Hour 1: Belichick/Hall of Fame Aftermath, 49ers FB Kyle Juszczyk, plus Rich’s ‘Jeopardy!’ Cameo

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0:45This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus 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.

1:14Rich Eisen:Get out of here. You've got to be kidding me. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Bill Belichick, he will not be a first ballot pro football Hall of Fame head coach. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles, today's guests, 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk, Ravens head coach Jesse Minter, actor Ted McGinley, and now it's Rich Eisen. Well, hey, everybody. Welcome to this edition of The Rich Eisen Show, live on Disney +, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM Channel 80. Hello to our podcast listeners who choose to listen to us whenever you want. That's all good in that hood. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial.

2:02Rich Eisen:Joe Brady is being introduced as the newest head coach of the Buffalo Bills as we speak. Jesse Minter is already about a half an hour into his introductory press conference as the newest head coach of the Ravens. I'd like that press conference to end because I don't want Jesse Minter being all talked out when he joins us. Because, you know, once this is over, you got to meet with the local media and all that stuff. I need fresh Minter. You know what I mean? Put that down. That's a new fantasy team name. Is it just fresh Minter or I need fresh Minter? Or Minter Fresh. This Minter Fresh edition of The Rich Eisen Show.

2:39Rich Eisen:Ted McGinley's joining us in hour number three. He is positively delightful. And delightful in, and that word is perfect to describe the show Shrinking, which is back on Apple TV. Susie and I love the show. Love it. And it is back, Harrison Ford and that incredible cast. So I can't wait to chat with Ted McGinley again. In our number three, Kyle Juszczyk is up first. I've got a power rankings of the top 10 storylines of Super Bowl 60 you're going to be sick and tired of by the end of the week, next week. I do that every year, normally on a Wednesday, but we got too busy talking about how Bill Belichick got hosed.

3:19Rich Eisen:Good to see you over there, Chris. How are you? How are you? I'm excellent. Okay. Good to see you, Jason Feller. How are you? What's up, Rich? Doing great. Good to see you. TJ Jefferson candle appears to be lit over there. Candle is lit. Smells great over here. Oh, good. Thank you for that, Chris. Oh, mint or fresh? Is it a mint or fresh? Mint or fresh. Fresh goes better. It is a very good mint or fresh situation. Listen, Bill Belichick still isn't a first ballot Hall of Famer. And I'll be honest with you. We ain't fixed that yet. I'll be honest with you. I was saying yesterday, the Hall of Fame can't do anything about it.

3:51Rich Eisen:Because they hand the voting off to the voters. And they can't put their thumb on the scale in any way, shape, or form. And then a press release comes out from the Hall of Fame yesterday. And I thought to myself, are they really going to tell them to turn the machines back on? Like, is this a trading places moment? But of course not. The release came. It was a statement on media reports related to the Hall of Fame's class of 2026. The Pro Football Hall of Fame understands and respects the passionate reaction of many fans, media members, and enshrinees of the hall itself in light of published reports regarding the voting results of the class of 2026.

4:34Rich Eisen:It's that very passion that propels the game. The hall also respects the members of the selection committee when they follow the selection process bylaws. It is an honor to serve as a selector. Each year, the hall reviews the selection process and the composition of the 50-person selection committee. If it is determined that any members violated the selection process bylaws they understand action will be taken that could include the possibility of such selectors uh would not remain a member of the committee moving forward the selection of a new class is the most important duty the hall of fame oversees each year and the integrity of that process cannot be in question and that's it and that was left to be interpreted by everyone out there my phone blew up yesterday what do you think what do you think what are you hearing or theories and they ranged from somebody in that room did something with their vote that they shouldn't have done and I'm like that would be a major scandal or the general consensus is somebody in that room took their selector or Hall of Fame membership and being a selector foot and broke it off inside some poor Cantonian to find out who is chitchatting from that room to Seth Wickersham and or Don Van Natta of ESPN who broke the story about what, say, Bill Pullian was saying in the room and what was being said in the room about any discussion to do with Bill Belichick and or Bob Kraft or anybody else who was up for enshrinement, how that got out because that's a no-no.

