Mel Kiper Jr.: Pro Days Don't Mean Much

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See terms at Discover.com slash credit card. Cars say a lot about who we are. It represents freedom for a lot of people. This season on Drive, I'm gonna talk to all sorts of different people. I looked at car names.

Yes. And I found all the car names that have science or astronomically inspired. It's crazy. It's huge! Yes, I happen to be CEO of Ford Motor Company.

For me it's all about cars, movement and our mutual passion for things to get us around. This is Drive and I'm Jim Farley. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen show is on the air. Caleb Williams is going through his pro day right now at USC and the video already, I don't know if he's showing off or he wants to tell the scouts if anybody's out there thinking Michael Penix is the only left-handed thrower in the draft. He's warming up left-handed. I'm seeing the video during the break.

No way. He is 100 percent throwing it left-handed. And it's not like shoveling it like Mahomes.

He's spinning it left-handed to warm up. And then there's video of Ryan Polls, the general manager of the Bears, chit-chatting with Caleb Williams' parents. The one that's going the most viral though is a spectator showing up at the pro day in Bears gear. His name is Keenan Allen and there he is in Bears gear showing up at the pro day at USC. And there is video of him dapping it up with Caleb right there. There you go.

So, there's this. I mean, Keenan's going to catch like 110 balls. Did I not tell everybody at the top of the show, Hey Bears fans, by the end of the day, any doubts that you have about whether they made the right choice or not is going to go out the window. And you might be here saying, well, I'm okay, so he's spinning it left-handed.

Who cares? And he's dapping it up with Keenan Allen. It's all happening.

It's happening. And this is the way, unfortunately for Justin Fields, it had to go because Caleb is that talented. He's that talented and he's that much worth the risk of doing everything that the Bears have done.

Which, to be honest with you, is one of the more educated risks I've seen. So, joining us right now is, I mean, a legend. There's no other way to describe this man. He is the legendary NFL draft, senior NFL draft analyst for the worldwide leader in sports, the great Mel Kuyper Jr. here on the Rich Isaac Show. How you been, Mel?

Good to see you. Very senior, Rich. Not just senior, very senior these days. No, no, no, no. You look, honestly, you're like the Paul Rudd of draft nicks. You haven't aged a day, man. It's unbelievable.

You haven't. You look exactly the same, Mel. You look awesome. Good to see you. Appreciate it, Rich.

You're the best man. How many drafts is this for you now? What number is this? 46 have been associated with. 41 at ESPN, Rich. Yeah.

41. My word. And I just, because I, again, I remember watching you in college, Mel, just blowing it up and saying things, honestly, but saying things that you believed in your heart and in your gut and, you know, obviously you were proven correct and getting called out and things of that nature and now here, I mean, it's kind of crazy now that we're in pro days world and we're in the world of not spinning it at the combine and now you're seeing some kids not, like Marvin Harrison Jr. not working out at the combine and now in the pro day as well. How have things changed in your evaluation of players? It's a lot.

You have to really sift through a lot of stuff now, Rich, and you have to try to figure out how much you're gonna weigh that into the equation. Pro days being one of those, as you just said, with quarterbacks. I've found over the years pro days don't mean much at all. Well, when I remember Peyton Manning's pro day, I got a call from somebody in the league saying, if his name was Peyton Jones, not Peyton Manning, it'd be a third round draft choice.

He's bouncing balls, he's wobbly balls. Yeah, it's clear that Ryan Leaf is the better quarterback. That's from people in the league. So, again, best pro day ever, Jamarcus Russell, Zach Wilson. Okay, I had teams tell me that when he went to pro days already knew what their decision was on quarterbacks.

The pro days they had to show up for, but it didn't make a difference in their evaluation. So, again, how do you factor all this in is what the tough part is. We can all say, well, we like this guy. You might like players, but when the time comes to make your pick, who do you like better at that position?

Who do you like better when you put it all together in a totality at all the positions? So, when you're in that room and you got to make that call and you only have six, seven, eight draft picks, how many do you make count? And that's not easy.

It's easy to sit back and do it. Those 32 teams have a tough job every time the draft rolls around. And then, you know, obviously, if there was a secret sauce, you'd be selling it. But for 41 years of ESPN coverage and 47 years, is there a through line to know what a successful quarterback looks like when he's coming out of college?

Absolutely not, Rich. Nobody has figured that out. The NFL has not figured it out.

None of us have figured it out. We can be lucky, fortunate the way things roll once in a while. You make strong comments. You always hang your hat on the ones you're right about and kind of forget about the ones you weren't. But at the end of the day, going back to Johnny Unitas, going back to all the quarterbacks along the way up until now, every quarterback. Look at the great ones that Joe Montana is. Look at Patrick Mahomes passed over early on. You think about where we are right now with quarterbacks, you just don't know. You think you know, but you really don't know.

And you're going to keep taking chances. That's the most important position in any sport and all sports is quarterback at a national football league. But there's no formula, tried and true formula for that. A lot of it comes down just your gut feel. I said that to Brian Billich when he was doing a book on quarterbacks. I said, Brian, we can talk about all we want about this quarterback did it because of that. This quarterback like, but when you put it all together, how about the ones you were wrong? But I've had people say to me, Rich, I'm not making that same mistake I made on that quarterback again. And guess what? The quarterback, they say that about turned out to be really good.

