Mike Florio: Russell Wilson Will Not Be The Broncos QB

This is the Rich Eisen Show.

Thank you guys for really getting me back into sports. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I'm considering walking away. I'm considering heading up to the mall here in Erie, Pennsylvania, and buying myself a Josh Allen jersey. I'm hopping on the Bill's Mafia bandwagon because I'm tired of the Cowboys. Earlier on the show, Apple TV MLS analyst Taylor Twellman, Bears beat writer for the athletic Kevin Fishbank. Coming up, host of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. And now it's Rich Eisen. That's a fact.

And now confirmed right here. Our number three, the Rich Eisen Show on the air on the Roku channel. We re-air every single day that we're done on Channel 210. So if you missed the first two hours of this program, Taylor Twellman on to help us preview the MLS season that begins tonight. He's calling Inter Miami at Real Salt Lake.

I'm wondering how many people look at that that squad's name and go, what's the fake Salt Lake? You know, but that's why we have people like Taylor on to clear this stuff up. He was on an hour number one, hour number two, Kevin Fishbane of the Athletic, he covers the Bears. We informed him of what Justin Fields said on the St. Brown Brothers podcast about unfollowing the Chicago Bears from Instagram. He also unfollowed the NFL account. And that means that NFL accounts now down to what, fifty five point four million and change for the moment. I think so. When it goes back up one, you know, Justin Fields is done with vacation because that's why he said he he tapped out. He's the algorithm is feeding him all a bunch of stuff about his career and his possible future.

And he didn't want to see it during his vacation. Twenty nine point eight million. There you go. Hold on.

They follow twenty one ninety one. Let's see. Does the NFL follow Justin Fields? Let's see.

They do. Ah, she's. There you go.

So I guess there he'll still mess with them. So eight four four two or four, which is the number to dial. Let's let's talk to our friend Mike Florio, pro football talk and the author of Father of Mine, which is now three ninety nine.

If you care to get it, the the e-book. Good to see you, Mike Florio. How are you, sir?

Rich, I am doing great, pal. It took me a while to get over jet lag after coming home from Las Vegas, but it was worth it. And now we just brace ourselves for the roller coaster ride that begins next week in Indy. That's right.

I had to overcome stomach lag, Mike, from from Vegas. Oh, I mean, but that was I mentioned yesterday that that should be in the NFL rotation for the Super Bowl, right? I mean, Vegas, would you not agree with that, Mike?

Yeah. I don't know if there is a rotation. We talk about a rotation and then there isn't a whole lot of rotating. It's a bunch of cities that we don't expect to be in a rotation. I think it should be in Las Vegas and Miami every five years. We're already five years removed from the last time it was in Miami. And it's not in Miami this year or next year or the year after that. And Las Vegas needs to be in that once every five year thing, too, that they just can't settle on because there's a lot more than five cities that are in a position to host it. So I don't know that there ever will be a rotation. But if there is, Las Vegas definitely needs to be in it. Well, I guess also the draft is now part of a rotation, right? Like they can actually start combining the two decisions together where, again, Nashville is such a great draft city. I'm looking forward to going back there for that.

They're building a stadium. So I'm assuming I'll I'll be going there for a Super Bowl. At some point, you know, maybe sometime this decade, I kind of dig it. I thought it was great. I really enjoyed it immensely. You know, I thought it was a great week. And again, I hope that it finds a way back there more often than not. I know it got a little crazy. Traffic was a little tough, but it is in every city that hosts the Super Bowl. So I agree with you. There should be a rotation and Las Vegas should be one of the top two cities in it.

For me, it would be Miami and Las Vegas every other year, just ping pong back and forth between the two. But they don't listen to me about that or anything else. That's right, Mike. But they hear they certainly hear they may not listen, but they hear Mike Florio, pro football talk here on the Rich Eisen Show. So what is the timing, do you think, on the Bears decision? First, overall, walk me through what you think the timing is from new league year starting March 13th. The combine is next week. The draft, as we all know, is when this is definitely going to have to come out in the wash. What do you think the timing is, though, on when they're going to make their decision if Justin Fields does have to get traded? Does that have to happen by new league year?

What's your two cents on that, Mike? When I saw Albert Breer's report from Monday that the Bears expect to have their plan in place next week at the scouting combine, my first thought was. Does that mean they're trading the first overall pick? Because how can you have a final plan in place that you're going to trade Justin Fields and take Caleb Williams, if that's who they would take, until you've done all of your proper due diligence on which of the quarterbacks you would take with that first overall pick? It made me think that they're hoping to set up something like they did last year where they trade that number one overall pick and get a lot in return, possibly a first round pick next year that becomes the number one overall pick again like last year's did. And that may just be my bias because I think they should keep Justin Fields. I think that they should see what his ceiling is and they should take that that huge lottery ticket that is the first overall pick and turn it into as many players as possible. Because, Rich, we know there's no guarantee that any draft pick is going to pan out. At one point last week, I looked back through the first overall picks who were quarterbacks. I'm not comfortable with that success rate.

