Albert Breer: Things got smoothed out with Washington and Daniels

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 said 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 their families.

It's a different story when things tend to 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. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show on the air getting set after this hour to go to Los Angeles International Airport and take a flight to Detroit. And it's going to be awesome when we land because first of all, it's the NFL Draft City. Secondly, I'm back in my college state.

That's great. Third, we have three days of shows in downtown Detroit slated for you right here on this Rich Eisen Show. Terrestrial radio affiliate Sirius XM Odyssey, our podcast, but also to see right then and there, we've got a great setup in downtown Detroit for all three days on the Roku channel. We love our partnership with Roku and we're going to be there.

First time we've ever done the television version of this show from a draft city and we're excited about that and we'll give you our guest list later on. Chris Brockman, good to see you right over there. Hey Rich, what's up man? Mike, are you all right over there? You seem to be upset about stuff.

I just played the open from yesterday. Oh no, I heard that. Yeah. TJ, how are you?

Good to see you. I wasn't sure if you heard because you did the act. Terrible, terrible. You want to play the new one right now?

No, don't worry about it. Albert wants to hear his name. Albert, I'm sorry Albert.

I love Albert. No, no, Ryan Polls is talking right now or he just finished talking and we'll play it for you. It's pretty crazy. He says he's going to draft Mitchell Trubisky again.

It's kind of wild. That would really send the draft into a tizzy if he does that. By the way, he didn't draft Mitchell Trubisky, but anyway. Hey, and then Jerry Jones I think has finally finished his pre-draft press conference. I was told it was almost an hour long and that our guys back home are like Rumpelstiltskin.

It's turning that straw into gold right now. I don't have the patience to jack with you today. And we've got that later on.

Did he explain all it means? And your phone calls 844-204-H. This guy's all in all the time. Love having him. Gotta have him on right before the draft. He also has a must-read deep dive into what to expect in this draft from the concept of drafts and scouts and everybody else involved in the NFL. Our buddy Albert Breer from Sports Illustrated. How you doing Albert? I would have taken the over if you'd set it at an hour for Jerry in a pre-draft press conference.

I mean, my goodness gracious. All right, let's just dive into it right here. What's your expectation of the number of trades we're going to see Thursday night top of the draft?

What do you think? My guess would be the three teams of the top state patented quarterbacks. I think someone's going to come up for JJ McCarthy. I think he'll be the fourth quarterback off the board. I think you could have teams like Jacksonville and Indianapolis maybe coming up for an offensive skill player, whether that's one of the top three receivers or Bronc Bowers. And then I think later in the first round, and this is sort of an interesting twist that I don't think a lot of people are paying attention to, we could see movement for the tackles. I think at least seven, maybe eight tackles go in the first round.

I haven't run my mock yet, but I have sketched it out. What I have right now is seven tackles going in the first 22 picks. If you look at it, and I think this is what's really interesting about the dynamic of the draft, a lot of teams have both a receiver need and a tackle need. And so I think for some of those teams, it's going to be looking at it and saying, well, it's going to be hard to get a really good starting tackle in the second or third round, but we can find a really good starting receiver there. So let's go tackle early. I think that's going to lead to a run on tackles. And so I think as you get towards the bottom of the round, you might see some teams moving around to try to get in position to get in position to get those tackles before they run out. Okay, so when you say moving up to take JJ McCarthy, which is the most likely spot in your mind to move up into, and thus the team is willing to trade out?

What do you think? So, okay, so I would start with Arizona at four. They've had four teams. I'm interested in that pick. And I know that, you know, Monty Austin Ford has told those teams, I'm not trading the pick until I'm on the clock.

And so we're gonna have to wait until Thursday night. That's significant too, because I don't think the Chargers are going to be in position to move their pick until the team is trading up, know what the landscape is. And if the fourth pick isn't getting moved, or we won't know if it's getting moved until the Cardinals are on the clock, well, then the Chargers won't be in position to move their pick either until they're on the clock.

And whether or not they're able to move that pick, I think could be determined by whether or not Arizona moves. And here's what's really fascinating about it, and I think you'll find this interesting, Rich. You know, asking around about why Jim Harbaugh is so over the top on JJ McCarthy. But you know what I'm saying. I love the kid. It's like generational, Patrick Mahomes, all that different stuff. So like one explanation I got from somebody who knows him really well said, Jim views his quarterbacks as his sons.

He treats them as his sons. And so wouldn't it be something if Jim Harbaugh could determine where JJ McCarthy plays? So he can get Marvin Harrison Jr. for himself as well. But if he trades the pick, then he can't have Marvin, right?

Oh, I see what you're saying. Imagine being in that position where he's fifth overall, say the Cardinals take Marvin fourth, right? And now Jim Harbaugh gets to determine where JJ McCarthy plays pro football, right? And if Jim is, again, like views this guy as like a son to him, if JJ McCarthy was your son, Rich, and I don't know if you have quite that relationship with him yet, but where would you want him to play? He doesn't know, does he?

