Micah Parsons Drastic Measures

27:53Tom Pelissero:He's not a hard guy to get a hold of. You can pick up the phone and call them. It's all been a little bit odd. I know that Stephen Jones pushed back recently on the idea that they just like the media to keep talking about him, so they drag these things out. They kind of have this history of taking the maximum time possible, just like they did last year with C.D. Lamb and Dak Prescott. So for Micah, he did the things right in the offseason that they wanted him to do. Brian Schottenheimer challenged him up front. Shottie told me this back in March at the meeting. He'd come to him and basically said, I'm going to challenge you to be a leader.

28:25Tom Pelissero:I'm going to challenge you, you know, to be more present. And Mike is always going to do his own thing. He's not going to be there through all the voluntary stuff in the spring, but he did show up. You know, he did some things in mini camp. He was on the field a little bit. He showed up to training camp, even at a time where, you know, there was nothing close in terms of a contract. Moolageddon, you know, in general has had his guys show up, more hold-ins than hold-out types of situations. But at some point, all these guys who are holding in or out have to make the decision how much time do i need to get ready for the season so if you're going to push any of those buttons the natural next thing would be a you know a trade request but you know the idea that the other part of that tweet said he's considering severing his relationship with the team well i mean good luck you've got you're on the 50-year option they've got two franchise tags and they've played it out with their quarterback why wouldn't they do it with the pass rusher again micah has all sorts of platforms he's got a podcast he's not afraid to post things on X-Rich.

29:21Tom Pelissero:There's a number of things that he could do. If you remember back last year, CeeDee Lamb said nothing. Mike has talked a few times. He talked to our Jane Slater on the Insiders last week, but CeeDee said nothing except then Jerry made a comment about the contract negotiations and CeeDee sent a sly one-sentence tweet out that everyone's like, oh man, he's firing back at Jerry here. This is just, I hate to say it, but this is the normal course of business for the Cowboys. You know, Mike, it can request a trade. It's something that back on Super Bowl Sunday, Ian Rappaport and I, and our story on this being the offseason of pass rusher, which definitely has been the case, we mentioned that they had had internal discussions going back to last year about, is it the right thing to keep Micah and have a really top-heavy roster with Dax, Seedy, and Micah eating up about half your salary cap, or should they trade him for a boatload of assets?

30:12Tom Pelissero:But again, Rich, I come to this, if you're going to trade a Micah Parsons, you don't do it now. It's not impossible. We saw Khalil Mack get traded late in the process several years ago. We've seen other training camp types of trades, but there's very little. Obviously, you could trade him for other players at the same position. That's always a possibility. I never say never on any of this, but if you were trying to maximize the value for Micah Parsons, August 1st is not the time. So we'll see what he ends up doing here. But for every lever pulled, there's a counter lever that the team can pull here, including fining Mike Parsons at a time that, you know, to this point does not seem like they've been doing since he showed up to camp.

30:51My God, top of August. This is still going on. I mean, so I guess, again, and I'll be honest with you, man, I feel like it's Groundhog Day. We're talking about it every single day. Is it really just come down to it? Hey, I thought we had a handshake agreement. You wanted me to talk to your agent. Why then act like I don't know who he is, even though he's done a billion dollars of deals. Is that really, is that why we're at where we're at? and they're not negotiating at all right now?

31:15Tom Pelissero:There's a lot of reasons for it. And some must involve Micah too, I imagine, because that's what the Joneses keep saying as well. Well, that was where the handshake was, was Micah and Jerry. So obviously at that time it seemed like, all right, we're in a good place, but that was four months ago. We're in a different spot at this point. We know this. I know I've mentioned it on the show before, Rich, but the Cowboys' history has been long deals. They want to do five, six-year extensions, strong cash flow up front, but then they buy up those team-friendly years on the back end. Well, Mulageta is far from the only agent who prefers to do shorter-term deals.

