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Learn more at americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. 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. The Okich for three. Curry cheats another three.
It's good. Earlier on the show. Pro football focus NFL draft analyst Trevor Sikkema.
Still to come. Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown. Xavier men's basketball head coach Richard Pitino. And now sitting in for Rich, it's Andrew Siciliano. With a lot going on today. Thanks for being here, friends.
I mean, I would never open the show by saying there's nothing going on today because that drives people away. But regardless, Trevor Sickema was here earlier today with some, you know, draft thoughts. We're 22 days away.
I'll ask you this. Where do you think Kyle McCord is going to go? Because I'll tell you right now, he's going to get drafted higher than you think. The head coach at Syracuse, Fran Brown, joins us coming up momentarily. Also today, speaking of Syracuse, Carmelo Anthony is a Hall of Famer in the NBA. Jokic scored 61 last night, just a 61 10 and 10. The Bucks had the greatest team shooting night in 27 years in the NBA. Steph went off for 50. And this morning, Alex Rodriguez owns the T-Wolves. It's official.
It went through. So yeah, there actually is something going on today. Not just me and Brockman talking about the latest episode of White Lotus, which last night, because I was traveling at the annual meeting, made me awkward. Like it was a curb your enthusiasm this season level of awkwardness when they're sitting there at the house. It's just the four of them, right? Yeah.
The owner of the hotel and her husband. It was the most awkward. I was hiding. It was that awkward. Anyway, Brockman, Jay, TJ, how are you guys?
We're doing great. Ball night last night, it was not April Fool's, even though it was. Steph and Jokic were absolutely unbelievable.
I want to read you this stat real quick. In the 2020, so this decade, in the last five years, Curry and Jokic are the only two players to have 50 plus points, 10 plus rebounds, eight plus assists, and five plus threes in a game. And it happened last night. They're the only players to do this in the last five years that happened last night. What a great ball.
That's so absurd. 61, 10, and 10. Say that stat line again. 61, 10, and 10. Oh, it was double overtime. Who cares?
Who cares? He had 61, 10, and 10. And then we have 52, 10, and six. I mean, that's all absurd. Crazy.
You know, it's also absurd, but absurd in an awesome way. What Syracuse football did last year. I want to go back. We're back.
Last spring, if you will. And people know I, I went to SU. Brockman went to SU. We hired this new football coach. I say we because I'm an alum. You know, you, you say we pay for tuition. You say we.
That's where fandom, you're allowed to say we. Hired this new football coach. The coach was coming to town here to Southern California. I spoke to some of the players, Kyle McCord, among others who were out here for what SU calls the main master. But then at night I got invited to this little backyard thing in Santa Monica. I want to get to meet the new coach.
Okay, cool. So Fran Brown, who joins us now, is in this backyard. Hey coach. And, and I'm like, I got to, got to actually see this guy up close. Fran, within like 10 seconds of you talking to this audience in someone's backyard in Santa Monica, you can tell, all right, this is the guy, right? And everyone there went, okay, cool. I love this guy.
And then you went out and had that season. So I guess collectively we'll fanboy out a little bit for Brockman and yours truly here. Thank you for, for bringing the program back, man.
Sure. Thank you for supporting us. You know, I remember where we were at too, when you just being over there, it was pretty cool. And I was honored to have an opportunity to meet you, myself and my wife.
So I'm just really thankful. God chose me and gave me this opportunity to be at Syracuse, you know, such a prestigious program academically, you know, what they've been doing and what they've done athletically, right? I think that all of our athletic programs will be on the rise from here on out. So what's the second act and how difficult is taking last year's success and where you got the quarterback and Kyle McCord's getting ready for the draft now three weeks from now, and Rhonda Gadsden and Justin Baron and all those guys, Marlowe Wax heading out to the next level. How difficult is it in this NIL era to do it again?
I think it's just maturing young men though, right? It can't be the same way as last year, the standard has frozen, right? I talk to the players about that all the time because everybody tried to look at it like the coaches and everybody. They'll say, hey, we were better than we were last February.
We just had a game in December. So I'm not trying to be better than last year when we suck. I want to be better than our last time we played a football game and just continue to do that and continue to make sure that the standard is our core values of dark. But I do really believe that it's all the stuff off the field, like making sure the guys sitting in the first two rows, making sure that everybody's in class, right? They're paying attention.
They're making their body weights. We dominate in a day. It's like our football one on one meetings on Sunday night where we're all in there together, just talking and building and doing school sessions.
I'm trying to build and create a true family competitive atmosphere. So we want a 3.2 team GPA. That's not what a lot of people think about.
That's not the norm. So our mindset is we got to make sure we get a 3.2. So, like, don't be the guy that mess it up.
Don't be the reason that our group isn't doing X, Y and Z. So, like, everything we do is just competitive, but we're not worrying about the season, though. Like, I'm so focused on right now. We got a little scrimmage today. We focused on the day.
We live 168 hours at a time. We just focused on one week. And as we continue to power those weeks, we'll be ready for the season when it comes, because, like, stages are created by the people that are on it. And if we don't do or handle our business right now, we're not going to be ready when the season comes anyway. So the season will handle itself by what we do now, how hard we work in the summer, by what we've been doing spring football, like, by how we treat each other.
