Xavier Worthy: I Knew I Could Go Faster

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Plus Emmy award winning actor Bo Bridges. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of The Rich Eisen Show is on the air right here on the Roku channel. If you want to watch us, I'm wearing something very purple. Um, that's actually, I should say that's for the radio audience. It's listening.

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We'll catch you up to speed when we re-air. Or there's our YouTube page, youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show. There's also The Rich Eisen Show collection page, which is a fancy video on demand service. Xavier Worthy, the fastest man in the history of the combine, is going to be zooming in middle of this hour. But we turn to our in-studio guest right here. Somebody I ran into at the combine. One of our friends and long-time friends of this program from the athletic and Fox Sports, Bruce Feldman.

Good to see you, Bruce. How long were you at the combine? Red-eyed in there Monday morning. Got out of there Friday afternoon. What'd you pick up there?

What do you got? A lot. I think it's hard to kind of remember everything you gathered. Because I think when I saw you, I was trying to remember. I had like an hour and a half conversation with T.J. Houshmanzadeh. Yeah, that's where I was.

You stayed there for another hour standing right there? T.J. and I talked. So he is big in the youth football space.

I coach my kid. And so we talked about that for like 30 minutes. Then we talked about a bunch of other stuff about receivers. And I mean, he's a great resource because he knows so much. And he's been working with a lot of top receivers and seen a lot of quarterbacks in this process.

So, yeah, it was. And that's to me, that's the combine. Like you go around and you run into people. I love that experience of it. I saw people I hadn't seen in a long time. I saw some people I wasn't even thinking of seeing. You know, it was like I bumped into your old football coach who's now with the Chargers.

I wasn't setting up anything, but I just kind of caught up with him for a minute. It's just a great network. I like that city for it, too. Oh, it's great. I agree.

The combine should be there forever and a day. Jayden Daniels emerged as a mystery man, quite frankly. And everybody saw what he could do.

Everybody saw him win the Heisman. He didn't work out. He wasn't there when the quarterbacks were working out. I honestly learned nothing about him at the combine. At least Drake May I heard from and I saw Caleb Williams didn't work out at all.

But he stuck till the very end. Like he literally turned the lights out on Saturday, watched his teammates go through the drills. Can you help me on who Jayden Daniels is and what teams may be learning about him? Yeah, I think Jayden Daniels from the start when he got to ASU.

And I don't know, 168 pounds or whatever he weighed. Right. And it was on a program that was kind of reeling under Herm at that point. Got to LSU, made big improvement and then made another huge stride as a passer this past year. You know, they really embraced technology.

It's interesting. Jack Marucci, who's, by the way, the same guy behind the Marucci Bats Empire, is a longtime LSU trainer. And he is arguably the smartest guy I know who works in college sports. And they really got in on the front end of the on the technology side, what it can do for quarterbacks with a with a company, I think, from Germany that was doing some really cool stuff.

They embraced it. It made a big difference with what what Jayden did as a passer. And I think you'd see him in games and you'd see that he has this different gear. I don't want to say he's Lamar because to me, Lamar is just is kind of one of one. But in terms of what he did last year was pretty amazing to see how far he's grown as a passer from the time he got to LSU.

Now, it certainly helped that he had two elite receivers. I mean, Brian Thomas Jr. is spectacular. Malik Nabors is is freaky as well. So on that side, I don't you know, to me, this is such an interesting quarterback quarterback group because obviously there's Caleb.

You mentioned May. And then I think behind them, JJ look really good. JJ McCarthy and Michael Penix Jr. look terrific.

And I think it's a deep group. But it wouldn't surprise me if those guys who a lot of people are saying are like the fourth and fifth guys, depending on who you want fourth and who you are in fifth, they may turn out to be better quarterbacks than a couple of those guys in the top three. Well, obviously, those are the two quarterbacks that we saw last in college football. Those are the starters for the national championship game.

But we were just talking before you were walking out here. Are we talking about McCarthy and Penix more? Because they worked out.

They spun it. Like if Drake may have Jayden Daniels got out there, ran his 40, did the drills, spun it. And then we'd be talking about him is why isn't he maybe the first overall pick while Caleb sat? You know that. And again, this may just be the the the media battle that you the PR battle that might be an important piece to anybody's campaign to get drafted as high as possible or not at all.

I think those other guys through, I still think Penix would have been the guy that DJ would have been raving about and other people would have been going. Because when you see him throw in person, I get it. He's left handed.

And sometimes people's optics think it comes out looking a little different to me. To me, Penix throws it. Nobody throws it better in that in this group, whether they threw on Saturday or not.

Obviously, obviously, Joe Milton had the biggest arm in terms of just how he throws the ball. I think Penix is remarkable. And by the way, Penix didn't run the 40.

I will say this. So one of the quarterbacks I've gotten to know over the years is Keaton Slovis, former USC, now BYU quarterback. He was out there, too. And Keaton ran really well. Keaton ran 4-5-5.

