This is the Rich Eisen Show.
The Patriots, according to Schefter, telling iUQ, it's not you, it's us. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. And we have Rich Eisen Show exclusive sound of Brandon iUQ's response to that.
You're giving me the it's not you, it's me routine? Earlier on the show, host of Roku's Honest Renovations, Jessica Alba and Lizzie Mathis. Coming up, NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo, Packers wide receiver Christian Watson. And now it's Rich Eisen. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Great conversation in hour number one with Jessica Alba and Lizzie Mathis. We're both here from the Roku channel show Honest Renovations.
Season two is going to be coming up on this wonderful portal called Roku later on this month, August twenty third. If you missed it, you missed a heck of a lot. I got to be honest with you, I thought in the first five minutes of the conversation, I lost control of it.
Yeah, for sure. I had to jump in at some point. It's one of those things when you're interviewing somebody for the first time or two people at the same time for the first time, you just got to, you know, get the vibe.
And I had to, I had to, almost had to jump out to separate. Yeah. Did anyone else feel it was a little couples therapy there for them, kind of working some stuff out? Yes. It was like almost a roast. Yeah.
Very honest with each other, which you have to respect. That's part of the name of their show. Yeah. At any rate, it was great.
It's certainly since they had a problem with the way the women's beach volleyball Olympians are dressed and it's too bad. Listen, Jay, love that you're here. Del Tufo being here in that instance would have taken that thing completely off the rails because the number of times that he just cannot focus on this program because Canada is serving. You know, I mean, when Spain was spiking, he was out. He was out. He was just like, blah, blah, blah.
You know what I mean? And he won't stop. He was so upset that the Brazil team was wearing shorts yesterday. Like he was ready to fly to Paris to protest.
Like there was a train strike in Paris. It's kind of why I chose to stay silent for fear of saying the absolute wrong thing, which I would have. Which you always do.
So I just shut up and I was like, thank goodness Mike's not here because he has the inability to be quiet. That's correct. So yeah, I just bet my team. At any rate, great conversation.
If you missed it, we re-air as soon as the show is over. Should I put that out as a poll? Do you have an issue with the women's beach volleyball uniforms? No, don't. Don't. Don't.
I almost brought up- Would that be 95-5? Speaking of a poll, I almost brought up the French pole vaulter with them, but I decided not. I was about to say that and decided to, no, don't even bring it up. That there's certain- Are they still here? Can we just bring them back out real quick? No.
Bring them back out. Hey. Hey. Mike Garofalo is going to join us from an undisclosed location. I don't know where he is, but we'll find out which training camp he's at.
Somewhere out there. And find out why is Brandon- What's the holdup with Brandon Aiyu? Do you think the Niners are trying to run a clock out of some sort?
What is happening? Well, I don't know. Five minutes ago, the Niners just signed the artist formerly known as Robbie Anderson. What's his name now? chosen. chosen. chosen Anderson.
Yeah. Let me tell you one thing they're not doing. Signing chosen Anderson to take the place of Brandon Aiyu. That ain't happening. I mean, I don't know. But they are down- Here's what that is.
Down a wide receiver in camp. Correct. Nice. Nice. Correct. Yeah.
That is correct. And if you're chosen Anderson, you're like, I would rather be in Niners camp than at the crib at the house. I'd like to play in a pre-season game so I can, you know, maybe have a few catches and show what I can do. So there's another team that goes, oh, okay.
Put some tape out there. Right. That makes sense if you're chosen Anderson and it makes sense if you're for the 49ers.
But anybody out there saying, uh oh, Aiyu's gone because they signed chosen Anderson. I choose to tell you, you are wrong. So I see what you did there. Did you see what I did there? You know what I'm saying? You put it, yeah.
Wordsmith. At this point in time, I am safe to say nobody knows what's going on. It's all over the place.
It's everywhere. We know the Patriots are out. That's the only thing we know is that the Patriots took a look at the situation and decided if we go and get this guy, it will stunt the growth of all of our young receivers. So we're just going to focus on the young receivers that are here. That's the only thing we know.
And that shows to show you, Chris, we have a plan that you got planned. Yeah. We do have a lot of young receivers.
That is not inaccurate. Guess what would help the young receiver? Brandon Aiyuk would help those young receivers. I'm just saying there are a lot of young receivers. How did they spitball that? Like, what are we going to say that we're out to make sure that we can't, that we can't, we can't be, by the way, I don't think there's any, it's no secret that they are rebuilding in new England.
There is no secret. This is what happens when a GOAT coach departs and you chose third overall because you were, you were the third to worst team in the National Football League last year. We weren't worse enough, to be honest, but they didn't get the memo, you know. So that's the only thing that's come out of the Brandon Aiyuk scenario at this point in time. Yeah. Can I just throw this out there real quick? I'm Matt Scheidman who covers the Packers.
