Tom Pelissero: The Geno Smith Situation Is Unique

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Let's do this. This is The Rich Eisen Show with guest host, Andrew Siciliano. I get a lot of fans, including my father, son. Yeah, dad, who stopped me and say, Why are you talking about the Cowboys?

I'll tell you why. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Because this story right here, the Cowboys trading for a backup quarterback moves the needle.

Today's guests, NFL Network insider Tom Pellicero, college football reporter for the athletic Scott Doctorman, Kansas Center, Hunter Dickinson, and now sitting in for Rich, it's Andrew Siciliano. All right, let's do a show. Let's go, baby. Hey, everybody. It's the weekend. What's going on, friends? Thank you for being here. One last day of me, the substitute guy sitting in Rich's chair.

Are you going to wheel out the TV and VCR on that rack so we can watch the watch some teacher some play some baseball, some opening day in Fenway in New York? Good high school callback, Chris Brockman. It's been a long time. How are you doing? I'm wonderful.

Beautiful. Jay, how are you doing? I'm doing great.

What's up, Andrew? I'm doing OK. TJ, do you remember the days where they used to bring that card in with the VCR? And once they put the kids, the VCR would be a machine where you put a tape in and actually had tape inside around these spools and they would play a movie. Yes. When the real teacher was gone. Remember those days?

It put like outbreak on in science class and you just sit there and kind of watched outbreak in science. I believe so. Yeah, yeah, I believe so. Or hot zone or one of the I don't know, one of those. One of those actually happened in my hometown of Reston, Virginia. Like a block away from the McDonald's that we used to hang out at.

Wow. Yeah, actually we called it a McTaco Hut because there's McDonald's, a Taco Bell and a Pizza Hut all in one thing. We had fast food alley. Yeah, there you go.

McTaco Hut. Yeah. One of those happened right.

The Michael Crichton one, whichever. That's outbreak outbreak. Yeah.

That happened like a mile from my high school. Cool. Well, you made it. You made it alive, so you're good.

Thank you. Did I make it? Yeah, we're here and we're happy that you were here with us as well. As you heard, Hunter Dickinson's coming up a little bit later. That's a rich interview, but it's a good interview and it's a final four weekend for not only the men and the women. So we'll talk to the Kansas big man. Also coming up, Scott doctor men, final four thoughts again, both of them in Tampa for the women tonight and the men in San Antonio coming up tomorrow. Final four weekend, Scott writes for the athletic Tom Pellicero will be here at about 15 minutes for all the, the things going on in the national football league.

We are inside of three weeks now from the NFL draft, three weeks from yesterday, night number one in green Bay. And as we speak and we'll get to the NBA coming up in a second step at a really big game, John Moran still doing the finger guns thing. He just got fined many dollars for it. Although it's really just like an NBA, you know, three game stop road trip per diem that he just got fined.

We'll do that in a second. But today is Colorado pro day. It's happening right now. However, however, this is not a pro day. This is if you go to the preview guide right now, you're going to set to, you're going to, you're going to record it on NFL network. This is Colorado's NFL showcase. It's the Colorado showcase right now in NFL network coming up in a couple of hours, although they are getting underway as we speak in Boulder, this is from Kaylin Kaler.

And this is her photo that she took inside of the building in Boulder. And that's the media breakfast spread. If you want to know where they feed us, donuts and pastries, it's always the same, you know, small like two to three inch circumference Danish.

You want a Danish got a Danish and fruit. Anyway, they're calling it the, we ain't too, we ain't hard to find showcase, not a pro day. We ain't hard to find showcase with 160 credentialed members of the media and 71 credentialed NFL personnel, including the owner of the Cleveland Browns, Jimmy Haslam, also Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry and assistant GMs, Glen Cook and Kat Hickman, the entire Browns contingent, Tommy Reese, the OC bill Musgrave, who's the bronze quarterback coach and a former Bronco and a former 49ers teammate of Deion Sanders.

Keep that in mind. And they're boys. They are all there. The Browns last night at dinner with Chador and with Travis Hunter also right now. And I wish they were doing this outside. It's snowing in Colorado in Boulder. Now, if flurries earlier, they say the flurries are going to come back around one o'clock local one o'clock mountain, right? As we get off the air here today, I wish because Brown's fans want to see this. You want to see whether on the lake front, let's get them outside. Let's get him accustomed to what he might be playing in come late November, December in Cleveland. Now, I'll tell you right now. I don't know that the Browns got to take Chador.

I would be a little bit surprised if they did. However, he's there. You're there. I'm here for the work of me here. You there. Go outside.

Let it rip a few years ago. Hugh Jackson and pep Hamilton. Then they pour the bottle of water on the football at Cal for Jared Goff.

We did that live on NFL network. What are they doing? DJ, DJ. Oh, they got the water. They got the water, right? Well, Jerry Goff had small hands. Yeah, whatever.

Who cares? It's a dog and pony show. That's the thing. Maybe even today we have a dog and a pony or Ralphie. The Buffalo could show up.

That would be great. How could they upstage or outdo the Johnny Manziel pro day from many a moon ago, remember Johnny showed up full pads. The camo. You had, it was sick. The man's pro day was awesome. HW and Barbara.

