I Think Zach Wilson Can Succeed With The Denver Broncos

You ready? Showtime. I just sat with Drake May.

I was in North Carolina. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Everybody in the office is like, you know, he is so young. He is so young, but he is a killer, Ryan.

Yeah, I was a killer too. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. 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 the families.

It's a different story when things kind of start going south. Earlier on the show, ESPN college football and NFL analyst Robert Griffin III, NFL quarterback coach John Beck. Coming up, actor Ramon Rodriguez. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Oh my gosh, hour number three is on the air, the Rich Eisen Show. Rumors flying all over the place.

When it all comes down to it, I still think, you know, Jayden Daniels is going to be a Washington commander. And his throwing coach just left the studio, John Beck. What a great two-segment chat with him. He also is the throwing coach for J.J. McCarthy and Mike Penix Jr., who wrote a first-person open letter to general managers across the National Football League today on the Players' Tribune talking about his injury history.

And now he can't do anything about it and his tape doesn't lie and all that good stuff. It's wild what's going on this week in the National Football League with the draft now three days away. Our Wednesday show will be the first of three days in Detroit. We're going to be on the air from downtown Detroit, a block away from the draft hall that I'll be sitting in for NFL Network for three days, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as well. Can't wait for you to be part of our show. 844204rich is the number to dial the hit show Will Trent on ABC, the man who plays Will Trent. Ramon Rodriguez is joining us in studio in about 18 minutes time, so I wouldn't move if I were you. We'll have a fun chat with him, chit-chat with him, getting ready for the NFL draft.

844204rich being that number to dial. Overreaction Monday, Chris Brockman and I are going to have at it for the podcast after today's program. Podcast coming, let's go. Okay, very good. You got your A-game, Rich?

Why would you dare to ask me that question? I'm bringing you my mixing A-game. Come on.

There you go, Mike. I know you ran yesterday. I don't know how the recovery process is going. Yeah, I'm doing all right. Maybe you're feeling like a B today.

I don't know. I am sore today. Rich is always A. Yesterday was the 20th edition of Run Rich Run. It's the 20th anniversary of me lacing him up.

I love it, Rich. And deciding to run a 40-yard dash in my suit. Man was cooking yesterday. Was it hot? It was indeed hot day at the Rose Bowl, America Stadium. It was a beautiful day.

A blue sky. We had three kids from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. They were running and then a whole bunch of other children that were invited to be there. Some, you know, are friends of my kids who were all there. And another one set a record yesterday.

Kids set a record yesterday, which we'll get to in a second. So I had three kids from St. Jude and then three guests that were kind enough to take part of their Sunday and spend it with us at the Rose Bowl. Todd Gurley. Andrew Whitworth.

You've heard of them from the Los Angeles Rams back in the day. And a third one invited because I don't know if you've seen all these videos out there that I'm popping on my Instagram feed and NFL Network's popping on the Instagram feed shout outs in my direction in honor of the 20th anniversary of Run Rich Run and helping to raise awareness and get the donation link out. StJude.org slash Run Rich Run. Suzie's been out there for weeks now. Grinding.

Grinding and getting as many of these videos, pretty much 90% of the videos that you're seeing out there on social media that were popping out there. Suzie's been behind the scenes making sure that this happens, which is one of the many reasons why I love my wife. And she told me the other day, hey, I just got off the phone with Jim Harbaugh. Great. I thought he's going to make a video.

She's like, no. Jim actually asked when the event is. I think he's going to come. And his wife, Sarah, and they brought the Harbaugh family came en masse yesterday. And you'll see this in the video that we're going to run at the third day of the NFL draft when we reveal how fast or how slow I ran it.

And it's just a lot of these videos that we've compiled. But I had no idea whether Jim was going to be there or not because he was at Michigan Saturday. He was at the Michigan spring game on Saturday where he also got that tattoo, that 15-0 tattoo that he put on his top of his left arm. And he said he was going to get if they won it all.

And they did. He's a man of his word. But Suzie is just like, I think he's coming. He said he was going to come. I'm like, great. But she goes, if not, the Harbaugh's are going to be there. I'm like, let's all run.

Fantastic. Well, he showed up. And as the kids all lined up running the 40, TJ, they were all lining up in their 40-yard dash line. I looked up and because I asked Jim, I'm like, hey, if you're here, would you mind being part of the piece that we're going to run on NFL Network?

He goes, absolutely, no problem. I had no idea what he was going to do other than the fact I wanted him to, well, you'll see what he does. But I'm on the 40-yard dash line with my stopwatch getting ready to time all the kids that are running. And I look up and I hear Jim Harbaugh's voice. He grabbed the bullhorn that our director had because there's cameras all over the place. We had a drone.

We had cameras up top with cameras everywhere. And the NFL Network is so dynamite in providing this. And the top notch crew from Louise Carter, who's basically helping run the whole damn thing from the NFL Network in Dallas, Hitchcock, who's in charge of winning all the Emmy Awards for NFL 360. He's the producer.

