Hour 1: Indiana Is College Football’s New Bully, plus NFL Insider Tom Pelissero

21:26Rich Eisen:You can do it all online or meet in person at one of their new tech-enabled store locations. Have your tax forms imported directly into the app and hand everything off to your TurboTax expert. While they work to get you every dollar you deserve, you can go about your normal routine, giving you time back to focus on what actually deserves your attention, like rooting for your team to make the playoffs. April 15th is not waiting, people. Visit TurboTax.com and hand off your taxes to a TurboTax expert today. If you're like me and my family, you're all about creating amazing memories while on vacation.

22:01Rich Eisen:And for me, many of those have involved a home we found on Airbnb. We had such great experiences that whenever we travel somewhere new, we always check Airbnb first to find a place that fits our needs. The homes we've stayed in, comfortable, safe, private. You feel like you're part of the community. After a long day of exploring or sitting on a beach, it really is nice to come back to a place you can call your own. Airbnb is also a great way, if you want, to earn some extra money while you're traveling or out of your house for an extended period of time. You can make your home work for you while you're away, not as a full-time thing, not as some big production, just something that fits into trips you're already taking.

22:41Rich Eisen:You can use the money for that dream vacation or put that money towards that outdoor kitchen you always wanted. Hosting on Airbnb just feels smart. Your home may be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, one big happy simulcast family. ESPN Radio's audience has returned. And so has Tom Pellisario. Tom Pellisario. Tommy P back here on the Rich Eisen Show. How are you doing, Tom? What's up, Rich? What's up to the boys in studio?

23:15Tom Pelissero:Tommy P, happy new year, baby.

23:17Rich Eisen:Happy new year, fellas. Good to see you all. Tommy P. So, Tom, let's jump in with the story of the moment in advance of Wild Card Weekend. And that is the Heisman Doza quarterback of Indiana doing what he's been doing over the last month plus, if not the entire season. What are you hearing right now amongst your colleagues and also your sources about is this kid the first overall pick in the upcoming draft?

23:45Tom Pelissero:It's always fascinating, Rich, because my first exposure to it is always when the teams, whether through various Blasto meetings, places where they share information on the following year's class. I always kind of know, all right, who's the group of guys who are being looked at as first-round picks going into the season? And if you go back, as I did recently, and look at that list going into 2025, a lot of those names that we were talking about have either fallen off because they decided to go back to school. The Norris Sellers obviously went back to school. There's been other players who have not performed up to that level.

24:18Tom Pelissero:The Garrett Nussmeyers have not put themselves in the conversation. but Fernando Mendoza was a really intriguing player who had just transferred into Indiana that everyone was talking about and seeing, all right, you know, what is he going to be able to do in that program? Can Kurt Signetti do with him what he's done with others, including Curtis Roark last year, get him playing at a really high level? They've got a really good young coaching staff around him there. And as we get toward the end of the season here, again, we're pre-Senior Bowl. We are pre-Combine Rich, the entire process, all the visits.

24:49Tom Pelissero:But sitting here right now on January 2nd, it's hard for me to imagine that Fernando Mendoza is not the number one pick. This is not a really deep quarterback draft, again, for that same reason I just talked about. Some guys, you know, Arch is not going to be coming out in this year's draft. Some of those other names that you heard here, you know, the other ones, obviously, the Oregon quarterback has certainly been in that conversation. Ty Simpson from Alabama, if he chooses to come out, I would think would have a chance to go, certainly in the first round. The kid from Cincinnati is another one that's been talked about a little bit, but his plans are unclear at this point.

25:25Tom Pelissero:There's a lot of teams that need quarterbacks right now. There's not a lot of quarterbacks to be had, which is where if you potentially could see some horse trading up at the top here, if the Raiders end up with the number one pick, it's really hard. Again, pre this process, it's hard for me to imagine the Raiders not standing in and Fernando Mendoza heading from Bloomington to Vegas.

