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NFL Sunday Ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Ladies and gentlemen, this is The Rich Eisen Show with guest host, Andrew Siciliano. He is a brilliant, brilliant creator.
Hey, hi! Live from The Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show, MLB Network analyst, Sean Casey. NBC Sports broadcaster, Noah Eagle. Coming up, senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Prear. New York Times bestselling author, Ian O'Connor. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Andrew Siciliano.
That would be me. Hey there, hi there, hello there. Somebody just texted a friend, take a nap when you can.
I don't think that's a shot of like the performance so far on the show, although I could be better. I'm drinking more coffee. It's more like a, what on earth, dude, can you take a break? Hey, listen. No, you were like, hey, I'm in Seattle yesterday.
I was like, wait, what? So again, not to open this hour. Hi, Chris. Hi, Michael DiGiouffo. Hi, TJ.
With planes, trains, and automobiles. It's not about my life. I'm happy to be here. I learned a long time ago, like juggling multiple jobs. Nobody at any of the jobs you come in to do want to hear that you're exhausted from doing something else.
They don't care. But to answer your question, yes, doing the Olympics for three weeks, got in late Saturday night, did the Rams on Sunday, then went straight back to the airport, flew to Seattle, did a Sirius XM show at the Seahawks yesterday, flew back, doing this today, this tomorrow night. I think I have to go to New York for something tomorrow night, but like, we'll figure it out for something. We'll figure it out.
It's not that important. Hey, I didn't do anything for a couple of months. So I'm happy to do something. Oh, lots of hiking. I did do lots of hiking. I failed in climbing Mount Rainier for the second consecutive time. I have friends who are like, oh, for four.
I'm oh, for two. The ladders fell into the crevasses at like 13000 feet. We got to like eleven five. We tried to find another route around, but there's too much rockfall. One of our guys got drilled in the head of the like a boulder coming down the mountain.
She's wearing a helmet. Everyone's OK. So over two and Rainier. But I flew by it last night and took a nice picture of it coming up through the clouds. Take a nice picture of this guy as well and wave to him from the MMB.
He is speaking of planes trains on automobiles. Been to how many training camps here? I'm at number 18 right now. I was actually hoping to get some breakdancing analysis during my spot. You want to do it? OK. What did you think of Ray Gun?
The Australian that had the kangaroo move and all that. I mean, I actually just sort of caught what I caught like while I was, you know, at my kid's birthday party. Looked up like, oh, my God, there it is. You know what I mean?
I think there was like karate or something happening at the same time. So I didn't I didn't get to I get to fully appreciate it or experience it. But but I will say as a child of the 80s, I can't be against it.
Right. No, I loved it as a child of the 80s as well. My brother and I used to have in our basement in in the D.C. suburbs like we got a bunch of cardboard boxes and we, you know, cut them and like laid down the cardboard boxes on the floor so we could have, you know, a smooth surface to spin on our backs. I absolutely did that. Didn't you do that? I don't know if I went that far with it, but but I'm impressed that you did. I did.
Yeah. The the breaking as we get off on a tangent, it was OK. I mean, I think there are some things talking to the breaking broadcasters there that they would have liked to have done differently. There were some rights issues, I was told, with the music getting clearance as real as to the the number of songs they rough. They had like 300 songs they could use. The deejay was from Brooklyn.
He flew over there. The the Breakers, any wouldn't wouldn't any artists want wouldn't any artists want. I mean, I want to have their like music on the Olympics.
I would think that, no, but it's international TV rights all over. I mean, I thought they had good music. But for those who don't know, the the Breakers, the B-boys and B-girls, as they are known, they don't know the song until it's played. You're just showing up.
DJ plays the song and then you have to dance. And yes, the Australian woman whose name escapes me, name Raygun is her stage name. It wasn't good. Did she kill it because it's not coming back? Did she kill breakdancing? No, it's...
They tested it. OK, for those who are asking, breaking is not canceled from L.A. 2028 because of Raygun. That's not what happened. It is canceled, though. It's not coming back. We knew it was going to be a one time thing. That's how they do it with a lot of sports. They introduce it, see how it goes. And it's a one time thing.
And then potentially you bring it back later. So we already knew it wasn't going to be in L.A. 28. You are going to have, however, baseball and softball and cricket. Right.
There are some other things being added. The softball, oddly enough, will not be contested in L.A. or San Diego or Southern California. It makes no sense to me.
It's going to be in Oklahoma City. Nonsensical. Anyway. Yeah. So that's like the surfing being in Tahiti. But I guess you had to do surfing in Tahiti, right? You can't do it in Paris. No.
Right. You can't do it in Paris. I don't know if they're like with the waves or like in France. The waves are pretty good in Portugal. So I think they'd be OK in France, right? You could have gone to Portugal.
I don't know what. But they wanted to keep it in France, obviously. I have no idea what the waves are like in Marseille. Yeah. They decided to go to Tahiti because Chopos, where they were in Tahiti, is one of the legendary surfing venues.
It's where they have other world championships. That made sense. But it was 12 hours ahead of Paris.