And Jim Fabio is the director. He had a bullhorn to try and tell the kids, now it's time to run or, hey, everybody get over here. Well, Jim grabbed the bullhorn and started announcing each kid's name over and over and over again.

Running now is cold. How old they were. Yeah, 10-year-old. Amazing. He did it, you know, because many kids ran second and third runs. And so he kept doing it for like a half an hour just of his own free will.

He just. And then one kid in particular ran it six times, a record six times. Chris, you want to reveal who that child was? His name is Cage Brockman. Cage Brockman ran it six times. Here's one of those runs. Look at that form.

Look at that form by my boy. There he goes. Cage was fucking mad. There he goes.

Straight through. And then that was so that was his first one, OK, so because Cage was kind of at the end of the line. They ran out of St. Jude shirts. He luckily he was wearing a red shirt. Well, it's his Falcon shirt, because his mom was there. How psyched was she to meet Todd Gurley, by the way? I imagine.

OK, cool. So he just like gave me a high five on the way back, was like, hey, dad, I'm going to go run it again. Then he went back in line and then Harbaugh was like, OK, Cage is back. At one point, he ran his I think it was his third 40. And then because he's a cute, beautiful little boy, a lot of the older kids just let him cut the line. And at one point I heard Harbaugh go, OK, I don't know why he got back here so quick, but it's Cage again.

And then he was like, he needs no introduction. He just kept going around and around, which is what it's all about. It's about having fun. It's about laughing. It's about celebrating children. It's about celebrating the health of children on a beautiful Chamber of Commerce, Southern California Day in the Rose Bowl.

Yeah, it's beautiful. Sorry, I wasn't able to make it, but I did make a donation. Thank you very much. I greatly appreciate that. And I gave your check to St. Jude yesterday, Mike. Thank you for that. And I'm high fiving a young girl from Jamaica named Azalea, who is healthy. Her dad was saying to me, and this is why the funds matter.

Every penny matters. He told me and I'll share the story because I'm sure, you know, he was ready. He's in Jamaica. He's ready to sell his house and his car to pay for the health care because his daughter had cancer. And St. Jude, I don't know how they got connected, but they did. And St. Jude brings her from Jamaica to Memphis. And now she is here in Southern California at the Rose Bowl running multiple 40 yard dashes with a smile on her face and a healthy life in front of her. You cannot make it up.

A boy with brain cancer from South Carolina, 14 year old Sydney. He was there. First thing he said to me, because I zoomed with him prior to the Super Bowl. We aired that contents of that conversation on our Super Bowl show. First thing he says to me is I'm going to run faster than you, Mike. First of all, I appreciate your competitive spirit.

But secondly, you absolutely will. You know, I loved it. Loved it. And Michael from California enjoyed meeting him and his family. And then everybody else who came out, a bunch of kids are from the volunteers who were there, brought their kids. There was one little boy.

I wish I had his one stuff. The kid couldn't have been more than like three feet tall. I'm serious. His upper body didn't move and his lower legs looked like the Roadrunner. He had great form.

He had great form. It was fun. Such a fun day. You're so good at this, Rich. Oh, please. It's so awesome what you do. There they are.

Look at the clan. That's so great. There they are. And of course, you know, Gurley, I think he ran one. Gurley ran one. Did he race somebody? I think he raced one of the St. Jude kids. And Whitworth, I mean, man of the year, Walter Payton, man of the year.

He was awesome. And Harbaugh, they had us all autograph the bullhorn and that's going to be sold for charity as well. When it's ready.

What a great idea. When it's ready to be auctioned off. And then one last thing. Harbaugh showed his tattoo. Oh, I missed that. And it has, you know, like, you know, like a clear covering over it.

Again, I'm not an ink guy. Clearly. So he just got it. He just got it. He just got it.

Saturday. So it's there to, I guess, get it. Yeah, you got to protect it. He was concerned about the ink bleeding because right now through the protective cover right there.

Through the protective cover. He's concerned because it looks like instead of 15, you know, it looks like the record is 16 and eight through the cellophane. That's on right now. 16 and eight. And I'm like, oh, that would be, you got the tat.

Now it's going to be 16 and eight, man. That's not what the record is or was, but he was just, I can't thank him enough and Andrew Whitworth and Todd Gurley and the rest of the crew. I know I gave some shout outs to all the folks at St. Jude and Deaton Brozino of the Rose Bowl. Just generous with his time and can't thank everyone enough, but please stjude.org slash run rich run.

Give whatever you can. So before we get to our in-studio guest, Mike Tomlin has spoken. Pre-draft interviews, pre-draft press conferences, pre-draft press conferences are very difficult.

