PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Eagles 26 KICKS OFF with No. 26 Jake Elliott, No. 25 Zack Baun | PHLY Eagles Podcast

Episode Date: June 18, 2026

Our countdown of the best Eagles since 2000 kicks off with a celebration of the first two honorees, No. 26 Jake Elliott, who is one of only four people to win two Super Bowls with the Eagles, and No. 25 Zack Baun, the standard bearer for the best championship defense in franchise history. Join Fran Duffy and Bo Wulf for the festivities.    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello everybody and welcome to the PHLY Eagles podcast on a beautiful Thursday afternoon. Bo Wolf. Fran Duffy is back and we are live from the Xfinity Lounge presented by our friends at Ashley. And it is the first day of our countdown officially of the top 26 Eagles since 2000. Fran, good to have you back. How you doing? Great to be back. Excited to help kick this countdown off.

It's going to be a fun few weeks as we get down to number one. Should we talk about where you were? How did you get a good time? Or should we just get into brass tacks here? I mean, nothing too crazy. Went down to Disney World for a few days. It was great. It was a great trip.

Francis had a good time. Yeah, Francis had a great time. We all had a great time. It was a lot of fun. Love it. Let's get to it. Let's do it. Let's get down.

We start with number 26 in an interesting. Lewis Seen, Josiah Scott, Janarius Robinson, Jack Anderson, Ross Pierchbacher, Joe Batchie, and Hakeem Butler, Albert Huggins and Anthony Rush.

Stephen Means. Jalen Watkins, Tanner Hawkinson, Jerome Cupplin, Manuel Ocho, Matt Copa, Joick Bell, Colt Anderson,

Brandon Hughes and Jeffrey Pope. PJ Hill was Howie Roseman's first. None of those players will be appearing on our countdown of the top 26 Eagles of the 21st century, but they're all part of a fun club. They are 21 of the 22 players, Howie Roseman has signed to the active roster off another team's practice squad.

something very fun and a little bit romantic about that particular NFL transaction the idea that someone in the scouting department has seen something on tape to make the Eagles believe they know the player better than the team themselves. The Eagles themselves have been victim of this phenomenon as with the Rahim Mostert heist in 2015.

Nevertheless, the success rate of those gambols is pretty low. But sometimes, you get blast one right through the uprights. On September 11th, 2017, the Eagles placed kicker Caleb Sturgis on injured reserve. To replace him, they signed a 22-year-old rookie off the Cincinnati Bengals. Pengal's practice squad who had been drafted in the fifth round by the Bengals three months prior. The rest, as they say, has been history. Over the course of nine seasons with the team, Elliot has become the second leading score in franchise history.

He has been a four-time captain, and he has joined only Lane Johnson, Brandon Graham, and Rick Lovato as the only four immortals who have won two Super Bowls with the Eagles. And yet for someone who has accomplished so much over the course of 163 games for the team, playoffs included, the game we most often think about with regard to Elliot

wasn't just his second game with the team. He debuted with the Eagles on September 17th in a week two loss in Kansas, making four of his five kicks, but missing a 30-yard field goal. The following week, in a home game against the New York Giants, early in the third quarter, he missed his first field goal attempt of the game, a 52-yarder. On the sidelines, the fresh-faced new kid on the block

was approached by the biggest, baddest man on the team. No more misses. Jason Peters told him. Embed either by confidence or fear for his own safety, Elliot did just that, nailing a game-tying 46-yarder with under a minute left in the fourth quarter, only to be gifted a chance, moments later,

for a game-winning attempt from 61 yards after a miraculous completion from Carson Wentz to Al-Shan Jeffrey. And that is how legends are me. Did you know that Jake Elliott has only attempted two other kicks since that day from beyond 60 yards? A make against the Vikings in 2023 and a miss against the Saints in 2024. No doubt he has been imperfect at times.

Since 2017, he ranks 18th of 37 kickers in field goal percentage and 20th an extra point percentage. He's just 37th of 41 in field goal percentage. on inch over the past two seasons. He has survived long enough to make the inevitable transition from hero, the lightning rod, though true competition has not yet come his way, even as his one-time injury replacement Cameron Dicker has turned into a pro-bowler in his own right.

At 31, Elliot is still capable of writing another chapter or two. He's about three full seasons worth of kicks away. from surpassing David Acres for most franchise marks. And perhaps the biggest question as to whether he'll last that long is whether he decides to pursue going pro in a different sport before that. Anyone who has been around the team knows Elliot is the actual best athlete in the locker room. He's the best golfer, the best ping pong player, the best tennis player, the best softball player, and on and on.

perhaps that's why he is wired to withstand the inevitable ups and downs of life as an NFL kicker to ride the roller coaster of being beloved to earning derisive nicknames based on talented female rappers. So congratulations to Jake Elliott on earning his place inside the uprights of the Eagles 26 and to anyone who disagrees to quote the great Missy Elliott, quiet, what's your mouth? There you go. Jake Elliott, number 26, how do we feel? I mean, just an unbelievable sliloquy on your end.

It's why I would be remiss if I did not. It was terrible. I couldn't listen to the sound effect before. I picked a random, like, YouTube video of standing ovation sound, and it was not as good as it as you deserve because I would be remiss if I did not say that you are a phenomenal writer. Whenever you get a chance to say.

Now, that's said, he's absolutely deserving of being on this list. I think when you look at Jake Elliott, the impact he has had on this franchise, some of the biggest moments in not just like this century, but obviously in team history, those field goals in crunch time moments and huge moments in the 2017 season.

Obviously throughout the course of the, you know, those successful teams since then, 2022, 2024, you and BLG, I really enjoyed the show you guys had yesterday where you went through and selected the best individual seasons at each position.

