ESPN’s Louis Riddick Talks NFL Draft Quarterbacks & More with Rich Eisen | Full Interview

joining us from ESPN uh Lewis rck good to have you in the flesh as opposed to in a zoom box for a change good see here the world's changed right like that's how we meet people now that's how we get to know people in computer screens and little boxes I feel like I know everybody here like like all the signage and stuff this is so familiar to me I love it fantastic and TJ you were telling LS you watched him play at pit yeah back at pit I think it was well the 87 season I guess was your freshman yeah it was uh I had a friend who lived to block up for me from Altuna Pennsylvania he was a big Pit family so his older brother you know graduated went off to start his life and his dad still had an extra ticket so they start taking me to pck games and I can if remember I still have my my ticket Stu from the Halloween game your Syracuse Squad and with Iron Man I I was playing I was playing running back then I I was the fullback for for C Iron Head Hayward wait a second but like I said like I tell him rich off cam look when I was in the game it was an automatic giveaway we weren't we weren't running the they were throwing it to me cuz I wasn't blocking nobody I was like 210 lb 28 lb iron was like 285 and he was like he led the nation in rushing I think that year was close to it unbelievable man what's a like blocking for Iron Head yeah I know I like again Rich when if they called anything that involved me blocking I was like well I'll give it my best shot you know we better better not be pass protection that's for sure eight and four that year I'm a ball carrier you know that's what I am wow yeah had 1,800 yards that year he was Unreal you had 175 yeah but you know what that Boston College game I had a couple nice catches let's see that year we also we played Notre Dame at Pittsburgh the great Tim Brown came into town fourth ranked they thought they were all we busted them right in the head too and we and we knocked them off we had a good year my freshman year and then I moved back to DB so all right well that's fantastic I love it leis rck of ESPN here on the Rich Eisen show live from Detroit we're having a lot of fun we got a whole third hour coming up romad dun is coming up to lead us off the next hour in a moment and uh Lewis you're going to be part of ESPN's NFL Draft broadcast all three days of the NFL draft appearing on all their Studio shows throughout the draft it is good to see you here um so are you now day before the draft still of the mindset that Jaden Daniels is worthy of the first overall pick absolutely absolutely nothing's changed look you know we we've had these discussions over the years Rich you know I don't you you know I don't necessarily kind of like follow consensus for the sake of following consensus I never have um Jaden is just someone that as we move through this process when you watch how repeatable his mechanics are how consistent his feet are how consistent his upper body is how consistent he is with throwing the football and putting it where he needs to put it change arm angles when he needs to throw the football short intermediate Deep Run when he needs to people say well you know you know what he's one of those guys who this is what's interesting about Jaden D this is kind of one of the things that's come up about him well he doesn't throw outside of the pocket and throw uh out of structure enough but last year we used we used to say the same thing about CJ Stout too right yeah that he doesn't create enough and that's why everybody loved Bryce young because he could create outside and you talk to coaches in the NFL they don't want quarterbacks to live in that environment anyway they want it to be something you can do not that you have to do Jaden can do it he just doesn't have to cuz can win from the pocket and so I think with him he's got it to me he has got the perfect skill set for today's game coaches want you to win from the pocket be able to threaten all three levels of the field and take off and go 7080 like Lamar if you could if you needed to we've seen him do all that he accepted the challenge of transferring from the Pack 12 to the SEC when people were telling him not to they didn't think he was ready for it to go down there you see the jump from year one to year to at LSU that this guy made yes of course you know he Malik is a good wide receiver Brian's a good wide receiver down there they all elevated one another Jaden had some fantast and and I'll tell you what this is what this is kind of what topped it off for me you cannot get a true evaluation on players unless you see them in person up close and you kind of stand next to him that's kind of what did it for me when I went to see CJ strad last year when I was around Jaden and I saw him interacting with Malik and interacting with Brian Thomas and he kind of and how he was running his workout and watched the ball come off his hand I'm going that's the one that that's the guy and that's not to say I didn't like Caleb cuz I loved Caleb all that crap that I had heard about him and people say I was like forget all that I I like this kid and because you like one doesn't mean you hate the other although in our world that's what it is right sure but I just I got this feeling