Okay. Cause they were trying to look at this mistake and think I'm not going to make it. Well, whatever mistake you thought you made in this evaluation didn't turn out right either. So again, there's no, you know, tried and true formula. There's no way to figure just because you were good one year, picking a quarterback.

You'll be good again. I'll give you a story. Kansas city chiefs tried to trade up to get Paxton Lynch. They were unsuccessful, but they tried had they been successful. They wouldn't have had Chris Jones because they traded back there. If they didn't get Paxton Lynch and got Chris Jones and the next year they drive to Patrick Mahomes had they gotten Paxton Lynch. They wouldn't had Chris Jones or Patrick Mahomes. What would the Kansas city chiefs look like then?

That's the fine line between being great and very average. Well, and you've just caused many sleepless nights for Chiefs fans who've been sleeping like babies for the last two years. That just happened. We woke them up, right, Rich?

You woke them up. Mel Kuyper Jr. here on the Rich Eisen show. Caleb Williams, however, is the top prospect in this draft. Mel? Yes. Yes, he is.

In 2022, did it, Rich. That was the year where he was spectacular. He had the O line. He had Jordan Addison. This year he didn't have the offensive line.

It was bad, okay. We got to get here at the Baltimore Ravens. I say with the Baltimore Ravens here in the land of pleasant living, right, with crab cakes and everything. Again, Andrew Voorhees, injured combine, redshirted, medical redshirt this year with the injury, now going to be a starting guard for the Ravens more than likely. Not on that line, obviously.

That line was not good. No Jordan Addison. To me, yeah, you go from the Notre Dame game on, it wasn't the best of Caleb Williams, but 2020-22 and even early in 2023 proved how great he can be. So again, he's going to be the number one pick overall. The debate's going to be moving forward at two and three and even four and five because there's other quarterbacks that teams may trade up to get. And so going through your mock draft, latest version of it, Mel Kuyper Jr., you have the Washington commanders choosing Jayden Daniels over Drake May. Why do you feel that way?

I feel strongly about that one, Rich. Yeah, Jayden did everything right. I mean, he did not have that off game. It wasn't a game where he didn't have his best stuff.

Don't you bet that with pitchers and Major League Baseball. He had it every week. He did against Alabama two years in a row. He added weight to that frame. He became a guy who could keep his eyes up and he could see the field. He trusted what he saw.

He trusted his arm. He trusted his receivers this year. And he did a great job. And he was a dual threat quarterback who was aggressive running. He was aggressive throwing, Rich. And guess what he didn't do? He didn't turn the ball over with interceptions or fumbles. So he was the guy, aggressive, yet being a guy who didn't shoot his offense in the foot.

Bottom line is Drake May going into the year looked like he would challenge Caleb possibly. That was accurate because he had a really good 2022. But coordinator moved on to Wisconsin. Josh Downs moved on to the Indianapolis Colts where he had a heck of a rookie year. Didn't have Tez Walker early on and he was just off.

He did. There was three games, Rich, late in the year where he didn't have his best stuff even close to it. Virginia, NC State, Clemson, even the Miami game there were some throws he could have made he didn't make.

Some of the throws he didn't make there's no excuse for. So he's got the longer delivery than you would prefer. He's young. I think he needs like the Mahomes year, Rich. He needs a year to tweak that delivery, speed it up a little bit, and settle. He's still young.

He needs some work. Mahomes sat for a year behind Alex Smith and then he traded Alex Smith. I don't think you want Drake May to start from day one this year. Now we say that about all these quarterbacks and they all do, but Drake May you would like to see handled like Patrick Mahomes was in Kansas City. And then there's JJ McCarthy, 21 years old, lost only one game at Michigan. We all know obviously his resume.

Where do you think he's the best fit? Yeah, he was the toughest player for me to evaluate by far, Rich. It's a quarterback that I kept saying to the people in August, that's the guy we got to really watch, right?

And every game, you know it, you're Michigan, Rich. The offensive line went nine deep. They had two running backs. They had the tight end. They had Roman Wilson.

They had a defense. Yeah, JJ McCarthy wasn't asked to be the guy every week. He had plenty of guys around him to get it done. Penn State game doesn't throw a pass. We know about that, but in the national title game, he did have to make some plays. With his legs, he kept that, really that drive he kept alive and he got, he flipped field position was a key. A couple throws he made should have been caught. He made plays when he had to. He's got Josh Allen type competitiveness. He threw very few interceptions. That's the problem is the ones he did throw, Rich, as you know, were very memorable.

The two win the semi-final game, picked sixes. The one went before the half against Maryland, which kind of got Maryland some momentum. We won the halftime, made that a tight game for a while. Then the three against Bowling Green. Other than that, he didn't throw interceptions and he's got tremendous athleticism. He's 219 pounds now. We saw him beat defenses with his legs.

He doesn't have the great arm, but it's certainly good enough. JJ McCarthy is intriguing because we never saw him put a team on his back, but could he go six to the Giants and reset it there and let Daniel have the year, but have him as the heir apparent? Could they do that because somebody trade up like Minnesota? Denver doesn't have a two, so it'll be tough for them. JJ is a tough one. To really figure, he's going to go in the top 11. Where he's going to go right now, I have no idea.

Where do you think Panics winds up? Where do you think him? Because of the injuries, Rich. The injuries at Indiana, the national title game wasn't anywhere close to what he's capable of. He needs to have a pocket, a clean pocket to throw from. When he doesn't and he's off platform, he's not as accurate.

