Ryan Leaf: What Caleb Williams did in college doesn't translate to NFL

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Find out how to bring your ideas to life at dell.com slash welcome to now. This is the Rich Eisen Show. I understand this league changes and there's so many things that go into it and we're not going to play forever. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The question is, is the Warriors franchise as we know it and have come to know it in a resting home?

You don't get to stay on top forever. Today's guests, host of the Streetline Podcast, Ryan Leaf, ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler, Michigan defensive lineman Chris Jenkins Jr. And now, it's Rich Eisen. You bet it is. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show.

844204 riches, the number to dial right here on this program. So much to talk about over this three-hour show, certainly with one week to go until the NFL draft. And Caleb Williams is going to have to fill the shoes in Chicago of none other than Kobe White. So, I mean, there's some huge shoes to fill in Chicago and we'll discuss that over the next three hours. Jeremy Fowler wrote a fascinating piece for ESPN Plus and ESPN.com talking to a whole bunch of talent evaluators in the NFL who don't put their name on anything. Which is just, these are the fascinating draft pieces that they basically, I'm not going to put my name on me pooping all over this draft choice. And it's just a fascinating conversation to have one week to go.

Certainly, when there's all these quarterbacks available. Jeremy Fowler also put his name on a three byline piece that came out yesterday talking about why Bill Belichick didn't get the job in Atlanta and did not get a job at all in this last coaching cycle. So, Jeremy joining us in hour number two. There'll be a lot of conversation to be had with him. Ryan Leaf's making his way to the studio. He's going to be hanging out with us in about 20 minutes time in person.

So, we'll talk to an old friend right here on the program. Former number two overall draft choice of the 1998 NFL draft. And he has gone on to have a terrific career in sports media.

He sat in this chair many times. Many moons ago as a guest host here on this program. Chris Jenkins continues Michigan week. We talked to Mike Sanristil of the back end of the Michigan defense yesterday.

He is one of the best defensive tackles available in this year's draft. And if I'm not mistaken, he was the very first Michigan Wolverine individual to get off the plane at Penn State. And upon learning that Jim Harbaugh had been suspended for three games by the Big Ten in flight, I think he is the first one to type in a three-letter word into his Twitter feed and hit send.

Bet. I believe he's the first one to send out this tweet. If you take a look at the time stamp, 2.08 p.m. Eastern time on the day they arrived in Penn State, he might be the first one. And I was wondering how this all came to be. And so, he is going to be in – not in studio – be zooming in on hour number three of this program.

844-204 Rich number to dial. If you want to have a conversation, good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. What's going on? I actually think today is the anniversary of the 98 NFL draft. Is that right? Yeah. Today was the day. Today. April 18th, 1998.

Huh. I saw the video – Colts tweeted out a video of them taking Peyton Manning and that kind of was like, oh yeah. Quite a year for Ryan Leaf as well. Yeah, 26 years ago today. I believe, you know, it was just three months after he and Washington State took on Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

And then I think a month later, he was at the Espy Award sitting behind Charles Woodson as Norm Macdonald made his O.J. joke. So, if you take a look at the video, lots to talk about with Ryan Leaf when he joins us in studio hour number one. How are you, DJ Mikey Deas and Deez Nuts? I'm doing well, Rich. How are you doing? Ah, I was good until you didn't stop singing the same tune over and over again.

Now you've put the Doobie Brothers in my head. Nice. Oh my goodness. Michael Macdonald is the coach. You know how you work with somebody and they just can't stop singing Sweet Freedom or whatever the hell that – By Michael Macdonald.

By Michael Macdonald. Seahawks head coach. Oh, very good. Because I was talking – we have something going on up in Seattle we're going to talk about in the next three hours of this program. How are you, T.J. Jefferson? Good to see you over there, sir. Well, I'm better now than I was in the first half of last night's Sixers. Yeah, you were. I'm great today. Well, the Sixers went ahead and dispatched with the Heat who now are going to have to take on the Bulls without Jimmy Butler. A tune, baby.

Because as we saw last night, the Sixers were having their hands full down 14 to the Heat and then the Heat watched the Sixers take over that game and show why they're, I guess, favored against the Knicks. Yeah. We'll have to have that conversation later on in this show. And again, as I mentioned, 844-204-Rich is the number for you to dial to have a conversation with us today and we're happy to have that. So one week from today. One week from today, we will be in Detroit. We will be doing our second of three shows of a residency in the Motor City in downtown Detroit. We'll be there next week. It'll be the double dip of my lifetime doing the Rich Eisen show for three hours and then the first night of the draft on NFL Network. Oh, you can't hit rest this week. Yeah, that's right. I'm running my 40-yard dash this weekend at the Rose Bowl. God bless you, bro. You know what?

I can sprint and chew gum at the same time. Just you watch. So we'll find out a bunch of answers to questions that we're having. And the question I have right now, because I think we all know it's Caleb Williams going to be drafted first overall. And then we know the Washington commanders will step to the plate. And I believe what I heard at the combine was Jayden Daniels is the number two overall pick in this draft.

And I do believe that when it's all said and done with combine chit chats and a pro day at LSU and pro days at North Carolina and pro days at Michigan with the quarterbacks at the top of this draft, not named Caleb Williams. And with whatever the hell the Washington commanders did yesterday by having prospect a palooza. Twenty two of them all at once with Drake May and Jayden Daniels and J.J. McCarthy and Michael Penix Jr. All there is four of the twenty two prospects going to top golf and hanging out, maybe having chicken wings. I don't know what the hell they're doing. Having a good old time.

