New Rory & MAL - Rory & Mal Don't Know Ball | Donovan McNabb

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

On this episode of Rory & Mal Don't Know Ball, the guys are joined by Philadelphia Eagles legend Donovan McNabb! Rory and Mal get into what it was like being booed on draft night, playing for the city of Philadelphia, and his relationship with current Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback, Jalen Hurts #volumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Catch live events and other exclusive sports programs only on VICE TV. Go to vice TV.com to find your cable channel. The volume. All right, Rory, so we're back for another episode of Don't Know Ball. Yes. So where we could let our fans know exactly how much of ball we do not know. But it's okay because we invite people on that can kind of help us along the way. Today we are joined by election.

It's one of the few legends that we've had. Definitely a legend. Somebody that I think has helped the NFL look the way it looks today at the quarterback position. So with the second pick in the 1999 NFL draft, Rory, the Philadelphia Eagles selected a legend, a dog, a competitor, one of the greatest ever from the Syracuse University, the University of the University of State. Syracuse. Donovan McNabb. And in... We double salute Donovan. True, true Philly fashion,

they booed the person that made their franchise. Yes, which was absolutely crazy. But we are joined by the legend Donovan McNabb. Sir, how you feeling, Donovan? I'm feeling all sanding. Brothers, how y'all doing? Great. You look good. You look great. You look like you can still play. What's you doing, man? You trying

to get back out there? Man, by the way, they're giving that money out. I was trying to figure out a way to get one year. Yeah, one year contract. Yeah. All my kids, kids stuff. But, you know what is meant just still continue to work out. Man, my kids are all active in sports.

I have a daughter that's just graduated for Syracuse who played with the Syracuse Women's Basketball Team. Dope. She'll be, you know, fulfilling her. Salute to your wife as well. She played. Absolutely. I appreciate that.

I got twins that are 16 that one place, a bar and basketball. I'm on daughters. She plays softball and basketball. Then I have a hockey player who's also a high schooler. So, man, I'm just staying busy, you know, keeping my sexy alive. Yeah. Just working out every day.

Donovan just told us basically all his kids are working. First of all, he has... Y'all going to earn your kids. He has a kid that plays hockey in Arizona. So you know they have to be the best hockey player on earth. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the funny thing is, man, I got a nephew that's actually planned

I think tonight for the Edmonton Oilers. Oh, wow. Okay. I have you, Darnel Nurse. Shout out the Darnel Nurse. Yeah, the defenseman for the Edmonton Oilers. So this is round two against the Florida Panthers for the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, they didn't win it last year in game seven.

But we'll see this year be different. So we root for Edmonton now. Of course. You have to. I mean, you love Canadians. Yeah, yeah, we have to. We have to root for Edmonton now. Donovan, so talk to us about the early,

years. Growing up, you grew up in Chicago. You actually played basketball as well. Yes. You play with, uh, Antoine Walker. You play with Twan, right? Antoine Walker. Yeah. What was it, what was it like growing up? We hear about how tough it is in Chicago, but Chicago

is known for breeding phenomenal athletes and phenomenal ball players. What is it about the city of Chicago that breeds, whether it's just basketball, but it's like basketball and football. What is it about Chicago? The thing about I think that's missing in today's game for a lot of these kids is we didn't have trainers.

We went out to the park and played. Good point. So it's about competing out on the blacktop. And for all of us, it didn't matter if you played football, it didn't matter if you ran track, whatever, you still picked up a basketball and you went out to compete. And so what's different about Chicago is we come from around dogs. Like, if you ain't tough-minded, if you ain't tough physically coming out of Chicago, you ain't really from the crib. And so, you know, it's just for a lot of the skilled guys that we had, we mentioned Antoine Walker, who I went to high school,

where people don't realize Antoine was 6-9, 6-7 in high school. And you talk about in the 90s, you're in high school at 6-7, you almost walk around like you're 7 foot. Right. You know what I'm saying? And he's the guy that can put the ball on the floor. He can see the floor. He was what you see of the modern-day LeBron James, you know. And so he was dynamic.

We had a lot of other guys that came out of Chicago area that kind of blew up. But as far as athletes are concerned, we had, man, we had a lot of great football players that ran track or played any other sport. But it was just they end up going to these powerful schools and being able to make their market, which as a young kid growing up, it gave us hope. It gave us opportunity that we felt like we can get out of the hood, sort of speak, or out of Chicago and go and see other things. Did Antoine play football as well?

Antoine actually played football when he was young. He could throw, but obviously when you six out and you take quarterback. So, you know, I think what happened was at that particular point, he already had his mindset that he was going to just strictly play football. I mean, strictly play basketball. But when we played gym class or, you know, we do our flag football tag or whatever at recess or whatever, they did. Oh, he always, he had an arm.

