Dianna Russini: The Chiefs Have To Fix Their Offensive Line

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Sucks. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Apparently Oscar Robinson responded. Did you see that? He said, who cares what Draymond Green has to say?

From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. How about this? The four nations for the NBA. Team USA, Team Canada, France, the rest of Europe.

That means Luca and Jokic can play with them on the same team. Today's guest, senior NFL insider for the athletic, Diana Rossini, Sirius XM NBA radio host Frank Isola, actor Clancy Brown. And now it's Rich Eisen.

That's right. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Live on the Roku Sports Channel every single day. 12 to 3 Eastern Time right on this Roku portal where you can pretty much get everything. Sports, comedy, entertainment.

It's all sitting right here. 844204rich is the number to dial right here on the Infinity Sports Network as well. Coast to coast. 120 radio affiliates.

Smart enough to have us. We appreciate that. Sirius XM Channel 375. We say hello to our Odyssey audience as well.

844204rich is the number to dial. We've got tons of time to chat with you. Some great guests talking NBA, talking football, talking entertainment.

That's what we do every single day here on the program. I'm thrilled to have you with us today. Chris Brockman, good to see you. Rich Eisen, great to see you. Good to see you DJ Mikey D's and D's Nuts.

How you doing Rich? I'm in pain. Are you really starting this show talking about your maladies? Is that what you're saying? Yeah.

His back is in bad shape. Well I'm glad you answered the bell though Mike. Thank you Rich. Good to see you.

Maybe it's bending down to feed all those rodents. No one of them is dead. I told you once guy. Good to see you over there TJ Jefferson. How are you? What's up boys? You know I thought about our golden girls talk yesterday so I broke out a B Arthur. Run the jewels shirt today. Alright. TJ and bang.

There she is. B Arthur on TJ Jefferson's chest. You know what this is part and parcel of what's going on in the sports world right now. Nothing.

Nothing. Honestly we're waiting for the NBA second half of the season begins tonight Lakers. Yeah Lakers. There's a game tonight. There's a game tonight.

We're just dipping our toe back in the pool is that it? Respectfully I won't say nothing's going on because NXT was amazing last night. My apologies and no contest wrestling records later on today.

O'Shea Jackson Jr. will be here to do that with TJ Jefferson. We're waiting for the four nations finale tomorrow night between the United States and Canada right? I was joking that the anger between the two teams was about the tariffs. Bill Garron the general manager of Team USA actually said that with a straight face. Like there's no history between Team USA and Team Canada or bad blood. Yeah I also was kidding about the 51st.

I didn't mean any of that. But he actually said that. And you know what we could do is what many of these shows will do. When there's not much to talk about it start with the Dallas Cowboys just because. But you know what? No no we're not doing it TJ. We'll do it later. We'll do it later. The coordinators spoke yesterday.

They gave the microphone to the new coordinators of the new head coach Brian Schottenheimer. You have got to be smoking something over there this morning. Rent free rent free. That's later on. That's later on. We've also got a power rankings list on this Wednesday. Top Dallas Cowboys? No no no. The top influencers of the NFL offseason.

Who's the number one cowboy of all time? Nice don't even start. Don't even start don't even start. Don't even start. And if you want to start, start it later. Okay. I'm always down for that.

But you know what we're going to do? Let's get Zach with it because you know he was a football in the brain. My buddy Daniel Jeremiah with whom I will be spending way too much time next week at the combine which starts next Thursday. The NFL sent out on its social media platforms today a rip of Derrick Henry working out at the combine in 2016.

That must have been incredible. There I am at the mic with Mayock and the rest of the crew and it just says I do look forward to the combine every single year. And it is one of those after two weeks of no football on the weekends you just miss it. It's just one big convention of let's get back together and talk about all 32 teams. Daniel Jeremiah's got a new mock draft out and you know it does not include trades. He only does that in his final mock draft the night before the NFL draft. And you should always pay attention to that because he nails stuff like say the Houston Texans trading up to the number three spot to go back to back and get C.J.

Stroud and Will Anderson in back to back picks. He nails that stuff like that for instance. How do you come up with something like that? Because he keeps his ear to the ground in all seriousness if you're asking me that question. He keeps his ear to the ground. He talks to everybody and everybody picks his brain. You know when Mayock was in that chair years ago you know who would fly Mike out to check out his draft board to say what do you think? His former special teams coordinator with the New York Giants Bill Belichick used to do that. Oh word.

So yeah coaches will reach out and scouts will reach out and general managers will reach out to somebody like D.J. to say what's your board look like? What do you think of mine? What do you think of this kid? What do you think of that kid? And so he keeps his ear to the ground and he gets this general sense of things and he'll throw it out there which is why when his mock drafts come out you know it's a needle rip off the record.

Got to pay attention. At least I do because I know how plugged in he is. And he's got the Titans taking Abdul Carter first overall. And that would be a disappointment to Chris because you hope that he falls to New England.