6:31Rich Eisen:So some people took this statement as there's a mole hunt going on, you know, and there's no way out for somebody. That's a very deep cut 80s movie reference, or I think 90s. I don't know. At any rate. Is Sean Young in that? She definitely was. 80s. Definitely was. I don't know why I went lower register on that. Look her up, kids. Good new segment, lower register. Lower register. Oh, I would destroy that one. You should have worked with that. Let's do that in the off season. Hey, baby. Oh, my God. Let's go lower. Shall we move on? That just got a little weird. I feel like I should pull a Brian Gumbel.

7:11Rich Eisen:Moving on. And so I have no idea what that statement meant at all. But what we did sort of get with some dust settling and some calmer eyes looking at this is looking at the actual process that the Hall of Fame does have control over, I believe. which is the way the selectors handle their business with the number of people they can vote for. And, you know, we didn't discuss this yesterday because we were all sort of caught up. We were all sort of caught up in the, I guess, emotional aftermath of it. and there was a selector yesterday who put his name to the vote and the why um i'm vya gregorian of the kansas city star now each team has a selector associated with it because that person will pound the table for say any kansas city chief any ram any what have you that's up and then there's a group of at-large selectors that includes a bunch of hall of famers including Bill Polian, whose name was thrown about quite a bit yesterday.

8:37And apparently the vote for Belichick

8:43Rich Eisen:was lumped in with the vote for Kraft and the vote for the three senior committee members. That three senior committee finalists that were forwarded from that committee. Belichick was the one forwarded from the committee involving the coaches and craft for the one involving the contributors. And, um, you could, and the three folks who were coming from the senior committee, Ken Anderson, quarterback of the Bengals, Elsie Greenwood, part of the steel curtain and Roger Craig, who's been waiting forever and a day to hear his name. First thousand thousand guy in the NFL. And you could only vote for three of them.

9:27Rich Eisen:And that's what Mr. Gregorian was saying in the Kansas City Star. And he decided in his column, you should look it up because it's very reasoned. Although I think some people might push back. Brockman, the New England Patriot guy here, was just giving voice to that with a internationally derisive, meh. Okay. And that is, he voted for all three guys in the senior committee grouping. He put all his three votes there because he said these guys, it's rare for them to come up and get this far. And they've been waiting the longest out of anybody. And that Belichick is definitely going to get in at some point.

10:12Rich Eisen:And so he gave his vote to the three guys in Greenwood, Anderson, and Craig. As if Robert Kraft isn't in his mid-80s. I mean, but that was his point of view. So in other words, it had nothing to do with punishing Belichick for his previous warts or scandals or gates, whatever you want to call it. And so I just wanted to present that since we were saying every vote that went against Belichick was because he must have been in the mind's eye of who didn't put his name on their ballot. been punished. And instead, it was a process-related non-vote for Bill Belichick, assuming he's going to come up again.

11:03Rich Eisen:And then there's others who were sending me texts as we're going back and forth about the statement that started this segment, that some folks might have thought, well, the new rule in which Belichick is immediately available, they didn't like that rule, so they're not going to vote for the first coach. It didn't matter who that coach was. that coach is not going to get the vote. Chris, I'm not giving credence to any of the... I know you're not, but the fact that people are even throwing that out as an argument just shows how foolish this all is. Correct. And then there is the issue that people are punishing him.

11:40Rich Eisen:And... Or there is a process-related issue. Why are you only letting me vote for three of these five? why are we putting to kind of hide behind why are we putting Belichick in this grouping even why can't there just be an up or down vote on the one coach that's it because I guess there's a finite number of people that are going into the Canton class and part of that is because they want to get this thing done before midnight with the speeches or they just want to keep the number tight I don't have any reasoning for it I also think that if there are other people like this Kansas City star voter, Robert Kraft might not make it.

12:25Rich Eisen:I would bet that doesn't happen. You would say that again? I would bet that he... You just double-negative-ed us, so I think I know what you're saying. I would bet that he doesn't make it. That would be nuts as well. I talk to football players, pro football players, across the board, they think it's bullshit. That was Ben Affleck from back in the day.

