Tom Pelissero: The Lions Believe In Jared Goff

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See ebaymotors.com. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Oh, a three-point wedgie! Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Why don't we ascribe to the nuggets what we ascribe to defending champs? I don't see many people today saying, well, that's the heart of a champion. The Rich Eisen Show.

We've got to stop handling the NBA playoffs like it's an NFL season. Earlier on the show, Prime Video NASCAR announcer Dale Earnhardt Jr., actor, comedian, and author Paul Scheer. Coming up, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

That's right. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Hour one, great chat with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hour two, Paul Scheer was in studio. He told us a very funny story about Marshawn Lynch punking the entire cast and crew of the league when he did his cameo shoot there the other day.

I mean, the other year. If you missed any of that, we rear on the Roku Channel, Channel 210, as soon as this hour is over. On tomorrow's program, D'Amico Ryan, the head coach of the Houston Texans, will be joining us. And that'll be the last day of this calendar year that he won't know his schedule. The schedule release goes down tomorrow night at 8 Eastern Time, 5 Pacific.

I believe I'm receiving the schedule in the early afternoon. Oh, OK. Yes.

Is it critical? And I've been told television networks do not know their schedules yet. They find out tomorrow.

Wow. It's kind of like they're they're they're they're giving out a game here and a game there for them to announce. The NFL is letting them sweat their hand, essentially, a little bit to see that to see their hand. And then tomorrow we just see the flop, turn and river.

And yes, I'm using poker terms for the NFL schedule. I'm sure they're thrilled. Hello, human resources. I'm a mission critical employee commission.

Did I just say those words? A mission critical. Tom Pelissero, have you been deemed mission critical for tomorrow's NFL Network release? Have you signed a document? Are you mission critical, Tom?

Are you? This is the first time, Rich, that I have heard we have a scheduled release show. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, right. It's going to be you guiding this thing and I will be sitting back like everybody else. Refreshing NFL.com until the whole thing comes up.

Very good. So let's just jump into the Jared Goff signing. What do you say to people who think that this is a wildly expensive contract for his services in Detroit, Tom? Jared Goff's entering the final year, was entering the final year of his contract. This is the natural time when if you're going to commit to a quarterback, you're going to want to do it in advance. Otherwise, you go down a Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott path where either the guy leaves or becomes much, much more expensive to get something done later. So when you're Brad Holmes and you go all the way back to L.A. when the Rams drafted him number one overall back in 2016. And then, of course, gets the reunion via the Matthew Stafford trade at the time. Goff, who just wants to throw in the you know, because it was it was a cash dump and a cap dump for the Rams to offload Jared Goff's guaranteed money. But Brad Holmes was very consistent all along, saying we believe this is a guy who is more than just a bridge quarterback. So this contract that Goff had been on, which at the time was this albatross that the Rams need to get off their books, has actually been very affordable relative to the level at which Jared Goff has played in recent years here.

We can all debate whether you should come in second or eighth or tenth. The bottom line is every top quarterback contract now, Rich, is going to get done at 50 million dollars plus. It is a huge number to swallow. But as we saw with Cousins this past year, even if there's only one team that's really bidding for your services against your existing team, that team might be desperate enough to go someplace that the other team wasn't willing to go. So the Lions had three priorities in the offseason, get Sewell done, get Amman Ross, Sam Brown done, get Jared Goff done.

They have checked off all those boxes and now turn their attention back to trying to get over the hump and get to a Super Bowl in 2024. So what percentage of the salary cap is a market value quarterback going to take up? What's the numbers?

What is it? What's the math here, Tom? It's a shade over 20 percent right now on a 243 million dollar cap, which to put that in perspective, so you go back just nine years ago, OK, 2015, Aaron Rodgers was in the third year of a three year reign as the highest paid player in the NFL at 22 million dollars per year. The cap at that point was about 100 million dollars less. You were talking about a little over 15 percent of the salary cap. So, you know, why are we now at 20 percent, which in percentage terms doesn't sound like a lot when you're talking about a percentage of a close to 250 million dollar cap.

That's a huge chunk. Part of it's remember we had that covid dip, not in 2020, but in 2021 when they had to. In essence, the union, the players had to pay back this low interest loan that the owners had given them to get full checks in 2020.

You had a blip. This is the first year that the cap is kind of getting back to the trajectory that we think it's going to be on. That's one more reason that the forward thinking teams have been willing to say, you know what, let's pay this number now, because the next group from Jordan Love to Tua to Trevor Lawrence to whenever the next guys are coming up again, they're all going to want to outshoot this year. This contract could end up looking a lot better, kind of like the Deshaun Watson contract that everyone said for a variety of reasons. Of course, 46 million dollars per year, fully guaranteed for five years. It's a huge, huge contract.

He's barely in the top 10 at this point. Yes, it is a sizable chunk of the salary cap. You put more on the quarterbacks back when he becomes one of your highest paid players.

Jared Goff certainly fits in that category now for the Lions. We'll see the final accounting of this, Rich, because there's an option here in 2028. The actual average is going to be lower, but it's still going to be in that 50 million dollar per year range. The only question now is who becomes the first 60 million dollar per year quarterback. And I can think of a handful of guys right now who might be thinking about that as a pretty good target.

