The NHL Had A Better Weekend Than The NBA

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We're back after a three-day weekend. Hopefully, you are rested and relaxed as well and ready to chat with us at 844204. Rich is the number to dial.

Phone lines are already lit. Love seeing that. Mike Mayock's going to join us on this Tuesday program. He's going to join us every single Tuesday through the draft.

Very excited about that. Had a nice chat with Mike Mayock over the last few days since he was on our program last week. And he will be getting us ready for the combine. Getting us ready for the draft.

Getting you ready. And to be knowledgeable on these subject matters, Carson Palmer's bro, Jordan is coming in. The reason why I bring that up is because Jordan is going to walk us through the best new coaching hires in football.

And he's going to include his brother in this conversation. Plus Jordan is Nostradamus when it comes to telling you who's good and who's bad. Well, he doesn't say who's bad.

Who's good and who's going to be on your radar screen and should be. He's the one who said, hey, look out for Sam Darnold as a Vikings quarterback, for instance. He's joining us in our number three in studio.

David Aldridge will have a conversation with us about the association and everything we saw about that over the weekend. Good to see you, Chris Brockman. How are you? Hey, Rich. What's up, man?

Oh, Jay Feli sitting in the chair today. Good to see you. TJ Jefferson candles lit, huh? Candles lit. Fantastic. Smells great over here. I appreciate the full dimensional conversation.

Appreciate it. Setting the stage. Hey, we're starting today's program with words I very rarely say into this microphone, but I'm going to say it because it's true. The NHL has figured it out. They have cracked the code Saturday night.

My phone starts buzzing like crazy. And I'm thinking to myself, oh, that's right. The NBA slam dunk three point stuff and all that stuff's going down.

And nope, my phone is going crazy because Team USA and Team Canada and the four nations face off is beating the crap out of each other. And you know, I mean, all we ask for as sports fans when players play is that they care as much as we do. That's what we're looking for. At the very basic level, we care so much. And if your caring matches our sensibility of caring, you have us at hello.

It rarely does though. And these guys in the four nations face off again, for those who might be wondering if at all, somehow, some way what I'm talking about, the NHL decided instead of having an all star festivities, similar to what we've seen in the past and what every other league is attempting to do with its all star game in the 21st century, they said, let's just have a four team tournament and go nationalistic and have four nations of players in the NHL spend the all star break working, quite frankly. And let's split them up in nations, Finland, Sweden, Canada, the United States, and for, you know, a little nostalgia, USA versus Finland. This very upcoming weekend is the 45th anniversary of the gold medal game in Lake Placid, New York.

Al Michaels will be in studio on Friday for a full hour to celebrate the 45th anniversary of one of the greatest sports moments ever for all of us here in the United States. And and then let's have the team USA and Canada play each other. And who knew that the words face off in the four nations face off was them ripping each other's faces off. And Mike Hoskins, Rich Ozen show coordinating producer, who is the most diehard hockey fan, I think we all know. Correct. Well, there's Jason and also John Monaco, who's our director, who refused to even take a picture with the Stanley Cup here for fear that it would jinxes New York Rangers. And but Mike Hoskins is the one who, as we were getting ready to fly off to New Orleans. Right. Or is it new?

I can keep track of, thankfully, of all of our excursions. But I think it was New Orleans. He's watching Buffalo Sabres hockey on his phone, I believe. Yeah. Yeah.

OK. He's watching Sabres hockey on his phone. Oh, Sabers Blue Jackets. You can't miss that. Got to keep up to speed in the palm of your hand with that, you know, and he's texting us.

There have been two fights in the first three seconds of Team USA versus Canada and then update three fights in the first nine seconds. Now, listen, we're we're not we're not looking for we're not blood lusty here, right? We're not bloodthirsty.

Speak for me. But you just want to see that it matters, that it matters, that it's personal, that it means a lot to you. Certainly, if it's a friendly or an exhibition, why should we watch if you don't care?

Or in certain cases, in certain leagues or association, you don't play. Why should we care? And then the hockey that ensued. Was must see television. Your guy, Charlie McAvoy. Dude, Charlie McAvoy is hospitalized right now. Yeah.

Massachusetts General. He lit up Connor McDavid. Has Connor McDavid been hit that hard in the NHL contest? I've never seen him get hit that hard. That was amazing.

That set the tone even more than the fights. Dude, he's hospitalized. He might not play in the, are we calling it a gold medal game? Championship game? Thursday night? The Bruins tweeted out earlier.

He's out. Which is unfortunate because TD Garden is the spot on Thursday night when USA versus Canada can play in this finale. Kudos to you, National Hockey League. And by the way, everything I'm hearing about, if you don't mind me saying, in the industry, ESPN, ABC, they're loving it. The partners are loving it. The NHL is loving it. And kudos to the players for Karen. And also, it spans the entire All-Star break week.

