PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Eagles mailbag: Could Howie Roseman acquire T.J. Watt from Pittsburgh Steelers?

Episode Date: July 2, 2025

You asked, we’ll answer. Zach Berman and Fran Duffy go through all your questions, ranging from whether T.J. Watt is an option for the Eagles to Fran’s draft rankings to Nakobe Dean’s long-term future — and some non-football questions mixed in. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

afternoon and welcome to a Wednesday edition of the PHLY Eagle Show. I'm Zach Berman. That's Fran Duffy. Fran, I would say, how are you? But you've been grinding film on Alabama offensive line all morning. So is this a welcome reprieve from that? Or is this or do you wish you're back on Caden Proctor film? I mean, do you want the real answer to that? Or do you want me to tell you? I can handle it. Here, I will. I will. say the left tackle, Caden Proctor, he is like a Jeff Stoughtlin. By the way, I think I mentioned this on Monday, but excellent episode last week, highlighting Jeff Stoughtlin, loved, loved, loved that episode. But this would be like Jeff Stoutland's like favorite player, like get this guy

into the building. My guess is the Eagles won't have a shot at that guy, but six, seven, 360 pounds, just pure power. I just posted a video of him up on social media, a lot of fun to watch. So, all right, that's a fun way to spend a Wednesday morning. And I say Wednesday because we're midweek. And Bo Wolf's not here. I should also say we're brought to you by True Mark Financial Credit Union. We appreciate the support from True Mark Financial Credit Union. We wish Bo were here with us.

But because he's not, we're able to do something that Bo would not approve of. And that is a midweek mailbag. Okay. I love it because this is taking suggestions at the pizza shop, right? This is what's on your mind? This isn't us figuring out the conceit of the show. This is us saying, what do you want us to discuss? And so we'll get right into it here because there's a topic that was discussed this morning on the Anthony Gargano show with Jamie and VG.

And it's a topic that's been discussed elsewhere in Philadelphia. And that is the potential that TJY could be available. So the first question that we have here is from, here you go. It's from Mick Brew. Would you trade a late round pick and Nolan Smith for T.J. Yott? We talked about this on Monday when we were talking about the Steelers trade for Jalen Ramsey. And, you know, Schaefter had bought up that, you know, teams are thinking that T.J. Watt could be available.

I will say before we get into like this, the exact trade, it doesn't make any sense why the Steelers would try and make this kind of deal. Like you're pushing your chips in with Aaron Rogers and with DK Metcalf. Like, you're not going to trade. You're probably your best defensive player, right? that said the other side of it. I also, I mean, you would know better than me, but I don't think that the Eagles are in position to make a trade like that anyway,

because he wants a new deal. And the Eagles aren't in the business right now of giving out big money contracts because you know that you've got to pay some of these other guys coming down the pike. So that being said, if we're going to get into like the Madden and Fantasy football end of it, would I do it? Maybe. I mean, I think that at the end of it, if it's just, if it's Nolan Smith and a late round pick, all right.

And that means that it's essentially like the late round pick is negligible. That's probably a throwaway selection. If it's later than a fourth rounder. That gets you from 32 to 31, right? Yeah, right. I mean, I don't think of that. We're not splitting hairs there. Or, you know, we're not going crazy.

So for me, it's Nolan Smith in year three versus T.J. Watt. I think you would say, all right, capitalize on the window and take T.J. Watt, knowing that you still have at least a couple more years of a high level of play from him. Yeah, I look at it. First off, there's clearly smoke to this T. trade rumors. And it doesn't make sense either. You don't acquire Aaron Rogers, Jalen Ramsey, Darius,

Slaig, D.K. Metcalfe, and then trade your best player, right? That would not add up, but they haven't met. I imagine what he wants to get paid. And I don't know if the Eagles would meet what he wants to get paid, right? And I understand the Eagles are star hunters, and we talk about Miles Garrett this all season. I think they have a lot of money reserved for Jion Carter. And I think that bringing T.J. Watt in, it would have to be like a really long-term deal with J.L.

Carter that pushes money down the pike. And yeah, I, but the answer to the question, I'm not deal Nolan Smith right now. I view Nolan Smith as one of the front-line players for the Eagles. He's their top edge rusher. That's an important position. He's entering year three. We discussed it the other day. I mean, he really emerged late last season and into the playoffs.

So, yeah, I mean, if you're talking about J.OX Hunt and a pick, and J.Ox Hunt's a high upside player, then that's a conversation I would have more. I am not looking to trade Nolan Smith right now. I think if you were to write down the best 20 players on the Eagles, Nolan Smith's on that list. If you were to write the best 15 players on the Eagles, I think Nolan Smith would push to be on that list as well. Yeah, and I think, too, the other aspect of Nolan Smith is what they're planning on him being in terms of off the field. like in the locker room, that tempo setter, the guy that's going to really kind of set the tone for that defense. We saw that on the field last year down the stretch, especially in the playoffs with, you know,

what he did in the Super Bowl, what he did against Green Bay, you know, taking those guys, those offensive linemen out of the game the way that he did. I mean, that's the mentality that he brings. And that's the culture that they're trying to continue to set on that side of the ball. So we can jump over the next one, which was from Phillyenka, in media, which says, is it nuts to consider Nolan Smith for T.J. Y. And let's get to the third one here, which is from Go Bird 62.

What do you project to be the Eagles' biggest off-season mistake? And how do you think it can be rectified? I love that. This is a great mailback question. Yeah. The biggest mistake this off-season, I mean, I guess that here's one. Could it be extending Sequin Barclay the way that they did? Oh, go on.

I mean, look, we talked last week, or sorry, we talked last episode on Monday, the one that you and I did together on Monday about overunders. And we talked about the potential downside for Sequin Barclay here in 2025, coming off of the workload that he had. It's fine. I was listening to our friend Josh Norris and Hayden Winks over with the Underdog Football Show, and they were talking with, or talking about Sequin Barkley, and they were talking about just the history of players coming off of that high volume of touches.