When you walk by one of your teammates, if you don't say nothing to them and you're not acknowledging each other, then we're not the right team that we're supposed to be, so you won't win then. So it's all those little things to me that makes us win. And just like everybody trying to get closer with that higher up, whatever your religion may be, you're focused on that because, like, you're about to be somebody's husband. You're going to be somebody's father, right? You're going to run the household.
You've got to do it right. So, like, that's kind of that's the stuff that I focus on. And I think that's what helps us football wise. That was the same thing we were with last year.
Yeah, we saw the effects certainly last year. Talking to Fran Brown, the head coach, the head football coach at Syracuse, you talked about a scrimmage today and practice and the spring game and competition. Let's go down that road, because when I first saw this idea out there, Coach Prime, Deion Sanders tweeted, let's have a spring game against another program.
And you said, I'm on it. And then all of a sudden, what looked like a great idea kind of got shot down. And the NCAA stepped in and said, you can't do it. You also joked, and I'm with you, that, hey, if Bill O'Brien and Bill Belichick came up with this idea, it might have gotten approved. Why can't the NCAA, I'm not trying to get in trouble, Fran, I'll say it, can't get out of their own way, because this makes sense, Fran, on so many levels. Yeah, I thought it made sense on a lot of levels, right, just for saving the game of football, just for right after this March Madness is done, like, what are we doing right during that time, right? You can have something else to lead up into that or to get you going right for March Madness.
It was just so much that you can do. And, you know, I took a lot of people saying stuff when I was stating that Bill O'Brien and if Bill Belichick said it, I was just stating, like, those dudes got big names, right? They played in the NFL. They won Super Bowls and done all those things together. So if they come and say, this is what we should do here, then it might have worked on this end.
But I just feel as though it was a save the game, right? Just imagine Syracuse, historically, who this program is, and Colorado getting to go against each other and getting to go out and then being able to compete against each other. I mean, I just think the market, the money that we've been able to make, just both schools, what you can do.
Everyone's always complaining about NIL and the different pieces. Maybe you can take this spring ball and say everything that you guys make, you're allowed to take and put into the NIL. So then we don't got to worry about all the stuff like that.
It helps. I just think there's a lot of things that we could do and we would have been able to help out with it. And we were doing financial literacy, too. So we was going to teach the guys a little bit more.
We had that Friday morning, we were making both teams. Everybody was doing two hours of study hall. So, like, it wasn't just going to be about us playing football. It was going to be to let them know, like, hey, men handle their business.
So you got financial literacy so you know you're able to take care of your money. You're also going to do the schoolwork that you needed to do. So we was going to give them two hours of study hall and then we got out there and played some more football. I was talking to Ryan Day about this, this very idea, actually, head coach at Ohio State last week, Fran.
And he didn't say he didn't like the idea. His concern, though, at least from his program, was, you know, a big goal for any coach, you as well, is to get through spring reasonably healthy, right? You want to keep your team healthy as you work towards the fall.
And that was his first thought about whether it would be a good idea. I know from the NFL perspective, covering that league for so many years, joint practices can sometimes get a little heated, right? And usually you want them one day, not two days, because on the second day, that's when people start throwing hands and they get out of hand. But you also need two coaches that respect each other, that practice the same way. And if there's a mutual understanding of how I want to run my practice and how Coach Prime wants to run his practice, that generally you can keep your two teams upright and healthy. So I thought me and Coach Prime had already talked about that. So we'd have been able to keep them healthy. For me, Ryan Day is a heck of a coach. So there's a lot of things that he's accomplished that I want to get. First and foremost is to win the national championship as a head coach.
I've won it as an assistant, but not as a head coach. But for us, we two-spot. So we would have only had 11 guys on the field. There wouldn't have been 44 guys out there taking reps, right? We already talked about who was going to be live, who wouldn't be live.
The way we practice, you can't – I just had a kid break his femur the other day in practice. So you can't determine when that's going to happen, right? It doesn't really matter who you're going against, for you to determine when the injury is going to occur or when things like that will happen. I just felt as though if you were going against another team, it would be more control because there's less people you got out there. And if I have only 11 instead of 44, I mean, it's 25 to 75 percent chance less because there's 75 percent less people on the field that I would have had on the field that will help us out. So that's kind of how I look at it.
It's just, I mean, a lot of things are simple math and I think a lot of times because stuff wasn't done before, it's hard for people to want to change and go on and try something new. It's just like, well, not this way. We shouldn't do this. And, you know, I think that would have been a great idea. Primetime played the highest level of football. He has the highest honor that you could ever get in football. He's a Hall of Famer. Like the best cornerback to ever walk Earth is Deion Sanders, right? Probably one of the best athletes. I'm Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, who knows who it is.
But one of those guys with the best athletes ever walk Earth and he would never do anything to put anyone in danger. You know, it was all about being able to help. And I think that's what he's been doing since he's became a coach in college.
He's been trying to just change it, right? Just change the norm and make the norm a little bit different. Sometimes we all got to get out of our comfort zone because they've been teaching me since I was younger. For me to grow, I have to be uncomfortable.
