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NFL Sunday Ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Who's more likely to win more games next season?
Caleb Williams or all other rookie quarterbacks? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I'll still take the rest of the field because you know these teams don't sit, these quarterbacks anymore. The Rich Eisen Show with guest host Kirk Morrison earlier on the show. Host of the Business of Sports podcast, Andrew Brint.
Coming up, Patriots writer for The Athletic, Chad Graff, MLB writer for The Athletic, Levi Weaver. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Kirk Morrison. Sometimes it's hard to be the backup quarterback. But if you're the backup quarterback and you come in, you have success, and you do your job, it may lead to other opportunities. You're talking about you here? How'd you know I was talking about Kirk Morrison here on the Rich Eisen Show?
Sitting in here for Rich. I joke around because that's what we're looking at right now in the National Football League. So many backup quarterbacks who will have an extended period of time will have the starting quarterbacks, right? These week two of preseason games. But there's also the quarterbacks of the future who will have opportunity to show what they can do.
Can they be the number two quarterback or will they be relegated to the emergency third quarterback in the National Football League? And one guy in particular is one I'll have my eyes on tonight as the Eagles and the Patriots in their preseason game number two. Chad Graff joins us.
He's the Patriots writer for The Athletic. And Chad, I want to start with this one. What are we seeing tonight from Drake May? How many series? How many plays? What's the game plan for Drake May tonight, Chad?
You're going to see a whole heck of a lot of Drake May tonight. So obviously in that first preseason game, you played six snaps. It didn't go great. There were penalties, stuffed runs, three passes.
A screen was the only that was successful. And then after that, there was a bunch of blowback. And understandably so. Everybody's like, wait a second. We came all the way to see Drake May, this strong-armed rookie quarterback who's going to lead us forever to the point where fans were booing when Bailey Zappi, the third string, came on. Like, hang on.
This is not what we came out here to see. So Jaron Mayo came out and said, hey, I heard you guys heard the complaint. We've got a system here that we're going to use to try to develop Drake. That means that he didn't play very much in the first game, but he's going to play a ton in the second game. And I think there's a few things to watch within it as he's out there for probably a full half. The first thing is the offensive line stinks. Like, they got their butts kicked against the Eagles yesterday.
One of the worst practices I think that I've ever seen from an offense. And so we're going to see just how athletic he is. Like, part of the appeal to him for the Patriots was he's got some sneaky athleticism. He moves around well in the pocket. He throws on the run. There's some things to like with him beyond just being a pocket quarterback. And so I would pay attention to that tonight. He's going to be under pressure a lot.
The Patriots kind of have to just shrug their shoulders and accept that. So how he handles that pressure I think is going to be a big moment for him tonight. You know, Chad, I want to pause just for a second because we're going to talk a lot about Drake May.
Obviously, this fall out of Matthew Judon. But I want to go back to that first preseason game because Drake May gave us plays. But Joe Milton gave us wow moments. And I felt like the Patriots broadcast was like, I guess we got to run these highlights of Joe Milton who looked like the better quarterback. Who looked like he had more upside.
I'm not saying it's a controversy of what quarterback to play. But I feel like if you put Joe Milton out there again tonight, everybody's going to say, hmm, what's up with this guy? And the tricky position for them, like not that there's a competition, but the tricky part is Joe Milton's just fun. Like he's straight up is fun.
He's got maybe the strongest arm in the league. Every day at practice after the quarterbacks go through their drill of just firing balls into a net, he does a back flip to celebrate. Gets the fans going. So like you've got this back flipping strong arm quarterback who's scrambling and breaking away from people. It's just naturally going to be a lot of fun to watch. And what's especially tough for the Patriots is little else is fun about them. Like it's just not a fun team.
They're going to try to run the ball a lot and keep games low scoring and try to play good defense and ball possession and don't turn it over. And now let's punt. And so when you've got a fan base that has seen boring football, boring possession, boring play after play, and then all of a sudden this Joe Milton guy comes in, he's scrambling around like, yeah, I'm with you.
It's just fun. He's Chad Graff. He's the Patriots writer for The Athletic. Joining me, Kirk Morrison here filling in for Rich. Going back to Drake May, and look, it's funny that you say that the Patriots, this, I wouldn't say this off season, but so far through training camp, they do seem boring. Like it's just stale.
And I'm thinking, hey, Jarod Mayo comes in. There's this now influx of youth, a younger head coach. We're getting away from Bill Belichick. And so maybe things will be different.
The Patriot way will be different, right? I'm looking at Alabama. And now that Nick Saban has retired and Kalen DeBoer takes over, and Alabama's, they all over the TVs now.
They doing documentaries. They doing everything. And I'm like, wait, isn't this what the Patriots are supposed to be? Like reintroducing their self, rebranding them self.
And yet Drake May, not taking anything away, doesn't look like what we expected. It just seems like a boring brand of football. And then you cut Juju Smith-Schuster, who was at least a guy who was visible. And now it's just like, who are these Patriots? Yeah, the problem is bad offense just naturally is boring.