And typically the barometer there is 200 touches. Sequan Barclay had over 400 touches last year. So we are like way past that threshold that we typically look at. That is not to say that Seyquan Barclay is definitely going to take a huge step back. That is not to say that he is definitely going to get hurt the first time he steps on the field. But you have to keep that in mind. And we know like as you when you get into like that, age at running back, it can be a little bit scary.

And so that could be the one move where you look at and say, like, man, like, you know, was that a necessary move? It might have been from an off-field dynamics thing, from a locker room dynamics standpoint to reward a guy that basically carried you to the Super Bowl. But that could be one that you look back on. Yeah. And I don't know how you can rectify that one either, right? Yeah, right.

He's party in the bank. You have to eat. Yep. So I would go with trading C.J. Garner Johnson. And I know this was a polarizing move this offseason. And I identify that because, A, I don't think they have an adequate solution in place. And B, for whatever issues there might be with C.J. Garner Johnson, whether it's personality related, whether it's contract related. To me, he's a difference-making player on the back end who he takes the ball away.

Like, we've seen that two of the past three years. We've seen what the defense looked like without him. And I also think that I've talked about the competitive zeal that he brings. Now, the Eagles have other players who can provide that competitive zeal to use the term that I probably overuse. But the Eagles let go of a good player. And I don't know if Andrew McCuba, or Drew McCuba, I should say, and Sidney Brown gives you what you need at safety going into the season. Maybe they develop that way. But, you know, Reeb Blanketship's a solid player for you.

I just feel that you got worse at that spot. And I don't feel totally strong about what they've done in safety. Yeah, that was certainly one that I considered. You know, and I think when you look at that, that was, because what are the big departures? You realistically were not going to be able to bring Milton Williams back. It was unlikely that the Josh Sweat era was going to continue. So when you're looking at the other departures,

the C.J. Gardner-Johnson one is the one. that stands out in that way. Yeah. Let's go to the next one on the list here, which is from, this is a multi-part question for Fran, from Gary Walensky. Fran, given the detail on your player analysis rankings leading up to the draft, do NFL teams ever contact you to get your views on a particular player? And then Fran, well, this is up to you.

It's will you share with us why you left the birds, life balance, et cetera. So the second, I probably should check with you before including that second part. But the first one here I am curious about, yeah. Yeah, so the first one, you know, yeah, I talk with people all around the league. You know, coaches. It's just like, because you know, you've been around. You've been around. Yeah.

You're the same way. You talk with people all around the NFL. I don't have coaches returning my calls the way they do yours. Well, you've been in the business long enough where you go to enough of these events. You meet people. And so yeah, I talk with people around the league. Now, do they call me on like an official capacity and say like, like, is, you know, is Ryan Poles or like insert GM here calling me and saying like,

hey, like, we're almost done setting our board. How do you have the tackle two and tackle three stacked? Like, it's not necessarily that. There are players, there are people rather that I speak with throughout the year where it's like, hey, like I, we're texting regularly. There are somewhere, hey, maybe we talk two or three times a year. Maybe it's one conversation in the middle of March. or in early April, and we talk for 90 minutes, two hours.

So it's just, it's a little bit different, but I've been trying to keep in touch with people all around the NFL just to share my thoughts and get their thoughts as well. Yeah, I can say that, look, I've been an admirer of Fran's work for a long time, but I've only started working with Fran during the past year and a half. And the thing that has, or the past year, I should say, and the thing that's amazed me about Fran, in addition to his, like, a suit analysis is how well plugged in, well, source he is around the league, right? And so I can tell the audience, if I can flex for Fran here, you're getting top in class draft analysis. And it's not just his opinion. It's also like he's

bouncing it off people. So are we bypassing the second part of the question? No, we can look at the end of the day, like obviously, I mean, look, I was there for, what was it? It was almost 14 years. You know, it was a place that was great to have met great people, lifelong friends, obviously built my career there. You know, took it took, took where I was leaving Temple and, you know, I was nowhere close to where I am now. So obviously it was, it was very, very productive from that standpoint. But, you know, look, there a lot of things, a lot of things changed, right?

It was a great opportunity to be able to join with you with you and with Bo and be able to work with you guys every single day and be able to flex different muscles from a, from around the league coverage and early kind of take on the NFL draft from, from this angle. So from that opportunity, just could have. not pass that up. I appreciate that, but you work with more than just just bow me. You're the all-city draft experts. And you're in, you're in all the markets. It says here from Stunk, Zach Berman, GM should just become die-hards for all that hot draft evaluation intel. I agree, frankly. I think GM should be reading our material, mostly because of your work. And if they

don't, they can subscribe today for a promotion that we have now. So make sure you check that out. through this weekend. Let's get to the next one on the list here. If there was a big move that has yet to happen, what would it be and what position would it be to fill? This is from GoBirds 94. I think it would be, I guess it would be what is big move entail? I don't think, as I mentioned, I don't think that they're in position to make a T.J. Watt level of acquisition. That said, to me, if they were to add, I think it would be that position, right? I think if you're looking, looking at it is there are you still have question marks with ojolari and with josh husha jaylux hunt you're projecting him forward what is that role going to look like for him in his second year it might be still

a little bit green there that would be a role or if there was a you know serviceable like this guy could be an every down starter you don't like what you saw from some of those veteran signings from free agency but there's a guy that might shake loose on the pro market maybe you try and get ahead of it and trade for that guy in the summer in training camp that would be the position i would look at Yeah, I definitely think edge rusher is the spot where I would watch. And it's, it's, we'll see how Ojalari looks. We'll see how Josh Uchay looks. But yeah, I am definitely paying attention to edge rusher there.