Yes. He appears to be walking gingerly after getting knocked to the ground in 11-11. Head trainer playing with his left knee.
Love was grabbing the back of his left leg. Appears to be very minor. I repeat, appears to be very minor. See, this is the whole thing.
I know, but it's still, hey, left knee quarterback goes down. I'm a little, uh. Yeah, but, yeah, but, okay. That's the thing with, with access and camp and all of this stuff.
I know, everything. And that's how Drake May turned out to be hot garbage for about 48 hours, right? Yeah. Anyway, Christian Watson's going to join us in hour three. Drake May plays football tonight, people. That's right. Let's go.
Oh, boy. Drake! Against his hometown team. He is a Carolina guy, grew up a Panthers fan, and that's who the Patriots play tonight. So excited. Bryce Young going to get out there as well. That'll be great. That's tonight. Oh, baby, we'll talk about it on the internal show.
On NFL Network, 7 Eastern. Look at you. Well done. It's almost as if they didn't tell you, don't let the door hit you in the ass. I told them, I broke up with them. So it wasn't them, it was me. All right.
You know what? I did, I did give you the, uh, the out. You took it. There was a clear pathway. You took it. And I ran through that door.
But it could, it may have looked like, you know how you see the, uh, the, uh, the dog retirement videos, you know, and police officers are lining the, the, the, the pathway for the dog and they're throwing tennis balls at him. That was, that was you leaving NFL Network. You have your version.
I have mine. Okay. By the way, Bryce Young, not playing tonight. Not playing tonight. Scared.
Scared of the big moment. Please. No, I'm just kidding. But is it derelict of duty for Bryce Young to not be playing in these games? Doesn't he need as many reps as possible? You know what he needs to be healthy week one, going into new Orleans. That's what he needs. A new coach. And you're just not going to play this dude. Good question.
I don't know, but probably pre-season game two. That's the way these things go. Yes. Don't need to get the reps for Andy Dalton.
Anyway. Andy Dalton's injured. I don't know who they're, I don't know who's playing tonight. By the way, we're supposed to be experts in your life.
Let me Google that. Glad you're laughing. I'm not up to date on the Panthers depth. In the meantime, Jack Plummer. Jack Plummer. By the way, he said, is that Jake Plummer coming out of retirement saying my name's Jack? That would be amazing. Sort of like Leon Sandcastle showing up. This guy kind of does look like Jake. I don't think they're related, however.
So hey, let's talk about this here. There's a retirement that was announced in the National Football League today. It's Nick Foles. He announced his retirement. And I kind of want to pause here and talk about one of the more fascinating careers in football that we've seen in a long while, right?
Because I took some time before the show because I'm a professional to look it all up. He's a kid who spent one year at Michigan State in 2007. He played one game, his first game at Michigan State. He wound up getting in the game against UAB.
This is before UAB folded and opened back up again. He went five for eight, didn't play the rest of the year. You know who was in front of him? The guy, the Patriots couldn't quit forever, Brian Hoerner. And so he left. He transferred because Hoerner was there and he wasn't going to get any time. And this is back in the day when you had to sit out a year. So 2008, he didn't play. And then from 2009 to 2011, he was a starter in Arizona for Mike Stoops who got fired in the middle of his final season there where he went four and eight.
He was 19 and 19 in three years at Arizona, but he was lighting it up. So he wound up being the third overall pick in the 2012 draft, 88th overall selected by Andy Reed. And then he started six games in his rookie season for Andy Reed because Michael Vick got hurt. And Reed decided to keep with Foles, stick with Foles when Vick came back from a concussion.
So they wanted to see what they had in the kid. And that was it for Andy Reed in Philadelphia. He was the quarterback when Andy Reed got fired in Philadelphia. Chip Kelly came in and he started 10 games with Chip Kelly. He made his only Pro Bowl of his career. They made the playoffs.
He lit it up actually. He against the Saints in Philadelphia hit Zach Ertz for a touchdown with less than five minutes to go in that game to give them a one point lead. But stop me if you've heard this one before, Drew Brees led the Saints on a game winning field goal drive to win it. And then the next year he broke his collarbone in week nine. And that's when Chip Kelly handed things off to Mark Sanchez, which led to one of our first drops we ever created. Remember Sanchez for in place of Foles won a Monday night game for Chip Kelly.
And he went out and about. I want you to have my cheese fries. That's one of the original drops of our show 10 years ago.
Mark, I want you to have my cheese fries. In the 2013 season, he had 27 touchdowns and only two picks. Think about that ratio. That is insane. He also threw seven touchdowns against the Raiders. Week nine of that year. Yeah. In 2013, which is still a NFL record tied with a few other people.
Right. And so in 2015, I guess Chip Kelly had seen enough of Foles. They traded him to St. Louis for Sam Bradford.