31:52Tom Pelissero:Why would you want to hit your client, sign a six-year contract, and be 30 years old when you're clamoring for a new one here versus do, let's call it a four-year contract and get another bite at the apple well before you turn 30? That's also a dynamic here. you know jerry just the way that he moves the things he says publicly i mean you saw all kinds of people talking when jerry made those comments about the time mike had missed he overstated the number of games he had missed and talking about that got hurt and you know anytime you're you're talking about these high-paid guys and well you know they might not even be out there playing and it's because the injury that's something that doesn't always sit well um you know with certain corners of the locker room either so a lot of different things uh you know all all logic would tell you Micah Parsons is a cowboy in 2025, but what plays out in the 30, what are we down to, about 34 days until their opener?

32:45Tom Pelissero:We'll find out. It's still pretty early before it gets late. And it's a good point of you making right there, Tom, before we move on, about the short-term contracts, because you want your contract to come up before you're 30, because take a look at the ages of all the guys we've been talking about over the last few weeks. TJ Watt turns 31 this year. Trey Hendrickson turns 31 this year. Miles Garrett turns 30. And McLaurin turns 30 in the middle of September. And they're all been the guys that we've been talking about since the Super Bowl up to this point. Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen Show.

33:16What are you learning in Tampa? What's the scoop there? What's the word? What's the storyline? What do you got for me?

33:21Tom Pelissero:Well, the biggest news before practice that I reported is that Baker Mayfield not out here today. He followed through, I understand, on a pass yesterday. hit his hand on a shoulder pad, which I noticed the Todd Bowles. I'm like, that would be my worst fear as a head coach. It's just like the – it's an average play, and all of a sudden it's a thumb, and it's cracked, and it's eight weeks. But he's like, hey, it's got to be full contact. It's football. There's going to be stuff that happens. But he said it's probably going to be a day, and then Baker's going to be back out here. They put him through the full battery of tests yesterday.

33:52Tom Pelissero:My understanding is it revealed nothing. That was precautionary. He's got a contusion. He's got a bruise on his hand. And it's nothing long-term. Baker's tough. They're just being very careful with him right now. I'd say beyond that, Mike Evans and Todd Bowles mentioned this too. This is one of the best he's looked and the freshest he's looked in a long time, which is pretty amazing when you're talking about a guy going into the 12th year of his career. Chris Godwin's not out here yet. He's ahead of Tristan Wirfs, Bowles told us, in terms of just being able to get back on the field, both recovering from significant injuries.

34:23Tom Pelissero:But they got dudes out here, Rich, in terms of the playmakers on offense, And so Enamekia Buka, of course, is the first-round draft pick. Godwin, when he gets back. Mike Evans, Dylan McMillan, who had a really good year. Bucky Irving certainly is somebody who's emerged. Kate Otten as well. They're going to be able to score some points. And maybe the thing they're most encouraged about here, too, is what they're seeing with some of the young players on defense. Benjamin Morrison has been everything that they've been looking for so far coming off an injury at Notre Dame. And then they also had another corner that they drafted who's been playing in the nickel for them through the course of camp.

34:55Tom Pelissero:So Jason Light, the GM, has been one of the better drafting GMs within the league. That's why they always have a very strong roster. Just traveling around a team's range, I would say there's a lot of people who, when the topic of the SEC South comes up, to say that's still the best roster in the division. It's just a matter of for them, when they get into the playoffs, can they get over the hump? All right, where else have you been before I let you go? And then I'll pick and choose as to what training camps I might be interested in asking a question about before I let you go. Where else have you been?

35:22Tom Pelissero:I was in Detroit on the first day. First thing you notice there is you don't hear Aaron Glenn's voice when you walk in. Still really physical. I saw like five guys get laid out in the practice. I mean, it's a classic Dan Campbell type of team. They're really encouraged about Jamison Williams. That's one of the names that kept coming up over and over. as well as the rookie receivers that they drafted. For the Bills, that was my second stop on Sunday in Rochester. They practiced through like a 20 - or 30-minute complete and utter downpour, which you don't always see in the NFL. Josh Allen's Josh.

