Whoever Came Up With the Four Nations Tournament Deserves a Raise

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Team Canada wins four nations gold. Today's guests, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, Apple TV lead MLS analyst Taylor Twelman, broadcasting legend Al Michaels. And now That's right. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show, fired up to be here on this Friday. So much to talk about here on this Friday. Al Michaels is spending the entire third hour of this show in our studio to hang with us because tomorrow is the 45th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice. And we've got some surprises in store for Al as he makes his way down here.

And when he gets here, those surprises will be unpacked with him in hour three. You should stick around. 844-204-rich is the number to dial whether you're watching on the Roku Sports Channel or listening on the Infinity Sports Network. Sirius XM Channel 375 Odyssey is a way you can stream this show live with the app or odyssey.com. There's also our podcast, all three hours, every single day. You can listen to us whenever you want on demand. Our YouTube channel nearing 900,000 subscribers. We're very thrilled and honored about approaching that number, our social media, Instagram and TikTok and so many others at Rich Eisen Show.

We're excited to have you a part of that world as well. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brothman. How are you? Good to be seen. What's up, man?

Jason Feller. Hey, Richard. How are you?

T.J. Jefferson. Candle is lit. Good to see you, sir. What's up, guys? We're well.

We're well. Good to see you. Hey, everybody.

Hey, everybody. I don't know this person. I do not advocate for this person because I know this person or group of people. But these people exist on planet Earth.

Whoever came up with the idea of the four nations face off deserves a massive race. Whoever this individual is, you know what? Was it a Zoom? Was it a board meeting?

Was it Gary Bettman? I'm not giving him any credit for this. Okay. Well, he had to say yes. He did.

That's true. You know, he had to say yes. Players Union had to say yes. Players Union had to say yes. I guess it's a team effort.

Sure. Or a world effort. Because as I mentioned the other day when we came back from our President's Day break, the NHL cracked the code. Every single major North American sports trying to figure out what to do with its All-Star game or in the world of the NFL Pro Bowl games, now they kind of just have a little bit of fun before saying screw it. We'll just put the flags on them. If they're playing in a way that looks like flag football, let's just put the flags on them and have them play it.

And it's kind of fixed that in a way. Baseball is still trying to figure out what to do with its All-Star game. The NBA, as we all know this weekend, was the backdrop for talking about the four nations face off. And for the NHL to take a week off and say this is how we're going to spend it. We're going to spend it by having a mini World Cup pool play leading to a finals between the two teams that have the best points record in the group of four nations. And let the good times roll.

Check that box. Honestly, last night the finals with the TD Garden in Boston, as Sean McDonough on ESPN called it, one of the toughest tickets in the history of that arena. Stanley Cups have been played in that arena. NBA finals have been played in that arena. Concerts, name it. One of the toughest tickets in the history of the arena was a, if you will, gold medal game of a made-up tournament that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things except everything to everyone involved.

Playing it, putting it on, coaching it, executing it, watching it, being fans for it. Kudos to the players for pouring it all out there and actually saying we'll forego a week off and put their bodies on the line. Some of these guys who played in this tournament will not be available for the de facto start of the second half of the NHL season, which by the way is tomorrow. Some of these guys won't be available because they'll be in cold tubs.

They'll be checking out the Epsom salts if they're lucky. They put it all out there, and for that I say thank you. It means that much to you. Now I'm invested, emotionally and potentially financially, to start buying in and going to see these guys play and going to watch their games.

They should be rewarded for it. And last night, you know, there was no dropping of gloves, just a dropping of puck. That's it. And it was as intense as as any game seven you'll see. It goes to overtime. Of course it had to go to overtime. Come on. And then, you know, just... Then the way it ended, it had to end like... Well, one of the stars of stars. The arguably greatest star on the planet playing the sport.

And I know what I'm saying. I remember what I'm including or excluding in that, but Connor McDavid, by the way, wide ass open in the slot, too. That was an oh no moment. Oh, God. You'd be lucky if he misfired. Right. Not going to happen.

Biscuit and basket. Not from that length. You know, wins the face-off himself, winds up with the initial shot that started the sequence that wound up with a puck on his stick. Wide ass open in front of the net. And when it felt the opposite was going to happen, USA was just pummeling the Canada goalie with shots and shots and shots, a point blank shot that thought you were going to win it, you know, minutes before it felt like it was going to go USA's way. And then, bam, it was over like that. First five shots was all US.

Yeah. US scored first. I mean, Canada scored first and then Canada scored the final two goals of the tournament and took a deficit and turned it into an overtime win. And, you know, McKinnon was just spectacular, right?

He's the four nations MVP and, you know, and Team USA looked great, too. Are there any more Kachucks? Can we find out? Can we get more? Can we make more? You know?

Can always make more. I guess. Gotta talk to Mama Kachucka about that. I mean, let's get more Kachucks because they're great to watch. They're great. They're just great to root for. And it was just, I mean, it's awesome. It was awesome. Yeah. Congrats to them.

And in terms of inventions, like recent sports inventions, I put it up there with the pylon cam, you know? Oh, this is where we're going. Yeah, this is where I'm going. Yeah. Because in this day and age, how can you reimagine anything now? Right.

