Will The Kansas City Chiefs Take A Step Back This Season?

0:00We all know Saturday's game time can get a little messy. Your crew just came over to watch. Snacks on the table, drinks in hand, and somebody's celebrating like they just won the whole season and beyond. And when that energy gets going, your walls can end up taking the hit. Whether it's a big spill or a noticeable scuff, that's where Behr Ultra Interior Paint comes in. It adds an extra durable, stain-blocking finish that helps your walls hold up for the whole season. It also delivers outstanding coverage and hide in fewer coats. with easy application and a smooth, even finish that goes on clean from the first pass.

0:34Plus, that easy, clean finish helps walls stay looking new longer. So before the next kickoff, give your space game-ready defense and coverage that goes the distance. Bear Ultra, only at The Home Depot. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for.

1:11From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook. I'm living my best life. Yeah, yeah. This is The Rich Eisen Show. Here's the other surprising part. With guest host, Brian Weber. Yeah, big shoes to fill. Eisen's a legend. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. The Rich Eisen Show. Do you know who I am? I'm a guy on television. I have my own show. And now, sitting in for Rich, here's Brian Weber. Welcome to the program. Always a blast to keep the chair warm for Rich and the guys enjoying a much-deserved vacation. and we are fired up and feeling good to kick off what, for many of you, is the continuation of the long holiday weekend.

1:59Hope you had a great Fourth of July. LeBron James spent Independence Day on social media. We've got the details. I watched NBA Summer League, so you didn't have to. And yes, the latest sad reminder, I have no life. I'm Brian Weber, in for rich. I give out the phone number for a reason. We take phone calls on this program. In fact, we demonstrated it on Friday in a stunning development, a phone call on a holiday. 844-204-7424 is the phone number. But to be fully transparent, the best way to have a conversation with me is on social media. Hit me up on the X platform, B.W. Weber. Weber with two Bs.

2:45I mentioned the NBA for a reason, and I'm not going to belabor the point because coming up in 20 minutes, we're going to talk NFL. And if you are jonesing for football, if you are going through withdrawals, and I understand it, we're all addicted to the pigskin, I have excellent news for you. Are you aware that technically NFL training camps open on Saturday? Yes, there's a T in there. five days from now, and maybe it's because I come to you from our Regal Studios in Southern California, or I'm actually doing my job, not mailing it in, coming off a long holiday weekend. I was curious because the date floats every year.

3:30It's always mid-July. But thanks to the miracle of the interwebs, I confirmed with the Chargers taking on the Lions this month, July 31st is the Hall of Fame game. The rookies for the Bulls show up on Saturday. That means we've almost made it, and I'm going to continue to get you fully lined up for the return of the National Football League coming up in 20 minutes. The latest on Travis Kelsey. He's been talking about the significant trade-offs that he has had to make for canoodling with arguably the most famous woman on the planet. More to the point because this is a sports show, Although I have more latitude on a Big Word Monday because nobody handles the intersection of sports and entertainment better than Rich.

4:16We'll focus on the Chiefs on the field. Was it a one-off? Was it an aberration? Was it an anomaly that they got annihilated by the Eagles in the Super Bowl? Or did it point out that the team that's had a dynastic run has some major issues they need to address? We'll get there coming up. But the reason I mentioned the NBA to start the program was for this purpose. A lot of you, because I read the feedback on social media, were underwhelmed by the developments of NBA free agency. I understand. And I don't want to kill the audience two minutes in. But this was all by design. And talking about the minutia of the collective bargaining agreement is deadly audio.

5:04However, if you've been paying attention, this was all years in the making. So the days of the free agent frenzy are long gone. And if you think nothing happened, you're just being lazy or you're not listening to the right host. So if you were not with me on Friday, I would not be that much of an egomaniac, although I have too much self-esteem for no reason. Mostly because I get to say my name a lot. I'm Brian Weber, in for rich. Chop a board at 844-204-7424. No guests in the first hour. If you've endured my gimmick, or let's flip it, let's go positive, because that works well in Sports Talk Radio.

