Rich's Way Too Early NFL 2025 Season Power Rankings

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Learn more at americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Luca and LeBron dodge a chance to rebound. Up ahead, great pass and LeBron scores!

I gotta be honest, weird to see. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. For three!

Luca, welcome to the Lakers! How do they keep doing it? That's the question. I'll tell you what, it's all rigged. Earlier on the show, Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner. Coming up, sports radio legend Chris Mad Dog Russo.

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Chris Mad Dog Russo is going to join us in the middle of this hour. I wouldn't miss it. It's going to be great.

He always blames me for anything wrong with the NFL. And so, it's always on and cracking when Mad Dog joins. Great spot, Rich!

Great spot, Richie! So, it's great. Talk to him about gummies today? Guess what we're going to do? We're going to actually role play with him. We're going to have a new segment called Role Playing with Mad Dog. We're going to make him a certain player or front office executive. And have him role play that individual. We're going to do that later on.

The middle of this hour. It sounds kind of crazy. It does sound crazy. That's coming up.

844-204-Rich numbered it down. We have some breaking news. TJ told me some interesting news during the commercial break. You perked up. Oh, I did perk up.

I did perk up. You know who won the national championship this year in college football? We all know it.

It's the Ohio State University. We talked about how terrific that team was. I gave them all their flowers.

You know, and that they deserve it. They were spectacular. They were clearly the best team in the college football playoff. The first ever 12 team college football playoff. And they became national champions despite not winning their own conference and losing to their hated rival. Which a lot of people, you know, bring up still. Not me.

No, no, no, no, no. A lot of people say that Ohio State's loss to Michigan was the catalyst. And it woke them up. Woke up the giant. Here it comes. Lit the flame.

No, no, no, no. We're getting to it. But their defensive coordinator left. Coach Knowles is now at the Penn State University.

Right? And then Tom Brady. Tom Brady is just one of the greatest Michigan men of all time. He hires Chip Kelly. Gives Chip Kelly, Caleb Downs money, you know, to go be the OC in Vegas. And takes Chip away from Ohio State at the same time.

Which is next level Michigan man maneuvering. That's that GIF, right? That big ol' brain. That's thinking.

That's thinking. So now here's the breaking news. Here it comes. My IC.

My IC. Give me the whole thing. Give me the whole thing. Give me the whole drop. Give me the whole drop. What are you doing here? What are you piecemealing it? Here it comes.

My IC. Breaking news. According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, there's a new defensive coordinator. And it is Matt Patricia. Former head coach in this league and a former, you know, as we know, Belichick Patriot coordinator. Whatever his title was at the time. He's the new defensive coordinator in Columbus.

And I will just say two things here. Not the offensive coordinator. He's the defensive coordinator.

Oh, I thought he was an offensive guy. No, no, no, no, no. I understand if you want to keep. Oh.

No, go ahead. You have the Florida axe grind from New England. I thought he was an offensive coordinator because that was his last job. I understand. In the NFL. Correct. He was really good at it.

When you say really good at it, you're being. Oh, he was actually the worst ever in the history of the league. I will say this, though. OK. He's one of my favorite humans that I've gotten to meet. He's a great guy. Right. He was one of the first coaches to donate to Run Rich Run on live TV. He was one of the first to come into the booth and drop off a check.

Belichick did it as well. Right. And could have been nicer. Always nice to me. And so I I say, you know, to him. In this way of welcoming the rivalry. OK, there's all of what I just said, but now now he stepped in to a rivalry now. And so in that regard, I will say this. Congratulations to the Ohio State University for hiring someone who knows how to be very disappointing in the state of Michigan. That is didn't go great. Wow. That is my way of welcoming Matt Patricia to the rivalry. As only you could.

And also, hey, at least some of these kids on that team. If they're interested in their what's the word for it? I have it written down here. Schoolwork. There's a pencil for them to to use the pencil with the tie.

OK. He would have a pencil and then a laminated play sheet. You can't write on the lamination with a pencil. Guess what? Guess what? Don't don't just trust the process.

Well, just trust the process. Chris, I have a laminated piece of paper here and a pen. This is fun, right? This is fun on it with a pen. This is fun. This is fun. This is no, no, no. Guys, guys, guys. This is fun. I thought this is fun. I thought Matt Patricia back in the state of Michigan coming up in November. Guys, it's going to be awesome.

Good luck. Oh, boy. He owes Tom Brady a Super Bowl. I told you that when we went to. Oh, come on. He just went, what? Listen, he brings in some incredible experience to the table and we'll see.

We'll see how it all works out. Isn't he an actual rocket scientist? He is right. So he could teach a class on that.

And in Columbus, you can join the staff and the faculty. He has a degree in aeronautical engineering. He's got a lot on the ball, man. Let's just see what happened.

You know, it'll be him and Wink going against the other team's offenses and. We'll see how it works out in the state of Michigan when he's there to try and avoid a fifth loss in a row to the hated rivals. Five in a row. He wants to. Oh, could you.

Thirty one percent of his games. By the way, the number of people I ran into, even at the Super Bowl, which they say to me, go blue and stuff like that. And they tell me they say that they turned on the Roku channel the Monday after the Michigan State game, you know, with a with a knife and a fork ready to just cut into that piece of fillet with me. I I'm just so happy to hear those things, you know, that I have that standing.

