Pro Football Hall of Famer Rod Woodson

23:58Rich Eisen:Teams battling through adversity. Athletes fighting for every yard. The toughest warriors I've ever seen, though, aren't on the field. They're kids fighting cancer. They're families standing beside them. Doctors, nurses, caregivers. That's why I'm proud to support Hyundai Hope on Wheels. For over 28 years, they've helped fund pediatric cancer research, raising more than$303 million and supporting over 40 ,000 children. Learn more and donate at HyundaiUSA.com backslash Hope on Wheels. 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 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 na member fdic terms and conditions apply nmls 696891 fast funds terms apply at sofi.com slash debt play are you still playing fantasy football you still doing that Not really, no.

25:02Rich Eisen:I'm in a league, but I don't control it. Well, my buddies control it for me. Well, because I know we've had conversations about this before and that there are some interesting, I guess, tasks that the loser of this league must undertake. So are you, if you lose, even though you're not part of the day-to-day? Oh, yeah. They'll hold me to it. Absolutely. I don't even know if I can tell you who's on my team right now. But if I were to lose, they would they would absolutely hold me to it. And we'd have to go take care of business. What are some of the fails that I guess that you have to do? What are some of the responsibilities of the losers of your league?

25:38Rich Eisen:What is last year? The loser had to go to Alaska for a day. What do you mean like for a day? Yeah. For a day? Yeah. OK. They went to a place called Nome, Alaska. It's actually where the Iditarod, it goes through there, I think. So the Lutheran, regardless of the geographic spot in the United States, would have to, for a day, get on a plane and prove proof of purchase of the ticket and then take a photo? Oh, yeah. I mean, there was tasks involved. I think he went in March. Okay. But it was, yeah, it was a whole thing. And that was just one year. That was just last year. this year it'll be entirely different what other previous uh years any other examples because that's amazing you have to go to known alaska the year before the loser you know uh far school sports does the rough and rowdy the boxing deal he fought in that at the super bowl the year we were there he was he was fighting in the in the boxing on friday night uh before the game there Oh, my gosh.

26:46Rich Eisen:You do not want to lose your fantasy league, Jerry. No, that's why I try to put a lot of faith in my body. It's running a fire. YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show for the Rich Eisen Show YouTube channel. Please check it all out. Just be careful because just make sure you get some time on your hands. You go down a wormhole. My apologies to Andy Holloway of the Fantasy Footballers, the highly popular podcast. for being a little bit late to the conversation. But Andy Holloway joining us back here on the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you, Andy. How are you? Sitting there on your set looking very, very nice.

27:24Rich Eisen:What's going on, sir? We're doing well, man. Thanks for having me, Rich. We're in the throngs of it, man. Everybody's undefeated right now in fantasy. Okay. Very good. That's very good. Appreciate it. I'm just glad you said throngs and not thong. that would be an interesting way of doing it listen Andy before we get into the conversation about picks and things like that who won the league last year in which this show was participating because I know you have many of those leagues I'm racking my brain on that I think you won the league let's give Chris is a co-general manager. Congratulations. As well as TJ Jefferson as well.

28:15Rich Eisen:I helped you with the draft. No, no, you were there in spirit. Yeah, for sure. Mike Dill Tufa had absolutely nothing to do with that. But Andy, when's the draft for this year? When's that? I think we're targeting maybe the week of the 26th. I think you can come back and try to defend it. Oh, just to get back. Are we... You've been invited back. We don't boot the winner, man. Okay, I just want to make sure because you're aware that's next week and we just want to make sure that it's happening. It's happening, Rich. It's happening. We don't want you with too much prep time. Give us a lead of six days.

29:04Rich Eisen:Yeah, we'll do that. You better have your head on a fantasy swivel. Okay, so we're good. This is good. We're good. Yeah, you're back. Okay. Don't be so thrilled about it. We just started exchanging emails with Damon like an hour ago. Oh, is that right? So we're good. We're good. Why don't you tell me that? Well, we're in the middle of the show. I understand that, but now here I am kind of grilling Andy. Yeah, but that makes for good content. Okay. I think we still have some championship rings that we need to send you. I think we got some stuff for you. Is there something? Is there something? Yeah, we got some stuff for you.

29:36Okay. Whatever you want. Does it say our margin of victory? Because we really dominated. Oh, don't do that. Don't do that.

