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We are number one. The Rich Eisen Show. Deion Sanders spoke at the Big 12 media day.
Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I'm judged on a different scale. I can't win nine games and our GPA suffers. He just knows that if he wins without the GPA, he'll get criticized for it.
I don't think anybody or fans care about grade point average. Today's guest, Spares cornerback Jalen Johnson, Fox Sports college football insider Bruce Feldman. And now it's Rich Eisen. That's right.
Can confirm. And here I am. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show live on the Roku channel, which is all about purple. And so is my shirt. I'm telling everybody listening on radio, you got to watch it.
You know what I'm saying? And if you're listening on radio, guess what? Enjoy it. And then later on, check out my shirt.
844-204-rich is the number to dial right here on the program. What? I'm feeling good about myself.
What's the problem? It's Friday. I'm talking to myself into existence.
You know what I mean? You got your name on mugs, baby. Oh my goodness gracious. Yeah, my name's on the mug right here. There it is. Thank you so much.
You lost the graphic that was hiding the mug, by the way, rich Eisen shop.com for the mug. I'm on fire today, guys. I'm feeling really good. Life is good. Everything's good in our neighborhood.
844-204-rich number to dial Jalen Johnson, the Chicago bear defensive back. He's in town. He's going to be joining us right here on this program.
First in first up. He was at the Espys last night, just like you, Chris Brockman. Hey, that's what the two of you have in common. You also cover a lot of ground right here on our program. That's right. We'll get to more on that in a second.
Versatile, baby. Hold on a second. We'll get to more on that in a second. It's been a while. We talked about that yesterday, but two days in a row.
What? I hope you didn't pull anything, Mike Del Tufo. Here, coach.
Wow. Good to see you. Are you all right?
I'm fine. Hitting the drop button when he's supposed to. When you got up to come to work this week, did you had to put our address in the GPS?
You know what I mean? Go one reasons again, because it was like down a lot. This is great. Two days in a row. Hey, Siri, how do I get to work? This is great.
You're doing something better than the Yankees, which is winning on back to back days. Good to see over there. TJ Jefferson candles. How are you, sir?
Candles lead. I feel great. You got purple and I got an NWO show because everyone knows when your NWO, your NWO. Thank you so much. Good to know. And please, Rich, I got a no hitter through seven. Don't pull me out. Let's talk about that, brother.
What are we doing? By the way, Steve Young's on this program. Apparently, he's going to zoom in from the course on Lake Tahoe before he tees off.
Good to know. Let's go. And Bruce Feldman stopping by in studio here. He had quite the drop today. I don't know if you saw his article in the headline. I didn't get a chance to read it yet. What he and a couple of his colleagues, they just followed the ripple effect of Nick Saban deciding to retire and how that created job openings across the entire landscape with Alabama taking coaches for Kaelin DeBoer.
And it's a fascinating conversation. I hope you're in studio in hour number two as we start turning the page towards college football. He's fresh back from the Big 12 media session in Las Vegas, Nevada.
How about that? They're going to go to Las Vegas for the Big 12. Go figure that. Everything should be in Vegas. Well, everything is in Vegas right now with basketball, as we know.
It's too hot. Okay. Hey, listen, we're ahead of the curve here on this program.
We really are. And even though it's not the royal we, which means anything I've said, anything we say here collectively that comes true, we all own it. You say something, TJ, I'll own it. I say something, you can own it.
Okay. Same thing with you, Chris. And whoever sits in that chair, Mike, whether it's you or Jay Felley, we own it. I believe it was you, Chris, who made this an overreaction Monday subject matter or, but you said, why shouldn't Paul Skeen start the All-Star game?
Yeah, I think I was this week, maybe last week. I mean, the kid, as we all know. I waited on that too. The month of April, the month of April, Paul was in Indianapolis in the minor leagues and first showed up on my radar screen like a lot of things in baseball with my 13 year old son telling me about him. Well, he's on it though, because Coop is on the MLB app.
He's on it all the time. Again, could you imagine what life would have been like when we were 13 and there was an app where you could just see every home run, every play, every strike out at various levels of baseball too? My gosh. So we had to wait for baseball tonight when I was a kid. Oh my God. I had to wait for sports center. I had to read the newspaper the next morning. This guy. That just aged me up because I was on the set of sports center telling you baseball tonight was next. I grew up watching you.
That's weird. Hey, Paul Skeens comes up to the Pittsburgh Pirates and starts striking people out all over the place. A lot of them. Okay. And who'd have thunk it? On this very day, he was on the Dan Patrick show. I spoke to DP the other day and he's on the DP show and the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Tory Lovello, called in to tell him he's starting the All-Star game for the National League next week in Texas. Awesome. And the Pirates tweeting out a warning, a heat wave is about to hit Texas.
He's been named the starting pitcher for the National League at the All-Star game. Makes sense. And it is just awesome.
That's fun. Now you get it. Well done to whoever put the decision on the table and executed it, made it happen. Maybe it is Tory Lovello. Maybe it's him. Maybe they hurt us. Maybe they hurt us.
Maybe we set the standard, making it about us when DP had the scoop of the day. But seriously, this is what we're talking about. Well done.
Well done. This is the kid people are paying attention to. This is the kid that a lot of kids know about. This is the kid a lot of people know about because of who his girlfriend is, to be straight up. She was at the ESPYs last night too, right?
And she made news this week too saying she's going back to LSU for another year. Not done. Hey. And so this is great. This is awesome. It's great.
