Hour 1: Jets’ Rebuild Skepticism, plus NFL Network’s Kurt Warner

0:00Rich Eisen:Luminum Al steps into McDonald's, looks left, sees Pulisic, looks right, sees Jimenez. Gives a nod to Ronaldinho in the corner with a FIFA World Cup meal. Ronaldinho sees Son in the booth. Son finds Beckham going for extra Big Mac sauce. He's got Davies at the table just behind him. Davies going for his collectible cup. A steal by Henri, who pulls his own collectible cup. Collect one of nine legendary cups with a FIFA World Cup meal. At participating McDonald's for a limited time. While supplies last, all rights reserved. 2026 McDonald's at FIFA World Cup 2026. Are all batteries the same? That's like asking if all soccer players are the same.

0:37Rich Eisen:Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that? No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with Power Boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Goats only trust Goats, because they're built different. And Messi only trusts Duracell. This 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.

1:27Rich Eisen:Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show. The Jets? I haven't enjoyed a football season since 1969. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Jets are tearing it all down. Wow. They really are. Today's guests, pro football hall of famer, Kurt Warner. Chargers safety, Derwin James. Senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Well, hey, everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show here on a Wednesday. Kurt Warner coming up. So much to talk about from yesterday to talk about with him. Derwin James, our neighbor across the street of the Los Angeles Chargers, Albert Breer, to tell us why everything went down yesterday.

2:18Rich Eisen:There's you at 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. I've got my power rankings as well, which means there'll be a lot of chirping from the audience. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you? I'm great. It's weird because we were so close to making a deal to get rid of Del Tufo yesterday. No. I was going to be tricked. It was close. We were going to send him to McAfee. I might leave in like two weeks. It was so close. Excuse me. You're like Garrett Wilson. You're untouchable. Thank you, Rich. See, I respect that, Rich. Huh? Everybody accuses me of getting on you. We were so close. See, you're untouchable.

2:48Rich Eisen:We got calls. And I don't mean one of the untouchables that wound up in the elevator. No. I don't want to be that guy. I mean, truly untouchable. Spoiler alert. I like it. T.J. Jefferson Candles, good to see you, man. How are you? Do you mean we couldn't trade him for, like, I don't know, say, like, the Wolf or somebody? Hey, listen, you got Quinn and Williams yesterday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just be quiet. Listen, the Cowboys started with Logan Wilson and ended with Quinn and Williams. And it went from, like, man, Jerry doesn't know what. Wait a minute. Hold on a second. Settle down just a little bit.

3:16Rich Eisen:Yeah, settle down just a little bit. You may wind up with Quinn and Williams. My team did nothing. Well, Rich, I'm going to need you to talk me down a little bit because, you know, all the talking head experts are now saying we gave up too much. but I know you'll be able to make this discussion on the program. Thank you. I appreciate it. Listen, but it all does start with a team that dismantled its top five defense by trading away its two best defensive players in a span of about an hour for multiple draft choices, first rounds as well. Two ones for a 24-year-old corner in Sauce Gardner, who's just three years removed from being Offensive Rookie of the Year, or two years, really.

3:57Rich Eisen:defensive rookie of the year and and um and quinnon williams who was one of the best in the business and uh guys that jets fans thought would be the lifetime jets and in the same way you don't trade somebody like micah parsons at age 26 doing what he does those guys don't get traded neither do guys who are 27 like quinnon williams doing what he does and somebody in their mid-20s like sauce gardener doing what he's done and but just like everything with the jets it can't just be discussed in a vacuum which is why we begin today's show on wait for it january 4th 2000 oh why would i choose that date because in the year 2000 excuse me in the year 2000

4:52it's just as i said not in a vacuum we're talking about this century that is a quarter of the way

5:00Rich Eisen:done bill belichick on that day january 4th 2000 wrote on a cocktail napkin i am resigning as the hc of the nyj he had just been named the head coach the day before and he resigned and the Parcells era that had the Jets having this guy as his defensive coordinator and the Jets on the precipice of the Super Bowl in an AFC championship game in Denver only to run it back the next year with Vinny Testaverde only to have him wait for it see if you've heard this one before blow out his Achilles in the first game and then have it go down the tubes in that year of 2000, it started with that. And then three months later, the first round selection, who was the centerpiece of the offense of the Parcells era, the first overall pick.