Rich, when when. Yeah, it was at eight in a row for them. Did you ever envision the fact that you'd be staring that I'd be halfway home? You'd be halfway. Did you ever think in that point? No, no. That you'd be where I did not.

I did not. And you know what? In a row is ancient history. Like you're going to blow the dust off that thing long time ago or, you know, or it would be it would be like taking a pencil and the eraser and erasing it and then blowing the filings off. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just to use, you know, a new analogy for all the Buckeye fans out there. Oh, I love it. You're petting this brings me such. It's not petty.

It's not petty at all. They're the champs. They're the two lost champs. That didn't win their conference. That just reminded me. So they only they've got more to go. They got they've got, you know, they got to try it again and see if they can go fifteen and oh, you know.

And by the way, rally around their coach in the process instead of, you know, threatening to have him fired. Oh, baby. Where were we?

Where were we? I don't even know. Oh, I know what it is.

OK, so what? What else can we do between now and two hundred and four days from now when the season kicks off? Two hundred and four days. So on two hundred and four days until the twenty twenty five season kicks off. So here's what we're going to do. At this very moment, right now, at ten or nine, being a Wednesday on the which is our day, which is our day to do power rankings, I have my power rankings for the twenty twenty five season.

What? In other words, my way, way too early NFL power. Wow, baby, power rankings, power rankings.

Yeah. We're going to start with a rhetorical question. When you do your power rankings for the following season, two hundred and four days removed from kickoff, three days after the Super Bowl is over, way before the combine and the draft and the free agency process. How dumb is this? Mildly. It's a rhetorical question.

How dumb could this possibly be? Number ten on my way, way too early NFL power rankings, because the way I'm looking at is how they finished up, what their future looks like and how I think they might be aggressive and free agency and have free agents interested in coming here. Options to add to the roster. Number ten on the list. The L.A. Chargers and putting the Los Angeles Chargers on this list, I think Jim plussed him up six.

Interesting. There's still room to plus him up. You know, Khalil Mack, I think, is coming back. They're going to as as Daniel Jeremiah said after the Chargers got eliminated in the wild card to the by the Houston Texans, that this is is this is the low point. This is the floor for their offense.

It's only going to get better from here. D. Mcconaughey being as great as he is, they're number ten on the list. And then I'm putting above them because I liked what I saw at the end of this season. And we don't talk about this kid at quarterback nearly enough because of the winner of the Rookie of the Year award. I'm putting the Denver Broncos at nine. I'm putting the Denver Broncos at nine with the reigning defensive player of the year, the runner up to Offensive Rookie of the Year. That defense appears to be cooking. Sean Payton's only going to get more weapons there.

Could you imagine if he puts an Alvin Kamara type guy on this offense right now? I can't wait to see what the Broncos are going to cook up. I'm putting them at nine. I'm having the AFC West deep end of the pool in this town way, way too soon. Power rankings.

So cheats are out, I guess, OK? Number eight. I believe in this team. I believe in this team and the now reigning coach of the year is sitting right there. I'm putting the Vikings at eight.

Whoa. They didn't lose their coordinators. I don't know what they're going to do at quarterback. I think they will improve.

Seems like a pretty big question. I like the Vikings. I'm putting them at eight.

Fourteen win team. I don't know who's going to be the QB. If it's J.J. McCarthy, I'm going to expect him to. Can somebody win Comeback Player of the Year award without having played a snap yet in the NFL? Yeah. OK. Do those wins carry over? I don't know. Great question. Interesting.

Number seven, the team that came the closest to beating the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs, the Los Angeles Rams. I'm going to think whatever is happening with Stafford, they're going to figure this out. I understand Cooper Cup being traded away, kind of mystifying. They are young. They are good. They are going to get better. Their coach is outstanding.

Their front office knows what the hell it is doing with less need. They are going to get better, guys. They're seventh on this list. Number six on the list. This is where I'm going to get to piss some people off for waiting for this. I'm putting the bills here.

I know they're the reigning MVP. They're not as high as maybe you think. Wow. But I am needing to see a little bit more. I know I'm going back down that well again.

Wow. I know I'm going back. Do you really want to end up on hype videos and off-season Instagrams? Excuse me.

If I'm going to wind up on a hype video with Rich is totally underestimating us 204 days before the season begins. Everyone understand what I'm doing right here? I don't know. I mean, six out of 32 ain't really that low. I don't know. Think about it.

Well, let's see where we're going here. They were in the Final Four. Lions fans.

You know who's holding your beer? Lions fans at five. They lost both coordinators. We saw what happened with the Philadelphia Eagles. And I am going to sit here and say to you, yes, Dan Campbell, you are on the clock as you need to make sure this whole thing, the way it wound up this year is not the residual effects of a hangover of losing to the 49ers the year before. And I understand they had the most successful Lions season in the history of Lions seasons in between.

But now both coordinators are gone. You're still one of the top teams in the league. You're top five. I'm putting them here and I'm putting the Chiefs at four. I'm putting the Chiefs at four.

I am putting the Chiefs at four. You know what? Here's the narrative that this is going to be.