I'm not sufficiently comfortable to go all eggs in the basket. Now, maybe it works out, but I think you get a better chance to turn that pick into multiple picks and get more players and put a better team around Justin Fields. So then who who's the team? Do you think that that would be the Godfather offer-er, Mike?

You know, great question. Depends on how far the Bears want to go. You know, there was talk last year that they were initially going to do a flip flop with the Texans because the Texans supposedly would have taken Bryce Young. And then the Bears would have moved down again from number two.

They could move down not very far. Still get a quarterback and still trade Justin Fields. I mean, there's a lot of different ways this could go. And one of the reasons I think Justin Fields is getting frustrated. He wants to know what's going on. We all want to know what's going on. And that is a testament to how well the Bears are keeping the cards close to their vest.

Nobody knows what they're going to do. That's the best strategy for the Bears, even if it makes us in the media and Bears fans frustrated and Justin Fields frustrated to the point where he taps out of following the Bears on social media. Well, again, he said that that was because he was going on vacation and the algorithm on his on his Insta keeps feeding him posts about his career and his future that he just he just doesn't want the negativity when he's trying to tap out. Well, let's not have an X account if he's trying to avoid negativity. That's funny.

That's funny. So so the timing is of interest, because I'd imagine a team that wants to get Justin Fields or would be interested in getting Justin Fields would want to get that settled by the new league year. Right.

I mean, I imagine what that would be. And in terms of the new league year, there's two quarterbacks that we know for sure it does appear to be on the on the on the market. It'll be Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield. What's your reporting or what you're hearing about those guys and their possibility of finding either new teams or resigning with their well? Rick Stroud, who covers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers very well for the Tampa Bay Times, reported recently that if the Bucks tag anyone, it will be Antoine Winfield Jr..

They're all pro safety, not probable, but all pro safety. That means Baker Mayfield heads the open market unless they work out a contract with him. So he's potentially in play. Kirk Cousins is waiting for something substantial for the Vikings.

So I think if except the fact they want to see what else someone will do and then maybe try to swoop in and match it or beat it. If some other team is willing to do better than the Vikings are. But, you know, Rich, even though we're three weeks away from the start of free agency and 19 days away from what we lovingly call the legal tampering window, the real tampering is next week in Indy.

The real tampering happens when all of the agents meet all of the teams face to face throughout the course of that four or five days. And that's when agents find out which of their clients are going to be pursued and how aggressively by the teams. And there are a lot of free agent quarterbacks this year with starting experience. It seems like every year now there are more and more veteran quarterbacks available on that off season carousel. And I think that will make it harder for the Bears to get a substantial offer for Justin Fields, because if I can go out and try to sign one of these other guys and not give up whatever the Bears are looking for and not have to pay Justin Fields a second contract, and I could get somebody else at a much more reasonable rate and not give up any draft pick compensation, I may try that.

But I think it all really starts to push toward ahead next week. And then by that, that start of the legal tampering period, that's when the offers are going out fast and furious as teams try to fill up their seats with the available quarterback. Yeah, I mean, when you're looking at teams like New England, for instance, because Washington, we're assuming, and I think appropriately so, they're going to fulfill their quarterback needs with their draft choice. Right. You take a look at New England, you take a look at Atlanta, just for two teams in the top 10 there.

Right. You're looking at the Raiders. You do look at Tampa to see what they feel about resigning Baker Mayfield or anything like that. The reason why I'm bringing up is an interesting question is going to be which teams are are willing to fulfill their quarterback need through the draft and which ones would prefer to do it through free agency.

You know, and that's going to be the tricky question about reading tea leaves and how everything's going to come out in the wash. It may just be that rich teams take their shot in free agency. And if they're left without a quarterback, that creates an even greater urgency to go draft one. There are pros and cons to both approaches. You get a proven commodity in free agency, but it's going to be more expensive than what that slotted rookie contract will cost.

Even if it's the first overall pick, it's nothing compared to what it costs to go out and sign a really good player in free agency. So there's a lot of different ways teams can go. You know, on one hand, it's very good to have a lot of choices.

The problem is at some point you got to choose one and circumstances will get in the way. Other factors will complicate the situation. But ultimately, a lot of these teams are going to have multiple doors they can walk through, and they're going to have to pick one of them and they're going to have to feel good about it. And they're going to be pinning the hopes of this season and maybe next season.

Maybe the season beyond that on this choice that they make. Editor-in-chief, creator of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio here on the Wednesday before combine week on the Rich Eisen Show. On my previous show, I came up with five top NFL spring storylines.

I want to bounce a couple off you right now. Number three on my top five list was Denver's quarterback plans. We had Sean Payton on our show the Friday of Super Bowl week, and he basically said anybody that ascribes a certain approach to us right now, we haven't even had our meetings yet. And he said they were going to happen the Monday after the Super Bowl. He even said that Russ has to be in the conversation because he's still in the building. He wants to stay there, is what he said.

