Jesse Luketa: We Are Going To Shock A Lot Of People

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I'm living my best life. Yeah. Yeah. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Here's the other surprising part. With guest host Brian Weber.

Yeah, big shoes to fill. Eisen's a legend. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Rich Eisen Show. Do you know who I am? I'm a guy on television.

I have my own show. And now sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Welcome to the program. Always a blast to sit in for Rich and the fellas.

Do my best to preserve the brand that Mr. Eisen has worked so hard to develop. And we have a ton to get to. It is a Tuesday. I am reminding myself also as a radio guy, we get into formatics, time and temperature, traffic and weather together. But it is one of these weeks. And because I'm with you all week long and delighted to have the opportunity to stretch out and take this program in a variety of directions. It's a bizarre week in that those of us who are working with the caveat and a big word Tuesday, obviously, I am not digging ditches.

There is no heavy lifting involved in what's going on. But when you're used to a normal commute and you breeze into work, you sort of get into that weekend mode and then you realize, wait a minute, the world continues. There is a ton to get to in the NBA. We're going to jump right in where we left off yesterday because we had good timing as the program was winding down with about 20 minutes left in the show.

It became official. Klay Thompson taking his talents to Dallas, snubbing the Lakers. We'll talk about all of the implications coming up and the big news around the NBA today surrounding players going nowhere and getting gargantuan deals. Jason Tatum, Powerball money, better than 300 million bucks. And after all the hand wringing and all the speculation about chaos in Cleveland. Well, don't you know, Donovan Mitchell didn't go anywhere. So we'll get into the particulars of that and what has been candidly a less than scintillating free agent cycle. But I am not going to shift gears immediately to a topic that I heard other shows open the program with driving in. And if you're wondering who I am, I'm Brian Weber, even though the guy with the big voice just said that moments ago, we can't have a conversation.

We can pick up the phone, 844-204-7424 or slide over to the X platform, tweet at me, B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. I do my best to never overwhelm you with guests. Typically I go with just two over the course of three hours, but anytime I have the opportunity to talk to a player in the National Football League, I'm going to seize that chance. So if you thought I talked a bit too much basketball yesterday, in fairness, it was a blockbuster day around hoops. But if you're a football guy, quote unquote, and I realize who I'm guest hosting for, this is the football show of record. Rich Eisen, the face of NFL Network from day one. We're going to perhaps overcorrect lean into football hard, as mentioned, coming up in 40 minutes, looking forward to my first conversation with Jesse Luketa, Arizona Cardinals linebacker.

Very interesting story. If you track the league closely, you probably know he's one of the rare players who actually is listed on both sides of the ball occasionally because he has seen time at fullback. Comes from Canada, had a football odyssey to get to Penn State. We'll cover it all coming up in 40 minutes to get the outlook from Arizona franchise that seems to be stuck in neutral. Although I'll be more positive when I check in with Jesse and get his mindset coming off OTAs.

Our number two, 140 Eastern Time. More NFL, are you not entertained? Are the Cowboys ever going to figure out what they're doing?

That's really a rhetorical question because that's been their huge issue for the better part of 30 years. But in terms of the hearing now, still going to pay C.D. Lamb, ultimately have to pay Dak Prescott unless you believe he's going elsewhere next year. We will take you across the NFL with one of the brightest minds in football. Always enjoy the opportunity to get the insights from Trevor Sikkema, a pro football focus. Then we wrap up the show 240 Eastern Time with more NBA beyond what I'm going to tackle coming up when we check in with Joe Vardon of the Athletics. But I mentioned in passing because I do my best to stay on top of everything going on across the sports media landscape.

And candidly, I don't have much of a life. That's why I'm available and very excited to be part of the summer tradition. Making sure that Rich's program meets its high expectations or at least comes close when they have to settle for yours truly in the chair. I heard a couple of shows open with a soccer conversation. Now we're going to get to it later in the program and I am not desperate. I am not, well I'm desperate in my personal life, but I am not that much in a content jam where I'm just going to reach over to the film and handbook they give to anybody.

Who works a national platform. And once you get past Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame and Mount Rushmore's of every sport and candy bar out there. Page 17 says bash soccer.

