Les Snead: Trying To Enforce The Defense

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. Today's guest, Rams General Manager Les Knee, Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh, Patriots Head Coach Gerard Mayo, Legendary Comedian Jerry Seinfeld. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

That's right. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Back here from my walkabout in New York with all of our friends and colleagues and partners at Roku. I'm sitting back here at the Rich Eisen Show studio desk in Los Angeles on the Roku channel.

This Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate Sirius XM Odyssey and more. Great to be here and thanks to Tom Pelosaro for expertly sitting in this chair and bringing some much-needed pomade to the situation over the last two days. Good to see Tommy P. sitting here keeping the Rich Eisen Show fires burning.

Perfect hair and bomber jackets. It was an excellent 48 hours. What a style he brings to the chair, but it's great to be back here. Oh my God, Jerry Seinfeld's going to be in our green room shortly and being out here shortly and cannot wait to chat with him.

He's got a new movie called Unfrosted, which is on Netflix, which you can see right here through the Roku portal. And it's fun. It's funny. It's dynamite. It's it's light fare. It's 84 minutes long.

And it starts on your Netflix app on Friday. And he is here in support of it before he performs tonight here in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl with Sebastian Maniscalco, Nate Bergetzi and Friday Rich Eisen Show guest Jim Gaffigan, who's in Unfrosted as well. So lots to talk about. And my goodness, do we have a trio of football guests. Speaking of hair, Les Snead will be joining us in less than 18 minutes time. The general manager of the Los Angeles Rams is going to be joining us. He drafted one of my favorite Michigan Wolverines of all time after drafting two Florida State guys, one who actually welcomed the other to the Rams in a phone call that went viral. So my gosh, there's lots to talk about with him. And then in our number two, back to back, the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, John Harbaugh, and then the head coach of your New England Patriots, Gerard Mayo, Chris.

Cannot wait. So that's the way we're rolling on this program. Good to see you over there. Good to see you, coach. Great to see you. What's up, man? Thank you. Right back at you.

DJ Mikey Diaz. Good morning, Rich. How are you doing? How are you?

How was New York City? I said hi to the Lincoln Tunnel for you. Thank you. You know. Pizza? Did you have a slice of pie? No.

Literally got in Monday night, left Wednesday morning. I don't know. You got time for pie? That's enough time for pizza, dog. Little Wohop?

Longstreet? None of that stuff. Just a lot of Roku chatter. Good to see you over there, TJ Jefferson.

How are you doing? Welcome back, Rich. As you see my shirt today... You got your Seinfeld shirt on?

You know, it seemed only right to wear this with Jerry in the building, so... Absolutely. And my gosh, let's talk about it in hour number three. Last time I saw you, the Clippers were coming off of a win where they got scared by blowing a 31-point lead and then came back and won a game. Yes.

On the road. And the Knicks had just gone up three games to one on the Philadelphia 76ers in what suddenly became Madison Square Garden South in Philadelphia. Right. And here we are today, on Thursday, and the Clippers go back home in the pivotal game five. As you know, we always point out here on The Rich Eisen Show that the game fives of our universe are either decisive or pivotal.

Right? And in a decisive game five, the Knicks blew it. So did the Pacers, I might add, against the Bucks team that didn't have Lillard, didn't have Giannis, and they could have him tonight in game six. So both decisive game fives now turn into a whole open question for game sixes tonight. And the pivotal game five last night in Los Angeles turned out to be an absolute unmitigated disaster for the home team. And if this is the last time the Los Angeles Clippers play in the downtown Hoops Dojo in...

They won't be. In Los Angeles, the Staples turning into crypto. This is a doozy. A 30-point home loss. And I'll tell you what, it felt worse.

Yeah. Felt worse watching it. Felt like 50. Dude, I mean, good Lord, did they look terrible. And it's just seeing Kawhi sitting there in street clothes again. Here comes the Clippers again. If this is their final home game in the downtown arena in Los Angeles, because they're opening one up much closer to our spot here, the Intuit Dome right across the street from NFL Network and SoFi Stadium and down the street from the Forum. Much shorter drive the games next year. If this is their last game, then this is kind of part and parcel of their tenure there. Like, here lies the Los Angeles Clippers in downtown Los Angeles, splitting rental space with the Lakers. Having a team that could possibly take over the town for a slight bit because the Lakers are out.

They're disappointed. Now the Clippers can move forward and they've got the talent to do it, but one of them gets hurt. I mean, is that par for the course or what?

Playing the role of Chris Paul as Kawhi Leonard. I don't do TJ like that. But it's the truth, isn't it? How many times have I said that, though? I've literally gone on here and given you a year-by-year breakdown of every injury that's happened during the playoffs, so it's not surprising. But this is also a team that, minus Kawhi, took a 31-point lead in Dallas in the previous game and tied the series up and got big-time three-point plays, conventional and ones from Harden and Paul George to take the lead, and neither of those guys could hit the side of the ocean last night. Because the Mavericks are playing some really great defense, certainly in that third quarter when this game went from ten points at half to game over. In that third quarter. Because, well, the Clippers couldn't hit the side of a barn, and I'm done with my analogies of missing shots. Or my, was it a simile?