35:55Tom Pelissero:We got a chance to talk with him. He got married. He got a$330 million contract, but still going about his business the same way. James Cook showed up on time. He looks really good. He's a little bit thicker in the upper body, which they like. And so that's a guy to keep an eye on here. Obviously, his contract situation still playing out, but he's looked really good in the early portion of camp. I did a double dip on Monday, hung out with the commanders. Maybe the biggest thing there besides, obviously, the McLaurin stuff is defensively. They've really remodeled that whole thing. The entire secondary, there's only two guys left in the cornerback group or even on the team last year.

36:29Tom Pelissero:They thought that was a weakness. They injected talent at every level of that defense. Obviously, they've got one of the oldest rosters in the NFL. They're managing that. They just added Vaughn Miller. Vaughn's not doing a ton left, a ton yet in terms of on the field. But I talked to Joe Witt Jr., who said Vaughn's also, you know, in the meeting rooms. He's like running a sort of tutorial, teaching all the young guys his pass rush moves. So that alone, you know, is a bonus there. Then I rolled up to the Ravens training camp. You know, Lamar's Lamar. I got a chance. I showed Lamar a photo of the two of us together the day after he got drafted.

37:01Tom Pelissero:You know, he lit up with a big grin on his face. It's amazing to think back to that day. and the first question to the coaches who were up there at the podium that next day, I remember it clear as day, was what position is Lamar playing? That's a pretty wild first question when you think back to this guy. I went in two NFL MVPs since they're loaded. They've got a ton of corners, which they've got like five or six legit corners. Part of that's because in that division, especially when you're going up against the Cincinnati's, you've got to be able to roll deep at that position and match up. I went to the Jets.

37:32Tom Pelissero:I talked to Aaron Glenn after practice. There's a lot of comparisons there to when he came in with Detroit and with Dan Campbell, the way that they turned that thing around. But I'm just telling you, Rich, like looking at that team, they got more talent across the board than the Lions did. The Lions had Jared Goff and they had a good offensive line. The Jets have, you know, the Lions didn't have anybody like Sauce. They didn't have anybody like Garrett Wilson. They didn't have anyone like Quinn and Williams. You know, how is that all going to come together? A lot of that's going to come down to Justin Fields.

38:00Tom Pelissero:And so the process they're going through after he dodged the near-death experience, according to social media, when he got his toes stepped on, it's about figuring out what does he do well, and now how do we build an offense around those things? He doesn't have to play. He doesn't have to be a 70 % completion guy. Just make more plays down the field, that's going to get teams out of that single high-safety coverage that they play where everybody's down bending against the run. Then all of a sudden you've got more shots on the outside. That's kind of the give-and-take. you know, that they're looking at there.

38:32Tom Pelissero:And then I was in Cincinnati yesterday, probably the best news there, Rich, was indoor practice because it was an absolute monsoon out there. But now it's one day, all right, I don't want to overstate it, but in that one day at practice, the defense looked good. The defense has all these young, really fast dudes. Some of them are coming back from injuries, but DJ Turner had like five pass breakups in that practice. DJ Ivey is back from his injury. There's no Trey Henderson clearly out there yet, but Shamar Stewart there. I talked to Al Golden before practice. They're not looking at this as, well, he missed the time in the spring.

39:03Tom Pelissero:He's got a lot to learn. They're throwing it at him, and they want him to be a big factor this year. Any time that you're breaking up passes intended for T. Higgins and Jamar Chase with Joe Burrow back there, I even said this to Joe. I'm like, I know you want to complete every pass, but aren't you kind of looking at that like, hell yeah, we need a little bit of that. He's like, no doubt. There is an element of that. They all know where their shortcomings were. They were the team. Nobody wanted to see on offense down the stretch, and nobody did have to see him in the playoffs because the defense faltered here.

