Top 5 Shrug Emoji NFL Teams Of 2025

25:42So I think first game now in the post-perty, you know, he's got the big contract. So I think there's a lot of really fun storylines going into that game. Two teams that are at least in the mix to say who can catch Philadelphia. Obviously, Philadelphia looks like the runaway, you know, at least clear-cut favorite to start the season in the NFC. And I think both San Francisco and Seattle are in that mix of teams that are on their heels. but think they can go compete for a conference championship.

26:08Rich Eisen:I just started the show, Greg, with my annual list of shrug emoji teams, which is, don't know. They could be great. They could be less than. And I did put San Francisco at the top of the list of number two overall because I did see what happened last year, and I know there was injury all over the place at so many important positions. but I don't know if the Niners are going to automatically just roll it out with Salah and more healthy players than last year, even though Ayuk's out for the foreseeable future, that they're just going to roll it out and be another 12-win team this year. I wonder what your two cents are on that subject matter.

26:50Rich Eisen:Greg? Yeah, you know, it's crazy to think, you know, prior to last season, the assumption was the 49ers were going to be in the running to make the Super Bowl, to be in the running to at least play in a conference championship game. It felt like year in and year out for a long time, kind of in that post-McCaffrey trade era. They were arguably the best team in football, or at least in the mix every single year, fell short a couple times. But last year, it really was the injuries, and I think every team can make that case. Dallas can say the same thing. I mean, it's not an excuse in the league. It is a reality of the league where if you lose, everyone's going to lose, guys.

27:25there is an attrition element to the nfl that's just baked into the product but so much of the luck of the season is okay we're going to lose guys but who do we lose not all injuries are created equal that's kind of the there's just the reality and the kind of harshness of the nfl and you know i think going into this year you know shanahan's got to do a great job going in understanding i'm not going to value debo's no longer here all right how do we build this around mcafree who from everyone said in training camp is loaded looks exactly like the mcafree we remember prior to some of the injuries of last year and obviously Kittle so he's got those two pieces how does he use Purdy how does he use his strengths as both a play action guy and a pocket guy build that system around them Pierce Hall now in his second year the first round pick from last year get IU back at some point in the future hope this is probably something for San Francisco the idea is get back to playing great defense you mentioned Sala coming back as the defensive coordinator when he was there years ago.

28:22They were one of the best units in the league. Can they play really good defense? Fred Warner is one of the best defensive players in the league. Can they hold it down, get healthy on offense, and build as the season goes and be there at the end? They've got the coach. They've got the pieces. Do they have the depth in the entire roster? Obviously time will tell.

28:41Rich Eisen:Well, another featured game you and Joe Davis are calling is the game in Ireland, which is going to be off the charts, man. I mean, what a scene that will be. between the Vikings and the Steelers. You know, the Rooney family, the patriarch once upon a time being our ambassador to Ireland. And then there's an O 'Connell coaching McCarthy going to Ireland. It's all set up for you. But the Vikings were at the top of my shrug emoji list just because of this quarterback. And then Chris was pushing for the Steelers to be on that list. What are your levels of expectation for the two teams that you are going to see in Ireland in week four on Fox and NFL Network as well, Greg?

29:26Yes. And the NFL schedule makers definitely know what they're doing. Right. You laid it out so perfectly. And when that game was picked, Rogers hadn't officially there was a lot of rumor and speculation. But Aaron hadn't signed with Pittsburgh just yet. So that's even an added, obviously, element in the storyline of of Rogers and Pittsburgh. So starting with Pittsburgh, obviously they're a perennial playoff team. The job that Tomlin has done, everyone knows about his track record of winning records and that streak and whatnot. They're going to play really good defense. They're going to have guys they can get after you on the defensive side of the ball.

29:58They've been trying to figure out, OK, what does this quarterback situation look like? They've tried a numerous amount of guys. They've gone veteran last year with Russ. Now they're going veteran again with Aaron. I think people don't appreciate, I think people think Aaron's time in New York was probably worse than it actually was. I know the first year obviously was a huge expectations and he didn't make it very far and that was unfortunate. He was not nearly as bad as everyone thinks he was last year. I think he was less good on the Aaron Rodgers scale of expectations, which I think for most quarterbacks playing, they would have taken his season last year.