Right. I mean, listen, TV networks always try to reimagine things. Every single TV network that puts on a Super Bowl now unveils the new graphics package that just makes it feel even weirder that it's the final game of an NFL season that you hope is never going to end. Going back 30 years, the Fox box, that kind of changed everything. Putting the time and score always on. And the, what, the strike zone? Yeah, the strike zone box. Made it easier for us to complain about what's a ball wants to strike. Oh, the first downline that's unofficial.

The yellow line is always unofficial. The highlighted puck. That's on the opposite end of the four nations face-off, but for them to do this, and to have it richly rewarded by it meaning so much to the players and the coaching staffs and the fans, it's just incredible.

Just spectacular. And everyone else should take note. I know PK Subban, he's one of the best players in the world. PK Subban is getting a lot of run for what he has said on the on the airwaves of ESPN and how NBA players should take note about making a relationship with the fans by doing this sort of thing and having it work out.

And he's not wrong. I don't know that again, the NBA should absolutely do the United States versus the world, expand their rosters next year and take the week off. And NBA players is just like, hey, you know, I hate to say it, but tough, right? Tough.

Tough. But it's never going to happen. I can't see it, but also USA versus the world. It's not a it's not a week long tournament.

It's just one game on a Sunday. This was a week plus off from the NHL and they spent it by saying, OK, United States, Canada, let's go Finland, let's go Sweden, let's give the Russians the week off, you know? And you stay home because, you know, the NHL is still anti-communist.

Hey, listen, you're talking about the miracle on ice, right? Russians, you know, are the I can't believe I got to remind people they're the bad guys. They're the bad guys.

You know, they will always be the bad guys. I mean, we're talking about, you know, Roussioni came out last night, by the way, in the Johnny Hockey sweater. You know, Johnny Goudreau, who went to BC in the area, and we all know he and his brother got mowed down by a drunk driver in one of the most tragic stories you will ever hear. Apparently, Johnny's wife was there last night, too.

Oh, wow. I mean, for Roussioni to come out and be the be the Team USA captain and Gretzky's out there, too. I mean, this is the they checked every box of nationalism and excitement.

And I can't rave about it enough. Yeah. And for something that might end up being a one off like this is really that would be a bummer. I think they've said they're going back to the traditional All-Star format next year.

But I don't know how you ditch this after the success next year, if I'm not mistaken, the the 05, the 25, 26, take a break for a little bit. Right. So so the actual, you know, worldwide tournament is going to be played with NHL players. So I'd kind of understand that. But then let's run it back the year after that. Yeah, I totally agree.

Right. And then let's have the NBA take a week off. I'd say USA, Canada, and then France. And then I don't know, you make up an Eastern European team, maybe go the rest of the world. I mean, look, Australia, there's Australia's got some players, I think players. Maybe you go the rest of the world.

I don't know where it would be. Luca and team round robin, maybe 16. That wouldn't be bad team round robin. And then the top two make it. Yeah. And then maybe they they keep what they have in the All-Star game now with the points, right? Like game, the 40 game, the 50 make it do it that way.

I think you kind of want to make it like if you're going to do the whole week, then no. Well, hold on a second. Maybe, you know, Adam Silver went on DP show and talked about 10 minute quarters. Remember? Yeah.

And then got a lot of pushback there. Oh, maybe do that for the six nations. I'm watching this hockey game yesterday, right? And I'm starting to think like, I don't know why we've never discussed this before. Like, why doesn't basketball?

Let's be kind of funny. Take some of these hockey rules, like every not every foul. But if you commit a certain type of foul, not only do you get the foul, but now you have to sit out. Now the other team has a five on four minute, like a minute. Yeah. Just what if you power play in basketball, you actually do that, like a certain type of foul.

OK, now you're meant. So now you might have to run five on three for two, three minutes. You know, didn't we also see a man advantage in Hoosiers? But that was the coach who only put four on the floor voluntarily.

Now it's voluntarily. Coach Dale was trying to rethink the way of coaching your team. Just last night I was thinking, how exciting would that be if you had to run five on four? Maybe if you get teed up, you're you got to sit for two minutes.

Yeah, just something, something. You could run five on four. You could red card a baseball player. You have to play without a fielder. You got to play without a fielder.

Eight guys up. Look at that hole down the third baseline. What if we try to hockify to other sports? We're trying to reimagine. We're trying to reimagine because right now the NHL just, they nailed it. Look at us talking about it.

RES consulting. I think it was incredible. Awesome. Right. It was awesome.

And you know how I feel about pylon cam. I mean, like this is, this is the highest praise I can, I can, I can offer. And what you said about the athletes actually caring that that's the most important thing. I think I told you guys, you know, years ago, I used to be this Cowboys fan who we lose on Sunday. I'm mad till Wednesday.

I'm probably breaking the cup. And then I would see guys at the post-game press conferences and it didn't seem like they cared. And after a while I was like, all right, maybe you, maybe you care a little too much, you know? And I'm just saying like, so as a fan, you want to make sure that the guys care as much as you do. And it has nothing to do with the Cowboys. You could be a fan of any team, rich, like the jets, for instance. Why are you saying that?

Well, because you're pulling this thing out. Just sign it. If you don't just sign it, just sign the release of fandom.

It's sitting right here. It could be notarized by an actual notary. And then I'll consider signing that. You know, at least, at least I do have championships to remember. Just sign it.

It's a happy Friday. Since you let me be the RAS notary. Yes. I took the liberty.