I love it. It's a power couple on display, a sports power couple, a TikTok power couple, a baseball. A power pitcher. Power pitcher. Flamethrower. Power mustache.
Everybody's talking about him. Let's go. Let's go. Come on. This was a no-brainer. No-brainer.
Had to do it. Skeans versus Judge, top bottom one. It'll be, right? Yeah. Jeff Passan said the likely one, two, three.
Gunnar Henderson wants Soto, Aaron Judge. Three up, three down. Oh my goodness. Oh, just gas 102 right at him.
Let's go. Try and hit it. I will never forget the 1999 All-Star game when Pedro Martinez in Fenway Park. I guess the only thing that would be better is if Skeans was in Pittsburgh, if the All-Star game was in Pittsburgh and was doing that. Then we wouldn't have really had a conversation. Yeah, exactly, right. Exactly. But just again, sometimes not everything can be gotten right when it comes to baseball. And it's not the fault of the commissioner or the front office or it's just sometimes it's within the the DNA of the sport to not get everything right. I guess that's baseball, right? And not everything you can get right. Yeah. Baseball is a high failure percentage. Because it's entire, yeah right. The guys, the people who get out seven times out of ten make the Hall of Fame, right?
You know what I mean? So how cool would it have been if Paul Skeans starting the All-Star game next week, strolls to the mound fresh off a no-hitter. And that could have happened if it wasn't for the dreaded axiom of pitch counts. The stupid ass binder.
And binders and analytics. And the kid had a no-hitter through seven and ninety-nine pitches and eleven strikeouts and came out of the game. Second time this year he had a no-hitter going and he came out earlier was after just five though, right?
Yeah. This was seven. You're six outs away. What are we doing?
And he just had a six-pitch inning in the seventh. What are we doing? What are we doing? I have no idea what we're doing. We're screwing everything up.
That's what we're doing. Because that's what baseball does recently. Who was it? Kevin Cash? Or who was the raise manager who took Snell out of the World Series? Same deal because of the binder. Oh, well you lost the World Series now. So how's that? Well that was because he was going through the order for the third time.
How's that go? But I'll never forget the cutaway, by the way, in Globe Life because it was during the pandemic, the cutaway of Mookie Betts when they took Snell out. And it's just like, okay. Then didn't he double? Didn't that happen? Then all of a sudden all of everything just caved in.
I guess if I'm talking about this stuff I should have it buttoned up. But I wasn't expecting you to go that far back at the way back machine. But that was it. That was, oh god. They were like, what are we doing?
I test. Your guy's balling. We had a meal on that one. We dined on that one on this show for a couple of days.
This is the same deal in my opinion, you know. Paul Skeens is a guy at LSU just a year ago threw multiple games with 110 pitches, 120 pitches in a game. This guy is an absolute horse. And how many moments in your life do you get a chance to throw a no hitter with possibly 15, 16 strikeouts? Not very often. Not very often. You know, I just assume he's going to have another shot at it. Really? The list is long and distinguished of guys, Hall of Famers who never threw a no hitter in their career.
These chances don't come along very often. Also, you know, and I was watching the game, you were still driving home. So I was texting you and I was like, bro, he's got a no no through seven. And I'm like, and he came out and I was like, they're going to pull him. And then there was a shot of him in the dugout and he just looked mad and he walked right through the dugout into the clubhouse. I'm like, holy crap, they're pulling them. And then the announcer came on like, yep, he's done.
That was not the look on his face when he was told he was getting pulled. I don't understand. I'll never understand it.
I won't understand it. It's just we're protecting him from where we're protecting him. His arm, the Tommy John. Stop it. Dude's a competitor. He wants to come out of this game. I know he said all the right things after the game, but come on. Of course he did. I mean, what were they really thinking? Hmm.
I can't believe it. Well, I mean, 99 pitches after he just threw a six pitch inning, like give him a shot. Oh, you know, let him, let him face the next batter. If it's a long at bat.
Okay. Then you yank him. And then of course what happens?
The first guy up after the patient. Oh my God. And then a role this Chapman came in. But this is something the Pirates bullpen has done all season.
I know this because I have Paul Skeens and fantasy. He only had four wins going into yesterday in his 10 starts. He's left every single game with a lead.
Well, well, they got to do anyway. Just to be fair, just to be fair, as a fan, Derek Shelton, the manager, I found the soundbite. I mean, the quote, he said he was taught quote unquote. He was tired. It really didn't have anything to do with the pitch count.
Everybody makes it about pitch counts. It was about where he was at. It was about trusting your eyes, trusting him. When I went and talked to him after that, he was tired. They did a good job of wearing him down and he gave us everything he had. I, I don't understand it. Unless they want to save him for the All-Star game.
Dude, listen, it doesn't count. The guy, the guy has been on fire. He has been outstanding. The two runs are fewer and nine of his 11 now starts in the big leagues.
He's dynamite. I understand there's a long road ahead just this year and down the road, but I don't know. I think there should be, let's, let's codify some penalty if you remove a pitcher in it with a no hitter. Like, I don't know what it is. I can't come up with a run or something. The other team doesn't get a run.
I mean, I think that's really, it's automatically a tie game. I don't know a ghost runner. You get a ghost. The other team gets a ghost runner.
If the guy has like, exactly. Milwaukee should have gotten, cause they were the ones being no hit. Skeans comes out. If you take, how about this? How about this for a rule? You take a guy out with a no hitter, fewer than a hundred pitches thrown through seven.