25:46Rich Eisen:Yeah, and certainly a guy in Las Vegas, Nevada, who will definitely be in time for curfew. You know, like that's the sort of individual you want to have as your quarterback, certainly in a town where, you know, things happen. Tom Pellicero here on the Rich Eisen Show. So before we get to the weekend itself, over the last 48 hours, one of the biggest or juiciest bits of news in the NFL is the Miami Dolphins apparently reaching out to Troy Aikman to help with their general manager search. What's the scoop with that?

26:22Tom Pelissero:We've seen some teams bring in consultants from different areas in recent years. A couple years ago was Bob Myers with the Commanders, who was the former Golden State Warriors executive, came from the NBA world. but have been around championship cultures, and they felt like that would help Washington as it deployed its searches for both the GM and a head coach. We've seen, for instance, Rick Spielman, who helped out with a couple of searches in recent years. He's now working for the Jets. The Troy Aikman hire is very much in the Bob Myers lens. Troy, obviously, is a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback with three Super Bowl rings, but also because of his travels with Monday Night Football and getting exposed to different people and seeing folks at games and having interactivity.

27:04Tom Pelissero:He's been calling around to GMs over the past week here and just trying to get information on, all right, if we're going to capture the winning culture but also get the right person, who is that? He's been doing that on behalf of the Dolphins. This is not, to be clear, from my understanding, Troy, who was mused before about, I think I could be a GM. This is not him trying to get the GM job. He's not a candidate for the GM job. I do not expect he's going to be with the Dolphins beyond this search. But he is going to sit in on the interviews here and probably ask certain types of questions that whether it's Stephen Ross or his son-in-law, Danny Sillman, who's involved, Tom Garfinkel, the president, Brandon Shore, who has a significant role in the front office as well, and Dan Marino, who is another Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who is still employed by the Dolphins.

27:48Tom Pelissero:All those guys will be a part of this process as they vet who the right general manager is going to be. What they're looking for in Miami is a scout. You know, they want somebody who is really going to have a vision for how do you build that roster. They got a lot of resources. They have a patient owner from everyone I've talked to. This is a good job walking into it here, but they want someone whose expertise is in team building. And so what I would anticipate is that the Dolphins move, I think, fairly swiftly through this process. I think they're going to hit the ground running next week. They've obviously got a two month head start since firing Chris Greer back on Halloween.

28:22Tom Pelissero:the idea of Troy Aikman is not just to allow him to be part of the interview process, but also for him to make sure, okay, it's great to say, hey, we want to pluck somebody from, let's say, San Francisco, but who's the right person to pluck from there? That's where Troy has been involved in this process. And again, I anticipate that this is going to be a process that moves on the relatively quick side, Rich.

28:41Rich Eisen:So Norv Turner's not the next coach of Miami? Is that what you're saying?

28:44Tom Pelissero:No, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if Norv Turner is fired up on some of these things as well. I mean, think about that too. When you're bringing in somebody like Troy, Troy, he's got all these different connections of people he was with who in turn have connections in different buildings. So whether it's other people from, you know, the Cowboys heyday, whether it's other just executives that Troy knows, he's going to be tapping in to all those resources here. You know, and I think the other thing that's worth mentioning here, Rich, is we've seen a structure that's become more common in the NFL.

29:13Tom Pelissero:It's not clear exactly how the structure is going to actually work in Miami. But a lot of the most successful teams in recent years have really had a GM that is focused on coaching and scouting and then another type of administrator who is focused on all those other departments. Because in the last 10 years, there have just been these mass build outs with whether it's your data and analytics, your nutrition, your medical staff facilities. It's a really big job for one, you know, the traditional GM to oversee everything. things so you look at you know the way that for instance the Rams in San Francisco Green Bay Detroit they've all got somebody else who's kind of additive that could end up being the structure here where let's say a Brandon Shore could oversee a lot of those other departments and allow the football the head scout the GM to focus on how do we get this team moving in the right direction with a lot of huge decisions here Rich Looming starting out with exactly what they're going to

30:05Rich Eisen:to a quarterback yeah let's hit that here tom because um the way i kind of want to handle this because over the last 48 72 hours just red hot rumors that maybe lamar's doesn't want to be in baltimore anymore baltimore's done with him i'm sorry it's tough to set you up when you take a sip from a coffee mug of you with your beautiful white dog um but you know it threw me off uh Lamar is gone from Baltimore because they're finally going to separate after all these years. And then Lamar comes out and is like, what is everybody talking about? I'm not falling asleep in meetings. Everything is fine here.