It was six hours behind New York because it was across the international dateline. And if I was involved, I would take the free trip to Tahiti, too. I would have, too. Like Colin Jost did and then get a staph infection on his foot. I digress.
Albert Brier, the MMQB. Let's talk football. In all seriousness, what camp are you in? Where are you now?
Your neck of the woods. I'm in the commanders today. OK. So we get the commanders. Let's talk Jayden Daniels. We'll start with him. He looked pretty good. Like good enough where, all right, he's going to be the starter, but they don't want to say it yet. Yeah.
As close as you can get to 100% without being 100%, I would say he's going to be the starter here. And I think a lot of people would say, well, why don't you just do what Chicago did? Well, the commanders are in a much different place than the Bears are. The Bears did it almost out of service to their team, where it's like, OK, we've got a veteran team. They have a coach and GM who are in their third year.
It makes sense for them not to fiddle around with anything. Like just install him as a starter. So Keenan Allen and D.J.
Moore and Tevin Jenkins and all those veteran players, Cole Kamet, those veteran players they have on that side of the ball can start to grow with him. Right. Because those guys don't want to wait to win.
The commanders are starting from ground zero. And so, you know, I think a big part of making him win the job is you want to make every work you win the job, especially when you're telling Bobby Wagner or Jonathan Allen or Terry McLaurin that every position is open. Right.
Like you're trying to preach competition. So I think everybody knows the score here. He's taking all the first team reps. He's operating as a starter would.
They just haven't declared it yet. And I will say this, too, Andrew, you can't walk five feet in this place without hearing from somebody else. How good Jayden Daniels has looked, how good he's been. You know, I think because of the offense they're going to run here, he has a real chance to hit the ground running as a rookie. Is is there any concern? It's going to sound like a shot at Cliff Kingsbury.
It isn't. But is there any concern that that this offense? I just hope they protect him. Let me just put it that way. I hope there are answers to the test here for Jayden Daniels to make sure that he doesn't get beat up and he doesn't have to be like Kyler.
And they're different players, I realize, running around in circles back there. Yep. I so a couple of things there. Number one, they have talked to him about. And have you seen the Looney Tunes video?
No. Andrew. OK, so anybody who's listening can go look it up. You can go on Twitter and search Jayden Daniels and Looney Tunes.
I'm serious. When you guys watch it, you'll want to watch it 10 times. It's got Looney Tunes sound effects to Jayden Daniels taking hits in college. And it's funny to watch because it's all the sound effects from when we were kids. And it's timed up really nicely.
It's well done. But it also underscores that this is a guy who did take a lot of big hits in college. And this is not a guy who's built like Cam Newton. And so what you're talking about doesn't just apply to protecting him in the passing game. It applies to protecting him in the run game.
Sure. And he barely ever got hurt in college. So that's to his credit.
But you add one thing to the other, the build to the amount of damage he's typically taken. And it was a real concern, not just for the commanders, but for every team that was evaluating Jayden Daniels going into the draft in April. And so that's something they're very much going to have to address. They've got issues at tackle.
So they're going to have to take care of it with how they protect. And then, you know, like they're going to want to take advantage of who he is as a runner. And so if you're going to do that, you've got to teach him and ingrain in him, like the importance of. You know, sometimes you can be in second and six, you don't need to get to second and two. You know, if there's an 80 yard run there for you, take it.
But, you know, you don't always have to put your head down and grind out the extra couple of yards. And so, you know, it's a credit to Jayden Daniels because he's tough and he's willing to take the hits, but it's something they have to work on with him. And I think another way that they're going to manage this is through the run game is it's more difficult to get the quarterback if you're effective running the ball. And they feel like they've got a couple of really good backs and Brian Robinson and Austin Eckler, who's been fantastic.
Eckler has been great on the field and does seem like he's got some juice left coming over from the Chargers. So, you know, I'd say it's having Jayden being cognizant of the fact that he can't take hits the way that he did in college. It's leaning on the run game, which naturally will slow down the pass rush, and then it's managing your offensive line issue in a certain way. You know, and I think Cliff's smart enough to coach around his personnel. And, you know, even though, like in Arizona, there were a lot of times when, you know, they weren't keeping six or seven guys in to protect. I think they're well aware that their tackle issue being what it is, there are going to be times where they're going to have to do that a little bit more often in 2024. We're talking to Breer, Albert Breer, the MMQB.
He is in Ashburn, Virginia today. We only have so much time, and I wasted time talking breaking, so let's blow through some other stuff. The J.J. McCarthy news is upsetting if you're a Vikings fan today or just a fan of the game and after watching him play the way he did on Sunday. Yeah, it's a meniscus, which Breer, as you know, could be a couple of weeks, could be a couple of months. Like, they really don't know until they get in there. Have you heard anything as to, like, an early feel on this? Yeah, it's hard to tell until they get in there.
