Hour 1:  NFL WR Power Rankings, plus 3-Time Super Bowl Champion Ed McCaffrey In-Studio

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1:00Rich Eisen:This episode is brought to you by Welch's Fruit Snacks. Back-to-school season can be tough on parents, but choosing a snack you and your kids can both get behind doesn't have to be. Stock up on Welch's Fruit Snacks, made with whole fruit, and now made with no artificial dyes. It's a snack kids already love and one you can feel good about giving them. Go back to school with Welch's Fruit Snacks, now made with no artificial dyes. 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.

1:42Rich Eisen: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. Now, on with the show. Let's begin. This is the Rich Eisen Show. What do you think we are, gangsters? From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Running backs should be paid because of what these guys do. Today's guests, three-time Super Bowl champion receiver Ed McCaffrey, Commander's radio analyst London Fletcher, actor Anthony Michael Hall, and now it's Rich Eisen. Everybody, it is the Rich Eisen Show here on a very busy first Wednesday in the month of August 2026, 844-204-RICH, number to dial right here on the program.

2:39Rich Eisen:All sorts of good stuff here in this neighborhood. Ed McCaffrey is joining us here. He's got a couple kids playing in the National Football League. I don't know if you've heard about that. That's so cool. But one of the all-time best Denver Broncos and one of the more decorated Broncos is going to be here in just 20 minutes time in person. And Ed's talking about granola. All right. Words that I've never said about any Ed or any foodstuff named granola here on this program. We're going to talk about that very much, but we shall here. And how many shows can say we're going to have Ed McCaffrey talking about granola and then a bonafide Brad Packer in our number three and Anthony Michael Hall.

3:19Rich Eisen:And then in between, London Fletcher is going to join us on this program. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right here on this great day. It's Xander, my oldest's birthday. He is 18 years old today. Oh, wow. And he's too busy in his internship right now. He's not hearing this, but love you, bud. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you? I remember one of the first days I met X. I've known him since he was about three years old. That's right. Happy birthday. Yeah, he's 18. I have an 18-year-old today. Jason Feller, how are you, buddy? Hey, what's up, Rich? Good to see you. They're back.

3:53Rich Eisen:I remember what these buttons do. Thus end Del Tufo's streak at 12 days. Was he here for 12 straight days? He was. Did he pull anything? Did he? We know. Is that why he's not here? Is that why he's not here? He actually pulled something being here 12 straight days. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. What's going on? Hey, Rich, you know, on Wednesdays, we wear pink. Okay. Very good. What is that from again? Mean girls. Mean girls. Okay. Good to see you, sir. How are you? I'm good, bro. How about yourself? I'm doing fine. How are you feeling, though, dog? 18 years old. That's like. Yeah, man. What's that?

4:27Rich Eisen:How are you feeling? A blink of an eye. It goes fast, man. 18 years old. Kind of crazy. But yeah, all is good in that neighborhood. 844-204-RICH. Hello, Disney Plus audience, ESPN app audience, ESPN radio, and Sirius XM audiences. Of course, we say hello to our podcast listeners. Just because you're not listening live doesn't mean I don't get to say hello to you all. You just can't call us at 844-204-RICH. Because if you call us, we might not be here if you're listening whenever you're done. Speaking of darn well-pleasing, didn't expect to start this way. But you know what? I mean, we could start with Tarek Skubal losing his first start as a Los Angeles Dodger for having them losing five games in a row for a team that everybody said, oh, it's all over.

5:18Rich Eisen:It's all over baseball because they got Tarek Skubal. We could talk about your Boston Red Sox, but I don't wish to. We could do that later. 29 out of the last. Basically talk baseball. We can talk baseball all we want. and there is lots to talk about on this show. Later on, we shall. But right now, normally we don't start the show this way, but I'm going to do it because it's football and I'm just so psyched that it's football season. I don't know if you're feeling it too. Hard Knocks was last night, man. Hard Knocks hit last night. That's kind of along with this weekend's event in Canton, Ohio.

