Mike Florio: Jordan Love Will Be The First 60 Million Dollar QB

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Tatum and Brown, they climb the mountaintop. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Five, six rings, get ready.

Hope you guys got yours because it's gonna be a long time before anybody else gets one. Today's guests, host of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. Panthers wide receiver, Adam Thielen.

Packers linebacker, Rashawn Gary. Actor, Judge Reinhold. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We're live on the Roku channel. This Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate, Sirius XM, Odyssey and more. We say hello to those who listen to us on our podcast every day once we're done and we're just getting started here on this three hour show. You can check out us every single day through your Ear Gate, whenever you want to download our podcast through the Cumulus Podcast Network. We greatly appreciate anybody who checks us out on our YouTube channel as well.

There's just no way to miss us. We've got four guests today. Mike Florio is going to join us in 20 minutes to talk some football. And then we've got two actual National Football League players to do exactly that.

Carolina's Adam Thielen, wide receiver, getting set to have a better season, one would think, in his second year with that team. Joining us in hour number two, hour number three, Rashawn Gary will be joining us from the Green Bay Packers. And then in hour three, we're going to go deep down an 80s movie wormhole, folks, because Beverly Hills Cop is back.

And you can check that film out. Beverly Hills Cop Axle F exclusively on Netflix coming up the first week of July. Judge Reinhold is in the studio and we're going to do a celebrity true or false on the original Beverly Hills Cop, Fast Times and Stripes. Oh, my goodness. Seinfeld.

He was the close talker on Seinfeld. Oh, my goodness gracious. That's going to be a great conversation. In hour number three, I've got a power rankings especially set up for that. I've got my power rankings of the top 10 80s comedies.

Oh, wow. It's going to be an argument. There may be fisticuffs here based on my top 10 list. I know this is going to cause drama. Yeah. So that's coming up in our number two. Did you not know I was doing that?

Am I breaking news? I've got that. I've got those power rankings. I found out when everyone else did.

Dang, that's awesome. OK, so I've got that for you. And then there's you at eight four four two oh four rich number at all. Chris Brockman, good to see you. Rich, woke up a champ. I'm still good.

Jason Feller, you wake up a champ every single day. You drive the best car of any of us here. Good to see you. All right. Good to see you. TJ Jefferson, sir. Good to see you.

Can't do a slit. Happy Juneteenth to all my people out there and everybody, really. Not just my own people or my people. Yes, that is correct. Well, it's good to see it's good to see you. Yes. Here on on Juneteenth.

And and we start this this program of the Rich Eisen Show. Last week, we were talking about the passing of Jerry West and the logo. And if Major League Baseball had a logo, if they were going to take a silhouette of a player and make it part of their logo. You know, I know there is one of a player like the side of the helmet in the old school Major League Baseball logo. But if they they used an actual player, I think it would be Willie Mays. For many people, the most beautiful ballplayer ever, the most fluid ballplayer ever.

The guy who could do it all. The ultimate five tool player passing away at the age of ninety three. Last night, the oldest living Hall of Famer, no longer with us. And for so many folks spanning multiple generations, if you ask them the greatest baseball player they ever saw.

Many of them would say. Willie Mays, absolutely. The kid from Alabama who made his way to New York City and then to San Francisco and back to New York City. Before finally winding up in Cooperstown again, passing away at the age of ninety three.

And for those who, you know, I'm going to try and do him a little bit of justice to explain just how great he was. Certainly since when when he retired, I was four years old. So I never really saw Willie Mays play. I've only heard the stories.

I've only read the stories. And I've also spoken to people who saw him. Got a chance to briefly meet him and shake his hand at the Otis Sago Hotel in Cooperstown, New York, when I was there covering it for ESPN. And it was basically like a night at the museum the night before the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in that meadow, in that jewel of an uptown upstate New York City town, Hamlet. And. And so that that's that's essentially the only time I've really ever gotten to interact with Willie Mays and just say hello. But. You just take a look at his resume.

It's insane. It is a twenty four time All-Star now that it's second all time. They used to have the All-Star game, by the way, twice a season, which is why that numbers of it's twenty four times. And he played from nineteen fifty one, missed two seasons. But when you hear why and then retired in nineteen seventy three, he led the NL in home runs four times, slugging five times. Hit three hundred and one in a single season with one hundred runs batted in that same season.

He did that ten times. He led the National League in stolen bases four times, triples three times, runs twice. First ever player to be thirty thirty. Willie Mays, first player ever to have three hundred home runs and three hundred stolen bases in a career. Willie Mays, first right handed hitter to reach six hundred home runs. Willie Mays. He won the Gold Glove twelve straight times after it was created in nineteen fifty seven.