I'm not going to do that. In fact, if you actually know who I am, I've called a lot of soccer across my college play by play career. I saw Pele play at Giants Stadium in the late 1970s. But the reason I'm postponing the soccer conversation is are you surprised at all where Team USA is still mired? Coming off the loss to Urge last night in an absolutely ridiculously officiated game. A broadcast that was bizarre on 15 different levels. I realize we're not on the simulcast on the Roku channel. But if you actually cared about that game, you flipped over to Fox Sports 1.

They literally had the same angle as the all 22 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City as when the Chiefs play. Before Fox got on the phone and started screaming at the international broadcasters and they finally fixed the wackiest perspective I've seen in years. But the preview when we get to the soccer is what did you expect? We've been talking about the emergence of the United States on the pitch. I'm a soccer guy.

For my entire adult lifetime. Beyond that, when I was a kid, let's just tell like it is with the explosion of the North American Soccer League. For a half century, I've been hearing we're catching up, we're catching up. Well, watch the games.

What do you see? We'll talk about that coming up. Somehow I got on an unplanned soccer rant. But as we wrapped up the program yesterday, the breaking news was not surprising. But it was good to get clarity because we had the mindset and this was not a novel concept. And I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen.

You can slide in 8442047424 and get involved on the X platform. That's BW Weber, Weber with two B's. I mentioned a ton of football. I'll give you more coming up in 15 minutes. You want to know what's going on with the summer of Gronk?

We'll get there coming up in just a bit. But conventional wisdom said that Paul George was going to be the linchpin in this free agent cycle. Which also reflects that it's not that sexy a collection of talent. And I'm not bashing George in any way. I listen to the podcast because I'm a narcissist.

Also want to hear how I sound, what I'm covering. And in retrospect, yesterday I probably was too critical of Paul George. I'm not just saying he's a guy.

I realize his body of work. But if the Clippers, who have spent money in ways that would make a drunken sailor on shore leave embarrassed, were unwilling to give him the fourth year, and they know him better than anybody. Remember, they went all in to get him in 2019 and to assemble their quote unquote super team with Kawhi Leonard. If Steve Ballmer, and this is not hyperbole, based on all of the dough he made and the stock options that Microsoft is still coming through on. I'm not going to give you stock advice. For that, you got to listen to my podcast, Dollars and Cents with B-Web. But let's just put it this way. No need for a GoFundMe for Steve Ballmer.

In fact, this is factual. He has more money in terms of total net worth than the other 29 owners across the NBA combined. So if Steve Ballmer either said, I don't really feel like spending any more money on a team that's going nowhere. I'm talking about the incremental spend, a four year deal versus a three year deal to Paul George. Plus, this team, I mentioned the concept of being stuck in neutral, the Clippers, despite all of the hype surrounding them, despite having a roster that if we were just talking fantasy hoops or just looking for depth on parallel depth, probably second only to the Celtics, what have they achieved? Absolutely nothing. And looking back, remember, they gave up a boatload of first round picks and SGA, the great Shea Gilgus Alexander, who's now a top 10, top 15 player, however you want to slot him in OKC.

And what was the return on that investment? One appearance in the conference finals in 2021. Over the course of the five years that Paul George played for the Clippers, they did nothing of significance. Three playoff series victories in half a decade. So I'm not surprised that the Clippers held firm and the Sixers undeniably were planning way ahead.

That was part of the reason they were more than happy to part ways with James Harden. And if you're a Clipper fan, I believe there are one or two of you. I'm here in Southern California and I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen, Tuesday edition of the program, 844-204-7424.

The number to call conversation never stops on X. That's B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's and a half hour.

Looking forward to our conversation with Cardinals linebacker Jesse Luqueta. You're a Clipper fan. Now you got a ride with James Harden, who now has no incentive to be the model citizen that he was last year.

He can put on that meat suit again. Kawhi Leonard, who went healthy, is one of the 15 best players in the league, but he's never healthy, and Russell Westbrook, who's a shadow himself. Good luck with that. So once Paul George was on his way to Philly, everything then turned to Klay Thompson. And there are many layers through which we can move forward talking about Klay. Step one is, and I'll be fully transparent, I don't root for teams anymore.

