Hour 2: Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, plus Browns’ and Vikings’ QB Competitions Latest

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0:30Rich Eisen:What did you steal? Secrets. Disclosure Day is Steven Spielberg's best film in 20 years. Are they people? No. Are they human? My God. Spielberg does this better than anybody in history. I can see you. Get coming. Disclosure Day. Rated PG-13. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. In theaters Friday. Get tickets now. 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.

1:20Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show.

1:30Rich Eisen:This is the Rich Eisen Show. Rich Eisen Show. I was living with the officiating. Here we go again. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. All the shots we took, we got fouled four times. Four times. Four times. Earlier on the show, ESPN senior NBA writer, Vincent Goodwill. Coming up, host of pro football talk, Mike Florio. Your phone calls, latest news, and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen show is on the air in the commercial break. Our courting producer, Mike Hoskins, just got in my ear and told me that the edit for the Mike Greenberg edition of This Was Sports Center is now in my inbox for perusal.

2:16Rich Eisen:And we're going to QC that and get it all up to speed for a release on Friday. I'll be on Get Up in support of that, talking with my subject of episode three of This Was Sports Center. The first two episodes, me chatting about the old days with Dan Patrick and Chris Berman are sitting out there on Disney Plus, the ESPN app, the Rich Eisen Show YouTube channel. Or if you want to listen to it, that's the way you want to take in podcasts. Even though it's a very visual show, it's sitting right there, too, wherever you get your podcasts. 844-204-RICH, number to dial Vincent Goodwill. Joined us in hour number one about game four of the NBA Finals.

2:50Rich Eisen:That's tonight. let's talk the nfl because uh that's what we like to do the founder of pro football talk the voice the man behind the keyboard ladies and gentlemen mike florio is back on the rich house good to see you mike how are you i'm doing great rich how are you this is i don't i haven't seen you zoom in from this location in a while uh well i'll peel back the curtain i have been dealing with what i thought was sacroiliac joint dysfunction and it now be possibly maybe a herniated disc dude so it hurts to get up and walk the only place that i am paying free is right here which has caused me to be extremely productive this week because i don't have anywhere else i can go okay a lot of articles on the on the site and i i enjoy all of them yeah uh i've taken them all in the one that i want to lead with is your your latest on on your opinion of the indiana or chicago slash illinois bears mike what do you what do you think well rich you've been doing this a long time, as have I.

3:48That is a kind way of saying we're both older.

3:51Rich Eisen:Seasoned. We've been around, and we've seen this movie, and we know that it's important to have leverage when you're talking about the significant financial investment that comes from building an NFL stadium. The Bears don't have the leverage to say, we'll move to San Antonio. They're not leaving Chicago. So at some point along the way, as they were having difficulties in making something happen first in Chicago and then in Arlington Heights, which I think became the leverage for Chicago, they recognized, possibly inspired by the Kansas City Chiefs going from Missouri to Kansas eventually. Hey, we can cross the border.

4:29Indiana's right over there. It's still in Chicagoland. Let's start talking to Indiana and let's see if they'll give us what we want. And the fact that they keep talking to Illinois after they've gotten what they want from Indiana shows that Indiana is leverage to possibly get a better deal in Illinois. The real question to me is whether Indiana is a bluff. If they can't get what they want from Illinois, will they eventually say, we'll just go to Indiana? Now, that's TBD. But for now, it's clear that however real Indiana may or may not be at the end of the day, it's for now leverage to try to get a better deal in Illinois, whether that's Arlington Heights on the property the Bears bought several years ago or in Chicago.

5:15And there continues to be news from time to time about communications between the Bears and Chicago about a stadium in Chicago. So I think that's kind of where we are. They got through the legislative session without getting anything done. They may have a special session. They keep talking to Illinois. They want to find a solution in Illinois. And I think the league wants them to as well. Until then, Indiana is just kind of sitting there as the way to squeeze Illinois. Illinois.

5:40Rich Eisen:And so the Indiana deal is for an audience of one, and that's the governor of Illinois, Governor Pritzker. Is that what you're driving out here, you think? More than the governor. You got to get the legislature on board as well. And Pritzker said yesterday he'll call a special session if there's a bill that both sides can get behind, both the House and the Senate. There was progress on a Senate bill that would have made Arlington Heights the best possible destination. And then there was some effort in the legislative session to make Chicago more attractive. But I think it's just generally a push against Illinois' reluctance to write a really, really big check at the expense of taxpayers.

6:27That's something Pritzker has said on multiple occasions. And, you know, the pushback isn't surprising. If any of these measures end up on a ballot, they fail miserably. Look what happened with the Chiefs. They just wanted to extend an existing sales tax in Jackson County, Missouri. And they were on the heels of two straight Super Bowl wins. And it failed miserably. That was the impetus to start looking around at Kansas. So yeah, I think that this is a general play to get Illinois to do something. There are some states that will never do anything like California. There are some states that will do whatever they have to do, like Nevada.