I don't know. But the Mavs, man. I was sitting there with Coop watching this third quarter last night and watching Kyrie in some foul trouble after he gets called for his third diving for a loose ball, which was a ridiculous call.

That was stupid. That he creates a steal, goes behind the back to create the space necessary to get to the hoop, and then even though he's coming from the hoop with a right hand, he turns to his left hand and just lays it off the glass. And in the same way that whenever DeAndre Hopkins is catching a ball near the sideline or an end line or the back of a goal line that you never question whether he got both feet in, when Kyrie Irving is within three feet of the rim, five feet of the rim, there's no question he's closing. There's no question he's finishing. Whether it's a floater or at the rim. Or in game four, one on three.

Yeah, between three guys. His finishing rate is, I'll say it, best all-time. It's been like that his whole career.

It's unbelievable. His overall skill level is like, we can't talk about it enough. We talked more about the off-the-court stuff.

Of course. Not so much this year. He's had a great season. Kind of his best in about five years probably, would you say, TJ? And so it's kind of been fun to see just him play basketball because that's what we've been missing from this guy.

He's so good and so talented. And then with Luca doing what he's doing, with all due respect, things can happen. It's been a weird series. I mean, Coopers might win game six.

I get it. I'm sitting here thinking the Mabs versus the Thunder wouldn't be a bad series. I mean, I'm with you. But Luca doing what he's doing right now and do you see him barking at some people on courtside when he's hitting threes and he's just making shots and he's fading away. I mean, he's got every shot.

He's got every move. That was fun last night with Old, unfortunately for you. I don't know where you had fun watching that. No, it's just fun watching two of the best in the league right now as teammates coming together. Last year they had just come together. Watching two of the best in the league coming together as teammates now in their second playoff go around their first full year together.

It's pretty amazing. And the Western Conference right now, you know, hopefully Kawhi can get help. I don't know. I don't see it, but we'll see. Hopefully he gets healthy and he can be even a shadow of himself. I would hope, but like I said, the knees.

Here's the other thing, guys, I've been thinking too though. With these injuries to two of my favorite players, can't have them on the Olympic team. I need them the rest this summer. So therefore, I think Embiid's got to go. Kawhi's got to go. You got to put Kyrie and Brunson on the squad. I mean, you can't, if you're the Sixers ownership and the Clippers ownership, you cannot let these guys go play in the Olympics. They've got a heel, right?

Am I wrong? You want to replace the seven-foot guy and the six-seven guy with two six-foot guys? Well, then who would you replace the seven-foot guy?

I don't know. Who is more deserving right now than Brunson and Kyrie? I mean, Luke Cornette shut down Bam Adebayo yesterday, so it seems like he'd be a great replacement. Can we get, can we get a, can we get a, an expedited passport for Victor Wambunyama?

Can we get American citizenship? Well, he's French right now. Honestly. Quick.

Yeah. He's not gonna do that. Well, Embiid, apparently, he doesn't have a French passport anymore, you know what I mean? Take some guy.

Well, Embiid did it because he basically, he sounds American, he wanted to do that. That's an interesting, that's an interesting... Do you hear me being literal? Rich and I are joking. Alright, so let's get to, let's get, let's get to you. Congratulations.

Hey, thank you. Um, you know, you gave up a game. It took a team having its greatest shooting night of all time to beat this team, so yeah, we saw what really was supposed to happen. But at least, at least you, based on what I saw on your Twitter feed, you, you, you did it with class.

I don't know what I did and it was not class. Well, you just don't want to hear from the heat anymore? Like, you don't want to hear from the heat ever again, ever again. It's more their fans. What's, what, what do you care about their fans? What do you care?

I don't want to say anything that's gonna get me in trouble. But your fans, what, the fans? They come at you? They're not great.

So, you know. What are they coming at you? Those bums can go home.

Oh, they can come, that's what you said, those bums can go home. You don't want to hear about them ever again. You're saying it, you're saying it. They think they're such a great franchise. Oh, the heat culture and blah, blah, blah. What have they won?

They needed, they needed a formation of a super team to win their title. Well, not the first time. Okay.

What are we doing? Right. They have, they have one championship. Jimmy Butler wasn't, wasn't active. I mean, come on.

Wouldn't have mattered. Really? You don't think so?

Oh, so we only went to one by 10, not 30. This guy. See, we're warming him up. He really hates the heat. Huh?

He really hates the heat. Yeah, I mean. Wait till the Knicks get him. Well, I don't know if that's gonna happen. You don't think so? Nah.

Let me just say this. The January Sixers, we're going to keep them out the building. By the way, that's, what a nickname that you just referred to the Knicks fans who took over the audacity of these.

First Union. It's really funny. That nickname, the nickname, I sent that to you guys. I saw that on Twitter last night.