All right. Answer the question, Tom. Who is going to be the first 60 million dollar quarterback in the NFL? It's a great question because the ones that are up right now, you can look at and say, you know, they're going to be the next ones to get paid. It is Jordan Love, who is eligible. He did the one year kind of bridge contract last year to take the place of the 50 year option because he hadn't really started for the Packers at that point. So he now is a guy that they're going to extend.

That one's going to be somewhere in the 50s. I don't know that it gets to 60 just based upon the timeline here to a tongue of ILOA is somebody who has acknowledged publicly that there have been contract talks, has been around the Dolphins so far in the course of the spring. We'll see as we get out the next week or two here, whether he's out there for OTAs. But he's another one who, if you're talking about the aiming point, that's going to be 50 million dollars plus. A lot of layers to that, of course, with the medical history, with the concussions. But he did stay healthy for all of last season.

He's played a really high level under Mike McDaniel, particularly when he's had his full complement of weapons, which wasn't really the case down the stretch for Miami. I think Trevor Lawrence is a complicated type of a calculation in terms of have you seen the consistency at this point? Say Trevor Lawrence deserves to be paid at the top of the market. But realistically, there's no real reason for Trevor Lawrence to rush and take a contract below 50 million dollars per year.

So that one's probably going to have a five in front of it as well. And then you got Dak, who is headed right now toward becoming an unrestricted free agent next March. Jerry Jones continues to say we want Dak to be the quarterback.

His actions would indicate otherwise in terms of at minimum, they want to buy time and see how the season goes on everybody. Mike McCarthy is in the final year of his deal on Dak, who's in the final year of his contract right now. If that deal gets done next March, or even if Dak plays at a high level this season and then walks, that could end up being the first 60 million dollar per year guy.

You got to wait three years to get your contract. We can all talk about, you know, C.J. Stroud and guys like that. Realistically, Stroud, they can't pay him for at least the next couple of years here.

Maybe that's the name. If it's not Dak, Stroud could end up being the guy just because the timeline when he becomes eligible for a new contract is about 20 months from right now. If he continues to play at this level, that could end up being the one who just based upon where the cap is going to be the one that gets over that 60 million dollar ceiling.

Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen Show. So why wait to sign Dak? They really are wondering if he has another terrific season and then a playoff disappointment, right? They truly will just let him walk and just start from scratch again. I mean, certainly when we're already talking about how next year's quarterback class really isn't lighting things up based on why what we saw this year. I mean, and then you got Justin Jefferson's going to get his bag soon at some point.

Don't you want to beat the Vikings to that punch if you're Jerry for C.D. Lamb? Honestly, like I'm just head scratching over this.

It's not my money. And obviously he's an incredibly successful man, but I'm wondering what's up, man. Wonder, Mike Parsons is eligible for a new contract right now, too. And if you play this out for another year or two and Micah continues to be Micah and is a perennial 14, 15 sack guy, that's going to be an off the charts. That could be a 40 million dollar per year edge rusher in a couple of years. I think the question is not why are the Cowboys waiting to pay Dak? The question that I think is fair to raise is just why are the Cowboys waiting to do everything? Look, how many of their core free agents walked in the off season? You know, Tyler, be honest, they're center.

You don't talk about that. It's not one of the top 10 things about the Cowboys, but that's your center. And he ends up going to a division rival for a lot more money than the Cowboys were willing to pay. Tyron Smith, it got toward the end. It was obvious they weren't going to pay him.

He ends up walking. Tony Pollard ends up walking to your edge rushers walk to Washington as well. You could have potentially had more flexibility. You would have had more flexibility if you proactively tried to get something done with Dak. But by all indications, there was no effort, no real even conversation about extending Dak prior to the start of free agency in March, just like things have not advanced on a CD Lamb front or gotten started yet with Micah Parsons and Mike McCarthy. How many times I understand what happened the playoff game last year, but how many times does a coach who has three consecutive 12 win seasons go into a contract year? And by the way, a bunch of his assistant coaches also in contract years, and they were trying to hire a defensive coordinator in a contract year. There's all these types of different things happening here that all indicate that Jerry, whether this is intention or not, the message sent by the actions is we are in a decision type of year. It's we're going to see what happens in twenty twenty four.

And if we have to reboot the entire thing, we'll reboot the entire thing. I know how the coaching staff rich feels about Dak Prescott in that building. He is the hardest worker. He is the guy that everybody rallies around.

They love him as a person. All those things he's played last year with Mike McCarthy calling the plays. That was Dak's best season. They have a playoff flop. It is bad the entire game against the Packers team that, by the way, San Francisco to the wire the following week. It just feels like Jerry doesn't want to put any money out.

The door here is keeping all options on the table. Do I think that Dak ends up back in Dallas? I think that the closer you get to the start of the season, if there's not movement on the contract fund, the harder it becomes to envision that being the Cowboys quarterback in twenty twenty five and not finding a payday elsewhere, just like Kirk Cousins.