This is the situation. Ninety-nine pitches, seven innings, no hits. And you take the guy out and he passes a physical after the game.
I know this makes no sense. The other team gets a ghost runner start on third. Oh, third base.
For the eighth. First guy starts on third. First guy starts on third.
Actually, how about this? That's harsh. If you take the guy out with less than a hundred pitches through eight, he's on third. Less than a hundred pitches through seven, he's on second.
Less than a hundred pitches in the sixth, he's on first. Okay. I'm down.
I'm down with anything because it's stupid. What are we doing? Or there is a group of individuals like us who have nothing better to do, who can call like 20 friends, show up at the park, and who are outside of the manager's office on the way to the parking lot, who in that walkway, 10 people stand on one side, 10 people stand on the other, and they all shout shame.
Like Game of Thrones. I'll ring the bell. Correct.
Shame. There's a bell. There's a bell.
And then that gets put on TikTok. And we got to do something. Something's got to be done.
So I was thinking like the manager gets a wedgie or something. You know, just something just very demoralizing. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going somewhat other demoralizing. Shame.
I don't know. I'm just disappointed. I'm disappointed for Pirates fans, baseball fans as a baseball. You just want to see it. You want to see him go for it.
But he's at least we got a half right next Tuesday night. You're going to tune into the first inning of that game. Please believe it. Without question. That's it. This is what we're talking about. You don't need like tune in because we'll see who's going to get home field advantage in the World Series.
Tune in. Well, the home run Derby has kind of taken over as the marquee event of All-Star Weekend. It's overshadowed the game in the last few years because the game is filled because of the way the baseball is played now, where everybody throws 100 miles an hour. You know, the pitchers do have the advantage when you have all of those guys. It doesn't matter how good you can hit. If somebody comes out of the bullpen in the sixth inning, seventh inning, fifth inning, fourth inning, third inning, and they all throw 100, you know, final score is going to be one, nothing to one.
It's been very low scoring. You know what I mean? Like, so that's the way it's going to be. And you do want to see guys on base and ducks on the pond and a lot of fun. But fun. Paul Skeens is fun.
He is fun, although not for the shortstop of the Baltimore Orioles and the right and center fielder of the New York Yankees. But if that's the way it's going to be, Gunnar Henderson, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, bottom one in Texas, Paul Skeens on the mound. Oh, I'm there. Oh, it's going to be. I'm there. I'm there.
That's what we're talking about. Well done. Round of applause.
844-204 Rich, number to dial. Very excited to take your phone calls. We've got a What's More Likely Friday.
I've got a top five as well. We've got Steve Young zooming in from a golf course. We've got Jalen Johnson joining us fresh off the ESPYs.
Chris was at the ESPYs. I can't wait to ask you about what happened because my invitation, I didn't check the drawers, so it might have been in there. Sorry about that. But that has that. This show is turning 10 this fall.
These drawers have only been here three years. What about the other 11? So that'll be for another future episode.
That said, we also have on this program Bruce Feldman joining us in studio talking college football as we get set for Jalen Johnson, one of the top defenders in the Chicago Bears secondary, joining us next right here on The Rich Isaac Show. We all know about the speed of sound, but have you ever thought about the sounds of speeding? If you drive over the speed limit, there are lots of different sounds that you might hear. Drive too fast and you could hear the sound of your vehicle crashing, the sound of ambulances and first responders desperately trying to free you from the wreckage. You could hear the beeps of a heart monitor. You could hear doctors and nurses in an emergency room as you're being treated for your injuries. You could hear the sound of worried family members in the hospital waiting room hoping to hear that you're okay.
You could even hear the sound of people crying at a funeral. Because if you drive over the speed limit, whether by a lot or by a little, you could do damage that's beyond repair. You could seriously injure yourself or worse, you could hurt and even kill someone else. When you speed, you put everyone on the road in danger. One way or another, speeding catches up with you, paid for by NHTSA. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts people. You love their jingle. You're going to love their friendly, helpful service even better because they're in the business of keeping your car on the road and the parts knowledge they have, it's all you need for your maintenance and repairs. They've got thousands of parts and accessories in stock, either in store or online, so you never have to worry if you're in a jam. The team at O'Reilly Auto Parts can test your battery for free in or out of your car. If it needs to be replaced, they'll find you just the right battery for your vehicle.
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That's OReillyAuto.com slash E-I-S-E-N, O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. Okay, we're back here on the program. Jalen Johnson of the Chicago Bears is going to join us in a couple of minutes time. And what'd you wear to the ESPYs last night? What was your get up? Did you and Sarah take a picture together at the ESPYs last night or no? We did, but the lighting wasn't great. We kind of did it like on the way out. We was at the after party. Where was the after party?
Across the street at the Roosevelt Hotel. Oh yeah. They smartened up this year. They covered the pool. So last year the pool was open and everyone was kind of crammed all the way around the sides in the back.
Very, very poor decision there. This year covered it. A lot more free flowing. Okay.
A lot more room to navigate the space. It was well done. I have a lot of questions for you. A lot of questions. Because I'm a veteran of ESPY parties. Yeah, I'm one that used to go.
I'm saying you have a bit of one in a while. But that was back when, excuse me, first ESPYs I went to 1997. Oh wow. Okay, the ESPYs were like three years old.
