Aaron Rodgers To The Jets Was The Right Move At The Time

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Learn more at americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. This is the Rich Eisen Show. James!

That was sweet! And a 42 for Kyrie. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

Intercepted, picked up by Cooper DeJean. Just hearing that back, what goes through your mind? It's crazy. It's crazy.

It still doesn't feel real to me. Where is the football? Hopefully one of our equipment guys has it. Today's guests. Former NFL General Manager Mike Mayock. NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. Comedian Chris DiStefano. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

That's right. I'm not lying. I'm here. Hey! Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show, live on the Roku Sports Channel, 12 to 3 Eastern every day. Love being here. Love being here on the Infinity Sports Network. 12 to 3 Eastern every day. 120 radio fillets.

I mean, you know what I'm saying? Also, we're on Sirius XM, channel 375. We're in the ear gates of everybody who listens to podcasts.

We appreciate all three hours being taken in that way. If that's the way you want to take us in, the Odyssey stream as well. You can stream us listening.

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And I'm getting everything that I just said. Anything that sounds soft, I'm getting that out of the way before Mayock joins us. Tom Pelissero will join us in studio hour number 3. I don't know what he's doing here in LA. We'll take him. We'll take him. And then Chris DiStefano, the comedian, will join us in hour number 3.

He's never been on the program. The fact that he's coming in what is called an atmospheric river in LA, that is big. That is commitment. That's friendship for life.

That's BFFs forever. And so that's how we're rolling today. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you?

Rich, I'm great. Have you noticed how great Kat has been playing since the Eagles won the Super Bowl? He's been terrific. Another 40 and 12 last night.

Great piece. I guess it was Jamal Murray also rooting for the Eagles. Felt like it. With a double nickel on Wednesday night. Good to see you, Chris Brockman. The man who personifies every squirrel finds a nut, Mike Del Tufo, everybody. I lost the squirrel this when I was gone. Oh, no. One of them. Yeah, rest in peace.

I'm sorry to hear that. Charlie, I think I'm going to just name him Charlie. Charlie. Charlie, rest in peace. Oh, my gosh. Didn't look both ways, huh?

The car got him. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. How are you, sir?

Great to see you. How you guys doing? I'm hanging in there. I'm hanging in there.

I would say also, Kat, his game stepped up once he started a friendship with me. There you go. Oh, there you go.

Oh, OK. I appreciate that. Listen, listen. Hey, everybody.

Hey, everybody. You know what happened today? We woke up.

No, no, no. What happened today? It was the end of the ride. The end. The end. The end of the ride that everybody. Everybody in jet country knew when Aaron Rodgers was coming is going to go either one of two ways, one of two ways.

You know, there would be there would be a ribbon cutting for a new Jets world. Instead, today, two years in, it was a cord cutting. It was a cutting of the ties. And we all knew it. We all knew it was going to be one of the two.

Only one of the two. Aaron Rodgers acquired by the Jets a couple of off seasons ago. Where is A.A. Ron right now? And where he is is not what the Jets and the reason why are we bringing this up? Because the Jets decided to tweet it out and put out a statement today after all the stories were coming out over the weekend.

I mean, and it was very coordinated. I don't know who was the one who put it out there. It flashed on every Twitter account of any news and information person that you follow. Ian Rappaport reported it right around the same time that Schefter reported it right around the same time we had Scoopage on Fox. Scoopage. You know what I mean? And so it came out and then we got Diana Rossini adding some more flavor, just like New Orleans cuisine, more flavor that the Jets and Rodgers met in person. And basically, Aaron Glenn told Aaron Rodgers, if we're going to do this, you are going to be one of the 53. You are going to be the person who comes to every single practice.

And you are not going on Pat McAfee anymore. I mean, I'm I probably oversimplifying it more or less. That was, you know, but but, you know, you want to talk about just an arts kicking. Sure.

Why not? What did the Jets get for Aaron Rodgers in the end? They got a lot of excitement right off the bat. They got an outstanding. Infomercial for six weeks over the summer of twenty, twenty three on HBO.

An outstanding infomercial on being a jet and Jets fans pouring out 50 years of Nard's kicking every single time Rogers stepped on the training camp practice field. Oh, we're finally going to get it. It's finally going to happen. We got Aaron Rodgers. We got everything else. All we just need is Aaron Rodgers.

Oh, it's all poured out there only to get the axe in the chest like the shining. At the start of the twenty, twenty three season on opening night, carries out the flag on 9-11, then gets carried off the field. And that's what the Jets get for two years of Aaron Rodgers, four snaps, five wins, forty nine million in dead cap money that they can save nine and a half on if they designate Aaron a post June 1st cut, which the will. And they coughed up a first round pick, two twos and a sixth round pick to go get him.