So out of the highly paid quarterbacks in the NFL, who's the best bargain? What do you think, Tom? You pour over all of over all these numbers. You sent me a document today that honestly looked like it came from NASA. So you look you look over these spreadsheets. I think I may have asked you, like, is this a science test? I think I texted you back when you texted me these documents. So you've seen them all. Who's the best?

Who's the best bargain at quarterback in the NFL in your estimation? That was my fault on that, Rich. I sent you the PDF, which is the fastest thing that I could pull up. Oh, my God. I was told there'd be no math on this test, man. Geez. Wow.

Good. The Holmes contract also happens to be the most complicated contract I think any of us have ever seen. I remember when that one first got done several years ago, putting together a spreadsheet just so I could figure out, OK, this vest at this date.

Now, this one vest a year later. But he signed a very long contract. I mean, the easy answer to what's the best value in sports or the best bargain on the quarterbacks. It's easily Patrick Mahomes because he signed what effectively was a 12 year deal. It was a 10 year, 450 million dollar extension that paid him 60 million dollars roughly over the first three years of the contract.

To put that in perspective, Kirk Cousins this year at a time that the Falcons have already drafted a successor a month after signing him is making 67 million dollars in 2024. So for Mahomes and from his perspective, the goal and you would say that he's accomplished this was keep the core parts around him. Give a ton of flexibility for the team. Everything is these rolling guarantees where they vest a year early and the chiefs have moved money around the past couple of years here. Make sure that he continues to get paid along the lines of the top quarterbacks in the market. But from Mahomes, the focus was how do I keep the team together, which absent the Tyreek Hill trade, they more or less have done through the course of time, bringing back Chris Jones, bringing back Travis Kelsey.

And it was also I want to win a lot of championships, which then is going to open up all kinds of other revenue driving types of opportunities for me. So at this point, Mahomes has won several Super Bowls. He's won MVPs.

He's in literally, I think, every commercial on TV. And he has ascended beyond that, which I think leads to one of the great conversations I talked with an agent who represents some of the top quarterbacks about this leading up to the draft. We're talking about some of the various quarterback contract situations playing out around the league. There have been quarterbacks through the course of time.

This is not everybody. But certainly some quarterbacks get to a certain point and tell their agents enough. In other words, it doesn't matter if I'm making 40 or 45, I'm making more money than I would ever know what to do with. And I want to win. And I don't want to take this down to the wire and I don't want to go year to year and I don't want to get into a franchise tech situation.

Just this is where I want to be. I'm getting boatloads of money enough. Drew Brees is one example of that through the course of time where he would regularly tell his agent Tom Condon, like, I'm good. Like, I got this. We're making a lot of money.

We're fine. There's other there's other quarterbacks who go about it a different type of way. And that's not to knock them or say they're selfish or anything else. We cover the same game, Rich. These guys take an unbelievable pounding.

Yeah. Offensive lineman, defensive lineman are in a headbutt situation, 70 snaps a game. Even the quarterbacks, you're putting your body on the line.

You suffer severe injuries. Dak suffered a very severe injury while playing on the franchise tag. But if you're willing to see it through the way that you push the market beyond where it otherwise might be, as you do what Kirk Cousins did and play out a couple of franchise tags, or you do what Dak did and play out your contract and play out a franchise tag and go right to the wire of a second tag that the Cowboys ended up having to apply to buy themselves time for the contract to be executed.

The point is, there's nothing wrong with either one of those types of perspectives here. But at some point, to go back to the original question about the top quarterback numbers and the Jared Goff contract and how that fits in as a percentage of the salary cap, the thing to always keep in mind here is you have to balance that. Can we actually put a team around the guy? Teams have to balance that. The quarterbacks have to balance that on some level as well.

So, again, that's not to say that Dak's doing this in the wrong way or Kirk did it in the wrong way. If you want to absolutely maximize your value in terms of the contract number, the best way to do that is to get as close to free agency or into free agency. For other guys, they take the best offer that's there. You know, we see every year there's some of these big contracts that get done. Would Lamar Jackson have gotten a substantively less contract a year earlier if he hadn't played out two years at the end of his rookie contract, that if he had an agent, that agent would have said, there's no way you should go out there and play for $3 million as a former MVP?

Probably not. It wasn't that much better of a contract. He ended up getting a really strong deal. At some point, the player has to communicate with the agent and say, this is good enough. This is enough.

This is where I want to be. And we'll see, you know, with some of these other situations, exactly if and when that point is reached. Fascinating, man.

I mean, just absolutely fascinating. And so, you know, I guess if we're talking bargains, Mahomes' bargain, obviously, 46 and change at APY for an average per year. But the biggest bargain at quarterback in the NFL is a rookie contract and a kid doing what, say, C.J.

Stroud did last year and what we expect of him now or Jordan Love last year. Right. Even though he signed a contract as a one year extension.

And when you take a look at the numbers of the APY again, because again, I appreciate you providing me these numbers so our crack staff could put this together. You take a look at the 50 million APY club here in Borough Golf, Herbert Jackson and Hertz. And Hertz was a bargain, too, right, where he took the Eagles to the Super Bowl on a second round draft choice contract. Then you take a look at six through 10 and there's Mahomes sitting there at forty six point three million and Murray Watson and Allen at the end. And then we land on Cousins. You said he's going to make 60 something million bucks this year from Atlanta. Which leads me to believe just a long wind up for this pitch.

