PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Eagles training camp: Kelee Ringo, Jihaad Campbell and more players who changed minds through three weeks

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

The Philadelphia Eagles are now through three weeks of training camp. Rich Hofmann, who has not seen a second of camp, asks EJ Smith, who has seen every second of camp, which Eagles players have seen their stock rise and fall: Kelee Ringo, Jihaad Campbell, Darius Cooper and plenty of players as the Eagles get closer to cutting down to their 53-man roster. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Everybody, happy Friday and welcome to the P-H-L-Y Eagles podcast. I got a new guy, for at least for me, not a new guy for you guys this week, but I got a new guy over here. My friend, E.J. Smith. E.J., welcome to the team. Handsome Rich. It's good to be up here with you. You know, I obviously understand the origin of the handsome rich nickname because, I mean,

come on, look at the guy. But who gave you that name? Who coined the name, Handsome Rich? Well, it was Mr. Bowulf, and it was also he, who shall not be named, I believe. Okay. That's how we're going about it, too. Bo's never called me handsome, so you got a leg up.

Well, you know, you can spend a lot of time. He'll have some thoughts on your appearance and everything. All right. By the way, I should mention that we are the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast live from the Xfinity Studio presented by Xfinity, DoDat Dental, and True Mark Financial Credit Union. You've done great, man. It's been, you know, these podcasting five days a week, it's a new, it's probably a new experience for you. I'm excited to join up with you and also have you as part of the show for the fall.

It's going to be fun. You go should be pretty good. I've got a lot of unhinged takes, and this is a great platform for me to get those off of my chest. So, you know, I think they'll get we're and weirder as we get going here. But, no, it's been a lot of fun first week for sure. Let's do it. Okay. So, E.J., the way we were going to do today's show, and this was your idea, I thought this was a good idea.

You have watched every second of training camp. I have watched zero seconds of training camp. You are objective when you cover the team and you... I try to me. You try to call it like you see it. I am very invested in whether they win or lose the games. So two different perspectives. And we figured let's ask each other some questions about, you know, you ask me sort of

the fan idea, how you're feeling about this player, all of these things. And I ask you, what the heck is going on at training camp? I'm reading all of the daily reports, including yours, at all p.hll.com, but I'm not watching it. You know, I don't have a good feel for what exactly is going on. I mean, I watched the preseason game, but you are just at such an information advantage compared to me. I need you to tell me what's going on, man. Yeah, I've got a lot of stuff that's probably in like the recesses of my mind that I'm hoping you can help pull out. You know, maybe there's something that I saw a week ago and it's like, now that you mention it, that did happen at practice. So I'm

I figured this would be a good exercise. And honestly, I've got some things, you know, listen, as someone who can, you know, is guilty of being in the weeds at times, maybe I spent a little bit too much time thinking about the 53rd guy on the roster, even the 55th guy on the roster. You know, maybe you have some broad strokes questions for me here. So I'm excited to do this. I think it'll be a good exercise. Well, you will fit in well on the show where, you know, the Dylan McMahon release is still

seared in everybody's mind. I think the 53rd man, hey, look, we got to get invested in the small stuff. sometimes. So I think that is just as important as, you know, are they going to win week one? Who knows? Okay. So the first question I have for you, and I guess we should make this, Julia, the big takeaway, Xfinity, the big takeaway, Xfinity, where the Wi-Fi is booming. And E.J, this is a very simple question. What has changed your mind, either positive or negative, the most in these three weeks of training camp football? Compared to you show up on, I think it was July, 23rd, 25th, compared to sitting next to me now.

You've watched a lot of practice. What has changed your mind? What player, what area of the team position do you think about differently? And it can be positive or negative. Yeah, you know, I think, honestly, the linebacking core stands out to me because obviously we knew that Jehad Campbell was a talented player. We didn't know exactly where he was going to play. And his stock has risen so much over the last couple of weeks.

And, you know, I don't really, I can't really envision this Eagles defense without Jihad Campbell playing some sort of role. And I think that that is a step forward from where we were going into the summer. We didn't know if he was going to be healthy, you know, for the first practice. And we didn't know, again, what his role really was going to look like. Now I'm at a point where I can't wait to see him and Zach Bond lined up as the two linebackers and a big fan geo defense. And I think, honestly, I think that's going to be one of the biggest assets for.

for that defense this year. We'll talk about the secondary later in the show, I'm sure. But those two guys, the versatility that they possess, and really how much Jahad Campbell has stood out physically, I think that he is not only going to be somebody who has a big role in the defense, I think he has the potential to be a difference maker right out the bat or right off the jump.

