Hour 1: Steelers’, Eagles’ & Browns’ NFL Draft Reactions, plus NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah

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1:11Rich Eisen: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. Now, on with the show. Pittsburgh, make some noise! This is the Rich Eisen Show. The Los Angeles Rams select Ty Simpson. Okay, wow. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Rich Eisen Show. Today's guests, NFL Network Analyst Daniel Jeremiah, actor Phil Dunster, NFL on Fox Analyst Greg Olson, and now it's Rich Eisen.

2:11Rich Eisen:All right, everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show back in Los Angeles, California, after a fun residency in the NFL Draft town of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. And I have to think you have an opinion on what happened with your team at the NFL Draft. And we are here for you. Let's go. 844-204-RICH, number two dial. Daniel Jeremiah is joining us in less than 20 minutes time to break it all down. Greg Olson of Fox Sports is going to join us in hour number three to break it all down. then we'll have right in the middle of the program a nice little draft intermezzo little palate cleanser uh the very funny and highly popular hbo show rooster um phil dunster who's on it you may also know him as jamie tart from ted lasso he's in studio in hour number two it's gonna be a lot of fun but 844-204-rich is the number to dial on the program how are you christopher brockman what's going on how are you rich what's up dj mikey d is in these nuts good to see you back here welcome back dj jefferson an actual candle is lit this time around not some sort of electronic thingy this is the real deal and i gotta be honest last week was very surreal for me to be back i bet bergen uh it was really cool hanging with old friends the governor new friends friends you know what i mean i could have told a story on every street that we went down but i didn't want to annoy these guys you didn't annoy anybody it's great to be there and it was awesome You know, I would like to start with the Steel City.

3:43Rich Eisen:It was incredible. Over 800 ,000 people. The commissioner made that announcement amidst the raindrops on Saturday. It got particularly inclement, got cold. Fans still flocked to the makeshift draft area right next to Accrashire Stadium, right near the confluence. It was just an incredible time. Everyone was rolling the carpet out for all of us. and the Steelers fans all over the place. They were booing the heck out of the Ravens fans, but I was meeting fans who were dressed in Ravens colors and nobody bothered them particularly. It was a significant, fun, good time. And the Steelers then backed it up.

4:29Rich Eisen:You take a look at the Pittsburgh Steelers draft and they did a very nice job. I understand the whole Makai Lemon thing got people all, you know, in kerfuffle that they were doing the wrong thing or Howie Roseman beat him to the punch and all of that good stuff. But they still wound up, as Mike McCarthy told us when he appeared on our Friday program, with a tackle that they need. Broderick Jones has got a neck injury, folks, and there is something serious going on with him potentially, And you need to have somebody play that position who could. But listen, this is what you use the draft. So they used a first round pick on Maxie Hanachor out of Arizona State.

5:17Rich Eisen:And then in round two, they got a wide receiver out of Alabama, Jeremy Bernard, who is terrific. and he is now going to be added to the mix with DK Metcalf and Pittman, Rico Dowdle in the backfield with Jalen Warren, an offensive line that hopefully will be standing up for who I believe is going to be Aaron Rodgers. And they then go ahead in the third round and drafted Drew Aller out of Penn State. Now, you know that's a nice piece of hometown cooking for a kid, although he's from Ohio, to go and play in Penn State and make his way to Pittsburgh. He's got the, you know, he's got a swagger to him when he's healthy and he's got an offense that suits him.

6:15Rich Eisen:He's a big kid, man. And a kid who once upon a time played his college football in Ohio made his way to Pennsylvania, and that's the guy who everybody's trying to find. for the Steelers I I don't know the draft one never knows Carson Beck is chosen by the Arizona Cardinals he might actually start this year he might be the first starting quarterback of anybody in this draft class this year and he was the one coming into the draft who's thoroughly overlooked despite having time in Georgia and going to the national championship game in Miami and he's the one who's also tall enough to play the position too experienced enough he might be the first one up with Mendoza sitting behind Kirk Cousins and Ty Simpson sitting behind Matthew Stafford for a long time and then nobody gets drafted at quarterback in the second round and there goes Beck and then there goes Aller and who knows what's going to happen this is why they got Mike McCarthy to groom a quarterback along.