that I got very similarly to CJ stra when I saw him in person was around him I said that would be the one that if I was picking first that's what I'd take so do you think him going to Washington cuz that's where it seems like he's going to go unless do you do you think that's possible that he doesn't yeah I do I do I think anything's possible look I I think I think it's likely that that's what winds up happening yes but I think also look for for Adam Peters in the in the ownership group in Washington to want to take one last look at all these guys together you know on the same day in the same kind of environment they took him to play Top Golf and all that spend some more time with them like back to back to back like if you were comparing things you'd love to have it fresh in your mind a one toone comparison like on the same day like the same minute right you wouldn't want to like look at one thing and then 20 days later compare it to the next thing because you you'll forget a lot of things that to me signifies that it's not just a slam dunk that it's going to be Jaden otherwise why would you do that this close to it I have no idea man why would you do that I have I mean you're the evaluator so I mean I'll tell you this I'll tell you this I I tell the story all the time in 2004 when we drafted Sean Taylor in Washington yes the night before the draft he was not number one on our top 100 board who was Kell Winslow Jr was that was who it was going to be we went into the room the night before the draft Scouts position coaches ownership Joe Gibbs everybody and we got after it and it was it was darn near 5050 down the middle who we wanted and everyone was had a chance to say you know what they felt and I I went home that night thinking man we're going to draft Kellen mhm cuz Joe was adamant he thought he could just be special came back in the next morning I remember walking in the draft room and looking up at the top 100 board and there's Shawn Taylor at the top what happened somebody's argument was pretty compelling I know I was pretty I was adamant about it Greg Williams was our defensive coordinator at the time Greg blush was our defensive line coach Jerry gray was there as one of our DB coaches Steve Jackson I mean we got after it with the offensive St it was one of those very productive but heated debates so it can happen at the last minute in the last hour you could wind up changing your mind so I think anything's on the table with Washington although it seems likely it makes sense that Jaden would be the one for me look he'd be the number one pick so we wouldn't even be having this discussion but what about I mean in all straight up let's I I love this Lewis rck here on the Rich Eisen show Ryan poles though I mean in Chicago where and I know he wasn't there he was there he had nothing to do with tresy and he had nothing to do with Justin Fields nothing to do with him but for him to now potentially switch up and go Jaden Daniels and follow which won't happen it won't right because there he's just he's set on who he wants okay and that's you see you know what like I had this discussion with someone I said well you know I I would like to at this point have my mind made up like I wouldn't I would even though I understand what Adam's doing in Washington I would like to have my mind made up and they said well why don't you think about it this way why does Ryan have his mind made up already why isn't he taking this to the to the very why why is he so dead set on Caleb being the first guy and I said well you know what I mean look if you're convicted you're convicted if you believe that that's your guy then you believe that's your guy and of course a lot of Chicago Bear Bears fans got upset with me for even suggesting that going you don't know what you're talking about Caleb is generational Caleb is Patrick Mahomes etc etc I'm just like oh whatever man look look what the but the point is like I I remember Paul said this he said he is he is dead sure on being able to evaluate the player the skill set the traits that he thinks are befitting of a guy who's the number one overall pick it's getting the person right and the person as it relates to fitting into your environment that's always the real challenge obviously he feels as though Caleb fits and checks every box for him as far as being that number one overall pick and in Washington they're making sure and that's why I'll tell you after Caleb goes off the board mhm I'm going to be sitting there going okay folks let's see what's happening here now think I think anything can happen because everybody thinks four is kind of when things get started well why why not three I mean Elli well it's funny because Elliot wolf says hey we might move up we could move down we might sit you know I mean I know I know it it doesn't make any sense it doesn't make any sense but but I think that position that spot is open for business too I really do think the one thing I think we all know is this just when you think you you know you don't know that sounds very Jim moris senior right there never will exactly and you never will know went full moris Senor on me right there l r you almost did it um where where's the best spot for pennx where do you think if he if you could personally Place him somewhere I think stylistically