And that is a big difference from where I was when they drafted him. I was a little bit surprised when they drafted him. I didn't expect him to go off ball linebacker in the first round. You know, Hallie Roseman talked about his edge versatility, and I wondered if, where they're going to try and sneak him out at edge rusher, I think that he is a Zach Bonn mirroring linebacker for this team from week one onward.

And I think that that is, again, seeing it all the time at training camp, I think that that is going to be a really exciting thing for that front seven. I'm very excited for that too. I mean, one of my favorite things that I saw last year was Zach Bond on those overhang blitzes where, I mean, he was just very versatile. And then, you know, the Eagles got, I would say, a little bit fortunate because it's rare. for a guy who is a situational edge rusher slash special teamer for most of his career to at 28 years old just be, you know, the best off ball linebacker in the league and lead the league's best defense. But you also saw that versatility.

And when you mentioned mirroring, I think it will be cool that, you know, Nicopi Dean was not doing quite as much of stuff last year. Yeah, he doesn't have quite a versatility for sure. But I've seen some six-man fronts the last few days. And like, and when you think of it. about Zach Bonn and Jihad Campbell, they both can do that type of stuff, you know, especially we've seen some instances where like a Jalen Carter or Amoro, a Jomo, you know,

shift out to that defensive end, five technique look where, you know, they are a little bit further out. I could see some really exotic fronts because of the fact that you have those guys who can line up from all different parts of the field. Oh, baby. Uncle Vic cooking up some nasty stuff in the lab.

Yeah, no, I think that that's the interesting part of it where you have Jehad Campbell. what have you made of Jihad Campbell as a past defender so far? Because I think in training camp, the run game, even though it seems like they, you know, they ran the ball pretty well against the Browns over the past few days. You can't really get a lot from the run game because there's no tackling. Sometimes it's like, you know, a guy I'll play two-hand touch.

And it's like, would you actually have gotten Sequin Barkley on the ground? Probably not, but we don't know. What have you made, though? You can take a little bit more from the past stuff. What have you seen from Jihad Campbell as a past defender? It seems like it's been a little bit different in terms of the zone defense. It's been a little bit better than the man stuff. I kind of think that's okay because the Eagles play a lot of zone defense.

So that's good. But what have you seen there? Yeah, I think you definitely need to separate the man coverage from the zone coverage. In zone coverage, I think he will be comfortable. He's had some past breakups. He actually, the first play of the game or first play of practice yesterday, he had a PBA against Joe Flacco on throw over the middle of the field. Now, the man coverage, I don't think you really want him manned up against running backs.

with a two-way go very often. And that is not really that surprising, like you mentioned. It is not something, it's a tough assignment for a linebacker. He's had his troubles in man coverage against running backs coming out of the backfield for sure. But I think more what I'm, you know, what I want to see over time is his ability to look for extra work. Like that's one of Zach Bond's trademark things is that if there's nobody in his zone,

he's going to float, he's going to try and find extra responsibilities outside of the scheme. That's like a 200 or a 300 level course for a player. I don't think Jehad Campbell is quite there yet, but I do think he can get there because he does look comfortable in zone coverage coverage. Even when he is that overhang player, he is able to kind of drop into his own and find, you know, just cover up ground. You know, he's such a, his athleticism is what stands out the most. He is very physical, but he's taller than most linebackers. He is quicker than a lot of the linebackers I've seen come through the Eagles. I mean, we haven't talked about Jeremiah Trotter Jr. or Smile Mondin yet.

It's just about to get there, yeah. The depth that they have there, like Jehad Campbell hasn't. like been gifted this job. Like Jeremiah Trader Jr. has done a good job all summer. Smileal Mondin, like I've been, I was, I was talking to Fran about this the other day. Like, Smile Mondin would start on almost every Jim Schwartz defense that I covered while he was a defensive coordinator. I mean, he is a solid player.