He could play baseball on them. He was a baseball player. Okay. What brought you to Syracuse as opposed to maybe a Midwest college at the time? Kevin Rogers was the quarterback coach at that particular time who ended up being the offensive coordinator. He and coach Paul Pascoe only came to Chicago and recruited me. And our office was very similar to the Syracuse office, just as Nebraska was at that time under Tom Osborne. And so those are my top two. two schools and in Texas, Notre Dame were also followed in that whole recruiting process. But Syracuse was an opportunity for me to come in possibly as a redshirt freshman,

redshirt my first year and then play for the next four years and start running the same type of offense. And I just loved everything about the university. I wanted to become a sports broadcaster. And they were ranked in the top two or three at that particular point academically. So that was another end for me as well as football. the opportunity to play basketball at Syracuse. So I

thought it was just a, you know, a great fit for me to have an opportunity to, one, graduate academically there, Syracuse, and had the opportunity to play both sports. See, Ray, I think that's gangsters. Donovan didn't give us an answer. That was just like a jock answer. He was like, nah, their broadcast program was top two in the country. It's like, you don't hear

high school is talking like that. I'm thinking the league. Yeah, I'm thinking like their broadcast journalism program, top two in the country. I got to go here. Talk to us about draft night. You got booed draft night. Right. And to this day, I still don't understand why they booed.

What was that feeling initially when you hear your name? Because obviously it's something that everybody dreams about their play sports and hearing their name called on draft night. So you have your moment, but then your moment is met with booze from the fans that are in attendance. Did you take it personally or did you just feel like these are just fans of maybe the Giants, the Jets that are in here that are just booing everybody? Well, the funny thing is, you know, obviously, being from Chicago, I was always embarrassed for it. And so I didn't know the dynamic of, you know, the NFC East and, you know,

all of that at that particular point. And having the draft at Madison Square Garden, you know, you would think there are a lot of Giants fans. There are a lot of fans there in general. And so the funny thing about me and my family, we laugh at about a lot of, different stuff. And so when my name was called during the introduction, you know, where they had introduced all of us that were back in the green room, there were slight booze then. And so when I came back in the green room with my family, me and my brother, we just started cracking up. And I was looking at my dad. He was like, what was going on out there? I'm like, I thought they were booing, but, you know, he was like booing who. I'm like booing me. But I don't

know. I mean, you know, if that's the case, that's on them. And so when my name was called on actual TV, that's when the camera kind of paned to the Philadelphia fans and they booed. And if you see my face, that's when it became personal. Because now I didn't, I thought they booed in the introduction. But now they booed while the TV cameras are rolling. And so if you go back to the film, like I, I'm growing in Chicago, it's cold. Yeah. So I put the baseball hat on.

I bend it up and I put it down. And so, you know, at that particular time, Paul Tagginga, who, you know, he would lift my hat up just so they can see my face. And I would grab it and bring it back down again. Yeah. Because I'm pissed. Yeah. I'm not pissed.

And so I'm happy to be the first pick for the Philadelphia Eagles and the second pick in the overall drive. But now I'm pissed because now it's time for me to prove you wrong. And so that was my whole mentality from that point on all throughout my career that I was going to prove all the naysayers wrong. Oh, so that's why he kicked the giant's ass every time. We get it now. See, we get these answers here. You're welcome.

We get these answers now, Roarie. Did you feel that same energy in those first few preseason games, your rookie year, just from the Eagles fan base in general? You know what? Not necessarily because at that point as a rookie. I was trying to learn an offense, get comfortable in that offense, and also understand the difference between playing in college and playing in the NFL. So if you recall, my first preseason game was canceled. because we played against the Baltimore Ravens. And at that point, they were on HBO on the Hard Knock series.

And they came out and tested our field, which was not Lincoln Financial, it was the vet. And there were potholes where the bases were from the baseball field. And they came out, I was like, nah, we ain't playing here. Like, you know, and there was a, you know, obviously a whole deal to happen with Window Davis and, you know, some other players that are kind of hurt themselves, torn out. ACLs or whatever on that. So they chose not to play. And so my first preseason game was canceled.

And I'm like, oh, man, I mentally was all ready to get out here and play. And so I had to wait another week. But my preseason was all about me getting comfortable being in the NFL in this new offense and see what I can do in it. How bad is it playing on those baseball fields slash football fields back in the day? Because I feel like the Raiders did it for a while. But the Raiders did it for a while. The Raiders were, theirs was on grass and it was dirt.

Ours was turf. Okay. So with the vet turf, I mean, they're divvets. And so you're talking where the bases are, where, you know, the actual dirt, you know, it's just a lot of a combination of that. And that's why a couple of years later we end up going to field turf and changing that and then led us to moving across the street over the Lincoln Financial where they built that be the home for the Philadelphia Eagles

but it was one I was used to it because in Syracuse and the Big East at that particular point for basketball you know we're in football we're playing against Temple University that we played there. So I was used to it yeah for everyone else it was something new

and if you grow up playing like you said on the black top told my go left at the Honda cut left at the Honda like you a little divin in the field that ain't nothing man we just sewer capped you ran over sewer caps all of that When owners are making billions of dollars, get me off this baseball field. Yeah, no, for sure, I'll feel you on that.