Magic Johnson chilling out with Jayden Daniels and Bob Myers chilling out with Michael Penix Jr. Talking about how the Warriors have fallen apart and how that's not going to happen to the commanders with him there. I don't know. I think when it's all said and done, what I heard at the combine is going to happen. And then the New England Patriots will be on the clock. Third overall, a position that Patriots fans and the Patriots organization not used to being in.

No. Third overall, sitting there on the clock, needing a quarterback. A situation that the New England Patriots have not really been in since drafting Drew Bledsoe. Number one overall in the mid 90s. Thirty one years ago. Thirty one years ago.

And it's fascinating. The Patriots in a position for the draft. And Bill Belichick will be sitting with Pat McAfee. I really didn't see that one coming either, that he's going to be a draft pundit for the first time in his career, as opposed to sitting either in the Patriots draft room or his Nantucket kitchen with Nike the dog sitting at his laptop. Not usual to see the Patriots in a position with somebody who's making the choice. Doesn't really have the general manager's gig all locked up, apparently, as Elliott Wolf does not. I mean, Elliott Wolf, let me see how he is described in this article written by Mike Reese, the ESPN staff writer who covers the Patriots. He is referred to as the director of scouting. This is who's speaking on behalf of the Patriots grocery shopping efforts. This is all out of joint.

Not used to seeing this in New England. And he says when the Patriots are on the clock at third overall. They might not be on the clock at third overall. Or they might not be making that selection at third overall.

Open for business is what he said today. Elliott Wolf speaking in front of the press one week from the draft. We're open for business in the first round and in every round. We have some holes we feel like we need to fill in the draft. We're a draft and develop team. The more picks we have, the better. But if there's an opportunity to move up and strike, if the board kind of recommends it, then we won't be afraid to pull the trigger on that either.

Whether you stay at three or move somewhere, do you feel like throwback has to be picked? No. Okay. Couple things. Move up.

If the board recommends it. What does that mean? The Bears shock the world and take Jayden Daniels? There's only two places to go. Let me tell you what. Let's just say this. We earned that.

Hold on a second. I know general managers in this time of year, it's just tough to... Lying season. It's not lying season. It's just like, you know, talking season. Like when you're... I don't know how sometimes, you know, they fill the void with chitter chatter.

In the same way that for some reason, for those watching on the Roku channel, I'll describe it to those on the radio. The void over my right shoulder is being filled by a massive tree being pruned that I didn't know existed out there. How many branches can this person cut off? I literally was thinking that same thing. What the hell?

It looks like a tornado's going on. Let me tell you something. If the draft board is out there for the Patriots to move up. Move up?

Hold on a second. The only thing I can only see is that would be Jayden Daniels is suddenly taken as a Chicago Bear and Caleb Williams is sitting there as a Washington Commander. One thing the Washington commanders will not do at that point in time is trade out so the Patriots can move up to take Caleb Williams.

That ain't happening. As a matter of fact, I would imagine that every single member of the commanders organization, including the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, who has an interesting choice next Thursday night. Do you sit in the commanders draft room or do you sit inside what First Union in Philadelphia for Game 3?

The first Sixers home playoff game of Nick Nurse's administration? I think he's got to do the draft. I think so too. And you know, they'll be able to, I imagine, have ESPN or TNT up on a screen in their draft room.

At any rate, long story short is I don't get that part of it, but I do get the other part of it trading out. If they're not totally sold on Drake May, did you take a look, Chris, I'm sure you didn't, because you don't want to see it. The current Patriots offensive depth chart.

No, I don't want to look at that right now. In all honesty, and I know this isn't the metric by which you build a football team, but in terms of playing against a football team, defensive coordinators either stay up at night, stare at the ceiling, or spend time all week long with their charges, circling a particular player on the opposing team's offense, saying that's the one guy that we are not going to allow to beat us. Outside of, I imagine, Ramondre Stevenson, if he is healthy, I don't see another player that would be drafted in a top, what, 10 rounds of a fantasy football draft? A 10 team fantasy football draft? I think Hunter Henry would be. You think so? Yeah, you think so? In 10 rounds for a tight end, six touchdowns. Oh, man.

They have a ton of work that they need to do to build up that offense with a superb wide receiver draft class sitting out there and some offensive linemen sitting out there. Got to get one of each. You sure do. You needed two of each.

You need two. Yeah, I mean, it's an arc situation. Dude, that's exactly right. If I'm Elliott Wolf and the rest of that staff, I am looking at it like this, like you are Noah.

I need two of each. I am Noah. This is the arc. And the question, though, is when you look at Jacoby Brissett and the quarterback room as it currently stands, it's Jacoby Brissett, Bailey Zappi and our favorite. Artificial intelligence created quarterback when we first heard of him, we signed that dude out of Canada. And the Jacksonville Jaguars signed him to a practice squad situation because we were all wondering if Trevor Lawrence's knee would allow him to answer a bell in a short week or something like that. We saw a photograph of him and it looked like the A.I.

like, please create me an artificial intelligence practice squad quarterback from Canada. It's Nathan Roark. O Roark? No, Nathan Roark.

Like Mickey. I thought it was I thought there was an O in there. And that's the New England Patriots conversation to have, because their roster right now is pruned like the tree over my shoulder. Stop. Don't worry about it.

I'm saying you were good, bro. I was wondering how you were going to get back in there. Please. I honestly don't know what's left of that tree. I think it's just a stump and that you could make the case is the same way with all due respect.