And let's toss in the third round pick they gave to go get Devante Adams for him. And all they got out of that was three more wins. And they did get, you know, a nice moment for Packers fans to see Rodgers to Adams once again in very significant ways in in the final games of the regular season that destroyed their draft position by a few spots. And they did get to see Aaron Rodgers toss thirty eight hundred ninety seven yards and twenty eight touchdowns, which is the third best regular season for a Jets quarterback ever.

That's nice. They got to see all that. But that's it. And we knew it. I knew it. I knew it when I was saying how great this is going to be. And I knew it when Robert Sala, you remember him, was talking about how he's got the receipts that was long as a CBS, you know, receipt of all the people saying that things aren't going to be gassing or breaking and all popping and all that sort of stuff. And now the guys who went and made this happen are all fired.

All fired, they're gone. And the thing is, you know, the thing about it is you can't blame the Jets for doing it and you can't blame Aaron Rodgers for wanting it either, because it was the right move at the time. It really was the right move at the time. They drafted a team with Joe Douglas that arrived sooner than anybody expected. And Zach Wilson, who they drafted in twenty twenty one, was clearly not going to work out in New York City and they had to move on from him. And Woody Johnson wisely told the Jets, go for it, move on from him.

And Aaron Rodgers is raising his hand, saying, I'll be Brett Favre 2.0, I'll be the first Ballot Hall of Fame Packer who wants to continue his career and go to the Jets and try and make the Jets champions, I'll do it. And the Jets willingly said, OK. But God bless Brian Gutekunst for having zero leverage and still getting what he got out of the Jets. And kudos to the Jets for doing it. The only reason why I'm bringing up first round two, two, six and a third for DeMonte Adams is because it didn't work out.

I say it to you all the time. Draft compensation means nothing if you get the Lombardi in the case zero. Nobody talks about what was given up. Anybody talking right now in Philadelphia about how Roseman gave up for this player or that player or this amount of money or that cap head or absolutely not, they're getting ready for a parade.

They're greasing up polls. Not doing that. Anybody in Kansas City talking about what they gave up for Mahomes to draft up to go get him in Philadelphia?

Has anyone ever done that? Maybe, maybe when Alex Smith took him to the playoffs that first year? Bills fans? You know what I mean? Yeah, the Bills fans, because the Chiefs made a trade with them as a draft partner to go get Mahomes and Xavier Worthy. But I digress.

Listen, that's the only reason why I bring it up, it didn't work out. That's the thing that's the gutter ultimately for the Jets is they caught ties with Rogers on this day, the Thursday after the Super Bowl where one of the end zones was painted green and everybody thought that's what's going to happen while Rogers is a Jet. We're going to see a green painted end zone. Turned out to be the Eagles. And you can't blame the Jets for cutting a cord now either. That's the crazy thing.

You can't blame them. Hey, you hire Aaron Glenn after you blow out the coach and the GM mid-season and only get three wins for it, basically. And you're going to just cut it all out and burn it all down on the quarterback front because it doesn't need to be burned down in a lot of places on this roster.

One would think, well, it was a team effort when winning only five games this year. It's not Rogers entirely. He did have 11 interceptions and, you know, a handful of appearances media wise that did cause maybe a conversation or two to be had locally in the locker room.

Who knows? Everybody that I speak to says Rogers is widely beloved in that locker room and will be tough to replace in that locker room. But if you're Aaron Glenn, you have to make a maneuver to say, I'm the only Aaron here that has a say in everything. For two years, the Jets bent over backwards. They didn't just acquire Rogers.

They turned it into Rogers world. That's all in there. That's the definition of all in. And it led to nothing.

And now you're trying to install your culture. And if you don't want to sit down on a Tuesday and say, what did my quarterback have to say about the locker room, the loss? What did my quarterback have to say about immunization? You know, what did my quarterback have to say about geopolitics? What did my quarterback have to say about X, Y, and Z? If you're a head coach and you don't want any of that, this is what happens and it makes sense. But the only thing is here is the Jets are back to square one on a quarterback again.

You know, and you look back on the last century, we're now a quarter of the way into this century. And you know, the Jets were a team that drafted Kellen Clemons on the back of the Chad Pennington era and then finally draft Mark Sanchez and get a couple of major big time seasons out of him before you realize, not working out here, he's eating hot dogs. They're drafting Geno Smith.

He gets a couple of seasons there and then you're saying, maybe it's not him. Let's draft Bryce Petty and then you're drafting Bryce Petty and Geno Smith gets clocked in the jaw by I.K. Enampolly and you go to Ryan Fitzpatrick, who has a great season, but you're realizing it might not be all that great with Fitz at the end. So let's go get Christian friggin' Hackenberg.

I forgot about that. Second round pick. We are.

Wow. Let's go get him. He doesn't play a damn snap.