And that's where they're at. And so like you look back to last year, last year it made sense that they were boring. It was Mac Jones again, bad receivers, a bunch of guys that you didn't really know, a bunch of number three receivers. It made sense that that was boring with Belichick. This was supposed to be exciting with Drake May and a quarterback competition with Jacoby Brissett, and they drafted two wide receivers.
And so when you have the number three pick on a quarterback, plus you draft two wide receivers in the first four rounds, that should be fun and exciting. And yet Drake May has been consistently with the second team. He has been, I would say it's fair to say, a little bit worse than Jacoby Brissett so far.
And so I think that he and people close to him might argue like, yeah, look who you're giving him. The Patriots starters aren't that good. Think of what their second team is. And so, yeah, like with Halvin Anderson is his tackles and the offensive line that he's had. You know, of course, there's going to be some struggles and the Patriots starting wide receivers aren't good. So of course, he's going to struggle with their wide receivers, five, six, seven, eight. And yet it just hasn't been good enough, crisp enough for them to start giving Drake a bunch of starting reps. Now, that's why I think tonight is super interesting for them is if he goes out there and plays really well and has a good game.
All of this gets rationed up a notch. And we're talking about, OK, maybe the guy's a gamer. Maybe the practices have just been so-so. But you give him a chance. You let him run around out there. He no longer has the red jersey on. If he shows up in a big way tonight, all of a sudden, I think this boring team starts to get pretty interesting.
Yeah, I hope they get interesting really quickly because right now it has been a very boring brand of football. But that being said, Chad Graff, writer for the athletic covering the Patriots, my resident Patriots fan Chris Brockman here on my left, brought to my attention because I went through this before I was a member of the Oakland Raiders back then, 2009. And I remember my head coach at the time, Tom Cable, called me to his office during training camp.
Now, Chad, that's not a great sign. You're the starting middle linebacker and coach calls you in right before cut down day. He says, I want to talk to you. So I full on intended like, wow, I'm either getting cut or I'm getting traded.
And I'm like, I had a great camp. Like, what is going on? And then he tells me, hey, we're trying to get you some help up front. We're going to trade for Richard Seymour and we want to do some things. Are you on board with that?
I was like, hell yeah, I'm on board with that. So Brockman just kind of reminded me that the Patriots will trade a guy a year early when it turns to paying a premium for a player. That being said, Matthew Judon's trade from the Patriots over to the Atlanta Falcons. This is on brand with what the Patriots have done.
Lawyer Molloy as well that we talked about a little bit earlier. But was there a tipping point throughout these practices, throughout his hold in, hold away from practice, but I'm holding in now, I'm practicing now, I'm disgruntled. Was there a tipping point where the Patriots said, OK, enough is enough.
Let's just get away with this? Well, I think the tipping point was just that they got better offers than they were expecting. They didn't think that they were going to get a third round pick back for him. And all of a sudden, when you've got the Bears in the mix, the Texans in the mix, and then obviously the Falcons, that drives the price tag up to the point where it gets to be a third round pick.
And they say, OK, wasn't the plan to move him? Our defense is going to get worse. Our team is going to get worse.
But that's a price that we've got to jump on. And so they, of course, trade him for the third round pick. A couple of ways to look at that were on the one hand, of course, they're a rebuilding team. Stockpile all the picks that you can.
That makes sense. On the other hand, this new regime, Elliott Wolf, Jerad Mayo, has done things so, so different than Bill Belichick, where, as you mentioned, Belichick was the king of I'd rather get rid of you a year too late than a year too early. They've kind of done the opposite. They brought back everybody they could.
They've resigned or extended 12 players this offseason from a team that won four games a year ago. Tavai, Barmore, Stevenson, Hunter Henry, like anybody who was up or eligible, you want money? Great. We got it. We're spending it. Here you go.
Matthew Judon was the one exception to that. And it's definitely fair to say he admitted to some jealous feelings of like looking around and hang on a second. I've been your best player for three years. You're extending and resigning everybody but me? Like what's going on here? Something's not adding up. And so all of that reached a tipping point where he said, pay me or trade me. They said, all right, we'll kick the tires on a trade. No promises.
See what's out there. Maybe we'll get a fourth. And then all of a sudden when the Bears and Falcons are fighting for thirds, like, okay, now we can make a move. The flip side to all of this, the Patriots just got worse. Like straight up, an already bad team got worse. That's going to be tough to watch. They wanted to win games by being competitive defensively. Now they're without Christian Barmore, who was diagnosed with blood quads.
He's out indefinitely. Matthew Judon is off to Atlanta. Like their pass rush took massive, massive hits. And I just don't know that they're going to be able to get to the passer like you need to in the NFL.
But my question would be with the trade of Judon. Now people kind of start to see a little bit that maybe we're gearing up for a season that may not be great. That we are in a rebuild.
What is the number of, and I don't even fall for show you even go here yet. Is there a number of wins that you have to see in year one under Jarod Mayo? Or is it starting to look like we're going to do our best, but we're kind of putting our eggs in the basket for 2025? Yeah, this is the first time that basically since Tom Brady showed up 25 years ago, that the Patriots are going into a season with zero expectations for wins and losses and what it's going to mean for the playoffs.