Well, I thought you were saying that he would even, while the Chargers are on the clock, call JJ and say, we got two offers. Where do you want to go? I'll send you wherever you want to go.

Because I'm such a good, you know. I mean, Minnesota, right? Well, listen, I love Kevin O'Connell.

When I talk with him, I could absolutely see why any quarterback would want to play for him. You know, the Raiders are in a bad spot either, brother, or New York City, you know, where guys have good careers and wind up, you know, selling sandwiches forever. You know what I mean? Like where you hit it.

You hit it and you become maybe the next Dick Clark, like straight. You know what I mean? So I don't know. Uh, it is fascinating to me where this could wind up.

Yeah. I think like, you know, like, so Arizona, I, I don't think it's going to be easy to get to the fourth pick. I don't think Arizona is going to give it away. Um, you know, and I think that there's a really appealing option for them and sitting there and taking Marvin Harrison, um, you know, Monty Ossoff for their second year GM, um, you know, really got kind of a wheelhouse guy for him last year and a guy that checks the character box, that checks the prototype box and Paris Johnson. And I think Marvin checks the same boxes for him, you know, so you can sit there at four and take Marvin and get, and now you've got your quarterback, you've got your left tackle, you've got your receiver, um, of the future for that regime, you know, or you trade down and you pick up a bunch of capital, you know, and then I think the charges are sitting there at five and that position is fascinating for me too, because I, you know, you mentioned Marvin for, uh, for, for Jim Harbaugh, right? Like let's say Arizona moves the pick. Um, and like they, you know, the Vikings come up and wind up with JJ McCarthy at four. Well, now the chargers have basically their pick of, of anyone in the draft. They want non quarterback and they have Justin Herbert, of course.

I'm not positive. That wouldn't be a tackle. You know, I know that there are a lot of people that think because they offloaded Mike Williams and Keenan Allen, that that would probably be a receiver and it might be. I, there are a lot of rival teams that think that they would take a tackle in this scenario. And so would that be Joe Walt? I've heard they like JC Latham.

That could be a possibility too. Um, if you look at Jim Harbaugh's history, and again, this is something, you know, as well as anyone rich, um, one thing that's followed him around and been really consistent wherever he's gone is he's had these all star team offensive lines. It goes back to Stanford with guys like David DeCastro, obviously with the Niners, they spent multiple first round picks on offensive lineman. And you look at those groups with Mike Iupati and Joe Staley and Anthony Davis, they were really, really good upfront.

Alex Boone. Um, they were excellent upfront while he was there. Um, and then, you know, you, you, you look at obviously at Michigan the last few years, I think, you know, they could have six or seven draft picks up front, um, you know, on the team they had last year. So, um, you know, certainly I think the Chargers could take a receiver at five, but they could take an offensive lineman as well. And if the Cardinals don't move, then the Chargers have the option to move too. So then the Giants could be sitting there at six and they stick and, and they could potentially pick JJ McCarthy. And so what is your reporting on the Giants thought process about their quarterback room going into this draft?

Yeah, I think the Giants, I don't think this is a smokescreen. Like I think the Giants are legitimately interested in, in filling that position. The player that I've heard the most, most connected to at that spot is Drake May. Now, can they get up and get Drake May? I think, you know, we're new England's at right now.

Um, and again, we'll see, you know, I knew England's told teams that they are going to listen. Like I said earlier, all the way up until while they're on the clock, I ultimately think new England sticks at three and probably trade takes Drake May. So then I think the question becomes, do they like JJ McCarthy enough to move up for him or even just to take him at six? Um, my feeling is that the floor for Marvin Harrison is six. I think if the Giants were sitting there at six, they'd have a hard time not taking Marvin Harrison.

If he was there for him where this gets more interesting is if the fourth quarterback is gone and if Marvin is gone, and now they're looking at what do we do if we still want to take a receiver? I think the chalk would say it's Malik neighbors. Malik neighbors isn't perfect. Um, from a personality standpoint, there are some questions about, is he hard to coach? Is he tough that way? And if he's a little bit of a pain in the ass, might that hit a little too close to home for the giants, a pain in the ass receiver from LSU and calling Odell names or anything like that. But like, if there's like kind of a guy who's difficult, you know, like an LSU receiver is a little difficult.

Would that hit a little too hard? Would that hit home a little too much for the giants? And I think for that reason, Rich, like, I wouldn't totally rule out if Marvin's off the board, if they're not taking a quarterback at six, the idea that maybe they go Roma Dunsay over Malik neighbors. So a lot of interesting moving parts in that area of the draft.

And then, uh, and then seven through, wow. So it's, here's the thing is that I don't think Marvin would be available for the giants at six, uh, unless McCarthy's already gone. Right. I think it's one or the other.