5:57Rich Eisen:Yes, kids, wide receivers used to get picked first overall. Keyshawn Johnson gets traded. Boom, boom. Belichick gone. Parcells is gone. Keyshawn's gone. And they traded him. to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Stop me if you've heard that one before. And they got the 13th and 27th overall picks in the first round of the 2000 draft because they got a first rounder for Keyshawn. And yeah, sure enough, this rebuild that led to Al Groh taking over the Jets with Wayne Krabat, this rebuild is one of their most successful. because with that choice, they chose Jonathan Abraham. You remember John Abraham? Absolutely.

6:47Rich Eisen:He got 53 and a half sacks for the Jets. He played 15 years, but only six with the Jets. And he was terrific. He tied Klecko and Gasino's single game record once with four sacks in a game. They also got Anthony Beck with the 27th overall pick. He was a 12-year pro, just played five for the Jets. and um that worked out with herman edwards to the tune of herm taking the team to the playoffs a few times and going two and three a high watermark is when they boat raced peyton manning out of the playoffs once that happened kids but it bottomed out in 2005 when they went four and 12 despite having hall of famers named ty I lost Curtis Martin and Kevin Y on the team.

7:33Rich Eisen:But at any rate, so Abraham gets franchised, tagged, and he gets pissed because it was slapped on him. He didn't want it. And he wants to be traded, and the Jets oblige him in 2006. And they wound up trading him to Atlanta, and they got a first-round selection for that in the 2006 draft that turned into, may he rest in peace, Nick Mangold. and in that draft they also used their own pick on DeBricashaw Ferguson that set up this offensive line and that set things up for the next year they drafted Darrell Rivas and that eventually led to Rex Ryan showing up and with Rex and Rivas and Sanchez and Mangold and DeBricashaw Ferguson they made not one but two AFC championship games so buttons got pushed and the Jets got to the precipice again all in having to fall to crap and darrell revis who is a jet supposedly for life he winds up having all these contract disputes that get played out on hard knocks and he wants to be traded and the jets oblige him to stop me you've heard this before trade him to Tampa for a 2013 NFL draft overall draft choice, number 13 overall, who turned into Sheldon Richardson.

8:57Rich Eisen:And he played a grand total of four years for the New York Jets. They also got a fourth round pick in Jalen Saunders, who is not in the Jets ring of honor. So that one didn't work out so well because Rex bottoms out. He gone. He gone. Jets do nothing I mean Rex went 4-2 in the playoffs the two losses in the AFC championship game the high watermark is when they knocked Tom Brady out of the playoffs can't wait all that stuff didn't lead to a ring though came close but it all bottoms out again

9:38Rich Eisen:2018 new fangled Broadway Sam shows up It's not the same darn old Jets. I had a t-shirt. Charlie, you're a king of spring, and the NFL Network gave me that for my birthday. Thank you, Charlie. That's now a relic. He shows up. Third overall pick in 2018. Yes, kids, the kid who's killing it right now for the Seahawks. Same ghost. Had that happen to him while he was a Jet.

10:10Rich Eisen:And Todd Bowles is the coach. They fire him. After drafting Darnold because they want to hook him up with an offensive guru, and the guy that they hook him up with is Adam Gase. Was he looking around for an exit sign? He was looking for tacos. It's Gase. Two seasons with him. He gone. He gone. And sure enough, in comes Robert Sala because Gase bottomed out so badly they have the second overall pick and they use it on Zach Wilson and welcome from BYU to New York City from BYU to NYC Zach, he's the hope so we gotta trade Darnold, right? and they off Darnold to the Panthers in exchange for a 6th round pick in 2021 plus a second and a fourth in the 2022 draft, which the Jets crushed.

11:18They crushed.