He's going to be, I think he's almost overqualified for the Oren Burke's, you know, first linebacker off the bench in special teams ace role. So again, the fact that Jehad Campbell is penciled in, in my opinion, for the week one starting lineup, he has worked hard. He has earned that. It was not given to him. And yeah, no, I think it's exciting. I think his upside at that position is just really apparent after watching the last few weeks.

It is very odd to read about how the Eagles linebacking depth is excellent. And, you know, we talked about over the past few years, there's probably not 64 starting level linebackers in the NFL. And they might have three. They might have four. It seems like Trot doesn't really have a path to playing time. but the idea that he's at least in the right place every time, I've seen a lot of Eagles linebackers over the past few years who have been in the wrong place who are playing every down.

So it is a little bit weird. I wonder, do you think there's a chance that they might trade from a position of strength if they have other roles on the roster? I don't know. I'm just kind of making that up now that we're talking about it. It's a good thought. I feel like this position group in particular, none of them have enough like cache necessarily where I feel like the value is going to warrant a trade.

Makes sense. Now like I think Nkoby Dean, that is an interesting conversation next off season is like, you know, is Jeremiah Trotter Jr. ready to kind of step into that Nacobie Dean role? And if not, you know, what do you think about Smile Mondin as that third linebacker? I think that they might have a hard decision to make this time next off season. But yeah, I don't know if there's enough trade value for any of those guys quite yet. I mean, poor Niko. I know, right.

Whenever he comes back, you know, I'm sure the Eagles are telling him, hey, just like, take your time. We want you back when you're, you're fully healthy, but, you know, is he going to play? Is he? And he was, he was very good. Now, you're right that Zach Bond was the more dynamic linebacker. He was, he was the one who was really kind of keeping everybody together. Yeah, but Nacobi played that. Yeah, absolutely.

He was rock solid. And yeah, he's definitely gotten like the Wally Pip treatment a little bit here where he's just been sideline. It looks like he's, he does his rehab assignments before practice. and it looks like he's making good progress. But yeah, he's, I mean, he's watching just like the rest of us, watching Jihad Campbell kind of run away with this opportunity. Poor Nikobe.

He's a guy. I love Nikobe. That's a guy. Yeah, it was a bummer that he got hurt. I mean, Orrin Berks, though. What a job by him stepping up. Okay. So I'm happy that, and I think this is a breath of fresh air on this podcast,

starting with something positive, right? You know, starting that the linebacking core, Jahad Campbell and the depth have changed your mind in a positive way. All right. Now it's time. for me to rain you back in a little bit. What has changed your mind the most in a negative way?

And then I'll let you ask me a couple questions. You know, I went in the training camp in the Keely Ringo hive. So, and it's been a tough experience the last couple of weeks for Keely Ringo and the people in the Keely Ringo hive. So, yeah, I think the outside cornerback job stands out as the most,

it's just the fact that you feel worse about it now than you did when you went into training camp because nothing has changed. Like, nobody has run away with the job. You know, going into training camp, I thought Keely Ringo had ever, I thought they would give Keely Ringo every chance to win this job.

I think they really kind of have, and he just has not been able to run away with it. He has been chaotic in a way that you don't want your second outside corner to be chaotic. He's been giving up big plays. He has not been able to make routine plays on the ball. He's kind of got that Ronald Darby, you know, trait where it's, and that was a point that bow made,

I don't want to take credit for his point here. Just in case he's watching at home. I don't want to jump in in the chat, you know, saying, how dare you? It's like I know the guy, right? But yeah, he's got that Ronald Darby trait where he's in good position but isn't making plays on the ball. Now, the problem with that is the reason I was in the Keely Ringo Hive is because I do think that he has a very, I think his ceiling is incredibly high. He has the physical attributes to be a rock solid cornerback. He does not have the technique and he doesn't have really the instincts yet to really flourish in that role.

And I think we've seen that this summer. And yeah, I think it's a major, I think if you're asking me like what are some of my major concerns going into the season for the Eagles? Outside corner is at or near the top of the list because it is a weak link system. It is something that, you know, that second corner is going to get targeted a lot. Quinnian Mitchell didn't get thrown at as a rookie and he looks even better this summer than he did last year. So yeah, it's a major concern. and I think Keeley Ringo is really kind of at the fore of that concern because I think the Eagles kind of wanted him to take that next step this summer.