There was a first lady on a golf cart with a dog with Drake blasting. Nothing could outdo that. And I don't think they're going to try to do that today.

Honestly, they're not, but it would be cool if they did. How about, Hey, as Kyle said this morning, I just want to see should or throw when he's not getting hit by a bus. What if bear, he actually got, what if he actually had to Dodge Ralphie, the Buffalo have Ralphie, the Buffalo come at him with a broom. Remember the broom thing. Yup. Throw over the broom. Let's do that. Either way.

No seriousness. He is going to throw today. I would like to see it outside. It is going to be indoors.

They're indoors right now. The headline today is Travis Hunter is going to run. Now the thought was going to be Travis Hunter. Wasn't going to work out, had dinner with the Browns last night, but then he wasn't going to work out. He chose to run routes for Chador. Not the, I choose not to run. He chooses to run. He's going to run today for Chador. And many will tell you, many people are saying that the Browns are actually there for Travis Hunter today. Not for Chador. They're there for both.

Sure. But that the odds will tell you, or that, let's phrase it this way. More likely they take Travis Hunter than Chador.

I don't know, but I'm telling you there's a chance that's the case. Andrew Berry, the combine said that the Brown see Travis Hunter primarily was AB's word. Andrew Berry, the GM of the Browns as a wide receiver first and a DB second. Not all the teams see him that way.

AB kind of backed away from that at the annual meeting last week and said, guys, some of that's out of context. The guy's amazing. Cause the initial question was, and I was there for it.

Hey, how do you see him? And Andrew Berry said, yes. In other words, good answer. Yeah.

He's everything. And then a couple of seconds later said, but look, we do primarily see him as a wide receiver. That's fine. Nothing wrong with that. As we spoke yesterday with Jason Cabinda for a guy like that, you, it is easier to work him in as a wide receiver and then maybe put them on the field in dime 60 BS, as opposed to, or rather the other way around. You have them as, well, there is no good answer. How about that? You have them as a full-time corner and then give them a package on offense, or do you have them as a full-time receiver and then work them in when you have to go dime on defense?

I don't know. I think the former, not the latter. Although when you do it the other way around, when you, you know, give a guy a package on offense that the defense knows he's getting the ball right. Or he's the decoy. So who needs him? I think of new England gets Travis Hunter. He's going to be primarily a wide receiver. That's what they need the most.

A dynamic playmaker on offense. You can argue the Browns have three really good corners. Actually. It's not an argument.

It is true. Greg Newsome didn't have his best season last year, but you have Denzel Ward who wasn't all, look, I'll say it. Denzel Ward should have been an all pro. Okay. I'm not taking away Pat Sertan's DPOY, but Denzel Ward should have been an all pro, had one of his best seasons.

Amazing. He's a pro bowler at a minimum. So you have Denzel Ward. You have Martin Emerson who had a better 23 than a better 24 than 24. And then Greg Newsome. You put Travis Hunter in there a corner. You got four of them.

Now that that is pretty good. You're not concerned about whether or not you could put Miles Harden in the slot. I know I'm going deep into the depth chart.

I think the Browns are looking at as much, if not more at Travis Hunter than they are at Chidor Sanders. They are there. The entire crew is there. We may get a walk and talk from Brian Baldinger or James Palmer later in the show.

You know, just the fun walk and talk. Hey, look who's here. It's Brian Deball or whatever.

I don't know. We're working on it. It is Colorado. Again, don't call it pro day Colorado showcase or the we ain't hard defined 2025 showcase.

Love it. And that's today. And for those who think, Oh, Chidor is going to fall to the Raiders and they're going to take them.

I'm hearing more and more as if the Raiders aren't necessarily after doing the Geno Smith deal, not massive money, but good enough money for the next two years that they're not necessarily in the quarterback business at six. So, you know, 20 days before the draft, go ahead, put that in your pipe and let a rep people still use that phrase anymore. Speaking of putting in your pipe, let's get to the NBA.

Here we go. From last night, there were games all night. So let's step back for a second before we get to the details of the Warriors win over the Lakers, one 23 to one 16. And by the way, the last like three minutes with that, with Austin Reeves going off and Stephen three, I mean, that was, that was highly entertaining basketball product. That was wow. Are you watching this text? Your friends turned the game on kind of play and it was great and it was enjoyable.

Yeah. Let's hope we get the playoff matchup with those two teams. Let's step back for a minute and enjoy what we saw. And that is two of the greatest to ever play the game going head to head in Steph and LeBron. And I know in the screaming head industry, we get caught up in who won the trade and legacy moments and who's going to win the West and all those things, getting coaches fired, all those things. You do have to appreciate the greatness of what we did see last night. Guys that have battled in the finals, guys that have played together to win a gold medal for this country.

Guys that guys whose names will forever be linked. LeBron and Steph enjoy the moment last night. Cause I don't know how many more of them we will have. They're not going away tomorrow. They're both going to be here next year.