7:28Rich Eisen:And this is what he had to say about drafting Drew Aller in the third round. It's about the quarterback room. I've always approached it that way. I learned it that way as a young coach. It's about training the whole room together. And we had an opportunity to get on the field last week for two days with Mason and Will. And now we had Drew. So this is the goal. This is the outlook. I mean, we talked about it in my interview, just from a philosophical standpoint. So we want to have a healthy quarterback room that we're always developing. We're always developing. It's the most important position, maybe in sports.

8:10I mean, it's very difficult. There's a lot that goes into that. We have a way of how the quarterback will be trained here. I've done it a long time. and it's great to have two really young guys that I'm extremely excited about.

8:22Rich Eisen:That's the setup. I think it's going to be Rodgers with two kids. They're, you know, Eli, I'm sorry, Ian Rappaport came on our broadcast, popped in after Drew Aller got picked and said that the Steelers are open to trading Mason Rudolph. And that's why he got Mike McCarthy. and in case everybody thinks that's coach speak that's the green bay way of doing things ron wolf used to draft a quarterback every year that's the idea keep it going keep that quarterback room going you never know when you're going to need one you never know when you can trade one everybody needs one we all know that then in the third round later on on friday night dalen everett the defensive back out of georgia he's now added to the mix there in pittsburgh and then oh baby the mother load.

9:13Rich Eisen:I turned to my Commonwealth friend from Altoon who spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh, PA. You tell me how Jennings Dunker is going to fit in that town. I think I text you immediately and I said, this dude is going to be so beloved in not just Pittsburgh but probably the whole state. He's their kind of guy, man. It's going to be interesting. They're going to have sandwiches named after him at various restaurants, drinks, name that. He's going to become a star within that city. Oh yeah. I concur. Bring in the mullet, the party in the back, the business. Jennings Dunker's going to be a Pittsburgh Steeler and then his teammate in the fourth round, Caden Weijin, who's going to be on special teams as well.

10:02Rich Eisen:These two guys already have the color scheme down pat. As a matter of fact, that's a connection that the head coach there for, you know, obviously the Iowa colors have been that way for a long time, but this is exactly, exactly what the Iowa Hawkeyes wanted to build is some, but something in the image in a way of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kirk Ferentz has actually talked about it. Riley Nowakowski, a tight end out of Indiana, who just hits people. I really liked the Steelers draft. And then I understand day three is my favorite day to host on NFL Network because there's a lot of chatter that can go down.

10:50Rich Eisen:We do stump the truck. There's expanded conversations. We'll talk about it with Daniel Jeremiah. At one point, I don't know if you guys caught this. I just throw out there the subject matter of how many games Fernando Mendoza is going to start this year. Charles Davis and Daniel Jeremiah, two of the sweetest human beings who never show fangs ever started going at it like sometimes uh you know halo and dylan my two beautiful rescue goldens at home will just out of the blue just jump up and start yelling at each other and then we have to separate them that's the way i felt over this subject matter right the run rich run campaign always culminates it's a it's fun day where you can just expand the studio space if you will during the draft um and then there's moments like the moment when after um the pick used by the cincinnati bengals the pat tellman pick was used on a navy man yeah then a few picks later the steelers choose another player out of Navy, Eli Heidenreich.

12:01Rich Eisen:That was an awesome move. And he was in the green room in his dress uniform. And he's from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And he comes out and the place went absolutely crazy. Absolutely nuts. So the Steelers soup to nuts have had a great week and weekend. I like it and I give kudos to them even though I woke up today humming Renegade the minute I woke up because I can't get out of my head. You got a couple more days with that brain. I think so. That said, they may not have had the best draft out of the AFC North. Listen, I liked the Bengals going ahead and using their 10th overall pick on, you know, sexy Dexter Lawrence being drafted 10th overall.

12:58Rich Eisen:If I'm going to give the Rams credit for, hey. Absolutely. Everybody who thinks they blew it in the first round, they use the 29th overall pick on Trent McDuffie and signed him. And if Stafford comes out and has short fields due to, you know, McDuffie or is already up seven nothing because of McDuffie. Then point to that and say, oh, the Rams didn't get him any help, huh? If I'm going to say that, then the Bengals getting Dexter Lawrence 10th overall pretty darn good. I love the Ravens. They got eight picks on day three. We'll see what they'll they'll make of that. I know they lost some significant players, but I loved the first round choice.