Wrote about that today in the newsletter, the weak link theory, it's I think the Eagle secondary from everything you guys have been talking about, it seems like it has the chance to be like one of the best test cases because Quinnian Mitchell, it sounds like, I'm thinking like this is like Dorel Revis in his prime, just, you know, the fact that he is apparently winning one-on-one reps pretty regularly against AJ Brown. That's impossible. That should not be possible. So you have one guy who's completely ascended.

You have a guy in Cooper DeGine who, you could just look at his age, he's 22 years old. He's just going to continually get better. And people laughed at the number 60 placement on that top 100 list. I kind of laughed at it a little bit too. But still, like he's super valuable in terms of being able to stay

in nickel and also defend the run at a high level you have read. And also you can listen to exciting mics wherever you get your podcast, by the way. You feel very good about Reed as well. Those other two spots, particularly quarterback two, because I think we knew safety. All right, that could be a little dicey.

You have no idea what's going on. The fact that quarterback two or quarterback two is completely unsettled. Nobody has really taken that job. I wonder if we're going to see how valuable is it to have those star players in your secondary when you also have some weak links. Kyle, Kyle's over there. He's about to do the Sixers podcast in basketball. calls it the Hunt the Bozo

office. Now, I wonder if Keely Ringo or whoever wins that pillow fight at CB2 is the is the Hunt of Bozo player. By the way, too, I should also mention, like, Vic Fangio is still here and he's going to be able to scheme, he's going to try to scheme around this. We just talked about Jahad Campbell and Zach Bonn.

They're also here to help out and kind of pass off some of the receivers in those zones. Like you said, I mean, Zach Bonn, the fact that he's at a 200 or 300 graduate course level, like, again, he's been in school for, you know, 12 months. The fact that he was doing that in the Super Bowl at a high level is just what an outlier

career path that he's had. But yeah, I would say if the Eagle season goes wrong, that's one of my big worries is that it doesn't matter as much to have the top players if players, let's say, 9 through 11 are weak spots. And hopefully we don't have to find out. Hopefully, Kili Ringo, like you said, he has the tools to get better. Real quick, E.J. This is a pretty dumb thought, but it's just in my head. So, you know, you mentioned things in the recesses of your mind.

Kili Ringo, from everything I read, it seems like he's in okay position when the ball is thrown. And then when the ball is thrown, he's like a madding guy who tries to use user picks. Yeah. But he stinks at it. But he stinks and he jumps out of the way. And by the way, that is exactly what happened to him on the Jamar Chase touchdown. One play I did see from him, maybe just like tell him, just don't worry about the ball. You know, just don't worry about the ball.

Just try and hit the guy. I don't know. I think the fact that he is having so much trouble when the ball is in the air, just, just worry about the guy, man. Yeah, I think his problem is a lot of the times he's not locating it at all. So he's literally, he's just looking at the receiver as the receiver brings a pass in. So I think it's a technique thing because, again, like, you know, Christian Parker, the Eagles defensive backs coach, he has talked about ball skills.

Ball skills come from being in good position, being where you're supposed to be. being able to be free to locate the ball. I think he is, I think it, whether it's because he's not in good position or he doesn't trust his position, he's just not willing to get his head around. That's always like the classic thing, right?

He's like, oh, he didn't get his head around. So I think in theory, like you maybe wish that he would just like kind of play through the receiver every time the ball gets there. But I don't know.

I think that Christian Parker probably would disagree with us on this one. Yeah, well, look, I'm just saying if it gets so bad that you don't have any like viable starting quarterback, it'd be like, Keeley, just play through the ball. get a couple pass interferences per game, but, you know, like, there won't be any run after the catch.

He's had a share of pass interferences as well. Okay. Well, yeah. Yeah. And to your earlier point about, like, being able to scheme ways around it, it's hard to scheme up an outside cornerback. Those guys are on an island. You know, the safety position, we can talk about that. I think there are ways you can insulate whoever is out there. But outside corner, that is Hunt the Bozo territory, for sure. Well, so that's one of my biggest fears for the year. And I wanted Keely Ringo to succeed. I thought, you know, in the middle of that Matt Patricia mess at the end of the 2020 three season,

I know Kili Ringo, I was like, I was a little bit interested in his tape. He had some good reps, I thought that Seahawks game in particular. I thought he did some pretty good stuff. But yeah, it seems like it has been a little bit

of a tough camp room. All right. We'll figure it out. I mean, hey, look, do you think that it could be a case where struggling in camp sometimes can be misleading?