I just can't believe Arizona with 11 draft choices would say, okay, let's trade down and get more draft choices and not take Marvin Harrison Jr. For Kyler Murray. I just, I, I, I don't, I think that's why there's a compute though. Don't you? I think that's why they're in a perfect spot. If somebody has to go over the top to get it, you know what I mean? Like, right. So like, that's the thing is, is like a pick for next year. You know what I mean? Like if you're Minnesota, is it, is it 11, 23 and you're 20, 25, one, would you do that?

Like, that's a lot now, if you're Arizona, you've got three first round picks this year and two next year. Yeah. Uh, I mean, sure. Do you think Minnesota likes JJ McCarthy that much if they could stick and get panics at 11?

And that's another question. Like, I think Kevin, like my sense is Kevin O'Connell's got like the confidence that he can make it work with a lot of different quarterbacks. Now I think the operative question with, with the Vikings isn't like, do you think you can win with Michael Pennix? Do you think you can win with JJ McCarthy?

Do you think you can win with Drake May? Um, Rich, did you see the video of, um, of, uh, from the church? Like the, what, like the Kevin video from the church from the other day? No, sir.

Okay. So anybody who saw, he was speaking with this church group, um, the other day and they were, and somebody asked him about quarterbacks. It was actually a really interesting answer he gave. He gave this answer about fixing a quarterback's lower half and it was really detailed. And it was, I believe you can fix a quarterback's lower half his footwork.

Right. That just happens to be the biggest question, which right pain, maybe the only question with Drake May is like, you know, like fundamentally it's a little bit like Josh Allen, you know, six years ago where it was like, if you can fix his lower half, he can become, he could become a really dynamic passer in the NFL. And so like that matches up with a lot of stuff I've heard about the Vikings really liking Drake May. I'm sure you've heard the connections with Josh McCown, how he coached Drake in high school, how, you know, Josh's son played with Drake in high school, all that different stuff.

So I think they do. I think they're with the giants and being a team that really likes Drake May. I, you know, I say that because I think the question after Drake becomes, how do they see the gaps between the players from there? In other words, like how different do they view JJ McCarthy from Drake May? And then how different do they view Michael Pennix from JJ? I think they like all of them, but how they view those gaps, I think is going to inform a lot of their decision-making.

And obviously they only know how they view those gaps. You mentioned Bowers being a subject of interest for someone to trade up. Who would trade out?

You know what I mean? Like, that's what I'm saying here. Like who would trade out with all of these talented tackles and receivers and quarterbacks at the top and the Jets sitting there at 10? You know, for me, again, I like speaking things into existence, whether it was Sauce Gardner or your guy, Garrett, you know, Wilson in the same draft.

And that's the guy. I mean, if you got Aaron Rodgers, you know, 40 years old and you hit the crap out of the offensive line and free agency. And I understand that you got to get depth at that position based on what a dumpster fire it was last year. I would love to add Brock Bowers and say, all right, Aaron, let's go. Well, this is it.

Okay. So, so like, I would say the Titans at seven will listen. You know, I, I, I think if Joe Alt were to fall to them at seven, the God, that would be tough to pass up.

You know what I mean? Like I talked to, I've talked to a couple of evaluators over the last few days who've compared him to compare him to Joe Thomas and who say his, like, I talked to one GM who said his pro day was the best pro day I've ever seen from an offensive lineman. He's the son of an NFL player. He you know, like he has so much growth that's still there for him because he played tight end in high school.

He's, you know, he just turned 21, like less than two months ago. So I think if, if all was there for the Titans and they'd have a hard time passing on him, but I think they'd listen on a trade down. The bears are another one that are really interesting. Now they've kicked around on a trade up, but they only have four picks. And I know they'd like to get an offensive lineman. They'd like to get an edge rusher. They'd like to add another receiver. And so like, if a team's looking to come up and get Bowers, this perception out there that the, that the Jets would really like Bowers helps the bears potentially move that pick. So, you know, say Indianapolis and, you know, Indy is interesting cause I've heard Bowers compared to Dallas Clark. Could they come up, you know, for one of the top three receivers or, you know, or, or, or Brock Bowers, I certainly could see that as a possibility.

You know, especially with the relationship Chris Ballard and Ryan polls have, because the two of them work together in Kansas city. Okay. And it's Jayden Daniels for Washington, right? That's that. Yeah. Right. So my understanding is like a lot of stuff got smoothed over over the last couple of days, whatever needed to be smoothed over, got smoothed over. What did need to be smoothed over him, him, him looking around and seeing 21 other kids at top golf when he wants, you know, when he's clearly the second pick, you know, put it this way.