And he said that counts for something. So I put that in front of you as to what tea leaves you can read there, because that's one big stone in the pond here about whether Denver is going to be in the market drafting or even free agency for a quarterback. It's not going to be Russell Wilson.

It's not. Unless he has some sort of epiphany that causes him to do something contractually to make himself more palatable to the Broncos. And I think there's already enough bad blood there from what happened last year between the fact that the things went down and Russell Wilson pursued an NFL PA grievance, even though it didn't come to a grievance.

There were some nasty letters exchanged. The fact that that even came out has to rankle somebody who was a Bill Parcells disciple in Sean Payton. It comes down to this. They owe him $39 million this year, no matter what. If he's on the roster March 17, they owe him another $37 million fully guaranteed next year. He will not be on the roster on March 17. His house, his 20,000 square foot, $25 million mansion is up for sale in Denver. He's moving on. And the real question to me is, will he take a one-year, bare minimum deal from someone else, make it easier for that team to put a roster around him, and stick the Broncos with the balance?

When all this stuff went down late in the season, that was the sense I got. We'll see how it plays out once he's cut, but I think he's going to be cut and I think he's going to be available to anybody who wants him. Who's going to want him? Well, I saw he was the betting favorite to go to the Steelers, even though there was a report from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazetta over the weekend that the Steelers aren't interested in a veteran quarterback who wants to start, which you look at it and say, even though Russell Wilson isn't the guy that he used to be, Russell Wilson, Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, all due respect, if you could get Russell Wilson for $1.2 million for one year, how do you not do that? The Raiders. If spite has crept into this equation at all and you have to assume at some level it has, the first team that I heard when all this was going down and all the rancor was out there and there were reports and people were talking to different folks on and off the record, the Raiders were the first team I heard because you're going straight to a rival of the Broncos. So you can stick it to the Broncos as a member of the Raiders. The question is, do the Raiders want him? And at $1.2 million, how could you say no to that, Rich? Wherever he is now relative to what he used to be, dollar for dollar, if he's willing to do $1.2 million and give the Broncos the balance of that on their books for this year, how do you not say yes to that? And Sean Payton during the season, he was honest when he was saying, hey, look, we've got to get this right because if I'm making the wrong decision here on this, then someone else is going to be talking to you at some point down the road. So who do you think is going to be his choice, draftee or free agents?

What do you got? They are going to move on from Russell Wilson. Rich is going to create significant salary cap issues this year and even more so next year. They got more than $80 million in dead money they're going to have to deal with.

And if they designate him as a post-June 1 release, it becomes a little bit easier. But still, they're not in a position to go out and pay market value to Russell Wilson, not Russell Wilson, excuse me, to Kirk Cousins or maybe at Baker Mayfield. So I think they're going to look to the draft and, you know, the question becomes, can Sean Payton find somebody who he believes can run his offense the way that he wants it to be run with a lot of the stuff, a lot of the important stuff happening before the snap? That's the thing you need to watch when you go back and watch Broncos games. What was really going on before the snap? What kind of sense of urgency was there?

What kind of changes were being made? We see different quarterbacks doing all sorts of things and calling out all sorts of words and pointing here and pointing there. Watch Russell Wilson.

There isn't a whole lot of that. I think to make any offense work well, you got to have that component. And I think that may be the thing that ultimately caused Sean Payton to give up on Russell Wilson. And then explain June 1st cut to people, Mike, because that might mean if they do designate him post-June 1, does that mean Russ is still sitting there, top of the summer, still with no gig? And then most teams have already filled up.

Right, Mike? Good question. It used to be that June 1 was a very active day on the NFL news cycle because you had to literally wait until after June 1 to cut a guy and spread the ensuing salary cap charge over two years. Now you can, and I think it's up to two per team each year, you can designate a player that you release after the league year begins as a post-June 1 cut and that takes whatever's left of the dead money, you get this year's charge you would have had anyway, and then whatever's left over goes next year. It's not a 50-50 split necessarily. It depends how many years are left, but it makes it a lot easier to put a guy out there.

This is very pro player. It lets a team put a player out there so he can get a contract somewhere else instead of having to squat on him until June 1. Right, and then the player has a better opportunity to find his next job. Last one for you, Mike, is the other storyline I had, number two overall, because number one was the quarterback carousel draft in free agency, which we've hit quite a bit in our chat so far. Number two is what did Jerry Jones mean by all-in? And that is a great question, and the key of it really is what about Dak's contract and what happens there is the start of it. Because for him to go all-in and maybe bring in other players that he said they normally wouldn't be all-in on, they've got to have the flexibility with Dak's deal, right?

So I place that all in front of you, Mike. You've got to extend Dak Prescott's contract to have the kind of flexibility you need to add other players. His cap number this year is $59.4 million. That is only going to drop with a long-term deal that pays him more than the $40 million per year he's making now.