I'm trying to give the optimist fan take right now. The Patrick Robinson example is always the one that I give. where he was just, he was a disaster of the entire camp. And part of it was the Eagles passing offense was great that year. And he was also playing the wrong position as well. So Kili Ringo doesn't have that benefit. They're playing him where they want to play.

Yeah. Yeah. I think there is an argument to be made that you go into the season with either him or Mac McWilliams just because they have upside, theoretically at least. Adori Jackson, I guess he does also have upside to settle into the new scheme. Jacorian Bennett, same thing. That's competency. Right.

Yeah. If you go with that. But those two guys, especially. Keeley, there still is a ceiling there for him. And, you know, is there a world where he has, like, maybe a similar path to, I mean, not, I wouldn't say Cooper to Gene because Cooper to Gene didn't play. But the Eagle secondary as a whole, if you remember at the beginning of last season, they did not look as good as they obviously developed into, especially tackling-wise, they struggled a lot. So is there a world where Keeley Ringo gets a few games under his belt, settles in,

and starts to look more like the player that the Eagles and I think a lot of us envisioned he could be, it's a risky proposition to make. You know, I think the Eagles probably wish that they already had an answer at Outside Corner. I think pushing it into the regular season to daunting tasks. So, yeah, if you ask me, I think that Mac Mac Williams

is starting to look more and more like a real option at that position. I just think, you know, you look at the draft pedigree, you look at, you know, the players that he's competing with and maybe that gives you pause. But honestly, this is the reality

of building a top-heavy roster. You have to find day three players, undrafted players, read Blankenship is a great example. You have to find those guys and they have to be competent starters for you. If you're going to have the Zach Bonds and eventually the Jalen Carter's

and the Nolan Smiths, if you're going to have these high level players that make a lot of money, you have to be able to balance it with some diamonds in the rough like maybe a Mac Mac Mac Williams. Would you say that Mac Mac McWilliams, I think tomorrow Mac Mac Mac Mac Williams,

he's one of the players I'm most interested in watching, especially if they play him on the outside. Yeah, I think they will. He's played on the outside. the last couple of practices, all of the joint practices, it's a huge game for him. I mean, he's going to get a chance here to really enter that competition. I think he's already kind of on the fringes of it. As long as it stays wide open, I think it really opens the door for him to kind

of like make himself a real contender for it. I just want him to be good because of his name. Mack McWilliam. That's a great name. All right. Let's take a break and hear from a few of our friends. And then E.J. on the other side will ask me a few questions. about how I am feeling. And first, let's talk about Rocket Money. Guys, with prices going up on just about everything lately, being smart with your money isn't just a good idea. It is essential.

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which really marks the end of what was an unforgettable summer for the Smiths, Rich. You know, we hiked through Yosemite National Park and had plenty of quality time at home with the dogs, hosting cookouts, going for evening walks to the nearby park, and of course, getting some lawn mowing in, a little lawn mowing action. The common denominator for all those summer adventures, we wanted our clothes to feel comfortable. Everybody knows how bad it feels when your clothing is a limiting factor for an otherwise memorable day or trip. Whether you're going to the gym or spending a night out, you want breathable clothes that keep you cool, comfortable and stylish, which is perfect for the summer.

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That's M-A-C-K-W-E-L-D-O-N dot com. promo code P-H-L-Y. Love a Mac Weldon. And before we get going again, I want to remind you of the P-H-L-Y and Philly Sports Trips NHL Road Trip. We are going to California for the all-off. ultimate Flyers getaway. They are taking diehards for the California takeover with Flyers legend, John Lickler, not the Claire.

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all the national parks. I called Yosemite Yellowstone for months before our trip. I didn't realize the difference between the two. One's in California. The one thing about Yellowstone that I didn't know, and this is so stupid. It's huge. I mean, it's so big, man. It's in Wyoming. It's in Montana. A little bit of it is in Idaho. And I was with a group of friends, actually. And I remember we kind of had certain spots to go to. There was an itinerary laid out for all of us, which was fantastic. And for me, it was easy to follow. So we went to the first place and I was like, this is cool. We saw some, you know, some hot springs and, you know, a national park, you know. Anyway, we went to the second spot, which was old faithful. I was like, okay, this will be like a 20 minute drive.

