Davante Adams To The Rams Is A Brilliant Move

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Northbrook, Illinois. Light the beam. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Staff looking left, throws right. Touchdown Davante Adams.

Touchdown L.A. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Mitchell out front, three. Got it. It's for three, cha-ching, a thunder bunny move. Hope KC forces a Denver timeout. Airs it back into Holliday, kick out Tatum, open three.

Got it. The Rich Eisen Show. Today's guests. Posted pro football talk. Mike Florio. Plus your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

That's right. We're just staring at the old news wire to see what's popping. 844-204, Rich is the number to dial. We're in hour number two of this program. NFL people are allowed to talk to free agents. Addition of the Rich Eisen Show is off and running. In 15 minutes time, Mike Florio will tell us everything that he knows, what's going on, what went on, why it went on. And earlier, we discussed Miles Garrett saying, there's no way. I am going back to Cleveland. I want to go somewhere to win a Super Bowl. And more than what? How much?

How much? That was the Miles Garrett thought process. Where's the pen?

That happened. And we're still waiting to hear what's going on with Sam Darnold. Where's he going? We assume Seattle. We could be Pittsburgh. You never know. And if it's not Pittsburgh for Sam Darnold, does that open the door for Aaron Rodgers to go there? And there's that conversation. Every now and then, I'm looking up at Chris Brockman and his reaction is either shock or disappointment because every single person that he wanted to go to New England is going somewhere else. Yeah, just hit it.

Okay, go for it. What's the latest? Here it comes.

Mo M.R.A. I see breaking news. Steelers tackle Dan Moore, one of the highly sought after protectors, is going to Tennessee. Four years, 82 million. He's getting 50 guaranteed. And then Diana Rossini just saying Milton Williams, defensive tackle from Philly, is going to Carolina. Going to Carolina where J.C. Horn got a $25 million a year contract, highest paid corner in the game.

Was hoping to get one of those on New England. And there we go. My boy Schefter, who I adore, his tweet starts with the word sources and then ends with two names. Negotiated the deal.

So we're left up to Adam. Is the source one agent or the other agent? One agent says one way, one agent goes this way.

And I'm saying, what do you want from me? At first when you pointed that out, I was like, I didn't get it. And now when I saw it, I was like, oh yeah, I've seen this a bunch. Again, all these tweets are just like, you know, the artist needs to sign the corner of the painting. You know, it's a lot like in hip hop where all of a sudden we start knowing who the producers were for years, knowing. And then all of a sudden it was like, oh yeah, this is Pharrell. This is Timberlake.

This is, you know, they want their shine, Rich. Well, do you remember earlier in February, I did a top five list of what would be the most shocking stories of the NFL off season or free agency or whatever it was, the time period. And I believe number three was any starting quarterback going somewhere else.

Just name it. Any, give me a starting quarterback, not staying put, going somewhere else, changing an address. We're waiting to see if Sam Darnold is, in fact, going to be one of those quarterbacks. You never know.

The Vikings could be making a pitch to say, please stay put. And he does and leaves Seattle and Pittsburgh holding the bag of nothing. Or of a plan B, let's put it that way. Bag of nothing, though.

I like that. So that's like Sound and Fury, fagging nothing. How old is that reference? That's a Shakespeare reference. Well, actually, it's a Stuart Scott reference because that was one of his favorite phrases. Sound and Fury signifying nothing.

At any rate, long story short, that's a Macbeth reference. We did see, we did see a quarterback change address on Friday to kick this whole thing off when the Seahawks are like, hey, Pete, you like Geno so much. We try to resign him.

Apparently, that's the story. They try to resign him. He said no. And they're like, OK, you're gone. You're gone. He gone. He gone. And it's a it's a new address. Geno is in Vegas.

Wow. And I love this move for Las Vegas because it does not mean anything but flexibility and stability. What do I mean by that? Flexibility is sixth overall pick. Quarterback drops to you. Kid you love so much, you turn to Geno and say, listen, we don't mean to turn you into Kirk Cousins here, but it's possible. And people have to deal with that.

If that moment comes, it may not. But the bottom line is, in terms of flexibility, they can go wherever they want with that draft choice now. They're not locked into having to get that quarterback because they don't want for the second straight year to go through the first round of an NFL draft without getting a quarterback and then dealing with the aftermath and the consequences. Just ask Antonio Pierce how that went for him and the Raiders last year. Spoiler alert, poorly.

It went poorly. They and the Giants were the teams that went through the first round of last year's draft as quarterback, needy teams that came away with a bag of nothing. So this year, they don't have to be concerned about that because they've got Geno and Geno is nothing but stable, man.

That guy is somebody that the locker room will be able to look at and rally around. Seattle did it. And I understand, hey, they didn't win a Super Bowl. They didn't even get to an NFC championship game with him.

