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Learn more at AmericanExpress.com slash Amex Business. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody! Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on the Roku Sports Channel from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast, so you can listen anytime.
But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show, and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. With guest host, Andrew Siciliano. You're everyone's problem. That's because every time you go up in the air, you're unsafe.
I don't like you because you're dangerous. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Yokich for three. Curry shoots another three.
It's good! Today's guests. Pro football focus NFL draft analyst Trevor Sikkema. Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown. Xavier men's basketball head coach Richard Pitino. And now, sitting in for Rich, it's Andrew Siciliano.
Push your toe to the table. And welcome to the show, everybody. It's good to be here. What's up, Andrew? I actually mean it.
Not that I haven't meant it in times past when I've sat at this desk, but it is truly good to be here and do, I don't know. Do the sports stuff. Do the sports stuff. Get some stuff off my chest.
Talk to an audience. Thank you for being here. Rich is somewhere on a beach, hopefully holding a fruity drink with an umbrella with his toes in the sand and enjoying life because it is well deserved.
Enjoy it wherever you are. Rich will be back soon. However, today, tomorrow and Friday, you get me. My name is Andrew. I used to do something called the Red Zone Channel on DirecTV on NFL Sunday Ticket, NFL Network many years. I know you probably know this, but I'm always told by people, hey, tell people who you are, reintroduce yourself, reset the show. I also now do the play-by-play of the Cleveland Browns on the radio. Oh, you're a Cleveland Browns radio network. Can I interrupt you real quick?
You may. I am so proud of you and happy for you for having that gig. Hi, Chris Brockman. Thank you. That's very nice of you. It's good to see you. As a lifelong Browns fan and a friend of mine for a long time, I couldn't be more pumped that that's your gig now. And you hopefully, knock on wood, have that for the next 40 years of your life.
That is awesome. You are a great American and a great friend, and I thank you kindly for all of that. I just want everybody to hear that. I mean, I don't tell you that enough, so I'm proud of you, buddy. Thank you, man. I love you, too.
Truly, truly, truly. And it is good to be here. Rich is back soon, as mentioned. The phone number, 844-204-RICH.
We'll get that out of the way. 844-204-RICH. As always on the Roku Sports Network, you can listen on the Infinity Sports Network. If you're on Sirius XM, it is channel 375.
You could stream for free on the Odyssey app or odyssey.com. On the Instaface, it's Rich Eisen Show on YouTube. It is also Rich Eisen Show.
You have no excuse if you cannot find a way to consume the content from this program today. A show that will include, as mentioned, Trevor Sikkema from PFF. He's amazing. A year ago, Trevor Sikkema, as I sat here, because Rich was also on a beach somewhere with a fruity drink, Trevor Sikkema said J.J. McCarthy controls the draft. In a weird way, he did. Vikings traded up. Imagine the trickle down now as we sit here today, a year later, I'll ask Trevor the same question, which player, and it might be a quarterback, and it may surprise you. There's your tease. It may not surprise you, but it may surprise you. Classic Mike Greenberg, coming up next, something that may surprise you. Okay, what if it doesn't? What if it doesn't?
That is not a shot at greenie. That is the ESPN way of teasing, and I worked there once. Coming up next, something that will blow your mind.
Not necessarily, but we're going to tell you it will. I asked Trevor the same question about this year's draft. Also coming up, Chris and I are very happy to paint the town orange. Fran Brown will be here. Our coach is on it. Let's do it. Of the revitalized SU football program.
First question for Fran, what the hell is wrong with basketball? Second question, who's our quarterback? Well, you know that one, don't you?
It's a kid from LSU. Maybe. Okay, we'll get there.
Okay, thank you. Also joining the show, very excited as well, Richard Patino will be on the show. And we're excited for that. Yes. Chris Brockman. Hey, Andrew. Jason.
TJ. What's up, Andrew? Gentlemen, thank you as well in advance for laughing in the background at my occasionally funny jokes. How are you guys? Good to see you both. I'm great, man.
I'm great. It was a great sports night. Can't wait to talk draft, NFL.
You were at the owner's meeting, which is sick. And we're going to pay some respects to Val. Let's do it. Let's have a show.
Absolutely. Let's have a show. Man, Val Kilmer, the great Val Kilmer.
And I think we off the air just did it. We'll do it later. And that is, I think he's a different classic role for everybody in this room or maybe not.
Who is Val Kilmer to you other than a great actor who we lost last night at the age of 65? Get to that coming up in a second. But you mentioned the owner's meeting. Technically, the NFL reminds you as a former league employee. It is the annual meeting. It is not the owner's meetings. It is the annual meeting of the meeting.
The next one coming up in May in Minneapolis will be the spring meeting. It is never the owner's meeting because, yes, owners are there. The head coaches are there. Senior executives are there from not only the clubs, but the league. Major TV executives, members of the media, such as yourself, myself, rather, are there.
Not the owner's meetings. We have headlines, all kinds of them. I think this is the one that garners the most attention. The tush push. The conversation was balanced. It was intense. From what I understand, the vote was right down the middle.
16-16. Ooh. Ban or continue the tushy pushy. So there was a vote. There was at least.
It was a show. It wasn't a vote. Straw poll.
It was a straw poll. It was tabled until the next meeting in May. When something is tabled, I will tell you, that means there is a good chance it is going to pass the next time you have a meeting. They need to whip the votes. What does the commissioner want?
