John Harbaugh: Nate Wiggins Is Super Talented

This is The Rich Eisen Show.

Three, two, one. Daniel Jeremiah here on The Rich Eisen Show. From The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. What are you hearing coming out of the draft about why there were no trades at the top? I know there was a lot of action at three, so Drake May was a big target.

There was no offer that was worth it. Earlier on the show, Rams general manager Les Knee. Coming up, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, Patriots head coach Gerard Mayo, legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

That's right, Jerry Seinfeld in studio hour number three, an hour away. Can't wait to chat with him. Gerard Mayo, the head coach of the Patriots, going to join us in 20 minutes time. We just said farewell to the general manager of the Los Angeles Rams, Les Knee, right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Hour number two, however, kicks off with one of the most tenured coaches in the National Football League.

His 17th year coming up as the HC of the Baltimore Ravens. Thrilled to have helped kick off hour number two of this program. Our friend John Harbaugh is back here on the program. How are you doing, coach? Good to see you. Doing great, Rich. Great to be with you. I just saw you. You got a great show going on. I see how this is going to work. We got Gerard now the warm up acts for Jerry Seinfeld.

That is correct. That's big company right there. Have you ever opened for Jerry? Have you ever opened for Jerry, John? No, I've seen Jerry. I went to Jerry's concert in Baltimore last year. Tell him I was up there. You know, just mention to him. I will do that.

I would do that. So you're a Seinfeld guy from back in the day? Who's not?

Who's not a big Seinfeld guy? RH? I know that, right? No question about it. So I guess who's got it better than me, right, John? You know what I'm saying? Good to see you. So let me just ask you just a question overall about this draft that I noticed.

And I'm wondering, you know, somebody who's been through it quite a bit. We saw a ton of kids come in age 23, 24 because of that COVID year transfer portal. Now, what used to be a red flag. Wait a minute. He switched schools.

Now it's kind of like, all right, yeah, sure. He's been to a couple of schools. I'm wondering how what type of different prospect we saw in this draft than previous ones.

John? Well, I think there are a lot of older prospects. You know, there were a lot of guys that have played for four or five and even six years. So those guys are 23, 24. Some guys, 25 years old, which is pretty unusual.

I hadn't seen that too much in the past. It's going to be interesting to see how it affects, you know, drafts in the next couple of years in terms of how many guys come out. I know these guys have got like six years in the portal. Those guys are going to kind of be out of it now in the 2020 class coming in. The 2020 high school class is the class that didn't get that extra COVID year. They were stacked in behind all these guys that stayed those extra years. So I'm interested to see if some of these guys who kind of pop up and start getting some playing time that are some of them, you know, 22 year old guys, we get some guys that we didn't expect to see.

But you never know. The COVID changed everything, man. It's just a continuation of craziness and it even goes to the NFL draft, I guess. Yeah, I mean, so but do you find maybe more mature guys that you you spoke to this year than previous years or might be more pro ready because they're they're kind of bring a more professionalism, not just maturity wise, but NIL wise. Come into the equation.

Oh, you mean like they got their account and all lined up now and they know their taxes, they didn't know how to do it before. Yeah, OK, probably so. But the older guys, for sure, I mean, they're more they're going to be more physically ready. You think to be more mentally ready and you still prefer younger players because, you know, I mean, you're investing in something that's going to last longer, probably, but we're not afraid of the older guys. They might be one contract guys.

That's OK. They might have gone to three or four schools. You figure out, try to know why a little bit, but really the question we would have is who is he now? You know, who is he right now this year coming here? Where is he at from maturity level, both football wise and life wise and work ethic wise and everything else? And can you help us be successful really?

And that's it's a bottom line kind of a deal. John Harbaugh here on the Rich Eisen Show. What do you like about Nate Wiggins out of Clemson?

Your your first round draft choice. John, he's a young guy, right? That's the guy that's on the opposite end of the spectrum. He's been there three years and he's 20 years old. So I didn't like that. But with that comes youth, you know, youth. He's got some things he's got to learn. But the thing I liked about Nate is that he knows that he's very self-aware. He's very reflective on, you know, where he's come in the last three years, where he's grown, where he needs to go, where he needs to grow.

But I like that about him. I saw some humility. We saw a guy with work ethic. I like the way he played, Rich. He played hard and he's super talented. I mean, probably, you know, I don't want to make anybody mad out there and maybe maybe I'm biased because we got him.

But I thought he was the most talented cover corner in the draft. He's just got natural cover skills. He's not afraid to hit you.

He's not afraid to run under the ball. You know, those are things we like in Baltimore. Yeah. And then a couple of rounds later, you went shopping at the Penn State Edgerusher store again, John.

You know, I don't know if you're if you already got credit in that store, clearly. But what what did you like about Adisa Isaac to go and grab him in the third round? Well, you talk about I mean, the intangibles are off the charts.

So if you know his family story and his siblings and his mom and what he's done for his family and how the people at Penn State feel about him. That's one thing. That's the one track. Then the other track is how he plays. He's played super hard and he's really athletic. I love this takeoff, his ability to get off the ball and get into the backfield on pass rush. He's heavy handed against the run. But when he gets to the top of the pass rush, then slip a tackle and then accelerate to the quarterback. You know, that's kind of important in terms of getting sacks, your ability to to close on the quarterback at the top of the pocket. And he did that exceptionally well. Plus, from a physical standpoint, when you look at him upside wise, looks like he's still got some development. He's going to get stronger and faster and those kind of things. So we were thrilled. We were just absolutely thrilled to get him in the third round.

And then you want to talk about family stories and what their backstories are in. Tez Walker is kind of one of one based on what happened in college with him and his family story in the NCAA. My goodness gracious. What did you what did you find out when you when you started chatting with him or kicking the tires on him, John? Yeah, same thing.

