Hour 1: Vikings’ Darnold Regret Debate plus Ex-Raiders GM Mike Mayock

0:00Rich Eisen:So good, so good, so good. Spring styles are at Nordstrom Rack stores now, and they're up to 60 % off. Stock up and save on Rag & Bone, Madewell, Vince, All Saints, and more of your favorites.

0:12Mike Mayock:How did I not know Rack has Adidas?

0:14Rich Eisen:Why do we rack? For the hottest deals. Just so many good brands. Join the Nordiclub to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite Rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. 5 a.m. I'm up with a crisp Celsius energy drink.

0:34Mike Mayock:Running 12 miles today. Grab a green juice, quick change, and head to work. Meetings. Workshops. One more Celsius. No slowing down.

0:41Rich Eisen:Working late, but obviously still meeting the girls for a little dancing. Celsius. Live. Fit. Go. Grab a cold, refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show?

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1:21Rich Eisen:Now, on with the show.

1:24Mike Mayock:This is The Rich Eisen Show.

1:26Rich Eisen:Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles.

1:30Mike Mayock:I would say to the Pats now, who wins the game is not the team with the best players. Who wins the game is the players with the best team.

1:37Rich Eisen:Today's guests. Actor Josh Lucas. Actor Nikolai Koster-Waldau. Super Bowl 60 storylines.

1:45Mike Mayock:Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:54Rich Eisen:All right, everybody. It is Super Bowl week. We're in Southern California for the next two days in our usual spot on the Rich Eisen Show on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, ESPN Radio, Sirius XM Channel 80. On Wednesday, we're going up north. We're going to do our show from the Super Bowl 60 town in San Francisco Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And we're on ESPN today, which we're always thrilled about back in my old digs. interestingly enough on the first day, first business day after a massive merger between the NFL and the ESPN is announced so we'll talk about all of this on today's show. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial whether you're a fan of the Patriots like Chris Brockman or you're a fan of the Seattle Seahawks like the actor Josh Lucas who's now in our green room coming out top of our number two.

2:45Rich Eisen:I don't know if the Kingslayer has any interest in Super Bowl 60 Steve, but the actor who played Jamie Lannister back in the day, most famously, Nikolai Koster-Waldau is going to be right here on this program, courtesy of Apple TV, The Last Thing He Told Me. Season two is coming up later on this month, and he'll be here in studio on hour number three, and as I mentioned, you at 844-204-RICH being the number of dial. Hey, Jay Feli, good to see you at your spot. Hey, good morning, Rich. You got it. TJ Jefferson, candles lit over there, huh? Yes, sir. Good to see you. How are you doing today? Good to see you.

3:20Rich Eisen:So it's like same as it ever was in a couple of ways. First of all, Patriots, boy, do they know how to send their team off to a Super Bowl. Yet again, another rally, another pep rally in New England. Did Raymond Berry do a pep rally back in 1985 before taking Tony Eason to the Superdome to take on the Bears? I don't know if they did that in the old Foxborough with the metal benches. I don't know if they did that. but doesn't feel like it but but they they did it again yeah man they got another uh send-off uh while the seattle seahawks i guess what quietly got on a plane i don't know did they have a send-off i didn't see any video of that over over the weekend did they act like they had been there before uh i well both teams have been there before against each other that was the last time seattle made the super bowl and interestingly enough uh a uh an earthquake of 4.3 on the richter scale was measured in the Bay Area.

4:16Rich Eisen:And my first thought was Marshawn Lynch must have landed. Because it happened in Oakland, by the way. Apparently happened on that side of the Bay. But hopefully everybody's okay and we're ready to have a celebration of the week. And that's one thing that we always know if the Patriots make it, there's going to be a big old send-off getting their duck boats in a line before they send their team to a Super Bowl city. By the way, believe it or not, California's had 13. So there's a 13th Super Bowl in California. Wow. And this is the 12th Super Bowl that the Patriots have ever played in. And the two have never met.