Like even last year's disaster, they thought, hey, you know, Matt Patricia's gone as the offensive coordinator, Bill O'Brien's in. That's going to turn things around. Defense is going to be good. We're going to be good. So this is the first year that the wins and losses do not matter for the Patriots.
There's only one thing that matters. And that is how Drake May looks whenever he plays. Probably isn't going to be week one. Who knows where it's going to be after that? If Drake May comes in and shows you promise, it doesn't matter if you go 0 and 17, if you see signs that this is the guy we can build around him. It doesn't, of course, have to be to like C.J.
Stroud. Oh, my God, we're going for a Super Bowl next year level. But if you're sure that you've got the quarterback, then they've got the cap space, they've got the assets. They can do everything to build around him next year. They just need to show that he's the guy. Like it was even hard for them to get an offensive coordinator this offseason because everybody was so unsure of what they had at the most important spot in the NFL. And so if they go 0 and 17, but Drake May looks good and he's going to be the guy, that's probably better than going 7 and 10 with Jacoby Brissett all 17 games. You know, Chad, I mentioned earlier that Juju Smith-Schuster was released from the Patriots.
Now there's two things. One is that maybe Juju was not the same guy and the Patriots said, you know what, it's better to get rid of him now than him get injured and now we're on the hook for money on the salary cap. Or is that they feel really comfortable with the couple of the young players who they drafted, you mentioned Polk and Baker, the young wide receivers who they drafted and the guys who they already have on the roster. What does this wide receiver room look like? Are they exciting?
Are they fun? I haven't seen a lot from them, but I would love to just get your perspective on what should we expect from those receivers after they let go of Juju Smith-Schuster? Yeah, and Smith-Schuster was a little bit of both. He wasn't having a good camp and also they wanted to see what they've got from their young players, which makes sense and continues this trend when you trade Jude on of let's just see what this is going to look like with the young guys.
And so I would say it's been a mixed bag. Some of them, Jalen Polk, their second round pick seems like a steady, reliable guy who's going to be, you know, their number one or number two receiver. He'll probably be good, but you know, he's a rookie and that just comes with a shoulder shrug and you don't know exactly what you're going to get until the season starts. Demario Douglas, I think is a player who is going to make some plays and it's going to wow people and he's good with the ball in his hands and he's going to be coming underneath on a bunch of crossers and he's going to be a man beater. But also he's a total outlier for size, like banking on him to stay healthy for 17 games. Frankly, if you get him for 14 games, that's a win.
Like just take that and move on. And after that, kind of up and down, Javon Baker, the rookie has had some wow, wow, awesome moments. And then some, oh my gosh, what is he doing moments? KJ Osborne's been steady. And so I think the best way to look at this group is it's a collection of a bunch of number three wide receivers. One or two of them like poker, Demario Douglas have a chance to climb up to like that number two tier and some of them like KJ Osborne and Javon Baker have a chance to kind of drop down to that number four tier.
But it's just a bunch of number three wide receivers right now. Just a couple more minutes here with Chad Graff, Patriots writer for the Athletic here on the Rich Eisen Show. Can I get an update on Christian Gonzalez? Man, I love watching the guy in college.
We're from Colorado to Oregon. Was so excited for him in his rookie year with the Patriots and obviously the injury didn't get his chance to see the full season. What's the update on Christian Gonzalez, a guy who I think is one of the better young corners that maybe we'll be talking more about this year?
Yeah, so that's a good question. So he was their first round pick, the last first round pick of the Belichick era and, you know, really exceeded expectations right off the jump and immediately starts looking like that next in line. Patriots number one cornerback that you see that Bill Belichick was so good at developing JC Jackson and Steph Gilmore before him. Tywha, of course, going all the way back like they've just always relied on being able to develop these top tier cornerbacks. And it looked like here comes Christian Gonzalez.
Oh, my gosh, they've done it again. He's everything that you want in a modern quarterback. He's fast. He's got long arms.
He's tall. He's like he's got ball skills. His first three and a half games last year. So unbelievably good that it felt like, oh, my gosh, this guy's a shoe in for defensive rookie of the year.
The Patriots have done it again. Then he gets hurt and ends up missing the rest of the season in week four. And so expectations for him coming in sky, sky high like the team, the public, New England, everybody's ready to pencil this guy in. Unfortunately, I think we've seen in camp so far that, you know, missing three months in your rookie year does matter. And so he has had a little bit of rust in training camp. It hasn't been just coming in and dominating the way that I think the Patriots hoped. And yet I think you still feel confident, given what he did those first three games, that sure, there's a little rust in training camp. But by the time we get to, say, October, he'll probably be ready to roll. And, you know, if the Patriots have their wishes, I think Christian Gonzalez could be a top ten cornerback in the entire National Football League this season.
You know, Chad, I get you out of here on this again. Eagles, Patriots tonight, the only game on, by the way. So I think we'll all be watching this game tonight, preseason game number two for the Patriots. But anybody else always love these under-the-radar guys that no one is like, if you're not covering the Patriots, you don't really know, but you're there, boots on the ground. Is there a player, a guy that I need to keep my eye on for tonight? Because I'm always looking for these unheralded guys who may be a factor early on, maybe late in the season, or even one of those fantasy sleepers, Chad.
