PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Eagles news from Combine with edge rushers such as Abdul Carter, Donovan Ezeiruaku in the spotlight

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

The Philadelphia Eagles’ work on building the 2025 roster is the big topic at the combine. What did Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni say? They met with edge rushers this week and that group is on the field on Thursday. Zach Berman and Fran Duffy discuss the latest. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Good afternoon and welcome to a Wednesday edition of the P H. H.LY. Eagles show. We are live at the Combine. I'm Zach Berman here with Fran Duffy, the preeminent draft expert, all city's draft expert, PHLY Eagles draft expert. And we have a lot to discuss today, including edge rushers. Fran? Yeah. Does it seem like you've been here for a week already? It has been a long couple days, but it's just beginning because the workouts haven't even started yet. But we did talk to a lot of players today. we have that under our belts and is it the type of thing where we're one day's bleeding into the next like our you know we spoke last week about how you're you're seeing the players in

your dreams basically from watching how much film now is it like you know podium a podium b to podium see yeah uh it's it definitely uh bleeds into it doesn't help that i'm on a zb-esque sleep schedule uh that that does not help things but uh no it's uh look it's it's one week uh it's one of the best weeks of the year. So we have a cool backdrop today. We're here live on Radio Row. Big Dom DeSandro just walked by. I have to say, if you're the preeminate draft expert, Dom is the biggest celebrity at the Combine. Just being around him a bit yesterday, everyone's stopping to take his photo. You see different NFL insiders, different coaches just saw St. Joe's Preps own Kevin Stefanski walked by. So you might see in the back of our

shot different, whether it's coaches, insiders, things of that nature. But a good place to start today before we get to the draft is news that came out a few hours ago. And we say news relatively lately. But it's the NFLPA survey. Yeah, I would say it's news for sure. It's an annual survey that comes out this time where the players grade the team on, you know, with various criteria.

and the Eagles dropped the 22nd this year. Okay. And it's certainly a drop from last year when they were number four of 32 teams. So we'll get into the specifics of it. I'm just going to read the quick overview here. And then I want your opinion. The Eagles finished this year ranked 22nd. There are many seemingly low-cost improvements the team could make that would quickly improve the players experience.

Players identify three easy fixes providing child care. on game days like most NFL teams do, prioritizing first class seating for players instead of coaches and staggering lunch times to avoid overcrowding in the cafeteria. Currently, players wait in long lines and are unable to find places to sit and eat

because the business staff takes up most of the space. It says the other issues is a lack of space with players noting that nearly every facility category felt too small or lacked enough space. Despite these concerns, players remain optimistic that things will improve. prove when asked what the team currently does best. Players share that team leadership listens to their feedback and prioritizes improvements.

Turning the floor to you is someone who's not just an analyst now, but saw this firsthand as someone who used to work in the building. Yeah, there's a lot to like untangle there. My first thing, just like when I first read that, I was like, man, did they stop staggering the lunchtime? I was like, because every year that I was there for 14 seasons, it was like, all right, the lunch window was from 1130 till 2 or 130, and it was all right,

the first hour is for business side, the second hour is for football side, or vice versa, depending on the day. So I just checked in. I was like, oh, did you guys change that this year? And everyone was like, no,

every single lunch was staggered. So I'm not sure exactly where that part of it came from. I think the last part of that does some things up pretty well, where it's, you know, they take that criticism, you know, basically over the course of the entire season.

So I don't think, any of this would be news to ownership and to leadership in that building. There are certainly some limitations that they deal with from when it comes to space. That's not news to anybody. We talked about a few weeks ago. It's an older building. And they have limitations not just like space-wise. They can't build out.

They've kind of maxed out their space on that lot. And by rule like the city ordinance, like zoning stuff, they can't build upwards. They can't add a second and third or a third and fourth floor to that building. And so unless they're going to get a new facility somewhere else in a new location, they kind of have what they have there in that spot. Yeah, my understanding, by the way, is that the survey was taken before the season. So if there were changes that were done throughout the season, they wouldn't be necessarily.

Relected there. Yeah. Okay. The low marks are the locker room team travel. So they got an F in team travel, 30th of 32 teams. And it's said that that they, that they, that they, players want first class seating. Now, this has come up in the past. And I've actually spoken to some people behind the scenes about this. And the way the flights are from my understanding

is that there wouldn't be enough first class seating for every single player. Definitely not. So how do you, how do you distinguish that? Now, when they went to Brazil, they flew planes that allowed for that. Yeah. But also, I think Nick feels that the coaches put in a lot of work a lot of time and you know that on the on the planes they're often like watching film and um so it could be it could be that but but my and my understanding of that is it's it's more based on just a number of first class seats that how do you distinguish between let's let's say in in theory there's 40 first class seats and there are you know 53 players plus injured players who might travel whatever it is how do you distinguish that so that that could be a factor uh maybe they

they do a voting system. And then it's the starting 22 and Tanner McKee. Get it every single week. No, I think that exactly right. We're spot on there. And the other aspect of things too, you know, when it comes to just like limitation. And as you mentioned, the survey was taken in the summer.

I actually did not know that. I thought the survey was done midseason. You know, we know that Jeffrey Lurie, one of the edges that the Eagles have when it comes to like team building process, they are a very cash forward organization. And like he's willing to put like the, you know, cashware, you know, where it's needed in terms of like helping with salary cap and things of that nature. You know, you want to make sure that you have the funds to be able to do that. And so you're going to try and I don't want to say cut corners, but you're trying to find all the edges you can to make sure that you're in position to do that.