Now you're in twenty eighteen. Let's get Sam Darnold. It's not the same Darnold Jets until it is. And then let's get rid of him and let's get Zach Wilson.

That doesn't work out. Let's get Aaron Rodgers and Yotta friggin' Yotta. Here the Jets are in twenty twenty five with Tarod Taylor and a couple of kids on the roster that have yet to play a snap. And you're going into a free agency period where the best quarterback may be, wait for it, Sam Darnold and a draft with two kids at the top of the draft that you might not be able to get by sitting there at seventh overall because Aaron Rodgers won too many games with Devante Adams playing fantasy camp, going out the door.

Did I cover everything? Yeah, geez. So it's just the typical thing of just, you know what, right move to try it, right move to stop trying it. But where does that get you? Hopefully with a new coach, with a new culture who is going to install the right thing with a bunch of kids on this team, find the right quarterback.

God bless it. Find the right quarterback. Stop this frigging carousel that keeps on spinning and refuses to stop spinning.

And when it stops and somebody with an incredible resume hops on it, he doesn't hop off it with the football gods snickering in the corner. And that's the way we start today's program. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. How are you feeling? I'm great. I am. Can't wait to talk about Alex Bregman, the Red Sox. That's coming up.

All we're going to have a fun conversation here. I am so pumped. Yes.

I don't blame you for being pumped. Although I do believe there was an out in the contract in the middle of my first sentence about it. Probably. But that's fine. Has he opted out yet? He opted in. Okay, great.

844-204-RICH is the number to dial on the program. Mike Mayock will join us to review one last time the Super Bowl. He's zooming in from Philadelphia and set up the draft season.

That begins basically for me right now. Combine Invites announced. Yes, and interesting, which member of the Colorado Buffalo football team did not get one? 844-204-RICH, number to dial. Are you looking for a voice that truly represents your values? AMAC, the Association of Mature American Citizens, was created to champion the needs of Americans who believe in faith, family, and freedom. Members gain access to incredible member benefits and discounts, including the award-winning AMAC magazine, from exclusive discounts on travel, insurance, and everyday services to a strong voice in Washington. The Association of Mature American Citizens is here to make a difference in your life and in our nation. Anybody at any age can join, and you'll belong to a community that stands for timeless American values. In honor of President Trump's first 100 days in office, AMAC is offering an incredible deal. Incredible. Enroll in a five-year AMAC membership for 47% off.

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Hyundai vehicles have won over 120 IIHS top safety awards from 2006 to 2024. As a business owner, you're always going that extra mile to pursue your passions, so you deserve partners who can help you go further with premium benefits and rewards. The American Express Business Platinum card offers world-class business and travel benefits, so you can get more for your business wherever it takes you. With the Amex Business Platinum card, you can earn 1.5 times membership rewards points on select business purchases, and you can get complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges worldwide, including the Centurion Lounge, so you can keep running your business while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love.

Terms and points can't apply. The Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. The Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners the tools and rewards to do more of what you love.

The Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners the tools and rewards to do more of what you love, the Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners the tools and rewards to do more of what you love, the Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners the tools and rewards to do more of what you love, the Amex Business Platinum card gives business owners the tools and rewards to do more of what you love, the Amex Business Platinum 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. He's one of my favorite humans and I want to talk with him about the Super Bowl before we turn the page to the draft season, none other than my friend Mike Mayock back here on the program. How you doing, Mike? Rich, I'm doing great, man. How you doing?

I'm doing fine. You're in Philly? Is that where you are? I'm in southeast Georgia.

Okay, southeast Georgia. Very good. Because I'm going to ask you how the light poles were doing. All right, so I'd love to get your two cents. What were you thinking watching this Super Bowl 59, Mike, as it played out? I think three things stuck out to me, both during the game and then when I watched the tape again. Number one, the Eagles' defensive line, everybody knows what they did. They didn't blitz the whole game and, Rich, I don't care if you're Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Patrick Mahomes, if you get hit early enough, often enough or feel enough pressure get moved around the pocket, sooner or later it speeds up your internal clock and that happened really quickly to Mahomes. And by the way, I mean, that's not a shot at Mahomes.

No. That's just saying that the Eagles' defensive line compressed that pocket like I've never seen in a Super Bowl before. The tackles from Kansas City got pushed back into his lap. The Eagles' defensive tackles are so fast.

Jalen Carter chased them down in the first or second series from inside out. The defensive line I thought was the number one story of the game. The number two story of the game for me is that all year long I've been saying somebody's going to have enough talent and a good enough scheme to force the Eagles to play left handed, meaning shut down Saquon Barkley and force the quarterback to beat them. And the quarterback again in his second Super Bowl was outstanding, especially his deep ball accuracy and his ability to use his legs to win a football game.