Yeah. Bradford. And then Kelly got fired. Then Kelly got fired in the middle of the 2015 season when he was, he went four of seven for the Jeff Fisher Rams who had seen enough of him and decided to trade all the way up to the first overall pick to take Jared Goff and Foles said, I want out. And they obliged him and he wound up with Andy Reid again in 2016 as a backup for Alex Smith started one game.
They didn't pick up a second year option and Philadelphia takes them back. And then 14 weeks into the season, the Eagles needed their backup to Carson Wentz because their kid who was drafted behind Goff, who's drafting in St. Louis caused Foles to want out. He decided to jump head first in the end zone here in the LA Coliseum and Aaron Donald was in the way, blew his knee out and Foles now is suddenly the starting quarterback for the team with the best record in the NFC. And he took him to the Super Bowl and won it. And won it. Beating Tom Brady and also scoring a touchdown of his own receiving in the famed Philly special, which is memorialized by a statue in front of the home of the Eagles. Crazy. And he was named MVP of the Super Bowl.
Yeah. 373 yards in the Super Bowl. Three touchdowns beat Tom Brady.
So many yards. Only other guy not named Eli Manning to beat Tom Brady in the Super Bowl is Nick Foles. And he brought that big Nick energy with him the next year. They made the playoffs the next year.
Do you remember he had the Eagles on a game winning drive late in the divisional round game in the Superdome against the Saints and a perfectly thrown ball to Alshon Jeffery went right through his hands and was picked off. And that was the end of the run. Foles was ready to do it again.
They had the feeling of, wait a minute, the magic carpet ride is taken off again. And then after that, he asked, he took a player option to get out, sign an $88 million four-year deal with Jacksonville, broke his collarbone in week one. And that was essentially... On a dime throw too, if you remember that play. He got lit up, but made the throw perfect on the money and broke his collarbone. And I remember a few weeks later being in London in a production meeting with Doug Marone, the head coach at the time, wondering, do you go back to Foles or not?
Because Gardner Minshew wasn't really lighting anything up. And Foles, they gave him the job back in week 11. He wasn't anything close to the Foles that they saw.
By week 13, he was benched and it was Minshew's show. Wound up with the Bears in the COVID season. 10 starts for them after the Bears dawned on them.
Trubisky may not be the guy. And then the next year when Justin Fields was there and Andy Dalton was there, he got one spot start because both Fields and Dalton were hurt in 2021. And he threw his final career touchdown pass in a comeback win to beat the Seahawks to Jimmy Graham. Last year he played was 2022 with the Colts. He got a couple of starts, no touchdowns, four picks, and he didn't play at all last year. And today he says he's retired. What a run for Nick Foles. A Super Bowl MVP of improbable fashion. And if you remember his, what he said afterwards about believing in self, believing in yourself, never giving up, was one of the most inspirational soundbites I've ever heard. A man of extreme faith. Correct. I wonder if he wants to do media.
You know what? The best thing he could do is decide not to do media. Somebody comes down with laryngitis. He comes in, wins the Emmy award. Where Brady gets the only way.
That's the only way laryngitis falls in. He wins the Emmy award on Friday and they're like, we got to call somebody. It's called big naked. That's it. Is he the most improbable athlete to ever get a statue? That's up there.
Yeah. Just the highest of highs of his NFL career. The guy's got record, an NFL record that you wouldn't even think. MVP of the Super Bowl. A trophy. After he took the raise in the middle of December, middle of December. A statue in the crazy sports town of Philadelphia of all places. Correct. Called his own play.
He's the one that went to the coach. Let's do that Philly special we've been practicing. Yeah, let's do it. It's unreal. It is.
And then the lowest of lows. Correct. Bounced around, been benched a few times. He thought of retiring after playing in St. Louis and he reads like, okay, I'll take you back.
Let's see what you got. He backed up Alex Smith. And by the way, I don't mean to laugh here, but he goes to St. Louis. They get, they get golf. He goes to Kansas city.
They get my homes. Okay. So he goes to Philly and goes, I'll back up the guy who you got drafting after golf. I'll take over for him and win the Super Bowl for you. Anyway, you can't make it up. That's maybe that's the headline of Nick Foles, his career.
You can't make this up. Here's the question. Who plays Nick Foles in the movie? I'm going to say my buddy Adam Deimos plays him from rescue. Hi, sir. He, he, I don't know who that is.
How about who, who played, who was the one who was Napoleon dynamite? No, he doesn't. He's not athletic at all. He kind of looks like him though. The Josh heater. Yeah.
John heater. Don't you look like him a little bit? A little bit. Yeah. A little bit.
Please need someone tall. That's what I'm saying. Look, look up Adam Deimos. No, you don't.
You just put somebody on an apple box and you shoot him from up. I mean, come on. This tricks of the trade. Come on. You're an actor. You know how it works.