We saw that in the national title game. He needs the right fit, right situation. Probably, I think, more late first if somebody trades in if that's what they do now, tend to do late first, trade back in, or early to mid-second round. Where Will Levis went last year, which was a steal for the Tennessee Titans, a guy who I thought should have been a top-five, top-ten pick. Again, we'll see on Michael Panics Jr., but it's really the durability, the injuries, and then certainly the last thing we saw wasn't him at his best in that national title game against Michigan.

So why do you put Bo Nix to Denver if Pick doesn't? Because of the Sean Payton, Drew Brees cop, and I hate comps rich, but I was sitting in the office a couple weeks ago and I'm thinking, Sean Payton doesn't have a two. He's in a division with Patrick Holmes and Justin Herbert. He's in a conference with Josh Allen, Lamar Burrow, and all these great quarterbacks. He can't just have Jared Stidham. Now Russell Wilson's gone. Jared Stidham's the quarterback.

He's not going to be able to trade up because he doesn't have a two. Who is the quarterback that most resembles Drew Brees? And I looked at the numbers, hand size, saying six foot and a half through six two panics, 24 years of age, professional, you know, has all, you talk about accuracy, 77 percent this year, 72 percent his first year in Oregon 2022. He's got tons of starts at Auburn and Oregon. His father quarterback, coach, he came up in that environment of football since he was born. He accurate, like I said, doesn't have the arm, the big time arm shot to Drew Brees. No, he didn't. That's why he was the first pick in the second round.

I think if you're looking for the Sean Payton type quarterback, it would be Bo Nix. That's why I did that. Didn't hear it from anybody, Rich.

It was just putting all the puzzle pieces together. Mel Kuyper Jr. here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's just, you know, go a little bit more macro here in the few minutes I have left with you and how quickly quarterbacks who are getting drafted, first round, second round, are getting, you know, the gate. They're getting sent somewhere else. I mean, just take a look at the 2021 draft class. First round picks. Trevor Lawrence is the only guy still with his team and now he's being backed up by the guy who was chosen 14 picks later with, you know, Matt Jones and Justin Fields got sent away essentially because Caleb Williams is sitting right there first overall.

I get it. So that's the long wind up for this pitch. Do you think in the way that we're seeing quarterbacks get sent elsewhere quickly, do you think if the Panthers somehow had the first overall pick, let's just say Ryan pulls in his one slip up building the Bears. Do you think that he would, if he had left the Panthers with the first overall pick, do you think if the Panthers were first overall right now they would swap out Bryce Young for Caleb Williams, Mel Kuyper? It's a great question. That's a great question. And guess what? Justin Fields would have been with the Bears and the Bears would have been happy moving forward with him.

History would have been rewritten. There's no question about that. Bryce Young, I don't know how if you loved them when you drafted him, you wouldn't love him still now based on the fact that he got beat up and the one question Rich was size. We never saw a quarterback. We've seen quarterback short. Russell Wilson, right? Shorter than you prefer.

Have great success. But when you're small, I'm talking about small diminutive quarterback. 5'10", 185, 190 when he's playing. That was a manufactured 205, 206, whatever it was.

They knew that. He got beat up. His offensive line Ole block after Ole block.

But what did he do, Rich? He beat C.J. Stroud, but that doesn't matter.

That doesn't matter. We saw in college Rodney Pete beat Troy Aikman, who cares, right? Bottom line is, one game. But he stayed healthy. He finished a year and he wasn't injured.

So that, I think, spoke volumes of his toughness and they knew his size when he came in. Get him an offensive line, get him some receivers, and then let's evaluate Bryce Young. So to answer your question, I think they would have to stick with Bryce Young. I don't know how you cut ties with Bryce Young when you gave him nothing to work with. And now everything's been changed out from a coaching standpoint. So now back to where we are again with Bryce Young.

Now, I think Bryce Young, it would be totally unfair to him to cut ties based on a year where he had no help. I know, but it seems to be an unfair world that we're seeing more and more when it comes to asking. You know why, Rich? Well, you got to hit the grand slam.

A single double in this league right now with Mahomes winning all these Super Bowls is not good. Everybody has to cut ties with a guy that they don't see the ability to get to here. They think you get to here, but not here.

They're cutting ties. They're trying to hit the, not the home run, in some cases, a grand slam. And is that why they decided to, in Chicago, send Fields to Pittsburgh and then give Caleb Williams a shot? Because they think he's got the ability to go up here and they're doubtful that Fields could, essentially?

Is that it? What do GMs and head coaches want, Rich? The guys that they selected. That's what they want. Ryan Polls wasn't the GM, okay?

That's the bottom line. Ryan Polls was the director of college scouting in Kansas City when Patrick Mahomes was drafted, right? So, we saw comps, talked about similarities to Patrick Mahomes during the career of Caleb Williams. He drafted Patrick. He probably saw some of them. I'm talking about Ryan Polls.

That's why we are where we are right now. All right, last one for you, Mel. On draft night, when you're sitting there, your best, your crystal ball it for me. How many quarterbacks in a row to start? I think, obviously, one and two. It's Caleb and then Jaden.

Three is interesting, Rich. I'll tell you, it's going to make or break a couple organizations. I think it's going to be Drake May. It's either going to be Minnesota moving up, New England moving out, and New England needs a quarterback just as much as Minnesota does. So, three, four years from now, we're going to be looking at Minnesota or New England. Somebody's going to be smart. Somebody's going to be not real smart because both teams need quarterbacks. What happens at three is the whole pivotal point of the draft. I think May gets in there at three, and then I think somehow JJ's up there.