Let's, let's knock out the next one here, which is mailbag. This is from the real Jimmy G, dirt of the earth. Mailbag question. What was the deal with the penalties on the Eagles field goal team in the Super Bowl? I don't remember much of an explanation from the announcing crew. did this have something to do with why they cut the long snapper, Demi Lovato? Jimmy G, they dominated the Super Bowl, man. That should have been one of the best nights of Eagles fans' lives.

I wouldn't worry about the penalties on the field goal team, but I'll pass the mic over to you, Fran. I'm going to be honest, I didn't have much recollection of this. I don't look back into it. I don't think there was the reason why they moved on from Rick Lovato. But I think that, yeah, it was like some kind of, in terms of like the process, in terms of like movement from the snapper before the snap is my understanding of it. But I could be wrong there.

I had to dig deep into that one. And your thoughts on the long snapper change. Yeah, I mean, I don't feel like, I don't think it moves the needle for me. It was surprising. I think what's the name of our game where we project who's going to who's leaving? I think flu world order. Yeah, flu world order. Yeah, like I had Rick Lovato pretty high up on my list in terms of staying.

So it did surprise me that they would change that operation. But as we've seen, that's kind of going back to the T.J. Watt of it all. And like the big names, it's why like Jalen Ramsey never really made sense either, is that the Eagles have found lots of ways this offseason to you're trying to save money where you can. I don't know that Rick Lovato was purely like money saving kind of the thing. But I do think that that probably played a little bit of a factor there in that move. Yeah. You know, the Eagles are looking for any edge they can find.

And that's probably long snapper as well. So I, look, I don't want to be disingenuous with the audience. I don't know how to evaluate long snappers. I can see it. Snap is good or bad, but clearly the Eagles do. And clearly they felt there needed to be a change there. Right back on the NFL draft circuit for this next one from Dragon Bender or is it Gron Bender.

Any thoughts on an abolish the draft scenario for the NFL? Each team gets seven tradable signing slots. no set salaries so the biggest markets can just sign the best players every year i.e. Browns can offer ARCs can offer 12 million a year, not $12 a year, gives both kids and teams more control in the process. So I should preface this by saying even this scenario would not, in fact, it would not affect the draft analyst role because you're still evaluating the project. it would affect mock drafts that you do, right? So maybe we'll free you up for a mock draft responsibility. But what is your perspective on the abolish the draft scenario?

Yeah, this is not the first time this has come up in the offseason. I know it was brought up on our Discord, become a diehard so you can get access over on our Discord page and join in our community there. And I'm going to be honest, like, I hate it. No offense, obviously, to Dragon Bender. But to me, like one of the best things about the NFL and one of the things that makes the NFL King is that is the parody and the ability for everyone to be on that, that equal playing field. And the draft has a lot to do with that, free agency, salary cap, all of that has a lot to do

with it. And so to me, like, there's no reason to change what the NFL drafts will become. It's the biggest event in, of all offseason, all off season, like bigger than the NBA finals is like the NFL draft, you know, bigger than baseball playoffs, NFL draft. So I think when you're looking at, you know, changing that to me, like there's, there'd be no reason to do it. Yeah, there's a lot of thoughts on this, right? I understand what you're saying. Now, just imagine, like, intellectually here, if the best student from, let's from University of Penn Medical School, right?

And if they have to go to the worst performing hospital next year, like, and, you know, on a fixed salary, right? I mean, there's something we said about that. I like freedom of movement for the players. I think that the draft makes sense for competitive purposes for the league. I have wondered, what if there was just the flat sour gap, right? And all these players became free agents, similar to like international soccer. So if a team did want to pay Archmanning, they could pay Archmanning like the top quarterback in the league if they wanted to. If they want to, if, if the saints say, we want Arch Manning to be our, our, our quarterback, he's a free agent, right?

He enters, he exhausts, or he enters the NFL. He's a free agent. And, but a team can't just like, you know, spend everything on on him. He's just viewed the same way as any other free agent is. So I, I have thought about what that would look like. But, you know, there would probably be salary. surprise there's their sour complications uh is it's certainly for the competitive purposes of the league um i'm not big on the abolish the draft scenario i am big on and on the draft lottery and i i would

like to see uh some way to uh not just have the worst team get the number one pick in the draft yeah to me like you know i i want by the time we get to week you know week 18 that's where we start having those difficult conversations it's so rare that we get to like week 16, which, you know, we're basically on the doorstep of the playoffs. And we're talking about a team potentially tanking. There's been, obviously, there's more, there's more examples of it going the other way where teams like ruin their draft spot because of late wins or, you know, late in the season, see the Giants last year, each of the last two years, honestly, four examples of

that. So, yeah, like, to me, like, I would not, I would not tinker with this process. I think leave it as is. Make sure you stick around after this break to find out what Nekobi Dean's long-term future will be with the Eagles. Let me tell everyone about Bet365. Look, you're watching the show now. I appreciate it.

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Okay. That's me walking into my house, sweating like a pig, because it is feeling like a sauna in there. Yeah, I mean, you know how it is. This time of year, this Philly heat, it's no joke. So, what do I do? Like, do I go jump in a lake? It's not going to happen. So I just got a bunch of ice.

Like, held it, rubbed it on my face, stuffed it down my shirt, stuffed it down my pants, only way I could think to cool down. I mean, stop being the stereotypical dad, though. Like, turn on the AC. It's time to fire that thing up. I don't want to be,

I want to waste money, be energy efficient. Well, look, instead of icing yourself out or jumping into a lake, you could just check out Pico's energy saving rebates. They've got deals on Energy Star cooling equipment that actually work and cut down on your bills.