A tournament. Awesome. I will be watching Thursday night.

I know what I'm doing Thursday night. By the way, I like the way you slipped Godden in there. I tried. It's not, it's not, it's not good. I fully admit it. It rolls his eyes.

You're doing JFK. I know it's terrible. It's terrible.

It's not good. I'm trying to give you props on this, but I, I, I think this is a genius idea and everyone else in professional North American sports should take note, especially since we are talking today about the four nations face-off where the nation's players are taking each other's faces off. The cage down. And then the, the NBA All-Star game is let's name, let's, let's split up the teams. Let's, let's figure out how these players can actually compete with each other. Let's just have many tournaments on a Sunday, name the teams after TNT on air personalities and, and have Draymond Green. When asked on a scale of one to 10, what he thinks of the new format, he says zero and says it sucks.

Yikes. That's what Draymond Green says. This new format sucks.

And this does not give me any pleasure at all. I love the NBA, the NBA. I grew up loving it.

I still love it. The NBA has been very good to my family. Adam Silver has been nothing but awesome to Susie in her time working at the NBA TV and TNT. And he is just a great human who runs an incredible league, an association that, and kudos to them for getting $70 billion out of our industry for their new rights. And I look forward to the future, but this ain't it.

This ain't it at all. LeBron, who has been a paragon of excellence this year at age 40 and answering the bell in a way that 22 year olds don't answer during the regular season. He doesn't play on Sunday and says, you know, he needs to make sure he's as healthy for the second half of the season as possible, which is totally understandable. He's 40.

I get it right. But can we, can we get a heads up? Like, does he not know that he's going to want to make sure that he's healthy for the second half of the season so somebody else can take the spot? Somebody else for whom an all star appearance would be life altering. And then, you know, I don't want to see LeBron in street clothes.

Nobody does, obviously, nor does he want to be in street clothes. He doesn't want to sit around and watch this stuff in a format that quote unquote sucks coming off of, and, and listen, Mac McClung is a revelation. He, he is unbelievable. I don't know how he defies gravity.

Okay. And he, for a third straight year, wins the NBA slam dunk competition. How could you not be entertained by that dunk?

I am entertained by it. I'm just like, everyone's crapping on this whole weekend, but there was some cool stuff like this dunk contest was pretty good. I don't want to see Mac McClung do it. I want to see NBA all stars do it. I don't want to see the Osceola magic star do it.

I want to see someone from the Orlando magic do it. I get that. Can I interrupt real quick? But sure.

I think we're at the point now, Chris, where the dunk contest, now the end game dunks that they used to do, those aren't cut it. You need to be jumping off over cars. You can't have John Moran do that. Like that just it's not smart. Don't include a car. Then don't do a car. Don't do a car.

Let, let me see an NBA all star do some form of a dunk. Don't include a car. Don't include cause now, but what are we going to start doing?

Put, put some two cars, three cars. Like what are we going to do now? A massive truck, whatever the official truck of the NBA is just Kia makers and SUV. I mean like honest, whatever, but I don't want to see, you know, a guy who's once he's done might light up the South Bay Lakers next.

I'm sorry. That's what I'm thinking. You're thinking about. I'm thinking to myself too, like does the end, none of the NBA play. Listen, I love seeing the NBA players react.

Sure. They're like, Oh my goodness. But that's me as a fan. I don't want to see Giannis as a fan react. I want to see Giannis dunk as a fan with all due respect. But well guess what?

Here's the crazy thing is I just was sitting there. I swear to you, I'm sitting there watching these highlights and I'm thinking to myself, is there nobody in the NBA who's like, why are we seeding some of the most hallowed exhibition ground to a G leaguer, to a guy who is incredible at the dunking and the, and the gravity defying. But when it comes to the sport of basketball, he cannot make our league at the end of the day. And why as an NBA all star, am I seeding this ground to him?

Is there anybody with a sense of pride in that respect? And sure enough, it is John Moran who tweeted out, Mac might make me decide to dunk. And I'm like Eureka, Eureka.

Okay. I believe I can fly the Michael Jordan brand logo is him dunking in the NBA slam dunk contest. One of the most iconic brand logos in the history of iconic brand logos is him dunking.

Do you want to have something similar NBA gravity defying all star? And John Moran says yes. And Giannis responds, basically, if you do it, I'll do it with you 100%. But guess what? He said his kids tweeted that out by hacking his phone.

Roll it. I got hacked last night. That wasn't me. That wasn't my kids tweeted.

That wasn't me. They woke up in the middle of the night. They came next to the nightstand, took my phone out of my charger, went to their room, tweeted. And, um, I found out this morning. That's so lame.