I don't know who gets them. And then Bo Nix I have at 12. So, I think they're going to come off the board fast and furious. I think the key is going to be New England at three, and Drake May is going to be the key quarterback because there's a mixed opinion on how great he can be. And the guy that you love that you think you'll be singing the Hosannas for the team that gets the value pick by getting this kid in the first round. Who do you think?

Who do you love? I think if he keeps dropping the way he is, the way some think, and I think he's going to go at 10, but some think he could drop to 15, 18. To me, it's Brock Bowers. He's a receiving entity. He's not a tight end.

You can move him around anywhere you want. He's going to be a productive, consistent, reliable, major league weapon for a quarterback and a pass offense in a national football league. And you haven't going to the Jets right now, huh?

I do right now, but hey, they just got Mike Williams after I did that. They have the offensive line, but they have some age there and some injury issues. Do they take an insurance policy with a JC Latham from Alabama, who was a right tackle, but feels he has the skill set to be a left tackle. Troy Fautano, a left tackle with longer arms than Joe Ault, who could kick the guard. Do they want that insurance policy when that aligned, or do they want to take a guy like Bowers?

So it's going to be really interesting to see what they do at 10 in terms of the New York Jets. Man, I appreciate the time, Mel. Really do. Thanks for coming on. I look forward to, I don't know where our sets are going to be in Detroit, but I always love waving.

We'll find each other, Rich. I'll tell you what, most fascinating draft I've been associated with in my 46 years of doing this. Really?

Really? No kidding. Because of the quarterbacks and the other kids that are so good at the skill positions and things like that? All the intrigue about trading up, trading down, which quarterback's the right one, and other positional battles.

It's really going to make or break organizations in terms of how they are, good or bad, over the next four to six years. All right, Mel. Thanks for joining here.

And you look so happy. I see the Mad Mel on the McAfee Show. Mel, have you seen the Mad Mel on Patreon? I've heard about it. I haven't seen it. I have not heard. I'll have to talk to Pat again one of these days, and I'll see. What do you think?

Can you grade it for me, Rich? I have met Mad Mel in person, and for a split second, couldn't tell the difference. Couldn't have done it. Age-wise, if we check birth certificates, it does appear to be a much younger man. Can't tell the difference, really. Okay. Rival's Caliendo, right?

Rival's from Caliendo. I don't know, man. Honestly, for a split second, I just thought, and then I think he's also got the Lou Holtz in him, too, Mel. When you go on there, just be careful. You don't know who's going to be interviewing you. You never know.

It could be a twin. Honestly, Mad Mel is pretty good. It's pretty good. And it's the ultimate form of flattery, as you know, Mel. Take care, man. You be well.

Great being with you, Rich. You got it. It's Mel Kuyper June, the original, the happy Mel. That was great.

That was awesome. What? You know it's draft season when Mel's popping up. Oh, dude. And he's just fired up. Sweaters and the slick back hair, and he's in your face. Love it.

I, by the way, can we write that down so we don't forget it? Calling Brock Bowers a receiving entity. He's not a tight end. He's not a receiver.

Is that going to be in a new position? He's that much of an outlier, it appears. He's a receiving entity. I love that.

He's an RE, which may be a reason why I love it. All right, Skylar Astin is in our green room. When we come back, we will have the star of So Help Me Todd, Die Hard Jet fan, Die Hard Nick fan. We haven't had him on in a while.

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Slows full terms at MintMobile.com. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network. I am sitting here with one of the stars of So Help Me Todd back here on the Rich Eisen Show, Skylar Astin.

Skylar, it is great to see you. We haven't had you back here in... It's been too long. It's been a minute, as they say.

And So Help Me Todd, a great episode coming up where you and your mom investigate where in the world Aaron Rodgers is. That's going to be... Exactly. Great.

Yes, yes. We were tracking his recovery. We're kind of following him on his ayahuasca trips and just making sure everything's intact. That... Well, there is an ayahuasca episode of So Help Me Todd coming up, right? Yeah, exactly. Where we kind of go a little deep into ourselves. Now, so that's something that we need to revisit here is you and I have very similar rooting interests. That is true.

Right? Rangers, Knicks, and Jets. Rangers, Knicks, Jets. I don't know about Mets, but yes, that's awesome. Are you Mets as well? I am Mets as well.

Okay. Well, that's TJ Jefferson behind your right shoulder. He's a Met fan as well. Yeah, I'm older than you. So when Reggie Jackson came to town, when I was eight. Yeah.

And my brother was a Met fan. That's where I just said, Adios. See you later, pal. Yeah, I understand. You know that. So... You can only suffer so much. Exactly. You're... It's hard, man.

I haven't had one championship in my lifetime except the Rangers in 94. That's a good one. Right? Mark Messier.

That was it. He has a big moment. Brian Leach, Adam Graves, Richter, all those guys. But I think the Rangers are looking really good this year as well. There you go.

They probably have the best chance out of all my teams. Well, listen, the Knicks have just been a delight to watch. It's a joy to watch. It's a joy. I have just said here, and I'm wondering if you would echo this, and I bet you will.

So how's that for a setup? That top 10 Knicks of my entire life that I love, root for and think is the essence of why I root for the team. Jalen Brunson has cracked the top 10.

