Hour 1: Free Agency Latest on Tua, Kenneth Walker III, Kelce, Pierce, Malik Willis & More

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1:13Miss 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.

1:31Rich Eisen:But bringing in Kyler Murray, what does it mean for J.J. McCarthy? Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Unless they feel he's done. Anybody else who's coming in is going to have to beat out J.J. McCarthy. On today's show, up-to-the-minute NFL free agency updates, overreaction Monday, your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

2:25Rich Eisen:idea how this is going to be. Other than the fact that we're going to sit back for the next three hours and soak it all in. Take your phone calls at 844-204-RICH, number to dial. You want to react to what we're saying. Whatever's happening out there, we're here for you. You're upset about your team. You're happy about your team. You want this player. You thought this player would be around. You're wondering why this player isn't around. We're here for you over the next three hours. We're guestless. We might reach out to somebody to say explain this to us or not that's how we're going to be uh working over the next few hours right here uh on the rich eisen show chris brockman is back hey hey what up my vacation you have a good time great time you leave your razor over there i love it i don't love this cage was like oh leave the beard okay and i'm like you get a day i got it i got it you get a day looks good on you he did say it's kind of like riches which makes you want to shave it i bet right Well, at any rate, good to have you back.

3:25I hope you get a free bowl of soup. Good to see you over there. Jason Feller. Del Tufo's not working here anymore. Whatever. Good to see you around here, TJ. How are you, sir? What's going on, man? I'm great. The greatest rapper of all time died on March 9th. So it's a biggie day today. Biggie day. Shout out to my mom. Fantastic. And Rich, permission just to interrupt you during the show at any point? Because there's going to be a lot of, wow, did you see that happen? Yeah, sure.

3:49Rich Eisen:Sure, and there's been a history of this show at this point for the next week or two. Remember the hell going on year where Tyreek Hill left and Russell Wilson gets cut and Stephon Diggs tweeted out the hell going on and all that sort of stuff. And, you know, a number of times I'm in the middle of having a take to try and describe what's going on, and Brockman's like, whoa, I'm used to it. I'm getting ready for it. We've got our drop ready. Our breaking news drop is all ready. You want some stuff right out of the gate? Sure. What do you got right out of the gate? Diana Rossini saying Travis Kelsey and the Chiefs are rumored to be discussing a one-year deal for$15 million.

4:28Ian Rappaport saying now that the 49ers are open to trading Trent Williams. If that situation doesn't get resolved. Leverage season has begun. It's happening. I'll hit on that down the road over the next three hours. But here's the scoop, everybody. the quarterback carousel is spinning i was wondering why this didn't happen over the weekend quite frankly um but it has happened the shoe has dropped in south florida to a tungo vailoa shall be released he shall be available for anybody to sign him for the league minimum of 1.3 million dollars which is a mere drop in the bucket for a guy that is two years removed two seasons removed from a four-year,$212.4 million extension.

5:19We were wondering what the Dolphins would do with a new head coach and a new general manager and a quarterback that's been there for six seasons in Tuatungo Vailoa. Would they keep him? Would they try and rehabilitate him in terms of all the interceptions that he's had? Will they be able to keep him with a large cap number? or would they just decide we just cut our losses and we'll just play without him with a large cap number and they chose the latter. And basically the fat dead cap number that was in the clubhouse for the fattest deadest cap number in the history of fat dead cap numbers owned by the Denver Broncos telling Russell Wilson we're done here.

6:06of 85 million dollars the miami dolphins are now holding that beer to the tune of 99.2 million dollars wow a cap a june i don't want to bore you but they designate him in a certain way um they designate him in a certain way and uh by doing so they split the cap hit between this year and next. This year's cap hit is 67.4 million bucks.

6:34Rich Eisen:And because the Miami Dolphins had Tua Tungo-Vailoa under a fifth year option back in the day when they decided to give him a long term deal. They had a fifth year option of 23.5 million dollars. for them to be able to keep him and then maybe Kirk cousins him and franchise tag him and franchise tag him just to see if he was in fact the guy because if you recall back in that day there were still wonderings if he was the guy for Miami to the point where Chris Brockman and I went through the old saw that we've done over here for the last 11 years which is why pay the guy if you're not sure if he really hasn't proven it if he hasn't taken you very far and i'm like well in the nfl it doesn't matter the market bears with the market bears when somebody becomes free and unfortunately for the dolphins he was up for this contract extension just after he and mike mcdaniel were beginning to hook up and having terrific seasons together despite concussion problems that cropped up over and over again for Tua.

7:56Rich Eisen:And they decided to give him that contract. And instead of going ahead and giving him that sort of Kirk Cousins treatment, they paid him all of that money. and all they got out of him for his contract for his one more year for Tua Tungo-Vailoa after the fifth year option they could have had on him. One more year for 120 million plus more dollars of cash going out. One year for 120 million bucks, essentially, of what they paid him. making this, without question, the worst contract anybody's ever given a quarterback in the history of the National Football League. No doubt. And I'm using 20-20 hindsight completely to do so.

