Hour 2: Kenneth Walker III’s Inspiring Super Bowl MVP, plus Hall of Fame QB Steve Young

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1:26Take it back to Seattle. Your Super Bowl champ. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. We did it. And now we're world champions. Today's guests, Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young, comedian Burt Kreischer. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

1:50Rich Eisen:Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. Phone lines have been lit. Steve Young's about to join us, so we might as well just hit the phone lines real quick before Steve Young hops on. Let's go to Giuseppe in Seattle, Washington. We'll just go through all the Seattle calls while we can. What's up, Giuseppe? You there, Giuseppe? All right. I am, and I'm shocked that you said my name correctly. Thank you. Okay, you got it. I'm from Staten Island, New York. I grew up with a lot of Giuseppes. What's going on, man? I see that. I'm a triple New Yorker myself, born in the county of New York, city of New York, state of New York.

2:29So, yeah, there you go. What do you got? Living in Seattle, obviously. How are you doing? I'm doing great.

2:33Rich Eisen:How are you? All you know, living the dream, obviously, living in Seattle. Living the dream. Hi, TJ. I'm not going to acknowledge that main hole over there in the corner. It's okay. It's okay, Giuseppe. I don't hear any inappropriate laughing over there. So, good job, J. Bell. It's okay. It's okay. I just wanted to throw out there and say that I really feel that Drake May was super overrated this year. He played the lowest, like the worst schedule ever. I mean, you can bring up that graphic anytime you want about all the coaches that got fired that he played. I mean, he played a horrible schedule.

3:15He got into the playoffs against actual decent teams. and we saw what it looked like. He won his games basically by defense, and Mike Rabel did a fantastic coaching job. Nobody's taken that away from him at all.

3:29Rich Eisen:Giuseppe, let me just jump in here because Steve Young's about to join us. Did you see him beat the Bills on a Sunday night? Did you watch that game? He did, actually. He was spectacular. He was spectacular in that game. I also watched the Bills beat the Ravens on a prayer, and Derrick Henry fumbled as well. So, I mean, the Bills were not exactly what I would call a defensive juggernaut either. No, but they were a top defense in the NFL towards the end of the season as well. Listen, all I'll say is this, because I call back. Let's have more of a conversation on this. You've got to play who you play in the NFL, and the Patriots did what they did, and they just got a boat race last night because they ran into a better team.

4:09Rich Eisen:And joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show is a guy who we saw on the field before the game is with a bunch of returning Super Bowl MVPs. We'll chat about that. He also watched Roger Craig go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The 49ers had a nice moment about that. He is a Hall of Famer and one of our favorite Steve Young back here on the program. How are you doing, Steve? Good to see you. Sorry I missed you last week. Man, what a buzzsaw that was. Oh, good. I apologize. What are you apologizing for? I'm thrilled to have you here. What did you see watching Super Bowl 60 last night, Steve? uh kind of like it went chalk on my mind like the only thing i i thought how do i put it the patriots had run a last place schedule you said they played who they played so it's fine uh and the afc has not a ton of i mean texans and the broncos i just didn't feel like they're they'd run into someone like the seattle seahawks and the seahawks look the way the nfl works today is that it kind of grows on you, right?

5:11Like the team that you see in Halloween is kind of not the team that you see at Thanksgiving. And then even at Christmas, you're like, wow. And that's what happened with the Seahawks. They just got better and better and better. And by the end of it, when they played the 49ers, you know, for the bye week to get the bye, I'm watching them in person. I'm like, man, these guys are killers. And they're killers because they're smothering defense. It's not, they don't take huge risk. can kind of just smother you, but then they can bring four and put the pressure on you. So it's like the best of both things.

5:44So then I thought against the Patriots, they saw a little bit against the Broncos. And I saw them struggle against the Texans. I was like, this is going to be really hard to score 17. And as they kick field, I'm like, look, let's just keep hanging around. They're going to give a chance to come back and win. So I think the Patriots, I mean, the Seahawks in many ways gave them a ton of opportunities to stay in a game that they were out of. But I feel like the feeling of the game was exactly what I thought it would be, is that that's how good the Seahawks are right now. And then you wonder how good can they get because they're just kind of figuring it out right now.

6:17Rich Eisen:Well, obviously, being a quarterback driven league, the question is, is what happens with Sam Darnold from here? Now that he's gotten, I guess, to borrow a phrase, even though it's it's not it's total apples and oranges in terms of what the monkey on the back for you meant and what what he's been dealing with since he was the third overall pick. and has gone now to five different teams. But now he's got a ring. He's got a ring. He's got a championship. He's got the experience. The story feels familiar. Like, it's just like it's an odyssey. It's not a straight line. And he found, finally, the fruit of the most innovative minds in football today, the coaching trees of Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.