That's a record for outfielders. He was the nineteen fifty one rookie of the year. After he was signed, brought up in the minor leagues by the Giants after he was signed out of the Negro Leagues once he was graduated from high school. Famously playing for the Birmingham Black Barons.

Nineteen fifty one, he was called up. And he was part of a Giants team that fell thirteen and a half games, thirteen and a half games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers, only to go on a tear at the end of the season and tie the Dodgers. Forcing a three game playoff that the Dodgers won with the famous shot heard round the world, Bobby Thompson hit it with Willie Mays on deck.

Wow. Either way, they were winning that game. They made the World Series and he played against the New York Yankees in his childhood hero Joe DiMaggio. And when he took the field in center field with Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson in game one, that comprised the first ever all black outfield in the history of Major League Baseball.

Game five, he hit a fly ball that was only famous for the fact that Mickey Mantle stepped into an open drainpipe in the outfield, chasing it tore up his knee that affected the rest of his career. And that was Willie Mays's first season in Major League Baseball. He was drafted into the Army for the Korean War in nineteen fifty two. And in the nineteen fifty two, nineteen fifty three Major League Baseball seasons, he was in the Army and played occasionally for military teams that were dotted with other Major League stars, but not as great as Willie Mays. At the time, Willie, in those games, learned how to catch a baseball with his back to the plate over the shoulder.

He learned how to basket catch, apparently, in the Army. And that came in handy in nineteen fifty four's first season back in the major leagues. He made the All-Star game for the first time and then it was the first of twenty four straight times. He homered on opening day and became the first player with thirty home runs before the All-Star game that year. He had thirty six home runs through July twenty eighth when his manager, the famed Leo Durocher, apparently told him to hit fewer home runs to get on base more. So Willie Mays hit five home runs the rest of his way and then upped his average nineteen points to hit three forty five and win the Giants first batting title in twenty four years. He won the MVP only time he did that in New York. First of two times in his career, won the MVP, won the pennant and then won the World Series. The Giants first in twenty one years and only one that the franchise had won until Bruce Bochy and the crew did it three times recently.

But of course, that World Series is also most famous for what he did in game one when Vic Wertz of Cleveland. In the old Polo Grounds, it's a weird setup. If you look at the dimensions of the Polo Grounds, it kind of looks like in a basketball lane with the arc at the top of the key with some wings on the side. It would it would go flat from the right and center right and left field foul poles into sort of like that.

I mentioned the top of a key of Major League Baseball. It was less than three hundred feet from home plate to the foul poles. And then it would go all the way back four hundred and eighty three feet so far to center field. And Vic Wertz sent one damn near to the wall. And Willie Mays, with his back to home plate, made a mad dash. And, you know, legend has it he ran the last 20 to 30 feet without even looking for the baseball because he knew he had to get back fast.

We have the call Jack Brickhouse famously at the microphone for this all time moment. Yeah. Great catch of all time. Wow. I mean, there's so much hyperbole that's made and mentioned right.

You know, in our world and exaggeration and best ever goats and things like that. But that catch. Everybody knew that catch. When I was a kid in the 80s, we used to talk about doing the Willie Mays catch over our shoulder basket. It's the most famous, iconic, one of the most iconic plays in Major League Baseball history. We'll never see again because there will never be a stadium with the dimensions of the Polo Grounds or potentially a player with the talent of Willie Mays.

To run back like that and catch it. They won that World Series. And then Willie and the Giants moved west.

His legend grew every single year. They made the World Series in 1962. He lost in seven games to the Yankees. He made one more World Series in his career, the last season of his illustrious career when he joined the Mets. The Mets made the World Series in 1973 and lost in seven games to the famed Oakland A's and Reggie Jackson, who's also one of the many star players who have played in the famed Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, where on Thursday the Giants and the Cardinals are slated to play a baseball game and have been all year to celebrate the Negro Leagues.

And those stars who also followed the Negro League iconoclasts into Major League Baseball, like Reggie Jackson, and some other all-time greats had played there, Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, and Willie Mays, who was a lot of hope for his attendance, but he said earlier this week that he wouldn't make it. And now he's no longer with us. And I say to everybody out there who saw him play, and I mentioned earlier this year that when Michigan won the national championship for football, I came on here and say sports sometimes is the marking of time for a lot of people. And for a lot of people who watched Willie Mays play and remembered that golden age of baseball, where he joined Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial and Joe DiMaggio and the like, and then of course became the face of the sport to lead it into the 50s and 60s in a golden age where there were no exit velocities and the Polo Grounds wasn't because it was sponsored by Ralph Lauren.