I'm front-loading the narrative over the next 204 days. And Kurt Warner even sort of was beginning to bite at the edges in his first hour appearance here. OK. That the Chiefs getting blown out in the Super Bowl exposes how many holes they really have. And we'll see. I still think that when it's all said and done, they're going to be a top four, top five team, top two seed in the AFC next year.

Number three on this list, I'm putting the Washington commanders. Just you sit back and watch the free agents flock to play with this kid. And I'm wondering if somewhere in northeast Ohio, as he's peeking out behind the shades, Miles Garrett is not like also calling his agents to say, get me there, get me there. Just watch the free agents want to go to Washington, D.C. and play football. Number two on the list is the top team in the AFC. I'm putting the Ravens here. I'm putting the Ravens here.

I think they are as equipped as any team. And I understand what happened. This playoff season was highly disappointing. Zay Flowers didn't play. Nobody keeps mentioning that, but I'm older. Derrick Henry, you're older. I'm putting the Ravens here and they're only going to get better and they're going to be smart and free agency. And then number one is obviously the team that we're now going to have the next two hundred and four days talking about how he Roseman did it again and and what's going on with their free agents.

And who is the new OC and what that's all going to be about. And then when kickoff hits, two hundred and four days from this very moment, I think the Philadelphia Eagles have a great shot at repeating. And and that's my way, way too early, twenty, twenty five NFL power rankings. Way, way.

And I can't wait to when I do have my first power rankings of the season or another way early power rankings in June, we'll compare and contrast. We're setting markers down. No Patriots. OK. OK, very good. Let's take a break here on the Rich Eisen Show. Mad Dog Russo, baby. I can't wait to see how he holds me responsible for any of the problems of the National Football League. It's always fun when he joins us. That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. I love that picture.

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Terms and points can't apply. Learn more at American Express dot com slash AMEX Business. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, this is just always a blast, man. So I would drive around Staten Island, New York on my job for the Staten Island Advance as an intern and then as a staff writer in the early 90s after college, listening to this guy with Mike Francesca on WFAN. And now I get to have him on my show once again, the one and only Christopher Mad Dog Risa. What's up, Chris? How are you, Christopher? How is my main buddy today? Things good? How are you doing?

We're great. Where are you? Where have I found you? Where are you right now? I'm in my office here at Sirius.

I had a big thrill today. You ready? You like this?

What do you got? No, you know, came into the studio and I just spent a half hour with her and I'm a huge hit of the movie. Oh, is it? Monica Barbero played Joan Baez in Complete Unknown. OK. OK. I think she was also in the she was in the top on the Top Gun. Top Gun.

Yes. And I love the movie. And she came in a series to do two or three interviews today.

Three, I think. And I got the middle one. So I was very happy with that. I figured I wear a shirt and tie look for respectable. Then I got a pleasant surprise this morning from Joe Dreeben that in fact you would like me on today. And there's nothing better than the talk with you. I appreciate that, Christopher.

And what's with the it looks like the way you're dressed and with that photograph behind you, it looks like Joe Torrey is like the lead dealer at Christopher Russo Chevrolet. Like what it was like. What is this? What is this? I did a joke. Sorry. That's funny. That's funny. I did a joke. Sorry.

I did a joke five or six years ago. And that is the picture that you see behind me. I'll move out of the way from it. You can see it.

Joe Torrey right there. Behind me. Yes. Okay.

Serious XM Studios. But I, you know, I have to get dressed up for Stephen A on Wednesdays, as you know. That was the first date. So I got dressed up today.

Always get dressed up for him. I appreciate that. And now you're all gussied up for this show. This is outstanding.

So all right. My radio audience is about to return here on the Rich Eisen Show. We're on the Roku Sports Channel. I'm back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger, with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. We're on the Infinity Sports Network, also on Channel 375 on Sirius XM. Mr. Sirius XM and the host of Mad Dog Unleashed, the one and the only Christopher Mad Dog Russo is here on the program. Christopher, your impressions of Super Bowl 59.

Now a couple of days removed is what? Well, I tell you, I think everybody thought, and always a pleasure to be on, Rich. I think everybody thought that the big advantage that the Eagles could have in this game was their defensive line against the Chiefs' offensive line. We saw that in the Super Bowl against Tampa when the Chiefs lost with Mahomes. And we thought that maybe that defensive line, which obviously won a game against the Rams with the Carter's sack on third and two, and it's snow and filling in the division around, we thought that that could be a big edge for the Eagles, and I think it turned out to be the difference in the game. I mean, they dominated the game. I mean, the Chiefs, you know, what, they have one first down, first half, Mahomes running for his life. Now, he wasn't good.

I get that, but which is, you know, surprising. But the offensive line just put them in such a terrible way. I think Andy Reid's play calling was poor, first 13 plays, 12 were pass plays. On third and 18, or whatever it was, he threw the first pick six to the kid from Iowa.

So I mean, I think there's a couple different things that played into this. Eagles are better, number one, that's important too, but I do think the defensive line was the biggest deal, was the biggest scenario of the game. I thought that the Eagles could win. I picked them 23-17, but I didn't think they were gonna be up 34-0, Rich, in the third quarter.

That I promise you. I didn't think that. Yeah, they killed it. I mean, you could take a look at, you know, the history of the Super Bowl.

