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This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, who do you have going all the way? Who do you have going all the way? Michigan. What? No way.
And they survived the Tritons of UC San Diego. Live from the Rich Eisen Show Studio in Los Angeles. We've got our final four predictions. Kansas over Auburn.
You got Kansas? It's Calipari over South. Earlier on the show, actor Morris Chestnut. Coming up, NFL Network insider Tom Felicero. Steelers defensive tackle Cam Hayward.
Actor Rome Flynn. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hey everybody, our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Breaking news, and this is seismic.
This is big. Somebody brought my favorite Girl Scout cookies to the studio. The tag-alongs are here. Who brought the tag-alongs? Who brought them? Who brought them to tag-alongs?
RJ brought the tag-alongs. Oh my God. That's the best one. That's the best one. They're the best ones.
Thank you, Rich. I just rock with Thin Mint. Thin Mint, dog.
Come on now. No, not close. It's the tag-along. It's not close.
It's Thin Mint. We've already done this poll before. It was a problematic development in the commercial break when I went to go get some coffee and I saw the tag-alongs. It's the best. It's 10 in the morning here.
I had to break it open. Attaboy. I'm running Sunday. Let's hope he runs faster.
Let's hope he goes faster. I don't think I've ever had a tag-along. Oh my God. Frozen tag-along in the freezer. We did this poll on January 14th. Rich.
Thin Mint, 45%. So the two breaking stories here, the tag-alongs are in the building here in El Segundo. Tag-along. And according to Jerry Dulac, who knows everything about everything about the Pittsburgh Steelers, some little birdie told him that there's a Californian in Pittsburgh. Here, coach. Aaron Rodgers is in the Steelers facility today and indication to deal with the team could be forthcoming per sources.
And there's no other greater indication. Again, I don't think Rodgers is flying all the way across the country and meeting with the Steelers without having already come to, you know, an idea in his head that. That's where he wants to be.
I want to be a Pittsburgh Steelers. And before he does that, he just needs to see it. He needs to see it. He needs to feel it.
He needs to probably visualize himself in that place. And if he wants to continue playing football, this is the one that absolutely makes sense. At the end of the day, there is no other place that would hire him right now and say, you are QB one that has a coach that's not going anywhere, a front office that's not going anywhere, an ownership that is 100% committed to the coach and the front office and also has DK Metcalf sitting there and George Pickens sitting over there saying, let's go with a defense that is championship quality with somebody like T.J. Watt on it and our third hour guest Cameron Hayward on it, just to name two. And also the Pittsburgh Steelers play the NFC North. So he gets one more shot at the division that he called home for most of his career.
Revenge tour. He also goes to the Jets. The Steelers schedule just lines up perfectly for Aaron Rodgers. There are none.
There is no what? No fewer than what would you say? Six, seven games that that would be a battle royale between all the television partners of the of the NFL from the divisional matchups to the matchups against the Bills and the Jets. He plays he plays both divisions he's played in. The Steelers play the AFC East and the NFC North. Come on. And the Chargers out here in Los Angeles.
So maybe he gets to stay at a, you know, a night in Malibu. Seriously, the Lions are on this. The Seahawks are on this. I mean, it's just one massive up after the other. And then the one against Green Bay, like I told you in the combine, I heard it's it's going to happen in Ireland.
That's the one. And that's that's the one in the Steelers are going against the Packers in Ireland. It just it just sets up perfectly with all due respect to my friends with the Giants.
It's just, you know, they were third overall in the clock and the Steelers were third overall in the division, you know, or second last year. In their division, he always like to say you can't write it right. If he's in the building, they're not letting him walk. I mean, the contract is already probably written. It's been waiting for his signature for for a couple weeks. One would think the long form may not be ready, but you know, the term sheets ready. I mean, I'm wondering if that's that's where it winds up. They've got a table set up in front of all their in front of their trophy case.
I know exactly where it is in the building in their office. Let's get them all now while we got them. And they got renegade blasting through the facility right now. You know, it feels like it's going to happen. So we've got two people who can confirm this Tom Postero, Tommy P. And you got to know Cam Hayward's got to call somebody at the office and say, is he there? This camera is happening. Cam could be there. Maybe he's going to. Will he FaceTime in? Will he zoom in with Rogers sitting there like like Rogers did with the Vonta? Imagine. Could you imagine? Like, all right.
Rich cam zooming in and then Aaron just pops his head in the frame. So there you go. That's what's going on. Tom Postero is joining us in 15 minutes. In the meantime, let's do our usual Friday fair. It's time for what's more likely hit it. What's more likely? Never say never, but never. Man, what's more likely the number of seasons Rogers played for the Jets or the number of tag alongs I'm going to eat during this segment?
Oh, the tag alongs. I don't even have to ask you. I know that you're good, Rich. I never eat during a segment. No, like I'm not like Sanchez on the sideline of the Jets. Like all of us will like have our moments. My mouth is ready to talk.
20 seconds. We'll never get back. Thank you, this guy. Wow. Mike, great to see you. I don't care what TJ says behind your back.
Guys, what's more likely? Aaron Rogers decides on his future before or after the draft. It's happening today. We don't know that at all. I just can't see he leaves the building and then we're suddenly hearing, oh, he's on a free agency tour.
He's going to the Giants next. What do you mean? What about this guy gives you any indication?