Three years old. So I was at some of the first some of these parties. Okay. I was at the ESPY party when after the famous Norm Macdonald one. Oh. When Will Ferrell came out and did the whole Harry Caray stuff and offended half of, you know, Denver with John Elway. And ESPN executives were swearing they would never let Will Ferrell appeared in ESPYs again. And he did two years later.
Okay. That's how far back I go. At one point I was standing next to T.O.
while he was eating Raisin Bran. That's not what I'm interested in. I thought it was kind of interesting. Listen, that T.O. is a serial at night guy, I find interesting. Which by the way.
Still shredded too. Totally agree with that. 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. He was at the ESPYs last night. He's getting set to leave town so we're glad to sneak in here and chat with one of the young defenders on this Bears team.
It's going to be on hard knocks and is on a ton of radar screens right now. Jalen Johnson joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you, Jalen? I'm doing well, Rich. How you doing, man?
Good to talk to you. How was the ESPYs last night? How was it? It was good. I ended up leaving a little earlier. I got real hungry. I had to get to get some food. But overall it was good though. Serena did.
Serena did really good. I had to get out there and get some food. Okay. I have some follow-up questions.
Listen, I understand the ESPYs, for those who may not know out here in Los Angeles, you know, five in the afternoon, dinner time, whatever. ESPN didn't serve. There weren't any like cheese cubes or anything like that for you? No crack, no crackers, no cheese plates? That's the only thing they served was they had these little cheese, they called them cheeseburgers, but it was a bottom bun and a little piece of beef I'm assuming. And then they had these little, I mean, mini, mini, not even mini tacos. These were beyond mini tacos, but I just, it wasn't enough for me, man. I needed to go get a steak, some sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, some dessert. I needed some real, real food, man. After preparing all that time to get dressed, I never really ate except for breakfast. So I had to get out of there about 7.30 and go get some food. Okay. So you, you, you, you tapped out, you hit the top of the helmet, you tapped down and that was it.
Okay. Yeah, definitely. But you did the red carpet though, right? Yeah, yeah, definitely looked good. If you ask me, I was like, I was probably best dressed, me to be on Doc, I liked his outfit a lot.
His outfit was pretty fly, but I feel like me, I had to cut off sleeves off, off the suit jacket, no shirt underneath, kind of had a little leopard snake skin print too. So I felt like it was pretty loud, caught a lot of eyes, a lot of attention. So I felt like it looked really good. Me and my team did a really good job coming up with, with, with the idea, coming up with the, the cutoffs and the details and things like that.
So I felt like overall it went really good. So did you get that inspiration of cutting something out of the suit from Joe Burrow, cutting out the back of his suit in Paris? No, I didn't know he did that.
He did that. Oh, you, you haven't seen this, Jalen? No, I'm not on social media. Oh, you're not on, okay. Don't worry.
We've got your back, Jalen. This was- Yeah, he got a film here. Okay, sure.
This was in Paris. Okay. I don't know if you have the, the, here we go.
That's Justin Jefferson, his left. Wait till you see it. There you go. What do you think?
I'm not gonna lie to you. I can't hate on it because somebody else did it. I probably wouldn't think it was that bad just because it's him. I was like, nah, he can't.
That's not it. I mean, I don't know if I liked the style, but I liked that he went bold and that he did it anyway. I feel like I can, I can say that.
All right. Now what do you think of, let's keep that rolling if you don't mind, guys. The other guy is another JJ in the NFC North who, you know, you might see a couple times this fall. So keep that in mind as you, what'd you think of Justin Jefferson's walk, Jalen?
What'd you think of it? I didn't see too much of it. I didn't see too much of his, his outfit painted until the back that Joe Burrow had on. But what do you think here now? Look at him.
Look at him. I feel like it's really just solid, a classic look. I feel like he got the baggy pants going on. I mean, I probably just like a baggy, classic look. I feel like they both look clean.
I feel like until you look at Joe Burrow's back, but for the most part, they both look good. All right. So now let's flip the script here.
We have, I believe, a photograph of your red carpet. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm telling you, I'm telling you, it was impressive. Okay. Look at you. Look at you right there, showing it off. That's great. You got a picture that I don't got.
So I might have Getty images and stuff on. I need to clean you. I need to clean things. Oh, we'll hook you up with that.
Cause that's, you know, we're, we're Getty's a partner of the Rich Eisen show. So we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll fix you up Jalen. Don't worry. Okay.
So this is all good for you. It seems like life is going very well for you entering your fifth season in Chicago. What clicked for your team?
It seemed like when sweat came over from the commanders upfront improved, the backend was just really jelling. It did seem like your team had one of the top five defenses in the NFL from the middle of the season on. And I say that with all due respect about what you were doing in the first part of the season, but that's just the way I saw it. I'm wondering what happened for you. Jalen.
No, you're a hundred percent right, man. We wasn't, we didn't, we didn't form at the flow that we were performing at in the back half of the season in the beginning. I know really a lot of guys, guys were hurt. We all didn't really have a chance to play healthy together. I know the first game, Kyla broke his hand, our nickel back. The second game we went into, I know we played Tampa. We had guys going out with full body cramps and really couldn't, didn't finish the game guys that didn't make it to the next week.
I got hurt in the next week in Kansas city. So I think really just for us, I mean, even like our leader, Eddie Jackson, he was a guy that was out battling foot injury. So really just all of us weren't, weren't healthy, weren't, weren't at our full potential at who we know we can be. And then really just trying to jail and get back healthy when we all did get back out there.
