Hour 3: Steelers Hire McCarthy, Shedeur to Pro Bowl, plus NFL Insider Tom Pelissero

26:52Tom Pelissero:Better cold than rain. When it's rainy and you can't even make heads or tails of what you're seeing out there because nobody can throw a ball or snap it or anything else, that's worse. But cold, not great. I'm not going to lie to you. Not what I was hoping for coming from Minneapolis, where it's been wind chill and negative 41 over the past several days.

27:10Rich Eisen:All right. So let's get into, well, we have you here. We appreciate you taking the time returning here. You were saying Mike McCarthy is a real possibility and it hits. Why? Why did he land the job?

27:25Tom Pelissero:There's a lot of different reasons, Rich, than Mike McCarthy is the new Steelers head coach. But I'm going to point out one that has not been talked about enough. The Steelers have ranked 23rd or worse in yards per game on offense eight years in a row. Eight years in a row, they have had a bottom third offense. And I know that the Steelers dynasties have been built around playing really good defense and being aggressive on that side of the ball. But you do need to be able to score points. You need to be able to do that in the NFL. And if you look at Mike McCarthy's track record everywhere he's been, Bill Cowher said this on CBS the other day, he's elevated offenses.

28:03Tom Pelissero:He is elevated quarterbacks at various different stages in their career. You know, it's not all about Aaron Rodgers. This was not done to lure him back. It does keep the door open because Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy still to this day have a really close relationship. and having a little bit of time from their last working relationship has probably made people feel a little bit more fondly about those days that they had together. But it's also about Will Howard and trying to bring him along, a guy the Steelers are high on, a guy that Mike McCarthy was high on coming out of Ohio State. And at some point, whether it's in 26 or based upon the quarterbacks, maybe more likely in 2027, the Steelers are probably going to draft one too.

28:40Tom Pelissero:You need the person in place to develop a quarterback. And as much as I understand the fans and the media people saying, And we'll get a young guy. We need, you know, the young blood. It's always been the Steelers way. Hired those guys in their 30s. There's not a lot of those guys out there right now who are dialed up head coaches, much less those with a quarterback development history. If you look around the NFL right now, that's the pattern. It's John Harbaugh and it's Kevin Stefanski and it's Robert Sala and it's Mike McCarthy. Jeff Halfley was a college head coach before. This is swayed down the veteran road here, in part because when you have the level of hiring, the volume of hiring, that younger first-time bucket, which has been over 50 % of hires, going back to 2017, inevitably there was going to be a swing back.

29:25Tom Pelissero:I think it started last year, and it's really accelerated this year, where teams are just going, let's get the guy that we know has had success in the NFL, and that's certainly Mike McCarthy.

29:34Rich Eisen:Okay, so then the jobs that are still open. Let's start with Cleveland, since you're such a big fan favorite there, Tom. No last chat on Friday. I wrote an essay about it. Very good. Thank you. Now, what happened today and where is it right now? What's going on?

29:59Tom Pelissero:Grant Udinski, the Jaguars 30-year-old offensive coordinator, who is a brilliant guy. He came up under Kevin O 'Connell. He was the assistant offensive coordinator, had a bunch of OC interviews. Lands in Jacksonville, not a play caller, but everyone who's met with an interview, Grant Udinski says, um the guy's unbelievable he's got a big brain and he's got a bright future in the league he went in there he went through the entire process with the browns the jaguars even before he went through that were having discussions with him about trying to keep him in jacksonville um they certainly understood that the bills job that's out there is you know one in a million with josh shallon the best player on the planet the reigning nfl mvp so basically the deal that they reached was he now gets a bump.

30:40Tom Pelissero:He's got a new contract in Jacksonville. He's withdrawing from the search for the Browns, but he is allowed to continue to pursue the Bills head coaching job. So obviously this follows the pattern recently for one reason or another, and it's not all the same from person to person, but it's another candidate who is in the mix for the Browns, who is no longer in the mix for the Browns. So at this point they're out in LA, they're interviewing Nate Sheelhaus, another young very bright guy most recently the Rams passing game coordinator he is a real candidate for the position he's 35 years old it's it's not him for one reason or another essentially the only other candidates you have alive are Jim Schwartz the defensive coordinator who is probably in my mind based on my understanding he's probably the most likely fallback option and then you also have Todd Munkin who's a roughly 60 year old offensive coordinator and Anthony Lynn who was a you know coached the league 10 years ago.