30:35I think there was a lot of things going on in New York with the Jets that were bigger problems than Aaron. I think a motivated Aaron Rodgers, a guy looking to say, OK, I know I'm on my, you know, I'm moving around a little bit, bouncing around the league and late in my career. But I'm still the dude. I'm still an MVP and I can go still carry an offense. I think that's a dangerous proposition if they as they piece that thing together, obviously, DK Metcalf and and some of those pieces. On the other side, I think Minnesota is really fascinating. I think they caught the league by storm last year.

31:06Sam Darnold resurrected his career. They let him walk in free agency, obviously now out in Seattle. Now they turn it over to the first round pick. J.J. McCarthy got injured early on last year, which really opened the door for Sam to take that job. And obviously he ran with it. If I'm taking from a small pool of coaches, Rich, in the league, then I say, OK, I get a coach's draft. And by the way, you've got to get your horse to run a little faster. Tell me about it, man. It's so friggin' on.

31:34Rich Eisen:It's too on-the-nose brand, man, but I understand. Thank you. Let's just say if there was a coaching draft picking 18th, you're not going to get Kevin O 'Connell. I think it's safe to say he would be gone. So I think he's one of the handful of guys in the league that understands how to scheme schematic advantages for an offense through play calling, how to develop and get the best out of his quarterbacks. He did it with Kirk Cousins, obviously did it with Sam. Can he do it again with J.J. McCarthy? and then obviously just his charisma his ability to coach the entire roster so I put him in that very small group like a guy like Tomlin so it has every storyline every matchup both these teams to me are fascinating for the whole season but of course the game in Dublin yeah I'll be on I'll be on the Senate and I film that work doing the the studio show throwing to you guys and it's just I cannot wait to see that scene you know and then the Viking I had heard sorry you might know more than me you might know more than me i had heard rich that the day the tickets went for sale i don't know exactly the mechanism of how all that works but the day they went for sale to the general public i had heard through someone at the nfl that the queue of like people waiting in there to get access to tickets was like 600 000 people like something outrageous so i i think the demand in in the city and just the country as a whole is is pretty outrageous which team storyline are you most locked in on um greg you know i'm going macro with you here obviously there's there's 32 teams uh all of them have hopes and desires not everyone are are realistic to end with the ultimate but which team are you looking forward to following their entire season long storyline because of the last few months or what you saw from booth last year i'll give you the floor on that, Greg?

33:22I think, yeah, obviously that's a great question. There's a lot of different storylines going into the season that I think are really fascinating. And as a Fox analyst, obviously we're a very Dallas Cowboys centric network. Their game is fairly certain it's going to be on our network to some degree most weekends. I think what's fascinating about Dallas is I think a lot of people have counted them out coming off last season. You talk about injuries in San Francisco the injury situation in Dallas um you know between losing Dak and then Mike and missing a few games and Duran Bland trying to come back from the foot and um their digs and I mean you can go across the board they lost their top players on that team um they went periods of time where they had none of them on the field for stretches so I think that is an interesting storyline how do they get healthy how do they bounce back obviously they have a new coach you know how does that work out with shoddy can shoddy come in and kind of give them that shot in the arm to give them some juice that gives them um some energy and the mike you know the post mccarthy era and then obviously the micah parsons is like the cherry on top right it's the it's the storyline that maybe everyone didn't see playing out earlier in the offseason but it's dominated the stories obviously coming out of the training camp and and you know you see the pictures on the sideline and the body language and whatnot so i think when you mix that all together with arguably the most popular or the most hated, depending on which side you're on, but the most covered franchise in the league to have all of those things thrown into a bucket, I think is a pretty fascinating team to follow, if not for the sake of at least they're entertaining.