11:20Rich Eisen:Because guess who showed up with that second round draft choice? Brees Hall. Brees Hall. And in that draft, in the first round, they used the second of their two first, three first rounders on Garrett Wilson. yep that's what they did oh by the way reason why they had garrett wilson they had the draft choice for him is because in between donald and zach wilson they traded away jamal adams as another reset to seattle which gave them two first rounders including that was a great trade the one they used on garrett wilson who wound up yesterday being untouchable along with apparently Brees Hall. But Sauce, who they chose as their first draft choice in 2022, he's gone for two ones as there's another reset.

12:26Rich Eisen:I actually decided to use artificial intelligence.

12:33Rich Eisen:and i went to the old ai machine and i put in how many rebuilds have there been for the jets how many jets rebuilds have there been and this is what shows up post name at decline search for success that included coslet carolyn coat tight oh the bill parcells era the post parcells edwards era and then also post rex ryan oh there's a name that we haven't mentioned yet robert sala and there's another name that we haven't mentioned yet and eric mangini because two of the other reset slash rebuilds included two defensive-minded head coaches who got their first head coaching gigs with the jets and it all went down to tubes eventually for him because the packers future first ballot hall of famer 2.0s didn't work out for them far for mangini although it didn't mangini name one of his kids far for the middle name or brett got a tattoo or something i don't remember and sala obviously as we all know famously with aaron rogers so it's kind of a tough sell when you're the general manager fresh to the job in darren muji to sell this thing as hope.

13:58Rich Eisen:I know he's new. Aaron Glenn knows all about this stuff because he was part of the Parcells era. But he's new to the gig, and we can't put all the last wait for it quarter century on top of him. Although you look at the AI, this goes back to the Nixon administration. but he's going to go out there and sell this to the Jets fan base as hope get it Darren Brees Hall if you're going to trade these two guys what went into not trading Brees because it would seem like the guy who's a pending free agent would be part of the would be part of the teardown here I wouldn't call it a teardown and I understand the question, but like I said, through these processes, we talk about a lot of things and we field a lot of calls and we've got values and Brees is a talented player and he's going to help us compete and win games the rest of the season.

15:03Rich Eisen:Except maybe not this Sunday, but you know, he's right though. It's not a teardown. They didn't trade Brees, who I, you know, bless him, because at this point in time, he's a free agent. He can walk. I mean, I guess they can do their best to try and keep him. Crazier things have happened. I do remember everybody thought Reggie Wayne. I do remember Reggie Wayne was gone, everybody thought, in Indianapolis when they were sucking for luck. And he stayed and look at what happened. I understand. And they thankfully looked at Garrett Wilson and said, not him. Not today. Correct. And again, we don't know how large the iceberg is underneath.

15:43Rich Eisen:and Aaron Glenn and Mugi and everybody else there have taken stock on who's on the boat and who's not. Who's rowing against us and who's rowing with us. I get it. I understand. And plus two ones is tough to turn down even for somebody as young and good as Sauce. But I think Joe Manganiello, bless him, who's enjoying the fruits of his Aaron Rodgers labor, unlike some of the Jets fans over the last two years, although it's a different organization as this last 12 minutes have pointed out in Pittsburgh than it is for the Jets uh he sent me this post this tweet um I don't know who Zoo Kruger is I do know he's got a Namath emoji I saw this yesterday but this sums it up if you weren't with the Jets during the rebuild don't be with us during the rebuild very funny as we said yesterday it's like no now now now now is when all of the assets that we've had because we rebuilt before and we got and we came close with or the rebuild assets that we got that we didn't come close with and thus we have to trade them for another rebuild all of those assets who rebuilt the team into just having to rebuild again because we didn't have this right or that right now now is when it turns yeah sure why not it's a tough one it's a very tough one but you do have to go on they do have multiple draft choices in the first and second days for the next two drafts that they can actually build the team with.