They're calling the Knicks fans who invaded the Philadelphia 76ers home court, the January Sixers. It's so funny. If it only wasn't, you know, a very serious subject matter.

Truth in everything. I don't know. There wasn't, it's not an insurrection.

It's not an insurrection if you are purchasing someone else's tickets. All right. And then in that regard, in that regard, in that regard, Josh Harris, right. And a friend of the program and friend of St. Jude, run, Rich, run, fanatics owner, Michael Rubin. Right. And some some other owner whose name escapes me called, what I'm saying is that he bought some of the three of them together, bought 2000 tickets to tonight's game six.

David Blitzer. Let me just let me just say this. And they're being hailed as, you know, outside the box thinkers to protect the home court. And they're going to give it to real sixer fans and people who ordinarily might not afford to get in the building, which is a very noble gesture.

It's great. I mean, I've got two questions. I've got two questions. One of them is rhetorical and one of them I really want an answer to.

Here's the one I want an answer to. Whose tickets did they buy? Were there 2000 just un-bought? So did they go on the secondary ticket market and they took it off the secondary ticket market? Or were there really like 2000 seats available for game six a day and a half before? Which, by the way, also means why wouldn't the Knicks fans come down?

It's an hour and a half train ride or even maybe a little faster if you take the fast train, why the hell wouldn't they come down? Certainly, if it is, as Chris Maddox pointed out, more economically sound for them to do it there, that the cost of these tickets, plus the train tickets, are less than what they would try to get secondary ticket market to get in a Madison Square Garden. Yeah, it's like buying Clipper tickets as opposed to Lakers tickets.

It's, by the way, like Clipper tickets are like one tenth the price. So Michael Rubin posted there, giving them away to first responders, health care professionals. I love it.

I love it. Where's the two thousand? Were they just sitting around ready to be snapped up? The article I'm reading does not say. See, we don't know. It's just like, where are they from? Did you go on the secondary ticket market and buy it themselves?

Can game time give us these numbers? Is there like a vetting process like, you know, that remember the movie Diner? Like where they, I don't know. Yeah.

In order for one of the characters, before he got married to somebody who he was engaged to, she had to pass a quiz on the Baltimore Colts to pass a test. OK, that's funny. So is this like a citizenship to the citizens? Right, of course. Yeah. Test to see. Can you are you allowed five members of the eighty three Philadelphia? What's the Pledge of Allegiance?

What did Moses Malone famously once say about how many games? Fofo. Right. So, OK. By the way, on the game time app, what is a tickets available? What is A.I's?

What is A.I's feelings of practice? What is this beef we can still get? That's number one. And here's a rhetorical question. Here's a rhetorical question. Do you really think two thousand tickets are going to be enough to keep loud New Yorkers out of the building and from making their presence felt? Do you really feel two thousands enough?

No. Two thousand is not even close. Two thousand is not even at the threshold. You're not even in the two one two area code close enough.

No march like George Washington did. Two thousand tickets. I'm seeing two thousand New Yorkers on the screen right here, hopping up and down in some atrium.

There it is. OK, where's the guy with two thousand tickets? Because he's he's in his first union seat. Sixteen.

What's the capacity? First union. Give him the shot. Get out of here. This is the same as the other January the sixth. Get out of here. Two thousand tickets ain't enough.

It is not enough. There's enough left on the secondary ticket market. They're going to find their way in.

They're going to find their way in. Looks like 18-1 for basketball. 18-1. Chris, you're the math guy around here.

What's that? What's the percentage? Two thousand tickets of eighteen thousand? It's about eleven percent. It's one ninth. Yeah. OK. Chris only knows odds when it comes to betting, though. All right.

So I know Philly's favorite tonight. So great. Awesome. Great. Great.

Sounds good. Game seven happens. Just make sure Tyrese Maxey is fouled before shooting the three-point shot play. I love it. Hey, man. Come on. This series needs and deserves a game seven. Great. Two games.

Two games were one by the team that was down by two possessions with less than 30 seconds to go. OK. Unreal. Unreal series. It has been great. Awesome. Great. Two thousand tickets.

Not enough. Let's take a break. Jerry Seinfeld's here in studio hour number three. We've got John Harbaugh and Gerard Mayo, the head coaches of the Ravens and Patriots, respectively, hour two. When we come back, the general manager of the Los Angeles Rams, Les Steed, will join us. That's next. This is an outstanding edition of the Rich Eyes and Show.

Look at Les's hair on the screen, people. It's like. 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. 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 BL EAV on YouTube or wherever you listen. We see all those calls from a general manager, a coach to a prospect that's just about to get picked. The Rams, I think, have set a new standard after Jared verse of Florida State got chosen first overall or their their first draft choice, their first first round draft choice since Jared Koff back in the day. Then they chose Braden Fisk, a teammate of versus from Florida State.

This happened. Hey, Braden. Yes, sir.

This is Les Snead, Los Angeles Rams. How are you doing, sir? I'm good.

Hey, we just traded in. I forget what pick it is. What is it? Thirty ninth.