It just the golf contract and the conversation we're having that it engenders. It just scratches my head again that the Falcons would go ahead. And draft Michael Pennix Jr. and take a year of this moment of his career and say, we're going to have you learn from Cousins. And I understand that they that they can that that kids are going to sit and rest. And the Patriots are willing to potentially do this with with with May and let him sit in the Vikings with J.J. McCarthy as well. But to have somebody so expensive on their roster and Cousins and then take a year of somebody's rookie contract and say, you sit. It makes it to this point makes no sense at all still. And I'm wondering now that we're a few weeks away.

What you're hearing about and what you're thinking on the subject matter. Tom, I have talked to a lot of coaches and front office members in the couple of weeks since the draft. And every time that draft pick comes up with Michael Pennix going to Atlanta number eight.

Everybody says to a to a man, to a person. Yeah, that was we were all shocked in the draft room. Every team was shocked in the draft room. And that was despite there were breadcrumbs indicating maybe this was possible. And they'd gone in on a private workout.

All that stuff. It felt like a smokescreen. It felt like the Falcons wanted somebody to trade up into that spot and take Michael Pennix so they wouldn't have to. And they had conversations about trading down from that pick. In the end, it takes somebody to be willing to give up what you think is fair value for that pick and come up. The Falcons didn't get it. So they stood in and took Pennix. You know, I talked about this, Rich, when I was out there. What's up to the fellas in the studio, by the way?

Miss you guys already. Talking about, you know, the situation here. It's not that drafting the successor is a bad idea. It's that there's no precedent for signing a quarterback to the type of contract that the Falcons signed Kirk Cousins to and then drafting the successor a couple of months later. This is not Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love.

This is Aaron Rodgers on the Jets. If the Jets had used their top pick last year to go and take a QB, you just you wouldn't do it. The NFL is a asset allocation resource allocation league. There's all these people who say all the caps a myth every year. We see that busted because teams have to make difficult decisions. Sometimes they have to reset and move on from a bunch of veterans because you just don't want to carry that year to year rolling things over, rolling future dead cap. It's every dollar you spend hits the cap eventually. And so when you're trying to think about, OK, how does this play out here with Kirk Cousins and Michael Pennix?

Let's go about year by year. OK, let's assume just assume nothing at this point, but let's assume Kirk Cousins plays the season for the Falcons. He makes sixty seven million dollars at that point. At the end of the season, let's say Cousins has played well, but you've seen enough of Michael Pennix in practice.

You decide, you know what? We're all ready to pull the plug right now and to move on to the Michael Pennix. Kirk Cousins in twenty twenty five has a very palatable number. I believe he's a twenty three million dollars fully guaranteed. He's got another 10 million guaranteed in twenty twenty six that becomes fully guaranteed at the start of twenty twenty five. So effectively, that contract only has thirty seven million dollars practically guaranteed left into the future here.

You could absolutely unless Kirk Cousins plays terribly, which I don't expect, you could absolutely trade that with Kirk Cousins. But then you're taking a mountain of dead money and you paid Cousins sixty seven million dollars to play one year for you. You're moving on from the rest of the guaranteed money, but there still would be cap consequences because the prorated portions of the signing bonus.

You'd eat all that in twenty twenty five. So that would take up a lump on your cap. So really it's a two year cap impact of Kirk Cousins before you move on to Michael Pennix. The cap numbers lower this year because of the signing bonus. If you go with Kirk Cousins for a second year, now you've paid him ninety million dollars over two years. You still can move him in twenty twenty six, but the numbers a lot higher at that point. And now you're two years into a Michael Pennix contract.

Oh, yeah. By the way, Kirk Cousins has a no trade clause. So he can effectively scuttle any deal that you could agree to and say, I'll only be traded to this one team. If you want to move on from me and go to the other guy, that's fine.

But I want to go here. And your leverage in a trade then drops off. You've got drama into the off season.

It's very, very complicated. And I can only believe that Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot discussed this exact scenario prior to the draft. And they were comfortable that, hey, it's going to create dynamics in the locker room. It's going to create dynamics in the stadium, in the fan base, in the media, with the salary cap and with cash. You would hope Arthur Blank, the owner who wrote that check and sixty seven million dollars, put ninety million dollars into escrow for Kirk Cousins. You would hope that he's completely on board with everything as well here because there's no easy out. I guess that's the short answer to the question, Rich, is there's no easy way out on this with Kirk Cousins. Yes, you could trade him next year, but Cousins would have to go to a place that he wants to go to. And you will have already cut him a sizable check. A lot of money you invested in Kirk Cousins just to transition a year later to the next. Wow.