I was glad that he was able to shine a light on the 2023 season for Jake Elliott where he hit that big kick against the Buffalo Bills. Unbelievable kick. Just with a win, late in the game to win it. Was that to win or to push it into overtime? I think that was, you know, I think you might be right. I might have been to get them into overtime.

in the elements against the wind from distance. And he has come up with those kinds of kicks throughout the course of his career. You can't tell the story of some of these Eagles. Without Jake Elliott, that Giants game in week three was phenomenal. And also just the fact that, you know, and this is like a funny anecdote is like,

you mentioned, he was drafted in the fifth round. Yeah. The Bengals were like, oh, well, he didn't have like the best summer. So we're going to put him on the practice squad. And the Eagles go and they pluck them. as soon as they need a guy, and he has come through in the clutch ever since. This is one where when we began this exercise,

I would not have thought that Jay Kelly was going to make it. Just because there are so many other deserving players on like the bubble right here at more important positions, and I had sent an earlier version of the list to a couple people in the building just to get their thoughts. And independently, some of the reaction I got was, what about Jake Elliott?

And you start to think about it. And I think we're going to give a little bit of an edge as this list goes on to the Super Bowl teams. And the fact that he is one of, you know, the only guys who's been on both teams, as you say, all of the great moments of the last decade for the Eagles are sort of sprinkled with Jake Elliott moments along the way.

I think he's very highly thought of in the building. He's a captain for a reason, and it's not just like we need a special team's captain. Like he's actually, you know, he's a part of those leadership meetings and all of that stuff. He carries weight in the locker room. I am happy that he gets this spot inside

as kind of like the stamp on the end of the list and I think he deserves it. Now, my question for you is, how do you think of him vis-a-vis David Acres who was here a little bit longer. Yes. You know, he has the franchise records that Jake Elliott does not have,

and that most of that is in the 2000s. How do you feel about giving Elliot the nod over acres? Yeah, I had Elliot over acres in my list. Yes, the volume stats all go towards acres. But he's number one in field goal percentage, Jake Elliott. So when you look at like the efficiency numbers, they are better. And then honestly, like him coming up with some of those huge kicks,

in some of the team's biggest moments when they need him. I mean, the guy's been nails. And not that Aker's wasn't. David Aker's like the game winner against the Giants in the playoffs, the game winner against the Packers in the fourth and 26th game. You can go down the line. David Aker's also came up huge for this team time and time again. This is coming from someone who in middle school and high school

had a white David Aker's jersey. It was part of the repartor, part of the rotation. That said, I do think you got to give Jake the nod. I mean, obviously I agree. That's how we're doing it. But yeah, I mean, it's no disrespect to Aker's. Yes. I think two Super Bowls, I'm happy that Jake Elliott gets to make this list.

Yeah, I think so. And this is the case typically with specialists is right, right? Like the lore behind them. There's so much with like John Dormbas. And when you have that staying power and you're with the team for a long time, typically the specialist, like you've got to have a little bit of personality. The fact that he is like basically universally accepted is like, oh yeah, he is the best athlete on the team with everything that he can do from, you know, with all the other things that they partake in the locker room. I think adds a little bit to the myth building there with Jake Elliott.

I agree. All right. Let's take our first break here on the PHY Eagles show. We'll come back. We'll talk a little bit more about Jake Elliott. And then in the C block, we will unveil number 25 on the list, another player on the current team. Staying with us. Hey you!

What if you could have reliable and intelligent Wi-Fi for the same price? Or not one year, not two years, not three years, not four years, but five whole years. That is the Xfinity five-year price guarantee. We are talking Wi-Fi that makes everything in your home work together. That finds and fixes problems before you even notice them. We're talking super intelligent Wi-Fi with an Mnight Shaman-esque 6th Sense. That's right. Let's just stream the game even when the whole family is online.

The best part, no annual contracts, no hidden fees, and Xfinity's best equipment included. So lock in your price today and unlock the possibilities with Xfinity. Learn more at Xfinity.com. Xfinity. Imagine that. Select plans only. restrictions apply. Let me tell you what I like. Something that actually rewards the way you already spend your money. That's exactly what you get with the everyday elite visa credit card

from True Mark Credit Union. And if you're wondering, you know, nice play grudzalonic. That's true, Mark. Ah ha. We're talking up to 4% cashback on eligible everyday purchases, including gas. So as those gas prices rise, so does your cash back. And for limited time, new cardholders also get a 0% introductory APR on purchases for the first 12 months, then 17.99% APR after that. More cash back, less catch. Apply today at trumark.com or stop by any of TrueMark Credit Union's 24 branch locations. Rates based on credit worthiness, 4% cash back on eligible purchases. Bonus categories capped annually. Restrictions apply.

visit trumark.com for details insured by NCUA. Back on the PHAY Eagles podcast, live from the Xfinity Lounge, Bowulf, and Fran Duffy. Time now to turn our attention to what's brewing, presented by our friends at Wawa. Oh, E.J. will like this, by the way. Okay. Now, if I'm off, if I'm on the road, I'm going to get my coffee, I'm going to go to Wawa, right? Sure. But a big birthday present from Rachel, new coffee maker.

Oh, what you get? I forget what it's called. Okay. That's fun. Looking pretty fancy. I haven't set it up yet. Okay. Opened it up last night.

I'm excited to see, I'll hear what it's like. Me too. Do you agree that signing somebody off a practice squad is like, it's probably my favorite NFL transaction. He is absolutely up there. I think it's better. It's more fun than a waiver claim. Yeah.