I'll feel you on that. Let's go back to college. I can dig it. I can dig it. We aren't worth millions of dollars. Yeah, protect those needs. We were younger. Yeah.

We were trying to, you know, scrap up some money so we go to the corner store and get, you know, the juice box of a bigger pickle. Let's go back to college a little bit. How do you feel about, I have my reservations about the whole transfer portal and, you know, the NIL thing. I do love that athletes are being paid. I think they should because, you know, you generate so much money for schools and universities and things like that.

The transfer portal, though. Right. How do you, how does Donovan McNabb, how do you view the whole transfer portal thing? You know what? I'm a fan, but not a fan. And remember, I get kids that are now in high school now getting recruited. And so I have a son that plays wide receiver here,

in Phoenix. Okay. And he's recruited. He's got 17, 18 offers right now. But my worry as a dad and former player is, are you recruiting these athletes out of high school to develop these kids or is it you're expecting them to come in ready? And if they're not ready, now are you going into transport quarter to pretty much recruit over them to get someone that has already been in the program, understands the academic

aspect of it, and studying and being able to play football. going through the regiment. And then also, are you bringing him in for the next two to three years where now that kind of pushes the development back from my son going in? And what does that mean? Now, we have to enter the transfer portal. Now, kids are starting going around where it's modern day free agency. Right. And with the NIL stuff, now you bring in a kid who may not be as talented as your son or my son that's coming in young.

And you already offered him and he signed now for a million dollars. So now he has to play. Right. He has to play because you're giving him a million dollars and he's probably got some exotic car deal and he's driving around on campus. And this kid is standing next to my son on the sideline, but he's probably the first one to go in because he's already been in college. You're already giving him a million dollars, whatever it may be. Right. I worry about where the landscape of the playing field is because if you look at across the collegiate level right now, majority of the schools that are offering the,

these big contracts, big deals to these kids out of the transfer portal, these are the teams that are still scratching the surface of trying to get up to the top where the Ohio states are, where, you know what I'm saying, where all these teams are that are consistently at that level. And so now you're just throwing money away to try to compete at that level, but find yourself still at that median. And so I love the fact that these kids are getting rewarded for their potential talent or maybe stuff that they've already accomplished, but they're going to have to put a cap on this at some point. I hear that.

I mean, speaking of athletes getting their just due, I feel like at your peak, the Jersey era was also at its peak. And I think that's where we would have made our money. We would have made our money for the jerseys, t-shirts, hats. You know, it wouldn't have been so much of where these kids are now. we would have had sponsorships like grocery stores and you know what I'm saying little stuff like mom to pop shops these dudes they they make in 500,000 dollars to go smile in front of a candy store you know what I mean but even in the pros I feel like of course NFL jerseys are always going to sell no matter what but the early 2000s and mid 2000s that whole jersey culture really really hit and I felt you could not escape a donovan McNabb jersey in the mid 2000s no was that a big part of your contracts at that time? Contracts for us?

Yes, of you getting a piece of your jersey that's being so. I was in the era where we didn't receive any money, any NIL, because remember Charles O'Bannon. I'm saying you were the Eagles, not with Syracuse. You get your royalties from the NFL, but it wasn't to the point, the piece of the percentage in which we receive is not to where it's at now. Yeah. Like I remember getting my royalties for the.

men in their apparel, but also got royalties from the females in the jersey sales that I was able to receive from that from the females wearing my jerseys. At that particular point, they made the pink and white jerseys for the ladies. They also had the regular jerseys for us, but my pink and white jerseys for the ladies

were high as well. So that was a percentage that I received that really I appreciate it at that particular point. But, you know, the game has changed as well. we're talking, we're talking almost, what, I've been out of the game now almost 13, 14 years. And so, you know, I love where it's evolving, where it's going.

I'm not one of these old guys that's like, I wish they need to make it what we made. I feel like you may be contributed to the NBA dress code because wasn't the last straw for Iverson? He had your jersey on backwards walking into the arena. I think that was the last straw for the league. We made one for, for IRISA. person.

AI and I came out of high school pretty much together. And so Kobe wore my jersey. Okay. Side line. And Kobe was a big Eagles fan. And so, you know, in the NBA at that particular point, because football, when we played at home games or travel, we wore suits. We wore sports. Yeah.

The game changed in the NBA where they had to dress. It was a dress code if you, you know, you didn't play, you sit on the sideline. And then they bought that. And that's when AI and all of them start wearing sweatsuits and all of that stuff. Yeah. Do you have any great AI or Kobe's stories? Kobe and I went golfing in California. It was actually a weird time because that was when Michael Jackson passed away.