I hope you don't mind of adding myself to the RAS graphic. Oh, really? Oh, you got that Hoskins. Wait a second, bro. I guess I called for it too soon. Oh, loading.

First of all, stick to audio, man. We got it. Is it coming here? Here it comes. There it is. Oh, wait a minute. You're on the lampshade lamp. That is, that is low.

I don't know if we should send that out to clients. Do you really love the lamp or are you just saying it because you saw it? I love lamp. I love lamp.

Okay. Is this just an excuse for you to play the drop? That's exactly right. He's producing his own segments. It's what happens when Dell 2 forgets Wally pipped. It's just so weird to have faders for tonight's Michigan, Michigan state game on Fox. Sitting next to someone who cares.

It's so weird. You're going to be tuning into that too. Oh, I will be. It's going to sound great. What if it doesn't? Maybe. What if it sounds awful?

What if it sounds terrible? We hope. Well, then we've got a great Monday segment. Are you here Monday or is he, are you here Monday? I think he's here Monday. I'm here Tuesday.

And there was much rejoicing. So Tom Pelissero is going to join us in four minutes time. Let's talk about what is the deal with Matthew Stafford and the Rams. When will that pop? Might that pop in time for free agency, Sam Darnold's decision, Aaron Rogers decision, what the Bengals are trying to do right now and signing three major stars, how to pull all of that off.

When does Brock Purdy pop? What is going on as we head to the combine next week on NFL Network? Lots to talk about with Tom. Taylor Twelman will be in studio at hour number two to talk about the 30th MLS season that's kicking off.

And then the 45th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice with surprises when Al Michaels stops by and hangs out with us for the entire third hour of this awesome Friday show that's off and running. Don't you dare move. Subject to terms, conditions and availability. All state fire and casualty insurance company and affiliates. Northbrook, Illinois.

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 americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. 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 TurboTax.com. The 839 mark of the third period of the gold medal semifinal. That is when Michael Ruzzioni lit the lamp 45 years ago tomorrow. Dude, I'm so psyched Al Michaels is making his way here. For those who might be somewhat new to our program, if you're just watching us on the Roku channel and we welcome in new audience members frequently, we've done this, how many times is this the fourth time I was coming in to talk about the Miracle on Ice?

I think that sounds about right, yeah. First time we had Ken Dryden call in. Yep. You know, his broadcast mate, the long time Montreal Canadian great. And Ruzzioni's been on before, Jim Craig's been on the before.

I'm also dropping breadcrumbs about what might be happening in hour number three. Do you think Al still has that sweater? Well, let's ask.

He definitely doesn't have the Jufro anymore. What? Wow. Is this thing on? I can say these things.

Does everyone understand that? Two of you can say that. Jay Feller, did you have one of those? Ever? I've been shaving my head since like second grade, so. What?

Hold on, what? As a hockey player and playing sports, I didn't like getting hair gel in my eyes. I don't know when I actually went bald. I'm definitely bald now. In all seriousness, you were shaving your head as a second grader.

Buzzing it back then. Wasn't using a razor. Okay.

But just like close crop. Yeah, I've never really grown my hair out. Okay. Well, I never had one.

I had the flock of seagulls, as you've known. Oh yeah. Yeah. Every now and then. Yeah, that video I was showing you guys yesterday, Jake Tapper actually sent me this.

He saw it on X from 25 years ago. I was doing the SportsCenter highlight of Temple versus Cincinnati. Cincinnati, yeah. Was that a tournament game or what was that? Was that an A-10? I forget. Something? Yeah. I forget. Back in the day.

But I had that. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Tom Pellicero joining us shortly here on the program. Terzo in Iowa, all rise, is here on the program. What's up, Terzo? Hey, what's up, Rich?

The great man that you are. Hey, one quick thing. I got a couple quick things for you, but shout out to Jimmy down in San Antone.

Jimmy, if I was down there, man, I would be buying the Bourbons and the Whiskeys for the Wimby issue, man. Shout out to you. That's a tough loss for the year and for all of us. Yeah, I'm with you.

That was a tough one for all of us to check out yesterday. We were live on the air for that. And Rich, I loved the hockey talk at the start of the program. That was a fun tournament. But I've been hearing a lot of talk about how hockey hockey's different whenever it comes to putting on your, uh, your country's colors.

Let's think back whenever Kobe ran through power with Saul in the Olympics. I think it goes across the board and I would love to see more of it because I think it really brings us together as a nation. And I love that feeling because we're so divided right now and we need it to be more together.

I'm with you on that front, Terzo. And I would just love if, you know, um, this could bleed. And as a matter of fact, I mean, there's so much geopolitics that was surrounding this thing that we just avoided being talked about. But, um, here, I just would love to just say, listen, Team USA, Team Canada on the ice, just don't like each other. And hopefully, you know, now that we're done playing, they can go back. I mean, if I'm not mistaken, uh, was every, uh, goal by Team USA scored by someone who plays in Ottawa? Right? Professionally? Let's just all just go back to our homes and enjoy hockey.

Whenever I was in high school, I had an Afro too. Oh, oh, fantastic. Ladies and gentlemen, Terzo and Iowa giving us all sorts of updates here. Appreciate you guys. All right, brother. Everybody, enjoy the weekend. All right. There he goes. There he goes.