No, no, no, hour 40 away from where we were in Montana. So you had to throw on a little bit of a podcast or something. On the P.H.O.I. Eagle Show, right? Yeah, well, you know, unfortunately, I was out. You know, I had already listened to all of them. Anyway, Yellowstone is a beautiful place. The hiking was great. And, yeah, get some Mack Weldon, too.

Yeah, I honestly, and this is to show how much I need the McWeldon shipment here, we did the Mist Trail at Yosemite, which is like a waterfall. You basically are walking up the side of a waterfall, which is really great experience. And my in-laws packed these ponchos to keep us all. all dry. Smart. I'm a bigger guy.

So, you know, whenever somebody gives me something like that, I'm always a little bit, how is it going to fit, you know? So I, but I trusted in the poncho and. Trust the poncho. TTP, yes. And they gave me, they, so they said that they had saved these ponchos from when they had taken my wife and her little sister to Niagara Falls. They probably went on this trip when they were little kids.

They gave me the poncho. Everybody else has got a much older poncho. Yeah, it's like probably like a 15 year old poncho. Okay. They all, everybody else is wearing the poncho and you know, my in-laws, they're smaller people. So they're all fine. And I'm looking at it like, it looks like it'll fit. And I put this thing on.

I can't get it past like here on me. It's like a bib. Oh my goodness. And I'm like ripping holes in it to try and get it to fit. And I'm just at some point I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to have to suck it up and deal with this here. So I take the poncho off and I'm like soaking wet by the time we get to the top here, or the top of this waterfall. And then at some point, like while we were sitting at the top, my mother-in-law goes,

You know, I think I gave you my youngest daughter's poncho from 20 years ago. Like the biggest guy on the trip, I gave you the 10 year old poncho, the 10 year olds poncho. So this is like a kid poncho. And it's like, at least it made me feel a little bit better about myself that, you know, I wasn't like the poncho. It was the poncho's fault, not my fault. It was the poncho's fault. But still, it wasn't your fault.

It was definitely a tough look. I was not wearing a nice breathable mac weldin shirt. I was wearing a shirt that was probably 40 pounds by the time we got to the top of that, top of that waterfall. I love that that poncho has seen just some of our country's greatest natural wonders. Niagara Falls, Yosemite. Can we take it to the grand cat? I don't know.

No, you can't take that poncho anywhere now. Is it done? It is, yeah. Pancho is retired, courtesy of me ripping holes in it to try and get it to fit. Well, rest in peace to that poncho. It lived a good life. It lived a good life. On a related note, I had this for a little later in the pod, but since we're talking about being outside,

Yeah. Here's a question for you. It's pretty hot outside. Yes. And as somebody who has been to some of these Eagles training camp practices, they can get pretty hot. There's not a lot of shade. Now, when I have covered these practices, EJ, I have been in a support role, kind of a, you know, helping out maybe doing a specific feature on one of the players or coaches on the team. So when I was trying to keep cool, which was very difficult, I could like hang out like, you know, next to the.

the bleachers. I really only had to focus on one or two players. But you, you have to write down notes for the entire practice. You have to post them on the site afterwards and let all of the Eagles fans know what the heck happened at practice that day. So what are your tips for staying cool on a 90 degree day with no cloud in the sky while also having to pay attention and kind of be close to the action? You know, there are veteran moves that I don't use enough, which is, I like to call it the Damo towel. My former colleague Paul Damo which would bring like a wet, like a cold wet towel and put it on his neck.

That's a strong move. Or it would just be a dry towel that you could wipe sweat from. And I've always said this is the year I'm breaking out the Domotel, but I haven't done it yet. I'd say the tricks of the trade that I like to use, maybe during a special teams period, you kind of duck into one of the tents that they have for the fans. You go to like the cooler.

They have like, you know, the coolers for the water. You just dunk your hand as far into it as you can. Wow. And you grab a bottle. But really what you want to do is you want to get your hand really cold and then just like rub the bottle is the water is secondary. Yeah, you want you want a cold hand on the back of your neck. That is like my number one like can fix everything at training camp. Beyond that, it's a lot of stuff that I wish that I did, but I don't have like the bravery to do.

