Hour 1: NFL Insider Ian Rapoport’s Training Camps Round Up, plus Vikings’ QB Competition Aftermath

23:49The preseason games matter. And it's not like Todd Munkin and the crew there in Cleveland are going to make decisions only on the preseason games, but like they matter when the lights come on, how players play matters. And I think for both of these guys and Deshaun has not played in a while. Now when he's played in preseason, sounds like there's been some good, some bad, but you know, he said moments when he's fully healthy in regular seasons where you're like, this guy's a starting quarterback. Shador is interesting because not as consistent, doesn't know the operation and like doesn't have the experience, but make some plays where Brown's people are kind of like, definitely got something like definitely something is there.

24:34And that manifests itself in games. And so that one to me feels like it's going to go, you know, through the preseason and we'll see after both of them get some, get some real reps.

24:45Rich Eisen:Ian Rappaport here on the Rich Eisen show, where's the contracts for other quarterbacks or up for it? The running backs were taken care of or, Or, you know, is something going on with McCaffrey in San Francisco with tightness? Could that be something on that lines, Ian? I would be surprised if that was contract related. I feel like it's more tightness related. Okay. I haven't heard any momentum toward a Christian McCaffrey contract. I'm not saying it can't happen. I just have not heard any momentum toward it. So it feels to me like the running backs are done. The corners are still an open question, like will Devin Witherspoon get done?

25:29Question. Christian Gonzalez, that to me feels like it's farther off. That one, we'll see if that one gets done this training camp. It might not. And then if it doesn't, you can do deals during the season, but it's a little more of a challenge. So I would say that's where that kind of stands. Looking at my board behind me, we were able to actually cross off a lot of contract extensions while I was away. I haven't been back in this office in a while. We got a lot of guys we're going to erase, which is great. But then, you know, you still got some other guys who are going to compete. You mentioned Lamar.

26:04Could that happen? I don't believe Baker's getting done. Stroud? Stroud is still an open question. I know they've had some conversations. Don't know if that one is going to come to fruition, but we will see. We're going to keep keeping our eye on that one.

26:18Rich Eisen:You know, the tires that have been kicked on the Lamar conversation on this show over the last couple weeks, you know, reading between the lines, it seems like, you know, the Ravens are more eager than Lamar to get something done. Is that fair to say on that front? Yeah. I mean, again, I'm not saying nothing's going to be done before the season, but like this isn't a question of like, do the Ravens want to make him, to pay him and make him the highest paid quarterback in the NFL? Like, duh. You know, like, first of all, first of all, you know, not that there was any question about what kind of player or person he is, but sounds like his camp has been unbelievable.

26:55Full buy-in, which I said somewhere, and people were like, oh, well, you're saying he wasn't bought in before. It's like, just because you compliment one thing doesn't mean you're ripping another thing. It's not like Lamar was like, you know, sitting in the back of meetings with his feet up. It's just sometimes a change is necessary, and sounds like he's been really engaged with this new coaching staff, especially Jesse Minter. I think that relationship is going really well, So the Ravens do want to pay Lamar. Doesn't mean a deal is going to get done, but like at least there is the want to in Baltimore.

27:29Rich Eisen:Okay. A few more questions. I mean, my gosh, I can go a bunch of different places. Ian Rappaport here on the Rich Eisen show. You were just in Kansas. I got to go visit my mom after this. So we can't go so, so long. That's all good. Esther is waiting, Rich. Esther is waiting. Esther Rappaport. Esther. Esther. E-S-T-A. Esther. Esther. oh i don't again that that's the way my my new york city mother would pronounce esther so i just okay very good um she's a big fan she says hi to esther rap report for me please hello um you were just in kansas city give me give me what you picked up um from from holmes's readiness to everything else i mean i was with baldy and like if you ever watch a practice with Baldy, it is unbelievably fun.