And I grew a lot when I went to Georgia because I was in an uncomfortable competitive environment and I grew there because of being uncomfortable. And I think that everyone else would do the same if they kind of just don't stay in the same ways. Yeah, I'm with you. I think this is the future and one day it will happen and you and Coach Prime will get credit for coming up with that idea and to be clear, Ryan Day was in no way poo-pooing the idea. It was just, I think it's an interesting conversation that all the D1 coaches, the FPF coaches are at any level. It's an idea that everyone's kind of thinking about. Now, you know, how would it benefit my team and what are the concerns, obviously, for my team as well? Let's talk about your former players, Fran Brown, that are now going to the NFL.
I just came back from the annual meeting, the owners meetings, as many people call it. I'm obviously a big Kyle McCord fan and what he did to help elevate the program and win games last year. He is a name that you constantly hear, constantly hear.
You got to keep an eye on that guy because he may go higher than many people think. What is Kyle McCord, Fran, bringing to the next level? Leadership. Instant leadership day one. You'll see leadership with Kyle McCord coming in. He'll be in the building from what I've always heard, right?
Guys are in the building from the morning all the way to the night. He's the first one in, the last one out. I've seen that with him, right? I've seen Brock Bowers work at Georgia. I watched Kyle McCord work that way.
He has that mindset. I mean, all he did was work. He would leave out of the building every night at 930. He came and took a team here at Syracuse who we didn't have as much talent as every other team in the country and he made guys play better. He challenged guys daily. He challenged guys in the weight room. He challenged guys in the winter, summer runs.
He challenged guys at football practice. He's just a competitive dude, man, and he's been like that since he was young, right? I mean, a kid lost three games here, one or two games at Ohio State.
I mean, he's lost six games his entire life. I mean, he's just a winner. Everything he's around, whatever Kyle McCord touches, he usually does well because he's a detailed man, right? He's very, very, right? He's just a good dude, man. He's a good boyfriend. He's a good son. He's a good teammate. I mean, I love the kid. Now, I'm biased because I've just watched him work. You know, when you don't work, I don't mess with you. This dude works extremely hard and he's faith-driven and I think a team will get a leader that can interact with anyone.
Doesn't matter the race, doesn't matter who you are, what music you listen to, what you're about. I mean, he just knows how to command a locker room. He demands the respect because of the work that he puts in.
What does it mean for a program? When, hey, look, let's face it. There are some lean years there for SU in the draft, in the NFL draft. But when we sit here today and talk about Kyle McCord or Rondae Gaston or Justin Barron or Marlowe Wax or whomever, when you've got a list of guys whose names will be called, what does that do for you on the recruiting trail? I'm going to ask an or, or does that matter as much anymore in this era when you're, guys are allowed to get a paycheck now? And that is truly the factor.
I think it always matters. I think you got to look at that. But then you just got to see like, okay, how can you help me though, right?
Because like for instance, you look in the back, there's a lot of Hall of Famers on that back wall in back of me, right? But what am I going to do for you? How is this program going to benefit you and your future? You're going to get paid wherever you go at now. It's just the nature of the business. Everyone's going to get paid. But don't look at this as your ultimate payday. This is just something to set you up to get ready for the amount of money you're going to get in the NFL because you're going to get way more there. The minimum this year is like $840,000. So the money you're going to get in the NFL will always be way more than that.
So now what they're doing is giving you a little stepping stool. Let's see how you handle $200,000 to $500,000, whatever it may be. Let's see how you handle that. And can you still play football? Can you still go to class now? Can you still do all the things that are needed and be able to focus and handle that?
They will always ask that question, right? How will he handle money? Well, he's been handling pretty cool. He saved a lot of his money. This is what he's been doing and he still did really well.
So that's a question that will already be knocked off the box. For us it helps because you'll have – we'll probably have about 10 guys sign a contract here and it's happened in one year. Last year they had one guy. Now we'll have 10 guys so they let guys know like, oh, snap, you know, Fran does know what he's doing.
You know, he has the coaching staff over there that we have NFL coaches with prior NFL experience. So if you come here, we can get you where you want to get to. Like the origin definition of coach is a horse-drawn buggy that takes important people, all of you young high school recruits or portal guys, whoever you may be. But it's – the origin definition is a horse-drawn buggy that takes important people from where they are to where they want to be. You've used that a lot before, I'm guessing. Absolutely.
I mean, that's just nature of the business is what it is. I learned that from Greg Ciano. He had taught me that and I was like, wow, that's interesting. He said that to me again, Coach. And when he said that to me, I was like, wow, that's pretty – that's pretty legit. You know, I like that and I looked it up. I wanted to make sure it was right and it actually is.
So it was like, cool, I'm – that sticks with me. Coach Fran Brown, with the jerseys behind him, you got Ernie Davis and Floyd Little and Marvin Harrison and Donovan McNabb and obviously Jim Brown. We got Keith Bullock. We got Dwight Freeney. Let me show you the best one. Give us a tour.
What do you got? We got Art Monk. We got Art Monk. Look at that and the jacket.
And the jacket. Yeah, that's a good one. There's a lot of Hall of Famers here. There's a lot of Hall of Famers that played at this school.
So like before me, after me, they will always be really a good football player. That's awesome, man. That's just what Syracuse does, right? I love it. Love that the program is back and that you're in charge and bright days, bright skies to come there in SU.
You don't actually have the sun come out very often, but, you know, football makes that a little bit better. Fran Brown, we appreciate the time. Good luck with the rest of spring practice and everything and best of luck in September and August, actually, of 2025 with a very, very, very challenging schedule, man.