And so you have to have to make some sacrifices in certain spots. And so I think that's something that to keep in mind as well there. The locker room was the D plus. That was the other. Yeah. Locker room. a mark there. 73% of players feel they have enough room in their individual lockers,

a ranking of 22 out of 32. 57% of a players feel the locker room size is adequate ranking. The Eagles 28 out of 32. I'll say this. It's a small locker room. Yeah. There's no way around that. Part, you know, to your point of it being an older facility,

it was state of the art when they built it. When they built it in 2001, I believe it opened. Right. At that time, there were eight practice squad players, I believe. The IR was structured differently that you're on IR throughout the season. So there were fewer spots. There were fewer players just like stashed on IR. It was at a point back then when literally Ryan Dawkins had two lockers.

Yeah, right? Now there aren't enough lockers for every player practice squad and injured. So there's makeshift lockers in the middle of the locker room. it's a longer space. It's a long, thin space as opposed to a big wide space. Some of the locker rooms I've been to, for instance, are more like circles, ovals. These are, this is long players don't have as much space.

It is older per se. And there are just geographical restrictions. There are teams, for instance, that have their practice facilities, new practice facilities in the suburbs where there's more space or like in more suburban rural areas. the Eagles have a South Philadelphia facility where, like, and you put it well, they can't add to it. So they can reconfigure things. They can knock walls down and reallocate space that was one, something else.

But they are restricted there. And that's something that's always come up with the indoor part of it. And then the other bad mark before we get to some of the good marks here is a C-minus in treatment of families. Eagles are, they're, it's, it's one of three teams that do not provide daycare during home games. Yep. They do provide a family room during home games. I don't know enough about this. I will do more work as far as what it's like in other places in terms of a daycare.

I don't know if it's similarly to, to the practice facility. Lincoln Financial Field is, you know, 20 years older or thereabouts. And so maybe space that was, that could be out. okay that that is now premium space. I don't know the answer to that. Yeah, that's, those are the things that where it's, you know, again, you're trying to find out like where can you, when you talk about like premium space, okay, well, that's a way to bring money into the organization.

How do you value that versus, you know, some of the things that you're talking about. Obviously, you put priority and, you know, they have the Eagles Autism Foundation and some of the things that they use that space for the dispensary rooms. So you can't have space for everything. And so you got to make those calls as you go. But again, that's something that I'm sure. Like, I know they have the, what is it, a leadership council or something like that?

That meets with Nick Siriani. And so I'm sure that those are things they get voiced. The flip side of this is A minus in food dining area. I'll see the floor to you. Was A minus? A minus, which is a good rate. Yeah. I'm an adjunct professor.

A minus is good grade. Yeah. Seventh out of 32 teams. I take it you like the food. Yeah, the food is outstanding. I would say that they probably, what gets it to the minus is probably just, the fact that it is a smaller capoeira, but that's why they stagger, you know,

against what this report says. They stagger out the lunchtimes. So there's enough room for the, for the entire roster and football side coaches, scouts, whoever's in the building, for one hour or 90 minutes, and then the business side on the other 90. A minus for head coach.

So Nick Siriani got a lot of credit. Players feel that he's efficient with his time. And players feel that Siriani is receptive, moderately speaking, to locker room feedback on the team's needs. But there's one thing about this that I do think is worth pointing out is oftentimes this survey, it's based on comparison to whether your previous experiences or the previous year.

So like ownership, for instance, like I'm not here to defend Jeffrey Lord. Jeffrey Lur, you've got to be here, 16 out of 32 teams. I think Washington ranked really high here. If you're in Washington's locker room, you're comparing it to what you had previously, right? You're like, oh, my God, I went from that to this. And it's like if you move into a new house and you have a nice shower, it's like, I didn't know a shower could be this good, right? It's like when you get that bidet for the first time.

I'll take your word for it, right? So, yeah, I mean, I think that there are clearly things that the franchise can work on here. but I think you put it well. As far as the facilities, you know, when you talk about the training room, when you talk about the weight room, when you talk about the locker room, they are limited.

Yeah. I think those grades are probably fair relative to the rest of the league. Yeah. And I think, look, again, they've, in my mind, they have maximized that space to the best of their ability, right? I mean, when you're talking not just usable space for the players, but then when you factor in, like, okay,

if you have a big staff, a lot of coaches. If you have a big personnel staff, those people have to work somewhere, right? And so when you go up into the second level where the players aren't even at, you know, people are working on top of each other in some of those instances. And you have to try and find ways to be able to maximize that space. And I do think that they've done the best that they can do. That's just where the limitations are what they are.

Yeah, anecdotally. And again, you know, Franz the expert here. Like, you know, I think of other shows that might be talking about this, you've lived in that space or I've worked in that space. Essentially. You have a better idea. But I can kind of give some context here in the sense that the growth of the non-football side of the organization, since that facility was built, it has skyrocketed. So like anecdotally, the Eagles have these, it's these three houses along Patterson Avenue. And they used to just be for storage.

And now everyone is filled. Like, you know, one of them, frankly, is the media house where I come on for our hits. But, you know, one, I saw behind the scenes of the team social department. Yeah. And the social department is in there. And just to give you a sense of this, when the facility was built, there wasn't a social department. Right. Ten years ago, the social department was probably part of, you know, like the team website or team PR.

It wasn't a separate department. And you go on down the list here. year. There's so many departments where it has, they've just added more personnel. They've had the knock down walls for space. It's a different organization than it was when that facility was built because I know from speaking to Jeffrey Lurie, he took particular pride in going from the vet to NovaCare, what that meant for the team employees, what that meant for free agents that come in. But you, you know, you go to the star now. You go to Minnesota's facility. I was at Miami's facility for practice a few years ago.

