Hour 3: Mahomes & Sean Payton New Deals, Browns QBs, plus Bengals HC Zac Taylor

22:08Rich Eisen:Yeah, I mean, in his comments at the podium over the last several weeks, he seems to have given the Joe Burrow thumbs up to the maneuvers that were made by the front office, certainly to shore up the defensive side of the football. When you found out, when did you find out that it was possible to flip your first overall selection for Dexter Jackson, pardon me, Dexter Lawrence in New York City? That's a good question. I knew it was a possibility, you know, probably in the week, the week leading up to when it happened. I was actually in Chicago. I'd flown out that weekend to go watch my son play basketball.

22:51And so I was in Chicago when I got the news and had to turn around and catch a flight back so I could go greet Dexter. But that was great news to get. I was fired up to get it. We were hoping it would come to fruition. But a lot of those things, sometimes they don't. There's a lot of excitement internally and then it doesn't work out and you just move forward. But I was fortunate that, you know, our organization was willing to give up the 10th overall pick, which is a big deal for a known quantity that's going to come in here, provide leadership, really give our defense and our team a boost. And, man, he's been awesome to have around the building and the way he works and certainly gives us a big advantage over there on the defensive side of the ball.

23:26Rich Eisen:Can you give me any details of what the ripple effect has been or what you hope it to be for him from the center of that defense to have such a – obviously it's a team game, but for his presence and for this aggressive maneuver to have been made, what the ripple effect has been? Yeah, he's a foundational part of any defense he's going to be a part of. He's a foundational part of this team. So I think when our team sees, oh, man, the Bengals are willing to go do that for us, to give us a piece like that, now we've got to live up to our side of it, particularly on offense. We've got to go score some points and let these guys tee off with a lead.

24:04And so adding a guy like Dexter, adding a guy like Jonathan Allen, Brian Cook, Boye Mafe, a lot of these guys we've added on that defense side of the ball have given us a lot of energy and excitement. And now we just got to match that with the work we got to put in and be ready to go play these games and find ourselves some wins.

24:21Rich Eisen:All right. I'll just come straight through the front door. And I know the words that I'm about to use might be infused. But do you feel like you've fixed that side of the ball, Zach Taylor? We put ourselves in a really good spot. You know, I've been through a lot of seasons where expectations are high. And you think you got it, but you got to put in the work to be able to do that. And I really like our team chemistry across the board. I really like it on that side of the ball. I think we've added some real veteran leadership with a lot of guys we have. And so that's not only going to infuse it into the team, but it's going to help bring along a lot of the young guys on that side of the ball that we're really counting on to continue to take the next step.

24:58So I just like the blend of experience we have over there. And I'm really excited to see that group come together and make some plays for us.

25:04Rich Eisen:How much do you think Cassius Howell is going to fit in here? You're a rookie that your first draft choice because of the, I guess again, Again, Dex Lawrence was your first draft choice, but your first rookie draft choice in this past draft. How do you think he's going to affect things for you? Time will tell, but our excitement for getting him in the draft, the work that he has put in so far since he's been in our building, whether it be in the meeting room, on the practice field, the energy he brings every single day with who he is as a person. If all that holds up, then we've got really high expectations for him because so far, so good with him, and really enjoyed being around him.

25:43And, you know, so he was somebody that we unanimously were excited to add to the mix. We were excited he was there when we got him in the second round, and we've got a lot of expectations for him.

25:54Rich Eisen:And then to Cario Davis, defensive back out of Washington, do you think he's got a shot to crack your lineup here? What do you think, Zach? I do. I think Bobo comes in and competes and immediately provides some depth for us. But he had a good career there in Arizona and Washington. And so he's fit in really well. He's picked it up quickly. He's got a lot of length, you know, so he's unique that way with his build, with his speed and his length. And so he's a good addition we got to the mix. And he'll be thrown in there to compete with all of our other guys. But love his personality, love his work ethic.

26:30And now we'll just see how it fits out for us as the season gets going.