Thanks for coming on. Yeah. I'm excited.
I'm happy about it. Will I see you down in Cali again this summer? Yes, sir. Absolutely. All right.
I'll see you in a few weeks. You be safe. God bless you all.
Thank you. Fran Brown, everybody. When I say it was the most fun watching Syracuse football I've had since I was in college, I am not being hyperbolic or facetious.
I could not have joined this football season more. Absolutely. And also Syracuse, you know, he talks about the Hall of Famers, fifth on the all-time list of college guys in the Hall of Fame.
And here's what people forget. Can I just put a button on R Monk right there? So let's pull up R Monk real quick.
By the way, Andrew, you're probably going to have a plus one in that backyard party because I know you can't go without Brockman. Because this year I couldn't attend and then this last year I could not attend. So this year I will not miss it. R Monk retired with 940 receptions. All-time leader when he retired. Yep.
That's my point. It took R Monk like 20 years to get in the Hall of Fame. Fifteen, something ridiculous to get in the Hall of Fame.
Yeah. And it's my problem with the Hall is that we sit here and we debate eras so often as opposed to looking what this player did when he played, right? The day that R Monk retired. Now he's since been passed on the all-time reception list, right? But the day he retired, nobody had more receptions in the history of the game. And all people tried to do is tear him down.
Ah, he was never the number one threat. He was always the possession guy. He caught a lot of eight yard hitches.
Eight yard hitches, right, lead to touchdowns. But he caught 940 passes. Ah, it was all longevity. He played 16 years. Since when is longevity in a violent injury prone sport a negative?
Look at Frank Gore. Played forever. He's just a stat eater. Longevity. You're talking to that guy right now. Longevity means something in a league in which the average length of career is two and a half. So you're going to knock the guy?
Yeah, Chris. You're going to knock Frank Gore? For being able to play long?
I'm sorry. Art Monk won a Super Bowl. Art Monk won a Super Bowl. He was part of a great offense. Art Monk won three Super Bowls.
Yes, three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks. And that's a Washington player. I hate giving him props. Okay. Art Monk was the man. He was part of the fun bunch.
I'm going in an Art Monk rant. He's already in the hall. Okay. But it was just like he's forgotten, right? Because he wasn't the take the top off the defense guy.
But he had the most receptions in the history of the league. I did not ask Fran about the basketball program. We're going to do that. We just went down a different path.
It is for an SU fan. You know, it's hard to watch the basketball program now. Hopefully it comes back and it comes back soon. But anyway, Hoskins, you were talking in my ear. I couldn't hear you. Say it again. Let's go to break, you said. Yes.
Five, four, three. It's Andrew sitting in for Rich on the Rich Isaac show. Let's talk O'Reilly Auto Parts, people. They're in the business of keeping your car on the road. O O O O'Reilly Auto Parts offers friendly, helpful service and the parts knowledge you need for all your maintenance and repairs. They've got thousands of parts and accessories in stock, either in store or online.
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Hey, Rich Eisen here. I hear from a lot of business owners like you about the work it takes to pursue your passions. So I know how important it is to have the tools that can help keep you moving forward. And with access to world class business and travel benefits, the American Express Business Platinum card helps you take your business to the next level. It offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business. Plus, you'll have complimentary access to more than 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. Not all purchases will be approved. Terms apply.
Learn more at American Express dot com slash Amex Business. 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.
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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Is Scott on the line now? Is Scott there? Yeah. You thought it was real?
Well, I mean, as you as you said, it's the you are a guy that has a reputation. You work at the end of a network, you've got storages. And when it was brought up to me in our meeting, hey, did you see the letter Hockley wrote? And I thought, well, that's funny. And then later, as I'm trying to write this script, I'm not finding it anywhere on like Google searches or whatever. But I'm like, where'd y'all see that?
And then the producer that had it is like, oh, it's on ISEN. So I read your feed and I'm like, there it is. I see the quotes that work.
And I just I just slam it in there on the script and read it on television. Fake news. Fake news. Hashtag.
Yes. Hashtag fake news. I'm mortified. Apologies to Mr. Hockley.
I'm sorry. We did not know that was not our intent. We didn't know it was going to happen like that. That's entirely on us for not for not vetting. It goes off to me that I'm not able to find this anywhere but there.
But again, and this is where I'll turn it and point at you and blame you. When you're a source of, you know, information and you got stuff, no one else got. You think, yeah, sure, I've got the Hockley retirement letter. And it's, I guess, believable that he's got his own stationery with himself on it, where there's a watermark of him as a rat. As believable as it is that he's going to go sort out the lactic acid with this regimen. Vigorous regimen.
Vigorous regimen. I beg your pardon. You're the best, man. You're the best. You're the best. I'm sorry. You're the worst.
Don't spoof me like that. Everybody? Okay. Do we really think Mook is working with the Russians? Oh, spoiler alert. Wow. Yeah. We have so many thoughts on this.
Is Mook working with the Russians? Come on, man. You can't be doing that. No, no, no, no. Because that theory has been on TikTok. That's not a spoiler alert.
Come on. What's the theory? That isn't a spoiler alert. We could have asked this question in the third episode. The second she gets introduced, that's a question you can ask.
That's not a spoiler alert. By the way, do you know? Hi, welcome back to The Rich Isaac Show. My name is Andrew.