You know, trades and stuff happens. but it's like the because listen what's more fun as a real NFL sicko than scouring other teams practice squads when you know that your team needs a position and be like oh I don't want to know about this guy and to actually make that move

the mystery behind it I love I was actually surprised that it hasn't happened more often under Haller Roseman it was like I believe 22 if I did miscount there was a question in the chat why was Willie Lampkin not on that list and that's because of the injured reserve

designation, correct? Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a, he was waived injured. He was a plane.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, because I was at final cuts. That's right. Right. Yeah. Dylan McMahon. The Eagles have, you know,

as I went through this list, certainly the ledger is more guys signed from the Eagles practice squad. I think had a higher success rate than guys, the Eagles signed from other practice squads. Is that scientific or is that anecdotal?

That's absolutely anecdotal. Yeah. I didn't, write down everybody who was signed. I'm trying to think of the, I was going to say, I'm trying to think of the ones that they. Mostert was a good one.

Moster's a good one. Your boy. McMahon. No, before that, the pass rusher, the Stanford kid. Wasn't he plugged off? Casey Tohill.

He might have been claimed. Was he? I think he was claimed. Okay. Oh, because, yeah, that's right. The Eagles,

yeah, because the Eagles, they waved him in. Yeah, they made the, they got the order of operations wrong. Right. They included them on the team and then waived him.

That's right. I think if they had just waved him at the end of the season, it would have been less likely they would have been claimed at the end of roster cutouts. There were some good names in there, though. Great games. But let me ask you this, because now I'm assuming all this is very fresh in your mind. How many of them could you have, like, could you have named? Which team that came from?

Oh, that's a good question. Like, oh, like Jerome Couplin, like, which team he came from? Let me tell you what team he came from. Was Marcus Epps? Like maybe they signed him to their practice. I wonder how they... I think they sent him to their own practice squad. Got it.

From... He was cut by New England. Got it. Yeah. Lewis Seen was the Vikings. Yes. Josiah Scott was the Steelers. So this was an interesting one where they traded for him.

This was they were bringing him back. Oh. Okay. Got it. Got it. They were bringing him back. Got it. Generius Robinson was the Vikings.

Jack Anderson was the Bills. Pierce Bacher, was he the commanders? Because he had been there for a while. I think maybe he was just loitering there. Joe Batchy, I don't know if he was, he was drafted by Cincinnati, but I don't know if he was there still. Akeem Butler, I think, was still Carolina.

Yeah. Albert Huggins, I don't know. Anthony Rush, I think the Raiders, Anthony Rush was a fun one that I'll always remember because Anthony Rush was cut. He was the first player cut right the day before training camp. He was in 90. And he went on and had a good rookie season with the Raiders,

and then they eventually didn't make it. Stephen Means. I actually don't remember where he came from. Jeline Watkins, this was a little bit like the Josiah Scott. He was coming back. Right. I think from Buffalo.

Tanner Hawkinson, that was not my time. I couldn't tell you anything about him. Rome Copeland, I don't remember. Acho was the Giants. Okay. Matt Copa was the Patriots. I remember that one well. Joach Bell was the Lions.

Your boy. Colt Anderson, probably the second best player on this list. Yeah. I think was the Vikings also. Some successful. Brandon Hughes, I think, was the Giants. Jeffrey Pope, I think was the Bengals. Brandon Hughes, another one of your personal favorites.

Loved Brandon Hughes. And PJ Hill, I think, was the Saints. Yeah. Stephen Means was the Texans practice squad. Texans, that's right. Yeah. That's right. Seen was with the Bills.

He had started with the Vikings, but then was on the Bills practice. A lot of Vikings and Bengals. Interesting. There's anything to that. Probably not. No. All right, when you think of Jake Elliott.

When I think of Jake Elliott, first thing, is game winner versus the Giants. To me, like that is the, yes, 2017. It's the beginning of the legend. Yes, to me it is the Giants game followed by, I mean, the game winner in the Super Bowl, you know, that same season. But it would be to me that kick right there.

As you think about just the synergy of the 2000 celebration of this century to have that picture of Jake Elliott kicking it with Dominique Rogers Crow Marty coming off the head. for the Giants. That's fantastic. Unbelievable. Yeah. And him hitting the game winner here against the Patriots and Super Bowl 52.

You know, and it's funny, when you ask people in the building about Jake, and obviously, I was in the building myself for a handful of years when Jake Elliott was there, I would say like universally loved, like, everyone loves Jake Elliott. Everyone loves being around him. But there's not like, when you ask, like, oh, you have a good story about Jake Elliott or or this. No one has like that moment. Or it's like, oh, yeah.

like, if you ask anyone about like John Doran boss, it's like, oh, like you roll off like four or five different things. But I think that also kind of speaks to, like, you talked about like some of the rough times he's had and, you know, some of the culture. He is so even keeled like from a personality standpoint. I think that kind of does play into the fact that he, when he does go south for a little bit,

he's able to get himself out of it. And I do think that that's a lot of the reasons why the organization has the belief in him that they do. Now, I do think it's fair to say that this is a, this is a big year for Jake Elliott. They restructure his contract. He took a little bit of a pay cut, but they guaranteed his contracts.

He was going to be the kicker this year, unless things go very south. And he's had these blips before. 2022 is not a good year. And then he comes back and has a really good year in 2023. The last two years combined, he has not been one of the better kickers in the NFL. And he's 31.

I think there is a world in which this is his last season with the team. There's also a world in which he has another good bounce back year, and he gets to stay for however long he wants to keep playing. I would lean more towards the ladder, but as you get older or a kicker, like the mechanics change a little bit, certainly the power you lose a little bit. All of that factors in. I am curious to see.

