Not a Good First Night for the Colts

17:54Rich Eisen:Dude. Okay. You can dude me all you want. I just did. They can score 40 a game, but if you give up 41, you're going 0-4. I'm aware of math. Okay. I mean, you went to Michigan, so I just got to explain the math for you. And the more or less situation? Okay. Thank you for that. You're welcome. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. We'll talk Raiders-Seahawks later on. Again, we're going to set the stage for NFL Network's coverage of Cleveland at Carolina tonight featuring Shador Sanders starting and playing most of the game unless Tyler Snoop Huntley pulls a Baker Mayfield and starts ripping up a new playbook like he did for the Rams years ago.

18:36Rich Eisen:And Ezra Freck is going to join us in studio as well in hour number three. He is a gold medalist Paralympian. He is a USC kid, and he's going pro. And last time I saw him was in that Pete Carroll class, and Pete Carroll returned to the sidelines last night in Seattle. So there's lots to talk about with Ezra, who is part of a new documentary called Adaptive, which is streaming now on Peacock. There's again you at 844-204-RICH, number two dial. When we come back, Tom Policero is checking in from what appears to be some sort of log cabin lookalike. I have no idea where he is. That's coming up next.

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19:55Rich Eisen:we've got now. No matter what you need, we have thousands of professional parts people doing their part to make sure you have it. We're O 'Reilly Fast. Just one part that makes O 'Reilly stand apart. The professional parts people. Oh, oh, oh, O 'Reilly. Auto Parts.

20:22Rich 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 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. All right, before Tommy P joins us, listen, I know it took a very Bengals-centric point of view of last night's game in Philadelphia.

21:01Rich Eisen:The Eagles are the defending Super Bowl champs, and Tanner McKee did look really good, man. I'm telling you, he's a good quarterback. Yeah. And that's why they made Kenny Pickett available. I don't think there's any – they weren't going to make McKee available to the Cleveland Browns. That I don't think. And it was, did you see afterwards last night what McKee's nickname is? In his locker room, it's 61 because that's his Madden rating. Oh, I did see the Madden rating. And he wanted to prove, like, so he was asked afterwards if, you know, he proved he's more than a 61 in Madden in the preseason action.

21:42Rich Eisen:Listen, it's all, you know, they're all chill right there, dude. there in gents in Philadelphia, as well they should.

21:50Tom Pelissero:As well they should.

21:51Rich Eisen:They're stacked, they're loaded. Jalen Hurts has just turned 27 last night.

21:56Tom Pelissero:Yeah, I'm going to pick them to repeat. I see no reason why they shouldn't be there again.

22:01Rich Eisen:I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be there again either. To win the NFC, I think they are the best team top to bottom going in. They're healthy. Yeah, absolutely. I know they're going to probably miss. You could say, well, they're missing some people on the defensive line. You know they know that, and they probably have guys that they feel they could plug and play. And if not, guess what they're going to do? They'll find more. They always do. How are you going to make a move? At the trade deadline or something like that. I don't know why you wouldn't have the utmost faith in what they're – That's the other thing, too, is that they know what they have.

22:34Rich Eisen:They know what they probably need, and they've got the smart people to go out and Jedi mind tricks somebody into giving them somebody. And Jihad Campbell, everybody says, is just going to be a massive load of a problem for people. And, of course, he dropped to them at the very last pick of the draft in Green Bay. Next two shows of this program, Tom Pellicero will be sitting in this chair. Hey! Joining us right now, Tommy P. Joining us from, where are you? What's happening right now? Are you with Walter White somewhere? you know like avoiding uh public detection what what is happening right now where are you

23:14Tom Pelissero:right now yeah the rv is actually parked right out there rich we'll be cooking right after this spot no i'm uh i believe i am in pequot lakes minnesota uh i got back from oh so we're

23:27Rich Eisen:we're personal time offing we're pto-ing after itc is that what's happening i wouldn't quite say

23:31Tom Pelissero:pto-ing i would say a two-week training camp tour 13 teams in 12 days damn followed by immediately coming to Los Angeles, host the Rich Eisen show.