Thirty ninth. And we're going to draft it. What do you think? Oh, that's unbelievable.

I can't think. Oh, I get to wait. I'm playing reverse again. And you know what? We're trying to get verse to drive up and make the call to you.

But he got stuck in traffic about a minute away. Congrats. Enjoy it. I'm gonna put you on the phone right now with your new head coach, Sean McVay, right? How's it going, coach? Oh, man, we are fired up, bro.

I can't wait to watch you two back in action together. Pair you up with a return. Hey, you have no idea what you're going. Now you're going east coast to west coast, man. Yes, sir. Hey, Jared, talk to your new teammate, Braden Fisk, man. Hey, Fisk. Let's go, boy. Boy, no worries.

How about that? We got you two together. I told you, man. Oh, my God.

Hey, we can play with you again. I can't believe this, man. Congratulations. I'm so proud of you.

Oh, I can't. I can't wait. Well, we're gonna do this, baby. We're gonna do this. I'm so proud of you, man. Yeah, man. Oh, that is awesome.

Hey, good luck. How cool is that, man? How great is that?

Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, we just showed an ROKU-only segment. The Rams drafting Braden Fisk out of Florida State, and Les Sneed's on the phone with him to welcome him to the team. And Jared Verse, his teammate from Florida State, who was the first-round selection of the Rams, had just shown up to their draft house in time to welcome Fisk to the team. Getting goosebumps right now.

Because, you know, when college teams finish and they look around the room, and they're like, this is the last time we're gonna be together as a team, and you think you're never gonna play with this guy again. And now the Rams are offering the chance of these two guys to play together again. And they started crying. I got goosebumps, and it's getting dusty in here.

General manager of the Los Angeles Rams, Les Sneed, joining us right here on the Rich Eisen Show. How cool was that, Les? You know, that was one of the, I would put it as my top moment of, let's call it making a call, being in a draft room. And like you, Rich, when you're sitting there seeing it, I definitely had water in my eyes. I'm one of those guys that somewhat probably stubbornly prides himself on not crying too much, but there was definitely some tears welling up with Sean and myself in that draft room. Now what's neat is when you saw our content team put the video together, then you see, we didn't get to see Braden on the other side until the content team meshed that whole video together.

And wow, here comes the, here comes the water again. So pretty cool moment that came together there, coincidentally, and with a little bit of intentionality as well. What was the intentionality? What was that? You know what was interesting?

A lot of our, we, let's, what is that? Friday morning, we did have the intention of trying to move up to draft Braden. We had done Jared the night before, we knew he was coming to LA. So one of my top lieutenants who coordinates our scouting, James Gladstone had mentioned, wow, if we trade up and are able to get Braden, wouldn't it be neat if he made the call to Jared? I'm like, wow, that's cool. See if it works out.

Now with that being said, that was the last time I mentioned anything. I know James then went to Sophie Harlan, our director of football operations who kind of coordinates the logistics. Next thing I know, we made the move, Jared's on his way, and it all works out. It sure does. And so, but in terms of, you know, obviously you're not making draft choices for the content.

By the way, if you do, two salutes, sir, that's amazing. You know, speaking on behalf of somebody who's creating stuff every single day, but clearly there is a, what benefit is there of taking two guys who know how to play with each other already? The interesting thing, when we vetted both Jared and Braden, what you did learn through that process was how close they were. And with that being said, both of them were, let's call it transfers up. They were both at schools that were, let's call it not power five. Jared the year before to Florida State, this was the second year of Florida State, and then Braden coming from Western Michigan. So I think there was a bond there.

You could tell, I mean, you just, we learned during the vetting process that they got really, really close as they worked together, competed with each other to make each other better. And then along the way, from a collective standpoint, I think I've mentioned many of times, if you're bored and you have nothing to do, YouTube, the Florida State Louisville ACC Championship game, we all knew the ramifications. Florida State lost their QB. They probably weren't going to the Final Four based on that. But at the end of the day, they had had this Cinderella season.

And to make it worthwhile, they did need to get that ACC Championship right. And those two players, along with the nine other defenders, I'm sure some subs, you know what, they took over that game. And it was just a fun defensive game to watch. And that's kind of what you can see how those two learn to play off of each other throughout the year.

Now, obviously, they're different players. And there's only one Aaron Donald. But, you know, I'll be straight up, you hit the defensive line twice to start your draft. And Donald's not there anymore.

Is there any connection on this front? Here's what I, we obviously when we lost Aaron, we needed to help the D. That was intentionality. We've said many times, you know, we can't replace Aaron Donald and weren't really trying to, but we were still trying to reinforce the defense and continue playing quality defense. There was probably a joking group text among some of us that did say, you know what, you can't replace Aaron Donald with one, but maybe with two. And I know we circled back later in the draft and did a couple more, let's call it front five, front five top players where there was OLB defensive line in our scheme. And so, well, maybe four can replace Aaron Donald. So, yeah, I mean, you grab another edge rusher from Washington State with a fifth round pick, a defensive tackle with a sixth round pick.