And I think that like if you were a Pitt fan or a USC fan, you're like, whoa. Well, Keaton's in a group, Les Spellman, who's one of the best combine trainers, you know, speed guys in the in the country. So he had a group of a lot of quarterbacks that were out here in Southern California. And Jayden's in that group and Penix is in that group. And hopefully not speaking out of school here, but like a couple of like a week and a half ago, they did a mock combine. And I think Keaton ran maybe 4-6-0, which obviously ran even faster when it mattered. But at one point we talked about Penix. He was like, he's going to really surprise people.

He goes 4-5, maybe 4-4. And he didn't run. And he but he really can run.

And I think, again, I don't want to stand here. I'm stumping for Michael Penix Jr. But I think he is to me, he's the most interesting guy in the draft because he was the guy who actually I use my Heisman vote on him.

I think I had Jayden too. But what he did with that program was remarkable. And to see how we threw it, not surprised because that's what we've seen him do. He wasn't great against your alma mater. He was great against Texas. He was great almost against everybody else, though.

Well, I'll push back a little bit. I thought he was great against Michigan. Michigan obviously had a terrific defense. I think he also got his ankle stepped on, unfortunately for him, at the very beginning of the second half. I'm wondering how healthy he was for the rest of the game. But that dude can figure out a defense pre-snap really well.

I mean, he's using his experience very well. I don't know, man. Raiders sitting there at 13. You got the Saints sitting there. Don't overthink it.

Don't overthink it if you're them. Right? I mean, I think he's awesome. The other thing I love about him is, and we talked about this probably a month ago, of all the guys, especially the quarterback position. Usually, and DJ and I talked about this because this is a story I did and I interviewed him for it, was Penix faced real adversity that really shook him for a minute.

And he came through the other side. He's really candid talking about it. And he's faced it and dealt with it. So when I talked to other quarterbacks who were, you know, E.J.

Manuel is a really bright guy. He was obviously a former first round pick. We talked about this, how like when he got hurt with the Bills, you know, it's a different thing for you.

How do you bounce back from it? A lot of quarterbacks, I'm not saying the main reason why the guys who are first round picks don't work out is always because they can't handle adversity, but that is a big part of it. And this guy, we know how he came through it. So, yeah, if he told me he went 13, I'd be like, yeah, I think that's a wise pick for that franchise. That might, if he does go 13, and Chris, on our overreaction Monday, one of your first subject matters was five in the first 20. And I'm like, that's not an overreaction.

We can have five in the first 13. I'm serious. Yeah, I mean, look, J.J.'s a terrific athlete. Throws well on the run. You know, I get it.

Some people are a little concerned. They think there's a, you know, I talked to one NFL coach who was like, thought he was a little bit more of a one-speed pitcher in terms of want to see him layer the ball and do some other things, but like great footwork. You know, he's a winner.

He's a mentally strong kid. I think there's, you know, I could see him keep developing and he threw it really well. I mean, the only one who probably threw it any better was Pennix.

Again, Pennix, I had not seen throw in person. I was wowed. Honestly, every throw was beautiful. It was a work of art.

I couldn't have been more impressed by what I saw. And I heard nothing but great things in the meeting rooms. By the way, out of all of them, I didn't hear any. And that includes Marvin Harrison Jr. Out of the top choices, I didn't hear any of like, well, he didn't interview very well.

All of them. One guy who I heard anything like a little bit of a pause on is somebody who, I'm like, I would have no doubts about that guy's character. I just think a couple of the questions this particular person got asked, I think were like, just like, you know, didn't. It was like kind of caught off guard by them and just like kind of gave an honest answer.

But, you know, you know, everybody prepares for this process anyway. I wouldn't, you know, certain guys shine more than others. I would just say that. Bruce Feldman here on the Rich Eisen Show. Caleb Williams doing things differently.

You're going to, you're going to obviously hear that these are red flags, but you know him. He he won. You know, I got when I met him and saw him around, he was he was he was around. I mean, Saturday, he was there. He was chilling out. He thanked all the people who ran the drills before at the end of the night. He stuck around the entire time. He was delightful, you know, seemed to be cheerful fellow. But there's definitely a sense that he's doing things differently.

Not going through a medical exam, not having an agent. He's going to speak to the bills. I mean, the Bears after his pro day, they wanted to have him in today. They want him there today. They want to they want to get in stuff with him right now.

And he's like, no, I'll do it after my pro day. What do you what do you what can you lend his insight here? I definitely think there's a little bit of apprehension about how his dad is directing some of this. And I don't necessarily think that's fair to Caleb. But I think that perception is growing.

You hear, you know, you're an indie, you hear little stories of and their specific stories. I don't think there's stuff that just kind of gets made up about like, you know, somebody brought in, you know, somebody to speak to the dad about something. And it was just like the reaction wasn't was like, no, that's not how this works.

