The AFC North Is The Most Fascinating Division In The NFL

0:00Hey, I've got some game time tips to share with Frigidaire. When you're hosting during football season, you've got to be ready for every kind of craving. Somebody wants fresh pizza. Somebody wants crispy wings. Somebody's asking if there's sliders. That's when you need more than one call in the playbook. Frigidaire offers ranges and wall ovens with over 15 cooking modes so you can tackle hosting with confidence. There's Stone Baked Pizza for restaurant-quality pizza in as little as two minutes, Air Fry Mode for crispy favorites, and Air Sous Vide for juicy tender sliders. Plus, there's slow cook, no preheat, and more.

0:35Stone Baked Pizza and Air Fry, both built right in your oven. That's the game-time MVP combo. So when you're hosting before kickoff, Frigidaire helps you cover every craving. Available at The Home Depot. How doers get more done. Only when using stone-baked pizza mode, cook time requires preheat and reheat and may vary based on ingredients.

1:18availability. Restrictions and fees apply. This is the Rich Eisen Show.

1:23Rich Eisen:Hey, everybody! Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on the Roku Sports Channel from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. I know you're going to dig this. This is the Rich Eisen Show. What's the one thing that's missing from your lives? Rich Eisen. Love it. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Scotty Scheffler. He's now joined the company of golf's greats.

2:10I don't really know exactly what to say, but thank you so much to the fans this week for all the support. Earlier on the show, Premier League Lacrosse co-founder Paul Ray Bull. Coming up, Rams running back Blake Corum. Actor Danny Houston.

2:24Rich Eisen:Plus, latest news and more. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen show is on the air, everybody. Check out the Overreaction Monday podcast. We're not going to do Overreaction Monday a segment today because Chris and I showed up early and did a podcast. with training camps opening up writ large tomorrow. Cowboys in camp today. And so are the Chiefs, two teams that are playing each other on Thanksgiving. And it's going to be an amazing season. I mean, we're here, as I mentioned on the podcast, you know, we've made it. You know, most teams are going to be opening up tomorrow.

3:15Rich Eisen:Pretty much, you know, you got the Lions and the Chargers already in. Yeah, the Chargers were last Friday. The Chiefs and the Cowboys are going to be in. Everybody joins them with the exception of the Steelers and the Falcons. They're in on Wednesday. And so, you know, we've made it. And if you think we haven't just yet because training camps haven't opened yet, to borrow a phrase from Barry Manilow, it looks like we've made it. looks like we made it that's right it's about somewhere down the road you went the key change portion of that song every Barry Manilow song has a key change about two thirds of the way and there's a bridge and then there's a key change it's sort of like Mission Impossible movies you know exactly how it's going to map out you just play the riff over and over again I did see Mission Impossible 3 on the flight out to the east coast Wait, that's the Philip Seymour Hoffman one, right?

4:15Philip Seymour Hoffman may be one of the greatest bad guys in the history of spy movies.

4:21Rich Eisen:Yeah, he's so good. Oh, my God. Yeah. Rabbit's foot. Right. So 844-204-RICH-NUMBER-TO-DOW. We'll take your calls in a minute. So now that we're here, training camps are opening all over the place, and Tuesday's going to be that day where most of them hit it.

4:43Rich Eisen:and so many storylines. But I'm going to christen, if you will, one division as the most fascinating division in the national football league. Now, the AFC West is up there. Pete Carroll's now joined the Raiders organization. Sean Payton's got the Broncos on the move after making the playoffs, right? Chargers made the playoffs in Jim Harbaugh's first year. And then you got the Chiefs sitting there. And the Chargers and the Chiefs face each other on the first Friday night of the season on YouTube. Oh, it's going to be awesome. Right in Brazil. You know. And then, of course, you've got the NFC East.

5:22Rich Eisen:Season opens on Thursday night on ANBC. You know, between the Cowboys and the Eagles and the Commanders and the Eagles were the two teams that finish up the NFC season last year. And then you got the Giants, who knows what they're going to do with Jackson Dart, and their defense is going to be really good. They might have to win games 13-10 for a while, but we'll see if they can do it. Right? The NFC North, what about the Lions? After being the one seed and one and done, they lost both of their coordinators. Everybody thinks, well, that's the way that one went. See you later. The Bears have a new head coach.