You know what I mean? Like it was a different time for so many folks. And they remember it fondly and they'll never forget what Willie Mays made them, how it made him feel, and then of course telling generations how great Willie was and for whom the passing of Willie Mays is now a very sad marking of time. For those folks and of course those who Willie touched, family members, members of the Giants organization and the Mets and everyone else in Major League Baseball and Cooperstown, New York, and the Hall of Fame and Museum up there, I send my condolences. The say hey kid is saying hey now upstairs to all of his colleagues who passed before him. And we say rest in peace, great Willie Mays.

844-204 rich number to dial on this program. As I mentioned, we've got four guests, a lot of football on our minds. That's the way we usually roll here on the program, why not? Here on a Wednesday that has got a lot going on for it. We'll also talk the Stanley Cup Final that now is going to reach a game six after we thought it wasn't ever going to reach a game five.

And the Edmonton Oilers are making things tight for the hockey fans in South Florida. We'll talk all about it. 844-204 rich number to dial here on the Rich Eisen Show. Back with Mike Florio to talk a little bit of football with the creator of Pro Football Talk.

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Full terms at MintMobile.com. So, Rick Woodfield again was the first pro park of Willie Mays' life and career, right? Yeah, the game he ever played in. And last night the Birmingham Barons were playing the Montgomery Biscuits when news of Willie Mays' passing broke and this happened.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have some very sad news to share. A short time ago the San Francisco Giants, Major League Baseball, and the Willie Mays family announced that the Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays, one of the greatest players in the history of our game, has passed away at the age of 93. He was born here in Alabama, got his start in this very ballpark, thrilled generations of baseball fans with his brilliant play, and we will always cherish the memory and light of the great Willie Mays. So it's going to be a celebration of the Negro Leagues and commemoration in many different ways.

Major League Baseball, talking about the game on Thursday night between the Giants and the Cardinals, will be the first ever all-black umpire and crew for that game. And now it's going to also be a memorial for Willie Mays. The only thing I could compare that to is, you know, earlier this couple years ago, back here on the Rich Eisen Show, we just showed a moment in Rick Woodfield last night, the first ever pro park in the history of Willie Mays reacting to the news during the middle of a minor league game that was being played there, that Willie Mays had passed away, and how on Thursday night the Cardinals and Giants are going to play a game there. What was, you know, is going to be still a very special night to commemorate the Negro Leagues and those who have played in that park before. The only thing I can compare it to now that it will be a memorial night for Willie Mays was a couple years ago when it was the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Immaculate Reception, and Franco Harris passed away just days before.

I said the same thing last night. That's the first thing I thought of. No, obviously Willie Mays, you know, is an icon to the entire sport, and Franco Harris meant a lot to a lot of football fans clearly in the Hall of Famer himself, and also a great Samaritan. Willie Mays won the first ever Commissioner's Award in 1971 that goes to somebody who makes the biggest difference in their community.

That's now called the Roberto Clemente Award, and Franco Harris meant so much, and it was so big for him going into that Immaculate Reception ceremony. He couldn't wait to go there, and obviously he never made it, and the idea and hope was that Willie Mays could be in Rickwood Field on Thursday night, but it was just a couple days ago that he let it be known he'd be watching it from San Francisco. Now he's watching it from heaven.

Again, may he rest in peace. Joining us now, let's talk a little football from Pro Football Talk. Our friend Mike Florio is back here, the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. How you doing, Mike? Doing great, Rich. How are you today?

I'm doing fine. We just opened the show talking about Willie Mays. Do you have any thoughts, recollections of him?

Any mean anything to you, your family, anything like that, Mike? Most of his playing career was before I was paying attention to baseball. There's no highlight like the World Series catch, and then the throw, getting rid of the ball. It was one thing to get to the ball, but you've still got to get rid of the ball.

You've got runners on base that you're trying to keep in place or at least get them out, but the presence of mind as soon as he caught it at the turn and get rid of it. There's that clip making the rounds of him and Vince Scully, and I still have a hard time understanding how they never met before 2016, but that's how it's being sold, that that was their first ever meeting and Scully going on and on. There's some catch that Willie Mays made at Wrigley Field that sounds as good, if not better, than the World Series catch. It just isn't preserved for all time via video, as things often were back in those days on baseball games.

But yeah, just one of the all-time great players in any sport, really. Yeah, and the Giants are actually in Wrigley Field right now, of all places. Mike Florio here on the Rich Eisen Show. What is the story, do you think, right now as everybody hits vacation in the NFL?

Mike, what is that for you? Well, this ongoing Sunday ticket trial is a pretty big deal, and it's becoming a bigger and bigger deal, and it's amazing because it was just kind of out there, and not many people were paying attention to it. Now, with the slow time, coinciding with people like Roger Goodell and Jerry Jones testifying in open court. Goodell's been the commissioner since 2006, and he had never testified at a trial in open court before. There's been deposition testimony, there's been congressional testimony, but never in a trial in open court. We'll see what happens. Yesterday, the judge went off on the plaintiff's lawyers, without the jury in the room, about how they've handled the case. So there's some drama building there, and it's falling into this gulf where offseason programs are over, and we're just sitting back, really waiting to see, I think, does Tua Tonka-Bailoa, Jordan Love, and or Dak Prescott get their contracts before training camp opens?