29:44Rich Eisen:Don't do that. I'm not sure we... Okay. It's all good. You guys did well. It was a good performance.

29:55Rich Eisen:That's all we're looking for in return. That's right. No, it was great. It was great. A laurel and a hearty handshake. use a blazing saddles phrase. All right, Andy Holloway. Let's get into this. Is the ultimate draft kit 2025 available at the fantasyfootballers.com? The highly popular podcast as well. The first overall selection in a fantasy draft should be who? Who is it? I think it's Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase feels nice and safe this year. Okay. He's the safest pick in fantasy football. Jamar Chase. Yeah, I mean, last year I think the pendulum swings in fantasy all the time. So it's like, you know, the running backs perform.

30:35Everybody wants to run to the running backs. And then when they let you down, they run to the wide receivers. But I mean, Chase is part of that perfect storm in Cincinnati. Great quarterback, no defense. I mean, that's fantasy gold. So Chase feels safe. Now you haven't had a number one fantasy finish at wide receiver repeat since I think Antonio Brown back in 2015. but we play on probability and it seems like Chase is the highest probability to do it. The most safe running back to choose? Yeah, I mean, probably Bijan in Atlanta or Saquon. I mean, both of those guys. Saquon's coming off so many carries, so it's like sometimes when you're an older running back, it worries you a little bit, but it's hard to look at that offense and that team and not think he's going to come close to repeating.

31:25So I think both of those guys are in the conversation for, if you don't go chase, you can go either of those number one. And I think it's fine. So again, this conversation on the running backs,

31:37Rich Eisen:it's Saquon had too much volume last year to be safe. And Bijan, I guess the pushback there is, is what does the offense look like with Penix, right? Like what, what are we, what are we, we're just basing it on, those awesome phantom cam slow-mo runs that we see from him? I'm being honest. I'm not being facetious here. No, it's great. Like Saquon, what was awesome about him last year was not just the volume, but he had all the big plays, like the 60-plus yard touchdowns. That wasn't really Bajon's recipe for success. It was just chunk after chunk after chunk. Now, they dealt with worse quarterback play than people expected.

32:24Kirk Cousins, that went sideways, and he still performed for fantasy. So I think some people that want to lean to the younger side and maybe try to be risk-averse, worrying about – like Saquon had all the carries, but then he had the playoff run where he piled up even more. So, look, we all try to split hairs to find something wrong at the top with these guys. There's not really anything wrong with either of them, but you are betting on the mystery that is Michael Penix Jr. and, you know, you can be optimistic, but I think Vegas line for them is like eight and a half wins, somewhere around there.

32:56So you want a winning team for a running back to have success. That's normally a part of the equation. So I don't have a problem with either one, but Bajon's got the age advantage. Speaking of Vegas, where do you put Ashton Gentry? Boy, Gentry looks like he'll have all the volume, but you're in a really tough division. He's going like back of the first round in fantasy this year. So it's the whole fantasy philosophy of it might be a boat, right? Like we don't know how high the ceiling could be for Ashton Gentry. So sometimes people take the more exciting young player just for the upside potential.

33:33I love what they're doing on offense. We love Brock Bowers. I love that they have a quarterback now. But it is a tough division. So I think back of the first makes sense. And I think if you want to swing for upside versus maybe more safe, then he's a great option. And there's a lot of excitement.

33:48Rich Eisen:I mean, I'm wondering how Brock Bauer's season last year, I guess, splashes onto Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren this year, right? Like, I'm wondering how you rate something like that right now, Andy Holloway. It's been two straight years with a rookie tight end finishing at number one in fantasy. Laporta did it two years ago, and it really wasn't something that ever happened. And then we get, you know, the big performance by Bowers. and like Tyler Warren's one of my favorite picks in fantasy this year no kidding he's a he's a my guy for me the announcement this morning with Daniel Jones I I'm I feel better about that from a stability standpoint accuracy standpoint getting him the football not that you know either guy was going to make you you know feel super confident but Bowers had nobody last year in Las Vegas at quarterback to trust and he still put up record-setting numbers so we we seem to discount the rookies because we don't know what's going to happen, especially at tight end.

34:44Bowers was like an eighth or ninth round pick last year, and that's where Warren's going again. I think if you're not drafting one of those top tight ends, then you can just keep waiting, and I'd take a shot on Warren for sure.