Before I let you go, if you've got a couple of minutes here is this story. Connor Hughes of SNY was reporting out of New York. The Jets trying to mess with the offensive flowchart here to get somebody above Hackett and be the play caller in a way. It's really Rogers's offense, you know, if healthy. Well, did the Jets try to do something on the offensive side of the ball coaching wise? Tom, did that happen? The Jets had a lot of conversations after the season. They moved on from several of the position coaches, including the quarterbacks coach, the running backs coach. This really honestly all goes back, Rich, to Robert Sola's initial staff.

Greg Knapp was going to be a senior assistant, tragically was killed in a he was on a bike and was hit by somebody who was texting and driving, which was just gutting, of course, on a personal level to all the people around the league who knew Craig Knapp. It also left them without the guy who was going to be the buffer and really helped Jack Wilson at the time on that coaching staff. He had a very young, bright quarterbacks coach, Rob Calabresi, but he wasn't supposed to be the primary quarterbacks coach. So ever since then, they've kind of been trying to find the right combination of pieces here.

I know this. There was no way Aaron Rodgers was going to let Nathaniel Hackett not be a core part of the staff. There was no way that the primary conduit to Aaron Rodgers was not going to be Nathaniel Hackett on that staff.

Again, there were a lot of things that they considered in terms of just cutting back, scaling back on certain things. Staff wise, they did make a ton of changes on the offensive side of the ball. But in terms of Hackett being out or not being the OC again, they may have added in different places.

That all depends upon who's available here. But Aaron Rodgers is going to be running this offense. The offense they designed for him last year with Hackett was the Aaron Rodgers offense. This is not in any way disputing Connor Hughes' recording.

I wouldn't say that I've been told that exact thing. I would just say they did make a lot of changes on that staff last year. Hackett and Rodgers, this is two peas in a pod.

And with hopefully more than four snaps Monday night in September against San Francisco, we'll see the real Aaron Rodgers-Jets-Hackett offense. Tom, you're the man. Thanks for the time. I truly appreciate it. I love it. Tom Pelissero making it smarter.

844-204 Rich, number to dial your phone calls. Kirk Cousins has spoken on the Michael Penix drafting. And we will hit the first Monday night football matchup of the season. Jets at Niners.

That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. 10 numbers apart, but it truly is the world of difference. The sleep number sleep that you get is unbelievable.

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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Do I call you a free agent quarterback sitting here? What do I call you? I don't know.

This is my first time going through this. You tell me. Call me whatever, I guess. I will call you Jack Prescott.

That works. I'm going to ask you the question this way about what contract you think you're going to get, okay, in terms of pie. Because I've heard there's less pie. I've heard there's more pie. There's less pie. That's right.

There's Jerry Jones right there, the voice of Jerry Jones. We've heard there's less pie. We've heard there's more pie. I'm wondering if you think this is deep dish pie.

How deep is it? Is it a deep dish pie? If I'm guessing, I'd say yeah.

Okay. Is it franchise pie? I would say.

You would say? I don't know what kind of pie we're talking about. A franchise tag pie.

Excuse me. Is it franchise tag pie? I don't know. Long term pie? Is it long term pie?

I don't know. I just want a piece of the pie. Just put it like that. Okay. It takes a lot of chunk out of pie. That's it? Yeah. Okay. And is it a pie that starts with a four?

Is it a pie that starts with a four? I just said I'm leaving it up to my agents to cut my piece of the pie. I'm just ready for it and ready to eat.

So when that happens, I'm ready to get to work and excited for this off season. And we've also heard through DeMarcus Ware told us that when you sit in Jerry's office, have you gotten the Jerry's office meeting yet? I've been in Jerry's office. Okay.

And then he lights a candle, turns the lights down and gives you a whole Dallas Cowboy speech. Have you had that? You have not had that yet? No.

I haven't had that one yet. He says that that happens when he's trying to close a deal. So I think you'll know that you're really close if you walk in. When the lights turn off. Lights go down.

Thank you for that warning and that heads up. So now I know like what's going on when that happens. There's apparently a votive candle with a Dallas Cowboy star right on the side of it. I don't know if it's scented.

It makes me the smell of pie of some sort. I'm just saying that hasn't happened yet is what you're saying. It hasn't happened. Okay.

When you get that call, you know, wow, I'm close. Okay. 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. Let's take some phone calls. Connor in Denver has been holding on for a long time. What's up, Connor? Hi, Mike. You there, Connor?

Oh, boy. Been waiting a while. Mr. Denver, you there? Let's go to Leo in Philadelphia.

You're on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Leo? Hey, how you doing, Rich? Leo, hello. Hello. What's up, Leo? Don't worry, don't worry. Hey, I was listening earlier and a little yesterday. Great show, by the way, yesterday.

Thank you. And I think it's blasphemous that Jalen Hurst isn't in the conversation with the second best quarterback or even best quarterback in the league. I mean, the guy had to deal with a high school level offensive play calling and a defense that couldn't stop D2 Slippery Rock last year against the best, against the hardest schedule in the league. And everybody just suddenly forgets that he had an MVP season and ran through the playoffs, outperformed Mahomes in the Super Bowl and was a fugazi pass interference call from winning it all. And I think it's ridiculous to talk about Lamar and Josh and Joe and Brock and Dak before even mentioning Jalen because I think he's not the second best quarterback in the league. Hey, listen, he's got a big season coming up because last season definitely wasn't it.