You know what? It's just a bummer. It's a bummer. It's a bummer because I literally thought, trust me, I could see your reaction right now. I could see reaction like, no, no, no. Your reaction right now is that I'm being to use the SNL 50 phrase, Debbie downer. You know, you know what I mean? You got to turn your microphone on to that. I couldn't hear on my ear. I'm not, I'm not necessarily thinking that because I read a lot of people online who obviously didn't like any of this.

And maybe I'm just looking for something positive. And I feel like I was entertained a little bit by that. I was entertained too by Mac McClung and it's great. But now I just, I remember when I was again, I know this may be antiquated. When I was a kid, when Kenny Skywalker won term when the slam dunk contest 89 I was so damn prideful as a Nick fan. And then watching him play after that was exciting. And the rest of sort of casual fans were like, I got to see Kenny Skywalker sky. Can he do this in a game?

Yeah. And the NBA is just like, and players are just like, sure, go ahead, Mac. I don't want to do this. I can't get hurt. I can't play. I can't play fully for the rest of the season.

I got to make sure I'm rested on back to backs. I don't care enough is the general message. So why should I care? That's the point. And on the same weekend when NHL stars are literally putting others in the hospital over an exhibition matchup, it is two polar opposites. I'm not saying I want to see an NBA player in a hospital.

That's where my next question. I'm saying to you, Kevin McHale clothesline, of course not. And you know that I needed to basically say, I want to see it matters.

Yeah, sure. I'm getting off the couch watching Mac McClung, but I don't want to see Giannis go, Oh my goodness, that's unbelievable. From my front row seat where I'm in my street clothes. I don't want to see it anymore. Been there, done it. Let's get some NBA players out there and just maybe they just sit there and go, I don't need some G leader coming in here on my, on my all star weekend.

I'm going to actually use this as an opportunity and start my own damn brand. True. Am I wrong? Not with that. Okay.

Not with that. Look, I see what you're saying. I have nothing but love for the association. They are, have been great to my family. They've been great to me as a sports fan. It's been a really tough year for them.

They're taking a lot of L's except for the $76 billion contracts that they've made with their new partners. Fans don't care about that. I understand that. I get it. Not one bit.

I get it, but this is like one of the greatest Kaiser Sose tricks. Hey, pay us $76 billion. And we can't still guarantee that one of the greatest star on the planet is going to play in the all star game.

People will watch. I hope that's not the case. I want the association to thrive, thrive. You know, Chuck had a good, uh, response to Draymond when he said it sucked. He goes, well, your generation is kind of the one that ruined this. He's right.

Charles Charles, when his generation, that's when we, and Colby was on the back end of that waving Carmelone off the blocks in Madison square garden saying, I want this. Let's get some of that in here for sure. And part of that might start from wanting to be in this land on contest. Then just don't include a car where you can turn an ankle. Yeah. Like you can't have that.

No, I understand that, but I don't even see a car. Well, they're the official. I'm sorry. My bad.

With all due respect to keep. Also, we saw that before Blake Griffin already did it. Okay. 8 4 4 2 0 4 rich number to dial Mike Mayock joining us next right here on the rich eyes and show one week from today, I'm going to be heading off to the combine. Hey, that's right around the corner. One thing after another, after another franchise tags can be applied today. Well, one be slapped on T Higgins.

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Learn more at American Express dot com slash Amex Business. Back on the Rich Eisen show, the radio will rejoin us shortly and Mike Mayaka will join as well. He is zoomed in. Excited to have him on this program. How did Draymond respond to Charles Barkley saying to him, your generation is what got us in this mess with the NBA All-Star game? You know, Draymond did his at halftime outside and Chuck made his response when they were already back in. But so there was they weren't like next to each other.

It was just a response because I missed that exchange. You know, hey, listen, the NFL kudos to to them as well decided like this. This is not a game anymore with the Pro Bowl. And if they're not going to hit each other and it's not going to be a competition, then let's just put flags on them. You know, and it's been very fun.

The flag football and the and the Pro Bowl games have been fun, especially since it dovetails into what the NFL's next project is, which is to get flag football, certainly women's flag football up and running. What was that? That was a commercial during the the. Yeah. Well, and it's during the Super Bowl, as we know, five football is going to be at the Olympics in three years. Right. So put flags on them. Have them have them do all the other nonsense at a different date and then put flags on. I don't know what the NBA's answer is.

I just don't know what it is. Maybe maybe they, you know, we'll discuss that later on before, you know, we're about to get to Mike here. I got some questions for you guys about. No, I mean, maybe we come up with four nations for the NBA. Let's ask you that.

We'll do that later on. Not to get into geopolitics, but I mean, the initial response when I'm getting texts like, hey, USA and Canada is just hating on each other. I'm like, is it the tariffs? I don't know. It probably doesn't help, you know, set the stage.