The question is how close to the top of the market is he going to be, but he's got rich a ton of leverage. This is all the Cowboys' fault. They didn't pay him after his third year in the NFL. They wrote out the fourth year of his rookie fourth-round contract. Then year five, they paid him under the franchise tag. Year six is when they realized they were over a barrel, and they put a contract in place that has them over a barrel now as he enters the final year of his four-year deal that he did after that first franchise tag and technically when the second one had been used. He has them, and if Jerry Jones had someone in this kind of posture in any type of business relationship, he would take full advantage of it.

So I shed no tears for Jerry Jones. They created this mess, and now Dak Prescott has a chance to exercise full leverage. That's the first step, and until you do a new deal with him, you really can't go all in. They have to hope that Dak Prescott decides to give them a break some way somehow, do a reasonable deal, and leave enough cap space to take care of C.D.

Lamb. Michael Parsons is going to want to get paid, and that's even before you start thinking about who else might be out there. So all in can have a lot of different meanings, and all in, in the classic sense, if the Cowboys want to do it, they've got one hand tied behind their back as they're pushing those chips out to the center of the table. And the timing on that is this has got to get done before March 11th, right, when the window opens up. This has got to be done in the next 20 days. This has got to be already a topic of conversation here, right? I mean, when the new league year begins, that's when Dak's cap number hits 59.4. That's the moment it hits, so you've got to have the new contract ready to kick in and drop that cap number.

Otherwise, you're going to have to cut some guys, or you might not be able to sign some guys. I mean, it's a huge mess, even though the cap, I was told the other day, initially 242, 243 million, and somebody that is always, I mean, bats 1,000 on these issues said it's going to be closer to 250 than 243. We'll see, but the higher that cap number goes for all teams, the easier it is for teams to maneuver.

So a lot of teams hoping for a higher number than expected this year. It makes it easier for them to get their players under the cap. Yeah, when do we hear about that? When does that hit?

Well, it's got to be next week. It's got to be, because when you apply the franchise tag, and we're in the window now, the franchise tag number is, under the current CBA, in most cases, a specific percentage of the cap. So you have to know what the cap is to know what you're committing to if you're one of these teams. So no later than 13 days from now, the last day of the franchise tag period, but it's got to come. And I think the final agreement, it's negotiated every year between the league and the union.

The final agreement will be made next week in Indianapolis, if not before that. So this is it. I mean, rubber is meeting the road. I know we're 10 days removed from the Super Bowl, but this is coming up fast. This is happening right now. Well, this is what happens when you add a 17th game to the regular season. There's no longer a lull.

This is the lull, and there's really no lull to the lull, because it's just a minor tapping of the brakes, if anything. Tell me about the e-book, $3.99, right? And you know, I've been reading a lot of e-books lately, and I realize that I am pretty freaking stupid when it comes to setting a price point, because most of them are at least $10.99, $11.99, $12.99. But look, I just want people to read and enjoy the things I've written. It's not about the money, and I know any time anybody says it's not about the money, it's about the money. But I really don't care.

I really don't care about the money. I get a lot of fulfillment from writing, and I love hearing from people who have read the stuff that I've created out of nothing and enjoyed it. It fuels me to keep doing it. So $3.99 is aimed at getting maximum people to give it a try and see if they like it, and the sequel is in the works, so hopefully I'll have that, maybe by football season.

It all depends on how crazy this offseason really is. Well, you know, every now and then I'll text you about not what you're reporting on, you're writing on it. You could see that you do enjoy the actual craft of putting a sentence together and sticking the landing in a sentence, Mike, and a piece.

You could see it, for sure. And, Rich, I appreciate that very much. One of the byproducts of doing this for 23 years now, I have literally written millions of words, probably more than 9, 10 million, just every day, every day, every day, story after story after story, and it gave me a capacity, I learned four years ago, to sit down and just crank out a lot of intended fiction, not the unintended fiction that I'm often accused of. Be well, sir. Hope to see you soon. Thanks, pal.

Take care, man. That's Mike Florio, everybody. Check out at Pro Football Talk. He's not lying about the Cowboys, sir. It is all predicated on what Dak and Jerry and Dak's representatives are talking about with Jerry. I bet you right now they've got to get that duck in a row first. Absolutely. It's the key to everything. Did you see Jimmy Johnson told a radio station in South Florida that Jerry called him up and asked for two cents an hour after the loss at Green Bay because as he told the radio station that he's got decisions to be made on McCarthy, Quinn, and Dak.

This takes a nice chunk out of the pie. That's what he said. He said everything's hunky dory between him and the Cowboys right now. He's not in the advisory board. He didn't say what he told Jerry, but clearly whatever he told Jerry, Jerry's like, I'll stick with McCarthy. Clearly couldn't keep Quinn. And then we'll find out what he said about Dak.

Because Dak does have the leverage, as you just heard what Mike said. We're taking a break. I've got my power rankings and most important quarterbacks in the offseason carousel.

Oh, baby, that's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. America starts the day with America in the Morning. The podcast available wherever you listen 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. 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. Do I call you a free agent quarterback sitting here? What do I call you? I don't know.