It's close. And that's the issue is that if the Giants want Drake May so bad that they're willing to hand you a absolute ton of draft choices, do you make that choice if you're the New England Patriots and think it's feasible that J.J. McCarthy sitting there or do you forgo the quarterback in this year's draft? Right. Oh, and just roll with. And you look at Bob Kraft in that draft room, who basically said at the owner's meeting, I'm staying out of it. Except except I would sure like to know, you know, I'd love to see some young quarterback at the in our in our organization. And then you watch Drake May go kill it in New York City.

Oh, that would be with head coach Bill Belichick. Oh, oh, no. Oh, now I'm painting the worst possible picture. Or do you take Drake May and say, we're just going to have to build with the rest of our draft choices? Which, you know, aren't bare. The cover is not completely bare on on the draft choices.

No, no, no, no, no. They got a pick, eight picks in this draft. Well, I'll tell you one thing they're not doing is trading up. I love that from L.A. Trading up. Well done.

Hey, man, absolutely get into existence. OK, so that's that is right now. The biggest mystery of this draft is what does happen third overall or fourth overall? Because I do believe it's going to be Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels.

And then what happens? Open for business. There we go.

OK, make us an offer, everybody. We might not be terribly into Drake May. Or we are into Drake May, but we're into more draft choices. Right.

Multiple number one. How about that picks next year? One week from tonight. You look nervous, Brooklyn. So here's how it's now. Why we got here's what we got. Ryan Leaf about to come out in studio. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN talking about what he learned about why Belichick doesn't get it.

It didn't get a job in Atlanta. And also he's got every single quarterback that's available in the draft and a tier system based on all the conversations he's had with a ton of executives and scouts and coaches and coordinators around the league. Chris Jenkins, one of the top defensive tackles available in this year's draft, will join us in our number three. And if anybody out there needs kindling, we got you covered. Ryan Leaf coming out here next on the Rich Eisen Show.

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You won't regret it. Oh, yeah. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show on the Roku Channel. Radio audience will rejoin in a matter of moments, but joining us here is a longtime favorite of this program. Good to see you, Ryan Leaf, everybody.

A nice round of applause. Yes, it's good. Wow. What a place looks amazing. We have spruced it up a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. And the tree just got pruned behind us. So we saw it happen and it was like you should just go out around there to stand behind.

We needed somebody to collect all the wood. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Good to see you. Yeah, it's good to see you. You're heading to LAX right after this, right? Right to LAX. Back to New York.

Back to New York. I can't keep up with you. What do you give me everything that you're doing? Well, we were in town. We were pitching a show to a bunch of different people. Can't really talk about it yet.

But exciting, exciting stuff. Anna and I are co-producing it with the introduction you made with me, with Ken Rogers at NFL Films. He is as great as they come. Yeah. And he's been really helpful. That's cool. And we're really excited about this.

Hopefully we'll be able to share it with you here soon. OK. Fantastic. Well, and it's perfect timing to have you here because it's an anniversary. Because it's draft time? Oh.

It's draft time. It's your anniversary today. It's my anniversary. We'll talk about all that. What? Yeah.

My first time hosting the show? No, no, no. Don't say anymore. Save the gold. Is it gold? I think it's gold.

I have no idea. It's gold at the time. It's gold now. It's all good.

It's gold, Jerry. It's good. And how many kids do you have now?

We have two. We just welcomed a baby girl. I'm a girl dad.

I texted you. I was like, I need some advice. Let me tell you.

Just enjoy. She's so, so chubby right now. Fantastic.

It's great. She's on the Patriots draft board, which is weird. She's already being scouted by Elliott Wolf. He's not open for business, though.

Not like the Patriots are. OK. Very good. So we're here on the Roku channel and back on the Rich Eyes and Show radio network, 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 as our longtime friend and frequent guest host of this program here hanging out on the West Coast We're heading off to LAX to go back home east. Ryan, good to see you, sir. Good to see you, too. Right back at you, man. Thanks for having me. Any time.

Thanks for letting me know you're in town. Are you aware today is the anniversary of your draft day? This is the 18th, isn't it? Yep. I didn't even think about it. We didn't know either. And you mentioned before the show.

I didn't even think about it. Yeah. April 18th, Saturday in New York City. You know, we were at Madison Square Garden, I believe, at the time. I think so. It may have been in Felt Forum.

We can look that one up. I don't know if it was in Radio City. It was MSG. The theater, yeah.

The theater and MSG. And I'm sure it was noon Eastern as well. So right about now, you might have been literally holding up a jersey with Paul Tagliabue.

It would have been because they took the full 15 minutes for Peyton and pretty much the full 15 minutes for me. So right about now, yeah. 26 years ago?

Yep. Today. 26 years ago today. We're almost late. Almost late because my brother and my cousin thought it was a good idea before the bus in the morning to go run through Times Square and try to get themselves fake IDs. I remember sitting there and I just can feel like Olivia and Archie Manning like staring daggers into the back of my head.

Like, who does this guy think he is, you know? Because you kept them late too? Well, yeah. They're on the bus with us. And we're just like, I'm sorry. And he stumbles up on the thing and they're like, yeah.

And I'm just, oh, we ran next from Montana. And that's when Archie Manning found out the reason why the bus was late? I don't think he found out until years later when I told him about it.

But my brother was just like, that leaf kid just doing whatever he wants to do. No, they were amazing. They were amazing to my family. When I was in prison and going through all the stuff, Olivia and Archie reached out to my parents.