I mean, best football in front of him, I would say. Matt Guy, Mid-American Conference guy, originally Kent State, I always respect those guys. They come up the hard way and then he transferred with North Carolina.

And then I didn't want I didn't want to get into the NCAA right now, how they're treating young people and all this transfer inconsistency. And I had a few choices. I'd have a few choice words for him, Rich, that you might agree with. You know, it's all under water under the bridge right now. Right. So we'll just let it go. But he didn't get treated fairly, you know, and a lot of other guys didn't either.

So that's just the way it went. But how did he handle it? You know, how did he respond to it? And he and he responded perfectly and just kept his eyes straight ahead, didn't look to the left, didn't look to the right. Saw the horizon he was running for and just kept pounding and kept running.

And he's still got a ways to go, but I believe he's going to get there. Yeah, that was my question is how plug and play ready do you think he might be for the offense for him? It depends.

It's a great question. And, you know, we just had this conversation with my coaches out here on the practice field today with our phase two stuff. It depends how ready he is to do the things he does well and the things he does well is run well. He can run. So if he can run and run past coverage and make plays downfield, then stop. And when people play him deep and stop and catch passes and get up field, just start with that.

And then with the old routes and the crossing routes and take take, push the coverage out and expand the coverage with his speed start. He does that well, then he can build everything into that. So that's going to be that's going to be my conversation with him later today when he comes in. Fantastic. I'm I'm helping you prepare for the rest of your day.

That's part of my my goal here. John Harbaugh on the Rich Eisen show. Speaking of running, I mean, my God, signing Derek Henry may be one of the most on brand Ravens maneuvers I can I can recall. What was your conversation with him like in, you know, bringing him in, selling the program or him selling himself to you in any way, shape or form?

John, yeah, it's a great question. I guess it's if you if you can't beat him, sign up, you know, and that's what we were able to do with him. He he really was not much conversation at all because we wanted him to be here and he wanted to be here. And it was a crazy day with the first day of free agency and all the running backs going off the board. And and we were I would say we were caught off guard, but we certainly didn't expect them all to sign so quickly. But the guy we wanted was a guy that didn't go off the board. And, you know, we've been talking to his agent all along and we knew he wanted to be here. And I think he knew that we wanted him here. And he's a great fit for us. Can't wait for him to, you know, put the pads on and start running the ball for the Baltimore Ravens. Well, let's let's just try and put in the mind's eye of a Ravens fan.

What does it look like? You know, obviously you got a fullback there. Harbaugh's like to use fullbacks, but, you know, obviously you're quarterbacksing me and shotgun a lot. What what is the what's the scheme plan that you're willing to reveal here involving him for you?

Yeah, that's a great question. And I don't think I'd be giving anything away if I if I said that it's going to be what we do, you know, and it's going to be Derek Henry doing it within the structure of what we built around Lamar. And he's going to be just fine. And I think what's going to look like is what's looked like in Tennessee, him running for a lot of yards, you know, and maybe even in some ways will create some opportunities because we're going to possibly spread the defense out just a little bit more. There won't be as many eyes on him, maybe not as many helmets directed toward him when he gets the ball. And we'll be able to create just a little more space for him.

At least that's that's our goal. You know, that's what we're trying to create with what we're doing offensively and and just give him some seams. I mean, one thing we always used to say with Derek Henry on defense was you can't let him get started. If you get started, it's going to be hard to stop him.

You got to stop him before you get started. And hopefully with this offense, you know, that's going to be really hard to do. And I know head coaches in the NFL and certainly you've been that for, you know, now almost two decades are a page turning bunch. But I would like to ask, how often do you think about the AFC championship game and the run pass split that was such a conversation after it? Right.

I mean, it's a great conversation. It's definitely wasn't a goal, you know, and I think what the Chiefs basically decided to do, Steve Spagnola, a great defensive coordinator, basically said, you know, we're going to make you beat us in a certain way. And it was going to be by beating press coverage with a loaded box.

And how are you going to do that? And we need to make plays against that really in the passing game, to be honest with you, in order to do that. Or we had to pack the whole formation in and just play, you know, an old school three yards and a cloud of dust game, which we've done before. But that really wasn't our game plan going in. That's not the way we tried to do it. So how I look at it is and how Lamar looks at it. And he and I have had this conversation is that we've got to build ourselves up in ways that we can handle that in the future and deal with that when it comes up and basically make people pay for playing us in that kind of defense. So, you know, we weren't able to do it in that game the way we wanted to do it.

And we're going to have to figure out a way to do it pretty soon here because we're going to play those guys and Pittsburgh and other teams and players like that real soon again. It's kind of crazy, John. And, you know, obviously in my business, my end of the business is talking about stuff and narratives and things of that nature that a year ago at this time, you're coming off a draft after having just signed Lamar after a very, one would say, turbulent few weeks where we didn't know if he would be with the Ravens long term, let alone short term.

You sign him and he's in the MVP of the season. You know what I mean? Like, it's kind of it's kind of crazy how things work out. Do you look back on on that and and Marvel wonder, what do you what do you think of when you look back on on the way it all worked out after the way it was all looking, John?

You know, it's a great it's a great question, Rich. I mean, I really appreciate it. Kind of someday I'll probably be able to kind of talk about these things in a way that will will have some meaning because you really don't have time or you don't really take too much time to look back.

I'm not sure I think about it and proud about a lot of things. I mean, a lot of things get said about your team and about your choices and decisions and about your players. And sometimes it's hurtful, you know, and and of course, you you respect the fact that, OK, this is possible. And then and you get determined, you know, you say, OK, we're going to we're going to make this work and we're going to find a way to overcome it, whether it was a contract situation or whether it was we didn't have enough pass rushes or we don't have good enough receivers or or whatever it might be. And then when you do it, you know, even that's not good enough sometimes because you didn't win the whole thing.