This is my first time going through this. You tell me. Call me whatever I guess. I will call you Dak Prescott. That works.

I'm going to ask you the question this way about what contract you think you're going to get. OK. In terms of pie, because I've heard there's less pie. I've heard there's less pie. That's right. There's there's Jerry Jones right there.

The voice of Jerry Jones. We've heard there's less pie. We've heard there's more pie. I'm wondering if you think this is deep dish pie.

How deep is it? Is it a deep dish pie? If I'm guessing, I'd say, yeah. OK. Yeah. Is it franchise pie?

I would say you'd say, well, I mean, I don't know what kind of how we're talking about. franchise tag. Excuse me. Is it franchise tag? I don't know. I mean, long term pie. Is it long term pie?

I don't know. I just want a piece of the pie. OK. OK. That's it. Yeah. OK. And is it is it a pie that that starts with a four?

Is it a pie that starts with a four? I could just said I'm leaving up to my agents to cut my piece of the pie. I'm just ready for it and ready to eat.

So when that happens, I'm ready to get to work and excited for this off season. And we've also heard through DeMarcus Ware told us that when you sit in Jerry's office, have you gotten the Jerry's office meeting yet? I've been in Jerry's office.

OK. And that he lights a candle, turns the lights down and gives you a whole Dallas Cowboys speech. Have you had that? You have not had that.

No, I haven't had that one. He says that that happens when he's trying to close a deal. So I think you'll know that you're really close. If you walk, it's turned off. Lights go down. Thank you for that. That warning and that heads up. Now I know like what's going on when that happens.

Apparently a votive candle with a Dallas Cowboys star right on the side of it. I don't know if it's scented. It's make me to smell it.

It make me the smell of pie of some sort. I'm just saying that hasn't happened yet is what you're saying. It hasn't happened. When you get that call, you know, wow, I'm close.

I ain't got that votive candle, I'm sure. After that on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, we're back and I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. Patrick in New Jersey has been hanging on for a while. What's up, Patrick?

Hi, Rich. Good to hear from you. I'm good to hear from you, Patrick. Where are you from? Where in New Jersey are you from, Patrick? Where? Oh, we had this conversation last time I called. I'm kind of like 30 minutes off from Lake Met Life Stadium. Okay.

So I'm like near the Paramus area. Sure. Did you ask to tell people to figure out which highway I was last time I called? Yeah, I think. Yeah, okay. And he probably couldn't tell.

I guess, you know, right near where Tony Soprano once took the ticket on the turnpike. So what's on your mind, Patrick? Okay, so I needed to talk to you because you're a Michigan fan. I'm a Broncos fan and this is like a weird situation that we're in because I don't think we have the ability to trade up just because we've already spent the farm on the last guy and I also don't buy Sean Payton at all when he said that they haven't looked at the tape yet.

I think he already knows who he wants and he's going to go and get them, but I just don't think we can. And so there's been a lot of talk on Broncos Twitter about JJ because he would probably be there at 12 and there seems to be like a split in the fandom of whether or not he's good. Like if he's worthy of being that high of a pick or whether or not he was carried by the run in Michigan and he was just Harbaugh's dude and he's not going to make it in the NFL compared to the top guy. So as a Michigan fan, you watched him play every week. I wanted to ask you sort of like what's your take on whether or not if the Broncos went and made that move to get JJ McCarthy because I think Sean really wants a guy to go up against Herbert and Mahomes twice a year at this point. Oh yeah. By the way, are you asking me should they draft JJ McCarthy if he's available at 12? Is that what you're asking? I think it's more like when you go on the show after the draft and you respond to all the quarterbacks that were taken and you have to respond to react to the Broncos taking JJ at 12, like hypothetically, what would your spiel be?

My spiel? I mean it's straight up. You'd be lucky. If the Denver Broncos can take JJ McCarthy and put him in an orange crush jersey, end of game.

Rip the knob off, end of story. Please. I mean, I understand he handed it off 28 straight times against Penn State. Kidd was hurt. Kidd was hurt and the right tackle was getting his ass beat. And so the coach saw it and says we're tougher than them.

That's the end of that. And then I think McCarthy, if I had to, thanks for the call Patrick. If I had to guess, JJ McCarthy played hurt against Maryland.

If I had a wager. And he's tough as nails, man. Good kid, married, he's not going to be, you're not going to get a phone call in the middle of the night.

Guess what happened? He's married at age 20? 21.

I would advise against that. Or he's engaged to be married. He's engaged to be engaged? He's off the market.

He won't be unfollowing the Broncos and then using the analogy Justin Fields used, in other words. That's what I'm saying. Oh yeah, he just turned 21. Yeah. Come on, no. He's accurate. The number of times I would watch him play and the ball would fly out of his hands and it would be a dart and I would just go, oh my goodness.

It would just like come out of my mouth. And I have been following Michigan football since 1986, since Jim Harbaugh was in his senior year. I've never seen anybody play the position like number nine, period.