So no more ice down my pants? No, you could skip the ice, save the ice, and you throw in my drinks when I come over. The same ice? No, we'll change the ice up. Okay, fine. That's what's up. All right, well, just head over to pico.com slash ways to save.

They've got tips for everything. Heating, cooling, lighting, you name it. Fran, I need to ask you. What was it like filming that, that advertisement? It was a lot of fun. It took a little bit longer than you would have expected. We did a couple takes. It was fun.

Honestly, it brought a smile on my face when I saw that that was on the docket here for this episode. Yeah, I think it's been fun for the viewers for us. Did you see Bo come down from Maine to talk about Pico? I shouldn't say where he is. My bad. A live show for Bo to come from wherever he is. is around the world and talk about Pico and then head back to be with his family. Let's get to one super chat here. Oh, my man, Rich Bobby, Rich. Rich, I so appreciate you, man. Yoman work filling in for

the best host in the city this week. Zach, thank you. I can agree with one part of that, and that's that Bo is the best host in the city. And I think that sometimes you don't know what you got till it's gone when Bo's not on the show. I think you realize, just how fun of a host he is because the hijinks don't ensue as much when I'm in the seat. And that's why we're going to get right on to the next question on this list, which is what's the scenario, this is from S.J.gov at Blue Sky. What's the scenario for Nkobi D to have a long-term future with the Eagles apart from fully recovering for the injury, from the injury?

Yeah, I mean, I think the big one would be. be if Jihad Campbell moves to outside linebacker, he becomes a rusher. And then that obviously creates a hole there in the middle of the defense next to Zach Bonn. I think that that's probably the most plausible thing. I think otherwise you are bringing Nikob Dean back on some kind of a backup deal. Is he willing to do that? Does he want to do that? Would he rather try and go somewhere else and play as a starter?

My guess is yes. So yeah, it definitely, when you select Jihad Campbell in the first round and trade up for him and try numerous times to trade up for him. Yeah, you are basically saying, we want to make this guy a centerpiece of our defense. If he is going to remain as a middle linebacker after you paid Zach Bond, musical chairs, you know, Nikobie Dean is kind of left on the outside looking in. Yeah, it's tough because Nikobie's, you know, a heartbeat of the team type player, important in that defensive room. I honestly, I think the plausible scenario would be if Shahad Campbell's an edge rusher, right? If Jahat

Tomahs comes in this year and they're like this guy's Michael Parsons and he he should be instead of rushing the quarterback part-time rushing the quarterback full-time and then you are looking at how do you maximize the off-ball linebacker spot if jihad Campbell's an off-ball linebacker I don't see what Nicobie Dean's future is in in philly because there's an exact bond's going to be here for at least the next two years right and so in that scenario um you know Does Nikobo Dean resign to be at your third linebacker to be your backup? I don't think that's good for Nikobe's career. So, yeah, I really think the path for Nikobe will be Jihad Campbell becoming an edge rusher.

Staying on the on the blue sky questions, we appreciate it. This is from Andy in Paxton. Recently I wrote to a friend to me, Zach Berman and friend Duffy are two local sports. I'm sorry, two local sports reporters who combine hard work, high character and caring about people. You clearly do your homework for player interviews. Question what Eagle that you never got to interview do you wish you could have. Love this. First off, I appreciate that sentiment quite a bit, Andy. Thank you. I'm very interested to hear your thoughts on this one. I'm sure you've put a lot of thought into it. Yeah, for me, I would say Terrell Owens. Terrell Owens or Reggie White. But probably

T.O. Just because T.O. seemed like such a magnetic personality, such a fascinating, player to cover such a time of the year to cover it. I'm sorry, such like a fascinating time to cover him, right? Like that's, you know, I always say as a reporter, I want to be where the big story is. And the big story during Tio's time here was when he was there. So Tio was the player who came to mind when this came up. Yeah, Tio's a good one. You know, the one that that first popped into my head, obviously we're going back of ways here.

but to hear from a player that played in this era that I'm talking about, and especially the role that he played, Chuck Bednarik would be very fun. You know, and obviously it passed a few years back. But I think when you're looking at Chuck Begnaric playing both ways, I mean, we've all seen, if you're an Eagles fan, like I'm sure you've seen the NFL films clips, the interviews. I mean, the passion that not the only that he played with, well after he retired, the passion that he spoke about with the game

and reliving those memories. I mean, some of those clips are, like, etched it in my memory of his playing days here in Philadelphia. I think that would be a really, really fun one. Who's been your favorite player to interview? Favorite player, too? Cool. That's a good question. I mean, honestly, I've had some really great conversations with players in the past.

Brandon Brooks comes to mind. I know that's your favorite episode of the show that you guys have ever done. but Brandon Brooks comes to mind. I actually, I really, really enjoyed, I did a segment with James Bradbury during the Super Bowl run in 2022, and I found James to be awesome. I know you guys have talked about how much you enjoyed talking with James,

but there, I mean, there have been so many, so many guys where I'm like, yeah, like this was just a really fun, like, well, anytime I've talked with Lane, you know, on camera or on the microphone, it's been great. So Chris Long, Chris Long was outstanding, obviously. We know why he's had so much success in his post-NFL playing career. I think when you're looking at a lot of those guys, the Eagles have been lucky.

They brought a lot of players in that kind of fit that ill. Yeah, well, I enjoy anyone who, or I appreciate anyone who gives me their time. But as I've stated before, maybe too diplomatically, but Malcolm Jenkins, there's no one I respect more. And I thought Malcolm made me a better reporter because I had to step up my game. And then I so appreciate Brandon Graham as well. Brandon Graham was someone who was available, was honest. And I appreciate optimism too. Like, you know, he has, he had good days.