We have to assume unless something stunning happens, but just enjoy the moment for what we saw last night. And what we saw last night was a late season classic Steph Curry went for 37. He hit only four of 11 from downtown, but he was great. He actually missed a free throw, which is something you text your friends about as well. LeBron started slowly, nothing in the first quarter, but then he finished with 33 Austin Reeves had 31, including 20 in the fourth quarter, including threes of increasing level of difficulty as the fourth quarter progressed. And he almost put the Lakers in a situation to get a miracle.

Come back at the end. He hit the crazy three LeBron got a steal, but then they couldn't get a good shot off. And then it didn't happen with that victory. The warriors are now, if you're looking at the standings of the West, the Lakers are for the warriors are five. The Lakers are only one up in the win column and only one up in the loss column. The warriors are right there.

It's great. We've been talking about this for weeks to three to eight in the West, two and a half games, separate these guys with five or six games left to go. Going to be a wild finish. This is not how it's going to finish in the West. It's going to be these teams, but it's going to be in some kind of order. And you know, you're doing your best to avoid Oklahoma city at all costs until the Western conference finals.

That is what you're doing among other things. And last night, last night, did I say last night twice? Well, let's just have a Twitch, a glitch.

Some in the matrix two times. Wow. Get the papers, get the papers. We get in cap, cut and cut that out. Cap cut. Anyway, where were we last night?

So there was the, thank you. The Luca disappeared factor last night and the Jimmy Butler's really paid dividends factor last night. With that in mind, here's LeBron after a 33 and nine assist game in the locker room. I mean, I've been a part of them making big acquisitions to change their dynamic of their team before. I had to go against them when they added Kevin Durant. So, I mean, Jimmy Butler's, it's great. And you know, he's adds toughness to him. He adds a championship DNA type of guy. So, but it's always the same. They always figure it out.

They always add somebody to make some dynamic. The internet is having fun today, trying to read between the lines with LeBron. Jimmy Butler adds toughness. I mean, he was four seven from the field. He scored 11, didn't fill up the stat sheet, but he does add toughness. Had a bucket or two late in the fourth quarter that were key.

Luca 19 points on six of 17 from the field. They were going after him in the pick and roll game. JJ Reddick asked after the game, long question included the words, pick and roll, not his best night, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. JJ, what do you think? And JJ didn't say next question, but he basically did by saying, and this was the entirety of his answer, not his best night.

When LeBron praises Jimmy Butler's toughness, is he questioning Lucas? Oh, I don't think so, but that's what the talking heads are going after today. It's topic bar. There's a topic bar.

How about this topic bar? Jimmy Butler trade working out better than the Luca trade. Oh, that's spicy. You're talking about language. Look, it's hard to argue with 20 and four and where the warriors were when they made the deal and where they are now, which is firmly in the mix. And you're thinking about them as maybe could they be a sneaky, you know, you're going to hire register on them to come out of the West. Do you like them better than the Lakers right now? Sure. Yeah. Luca is going to get his, it's not going to be like it was last night, every night. And I don't think LeBron was questioning Lucas toughness there by praising Jimmy Butler's.

They don't have to be connected. No, but LeBron does speak in codes like this. Sometimes, excuse me, I speak LeBron 8 4 4 2 0 4. Rich is the phone number. Interesting. Also interesting last night, what Ja Morant did. So we're going to tie these two together. He just got fined for the finger guns.

Again, 75,000 bucks says Shams. Cause he got warned. Don't do the finger guns. He then after the game called, called somebody a pigeon. So was he shooting pigeons? Oh, interesting. No, no, no.

That's not what it was, but John did hit a game winner and the Grizzlies, you saw them there in the standings right behind the warriors are very much in the thick of things. Okay. As mentioned, 8 4 4 2 0 4. Rich, you can watch us on the Roku sports channel. You could listen to us on the infinity sports network. You can listen to us on Sirius XM. That is channel 3 7 5.

You can stream for free on the Odyssey app or an odyssey.com on the Insta face. We're rich eyes and show and on X as well. Rich eyes and show on the YouTube's by the way, I'm Siciliano show on YouTube. I need to get those subscribers up.

They are hard to find on YouTube, man. It ain't easy. It's not like you just tweet something and then you get a bunch of followers at Siciliano show.

Tom Pelosero at this show coming up next, would the Raiders still draft a quarterback in the first round? Let's talk O'Reilly auto parts. People they're in the business of keeping your car on the road. Oh, 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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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Put your hands together for the most recent Heisman trophy winner. Where is that trophy right now? I sleep next to it. It's on your nightstand. So it's good morning Heisman every day. Seriously, it's, it's right there next to it. Like there's a night table next to the Kyler Murray's bed and the Heisman trophies resting.

That's amazing. Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and you've had it in your arms, like you've been spooning with it. There's no, there's no Heisman spooning. By the way, I would absolutely say if I won the Heisman now taking part in the rich eyes and show throw challenge, Kyler Murray, is this the first NFL Duke ball that you have thrown?

That's an NFL. Oh my God. You won't even answer that. Go for it. Kyler.

Go for it. That's one, two, three, by the way, that's four. Those are all Duke NFL footballs.

Just wanted to let everyone know that. That's four. That's five.