What does Rich McKay, the head of the competition committee, the Falcons executive, what does he want? And can they get that between now and the next meeting? When something isn't going to pass, it simply does not pass. Or it is withdrawn as a proposal. When they want something to pass, they table it.
And they revisit it. Now, not everything that is tabled gets passed. But I'm telling you right now, I think, I feel there is a better chance than not that come May, the tush push is gone. And that next season, there will be no pushing of the tush. The tush has been put on the table.
And that table will be revisited in May. And I am not guaranteeing this. Please do not go to your favorite gambling app if this is even a prop. Because I can't do that and you shouldn't either. Standby.
At least for the tush push. I don't think it's going to be a part of the game in 2025. I don't. Here's why. Now, let's back out for a second. Do I think it should be banned?
No, not really. I am like a lot of the coaches that say, hey, just find a way to stop it. You don't need to ban something because you can't stop it. Stop it. The Eagles are good at it. They perfected it. It looks like a rugby play.
I think it is a rugby play, to be honest with you. But find a way to stop it. There are ways to stop it. It shouldn't be hitting 95% success or whatever it is. You should be able to find a way to stop it. But I think there is enough of a push to get it out.
Because not only they can't stop it, but because there are too many wide ranging effects on the field. Chris, when you and I were kids, you couldn't push or carry the ball carrier. You simply couldn't do it.
You knew it when you saw it. Hey, you can't do that. They threw the flag. They blew the whistle.
You can't do that. 2005, they changed that. They allowed it again. Now, we didn't see the tush push immediately.
We only saw it a couple of years ago. So it took 15, 16, 17 years for somebody to find the loophole and truly take advantage. Give credit to the Eagles for doing that. They did it. They perfected it.
You can't stop it. They win games because of it. They make it a three down game because of it. But there are safety concerns. Right now, they don't have the injury data. There's Chris Jones getting hurt, I guess you could say. But they don't have overwhelming injury data. So the league knows that they can't right now say, hey, it is too dangerous. Here are the numbers, like the kickoffs. It is too dangerous.
Here are the numbers. We got to change. They don't have that right now. But they do have a fear that if they don't get rid of it now, the injuries will spike. Let's listen to the commissioner.
The discussion on the Tish Push was very good. We showed a lot of data, a lot of questions from the clubs, a lot of discussion about it. I think there are safety issues that are being considered in that case. We have very little data from it, but it's beyond data. There's also the mechanism of injury that we study, that type of thing that leads us to show the risk involved with a particular player, particular tackle.
Two things to consider there. We don't have the data, but, you know, look, we do think the injuries are going to spike. And the other part of it here, and this is the part that people don't look at enough, is the idea that I can push you or carry you, we focus only on Jalen Hurts. This is not Jalen Hurts against the other 31 teams. This is not the Eagles against the other 31 teams.
Well, use the Eagles as a perspective here, a little perspective. Let's say Jalen Hurts back to throw hits, Devante Smith on a little hitch in front of the sideline, he gets 15 yards. And then the DB picks up Jalen Hurts, I'm sorry, picks up Devante Smith and carries him back five yards.
You can't do that, they're going to blow the whistle. Well, why can't they do that? If you let the offense pick up Jalen Hurts and carry him five yards forward, why can't the defense pick up Devante Smith and carry him five yards backwards?
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, forward progress was stopped. Okay, well then why should the rule apply on one side of the ball and not the other side of the ball? When it becomes a rugby scrum in the tush push, very often forward progress is stopped.
They don't blow the whistle because you got guys behind Jalen Hurts pushing him. It isn't always about the quarterback in the B gap or the A gap for that matter on this. It's about everywhere else on the field and what we had in 04 and then the rule was changed in 05.
It took 20 years, but we've eventually gotten to the point where you're like, this all over the field has to be regulated. Also keep in mind, honestly the Packers didn't really write this well. It was the Packers proposal and you have to vote on the specific language in the proposal. The specific language bans the pushing of the guy that takes the snap immediately after he takes the snap. What's immediate? Don't laugh. What's immediate?
That's subjective. So can Jalen Hurts take the snap? Wait, wait, then Dallas Goddard goes or whomever is behind him and starts pushing him into that A gap or the B gap.
You ever notice they almost always go left. Either way, what is immediate and taking a pause or a hop step there after taking the snap, does that then make it legal because it wasn't immediate. So it wasn't a well-crafted proposal. That's why you table it. You send it back to committee and you tell the Packers if you want to go forward with this and there is enough push to go forward with it, you rewrite it, you tweak it and then we debate it again.
Can you swing eight votes? And as Mike Florio on Pro Football Talk very astutely pointed out today. And you could read between the lines on what Roger was saying there. Does Roger want it out? It's not an autocracy here.
It truly is not. He doesn't always get his way. He is the commissioner.
However, and when it comes to these kinds of issues, safety involved issues, there is often say the ability or the pressure, or the pressure, whatever. You can generally get the votes. He can generally get the votes.
You have to swing eight people between now and May, eight teams. My gut tells me reading between the lines and listening to Roger there yesterday on the podium in Palm Beach, I think they're going to get the votes. And I think it's gone. Now, not willing to bet my mortgage on that, but my gut tells me we have seen the last of the tush push. Your thoughts? Just seems like we're targeting one specific team here under the guise of player safety. So you don't believe the player safety? I absolutely do not.