This is one of the more shocking beatdowns that I can recall. How shut do you think the Chiefs' championship window is now? How much did the Eagles close the window in your mind, Chris? As long as you have that quarterback, who I had always said I thought was the best quarterback I've ever seen, I gotta get off that now after this performance.

Really? As long as I have Mahomes, and I guarantee he's probably in Andy Reid's office right now looking at game film, as long as you have Andy Mahomes as your quarterback, you are never shut out. Now, they need to revamp it. One of these years, you're gonna see the Ravens-Buffalo breakthrough. I get that. A lot of good quarterbacks in the AFC. We all know that. Cincinnati's got a good one.

We know that. Herbert, maybe he bounces back off that bad performance in Houston. Stroud's good, too. So it's harder in the AFC, I think, because of the QBs, but as long as they have him, they're gonna be competitive. Now, are they gonna be the favorite next year out of the conference? I could probably say they won't.

else he might retire. They showed a lot of issues with the offensive line. They're not gonna win 17 one-possession games in a row. But to say that the window is closed, Rich, when he's that quarterback still in his prime, really, you know, he's got another six, seven years left of great football, I can't say the window was closed. Yeah, Mahomes. I think the Eagles, as I heard you a little while ago, I think the Eagles got a chance for a big run here. I mean, the AFC's not nearly as good, I know the Lions, but that's not as good. I think the Eagles, he's in his hurts and everything else. Brooklyn's got a couple of years left. Great line play.

He's a great GM. I think the Eagles have a chance to make a little run here. Give me a number.

Give me a number. What do you think? You got the, you know, the... A guy that can win, the Eagles, they've already won two. How about the Eagles win two more in the next four years? Is that possible?

Do it. Yeah. I mean, it is possible that might, you know, raise the... That would be three and five years.

That'd be three and five years. That would be like Brady's final, you know, stretch of championships in New England right there. Like, that's what you're talking about, Chris.

Yeah. Maybe it's, you know, the division isn't great. I mean, Washington, you know, he's a great quarterback. The Giants are terrible. Dallas got an incredible amount of work to do. I mean, the NFC North is good.

We get that. I'm not sure if Minnesota will be as good, but Green Bay and Detroit are. The Rams will always be competitive. San Francisco will bounce back, but the AFC is harder. The AFC, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Buffalo. I mean, the AFC, Kansas, it's harder in the AFC than it is in the NFC. So from that standpoint, they're going to have a chance, you know, to be in postseason play a lot easier than the Chiefs will. And I think the Eagles will have a little run in them.

I really do. I mean, Hertz has already been in two Super Bowls in three years. I mean, you can make an argument right now that he cracks the top five in the league, you know, with Burrow, Jackson, Allen, and Mahomes. He can easily say he's the next best quarterback. So from that standpoint, and Roseman's a great GM, they got, you know, the defensive line is young. They're going to be a hell of a team here. Eagles are going to be tough to beat.

Yeah. That was going to be my next question for you, Christopher, as a matter of fact, because Mahomes in his first four years as a starter, the full-time starter in Kansas City, made the playoffs all four years, two Super Bowls he made in 1-1. That is the exact same results as Jalen Hertz. Now in his first four years as starter in Philadelphia. And I was going to ask you, is Jalen Hertz a top five quarterback in the NFL in your estimation?

And you'd say yes to that regard. I mean, again, where, you know, I think Stafford's very underrated. So I think Stafford, you got to put very high too.

He was great the second half of the year, and he was very good in Philadelphia in the snow and Hertz wasn't. But if you wanted to put Hertz five, I don't think you can put him out of Burrow, Lamar, Allen or Mahomes. But if you want to put him next, who would that next person be? I mean, you can't put Herbert there. You can't put CJ Stroud there. I mean, you could put Stafford there.

I mean, I don't think that's outlandish. I got another one for you. I got another one for you. What about Jayden Daniels, Chris? You could definitely put him there too. Excellent job, Rich.

Yes, you definitely could. You probably wouldn't put Daniels there because he's only had the one year and Hertz has had more than that and Stafford's won a championship. But if you want to put him in the top seven or eight, I have no problem with it whatsoever.

Daniels deserves some consideration there too. Listen, the Eagles got it all going. They got, you know, Suriano, Suriano sometimes rubs you the wrong way, but, you know, he's been, what is he, 53 and 20 as the head coach of the Eagles with two Super Bowl appearances and a win early on in his career.

I mean, that's pretty damn impressive. I mean, they got a young team on defense. They got a great GM.

The owner spends money. I mean, it's a hell of a team and a division isn't that great. Washington, the Giants stink. Dallas has got a long way to go and Washington is good, but I got to see it again.

So the Eagles are going to be very, very good for the foreseeable future here. The one and only Christopher Mad Dog Russo here on the Rich Eisen Show in the minutes I have remaining with you, Christopher, I'd like to play a game that we call role playing with Chris Mad Dog Russo. And this is, this is a new segment for us that I hope we can pilot. Role playing with Chris Mad Dog Russo. I'm going to put you in the role of some figure, public figure in sports.

You play this person and make a decision as this person, Chris. Okay. All right. First, thank you. First up, you are Roger Goodell. You're the National Football League commissioner.