Sitting in for Rich, we're just talking white lotus. Do you know that Mook has like a hundred million TikTok followers? Yes, she is insanely famous. Like Lisa Blackpink.
Lisa. A girl band, right? No, that's not a girl band. Extremely famous. Like the girl band. K-pop.
Like the girl band. Yeah. Yeah. Like Mook is... Mook can buy the entire white lotus franchise. Wasn't she dating the son of like the third richest guy in the world or something?
I have no idea. Yeah. I'm a Mook fan. Now we saw that going, huh? By the way, that's going to be in tomorrow's open.
I'm a Mook fan. And she's definitely working with the Russian dudes. I think so. I don't know. Seems like it. Seems like it. I don't know. Okay. Before I read this. Maybe. I don't know.
Before I read this, let me just say this. Nothing has happened in this season of white lotus. It is maddening.
Yeah. Nothing has happened. But what they have done is set up. When you get now, we're one more episode. You truly have no idea what's going to happen. Right?
Like what was the line from 2001? Something amazing is going to happen, right? You just don't know who it is that's going. Someone's going to flip, right? You have to think. All I have to say is like, you know, Simmons does this game on the relaunchables where if there's only one award, who gets it? Yeah. Only one Emmy.
Got to go to Patrick Schwarzenegger. That guy's been incredible. But is he the one that's going to? No, he's on a path to enlightenment. You think so? I do. Look, as long as nothing bad happens to Chelsea, that's all I care about. Piper, no. That's not Chelsea.
Parker Posey is killing it as well. Rise of Pan. Tsunami. Taiwan. Buddhism. Are they good people? Oh, the boat people?
It's been great. Like, Lotus is sick. For those who have not seen the Parker Posey trend on TikTok, and I'm sure most, I can't believe I just said those words. I spent way too much time on TikTok for a 50-year-old single white man.
Not for like creepy reasons, it's just, hey, it's how you monetize these days, but anyway, I digress. I am sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk. It is furnished by Grainger. With supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger has the right product for you.
Call or click grainger.com or just stop by. Grainger. No.
No. I was trying to explain to somebody that years ago, explain it to a friend of mine, Parker Posey coming out of the pool in fast times at Ridgemont High was like, for those of us of a certain age. Except that was not Parker Posey.
Yeah, it was. Now fast times at Ridgemont High. That's Phoebe Cates.
Phoebe Cates. It's my fault. Wow. That's why my explanation didn't work. That explains why my explanation.
That's why my explanation didn't work. I was like, wait a second, what are you talking about? Bro, that is Phoebe Cates. Where's Phoebe Cates these days? She's still a beautiful woman.
I'm sure she is. Be decent. Parker Posey was amazing in Waiting for Guffman.
Parker Posey in Days and Confused. Air Raid Freshman. Air Raid. That's right. Best in Show.
Phoebe Cates is married to Kevin Kline. Yep. I can't believe I just messed that up. It's been forever since the 80s.
All right. Let's talk about Jerry Jones. Okay, Jerry Jones. I'd rather keep talking about Parker Posey. Jerry Jones. Salim Nami. Jerry Jones. Jerry.
Sign Micah. My favorite part of all of this, by the way, are Duke fans upset. I think he's wearing the t-shirt a while ago. Yeah, he's wearing the shirt while going through a midlife crisis. He's having a week. He's having a week. He's having a week. He's having a week.
All right. Back to the annual meeting. Not the only meeting. I love squirrel too, Jerry.
It's delicious. Jerry Jones spoke Tuesday at the annual meeting. Most of the owners, all the head coaches, and most of the GMs do speak at the annual meeting. And listen, the annual meeting, the owners meetings, as it's often called, is a big tent pole event, not for fans, but on the NFL calendar for the media. It's before the draft. It's after free agency.
It's when you hear from coaches and owners and GMs for the first and sometimes the only time about major off season moves. So Jerry Jones spoke yesterday about the Micah Parsons negotiations. He's entering year five of his rookie contract. All the other guys from that draft have been paid, other than, say, Rashawn Slater. They've all been paid, except Micah Parsons.
Here's Jerry. I don't view it as urgent at all. And some say, well, using the basis that the earlier you get something done, the cheaper. The earlier you get something done, a lot of times the more mistakes you make. And you might want to see a few more cards play, not just with that particular negotiation, but with the whole team.
And so I know I'm kind of being a little defensive here. But the idea that the only success is getting a contract done at an early time is incorrect. And I'd rather pay more and get it right than I had paid less and screw it up. That last sentence is the most important sentence because Jerry Jones is going to pay more. If he paid Micah Parsons last year, he could have gotten away with 35. Let's say Justin Jefferson did the deal. He did 35.
Justin Jefferson set the bar for non-quarterbacks. Micah Parsons could have done that deal right then and there for 35 and an extra dollar. 35 million and an extra dollar.
And the deal would have been done over. So by waiting a year, it costs Jerry an annual, an APY of an extra 5 million. Because we just had the two deals done, Miles Garrett and Jamar Chase, they begin with a four. Now Micah Parsons will have to get a contract that begins with a four. So it will cost Jerry Jones more money, but he says he'd rather pay more money than basically make a mistake. And people push back, wait a minute, it's Micah Parsons. Why are you in any way making a mistake?