39:34Tom Pelissero:We'll see how much of an improvement they make, different scheme. They're going to be more multiple this year. I'm just telling you, that one day, you can see what Duke Tobin and company have done in terms of building, especially the speed on the back end. They're going to be really young in the secondary. Dax Hill is on his fifth-year options like the veteran of that group. But if they can stay healthy here, you would hope that they're going to be better than they were a year ago. Tom Pellicero right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Just put him in 100-degree weather, wind him up, and let him go.

40:01Your death experience were the three words he referred to. Justin Fields getting his toe stepped on a couple days ago. So you're heading to Miami, Duval as well, I imagine?

40:13Tom Pelissero:Again, I could have thought through this one a little bit differently here, Rich, but I am entirely in the southeast for the rest of this trip. So I will be hitting. I saw the Bucs. I'll hit the Dolphins tomorrow. than the Saints, Falcons, Panthers, Jaguars. That will round out my 13-campion 12-day tour. And it's a ton of fun, man. It's a ton of fun just watching these teams back-to-back and kind of being able to compare the vibe and the tempo and all these things. The Dolphins, again, the subject matter du jour is Tua being really open about the Tyreek Hill, I'm out of here comment and being open about how Tyreek needed to sort of commit, you know, do some penance with his teammates.

40:55And, but the thing I'm really keen about is that back end of that defense. I mean, they're, they, they're, they changed out a lot, obviously, and they're also banged up. And that's a, that's a major concern. I think that's right now in terms of injuries that we're seeing all over the place happening.

41:11Tom Pelissero:I would say this, like, I don't have, you know, every, every trade and every transaction in front of me, Rich. Right. But I don't remember, I don't remember another team in my time covering this league. changing as much at this stage in the year as the Dolphins have. I mean, they made two trades during Fourth of July week, like after OTAs and minicamp and everything were over, shipping off Jalen Ramsey, who they'd been shopping for months, bringing in Micka Fitzpatrick, also shipping off Johnnie Smith, then trading for Darren Waller. Then they get into camp and they sign Jack Jones, who frankly was available for a reason.

41:49Tom Pelissero:And, you know, there's still some moving parts there. I mean, Chris Greer's been very active through the course of this offseason. But with Tyree, remember, you know, they made the choice. We're going to trade Jalen Ramsey. I know Greer made an offhand remark about when he was asked, do you trade Tyree too? And he said, well, if somebody wants to give me a couple ones, nobody realistically is going to give him anything close to that. He'd be lucky to get a single one for him. But they are fully perceived as if Tyree Kill is going to be on that team. And, you know, listen, Tyree was through a lot last year.

42:16Tom Pelissero:You know, some of it not his fault. Some of it definitely his fault. and I'm not totally shocked. You know, Tua, we think of Tua as being kind of a quieter guy, but it's very apparent from the coaching staff on down that they want to try to get the best out of Tyreek. And listen, if Tyreek goes off, I know he's talking about 2 ,000 yards, let's say even 1 ,500 yards. If he has a good year and we're not talking about other things in Tyreek Hill's life this season, he might have one more big contract in him. I mean, there's not many dudes who bring that flamethrower speed like he does. they need that guy along with Dalen Waddell, along with Darren Waller.

42:53Tom Pelissero:We'll see who else they potentially might bring in as this thing rolls forward here. They need those guys because when Tua has been healthy and the playmakers have been on the field, they have been a pretty potent offense which will cover up some of those potent parts on the defense. Well, when you're filling in in this chair 10 days from now for a couple days, Tom, rest assured, full-on air conditioning. Don't you worry. Indoors, we're good. We're holding up. I've got a lot of fans here right now. but this is, you know. Nice. Clouds, this is a pretty good shot here. I got that framed up pretty good.

43:22Tom Pelissero:It's nice, you did. Tommy P. Tommy P. Tom, you're on fire. You're the best, Tom. Thanks again, brother. That's Tom Pellicero here on the Rich Eisen Show. Framed up and looking great.