I mean, and so those are four guys right there. And obviously, Kynchon's getting a safety from Miami for the back end of your defense as well. When did you first get an inkling that Aaron Donald might be retiring, Les? I think the first inkling was, I think Sean mentioned it during the season, there was a little bit of vibe that this could be it for Aaron as he chatted with people around the building. Now, with that being said, he was having a blast in his final season, right? As we started slowly, caught some momentum in the second half of the season, he was having fun.

Very similar to to Jared and Braden. He was evolving to work with some of our younger defenders, right? And it was just, you could just tell it was Aaron Donald was having fun playing football again. But I believe he did mention to Sean after the playoff loss to Detroit that that was probably it.

Now, we were, you know, all football players think about that moment. Now it's time to, right, take a little time away and figure out, okay, is it time to say goodbye? And I do know at some point into the offseason, he did sit with Sean and say, you know what, my cup is full, basically.

I've had enough, I've had a fulfilling career and it's time to step off stage. Did you attempt to spill anything out of the cup and say, well, wait a minute, we think there's a little bit more to the cup? Give him a larger cup? Did you ever? I did.

Here's what I did do. I did mention to Aaron that, let's call it going back to our Super Bowl run, that there was a player by the name of Eric Weddle who kind of, you know, stepped the year, somewhat retired, and we jumped in the playoffs and we signed him to the practice squad. And we standard elevated him for four straight games to a Super Bowl championship. So I did mention if we happened to get to the playoffs again, maybe we'll circle back and see, you know, if the cup's not quite filled. Really? Okay, so. That's just from, I doubt Aaron's going to do that.

Well, I know that. Here's one of those guys, he's so principled, I'm not sure if he would just, he might feel uncomfortable that, you know what, I didn't go through those other 18 with the guys. I'm not sure I can go through the playoffs with him. Not sure, we may tempt him.

Nothing, no breaking news here. No, but you got to give that shot, and I'm sure the rest of the guys would make an exception for 99. You know what I mean? We'll probably save that number, right?

That's a good idea. Keep that in abeyance, yes. Less need here on the Rich Eisen Show. All right, I've really held my fire here. You're burying the lead, Rich. Oh, you know it. You know it.

And you reenact the emotion of the only reason we're on this call. And I'm glad that Les knows. It's not the only reason, Les.

Just the biggest reason. Oh, I mean, the whole Braden Fest, I get it, you're producers and that's a good, I get it. It's feel good. It's feel good, you're right. It got dusty a little bit in here.

Heartstrings. But yes, when you drafted Blake Coram out of the University of Michigan, and I had not heard his name, and literally, I'm sitting on the draft set and I'm like, the Rams are on the clock. And I'm like, they should do this. This is exactly the type of guy that would be so perfect for them in this offense with Kyron Williams and the rest of what their passing game is so dynamic and what he means to the team, what he would mean to the city, what he mean to the organization.

They should do this. And then I heard his name and I just, I just said, yes. And I slammed the table. I did. And then I called you a genius, Les.

I called you a genius. That was a first in my lifetime. That'd be first and last. But I'll take it rich. Walk me through it.

Why'd you do it? Well, I can't say this. I didn't hear that live.

And then post draft, that was probably Friday night. My wife, Kara, who you know, y'all are close going back. She played the video to me. And let's call it like it is. I was like, wow. We know Rich is a Michigan man. We know this was one of his greatest Michigan, you know, seasons of all time, but that was real passion.

So when I did play that to our group in the draft room, I did feel the passion, but they were wondering, oh, is the only reason you played that because he called you a genius? I said, that's a bonus. That's a bonus in this whole thing.

Cherry on top, no doubt about it. But had you met with Blake before or what did you do with Blake leading up to this? One of the reasons we were really, really successful on offense this past year was getting back to the running game. And Kyron had a really, really, really good year. But we also know that you're going to probably need two running backs to get through these NFL seasons, continue running football. So Blake's always been one of our, let's call it favorite football players to watch. We didn't think, we thought he might go before pick 83 and we knew we probably wouldn't do a running back as early as the second round. So as we got to that third round pick, there was a lot of, we had done a lot of planning to think, okay, this might be a time to trade back and grab some, maybe some other ammo later in the draft and continue working the draft that way.

But when Blake, when we got to 83 and Blake was there, it was one of those things. As you know, Rich, just the human being and the football player combined, just a unique individual who's definitely going to help the Rams in many, many ways. I'm sure you heard from a lot of people you don't ordinarily hear from in regards to him, right?

I mean, Michigan has a wide, broad range, powerful, passionate, let's call it alumni base. So out of the woodworks, got a lot of texts from some Michigan people across the country because you can tell that he earned his equity there. He did.

He did. He's special, man. He's a special dude. And his injury history, as you know, and him coming back and then leading the team with an insane number of touchdowns, but also his his turkey drive in the community. I mean, you understand the importance of having somebody like that on the team. And he's perfect.

He's perfect. I would say this, Rich, we all try to rate human beings. It's a very subjective, it's complex. Human beings are complicated. How do we as other humans rate humans?