Are you serious? Oh, we've known each other now for 26 years. There's a great picture. I'll have to get it to you sometime from the Heisman Trophy night. And it's Cooper, my brother, and Eli. All three of them in the outfits that our parents put them in. And Peyton and I have this, we're going to put it to the side one night on the Manning cast, we're just going to embarrass Brady Leaf, Cooper Manning and Eli Manning because of the outfits. Like, you know, striped shirts with vertical running ties, you know, floppy mopey hair. It's a good one.

Like a nine year old, 13 year old and like, I don't know, 23 year old Cooper Manning. Oh my gosh, I love that. I love that. So 15 minutes they took. Did you think in that 15 minutes time that maybe they were still hashing it out? Lee Steinberg was very adamant about what the 15 minutes of free advertising was.

Your agent. Yeah. At the time he said, don't, they'll take the full 15 minutes because that's, they're just going to talk about the San Diego Chargers for 15 minutes.

It's free airway. No, it's the 15 minutes that they, that the Colts took to put Peyton's name in. It was a little iffy just because Jim Mersey didn't come in until the morning of the, if you recall when I had him on the show, which you suggested, which was a great idea because it was a great interview. He says, like, I didn't fly into the morning of because like this guy I trusted the most, like he told me, he said, don't, don't pass on that Leaf kid. And that was Hunter S. Thompson.

If it wasn't Hunter S, it was actually Hunter S, we would have known what that looked like. But it was another one of the guys he really trusted, he said, for years in the football business. And he went against what the, what the guy said. I said, smart thinking, Jim.

That was good. So you're sitting there and your phone, there's no phones. So it was like an actual like princess phone sitting right next to you.

I don't, I don't remember even answering a phone. I just remember Paul Tagliabue announcing the name and me standing up and like the, you know, hug the agent, hug the mom and dad was down in the very bottom in the green room. So I had to come all the way back up and across. We had like 19, 20 family members all out there with the styrofoam lightning bolts. Just, I mean, it was an amazing day.

And then what followed right, of course, was you go through just a quick radio roll of bouncing off. And what's funny about this and, you know, he's become such a dear friend of mine and a mentor and boss and Howie Dineroff. Sure. Of Westwood One? Howie like was one of the first people to interview me. He told me the story. He's got a picture of us, me 21 years old.

Yes. And Howie Dineroff working with, I'm assuming he was with Westwood One at the time. He's been with him for, you know, 87 years. And so, you know, he's got this picture of it.

And now, you know, we work together and he's, you know, he's just such a sweetheart. So it started there. Then it's whisked off with Alex Spanos, Dean Spanos, my father, Lee Steinberg on their private plane. We stopped down at Wake Forest to pick up their son, who is now the president of the team. And we head west and we stop in Las Vegas.

They have a home in Las Vegas. We spent the night in Vegas with all my uncles. All my friends came down from Montana. We had an amazing time, got up first thing in the morning, flew into San Diego, did the press conference.

And away we went. It's fascinating, Ryan, that you stopped in Vegas. I had not heard that because I heard the story that you famously told the Colts.

The first thing you're going to do if they drafted you first overall is go with your buddies to Vegas. Yeah. That was a Bill Polian, Bruce Arians nonsense tale. I kind of just sat on for forever. I don't know if I had the pride. Maybe I didn't have the goodwill that anybody would take my story seriously because I was such a fraud and liar for so long. In terms of pushing back against it after that story came out years later. I just ate it for years and years.

It was constant for the last 20 years almost from those guys. And this year I finally was just like, okay, hey. I wouldn't have done that. I wasn't going to go party with my friends in Vegas. If I'm going to Indianapolis, Vegas isn't on the way to Indiana.

For one thing. Not from Madison Square Garden. And when I mentioned it to Dean in the plane, I'm like, hey, do you mind if we stop in Vegas on the way?

All my cousins and really good friends that couldn't come to New York want to meet me there and celebrate with me. That's when the question was asked. Mr. Spanos. And he could have easily said no. He said, we have a house there.

Of course, Ryan. Let's do it. And you did it.

And we did it. Mr. Spanos was, now his father was an interesting subject. He pulls out a VHS about mid-flight of him doing like a tap dance routine with Bob Hope. And I'm just looking at my dad going like, where the hell are we?

We're on a private plane? With a VCR. Yes, with a VCR to VHS. No DVDs or laser discs at the time. And so apropos of nothing, he's like, oh, I've got this VHS of me tap dancing with Bob Hope.

Oh yeah, stocked in Northern California, you know, real estate magnate like, you know, Bob Hope. Why not? Why not?

Tap dancing? We just, I just looked at my, and then he starts yelling at Lee Steinberg about, don't you screw around with me and have him hold out. Get this contract done. Different times, man. Because contracts needed to get done. I mean, now totally different times.

Rookie salary cap. I know. Yeah. And then, oh my gosh. I think we held out for like three days.

And I remember just cleaning my house going, get me in the camp, get me in camp. And I was the highest paid player for about 48 hours. And Peyton got about 250 grand more. So I was the highest paid player in the NFL for about 48 hours. There you go.

Fantastic. This week, you know. I think Jalen Hurts knew that feeling last, right around this time. Right around this time before then Lamar Jackson got signed.

I got Ryan Leaf here on the Rich Eisen Show. Your evaluation of Caleb Williams, is it as high as everyone else's? Yeah, of course. I mean, he is incredibly talented. But I just don't think he can be the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears this year. You don't think so? No, I think he has to sit a year. I think what he has done in college doesn't necessarily translate very well to the NFL right away.