Want him. And he has Cam Ward going second which is interesting in his first mock draft he had Travis Hunter going there and having Cam Ward drop to the Giants third overall. This time around he has those swapped. He has the Browns saying we've got to go for a quarterback when we're sitting this high and no Deshaun Watson next year. And you take a look at anybody who's over the age of 30 coming back from Achilles injury playing at the quarterback position.

It takes a while. And they've got Cam Ward going. He's got Cam Ward going to the Browns. Travis Hunter to the Giants. Will Campbell the tackle from LSU going to New England. And Jacksonville selecting Mason Graham from Michigan at the middle of the defense to round out the top five. And the defensive tackle from Ann Arbor. And he's got Shadore Sanders landing with the Raiders sixth overall. Tyler Warren who I love watching play football at Penn State. Although Mike Mayock had Colston Loveland the tight end at Michigan ranked higher on his draft board as he was talking about on yesterday's program at the tight end spot. He's got the Jets going and taking Tyler Warren from Penn State seventh overall and then rounding out the top ten edge rushers from Georgia and Marshall respectively. Jalen Walker, Mike Green going to Carolina and the Saints. Kelvin Banks Jr. the tackle from Texas would be the latest addition to an offensive line in Chicago that my God needs help right away. Rich I think the ghosts of Kyle Brady will prevent Tyler Warren from going to the Jets. You mean Penn State tight ends?

Just maybe. That's funny. You know that's interesting because that was the draft two things. One where Warren Sapp was available and the Jets went ahead and took a tight end out of Penn State anyway. And if I'm not mistaken when we had Jed Fish the head coach of Washington football in studio a couple weeks ago. He told the story about how his college roommate at the University of Florida was a draft Nick who was hoping to become a general manager one day and was a die hard Jet fan who was livid about that Kyle Brady pick on the spot. That's right. That college roommate's name was Howie Roseman. Oh heard of him.

So there's that. And the reason why I bring all of this up now is because I love talking football. And number two is what did the Titans do with that first overall pick. Certainly if Cam Ward is expected to be first quarterback taken and maybe second overall by Cleveland. Is there somebody who falls in love with Cam Ward enough to call up the Titans to say we will trade a whole bunch for Cam Ward to make sure we are assured of drafting him because you put us in the first spot.

And then how far do the Titans drop and did the Titans just say screw it and take Cam Ward themselves because Will Levis didn't show Brian Callahan and the new staff there enough last year to say we're willing to stick with you. We're willing to develop you. We're willing to go with the ups and downs with you. You have been in our system for a year.

Year two will be better for all of us, for you and us. And we will forego Cam Ward and we will get a whole bunch of picks for trading out. Or do we go ahead and draft somebody who can get CJ Stroud on the ground, Anthony Richardson on the ground, Trevor Lawrence on the ground twice a year. And if we finally start to win this division again, like we did in the Vrabel hay days and the other hay days back in the day, maybe he's the guy who takes Josh Allen down and Lamar Jackson down and Patrick Mahomes down. What do you do if you're the Tennessee Titans? And I am not in that building. I am just an observer.

I would go with Cam Ward. I would say we don't want to be up here any longer. And or they do fall in love with Chador Sanders with all due respect to Will Levis. I know we have these conversations over and over and over again that you have to be patient.

You have to believe in your guy. They unfortunately didn't draft him. I don't know. I would sit here and say Cam Ward showed me enough to be a guy who, if I'm not mistaken, we have Trevor Sikkema on tomorrow at Pro Football Focus. Do you know who his comp is for Cam Ward? His name is Ben Roethlisberger. Oh, really?

Oh, he looks at him like a Big Ben, big armed, big guy for whom the place starts after he's hit. Wow. Good comp. And that would be his comp. And if he's a Ben Roethlisberger comp and can play like Ben and is physical like Ben and has that magic like Ben, how do you not hand his name in? Turn the card in. Right?

How do you not do that? Have to. In this day and age where you need a guy who can take a hit, deliver a hit. And the Colts have one of those guys if he does have the abilities to become more of a professional, which is what you're hearing out of Indianapolis. And if they're not sold on Cam Ward, I would trade the pick.

You need a ton of stuff. What if the Giants fall in love with him? Want to trade up from three to one?

All you got to do is drop down. You get a little bit. You wet your beak a little bit more and you still wind up with Abdul Carter. Maybe. I'm just wondering if we're going to see a ton of trades in the top of this draft.

Yeah, I keep I keep looking at Las Vegas. I think I know DJ has them getting Chador at six. I just feel like they're Tom Brady isn't there to wait and hope things happen. He's there to make stuff happen. Meaning? Moving up.

I just I don't know, man. I I think they can sit there and get Chador at six. You think so? Yeah.

And if they do that, if they just sit there and he falls to them. And Chador Sanders goes to the Las Vegas Raiders. But then it's what are the Giants doing? What a jackpot that would be. Yeah.