But on our rating scale, he is definitely one of the let's call it better, higher, rare humans that we've ever, you know, tried to try to rate and bet on coming out. I can tell you that. Here's the interesting thing, Rich.

I don't know. I don't know if this made the draft call, but I was very, very clear to him when we called Blake. Hey, this is the Los Angeles Rams, Rams, not Chargers. It's Rams. Considering one of his head coaches right down the road. That's exactly right.

No. And I can't wait to see what Sean cooks up with him in this offense. Less need here on the Rich Eisen Show, LA Rams GM. So I'll just place in front of you the story that came out draft week about Matthew Stafford wanting some what, more years or guaranteed dollars on his contract. Where do things stand with your quarterback?

Here's what I can say. I know we'll keep all the nuances in house, but I think you'll hear us say a lot. We're really jacked to have Matthew as our QB, and we want him to be our QB as long as he wants to play quarterback. And he's still playing at a high level, and we definitely expect for all things to work out. Matthew and our partnership to continue. Okay. And how many, I guess he'll speak for himself, but you kind of alluded to it because that's the sense we all have in the media is that he's getting up in years and then you take a look at him and there's way more older quarterbacks in the National Football League, but it's his sense of wanting to keep doing it in question?

No, I don't think it's in question. I think when players get to his age, I do think that there's always a self-reflection. How long do you want to do it, right? And he's never, I know he's, we all know he's in the twilight and he's in the back nine of his career, but as we saw this year, he can still play with the best of them. And selfishly, I like to remind him that players like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are, you know, they creep up close to 40 and still like to play. So we'll continue working that for sure. All right, last one, Les. Again, this is something that I could have gotten to just naturally, since you did mention your wife, Carol, who I've known since the mid-90s when we worked at ESPN together.

She sent a tweet out last night that caught my eye. Be forewarned, Les, some of his top personnel brass and I were talking about you last night, meaning me, and came to a very strong scouting report conclusion and saying we call this a tease in the business. So what's up? So I'll try to get to this quickly. All right, so let's go this.

You like to run your 40. Yes. Obviously that goes, right, let's call it average to below average. He's an evaluator. It's okay.

It's okay. Average is probably, yeah, that's probably. Generous.

Yeah, generous. So the point being is we as a scouting staff or some of the personnel guys is there's a, let's call it a theory that the Rams do not care about the 40 yard dash. And, you know, I would say this, we care, but we weigh that a lot less.

So you're still on the board, Rich. But the reason I said, you know, I said, you know what, I've always said the reason we, let's call it weigh the 40 a lot less. And if you, I think there was a tweet where Nick Saban, when he was doing his draft work, discussed, let's call it football instincts. And I believe he called it athletic intuition. And we've often said the central nervous system is really what's at play when you're playing football. It's not necessarily running a 40 where you get down in a stance. Very rarely on the football field do you get down in a stance and just run 40 yards, right? Football is more like a video game, right?

It's like Frogger. You're trying to cross the road. You just don't run straight. You got to think quickly. You got to have peripheral vision.

So it all got to the way you reacted with the Blake Coram pick. I'm like, wow, Rich's central nervous system. That's it.

It worked. It is so quick. I've been around you and care at the dinner table. I know it's as witty as it gets. You're sitting, you're so quick. So I do think you have some version of athletic intuition from a central nervous system that you could go out and play safety for Michigan.

You could probably figure out real quickly. Are they, are they going to run? Are they going to throw? You know what? Is it a deep, isn't it?

And you, bam, next thing you know, rich, take the 40 out of it, which is a debacle. Somehow you're there. Somehow you're there making the play. So I could wear the green dot for you.

Is that what you're saying? I could definitely green dot. You can green dot me. You can react.

Yeah. You can doesn't matter what you do at the 40. And I could come off the couch like Weddle, be a champion.

I could do that. So maybe I got it. I'm with you. So if Aaron Donald doesn't take that potential plan down the road, you know where to find me. It's basically what I'm saying for you for your playoff run. We'll do that. I'm here.

How are you less? You're good. I'm good. Okay.

Should we sign you for that playoff run? Less you be well, great to see you. Enjoyed it.

Thanks for doing this right back at you. That's let's need everybody. The general manager of the Los Angeles Rams telling me I have athletic intuition. So I've got that going for me, which is nice. That's huge. Which is nice.

Can we get that as a, to replace the best dad ever. What athletic, uh, intuitive athletes. Yeah, there you go. I'm an intuitive athlete. I do have quick Twitch. I got intuition, intuitive athletes. Have you ever heard football described as like Frogger? If not, it's well, I mean, it makes sense. You know, it's got that lateral and forward movement is their third round draft choice out of the university of Michigan.

So rich guy, tell you something about that 40 though. I know you ran your slowest time the first time you ran. So you've gotten better every year, right? Am I, am I off once?

No, no, no, no, no. I, I, I, I was three one hundreds of a second slower this year than the first time. Really?