What Geno did in Seattle was keep that ship afloat and on occasion a threat. And the Raiders are not one of the teams today on the first day of you're allowed to talk to free agents who are quarterback, needy, who are scrambling and dealing with options and questions. Raiders aren't one of those teams like the Steelers or Seattle or the Jets or the Giants or potentially the Vikings.

They're not one of those teams. They're sitting back and looking at other options and figuring out what they're going to do with this draft choice and building around a stable quarterback spot. Now, I understand you want generational, not stable.

You want top five, not stable. You want to do what the Chiefs did, which is strike it rich or even what the Patriots appear to have in their guy on the back end of that team having to build around a new coach and a new quarterback. And the Raiders are building around a new coach who's been around just like the Patriots in Vrabel and a new quarterback, except their quarterback is in his 30s and on the back nine.

And their quarterback has nothing but blue skies and airplanes with no Wi-Fi. But listen, what the Raiders have is stability at the spot right now and a six overall draft choice that if they don't have the guy at the top of their draft board and the quarterback is there that they don't like, they could sit back and say, who wants them? Because you know the Jets are going to take them as of right now. I kind of dig the move. It takes the pressure off.

The coach gets a quarterback who he knows and appreciates and one would assume vice versa. I kind of dig the move. Is it going to win him a Super Bowl?

Who knows? You know, I understand the odds are stacked against them in that regard because of the position from which they're building. But I dig the move.

It was a smart move. It's a third round draft choice. You take the pressure off on the sixth overall pick. You can absolutely win football games.

You can compete, which is what Pete's mantra is. You can compete with this guy and successfully you re-sign Max Crosby and you go and you get Geno Smith. Those are two big time moves by the new GM there. I liked it a lot because they're not in this searching for the quarterback on day one of free agency mosh pit right now. They're out of it and the other teams that are in it might wind up with somebody who's a heck of a lot worse than Geno Smith. Chris, what were you saying to Filler during the break about all the nerd out stats that Geno's top 10 and all the nerd stats?

Like EPA, a drop back and all that stuff. He's very efficient. He's kind of the definition of a solid quarterback but solid plus. What did the Raiders have last year? Did they have even a solid minus? No. Not even. So Pete's coming in and you're going to start building a team that is solid plus? When was the last time the Raiders had solid plus? Jay? Before I was born.

Okay. That one year Rich Gannon took over the Super Bowl. Rich Gannon was MVP man. They were more than solid plus.

O2 that year. I dig the move. That's the headline. Alright, let's take a break. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk will tell us everything that he knows best he can and then everything that went down, best we know. 844-204-rich-number to dial your phone calls as well because once Mike leaves the building on this program, guess what? It's all about us too.

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What was I going to say? For the Roku Sports Channel audience, we went off hour one saying we were going to talk about Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers and who they're playing next year. Based off of Jerry Dulack, who we adore and who's as plugged into the Steelers as possible, tweeting out that the Steelers are circling around.

They're close to a deal with Aaron Rodgers based off of the fact that they were in on Darnold and also Justin Fields is deciding to test the free agent market. Jerry deleted that tweet. So we will respect his decision to take his finger off that chess piece. Yep. Sure. Okay.

But sometimes circumstances change. So or maybe the Steelers saw this post from somebody. Hit it. Coach T, are you kidding me? DK Metcalf on one side, GP on the other, Muth work in the middle. And I might need to throw my hat in the ring.

If you're looking for a guy, I might I might still have a couple of throws in me. Question. Can you can you pop that back up that that video back up? Just the screeners. Okay. So does he have you know, are those his locker room?

Like all those actual locker room labels that he has in a in a closet in his house. Yeah. And his walk in or in the OK, that's number one. Number two is number two. Over under number of takes three and a half. Oh, of the video over under number of takes three and a half over, over, over, under, over.

I would take the under two because he does it. He does a podcast. He does a radio show. He's been in front of a camera enough. Like I'll say, yeah, OK. Too much chin.

Too much chin. OK, OK. Back 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 click Grainger dot com or just stop by kind enough to stop by, put his phone down for two seconds to hang with us to talk about what went down over the weekend. What's happening right now is the creator of Pro Football Talk and the man himself, editor in chief of Pro Football Talk as well.

Mike Florio. Good to see you, Mike. How are you, brother?

Good, Rich. I think there's something wrong with my phone today, though. For whatever reason, I can't get my my Twitter app to come up. I don't I guess I need to.

Yeah, that's I need to get a new phone. I don't know. Have you been have you been doged out of the business, Mike? I don't know. You could have somebody took a chainsaw to my phone. Rich, you might be rehired by the end of the conversation, so just don't worry about it.

Hey, listen, Mike. What went down with Miles Garrett? Best you can tell over the weekend. I think the Browns have a very bad habit of attempting to solve problems by throwing money at them.

And I don't think that that's a good long term strategy. Go back to three years ago when the Texans approved four teams to negotiate directly with Deshaun Watson. The Panthers, Falcons, Saints and Browns, the Browns were the first team out. They got the shoulder tap first from Deshaun Watson. So what did they do?