He spent a lot of his time vacating the pocket out the back. But do you really think that, I can't imagine. No, he's going to play. And it's the worst possible scenario for him because simply, they're a playoff team. They were a playoff team last year. If that Browns game and that Broncos game go differently, or if Justin Fields isn't hurt through the middle of the year, I think, where they were playing so well. The defense was great.

Yes. There's no doubt. They're a playoff team. So, they're a playoff team this year.

If they don't make the playoffs, or if they stumble early, or they're in a place, I don't care. It's just a rookie quarterback. Matt Eberfluss is gone. So, now you're talking about a rookie quarterback now and a new head coach, again, with a new offense, again. You've just set him up for absolute failure. If you were going to go this way, Ryan Polis, if you were going to go this way, you should have sent Eberfluss out the door, got the new coach in place with an offensive coordinator with a quarterback, and you knew that you had some time because that will just evaporate if they're not a playoff team this year.

I believe that's going to be the case. All right. Here's the two pushbacks. I've got a couple of pushbacks for you. All right.

I want to hear it. All right. Ryan Leaf here on the Rich Eyes Show.

The pushback, I would say, is setting up for failure is... The Chicago Bears way? No, no, no.

Nice. I think that's harsh because, I mean, there's Keenan Allen. They already have DJ Moore. They're going to probably, I mean, there is word that, because I know Bears fans are thinking, let's now get Roma Dunesay ninth overall.

There's now talk... Which I think they can. Well, now there's talk that maybe they trade up because Tennessee needs some help, and Tennessee winds up trading down, and they move up to six to maybe get Joel Ault and start really hitting that line. And the reason why they kept Iberfluss, I don't think it's Ryan...

I don't know if it was Pols' decision solely. Because of the defense? Well, no. Kevin Warren is there now as well, a president, and then maybe the McCaskys got together, and they're like, Iberfluss is going to handle the defense, and that was stupendous, and he is terrific at that because I think if Iberfluss is let go, the first thing he's going to get is a defensive coordinator job, and I know your response would be, well, he's the head coach. So this is a way to kind of set it up for success for Caleb Williams, and you just gave the potentially most negative viewpoint of how it could go this year. I know, and I'm usually such an optimistic person, so I just am fearful for him because I think that he's an incredibly talented football player, and I just think he needs some time at the NFL level, and I'm worried that if he's going to have so much...

I feel like the bar is going to be set so high for him that there's no way he can ever clear it, and that disappoints me, and it makes it unfortunate. It is what it is. Quarterbacks are going to go high, but they're the ones that have to wear...

If things go bad, he's going to have to wear it, not the team, not the organization for drafting somebody maybe before he should have or played him before he should have. So that's... I'm more...

I think it's the negative tone of it, but I'm more worried about the individuals and how they... simply because of... probably because I'm too close to it because it happened to me. Right. And so that's where I look at it as. I would love nothing more for him to have a C.J. Stroud type of year and him be the answer in Chicago, and this team all of a sudden be a team where Bears fans are like, oh, my God, we finally... we got the quarterback. Right.

They've surrounded him with great players offensively, and the defense is playing great as well. I just think the day and age of sitting quarterbacks are... you can't say gone because look at what Jordan Love was able to do after three years. Patrick Mahomes. And Mahomes sat for one. Yep.

Not even that full one. He got... he wet his beak a little bit in the final game of a regular season. Other than that, though, I mean, Jaden Daniels goes number two overall. He's starting week one for the commanders. Drake May starts number three overall. He goes number three overall in New England. I don't know if he starts week one for New England. I think that New England would have the ability to... Don't you think, Chris? I think Jacoby Brissett is 100 percent starting week one. And they might be able to sit him an entire year. Yeah. I just... That's possible. I just sat with Drake May.

I was in North Carolina on last Wednesday, I think it was, and... What'd you think? He's a beast, man. He's big, physical. He's so young. He's 21 years old, and he's just like this, Mr.

Leaf, and he's got this bowl of granola and stuff, and he's just eating away. I'm just like... Did you tell him to make his bed? Did he make his bed? You know what I mean?

I said... It's like you could be his dad, man. Everybody in the office is like, you know, he is so young. He is so young, but he is a killer, Ryan. He's a killer. And I'm like, yeah, I was a killer, too. Right? You walk into a room, and you're 21 years old, and you're supposed to be the leader of 33-year-old men in that locker room and stuff who are trying to put food on the table for their families.

It's a different story when things kind of start going south. Did you hear Brian Hoyer this week talk about Matt Jones and how he thought that they were giving him the defenses and plays in practice because Matt Jones was maybe the smartest and most ready player coming out of college in Josh McDaniel's offense. What an absolute referendum to what Bill Belichick did to that young man over the last two years. I mean, it's just so amazing what teams can do to a player, and the player ultimately is like Matt Jones is going to sit down in Jacksonville and carry around the conversation of like, dude, you busted in New England. Well, I don't know, man.

They screwed me pretty bad here in this deal, too, but no one really is going to talk about that. Well, I mean, in terms of Boston, I've got Ryan Leaf here on the Rich Eisen Show. You like how he did that? No, no, no, no, no. Speaking of bust, I've got Ryan Leaf here on the show.

No, no, no. I didn't say speaking of Boston. No, on the subject of bust, though, and here's where I was going with it, actually, is Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield. Who else can we include in this mix here? I think you know where I'm going.