6:01Rich Eisen:One of the coordinators from the Lions is now on the sidelines for the Chicago Bears. and Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. How's that going to work? And you've got the Packers and the Vikings. 14 wins last year with Sam Darnold. They're going to go with J.J. McCarthy. That's pretty fascinating. The AFC East, Aaron Glenn is the other coordinator that the Lions lost. Can the Jets be improved with a Patriots team that's improved and the Dolphins trying to get to the playoffs and win a playoff game? and then you've got the Bills as fascinating as ever. I'll just tell you right now, the most fascinating division in the NFL, I christen it, the AFC North.

6:47Rich Eisen:Who's going to be the Browns quarterback, right? I mean, that's truly, I would think, story number one going into the training camp season is the Browns quarterback. In all of the NFL? In terms of what training camp will yield? I think. You make an argument on others, I guess, but training camp will yield. Who is going to be the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns? Right? And then you've got the Cincinnati Bengals. There is a latest on Trey Hendrickson. You seen this? I have. You want to go for it, Chris? Because the Bengals, let me get this straight, let me get this straight. The veterans will report tomorrow.

7:38Rich Eisen:The rookies have been there since July 19th, last week. And guess what? Trey Hendrickson is not expected to show up tomorrow. Will he or will he not? And Mike Brown, the owner of the Cincinnati Bengals, is chiming in on all this. Go ahead and hit it. We have people back in our office who are sharpening their counsels and trying to figure that out as I speak here. It's been a long negotiation. Trey Henderson is a fine player. He's a good guy. We want him here. Dealing with him is sometimes not so easy. that's alright, he's got the right to argue his case we'll try to make sense of it from our perspective and we'll see I'm not persuaded that it isn't going to get done as far as I'm concerned, the sooner the better alright, that was the owner Mike Brown we got that soundbite from one of the many people there that I guess didn't attach a lav microphone to his lapel right there.

8:57Rich Eisen:I was going to say he needed a couple more lav mics. Thinks he's going to get a deal done, though. Duke Tobin, the general manager, called Trey an important part of our team. He's under contract, and we expect him to be here. But then he added, he's a guy who's been very valuable. He's earned a raise and extension. We'll see if we can come together on something. Once again, he turns 31 On the 5th of December, he made$16 million. He's said he makes$16 million in the last year of his contract. That ain't it. We know that. He has earned a raise and an extension. I mean, George Karloftis of the Chiefs, who's younger, and has had a ton of production, he just signed with the Chiefs for$23 million per.

9:48Rich Eisen:so it's somewhere between that and tj watt yep get it done we'll talk about in a second but again mike del tuffo i think you have that uh sound bite of we'll know when trey endrickson is signed because uh we'll hear the wallet opening up in uh cincinnati ohio i believe that wallet was in the back of mike brown that's why he looked a little lopsided that was right yeah he's wearing the costanza Velcro wallet on one side. The fact that Del Tufo just did that originally by pulling the Velcro on his hat. Genius. It's impressive. His hat or his own wallet? Maybe both. I have a metal wallet now. All good.

10:29Rich Eisen:All good. Because if Trey Anderson comes back and that defense can... Let's just slice a touchdown off. Right? Let's slice a touchdown off. The entire season's different for them if they're able to do that. Last we saw the Cincinnati Bengals, previously in Bengals football, They were the team nobody wanted to see in the AFC playoffs, unless you're a Bengal fan. You know? And, you know, Al Golden is their new defensive coordinator. See if he can bring some magic to that mix. I mean, they gave up almost 26 points a game. I forget what the stat is, but they lost five games when they scored more than 35 points.

11:14Rich Eisen:Dude. And I think Chase Brown's going to have a massive year. Massive. Because they're not going to mess around with somebody else in the first half of the season. Dude. Oh, you won. Chase Brown. Interesting. Chris, don't put that out there too loud, Rich. Interesting. Last year, he could be kept on the DL. Okay? Because everyone's like, Zach Moss this, Zach Moss that. Nope. Not this year, pal. He's going to come out the gate. he's going to come out the gate as he did multiple times I need people to sleep on him and they did the right thing, they kept T. Higgins all good then you got the Ravens, right?