It happened to be really in the middle of that season. And then around the trade deadline, of course we got Montez sweat. So about really everything kind of came together at the right time. We all got healthy. We added Montez, the monster up front, and we really just started to really gel together and be who we knew we could have been all along. I think just really getting healthy and added Montez just gave us an extra, extra boost, of course. I mean, everything really just came together for us at the right time. And then we weren't able to win enough games on that back half of the season and try to get into playoffs, but that was definitely our goal.
We were definitely hungry to try to sneak in and upset some teams. And then obviously the way that your side of the ball finished, all the attention was on the other side of the ball and what the Chicago Bears were going to do there. What was your perspective on watching everything play out with Justin Fields, Jalen?
Oh, my respect. It's tough because I mean, I learned to, I mean, just learned about him, learned him as always, him as a human being, quarterback, kind of just seeing some things, talking to him, talking to the people around them. And for me, kind of looking at it, it was really an unfortunate, I think, situation, an unfortunate three or four, what are you going on for? So an unfortunate three years, just having so many moving pieces around and not having too much stability, not having too many actual weapons. It was, it was, it was just, to me, it was, it was unfortunate. I think kind of him departing, it wasn't a surprise, but I definitely felt like it was definitely unfortunate. But again, it's the business of it.
Sometimes you get kind of pushed out just through the timing, just through when you come into a situation. So I feel like overall, like he gave his heart to the team and gave his heart to Chicago. He, I mean, it was never anything short than his full effort. So I think for me to definitely love and respect Justin as a, as a human, as a quarterback, but I think he was just an unfortunate situation coming in when he came in. What would you tell a Steeler fan should he find himself in a, in a important spot this fall?
What would you tell a Steeler fan that they get with Justin Fields, Jalen? Don't blink. Don't blink because there's been plenty of times where you're like, man, here we go. We get sacked again, third down, put my helmet on and he's running down the sideline. It's like, okay, let me sit, let me sit back down because he's going to make some plays happen, man, with his feet, with his arm. He's definitely going to, he's going to make some things happen. Even when you think he's sacked or going down or something looks bad, just, just, just wait.
He'll have his, his time to work his magic. So definitely don't blink when Justin's out there with the ball. So I guess the punt unit was the same way, right? Oh yeah.
A hundred percent. Cause I mean, they're, they're gathering everybody up on second down, one in third down. Yeah.
Fun team, fun team. And then, hey, I'll back it up to there. Omaha, right? It's just exactly. That's funny. And now obviously, Hey, listen, I, I'm going to give myself a pat on the back here. We're about eight something minutes into our chat. I haven't even said the words Caleb Williams yet, which is probably rare for you. And I like that.
Yeah. Look at me, right? I was just holding back here. What's your first impressions of the rookie Jalen? I feel like different, man. I, I, I told Rich, or not Rich, I told the guys yesterday, like, man, he's just special. He's just different. I think really just, of course, how he carries himself.
You'll see him. He's just a different, I'm not even gonna say kid. He's a, he's a different guy. I think just going out there, just being who he is, being himself. I thought that's something that is contagious for the guys around him. Just to see like, okay, like, man, he's competent in what he's doing. He knows he's good.
And then when he steps out on our field, he starts spinning the ball. He's like, man, he is special and he's going to be special. And I feel like he just gives everybody around him just confidence, man, just to know. Cause of course, for me being there, we haven't had a special offense yet.
So I think for me kind of just having it look special on paper and then kind of seeing it and be like, okay, like now they can really put some things together. Just allowing him to get comfortable. But once he gets comfortable, man, it'll be dangerous with the receiving point that we got with the backs that we got the tight end 10 that we got. I mean, it's nothing that we don't have on, on offense. So I feel like I haven't been able to say that since I've been with the bear. So I'm excited.
I'm excited for him to see what he can do with this team, with these weapons around him. Can you give me more of an example of why you thought right on the spot he was special? Oh, physically or just in general? Your choice. Jalen Johnson's choice. What do you think?
I think one, I'll go both. I think one mentally, I think just him wanting to come in and learn. Cause I mean, you have guys that just say, oh yeah, I just want to come here and learn the playbook, but it's like him, he's doing it with a purpose. Like, yeah, no, I want to come in and learn this playbook so I can start shredding these defenses. Not just kind of, it's like a humble, like confidence that he knows. Like once I learned and once it clicks, like, no, I'm gonna come in here and dominate the league.
I'm gonna come in here and dominate and be that guy for, for the bears. So that's one thing that caught my eye and the detail that I kind of pay attention to, but physically I feel like just his touch on the ball. Like I tell people all the time, even the DBs in the room was like, nah, he has, he has good touch. He has a special touch just going and having a good feel to when to put some air on the ball, when to zip something in. I think he definitely has just a good feel for the game naturally, just to be able to tell where and how to put, put, put the ball when he throws it.
So, cause you know, I like you say that what a humble confidence, right? Cause I saw him at the combine this year, he wasn't working out, but he stayed to the very end to make sure he saw his college teammates go through their drills, shook the hands of everybody on the field who were running the drills or running the combine. And he was there until they turned the lights out, you know? And, and then it was so obvious he was going to be the first overall pick in my estimation. That's why obviously Keenan Allen showing up at his, at his pro day. And I kind of find it refreshing in a way that your coach Ibra Flus didn't say, well, you know, there's going to be a competition here. No, he's the starter. He's the guy.