Nobody. I forget who said it, but it's been said that if he played for a school that threw it a lot more, we'd think he was Joe Burrow. Maybe so. Maybe so. Except he played for Michigan because Ohio State told him to beat it and now people might be comparing him to Joe Burrow who Ohio State told to beat it.

But listen, that's neither here nor there. The rookie of the year was an Ohio State quarterback. No, I understand that. What does he have in common with the previous rookie of the year? Maybe the next rookie of the year. They all lost their last game to Michigan.

But listen, I'm just saying this. 12th overall, Daniel Jeremiah doesn't think he'll be there, but 12th overall, I'd take him. It feels like this kid's going to be one of the Combine stars.

He's really good. I'm sure he's going to throw. I'm sure he's going to light it up. And he's just going to light up a meeting room too. Now, I know Jim said when he was on this program that he should be first overall, which is easy for Jim to say because he's got his guy. Yes.

You know what I mean? Right. He could do that. But putting him in Denver?

How about him versus Harbaugh twice a year? Oh, yeah. That's fun. How about that one?

Do it. For Sean Payton. And again, Sean needs some... Obviously Drew Brees is the prototype. But it's quick. It's one, two, three. It's timing. And it's accurate.

This kid was dead on accurate. Yeah. That's why I never understood Sean picking Denver because Russell Wilson is not that guy. He doesn't run that type of offense. I don't know. He's an off-schedule dude.

I have no idea. That relationship will be out in some 30 for 30 one day, I guess. Right now, we're not... How about Florio?

He was just basically straight up. He's not going to be the quarterback. Are you ready for it? We always are. I didn't mean to go Taylor Swift on you, but right there. We always are. I have my power rankings.

It's a Wednesday. I have my power rankings. Oh, hit it.

Most important quarterbacks in the off-season carousel. Hit it. Hit it. Hit it.

Hit it. Power rankings. There are many like it, but this one is mine. Power rankings.

Yes, indeed. It is time for my weekly power rankings. Number 10 on my list of the most important quarterbacks in the off-season carousel. I'm throwing Michael Penix Jr. here. Certainly if somebody is going to turn down a shot at a quarterback in the first round of the draft and he's sitting there top of Friday night, or he's sitting there end of Thursday night, who's coming to go get this kid is 24 and has been through a lot and has a neck up ability that is uncanny coming out of college. He took on an NFL type defense in the national championship game and was doing a lot of pre-snap dissecting that was highly impressive.

So it beats in the chest and it certainly resides between the temples. And I'm wondering who's going to go ahead and taking a shot at this kid end of first round, or if let's just say Daniel Jeremiah's mock draft of having the Patriots sitting at Marvin Harrison at the third overall spot. Do they go ahead and trade back into the end of the first round to get a fifth year control on Penix and just basically say the whole Belichick era of just holding on our draft picks and trading down and trading down and trading down and getting more third, fourth and fifths are over. And we're just going to go ahead and we're going to remake this offense with Marvin Harrison Jr. third and Michael Penix Jr. as our second draft choice. When I say third, I mean third overall.

That's number 10. Number nine on the list is Drake May. I'm putting him here and I'm putting him here because this is going to be a decision for whoever second overall, and we're assuming it's going to be Washington. You take this kid out of North Carolina and you take him over Jayden Daniels.

And that makes him important because that is a huge decision. And let's see what he looks like. That's number nine. Number eight on this list.

I'm finally hitting a veteran here. I think he's going to stay put. I think the Bucks saw what they can get out of my boy. And I think my boy is showing them what they can get out of him.

And I think my boy stays unless Mike Evans goes and he's sitting there going, what the hell? And the Raiders and the I mean, the Raiders, the Raiders, the Raiders say, you know what? Let's trade pirate ship for pirate ship. Baker Mayfield is a raider. That's fun, don't you think? That's pretty fun. Baker Mayfield in the AFC West, the AFC West I know is a little, but I mean, Baker versus Patrick Mahomes, like it's the big 12 all over again.

Final score is 60 to 50. I kind of dig it. And where he goes, I think is a very important part of this carousel. Maybe if you're thinking about drafting somebody like, no, no, let's go get Baker Mayfield now. And let's put, let's put our eggs in his basket.

Cause he's trying to create this basket and say, put it in there, put the eggs in. Number seven on the list, just spoke about him. I don't care if you think I'm biased. I saw him. He is truly special. And if he winds up being a top 10 pick, then he's pretty damn important. He's a national champion. He's a winner. He lost one game as a starting quarterback as a Michigan Wolverine. He's JJ McCarthy's 21. You're getting him as a baby. And he has started the clock on his pro career right now.

And he's going to make somebody very happy. And I put him again, if he's a top 10 pick that makes him crucially important. And if he's like a top 20 pick, boy, somebody sitting down there at 20, you imagine if the Steelers somehow wind up with him?