So you're always probably going to want a little more from him in the conventional pass game, but the combination of what he can do with his legs and his accuracy I think makes him a high level quarterback. And then lastly and very simply, even though they couldn't run the football, Barkley averaged under three yards of carry, they stayed at it. And it's such a lesson for other NFL teams. Rich, they ran the ball 45 times and they only averaged three yards of carry, but they knew who they were. They understand their identity and everything comes off Saquon Barkley in the run game. And of all the things you just said, I want to linger on Jalen Hurts for a second because we're going to end up having this conversation quite a bit, as we always do at a combine and a draft season about finding the franchise quarterback. Hurts, you mentioned his deep throwing ability and so many of his great decisions that he made in yet another big game of his life. It is just the inner stuff though that I love about him. I love his journey.

I love the inner stuff. How can you find that out at a combine? How can you find out what a kid's makeup is at a combine in a top 30 visit in over the next two months?

Mike, give me some examples on finding that stuff out. Yeah, I think the combine is really hard because you get a defined number of minutes and a horn blows and the kid moves on. So you're trying to get it to combine, you're trying to get a little bit of X and O schematics out of them, but you're also trying to meet the kid. And that's kind of the beginning of the process because you're going to go from that. You're probably going to be at his pro day workout. You're probably going to go out to dinner the night before if you can.

And there might be 10 teams that want them. I mean, I remember the night before CD Lamb worked out. We had him out to dinner. And what an impressive, impressive young man he was. But the first time I met Jalen Hurts was at the combine interview and I came away deeply affected. I mean, humble with a wonderful story to tell you a little bit about son of a coach.

All these different coaches coordinators gets replaced at halftime of a national championship game by Tua. So there was, I felt rich in a very short amount of time. I felt an inner strength from this kid that was rare. And I remember it specifically.

So I followed up with him a little bit thereafter. And obviously the Eagles took him in the second round. And the first time I went to an Eagles practice, and as you know, I live in Philly most of the year. I went down with an Eagle practice and training camp and somebody jumped on my back and it was Jalen Hurts. And he hugged me and said, you know, I thought you were going to take me. And again, it was just kind of feeling this connection with a young man who had a real story to tell. How did you deal with adversity? And that's a big question in all of our lives.

We don't want to know how our kids are going to do with it. And this kid, what was he the 53rd pick in the draft? Second round, I think there were eight quarterbacks left in the quarterfinals. Seven of them were first rounders and he was the only one that wasn't.

Yet he walked away with the brass ring. And there's more to this kid than height, weight, speed. Yeah, and it's amazing the guy who he's throwing touchdowns to in the Super Bowl is the guy who caught the pass from Tua the night he got benched to win the National Championship. There's so much you can't make this stuff up, Mike Mayock, from this team and the roster building. And I know you admire what Howie Roseman does from your position. Give me your number one Howie Roseman move for this roster. Give me the one that you're impressed with the most, Mike. It's funny because I do a podcast with my daughter about the Eagles, so I've watched every tape. I've got 9,000 pages of notes and I got all Howie's moves right in front of me here.

I love it. And you know, I broke it down to trade, draft, and UFA. And on the trade side, AJ Brown and Darius Slay. And don't forget, I mean, Jahan Dotson was a little bit of an oversight all season, yet he caught the first big pass down to the one yard line. Free agency, Saquon Barkley. To me, that's the biggest.

It's the most obvious. It's also the biggest, not just because of who he is on the field, but I think he was a calming influence in that locker room that was in shambles after a year ago. And when your best player, Rich, is the most self-less on your team, when he's saying, no, you don't need to put me back in against the Giants.

I don't need to set that record. All the players in the locker room were looking at each other saying, how can I be selfish if he's self-less? And I think he did a lot to calm down that locker room. So between him and Zach Bond, the free agency, and I think you got to give Vic Fangio a little pat on the back for that one in addition to Howie. And then you look at the draft. Rich, they don't miss in the first round. Devante Smith was a first round pick, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Quiñon Mitchell. And the second round, just in the last five, four or five years, Landon Dickerson, Cam Jergens, Jalen Hurts, Cooper Dejean.

And that's a long way of saying, Rich, that a general manager's job is 365 days a year of player acquisition. And what I think Howie does better than anybody is he hits all of it, whether it's draft, free agency, trades, undrafted free agents. I mean, they're starting safety, a blankenship, undrafted free agent. So I don't think you can just identify one move, even though Barkley would be the one. I think you have to look at the composite of what he's put together. I thought they were the best roster two years ago against the Chiefs in the whole league.

I thought they were the best roster a year ago and this year. So I think Howie Roseman just continues to outdo himself. Yeah. And he pays the right guys too, right? You know what I mean? Like if you're going to pay somebody, let's pay Devante Smith and A.J.