And somebody like that could be really cocky coming in. And I just don't get that sense. He's kind of like playing it right down the middle in a way, you know?
And so you're seeing this and I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing that in hard knocks this summer. Yeah, nah, I play for, for me, I was happy when they put it out. Like, they're like, don't, don't play games, man.
Just call it what it is. I mean, he's coming in here to take it over. He's not coming in here to, to earn this spot, to be the starting quarterback of the Bears. Nah, we drafted you to be that. So I think for everybody in the building, it's like, nah, just set the tone for what this season is, for what he's going to come in here and hopefully do for us.
Just let's just be real and keep it real. So I was happy when they put it out like that because he can, he can have that confidence now where it's like, okay, this is my team. They trust me. Let me do the work internally.
Let me do the work externally for me to be able to show the guys, show this building who he is. And, you know, obviously in, in, in my end of the business, we talk about comps. The biggest comp for him from the beginning is Mahomes.
You, you, you got, you got a, a personal look-see at Pat last year during the season. Is that fair? Is that a fair comp?
Jalen Johnson? It's, it's, it's a fair comp to an extent. I think it's, it's a fair comp to say the style of play is compared in comparison because of course they can both make plays with the legs.
They can extend it. They have great arm strength, arm accuracy to be able to throw the ball off, off the run to the left, to the right. I mean, they both have that ability 110%. I think it's just hard to say cause nobody predicted Pat to be who he was. If we've kind of predicted him to be that guy, then I would say so. But I feel like Patrick turned into somebody we didn't, nobody expected him to. I think he took it to a different level. Him and Andy Reed learning behind Alex Smith.
I feel like he had really good pieces to help him mold himself into who he is now. But I definitely feel like Kaleb has plenty and plenty upside coming in more so than Mahomes when they first came into the league. But I feel like Kaleb is definitely going to be special.
I hope, I hope for my sake that he supersedes Pat himself. The highest graded cornerback in the NFL last season according to PFF Jalen Johnson. A couple minutes left with a Chicago bear here on the Rich Eisen Show.
So you want to talk about upside? The bears are in that conversation right now. There's a reason why the bears are on hard knocks and there's also a reason why so many are so excited the way the defense has finished up last year and obviously Kaleb Williams joining an offense that does appear to be completely set up by Ryan Polis to have him succeed with the weaponry around them. What do you tell Bears fans who are losing their collective minds over the blue sky in front of you? What do you tell them going into the season Jalen?
I think really just, just be patient. I think for us it's been a long time coming. I feel like they've done a heck of a job. I feel like being patient.
We've had, like I said, we've had some rosters coming in through the city. But I feel like this year, I feel like it's going to be special. Just let us, just let us cook.
I feel like that's the biggest thing I can say man. Just let us cook. Let us get this thing going. Let it get rolling. I feel like there'll be some really special things that we do for the city that we give to these fans that they haven't had in a long time.
I know it starts with getting to the playoff or winning the division and getting to the playoff. So that's something that we definitely need to do. We're just going to really take this next month, month and a half really to gel together to find out what our identity is. Really just come together and put all our mind, all our heart into the season and hopefully we can take it somewhere special. But I feel like nothing happens quick. Nothing happens overnight and especially with new quarterback, new offense, new system. I feel like we're definitely going to take some patience.
But in due time, we'll definitely get it going and get some wins for the city. Well Jalen, I appreciate the time. As I mentioned, as a thank you, we'll get this photograph to you one more time. There's that photograph last night.
Very good. It's kind of just like, again, Joe Burrow and Justin Jefferson. I'm not even noticing who is in the photograph with you. Oh, that's my brother. Yeah, my brother and my trainer.
Well, okay. What's your brother's name? Johnny or John.
John Johnson. Well, John, he's your trainer, which means that what you're showing off by cutting off the sleeves, we give him the tip of the cap as well. But clearly again, you are somebody in this photograph who has shown, you know what fashion is and you know what a look is.
So in that respect, I'm wondering if you can help me leaving here. Let's put up this split screen here. I know, okay, I know the guy on the left is Matt Eberfluse when he joined the team and the franchise in his introductory press conference. Who's the guy on the right?
Jalen, who's that guy on the right? That's Matt, that's Fluse. That's not Matt Eberfluse. That's just Fluse. Yeah, no, that's a different dude. That's a junkyard dog. That's a guy ready to get to business. That's not Matt Eberfluse. That's just Fluse. Has anybody asked him what's up?
Like what happened? You know, guy on the left, again, he's I think a very confident man, a well-dressed man. But the guy on the right, I don't know what's happened. That guy on the right, he's got gel, he's got the beard. The Fluse is loose, right? Hey, I like that. The Fluse is loose.
I'm telling you, that's just Fluse right there, man. Have you asked him what happened? No, I didn't ask him. I thought it was time for a change. Maybe I thought he can feel something that we can at this time. He let the beard go, so I mean maybe it's time to let the dogs go this season and go win some games.
So I'm excited for him. Is there anybody on the roster that can, do you think, ask him on my behalf what's happened to him? What's happened? I feel like Cole, if somebody's going to ask him a tough question, it's definitely going to be Cole. So I might, I'll shoot Cole a text and let her know you got something to ask. Okay, so we identified the bear on the roster who's got the standing. He's got, he's, okay, very good. Okay, all very good. All right, Jalen, you take care of yourself. You be well.