8:49Rich Eisen:Obviously, yeah. Because, again, the guy performed in his career well enough for the Dolphins to say, we've seen enough, certainly with the general manager and the coach together. Once Mike McDaniel showed up, Tua threw for 35, 148 yards in 2022 and 4 ,624 yards in 2023. The only issue is in 2022, we had the daylights also scared out of us by Tua by getting hit so hard in Cincinnati on a Thursday night that his hands made some awful motion. And he wound up getting concussed then. And then later on on Christmas Day against the Green Bay Packers, concussed then. Skylar Thompson wound up starting a playoff game.

9:492023, he comes back. He doesn't skip, miss anything.

9:58Rich Eisen:Absolutely nothing. He plays every single game. And he and Mike McDaniel look like they are two peas in a pod. 2024 is when he gets signed to his contract. He winds up missing four more games due to a concussion. After, by the way, in a Bills game, if you remember on this night, he throws three interceptions, winds up being down 21 points at home, decides to run for it in the third quarter for a first down. And of all people to hit him so hard, he gets concussed again was DeMar Hamlin. As those two people met. In a player safety collision.

10:49And then comes this year. And basically every word out of my mouth over the last six minutes about what happened with Tua after he was drafted fifth overall and Justin Herbert gets drafted after him. And then a new coach comes in, says, I've got it. It looks like they've got it. They sign him to a market deal only to have him regress, only to have the head coach not really have it. And that is the way a general manager who gives this deal and a head coach who says, I've got it, both lose their jobs. This is basically a story as old as time for the Miami Dolphins. Certainly when they have a new coach and a new general manager coming in, this makes complete sense, wipe the slate clean, and set a new record for dead cap money.

11:44But guess what? The old record holder for dead cap money went ahead, drafted the right guy and made the playoffs the next two years anyway so the dolphins are like okay 85 million dollar cap hit they drafted bo nicks they made the playoffs and damn damn damn near made the super bowl why can't us why not us why can't we do it this makes complete sense wipe the slate clean take your medicine have the social media team send out a nice meme saying thanks for the memories Those are so weird. All right. So weird. Because they're like, hey, he's an all-time leader in completion percentage for us. Isn't that great?

12:31If it was great, we wouldn't be saying thank you for everything, Tua. Okay. So now what happens to Tua? Just like Kyler Murray, just like Geno Smith, you're now on the boat where you can get a bona fide veteran quarterback with a ton of experience in this league for the league minimum,$1.3 million. And also you're thrown into this mix with Malik Willis, who has none of the experience of any of the above, but a ton of upside and some tape coming off the 2025 season, much better than the three other guys I just mentioned. Way better in big games. If you're the Miami Dolphins and you saw Malik Willis do what he just did against the Chicago Bears in frigid weather in Green Bay, you're sitting there going, guess what?

13:27We didn't see any of that stuff out of Tua in cold weather almost ever. Maybe we should kick the tires on this guy.

13:34Rich Eisen:And a guy who actually watched it firsthand and saw the kid prepare behind the scenes is the new head coach, Jeff Halfley, who was the defensive coordinator there in Green Bay. Is that a spot? Do they have enough cap room?

13:48Rich Eisen:um what about tua well word is now as we're starting our free agency frenzy um it looks like atlanta's the spot for him number of people who went ahead and posted this tweeted it just at the same time i'm getting alerts on my phone it looks like tua is going to be a falcon by the end of the day maybe by lunchtime out here or dinnertime in Atlanta and this makes sense this makes absolute complete sense because number one they need a quarterback a veteran one at that that's number one because Kirk Cousins isn't staying there and Michael Penix Jr. is coming off of a uh an ACL that who knows when he's going to be back right right um then there's also the fact that you covet what you see one of the best performances this year by Tua Tungo-Vailoa without a doubt was Miami Dolphins at Atlanta Falcons the week before Halloween when Tua walked into that building and torched him 20 for 26, 205 yards, and four touchdown passes.

15:09Rich Eisen:So the Falcons saw what he could do in that building. Miami, as we know, nice weather outside. Nice weather outside. How's the weather inside there, inside the Georgia Dome? Perfect. Right. How is it in New Orleans? Perfect, right? Hey, how's the weather out there? And the whole idea with Jared Goff right back in the day. Guess what? Nice weather out here in Los Angeles. Certainly inside the dome out here or inside the under the canopy in SoFi. The Lions. Yep. Don't stick them out in the weather very much because everybody plays indoors, except for obviously Chicago. Right. So and Green Bay, I get it.

15:57Rich Eisen:But sure. So he doesn't go outdoors very much. That's not a bad one either. And, Chris, when you were on your Hawaiian walkabout and Suze was sitting in that chair, we were having a conversation the other day. Somebody called up and said, how about Tua as a backup quarterback? And I'm like, first of all, I'm sure he's going to want to go to a place where he can start. Secondly, secondly, I don't want a left-hander as my backup. I just don't. I don't. Because a right-hander throws it with a certain spin and then all of a sudden a left-hander comes in and it can be confusing. It can be also deflating to a team when you start dropping passes in the third and fourth quarter of a game you got to win with your backup.

