Albert Breer: did Tom Brady admit to Deflategate?

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Learn more at Marines.com. Here's something you're really going to love. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Todd Bowles, head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Did you watch any of the Tom Brady Roasts? I caught snippets of it.

I'm a huge Mickey Glaser fan. Tom also lost $30 million in crypto. How did you fall for that? Even Gronk was like, me know that, not real money. Earlier on the show, Turner Sports play-by-play announcer Brian Anderson, UCLA head coach Deshaun Foster. Coming up, senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Deshaun Foster is exiting stage left right now in a fun chat. Last couple of segments with the head coach of UCLA football.

So cool, man. Guy who scored a 33-yard touchdown in the first Super Bowl I ever covered for NFL Network is leaving the Rich Eisen Show as the new head coach of UCLA football. Kind of full circle.

Yeah. And telling Steve Smith stories from back in the day. And talked about his Super Bowl touchdown run. And he's like, what else happened in that game?

And I'm thinking to myself, well, I mean, Vinatieri kicked a field goal at the very end, again, for the second time in his many Super Bowls because Tom Brady marched him right down the field. Can't be referring to that. What's he referring to?

Oh, the wardrobe malfunction is what he's referring to. Oh, that one. Yeah. Oh. Great chat, man.

A lot of fun. Brian Anderson was on an hour. Number one, he's calling Knicks-Pasers game two tonight on TNT. Reggie Miller is going to be right next to him.

Madison Square Garden for Pacers-Nicks playoff game. Curious about the whistles in that game tonight because that was a lot of controversy. Hey, the last two-minute report confirmed the call. Said that was a proper offensive foul call on the Indiana Pacers. Oh, shocking it said that.

No, no, they've contradicted themselves. And by the way, tough guy, who called your game last night? Who was one of your refs last night? Scott Foster. Was it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was one of the three refs in your 25-point game one win. When that game was such a blowout, he couldn't really be a factor anyway. Foster's actually been really good for a few years. Oh, by the way, unfortunately ESPN's reporting right now, Mitchell Robinson's out six to eight weeks.

So it's precious to chew a time. For four minutes. No, he'll be playing more than four minutes.

Oh man, what a bummer. That guy cannot stay healthy. So the Knicks suffer another major injury from one of their stars. Oh my goodness.

Really healthy, man. Buddy, you'd have to be given serious consideration. Or not. I mean, you know, this team has gelled in the way they have.

So we'll discuss that later on. But joining us right now, our buddy from Sports Illustrated. We haven't spoken to Albert Breer in a while.

There he is looking. You're working on your tan already? It's only me. What's going on? What the hell? What's happening? I've told you, you know, this is like one of my biggest strengths is my ability to tan. But yeah, we already got it going outside of a lot of the kids sports the last few weeks.

I guess we'll do it. Look at that. You know what to Deshaun Foster is one of those guys that makes me feel old because he's my high school graduating class.

Yeah. And I can still remember all those guys that were like the top players in the country, you know, my senior year of playing football, you know, in high school. And I remember Ronald Curry was the number one player in the number one player in the country that year. And Deshaun Foster was way the hell out there, though. Albert, we were going down memory lane of his of his high school championship game where he lost to Carson Palmer in his high school. And and he had six touchdowns in the game that they lost. And he amassed thirty three hundred rushing yards on the season. And yeah, and he said USC asked him to play corner.

Which is that right? Yes. Wow. Which is part of the reason why I went to UCLA. You know, it's crazy. So if we're going to go down memory lane about like that year's class, which again was my my my senior class in high school, two of the best.

This is sort of dates me a little bit. But two of the best quarterbacks in the country were also like elite players in other sports. You don't see that as much anymore. But you had Ronald Curry, who I believe was the number one recruit in both football and basketball. Correct. Yeah, that's true.

I think he was in both. And if you remember, there was a quarterback from the next town over that got a lot less attention that wound up being the number one pick in the draft. And that was Michael Vick three years later.

And then the other one is somebody you're very familiar with. And that was Drew Henson, who was excellent, excellent, excellent football. I can remember going to Michigan football camp my senior year in high school and how he was treated like royalty there. Oh, yeah.

And and baseball was obviously a great, great baseball player. Yeah. And obviously he was Mr. Michigan in football to the point where he wound up splitting, starting gigs with Tom Brady.

Yeah. And that was part of the Brady, the Brady building, you know, of his legacy. You know, it drives me crazy about that story, though, Rich, is that everybody gets it wrong. Like it was the story at the time was not like Brady is getting benched for Henson. The story at the time, as I remember it, was Tom Brady is holding off to Henson because he was one of the most high profile recruits in the history of that program, one of the most high profile recruits in the in the country that year.