We had Chris Ballard on last Friday and it was great. We, we asked him, we asked him general questions, jokes, you got your draft board, you want to show it to us, ha ha ha, no way. But what are they going to say? What are the guys going to say? Here's what we're going to do with our draft choice. They're not going to do that.

We might make a trade. I don't know. So Mike Tomlin, however, these are the two best sound bites that we have here. They're at 20. They're at 20. I mean, they're not in the quarterback game because of what they did in free agency.

They're set. They did a lot of free agency. They were active and that's what Mike Tomlin says is informing their decision for the draft. I'm also excited about our draft because of just the quality work that we've been able to get done in free agency. You know, it's two means by which we develop our football team for 2024 that goes with existing talent as free agency in the draft. And we've been very active in free agency and you know, that makes you really comfortable as we lean in on draft weekend so that, you know, we've addressed a lot of needs and you don't feel overly thirsty in any particular area. And I just think that that's a good feel as you, as you go into the weekend. Not overly thirsty.

Black and gold. Here we go. Well, they're not overly thirsty at quarterback. No, no, no, no.

No, let me ask you this question. Had they just stuck with the room of Pickett and Rudolph? As we had heard from our friend, Jerry Dulack of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, remember, I had him on after President's Day weekend, because that was his report, is that they were going to stay tight. They're going to run back Pickett and Mason Rudolph and not interested in Cousins or anybody else. And they wound up finding interest with Russell Wilson because they could get him for the league minimum and interested in Justin Fields because they wound up being able to get him for a conditional draft choice, third day draft choice in next year's draft. Could you imagine if they had stuck with that room and had been 20th overall on the clock, what the conversation would be about moving up for Pennix, moving up for Knicks, being able to stay and maybe get those guys, moving up for like the Jefferson, JJ McCarthy, moving on up.

They're like, very good, Mike. You imagine the different tenor of the conversation? They would not.

They'd be in bonics territory. The media would be overly thirsty on this subject matter and they are not. And the other question, you just heard Tomlin give you the pieces of the puzzle. This is what Steeler fans, many of them about Tomlin, they're like, he talks and he tells you a lot of the obvious, but it sounds great. The new media types just gobble it up. And meanwhile, it's been a while since we've been to the AFC championship game, yada, yada, yada.

Right? You hear that a lot from Steeler fans? Well, and guilty as charged. I love gobbling up Mike Tomlin.

He makes me want to run through a wall. And so by the way, every player who, I shouldn't say every player, mostly every player that's coached by him feels the same way. But in terms of gobbling things up for the media, it does appear that Tomlin knows that he's feeding us. Some coaches go to pro days to get a close up look at a prospect. Some coaches go to pro days to do that and also because they love to coach as Tomlin is one of those. But how about him saying why he likes to go to pro days as well? Because at pro days, I'm looking at people that I'm not interested in because I know everyone's watching. And so to be bluntly honest, there's not a lot of my peers that work on the pro day circuit the way that I work. And so I understand my movement, what I pay attention to, who I conversate with all becomes media fodder. And so sometimes I have fun with you guys.

That's amazing. If I may, I think what he says that some of his peers don't work the pro day circuit. I think he is, I shouldn't put words or a scribe, but I think what I'm picking up, he's one of those guys that does get down with these prospects and work on footwork and Belichick did a lot of that too. So he's just like racking up airline miles and hotel points to mess with the media? I think he's interested in some. He's just there.

He'll go up to some at pro days that he's not interested in just so he can find out who's saying that into a microphone just to mess. Interesting. All right, Mike, we see you.

That's funny. We get it. Now I got to find out, go through the tape.

Who did he see at pro days? Right? Yeah, right.

Go back and look through. All right. I'm ready for the draft. Let's go. You're ready? Let's go. Can we pick?

Nope. Three more days. Three more days, pal. In the meantime, we've got terrific guests to bring out like Ramon Rodriguez. Let's bring him on out.

Mr. Will Trent himself airing Tuesdays on ABC and next on the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, folks, it's time for the NFL draft, which means for me, I need a good night's sleep because if I don't have one, just not myself, you know the deal. You know exactly how important it is to have quality sleep.

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Power dot com slash awards only at a sleep number store or sleep number dot com. America starts the day with America in the morning of three pushes of storminess. Hi, I'm John Trout, your host for the latest news, politics, entertainment, business and weather speech with political overtones. Our staff of correspondents provide a fast paced look at the world with specialized reports from where news happens.

This decision was based on finding there is a 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. Ramon Rodriguez is here with our radio audience.

Now one big happy family with our Roku channel, Will Trent, again on Tuesdays at eight Eastern on ABC. And it is good to see you. Lower East Side of Manhattan is where you grew up. Yes.

Which particular neighborhood? Night and Sea. OK. Night and Sea.

They moved my way up slowly. Alphabet City. Correct. OK.

When it was Alphabet City. Exactly. Yeah. I'm from a certain era. Yes.

No, I get it. OK. And then eventually just moved up in the East Village. OK. How did you get involved in acting?