I think I am guilty of often just being like, well, it's a kicker. There's ups and downs there. You know, it's within a band of outcomes. You know what? It's not the thing that I'm going to spend my time thinking about. But having really thought more about this, I'm more curious now about what the season looks like for Jake Elliott. Yeah, it's difficult because when there's one end of the spectrum

where you look at like the money that you put into a player like Jain, or where it's like, all right, like if you're not getting those results that becomes more difficult to swallow. But that's why the even keeledness of him where it's like, all right, like, they're ultimately paying for the faith that they have in him, right? It's like, hey, like, he's going to work himself out of it. Might be, you know, if it's not early,

if early on the season, it's a little shaky. By week three, I don't think that they're going to, I don't think they're going to go into the season. Like, oh, like, I don't know if he's ever going to get out of it. I think that, to me, like, they believe he will get out of whatever rut that he was in at the end of last season. So we'll see how long that old. That's what's brewing.

presented by our friends at Wawa. One odd statistical thing about Jake Gellie is he is his track record on extra points. Not very good. Yes. He always has like those frustrating misses where it's like, whether it's the extra point or if it's like a, you know, a 35-yard or it's like, oh. But when it matter.

And I should have probably looked into this. But I can't remember like a game winning opportunity or something like that that he didn't make. I can look that up. You give me a moment here. Let us know in the chat if there are any Jake Elliott memories that you have that we have not yet covered as we celebrate number 26 on this list. And listen, we will get into some of the guys who didn't make this list at some point. There's some tough cuts.

I feel pretty good about stamping Jake Elliott there. Yep. I don't know. You got something? One sec. I will have it. Okay. Yeah.

Let me ask you this. We're going to talk about a little bit later. How hard was it for you to put a specialist? Yeah, I didn't expect. I didn't expect him to be in the list. Yeah. We'll get into some of the guys that fell short. I think there is some,

I think there's some good narrative about having a specialist on here. certainly like if a specialist is going to be on like if if jake elliott's not on the list right it would be hard for any specialist to make the list did you give any what i would if i was actually building a team like would i would i take jake elliot over right you know quinion mitchell who's not going to make this list probably not um nor would anybody but that's not what we're doing we're saying you know we're celebrating uh the best era of eagles football that has ever existed Yep. And he has been a huge part of that.

Did you give any thought whatsoever to John Doranbos making it? Not really. I had bought it up as a potential. But nothing. Not really. I like John Doranboss, but I think that's a bit of a longer leap to make. All right. Less than seven, more than three.

All right, so I'm going to go. Actually, I know I can do this. Minus three, zero. Yeah, I can do that. I can do like how many kicks he made when the team was either. Okay. Or no, we want.

Jay Chimes says he remembers rookie Jake exchanging jerseys with Flyers legend Brian Elliott because they shared the same name. Hmm. Three one. Ryan Elliott. I don't remember.

Me neither. Fourth quarter. Here we go. Brand doing the work. Let's see if I can look something up as well. Well, now we're just... Excellent, excellent showtime. I don't know if I could do.

We have fourth quarter field goal percentage or something. Let's see. I've got... Oh, here's the other thing I'll tell you. Okay. Jake Elliott's playoff performance, because that's what we're talking about here. Yes.

Since he entered the league, 2017. Yep. He's the second best playoff performer in the NFL. And that's really what he care about the most. He's made the second most kicks behind Harrison Bucker, but he also has the second best field goal percentage.

He's only missed one, 28 of 29, behind Robbie Gould being perfect on 21 attempts. Now, he has missed some extra points in the playoffs, but his field goal percentage in the playoffs has been nails. He's only got one miss.

In the post season. Yeah. In the post season, 28 to 29. I've got, do you feel like 96 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter and overtimes would be a high number? It feels high. It feels high.

78 of 96 and fourth quarter over the course of his career. But again, that feels. There's also an interesting thing about Jake Elliott where he is the kicker during a period of time where the eagles have made the move to kick fewer field goals. Right. That's fair. If he were the kicker in David Acres' time, he would have had a lot more attempts. No, who knows what his field goal percentage is,

but a team that's going forward on fourth down more and, you know, less willing to take on, Nick Sierra NICSy doesn't want to kick a 60-yard field goal, right? Yeah. And so I think that's part of it. And you wonder how that changes the philosophy of a guy on the sidelines, like not usually it's like, okay, we've crossed the 50-yard line, I'm going to be kicking a field goal if we don't score a touchdown.

There's a little bit more of a will they or won't they ask me to do this with Jake Elliott? I don't know if that, I mean, that's part of why being a kicker is a tough mental job, but with that, though, with the human element of it, the idea that, all right, if we're, if we're not going to be kicking as many field goals, having the guy that I just have faith in in crunch moment, in crunch time moments, I think that's, to me, like, I would lean that way as opposed to like the steady any, where it's like, oh, maybe like, you know, where the peaks and valleys are not as, uh, as widely dispersed as they are, but it's just,

So, you know, this is a guy that when the, when all chips are down and we're going all in, like, I can count on this guy. I think I'd rather have that personally at that position. Somebody has 36 Super Bowl points. I wonder where he ranks in terms of just points scored in the Super Bowl. It would be a fun thing if I can find it quickly on true media. I think he's, I want to say he's second or third all time in Super Bowl points scored. That's what I just said.

Yeah. I'm wondering. Yeah. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. It's either number two or number three. I remember looking that up when I did the research a couple weeks ago. Okay. Yeah, he's either number two or number three.

Let me point somewhere. That's, you know, he's come up big for this team in a lot of those moments, which. We'll take a quick break. I'll see if I can figure that out. We've got number 25. And then after that, we got to number 25. Very exciting. Stay with us on the P.

The H.O.Y. Eagles podcast. You know, there was a documentary made about the 2017 Cincinnati Bengals, and there's a moment in there, which is pretty poignant, where you're talking about what to do with the 53-man roster cuts, and GMs saying, you know, we spent a fifth round pick on this guy, Jake Elliott. I think we should probably give him a chance. And then their VP of player of personnel is a guy named Ray. And Ray pipes up, and he goes, no, no, no, I think we should keep Randy Bullock.