I know he wants to get himself out of the news is by the weekend. I know. I know.
I get it. I'll just say, obviously it's going to be before the draft now that we know that he's in the building. I don't know if this is just like the, uh, uh, your tournament seeding. Like you're like the tournament selection committee. I don't care what the actual news is that Michigan ones that wins the big 10. We're just going to see them the way that we were planning on seating.
This is not a Michigan. I don't know if you know what I'm saying is I don't know if you just said, I don't care what the news is. I'm sticking with my first item for what's more likely. Well, yeah, obviously. Okay, great. What's next? Okay.
What's now what's the more sell though that was good. Who's the more likely Ohio state wide receiver with a new quarterback. You like to have a better year this year, JSN or Garrett Wilson. Good one.
Good one. Well I'll go with the one who's already caught passes from him from his quarterback. So I'll go with Garrett Wilson. I mean, Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson can, can at one point look at each other and say, let's do it. Like it's 2019 and JSN we'll look at Sam daughter and go, where were you in 2019? You know what I mean?
Like that pretty much for, for JSN I imagine. Um, so yeah, obviously I'll go with the guy who's got his college quarterback back like the Vontae Adams and uh, and Derek car that worked out great. Stop it for both of those guys. Blame Josh, blame your current offensive coordinator for that.
I love my offense. I want to take the job out of your mouth. I'll figure out what to do with Derek car.
I'll please, I'll take the job and then send him home for Christmas. Keep my OCs name out of your mouth. What else?
Uh, how about these two teams? We're not really talking about a tag along. Should I keep that out? No, no, no. Put that in your mouth.
Eat that on there, bro. We haven't talked a lot about these two teams this off season. Kind of interesting. They both won 11 games last year. Who do you have the most faith in to do it again? Chargers or Packers. Let me clear my throat.
As I tell cage, every time you eat something, wash it down, rich, take a swig, wash it down, wash it down while you think about it, while you let it marinate. Chargers, Packers. They both won 11 games last year. I know that. Wow.
Good question. I'm not talking about these teams by the way. Oh man. We are not talking about these. Oh man. I know we're not talking about these teams.
That's a cue for you to hit the old man drop. It's okay. You're not paying attention. Can you just focus on the show when you're on the show? I was texting somebody about what, by the way, nothing important. When I'm like, put your phone away. I'm not lying. At least I admitted I wasn't paying attention.
Honestly, dude, you can still hit it like, oh man, these decisions like, oh, they don't need me to talk right now. So I'm going to do something else. Good Lord.
Oh man. Let me go. I'll go. I'll go charges.
Thank you. I'll go charges and Jim. I trust in Jim. I trust. Okay.
Okay. What else? Chris? I'm more likely to get their new deal for us Brock Purdy or Micah Parsons. Oh please. Come on, please. Come on. I'm going to go Brock Purdy. Absolutely. I'm going Brock Purdy.
Did you see Jane Slater's tweet this week or her post this week that, yeah, that there's no real meaningful conversations going on just yet. So come on. If you were a GM, who would you give more money to? Oh, who would I get more money to? I'd give it more to the quarterback.
That's who I'd give it to. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah.
Okay. And you're going to give more money. The market says, give it more money to the quarterback than the non quarterback. But Micah, you know, Dallas is probably getting, trying to get Micah to take that 40 to take the, take the miles gadget. They're always trying to turn back the clock. They're always got, you know what? Does Jerry Jones have a DeLorean? He probably does.
You know what I mean? He probably does. He's got to jump in. He's, he's, he's, he's got the flux capacitor and he's always, he's always trying to get in there and go, let's go back in time to the point where I should have signed you.
1955 November 5th. Brock Purdy. Brock Purdy.
That would be great. Come on, bro. What's next? Super bowl team to not more likely to not win their division this year. Chiefs are Eagles. Don't be that way. Don't be that way. Don't be what way? Don't be that way. I don't know. Cause you're trying, cause you know, I don't know what my answer is. I don't know what way that you mean. Just say the Eagles.
So all your famous chief friends will still talk to you. I'm tiptoeing around stone. I do. I do think that a little bit he's on next week, by the way.
Nice ruds in New Zealand. So he's not watching. They're both winning it. They're both repeating. Really? Yeah.
They're both really not scared of Washington, Denver, chargers. I'll take the Eagles. Okay. Yeah. All right.
I mean, we have to go there in September. I'll take the chiefs. All right. Last one. The more likely rule proposal to get past the Packers tush, push band or the lions playoff seating. Oh, I'll go the tush push band. Yes.
Over the playoff seating. Oh, please. Are you kidding me?
Oh, the membership's getting here. Like, so the way we do it, um, the way we do it and have done it, that has now created more and more and more billions for us. We should tinker with that. That's what we should do. They're adding games. I mean, with the tinker, I know, but take her in with replant is more revenue.
Chris, you understand there's tinkering and then there's changing things that are the ways that has been done forever. The lions playoff seating. As much as that may make sense to you and everyone else, there are members in the NFL who will be like, I need to think about it.
I need to study it. I bet you they won't even vote on that. I bet you that will get pulled. You should go, which is more likely to actually be put in front of the membership.
I don't even, I would be stunned if the lions playoff seating gets even a vote. Oh wow. They, this was, this is going to be one of those. Well, we got to think about it.