Oh, wow. Okay. We were all on the golf course together, me and him just talking. We kind of stayed in contact. And then my oldest daughter was, I believe, she may have been one or two years older than Gigi. And so we both coached club girls. basketball. And we got a chance to be in a couple of tournaments together and sit down and talk and just talk about the future of where women's basketball is and at that particular

point. So unfortunately, what happened to Co. We'll go down as one of the greatest of all time. Absolutely. And just with his impact, like I mentioned, his impact not only in the men's game, but also in the women's game as well, of what he transcended for a lot of these young girls that are now going into the collegiate level and coming out of it. So for him, and me and AI, we had so much fun together anyway in Philadelphia. What he was doing across the street over with the Sixers

and then coming over what we were doing at that particular time when they went to the World Championship playing against the Lakers. I think we went to the Super Bowl that year. The Phillies were winning at that particular time. So Philadelphia was a hotbed for a couple years. Y'all had Philly on fire. Y'all had Philly's Fislea, Pettie Crack. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The early 2000s for Philly was, yeah. Philly was on fire. So we just had the, we just had the NFL draft a couple months ago. And obviously the big news coming out was Shador, Shadour Sanders dropping to the fifth round. Now, I, you know, I attribute you to a lot of the reason why the NFL,

NFL quarterback position looks the way it looks today. Obviously, a lot of these guys grew up watching you and know who you are and saw a lot of your games. How did you feel watching that? Like, what was your mindset? And how did you feel about seeing Shador, you know, and just, and Coach Prong having to deal and go through that situation? As, and it's not an evaluator, you know, ever since I left the game, you know,

obviously being a part of the media and being on that side of it and knowing from both sides of it, I felt like he would drop. You know, after Cam Ward, there were a few teams that needed quarterbacks at that particular point. I didn't think they were great landing spots for him. And after, I think it might have been New Orleans, I think at eight or nine, everybody was banking on Pittsburgh and I think 21. And everybody's saying, well, Mike, Tomlin don't take you, you know.

Mike is a guy that's always going to reach out and try to help our community, you know, with black quarterback. So you look at the roster in which he's had since he's been there. I mean, from the Charlie Batchez, the Dennis Dixon's to Mike Vic to, you know what I'm saying? So the list goes on. And when he decided to go another direction and not drafting Shadour, my antennas went up. Because, you know, in today's game, the thing that I want to see.

from these young kids is a little bit more professionalism. Okay. And I say that because you look it on the sideline of these games, these kids out here with about $150, $200,000 worth of gold on their neck or, you know, change. And I'm like, first of all, it all starts with the coaching staff of not allowing that. Let's get polo shirts and look presentable. And so now when you go through the draft of what's going, what's been said and all of this, of not being prepared for these meetings or whatever it may be.

I know in the recent years, I want to say the last seven to ten years or so, maybe deeper. What these teams do is they send you a DVD of the install plays that they want you to look at and go over. So now when they come in, you have to now be able to get on the board and explain that. And for what I understand, you know, they weren't able, he wasn't able to do that. And then they kind of kept talking about the headphones. And, you know, he kept talking about himself legendary and blah, blah, and, you know, all of this. Which I don't know for sure.

Yeah. Because I'm in the room or whatever may be. Right. But I just want these young guys to understand the business aspect of things of how to look presentable, present yourself in the right way when you're sitting and talking to these scenes. Because it's a job interview. At the end of the day, it's a job interview. You know, they want to know. can you be a CEO of their company with 10 to 20 to 30 million dollars on the table?

And can you handle that? You know what I mean? Still be focused on the task at hand. So I didn't think he would drop to the fifth round. That's a real big drop. Normally it would probably happen in the third round mid-second. But the funny thing for me is when Mel Kuyper was up on stage, and he's harping, you know, they're doing.

don't know how to evaluate quarterbacks when just last year or two years ago he was pushing for will levice to be in that same position yeah and it didn't work out for will levin so yeah well mel is you know mel type not always the the best uh judge of talent when it comes to quarterbacks especially during the track i wouldn't be able to pick up a learn a west coast office for like three four years and then fucking defined one yeah on uh on your way to your first EA sports meeting, did you have in the back of your mind maybe the Madden curse is real? You know what? I'm not a big guy to believe in curses. I'm not, even that I got heard in years, I don't believe in that. Now, people would say, well, you know, me and Mike Vick and

I think Ray got heard or whatever, you know, but things have changed over the recent years for guys that have been on the cover of Madden. Expectations are higher after you're on on the cover. people were expecting great things or whatever if you have a down year compared to the previous year then everyone looks at it in that particular way but I'm not a big believer in the curses what's the process like with that outside of you just being on the cover um like were you heavily involved when they put the green suit on you and have to get your manner and everything what's the process of making the mad game i'm trying to remember i know i went to san diego and did some of that stuff where the bulbs and stuff you know i did some of that stuff

But you got to remember, too, at that time, there was no 4K or whatever. Right. You know, we're talking about outside of that. We just saw your number. We just saw your number. We saw your number. That's it. You got closed caption.