7:03And once you find those guys, the crowd's part and the sun comes out. And he found that in San Francisco two years or three years ago. Then he went to Minnesota. Same kind of, you know, rooted the tree again. And then obviously in the Seahawks. Now the Seahawks aren't, you know, now they've gotten the guy, right? Because Sam is figuring it out too. Like, wow, how could I be? How could I really? And I don't think he had to be great yesterday just because the defense was so great. But that's okay. He's been great before. And I think he's proven himself, look, I can hang with the big boys. I can run around a little bit and get the extra yards.

7:37I can throw it all over the field. And he's settled down. He made a lot of mistakes this year and still survived it. So those are all scars that are going to pay huge dividends in the future. And as he even finds his game, anyone who wants to try to think that you know Sam Darnold, I think he's just going to continue to improve. and somebody that the Seahawks, I think I have a guy for now the next 10 years. I think they'd be fools not to. I mean, Minnesota must, they must be dying right now. Like, what did we do? Why did we, what are we doing? We had a guy that won 14 games and won the locker room.

8:12And, you know, that locker room loves Sam Dung. He was the man. Like, oh, see you later, bro. You know, I just, that's gotta be hard. But Seattle's not that dumb. I mean, they're gonna, they got a guy now for 10 years. And if they can, I just feel like who's gonna beat those guys in the future? Jeez.

8:27Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, you also won a boat race Super Bowl causing a national conversation to be had about the NFC Championship game was the de facto Super Bowl. And Sam Darnold in the final two games against the Rams, the playoff game, and then certainly in fourth quarter and overtime of the week 16, they got past arguably their toughest opponent within their conference and division thanks to Sam Darnold's arm. and 100 % Rich I think we really stop now right let's not it's not recency bias it's not something that you can't see coming Sam was drafted where he was because of his talent and who he could be he couldn't find that measure and look he'll own it you gotta own it but he was in some terrible places for quarterback and then he got the help that he needed every quarterback we were talking about last night in that room with Joe and Tom and, you know, we were just kind of hanging out before we went out.

9:28Just like how much help you need to be great. It doesn't mean that you can't do it. Like it's not an alone game. And so in that way, to really find the full measure of yourself, you got to find the partnerships. And when he found them, he thrived. He thrived. So that's Sam Darnold. That's who he is. That's who he's going to be as long as he, as all of us receive the, you know, the partnerships that make a difference in the NFL. So anyone that wants to try to define Sam any other way than somebody who's ascending to be one of the top quarterbacks in the league is just wrong and wasting their breath.

10:08Like, why? All you could say is, look, Sam's got to clean up the mistakes. Yeah, he's more of a, he's a little of a riverboat gambler. And, you know, like, oh, yeah, I think that was Patrick Mahomes in 19 and 20. Yeah. I think that's it. And then what did Patrick do? So he kind of like refined it and cleaned it up and had the opportunity to support. Yeah. Look what happened to him. Like, that's the only, that's it. Otherwise, I mean, Rich, I want you to just hang up on everyone else. Just hang up. I don't even want to have a conversation.

10:37Rich Eisen:All right, Steve. I was going to follow up on other questions about Superbowl 60, which I hope to be able to do later on in this conversation, but you're like, okay, so I'm sitting around with Joe Montana and Tom Brady talking about quarterbacking, what it takes to succeed, which I want to be a fly on the wall in that conversation. I know that the league had a bunch of Super Bowl MVPs returning for Super Bowl 60, similar to what happened at Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco. So you're in the room waiting beforehand to go on stage with Green Day? Green Day was good. Green Day was warming up in the tunnel.

11:11They were doing their own thing. That's a Bay Area icon. When we walked out and saw them, You think about Tom growing up right here down the street, and everyone knows in San Mateo, and Joe and I have been here for a long time. It's like, you know, and then you get Green Day out there. Like, it was all of that, right? It's like, ah, Bay Area. So that was fun to see that. But in the room, just kind of chopping it up around the game today and the people who are thriving. And, again, we were just talking about what you need and the support and then how much the game, how fun it would be to play today.

11:50And Tom was talking about that. He's many times said to me the difference between before they change the rules for launching your body towards defenders has changed the game, made the field bigger. We made a Canadian league field because defenders couldn't control the way they'd done before. And he said, that's so much fun because the flats are always open, the middle of the field is on patrol. The middle of the field used to be a death zone, right? and people would just get yourself killed in there. And now it's on patrol and no one can hit me and I'm overstating it. So we were just talking about where the game is, where it was and where it was going and where it's been and now where it is today and how much fun it would be to play today just as a quarterback, especially if you learned in the more sophisticated era.