26:33Rich Eisen:Yeah, man. Again, Zach, I know you're not in the narrative business. That's my business. It's not yours. But the narrative is your defense slices off a touchdown, if not a little bit more, off of the average points yielded, and your offense is just healthy. You're ready to go. You're ready to go back to SoFi just like the last time the Super Bowl was here. Zach, is that a fair narrative? I would love that. That's a great outcome. I'll buy that all day. I think we have the right pieces. It all fits together really well for us. And we just can't underestimate the chemistry aspect of things. And so that's what our team is really working on right now.

27:16It's been great energy, like I've stated, but these guys got to get to know each other. They got to want to play for each other. They got to understand each other. And that's something you can't just drop the guy, trade for a guy, sign a guy, and it's going to fit. You got to really put it in work to that. And I've been proud of the way that the guys have done that so far. There's still work to be done, but that's a big piece of getting to where you want to go is these guys loving each other and wanting to play for each other. and we're heading the right direction now.

27:39Rich Eisen:How does Joe get in the middle of that? Tell me something about him I don't know or people don't know. I think Joe's really got across the ball and got to know these guys, especially some of the new acquisitions we've added here. He's really spent time getting to know them. He's done a good job with the rookies coaching those guys up and helping them understand the expectations when you play for us. So, you know, I think he's done a great job from a leadership standpoint. And he sets the tone with his work. you know so even if he didn't say anything to anybody he's he's out there working every second every player on our team every coach on our team sees that guy um trying to outwork everybody in every aspect and so that's that's the role you want from one of the top leaders on your team and joe certainly has taken that ownership and provided that for a whole team to see yeah and he just he's just got that burning desire to want to win that his outward demeanor just belies to be honest you know he's from what i see and what i hear he's just got um i keep mentioning guy's name and i know it's thrown around like manhole covers like a kobe type of way about him that just don't get in his way but he's so cool with his other demeanor am i off on that zach he's confident who he is you know he doesn't he doesn't feel the need um to be who other people want him to be or what the expectations are.

29:03He's very genuine. He's very comfortable with his own skin. He wants to win championships more than anything on this earth. I strongly believe that. And there's a lot of great players in this league. There's a lot of great quarterbacks. I know that no one in this building would trade him for anybody. You know, he's the right person for us and we know that he can take us where he wants to be and so we just got to put in the work to get that done.

29:23Rich Eisen:What did you think of your schedule? Any thoughts on it? Well, I knew all the opponents and I knew where we were playing them. So that part's always checked out first and right you're like the week six by the week six by we like this we don't like it that's what our buy is so so we love it all right that's the way what a coaching answer we'll start with we open at home and i love that so uh that's about as far you know obviously there's some logistical stuff that i have to work through as the head coach but um week one at home love it and don't need to see beyond that what are the what are the logistical things you're referring to well going to madrid you know just all the the buy hitting where it does going to madrid those are all fun things i i'm i'm happy that i got to deal with all that but um that's just for me to worry about and the team gets to focus on playing tampa bay at home and pay core in front of our fans um that first sunday of the season and we'll be fired up to do so all right right so you're you coming up with a plan about when you're going to madrid in all seriousness like is it one of those things are you going to go there all week do you have a decision about what you want to do just go last second like what what is is that what you're talking about logistics around that that's exactly what i'm talking about you know so it's you know those are the things you didn't know really until about a week before the draft a week before the schedule came out right whether we were going to get that international game and so it's been fun you know that's that's exciting one for us to take our brand internationally and go play against a great team like atlanta um so i think our guys are really fired up to go do that and and we're working the specifics of when we'll go.

30:52I know we've sent some people out there already this week to go scout it out for us and get us the best information we can, but that's going to be an exciting opportunity for the Cincinnati Bengals, and I'm glad that they selected us to go out there. Do you speak Spanish? I took Spanish. That doesn't mean I speak Spanish.