How did that start for you? Through sports, weirdly enough, through basketball. So I was a big I'm a big basketball fan, player, loved it, grew up playing it, was lucky enough to get a scholarship that got me out of the Lower East Side and brought me to Northern Michigan, my junior and senior year of high school. Northern Michigan? Northern Michigan. Which town? North of Traverse City. So are you talking about the Upper Peninsula of New York City? Just south of the U.P. OK.

Exactly. A place called Glen Arbor and a school called the Leelanau School. Tiny school.

How the hell did you find that? I was through a kid from Brooklyn who went to that school and played there years before me. And he knew that I was trying to find a way to get out of my sort of situation in the Lower East Side. He knew my passion for the game of basketball. And he had a wonderful experience there.

Sharron, big kid from from Brooklyn, he was six foot eight, and he had a great time over there. And so he introduced me to some folks there. They came to see me play and they offered me a scholarship, which got me into this prep school, junior, senior year of high school. And then I wanted to play in college. That was my dream is to be able to do that and to do it on a scholarship. You know, I was raised with my mom and three sisters in the Lower East Side.

I didn't want my mom to have to deal with the financial burden. So I was lucky enough. I had to make my own little highlight reel tape because I was in the middle of nowhere and I did great up there in northern Michigan.

But nobody knew, you know, it's a tiny school. And so I made my own VHS highlight reel. And I went and hustled and pushed it out there and ended up getting a scholarship to play down at a school in West Virginia called Wheeling Jesuit University, D2 school.

Played two years there, went back to New York, studied at NYU Sports Marketing. Buddy of mine invites me to a Nike event to do basketball tricks. And I almost didn't go. He told me they were giving away free sneakers. I was like, I'll be right there. And I won the event and I was able to do a trick in front of this panel of judges.

I had 30 seconds where I could, I was always able to sort of handle the ball as a point guard. Put the pin in the ball on my finger, keep the ball spinning, put it on a pen, put the pen in my mouth ball, keep spinning. I won the event. I got the sneakers, which is huge. And then Nike was like, we'd love for you to come be a part of some commercials with us. And so that's how you got an act with me in front of the camera. Which commercial?

Do we know? Yeah, they were pretty popular. I mean, it was in several ad campaigns. One of the first ones were, it was with Vince Carter, it was a 1975 Nike Rucker commercial. And it was when Vince came out with the Nike shocks. It was the first time those Nike shocks came out. And I had to dress in like these little like, you know, 1975 Rucker Park, tiny pum pum shorts with an afro. And I did this behind the back pass to Vince who catches it and windmills it.

And that was one of, and then there were others that were huge, you know, and did really well. And that was what started it. So if I'm picking up on this, that your dream of playing college basketball at a certain level did not materialize, but acting allowed you to dish it to Vince Carter.

Well, what's the, you know, that's what you're basically telling me. You know, the dream was, let's be honest, the dream as you grow up, I wanted to play pro. That was not going to happen. You realize very quickly, I had to play against some great players that I grew up with, you know, Smush Parker, and they're playing for the Lakers. We played, you know, so I got to play against great people. But the dream was you want to be in the league. Madison Square Garden. No doubt.

Without a doubt. So what ended up being really fun was after those Nike commercials, we started a group called the Nike Freestylers that were all part of the Nike Freestyle commercial, which was one of the other big campaigns. And we did every NBA team's halftime show. And we worked with NBA players on these commercials. So what was really great is we'd see the players coming back from halftime and they're watching us do our thing. And we were like, cool. We didn't get to play in the league, but we definitely got to sort of show our skills, do our thing in front of that audience at these arenas all over the country. And then we traveled around the world.

It was amazing. Are you serious? Yeah.

True story. Did you really throw this behind the back pass? Yeah, because it's a legit pass. Yeah.

That's a legit one take because Vince came in, he did one take. What? And that was it.

And that's when you're looking at the commercial. This pass is stupid. Yeah. It's great. They're running a break.

You're wearing number 17. Correct. That's it. And you toss the ball behind and Vince goes up and... And he does a windmill on one take.

Yeah. And I'll never... And then we got to work, you know, I went to Asia with Vince and we did stuff with Nike in Asia with Vince Carter and all these, it was, you know, for six years, basketball was my life. I had no idea that it would somehow lead to where, you know, I'm getting to act and do this as a living.

Like no clue. My passion was sports. I worked for the Knicks for a year as an intern, sports marketing.

An intern for the New York Knickerbockers. Which was huge. Which season was this? Do you remember? 2001.

Okay. So I worked for Freewell, Alan Houston, Marcus Camby. And actually I was in community relations. I studied sports marketing.

I was in the community relations department. So I would work with getting the players to events, you know, MLK day, various events. And the funny thing was when the Nike stuff started happening and taking off, as I told you, we would do halftime shows.