I'm way past that. Hopefully I have an energetic delivery, but since I just told you I was watching Pele in the late 1970s, you can probably do the basic math. When I was a sportscaster in the San Francisco Bay Area and I was the Warriors sideline reporter on TV when they were the absolute joke of the league, to watch the transformation of that franchise, you have to give Klay Thompson a great deal of credit. After all, the Splash Brothers had two guys. It wasn't just Steph being superhuman, he had a running mate. And the Warriors dynasty, in which they were able to squeeze one more championship from a couple years ago, when the Celtics weren't ready to win in that NBA final. And coming up, to tip off our number two of the program, I'm going to tell you why it's not too early to start the D-word conversation in Boston, pivoting off Jason Tatum getting the five-year, $314 million contract extension, biggest ever in the history of the NBA. Remember last year, Jalen Brown got the bag, as you kids say, $285 million.

That is now the second most lucrative deal. No wonder the Celtics are up for sale. Ownership said, if I'm writing those kind of checks now, what in the world is the financial landscape of the NBA going to look like in five years?

Get out while the getting is good. But for Klay, I think a lot of this came down to ego, because the Warriors made a decision undeniably that they were riding with Draymond Green, and they gave Klay a fair offer in their estimation. But this wasn't just about raw numbers, this was about emotion, this was about pride, this was about self-esteem, and if you're Klay Thompson, and maybe this is me projecting a little bit, and you watch the franchise that you helped become a $5, $6 billion brand, however you want to quantify it, after they were the dregs of the NBA, and you get a low ball deal in your perception, you get sent to the bench in the middle of the year, justifiable, in my view, for basketball reasons, I cannot tell you that Klay is the same player he used to be. You can look at the raw numbers, yeah, they're still adequate, and he's always going to be a reliable three-point shooter, and that's why Dallas is the ideal destination. But again, this is not about X's and O's, this is about mind and heart, and to see the Warriors continue to placate and enable Draymond Green's lunatic behavior on the floor. I think Draymond's a bright, thoughtful guy, I enjoy his broadcast work to a degree, I don't need him on inside the NBA, certainly don't want him to succeed any of those guys, although it's going to be chaos apparently when Turner's out of the basketball business. But given his body of work for the franchise to enable him once more, remember, Jordan Poole's not on that team because he got punched in the face by Draymond Green and was never the same. And the Warriors, by siding with Draymond effectively, and you could justify them realizing they gave Poole way too much money and quickly got him off the books by sending him to Washington, but they just parted ways with Chris Paul, and what are they doing with the additional $30 million that they have now? And if you're a clay sympathizer, you say, well, they could have certainly enhanced the deal financially. Folks, the Warriors were ready to move on from Play Thompson, and they weren't willing to give him a lifetime achievement contract.

And you could say that's good business, I would agree. But remember, these are relationships we're talking about, and if you're clay and you're looking around and go, hang on, has there ever been a negative word said about Clay Thompson? Other than, unfortunately, the recent run of injuries, in fact, he rarely speaks. And maybe that's where the projection comes from because he is soft spoken and because he seems introspective in a major contrast from Draymond, who lets you know beyond the podcast with his play on the court exactly what he's feeling at every moment. But when the Warriors decided that they were going to remain in the Draymond Green business, the money can only be carved up so many ways, especially now with a more punitive collective bargaining agreement. I'm not getting into conversations of the dreaded second apron, but the Warriors are only going to pay Clay so much and good for him. He found a better situation, especially from the basketball point of view. You go from a team that lost to the Kings in the play in and now is in the midst of the massive rebuild, especially in the rugged Western Conference, although he's just got a lot more interesting with Paul George heading over to Philadelphia. Clay goes to Dallas overachieving as the four seed, although in fairness, remember, that was a franchise that changed everything at the trade deadline, picking up Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington, and if you're Clay Thompson, you got to think, OK, now I'm going to an organization that I think you can say fairly now with Nico Harrison, their sharp GM in year two or year three after being a longtime executive at Nike. I think you can argue the Mavs are much better run than the Warriors are right now.

If you want to be wonky, you can talk about state income taxes. Sure, that's even more money in Clay's pocket. But this was not purely financial, because according to reports, there were teams out there willing to give him a fourth year.