One team wins the whole thing. And that's really just you just got to kind of look straight ahead like we were talking about with Ted's. You look at the next horizon, not looking left, not looking right, looking straight ahead and seeing where our obstacles are going to be and our obstacles are going to be, you know, the teams in our division are going to be the obstacles that we're going to have an obstacle out there in L.A., obviously, with Jim's team and the way they're going to play. We've got Kansas City and we've got every other team on our schedule that we're going to have to find a way to outplay, out coach, out scheme, out hustle, out hit, out execute, out discipline in all the different things it takes to win football games. And really, that's really all you have time to think about, because that's a lot to think about, especially at this level, because everybody's so good at what they do. So that's really what we're going to take our time doing. And then whatever questions everybody's asking about us right now, let's try to have the answers for those things.

And next year, then they ask us the same question, you know, you know, how did you do it? I saw your brother just a couple of weeks ago, John. He was kind enough to show up to my charity run at the Rose Bowl. I saw that. Did you see that?

I saw that. I tell you what, man, you're running better than ever, man. Thank you, John.

I appreciate that. I don't know how high I was on your draft board, but you don't have to reveal it. But it was good to see him. Your sister in law was there, too.

You know, your, you know, niece, his nephew. I mean, he came in hot. He came in, you know, plus a lot.

But I also didn't know if he was going to be there until the last minute, really, because, you know, my wife was speaking to Sarah about getting everything together because he had just come back from the ring ceremony. He got his ink, you know, there. But he grabbed the bullhorn from the director of the shoot and stood on the start line of the 40 yard dash and called out the names and ages of every kid who ran.

And that was like a half an hour long. And I'll be honest, he looks as happy as I've ever seen him. John, what a great picture that is right there. Yeah.

With with Whitten and Gurley. They were there, too. Yeah, I mean, it's so cool. It's just like he's in a great place. I think he really loves that organization out there. He loves his staff. He loves the players out there. But, you know, he was the same way at Michigan. You know, he loved he loved the players. You know, he loved his coaches. He loves some of the people there, probably. And Jim is going to be Jim. You know, Jim is going to be Jim. And that's one of the things I love about him. He's always been that way.

That picture right there. It's like you may think this, you may think that. But if you really get to know him, I know one thing. When you're around him, you're going to have a heck of a good time and it's going to be real genuine. There's going to be a lot of laughs and there's going to be a lot of it's not going to be any questioning about what we're here for. You know, he's going to we're here for football, you know.

And we want to win and we want to play the game this way. And and that's what we're here for. So it's just straightforward, you know, and he's genuine. He's the most genuine person I know. So I'm proud of him. But yeah, I think you're right. He's he's a happy guy right now.

Yeah. What did you think of when he said that he considers offensive linemen weapons? Is that your dad or is that Bo talking? Who's that talking there? It's good.

It's probably both. It's good football talk. I mean, anybody that doesn't understand that doesn't really understand the game of football. You know, it's like, tell me, tell me what a quarterback or running back or wide receiver is going to do with no blocking, you know, and I'll tell you, they're going to do nothing, nothing without blocking. So Jim understands that. But you know, who else understands that?

Rich quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs and tight ends there to stand out as well. I bet. Yeah.

And I guess next week you'll find out when you do play Jim this this year, schedules right around the corner. Appreciate the time, John. Really, as always, treasure it. Thanks. Appreciate you too. Thanks, Rich. Right back at you. That's John Harbaugh, head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. That was great.

Good shadow right there. All right, we will take a break. Ready for your coach, Chris? Let's do it.

Ready to find out? Let's go. Let's do it. Jerrod Mayo of the New England Patriots next. Look at us. Jerry Seinfeld coming out at three. Look at us. We're spotting dimes. It's gold.

Battle Creek, Michigan, 1963. Kellogg's and Post, sworn cereal rivals, race to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast forever. A wildly imaginative tale of ambition, betrayal, and menacing milkmen, sweetened with artificial ingredients. Unfrosted stars Jerry Seinfeld in his directorial film debut. It features a supporting cast of comedy greats, including Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Hugh Grant, Amy Schumer, Max Greenfield, Christian Slater, Sarah Cooper, Bill Burr, and many more. Tomorrow on Netflix.

And wherever you listen. This guy over there, Brockman with his Red Sox cap over there. Do you have the David Price sound that when he was bitching about David Price after the Yankees beat him up in what was that game to play? Go for it for Bill Burr. I want him to quit. I want him to retire on the spot. He's not going to. I didn't go that.

That's what I want. He was terrible. Part of you. So furious at David Price. So fear. But you were, you were kind of feeling good though. Like you're getting it off your chest. Like you could see what I'm saying. That's what, what's with, is there something about another sports fan that, that sees that guy? I don't know.

Just like I'm, I'm maybe I'm just a much more sunny disposition type guy. Were you screaming about him? This is about how great he is. Oh, I didn't. Now I see where this is going. I was confused. You know, rich, I, I, okay. You spoon fed it to me.

I want to tell you some rich out of all of sports shows. I go on, I think you are the nicest, pleasant, respectful to other fan base. No, I just think it goes back to like the tea party. You know, it goes all the way back to like, like you don't feel represented. You feel like you're taxed. You feel like a tax sports fan. Do you feel the jellies? Don't you love that you feel that? You haven't been represented in the sports universe. It's always great when I have another teammate come into studio.

Cause I'm teamed up against two on one with the New York. Don't you hate any time like there's a big Boston game, what they show, they always show like lighthouses, lobster fishermen and Paul Revere. Like, oh yeah, that's Massachusetts.