30:44Rich Eisen:We all heard the Joe Burrow cryptic stuff, but he says he really likes it where he is. So I'm going to set this up with an overreaction Monday subject matter that Brockman gave me this week. Let's go. Very rare that I do this. but the subject matter was a face of the franchise quarterback will be traded this offseason. What's your opinion? Is that an overreaction or it's not?

31:06Tom Pelissero:The face of the franchise, I put that in the category of it's the Lamars and the Burroughs and the Josh Allens of the world. Listen, in the modern NFL, we've seen some crazy stuff happen, Rich. I'm not sitting here anticipating that you get those types of moves. If we focus specifically on Lamar, you know, there were some things, some of those things that came out in that Baltimore Sun column that, you know, certainly have been circulating in the past. Is there a degree of frustration that Lamar's not around that much in the offseason? Sure. But those are voluntary workouts. He's able to make that choice.

31:40Tom Pelissero:He prefers to train down there in Florida. You know, are there things that maybe Lamar could do differently, whether it's from a diet standpoint, offseason workouts, whatever? I mean, those are all fair discussions. I've never been told that he has fallen asleep in a meeting. I have not talked to anyone who has seen him asleep in a meeting. But I think the overarching picture here is you've got a player who is an extraordinary talent. I know Lamar a little bit personally. I like Lamar a lot. Everybody who's around him gets the juice from him. He's a two-time NFL MVP. But he's been banged up three of the last four years.

32:13Tom Pelissero:He's been really banged up with different stuff down the stretch of the season. And so what you're trying to figure out is, is that solely Lamar? Are there environmental factors? Are there things coaching-wise that need to change? I do not get any sense. And, Rich, a lot of things can happen, right? We're going to have a lot more answers on all this after Sunday night and then, you know, whatever discussions occur into the week. I do not have any indication right now that John Harbaugh is in danger of being fired. That would really surprise me. There's a reason Steve Bichotti has stuck with him for 18 seasons and running now.

32:45Tom Pelissero:but clearly you know there's there's things that they need to talk through here when you're coming off of you know a pretty disappointing season to this point that still could take a turn and if they play like they did last week in Green Bay and Derrick Henry's just running all over everybody maybe they go in the playoffs maybe they make some noise and this all just becomes background into the offseason but it's no secret that they had some level of contract talks with Lamar last summer that did not yield a deal dealing with Lamar who doesn't have an agent is always a different process. I don't know that a player who a couple of years ago, Rich, we talked a lot about this, and why was no one willing to give up two first-round picks when he was franchise tagged?

33:23Tom Pelissero:Why were they not willing to make that deal? The idea that a player now who's a couple of years older and has had injuries, like he has almost this entire season, has suddenly become more valuable and people are going to be banging down their door to do a$60 million a year contract to give up major draft capital that would make you move them, that seems a tad illogical. Again, we'll see what discussions take place in the coming days. What happens on Sunday night is certainly going to be a part of that conversation. It would surprise me if Lamar Jackson is not a Baltimore Raven in 2026, but we're early here, Rich, and if you line it up on paper right now, there are maybe, maybe a dozen teams in the entire NFL that you can say, we know who their starting quarterback is going to be in 2026.

34:03Rich Eisen:Tom Pellicero here on the Rich Eisen Show. So how many coaches are going into this weekend knowing it's their last game as the head coach of the franchise that they're currently coaching, Tom? Is it zero?