And like he was from down the street. So the fact that Brady held him off was the story at the time. Right. You remember that.

I do. It wasn't it wasn't that like Brady sucks and he's getting benched. It was like, oh, my God, Tom Brady is holding off this like force of nature, Drew Henson, which sounds crazy now. But that's what it was at the time.

No doubt. I mean, Lloyd Carr essentially had to play Drew Henson. I mean, he got him there and the whole state was like, let's see this kid like he's his huge recruit. And the kid from San Mateo didn't really have much, you know, cred in the state of Michigan.

And so that let's they had to see him. And Brady was holding him off. And and he was better than Drew Henson to the point where Lloyd's like, screw it.

He's he's got to be the guy. And I remember being in I was in Syracuse and and they they swapped quarters, starting quarters, Michigan, Syracuse. And I believe you were in that building, Chris, as well. I was sitting in the end zone for that game. I mean, I was there with my brother in law and watching Brady just play his head off. And it's just like, OK, I guess we got to see Drew Henson anyway, because he's Drew Henson. And Brady just took it over, man.

And I guess it was held against him and being one ninety ninth overall, I guess, you know. It's crazy, too, because like people forget how good Henson was like, because I'll never forget, like so my junior year being in the closed end of the horseshoe, like our fraternity block was in like the left corner of the end zone. And seeing a throw that Drew Henson made to David Terrell, Michigan beat Ohio State that year was 2000. And Henson rolled right and threw the ball from like midfield to the back corner to the other corner of the end zone to David Terrell for a touchdown. And I remember thinking to myself, like, this guy's going to be an unbelievable NFL quarterback when I watch that that happened. And I think if Henson had come out that year, if Henson had decided to play football instead of playing baseball and he'd gone back to Michigan in no one. I mean, as I remember it, there was a chance he might have gone in front of David Carr as the first pick in the draft in 02.

So yeah, I mean, I think there's been a lot of rewriting of history when it comes to what that situation actually was. Albert Breer here on the Rich Eisen Show. So I guess let's because there's a couple of ways I want to go with this interview. Let us start with the rookie quarterback and off of that story where obviously you got to time your departure from college just right to get to the right spot and you got to make the right decisions and teams have got to make the right draft choices. I always love visiting with you after a draft, a couple of weeks after draft, because now the chatter, people are a little bit more open about what was going on behind the scenes. And you wrote about it this week as well.

The Atlanta choice, it's so fascinating. It's going to play out potentially for the next several years, it looks like. Who knows? We don't know. But why did the Falcons draft Michael Penix?

How did this happen, Albert? Yeah, I think to some degree it was maybe a little of an overcorrection of what's happened the last couple of years. And I mean, to be fair to Arthur Smith, who's now the Steelers offensive coordinator, things went haywire on them two years ago and they were never able to fully put the toothpaste back in the tube. The plan had been to hang on to Matt Ryan for an extra year into the twenty one season. Then they get involved in the Deshaun Watson pursuit.

That puts things that kind of moves things sideways. So they wind up trading Matt Ryan. You know, in twenty one, they go forward with Marcus Mariota at quarterback. Sorry, I'm gonna get my ears mixed up now. I was twenty two.

I was twenty two. They go forward, Mariota and then last year with Ritter. And so, you know, really it's been kind of a, I would say, a difficult couple of years at the position. And, you know, ownership is obviously a part of that, you know. And so, you know, I do think, you know, like there was at least there was there was a mandate there for for Terry Fontenot and for the new head coach Raheem Morris get the quarterback position right. Which is what my signing cousins made complete and total sense because it then frees you up to use the eighth overall pick to supplement the choice of cousins. Like that's that's what it was. So I did not see this coming. And, you know, and I still needed a Kirk.

I'm still and that's that's that's right, huh? It's true. They didn't get to him until he was on the clock.

Correct. And I mean, like, first of all, their process, I do think, you know, they went through a really full process and assessing Michael Pennix and assessing the whole class. And, you know, I know that Raheem had gotten his coaches, some of whom would come from him, come come with him from the Rams to sit down and drill down on the quarterbacks early so they could do it ahead of free agency so they could look at, you know, the rookies together, you know, with the potential free agents, Kirk Cousins being in that group. And, you know, like I know they liked Michael Pennix, you know, pretty early on. And they kept looking at it and drilling down on it and saying, OK, how do we how do we how do we, you know, get to a full assessment of it? That leads to, you know, seeing him throw the combine and he threw the ball really well at the combine a lot better than he did at the Senior Bowl.