We got to study. It's like, it's like a, it's one of these tankers that takes forever to turn around. That actually makes more sense than a literally a band against one team's play. But one team's play is not, it's something that might cause a hue and cry for a day. This is changing the way they do business. This is changing commerce, man. This is changing who gets a home playoff game and who doesn't.
This changes like divisional winners and what it means to win a division. I mean, this is, this is something that would take, it is so radical. You already can't push a player on defense from behind to try and gain any advantage. I get it.
I get it. So just saying, let's not, but the point of seating might actually make week 18 interesting. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. I'm saying it's such a radical idea that there's no chance it gets passed this year.
And I wouldn't be surprised if it just gets pulled. That's the way it's got to go. You got to let the cat out of the bag to start and then come back around and then come back around and keep trying and keep trying and keep trying.
And then eventually you'll succeed and have children with Susie Schuster. That meant, is this in the one? Wait, what? I'm just saying that's how I got married. Okay.
Gotcha. You gotta, you gotta stick with the program and you have to just get the idea out there in the ether. Get them thinking about it, right? Get them wondering about it.
Stanza getting exactly. That's what it is in order to get a rule proposal passed one day. You're going to make that committee where with the case, with the Packers tush push though, I would say that that has a chance to get voted on, which means it's got a chance to get passed. I would just keep an eye on and I have no idea that that's just so radical. I would just think that just like, yeah, don't even bring it up.
You know, like now is not the time. Mike Brown is still wondering why he spent $70 million on just two players. He doesn't know where that drop is. That was Jay Feli who did it. Oh, he knows. Do you know, do you know where the Velcro drop is?
Uh, Velcro. Yeah. Hang on. Okay, here it is. This is, this is the way you have to approach changing rules so radically proposed. Don't worry about it.
Richard Mike's defense the first time he ripped the Velcro off of his head and that's how we get this like this. Okay. No, it's all right. Don't worry.
Hold on. Three tagalongs that segment. No, it was three bites of a single tag along the tag along three times. Wow.
I don't know. It's just like one shot kid. One, one right down the, I'm being just slightly unprofessional, but this commercial break, let's get to it.
Cause Tom Palacios joining us and I want to finish this cookie in that order. 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 1400 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.
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Normally he's got his gel in his part. Do I have to text him? Hoodie got a hoodie on. He's busy right now chasing that Roger. I think he's probably talking to somebody in Pittsburgh. What is the Pittsburgh area code TJ? Four one two, four one two.
What do you want to know? Y'all don't know. Okay. I mean, just I just like, Hey, are you joining because if you're not, I'll just grab another cookie. I really hope I said that to him. Could be seven to four as well.
You'd have no idea what I'm referring to. Baylor's up five. Alabama's up five. Here we go. Two possession games here.
Speaking of Pittsburgh, Bob Morris, Bobby Mo, Bobby Mo taking on Alabama. Oh, by the way, earlier today, I didn't even want to start the show and even mentioned Yukon's tonight. Yukon.
Yeah. Two time defending champs. Oklahoma. That's a good eight, nine.
That's a good eight, nine. They popped that on at nine twenty five Eastern and then Michigan States at ten. Good night games. Where's Michigan State playing?
Yukon was up and down. They're not in Denver. They're in Cleveland.
The ten o'clock at night. They're in Cleveland. Yeah. Yeah.
What are they going to do? That's that's too late. What are you gonna do all day in Cleveland?
Come on, Rich. Huh? No, but I'm just I gotta have dinner, right? I'm serious.
Like, oh, they probably eat it like four or five. Really? Okay. Energy bar. Serious. Gatorade.
Slam a Red Bull. When Taylor was playing her her eight o'clock all star game, like we we wonder, like, when do we when do we give her? No. What are we doing?
Of course, give her shamrock shake afterwards. Oh. Oh, we missed that the other day. It was a conversation.
Yeah. By the way, Susie was in Chicago promoting women's sports. Now over the last couple days, she took a photograph of the Chicago River still green from Monday. That's hilarious.
I asked her, look for Richard Kimball. It's going to take a while for that green the wash hour. How long does it take normally in Chicago? Oh, they do that in they do that in Boston, too, right? Rockman River. There's no river in Boston, Mike. There's a there's a charter.
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You never have to miss a single buzzer beater. Get game day deals on all your favorites only on Uber Eats. Order now. Remember, get game day deals on all your favorites only on Uber Eats. Order now. All right. To answer your question, Rich, I don't know where Tom is.
Oh, he's checking in. So they started dying the Chicago River in 1962. Yes. According to Google's A.I., it's a it's a. The color dissipates in a few hours.
No, it looked pretty darn green to me in the photograph. OK. Yeah. Very good. It's a biodegradable dye that needs to be viewed quite quickly.
It only lasts a few hours. I'm sitting at the Rich Ozzenshow desk furnished by Granger back here again on the Rich Ozzenshow radio network with the Roku Channel stream with supplies and solutions for every industry. Granger has the right product for you.
Call click ranger dot com or just stop by. Tommy P's back here. Tom Pelosero here on the Rich Ozzenshow. How are you, Tom?
Good to see you, Tommy. Doing fantastic. Continuing to move forward on Aaron Rodgers watch, which for the first time in a little bit here includes actual eyes on him. So, you know, developments.