So, yeah. So, um, you know, like if you look at like the, who the quarterbacks are represented by, this is really inside baseball. I don't think fans care who's represents who, but like, you know, CAA represents Drake May and CAA has obviously had a zillion quarterbacks in the draft. Brian A. Raught represents JJ McCarthy. He has Joe burrow. Um, you know, like the, the, the guy who represents, um, represents Jay Daniels, Ron Butler is, doesn't have quite the same experience with quarterbacks. He's a good agent, but doesn't have quite the same experience with quarterbacks. I think some of the other people around Jayden don't have the same experience with quarterbacks. So I think what got lost in translation a little bit was they were curious about this process for the commanders and the way the commanders were handling it.

And I think some of that curiosity got out there and maybe got spun a certain way. Um, I don't think it was a problem in the end, you know, like from what I understand, I still think Jayden winds up going second overall. In fact, like I would tell you, like, you know, like there are a lot of teams that think Jayden's 20, 23 tape just in a vacuum was better than Caleb's. Um, now, like, you know, you don't have to change your offense around maybe to get the most out of Jayden and, um, you know, Jayden obviously had four years previous to this one that weren't as good as this year, whereas Caleb's tape on balance is better, but, um, he's a really, really good prospect and one that I think will wind up in Washington. And I don't want to, I don't want you to blow, you know, your mock draft before you post it. Where do you think Penix winds up?

I have him, like, I don't have it in front of me. I think I have him going 13 to the Raiders. Um, yeah, yeah. And I think like the coaching staff there would like to have a quarterback to build around. Um, you know, obviously Gardner Minshew and Aiden O'Connell, they can get you through a season, but they aren't the long-term answer there. Um, so, you know, I certainly think that they would be a team to keep an eye on.

Um, and then I would say another team just to, just to monitor with that would be Seattle at 16. Um, Ryan Grubb, who was the offensive coordinator at Washington, is there now as the offensive coordinator. Obviously, he's worked with Penix the last couple of years. Um, you know, Michael Penix has really helped himself, um, you know, over the course of this process. And I know the coaches getting involved has, has really helped him too. Um, seems like a great kid. Obviously, he's got a great story. He's been through a lot.

And, you know, I think being able to withstand a lot, like, has really endeared him to a lot of these teams. The medical is the medical. So you're going to have to sort through that and, you know, each team's doctor is probably gonna have a little bit of a different take on that.

He's not the biggest bodied guy. So like that, you know, raises another layer, um, you know, on top of the medical questions that you already have. But I, I think the likelihood now is that he goes in the top half of the first round. Something I, I certainly wouldn't have guessed two months ago. All right. And last one for you, Albert, this is going to be, this is absolutely no strings attached here. This is like a free shot for you, because if you get it right, you look like Nostradamus. And if you get it wrong, I'm basically saying, take your best shot that Thursday night, this happens, and it's going to blow everybody's stack on Thursday night, what you're comfortable saying, take your shot, take your shot, kind of like you say the most, like the craziest potential circumstance that could happen that people will be like, Whoa, I didn't see that coming.

Bingo. Um, take your shot. And again, you get it wrong.

You're just, you're, you know, you're, you're taking an educated dark throw here. So we've talked a lot about quarterbacks, right? Yes, we have.

Bo Nix goes 19th overall to the Los Angeles Rams. Oh, okay. Was that, was that enough? Was that good enough? That's good. Obviously.

Um, no, excuse me. The Rams haven't made a first round selection since they took Jared Goff. This would be Sean McVay's first, first round draft choice as the Rams head coach. And he would use it on Bo Nix.

So, you know, I mean this, that would be, that wouldn't be like a, you know, blowing on all, honestly, that's not blowing the top off the place. We're talking about, you know, somebody trading up into the top three. If he goes 12th, like everybody connects him to Denver because stylistically he fits the Broncos, the Broncos can't wait until a second round to take him because they don't have a second round pick. Um, like Bo Nix has some fans. Like there's a lot of teams, to be clear, there are a lot of teams that think he's a backup.

Um, but Bo, Bo Nix certainly has some fans and I could see Sean McVay really liking him. Um, here's the other thing that's sort of interesting about that. Uh, do you know who Les Snead's college quarterback was at Auburn? Hmm.

I should know this. I've probably had this conversation with him off air. Was it Bo Nix's dad?

Patrick Nix. Okay, very good. So there you go. Brockman told me that in my ear.

I can't take the credit for it, Chris. He told me that. Okay. All right. There you go.

That's a nice little nugget. Look at you breadcrumbing your way out the door. Uh, Albert, thanks for everything in this draft season and then we'll chat with you next week. Thanks for the time. Have a safe trip, Rich, and we'll talk soon.

Okay. You bet. At Albert underscore Breer. Must check him out. That's on Instagram, but at Albert Greer, out Albert Breer on the X machine. Must follow right here on the Rich Eisen show.

Panics to the Raiders. I would love that. Wouldn't that be great?