And then, you know, getting on a plane and going across country from, you know, from Atlanta to Seattle and a huge group of them, I think eight of them, got on Arthur Blank's jet and flew from Atlanta to Seattle to see Michael Pennix throw Pennix threw great at that workout. You know, and then I think the discussion becomes, all right, like if it comes down to it, do we are we actually comfortable taking him eighth overall? And, you know, I I know a part of why they kept it quiet. This part I understand is that Terry Fontenot was in New Orleans in 2007, 17, when Sean Payton was very high on Patrick Mahomes. And the Saints really felt like part of the reason they lost Mahomes was because word of their interests got out and word of their interests getting out was confirmed to them. And in that Brett Veitch, who, you know, was the Chiefs, I think vice president player personnel at the time, he's a general manager, now texted the Saints draft room after they traded up to get to 10 in front of the Saints who were at 11 with two words, got him, you know, basically telling the Saints like, hey, we knew you were on to this kid and we just leapfrogged you to go and get him. And we all know what's happened with Mahomes.

You get marked by your experience. And part of that was why Terry Fontenot made the decision to keep it quiet. And it's not saying anything about his interest in Michael Pennix to anybody or even indicate that they would use the eighth overall pick or consider using the eighth overall pick on a quarterback. Now, the flip side of this, Rich, and I know I'm going on here, but the flip side of this is part of the reason Kirk Cousins left Minnesota was because they had been very honest and open with him about taking a quarterback in 2024, going back a year when they were negotiating an extension in 2023. Part of the issue for Kirk was they wouldn't guarantee anything past 2024. And they also said, you know, if the right quarterback comes along, you know, we can't rule out the idea that we would draft your replacement in the spring of 2024.

Fast forward a year and they're talking ahead of free agency this year. And, you know, the Vikings wouldn't guarantee all of 2025 and they wouldn't rule out the possibility that they take his replacement there. And so, you know, I think for Kirk in this situation, it was really looking at it and saying, I need to go to a place that's going to, you know, put it in writing, basically writing my contract in a way that's going to affirm to me that I'm going to be their quarterback for the next few years. So, I'm not part of some sort of plan to offload me, you know, which is what he felt like Minnesota was going to be, you know. And so, he gets the contract from Atlanta, but I don't know that he ever asked the question, are you going to take my replacement in the first round?

Well, why would he? You know, I mean, and so, so are you saying, just so I'm getting this right, you're saying Kirk Cousins left the team that has Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison on it with a head coach who is a former quarterback, who is very quarterback friendly, and he's been with for a while. He left that team because that team was upfront with him about we're going to choose your replacement in this draft, most likely, or it's, we're not going to not do that. And he leaves for another team that gives him the contract he's looking for, but then goes ahead anyway and drafts this replacement without telling him until they're on the clock.

And that team is doing so because they had such a tough time replacing Matt Ryan, and they got a veteran finally to replace Matt Ryan and chose a kid anyway, because they want to make sure when they're post the guy who's the next Matt Ryan, that they're not going through the experience they had between Matt Ryan and the next Matt Ryan. Is that, did I get all that right? I think, I think so.

And that was why it took me so long. Cause there's not like this so complicated because it makes no sense, right? It just makes very little sense because the whole idea of like, well, Cousins might, because you hear this spinning, you hear, and it may not be coming from Atlanta. You're, you're hearing it from a lot of Falcons fans or that you do hear it from members of the media who might be hearing it from the Falcons.

I don't know. Well, that Cousins might not be ready yet. Then why sign him? Well, we need to make sure we need to make sure that, that, that the next guy after Cousins is already here when we're drafting as high as we're drafting, but the guy that you're drafting is 24.

And you may not find out that he's the guy for real until you finally do start him when he's close to 27. You know, it just doesn't. If you want to take this to another level, Rich, right?

Like why don't you take this to another level? Think about this, that like it's viewed as one of the biggest advantages in all of sports, right? To have a top border back on a rookie contract. We saw what it did for Buffalo. We saw what it did for Kansas city.