All right. So that's a great way to start, as you can confirm you're in our building right now via Zoom. What is going on with Rodgers? He is physically there in Pittsburgh at the Steelers facility as we talk. Tom, Aaron Rodgers was in the Steelers facility this morning.
My understanding was this was kind of a last minute type of a thing. Aaron Rodgers came to the facility. He spent some time with coaches. He's been talking to people in the organization for a while now. And there's certainly been a lot of signs that he is seriously considering playing his 21st NFL season in Pittsburgh. This is the first time, though, that Aaron Rodgers has taken an actual visit to a team. You know, obviously with the conversations and the revelations a few days ago that the Vikings were not going to be pursuing Aaron Rodgers at this time that honed in his options very clearly on the Steelers and the Giants.
Pittsburgh, for a variety of different reasons, would seem to make the most sense, though the Giants have continued to have a dialogue with Rodgers agent Dave Dunn. And today was another step. Now, what I can tell you is what I was told, there is no deal done.
There is no deal imminent. It's not like he was coming in to sign. This was he popped in. He spent time with coaches, spent time around the facility here.
This does set the table, though, Rich, for Rodgers to potentially make a decision and in turn then set off the rest of the dominoes across the quarterback market. So he left the building then. He did leave it.
There's no sign. My understanding is he had been planning to leave right around this time. So physically I don't have a GPS tracker on him, Rich, but that was supposed to be wrapping up right around now. Well, the reason why I ask, not that you're going to start tracking him, but you know how this works.
You want to sign somebody, you don't let him leave the building. And so I guess this is different. Do we know? Is he now is he on a tour? Is he now going to see? I mean, he's kind of got to know where the Giants facility is, doesn't that? He doesn't need to look around, you know, that part of New Jersey wondering what it looks like to live there or be in the building. Right.
It's just it's just instead of green, it's blue. Right. I would I would say this, Rich. Aaron Rodgers is doing his own process.
And it's not like anybody else's process. You know, you're right. I mean, in the old days of free agency, especially it was, hey, if you get the guy in the building, don't let him leave, because then if he gets on that plane, he's probably going to the next place with Aaron. You know, Aaron's got to make up his mind.
And he's got two teams right now that put everything else on hold for him. Again, the Vikings engaged. But we talked about this a few days ago that, you know, at this time, they've talked with Rodgers, he and Kevin O'Connell have a very close relationship.
There were ongoing conversations, a lot of respect there. But the Vikings made clear to him that, you know, we're proceeding with J.J. McCarthy, which is the same message that they delivered to the other teams that were calling and saying, hey, all this Rogers stuff floating around, would you trade J.J. McCarthy? It's no, we're rolling with him as our quarterback here. So for Rodgers, you know, the first question is, is he going to play? Everything that I have heard is that he is motivated to, you know, put the requisite time in. This is not going to be him being a part time quarterback. It's going to be, you know, he's going to be motivated to go out and finish his career the right way. Is that going to be in Pittsburgh? Is that going to be with the Giants? Is there a world in which Aaron could just say, I don't feel great about either option and I'm going to wait and see what else develops?
Anything's possible, but certainly it seemed like this has been tracking rich to potentially have a resolution here in the coming days. We'll see exactly when that is. But we do know this. If Aaron Rodgers tells the Steelers or the Giants, I want to come there and play, those teams want that to happen.
And I would anticipate that, you know, all the financial stuff in the contract and all that would be secondary and should not be that difficult to figure out. Now, you said we talked about it in terms of the Vikings decision to stick with J.J. McCarthy at the moment at this time, as you said in your post, you know, you talked about it. We have not talked about it yet. So now it's time to do that. And by the way, greatly appreciate that report the other day when we were all waiting to talk about something while waiting for the NCAA tournament to start.
So thank you for that. What can you more meat on the bones, please, sir. Why did the Vikings make this decision? And and, you know, it does strike me that there had to be someone in the building who was like, no, we're not we're not going with forty one year old former Packer here when we got the kid.
So can you identify or are willing to identify who that individual in the process was? Tom, I think I think first of all, let's take a step back here because there have been some things reported and rumored that I think are, let's say, exaggerated or lacking context. The idea that this was, you know, a coin flip of, hey, do we do Rogers or McCarthy or that, you know, this was a they were strongly concerned that they were about to do it and somebody stomped it out.
That's not my understanding. Aaron Rodgers wanted to come to play in Minnesota, which shouldn't surprise anybody because a lot of quarterbacks would love to have the set up there with, you know, Kevin O'Connell has had Kirk Cousins plays best football. Sam Darnold plays best football.
He had to play with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and Aaron Jones behind an offensive line that just got injected with a lot of beef up front. You know, there's a lot of reasons quarterbacks want to come here when a four time NFL MVP who Kevin O'Connell is known for 15 years reaches out and says, hey, I would like to come there. I wouldn't even you know, it wouldn't cost you a ton. I would just like to come and play in Minnesota.
I think you'd be negligent in your duties to not talk about it and think about it and say, all right, is this the right thing to do? But the other side of this is they have a guy in J.J. McCarthy who they have full confidence in to be their quarterback for years to come. This was not strictly about 2025, though when you're a 14 win team coming off of a playoff appearance and you're very much pushing in free agency, bringing in veterans like Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen, you're saying we think we can win right now. You're weighing out, all right, what's the best thing in 2025?