34:17Tom Pelissero:Knowing it's their last game, I would say zero. Really? And that is an accurate reflection. There have been other years where there's a couple, two or three, that have a pretty good idea. I don't think it's any secret to the ones that right now are in some level of doubt. Of course, you've got Pete Carroll. They're 2-14. They've lost 14 of their last 15 games. He's fired two coordinators. It's been just a resoundingly disappointing season on a lot of different levels here. But Pete, as we reported a couple of weeks ago, he's been fighting to try to stay. He's 74 years old. I guarantee Pete, in his mind of always competing, does not want to have this be his last act in football.

34:54Tom Pelissero:But certainly, there's significant doubts surrounding his situation going into the weekend. Cleveland's another one that's been talked about a lot. They got a win last week over the Steelers. You've seen a progression of Shador Sanders, all the work they put in with him in terms of the decision-making and the pocket movement, even though he throws a bad arm punt interception last week. But by and large, you've seen growth from him. They got a really good young rookie class. The stance from the front office there has been all along. They want to see the entire season through and then make decisions once they get to the end of it.

35:27Tom Pelissero:So those are discussions that are probably going to go into Monday. Atlanta, the same thing. Arthur Blank, from my understanding, has communicated that clearly to Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot. There's no decisions until the end of the year. If you asked me six weeks ago, I would say you're probably starting over in Atlanta again. But we all saw Blank celebrating on the sidelines as the Falcons are stunning the Rams last week. They've won three in a row. They are playing hard. They're playing hard for Raheem Morris. And so there's a lot for him to think about as well. Obviously, there's other teams that have struggled down the stretch.

36:00Tom Pelissero:The Cardinals have in a big way. The Colts certainly have after they were the hottest team in football the first half of the season. And then just had this unbelievable mess of injuries from Daniel Jones to Traverius Ward to, you know, Sauce Gardner right after the big trade. DeForest Buckner having a season ending neck surgery now as well. There's a lot more questions than there are answers, Rich. And I think that that also extends to, you know, who the candidates potentially are going to be. There's not a Ben Johnson. There's not a Mike Vrabel. There's not an Aaron Glenn. There's none of those guys who a year ago I was sitting here on this show and saying, all right, those two or three guys, if they want jobs, they're going to get jobs in this cycle.

36:39Tom Pelissero:We don't have that. Mike McCarthy is certainly in that category. You know, a 60-something-year-old third-timer just isn't going to be for everyone. I think Mike's a really strong candidate. He's the clear one if you want to immediately reestablish core competency because he's won over 60 % of his games. He's been to the playoffs two-thirds of his NFL seasons. You know, where that leads. Is that Tennessee? Is that New York? Is that someplace else? Even the teams, I don't believe, have a great deal of clarity here. There's not going to be a situation, Rich, I would say this. There's not going to be a situation like last year where Mike Vrabel took a Jets interview the last week of the regular season.

37:13Tom Pelissero:And then the Patriots pulled in a couple of other interviews to clear the decks. And they had Mike Vrabel in place seven days after the regular season ended. I don't foresee that. I think these are going to be longer searches. And to at least some degree, I would point out that with the number of coaches that maybe have some level of uncertainty around their situations, Rich, there may be some of these owners who are waiting to see what happens in Cleveland. What happens in Baltimore? What, if anything, could happen in Pittsburgh? I don't have any indication that Mike Tomlin does not intend to return to the Steelers.

37:47Tom Pelissero:I do not believe that Art Rooney is ever going to fire Mike Tomlin. But if there were a world where Mike Tomlin would become available, that potentially could be the type of thing that could change the calculus for somebody as they're deciding what to do with their own coach.

37:58Rich Eisen:You want to take a stab at the quintessential didn't see that one coming? You want to take a stab at that?

38:05Tom Pelissero:Well, I mean, let me say this.

38:08Rich Eisen:I know it's speculation and I know you deal with facts. I understand that. I don't want to put you on the spot, but it usually does happen like, wait, whoa, didn't see that one coming.