13:43Rich Eisen:We didn't talk about it on Friday. I love the first round choice of Venga Yohane. And, you know, they got two wide receivers, Jacoby Lane from USC and Elijah Surratt from Indiana that should do some damage. But the Cleveland Browns, you got to give it up. the Cleveland Browns you have to give it up again what they did in this draft to go from six down to nine and they still took the guy they were to take in at six and Spencer Fano and then they cash in their first round selection they got from Jacksonville for Casey Concepcion and then the second round they get Denzel Boston they got two wide receivers who are terrific and then they go and take Emmanuel McNeil Warren in the second round with another second round choice and he was sitting on Daniel Jeremiah's best available draft board for about an hour they snagged him at 58 he was he was up there at 15 on DJ's draft board and they get Austin Barber a tackle out of Florida in the third round and the choice that they used to get Austin Barber third round was one that they got from Cleveland to let them trade up at six to take Mansoor Delane and they move down to nine and still get the guy they want anyway and they've got two fourth round picks in next year's draft in their back pocket but the pick of Casey Concepcion is of note for various reasons not only is the kid really good not only easy one to root for but it closes the books on last year's trade with the jaguars and i love this sort of stuff because again with the jets asking their fans to believe and yet another rebuild you still have to turn those picks into humans and last year the browns browns friends are like what did you trade out of the second spot you could have had travis hunter and we'll see what travis turns into now that he comes back from his knee injury and the Jaguars with some picks they got in last year's draft trade to move down from Cleveland to move up Cleveland flipped Jacksonville some picks even in this trade they did get what appears to be their new starting running back because Travis Etienne is now in New Orleans Basial Tootin and the Jaguars have a safety out of it as well.

16:20Rich Eisen:But the Browns moved down to get Mason Graham and Quinchon Judkins and Dylan Sampson. Two running backs that have created so much buzz and excellence in their rookie seasons. We didn't even in mock drafts put Jeremiah Love in Cleveland. And he wound up third overall. And then they got a first round pick in this year's draft and got Casey Concepcion. So they turned in. They turned in. the option to choose Travis Hunter. And we had fun with the Miz many times. Somebody from the world of the Bengals snapped a photograph of him while he's sitting on a plane, right? Yeah, last year. Just like the look on his face of, oh, the Browns could have had Travis Hunter.

17:06Rich Eisen:Now they got a defensive tackle in Mason Graham. Oh, too bad, Miz. Well, look at that return. Look at that return. and then you look at what they did this year you got to give it up to Andrew Berry I'm still going to always scratch my head over Dylan Gabriel and Shador Sanders really and we'll see who's the starter this year I still think it's Deshaun Watson but you got to give it up to Cleveland man and Andrew Berry he was moving around the draft board moving around and with the new head coach okay you got the offensive mindset well we got two new pieces on the offensive line, and we've got two new pieces at the receiver position.

17:52Rich Eisen:We've got the running back, and by the way, I didn't even mention Harold Fennin, or last year's Defensive Rookie of the Year that they drafted, in Swessinger, here from Los Angeles. I mean, wow. And the Browns also drafted Justin Jefferson? Wait a minute, I'm being told it's a linebacker from Alabama. Yeah, it's a different. Still my cousin, though. Taylor Green, though, they also drafted the quarterback out of Arkansas and Barry's like, yeah, we're not converting him. He's going to be a quarterback. See what happens. Crazier things have happened. So I dig it. Love it. Let's take a break. Daniel Jeremiah is next right here on The Rich Eisen Show.

18:29Rich Eisen:What does he think of what we just saw go down? That's next. We're back. 844-204-RICH. Your phone call is still to come. Tell us. React to us.

18:42Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show podcast.

18:49Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here. I've traveled all over for some of the biggest NFL moments you can imagine. Conference championships, Super Bowls, draft weekends, and everywhere I go, the city just feels different. It's buzzing, packed, electric. Now, take that energy and multiply it by the entire world. That's what's coming this summer with the FIFA World Cup. Fans from every corner of the globe are going to be traveling to experience it live. And when that many people come to town, they're all looking for a place to stay. And that got me thinking. If you live in or near a host city, this is one of those rare moments.

19:23Rich Eisen:You already have a space. This summer, you could list your space on Airbnb while fans are in town for the FIFA World Cup. Not as a full-time thing. Not as some huge lifestyle change. Just during an event when demand is naturally high. When I travel for big games, I just want a comfortable place in a real neighborhood. and that's exactly what so many visiting fans will be looking for. If you've ever thought about listing your space, this summer is a great time as we welcome FIFA World Cup fans. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. Rich Eisen here.