23:41Rich Eisen:Oh, okay. And my family being up here with friends,

23:47Tom Pelissero:we had to squeeze it in. So made the late night trip. We'll watch you do Sanders and the Browns tonight. And then we'll head back tomorrow to get this thing rolling.

23:56Rich Eisen:Well, then I appreciate the 15 minutes of you actually spending time with us before you spend more time with us instead of your fam. So all clear with Anthony Richardson's hand, right? after everything last night?

24:10Tom Pelissero:It sounds like it dislocated, Pinky. I think that last night probably raises, as you were documented off the top of the show, some other questions with regard to Anthony Richardson. Now, he had had a really good practice in the joint practices with the Ravens a couple of days ago. It was one of the more encouraging moments that he's had through the course of the offseason. It made people believe, okay, you can see this thing maybe tracking in the right direction with Anthony Richardson at a time that, to be quite honest, he's basically got to overtake Daniel Jones for his own job because Jones was the one who was there and healthy through the course of the spring.

24:44Tom Pelissero:Anthony Richardson was rehabbing that shoulder issue. Now, you know, Daniel Jones obviously got a lot of the reps last night. Shane Steichen said he's got to recalibrate in terms of his plan for how they're going to handle things with regard to the quarterback reps through the rest of the preseason here. You know, Anthony Richardson has work cut out. And the biggest thing that Daniel Jones has going for him is get the ball to the right side. With Anthony Richardson, you still have those questions just based on the inexperience, whether he's going to be able to do that on a consistent basis.

25:16Rich Eisen:All right, Tom Pellicero here on the Rich Eisen Show. Just across the street yesterday, the biggest injury to date of the NFL season, Rashawn Slater goes down. And so he's done for the year, correct? And then on top of that, what does this mean? Joe Alt now moves over. What do you think Jim's plan is here to replace one of the best and obviously the best paid, and recently so, left tackle in the business? Tom?

25:45Tom Pelissero:Well, first of all, if you question ever why some players hold out, hold in, refuse to participate in practice until they get their deal, left tackle just having a freak injury and tearing his patella in practice is a pretty good argument for why Rashawn Slater didn't do a whole lot in the early stages of training camp. Obviously, just a brutal, brutal blow for the Chargers. Joe Ault, that is the logical plan. My understanding is that it's definitely a strong consideration to flip him to left tackle here. You have Jamari Sawyer, who was a starter before Joe Ault, got to L.A. That would be one other option.

26:18Tom Pelissero:They got some veterans like Trey Pipkins. You're protecting Justin Herbert. I mean, that's your most valuable guy. That's the one that Jim Harbaugh has said repeatedly here in the preseason. Everybody's got to get up to Justin Herbert's level. Now, all of a sudden, you take away his left tackle. You know, the issue is if you lose a running back, a receiver, a linebacker, like a lot of times you can trade for somebody. You can look at other people's depth. Nobody's given up a left tackle right now. There aren't 32 of those guys walking the planet as it is. People don't even want to trade their swing tackles because things can happen here.

26:48Tom Pelissero:You know, the good news is they do have some depth at that spot. And it's quite possibly going to be Joe Wald stepping into a really big role after playing exclusively right tackle, you know, at this point, flipping over to left and, you know, just kind of being able to patch the rest of it from there.

27:03Rich Eisen:Tom Pellicero joining us here on the Rich Eisen Show. So no Jerry Jones and no Micah Parsons spotted at Cowboys practice in Oxnard. You see stuff like that and you're like, okay, could they possibly be somewhere to hammer this problem out? And, you know, who knows? Obviously, maybe you do. What is the crux of it? Like, what is the crux of it that Jerry thought they had a handshake agreement that Micah Parsons has essentially reneged on. I might be oversimplifying it. And he's one of those old school guys that you don't do that to him. And Micah is one of those new kids, if you will, on the block, who are like, yeah, I did speak to you, but I'm being disrespected by being made to go through all of this.