But also, what's the impact on 2026 and 2027 and beyond? If you were to sign an Aaron Rodgers, he might be if he's able to channel, he's not the quarterback that he was, but if he's able to channel some of that, even at age 41, you know, perhaps in the very short term, he would be more ready to lead the team. But what's the impact of that on McCarthy, who remember did not get any reps last year through the entire season, forget first tumors, any reps at all, because he was dealing with a knee injury that required surgery to fix a tear of the meniscus.
He had a second procedure done to clean things up in December. You know, he missed out on all those reps. If you have Rodgers in there, he's taken all those reps. So when you talk about the development of J.J. McCarthy, to say nothing of the way that you had drafted him last year with the idea we're going to be able to build around the young quarterback on a rookie contract, we've got cost controlled for three, four, five years, even bringing in Aaron Rodgers at an adjusted number, but also delaying the development, that would all change the plan.
And so there's a ton of dialog. There's a ton of respect between Kevin O'Connell and Aaron Rodgers. But when they talked a few days ago, it was made very clear to Rodgers. This is not the direction that we're wanting to go. The Vikings, if you pay attention to their press conferences, they never speak in absolutes. They're never going to slam the door on anything because you just don't know circumstances could change.
I know, again, there's been stuff out there, but they'll be monitoring closely in the spring. This is more about, listen, injuries happen. Teddy Bridgewater in the same organization, different regime, but Teddy Bridgewater on August 30th had his knee pop out of place on the practice field and they had to go, all right, what are we going to do when they trade a first round pick to go bring in Sam Bradford?
I mean, these are the types of scenarios. Yeah, if Aaron Rodgers is sitting out there and something drastically changes, why would you want to slam the door on the guy who might be your best option? It's kind of like I'm reminded of the quote, Rich, a few years ago when Kyle Shanahan was asked if he could guarantee something about, I think it was Jimmy Garoppolo being on the roster. And Kyle's response was, I can't guarantee any of us will be alive on Sunday.
Why would you ever slam the door on something, even if it's a remote possibility? And I think that that's the key upshot here, Rich. Again, this was painted by certain people and I think things get caught in the echo chamber and it seems like it's 50-50. This was always a long shot with Aaron Rodgers.
Yes, circumstances could change and they could end up revisiting it. But what I hear from behind the scenes is JJ McCarthy's knee is a non-issue right now. He's put the weight back on. There was some concern about that because when he was showing on the sidelines, he's weighing like 207 to 209 right now. He's working out several days a week at the facility.
He looks great. It's just, all right, let's give them all the reps. Let's throw the organizational weight behind this guy. We drafted him there for a reason. We believe this is the dude. We're going to let him work through whatever rookie groin pains he's going to go through here in year two. But full belief that JJ McCarthy is going to be the guy and they hope he's ready to play at a really high level sooner than later. Our guy, Tom Pelissero, here on the Rich Eisen Show. Thank you for that perspective.
I knew you had it and I was eager to get it from you since your post and report earlier this week. So, Rodgers being in the building in Pittsburgh, the only indication that we can get from this is that it does appear he understands there's a clock for other people. And in terms of that, the holdup that this has created is more than just the Steelers and the Giants. It's whichever team that doesn't get Rodgers, or both if he just decides not to play, spills into the draft. And there's other teams like maybe the Giants close enough to maybe go up and make that move to one. And then there's Russell Wilson. There's Kirk Cousins there for maybe even Cleveland. Or the Giants for a team that maybe gets desperate enough to call the Falcons and say how much for him to put in terms of how much contract you can eat and all that sort of business. So, walk me through your opinion of what the next dominoes to fall would be if Rodgers makes a decision soon. What do you think happens next? What should our fans that are listening and watching us right now, Tom, keep an eye on from Rodgers' decision in the pond?
Well, I would start with this. There's four teams right now who we don't have a clear picture of who their starting quarterback is going to be. That's the Steelers, the Giants, the Browns, and the Titans. The Steelers have made abundantly clear they're willing to wait for Aaron Rodgers. They also, in the meantime, signed Mason Rudolph who they had brought back. They played maybe the best football they've played in the past few years down the stretch in 2023 when Mason Rudolph was chucking deep balls to George Pickens who loves Rudolph. He ended Mason Rudolph, not Kenny Pickett, not Mitch Trubisky.
Mason Rudolph was the one who started a playoff game for the Steelers that year. They know they can play with Mason Rudolph if all else fails. For Russell Wilson, even though he finished last season as the starter in Pittsburgh, nothing shocks me, Rich, but I would be very surprised if Russell Wilson, under any circumstances, is back in Pittsburgh. They wanted to re-sign Justin Fields over Russell Wilson. They're now making clear they would like to sign Aaron Rodgers over Russell Wilson.
He is no better and maybe even lower than their third choice. It would seem like Russell Wilson's best opportunities are going to be either with the Giants or the Browns. So let's go to the Giants. The Giants have had Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco, and Jameis Winston in for visits. So in the meantime, while they are also waiting for Aaron Rodgers, who is their top choice after they missed out on Matthew Stafford, they are waiting on Aaron Rodgers. If he does not end up landing in New York, which based on Rodgers visiting Pittsburgh today, I would say Pittsburgh is probably more likely at this point than the Giants. But at that point, the Giants will have to figure out, OK, based on where they're at contractually and everything else, do they go to Russell Wilson? Do they potentially go to a Flacco or a Jameis? But it does seem like Russell Wilson is very much in play for the Giants. Russell Wilson was also very much in play for the Browns.