One, two, all three or none of them. I think that's the one big thing, from a football standpoint, that we're paying attention to. Okay, so let's take that one at a time. This case that you say that a lot of folks might not be paying attention to, you are writing quite a bit about it, but outside of that, do you want to explain what it is and what the ramifications of what's going on could possibly be? Very simple argument, and I think this is where the plaintiffs have gotten themselves into trouble. They've overcomplicated the case.

It's a simple argument. Sunday ticket has always been a premium product. It's always been available at a high price with one option, the whole shebang. Every game, every team, even though it gets marketed as, if you're a displaced Packers fan in Pittsburgh, this is the way to watch the Packers.

You can't just buy the Packers. It's always been a very high price. And the case is about the argument that the NFL deliberately sets the price high, requires the price to be high, to protect the free over-the-air broadcast in every market on Fox and CBS. That's what the case is about. The argument is that's an antitrust violation. The ramifications, if the NFL loses, would be beyond whatever the individual class members would get financially, and it probably wouldn't be much, but the NFL, I think, would feel compelled to make changes to the way Sunday ticket is offered.

It would be cheaper for the whole product, and possibly other options would be available, one team at a time, one week at a time, one game at a time, if that's what you choose to do. So that's kind of what's hanging in the balance, but the NFL feels like it has a pretty good case on the law. On the facts, it kind of is what it is. The law, I think, is where the NFL is going to potentially find a way to prevail. Is this a jury trial? It is a jury trial.

It is a jury trial, and there will be a verdict. Where is it? It's in LA, not far from you, I think. Okay. It's out there somewhere. Do I need to stand outside with a boombox like John Cusack or something like that? You tell me.

What am I doing here? Look, here's what could happen, and this is what people need to be ready for. Based upon what happened in court yesterday, there could be a verdict against the NFL that will make people say, holy crap, or something other than crap. And the judge could then turn around and say, I'm entering judgment in favor of the NFL, notwithstanding the verdict, because I believe the law doesn't support this case. The case was already dismissed once, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it.

It's been around for nine years. The bunch of different cases brought together, it's like two and a half million plaintiffs. But they could win, and the judge could take it away. And if the judge doesn't take it away, it'll get appealed, and at some point it'll probably end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. So it's been around nine years. Hell, it could be around five more by the time it's all said and done. So who's the fan that got really pissed off that started this whole thing? That's what must be, right?

What happened? The Mucky Duck, a pub in San Francisco. Because think about it, whatever they charge fans to watch at home, the charge they impose on bars and restaurants is even higher. So that's the lead plaintiff in this case, the Mucky Duck pub in San Francisco. 2015 is when it all started. And look, Rich, I know from the moment I first became aware of Sunday Ticket, 1994, my first reaction was, I've got to get this. Of course.

My second reaction was, why do I have to pay for the whole thing? There's only one team that I want to watch whose games aren't regularly televised in my local market. So that issue's kind of been out there for three decades now. And I think it's fair for the law to provide clarity one way or the other whether or not this is something that the NFL can do. Whether the NFL should do it is a different issue. Whether the NFL can do it is something that's never been resolved.

Mike Florio here on The Rich Eisen Show. Now let's get to the quarterback signing. Your ear to the ground, what are you hearing in the general reaction to the Trevor Lawrence signing? Well, I believe and have believed for a long time that, and I'll start with Dak Prescott, the Trevor Lawrence deal has nothing to do with him. His leverage flows from the contract that he signed three years ago.

It was specifically designed to force the Cowboys to extend it now. Big cap number this year of $55.4 million. And next year, if he leaves in free agency, they have no way to hold him in place.

No franchise tag is available. No trade clause in the contract. He walks away as a free agent next year.

They still carry $54 million in his name for 2025. The only way to handle those numbers and to get those in line is to extend his contract. And that's where his leverage comes from. The market doesn't matter. His leverage comes from his circumstances under his contract.

So this thing has lingered a lot longer than I thought it would. I thought the Cowboys would get this taken care of. And the longer it goes, I think at some point the Cowboys decide we're going to let you go to the market and see what else is out there. Because we think at the end of the day, you're going to realize even if someone's offering you more, you'd still rather stay here and be the Dallas Cowboys quarterback for the entirety of your career. Well, what's the reaction to the Trevor Lawrence contract?