Forget about the young guy. Let's keep Randy Bullock. for what reason they listen to him, even though that guy was pretty shady. But that's not the shady ray that we're talking about here today. No, no, no, no. We're talking about Shady Ray's the best sunglasses company in the business because you can use code P-H-L-Y-S-R for 50% off, two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses at Shady Rays.

It's eyewear that's got your back. A great return policy. If you lose or break your shades at any point, they'll go to ShadyRays.com. Use code P-H-L-Y-S-R. Let's talk about staying in the game, which is what Rothman Orthopedics can help you do. If pain is slowing you down, whether it's knee, shoulder, back, whatever it is,

you don't have to just suck it up and deal with it because the team at Rothman Ortho will get you through to the other side. They've been recognized as the number one physician practice in the country by Castle Connolly for having the most top doctors in orthopedic care We are talking elite expertise that is trusted nationwide, and getting started is easy. Head to Rothmanortho.com slash pHLY and schedule your appointment today. Don't know what type of specialist to schedule with? Well, use their fast scheduler program to quickly connect with their VIP scheduling team

to get you set up with the appropriate specialist for your injury. At Rothman Orthopedics, your mobility is their mission. Book today at Rothmanortho.com slash PHLY and get back to you. doing what you love, aim free. Back in the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast. Putting the bow on a couple of Jake Elliott conversations here. He is third all-time.

Okay. And Super Bowl points scored. One point behind Harrison Butker, 12 points behind Jerry Rice. Okay. Two points ahead of Adam Minutary. There you go. Jalen Hertz number eight on that list

with 26 points scored. And then a point in the chat about some of the misses that he's had, big misses. there's an extra point miss and an overtime loss to the Cowboys in 2018, I believe. And then he missed an extra point in the playoff game against the Niners last year

that meant that they had to go for the touchdown at the end of the game, instead of being able to kick a game time field goal. I'm very bad at remembering, like, situational stuff like that. I'm especially bad at recent days. Okay, yeah, sure, right? I mean, 2017, I can probably remember pretty well.

That's all. I mean, we're 40, man. What are we going to do? Oh, I mean, we're completely washed. The, where I do, I do remember, it's like, I guess this shouldn't be a surprise, though, is the, like, schematic thing was like, oh, like this player made this kind of play against this kind of look against that team. But I can't remember. Oh, yeah, like this guy, I don't know, it was fourth and six and he made this great play situationally that had this great magnitude on the game. All right. Congratulations to Jake Elliott.

Awesome. Number 26 on the list. Let's get to number 25. Let's do it. And let's do it with the right people presented by our friends at TrueMark Financial. There are a few people who will be on this list on the strength of one Supernova season. Terrell Owens in 2004, finally delivering Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb, the number one wide receiver, they so desperately needed over delivering on expectations en route to a long-awaited Super Bowl appearance,

eventually leaving behind a crater in his meteoric wake. Sequin Barclay in 2024, also somehow exceeding all hype by delivering the greatest running back season in franchise and perhaps NFL history cementing in one year that he will always be remembered as an eagle, despite spending six seasons with the rival New York Giants. No one will argue with either's inclusion on this list, given their outsized short-term impact, and we should all think about Zach Bond's 2024 season the same way.

Of course, the difference with Bonn is that unlike Tio and Sequin, he arrived in Philadelphia as an afterthought, signed to a one-year, $1.6 million deal. It wasn't until Vic Fangio's very first press conference as defensive coordinator on May 9th, 2004, that anyone outside the Eagles building began to think of Bonn as anything other than a likely core special teams player fighting for a roster spot. I think they're off to a good start, Fangio said, when asked about the state of the linebacker position. we've got Bonn here from who's played a little bit of outside inside linebacker in new

Orleans he really didn't play a whole lot of defense there but he was inside some more outside we think he can play inside and i have not seen anything so far that says otherwise obviously we've got devon here from Tampa you guys are well aware had a great career going had a down year last year for whatever reason we hope to get him back to where he was Nkobie's on the men from his injuries last year. Who am I forgetting here? Trotter. Trotter's got to come in and join the fray and let's see what he has. And Burks too.

He's been a veteran backup. He's in the hunt too. We don't have anyone established as per se an eagle, but we've got guys to work with and we're happy with the group so far. That initial call out by Fangio is a big part of the reason that Bonn is rightfully considered the physical manifestation of Vic Fangio's defensive genius, which is arguably the biggest reason Philadelphia lived to see a second Super Bowl parade.

It didn't necessarily take the NFL's version of Gandalf to put Quinnion Mitchell on the outside or even Cooper DeGine in the slot. Jalen Carter and Milton Williams and Josh Sweed and Darius Slay, they were already there. but plucking Bonn from obscurity and turning him into the best player in the middle of the league's best defense using him as a shapeshifter between sideline to sideline cover man

and front-changing overhang pass rusher that took the magic of a grumpy old man who has seen some things. The results were eye-popping, including the playoffs, Vaughn became the first linebacker, in the NFL this century to total at least three sacks, at least three interceptions,

and at least five forced fumbles. He had six. Off the field, he smiled politely, spoke with thoughtfulness, embraced his bald eagle nickname. On the field, he played with thunder and gave a city starving for elite linebacker play something it hadn't had in about 20 years. Of course, to call Bond simply Fangio's monster robs him of his agency in turning his career around. He is the one who put in the time to make the transition to linebacker,

who made Fran Duffy blush by circling back to cover a backside dig, who picked off Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. How often can we say that a player was so good that he single-handedly changed the way the organization views its own philosophy. The Eagles' disinterest in spending capital on the linebacker position had become its own roster-building truism until Zach Bond came along. And Howie Roseman then rewarded him with a nearly $20 million per year deal. talk about a game changer.