5:55Rich Eisen:By the way, we will be doing this show live from the Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame Museum on Friday, 12 to 3 Eastern Time. Steve Hutchinson is going to be our first guest. So we're going to reunite with Hutch. And Luke Keekly is scheduled to join. Rod Woodson is scheduled to join. Chris Berman is the master of ceremonies again this weekend. He's scheduled to join. We're going to be there on Friday. Friday night is the jacket ceremony. that I will be hosting in downtown Canton. It's incredible. It's the moment where Hall of Famers get their first tangible items to make it dawn upon them that they are now football immortals.

6:40Rich Eisen:That's Friday. The game's Thursday. Hard Knocks debut's Tuesday. It's now a football Wednesday on the Rich Eisen Show, which means it's time for a power rankings. And I have done this the last couple of weeks. Well, I do power rankings every Wednesday, but I have turned the power rankings into my own top 10 at a position. Top 10 quarterbacks a couple of weeks ago, top 10 running backs last week. It's now time for my power rankings on NFL wide receivers brought to you by SoFi. Hit it.

7:14Rich Eisen:Power rankings. There are many like it, but this one is why. Power rankings. Power rankings of the top 10 wide receivers in the National Football League brought to you by SoFi. Full disclosure, this list is going to piss some people off. I wonder who. It's going to piss some people off. I bet it's not going to make me mad. I would say it will not make you mad. I will not make you mad. But I'm going to make some people mad. You can guess who's going to be those some people. By the end of the reveal, if you will, there are so many there are so many terrific wide receivers that could be number 10 on this list.

7:57Rich Eisen:Quite frankly they are all worthy of it. But I am landing on Chris Olave as 10th on this list. Interesting. He's really friggin good. When he is healthy and he, you know, hopefully as his guy in Tyler Shuck hopefully Shuck's the guy. Okay, because they signed Olave to this big, big fat contract. And he produces. He's done nothing but produce when he is healthy. And he is just a tough cover man. So I'm putting him 10th on this list right here. And then 9th, just so I can put my head on the pillow because of the Ohio State receivers that are on this list. Plural. I'm putting Nico Collins here. Another guy that went healthy.

8:50Rich Eisen:He is a beast. He is an absolute beast. He could be your possession receiver. He can be your physical across the middle receiver. He can be your take the top of the defense off receiver. When healthy. And I bought into the Nico Collins hype last year, taking him second round in my draft, that of the league I wanted to win the most, it just didn't work out because he did not stay healthy enough. And they also didn't have enough help for him to potentially not get blanketed. By the way, Tank Dell is back at practice just on this very day. So hopefully some help there is on the way. And they did draft some good young kids there last year.

9:42Rich Eisen:Nico Collins, though, individually, is an absolute beast. And I'm putting here at ninth. He still had a thousand-yard season last year despite being hurt. Okay. Eighth. I am so loathe to put him on this list because he's never done it before. And it puts two receivers from this team on the list. The only team on this list to have two receivers on the list. I'm putting George Pickett a little low but yeah can he do it again man can he because what he did last year was so beyond impressive and so terrific and so unstoppable that this is why the Steelers were being patient and you got to wonder if they're going to lament losing their patience at the end of the day but he's got to prove it And the Cowboys, after having seen what he did last year, were like, yeah, we're just going to franchise tag him.

10:51Rich Eisen:Show it to us again and then you'll have to put the bag on the table and then we're going to start staring down the abyss of paying our wide receivers. You know, they're already paying the wide receivers. You think about it as much as Dak. So it's the most expensive quarterback receiving combination in the National Football League. and he's got to prove that it is worth it for the Cowboys. But that said, I'm putting him at eighth. And now I'm putting A.J. Brown here. This is a big season for him. This is past performance. This is past performance, and then also just showing you how everything I said about Nico Collins can be said about A.J.

11:32Rich Eisen:Brown. Really can. He can be, you name it, what do you want? And he is perfect for the moment for you, sir. Yes, sir. Perfect for the moment for you. Daraque Maia. Let's go. Drake, Drake, May, May. Yeah, buddy. Coming off of his almost MVP season and almost championship season. That game wasn't close. Well, he still made it. He still made it. He woke up on a Super Sunday saying, I could be a champion tonight. I would love that. There's only two quarterbacks who do that. starting quarterbacks who do that on any given football Super Sunday. And he was one of them. And what a great move for the Patriots to say, this is the deep ball guy you can have, your 50-50 guy you can have when you are the guy who Kurt Warner says, out of anybody in the NFL throwing a deep ball, it's like a handoff.