27:58Rich Eisen:And I'm not apologizing for that. I just had my agent get involved, and I don't care who he is or what the Cowboys are. I don't want to play there anymore, and I actually will not. And am I simplifying everything, or is that basically it, Tom?

28:15Tom Pelissero:That is a significant part of it, and you saw it in Micah Parsons' lengthy statement he put out on social media one week ago today requesting a trade, and he mentioned in there, I no longer want to be a part of the Cowboys, but also I no longer want to be held to contract talks that occurred without my agent present. That's referring to what Jerry Jones thought he had in terms of an agreement based upon conversations between Micah and Jerry six months ago, five, six months ago. So when you're talking about negotiations and how they play out in the NFL, There's only a couple of teams in recent NFL history that have kind of defied the way that this is supposed to work, the way that this is required to work.

29:02Tom Pelissero:You had Bill Belichick would make a habit of bringing in players and negotiating directly with them without the agent present. And you had Jerry Jones, who there have been a number of occasions where, you know, everybody knows part of Jerry's M.O. is whether you're hitting a snag in contract negotiations, you're trying to get ahead of it. Jerry invites everybody up to his office and basically try to hammer it out face to face. So while it seemed like that was what took place with Micah, there was never an involvement of Micah's agent. And, of course, Jerry made this famous comment now that, well, I don't know what his agent's name is.

29:33Tom Pelissero:It's David Mulageta who has negotiated over a billion dollars in contracts this year. He is not a difficult guy to get a hold of. And I'm not going to sit here and do a David Mulageta infomercial for you right now. But it's not as if like a long history of him being difficult to work with or not being able to get deals done. Not only have they never have the Cowboys never just submitted a contract proposal in writing, which is that's what negotiations are. It's exchanging of bargaining proposals. Not only have they never sent in writing a contract proposal, they've never even had a conversation.

30:10Tom Pelissero:They've never even had contract talks with Mike's agent. that's not how this is supposed to work. And it makes it hard to believe that the Cowboys and Jerry Jones can continue to say, well, fans should not get any sleep over this. Maybe the idea that, oh, you know, this is their truth. It's been a week since he requested a trade. And as of last night, there still hadn't been one conversation other than on multiple occasions, Micah's agent saying, hey, we're ready when you are. for business. There's been nothing in terms of actually trying to hammer out a contract. Here we are, what is it, 27 days from Cowboys-Eagles in the kickoff game?

30:53Tom Pelissero:They're nowhere right now. And so without reading too much into what Mike is feeling, you certainly see in that statement his frustration of, why does it have to be like this? I'm not just going to sit here and have no talks and you're not talking to my agent. Until that happens, a deal is not going to get done. And at the same time, whatever trade interest is out there, the Cowboys don't seem interested at this stage in trading Micah Parsons, which makes some sense because trading in August is not when you're going to maximize the value, even if you were wanting to move the player.

31:26Rich Eisen:Let's talk a little bit about a third real subject matter, which is, you know, Parsons is somehow worn out as welcome with people in that building over the years. The previous coaching staff might tell you some stories, right? and Tank Lawrence might tell you some stories now from Seattle. I mean, and that Jerry is kind of fighting a fight on that regard as well. Is there any truth to that? Is there something going behind the scenes here, Tom?

31:56Tom Pelissero:There have been, and we reported back on Super Bowl Sunday, there were internal conversations going back to the last year about potentially should they trade Micah Parsons. And that was as much because of the top nature of the roster. And is it really wise to sign a guy for, at the time,$35 or$40 or now$45 million per year? Well, you already got back in CD making the money that they're making. But if Jerry Jones were concerned about impersonal dynamics, locker room dynamics, poachability, the fact that Micah kind of does his own thing in the spring and isn't a full-time participant in OTAs, If you had those concerns, you wouldn't have been negotiating or whatever you want to call it, the handshake deal that you had back in the spring.