Terzo and Iowa. You know, just trying to figure stuff out about what we all had back in the day. Yeah. So, um, the, the flock of seagulls haircut that I had, I showed the video, uh, that popped up from 25 years ago on, uh, on the internets yesterday. I showed it to Xander.

Oh no. What did he say? And, uh, I said, you know who that guy is? And he goes, yeah, I know who that guy is.

He used to have hair. I'm like, no, you know, that guy was, he was fighting for your right to exist. I'm guessing he didn't appreciate that though. He probably didn't get it. He didn't. He didn't. Of course he didn't.

He didn't. Then you had to be like, look, your mama, she's playing hard to get. Is that how you have only?

No, that's not how I said it. All of this for us. She was, she was playing hard to get. You've told us that you had to chase her. Like, you know, you were Carl Lewis. Well, I'm, I'm seeing Tom check in right now. I think he thought he was doing this an hour from now. And, um, he's checking in right now in the middle of what appears to be a workout at the gym and it looks like his hair is still perfect.

Come on. There's nothing that's going to change that the hell is he, is he ready to join us now? Is he set up? Is he set up in a, is it, is it a home gym? Where, where are you, Tom?

What is going on here? Where are you? Well, Richard, I think when I got the text about this hit a week ago, I was in a different time zone.

I thought it was in an hour. So I'm coming to you, uh, live from a Pilates studio in Minnesota where I have paused, I've paused the workout. Uh, we're warmed up, we're ready to roll.

But first, uh, the important business right here with you, Richard. Ladies and gentlemen, Tom Pellicero in the middle. So are you, by the way, Pilates, it just, it sounds like it's not tough.

It's the toughest thing you can ever do. So are you working on his core and, uh, and as information galore and his hair is still perfect. Tom Pellicero here on the Rich Eisen show.

All right, Tom, I appreciate you pausing your workout and, uh, and chiming in here. Um, what, what is going on with the Rams and Stafford? Is there really a there, there, what is, what is happening since that is such a crucial setup for the free agency season. And I don't, I don't even know if this does come to a head, it would come in in time for the free agency season, unless Stafford forces it to do that.

Uh, uh, what, what, what is the deal here? Well, first of all, go back to a year ago, Rich, and this also came to the forefront and there was an off season long conversation about Matthew Stafford and what the numbers should be on his contract. Um, you know, cause based on the, the deal that he's been on in LA, it's, it's below the market of the, you know, top 10, top 15 type of quarterbacks in the NFL last year, right at the start of training camp, I believe it was, he agreed to a new deal that, um, actually wiped out his 2025 guarantees in exchange for a bump in 2024, that also included a $4 million roster bonus that's due, uh, next month. And so the idea was this was a year to year type of situation for Matthew Stafford. Anytime you're giving up future guarantees, which almost never happens, you're, you're basically saying that, Hey, we're going to reanalyze this, um, you know, next year. And this is something that Tom Brady in the later stages of his career was always doing with new England. There's other examples of quarterbacks who just, you know, well, you're not going to make a long-term commitment from either perspective from the team or the player. It makes sense from a cap perspective, as well as just from a, you know, uh, uh, simplicity of continuing to maintain a relationship perspective to analyze it every year. So with Stafford, he's only due $27 million, um, in 2025, which is clearly, you know, below the line of what the top quarterbacks are making. And my understanding has been, uh, that the Rams have been in conversations with, with his agent, um, that they've also given his agent permission to talk to other clubs and just figure out, Hey, if, if it became available, if there were a trade, you know, what, what would the numbers be elsewhere here?

And that kind of, that takes care of multiple things. It takes care of number one, what Matthew Stafford could get if we got to a trade, because you wouldn't be able to execute a Matthew Stafford trade, um, without having a new deal in place, but also it gives the Rams an idea and Stafford idea of, Hey, we're going to try to work together. Are we going to be able to work out a new contract to keep them in LA? It certainly sounds as if the priority is for Stafford to return to the LA Rams. But again, this went all the way into July, if not August last year, before they were able to work out a deal, we'll see exactly what the direction this goes here, but to the point that you made at the top, uh, it would make sense for this to one way or another, come to a head within the next few weeks here, because everybody is going to need an alternative if they're not able to work something out in LA.

So what is the, what is the, so we've figured out what the timeframe should be because in all honesty, Tom, I could sit here and we will talk about what is Rogers coming back? What's Russell Wilson going to do? What's happening with Sam Darnold? All of those dominoes, um, to be quite frank, pale in comparison to Matthew Stafford potentially being available at, at the, uh, at the height of what he's been doing, he looks terrific. He did have a terrific season.

The Rams had to know this was coming down the pike when they, when they were watching him play the way he was playing. And, um, so I can't imagine a split quite frankly. I'll just throw that out. There is an, uh, a take and have you react if you don't mind, Tom? Well, again, it seems like that's the, that's the top option for everybody involved, but they have to agree on the number. You know, what exactly, where does that number fall? Is it somewhere in the, you know, the low forties, the mid forties in terms of what he's making? Um, you know, what type of commitment this goes for a trade to, you know, if you're trading for the guy and it's going to take a significant pick, let's just say, you know, it's going to be a second round pick. You're going to want to know by getting this guy for one year, for two years, for three years. And that's why the Rams have been willing to let, uh, Stafford's agent, uh, Jimmy Sexton, who's very experienced in these matters to go on and just figure out, you know, what, what would other teams be willing to do now to my understanding, they've not gotten to the point of actually negotiating trade compensation.