You know, obviously, he has, he reported the knee soreness after the game. And, you know, again, these things can be, like you said, five weeks or five months. And you don't know until you go in there. And so, you know, certainly they're concerned. They've been impressed. You know, like, I was with Kevin O'Connell last week, and he told me that both McCarthy and Sam Darnold were ahead of where they were. Now, I think the good news is that, like, this wasn't a team like the Bears or the commanders that's hanging their hat on the rookie starting. You know, they really felt like it was based on the way that Sam Darnold has played and what he's shown in practice in April and May and June and then into training camp. But they've got real flexibility to sit J.J. McCarthy if they want to. So, you know, I think the fallout from this is even if it is a shorter-term injury, that this probably makes it more difficult for them to play McCarthy as a rookie, which is okay. Because we've seen guys, you know, we've seen guys benefit from that. Patrick Mahomes benefited from it. Jordan Love benefited from it.
So the idea of him getting to sip for a year is something they've contemplated already and something that probably becomes a little bit more likely now. And by the way, guys, like, I would not give up on Sam Darnold as, you know, a starting quarterback in the league. He was the third pick in the draft. Same draft as Baker Mayfield. We saw what happened with Baker.
Geno is a great example of this, too. I really think that, like, the ability he had to sort of reset, you know, after leaving the Jets. If you go back, and I implore anybody who's a Vikings fan or a fan of any other team to go back and look. Go back and look at the Niners-Ravens game from last year. It was a blowout. The Ravens won by a million. But the fourth quarter of that game, Sam Darnold got in and looked like a different player. And again, I know it's the fourth quarter of a blowout.
Got it. But he was playing faster. He was playing on time. It really looked like he had built something that he didn't have when he was in New York. And it's a part of why the Vikings signed him. And they see a guy who's playing a different game now that he's had some of that time to sit and reflect.
And learn and develop at a little bit of a slower pace. Albert, let's try to make sense of the Hassan Redick thing here. There's a lot to unpack. But just tell me this. From what you understand, when they did the deal to get him from Philly.
And remember the moving parts? Everyone at home. Bryce Huff had been signed by the Eagles. Younger, they gave him a nice bag. Hassan Redick getting older, wants to get paid, all that. Did the Jets have an understanding that either A, they would give him a new deal, or B, that he wouldn't show up without one? Because you would hope that conversation was had. Yeah. It was addressed.
Obviously it wasn't addressed to a satisfactory level. And I think there was confidence on both sides that they'd be able to work something out. And obviously that hasn't happened. And I think what's important to look at here, Andrew, is that this is a guy who's been a really good player for a very long time. Who's now in his 30s.
Who has never scored that massive deal. So I think to some degree, because of that, he's always been chasing it. And that's not saying he hasn't gotten rich. He has. He's made a lot of money.
Should be set for life, all of that. But a lot of times with guys like this, if you haven't been compensated the way you think you should be compensated, then you become a little bit more militant about getting what you feel like you're worth. And one of the tricky things about the way pass rushers are played is there's these huge gaps. So Bryce Huff, who I think is going to be a double-digit sack guy for the Eagles, who the Jets thought was their most natural pass rusher last year, gets $17 million per. Meanwhile, Daniel Hunter is making $29 million per in Houston. And Nick Bosa is making $34 million per in San Francisco.
So I'm not saying that Hassan Radek is Hunter, or certainly he's not Bosa. But it's probably hard for him to swallow the idea that he's less than half of what those guys are monetarily. So now what sort of raise are we talking about, right? And this is the nitty-gritty stuff that I think could have been addressed and probably should have been addressed more aggressively. But when you're looking to get a deal done at that time of year, sometimes it can't be addressed. And again, I think a lot of this is a product of where the market went, and I think it's certainly fair to put some blame on the Jets here for not foreseeing the problem based on the deals that were already out there for other players. Yeah, and the market obviously gets in everyone's heads as well it should.
And to your point of sight… Just think about it, Andrew. That's the thing. Just think about that, right? If I'm Hassan Radek and I feel like I've been underpaid for the balance of my career, I'm not looking at Bryce Huff's deal.
I'm looking at Nick Bosa's deal. And I'm saying, okay, maybe I'm not Nick Bosa, but am I 50% of them? Yes. Am I 60% of them?
Yes. And start to do that math, you know what I mean? Because if you're that player, that's the way that you're going to be thinking about it. And you're probably going to look at it at what, 14 and change I think is the number I don't have in front of me now, and be like, I'm making 40% of the top of the market. What are we even talking about here? I'm not worth more. So it'll be interesting to see how they find some middle ground here, especially if they're not willing to add years to the deal. And it's the same thing.
It's not the same thing. You look at the market, if you're Brandon Iooka, if you're CeeDee Lamb, and you see what Justin Jefferson got, or you see what A.J. Brown got at 32.5. You see the Tyreke. Tyreke, they kind of fudged the numbers a little bit there. But that massive deal, he was never going to see the 45 next year. He's going to make 19 in cash this year. And everyone says, look at the market. Let's get my thing done.
Real quick, I want to get to the Guardian cap. Jonathan Taylor wore one. Number of Colts wore one.
We saw one of the Steelers game as well last week. I was sitting with Tyler Lockett yesterday. Thoughtful guy. A lot of interest off the field. Real estate, poetry. He's been a writer.
He's a guy who's thought about the future. And I said, would you wear one? You saw Jonathan Taylor wear one. Would you wear one in a game?