He is so far above the top 10. And for me, I made a very declarative statement way too early to say this, but I think he's my favorite Knick of all time. I know that sounds like a lot of recency bias, and there's Patrick Ewing, and there's Bernard King, and there's Walcott Frazier, but there's something about him. He's like approaching his prime, and he really feels like a star who's emerged in the right way, and he plays out of his mind. He plays with such heart, and he's just such a leader. Love him on and off the court.

I'm with you, and I just think part of the reason why you might feel that way for him, not to ascribe any feelings to you, but we share it, is he has made himself into what he has become, if that makes any sense. That there was, and I think a legitimate, there's been a huge pushback from Knick fans, but it was legitimate when Kenny Smith said at the time on the NBA, on TNT, that the Knicks are just never going to be where Knick fans want them to be, because they never have the best player on the court. That fuels our fire, though.

I know it does, but that's changed, though. Brunson, you know, is becoming that. Yeah, I will take him over.

This is crazy. I know with Halliburton and Lillard and everyone, but I would take him right now as a leader over any point guard in the league. I really am very...

Okay, now. Now you're getting there. Maybe it's because I'm feeling such joy and just watching him come into his own, and I just see such a future and such a potential and such a building block in him, that that's how I feel, specifically for the Knicks, for this squad. I was at the Christmas Day game when they played Damian Lillard, and of course, who wouldn't want him? We wanted him for years when he was on Portland.

But now that we actually have that 1A point guard in Jalen Brunson, I don't know. He's like my guy. Well, I mean, the Christmas Day game, was that the one the Knicks won? Yep, I sang the national anthem on their good luck charm. That's three years in a row. Hey, now.

Yeah. What is that like singing the national anthem in Madison Square Garden, brother? It's very historic. I'm now comfortable because I've done it several times. I will say for the Rangers, it's a bit easier because you're kind of at the foot of the ice, so you get to see this banner, and they have the lyrics right there.

When you're doing the Knicks, you're half court, and it's kind of right there. And so if you got to check out a lyric or two, it's a little like there's gleaming, and there's beaming, and there's streaming. There's a lot of similar words. You don't want to kind of circle back and start the same verse over and over.

But I've done it enough times that the lyrics are no issue. You know that's a gambling thing in the NFL. Oh, I know.

About the Super Bowl. The over-under? Yeah. See how long it goes? Do you know this sort of stuff? Can you tell just by the first watching someone else do it?

Of course. I mean, well, what's the over-under? Probably 90 seconds or even maybe it's like for the Super Bowl, it's probably longer. It's probably closer to like a hundred seconds, maybe even two minutes.

I'm trying to think what Reba McEntire's He's our degenerate of the staff, by the way. She ended up going over because she double braved. She double braved. She double braved in the over hit. You don't say.

She was like right on the number, like 96 seconds or something like that. That's the real like insider trading betting thing that like, I mean, I could really make a lot of people a lot of money. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because there's a way to do it. There's a way to slow it down, especially if you're going acapella, which I do. If you're not to track, if you are to track, then you can have someone sneak into the sound check and that's how you can kind of figure it out. Well, now that's Mike Del Tufo's area of expertise.

I used to do that and I could have easily done that because I saw a lot of those rehearsals. Yeah. We're going to get banned from Super Bowls.

Yeah, exactly. About to get banned. Of course you did it acapella. I had to. Is that your brand?

Is it your brand? That's my calling card. They ask that. No, no, honestly, every time I've done it, it's always it's never been an option. It's just like you're going to go out there, you're going to be vulnerable and you're going to sing about our country. That's the directive. You're a patriot, man. Yeah, exactly.

Which is tough for a Jet fan. Exactly. Listen, so you choose whether you can do it to track to use your phrase? I've never had the option.

I've never had the option. It's always just like, no, you're going to go out there. You're just going to they don't even give me the in-ear. I just go and there's a bit of an echo.

I just trust the process. Dude. Yeah, that's the Broadway style. We do it live. OK, OK. You only know one.

You only have one speed and it's live. Maybe if I do like a Super Bowl or a World Series or a big one, I think there's a little bit of like you can get like a Fergie bass or something like that. Right.

Or something something weird like that. OK, very good. I've got Skylar Astin here on the Rich Isaac show where you were the only how many people on the set of I believe it was Pitch Perfect Two that knew who the Green Bay Packers were when they came on the set.

You were a small subset or am I just a fair amount? We had there's like Adam Devine and Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman are producers and directors. They are big sports people. Right. And they were the ones that recruited the Green Bay Packers. That I do know that I think we did. We have Clay Matthews on here saying that he he got a direct message from Elizabeth Elizabeth Banks and then was very excited about that.

Yes. Then found out she was married and then it was a problem. Yeah, but it got us the Packers in the movie. I mean, she really flirted her way to a great sequel. No, I think I think there was a bunch of people on the offensive.

I know David Bakhtieri and a bunch of people like those guys who was a legendary, you know, player. But they were huge fans of the first movie and they apparently rehearse and knew my entire like my entire finale number. They knew they did it in the locker room. It went kind of viral. And so that's why Elizabeth reached out and was like, would you want to do a little cameo in the sequel? Yes. And so we were all pumped. OK. We did not have Aaron Rodgers, but we did have Jordan Rogers, his brother, who was a bit of a doppelganger. So that that's halfway home. Exactly. We were like, we have a Rogers in the sequel. And how about the Jets now have Rogers? We do.

I heard we do. I know for four snaps. Yeah. And and at this point in time, he's still he's yet to even tweet out.