Great point. I mean, he's hot right now except Glenn Powell play. I can do whatever he wants.
You can play Nick Foles. He'll get handled when he gets handled. Very good. Well done.
Okay. Let's take a break. Mike Garofalo looks like he's home. Looks like he is home. Looks like he's got bookshelves behind him. He's home. Yeah. So, so I don't think agent is going to peer behind him. That's next.
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Lotta Deltufo. No, that's not. That's minus.
That's Rich Eisen minus. How do we plus it up around here? I came up with an idea, this pre-show with Chris. We'll run it by you after the show. I don't want to put it out there yet. I think that could be a plus.
Ooh, I was pitching to you today, Chris. What's that? Where are we going to put it? YouTube. Oh, go ahead. Oh, the plus.
What is it? Oh, it's just like a gambling segment. Oh, you won't see that on NFL Plus. I want to recreate Brent Musburger and Jimmy the Greek with Chris and I. Whoa, which one of you hits the other? Well, we won't do that. Okay, that would be good.
We'll try not to hit each other. Except Jimmy the Greek was an expert on this. Who's the expert on gambling? The guy you turn to every time there's a gambling question.
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Call click, click Grainger.com or just stop by. Lucas stopped by fresh back from 49ers camp. Great moment on live NFL network television and streaming yesterday. Mike Garofalo was calling out the agent of Brandon Iuc was just milling around in the background of the facility. Good to see you, Mike. How are you?
I'm great, Rich. Thank you. Uh, it was, it was, so it was Raiders camp, Raiders camp. Okay. But you're thinking 49ers cause I get that.
Sure. You're right. But it opened up a whole bunch of speculation, baseless speculation. People were like, Oh, he's there to get something done with the rent. No, he's got a lot of clients around the league. Seeing a few of them there. Yeah.
I mean, it's as if is his only client. Um, all right. So now that we've gotten that all straight, what is the latest on Brandon Iuc in your estimation, Mike? In my estimation, and this is all educated, uh, I would say more educated than guessing, but I would call it an educated guess cause you got to piece this thing together.
Sure. The 49ers cause we said they're never going to trade Brandon Iuc because they're trying to win the super bowl. Well, at some point this thing turned to the point where they were open to it cause they had shut it down going back to the spring and just recently had really engaged with teams and given Iuc and his agent permission to speak to teams cause they got to get the contract part of it done.
So they, I don't know exactly when, but within the last week or so opened the gates to that. Um, but just like we said, they're trying to win the super bowl. They're trying to figure out, okay, well how do we make sure we get a wide receiver back? Which is why the reports came out, the framework of a deal with the Patriots and the Browns. They have receivers that coming back would make sense to the 49ers. The Steelers don't have that. They don't have, they're not going to trade George Pickens obviously. Uh, and that's why they need Iuc and why they have interest in Iuc. So part of this, and they just signed Robbie chosen Anderson.
I think they're all, he's got all three names now if I'm not mistaken. So is that enough in their mind to say, okay, well now let's work out the best deal we possibly can with the Steelers or is that just part of the process? And they're still going to go like, this is all, okay, we got to figure out this trade, but we also have to figure out we're creating a hole.
So how do we best plug that hole as well? So there's a lot of things going on at once and that's why I believe it's kind of been stuck in the mud a little bit the last couple of days. Well, the, the chosen Anderson signing to me sounds like they need to get somebody in camp, you know, and, and I'm sure Anderson's going to take an opportunity to get off the couch and, and play in a preseason game and maybe put some tape out there for himself. I can't imagine they're going to take somebody off the, you know, at the crib and say, that's Ayuk's replacement. Uh, clearly they did also get, you know, uh, Piersol and the draft. And so I totally understand that they'd want a wide receiver back, but what happened, have you determined what you're reporting on, on why the Niners suddenly said, okay, we'll, we'll take a look at trading him at the top of training camp when you're so close to a season? Like what, what, what, what, what happened?
Do you know? I would say the whole didn't worked and because he was there and he was participating in meetings and he was around the facility. And from my understanding, uh, he wasn't an issue inside the building.
He just wasn't practicing. Um, now there've been some meetings and some conversations go back to that meeting that they had. Uh, it was in July, it was before training camp and Ayuk was the one that initiated it.
And it was with the intention of trying to get things reset. And, and from my understanding in that meeting, a lot of folks on both sides said some things they need to get off their chest and they came away and it was like, okay, now we can potentially reset and negotiate a deal leading up to training camp. So we don't have a holdout or a hold in or an issue or anything like that.
Just get this deal done. And then it never really happened. They never got a formal offer from the 49ers. We've said, uh, repeatedly that the formal negotiations and the formal offers, um, and this is something where over the course of reporting on the NFL, I've kind of learned what constitutes an offer.