And oh, by the way, Vaughn was pretty darn good in his second season two, earning Pro Bowl status with another three and a half sacks, a forced fumble, and two interceptions. Oh-huh.

What is so beautiful about Bond standing in Philadelphia is how rare it is to know that we are witnessing a player's brightest timeline. Most of the players who will join Bonn on this list probably would have been franchise icons almost anywhere.

Maybe nobody other than Jason Kelsey is a more perfect match of time and place and scheme than Zach Bonn. The standard bearer for the past two years of defensive excellence and now officially a 25th best eagle of the century. Give it up, give it up for Zach Bonn. Give it up. absolutely deserving of being on this list. I actually had him in 25 on mine.

You did. Yeah, it was 25 on mine. You moved me here. Yeah, to me, certainly the Pete, and this is, we're still early in his, in his tenure here.

That 2024 season, I mean, was as dominant as we've seen from a defensive player in this century for the Eagles. I mean, obviously, you know, the impact felt as a rusher,

as a run defender, coverage. Talk about like the office. field presence as well, a guy that has viewed as one of the leaders of that defense and is worn a couple different hats. You know, when he first gets here, he's learning how to play the position. Nicopi's kind of the green dot guy. The Nicopi gets hurt and he becomes the green dot guy and the signal caller of that defense and holds on to that mantle going into year two. I mean, he was phenomenal in that season. What's easy to forget is, obviously, he's making

the transition, but they win week one down in Brazil. And then they play Atlanta. Yes, yes. Week two. And week one, he looks good. It's like, oh, my God. He looked very good. There was something here.

I went back and I reread my post, my post after that game. And I was like, all right, like, he and Nicobie Dino was a good start. Yeah. It wasn't phenomenal, but it was a good start for both guys, good moments in both. I thought Nicobi was really solid reading the run. And Zach Baum was a little bit up and down in that area, but he had some splash plays. And then week two, he was on the ground like six, seven, eight times. He couldn't beat the cup block.

The Falcons got him on the ground. A number of times, offensive linemen getting up to the second level. And it was like, I don't know. I don't know if this. Maybe the Saints knew what they were doing. Yep.

I don't know if this projection is going to work. And then, I mean, by like, it was week four, the Cleveland game, or it was that week five, the shaved head game for Nick Siriani. By that game, from that point on,

he was lights out. And, you know, you mentioned the backside dig interception against the Packers and Jordan Love and the playoffs. The interception, the opening play against the Jacksonville Jaguars until the deep corner route.

Phenomenal, like ridiculous play, the diving interception against the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes that you mentioned. It's, I mean, it's phenomenal. There's a story of, in the lead up to that game, he had the similar play in practice and made the same read, but dropped the ball and, like, guaranteed that if he got it again,

he was going to make, and that catch is insane in the Super Bowl. Ridiculous play. Ridiculous play. Fantastic. But then even, too, like there was the, do you remember the fourth downstop against Wobiles? Washington. Yeah.

Where like, you know, he, he was pivotal in that play. There were a bunch of, a bunch of plays. I just kind of went back through my timeline on social media. And I'm like, all the times I mentioned Bond during night, like that season. And there were just a number of plays inside those games. It was like, oh, like, it wasn't like the game winning interception. But it was, he was a big part of this fourth down stop or this critical play on third down or this play in the fourth quarter. Yeah.

I mean, he had a huge, huge impact on that defense, which is. the best defense in the NFL and a big reason why they won the Super Bowl that year. Yes, let's close the book on the Red People presented by True Mark Financial Credit Union. And I do feel very good and very strong about if we are going to pick one guy to represent these last two years of awesome Eagles defense, it should be bond over Cooper DeGine and Quinead Mitchell for a few reasons that I touched on in the write-up. But one is that I do think the story of the 2024 season, that defense, that was Bond's defense. And certainly it changed when Cooper DeGine comes in.

But like what made them able to flip back and forth between fronts was so much about Bond. And as I said, like the fact that this was really kind of like Vic plucked him. And the story was like what Vic turned this defense into. And he was kind of Vic's creation. I think that's part of it. I think last year's defense, I would probably say was more Cooper. and a little bit of Quinyon's defense. Yeah.

But last year's defense was not as good as 2024's defense. That's the year that won the Super Bowl. Yep. I feel good about Bonn being the guy who gets to carry this mantle. Yeah, you and I were on the same page on that. When we had that conversation in Monday's show, you know, Cuzz felt very strongly that like,

like Dijin and Quignan, like they've got to be on the top 25 list. And listen, if we do this again in two years, yeah, right, exactly. I think there's a good chance both of those guys will be on this list. Yes, because by that point, they've got, they've racked up, you know,

three all pros or something along those lines. But looking at the resumes right now and you look at the impact from that Super Bowl team, to me, I think you have to have Bonn on that list ahead of those guys. That year was so good. I mean, just you want to throw the accolades in their first team all pro as the thing I said with BLG yesterday.

He, Sequin, T, O, and Leonard Weaver, the only four guys to make first team all pro in their first year with the team. And I also just the degree to which this city had not seen, and was starved for like elite linebacker play. You know, Brandon mentioned Jordan Hicks's 2016 yesterday. It was a very good player.

And I agree with that. Nigel Bradham was very good in 2017. But like the idea that, oh, well, we'll never have a Fred Warner type. And, you know, like a guy who can do it all. And those are so difficult to find. And all of a sudden, this guy just comes out of nowhere. And he's the best linebacker in football. Crazy.