It'd be really cool. Herbert with Harbaugh. Mahomes with Reid. Newly paid Andy Reid. Newly paid Andy Reid. Extended Andy Reid, right. And whatever the heck Denver does.

Hey, Sean Payton and Zach Wilson. Okay. Yeah, come on. What are we doing?

Playoffs. Let's ride. All right. We'll take a break.

Broncos country. Is Jerry Jones out of the edit machine? Okay. I don't know what he said, but I can't wait because as you know, we try to translate for you. Get the timpani ready, Mikey. That's coming up next in your phone calls. 8 4 4 2 0 4 Rich. 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.

It's a game changer for all of us. So sleep number helps me. My sleep number setting is 60.

My wife's setting is 70. We both get a great night's sleep because we could adjust the firmness of our mattress on each side. Improve your quality sleep because sleep number learns how you sleep. Thanks to their smart beds and provide personalized insights to help you sleep better. JD power ranks sleep number number one in customer satisfaction with mattresses purchased in store.

And now say 40% on the sleep number limited edition smart bed for a limited time for JD power 2023 award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards only at a sleep number store or sleep number.com. America starts the day with America in the morning, 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 correspondence provide a fast paced look at the world with specialized reports from where news happens 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. When I said I wanted to bring a guest on, I'm like, well, I want to bring on who I wanted to be when I was a kid. And that was an offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs. And I've got been fortunate enough to get to know Mitchell and know what a good guy is and what a great player he is. So I wanted to share this moment with with the right tackle for the Chiefs, my favorite football team.

Not that I need to tell anybody that. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's really cool. I got to know him, I guess at the end of last year, and we hit it off right away. Like food, we both like food.

We have a lot of shared interest. He asked me where I got my meat. And we go to the same meat guy. He goes to the same butcher here in Kansas City. I said, serious question, though, Mitch, where do you where do you buy your meat in Kansas City? He's like, Oh, this place called Bickle Myers. And I'm like, Okay, you're in.

You're good. So because I know how seriously you take your Kansas City food. Yeah, you guys go to the same butcher here. We do. Yeah. City.

Yeah. I mean, when I got here, I like to cook. I was confined to an apartment in my previous life. When I got here, I got a house, got a whole backyard setup. I mean, this guy's got the greatest backyard setup you could ever imagine for cooking. And he sent me videos all the time different different stuff to try and the text exchange between me and him and some of his other offensive linemen are that are into smoking is hilarious. Like one night I put a brisket on and it was like we were kind of coordinating with the time difference of putting a brisket on around the same time. And I woke up to check my brisket and texted bitch at four in the morning LA time, which was Kansas City 6am time. And I told Lindsay, my girlfriend, I'm like, I texted Mitchell Schwartz in the middle of the night about a brisket.

Like what? And I responded. For whatever reason, I was up at that exact time. And we were because I was doing a brisket the next night. So we kind of throw ideas off each other. See, we'll see what we do. I think he was doing like a 24 hour. Oh, yeah, super slow.

It got all jiggly and gooey and the bark was perfect. Welcome back to the rich. Oh, that's a YouTube.com slash rich eyes and show for our full archive 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.

Granger has the right product for you call click ranger.com or just stop by. Let's go to Russell in New Jersey been hanging on for quite some time. What's up, Russell? Hey, Rich, how's it going? I'm good.

What's on your mind? Rich, I'm curious if you think at any point during the draft, not saying first round necessarily, but any point during the draft, the Jets should take the quarterback. Like where when it does matter where the draft if you're saying 10th overall, absolutely not not on this planet. And they don't have a second because they don't have a second because of the quarterback that they currently are hoping plays more than five snaps for them. So that's true. However, they are ahead of the Broncos and the Raiders.

And but later on, I think this is a fairly deep class. You guys mentioned Spencer Rattler, Jordan Travis, who could return to his, you know, he was playing like a Heisman candidate. Yes, we have there. Correct. You know, Joe Milton with the power arm.

I love Sam Hartman. Plenty of plenty of guys in the deep end there. What do you think? No, I would.

It's a top heavy quarterback draft, in my opinion. But then again, I'm not I'm not an eye in the sky guy, but absolutely not a 10 even. And I say that and thanks to the call. Russell, this is how much I mean it.

This is how much I mean it. Even if somehow, some way, J.J. McCarthy winds up sitting there a 10th overall, the Jets shouldn't take him. They can't.

They cannot. The 10th overall pick should be a plug and play guy to assist them in winning a championship with Aaron Rodgers. As much as I love J.J. McCarthy and I would love to see him wearing Jet Green for his entire career, that would be amazing.

I would love it. My God, I can't even compute it. And I can't believe I'm saying this into a microphone. But the Jets have set everything up to win it now. They made their bed last spring.

Unfortunately, the bed got soiled. Because the football gods decided to kick them in the nards again. But they're running it back. They're running it back with everybody. And the reason why is because they're left with no choice.