32:40Tom Pelissero:Jerry Jones was willing to make a commitment to Micah Parsons. I've seen some of the things out there recently that it was, you know,$200 million guaranteed and all that. And that, as far as I know, is not true. I mean, the highest the highest guarantee, I believe, for a defensive player ever is one hundred twenty three million. And Jerry's not just going to kind of check for an extra seventy seven out of the goodness of his heart. but he was clearly willing to make a significant commitment to Micah Parsons. That deal ultimately did not get done for the reasons that we just discussed. But if you were concerned and, hey, we've got to get this guy out of here, you wouldn't even be willing to have that conversation.

33:15Tom Pelissero:And again, if they had come to Micah or David Mulugeta back before the draft and said, hey, we're going to move you, they would have been good with it. Hey, go and all right, you're going to move on. We'll go play someplace else. We'll get a big check. You guys get all the draft capital. Well, now it's August, and while Micah has requested a trade from the Cowboys' perspective, never say never, Rich, because we saw this happen with Khalil Mack some years ago, and it came to a head right about this time. They couldn't agree on a deal, and John Gruden ended up trading him away and getting some draft capital for him.

33:46Tom Pelissero:But when you're talking about not getting draft capital even in this year and not having any way to replace Micah Parsons, and by the way, Matt Iberfuss has come in building his plan in part around, hey, we can use Micah in all these different ways, and this is how our scheme is built. it would really put you would in essence be signaling i don't overstate this rich but you would in essence be signaling this is a rebuilding type year if you trade michael parsons away right now for future draft capital you're basically saying hey 2025 we're going to do our best we're probably not going to win we're going to start building this thing again in 26 and 27 and that just doesn't seem like something that 82 83 year old jerry jones would have a really high level of interest in.

34:27Rich Eisen:Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen show. Let's look over the steering wheel tonight's game on our network, NFL Network, 7 Eastern Time, Browns and Carolina. Regardless of why Shadour is getting the start, he's going to get it. What opportunity do you think he has tonight?

34:45Tom Pelissero:Well, not only is Shadour going to get the start, Rich, he might play the whole game or very close to it. You're talking about getting more reps than anybody normally gets in a preseason game, which is wild because, what was it, four days ago, it was arm soreness and Shadour wasn't even on the field. Now he's the only guy healthy enough besides Joe Flacco, who's 40 and probably doesn't even play in the preseason. He's the only guy healthy enough to go out there. He's going to be with second and third stringers. The Panthers are going to play some of their guys, their first stringers. So I think that regardless of what happens, you have to try to take it with a shake or assault here.

35:19Tom Pelissero:But it's not going to happen. It's going to be a massive overreaction one way or another because Shadour is as polarizing as he is. What the coaches are going to want to see with Shadour is can you operate in the offense? It's all the things that we talked about in terms of the potential concerns on the field with Shadour at Colorado, which is, you know, all the sacks that he takes. Is he really getting through his progressions? Can he play, you know, in an offense that's not necessarily tailored precisely to, you know, covering up certain things? And he doesn't have Travis Hunt. You know, he doesn't have somebody he can throw the ball up to when he needs a play and go and get it.

35:54Tom Pelissero:So the best thing Shadour can do tonight is play clean football. Get the ball out of his hands on time. Get it where it needs to go. Don't try to play hero ball. Don't try to run around and make things happen. Don't take 10 sacks. Just go out and do your best. And again, he's going to be challenged. You've got a backup offensive line, backup weapons. You're going against the Panthers defense that, you know, we'll see what sort of stuff they dial up. But they are going to play. like I said, they're guys in this game. This is going to be a challenge for Shadour. But if you're him, would you rather have this challenge and go out and play 50, 60, 70 snaps, or everybody's healthy and you're picking up the scraps in the fourth quarter when everybody's kind of worn out and it's threes versus threes?

36:36Tom Pelissero:I would take this opportunity. If I'm Shadour, show that you can be the guy. Again, not by playing amazing football and creating a highlight reel. Just go out and show, hey, you say I can't play on time. You say I hold the ball. You say I take too many sacks. I'm going to show you I can take steps forward here. The hardest thing for the Browns is always going to be go to either of these rookies out of the gate as the starting quarterback, just because they've got so much to learn, and there is a learning curve, and they both have a transition element coming from college here. They were supposed to be working behind probably Kenny Pickett in this game.