Yeah. So a wide receiver that we haven't really talked about that will be interesting to follow is going to be K Sean booty. He's going to get a lot of playing time. He's a second year receiver.
He's a guy who go back to his high school days, like five star recruit can't miss. This guy's going to be legit shows up to LSU is so good early on at LSU, like breaking early on OBJ records and gets that coveted number seven Jersey down there and Baton Rouge and everything is looking good. Then he deals with some injuries and it falls off a little bit. And so it hasn't been probably his ideal last two or three years, but no question the talent is there.
And it's just a matter of if the Patriots are going to be able to develop that and bring that out. He had a really good first preseason game, led the team in catches and receiving yards. He's going to get a lot of time tonight. He's got a chance to make the team like you just miss Schuster's gone now. Taequann Thornton is certainly no roster lock. And so it's all right there for K Sean booty.
He just needs to go out and have a good game tonight. It's the duo that we didn't know. We need it made to booty tonight. We can't wait.
There we go. Patriots Eagles tonight and my guy Chad graph. He will be there. Make sure you go out and follow him as well at Chad graph. He's the Patriots writer for the athletic be looking at your stuff all day today. Chad to get me caught up on tonight's game and appreciate the time and we'll catch up soon. Awesome. Thanks for having me guys.
Chad graph man. Give me look. I haven't had a chance to really catch up on Patriots training camp.
So I don't know what's been going on. Obviously you look at the quarterback stuff. And when I've watched the preseason game last week, I'm just watching the quarterbacks. All right, Drake made does he look like he belongs? Yes, he looks like he but he still looks raw.
He still looks like, okay, there are some things that are you going to go through and you realize that he's just not ready right now. And having done his games in college, especially last year. I did a Drake made game in 2023. I said he's got unbelievable talent. Is he ready to start an NFL game tomorrow? No, but he has the ability that if you watch him and give him a little bit of time, let him progress. He's a young dude. Remember, he's I guess he was only a third year of college redshirt sophomore.
And yet was in the National Football League already. It's going to take some time. Let's be patient.
Be patient Patriots fans. All right, more rich eyes and show coming up next. I got some stuff I want to get to some stuff. I did. I said I was going to get to and I'll bring it back up when we come back here.
Right here on the rich eyes and so. Hey, everybody, this just in. It's summertime. It's time to go and do all those summer things like going to a baseball game during the summer. I'm about to do exactly that. And I know exactly what to do.
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Oh, my God. Happy birthday to you. You know, I'm going to sing a happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, old Richie.
Happy birthday to you and a whole lot more. It is Joe Hell. Joe Willie.
Roll Tide and go just same. Joe, this is the greatest thing of all time. Thank you for doing this. How are you doing? Well, I just I'm a fan. I've known you for a long time and I hope you've lived a long time and I hope you live a whole lot longer, too.
Oh, my God, Joe. You don't have no idea what this means to me right now to get to get a call from you on my birthday. You know, I mean, thank you so much.
I can't I don't even know how to say it. As one of your fans, you've got millions of fans out there these days, man. So keep up the good work. I love listening to you.
Thank you. And I and I appreciate that, you know, because, you know, I was born the year you won the Super Bowl, Joe. That's the year I was born.
You see that? That was a very good year. It was a good year and a day in the life.
It was a good year and a day in the life for sure. But, you know, I'd love to be able to not have to say that right. I'd love to be able to talk about some some other championship. Other than that, Joe, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, well, that may come about. So once again, I don't want to take your time up here much. I know you're talking about some important things, but I love you. Thanks, Joe. And I look forward to seeing you around campus. Welcome back to the Rich Eisen Show on Rich Eisen Radio Network. I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.
Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. You know, I want to get to this because every year we kind of fantasize of the new. Everybody is about the new, the brand new. And the brand new for the NFL is the quarterbacks of 2024. The 2024 quarterback class, right?
Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake May. Now, we won't get a chance to see J.J. McCarthy for the rest of this season, possibly. Sadly. Well, we'll see if they put him on IR or not. Maybe he could return at the end of the year.
Who knows? So that's a situation that the Minnesota is kind of dealing with right now. Think about the Atlanta Falcons and Michael Pennix, Bo Nix. We can talk about him as well.
Sean Payton had some nice words about his quarterbacks. But we get so caught up in the class of 24, the brand new class. I'm like, what about the class of 23? What about the second year dudes that we really need to focus on?
Because these are the guys who have to take that leap. Now, C.J. Stroud has put himself in a different stratosphere.
He was a rookie of the year, pro bowler, took his team to the division title in the AFC South, won a playoff game over the Cleveland Browns. So I think we remove C.J. Stroud from this conversation right now. But then I look at the other quarterbacks who need to take a leap and for some, maybe need to take a giant leap. But I want to present these names to you guys and we will see how much faith that you have in these players going into their second year at the quarterback position. Number one has to be the number one overall pick in 2023, Bryce Young. He's got to have a big, big year. He's got a new offensive coordinator in Dave Canales.
And you know what? I'll start there first because Dave Canales was very complimentary of Bryce Young. Here's a little Dave Canales talking about his second year quarterback or for his first year as head coach, Bryce Young. Here's Dave Canales talking about Bryce Young. I thought he was sharp yesterday. He had two interceptions, one he didn't see shy and then the other one was, you know, learn the lesson, don't be laid outside, you know.