Yeah. You got like four cameras. Now you've got cameras everywhere. Yeah. It was an exciting time for me because we were all playing Madden at that time while we're playing. Right. There was no fantasy football. There was none of this other stuff.

It was, hey, man, you get to one of your boys' house, man, you grab a drink. Everybody's sitting there and order some pizza. Hey, man, I'm up first. Like, you're mad all night. Like, now it's like on the computer, it's internet, it's all this other stuff that's going on. And so, man, it was a great honor for me. I have to ask, in the locker room, when the new Madden Gang drops, is anyone upset about their rating? I was

I was at that point you got to remember at that point we were just playing I was because I think I did an event and it was me

and Tony Gonzalez and they were talking to Tony about his speed his catches yeah and so Tony's I think at that point Tony might have had a

92 speed or something to that effect and I had like an 86 or something And I was like, wait a minute. We can go outside and race right now. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, yo, we can line up.

Like, I know y'all would think he's faster me. But, you know, it was like he was talking about it. And that was all my mindset, like the speed. Like, I'm faster than him. Right. But it was just, it's still to that point at that time, man, it was just an honor to be on the cover. Because here's a kid out of Chicago who we got the Chicago Suntime newspaper, you know, WGN TV, you know, we got, we got, that's our social media.

That's, if you make it in the paper in Chicago, that mean you did something. Right. And so going through, going to Syracuse, but we got the Syracuse, you know, newspaper, that's a school paper. And then obviously in Syracuse, that was a big thing. Now we're talking about on a cover of a video game that I know everybody in America is playing. Yeah. Like that was a real big honor for me.

And I was on the cover of backyard football. Oh, shit. I forgot about that. Yeah, come on. I totally forgot about backyard football. I forgot about that one. Come on. That was a Fort Neal, Gio, and all that.

Yeah, yeah. I will say, I share with you the same. Tony Gonzalez is a legend, but 92 speed is fucking crazy for Tony Gonzalez. Yeah, I was like, you guys fit me. What was Marshall Falk? Like, seriously. Like what I'm saying. So we didn't, I mean, the whole 99 ratings and all that stuff, that's cute now.

But yeah, we weren't getting all that back in the time. So let's talk about the Super Bowl. So what happened? What's the story about Donovan McNab throwing up? It's false. Didn't happen. No Willie Bean and shit? Okay.

It's false. It didn't happen. There's no video of it. I could tell you straight off top. It wasn't. It didn't happen. Did I get hit in the mouth? Yeah.

Okay. I got hit in the mouth like the third player of the game from Teddy Bruskey, like right up under the shit. It would be Teddy Brewski. Yeah. Great media guy now, too. Yeah. I mean, but you know, again, it was interesting because it was, we lost the game. And I think there were a comment by one of my office alignment or somebody said, like, I was tired or whatever.

I may have been, yeah, I'm tired. We playing the soup boat. But I'm like, okay. And then it went to, you know, throwing up or whatever. And I was like, what are y'all talking about? So this has been now 20 plus years and everybody still talking about it. There's no video of me throwing up. Like, it didn't happen.

If social media existed at that time, do you think you... It would have ended. It would have ended right after that. Because you have no footage or no evidence in that. Would you have cleared it up, though? Like, say, a Twitter or Instagram existed? No. Because the thing with me is I'm not going to give any more legs or energy or gas to

something that doesn't make sense. Okay. So I'd never talk about anything unless it's presented to me. And then I gave the same answers. Like for 20 years, I've been given the same answers. Right. But people, it's still a question people keep bringing up. And even though it was back when there wasn't like cell phone cameras, it was the fucking Super Bowl.

Somebody would have that footage. Cameras everywhere. Cameras everywhere. The only thing not boosted with Boost Mobile is the prices mall. I freestyled that. They didn't even tell me to say that. Nice. No, that was bars.

With Boost Mobile, you pay $25 a month forever. That is unlimited talk text and data starting at just $25 a month with no price hikes. 5G speed is not available in all areas. After 30GB, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the boost unlimited plan. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fultonar Stars. And now, I guess also as the co-host of the Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast.

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For us, soccer, football, is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, its beauty.

Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the Army Stewart of the Chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines.

I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals.

The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. So with the quarterback position now in the NFL, who is some of your guys that you look at that you can't, like you have to watch their game. Like I got to watch.

I love watching him play. He approaches the game the right way. Who are some of those guys for you? Well, it starts with Patrick because I have that relationship with Patrick obviously being coached by Andy Reed. Right. And I've talked to Patrick on many occasions

almost every Super Bowl. Every Super Bowl that I talked to the team, they won. Oh, wow. And the time I didn't, we won. So where's your alliance? It worked that well in New Orleans. But Andy's my guy. So I love watching Patrick.