17:42Rich Eisen:You know, Matt Miller, our colleague at the Worldwide Leader, says the 2027 draft, that's the one that's going to be loaded. That's the one that the Jets have the Colts' first-round pick, Dallas' first-round pick, and their own first-round pick. That'll be in Washington, D.C., by the way. And that, you know, again, it's just, hey, Jets fans, you just got to hope that this thing turns around faster. Man, hope is not a strategy. Hope that Aaron Glenn has got it. Again, they started 0-10-1 in Detroit with Dan Campbell, and then, what, 1-5 the next year or something like that? And then it turned around, and I'll look at him.

18:23Rich Eisen:So you got to hope, and that Muji is the one, unlike, you know, Isaac and Bradway and Douglas and all the other general managers who have come and gone as part of the rebuilds, nail it, and then you pay them and you keep them and they're happy. And you win and you turn into, say, the Patriots all of a sudden or the Lions or Seahawks with Darnold. Colts. Colts. But in the meantime, if you weren't with him for the rebuild, then we don't want you for this rebuild. He definitely said that. Not in a vacuum. You can't look at it in a vacuum. You certainly cannot look at it in a vacuum. Really good. 46 years.

19:16Rich Eisen:And that's the way it goes. But they do have the draft choices, but they don't have Quinton Williams, and they don't have Darrell Rivas anymore, and those are the guys as part of the rebuild. who are supposed to build something where you don't trade them and you keep winning and you don't churn through coaches and general managers and you win. But now, now this is it. That's why they call fans. It's a base of fanatics. 844-204-RICH, number to dial Kurt Warner when we come back. His thoughts on all of this. And he's got some interesting thoughts on the Jaden Daniels injury as well coming up.

19:55Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

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21:04Rich Eisen:That was so infectious. Now it was a great trip, but you know what it's like dealing with the travel. The airport is packed, hotels are booked up, restaurants all busy. And when you have that kind of influx of visitors in your city, a lot of them are searching for a place that feels a little bit more like home during their trip. That's why this can be a smart time to think about listing your own space on Airbnb. If you've got plans to be away this summer, consider listing your space on Airbnb while you're gone and earn some extra cash. It's simple. You're already traveling, so your place doesn't just sit empty while your city is busy.

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22:02Rich Eisen:The ESPN radio presented by Progressive Insurance audience has returned in the middle of the end of Kurt Warner telling us how back in 2007, he suffered a very similar injury, if not the same exact injury that Jaden Daniels suffered and was able to just come right back and play the next week with a brace and not, you know, saying that that's what Jaden Daniels should do. It's just what happened back then. And you had mentioned, Kurt, that Julius Peppers landed on your arm as in what twisted it all up like that. Have you seen Julius at the Hall of Fame and revisited this conversation moment with him at all, Kurt, or no, not at all?

22:39I've seen Julius and I've congratulated him on the Hall of fame, but this was not part of the conversation that we had. I didn't want to rehash that at all. So I'm sure Julius doesn't even remember. He's just going for a football like I was, but, uh, but I'll never forget that for sure. Um, you know, I thought something interesting too, like when I went back in and played, uh, an interesting thing is when we actually got down into the red zone, they took me out and put in Tim Rattay because of, you know, some of the aspects of the red zone and handing off in tight spaces and not wanting me to hand off with my off arm.

23:12And so, you know, we took some unique precautions to make sure that I could play, but also, you know, wasn't hurting our team or myself in any way. And, you know, I think that would be another thing with Jaden Daniels is he plays the game, obviously very different than I played the game, you know, running the ball and that aspect of things is such a dynamic part of, of Jaden's game that, you know, that could be another element in a, if we put him back in there, you know is he going to put himself more in harm's way because he's used to running and making plays as opposed to me just standing in the pocket and delivering throws so just another aspect to you

23:49Rich Eisen:know to consider Kurt Warner here on the Rich Eisen show there's two injured quarterbacks uh in Kyler Murray and Mac and um Brock Purdy right now both in the NFC West and we've seen what Mac Jones has done with Purdy being out. Purdy has this big fat contract. So does Kyler Murray. Jacoby Brissett, as I mentioned yesterday, Kurt, the offense looks so much better under him. And as we find out, Kyler Murray may need another couple weeks still to be recovered. And a lot of people are wondering if that's just cover for the obvious. is from your estimation brissette operating this drew petzing offense better than kyler murray kurt well i mean yeah i think you could say better i mean i i would just say more on schedule and more on time you know that's just who jacoby is you know he's always been um you know a pocket type passer that that plays on time and on schedule and um kyler um although really good when he's throwing to his number one guy and he knows where he wants to go with football, obviously is a different kind of playmaker when he kind of gets beyond that and wants to create and make the big plays in other ways.