Well, I'll tell you. There is a conversation about Micah Parsons. Do you really want to lock him up? Do you really want to pay him? Do you really want to give him a second contract?
Now, listen, you look at the tape, the tape's the tape. Yes. You give him a second contract. He is as disruptive of a player on the defensive side of the ball as there is in the league. It's a very short list, obviously.
With Micah Parsons and Miles Garrett and TJ White, it's a short list, right? You pay him. He's the guy. Not always the easiest guy to work with. I'm not saying anything you don't know, right? I mean, sparring on X and social media with media and other players and management and the pod. I get it. I'm all for player platforms and speaking your mind, I'm all for it.
It gives us content and I think they deserve that platform. I have nothing against it, but when you're running a building, it's not always the easiest to handle. He's not always the easiest to handle. That's not a secret. It's not a secret, but there's only one person in that building that matters and that is Jerry Jones. It's his team. He's in charge. If he wants to sign him, he can sign him.
So I guess I would have to ask, has he had trepidation? Is this just the standard operating procedure? Like they waited for DAC and they had to pay more there as well.
They waited for CD. They had to pay more there as well. Is it just standard operating procedure here again with MICA or did Jerry also have second thoughts or did he also have to think about it a little bit more?
Was it not a slam dunk in his mind on MICA persons as well? I think that's a fair question to ask, but he is going to pay more. His contract is going to be over $40 million a year annually. And I've said it a thousand times.
If you know, do the deal now, period, because it'll cost you. It costs the Bengals extra money. They should have done it last year. They didn't.
They didn't. And it costs them more on Jamar Chase. If you know this guy's the quarterback, pay him, pay him. Same goes for MICA. The other guys in that draft, Joe Burrow, he's well into his new deal. Tua got his deal last year. Kirsten Herbert, well into his deal. Derek Brown, well into the deal.
Who else? Tristan Worf's been paid. Jerry Judy, new team, but he's been paid.
CeeDee Lamb, he's been paid. Justin Jefferson, he's been paid. Brandon Aiyuk got paid. Jordan Love got paid. Patrick Queen got paid. These guys got paid.
T Higgins has gotten paid. Xavier McKitty had to switch teams, but he got paid. Jonathan Taylor got paid. Trayvon Diggs got paid. Jalen Hurts got paid.
They're all the same draft. Micah Parsons hasn't been paid. It's time to pay him. And by waiting, you are going to write a bigger check. I'm not trying to tell you how to run your business, how to do your finances. You got a lot more money than me.
You're better at it than me. But it makes it more difficult to do business with every other part of your team when you wait this long to do it. It just didn't make a lot of sense yesterday what he said. And there's the agent part of it. He basically said, I don't care nor know who Micah Parsons' agent is.
You should. His name is David Mulageta. He does massive deals for massive stars. We'll remember him as the guy that got the fully guaranteed contract for Deshaun Watson. But he's also done huge deals for plenty of other guys, like just Jalen Ramsey, to name a few, to name one. He's got a long list.
The whole thing felt awkward yesterday. And then Micah claps back and says, don't basically forget about my agent. Don't disrespect him.
Here it is. Jerry Jones, with blatant disrespect, Clarence Hill's words, not mine. To Micah Parsons' agent, David Mulageta, the agent is not a concern here.
I don't know his name. Micah tweets, David is the best, and I will not be doing any deal without David Mulageta involved. Like anyone with good sense, I hired experts for a reason. There's no one I trust more when it comes to negotiating contracts than David. There will be no back doors in this contract negotiation.
I am all for FaceTime between ownership and employees, truly, between the boss and employees. And there's nothing wrong with a player and an owner having an open conversation about business. But eventually you got to have the agent involved because the agent does the deal.
And to say, I don't know his name and I don't care, oof, that does not look bad. Look at the Bengals, for example. Katie Blackburn, who runs the Bengals in essence, her father, Mike Brown, the owner, and is truly the man in charge, obviously. But Katie Blackburn, senior role with the Bengals and as the owner's daughter, she has a very strong voice and runs the business side there. Katie Blackburn said yesterday of Trey Hendrickson, who is without contract, actually has a contract, but they're working on the trade. I don't think there's going to be a trade, to be honest with you, I think he's going to have to go back there, said that eventually, and I'm paraphrasing, Trey Hendrickson is just going to have to learn to be happy, basically. We have a good deal in front of him, he just got to be happy. And Hendrickson was on with Pat McAfee today and I'm paraphrasing. He said, when I saw that, I was hoping it was an April Fool's joke. Yeah, he also said with Pat, quote, communication has been poor over the last couple of months.
That's something I hold in high regard. We have not communicated with my agent directly. It's been something that's been a little frustrating. Yeah. So there's that. Negotiations are best done behind the scenes, behind the scenes, behind the scenes.
All right. People are already making fun of my Parker Posey and Phoebe Kates thing. Someone just tweeted at me and Parker Posey. Andrew, it's like the UMA Oprah thing, Parker, Phoebe, Phoebe, Phoebe, Phoebe, Parker. I'm a huge fan of both for different reasons.
She was in Dazed and Confused. They're both very talented. And I do hate them.
That's where you confuse them. All right. It's Andrew Sidehan for Rich. Let's do a sports update now. And for that, in front of the program, it's Rich Ackerman.
