free and plus sleep number then donates another pillow to the American Cancer Society as their official partner of a crucial catch, which we all know about with the NFL. Thanks for coming in, Justin. Thank you for having me, man. It's always fun.

Really, always fun, always fun. And, um, listen, I know, um, you don't know where the bag is, but when you go back into our purple room, I will give you a bag. Wow. It's not the, it's not the bag you're looking for. It's not the bag. It's not the bag. It's not the bag. It's a great bag. It's a great bag. It's not the bag I'm looking for. You might be looking for it. No, it is not the bag you are looking for.

I cannot provide that to you, but what bag I will provide you. There's a lot of sweet stuff and there's a good, there's some Roku products in there. You got some Roku products in there. Absolutely.

And then there's Rich Eisen show gear. Wear it with pride. Oh, always, always. Of course. You got it.

Good luck with the bag. Thank you, man. Justin, it's Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings here on the Rich Eisen show. We will be back to finish up the show in a sec. Now, what do you want to ask? You're doing a radio show, a television show and growing a beard all at the same time. It's a big game. What do you think? What do you mean? What do I think?

It's going to be 80, 83 to six. I called it. I used to know you when you didn't have what's going on here. What's going on back, Mortimer?

Do you think I should? I don't know. Wow. You're not really happy.

You're enthusiastic, but you're not really happy. My real name, which is three people called me is actually Stevon. Stevon, Stevon. Had you used, had you used that name? Everybody had a baby with a name, their baby, Stevon. Well, Stevon, thanks for coming on.

Y'all some dirt, man. Who did you hear singing karaoke in the Gatorade suite that night? It was a beautiful voice. Is this the young lady from Catching Kelsey?

No, this is not. Like an angel bringing us in. They're walking and we see Rich Eisen karaoke dominating. It was not a kiss.

It was one of those, is it a kiss? It's tough to do karaoke now. People are filming all the time. Then they judge and, you know, I get judged enough. I don't need to be judged on my singing ability. I'm plus one in Roger Goodell's suite. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. He did not point to either one of you guys.

Your favorite talk show host, Rich Eisen, Dan Patrick, Ellen DeGeneres. She loves You've Got Mail. It's not even the best Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan movie. Exactly. The symbolic of the breaking of bread. I look at the cutting. Oh, wow.

Get him a nice parting gift, will you, please? How's my posture? Is it confident?

Yes, it is. I mean, you're just like leaning back. Relaxed. Swag.

How's my posture? It's all right. Man, that was our Minnesota Surf Bowl.

One of our 10 now that we've covered. Back here as one big happy family on the Roku channel, as well as this Rich Eisen show, Terrestrial Radio affiliate, Sirius XM, Odyssey and more. You meeting the kids, TJ? Did I see the kids coming over here? Well, they're trying to barter. They're trying to barter. They want the helmets.

They want the helmets and the footballs. Oh, they want our gear. They're trying to barter some stuff. Barter? They want to offer some stuff in exchange for some stuff.

It's a set dressing. No, I know. You want to offer me a card for something? A CJ Stroud card.

Yeah, CJ Stroud card. I mean, that's pretty good. You want to hold on to that? Yeah.

That's going to make you money one day. Look at this. We're talking to kids.

Kids say the darndest things here at the Super Bowl, like offering me a CJ Stroud card for this mini helmet on the set. And Rich, I'm not sure if you're aware, Justin Jefferson confirmed that he and I are indeed related. We are people. What do you mean? Well, I've been telling you that. I said, he's my cousin. You said, are you Izzy? And I'm like, I don't know, probably. And then I told him my last name and he said, you're my people. He left. We're going to hit the family reunion together.

It's great. Wait, do you have his bag? Yeah.

Is that confirmed? Well, you have the bag? No, but I'm hoping maybe he'll cut me off, break me off something. We've got to ask Liz or anybody else with our show to see, like, did he open the bag? Just to look? Just to see? Yeah. Were there stacks in there? Were there any honey buns in there? Oh, darn it.

There's just a hydro flask. Unfortunately, for as great as our bags are, I don't think they're quite big enough for what he's going to get. I understand we just had active players on the set, right? As opposed to the Hall of Famers that we had already here that showed up. But it's going to be tough for any of the other.

I don't know if we have any more active players in the next couple of days. Bottom line, though, it's tough to top, I think, the popularity of Justin Jefferson with these kids. It was amazing. It was like, you know, Moses.

The Pied Piper, yeah. Elvis entered the building. They were yelling at him. The kids were going nuts. Yeah, they were all, like, saying, dude, it's pretty.

And he walked away, and there was just a trail of them following him. Yeah, like the Pied Piper. It's great. We have Max Crosby on tomorrow, Rich. Oh, there we go. Max Crosby. Very good.

I hope he's going to give us a great segment, because me giving him Defensive Player of the Year on the show was an unpopular decision. Yeah, kind of. In some parts. Hey, what are you going to do? Let's not linger. Okay, I've got a top five list. Oh, yeah. I've got a top five list of the most impactful off-the-field moves presented by Turbo Tax. Hit it. High five. One, two, three, four, five. Rich's top five.