37:08Tom Pelissero:Pickett's now not available. So here you go, Shadour. Let's see what you got.

37:11Rich Eisen:Yeah, and then we got a triple header on NFL Network on Saturday. Giants, Bills, Texans, Vikings, Jets, Packers. What are we going to see out of J.J. McCarthy? What do you think? That's in the minute of the day of that Saturday.

37:28Tom Pelissero:Yeah, they're going to roll him out there. He was really good last year in the preseason opener and then tore his meniscus, finished off his time in that game, but then missed his entire rookie season. You know, this has been everybody believes in the makeup and the person and, frankly, the traits. As a quarterback, it's just, is he going to be able to do it? And so this is going to be the first test back. Everybody always says the first time that you get hit. And, you know, how do you kind of rebound from that? But for J.J., it's also showing, hey, I can play on time. I can get the ball where it needs to go.

37:59Tom Pelissero:You know that he's capable of it, but he's just missed so much time. This is kind of a rust-shaking type of a moment for J.J. McCarthy. I wouldn't think one way or another that anybody internally is going to overreact to whatever we see tomorrow. but it certainly will be interesting just to see for the first time in a calendar year, this guy go out there in a live situation for football.

38:18Rich Eisen:Yeah, Cowboys and Rams are playing that day too. We all know Matthew Stafford's out for the moment, but Sean McVay said yesterday that he would be cleared to play if this was the regular season. Does that mean the epidural did its job? Like what's the scoop here on the back that you know?

38:32Tom Pelissero:As a guy that's had a couple of epidurals in his back, Rich, I would tell you, you can feel good and then right up until you don't. So, you know, we'll see. The one thing with Matthew Stafford is every year he's got something in camp. Every year it's, you know, oh, it's his shoulder, it's his thumb, or it's something. And then week one rolls around and one of the toughest guys, most durable guys we've seen in the NFL, finds a way to play. It doesn't sound like there's any major concern there. I mean, I can tell you disc issues are fickle, you know, and with a guy of Matthew Stafford's age, if that's something that's bugging him, he might be able to play through it.

39:07Tom Pelissero:And that's what Sean McVay is saying. but playing through it and playing effectively through it are two different things. And so we'll continue to monitor that for sure.

39:14Rich Eisen:And then lastly, before I send you back to your family, the double dip on NFL Network on Sunday, two more games starting at one Eastern time, Dolphins and Bears shortly before we went on the air. Ben Johnson said Caleb is not playing. So what's the scoop? I guess let's figure it out. Let's finish up here. You're reporting on Caleb Williams' progress. You know, if he's drinking through a fire hose and throwing everything at him, You know, why wouldn't they put him out in game situation right there in Soldier Field against the Dolphins, even for a little bit?

39:47Tom Pelissero:Everybody's got their own philosophy in terms of the cadence. I would imagine you're going to see a lot of Caleb in the second game. This is probably the best opportunity for Tyson Bajan, a guy that the previous regime liked a lot, to go out there, get his reps. You know, there's no – it's way too early for red flags on Caleb. of, and I've seen some of the viral videos and I've seen some of the, you know, the quotes, but you know, let's see what Caleb Williams is a, is a gamer for sure. He finds ways to make things happen. A big part for Ben Johnson is just reigning him in a little bit. That's an ongoing process.

40:21Tom Pelissero:I'll be most interested to see week one because listen, Ben, Ben Johnson is not going to roll out the whole scheme and the preseason. He's not going to have, you know, the wild plays and throwing at the tackles and pretending to fall down and all those things.

40:33Rich Eisen:Nice.