12:33Rich Eisen:Yep. And let's go, A.J. Brown. Let's see what happened last year, disproven on the New England turf. I don't mean to turn this into a referendum, but that's what a power rankings is. I'm putting him at seven. And he's not the highest ranked guy with Brown in his last name on this list. You know I called Amon Ross St. Brown a top five receiver. long before he started becoming Amon Ross, St. Brown, the top five receiver. And it's ironic that I'm now here saying he's sixth on my list. He's sixth on my list because I cannot put him above any of the five that are in my top five. But he is 5A, okay?

13:23Rich Eisen:I love him. I love what he does, catching the football, making himself presentable. Going ahead and drugging off the bad games and coming back at it and turning himself into what he is. How he goes about his business. Oh, my goodness. So, Amon Ra, the sun god of Detroit, is six. Because I can't put him above CeeDee Lamb, man. CeeDee's five. Eh, might be too low. Might be too low? I don't know about it. Let's see again. But the Cowboys are the only team that have two on the list. I toyed with T. Higgins at 10, but I have to put C.D. Lamb here at 5. And I understand you're like too low, but you can now get to the portion of this power rankings where I'm going to piss a ton of people off.

14:19Rich Eisen:You ready for it, guys? You're going to be mad no matter what you do. Huh? I said those people would be mad no matter what you do. I mean, they all accuse me up there. You know where I'm going on this. There's four guys left. You know where I'm going on this front, but I'll get to it right here. Four is Jackson Smith and Jigba, and three is Puka. I'm putting Puka above. And I will be straight up with you in the same way that I thought I was right about Matthew Stafford being the MVP. I did vote for Puka Nakua as Offensive Player of the Year last year. Because Puka played one fewer game than Jackson Smith and Jigba.

14:54Rich Eisen:And wound up being 78 yards shy of tying him. for the most yards in the NFL. And Puka Nakua had the most receptions in the NFL last year with a buck 29, and he had the best yards per game in the NFL last year, 107.2. He and Jackson Smith and Jigba each had 10 touchdowns. Smith and Jigba did have Puka on an average yards per catch, 15.1 to Puka's 13.3. Puka's yards after the catch were 666 yards. That was the most in the National Football League. And he had won fewer games because he missed one. Honestly, I just, you know, I understand JSN is a Super Bowl champ and the offensive player of the year from last year and fully deserves to be a top five wide receiver.

15:50Rich Eisen:He's got the belt. He's got the belt. We'll see what Puka can do. Number two on the list, I understand his stats last year. I'm going to throw out the fact that the quarterback wasn't to his liking or to anybody's liking. Justin Jefferson is two. Justin Jefferson, let's not forget. Let's not forget. Those are the three words I'll say about Justin Jefferson. Let's not forget. because I understand again where he is on all of these stats lists of what I just said about why I chose Puka over JSN. Justin Jefferson is number two. And without doubt, without doubt, Jamar Chase is the number one receiver in the National Football League.

16:38Rich Eisen:Him and Joe Burrow, good luck. Good luck. Jamar Chase is number one. And he is, I don't think any argument in what he can do and what he should do if Burroughs stays healthy for 17 starts this coming season. So that's my power rankings of NFL wide receivers brought to you by SoFi. Get your money right. Gents. Yes. I think maybe. Where'd you put CD? You said CD was too low at five. Who do you put him above? Oh, I would have Justin Jefferson 5. I would move everybody up one, put CD 4, and have Justin Jefferson 5. I think I would have maybe Drake London instead of Chris Olave. That's kind of the only quibble.

17:29Rich Eisen:Okay. I don't know. I mean. They're kind of the same player. They both have extreme talent, and they both have kind of trouble staying on the field. I hear you. I'll take if I have Olave versus Drake London in a fantasy league it's tough to argue with Olave's catches if we're talking fantasy I kind of like Olave a little bit better just because of the quarterback situation Drake London had 68 catches last year 68 7 touchdowns I know and Olave had 109 touchdowns yeah Olave would stay down And 1 ,163 yards. I mean, it's tough to argue with that. Very tough to argue with that. I mean, I like your list.