These are the footballs Kurt Warner complained about. That's six. That's seven.

That's, oh my goodness. Let's get some, here we go. Keep going.

You got one more. Hold on. This is getting bad. Here we go.

No, it's getting bad. You got seven for first seven. Good enough. Congratulations. He won the Heisman and it seems the rich eyes and throwing contest in the same year.

That's a first. No one could ever take that away from you. Good times there. Rich back in Atlanta with the future number one, overall pick Kyler Murray. Let me tell you, you could do like a 30 for 30 on just that day behind the scenes between the Dan Patrick interview, my interview NFL network.

Ooh, it would be something. Welcome back. Rich eyes and show. My name is Andrew Siciliano. We are sitting at the rich eyes and show desk. It is furnished by Grainger. It is real. It is spectacular. It is, it is so great. I'm going to put one in my own home with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Grainger has the right product for you. Call or click Grainger.com or just stop by when you are an insider, you are never off the clock, which means when Tom Pellicero wrapped up the annual meeting in Florida, just a few days ago and headed out of Palm beach, he took the family on vacation. The family was there, but it's spring break time.

And he is taking time from vacation because he is always on the clock to join us from Florida on the rich eyes and show. Good to see you, sir. Good to see you, Andrew.

What's up to my boys in studio. Are you there with you next week? In this chair at this Grainger desk next week, are you making it over to the live tour today?

No, I will not be. I am taking a brief break from watching my kids jump in and out of the pool. Do you want to, do you want to listen to the texts I've gotten in the last hour here? Yeah.

So here's what we got. I left the key in the room. Do you have a key? Finley? Nope.

We're going to skip that one. Can you bring my book? I thought I put it in my bag.

Maybe it's in my backpack. Can you bring me, I'm going to leave those out. I might just walk from here to the massage sudden downpour. Oh my God.

It's pouring. You can eat one of Finley's no mayo sandwiches. Can you make another with just Turkey and cheese? So that's, that's my vacation.

Andrew, this right now, these 20 minutes, wall Colorado is going on. Can I tell a real quick story from the party, the party Monday evening at the annual meeting. So the Monday night party at the, at the meeting is a good deal. Everyone gets, gets gussied up and you go to the party, but it's also a family event, right? So everyone's got their families, the kids, you and Sarah, the kids, everybody there, right? There was one room.

And I had never seen this before the annual meeting. That was basically a kid's room. They had entertainment for the kids.

They had all these desserts and all this stuff. I ran into Sarah there and you might wonder why did you wander into the kids' room? Me, I was just wandering around. Number one, number two, in the kids' room, they had a bar. That's true in the corner and note that now wait in the defense, they needed it for the parents, but compared Tom to all the other bars of the party where you had a line 10 deep, that bar was empty.

So I, I kept, I kept going back and forth, wearing out the carpet to the kids' room. I kept waving to Sarah, Hey, I'm going back to the bar. There's no one at the bar, but what a brilliant idea. Cause you need the bar for the moms and dads in the kids' room.

That's tremendous. Now I shout out to the NFL events people because it originally was supposed to be an outdoor event, but as we all know in Florida, the weather can turn on a dime and all of a sudden it started pouring like three o'clock in the afternoon. There were projections of potential hail. So they moved everything inside and you would never have known it because the whole party was set up really well. But yes, the, the kids' room, uh, that was in the back of the resort that we were at. The centerpiece of that room was a hermit crabs wearing mini NFL helmets racing with a guy calling it like you were the hermit crabs were on a a hundred yard touchdown run and then raking them back to the center when they got to the edges.

Uh, I had not seen that before. I am not 100% I assume it was legal. I assumed that were the kids, were the kids betting on these league event kids had the option. They had the option of perhaps placing small wages with each other and those wagers would be strictly in whatever they were, you know, packs of football cards and things like that, uh, that they were handing out where those football cards were coming from because to fans, these kids had football cards and we're going through those.

I didn't realize that's where they got them. Well, at the, at the end of the night, I'm sitting in the lobby of the hotel because I was sticking around to do some more mingling and Sarah and the, and the kids were headed back to the hotel. And so the girls are sitting on either side of me opening up cards, like calling out, I got Joe burrow, you know, I got CD lamb and then somebody, I just hear somebody walking up and go, that's a, that's a photo right there.

And it's Roger who's walking by with Jane on his way back to his room. And I'm like, this is, here's your, here's your next generation right here. This is what's going to keep the NFL going to attend an eight year old girl popping, popping cards at 10 o'clock at night, wearing their nice dress.

And then try to figure out which of those hermit crabs to draft for their fantasy team next year. Yeah. I think they were more confused than anything. Timmy was more concerned with getting a bad face painting. Well, she got two whole sleeves of paint all the way down and then refused to go in the pool the next day because she didn't want the tats to come off. Wow.

That's your future. Tom's daughter sleeved up already. Speaking of the draft, Tom Pelissero joining us on vacation, the Colorado pro day right now, Brown's have like 15 people there, including owner Jimmy Haslam. I know Tom, we are still 20 days out, but do you hear, and let me phrase it this way. What is your takeaway about the top three in the draft after four days in Palm beach?