I love watching Lamar, Josh Allen. I love watching Joe Burrell and the weapons that he has. I love watching Tua. Because Tua plays a game a different way. And I would love for him to be healthier if he was to be able to finish out full seasons. Because I think Tua is one of those guys that's truly accurate. He throws with anticipation. doesn't have the strongest of arms.

And he has a little bit of dog in him, which I would love for him to protect himself a little bit more. But sometimes you just can't, you can't pull back that kind of energy when you already have it. And then also, Baker Mayfield brings, he brings different type of attitude to the game where he has a linebacker mentality,

you know, quarterback position. And so I just love watching these particular guys. Like, and they all present something different. And so obviously I add Jaylen Hurts in there because that's my guy. I was just great to say. If you don't say Jaylen, we got to ask why.

Well, no, I mean, I've been, Jayla's like a little brother to me. Okay. You know, I've, I've been mentoring and talking to Jaylen since his name was called. Okay. And I tried to explain to people when he was drafted that he was coming into the quarterback room as the grown man in the room. Here's a guy that has so many offensive coordinators since his freshman year, Alabama,

all the way to Oklahoma. to Philadelphia. And so he's learned four different offenses in four or five years. Wow, I didn't think about it like that, yeah. And so, you know, and he was coached by his dad in high school. And people don't realize he was the starting quarterback

in Alabama as a senior in high school. He went up in the spring, play spring ball competed to win that position to start his freshman year at Alabama, at Alabama University. That's crazy. And to go to national championship. Right.

That is wow. And so it says a lot about, like, him winning the Super Bowl or going to the Super Bowl two years, that's not a shock to me. Mm-hmm. Because he's played almost every year he's played in the National Championship game, almost, except when he was in Oklahoma. The one thing that we do say about Jalen, he carries himself like an older soul. Like a professional. Yeah, he's very professional. Exactly.

He's very professional. That's my point. Like, these young kids in college need to take on the role of these guys like Jailer and be more professional. And I guarantee you this. They'll make more money. You take the gold out your mouth. You stop walking around with $200,000 around your neck. You're talking about talking a third person in the media when you get an interview.

These are different things that they need to understand. Yeah, the money you get to go to the university, that's good with the collective and all of that. But you can make so much more money like, for instance, Caitlin Clark. Caleb Clark, everyone wants to talk about what she's making now and what she's done. Caleb Clark made like $3 million off the court from State Farm and all this other stuff because that's the professionalism is where the money is

outside of what you're doing. Yeah, I agree on that. Back to the field. Who was the corner or safety that gave you the most trouble throughout your career? You had Dion. who I played against Dion when he was in Dallas, I think when he was in Washington,

when he was in Baltimore, Ernest Williams with the Rams. You know, he was solid, Hall of Famer. You know, safeties, I mean, Sean Taylor was an animal at safety. Troy Palo Wallo was a beast. Darren Sharper, even my own, Brian Dawkins. You know, I see him every day at practice. And, you know, obviously, I didn't have to compete with him come game time

because he changes into a whole different person come game time. But again, like, D. Hands, Michael Strayhand, you know, T-sugs, like all these guys that I played against that are Hall of Famers and were dynamic, you know, at their position. What are your thoughts on the Tush push and I'm trying to get rid of it? I don't have a problem with it because the funny thing is everybody has tried it not everybody has been as successful as Philadelphia

nobody's gotten hurt nobody's careers ended because of it now is it hard? Yeah I'm sure it's hard to stop but Kansas City stopped Buffalo when they tried to do it three times that's the fact you know what I'm saying I think Baltimore had their reign with it a little bit but then they just decided not to put Lamar in the harm's way

and then just give it to Derek Henry the list goes on of other teams that have tried it they just haven't been as successful as Philadelphia now you you drop some names when we were talking about how y'all had Philly on fire when it came to rap Beanie Siegel Pee Crack who were some of the guys that you were listening to on your way to the stadium like what was Donovan listening to

in his car state property you know he I'm a Philly I'm a Philly representatives and rap. You know, I was an R&B head. You know, I was an R&B head.

Me too. I love R&B, man. And remember, at that time, we had music, Soul Child, Bala, all the R&Bs from Philly. But me, a friend from Chicago

and people, you know, may get a little, little whiz with it. But I was an R. Kelly fan. Yeah. R. Kelly in the booth. Yeah. R. Kelly in the booth.

All of us were. Yeah. R. Kelly in the booth. You know, from Avant. and I'll even throw my girl to Brad in there because she's from the crib as well. Absolutely. You know, so I was a mix, depending on how I was feeling at that particular time. It was either R&B remixes or was it just straight-up hardcore rap.

I like how Donovan went from state property. Yeah, he had to get his Joe Scott in there first. You know me he would stay property. He went on with the R&B. Like, no, that's a complete playlist. What would be your top five Philly rappers? Oh, that's hard. You got to go beans.