What did they do? They rehuddled, refocused and they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. He still didn't want to go there, but he took the money. And I think that created a poisonous relationship from the get go. It also helps that he hasn't played well.

Fast forward to recently. Garrett wants out. He's made it clear he wants out. I mean, unless this was all some part of a of a grift to get more money for Miles Garrett. And that's not impossible. But if he truly wanted out and the Browns say, we're not trading you. Oh, by the way, here's a giant pile of money.

And he says, well, I can't say no to that. How's it going to feel if the Browns stink this year? How's it going to feel if the Browns stink next year when he otherwise would have been closing in on free agency?

I don't think this solves anything long term unless they really do turn it around. He's still going to remember once the checks are cashed and he moves on a year or two into this new deal, if he still has regrets about playing for the Browns, it's going to bubble up. And in the interim, you got one of your your key leaders, centerpiece of the team that deep down doesn't want to be there. I don't know that that's good for the Browns. Yeah, I mean, I guess over the weekend, there must have been a moment where the Jimmy Haslam's door opened up again to a vault.

You know, and then I'm just wondering what what led to that? Just a decision for the Browns to say, let's make one last run at it. And and then top Max, you can't even say top Max Crosby's deal. They blew it out the door. And that's now a second time Jimmy Haslam has reset a market for the rest of his members to figure out how to deal with the aftermath of that.

Mike, I think about this wrinkle, too. They gave up three first round picks, plus multiple additional draft picks to get Watson. That's part of the cost of that deal that doesn't get discussed very much. What could they have gotten for Garrett? They necessarily gave that up by dumping the money into Garrett now, whatever they could have gotten via trade.

That's gone. And who knows if they even explored it. There were never any reports that they were, but they could have. So it's not just a one way decision for the Browns to to dig deep and throw enough money at the problem to at least solve it in the short term. They gave up whatever they could have gotten in the form of young players, cheap players who can form the nucleus of a long term team, because unless the Browns know something we don't, they're not going to contend in the remaining years of Miles Garrett's prime.

And I think there's going to be regret maybe both ways, maybe both ways. They'll never admit it. They've never admitted any Deshaun Watson regret. They won't admit any regret on keeping Miles Garrett with this giant payday. But this is what dysfunctional teams do and what the Browns do when there's a problem.

They think they can throw enough money at it to solve it. And I just don't think that's a smart way to maintain and build a long term contender. Did you ever think you'd see the day where the Steelers pay a wide receiver thirty three million dollars a year and cough up a second round pick to do it? This is unprecedented. I've been racking my brain to think of a time in the free agency era where the Steelers have paid big money to somebody who wasn't already playing for them.

You had the Ben Roethlisberger video earlier. His biggest number ever was thirty four million per year and new money on a two year deal toward the back end of his tenure with the Steelers. Thirty three million per year. New money for a stranger to the team. And here's the problem with paying a guy that much money.

You better have a plan for getting value out of that guy. The Seahawks never used D.K. Metcalf the way they could have or should have. The Steelers will need to make D.K. Metcalf the centerpiece of the offense to justify the thirty three million a year. And you got George Pickens entering a contract year. He's not going to be the first option for a lot of these plays if they design them to go to Metcalf to justify the contract. Pickens is going to want out. And I wouldn't be surprised if Pickens is gone by the end of the week because he's got to look at this and say, if I'm going to have a contract, I'm not going to have it as the second option on a team that's trying to justify a huge contract for Metcalf. I want to go somewhere else. Really?

You think that he could pull a power play like that and and and get an exit, become a hostage instead of a volunteer? Well, and Rich, Rich, he's making about 10 percent this year of what D.K. Metcalf is making per year in new money.

So something's wrong with this picture. They've made it clear that Metcalf is the future. They're never going to pay big money to two receivers and they're never going to get the ball thrown around unless they really are going to do a full out Air Coryell approach to their offense at Aaron Rodgers and throw the ball all over the place. Even then, it's going to be hard for Pickens to have the kind of year that would set him up on the market next year. The problem is that they try to trade him. Teams are going to remember that they got a high second round pick, which essentially became the last pick in round one that year for who's the guy that they got rid of? The receiver, Chase Claypool, Chase Claypool.

And he's not even in the league now. So I think teams are going to tread lightly if the Steelers start calling around to see who wants George Pickens. Mike Florio here on the Rich Eisen show. What is going on, do you think, right now in the front offices of Pittsburgh about their quarterback? And how does that involve Seattle with Sam Darnold? I know I'm giving you sort of a big question about the sweepstakes here, but there you have it.

What do you think? Well, from the moment that it became clear to me that Aaron Rodgers no longer wanted to be with the Jets, but he was going to try to get out by needling Woody Johnson every chance he could get so that the Jets would conclude to be the ones who broke up with him instead of the other way around. Pittsburgh made the most sense. And I've been saying for weeks, Pittsburgh makes perfect sense for Aaron Rodgers. He's going to want to end his career not with a week 18 regular season game, but with a postseason game at whatever level.