12:34You're like, man. And so we're just chopping up around what it used to be like, what it is today and the NFL and the people that support you and coaches, the great coaches that are around and then really just know it's perfect, right? The coach, you know, we were talking about Bill Walsh and some of the stuff he was doing. I was like, yeah, then, you know, plus he pissed me off about this and that. So it's like it's a fun conversation of real openness around relationships and things that, you know, you would have been, any football fan would have loved to, it would have been like a dream to just sit there because we're talking about all the stuff that you wonder about and think about and it's fun.

13:13And, you know, we rarely get with people that understand what you've been through, you know. And when we're together, that's four or five people alive that understand what your life is like. And it's fun to have those moments.

13:29Rich Eisen:Yeah, and look at the running back and two wide outs for you guys, for your quarterbacks. Look at that. Swan and Rice out wide and Emmitt behind you, you know what I mean? That was great. And it was all of that. And that's funny because we were all taking pictures of all the quarterbacks. And Jerry goes, you know, you guys can't do it alone. You guys know that, right? You know, he's – Is that what happened? Is that why you all got together in one shot? Really? Well, no, no, no. The first shot, I give Tom credit for bringing us together. You know, I was like, let's get some pictures. Like, all right, cool.

14:03Let's do it. So we got the pictures. And then it was like, let's get some pictures of all the quarterbacks. All the quarterbacks got together. And then that's when Jerry's like, you know, you can't do it alone. and we're like yeah bro that's for sure that's the amazing thing about football there's too many guys it's insane the idea that you can put 22 on a field and find some beautiful choreography and detail and dance step and timing and do it it's kind of amazing and so I think that's why football is so much fun to talk about because it's irrational that you got that many guys out there ramming into each other and you can come up with something that's beautiful.

14:44And that's what we're kind of celebrating in many ways.

14:47Rich Eisen:Yeah, and connected, right? And connected. And that's what we saw from Seattle, right? Certainly with that defense, it's got to be connected, back end, front end, side to side. And you say that really, like Drake had nowhere to go. He had nowhere to go, Steve. He had nowhere to go. You know, Seattle defense is built kind of like like that you know it's a small it's like if you want to score you're gonna have to put 15 plays together and be very patient and we're going to slow you down and make you be really efficient but then they bring four with pressure and so now you're like yeah i i i gotta be patient because there's not much happening out there there's not many that guys aren't just roaming free and now i'm like always ducking and diving trying to throw for the three yard check down And so it really puts you in a place where you just take the air out of the room.

15:39And that's what happened. And they had nowhere to go. I mean, they had one first down in the first half. I mean, where does that happen? I mean, you have to be either a real terrible team or playing somebody who's amazing. And I think it was the latter, right? You're playing someone who's amazing.

15:57Rich Eisen:Yeah, no question about it. So Steve Young, a few minutes left here on the Rich Eisen Show after Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara. What advice would you give Drake May, sir? Clearly a guy who uses his legs, also has a beautiful touch, great deep throw ability, and clearly has his life together when not playing football. What advice do you give this kid after what you just saw in Super Bowl 60, Steve? Drake is all of that. I mean, he's all of it. I think he's hurt. during the first half something's not right so that happens a lot towards the end of the season something can go a little haywire you're not hurt hurt but you're like hey I'm not I'm not myself and so there's a part of that too that you have to just kind of own I just wasn't 100 % and then just everything you learn this season including the Super Bowl he's now seen it he's now seen the killer teams that are like, he went to Denver, like he saw it.

17:01He played Seattle, like I've seen it. And with that knowledge, there's a sharpening of the saw that happens. Like you just, like I'm a pretty good player. I'm young. I'm trying to figure it out. But now I know. Now I, like you can't, there's no more learning. I can make mistakes and learn from those, but there's no more. I don't need to see anything else. I've seen it. I've experienced it. I've viscerally felt it. I've been there. And now I want back, you know. And now we know what Dan Reno happens. is that you don't get back. So you just got to, you know, we recognize that that doesn't always happen.

17:32But as far as where he is as a player, as a second-year guy, you couldn't be in a better place. Now, did it go perfectly? No, but, like, let's stand back. And, again, hang up on anybody who wants to take a piece of Drake May right now. What are you, nuts? Kid's got to, you know, he's nothing. Talk about ascending. And you're like, well, what about, like, they ran into a buzzsaw. Trust me. It happens. And so Drake may is one of those guys now. And the thing that I think what makes him really built for 2026 and onward is that he can run around and spit out 70, 80 yards. And that's part of his game.

