Stacey Dales: I Think Bears Draft A QB

Oh my God, you guys are my favorite. This is the Rich Eisen Show. The one and only Rich Eisen. With guest host, Suzy Schuster. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Atlanta would be tough.

The only con of going back home is just people hitting my phone like crazy. What are you willing to share about your quarterback plans? We are definitely in the quarterback hunting business.

And we gotta go out, we gotta find ways to acquire, we know the ways we can do it. Today's guest, NFL Network reporter Stacey Dales. Emmy nominated host of the Rich Eisen Show, Rich Eisen. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Suzy Schuster. Well hi everybody, Suzy Schuster thrilled to be back with you here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Which of course is in Indianapolis and might kind of be time of year because I get to sit in the seat for him for the next three days. Great guest coming your way, Stacey Jales will be first up joining us. Excited to have her calling in because who knows Chicago stories more than Stacey Dales. So we will talk about the Bears with her. Also it's kind of funny, Chris, Mikey, you know this firsthand, TJ. I mean two women sharing a screen at the same time all by ourselves. What's going to happen here?

It could be chaos. So I'm excited to have her call in. 844-204-Rich is the number. You guys know I love taking calls. So the doctor is here.

I'm here to work through your issues. And free psychiatry for everybody when it comes to the Combine, the draft, or whatever else is on your mind. Thrilled to be with you again and watch us on Roku.

Hi everybody on Roku, thrilled to be with you and looking forward to getting to know you all better. Guys, a lot of talk in Chicago, a lot of talk in Indianapolis about what's happening with Caleb Williams. And Pete Thamel from ESPN had a great article really talking about how this guy is spending time on his own in his hotel room. As he approaches the Combine, we know that he will be there to basically walk through, take tests, shake hands, medical exam.

Kiss babies. Kiss babies, make more money from NIL, and not throw the ball. As we've heard also that Jayden Daniels is not going to obviously direct me as well. I had Louis Riddick on What the Football yesterday, download it wherever you get your podcast, with Amy Trask. And we talked in depth about what it means for a player not to throw. I know he is far from the first. I think it's interesting when you look at an NFL team, more than almost any sport, it's about team participation. Chris, I wonder what it means. To some of these guys who don't get a chance to see him throw, they will see him on his pro day obviously.

But when CJ Stroud went out there and lit up the world, people turned and watched and paid attention. I wonder how you feel about it, Chris. How would you feel if you were a GM with the number one pick? And let's just make it very clear, it doesn't look like Justin Fields is going to be going home again, so to speak, with the Bears.

We don't know yet, but it sure looks that way. But if you had the number one pick, wouldn't you want to see somebody say, I'm a team player, I'm going to hit the field? I don't really look at it as being a team player, not a team player by choosing not to participate in the drills. You know, if you're someone like Caleb Williams, kind of like Trevor Lawrence before him, he has been anointed. Andrew Luck, he's been anointed, this number one pick, dating back two years ago after he won the Heisman Trophy.

So, you know, he's put all of his tape out there. You're not going to learn much. If you're Caleb Williams, what's the upside to going out there and winging it around with receivers that you don't know? You're throwing with the guy who may not even get drafted. It's just kind of randomly how you're paired up.

So, it doesn't really suit him or it doesn't really benefit him to go out there and kind of wing the ball around. It's cool? Would it be cool?

Yeah, it would be cool because it's a TV show and I'd like to see it. We all want to see it on Saturday, but TJ, you know. It's kind of whatever for me. I get it. I kind of feel, TJ, that it's a good way to show the guys that you're going to be playing with that you're not special.

You're not a prima donna. You're willing to get out there. I was saying yesterday that when he hits his first locker room, the first day, he's going to be with a lot of grown men. And I think it'll be interesting to see whether or not the perception of him obviously coming in, he doesn't have an agent. He's surrounding himself, as he mentions it with Pete Thamel, that with a lot of business people. Mentions in the article, big fan of Jordan, a big fan of Walter Payton.

And of course, is too young to have ever really seen them, which made us feel real old this morning. The other thing we learned in the article is not a big red meat guy. I thought that was interesting. Until he hit the wagyu. That kind of changed his world, I'm willing to bet, after having a little bit of that. But like Chris said, the only thing that could happen is he's going to maybe devalue himself. Right, Chris? If he goes out there, like you said, he throws some passes at the receiver, drops or some things. He could only really hurt himself.

He's already projected to go number one. So can't up his stock anymore, you know, going out there and participating in kind of as a fan. You're kind of bummed because it's a TV show and you want to see all these guys like throw against each other. It'd be cool if they had kind of like they did at their Pro Bowl games. You know, we kind of mentioned it earlier in the week. You know, we're going to have targets. We can have depths of throw and all these different fun things and kind of make it a game element.

But I don't know, other than that, it's just it doesn't bother me. Yeah. So imagine Chris when he misses like three or four targets. And then social media is going to blow up like this guy's a fraud. He's not for real. He hasn't just put two years of game tape where he's been the best player in college football. But like, let's face it, social media is not going to convince the Bears GM not to take him. I mean, to me, it's just about the mentality of showing up and saying, I'm not better than anybody else.