You don't want to limp off into the sunset with a loser. And the Steelers have been perennial contenders without him since Ben Roethlisberger really started to tail off. And he stayed one year longer at a minimum than he should have. They haven't had good quarterback play, but they've still been relevant and they've still had non-losing seasons every year of Mike Tomlin's tenure. So I think Rodgers was just waiting. When he reached out to the Giants two weeks ago, I think the subtext to that was nobody good wants him. And now the Steelers have finally realized he's our option. I think they've realized because Justin Fields is going to get more from the Jets than the Steelers are willing to pay.

So let's just go get Rodgers. Let's transform the team. I mean, this really is a dramatic shift in philosophy for a Steelers team that hasn't won a playoff game since the divisional round in 2016 at Kansas City.

The game that got them to realize we need to make a drastic change. They traded up for Patrick Mahomes in the next draft. The Steelers making a drastic change to get back to the playoffs and win a game for the first time in what will be nine years. So you think that Rodgers winds up there or Sam Darnold is going to have a late push where the Steelers are in a bidding war with Seattle right now?

Like, again, what's your spidey sense telling you there? I can't imagine that John Schneider traded Geno Smith without having a plan to replace him. It's it's a hell of a gamble at the most important position on the team to say, we'll let Geno go and then we'll see how the musical chairs game plays out next week.

I think they had a plan in place. Now, none of these deals are enforceable. And if there was tampering, it's not like the Seahawks can say, hey, Geno or hey, Sam, we had our deal wink not in place last week when it was illegal to even talk to you. So Darnold could go somewhere else if he wants to. The Seahawks could be looking somewhere else. I I think there's reason to at least be curious about whether or not the Seahawks might try to trade for someone. Maybe they'll call the Jaguars about Trevor Lawrence.

I'm told. Remember that weird report from a few weeks ago that the Steelers called the Jaguars about Trevor Lawrence? I'm told it was actually the Seahawks who had called the Jaguars about Trevor Lawrence. And I know the Jaguars have said they're not trading him, but John Schneider basically said that there's no doubt Geno will be their quarterback next year. So one big takeaway from the last few days, whether it's coaches, GMs, owners, players like Myles Garrett, never take anything that anyone says at face value.

Everything is subject to change and anything is possibly a smokescreen for what's really going to happen. Well, I like the Geno move for the Raiders, right? Last year, they got through the draft with nothing. And then the season they say, well, we'll deal with it with Gardner, Minshew and Desmond Ritter and AOC.

And they wound up with a complete retool. And this brings stability. And they signed Max Crosby and the stability that that's kind of been their mantra of hiring Pete and getting Geno and keeping Max. I kind of dig what the Raiders have done over the last few weeks. Well, I mean, they're the fourth place team in the NFC West and there's a gap. The other three AFC, excuse me, the other three teams all made it to the playoffs last year.

The Raiders have a lot of ground to make up on the Chiefs, the Broncos and the Chargers. And I think Geno ends up being the perfect compromise candidate after Matthew Stafford decided to stay with the Rams, because we know Tom Brady and company made a big push to try to get Stafford to come to the Raiders. There was this question of they're not enamored with any of the veterans that were available in the front office. John Spytek, the new GM and Brady. But the coaching staff didn't want to roll the dice on a rookie. I mean, Pete Carroll doesn't want to groom a rookie. He's not going to get another Russell Wilson who comes in and takes him to a Super Bowl in two years.

And it helps to have the legion of boom as well when that happens. So Geno Smith becomes veteran that Pete's familiar with the front office and get behind it. He's making twenty five million this year. No new contract on the way in the door, which is a calculated risk for the Raiders. But all they gave up was a third round pick. Rich, if we had had this conversation a week ago and someone had said, hey, the Seahawks are going to trade D.K. Metcalf and Geno Smith and they're going to emerge from it with a second round and a third round pick. We would have said there's no way in hell they're doing that deal. And they did both of them. I guess, though, when you take a look at the compensation that other teams are getting for for their their people, second and third is not too shabby for those guys.

You know, I mean like that. That's actually the question is, is how how how they're going to make them cash in a draft that, you know, where a lot of people are wondering how many stars are in it. Right. Like the starters is what Daniel Jeremiah keeps saying about this draft. It's stars.

And I guess, you know, a second and a third is not too not too bad for those guys. In a deep draft with a lot of starters. That's right. But you got to get it right. You got to hit right. You need a guy that you can get on the field. You need to be able to turn that draft pick into a player. And we saw this a few years ago when we saw the Mike Vrabel neck twitch when they traded AJ Brown to the Eagles for the first round pick that was on the clock. And they took Treylon Burks to be the AJ Brown replacement at receiver. And what happened there puts a lot of pressure on the guy who ends up being selected with that pick that was acquired when Gino Smith goes out the door and when D.K.