Like you can say in a conversation, okay, we'd be willing to do this or an agent or a player doesn't really consider an offer to be an offer until it's sent in an email and okay, we've got a chance to, and we've got a paper trail basically. So they haven't done that for months. They haven't done that since back in the spring. Uh, so, you know, the hold in happens, uh, and it was strategic and you can see Kyle Shanahan day by day being asked about it, getting more and more impatient, uh, because he doesn't want, he wants to go out and coach the best football team he possibly can. Uh, so I could tell that, that this is something that has been grinding on him and grinding on the team. And they got to the point where it's like, all right, it's not going to happen here.
It doesn't seem that way. So let's see if we can just get them out of here and make him happy. And, and, and we move on. Do we know the number? What's the number that, uh, is looking for? What's that number?
Yeah. So Mike Reese from ESPN, uh, reported this yesterday and, uh, I've been told the same thing, $32 million a year is what the Patriots were willing to do. Now let's put that number in context. Justin Jefferson's up at 35 CD. Lamb's going to be up around there. Uh, Jamar chase, whether he does it this year or next year, he's going to be up around there. That's the upper echelon of wide receivers.
There's a big spread between 35 and 28, uh, which is where I'm in Ross St. Brown and Jalen waddle Devante Smith. I mean, it was very well-defined at $28 million a year for these guys, which in some cases they're number twos versus the guys that I just talked about that are number ones. I you can, his vine feels like he's a number one. When I get evaluations around the league, they say, well, he's a one B like he's on the bottom of that one tier.
We'd consider him a one. And they have so many guys, the Niners doing their offense that it's hard to really make an apples and apples comparison. So in his mind, he's saying, well, I at least gotta be at the 28 number that these other guys were at. And the Niners weren't there.
The Patriots were willing to split those two tiers. That was by I'm telling you right now, no matter where he signs, no matter where he gets traded, no matter where the next deal comes from, whether it's the Niners or anybody else, I'll still leave them and involved. It's not going to be that number. So he's already, I can tell you what he has already turned down more money to go wherever else he is going to be. So frankly, it's not just about the money for him. And you know, I know they want to play in Washington. I don't know exactly what the draw is for him in Pittsburgh. I think he's just got a feeling about that team and a feeling about that situation that he wants to gravitate toward to.
So it's going to be at a much lower number than 32. Usually like the guy signs and then we'll report, Hey, he turned down more money elsewhere and nobody believes us. It's good that we have this ahead. Like we put the cart before the horse on this one. It makes sense that the Patriots would want him, right? They tried for Calvin Ridley.
He did. They didn't get him. He went to Tennessee, but it makes sense that the Patriots would take their shot. And it also makes sense that Ayuk is like, listen, money's great, but why do I want to go to a spot where I don't know when the kid's going to start to play and I got to break him in and we don't know how good he's going to be. And this team was stowed over on the clock for a reason last year. I know the Patriots aren't used to being in that position, but that is the reality of it.
So that makes sense. The question of the timing of it now though, Mike Garofalo, is it possible that the slowdown, if there is one, is occurring because the Steelers might have hit the mark with Ayuk, right, monetarily, but they don't have the receiver the Niners want back. And this could be like an NBA type trade where they're looking for a third team willing to flip the receiver the Niners want to San Francisco. And that creates the issue of what the compensation would be in a three-way trade.
Is that possible that that's happening right now? I have no doubt in my mind that the 49ers have had those conversations. I have been told that and they're nosing around the league.
And the problem is nobody's really got an excess of receivers that can give you that caliber of guy you're looking for. And that they're willing to trade them right now, right, at the outset of the season. Sure.
Yeah. Which is why, I mean, if you're the 49ers and you look back on this, you may say to yourselves, we probably should have done this around the draft, right? And at the time they thought it was salvageable and they had had the Debo Samuel trade requests in the past that they were willing, they were able to work their way through.
So they felt the same way about Ayuk and they thought they were going to be able to do that. You know, hindsight certainly is 20-20. And I'm sure now looking back, they're probably saying, well, if we had done this around the draft, because a lot of times now you're trading, not a lot of times, if you're trading draft picks now, you don't know where that draft pick's going to be. You do it before the draft.
You know exactly where it's going to be. Which sometimes it can work out to your benefit, right? The Chicago Bears wound up with the number one overall pick last year because they had made a deal with the Panthers and it wound up being number one. So sometimes it does work out to your advantage, but there's an unknown in that regard. And a lot of times when general managers are doing these deals and talking to owners who want answers, to have the known is, you know, the better route to take in this one. So maybe looking back, they'll say, well, you know, but at this point there's nothing they can do about it. They've got to figure out the best path forward at this point. And they try, you know, while these trade talks were happening, at some point along the way, they did have some kind of conversation with him, from my understanding, to say, you know, can we still make this work here? And for whatever reason, Brandon, I does not feel that that is the case now. So they've still kept that door open through this while allowing him to talk to other teams. So perhaps that's part of it, too, the little slow down to say, you know, can we try one more time to see if we can reconcile this here? But I just think that so much damage has been done. I'm not seeing that path right now. Yeah, because, I mean, I was talking about it yesterday, Mike, on this show that if there's any franchise where you could envision something that appears to be unsalvageable and totally broken, actually being put back together, it's the franchise that once upon a time took Jimmy G's playbook away in the beginning of August and had him re-signed by the end of August and he was starting by the middle of September.