Everyone in the office knew me as a suit in community relations. And then at one point the Knicks booked us to do the halftime show. And so I worked, I would do game nights as well where I would bring, you know, Alan Houston would have his seats for the kids from various schools or Latrell Sprewell. I'd bring the kids to their seats, give them gift bags, but these, they happened like twice.

I'd give the bag at the top of the game and then I'd have to go and change into my uniform and do the halftime show and then put back on the suit. And the kids were like, was that you in the middle of the court? And even all the other sort of coworkers were like, it's like Superman, you know, and then some of my coworkers were blunt because they had no idea that they didn't know, you know, that you had game and you could do this. So I did. They knew me as someone that worked community relations in the office and showed up Monday through Friday.

They didn't know that sort of my side hustling gig was doing basketball tricks, Ramon Rodriguez of a Will Trent right here on the Rich Eisen show. OK, so, man, so many different ways to go. Yes. No, no, no, no. This is great. Top five NYC point cards go.

Is that serious question? Go for it. Well, are we talking that made it to the league or just three ballers? You know, you can name it. You're I mean, I'm going to skip to my Lou forever.

We'll be up there. I love Skip, but I'll go even beyond Sweet Pete Daniels. Who's that? Oh, Daniel, sure, sure, Kenny and not Kenny, Kenny, Kenny Anderson.

Thank you very much. Kenny Anderson. Who else? Marbury, baby. No doubt.

I'll give you strawberry strawberry for sure. For sure. I see. That's the thing. It's like there's different categories. There's folks that made it to the league and then there's the ones that didn't.

And so it just depends. Rod Strickland, Strickland for sure. Mark Jackson, Jackson. I loved him.

No, no, no. I loved him. I loved him. It's just, you know, different style of play.

You know, I always go. What was your play? What was your style of play?

I can kind of guess from what you've described. I mean, you know, again, I grew up playing with a lot of those, you know, with Skip and Smoosh and so, you know, I love to have fun. I mean, I'm a classic point guard in New York. You got to know how to handle the ball.

Michigan is where I learned how to shoot because you can't go to, you know, it's like it's amazing what happened when I got there and how well those kids could really shoot the ball. So you can't try to take that back with me. Ed Booger Smith, another one, just anyway. So now that we're here in the present day, what I've been saying here, again, I'm from Staten Island, which is, as I told you in the green room, I'm from the lower west side of Manhattan. Yeah.

Okay. So, so from of New York City. So Jalen Brunson is one of my favorite Knicks of all time. Bernard King is my favorite Nick. I saw him at the game the other day. It was awesome to see him. What Jalen Brunson is doing right now is truly off the charts.

It's really phenomenal. And I think just who he is, like how he plays, but just who that guy is. He's easy to root for. He's easy to get behind.

He sets a tone and just how the team is playing. I'm thrilled. I'm very excited for tonight's game. Yeah. Right.

I mean, I'm so pumped. It just, there's nothing like, again, I'm biased, so I'll assume that we're biased. There's nothing like when the garden is just nothing like it. And it's the truth.

I've played and I've performed at every NBA arena. There's something about the garden, the energy, the people, even just the building itself. Correct.

Hasn't changed really. It's also like a labyrinth. Once you work there, you really learn the inner outings. Well, isn't it on like the sixth floor of a bit like, yeah.

Right. And it's got like beneath it, everything that's going on. So it's like there's tunnels in there that it's a really, really fascinating building. But that, that arena shakes.

I've been at the nosebleeds. I've been on the, on the floor and it's just, it's a wonderful energy. And when that team, the way we're playing now, it's just undeniable, man. You know, it's hard not to get pumped and proud about it.

For sure. So I guess one last thing on your basketball career, what's your best stat line, Ramon? My best stat line? Yes, sir.

No matter where it was. I led Northern Michigan in scoring my junior and senior year. I averaged 26 points a game. Yeah, you did.

That was awesome. But, you know, within New York, I'm proud to say that I've played in every major league. Rucker, West 4th, you know, Dykeman, I got to play on those courts. And by the way, that feeling, like the Garden is one thing, but New York City Streetball and playing on those courts, you want to talk about pressure, like where people are really, you know, the audience, everyone's active. Like Dykeman, you have like Dominican power team and that place is rocking. There's just nothing like it. So I'm glad and grateful I got to have that experience. Man, and anybody who was wondering how great of an actor you are, the fact that you're playing someone in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for hit drama.

I was going to say, anybody who's watching this is going to be like, Will Trent plays ball? Heck, I don't buy that at all. That's amazing. I'm assuming they definitely know your history. No, I don't talk about this. It's not something... Because, I mean, half the tricks, what if you actually incorporated it in some part of your plot line or something? I try to avoid that because it's an easy and also the character's different. He's not me.

He's not Ramon. And so I like to honor that. But recently, for instance, we just did a spot for the NBA finals because it's on ABC, Will Trent. And so they brought in the trophy, which was amazing, by the way. The Larry O'Brien. The Larry O'Brien had to gather, hold it and kiss it.