I'm going to get out there and throw. I think that's where it kind of sticks at me a little bit. But I do understand your perspective and like, why should he? Because making the rumor is up to 10 million dollars in NIL coming in. We talked to Lewis Riddick about this yesterday, a little bit about what he has to offer out there and whether the NIL has possibly changed the approach to the combine. The other thing that Lewis was mentioning was to him, there's a little bit of a shrinking gap with Jayden Daniels and Caleb Williams. And I wonder if there'll be any surprises.

It sure seems like Caleb has a one way ticket to Chicago. But you never know. That's the beauty of the draft, which we'll find out next.

You never know. I mean, if you look at the top three quarterbacks, Caleb and Drake May from North Carolina and Jayden Daniels, obviously LSU won the Heisman Trophy. Jayden Daniels put up the best tape out of all those guys this year. You know, USC didn't have a great season. Caleb Williams was kind of all over the place with his play, but that was due to the fact that, you know, his team wasn't great. The defense wasn't great.

They were. Yeah, he had to play come from behind the whole time and Drake May wasn't as good this year. His team wasn't as good this year. So, yeah, I buy the Jayden Daniels maybe will surprise everyone, surprise and be the number two pick. I totally get that. But Caleb Williams far away, the number one player in this draft. And so that's what I expect to happen.

I expect the Bears to do it. And then off we go. Yeah. Another called once in a lifetime talent. But let's listen to what Lewis Riddick had to say about this. I'm going to give Jayden Daniels the benefit of the doubt and say what I see on tape as far as him being a processor, a kid who plays with tremendous fundamental consistency, arm strength, field vision, decision making, accuracy, in structure, out of structure, the way he can run with the football.

It's just ridiculous how explosive he is just from strictly watching the tape. I could easily see myself coming away from this situation if I was on the inside, like being able to spend hour after hour with these guys, put them on the board, take them out to dinner, you know, talk to all their contacts, really dig deep on that. I could wind up going, you know what?

I think I like this guy more because you know what? Last year. I don't know how many times I was told that you're missing the boat. I mean, like, there is no way CJ's better than Bryce. There's just no way. There's no way. There's no way.

There's no way. He had all these wide receivers at Ohio State. You saw what happened to Dwayne Haskins. You saw what happened to all these other quarterbacks who come out. Ohio State quarterbacks stink.

They're just a product of Ryan's system. And you saw his test score. You've heard that he's a little surly and he's a guy who doesn't, you know, it takes a little bit of time to warm up to authority, blah, blah, blah. And what Bryce, what did you hear? It was like, he's the only problem. He's just little.

But otherwise, he's perfect. He played for Nick. And I love Nick. Don't get me wrong.

I love Nick. That's my guy. He had no wide receivers. He had spotty protection. You saw what he did against Texas. This guy's a former Heisman Trophy winner. There's no way he's not better than Bryce Joe. I mean, than CJ. And who knows? Maybe ultimately he still will be put into a different environment with better health.

But that's what I'm saying, like. This thing, Caleb is phenomenal. I also know people who have been out there very publicly who have felt who feel as though Caleb is going to be a bust. People who don't trust him.

People who think Nick May is going to be the best quarterback of this bunch. So, yeah, I think this thing is up for grabs. Yeah, that was Lewis Riddick on what the football.

Please download it wherever you find your podcast. How fascinating. Yeah, TJ.

Real quick. And I don't know if I heard the guys over there talking about it, too, but what a professional setup. Lewis Riddick had right there.

A lot of times we see guys with their zooms and it's shooting straight up the nostrils and it's dark or no good light. I heard you guys chatting. I think. Yeah, that was a tremendous set up by Lewis Riddick. He's a professional with this. Phenomenal. I love the way he was centered on the football picture in the background, centered on midfield. He had helmets, pit helmets in the back. The Raider helmet. Phenomenal.

The white, clean, well lit. I feel like we're on Honest Improvement, the Jessica Alba show on Roku. I feel like we're talking about it. Now you're really talking my language here. Should we look at you?

How are you? Hey, we're going to talk Patriots later on, by the way. I thought, as you girls are talking about the interior design, I was listening to him talk about Jayden Daniels and how and Caleb Williams and talking. That's right. And how he was saying, by the way, we will talk to Stacy Dales about Caitlin Clark. So like I'm all for girl baller. So I was just trying to make fun of the guys. But that said, how about him saying some people out there don't trust Caleb Williams? That is like a little sneaker that he put out there that I was like, oh, what was that?

I'm sorry. Also, those in the who might think that Drake May might be the best quarterback in that draft class. I'm going to kind of sneakily raise my hand and think that might be the case. I'm hoping that the commanders take Jayden Daniels number two, so Drake May can follow the Patriots, because I think he does have the chance to be the best player, best quarterback in this draft. Drake May's cut from like the same stone as Brady.

He's got the chin, the looks like he looks like he should go to New England, like have every girl in Swampscott have a crush on him, right? I was hearing other people talk about it. And it's true. Get off the bus. Look, you got a guy gets off the bus and you're like, whoa. Yeah. Drake May's got that.

Is that like curbside appeal for a house? Totally. Get off the bus. Look, you get off the bus.

Look, you're like, oh, that guy's a player. Like when you're looking at high school and you're looking at the roster of the team you're playing. That's why I always lied about my height and weight, because I wanted to look better on paper because I knew I didn't really quite have it. And it's like, whoa, that dude's six one one ninety. Oh, OK. Is that like when you like, you know, get your kid's picture in for like the book?