Congratulations, Christopher. Your rule change. You can wave a wand once in the room of all 32 members and say, this is a new rule and it has to pass.

What is it? I think there's two choices. I hate the rule where you fumble the ball out of the end zone. The defense gets, gets the ball at the 20. I think that is way too, I think that's way too negative for the offense.

That's one. But I think the rule I change now is with the late hits. I want replay assistance and it sounds like they're going to go there anyway. I want replay assistance with these late hits.

I mean, we saw the two for Houston, which are unfortunate. The quarterback is protected too much. I want a little more leeway with tackling the quarterback. I understand you got to protect them.

They are the league. If the quarterback isn't good, the game stinks. I understand that. But I think that these quarterback hits have gotten way out of control. Most of these calls are judgment anyway. I want to take, and the penalty is 15 yards, automatic first down, and a lot of it happens on third and long because the quarterback is throwing the ball on third and long.

That's the thing I would do. Making sure that, I mean, I think the third and eight against Houston in the first, in the divisional round, which set up the Chiefs for a field goal was a terrible call. I want some replay assistance added quickly to negate some of those incredibly bad rough in the penalty calls on a QB.

That's number one. But Commissioner, see, I'm role playing as well since you're the commissioner here, Chris. But Commissioner, would you include replay to put a flag on the field? Because once you institute replay to remove a flag from the field, do you now have replay assist with something that was missed by the humans on the field? Do you do that? Allah, the one in the face to Mahomes there when he fumbled, that kind of thing?

That sort of thing, yeah. Now everybody thinks the play's over because there was no flag, there was no yellow square that popped up on the screen to give you an indication something's up. And then, wait a minute, hold on a second, somebody who's upstairs that you don't even see throw a flag has thrown a flag after the play. Are you fine with that, Commissioner? You know what?

I'm gonna have to be consistent with that, Rich, and good job on your part. So I am fine with it because I still think they err much more in calling it than not calling it. So as a result with that, I'll have to deal with the occasional one they throw the flag on with the officials on the field not seeing it. So yes, I think the officials are way out of line with calling that. They call it way too much. And I understand protecting the quarterbacks. I know, I've been watching football for 55 years.

Without quarterbacks, you got major problems. But it's gone way too much the other end. That's the thing I'm gonna change. And if I say, as you said, I'm gonna have to live with the occasional penalty that wasn't called. I'm gonna have to live with it.

When I go to replay, I'll have to live with it. And scene. Next up, Christopher Russo, you are now John Lynch. You're the general manager of the San Francisco 49ers, congratulations. What do you do with Brock Purdy, John Lynch?

What do you do? That's a tough call. He's gonna get a fortune. He's good. He's not great. He is a little product of the system with Shanahan.

That's a very good one. I probably would have to pay him. I don't wanna pay him, you know, 450 million, but I probably would have to pay him.

And I would try to make it reasonable where it's not outlandish. I understand sometimes it's next up with the quarterbacks with the pay scale. And since he's next up, the average quarterback gets paid more than he should to a 212 million is a perfect example.

It's ridiculous you're paying him that money. But I would probably, I don't know where you're going for a quarterback. You know, you could bring cousins in there for a year, maybe go back to Sam Dauner again.

I probably would sign Purdy and take my chances. He's taken to a team, to a Super Bowl. He came back against Detroit. He could have taken two teams to the Super Bowl if he didn't get hurt in Philadelphia. I think he's good. I don't think he's great. I think he's a system quarterback, but I would probably pay him.

So I would keep him. And seen. That's Chris Russo as John Lynch. Next up, Christopher Mad Dog Russo role-playing with Chris. You are now Rob Manfred. You're now the commissioner of Major League Baseball. Finishing this sentence, I am blank about the Los Angeles Dodgers.

What is his role? Ticked off. Ticked off. Why are you ticked off, Commissioner Manfred? Because you can't have a team spend $375 million, nothing on the Dodgers, they didn't do anything wrong.

But something has to be done. You can't have a team spend $372 million on players. They just won a championship and they brought in 9 million people in. You know, they bought the two pitchers, Snell, they paid.

And of course, the kid from Japan. The Otani contract's got to be changed. You can't allow him to defer his money to make it easier for him as far as the payroll is concerned. I understand these owners should spend more money. The Oriole owners should spend more money. Pittsburgh should spend more money. But the Dodgers, it gets to be out of control. I mean, enough of the Dodgers.

I got to get that fixed. You know, baseball and the Union always screams and yells about having no salary cap. And my argument to the Union would be this, football dwarfs baseball popularity. It's a far bigger sport and they have a salary cap. The NBA globally, far dwarfs baseball, they have a salary cap. The NHL, they have a salary cap. The three majors can have salary caps, two of which are probably, one is definitely and the other one may be bigger than baseball and they don't have to have a salary cap.

That's ridiculous. I got to figure out a way to even this structure with contracts and payrolls with the have nots and the haves. I got to figure out a way to do that. And that would be my job. Great scene, Chris Russo, I got two more for you. Role playing with Chris Russo. Next up, you're Aaron Rodgers.

Congratulations, Chris. What do you do? Do you want to keep playing? And if so, where... Yes. Okay.

