Hour 1: Giannis’ Heat Intro, LeBron James Intrigue, Rich’s Top 5, plus NFL Insider Tom Pelissero

23:50Tom Pelissero:The vision for Aaron Donald is it's not come back and play full time. If you go back through history, and I had our research people look this up, there's only one member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who has sat out multiple seasons and then come back and play it again. And that was Deion Sanders, who still was productive when he came back with the Ravens after multiple years off. But he was a part-time player at that point. Guys like Reggie White and Randy Moss sat out a year and came back. And the production just, it's not going to be the same. Now, if anybody can come back and capture what they were, it's Aaron Donald.

24:23Tom Pelissero:He's just probably not going to be doing that on a 70 snap per game basis. So if they can get him back, it's third downs, it's two minute, it's those high leverage situations, keep him fresh, and then dare other teams to figure out, are you going to double outside? Are you going to double inside? Are you going to travel a chipper? How are you going to handle both Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald, not to mention Kobe Turner is a really good player, Byron Young, Braden Fist, some of the other guys that they've got in the rotation here. And it's not lost on anybody here, Rich. And the way that the Rams are looking, this is so far beyond just, hey, 20 to 30 snaps, one of the greatest players ever, even if he might not be the Aaron Donald to five years ago.

24:59Tom Pelissero:We're all sitting here waiting for LeBron James to decide his NBA destination, and that's not just because LeBron James' kill still could be a valuable contributor. He's not what he was five to ten years ago, but if LeBron James comes to your organization, it's sending the signal to everybody, hey, he's ever one reason, which is he believes this team can win it all right now. If Aaron Donald comes back, it sends the same message in that locker room, in that building, even as much as the Miles Garrett acquisition did, and maybe for a team that's made abundantly clear, hey, this is a Super Bowl winning team right now.

25:31Tom Pelissero:Aaron Donald coming back might even get that little bit of extra of everybody being on notice day in and day out. You got to have your A game all the way through this entire season.

25:40Rich Eisen:Tom Pellicero here on the Rich Eisen show. The quarterback competitions, do they include the Raiders? Tom, yes or no?

25:51Tom Pelissero:I would say this, Rich, you know, not much shocks me in this league. I would be very surprised if Fernando Mendoza starts out of the gate. Clint Kubiak said this way back in the spring that he believes in allowing a young quarterback to sit. There's a big transition in terms of coming from that Indiana offense that's very much RPO-based and you're throwing into wide open windows. It's not under center. There's a bunch of things he has to get better at. And you brought in Kirk Cousins, who's got a history with Clint Kubiak. Now, the moment that Fernando Mendoza goes out there and if he plays well in a preseason game, we'll all be talking about it.

26:27Tom Pelissero:Clint Kubiak's going to get questions, but, you know, Clint's not on social media. He's not watching this show. He's not watching ESPN. He's not seeing the various debates. He is going to be very much of that same mind. Again, stranger things have happened here, Rich, but from everything that I understand, like the conviction, the way that they're built right now is that Kirk Cousins is going to be the starter at the beginning of the season and entirely possible it's at the end of the season as well. And that's as much a reflection of where the Raiders are programmatically as anything to do with Fernando Mendoza.

26:58Tom Pelissero:They don't really have the infrastructure. They've got some things that they've got to figure out. They've got really young, talented players are running back with Ashton Gentry, a tight end with Brock Bowers. They've got some different guys, and they're figuring out the wide receiver roles. The offensive line is still a work in progress. To be able to sit behind Kirk Cousins, watch him operate that offense, that's going to do more in their opinion than forcing Fernando Mendoza out there right out of the gate we'll see how the season plays out we'll see where we are in November and December but my full anticipation sitting here right now in mid-July is Kirk Cousins will be the starting

27:31Rich Eisen:quarterback of the Raiders okay uh and uh Chris we just heard Clint Kubiak's not on social media so don't waste your time figuring out man I was okay I was adding him to number six if we're not going to get any juice out of that squeeze. Don't worry about it. All right. Moving on. The quarterback competitions then are in Atlanta, Cleveland, Minnesota. Am I missing any other ones right now?

27:56Tom Pelissero:Those are the headliners. There's obviously some other spots where we'll be watching closely in terms of health perspectives here. You know, Bo Nix, everything that I've been told is that he's on track. He'll be back and good to go for Denver. Patrick Mahomes keeps saying that he's going to be good to go for Kansas City in week one. We'll see how that plays out. Obviously, if he can't or if he's limited in the early going, we know exactly who it's going to be with Justin Fields. We've talked a ton about the Vikings. They are very much, from everything that I have been told, it's been emphasized to me, still a legit competition.