And it's like, I think at some point you can you can think, hey, this is going to be what's best for us. But it doesn't you know, sometimes it just doesn't work that way. And that shouldn't affect, I think, how teams view him. But like you said, there are things that are a little bit different. But I think some of the stuff that that, you know, I don't want I don't think it should get like an undertow, like the term red flags. I actually asked somebody that for the story I did on the athletic yesterday. And it was like and this person in the NFL was like, there are you know, there's no red flags with him. There's no red flags. There's stuff that you like, just like a lot of other top prospects, just probably like, you know, when Patrick came out or when Joe Burrow came out or even when Trevor Lawrence came out. I mean, there's there's no there's always stuff people can nitpick.

Sure. And his last year's performance or his team's last year performance is the thing that it keeps getting brought up, certainly with Jayden Daniels last season's performance. Obviously, his team didn't, you know, get as far as they wanted either. But his personal performance and Daniel Jeremiah keeps bringing up, well, don't forget, you know, Caleb had a better team.

He had Jordan Addison in his season. He had a better offensive line in 2022. Last year's offensive line was really bad. Right. And the defense just couldn't do anything.

Couldn't stop the cold. And the wise man who we both know had said to me around midseason, I think Caleb's trying to hit a five run home run every time. And he's picked up some I don't know if he's picked up bad habits, but there's times some of the coaches you talk to will say, you know, there's a lot of easy throws here.

You can take them and get 20 yards instead of doing some of these other things where they may not work out. You know, again, we we were at the Notre Dame game. It was a Saturday night game on the road. And they I mean, obviously they struggled. But he really you know, he was not sharp in that game. He had a couple of picks.

And I just think, you know, no one's perfect at this stage. He's still he's still really young. He does some remarkable things on film. You know, the Patrick Mahomes comparisons, I get why they're there because of the off platform throws, because he's also kind of built similarly, just not quite as tall as Patrick, but he's a guy who can make crazy throws, can extend plays and improvise the challenge. And I and D.J. brought this up, too, because we because I remember talking to him before the combine about, you know, those Texas tech teams versus last year's USC team. Bad offensive line, really bad defenses was, you know, if you told me Caleb was going to Andy Reid, I'd be like, OK, that's going to work out great. You just don't know where he's going to end up. He's going to Chicago. I think he is.

You didn't get that sense. I'm just saying is is if you told me Andy Reid or somebody who is like that with quarterbacks and like that with offense and can can make it work. I mean, you know, Anthony Richardson is freakishly, freakishly talented. I think he end up with with the ideal coach in Indianapolis. Right.

Shane Steichen has shown he's really good with that. I don't know how many coaches. I know they're all like it's fit, though.

I think a lot of it. I mean, some guys are going to be going to be elite wherever they go. Jayden Daniels with Kingsbury. Right. Like that's that's that that may be the winning fit.

Maybe. I mean, you know, again, I mean, up your head, he had two fantastic receivers. I'm Maclaurin is not he's in that. That's the one thing the commanders have. They've got the receivers right there. Yeah. And I think the other thing to keep in mind, too, is the quarterbacks do make guys.

I mean, when you were you're a Michigan fan. Collins is next level compared to what, you know, now in the NFL, you know, I mean, he was a big recruit coming out of high school, but you didn't this. No doubt. Right.

So you could see it. You know, the quarterback can also bring receivers to another level. I don't know. I mean, I think Jayden Daniels got, you know, dramatically better. But let's say there are five quarterbacks that go in the first 20.

Yes. The odds are two, maybe three are going to be big disappointments. Well, take a look at again, the last time we saw quarterback draft was that's it.

I was about to say quarterback, quarterback, quarterback. It was Trevor Lawrence, who I'm already hearing people saying he was he's a disappointment based on him coming in. And it's like, listen, throw the first year out because urban was a total disaster, total, complete, unmitigated, worst. Ever disaster. And, you know, I understand I'm talking about a colleague, but it's the truth. And then the second year, you know, a disastrous first half in his first playoff game overcomes that makes the divisional round. This year, they're eight and three when I thought he was out for the season when he got hurt. Right.

I did to write when they were eight and three. And you have to account for all of that. Christian Kirk going out to that's that's like his BFF. That's his guy.

But Zach and Trey Lance and Mac and now here's Justin Fields were wondering where the hell he's going. Yeah. So I understand what you're saying.

You know, there's a there's a there's a lot of caveats. Yeah. Now, the Rosen draft where I say the Rosen draft because he was the one who and Sam Darnold obviously has been a disappointment. But then you got Lamar on the back end, Josh Allen, Josh Allen and Baker has is, you know, has a second act has been is looks really good, too. Right.

But it's you know, if you hit 60 percent, you know, of the five and I don't know who's going to be I mean, it's some of it depends on circumstance. Before I let you go, you've got a good Chris Mortensen story everyone does in our business, certainly information individuals like yourself. I do. So he you know, he I have great admiration and respect for him because of how he paved the way for guys like me. Right. I wouldn't probably be in this on in front of that if it wasn't for Chris Mortensen and probably Peter Gammons.

And I'm grateful for you could throw Will MacDon in there, too. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I can't believe I said the Herald yesterday, but yeah.