18:18Rich Eisen:Like I said, anyone can nitpick and move a guy here and there. I'm super nitpicking. But, yeah, overall. I know the 12s are going to be angry with me. I get it. But I'm not going to sit here and go, uh-oh, I'm upset about pissing off the 12s. Well, plus, look who's ahead of them. Puka. Jefferson and Chase. Kind of hard to argue. JSN had that awesome kind of first half of the year, and Puka was awesome down the stretch. It's just, you know, kind of flip a coin on those two guys. But I agree, Chase, number one. Okay, 844-204-RICH is that number to dial right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Get away into the Hyundai getaway sales event, and get away with a deal so right it almost feels wrong.

18:59Rich Eisen:Right now, you can get great deals on our most popular models, including our adventure-ready SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe or Santa Fe Hybrid. The Tucson or Tucson Hybrid is available for you. The bold and stylish Elantra is loaded with the latest tech. Or you can go all electric with the Ioniq 5 or Ioniq 9. So get down to your local Hyundai dealer and get away the deal you'll love during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for details. Did you see last night the Lombard family? George Lombard Sr. and his wife were there watching George Jr. Homer. and their son in his first minor league start also Homer.

19:39Rich Eisen:Yeah, and single A. What a wild moment for that family. So I'm wondering, how many times have Christian and Luke scored on the same? Oh, interesting. You know who would have the answer to that? Let's bring him out. Ed McCaffrey here on The Rich Eisen Show. In studio. Don't go anywhere. The Rich Eisen Show podcast.

20:06Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here for Gusto. On my shows, we talk a lot about what happens in the spotlight, the games, the highlights, and the moments that get replayed and debated. But in any successful operation, what happens behind the scenes matters just as much. Small businesses are no different. Payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, and all the details that keep things moving may not be the most visible part of the job, but they still have to be handled right. That's where Gusto comes in. gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses it's all-in-one remote friendly and incredibly easy to use so you can pay hire onboard and support your team from anywhere automatic payroll tax filing simple direct deposits health benefits commuter benefits workers comp 401k you name it gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly every budget and it's all built to save you time with built-in automated tools for offer letters onboarding docs direct deposit, and more.

21:00Rich Eisen:Plus, you get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price. No hidden fees, no surprises. Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash rich and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash rich. One more time, gusto.com slash rich. Rich Eisen here. Running a small business means every hire matters. A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow. The challenge? Finding that person without sorting through resumes. That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so you can focus on conversations with qualified talent.

21:37Rich Eisen: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. O 'Reilly Auto Parts gets you back to savings. Buy five quarts of Syntec full synthetic motor oil and get a free micro guard select oil filter. Limits apply. Save 20 % on a micro guard or micro guard select engine air filter when purchased with this Syntec special.

22:09We do have beer mustard and we don't use a brewery in Colorado for our beer. Okay. But we're in the works. It's in the works.

22:19Rich Eisen:is here on the Rich Eisen Show, three-time Super Bowl champion, along with his wife, Lisa, and their four sons, expanding the McCaffrey Brands family with the launch of McCaffrey's Rocky Mountain Granola, as well as mustards and horseradish and all the good stuff, right? That's right here. Yes, and this is all for you. Oh, wow. If you really like it, you can talk more about it. If not, just text me. Okay. Yeah, let me know what you think. But I think you'll like it. Yeah, you look healthy. You're in good shape. You've been running? Well, okay. Now, listen, Ed. Easy, Ed. Yes, I've been running.

22:52Rich Eisen:But secondly, did he go higher register with the You Look Healthy? A little bit. Because, again, we hear on this program, if anybody goes higher register, they got to go higher register to believe what they're saying. Or is this me being particularly sensitive? Like, you're like, you look healthy. You know what I mean? No, you do. I was trying to set up my joke, have you been running? Because, obviously, you know, run. So, you know, not everyone will get that, but I was trying to set that up. But you actually do look healthy. I would say you look like you're in good cardiovascular shape because we're around the same age.

23:27You're a young buck. You're a little younger than me. A month or something like that. Well, you know, you almost made it to Leo, but you got the crabs. I'm cancerous. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so you almost made it to Leo, but not quite. But you're younger. But you look in good cardiovascular. You might not hit the weight room as much. Thank you. Yeah.