And I like being around people like that. I tried finding there was an interview. It was a podcast that me, Bo and CMAC, Chris McPherson did with Malcolm Jenkins. I mean, I want to say it was like 2015, maybe 2014. And it was, obviously we talked a little about football, but we talked about Malcolm and his affinity for like the zombie apocalypse and like, you know, it's like,

you know, zombie preparedness. And it was, that was one of my favorite podcast discussions we ever had with a player when I was with the Eagles. Couldn't find it. It's not like nowhere to be found on YouTube right now, which is unfortunate. Yeah.

I'll reserve comment about that. Um, so, uh, I, I, and by the way, I need to say Eagles Entertainment does an outstanding job because I have a book coming out in September

and I can't tell you how many like scenes in that book are from behind the scenes footage that Eagles Entertainment is provided and you know on field clips. So I am simply saying that as Fran's friend like you know, the more work I can find from Fran the better. But Eagles Entertainment does an outstanding job. So we're kind of veering into some of the non-football. And we have some football ones mixed in, including one that Bow might have submitted from AI, not Alan Iverson. But here's a non-football one.

This is fun. ZB. and France. Best international city overall and best food city and place. This is from Philadelphia. So I am partial to any time we go anywhere. that's on the water, fresh seafood, like fresh fish, fresh shellfish, like anything, like I am, I am all in. So whether that means, like, if I am, you know, on the Gulf and it's like, like,

we're getting fresh seafood in, I'm talking, obviously, we're talking like, you know, Mobile and like New Orleans, stuff like that. Or if we're going to like an island and, you know, like, you know, Megan, my wife and I have been to St. Lucia multiple times. And I, that would be my favorite, my answer in terms of, like, my favorite place to leave, like, outside the country. would be St. Lucia. But like anytime it can be like fresh seafood for like fresh fruit, like all that,

anything that's like fresh in that way, like, yeah, I'm game. I'm in. Yeah. So look, I'm biased. I love Montreal. That's where my mom is from. That's where my grandmother lives right now. And it's also a great food city.

My favorite international city that I've ever been to, I've been to Hong Kong. And I love Hong Kong. thought it was just culturally rich, terrific food, beautiful scenery. And, you know, I like, I like technology and it was very modern and walkable. So I would put Hong Kong as like the coolest city that I've, that I've been to. So I'm not as well-traveled in Europe as if Bo were on, Beau would, you know, I've never been to Paris, for instance. I was, there were two times during the past year when I was hoping to go, or the past two years when I was hoping to go, and we had to cancel the trip both times.

And then, yeah, I, yeah, I've never been to Amsterdam. I hear great things about Amsterdam. And, you know, so there's, I, I was in London for the Eagles Jaguars game, but I haven't spent like extensive time there. This is a round about way of saying there are a lot of places that I would like to go. But I'm going with Montreal is my favorite food international city. And I'm going with Hong Kong is my favorite international city. What is your favorite when you when you travel to Montreal?

What is your favorite food to take in? My grandmom's cooking. I got to say that. My grandma's no. But in addition to that. So look, there's there's so many. great restaurants there there's a great restaurant there that i i used to go to for all like um special events with my family and that's and it's called gibbies and uh it is so good uh and when i was

you got to think you got to put yourself in the mind of like a six seven eight nine 10 year old whatever it is and um so you they have a gibbie salad but then after the salad they have a pallet cleanser and it's like a sorbet, like a lemon sorbet. And as like a six-year-old or not six, maybe eight or nine, it's like getting waterized in the middle of a meal, right? So I always look forward to that. But the food there is outstanding. So yeah, there's a place I really want to go called Joe Beef. It's hard to get a reservation. I would really like to go there. But I would need to say that my grandmother's cooking is my favorite food in Montreal. I like it.

Respectable. Respectable answer there. Yeah. So this next question is quite long. And I'm going to defer this to you here. Okay. Should I read it or do you want me to read it? Yeah, you can read it.

Okay. So great job, Andrew, putting that all on the screen. For the audio listeners, I'm going to take you through. This is from Jay 990. My son plays baseball via our local little league. The coach he ended up with about three seasons ago. has been making it a priority to try to keep the same team together. Before the most recent season, he even mentioned he had to make a deal when picking the team to keep the group together.

I have no problem with the coach or the group of kids he plays with. I just feel part of experience in youth sports should be playing with different kids and having different coaches. I feel like keeping the same group is more of a travel baseball thing, not a little league thing. One of my son's best friends plays in the same league but not on the same team and seemingly never would if this coach continues to make the same group his priority. I'm not sure how to approach the idea of telling the coach, he likes playing with you and the group, but please don't force it. Ultimately, the thing I don't want to happen is there to be some point when he gets separated from that group,

and now he doesn't know how to deal with it or wants to keep playing. Should I try sending a message about it? Thanks for all the great work. Shout out S-Z-A. Great job, reading that all, taking that all in. Great job, Andrew, getting that all in the one graphic. I did so that was on our Discord and I followed up just to see like all right how old are we talking his son is eight so you're talking like eight so we're talking like youth youth sports here this isn't like teenagers things like for me this is crazy I think one of the best parts about youth sports is like you know kind of building you know allowing kids to build build these relationships with you know people in their area and being trying to kind of become part of a team like with each new passing season right like we're going to we're going to going through this now with Francis where he just had his full first full like year like cycle where it's like, all right, like you're going to do, uh, you have summer camp and you have soccer in the fall and you have basketball in the winter. You have baseball in the spring. You're doing, you know, doing all these different things. He does karate like throughout. Right. So he has all these different things. And there's overlap where it's like, hey, like, I know this kid from from this. I know this kid from that. And we were on the same team here, but then oh, I hope he's on my team next year. But if not, like, I'm going to make new. That's awesome. Like that's what it's all about. And that's what it's all about. And that. And we're on the same. Now, this, like, I grew up playing everything like year round, right?