No, no way. He lost that one. I don't think so either, but I'm just saying this is a crucially important piece of the quarterback carousel of the off season. Number six is Russ. What happens with him, man? What happens with him? And we're going to find out because by March 17th, because that's the date by which he makes a ton of money. If he's on the, on the Broncos roster and we just heard Mike Floro say he full magic Johnson. He ain't going to be there.

Okay. So where does he go? Who wants him? Does he take a discounted deal for his new team because he's making all this other money from Denver and then he suddenly, you know, very attractive to a team because he is costing you nothing to basically bring in there. And then he just, he's just got to find a spot and say, I'm going to have a Renaissance and make the hall of fame. That's the way he's going to be after viewing his situation.

And boy, that's dangerous. If we can bottle and uncork some vintage stuff from Seattle, that makes them important. And certainly because if Denver does what I think they're going to do, and then suddenly in the market for drafting a free agency, that makes them, this guy, a linchpin.

Speaking of linchpin, we're in the top five now. I'm putting him here and I'm not saying because he's going to be made available because what he does is crucial to the Dallas Cowboys opportunity and free agency and what they can do in paying their own players. Dak Prescott is an important quarterback on this off season carousel because the carousel would spin in all their spots, running back carousel, receiver carousel. If he does contractually what the Cowboys kind of need him to do, which is lower that cap number and then they extend them means he's there. He's off the carousel for sure himself.

That's number five. Number four on the list is Jayden Daniels. He is your Heisman Trophy winner and he's sitting out there and what does he bring to the table is exactly the conversation to be had second overall. Because again, I think it's Caleb Williams' world we're paying rent in, although my NFL Network colleague, David Carr, said he would put Daniels' name on the first draft slip and rip the knob off and run it up there.

Yeah, man, there's lots of takes going on right now. Jayden Daniels is number four on this list. Number three on the list is Justin Fields.

Okay. Who is he going to wind up following on Instagram and we assume he's just going to rip the knob off there and he could start going on vacation and not worrying about what's on his algorithm. He should just start following George Pickens in jail. Is he just not going to be on the carousel or what? Maybe he's not on the carousel. Maybe somebody blows the bears away and they're like, okay, our decision's made right here because we now have a bevy of picks to surround Justin Fields and we're going to work. Or is he on the carousel?

Number two is the top veteran free agent, Kirk Cousins. I think he stays put. I think there's not going to be anybody with him coming off of his Achilles that's going to blow the doors off him where he's going to say, I'll move to Vegas. All right, I'll go to Tampa because Tampa is going to what, suddenly blow out the quarterback spot but not for Baker.

It'll be for him. I don't know if the Patriots, if that's the type of move they're going to make right now that just doesn't strike me as the move. I think nobody's going to blow the doors off of Cousins.

I think he likes staying there and I think Minnesota is going to keep him. But if he's on that carousel, unbelievable. He's going to wind up making more career money than Garrett Cole, right?

Like the only person outstripping him is Otani. You know? He's going to get 45 a year. Number one, you know what the number one is. It's Caleb because what the bears do with the first overall pick is the first, one would think ripple in this monster carousel pond. Caleb Williams.

How about them apples? The USC kid Heisman Trophy winner once removed is, in my mind, the most important quarterback on the offseason carousel in the NFL and that's my power rankings. I left off Bo Nix. I left off, you know, some of the other veterans who could be a backup like Tannehill or Flacco. Jimmy G. Jimmy G. You know, didn't didn't think that they were more important.

Important being the keyword. Yeah. Take a break. Finish up this Wednesday show.

Set up shop for the rest of the week when we come back on the Rich Eisen Show. Hi there, sorry for the interruption, but are you enjoying the show on Google podcasts? You should know that the Google podcast app is going away this spring.

That's right. Going away. Gone as in no longer available. You can still enjoy this show elsewhere, though. Try out Spotify or Amazon Music, or maybe TuneIn is more your style.

Whatever app you switch to, be sure to follow so you never miss the next episode. And thanks for listening, wherever you listen. All right, I'm going to invite Amman Rahm back on. Amman Rahm.

I want to commend him on his questions. I mean, he nailed it. Right? Yep. Did you unfollow him? Do you want to stay in Chicago?

What do you think of Atlanta? Those would be the those would be the three questions I want to know. Because I certainly don't want to follow up on the other stuff. Maybe he's in with that and then, you know, how's your vacation? No, no. Did you meet any nice people?

How was Amsterdam? You know, did you go to the beaches? What does it mean to still be messing with after unfollowing? I don't I don't gather. I think you get it.

Be good of him to explain that to you. Yeah. Yeah. As a father of three.

Sure. Married 21 years. When you unfollow someone, how do you still mess with them? Well, I mean, if you're going to put it in marriage terms, how many people have been married, got divorced and remarried?

Like a lot. Yeah, that's unfollowing and still messing. Well, that's it. I mean, it seems like messing with the same person, though, how many people got back together with their ex?

That's what I'm saying. I would imagine a lot of people have remarried an ex. Mike, not a chance. No.