5:42If you appreciate my approach, whoever I'm lucky enough to fill in for, I never overwhelm you with guests, so we're going to follow what I believe to be a winning blueprint. Our first guest won't join us until next hour of the program. I still talk a little bit of baseball because I'm old and I follow the news cycle. We're not getting into all-star snubs. It's not 1998, but we will hit on the salient topics like what is going on with the Yankees? I posed that question on Friday. Since then, they dropped another series, Subway series, in fact, to the Mets, although they salvaged some dignity with the win yesterday.

6:20Take you around the bigs with Andy McCullough of the Athletic Final Hour. in addition to the NBA I'm about to address. We will say hello to Jonathan Von Tobel, NBA analyst for VEASAN. The NBA is not done with moves. So if you're of the opinion this has been boring, this has not been scintillating, could I sell you on a three-team deal that has occurred, at least it became semi-official, within the last few hours, and I'll get to the mega seven-team trade. that was finalized yesterday. And I sold that like a carnival barker on Friday. Now, it is historic. It is unprecedented. It just was not the names we thought could have been attached to it, but that was me running wild with the trade machine.

7:10The latest move in the NBA, three-team deal involving the Clippers, the Heat, hey, Miami finally did something. Pat Riley is not fully retired. and the Jazz. And it's interesting, based on the reaction on social media from one of the principals as to how this played out. Norman Powell, again, this is not earth-shattering. We did not play the breaking news sounder. Norman Powell, a good role player, goes from the Clippers to the Heat. John Collins goes to L.A. Remember, the Clippers already signed Brooke Lopez to bolster things in the paint. I realize he's 117 years old, but he's tall. Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson, and a 2027 second round pick of L.A.

7:55winds up in Utah. And I will turn it over to the thoughtful Kevin Love for instant analysis. He just posted this on the X platform, quote, never thought I'd be a math problem. Welcome to the NBA. And he's pointing out he was thrown in just to make everything work in terms of salary slotting. And that's really how these trades are motivated. But I just wanted to keep you constantly updated because by now it's clear I really love NBA machinations. And the big words are running wild. I must have got a lot of sleep while I tried to in the midst of the pyrotechnics. Quick aside, I have established that I'm not young as much as I try to hang on to that same enthusiastic delivery that got me a head start in the business.

8:42I'm 55. My life is over. I remember what it was like to roll in from the club, especially when July 4th is on a Friday. You go wild. Who the heck is lighting fireworks at 3.30 in the morning? Give it a rest. I went to bed at 8 o 'clock on Friday. Now, you don't care about my filming schedule, but I was trying to beat the pyrotechnics. I got a solid 45 minutes of sleep, and then the rest of the night was Beirut circa 1982. So now that I'm fully rested, we're going full throttle on the NBA before we make the move to the NFL coming up now in 15 minutes because I've been filibustering. These moves are not that consequential.

9:24I will give you that concession. However, when you take a step back and there are other transactions that could still be on the horizon, namely, and this will contradict my point that there are substantial things happening. Bradley Beal, remember him? Remember when the Suns were going to be the next super team? If you follow me on the X platform, if you don't, what's the problem? I'll follow you. B.W. Weber, Weber with two Bs, the phone number 844-204-7424. I'm Brian Weber and for Rich, we're live on this Monday edition of the program. Well, that Suns super team will be remembered by historians as the best team that never was.

10:06And Bradley Beal, to me, has to be on your short list of the most overrated players in NBA history. Not based on his bank account, but what has this guy actually ever done? And when is he healthy? I'll throw it out there rhetorically before I answer the question. Where do you think Bradley Beal, who reportedly is about to be Damian Lillard, if you will, by the Suns, are going to use the exact same mechanism that got Dame kicked to the curb last week. so Milwaukee could make the big swing to pick up Miles Turner in the effort to appease Giannis, although I don't think it's going to matter at all in terms of what happens on the court.