31:09Rich Eisen:But you know this. You're a coach. You can get better. You can just get better. Just work on a couple things to just throw out there. When you get to the podium, if you drop out some really fluent Spanish that would be amazing you should do that that's what the phone's for you know that's i'll take my phone i'll have my phone on me at all times if i get in an interaction i'm stuck in and i'll just dial it up on whatever app they give me before i go over there but don't don't rich don't point on me spending a lot of time learning how to how to communicate before i get over there okay very good uh last one for you and again i know this is not your lane but i'm going to do it anyway uh last time you were in sofi in the super bowl there was a specific individual who played for the Rams who are no you know very well having been part of that organization that uh kind of wrapped things up in a way you didn't like and it looks like what do you think you think Aaron Donald might be back out there again Zach you hearing these rumors out here in Los Angeles you hearing about I don't worry about that you know Rich if we don't play the Rams this year um if we if we haven't played yet yet we're in Rich if we're in the Super Bowl you can put together an all-star team of all the greatest players to ever play and we'll go play you know So that's a problem down the road that I can't wait to have to solve.

32:22But right now it's not my problem. And so hopefully we're dealing with that in February.

32:27Rich Eisen:Okay. And so then let me get the flip side. You happy you don't see Myles Garrett twice a year now? Yes, I am. And they added a great one in Jared Burse. I mean, I won't. I know that he brings a lot of problems. Myles Garrett is the most dominant player in the NFL. And so we've seen enough of him over the years. And so now he's out in LA and so we don't deal with that anymore, but, but I do have a ton of respect for Jared verse through the draft process and watching him from afar. And I know that they got a really good young player and, and he'll pose a lot of problems as well. Yeah. I'm sure you're going to have to deal with, you'll, you'll be looking for number eight on, on that film when you, when you do see the Browns, but did you, do you in Burrow share a moment where you're like, Hey man, do you hear about the Garrett trade?

33:10Rich Eisen:You hear about that? Does that happen? Yeah. We don't, we don't have to give all coach speak. You know, it's yes. We were in practice when we heard that. A couple smiles, you know, because he's caused us a lot of problems over the seven years I've been here, you know, and six for Joe. So he's somebody you've got to worry about on every single snap where he's going to be, and he's put himself in a great position to be a great player. So you're saying the rep after you found that piece of news out during practice was extra crisp? Is that what you're saying? That first rep was spot-on extra crisp after hearing that news?

33:44Rich Eisen:Zach? I can't remember how the next rest went, but our guys certainly found out about it pretty quick. Thanks for the time. Really appreciate it. Get your rest. Now that I heard that you popped back away to watch that finale last night. My gosh. Always a pleasure catching up with you, and we'll chat again soon, I hope. Thanks again. Sounds great. Thank you, Rich. That's Zach Taylor, the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals here on the Rich Eisen Show. Okay. I'm telling you, everybody, every Bengal fan is just like, is Joe happy? Is Joe happy? Tell me Joe's going to be happy. He says Joe's happy.

34:22Rich Eisen:He's meeting with the rookies. He's getting ready to go. Let's do this here on the Rich Eisen Show. Kyle in Florida. Let's take his phone call right here on the program. Kyle, you there? Yes, sir. What's going on, Rich? Kyle, did you like what you just heard? You know what, man? I'm pretty excited. I'm pretty excited. about this season. Well, I mean, given our defense the past couple years, I mean, it can't get much worse, right? Well, I just want to say this. Playing the win-loss game is always a frequently dangerous endeavor because you might think your team is particularly better than not. Very rarely do we play it with somebody after having heard an entire conversation with the head coach of the team they're playing the win-loss game for.

35:07Rich Eisen:So, Kyle, are you ready to do this right now? Yes, sir, I am. All right, here we go. Kyle in Florida on the Rich Eisen Show right after listening to an entire interview with Zach Taylor playing the win-loss game for the Cincinnati Bengals. What happens week one, home for the Bucs? Home for the Bucs. We're going 1-0 this year, buddy. Then you're at the Texans. What happens then? Texans, I wonder if that defense is going to get the best of us, but I think we take them by a field goal. All right, 2-0 at the Steelers. Steelers, we're going to lose the first one at the Steelers, Rich. 2-1 home for the Jaguars.

35:43That's a win.