12:53Rich Eisen:so you know um the whole thing's this is this is what's up this is what's up right now with the pro football hall of fame and at the end of the day you know these explanations are going to come out one by one and um so it looks like potentially a combination of punishment votes and sympathy votes for the guys in the senior committee that have been waiting forever and may and may never have gotten this far before and may never get this far again um and uh put it all together and everybody seems to have egg on their face yeah because bill belichick is a first ballot hall of famer in any standard any place anywhere because there's no words in the bylaws that It's somebody who has been part of a scandal that causes a team to forfeit a first-round draft pick or anything of the nature that that person can't be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

13:59Rich Eisen:That's an interpretation of what you consider is an honor to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Yeah, if you want to look at people who have scandals and leave them out, the numbers in that hall would be cut. In any Hall of Famer. Yeah. so that is the latest i just wanted to um start this show because we spent three hours yesterday uh fire and brimstoning this and um because it was unbelievable i don't well it still is and it still will be um it still will be it is it true did jimmy johnson say to pat mcafee he's not showing to the hall i did i did hear that yeah he said he's not going to attend this year well really that's unfortunate yeah but again everybody you know people want to vote with their feet they want to vote with their wallet they want to vote in other ways you know i get it but um even though i just pointed out that this is potentially um a massive toe stub face plant caused by a process that can be rectified in future years.

15:08Rich Eisen:That this is still an incredible weekend. And part of the reason why the weekend is so great is not only because of the fans who show up, but it's the returning Hall of Famers. And that would just be a punishment only to the people who put this event on. and I hope Jimmy who would maybe otherwise have shown up for the rest of this class hopefully he reconsiders because nothing beats a return to the Hall of Fame for me as a broadcaster I couldn't imagine what it would be to have a jacket and stroll into that room with the rest of the immortals while we're still all mortal on the proper side of the earth also why punish yourself i mean you i don't know if you you've established that you don't agree with it but like why take yourself out of i don't because he he wants to protest something and i understand that look look what this day and age is i i have zero problem with people protesting you know he was fired up yes i get it he was fired up he was completely fired up but um you know i i i'd love to see him there because i'm sure we'll all be there uh 844-204-RICH is the number to dial Kyle Juszczyk is going to join us.

16:22Rich Eisen:We'll chop up Super Bowl 60, how he feels about the Seahawks potentially celebrating on his turf, the San Francisco 49ers. Jesse Minter is going to be joining us here on the program from Baltimore, from Balmer. Also, Ted McGinley of Shrinking, an outstanding show. I've got a, as I mentioned, a power ranking of the top Super Bowl 60 storylines you'll be sick and tired of hearing about over the next 10 days. That'll be my prediction for you. Oh, and by the way, my phone was blowing up yesterday, not just because of that Hall of Fame. Looks like I was a$400 clue on Tournament of Champion Jeopardy program yesterday.

17:04Rich Eisen:Okay. We'll review that. Wow. Yeah. Why do you say it like that? Yeah, what was the tone? There's no tone? Why would there be tone? I mean, it felt like tone. I would assume this was a happy thing. Yeah. It's awesome. It didn't sound like it was awesome. No, we'll review it. Okay, great. It sounded like you were peeing off about something. We'll review it because I did spend 10 minutes between hearing about it and getting the details of it in a full-blown panic. We'll discuss that on this program. Kyle, use check. Coming up next on The Rich Eisen Show.

17:44Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here. You know that feeling of handing off your taxes and then hearing nothing? Total radio silence. Well, not anymore. Now your taxes are done for you by a TurboTax full service expert who checks for every deduction and keeps you in the loop with real-time updates on your phone. Just match with your dedicated expert, upload your docs, and go live your life. Confident you're getting every dollar you deserve. This is how taxes should be. Visit TurboTax.com today to learn more. Real-time updates only in iOS mobile app. Only available with TurboTax full-service experts. Save money and get a better view of the road when you replace your worn-out wiper blades at O 'Reilly Auto Parts.

18:25Rich Eisen:Right now, save$10 on a pair of Rain-X Latitude wiper blades. They feature beam blade technology to improve windshield contact for maximum visibility. The professional parts people will even install your new wiper blades for free. Choose Rain-X Latitude Wiper Blades at your local O 'Reilly Auto Parts store or online at OReillyAuto.com. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Back on the Rich Eisen Show on our simulcast on Disney Plus and the ESPN app. We're back on ESPN Radio. He is a perennial pro bowler and one of the best and all pro at his position. It is great to have on the Rich Eisen Show, courtesy of flips with a Z, a man who's got two Z's in his last name, Kyle Juszczyk, everybody.