I didn't see, I never saw any of that. You know, who goes to a tourist attraction in your own city? Exactly. You only do it when relatives come to town. Oh, do you want to go to the USS constitution?

Oh, do you? Here's where Cheers is. You want to go to a standing line down there? Well, have a great time. I'm going to go to a dive bar. Where do you want to go next? You want to go to Cheers? Just to let you know, it doesn't look like that when you go inside.

So just take a picture outside. A great Bill Burr, everybody. He's in Unfrosted. Jerry's moving back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger. With supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. Great chat with John Harbaugh, Gerard Mayo of the Patriots, soon to join us here on our program. I just, I mean, God's been at it 16 years coming on 17 and the Derek, I'm just telling you the difference between two heartbreaking, soul crushing losses in a season where you thought it was happening.

The two different reactions. I'm sorry, TJ. Dallas's reaction and Baltimore's reaction. Baltimore goes out, loses an AFC Championship game at home, their first that they've hosted since, you know, Johnny Unitas in the old Memorial Stadium.

And they run it, I mean, it's the grand total of, I asked John about this, like, how often do you think about this? The run pass split, they threw it 37 times and ran at 16. It's gotta be the opposite way around. If you're, if the Ravens are going to win, right? Not that they'll throw at 16, they'll throw more than that.

A little bit better split than that. And the game was when Zay Flowers fumbled into the end zone, that was about to be a one field goal game. I was coming. And it was an unfortunate turnover, obviously. And Lageria sneed with the player of the year, right, for the Chiefs like that. But their reaction, what did they do? They signed Derek Henry. What do the Cowboys do?

They just say, we're going to just put the lid on top of the pot and keep it on full boil with everybody that that's there. Zeke is back. And listen, he, they, I don't think they need him to find the complete fount of youth, because I do need to see what they have in Rico Dowdle. We can make fun all we want. You can make fun all we want. No, no, no.

I mean, people can make fun all they want. We have no earthly idea what happens if this guy gets 10 more touches and he realizes his opportunity and he looks like, for just as an example, like Kyron Williams. I'll just throw it out there. I mean, just guys who wind up suddenly you think nothing of and then they get a ton of touches and they look amazing. Think about the number of running backs, especially fantasy wise, who you didn't know anything about. And then they proved to be ballers. I get it. So but again, just and we'll see how who lasts longer to use a. An all in hold them phrase, we'll see you last longer in the tournament. But the Ravens idea is like, OK, certainly we were a running team, we need to be more effective running, we need to be more focused on our run when we sometimes lose focus on it.

What what's the best way to do that? Certainly, if I'm a head coach in the league and my brother steals my top running back. Let's go get took to write to J.K. Dobbins was going to be out there for a while coming off a knee injury. You get Derek Henry.

You know. And then the Cowboys just waited for the draft and then didn't draft one. They signed on undrafted free agent running backs, but we will see the Cowboys. They address the needs like I've always said, offensive line and run stoppers. The entire draft, they got offensive tackles.

Cooper Beebe is someone who Brian Baldinger, Chris, we know, does great breakdowns. He thinks that this guy he was like, this guy's your starting guard. So a guy like that who knows offensive line, who just does a great job breaking stuff down and those way more than most of us, if he's telling me that they did a great job, then I got to take his word for it and be like, all right, let's let's do this.

I just wanted to point out that just the two different ways that franchises had a huge hope last year handled their business. Joining us now on the Rich Eisen show for the first time. Fantastic, because I don't think we were on the air when he back in his day when he was playing.

And if I recall, his predecessor didn't have too many chats available for us to talk to assistants like Zoom existed. The head coach of the New England Patriots, Gerard Mayo, joining us here. How you doing, coach? Good to see you again. I'm I'm doing well. How are you guys doing? I am doing great.

And it's better better to see you here. What was your experience like overall as being an H.C. in the draft room for the first time? It was great. You know, work very hand in hand with the scouting department, had a good time, good discussions leading up to the draft. And we felt pretty comfortable where we were. And we're happy with what we chose that day.

Well, in those three days. And you're and you're not any longer the last top 10 draft choice of the New England Patriots. Well, hopefully we never have to draft this high again. That's a good one.

That's a good one. But it also shows the success of the franchise that you were the last top 10 draft choice of the franchise until Drake May, right? Absolutely.

Absolutely. And, you know, there have been very special teams around here for a long time. And we're just trying to get back to to the place that we've been in the past. So it starts with the draft. We believe in drafting and developing and excited what we have.

All right. So let's get to your your quarterback. My colleague, Daniel Jeremiah, and a bunch of others were saying there were some monumental draft trade opportunities that were placed in front of you for teams that wanted the quarterback that you took. What was that moment? What were those moments like on the clock with those opportunities for you? Yeah, honestly, it was kind of anticlimactic.

I thought, you know, I know everyone's like monumental, you know, packages and things like that, but we felt comfortable at three and we got our guy and I honestly didn't want to move. And look, our legacies are going to be tied together for a long time. You know, with that being said, he'll come in here and compete. We have, you know, a good quarterback room, including Jacoby, but the best players will play.

Who does Drake May remind you of of any quarterback that you've been around? I mean, that's a tough one. You know, this is a guy who, you know, he has a very strong arm. He's a great leader.

It's hard to really come. He is competitive. I know the easy answer would be to say like Tom Brady. But I think he's his own man. And I'm excited to get to work with him and hopefully for a long time. Well, he sounds like Philip Rivers. I'm just talking about anybody that he does. And I know Philip was working with him, too, you know, but.

Yeah, I can see that, you know, the throwing motion is a lot different. But sure, maybe we'll take Philip Rivers. But Philip Rivers has a lot of kids. This is a kid.