Yes. Where do you... I want to play. Then where, if you can influence it... I'm going to play again. Where are you going to do it?

Where? Well, I like to play in Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh would be a good stop.

I can bring Adams along with me. They got Pickens there. They have a good defense. It's a stable organization. They have a couple of decent running backs.

That would be the ideal good history. They don't have the bad, the black cloud written over them like the Jets do. I can't go out the way I went out. I had a better year than people give me credit for this past season, the last whatever it might be. I threw 18 touchdown passes and four interceptions. I had close to 4,000 yards passing. I understand I didn't win games in the fourth quarter. My field goal kicker killed me in two or three of those games, including Buffalo, Zirline, destroyed him in a Buffalo game, killed him in a Denver game where they should have won.

So a little luck would go a long way. Let me go to Pittsburgh. I don't want to go to Tennessee. I don't want to go to the Raiders. I'm not going to the Giants. They're not going to take me. Let me go to Pittsburgh. Let me figure out a way.

I'm better than Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. Let me figure out a way to get to Pittsburgh. That's what I would say.

And if it means no McAfee, it means no McAfee. Let me go to Pittsburgh. Yeah. I mean, how about that? That's apparently what the Jets told him. Huh?

Like you can't go on a patch show? I mean. Well, I mean, that's all. But, you know, he does suck a lot of oxygen out of the room, and I think that's what Glenn was concerned about. He doesn't want the Jets to be about the quarterback. He wants the Jets to be about the Jets. And sometimes when you have Rodgers on your team, you know, he's got a lot to say. He's not afraid to say it.

He wants to be heard, his views sometimes can be, you know, quote unquote controversial. You don't want that necessary. He's a celebrity quarterback, as Parcells used to say. Sometimes you don't want that with your organization.

And I can understand Glenn saying that. Now the thing I would say if I was a Jet fan, well, if it's not Rodgers, which is not going to be, who is it going to be? I don't want Tyrod Taylor being a quarterback. Who's going to be my quarterback? I'm not bringing Kirk Cousins in here. Donald's not coming back. Where am I going to get a quarterback? I don't want to win five games.

Where am I going? They don't have a QB. And Rodgers would have been better than anybody they would have brought in. That's what I would have thought about if I was Aaron Glenn.

Last one for you, Chris Russo, you are now Jerry Jones. Congratulations. You now have a net worth larger than the four previous role-playing individuals combined.

So this one is simple. What do you do? What do you do?

Well, I don't know. Well, first off, I restructure a couple of contracts so I have a little more cap space. That's the first thing. Second thing, can I fire Schottenheimer on the spot? Can I do that? Can I have a friend? Whatever you want.

Yeah, that's what I would do. I get a different coach. I can't bring Schottenheimer. I can't have Schottenheimer be my head coach.

I'm the Dallas Cowboys. I should have brought Belichick in last year when it was available when, you know, no shot on McCarthy. Belichick is a better coach than McCarthy. I got to get Belichick. Now, you probably can't get him because of, you know, his commitment to UNC would look bad even for Belichick to bail on Carolina after he just got there. But I got to do a better job with my coach. I can't have Brian Schottenheimer be my head coach.

That's a joke. I mean, he's 52 years of age. He hasn't distinguished himself really as an offensive coordinator.

It was McCarthy's offense. He's never been a head coach. I can't. I got to get a better coach in there.

That's the thing. I would have brought Belichick in now that I can't do that. And you know, Bill Walsh is unavailable. I don't know where I'm going for a coach, but it's not going to be Schottenheimer. I got to change my coaching situation. That's the first order of business.

And do you replace yourself as the general manager? Yes, that's true. And I stopped doing interviews and I stopped doing interviews after the game with radio stations down in Dallas when I lose and I'm in the locker room doing interviews.

That's a cursive bad luck. Yeah. Jerry Jones, I guess you're right. I guess the bigger picture is I should take a much lower profile and not be involved in the day to day operation of the team as much as I have been the last 20, 30 years.

Maybe that way I want a playoff game if I do that. And seen well, as well as I had hoped, yes, you're the best, Christopher. Thanks again, Richard.

We love it. Big guy. Keep me going. You got it. Look for more of my calls, texts and all that stuff. You're the best. Take care of yourself, man. Mr. Eisen.

Thank you. Christopher Russo back there in his office where Joe Torrey looms over his shoulder. It's like Joe Torrey is the president of the United States, you know, and all the what I thought is just like, you know, he's the employee of the month at Christopher Russo Chevrolet.

That's what it looked like, didn't it? It's great. You know what I mean? God, I love that guy. What a legend. God, do I love that. Legend.

Who paid those prices? No doubt. Do you know that word gets thrown around a lot? Legend. Absolutely legend. Yeah, no doubt. It was marvelous.

It was marvelous. We'll take a break. It's time for a sports update on the Infinity Sports Network with Rich Ackerman.

Rich. Check engine light on. Take the guesswork out of your check engine light with O'Reilly Veriscan. It's free and provides a report with solutions based on over 650 million vehicle scans verified by ASE certified master technicians. And if you need help, we can recommend a shop for you. Ask for O'Reilly Veriscan today, O O O O'Reilly Auto Parts. It's winter and you can now get almost anything you need for the coldest months of the year delivered with Uber Eats.