28:14Because first of all, he's looking at things that you're not, like I'm not, just like how efficient something is. We're at practice, and Baldy goes, listen. I'm like, for what? He goes, just listen. What do you hear? And all he heard was Mahomes' voice. Full silence on the field, except for Patrick Mahomes calling signals and directing players. and he's like you can go around to the NFL and you won't hear that some yes like Pittsburgh you hear Aaron Rodgers voice right I mean it's like the you know these these starting quarterback leaders Joe Burrow you know and I mean there's I'm not going to go through them Stafford there's a lot of them um but it's not all and like Mahomes was in charge and that was a cool practice to see he looked so good I mean I can't overstate how normal he looked and like you know you come off the field talking to Chiefs people and it was plenty of topics to get to like we talked about Kelsey and the offensive line being rebuilt and what they like of this these new defensive pieces as they remake their defense and the draft picks there's a lot to like but everybody was like how about Mahomes and I'm like how about him he looked really really really good well who's he throwing to you know he's got i mean first of all kelsey looked good too i thought um and i you know spent some time with kelsey after it is interesting you know he's got like a separate sort of celebrity life i guess it is interesting how much well like no well no because he's obviously he's married to someone very famous but like they probably still like sit at nine o 'clock at night and watch netflix and oh no they're they're like they're like a normal couple but i mean you know the the pod

30:01Rich Eisen:and everything else i sure you know uh for sure can can throw somebody off of just any equilibrium but he does seem to have it all down pat you know he likes he loves being atst joe's he likes the training camp he likes the you know eating with buddies and living in dorms and like i was just I wasn't ready for how much he would like it. And I thought that was kind of cool. Like this is like a little bit of his sanctuary. And so you could see why a guy who doesn't need to play, who has plenty of money, who has nothing left to prove his one titles keeps playing. Cause he just likes the environment so much.

30:38But anyway, like you got Rasheed Rice who I thought pretty good. You know, you got Taekwon Thornton, you got some other, you know, some other receivers who probably we don't know yet but we're going to um yeah ken walker who's going to be used in the past game more than we've seen in the past okay they've got guys they've got

30:58Rich Eisen:some guys i mean they got xavier worthy who you know season got blown up receiver but another good one yeah and he got he got blown up and a friendly fire unfortunately in just the first series of last season where things just immediately started going south for the shoes in in brazil um but you're saying everyone's engaged everyone feels good like this is you you left chief's camp saying thinking what essentially you know i mean first of all it was a really hard camp you know like hold on somebody i'll look for this as i as i keep talking because somebody there texted me an interesting little nugget about their practice So it was eight long, full padded practices the last 10 days.

31:41And so I came out there and like you could imagine they look sluggish, like are they highly efficient, energized, organized and really good. And so, like, you know, it's tough to know how good a team is going to be because some of that is like health and and randomness and schedule and all the things. But like I left there being like they are going to be really, really good.

32:03Rich Eisen:Did you go to Chicago? Did you visit the Bears? at any point no Chicago um miss Chicago miss the Packers missed a couple good ones well the one about the Bears that you know obviously outside real quick what do you know about the stadium are they really going to be known as the Indiana Bears is that really happening no okay what do you got for me I mean I shouldn't say no they're not first of all no okay but my understanding is there's nothing coming today now like George McCaskey is I believe talking to media so like he's probably going to say something right but like sometimes the internet goes crazy and comes out with something and i'm always like you know and i'll check on everything which is generally annoying but also my job really sums up a lot of my job but um you know i was like debating last night as i was racing through the kansas city airport um like should i put out something that says like hey by the way nothing is coming but that's sort of like a weird news to post so i just left it alone right but like no like nothing is coming and the word is though is that what what what would have been coming is part of the deal is the bears have to put the word indiana in their in their name you know like yeah that one i find hard to believe in i have not confirmed that no no one in the no has told me that i'll be i'll be straight up because i just no one has told me that the straight up the the whole point that you hear from some of the bears uh brass when they talk about it is that you know the spot in indiana is technically still part of chicagoland and could be even easier to get to from chicago than the arlington heights site you know and so why would they go ahead and just say not only are we moving out of chicago proper we're just going to call ourselves the Indiana Bears, which would just be out of, you know, my branding skull.

33:54Rich Eisen:I can't even think about that right now. But so you're saying nothing's coming today based you can tell and that's not what's on your radar screen. I mean, look, as far as the Indiana Bears, like I've been surprised before in this business, you know, getting the call to Miles Garrett's about to be traded. Like, you know, there's been some there's been some times and I've been like, you know sauce gardener trade last year like holy cow i would do a holy cow if they were the indiana bears okay now could could move there for sure could move there right i think that is very very possible um especially if indiana doesn't sort of step up and emerge with what everyone is waiting on right but i would be surprised if that was the name okay um and so you you just mentioned miles garrett so uh before i let you go let's talk a little bit of rams certainly for our ESPN LA radio audience here.