Honestly, I know he's a man, but this is still a young man. I like that answer. No, listen, nobody has the throwing motion of Philip Rivers. But it's shot put. It's shot put.

You know, it's like sort of like a sidearm sort of situation. But, you know, so much is made of, you know, he's the youngest of four kids. So he's used to getting beat up on from his family. And but what did you find in the evaluation process that made everybody in the room consensus go, OK, third overall, we're assuming he's going to be on the clock.

We're definitely taking him. Yeah, you know, each exposure I thought got better and better, you know, really got the chance to sit down and talk ball and also talk about his upbringing. And that's a very competitive family. Just like you said, he was the youngest and everyone. He's the probably the shortest one out of the group as well. And at the same time, this guy's a tremendous athlete. And don't forget about his parents.

They did a fantastic job, you know, not only grooming him on the field, but also his leadership skills and his development. So what's your plan for him? My plan for Drake?

Yes, sir. What's your plan for him? Yeah, my plan for Drake is, you know, to get him in the building, to get him around AVP and the offensive staff, you know, and really not try to overload him, especially early on. We all you know, we all know how that kind of turns out. But when it's all said and done, I would say ultimately he still has to win that job. And we're not we're not just going to give it away. And I don't think Jacoby, you know, the type of player to the type of competitor that he is just going to give it up either. So we'll see what happens again. So you are going to have an open competition for this quarterback job to see who's the first quarterback out of the shoot in September. I would say every position, every single position on this team, it's about competition. Everyone's competing. And what's the old saying? You know, success is rented and the rents due every day. So it starts right now in the spring, and then we'll get back in training camp. We'll have to see how it plays out.

Gerard Mayo here on the Rich Eisen Show. And then you started getting some weapons and some protection. As a matter of fact, your first five selections were on the offensive side of the ball. What was your philosophy behind all of that, coach? Yeah, you know, we just went through the roster and holes that needed to be filled. And it happened to be a lot of those holes on the offensive side of the ball.

And and that had always been our target. Like, we want to go after guys that are going to help this team going forward. Our philosophy was that we'll get the best player that feels that need and then try to develop these guys to see what we get, see what we get. You know, it's so funny, you know, when people talk about, you know, great draft, great draft. But when it's all said and done, you got to see what these guys do on the field. And their development is definitely very important.

And then obviously it's it is, you know, best guess. But it's also how you relate to these kids and vice versa. What you like about Jalen Polk from Washington and what he can bring day one, do you think? Yeah, first and foremost, with him, he's a dirty work player. He doesn't he doesn't shy away from blocking safeties and blocking even linebackers. And that's what really got me hooked on Polk.

This guy, he'll do all the dirty work. And at the same time, he's a tremendous receiver. So we want that attitude in the room and on this team. And the kid from Central Florida, Jevon Baker, do you think he can be a day one contributor? Absolutely, you know, once again, there's a lot of competition in that wide receiver room and he's one of those guys who has a tremendous ability to really run after the catch. And if you watch him on film, he's one of those guys that he won't run out of bounds.

He's looking for contact, looking to get those extra yards. And and that's valuable in this game. When you mentioned AVP before, that's Alex Van Pelt. That's who you're referring to your your new. He's the play caller, right? Offensive coordinator.

That's right. OK, I'm sorry, I've never been able to ask that question of a coach of New England Patriots and get an answer for a long time. We were titleless.

I do believe in titles. And look, he's our offensive coordinator, has a tremendous history in this league and can develop quarterbacks. We also have, you know, McAdoo as well, you know, handling some of those assistant head coach type of roles, as well as really being hands on with the with the offense.

I'm very excited. Don't forget about our quarterback coach, TC McCartney. So we have guys here that will help Drake and the other quarterbacks continue to develop. And even a guy like Jacoby, he's not just satisfied where he is right now. He realizes that he has to get better as well.

And he's a very self-aware guy. And I think we have the coaching staff to be able to handle handle it. And, you know, that's just also my way of getting around to the question that I'm sure you've already been asked a million times and you're going to be until there's a game played. And then maybe even after that is how are things different? How are things going to look differently in an organization that has been one way, one guy in one system for such a long time offensively? How is this going to look different?

Can you say? Yeah, I think I think first and foremost, just having you know, we brought in 17 new coaches and so they all have they bring their special dynamic or the value to the offensive side of the ball. What I will say is, look, we are we will be able to run the ball. I think we have tremendous running backs. The guys up front with Scottie Peters will continue to develop. And then really on the outside, we have receivers that can do that can do different things. So whether it's pushing the ball down the field or those run after catch type of plays, I believe AVP and the rest of the staff have a good plan going forward. And saying that and saying that as we've always been a game plan team defensively, this is a game plan offense.

And whether that's a personnel matchup or a scheme, we have to be flexible enough to to go back and forth and do what's best for our team. Because that's was that was my next question for you. Gerard Mayo is how are things going to be somewhat similar? Because clearly, you know, you've been around the modern day Lombardi is Belichick has been referred to and I think appropriately. What did you pick up from him? What do you think your head coaching instincts are going to be somewhat similar from him? Yeah, look, I have tremendous respect for Bill and everything he's done for this organization. And, you know, one thing I did learn and I talk about it all the time is that players win games and coaches lose games. That's one that's one thing that that coach used to always say that I truly believe. And so as a coach, you know, I'm trying to get this philosophy to the rest of the coaches where once they cross the white lines, they need to have a complete understanding of what we're trying to accomplish. And this goes back to the game plan element, right? So and the complementary football.

We also brought in Jeremy Springer as our special teams coordinator. So just having those conversations and, you know, even for myself, like I've always been here in New England. It's been it's been very refreshing to hear what goes on and other ball clubs around the league. What do you mean here?