34:56Rich Eisen:I've got Andy Holloway here on the Rich Eisen Show. Last year, if I'm not mistaken, it could have been Jason Moore or Mike Wright who said you can win a fantasy league with Jaden Daniels. We drafted him. We won the fantasy league with Jaden Daniels. I don't know if that's why neither of them are appearing on this segment today. Yeah, they didn't make the playoffs in our league, so I told them they can't come. By the way, outstanding method of hunting and packing for FaceTime, Andy. I appreciate it. I totally appreciate that. Give me somebody who you can win a fantasy league with at quarterback, because that's the key.

35:33Rich Eisen:When to choose one, who you're choosing. I know experts like yourself are probably like high-fiving inside when somebody uses a second or third round pick even on somebody as great as Josh Allen or Lamar, right? Or Jaden Daniels, I imagine, is going to be in that mix this year. Yeah, he is. What is your philosophy on when to draft one and who this year? Yeah, no, I think this year in particular, there's probably five core top-end names. It's Lamar, it's Allen, it's Daniels, it's Hurts. and then depending on who you talk to is probably Joe Burrow. Those other guys give you fantasy value with their legs, and that's huge, you know, picking up the rushing yardage and touchdowns on the ground.

36:17But Burrow has just been a machine. Everything looks set up for him. So those five guys, I would probably, if I want one of them, I'm taking kind of the last of that group as far back as they go, let the other four go off the board. Otherwise, if I'm waiting late, like I think there's tons of sleeper quarterback options this year. I think Jordan Love can bounce back in Green Bay. He was a top-five fantasy quarterback, dealt with injuries last year, kind of off everybody's board. I think he could do a lot. I think Drake May in New England, if they surprised. He's got rushing upside that he showed at the back half of the year, but they were such a bad team.

36:53Sometimes people don't pay attention to that. Drake May is another guy, Bo Nix in Denver. If he can take the next step, I think there are some later values. And what I wouldn't do is just kind of spend a middle round pick. If I'm out of those top five, I wait a little bit longer and grab one of those guys with upside. Even Dak with CD and Pickens.

37:12Rich Eisen:So what about Stroud? You win a championship with Stroud here. How about you're already giving me that look. Yeah, it's tough. Are we winning a championship with Purdy here? Baker? Goff? What do you got? Yeah, I mean, Goff. No, Goff, to his credit, he's been very consistent, but he's a back half QB1 the last three years. All the four names that you mentioned, what they have in common is that it's going to be dependent on pocket passing success. So that really comes down to, like, can they hit huge touchdown numbers? Like Baker last year, great for fantasy, up at that 40-plus mark, really hard to repeat that.

37:55And so those pocket passers you see swing back and forth between relevance and irrelevance. if the touchdowns dip, you don't get that baseline on the ground. So I think you can win with those guys. Stroud's the same thing. I think he had about 200 rushing yards last year. You've got to get up over 35 touchdowns to really be a difference maker if you're a pocket passer. That's where Burrow, you kind of are confident he'll be 35-plus, maybe 40-plus. Again, that's the question. They all have the potential to do it. It's just you don't want to lock in and auto-start those guys if it's not their year, be willing to kind of pivot and change and pick up somebody off the waiver wire.

38:30Rich Eisen:A couple more to throw at you, Andy Holloway. Christian McCaffrey, where are you putting him? Oh, yeah, he's the most hotly debated player on our show almost every day, it seems like, because the fantasy hitman, Mike, he's got him at 101, like the number one pick. And you can see the argument for that. The last five years for McCaffrey, two of them he won you your league, and three of them he lost you your league. Yeah, that's right. So it's called like, and so for Mike, it's like you play to win, right? Like you, you're not there for third place. And I get that. So he, if he gets the workload, like every running back in San Francisco right now behind him is injured.

39:11Like, I don't know what practice field situation they got going on, but they're all banged up, but you got to ask Christian McCaffrey to get through a whole season. And that is a tall task of late. But all the passing game work, the receivers that are hurt there, like if he's healthy, he probably will be the number one running back. It's just, do you want to go through the mental stress? You know, so many people drafted him, and now they're burnt, and it's like, you don't have to do that. You could go Bijan, you could go Gibbs, you could go Saquon, and you could take the mental strain off, and of course they could get hurt too, so this is fantasy, right?