7:03They saw an opportunity to take the Raiders, and they did whatever they had to do. Illinois is kind of somewhere in the middle, and maybe they need to face the threat of losing the team to Indiana before they'll do something about it. But first, they have to take the threat seriously, and I don't think they're taking it seriously. Well, you know, I'll be honest, man.

7:22Rich Eisen:With all due respect to Indiana, Northwest Indiana, or even Arlington Heights, where, if I'm not mistaken, The Bills are already, I mean, the Bears are already$200 million in the hole, right, having bought the property there and raised the racetrack that used to sit there at Arlington Heights. But Chicago is a jewel of an American city. And the number of American cities that have within, I guess, the city limits, the actual city, not maybe the sprawling county beyond it, that are home to an NFL stadium, you know, like Seattle, Baltimore, just to name a couple, right? Las Vegas is another. there there we're getting fewer and fewer uh obviously buffalo has one now um as well is is in this group um nashville very few cities are just where this the stadium is right you know phoenix is obviously not glendale as a for instance new york city is not new jersey i could go on and on here um it would it would just be a cry why not stay i don't know stay in soldier field or figure something out that the bears would get the real estate that their deal that they're also looking for because if i'm not mistaken those are what what nfl teams are looking to to drive at is that there's real estate deals to be made around a stadium and an economic model mike right and you want the dome not just to potentially bring a super bowl to town but also to have a venue that can be used year round that's what they're doing in cleveland where they're moving out of Cleveland to a suburban location in a domed stadium.

9:06They want to be able to have the concerts, the Final Four, all the different things that can be done in that football stadium that's going to host 10 games per year, maybe up to 12, depending upon how well the season goes. You've got plenty of other days on the calendar where there's nothing there. And it's just a way to generate more money for everyone and to help pay for it. And so even if the Bears would stay in Chicago, it's going to be in a dome, which, look, we saw that Rams-Bears playoff game and football in the elements is a beautiful thing. Now, when the elements affect the on-field product, it can become a little bit of a problem.

9:39But I think for the most part, we like seeing games in the elements. And I agree with you. We like seeing stadiums in the cities for which the team is named. I'm an hour and a half from Pittsburgh, and I make that drive from time to time. And sometimes when I'm driving through Cannonsburg or Bridgeville or some of the other outskirts of Pittsburgh, the idea that seeing a giant football stadium where the Steelers play there is ridiculous. It's ridiculous. But you're right. More and more teams, they find the land, they find the deal and they make it happen. And they're they're not hesitant about leaving the city for which they're named.

10:17Rich Eisen:Yeah, I mean, when you come through the Fort Pitt tunnel, right, going into Pittsburgh and just boom, it's like Gotham is right there in front of you. It's beautiful. Mike Florio here on the Rich Eisen Show. Man, I am just loving the narrative that NFL teams are beginning to soak in. NFL locker rooms are beginning to soak in that Miles Garrett to the Rams is essentially end of the season already. Every time that happens, doesn't the team that we thought we should just go ahead and give the trophy to and cancel the season, don't they disappoint? Remember the dream team in 2011? That was Vince Young's comment when he was signed to be a backup quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.

10:58I remember all the way back to 2000 when Washington added Bruce Smith and Deion Sanders, and people were ready to just hand them the Super Bowl trophy, and they didn't even make the playoffs. So I know the next pipe dream is Aaron Donald coming back. But if that would happen, that would put so much pressure on the Rams. at a time when there's already a ton of pressure on them, on Myles Garrett, on Matthew Stafford. Who, speaking of back situations, they were talking about putting him on injured reserve to start last season. And anybody who's had back issues know they can come back without warning.

11:31And it can be the dumbest thing, like bending over to pick up a pile of clothes for the wash, which happened to me two and a half weeks ago. And if Stafford gets injured, what are they going to do? What are they going to do? They're going to go with Ty Simpson. They're going to go with Stetson Bennett if Stafford would have another back problem. So it's going to put a ton of pressure on the Rams as it is. You throw Donald into the mix and it may become unprecedented, just the presumption that this team is going to go wire to wire and win the Super Bowl.

11:57Rich Eisen:And again, I don't know if this is just, you know, it's June. We're kind of bored. We're waiting for training camp stuff, despite there being OTAs that are going down, Mike. But social media is usually the through line where you're like, oh, in a minute, somebody's posting this, somebody's posting that. Aaron Donald is posting highlights of himself on Instagram. which I don't think he's been doing lately. This does seem to be having a real possibility, Mike. This really does feel real to me. He said last week he needs to relight the fire. Maybe that is his way of rubbing the two sticks together, putting those things out there, seeing how it's received.