He visited them. It sounds like this is a real option for Cleveland. Cleveland also owns the number two overall pick, one spot above the Giants. And so you have some questions there in terms of what are those teams going to do with those picks? Is Russell Wilson a penny where he lands?
Is he a bridge to somebody else in one of those places? And does Russell Wilson evaluate his opportunities in part based on, all right, how long am I really going to get in this new place? Because he probably doesn't want to go somewhere that if they, you know, they're two and three out of the gate and they bench him for, you know, a young quarterback, the team that's not really attached to anybody at this point and have not had any of these veteran quarterbacks in on visits, really haven't even been rumored to be in on any of them at the Titans who have the number one pick, which has a lot of people within the league believing that they're going to take Cam Ward and just roll with the rookie. They brought in Brandon Allen as a, as a veteran backup option there. And the Titans may well do that.
Her cousins is still floating in the ether here. There are scenarios where I could see it making sense, depending on things play out for any of those other teams I mentioned to potentially, you know, go down the road with Kirk cousins, meaning Pittsburgh, New York or Cleveland. The real question is number one, when does Aaron Rodgers make his decision and where does he go? And then the second part of that is does Russell Wilson at some point, if he has an offer on the table, namely from Cleveland, at some point does he just say, I'm going to sign with the Browns because I don't want to be going to a place where I'm second or third fiddle.
I want to go to the team that actually wants me. That's a little bit of the unknown right here. I would say rich as much as everybody, you know, seems to be painting this as we're going to be in for a long wait on Aaron Rodgers. This whole thing could be jammed up for awhile.
I would not be surprised if we have clarity. Again, nothing for sure, nothing imminent at this point with Rodgers and Pittsburgh, but I would not be surprised if in the next let's call it 72 hours, we've got some movement in this quarterback market, which in turn then will speed things up in terms of where does Flacco go, Jamis Winston, Trey Lance and some of the other significant players who are still available on the street. You know that famous shot of Brock Osweiler getting frustrated because he thinks he's going in the game only to watch Peyton Manning trot back out there again. That would be, I imagine, Kenny Pickett if he sees Russell Wilson show up in Cleveland, right? Like he'd be like another AFC North spot where I think I'm the starter and then this guy shows up. Well, and you remember too, it did not go over well with Kenny Pickett when they signed Russell Wilson because he thought he had been told that he was going to get a fair opportunity to be the starter. And then Mike Tomlin told him Russ is coming in in the pole position. And Pickett found out that Russell Wilson was coming to Pittsburgh in an Instagram post that Russell Wilson put up. Yeah, I would imagine that wouldn't go over great. Listen, Kenny Pickett was part of a Super Bowl winning team last year.
Everybody likes Kenny Pickett, but yeah, I mean that would certainly be not ironic, but it would be a tad unfortunate for Kenny Pickett who, listen, if all else fails, there are scenarios certainly out there where it's Kenny Pickett competing with a rookie quarterback to be the starter out of the gate. Right. Before I let you go, Tom, not to rope you into a what's more likely, but you are going to be sitting in this chair in a few Fridays from now, so just get you ready. Brockman asked me one before.
I'd love to ask your thoughts. Who's more likely to sign first? Is it Brock Purdy or Micah Parsons? I would say it's Brock Purdy because my understanding is the 49ers are just simply much further along in the Brock Purdy process. They've had negotiations. They have gone back and forth. It does not sound like anything is imminent or even close right now with Brock Purdy.
You know, the question is just where should those numbers be? Even last year in a down year where everybody was hurt, he didn't have McCaffrey. Ayub tears his ACL. Deebo was banged up. Kittle was banged up.
I mean, they had all kinds of challenges here. It was still, if you look at the advanced metrics, Brock Purdy in a lot of categories was still like a top five quarterback in the NFL. When Kyle Shanahan, who let it be known, did not die by Sunday, when he says, I want Brock Purdy to be here as long as I'm the coach and he's that good with quarterbacks, that should tell you something about how highly he values him. Is that a $60 million a year deal? I would not think this is Brock Purdy coming in, you know, well off of that number. The salary cap has grown since Dak Prescott signed his contract. Purdy has the numbers. He's got the public support of the franchise.
It just seems like this one could move faster. Whereas with Micah Parsons, not that it can't get done. You know, I know there's been stuff floating around. We talked about on Super Bowl Sunday, the fact there have been internal conversations going back to last year about whether or not it was the right thing to extend Micah Parsons at the top of the market, a market that only has grown by a significant amount since then, or whether or not it was the right thing to trade him for a boatload of picks and reshape the roster. From everything I've gathered in the last 24 hours, there's nothing to trade discussions at this point. It does not sound like that's the plan with Micah Parsons. But when it comes to doing big contracts, nothing in Dallas tends to move particularly quickly here. And now all of a sudden, instead of figuring out, are we right to be paying Micah Parsons $35 million a year, now it's, are we right to be paying Micah Parsons $41 million a year or more, depending on how long this lasts, because TJ Watt's up for a new deal, Aiden Hutchinson is up for a new deal.