I don't want to say it's night and day, but it is, it is like dusk and dawn, right? I mean, it's, it's, I suppose that's the same thing. But I get what you're saying. I got what you're throwing now. Yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty dramatic. Yeah. And to your point, as the organization continues to grow, there are, you know, so you, if let's say, you know, look, when I first started, there was one full-time social media person,

and now there are like seven or eight. And as the, that's not the only area that has grown when you look at, you know, other areas of the business side. As those areas grow, anyone that runs a small business, as your business begins to expand, all right, well, you need to add another HR person. You need to add another accounting person. You need to add another IT person because you have to handle all as the bandwidth

increases, you have to make sure that you're able to manage all of those different areas with, you know, with support. And so, again, I do feel like they have maximized to the best of their ability, but they have to live with what they have to live with right now. I will speak to Jeffrey Lurie next month. this will come up, I imagine. But I will say if people in the organization are watching, I understand all of the reasonable, rational objections to this.

But I think that whenever something like this comes out, it's worth taking it seriously. And it's worth them looking, okay, what are we able to improve? Are there things with team travel that we can improve? Are there things with the facility that I don't think it's productive when this is dismissed? And I bring this up because two years ago, their grade was not particularly high. I asked Jeffrey Lurie about it.

He was relatively dismissive. He's like he wants to see what the, you know, how that survey came together when it was, you know, how many people were surveyed. And then they made a big leap the next year. And I think it's, I think it's constructive to listen to that. Yeah. It's, I love the exercise. I think it's great for, for players and for honestly, for entire organizations. because when teams do make changes,

they don't just impact players. For the most part, they impact support staff on the football side, but also business staff as well. So a lot of people affected by changes that could put in place. So enough about that. This was a good topic, but we will be, this was Edge Rusher Day. And tomorrow you will be in the stadium when the Edge Rushers work out.

We spoke to the Edge Rushers today. The teams had formal interviews with the Edd Rushers two nights ago. This is a position that will be in focus. so once we hear from our sponsors, we will get in to the edge rushers for the Eagles. I want to start here by telling everyone about clat hair. I am looking around this room now. I have no idea where you're going here.

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where Philly gets engaged, visit golden nuggetjewlery.com today to learn more. So yesterday at the Combine, it was mainly coaches and GMs. And we learned a lot from Howie Roseman. We learned a lot from Nick Siriani. We talked about that on yesterday's show. We'll touch on that a little later. I was on Anthony's show this morning talking about that. There's a big piece on all p.hly.com.

There's more coming. Today was edge rushers. And this is where you kind of, this is where you start to see separation from the people who are really into the combat, right? If you're there at 8 a.m. and you're waiting for these edge rushers to come in, that's when you really want to hear what these guys have to think.

So we'll start big picture here. What was your takeaways from talking to these edge rushers and then from the edge rusher class overall? Yeah, I mean, look, it's always good to be able to talk to as many of these players as possible. We heard from the edge rushers, we heard from the defensive tackles, we heard from the linebackers.

As I said on this show last week, you know, one of my goal, when I come down here is, you know, if I'm talking to Abdul Carter, which I typically don't talk to the players like Abdul Carter, because the guy gets swarmed at that press. We're like, you know, 50 reporters around them. So I usually try and work the room. There's usually, you know, anywhere from 10 to 12 players talking at any given time. So while the crowd is over at Abdul Carter, I'm being the hipster talking on the other podium on the other side of the room. I love that. Yeah. So I try and go where the crowd isn't. But when I'm talking to, you know, insert player name, I usually am talking to them about their teammates, about their opponents. I try and get them to talk about other players and just learn more about the prospects, whether it's in this class or in future classes. I always like those questions you ask about the other players that, yeah, like players to know about down the line.

Yeah, it's always funny. Look, when I first heard about Abdul Carter, it was from, you know, a former Penn State player from a couple years ago, right? And so, you know, those things are always helpful. But then sometimes you get, like there was a player I was talking to today and I was asking them about, you know, I said one of the questions I asked,

is if you had to take your first NFL paycheck, and you have to bet it on a freshman you just played with. So a freshman from last year making it to the league in three years, who would you bet on? And the one guy was like, oh, I want to say, but I actually,

I don't, I don't remember his name. And I'm like, hmm, I'm like, okay, well, let's take, let's take the,

maybe the, the player talking about is not that great. But then also, I do think, like, all right, like you, you've started three years.

You're a captain. Like, you don't know, like one of the guy's name. So what I mean? Like, Like there, you could kind of- personality test if you know.

Yeah. To me, like, there are things that you can pull from some of those interviews that, you know, can be a little bit of a marker here and there. But, no, I had some really good conversations. I loved talking with the Louisville kid, Ashton Jalati, who, you know, I thought that he was one of my favorite players I talked to. Actually, I think he was the first player I talked to, but he was one of my favorites that I spoke with today. I know you spoke with some of the big names.

Yeah. So, look, I typically try to focus more on Eagles' targets, but by rule, if you're going to be the number one pick and you're from Philadelphia. I need to talk to you. How early did you? Because he was supposed to start. He was 8 a.m. He was 8 a.m.

I hear 10, 15 minutes early. Not too bad. I took video. I'm going to send that to Chris, our ace social media man to maybe we'll get some clips up there. But Abdul Carter is unapologetically an Eagles fan. unapologetically. Like this guy took his father to the Super Bowl. Yeah.

He said it was a dope experience. He talked about, now I'm, I'm using dope for, you know, he's saying that, right? I know when Nick said at that time, he was getting criticized, right? I was going to let it slide. Yeah. He, he wore a custom jersey. And he said that, you know, his dad got on that, his dad's into the custom gear. he thinks Jeline Hurts is the best quarterback in the league.

