Hour 1: Raiders Spending Spree, Top 5 NFL Free Agency Surprises

21:41Brockman:Look, I treat this like last year. Come on, man. Remember Hayward? talking about Aaron Rodgers. It's the Steelers. If you want to play with us, fine. If you don't, don't. If you want to come to Cowboys, great. If you don't, go to the Raiders. Running back, who are you taking?

21:58TJ:I'll take Javante Williams. Over Ashton Gentry? He had a much better

22:01Rich Eisen:season than Ashton Gentry.

22:03TJ:He's got a much better line in front of him.

22:04Rich Eisen:Come on, Chris. Now that the Raiders are spending,

22:09TJ:they've got the best center. Can we see what Mendoza's going to look like? He's not going to be better than Dak Prescott. I don't know about that, man. You do know about that. I don't know about that. Well, if you don't know about that, Dak has been underachieving basically his entire career, save one season, right? This is a bit, so I'm going to let him play the bit. Consistent playoff choke artist Dak Prescott. We just saw Mendoza turn in one of the best college seasons in recent memory. Heisman, Natty undefeated. How many players have done that in the history of college football? Cam Newton?

22:45TJ:That's probably it. Joe Burrow? That's it, right? Just so it's true. Those guys were pretty good pros. Brock Bowers is probably 1B tight end in the National Football League.

22:56Rich Eisen:I would take Bowers over. McBride? No, Ferguson. Oh, I'm just talking about in the whole league. By the way, I was trying to rile you up by saying what you were really thinking. I think he's trying to rile you up with what he's really thinking.

23:09Brockman:Give me Raider Nation. Take him. I'm enjoying this. I refuse to be riled up in the middle of the spring. Hey, Max Crosby, you don't want to be here?

23:15TJ:See you later. Guess who we're going to take at 13? A starter and probably a Pro Bowl guy. Wide receiver one is going to be there. Edge rusher is going to be there for the Raiders with the Ravens pick at 14. To go with Mendoza and Brock Bowers. I do like what they did. Ashton Gentry, awesome offensive line. Revamp the defensive look. Oh, and do I need to even mention that Tom Brady is in charge? Tom Brady. Guess what? Raider Nation is fine. Raider Nation is going to be sniffing playoffs this year. Better than the Cowboys. Ten wins.

23:51Rich Eisen:Book it. Spoken like a man who loves going to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he's actually, I'll say it, going to get married. Thank you. Looking for a free roll. Right over there. He's looking for a free roll at a nice hotel. Come on. He wants to roll in on his wedding weekend like he is Elvis entering the building. That was great. You know what?

24:12Brockman:If I'm a Raiders fan, I'm going to flip that and I'm going to play that, you should play that and put that on top of your Instagram and your Twitter. That's all great. That was tremendous performance. You deserve some type of award for that, but nothing that you said there is going to make me feel that Fernando Mendoza is a better quarterback today or by the end of year one than Dak Prescott. You who sit over there and always say, oh, Dak's underrated. People crap on Dak. You don't even believe those things that you just got done saying it sounded great though fabulous that was great for the two minutes at rich eisen is

24:44Rich Eisen:that where the poll question at rich eisen show right now 80 20 dallas raiders 80 20 dallas by

24:49Brockman:the end of the cowboys 20s is because filler has five burner accounts i'm gonna go to all those 17 and oh man but yeah that sounded tremendous let's take a break you got ready i love it we're

25:04Rich Eisen:off and running here on this program uh top five biggest surprises of day one uh of nfl free agency i've got that and your phone calls phone lines are lit go figure that 844-204-rich number to dial

25:19Rich Eisen:the rich is a show podcast

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28:02Rich Eisen:All right, everybody. Back here on the program, 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. Let us go to Donald in Mississippi. What's up, Donald? Uh-oh. Donald, are you there? Three. Oh, sorry.

28:22Brockman:I forgot to meet, but I'm here.

28:24Rich Eisen:What's going on? What's up?

28:25Brockman:Hey. Yeah, just talking about my Dallas Cowboys. You know, I like what they did on the first day in signing Thompson from the Arizona Cardinals and trading for Gary, who can play as an edge rusher and stand-up outside linebacker. But also a lot of things that people are not talking about is that But if George Pickens is offered by one of the teams in the first round to have two draft picks and we don't match the offer, then they would have to give us those two first-round picks, giving us four in the first round. We could then take one of those picks, trade down, and get additional draft capital and build our defense up to be back in the playoffs and try to get in the NFC Championship for the first round.