That's a, that's a separate conversation here right now. It's about what are the numbers need to be, um, for Matthew Stafford to come back? What would the numbers be if Matthew Stafford went elsewhere?

That's what they're navigating here. And absolutely that fits into the broader quarterback picture as we ended this off season, rich because between Matthew Stafford, um, the two Steelers quarterbacks, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields between the Sam Darnold situation where, you know, a franchise tag or a transition tag is still a possibility for Darnold as is the tag and trade as is a tagging keep as is a, you know, working out a long-term deal, depending on how that market, um, shakes out, you know, Derek Carr's situation in new Orleans is another one that still needs to be resolved because he's got another $30 million that's going to fully vest next year. He, you know, did they want to pay him $40 million in 2025 with a new regime, uh, coming into new Orleans and then, Oh yeah, Aaron Rogers, a four-time NFL MVP, um, is free right now to talk to other clubs. All these parts are, uh, interconnected right now, but certainly Stafford is, is a big dominant.

No doubt. And so what would the Rams plan B be if, you know, the number they can't come to a number or the commitment that Stafford is looking for is something the Rams are not either interested or willing to do? What would be the Rams plan B? Would it be Darnold? Would it be Rogers? Would it be somebody in the free agent market? Would it be, um, you know, I, I I'll throw out Stetson Bennett. I know they drafted him a couple of years ago. I mean, somebody in the draft, what, what, what is the plan B if it's not Stafford for the Rams?

Well, the most inexpensive option that's not yet available. One we haven't mentioned would be Kirk cousins. Who's got a foundation in that offense.

No Sean McVay. Um, if the Falcons eventually release him, which to this point, they've indicated they will not, they've got decisions to make though in the coming months. I don't know that having Kirk cousins making 27.5 million next year is back up to Michael Pennix Jr. And having him, you know, breathing over his shoulder all the time is necessarily going to be a situation the Falcons, uh, want to embrace, but you know, are the Falcons waiting to try to get a trade?

They would need cousins cooperation on that. I don't know why Kirk cousins, um, you know, absent the alternative of him really believing they're just going to keep him as a backup. I don't know why he would cooperate in a trade and waive his clause. Um, you know, but that would be a situation where you would potentially get him for the minimum and you could spend all that additional money that let's call it. Let's say it's 40 million for Matthew Stanford. You could spend the other 39 on other players to try to bolster a really talented, uh, young Rams team. Aaron Rogers, I would think is going to command some money. I don't believe it's going to be, you know, top shelf starter money based upon what's happened over the past couple of years, as well as his age. But if Aaron Rogers is going to play, which all indications are that he wants to, and I know the teams are getting calls from, um, his representatives about trying to get him in and trying to get him starting somewhere in 2025.

Um, you know, that would be another potential alternative. You know, I don't see Russell Wilson really being a fit in LA. It's hard to imagine Justin Fields being a fit, just knowing, you know, what Sean McVeigh values, uh, in terms of traits here, you know, but they've had, you know, Jimmy Garoppolo is out there who obviously has been in the building. There's a lot of different things that the Rams potentially could do. You know, what you always have to think about, Rich, especially with the quarterback contracts continuing to escalate the way that that market has exploded, even with the salary cap going up, which, you know, everybody gets excited to see the projections like, Oh, we got more money.

He has more money. And most of that historically, if you look at it over the last decade, as the cap is as spiked, most of that money has just gone right back into the premier position, specifically quarterback here. So, you know, it's going to be, well, how do you put a championship caliber roster around whoever's playing quarterback? Everyone in the league would love to have a player on a rookie contract.

Um, you know, and be able to spend all that additional money on other positions here. Stetson Bennett based on his very limited body of work and missing this whole rookie season. That's that might be a little bit of a stretch here, but now listen, Rams have drafted really well over the past couple of years. They have flipped that thing, how they've drafted on defense. Um, they're obviously in the process of, of looking at trade options for Cooper cup, but they still have Puka. They still have Kyron Williams.

They still got Tyler Higbee. They've got a really talented young core again, in, in the, if everything lines up here, Matthew Stafford will still be a ramp, but if the numbers just simply get to a place where they don't feel like that's the best thing or Stafford, you know, ultimately decides, you know, if they're not going to pay him, he wants to go someplace else. Then they're, then they'll go down that road when they come to it. Tom Pelissero, a few minutes left with my NFL network friend, uh, joining us kindly, uh, in the midst of his workout, uh, in Minnesota, because we had a mix up on the time, uh, right here on the Rich Eisen show, what's the Browns plan on Miles Garrett, hold onto him, hope that Miles has a change of heart, uh, or, or, or just say, hold onto him. And, and, and that's the end of that, Tom, what's their plan? Well, what the Browns have, have said, um, behind the scenes is that they're not going to trade Miles Garrett.

My understanding is they've gotten calls. People are not necessarily getting calls back from the Browns about Miles Garrett right now. Um, he's a really, you know, unique player. He's a future hall of Famer. He's one of the, you know, the great players in, in all of Brown's history at this point, the former defensive player of the year, and still very much in his prime at this stage.