43:34Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here. Running a small business means every hire matters. A bad hire costs time and money, but the right one helps your business grow. The challenge? Finding that person without out sorting through resumes. That's where LinkedIn Hiring Pro comes in. It screens candidates so you can focus on conversations with qualified talent. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence and build the team you need. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash eisen. Terms and conditions apply. Rich Eisen here for Gusto.

44:06Rich Eisen:After all these years talking to athletes, coaches, entertainers, and people at the top of what they do, one thing is pretty clear. Success usually depends on getting the details right. For small business owners, that includes payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, you know, the work that keeps everything moving, even if it's not the reason you started the business in the first place. That's why there's Gusto. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use, so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere.

44:39Rich Eisen:automatic payroll tax filing simple direct deposits health benefits commuter benefits workers comp 401k you name it gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly every budget and it's all built to save you time with built-in automated tools for offer letters onboarding docs direct deposit and more plus you get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price no hidden fees no surprises try gusto today at gusto.com rich and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash rich. One more time, gusto.com slash rich. This November, I'll be celebrating 22 years at NFL Network.

45:21It'll be 22 years ago this November that NFL Network began. This November, 31 years ago, I will celebrate my first day on the job as a television broadcaster. Redding, California. That's awesome. In November of 1994 is when I went on the here very green a lot of hair reason why i bring this up is because you know i said i was cleaning out my office the other day finding a bunch of stuff that i've saved susie accused me of being a major pack rat guilty is charged but i found this piece of paper what it is it's a folded up piece of paper you can see it's his personal on the top and it says richard eisen okay that's it right there okay and so um three months into my tenure at krcr television in redding california the beautiful redding chico market in the north state of california my um news director cal hunter pulled me inside a conference room sat me down i literally thought i was getting fired not kidding i'm like what's happening because he starts by saying your probationary period is over i'm like I had no idea there was a probation period.

46:32Like, it was a secret probation. Single secret probation. And he then slid this piece of paper across the table to me. And you could see it's closed with three staples, right? You could see the staples.

46:46Tom Pelissero:Okay. And so I, you know, went like this to make sure I didn't rip the paper. He's watching me open it. And what it was, he said, it's your raise. Hey! And put up on the screen here, you could see, the piece of paper that you could see I was making$6.50 an hour. It's a departmental correspondence signed by Cal Hunter, but you could see my new salary is blurred out. The reason why we're blurring it out is we're turning this into a special edition of Residual Rich. Hit it. Hit it.

47:29pay that me and his money all right if i was making 650 an hour what was my raise to what year was this 1995 it's three months and i started in november of 94 february of 95 february 16th of 1995 it was effective uh three days before i had no idea I'm going to say you went from$6.50 to$6.75. $6.75. He thinks that my raise was a mere quarter. Yes. Okay, very good. All right. I'm going to say$8.25. $8.25. Closest without going over, TJ Jefferson. I went from$6.50 an hour to what an hour? So I would say$6.50. I don't know what you're doing the math. It's all a bit. Just give me a number because we're running out of time.

48:23$7.80. $7.80. So you think my raise was$1.20. Yes. $1.30. You think it was over almost$2. I think they valued you. That's like a 30 % raise. They knew what they had. The winner is Chris Brockman, because I made from$6.50 an hour to$6.90 an hour. $0.40 an hour raise. I mean,$6.90. Nice. Thanks. It's very nice. It sure was. I went out and bought myself a candy bar. Did you take yourself to the movies? That's why I saved this piece of paper. That's incredible. Let's go to Dante in San Jose, California. What's up, Dante? How are you guys doing? What's going on in your mind, sir? What's up, you? So I had some time to think about the question you asked last week about what you would give up for your favorite team to win a championship.