You know, and so like that, that, that's why I'm still not ready to close the door. But you're at one way the door could be closed as if the Niners aren't hitting the number. Do we know what the number of the Niners have put out there?
Do we know the number of the Niners have put out there? Mike Silver reported that they offer $26 million a year. I believe that that's accurate.
I believe that they were. Now, again, offer versus non-offer. There have been conversations since then where I believe they expressed a willingness to go higher, but that offer was never made. And so on Ayuk's end, he's saying, well, if it's not sent to me, then it's not officially an offer.
That's my understanding at least. So now it becomes the part about how it's and he's proving it by not taking the New England deal, that it's about more than money and it's about, you know, it'll be, it's the R word. It's about respect, Rich. I mean, that's always going to be a part. I don't mean that, you know, I understand where the player is coming from, but it's just, you hear that a lot about the respect. I'm most curious if he winds up in Pittsburgh, I want to know what the draw is to Pittsburgh.
I mean, I've, I've got a lot of answered questions as we've gone along. That's the one that I don't have because, you know, you talked about, well, he doesn't want to go to New England. It's an uncertain quarterback situation. Pittsburgh's not certain. I mean, the only thing certain in Pittsburgh seems to be that you're going to at least be on the, the, the good side of 500 with Mike Tomlin. He, he has that proven track record.
So, so maybe it's Tomlin. I don't know. I'm, I kind of want him to go there cause I want that question answered. Cause if he doesn't go there, then maybe he won't give us the real answer on that one. Where's Cleveland and this is that is where's that? They, they, you know, they've tried.
That's another question I would have for him. Why would you want to go to Pittsburgh and not Cleveland? Right? Like it's, it's not like Cleveland or Miami from geographically, right? It's they're, they're both in that same neck of the country. Did they not hit the number? Maybe, maybe they didn't hit the number, you know, maybe they didn't split the, split the tears to use your phrase like New England did.
I don't know. You know, they were not, it doesn't sound like they're willing to go there. But I don't think that I, the way, see the way Pittsburgh structures their contracts as well. They don't guarantee a lot of times for a player, they'll guarantee the first year and nothing beyond that. So this may wind up being a smaller guarantee as well.
Cause I had that question to me. Well, maybe New England had a big average per year, but they didn't get, I said, you watch how Pittsburgh structures this deal. There's going to be less than the guarantee as well. If again, he winds up there. So I don't think it's going to be like, Oh, monetarily Pittsburgh was willing to go where Cleveland was not willing.
I do not think that's going to be the case at all. And is the reason why the Niners haven't split the tears again, by that phrase, Mike Garofalo here, one of the NFL insiders from NFL network and the Rich Eisen show, you use the phrase, split the tears, meaning tier one, Jefferson, Justin Jefferson, what we expect CD Lamb to be at 35 and change. And then Aman Ross, St. Brown at the top of 28 of, of whatever tier he's got. I think he's top tier, but long story short though, splitting the tears, the managers didn't do it. Is that because they, they know parties around the corner or is that what it is or like, or they just don't believe is worth 30 something million bucks a year. Probably some kind of combination of both, but also you know McCaffrey George Kittle Trent Williams, Trent Williams, one says to Trent Williams.
I mean, there's a lot of guys to pay now. I use response to that is that's not my problem. Right. And the other part of the conversation is, well, your, your numbers, I mean, look at his numbers compared to let's, let's take Amun Ra look at his numbers compared to Amun Ra.
They don't stack up, but they don't stack up because he doesn't get the ball as much as Amun Ra does because there's so many other mouths to feed in that offense, which again, are you to answer to that? I'm sure is. That's not my problem. I'm just going off my worth and what I know that I'm able to do.
And if I was at a, in a different team and I was the number one option, then there weren't four other guys of the top caliber to get the ball to, then I would have those numbers. Right. So that's, I think that that's what really made the negotiations with San Francisco difficult and how we got to this point.
All right. So two more questions for you. Mike Garofalo here from NFL network, NFL media insider, one of the insiders available on NFL network, NFL plus. So CD lamb not signed because they're waiting to see how the pieces land here or the Joneses and CD or just are at an impasse in their own right. No, I think it was a process and the Cowboys wanted a certain length of the contract, whether it was five years, I think they like to do five year deals, same thing with Dak. Like they want to do a five year deal.