It's insane. And also, like, to be the representative off the field that he is, so to have both ends of it, he's, to me, well deserved to be on this list. All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back with more on Zach Bonn. And I'll tell you why I like this pairing of the two of Zach Bonn and Jake Elliott together

relative to the rest of the list. Stay with us. Let's be honest, it's pest season. Ants, spiders, bees, roaches, roaches, mice, whatever it is, if you're dealing with it in your home, Evans Pest Control is the place to go. And if you are a returning customer, you can use the code, return five when you schedule,

to get 5% off your next service. When treatments lapse, pest activity tends to ramp up, especially with ants, spiders, rodents, bees, and other common household pests that are looking for a place to settle in this spring and summer. Regular service helps prevent infestations before they start and keeps your home protected year round. So if it's been a while, now is the perfect time to reconnect with our friends at Evans Pest Control. Use the code return 5 when

booking your next general pest treatment and get 5% off as part of this limited time welcome back offer. Learn more at www. Evanspestmgmgmt.com. Starting something new, oh, so exciting. But if we're being honest, a little bit intimidating. You know, you got a lot to deal with, a lot of unknown that you're dealing with, a lot of mystery. And the reality is that every successful business starts with just taking that first leap. But it helps to have the right tools behind you. That's where Shopify comes in.

Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the United States. Whether you're just getting started or looking to grow, Shopify makes it easy to build a professional online store with hundreds of customizable templates that fit your brand. Plus, you've got built in tools to help you out. All you got to do to get started and sign up for your $1 per month trial is go to Shopify.com slash all city. That's Shopify.com slash all city. Back in the P.HO.A. Eagles podcast, Bo and Fran celebrating number 25 on. the list, Zach Bonn.

What are your, you mentioned those plays. Yeah. What are your other favorite sort of Zach Bon moments, favorite plays? Number one is. Is it the backside dig? It is the backside day. Yeah. But honestly, the first one I do think of is the Jacksonville play.

It was the first play of the game. Yeah. You know, against Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars. You know, it's Doug Peterson's return. Yes. Yeah. So there was like a, there was a lot there with that one. Well, I want to know for you.

loving the linebacker position. Yes. As you do. Having been in that wasteland of watching the Eagles defense with a lot of middling linebacker play and what, there must have been like sort of

an evolution that year of like, okay, this looks pretty good. Okay, is this real to being like, oh man, like they got the guy. Yeah, it was going back through the timeline was a little bit of a refresher for me there. I wouldn't say like week five, which again was that Cleveland.

that's where like the narrative for me like started to turn a little bit where it's like okay like yeah these guys are looking good they're they're playing well together we're seeing a lot of good things here uh and then it was by it was like i want to say it was like we're on week 10 and 11 where the recap started to paint a picture of like no these guys are playing lights out right now and a big reason why uh they are one of the best defenses in football and to your point a lot of the stuff that i kept pulling and it's the you know things you mentioned where it's like Zach Bond's flexibility within the scheme to allow Vic Fangio to, you know, change the front right before, change the picture right before the snap.

Oh, he's stacked. Now he comes down and he's on the line of scrimmage. His abilities as a rusher. He's involved with like these three man blitzes and these three men stunts, rather, inside the two defensive tackles. All the things that were his skill set could kind of get unlocked within this Vic Fangio scheme. Again, like one of the big secrets to their success back then. And still. You know, I said the thing about how it,

it's a testament to him that he changed the way the Eagles organization like viewed the position. And that's true. It also changed the way like that I understood the position. And it's part of like why his emergence that year was so magical because my understand like a middle linebacker in order to be able to separate everything that you have to see like it requires time on task. Yep.

It requires like building up the encyclopedia of all the different reps and all the different looks that you can see. And for a guy in the middle of his career to come from not even having played the position basically at all, just being dropped into it and seeing everything and being able to react to everything the way that he does, like that's crazy to me. It still is. It's unbelievable. I was thinking about this actually this draft cycle because there's,

And they're going, there always is. There are always those players that are the, the undersized edge rusher. It's like, oh, we're going to project this guy to move forward into the middle linebacker. I think it will be incumbent upon the Eagle scouting staff, but, you know, Harry Roseman and that staff to not constantly be chasing that dragon.

You can't just. He is, he will never find another Zach Bond. Yeah. Yeah, it's the same thing now that, you know, teams when they were trying to hunt up the next Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, and when they were trying to find the, you know, the next Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, you fall in love with this guy.

It was like, oh, man, like, if we could find, like, the guy that's got all the tools, but he's just never played the position. We can teach him. We'll get him there. More often than not, that doesn't work. Yeah, and so it will be, it will be tricky to try and replace him once that time comes down the road.

So the thing that I like about linking these two together. Okay. At 26 and 25 in the same show is that you, if you were to look at, at the list of all the 26 players who were going to be on this list. These are the two least heralded additions. At the time, they joined the team, the hidden gems from the thumbnail, right? Almost everybody else was either a homegrown player drafted in the first three rounds

or a big money for agent signing or a big ticket trade, right? There's a sixth round pick rookie and a fifth round pick rookie. You could figure out who those guys are. That's it. those two, these two, the other 22 are all, and it's an interesting lesson in roster building. That is generally speaking where you get the best players. The icons come from first two rounds,

first three rounds, and big money veteran additions. These are the guys who bubbled up from, you know, transaction roiling to really make an impact. Yeah, I think that's a really good point. and I did think about that when you told me yesterday that these were going to be the two players that made it at 26 and 25. I was like, all right, like these are two guys that kind of flew under the radar with how they were bought in here to Philadelphia.

And it's funny because I did the same kind of, I told you I searched for Zach Bond this way, and I searched for Elliott the same way, just go through like, all right, what are some of the things that I've said about Jake Elliott over the years? And, you know, the Eagles have acquired a handful of players that, you know, David Akers was off the scrap. Sure.