40:33Tom Pelissero:You know, let's see as we get into week one. It's going to be national TV. It's going to be Monday Night Football against the Vikings. It's not that far away, Rick. So, you think about how close week one is right now. It's under 30 days. We've still got, you know, a handful of unresolved situations across the NFL. We talked about Micah Parsons, but we still don't have resolution right now on James Cook and the Bills. He is still not practicing. I know that people have fixated on the$15 million number that he put out there at one point. My understanding is at this point, James Cook is looking for closer to what Kyron Williams got, which is 11, than he is to 15.

41:09Tom Pelissero:But, you know, there's no such thing as close. There is only done. They're not far apart, but this deal is not yet done. And so, you know, keep an eye on how that entire thing plays out. I would anticipate that if I'm the Bills, I want to bring this to a head sooner than later and get the player on the field. You know, with Terry McLaurin in Washington, that's another one. He did not travel up for the joint practices in the game against New England. Either way, the commanders are planning on McLaurin being a part of the team and playing. He's on the roster. He's due close to$20 million. He's currently on the pup list, but they're fully anticipating one way or another that he's going to be out there in week one.

41:47Tom Pelissero:And then Trey Hendrickson, there's just not been a lot of movement on that one over the past couple of weeks. We talked about it on the show. So they're more or less in agreement on the big numbers, the years and the total money. It's just about the guarantees. I can tell you, the Bengals have gotten calls about Trey Hendrickson. They haven't really signaled that they'd be willing to deal him. And similar to Dallas, if you trade him away, unless you get a pass rusher or two in return, how on a team that you expect to compete this year do you replace that type of productivity? You know, this is four players of that stature, that caliber, Rich.

42:26Tom Pelissero:We haven't had a lot of times recently, whether it's holdouts or in this case hold-ins, that many, you know, pro-ball, all-pro type guys with unresolved situations at this point in the calendar. I mean, we're going to the first preseason weekend, and that's four guys who are all at different stages of the same problem, which is the team isn't making them an offer. In Micah's case, hypothetically would make them an offer, but they're not where the other side wants to be. And we'll see. Ultimately, everybody's got to make a choice. Every player's greatest leverage is withholding their services. Well, it's a lot different to withhold your services in early August when you might not be getting fined or fined a small amount versus getting closer to the season and suddenly having game checks taken away.

43:09Tom Pelissero:We're going to be monitoring all four of those extremely closely here over the next several weeks.

43:14Rich Eisen:Lots of unresolved situations. And after 13 days on the training camp road and two days in this chair at the top of next week, let's make sure that does not include your marriage. So thank you for the time, Tom. Appreciate it. The boys will see you out here next week. I can't wait. And I appreciate you.

43:32Tom Pelissero:Six-hour NFL extravaganza.

43:34Rich Eisen:That'll be next week. Tom Pellicera in this chair giving you everything you need to know. See you soon, Tom. While I tap out in advance of next playing season. and of course our move to Disney Plus. 844-204-RICH, number to dial. There goes Tommy P. Off he goes. Arky, you can take him off the screen now. Why? I mean, we have to say, he's making a video. Rich, what are we doing? We're going to see him enough. Plus, we've got to go to break. Rich Eisen here with some advice. If high interest credit card debt is grinding you down, it might be time to call an audible with a SoFi personal loan. It consolidates your debt into one low monthly payment with no fees required.

44:08Rich Eisen:And with as soon as the same day funding, You can make the right play fast. Call an audible on your debt today at SoFi.com slash debt play. Loans originated by SoFi Bank N.A. Member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. Fast funds terms apply at SoFi.com slash debt play. Rich Eisen here for gusto. On my shows, we talk a lot about what happens in the spotlight, the games, the highlights, and the moments that get replayed and debated. But in any successful operation, what happens behind the scenes matters just as much. Small businesses are no different. Payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, and all the details that keep things moving may not be the most visible part of the job, but they still have to be handled right.

44:49Rich Eisen:That's where Gusto comes in. 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. 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.

45:32Rich Eisen:That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash rich. One more time, gusto.com slash rich.