Indeed. Here we go. These are the most impactful off-the-field moves to put these two teams in the Super Bowl for Super Bowl 58. Number five on my list is the 49ers trading away Trey Lance, which is kind of wild. The fact that they finally did pull the rip cord on the draftee that cost them so many draft choices to go up and get, the fact that they pull a rip cord on would normally mean the coach is going to get fired or the GM who made the deal is going to get fired. Instead, what they did was clear the decks for Brock Purdy to be the starting quarterback and not have any sort of question. If he does falter, what happens? He's looking over his shoulder at the kid who is going to have to play. Like just the fact that they used all those draft choices to keep maybe on the roster. They got to just push him up and give him a shot.

Instead, they just say, we're ripping the bandaid off. We're pulling the rip cord. We're sending him to Dallas and it's Brock Purdy's show.

And I think we've seen what Brock Purdy did with that opportunity. Clearly his play is a major reason why the 49ers are here in Las Vegas with one more game to go. Number four, the most impactful off-the-field moves to make sure one of these teams is in the Super Bowl. Number four is whatever the Chiefs receivers set to their hands.

I don't know what they said to him. Just like, did they ever have, cause honestly, when you're talking about flipping a switch and what's going to happen, that's just maybe focusing more, I guess. I don't know, but whatever happened to have the Chiefs start catching the football again. Well, specifically that guy, two weeks in a row, he's had good catches. Marquez and Valdez-Scantling ended the games against Buffalo and Baltimore with huge catches, including that one that the Ravens conducted to, I mean, the Chiefs conducted to end the game against the Ravens. They went up on third down instead of running it to try and maybe take time off the clock.

So I don't know if the process is like, basically like looking at them and saying, why are you not working? There's 10 of you, just grab the football. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. Like Michael Irvin, he brought the gadget to ghetto in his hand. That's what he said. Rich, do you think that Patrick yelling at Josh was the thing that hit the switch after the game when he was so frustrated? No, I just think that, you know, Patrick, I don't know if that was a switch because him being so upset about Kadarius Tony being offsides in the call happened before the loss to the Raiders on Christmas day.

Oh, that's true. So that was the last loss that the Chiefs have had and they flipped the switch after that. So number four in terms of off the field impactful moves is one of the Chiefs receiver said to their hands. Number three is the Chiefs drafting Isaiah Pacheco.

Seventh round draft choice. What he has been able to do running the football is a key to Kansas City being here. He had a touchdown in last year's Super Bowl when he was just a mere rookie. Now he's a grown ass man, second year player who can score another touchdown.

And I need to ask NFL Network Research, has it ever been somebody who made the Super Bowl his first two years and scored a touchdown in each of those two Super Bowls? Isaiah Pacheco has a chance to do that. Number two on the top five impactful off the field moves to get these teams to Super Bowl 58 is the 49ers saying, okay, we gave up a lot to go draft Trey Lance and that move really isn't working right now for us because well, we didn't start him in year one and in year two, he broke his ankle right off the bat. We're going to try with Jimmy Garoppolo and save our season by trading for Christian McCaffrey and using all of the draft choices essentially that they feel that they had left of any value and package them together for Christian McCaffrey.

And look what he's done right now. And sure enough, they trade for McCaffrey and they start him against the Chiefs and Garoppolo goes out for the season in the game and Brock Purdy winds up starting the next week and the Brock Purdy legend is born. And part of the reason why the Brock Purdy legend could potentially even exist is because Christian McCaffrey is such a difference maker. Number two on that list. Number one though, the most impactful off the field move to put either of these teams in the Super Bowl. Number one is the Bears trading up for Mitch Trubisky. What?

What? They didn't trade up for Mahomes, did they? You got a good point there, Rich. Mahomes was sitting there wherever he was for the Chiefs to call the bills of all teams and say, hey, we'll flip you a first in next year's draft to swap firsts in this year's draft with a little bit of something else. So we'll use your draft for the first time and use your draft pick Buffalo to pick Patrick Mahomes and bring him to Kansas City. And the rest, as we say, is history.

So yes, sometimes the most impactful off the field moves is made by somebody that's not in the Super Bowl. So I'll give you one more. I'll do it. Hey, George. George from this town. From this town. I like it. Las Vegas.

All right, why not? He's going to do it. Impactful off the field move. What's bigger than Travis Kelce speaking his relationship with Taylor Swift into existence? That's as big as it comes, guys. He spoke it into existence.

And look at this now. Talk about impactful. Over $300 million, potentially, has been brought into the NFL, right?

How are they gauging that? This could be the greatest ratings bonanza in Super Bowl history. All right, GJ, put it out there. Who do you want?

You and Halle Berry, put it out there. That has nothing to do with the Super Bowl. Sorry, sorry. And that was my top five impactful off the field moves of the season presented by Turbo Tax. Like football, life is all about making moves.

And when you file with Turbo Tax, you've got the tools, experts, and services needed to make your moves count. What a show, everybody. I want to thank Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Young, Rod Woodson, Seth Rollins, Baker Mayfield, Justin Jefferson, and a special guest appearance by the set crasher, Nate Burleson, and all the kids that are going nuts behind me right now.

I love it. That will wrap it up right here. We'll be back on the air live from Las Vegas at the Turbo Tax studio on Thursday. We'll be back to wrap up this show on the Roku channel in a second. Rolling Stone Music Now, wherever you listen.