25:07And so when you're looking at in structure and timing and all of that stuff, yeah, Jacoby's playing this offense and playing within this offense better than I think Kyler did. But they're just, they're different. And a lot of it does come down to how you want to play or feeling like even though Kyler may not do some of the things Jacoby has done, he does other things that makes their team better or different or special in different ways. And that's the interesting dynamic here is that, yes, it's easy to throw on the tape and say, okay, this looks better. This looks more on schedule. And maybe they've even been more successful in certain situations than they were with Kyler.

25:51But that doesn't automatically mean that this team is better and their offense is better without Kyler Murray and the dynamics that he brings. So it's an interesting situation when you have two guys like this situation that play drastically different. And then you talked about the San Francisco situation. Those are two guys that play very similar in how they're going to play the game. And so comparing the two of them, you know, I think you have to do it in a different way.

26:22Rich Eisen:And obviously there's contracts that come into this. I mean, the Niners just paid a ton of money and it's his locker room or it has been. And I understand these toe injuries take a while to come back. But you're seeing how Mac Jones is playing. And back in the day, Bledsoe, right? Belichick stayed with the hot hand. And so what's your philosophy on all of this? Again, it's all different situations with contracts and when they were paid. Kyler got paid a couple years ago, maybe different in Arizona than it is in San Francisco. But what's just your general sense on this subject matter? Yeah, obviously tough because I ended up getting my job because of an injury to Trent Green.

27:04I think the one different caveat to that was Trent was a season-ending injury. And so I had an entire season body of work, and we obviously won the Super Bowl that year. And so I think there can be situations like that with a prolonged body of work. A player that came in due to injury can hold on to that seat if the team is playing well and rallied around him. And, you know, and they're just playing good football, I guess, in terms of what Dick Vermeule said about me, playing good football in that situation. But I also think that it's easy for us to see a change in an offense when a guy goes in and automatically think, oh, that guy's just as good or that guy gives us the best opportunity to win.

27:54And the coaching staff and people in the building go, well, we can't forget about this playmaking aspect or this thing that Brock does different or that Kyler does different. And the reasons why we paid these guys, I know it's easy to forget that when the other guy goes in and you win or his stats are pretty good. But that, to me, is always the element when it comes back to that time. I think ultimately it should come down to who's the best guy for the job? Like, who's the guy that gives us the best chance that we believe is the best player in this situation? And we should play them. I've always felt that doesn't matter what situation you're in or where you're drafted or how much money you make.

28:39The one thing that I always thought was the beauty of sports was if you found yourself in a situation where it was true competition, where it was, hey, these are the guys that we have, the best player will play regardless. Nothing matters. We're going to throw out all the other stuff and we're going to let the best player play. And that to me is what sport has always been. And, you know, I can use my situation in Arizona. They had drafted Matt high. He had played in 06, you know, and then, you know, Ken Wisenhunt, when he came in, kind of opened up the job again and said, I understand the situation and I understand, you know, Matt probably, you know, is going to get the first reps and get the first opportunity, but we're going to open it up and let the best player win the job.

29:24And I was very skeptical because a lot of situations are dictated by a lot of those other things. You know, how high did we draft them? How much have we invested in them? But he stuck true to his word and said, Kurt, you're the better player at this stage in your career. We're going to have you start. And it you know, that meant a lot to me and obviously meant a lot to my career to be able to be inserted back into that situation. And so normally I would say you don't lose your job because of injury. You know, if you suffer a short term injury and you were the guy before that that earned the job, you deserve the right to be placed back in there.