Jason Kelsey has said the only one who is affected by this is me, the center. So I don't buy the player safety. It looks totally fine. The only reason people are anti this is because it doesn't look cool. And it kind of looks kind of ugly and it's literally unstoppable. That's why people don't like it. And the Eagles just won the Super Bowl, so it's fun to pile on.
I think it's, you don't like it? Draft huge guys to play defensive tackle on fourth and one. End of story. I think the other, the stuff I mentioned about forward progress and carrying ball carriers on plays that don't directly involve the quarterback sneak, I think something has to change with those.
I truly do. You mentioned the picking up and carrying Devontae Smith backwards. They're not literally picking up Jalen Hurts and carrying him. Okay, push, pull, carry a guy. For years, when we were kids, you simply could not do that.
You couldn't. If the running back got stood up on the five, you couldn't have a tackle running full speed behind him, pushing him in the back to get him across. So are we going to get rid of those plays too, where the lineman comes in and shoves a guy five more yards into the end zone? It's what I think.
I think, yes, it's an all encompassing thing like that. Because I think they think those plays, those plays are seemingly more dangerous. And that's what I'm getting at. Those plays are the injury risk, more so than the tush push.
And I think that's how they're going to thread this needle. Now, I don't think this is an anti-Eagles thing. I truly don't. Really? You really, you honestly don't believe that? No, I don't.
I am not one of these, because every team through time has one of these, right? Oh, they like, it's anti us. I don't think it's, I do think they don't like the way it looks aesthetically. And as Jeffrey Laurie said yesterday, aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder. What is art to you is not art to me.
Okay? He's a rich man. Probably owns a lot of art. He's a very rich man.
He gets it. I am not, and I don't, I don't think it looks good, but I also don't care. Like to me, it looks like rugby. You don't care either way if it's banned or not banned. Is that what you mean?
I do believe, hey, just find a way to stop it. But I don't like the, hey, let's push the running back into the end zone when he stood up on the five. I don't like that at all. I just don't get why that isn't called, like forward progress stopped. Like why all of a sudden this 400 pound guy comes in and shoves, like, eh, forward progress has stopped. At least on the... Because the rules take it out. But the reason the Tush Push goal line play, you can still see Jaylen Hertz moving forward, or Josh Allen or Mark Andrews.
Those are kind of the three teams and the three players who do this play. I also think what is overlooked is the idea that not every Tush Push, and yes, I just did air quotes on Tush Push or Brotherly Shub, whatever you want to call it, actually involves somebody pushing Jaylen Hertz. Plenty of them are just quarterback sneaks in which that offensive line gets low, finds a way, and he gets over the top. They are not all people pushing the quarterback.
So let's say, let's worst case this, say this does get passed, right? But the Eagles still do a version of this where he's not being pushed. Is replay assist going to- That's what's going to happen.
Shime in and say, oh, nope, nope. Someone touched his backside. That's a penalty. That's why it's so hard to write. Look, the Packers put it forward.
They wrote it, immediately pushing. I guarantee you the Eagles can find a way to pull this off because Jeff Stoutland and them have perfected it. Best O-line coach in the NFL. They have found a way to perfect it where Jaylen Hertz is still going to be a highly effective QB sneaker without anyone shoving him in the back. I guarantee you, guarantee you. They will find a way around it because they're good at it. You can legislate out pushing a player. I think that's what's going to happen.
They will still be highly effective and they will find a way. Guarantee you. Anyway, we have a lot of other thoughts after the annual meeting, including what Jerry Jones said yesterday. Agents be damned. I don't need no stinking agent to give Micah Parsons a deal. That was one thing. The other thing is I don't mind waiting. I don't care if the price goes up. I'm sorry, Jerry, that- Who am I to tell you how to run your business?
But that cost you a lot of money there over the years by waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. I do not get that part of it as well. And how Aaron Rodgers controls the draft. I mean, maybe not the top two, three picks, but Aaron Rodgers' Pittsburgh decision will greatly affect the way Monday night, rather Thursday night, rolls out in 22 days. Trevor Sikma, PFF coming up next. It is the Rich Eisen Show. My name is Andrew. Thanks for watching, everybody, and listening for that matter. Monday vehicles have won over 120 IIHS top safety awards from 2006 to 2024.
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.
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That's OReillyAuto.com slash Eisen. . When I said I wanted to bring a guest on, I'm like, well, I want to bring on who I wanted to be when I was a kid, and that was an offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs. And I've been fortunate enough to get to know Mitchell and know what a good guy he is and what a great player he is, so I wanted to share this moment with the right tackle for the Chiefs, my favorite football team, not that I need to tell anybody that. All right.
Yeah, I mean, it's really cool. I got to know him, I guess, at the end of last year, and we hit it off right away. We both like food. We both like food.
We have a lot of shared interests. He asked me where I got my meat, and we go to the same meat guy. He goes to the same butcher here in Kansas City.
I said, serious question, though, Mitch. Where do you buy your meat in Kansas City? He's like, oh, this place called Bickelmeier's, and I'm like, okay, you're in.
You're good. So, because I know how seriously you take your Kansas City food. Yeah. You go to the same butcher here. We do, yeah. City.
Yeah. Butchers. I mean, when I got here, I liked to cook. I was confined to an apartment in my previous life.