What are you hearing on that? Well, I think Trevor Lawrence has more of an impact as it relates to Tua and Jordan Love. Those are the next two that I think as a practical matter are either going to get or not get a contract before camp starts. I don't expect Dak to. I think at this point there would have to be enough of a change from the Cowboys. It would be so dramatic that I just don't expect it to happen given everything that's happened to lead to this point.

With Tua and Jordan Love, and I'll start with Tua. I think he wants a market deal. He said a couple of weeks ago the market is the market. And I think if you talk to the people who are representing him, they start comparing him to the guys who have gotten contracts that start with a five. He wants a contract, I believe, that starts with a five. Will Stephen Ross, the owner of the Dolphins, authorize a contract that starts with a five? Or do the Dolphins say, you know what, we're going to offer you a long-term deal, here it is, it starts with a four. And you can either take it, or you can play out the fifth year of your rookie contract at $23.1 million, and we'll see where we are next year. That's what I think the Dolphins are going to do.

I'll be surprised if Stephen Ross authorizes a market deal for Tua Tonga Bailoa, because I still think we're kind of in this, we don't know which way he's going to go. He's still not clearly franchise quarterback. He's not a bust. He's in that middle category of, he could be a franchise quarterback.

We just aren't there yet. We'd like to be able to have more time to make that decision before we give him a franchise quarterback contract. I mean, this is just a fascinating development. And it's taken about, what would you say, 10 years plus for it to come home to roost, the collective bargaining agreement of 2011 that stopped this generational enriching from occurring with players who have played zero downs in the NFL. And pushing it down the road to give a look-see for a team to make a decision on this quarterback, and we have seen how that's played out. That now the generational enriching is given to somebody who's proven it-ish, right?

A little bit of ish to it, that you could see it. There's a smell test. There's an eye test that they've passed. But the actual proof in the pudding test still isn't there.

And there's different levels of it. There's Burrow making it to a Super Bowl but being heard around it. There's Justin Herbert, who hasn't won a single playoff game, and he gets it because he's passed the eye test. And then there's Trevor Lawrence, who's beaten one quarterback, and it's Justin Herbert in the playoffs with some other, you know, Urban Meyer one year. Injury the next.

Ascension in year two. It's time to pay him. Like, we're seeing some of that. There's Daniel Jones outliers.

There's Jared Goff, who gets it later on with a second team after getting it in this first team. I'm just wondering where you think this is going, Mike. Where is this going? And Rich, as a general observation, it's why it's critical to process the initial reports of what the value of a contract is. And the folks who rush to Twitter to try to beat each other to the punch with the first tweet that says the contract is agreed to. Here's the value. Here's the guarantee. It's more important to wait for the full details because within the full details, you can do an assessment for how long the team is really on the hook.

I'll give you a couple of examples. Geno Smith, three years, one hundred and five million. When you look at it, oh, wait, it's a year to year contract. The Seahawks can pull the plug anytime they want after a given year and move on.

Daniel Jones. Oh, look at this four year commitment. Well, it's a two year commitment. So a lot of the Derek Carr. Remember when Derek Carr got his contract with the Raiders? Forty million a year and almost guaranteed. And they found the escape hatch.

They deliberately designed the escape hatch for right after his first season and they took it and they cut him. So that's the key. We see these big numbers and the agents love those big numbers to be put out there because it makes them look good and it lets them get employed by new clients. The devil really is in the details.

The truth is forget the devil. The truth is in the details. And we try to break down the details so people understand what the commitment really is. So that's going to be the key for all these contracts.

How long of a commitment is it really? When can the team pull the plug and move on as a practical matter from this deal? Secondly, though, you know, you have teams that are in a tough spot. Like look at the Jaguars.

And I've said this about the Jaguars and the Lions with Lawrence and Goff. Who are they bidding against? Who out there is even in a position to put leverage on these teams to pay this kind of money? But I think what these teams are doing, they're betting on the player ascending. And if the player is going to ascend, we want to get in at a number that we know is going to be a hell of a lot higher if we wait too long. We're going to screw around and find out if we wait too long.

And that's what was brilliant about what the Jaguars did. Get this deal done now and lock him in at 55 for a long time like the Chiefs locked in Mahomes at 45 for a long time. Lock him in at a number that seems high right now. But we know which way the cap's going.

We know which way the market's going. And before too long, 55 is going to be, hey, that's a pretty good deal for Trevor Lawrence if he becomes the guy that they think he's going to be. That's the question is who's going to be the team? Because Brockman's pounding that, you know, I think you're my Chris, for lack of a better phrase, and yours, for lack of a better phrase, are kind of, you know, lockstep. That some team is going to have to stare down the barrel here and say, instead of betting on the player and instead of using that betting on the player to actually spread the word in the locker room.