Instead, he took three years on the player option and given the fragility of his body these days, I'd be surprised if he's still in the league in four years. But in terms of what's happening in the upcoming season, Clay's got to feel magnificent about how it played out. He's got a chance now to stick it directly to the Warriors. I'm not saying the Mavs are going back to the NBA finals, but if you look at their collection of talent and where Clay fits in as a complementary piece, he's already used to a ball dominant guard.

Steph runs the show in Golden State, as does Luca. But Luca is so creative, not only will he find ways to get Clay involved, well, he demands a double when he drives the lane. But what does that mean as I now get deep into my basketball forecasting here?

I'm painting the word picture. That means that Clay is going to be open for three-point opportunities. And with Kyrie Irving, and I have to give him credit, he has changed his tune on a variety of levels as the established running mate of Luca. Well, there's no pressure on Clay. Show up, do your thing, which is consistently hit three-point shots, and you have a chance to compete for a title. What are the Warriors competing for?

Nothing. Management made a decision that so long as Steph is ambulatory, and I'm not burying him yet, but let's remember now in his mid-30s, with injuries flaring up with more regularity, and Draymond is available. He hasn't done anything over the top to get him suspended, and if he gets suspended again, this time it might be for a full season, next time we're talking for life. That's how little margin for error he has. But it feels like the Warriors have arrived at the decision, you got Steph, you got Draymond, we will go with Wiggins, we will go with Camingo, we will go with the young guys, and that's good enough to get 17,000 people to show up and pay way too much money to watch that team at the glittering new arena in San Francisco, and they weren't willing to give Clay the kind of money that he felt like he deserved from a standpoint of personal respect.

So I don't do winners and losers, but if we're just looking up at the scoreboard, I think Clay won in a major way. He's gotten to a better situation, he got a approximation of the money he wanted, apparently he left some money on the table by not going to a team that would have given the fourth year, and if we're looking at losers, I don't know where the Warriors go from here, and what in the name of Dr. James Naismith are the Lakers doing? Because they're just going to run it back again, and that means what? Running through the play and again to lose in the first round?

We'll talk about all that coming up in much more detail in 40 minutes when we get back to the NBA to tip off hour number two, with the focal point being the Celtics now making it clear there's still separation between them and everybody else. I'm Brian Weber, a reminder, this holiday week is all about grilling, and if you're interested in getting that done in the best way, you got to keep in mind the great people at Weber Grills. So let's fill the grill and fire up the party, get the Weber Seawood Pellet Grill, Smoke, Roast, and Sear all on the same grill. You can go from low and slow on Smoke Boost Mode at 180 degrees all the way to high heat sear at 600 degrees, it's got a full great sear zone so you can put more food on the flame. Food will look as good as it tastes, that's very important in the social media era. This grill is hot and 15 minutes clean up is easy, you'll cook on two levels at the same time so you can make enough for everyone. You can add a heavy duty rotisserie or rust resistant griddle insert. Get fired up for your new Weber Seawood Pellet Grill.

844-204-7424 the number to call. Let's have the conversation on social media over on X, that's B.W. Weber, Weber with two B's. In less than 20 minutes, looking forward to checking in with Cardinals linebacker Jesse Lucetta, we're talking a lot more football today. With that in mind, straight ahead, does the summer of Gronk include contributing to only fans?

Yes, only Gronk could pull that off. Details coming up. Just easing in on a jam packed Tuesday, appreciate the company during this holiday week. I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich, this is the Rich Eisen Show. This Rich Eisen Show podcast is sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Whether you're driving, cooking, or doing laundry, Progressive knows the podcasts you listen to go best when they're bundled with another activity. Much like how their Progressive Home and Auto policies go best when they're bundled. Having these two policies together makes taking care of your insurance easier and could help you save too. Customers who save by switching their home and car insurance to Progressive save over $775 on average. That's a whole lot of savings and protection for your favorite podcast listening activities like going on a road trip, cooking dinner, and even hitting the home gym. Yep, your home and your car are even easier to protect when you bundle your insurance together.