So in general, again, compartmentalize the mistakes and say, what was the body of work? So today, though, today he came out, he was sharp. He was getting us in and out of the huddle. He's accurate. He just shows like that's Bryce. You know, he loves it. You know, when, when, when he gets challenged and the stakes rise, that's him. He just stays, stays the same and he continues to be accurate.
And I love the way he handled today. Shout out to Dave Canales. Grew up right down the street, by the way.
Not too far from here. You know that, right? No. Dave Canales.
Oh, yeah. The pride of Carson, California. Dave Canales. Dave Canales also did a great job resurrecting Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield last year, helped him obviously get this head coaching job in Carolina. So, I mean, he's got a, he's got a tall task in front of him with Bryce Young because it was not good. Not good. In 2023. Well, that sounds promising right there that he's got a quarterback that he's kind of helping see the field differently in a new set of eyes or new set of, of way of, of going through his progression.
So that's a great thing there. I'm kind of looking at this rest of this list. I've got Bryce Young. I've got Anthony Richardson.
Yep. The quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts. I got Will Levis. Tennessee Titans quarterback.
And I even put on this list. AOC. AOC.
Put him on there, man. AOC. Aidan O'Connell. The quarterback of the Raiders. Maybe you're a former Raider.
Do you have any insight? Is he ahead of Gardner Minshew in their quarterback battle? Okay, so I released this about a week and a half ago when I was at Raiders training camp. And being there, I'm watching a little bit of everything. I'm watching the quarterback battle. I'm watching the offensive line who was down a couple starters, right? No Colt Miller available at the moment.
So they're kind of working through that. I'm looking at the running backs. There was no Devante Adams there. So for me, I'm trying to give a real assessment on the quarterback competition. Because no one ever looks at the factors of who was available when they were going in.
Right? Everyone's going to say, well, he was 12 of 13 and 7 on 7. And this guy was only 7 of 13 and 7 on 7. Or he was 10 of 14 in 11 on 11 drills. And I'm saying, yeah, but one guy had Max Crosby and Christian Wilkins beaming down on him. And the other guy had backups. Like, let's just be real. You know, people love the news.
They love statistics. So to me, when it comes to the quarterback battle with the Raiders, and we're talking about Aiden O'Connell and Gardner Minshew, it was hard for me to say who's got a leg up. I will say this, no one's talking about their defense though, Brock.
That's the part that I said. It's hard to say if this quarterback is better or who's leading the charge when maybe this was a team that's going to be led by their defense. With Patrick Graham, the defensive coordinator. I mean, I saw Christian Wilkins and Max Crosby on the same side during an 11-11 drill. And five plays in a row, the offensive line could not block them.
I mean, they were stunts and twists and Crosby. And every time, you know what he says, every single play, sack! I mean, it's like the ball snaps. Sack!
Sack! Like, no, you wouldn't have got there. And then Christian Wilkins getting involved.
So these competitions that go on, to me, I say sometimes you have to look at the whole body of work. Now, Antonio Pierce said he's going to name a starter, but Aiden O'Connell was one of those second-year players I want to see. He was thrown into the fire early on last year. Head coach was fired.
Jimmy Garoppolo was benched and signed off by Devontae Adams, as we learned in the receiver. But I want to see how does he handle this competition. I think he is the leader in the clubhouse. He did finish your season as the starter. I would be shocked if Minshew started. I would put Minshew as the backup early on. That's where Minshew has been traditionally throughout his career. He's been the backup to Jalen Hurts, Trevor Lawrence.
And then you just bring last year Anthony Richardson. But if something happens, it's okay. Gardner can take care of it. Right?
So Will Leviss is more for me. And I don't know. I don't care to smell his cologne inspired by mayonnaise, by the way. Yeah, I don't even know what that's about. But I know he puts mayonnaise in his coffee and something like that. I think it was a bit that he's turned into a money-making venture. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know what? Use your brand.
Your brand is who you are. But Will Leviss, I want to see him in this offense. I want to see him in Brian Callahan's offense. And what Brian Callahan, who has worked with obviously a lot of quarterbacks. But more importantly, Joe Burrow the last couple of years, because they were together in Cincinnati.
I want to see what Will Leviss can do now with some of these weapons. I love having obviously Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, not available for a little bit of time, but they had a little injury. But he'll be coming back. They have a nice little offensive line. They've picked up Jamal Adams. They've picked up Quandary Diggs defensively.
They got some pieces. And I'm not saying that they're a team that is going to make a ton of noise. But every year of the last 21 years since we've had realignment, we've had now 32 of the eight divisions, four teams per division. There's been 19 teams that have went from worse to first in that division.
We've had it every single year. And so I started to like circle like some teams who could be on that radar. And one of those teams for me could be the Tennessee Titans. They went 6 and 11 last year. Now, is it going to be tough for the Texans to fall back?
Possibly. But Tennessee is one of those teams that can make the jump, right? Another team I had in that same combination. And it's funny, the Cincinnati Bengals go 9 and 8. And they finish last. And they finish last.