because of how Vegas has said they want to play which is Run play action live not live in the pocket but really execute from the pocket and push that ball down the field that's Michael's thing right quite honestly it's Jaden's thing that's why that's why Antonio wants him well I mean they go back to a that's by the my phone blew up all weekend long from people saying Jaden's telling you know or or his people are trying to get him out of DC to go somehow wind up with Antonio Pierce I mean I mean I guess I guess if they pull a Mike dick could move and just say here take all of our picks that's what it would require and we'll come up there yeah exactly or or it have to be something more like just something weird where for some reason Jaden fell which he's not gonna he's not going to slide like that right so but I know this look I knowing Antonio like I do and talking to him like I have he loves the kid P or J Jaden okay he believes that this young man will be you know top five top three top two passer you know probably two three years into the league well I heard they're like I heard they're like family and that's why they want to be together you and you know what you know what Rich what's interesting about that like we we know that right we know that the real the real special ones in the league regardless of position usually have that kind of relationship with the staff with the head coach or with a play caller like it takes something unique in order for you to really get unique level results and maybe that maybe that's the kind of thing that would really spur Jaden to to Really maximize his potential I mean why do we think CJ CJ Stroud right now do you think as good as he is and I know we talked about him last year that was my number one guy him in Houston with Deo is perfection absolute perfection those relationships are the that's where you find the inches that's where you those are the separators and Jaden in Vegas oh man it ain't happening right but you could book it but you think panic in Vegas is I think that would be real nice 13 absolutely absolutely look I I I know that it it's so wild to me that we find the things to not like that quarterbacks haven't shown that they can do to kind of hammer them with even though we know this the more you run the more you move the more you live outside of structuring outside the pocket in the NFL exponentially your risk for getting injury goes up but now we're dinging qubs who try to live in the pocket and the greatest quarterback of all time lived in the pocket but now we're going but this guy can't create outside it's like well this guy's just too good in the pocket that's all he does is live stay in the pocket it's just like come on now isn't that the Mahomes effect though of course it is see Patrick's changed the whole game he's changed everybody's brain like you you think unless you can do what he does you're not that good MH you know you're just not that it's like what happened with Brock pie last year by the way have you seen pictures is a brock pie this offseason is he yolked oh my is he God I don't know let's look this dude he doesn't look like he's going in campus to home he's coming out I'm telling you what I guarantee you in 2024 he's coming out firing really this dude looks like a bodybuilder playing quarter I mean it's un he's always been built like that anyway but anyway another discussion but yeah the Mahomes effect is real unless you look like that which is another reason why people are so enamored with Caleb but you know what's funny about that Caleb at his pro day he didn't throw one pass outside the pocket he didn't do one roll out didn't do one roll to the left throw back to the right and I and I was sitting there watching it going I damn he's not throwing outside the pocket and afterwards I asked him said was that on purpose he goes absolutely he goes I'm tired of people thinking that all I am is the Highlight player I can live in structure that's where he wants to like learn to be better but it's the it's the it's the area where everybody feels as though he has to stay in order to be productive and he doesn't well it's great to have you here man like I said uh when I texted you the other day it's like good to have you in person opposed in just in a little Zoom Cube and um thrilled to have you here and um look forward to doing the draft I don't know where our set is in relation to your we can usually see you guys we always we can see you over the way we do like a friendly wave every now and then um and uh check out again Lewis rck on the ESPN Draft coverage catch the rich eyes and show every single day on the Roku Channel 12 to3 Eastern for free

Channel: The Rich Eisen Show

Views: 16,481

Keywords: Rich Eisen, Rich Eisen Show, sports, NFL, football, college football, CFP, pop culture, Roku, NFL Network, Super Bowl, sports talk, Football, NFL Draft, Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, LSU, Heisman, Marvin Harrison Jr, Ohio State, Buckeyes, Bo Nix, Oregon Ducks, Michael Penix Jr, J.J. McCarthy, Michigan Wolverines, Rome Odunze, Brock Bowers, Georgia Bulldogs, Malik Nabers, Joe Alt, Notre Dame, Bears, Patriots, Broncos, Vikings, Commanders, Charles Davis, CBS Sports

Id: 94K9cM3JmLU

Length: 14min 32sec (872 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2024