I don't think I don't know because brothers don't care about the tariffs. I don't believe they want to be the 52nd state that hit on Connor McDavid. You don't hit McDavid like that. I haven't seen it.

I got to look it up. Just McAvoy McDavid. Again, just to pop up, just to reiterate, when I took Cooper to a Kings Oilers game a couple of years ago, he's like, who's Connor McDavid? I'm like, just look for the biggest guy out there. He stands out moving very quickly, very quickly.

Not like a man that size. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grange with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grange has the right product for you.

Call clickgrange.com or just stop by. My buddy from back in the day now back on the Rich Eisen Show, my friend Mike Mayock. Good to see you, Mike. How are you, sir? Rich, I'm doing great, man. How are you doing?

I'm doing fine. Are you a hockey guy? I know you're a B.C.

guy, and that's a big beanpot situation. Are you are you a hockey guy, too, Mike? Yeah. I couldn't sit here and have a conversation with you about the best players in the NHL. But my stepson just finished playing hockey up in Canada because I married a Canadian woman about 10 years ago. And because of that, I get to see more hockey than I ever saw.

And I've seen so many funny memes about, you know, what happened with USA and Canada the other day. Right. Did you see the one where the U.S. coach, they used A.I. to put different words in his mouth in his press conference? No, I didn't see that. Oh, my God.

It looked like he said what they I mean, it was scary to me what they could make this guy sound like he was saying. So, again, I know you do the pod with Lee, your daughter, just hearing you talk about A.I. and memes. I don't know who you are anymore. Who are you, Mike? You're into memes and A.I.?

You're like you're plugged in. Look at you. I'm the kinder, friendlier Mike right now. All right.

Fantastic. So let's just jump into a couple of things right here, Mike, as we're going to be heading to the Combine in about a week's time. And you've been looking at the incoming class here. Give me the deepest player group that we're going to see coming up in a week.

Mike, what do you think here? I think there are two or three groups that really intrigue me, Rich. The first is the defensive tackle group.

I did a study the last five years at every position. And at the defensive tackle position, an average of about nine defensive tackles go in the first three rounds. This year, I've got 20 plus guys that I could give first three-round grades on, which is at least twice as many as a year ago, Rich. So there's quality at the top, led by two University of Michigan guys. There's depth that's mind-boggling. And what tells me as a former GM is that if I need one of those guys, I can probably find a quality starter in the fourth or fifth round at defensive tackle.

So that's the group that jumped out at me. Secondly were the tight ends. Again, quality at the top, another Michigan guy, Loveland, I think he's a first-round pick. I think Tyler Warren from Penn State is fascinating. He's a first-round pick.

Mason Taylor, son of Jason Taylor. I think I like him more than most people, but he kind of flashed at the Senior Bowl, and I think at worst he's going into second. There are quality tight ends throughout all three days. And then, like usual, Rich, and which maybe prompts a bigger conversation, there are more running backs available in the draft every year than there are spots for them in the NFL.

So the supply-demand curve for running backs is one of the reasons they've been undervalued for years now. But when I look at this running back class, Ashton Genti's a top-ten pick all day long for me. I think he's a top-five talent in this draft. I love the kid. His contact balance is off the charts.

Kid from North Carolina, O'Marion Hampton. He's like six feet, 220. He's a big back with the fluidity of a smaller back. He can play on all three downs, he'll pass protect, he can catch the football.

And again, to me, that's a first-down back. And there's two kids from Ohio State, Quinn-Shawn Jenkins and Trevion Henderson, both of whom I think go in the top 40. So you can go all through day three with good running backs that will fill rosters in the NFL, but the quality at the top is what really hits me. And really, my big-picture thing on the running backs, because of Saquon, Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs. I mean, Joe Mixon traded for a seventh-round pick. Every one of those guys balled out last year. And I think the whole conversation of running backs and their value needs to be reevaluated by GMs throughout the league. All right, so that's a lot right there.

Let me pull on a few strands. Interesting you mentioned the two Ohio State running backs. They're terrific, and it kind of brings it full circle of what you just said, because thankfully Chip Kelly decided he kept running those guys directly into those two tackles from Michigan. Now you say her at the top of the draft, and you know I always take my shot at the Buckeyes if Michigan wins in a gratuitous manner. But that kid Tyler Warren, let's land on him for a little bit. Anytime Penn State needed a big play, they kept looking for him. And so how do you think he's going to be based on the Brock Bowers moments that we saw this past year, and how maybe somebody's going to look at Tyler Warren or maybe even Loveland through the prism of Brock Bowers, Mike?