Fantastic. And they had no idea. And they did this, the ads, I hope I don't spoil it for you, whatever. It's a ball bouncing and it's various shows and I catch the ball and they don't know what I'm going to do. And then suddenly I just started doing my thing with it. And they're thrilled. And everyone on the set was like, wait a minute, you play ball? Some people thought it was a VFX thing going on?

Is this some sort of weird... I was like, no, this was another life that I lived, basketball. I still shoot around. I don't play the way I did, but it was a big part of my life. I slept with my basketball, man.

You'd hear me coming down the street because I'd be dribbling my ball. So in this promo, people are like, wait a minute, what the hell was that? It's going to be weird. It's going to be weird. Yeah.

Especially since it's the cast of Abbott Elementary being called for traveling, right? I mean, what do you just pass the ball to somebody else? Three second violation.

I don't know. Yeah, exactly. Right? Kimmel's called for double dribble or something like that? Oh, you got some action.

Fantastic. So preparing for this role, you were kind of alluding to it. I mean, to learn the accent for your character.

What did you do? I found an amazing dialect coach, really, really talented guy who's worked with a lot of people and we just sort of try to hone in on, you know, geographically where this guy grew up. What was his background like?

What was he exposed to? Which is what sort of shapes our sounds. And we kind of found a great inspiration and just a sound, not trying to mimic, but just to like be inspired by some of the sound and cadence.

And Andre 3000 from OutKast, who's got a wonderful sound and cadence is from Atlanta. There was a lot of things I could sort of pick up from in his sounds and help attribute and inspire the character's voice. And it was amazing because it really helped me figure out who this character was, was locking in the sound of his voice. And then everything else from the wardrobe and the three piece suit. I mean, I put that on, I don't wear a three piece suit every day.

The moment I put that on and the shoes that are beat up and all, I love those shoes. It just says everything about who this guy is there. Everything is like, it's textured, it's old, he's, you know, and the three piece suit is like his armor.

He likes to keep people away from him at a distance. And so anyway, it was a lot of fun sort of finding these different layers to help build this guy. And obviously built based on a best selling series as well. So there's a lot of source material for you to draw from. A lot of source material.

Karen Slaughter wrote these amazing books, so many of them, she's still writing them now. And yeah, so there's a big fan base. And so that took a bit of an adjustment, which is interesting always, when you're taking something that was written and has a fan base and then adapting it to TV or film, you know, some people get very protective of it. They're like, that's not, and so originally at first people were like, that's not who I imagined for Will Trent. And by the way, I felt the same way. So it was kind of funny when they first came to me, but I think what ended up happening, which is great, little by little people just sort of A, enjoyed the show and started buying into these characters and just said, the show's the show, they'll see some things that come from the books, but it's not, we're not sort of doing a chronological, literal translation of these books.

Tuesdays at 8 Eastern on ABC, Will Trent, Ramon Rodriguez here on the show. Before I let you go, we go down some pop culture memory lane. You're in one of the greatest, if not the greatest television show ever in The Wire. What in the world was that like for you? How old were you when you were on that set?

What stories can you spin here? So that was coming off of spinning. That was coming off of tricks, doing tricks and with Nike. I was in my mid twenties, you know, 26 years old. And these Nike commercials had then led me to get some other opportunities. And I started falling in love with acting and started taking classes. But that job, that experience, you know, shooting in Baltimore, I knew a little bit about the show when I got the job.

And then what seasons, four and five, four and five years late on top of that, like to work alongside, in my opinion, maybe the greatest character on television ever in Omar, rest in peace Michael K. Williams, wonderful, wonderful, wonderfully talented spirit and soul. You know, that was a game changer, that experience. You know, it really changed my life and understanding how great something can be.

I'd read those scripts and it just was the best stories that, you know, the best writing I've ever read. And it spoiled me because it was early on in my career, I didn't really understand much about the business yet. Hadn't done much acting at that point.

That's like being a rookie and going to the Super Bowl. Correct. It's actually, it could be bad, you know, it's like you go, it's not like this all the time?

No, it's not. And so I quickly learned after that, you know, as I got it, this was a very special, unique show experience with a very intelligent creator, amazing cast. And you know, the beauty of the business is if you're around long enough, sometimes you get to work with some friends. And I got, I was able to bring my coworker from The Wire, who we never had scenes together, but I brought on Will Trent, or at least, you know, we auditioned her and I really loved her work. Sonya Sohn. She's great in that too, man. The Wire, you know, it was really phenomenal to be able to bring her on and, and, and work with her again, just because she's so talented.

And so, yeah, that show was a, was a game changer and remarkable. And you know, it's one of those things that you go, that might never happen like that again. Dude, what a, what a, what a story.