You know, they used to what they used to call it the pig book in the day, right? When you like check out everybody and like see how they looked. Yeah. So you're saying basically you lied. Did you put on do you you would have photoshopped your look to go back? I would have photoshopped more muscles and everything if there were pictures in the in the playbook. But yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, I get it. I'm still curious. I'm still curious about this whole thing with Caleb Williams. And we will ask Daisy Dales what her thoughts are on this. Like, who doesn't trust him?

And why? Like, what's this little like? I just like these little seeds of curiosity.

This kind of like, hey, there's little pearls that people drop. Yeah, I think it's the why. Because if you watch the game tape and you watch a kid play, dude won the Heisman Trophy. Look at his numbers. He's been awesome.

Ten thousand yards, almost 100 touchdowns in three seasons to a USC one in Oklahoma. So the kids, what you want as a football player, but why? I mean, maybe you don't trust him. Is it because of what his dad said to GQ? Is it because he's not hiring an agent for his first contract?

Is it because of the mom stuff or the pain of nails? Like why? And I'm curious to find out, you know, what that you know, a lot of people are still hung up on the fact that he, you know, went into the stands and cried in his mom's arms. But, you know, I was thinking about that.

I was reading Pete Thammel story today that popped into my head. You know, I'm a Cowboys fan, so I can only relate to this because I really only pay attention. There were times when the Cowboys will lose a game and Roma was quarterback and he would sit in the presser and he would look so unbothered that it would like. And I'm still sitting there as a fan, like emotionally angry. And I'm like, this guy looks like he'll even give a crap.

And it would and I would go on Facebook and write these rants about it. So there was a guy who to me just seemed like he was indifferent. I believe maybe I'd rather have the guy who takes it and wants it so bad that it drives him to tears like he wants it that much. Like, I don't know, man. That might be the guy I want.

The guy who's like who's feeling it in the depths of his soul and is not afraid, like to let it out if he doesn't get the results he wanted, as opposed to the guy who's like, all right. First of all, you know how I felt when I was in the chair, I think maybe the day after that jumping into the stands. I have no problems with him jumping into the stands and hugging his mom and having tears.

I have no problems with it and having his college career wrap up and having some emotion involved. And you should have seen the vitriol. Susie, he's a man. Men don't cry in their mom's arms. Give me a break.

Get some help. Come on. It's OK to have emotion, right?

It's OK. I'm the mom of two boys. I'm the wife of a husband who cries at everything.

We had our son's permits for this weekend. He's sobbing. And it was sweet. And I'm OK with that. But my point is, is like, give me a break. I mean, all this anger from social media morons who are all upset because Caleb Williams cried.

Big deal. I love it. I love that he's tight with his mom.

Guys who are tight with their moms tend to be really nice guys. Right? Number one. Number two, for any of you who forgot the dad asked for what was like a percentage of a team, whatever team he would sign. It was a part of ownership or whatever purported sources say, right? Source that he was going to ask for a piece of it. I mean, by the way, that's a lot of dough. That ain't happening.

And that ain't happening. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, these teams are not. Isn't there a rule that's out there that if you're outside the family, you're not it's like very Godfather. If you're outside the family, you're not allowed to give away or acquire a percentage. It's the whole thing with Brady and the Raiders.

You can't be an active player and be an owner. Yeah. I don't mind the gumption to ask, though. Don't get what you don't ask for. As they say, close them out. Yeah. So, I mean, it's a ridiculous.

Why not? What if somebody went, well, you know, we've got a loophole and you never know. Well, my ridiculous ask of the day was to reach out to Pete right now and say, hey, can you join us on the show? I texted Rich.

I said, I went through your Twitter. I found a number for Pete. You mind if I give him a call? He said, go for it. He's really he's impossible to book. So I was like, well, that makes me want to book him even more. And of course, you booked him. Well, we'll see. OK.

But we do have Stacey Dales coming up. We will ask her a lot of questions of what's happening in Chicago. But thrilled to be with you. Eight, four, four, two or four. Rich is the number. You know, I will take those calls. And I was going to say no questions too crazy, but there's plenty that are. So just we know from past experienced people, Stacey Dales from Indianapolis.

And when we come back. On the BiggerPockets 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.

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The podcast available wherever you listen. Did Tom Cruise was such a baller. He was he was he was probably one of my closest friends. He was so great. And I was looked up to him and he was had these cool things he would come up with. And I remember he was the first guy that ever came up with this conceit of tightening the titles of the movies he was in to make him sound badass. Like he did this, you know, the football movie, all the right moves.

Yeah. But yeah, man, when I was making moves. And I was like, he's a bad ass baller.

It's so baller. But then, you know, it was a problem when he'd be like, yeah, when I was making cocktail, it was kind of, you know, I liked. No, the other one's no good. He's long. Yeah. When I was in tail, I was in tail. You can't do it either way. Do it either way.

It's no good. So you'd go like wing. Is that what you do?

And you know, when I was doing West, when you're in West, when Marty Sheen and I were doing West, you know, on the set of Boy Me and Chris Farley Boy in Oxford Blues sets up just blues. See, it's important to choose if you choose the wrong one. It's not as good. There's always one that's cooler. Like, which is like like when I was doing recreation. Yeah.

Does it. But if I'm doing parks, right. Instead of parks and parks.