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20:37Rich Eisen:He is just driving the kids to soccer practice. Make every day feel epic in an all-new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid with up to an EPA-estimated 619 miles of range on select trims, advanced tech, and class-leading interior space. Because when you're hauling kids' gear, snacks, and backpacks, space matters. And so does comfort. Just make sure they keep their cleats off the seats. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for details. Back on the ESPN radio broadcast with Disney Plus and the ESPN app, Daniel Jeremiah here. After a fun time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, now that you're removed from it 24 hours, what's the major story from this draft, your big takeaway?

21:21Rich Eisen:Daniel, top down. Well, you know, look, I think this draft was a lot about teams helping their quarterbacks. You know, a lot of times it's teams shopping for quarterbacks. This year, it felt to me like this was teams that have their young quarterback or they're waiting for their their next quarterback. So they're building up what they have around their existing guy or they're trying to set the table for the guy that could be coming next year. So even though the quarterbacks weren't the central theme themselves, I thought the I thought everything kind of moved around those quarterbacks with the decisions that were made.

21:51Rich Eisen:And then, you know, the first two to do that, I would say, because one took a quarterback and then the Jets took David Bailey. I guess the Cardinals are helping up whoever the future quarterback is going to be of the team. And then Carnell Tate was the first major one and the first big surprise to be taken by the Titans, DJ. That's the first word. Yeah, three and four, I think, was really kind of where it felt like the draft was going to start. We had been talking about David Bailey going to the Jets for a little while. Now, it wasn't 100 % locked down, but it felt pretty much that was the direction that things were going.

22:32So it was really intriguing to see what was going to happen at three. And they could have taken an offensive lineman there. They could have traded back. Or they could have taken Jeremiah Love and gave him the most guaranteed money of any running back. And that was where the conversation was, and not just positional value, but the money situation there. And they decided he's the best football player. We're going to keep it simple. And we've got a new head coach. We're going to give him a very dynamic weapon. And then, of course, we can get to it in a little bit. But then they end up picking up a quarterback who I think has got a chance to start games for him this year.

23:02Yeah. And Carson Beck.

23:04Rich Eisen:Yeah, that's pretty big. And then because you're taking a look at what the Titans did to just jumping in here that this decade, the Bengals got Jamar Chase for Burrow the year after drafting him. the um the Jaguars got Travis Etienne for Trevor Lawrence in the same draft uh Tett McMillan two years after drafting Bryce Young he arrives in Carolina Roma Dunze and Colston Loveland for Caleb Williams in the first two years there and now this one with Carnell Tate for for Cam Ward so that's that's what you do you draft a young kid and start building around yeah because it's twofold right you want to be able to help your young quarterback for all these guys you want to be able to help them so that you can win but what it also does is it provides a window of evaluation you know like you want to be able to leave the worst thing that can happen and we've seen it with some of these quarterbacks have bounced around to different places is that hey the quarterback had the talent we just didn't give him a chance with the infrastructure so we decided to move on from the quarterback but we didn't even really know what we had because we didn't have you know have everything set in place for him and that's you know one of my pre-draft conversations I talked to a bunch of coaches and a bunch of GMs through the process.

24:13And one of the ones that just stood out to me was talking to Kellen Moore, and he talked about how they took Tyler Shuck last year, but they took him after they took Banks, the tackle. So they built up that offensive line with two really good young tackles, and then they felt like that gave them a chance when they took the quarterback for the quarterback to have a chance to be successful. And then they come back this year, and then they go get Jordan Tyson. So they're going to continue to do that. But you want in those first three years of your quarterback, of your rookie quarterback, Rich, not only do you want to win, but you also want to just have a fair evaluation.

24:42So when it comes time to make that decision on fifth-year options and such, you feel like you know what you got.

24:48Rich Eisen:Daniel Jeremiah here on the Rich Eisen Show. You were not on Friday's program. You were on Thursday's program last week. So Ty Simpson's now a Ram. You want to chime in on that? Because that's still on everyone's minds. Yeah, I mean, that's probably if I'm just talking to friends back home and they're like, okay, what did you think? Like, that's the question that comes up. Like, what do you think on that? I understand it from all sides, especially the longer you get away from it. My biggest takeaway on this whole thing is this is going to be a fascinating case study on sample size, you know, because even the people that argued for Ty Simpson to be a top half of the first round pick versus those of us who thought he was a second round pick.