28:26Tom Pelissero:I would tell you Kevin O 'Connell knows if he played a game tomorrow who would be starting, but they don't play a game tomorrow. And maybe for Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy, Part of this is psychological, where you want both these guys approaching it and competing with one another and attacking every single day and not relaxing. I don't believe that Kevin O 'Connell is going to take this through three preseason games. It may take one or two, though, before he's comfortable saying who the starter is going to be. They split it 50-50 all through the spring. We'll see how that plays out. In Atlanta, we'll see how much Michael Penix Jr.

28:58Tom Pelissero:is able to do. At some point, he's going to get back to be doing 11-on-11, but that time is not immediate. He hasn't done anything yet. So that competition really hasn't ramped up. Two has really got the edge here. And then in Cleveland, this is going to be more interesting than I think people might be thinking that it is on paper. Because you have a player in Deshaun Watson who is still getting paid. He's in the final year of that five-year,$230 million contract. He's going to be on the team. But he's played 19 games over the past five seasons combined. There's no precedent for anything like that.

29:31Tom Pelissero:So, you know, they know what Deshaun Watson has been in the past. They've seen him play winning football. They got to see when he goes out there and it's live and he's actually in game action and he's got people, frankly, heckling him and yelling stuff at him and everything's moving faster. How does he respond? And with Shadour Sanders, from what I've been told, there really was growth through the spring. He did improve. Is that enough to be able to catch Deshaun Watson? I would tell you this, the coaches came away. And of course, a new staff there with Todd Munkin as the head coach, they came away thinking they got two guys they can go out there and play with.

30:06Tom Pelissero:Which one of these guys rises? This is a true competition, I believe, as well in Cleveland. And we'll see who comes out on the top in the preseason.

30:12Rich Eisen:Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen Show. And then the quarterbacks that aren't involved in competitions usually sometimes are involved in contract negotiations that we're trying to see how it resolves before the beginning of the season. Walk me through that list, Tom.

30:29Tom Pelissero:Well, certainly you've got Baker Mayfield. That's at the top of the list. He's entering a contract year. He's made very clear that once training camp begins, that's his hard cutoff. As of a couple days ago, the last I checked, there had been no movement. It's really about the number. The Bucs want Baker there. Baker wants to be there. but you know he's currently if you look at the guys the 16 quarterbacks who are on true franchise quarterback contracts he's the lowest paid how high up that list should he vault based upon his production and he has been a top five in terms of the actual numbers in a lot of categories in his time in Tampa should he be paid like a top five quarterback should he be paid lower than that that's what they have to work through I would imagine they re-engage that week in those days leading up to players reporting Lamar Jackson is another one this has been going on forever His negotiations proceed a little bit differently because he does not have an agent.

31:21Tom Pelissero:Last time around, they kept sending him proposals, and finally he just accepted one on the day of the draft, and it was over. For Lamar, he's due so much money. He's due$52 million in 2026. There's really no rush for him to do something unless it's the perfect deal. And that speaks to some players that are in other spots, including Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud, who are newly extension eligible. I don't expect a Bryce Young extension. I believe that he'll play in year four. They had some preliminary conversations, but the arrow's pointing up on Bryce Young right now, but you may want to see a little bit more to pay him up at the top or near the top of the quarterback market.

32:00Tom Pelissero:With C.J. Stroud, that one remains very much alive. They continue to have conversations. At last check, nothing was imminent between C.J. Stroud and the Texans, but certainly would not shock me if they were able to get something done. The big picture here, Rich, is what's going to happen in 2027. That's when the quarterback class, the draft class of 2024, becomes extension eligible. You're talking about Caleb Williams, Jaden Daniels, Drake May, Bo Nix. At that point, and with where the cap is going, a$60 million contract right now might be$70 million to be at the top of the market a year from now.

32:37Tom Pelissero:So if you're Lamar and you're making a bunch of money, or you're C.J. Stroud and you don't think that you're getting offered as high a number as you want to, or even for Baker, you might just sit back and say, the numbers are going to be better if I just wait things out. There's always that risk in that. That's why players take out insurance. You never know if injuries are going to happen, but certainly the one to watch in my mind beyond Baker is going to be CJ Stroud. He did not start off well last season. It got better in the middle of the year. We all saw what happened down the stretch and into the playoffs.

33:06Tom Pelissero:That maybe makes it a little bit more complicated in terms of paying him at the top of the market. We know that Nick Cassario is not afraid to pay any of his core players at the top of the market. He's done it time and time again, sometimes in ways that frustrate other teams because he is paying a little bit extra relative to where the market is. That'll be an interesting one to watch and whether or not they're able to get something home.

33:27Rich Eisen:All right. What else before I let you go to your guys weekend is in your reporter's notebook you want to hit on, Tom?