Big time. What an absolute jackpot that would be. But then from the New York perspective, that's two years in a row. The Giants pass on a quarterback and watch someone else take a guy to potentially change their franchise. And how do they not draft a quarterback and go back into this season in the manner in which they did last year?

And what do they do? That's part and parcel of the Giants will make their move in free agency first. You will. That's the crazy thing is the evaluation of the quarterback spot is coming fast. We'll be talking about this on NFL Network all next week. Daniel, Jeremiah, yours truly and the rest of the gang is that the Giants will evaluate Ward and Chador Sanders. And if they dig one of them or both of them, let's just say they dig both of them, then they sit there at three and one of them will essentially drop, one would think.

Or if they fall in love with them, they don't have to move too much capital to go ahead and rip the knob off on one. But that would be if this is just a fascinating part of everything about this draft that's starting right now. Or at least we're starting it right now because, well, you want to preview Lakers versus the Charlotte tonight?

We could do that. Is LeBron playing? I don't even know. He's questionable, actually. I do know that because half of my fantasy league, I'm waiting for the injury designation to be removed. Well, two hours before the All-Star game, he said he wasn't playing.

I'm just curious. I mean, you know, we can talk about the Dallas Cowboys right now. Wait a minute. I'm being told we'll do that later.

844-204 Rich, number to dial here on the program. The free agency front for the quarterbacks is fascinating, like I mentioned, because Sam Darnold and Aaron Rodgers. And will Kirk Cousins be available? Will Matthew Stafford possibly be in this mix?

I would be stunned if that's the case. So much afoot. So we will take a break. We'll come back and we'll have Diana Rossini back on this program. It's been quite some time. We ran into her at the Super Bowl a couple of times. And that's not the royal way. I'm talking about all of us.

And so the athletics, Diana Rossini will join us next to tell us what's going on. Also, Travis Kelce's future that's coming up. But nowadays, it's all about a TurboTax expert giving your taxes their undivided attention, just like your Fantasy League waiver wire. Experts file with 100 percent accuracy so you can get your best return guaranteed.

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Hey, Rich Eisen here. I hear from a lot of business owners like you about the work it takes to pursue your passions. So I know how important it is to have the tools that can help keep you moving forward. And with access to world-class business and travel benefits, the American Express Business Platinum Card helps you take your business to the next level. It offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business. Plus, you'll have 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. Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply. Learn more at American Express dot com slash AMEX Business. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, everybody, 844-204-Rich is the number to dial.

We'll have a conversation with you on all matters. So if we take a look at Daniel Jeremiah's second page, 11 through 20 of his mock draft, he has the 49ers taking Will Johnson, the corner out of Michigan, who hasn't played football since about week five of the season when I didn't blame him. I didn't blame him one minute when Michigan lost like its second or its third game of the year. And all of a sudden, Will Johnson was done.

I didn't as a Michigan fan, even I was I was like, I get it. You know, and then there's Kenneth Grant, the other Michigan tackle, for the lack of a better phrase. He and Mason Graham, for those who may not know, two of the best defensive tackles in college football that Ohio State kept running into. And it was great when that happened all the time. And Colston Loveland, there's the tight end, another Wolverine out of, he'd be perfect for Sean Payton.

Absolutely freaking perfect. And the final third, when you take a look at it, Treveon Henderson, the second running back taken. Ashton Gente would land all the way to Pittsburgh at 21. Dallas would pass up on him. He's got Walter Nolan, the defensive tackle out of Ole Miss going to Dallas. Ashton Gente would fall all the way to Pittsburgh. That would be unbelievable. The other thing that jumps out on this page, the Eagles take another Georgia player.

Yeah, Malachi Starks. And remember I said after the Super Bowl, hey, whoever is in a left tackle in college with a first round grade and is still on the board when the Chiefs are on, have your head in a swivel. Look for the area code coming out of Missouri. Let's start zillowing Kansas City.

Absolutely. And Josh Connolly Jr. out of Oregon, you're that guy. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Look who has stopped by from the athletic, our friend Diana Rossini, back here on the Rich Eisen Show, senior NFL insider for the athletic. How are you, Diana? Good to see you again. Great. Hi, Rich.

Hi, everybody there. I didn't get to see the group out there in New Orleans, but I did spend a little time with you. It was great to see with the new height, the new heights party. That was it.

That was it. That was a that was a fun time. Tons of Philadelphia Eagles were there and, you know, hanging out with Jason Kelsey just a few days away from winning it all. And I guess that's where I'd like to start with you, because I'm wondering what you're already hearing about the Chiefs plans post Super Bowl. I just mentioned in Daniel Jeremiah, my colleague from NFL Network's mock draft. He has Josh Carney Jr., the tackle out of Oregon, going to the Chiefs 31st overall. And we were basically saying, hey, this is this is what Brett Beach is going to do, just like the last Super Bowl loss, just try to hit that line. What's your sense of how the Chiefs are coming out of that Super Bowl fifty nine loss?