Metcalf leave. So you got to get it right. You better get him ready and you better hope he cashes in. And the good news is and this is, I think, why teams are doing it. You take a veteran who had a high price and who wanted a lot more. I think the Gino Smith thing fell apart because the Seahawks found out Gino wanted 40 million a year per more and they were at 30 million or thereabouts.

Let's just go get somebody else. D.K. Metcalf wants big money. He gets big money. Seahawks never used him in a way to justify the big money.

So it makes sense. You get guys cheap, but you got extra pressure on getting it right and getting these guys coached up and ready to go in their rookie seasons. Not on the bench, not learning the ropes, not on I.R., but on the field and contributing. Few minutes left with Mike Florio, pro football talk on a very busy Monday here in the National Football League world. The signings of Garrett at 40 million per and D.K. at 33 million per.

Let's take them one at a time. What's the ripple effect in that pond of the 40 million per contract for Myles Garrett? What's the ripple effect of the rest of the league, Mike? There's two guys that bubble to the top when we consider the ripple effect of the Garrett deal.

First of all, Duke Tobin, the Bengals director of player personnel, said at the combine that Jamar Chase, their star receiver, won the Triple Crown this past year and catches receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. He will be the highest paid non quarterback in the league. Well, that number has gone up five million dollars per year in the two weeks since Duke Tobin said it. So Chase is looking at a floor of 40 now. I think he's going to get mid way between 40 and 50. I think he wants 50. He's not getting 50.

I think 45 is becoming more realistic. And then there's Micah Parsons. Rich, look, your guys at NFL Network, there have been a couple of Sunday Splash reports suggesting that maybe the Cowboys will eventually decide to trade Parsons.

Sean Sharif from one of five three, the fan in Dallas, the Cowboys flagship station, he said last April, based on talking to four people in the building, Micah's act was wearing thin on the Cowboys. You just got to wonder if Parsons number starts creeping above 40 million a year, do they consider kind of a kind of a Herschel Walker trade? The problem nowadays, though, is what you get in trade and what they have to pay the player that's tied together.

So the more they have to pay the player, the less they're going to want to give you. But still, a trade is on the table. I think it can't be out of the question until the Cowboys do a deal with Micah Parsons. And we know how the Cowboys like to do business.

They drag their feet and drag their feet and drag their feet into the last minute. Meanwhile, the price for Parsons keeps going up and up and up. You know, and then the question I have coming off of the the contract for D.K. is going back to the Bengals. They've got two guys to resign, one they have on the franchise tag.

So you kind of check the box with T. Higgins if if you want to keep operating that way. But then you've got Jamar Chase and then I guess Trey Hendrickson is another non quarterback, too. I don't know how these contracts don't make it damn near impossible for Joe Burrow to get what he wants, which is to resign everybody. Well, and with Hendrickson, I think the Bengals gave him permission to seek a trade so he could find out he's not going to get Max Crosby money. I think the Max Crosby deal is the thing that was the catalyst for the Bengals to say, go see what's out there.

And I think they're quietly optimistic that he'll find out there isn't a multiyear deal for a 30 year old pass rusher. Much more than what the Bengals are willing to pay. And I think that number is around twenty eight million a year, which is 12 million short of Miles Garrett, but 12 million more than what Hendrickson is due to make this year.

And with Higgins, it's very simple. He's due to make twenty six point one six million this year. And he will be a free agent next year. They won't tag him a third time. So what will they have to offer to get Higgins to trade in that bird in the hand?

Twenty six plus I go wherever I want next year at this time. It's going to be very hard for the Bengals to come up with a long term deal that will get Higgins to trade in his right to get paid. Not great, but pretty good. And then become a free agent, especially if Jamar Chase is going to want forty five million a year. That's just too much money to put in the receiver position when you can go out and draft someone. The problem is they tried it last year with Jermaine Burton.

That was a disaster. That's the risk of trading out a high performing veteran for a rookie. No guarantee the rookie is going to pan out.

And we found out Josh Allen is registered for his wedding wherever he damn well pleases. What do you make of his new contract? Well, this is one of the rare occasions where a team willingly tore up four years left on a contract, replaced it with a new six year deal. Three hundred and thirty million. It's fifty five million per year from signing, which is the richest contract in NFL history.

It was overdue. The contract he signed after three seasons was grossly obsolete. He was making forty three million per year publicly.

He wasn't saying anything about it privately. The bills knew they had to do something with it and they did it. They gave him the reward that he deserves.

Six years, three hundred and thirty million. And now what does that mean for Patrick Mahomes? What does that mean for Joe Burrow? What does that mean for Lamar Jackson?

They all pay attention to these deals. And when a big one happens, watch for Burrow to maybe get some sort of an adjustment, especially Mahomes. He's got that ultra long term deal, but they've been moving cash into the short term to give him cash flow.

That's the key for quarterbacks. What's your four year cash flow? Allen now has the record at two hundred and twenty million. Dax got two hundred nineteen million over four years. Mahomes and Burrow are going to want to pass the two hundred and twenty million that Allen has. And Mahomes has the argument for it because Mahomes is the guy that keeps Josh Allen in the bills from going to the Super Bowl.