Yeah. Man, Amy Poehler and Parks. We left all the time on parks on the set of Wayne. I was just, you know, by the way, you want to talk about Tom Cruise, too. This is the fact that blew our minds when the last Mission Impossible came out. He was running all over the movies, like a broken, broken ankle that it just whatever is that he was.

He is right now the age in these movies doing this at Wilford Brimley was during cocoon. That's a fact. That is that's boom. Like mind blowing. That's it's mind blowing. It's I don't know what it is. What makes it mind blowing is that Tom Cruise is doing that at that age.

Or Wilford Brimley was really that young in cocoon. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger's got the right product for you. Call click ranger dot com or just stop by unpacking a little bit more of the Pete Thamel article in ESPN before Stacey Dales dials in. You know, he talks about he's not going to do medical testing at the combine, mentions that everyone thinks I'm a one man team, a reference to F1 because of the idea that he doesn't have an agent. He seems to be floating amongst different pros and coaches as he gets ready.

Kind of like Marvin Harrison getting ready for the playing season and not for the combine. I like that. You like that?

I do. I don't have a problem with that at all. Do you think the combine is as relevant as it used to be or just not for the top three? I think if you're one of the top, top players where your status has been kind of predetermined for a year or two, it doesn't really do anything for you. Whereas, you know, the other 300 kids, they're fighting for draft spots and they're fighting to move up and the first get in the first round and get the guaranteed dollars. So, yeah, I think it matters for them. And for the quarterbacks like Penix, like McCarthy, these guys who really want to show where they belong, those guys need to be there.

Forget about the fact there's all the D linemen, there's the O linemen. We've got to see a lot of these guys. Yeah, the guys that aren't the big, sexy names. Like, yeah, it matters for all those guys.

But for the top five guys or so, no, definitely not. You know what makes me so mad? I'm so upset still at the continuing devaluation of the running back position.

And guys like Blake Corum who's going there and guys who are trying out for positions, like I still can't believe it as we listen to a lot of these franchise tags going around. But Stacey Dales joins us now from NFL Network. Stacey, thank you so much for coming on with us today. I mean, I know that I'm not the skillful interviewer that Rich is, but I'll try to hold the chair down.

A lot of stress on me right now, Stacey. Who's the better half? What are we talking about here? Yeah, we know that. That's already established, right? That's obvious. What are you hearing about the Bears, Stacey? Let's just make it that simple.

Well, first of all, I apologize for the aesthetics. I'm in my hotel room, and I just came from availability. I'm at the Combine in Indianapolis right now, and I'm trying to figure out where to look on my camera here. You know, Suzy, I spent a considerable amount of time with Ryan Polz, the general manager, yesterday for our one-on-one. And as you know, in this business, we're told, hey, you've got a time limit.

You've got to stick to the time. And I wasn't given a time limit, so I opted to go for a good six minutes with the GM because I think it's the biggest story. You know, when we talk about all these quarterbacks, and it's really going to be kind of an interesting draft in terms of where these top caliber elite performers fall.

And he has a quarterback to figure out himself in Justin Fields. And so it was a really good in-depth conversation, and I do have some takeaways, but I would probably like to see where you'd like to go with those. I'm curious about what you think, number one.

He says he's coming there with an open mind, but does he really have an open mind? Well, I think you have to when you don't have a lot of picks right now. The Bears, they don't have a ton of capital in this year's draft. They can get more capital, as we saw last year with the first overall pick. It's very rare, as you know, to have back to back first overall picks. You have to be open minded, but I also think when you do have a scenario where if you are oddly drafting at the top of the draft in consecutive seasons, you're going to have to make a move at some point, right, to better your team with the first overall pick. And basically, when I asked him, can you not use that pick? I mean, basically saying to him, Ryan Polis, how could you not draft a quarterback after last year trading it away?

And yes, it was an incredible, masterful trade. They acquired a number of draft picks from the Carolina Panthers. They also sit at nine in this year's draft, and they got the first overall pick this year. And basically told me it would have to be the right quarterback to take a quarterback at number one, and he would have to be a can't miss guy. But I think we all understand, as we've seen historically, you can see quarterbacks be taken in the top 10 and be misses.

Now, here's what I would say about Polis. He spent 13 years in Kansas City. He was a part of the Brett Veach group that brought in Patrick Mahomes, who fell in love with this generational talent, when he was very young, even before his days at Texas Tech.

It was a long process, and that's what Polis talked to me about, the process, and how they understood the talent was there, and it was remarkable talent. When you consider the offense he played in, he threw the ball quite a bit at Texas Tech, Patrick Mahomes did, but it was the character that they became really linked to. And so my question is, when you think about Caleb Williams, you think about Jayden Daniels, Drake May, J.J. McCarthy, you go through the list, which character are they falling in love with, and does that happen to be the guy everybody thinks they're taking in Caleb Williams? And do you feel like the relationship with Justin Fields is reparable? It just seems like there's such a great degree of mistrust now from the quarterback back to the team. Well, when you scrub your team, your NFL team from your social media, which Justin Fields did, and he basically said the reason he did it is because he didn't want any work distractions while he was off on his own time, essentially, or vacation, or whatever he's doing in his personal time, I think that's significant.

And I also think that if I were interviewing a general manager, and they knew their guy was their guy, would they not come out and tell me that? I really like Ryan Polz. I think he's been extremely accessible.