We saw what it did for Cincinnati. And you are basically negating the ability to do that now, because if he doesn't play until year three, well then you're, you got Kirk's contract this year, you got Kirk's contract next year. And then the year after that, you're still going to have, even if you cut him, like the cap ramifications, you know, like, so that advantage that you would have having a quarterback on a rookie contract is basically canceled out by Kirk Cousins' contract. So by the time he becomes the starter, you're already like almost at the very end of that. So you better be sure that he's going to become the type of quarterback that's worth paying because by the time he becomes a starter, you're going to be confronted with that decision. No doubt. And it's a decision that clearly the Bears just avoided having to do because Caleb Williams came along and it's part of the conundrum. Albert Breer here on the Rich Eisen show.

So here's the question I have on this and then we'll move on. The idea though that Pennix is the most pro, one of the most pro ready kids available in the draft this year. I mean, he's of the six that went in the first round, you'd put him in the top three that's most pro ready. You can rank it however you want with Williams and Daniels and him, however you want it.

I'm sure other people would have it on a board. So the idea though that he'd be there if Cousins isn't healthy. Is Cousins healthy? Is he ready to go week one? Is that the general sense? Yeah, I think Cousins will be healthy and ready to go week one. You know, the other element to this too that I think is interesting is I've heard people compare it to Green Bay and I don't think it's like that.

No. I think like Aaron Rodgers, put it this way, let's just like kind of sketch this out, right? So Jordan Love gets drafted in 2020. If Aaron Rodgers goes out and throws three picks in week three, people aren't yelling for Jordan Love to get on the field.

You know what I mean? Because Aaron Rodgers has 15 years of equity in that place. So Aaron Rodgers doesn't need to worry about that. Right now, Kirk Cousins with the fan base doesn't have any equity. He's new. You know, he just got there.

And so if he goes out and throws three interceptions in week three, what's the reaction going to be? It's totally different, right? Yeah. You don't have a sitting head coach. So that's another part of it.

It's just, you know, it's just complicated in so many different ways. And you know, the one thing that I keep coming back to with this and I look, if the Falcons think that Michael Pennix is the next Matthew Stafford and there are people in that organization and remember people in that organization worked with Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles. There are people who think as a passer, he's got that sort of ability, that sort of arm talent. But you know, so if he's Matthew Stafford, then you don't worry about the rest of it, right? If this leads to two years, two to three years of Kirk Cousins and 10 of Michael Pennix, well, then we're not worrying about that any of this anymore. Right. And that's the comparison people are making to the Green Bay and but your opinion.

It'd be the same way. We never talk about what the Bills gave up for Josh Allen or what the Chiefs gave up for Patrick Mahomes anymore. It was a lot. You know what I mean? We never talk about that anymore. We would 100 percent talk about if those picks didn't work out. So that's the one thing that you have to look at. But but yeah, I mean, like that's the thing.

Like, Rich is like these guys. He doesn't like Kirk doesn't have the equity in that organization and with that fan base yet, you know, and so that's what makes it really difficult for him is does this become a really awkward situation two or three weeks in if I like let's say that Kirk does play and Kirk is healthy if it just takes a couple of weeks to knock the rest of the rest off. Does this get awkward or to your point, if he were to have some sort of setback and Michael Pennix plays his ass off the first month of the season, then what do you do?

You know, I guess it's a good problem to have, but it's I think among the things that make this a really, really unique one when you come to like how quarterbacks are stacked and acquired. Albert, we're up against it. Can I keep you through the break? Is that fine? Yes. You got it. You got it. OK, you can ignore your children for that long. Is that OK? Yeah. OK, very good.

Pleasure to hang out with you guys for a little longer. I'm sorry. I should say your schedule is free. I shouldn't have put it that way.

My bad. I'll be working on my tent later. So I got time for Albert Breer. The George Hamilton of NFL Media will rejoin us next when we take a break.

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Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by Albert Brier of Sports Illustrated. Kind enough to stick around for another segment. I mentioned on Monday morning the Brady roast that I witnessed in person felt like a therapy session for the New England Patriots. Like there's a bunch of stuff they everybody got off their chest.

There's always a germ of truth and a really well-crafted, well-told joke. And I I heard a million of them that night. Albert, what did you think of that? Do you think he admitted to the flight gate or you know what?

We talked about that as well. I always thought he did it, you know, to be honest with you. And I always thought he did it. And I always thought like, what's the big deal?

Like, I never, ever thought that that. But if you want to relitigate the flight gate or remember it, it was right before the Super Bowl. He was on the heels of Spygate when everybody thought that the Patriots had gotten away with something and the league abetted it by destroying all the tapes.