So it's I hear you on that front. But is is there a cash issue for any team in the NFL right now where we're looking at lack of free agency movement or dragging feet on signing guys to incredibly rich contracts that we know they're going to have to sign them to? Where there's a cash aspect of this behind the scenes that might explain some of the lack of moves or foot dragging Mike?

Well, it's not a question of availability of cash. I mean, the bills are on the hook for all of the overages at their new stadium. And the estimated price has gone from one point four billion to two point two billion. They're on the hook for that eight hundred million. They're finding the money to pay Josh Allen. You know, we hear these huge numbers and I've seen the graphics, a billion dollars in contracts awarded. The players get half of the money, which means the owners get the other half and the owners have all of the equity. And we're seeing more and more teams shave off a few percent here, a few percent there, up to 10 percent for private equity. They're turning these gargantuan franchise values into cash.

There isn't a cash issue as it relates to having it. The cash issue is related to spending it, because every dollar you save on players is one more dollar that goes into the super yacht maintenance fund. And these owners, as much as they like to say, we want to win the Super Bowl. That's just part of what you have to say to get people to keep their wallets open, to buy tickets and watch games, because they ultimately view wins and losses, I believe, based on the balance sheet. And it's Brewster's Millions, NFL version.

It's impossible to lose money even if you try. But some of these owners are still cheap when it comes to players, and I think that can be an issue for some of these teams, like the Bengals and like the Cowboys. All right, so then what's the move you're looking to see that few people are talking about, before I let you go, Mike? Well, yeah, that's a good question, which is always the thing that you say when you're trying to buy time to come up with an answer.

The quarterback carousel is what fascinates me. I thought people are being complimentary when they say that to me, Mike. No, no, no. That's just I've learned. I've learned not from using it. I've learned from people using it on me because I know I never ask a good question. When I started doing interviews and people say that's a good question, it's like, no, it's not.

You're just trying to buy time because you don't know what to say. I really do believe this quarterback carousel is fascinating. And before 2020, you never saw veterans starting quarterbacks become free agents.

It was rare. Now, every year there's the coaching carousel, then the quarterback carousel. And are there too many butts than seats this year? I think there might be. Jimmy Garoppolo has already decided to stay put with the Rams. Do you think he did that without exploring whether or not there's a team out there that would let him compete to start?

I don't think so. It all goes into the reality that the tampering is rampant before noon Eastern on that first Monday, the negotiating window. So I want to see how this plays out. Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, all these veteran quarterbacks who are available, especially because the Browns need somebody and the Browns need someone cheap. And I saw an article yesterday that implied that maybe the headline, at least that maybe they're going to bring back Joe Flacco. I started working on that a little bit in the name I heard for the Browns.

And I'm sorry in advance. Cleveland fans is Carson Wentz. Keep an eye on Carson Wentz to the Browns. And good luck convincing Miles Garrett that you've got a plan to win all due respect to Carson Wentz.

But come on, that isn't the centerpiece of a plan to compete for a championship. And now watch, Rich. This will be played back ad nauseam next February when the Browns are getting ready to play in the Super Bowl.

Never know, man. Thanks for the time, Mike, on a very busy day. Greatly appreciate you taking the time out of your phone buzzing.

Get right back at it and look forward to seeing what you're putting out there on Pro Football Talk and all the TV and podcast shows that come from it. Thank you, sir. All right. Thank you, Rich. See you, buddy. You got it. That's Mike Florio right here on The Rich Eisen Show. All state fire and casualty insurance company and affiliates.

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See store or sleep number dot com for details. Can you just clean that up, please, sir? Thank you. You know, I've been at this NFL Network thing for quite some time, Josh Allen, since, to use a Warren Sapp phrase, you were knee high to a jackrabbit back in central California. And I've been doing a lot of combines. The current general manager of the Raiders was with me at the time as a broadcaster, Mike Mayock. When you were at the combine and you took a snap in one of the drills and you just, you know, lightly glided back to right around the 10 yard line and let one fly and it landed on the other 25. And I looked at Mike Mayock and he looked at me and kind of raised his eyebrows like, yep, that's the arm strength right there. What is the furthest you've ever thrown a football?

Josh was in Wyoming. So I did get a little from the elevation. Yes, but it was right around 83 yards, right? Right around 83. Yeah. Are we rounding up or rounding down to the 83?

Josh, we're probably rounding up just a little bit, but yeah, 83 was that was the number. So I don't know. I'm looking up to see if you're playing in Denver at all so you can play. You can get a little bit of some altitude. Can you do that in an NFL game?

You think? I mean, there was one game, I think it was my rookie year against the Dolphins. I threw a ball, getting near as hard as I can. And I my receiver was 60, 70 yards downfield. And I overthrew him just by a little bit. I did.