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These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Welcome to AutoZone. What are you working on today? My car is making this noise. Sometimes it's like, and sometimes it's like. Do you have a dash light on?
Oh yeah. And we don't have to listen for clues. With the free FixFinder service, we can read a check engine, ABS, or maintenance light to find the likely fix and even recommend a local shop if you need one. So you don't need to hear the.
Not with FixFinder, free at every AutoZone. Restrictions apply. I always like to think that I'm his most favorite person in the room, but when the Vince Lombardi trophy is sitting between the two of us, I think I lose. I think I lose out Michael Irvin.
I think I lose out to this baby, right? It's so funny. You start with this. Cause I'm gonna tell you something, man. When I was playing, I made a pat that I would never go to a super bowl until I play in the super bowl. So every guest that comes here, they're going to get super bowl questions.
That's why I always say I would never go to a super bowl until after I play in a super bowl. So I would not have people like Rich Isen asking me questions that I cannot answer. Now, what do you want to ask Rich?
Cause I prepared to answer since I want three of these things. So what was it like picking this trophy up for the first time? It was the greatest thing. And it really was, Rich. It really was the greatest thing. Do you remember the circumstances?
Oh my God, man. First of all, you got to go back and think about like we were one in 15, we were three in 13, one in 15. When you're three in 13 and one in 15 Cleveland Browns, I know you don't think there's any chance that you will ever lay a hold of something like this.
So to go from those days to coming in 92 and winning that super bowl and actually somebody handing you that trophy, the most incredible thing, most incredible feeling in the world. Did you ever step in when you heard that Jimmy and Jerry were not doing well, or you just, your station wasn't that life at that point in time? I didn't think anything would happen, Rich. I really didn't. I was like, are you joking?
You know how hard it is to win super bowls and you have a formula that's working. And then when it happened, he was like, oh my God, like, you know, I should have done this. Maybe I should have talked to him. I should have tried this.
I should have tried that. Jerry Jones, I'm telling you, that's the one thing I'll never forget Jerry Jones telling me that when I was negotiating with him and I was saying, you know, I'll go to Cincinnati. And it was just, I'm just talking, trying to get my money's up. I said, I'll go to Cincinnati, you get Carl Pickens over here and let's see what happens. And Jerry said to me, Jerry said, Michael, you know, when I see you, I see Michael Irvin and the Dallas Cowboys. He said, I kind of see it like Magic Johnson in the Lakers. He said, what is Magic without the Lakers?
And what are the Lakers without the Magic? He said, you guys, they belong together, just like you and the Cowboys. He said, Michael, the best way I can tell you, if a bomb hit Valley Ridge today, that's where we practiced and blew everything up, everybody, everything. When the smoke clears, maybe me and you, we're going to still be here. So we might as well work this deal out right now. That's what he said to you.
I promise you. I said, this dude is a fool. This dude is a fool. He had me laughing as he was telling me no about my money. That's why you're in the Hall of Fame together. Just watching here on the TV side, an old Michael Irvin clip cracks me up. It is the Rich Eisen Show.
Hello, friends. Andrew sitting in for Rich. Baseball contract news, Jackson Merrill, big deal with the Padres yesterday, them locking up a young player.
There's that one. Jackson Merrill, nine year contract with a club option for twenty thirty five. And then the Red Sox today, Brockman, Christian Campbell, very happy eight year deal with guarantees upwards of sixty million. It's the way you do it in baseball.
Do it early. I mean, the Braves were way ahead on this. Remember when they extended Ozzie and Ronald Acuna to like one hundred million dollar deal when he was twenty three years old. And now that deal looks vastly underpaid. But kudos for the Red Sox getting this done. It's how you do it in baseball, you know, finishing up the Jerry Jones conversation, you pay the guy early rather than pay him late.
It's always going to cost more to pay him late. Back on the Rich Eisen Show. Hi, I'm Andrew in baseball, Jackson Merrill last night for the Padres. The Red Sox today lock up Christian Campbell, eight years and sixty million. First time I remember, obviously, Cleveland perspective, this happening was way back in the day when John Hart was running the then Indians and you lock up guys like Sandy Alomar and Carlos Bierga and you give them contracts when they are young. You buy back those arbitration years and you lock guys up. The Braves did it.
Acuna, Albies. I mean, remember the Albies contract. People thought they they took advantage of the poor kid.
Right. And like, oh, my God, fight back, like rip up that contract, kid. You shouldn't have signed it.
It's the way the baseball system works. But in the NFL, it's going to cost you more as well. If you wait, Jerry Jones, it's going to cost you more. He admitted yesterday, I don't care if it costs me more.
Well, your money, not my money. Hey, 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, even a Hyundai offers advanced safety features that can alert you to potential dangers around you, and Hyundai has over one hundred and twenty IHS top safety awards since 2006. Beg your pardon, because Hyundai is always working to ensure that the road doesn't get you.
Hyundai vehicles have won over one hundred and twenty that mentioned IHS top safety awards from 2006 through two thousand and twenty four. All right, let's get back to the annual meeting. The NFL's annual meeting also tell you that Richard Patino, the new head coach at Xavier, is going to join us in about 12 minutes on the show. Yesterday, Art Rooney, the second Rooney Steelers owner, had this to say about their potential future quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. Nothing new on the Aaron Rodgers front. You know, we'll see what happens and, you know, hopefully we'll know something soon. Are you content to wait?