And here was something again. And even though it kind of sent everybody crazy, news networks sent their network television sent their news divisions to grill Belichick and and the league handed it off to Ted Wells as an investigation to put it in a box before the Super Bowl week. So that wasn't going to be all over the Super Bowl week. And I always thought if Brady had done it, I thought he did it the entire time. Everybody seemed to forget the ball that was initially placed in for evidence was intercepted. You know, it's like, you know, it's just like, so it wasn't a perfect system.

Who cares? It was the same. It was the same argument as Spygate, right? Like, which was in Spygate. It was like, so we're supposed to believe that Bill who has everything down to the detail who knows who rushed for 432 yards in 1943, when half the NFL was over fighting the war, right? Like knows all of that, but somehow missed what his camera people were doing, right? It was the same sort of argument. It's like all these quarterbacks are so so anal about their footballs, right?

About about the balls and how they and how they're conditioned and everything else. And yet the greatest quarterback of all time just had no idea. It didn't match. It didn't compute.

And I'm with you and I'm with you because I think I think the whole thing there was always it's like he made me if this news had broken in March, he might have just admitted to it, but he couldn't at the time. And then things got so complicated. Haywire.

Haywire. That that that all of a sudden he became like a cornered animal. Well, what's a what's a cornered animal do?

A cornered animal fights, right? Well, sure, especially if they're taking his cell phone and suddenly now there's there's there's depositions being taken because you had to hand it off to an investigator to put it into a box so everybody could show up at the Super Bowl and say, can't talk about it. There's an investigation going on.

And then the investigation took on its own life. But be that as it may, I was kind of referring to, you know, Brady and Belichick and Gronk and Edelman and all of that stuff. And then the craft moment of doing a shot with Belichick, which seemed even hashtag too soon there still.

Right. I mean, it seems like yeah, it seems like Bill, I think I think Bill kind of conveyed two things. Number one, he did not like the Apple TV documentary. And number two, this is taking like his relationship with Kraft seems to have taken on a Jerry Jimmy dynamic where sometimes they can be polite for the cameras, but there's still a lot of a lot of a lot of feelings there, you know? And honestly, I that's why I think the documentary and like there were elements of it I liked, but like that's why I thought the documentary was it was way too soon.

I mean, it like Bledsoe, for example, right? Like the reason Drew was so good on the documentary and the reason and one of the reasons I think Drew, I don't know, would you you are sitting there like was Drew like the the best of the night? Like he might have been right? Well, I mean, of the players, it was just great. First of all, he was the first. So he had that benefit. And secondly, he had the largest axe to actually grind, you know what I'm saying? And and and for him to say what he said to Brady was fun and funny. And the way he did it was great. And, you know, obviously him talking about his twenty eighth wedding anniversary and all of that stuff was was kind of mind blowing at the time because he was the first of one of his former teammates to go there. So sure, you know, he had here's the key to that, though.

The reason I brought him up, Rich, what else does he have? He has perspective. He's had over 20 years to like let this whole thing breathe. He's been able to compartmentalize it.

You know what I mean? Like with a lot of these things, the wounds are still fresh, you know, like in the documentary, like the wounds are still fresh. Like Bledsoe has the sort of has has had the as has had the benefit of having the time to let the whole thing breathe and compartmentalize it and deal with it mentally.

He had the same benefit, like you know, in talking for the doc and being up there on the stage on on on Sunday night that the Bulls had. Right. And talking and talking for the and sitting down and talking for the last dance. Yes. Right. All these people have all this time to give it perspective and they've probably been able to kind of put those things on the shelf in the proper place in their lives.

And they're not still grappling with them. So are you just just to jump in here? Are you going in this direction? This is interesting because we didn't talk about this, guys, the other day either, that the safe space of a roast allowed for more revealing comments to be said amongst each other than the Apple TV documentary sitting down and having a director just ask a one on one question like that. Did we actually witness that? Is that what actually we're saying right now? Bill was taking shots at Danny Amendola's production. I know it was a joke, but he was like, you know, he had 250 yards this year, 200 yards this year.

Or a Randy Moss calls a good first half, you know, and what was it, you know, the success? Who's who is it? You know, who had the best part in the success? Was it me? Was it you? Well, it was both of us because of me.

Right. You know, when Amendola had the sharp like I would. Did Amendola have the sharpest knives in the dock, would you say? I think he was pretty pissed. He was like, he seemed pissed in the dock.

In the dock, yeah. Unbelievable. It didn't seem like so much of a coincidence that that was a guy Bill kind of went after, was it? Or maybe it was, I don't know. I felt like he went after Danny pretty good.