We pay our own when they do what we think they can do future and what we see they are doing present in terms of being a terrific professional and member of the community. We're going to pay you that they're going to place all that aside, hard-hearted, go into this thing and basically say you're playing out the contract. And then we'll talk and roll the dice that way and potentially F around there and find out otherwise. And I'm wondering who that team's going to be and which quarterback is it going to be? Could it be the Dolphins and Tua right now? Is this, you know, is this the version of what Jerry Jones is doing with Dak even though he really doesn't hold many cards as you described earlier in this conversation? Who's that team going to be?

Will we ever see that, Mike? I think moving forward, the Cowboys with Dak are the most likely to do it because I don't think they want to give Dak what it's going to take to get themselves out of this current salary cap jam. And I think they're confident that if it's time to go to the open market, whatever they offer is going to be enough that Dak won't want to give up what it means to be the Dallas Cowboys quarterback. They've used that affirmatively in the past to try to get guys to take less.

Look at all this other money you can make. You just waltz right into the number one booth of a network when you're done playing. If you're the Cowboys quarterback for your whole career.

So I think that's part of it. But, you know, the Vikings kind of already did it with Kirk Cousins, not a young quarterback finishing his first contract or second contract, an older quarterback. But they let him go to free agency and they had a number they were willing to keep him at. And he found more in Atlanta.

And that's it. The Vikings had to move on to Plan B. The one thing that hasn't happened yet in the classic sense that I think you're referring to guy who is good enough to continue to play for the team.

But he wants too much. His rookie contract has expired. And the team says, we're not going to use the franchise tag. We're just going to let you hit the market and we'll see what happens. And go ahead. Good luck.

Godspeed. If you find a better offer somewhere else. I thought the Giants were going to do that with Daniel Jones and they didn't. They worked out the deal instead and then tagged from Saquon Barkley. I think they wanted to work out a deal with Barkley and tag Jones so they'd have that year to year flexibility because they weren't sure what he was going to be after that one year that he looked pretty good.

But that's really the test. And it hasn't happened yet. I thought the Rams should have done it with Jared Goff in twenty nineteen. They made him market level thirty three million at the time.

Look how much the market's changed. And two years later they end up talking an extra first round pick into Matthew Stafford trade to get that contract off the books. Let's crystal ball at this.

Let's really have a little bit of fun. And I won't hold you to it. But if you get it right, obviously I'll sing your praises. First sixty million dollar a year annual value quarterback is going to be who? Sixty will be. Jordan Love talked about this year, this year.

It's either going to be him or Dak. I know I know you put the disclaimer there, but there's no living it down once you say it. No, no, it's OK. It's all right.

I've already put the disclaimer down. You won't hold you to it. I mean, you don't have a crystal ball, which is my favorite cliche. But I had to guess. Yeah, I had to guess.

If I had to guess, I would like to think it's going to be Dak, but there's a chance it'll be Jordan Love before that. And let me throw another one out there, too. I've got one.

If you want me to. At what point does Josh Allen go to Brandon Bean and say, dude, what? I'm making forty five and it's me and my home's now they've they've reconfigured the back end of my home's deal to move some money forward. So his cash flow is like boroughs. So I don't think he's knocking on anyone's door now. If anybody should be in a position to bang, bang, bang on the door, it's going to be Josh Allen.

So wouldn't that be something if we get a weird curveball out of nowhere? The one of these guys that's currently slipping down and down and down the stack gets a new deal that is the one that pushes the market to a higher level. I wouldn't be stunned if the bills do it with Josh Allen.

I'll give you one. What do you think of C.J. Stroud? If he does it again, he does it again this year. You know, like he's two years away from it. You know, Purdie is going to set a new standard. You know, Love's going to set a new standard. You know, Dak's going to have to get settled at some point whenever the Joneses do it, because, you know, they're going to they're going to have to some way. I believe that at that point in time that the the the upwardness will continue to climb and Stroud will be the first one strolling in, maybe with an MVP or or who knows even even a trophy the way that they played last year.

Not to overreact, but maybe it's him. Well, they're the first team ever to add a thousand yard rusher, a thousand overseer and a 10 or more sack guy in the same offseason. So they are doing what the Cowboys said they were going to do.

Someone in Texas is doing it. They were close enough. Right. But Stroud's got two more years before he's even eligible. Right. So I think we get to 60 before the window opens for him and he'll be the high bar, whatever that is.

Sixty two, sixty three at the time. I think he'll get there. You mentioned Purdy and I made this point recently.

Yes. Purdy is eligible after this season. And it's important to understand that CBA is clear on this. The window opens after the regular season. It's not the postseason. One of these teams, I think, is going to be next level genius. And I wouldn't put it past the forty niners to lay the foundation to do Purdy's deal.