He won the championship. He said you earned it, right? He certified that. But what was cool is he said he wanted to enjoy his last year being an Eagles fan. Right. He grew up in the area, went to LaSalle, Jamie's alma mater. Yep. And so he's going to be, do you think he's the number one pick?

In talking with some people around Tennessee, it feels like it might be Abdul-Warter. I do think, as I said, here on February 26th that it'll probably be Abdul Carter with the number one pick. He says he should be the number one pick because he's the best player in the draft. Yeah. And look, I mean, we had before we were lucky enough to have you at PHI, I did a draft episode this summer. My friend inquires, Devin Jackson came in. And I devoted the top of the show to Carter because I actually went to a Penn State game last year with my wife, Penn State UMass.

and I couldn't take my eyes off number 11. And that time he was playing Mike Linebacker, yeah. But I'm like, he's just different than everyone on the field. And they move in the edge rusher. I think he's, look, I know I have the Philly bias. I think he's going to be a star because I think athletically, he just jumps off. He kind of talked about Michael Parsons being the guy that he models himself after. He's following in that lineage of the number 11s for Penn State.

So talked to Abdul-Garter. And one last thing, he talked about how Philly shaped him. And he said his toughness is grit. That comes from being a Philly native. Speaking right to your heart there. Right to my heart. I mean, this guy, like, it was like he got prepped for me being there. The restraining orders coming a little later, right?

But yeah, I was all over that. Now, of the, look, I understand things are going to evolve. Your draft rankings are going to evolve. make sure you're subscribing the France draft guide as a diehard member. But as it stands down, I think I would say edge rushers the most likely position for the Eagles to take. Of the players who you're going to watch workout tomorrow, who are the players whose stock could either improve to the Eagles range, maybe fall to the Eagles range, fall out of the Eagles range? If you're an Eagles fan, which anyone who's watching this, I assume is, and they put on the combine tomorrow, which edge rushers should they know for the workouts specifically?

All right. So really quickly, before I answer that, so if you are a diehard and you have access to the draft guide, what I would tell you is go to the draft guide before the workouts begin tomorrow. You can go on the right side of the guide. There's the combine cheat sheets. And I've got a cheat sheet up for every single position. And a bunch of players that you're going to see over the course of the week. And it's broken up into a few different categories.

One is workout warriors, the guys that I, expect to test really, really well from an athletic testing portion, which position drills matter most to me and who I think is going to stand out in said drills, the players where maybe the testing doesn't matter. So it's like, oh, this guy didn't test all that well. And I'm saying, don't panic about that. There's a few other categories as well. What an average workout looks like so you can put some context of some of these numbers you're

going to get going across your screens over the next few days. So make sure you go check those out and so you can get some added context here on some of these names. You know, that said, though, look, there are. There's a, that's one of the beauties of the combine is that it can be that tiebreaker for a number of these positions. And I think when you look at edge rusher, because the testing does matter so much at that position, there are going to be a lot of ties broken here this week. And so a number of these, I mean, James Pierce Jr., your guy from Tennessee is a guy that I expect to test well.

And so I think that his stock will take on some helium here over the next few days. I love that expression. Well, there would be another one, Jordan Birch, who's, he's built much differently. He's like a 285 pound defensive end. this guy is going to test like an animal. He is extremely physically gifted. So he's a guy I think is going to get a lot more buzz. But one player that I don't think is going to, I think he'll test okay.

But I don't, I'm not anticipating some lights out workout is J.T. Tuimolo, Al, the past rush from Ohio State. Who was in your mock draft? Yes, he was in my mock draft for the Eagles earlier this week over on our YouTube page. You know, to me, like, I'm not expecting him to go lights out. So if he doesn't have a great workout, if he has a modest workout, that's okay. that's based off film that's what it should look like so I look in and I think the reason why this is also important to discuss as you and both spoke about on the draft show last week yeah edge rusher is a combine position right so it's it's a it's a spot that that really could be amplified here at the at the combine before I asked about another player I do want to know what should fans be watching for with edge rushers at the combine yeah so there are a few athletic tests that are that are certainly important I think when you're looking at who are the guys that have that change,

or that not change the direction, but that flexibility, that ability to turn the corner. That's where the three cone comes into play and those ladder drills will come into play. For me personally, I think this is important for players that are going to be like that top shelf pass rush. And honestly, like I think it races the floor for these players as well. Guys that win with power. And I think that when you look at the Super Bowl, that's how the Eagles were able to dominate the chiefs up front was their use of that bull rush and their power. to be able to go from A to B. So the drills where that best comes to the forefront are the broad jump.

So where you see that lower body explosiveness, but then also the 40-yard dash with that 10-yard split, the guys that have the best 10-yard splits, that explosiveness in a short area is typically what translates to power, especially if a guy's a little bit bigger. And so I think when you're looking at those drills, that is something to look at. And then I mentioned those cheat sheets.

I've got the position drill that I am into when I'm watching, and which drill matters most. and the players that I expect to test well, or to look best in that drill. I love the cheat. That's going to be awesome. There's another name in the headline for today's show, and I'm sorry I'm going to butcher the pronunciation.

I won't get this pronunciation by next week. Donovan, as a Rukee. As Ruku. Azaraku. Asiraku. I don't know if there's an eye in there. I'm sorry, Donovan. I am sorry, Donovan.

It wasn't too bad. You got, you're just about there. You're on the door to stay. I did much better than I did on Anthony's show today. I promise you. I mean, I had letters in his name that didn't that are not in his name talking to Anthony. Are you good when you look at the... I think I made him like, who's the player from Team USA hockey, Mike Arruzioni?