I think he's extremely smart. He's done some really nice things with the roster. Their draft last year was outstanding, especially their second round defensive picks. But if that's my guy, and they kind of did this last year, Suze, last year when they had the first overall pick, they were sort of all in on Justin Fields. We haven't heard that.

So I don't know if it's reparable. I don't know if it's something that could be mended if it doesn't work out. What I do know is they need a substantial amount of capital if they're going to trade Justin Fields. That's going to be important in how much they get and how those conversations sort of parlay themselves over the next few weeks. What do you think it would take?

Man, I've thought about this over and over. Look what they got from Carolina for that first pick, knowing how many teams need quarterbacks. I think it would take picks next year, and I think it would take another pick in the year after that. And I think it would take a substantial amount of capital in this year's draft. I'm actually more inclined to believe, Suze, that they will trade away their ninth pick overall.

But let's say they don't. Let's say they drop like Caleb Williams and one of these tackles because the tackle, I don't know if I've ever seen a class of tackles this deep. What if they fell in love with Alt or Fashanu or somebody like that to add to the opposite side of their offensive line with Darnell Wright, who they took in the first round last year?

What if they did that? Imagine they took neighbors or they found a receiver that they loved and took at nine. Odunze, there's so many possibilities for them, but it would take an incredible amount of capital to trade the first pick. I think they're going to use it and I think they're going to draft a quarterback. And should they use it and should they draft that quarterback, what's the right fit for Justin Fields? Justin Fields around the league.

I mean, a lot of people talk about Atlanta, right? Because the opportunities there, new coaching regime, it would be a fresh start for him. When you think about him kind of returning to his roots, that might be appealing. I've heard, you know, a number of different possibilities when you consider teams that are quarterback needy right now. I just think it has to be a fresh start for him and a fresh start for the team.

So I think a new staff in place would be the right direction to go. But you have to look at three years in the NFL. How many wins has he had?

Where would that stand on your roster? He improved, as Brian Polz told me yesterday, improved in terms of his approach at the line of scrimmage and his ability to read and process and react. You know, I would almost go back. It's been three years in the NFL. Who liked him then and where are they now? Stacy Dales joins us now on The Rich Eisen Show.

Susie Schuster in for Rich Eisen. You know, you talked about his experience in Kansas City, Polz' experience there and looking at Mahomes. And people are talking about Caleb like he is that generational talent. But in a conversation with Louis Riddick yesterday, he also mentioned that Jayden Daniels, to him, the gap is closing.

And I'm curious to hear about your thoughts on that. Well, I think Jayden Daniels had a monster season. And when you win the Heisman Trophy, there's a reason you do it. Caleb Williams won a Heisman Trophy like this is this is to me, it comes down to again, it comes down to the character element. I think the most interesting thing that I've heard in all the GM pressers that I sat at.

Right. So if you think about the combine and you know this, Susie, there are like 10 podiums and every team goes to a podium, their GM and their head coach. I could probably name you eight different GMs that talked about quarterbacks and how character is critical. And I think it's in large part, I don't know if I've heard that many talk about the inner makings of the quarterback. We talk about all the arm talent. We talk about the accuracy. The ability to process is always something. Ask Kurt Warner about that. Right.

Like he has some fascinating takes on it. But it's Brock Purdy just went to a Super Bowl. And I can tell you, having covered that Niners team, that they fell in love with him during the draft process. Remember talking to Brian Griese, their quarterbacks coach, and they want he wanted them to draft Brock Purdy. And they took him in with the very last pick. If he had gone in as an undrafted rookie free agent, they were concerned that he was going to fall to a different team and through the free agency process.

So they took him with the last pick in the draft. They knew. They felt it. They loved his character. They loved his toughness.

And I also thought it was really interesting to listen to the head coach of the Bears, Matt Eberfluss, yesterday. His number one thing. The first thing he said was leadership, but then situational football, third down, red zone, stuff like that.

Two minute drill. Can you win the fourth quarter? So Justin Fields has struggled. I mean, he's turned the ball over more in the fourth quarter than any quarterback since he entered the league three seasons ago. So all of those things add up to me, like they're going to draft one.

To answer your question, is it Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams? Hold said he's got these crazy angles that he can throw on and he can do some of these things like Patrick Mahomes. He made that comparison to me. But they have to fall in love with the character. And we saw what happened with Brock Purdy in the Niners when it came to that. And that's why, as you said, character matters so much. I mean, it's been some time since I covered college football and I've never covered pro football. But in getting to know these players and watching as they went through the combine and talking to a lot of people, feeding information on who these different kids are, character matters. And I think that could be a question mark with Caleb Williams, where people just don't feel like he's a known entity. And that's why that time at the combine is so important with these interviews and what have you. Is there any feeling from you that coaches are either disappointed or definitely not surprised, but would have liked to have seen him throw out there? Yeah, this is one. I love this debate because any player in the NFL that you talk to that thinks that guy's going number one, they'll be like, don't throw.

You shouldn't do any of that stuff. Bryce Young didn't last year, which I was disappointed in because I watched Anthony Richardson and Anthony was in C.J. Stroud.

And I take a very unbiased approach in my reporting with all 32. But I'm allowed to have favorites, right? I was I fell in love with Anthony Richardson and I fell in love with C.J. Stroud.