It got them down to four. That was, and is part of the conversation. I just can't imagine that this takes much longer. I just, I can't, I know.
And my understanding is there's been progress. So I believe CD lamb, Jane Slater and I were talking to my colleague at NFL network yesterday about she's our colleague, Mike, our colleague. Sorry. It's okay.
It's okay. One big happy family, Rich. And she was talking about the timing of another deal that happened recently. And Jane knows much more about the Cowboys than I do and remembers much more about the Cowboys. And it was like right when they broke camp. So they had this like, okay, we're coming back home and we're bringing our guy. I can't remember who the heck it was, but she was saying, wouldn't be surprised if that happened.
Now they're in Oxnard, I believe a little later than they usually are. So that's still going to be a week plus whatever it winds up being. But I just, I can't imagine this gets close to week one without a deal. Okay. So you feel that way about CD, same thing with Jamar chase. You mentioned how he could do it next year. What about him?
Yeah, I, yeah. And then if that's the case, cause he, he's at, he's at year three, Jefferson was at year four. So Justin Jefferson had to wait for his fourth year to really get the deal that he wanted to get done in Minnesota. He may have to do that. He being Jamar chase, but then at that point, you know, why, why does the holding continue?
Right. Or at some point you go, okay, well, this is not going to happen this year. I'm not going to hold out through the entire season. I mean, I obviously want to play and put the production up and help the numbers. And then maybe next year you're jumping.
Justin Jefferson, if you have the year that you're capable of having and you stay healthy, then you could be the new high water market, 36, $37 million. If you get another salary cap jump, like we wound up having, nobody's expecting that, but that, that can change the game as well. So that may wind up being the case. And then if that is, and I know that there's frustration in Cincinnati, I know they were trying to get this done and they feel like they should have been able to get this done.
They have not to this point. It doesn't sound like, like I'm hearing much more positive vibes with CD than I am with Jamar at this point. So at what point does he go, okay, this is just not going to happen. So I got to get back on the field. We'll see. All right. Before I let you go, Mike, our follow sports talk radio question, which means I'm giving you multiple choice. You must choose in your best guess on what happens here.
Here are your choices. Brandon Ayuk goes to Pittsburgh. Brandon Ayuk goes to Cleveland. Brandon Ayuk goes somewhere else. Brandon Ayuk signs and stays with the Niners or Brandon Ayuk doesn't get traded and winds up holding out week one. And for who knows how long those are your five choices. Mike Garofalo, you started this conversation with an educated guests. I'd like your educated guests on the final question here.
What do you have? Let me just make sure I always got to check the text to see if nothing happened. Nothing. I will still continue to say Brandon.
I winds up as a Pittsburgh Steeler. I believe that that is going to wind up being the case. We do not have an agreement at this point. Correct.
On on on either side. Obviously they have the general understanding of at least where the contract is going to be. And then bing bang boom, you can finish that one off quickly. But yeah, I believe in the end he winds up with the Pittsburgh Steelers in relatively short order here. Oh, relatively short order. Well, OK. My my line the last couple of days has been like, I feel like we're getting close. I feel like we're getting. And I feel like there's a there's only a certain time frame that you can basically consider close. Right. And I know that there's a lot of there's a lot of Twitter X reporting right now going on where guys have stamped along the way and they'll all claim credit and say, I told you it was done. Right.
We I don't know. I I feel like there's only a there's a there's a statute of limitations on how long you can claim something is going to get done. But I'm tired of saying we're getting closer because at some point it should have been done the last couple of days. If I keep saying which.
No, I hear you. No, I totally say, OK, so you choose to Pittsburgh. Steeler fans will lose their minds if that happens. They'd be very happy about that.
Certainly if they keep pickings at the same time. And it would be it would be a great addition at this time. And again, I in the end, if that winds up happening, especially what we know with what New England offered to get them at the number that I believe you'll wind up getting him at, we'll surely make even more happy. And Justin Fields is the week one starting quarterback there. How about that? Which which pre training camp may have seemed crazy when I was there in Latrobe early on for back together weekend, they made a point of when I had conversations with folks behind the scenes, make it a point of saying everybody's assuming that Russ was the guy like Mike Tom only said he was in the pole position.
This is a competition here. And Russ hasn't been on the field. I continue to say Justin Fields is going to do something in the preseason.
That's absolutely spectacular, because he just he does it. And he's Mike Tom and likes to play his guys certainly wants to see his quarterbacks. He's going to do something, whether it's with his arm or legs, he's going to do something you're gonna go wow, Russ is not a wild guy anymore.
Plus, he's got the calf injury hasn't been on the field. And my understanding is Fields has been extremely willing. And this is something I heard back to Chicago, extremely willing to take coaching. And so Arthur Smith and his coaching staff have feel like there's been progress there.