Yeah, I think I made him Mike Arruzioni today. So are you good with like the phonetic when they do it? Yes, I am. Okay. So like, how does that look like to you? As Aruku. As Aruku. All right.

So that's our Ruku. Now, when you hear it, like a lot of broadcasters and analysts right now are saying, as a Raku? I don't see like I don't think that that's right. I think that's Zaraku. That's from BC's Media Guide. I go right. Oh,

I love that. So I'm going to go with Azaraku, but local guy. Local guy from Williamstown, New Jersey. And I bring this up for a few reasons. One, he's a local guy. Yeah. He's a player that I love to watch this year. First team all-American.

I saw him play against Syracuse. Yeah, I think he had three and a half sacks that game. Yeah. But 16 and a half sacks this year. Yeah. Highly productive. Like not a big guy, but long. You know, he's what, like he's 6.1, 245 thereabouts?

Yeah, he's 6.2 and a quarter, which is still short, but 34.5 inch arms. Yeah, right. 34 and a half inch arms, which is very long for a 6.2 and a quarter frame. And he's someone who I thought made a lot of sense for the Eagles. And as I was putting the mock draft together, I go into your draft guide. And you had his projected round a little lower than I was anticipating. So I didn't want to put him in the first round. Do you think that he's going to be a top 50 player when this is said and done?

I think that this week matters a lot for his Auerku. I think when you're looking at a guy who is on the smaller side, I know he's long, but, you know, look, he's, again, 6-2 and under 250. That's what he measured at the senior ball. Assume he's going to be something in that range to when he weighs in. You need to test like a freak if you're going to go in the first round. You know, we're talking like Nolan Smith style size. Yes.

Nolan Smith came and tested like a freak and he ended up falling to the Eagles in the latter part of round one. And it was considered a slide. But I think when you're looking at a Zara crew, even though he's got that production, I don't think that he can afford to test like an average athlete at that size. I think that you need to, if you're going to be, if you're going to have that frame, you need to back it up with really good testing. And if you don't have that, I think it's going to be a tough sell in the top 30. This is another man after my heart in that he was just name-dropping all the players from Philly, South Jersey.

in this draft. I mean, he was saying, because I frame the question like, you know, you and Abdul Carter and Jihad Campbell, you know, what's this mean for the area? And then he's like, oh, it's not just us. And he's going with. Did he go to Sri Floyd? How far back did he go? No, no, no. Oh, in this track. Oh, yeah, he did a lot of work for you. He's like the Quinn Allen. You know, Fidel Diggs. Wow. You know, he basically mentioned half the Syracke, a roster. but he played on a seven on a seven on seven team in south jersey that um with a lot of these guys but he was he was going on down the list he takes a lot of pride in south jersey um that that did come up so uh he's someone who i i liked watching him play i'm curious to see how he tests i'm going

i'm curious to see what the eagles think of him someone in the chat here polar jam says no one in jellics are small i don't know how small jellics is but i i don't i would not i would not They need a big, strong, powerful man. And certainly if you're looking for that type of edge rusher, that is not Donovan. But, and it's, it's probably not James Pierce either. Who's, you know, playing, like, sub 250, although I think he has some Josh sweat to his frame. But the person speaking at the table next to him today, and he's someone who I know you like a lot. And that's Nick Scrutton.

Nick Scrutton. Scorton. Scorton. God. Bo is going to have, like, you know, I'm going to ask Bo tomorrow. that I do on the show or how was the show? And he's easy. He's going to say, well, I couldn't understand any of the players you were talking about because he couldn't get a name right, which I would say guilty as charge.

Yeah. I remember watching at Purdue, really productive player. Transvers to Texas A&M. One of the things he said is he wanted to work on his run defense, which is typically gear. But he's when the younger players in the draft, the 20-year-old. So, you know, Bow is going to like that? Is he someone who Eagles fans should know going into? the combine and draft season.

Yeah, I think that he is a really interesting case because he's played in three schemes in three years, and he's at varying levels of production. You know, a true junior, Purdue, he had two different schemes. The second one that he played in for his true sophomore year, that's when he went nuts. He had 10 sacks, led the Big Ten. He had 28 hurries that year, 15 TFLs, and talking with some former teammates of his of Purdue. this was a guy that and this was an offensive lineman that I talked to at the Shrine Bowl

he said yeah like he has that ability to put on weight and he did so this past year he played at 285 he said today he's down to under 270s in like the mid-260s right now and the sense I get is that that's how he played at Purdue last year so he went to A&M put on a lot of weight

was that by direction from the staff was that something that he felt he needed to you talked about how he wanted to improve his run defense maybe he felt like he needed to get bigger and stronger Well, when he did that, he lost some of that pass rush. All of his pressure rate numbers went down, not just in early downs, but on third down as well. The sacks got cut in half. He went from 10 sacks to five.

He went from six hits to three. So overall, you know, the efficiency as a rusher really declined this year going to the SEC. And so that is a little bit of a worry there for Nick Scorton. But I think when you look at the overall body of work, there's a lot of reasons to be excited about what he could be. but I think that the scheme fit will be important for him. And the reason why I think it's so important for us to discuss edge rusher and, you know, it's the headline of the show. It's the group that not just we spoke to today,

not just they working out tomorrow, not just did the Eagles speak to them two nights ago. But in addition to that, I think it's the position the Eagles might most likely be taking. And because it's a strong Eddresher group, number one, Howie Rosman was as honest could be warning fans that there's going to be, you know, they're not going to be able to keep everybody.