I know. But if they win, they technically go from worse to first. Chargers are on that too, right? Yeah, Chargers are on that. But this injury to Justin Herbert, he's still walking around in that boot in planner fashion.
When I hear planner fashion, I just, you know. So the Chargers could be actually in for a quarterback if this injury isn't progressing. Because I saw Easton stick the other day. No pun intended. I need to stick him back on the bench because he was not getting it done.
So I'm looking at that. I've mentioned Aiden O'Connell, Will Levis, Anthony Richardson. Joe Flacco is going to be good for him. And I'm happy that they got Joe Flacco. I'm happy that Joe Flacco is back in the league, by the way.
Because obviously there's a knowledge. Joe Flacco is a Super Bowl MVP. And there's no reason for him to be at home when he showed what he can do last year. And literally off his couch with the Cleveland Browns. Showed that he still deserves to be in the league. And the Indianapolis Colts found a way for him to be a mentor.
Now, can Joe Flacco still play? Sure. But it's about progressing the game. I love this part.
I've had veteran players when I first got into the NFL. I wanted their knowledge. Like, I wanted to soak up all the, everything that they had learned. I wanted all of that knowledge, man. Like, how do you train?
How do you study? I want to be one of the greatest. I wanted to be a 15-year veteran. That didn't happen.
But still though, I love that thirst for knowledge. And that's what I'm seeing from Anthony Richardson. That he's going to learn from Joe Flacco. And Joe Flacco is going to give him the, because he realized this isn't a quarterback battle.
He's there to be the mentor to Anthony Richardson. But if anything does happen, you've got a quarterback in Joe Flacco who can still help you get to the possible, to the playoffs. I mean, they were in it last year with Gardner Minshew all the way up until the end. And yet, you know, obviously there were some mishaps along the way, but it wasn't to the fault of the quarterback.
They just were a team that just ran out of gas late in the season. That's why I'm looking at Anthony Richardson. So, as we get ready to watch the 2024 class of quarterbacks in the NFL, let's start looking at the 2023 class again. Let's look at the guys who need to make the jump.
Because it's kind of crazy to think about it. There are one more season after this from being eligible for the new contracts. And I can only imagine that C.J. Shrout, who's agent is David Mulageta, who's also the agent of Troy Love.
And now. He goes back to back. That contract starts with a? Man, that starts seven? Eight? Per year?
I mean, what are you saying? Sixty-five probably. Sixty-five? Sixty-five? Oh, no, I think it'd be higher by then. Higher than sixty-five?
Oh, yeah. In two years? We're talking two years. Higher than whatever Dak gets, right? Dak's probably going to come in at sixty. And in the year after, because he's got to wait, not this season, but in the year after. So, if Dak gets in at sixty, you played through this season, you're kind of at sixty-two, then after that season, you're at sixty-three, sixty-five, right in that range. So, maybe they go to the Super Bowl in the next two years?
Ah, see, now you're doing it. But they got to pay Will Anderson, too. So, they have two guys they got to pay at the same time. If the Texans go to the Super Bowl in the next two years. Okay.
Stroud's getting seventy-five a year. Absolutely. And you have to start that way.
That's where the conversation starts. Like, I took your franchise. Seventy-five? We're not even at sixty-eight? If they go to the Super Bowl in the next two years? I'm telling you. A guy who hasn't even been in the title game is about to get sixty-five.
Oh, take a look at this. I mentioned I was at Saints training camp. What year did Derek Carr sign that deal, Brock? What year did Derek Carr sign his deal with the Raiders? Oh, with the Raiders? Only because at the time, he was the highest paid quarterback. Or he was, for a hot man. At the time.
Yeah. He was the highest paid quarterback. I believe the APY, average per year, was about thirty-four million dollars. And I believe that contract was signed in what, 2017? 2018? Possibly. Or maybe even 2019. Who knows? But think about it. From that thirty-five million dollar APY to it's ballooned to almost sixty now?
Going to get to possibly seventy? That's why I'm looking at the year two quarterbacks who are inching closer to that big payday. Or maybe it could be even Brock Purdy. Yeah.
Maybe that guy. 2017 Derek Carr, a five-year, one twenty-five. And then in 2022, a three-year, one twenty-one.
I'm just saying, man. 2021. Not that long ago. Not that long ago. Not that long ago. That 2017 was the original. So from 2017 to 2024, that seven-year window, it went from the APY, average per year, went from about thirty-three, thirty-four, to that.
So you're going to tell me in two more years we're not going to add at least ten million on that? And Brock Purdy's going to be the guy. Brock Purdy's been to a Super Bowl. He's the guy who's actually done it. He's been to two conference championship games.
That was like three minutes away from winning the Super Bowl last year. Oh, he said he learned from it too. He learned he could be better. And he's diesel now.
He's diesel now. I love it. I got to get my wrap-up too, because I saw something last Saturday. Saw something last Saturday. And you don't get me a lot of times on a Saturday in the house. You know, you got kids running around. You never really have a quiet house.
But for some reason, the house was quiet. It was like the perfect storm for me. Perfect storm. And here on the West Coast, it was 1230 p.m.