11:55Rich Eisen:who have just maybe the best offensive line in football you got your two tight ends you got DeAndre Hopkins now to this mix you know, the wide receiving core let's get Zay Flowers healthy right we got him going yep okay um and lamar and derrick henry and defensively be even better they can be and just roll it all downhill again they could easily be the one seed in the afc will lamar jackson get to the super bowl can he get to the super bowl for the Baltimore Ravens and obviously himself. As fascinating as they come, and do you have the Ravens schedule? Would you mind popping that up, Hoskins? I know that we did not plan for this, but it's just, you want to talk about difficulty and must-see television and must-see games.

12:56Rich Eisen:It's just chock full of them. Sunday night football, they're at Buffalo to start, okay? And that's the revenge game because you know the Bills ended the Ravens season last year. Division game against Cleveland, then home against Detroit on a Monday night before they visit Kansas City again and then have Houston come in along with the Rams before a bye, after which they've got Chicago. I mean, how many of these games are going to be like must-see, right? At Miami on a Thursday night, that'll be fun. At Minnesota, good Lord. Good Lord. They've also got, amongst their division games, a visit to Green Bay on the weekend after Christmas.

13:43Rich Eisen:It's on. They're going to have to earn it. Oh, my goodness, how tough is that? Tough start. How tough is that schedule? How must CTV are those games? Lamar Jackson against all those defenses and all those defenses trying to stop Derrick Henry. You know? and then you got the Steelers listen I gotta be honest with everybody here usually are thank you for saying that although I take offense at the word usually you have a solid reputation I appreciate it listen for the most part I like being nuanced I like being occasionally snarky. You know, I can get out there. No. But more than anything else, more do I like being right.

14:44Rich Eisen:More do I like being right. And when, no, listen, I deserve this victory lap that I'm about to take. I deserve it. All right, Nipsey. you know i deserve it because when the world the free football world was going nuts about tj watt's contract and how the steelers and tj watt aren't on the same page and it got out there that they're not on the same page and that led to a bunch of shows like this one or hold on a bunch of shows that compete with this one yes yeah or in the same mosh pit out of other time slots television they don't have to be on the radio we're in a deep end of a pool here and sports talk and entertainment and pop culture talk we're in a deep end of the pool where we love being there but i bring it up because there were some spots that were like where are the best places for T.J.

15:45Rich Eisen:Watt to wind up. He's going to get traded. How is this really going to work? And I was saying the entire time, he's going nowhere. He's going nowhere. They're going to pay him the average annual salary that he's going to want, and he's going to be a stealer, and that's going to be the end of it. And what happened when I was out of the chair? I was happily out of the chair because you guys were handling things so expertly. Almost wanted to call in or phone in or Zoom in or whatever the hell, just to say what I'm saying now. I'm like, you know what, Rich? You'll be just as accurate in saying the golden words on Monday.

16:26Rich Eisen:You don't have to say it. You don't have to zoom in on a Friday. You don't have to do that. Stay by your phone, man. I may need you. The words are, I told you so. I told you so. He's going nowhere. He's going nowhere. And forget about the end of this deal. If he's already having diminishing returns and they're going to lament it when he's 33, 34, and he's maybe dragging their cap down, they'll figure something out. Or maybe he'll be a stupendous 33, 34-year-old pass rusher for the Steelers. It does not matter one bit right now. when you commit to Aaron Rodgers at his advanced age for basically one shot at making the playoffs and ending their long playoff drought for a win and getting deep into the playoffs and giving the Steelers a Super Bowl-worthy team that doesn't fall apart when November hits or begin to fall apart when December hits just to limp into the playoffs and get one and done.

17:38Rich Eisen:If you say Rodgers is the guy who's going to help us get past that, you do not play monetary footsie with TJ Watt. You just don't. You pay him. And you get him in, and you do it, so when training camp hits, all everybody's going to do is just get better. and you know what the number of people i heard in green bay when we were waiting on rogers to finally decide on what he's going to do and he didn't do that before the draft and he didn't do it in may and kept everybody waiting till june for the inevitable i thought if he wanted to continue playing football that he would show up for the steelers okay i get it everybody was saying He's just this, he's that.