It's a position where they have two guys coming back right now, you know, well, maybe three if we include Bryce Hoff in there, but you know Nolan Smith's going to be part of the team. You know Joe X-Win's going to be part of the team, but they need numbers at that spot. And it's a position that the Eagles prioritize in the first round as well. So that's kind of the framework forward. I'm expecting Josh Sweat to leave.

I'm expecting Josh Swett to get paid quite a bit. But there's one not, he's not listed as a net rusher, but I'm curious what you think. And that's Jahad Campbell. And I bring this up because, what, did you think I was going to go, Jalen Walker? I thought you were going to go Jalen Walker. No, we've already had our Jalen Walker to me. I just want to say, Bo was like, Fran said he's not athletic. Or, no, I shouldn't put words in any route that.

He wants to see his athletic. I wanted to see what his athletic. And he's like, and you didn't. you know you disregarded and then you said he's an athletic player and I was like

well I think he looks athletic I just want to say I was at an amazing dinner with you last night with it was four people who knew a lot about football and you can share who was at that you have permission

so it was it was Franz it was Dean Bruegler your favorite draft analyst it was it was Ben Fannell it was Ben Fennel who does not standing. job and great cassel. Yeah.

And it was like, like the level of conversation was awesome. But I went when one of the people at the table was like, yeah, Jam and Walker, he looks really athletic. I'm like, whoa, just because, you know, because Bo is totally dismissive of my opinion on this. But anyways, yeah, it was an awesome. I learned so much about these, these prospects. And I would try to chime in from time to time, but I did a lot more listening than

then talking was awesome. That was a fun dinner that we usually make a yearly thing out of. So that was a fun conversation. I felt flattered I can join. But Jehad Campbell, I bring him up because look, he's local Timber Creek High School,

went to IMG for his senior year. But I remember him being ranked from a recruiting perspective as an edge rusher coming out of Alabama. I'm sorry, going to Alabama. Sure. And then Alabama played him off ball. But do you think he's someone who's kind of thought to be in that

range in the 20s. Do you think that it's hyperbole or a stretch to say there's Michael Parsons to it where you take a Mike back and you move him to the edge? But do you think he's someone who could be an edge rusher in the NFL? Yeah, to me, I do think that there's a chance that a team views him that way.

To me, when I watched him, I did see a guy that was more athletic than Jalen Walker. I think that he's got that ability to be that mismatch player if he was put down on the line of scrimmage. I mean, he played just over just over 11% of his snaps. down the line of scrimmage. Now, for

comparison's sake, Jalen Walker, he spent 47% of his snows. So we're talking like almost a 50-50 split between off ball and down the line for Walker, whereas Campbell, much more often over the course of his career was lined up in the box as a stacked player, 83% of his snaps stacked off the ball.

And so when you're looking at Campbell, he's had more experience there. I do think that his ability to read the triangle, mentally process, everything's going on. Like, his block recognition skills, not quite to the level that you would want to see. And so I can see where someone would say, we want to see him down the line of scrimmage

and kind of put him in that spot. 6-3-244, he would be an undersized rusher at that size. We'll get the official measurement here in the coming days. But I think when you're looking at Campbell, there is potential that a team could view him that way. And look, that's honestly,

that's how Parsons was viewed. Now, again, like Parsons was such a freak athlete. And Campbell, he's really athletic. I don't know that he's quite that level and that's kind of where I get to like the comparisons with a lot of players in this class like Abdul Carter and Jalen Walker there's levels to all of these comparisons

there's levels to this just like our introduction on our show yes after that was the defensive lineman who you spoke to I was at a women's forum that I'm eager to talk about and we will share both we will share what we learned right after these messages look I want to tell everyone here now about Bet 365.

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We have 15 minutes to go here, and I point that out because typically I would love to go longer, but Fran is the most popular person on Radio Row right now in that, you know, the Pittsburgh Stewards came over and it was like, where's Fran? And, you know, and I know the Arizona Cardinals have, or I should say PNX, the PHNX Cardinals, have their show coming up here.

So we got to be quick off the table here. in the final segment of the show. I wasn't there for the defensive linemen. Who jumped out to you in those conversations and who should fans be watching? Yeah, I think, look, there's a lot of guys to watch tomorrow. You know, I put it on a piece that was available for die-hardt. On my Combine Snub's piece last week about,

or remember the week before now, it's all blending together. But a record, not a record number, but an exorbitant number of defensive tackles here in Indianapolis for the Combine, and a lot of them extremely physically gifted. And so, you know, whether it's the Walter Nolens of the world, who, you know, I know that he was, I'm pretty sure that's who Mel Kuiper had Nolan going there. I really, I find it hard to believe that Nolan would follow the Eagles of 32.

I could be wrong there, but, you know, he was one of the more talented players in this class. So we heard from Nolan today. We heard from a number of the top defensive tackles. Who's my favorite guy? I'm looking at my list and who I talk to. Maybe Vernon Broaden from Texas. Yeah, there was something there. I got some good intel from him.

I love that. You know, so there, yeah, Alfred Collins, I thought he was solid as well, his Texas teammate. So, yeah, there were a number of defensive tackles that all spoke at the podium today. So as much as I wanted to be at the defense tackles today, I was at the women's forum. And it was a real cool event. I was happy I went. And what the women's form is, is it's an annual event here. There are 40 women around the country who, you know, get selected for it, who are trying to get into.

football, whether it's scouting and, you know, trying to get in the scouting, getting in the coaching. And so there were two panels. And the first panel was, I think, 10 graduates of this form, or it was 10, you know, women scouts. They gave great insight, great stories there. And then the next panel was the Eagles panel, which was Nick Siriani, Howie Roseman, Amina Salman. Am I pronouncing you correctly? Yes. Yes. And, and, and, and, and, and, Amina works in the scouting department, and then it was Autumn Lockwood, who works for the performance coaching staff. So it was- Amina is the director of football operations.