That's for sure. And there was a lot going on in Philadelphia last year that we don't know about for some reason. And it was weird. There was just no way to describe last season other than weird for them to look like world beaters and then suddenly couldn't beat anybody in the world. And it's a quarterback driven league and quarterbacks get blamed quite a bit. I'd love to see Jalen Hurts return to the form that he had in the season where he could have been the MVP of the whole shooting match season and Super Bowl. And having Saquon there is a terrific way to help in that process. I thought that was a brilliant move by Howie Roseman. You know how I feel about running backs on this show if you're a regular listen to it.

Thanks for the call, Leo. In the same way that, you know, hey, Burrow, big season for him trying to stay healthy. And Hurts, big season where we got to get a bounce back.

I mean, Howie Roseman has set the table. The only thing that is a considerable obvious drawback is the retirement of Jason Kelce. That is a Hall of Fame hole in the middle of that offensive line. And it is a crucial piece.

We will see how they go about doing it. But it's a big season for the coaching staff that has been totally remade. They decided to stick with it with Sirianni instead of going in the Belichick route or anybody else. But it's got to be Jalen Hurts leading the way. They signed his two receivers to extensions and they got Saquon Barkley for this offense.

That is what we call taking care of their own and significantly upgrading while taking something important from a rival up the turnpike. Sounds like, Rich, is what you're asking is which quarterback is under the most pressure next year? And, you know, I love that question. I know you love pressure questions.

Hurts, Burrow, Dack, who's under the most pressure next year? Well, we have tons of time for that. We don't need to do that now.

Allen's not under pressure? We could table that for future programs. But not NFCG.

844, 204, Rich, number to dial. Listen, folks. When you're a jet fan, just to catch everyone up to speed, you're used to getting kicked in the narts over and over and over again. Remember when Aaron Rodgers was supposed to lead the Jets to a Super Bowl last year? Remember that? I don't remember that.

Or it was supposed to be a big season and then, you know, four snaps in and Achilles goes and then not so much. Remember that? And how that was the anniversary of the night of Vinnie Testaverde snapping his Achilles to ruin what was a Super Bowl season in the making potentially for the Jets after that 98 season led to an AFC Championship game loss in Denver. And Vinnie was there. Remember?

The Jets had Vinnie there that night that Aaron snapped his Achilles. Remember all that stuff? Remember? You guys remember? Here's another one.

This date, man. I remember this one. I remember watching this one on TV. September 6, 1998, in what was called at the time 3Com Park. Remember they called Candlestick 3Com for a while? Remember 3Com Park? Remember that one?

Remember that one? Parcells is the coach of the Jets. You know who was coaching the 49ers on that day in 3Com Park?

My boy. Steve Mariucci. Looking all handsome and beautiful and there's the tuna waddling around on the other sideline. Mooch had Steve Young as quarterback. You know the Jets had Glen Foley. Remember him? Boston College's finest.

Remember that? We're going into the season with Glen Foley and we're like, okay, how's this one going to work out? Well, Glen Foley had a day. Glen Foley threw for 415 yards on that day.

Yeah, buddy. Glen Foley had the game of his life. Three touchdowns.

And Steve Young, you know, also had three touchdowns and 363 yards. But this game went into overtime. This game went into overtime and the Jets had the Niners pinned in overtime. And this is back in the day where all you had to do was just kick a field goal.

You win the game. And the Niners, after the Jets punted, got the ball. Jets pinned him. They pinned him. They had special teams. That was a special team. Pinned him on the Niners' 4-yard line.

And then Mooch called for a running play to Garrison Hurst, who ran it 96 yards for the touchdown and they walked it off. Oh, yeah, I remember that. Oh, you remember that? Because I don't forget it. These scars are all figurative.

You might not see them because I'm wearing my elbow patches on my sweater today trying to look all nice. Yeah, 96. 96 yards. 96 yards.

96 yards for Garrison Hurst. So, of course, this is exactly what I thought of when I heard that the Jets are opening the season for the first time since in San Francisco. That was the last time they were there.

The old free-come. So now the Jets are back opening the season against the 49ers in the 49ers' house and this time, you know, the Niners coming off of whatchamacallit, a Super Bowl season. And Brock Purdy's all yoked. And here comes McCaffrey and Deebo and yes, they'll be there.

It'll be, of course. Ayuk and Nick Bosa and all of them. Hey, Aaron, where are you? So, Tyron Smith's going to get a test, man. He's going to get a test because it's Nick Bosa and the rest of the defensive line that is going to be testing Rodgers' speed bridge that connected his Achilles back together. But at least, at least, the actual guy who snapped Rodgers' Achilles for the Buffalo Bills won't be there, right? Oh, wait a minute. Hang on a second.

I'm told one of the first free agent signings of the 49ers was Leonard Floyd. So the guy who actually snapped Rodgers' Achilles will be in this game. Here, coach.

Going for the either surgically repaired one or the other one. Now you know why Green was so upset this morning. So this is what's happening. This is what's happening.