I would say, I'll start with this, Andrew. It's the draft. Everybody lies.

Nothing truly shocks me anymore. I would be very, very surprised if Cam Ward does not go number one to the Titans. It's the strong consensus within the league. He is, would he be the number one quarterback in every class? Probably not, but he's the clear number one quarterback in this class. As much as the Titans could be tempted, is there a price, an offer point at which they would move?

I think everybody's got a price point that they would move from, but I don't get the sense that that's the direction it's going. So I would say sitting here right now, Cam Ward is most likely the number one pick to the Titans, which then would mean the draft begins at number two. And I would say the most asked question from other teams within the league is what are the Browns doing? What are they going to do at number two? They do not currently have a quarterback plan. The only healthy quarterback on the roster is Kenny Pickett. It does not sound like Deshaun Watson is going to be ready to play at all in 2025. And so you're going to need multiple quarterbacks added to the roster, but are you going to pursue something at number two overall, depending how you feel about the value?

And that's where it's probably, you know, illustrative, the fact that it's not just Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefans get these pro days, Paul DePodesta is I know on the credential list for the event today at Colorado, Jimmy Haslam is going around to all these various workouts too. This is an organizational decision and they want to make sure that the value is going to be there. It would not shock me if they took a quarterback at number two, if I had to right now lean, I would say they don't take one there. Obviously you've got some potential. There's a lot of debate about who's the number two, the number three quarterback in this draft. You potentially could get those guys, whether it's trading back into later in one, whether it's in the second round, the third round, even potentially.

And then you've still got some loose ends out there. Like Joe Flacco was obviously had some success with Cleveland. You have Kirk Cousins who at some point here, it's not going to be before the draft, but at some point you could be going down the road of Kirk looking for, you know, being willing to move the no trade to the right team and the Falcons who to this point have set a very high price on what it would take to get Kirk Cousins, maybe softening on that under the reality that it's probably not going to benefit you a whole lot to have Kirk Cousins staring over Michael Pennix's shoulder through the entire off season.

So number two is absolutely fascinating. There's also this, the Giants at three, even after signing Russ, even after signing Jamis, still have a long-term plan quarterback need. Both those guys are on one year deals. They're making like whatever it is, $15 million total. This is, you know, that's bridge quarterback money between the two of them.

It would not surprise me at all if they went Chidor Sanders and the boogeyman in this whole thing is, could somebody potentially think the Giants are going to do that and trade into number two with Cleveland? The other piece of it, Andrew, that you can't overlook is this draft. There's some very talented players, but when you're talking about the first rounders or like that elite elite group, you're talking about four or five guys. And if you're anybody up at the top, even if you get a crazy trade offer, you're not going to want to trade depending where you have that line out of those top four or five guys, because now, yeah, you're getting a bunch of picks potentially in future years, but you're downgrading what could be an elite player coming into your program here. There's a ton of moving parts. And I would say right now, sitting here today, nothing firm at Tennessee.

They're out there. They're going to work out Travis Hunter and Chidor Sanders here. Right now, the consensus within the league is this draft really begins at number two.

Yeah. And for everyone who says, well, why don't we just trade down? You have to have somebody to your point that wants to trade up.

Generally you want to trade up for a quarterback or one of the few elite players. Where does Tyler Warren factor into that? I think he's an aim that people have to keep an eye on as well because he's right there.

I mean, I think he's elite, but he's behind Hunter and Abdul Carter. And then how high do people want to go up and potentially try to get him. And let's, let's play the game that Chidor Sanders gets past two and then gets past three. And then, you know, potentially the Raiders were there at six and that was, you know, months ago, a juicy one, but they just gave Geno 66, 67 guaranteed ballpark thereabouts. Tom, how does the Geno Smith contract affect the Raiders thoughts at quarterback at six? Well, first of all, Andrew, the entire Geno Smith situation is really unique because based on the breakdown that, um, you know, Michael Florio had today saying that it's $40 million in year one, that that's the same number that Seattle offered him. And when he was, you know, insulted by that number, wasn't willing to take it, they went, all right, we'll take a third round pick. Next time, Sam Darnell was 10 years younger for less money. Geno goes to the Raiders now, back with Pete Carroll, but essentially gets the same dollar figure. It's not a contract that in any way precludes you from drafting a quarterback. It does however, give the Raiders optionality because they don't feel the pressure to take a quarterback.

Back to what you said about Chidor. If he doesn't go two and doesn't go three, this is, and I'm not making predictions. It's this new windows doesn't have a date on the thing. I always look down for the date.

What are we? April 4th of April, April 4th, something like that. April 4th, man, that's a, it's a bad update right there. April 4th.

Okay. Uh, I'm not making predictions about it right now, but you start to wonder, is this going to be one of those classic? He's not going to be in the green room.