Regular season? And he's like, I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I mean, if they make me, then I guess. And that kind of surprised me because I thought he might be one of those guys that said, yeah, you know what? I would. Albert, do you think we will see them in the regular season? I think we'll see some.
I don't know about a lot. I have heard, so there are a couple of things I've heard from a conference standpoint that some players feel like you get hot underneath them, believe it or not. And that it does add some weight to your helmet.
So in a game where speed is a premium, I think that's part of the equation for players. The other thing that I thought was really interesting, and I don't want to speak out of school, is I'll just say it was a head coach that I was talking to last year about this. And a defensive-minded head coach, a guy who came from the defensive side of the ball. And he said what he was worried about was these guys wearing them in practice and then developing a false sense of security when they may be leading with their head in certain plays. And then that false sense of security carrying over into games. And I circled back with him and he said he did see it happen. You know, like where guys were using their heads a little bit more aggressively because in camp they were less worried about it. And camp is really kind of like when you build your habits back up.
So it's not perfect, right? But, you know, I do think there are certain players that are going to look at this and say, you know, it's worth it. And, you know, I think back to, you remember Mark Kelso?
Sure. And Mark Kelso, if you go back and look at pictures of him, the old bill of safety, he had like kind of this foam head, right? And then I think Steve Wallace, who was a great tackle for the Niners back in the day, I think he wore one too, right?
And so there were a number of guys back then when we were kids that were wearing them. And my guess would be this year that's probably what you see, where you'll see it, it'll look weird and not enough players are wearing it for it to like kind of normalize. But I think, you know, you will see those cases and maybe in particular with guys who've had concussion issues.
So, yes, I think we'll see some of it. Do I think it's going to be widespread? No, because I don't know how many guys are convinced that it's going to be a huge difference maker.
And NFL football has played so much on the margins with just that little bit making the difference between you and the next guy, where guys are going to think if it affects my performance in any way, then I'm not doing it. Yeah, I'm with you. I think we'll see a few. I do think, though, that with each passing year, you'll see more.
But it just takes a few to start it and then maybe we'll see where it goes. And look, like it's just it's a hard thing for players, you know, like the personal comfort thing is a hard thing. I think the competitive part of it is, too. You know, it's I guess it's like the Dion thing, right?
What is it? Look good, feel good, feel good, play good, right? Like, yeah, I think the aesthetic part of it is a factor.
I had someone tell me that yesterday. I had a player tell me yesterday off air that, no, I want I want that logo. I want them to see that side of the side of my helmet. I want them to see the top of my helmet.
Not that I'm leading with it, but like there is something to that aesthetically, the swag, the fear factor that they don't want to lose. Albert Breer, we're going to lose you here because we're taking way too much of your time. Enjoy Ashburn. I hope your flight gets out of Dulles whenever it is. And safe travels, my friend. See you soon. All right.
Thanks for all your work on the Gold Zone. I know you're a good American. You did a great service for all of us.
I'm like LeBron George Washington in front of the boat with the flag. No, they did the work. I just yelled at TVs, but I appreciate you. All right. Thanks, Andrew. Thank you, sir.
Albert Breer, everybody. That was made a meme, right? LeBron with the flag in the front of the boat. Yeah. OK. The first thing I thought is LeBron crossing the Delaware.
Anyway, I digress. Coming up in a little bit, Ian O'Connor will be here. The great author, his new book, Out of the Darkness, the Mystery of Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, this is the football book that everybody will be talking about.
Full stop. Ian wrote it. Aaron has already commented on it. We will have Ian coming up shortly. Coming up as well. There are more injuries to tell you about around the NFL and a quarterback has been signed by the Raiders.
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Click Grainger dot com or just stop by one of their local branches. Very rare that I begin an interview with somebody asking, who's your real estate agent? But coach, who's your real estate agent? Lisa Roberts. She does a great job.
Anybody in Scottsdale needs a spot. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.
Free product. Oh, this is. Yeah, man. I mean, this is this is the spot.
This is you. You got a guest room. Yeah, there's a couple. You're always welcome. I appreciate that. The question I have for you is the fire in the background. That was extra. Yeah, that was.
Now, did you did. Does it light up when you draft Isaiah Simmons or I mean, is that what it's. Yeah, the whole house lit up when we got that. We were fired up. I bet like you're like, fire up the coals, fire up. You know that.
That probably had to happen. Who took this photo? People want to know. Yeah. You know, you were allowed to have one I.T. guy there at your house. So it was one of our I.T. guys that took it. And he stayed in the cabana.
I.T. guy. He did not.
They did not. Do you like the fire or did you like the fire? We're all fascinated. This is fascinating to everybody.
It is fascinating, isn't it? Yeah, I lived the fire. OK, go ahead, Chris. Go ahead. And did you get in the pool at any point?
I did not get in the pool. That's maybe next year. What's the one? I guess a comparison you've heard about the photographs before.
I guess we give one what it looks like to people. What have you heard? The most funniest one I saw was like it was turned and they had the browser's logo. That was actually like really well done. I was going to go cologne. I was going to go cologne. You know, like Bond villain, you know, Bond. Yeah. And we're back. So quarterback injuries here.