When I got here, I got a house. I got a whole backyard set up. I mean, this guy's got the greatest backyard set up you could ever imagine for cooking, and he's sending me videos all the time, different stuff to try. The text exchange between me and him and some of his other offensive linemen that are into smoking is hilarious. Like, one night, I put a brisket on, and it was like we were kind of coordinating with the time difference of putting a brisket on around the same time, and I woke up to check my brisket and texted Mitch at four in the morning L.A. time, which was Kansas City 6 a.m. time, and I told Lindsay, my girlfriend, I'm like, I texted Mitchell Schwartz in the middle of the night about a brisket.
Like, what is going on? And I responded. And he responded. For whatever reason, I was up at that exact time, and we were, because I was doing a brisket the next night, so we kind of throw ideas off each other, see what we do. I think he was doing, like, a 24-hour, super slow.
It got all jiggly and gooey, and the bark was perfect. Hey, everybody. Back on the Rich Eisen Show.
Andrew Siciliano sitting for Rich Eisen today, who is back coming up shortly, like next week. I am sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk. It is furnished by Grainger. It's fantastic. It's my favorite desk, period. Better than the one I have in my home. With supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger has the right product for you.
Call or click grainger.com or just stop by. Twenty-two days from now. Actually, forget about the 22. Twenty-one days from now, about a dozen of the NFL's future stars, at least they hope so, will be in Green Bay doing a Play 60 event, because that's what you always do the day before the draft, and, you know, wondering where their future will take them.
It's pretty cool. You know, where does my life go from here? Because 21 days from now, everyone's going to be in Green Bay for the draft. Let's figure out who the heck is picking whom. Actually, we don't know. But that's why this is an amazing industry, the pre-draft industry.
Trevor Sikkema is at the heart of that industry, from PFF, their draft analyst, Tampa tray. How are you, man? I'm doing good, Andrew. Appreciate you having me on, my friend.
Appreciate you coming on. How do you, in silly season, and we just came back from the annual meeting where all the coaches in GM speak, and no one wants to tell you anything. I also call it lying season, right? How do you make sense of anything said by any coach or GM right now?
Yeah, no, that's an excellent question. Some call it smokescreen season for the alliteration, you know, because everybody loves a good alliteration. But, you know, the theme stays. You really just try to get little hints. I think for new general managers and new coaches, you know, sometimes I don't have a specific example off the top of my head, but sometimes they're just so excited to sort of be in that seat, be in that chair, be with that interview, that sometimes they give a little bit more away than they want to. And so I think that that can sometimes be the case there with some new general managers and head coaches. But a lot of the seasoned ones, they're not really going to tell you anything. You really have to look at some of their draft history to kind of get more towards like, okay, yeah, sure, this team needs a corner, but they never really picked a corner in the first round.
They're normally picking them somewhere on day two. You see different targets and different, I think, trends that you can notice historically a lot more than, like you said, lying season, smokescreen season, whatever you want to call it. Sometimes you do get those little nuggets here and there, though, so it makes you pay attention to all of it, especially when you compare it with who end up, who they end up selecting when it's all said and done.
But it is hard to parse, there's no doubt. Yeah, look at the Titans. I always have fans come back at me and go, hey, wait a minute. They said, Berganzi said, or maybe it was Chad Brinker said, back in January at the presser, generational player.
So that means they're not taking Cam Ward because he's not generational. And then the other people push back and go, but wait, they took 15 people to pro day, including their entire content team, that has to mean they're taking them. And I remind people it is a show. It is a show. So they are going to put on a show.
They need a godfather deal to try out of it. Of course, that's what they're going to say. But as we sit here, 22 days away, the group think. Trevor Sycamore, is that they're taking Cam Ward. Do you buy that?
I do. And I'm going to be honest with you, Andrew, I wasn't buying it when we were at the combine. You know, this obviously pre free agency. And I think that's a that's a draft analyst's best friend is the words. Well, it depends what happens in free agency, because you can never be wrong about your draft analysis before we get to free agency. Oh, everything changed. You know, they signed this guy that didn't sign this guy.
So it's the ultimate get out of jail free card. But you're right. Brinker back in January, he said, hey, we're not going to pass up on a generational prospect and number one, just because we might need a certain position, even a quarterback. And then Mike Bourganzi, you know, to your credit, he also said he was asked, I believe it was at the combine. Do you think there are generational players in this draft? He says, yes, I do think that there are generational players in this draft. So a lot of people took that, myself included, took those clues and said, OK, well, then I think it's going to be one of either Travis Hunter Abdul Carter.
And I think the needs for the titans of dual Carter is the one that fits more. So that made me think if you would have asked me this question, a lot did at the combine. I would have told you that the titans are going to take Abdul Carter at number one overall. But then we get to free agency and the titans don't do anything at quarterback.
You really don't do anything at all. And when I thought about Abdul Carter going number one overall, it was always under the impression that they would do something at quarterback. Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers, some sort of veteran in there to at least, you know, be able to sell the fan base that it would be different than the year before. They basically just have Will Levis on the roster now at this point. And so there's not they're not really hiding it anymore at this point. And so I've also heard now whether this is because this is what they're going to do or not. But I've heard the titans actually like Cam Ward quite a bit. And a lot of people in that building actually love him. So I don't know if they're going to try and sell the fan base that, hey, you know what?