35:01Rich Eisen:Yeah. Greg Olson here on the Rich Eisen Show. The Youth Inc. podcast launched two weeks ago. I see you got the hat, you got the logo, you got it all working. Tom Brady's not a bad way to start a chat. um you just had ryan day uh on your podcast yesterday what what is this and what do you want people to know about it greg yeah it's been a really fun project uh it's kind of been in the works for a while and and what we're trying to do you know rich for anyone who has kids growing up in this youth sports world is it's a very different landscape than any of us you know remember it being um you know there's a lot of decisions there's a lot of things being done at the early age that didn't used to happen until high school and college there's specialization there's training There's pressures.

35:42And we set out as a dad of three young kids who grew up in a high school locker room with my dad as a longtime public school football coach for 40 years. This was something that I felt struggling as a dad that like I didn't have all the answers. But there's a lot of people out there that have really unique perspectives and whether they're, you know, some of the greatest athletes of all time, like you said, and Tom Brady, not only his experience growing up that we could draw on, but also now his experience just as a dad and what he's learning, raising children, you know, both boys and girls. And then we had Malcolm Gladwell as our second guest.

36:12And obviously, people are familiar with his work at Outliers and talking with strangers. I mean, some of the most thought provoking thought leader, you know, studies in the world of parenting and youth sports and a lot of societal issues in Malcolm. And then, as you said, our next guest is one of the top coaches in all sports and Ryan Day and coming off of a national championship and obviously talking team and culture and roster building. but also he has a son going through the recruiting process. What does that look like on one side of the desk as a coach? But then also he's now sitting on the other side of that desk with his son going through the recruiting process entering his junior year.

36:48So we have a lot of really fun guests coming down to just really try to paint this picture and be a service to families that they can hopefully draw some insight from people who've been down that road or have really unique perspective on it and just make their youth sports experience a little bit better.

37:03Rich Eisen:I love it, man. That's great. Youth.inc is one way to find it. There's an Instagram account at youthink as well. And youthink sports is a YouTube channel as well. Check it all out. You got it all covered. And speaking of it all covered, Greg, there's a new, I guess, one would say part of the syllabus of Taitan University. And that's how to propose to your girlfriend. And were you the one who said, here's what you should do. just surround yourself with flowers um but first things first is have a record-breaking podcast interview with her uh surround yourself with flowers um and then uh release it a few weeks ago later is it was that your instruction was that behind the scenes of tight end university for travis it was it was we we had a lot of we really spent a lot of time just mapping it out and the color palettes and the florists and we considered a few different florists but um you Some of them were super busy, but no, I mean, obviously that story is probably the number one story in the world right now.

38:11And rightfully so. And, you know, we've been asked a lot about it. Obviously, you got to spend a lot of time with them at TEU the first time being around them together. I've known Travis for a while and obviously he and I and George come together every summer for our TEU event that we've done in Nashville. But just spending time around the both of them, they are as genuine as you hear. And I know it's hard for people to believe that you can live in the spotlight and you can be, you know, at the level that obviously she is. And now her and Travis are as a unit. But they are as genuine. They are as real.

38:39They are as fun to be around as as anybody that you would imagine. And to see your friends, to see people that you care for that are really enjoying each other and have found happiness is really all that matters. And it's been nice to to obviously get to know him at a deeper level. And obviously, we've only spent a limited amount of time with her, but they're obviously happy. And I got a text from my 12 year old daughter yesterday in all capital letters. The second school got out. Dad, Travis and Taylor are engaged. And word spreads very fast in the middle school girl world. So that was pretty big day yesterday.