31:34Tom Pelissero:That's it. Those are the guys who are still in that search. Again, we talked about all the reasons that the Browns search process is unique. I learned more even about the process in recent days from getting phone calls from other people either have interviewed there, have worked there. It's not just the head coaches, it's the coordinators, it's the position coaches, it's the staff members. Everybody is doing some levels of the cognitive testing and the personality testing. The Browns outlook on all that is, well, if we're hiring the CEO or another high ranking role to a Fortune 500 company, an$8 billion a year company, we would want to gather all this background information.

32:10Tom Pelissero:We would want to have all these different data points. We want to make abundantly certain that this is the right guy. But that process to this point has yielded a bunch of people that have not actually, for again, different reasons, not followed through in the process. If they don't get Nate Sheilhaus, you know, listen, Jim Schwartz has been a good coach for a long time. He's had success as the D coordinator in Cleveland. Todd Monken's been a good, solid coach, assistant coach mostly for a number of years here. But I would imagine that the public reaction to this probably is not going to be necessarily as positive to a Jim Schwartz promotion after this entire search as getting one of these young up-and-coming candidates.

32:47Rich Eisen:So you're, Tom Pellicero, zooming in from the car, going to the Senior Bowl in the state where Phillip Rivers is staying. So he removed his name from the Bills hat? Is that basically it? And where does the Bills situation stand?

33:06Tom Pelissero:Bills are still going through their process. They're talking to Davis Webb, I believe, on Zoom today, the Broncos quarterback's coach and passing game coordinator. He played several years. He's really close with Josh Allen. He played in Buffalo, or more accurately, backed up Josh Allen in Buffalo. But Davis Webb is absolutely, you know, if it's now or in the future, he's going to be a head coach. He's also in the mix for the Raiders job. They're also speaking with him today. So that's one piece of it. You know, the Bills have also, they've spoken to Joe Brady, Brian Dable, two guys with history in that building.

33:38Tom Pelissero:They spoke to Luana Rumo, the Colts defensive coordinator. I would still anticipate they may add, whether it's Nate Sheilhaus, Mike LaFleur, they may add some additional names of guys who just became available to them today as well. It does seem like it's leaning toward the offensive side of things. That was kind of the thinking from the start. Sean McDermott, of course, had had a lot of success for nine years there, but came from a defensive background. The fact that Josh Allen is in the meetings, Rich, you would think means that they're going to lean toward offense. Phillip Rivers, it's an interesting idea.

34:09Tom Pelissero:It's not unlike what happens in other sports. The NBA has a much deeper history of guys going immediately from playing directly into coaching. The Texans thought very seriously about doing it with Josh McCown several years ago, but it would have been very outside the box. Philip Rivers still has a son who I believe is a senior this year. The plan was always to coach with him. And so this may have been the initial proverbial line in the water here for Philip Rivers. Hey, I interviewed with the Bills. Okay, I'm not doing it this year, but maybe call me again in 2027.

34:41Rich Eisen:Did Tom Brady call the game of his next head coach? You know, is Clint Kubiak in that mix?

34:48Tom Pelissero:I was thinking two things here, Rich. one Tom Brady is watching Clint Kubiak call an absolute masterpiece for the Seahawks two wait Tom Brady is there and Joe Brady is interviewing for the Raiders head coaching job on the same day um this is part of the the odd you know part of this this multifaceted role that Tom Brady has is there's parts of the process that he's been really involved in there's other parts like this current round of interviews that it sounds like he's not uh involved in um Clint Kubiak certainly, you know, I believe is going to have at least one more interview, whether or not he actually pursues a job, whether he decides to stay in Seattle.

35:29Tom Pelissero:And if they make that worth his while, there's a lot of stuff to sort out. What's so amazing with Clint is he's on his fifth different team in five years. He has bounced around. There was a little bit from my understanding that they had to kind of talk him into, hey, come to Seattle, you know, because you can imagine a guy who's got a wife and a family. They're like, how many times are we going to do this consecutively? Well, it hit, and it hit in such a big way that a guy that when the Seahawks hired him, they were certainly not thinking this guy might be one and done here as the offensive coordinator, has very much been in focus.

35:57Tom Pelissero:But, you know, the types of jobs we're down to here, Rich, may weigh on some of these things as well. This is not solely to bag on, you know, the Browns. And obviously, we've well documented their process and a number of candidates that have said no. But the Arizona Cardinals is a really, let's call it, challenging job with what they have to do and figuring out, probably eating a bunch of cash and cap on Kyler Murray, trying to find a new quarterback, figuring out all the various things of why things went wrong a year ago in a division where you're going up against McVay, Shanahan and McDonald for the foreseeable future.