And that was just one of those. Like, I didn't I didn't feel like I threw it as hard as I could. But my hip fired so hot and it just came out of my hand extremely well and it was spinning and it was a little warm in Miami. So it might have flown a little farther, but it's just one of those that just kind of even blew me off guard. So something I've toned down a little bit, though, and I feel like I've got a little more control on my ball right now. Understood.

No, accuracy is something that you definitely have improved on, as we have seen. So let's just walk me through this at some point during a game in your career. Let's just say it could even happen this this weekend against New England, where you have to throw a Hail Mary to win it. At what yardage do you say to your coach? I still got this. Give it to me.

Your own what? We're like, I know I can get the ball in the air and get it probably a good four or five yards even. And I'm probably around the thirty five.

Your own thirty five? Yeah. Because, you know, you're probably going to have to avoid a rush a little bit, even if they're coming at you with three man. You're going to have to roll out a little bit. So right around your own 30 something yard line, you can you can get it in there. You think so?

Yeah, I think so. Unbelievable. And now he's been pizayed twice over. Josh Allen in his many appearances on the Rich Eisen Show on our YouTube channel, everybody. So Carson Wentz for the Cleveland Browns. Hey, man, at least he got 40 million a year. You know what I mean?

Back in the day? No, I'm talking about Miles Garrett because he ain't he ain't holding the Lombardi if Carson Wentz. Well, I mean, that's just obviously a one year thing. Then they're going to figure out what to do in the next year.

Certainly, Deshaun Watson comes back and they have him for one more year. Forty million, forty seven million. You shake your head all you want. Great. And it's not a great plan.

It's not a great plan at all. It might be the only one they've got. I mean, Carson Wentz could be also one of those like, hey, let's we can fix him.

I just know his week 18 appearance didn't change many people's minds in the Andy Reid system, which is, one would think, a very quarterback friendly one. But that definitely stands out to me from the Florio conversation. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, everybody back here on the program, eight four four two oh four riches. The number to dial the Hyundai, Hyundai getaway sales event is on right now. And it's the best time to get that Hyundai car or SUV you've always wanted. Plus, every new Hyundai comes with America's best warranty in three years or thirty six thousand miles of limited complimentary maintenance.

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Rich number to dial one of our favorites. Derek in Missouri is back on the line. What's up, Derek? How are you, sir?

I'm doing good, Rich. Can we just speak hypothetically for a quick second? St. Rogers did go to Minnesota and the immense amount of hostile and booze he would get if he did go to Green Bay. And if I can see it from like Brett Favre back in 2009.

Derek, you heard me before the Favre triple Lindy would be something for him to pull off. I mean, that would be. But I don't know. I think that that's that's far fetched. But the fact that it's still now almost two hours in a free agency, still a possibility.

It's kind of crazy. No, it is so much more likely for you on this Monday. So which new receiver with his new team will have a better 225 campaign, Devante Adams or DK Metcalf? Oh, that's easy. I'll take Devante Adams, Derek. That's a that's a no brainer. And thank you for the call, Derek. First of all, one has Matthew Stafford as the quarterback.

The other has I don't know. As of right now, I mean, that's as simple as it as it gets. And then there's the Devante Adams going to the Rams, man. When I heard that, I'm like, what a brilliant move it is, because less need is paying him. Twenty six million guaranteed over two years.

The Rams are doing that. That is an annual per year basis. Seven million dollars fewer than DK Metcalf's making in a year. And you're getting a future Hall of Famer and a top notch professional and a terrific. Human. All in one. And the pressure is not even on him.

I did the research because I'm a lead pipe wielding professional. Did you know the last time Devante Adams playing a full year for a single team? Did you know the last time he was on a roster where somebody had more catches than him was 2016 when Jordy Nelson did it?

And then you take a look at his entire playing career. And you have to wonder, with all due respect to Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb and even last year, his cup of coffee being on the opposite side of the field is Garrett Wilson. You have to wonder if Devante Adams has ever played. In the same offense.

With a better receiver than Puka Nakua. You got to wonder that I look at the whole list. Here are the people who have been on his team in the same receiver room as him. Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb. Jarrett Boykin, James Jones, Jeff Janus, Marquez Valdez, Scantling, not to be outdone in the three name polysyllabic department, Equinemius St. Brown.

Allen Lazard, Geronimo Allison, Mack Hollins, Keelan Cole, Jacoby Myers, Trey Tucker, and last year's Jets. Puka Nakua should, wearing 17, we assume, should have more catches than Devante Adams. Because he is an absolute get wide open, insane, catching machine. And should get the defensive spotlight thrown on him throughout the week by defensive coordinators. And absolutely should get the attention paid of somebody his stature. Yes, stature.

I say stature. He is arguably in the top five wide receiver department, when healthy, so far. And Devante Adams is going to be on the other side of him. Maybe getting some sort of, dare I say, single coverage. And unfortunately, though, unfortunately for the Rams, they don't have somebody who can scheme it up to make it a problem for, wait a minute.