38:16Tom Pelissero:Here's what I would say. If you're looking for the teams that usually create the surprises, there are teams that either fall just short of the playoffs or get into the playoffs and have a resounding defeat. Right now, one of the most disappointing teams in all of football, certainly the most disappointing team that's still in it, I think, is Tampa. At the beginning of the year, they were the team that had all their guys out. It was while Baker Mayfield's playing at an MVP level while throwing to practice squatters out there. Now they're largely healthy, and somehow they've gotten worse. They've lost seven of their last eight games.

38:50Tom Pelissero:They now need not just to beat the Panthers on Saturday, but get the Falcons to lose to the Saints in order to get into the playoffs. Todd Bulls signed a contract extension there last offseason. He has won the division each year that he has been there since taking over for Bruce Arians. I would just say that has the hallmarks of if the Bucs season ends in difficult fashion. that we, at minimum, there's a conversation that might be had about exactly what the future is going to look like in Tampa.

39:20Rich Eisen:All right. In a couple minutes I have left, let's go through some injury checks for the weekend. Who are you keeping an eye on right now in your notebook, Tom?

39:28Tom Pelissero:I mean, the biggest thing is obviously Lamar. Full practice week, first time in two months that he's practiced all three days in a week. You know, he had the back issue last week. They left the door for him all the way up until game day. You know, if it was he had rolled into Lambeau Field and said, guys I'm good to go they were going to put him out there with no practice sounds like he's in a better spot he's going to wear some additional padding but he's going to be good to go against the Steelers team that frankly has had his and the Ravens number for a lot of years now TJ Watt I know that there was some you know conflicting rumors out there but you know what I reported last weekend remains true which is he's expected to be available for the game this weekend we'll see now coming off of a several week layoff after getting a procedure to you know fix a small hole in his lung.

40:10Tom Pelissero:We'll see exactly what that means in terms of, is he playing 70 snaps this week? Is it something less than that? I wouldn't read too much into him being limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday because TJ Watt doesn't practice that much anyway early on in the week. But, you know, this has been about, he has taken a very deliberate approach to coming back. Certainly the Steelers, you know, have his best interests in mind in terms of putting him out there. But the plan all along is to have him available here in week 18. And then, you know, there's some others obviously you know the 49ers we'll see George Kittle I know wants to give it a go on Saturday he's officially listed as questionable that's a that's a pretty big one for the 49ers because the mismatches that he can create and the other thing I'd point out is you know Charles Cross is out for the Seahawks that's their left tackle for a 49ers team that Robert Sala has done unbelievable job this year with you know his rookies and practice squad rushers they've been rolling through there.

41:03Tom Pelissero:For Sam Darnold, entering a deja vu game, if there ever was one, Rich, once again, second straight year, going on the road with the difference between being the number one seed and having a bye and a home field advantage versus you lose and you're the wild card and you've got to go on the road in week one. The fact he's not going to have his blindside protector, I would not overlook that. I guarantee you Robert Sala is not overlooking that when he's figuring out exactly how he's going to attack Sam Darnold in that Seahawks offense on Saturday.

41:35Rich Eisen:Brother, you're one of the best. You're a good friend of the program as well. Happy New Year to you, and we'll see you on Sunday.

41:44Tom Pelissero:Happy New Year to you, Russ. Appreciate you guys.

41:46Rich Eisen:Tom Pelissero of the Insiders NFL Network, NFL Plus, NFL Game Day morning right here on the show. Lots of food for thought. 844-204-RICH, number to dial right here. You are next before Philip Rivers joined us top of the second hour.

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43:06Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Back here on The Rich Eisen Show, everybody. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. Let's go to Kevin in New York City here on The Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Kevin? No pressure. You're the first phone call of the new year, Kevin.