36:28Tom Pelissero:That's a really difficult job. And then with Las Vegas, I just said it. I mean, you've got Tom Brady, who ostensibly is running the football operation along with John Spitek. That's directly a quote from owner Mark Davis. And yet, you know, people come out of those interviews just going, who exactly is running the building? What exactly are we? What am I looking at here? Tom lives in Miami. How is he co-running the football operations, you know, from 2000 miles away? again and in a really tough division where you're going up against Sean Payton you know and Andy Reid and Jim Harbaugh and then you got Cleveland which again again we've talked a lot about that so three of the four jobs left I think objectively speaking in some order Rich most people would have ranked out of 10 of vacancies 8, 9, 10 then you got the Bills that's probably number one they're coming in at a different point here in terms of you know some candidates are not available to them and also you know they can't even interview some of the guys For instance, Clint Kubiak, who's still playing right now.

37:25Tom Pelissero:But certainly, the fact they've got Josh Allen, that makes it a really, really intriguing job. And I would think that if any of these candidates are in a mix for multiple jobs, Buffalo is going to get the one they want.

37:35Rich Eisen:Last one, Tom. The sources that you speak to, that text you, that reach out to you, that you talk to, that you, Buttonhole, and vice versa, are all talking about what coming out of Championship Sunday, out of those two games yesterday?

37:51Tom Pelissero:well i mean a lot of it honestly was about the coaching search and the fact that you know how quickly this could now escalate things because you're telling some of the remaining main candidates that are available davis webb michael fleur nate sheilhouse you can hire those guys today if you want to if you want to hire a clink kubiak technically you can't do it for two weeks but the fact that those two teams were the ones that lost that accelerated things you know bigger picture i mean i certainly think that the fourth and one decision you know i talked with a lot of people about that you know last night and talking about sean payton going for it i would point to this you know we can debate the you know the data and analytics do you take the points not all day fourth and one and having that opportunity in a game where you don't know what the weather is going to be and it's going to be you know basically football on ice by the second half i don't fault them you know there is a difference between the decision making and going for a fourth and one and the play you call and how it's executed you could see that the moment that the ball is snapped there's two guys uh right in the face of jared stidham and the running back in the flats completely covered there's no time to get to anyone else it's just a mess you know sean mcfay uh did it in the in the rams game as well going for it and almost calls timeout runs down you know to the officials and then decides not to call it and stafford tries to jam a ball in and it doesn't work out again i don't have a problem with the philosophy on those all the data and analytics but also just your eyes and feeling the flow of the game you're thinking you know this is an opportunity it's way different than hey we're going fourth and four fourth and one you'd like to think that you can get a yard in the NFL when it doesn't happen it's very easy to go just just take the points in the aggregate though if you hit on one out of every two you're getting seven instead of six if you just kick two field goals I don't mind it even with the stakes on the line there but obviously those plays don't work out and those the ones that tend to haunt coaches as they head into the offseason Tom thanks again we'll chat uh later

39:43Rich Eisen:in the week from the Senior Bowl. Greatly appreciate it.

39:47Tom Pelissero:Can't wait.

39:48Rich Eisen:That's Tom Palacero, everybody. Covering up the hair. That's how cold it is. Man, you know it's cold. If he's covering up the hair. Alright, we'll take a break and get you set for the rest of the week. 844-204-RICH.

40:04The Rich Eisen Show. The Podcast.

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41:16Rich Eisen:I'm back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Hyundai Hope on Wheels. As you know, I care deeply about pediatric cancer research and awareness. That's why I'm proud to talk about Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 27 years, every Hyundai sold has helped fund life-saving pediatric cancer research. Together with over 850 dealers nationwide, they've raised more than$277 million, supporting over 25 ,000 kids in their fight against cancer. At Hyundai, hope isn't optional. It comes standard. Visit HyundaiUSA.com and search Hyundai Hope on Wheels to learn more. Kenny in Pasadena, California has been hanging on for a while.