He's not going to draft, but could this be one of those slides that we talk about in past years? How about nine and the saints, the other threats. So if we go down the list of the other threats to take one in round one, you have the Raiders at six, you have the saints at nine, you have the Steelers at 21 and you have the grams at 26. Those are really the only teams that I would foresee taking one in the first route. Like those would include even the potential surprises. You know, the Atlanta would have been in that category last year, even though it was shocking that they did it after signing Kirk, it was still within the realm of possibility. There's really only six or seven teams. So if you don't go one, two or three, especially knowing the Browns and the giants have a quarterback need, it really raises questions about exactly where it should do or going to go. Um, you know, I know that there are still, but our Bucky, buddy, Bucky Brooks still has him as the number one quarterback above cam ward.

I would say Bucky's is squarely in the minority on that. There are people who like should or Sanders as a player, but you know, it's not an elite arm. It's not elite athletic ability.

There are other questions just about how it's going to fit in a program. He's, he's an accurate passer. He certainly has some traits that are given them the opportunity to be a really good NFL quarterback, but is he going to be an elite NFL quarterback? And that's part of what people are kind of grappling with over these final 20 days up until the NFL draft that w you know, when I said off the top, there's a better debate about who should be the number two quarterback versus number one. I mean, there's a handful of quarterbacks who would go in the first standard beyond cam ward.

I don't think that there's a lock to go in the first shadoor. I would lean goes in the first, but where does Jalen Milro go? Where does Tyler shock in this draft? Jackson dart, who's with the Steelers today is another one in that category. There's other quarterbacks like Quinn Ewers who have won a ton in their college careers. You know, where is the right place for him to go in this draft? I mean, these are all, you know, I think valid questions and there's going to be some, you know, beauty in the eye of the beholder here. I don't believe that beyond cam ward being one on most, if not all boards, I don't know that you're going to have a consensus two, three, four, five, six out of all these quarterbacks.

And so there could be a ton of variability. I mean, I can't sit here and say right now shadoor is even going to be the second quarterback off the board just because he's a completely different player than a Jalen Milro who does have the athletic traits, but doesn't have the consistent accuracy and the things as a passer here. Tyler Shucky, you've really got one healthy year at tape. He's like 25 years old and he's got four different degrees. He played seven years of college football, but he played pretty well last year.

People have liked him through the process. You know, and then obviously Jackson dart in that category too. This is going to be really interesting to see how it all plays out. You know, I think I taught to somebody I really respect in the league last week who said they don't think any of those guys I've just mentioned of those five is going to go later than the top of about two. So you could have some real maneuvering as we get later into the first round.

But the key, the pivot point for sure. Sanders is if he doesn't go to and doesn't go three, then all bets are off of exactly where that's going to happen. We got like a minute and a half remaining here. You mentioned the Steelers and I think this is fascinating with shadoor, with Jackson dart, with Milro, with the Browns and the Steelers and Aaron Rogers. Let's tie it all together here because considering what you said about six and nine and the Steelers are sitting there at 21, if Rogers says yes, then you would have to think they're likely out of the quarterback conversation at 21. But if Rogers is still sitting in Malibu waiting for a FaceTime audio call from somebody other than the Steelers, or hasn't made up his mind, then with the Brown sitting there at 33 and the Steelers quarterback plans unknown to me, Tom, it's fascinating. Do you have to, let's say if you're the Browns get ahead of the Steelers, who do the Steelers want?

Is it what you want? Rogers going there, I think takes a little bit of suspense out of the quarterback game in the bottom half of the first round. But if he still hasn't said yes or better yet, if he has said no to the Steelers, then that last hour of the draft to me is as interesting as the first. Well, think about this too, Andrew, because you're right.

All these things are tied together. I wouldn't say it's a total disqualifier if Rogers goes to Pittsburgh. They can't take a quarterback in the first round, but it certainly would lower the likelihood. I would also say from a strategic standpoint, and you heard Art Rooney mention this the other day when he was asked, has it taken longer than you thought?

And he said, yes. He said that everything seems positive right now, which matches what I've heard, which is all signs point toward Aaron eventually being a Steeler. But there is going to become a point at which patience might run out. And it might be draft week of, hey, if we don't know you're coming, we might take one in the first round. I believe, and again, the Steelers have put no deadlines on this. And Mike Tomlin has always shown that he's willing to be patient in these matters.

I would certainly think it would be the strong preference of the Steelers to have an answer already, to have an ASAP, but certainly before the draft begins, because that is going to influence the strategy you have as you go into round one. Again, everybody is very sensitive around all matters involving Aaron Rodgers. Nobody wants to spook him. Nobody wants to say the wrong thing. But if you read between the lines of what Art Rooney said, it's very obvious that, hey, they're showing patience. They want him. They think it all is trending toward him coming to Pittsburgh, but they don't have an answer. And at some point here, you are going to have to make other decisions that impact your football team for years to come that are hinging on one 41-year-old making up his mind and just saying, yes, done, I'm coming. The contract parameters have been in place for weeks. It's going to be a one-year deal when it gets done.

But they don't have the final, I'm in. And you've heard a little bit of that frustration on the locker room, too, in terms of, you know, I know Cam Hayward tried to walk it back a couple of times, but hey, you want to be a Steeler or you don't. That's from what I've been told. That's kind of the sentiment among the veteran players.