So we played all sports. So I have my younger brother who's two years younger and I have a younger sister who's two years younger than that. So we were all very close. My dad coached like all, you know, all three of us in terms of like teams and things like that. So we were always going from like one event to the other. And my brother, the middle of the who's, again, two years younger, he had a group of

kids that it was like the same coach and my, you know, and my dad and like a, a. a very same group of kids and it was travel league like to me when you get to like travel age I think that's where it becomes acceptable I think if you're talking like local and like town league we called it like town league when we were growing up to me if it's town league like absolutely not like this is to me it's out of bounds like those kids should be playing with as many different kids as possible I don't know if you feel any different about this yeah it's a good point because I do feel similar to what you said now I'm guilty of this my son um has been on flag football team for you know so when I say seasons there's like there's like five flag football

seasons in a year right yep and so the past three seasons he's entering the third season with the same group like same coaches same players you know they kind of request each other they they so yeah I do agree that like you know being a part of different teams is a good thing in this case of the flag football team there's a lot of kids from different schools so it's like chance together right and you know they they they enjoy playing with each other but i don't think there's anything wrong in this case with saying look you know uh he's he he loves playing for you he loves playing with these guys but i really want him to experience or like to meet different people or to play for different coaches and and i don't think the parents should be offended

by that. So I can see it from both ways. But yeah, I mean, I don't want to be hypocritical because my son's on the same flight football team. And actually his baseball team was a lot of the same kids, some different ones two years in a row. But I generally agree that like part of the joy is meeting different people, making new friends, adapting to different teammates, adapting to different coaches as well. So I want to say this. We have a fun question coming up. that was brought to us by artificial intelligence. And so presumably so. That's how it was, that's how it was framed.

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Tell them we send you. Smell fresher, stay dryer, boost your confidence from head to toe with Mando. So I said yesterday that the priority. any questions go to the Discord, right? If you're a diehard, you appreciate your business. You're in the Discord. It's a great community of fans of all the sports, of the PHLY subscribers. And Red Level Midnight went to the Discord and took a screenshot of chat GBT, chat GPT,

and said, Zach Berman, the co-host of the PHLY Eagles show, asked for mailbag questions. So he and NFL draft slash Eagles expert, Fran Duffy, have something to talk about on today's show. please give me three questions, including one about how to make a turkey melt. And so, chat CPT came across with three questions. One was an Eagles roster question. When was an NFL draft focus question? What was a turkey melt debate? Which is labeled as essential content.

Presumably, this is this. Arguably. This came from them. Arguably. First one, Eagles roster question. Which rain camp approaching? Which second year player is most likely to make a significant leave? and could you see someone like Sidney Brown wants healthy,

pushing for starting job into secondary? Fran, what say you? And Andrew, we'll flash this back up for the next question. Yeah. As far as second year players, I mean, to me, my mind goes to Jalix Hunt. We mentioned earlier, like that would be the position that you're looking at in terms of a potential veteran ad.

You don't need to do that if Jalick's Hunt shows up this summer and looks like he's ready for that. role. That might be a little bit of a big jump, former late third round pick. Obviously, we know the backstory by now, former safety in the Ivy League, who moved late in this college career off the edge. Is he going to be ready to make that kind of leap in year two? If he is, then that's a lot for this Eagles defense. If he's not, then that's going to be certainly a question mark as we get into as we get into the regular season. Yeah, I would agree. Jalicks, hunts, the player I think to take the second year leap. And then I think, I think,

think Sidney Brown could push for a starting job, I would give Macuba the leg up in that battle. Number two, NFL draft focus. Fran, when evaluating college receivers for the Eagles future, which specific traits do you think best fit Dixiriani system, especially with AJ Brown and Devante Smith already established? That's a very specific question from AI. Yeah, from AI. So to me, I think there's two things. Number one, I think this is universal for like any player, not just receiver, but I

I think that there is a certain mentality that we've seen from the majority of Eagles draft choices since Nick Siriani's been hired. They are looking for that, you know, that quote unquote, and you can mock it, but it is so true for the players that they target in the draft and free agency. You're looking for that dog mentality. You're looking for guys that bring that edge. And those are the kinds of players that they have targeted. And now the other aspect of it is the Howie Roseman and the philosophical standpoint from the personnel department where you want guys that have you. unique traits. So if you have players that have unique traits and attack the game with a certain edge, all right, now you're checking boxes there. What makes it fun, and that's one of the reasons

why I love watching the receivers up close whenever I'm at Eagles practice under Nick Siriani. Nick Siriani takes a, he spends a lot of time over there with the receivers. Kevin Petulo has spent a lot of time over there with the receivers working with Aaron Moorhead. Both guys have wide receiver backgrounds. We know that Nick Siriani's played that position. He is very detailed oriented when it comes to that position. So watching him watch those guys, you can kind of see when he, you know, after you see Johnny Wilson go through a rep and he takes Johnny Wilson aside. And so he is very detail oriented.

So the guys that, you know, that have that attention to detail in college and you mesh that with unique traits and or that dog mentality, that's the combination I think you're looking at. Yeah. And so let's go with the next one here. turkey melt debate essential content. Zach, serious question, what's the ideal way to make a turkey melt? Crittle or oven? Rye or sourdough.

What's your go-to cheese? And do you dare throw in a slice of tomato to keep it pure? Let me know if you want them to be funnier or more analytical. So I presume this came from chat GPT. They did, yes. Okay. So the ideal way to make a turkey melt is for me with the George Foreman grill. the type of bread.

Look, bakers can't be choosers. I've said on the show before, I don't typically do the food shopping in my house. I'll just, you know, that's not like a gender role thing. It's just Emily likes to do the food shopping in the house. And so she usually gets healthy bread. It's like, it's got like grains and stuff like that. I mean, if I had my druthers, I would give me a slab of sourdough, but I don't have my druthers. What's your go-to cheese and you dare throw in a slice of tomato to keep it pure?