His best. Oh, you mean my first time I ever first time I ever ran it. Um, I was also in dress shoes. I'm just saying you've got better every year. So yeah.

Oh, I have, I guess, but I have slowed down over the last three, four years. I'm just trying to put a positive spin on it. I appreciate it. You know what I mean? I think the issue is it's, it's the start and then it's the middle. The middle. And then the finish.

Things you want to get going. That's all. Right.

Yeah. But it's kind of like, it's kind of like, uh, again, um, uh, I might be dating myself. You, you've probably never seen Monty Python's Holy grail, right?

Chris, you've never, nobody ever does. There's like a, there's like a, there's a scene where the castle's being attacked and they're watching the marauders coming and every single time they cut back to the marauders, they cut to the castle and back to the more the marauders are getting further away. That's the way I feel like with the 40 yard dash finish. I feel like as I get closer, it feels like I'm further away each time. It doesn't matter though, man, because every year when you guys play that video package and this year, man, I sat on the couch and watch you bro. And I got a little misty eyed and it just the greatness that, that comes out of this run every year. It doesn't matter if you run 10 seconds, man, it doesn't matter. It's just what, what, what you bring together every year. And the fact this, and then getting to see cage Brockman highlighted on, on this final piece, he got the super slow-mo treatment.

They gave cage the super slow-mo treatment. Very nice. Very nice of Dallas Hitchcock to include myself, but it's very hard not to get, I got to speak to Dallas.

Cause he left one of my kids out. Oh, no. Well, he thought cage may have been your, maybe that was not, but in all seriousness, you're referring to Dallas Hitchcock who wins all the Emmys for NFL network every year. And the fact, and again, the fact that NFL network makes sure that Dallas does it and that Dallas finds the time out of his insanely busy schedule and wants to do it along with very talented director, Jim Fabio. They put it together and that's what moves people is the edit and the piece and the way they, they weave it all together, that people see it. And they just want the idea of that piece is to make sure that you reach for your phone and then hit the donate button. That's the idea. And at this point, I think we're over 600 grand for the, for the run this year, seven million for the run overall and stjude.org slash run, rich run is still there for you to donate. We're back with more on maybe the end of a television era in front of us on sports TV.

That's next with John Harbaugh and Jarrod Mayo and Jerry Seinfeld still to come. Afford Anything talks about how to avoid common pitfalls, how to refine your mental models and how to think about how to think. Well, certainly you can mess up on a million dollars a year. It is far less likely than it is on $30,000 a year, right? I would meet wonderful people that were struggling with a budget that was super tight.

It was a hundred percent. You need to make more money, make smarter choices and build a better life. Afford Anything wherever you listen. What goes through your mind when you hear everybody wants one of you, you know, it's flattering and humbling rich, but it's a result of the success we've had as a team. And you know, it's just like, you know, but it's, but you know what though?

It is true though. Like we got great coaches on our staff. We got good players. It's a great reflection of our organization and what we've done. And I think, you know, that's the biggest thing. And to see guys that we've worked with over the last couple of years, get opportunities with Matt and with Zach Taylor, you know, they're deserving of it because of what they've done on their own merit. And when they go in and compete for jobs, people say, man, we can see this guy leading our organization.

And, you know, I'm looking forward to seeing those guys thrive. Have you told Kingsbury that he has a job because of you too? No, that's the game. Cliff got his deal on his own. Okay. No, I'm sure he didn't. I know you had, you, you know, you were, you were, you were, you were knocking on his door too, to join your staff.

I know that. So you're, well, you passed him according to you told that to Schefter that I did. You totally, what did you do to him? Well, basically, you know, we, he, he obviously has a pre-existing relationship with, with Patrick Mahomes.

He was out here doing some things and Cliff was, was having dinner with him and a group of people. And we have a mutual friend and I tricked him into thinking that, you know, he was tampering and that he was going to lose some picks. It was what you changed somebody's, somebody's name and your phone to Roger Goodell.

I did our mutual friend. He, yeah, I couldn't let this go on too long. So our mutual friend, a guy named Chaz Gessner, we put, I put his number in my phone as Roger Goodell and had him send me a text that said, you know, Hey, this is tampering. You know, better than this guys are both, you know, and, and I showed it to Kingsbury and I said, you know, Mr. Goodell, he never texted me. I said, you better call Steve kind of right now. And his face, he was like, he said, I thought I was going to throw up. He's like, that's wrong. I mean, I couldn't let it go on for more than 30 seconds.

It was, it was a good, but a bad joke, man. I mean, he's like, you ruined dinner, man. Fun stuff back on our YouTube page, back 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. Listen, it's so difficult in our industry to create chemistry on a TV sports show that makes you feel comfortable, makes you laugh, makes you think, makes you want to keep coming back for more and makes you sit there and go, those guys or ladies look like they're having fun. That's the key. And if you have that, you don't want to ever want to give it up. Trust me.