Thanks for calling. You got it. That's Jalen Johnson, Chicago Bears cornerback, right here on the Rich Eisen Show, joining us from Post-Espys right here in the program.
The Bears. Okay, very good. Now that I see what he was wearing, I definitely saw Jalen last night. You did? Oh yeah.
It's hard to miss that outfit, though. Yes. Was it like, was it Snake? Was that what it was? It was very shiny, and he's a giant. So it was, like I said, TJ, it was tough to miss. You saw that.
It was impressive in person. Let me get his, can I wear that? What's his height, weight? Mike, remember that day we went to Macy's? Oh, by the way, by the way, Mike, Mike, you saying that I can already hear the electricity buzz of the light bulb that just went over the head of Sean Mitchell of the Rich Eisen Show digital staff, the head of our home operation, the man who comes up with all of our on-screen graphics.
We're about to find out what you look like wearing that. I can already hear the buzz of the light bulb electricity that just went over his head. Jalen Johnson, he is six foot 196. He's really frigging good. He looks about 6'4 in that picture.
Yeah, he looks part. I know. Well, I mean, his bro might just be a little bit shorter than six feet, but I'm telling you guys that defense post like what week eight, make sure I at least get this right here. But the Chicago Bears in the back half of their season last year, let's get this straight here. Top scoring defense since week nine. There you go.
Yeah, OK. So the only team that scored over 20 on them were the Lions. Week 11, they lost 31-26 to the Lions. And then you got a win against Carolina 16-13. They beat Minnesota 12-10.
You remember that one? That was not a fun game to watch. That was the Monday nighter when who's going to who's actually going to first touchdown wins. I know.
Yeah. And then Minnesota got the touchdown and it was losing. Wound up losing, right? Then they beat Detroit 28-13. Lost to Cleveland 20-17. Beat Arizona and Atlanta. Neither of them broke 20. And then they lost to Green Bay 17-9.
They were just balling out. And now here comes Caleb Williams with Keenan Allen joining DJ Moore and they got Roma Dunze. DeAndre Swift. Oh, that's why you're really high on him.
That's why I like him. But you heard what he said. Let's be patient. New offense.
New look flus. Well, if there's anything I know about the national media, we're patient. We are not. We're what's called the exact opposite of that.
I can give the counterpoint to that. We are though. If we're considered national media.
I'm not national media. I'm a fan, bro. I'm a fan that's sitting behind the mic. That's how I look at myself. Let me tell you something.
I'm one of them, but I'm at home. Let me tell you something. You're very humble, but if that guy over there can be referred to as an actor in any way, shape or form, you're a national media.
OK, I don't know. Like I said, excuse me. Stop. I'm a fan from home.
They sit behind the mic. Let's take a break. When we come back, I want to know all about the SBS from Chris Brockman. Oh, yeah.
I mean, every last thing. Bruce Feldman is going to join us in Studio Hour number two. We'll talk college football as well. It's kickoff time and Believe podcasts are here to get you ready for the season.
He wanted to change the culture and he wanted me to be a part of that. With Believe, you get immediate reactions, game previews and expert analysis from all 32 teams, plus all of your favorite college teams. He's just rare in just about everything he does.
Sideline to sideline, end zone to end zone. This was good for everybody. Just search Believe. That's B-L-E-A-V podcast wherever you listen. You know, just watching the old century team to me was great. It was unbelievable. I remember Hank Caron coming over and wanting to shake my hand. To me, that was like, oh, my God, this is it. But it got even better because after the game, the game, I knew what I could do.
I was facing those guys during that era. What I was able to do and have Ted Williams come bring me over to his suite where he was. Actually, there's a little video.
I don't know where it is. The Red Sox have it where he says, you won hell of a pitcher. And he shook my hand and he signed the program. That was pretty much my trophy. That that kept it up, just being part of the most unique all star game that I that I can think of, have the old century player, something we might not see in this lifetime. It's probably the most amazing gift I could ever get in an all star game. Forget about the strikeouts, forget about the performance.
An all star game like that deserves that. And probably even better, because I just remember that after the all century team had been announced and then the the players had been announced, I'm assuming you're warming up in the bullpen. Is that where you were? It was just about it was always delayed. Remember how everybody mopped over?
Well, that was it. I was already in and, you know, walking to the bullpen. But it was so delayed because everybody wanted to hug Ted Williams that I had to actually hold myself from pitching something I did not like. And if it was in a regular game, I'd be pissed.
I'd be really angry at everybody, TV and everybody. But it was the all century team. It was dedicated to Ted Williams.
To me, it was an honor to just be part of anything that that happened that day. Love it. Go to our YouTube page for more. Back on the Rich Eisen Show. All right, Christopher.
Rich, what do you got? Christopher, how was the ESPYs last night? You went there?
I went there. Yeah. Were you Sarah was a writer on staff. Yes. So did she come out of the writer's room or you were just sitting by yourself?
No, I was sitting on the second level by myself for a little bit. And then she came up and her kind of very good guy. Look at the lovely couple.
What are you talking about? It was writing was off. It came out better than I thought.
This was when we were leaving at like ten thirty. So it's a great picture. It's a good picture. It was pretty dark out. That would get at least 450 likes. If you were posted, I posted it now to post that photo.