Like, dude, are you in or out? Because we're good either way. But like, this is about, this is the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is not, I'm not going to say another team, but this is not some franchise that hasn't been around that long. It's the Steelers.

One of the iconic teams in all of football. Tell us what you want. What are you going to do? And we'll react from there.

From an organizational standpoint, a roster management standpoint, in my mind, speaking solely for myself, in my mind, that pivot point comes the week of the draft. You're either in or you're out. And I would argue Renegades overrated.

But that, that is just me. Wow. Hot take. Tom Pelosaro is in.

You're really a Cleveland Brown now, Andrew. You got that one in there. I'll tell the story on the other side. But Tom is in here at this desk starting next Wednesday. And hopefully you get Marriott points out of that to make up for your vacation, which you took time away from burning through them here. You took time away from that vacation to do this.

We thank you kindly. Go back to the beach. It's pour it again. Okay. Of course it is because it's Florida. Pour it again. Thank you, Tom. Tell Sarah and the family.

Tom Pelosaro. Here's the thing about Florida. They have no state taxes, but it's still in Florida. Let's talk about Pesty people. It's a do it yourself pest control.

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Go to Pesty.com slash Eisen. Don't let the urge to sing along to that catchy tune distract you from that truck drifting towards 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 is over 120 IIHS Top Safety Awards since 2006 because Hyundai is always working to ensure the road doesn't get you.

Hyundai vehicles have won over 120 IIHS Top Safety Awards from 2006 to 2024. Are you surprised the Giants let you walk, Saquon Barkley? Um, I feel like, uh, you know, during the time leading up to the negotiations before I hit for agency, uh, I didn't really hear from them, um, you know, leading up to that time. Uh, so I kinda had the idea of what was going to happen. So obviously everyone got to see hard knocks. Uh, I wasn't really surprised by that.

Um, but I look at it as a blessing. I'm in a new chapter. I'm thankful, uh, you know, for all those guys over there in New York for the six years that I had there, um, learn a lot for like, I won't be the player I am today or the man I am today without my time there.

And now I'm in a new chapter and I'm super excited about it and blessed with this opportunity and focused on taking advantage of the opportunity I have there and off to a great start. And uh, it's gotta be consistent. That's my whole mindset for this whole season is can I, how consistent can I be?

Um, and that starts, uh, you know, getting ready for week two. No, not to equate myself with you at all. We don't have the same quads just as a, for instance. But, um, you know, I spent seven years at ESPN before going to NFL network and ESPN was my identity professionally, right? Like they gave me my start, they drafted me, if you will.

Right. And, and, and, but they let me walk, they let me walk to another spot and, you know, it's a chip. It's still a chip on this.

I'm 22 years now at NFL network. It's still a chip for me, but I was still stunned, you know, and it, it, it, it, it definitely surprised me. Um, and I'm wondering if you have, if that leaves a chip with you even with, but trust me, everything's worked out for me. I'm very happy with everything that has worked out with the opportunity I was given to be let walk. But I'm wondering if you have a chip on that.

Um, I think, I think that's a great question and no one ever presented that question to me. Um, and I would agree it does leave a chip on your shoulder, but I always have a chip on my shoulder. Uh, no matter what, uh, I feel like that God blessed me with a tremendous talent and I want to go out there and, and, and try to be one of the best romances to play the game.

Um, I studied all the greats and you know, the same study, the grace has become greater. So did it leave a little chip on my shoulder? Did it hurt a little bit? Yeah, of course. But I am thankful for the opportunity. And sometimes, you know, sometimes they say the grass ain't over greener, but look at them right here. My family's happy. I'm happy. Uh, you know, I'm smiling more.

Um, it's just everything about me is, you know, it's trending upwards. So, uh, I'm just super blessed with opportunity, but chip is on my shoulder, not just because of the giants, let me walk just because there's something that I want to do. I'm on a mission and I want to accomplish it. Um, and you know, that starts, like I say, continue to go back to being consistent and, uh, getting ready for week two. You said on a mission, what is your mission? Saquon Barkley, be consistent, be consistent. Um, every day, uh, someone challenged me to see how consistent I can be, um, always been a very constant person, but how consistent, how consistent can I be? And that's my mindset every little day, every, every day come in 1% and get better, um, and improve.

And, um, you know, I feel like when I have that mindset, uh, when I look back on the end of the season, I'll be, I'll be happy with how things played off. Yeah. That's a no on that one. Brockman, I know what that was about. That's funny. It's like the, what is it?

The, the, the American aisle that, yeah, that's a no for me, dog. Rady Jackson. I told you that, uh, the entire Browns building is basically there. Um, Shrager says that, uh, for the giants, you got day ball there, Shane there plus, uh, O C D C every assistant GM. So every Brown's staff member from the front office, including ownership is there. Um, and for the giants, everybody is there as well. Head coach GM, not ownership.

As far as I can tell at Colorado pro day, where we are attempting to corral James Palmer to join us in about 20 minutes, Jackson dart, visiting the Steelers today. 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, every Hyundai offers advanced safety features that can alert you to potential dangers around you.