12:33He's 35, but he hasn't played for two years, so he's got too few years of wear and tear than he would have if he was 35 and played continuously since he entered the NFL as a first-round pick in 2014. and he looks like he can still do it. And to the extent that he got burned out two years ago, and that's what he said happened, he got burned out. It's easy to get burned out when you got two or three guys blocking you every single play. He sees now the possibility to come back and play with someone else getting extra attention. And he can go do the thing he's never been able to do, which is maybe take on only one guy or two instead of three.

13:11that would be something and that that would that would make the the rams are already the favorites to win the super bowl they get aaron donald and it just it becomes la ram season and they host the super bowl again this year and anything less than a super bowl appearance if not a super bowl win is going to be viewed as a disappointment for the rams so that'll be easy for all of us when

13:32Rich Eisen:training camp heads to have a conversation about the nfc uh what about the afc right i don't know This thing seems to be wide-ass open right now, Mike, doesn't it? When you consider the coaching changes that have been made and what that means for teams like the Bills, what it means for the Steelers after 19 years with Mike Tomlin, the Ravens after 18 years with John Harbaugh, the Patrick Mahomes factor in Kansas City, I think the return of Eric Bien-Ami to be the offensive coordinator is going to have a very positive effect on that team. There was an item recently in The Athletic from Jesse Newell with quotes from Biennemi and others about what he's done to kind of get the team back to fundamentals, get them back to basics, get them back to almost a high school mentality.

14:16They may have lost sight of that some last year after going to three straight Super Bowls, and Biennemi left after the 2022 season. So I think it may be the breath of fresh air that they need. And I know Patrick Mahomes is very excited about the fact that he's back. And you know, we know, yes, Patrick Mahomes is recovering from one of the worst injuries a player can have, but I think we also have a pretty good idea. He's going to do everything in his power to be ready to go week one. There already seems to be ahead of schedule to no surprise. The Chiefs are a team that I would not take lightly.

14:46We got robbed in 2018 of a rematch of the 54-51 week of Thanksgiving, Monday night classic between the Rams and Chiefs because the Patriots won the coin toss and overtime went down the field, won, and punched their ticket to the Super Bowl. we may get who knows rams chiefs when it's all said and done this year that would be something

15:06Rich Eisen:to say the least and you're you're an industry leader mike in looking at breadcrumbs and seeing uh breadcrumbs and seeing a loaf um looking at embers and saying that smoke you look at smoke and say that's a fire um so going into training camp max crosby george pickens which one do you think is more likely to be a real deal revisiting exit visas despite contracts and things of that nature oh i think that between the two crosby is the more likely to be traded and the irony would be he has recently said he doesn't want to be traded after the misfire to the baltimore ravens but once people see that he's back and he's healthy once we get closer to the season once we get into the season, if the Raiders struggle again, and it seems like every year they have a fire sale, or at least the willingness to have a fire sale, and in the past it's been everybody but Max Crosby and maybe Brock Bowers, this year I think it makes sense to wonder if the Raiders don't become competitive and aren't in a position to contend when we get toward the Tuesday after week nine, there could be a contender out there that thinks it's one pass rusher away.

16:18So I think that's far more likely. With Pickens, if he's going to be traded, he's most likely to be traded before July 15, because after July 15, whoever acquires his contract cannot sign him to a long term deal. They acquire the exact rights that the Cowboys have. And under the franchise tag rules, even though he signed the tender, you can't sign him to a long term contract after July 15. I think the Cowboys are content to keep George Pickens for the duration. And I think it'd be very hard to find a trade partner for a one-year deal at$27.298 million with the option of tagging him next year if they don't do a trade before then.

16:55In my own theory, we were talking about this on PFD Live today, I think it was leaked right before the draft that he was going to sign the tender as one last shaking of the tree to see if someone would offer the Cowboys something for him because you can't trade a guy who's franchise tagged until he accepts the tender.

17:15Rich Eisen:So what I guess in this respect is what would be his reason to not show up in a mandatory setting? Right. I mean, what what what what would that mean? I don't I don't get that move. Right. Unless it's to basically say you could still resign me to a long term deal. Do it right. That's the only leverage he has at this point. But Rich, why would you accept the franchise tender and put yourself under contract when all you had to do was not take the tender? All you had to do was nothing. And you missed the mandatory minicamp and you don't face roughly$100 ,000 in fines. Now, it's only$100 ,000, but it's still$100 ,000 that he easily could have avoided.