I do not intend to be the vice president of the United States. Right. So at the so at the very least, I do believe the Jets offensive line will have a nickname of Secret Service because they're protecting Aaron Rodgers. And we're building a heck of an offensive line.

And by the way, Tyrant Smith being added and Moses Morgan being back and, you know, Veritucker hopefully will get through an entire season. Intentionally, the draft will have another weapon that is entirely possible there. We need to protect our vice vice president.

The vice president. Exactly. And and Bakhtiari might be.

Is that true? Well, he's available. The Packers are moved. They've moved on. I have his phone number. I still have his phone number. Yeah. I used to face time.

Anytime you imagine. I I I. By the way, yes, we can imagine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, I don't even have my phone in the phone. That's right. We left it in the room. Damn it. Ah, that's the only reason.

That's the reason why we're not right now. But yeah, you know, we yeah. I anytime you have an athlete's number, you don't want to abuse it, but you want to be like, hey, good luck today in the Super Bowl, you know, or whatever they're doing.

That's so cool. How would you like to be a teammate of Aaron Rodgers again and be part of the New York Jets? And something tells me Aaron's probably doing the recruiting.

I don't need to jump on board, but but no, I'm excited. It's like one of the few times that a sports organization does a full mulligan. They're like, whoops, didn't do it this year. Right.

Didn't you know, we had certain expectations. You know, they're keeping Salah, they're keeping everyone, and they're just going to we're just going to try again to run it back. There's no other choice but to run it back. Yeah, there's just it's that simple, because although the Jets did kick the tires on every quarterback at the combine out of due diligence, but sitting down at 10, there's never they're never going to be able to go.

And plus, that would be insane to use any draft capital on moving up to go get a quarterback when you've got all eggs in the vice presidential basket. Right. And Taylor backing him up. That's nothing to sneeze at. That was that had to have happened. Yeah, we need a Plan B.

One hundred percent had to have happened. Yeah, we need that protection from the other quarterback. Exactly. Skylar asking here on the Rich Eisen Show. So help me, Todd, on CBS taking a break from its schedule over the next week. March Madness.

Hey, we got to be preempted. I know that. I get it.

Right. We'll get some cool commercials, though. We'll get some new eyeballs at the college.

The college boys. It'll be to watch our show. Watch our mother, son, legal when Creighton's at the line shooting a one in one.

Ian Eagle will say, so help me, Tom. That's right. TCU is storming the court. They'll be like, but also hope you like mother and sons working together and filling hijinks and hullabaloos. No, it's it's all for a good reason.

And I'm excited for for when we do come back as our back half of the season is really fun. OK, yeah. Fantastic. We just did a prank war episode, meaning I had to pull pranks and I had to be pranked. And so I'm still of like some paint in my like my ears, my eardrums and stuff like that. Well, TJ used to be a producer on Punk'd. So you're you're you're all ears on on on pranks. I still have a whole notebook full of ideas.

So, OK, let me know. Are we going to make Justin Timberlake cry? Is that what's going to happen?

Did you do that? I mean, I wasn't there for that one because that was the very first one we ever shot. So that's it was very locked down. But yeah, that that did. That did, in fact, happen. Most famous episode of Punk'd. For sure.

Which is why you're bringing it up. I mean, that's the nightmare, right? As a celebrity that you just act crazy because something crazy is happening to you and everyone's just laughing at your vulnerability. So Marcia Gay Harden must have thought she was being punk'd when they told her you're being preempted for March Madness. Exactly. She was like this.

What is that? And then we explained it to her and and she understood. So she didn't fill out her bracket.

So you're saying, you know what? Actually, Marcia kind of I could see her do. She likes to get like festive for stuff like that. She got really into the we were shooting on a Saturday once during the NFL playoffs. She did like a whole little she set us all up with like snacks and stuff like that. Had like a Cowboys jersey on wrong, even though they weren't in it.

But she was a Cowboys fan. So she's festive with sports, which I think I think we can get a bracket going. That's cool. All right. You got that going. Fantastic.

I'm just take a stab at this. This is the first time you ever worked with her or do you ever work with her or anything? No, I've been a fan of her work, obviously, for so many years. And we kind of are cut from the same cloth and that we both do theater and then both do kind of TV and film. So our process is very similar.

And she's just yes, she's super easy to work with. She's just super prepared, you know, so it feels good on the day. We get to do like three, four minute walk and talks where they don't really cut the cameras. And it's it's like just us kind of doing some lengthy scene. No kidding.

Nice. Yeah, those that I mean, you're a pro. I shouldn't even say this, but that would just kind of freak me out a little bit. Like, you know, if you're like two minutes into the walk and talk here, like you better. Oh, yeah, there's that.

Better stick the landing. Someone else I kind of has to be receiving you on the other end of the walk and talk and they just have the final line and they don't slot in right. And you're like, you had one job, one line. But I mean, it happens. It happens. It's like there's a bit of a tense thing, especially when it's going well, when you're like it. But I'm we're but similarly, Marcia and I, unless if we really you know, there's a real misstep, like we will just keep going forward with it. Yeah.

You know, even if the line is like we're kind of bobbling it and then we keep it going if we can. OK. Yeah. And again, catch up on season one, the start of season two right now on Paramount Plus through the Roku portal while we're waiting for. So help me, Todd, to come back with new episodes to conclude season two.