19:14Rich Eisen:Good to see you, Kyle. How are you, buddy? Hey, I'm doing good, Rich. How are you doing? I'm doing great. I am just doing great. So I'll just jump in, if you don't mind, with the topic that we've just been chopping up. What did you think when you heard Belichick wasn't a first ballot Hall of Famer in the upcoming class, Kyle? I just honestly, I just kind of rolled my eyes. Like, that's that's insane. Like, who has a better resume? I don't know how you really argue it. So I was pretty disappointed by the voters and not getting them in. Well, I mean, you know, because, again, you weren't playing back in the, you know, Spygate days or the Deflategate days, right?

19:51Rich Eisen:I was. I was playing in the Deflategate days. OK, you were playing. I've been around long enough that I actually was a part of that. OK, cool. Well, I mean, at the time, though, were you sitting there thinking that this was potentially disqualifying for first ballot status, that you thought this was something that that voters should keep in mind down the line? Honestly, no. For me, no, because I mean, even, you know, to the spy gate and the sign stealing, when you guys were just talking about that, like for me, it's like, well, why do we use signs anyways? it's just so that we are not verbally saying exactly what the play is and so like that's masking the play that you're trying to call but how is that different than like going to signs and now you have to switch them because you already know people are going to try and interpret those sign calls so like how is that different than interpreting a verbal call do you know i'm so like i don't really feel like that is really outside of the rules um because i mean we're already trying to mask what we were saying out loud so i don't know they kind of seem the same to me if that makes any sense sure i i hear you kyle i'm picking up what you're putting down so at the end of the day at the end of the day um you were you were you texting with uh friends of yours colleagues of yours about this and you chop it up with anybody or i mean yeah some of the guys that I was with, you know, we talked about it.

21:23I mean, I honestly I feel like it's almost like it's a little laughable. Like everyone's like, how is that possible? Like it just it's just one of those things that I mean, Bill Belichick, that is everybody assumed a surefire first ballot Hall of Famer. Like how how do you do better? How do you how do you have a better resume? I mean, seven Super Bowls. Are you kidding me? and like or six or however many he had it was i don't know how you top that well he had eight

21:53Rich Eisen:because he had two as an assistant there you go you know so yeah uh and and and he's a guy who for years would have to keep repainting what the i'm not a boat guy is it a keel or a hull is of a ship is that what do you have to repaint because it would be five rings stern stern okay six seven eight rings and all that sort of stuff um and so you were drafted by baltimore that's right back in the day were you surprised john harbaugh is changing addresses now yeah i was that was that was a big shock for me um i kind of assumed that he was entrenched there until he wanted to be done coaching um and i know how close he was with um with everybody there and i i kind of figured you You know, the guys that are in charge there, they would be there until they all decided that they wanted to move on to something new.

22:46So for him to move on and go to New York, it was a big surprise. And I think I had said even before they had a head coach that I felt like the Giants had a ton of potential going forward. And that if I was a head coach and candidate, that's that's one of the first places I would want to go in this offseason. And now with a coach like him, like, I feel like they are set up for some major success next year.

23:12Rich Eisen:Kyle Juszczyk here on the Rich Eisen show. So how would you term the 49ers season, Kyle? What word would you use? What Harvard adjective would you use, Kyle, for this season? Man, I feel it was a successful season. I truly feel I see it that way. Obviously, you know, I'm going to catch flack. Someone's going to say, how is it successful? You didn't win the Super Bowl. Yeah, well, you know, 31 teams don't win the Super Bowl. So are we all unsuccessful? No, I don't think so. I think you're always building towards something. And I think if we're just being realistic in the season that we were headed into, we knew that we were going to have to rely on a lot of new people, a lot of young guys.