You gave us beans already. Yeah, I mean, but that's hard because, you know, you got beans. You got beans freeway. Yeah. Always got to put Eve in there because she changed the game for the females in the rap game. Exactly. You know, that's the next two is kind of hard. Well, he said state property, so that covers up.

Yeah, so that kind of throws three, at least four. Yeah. And you were going by the time Meek probably showed up, right? Yeah. Well, Meek actually, I was, I was toward the out. I was in my way out, but my brother worked with Meek. But Meek is definitely in that top five, obviously representing Philly. Yeah.

You know, because when it comes to old school, like, you know, Will Smith and all of them, if you want to put Will Smith in that group. But what Will Smith did just kind of on both angles, you know, change, add a little bit more to the game. Do your kids like Uzi? You know what? I mean, I don't know what they listen to. I'm going to say to some of the stuff they listen to now, man.

You know, because they, it's not so much of the lyrics, like, like when we used to the, Nas, J, Z, like, you know, all, all back in at that time, like, we were about lyrics, common. Yeah. Now, it's just like, you got to have a catchy hook and a beat. Yes, it's it. Because some of the stuff, I don't think they open up their. mouth this is beyond mumbo raps now like back of the day you had the mumble rap now

that was now was close jaw just don't even say that in shit um right did anyone try to rap in the in the locker room uh you mean you had some freestyle sessions okay some freestyle but it wasn't prevalent like that you know it wasn't like we had one guy that that can drop some bars like some people you you you try to push them to rap because you know it's going to be stupid um you You know, it's one of them guys like you have somebody read, but you know he really can't read like that. Yeah. So let's make him rap. Some rookie hazing for sure.

So we spoke to one of your former teammates, LeShall McCoy. We had him on probably last week. Was that last week? Two weeks ago? Two weeks ago, yeah. And talking to him, he wants to know why is it that or why do you feel like Philly fans don't embrace Donovan McNabb? like you're not the guy that really helped bring the Eagles back to a respectable organization? I don't know.

That's one that I can't answer to be honest with you. I mean, I did what I did. You know, I did a lot of stuff in the community. You know, I'm grateful with Philadelphia. So at some point they always kind of was, you know,

he's not one of us, whatever the hell of that mean. But, you know, that was always something. Saying that about somebody from Chicago was crazy. Right. You know what I'm saying? He's not one of us. Like, oh, okay. What's that? You're like the two parents in the house.

Right, right. You know what I mean? Right. First of five NFC championships. Yeah. I know how to carry myself like a wrong man. Like, you know what I mean? Right. Every may be, um, but you know what's funny? Like, you'll hear a small portion of percentage of people that say stuff like that. Yeah. But the mass, mass percentage of people know that I'm all about Philly and they were very supportive of what I've been able to accomplish and do and what I was able to do in my, my decade of playing there. Absolutely.

It was successfully bad and everything I was able to accomplish. Yeah, I mean, Philly fans individually are good people, but when they get together, they're some of the worst animals I've ever come across my entire life. Like, to the point that you take them to five NFC championships and they honor a bartender that made special teams and make a movie about it. Like, Philly fans are the weirdest human beings I've ever fucking met. But you know, what you know what it is,

it's, it's, it's, it wasn't social media, it was talk radio. Yeah. And so, you know, people want to, you know, expose or kind of let out bad energy of how they feel about a game, how they feel about, and then I became a lightning rod. My name became a lightning rod for people to, you know, say, they're, express their feelings about how I play in the game or how, or whatever it may have been, or we won, it wasn't because of me, whatever it may have been. and it became about talk radio. And so anytime I speak, like even probably after this whole, this show we're doing, and y'all put excerpts out about, you know,

about some of the questions and some of my answers, I'm sure a whole lot of people will probably come negative about, you know, I can't stand with these talks or no one cares, you know, whatever maybe. While they're watching it. I'm always explaining to people. If you mention my name, that means you're thinking about. That's the fact. So thank you.

You know, I appreciate it. Who are some of your most underrated quarterbacks in the league right now? I know you said too, you kind of feel like he deserves more love. Okay. Who are some of your most underrated quarterbacks right now in the league? I would say probably Russell Wilson. Oh, okay. You know, I'll throw, you know, Justin Herbert.

Although people put Justin in that top five, which I don't think he's a top five quarterback. But he's underrated because this office that Harbaugh is incorporated is old school. It's run first, play action, quick game, explosive plays. So he's going to now start to explode, I believe, in this offense. I think people like, what's my man name? He's out in Oakland now from Seattle. Gino. Geno Smith.

Geno is, since his opportunity, he's flourished in the moment. He's played well. I think Brock Purdy, what he's been able to do so far. Being an Arizona kid, too, showing some love. And guys like that,

I just look at guys like that that I think, like two guys that I look at and I'm kind of watching to see what happens these next couple years for them. It's Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields.