We'll tell Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, how many times she was married, eight times three to him. Was Richard Burton famous enough to be dating Elizabeth Taylor? 100%. 100%. He was? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Never heard of the guy. It's unbelievable that Joe DiMaggio would hook up with Marilyn Monroe just to get his profile up. Yeah. I mean, she was more famous than him. Does this sound like a familiar conversation to this season? Just saying.

Just pointing stuff out back on the Rich Eisen Show. Game Time tickets, people. Get to your mobile device and download this app. The Game Time app is so easy to use. It is so simple to navigate. Within two taps, you buy tickets. And not only do you buy tickets, you could see the view from your seat and you could see how much the whole thing costs all in. And Game Time's got tickets, deals right up to the start of the event, even an hour after it starts.

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Last-minute tickets, lowest price. Guaranteed. All right, guys. Fun show. Funny show. Have we hit everything? They always are, Rich.

They always are. Have we hit everything? Did we hit everything?

I think we kind of hit everything. Yeah. Honestly, when the ESPN news stack has the same headlines as the day before, you know, there's not much happening.

But we're on it. Kind of the big story going around right now is Charlie Woods is going to attempt to qualify for the old Honda Open. Really? Yeah. How old is he now? He's 15.

Oh, man. So at age 15, he's going to try to qualify for the Honda Open. So he's going to play in a pre-qualifier. And if he advances to that, he can play in the Monday qualifier with, you know, 100 guys and they take four. Oh, he'd make that. He's 15. He's 15. I'm betting on that.

I'm betting on 100. One thing that I'm appreciative of at least is it's good news. It looks like he didn't catch influenza from his dad. I didn't see Charlie out there on Friday. Is that right?

He was out walking around. Yeah. It's now called the Cognizant Classic.

It used to be the old Honda. Oh, okay. So now we're moving to Florida, though. Yeah. We're seeing the tour is moving to Florida.

Going to Florida. Okay. So that's kind of big right now.

It's kind of hitting the last hour. 15-year-old Charlie Woods. That would be wonderful if he makes it, wouldn't it?

The unbelievable Tiger played his first event at Riviera when he was 16. Okay. So he'd be on the similar trajectory.

He'd be dad to the punch by a year if that happens. Yeah. Bring it on. Geez. Come on, Charlie. I just want Xander to make his bed. Eat healthy. By the way, Zand's been outstanding.

He is 1 million percent. He has been 100% on making his bed before going to school, which is for teenagers, honestly. Monster pig. Make a bed. Brush your teeth. All that stuff.

Let's check the basics. We don't have to ask him anymore. And Tiger's 15-year-old's trying to make the Honda class. That's not fair, though. It's not fair.

It is. I love it. More power than Charlie, baby.

I love it. I'm going to compare other 15-year-olds. My 15-year-old, I'm not comparing. My 15-year-old, I'm sure Charlie can't do things that Xander can.

A million percent. Come on, now. Seriously. Does Charlie have a Snapchat account? I bet Charlie is messing with girls. He doesn't follow. Get out of here. What is the matter with you?

I thought the mic was off. Now that I understand the reference, I am offended, sir. The other big thing, the other news we could probably hit on tomorrow, because we're running out of time. Antonio Pierce is going to have Mahomes rules for the Raiders next year.

Which is what? Send more to the Jordan rules. So bust them up, basically.

Pretty much. Touch them every time you get... Well, you don't have to tell Max Crosby that every time he gets there. Touch them up. Oh my gosh. I love it.

Antonio Pierce is bringing that swagger. I will just say this. I would counsel not to continue to dine out on a Christmas Day victory in Arrowhead. No. That's all I'm saying.

I love speaking things into existence. The mere fact that he's the coach is proof of that. He said it on Max Crosby's podcast.

I like it. The Rush. How did Max book him? Is that part of the 10%?

It might be. The vig that Max gets for... Look, I was all down for AP. I was pounding the table for him to be the coach.

But then he kind of didn't agree with our check in the suitcase situation. So now I'm a little... We're out. I'm not out. I'm not out. I'm not saying I'm out. I'm disappointed.

I go back with Antonio Pierce at a Giants cam on NFL Total Access. Please. Please. Oh yeah, you've been in this game for years. I'm in it. You know? But I would just counsel to say the Chiefs are ready to avenge that defeat and remind the Raiders organization where they just went back to back.

In their house. Congratulations. Yep. That's it.

I knew I'd get DJ on that one. Because I don't... I'll look around. I mean, you can't raise a banner that we have Mahomes rules. You know what I mean? True. That's just my only counsel. But just keep doing your thing. It certainly worked out the end of last year. That's for sure.

We'll chat again on Thursday. The Rolling Stone Music Now podcast gets inside the biggest stories with Rolling Stone's senior writer Brian Hyatt. And here's Lil Yachty with T.R.

Wack. I've never been to a fashion show. I never did any Paris fashion meet 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. And I should be like, what song? 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.