No choice. Even though Rodgers is saying stuff on podcasts that 100% alienates a decent part of the Jets fan base. Of stuff that has nothing to do with football that apparently shouldn't be uttered in the building. And I'm assuming he will stand true to that. But Rodgers is still Aaron Rodgers as a quarterback in the NFL.

We are assuming. He looks great. He is returning to the four. His teammates love him. And you gotta win with him. Now.

And that means 10th overall selection is used on a plug and play player for him. Brock Bowers. Rip the knob off. Send it in. I would love to find the card backstage. And I can. I have not used my access for this in the 18 drafts now that I've hosted on site. And I've had access to Roger Goodell's cards. I find the one that says Brock Bowers his name on it. Because the names are on it.

Spelled phonetically. And the only blanks that get filled in is what round. Which overall pick. And the name of the team. 10th overall pick of the NFL draft. The New York Jets select. And he could be like, is that Rich Eisen's handwriting?

Rip the knob off. All right. So Jerry Jones holding his pre-draft press conference. And we've got multiple sound bites. First one.

First one. By the way, Levitard's gonna have a field day with these noises over there. He was asked generally about the Cowboys off-season and his thoughts on it. As you know, we've been covering this caper. We've been covering it. Do you want to remind everybody what they've done in this off-season so far? The NFL.com free agency draft tracker, Timpani.

You can hear it. Here we go. The free agency tracker.

There it is. Six. Six signings. Four of them. Resignings.

Two new people. Thank you. There's 53 men on the roster. I want to I get it. Check on that, right? I get it. There it is. Six.

That's the tote board. Still reads six. Well, they will not walk alone because the six have, as he pointed out, uh, we could do the math, right? 47 others.

That's true. You know what I mean? I'm sorry, TJ. So Jerry Jones was asked about this whole all-in concept yielding six signings. The question is, uh, in my mind about all of this, how do we feel about, uh, where we've been in this free agency?

We feel great about what we've been in free agency. All in. All in. Uh, all in. We're all in with these young guys coming on.

Uh, and we're all in with this draft and, uh, we're all in with knowing that, uh, you have to go. How many times? Wait, give me, give me, give me the, give me the, give me the telethon. Give me the telethon photograph.

Give me, give me the meme one more time. Six mentions of all in. Same number of signings they've had going all in.

Oh my goodness. But again, what he's meaning is what nobody thought he meant or intended when he said at the senior bowl, we're going all in to win this year. He's basically saying they're going all in on his roster that he's built with the young guys are going in all in on Rico Dowdle. And they're going all in on any of the young guys that need to step up in the positions that have now since been vacated of players that they did not keep. And he says, they're going all in on this draft. That's how they are supplementing this team. They are not supplementing it by going and knocking on Derrick Henry's door. And he did confirm when he zoomed into the show that the Cowboys that, that a team from Texas did reach out to him.

It was Houston with the Texans, Jane Slater, my colleague from the NFL media group, as usual asks the perfect question. Soundbite number two. This is Jane's question that elicited this answer. She asked why Dak, CD lamb and Micah Parsons haven't been paid yet. Where are their contracts to keep them? Why are, where's the all in with them?

And here was his answer. You may be working on it and not moving anything but your eyebrows. Who in the world would think that we're not working on it? I work on it.

It pops open at two in the morning sometimes. What you're actually question is, is why don't you have something done and negotiated and put in the drawer? Well, we'd like to see some more, more leaves fall. We'd like to see some more action.

It's called option. A lot of guys need to hand it off. First guy through the line.

First guy through the line. Another one will keep it another step. Decide whether to pitch it or not. He'll decide whether to turn up field with it.

Then he's still got a pitch left. So it's called option quarterback. That's working the problem.

That's working the problem. I've spent my life being an option quarterback and I can go right out to the damn sideline and still leave a pitch in me. So I can do that and that's just a style that you have. And so you never know.

You might give money to somebody that you shouldn't have given it to. You got two or three of those names around here for me. I've been reading about them all week.

So I know they're out there. I shouldn't have handed it off as quick. Should have gone on out and seen a few more. I see some more defense before I either pitched it or kept it. So to say that you're not working on it and going is not the right answer.

What they differ with you is your style. Because it's on your mind. It'd be madness not to know that the contracts are ahead. I want to see a few more cards played, candidly. If you've got trouble with when the timing is around here it's because I'm not ready to go. Yeah, baby.

That was so good. How does that inspire confidence? Okay, two words for you. I mean, look. What are your two words? What are your two words? I can't say those two words on the air.

But look, man, I don't know. Absolutely. Let me jump in then. What he's saying is he wants to see wins in January. That's what this is all about. And the problem is to wait for pitching the ball back, waiting to make your option to pitch it to the guy. And that's his, I imagine, his analogy of signing the guy to a long-term contract.