And yeah. So I mentioned Mort and Peter because I worked with them at ESPN and that part of it. So about a decade ago, when I had worked on a Mike Leach book, my career, I felt like was in limbo.

At one point, I got sideways with ESPN. People know that story. One of the first people I heard from in Bristol, somebody had you know, he reached out to me when my head was spinning and it wasn't like we were that close. I knew him. You know, he'd been a good resource, but he reached out to me and I later heard that he really went to bat for me with some high up people. No kidding.

Yeah. And said, you know, we can't afford to lose this him, you know, whatever. And I really appreciated that because he didn't need to do that. And, you know, beyond that, over the years, I was like, this guy is incredibly gracious.

And the thing that that resonated with me and DJ and I texted about this and I made this point because obviously DJ, you know, is like family to him. But I said in the business that I'm in this particular field where the insider space, it tends to breed and brings out pettiness. It brings out a lot of insecurity. It's human nature. I mean, look, there's a lot of stuff.

I'm like, I didn't wasn't thrilled with how I handled that or whatever. And a lot of times there's a lot of cattiness between insiders and how people react. And again, it's you know, there's a they don't always like each other.

In fact, a lot of them hate each other and it's going to be kind of cutthroat and some of the stuff is is not cool. And then you had him who was such a resource and elevated people and and encouraged them and supported them. And I know more was a big man of faith. And I suspect that had a big role for how he treated people and why human nature didn't get the worst of him the way it sometimes gets the worst of some of us. You know, and I have, you know, like I know I felt about Alex, his son, who I've gotten to know, who's a terrific young coach now at UAB.

And so we talked about parenting stuff. And, you know, I was crushed. I was out when I when I heard and just thinking about like when I say he was the best, I mean, obviously he was a great reporter. But just in terms of like, I don't know of anybody who in that role was that good of a not just a teammate, but of a colleague or a, you know, whatever brethren, you know, in terms of like to other reporters, because that just doesn't happen.

You know, I could go down the list and rattle off a bunch of names of people who are also insiders who either they hate each other or a lot of people hate them. They're good at their jobs. But it's like that job. And I say this because I can be guilty of at times, too.

It tends to bring out the worst in you because you feel like you're always on call and you're staring at your phone. And it's like this relationship or that relationship. And Mort was different. He just you know, God bless him. He he you know, he's he was an example that very few people have been able to follow. God bless him is right. Well said.

Well said, brother. Thanks for coming on, Bruce. We'll see you next week if you're up for it. Seriously, there's so much to talk about between now and the draft for sure with the college football world as well. Bruce Feldman, check him out in the Athletic and then obviously on Fox Sports when he's on there, too.

When we come back, the fastest man in the history of the combine, Xavier Worthy will join us next on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's talk game time tickets, people. It's the fast and easy way to buy tickets for events near you. Right now, all users get one hundred dollars off when they buy a big game ticket with code Vegas one hundred. Game time is the ticketing app that gives you complete peace of mind with your purchase. I get to see the view from my seat before I buy with game time tickets. I also have all in prices with game time tickets shows you your total upfront before you buy. Take the guesswork right out of buying tickets with game time. Right now, all game time users get one hundred dollars off a big game ticket with code Vegas one hundred.

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First word ever said on screen. Fantastic. That's the old minister of culture in Austin. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grange with supplies and solutions for every industry. Granger has the right product for you.

Call click Ranger dot com or just stop by in this job that I get to do here. In addition to NFL Network, I am thrilled when I'm able to do what I'm about to do, which is tell somebody what they did on a field in their performance was one of the most thrilling moments for me as a broadcaster. I don't get a chance to do that, but I'm thrilled to be able to do that right now with Texas Longhorn Xavier Worthy right here on the Rich Eisen Show, fresh off of his performance at the NFL scouting combine. What a pleasure to see you, Xavier. Thanks for zooming in. Yes, sir. Thanks for having me.

And thanks for zooming out on on Saturday night. I mean, my goodness, did you wake up fast? Did you wake up that day?

Say I'm going to be as fast as I know I can be. Yeah, I woke up. I actually missed in the whole time. I was going to run like four to five. And the first one I ran four to five.

Yes. That's when I was probably going to break the record because when I've been working out, I usually run something slower than my first one. I run faster my second. So because we caught that once you ran your four to five, Xavier, our camera crew followed you back to the starting end zone where the rest of your group and your colleagues were there.

And we caught them showing you, I guess, your run on the phone. Is that what they did? Yeah.

What was happening? Yeah. Right. And one of them said we overheard it saying, take your shoes off.

Did you hear that too? Yeah. So why didn't you take your shoes off? Man, because I knew I could I know I could go faster and I knew I was so close to the record. So I was like, shoot, I'm just going to call my trainer and tell him I'm trying to get the record. He was like, go get it. So, yeah, you call your trainer, is that what you did?

Yeah, I called my trainer. And what was the conversation? I just asked him, I was like, I think I should go grab the record. He was like, how do you feel? I said, I said, shoot, I still feel good. I feel fine.