Refreshing to hear that. What do you what are you referring to there? Yeah, I mean, I think it's a combination of, you know, scheme schemes, also a combination of how the days are structured. You know, even with Sprinter, like, you know, under McVeigh, those days were structured a lot differently than what we've done here.

Traditionally, same thing with McAdoo and AVP and all these coaches. You know how I'm still learning. Look, I'm not ignorant to the fact that I'm green. I'm green at this point. I haven't coached a game as a head coach in the NFL.

So I'm trying to pick up little bits and pieces, not only from the people inside of this building, but also outside the building. And look, have tremendous, tremendous support from ownership. You know, they're not football coaches, but these guys have, you know, they run a huge business and they know about leading people. So just having those sounding boards will definitely help me in my development going forward.

Why? I mean, their support for you has been unquestioned since, I mean, that was the conversation for a long time is that you were the coach and waiting coach. I mean, I didn't even bring that up to you when I was chit-chatting with you prior to the game, when I, you know, was chit-chatting with you in Germany. That was the conversation. And then there wasn't a coaching search.

It was like, this is the guy, end of story, you know? Which I, which I appreciate and honestly, you know, I think the league should take a look at, you know, succession planning and how that kind of, how that kind of impacts, you know, the Rooney Rule and things like that. So it's definitely, you know, I appreciate the process. I appreciate it. You know, the commissioner and everyone that was involved in this process.

And once again, I learned a lot from Bill and, you know, even his sons, you know, those guys are tremendous, tremendous coaches as well. I'm just looking forward to the future and, you know, it's the day after day after day grind that we have to make fun. And then how are you preparing for game day? I mean, headset on and your role will essentially, will you be the CEO of the day, pretty much?

Is that your plan? Yeah, that's how I see it. You know, I feel very confident with the coordinators that we have, Demarcus Covington on the defensive side of the ball, calling plays. And look, I'll be in, you know, the different rooms, the offensive, defensive, and also special teams rooms. But I want to look at it from a top-down perspective, my perspective. And I would also say, look, I know, you know, situational football is always huge. We have a guy here in Evan Rothstein that's, he's already training me up on the different situations and he's learning my philosophy. So once we get into the game, it's a smooth operation. But look, we want it to be smooth, but realistically, it's going to be bumpy.

It's going to be ups and downs. And I think any first-year head coach understands and realizes that. And I try to be self-aware.

And look, even if you see something that I'm doing wrong, hey, reach out, reach out. I don't want to be in echo chambers. I don't want people that will always agree with me.

I want people that are going to be honest. And I think we have those people here. Hey, Gerard Mayo, I always told Mariucci, if you ever get a job back in the league again, and I told Deon, although he didn't reach out to me, but college is different. Your replay system and who's helping you make a decision, point blank, in the moment, that's, I told him, that's my area of expertise, is having that person racking back the video, being able to tell you right in your ear, do not throw that flag or anything of that nature. Like that's crucial. You know, that is it, you know? Absolutely.

And we've seen coaches, we've seen coaches, you know, get fired over decisions that they've made in those critical points. So I totally agree with you. I totally agree with you, and where are you going to keep the challenge flag? In your sock? Where are you going to keep it?

Do we know? You know, honestly, I'm still on like the skinny pants. I know now it's like, you know, the pants are starting to change. They now have big pockets.

I think I'm going to go like, probably like right on the belly button, you know, kind of put maybe, maybe some Velcro there. Sure. And just, it's still, it's easy. Oh, it's easy. I'm going to throw it up.

You know, coaches could throw it, he should throw it down on the field. I'm going to throw it up so everyone can see it. Good to know. All right. These are things, hey, these are things we need to know and you need to know. Absolutely. Hey, I think of these things all the time, all the time. Yeah.

So the sock was always just a weird choice to me, how to reach in there. And then maybe just the anger of trying to find it led to just the spiteful throw down. I don't know. You're probably right.

He would throw it right at the feet of the referee, just like. Right. And the hoodie, and you're going to have sleeves?

We've decided that? We're going sleeves? Yeah, look, let me tell you about hoodies. I've been wearing hoodies long before I even knew who Bill was. And honestly, I love hoodies and I will wear a hoodie now. I don't know what I'm going to do with the sleeves.

I guess it depends on the weather, but I love hoodies and that's what I'm going to wear. Okay, very good. Coach, appreciate the two cents and the time and I appreciate you. Look out for my call. You just invited, you invited me to reach out. I will take advantage of that.

So look out for that. Always, always. Thanks for the time. Congrats on the, congrats on the gig. Obviously belatedly and your first draft and we'll, we'll chat down the line. Thank you. I appreciate you guys. You got it.

That's Gerard Mayo, head coach of the New England Patriots right here on the Rich Isaac show. So they'll, there'll be titles and sleeves. Titles.

I noticed he slipped that in there. Titles and sleeves. Titles, sleeves, challenge flag, up, not down.

Those are the differences? Up, not down. Yep.

What'd you think? That's your coach? I'm very excited. Look, Gerard's been a favorite of mine since he was drafted. Loved him as a player. Loved him when he came back to the coaching staff. Now he's head coach excited. The new, new is exciting. We'll see how long the excitement wears off before people are like, hey, let's win games. I'm ready to be patient.

I hope everyone else is too. I'm looking at the coaching staff and I'm finding it kind of funny. Taequann Underwood, remember him?

Oh, sure. So he's an assistant wide receiver coach. Bill famously cut him on the night of the Super Bowl. Now he's back. Now he's back.

That's why you never say, you never say anything publicly. Before the Super Bowl, Taequann Underwood got released. Wow. Yeah.

I forget which one that was. Wow. Yeah.