29:13Rich Eisen:I hear you, Donald. And I was saying that just last week even, that end of the day, end of the day, the Dallas Cowboys can 100 % get all of their defensive ducks in a row, and off they go because the offense is set. Offense is absolutely set. You add a little piece here or there in the draft, you hit that right, you get the offensive line even maybe a little bit even more short up, you're golden. That's why I kind of don't get the whole N 'Kobe Dean aspect of it here. Other than the fact that bless him, he could potentially thanks for the call, Donald, just feel that Vegas is a better spot where he could build from the ground up.

30:04Rich Eisen:I don't know. But the Dallas Cowboys 100 % have the right QB, running back, tight end wide outs. the line could be shored up a little bit now on the defensive front quinn and williams rashawn gary kenny clark come on now that's pretty damn good i mean that is it's better than we were this time better than when they were this time last year we're wondering what's going on with micah how are you going to sign him so 100 dallas is doing the right thing right now and i You know, N 'Kobe Dean next to Overshown would have been a pretty damn nice front seven. So they've got some draft choices still. They didn't trade any of them for Crosby.

30:52Rich Eisen:And then went Rashawn Gary instead for a fourth. I mean, next year. Not even this year.

30:58Brockman:N 'Kobe Dean, great. I mean, look, I like what we're doing. We still have time to get better. I'm not sweating this at all.

31:04Rich Eisen:Right. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial right here on the program. We'll take some more of our calls in a minute. I've got a top five list, everybody. Top five most surprising moves of free agency day one. Hit it. Hit it, please.

31:16Brockman:High five. One, two, three, four, five. Rich's top five.

31:21Rich Eisen:Here are my top five surprising moves of free agency day one presented by Hyundai. Number five on the list, moving up to one, is in this day and age, in this world, in a world where supposedly running backs are a dime a dozen, doesn't matter. You could draft one. Suddenly you're going to draft and get somebody in the seventh round. I mean, you can go to the Rutgers seventh round shopping store and pick yourself up a running back, apparently. Pacheco one year, Monongah another. But there was a massive run on running backs in day one. I have a list here in front of me. I show it to you. the NFL Network, crack staff, crack research staff, sent out a 120-page document to all of us about free agency.

32:11Rich Eisen:And they have every position broken down, top free agents at the position. There's only one position where the top five players went off the board at the free agent position, and it's running backs. Kenneth Walker III, Travis Etienne, Kenneth Gainwell, Rico Dowell, and Tyler Algier. All gone. Now, this may be an indication of what the NFL front offices feel about the running back drafting the running back group in the draft. That may be part and parcel of like, let's get ourselves the free agents now. now pay them a little bit more than what we're used to paying the running back position because we're not getting one in the draft they may have looked at what they saw in Indianapolis and said we are going in the free agency market certainly when you take a look also at the fact that the teams on this list that snagged running backs are both New Orleans and Kansas City eight and nine thinking the running back group is so poor that there's no question Jeremiah loves going top five we're not going to get him at eight or nine we better go to the free agent market now but outside of all of this draft talk how about the running backs getting paid in free agency now again they're not being paid nearly as much as say Alec Pierce or anybody else but a run on free agents in day one.

33:51Rich Eisen:Top five free agents at the running back position, all gone. Number four on the list is the Carolina Panthers boosted their front seven in a big, bad way. Wow. Max. Jalen Phillips goes to Carolina for a four-year,$120 million total value, 30 million annual per year contract with the Panthers. That's the largest contract given out on day one in both total value and APY. And he is Jalen Phillips is the first non quarterback in NFL history to get an annual per annual per year average of 30 million and APY of 30 million plus. He's the first non-quarterback to ever get that. And then, at the end of the day, Carolina says, you know what we're going to do?

34:49Rich Eisen:We're going back in and we're getting Devin Lloyd three years for$45 million after his superb year with the Jacksonville Jaguars. That was quite a day for the Carolina Panthers front seven. Not too shabby on all of that mix. Number three on that. And by the way, not too bad either for a team that coming into free agency, as of 8 o 'clock Eastern on March 9th, the Panthers had only$8.6 million in cap space. Go figure. Okay. All right? So they got it done on their front seven with the cap space that wasn't nearly as vast as one would think for a spree like that. Number three of most surprising moves of free agency day one.

35:36Rich Eisen:Miami's quarterback Tuafer

35:38Brockman:okay

35:41Rich Eisen:the Tuafer because not only do they dead cap Tua to the tune of 99 million and change but then they're the ones who also get Malik Willis too and they're like we don't care we are taking our medicine and hope that he is the spoonful of sugar that helps it go down You know, that right there is an aggressive day that if it works out for Miami, we can look back on day one of free agency and say, that's the moment the Dolphins finally figured it out when they got really aggressive. Because at the end of the day of yesterday, how about this? Chris, you can add it up. You're my math guy. Let's do it.