Those are my two. Will Leviss, so intense, really awesome guy. Bryce Young, such a sweetheart. But those are my two guys and they threw. And when I watched C.J. Stroud, I watched him at the combine last year, Suze. He walked around the football.

I mean, you're watching these guys for about three hours out there at Lucas Oil Stadium. He had like my water bottle. He had this bottle. He had this. This was his football. He didn't let it out of his grip. I mean, and does that mean anything?

Maybe not. But to me, as somebody like who was obsessed with basketball growing up and I wanted to sleep with my basketball and I just played basketball whenever I could. He's a junkie. And so he goes and he's like the Offensive Rookie of the Year in the NFL under D'Amico Ryan. So I do think there's any he slung the ball, if that's a word, all over the place. And yeah, they're not throwing to their guys, but it really is cool to see them throw. So I really wish I could have seen Caleb Williams throw. It's you know, it's it's something where like I watched all the quarterbacks throw and not Bryce Young last year. And I was kind of like, you know what I mean?

Like it was kind of like, gosh, I wish I had seen Bryce Young throw last year at the combine. Yeah. And it makes you feel a little bit like, what am I missing here? I love the fact that he walked around with that. That's swag. And that's like that's showing you he really cares. And part of being there is to show who you are. So I'm with you.

I think it's kind of crazy not to. Curious about the name that you think is going to shock the combine. Oh, my gosh. It's so hard because I'm not through the process of meeting them all. So how it works is this morning I was with all of the defensive lines. So defensive tackle edge linebackers. It changes every day. Like the quarterbacks talk on Friday and then they perform Saturday.

I think the o-linemen are with the running backs are Saturday and they go Sunday. So they go they talk the day before and I develop these unbelievable feelings like Liatu Latu. I'm obsessed with this guy out of UCLA. I mean, we know his story. Does he going to test off the charts?

I'm not sure about that. But my point is, is like you meet these players. It was last year was one for me was Nolan Smith, who, you know, was at Georgia and he just had an incredible combine. It was unreal. You just you kind of fall in love with the character makeup of some of these guys.

So I have to go through that process. I am anxious to hear from all the quarterbacks, whether it be Bo Nix or J.J. McCarthy or Michigan guy and the way he ran. They were able to run the ball, throw the ball and how he managed the game and how that translates to the NFL. But I want to know the guy.

I want to know the player. So when I think about who's going to test off the charts, I still need to know a little bit more about their drive and their ambition. And there's just you just don't know. Like I just left a conversation with Chop Robinson and he's one of the big edges and he'll go high in the draft. And he thinks he's going to blow people away. He wants to run like a four four. This is an edge rusher. So it's hard to answer that just yet. It's a little too early in the week.

But on Sunday, I could give you probably my top five. I love the backstories. I mean, Troy Polamalu, back in the day when I was covering USC, his back story was so spectacular.

And he went to the combine and I think everyone fell in love with him just because of his earnestly and and his sweetness and just. I don't even think earnest is a word, by the way. I may have just made that one up, but you know what I mean? You know, sometimes that's part of it. And for people like us who really love the backstories, that's when some of these players can go up.

They can follow find their way, ascending the ladder in GM's opinions just because of who they are as a character. What's your favorite backstory that you have coming in this week? I couldn't agree more.

So I'm going to tell you not to give a spoiler, but I'm going to open the show tomorrow. If my producer gives me the green light on law to and you know, this is a guy who suffered a neck injury at Washington. And he's probably the most polished, polished edge rusher that we're going to see in terms of his technique.

I mean, he is extremely skilled coming off the edge. And so he injures his neck and they declare him basically to retire from football. And he has to get a neck fusion surgery. So he gets and I just talked to him off to the side, which is golden. And he gets this surgery and they say, you're never playing football again.

He's like, why? And he kind of answered today, like maybe they thought there was too much risk as a program to have him go back out there. So he's like, I'm going to go play rugby.

Two months later, Susie, he goes and he plays rugby in Seattle. He was so good that the MLR, I think it's called, Major League Rugby team there in Seattle caught wind of it. They brought him in for a workout. They wanted him so badly.

They offered him a contract. But he loved football so much because he was playing rugby, tackling. You know how violent rugby is. I mean, it's a violent sport.

And by the way, he was the eight player or the eight man, which is like the star of their trench type players. And he declined because he's like, I hope I'm not wasting their time, but I love football so much. So he goes to UCLA and he's a superstar again. He gets cleared to play two years later by Dr. Watkins, the famous doctor who does all of the NFL players in Major League, whatever, it's baseball, NBA, hockey. Like this guy is incredible. He gets cleared to play. He's going to be one of the top picks in this year's draft.

He's an absolute technician. Ask Daniel Jeremiah about him. And I just think that his story brought me to tears because of how much he loves football. I wrote a quote down that I'm going to share and I forget what the actual quote is, but he writes down in every journal, like basically, this could be your last.

This could be your last time because you never know when it's going to be taken away, whatever it is that you love in life. And so he's just got a great story and I just can't wait to tell it tomorrow. And when we're on air and we start and your hubby is going to be leading the charge for us on the network with DJ in the booth. And I'll be down on the field and I can't wait. Oh, he loves working with you.

He just cannot wait. Stacey Gels joining us here on The Rich Dyson Show. Before we leave, I want to ask you about Kaitlin Clark and what it's like for you who, you know, your name is in the rafters, your years with the WNBA and to see the attention on her right now, what is that like for you? Phenomenal.