Let's run them down. JJ McCarthy needs knee surgery. Don't know how long it's going to be. He has just tweeted. Hey, don't worry, Vikings fans.
I'll be back soon. But we don't know if it's three weeks or three months. It may be a little bit. It's a meniscus. And as Albert Breuer just told you, and we had suggested earlier as well, none of us are doctors. But with meniscuses, it's you get in there and it's like, do we need, can we trim it, as they say?
Or can we do we have to actually repair it? And if it's the former, it's it's a couple of weeks. If it's the latter, it's a couple of months.
And it's disappointing here, certainly. Justin Herbert don't have an update. But Jim Harbaugh said yesterday, you know, basically he's doing everything he can to get back.
You talk to other players, not with the Chargers, but just football people. They'll tell you, plantar fascia injuries, they're tricky. Like you want to let them heal. They linger.
Those linger. You don't rush back from those. I'm not saying he's out week one. I am not at all. Just saying that is one to monitor because those injuries are tricky.
I don't know the severity of it, but hey, hope he is OK. I'm excited to see him play this year. Excited to see what that offense looks like.
A lot different on the on the perimeter. Like let me some Josh Palmer, let me some Ladd McConkie. But it's not what it used to be there. Yeah. So what does that offense look like in Vegas? Nathan Peterman is back. The Raiders have signed Nathan Peterman. They can't quit him.
This one just in. The bills are looking for another quarterback. Did they sign one last night?
Ben DiNucci, thank you. Hoskins has been signed because they lost a quarterback over the weekend. Oh, Bill to the Super Bowl. Josh Allen, the Bills and the Steelers about to have a joint practice. Josh Allen, don't worry, not injured. Moments ago was just asked, are you looking forward to join practice? And he said, yes, because I want to fight Kyle Allen. His former teammate is now with the Steelers.
That was incredible, which is awesome Latin from the back. Joint practices are the rage of the last couple of years. I like them.
I like them as well. And the coaches like them because they feel they're controlled environments in which they can get in good work. Ones on ones, twos on twos, ones on twos, whatever, in a controlled environment and get the work their starters need at a little lower risk of injury, as opposed to putting them out there in a preseason game. So preseason games are more and more becoming second, third teamers, rookies, and the joint practices are where you get your work in. However, we have seen and we've always seen them, but they're getting a few more headlines the last year or two fights in joint practices. A lot of coaches say we only want one day of joint practice because day one, hey, you're finally hitting somebody other than the other team, than your own team, rather.
And hey, it gets heated. But then day two, it gets out of control. Day one's good.
Day two is where you see all the fights. There's been a lot of emphasis on that now. Kyle Shanahan called off a Niners joint practice because he has too many injuries. The Cowboys only had like 60, 65 guys available for their game against the Rams on Sunday with injuries and holdouts. And the Rams held a lot of people back. They have three offensive linemen down starting. They wouldn't have been out there regardless. Right. Rob Havenstein, Alaric Jackson and Jonah Jackson were not going to play in the preseason anyway, but they're out. So then your depth is tested.
It's a juggling game. The Rams were supposed to do a joint practice with the Chargers tomorrow. So the way they did it a couple of weeks ago had one with the Chargers. Last week, one with the Cowboys before their game against the Cowboys. This week, one with the Chargers because, hey, they're here.
And then next week, one in Houston against the Texans before their game there. The Rams decided sometimes styles make fights or don't make fights. Nothing against the Chargers, but really it's also a transportation issue. When they were practicing against the Chargers, they were in El Segundo and LMU.
So they're right down the road. Now the Chargers still in El Segundo. The Rams went back to Woodland Hills. They didn't want to drive over the hill. This is very the Californians right here. So they decided we're going to cancel with the Chargers and rebook with the Cowboys again.
So instead of practicing with the Chargers tomorrow, the Rams will practice just easy. Go to Oxnard right up the 101 down the hill in the Cambria. Pass the outlet mall.
Keep going. Turn right at the Whole Foods. And then you're at Oxnard of the residence in. And then you can practice against the Cowboys. So they are going to do that. Well done.
I got it. I saw something this morning that Gerard Mayo and maybe Sean McVay does it too. Andrew, you may be able to speak on that about fighting and the joint practices. If you're a starter and you start a fight in the joint practice, you have to play the whole preseason game. Oh no, he doesn't do that. And if you're a non-starter and you get into a fight, you don't play at all in the preseason game.
I like that. I had not heard that. No, Sean doesn't want anyone playing in the preseason. Period. Full stop. Didn't have Jared Verser or Braden Fisk play the first and second round picks.
That's embedded. Played the whole game. And Blake Quorum as well. Last year, Puka Nakua played the opener. Now you say fifth round pick. They kind of knew Puka was going to be a big deal.
I don't know, like rewrite the rookie record book big deal. But they knew he'd be a big contributor. He played in the first preseason game, caught a touchdown, and that was pretty much it. Jordan Whittington, the sixth round pick out of Texas, had a big game.
He's also going to be a big contributor this year. I'm curious to see if he plays in weeks two and three. Also with Fisk, he had the foot injury, you know, not the foot injury, like it was a massive blister. He is okay.