In the same way that you're wondering, did Brady really cop to Deflategate? Who knows what really was intended, but I'm just joking. Or just again, a good idea for a joke because everybody's been talking about this being a fault line in a relationship this entire time. I really was just loving that. I mean, that was totally an undercurrent part of this roast. And then of course there was just the brilliant comedy of Nikki Glaser and Tony Hinchcliffe and Kevin Hart. By the way, we had a great reveal yesterday. You can run tell that, that when we spoke to Todd Bowles and I asked him if he saw the roast, he said he's a huge Nikki Glaser fan.

And then we put this out in a reel and Nikki Glaser responded on our page with a mind blown emoji. Talk about how a roast can bring people together. I mean, it's kind of wild, but yeah, I honestly thought that this, not to go too deep here, but I honestly felt like I was seeing a therapy session, a bunch of stuff getting off the chest and you've been there. Well, part of it is like, again, I think a part of it is that the wounds are still open in some cases. Again, if you have the time to put everything in proper perspective, you're probably a little bit more like Drew was up there, where Drew's jokes, Drew seemed like good nature. On a night where everything might've had this undercurrent of truth, again, Drew had the chance to put everything in perspective. And I think maybe the one person who spoke who had the chance to do that, whereas for everybody else, it's not like they happened yet. These things happened yesterday, but they're still close enough in your periphery where credit for everything is still being divvied up and who is responsible for this and who is responsible for that.

A lot of times, if you don't have the benefit of time to sort all those things out, the wounds are still open. I think we saw those open wounds on Sunday night. Before I let you go, Albert, what's the open question in the NFL months of May and June? Is it the Bengals who have asked for trade demands and seeing how that plays out? Nothing's happening with IUC, right?

There's nothing going to happen now. Just to address both IUC and Higgins, obviously, I think there was some thought that they could be traded and the Bengals and Niners have certainly gotten calls on those guys. I think one thing that changes the market a little bit is what's happening at the receiver position in general. It's Ahmaan Raah, St. Brown getting $28 million per, A.J. Brown then a couple days later getting $32 million per. Now, if you're another team, you're not just looking at giving up a premium draft pick, but also maybe paying the guy in the mid-30s. If you're IUC or Higgins and you have that sort of leverage that a team's just traded for, you're probably going to ask for a lot.

God forbid what the Vikings must feel like right now. Where's that bag? Albert, where is that bag? Where's the bag for him? I would say he has made a lot of money just sitting on his hands and waiting. Seriously, you look at where the market was a year ago and where this is going now, and all due respect to Ahmaan Raah, St. Brown, but if he's getting $28 million per, if you're Justin Jefferson, do you ask for $40 million? Hell yeah. Maybe.

Yeah, and see how it flies. I mean, obviously, I don't think that's going to happen, but that's why I wonder where that is. Those questions are big ones that need to be answered over the next, over the coming months, and there are a few of those coming down the pike. Jamar Chase is another one. The Bengals, do they pay Jamar Chase now?

If they do, how does that affect things with T. Higgins? Obviously, the Bengals also are dealing with Joe Burrow coming off of the wrist injury, and that's something that I think we're all going to be closely monitoring. The crazy thing about Burrow is he still hasn't had a normal offseason as a pro, because in 21, he was coming off of the ACL. In 22, he had the appendicitis, and last year, he had the calf thing, so he still hasn't had a normal offseason as a pro, so we'll all be monitoring Joe Burrow's wrist, and obviously, there's a lot going on there. The contract things, like you said, Jefferson, Chase, there are a few more that I think we'll be looking at over the coming months.

Trevor Lawrence is another one, and then I think, you know what, Rich? I still think your New York Jets are fascinating. They feel like they've got a really good team, and I know Joe Douglas, Robert Sala, like the fact that they're going into this thing with a little less attention on them, but if you look at that roster, man, I think getting Olaf Hoshana was really smart in that it gives them a backstop at the tackle position. They address tackle aggressively. They really like Malachi Corley, who they got in the second round, who they believe can be a force as a run after the catch guy, is a perfect fit for Aaron Rodgers, and that defense brings a lot back. That defense was pretty good last year, a really adverse situation, so I think as we get closer to the season, you start looking at the Jets, and it's like, okay, if Aaron can be even 90% of what he was, that team should be the favorite in the AFC East, and maybe outside of Cincinnati, could be the top contender to the Chiefs, who've won the conference the last, what is it, the last two years, four out of the last five. Man, that's saying a lot. I mean, there's a lot of ifs and buts right there, and then the last one for you, what about the Cowboys? I mean, we just referred to the wide receiver market exploding. Justin Jefferson is going to, at some point, sign.