David Acres not making this this list of the top 26 of all time or of the century rather but when you're looking at how these guys get into the city how they get into the organization more often than that they pay for what they're hoping to get

right that's why and it's why Hunter Roseman will tell you in making the AJ Brown trade and like getting a first round pick was important for us we'll take whatever year it is because that's where that's where the impact comes from

fair good point How do you feel about Zach Bond moving forward coming off of last season? What are your expectations for him entering year three? I'm anticipating more the same from him. I don't think that we can expect any kind of drop off here. I think he's going to be one of the leaders of this defense. I think that his versatile skill set will still very much be put on display with this team. It's the same position coach.

You get Jihad Campbell right next to him. I'll be interested to see what Campbell looks like playing next to Zach Bonn. We've already gotten some of the stories. We talked about that. Was that last week on the show with, Zach Bond like showing Jahad like how to take notes and like the right way to kind of get him

caught up to speed that way. You know, I think that as he and look, he's in year three now with the team. That leadership role, he's much more comfortable in that spot right now than he was certainly when he first got here and even last year because he had that short off season where it's like, all right,

like maybe things were a little bit. Now like he's kind of, you know, incorporated now. He's like, yeah, he's one of the leaders on that side of the ball, if not the entire Austin. Well said, yeah. I think he's expecting another Pro Bowl season and yeah.

It'd be awesome. I would agree. Okay. All right, how's everybody feeling? We're two in. I'm trying to look at the chat to see like if there's any pushback,

but I'm not seeing much pushback here. Now, they don't know the whole list of everybody didn't make it yet. Of course not. You did share a couple of them. So no Quignan. He's going to be a surprise to them

when Donovan McNabb is not in the list. No Quignan, no Cooper de Jean. No John Dorobos. That's the... No David Acres. Those are the four that we've talked about. Not making it so far.

Or Joyc Bell or... Yeah, no Joyc Bell. Lewis Seen. Jerome Coupline, I think, was the name I enjoyed most. That was a good one. Yeah, it was a good one. Jerome Cupplin's, I believe his nickname

was the Osprey. I think, yeah, I think you're right. He was like one of the freakiest of freaks. He had a super long wingspan. Super long wingspan. Super long wingspan. Yeah, he was a physical specimen. Yeah.

Honestly, like, more freakyestpan. physically give, like, you know, Lewis Seen was the first round pick. Couplin was like a, like, he was a monster. All right. Well, I got a text. I got a text from our producer. Okay. Let's see what Lindsay has to say.

Oh. Oh, yes. I understand. Thank you very much. Now, a little preview for tomorrow show. Yeah. Tomorrow show we're going to discuss the Brandon Sorsby of it all. Ah.

Will the Eagles consider using a supplementary pick on the quarterback, the gambling problem. Cuzz has been all over it. It says the Eagles have some interest. So we're going to break down the player tomorrow and talk through the why is, the why nots. I don't want to do a show before the show. I'm also like interested to talk to you about like the, because I went on with Cuzz last week And we had a very long discussion about the entire, the entire, like, talk about the gambling

and the sports and the hypocrisy and all that stuff. I feel a certain way about it, but I don't, I don't want to get into it. We don't want to the show before the show. Yeah. I have a lot of text conversations over the last couple days about it, because honestly, like, late last week was when things kind of flipped, where it was like, oh, like, he's going to, he's going back college football. I do think it is better that he is doing this.

No question. For everybody. For everybody. That is not playing college football. No question. And we'll get into the specifics of it tomorrow. But when I was away, it was when it was like, all right, that's when like a big 12 was going to sue. And there's all this stuff going on.

And it's like, all right. Finally when we got the news, he's going to enter a supplemental drafts. Now it's conversations with people like, all right, what are we thinking? Every team is going to be interested to a certain extent. it's really how interested are you? Well, and I'm also curious what you think of the prospect. We're going to, we'll get into that. I'll give the quick little one-liner.

Sure. Brendan Sorsby, day one talent, physical tools, day one physical tools, day two tape right now. Day three, we'll say like intangible risk assessment. Okay. So like, obviously there's a lot more. that but if I'm over sum it up that's how so now you got to like factor all that in together and depending on how you weigh that that might spit out what you would be willing to give up for them that's interesting yeah okay okay okay well to be fun it'll be fun good discussion

you got a USA game tomorrow too you say it's a four o'clock right uh I think it's a three o'clock game oh really mm all right so not too long into overtime for us nor will we be going too long into overtime today um yeah that'll be that'll be that'll be that'll be fun to watch. We missed the first one since we were away. So Francis is excited for this one. Did you guys watch? We did.

Yeah. Yeah. Allowed them to stay up. Yep. Good one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the Sorsby discussion is like, that's like everybody's,

because it's a dead time right now. That's all anyone's talking about, like, league wide. That's the, that's the text scuttle butt over the last few days. All right. That'll do it for the first. episode of the Eagles 26. Thank you to Lindsay for pulling together. Yes.

All of the good stuff on the back end. Congratulations. And if you see them on the street, pull them aside. Let them know. Tell them, congratulations. They made it. By the way, that reminds me. Shout out to the listener whose wife stopped me, stopped in her car to say that her husband

loves the show yesterday as I was walking home with my son. Hmm. Fantastic. Made me look cool to him. It's outstanding. Shout out to listener Bill. Wearing some PHLY merch in Banff. Oh.

Got a bunch of Go Birds out in Banff. Nice. That's fun. Love that. All right. Congratulations to Zach Bonn and Jake Elliott, number 25 and 26 on the list of the Eagles 26. For Fran Duffy, I'm Bo Wolf. We will talk to you tomorrow.

And as always, we love you.