He said, he was talking to him that it was really the size of his foot. It was pretty, pretty nasty. But the best part about the Rams-Cowboys game, Stetson Bennett, he threw five picks. One of them got called back.
The stat sheet says four. I'm really happy for Stetson, the way the game ended. He wasn't there last year, and he has conceded that it was a mental health issue, right? He was dealing with some stuff.
So he played the preseason, looked okay last year, was going to be on the team, made the team, and then stepped away and went home. And the Rams, to their credit, said nothing. Said, he's not here.
We support him. That's it. Didn't say a word. And I'll say this as well, didn't leak a word.
It didn't get out. Whatever he was dealing with, it's fine. And when Stetson did address the media back over the summer during OTA's minicamp, I can't remember, I was standing right there and Gary Klein of the LA Times asked, hey, is it fair to say that your absence last year fell under the umbrella of mental health and mental health related? And Stetson went, yeah, it was. And there was no awkwardness there, no shame in any of it. He was, yeah, and I'm good. I'm in a good place now.
And that was it. So when everyone wanted to hammer Stetson Bennett last week, just take in mind, he took a year off from football. He had not been in a game situation since August 26th of last year, the final preseason game in Denver.
And not only that, he's not getting a lot of snaps. It's Stafford, it's Jimmy, then it's Stetson Bennett. Now, he's got to play better because Matthew Stafford is going to be looking at Stetson Bennett as his backup week one Sunday night in Detroit. Garoppolo suspended the first two games of the year. So Stetson Bennett's going to need to be available in case of emergency as the Rams go back to Detroit and open the season where they ended the season.
Same network, same time, same building, same team, right? So Stetson's got to be ready. I am happy for him that even though the drive could have ended on a pick and there was a defensive hold, I mean, that was a nice play.
Rolling to his left, slinging it sidearm, hitting Miller Forrestal, former Bama tight end, who had a cup of coffee with the Browns a couple of years ago, Rams practice squad a year ago for that touchdown. That was a good moment right there. I just love Mina's reaction, Mina Kimes in the booth.
Oh, okay. Yeah, it's great to have Mina back as well. Mina wasn't with us last year. Her little guy's about to turn one, so she was back in the booth with us. It was a lot of fun.
And I've said this to both of them on the phone and in person in the building. I thank Mina and Andrew Whitworth for carrying me, because I had very much Olympic brain for a month of diving into that, and I crammed as much as I could. I was with the Rams all throughout the minicamps and everything in the offseason, but I had not been to a day of training camp, because I left before training camp opened to do the Olympics, so they carried me and loved them both. It was a fun broadcast. And yes, Tom Brady was there. I know there was some confusion.
He did not do the game, but he was down to the field. We shared a booth, for those who don't know. I think I could reveal this, the network booth at SoFi, like that, you know, Burkhardt and Brady would call a game during the regular season, or Al and Kirk would call a game on a Thursday night, is the size of an apartment.
It is massive at SoFi. So when Al and Kirk were getting, you know, the kinks out and working together for the first time with Amazon two years ago, they took over TNF, we dropped a curtain. We all shared the same booth in the preseason. That's what we did with Brady and Burkhardt, as they did their practice as well. And that's what we're going to do this weekend, because it's the Rams and the Chargers. It is a Charger home game. We're going to share the booth, one side, me, Mina, Andrew Whitworth, the other side of the booth, on the other side of the curtain, as they say.
It'll be Matt Money Smith, friend of the program, Daniel Jeremiah, and Hall of Famer, Dan Fouts. How cool is that for a DJ, by the way? Like, I was texting him during the game.
Hey, 14-year-old DJ must think it's pretty cool. He's setting up Dan Fouts. For those who know, Daniel Jeremiah grew up in San Diego. You know, Charger fan.
Played high school quarterback, played college quarterback. I mean, Dan Fouts, it's Dan Fouts, right? That's pretty cool. Those moments where you go, all right, this is cool, right? Yeah.
And I think, not to get on the couch here and pay a couple hundred dollars an hour, but for all of us in this business, those are the moments where you step back and go, I love my job. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is so cool.
And 10-year-old me would be so proud of me now for making it to this point and working with your, you know, the guys you grew up idolizing when you were young and played sports and thought you'd be them. Absolutely. Yeah, cool.
Yeah. Before the Browns game in Houston last year, my buddy was like, hey, you got to go? I'm like, I don't know.
You know, I got a text chain with, it was like Kosar and Eric Metcalf. I'm like, we're trying to figure out, like, if we could get, like, you know, seats at the game in Houston. And my buddy goes, all right, 14-year-old you thinks that's pretty cool.
Like, yeah, that's pretty cool. Coming up next, the latest as we know it on Brandon IU. Coming up in about 25 minutes, Ian O'Connor will be here, whose new Aaron Rodgers book, Out of the Darkness, is making some headlines. It is The Rich Eisen Show. Today, not starring Rich Eisen, but he'll be back soon. We'll be right back.
That's OReillyAuto.com slash E-I-S-E-N. O-O-OReilly Auto Parts. Let's talk about sleep number, people. We all know in the NFL there's no margin for error.