Fields, kind of? Well, he's in a position to. Trubisky. That the number of players that we're seeing that gets drafted high and then goes somewhere else and gets another opportunity. Geno Smith is another terrific example, right?

It took a long time, too. Well, I mean, part of that was opportunity also, right? I mean, because after he left the Jets, he goes to the Giants, where Eli Manning never missed a start. And then that one time Geno started in place of Eli and his streak got broken, it was like, what are we doing here?

Then he goes to Seattle and there's Russ, who didn't miss a game. But all I'm saying is that it does appear that we need to see years for quarterbacks to get opportunity and also maybe the seasoning that they need. And part of the reason why is the way the new collective bargaining agreement is set up. There's, you know, very little time in the offseason. And then when you do get the players, without a doubt, the starting quarterback is going to get every damn rep he possibly can get. Maybe we're seeing the UFL could be helpful, where people get reps. Guys don't get reps. They don't get reps. And so, sure enough, they may have to take another crack at it and get that opportunity in order to be considered a non-bust, even though there were never busts to begin with, potentially. No, there's never a bust.

You're one of 27,000 players ever to play in the NFL, so we'll stop that right there. Jared Goff and Barry Camarefield are two of the most favored stories that I see going right now. Got a chance to play with Baker, play golf down with Baker here in a couple weeks ago, right before he had his little baby. And I'm just so happy for him. Like, Cleveland was a great spot for him. He did something no one had done there in decades, got him to the playoffs, and it was just like, took it for granted. Him maybe a little bit too, not signing a contract. That was probably more a better situation for him. And then I actually thought the Sean McVay situation was so profound for him. I even thought he may stay there, because last year we didn't know if Matthew Stafford and his injuries were going to be what they were. And I thought maybe it's a really good spot for him.

And then to see him to take that shot and go to Tampa and play the way he did this year was awesome, to be rewarded with that big contract. You don't see it. You don't see it often, and it's starting to happen now, where a guy goes number one overall. He's on his fourth team, and he gets that big deal.

We don't see that. You see a guy that ultimately hangs around in Blaine Gabbert, let's say, and he's a backup around most places for 15 years or something like that. Jared Goff, another one, just kind of traded away, really, for the contract. Detroit never thought he would be the guy long term, and he's going to be their franchise quarterback and the guy that possibly has a chance to get him back to the Super Bowl, or get him to the Super Bowl for the first time ever. Yeah, we asked him, how long do you think a quarterback needs to get to be evaluated?

He said four or five years, at the very least. But then somebody like C.J. Stroud comes along, and it's just like, well, why can't everybody be doing that? I'm serious.

That is a fresh reminder. Big Ben was that version of it in the early aughts. Why can't everybody be like Big Ben? Why can't everybody be like Stroud or Mahomes?

And obviously that's a very long answer to that. I was, when I got a chance to mentor the quarterbacks of the combine, Patrick was one of my mentees during that process. And I just, to see where he's at now, and to see the maturation in his play, like to go from this chaotic, down the field, everything, what has impressed me the most about him is really his lack of ego. Last year, Patrick was asked by Coach Reed to do things completely different. Like, let this defense lead, you take us out, and if you can get something and not turn the football over, we're going to win football games. And he just, there was an ego-less Patrick Mahomes throughout this year, and he was still the best quarterback in the league. Because he actually, when you look at the game against, I think it was the Ravens where he threw it like 39 times, but for like 245 yards, right? It was all at the line of scrimmage. It just was, it was not trying to be this big superstar. It was just doing the work that was asked, and they went back to the championship and won it. So I thought he's been the most impressive guy. It's going to be hard to beat them. I don't care what team in the AFC you are.

So what's your impression of Pentax before I let you go? Let's get a Cougar talking about a— Yeah, this is really hard and has been really hard. I think he's been the best college quarterback the last two years. You think so?

By far. I think if he was, if you were a true evaluator of great quarterback play last year, if I was picking a quarterback in the first round, he would have been my number one guy last year. So what is it, two knee injuries and a throwing shoulder? And I think the performance against Michigan, I think that is weighing him down a ton. And I don't like it, but there was such a polar opposite of his performance against Texas in the semifinal where he was perfect. I've never seen a quarterback be as accurate 50 yards down the field as he was. It was like he, he didn't throw it to him. He just put it in his arm, ran it down to Roma Dunsane, handed it to him like a relay recipient. That's how accurate he was. I've never seen a more accurate down the field passer in the last couple decades.

It's just, it's been incredibly impressive. I think he does it from the pocket. He doesn't get sacked. He's an incredible leader.

I don't, I don't take into consideration the injury issues back at Indiana that cost him because we've seen the last couple of years where he's run 1,500 plays and, you know, he hasn't had a problem. Yeah. So I'm, I'm all in on him. I hope that someone like the, you know, you know, mid-first round or maybe even Will Levis style team jumps up and gets him the first top of the second round or jumps in late of the first round. I heard Peter yesterday talk to you about that a little bit.

Yep. Love Peter Shrager. He thinks he's going the entire first round sitting at home. I hope, I wouldn't mind that for him, but I'm like a proponent for everybody to not get drafted in the first round and go like in the beginning of the second round. And I know it costs you a lot of money, but I think Will Levis may have the best of anything from everybody last year with what he went through. Well, it costs you money on the front end, but ask Jalen Hurts how it helped to not have a fifth year option on him. Look at, look at him now. It's a good way to look at it. You know what I mean? And Garoppolo's another top of the second round quarterback who's got some bank.