39:43But yeah, CMC, you know, depends how much of a taste for danger you have.

39:52Rich Eisen:and lastly give me the round in which I should take a flyer on Cam Ward oh see I heard you talking about Cam Ward I'm excited for their future it's hard for a rookie to put up numbers that matter for fantasy we haven't seen a lot of that I think last year was like the first year we had a rookie quarterback give double digit touchdowns to somebody because Terry McLaurin got the double digits with Jaden Daniels so So you can get them with the last round pick if you believe. You can take that shot, see what happens to start the year. They got all those rookie-wide receivers they're trying to develop in Tennessee.

40:29But I do really like what I've seen from Cam Ward, and I'm excited to see what the Titans can turn into because they've been dealing with no more Will Levis experience in Tennessee. Let's move forward with Cam Ward. Right. Okay. And then the guy that is a sleeper. Yeah. I love Jameson Williams. I don't know if he quite qualifies for that.

40:51Rich Eisen:Absolutely, of course. Yeah, I mean, Jamison Williams in Detroit, I think he's got a huge opportunity this year. They're kind of figuring out what to do with him. He ran a higher percentage of those go routes, the post routes, than even like Jamar Chase and Jefferson. I'm a big fan of Jamison Williams breaking out this season. Okay, and I've got a sleeper for you. Do you know who I got this? Okay, let's hear it. The sleeper for you is whoever's in charge of scheduling the draft. and getting around to informing the defending champs when it is. Yeah, yeah. That person is dead asleep. Who is the Rip Van Winkle of the fantasy footballer's operation here, Andy?

41:33Rich Eisen:Good Lord. Is it an excuse if he's getting married this past week? Is that an excuse for Damon? No, it is not. Then delegate. Then Damon is to blame. I've got something for his registry. yes come on oh my goodness we got to get him an invite in february next year what the hell whenever whenever you want to get around to it that's all i'm saying yeah we'll uh we'll let you know when it's starting we'll let you know when the draft's starting right hey guys it's round two that's the time handy greatly appreciate it everybody check out the fantasy footballers podcast you'll be one of the last if you already haven't love these guys Me too.

42:12Rich Eisen:I did two episodes at the gym yesterday. Okay, great. Awesome. Rich, the man was getting married. That's not an excuse. It kind of is. No, it's not. You can multitask. Come up with a draft time and send it out. And then get married. And then get married. I'm not saying that whoever's doing this, walking down the aisle, should say, hold on a second, honey. I got to activate this lead. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. Rich goes from telling people, take a moment. and just take it all in. 22 years ago, I was looking for a job and getting married. That's true. Okay, so this person can walk down the aisle and chew this gum.

42:54Rich Eisen:That's all I'm saying. Sleep at the switch. What are they doing? Your writing must have been stressful now knowing what we know. Oh, my God. But please. You ain't had no job, man. Can confirm.

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43:56Rich Eisen:You and I were doing, like, I think, like, as they said, the 11 o 'clock Eastern show. and all of a sudden we get a phone call that we have to go on the air immediately because a brawl has broken out at Madison Square Garden because the Andrew Gulotta Riddick Bowe fight went haywire. So when that happens back in the day, we went haywire. We did. I remember that. We were like, you're like knocking on the door. We got to go down. No, I had a cubicle. You had an office. Oh, that's true. I did start four years earlier. No, you did. No, I know that. No, no, that's okay. Hello. But anyway, yeah. But we somehow put it together and did a fabulous ad lib the entire program.

44:34Rich Eisen:Because it was one of those things, because you and I are both from New York City. Sure. And we're like, honestly, we were kind of, I remember walking down together. We're saying, okay, we're getting a little bit of bits and pieces as to why something had broken out. Right. And we both looked at each other like, if cops got called to Madison Square Garden, all holy heck had to have broken out. And you love boxing. I mean, you know, give yourself a little credit. I mean, you totally had done your research on this fight. I remember that. You loved the fight game. Well, you know, part of the reason why I loved the fight game so much, it was my way to get out of the SportsCenter studio because Charlie Steiner stopped doing it.