And I want to see how many likes it gets. It was really caught TJ with that one. He was expecting that one. It was a watch or anything. There were some really powerful moments last night. ESPYs do powerful things really well. Steve Gleason came out and got the Arthur Ashe, you know, Courage Award for Courage.
Yes, that's what that's what Stu got ten years ago. Like it was tough. It was it was tough. His his son Rivers was there.
And every time he kind of gave him a pat on the pat on the shoulder, it was just not a dry eye in the house. And Don Staley was honored as well. Her assistant coach passed away of cancer and her sister had is still fighting and winning against cancer right now. Her acceptance speech is something people was really great. And then Prince Harry won the Pat Tillman Award. Yeah. And I got to say that was really moving and powerful in the in the room. I don't know how I played on TV, but it played like that. Prince Harry 10 years ago started the Invictus Games for veterans around the world suffering from disabilities and lost limbs.
And they have their own Olympics. And it was unbelievable. The images and the video had three people who participated and were friends of his on the stage with them. It was great. Serena killed. Very funny. She flops some lines. But lucky, you know, it's not her not her gig, by the way. At the same time, that's what's happening with Joe Biden, who, by the way, his line, the golf line that that Trump was filling out the card before he took a shot made me laugh out loud.
That was a laugh out loud. That was a great golf line. Nikki, Nikki Glaser. You must have missed that, TJ. He's filling out his golf card before he took a shot.
I didn't know. I heard Glaser picked up where she left off at the Brady Rose. She presented best male athlete and basically just roasted everyone for like thirty two minutes before giving out the award. I made fun of Scotty Sheffield's driving for pretty funny, pretty funny. Great night.
Great night. Everyone looked great. Andy Reid accepted Mahomes winning and a lot of fun.
Jaylen Brown won. That was kind of a surprise. That's cool. He was there.
That's good. I mean, it was great. So Derek White wasn't there to accept. Derek White did not accept on his behalf.
Jaylen Brown did not basically kind of vaguely acknowledge that his mom was upset with him and it was like, oh, I know why he's having some fun on social media. But it's a fun night, man. Great to see everybody in sports comes out. So let me ask this big, big day.
Let me ask this time. How many ESPN Sports Center anchors did you see there last night? I saw Berman Berman's. Chris is there. Berman presented OK. He was there some at the after party. I saw.
Let's see. I saw Monica McNutt was there. She doesn't count as Sports Center Sports Center Anchors Center Anchors. So that hasn't changed that zero. That's zero.
The people who put in the most time and the most work. Where's where's that invitation? Let me look under here. I mean, at times I saw that she was there. Well, she's local enough to fly around. So Scott Van Pelt wasn't there. Nope.
Steve Levy. Nope. Linda, you didn't see LC. Nope.
No, LC. Maybe you just didn't see her. She she ought to be there. Who else?
Green people. Stephen A. Nope. Pat. Nope. No kidding. OK, let's see. How? Pat's on his sunset.
He's rambled in Fortnite. That's no, no Sports Center Anchors Anchors. The old days, you'd be to everybody, right?
No, the exact opposite. So they never invited any? Over Keith. Keith and Dan did the pre SB show they Keith and Dan always referred to themselves as the the old man Muppets up in the Radio City, you know, Stadler and Waldorf from the Radio City Rafters. And then Stuart and I did that.
But yeah, the rest of like you would always be people would be walking around going, did you get an invite to the SBs? And I would just be like, well, I mean, Stuart and I are doing the pre award show and got awkward. And then I walked away so you couldn't go to the show after you did the pre.
What did you think? Oh, I mean, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, she opened the show, right?
Oh, no, no. I'm talking about how we would be walking around the office in the weeks leading up to the SBs. Are you going or not?
Because it was in New York at the time at Radio City. Yeah, nearly days. Yep. That's what I was talking about was awkward. No, I went, Mike. It's going to be.
Of course you talked about it. I just haven't been there in 21 years. I think the last one I went to was in Vegas. That's when it was in Vegas. Oh, Vegas would be a good spot. I did a couple of Microsoft, right?
Then whatever it was called before that. LA. Down in LA. Yeah. You worked the faders? I used to do the red carpets for all the award shows.
I like that. Did you walk the red carpet, Chris? I had a red carpet ticket.
What happened? Well, I got to do that. I mean, I have a family. I've got to pick up kids from school. I got to make sure the babysitter's there. It's a work night for Sarah.
Yeah. And so I was on dad duty, and then basically I got there. As I showed up, they were kind of ushering everyone in.
I didn't even have a chance to get a pre-show drink. Just let me. Let's do this, because I know you have your own biases, but let's give it up to Sarah. She's on a roll. Yeah. On a heater.
She's killing it. The Brady roast. Yeah. The SPs. SPs.
Other stuff that I'm sure I'm unfamiliar with. But the big slick this year. Right.
Big slick. Right. And then her own stand out. She's crushing. She's doing well. Yeah. Three spots tonight in town with people in LA.
Is that right? Where's she going to be doing? I think Laugh Factory and Comedy Store tonight. There we go.
Just roam around. Fantastic. But she's killing it. That's great. Awesome. Shout out Roku Joe. Roku Joe is the Joe at the after party.
Who is he wearing? Roku Joe looks great. Come on, Joe. Great hair. You know who Joe's the right rockin' coochie?
Full head of lettuce. It's amazing how we all get along with you. He looks amazing. Yeah. Gosh. Bruce Feldman and his hair coming up. Season's one through four of Talk Bill before season five begins wherever you listen.