4:54Rich Eisen:This is the first ever California-based Super Bowl the Patriots have played in. Go figure that. I should have made that a did you know. But the other thing that you know is that it's a copycat league. And everyone's going to take a look and say, I want that. this team has made the Super Bowl and I want that and I guess how do you copycat what New England's done which is hold on to your third overall draft choice because that's going to be the quarterback that's going to go to the Super Bowl from the draft class first not the ones taken above him it's very rare that you go quarterback quarterback quarterback to start a draft like two years ago and the third one taken is the one that goes the one that was second overall got close last year in the nfc championship game and jaden daniels didn't get there um but drake may is in and his first year he didn't start the entire year he had a coach that clearly wasn't fitting or the ownership group thought wasn't working and they're going to take that quarterback with the rest of his draft class and this year's draft class and add some free agents and um and then hire a new coach who's somebody who knows your area very well because he won three super bowls as a player for you and that you know what i mean like how are you gonna right how are you going to with the oc who won right three others right and get that guy back just in time right to to save the quarterback that you got third overall last year from a fate say like sam darnold who's now in the super bowl chosen third overall in 2018 and he was part of a draft class in the first round that had five quarterbacks taken he was the second one taken third overall but he is the first of that draft class in the first round to make a super bowl and that's where if i am an owner in the national football league by the way i just raised my net congratulations Thank you.

7:15Rich Eisen:Wow. Considerably raised my net worth. Yeah, you're buying. Thank you. Appreciate that. I might need a loan. Well, which means I now own a piece of ESPN. Oh, which means, listen, your own boss. There's so many different ways I can go here now. All right. And so I would say, let's find us one of those. certainly when you're taking a look at a team that just got beaten by drake may a couple weeks ago and you're the houston texans and you're now in a position to say do we pay cj stroud 50 something million dollars a year based on what we've seen already do we feel he is the guy that we should give a$200 million contract to right now, as opposed to getting us a Sam Darnold, which would be a very risky move because it's very unconventional to take a kid that you've already gotten.

8:25Rich Eisen:I'm just using Houston as an example for many reasons.

8:32Rich Eisen:because they're the ones who are going to be next up trying to figure out what to do with their quarterback in C.J. Stroud. Do they extend him? He has made the playoffs in the second round all three of his years. He has won a playoff game in each of his first three years, but then hit his head on the ceiling. And that is better than what we've seen from Sam Darnold. But would I rather go and get somebody who doesn't cost the same, who maybe hasn't gotten a chance and is ready to succeed based on seasoning, based on the amount of time in the league? Do you see where I'm going with this? Because if I'm also choosing Houston as an example, now, which AFC team is built like Seattle the most?

9:25Rich Eisen:Or which NFC team is built like the Texans the most? There's a lot of connective tissue here. With a superb defense that's been drafted well. on top of that you also get somebody like daniel hunter to add to your terrific defense a veteran who's been at it a while demarcus lawrence to me feels like the deal daniel hunter of this equation do you see where i'm going with this nico collins might be the jsn although the jsn is younger and has better production it seems like everything is set up similarly although Seattle's offensive line I think is a little bit better. I'm kind of comparing apples to apples here about if you take Sam Darnold and put him on this Houston Texans team, this current version of Sam Darnold, put him on a Houston Texans team, could CJ Stroud become the next Sam Darnold?

10:24Rich Eisen:Entirely possible. But I am an owner of the NFL. I don't want to pay somebody 50-something million bucks a year unless he's already made a championship game or a Super Bowl. you've been advocating for this for some law for for a long time yeah you don't have to pay somebody that you've drafted highly all that money and then get stuck on the hook if that person's not the real thing look at Tua Tungvalu and what's happened in Miami exactly look what's happened with Kyler Murray and Arizona you don't have to do it and Sam Darnold is now out there and Jimmy G took a team to the Super Bowl and the other ones that have gone to the Super Bowl in recent days are teams like the Chiefs obviously who drafted well and went with their guy and immediately saw success and don't have to worry about who's their quarterback and you pay him for the future you sign him for a gajillion years and lock him up and throw away the key which is what the Patriots are in right now.