23:42Rich Eisen:Is that accurate? um you know i i'm hitting the weight room a little bit more okay but you have some you have some tone but you're not like you know gym rat that's correct which neither am neither am i by i'm zone tuning for the zone twoing for those uh in the uh in the know on the treadmill i do the zone two to get my heart rate and i'm fat burning well you're looking good shape thank you sir i greatly appreciate it's only going to get better with the you look in good shape thank you sir i appreciate ed mccaffrey here on the rich eisen show uh okay so let's get into some of the old good days um when you went how did you go from the giants to the the broncos um i was cut you were cut is that right yeah i thought i was having a great career i love new york and i love the giants still have some friends that work for the organization and dan so the coach from your last yeah well you know what it started out with bill parcells i was drafted by bill parcells he gave me the call on draft day what was that you know there you know that was when they only had i think maybe the first two rounds on the first day of the draft maybe the first round I forget but after first three rounds after that yeah well I was the last pick of the third round it was no longer televised at that point and I was waiting around on the Napoleon Dynamite rotary phone for my call and my buddy kept calling me I'm like dude stop calling me I keep thinking I'm getting drafted yes and so eventually I thought you know what I guess I'll get drafted day two but I got the call and Bill Parcells was the coach but he made it through one mini camp and Then he stepped down, and then Ray Hanley became the head coach.

25:10He was there two years. Then after going 8-8 and 6-10, he was let go. But I got to play with all those players that were on the Super Bowl team with Lawrence Taylor and Phil Simms and all those guys. Okay, give me your favorite Lawrence Taylor story. What do you got? Well, my first day of camp, I held out for eight days, which is frowned upon for a third-round draft pick, over maybe$20 ,000. Who knows what it was for? But I held out. Was George Young the guy you were on? He was. George Young was there. Come on. Yeah. So I held out. So I show up to camp and we were at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

25:40Yeah, have to be, baby. And, you know, they set up the locker room in the auxiliary gym. So it's like where they have their intramural sports. And there wouldn't makeshift lockers. And they have the athletic tape with your name written in a Sharpie. And I walked through the locker room. And sure enough, my name's spelled wrong on the athletic tape above my locker. But for some reason, my locker is right between Carl Banks and Lawrence Taylor. And I'm thinking, I don't know why I'm with the linebackers. but Lawrence Taylor's reputation already precedes him. I'm going to start off with saying he was an incredible teammate and he was really nice to me and he's smart and has a good sense of humor.

26:14Nice. But I had never met him before. So I'm sitting down between LT and Carl and it's between the first and second practice. Back then, as soon as you signed, you run out and go to practice. So I signed after the first, right before the second, and they're like, get out to practice. So I'm in my locker getting ready to go and LT's locker is notoriously messy. It's like a disaster. He can't find one of his cleats. So I haven't met these guys yet. And we already know about LT. Everybody knows everything about LT. So he's talking to Carl across my face saying, hey, man, you've seen my cleat. And I'm just sitting there minding my own business.

26:46I'm this skinny wide receiver from Stanford who just got to the team. And Carl, who's a big dude, he's like 6 '5", 6 '6", 250. And LT is a good 250. And they just won a Super Bowl. And they're two of the best, most ferocious linebackers in the league. And so LT stands up on the other side. to me and says, hey man, did you take my cleat? And I'm thinking, I'm going to get my ass kicked on the first day of practice. I just got here. And he's looking at me like he's seriously going to beat the hell out of me. And then he just slaps me on the back. He's like, oh man, I'm just messing with you. I'm like, oh my Lord, like what just happened?

27:23And then I kid you not, we go out to practice and on one of the first plays of our, our drill against the defense, uh, he head slaps one of the tight ends one of the young tight ends on our team and literally breaks his nose and the the tight end you know had to leave the practice he's like oh I'm sorry man I didn't mean to do it so I'm thinking he really is crazy like yeah I really almost did get my ass kicked I don't know yeah but he he was ended up being a great teammate I really enjoyed my time there he was really cool to me but he did scare the living hell out of me on the first day of practice I bet so you get caught