I said, you know what? I want to see this gold medal matchup. It was France versus the USA. It was our team versus their team. Or what people say the new age of basketball. If you watch the NBA draft and first couple players were taken or they were born in France. Half the first round.
Half the first round was all oui oui. Yeah, bonjour. Je m'appelle T.J. Como talez-vous?
Je m'appelle T.J. But Saturday afternoon, Saturday afternoon, I was reminded here on the West Coast. I was reminded. I was reminded. Just how great it is to be a part and be from the good old USA. I'll tell you all about it when we come back right here on the Rich Eisen Show.
Kirk Morris, the chef fella there for rich. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts, people. You love their jingle. You're going to love their friendly, helpful service even better because they're in the business of keeping your car on the road and the parts knowledge they have. It's all you need for your maintenance and repairs. They've got thousands of parts and accessories in stock, either in store or online.
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That's OReillyAuto.com slash E-I-S-E-N, O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. Are you tired of losing your fantasy football league year after year? Lindsey Rhoads, Emmy winning sportscaster and football analyst is your new secret weapon on the Believe Fantasy Football Show. Watch the quarterbacks and his ADP. I think he has massive high end upside.
Get expert analysis on player rankings. Wide receiver 22 in fantasy Cecil Schwartz. That kid can run.
So I'm thinking he can have a breakout season this year. And you can too by searching the Believe Fantasy Football Show. That's B-L-E-A-V wherever you listen. So I played 11 years. You did.
They've been to the Super Bowl nine times. And I didn't get their warrants. Right. Think about that.
Right. And I was one pick away from being drafted by the Patriots. What happened? The Chargers drafted me. I know that's what happened.
They didn't come up and come get you? So I went on a visit to the Patriots. That's when Charlie Weiss was office coordinator. And I go to Boston. And I really like to visit. I like Charlie.
I love Charlie Weiss. Did you meet with Bill? I did meet with Bill.
You know, we sat in his office right above the stadium right there where you're looking at at the stadium. And we really just sat there. We really didn't talk about much. We just looked at each other.
What do you mean? You just looked at each other. We just kind of stared in each other's eyes, you know, I guess. So you're saying it was awkward?
No, I mean, I just, you know, you know how Bill is. He just, there's only a few things he probably wants to know about you. And I guess he was trying to get a sense of, you know, was I passionate about football?
As most coaches do, you want to invest a first round pick on a guy, you want to make sure they're passionate. Do you think they would have chosen you if you were available? Well, they said they were going to choose me. Charlie Weiss promised me if I was there at sticks because they needed to run it back. They needed to run it back bad that year. And so, yeah, when the Chargers drafted me, I think they took Richard Seymour.
Richard Seymour. Yep. Worked out. They worked out. They worked out.
They worked out good. Have you ever brought up to Brady when you've seen him? No. Never brought it up. You could have been Robin, his Batman.
I always, I always thought about, you know, what would that be like? With all due respect to Antwaun Smith, all due respect. Yeah, I know. Right. I know. It would have been a little different. A little different. No way. Yeah.
I'm kind of getting freaked out. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, Kirk Morrison here filling in for Rich. And I'm going to take this time to talk about game time. Okay. Game time.
How excited are you as we get into the, what do you call this, the dog days of summer for baseball? Right? Yeah. Yeah.
I think that's true. The dog days. I think the August days of summer for baseball. Before the pennant race picks up. But we're also getting ready for football. We're getting ready as the regular season comes in.
Look, for me, I'm excited because college football is also upon us. I want to talk to you about the game time app. I want you to understand that as these pennants are heating up for baseball and as college football and the NFL starts to heat up, I want you to go and think about what our listeners out there, what the game time app can be for you. And look, the game time app is basically, it's simple. Basically go out and when you go to the game time app, your first purchase doesn't need to be included for this.
You have a YouTube channel, video simulcast, social media posts, visual components, these phrases. No, you need to understand that the game time app is an authorized ticket marketplace, which makes these baseball tickets, these football tickets faster and easier when you go to the game time app. It's last minute deals, all them prices, views from your seat, the lowest price guarantee.
Game time takes the guesswork out of it, right? Talk about good deals. You see them for yourself. You see the games right there in front of you.
So use the app features that are listed as customize your spot. You get the last minute ticket deals, the flash deals, views from all the seats, the low price guarantee. And guess what? This is huge. Oh, this is huge because I saw this yesterday because Usher canceled his concert in Atlanta. Usher. Usher. Yes. His new tour.
He canceled his concert. Yeah, because when it comes to the game time app, you have event cancellation protection. I'll say it again, event cancellation protection, job loss protection. You have all of that.
Take the guesswork out of it, everybody. When you're buying baseball tickets, you're buying these football tickets, college football tickets, download the game time app, create an account, use code rich, $20 off your first purchase, terms apply, visit game time.co, that's it, the game time.co for restrictions. Again, create an account and redeem the code, R-I-C-H, $20 off your first purchase, download game time today, get your last minute tickets for the lowest price guarantee and cancellation protection. That's a meet and read by the end. That's what she said. Yeah. Kirk. Yeah.
Appreciate that, y'all. You know the first time I used the game time app, Kirk? What was that?