You want to talk about making money just sitting on your hands. It's C.D. Lamb. We all know that even if the Cowboys are taking the approach of Jerry Jones's all-in approach for everybody, he wants to see more, what, leaves on the tree or whatever he wants to do before he pitches as a half back before he hits the out-of-bounds line or whatever he's saying in terms of his analogies. We all know that when it comes down to it, C.D. Lamb and Micah Parsons are going to be paid, have to be paid. There is no way they're going to let both of these guys go, either one of these guys go. Dak's a totally different story, to be honest with you, I think. Quarterback, they could go back and get another quarterback somehow. I think Dak's definitely going to stay, too, but that's the one that could be an open question. We all know these guys have to be extended somehow, right?

I mean, and it's something, when? Before we jump in on the extension, let me ask you that. Does it make sense to you that maybe the Cowboys are right now with Dak Prescott where the Rams were with Jared Goff in 2020?

Which is essentially what? Are we ever going to get there? They're asking the bigger are we ever going to get there with this guy question. And I'm not saying that that means offloading him because the Rams obviously had a golden opportunity come in front of them to get Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff's still a really good quarterback. We've seen that in Detroit. But can you see where Dallas might right now be with Dak Prescott where the Rams were with Jared Goff in 2020?

Absolutely. And that's why I'm saying I can totally see a future for Dallas without Dak, certainly in the way that his contract is laid out right now. He has all the leverage, so he can figure out what he wants to do. And he's already even publicly saying, well, you know what? I mean, I want to be here, but if I'm somewhere else, he made it seem like he can handle that. We all know CDL is going nowhere and we know Micah Parsons is going nowhere.

So why not sign him now before the price for both goes through the roof? I don't. I don't. I don't get that. That's the one thing that never makes sense to me. I think the Eagles are always really smart. Like, if you look at the way the Eagles have attacked these situations over the last few years, you know, they when they when they signed Jalen Hurts, it was at the beginning of the off season before Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson got their deals. Right. And then you see this off season, what they do. They signed Devante Smith before, you know, like the receiver contracts came. And I just see it time and again. You know, the owner keeps the money in his pocket for an extra few months.

And what do you know? You know, February and March turns into July and August. Now all of a sudden the price is through the roof, you know. And so you already have them working with Micah Parsons off of what Nick Bosa got last year. So that market already exploded and is up above thirty four million per.

And now you got C.D. Lamb in a market that was at twenty five million could be at thirty five or forty by the time Justin Jefferson. And you know, you're going to keep them. I mean, yeah. It's not like Justin Jefferson is not going to get paid. Well, I mean, you have to beat the Vikings to that punch.

I must I mean, I think. But Jerry Jerry has said like he's on his own timetable and bless him. I mean, who tells him how to do business?

He's clearly insanely successful at business. I get it. But I just don't. So will this happen before the season? Do you think it happened? I think they do happen before the season. But again, the timing of it, like whether that happens June 1st or August 15th, like that could be a big difference, like based on the contracts we get between now and then, you know, and I like look like there are a couple of under the radar ones that I think could affect the market at different positions to where, you know, like could Matthew Stafford ask for more and more guarantees, you know, and with the Rams, could Christian McCaffrey ask for more with the Niners? Like I think the market's going to be affected over the next two, three months in a lot of different ways. And so, you know, I think whether you do these deals now or later, they're going to have to get done.

And like we've just like we just said, like you're going to have it's going to cost you money if you wait. I just think part of where they are, the psychology of where the Cowboys are right now, like to me, it's like it's about. Is this the group that we can win a championship with? And they've taken a bunch of cracks at it with this group. And now you've seen some of the guys that were part of that group.

You're late in Vander Esch's, you're Tyron Smith's that are gone now. And Tony Pollard, Ezekiel Elliott, guys who've been offloaded over the last couple of years. And I do think a part of it is, OK, so what is our our core going forward and how do we want to build that core and reward that core and set ourselves up for the next five years? And, you know, I think Mike McCarthy is a part of that equation, too. Like there are assistant coaches there that are going into contract years, you know, like so like there's just like a lot of open questions about where they are in 2025 and beyond. And I think that that part of it is probably slowing the negotiations on some of these guys. And like you said, Rich, that's never a good tactic to wait.

I don't think so. I mean, it just it just isn't. I mean, again, like people ooh and ah over there, like a lot of the things the Eagles have done right there in the NFC East and their division, a lot of it's just common sense, you know, to me, like signing Devante Smith at the start of the offseason, like you knew you wanted to keep them. Just pay them now and then you won't be paying an extra five to ten million dollars in August for, you know, simple stuff like that. And yeah, I mean, like, I wish there was a better explanation for some of those things in Dallas.