I hope the best for Justin because he's a good kid. He comes from great family. And he just needs an opportunity where he's in a great system, where they have great players around him to be able to just play his game. Yeah. Playing against Belichick, do you have any predictions for this upcoming season with North Carolina? I think they'll be competitive. I think there'll be probably a little bit of mid-midway.

the pack in the ACC because he doesn't have his full recruits here. I think he's been recruiting heavily of the 27 class and the little bit of the 26 class. And so the 25 class, he hasn't been able to kind of jump on

that because he came in late. He got a few guys and I think the transfer portal for a school like Carolina would be big. Who doesn't want to wear the Jordan brand? Who doesn't want to wear the baby blue? I always dreamed of playing in North Carolina. and I think for for Belichick I think two years from now two three years from now

they'll be they'll be up in the likes with Clemson okay okay and you know in that where you start talking a little bit about North Carolina football now before we let you go Donovan I got to bring this up so your former teammate Freddie Mitchell put together an album and is this this this this there's this this there's a there's this there's a There's remnants. I'm hearing things that there may be a Donovan McNabb verse.

You may have recorded a verse for an album. Is that true? Did you lay some bars down? You're talking about me on Freddie's album? Yeah. Absolutely not. I was going to try to get you to spend some bars real quick. Absolutely not.

You know, if Freddy's doing that, that's going to be interesting. It's hilarious. Um, would I be on, would I be on this? No, no, absolutely not. Um, I'm, I, I'm, you know, you, you know, as the fellas get together, we have fun. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we start spitting some stupid bars that don't make sense, but we think it's hot. Yeah. You know, you can't take it nowhere else. Yeah. It stays here. It stays in. He recorded it, though. So if he did record this in the movie And thing came out like he's dailin Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And hot fire. Speaking of bars, we put together a list of rappers that have name dropped you in their verses. And we wanted to see if you could guess which rapper it was. We'll start with the first one. Excuse me, but queues me. Got to see the entendre there.

Cues, Cues, got it. Excuse me, what happened. I'm flyer than Robin. I'm flyer than an eagle. Yeah, Donovan McNabbin. Do you know what rapper that is? These are Philly rappers? No, just across the board, rappers in general.

No, who's that? Oh, the barbs are going to kill you. That's Nicky Minaj. Nicky Minaj. Is it? Yeah. What song was that? Shaking it for Daddy.

Pause. Whoa. I'm just, I answered your question. You asked me a question I answered it. Donovan turned around. He made sure a wife he wasn't walking in the room. Like, wait, what? Okay.

I definitely had to look that up. It's Robin Thick and Nikki Minaj. Oh, okay. So you can get some R&B there. Robin was popping back. Okay. I don't know if I'm going to type it. It's taking it for daddy.

Yeah, you don't feel right typing that in. I don't know what may pop up. It would definitely focus your algorithms for sure All right Another one When we met you Was a V like Madonna

Now you're in the field Running plays like Donovan McNabb Before you get in the cab Oh yay Kanye Talk about our love From the crib

You know Absolutely Absolutely I don't know what's happening Now But he's from the crib Nobody He was at the crib

At the one point Yeah All you take the next one just based off the lyrical content in there. All right. Last one. There's some words that I probably just see. I don't know if I should.

I got you. I got this one. I got you. You kindly passed. Yeah, I got you. And I rock my rag like it's 88 and niggas still rocking shaft. So put the hundreds in the bag. Or I'm going to put the eagle to your helmet and the fifth to your chest like Donovan McNat.

Was that a me? Was that me? No, that's the game. The game. That's from West Coast. 100 bars and running. 100 bars. Oh, okay.

Yeah. Oh, I'll definitely have to listen to that one. Yeah, no, you can type that in. That one you can type it. I mean, we have this one here. Is that like a remix of NWA or something? It was on the 100 bars and running, which was like original disc to G unit. I think it was probably on an NWA.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I mean, this has his name in it, but one of my favorite Beanie Siegel songs, period. You know, Siegel play with them Eagles. Maul, you can put that word there? Niggas don't get tagged. Throw bullets out.

Them dirty birds like McNap. Trying to go back and forth. We get a little back and forth on that laugh. My partner can't say that one, Donald. He can't say that one. I can dig it. Yeah. Daughter, we appreciate you, man.

Congratulations, which is 20 years on the cover of Madden. Yes, sir. We appreciate you. A legend in every sense of the word. Thank you for everything you did for the game. you for the way you paid for our black quarterbacks that are playing today we appreciate you a legend forever thank you for taking time to kick it with us today bro i appreciate you guys have me man we got to swag out that couch though you know we got we got we got we got to upgrade that

couch yeah yeah we go we go listen we work in deep couch too i sit like this it's a right it's a right for what we do right now we ain't in the house we'll never had this type of couch in the house but it's great for what we do right now not all of us pay the same taxes in arizona yeah yeah We don't get to keep our money like you. We in New York, bro. They're killing us with these taxes. This is the type of money our taxes could afford right here. We appreciate you, bro.

Thank you, man. Appreciate that, no doubt. Love. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.