We weren't lying to you at the beginning. We said we'd take a generational player. We believe that Cam Ward has the ability to be a generational type quarterback for this organization. I don't know if that's what they're going to end up coming out and say, but it does feel like all roads lead to Cam Ward because there is just no way that they can go into this next season with Will Levis is basically the best option that they have on the roster at quarterback. So from what we saw them do in free agency or I should say lack thereof, it makes me pretty dang confident that Cam Ward is going to be the first name that we hear.
And it's going to be to the Tennessee Titans. Yeah, as a Browns guy, which I do work for the team, people ask me, who do you want? I say I want Cam Ward, but that that's just me.
I don't think he is going to be there if if he is there somehow, some way, I would be happy. And of course, it also sets up, you know, for the next 10 years, if it is Cam Ward, at number one, the conversation, is he generational? Much like the Israel Flacco elite question that the next iteration of that is, is he generational? Trevor, a year ago, we sat here and I asked you the question, you know, the player that may surprise you in the draft and you came back.
I don't remember how I phrased it, but I remember what you said. You said that basically J.J. McCarthy controls the draft. And I'm paraphrasing in that once the top couple of quarterbacks are off the board, the big three that went in the top four. Once they are off the board, that J.J. McCarthy is the one player that people are going to try to get up and get. And that will move the day you were right. The Vikings made their move and now you're later.
Funny how that works. Is there a player today, Trevor, that you would give the same label? I don't think well, I wouldn't say that it's a quarterback, so it's a little bit different.
It doesn't hold as much weight. I think to answer that question, though, three players come to mind. Two of them are in the same bucket.
One of them is a little bit of a different story. I think that whoever is going to be available at number three or number four overall between Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter, that is really what controls things, because, you know, depending on the teams in the top four, top five that have those quarterback needs, you know, maybe we do get a Chidor Sanders. Maybe he does pop into the top three.
And if that's the case, well, then all of a sudden New England's going to be sitting there at number four. And they're going to have one of Travis Hunter Abdul Carter on the board. And I think that's where the draft really begins. I think that number five overall pick is where the draft really begins, just because you want to figure out what's going to happen between those two guys. And if one of Abdul Carter and Travis Hunter happens to make it to number four. Well, then it's all wide open, especially if it is a guy like Abdul Carter, because then you're going to have teams like maybe the Chicago Bears, you know, maybe the Carolina Panthers, depending on what the Jets think of their current pass rushing situation.
I know it's more interior than it is on the edge, but you've got so many teams then at that point that would be willing to trade up for this caliber of a player. So if Abdul Carter gets to number four, I think that's where the draft can get totally blown wide open. But I also think that Tyler Warren is sort of that player to really answer your question in the spirit in which you are asking, because he is going to be, in my opinion, viewed as a consensus top 10 player in this class from basically every single NFL team. Now, is he going to get picked in the top 10? I'm not sure, but there's a lot of when I hear coaches, you know, like, for example, maybe they're not using Tyler Warren's name specifically, but you listen to these coaches at NFL owners meetings and they're talking about tight ends and just how difficult it is for defensive coordinators to match up against guys that have this type of talent, how offensive coordinators and play callers love to build their entire scheme around players like this. I think that even for teams that may not have a dire tight end need, he is going to be pretty high on their board. So he, to me, is the ultimate wild card of the fact that I could see Tyler Warren going to so many different situations in the top 12. And I'm very curious to just how these teams are going to covet this type of player with where he's going to be on consensus. Talking to Trevor Sikkema here from PFF, I have two outrageous takes. Some of I don't know if I believe either of them, but I'm going to just make them hypotheticals. Tell me what you think. Take take number one. Jackson Dart will go before Chador Sanders.
Trevor, your thoughts. I don't think it's impossible. I don't think it's likely, but in the sense of, hey, we're giving out hot takes, I do think that you at least have a chance for this one to be right. And the reason why I say that is because I have no idea where Jackson Dart is going to go in this upcoming draft. And I know I'm a draft guy.
I kind of get paid to have an answer there. Well, I'm sorry, I don't have one for this type of a prospect, because when I watch Jackson Dart, I would tell you that his film says more about, hey, this is sort of a day two type of bet to take. You let him sit a little bit. He can watch and learn. You like the arm talent.
You like the natural athleticism. But there are so many quarterback desperate teams that we have this year that all of a sudden we know you're basically in one of two buckets. You're a team that has a quarterback.
You're you're a team that does not, especially when it comes to one that gives you hope for the long term. I don't think at this point his craze is above Chador Sanders. I think Chador Sanders is going to go before Jackson Dart, but it's not crazy to think that he would sneak into the first round. You know, let's say that Chador ends up going really early. Maybe a guy like Jackson Dart ends up getting picked by the Pittsburgh Steelers at pick number twenty one.
Right. Like I could see those realities existing, but it's it's how wide the gap is between the round grade that I have from the film on Jackson Dart, which is that of more of a midday to third round type of a quarterback. I'd love to take a chance on to sit and develop and where it feels like some people might take him, because you got to remember this, too. If a guy ends up going in the first round, history will tell you, we'll see. The NFL thought Jackson Dart was a first round pick. Maybe not the NFL, but it only takes one team to be able to do it. So I would tell you that it's not totally far fetched. The dream's not dead, but I would tell you it's a long shot at this point. I think Chador is going ahead of him.