23:55We're going to have to step up and play in roles that they've never been asked to do. And it was going to be just kind of one of those seasons that we just needed to figure it out and figure out what is this team now? Because the Niners, you know, we were transitioning. We're moving from an era, you know, where we had Brandon Ayuk and Debo Samuel and we had, you know, all these offensive weapons and we had this defense that was just perennial pro bowlers that were stopping everybody. And this was just a new year. And then you tacked on all the injuries. we had to find out you know what era are we going into with the with the Niners and I think with all the adversity that we had to deal with and we won 12 regular season games we won a wild card game against the defending champions that it's hard for me not to say that wasn't a successful

24:50Rich Eisen:season hey Kyle I'll even I'll even raise you I see you and raise you I think it was highly successful highly successful uh you you were you know i'm looking at your numbers here 17 games started which by the way is amazing on your team you know not many able were able to say i've started 17 games for the 2025 san francisco 49ers because listen there's injuries and there's there there's adversity you guys um were playing for the right to host everybody in the playoffs and and obviously and we'll get to we'll get to the Seahawks in a second with you but that was highly successful and I you know I'm just wondering you know what what you saw behind the scenes that was Was it Kyle Shanahan's secret sauce?

25:43Rich Eisen:Was it just a group of guys? Because this year's, you know, success, high success, is only going to give better amounts of playing time experience to the guys who did, were the next men up, right? And they're going to be the guys maybe of the future there, Kyle, right? That's exactly how I see this thing. And that's what gets me so excited and fired up for the upcoming season is that, I mean, for all the success that we had this season, all right, now let's bring back all, let's bring back Fred Warner, Michael Williams, and let's add some high-round draft picks. Let's add some really good free agents.

26:22And we're really, we're not scheduled to lose too much. Like, I feel like we're really just adding on and you just added all that experience to all the young guys, like all those rookies, all those second-year guys, now they've played in a playoff game. And they won in a playoff game on the road. So, like, for me, it's just like we just built all that up and we're bringing that into next season. And you just got me fired up and excited at the end of that question that I forgot about what the beginning was. Okay, no, no.

26:51Rich Eisen:Like, why were you able to be so successful? Yeah, you know, it's never one answer. I think it's definitely a combination of things. You know, Kyle is an absolutely incredible coach. So, you know, his scheme is always a huge thing. But I think so much of it was leadership this year in a culture that we have in that that building. And we go all the way back to OTAs. Excuse me. And Kyle had all the players on the team that had been with the Niners for three years or more, had him over to his house, had us over for dinner and just kind of reframed and restructured the way we wanted to look at this season.

27:28For, you know, five seasons or so in a row, we're talking NFC championships. We're talking Super Bowls. We're talking one seeds. And like that was the expectation. And that's, you know, what we set out to do this year. He wanted to reframe that. Yes, of course, that's always going to be your goal at the end of this whole thing. But he just wanted to reframe it in that, hey, let's just get better every single week. And let's just see where we're at at the end of the season, because there really was no way to know at the beginning of the year what this team was going to be. And I think we took that perspective of, all right, let's just get better, see how the cards lay out.

28:09And let's take a real big focus as leaders, as guys that have been here and know what our culture is. and let's each one of us, let's grab a rookie. Let's grab a second year guy. Let's take him under our wing and let's show him how we do this thing. And I think that just made a huge impact on us. And as leaders, as captains of the team, like that was something we were talking about all off season. It's like, all right, hey, we got to bring these guys along. Like it's not going to be enough that we just know what to do and we go do it. Like we're going to need these guys in order to succeed. So we got to bring them along.

28:43Rich Eisen:Kyle Juszczyk here, courtesy of Flips, which we'll get to in a moment, but I'm having too good of a time reviewing the season and just chopping it up with you here, Kyle. Can you give me a story that encapsulizes Christian McCaffrey's greatness?

29:00Man, I mean, it's hard to encapsulate all of it in one because, as I've said many times, I truly feel like I feel Christian McCaffrey is the best football player I've ever played with. because he's so well-rounded and, you know, sometimes they love to, you know, say jack of all trades, but master of none. I feel like he's the master of all trades. Like this guy can be the best runner in the league. He can be the best receiver in the league. He's incredible at pass blocking. He's incredible at what he does without the ball. And I think that's something, you know, people are just going to gloss that over and say, yeah, whatever, that's that's easy.