36:33Rich Eisen:22.5 and 1.25. That's$23.75 million. Yes, sir. Add that to the number 54 and you get what, Chris?

36:41TJ:54, you get, let's see, 77.75? Million dollars. That's how much the Dolphins are paying their quarterback position in 2026.

36:55Rich Eisen:$54 million goes to Tua. Guaranteed. and Malik Willis gets a$22.5 million signing bonus and his salary for 2026 is just$1.25 million. By the way, you want to take a look at the rest of his contract. His 27 salary is$21.5 million. He's got a roster bonus in 2028 of$2 million, which is nothing. And then a salary in 2028 of$20.5 million. If this kid's the real thing, they can somehow, someway, figure it out with their new coach, new GM, draft well, and they have a path to be the next Denver Bronco-type run where they dead cap their quarterback to an insane amount of money but get the right young quarterback, pay him a certain way, and you make the playoffs and you go on a run anyway.

37:47Rich Eisen:I know I just went higher register. But that was pretty – that was – listen, I know everybody thought two was going to get cut, and it's entirely possible that Malik Willis shows up there, but they did it. They actually did it. Number two on the list of top five surprising moves of free agency day one. Alec Pierce is getting paid how much? For real. What? Dude.

38:08TJ:We were still talking about that yesterday after the show. That's a lot of money.

38:12Rich Eisen:I mean, it's Alec Pierce is getting paid how much money? He's 25 years old, okay? And he's a second round draft choice, okay? By the way, 25-year-old second-round draft choice also once upon a time described A.J. Brown, D.K. Metcalf, Debo Samuel, just to name a few, right? He's entering his fifth NFL season. But here's the thing. He made$3.6 million last year. And he just finished his only 1 ,000-yard season. That's it. No Pro Bowls, no nothing else. 1 ,000-yard season, and it was last year. His career stats, just 157 catches his entire career. That's it. 17 receiving touchdowns. You, Chris, keep saying, why are you paying anybody because it's a market value deal?

39:06Rich Eisen:Really? You're like, why don't you just let them walk and you can draft somebody else? You say that all the time at the quarterback position. All the time. This is that for wide receiver. We'll see what he does. We'll see what he does. Pay that man, his man. They sure as heck did, man. they sure as heck did with Alec Pierce. Now, he does have the most receptions of 40 or more yards since 2024. 12. The ones behind him are named Chase, Smith & Jig, but Jamison Williams and Nico Collins. Now, that's up there with some of the top, right? Most yards per reception since 2024. Minimum of 75. He's tops 21.8 yards per catch.

39:44Rich Eisen:The other ones are named Jamison Williams, Calvin Ridley, George Pickens and Nico Collins.

39:50TJ:so what do you get 116 million dollars right he has 157 career catches that's all that's 730 000 per career catch dj wrong business i mean i gay man next year he's wide receiver one he'll

40:06Brockman:get a chance he'll get a chance to earn that money just saying one last note for you here

40:10Rich Eisen:pierce is the ninth player since 1970 with six or more receiving touchdowns and 20 or more yards perception in consecutive seasons, the last, the first to do it, the last one to do it. My goodness gracious. James Lofton with the Packers in the 83-84 seasons. Hall of Famer James Lofton. Oh boy, it's on. Number one, the most surprising move of free agency day one is without a doubt, Mike Evans, San Francisco 49er. Yeah. Okay. Like the fact that he left Tampa at all, the fact that he's like, I am 100 % thinking about other things than being a receiver that plays for one team for an entire career, which is a rarity in that bus room in Canton.

41:03Rich Eisen:And he's just like, yeah, I want to see where else I'm going. I want to see where else I can go. And I'm going to San Francisco. And I'm going to try and ring chase one more time in my final few years. You know, the same way that Kobe Dean went with his gut and said, I'm a Raider over a Cowboy. He clearly is like, I'm going to go with my gut and say I'm a Niner over a Buccaneer. And this is interesting. I've got this number for you here in terms of Mike Evans figuring his future out. he also went with his wallet potentially I mean was Tampa going to pay him $20 million a year his$21.1 million APY is the fourth he becomes the fourth wide receiver in history to get a$20 million or better APY signing with a new team and free agency the others are named Stephon Diggs last year with New England Devontae Adams last year with the Rams and two years ago Calvin Ridley with $23 million APY for the Titans that's it that's my number one shocker he's a niner crazy a niner going into a deep end of the pool i understand i said ring chasing it's easier to win your division in a division where you can be eight nine and potentially win it as opposed to going into the division with the defending super bowl champs and the rams and now the niners obviously get mike evans hit it i got one more i do have one more all right we'll get one more you ready for this one yes sir all right the one more atlanta Kings of the NFC South, pause.