Sorry to cut you off there. And I always hear from Browns fans as well. We'll just take the quarterback, whichever quarterback, take the best quarterback at two. And I say, just because you pick a player at two doesn't mean he's the second best player in the draft. It means you picked him at two and he's always going to have that label, like you said. Well, then Jackson Dart would always have that label.
Let's say he goes twenty one. He was it was a first round pick. Well, that's that's where he got picked. So, yes, that is a fact. But that doesn't mean he's the twenty first player in the draft per se.
When it comes to talent, it just means someone took you there. It also puts an unreasonable at times expectation on that player that perhaps got, quote unquote, overdrafted. Along those lines, while we're at it, before I give you my second crazy hot take here. Do you think Chador is going to fall? Because that's group think right now.
Sanders is going to fall. Whatever that means. I would have told you after the combine. And this was sort of my from everything that I heard at the NFL combine.
Right. Because the combine is not just about watching drills. It's also about what you hear. It's going out, you know, it's talking to scouts, talking to general managers, coaches.
It's often talking to other media members who are very plugged in as well. I couldn't really find anybody to speak about Chador Sanders draft stock with a lot of conviction as a first round quarterback. So it made me think that his his range is a lot closer. And the conversation about him is a lot closer to that that I just had about Jackson Dart than it is about Cam Ward. And Cam Ward's basically a lock for the top three. There's no way he's getting out of the top three. I think Chador Sanders could possibly go into the top three, maybe to a team like the Cleveland Browns, which, you know, are trying to turn the page at the quarterback position. Maybe to a team like the New York Giants who, OK, they have Jamis Winston and Russell Wilson on the roster.
But it's not like those are heavy guaranteed long term deals. They could still take a guy like Chador Sanders. But then I could see him slide into twenty one with the Pittsburgh Steelers sliding all the way to the second round.
His range is just so vast. And so I was one of those people after the combine that felt as though it was more realistic that he was going to slide outside of the top three than he was going to get picked in the top three. Because at that time, before the combine, that felt like consensus. And so I do lean a little bit more towards him falling down the draft order or from what it was originally predicted, just because of sort of like how I evaluated him as a prospect. But just like we talked about with these QB needy teams, if you don't have any answers, good chance you're probably going to pick one just because you've got to take a swing at the bat. So that is so hard to answer the where should you're going to go question, because I think the tape would tell you he's more of a, again, second round quarterback that I'd love to have sit and and take a bet on for him to develop a little bit later into his rookie contract. But the fact of the matter is, there's a lot of teams that just need a quarterback right now. And so maybe going back to that conversation, is he a number two overall pick type of a player? Maybe not, but that might be what Cleveland has to feels like they have to do because they got to get an answer there. So he's all over the place.
But I think the conversation about Chidor is closer to the draft range of Jackson Dart than it is of Cam Ward. Interesting. All right. And now in our final minute, we're tight on time and we thank you, Trevor Sycamore. Hot take number two, purely hypothetical.
Here we go. Omarion Hampton will go before Ashton Gente. That is indeed hot. I know you're not you are not alone there.
It is hot. I'm still saying that Ashton Gente for the unbelievable season that he had and the just the overall notoriety of what this past season was from him is why he is going to go as the number one running back. But I say this all the time. It's a little unfortunate that Omarion Hampton's in the same running back class as Ashton Gente because he'd be a damn good running back one in so many of the draft classes. So I like the spirit of it, but I don't think he's going to head to Ashton Gente. So I think that one's pretty hot as well.
I've had a GM tell me he might like one better than the other. So there's that. I told you you weren't alone. I told you you weren't alone.
That thought is out there. Follow Tampa Tray. Will you please, Trevor, congratulations on the on the recent nuptials and happy draft season to you and yours, my friend. Always appreciate your insight. What a wonderful honeymoon to be watching day three draft prospects from now until draft. Oh, you got to love it, honey. No, no.
You go you go down to the beach, you go down to the beach. I'm looking at Justin Baron. Is he a safety or a linebacker? That's what I'm doing. Thank you, Trev. Appreciate you. See you guys.
You got it. Trevor Sycamore, everybody from PFF. Coming up, breaking news. Somebody is going to the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame. However, we pause now. Shall we do that for a sports update here on the Rich Eisen show?
And we get that from Chris LaPresti. Let's talk about Pesti, people. It's a do it yourself pest control.
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Again, for 10 percent off your order, go to Pesti dot com slash Eisen. Let's talk game time tickets, people, because it's a perfect time of year to do so. So many great things happening in the world of sports. The college basketball tournament playoffs are starting soon in basketball and hockey. Baseball's kicking off right now.
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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Can you tell me the story, the famous story of you noticing John Candy in the crowd before that two minute drill, the Bengals and your second Super Bowl win over against them? Yeah, it was, you know, it was it was kind of funny because, as you know, TV timeouts are forever in the Super Bowl.
Tell me about it. So I had been to the sideline once, maybe even twice, and we were just standing out there waiting for the signal to start to play. We were I think we had the ball in the eight and Harris Barton was a people person. So we were free for dinner during the week, but in practice and meetings and then come back after dinner and more meetings. So when he would come back from dinner, he was like a little kid.