The market could continue to move rich in the coming months, depending how proactive teams want to be. The Cowboys have not been a proactive team, to say the least. We'll see if that changes with Micah Parsons in the coming days and weeks here. But I would certainly tell you, the last thing that Brian Schottenheimer or Matt Eberfluss or anybody's going to want to be dealing with is a holdout that goes into training camp like C.D. Lamb last year. It was tremendously distracting for the team. It played a role in why the rhythm and timing and tempo in the passing game was not where it needed to be. Micah plays a different position. There's probably less of that that goes into it, but still going out to Oxnard and spending six weeks answering questions about what's going on with Micah Parsons. That's not how you want to get a new regime off on the right foot.
So we'll see whether or not the Cowboys are willing to actually advance this and try to move at a speed that they've not moved in recent years. Tom, thanks for everything, as always. Also, great placement of that mug. Is that a picture of you and your dog we got there?
Yeah, just an old-school Doug right there with Ian and Claymont. Oh, nice. So somebody in the control room got that shot for me. Nice. So if you can drink from a mug with your own face on it, it's a good day, Rick. Hold on. Here we go.
Can't relate, right, Rich? Ah, Tom, thanks for the time. Greatly appreciate it. Bless you and your family on a weekend of Where in the World is Aaron Rodgers. Enjoy. Take care. You be well. Thanks, Rich.
You got it. Tommy. Tommy P. Bye, Tom. See you, Tommy. You didn't say hello to us.
That's too bad. He's too big. He's still there. He's still there.
Bring him back down. Come on. Hey, Tommy. Hey. I came in a little hot.
Somebody was late for an interview, but I made it. He did. And now he's missing his story. Now he's missing his story. It's fine. Nothing's happening.
Now he's missing his story. It's Friday, Rich. I'm on text. How many texts do you have right now? Literally, what's the number on the phone? What's the number?
I don't even want to know. Seriously, what's the number on the phone? What's your number of texts? What I'm secretly doing, Rich, what you don't realize is while I'm talking to you, I'm over here hitting buttons on my iPad, so I'm kind of scrolling through the text. So the number is not as high as it would be if I weren't sort of just casually glancing over.
The multitasking Tom Pellicero drinking from a mug with his dog on it. Welcome to AutoZone. What are you working on today? I need new rotors. When you buy two Duralast rotors during our spring sale, you get Duralast brake pads free.
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This is a little early. I don't do lunch martinis. You're pouring a martini now into the martini shaker. I poured just a little in.
It looks like there may have been some ice in there. But you won't complain. Don't send the drink back. The olives are already in the glasses. Don't bruise it. Don't bruise it. Some people at home, what about stirring?
There's a great bar called the Edmund over on Melrose. They like to stir. I like that. I like to shake a little bit. So are you more like Bond, shake and not stir it? I prefer actually bruising the vodka and making it ice cold. You know what I'm saying?
These are vermouth washed glasses. We put a little vermouth in there earlier. And then?
Pouring it out. I'll take that one. This is my friend Rich Eisen. Are we toasting? I just want to toast to you. Seeing you again, you want to toast the Espen, correct? We are toasting to ESPN's 40th anniversary. There is a big event going on this weekend.
My invitation is probably where yours is right now. So we just figured, why not just do it ourselves? What a nice thought. You know what I mean? I haven't seen you in a very long time. My arm's getting sweaty. I know. I like to toast.
I haven't seen you in a long time, Craig. And I've been cultivating this caper to try and get you to come on this show. What if I only do your show?
I'd love to just do that because I like your smooth and natural that I compliment you. Sold. I like Rich. There you go.
I like Rich. Okay. Let me just see what this is. Appreciate that.
The ice was sitting there. Cheers to you. Nice to see you. Cheers to you. Nice to meet you. Nice to finally meet you.
Cheers. It's watered down. Don't say anything. It's watered down.
But it's... That's because the ice was sitting there. But let's pretend it's not. This is what I say at a bar or restaurant, the Big Four up in San Francisco in Nob Hill. I take a sip. I go like this.
I go... This is the greatest moment of my life. I enjoy the moment. This is now the greatest moment of my life when I take a sip of beautiful, chilled vodka. I need fresh ice.
We're gonna do it again off the... But the vodka does taste appropriately bruised. By the way... And it was made with love. I felt it. When I poured the vodka in there, I saw that it went up to...
I knew there was water in there from the ice melting. But that's okay. I'm not complaining. But we didn't have to say anything, and I was the one who said it because I thought you might...
It is just the most special moment in my life, right? Let me try this again. Try it one more time. Here we go.
Are we choosing again or no? I was just gonna sip again. This mic is in my way. Okay. Here we go. It's hard to drink.
It's hard to drink with the mic in your mouth. Okay. Here we go.
Craig Kilborn here on the Rich Eisen Show. Yeah, a little Jobim. Had a little music.
Very good. By the way, he was complaining. Don Bowie is in our control room right now, I believe, was producing Kilborn's segment that day. And he was... Don, take Brockman if I'm correct. He was all over you about the ice and the temperature and the way it was gonna be served and all of that. Oh, yeah.
Can confirm. Oh, he was all... I don't know. Don, were you... I think he was off camera when he was saying, don't worry, we'll do it off the air and directing it at Don. Don messed up the ice. Don, how dare you mess up the ice, man? Don't bruise it.
Don't bruise it. Kilborn was just the one of a kind. What a legend. It's the best day of my life.