What do you think there? There are different kind of players, and a year ago I thought Tyler Warren was coming out, and they had another tight end at Penn State named Theo Johnson who went the fourth round. To the Giants. And a lot of people had Theo Johnson over Warren. But this year they started using Warren in a variety of ways, and I think the versatility he showed is tied in with the value for this year's draft. I mean he lined up at Wildcat quarterback, he lined up at running back, he lined up in line, he lined up out wide. If you watch USC, I forget how many catches he had, but it was something like 15, 16 catches.

I've never seen a tight end have that kind of game at the collegiate level before. So he's bigger. He'll remind your body type more of a Gronk, whereas a Loveland, that guy's a little bit smaller, more of like a Travis Kelce type. So it's a little different conversation. I think Loveland moved better than Warren moves, but Warren's a bigger body and blocks better. So it really is going to be what you ask, what flavor do you want?

What are you going to ask the guy to do? And I think that I've actually got Loveland slightly ahead of Warren only because in the NFL I don't think Warren's going to be able to do the diversity of things he did at Penn State. Mike Mayock here on the Rich Eisen Show. And let's get into the running back conversation. I think it is fascinating what you said, because it's a deep pool for this year's draft. But I mean, my goodness, Saquon Barkley showed you what the value of a running back can be. And if you pay the guy, you can not only just take him from another team in your division, you can win a Super Bowl with him as a 2,000 yard rusher. Derek Henry, you mentioned Josh Jacobs as well.

If I'm not mistaken, you drafted in your first draft with the Raiders. Why is there such a sensibility amongst the general manager group about not paying running backs, or at least looking at this as the spot where you're going to save on the cap instead of spending for the value that you know you're going to get with somebody who's at the top end? Mike, walk me through this mindset, if you don't mind here. It's supply and demand and financials, Rich. And it's the opposite of the quarterback conversation. We don't have 32 starting quarterbacks in the NFL. So we push them up in the draft, and we pay them money. The running back position, a little bit like a guard, a little bit like a safety, a little bit like the ball linebacker. When you think there are enough of those guys coming out of college football to staff starting rosters throughout the NFL, they don't get paid as much.

Supply and demand. I think the general manager world in general kind of got caught up with, well, we can go get an Isaiah Pacheco in the seventh round and win a Super Bowl. And you can. And I don't deny that in the third day of every draft, there are quality running backs. And you wouldn't say that about quarterbacks.

You wouldn't say that about a lot of positions. But at running back, the colleges supply us with those quality players. My argument, Rich, is when you've got a difference maker, why the hell wouldn't you draft them, trade for them, sign them as a free agent at any position? And you saw what happened last year with the running backs. Quality running backs traded places in free agency. They all had big years. They all led their teams to playoffs. They all made it easier for their offensive lines and their quarterbacks to win football games.

And to me, that's kind of the hidden thing beyond it all. And if you look at pick a name, Najee Harris in Pittsburgh, right, they didn't even exercise the fifth year option on him a year ago, where if they had, they could pay him six million dollars this year. Instead, they rolled the dice. Najee went out and had his fourth consecutive thousand yard season.

And if they franchise, it'll be 13 million. So I kind of look at this thing and as we're out of whack a little bit, and I think you're going to see that start to settle down a little bit as general managers and head coaches say, you know what, quality at any position is critical and we got to have that guy. Mike Mayock here on the Rich Eisen Show. Speaking of quarterbacks and this quarterback class, I want to ask you about what Cam Ward had to say on Monday night after winning the Davey O'Brien trophy. And he was asked about not playing in the second half of Miami's bowl game and his response, I'm going to read it out loud for my radio audience, and then I'll have you comment, Mike, okay, you're either going to draft me or you're not. If you don't draft me, that's your fault. You've got to remember you're the same team that's got to play me for the rest of my career. And I'll remember that. I just think we all got what we needed out of it, meaning playing in the first half of his bowl game. They've seen things that they think they need to work on for this season coming up. And they also knew what I had on the line. We feel like we're doing what's best for the program and myself. It was a hard decision, especially when some guys on our team didn't play who I thought should have played. Hold on a minute.

He finishes up. Those guys thought about their future the same way I thought about mine. If I could do it again, I'd do it the same way. I wish we could have ended up winning the game. If we'd won the game, they wouldn't have said anything. And so that's usually how it goes.

Take it on the chin and just keep pushing. How is this going to land in the evaluator class, Mike? What do you think? There's a lot to unpack there as you read it to me. First and foremost, as far as not playing in the second half, to me, you make that decision on the way in and either play the whole game, you're a teammate, you're a good teammate, you're in there to win a football game, or you let them know upfront I'm not playing.

It can't be both. That decision I don't like that and I don't understand it. And the second piece of that that I didn't like and I think people will take notice of is throwing teammates under the bus. And that's something an NFL quarterback has to learn very quickly in his career that you're going to get paid more than everybody else. Therefore, you're going to have more responsibility than anybody else. And since you're being quoted more than anybody else, you've got to be really cognizant of what you're saying.