10:46Milwaukee, to me, is still a play-in team because you've got to answer this question, who is their point guard? But with Beal set to become available via the buyout that will be roughly$100 million, like Dame, we're just over that, stretched over five years for cap purposes, is if Beal can be signed by anybody, your ultimate free agent mercenary, where would he make the most sense? And I'm just saying this from a slightly cynical point of view. The answer, of course, is the Clippers, because he's a younger James Harden, and Harden a much better player. And I'm just taking a shot at James because he's a stat compiler and he has never showed up in a game seven, as we saw most recently when the Clippers took the Nuggets to the limit and then got absolutely blown out in game seven.

11:38But to me, Beal going to the Clips is the ultimate Clipper move because they collect resumes like the Cowboys do. They look for bright, shiny names. And in this instance, Steve Ballmer wouldn't have to throw a ton of money at him because Because Beal is already getting the massive payday and the buyout from Phoenix. That's the one thing that would be lacking because Bomber then always overpays these guys because he's the richest man in the NBA. I'm Brian Weber. I don't have that kind of net worth, but I am happy not only to punch the time clock, but to take you around the NBA, filling in for Rich.

12:17And coming up in just over 10 minutes, we'll spotlight the team that I fully believed, and the game was virtually a pick-em. If you cared about my prediction, I was leaning towards the Eagles. But it felt like Kansas City had cheated death so many times last year in the season of living dangerously. The fact that they even got back to the Super Bowl and had the opportunity to produce the first repeat as the Super Bowl champs in league history, I think impacted my analysis. I went with my heart instead of my head, and I thought, well, Mahomes has made it this far. He's going to win again, right?

12:57Another reason why you should not listen to any of my gambling predictions. Be sure to download the podcast in the Sportsbook with B-Web wherever you get your podcasts. Right now is a good time because I know a lot of you actually enjoyed most of the week off, and maybe you're still on holiday, as we say when I'm with my British friends walking around in a Speedo in Ibiza, maybe you have not thought about what these moves mean. And I mentioned in passing, and I don't want to admit defeat, but if you enjoyed the program on Friday, and maybe I was riding high as we all enjoyed the greatness of Joey Chestnut together, I gave you, and we also had validation from guests.

13:44This was not blind speculation. I told you it was coming, that the original deal between the Suns and the Rockets sending Kevin Durant to Houston would be expanded. And I like mindless rumor and innuendo. I'm not a conspiracy theory guy, but I like running through scenarios because it's fun. After all, why do we love sports? for a variety of reasons. For most of us, it's vicarious. We were either drummed out of competitive sports. For me, it was eighth grade or cut whenever you got to high school or got hurt. So we all had it end earlier than we hoped to in terms of our aspirations. But for my purposes, what I love about sports is it's the template for any other conversation you want to have.

14:33You want to get into economics? You can. How much money do we talk about? I'm not going there, but if you want to go political, you have many avenues. And I enjoy going round and round with the what-if scenarios. So the seven-team deal, in fact, became finalized yesterday with the start of the new league year. Prior to yesterday, everything was just speculation. But when we got to the end of this math equation, as I quote Kevin Love, of Rockets, Suns, Hawks, Nets, T-Wolves, Warriors, Lakers, all involved. I threw out the thermonuclear because we did have reports via the athletic that Golden State and the Lakers were part of this mega deal.

15:18Well, LeBron, via his agent in that statement that was released after LeBron opted in, and I'll talk about the King being busy on social media on July 4th coming up, Well, LeBron's aspirations, if you believe that statement, were to compete for another championship. Well, how about LeBron and Steph? Like the Olympic team in Paris, there were rumblings. And I know this is after the fact Monday morning quarterbacking on a Monday morning here in Southern California. But I wanted to believe there might have been some substance. LeBron could have been packaged going to San Francisco to run with Steph.