49:17Okay. And I think for a Niner Super Bowl, I think I'd give up my master's and my recent acceptance to law school. Oh, my goodness. Your master's degree that you earned and your recent acceptance to law school? Yes. Dante, I don't need this anymore. That's an inferno. How old are you, Dante? I'm 26, so I've never seen a Super Bowl win in my life. Okay, but you've seen them make the Super Bowl. I mean, come on now, man. They left the field in overtime with the Leafs. Geez, I mean, you're a big fan, but what else would you do if not? You need to afford the tickets. Like, seriously, what are you going to do?

49:52Three cerebral losses is kind of heartbreaking. Well, before you do that, Dante, before you do that, stick around hour three. I'm interviewing Brock Purdy and see, you know, if you feel any better about your chances. Just stick with the master's degree. And for the time, I think even Jed York and John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan and everybody there would say, it's all good. And, of course, Nick Bosa would say, what's a degree? Well, I mean, no way he went to school. thanks for the call Dante thanks for the call Dante that'd be good man masters and law school acceptance first of all I thought he would say like when I went to the masters I saved my tickets or I got a masters shirt no no no you meant a masters degree literal masters degree jeez alright I don't know Chris you and I we've seen you know nine super bowls in our lifetime would you a lot would you give up your job to see your team win one no But again, you've seen them win.

50:52You've really seen them win. This guy's never seen them win. That's a chunk. Because as I point out, the Niners have a longer Super Bowl winning drought. You're right pointing that out. And the Cowboys. I know. I know, but we don't want to lend any more details to anything south of that. It don't matter. Okay. I mean, say it does. Raiders. Don't be a thing unless you got that ring. Raiders have made the Super Bowl. Yeah, they won the year before I was born, and I missed that one. So, I mean, I'm not giving up my job, though. Right, which is great. Or my eight years of junior college. You went to junior college for eight years?

51:33Yeah. Is that where you learned remediation of mold? No, that was afterward. Okay. Or schooling. Is that where you got your master's? No, it was just an AA. Okay, very good. Eight years for an AA. Okay, very good. Alcoholics and not. That's not what it is. No. That's not what it is. I'm glad that you're open enough. The trick is real. I thought he was staring. My bad. Mold school. Dude, I... Nice mold school. I like it. Just to go back to the residual, Rich. I was... When he called me into the office... You thought you were getting fired. Why wouldn't I? Your heart was just pounding, wasn't it?

52:10I don't know. Why would you? I don't know. Did you do anything... No, I was... My on-air style was... like some things that i also saved i don't know where i can i definitely saved them uh were the call sheets after hours because i did the 11 o 'clock sports and there was no in a small market television station there was nobody manning the front desk phones at 11 30 at night when i went on the air for the 11 o 'clock news so there would be an answering service and i'd get the you get the readout the next day of some of the messages that were left and the message was like who is this guy what is he doing what is he saying you know uh there was a town called weed california so whenever that school got beat weed got smoked weed got whacked you know what i mean like that's what i would say that was your stuff yes the great anderson high school up there their nickname was the Cubs and they were really good at wrestling.

53:11Okay. So what I did one time is I had the sweet Mike Magnus, Mike Mangus, who was the sports director, who's probably never seen anybody like me in my entire life. I had him as Vince McMangus and I was the junkyard cub to preview a big actual wrestling match, which offended the people who really were into real wrestling. You know what I mean? Amateur. And they were calling me up. So I was nervous. Yeah. And he slides this across the table and makes me open it in front of him with the stapled it shut. It was just the two of us like it was weird from start to finish. He took me in private. Why more than one staple?

53:52Three of them. Look how ripped it is. But I saved it. And he's like, congratulations. You got a raise. And I'm like, oh, that's great. And it's like 40 cents an hour. I still haven't cracked seven bucks an hour. But I loved my job, and it led to obviously yada, yada, yada here.

54:10I don't think I can be your friend, Isabella said. Rebecca's stomach flipped. This is the love story of real hinge couple Isabella and Rebecca, written and read by me, Temi Denton-Hurst. Listen to the free audiobook now.