And throwing coaches and teammates under the bus generally is it doesn't work whatsoever. So there are two things for me. And the last one is I've done a lot of study on this kid and I respect the fact, do you know where he started his college career?

Go for it. Incarnate word. You ever hear of it? Did they play at two in the morning on Saturday night on ESPN Plus? I don't know, Mike.

I hear you. I don't think they ever played on TV, but he spent two years there, two years at Washington State and a fifth year at Miami where he exploded. So I give the kid a ton of credit from coming from nowhere and forcing himself to the front of the line. But when you're sitting there, say you're going to take names and numbers and all that kind of stuff, you better check your resume. If Deion Sanders says that, I'm all in. I love when Iman Ross St. Brown sits there who is a fourth round pick and coming off two or three consecutive hundred reception years goes, I know every friggin' wideout that could took it ahead of me and he reels them off. I love that.

But you got to be a little more careful when you're Cam Ward from incarnate word, etc. Okay. So let me, let me, uh, let me ask, so what's he going to hear when he walks into the interview rooms next week in Indianapolis? A lot of what you just said, Mike, or do you think there's some other general managers who might take a different point of view and just say, kind of dig it, kind of like it.

You're one of ours. What do you think, Mike? I'm hoping they're not going to ask him if he's a, he'd be a dog or a cat.

I never really understood that one. Um, he, they're going to dig into him a little bit rich. And, and if you, you know, the higher you go in the draft, the more you got to pick at the scabs. And um, so do you like a little bit of confidence in bravado at that position?

Hell yeah, absolutely. And that's why I'm not discounting it because Iman Ross St. Brown, who I mentioned has a chip on his shoulder and it drives him. And I like that.

Okay. I like players that have a chip and it drives them. But that whole statement you just read opens up some conversations and he's going to have to deal with it. And, and I think it's a great lesson also for him as he goes forward, because he's going to get quoted an awful lot going forward in his life. Cam Newton said he wanted to be an icon right before he came into the combine and you and I were talking about on NFL network, kind of like what gives, but he did kind of become iconic Mike, you know, so sometimes a kid calling his shot like that is not a red flag, but maybe an indication that he's got it, you know, I, you know, let's, there's a different confidence in bravado can be two different things and really you only can find out what they are through the prism of hindsight. And if, if you look at Cam Newton recently, he just threw some other guys under the bus, but he said he wanted, he would, he would want to win a, an MVP over a Superbowl is what you're saying, Mike?

No, no. When he, he ripped his teammates in Carolina for when he first got there and then Steve Smith went after him. He basically said they were losers before he, uh, that's right. He called it a locker room full of losers and you can imagine our buddy Steve Smith. That's right.

Oh man. Uh, before I let you go, Mike, um, word is, uh, that the Bengals as franchise tagging opens today, um, are, they, they wanted, they, they already had an issue with Jamar chase last year and kick that can to right now after franchise tagging T Higgins last year. And there's Trey Hendrickson sitting out there as well after winning the sack race last year in the NFL idea is that the Bengals want to do all three of them. You know, Joe burrow said based on what he saw from the Eagles, Hey, they seem to be paying everybody and, and they just want it all. How realistic is that for the Bengals in your estimation to go sign Jamar chase T Higgins, Trey Hendrickson longterm, or at least get them all to agree to whatever they have in mind. Mike, I think it's very difficult to, to actually do.

And let's walk through it quickly and you can tell me what direction you want to go. But sure, there is a Joe burrow factor. You know, he signed in 23 five year extension. Um, he's very willing to work with Cincinnati just like Patrick Mahone's always has been.

Uh, and they continue to kick down that contract down the road in Kansas city. Now the cap for this year in the NFL is about 272 million burrows average is 46 million on his new contract, which is about 17% of the cap, which interestingly is about where you want a quote franchise quarterback to be plus or minus 17% of your cap. Okay. So burrows right there. Uh, if they franchise tag T Higgins again, that'll be 26 million.

Okay. So burrows at 46 T would be at 26. The Jamar chase thing is a hard conversation because he's coming off a triple crown. They probably should have taken care of him a year ago. He's the best wide out in football. Justin Jefferson's got about a $35 million average. So, you know, you gotta figure he's worth 38 to 40 and he's going to want it. And by the way, he's earned it.

Okay. So would they dare kick that can down the road and pay him 22 million this year and say, Hey, we can go tag you next year. Um, I don't think they should. And especially because they have one of the best quarterbacks in pro football and you want him to be all in. So it starts to look to me a little bit rich, like the Peyton Manning Indianapolis Colts back in the day with bill Polian as the GM. And what they did was they put all their money on offense and it was Peyton, it was, uh, Adrian James at tailback.