I like any sharp type of cheese. So a sharp cheddar is what I would like to go with. I'll take a sharp probe alone if I can. But the sharper the cheese, the better for me. And I would love to throw a slice of tomato on it. And I appreciate the question. It's amazing the technological advances these days. You got a condiment of choice on a turkey milk?

on a turkey milk honey mustard You're going to throw honey mustard on there Okay, I like that Honey mustard with the sharp cheese Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah typically You know, it's like It's a collection of flavors It's a eclectic, right?

I like my food the way I like my people You know, all different types, right? So, yeah, honestly, we all know that the George Foreman does most of the work here anyway. It does, but you got to make sure you have bread on top. So, yeah, All right.

So the next question here. I'm very interested in knowing more about Zach's relationship with music. Three concerts ever, two or Bill and Joe, one or both for work, if I'm not mistaken. Does Zach listen to music when he's working out? Does Zach listen to music when he's working? Who are Zach's favorite artists? What are Zach's favorite songs? What radio stations that he listened to growing up besides 610?

U.S. for mailbags, you get the pizza customer sending you mailbags. There you also from threat level midnight. My relationship with music is, it's a platonic one, right? I mean, I like music. I don't love it. You know, I'm not by no means a music expert. Yeah, you are correct about the, I went to, I had a friend who listens to the show, Sean. This is Sean C, not Sean G.

When I was much younger, brought me to a U-2 concert at the, well, now it's going to be called the Xfinity Mobile arena. And I didn't know much about you too. And then in college, I went to a Billy Joel concert to write about for a class or for the school newspaper. And then in, how did you do on that piece, how that piece turned out? I did well. Although I think that the person who I interviewed might have not given me the proper, like his correct name. I think he might have given the pseudonym. We'll get to that another time.

And then I went to when I was dating my wife, her parents and my in-laws now, took us to a Bill of Joel concert at Cisans Bank Park. I'm not like a huge Bill of Joel fan, but I'm a huge fan of my wife and who was then my girlfriend, and so I had a wonderful time. Does Zach listen to music when he's working? Or no, does Zach listen to music when he's working out? I work out at F-45, as I've said in the past. And so whatever music they play, when I'm taking walks in the morning, I listen to podcasts. Does Zach listen to music when he's working? Sometimes I'll have like soft jazz on if I'm in like a coffee shop or something like that.

But typically not. Who are Zach's favorite artists? Mount Joy, without a doubt. I'm a big Mount Joy fan. I appreciate Matt. I sent him a message the other day. I know he's overseas right now. Yeah, definitely that.

What are Zach's favorite song? There's a lot of songs that I appreciate. I tend to listen to songs more for the lyrics than anything else. A song that I listened to recently, well, I listened to it a number of times that I enjoy. It's actually Jason Kelsey's favorite song, and that's The Cape by Guy Clark. And I believe it's Guy Clark. And it's a song that I use as a lesson to my children about taking leaps of faith in life, right? you know, spread your arms and hold your breath and always trust your cape.

And so my kids, when they're in the car, they'll say put on the Jason Kelsey song. So I've been listening to a lot of that. What radio station did he listen to growing up besides 610? I listened to 610 growing up, honestly. That was it. I mean, this was pre-podcasts. And this was pre-975 The Fanatic at that time. So this was, I love sports talk radio.

I love listening to Anthony Gargano whenever I could at that time. and not to age Anthony here, but I used to listen to him then. I listened to the morning show on the way to work. And I, yeah, I would fall asleep listening to 6-10. I didn't listen to music on the radio. Threat level of midnight, I appreciate that question. All right.

So I have a number of follow-ups here. So the smooth jazz aspect of this. Do you have a go-to artist? Is it like an AI-generated playlist where you just go on to Spotify or Apple Music? You're like, I find soft jazz play playlist. Why soft jazz? Yeah, I actually typed in writing music one day. And, you know, because I was in a coffee shop where it was like a little loud and I was

trying to focus. And I typed in writing music and it was like a soft jazz playlist. And I found it to be effective. And so honestly, I just go back to that. I don't know much about jazz, but I found that, you know, when I'm out in public sometimes to be better. when I'm writing at home, I typically have sports on in the background. So I don't typically have have music on at home.

I have, I've said this before on the show, but I think there was like research done, studies done where it's like your brain is like firing at max capacity when you're, if you're listening to music, that does not have lyrics to it. And so the smooth jazz, it would make sense that that's why the smooth jazz turned up on that search for you. I've got a playlist on Spotify that I use that is just all movie soundtracks. And it's like, yeah, I turn through that when I'm watching film or if I'm writing, that's the go to there. I feel like as a film guy, though, you should be listening to Metallica.

Like, you know, whenever I say Gruden, watching like grinding film, he's, he's listening to heavy metal, hard rock. All respect to him. I don't know that he and I are the same mindset. For a lot of things, I'm trying to encapsulate that. exact, that exact vibe as I'm going through my day to day life. The next one. A very broad question. This is from Jamie, just take off the E. Is there a place you've never been or experienced or an experience in the head that you really

want to, that you really want to before you physically can't be first? Yeah, I mean, I've been, we try and take trips every year. And so, you know, know, we have a lot of places that are like on our list of like, all right, we definitely want to go here. We're definitely going to go there. And now that, you know, France is getting older. And there's a lot where like, all right, we want to save this for when he's a little bit older and he can enjoy this or it'll be just a more enjoyable experience for everybody

once he's a little bit older. So like certainly like going to Italy. I've never been. That would be great. But there are a lot of places here just, you know, domestically. Like I would love to do, I want to do like a trek through the Pacific Northwest and like kind of do like that kind of trip. My sister is actually in the middle of one of those right now.