I'm told they have maybe the best at it. That was all performance art, by the way. And scene. Yeah, Sean McVay is going to dial this thing up. Oh my gosh, who's going to have a better season? D.K.

Metcalf or him? I mean, name any other wide receiver that might sign with somebody else. Devante may have the best season of all of them. Maybe not, you know, the 100 catch season or whatever. Because when they're not throwing a Puka or him, they've got the run game that, you know, all of this is predicated off of. And they've got Matthew Stafford to boot. Stafford's got to be sitting there when the phone rings and goes, hey, it's Devante, you want to go to a Taco Bell in my house? Or somebody calls him up and says, hey, guess who we just got? Devante Adams, he's got to be sitting there saying, thank God I didn't take the money with the Raiders or the Giants and say, send me there. Oh, God.

I mean, if he second guessed his decision for even a split second. Here comes Devante Adams. And I understand. The Hosannas I'm throwing out there are.

The fact that Cooper Cup, this means I don't think there is an option for him to return. But if there is. Come on, now, those are the only words you can say.

But, you know, they should know that you put it out there. They got to make that happen. I don't know. I don't know what's going on in that building with him and the team. He told the L.A. Times over the weekend that Sean McVeigh called him the office and said, we're trading you, which means which is why he then, you know, starts posting on Instagram and everything else.

Thank you, Los Angeles. Sure. And Les Snead said in his media availability last week, you know, like the door is not closed, but it's the least likely option that he stays because he knows more than anybody else that anything can happen. You can have plans and they change. That's why the information men and women are putting out there are saying plans to all that sort of stuff, because things can change.

But, you know, listen, if cups going and Adams is common. That's not a bad plan B. So it's not really a plan. It's everyone else's plan. Hey, that's their plan B.

Everyone else's plan A. Tell me again, with all due respect, Jordi Nelson was a terrific receiver. But Puka Nakua is on a different level right now, guys. It's unreal what he can do to get open, to stay open, to make himself available, to be open, put his feet down when they need to take the hit, and Davante Adams is on the other side of that. Oh, good night. So thanks to Derek from Missouri for setting that one up. Who's going to have a better season? I'll take I'll take Davante and the Rams, man. And hey, listen, the Rams just saw Seattle. They're redoing everything. And the Niners are doing who knows what with all their new names in Arizona.

Rams have got to be sitting back and saying, we got all those picks to come and look what we're doing with them when we're not effing them. Hour two is in the books. You know what I'm saying? Yes, indeed. Rich, Jerry, put the tweet back up. OK, we're back.

Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. What happened? Was he watching Suits L.A.? I don't know. He accidentally hit delete.

I've accidentally deleted an X every now and then. He linked a story to Steelers in discussions with Rogers, but deal not imminent. OK, see, he did. He so we tweaked the language a little bit. We tweaked.

All right. So now we're back. You know, Jerry doesn't pay for X because otherwise he could have just edited that tweet. So do we ask for Jerry to zoom in? Do we ask for do we ask for Jerry to join us? Let's do that.

Why not? He's a friend of the shop dance. Chris, what else you got over there? OK, we got a couple of cornerback news. We're a cornerback show now. New England gets Carlton Davis from the Lions. Three years, 60 million. Then the Detroit gets D.J. Reid to replace him. Three years, 48 million. Patriots also get Morgan Moses from the Jets to play right tackle. Three years, 24 million. OK, and the Vikings get Isaiah Rogers. Two years, 15 million.

OK. Yeah, none of that interests me. I get it for them, by the way. Could you this is some serious cash getting thrown around, serious cash for all these guys here. We're like, really, that guy is making this. And there was a report going up. Diana had a report initially that Milton Williams was going to the Panthers and that has since been put on hold. Some other teams are still coming at him hard. No deals official. Cardinals, Vikings also in on Milton Williams. Let me just say this to back the play of everybody in the news and information business right now is, as Florio pointed out, any of these deals right now, they're not official until the new league year begins on Wednesday.

So these are all verbal. And I'm saying this and I'm saying that. And we've come to terms and sources say this, even though the sources are the agents who did the deal that are on the tweet, you know, all of that. So one minute you could say, oh, Milton Williams is going here. And then all of a sudden two teams come in and say, hold on a second. Right.

I think that's what happened. What about us? Yeah. OK. And do you want to talk about Garrett Cole today? Sure, we can.

We'll do that the next day. We didn't even talk about LeBron and your Celtics. Did you mention Jordan Lewis earlier? I can't remember. Yeah, Jordan Lewis. Yeah. Yeah.

He's going to Jacksonville. Great. Just great.

We could talk about news that's not fun for me to talk about. Yeah. I didn't know. I didn't know. Is it official yet? I thought he's getting a second opinion.

They're looking for a second opinion, but it doesn't sound good. I'm happy to discuss news as long as you're not you're not gleefully discussing it. I'm not. I was in a hushed tone. I forgot that.