Some bank. Look at Kirk Cousins. Oh, yeah. Look at him.

You don't wear, you do not wear any of those anchors of the expectation either. Yeah. Will Levis last year got to sit behind Ryan Tannehill, work, no expectation, and then when he was asked to come out and play, he was ready. He put in the work, four touchdown passes and the first opportunity he gets. Wins some big games. Actually wins maybe the biggest game in the eyes of the Miami Dolphins fans out there because if Tennessee doesn't win that game against Miami, Miami doesn't have to go to Kansas City in the frickin' freezing cold.

Oh my. Miami may be in the divisional playoff run. Maybe host in Buffalo instead. Like Tennessee and Will Levis in that game on a, was it a Thursday night game? Yeah.

Or something like that? No, it was the second Monday night game at the same time. There were two Monday nights. That was the night that Tommy Cutlets took care of the Packers as well. And, and by the way, that game was also huge for the fact that Tyreek Hill got hip drop tackled and I don't think he was the same the rest of the year.

Yeah. And that obviously, as you know, really hindered their offense just to go deep on that one. It was a, it was a great NFL season. I think I was more involved with this NFL season than I have been in, since I played probably.

With Westwood won? Just, yeah, just, you know, good morning football. Yeah, right. You know, constantly there in New York.

And then I'll give you a really good example. Howie, Sunday night football game, Minnesota hosting Green Bay. Mike Gulick Sr., normally a lot of times on the Sunday night call for Westwood won, had some, some health issues in his family. And Ann and I were sitting at home, it's 830 in the morning on a New Year's Day or New Year's Eve. Yeah. And we get a phone call, it's Howie. And he's like, he's like, hey, could you get to Minneapolis and call this Packers Vikings game tonight? And I'm like, I look at my wife, I'm holding the baby, feeding the baby.

And she's like, we're just feeding her. Yeah. 830, car at 850, flight at 11, into Minneapolis at one, on the field at like five, calling Packers, Vikings.

It might've been the coolest thing I've experienced and I killed it. And I think I earned a lot of trust because I was ready to go. Team game. Team game.

It's a team game. Do you have to run off? No. Okay.

Cause I don't want to make you late for your flight. We'll just take you to the top of the next hour. Awesome. All right. Ryan Leaf is here. I want to ask you about the, that Espy night.

Okay. That Espy night with Norm Macdonald on the stage. That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. America starts the day with America in the morning. First of three pushes of storminess. Hi, I'm John Trout, your host for the latest news, politics, entertainment, business and weather. A speech with political overtones. Our staff of correspondents provide a fast paced look at the world with specialized reports from where news happens.

The judge's decision was based on finding there is a likelihood. So far, the central bank appears to be threading that concise, accurate and fresh each day. America in the morning, the podcast available wherever you listen. Our house is a mess. Come on in. I'm Amber Whalen, internet comedian and host of your new favorite podcast, Fly on the Wall.

Okay. That's pretty presumptuous to assume that this is going to be their favorite podcast, by the way. And that wasp that you just heard interrupt me is my husband and co-host Benjamin Whalen. Listen in as we discuss relationships and keeping our sweet baby kid alive.

Fly on the wall and wherever you listen. This is a letter written in March of nineteen ninety eight to Colts owner Jim or say what at the time a month away in the draft, the decision between you and Peyton. Right.

It's from Hunter S. Thompson. Dear James, dear James, dear James, in response to your addled request for a quick thirty million dollar loan to secure the services of the Manning kid, I have to say no at this time. But the leaf boy is another matter. He looks strong and Manning doesn't or at least not strong enough to handle that. Welcome to the NFL business for two years without a world class offensive line.

How are you fixed at left OT for the next few years? James, think about it. You don't want a China doll back there when that freak sap comes crashing in. Wow. OK, let me know if you need some money for leaf. I expect to be very rich when this death movie comes out. Your faithful consultant, Hunter, and it's signed HST. The absurdity of the fact that a Hunter S. Thompson knew who I was and be that he was he was trying to persuade Mr. Ursa to draft me instead was just comical and not to see it for 20 years. How does it?

It just it's just nowhere to be found to be found. Right. I call John Walsh of ESPN. It's a thousand percent real. Wow. And Hunter S. Thompson was a huge NFL fan and obviously an opinion on the 1998 draft.

Well, I think now that we know that a lot of people had an opinion on the 1998 NFL draft. This is amazing. It's not.

I love that line is that you don't want a China doll back there when that freak sap comes crashing in. The irony of all this, the irony of this, he would go on and play start the most consecutive games of anybody. And I would be injured going into year two and missed the entire season. So we're just just reminding people. Strong underlined. Yes.

Strong. Six years ago this summer. I think it's the first time you were on this program. Oh, man. Yeah. We go up like a car seat way back here on The Rich Eyes and show radio audiences return a couple of minutes left with Ryan Leaf. The passing of O.J. last week, the Norm Macdonald joke from the Espy Awards, you know, with Charles Woodson sitting right in front of you.

Right. It came out there and I did see you right back there. Like you were all over the place when that that that moment came out. What was that like that night?

The night's amazing. It was I think we met for the first time that night. Yeah. Yeah. I met a lot of people for the first time that night.

And just to be you know, you put on it's a black tie affair. Right. It was in New York City at the time and not out in Los Angeles with big glitzy.