39:13Rich Eisen:Well, the world, the word spreads fast as well. In my oldest son's high school, my oldest son is a diehard Swifty Xander. And I didn't hear from him until he got out of school either, which means Greg. our kids schools cell phone plans and and making sure they're off screens well done day one nothing's bigger than this news for a kid to grab our kids phones up like like a chapelle show got it i see i see what you're saying yeah um so that at least is working where where are they registered greg i want to send them something what do you think do we know yet where they're register i don't i gotta figure out where the wedding registry is um i would safe to say that would be pretty uh pretty significant i imagine so maybe it maybe could be tiffany and he can get this trophy like uh this this tall it's made of silver he's had it before i don't know if that's something that you can get yeah you know what i mean i don't know if that's what you get i don't have any so i'm not the guy for that job well you got those two behind you that are gold you know hey you take what you can get not too bad not too bad all right so um i might not speak with you before the season i probably won't your super bowl prediction let's go greg let's go wow yeah on the spot on the spot i'm not a huge like hot take guy i'm not a huge um you know go against the grain i'm a just a realist and i covered a bunch of their games last year i said in week 13-14 whenever I called one of their games at that point that I thought they were the best team in the league it turned out to be true I still think until someone shows me a better roster top to bottom than Philadelphia I still think they're the team to be especially in the NFC I know that's not necessarily a huge shocker pick I just really when you look top to bottom of the group that they have they're young they're experienced they have great coaches on both sides of the ball I think Howie Roseman is as good if not the best front office guy in the league with their ability to build volume picks, add a lot of young talent.

41:19They don't hit on everything, but they take so many swings. They don't have to bat a thousand. They add just the right veterans, just the right moves. I just think they have a really good understanding and a pulse of why they've been so good over the last couple of years. I think there are some really interesting contenders there. I don't know if in the NFC there's someone off the top of my head that I say, okay they start out in front of Philadelphia and then in the AFC I think the Chargers are close I don't think they're there yet I think Kansas City you know it's still the three-headed race Kansas City Buffalo and Baltimore Cincinnati's got to figure out their defense I think a little bit and figure out how they're gonna you know support Burrow a little bit on the other side of the ball so I think it's the usual suspects and I know that's boring and I know that's not real hot tape but i i don't know how you pass those those rosters and those quarterbacks um out of complete nowhere but the nfl is real there's injuries there's surprise you never know how things play out but right now with all rosters intact i'm just going to stick with the people that have proven year in and year out to be at the end they're there yeah i mean in the nfc in particular

42:29Rich Eisen:greg if this smash cut to one year ago at this time we're not going watch out for minnesota and Sam Darnold and this kid Jaden Daniels is special so special they're going to the NFC championship game nobody was saying that you know what I mean like nobody was saying that it just does appear that the AFC is is what you say you know there's the Bills there's the Ravens there's the Chiefs and then there's that fourth seat that does appear to be occupied in the musical chairs by Houston last couple of years uh and we'll just see you know who winds up in the AFC championship game Like that is the way that you kind of handicap it right now.

43:04Yeah. And then I think teams that are coming there, right. Teams that are on the rise, you got Denver, you got the chargers. If Cincinnati, not necessarily on the rise, cause everyone's familiar with burrow and they've been to a super bowl, but that defense has obviously got to be figured out. Al golden now taken over as the coordinator and Hendrickson is holding out. So that it's their best player. So some questions there, offensively, Cincinnati will always be good. So there is that next crop, Obviously, Houston and what they've done with CJ now going into year three, can they be more like his rookie year and less like last year?

43:34So every team has these questions, but it does seem like year in and year out that the conference has run through the same two or three teams for a couple years, and it's just not by accident.

43:46Rich Eisen:Yeah, and we'll see, again, just to bring it all full circle, what Rodgers looks like with the Steelers when you see him. Yeah, Pittsburgh probably won. We've got to add to that. That's a good point. Good to see you, Greg. Good to see you, man. You'd be well. I always love chatting with you, and I look forward to more down the line. And I look forward to tossing to the booth you and Joe Davis on that week four Ireland game on NFL Network. Good to see you, brother. It's going to be great. You got it. It's always good to see you, Rich. Thanks so much. You bet. Everybody, follow YouThink online, Instagram, YouTube, and of course for the podcast.

44:18Rich Eisen:Greg Olson right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

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45:03Rich Eisen:Limits apply. Save 20 % on a micro guard or micro guard select engine air filter when purchased with this Syntec special.