25:27We said the same things about him as a player. We agree on the strengths that he showed. We agreed that, you know, from the footwork to release the ability to work through progressions. We agree on all that stuff. The difference is like there's a large group of people, not just, you know, me and other people doing this on television, but a lot of teams that are fascinated to see this is going to buck the trend. If this is successful of this limited sample size, the 15 starts, we just haven't seen it. We haven't seen somebody be successful. And then now you add on top of that, he's going to have to wait at least a year, maybe two or even longer behind Matthew Stafford.

26:00So you've got somebody over that long period of time who's only played 15 games. You know, we're talking about over six or seven year period. So that's what's going to be fascinating to me. It's, you know, and Clatt and I were talking about it. I think we talked about a little bit on the air too, Rich, which was, it's like, can you be, you know, can you be a great golfer if you just go to the range for six years and then hop out on the course? I mean, you're getting a lot of practice. You're getting a lot of work in, but you're not really playing. You know, was it Kenny Powers? Not trying to be the best at exercise here.

26:28You know, like it's just that's going to be fascinating to see how that whole thing comes together.

26:32Rich Eisen:Great reference. Appreciate a bigger surprise of the draft. Ty Simpson going 13th overall or Charles Davis, highly caffeinated, showing his fangs towards the end of the draft coverage for us over how many starts Fernando Mendoza is going to get this year. The best part about that is like that thing got some traction like that was talked about. And I did laugh, too, because people were like, oh, this is just fabricated. And they planned this whole thing out. I'm like, really? Because that whole conversation came out of left field. I don't think anybody knew that it was going to go that way. No, but just to be straight up, it was Mark Teitelman, our producer, getting in my ear in the commercial break saying, let's hit Fernando Mendoza a little bit here.

27:17Rich Eisen:Yeah. Okay. And so I decided to go in the direction of let's now spin it forward. and how many starts is he going to get? Chris, I even brought up your what's more likely Friday subject matter and asked these guys what's going to be the higher number, the larger number, the number of starts for Mendoza or the draft position for the Raiders next year. I think you said seven starts for Mendoza, ninth for the Raiders in the draft position. And then it was on, man. Charles was like, they're starting him. He says it's going to be 12th. he's going to have 12 the Raiders are going to give 12 starts to to Mendoza you know yeah which by the way it sounds when you put those two numbers together that's what everybody was commenting I saw the comments like really they're not they're not their opinions are not that wildly different right um but to me it sounds I always just think about we're in a 17 game season and to me it sounds different when you say instead if he's going to start seven games because I still think we have that 16 game mindset to me I'm like look if Kirk Cousins starts 10 games like that's a long that's a long time for him to sit and wait and you know uh the way that most teams do this nowadays but i just i everything i've ever heard from tom brady is that he's just been adamant that that's the right way to do it and he wants to get him a chance to sit and learn and watch professional not only play but watch a professional prepare and i just i you know when you have a first year head coach there's no rush like a lot of times you get these different timelines with gms and coaches or the front office and the coaches and one wants to take their time and the other one's like no no no we got to get this guy out there not only win but provide some hope so that we can all get you know stay employed this is a very secure group from upstairs to downstairs and i just don't think they're going to be in a rush and then i know ian added the the financial component like cousins is not coming there for free right um they're paying him some good money so um that to me is the way i feel like it can go but i mean look charles is you know charles has been covering the league been around the league forever so that's what he's seen in his observation his experience tells him that it's going to be you know much sooner than that but uh i think it's a good i think it's a fun discussion it's something we would be talking about if we were just hanging out you know after the draft was over you know sitting around a table but yeah i got feisty and fun it was fun daniel jeremiah here on the rich eisen show after green bay last year after the draft in green bay you were on the spot saying patriots draft i like it and that was a significant draft that can really help them and obviously you didn't nobody knew They were going to go from 4-13 to 13-4, and that May would blossom.

29:46Rich Eisen:Who's that draft this year? Do you have one that just jumped out at you, and you're like, I really like it, and I think it's going to be very helpful? Yeah, I like the Browns. I think the Browns can get solid quarterback play, wherever that comes from. And I'm sure, Rich, it's going to feed your program for the summer of who that quarterback's going to be for them. But if they can just get solid, decent quarterback play, they've built up this roster pretty well. And I, you know, I mentioned it and we talked about on the air that I thought that they had a fantastic draft and I'll get into the names in a moment.