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Grainger has the right product for you, call clickrainger.com or just stop by, 844-204-7424 is the number to call. Candidly because we are supersizing and we threw the onion rings in as well with a third guest today in 15 minutes looking forward to checking in with Jesse Luketka, Arizona Cardinals linebacker. Very interesting back story, in fact he's going to be checking in from the great white north, he's a proud Canadian and he took a long and winding road to the NFL. We will give you all the details coming up.

Probably not a great day for phone calls, I know that sounds like a contradiction. I give out the number because I want you to know I'm open to going back and forth but if you want to express an opinion slide over to Twitter, I don't work for Musk although I guess I should call it X now just to be accurate, B.W. Weber, Weber with two Bs, much more NBA coming up starting our number two.

Saw this item and I want to give attribution because there are way too many moments of thievery, pilfering going on in our business and I understand it's a content beast you got to feed every day but if you see something interesting, it takes 30 seconds like I'm going to do right now to give credit to the person who dug up the item. In this case it's Jimmy Traina, does a great job covering pop culture and sports in general for Sports Illustrated, has a very interesting sports media podcast so because he consumes as much of this stuff as I do, he was enjoying and this is a good podcast, I recommend it, only after this program is done as my 8th grade science teacher used to say, do this on your own time but if you haven't checked out Julian Elliman's podcast, Games with Names, it is well done and I think Elliman has a big future in broadcasting beyond what he's already dabbling in if he wants to spend more time working on the craft. You knew he was going to get loose when Kronk joined his former teammate and let me be fully up front, I understand the appeal of Rob Gronkowski, I don't want to keep going back to dating myself from eras that are decades ago but for example, there was a fella when I was a kid named Art Donovan who was mostly famous in addition to his playing career for the then Baltimore Colts for being a big lovable oaf who would go on David Letterman and tell stories about getting drunk and beating people up. This is a archetype that we have had throughout sports history and good for Gronk, beyond his hall of fame resume, I don't want to overlook that but he has built this persona of the aw shucks, hey let's all take our shirt off and dance around kind of guy and he's working for Fox, he was my least favorite part of the Brady roast but I understand his appeal, I think he's miscast in that Fox studio because you're asking somebody who was primarily there to be entertaining to do it in 12 seconds, that is hard, it's got to be much more than get in and get out so I'm not surprised that Gronk was more entertaining on this podcast with Edelman and they reacted to a thought from a listener, that's why I give out the Twitter handle, interaction can take you in unexpected directions. Case in point, here was the question posed to Gronk and Edelman, if you two had to go into business together and it could have nothing to do with sports, what would the business be and what would your roles be?

If I had produced this better we would have played the Jeopardy music but I don't have that much time because I'm getting ready for Jesse Lucetta. The answer posed by Gronk initially was podcasting because Edelman reminded them that they were currently on a podcast. Now I don't think that's a bit, I just think that's Gronk being Gronk and that's part of his appeal because he is so genuine and authentic. Typically then he gets x-rated and yeah it continued in that direction so Gronk after he was told that would not be a satisfactory answer had this follow up, I think we would be really good on OnlyFans. Now if you don't know what OnlyFans is, let's take it step by step, do not look it up at work, it is not safe for work. How can I put this delicately because I know kids are in the car especially during a holiday week.

It is a platform for content creators to express themselves. Ooh, I actually pulled that off, I got to give myself a self high five. Gronk then decided to get into the financial particulars because apparently he's under the assumption that somebody, Tiger, I'm familiar with his act, is making $40 million a month from being on OnlyFans. Now I'm not good with math.

Last math class I took was my freshman year in college and I got a C barely because I went to a school where they didn't want to fail anybody, they believed in self esteem. So I'm not the guy to be running your numbers nor doing your taxes nor coming up with actuarial tables but even I can do the rough back of the envelope computation, $40 million a month times 12, that is Jason Tatum money. But again, this is the appeal of Gronk because he says things that if somebody else said it you'd say, wait a minute, this is a gimmick, right?

This is a put on. I am surprised he is not cashing in more professional wrestling. In fact, he could get in the ring and I know he's dabbled in the past. He doesn't need the additional money but if someone's going to hand you free dough, why not take it? And I get the feeling he's not being groomed to replace Howie Long or Terry Bradshaw.