You know, I normally run faster than the second one. He was like, yeah, I think you're going to get it. He was just telling me, like, just shoot out of it. And I shot out of it. But I got it.

Well, you shot out of it after Mark Gorsuch, the starter, whistled you, right? Yeah. Okay.

What happened there, Xavier? I feel like he told me that I had a rolling start. So I brought my hand up and just took off right as soon as I brought my hand up. So he told me to take my time. Okay. So did that, you know, did you have to collect yourself after that?

No, not really. Once I started, that was kind of like my warm up start. Like, okay, I got that start out of the way because I feel like that wasn't a good start.

So after that start, I'm going to walk back and I just got back down, went again. Did you feel faster? I did. I did.

I feel like if I had another, I probably would have got faster. You could have petitioned for that. I'll tell you what. There were 16,000 customers in the stands who wanted to see that.

That's for sure. So did you hear the crowd? When I was lining up, I actually heard them. I'm like, oh, shoot, this is crazy. Like, this is a crazy moment. I've never ever watched a combine and heard like a crowd cheering like before somebody started running.

Yeah, that's true. And there was also after Mark Gorsuch whistled you for the rolling start. Yeah, they booed him. They groaned and booed. They booed.

I've never seen a starter booed before. That happened on Saturday night. If you don't mind, walk me through once you crossed the 40 yard line, what happened? Shoot, just knowing that I did it. It's another thing, like trying to do it and just doing it. But it's another thing experiencing it, actually, like really looking at the board and just you did it. Like a record broke out of the combine. You watch the combine as a kid all the time and say, like, I want to go in there and run the fastest 40 ever. But that's really never a reality.

But having a reality to go in there and do that is different. It's crazy. And with that crowd, it was crazy. Yeah, the crowd, because as soon as you crossed, you sort of like waved everybody sort of on with you. You ran around. You kept running. I think you ran around 40 yards. Yeah, couldn't slow down.

Exactly right. I also noticed one of the first people up to you, J.J. McCarthy and Roman Wilson. Did you know them from your time that you were at Michigan? Yeah, we still were kind of associates, you know what I'm saying? So it was never no bad blood.

Always love it. I'm that man. Right. And so then, Xavier Worthy, by the way, here on the Rich Eisen Show, it was about 10 minutes till I got the official times sent to me. And all week long, the official times were one one hundredth of a second a little bit faster than what our hand time was that you saw up on the screen after you crossed the finish line. And I started wondering if this is one one hundredth of a second faster officially, we just saw the fastest 40 yard dash in the history of the combine. So how did you learn that you had, in fact, done that?

It's actually a video that recorded it. I took off running it when he told me. It's crazy. I just hear like I have the record for the NFL Commod and just watching as a kid, like I said, it's just crazy. It's like I said, it's one thing to do it.

It's one thing to say it and nothing to do it. So I feel like it's just crazy. OK. Who'd you hear from when you started looking down at your phone? Who'd you hear from? I heard from TJ. He told me they recorded actually put it on Instagram for the NFL. It was it was like he was like it actually wasn't a four to two.

It was a four to one. I took off running. Mm hmm.

That's great. But I mean, who else did you hear from after the official record was done? Like who started texting you? Who was reached out to you to congratulate you? My mom. My mom actually called me. I called and told her.

I was like, I think I read a four to one. She started crying. She started yelling and stuff like that. So it was cool. How did that feel?

It was amazing just to just to be able to do that. And my mom watched it from home. She wanted to come to the Commod, but she can't. She watched from home. My little sisters, my aunt and my friends from here. So just to be able to do that and being from our friends in California, it kind of been overlooked a lot just to be able to do that.

I feel like it was huge, a huge moment for me and for my city. I don't know if this is I'll just take a shot here. I don't know the answer. Do you know Davante Adams? Do you have any relationship with him at all?

No, I don't have any relationship. OK, well, we got to get we got to we got to fix this up. I mean, he's Mr. Fresno, isn't he? Isn't he Mr. Fresno? I'm not mistaken. He was Fresno State. Fresno State. Sure.

OK. So also, I saw on on X, Matthew McConaughey, the minister of culture himself, tweeted out, wow, hashtag Hook'em. Yeah, that's pretty cool when that happens. He was at a lot of games this year. He was at a lot of games this year.

He was. OK, so let's get into your future and where we can go from here. Who did you speak with at the compound? Who interviewed you?

Both with about like twenty three, twenty four teams. I don't know all of them, but I had a lot of formal interviews. I feel like I really talked about my main goals for interviews is to look at half teams, look at me differently as a as a football player.

I feel like everybody knows I had the speed, but I feel like a lot of people don't know that I have the smarts that come with the speed and the ability to actually do everything I'm saying. So how did you go about making sure you got that across, Xavier? So whenever they call, you know, teams and interviews, they kind of put you on the board and have you break down your film. So in interviews, I was breaking down what the O-line did, what the running back had, what tight ends had, every receiver had, where the ball should have went, what coverage it was. And whenever they asked me what actually whatever for interviews, they normally a lot of interviews that kind of give you a play before the actual interview starts. And then I ask you about your life and ask you about your film. So I did all that at the end of the interview to ask you, what was the play we gave you?