11:30Rich Eisen:That situation. So at the end of the day, if the Seattle Seahawks win, everyone's going to be like I want a Sam Donald. And I would want to build a team that way. And we're going to talk about that with Mike Mayock in short order. Or if the Patriots win I'm going to be like I want to build it like New England. Although I think it's easier to build a team like the one in Seattle. Because how are you going to find a kid like Drake May? in this year's draft there's no guarantee in last year's draft we saw drake may we saw caleb we saw jayden daniels bo nicks if he didn't get his ankle broken would have played in an afc championship is a major major crapshoot but the patriots built that defense through free agency and so that you know that is a path that teams can take yes and the fact that drake may has made it and Jaden Daniels almost made it and Caleb Williams flashed this year and clearly appears to be the real deal and Bo Nix made it but couldn't answer the bell because his ankle got broken who does that leave from last year's draft the injured Michael Penix Jr.

12:46Rich Eisen:and the oft injured J.J. McCarthy. And who made the Super Bowl for the Seattle Seahawks? Sam Darnold, who was in Minnesota, who had 14 wins last year for Minnesota, who then left Minnesota, goes to Seattle, takes them to the Super Bowl, while the Vikings have an up-and-down season with J.J. McCarthy when he was not healthy. in comes Carson Wentz who is up and down and then Carson Wentz gets hurt and then they got to go to Max Brosmer and they still had a nine and eight season because they won their last five games and fired their general manager anyway and that's what happens when you let somebody walk out of the building who then goes and goes to a Super Bowl and Justin Jefferson this past weekend he's been awesome all year long not throwing anybody under the bus many other wide receivers in this league would have said something passive aggressive by now or fully aggressive by now that would have put jj mccarthy further on the griddle and in the front office further on the griddle and the head coach potentially in a spot where he's got to say knock it off he didn't do that all season long and a lot of his recent comments over the weekend i believe in any podcast involved with USA Today.

14:14Rich Eisen:The comments are clanking everywhere, and here's what he had to say with Sam Darnold making the Super Bowl in Seattle.

14:21Mike Mayock:Does a part of you feel like, hey, if you ran it back one more year, maybe that could have been you? Yeah, I mean, for sure. I mean, definitely. I mean, especially, I mean, everyone knows the difficulty of the quarterback position this year, of how we was dealt it. But, of course, you know, having a quarterback that's already had the season under his belt with us, knew the plays, knew the playbook, knew the players, you know, of course, throwing to me, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hawkinson, all of these guys. I definitely felt like we would have done better. But, you know, it is what it is. You know, it's on to new and better things.

14:59Mike Mayock:But I'm definitely happy and proud for him that he was able to reach it this year.

15:04Rich Eisen:You know what? I don't have a problem with a single syllable he just said. there's no question the Vikings would have been better with Sam Darnold this year. There's just no doubt about it. Now we have the 2020 vision of looking back at it. And we definitely have a results-based opinion sitting here on the first Monday of February of Super Bowl week with Sam Darnold getting set to be front and center for the next six days and potentially for the rest of his life if he wins six days from now. But the Vikings, in the same way that I'm talking about how do you build a team, the Vikings were hoping that J.J.

15:49Rich Eisen:McCarthy would be this Drake May, which means, by the way, next year would be his Super Bowl year. And he would come in to season two with pretty much the same first year experience as Drake May because May didn't start his first full year. Sadly for the Vikings, J.J. McCarthy could have had his first full year be Drake May's type of first full year had he not blown his knee out in training camp. And it's that simple. If for the preseason he got through it healthy, then two years ago would have made this year his leap year. and instead it was his first year where you go through the ups and downs and sam donald 100 knowing the offense knowing everything coming back having a contract having everything that he had in seattle which is you're our guy we choose you we don't choose someone else you're our guy as a matter of fact we got rid of our guy we sent our guy to our old coach guy in Vegas for you.

16:59Rich Eisen:We put an offer on the table where you don't have to look over your shoulder and go, Drew Locke? No big deal. You don't have to look over your shoulder and go, oh, that's the kid that they drafted and definitely want to start here at some point. You can't blame Minnesota for figuring out this is our kid. We drafted our kid. We're going ahead with our kid this year. It's just the timing was off unless you just wanted to tell J.J. McCarthy, this is called the national football. He gets called not for long. You had your shot. Your knee got blown out. And it's Sam Darnold's team. And you're going to be Jordan loved for as long as we want.