What a, what a path you have traveled, you know, from the Lower East Side to Northern Michigan to a Jesuit school in West Virginia, to from all the, you know, I guess, blacktop parks in New York City and what you're able to do with the basketball and how that led to some opportunities. And you wound up on The Wire, for crying out loud. Tell me about it, man. And now on a hit show where you're playing someone from Georgia, to hell. Weird.

It's not weird, it's awesome is what it is. Ramon Rodriguez, thanks for coming on here. Let's, let's do this as often as you like.

If you want to come in and break down any NBA playoffs or whatever and talk about it. I love that, man. Yeah.

Seriously. Awesome. Anytime. Okay. We are here. Well, thank you guys for having me.

You got it. Ramon Rodriguez here on The Rich Eisen Show. Catch Will Trent again Tuesdays at 8 on ESPN, on ABC, pardon me.

And then available the next day on Hulu. There's a trade in the NFL. Can't believe it.

It's actually happened. Our house is a mess. Come on in. I'm Amber Wallin, internet comedian and host of your new favorite podcast, Fly on the Wallin.

Okay. That's pretty presumptuous to assume that this is going to be their favorite podcast by the way. Anyway, that wasp that you just heard interrupt me is my husband. And cohost Benjamin Wallin.

Listening as we discuss relationships and keeping our sweet baby kid alive. Fly on the Wallin, wherever you listen. Real quick. Do you want to ask a method man before he goes? Your question that you ask everybody about my hometown? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I give you grief.

Okay. Look now when people say, Hey, I'm going to visit New York city, they don't mean visit Staten Island. So do you think Staten Island is really part of New York city? You know what?

I just went through this with somebody. I definitely went through this with somebody on Twitter and they were like, you know, that's not even really New York. One of the five boroughs.

Okay. See, it's not a vacation destination of New York city. No one's going to Staten Island, you know what I'm saying? But if you check for one, Staten Island is the highest point on the Eastern seaboard. First of all, and second, we have the most, well, let's put it this way.

Date night, Staten Island is tops to go for date night because we have the most restaurants in New York city. Holler at your boy. Yeah. Yes.

It's about food and love. Oh, and football because Curtis warriors won the whole thing last year. Okay. 12 and 0 went to the big one. That's right.

The name at Yankee stadium brought the title home, this New York city stand correct. And I won my fantasy football yesterday. Oh, really? A lot. Congratulations.

What's the name of your fantasy football team? Supreme clientele. Okay. Yeah.

It's pretty, it's pretty Supreme clientele took it down, by the way, that whole Staten Island chat could not have gone any better. Oh man, we got to get method man back sort of like I got my sweater back. I'm wearing the same sweater.

Yes, I am. I'm wearing the same sweater. That's my man right there. That is my man right there.

Holler at your boy. It's still one of my favorite drives back on the rich eyes and show back on the rich eyes and show radio network sitting at the rich eyes and show desk furnished by Grange with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you call click Grainger.com or just stop by lots happening in the New York sports scene. As we know, it's Knicks and the Sixers tonight game two, you know that the Rangers are often running in the Stanley cup playoffs, uh, Aaron Boone and the Yankees taking on the, uh, Oakland soon to be just the athletics up in Sacramento athletics, Aaron Boone lasted just a couple of batters in this game, ejected after, uh, uh, Carlos Rodone, I guess, hit somebody on the foot and, um, and, and, and Aaron Boone was chirping about it from the dugout. The umpire told him to pipe down essentially, uh, Hunter Wendelstedt, the umpire played umpire told him to pipe down. And as the, uh, Yankee, uh, yes, cameras were right on Aaron Boone. You could see he wasn't saying anything.

He got ejected because apparently a fan just above the dugout said something, the home plate umpire thought it was Aaron Boone, ejected him, and then Boone goes, I don't care. I don't care. I just tossed him by the way. That sounds like, uh, Tommy Lee Jones from, uh, from the fugitive, I don't care. I don't care.

Holler at your boy. So there's that. And then, oh, rich on the New York football quarterback draft trade front, hit it. Here it comes.

Oh rich, your long national nightmare is over. Zach Wilson is going to the Broncos. Let's ride. It's a pick swap.

Also a six and a seventh in New York is going to pay some of Wilson's five and a half million dollar salary. All right. Let me just say this. And I know you just said that my long national nightmare is over. Let me just say this. Okay.

No, no, no, no, no. Excuse me, just a couple of weeks ago on this program, I came up with an idea in the middle of a segment, threw it out to you guys, because we're talking about how Baker Mayfield just crushed it with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, won a playoff game, put a scare in the team that eventually went on to go to the NFC championship game in the lions, who put a scare into the team that eventually went to the super bowl from the NFC that let's name a quarterback from the now vaunted 2021 draft class that went quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, just as we're expecting to see later on on Thursday, which quarterback from the 2021 draft class that is no longer with its current team, no longer with his current team. And we included the two that were still with their current team. And we threw a Trevor Lawrence out after Mac Jones went to Jacksonville and after Justin Fields went to Pittsburgh and Trey Lance has been sitting on the Dallas bench for a season plus now, which quarterback from the 2021 draft is going to have a potential Jared Goff slash Baker Mayfield type Renaissance.