Well, not forever, but a little longer. There have now been some photos and videos of him throwing with DK Metcalf. Omar said yesterday that if it happened to be a good thing, do you view it as a good thing? You're trying to read the tea leaves to figure out which way he's leaning?
Things like that? I mean, yeah, I would say it was a good sign that he wanted to do that and, you know, we keep hearing that, you know, he's, I guess, headed in our direction and so that seems to be all signs are positive so far. So you have a good feeling about that? You have a good feeling. Yeah, I mean, we keep getting, you know, positive sort of signals about it.
So yeah, I'd say we feel pretty good about it. Just back from the annual meeting, there are two thoughts here on Aaron Rodgers. Again, Art Rooney, the second there, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who also do own the 21st pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The two thoughts on Aaron Rodgers are this, number one, he is loving the attention. Those look like professional photographs, not this one here on the screen, but Rodgers and DK Metcalf throwing at UCLA this week. They both have off-season homes in California and LA and Southern California, big deal, they're throwing.
I read nothing into that. Half the quarterbacks in the league are in Orange County right now working out. So that is not a big deal. The fact that those look like professional photographs to me, speak to the fact that they wanted them seen, they being Aaron Rodgers. The kid who took them is literally a kid. If you look up the photographer, Amen.Culture on IG, he is Cronkite 29, meaning he's a student at Arizona State who graduates in 2029, okay?
So it was a kid who took them. Maybe he was visiting friends at UCLA and he happened to be there and took his camera out and is embracing the moment. But he has a professional photographer looking Instagram page. So one thought Aaron wanted to be seen. The other thought is this, and this is my opinion here and a lot of people share it.
Aaron Rodgers owes the Steelers an answer. There is a professional courtesy here involved. And even though you may like the attention, I think they're owed an answer. And I've said this multiple times, if you don't want to go there, that is fine. I would say if you haven't taken the job yet, you don't want the job because it's offered, you know what it is, take it or don't take it. And the fact that you haven't taken it yet means you probably are holding out for something else. If that's the case, let them know.
It's okay, by the way, it's totally fine. You don't have to take the job, go home and wait, wait for your phone to ring. It's going to ring.
It may be in July or August, it may be in December because people get hurt. It'll have to be on FaceTime audio. You'll be in Malibu, but go home and wait for it to ring if you don't want the job.
And that is what I can't get over. The Steelers deserve an answer. If they do not get Aaron Rodgers, let's play that game for a second.
They're picking 21st. It dramatically changes night number one of the NFL draft, dramatically. If Aaron Rodgers is entrenched as the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, if he has already done the deal, if he's already photographed at a Penguins game, holding up a beer, like all that. If he started out the first pitch at a Pirates game, if we've already done all of that, we view the Steelers 21st overall selection much differently. Now, I wouldn't say they would never take a quarterback.
I mean, after Atlanta and last year, I'm never going to say never again, but I don't think they would. But if they don't have Aaron Rodgers, then they don't have a quarterback right now. And I'm sorry, Mason Rudolph. And I'm sorry, Skylar Thompson. He's also there.
People forget him in this. They don't have a quarterback. And then one would think they have to go get a quarterback and they have to draft a quarterback. Do they draft a quarterback at 21? Do they somehow, I don't know, try to get into the Kirk Cousins game? That would be interesting, wouldn't it?
I don't think so. I think they have to draft a quarterback and then we look at night number one very differently. Aaron Rodgers is the key piece in the NFL draft that we're not talking about. We're talking about whether or not he goes to the Steelers. We're not talking about what if he doesn't go to the Steelers because that will dramatically change the way night one on the 24th of April sets up in Green Bay.
I personally, as a Browns fan, would like to see him go to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yeah, but your gut says what? My gut says he goes. My gut says he does. Yeah, I think so. Because as a...
It's kind of his only option. And if you don't want it, that's fine. That's fine. Totally fine.
That's okay. But why are you throwing with DK with a photographer on hand? Because you want it to be seen.
But then what's the hold up? You don't want the job. You just want to stay in the news? You just want the show to be talking about it? We've been talking about Aaron. T.J. is so sick of talking about Aaron Rodgers. Hey, listen, when I do my silly walk and talks on the beach, by the way, follow me on Instagram at Andrew Siciliano TikTok, Andrew.Siciliano YouTube, Siciliano show.
When I do those, the Aaron Rodgers ones... Throws on. Through the roof. Through the roof.
People want it, I guess. Through the roof. Jerry. Yeah. And also, if you think he had this grand scheme, this grand plan, with all due respect to Alex Amen, he's a kid with 5,000 followers.
So if you were trying to plot something, wouldn't you go a little bit bigger? I don't know. Richard Pitino coming up next. NBA veteran Jim Jackson takes you on the court. You get a chance to dig into my 14-year career in the NBA, but also get the input from the people that will be joining. Charles Barkley.
I'm excited to be on your podcast, man. It's an honor. Spike Lee. Entrepreneur. Filmmaker. Academy Award winner.
Nixon. So, now you see. I got you. But also how sports brings life, passion, music, all of this together. The Jim Jackson Show, part of the Rich Eisen Podcast Network. Go and listen on your favorite platform.