Starting Thursday, April 11th at 10 Eastern Time. And of course, again, you could check out everything on Paramount Plus right here on the Roku channel. It's great to see you again, brother.

Great to see you. So next time we see each other, Nick's championship, Rangers championship and the Jets will be in the playoffs. OK, with with Aaron Rodgers. Yeah. OK, write that down. This is going to happen. Put a future on that. OK, exactly.

The Patriot fan is writing nothing down right now. Can we make a deal to have you come back before all that happens, just in case it takes a long time for that? Exactly.

We want to see them again this century. It's not a prerequisite. Yes, not a prerequisite, but ideally. Yes, we're we're we're speaking things into existence. Pipe down over there. This is what the secret is about.

We just read it. All right. Skylar Astin right here.

Follow him at Skylar Astin on both Twitter and Instagram. Great to see you here, brother. You bet. We'll see you then soon with all the championships. In the meantime, so help me, Todd.

Check it out right here on Roku. This episode is brought to you by Pepsi Wild Cherry. Pepsi Wild Cherry is bursting with delicious cherry flavor and a sweet, crisp taste that gives you more to go wild for. Getting wild may look different these days, but whether it's opting for a solo Friday binge watch or a big night out, everyone can indulge in their wild side with Pepsi Wild Cherry. Also available in zero sugar. So grab a Pepsi Wild Cherry and get wild. All right.

Back here on the program. So one of these things is true. Okay.

Caleb Williams pro day is over and he looked absolutely terrible and the Bears blew it by trading with Justin Fields and thinking he's the guy. Yep. Or it's the exact opposite. But you're just a quick run around the room. I'll take letter B. Okay. Okay. Very good.

That's not true. Okay. What do you got? I'm going to see the lagger statement. Okay. Yeah. And the winner is... Hold on. Here it comes. Thank you.

My IC. Caleb Williams had a great pro day. Of course. Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer. Yeah. So no surprise really, right? Dude warmed up left handed. Did you see that video? I'm watching his deep ball that went about 80 yards. Dude warmed up left handed. He should have done the combine left handed and then left.

Yeah. But then he wouldn't have thrown this far. He threw it from his own 24.

I'm watching this deep ball, and the receiver catches it on the 20. There you go. That's good enough. Yeah.

It's a 66 yard pass. Yeah. Sign me up.

I mean, it's not Joe Milton. Okay. Listen.

I told Bears fans. It's so funny. Adam Chudwin. I just saw him in the back. Our call screener. He said that's all he's doing. If you're calling right now, he's not picking up. Everyone call right now.

Call right now and ask him how he's doing. And just be like, Hey, what do you think? And he's just like, he's pretty good.

I'm like, yes, you're good. You have no idea. Bears fans. They can't compute it right now.

They cannot compute that their world might be opening up in a way that they have not been able to fathom. Back on the Rich Eyes and Show radio network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eyes and Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. So the Caleb Williams pro day is over, and he's the first overall pick draft. And I know Jayden Daniels is going to make a run for it. And we will be singing his praises in six days when he's done with his pro day.

And he's lit up the entire universe, you know, for sure. Oh, yeah. So it's a lock on that.

Yeah, I know. And so and then Drake May will look terrific the next day. J.J. McCarthy is going to look great on Friday whenever Washington's pro day.

It's going to be great for Michael Pennix. Unfortunately, for Bo Nix, what his pro day was the same day as his free agency opened. I think something like that. Yeah, last Wednesday, I think. I don't know. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter.

The eye in the sky doesn't line. Caleb Williams is going to be the first overall pick in the draft. And Bears fans don't know how to handle it because he's really all that in the biscuit. Mm hmm. And I think he's going to come to their town and just, you know, light it up like somebody who doesn't have their order ready at the Wiener Circle at three in the morning.

Get lit up. Man, I kind of want him in fantasy next year. OK. Again, I'm not saying he's going to be that great coming out of the box.

I mean, honestly. Keenan Allen's out there, so he's got to. Well, again, but Keenan Allen's out there because he knows this is going to be his teammate and he's going to be there and he's there to support. And they're going to they're going to start hanging out. And DJ Moore, I know the business is business tweet that he sent out. And I'm sure he's not terribly happy for Justin Fields or about Justin Fields. But this kid's coming to town.

And yeah, Brad Biggs, these are future teammates. You know, you can remove the question mark. I think there's no way they're going to basically go in a different direction.

This is it. Do you think Keenan and Caleb are kind of saying who gets the number 13 next year? Good one. You know, because someone someone's got it. Someone's not getting that number. And since Keenan was there first. Well, did they assign him a number that he'd hold up a jersey there today? Keenan? Yeah. No. OK, so. But that's, you know, that's his number. To be determined. DJ Moore wears to cable core three.

Also, Chris Keenan could have been telling him like what he likes for breakfast because Caleb's got to go make, you know, the rookie runs to Dunkin Donuts. Well, he got in Chicago. Listen, if the Bears fans have any sensibility about them, they'll just send it in a paper bag like a jet fan. It worked for you guys. It sure did.

It sure did. So congratulations to Bears fans. You've got you've got Caleb Williams coming your way and he looks the part now. He's just got to be the part.

Get it. You know, who didn't look the part? Speaking of looking the part, you know, and look, the part of one of the best 68 teams in men's college basketball last night was the Virginia Cavaliers. Former champion, by the way.