Brown and Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley. And you're not missing on that. And then you're one of your linemen, a couple of your linemen. Like he seems to hit it right when it comes to paying. He's not dead cap in a lot of mistakes. You know what I mean? He seems to nail that one too, Mike.

You know what it is, Rich? And part of it is he came up on the salary cap side. So he understands the infrastructure of what you can and can't do dollar and cents wise, as well as any general manager that's ever lived. But to manage the roster and the cap the way they do, you also have to draft well, because you have to have a nucleus of young players playing on the rookie wage scale. That's the key. That's how you can retain players as they get older and better, as long as you're replenishing with rookie cap guys.

So I think that's really the sweet sauce. Can they do things, you know, can they do things like extend players and pay out a bonus that doesn't count against the cap? And they have all those things too. How he uses everything he has, but you can't do what they've done unless you draft well. Mike Mayock here.

Believe in Eagles pod. He and Lee Mayock co-hosting that together. Obviously check it out this week after the Super Bowl win and Super Bowl 59. It's now combine time, Mike.

And and I'd love to pick your brain on a couple of things. First up, Travis Hunter is going as a cornerback. You hear that and you say what?

I say appropriate. And I think most NFL teams are gonna work him out as a corner. That will be his main job, but I think you're short-sighted if you don't think he can help you on offense also. So what I'd like to see happen, he was listed at about 181, 182 pounds. I think once he gets into a situation where he's playing predominantly one position, he's on a nutrition and weight program where he can concentrate on being a great corner, I think he'll be 190 to 195 pounds.

But I also think I've never seen a better conditioned athlete from the college tape I watched. And I think you've got to find a package of plays every week for this kid on offense. And he's got to play. And one week it might be six plays. Another week it might be 14 plays. But you got to get him some touches on the offensive side of the ball because he's just too special.

And I know you left this life long ago, but you're sitting on NFL Network. Boy, I want to see him working out, man. You know, I want to see him working out. I want him out there.

I don't know if we will. But that said, let's say he does work out. And how do scouts go up to who and say we want to see him run routes too? Like do we see him work out with the wide receiving group as well, Mike? Yeah, I think there's, I don't know what he will or won't do at his combine or his pro day.

But typically there'll be a group of scouts that ask, hey, I want to see Christian McCaffrey run routes as a slot receiver. He was unbelievable when he did that, Mike. He was better than every wide receiver that day when he did that. Yes, I remember that. He was the best at it.

He was unreal. And that's my point when the scouts want to see something, when the coaches want to see something, they ask. So I don't think there's any doubt that they're going to ask him to do some things. Now, what he does and doesn't do is ultimately up to the kid. But at the end of the day, he's supposed to be a great kid.

And all you got to do is turn the tape on. There's not a whole lot of questions there. And I'm wondering how the news sat in Boulder, Colorado, that Shiloh Sanders did not get an invitation. Who decides who gets invited and who does not at a combine, Mike? Well, there's basically every team in the league has some input. And the combine has their own cooperation with a group of scouts and people from around the league. And I've seen teams try to get a kid invited like, hey, so-and-so didn't get invited. On the other hand, I've seen teams happy that a kid doesn't get invited because they happen to like them. So let's keep this kid quiet. I mean, that's reality, Rich.

Like, don't give him any shine, any spotlight because we want him under the radar so we could snag him. That's what you're saying? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Unreal. Wow. What's your assessment of the quarterbacks?

I know I asked this of you two weeks ago, but I'm wondering if you've grinded any more. And now, I mean, I see so many of these evaluations where Cam Ward or Chador is number one, and somebody even thinks the Giants will trade up, things of that nature. What's your opinion of the quarterback group here, Mike? Well, to oversimplify, I think that Cam and Chador, in whatever order, are one and two. I don't think you can put them in the top four from last year. I thought Bo Nix might be an interesting comparison for Chador. I think both of them are going to have to go to a place that's a good fit for them. Realistically, Rich, you can go back over the last 20 years and look at the NFL draft in the first round of quarterbacks, and at best, it's a 50-50 proposition.

And most of it's because kids get pushed up higher than they should go, and there's a bad fit, right? So that's why Bo Nix was so interesting to me last year. I don't think I gave him enough love last year. He was a better quarterback than I thought he was, but most importantly, he went to a coach and a system that was a really good fit for him. They surrounded him.

They put an infrastructure around them, not unlike Minnesota did with the UFC retread this year. I thought Kevin did a great job supporting that situation. So for me, I think quarterbacks probably go too early most of the time, but most importantly, it's about the infrastructure and the fit. And if you don't make that kid, if you don't look at the kid in Carolina right now, he played a little bit better this year, but it was a stark comparison to him and CJ Stroud in year one. And you look at Jayden Daniels. What a great fit.