Yeah, they know they got to they got to get some protection here and they got to fix that right away. And we've seen them do it in the past. And I think if we had this conversation, even let's say, you know, the Saturday before the Super Bowl and you asked me about a player like Trey Smith, for example, I would have said, Rich, you know, with their cap situation, I think it would be really difficult to keep him. I could see him opening or hitting the free agency market.

And I know a lot of teams would be interested in him. But I think after what we saw in terms of performance and the lack of protection and really the problems that they've had with their offensive line this past season, I could see this organization making an effort to try to keep him, knowing that if they want to get back to the Super Bowl in the Bay Area next year, that has to be addressed. They've done it before. They've addressed it.

They fixed it. But I think that they are very aware in that building that that has to be the priority headed into free agency and headed into the draft as they await word from Travis Kelce as well in terms of what his future is going to be. And, you know, I can tell you from just having a few conversations with people around the league over the last few days, there's definitely a sense that that Travis is going to try to play more. I haven't heard anyone say, yeah, he's really struggling with what he wants to do. It's definitely leaning more towards that.

That can, of course, change. This is going to be his decision, his decision only. But for this Chiefs operation looking to move forward here, I think they feel pretty good that Travis has got a little bit more left in him. You know what? That would be great news, obviously.

And it really is, as you point out, his decision. It's like, does he want to get on with Travis Kelce 2.0, which is probably the entertainment version of Jason Kelce 2.0, which is a lot more sports centric, although there is some entertainment that he was dabbling in as well, Jason Kelce. But if Travis wants to get to that part of his life now, that's the question, is the struggle about working out and knowing what it takes physically to get to the level that he would accept to return, you know?

I remember talking to the Chiefs in the offseason about how Travis is managing everything from the play, the aging, the Taylor Swift effect, and then everyone just grabbing at him because his life has changed completely, as we all have seen over the last two years now. And, you know, someone there shared a story with me just a few days before they opened up to start the season. It was like a Monday night. People were trying to get out of the building.

It was like 830 at night. And the lights in the area where the guys do like the band work, just that extra small muscle stuff, there's Travis in there working. And that's been his identity there, that despite the fact that he does balance it all, he takes care of his body really well. He's not as open about it and vocal about it as we've seen like Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, where they're so focused on that caretaking and they share it with the world, where Travis just does it behind closed doors. And there's always been that belief that he does what he needs to do to keep up with that maintenance. So in regard to does he actually have any thing left?

Because I think there could be an argument made that he wasn't spectacular this year. There's definitely a sense that there's more there. And Travis is committed to doing that, knowing that that next chapter, that next chapter of his life that we're seeing Jason do that we know is going to be, I'm sure, very profitable and probably very enjoyable for Travis. It'll be there. It's not going anywhere. But football, once you once you leave, you can't get that back.

And I think he knows that. Diana Rossini here on The Rich Eyes and Show from the Athletic Scoop City podcast as well. So let's let's jump into some of the story lines that have blossomed since the Super Bowl. What's your reporting on what did happen between the two errands with the Jets, Rogers and Glenn?

Diana? Yeah, well, I think it's pretty obvious at this point that both sides decided that it was best to go in a different direction, not because one didn't like the other. I think with the new regime and the way Aaron Glenn wants to essentially restart this and change the culture, change the identity of what the New York Jets have been, the Jets were so hopeful with Aaron Rogers two years ago. And Rich, I know you've read a bunch of my reporting over the last two years since Rogers has been there and some of the disconnect and some of the problems that came with Rogers, some of it his fault, some of it the organization's fault, some of it just general PR. You know, but I think for this new regime, they felt that this needs to be a fresh start. So when they met, you know, late last week or two weeks ago now, right, you know, the conversation was friendly.

There was no anger or bitterness. It was, hey, look, you know, if you were to stay here, here's how we'd want it to go. You know, the Pat McAfee stuff has come up that I reported that they discussed that, that maybe that would look different for them in the future seasons if Rogers were to stay. The Pat McAfee show never really bothered people in the building. Nobody ever said to me, oh, man, I just wish he wouldn't do it. But everyone would brace for it.

It was all right. Aaron's back on ESPN. What are we going to get into today? So I think with the new regime, they just want to cut out the distractions. They want to get rid of the circus and clean this up.

And Woody Johnson made this higher because he wanted a leader of men. And there's a reason why Aaron Glenn got this job. And I think part of that is is to really do this cleanup and do the sweep to get the Jets back on track.

Well, I don't know the New York Post story over the weekend kind of, you know, it kind of rankled me because, you know, again, you're reporting about the McAfee stuff and Rogers and the Jets and they just didn't see eye to eye. And that's one thing. But to come out and basically say that he pleaded for another year or two, that means that there's an ax that's grinding somewhere.

There's somebody's grinding an ax. And it's just like, what's the point of that? Unless it's to get out there for somebody that Rogers wants to keep playing.