17:39Rich Eisen:And you're not going to have a single thing to say about it. You know, and use this year as another year for you to get better. And we'll see what happens in year three or four. But this is Sam Darnold's team. And then as soon as that guy began to struggle, or the offensive line that J.J. McCarthy struggled behind, and Carson Wentz got hurt behind and J.J. McCarthy got hurt behind again because it was a revolving door. Do we know if Sam Donald would have walked through this season healthy? There's so much happening with 20-20 hindsight, and all you got to do is take a look at the fact that the Vikings fired their general manager Friday of Pro Bowl week.

18:21Rich Eisen:right Friday of Pro Bowl week a Friday Friday of Senior Bowl week pardon me and Pro Bowl week I guess Pro Bowl games week my bad the only thing that changed between the end of the regular season and the Friday of Senior Bowl week to cause the Vikings to say everything that you heard over the weekend about why they you know rumors coming out about why the Vikings general manager was fired none of that in my mind is a fireable offense nor is none of that anything different than firing him the monday after the regular season which by the way finished with five straight wins and the friday of senior bowl week the only thing that's different is sam donald made the super bowl and word is kevin o 'connell's like yeah our kid's not ready we kind of need sam here but why would sam stay there after we heard well he hit his head on the ceiling on in the finale against detroit He had his head on the ceiling against the Rams.

19:17Rich Eisen:He's not the guy. Is he the guy? Is he really the guy? Or was the 14-win guy the guy in the Seattle Seahawks? And we're like, yeah, that's the guy. Let's go get him. Let's trade Geno Smith and go get him. So at the end of the day, I want to have a guy that I'm paying$30 million a year to go to the Super Bowl with, with already six, seven, eight years of experience bouncing around. I'll take a shot on that guy rather than maybe signing somebody who's won a playoff game and say, here's$55 million and we're locked into you for a while. And this better work. I'm an owner. I'm saying I'd rather do that.

19:55Rich Eisen:Obviously I'd rather have the Drake may pick. That's the winner of them all, but that might be more of a unicorn than Sam Darnold. Well,

20:02Mike Mayock:that leaves them open to like Chris said to spend what close to 300 million to

20:07Rich Eisen:upgrading that rush. You can't do that unless you have a quarterback on that first. Don't forget the way the Vikings season ended and the way that everyone was talking about Sam Darnold and Sam basically reading the room and going, yeah, they want to play the kid at some point. I'm going to a spot where there is no kid, and I'm the guy. And I'm up there in the Pacific Northwest, and I'm going to do what I need to do in relative quiet, peace and quiet compared to the rest of the media world and its focus. also rich you know uh what were they really thinking would have been good for justin jefferson well what he was really thinking is again you know what he's really thinking is we would have been better with sam darnold i understand why we stuck with the kid i do see some moxie in the kid and let's hope the kid is next year's drake may where he could that's why i would as well i was on a record-breaking trajectory for my career and this year i put up the worst numbers I have in the season where I played a full season.

21:12Rich Eisen:Kudos to him that he didn't go all off all season long. Yeah, I know what I'm saying. And this is basically, and if everybody's saying this is him going off, he had every right to say what he just said. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. Mike Mayock, my buddy from back in the day, is going to join us to help us preview Super Bowl 60, chop up a little bit more of what we just discussed. That's right here on The Rich Eisen Show. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

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22:50Rich Eisen:In my line of work, I'm fortunate enough to travel quite a bit covering the biggest moments through the football season. While I'm on the road, I sometimes miss the comforts of home, which is why when I travel with my family, we always check Airbnb for places to stay. It's our home away from home, providing the comfort and safety that allows us to wind down and relax. Families like mine are looking for homes that fit their needs to make new memories in, and your home may be exactly what they're looking for. If you're looking to save up for a new addition to your house or a once-in-a-lifetime trip to see your favorite band in another country, for instance, hosting your house on Airbnb could help you reach those goals.

23:30Rich Eisen:It's easy to list your home for short trips or extended periods of time, allowing your house to earn you some extra money. Make your home work for you while you're away and enjoy the benefits of hosting on Airbnb. Your home may be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com slash host. Mike Mayock here on the Rich Eisen Show. Our radio audience has rejoined us. And again, And I'm just focusing on, you know, to start the week on the team building aspect of this. And obviously you and I will get into the X's and O's in this conversation shortly. But, you know, you mentioned John Schneider putting this team together.