What a great job they did. I think Caleb Williams is just as talented. Be interesting to see what happens there. So, I mean, that's my diatribe on quarterbacks and where they end up, and most of them get pushed up higher than they should go. And so who's currently right now sitting atop your draft board? Who's number one? Who's the best prospect that you think is available? I'll put it this way, and you'll laugh because you've heard me say this before, but I think Cam Ward has the higher ceiling and I think Chidor has the higher floor. So, you know, Cam to me is a little bit more of a, I don't want to say boomer bust because I don't think he's a bust, but he's got a chance to play at a very high level because he's very gifted. I think Chidor is a little bit more like Bo and Dix where he's really accurate, really smart, good decision maker, needs to get to the right place where they take advantage of those things because I thought he did get in some bad habits in the pocket in the last two years with that awful offensive line in front of him.

So, what is interesting to me, Rich, is behind those two guys. You know, I think the kid from Ole Miss, Jackson Dart, has made up some ground. He can spin it, and he's not a great athlete, but he's not a bad athlete. Jalen Milro is the guy that has first round talent all over him. Big, strong, fast, big arm, but had a bad year this year.

Too many question marks. I'd love to get him in the second or third round and have no pressure to play him, put him in a system behind him like Green Bay's done the last several quarterbacks. You know, sit a guy for two, three, four years, let him absorb it and learn from it, polish his craft, and come out and start three, four years into his career. That's the guy that I'm intrigued by.

And what about overall? Throw defensive players in, everybody in, had the entire draft in a hat. Number one atop your board is who, Mike? Number one with everybody, it would have to be the corner-slash-wide receiver from Boulder. I think he's rare. I think he's special. I think you and I could have a great conversation about the running back situation in the NFL.

Has that changed? The undervaluing of running backs because of what happened in free agency a year ago? You know, with Saquon and Josh Jacobs and the kid in Baltimore and the seventh round pick for Joe Mixon. But that's a way of saying Ashton Gente to me from Boise. Man, is he fun to watch.

I love this tape. I think he's special. I think his contact balance is rare. I think he's a first round running back. And then the two guys that I love watching, Rich, are Abdul Carter from Penn State.

He's amazing. Who I think is a high-level edge rusher, day one. And there's a kid in Georgia that reminds me a little bit of Micah Parsons. And his name's Jalen Walker. And two reasons he reminds me of Parsons. One is, in base defense, he's an off-the-ball linebacker, just like Micah Parsons was at Penn State. And then when they go to sub, he lines up anywhere from the A-gap out to the nine technique, the wide defensive end.

But what he does best is explosive and rush the quarterback. So those two guys, Jalen Walker and Abdul Carter coming off the edge, they get me fired up. You get me fired up, pal. Thanks for the two cents. Thanks for doing this.

You're the best. And I can't wait to keep chatting with you. You be well, sir. Thanks, brother. Great talking to you. Believe in Eagles podcast, Lee and Mike Mayock.

Check it out on the Believe podcast network, wherever you get your podcasts. That's the one and only Mike Mayock here on the Rich Eisen Show. Yes, I agree that there's a round of applause right there. That was awesome. God, I just love that guy. The best.

Let's go. Honestly, right? And he's not right. I mean, he had all of those things in Howie Roseman has done. All of those things together. And that's why I kind of mentioned to him too, like him knowing who to pay. You know what? We're going to pay A.G. Brown. Joe Burrow said that I think on the Pardon My Type podcast, right? He's like, hey, the Eagles paying everybody, which is his way of saying to the front office, hey, T. Higgins, don't let him walk.

Right. The Eagles paid Devante Smith and A.J. Brown and Saquon Barkley, and they did it after giving Hertz his next contract. Hertz is not a second round pick on his first deal anymore. He hasn't been for a few years. He got paid. Everybody's getting paid unreal. And he got Travis hunters atop his draft board.

Loves Ashton Gente. Dude, you may not. He's not going to be there. Were the Cowboys 12? Yeah, he's not.

I don't know. He's not getting to 12. Wasn't wasn't Jameer Gibbs drafted 12th overall?

I saw a mock yesterday that had him six to the Raiders. OK. Oh, man, that must mean that the the quarterback's gone, you know, right. Or they get someone in free. Raiders would not take Gente over one of the quarterbacks that's sitting there right now.

No. Or they get somebody in free agency. Like Aaron Rogers. Why not? Eight four four two oh four rich number to dial.

Let's get a sports update right now from Andrew Bogusch. Have you ever spotted McDonald's hot, crispy fries right as they're being scooped into the carton? And time just stands still. This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. During tax season, your personal info travels to a lot of places between payroll, your tax consultant and the IRS. If your W2 gets exposed, that's just the ticket for identity thieves. That's why LifeLock monitors millions of data points every second. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed or your money back. Don't let identity thieves take you for a ride.

Save up to 40 percent your first year. Visit LifeLock dot com slash podcast terms apply. One of the items that we have here on our set that's never shown on television. I got a book over there.