43:24Tom Pelissero:Can you hear me? Hey, Rich. Big fan. I just have a big point here, so please bear. It's not really directed to you in particular. I'm just a fan. I know you're an objective football mind. I'm just a bit tired of what I think is at times kind of disingenuous and, frankly, cherry-picked straight to schedule discourse around May's MVP case. Okay. Chris, you might have seen my Twitter post. But long story in a nutshell, May has produced more total yards, played objectively better and more efficiently against tougher pass defenses on average with the worst important cast in O-line. So, you know, I won't go down the list of every efficiency metric that he outstrips Stafford in, but he does also have fewer all-pro teammates, statistically objectively worse running game, an offensive line by rush rate.

44:08Tom Pelissero:So, and I think that the strength of schedule response is kind of service level. Opponent wins do not equate to quality of pass defense and may have played on average stinger pass defenses and have played better against top 10 defenses.

44:21Rich Eisen:Kevin in New York City says Drake May should be the MVP based on the metrics. Do you know how many touchdown passes May has thrown against an 11-win team this year?

44:29Tom Pelissero:Yes, again, but wins do not equate passes.

44:35Rich Eisen:So what's the answer, Kevin? What's the answer?

44:38Tom Pelissero:I mean, I think I saw an Orlovsky stat, something like 20 or something. No, zero.

44:42Rich Eisen:He's thrown zero touchdown passes against 11-win teams. Listen, we can go back and forth on it. I am actually going to spend the weekend drilling down on every last stat. I've got every possible stat for both of these guys. And I'm going to have to put a name in at some point. I'm not going to be able to tell you what it is until the NFL Honors makes the announcement. But I appreciate the call. I mean, May has so many different metrics to prove that he's the MVP. And so does Matthew Stafford. The only issue for Stafford is he had a clunker of a game most recently. And May had one of his best games of the year.

45:27Rich Eisen:So we will see how that all shakes out. Aside from what Kevin pointed out, that all the metrics point in Drake May's favor. Oh, okay. Didn't notice that. Because I have about five on the printer over there, five pages for Stafford. Well, I can give you this one then. What is it? I'm just telling you. I can give you all the metrics that you want. What is that? Against top 10 pass defenses.

45:48Tom Pelissero:Drake May played more games against those people. Had more touchdowns and more passing yards per game and an equal passer rating.

45:56Rich Eisen:Okay. Against common opponents, Drake May is 6-0 against common opponents. With more passing yards, passing touchdowns, lesser interceptions, and a higher passer rating. I mean, I can keep going as well. Okay, very good.

46:07Tom Pelissero:The fact that Drake May didn't play against any 11-win teams is no fault of his.

46:12Rich Eisen:You've watched him play. I'm sure he would have dominated an 11-win team had he played against them. Are you sure about that? We will see in the playoffs. I guess we will, except maybe not even, well, yeah, they're all going to be 11-win teams. Some 11-win team's going to walk into his house. We'll see what happens. But as you know, it's a regular season award, which is why the votes need to be in by Monday afternoon. So keep that in mind. certainly when the award gets announced the Thursday before the Super Bowl. A regular season quarterback award. Let's not forget to add. Oh, that's true, too.

46:50Rich Eisen:I understand. You know, that's the way it always works. Yeah, McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley not winning each of the last two seasons has proven that it will never be a running back ever again. McCaffrey is the most valuable player of the San Francisco 49ers head and shoulders above anybody else. You could make the case it's neck and neck between Mac Jones and Brock Purdy after that. Based on Mac Jones keeping the season alive and now Purdy turbocharging and since he's come back over the last couple weeks, including going over the Indianapolis Colts, who have zoomed in for our next hour, top of the hour guest, Phillip Rivers, man of the hour, coming up in hour two.

47:30Rich Eisen:The Ridge Eisen Show podcast. From 30 for 30 podcasts. I need him. He's on fire. Did you think I'm on that side?

47:43Tom Pelissero:Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. Brian, he scrapped him. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. We're placing your arrest. We had a killer amongst us.

48:01Rich Eisen:Murder at the U. Listen now.