18:02So it makes no sense if he's not there for the mandatory minicamp. I think he's at a point in his career where he needs to convince people that the three years in Pittsburgh, and more specifically at the end of the road and when it all was kind of getting dysfunctional and not working, even if it wasn't his fault, even if it all flowed from the fact that the Steelers failed to use him the way they should have, he needs to get people to forget that. One year in Dallas, one good year in Dallas, hasn't done it. Another good year in Dallas could do it. And accepting the franchise tender, skipping the mandatory minicamp, that will cause confusion around the league, and that will make people less inclined to think he's finally realized it's in his best interest to show up, take the money he's getting.

18:44Yes, it's well below the market, and that's one of the problems with the franchise tag, especially at the receiver position. The market's north of 40, and he's getting 27 when he otherwise Oz would have been able to go to the market and see what someone would have paid him. But still, 27 is a hell of a lot more than we thought he would have gotten a year ago when he was making three in the final year of his rookie deal, and nobody really knew what he was going to do in Dallas. So I think his best play is to be all in. I thought he'd maybe even show up for the voluntary stuff. Like, hey, let's go.

19:12Like what Kirk Cousins did when he got tagged in Washington. Like what Dak did when he got tagged. I'm going to be here. I'm going to have the best possible year I can. I'm going to position myself for a shot at the market. And the worst case scenario is they tag me again next year. And if he was holding out for something that simple, like I'll show up for one year and promise not to tag me next year, all the more reason to not accept the tender in April and push this thing all the way to the start of the regular season.

19:41Rich Eisen:Lastly, I know this is some red meat for you, a spinning curve in the zone, or to use your current state of affairs, a nerve block for you. I'll take one of those. I know that. What's Brandon Ayuk's play right now, man? I mean, the latest video coming out, not biting the hand, but clowning the hand of the Niners, who I think we all know at some point are going to eventually have to release the guy in time for playing this season. Him coming out and basically clowning the team, I don't get it. Unless it makes him feel good, and he knows that they're going to still have to release him anyway, and this makes him feel good that he's putting something out that, again, clowns the 49ers.

20:21Rich Eisen:But do you have a better insight on what he's up to? My favorite conspiracy theory of the week, which is one that I believe I came up with. OK, the 49ers, the 49ers. Here's my theory. 49ers canceled their mandatory minicamp to avoid having Brandon Ayuk show up. And what Brandon Ayuk should have done, he should have shown up first day of the offseason program. Here I am. Deal with me. Put me on the practice field. but assume the risk that if I pop my Achilles, you're going to owe me$26 million. He could have brought this to a head by showing up and forcing the 49ers to do something. And it's in his interest now to be ready to go for training camp.

21:02If he, for some reason, stays away, they put him on the reserve, did not report list, they can squat on him. They can continue to squat on him. The best outcome for the 49ers, if they can't trade, and a trade would require a reworking of his contract. Nobody's going to pay him$26 million this year. But if they can't trade him to the commanders or someone else, the best play is he doesn't play. The best play is he doesn't show up for the 49ers because then he doesn't go somewhere else and get back to being the guy that earned the four-year$120 million contract. So he should have been there for the offseason program.

21:35He needs to be there for training camp. And I think when he shows up, if he shows up for training camp, that's when the 49ers have a decision to make. One thing we learned, and it's been almost 20 years, if not exactly 20 years, when Steve McNair was with the Titans and they were trying to trade him to the Ravens, they tried to keep Steve McNair out of the building. There was a grievance that was filed. McNair won. You can't tell a guy, don't come in. You can't tell a guy, you can't practice. The 49ers have to assume the risk of allowing him to practice. And if he gets a season ending injury, they owe him every penny of the 26 million.

22:06His leverage is to show up. Their leverage is to do nothing and hope he doesn't show up. He should have already been there. He needs to be at the start of training camp. That's the quickest path to ending up in Washington or wherever he wants to go.

22:19Rich Eisen:Mike, appreciate the information. And then of course, that laugh you just gave all of us here. My favorite conspiracy theory is one that I believe I came up with. That is just, that's next level, man. Don't you miss the days when conspiracy theory wasn't a term that immediately connoted something like ridiculous, like it was fun. There was a time when it was fun. At some point over the last 10 years, it's become something that is anything but fun. Mike, thanks for the time. Feel better, bud. See you, buddy. Thanks. That's Mike Flory, everybody. If you're in his area and you want to drop off some ibuprofen, he'll take it.

22:58Rich Eisen:All right, let's take a break and chop up a little bit what he just said. Your phone call is 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. While the world watches the stars at the FIFA World Cup, Hyundai has its eyes on the next generation of talent. the future stars who are already turning heads at age 14 because next doesn't wait for an invitation and neither do we hyundai has always moved the future within reach we did it when we made advanced safety standard on every vehicle and engineered evs with ultra fast charging capability and we're still doing it every day because the future isn't some far-off concept it's already here Next starts now.

23:36Rich Eisen:Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. 844-204-RICH, number to dial. Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Munkin asked to name a starter. When's it going to happen? Classic stuff coming up.