Plus that Fox show hasn't changed in 30 years other than some very minor adjustments along the way. So as Gronk thinks about his future, obviously OnlyFans is right there, is somebody going to tell him not to be a standup comedian? Because that's actually hard. You need to know what you're doing. You got to have content but as I think about it in this very crowded sports media world, who is more singular than Gronk?

He's not the person I would seek out but when you get that kind of genuine authenticity and it suits his brand, it all comes together. I'm Brian Weber. My brand is reading the phone number even though I don't take a lot of phone calls. 744-204-7424, hit me up on X, BW Weber, Weber with two B's. We'll return to the NBA to start our number two coming up in 25 minutes.

Even with the moves highlighted by Paul George going to Philadelphia, how much separation is there still between the reigning champs in Boston and everybody else? But I promised we were going to cover a lot more football today and we're going to live up to that pledge straight ahead. What do NFL players do during this holiday week with training camp looming in three weeks? Looking forward to checking in with Arizona Cardinals linebacker Jesse Lucchetta. I'm Brian Weber, we roll on.

This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey everybody, this just in. It's summertime. It's time to go and do all those summer things like going to a baseball game during the summer.

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Pleased to be joined by Arizona Cardinals linebacker Jesse Luquetta. Jesse, thanks so much for taking the time. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you guys so much for having me.

It is my pleasure. I look forward to getting into what you have going on this week with a literacy day event, your youth football camp, but let's start with the big picture. You're getting ready for your third season in the league. How good do you feel about the work you and your teammates got in during OTAs? I'm feeling great. We've got a great group of guys, you know, somebody in that locker room, even better staff.

Most importantly, you could just feel that energy is feeling a little bit different. There's a buzz, you know, great energy. A lot of people, they've been counting this out the past few years, but I'm really excited for what's to come this upcoming season because it's going to be a great year. I feel like we're going to shock a lot of people. The work's been put in.

I'm feeling great myself. Just as a collective, I know the mindset where everyone else is at, and I know good things are going to happen this year. You mentioned the staff. You got a new head coach last year in Jonathan Gannon, who was instrumental in the Eagles reaching the Super Bowl the year before. What kind of energy has he brought to your facility, and do you feel like the culture has changed with the new coaching staff? Absolutely. I feel as if when you have a guy like Jonathan Gannon, he sets the standard, and we're going to continue to hold each other accountable to it.

As he likes to say, ignite the fire in your gut. That's the one thing that we continue to reiterate and just go to work day in, day out, and try to ensure that we're trying to just get 1% better. Overall, I think he's a tremendous coach. I love the fact that he's a defensive guy.

I might be a little bit biased, but that's alright. But he's the right guy for the job, and I'm blessed to have him as our head coach. I'm really excited to see what we're able to do for not only all our fans in Arizona, but for him and his staff.

Cardinals linebacker Jesse Lucetta is our guest on the Rich Eisen Show. So even though I understand your defensive mindset, you know in this league it's all about having a franchise quarterback. You have one in Kyler Murray coming back from his knee injury last season to jump start the offense. What kind of leader is Kyler on your team, and where do you think he's at in this stage of his career?

I'm excited for K-1. I've seen a lot of buzz where people are discussing him to be a notable candidate for the MVP, and rightfully so. He's a guy that I've seen, he's pulling a lot of guys around, they're connecting.

I'm seeing the throne every weekend, and most importantly it sucks. I was trying to get him here from my camp in Ottawa, Canada, but who knows, it's still up in the air. I was on the phone with him the other day, but we'll see. You can just see his energy, he's present, he wants to be that guy. He stepped up to the plate, and that's huge because ultimately everything goes to your quarterback. When you have a guy like that, as talented as he is, wanting to ensure all the guys around him are getting involved, it goes such a long way.

So I'm extremely excited for what K-1's going to be able to do this year. You mentioned your camp, we're going to talk about it in a moment. You also mentioned your Canadian roots, we'll get there coming up. But when you reached out to your quarterback, you were not just a defensive player picking up the phone. I think people who follow the league closely know you have spent some time at fullback. What was that like when they first said, hey, would you like to show off your versatility? How much do you think being able to play a variety of roles has made your transition to the NFL more straightforward?

It's been huge for me. I've always been the type of person, the type of teammate as well, that's always just had the team first mindset. They know me.