Great Jews in sports. Would you autograph that for me? It's a little tiny. No, it's not a pamphlet.

It is a thick ass book. OK, it is significant because it's about the history of the entirety of sports in America. OK, so we go back. Yeah, it's it's it's we buried it.

Why do we have the Great Jews in sports book completely buried on the on our set? I mean, it's got its own spot. Everything here has its place. There it is. There it is.

You know, it's way in the back. Howard Cosell, it looks like is on the front cover. And I'm an inductee in the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Yeah. But the best part about this is it's revised and updated with an introduction by Red Auerbach. He's one of the greatest Jews in sports. This book cannot be this thick. It's real, man.

Max Freeman, Pioneer Basketball. Turn it all the way to the back. Well, how many pages is there with the book ends on what page?

The Maccabee games are back here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The book ends. What's the last number? Three thirty one. Three hundred and thirty one pages. Jeff Schwartz is going to autograph my copy of Great Jews in Sports.

Amazing book. I don't know. There you go. A Star of David. Have you ever signed?

I've never. Give me the book and I'll hold it up right here. I have a lot of things. Let's see what this looks like. Toilet seat one time.

I said, what do you mean? You signed a toilet seat. Yeah.

Oregon. We had this like, you know, like the big day where everyone comes and signs things. And and someone guy brought a toilet seat one year and they brought a toaster the next year. OK. Oh, yeah.

There you go. Do you do you know who the you and your brother were? The first Jewish brothers playing in the NFL since, you know, the nineteen twenty three. It's in my book in my shorts.

It's like the start of the book. You know the name of the do you know the names? Yeah, it was a it was a it was the Friedman brothers, right? No. Oh, no.

Benny Friedman, who, by the way, went University of Michigan, father of the modern. I should know this. I didn't.

I'll give you I'll give you Ralph and Arnold. Yeah, I should. Horween.

Horween. Yeah, I used to know. I used to I should know that it's in my book. But yeah.

Yeah, that's that I do know. Ralph was an All-American at Harvard. Oh, his mother has been so proud.

Yes, won the 1920 Rose Bowl, played under the alias of Ralph McMahon, an Irish name. What the hell? Are there Horween's in the book? I just went to I just went to local orgages.

Arnold played four seasons for Racine Chicago Cardinals with his brother. Let me look it up. They had it better on a minute. Here we go. Here we go. Hold on a minute. Are they in here? The Horween's are not only under the Irish name. Redholtz, we've got to look under McMahon just in case they put the Irish alias in here.

No. Oh, that was in here. Oh, we got content out of that book. Why are we why are we showing that? Oh, because we're about to talk about Alex Bregman, who since came in and signed that book as well. I think we get Julian Edelman, Alex Bregman and Jeff Schwartz who signed that book.

That's right. Hey, are we back on our radio side of things? Let's take another 30 seconds to do that. Is that why you played that tape, Hoskins? Because we're about to talk about Alex Bregman.

OK, OK, OK. Connective tissue. I would just want to I just want to point out real quick on March twenty ninth, twenty twenty four. Yes, I posted a tweet. Well, who's more likely to be on the Jets in twenty twenty five? Rogers or Salah? Neither. We now have our answer. Jeez. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. What are yoga mats, a toothbrush and a Hyundai have in common?

Guess what? Yes, they're all fun. They're well designed.

They're super useful. But the right answer is you can order all those things on Amazon and the best part, you won't even have to break down a car sized Amazon box after because you pick up your Hyundai at the dealer. Hyundai is now available on Amazon. Visit Hyundai USA dot com or call five six two three one four four six oh three for more details.

Limited availability pick up through a participating Hyundai dealer in select markets. All right. All right. My Major League Baseball news Sherpa, not Jeff Passon. Cooper Evan Eisen, who is locked in to the MLB app, locked in to the ESPN app.

He sent me, as he termed it on a text, bad news. Alex Bregman going to the Boston Red Sox. Three year deal, one hundred and twenty million dollars. And the crazy thing is ten million more per year than other teams are offering. And apparently a five year deal from the Tigers or from the Astros, a six year deal from the other. He goes three years, one hundred and twenty million with two opt outs. Meaning it's a series of three one year deals, essentially. Essentially, yeah. Unless can he opt out while rounding first base in the middle of the third inning in in in June or something like that? Here's here's a deal. When do the opt outs hit? However you have to cope, you cope.

Is it making jokes? Fine, that's fine. You wanted him and you didn't get him. We got him. And now that's two players that you wanted this offseason that both mine and TJ's teams got. And so you're just going to have to deal with it all summer long. Guess what?

Guess what? Enjoy him. He is an outstanding baseball player.