It's the best day of my life. Oh, my goodness. Back on the Rich Eisen Show. All right, let's do a What's More Likely College Hoops Edition, presented by Turbo Tax. Hit it. What? What's more likely?
Never say never, but never. All right, Christopher, what do you got cooked up over there? Hey, everybody good? We're good. Good to see you guys again.
Hey, buddy. Hey, Duke plays tonight, number one team, TJ, our champ, and the number one player in the nation, Cooper Flag, scheduled to be back in action. So what's more likely to be the higher number Cooper Flag minutes played tonight or the highest seed to win today? Oh, I'll go his minutes played. Why is he playing? He's got because he's a college basketball player. Who hurt his ankle? They're favored by 32 points.
I understand that. He doesn't need to play. He's 40 minutes. I think he will play. He will play more than the lowest seed that wins. Does he play a 15 minutes and does a 15 win today? I don't think so. Although Bobby Moe is only down by four against Alabama right now.
There you go. That would mean Cooper Flag would have to play 16 minutes for me to be correct. And he will. He will. Plus, how old is he?
Nine? He'll probably run like a deer. That's true. Honestly. He's from Maine.
So, yeah, he'll be fine. What else? Second best player in Maine history.
What else? More likely to be the higher total lower seeds that win today or yesterday. Four lower seeds won yesterday.
Four lower seeds won yesterday. I'll go more than that. I bet you that we're going to see. Today's an upset day. Yeah, I'll see. Well, not so much of an upset.
I mean, if Oklahoma beats UConn, that would be... That's technically a lower seed. I'm just saying. You know what I mean? Yeah.
So... Ellipscomb? Can they hold on? No, they were already down by three possessions.
First half. But, you know, who knows? I'll just say today will be more wild than yesterday. How does that sound? All right. Less chalky. All right.
Less chalky. All right. Last one here. This is a combo crossover.
Okay. More likely to be the larger digit, one seeds in the final four or Shidoor Sanders draft slot. Oh, we'll see more one seeds in the final four. You think he's going two? No, the larger number will be number one seeds in the final four. And that's the way y'all will go. That means you think he goes two or one? The larger numbers, there will be more one seeds than where he's drafted.
That's what I'm saying. That was what's more likely, College Hoops edition presented by Turbo Tax. It's officially tax season. Hand off your taxes to a Turbo Tax full service expert today. They do your taxes. You enjoy the tournament.
Now this is taxes. What if there's only one one seed that makes the final four, Chris? See what I'm saying? I'm just trying to throw things out there.
You're trying to sniff out what I'm trying to say and I refuse to give it to you. Cam Hayward will tell us who's in the facility. We'll play who's in the facility with Cam Hayward coming up. Also on the show, Rome Flynn. Is he in our green room right now? He's with Roger. He must be.
Godfather of Harlem on MGM Plus. Former home of the Eisenhower. That's true. That's right. We have one of those mugs around. We do. Should I have my Eisenhower mug out for that interview?
I think I just saw one. I think you should. Mugs out, sun's out, mugs out. Know what they say?
It is. Hey, Rich, you know, Rome Flynn was a part of a story that I'm a part of. Well, we are going to, that is on our to-do list to discuss with him. He was in Monaco with you and Anthony Anderson and Fiddy. I doubt he'd remember me, but yeah, I was there. Why would he remember you?
I'm easily the least known person in this picture. I don't know about that. From Monaco to El Segundo. There you go.
There you have it. I think this was 2017. It's how long it was? 2018? I love Anthony Anderson telling this story. He did. We're going to take a black picture at the palette. That's what he said, right? Yeah. And it happened, as you can see. And what'd he scream out to get everyone together?
Hooty-hoo! That's right. OK, that's right. It was like the bat signal and we all, you throw a, nowadays you just throw a black hat. Let me ask you a question.
Can you put that photograph up one more time? Because I've never asked you this question about how, you know, your athletic prowess. We always hear about who's the best player in the history of Maine over there. And you know, I'm running my 40 at the Rose Bowl this weekend to be revealed at the draft.
Who's got the worst first pitch on the screen there? Oh, goodness. I'm not saying that out loud.
Well, we know it's Fitti. So the question is, would you be better than him? I would proffer, as you would say. I would proffer to say so. You would hit it on the fly, right?
I don't know. I've never thrown out a first pitch, but I'm pretty sure it would probably be a little bit better. Honestly, anybody who throws out a first pitch keeps him in mind saying, I don't, like he is definitely one of the most famous, worst first pitchers ever. He's at the Mets too, man.
I wonder if he's ever had a chance to redeem himself. Here we go. Oh, gosh. It's so terrible.
It literally just goes immediately left. Although Mariah Carey was terrible, right? Yeah, but that's... Mariah Carey had a bad one. Didn't she have heels on when she threw hers?
No, like ten inch heels. Stephen Hay at the Yankee game, right, was terrible. You never want to be that guy. Mayor Cincinnati had a really bad one. Who's the one who hit the Fenway mascot in the nuts?
That's one of the funniest things ever. I don't know why nut shots still make me laugh. Because we're all inside, we're really like ten years old.
Because deep down we're children, speaking of which, I need to tag along. Go get one. Tag on.
Come on. Cam Hayward's coming up. Cam Hayward. Cam. Cam.