I just I'm just not sure that there is. Albert, thanks for the immense time. Forty five minutes. Go out and get some sun. I think you got paler of being inside for for this long since the beginning of our conversation. Well, I mean, I have a lot of time in California this summer, too.

By the looks of it, we got right. Vegas, just Vegas is coming out here. So your residency awaits, sir. Thank you for the time. You be well. All right. Thanks for Albert Breer. All right. One of my favorite baseball stories in a while before he beat it on down the line when we come back. Also, an update on the Tyson fight.

Oh, yes. That involves the Raiders. I'm Alex Rodriguez and I'm Jason Kelly from Bloomberg. This is the deal. Each week you're here is in conversation with business icons. This show will explore deal making across sports, media and entertainment. That is a harsh lesson in business. Sports is not as simple as bringing a bunch of big names to get. I want to do another stop you out speech.

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Mike Tyson update. Those are three words. Here's here's here's.

We do need to drop. Here's here. Here's three other words. Mark Davis is help. Oh, what do I mean by that?

What do you mean? Apparently Mark Davis is converted a warehouse and it's Tyson's training spot in Vegas to get ready for this match against Jake Paul. He built him a scaled down version of the Mike Tyson boxing club that is located in Saudi Arabia. So Mark Davis is helping Mike Tyson get ready and look at him. Maybe. Is that where he's running?

Can't get enough of this running. It's the noise. It's the noise.

It's the noise. Three more words there. Your Mike Tyson update.

Eating raw meat. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Say what? Yes. He was on the Damon Elliott show and apparently as the host remarked that Mike looked 20 years younger.

Here's the exchange. You look like 20 years old. What the hell? What are you eating? Raw meat. Seriously, Mike, you're eating raw meat. Are you, are you swallowing it or remember you just used to spit that stuff out here. I'm gonna have to eat it now because my opponent's going to be raw meat. That's right. Okay.

Now I don't like telling other hosts what to do. The follow up question is years. Do you, do you have a nice Chianti along with a side of fava beans with that raw meat? What raw meat are you eating? I mean, my God, I think the last in the last creature fed raw meat in Las Vegas, Nevada were Siegfried and Roy's tigers, who I think he had in his house.

He had a white tiger for a while. That's what I'm saying, right? By the way, I'm referring to the actual food being fed. That's not what I was referring to. I'm just saying, which one got to tell?

Was it Siegfried or Roy? Dude. Oh, it's still too soon. All right. No, I think the time has passed. Rest in peace.

They're no longer with us. Yeah. Mike Tyson is eating raw meat and working out at a warehouse set up by Mark Davis. Jake Paul. What are you doing? What are you doing? You know what? He's just, he's just training low key.

That's the next big Netflix live event. Oh, there's no odds. Odds are up now on this actual real fight.

Mike Tyson underdog. Of course he is. Come on. Yeah.

Jake Paul, minus one 80. This just in as well. You know how I opened the Brady roast?

Right. Do you know, uh, I, I, I don't mind being the plan B for Jeff Ross. His plan A was to have Mike Tyson do it first, but somehow, some way Mike was not available to do that. He wanted Tyson to open the Brady roast.

Have no problem being the undercard for that. Can you imagine Jeff Ross wanted Mike Tyson to do that first. He stopped for raw meat and couldn't make it a different vibe.

It would have been a different vibe. Just grabbing, showing on the raw meat, spitting it out and saying, here's Kevin Hart. I mean, chicken's gotta be tough to eat. Like you can't eat raw chicken.

You'll get sick. Tom Brady's going to sit here for two and a half hours and hear jokes about him. He wants to hear nothing about ladies and gentlemen, Kevin Hart.

All right. I want to thank to Sean Foster and Albert Breer and Brian Anderson. We're back on tomorrow's program. The funny Thomas Lennon will be here in studio and more. John brings his skewed sense of humor. Jeff brings tips to cut strokes off your next round. Together, it's those weekend golf guys.

They'll pay a lot of money to PXG and Tylus and Callaway and done and on and on. How many yards you think you're going to pick up with that extra driver? I think I can get an extra five to 10. What if I give you 15 to 20?

Can you pay me more? Jeff Smith teaches on a sliding scale. Those weekend golf guys, the podcast, part of the Believe Network. Just search BLEAV on YouTube or wherever you listen.