And I feel like I knocked all that out of the park. So that's what I wanted to show teams. OK, so they give you play for you to sort of absorb, then get your mind off that by asking all sorts of other questions. Right.

To try and get under the hood and then to see what the motor's about, because we know your motor on the field. And then and then they come back around and ask you about the play thinking you've forgotten about it. That's OK. They couldn't get you in on that one, right?

They didn't know. I feel like I'm not all of it out of the park. I like it. All right.

Let me just run through a couple of teams here. Did you speak with the Bears? Did the Bears chat with? Yes. OK.

I like that. Did you speak with the Jets? You speak with the Jets? OK. Yeah. Did you speak with the Raiders? Yep. Did they call you after the run, too?

Because, you know, they their their history is about speed. You know, they didn't call me at the right. I actually didn't get a lot of calls at the teams.

I just kind of got like X for my age and my age. OK. Did you did you speak to the Steelers? The Steelers speak to you? No, I actually had an informal with them. No, I didn't speak with them.

OK. How about the world champion Kansas City Chiefs? Did you have a meeting with them? Yes, sir. OK. That was my first time seeing Andy Reid in person.

He looks exactly how he does. Yes. Yes. Did you tell him that? Did you tell him that? Yeah, I did.

I did. That was my first time seeing him. So I played a lot of Madden. So he looks exactly like he does at Madden. That's crazy. Yeah. Lifelike, huh? More than anyone else that you met.

Andy Reid was spot on. OK. I love that.

All right. And last one, if you don't mind for me, Xavier, I don't know if you're aware, but I run the 40 yard dash myself. I do it for charity for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I do it in my suit. I've been doing it for 20 years.

Any advice? For me on how to get faster. Oh, you're running it. When are you running it? I run it in April at the Rose Bowl.

I used to do it at the combine all the time. To the point where they have my fastest run of five point nine six that. Yeah, I know. I got to look. I picked up on that, T.J. It's OK. I get it a lot.

He was 20 years. I've done this all good. But they use that and they simulcam me over faster runners like yourself. They gave me an eight yard head start on the simulcam and you still caught me. You still got me. So, yeah, my your 32 yard dash is faster than my 40. So put it put it this way. You're fast.

What what advice would you would you have? Just Xavier, come out low when you hit 15, 20 yards, start getting up tall. This is just a race to the finish. OK, so come out low.

Then what? The 20s just pop up. Just get up. No, gradually, gradually come up. And it's just a race to the finish.

And then just a race to the finish. And my hands are like what? Like this, right?

Like like I'm eating a potato chip or something like that or what? When you run it, it's just like fingers open. OK, fingers open. All right. But definitely don't fist it up is what you're saying. Don't do that. I just need to know how my second runs faster. That's where I go for a third.

That's bad news. Hey, Xavier, what a pleasure. Honestly, I've done 20 combines for NFL Network and that was the most exhilarating moment.

And the crowd going crazy and your reaction to it, you not taking four to five as good enough. Going back out there, doing it again and then beating it was truly unbelievable. And I'm thrilled to have a chance to say thank you for that. Awesome. Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Thank you so much. You got it. Thank you for the call.

Xavier Worthy, you be well. Let's chat. Let's check in again soon. If you don't mind. You got it. Thank you.

You bet. Same to you at Worthy with two otherwise at the end of his name on Instagram. Xavier Worthy here on the Rich Eisen show.

That was delightful. I mean, if if you had to guess the one coach in the NFL who looks exactly like his Madden figure, the odds would be what for Andy Reid would be the odds on favor. You have to say so.

But how funny is that? You look just like the guy in Madden. It's uncanny.

Oh, my God. What a moment is a big guy. He's huge.

He's like six three. It's like I've never met Andy Reid before. And he looks just like you.

It doesn't matter. That is so funny. Every time I met Andy Reid, I got introduced to him as he was still the Eagles coach. And I was like, I'll let you know, I'm a Cowboys fan. And he looked at me and he just growled at me.

But he reached out his hand to shake it. He was like, oh, first time this guy's amazing. First time first time I met Andy Reid year two of NFL Network. He's the Super Bowl coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

He's coming on NFL Total Access live. OK, first year we recorded all of the interviews for NFL Total Access later that night. And we started getting so many interviews in our first Super Bowl.

They started expanding how long Total Access was to fit everyone in because we we picked everyone off. We had a dynamite first year of the Super Bowl to the point where other networks were goal hanging to try and pick off our guests. But that's for another day.

Year two, though, we just decided we had so many great interview opportunities in our first Super Bowl. We're just going live all afternoon, which is, you know. Well, I mean, but honestly, the next time if I ever do a half hour television show, I will not know what to do.

You don't get warmed up until about an hour. Honestly, I look at some of the some of my highly outstanding Hall of Fame colleagues that do one hour on Sundays. And I'm like, really?

Just one, huh? I don't know. They hang out for the rest of the day to do updates. It's a long day.