15:58If Jimmy Butler winds up in Phoenix, none of that happens. So the overview hasn't changed. The headline is Durant to Houston. We knew that Clint Capella was going there as of a few days ago. That might seem like a, huh? So what, Phil and Guy, why you mentioned that? Well, it gives Houston even more depth because to me, what the Rockets have done, and I'll talk about the Suns takeaways momentarily, the Rockets are following the OKC playbook. And remember, everything changed for the Thunder when they pulled off from their vantage point. And I'll go negative on the Clippers. I don't know why I'm battling the world's richest man in Steve Ballmer, but I'm just trying to be objective and say what I mean and mean what I say.

16:45This is clearly the worst trade in NBA history. I could argue now it's the worst trade in sports history, although you got to get into the creepy element of Deshaun Watson and the fact that money's fully guaranteed. But the SGA trade, which you'll recall was the Paul George trade, five number ones, two pick swaps, Danilo Gallinari could play a little bit, and now the new face of the league in SGA, whether you like it or not, he takes a lot of criticism for being the free throw merchant. Well, that changed everything, not only because SGA evolved into the reigning MVP, all of the draft capital to get Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren and have the deepest team in the NBA.

17:33Houston following that model directly because they parlayed James Harden going to Brooklyn to a boatload of picks. And now they have incredible depth and they're young. The one thing they needed was a reliable scorer, especially from the perimeter. I realize Durant has not been the same since his Achilles injury, but he is still somebody who's going to get you 25 on a nightly basis. So put it all together, and especially when you consider that the Rockets didn't give up their core young players like Thompson and Shengun and were able to unload the big contract of Jalen Green. I think Houston did very well, and I have them slotted just ahead of Denver, and I liked the moves they made on the margins behind OKC, if we're looking at the top of the Western Conference.

18:27Going to take a long time to find Phoenix if we're going through the hierarchy, but that's by design because I mentioned in passing, that's all it deserved, the air quote super team that was assembled in the Valley of the Sun. How'd that work out? And you still have Devin Booker, so you have somebody who can be your go-to scorer. But we've seen it repeatedly in this league. If you are not ascending, if you're stuck maybe towards the middle, you have no shot. And that's why there's value in blowing things up. and that's what the Suns have done because they realized it wasn't working. They have an aggressive owner, Matt Ishbia, who thinks he knows basketball.

19:12Remember, he was a walk-on for Tom Izzo at Michigan State. That's a dangerous combination. A guy with deep pockets who thinks he really knows the game. So the Suns are going to continue to be aggressive. The moves may not work out, but at least they're not stuck in neutral. So when you put it all together, as we will not talk about Phoenix again for a few years as they try to rebuild, Jalen Green I mentioned, nothing wrong with him. Another guy who's going to get you 25 a night. Dylan Brooks, your 3 and D wild card because he runs hot with all of his intensity. And a bunch of second round picks.

19:49That was my issue with the deal last week because second round picks mean virtually nothing in this league. Jalen Brunson is the exception that proves the rule. You can argue the second round of the draft shouldn't exist, and I can certainly make that argument based on the television product. Just unwatchable. Well, I'll give the Suns credit. They turned that draft capital into a bunch of players you never heard of, but you've got to have depth in this league. So the seven-team deal happened, and I had a degree of validation, although I might have to burn the podcast because I was really getting wrapped up in the...

20:24All right, LeBron's going to the Warriors, and then Chris Paul's going to play one more year, and even I got worn out. Feels like LeBron needs to take a vacation from social media. And I can't blame you if you weren't tracking what's going on on July 4th, but this is my profession, and I take it seriously. I hope I don't take myself too seriously, as the self-deprecation should be coming through your speakers. LeBron worked out with the Cavaliers, and the internet freaked out on Friday. Now, some people just have no memory, or they want to talk things into existence. As LeBron pointed out, he does this every year.