I don't know. You know, I don't think Rogers needs to leak that for the world to know he still wants to play. Guess what he can do? He can just have conversations with Les Snead right now.

You know, like if he really wants to get back in there, he can give Omar Khan a call or at least his agents can. So, yeah, I don't know where that came from. And I refuse to do the the source off and dig on who's saying what, because I just went through it for two years with the Jets with so much of my reporting because it comes with a lot of heat. And I'm not sure who that was that reported that.

But but let's I'll just go with what I know. And nobody had shared with me that Rogers was begging to stay a New York jet. In fact, this entire time, I knew that Aaron Rodgers wanted his time in New York to come to an end as well. He knew this chapter was over a while ago.

So unless there was a change of heart and he just really fell in love with the Jersey Shore, like I have a hard time believing he's sitting there going, you know, Woody, let's really fix this and make it work. And I can lead this team and we can fix all the problems. And it wasn't me. It was Salah.

It was Joe Douglas. I don't believe any of that. And I think most of the candidates that interviewed for this head coaching job with the New York Jets were asked the question directly from Woody.

Do you think we should stick with Aaron Rodgers? So there was a time where they considered it. And everybody said the same thing. No, no. You guys need to turn the page on him.

So while this new regime believed in it, almost every single candidate that interviewed for the job had the same sentiment. And I can tell you around the league, nobody's going, why would the Jets let him walk? No one's wondering why they did that. It's more this makes sense.

This didn't work. That's Diane Rossini. I see a breadcrumb dropped when I see one or hear one.

You mentioned if Rodgers has any interest in continuing to play, he could just call and you name the general managers of the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers. Are those those crumbs that I do I need to pick those up off the floor and follow up? Or you just were just throwing that out there, Diane? I don't do this show. You're too good at this damn thing.

I need I need a rich eyes filter. Sorry about that. I saw the breadcrumb dropped on the floor. You can pick that up.

What's up with that? Do I follow a dotted line here or what? No structure is good. I don't care how talented, how smart, how disciplined you can be. We all need it. And that means Aaron Rodgers as well. And I think of organizations that have a very firm structure to not just the way they run things, but just their offenses in general. And Sean McVeigh, to me, is one of the best to do it. And it's very clear that Sean is the voice of the Rams and the decision maker and has a tremendous ability to connect with with all types of different personalities. And I know that Rodgers has tons of respect for Sean McVeigh. So that doesn't seem completely off the grid if the Matthew Stafford situation doesn't iron itself out. Talking to a few people around the league today, just trying to say what everyone else thinks that the Rams are going to do here. Most people believe that Sean McVeigh is going to have a hard time parting ways with Stafford, knowing that he has such an understanding of the offense.

He doesn't mean much. It's what makes Stafford so great because he's so smart. You don't have to really get involved with the quarterback play because Matthew can just take care of what he needs to do.

And there's value in that. We'll see how they'll be able to shake this out if it does work itself out. But there's definitely belief around the league that that Stafford and the Rams will figure it out. But if let's say they don't because we've seen this stuff happen. We saw it happen last year with them. It bled right into training camp where we didn't know what was going to happen there with the contract. I think that Rogers would make sense and I think it would be something that I could see them having a conversation with him.

It just it's really going to come down to if teams think he still has enough himself. Right. Because I think from from we'll just say the shoulders up the arms up.

That's all fine. That's all there. But there's obviously some lower body issues that he's still dealing with from that injury. He didn't put together any great tape this last year with the Jets. So it's really good to be about whether or not a coach, a general manager and even perhaps maybe some front office people, if they still think that the Aaron Rodgers that we all know and that we love and that we've seen play in some spectacular moments, if he still has some of that. So what is the Steelers plan? Best you can tell at quarterback right now. And I know that's kind of a dicey question. The fact that if I asked you that question one year ago at this point in time, I don't know if anybody said, well, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, you know what I mean? And and so that said, what what is your sense of it right now? It's funny you say that because in a way, I feel like our answer to you last year is kind of the same this year, which is they're going to look for a veteran quarterback, a bridge quarterback, and essentially continue to do what the Steelers do, which is rely on the defense, rely on the run game.

Granted, it's a very expensive defense. And we could argue maybe they didn't live up to to what the the potential they could have had or should have had. But I think in regard to the quarterback position, you know, I think there's a lot of chatter about which quarterback they're going to keep. Knowing that the owner came out publicly and said, we want to keep one of these guys at being either Justin Fields or Russell Wilson. I think they are discussing everything.

In fact, I know they are. They are trying to sort of search under every rock of how are we going to move forward here, knowing that we need a quarterback and we need a good one. I have a hard time believing that the Pittsburgh Steelers would be a team in on, let's say, a Sam Darnold or if the Stafford situation didn't work out. I think it would be a smart play. I don't know if that's necessarily the Pittsburgh way that they would do if they would bring someone like a Matthew Stafford who would cost that much.