35:44Rich Eisen:3-1 at the Dolphins. 3-1 at the Dolphins. We're taking that one. 4-1 at the Ravens. 4-1 at the Ravens. I think we're going to split with the Ravens, too. Let's say 4-2 right now. And then you're home for the Titans. That's a win. 5-2 the Madrid game we just talked about. Against the Falcons. On the road. On the road. I think the boys are going to show out. And now let's give us a W there. 6-2 back home against the Steelers. Now we're into November, right? This is when Joe starts cooking. We're going to go win there. 7-2 at the Commanders on a Monday night. No scary Terry taking us off in the back of the end zone.

36:26We're going win on this one.

36:27Rich Eisen:8-2 home for the Saints. We always lose to one horrible team. But it's not going to be this one. We're going to win. Wow, what an okie doke. 9-2 at the Browns. At the Browns, no miles. We're going to sweep the Browns this year. Let's go. 10-2, home for the Chiefs. Home for the Chiefs. God, I love these games. These are always the best games. St. Patrick is coming back with a vengeance. I'll take a loss there. Okay. Now you're at the Panthers. This could be the one. This is a sneaky one. You know what? I'm not going to get – I'll try not to jinx too much. I'll take a random loss there. All right, you're now 10-4 at the Colts.

37:14Colts win.

37:15Rich Eisen:11-4, home for the Ravens on a Thursday night, short week. Home for the Ravens. We're going to split. Yeah, now Joe's cooking. We're taking a win there. All right, 12-4, and you said you'd sweep the Browns. 13-4, Kyle. Let's do it. In Florida. Thank you for the call. That's Kyle in Florida. Was that Trask? Was that Kyle Trask? Okay. All right, there you go. That wins, right? All right. Rich, that wins the division. I think 13-4 would win the division. Certainly since they would sweep the Browns. He says they'd split against. Yeah, he said they took both against the Steelers, huh?

38:01Rich Eisen:So, no, he said they'd split. 4-2 would be a 13-4 and 4-2 in division, I think, wins it. While the world watches the stars of 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's 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. The future isn't some far off concept. It's already here. Next starts now.

38:34Rich Eisen:Hyundai, an official partner of FIFA. All right. Sue's got up during the middle of that interview. I was wondering where she was going. She came back. She went through a wardrobe change. That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Don't you dare go anywhere for a stirring finale. Hopefully on par with game four. The Rich Eisen Show. The podcast.

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41:14Rich Eisen:Doesn't make any sense. I mean, Taylor Swift wore her Stevie Nicks K-N-I-C-K-S t-shirt last night. and I guess you were so inspired. There it is, along with the Hame sisters who open up for her on the Irish tour? Is that what it was? Yeah, they were amazing. I thought Gracie Abrams did that. She did that too. Okay, great. Why do you know that, Rich? Because I am the father of the number one Swifty I know, Xander Kip Eisen, who when he saw that she was there and he saw that Scooter Braun is behind her and he deserves to sit behind her because he used words that should not be used in referring to other human beings, unless you know the relationship, I guess, between Taylor and, well, let's focus on the T-shirts.

42:04Rich Eisen:Susie Schuster, what are you wearing right now? I am wearing an amazing T-shirt my friend Joe had made this morning for me. Joe Fasho, by the way, is a little of his company. And I'm going to give him a shout-out. JoeTshirts.com because he's like 10 minutes away from here on Manchester. And I started cold calling this morning. Joe is at a game in Vegas, a high school football game. And he said, don't worry, I'll have this taken care of for you. And I'm just saying, Taylor, here I am with you. I'm repping your look. There you go. Who doesn't love the edge of 17? Like, let's go. You know who's also repping the look?

42:42Yeah.

42:43Rich Eisen:Feli, do you have a t-shirt too? Do. Wow. Knicks are on the edge of a championship, and we're on the edge of 17. Look at you. Unbelievable. I got to stop eating all these donuts you're bringing is what I'm seeing. Is that what it is? What is it? You got one for Teej? I ain't wearing that. Why aren't you wearing it? Appreciate it. No thanks. Come on. Don't be afraid. This makes me a Swifty. I just wanted to know that I didn't. Of course you give me the one with the stain on it. just want everyone to know this just it's not mine just because you're gonna stay in it later exactly right give me the one already okay you got one for xana imagine of course okay good he can have this one all right appreciate it you're welcome tj but i ain't wearing that you've been bing bonging you thought nixon six and all that stuff but you still won't wear a taylor swift inspired stevie nicks t-shirt come on absolutely not come on they're so cool i do have a green St.