Yes. And so it was great insight. You learned a lot about, you know, kind of, well, the stories of Amina and Autumn. And Amina's been there longer, and Autumn's actually a graduate of this program. So it was it was real good perspective and you heard from Howie and Nick about it. Howie was saying it was, you know, that that basically he thinks the strength of the organizations to people. They're looking for the best idea. It doesn't matter who gives it.

It doesn't matter what that person looks like, where that person came from. And he really emphasized like what's that person bringing to the table. And he was very complimentary of different, you know, things that Amina has brought, like, like she's a real good eye for talent. She's, she's real organized. Actually,

Nick gave a good anecdote that Amina did an advanced scout this, this year and came up and, like, and brought him a stat on, you know, some type of turnover stat that Nick actually made his major message to the team. And as the year went on, he told all the advanced scouts,

like, you need to come up with an Amina stat here. And then in Autumn's case, it was it was brought up how healthy the Eagles were for the Super Bowl. They had 21 of 22 starters healthy to play in that game. They played the most games you can play in a season. They played 21 games, and Autumn is a part of that staff. And so it's cool to see that, you know, people from different perspectives,

different backgrounds coming up in the NFL, and the Eagles are, you know, they were used as an example of obviously, Super Bowl champions who have women in the football side of the building. Yeah, I could say from my personal experience, I mean, Amina's awesome. I think she's got an outstanding future in this business. And maybe it has something to do with that Temple education. Who's to say? Who's to say if it all started at North Broad?

Yeah, actually, howie brought that up where she said she's a Philly story, right? That she's someone who came up in, you know, was from Temple. her perspective was no job is too small has an incredible passion for the game and I love that idea of like of you know no job being too small because that's that's so important you know especially when you're starting like you know that's that's one way to get noticed

and that's something that people were talking about but Howie said she is an unbelievable eye for talent an unbelievable eye for team building and then Nick Siriani was talking a lot about like you know the different work that goes on in the staff and how everyone has a role. And like everyone's role is important. And to win the Super Bowl, it takes everybody.

And he used, you know, there was at one point when Amina was speaking. And he's looking at his phone. And I'm like, Nick, you know, I mean, I really like Nick. I've been on record saying that, but I'm like, show some decorum here. You're like texting during the, during the panel. It's a man after your own heart. I would never do that. I would never text during the panel.

And it turns out that he was actually looking up a quote. because something I mean has said kind of triggered a thought in his mind and he brought up a Martin Luther King quote, I don't need to read the whole thing, but if a man is called me a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He said he should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say here live the great street sweeper who did his job well. And so his point was like no matter what the job is, like do that job in an outstanding way. And that's, and that was a major message from Amina to the 40 women who are trying to get into the NFL. That's awesome. Yeah. No, it's, I can tell you, you know, from being in that building, you know, it's something that the Eagles certainly do take a lot of pride in.

And they put their, they walk to walk. You know, I think when you look at not just on the football side, but on the business side as well, certainly are huge, huge support. quarters more so than most teams when it comes to, you know, equality in the workplace and women, women in sports. Yeah. And I'll, I'll just add some of their messages were like reaching out to people,

networking. Yeah, that's something Autumn talked about, you know, introducing yourself, you know, Amina spoke about how when there's a scout hired in the league, you know, she's following Twitter if the Seahawks hire Scout X, who is a female scout,

you know, there's a network. in place there. It's real cool. Something that she actually started a few years ago. So a real good insight there. And I spoke mostly about Amina here, but in Autumn's case, one of the things that came up was like, you know, how, you know, she's got that smile on her face every day. Like, you know, a big message that Howie and Nick said is the amount of work that you put in when you're at the team, you know, you're there all the time.

Like, you have to, people have to want to be around you. Right. And, you know, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, my life's not the great characteristics of autumn. So, uh, cool event. I will have more on that on phtel.com. I am, I am, I am leaving tomorrow. Okay. I usually like, flight. Flight at 7.30 a.m. in the morning. Yeah. Uh, I typically like to stay. until the weekend,

talk to more people, maybe check out a workout or two. I will not be doing that. I will be in studio with Bo tomorrow, in studio with Bo on Friday, looking forward to seeing Julia as well. But if you can just give the viewers, listeners, a sense of what's coming up here

because you did talk about how there's different stages to the combine. I think you spoke about that on yesterday's show, and we kind of shift to a different stage as the weekend approaches. Yeah, and I will say we have our P.H.O.I. Draft show that's going to come out tomorrow. So Thursday on our YouTube page, on the podcast feed. And Bo and I go through like basically my entire process, basically for the rest of the week, very detailed. What we're into? I think we spent like 40 minutes going through it. But the abridged version of it is, yeah, I mean, we're going to have player availability every morning for the next now three days. So what's Today's Wednesday. So we have Thursday, Friday, Saturday mornings.

And basically whoever speaks, the next day is when they work out. So that's what we heard from the front seven today. The front seven works out tomorrow. We have the DBs tomorrow morning. DBs work out on Friday. So it will go in that cadence. Next we have the will have skill players and then the offensive linemen. And I think when, you know, what we'll get then as well is obviously we have the drills.

Thursday, Lucas Oil Stadium. The drill start early in the afternoon. I believe the broadcast starts at 3 p.m. Eastern on NFL Network. so you can catch all that action there. But yeah, you're going to get obviously all the athletic testing, but the positional workouts. You can check out the episode with Beau, but then also check out my cheat sheets.