41:54Rich Eisen:What's up, Kenneth? You there? you think kenny he's up i think he's also just listening on delay we'll see if we're gonna pop him back on hold hold him in three two and put him back on hold everybody you got the poll question results over there yeah rich eyes and i was just looking at that uh who's the best wide receiver in the nfl jamar puka or jsn really really close puka 36 percent jsn 35 jamar chase 29 okay let me see here we have named um two of the three offensive players of the year finalists so who would you vote for in that regard oh man jsn got off to such an amazing start and then puka kind of came on really strong i think i go christian mccaffrey

42:55Rich Eisen:okay what oh you you you an offensive player of the year i was talking about the poll question yeah i was going offensive player of the year that's what you said okay no um best wide receiver in the NFL? Puka. I would choose him, too. I know I'm already pissed off Seattle fans that I didn't choose them. Although, 13 days out right now, barring anything completely changed, I'm choosing the Seattle Seahawks to win 60. Oh, shocking. Why would that be shot? Because you've been anti - Pats all year. I can't believe you're going to do it. You sound like the fans. Do you not sit across me? Do you not do your son dirty like that?

43:36Do you not sit across me? Yeah, I mean, we're about what? I don't know, 25 feet? Do you not? Rich lives in a Pat's house.

43:45Rich Eisen:Yeah, whose house? Pat's house. At your house. I don't know. Patriot's house. Don't want to think that I'm living with McAfee, please.

43:54Brockman:Who do you choose? Do I have to choose out of these three, or can I put some? Oh, are you going to put Jefferson? I'm going with CeeDee. Oh, CeeDee Lamb. I think he's so underrated. And, yeah, I think it's because once a year he has, like, two drops in a game and they're huge. Granted. But the rest of the year, like, C.D. Lamb is amazing. But much like that, much like the Cowboys, you're never going to get that type of props because we're the Cowboys. Oh.

44:24Rich Eisen:There's no wrong answer. No, there is no wrong answer. Except the one I gave, according to Seattle fans. I don't know. Puka catches everything. So does Jackson Smith and Jigba. Puka helped me. Go ahead, Chris. Jackson Smith and Jigba did it without another kind of 1A alongside of him. You know, Puka does have Devontae Adams drawing a lot of, you know, attention. He's got Pickens. As well. Pickens really came on this year. A lot of attention. T. Higgins. Yeah. A lot of attention. jsn was getting what 50 60 percent of the target share most games it seemed like and still produced i just talked myself out of it it's jsn oh gosh but i mean look i'm gonna take my homerism out

45:14Brockman:of this i'm gonna say this jsn is amazing puka is i don't know man there's just something different about that dude man like he's like a bowling ball out there but stats wise look you're not going to go wrong with either of them. I drafted Puka on my fantasy team. I won the championship. But here's the other thing. I missed out on JSN by$1, which means this year... You could have had both? I could have had... I almost had both of them. Well, I had them on my best ball, both of them. And what happened, Rich?

45:43Rich Eisen:I won it. You had both of them? JSN and Puka. That's right. Yes, sir. You did. And James Cook. Well, no wonder you won. You won all right. How would you lose? Jeff Stafford? Who's your quarterback? He could never lose. my quarterback was Justin Herbert and if he didn't nail it down it was Goff who just got named to the Pro Bowl who did? Jared Goff he's replacing Shadour stop Sam Donald very good very good man oh man oh man oh man who's feeling worse today we need to talk about this tomorrow what you're about to say okay Jet fans, Titan fans Vikings Vikings fans, who's feeling worse today yeah you know what I mean what is Bill's fans we did bring that up before I guess

46:49Brockman:they had the path

46:51Rich Eisen:it was all there How about what Pelissero said, that Grant Yudinski has gotten more cash to stay put by pulling out of the Browns job, but they even say, the Bills job, we get it. So if you get it, you're fine. It's still talk with them. But if you want this cash, did you pick up on that? That if you want this cash, you pull out of the Browns job? Like, sold. Does anyone want to beat their coach? Apparently, there will be. I think Jim Schwartz is going to get that. Adam Schefter told Pat that expect all the jobs to be filled by Wednesday. Okay. That means we have a lot to talk about on Tuesday's program, and we shall do so with Mark Schlereth and you.

47:34Rich Eisen:844-204-RICH will always be the number to dial here on this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. We appreciate you taking us in today on Disney Plus and the ESPN app and everywhere else. The Empire State Building has just got to... Can we lose the grid or lose your job? 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.

48:14Two teams, one cup. The primetime stage is set for the TGL presented by SoFi Finals, Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tigers Jupiter Lynx. Keep up, it's playoffs! Tune in Monday, March 23rd, 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2, and Tuesday, March 24th, 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and on the ESPN app.