Let's assume they make it to the playoffs as they have every year since twenty nineteen, except twenty twenty. Go to Purdy and have the deal ready to go right when the regular season ends. You take the injury risk off of him for the playoffs and he understands what can happen during the playoffs as relates to injury. That's how he suffered that elbow injury in the NFC championship and lock him in at a number in that window between end of the regular season and start of the postseason.

Because, Rich, the one thing that teams, I hope, have learned this year, it never gets cheaper. So the moment the window slides open, that's when the forty niners should sign Purdy. And then next year, that's when the Texans should be ready to sign Stroud. You get a great quarterback. You sign him the first day he's eligible for a second contract. Well, I mean, the only analogy I would give here is it's like proposing to your spouse.

You better you better get a yes when you hit them, when you hit the floor, you hit that one knee and you propose. He better say yes, because could you imagine a quarterback says no to that and what the conversation is on a week to week basis if that gets out? You know, well, look at Purdy, last guy taken in the draft salary next year of one point oh one five million in twenty five. So once again, they offer him something close to the top of the market with a huge guarantee, injury guarantee and full guarantee. And he's still got games left to play in his third season in the postseason. It's going to be hard to say no to that and say, now I'll just play for one million. But, Rich, you make another point.

Yes, sir. You know, Kirk, Kirk Cousins didn't strategically become a free agent in twenty eighteen. He was put in that situation by Washington because they franchise tagged him at twenty million. They offered him a multiyear deal at sixteen.

What's he going to do? Accept that? No, I'll take twenty and then I'll take twenty four and then I'll become a free agent.

I'm waiting for the day that a quarterback makes it known fairly early in his career. You know what? I'll give you my five years under my rookie contract. You can tag me once. You can tag me twice. And then I'm out. I'm gone. And it becomes kind of like an NBA thing where I'll put in my seven years with my first team and then I'm going to go wherever I want to go.

I feel like someday, especially as we get more guys coming to the NFL with more money in their pocket from college, there's going to be a guy that is willing to put in his seven years with one team and then he wants to go somewhere else after that. Great chat, Mike. Yeah. I ask you where it's going.

That's where a lot of this stuff is going. Appreciate the two cents. Chat shortly. Thanks again. All right. Thanks, Rich.

Right back at you. That's our contributor Football Night in America and the creator and editor of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio. Mike Florio. What do you think?

Stroud, first 60 million guy. I was going to get in your ear and say love right as he was saying love. I don't know if love's going to get there now, though. I don't know if love's going to get there now.

Stroud's going to be open. He's got two more years than he's open for business. Two more years.

Love is after this season, essentially. Or they get to him now. They sign him now and it won't be 60. If I'm him, I wait. I don't know about that.

I don't know about that. He takes the Packers to the Super Bowl and suddenly it's 65-70. Why wait? It's 50 something million bucks that if he can get, he's making what, like 18 now?

And you can get like a 30, 40 million dollar raise with even more than that potentially coming down on a signing bonus? You say no to that? I don't know. I don't know.

Love's got to see some of these guys and be like, I'm just as good if not better than them. Then do a three something, do the term as four. Then you're just a little over 30 and getting another one. I don't know. You sign now. You don't delay it. That's money that could be in your pocket rather than, you know, in Del Tufo's wall with another stock share. Let's take a break. Let's talk about some historic action on the ice and what we are seeing in the Stanley Cup final.

That's next hour number two as well with Adam Phelan of the Panthers. Sales Navigator helps you target the right buyers surface key signals such as job changes or which accounts you should prioritize and shows you hidden allies. You could find those buyers that are most likely to convert fueled by LinkedIn's one billion member platform.

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Shopify dot com slash Westwood One. So this is what Mike Flora is referring to when Vince Scully met Willie Mays for the first time was in the broadcast booth in 2016. Buck and Scully. I mean, so many people come on over here just so we can. I am. Let me tell you something.

I am. First of all, you've always been my favorite player, even though you're wearing the wrong uniform. But as I have told everybody, you've also been the greatest player I ever saw.

And I've said that for a long, long time. Remarkable. I would see the other player on the center field and I'd be a base. They wouldn't charge the ball. You charged every base hit like you were at shortstop. That's what amazed me.

And I used to tell people, do you realize that he charges and it gets through him? It could roll 483 feet. Is that ball? Yeah, 483. That ball that you caught at Vic Worshit in the World Series?

That was probably 440 at least. That's how far out that was. I'll tell everybody, it's not the catch so much, it's the continuation. Yeah, getting the ball back.

Getting the ball back into the infield. You know who kept talking about that that night? Because we were all at Tootshore. Tootshore, yeah.