You said Justin Fields, if I'm not mistaken, TJ probably did. Yes. And you and I, Chris said Zach Wilson.

Yes, sir. And this is exactly the spot where I think Zach Wilson can succeed. And I will say this too. You take a look at where he went to school, BYU. He's essentially next door in Denver and he's got a head coach that is 100% for the first time in his life, 100% the quarterback whisperer who can attach himself at the hip and coach him hard.

Oh yeah. And that's Sean Payton. Do you know how many quarterbacks out there, young quarterbacks would give their left you know what to have Sean Payton be their coach? And there's a path for him to start him versus Jared Stidham right now, I don't draft anybody if they don't, but this now, and I understand this is sounds crazy to some folks in Denver.

This takes the pressure off them to actually come away with a quarterback in this year's draft because say what you will, your coach isn't going anywhere, which by the way is also something for Zach Wilson that probably feels a little different. This is good for him and it's something that the kid deserves because New York wasn't it for him. It wasn't a good start for him. It wasn't a good spot for him. He grew up in a very harsh spotlight on him where he didn't take any responsibility for screwing it up against New England a couple of seasons ago. He learned the hard way from that and then was set up for success by the Jets team that really hadn't set him up for much success. By getting Aaron Rodgers in front of him and the football gods essentially told him and Jets fans, sorry, you got to get out there again and people like me in front of a microphone being totally impatient, I'm part of the problem, but he wasn't ready and the Jets drafted him second overall to New York City. He wasn't ready and the team wasn't ready for him and it didn't work out.

Spoiler alert. But good for him, good for the Jets, you got something for him and you could sit here and go, well, boy, did you blow it. Yeah, it wasn't the right choice. Wasn't the right choice. It did not work out. He was not ready for the moment and the Jets never got him the help that he needed.

It really is that simple. And now he's going to go to Denver. Good for him. Good for the Jets to get him to the spot where he can go and go kill it, Zach.

Go kill it. You got Sean Payton there and an opportunity to start. It's going to be him versus Jared Stidham versus potentially another rookie quarterback. Go for it because they're not picking up his 50-year option. He's got a one-year trial run in Denver. Smart move by them to get a quarterback who's, what is he, 24? Is he potentially younger than some of the kids that are going to get drafted on Thursday night? Yeah, he's 24. He'll be 25 when the season starts. Okay, so he's the same age pretty much as Jayden Daniels and, or around the same age as Jayden Daniels and Michael Pennix Jr.

So I like it. Good for him and unfortunately didn't work out in New York, but he's going to Denver where Sean Payton can figure it out and there's very little pressure compared to where he just wound up. Until Sean starts yelling him out on the sideline. Well, you know what?

Had him on the sideline. You know what? It can't be any worse than what he's been through.

Nope. True that. Can't be any worse than what he's been through. Good point.

I think you nailed it with stability. Sean Payton's not going anywhere. He's not going anywhere. I don't know. All those friends would be like, this is not the answer when we supposed to come, you know, we're supposed to, but he may not be the ultimate answer either, but he's another guy who can win football games. He won some this year. Trust me. The Jets.

There were flashes. He played well against Kansas City. Philadelphia. I mean, it's in there. Right. You know, it just hasn't been as consistent that you would expect or hope for a number two overall pick. But I mean, there's a reason why we said that, you know, we have the highest hope of a Baker Mayfield type turn and it's him.

I see it. I think this is great. With all due respect to the coordinators that he's had and the coaching staff that he's had offensively, with all due respect to them, this will be the first time I think in his professional career, he will go into an offensive meeting or talk to the head coach and not wonder, do these guys even know what they're doing?

For me and for us, I'm just, he can have that confidence and he deserves it. After all the, all the stuff that he went through in New York, eight, four, four, two oh four, which mean the number to dial for tomorrow, everyone on hold. I'm sorry.

I'm not going to be able to take your calls today. Game time tickets. Go ahead and get it on an old device near you and start buying tickets. If you're getting tickets, it makes it so much easier and faster for you because the game time app, two taps, you can get tickets and the all in pricing feature shows you the total upfront. So there's no surprise fees at checkout. Download the game time app, create an account and use a code rich for $20 off your first purchase.

Restrictions apply. Visit game time.co for terms. Again, create an account, redeem the code R I C H $20 off download, download the game time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. And if you get a ticket behind the dugout, just make sure you're not chirping at the umpire just right after the umpire tells the manager seated right beneath you in the dugout to keep quiet because you know what the view from your seat was on that app.

No excuses. 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 head hunters, 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, search on YouTube or wherever you listen.