But be that as it may, I'm built for this sort of speed here. OK, so we did like hours of shows. Andy Reid came in in the middle live and he showed up in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts. Of course. And I mean, it was, you know, Jacksonville.

It's Duval County. It was a nice day. He showed up and was just chill. And I honestly thought to myself in the middle of this interview, this is a head coach in the NFL. Honestly, because it's just back in that time in the early aughts, you're talking about some serious hard asses in the history of the game.

You know, wake up at four, leave the office at 12. You know what I mean? And I'm sure he does that, too. But I just thought to myself, because I didn't know Mariuchi yet. I had no insight into who Reid was at all. Right.

At all. But I just remember that it's like thinking in the middle of the interview, I'm like, this guy's a head coach in the NFL with his shorts and his Hawaiian shirt and his just chill manner of fact. And and he's not gruff. He's not yelling at you.

He's he is going to the HOF first ballot. That's yeah, that's a gift and can confirm through Xavier Worthy looks just like the guy in Madden. Fantastic. I mean, that's that's a lot of uniqueness to work with. And they don't dot them up, right?

They just try and create it. That's right. Oh, my God. I will take a break. Eight for four to four rich number to dial here on the show. We have reached the part of the NBA season where everybody thinks the Lakers can win it all again.

That's next. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Welcome to Talkville, the ultimate small rewatch podcast. Title Transference aired October 27, 2004.

Director James Marshall, writers Todd Slatkin, Darren Swimmer. I really like this episode and I'm surprised that you don't like it as much as you thought you did. I actually respect your opinion more than I respect my own in general. When you say things are good and I check them out, they are. Jump in now or catch up on any of the past seasons of Talkville on YouTube or wherever you listen.

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I did not approve this, but you know, that's that's part of me delegating to you our social media grand maester. You put out on Instagram a photograph. It says Breaking Bears trading for Russell Wilson. And what's today's date? What's today's date? It is April 1st. And that is what? It is April Fool's Day. So it's five minutes to air. My phone's on the desk and it's buzzing.

And yeah. And I see it is, you know, it's it's it's Jeff Garlin. Is the caller there? Is the caller there on the.

Jeff from Chicago. What's funny about it? Nothing's funny about it.

Nothing is funny about it. Our friend Doug Robinson texts me. Yes.

Capital. Russell Wilson. He says, you know, Rich doesn't usually get the scope. Adam Chester should be on this. Well, that should have made me suspicious. But no, I have so much respect for the Rich Eisen show that I know that they have connections that nobody else has.

That's true. Well, you know what, Rich? I'm not going to swear, but I got to tell you, you're a little social media boy. He's going to get it. TJ, do you have anything to say to Jeff Garland? Yeah. Happy April Fool's Day. All right. Hey, J, you don't know what you brought down on yourself.

You don't even have a clue. I'm ready for hours that I have, especially in practical jokes. I'm going to nail you so hard. You know what? I hope you enjoy your testicles right now because they're going to disappear.

No, but I need them. Oh, man. Just goes to show you three years ago, Bears fans were like, Russell Wilson's coming. They're excited.

Back here on the Rich Eisen show. The best thing about us, though, is it's about us. It is about us.

For sure. Terzo and I have been hanging on for a while. What's up, Terzo?

Terzo. Hey, Rich, I kind of got a funny story for you. So you guys are talking about speed there with Worthing being on. I was driving out to a small county here on Friday. I might have been going a little over the speed limit. I come up over a hill and I go to pass this all blacked out SUV and I happen to look down and happen to see the sheriff's license plate.

And I'm probably going about 20 over. And at that point, I'm just like, well, I don't think I need to really slow down too much more. So I get in front of him. He pulls me over. I'll be sitting in the front seat with his seat belt on. Officer comes out. Officer man, really sorry.

Just really busy court day out in Creston. He looks at me, looks at my ID and he says, Terzo, you practice out here in Adair County, too, don't you? I was like, yeah. And he's like, man, you just slow down. And he sends me on my way.

First time I used a lawyer card to get out of it. I thought you were going to drop our name. I thought he was going to say I heard you on the show. I thought about it, Brockman, because if it was later in the day and you guys were on the radio, I'd be like, hey, you know who this is? Next thing you know, he's going to be next thing you know, he's going to be dodging the Salamanca family up there in Iowa. Well, enriched when you guys are talking about Russell Wilson, like I had so much respect for him when he was in Seattle.

And I hated having to play him twice, maybe three times a year because he was that guy. And it has been crazy seeing that downfall and everything that you guys have talked about today of not really knowing where he might be able to end up is so crazy to me. That is nuts, Terzo. And thanks for the call, brother. You be well.

It's Terzo and oil. It's nuts. That's why I started the show saying I cannot believe what has happened to Russell Wilson. It's one of the biggest mysteries in the history of my tenure with NFL Network, 20 plus years. Name me another guy who was nine years Hall of Fame and then three years not. And now is associated with being the subject of the worst trade in the history of the NFL accruing the largest dead cap charge in the history of the NFL.