And all I will say is how to play him anyway, how to go do it anyway, how to go with Salah back to his old stomping grounds anyway, how to do it. Might as well do it right off the bat and show everybody what's what. Show everybody that finally, I'm going to say it, I don't care.

Finally, finally, we're going to start kicking everyone else in the nards. The page is turned. Last year is last year. It's not this year anymore.

The page is turned. Breece Hall. Breece Hall can do it just like McCaffrey. OK. And the Jets have Rodgers do what? Which is score touchdown, sir.

You would like to take. Listen, you take a brew of Reese running the ball for you. So you should stop talking about running backs. You're the one who's always bringing up Rico Dowdle. Well, I'm talking about my guy right now. And you're the one who put Rico Dowdle in your mouth, not me.

Yeah, for once. And I know I'm right, because again, the look of Brockman right now is always like, I'm not saying anything, covering his mouth. He's staying out of it. It's like, what does he say? No, it's no, it's it's exactly that look right there is exactly what happens when like Zander sitting there and he knows Cooper's in the in the soup or Taylor's in the soup. And they just sit there and go, oh, I'm not saying a word. Zander's in the soup.

That's what he's doing right now. So who's here in the soup? What's what's in the you know who's in the soup? The rest of the NFL is in the soup. The rest of the NFL is in the soup. And it's just it's just as well.

Just do it right now. Put Rodgers out in the spot in San Francisco. Right. That's his that was his Green Bay Bugaboo.

Right. He couldn't get past San Francisco. You know, he couldn't get past San Francisco. I get it. Let's let's get that one out of the way. Let's get Leonard Floyd out of the way. Let's get it all out of the way. First night. Oh, by the way, on Monday Night Football Week one, which is exactly. When Rodgers got done by the football gods, so get it out of the way. And I just I just need to get rid of the negative thoughts, Gareth and Hearst out, out, Gareth and Hearst out, out, Mooch.

Glen Foley almost beat Mooch in his beautiful hair. Out. I have exercise. All of you. Yes. Exorcist. This house will be clean for you. Oh, and by the way, you want to have a good old hootenanny, good time.

You give Belichick his first man and cast game is a jet game. Oh, all right. We'll take a break. You feel better? I do. Nice. Nice.

You see, Kirk Cousins, everybody. My first jet rant of the year. Only on May 14th. Only one hundred twelve days. I've got to pace myself. We take a break. Kirk Cousins has spoken to the boys and to the press. It's that time of year, people.

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That's I B O T T A in the Google Play or App Store and use my code ISEN. So lately, I've been on a mission to change the way people view their finances and to encourage people to overcome obstacles and adversity. It's just more and more important to me every day. So I've teamed up with the folks at Life Surge. Life Surge is a one day faith based event where you'll walk in hungry for success and you'll leave ready to build your resources to leave an impact on others.

We're talking faith fueled finance, growing resources, crushing obstacles and then, yeah, using it all for something way bigger than yourself. I'll be joining Life Surge in Cincinnati on Saturday, August 3rd. Joining me in Cincinnati is Nick Vujicic, the man with no arms or legs that speaks about his trials and triumphs. Soul surfer and author Bethany Hamilton. Duck Dynasty's Willie Robertson and author and pastor Craig Groeschel. Star of CNBC's The Prophet, Marcus Lemonis and Bethel Music. That's Life Surge Cincinnati on Saturday, August 3rd.

Tickets are on sale exclusively at LifeSurge.com. I hope to see you there. I love it when people are of their word. I love it certainly when they're in the family of the National Football League and I, you know, I consider myself a mission critical member.

True. Mission critical. So when the final day of the NFL draft looked up, saw on the Lions draft room camera that they were all wearing number 89 Lions jerseys, Dan Campbell jerseys.

They were all wearing it. Charles Davis started talking about maybe we should they should sign him for for St. Jude. And then he reached out to Brad Holm, the general manager, who said he would do it. Brad Holmes was on yesterday's show, said a package was on the way in route and the same same way that I guess Jared Goff's contract was also on the way and had no idea.

It was definitely on the way because it just arrived during the show. And here you go. Look at this.

All right. That's a Brad Holmes signed Dan Campbell jersey. You can see it on the nine. I love this. It's a Chris Spielman signed Dan Campbell jersey. Number 54.

And then the man himself. An actual Dan Campbell signed Dan Campbell jersey. I'm going to reach out to St. Jude and I want to find out how we're going to raise money with this. Let's go. And I'm sure you Lions fans out there want this.

Oh, so bad. You're very giving people. So thank you, Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell and Chris Spielman and the Lions. Way to go. Love it.

That's really dope. OK. Now, next up, I better see a neck brace signed by one Tony Khan showing up to this studio. Tony, you're on the clock unless you're still wearing it. Richie is still wearing a brace when he's when he's healed. Is he still wearing it? He's the elite.

Drop them on his neck, bro. This doesn't just go overnight. OK.

I mean, I've never been pile driven on national TV. Back on the Rich Eisen show. I don't want that for you. OK, so, you know, we've been talking about it. I think the Falcons are sick and tired of this conversation.