I know this firsthand. So the NBA is currently going through some conversations about their future television rights. And there's a ton of money being talked about right now, billions upon billions of dollars. And they're doing what the NFL has been doing for a bit, which is diversify out, get more and more partners in, and suddenly you're everywhere. You've got a streaming partner. The NFL now has an Amazon. And apparently Amazon's about to come in and put money on the table to get NBA games on Amazon, on Prime Video, which you'd be able to see right here on the Roku portal. By the way, just as every other game would be on ESPN or ABC.

That apparently is a rights holder that is already settled. They haven't announced it, made it official, but everyone believes ESPN and ABC are going to be the main partner again, where you're going to see the NBA finals on that. But the question is, is TNT going to retain their rights that they've had for 40 years or is NBC going to come in and throw it on Peacock or on NBC itself as well? And if TNT is out, then that would mean these four guys would be out as well.

My NBA on TNT bottle that we have here. And look, listen, on Game Day Morning, as I've been hosting Game Day Morning for a long time, our standard has been, can we be as good as these four guys? Yeah.

Can we throw our hat in the ring of these four guys? Where they know each other and they're funny with each other and they're thought provoking and their arguments aren't for argument's sake and it doesn't lead to awkward television very often. Yeah, because they're friends and that matters.

That matters. I mean, the other day when Shaq got Charles to mention one more time that he thinks the Pelicans have been so bad, they should not send him the Cancun, which is their annual joke of where you go once you're done with the, you're out of the playoffs, that they should send him to Galveston where there's this dirty water or whatever. And you could see, we all have conversations where we try to stir each other up and we know that we're going to get you to say something that you shouldn't. And then you actually start saying something funny just to make me laugh, but are also trying to get something off your chest.

And it's exactly that friendly dynamic. We saw a play out on TV while Shaq was just like giggling. Stirring Charles out. Stirring Charles out and Charles gave what he's looking for and Ernie just sits there and lets it go and then finally goes, all right, the final score was 105 to, you know. Back to the highlight. I don't think Kenny was there. I think Vince Carter was caught in the middle of all that. I mean, the other day, Kenny falls going to the big board and then the next day they have the chalk outline and the police tape.

What Shaq was arguing about, arguing about figuring out the price of gas and all that. We see it year in and year and year out. And so if Turner's out, these four guys are out. And I'll just tell you this, in our business, for somebody else to say, we're spending billions of dollars on our new package and we're just going to take somebody else's team and keep them intact.

It's pie in the sky. I'm telling everybody that. And Charles confirmed that he has an out in his contract that if Turner no longer has MBA, he's a free agent and ESPN will spend whatever they need to spend. And obviously Bezos has got dollars to spend.

I mean, I think again, Charles not going to the live tour is, was one of the smartest decisions he ever made. And he's about to make, if money matters to him and money matters to everybody. But when we watch these four guys, it's kind of sad if they're going to let this thing go. And I was, I was just sitting here wondering like, does the, I've never said this about rights fees and TV people on the air, even though I feel it because it helps put a roof over my head. And I always value what I can bring to a television show and a television package always. But you know, NBA has got to sit there and think these are the four best guys to sit down together and talk about their sport and make it go viral in a way that nobody else can. And should that be a metric or you just sit there and go, no, you know, Zaslav shows the money, you know?

And so I don't know. So as we watch them, just soak it in because that next year may be their last. It's kind of crazy because they are truly the best at it. And it's tough for me to say that out of a sense of competition.

Hour two coming up, John Harbaugh. But I mean, you know, they're fun. And they talk about the NBA in a way that I don't think any other show can. But you're crazy if you think somebody's just going to give them all four of them and keep them intact, Mike. You have to. I know what you have to do. You don't tell television executives like we're putting our own stamp on this thing. This is our new thing. Bumble Rock wouldn't be played for an NBA final when I was younger.

I'd have been like, you're crazy. I know that. And now you do it on Fox and it means less. It means less.

That's what I'm saying. It's not as cool. It's not as cool because it's Sunday open now.

Back then, you can't just say, oh, remember how this music made you feel when Jordan took on Hakeem Olajuwon and just, you know, it took on Carmelone. It's cool. I get to play. That's the way I should feel watching Xavier on baby Fox. I mean, seriously, not the same, but it is. But I mean, to me, it's cool.

I get to play it. But if you told me I'd be playing that, would they want to work for another network? I don't know if Ernie can.

Ernie might be Ernie's been with baseball and the March Madness and all that stuff. I mean, you may not even have an outlet, but you see, there are some people who work for Amazon that work for other places. So it's feasible.

I'm not saying it's not feasible. It's just like we're starting something new. It's new and it's new and improved and we're going to go with our own people.

But they did just take out from NBC and ABC for decades and put him in the booth to start it. So maybe they start with these four. I don't know.

But all I'm saying is odds are this could be the end. Welcome to Talkville, the ultimate small rewatch podcast guest star Sarah Carter as Alicia Baker. Although I don't really work with her a lot, but Tom did and they had some real big smoochy scenes. Yeah. Should we talk about that? Could there be any more sex? What was the 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.