When it comes to my bread and butter, it's physicality and violence. They asked me, hey, would you be interested in playing fullback? I said, absolutely. When you've got a player in James Connor, pro ball player caliber, who's able to pop off those explosive runs, it's a no brainer. If I'm able to do my 111s and put towards a small percentage for him to go out there and dominate, I'm all for it. Ultimately in this league, it comes down to winning. So if I'm able to just help my team do a little bit more to handle business on Sundays, that's what it's all about. Your best ability is availability.

I think versatility right there as well in any business. I'm Brian Weber in for Rich Eisen. We are checking in with Cardinals linebacker Jesse LaKeta. You mentioned you're very proud of your Canadian roots.

In fact, I looked you up on the X platform and I love the handle, Ottawa's very own. I read a great story about your commitment to playing college football here in the United States. Jesse, is it accurate? You spent roughly, I don't know, countless hours writing hundreds of emails on a daily basis to American colleges. And how did that lead you to Penn State? Absolutely.

You're very correct. My journey was an interesting one. I'm no stranger to adversity and I feel as if it's allowed me to become the man I am today.

And I just kind of understood early. I have the ability to play, but I just didn't have the means. So what I decided to do was I sent out emails daily, you know, to coaches from Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, you name the state. I sent, I sent emails out to those coaches, just try to introduce myself and let them know my aspirations of playing football at the highest level.

But it was just tough for me because I didn't have the financial means. I was fortunate enough to get a response from coach in Erie, Pennsylvania, and he gave me the opportunity in a lifetime. I took it and I never looked back and I was fortunate enough to have my, my work, my collegiate recruitment, uh, pop off and Penn State was where I decided to call home.

And then, you know, it's, it's been all, she's here ever since. Well, it's great to see hard work pay off. You mentioned you're back home and I know you have a busy week starting with a local literacy day tomorrow.

What are the details involved with that? So we're gonna, we're going to be going through a few neighborhoods here, um, in the south end of my city, Ottawa, Ontario, um, and honestly just give back to the community summertime the kids are going to be outside and the biggest thing that I've seen from myself, from my own personal experiences is, you know, literacy isn't, it's not a focal point. So the one thing that my foundation and I were passionate about is, is giving kids an equal opportunity to succeed in whatever, whatever field they may be passionate about.

But in doing so, the one thing that we have to, we have to combat is, is literacy. So I want to be able to go out in the community and we're going to have a bunch of ice cream trucks available cause you know, kids love free stuff and kids love ice cream. We're going to give back, you know, I'll be distributing a bunch of ice cream to the kids free of charge. Um, at the same time I have a mobile bookmobile on site, um, we'll be distributing some books as well to the kids and just giving, just giving them a whole bunch of stuff that, uh, that they'll be able to have and utilize throughout the summertime.

That is outstanding. And that's the precursor to your youth football camp. I'm on the Rich Eisen show.

It's international. So for folks listening in Canada, what should they know about your camp coming up on Thursday? July 4th. The camp is going to be high energy, a fun day of action. Um, I have, I'm fortunate enough to have a lot of my NFL peers. Um, there will be in attendance, um, some notable names, KJ Hammers, Han Dodson, uh, Rashid Walker will be in attendance, uh, Jonathan Suttling, Luigi Delane, um, James Carner will be here. Uh, you know, so it's going to be a good time.

The list goes on. So we just want to give back to the kids because stuff like that doesn't happen, um, in Canada. Um, you know, you see it all happen all the time, you know, in the States, but where we come from, not, not too many kids ever get the opportunity to really, you know, interact with, with professional football players, let alone be able to attend a camp and have fun. Uh, we want to ultimately make memories that these kids will never be able to forget because at the end of the day, you never know who you're going to be able to inspire. So I'm, I'm excited. It's going to be a day full of action. Uh, kids are going to leave with a whole bunch of items are fortunate enough, huge shout out to Oakley, to Wilson, um, to, to Canadian tire, um, or other sponsors as they donate a whole bunch of items for the kids to be able to leave with. Um, but I'm excited.

It's going to be a great day. That is marvelous to hear Jesse, before I let you go, I'm in my fifties. I started covering the NFL in the nineties different time, but I remember once mandatory mini camps were over players scattered and guys took real vacations to get away from the sport. Um, following all the current players like yourself on social media, it feels like you guys never stopped working. So how do you use the remaining weeks heading into training camp to balance doing your individual works?