You can check out all the drills that I am most focused in on. I am a big proponent's act of the positional work, not necessarily. I'm going to be honest, like during the 40s, I might be like doing some transcribing and like I'll be doing that stuff. I'll get all of those numbers. But once they start the positional workouts, that's when I will be trying to, you know,

collected as much info as possible. I went through my entire note-taking process. I've got a binder that's like this thick that I used to go through my notes from the combine. So no, I'm excited for that part of the week to get going. And is there benefit being in person for those as opposed to watching on television?

For me, yes, because one of the things that I try and do in terms of like the evaluation, this is my opportunity to try and body type players. And you're trying to get a sense of how guys are put together. Because even here, like, you know, they're wearing their baggy sweatsuits. so you really can't get a sense of like how a guy is built. You know, we're looking at like, you know, their lower half.

We're looking at how guys are built that way without getting into specifics. I know Bo will be, we'll be, you know, giving me problems about it later. But when you're looking at how those guys are built, seeing them out there, you know, in their tights, you know, in their, in their, their t-shirt and underwear, that you can get a little bit of a better sense of that as opposed to divinity. And the population, for lack of a. better term here at the combine. Does it change come the weekend? Right? Is it like, you know, now, you know, you get the, you get the normies out of there. And it's like now it's, it's, it's, it's you. It's Dane, it's Ben, it's great. You guys have to seek her handshake. Yeah. If you stay through the weekend. Is that right? Yeah. And it's, I mean, you know from going to the media

availability as you get through the week, it comes increasingly easier to be able to get to as many of those players as possible. Today, Thursday is always the hardest because, most of the media is still here. But Friday's a little bit easier. Thursday's a little bit easier. Friday's a little bit easier. Saturday, I can get to every single player. And it's almost like that I want to make sure

that I'm able to get to them before the PR staff ushers them out. And, yeah, getting into the stadium is great because, you know, again, you're kind of filtering out the people that are there for the event versus, you know, everything that's going on around the event. How about the quarterback throwing? Is that something that matters to you? Yeah, I definitely want to be able to see that. And again, a lot of this, you know, for scouts and for teams, it's not as big because they've already seen, you know, Shadoranardt throw.

They've already seen Cam Ward throw. But for me, this would be my first opportunity to see either guys throw. I saw Jackson Dart. You know, I saw the guys that were again. I saw Jalen Milrow at the Senior Bowl. But, you know, being able to be able to see these guys for the throw for the first time, that is something that is important. I think it's vital to the evaluation. I can put you on the spot.

Who are two players you're most eager to speak with and who are two players you're most eager to watch? to watch. The watch is easier. Because honestly to speak with, like, because I'm often asking about their guys' teammates, to me,

like the perfect sweet spot, you know, a sweet spot for the people to speak with are the, like, lesser known power five players. Oh, interesting.

Okay. So like Georgia defensive tackle, Tyrion, Ingram Dawkins. No one's done. No, you're going to get a lot of category reports out there

on Ingram Dawkins. You know, he's not on anybody's top 100. Big Board for the most part as far as far as I understand. But I could talk to a Georgia defensive lineman about guys that are in the pipeline, guys that are in this class. I can talk, get some stuff about Jalen Walker, about Michael Williams and Malachi Starks.

And you go right down the list. And so being able, you know, finding those guys the rest of this week, that's, that is the invalid. So that's the perfect example of a player I want to try and target to talk to. And then to be able to see, it'll be your boy, Jalen Walker. Okay. I think that that is an extremely important one. And I'll stick with tomorrow just because it'll be timed out by then.

Azarku. I think that's another one. For the guys that are a little bit smaller on the edge, you have to test like a big time athlete, in my opinion. I love that. I would say make sure you're checking out all France coverage, but I say that every day. By this point, you already know that.

Our Eagles coverage coming up on all-ph-l-y.com, there will be a story from Nick Siriani that will be later today or tomorrow. I have some exclusive insight from Howie and Nick on the Super Bowl that should come out tomorrow. I'll kind of wrap up some combine thoughts at the end of the week. Bo and I have shows these next two days. And then starting next week, we go all to free agency before I finish up. Thank you to everyone watching on Fast.

You can watch the last 30 seconds of the show on YouTube. But we pivot to free agency next week. This calendar turned real quick, you know. and next week we'll have five shows looking at free agency what the Eagles can do different positions we'll do our quacketology at the end of the week because after next week Monday the following week that is when free agency opens that is when players are going to start to leave and I would say that if the Eagles are going to add a player or I'm sorry if the Eagles are going to keep a player they might want to do it next week before someone hits the open market

so I'm expecting Zach Bond to be a priority for the Eagles if the Eagles leave the combine with a sense of Zach Bond's price, and it's a number that Zach Bond's happy with. The Eagles have not been shy in the past about signing someone right before they hit the market. They did that with Vinnie Curry, our own, you know, I shouldn't say our own, our partner of Vinny Curry.

They did that in the past with Sam Bradford. So pay attention to that next week. We will have all your coverage on p.hly.com and the P.HLY Eagles show. I am signing off from Indy, any last words for the audience before we pivot to completely, you know, kind of all-city draft stuff. Yeah, no, so look, just keep following along.

Make sure you're a diehard so you can check out all the notes and all the cheat sheets and everything that we've got going on there. I'll be trying to post updates as fast as possible. Like that will be my priority every night after workouts. Go in, get my notes from that binder digitally and then copy and paste that all possible. So if it's not that night, it will be, you know, in the ensuing days and hours to follow. That's friend Duffy, the best draft insider in the business.

I am Zach Berman. We thank the PHNX crew for helping us here today. We thank Julia back in the studio. We will be back tomorrow. As Bo will say, as always, we love you. As I will say, we'll do better next time. Thanks for watching.