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Product availability may vary by region. See up for details. Good to see you, Shaquille O'Neal.

How are you, sir? Before we get started. Yes.

If I take this home, will I get arrested? The Vince Lombardi trophy? Is this the real one? That's the real one. That's a real Vince Lombardi trophy.

I don't know if that's the one that's going to be given to the Rams, the Patriots this weekend. But that is a real. You want to you want to lift it? Well, if I lift it, I want to take it home. Well, then I think we're then I think we're at crossroads here.

Actually, we're not at a crossroads. Let me tell you why. OK, sure. I'm not a lawyer, but I watch a lot of law shows. I got about 50 witnesses to see me hit my head on your set. Oh, so if you just give me this, I'll let bygone be bygone.

So it's a liability issue for me that turns into an even worse liability issue. I don't want to have to call it the Shaq Eisen Show. I know. I know that.

I know that. Just give me this. I'll put it next to mine.

This is beautiful. I'm doing the math in my head as to how much you'd be suing me for personal liability as to how much this trophy costs, which I've been told is around twenty two thousand dollars. Well, I'll be suing you for twenty three dollars. You want to lift it? No, I don't want to touch it. OK. You sure you don't want to touch that? Bad luck.

Bad luck for you or for? No, to touch the trophy when you don't earn it. I like that. My father used to always. Are you serious?

He always used to. Because, you know, like when you're a kid, you get the trophy from a local local trophy shop. Sure.

You be like, if you listen to me, guys, you get this. You want to touch it. Don't touch it. It's bad luck. You got to earn it. Right.

So that's why that's why, like, you know, like in the NBA, when you win the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference, they give you those little trophies. I never touched it. Never. I never touched it. And I never celebrated. I remember Phil did that, too. Right. Then you like when you guys won the Western Conference finals of one of the many times you did.

Yeah. I never touched. I never looked at it. Never celebrated. This is beautiful. It's a beautiful. It's a beautiful trophy. Do you do you get a replica?

Because, you know, NFL players can get like a mini replica of this. I got I got four replicas of the Larry O'Brien trophy and I gave them to my father because growing up, he used to always take my trophies and let me celebrate it one or two days. And then he put them away. So finally, I got enough courage to ask him why he did that.

And he said he never wanted me to be satisfied. So after he passed away, I went and retrieved all my trophies from from Little League High School College. Put it in a room in my house and I dedicated them. So now, like, if you go, you get to see, like, all my trophies.

I wouldn't win it. I'd celebrate it one or two days. And, you know, me and him would have dinner and he would say, thank you very much. And he'd put it there and I'd come back like the next week.

Hey, Dad, let's go to dinner. Like, where's the trophy? I don't know. Go get another one. That was the thing. And then you did. Yeah. And then you would.

Then you would. Awesome stuff from back in the day right there with Shaquille O'Neal. Remember he said, you know, at the beginning of that interview there, he was talking about how everybody in the studio audience watched him hit his head. Yeah. Yeah. I watched him.

I watched him come in and hit his head. Susie, coming around with donuts. Is that what's happening here? Come on.

How are you? I don't even know where to put mine. You know, you do have to get in front of a microphone when you're going to be talking, right? Do you want one? No, she's not offering me a donut. She's offering everyone donuts.

No, no, no, Susie. You don't want me to have one. So why would you even? So why are you bringing these in? I mean, for everyone else. But thank you.

Did you guys all have one? No. First of all, the guy who's eaten the most donuts usually typically is asking why she's bringing in the donuts. What are you trying to say about me? I'm saying that you enjoy the donuts.

So why are you asking her why? I'll bite. I want all bites. Donuts are supposed to bring us together. That's where they're round. That's true. That's a good point. I do love donuts.

Back here on the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network. Very good, everybody. So here, let's talk about Hyundai. Because Hyundai has advanced safety features that can alert you to potential dangers around you. That's why Hyundai has over 120 IIHS Top Safety Awards since 2006. Hyundai is always working to make sure the road doesn't get you.

Hyundai vehicles have won over 120 IIHS Top Safety Awards from 2006 to 2024. So we just had a great chat with Christopher Mad Dog Russo. That was a lot of fun. He was role playing the role of Jerry Jones. What do you do if you're Jerry Jones? He said, first order of business is I redo some contracts to help make sure that I can pay for some other people. That's interesting because the contracts that you were doing aren't even a year old yet.

One of the reasons why you need to redo them is because you waited so long to actually sign somebody. Anyway, long story short, he also said, can I fire Brian Schottenheimer right now? That would be hilarious if that happened.

That would be wild. But again, this is Christopher Mad Dog Russo role playing Jerry Jones. And Dak Prescott, quarterback, Dallas Cowboys, made a public appearance, does appear to be at a charity event because as you know, this is a Walter Payton Man of the Year Award winner. He is a very charitable minded guy, which is part of the reason why you should not think twice about signing the guy in a quarterback contract.

Maybe could be a little bit more favorable of the terms to you, but I digress. He was asked about the Eagles winning the Super Bowl. Now, TJ, if you were asked this question, I'm wondering if you would answer it a similar way as Dak Prescott, because there's a lot of chatter about the way Dak answered this question. I'm not mad at it.