I just hope he doesn't opt out between third and home at one point. Keep making jokes. You know what I mean? You'll be looking at us up at us in the standings all year long. OK, OK. The Red Sox quietly had maybe the best offseason in the American League. You better bump on a log.

That is absolutely not true. You finally spent money. They traded for the best left handed pitcher in the market this offseason. Garrett Crochet.

OK, not Max Fried. Think about the guys that they have coming back. Lucas Giolito coming back from injury. Liam Hendrix coming back from injury.

Aroldis Chapman who still throws 180 miles an hour. What are you smoking bro? Give me something. This guy. And the young kids that they have coming up.

The best prospect in baseball Roman Anthony. Like just get ready man. It's going to be a long summer for you. You know what? You're right. Right.

Can you tell me based on all of that and I need an answer from you right now. How great is that Fenway sports group? How great they're so terrible.

Oh really? Because you just told me they had the best non playing season of anybody in baseball. American League. American League. OK, best one yet.

Best one. They should still sell the team. They should still sell the team. They do not get a pass forever for trading Mookie bats. All I've heard is that they don't spend there. They act like they're a medium market. A small market. That was six years ago.

It's a perfect example. Here comes Alex Bregman. Finally spending some money and he's just like about damn time. Here's what I want. I want I want. I want to get out after this year and I want to get out after the year after that.

Again, cope any way that you need to. There's several couches in this in this studio. OK, you're going to be looking up at us all year long. When you say up, what do you mean? Like, are you playing baseball above Yankee Stadium?

Is that where is that where Fenway Park is in the airspace of the Bronx? Whatever man, whatever. How?

How ever you need to cope up? How? I was looking forward to a year of YouTube bickering and fight, but I'm glad this is back. Is that right? Yeah, I'm glad this is back. Did you? I missed it because we can feel sucks for a lot for a last few years. Did you hear who the Yankees are circling now? Nolan Arenado. That's nice. Take our scraps, scraps.

How is that a scrap? I mean, is he is he good anymore? OK, 34 years old.

I'll take him. Him, him and Goldschmidt. Isn't that old? And it is. And Bellinger and Freed and the rest of the maneuvers that they made in losing Soto to the kings of New York over there. Still the ones who rule New York team from New York. Oh, baseball is eating right now.

It figures out how to wait a minute. I've been told they just added another opt out to the contract. Wait a minute. You know, he's still with the team though.

Is there a special pill Judge can take to hit in the playoffs? And you know what? I'll say this as well.

I'll say this as well. We're on the subject matter. I'm back to baseball. I'm a fellow Yankee fan, fellow Yankee fan and terrific Rich Eisen show producer Kent Tullo. What's up, Kenny? He's at home.

He came up with an idea. Chris Chris DeStefano had, I guess, has said multiple times, including on Joe Rogan's pod, that he's a New Yorker and roots for both the Mets and the Yankees. Is that acceptable?

No, it is beyond unacceptable. And so Ken's like, you know what we should do? Let's get a Met hat for T.J. and a Yankee hat for Rich.

And let's have a debate on trying to pitch Chris DeStefano to choose one of the two. Oh, fun. And, you know, T.J. even brought in the hats, which is really great. But guess what? Guess what? We're not doing that. And the reason why we're not doing that is because arrogant thing is not it is not is because of a debate over which New York team should be rooted for for somebody who says, you know what? I'm a I'm a New Yorker, but I can root for both.

And like he should choose one. That argument is beneath me as a Yankee fan. That's the most arrogant thing you've ever said to me and says why you should choose the Yankees over the Mets. And you wonder why no one likes you guys. I mean, it's obvious that type of etiquette beneath.

That's why Juan Soto didn't want to stay in that. Listen, you want to be a lovable loser or you want to be losing anymore or you are joining the long time, decades long, lovable losers just in time for them to be an upper hand team in New York City. Go for it. Go for it.

Not a problem. I am so happy that we are viewed as the secondary team in New York City by that group in New York, in Queens, where they have they hired the mercenary of mercenaries. I literally have never seen anybody pressed over a comment by one player who is trying to appeal to his own fan base.

You are. And then let's get AJ Minter talking like, wow, that's then let's get AJ Minter saying that we're we're that he's rooting. He's playing now for the real New York fans, as he says, y'all and his famous New York accent of y'all. OK, doesn't New York welcome immigrants?

Great family. It's not what the Statue of Liberty was about. Sure. Well, Mike, Mike, you're done this morning. You said you're a Dodger fan. So get out of here. Seriously, that is you're pathetic. I'm going go find a squirrel to feed. Well, one of them is gone. I'm sorry.

So I only have one recipe show recipe. So we're not doing Ken. Great idea.

Appreciate it. We're not like, you know, well, this team has a mascot. This team doesn't have a mascot. You should root the team has no mascot beneath me to have that conversation. We're back. Give them lala. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.