45:13Rich Eisen:You said how Aaron Paul, you were thinking of killing off his character by the end of season one. The original idea was, you know, you always got to come up with a great season ender. You want a cliffhanger of an episode to keep folks watching next year. And my thought early on, before I even met Aaron, before we cast Aaron, was to have this young guy, former student of Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston, give Walt his entree into the business, sort of show him the ropes of criminality. And then at the end of that first season, that character, Jesse Pinkman, would get horribly killed in some very cinematic, graphic way that I never quite mailed down.

45:54Rich Eisen:But he would be murdered by some rival drug dealers, and Walt would feel very guilty, and then he would seek revenge, and that would propel us into season two. Then I meet Aaron Paul, and I cast this young guy, and he's fantastic in the role, and he's such a sweet guy to boot. He's just a wonderful guy that I think we're probably shooting the second episode, and I was hanging out on the set with him, you know, sitting in those chairs near the monitors and I just make a conversation. I say, you know, I was gonna kill you off. That was the original plan. He goes, what? He gets all really nervous.

46:29Rich Eisen:He goes, what are you talking about? No, this is a good thing. It's a good thing. And I tell him the story I just told you, but he's not hearing the compliment contained within. He's just thinking, oh my God, I might get killed off. And I told this story to Bryan Cranston. I think he wandered by as he was hearing the tail end of this. And he was relentless for the next six years. Every time he got a script for a new episode before Aaron did, he'd look through and he'd read it. And then he'd go up to Aaron and he'd say, Buddy, he'd start massaging his shoulders. It was this next one. At least you're going to go out with a bang.

47:07Rich Eisen:And Aaron, it never got old because Aaron, God bless him, his eyes would just go wide like a deer in the headlights. Well, because anything could happen on this show. And that was what was such a great thing for me, consuming it, watching it, is you just really never knew. I see something off camera. I'm wondering what that, what is that? Did you bring this? I did indeed. And this is a gift for you and your studio. No way. This is, of course, the character of Gustavo Fring, played by the amazing Giancarlo Esposito. And this is him post, spoiler alert, this is him post. That's a bad moment in the nursing home.

47:46Rich Eisen:Very bad moment in the nursing home. Very bad moment. And a wonderful artist. This was part of an art show we had a couple years ago where artists who were inspired by Breaking Bad came up with various artworks. And this is one of them. I love this one. We're going to put this on the wall. All right, man, thank you. We're going to put this on the wall. You will always have a place here, Vince. That was our first show ever. Wow. Period. End of story. That piece of art is now in our green room wall, and Chris has improved on the air so much from just sitting there on your phone while we were on live television back in the day.

48:19Rich Eisen:I was working. That was great. That was great. So glad you were paying attention to what was happening. I was probably doing show business. Is that what you were doing? I think so. On your phone with a computer in front of you. Yeah, well, I mean, I got multiple screens. I got multiple people I'm doing business with back then. That's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was our first show. That's crazy. Now we're just doing fantasy drafts during the show. Yeah, you guys are like all. Three of them. Three of them. You were just on the clock. I did. I just chose the San Francisco 49ers as a best ball secondary defense.

48:48Rich Eisen:Crazy. It's crazy. These drafts that take. You're up in seven on the Vinny League. Eight hours a pick. What are we doing? With Major League Baseball players. Like, what are we doing? What the heck is happening? Back on the Rich Eisen Show. 844-204-RICH. Number to dial. Now, Elliot in Kansas wants to join us here on the Rich Eisen Show. What's up, Elliot? Hey, Rich. How you doing? How are you? What's going on in the great state of Kansas, sir? Oh, just working. Okay. What are you working? I'm a delivery driver. Ladies and gentlemen, delivery driver. Very good. What are you delivering to us right now, Elliot?

49:26Rich Eisen:The wind loss for the Seahawks. Oh, are you from the beautiful Pacific Northwest originally? Are you just a fan? You're one of the 12s? I'm not. I'm from the Columbus, Ohio. Oh, okay. Well, at some point, you know, us Michigan people will be allowed back in there. So, listen, one of the 12s from the Heartland wants to play the win-loss game for the Seattle Seahawks. Let's go, Elliot. You're only the second one to do this. What happens when the San Francisco 49ers go and show up to start the season in Seattle? That's a win. All right, next up at the Steelers. Too much in the air for Aaron Rodgers.