I just. At this point right now, in late February, I think the Pittsburgh Seals are just going to go for a veteran quarterback and perhaps keep a Justin Fields on this roster. What are the Bengals going to do here?

I mean, can they really pull off this trifecta of Chase, Higgins, Hendrickson and follow what Joe Burrow basically told them to do through, you know, Big Cat and PFT saying the Eagles are paying everybody. Why can't we? I mean, what's that? I know. And we followed Joe for so long. He's such a pro. He's so private. So if he's saying this publicly and he's been pretty consistent. I mean, I know Big Cat and PFT got dug in on a little bit more than others, but Joe was pretty comfortable making it clear he's disappointed with the way the business has been run in Cincinnati. Now, if he's doing that publicly, I would love to know what the conversations have been behind closed doors because he seems like a type of athlete that likes to keep those conversations there.

And maybe he's not getting the answers he wants to hear. And so he's like, all right, well, now it's time to turn the heat up a little bit. I'm going to go to the number one sports podcast in the world and tell them that I need my guys. I need T. Higgins back. I need Jamar Chase to be the highest paid wide receiver.

I need Trey Hendrickson back on my defense, a defense that got old and costly and obviously cost Lou Anna Ruma whose job essentially it needs to be revamped. They have so much work to do. So the question that you ask is, can they do it? I don't believe so.

I don't. Look, could I see them tagging T. Higgins and attempting to trade him to get something in return and T. Higgins getting paid the number he's looking for, which is essentially around 30, 31 million a year. Yeah, that makes sense to buy them some time here. I know just from talking to some people there that they are trying to work something out.

I just don't necessarily know if it's realistic. I think it's fun and fair and kind and supportive to say we want to do this. We're going to get this done. But when push comes to shove with Joe Burrow on the contract that he's on with, you know, I think he's up against the cap for like forty six million.

It's very, very costly. So I just I don't see it working out unless they do some Eagles Howie Roseman magic. That's right. Maybe there's only one team that can somehow pull that sort of stuff off, which is kind of crazy because they they pay Jalen Hurts. They did pay.

They paid everybody. I mean, but they have made the smart moves on defense. As you're pointing out, Cincinnati hasn't drafted as well or didn't get, you know, the Zach Bonds of the world to try and get that side of the football handled. What's the story of the going in the combine? Diana, what do you think that is? What are you hearing? How desperate teams are for a quarterback like that?

That to me is got my attention. As you know, the great Bill Parcells once said, you never go to the grocery store hungry. And there are teams starving right now. And I'm curious to see how this is going to work in terms of the Sam Darnold market. I mean, I don't know if this could have played out any better for Sam Darnold. What is this market truly going to be when we start hearing and seeing meetings and people chatting, chatting around the combine about those teams that are going to be interested in him? Because I have a very strong feeling that Sam Darnold is going to have a very fat, saturated market.

And as you heard Kevin O'Connell express, he deserves it. Sam Darnold deserves to be paid after having a Pro Bowl season and really playing up to the potential that we've been hearing about for years. You put him with a great head coach, you put him in a good program and you get this version. And I think there's some teams out there who think that they can do that. The Matthew Stafford situation, as we've talked about here, how is that going to pan out? How are those conversations going to go in Indy? And then let's just take the free agent, potential free agent or the trade quarterback situations off the table. Let's just talk draft then, you know, which teams are going to try to move up because they're desperate to get a quarterback. Are the Giants going to be running after Mike Burgonzi and being like, hey, man, I know you're the new GM here, but why don't you make a big splash and let us trade and move up so we can go get a quarterback that we want? Because that's where I think the New York Giants really want to go. I think it's the draft that they want to get a guy. So that might be something obviously to keep in your mind's eye for the combine. But as we look at that draft order, if you wouldn't mind putting that up one more time.

Thank you, Mr. Hoskins. You know, you've got you got two teams right there in the middle of the top, I guess, six, right, that don't need a quarterback. Jets are hoping, I guess, one could drop or they handle their business in free agency. I imagine Sam Darnold would chuckle if he sees a call coming from Florham Park, you know, to say, how would you like a reunion with us?

I can't imagine, but I don't know. I mean, you got the Patriots sitting there at four with a ton of teams in front of them that our quarterback hungry one would think. What's your two cents on on the draft order on what you're hearing on on any of those fronts? Yeah, I don't think that's good. That's not going to be the order we see that night.

I can tell you that. I expect the teams to be moving up. I can tell you there's already teams there that are open for business that that want to move out or the Titans, one of them, do you think? I think the Titans are open to it for sure.

I do. I a few weeks ago, I initially a few weeks ago, I really felt strongly based on some of the conversations I was having that they were definitely going quarterback. I'm like, there's no question the way this last season went, Brian Callahan, they were the worst team in football, yet they had a decent roster. They've got some talent there.

Brian Callahan is going to want to get a quarterback that he can win with. But since then, I've really learned more about how they're approaching this. And it seems that they want to continue building for not just this upcoming season, but for the future. So I think they're going to be open.