By the way, they all meld together. Yeah. I know, you know, the answer to this.

Yes, Rich. And I know you probably know the answer to this. You know what else was exciting and new?

You don't know. Welcome aboard. Yeah. Got it. You did get it. Something for everyone.

Got it right away. Jack Jones. Exciting and new.

And think about this. You know, we had the Gronk brothers for a long time. Now we have the May brothers. We're just continuing the tradition.

That's right. The May and Mayo. Continuing the tradition. May and Mayo. Yesterday was May 1st. It's gonna be May.

By the way, by the way, I think we got to the most important answers. There's gonna be sleeves. Sleeves, titles.

It's gonna be top. Well, they knew that already. But we found out already there's gonna be sleeves. And the challenge flag will not be in the sock. Utility belt. Utility belt. He said a velcro and the flag's going up. Not down. All the way up. Hey, you're welcome, Patriots media.

You're welcome. And he gave you carte blanche to call him if you see something he's doing wrong. He has no idea what just happened. Brockman lit up when he said that. I was like, oh, okay, access to coach. Because I'm happy to be collaborative with him. Even uninvited.

I'm happy to collaborate. Brockman, can he take advice from a Jets fan, though? But when it all comes... Dude, that got nothing to do with it.

Excuse me. First of all, he was there when I hosted multiple Patriots kickoff dinners. And probably as a member of Bill's coaching staff was very thankful I got them out on time.

That was the first time I think Bill and I got along. You got to keep to the schedule. I said, I will get you out on time tonight, sir.

And I got him on the dot. I got him out. But I'm happy to be collaborative. But if it comes down to a seat on the competition committee, I will fight him for that.

Honestly. You versus Jerrod. I will fight him. Like a real fight? To the last chair. I'm not even working out.

I don't know if you want to do that. Listen, the first hour established me as an intuitive athlete. That's true. He's got the intuition. Okay.

We're weaving hours one to two together. Like Frogger. Jerry.

Speaking of Frogger. Jerry Seinfeld. Hour number three. We got that high score. Oh, baby. That's still to come on this show. 844-204-rich.

Also the number to dial. What's up, everyone? It's reality Steve, your number one source for all things bachelor nation and reality TV every day, I'm giving you the behind the scenes juice and your info on all your bachelor nation stories and also interviewing some of your favorite reality stars.

My name has been synonymous with spoilers, but I'm so much more than that. Give me a listen. The reality Steve podcast part of the believe network.

Just search BLEAV on YouTube or wherever you listen. Larry David. We've done this before with you. I've got three social situations.

You are the judge and jury as to what is done. Okay. First one is destination weddings. Okay.

It's already funny. Destination weddings. I say to my wife, we're going to a destination wedding. We should not give a present because my presence is my present. What do you say?

Larry? First of all, where is the wedding? How far is it?

Another country. Okay. You don't even go. You don't go. You don't go.

But it's a close family friend. I don't care. I am not flying 14 hours on a plane to somebody's wedding. I'm not going to do that.

What the distance from your house that you an hour and a half by car. That's it. Here's social situation.

Number two for you, Larry. Sure. So you're going into somebody's house for, let's say, the fight. The Mayweather McGregor fight.

This happened to one of our producers. Ken Tullo. Okay. They brought desserts.

Fight ends. Nobody's touched the desserts. They like these desserts. Is it okay to take the desserts home? It's still, you're bringing it to the host, right? That's true. The host saw it. It's different if the host didn't see it. Then you could sneak out. So if the host never saw it.

If you place it on the table and there's no note. Yeah. That's when you could take it.

If you think you're not going to get caught. Yeah. Then you could take it. Last one for you, Larry. LD shoes off on a plane. Do you have a problem with somebody on a plane? I have a big problem with it. Yeah, yeah.

Keep them on. Okay. You know, don't make yourself. It's not your house.

All right. You're outside. You're in public. I don't want to see your socks.

And God forbid you have a little odor down there. Who needs that? Right.

And I don't even want to know if you do have it. Exactly. It's close quarters. Come on.

Take a couple of minutes. Keep your shoes on. Larry David. Multiple appearances in studio. Jerry Seinfeld's first coming up.

Back on the Rich Eisen Show. Game time tickets. Basketball playoff tickets are available for you right now.

Although I don't know. We should check with the game time people. There's 2000 fewer tickets for tonight's game in Philadelphia. Unless they went on game time tickets. We should call up game time. Did you get something from a Harris comma J? But I'm telling you, all of these scenes that you're seeing and playing in basketball playoff arenas, if they look so cool to you, you want to go.

Guess what? Game time is the way to go do it because it's an authorized ticket marketplace for basketball, which means getting playoff tickets is even easier and faster. The prices on game time actually go down the closer it gets to tip off. And then there's so many different ways for you to find your seat in the view of the court from your seat.

I like the all in pricing because you get to see your entire total upfront. There is no sticker shock when you buy your tickets. Obviously, you can also get tickets for many different events.

All sports, concert, comedy, and theater as well. Take the guesswork out of buying basketball tickets with game time. Download the game time app. Create an account and use my code rich for $20 off your first purchase. Restrictions apply. Visit gametime.co for terms.

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Lowest price. Guaranteed. Jimmy in San Antonio is back on the program. How you been, Jimmy?

What's going on, sir? It's about so rich. What did you think about being upgraded from Galveston by Charles Barkley? How's that one sitting down there in San Antonio? He's not wrong. The water is kind of ugly in Galveston. Okay, good to know.

Thanks for confirming it. What's going on? What's up?

Del Tufo, Brockman, TJ. What's happening, Jimmy? Jimmy, how you doing, brother? Well, first I need to, I feel the need to apologize to you, Rich, because last time I was sticking up for Mikey D and you made a reference about zoos and implying not poking the bear. So I just wanted to apologize for not sticking up for you. It's okay. Don't worry about it.