Got some Clippers tickets, signed up for the app, I did everything. You know what I forgot? What?
The code rich. TJ, what are we doing? Costing myself 20 bills. Speaking of that, look, and it all comes together, it all comes full circle here. You mentioned using the game time app and you bought Clippers tickets. Tonight, the Intuit Dome opens for the first time to the public, Bruno Mars will be there, the Intuit Dome, the new home of the Los Angeles Clippers, and also the home of the Olympic basketball competition in 2028, the Intuit Dome.
And this is how it all comes full circle is because last Saturday, I was, so let me take it back even further. So I'm taking my boys, my sons to get their hair cut, right? They're getting a haircut right before school started. So we're at the barbershop. Now, I don't know if my sons were able to understand the kind of talk that goes on in the barbershop. How old are your sons again? That was the type of barbershops we go to. Like the barbershop we go to, you know, a 10 year old is like, he hadn't really heard of this stuff.
You know what I mean? It took the right time to get them in there. So just so happened, we get to the barbershop and the USA was down.
This is to Serbia. This was the Thursday game. Remember? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you've got the in, you've got the LeBron stands. I call them, you know, the stands fans, however you want to call them. And then you got the other folks who are in there who are like, see, I told you don't need LeBron.
You just need Steph. And this, this, and that. All these full on arguments going on.
So now I'm invested that on Saturday, local time for me, 1230, I'm going to watch the gold medal game between France and the good old US of A. And as I watch this game, you're reminded, especially the final moments of that game. Now LeBron James was the MVP of the entire tournament because he was consistent throughout. Start to finish.
Start to finish. He was sick. Yes. He was the best player on the court. But this is what happens.
And this is what we get lost in. He may have been the best player on the court throughout the tournament, but I won't remember that. I will. I will remember the moments. I remember the moments and the moments with Steph Curry went in Fuego. He was on fire. Those shots that he made that folded the final four threes that he made.
Just goes to show. And for some reason I thought Steph Curry had already won an Olympic gold medal before. So I'm sitting back watching all of this and the joy and excitement of watching Steph Curry compete for gold medal. And it's crazy to watch that final five players that were on the court, Steph, LeBron, Kevin Durant. Now even Booker was out there because obviously defense and things like that. But watching just those three, I sat back and I said, for the people who are watching on Roku, you can see the picture of Steph and LeBron, KD, people listening.
Just remember this picture. Go Google it because we'll never get a chance to have this moment ever again. We won't have this moment. In four years from now, LeBron's not playing on the Olympic team. Four years from now, if LeBron's playing that, come on man. Four years ago you would have said LeBron wouldn't be on the team.
You definitely would have said that. Not at this age. At 44, I don't want him on the team. Kevin Durant could be a possibility, Steph maybe. But I saw three guys and it reminded me of the picture of the original Dream Team. Remember that picture, one of the iconic pictures of Jordan, Bird and Magic.
Now I know Magic and Bird were way past their prime at the time that they took the picture and Jordan was sort of entering into his prime. But I remember just watching those guys in that Olympics in 92 and how special the moment was. And I felt that nostalgia watching the gold medal match between USA and France last Saturday. Watching the best players on the planet go out and compete.
And I'm pounding my chest saying, USA. And when Steph Curry hit that shot off one leg over two France defenders and it goes in and I'm watching the French, watching their bench just go, oh my God. That to me was the moment I'll remember. LeBron James will be the MVP and it's great.
He deserves it. But Steph gave me a moment of joy, excitement and say, yeah, we still got this basketball thing. We still rule this basketball thing. The women don't necessarily count because they're just dominating.
The women just show up, sign up. We got another gold medal. It wasn't that easy this year, dog. No, it wasn't. It wasn't that easy. But they came away. They came away. But I enjoyed it. The domination of the good old US of A men's and women's basketball, I salute you.
Thank you. The cool part too about that one Steph photo is that LeBron and KD are on the other side, wide open, nobody around them, hands up, like calling for the ball. Steph just guns it and he knew it was going in. Knew it was going in, man, from the beginning.
So you know what? It's like I said, it was a moment that the house was just quiet. I think a couple of kids taking a nap and then I just yelled out, woo! And everyone was like, what's going on? It's like, Steph Curry just drained a shot that I'll remember, man.
I'm watching that. I remember Kevin Durant, the first couple of games of the tournament, what he was able to do and seeing and listening to what I heard from Carmelo Anthony, who's got three Olympic gold medals, I believe, said that he wouldn't trade in his three Olympic gold medals for a title, for an NBA title. And his reasoning was, it's one thing to win it for the Knicks or the Nuggets teams that he's played for, said, but I won the highest honor wearing the US of A and you could never take that away from me. And I said, that's great. That's cool. I love our country, but man, I would love to be an NBA champion.
No, wait, you just spent five minutes pounding your chest about USA and now what it do tell you that you're like, well, I don't know, come on, man, you got to give him props. I'm trading in three flag football championships for a Super Bowl. Ain't safe. I'm telling you.
I don't like talking about the flag. I'm with him. I'm trading. I'm all in. Come on. Our number three of the Rich for the Ryan Show on YouTube, or wherever you listen.
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