Radio City. Yeah. And Norm is funny. I've always thought Norm and his it was hilarious. And there was a very different reaction by a lot of different people in that. But you could dance to me and I kind of look like. Did you guys ever see the movie The Croods? OK. You know Nick Cage's character? Yeah.

I think I look a lot like the caveman Nick Cage character in The Croods and that with a tuxedo on just kind of going. I mean, I look like just the biggest of dumb jocks in that moment, but I thought it was funny. I thought it was hilarious. It was like, well, unless, you know, you murder two people. Yeah.

Yeah. They'll never take that away from you. The Heisman Trophy, unless you, you know, you kill your wife and a waiter in the whole room.

Ken Griffin Junior's. Well, Ken was just I. Not expecting it. Well, he was not expecting it. And then later on that night, he lost baseball player of the year to Larry Walker, who, by the way, they now share a room in Cooperstown together. Right. And he was not happy about that. Yeah. I remember that evening.

I didn't care that I didn't win the college player of the year award. I was there to see Nomar Garcia Parra and Mia Hamm meet for the very first time. I didn't know that. We were out on the stoop that night, all sitting down after the show on some brownstone somewhere in New York having a beer. Yeah. That's the first night they met.

They started dating, married, kids, life. Amazing. And you were there for that moment. I was there. Maybe I was somewhat, maybe I influenced it. Who knows? You never know. Or maybe she was like, I better swoop up this Nomar guy.

There's a bunch of these leaf characters out there. I'm not getting any. It all worked out. It worked out well.

It all worked out. Yeah, that was a wild, wild night in that place. Because I think that was also the night that Will Ferrell came out as Harry Caray.

So good. And talked about John Elway's teeth. I mean, that was, because it was a whole Saturday Night Live night pretty much that night. Am I wrong?

They all just, it was literally across the street from 30 Rock. So, yeah, why not? Why not? Yeah. Thanks for coming here, brother. Greatly appreciate it. I'm sorry I don't get back out here more. I love that Roku is taking you out to the draft this year. You guys are going to have the show on the road again. Yeah, we're going to be there again.

That's awesome. I called him because I was like, you know, Good Morning Football is moving to LA and we're not coming back. But if you need me to host the show again, somebody's like, love it, brother, but we're going. We're going to the draft. We will be there. Detroit.

Speaking of which. Yes, sir. Joey Harrington does a tremendous job with his foundation. And he takes us all to band and dunes. OK. Every year. And he does this raffle for these one of one Jordans. OK. That they raffle off for these kids for scholarships to go to high school. Thought, what a perfect opportunity for him to talk about that.

And the fact that the draft is in Detroit. Yeah. For him to be on the show next week, maybe. OK. Is he going to be in town?

I don't know, but I'll, I don't know if you're doing any kind of remote things. You're putting us together like you put Nomar and Mia Hamm together. That's your job. I try to bring good, I try to bring good people who do good things together, together. Very good. You know, it can no longer be about me, Rich.

It has to be about others. I think we might have to separate him and Mariuchi from appearing right together. Yeah. They probably don't like each other.

No, no, no. I shouldn't say that. Well, I mean, Kurt and Mooch are best friends now, and Mooch kicked him off the team in Green Bay. He did. He did. And they made a movie about that. I saw that. It's a good movie.

Mariuchi's in the movie kicking Kurt out of the Green Bay training camp. See you later. Ryan Leaf here on the Rich Eisen Show, Jeremy Fowler in a moment. Still here on the Roku for another 90 seconds or so. Okay.

So just come back to LA. Let me know whenever you're back here and figuring that thing out. We will.

We both thank you so much for everything that you've done for our family. You got your dog here? Yeah.

Okay. What's the name of your dog? Oscar. Oscar the dog. See, the dog made it.

The two new children didn't make the trip. They did not warrant the... That makes this a vacation. Smart movie. It was. We watched... Instead of a trip.

My wife and I actually watched television in bed for the first time in five months. What does that mean? Yeah.

I mean, what does that mean? Yeah. Wow. It was like, I mean, we lasted like 10 minutes.

What'd you watch? We're watching the Godzilla King Kong stuff right now because we're trying to go to the one in the theaters, but we have to watch the other ones up to the point so we can go to the one in the theater. Oh, come on. Really? Yeah. I have a feeling you can catch up to the one of them in the theaters, Ryan. It's about quality time.

That's her love language. Understood. Okay. Very good.

Oscar's now standing. Is it like a dachshund mix? Is that what... Let's see. Mini Dachshund.

Mini Dachshund. And he was named Oscar because everybody assumes... You want to come here? Let's see.

Everybody assumed... Come here. Come on. Let's see if Oscar can make it in 30 seconds.

He'll stand in the middle of the room, right where everybody walks, and just be a nuisance. Yeah, very good. Good job, Oscar. Good job, Oscar. He was named Oscar, and Anna's mom said, everybody will know why he's named Oscar. He was in Hollywood.

He was born in February. There he is. No. Oscars.

Well done. Oscar the Don. There he is. He's like, what?

And Oscar and the Lee family heading off to LAX, look out, TSA. Mike Carruthers shares little pieces of intel and interviews you can use to improve your life on the Something You Should Know podcast. The next time you're looking for a job and have to write a cover letter, here's some advice from Skip Freeman, author of a book called Headhunters Hiring Secrets. Add a PS to the bottom of that cover letter. That can actually increase the chances of that letter being read by up to 75%. Some people actually glance down and read the PS first. Something you should know. It's on YouTube or wherever you listen.