Roll tape. I mean, I feel like we compete with the Eagles and beat them for the most part when we played them. I don't want to say check the record when they're the guys holding the trophy right now. So credit to them. They've earned it and they deserved it by all means. But yeah, very close, especially even watch the NFC game, the NFC championship and those two teams, teams that we battle against each and each and every year a couple of times. And as I said, feel confident about we've gotten the better part each and every time to see them to see it in such a dominating fashion. Credit to them.

It's our turn and it's on us. I don't want to say when somebody says I don't want to say they want to say it's similar of like, you know, hey, with all due respect, I now have full license to say something completely disrespectful because I've predicated my statement by saying I have nothing but all due respect for these people. I just, I don't want to say, you know, check the record because they're holding the trophy right now. But if you check the record, Dak Prescott's career mark versus the Philadelphia Eagles is nine and four. Yeah. Really good. So 24 touchdowns, eight picks, a hundred passer rating.

Again, he could have just basically said congratulations to them. I like Jalen Hertz. I like these guys. I think I compete against him quite a bit. You know, of course it hurt me to be hurt and sit around and you know, they're, they're a rival.

So you never really want to see your rival win it. But congratulations to that murdered had he said that, why fans don't want to hear that, but he's, he's the high road Dak Prescott does take to say that again, there's a general sense that he's playing into right now. First of all, with all due respect, no, seriously, no. But first of all he has every right to speak something into existence and believe it because he's a leader. He is a leader.

Everybody is top down, correct? Everyone is looking to him to see how are we going to react to the Eagles being as dominant as they just were. So him basically saying we're very close and we're now up is a message to the locker room and himself, you know, now it's time for us. And there is though the perception out there that the Cowboys are with a statement like we're very close after the season we just saw. And also one of the Jones family members, friend of the show, Steven Jones, air quoting the word drought when he's just like, a lot of people think that we're in a drought by the way, 30 years without going to a certain level of the playoffs. You can remove the air quotes that there's a certain sense of delusion, especially when they hire somebody who's never done it before to replace a head coach who you hired because he has done it before.

And then went ahead and won 12 games three years in a row before everything fell off the wagon this year. And so this plays into the sense that the Cowboys are deluding themselves, but kudos to Dak for saying what he said. If he believes it, then he's going to have to back it up and what a major verbal check to write to say that you are very close, check the record of the team that just won the Super Bowl against me, they're four and nine against him, and I can't wait to see Dallas versus Philadelphia next year, two times over.

Let's get everyone healthy and let's go. Certainly if the Cowboys are very close, then the contest should be very close. We shall see. Mike Florio coming up in hour number three.

You know, we're not the type of show here to blast somebody for saying something unless it's completely outlandish or dangerous to not address the comment. Do you think the Cowboys are very close though? I mean, basically, just to play devil's advocate from what he said, yeah, he's got the winning record. Normally the games against the two, when you're just saying Cowboys versus Eagles, the games are usually always competitive. So from that sense, maybe he's looking at it as close, but from 53 man roster to 53 man roster, no, they're not that close. I don't even think if Dak was healthy this year, even, I don't think I, you know, I think we get lucky to get a split, lucky to get a split because that's just how it usually happened. Well, the way that the Cowboys were playing this year before Dak got hurt, gave you no indication that they were very close to anything. They weren't even close to their opponents in the first half of games at home. True. But I'm just saying that in that rivalry, true, throw the records out, I get it.

All the, you know, cliches you can use. Dak is 33 and eight against the NFC East. It's crazy because he sucks. And that's the worst quarterback in the league, you know, all the, all those things, but you look at the numbers and it's like, well, like he's won 13 in a row against the Giants. And he, if he thinks that the Eagles got to the, where they got to go because they weren't around as a fully constituted team this year, the next year is the time to prove it. When I'm assuming they still have Micah Parsons. You need a, you need a dynamic as Russia, you need a dynamic quarterback. You need a dynamic threat at wide receiver. You need an offensive line. You need a dynamic corner who can shut things down. The Cowboys have a ton of those guys. If healthy, very close. I thought you were listing all the things we need.

No, I mean, actually you don't, right? Should I name guys like digs, Parsons, CD lamb, Dak, um, you know, they're, they're going to have to hit the offensive line offensive line running back. We need a strong running back, dude. That's the, I mean, this year had a thousand, which I predicted this year proved you want to have Rico Dowdle be your, your Rico, listen, Rico Dowdle at running back has an opportunity.

We ran for a thousand yards this year, but like adding Ashton gente in the first round. Now that's the sort of way to get some sizzle back to your state there in Texas, man. Yes. For sure. Jerry doesn't do that. Well, again, Chris, we graph draft fantastically, including one year Zeke, when everyone's thinking you should do it.

And they went ahead and did it and he paid dividends, right? Bravo TV star, Lala Kent holds nothing back. Like I go into a full spiral. Get to know the TV personality. I talked about this with Teresa, you guys remember when I pushed Andy Cohen? Yes.

It was iconic. Okay. The entrepreneur.

What are we manifesting in 2025? And the mom Sosa is a dream baby. Your kids are older. It's Bravo. Children, celebrity children of celebrity Bravo. Give them Lala follow and listen on your favorite platform.