It's phenomenal. I was just asked by somebody here what my thoughts about her. She's obviously very advanced. She's put Iowa completely on the map and given rise to what should already have been like this global, like Lisa Bluder, the coach, like she's just brought so much to this program. She separates so well, Suzy, and she moves about the basketball like a pro player. And that, to me, is what distinguishes her.

She is so crafty. She's a good passer. She can do everything. She's a pure scorer, but the way she plays the game, it's just such a draw and you want to watch her. And I think she deserves all of her success, just like anybody that works that hard would. But her ability to separate her range and her ability as a pure scorer, it's going to be fun to watch her at the next level. Is she the best ever, you think?

I can't say she's the best ever because there have been too many in their time that were the best ever. Diana Taurasi is the greatest competitor I've ever faced. Her will to win is astonishingly incredible. When you think of like Patrick Mahomes and he just wins.

It's incredible. Taurasi has that. So is Kaitlyn Clark going to go win WNBA championships? Has she won multiple titles?

There's so many good ones along the way, it's hard to say she's the best ever. But right now, generationally, at this time, yeah, of course. Last question for you. The court's storming. What's your take on that?

It's problematic. It's really problematic because I was watching that Duke game. I believe it was Duke, right?

Wake Forest and Duke. I watched that game because I was getting ready to leave for the combine. And to see a guy get hurt, I think Kaitlyn got run over on a recent game.

Yeah, I saw that too. By somebody holding a phone, by somebody looking at their screen and not living in the moment, which is so insane. And it's just unfortunate that, as you know, it always takes one to ruin it for everybody. But that's what happens. It takes one bad question to make a coach disgruntled for life, correct? No kidding. You don't want to be the one asking the bad question.

No. And I love college sports. I love that they're so pumped. But let's find a different way because this isn't working when we're injuring players and could jeopardize their future on the court as they represent the school that just won.

So I'm hoping that they put some parameters around it. Stacy, you are the best. Thank you so much. Have the best time.

We can't wait to watch you all weekend long. Thanks again for your time. Thanks, Suze. You rock. And I get to hug your husband at a production meeting today, so there you go.

Give him a squeeze for me, please. Have fun. Enjoy. And thanks again for your time. It's so invaluable. You tell the best stories. My pleasure.

Take care. That's Stacy Dales, everybody. I mean, by the way, her background was not as sophisticated as Louis Riddick's, but I think she's gorgeous. So I think she just pops out of the frame. So I don't have a problem with it. Nope. We're looking at different things, right, guys? Me neither.

You all right with it? Love Stacy. She's the best.

She is so good. I tried to get Stacy to play my Saturday pickup game for years. How'd that go for you?

We were all on NFL Network together. She just flat out refused. Why? I think she felt bad. I don't think she wanted to torch all of us and make us all look bad. I mean, she's Canadian, so she's obviously the nicest person in the world. She's too nice. So she was just being polite. I would do anything to watch her just take you guys on and wipe the floor. And this was 10 years ago, so it probably would have been ugly for us. Right.

It would be uglier now, which means it would be better, but I might have to send her a quick text. Like, Stacy, can you posterize Brockman for me, please? I love talking to her about this just because we have a 10-year-old baller. We've got a little girl who thinks this is the greatest.

Yeah. And, you know, oh, by the way, Stacy's one of the best. She is. Which is kind of exciting. Unfortunately, all-American, number retired, Oklahoma, obviously WNBA career.

She's an all-timer. Let's go to break. We've got callers when we come back, and the phone lines are opening.

844-204-RICH. Oh, we have a lot of callers. Let's take them off. Be sure to follow so you never miss the next episode. And thanks for listening, wherever you listen. Wow. Okay.

Here we go. Oh, popcorn machine. Oh, I'll take that if you want that, TJ. By the way, you've got to bring in this popcorn machine if you want it.

I want this popcorn. $41. $41. It's not a $71. $41.

It's $41. That's one key. That's one key. Grab the key. Take the middle key. Take the middle key. There's five keys.

Yes. He takes the middle key. No, he's not looking. He takes the second to the right key.

I didn't look. Here's another key. Here's a basket. $584. That's a $58 basket. It's not an $84 basket.

No way. Oh, you've got to get what's in it, too. Oh, it's an $84 basket. It's an $84 basket.

Here's where I messed up. I listened to the people. That's an $84 basket.

You listened to the people. Come on, TJ. TJ. $84.

No, it's $58. No. Oh, no. TJ. Oh, he only has one key. Oh, my gosh.

Come on, TJ. It's an $84 key. Uh-oh. Master key. Does it unlock the... What does it unlock? Okay, it does not... Coffee maker. No coffee maker.

No coffee maker. Okay, he's going to unlock the electric bike. No, no, no, no, no. Okay, all right, all right. Does it unlock the car?

Oh, my gosh. Does it unlock the car? Let's go. Does it unlock the car? Does it unlock the car? Does it unlock the car? Does it unlock the car? Turn of the key.

No. Oh, TJ. You're on the Rich Eisen Show. Susie, she's trained for Rich.

Obviously, he's in Indianapolis. Great conversation with Stacy Dales. If you missed it, find it. It was great. She's phenomenal. Let's go to the phone lines, because, you know, I love to kind of empty the phone lines in. And you guys are showing up. I love it. Thanks, Rich. Let's go with Derek in Missouri. Hi, Derek.