Yeah, that's right. Is that if you wait to pitch it because you need to see more cards played, could that mean a negotiation? More cards played in a negotiation?

Maybe. I'm interpreting that to mean more cards played on the field make a damn NFC championship game if you want to get paid around here, is what I think he is saying. So just say that. The problem is, though, is that the longer you wait to pitch it, the more expensive it is for you is for you to pitch it, which means you don't have enough left to pitch to others, is the way it is. And I don't need to explain that to him.

Obviously, as he said, the reason why it hasn't happened yet is because I'm not ready for it to happen yet. And a big, huge Jerry Jones smile that looks like the first day he signed the dotted line to buy the Dallas Cowboys was flashed for everybody who's listening. That's what it sounds like to me. We got one more. He was asked specifically about his quarterback, Dak himself.

I'll start it. We want Dak Prescott. So that's it. And there's no question that Mike's focus, not that he didn't have focus, but how he improved last year, and I give Mike a lot of the credit for it, that improvement demonstrated to me there's more as far as ultimately winning what we're trying to do here.

So your question nails it for me. We want Dak, and we think that there's room for growth. Like I said, and I've been saying for weeks, the reaction of the Jones family and Jerry himself to being one and done by the Green Bay Packers in last year's playoffs is echoing.

And we were wondering when Fox zoomed in on those cameras, what's he thinking? How's he going to react? And basically his reaction is, I believe we have drafted properly around here. I believe we have hired properly around here and I believe these guys can do it. And I know that it's going to take some serious gumption on my part to not extend Dak now. And I know it's going to take some serious gumption for me to maybe go through the summer or training camp without resigning CD or Parsons. And I know there's going to be a very expensive bill if these guys do end up staying here because I want them here.

But damn it, I am sick and tired of not making some hay in January. And for me to stick with these guys one more time, and I believe these are my guys, but for me to stick with them one more time for one massive contract to come, I got to see it. That's what I'm seeing. That's what I'm hearing right now. And I do believe in their draft process. I know they're probably gritting their teeth over my Wolverine, Mazzie Smith. Like they need to get something out of him. But they've drafted well otherwise. Yeah.

And in that they trust. But it's hard to like, you've made sense of what he's saying. I'm trying to. And I was trying to like, it sounds like a lot of words soup to me, a lot of words. Just say what you mean. But again, like I've been saying, Geppetto, he's playing everyone.

But that doesn't matter at the end of the day, if that's all that matters is the buzz and that we're talking about you and spell my name right. At the end of the day, this does come across like a man that wants to win and put one more trophy in the case. Now, normally, I shouldn't say normally, conventionally in the NFL, that would mean you make some changes to your roster and then add a free agent here or there. Maybe your coach goes, and then you go to work and you also have to plan for the future with the guys who are clearly the nucleus.

Even if they aren't getting over the hump, you bring in others, coaches or other players from outside the system, outside of your walls that don't have those particular ghosts and go to work with them. And that was my sense of what he meant by going all in. But he's like all in with my young guys, young in, all in with my draft concepts and all in with the guys who want to get paid around here. And if you do, you better win in January. The issue is though, is Dak said this, this past week and listen to what he had to say about his future in Dallas.

I don't have any fish. So you believe you'll be here forever playing based on your conversations? I'm not going to say I fear being here or not.

I don't, I don't fear either situation to be candid with you. I love this game and love to play and love to better myself as a player and my teammates around me. Right now it's with the Dallas Cowboys, it's where I want to be and that's where I am and that's the focus. And after the season, we'll see where we're at and if the future holds that, then if not, we'll go from there.

Yeah. I mean, that's the bottom line is that, you know, if I don't make the NFC championship game and I believe in myself, Tom Brady won elsewhere. Peyton Manning won elsewhere. You're going on a list of everybody's won elsewhere.

Like life can go on for Dak Prescott without the star on the side of his helmet and he's already preparing himself for that. That's, that's the way I took that, which is the way players think when they don't get the answers, I guess, contractually. And I bet you deep down, Jerry's like, fine, use that. Go win. And then I'll pay you what you want.

Use that. If you're, if you're going to do this in spite of me and that helps me put a trophy in the case, I'll love you up because that's what I want to hear and see. Wow. What a backdrop as we head to Detroit, baby. When we come back, our guest list, I'll let you know who's going to join us over the next three days in the draft city. This league, man, this league.

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. 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 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. All right, Suns-Timberwolves tonight. Suns get a shot to win on the road. I think the Suns win tonight. Pacers-Bucks. Pacers have a shot to win on the road.

Does Dame score 35 in the first half? The Pacers did not show me any signs of hope. Dude, Kawhi's questionable for tonight. The hell, man. He blew out his knee and he's not back.