34:46Rich Eisen:We have a fun segment that we came up with just spitballing, which is what we do here on the program about 10 days ago. Go ahead. A. A. Ron. Is he back yet? Where is A. A. Ron right now? Alright, is he back yet? Why was McCaffrey there? You can pop it up again, Don, if you don't mind. Sean Mitchell, Rich Eisen Show, Los Angeles Sports Honk put a scared Darnold and a disappointed McCaffrey as part of this. Is that scary? The reason why Del Tufo and Brockman are there is they are season ticket holders and they're smiling because their resale value is going to go up. I won't. You're not going to go to games?

35:28Rich Eisen:No. Maybe one or two. Oh, Mike works for Fox, so he's got to do this and that. I'm going to three this year. Three. Are you counting the Cowboy game you're going to take me? So two-thirds of your tickets are available. Great. I go to the games. I digress. Is he back yet? He is not back yet. He could be back. He could make a decision soon or he could not. Or he could not. That's why he's got all those credentials. That's exactly it. People are expecting a decision tomorrow. If it's possible. Or he could just not make a decision tomorrow and go, you know what? I want to wait. But there's no timeline as far as anyone is concerned because let's say Aaron Donald does come back tomorrow.

36:18Okay, fine. He's not going to play in the preseason. He might not even play week one or week two or week three, week four. He needs to get ready. He needs to be able to bounce back. He needs to know his body can do that. He's not signing up for week one. He's signing up for week 19 or whatever, 20, right? Trying to do the math there. 21, 22, anyway. yep um so i mean could he decide sure uh might he wait sure um it's really just kind of and this is how the rams are taking it just whatever he wants to do and there's some still some discussions like he's on the books for 30 million maybe they pay him that maybe they alter the contract um i don't know um but it's really just like does he want to play yes or no that's the first

37:02Rich Eisen:decision 30 million is that what it would be yeah really which like was crazy money then but like that's what the great defensive tackles make now i don't know but i mean like i'll i'll i'll play with miles garrett for 30 million dollars i know i don't have the same effect as aaron donald but um not not quite not quite at all uh is there any problem with puka's groin man like what's going on and and is he in danger of missing games because of a suspension as well what are you hearing about on that front uh groin should be okay that was more precautionary Got it. The disciplinary stuff is I don't believe anything has been decided there.

37:40At least if it has, I don't know about. Now, he's had quite an eventful offseason. And, you know, when you have those kinds of things, I believe, you know, there can be some disciplinary result. Obviously, some of that has been in the public going to rehab, the biting allegedly apparently ran into a glass door at Michael Rubin's thingy. um there's a lot a lot going on hopefully he is in a better place um but as far as all that i

38:09Rich Eisen:don't believe anything's been decided i hope he didn't do that at michael rubens thingy because he came out to get out of the white suit damn uh all right so let's uh before i send you to go see your mom go ahead please get grab a credential off the coat rack this is great every credential he's ever gotten it's totally random we have music like i'm not gonna pull a letter and i I would ask for music for it, but don't worry about it. He's already pulled it. What do you got? Game show? I got, this is a Miami baseball, NCAA baseball regional. Mississippi State played Miami in 2005. Yes. I spent most of my time hanging out in Coconut Grove.

38:48Nice. I was working for the Jackson Clarence Ledger. They, I believe they won one game and lost two.

38:56Rich Eisen:Anybody that made the show from that game? Ooh. ooh there's a couple good Miami players they had like three players drafted I'd have to go back and look okay um Mississippi State had a player named Brad Corley who's drafted in the second round by the Pirates but didn't end up making it but I think on that Miami team there was a couple good ones who made it all right there you go anytime you come on and you're in your office this is what we have to do now this is a new game I like it I like it Ian you're the best Thanks again, pal. Say hi to your mother for me. Ian Rappaport, everybody. Speaking of which, Mark Wahlberg is on our docket for first week of September.

39:36Rich Eisen:Oh, yeah. We should have him talk to the animals when he's here. Remember that? Say hi to your mother for me. All right, we'll take a break. All over the map, the great Ian Rappaport. There you go. Back with more in a moment. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

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41:09Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here with some advice. If high interest credit card debt is grinding you down, it might be time to call an audible with a SoFi personal loan. It consolidates your debt into one low monthly payment with no fees required. And with as soon as the same day funding, you can make the right play fast. Call an audible on your debt today at SoFi.com slash debt play. Loans originated by SoFi Bank N.A. Member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. Fast funds terms apply at SoFi.com slash debt play. Yada, yada, yada. Back on the Rich Eisen show, we just showed a clip on our TV side of me having an argument in the 2024 Halloween with a Dodger fan.