33:33Tom Pelissero:The notebook on the guys weekend because those records are permanently sealed in terms of the nfl uh storylines here one thing because we weren't on last week rich that i wanted to bring up because this is really interesting and this is looking out eight months okay it's to the start of free agency the nfl released the calendar last year and there's a little bit of a recalibration because this year the draft was very early labor day is later so the season is starting later the super bowl is later the combine is still happening when it normally does but the nfl is going to reset the calendar and move free agency up to the day after the combine ends the combine ends i believe on march 7th or 8th i believe it's march 8th the

34:19Rich Eisen:combine ends this fridge so the sunday of combine sunday of combine will be followed by the next day

34:25Tom Pelissero:is free the next day at noon eastern march the negotiating window will open this has been i I believe 15 years since the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, there's always been a week in between. And what occurred over the last 15 years was that, of course, we know that there are various conversations of varying degrees of legality that have always occurred at St. Elmo's and hotel rooms, convention centers. Teams stopped in agents' minds floating real numbers because what they realized was the agents were then going to shop those numbers to other teams for a week and try to move the market. Then agents became frustrated because they weren't getting the real numbers.

35:10Tom Pelissero:And there are some agents who won't even do the meetings at the combine in recent years because they think that they're a colossal waste of time. As one GM texted me when this calendar went out to the league and to the public was, wow, deals are actually going to get done. And that's not just the off the books, off the record, wink nod deals to get done 45 minutes into free agency. They're also the deals with the players who may want to stay with their teams and to try to get something done. Take like an Alec Pierce last year, by far the number one wide receiver on the market. The combine happened.

35:46Tom Pelissero:They met at the combine, but they were nowhere for a week after that. Now, maybe that type of a deal gets done at the combine. The franchise tag window, that now is before at the start of combine week the entire way that this thing operates is going to be a little bit different for those of us rich who it's our job to cover the news and break the news it is going to be drinking from an absolute fire hose because deals are going to get done in indy trades are going to get done in indy you know rich in past years that week in between that's where there's been like a trade a day in recent years that's going to be happening in indianapolis now and go right into Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of that following week, that seven to 10 days, it's been really kind of that what's normally been the low week that's ended up being trades.

36:35Tom Pelissero:Now it's all going to happen at once. Everything all at once. That is going to be the defining point of what happens in free agency in 2027.

36:45Rich Eisen:All right. So just to recap that one, the window where you can legally have conversations opens up in Indianapolis or the day after we're done?

36:58Tom Pelissero:The day after, the final day of workouts. So a lot of, you know. A lot of situations that are happening normally, if they do, as you point out,

37:07Rich Eisen:because teams kind of stopped having that based on the way that the schedule was laid out. So I'm sitting there with Daniel Jeremiah going through the 40s and, you know, watching drills on the field and suddenly something's popping like a major quarterbacks on the move like that sort of thing that you're saying that is entirely possible those trades

37:28Tom Pelissero:if they follow the same timing as in recent years correct would happen at the combine there's a lot of gm to gm conversations that happen at the combine um you know the russell wilson trade was one years ago between denver and seattle they're really picked up in indianapolis but And now instead of, all right, let's revisit that next week when we get back. Hey, let's revisit that a little bit closer. With a lot of the top free agents, the timing has been if the negotiating window is opening at noon on Monday, it's Sunday afternoon into evening where teams start to check in, and that's where it becomes kind of apparent, okay, this one's going to go fast.

38:01Tom Pelissero:This guy's going to get his number. Uh-oh, this guy's market is falling out. If that timing is the same, Rich, that will be as people are leaving the combine the night before, the next day at noon, the negotiating window opens up. I think you will see a bunch of extensions get done. You will see some trades get done. I believe there was only one last year at the combine, which I talked about on your show that day. I had broken it in a skywalk in Indianapolis, had to duck to the side. I'm going to need a little bit better plan of where I am in various skywalks because there could be even getting done.

38:33Tom Pelissero:It is going to be a lot rich, but it is going to

38:36Rich Eisen:be an absolutely wild week all right brother uh drive safe be safe um and uh i know once you're done one of the first things you're gonna do is this show next week while i go visit my kids in visiting day so i appreciate that that's right um and in the meantime uh go get your chimichanga reheated uh you know whatever's across the way there in that truck stop um and be well be well

39:00Tom Pelissero:I might make my way, you know, with the whole cyclosporia thing or whatever. I think I might get away from this particular gas station before grabbing lunch. But we'll figure it out next Wednesday through Friday in L.A. Can't wait. Let's go, Tommy.

39:16Rich Eisen:There we go. Hey, Tom, if you hear a banjo, run. Wow. That's a deliverance. I get it. We're in Wisconsin. No, but that background looks more like when Clemenza said, leave the gun, take the cannolis. or something from the depatic. The grass in the background. It is what it is. Okay, thank you, Tom. There goes Tom Pelissero as we stop slandering his truck stop. Just real quick, while we're on the subject matter, that cyclo-whatever thing he's talking about right there? Yeah, sure. I can't believe I'm about to discuss this, but I'm about to. Uh-oh, uh-oh. Is there a more redundant phrase than explosive diarrhea?