18:30Rich Eisen:He's not all in as a person and a stealer and all that sort of stuff. You don't want his drama and all that sort of stuff. Cam Hayward was on this program last week when Seth Rollins was in this chair. Cam, if you recall, we had our phone with Cam when he came on this program after he was on his own podcast saying stuff like, hey, if you don't want to be a stealer, then just stay the hell at home. I don't know if that's verbatim I know that because he was like wait a minute I wasn't being critical of Rodgers and I'm like oh really no you weren't huh but you could hear he was being he was irritated he's irritated because he's at the end he's towards the end of his career too now playing at an extremely high level you can only imagine what it would take for him to continue to work on his body to make sure he can play all 17 right so you wanted rogers in the whole idea is that rogers is going to come in and he's going to put his feet up and everybody else is going to have to cater to his whims or he wants on a team or all that sort of stuff because of what we saw at the end of his tenure in green bay when we saw with him with the jets well this was an interesting exchange that caught my ear when seth and cam had the conversation about rogers and what rogers has been like in his first blush moments as a stealer You guys landed a quarterback.

19:58Rich Eisen:I think the last time we talked, you had nobody throwing the ball. You had no one under center. I think I might have made a remark or two about that, and now you got all AR. He did. He said it's his final season, it sounds like. Sounds like it. All things go the way we want. We might have to beg him to come back for more, but we got to text him a couple days before he signed, And then he texted me and was like, hey, can I come out to your golf event and then come out? I would host a family barbecue for, you know, players and their families. And he was like, hey, can I just attend? And I was like, hell yeah.

20:36And we just got to chopping it up. And it just felt like he was bought in. And, you know, it worked out for the best. Like, I know sometimes we live in a society where we want things now. but patience has a way of paying off. To now see he's a Pittsburgh Steeler and just him walking through the locker room, asking questions how we do things, he's bought in. That's all I can ask for our quarterback. As a teammate, I'm excited to go to work with him.

21:11Rich Eisen:Obviously, he's not going to ask towards the end of his Green Bay tenure or at any point in his Green Bay tenure once he took the reins there years and years ago. How we do things here. They do things the way he did them. I mean, that was famous in the piece that came out, I believe, in Bleacher Report, that he was, you know, going rogue on some McCarthy ideas, right? In-game, during the week, and then, you know, the hand signal stuff. The hand signal is the way that I do it. Kids, keep up. Then he goes to the Jets. nobody nobody was telling him the way they did things there because guess what they were saying hey Aaron how do you do things we kind of need you to tell us how you do things in Pittsburgh he's asking how they do things totally different I heard that I'm like okay guys and he might sit there and hear a conversation like this and go well that's the way I am okay from the outside world there are some who believe he is not that's not his default his default is not to defer it's to infer that you think something ill of him and so it appears he's when i heard that i'm like okay this can work out just get healthy be healthy and see what happens with that run game will the run game be able to hold up right and who's going to catch the ball from him and on top of it can he stay healthy and the Steelers schedule is off the charts one must see game after another it's what and the fact that he was going to come to the Steelers everybody thought it this no question the NFL schedule makers did that's why they put him against the jets in week one and then dk metcalf's former team is the one that comes in to kick off their home schedule visiting new england he for two of his first three games are against his old mates in the afc east and then his fourth game in ireland is the beginning of his farewell tour to his old division that he dominated for over a decade plus and then my god in division games twice with miles garrett coming for him twice against cincinnati that green bay game on a sunday night week eight holy crap over and over buffalo on the list come on afc north most compelling division in football period going into 2025.

23:58Rich Eisen:Let's take a break. My guy Blake Corum's been patiently waiting, listening to me to prattle on. Balake. Balake Karum? Karum, right? Balake Karum. As Keegan once called him. Blake Corum of the Rams coming up next.