And I think these are conversations that are being had there. I think the New England Patriots are a team that we should watch that would probably be open. They've got their quarterback. They've got tons of money.

Why wouldn't they answer the phone from let's just say the Raiders, from the Jets, maybe the Saints, maybe even Chicago? So there's got to be some action here. And look, it's only February. What is this thing going to be like the first week of April?

If I'm already here and now, teams are open. So this is going to get moving. When you say maybe even Chicago, who would they be interested in?

What do you think? And moving up to so far, six spots. I mean, because they've got their quarterback, who would they fall in love with there? I mean, this class, if we could put just a headline on how this class has been described to me as if you're looking for an offensive lineman, you're going to be in heaven because this is a great group. So that's an area where I could see the Bears maybe trying to beef up on because that those type of players are on the boards right now and graded very high. Knowing that, look, this how many times we said it's a it's a weak quarterback class. So outside the two big names that we know of with Sanders and Ward, after that, it's a it's a drop off. And I've got GMs telling me I'm nuts for even talking to you about saying that those guys are first round quarterbacks. So we'll we'll see how much that narrative changes.

All right. And the last minute I have here, the Myles Garrett trade, what do you think would be the timing of it if there is one? Yeah, I expect that to pick up actually over the next week or two, knowing that Myles Garrett's agent is going to be at the combine talking to teams, talking to people around the league about what's going on. I can just tell you what I know at this point, and that's the Browns do not want to move him. They've gotten calls from teams in the NFC, they've gotten calls from the teams in the AFC, and they've been told all the same thing. We're not moving him for now.

So I have found the word for now interesting because the conversations I've had have been more. No, it's the just kill the story. We're not trading them. It's over like to stop. Myles is going to be in Cleveland, but for now makes it interesting. So I think we could see some movement if there is any. If Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski wind up, let's say, maybe taking a page out of the way Houston did it with Deshaun Watson, where it was essentially an auction, right, where it was everybody put together their best offers. And at the end, they made a decision of, OK, this is what we're going to do. So we'll see if it gets down there or if it goes down that road.

But I can tell you, especially when I was in New Orleans, the Browns were very, very loud about making sure we all knew to put out to the world that they are not moving Myles Garrett. We'll see how that pans out. No doubt. Diana Russini, thank you for the time. Let's do this more often. Keep crushing it.

Thank you. I'd love to. I'd love to catch up with you at the Combine. Maybe we'll have a cocktail at the Combine and share some stories. We will do exactly that. I'll see you next week in Indy. Thanks, guys.

Diana Russini from the Athletic right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Lots to chew on, and we will do that when we come back. And the best part, you won't even have to break down a car sized Amazon box after because you'll pick up your Hyundai at the dealer. I mean, picture this.

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Results may vary based on input check responses for accuracy. Can you tell me the story, the famous story of you noticing John Candy in the crowd before that two minutes? The Bengals and your second Super Bowl win over against him? Yeah, it was, you know, it was kind of funny because, as you know, TV timeouts are forever in the Super Bowl. Tell me about it. So I had been to the sideline once, maybe even twice, and we were just standing out there waiting for the signal to start to play.

We were, I think we had the ball in the eight. And Harris Parton was a people person, so we were free for dinner during the week. But, you know, practice and meetings and then come back after dinner and more meetings. So when he would come back from dinner, he was like a little kid. He could not wait to tell you about all the celebrities he saw while he was at dinner. And so I had we were just standing there in between the tight end and his shoulder was framed John Candy in the crowd. He was on the sideline. Oh, he's on the sideline. And so I was and I sat there and I. I looked and I go, dang, I remember Harrison saw John Candy. This is what you're thinking in the Super Bowl with minutes to go and needing to drive down the field. OK, well, yeah.

So I walked over and said, hey, age. And there's John Candy. And Harris stood like this for eight minutes. Perfectly still, he's a little bit anal that way. He would not move. He was like, I didn't do it to unwind him. I just thought he would appreciate John Candy. But he started mumbling some things. What do you know? I don't know what he said completely.

I understood a few words. But now when he appreciates it now more than he did back before we started the drive. Did you ever meet Candy or that was the only time? No, I had met John a few years before that. My contract was up. OK. And he was one of the owners of the Toronto Argonauts. OK.

He was trying to get me to go to Canada. Oh, come on. Yeah. They just didn't have enough money. But if the price was right. I might have been wearing an Argonaut. Yeah.

You'd have a 55 yard line. He'd be like, I'll do that. So he legitimately said, hey. Yeah, we had a couple of meetings about. You did. So this is real.

It wasn't just like, oh, by the way. No, no, no, no. Wow. I love that. I'd like to think that Joe Montana comes on our Super Bowl shows because he enjoys the good time and he likes showing up on the Rich Eisen show. But we all know he shows up for the swag. So he loves our gear. He loves our knapsack, our backpack. But knapsack is a very East Coast word, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Knapsack. Knapsack. Backpack.