42:34Rich Eisen:Look at you.

42:35TJ:Turning a phrase. Stop pause. Tua signs with the Atlanta Falcons.

42:42Rich Eisen:He does. And I said last week, you know what? Him being a backup is concerning because you don't usually want your backup to be lefty. And I understand when I said that, when your starters are riding your backups are lefty, because again, the ball spins a different way. It is an adjustment. You made a great argument. It is an adjustment you have to make as a receiver to catch the ball, and you don't want to do that midstream no matter how many times you might practice with the guys who catch it from you. And I got some answers back on the comments. Steve Young was a lefty behind Joe Montana. I get it.

43:14Rich Eisen:Sure, Hall of Famer. You just don't usually want that. So guess what the Falcons did? They're like, our starter's a lefty? Let's get a lefty. If you're wondering, the last NFL team to have two left-handed quarterbacks attempt to pass in the same season, Last time that's happened. The 1997 Jaguars, who had Mark Brunel and Steve Matthews. And before that, the only other teams were the Bengals in the late 80s, early 90s. Eric Wilhelm and the very apt named Boomer Esiason, since he's talking quite a bit like one lately. Hi, Boomer. The Raiders in the mid-70s, Ken Stabler and David Hum. Remember David Hum?

43:58Rich Eisen:No. Okay. He was lefty. Oh. And now comes Penix and Tua. That's your top five most surprising moves of day one of NFL free agency. Brought to you by Hyundai. Get into the Hyundai getaway sales event and get away with a deal so right, it almost feels wrong. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for details. We take a break, phone calls, and so much more when we return. and Albert Breer is just 13 minutes away with the latest and free agency. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

44:36Rich Eisen:Get into the Hyundai Getaway sales event and get away with a deal so right, it almost feels wrong. Because 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 and the Tucson or Tucson Hybrid. Plus, there's our bold and stylish Elantra loaded with the latest tech. Or go all electric with the Ioniq 5 or Ioniq 9. So get down to your local Hyundai dealer and get away with a deal you'll love during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Visit HyundaiUSA.com for details.

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45:40Rich Eisen:Back here on ESPN Radio talking about how, you know, I love the Kenneth Walker signing for the Chiefs. Kareem Hunt was in fact their last thousand yard rusher in 2017 as a rookie. Oh, no way. Really? You know what? Yeah. So let's get Pat somebody who's gonna run the rock and let's commit to it. Let's commit to it. Let's get this guy downhill. Could you imagine what a Chiefs team would look like if Mahomes only throws it 25 times in a game and they still win? Let's go.

46:15TJ:Interesting.

46:16Rich Eisen:By the way, certainly if the defense is losing some players and you're trying to retool that side too, I don't know, in vitro trust, you know, in vitro trust. For sure. Kelsey's not busting the budget. It's a one-year$12 million deal he's signing for. Worth every penny, if you're the Chiefs. Worth every penny. And I kind of dig it. Like, let's commit to the run, can we? Not like just, oh, yeah, he's going to run. we've got our first 15. Look at me. Potentially even denigrating Andy Reid's choices. Remember Eric Biennale? Let's run it. Oh, right. I forgot about that. Let's run it. Ken Best be ready to be coached really hard.

47:01TJ:He'll get handled when he gets handled.

47:03Rich Eisen:Yeah. I love it. I love the idea. Let's go. Let's add more. Now we've got the running backs. Let's go. Let's go. it's been since 2017 come on now you think ken goes for a thousand why not let's go why not is not an answer probably not there's a reason why the chiefs have not had a thousand yard rushing season from somebody not because somebody's not able to or competent enough they just don't commit They don't commit. Walker, a thousand 27 last year. Great. Let's go. Kareem hunt had 13 27 as a rookie. Kareem hunt was nice.

47:44Brockman:That's the longest.

47:47Rich Eisen:It's our one in the books here on the rich eyes and show the rich eyes and show podcast.

47:54TJ:Shot clocks, big shots, upsets, aces, TGL playoffs are here. First, Atlanta drive starts their repeat run against Los Angeles golf club. Then, Rory's Boston Common Golf and Tiger's Jupiter Lynx face off in their playoff debuts. Who will advance? Keep up. It's playoffs. Tune in Tuesday, March 17th at 6.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. only on ESPN and the ESPN app.