18:10And I think that's why those are the guys that run the table. And I think Drake's put himself starting the conversation to be where I said three years ago, four years ago, the next 10 years is going to be Joe Burrell, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes. They're just going to run in a circle. And I didn't realize it was going to be just Patrick. but but i think drake can now join that justin herbert might with mike mcdowell might joe might join right and like he now can find that this the sun's gonna part i mean the clouds gonna part the sun's gonna come out for him too so there's there's four or five guys in the afc that are going to be kind of battling each other for the next 10 years about who goes to the super bowl

18:45Rich Eisen:which is tough no no doubt uh before i let you go steve young the uh people that i saw in santa Clara and San Francisco living their best lives or anybody who roots for the Seahawks, anybody who plays for the Seahawks and Roger Craig. He seems to be living his best life. Steve, finally getting the call to join you and so many other 49er greats in the hall. And I would love to give you the floor on, on, on seeing that Steve. Roger. I've never seen Roger without a smile on his face, even in pain. I mean, he's the kind of guy that just reflexively is joyful. And so then this is the, you know, for as a player, the ultimate joy is to be recognized in that way.

19:34And so that's like, I don't know, you just described it as like joyful square. I'm not really sure how you talk about that, but that's who Roger is right now. And remember going back the game today, Percy McCaffrey and back a few years ago, Marshall Falk, as the game changed and transitioned, the running back position changed and there were pioneers for that and Roger Craig was the pioneer Roger Craig was the one that showed the future hey this is who you need to be to be great and I think that that's you know that's a heck of a statement for somebody that's in the Hall of Fame because you can't write the book about the NFL's arc especially the running back position without talking about the pioneers of the game and so he was that guy thousand thousand receiver and runner but as a person Rich you just it's the people I'm with the guys last night before we went out just the people it's the relationships it's watching people thrive and excel yet be kind and good and human and real and I just I love Roger for that and you know I couldn't have hugged him harder than when I saw him yesterday at the game

20:46Rich Eisen:and the Bill Walsh system right Right. He, the, the, he perfect, just a perfect marriage. Like in 1980, that's when it changed. That's when Bill came in with an offense that was two generations and three generations ahead of everybody. It was a tactical advantage all the way until he handed it to Mike Holmgren and Mike Shannon when they left town with it. And then they came back and then it started to spread around the league. But Roger was the guy that was the epitome of what Bill, like Bill was genius, right? He's the one like, how do I do this? Who are the kind of people that I need? It's like, oh roger freg is one of those pieces for how this is going to work and so again it showed everybody this is what the future looks like and you watch roger craig highlights you're like oh yeah he could play today like nothing and that's not true for a lot of guys yeah no doubt and i don't want to be uh too uh i guess piggish with your time here one last one for you steve is your your two cents your two cents uh offered to the san francisco 49ers front office coaching staff about what to do to get back to the promised land is what well the the biggest challenge is right you know all politics are local it's like look in your division and you're like you know matthew stafford's coming back they're going to reload and they're and they're they're already kind of made the transition we're in that transition period where we need five to ten rookie contracted stars.

22:14Like people who are above average in different positions. And we have the makings for this year's draft classes, but maybe some guys growing into it, and then we need more. And then if we get that, we have the pillars of people that are not too old, that can still thrive, that can lead us there as long as they stay healthy. But we just have to find those. Because that's what Seattle's done, right? That's what the Rams have done. And within a Puka Nukua shows up, right? We need kind of all pros to show up out of a draft kind of unexpectedly. And I think then we – because we have the superstructure.

22:53We have the leadership. We have the coaching. We have the innovation. We have the ownership. We are built for it to be in the mix. We will be in the mix, Rich. No matter what, we will be in the mix. But to take it away from everybody, we're going to need those rookie contracted guys to come in and be great. And we look forward to that.

23:11Rich Eisen:Well, Steve, thanks for the time here. Day after a great week, man, in the Bay Area. The weather was great, obviously, during the first few days when we were there. But it was awesome. San Francisco was just beautiful and a great time. The red carpet rolled out. Just an awesome week for the Bay Area, Steve. It was. It was beautiful weather. I mean, people around the country, there's the freezing that puts off, right? I feel terrible about weather that's happening all over the country. you tune in and it reminded me when i was growing up in medicaid watching the rose bowl right watching the rose bowl yeah watch the rose bowl i'm like and the cheerleaders and i'm like where where is that i'm feeling here i had that same feeling yesterday when they walk you know you're watching the pre-game and you're around the country you're like what is this mars this is this beautiful place i know like yeah that's that's winter man it's killing us right now we're dying out here in the winter.

24:09And that was all of that. The Bay Area thrived. We killed it this week. Killed it. It was awesome. Can confirm it.

24:16Rich Eisen:Can confirm it. I was growing up in Staten Island, New York, Steve, watching the Rose Bowl, seeing that Chamber of Commerce blue sky. And I'm like, where is that place? I've got to get there. I've got to see what it's like. You've got to see cheerleaders. You're like, what am I doing? You know what? And I was just saying to my kids, and anybody will listen, There is nothing like a football game, big-time football game, Rose Bowl, College Bowl game, obviously a Super Bowl in California played outdoors. Outdoors. Where it starts in the sunlight, and then at halftime, like a movie theater or a play, the lights go down, and now the drama's about to hit, and the second half's in darkness.