It was whoever the prime wide out was Marvin or, um, Reggie, Reggie Wayne, right? They, they pushed all the money on offense and then be defense was incumbent to draft. Well, and sign cheap free agents and hang in there.

We're going to win with offense, which brings me to Trey Hendrickson, right? He's going to be 31 in December. The top edge rusher, I think is Nick Boles at like 34 million maybe. So I don't even know if he's making half of 34 million right now, but if you were, say, go out and you want to pay him 30 million, which I don't think they would or could, if you add up borough, chase Hendrickson and Higgins based on the numbers I just gave you, it's about 140 million or approximately 52% of your salary cap on, on four players. So you got to pay 49 players with 48% of your cap.

I think their priority because of borough are going to be the two wide outs and then try and get Hendrickson done too. Um, but heading into, you know, age 31 at this point, uh, I think they could get it done, but it's all about structure. You can't cheat the salary cap.

You can delay it. Um, and all those numbers I just gave you were averages, not necessarily for this year or next year, just averages. So there are ways with signing bonuses to mitigate some of that. So it's like a jigsaw puzzle and that's probably way more than you wanted to hear. That's me putting the GM cap on and trying to explain it.

Um, those are the challenges, rich. It's perfect. That was awesome. My only problem is that, uh, unlike the NFL cap, I can't kick my heart out down the road here on our radio.

So, uh, I think we've hit that part of our cap. Mike, you're the best. I can't thank you enough for wanting to do this every Tuesday through the draft. Can't wait to do this every single week with you.

Thanks brother. That's Mike Mayock. Everybody check him and Lee Mayock out on the believe podcast network. And of course here on the rich eyes and show every single Tuesday. God, I love talking to Mike. Makes me smarter. Makes me want to talk more ball with him.

And thankfully we shall. Let's talk turbo tax people. You might be sitting there going, wait a minute, rich.

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Get an expert now on turbo tax.com. No one knows music like Rolling Stone. Senior writer Brian Hyatt talks the biggest music news from the biggest stars. Almost everyone is teaming up on Drake.

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Now follow and listen on your favorite platform. So we could have, we could have had a movie about, uh, about, uh, somebody who's what, a half nothing, a hundred pounds, nothing could have called it David. Huh?

And then we could have had Bo, we could have had Bo up there and everybody could have put their Michigan jerseys on the desk. Did that really happen, David? Well, of course not. Did you know that? But you know something the other night, you know, you got me going cause the other night I just Googled, I said, how much of this blank is true? And I started putting in a list of sports movies. You know, we are Marshall the blind side, remember the Titans, blah, blah, blah.

We come off like a Ken Burns documentary compared to most of those movies. I'm not joking. You want to explain to me how, uh, what you told me on Monday that Rudy has heard what I've had to say about this subject. I haven't told my guys what about this, but please, I give you the floor. Is this true that Rudy, that this, what I have said into this microphone has filtered in the direction of Mr. Rudiger directly to Las Vegas, Nevada.

And, um, it was very interesting. I have not talked to Rudy. Angelo has, and apparently Rudy was pretty incensed, incensed enough to go to his neighbor, Mike Tyson, and ask him if he would train him to get you in the rain to put you where you belong. Hold on a second. Back the truck up.

Hold on. So the real Rudy lives in Las Vegas next to Mike Tyson, who he has apparently asked for, uh, like training advice. So he could come in.

You know what? I heard this through him, but it could have been, I know that Floyd Mayweather, it might've been Mayweather. Oh, by the way, what was not in the movie is that when Rudy was at Holy cross and he was, you know, uh, you know, trying to come off as a Notre Dame student, getting in the cheering section, getting the helmets, all that. He also joined what they called, and I don't know if they do it today, but it was a campus wide boxing tournament and it was called the bangle bouts and dudes. He won it as a Holy cross dude, masquerading as a Notre Dame student. And he won and we had it originally in the script, but we had to cut it out.

Well now hearing about, um, his ability to fight, you better start playing nice with Rudy. What a great film this is David. I mean, now you tell me the backstory. I mean, wow.

It's a, it's quite a moving, a piece of cinema that you put together and I haven't backed down on it. You haven't stood up. Wasn't there a chance that we could have ran into Rudy at fanatics Fest last August? There was a chance he was there the same time as us. That is correct, bro. Which is why I was trying to have triple H hang with us as much as possible. Jake Paul, Jake Paul was there too.

Just keep those guys around. He doesn't hit anybody though. He tells him to take a dive. Okay.

I was so funny. It's like it was Tyson or no, it was Floyd. You got height and weight and reach on Floyd. Pound for pound. I'm better.