21:05It is not a stunning development for NBA players to work out at the facilities of other teams. Reciprocity happens, and he's LeBron James. So I did find it interesting. He felt the need to go on the X platform and point out, and I'll read some of the quote because he used some language we can't use here on the Rich Eisen show. Every summer since it was built, he's talking about the Cavalier facility. I live here still. I train here every sunny summer. Damn y 'all, board man. Get a plate of food somewhere. Enjoy the 4th of July. Now, he's not wrong. It's factual. Why did he feel the need on July 4th to thumb that out?

21:53I think the response is a choice because LeBron is an attention merchant. He just wants fellows like me and, more importantly, the guys with their name on the marquee, Rich Eisen, to talk about them. Mission accomplished. And coming up as we talk more NBA later in the program, I'm going to dig deeper into the why. Why? Because the why is really the key question here. Why did LeBron opt in for the first time ever? I think the answer is right in front of us. Lakers didn't offer him a one plus one, a two-year contract. Lakers are moving on, and most importantly, and I'll steal, from the best basketball journalist going, Brian Windhorst.

22:37And forget about the fact that he covered LeBron in high school. I know that was his entree. he has built on that with, I think, the most reliable sources. And if Windhorst says it, it's true. He's not just throwing stuff against the wall. He said, and this is, I think, the perfect summation, for the first time, LeBron James is being perceived as an expiring contract. And what does that mean? Well, if the contract is played out, the Lakers just get it off the books, which is a massive win for salary cap reasons, Or, as Kevin Love just found out, an expiring contract is very attractive from a standpoint of trades.

23:19And we'll get there later in the show as I try to validate my wild seven-team trade not happening. I'm Brian Weber. In for Rich. Phone calls a possibility at 844-20474. I will check the X machine coming up. That is B.W. Weber. Weber with two Bs. In 20 minutes, a little WNBA. I was hoping to see Caitlin Clark. She missed her fifth straight game because of the groin injury, but I'll point out her absence demonstrates her value even further. Up next, we never get too far away from the NFL. This is the NFL show of record. We will focus on the AFC West with Chargers rookies reporting on Saturday. What sacrifices is Travis Kelsey making for his high-profile romance?

24:03How motivated is he by his mediocre Super Bowl performance? and will the Chiefs take a step back this season? I'm Brian Weber, in for Rich.

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26:22I am a veteran guest host. fact. I was just on profootballtalk.com. I'll read you a headline connected to the Chiefs momentarily, reminding me of the days when I would fill in for Mike Florio. I'd fill in elsewhere, if you care about my schedule, because I know that's really of paramount interest. B.W. Weber, Weber with two Bs. So I'm not on the radio as much as I used to be. There's a reason why every version of the Brian Weber show has been canceled. So I take these opportunities very seriously. I I push four hours of content into a three-hour bag because I talk so quickly. And I want Rich to be pleased because Rich is the boss.

27:02So when I say phone calls taken selectively, it's because unless you have something compelling to say, and you've got to get past my man Art Martinez, who was very tough, very demanding, I'm going to continue with my approach. but I do read all the feedback on social media, and I appreciate the positive, the negative. As Cosell said, love me, hate me, just know who I am. ProFootballTalk.com, Mike Florio, great friend of the program. Headline, Patrick Mahomes, I've talked to Tom Brady a good amount this offseason. How do Raider fans feel about that? I'm staring at one right now. He gives me a thumbs down.

27:42Now, folks, when I got into broadcasting, and it used to be overwhelming, millions are hanging on to my every word the observation was mentally have the image you're talking to one person now in this sense i'm looking right at him and he's wearing a raider hat now i should not do the show that my technical producer wants because i'd be breaking down the punting situation in las vegas i do find this interesting i'm going to tread lightly here because Rich has more relationships than anybody in sports and entertainment. And I am aware because I'm obsessed where people went to college. Who is a bigger Michigan man than Mr.