Like the bucket hat, I think a bucket hat would be amazing at training camp, but I just can't do. But I can't do the bucket hat. Why not? I've been accused of having main character syndrome at times. And I feel like everyone would be looking at me if I had the bucket hat. They'd be like, what's up with this guy in his bucket hat? You're tall, so you, yeah, it would be, everybody would see your bucket hat if you were, if you were one of the not as tall, beat right or some not, not mentioning anybody in particular.

Then you see somebody like Mike Quick walking around with the bucket hat, and it's like, well, that guy, niceest guy ever, Mike Quick. So shout out to Mike Quick. All right. I think you should try the bucket hat, though. I think if it keeps you cool. I love the reach the arm in the full bucket. So do people, I mean, Eagles fans probably know who you are.

Does anybody be like, do any of those fans be like, DJ, what are you doing? I mean, I think the tense are reporter friendly. Now, listen, I'm not in there with getting like some chickies and Pete's French fries or something like that. But I try to make my trips into their very brief. It's really just to get my hand as cold as possible as quickly as possible. Is it one hand or two? It's usually just one hand for me.

That's amazing. I'm so happy to hear this. If I ever cover another camp, I will be doing the move that I am now dubbing the EJ. The EJ? just submerging my half my body into the cold I yeah I try and do it and I just fall completely in one of those where my feet are hanging out it's just comical yeah all right what do you got for me all right so I think this is topical to what we were talking about before uh which is if you could get into a time machine and go back to the eve of free agency and you let's say you ran into

howie Roseman on the side of you know walk in maybe from me your favorite restaurant or something like that, right? He's a foodie, too. Yeah, maybe. And I feel like you're kind of a foodie as well. Not really. You have good taste in restaurants. I'll give you credit for that.

So let's say that you run into Howie Rose, when out to dinner and you say, Howie, I am from the future. Do not let blank leave in free agency. Which player are you using this golden opportunity to salvage for these 2025, 2026 Eagles? You know, at the time, I actually might have said,

Mackay Bechting because I would have said, you know, like why mess with a good thing? That offensive line was, was awesome last year. Mackay Bechtin was almost definitely your weak link on that offensive line, but he's still one of the best run blockers from the guard position that I've ever seen. It's going to be a pretty reasonable salary-ask, but just from reading up on the training camp, my guy, Tyler Steen, who has filled in, done a decent job over the past few years. There's been ups and downs for sure. I don't want to say.

Yeah, but he's looked good this summer for sure. Yeah. And he has stepped up and it seems like he's sort of the anti-Keeley where he's, he's sort of taken the position, which good, by the way, because there's no real offensive line depth behind him. You guys mentioned this yesterday and I think this is probably the right call. And I think when I'm running into Howie on the street, this hypothetical scenario, I'm going to say, Howie, you spent a lot of money at this restaurant that you were just in.

I mean, you're a foodie. You're really, I'm sure you were buying up the place, you know, this fancy place. In NFL terms, I'm not going to ask you to get the, the main course on the menu. I'm just going to ask you to get one of your debt players back for next season. And I'm stealing this from yesterday's pod because you guys mentioned it. But I think Isaiah Rogers would be the guy. So you know Isaiah Rogers and not Darius Slay like Bowen?

Well, the thing with Darius Slay is that he was awesome last year when he played. He is a modern Marvel, I will say. I am a little scared of that he is what now, 34 years old. At some point, there's going to be some decline. And maybe it's not this year because he was still an awesome player for all of last year. We talk about the week link theory. When Darius Lay is in your secondary, he's not your weak link. I actually think C.J. G.J. was the, you know, he had to be the weak link because the other guys were all good.