He could not wait to tell you about all the celebrities he saw while he was at dinner. And so I had we were just standing there in between the tight end and his shoulder was framed John Kennedy in the crowd. He was on the sideline. Oh, he's on the sideline. And so I was and I sat there and I looked at I go, dang, I remember Harris saying he saw John Candy. This is what you're thinking in the Super Bowl with minutes to go and needing to drive down the field.
OK, well, yeah. So I walked over and said, hey, age and there's John Candy. And Harris stood like this for eight minutes. Perfectly still, he's a little bit anal that way. He would not move. He was like a little I didn't do it to unwind him.
I just thought he would appreciate John Candy. But he started mumbling some things. Ball on your book next year. What do you know?
It's going to be I don't know what he said completely. I understood a few words, but now when he appreciates it now more than he did before we started the drive. Did you ever meet Candy or that was the only thing? Yeah, no, I had met John a few years before that. My contract was up. OK. And he was, you know, one of the owners of the Toronto Argonauts. OK.
He was trying to get me to go to Canada. Come on. Yeah.
They just didn't have enough money. But if the price was right, I might have I might have been wearing an Argonaut. Yeah.
Fifty five yard line. I'll do that. So he legitimately said, you know, hey, you know, we had a couple of meetings about. Yeah, you did. So this is real. Like it wasn't just like, oh, by the way. No, no, no, no.
Wow. I love that. And we're back. I hate people to say and we're back. This is me like everybody. Hi, it's Andrew sitting in for rich.
I had an old radio boss years ago. Say don't ever say we'll be right back because then you're telling people to leave. Right. You need to get them to stay. We'll be back. OK, well, they're going to go.
They've got a million other options in their car. Right. You're telling them what we're going to run now, these commercials mean nothing to you. We'll be back like something else is going to happen. That makes sense.
What did he tell you to say? You try to you try to give them incentive to stay. Right. So which is then like, no, it wasn't my ESPN boss is way too inside radio here.
But, you know, that's why ESPN radio or they tease so well, for example. Right. It's hey, coming up next, something that will blow your mind coming up next incentive for you to stay. And you're like, whoa, what what what could they be talking about? I got to stay. Exactly.
Coming up next. What Andrew had for dinner last night. Something happened last night that we have never seen before. The Rich Eisen shows Andrew Siciliano sitting in for rich coming up next week.
Rich is back now. Don't let the urge to sing along to that catchy tune distract you from that truck drifting toward your lane or that lane splitting biker creeping up beside you. Fortunately, every Hyundai offers advanced safety features that can alert you to potential dangers around you. And Hyundai has over one hundred and twenty IIHS Top Safety Awards since 2006 because Hyundai is always working to ensure the road doesn't get you.
Hyundai vehicles have won over one hundred and twenty IIHS Top Safety Awards from 2006 to two thousand and twenty four. This is not going to be a Syracuse only show, I promise you. But coming up in about fifteen minutes, the head coach of the orange, the football version of them, Fran Brown, coming off a fantastic first year.
We're back in central New York in the three one five will join us. And speaking of Syracuse, a big round of applause and a congratulations to Carmelo Anthony. Breaking news. Carmelo Anthony is going into the Hall of Fame. Yeah.
Yep. I don't care what he did in the NBA. Actually, he did a lot like he was really good. It was awesome. He's amazing.
The fact that he he won SU, its national championship in two thousand and three with Jerry McNamara and Hakeem Wark. Good enough for me. Should be in the Hall of Fame. Period.
Full stop. And you know, he's also speaking at commencement. He is. Who is your commencement speaker? I was doing this yesterday with some old man. You don't remember?
Actually, I do. I think it was Steve Croft of 60 Minutes. OK. You? Well, this was 2002. So right off of 9-11, we had America's mayor was our speaker. How was that? It was terrible. And it hasn't aged well. The whole thing was not a Borat sketch, though, right?
No, no, no. But there were a lot of protests going on during it for, you know, some of the things he did in New York City. Carmelo Anthony, 10 time NBA All-Star, two time all NBA second team, won the scoring title in 13. All rookie team in 04 on the NBA 75th anniversary team. Three time gold medal and one of the best one of the best all the U.S. Olympic players ever. Carmelo Anthony, career, 22 and a half points a game in the NBA, 28000 career points. Next single game scoring record 62. He is a Hall of Famer and gives a lot back to his alma mater.
He does the facility that the basketball team trains in every day. The Carmelo Anthony Center that night, 2003 beaten Kansas, cutting down the Nets in New Orleans. Yours truly was there. One of the best nights of my sports fandom. Utterly fantastic. And then partied on Bourbon Street.
That was amazing. Congratulations to Carmelo Anthony and his son, by the way. And his son at the school is coming and playing basketball. Play with us this year. Cannot wait.
It's going to be great. Never tell you about the time we punked Mello. You punked Mello? Yeah, you have. But please tell that story right now. Well, Andrew, I used to produce Punk'd on MTV years ago. Are you punking us now by telling us? April Fools was yesterday. But yeah, it started off it was going to be and looking back now might not have been in the best. Today's in today's climate, it probably wouldn't be very good.
All right. But we were going to have him a hotel room. He was staying and just get completely trashed. And then there was going to be a girl in there and then there's going to be a whole kerfuffle. And then, you know, we had our art department go to the room with Mello's friends. And the way the room was destroyed, it looked like a Led Zeppelin concert had just taken place. And his friends were like, we'd mess it up, but we wouldn't mess it up this bad.