And Hyundai has over 120 IIHS top safety awards since 2006, because Hyundai is always working to ensure the road doesn't get you Hyundai vehicles have won over 120 top safety IIHS top safety awards from 2006 to 2024. Right back to the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies, as we sit here today after their big win last night, sitting in sixth in the West, tied with the warriors in the wind column, one back in the loss column last night, huge win for the Grizzlies. Another job rant. Um, I don't know, thrilling. You hit a game winner, right?

Yeah. Gave TJ flashbacks of the Kawhi game winner that hit the rim like what? Seven times. It felt like point to point.

So it's one 10 to one Oh eight. They beat the heat and snap the heat six game winning streak. They've been playing really well at the six game winning streak. And he hit the game winner over kale.

Where am I saying that? Right? Seven footer at the end of the game. Here is what John Morant said to Taylor Rooks after the game, huge game winner. Take me through what you saw on that final possession, a pigeon guard. Me don't get a bucket win the game. The way you're answering that and the energy we had in this game, this one felt personal.

What was different about this one? The crowd get to booing me. They just woke me up for the second half.

And I'm pretty sure they ain't happy going home now. Hello. Where is seven feet tall? He's a pigeon. What a lot of people, a lot of people shoot pigeons like clay pigeons and other people's pigeons, other people like Mike Tyson collective and put them on a roof. And that was creepy as well.

But I mean, who, I mean, they're like flying rats, but that's just me. You called the dude a pigeon, which is funny for the TV, but then you're still doing the finger guns today, after being warned about doing the finger guns in their previous game, he did them again last night. And Shoms reports the NBA has fined John Morant 75,000 for finger gun gestures. Now 75,000 is roughly, you know, an NBA per diem for a three game road trip.

Okay. So it's not that much money. Look, look at the market. It is a lot of money for the average American for John Morant. It is not, but, but why do we, people's yearly salary? That is a lot of, I understand that I I'm, yeah, it's like, it's, it's, but that's the NBA world we're living in right now makes 40 million.

So like what does this 70 sports in general, TJ, what does a $75,000 fine do for it's like the Randy Moss thing when he was like, what's 10,000 to me, straight cash to me, straight cash on me. Yeah. Yeah. In the big scheme of things, right.

For him nothing. And also, why would you call another man a pigeon? Is that a thing? Maybe I'm old. Is that a thing that the kids do these days?

It's probably not your thing, but you know, you know, you're very hip hop influenced. So, you know, there's a lot of slang. A pigeon is someone who you could say is like a sucker or a victim. Yeah.

It's like, you know, you suck. He's a sucker. He fell for it. He's gullible. He's okay. So that is a thing I'm gonna start using. Yeah.

He just didn't call a seven foot man a pigeon because he picked a random animal out of the zoo kingdom or just with John. It's just, you know, it's like this scene in Jerry Maguire. It's like, help me help you. You know, like you got this thing in your past with the gun and then there's another questionable video and then the league tells you, hey man, just stop doing this. We want you to be a face of the league. You got a signature shoe. We want, we want to showcase you and then to just do it again the next day.

It's like, help me help you. Clearly it was a defiant second violation. He'd been warned and then he did it. He clearly doesn't care. So whatever he didn't just forget in the moment, he clearly doesn't care.

And I don't care about the money. It's his money. He wants to give it away. He wants to give it away, but he clearly wants to tell the league office, I don't care about you.

I'm going to keep making gun gestures at people on the floor. And you're right. There was that incident. Go ahead and Google it.

Some years ago in the tunnel underneath the arena. Come on, man. Like what are we doing?

What are we doing now? The NFL at times, I think, over legislates morality. Okay. You know, Troy Vincent said the finger wipe thing under your nose that says that he said, Google it. It's a game gesture. They're getting rid of it.

Okay. It's in college football as well. It's now going to be penalized. It's now going to be penalized.

That's what I mean. Getting rid of it. I am all for sportsmanship, but like John Moran, like just why are you doing it?

Why are you doing it to yourself? It doesn't help you anywhere. Does it? Like if I'm a fortune 500 company and I want to sign this guy up for a deal, he's got deals, right? I get it. But do I look at this and go, yeah, you know what?

Let's keep going. I generally don't. Call me a grumpy old man. Tell me to get off my lawn. I get it. I enjoy my lawn. The weather is nice here, but I get it.

I totally get it. Also, having gone to a couple of NBA games recently, are guys now contractually obligated to point to their arm after hitting a three? No, but I think that's kind of funny.

I think it's been written in like in the CBA. I think it's funny. I used to love, we can't stop talking about Carmelo Anthony, when he would bang the three off his head. Like he'd hit a three and then do this. Or it's either the goggles.

Goggles. Or you gotta point to your arm. I mean it goes all the way back to DJ's Clippers and Miles and Q Rich doing this. Like it's great. That stuff is fun.

Finger guns, not fun. I think the pointing to the arm and LeBron did it last night too when he hit that three in the corner. Like you're like, are we over this? It's got doctor mins over this 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, but also how sports brings a life passion music. All of this together. The Jim Jackson show part of the rich eyes and podcast network follow and listen on your favorite platform.