50:06Rich Eisen:I'm going to go that's a win as well. That's a win. 2-0. Home for the Saints. We'll go win. 3-0 start at the Cardinals on a Thursday night. I'm going to say a loss. That's 3-1 at the home for the Bucs.

50:23Rich Eisen:That's a win. 4-1 at the Jaguars. That's a win. 5-1 home for the Texans on a Monday night.

50:33That's a win, too.

50:34Rich Eisen:6-1 off the bye at the Commanders on a Sunday night. That's a loss. 6-2 home for the Cardinals. That's a win. We're splitting. 7-2 at the Rams. That's a loss. 7-3 at the Titans. That's a win. 8-3 home for the Vikings. That's a win. Sam Darnold has revenge, even though he helped him. At the Falcons. That's a win. 10-3, home for the Colts. That's a win, dude. 11-3, home for the Rams on a Thursday night. We'll split with them as well. Okay, that's a 12-3 at the Carolina Panthers on a Saturday. Another win, Rich. 13-3 at the Niners. I won't play with them a lot. 13-4, says Elliott in Kansas.

51:30Rich Eisen:May what you're delivering make as many people as happy as a 13-4 season would in Seattle. That'd make me happy. Okay, Elliott in Kansas. There you go. Get it. I bet you when Elliott in Kansas is holding on, I'm thinking, I'm not going to have the Seattle Seahawks go 13-4, and then you play the win-loss game, and you get lost in it. It's like, wait a minute. I have them the one seed in the NFC? Yeah, that's the NFC West. That is the NFC West. 100%, right? 13-4 would win the NFC West. Yes, it would. And maybe. How about them apples? Hour number two coming up, Matthew Berry with fantasy football advice and so much more here on this Wednesday.

52:07Rich Eisen:Still here on Roku. Seahawks are 5-1 to win the West. Wow. That's a good pick. So he has them splitting with the Rams. Yeah. They'd be 3-3 in division, which is not usually what wins you a division, but 13-4 overall is a dub. Oh, yeah. Seahawks to win the NFC with their way down 25 to one. Okay. Hey, man. If Donald shows up in Seattle and JSN is a number one and Cooper Cupp has a 2.0 in him and that running game, Kenneth Walker's healthy and Zach Charbonnet helps add to it that they also have a good offensive line. The defense starts to improve. That's Mike McDonald's area of expertise. They got young kids everywhere.

52:59Rich Eisen:I'm trying to give other, you know, Bobo. Jake Bobo. Starts catching passes, right? Yep, yep. Did I lay it out for you? Sam Darnold, MVP odds. Wow. The same as Bryce Young, Geno Smith, and Cam Ward. I mean, that's a tall over. 100 to 1. MVP. Wait a minute. Sam Darnold has the same MVP odds as Cam Ward. Now that's disrespectful. With all due respect to Cam Ward. A first overall rookie for a team that had the worst record in the NFL last year. And Sam Darnold, fresh off of a 14, or, you know, he had 14 wins last year, right? 14 win season last year. Then goes to Seattle, which is not first overall on-the-clock type talent of a roster.

53:49Rich Eisen:Sam Darnold had 35 touchdowns last year. And that's a lot. So somebody in Vegas is saying Sam Darnold going to Seattle fresh off of what he just did has the same odds as a first overall picked rookie winning the MVP, which I imagine, has that ever happened? Has that ever happened? Well, a rookie's never won MVP. So there you have it. Yeah. man how many times is sam donald just going to take it in the chops from people well you're just saying you know he's been seven years in the league and he's had one great season and you know that's the outlier oh stop it that's not cool

54:35Rich Eisen:that's not cool i'm sorry that's all right mike 844-204 rich is the number to dial here on the show. Hour number two coming up, Matthew Berry with some fantasy advice. But when we come back, you know, we'll talk about some new quarterbacks being named as starters or second stringers. That's important. And then Rasheed Rice being suspended for a third of the season. That's coming up. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website, to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need.

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