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See store for details. Mike Del Tufo over there, when Justin Hartley of This Is Us was here on Friday, he planks weights on his back. Okay, there he is, putting plank after plank. Those are 45 pounds. He waves on more weight.
See, come on, let's get some more, right? Del Tufo sees this and goes, I could do that, is what he said. Oh. He said he would do 145. Now, when you say he can do 145, how much weight do you think that means? Just on 145? Right.
One plate that means 45 pounds. How long do you say you can do this? A minute, come on. All right, here we go.
I got up your knees. Go to the right spot in your mind now. Go.
Go to the right spot in your mind, buddy. Come on. Look at him. All we see is the finish line, baby. Coach him up, Herb.
Coach him up. Victory is simple, baby. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. What about the body, baby? Our mind's controlling our body. Preach, Michael. Preach.
It's not our mind. We got this, baby. We got this. We're going to show the world. That's what you're about. What do we got? Show the world, baby. Don't worry about it.
Just 24 seconds. Flat now. Don't worry about it. Flat now, Mike.
Don't worry about it. You got two blocks out. You got two blocks gone. Halfway home. You got two blocks gone. Halfway home.
You got two more to go. Just see that finish line. Look at the glory. Look at your chest touching the tape.
Get your chest on that tape. Look at you, baby. 20 seconds to go. You're coming in.
You're coming in at 20 seconds, baby. You finished this, man. We can do this. He's going to mind that. Be the man. Be the man.
Give him enough. Thomson Moss. I do that every day, people. The gym.
I can't tell. I do it. We are the Rich Eisen Show desk, everybody. This desk is brought to you. It is built.
It is fantastic. It's a lovely piece of furniture by Grainger. This is furnished by Grainger. With supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger has the right product for you.
Call or click grainger.com or just stop by. Breaking news, River Ryan needs Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers have lost a pitcher.
Also, another one, also breaking news. We might have a Brandon Iuc trade. And I say might not to question any of my former colleagues.
I want to stress this. But I say might because I've heard so many times that there is a Brandon Iuc trade done. I'm not gonna believe it until I see him in uniform with the new team. However, but friend of the program and great reporter, Ian Rappaport reports that Brandon Iuc is gonna go to the Steelers.
But just let's read this on the screen. The Steelers and the 49ers have a deal on a potential trade. There's a couch. And Pittsburgh is in a good place on an Iuc contract.
There's a couch. Sources say if San Francisco gives the final sign off, in other words, all right, Niners, we're gonna call your bluff. I added that.
It's done. San Francisco has an offer out to Iuc for a long-term deal for him to stay. Niner's saving face. He hasn't accepted. So Ian says it's gonna be the Steelers. But it sounds like there's a little bit of wiggle room. Like, all right, hey, we've got a deal. Like, Niners, are you gonna actually pull the trigger and give up? Like, actually say, all right, we give up. We've tried to resign you. We're actually going to do this. Brandon, you can always stay.
You sure you don't want to stay? I mean, this has been one of the most bizarre, but, and- I don't understand this on so many different- Brandon Iuc has done himself no favors. We love it in the content business. Like, hey, you're TikToking with Jayden Daniels and you're tweeting at Tom Pelissero or IG story, whatever it is.
I don't get this one. And like, in the Amari Cooper thing, people say, well, why would the Browns give up Amari Cooper or warn Brandon Iuc? They're forward thinking. They had a chance to get younger. They don't want to give up Amari Cooper. And I think it would have been bad for the locker room, to be honest with you, to give up Amari Cooper, beloved and a leader and a veteran and an adult. Not that Brandon Iuc isn't, but I get it.
You go younger, you have the cap space, go do it. Hey, you're looking for the future. But then Amari Cooper gets on Instagram. I wouldn't have minded LOL or whatever it was. I'm paraphrasing.
And like, there's so many layers in this thing. Oh, he turned down a trade here. He turned down a trade there. He turned down a trade there. Well, you know, I'm not suggesting the Niners are leaking that, but it is always fascinating to connect the dots. It could also come from athletes first. Again, not blaming anyone.
Like the story, the backend story of how this happens and how this actually went down, I would love to see the 30 for 30 on this. Do we know he didn't want to go to the Browns or the Patriots or the Steelers? I don't know any more.
And what is it about? If he wants to win, the best spot to win is where he's at. He wants to get paid and I don't begrudge him.
I don't either. Like we're talking with Breier. But if the 49er, but he turned down the most money reportedly with the Patriots. They were gonna give him $32 million a year. Reportedly, sure. Sure, sure.
But that's out there, okay? And if it's a difference of a couple of million dollars, stop being cheap, San Francisco, just pay this guy. Or branded IU, stay with a better team. Now I'm never gonna begrudge anyone who turns down extra money or like, I don't care.
Taxes higher in California, obviously. There are a lot of factors here at play. But if I'm the Niners, let me just say this. You are worse off without him, period.
Yeah, end of story. You are not a better team without him. Devo's contract is in Albatross next year. Ricky Pearsall has been dealing with injuries and he's a rookie, right?
You can't just plug him in. The rest of the NFC will be happy to see him gone. Now, do I think he should get 35 million? No. The question is, should he get 32 and a half?