I mean, I don't know why that's so hard for people. Like, I dislocated my kneecap back in 2003. To this day, my right knee still hurts. And I'm not a professional athlete. You're a fan of both these teams. I'll give up both knees for Embiid and Kawhi. Who do you trust more the rest of their career? Kawhi or Embiid? What do you mean, who do I trust more?

Who do you trust more? Just be out there. Be active. To be available in a big game. I mean, that's hard to say, man. I don't know these people's bodies. I don't know. Just asking you a fan question, man.

Come on. What do you think? We're going to hold it against you?

What do you think? We're going to hold it against you? Well, they both get hurt yearly. That's his point, to bring them up together. I know. Can I think this out?

You acted like I knew this question was coming. I know, but gut. Head or gut? Head or gut. Can I say neither? You can totally say neither because I think you're right about that. It's too bad.

Like, it's too bad. All-time talents. Both these guys.

Here's the deal. Embiid, I think he needs to take a page out of the Joker's book in the sense that look at the amount of effort the Joker uses. It doesn't look like he's going at full speed all the time because he's not. He goes when he needs to. Embiid needs to stop.

I don't know. He just he's putting a lot of pressure on those joints, man. Like when he tried to dunk and didn't need to. Oh, God. And that was a heck of a play, too. Heck of a play. How do you back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network?

That's an excellent question, bro. Here we go, guys. You ready to go to Detroit? I'm ready.

Fantastic. Are they ready for us? We're going to be downtown and I'm told fans are going to be right outside our window.

Come find us. Yeah. I just hope that for me as a New Yorker, if I'm threatened with ejection for saying another word, just don't be right behind me and say it. Let me just say this real quick. I mean, let me know. Is that one of the funniest things?

Let me say this real quick. We were talking before we left yesterday about Hunter Wendelstaedt, the head umpire, the home plate umpire ejecting Aaron Boone just mere pitches into yesterday's home game with the athletics. And I, you know, we were I was reading about it, seeing the yes cameras. And by the way, it was it was a, you know, an afternoon game. Folks hadn't filtered in yet. You could hear every word that the manager.

Yes. Camp microphones picked up every word that the home plate umpire and Aaron Boone was saying for Hunter Wendelstaedt to say to Aaron Boone, you're out. And Boone's like, a fan said it. And he said, I don't care who said I don't care.

I don't care who said it. And then and then Boone's like, it was right above me. It was a fan. And I guess the umpire the umpire doesn't think he he that, yes, had the the the camera on the fan, had everything that you could hear and see, because that should be reviewable.

I never believe I could ever say such a thing. But if you review the tape, you could see you see the guy, you know, Boone sitting there and his mouth doesn't move. And it's funny. And then and then we even say to Boone, you may be right, Aaron, but it doesn't matter. I mean, I mean, baseball, you're the manager of the team, so you're responsible for what comes out of the dugout.

And then it wasn't in the dugout. And by the way, the fan, the fan then took off his like his jacket and went to a different went to a different look. Yeah. So they couldn't pick him out. Like what is he?

Richard Kimball running through the streets of Chicago. I know that. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Like what are we doing? He's wow. What a bad look. Crazy.

Now, let me ask you something like that. We talk about review. There's no way they could even look at.

Well, no, because why would you think for even a second there's something to review? You know, I'm sure they didn't know that, by the way, there's only five people in the stands right now. So we could hear every word you're saying in the yes, microphones picked it up.

And the yes, cameras had a perfect shot of the fans screaming in. And then one of those umpire metrics Twitter sites posted, he ended up having a terrible game, only getting like 89 percent. What a shocker.

It seems the number of times that these these up sites that somebody's 89, 90 percent correct. It's brutal. It's awful. So our guest list. Let's go. I'll say this tomorrow as well. The fact that I'm able to start with this guy in the state of Michigan with a show with my name on it for an NFL draft show. I said this to him when I booked him. I'm like, you got to be my first because back in college, if I told you we could do a show together at the draft. Adam Schefter is our first guest. After him, Terry and Arnold of Alabama will join.

These are all in studio in downtown Detroit. J.J. McCarthy, Charles Davis, Lewis Riddick, Roma Dunze and Tom Pelsara. We'll get you set for the day before the draft.

That's for sure. Then on the day of the draft, our first guest is Daniel Jeremiah fresh off his mock draft, where he normally nails stuff. He's going to join us. And then the two other hosts of the NFL Draft on ESPN and ABC, all of us together.

Mike Greenberg and Reese Davis together with me, Brian Kelly, Kurt Warner and Lincoln Riley. And then on Friday, reacting to the first night of the draft, Ian Rappaport, Dan Orlovsky, Joel Clyde, Aidan Hutchinson and my coach Sharon Moore. And we're adding more. So we're off to Detroit. Cannot wait to have you join us. Take care. We'll chat from the draft on Wednesday. Like my father and my uncle's band, Sublime Rolling Stone music now, wherever you listen.