I know that, which is kind of difficult to say that this is nothing against, you know, Tony Bennett or or the program or anything like that. It's just that this year, maybe because they are former champions, they're like, OK, well, we'll let you be in a playing game. And and Colorado State blew him out and Virginia looked terrible. I mean, the basketball was awful. This is March Madness. We're supposed to be feeling joy and being on the edge of our seat and watching some really competitive action. Instead, it was just terrible to see.

And, you know, Wally Zurbach was right for calling it out the way that he did. And and and I can only imagine what if you are one of the teams who finished red hot and did all the other metrics and didn't make the tournament and the bubble popped on you and you watch this team do that? Yeah. Pitt, St. John's, all these teams. All the big 10 Big East teams.

And anybody named anyway. Yeah. And and there, but for the grace of the, you know, March Madness gods, you did get in as, say, a nine seed. And Tom Izzo had this to say about the selection process, and he thinks that there should be more. He echoed Rick Pitino's sentiments that there should be more coaches and more former players involved in this process, not just athletic directors going through analytics. There definitely should be some coach players on that thing to bring some levity to as crazy as it's gotten. And yet, you know, I never know what what the net means, what Ken Palm means, what ESPN means or Iron Mountain Daily News.

You know, there's so many things out there right now that I think do influence. I love him. That's exactly what Mariuchi would say. It's funny. I saw the sound bite in ESPN.

And they said, or the daily news is the is the quote. They left out the Iron Mountain part. Come on. That's the most important part. These are the Iron Mountain Michigan men, Looch and Izzo. Come on now. That's the that's the most important part.

Is there an Iron Mountain Daily News or just through Iron Mountain out there? Can you look that up? Yeah, he's not wrong.

That's a real thing. Ken Palm and the this, the that, the other thing. Sometimes you got to go gut and feel it. And he points out like you don't know what three game losing streak counts. And she no idea who's playing hurt or anything like that. You got to you got to dive deep into it.

But it is just, you know, throwing darts at a board when you're trying to pick these games. Our final fours are are in the books, right? And we have tweeted out our link to anybody wants to join the Rich Eisen Show page. Yeah, I'll hit that. I'll hit the retweet one more time.

I'll hit it, too. I put the pictures of the mugs up there. You're playing for your picture. You're playing for a mug set. There's the traditional Rich Eisen Show mug and the one that we have created based off of our our draft, our Super Bowl in Vegas. There's me and the running man in full Elvis gear.

It's great. Who is your final four, Chris? And the caveat for this is Chris is absolutely terrible at this. Well, not only am I insanely terrible at this. You have more. I haven't watched any college basketball. OK, but one seeds Connecticut and North Carolina.

You moved them through. And then I got Kentucky is a three. They are Kentucky, Kansas, Blue Bloods, Blue Bloods special. I'm going to say Kentucky. Coach Cal back in the winner's circle. By the way, one of the greatest one of the greatest ESPN commercials all time was Robert Goulet singing the song that we are Kentucky to the tune of, I believe, the Partridge family. Wow. We are Kentucky over the UNC in the final.

Remember that he was sitting there, Robert Goulet doing it. All right, Mike, your final four. You're you know the most here because you worked faders for for Baby Fox watching Big Fox.

Oh, OK. All right. And Baby Fox, UConn, Arizona and Marquette, Purdue. OK, and UConn. I did like at least six or eight of their games this year.

They are the real deal. One hundred percent the best team in college basketball. OK, they lose. It's because they played bad and they did not play to the level they were playing. OK, Purdue. Zack is unbelievable.

I mean, I did like four or five of their games. He's a giant. He's if he plays, man, that's it's got to be like, that's it. It's just it's produced time to finally get to the loss in the first round. I think they're going to lose to Marquette because I think Marquette's a little better because I did Marquette games also. So it's like a job, Mike.

See, I actually research very well done. Yeah. T.J., your final four. Well, it's funny we brought up Tom Izzo because I got him going to the final four.

No way. As a nine seed. I got a nine seed. I got UConn. And then I got why you guys laugh like this is an impossibility with one of the best coaches of all time.

OK, very good. Houston and Purdue. And, you know, thanks to the likes of, you know, Nicola Jokic and Joel Embiid and Giannis, you know, I'm a fan of the big man. OK. And basketball and Zachy. He's going to help the big man return to prominence. OK. It's going to lead the Boilermakers. Shout out to UConn. UConn is good. OK. All right. Very good. Boy, Michigan State making the final four would certainly be a headline in the Iron Mountain Daily News. You know, it's just you got to take a chance.

Or the New York Daily News. My final four, I went with UConn winning it all. And then two and three two seeds. Oh, nice. Over Marquette like me. Yeah, over Marquette.

Yeah. See, I know what I mean. Well, I mean, that wasn't much of a game in the Big East final last weekend, but I'll take Arizona and Tennessee popping through. I would love to see Purdue make it. I really would.

So, yeah, I would love to see him make it because they just have been so disappointing for their fans in recent days. But there you go. Those are our final fours. And we'll tweet out on our at Rich Eyes and show the link to join our pool.

Get in there, people. Hey, listen, thanks to today's guests, Albert Breer, Happy Mel Kuyper Jr., John Smoltz and Skylar Astin. Tomorrow, Larry David in studio. LD. And then we'll keep you up to speed on March Madness.

That's how we send you into your Good Wednesday, everybody. Movies, TV shows, books, podcasts and more. It's What Women Binge with Melissa Joan Hart and her friend Amanda Lee. We have Lauren Bosworth with 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. What women binge wherever you listen.