Maybe it might be your own version of two a days versus getting some time for rest and recovery. Um, I feel like anything that was just a balance, um, you know, we're professional football players and our, our bodies are our moneymakers, so you got to invest into important to it. So just, uh, I feel like in this stage, as you're preparing to, to, um, to enter training camp, you just want to start, you want to sharpen your tools. Um, you know, you don't want to go in and out of shape.

So hydration, nutrition and recovery is, is, is extremely important, um, during this stage. Um, but ultimately, um, I wouldn't want anything else than to be bringing the game back home to the youth. Uh, because ultimately like I call myself the son of the village. So I wouldn't be here without my village of supporters.

So, and that means to pass it on and, and pay it forward to the, to the next generation. So it's only right, Jesse, thanks so much for taking the time. Really enjoyed the conversation.

And I hope both of your events coming up this week go extremely well back home. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.

My pleasure. Great conversation with Jesse Luketka. Check out what he does on the field this upcoming season for the Cardinals. As I mentioned, if you follow the lead closely, there aren't a lot of dudes that crossover from defense to spend some time at the fullback position. I love what he talked about when he mentioned the physicality aspect. Well, if you're a linebacker, it's all about lighten dudes up, even in the modern NFL with the rule changes and fullbacks also lay the hammer down to open up holes for running backs like his teammate, James Connor, Arizona, in an interesting situation.

I agree with Jesse, I wasn't just throwing out a platitude on a big word Tuesday. They got the head coaching piece right, Gannon, highly respected part of the Eagles run to the Super Bowl. All you need to know when you think about why the Eagles took a step back last year, I think a lot of that came down to who they lost after appearing in the Super Bowl. Shane Steichen, the play caller, went to Indy and Gannon, the defensive mastermind, remember that defense was among the best assemblage of sack masters we've ever seen. They got to the quarterback with as much frequency as, say, the 85-86 Bears. They were that good. Personnel didn't change that much.

What did? As we often see, when the team winds up in the Super Bowl, there's a loss of brainpower on the coaching staff. So Arizona is in a position where you got to match up with the Niners twice. I'm not that concerned about the Rams, and I know Sean McVay has owned Arizona since coming into that division, but I cannot fully invest myself in a team that's going to continue for the foreseeable future to be led by an aging Matthew Stafford.

I realize the numbers are there. I know what they did last year way ahead of schedule, and I was dead wrong, but I want to see more because we know the wild fluctuations year by year in the NFL last year to me felt like an aberration. Seattle still going with Geno Smith unless somehow Sam Howell has a chance to beat him out.

So if you're a Cardinal fan, there's an opportunity in that division. Niners aren't going anywhere moving forward in terms of their collection of talent on both sides of the football, even with a disgruntled Brandon Iuke. But Arizona a few years ago was a team on the rise, and you can quibble with Kyler Murray on a couple levels.

We knew when he was coming into the league that staying upright was going to be an issue because he's diminutive, he's not that big, and because he's so mobile. And if you put your body on the line consistently in the NFL, you're going to pay the price. But there's talent on both sides of the ball, and the entire business model of the NFL is, and this is not just a cliche, every year somebody goes from worst to first to win their division, just go back to what happened in Houston. And I realized that was a radical reset with new head coach Ndubika Ryans and a franchise quarterback emerging in CJ Stroud, but that was a team that won three games the year before.

They made it all the way to the division around the playoffs, so I'm not saying that's Arizona, but at least there's some hope there. Most of that contingent on Kyler Murray staying healthy. Really appreciate Jesse taking the time to join us, I enjoyed doing the research for that conversation, and I'm glad he was able to share with all of us his unique path to the NFL. I promise more NFL today, I'm trying my best to live up to my word coming up in hour number two. We're heading to the league with Trevor Sikkema, pro football focused, straight ahead. We'll start the second hour by heading back to the NBA, even with the addition of Paul George of Philadelphia, how much of a gap is there between the Celtics and everybody else? I'm Ryan Weber in for Rich Asen, it's the Rich Asen Show.