Like, you know, the Alaska crews. They did Seattle. you know, the Vancouver, like that whole area. So that would be another one for me that's on the short list. I like those answers. For me, an experience is a World Cup game. Now it's coming to Chile next year. So I'm looking forward to that.

But, I mean, if I can do one internationally, that would be awesome. And then a place that I've never been, I've never been to Africa. And I would really love this to go on a safari. So, yeah, that would be high up on my list. You have to pick Bo's brain on that one. Yes, that's true. That's true. Would you ever go shark diving?

Would I go shark diving? Yeah. Like in a cage, like in a cage, like the shark gave? I don't have much interest in the diving component of it. It's cool to see sharks. But, yeah, I mean, scuba diving does not excite me too much. I get worried about, like, scuba injury. series. And so, yeah, I'm not good.

Scuba injuries like from a, uh, or like nothing. Yeah, like I, I, I've tried scuba diving sometimes and I just, like, I have a hard time like, uh, keeping my breath normal. Like, like, I'm breathing normal during that. I, I, I guess I get a little worked up. Um, and when I try snorkeling, I always, I always get the water in the snorkel. Uh, that's probably honestly also related to the breathing because you got to be, uh, yeah, yeah, common. measured there. Exactly. Yeah.

So I'm not a low pole stiverer. That's for sure. Yeah. So that's, but yeah, the safari, I'm definitely interested in. Okay. Like that? Here you go. So this is from Philly, Dan, in media last season, we never heard that the team took

Vick's feed, or, I'm sorry, last season we heard that the team took Vic, Fangio's feedback about conditioning and being a pro, and clearly it paid off. Any intel or word on how that is coming for the defense young group, a couple of couple of them been to two Super Bowls. Yeah, I mean, if you listen to the exciting mics, they talked about the benefit of having that defense two years in a row. So absolutely, that's something that you're hearing. I would imagine that's kind of a staple of what they're doing right now. Yeah, I think that certainly to the last point of that, you are, you're trying to build momentum there and kind of reset the culture. Because you think about all the

players that have left that locker room in the last couple of years. You lose Brandon Graham, you lose Fletcher Cox, you lose Jason Kelsey, you lose some of the leaders that they've, that they have lost over these last couple of off seasons. You want to try and continue to build that culture. And you're hoping that the wisdom that those players, you know, were able to transition over to some of the young players. Now you need to keep that ball rolling. And so whether that's coming from the coaching staff or, you know, just making sure that those guys were coachable in those moments in the last couple of years. That's certainly going to be big for the franchise moving forward.

From Frank McKay, what would it take for you? you to join Julia at a mini burn festival. This was pointed directly at you. Correctly me. Okay. Look, I love hanging out with Julia. I've known Julia for, let's see, I'm 29 years old. I'm sorry, I'm 39 years old.

So I've known Julia since I was 10 years old. So I've known Julia for 29 years now. Always enjoy hanging out with Julia. I think she would tell you that I am not the person that she would want to hang out with at a mini burn festival. I would be out of place at a mini burn festival. What would it take for me to go? There will be two conditions.

I guess there are a few conditions. But first off, number one, if my wife wanted to go, Emily, when she asks us to do something, I tend to do it, right? You know, she handles the social plans. And, you know, in return, I get to work. And so the second part of that is if there was a story that took me there, right? I mean, if Jason Kelsey was at a mini burn festival and I can hang out with him there, I bet Connor Barwin enjoys festivals, right? And so, yeah, so if I was doing a story that took me there, I would do a mini burn festival.

But I honestly don't know what, I mean, I heard Julia talk about it. I am very into, like, you know, being sanitary and clean bathrooms is like a big deal for me. You've heard I don't like public bathrooms. And so the idea of no bathrooms at all would worry me quite a bit. Look, you bring that Mando starter pack with you. You're all set. That's great. That's a great point.

I want to hear Fran's answer in overtime. Fran, would you have interest in that? In a different life, maybe. I don't know that Franon 2025 is making that trip. But, no, it sounded like it was fun. I'm sure it was a blast. So this last one here from Dave Hughes. And by the way, we missed Julia looking forward to her coming back.

Although Andrew's doing a great job today as well. From Dave Hughes, this was also addressed to me. Zach, can you address the West Wing mistake from a few weeks ago when discussing the name Finn? You said there was a baby with the name in the West Wing. That is incorrect. The baby's name was Huck while wrong. The confusion is understandable. Dave, I sit corrected.

my fault. Yeah, the baby was Huck. I conflated Huck and Finn. I'm probably not the first person ever conflate Huck and Finn. But yeah, I apologize to Aaron Sorkin. I apologize to Richard Schiff, who's the Toby Ziegler

role in that, to his wife in the show Andy, or not his wife, his ex-wife when he had a baby with, Andy. I hope I got that name correct. And I apologize to to all the West Wing officials out there. I imagine Dave is one of them, but I got that wrong.

The baby was Huck and not Finn. I think as a penance, I think you should have to say that. I'm not the first person to conflate Huck and Finn five times fast. I am not the first person to conflate Huck and Finn. I'm not the first person to conflate Huck and Finn. I'm not the first person to conflate Huck and Finn. I'm not the first person to conflate Huck and Finn. I am not the first person to conflate Huck and Finn.

Well, well, Dodd. Dodge five landmines there. So look, these questions were fun. I love Bo. Yeah, I used the L word there, I guess. I love Bo. But I hope Bo sees this and sees that milkbags can be fun, right? It's a way to mix in Eagles, mix in some non-Eagles questions.

So this was a good time. And Fran and I will be back tomorrow for the final show of the week and we're going to look at some sliding door scenarios and that will kind of tease something coming up here on p hl y so until then thank you andrew thank you fran if beau we're here he would say as always we love you i will say we'll do better tomorrow thanks for watching