45:11Rich Eisen:Yeah, how'd that work out? Well, he stopped doing it, and they asked me to take over the beat. One of the first fights I covered, Chris, was the Holyfield-Michael Moore rematch. in Las Vegas, Nevada. And I did a piece for SportsCenter Sunday morning where Jack Edwards pooped all over it. I've told that story on this show many times. And I did a story walking around Las Vegas entertainment scene trying to get all the sound bites of the Blue Man Group and a whole bunch of other people who were on stage at the time in Las Vegas back in that day. And one of the people who said, yes, I will do an interview and be part of your silly piece was David Cassidy.

45:59Rich Eisen:The first love of my life as a 12-year-old. And she went nuts. You went nuts. It was the greatest thing Rich has ever done. He brings back an autographed picture. Well, you said, if you can get anything, can I get an autographed picture of him? and instead I got a photograph of you that you autographed to him that I got him to put up in his mirror in his dressing room. Incredible. It's just one of those moments. People are saying, oh, here's Rich and Linda talking about the old days at ESPN. It has to be sports related. No, it was something as great as the late David Cassidy. How sad. Rest in peace.

46:37Rich Eisen:I know. But Rich, that's I think one of your top ten claims to fame. For you? on my top 10, my SportsCenter top 10 of Rich Eisen's greatest. That's David Cassidy makes the top 10. Ah, yes, Elsie, Linda Cohn, I did a lot of those SportsCenters with back in the day when she was on this program in 2019. Radio audience is returning in how long, Mike Hoskins? About 45 seconds. That was great. So Andy Holloway, that was fun with him. Rod Woodson, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. What does that mean? No regrets. Okay. That was Mike Williams. Oh, that's right. I remember all that stuff. Very good. Is that Suze on the guest line?

47:17Rich Eisen:Let's pop her up. What's up, Suze? You there, Suze? On the guest line, Mike? Hey. What's up? Yeah, hi. What's going on, guys? Hey. Hey, Suze. Hey, guys. What's going on? Hey. What's happening? I don't know. I got a text from TJ saying that I might be interested in the conversation, so I thought I'd see what's going on. What's going on? Why are you trying to start something? It was just a question I had to Suze. About what? Well, we just got done saying that you and Susie were getting married. Yes. And you didn't have a job. Yes. So I was wondering, like, why she went through with it. That's all.

47:44Rich Eisen:Oh, my gosh. What's wrong with you? I'm just saying. She married a dude. He didn't have a job, bro. And, like, she stuck by his side. And I'm just trying to point at how strong that union is. That's all I'm saying. Well, my mom had already paid for the raw bars. That's your man over there. I'm just trying to say how strong you two are. Your man's right there. Don't look this way. The carrier was already delivered. The Jaeger for Dan was already there, icing. Yeah, the rabbi was there. We were all there. What's the matter with you? I just like to know these things. I like to know you and Susie.

48:16Rich Eisen:You get to know you better. I had upside. You did. Look at the now, Susie. Like crystal water. Susie, your reaction to watching the tease last night, the Open Sports Center, was pressless. Oh, my God. I got to show you the video. Yeah, I want to see that. Because that's all you kept saying. You couldn't believe it last night. That's amazing. You know when you watch a video that you've taken and you're unaware that you're actually saying things out loud while you're watching something. Yes, that's it. That's what happened to me. I kept saying, oh, my God. Oh, my God, this is actually happening.

48:43Rich Eisen:Unbelievable. And did you realize how much it brought everybody together on social media, Susie? Because people just loved it last night. You know, it's so funny. Coop went for a deep dive, and I would tell him, please don't read the comments. But, Mom, everybody was happy. Don't worry, Coop. One of those rare times. Positive. We're rich and we brought social media together. Yeah, don't let the... It was special. And, you know, when you were talking about Stuart, it reminded me of so many times on the second floor hanging out. And it was just, it was a wonderful watch. It really was. And you know me, like, I'm from New England.

49:18Rich Eisen:I rarely say anything that positive. But it was really special to watch. Thanks, Suze. Thanks for calling. Thanks for marrying. Thanks for going through at the wedding. Yeah, there's still time. Don't worry. Well, not on the show. We're up against it. Thanks, Zeus. Bye, guys. What the hell is that? TJ. I'm just trying to say your union is strong, bro. Going through with it. TJ, I don't know if you've been to a wedding. It's for better or worse. That was the worst. It's not like, wait a minute. You just got it into the cardboard box. I'm out. I'm saying I'm glad she didn't do that to you. Had she done it to me, I would have had time to stage a fantasy draft.

50:04Rich Eisen:Hey!

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