So it was like we had to get the art department, put the room back together a little bit. So it was a little bit trash, but not like ridiculously trashed. And it was just the whole thing. But yeah, it went off.
It went off pretty well after that. And just to be clear, the girl's name was not kerfuffle, right? No. And that was when he was with Denver, right?
Denver, yeah. Because I have a signed, probably Andrew, a signed one of one. I'm the only one in the world who has an authentic Carmelo Anthony nuggets jersey that says, TJ, I got punked on it.
I'm the only person. That's pretty great. Wow. I think it's here as a matter of fact. Really? Yeah, I think it might be.
Let's find that. It's pretty great. Yeah, Mello's the best, man. Wish he could have, you know, had a deep playoff run, maybe got an NBA title along the way. But awesome guy, awesome career, and what he did for us in 03. Pure, pure score, man.
Goated. When Carmelo came to town, you, he is one of those players where, and I, not trashing the NBA. I think there are a lot of players that have these ridiculous nine-figure contracts that they've earned, right?
They've earned, but they've never sold a ticket. Like you see, hey, this guy signs a five-year, $150 million contract. And you're like, okay, but does anyone say, hey, that guy's coming to town. We need to see that guy get the kids.
I know it's a school night, but we're going down to the arena. We've got to see that guy. And they've got a nine-figure contract.
Difference between the NBA and the NFL, right? Carmelo Anthony was that guy. Hey, he's coming to town. I want to go see Carmelo Anthony. Even late in his career, I remember, and of course, look, I have the Syracuse thing, but he got to the Lakers and I'm like, I'm going to go see Carmelo Anthony.
Because you just never knew. No, Melo could put up like, you know, Joker took five quarters yesterday to score 60. Melo put up 62 and four quarters. Are you taking away from Joker's 61, 10, and 10 last night?
Not at all, but it was just a way to get to the fact that Melo… And Melo got robbed of 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year. You hit her here first. Absolutely. Fran Brown coming up in 10 minutes. And also no one happier right now, Brockman, than our guy Ben Lyons. Ben Lyons loves Carmelo Anthony. Because I'm a backyard Knicks fan, Ben Lyons. Nobody loves anything more than Ben Lyons loves him some Carmelo Anthony.
So, you know, we were texting earlier. He's, you know, ecstatic right now. Shout out to Ben. Carmelo Anthony was awesome his rookie year. He got absolutely robbed of Rookie of the Year. Who won it? LeBron James.
Carmelo had better stats across the board. Got absolutely robbed. I mean, it's… But the draft was rigged for LeBron James and everything was rigged for LeBron that year. You think the draft was rigged for LeBron James? One billion percent the draft was rigged for LeBron to stay in Cleveland. Do you have proof?
No, of course not. But it was absolutely rigged. Just like the Knicks one in 85 was rigged for Patrick Ewing. One billion percent.
I believe the 85 one. But I don't believe the Cleveland one. I'll tell you why. How was it not? Things don't get rigged for Cleveland.
Period. It's hard to argue that. When the biggest star is from there and you need the city to matter across the league. I don't remember the details of that night. I don't. I'll be honest with you. I'm not the biggest NBA fan. I watch the NBA. I like the NBA. It's not football, obviously.
I don't remember every last detail. But from a Cleveland perspective. Well, that's just your Cleveland persecution complex. Nothing has ever been rigged for Cleveland.
Cleveland. Lebron himself thinks that it was rigged. He said that on McAfee last week. He did? I missed that. He did.
Okay. He alluded to it. Was he joking about it? I don't know. Lebron says a lot of things that are probably not true, so who knows?
Well, there's a shot. I sent some Lebron animus here. Lebron fame there in case you haven't figured it out yet.
Really? What did I say that was wrong? You just said that Lebron says a lot of things that aren't true is what you just said. Guy claims to read a bunch of books too. I mean, come on. What are we doing?
I mean, there are a lot of people in positions of power that claim they read a lot of books, but have never read a book. Yeah. Hey, what's your favorite part of The Godfather? Oh, man. You know? That one got me. Ah, geez. You know, it's all so good.
Really? Can't name one part of it? I've never read The Godfather book. I've never read the full Mario Puzo. My brother has. He's just talking about the movie. And I have the book.
Anyway, the 03 draft was 100% rigged. Come on. I admit to you when I haven't watched this.
Come on. Like, for example, I haven't seen Slapshot. What?
What? I don't like sports movies. I've never seen Slapshot yet. We've done this bit.
I don't really like sports movies. Are you up to date? Are you caught up in White Lotus?
I watched last night. Yeah. So awkward. Oh, my God. So awkward. I almost turned it off. Slapshot.
I almost turned it off. Oh, come on. Coming up. The Charlestown Chiefs. Let's go.
The Charlestown Chiefs. Bravo TV star Lala Kent holds nothing back. There's been so many times where I'm like, I apologize that I said that, but that wasn't meant for you to hear. I feel you there. How fun would it be to bring in some bravo celebrities and make our own bracket?
Iconic. All right. I'll take Dorinda. You take Sonia.
Sonia is who I wish I could be. You and me both. I cannot be someone in the program. What's PTO? Pay time off. See?
You never had a real job. Give them Lala. It is nothing but honesty. You guys know. Just follow and listen on your favorite platform.