However, you know, these, these things can evolve. That's their stance right now, you know, miles Garrett has said, he feels like they're a long way away from competing. Are there things that could happen in free agency in the draft that would change his mind? You know, the, the real pressure points here with miles Garrett, the main one is going to arrive at the draft and that's not to say something couldn't happen tomorrow. I mean, if the Browns decide they want to trade them, they'll have a bunch of teams lined up, uh, trying to trade for the guy, but the real pivot point would be the draft, because if you're going to trade a miles Garrett, you are going to get premier draft capital in return, and you're not going to want to hold him until camp and then be trading for draft capital that can't help you in 2025.

So we probably still have weeks remaining, um, in the miles Garrett situation. Um, again, at this point, the Browns don't want to trade him. Um, he's going to command top dollar wherever he's playing the Brown stand ready to pay him. Just like, you know, Micah Parsons is looking for top dollar max craft, Crosby is up for a new deal. Trey Hendrickson is up for a new deal. Aidan Hutchinson is eligible for a new deal. You're talking about a bunch of guys who are all going to an all likelihood, or at least be trying to top Nick Bosa's nearly $35 million average. So, you know, that marketplace as a whole, with all the edge rushers that are available or potentially available or have, you know, 10 situations, uh, looming here in the future, you know, for miles Garrett, he does have the benefit of time.

There's no rush. He doesn't need to be on roster, uh, someplace else in a week here. But I do imagine as we get closer to the draft, if something hasn't happened already, that's when the Browns are going to have to, you know, either dig in their heels even more or potentially, you know, seed that position so far, they haven't done it. Cap going up, um, make it more likely that the Bengals do pull off their Jamar chase, T Higgins, Trey Hendrickson trifecta for Joe burrow.

Tom? Well, again, you know, the cap is going up for everybody. And so these numbers are only going up. I've had conversations in recent days about, you know, what does a Jamar chase contract look like? Because Justin Jefferson, obviously that was a significant market reset last year when the Vikings gave him, uh, four years and 140 million to 35 million average. The Bengals were in that neighborhood, but the Bengals have had a contract structure that's different lump sum signing bonus, no future guarantees.

And they just weren't able to close that gap last fall. So now if you're Jamar chase, is that deal 36 a year? Is that deal 40 a year?

Those are some of the, the unanswered questions. Um, his agent, uh, also now represents T Higgins who at this point, the Bengals are trying to get a long-term deal done with. My understanding is if they can't get a deal done prior to March 4th, it's likely that they are going to franchise tag him. You would anticipate that to continue to try to work out a long-term deal in part because the Bengals almost never trade anybody, but you also can't rule out the possibility of a tag and trade that would bring in more draft assets that you could use to rebuild the defense and also free up a bunch of capital in terms of cap resources and cash resources that you otherwise would have been putting into T Higgins to get something done with Jamar chase. And then also get something done with Trey Hendrickson. We know where Joe burrow stands in this. He wants all these guys back.

He doesn't want to be blowing it up right now, but you know, these are some of the moving parts. It's going to be expensive. You know, there there's other teams that have really top heavy, uh, caps in terms of, you know, the 49ers have been maxed out with a bunch of guys at the top of their positions for recent years, the Cowboys, they've made public comments about, you know, is it realistic to get a Michael Parsons deal done when you're paying deck 60 a year and CD lamb 34.5 a year, you know, as much as yes, the caps going up, the cap is still a real thing.

Every dollar you spend hits the cap eventually here. And so these are some of the decisions. It's not, yeah, we all consider and say, get your best players done, just sign them, give them whatever they want. But that does have a, a trickle down effect on what you're doing with the rest of the roster and how good of a full team you can ultimately build. And going into the combine, your sense of the Titans and the Browns giants game plans at the top of this draft one, two, and three are what Tom? The Titans right now, it sounds like it's, it's still all options are available to them.

You know, in a perfect world, I've talked to other people on other teams about how they would approach this. And everybody says, listen, if you can get a bounty of picks to move the number one pick, you probably do it in a draft like this. Cause Abdul Carter might be the top player along with Travis Hunter. Those two are, you know, in terms of the non quarterbacks, those are the guys at the top. You got cam ward, you got Shidor Sanders, but in another draft, rich, I don't know based on, and I haven't done a deep dive on this, but just the teams that I've talked to, I don't believe that Shidor Sanders and cam ward would have been two of the top three quarterbacks taken in last year's draft. I believe all three of those guys who went last year would have gone above those guys.

And so is the value there to take one of them at one, is anybody going to give you the value to come up to one? You know, in terms of moving off that pick and not taking whether it's Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter, those are, those are the things they need to work through. This is probably going to take some time. I know the bears a couple of years ago traded the number one pick before the start of free agency.

It was right around early March that they did it. You know, that's a possibility. I have not heard that there's anything imminent on that front yet in terms of the Browns and the giants, they're absolutely in the quarterback market. But both those teams in all likelihood need to both draft one and sign one or trade for one. They need to add a veteran and a rookie. If you just look at their depth charts right now, I mean, there's real questions about whether or not the Sean Watson will be ready to play at all in 2025. And the giants only have Tommy DeVito, who's a, I think he's a exclusive rights free agent.