43:41Stefan Marbury Knicks jersey that I'd only wear on St. Patrick's Day when I used to DJ.

43:46Rich Eisen:All right. Who knew there was such a history? Oh, yeah. No idea. Are you wearing that for women's sports now as well? Well, let me give you a little tease. We are talking about Times 100 most influential list. Okay. All of the women that are on it. And I'm picking somebody who is not on it. Okay. And that is a tease. Okay. I asked you about the t-shirt. Are you wearing a tease? It's part of the tease, Rich. All right, sorry. My God, it is part of the tease. You're teasing something that is coming up on Women's Sports now. Okay. 3 o 'clock on Thursday. Okay. Well, Suze, I think the tease is already gone.

44:25I think we all collectively are thinking, oh, she's talking about. I don't know. All right. Well, you'll have to tune into the show to find out, won't you?

44:33Rich Eisen:Who's on it? Yeah, who's on it? Who's all on it? We've got Carlin Pickens, number one pick in the AUSL. Okay. And it's Colleen Wolfe. And as... Calm down, TJ. Careful. Good Lord. And then you can wolf whistle all you want for Corey Close. Okay, very good. Corey Close is back on the show as a guest host. And Renee Montgomery is Zooming in from Atlanta because we miss her. So the squad will be complete. Well, I mean, a lot of goals. But we've got some squad. My goodness. I mean... I can't believe you got these t-shirts made so good. Yeah, she did. TJ, how do you doubt me? Rich. I like to get stuff.

45:09Rich Eisen:Angel Reese, by the way, did she go 17 and 17? 17 and 17. We might be talking about Angel Reese and where she stands with all-time rebounds. And by the way, there's a board we have made up for the show. I think it's got like five guys and Angel. Minnesota Lynx are electric sliding their way to 10 wins. First of the 10 wins in the W. That's going to get exhausting if they keep winning. They've got to do the slide. That slide is taking longer and longer every week as they keep winning and winning and winning. What's more likely? The links keep sliding or you slide into somebody's DMs that's just been mentioned already on this program.

45:43Rich Eisen:Stop it. What's wrong with you? What's wrong with you, man? I don't know. Why would you slide a DM when you have someone's phone number? I mean, that doesn't make sense. Let me just say this. We're on Disney Plus, Rich. Let me just say this. Let me just say this, okay? You sues as the co-coach of the dogs of the famed Goldie League, your local. won a championship. Yes, we did. You just won the championship this past week. Corey Close was nice enough to surprise you on our anniversary. Unbelievable. To show up and watch you do that. Corey Close came? She did. Came. Yeah, and everybody was losing.

46:22So nervous to coach with her there.

46:24Rich Eisen:She was coaching with Corey Close there. I wonder how annoyed she got. She saw it and you were dialing it up. We scored off of a blob. I'm like, that's our play. That's the play. Baseline out of bounds play. So if you win a championship as a coach of our daughter, on the heels of Michigan winning a men's natty in basketball, and then the Knicks win for the first time basically since I can remember, I might retire as a fan of basketball. I mean, just hang it up in the rafters. Or you could be not a football guy anymore. You're a hoops guy. No, no. I don't think you can get any better than that in the span of two and a half months.

47:07Rich Eisen:Eisen pollution. Your favorite teens and your daughter. And now I've got a new t-shirt with a stain on it. With a stain on it. Staining it. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

47:38The Stanley Cup Final on ABC is more than a quest for the cup. It's 134 years of putting it all on the line and the heaviest 35 pounds ever lifted. It's broken curses and broken hearts. But for those chasing it, it's everything. The only question is, who will take it? You just have to watch the Stanley Cup Final presented by GEICO on ABC and the ESPN app.