45:43Rich Eisen:Let's, uh, let's get into, um, uh, the fact that this is Atlanta. Love it. Okay. This city is so beautiful, man. This is, it is so dear to my heart. It, it, because I chose it, you know, it was different when I came out in the draft because I had gone to a all-American function here in Atlanta. And when I got to the city and went to the airport, I was like, dang. We did a little thing at the hospital. I was like, dang. Start going around the city to dine and to do the different things that we had. I was like, oh, my God. I had truly never seen African-American people in such roles and positions and titles that I had never seen in my life.

46:26Rich Eisen:And it blew my mind. You know, city officials, doctors, lawyers, political figures. It blew my mind. So I said, that's where I want to go because I knew the dude I was. I was non-apologetic. I was brash. I was going to be mean. And I felt like Atlanta would at least understand me. And I said, I'm not going to you. Don't draft me. I'm going to play baseball if you do. I'm not going there. I'm not going there. And Atlanta. Atlanta was the one. Number five pick. I was so happy I didn't know what to do. And I also love the story that you've told, and if you wouldn't mind telling the audience here as well, at the Combine, when you would be pulled into rooms.

47:09Rich Eisen:And you didn't know which room you were being pulled into by which room. Yeah, yeah. I was, you know, back in that day, everybody was reaching for it. Agents was in the hotel. Everybody was everybody. Now it's all scheduled. It was scheduled, structured. You can't be in a hotel. You can't be on the premises. Then it was everything. It was wild. I'm backing away from crowds and people trying to grab me. And I backed into this room and the Giants was there. And it was the Giants room. And they had people sitting down taking these tests. What do they call these things? Oh, yeah, like the psychology test, right?

47:40Rich Eisen:Yeah, I mean, the thing was that thick, man. And I sat down and they gave me this thing. And what is this? They say, it's this test. And, you know, we need you to take it. I said, oh, what picker do you have? It's like the 10th. I said, oh, I'd be going for it. I said, I got to be walking out. I'd be going, I ain't going to vote in. And then let's just get into it here. I mean, Belichick said he watched you run the 40 at the combine. And that you ran it and then ran into the tunnel. And is it true? That's not true. Okay. You did not run into a waiting car and being taken to the airport right then and there.

48:16Rich Eisen:No, because I had more interviews and all of that. No, that story just grows and grows. It does. It's like a fish story. It is. It is. That's not true. I did everything that I was asked to do. Now, I didn't lift. I ain't do none of that because Jerry Rice to this day had laid across my arms and had me bench pressing. You know, I don't know where that comes from. I love it. You say that when you're watching the defensive back. I hate that. Put up the weight reps of 225. Why? Who cares? When have you ever said, man, boy, if that guy would have got one more rep,

48:44Tom Pelissero:he would have been there on that play.

48:46Rich Eisen:Never. Out of three-cone drill. Like, no, this has nothing to do with nothing. So I didn't do any of that stuff. Right. Yeah. Well, it all worked out. Yeah. In advance of tomorrow, Now more than ever, happy birthday, Deion Sanders. Oh, man, that's awesome. It is tomorrow. Love it. 21 turns 58. So there will be, was his other number 37? Because that's how old he was when he played with the Ravens. So it'll be his 37th annual 21st birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday to you, Prime. Back on the Rich Eisen Show. I got to be honest with you, man. when I heard that Jerry Jones and Micah Parsons were not on the field together yesterday.

49:29Rich Eisen:Oh, you were like, deal, hammered out. That's what has to happen. Right. What must happen, Micah's not there, and Jerry's not there, because they're on the phone with Micah's agent, and Jerry's got his people in the room doing what's supposed to be done, which is talking to each other. Settle down just a little bit. In a conventional way. Do you remember the story Charles Woodson told here on the program when he and Lloyd Carr grinded gears and all Coach Carr wanted was an apology from Charles about whatever pissed Coach Carr off, and he refused to do it. He was going to transfer. He was going to transfer.