Should he get to where AJ Brown is? That's the deal, I think. And I don't know if it's for certain, but I think that's the deal that kind of messes everything up, that 32 number.
The money has exploded. The Cowboys are going through this right now with CeeDee Lamb. I think that deal gets done. I get the impression that's gonna get done.
I just don't know where the number is going to be. And you have to look at it in concert with Dak. I think they have to do them both, right? I think Dak and CeeDee Lamb both get done.
Maybe together, one right before the other. Dak would have to be before CeeDee. The way I understand it, Micah Parsons isn't gonna happen this year. It just ain't gonna happen. Justin Jefferson waited until your fourth year. I'm sorry, but quarterbacks get the deals done after three, unless your name is Tua. The other guys don't, just don't. So, Cowboys aren't even talking about it, from what I understand, at Micah Parsons' deal.
It's Dak and it's CeeDee. You know, the quiet one, have we heard a peep about Jamar Chase? Haven't heard a peep. Nope, not a peep. All this quiet there.
What Mike Brown said, he said about a month ago, or three weeks ago. Not a priority, whatever it is, but not a peep. Not a peep. Tua got done.
The other ones got done. We have Hassan Riddick, the Cowboys, Brandon Aiyuk. Matthew Judon in New England. Matthew Judon.
And then Jamar Chase is the under the radar one. Obviously, what else are we missing? You know, I don't know that anything is imminent. They're gonna have to redo Josh Allen's contract sometime soon. I don't think that one's gonna happen now. And he's out there ready to fight Kyle Allen.
So, it's not as if it's a big deal. I would keep an eye on that one. Criminally underpaid now.
Criminally. But remember, remember, when we say that, there's a massive signing bonus and sinus as well on the front end. So, like everyone says, Tyreek was only gonna make 19 under the current deal. Yes, but please factor in the other money that was prepaid, right?
So, you do have to factor that in. And when it comes to cash flow, like Patrick Mahomes still gets a lot of coin, a lot more than people think when you just do the average. Right, listen, man, NFL contracts, it's a shell game. It's a total shell game.
And I am for anybody getting the most money that they can. But I think this thing is grading on Kyle Shanahan. It is grading on the 49. This is not like the Nick Bosa thing where he's like, oh dude, you knew he was gonna show up.
Like this one is a bit of a mess. With all due respect to the player, where do you have Brandon Aiyuk in the wide receiver ranking? Well, there's the conversation. I think he's exceedingly good. Is he top five good? Do you think he's top five good? I kinda don't.
I don't know that I would argue. You mentioned the AJ Brown number. Is he better than AJ Brown?
I don't think so. And remember for AJ Brown, it is his second big deal. He got the deal when he was traded from the Titans and now the Eagles redid his deal. It is his second big deal. Brandon Aiyuk, fifth year option, much like CeeDee Lamb, same boat.
They are waiting for that first big deal. Like TJ, is he better than Jamar Chase? Of course not. But I guess you have to look at what he means to that team, right? It's kinda like when you do an auction fantasy draft. A lot of times you're gonna overpay for a player, but it's because that's who you want and he fits into, I guess, that team you're trying to build. I don't know in the Niner structure what he means to them. So it's hard to say he shouldn't be worth this much or he should get that much. He means a lot. And I do think they should pay him.
I do. But this is the issue here. I know we only have 30 seconds with NFL contracts. Just because you're next doesn't mean you deserve to be most. Oh, that's Chris's argument for the longest, but it just seems like that's how it always happens, right?
Listen, I've talked to plenty of players, including hall of famers, including guys who just retired, who say, yeah, it's dumb, it's stupid, but it's the way it is. Ian O'Connor coming up next, Rich Eisen show. And as we continue here on Roku.
I have a question, Andrew, real quick for you. And Chris, I thought about this last week. It might be a dumb question, but we're always talking salary cap and specifically the quarterback taking up such a chunk. Do you guys ever see a time when perhaps a team salary cap could be changed to positions? Like you get X amount for this position for your cap, then you have this amount to sign, like the linemen, your quarterback, your wide receivers, you have this X amount that you change on the cap.
Not exactly like that TJ, but something similar. So yes, an idea has been kicked around where you have a salary cap, but there are in like, in one thought I've heard, no cap for the quarterbacks. So you have a cap for your team and then the quarterbacks are like a different tax bracket. You do whatever you need to do for your quarterback.
That got shot down, like from a PA perspective as well. Like, I don't know how you look at your membership and say, hey, these 32 guys are different. Or I'm 64 or 96, how many ever quarterbacks?
And then there's always the gray area as well. Like, well, what happens if, bad example, Malik Cunningham, let's say college quarterback. Taysom Hill. Yeah, Taysom Hill. Hey, can we throw the picture on the screen real quick?
We have time here. This is from Joe Shad, the reporter of Miami. This is the funniest thing you've ever seen.
That isn't doctored. That is Brandon Aiyuk. Mike Tomlin.
Mike Tomlin adding Mike Tomlin. Like, even Omar Epps thinks that's funny. Well, cause he's playing him in the movie. 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 like 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.