39:56Rich Eisen:No. It's kind of like every time I hear that in a report, I think of that line from A Few Good Men is there any other kind? you know what I mean? and then I think of Dumb and Dumber with Jeff Daniels but I'm just saying I've never thought about it like that hey you have diarrhea is it just an easy flow for you? wow can we move on? easy flow they're moving on both Hoskins and Bowie are like Get him out of there, man.

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43:06Rich Eisen:0 % financing options are available. Certain restrictions apply. Visit, find your local Pella Windows and Doors showroom today at Pella.com slash Eisen for details. Make life brighter with Pella Windows and Doors. We started this program with a top five list of other athletes I'd like Chris Brockman to insult so maybe they can wind up on their Instagram feed into hundreds and millions of people. You just want everyone coming at him. Well, I mean, and I put in there in the same way again what's more likely is coming up next hour chris usually puts a a little um time bomb in there where i have to choose between two things he knows that i want to choose so i just kind of returned the favor and said this the number two athlete i want him to insult based on his massive platform is tom brady he's like he's never going to do that how's he going to figure out doing that when we ask him to actually go down the list later on yeah so who better to give you advice than a guy who has no problem slagging on the patriots even though he swears he's a fan.

44:06Rich Eisen:A guy once upon a time said they were going to go 0-17. Dustin in Arkansas is here on the program for suggestions for you, Chris. How are you, Dustin?

44:13Tom Pelissero:Hey, guys. Rich, welcome back to the show. Good to have you back.

44:17Rich Eisen:Thank you. Appreciate it.

44:18Tom Pelissero:I think Mr. Brockman should go after another man from Massachusetts, John Cena.

44:24Rich Eisen:Goed him out of

44:25Tom Pelissero:retirement with his insults. He'd have Seth Rollins train him to have a match. And then he could pull the ultimate swerve, beat John Cena again and really put the Rich Eisen show on the map.

44:37Rich Eisen:Interesting. Wait, I'm going to wrestle John Cena? No, just insult him. No, just insult him. Oh, just insult him.

44:42Tom Pelissero:Well, you can wrestle him too. Like, you can train. John Cena's got 21 million followers.

44:48Rich Eisen:I didn't even think of including him. Yeah. Well, because there's a physical threat. That's okay. Also, I can't see him, so I don't even know how I would insult him.

44:56Tom Pelissero:Do, do, do, do. Okay.

44:58Rich Eisen:Good one. That's a good one. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Dustin. I appreciate it. There goes Dustin in Arkansas. Well, the list has been submitted. I banged that out in like five minutes. See, I knew you were going to have a problem with that. When I walked out on the stage for the first time today, I looked you right in the face. I kind of gave you that messy look. Yeah, and I was just like, what's going on? What do you got cooking? I'm like, I got something for you. I think you're going to be able to handle it. Okay. It's been handled. Okay. It'll get handled when it gets handled? Yeah.

45:26Rich Eisen:That's okay, Mike. You don't have to get that drop ready. You'll get handled when it gets handled. Thank you very much. and that he's number five on the list. Yeah. And, you know, he once upon a time famously took that in and spat it back at the... I can now say this. Our wives are friends. I don't want to insult them. Okay. You know what I mean? That's fine then. But this is business. That's personal. And this is the business we've chosen. True. You know what I mean? This is the business we've chosen. Honestly, this all started like a dozen years ago with Spike Lee. Oh, it did. By the way, I said this tops your Spike Lee moment, right?

46:07Rich Eisen:Which Spike and I buried the hatchet. You once upon a time said he was a fake Nick fan. Well, I said he was kind of fair weather. He only showed up when they were good. Like he wasn't there for the losing season. Then he cursed you out. Yeah, he called me a bleeping moron. Justifiable. Yeah. And then we met in the back when he was here. That's right. and I had him autograph the tweet. That's genius. He found that funny. It's all good now, me and Spike. Okay. It was all good just a week ago. It was. Flavor Flav's coming up next hour. What's More Likely is coming up next hour. Also next hour, Chris is going to pay off the top five list where he will then go ahead one by one and insult the people.

46:50Rich Eisen:I think he should insult next. And again, you're doing it for the show, Chris. Thank you, yes. Fight the power, Chris. There may be an honor in Ridge and Eisen, but not in show. Not in show. Okay. That's coming up in hour two. The Ridge Eisen Show Podcast.

47:03Tom Pelissero:You know when you're locked in, focused, and fearless. Welcome to the WNBA. Your vision narrows. You can't look away. Every assist. Every stop. Every logo three. From beyond the logo. Every did you see that moment. You bet.

47:21Rich Eisen:What records are going to be broken this season? All of it right here. Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN. All season long.