So yeah, he's I'm covering that game tomorrow on NFL Network, the Steelers and the Texans. If I can get there with all the rain coming up the eastern seaboard, I'll probably wind up thriving when all is said and done just to make sure I get there. Okay, well, I look forward to seeing you there. And I appreciate the time here. Mike, thank you very much. You got a rich Thank you very much. That's my colleague.
Mike Garofalo right here on the Rich Eisen show. So lots to take in there, huh? Man, if it's Fields and it's Ayuk to start. And if you told a Steeler fan that back in early March, crazy.
In Atlanta, week one, Pickens, Ayuk, Najee, Friar Muth, Roman Wilson. I don't think so. No, no, no. Let's let's let's talk a little bit more about this. That's next. This is the Rich Eisen show.
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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, rich. I put up a poll while you were talking to Mike. The question you asked him, what happens with Brandon? I traded to the Steelers, traded somewhere else, signs a new deal with the 49ers, holds out, misses week one or more. I think what you should do though is, I mean, Browns fans could be like, what about us?
Well, that's kind of the somewhere else. Can't roll out a mystery team. I guess.
I had a dealer fans, my boys in Pittsburgh. They must be losing it. They're like, yo, what's going on? And I'm like, I, I don't know. No one knows.
No one knows. It's been all over the place. Yeah.
Early results, 45% traded to the Steelers. Well, I mean, that's what Mike Garofalo thought. Then he's the one who's on it. You know, that's what he thought.
The Steelers. I'm just wondering the longer this goes on, the more Kyle Shanahan is just like, screw it, give him what he wants, you know? Yeah, but you can't do that. First of all, he's not in charge of the cap.
I mean, he, he could say I'm the coach of this team and whatever he wants, let's get it done. But again, Trent Williams is going to have to have some form of improvement and Purdie's around the corner gents. Yeah.
Around the corner in that market is exploding, exploding. So as you pointed out, Chris, the reason why you can say to Bosa, here's yours and McCaffrey, here's yours and Kittle and Deebo, here's yours, is because the quarterback is not requiring his on the same level yet. That's common.
That's common. And I don't care how many interceptions this kid has thrown in camp right now. I don't want to hear it.
I don't want to hear it. By the way, look at those arms. You see the arms right there?
That's not what it looks like. No. Yeah. He has 100% shown up, rocked up.
And I'm assuming he's going to be just as fast because he can beat you with his legs too. Did it in the playoffs. Okay. And, and he has shown up, rocked up. Look at that right there. Kittle was talking about how Quadzilla. What do you say?
It was just a, like a, what, a Pokemon version you said of Nick Bosa? That's funny. I mean, so again, that has to be taken into consideration right now. And that's maybe why they're saying 26 for you.
And he's thinking what, 6 million more a year, but he's got to figure out, do I take the 26 to stay put if it's still offered? Cause I know where I'm playing and I know who I'm playing with. I know who I'm playing for. I don't move anywhere. I can maybe get a better place. Where do I go?
Somewhere else where it's a total unknown. Hour three coming up on this program, Christian Watson to the Packers. And that's a, that's, that's a very powerful thing. And I think maybe the longer that this sits, the Niners are doing that, playing it out. Or again, a third team in because if Calvin Austin isn't lighting a fire, you know how, when you do a fantasy trade with people and you want, you want to, you want to get that, that, that great player or, or, or, or wait a minute. Somebody's trying to make a fantasy trade with you for your great player. And you're like, I want to get your best player back. And the answer is like, no, here's three people that aren't nearly as good.
And some of them you don't really need. I think that may be what the Steelers are offering back for IU. Yeah.
It seems like their offer back is not blowing their socks off. You know, like if this was a fantasy trade, you'd say, I want George Pickens. Yeah, that would be mandatory.
By the way, I think that's the way it is in reality as well. And so if they're saying, here's Calvin Austin, the third and two others, and you're like, well, the problem with us not paying IU is we got to pay a bunch of old people. What am I going to cut two other guys that I liked so I could take your two guys on? Yeah. Like it's volume is not what I need.
I need quality. Right. And so if the answer is like, I don't, I want Pickens, not the other guys. And you got to then bring in a third team. Now, do you know how long that's going to take? It'll be more than just a half day. That's a lot of number crunching though. That may be why this is taking on a little bit longer than you think.
Christian Watson coming up. Former Navy SEAL Sean Ryan shares real stories from real people from all walks of life on the Sean Ryan show. Tucker Carlson, what is it that you think that people gravitate towards? I'm not self-aware. I refuse to be self-aware. I don't even look mirrors at all, which you can probably tell from my appearance. I don't have a crazy high IQ or I really don't have that many skills. I would say my main skill is I believe my instincts. I don't hesitate to follow my instincts ever. The extent that I have, I've gotten in trouble. The Sean Ryan show on YouTube or wherever you listen.