Well, you're bigger. I don't think either one was going to be there. I ain't going to be there fun back on the rich eyes and show, Hey, the play of the week presented by sleep number is not a play. It's uh, it's, it's, it's USA versus Canada. Just throwing down and dropping gloves. Sean McDonough, Ray Ferraro with the call. And this coordination is underway and the gloves are off. Hey, if you could Chuck and Brandon Hagle did not see this coming. This was sent here.

They come right here, right? Right before the first kachuk fight. This was set up.

Here you go. Ben in the lineup for the first time Brady gets the better of this one. Now we're nine seconds in.

We had a fight to seconds in another one, one second later, three tilts in nine seconds. Oh my God. I'm sure sleep number is so happy, but guess what? Sleep better together.

Say 50% of the new sleep number, limited edition, smart bed, limited time exclusively to sleep number store. Hey, it's on and cracking Jay fellow. You what did you Instagram out a Kendrick Lamar and a team USA.

I did. I was getting a lot of booze from, uh, the Canadians over the weekend. And then somebody said Dylan from Vancouver snuck in your DMS. Dylan from Vancouver will be calling in to talk about this. Don't you worry Baker J feel and guess who called in starting 15 minutes before the show? Dylan in Vancouver. Rich Eisen. I'm smiling ear to ear today.

It's my birthday and you started the show talking about hockey. Me Cooper say Quan. Yeah.

I'm just missing my ring. That's right. What are you, what's your problem?

Dylan? What are you going to do? Jay, the game is appointment viewing. It's going to be more entertaining than the super bowl.

I promise you this. We're in a place right now where the NFL is still figuring out what a catch is. The MLB is dealing with their luxury cap issue. The NBA stars are sitting in there relying on G league players to carry the all star game in on Saturday. There was 30 minutes of fights rich in nine seconds.

This is the most passion in sports right now. My birthday wish is that all rich eyes and viewers and listeners are tuning in on Thursday. I need Alan Dallas. I need Terzo in Iowa.

I need all of them. I need Connor in New York. I know I know Josh in Toronto with me.

I need you guys. All right. What a way for us to wrap up our number one here on the rich guys and show Dylan. Dylan, you still there? Dylan, you still there? Dylan. I am very much still here.

All right. Now we have two minutes of real estate here on the Roku sports channel. What's your problem with Jay Felley being all nationalistic? He's fired up. I love it.

I need more rich eyes and correspondence talking hockey. I am was very happy. I mean, I don't want to be on the receiving side of a Kendrick meme anytime. And I will be I will be happy to reciprocate those memes on Thursday night. Okay, good enough. Thanks for the call, Dylan. Maybe we were assuming Dylan had bad intentions because you were in Vancouver on Friday night. Just like Mike Mayock, I married a Canadian woman. So I've been spending a lot of time there.

Okay. Was at a casino. I was rooting for USA and getting a lot of booze in return in Vancouver, in Vancouver. So what was happening? You're watching. I'm watching the game for nations face off. Yeah. I'm just rooting along. Okay. So you're wearing your L.A. Dodger hat in Vancouver, rooting for Team USA as they're literally throwing down with Team Canada. Yeah. And the nice Canadians were having problems with you? Yeah. There was some booze, a couple of fingers and fingers. It was great.

That must be what it feels like for a Patriot Super Bowl. Yeah, it was great. Wow. I forgot what that was. So you were you were the enemy within. I was. It was great.

Were you close to almost fighting anyone? No. Okay. There's still very nice people over there. Okay, great. Even though the alcohol content is a little bit higher over there.

It's like moonshine. Yeah, man. I mean, Dylan and Vancouver. Listen. Okay. I understand what he said about the association and I understand what he said about baseball. I mean, don't come for the NFL is all I'm saying. Okay.

Well, he said that it was the Super Bowl this year was a little boring. I understand that. I get it. Yeah. I mean, it was great if you were rooting for the Eagles.

Oh, is that right? But I wasn't. He was not. So for me, he was not. It was great.

I had a great time watching Super Bowl. Hey, listen, Kevin Hart was entertaining, as always. He always is at the NBA All-Star game.

Yeah, he really he really was bad. There was a shot of Shaq and Kevin Hart standing there. And it's just the difference in size between two human beings is just so insane. Did you see the photograph he IG'd out on his Instagram of him standing at half court with all of the NBA All-Stars around him, Kat and everyone else. And he's in the frame and everyone else is cut off at the chest. And he said off with their heads.

That was his post. Hey, man, the NBA, I'm rooting for it. The NHL had the better weekend. As they say in hockey, let's do that hockey. Well, building expert Candy Valentino paves the path to success.

I'm sorry, you're a human with a heart and lungs. There's no price tag that you can put on a service that you offer. And everyone that I know, every entrepreneur, they all have one common goal. You want to strive to be like the Ritz-Carlton of your industry. Do the work, take the time to really understand and master these things. It's really essential to your path for success. The Candy Valentino Show. Time to invest in your future. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.