Thanks, Susie. It's a pleasure to see you in the seat when Rich is away doing whatever kind of chaos and craziness that he's doing in Indy right now. But so I just want to say basically what my thoughts are on Russell Wilson right now. The whole situation going with him is turning me to the point where it's like, it's turning me insane to the point where it's like the quarterback situation with Denver right now needs to be basically what I said last week. We need to go after a quarterback and the brush. What he said yesterday on the cliff with Brandon Marshall was he wants to win two Super Bowls at the Broncos.

But the fact of the matter is he needs to wake up and smell whatever he got going. It got growing in Colorado right now because it's not going to happen. He stayed in Denver. OK, great. But you have to deal with the best quarterback in Kansas City and you got to deal with Jim Harbaugh now. It's not going to happen. They said the decision is going to come within two weeks and needs to be made now that he's not going to be in Denver anymore, period. I don't think you're wrong, Derek.

And thanks for the call. You know, Sean Payton was asked about it at the Combine about the time frame, and he basically said, somewhere in the neighborhood of next week, we're going to decide there's a couple of factors here. Obviously, the salary cap projections came out were further down the road with the draft class.

Obviously, the pro free agent. So I would anticipate this being in the next two weeks. But I mean, guys, don't we kind of know? I mean, isn't the writing on the wall?

It seems like it. You know, Albert Breer was on yesterday, said that it appears they're headed for a divorce. I just can't see a situation where he's where he's back in Denver.

I threw out an overreaction, TJ, that I thought, look, I didn't think Russ played bad last year. And one of the bottom I mean, he wasn't he deserved to be a thirty to one of the thirty two starting quarterbacks, I guess is what I'm trying to say. So where's the spot for him? Is it Pittsburgh? Is it is it Atlanta? Is it the Raiders? Is it New England?

Robert Griffin, the third through that out there kind of as a bridge guy. Where's the spot for him? Because it's not in Denver, in my opinion. And we know that he bought what the biggest house in the history of Denver. We'll see how much that goes for on the market when he claims it's not actually for sale, even though it's literally listed on Zillow and Redfin at the moment. And what's the listing? What's how much is it, Chris? Good question. This is breaking news.

I need research on this. Twenty to twenty five mil a thing. I made a joke. Don't know if it's accurate. I was just kidding.

People that had more bathrooms than he had wins with the Broncos. Fantastic. Two minutes to go, guys. We're going to we're going to empty the calls, by the way.

So those of you who are waiting, whether they were going to get to you. But first, Sam in Fort Worth, Texas. Sam, your thoughts? Susie, quick question one. Is there any chance you would ever host a wife's clinic so they could be just like you? I mean, you don't want any part of this, Sam. This is a full time job. Just ask Rich. Just ask. You don't want any part of this.

But happy to happy to chat with your wife. But what's on your mind today when it comes to football? Regarding Caleb Williams, we are O.U. season ticket holders, not not anything there that but getting to know his family directly when he was a freshman to how they changed the more success he had was astonishing. His physical talents are indisputable. NFL teams do their research.

I think the questions around his leadership and how he handles a team are real. He left O.U. to go to USC because of Lincoln Riley.

That's great. But that wasn't about winning. That was about basically look at me.

That's only going to get worse in NFL. So I think that part's kind of being ignored, and as you said, there's no such thing as a can't miss. And I think that's where people are saying, don't be so sure. Don't fall in love with just the physical.

Personality characteristics, they matter. I think you're 100 percent right, Sam. And thanks again for the call. Go listen to the conversation I had with Lewis Riddick yesterday, please, on what the football we talked about, NIL and how NIL might be changing how some of these players approach the combine. Sam, I'd love to hear your thoughts on that, because we really talked about it in depth. And Lewis had even said that this is a different angle that has to be explored more. So that's we taped that yesterday and what the football go find it wherever you get your podcast. Lots more about this in the next two hours of The Rich Eisen Show. I think it's really fascinating, you guys, some insight that he may have had on being with his family and seeing how they change the space that money changes people all the time.

I mean, I really wouldn't know, but I don't have any. But you know, he said he followed the coach, followed Lincoln Riley, Chris Wright is what he said. And it says in the caller thought it was more like a look at me type thing. I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. You follow a coach maybe because you guys have connected on some level that supersedes football and maybe, you know, this guy's teaching you so much that you realize that your growth would be impeded without him.

I just don't know if I if I can vibe with him saying that that's a look at me type situation. I don't I don't really understand. I think people also don't realize the siren song of USC, right? I mean, it's still one of the story programs and to follow your coach, if your coach is going to go there, I mean, players come here.

I've seen it for years and years. They come here. They see the Coliseum, which is not the big house, which is an old, old, old school facility. But it's in L.A. and it's got the Lakers and it's got the Dodgers and it's got the beach. I mean, there is a there's an appeal to coming here, you know, and the storied folks that came and played in this program before.

So I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that he had an opportunity to come here and shine on one of the biggest stages in all of sports. But Rachel, join us ahead. We will have an in-depth conversation with him. Keith Amell, are you out there calling to the show? 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 Tierra Whack. I've never been to a fashion show. I never did any Paris fashion week, New York fashion week, and I'll tell you why, because I would always go to events and people would say to me, oh man, Yachty, man, I love your music, bro. 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.