50:18Rich Eisen:He was not going to be allowed to play against the Ohio State. Lloyd didn't care. He was pissed, and the player needed to come to apologize to him, and Charles refused to do it. And one of his position coaches got his mom on the phone, and his mom said, you go apologize to him, if not for yourself, then for me. And Charles was like, damn it. That's a wrap at that point, bro. You're going right in. Remember that story? It's one of my favorite stories that we've heard in the history of this program. Doesn't that sound like that's what Jerry's waiting for? Whether it's right or wrong. He thought, I had a handshake agreement.

50:57Rich Eisen:Jerry's going to be waiting a while. Now, that's the point. Who's the one who's going to call Micah Parsons up and say, dude, at the end of the day, when you're cashing$45 million a year, does it really matter to you that you went and apologized to a guy that you really didn't feel you needed to apologize to? Does it really matter? And then, of course, you're sitting there going, why should the kid be forced at age 26, this lion of a kid, be forced to go in because the owner's the one scratching the checks, and that's the way he does his business for whatever reason and this is the boat that you are in and i thought to myself somebody kind of and somebody go to jerry and basically say jerry kids 26 these are different kids these days you know different kids these days so why do you like what you go up to him too who's good who can move these two together and that's why i thought Maybe that's what they were doing yesterday.

51:53Rich Eisen:But apparently it's not. I don't think you were alone. I think a lot of people were thinking that. What has to happen is these guys need to get away, not in front of a camera, not standing there, you know, talking it up with Andrew Whitworth, our buddy. You know, away. Go on a retreat. Darkness retreat. Take Jerry's big yacht. And hammer it out. Hang on, I'm a yacht. Hour two coming up here in the program. Mike, very helpful. What yacht at Oxnard? You think boats float around? Not at Oxnard. He probably could have it driven out here. There's no giant dock. Oxnard's an hour from here. Guess what I'm not doing?

52:30Rich Eisen:I'm not going on a boat. You know what I mean? I keep saying it. Get your agent on the phone. Walk up to Jerry Jones and say, Hey, Jerry, I know we haven't spoken yet. My agent's on the phone here. And he might be like, This is BS. What the hell are you doing here to me? Somebody needs to be an adult. Like the Joe Flacco quote, be an adult. Again, I keep being told by a bunch. I'm talking to so many people about this, you know, about because when I come here, I just want to make sense. And I want to sound like I want to I want to give you a general sense of what I'm hearing and and be accurate.

53:09Rich Eisen:Obviously. I don't care about, you know, hey, I told you so. It is great when I can do that. I'm about to say you care a little bit. But I'm telling you that I can't imagine this doesn't get done. You keep saying that, and I'm hoping you're right. And I've been told by some people, Mike is a different cat. And he is the type of guy that is like, I don't care who the hell Jerry Jones is or anything like that. If I'm not getting the respect, I'm out. And literally, it doesn't matter how much money is on a piece of paper for that. and I'm hearing Jerry Jones is like handshake agreement is a handshake agreement I bought this team in a handshake agreement as if long forms don't exist and you know paper like right now paper is getting pens being put to paper or documents are being created right now on any business deal involving the NFL whether it's with ESPN or any teams with other players that's also part of the problem Jerry still is operating like it's 35 years ago And that Micah and Jerry had multiple, I've heard maybe, I've heard they had multiple conversations that resulted in a handshake, that they did in fact exchange some numbers, but the actual long form and hammering it out, I mean, Jerry's also got to know, is Micah really going to sit there and go, oh yeah, the guaranteed dollars have to be here in year two and then year three and then year four?

54:37Rich Eisen:And if he believes that, then he's clearly, you know, doing something that the kid should bring in a paid professional to hammer out as it's supposed to be done in the NFL. Bottom line is this. I was hoping that somebody's got to put these two together. Maybe I should go do it.

54:59Tom Pelissero:You're an adult. Like, be an adult. There you go.

55:02Rich Eisen:That's what's up. That's what's up.

55:09Rich Eisen:Close your eyes, exhale, feel your body relax, and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class.

55:21Tom Pelissero:I got them delivered free from 1-800-CONTACTS. Oh my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste.

55:33Rich Eisen:Visit 1-800-CONTACTS.com today to save on your first order. 1-800-CONTACTS