16:40Well, guess what hand Michael Penix throws with? Oh, yeah. Okay, so also Kevin Stefanski. One of the greatest mysteries of the last couple years in Cleveland is which draft choice did Kevin want and which one did he not? Who knows? if you want a Dylan Gabriel, his nickname's Mini Tua. Tua Jr. Little Tua. If you want a Dylan Gabriel, guess who he's going to get here in Atlanta. It makes sense. Right down the line. And he's also a good dude. And the best pass of his career came in that dome. That's where everybody said I want Tua. That's where tank for Tua took place.

17:22Rich Eisen:So. Pissed off Nick Saban. So it looks like the first quarterback of the veteran cut quarterback carousel, the first cut veteran quarterback on the carousel to be taken by another team might just be the one who is the last one to be cut and put on the carousel. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. We have breaking news. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a break. We'll come back. We'll get to that breaking news. Nice. Max Crosby's a Raven. Travis Kelsey is going to stay as a Kansas City Chief. The Jets made a move with the Dolphins, of all people. We'll talk about that as we keep an eye on all the waiver wire action on this busy first day of free agency in the NFL here on The Rich Eisen Show.

18:14The Rich Eisen Show podcast.

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20:58Rich Eisen:back here on the rich eyes and show 844-204-rich is the number to dial here on the program all right first time we're hitting this drop go ahead and hit it here it comes

21:09Rich Eisen:all right we even have a nice graphic for our radio audience including i believe one of the three people on the graphic if i'm not mistaken is uh featured in this breaking news correct right i don't know i'm gonna start with this one because it literally just happened seconds ago What happened? Kenneth Walker III, Super Bowl MVP. Is he a chief? Is a Kansas City chief. That's what I was hearing was a rumor. Okay. All right. Wow. Wow. Well, we knew they were going to address that running back position. Well, because Jeremiah Love wasn't dropping to them. I think that this move 1 ,000 % confirms what we believed coming out of the combine.

21:54Rich Eisen:Yeah. All those mock drafts, Jeremiah Love falls to nine of the Chiefs. No chance. Not a chance at all. That was lit on fire the minute that kid got off a plane in Indianapolis and started talking to other people. Uh-huh. You know, but Kenneth Walker III, do we know what the deal is? No terms yet. Okay. Yeah, Tommy and everyone else and Ian just have that he's going to the Chiefs. Nothing yet. Listen, what a great place for him to land. And maybe this means the Chiefs are going to actually, you know, try and get a running game going that's of consistency, you know, and that we can see Kenneth Walker III, if he stays healthy, doing this thing in Kansas City along with Travis Kelsey's return.

22:40Let's hope that there's – Not confirmed yet, but – No more – Working towards – What, Kelsey coming back? Well, coming back to the Chiefs. Okay. He is going to play this year. Right. Unclear where. I believe it's to the Chiefs.

22:54Rich Eisen:I don't think he's going to be a free agent and start traveling around the country. No, sir. This also means, in my mind, if Kelsey's coming back from jump and we're getting a nice running game to keep Mahomes upright a little bit better, is that Mahomes is on target, right? We haven't gotten any sort of update on that. But we kind of assumed he's going to miss at least the first. Why do we assume that? Why do we assume that? Well, statistically, the way these injuries work out. Two tears. Okay. I understand. Not just the clean. I understand. How old is Tatum? Jason Tatum? Yeah, how old is Tatum?

23:31Is he close to 30 yet? No, he's like 27.

23:33Rich Eisen:All right. He's a younger guy. I'm just going to use him as a measuring stick coming back from 10 months after an Achilles. Even though I know these are completely different injuries. Just turned 28. Okay, very good. But Kenneth Walker III, congratulations to him. Yeah. and it's a great spot for him to land, an absolutely terrific spot for him to land, and I do hope it is more than the money that's of the franchise tag because Seattle didn't give him that, so he wasn't getting anything larger than that, so if he gets something larger than that from Kansas City, that's cool. That's all good in that neighborhood.

24:10Good for him for cashing in on the moment. I mean, you were the MVP of the Super Bowl. Yeah. Their stock is never higher right now. Cash that in. Go to KC. You know, their window kind of stays open. And so here we go. So what happens, though, with these Chiefs backs? I think Pacheco's history. I don't know. He's gone. He's gone. He's gone. And they got the young kid, Brashad.

24:33Rich Eisen:I mean, he was drafted in 2022, which means his four years of being with the Chiefs are up. I mean, they're not going to sign him to a free agent deal if they just hit Kenneth Walker III in that regard. It's a nice move. And it's an expenditure at a position at which the Chiefs have not really made much of an expenditure. No, no, no, no. So I kind of dig it. Let's zag a little bit here, man. And clearly he's coming off of a nice campaign. I like it. And as for Travis Kelsey, my God, am I happy to hear that he's going to keep playing. He is just as special a player and human that the NFL can have on the field, Kansas City can have on the field.