24:16Quick break to tell you some game time tips. When you're hosting during football season, you've got to be ready for every kind of craving. Somebody wants fresh pizza. Somebody wants crispy wings. Somebody's asking if there's sliders. That's when you need more than one call in the playbook. Frigidaire offers ranges and wall ovens with over 15 cooking modes, so you can tackle hosting with confidence. There's Stone Baked Pizza for restaurant-quality pizza in as little as two minutes, Air Fry Mode for crispy favorites, and Air Sous Vide for juicy tender sliders. Plus, there's slow cook, no preheat, and more.

24:46Stone Baked Pizza and Air Fry, both built right in your oven. That's the game-time MVP combo. So when you're hosting before kickoff, Frigidaire helps you cover every craving. Available at the Home Depot. Outdoers get more done. Only when using Stone Baked Pizza mode, cook time requires preheat and reheat and may vary based on ingredients. It's Saturday. Kickoff's getting close and your weekend project just hit a wall. You're short on materials or you need one more tool for the job. Turns out that quick fix needs a quick assist. That's the perfect time to call an audible with express delivery from the Home Depot.

25:18Order in the app or online. Get what you need delivered fast and track updates along the way so you can finish your project in time for the first snap. Get what you need even faster with express delivery from The Home Depot. Subject to availability, restrictions, and fees apply.

25:33Rich Eisen: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 N.A. Member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply. NMLS 696891. Fast funds terms apply at SoFi.com slash debt play. Blake Corum joining us here from the Peak NIL headquarters in Woodland Hills, California, which is also the home of the Rams training facility.

26:13Rich Eisen:What is Peak NIL? Blake Corum, I gave you the floor. Go for it. Awesome. So Peak NIL is a two-way marketplace that I co-founded last year. And, you know, Rich, me, you know, I've always been a guy that has to do something with a purpose in everything I do in my everyday life. Yes. And so it really bothered me when I was in college that, you know, really only like 10 of us were really making NIL, doing NIL deals. And so that's why I wanted to come here and help co-found something that would help all athletes. Baseball players, softball players, soccer, swimming. track you name it they worked just as hard as i did to get to college so they deserve just as much as i did right and so on our platform brands and athletes can communicate and we can also help you help your brand by packaging athletes we can package a thousand athletes um that can help your brand um marketing your brand for the same cost that it would cost probably paying me for one marketing deal, right?

27:14And you would get way more attention, way more followers. And so that's kind of peeking out in a nutshell. We're doing something with a purpose, really trying to help all athletes across all sports use their name, image, and like this the right way.

27:26Rich Eisen:What would you say to those who think NIL is the scourge of college athletics? Blake? I would say they're completely wrong. NIL has helped me in many ways, right? I bought I had six rental properties before I left college I have 12 now but also it's helped me help others giving back to the community and so if you look at a lot of athletes across college sports a lot of them are giving back and doing the right things with their money investing their money and setting themselves up you know for the rest of their lives you know making these investments and so I think it's a it's a wonderful thing and I think you know more athletes should be making NIL money because there's too many small brands and large scale brands out there that shouldn't be giving all athletes deals.

28:22And that's why I wanted to co-found Peek NIL.

28:24Rich Eisen:Well, one of the issues I have, Blake, isn't, you know, players getting NIL and getting paid, because again, I saw what you did with your opportunities and I see what a lot of other players do with their opportunities. It's just the lack of rules. You know what I mean? It's the lack of of a of a playing field that that everyone can follow from our institution of higher learning to smaller schools in other parts of the country that don't have you know big noon on fox or espn at night or anything like that on peacock you know what i'm saying what i'm saying i mean like so there needs to be something that makes it makes it you know a level playing field for everybody and also to protect players who have been told this is an NIL deal for you and then maybe have it pulled away from them.

29:15Rich Eisen:Blake? Well, that's why you have to have a strong team around you, right? That, all right, this school says they're going to pay me this amount, but I don't sign anything. And then when I get there, oh, where's the money at? You know, that's happened to plenty of players, right? And so that's why you have to have either the right team or you're on the right platform that can help you do so. And we can do that for you. But also one thing I don't agree with in this NIL space, Rich, is the high schoolers, right? I feel like that's, I know they've worked hard in high school, right? But they haven't done nothing at the next level.