He's the only guy that they have, you know, more or less under contract. So both those teams are clearly in that bucket, but you know, this is a draft in general, rich where it's not, you know, there are not top end wide receivers available, for instance, where you see a lot of those guys go on a normal draft. There are not those true top, top end quarterbacks where we're talking about, Hey, are these guys going to go one, two? It could happen, you know, anything, anything can happen in the draft is positional value matters a lot. But you know, some of those positions that historically are strong are not very strong in this draft. There might be fewer true first round picks first round prospects in this draft than there are in other years.

All that's going to impact where the value are, where the value is in trades and where the pockets to potentially take those quarterbacks ultimately are going to fall. Tom, thanks for the time. And to finish up our, our hit here, here's Tom Pelissero doing a single leg stretch. Here we go.

Come on now. No, I'm not fully warmed up just yet. I don't think, I don't think I'm jumping on the reformer. I don't think that's a good idea.

I think there might be some, some lawsuits, little, little, maybe a double leg stretch, a little hundreds. Go for it, Tom. We'll get, we'll get in the hundred. Don't worry. Ladies and gentlemen, Tom Pelissero. Well done. There we go.

Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen Show making his appointed round, even though we did not connect to avoid his Pilates time being interrupted. Wow. You know why it's called Pilates?

No. Because that's the last name of the man who came up with these exercises. Do you know what his first name is? You'll never guess.

Joe Ville. That is correct. Shut up. Are you serious? You were, I thought you looked it up. No.

Why would I even think to look that up? His name was Joseph Pilates. I just, Joe would be like Nikolai Pilates.

You know what I mean? Enrico Pilates. He's German. Joe Pilates. Joseph probably.

But those who do the exercises, we know him as Joe. I didn't, I was just okay. Well done. You thought you, you, you, you thought you were being snarky and yet you were being factual. Never know. You'll just stumble into actually being factual.

Speaking of facts, here's a sports update from Chris Lopresti here on the Rich Eisen Show. I can say to my new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Hey, find a keto friendly restaurant nearby and text it to Beth and Steve. And it does without me lifting a finger.

So I can get in more squats anywhere I can. One, two, three. Will that be cash or credit?

Credit, four. Galaxy S25 Ultra. The AI companion that does the heavy lifting so you can do you. Get yours at Samsung.com.

Compatible with select apps, requires Google Gemini account, results may vary based on input check responses for accuracy. Get the angelry special at McDonald's now. Let's break it down. My favorite barbecue sauce, American cheese, crispy bacon, pickles, onions, and a sesame seed bun. Of course. And don't forget the fries and a drink.

Sound good? I participate in restaurants for a limited time. Mike Del Tufo is standing at a microphone that's about, I'd say 20 feet away. Yep. Looking right at Mr.

Wonderful of Kevin O'Leary of Shark Tank. Go for it, Mike Del Tufo. What happens if like something happens to me and 2,500 miles away, my family's there and they don't know I could be sitting in the apartment alone, dead for days. So I came up with an idea for an app called Justin Case. That would be basically you download it and you could check in with this app and other people could see that, A, you're alive still. You could basically be tracked with it. And in theory, basically it would keep you, you know, people knowing what's happening.

Just to get the whole story before I completely eviscerate you. How, how, how would you make money doing this? You did a subscription per month. People are going to pay per month. 99 cents per month. Very cheap.

$12 a year. Okay. So here's a scenario. You're in your apartment.

You die. Don't you think the neighbors are going to smell your rotting corpse? Oh no, there was actually a person in Santa Monica that sat for eight days, two buildings down from me before people knew that that person was dead. It's the worst idea. Not only does this have zero merit, I mean, the chance that people actually want to contemplate their mortality and pay 99 cents a month doing it is crazy. Think about it. If you're, if your mom calls you for two days and doesn't get an answer, she's probably going to call the super and say, go check on his corpse. Like, think about it.

They don't need 99 cents a month for that. If it's something you don't have to do, my other people, you're dead. You're dead. Who cares? No, I won't care.

There'll be a new guy. How does the app know you're dead? The app doesn't know you're dead. You have to tell it.

You're not dead yet. You're not checking in. Every time you unlock your phone, it would ping and you put people on a list that know that if like your, your mother's in Florida, she could be sitting in the house. You know that at least he's checked in on her phone. If you're their kid, you don't have to talk to them on the phone. You don't have to call them. And if it's a kid, you know, the kid, if you think you're, if you're, if you're worried, why don't you call her? Well, let's just assume that you, you don't, you're not going to call. People don't call their mother and father live 2,500 miles a day. I just want to make sure you're not dead. Like, are you kidding?

You should call your mother every day. No, no, no. I'm talking about like all day. You don't know. Oh, you want to know the exact moment. Exactly. So she logs on and says, I'm dying. I'm dying.

Like, you know, Mike horrifically bad, really bad. I tried stress every time we replay that moment, it is a top five moment in the history of this program. That's now coming up on the eight year anniversary of it. And it's still top five.

And it will be for as long as this show, God willing exists. So funny. And he didn't want to do it. And we forced him to do it. And he flopped, sweated. I mean, and he really choked. And Mr. Wonderful, just as he said, completely eviscerated him. Kevin O'Leary, I believe, uh, very pleased with the four nations result, right?

Is he, is he is Canadian, correct? Oh, I believe so. Right. Yeah. Kevin O'Leary coming on and Montreal absolutely tore Mike Del Tufo to shreds. I mean, he improvised a lot of that.

Who Mike? Yeah. I was sitting here.