Backpack. Guys, I can't believe we've lived long enough that we're at the point where the greatest quarterbacks of all time get mentioned and Joe Montana's name isn't like one or two. I'm still kind of weirded out by that whole thing.

That is an interesting way to go about it. We've gotten to this point where that man who all of our lifetimes until recently was the gold standard, that 4-0 was the thing. And now we don't even talk about. Well, blame Brady and Mahomes for that, right? Isn't that it?

Isn't that the way it works? Mahomes is better than Joe now? Yeah.

I'm with you, Brockman. He's not better yet. But again, I'm not making a statement. I'm asking a question.

He's not better than Joe right now. I am just saying in response to what TJ. Exactly. I am just saying in response to what TJ Jefferson just said, Mahomes and Brady are the causes.

That's all. Back on the Rich Eisen Show, everybody. We were just talking about how Joe Montana isn't mentioned as one of the top two great quarterbacks anymore. Like when we were younger, when we were growing up, it was like him and Bradshaw, right? Ten years ago.

That was it. And then Brady passed him. And now Mahomes came close to getting his fourth before turning 30.

And that's why. Don't skip Aikman. Well, Troy, he had three, but I don't think Troy was ever put up into that echelon with those guys, unfortunately.

Well, because there's no stat compiling for him other than that five-year stretch, six-year stretch when Ervin started ascending and Emmett started running all the way through to the last time they appeared in an NFC Championship game. Troy just won. If I put up a- He was a winner.

He still is. Who's the second best quarterback ever? Ooh.

Joe, Mahomes, Elway Manning. Oh my. What do you think?

That was awesome. Yeah. Stir it up. Yeah.

So what is this now? Who's the second best quarterback ever? By the way, great mid-February start, bud. Stir it up, bud. This is it.

Second best quarterback ever. This is what February 19th's are all about. Yeah. Did I get the date right? I got it right. Yeah, you did. Okay.

What is it again? The second best quarterback ever. Montana, Mahomes, Elway, Manning. I think what this is going to do, to my point, is now you're going to get people out of the park who are going to be like, what I just said, Joe Montana went 4-0 in Super Bowls. He never lost.

Terry Bradshaw never lost. So those people hopefully come out and state their claim. Okay.

As maybe he's still the best. Fire it out there. Fire it out there. Out.

Montana, Elway, Mahomes, Manning, and Peyton Manning. Yeah. Okay.

Tell me, Montana. I like it. It's fun. That's what February 19th's all about. It's fun.

Now let's talk about the Dallas Cowboys. Oh yeah. Oh, wait a minute.

We're out of time. Oh. Okay.

Still here on the Roku channel? I don't know. We'll see. Throw it out there.

I think Mahomes will win that. You do? Yes, I do. Yeah.

Because there's more 25-year-old people on Twitter than there are 55-year-old people. I don't know about that anymore. Well, it just depends if Rush is listening. Yeah. I don't know if the, you know, the new box situation. Guys, while we're on this, and I hope I'm not interrupting anything. This is another question. Are you interrupting? That I've had. Okay.

It's February 19th. We say that Tom Brady's the GOAT, right? The greatest quarterback ever. But then some people always say Tom Brady's the greatest football player ever. My question is, do you believe that Tom Brady is a better football player than say a Jim Brown or a Lawrence Taylor or a Reggie White or a Jerry Rice? Like what makes Tom Brady greater? He was the best at his position. Right.

Right. What makes him greater than Lawrence Taylor? What makes him greater than Jerry Rice? Well, I'll ask you this. Would a team of Tom Brady's beat a team of Jim Browns? No.

Right? Well, it's a silly question because it's a team sport. But the most important player in the team sport is the quarterback because of the neck up ability to affect a game and the neck down ability to affect a game. Anybody else can have the neck up ability and neck down ability of Tom Brady, but they're still dependent on the quarterback to get that person the football. I mean, Lawrence Taylor and Reggie White weren't though. I understand. But they were dependent on many other things needing to happen for them to affect the game.

Just a five. I've always had this. But that's, again, you can't have, at some point there is a conversation on that front, but only for when you're making a list of top 100, like the NFL 100 all time team. When you're making a list about the best players of this century and that century of all time. But as things get further and further along, the people who played in yesteryear drop off because fewer and fewer people who saw them play are around to actually pound a table for them. Not to get too deep into all this, but how can we sit here and say Tom Brady is a better football player than Jim Brown when Jim Brown would truck people and Brady would just throw over them? I don't know. How can you sit here and say Jim Brown's better than Jerry Rice when Jerry Rice used to run past people? I mean, it depends on what you consider is the greatest.

But for the moment, we've got a poll question and we'd like you to vote on it. Bravo TV star Lala Kent holds nothing back. Like I go into a full spiral. Get to know the TV personality. I talked about this with Teresa Giudice. Remember when I pushed Andy Cohen?

Yes, it was iconic. Okay. The entrepreneur.

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