And the conversation that he might have played his way out of the Hall of Fame based on his last three years. Which is why you get him. You're going to get a guy with a huge chip on his shoulder and that might not matter. And you're also getting somebody who's going to be playing for nothing. Going to be 36 this fall.

Oh, my goodness gracious. Guess you all can't be LeBron James or Tom Brady, right? Where you age and you get better and you get better and you get better. Every year it seems in the NBA these days where the Lakers have large expectations placed upon them. The pressures of needing to win because their all world, all time great goat has a closing window of opportunity.

And will they be able to win one more with them? And then everybody starts rooting against them. They have a flash of brilliance in December. And the rest of the season begins to slog on. And you're wondering what are they going to do with the trade deadline? And they do nothing, which pisses off their all time goat or you're thinking it might. And then at some point when they're staring in the face in recent days of potentially having to play their way into the playoffs.

They catch fire. Everybody talks about another Larry O'Brien trophy coming to Los Angeles. I believe we have reached that point in the NBA season.

Who is saying this? LeBron is. Oh, just listen to any Laker fan.

Just go listen to them. And take a look at ESPN in the mornings. They're now five over. They've won seven of ten. LeBron is playing his head off. And last night, the Thunder.

Listen, the final score is not addictive. I mean the Thunder, I thought they were holding him to under 100 points and nobody does that to the Thunder. The Thunder average almost 120 points a game. And they're playing defense? That's the Lakers you're talking about.

The defensive end sparking the offensive end. D'Angelo Russell playing some of his best basketball of his career right now. And this happened just on the heels of, you know, Anthony Davis disappearing against the Denver Nuggets and getting lit up by Stephen A. and Kendrick Perkins. Did Perk say that Anthony Davis showed more attitude and anger towards them pregame than he did in the game on Saturday?

Yeah. What do you mean, who's saying it? Shannon Sharpe said today they would sweep the Thunder in his seven game series. Shannon Sharpe's LeBron's number one fan. Of course he could have said that. He's on the biggest platform on sports television. It doesn't mean he's right. But for you to say, who's saying it?

Shannon Sharpe. But did you see J.J. Redick this morning? Absolutely dismantled. Well, you said it doesn't matter how many games you win a seven game series in. Oh, he broke it down a little more than that. I'm just saying, we're at that part. We're at that part.

Let me see. The Lakers are just a game behind the Mavericks, one and a half behind the Kings, two behind the Suns. So there's that. Are you going to say they're going to go back to the conference finals? I'm not saying that. I'm saying we're in that part of the season where people are saying... I'm not going to sit here and say the Lakers are going back to the conference finals. But if they play like this, they can.

You don't think? LeBron out of his skull. Anthony Davis is Anthony Davis. DeAngelo Russell's a third man in. They play defense and their bench actually contributes. And then we're not even talking about the game where Austin Reeves starts playing like Jerry West.

Which happens. You know it. They're not going to have home court.

Rui Hachimura, two-way threat. They had 24 bench points the last game. I get it. It's up and down.

That's why they're inconsistent. But we've reached the part of the calendar year where the Laker flags are everywhere in this town. Hour three coming out. Right now, Lakers-Warriors playing. Hey brother. Well, we already discussed. We both picked the Lakers in that, right?

I think so. But are you going to take them to beat the T-Wolves right now? Lakers have won seven of ten. You know what else has won seven of ten in the Western Conference?

Your top three teams. Yeah, Nuggets are catching fire right now. Nuggets have won six in a row. We're all, I think, going to have to see how your team finishes up.

They keep destroying people when Porzingis isn't playing and then Jalen Brown doesn't play. Banner 18 is coming. You guys got to get ready. Oh my goodness. He's already talking. Rich, he's got some bold thoughts, man. He's saying stuff off the air. He's saying stuff off the air. He's got to bring on the air. We don't have enough time left in this hour.

He has not brought it on the air yet. What are you waiting for? It's too early. It's too early. You know what's going to happen?

What's that? Here's when he's going to bring this on the air. It's too early.

When the Patriots don't do the right thing in the draft. I'm going to lose my mind. And the Red Sox come out of the gate looking like he expects them to come out of the gate. Well, Lucas Giolito's already out for the season, so I'm already spiraling. I'm already spiraling the Red Sox train. That's going to start spinning him up. And he's going to use the Celtics looking dominant to just get it all out there. It's coming.

You are smiling because you know it's coming. I've heard it. Lucas Giolito is our friends in Germany when they hear this are not going to believe what he believes. Oh, all right. Beau Bridges, hour three, overreaction Monday on a Tuesday and Dak talking about his contract. Here we go. Movies, TV shows, books, podcasts and more. What women binge with Melissa Joan Hart and her friend Amanda Lee. We have Lauren Bosworth with us. The Hills. So what is like your number one question from fans? The primary question I still get asked was what is it real? In 2024 to me is a surprising question to get because I feel like everybody has been through the reality TV gauntlet at this point. Binge wherever you listen.