They're sick and tired of this conversation. They're the ones who drafted a rookie eighth overall after signing Kirk Cousins to a monster contract. You heard earlier on the show, Tom Pelissero, Tom Pelissero walking you through the finance. The finance is this. Sixty seven million this year.

Ninety million over the first two years of Arthur Blank dollars. OK. And so meanwhile, Michael Pennix, arguably one of the most pro ready quarterbacks available in this year's draft, is just going to be chilling. Have not heard from Kirk Cousins.

Sit down interview yet. Guess who got him? With the scoop. The boys. The boys. Bussing with the boys pod.

Will Compton and Taylor Lewand sitting down with Kirk Cousins and got this soundbite. You're reminded again that you there are things you control and there's a lot of things you don't control. And so let's deal in reality, you know, and recognize that fact and then be a steward, not an owner. So I just believe that I got a steward. What comes my way and control what I can control, which what a steward does. But a steward doesn't worry about that, which they can't control. Yeah, an owner does.

An owner would be like, oh, my goodness. So I just got to steward this and just just, you know, do kind of what I've always done as a player and let the chips fall where they may. So it's fair to say Kirk Cousins, the Falcons, there's no there's no beef involved. No, I don't think there can be.

I don't think it's helpful. Like, we're trying to win a Super Bowl and it's hard enough. Like, you know what I mean?

Like, it's hard enough. So let's let's all be on the same page and let's try to go into Super Bowl. Boy, the Falcons are lucky if that is the way he truly does approach it, that he's just like, there's there's no sense in dwelling in the negative.

And it's a negative. There's just no other way to put it. The guy thought he was going to be there forever.

And he's throwing out pitches at the Braves games and stuff like that and trying to become a member of the community. And then all of a sudden, it's just like, yeah, we're already looking over the steering wheel on you. Although. There is a way to cushion the blow, and that's 90 million dollars over the next two years. It's not bad. Not bad.

Now, in terms of cushioning a blow, if I just made for a moment, jump out of this narrative for a second here. Did that look like a bus to you? No. Well, they were at the Falcons facility. So they went to him. Right. So they do podcasts with guests where the guests are. Interesting. Yeah. Right. It appears so. That all they need, all they need is a couple cameras, couple mics, some folding chairs. And you're busing with the boys. Boom.

Podcast. Although I don't believe Kirk ever called them out for not having a motor on their bus. Routinely. Which is, I believe, the ultimate. Be that as it may.

All right. Raheem Morris spoke today and had this to say about the dynamic, because it's on him. This is his.

Locker room to hold together and to lead and to mold and to. Make sure if there's any there there, despite what Cousins just said to the boys, he needs to address it. This is what he had to say about Pentax's relationship with Cousins. I think the oneness really belongs to Michael. When it comes to those things, Kurt trying to win a Super Bowl. Right.

Kurt is in full blown preparation mode to set the Atlanta Falcons up for the best success that they can possibly have. And I think you get no better person to sit behind than a Kirk Cousins type of guy. And obviously, they're probably better, arguably on other people's teams.

But I'm talking about the one on our team. Right. And I just think it's a great experience for Michael. And I think he'll learn a lot from watching him move and move in silence with these guys. And he'll learn on the run because really it's the empathy and the humility of Michael that's going to come out more when it comes to learning those type of things. And I think that's the most important part of it all. You know, like everybody wants to make Kurt, you know, have to tell him what to do.

But really shown him what to do by his everyday movements and his actions. So. Here's my two cents, and I love Rahim Morris, I do, and I hate sitting here and constantly.

I scratch my head over it. But yes, you're saying Kirk is there to win a Super Bowl. So why do you need to have somebody there, you know, watching him? Like if he's there to win a Super Bowl and that's it and it's on Michael to figure out how to mature and grow. Then why have anybody there at all who is in that position? If in any way, shape or form, that's a quarterback that needs to focus on the ultimate task at hand and you're paying him handsomely for it. It just makes no sense to have this dynamic, because then when your quarterback does speak to the media for the first time, outside of the non-bussing, he has to answer questions like this.

Yeah, no, Mike's been great. It's always going to be competition in this league and you always got to go out and earn it. I'm going to control what I can control and also understand there's a lot you don't control.

I learned a long time ago that you got to focus on what you can control. When the Falcons were courting you, if they would have told you then that they were going to take a pick, quarterback at eight, would you have signed? I don't really deal in hypotheticals. We could go down that path for a long time.

In a lot of ways, it just doesn't do us any good. I'm excited for this opportunity to have. I think it's a real privilege to be a quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons and I'm trying to make good on the opportunity they've given me with the way I work each day and the way we play this fall. The quarterback room is a working force for one another and that's never not been the case. We're all in there as a working force together to help each other and that dynamic has always been there and always will be there. What were they really thinking?

I'm not going to go down this road because we could go down this road for long, but hell no, or pardon me, heck no, I wouldn't have signed here. And that's the point ultimately. The Falcons are lucky that they have Kirk Cousins for this situation. It's just mystifying that they put him in this situation to find out just how lucky they are. Meanwhile, Penix is in a tough spot himself. We'll see how it all works out. But that'll wrap it up for this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. on YouTube or wherever you listen.