I forget what it was, but we're a page-turning organization. I think I dropped Jimmy fast last time, too. Oh, is that what happened? I owe you one, not for Jimmy. So what's on your mind, Jimmy? Run, Rich, Run, and since it's Seinfeld Day, Jon O'Hurley and I had a fun time making my Run, Rich, Run video, which, by the way, it is more difficult to run in a suit than you think. I mean, I almost fell down.

There was a grunt at one point. O'Hurley was looking at me crazy, you know, but I will donate $100, and I wanted to remind people that you can still donate. That is so kind of you, man. That is so generous, I might add. Well, I've been doing it, I think, since I started calling in.

This would be my third $100 donation. I appreciate it. Wait a minute. Mike Hoskin just got in my ear, our coordinating producer, that we have the video. I have not yet seen it, to be honest with you, Jimmy, because I've been occupied with so many other different things. Can we take a look at it?

Hold on a second. Hey, Rich, it's Jimmy in San Antonio and Jon O'Hurley. How are you, Rich? Nice to meet you. How are you, Rich?

Nice to talk to you. Well, we wanted to wish you luck on your St. Jude's run, Rich, run. I'm suited and booted. Jon's here to verify it.

That's exactly right. And all I can say is, on your mark, get set, go forth. There he goes. Look at him. Hey, man. First of all, first of all, round of applause. Jimmy, all right. First of all, star value, that's a plus with Jon O'Hurley.

They love it. Secondly, the suit, it's not easy, right? But I'll tell you what's tougher.

I'll tell you what's tougher. You chose a 40-yard dash of a 40-yard piece of concrete with a bunch of bumpers in cars like in your area. You could have gotten... Obstacles.

That was like an obstacle course, and you're never going to run fast in that, ever. No, no, it was more about the kids than me, to be honest. Thank you.

Wanted to be... I feel the same way, too, Jimmy. But necktie the next time, bro.

Necktie, the next time. Okay, all right. Thanks for that, Jimmy, and thanks for your generosity. I appreciate it. Thank you. You're welcome, guys. Love you all.

You got the same to you. That's awesome. $100, very kind. I mean, every dollar.

You have no idea what $100 means to the kids and everybody there, and the parents who go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, stjude.org slash runrichrun. Elaine. Elaine. I mean, the questions that you can ask Jerry Seinfeld about Seinfeld. I mean, how much time we got? I mean, like 40-something minutes.

Okay, well, we could probably do 40 hours. It's got to be... Because I've done a lot of thinking about this. His favorite line.

Man, the tour. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Out of 180 episodes. Yeah. He probably has, what, a couple per episode that are kind of legendary, maybe?

Mine is, and I'll tell him, is, and you want to be my latex salesman. You know, the fame scene where George is in the bathroom and tells anybody that answers Jerry's phone to say Vandelay Industries because he's trying to get a job or... I think it was the lie he was telling the...

The unemployment office. Right. And then Kramer, of all people, unfortunately, is the one who answers. Well, he's in the bathroom, say Vandelay, say Vandelay, comes out with his pants around his legs.

Kramer answers the phone. Right, right, right, right. Pants around his legs. You're way off. And you want to be my latex salesman. Great one.

It's not a lie. That's if you believe... That's if we ever get Jason Alexander in here, and he's been invited. We'll get him in here, though. One way to say get him in is to say, Jerry's been here, and we're about to check that box. Hour number three right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Don't you dare move. Jerry, I mean, he's... Jason's from my hometown. Oh, that'll help. He went to my high school. I should tell him.

Come on. He went to your high school? Yes. My father gave him... When he was alive, my father gave him his Hall of Fame for the high school, his award, because he was the president of the school board.

Is that right? Jason, yes. So when Jason Alexander went into the... Which high school? Livingston High School Hall of Fame. My father was...

The what? Livingston High School. Livingston. What year did you graduate high school? 84.

So he's 77 of Livingston High School. Yeah. Okay. I should be involved in you. And so your dad gave him his award...

I should. ...for getting into that Hall of Fame of that high school. They won't put me in, though. Yeah, they won't put me in. No, I mean... Emmys alone. I should be in... But you're a legacy. I could just be for Emmys alone. I have more Emmys than he does.

I should be in... Wow, my God. ...right now. This guy. Spittin' facts, baby. Wow. This guy. Spittin' facts.

He's only on the greatest sitcom of all time. Mike, hold on a second. How many do you have? A lot. No, how many do you have? Eight. Uh, do you?

Is that true? How many statues? How many is this Jason Alexander have? Five statues. He's got seven.

How many are group projects, though? Jason Alexander's got seven. He's got seven? How about Del Tuco saying, I'll go Emmy for Emmy with Jason Alexander.

That's a great chest. But Mike, he's got four Golden Globes. That's 11. Oh, I hope Seinfeld's not hearing this. That's 11. Oh, my goodness.

Remember, I did a top five of my favorite Seinfeld episodes. So we're about to go. This is about to happen. I know I bought this shirt for a reason. Very excited.

But before he comes out, we got to talk about Justin Fields' returning kicks for the Steelers. What? What? I know what we do.

Black and Gold. Here we go. Welcome to Talkville, the Ultimate Smallville Rewatch Podcast.

Guest star Sarah Carter as Alicia Baker, although I didn't really work with her a lot. But Tom did, and they had some real big smoochie scenes. Yeah. Do we talk about that? Could there be any more sex? What was a three-page make-out scene that just kept going? Good lord, we get it. They have chemistry. Jump in now or catch up on any of the past seasons of Talkville on YouTube or wherever you listen.