He read it to me and then he started doing it. I'm like, Oh my God. Oh my God. Just couldn't have, that could not have gone better back on the rich eyes and show everybody Hyundai can be gotten through Amazon right now.

That is correct. You can go on Amazon, open the app and buy a Hyundai. It is awesome. And the best part about it is you don't have to break down a car size Amazon box once you get it, because you pick up your Hyundai at the dealer. Hyundai is now available on Amazon, limited availability.

You can pick up through a participating Hyundai dealer in select markets, visit Hyundai usa.com for more details or call 5 6 2 3 1 4 4 6 0 3 for those details. Guys, big day today, because as a man who has been wearing facial hair for years, my dream lifelong dream of becoming a New York Yankee is as possible as it's ever been today. The long standing, ridiculously antiquated, no facial hair other than mustaches rule for the Yankees have been changed. Hal Steinbrenner said that the organization will allow well-groomed beards effective immediately. He is old school immediately after they made Devin Williams shave to show up.

What can I tell you, man? Better late than never. That's a new, that is a new fantasy team name for me. I am absolutely naming any baseball fantasy team I've had as well-groomed beards, you know, which obviously is, you know, can have an alternate meeting as well, but, uh, you know, it's okay.

By the way, I don't think this is a coincidence. What, two days ago, we just got done saying how dumb this rule was for the late Yankees. And that's how sure TJ, this has been a dumb rule that everybody's been talking about forever. Brockman, they don't change it until after we bring it to light to the millions and millions of rich eyes and show listeners. I don't think there's been a dumb rule for, I don't know, like 50 years. The question is, is who is going to be the beard policeman of the New York Yankees organization?

Because that's what's well-groomed. This is very, very important. So it's gotta be somewhere in between James Harden and say like Chris Evans. Yeah. Hardin's probably a little too long. That can't happen.

Yankees. We can't have that. That's whack. I don't know why you wouldn't let that.

And then there you go. That's probably what Hal has in mind is Chris Evans type beard. Probably the length.

That's probably as long as it goes. That's a well-groomed beard. You don't see the neck here, right? Jason Kelsey, I don't think he can play for the Yankees.

I don't know. I mean, that might be a little too much. That's too Red Sox length beard.

That's close to dirt bag. Letterman can never play for the Yankees. No way. No. Right. Didn't Zach Galifianakis in between two ferns called him crystal meth Santa Claus? Did he? Yes.

It's pretty good. Letterman laughed at that one. Welcome to 2025. Well done guys.

New York Yankees. Well-groomed beards everybody. Look out below. That's all I'm saying. Now who goes, I mean, obviously Devin Williams, I got to imagine is like going to grow his beard back. That was kind of his staple.

No, just grow back. It probably takes him two, three days. What does he care?

That's some people takes longer reacted. Did you see his reaction? What did he say?

Yeah. Freshly minted about baseball hall of Famer. CC Sabathia just decided to just say, okay, maybe he's back in. Cause he's got himself a beard.

So good old CC. Sabathia is saying he might have some pitches left in him. I'm telling you man, the Yankees missed out. Cause I think the Yankees over the years could have had some tough beards on their team. Like Thurman Munson with a beard, bro. Like Don Mattingly with the beard. Jason Giambi. They really got the guy.

Whoa. Did someone say new rules? First of all, that's not the same CC that was playing baseball. I think he's just showing off. That's a whole new CC right there. But I'm wondering if that would be allowed. Isn't that, that doesn't look well-groomed right.

Looks a little patchy kind of. I don't think CC, even, even with his resume, that would fly. And Betty blades is going down to New York now, right? He's got a whole new cloud for all I know, man.

Honestly, it's like, is somebody going to walk in with like a ruler and by the way, I'm being serious here that they, once you now open the door, what is the concept of well-groomed? Is there going to be a moment during the season, similar to George Steinbrenner back in the day, telling Mattingly to get his hair cut. Remember he showed up with a mullet and he told him to cut his hair, which led to me back in the day, making sure I would look Don Mattingly in the eye as a Yankee fan, going down to Tiger Stadium as a freshman at the University of Michigan to tell him, hang in there.

And all I did was just show up as the first guy and screamed Donny baseball at him, only to have him turn around and run away from me as a fan. That's a fact. I'm just saying, is it going to happen? Yeah.

Like who is this person who's like, excuse me, your neckline is needs to be one inch above. Mr. Steinbrenner said, well-groomed beard. Who's the smithers of the Yankees to deliver this information. Excellent. Right. You know what I mean? Like have we now opened the door?

Too much hardened, not enough Chris Evans. I think we've, we've, we've kind of delivered. We've got the zone. I'm just glad we don't have a rule like that here. Definitely no, definitely no neck.

No neck. Like Charlie Blackman, see ya. Howie Roseman, you know, again, he has the Schefter five o'clock shadow that shows up at like one in the afternoon.

Is that too, you know what I mean? Like Edelman way too high. Brian Wilson, would he have been able to get away? No way. Stop it.

We already know the answer to that. Maybe the beach boy, Brian Wilson. That's well-groomed. 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.

It's like Drake versus the world. Yeah. You first met Prince. You were driving for him before you were drumming for him. That's correct. You kind of have to understand how Stevie began white radio. That's what the money was. That's what it still is. Rolling Stone music. Now follow and listen on your favorite platform.