And all of that kept saying, never mind the catch, how he got the ball back is the most amazing part of the thing. Tootshore, come on. Wow. That was on October 2, 2016. May they both rest in peace. 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. So the NBA Finals, Celtics take a 3-0 lead, get blown out in Game 4, but wrap things up in Game 5. I think a lot of folks thought that was going to be the case in the Stanley Cup Final. Getting blown out in Edmonton, the Florida Panthers after taking a 3-0 lead, getting blown out 8-1.

Go home and do anything but wrap it up. Oilers took, the Edmonton Oilers took not one, but two 3-goal leads in that game. That game was nuts. And then held on for dear life up 4-3, the Oilers. The Panthers pulled a goalie. Puck starts trickling with less than a minute to go right towards the open net. Matthew Kuchuk with one of the most remarkable individual plays just reaching out.

That was sick. Looked like the entire stick is in the blue area, the crease, the whole bit. And he reaches out just in time to save the puck from going in the net.

Swipes it to his left. Unfortunately for him, the radio audience can see it. The worst possible guy to be trailing the play for the Panthers was trailing the play for the Oilers. Basically all Kuchuk did with this remarkable physical feat was delay the open net goal by about 2-3 seconds.

And put himself in danger too. Because the puck went right to Connor McDavid. Amazing save. Perfect pass to Connor McDavid. I mean, the worst possible guy for the Panthers to wind up with the puck. Wound up with the puck for the Oilers. To say Connor McDavid is on a heater right now is a disrespect to anything that's ever been heated up.

Any flame ever. He is the first player in the history of the Stanley Cup Final to have back-to-back 4-point games. Two goals, two assists last night after a 4-point game in that big Game 4 win. So just when the Oilers needed Connor McDavid to put his stamp on things, he put his stamp on things. And honestly, the way that he moves the puck into the zone, through the zone, in traffic, through traffic.

The only description I can have watching it is the Matrix. It just seems like it slows down. Where the bullet slows and everybody's dodging around it. And he's just going about his business. And I don't know how he keeps the puck on the stick. Like a big game. Really?

You know what I'm saying? It's like Velcro to his stick. How does he keep the puck on the stick and then put it where it needs to go next? Was it the first goal or the second goal? His assist on that play. He knifed through three guys and then it was like three feet just dipped the pass and Perry scored.

It was unbelievable. How does he even see where to go next? It's like he sees things other humans don't see.

To call it full speed, it's bigger than full speed in the biggest crucible moments. And he's the biggest guy out there. Well, I remember that. Seeing him for the first time a couple years ago taking Cooper to a game. The Kings and the Oilers. He goes, Dad, which one's Connor McDavid?

It was easy to spot. He was the biggest one out there moving like no one else did. He's like a Yeti just on skates. Now they're going to go home. Perfect word by the way, Sean McDonough. What a brilliant job he's doing.

Certainly since apparently he's under the weather as well. He used the perfect word. When McDavid scored the empty netter and this thing was over, he goes, we're going back to Edmonton and that place is going to be unglued is the word that he used.

Unglued. So this thing may go to a game seven. Oh baby. And hockey's the sport where it's happened the most often.

Oh my gosh. The three will come back. We will see. Let's do that hockey. Connor McDavid, man. That's all I can say is Connor McDavid, man.

And what he's doing right now. I mean, he's going to break the cup points record. He could.

He could. If it goes to game seven, it seems likely. Right now, he's got 42 points in the playoffs. That's the fourth most in a single postseason in NHL history. And the only ones in front of him are Wayne Gretzky with 43 in 1988.

Mario Lemieux with 44 in 1991 and Wayne Gretzky with 47 in 1985. I've heard of them. Yeah. Good players. To say he's in rarefied air is another understatement.

He's the rarest of the rarefied air. Gretzky twice and Lemieux once are the only ones in front of him. Did he just pass Lemieux? I think Lemieux had two of them. So at his pace, let's give him four more points in game six. Maybe even just three. Even with three, he trails only Gretzky in 85.

And that would be by two points. He could do this. If this goes to game seven, he could do it. He could do this.

And then you've got to start talking about GOAT status already. Just looking at him. Honestly, we talked about eye tests, right? Oh, my goodness gracious.

Every eye test. How does he do it? Edmonton Oilers, man. Making it a Stanley Cup final. Game six coming up later this week. We're doing that hockey on the Rich Osmond Show. Look at us.

Adam Thielen and the Panthers coming up hour two. Hey, guys, welcome to the Candy Valentino show. I'm Candy Valentino. I was a founder before I could legally order a drink. And for more than two and a half decades, I've built, scaled, acquired and exited multiple businesses in diverse industries. Now, my goal is to help you by sharing the knowledge that I've learned, the mistakes that I've made and the wisdom that I've developed over my journey. Biweekly episodes of the Candy Valentino show. Every Monday and Thursday, the Candy Valentino show wherever you listen.