41:51Rich Eisen:and I went back at him because the Yankees had more championships recently than the Dodgers, and the Dodgers have won, subsequently, the next two World Series. So I can't have that conversation. Yeah, that didn't age well. Repeat. Don't have much of a leg to stand on. But you're arguing in the banana suit. The first of those two World Series came at the expense of the Yankees. That's funny. It's just in. Running a small business means every hire matters, people. A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one? Well, that helps your business grow. The challenge is finding that person without sorting through resumes.

42:25Rich Eisen:That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so you can focus on conversations with qualified talent. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence and build the team you need. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash eisen. Terms and conditions apply. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. One of the many reasons why I love doing this show is I get to talk with people. People get to talk with us. You're a people person. I don't know if you want to hear from this guy, though. Is he an eagle fan?

42:57Rich Eisen:Oh, yeah. Kellen in Austin, Texas. You're on the Rich Eyes Show. What's up, Kellen? Hey, how's it going? What's up, Kellen? What's up, Kellen? Not much. Well, I'm a Cowboys fan. Okay. And I'm really devoted. Sorry, go ahead. Mike, just let him talk, man. Don't talk over the guests. college. Well, I'm a devoted Cowboys fan, but that doesn't mean I'm not realistic. And I am really struggling not to drink the Kool-Aid because I'm hearing everybody starting to sing praises about this team. I'm seeing the footage from them in practice with the Rams. And then I tune into my favorite show on ESPN, the Rich Eisen show yesterday.

43:37Rich Eisen:And I see your power rankings and you have them at four are you kidding me yeah no i'm not why i but i just i'm i don't want to be hurt again rich kellen kellen kellen kellen kellen kellen it's called fandom okay you get hurt you gotta you gotta bounce back you gotta be a fanatic okay you gotta focus you gotta know at some point hopefully in your lifetime it sounds like you're manning what your 20s early 30s kellen i'm in my early 30s okay very good listen uh hopefully in your lifetime time, you're going to see the Cowboys finally deliver what you want them to deliver. And in order for that to happen, you've got to have an elite quarterback.

44:16Rich Eisen:Is Dak Prescott an elite quarterback? I believe so. Absolutely. I mean, just look at his numbers. Look at his ability to lead. I understand that, you know, when push comes to shove and win or go home time, we haven't seen it. But you got that. Do you have elite receivers? Do you have elite receivers? Do you have elite receivers? Do you have a run game that can You had Rashawn Gary on, and I'm sitting here listening to him, and I'm like, I've never been more confident that we have a great team culture now. What a leader. What a great guy. Right. You've got to be able to sack the quarterback. You've got to be able to take the top of the defense off with your quarterback.

44:53Rich Eisen:You've got to be able to run the ball. You also have to be able to defend on the back end. You've got to have good young talent and a coach that is emotionally intelligent enough to plug himself in and sell what everybody else is buying. I just described the Cowboys going into the 2026 season. I mean, that's just the honest truth. And that's why they're in my top five. I mean, I understand they were 7-9-1 last year. I understand no team's ever gone from giving up the most points on defense in one season and then the next winning the Super Bowl. I get all of that. But, Kellen, do you need a hug?

45:31Rich Eisen:Is that what you need? I did last year. When Parsons was traded, my wife came home from work to find me curled up in bed holding my Micah Parsons jersey. Now you're curled up with Kenny Clark next to Rashawn Gary, next to Quinton Williams and Ezra Raku with Overshawn behind him. My guy Barham is there. You got Bland on the back end. You got this kid Caleb Downs. You got T.J. Jefferson. Tell him to believe in the few seconds we have left. Listen, Kellen, we always have to temper our expectations. You know, as Cowboys fans, they're going to hate us no matter what we do. But you know what? Straight up.

46:08Rich Eisen:I feel good, brother. I feel good. I'm not saying we're going to win the Super Bowl. Say it. Yet. But. Say it. Feel good, baby. Say it. I think we're going to have a great season this year, man. Let's go. Say it for Kellen. All right. No. I can't. Come on, T. I don't want to have him curled up on the ball. Hold on a minute. Quick hug. Quick hug. Here we go. Hug. Tap, tap. And then we separate. ring. That's Kellen and Austin. Call back, Kellen, throughout the season. Boy, he's got scars, man. Wow. What do you Cowboys do to you people? You people? Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast.

46:39Rich Eisen:You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.