But C.J. G.J.J. is also a very good player as well. Yeah, Darius Slay, what did Darius Slay sign for in the option? It was one year, eight million. and that's, Rogers was just slightly underneath that. So they were very similar in terms of the cap hit. I don't think you're getting savings

from one or the other. It's really just which one you prefer as a player. That's tough. That's tough because obviously Slay... One year, 10 million for Darius. If Slay is the guy that we saw last year,

then that's a no-brainer. But recent Eagles history have shown that, you know, when you have those cornerbacks in their 30s, one year they can be awesome. James Bradbury the next year should not be playing football,

probably. Yeah. So that's a tough one. I'm going to say Isaiah Rogers just because he's a younger player. And, you know, at that time, too, you would say, look, if Keely Ringo is going to win this job, Isaiah Rogers is not somebody that has to necessarily start. There's not going to be an issue in your locker room. So if Kili Ringo is going to take that job, he's going to, like, earn it from Isaiah Rogers.

But, you know, Isaiah Rogers isn't going to cause a fuss if he is not starting as well. So I'm going to still say the gambler, Isaiah Rogers, but I think you do make a good point. If you have Darius Lay from last year, then sure, that would be the guy that you would pick. Yeah, and even last year, Darius Lay played 81% of the Eagles defensive snaps, which is fewer than you would have imagined based off of his... I feel like you want to get out early on that. It's like, it's like that was awesome. Darius Lay is a world champion.

I have nothing but fond things to say about him, except when he, you know, starts podcasting with, with Michael Parsons every once in a while. But besides that, like Darius Lay, just, why don't we leave on a good note? Yeah. And let's see this. let's have the Steelers find out what a 34-year-old cornerback can do. 81% of the snaps. That's crazy.

I mean, yeah, because you think about it. Like, the reason we know so much about Isaiah Rogers is because Darius Slate did miss sometime last year. So, yeah, and I think that is probably the cautionary tale there. I think I lean toward Isaiah Rogers as well. You know, going into training camp, maybe I would have, I think I still would have leaned corner, probably. So I think Isaiah Rogers is the answer. If you told me that he was the weak link in that secondary, I'd probably feel a lot more confident about the secondary. And as CDP points out, uh, bringing Slayback, there's too many podcasters

in that secondary. Quinyon Mitchell is the, is the silent assassin. Quinyon, he's probably like, he's, he's lowest on the power rankings of like most likely to start a podcast. I mean, he seems like he does have a personality that comes out every once in a while, but he is a quiet guy, for sure. I made a point to watch that exciting Mike's episode. I was like, I got to hear this guy talk. Yeah. And he did. Yeah. I mean, he'll talk, but it's just, yeah, he's, uh, he's, definitely low-key in personality. That's good. Well, he certainly seems confident, though.

You know, there's a quiet swagger, and it seems like he has certainly backed that up in this training camp. All right, why don't we do one more from you to me before we get to a few more of our friends? Do you care when you were reading through these practice observations and you're scrolling through Twitter

to see what's been happening at practice, do you care about Jalen Hertz's performances day-to-day? Great question. No. I think we've graduated from that where am I interested in it if I want to hear like there are some details in there it seems like maybe about a week ago

he was throwing some good back shoulder passes to AJ Brown Devante Smith that interests me a little bit because that hasn't been he would do it with AJ a decent amount but I think that's an area where he can probably get better and utilize that play more and I'm sure that's something that like jailen hurts

whatever you think about him like he is a competitive psychopath. And I mean that in all of the best ways, right? Like he clearly is not going to rest on his laurels in winning a Super Bowl. Does he, has he frustrated me as times as the Eagles quarterback? Like, absolutely. But I do think like to the victors goes, go the spoils.

And when you have the two games that he had in the NFC championship game and the Super Bowl, it's not like we're going to give him a pass if he stinks to join up in the first five or six weeks of the season. but I just, I can't even faint interest in his training camp performance. Oh, oh, Miles Garrett flustered him a little bit and the Brown secondary. It doesn't matter, right? He's already done this on the biggest stage. I think he deserves the credit.

So that's a good question. My answer would be no on that. So I'm going to turn that around to you. The one guy that I find kind of interesting in these training camp observations, there's a couple. I'm going to save one for after the break. But in terms of just not really caring about what he does, The fact that Sequin Barclay gets mentioned is like the eighth note in a lot of these training camp observations is kind of funny to me because he was probably the best offensive player in the NFL last year. But also, what the heck are you going to learn from a training camp where he's not getting tackled?

You can't really take a lot from the running game. What is Saquan Berkeley doing during these practices? He does a lot of talking is what I would say. That's great. Good for him. I love that for him. Like you hit it on the head. It's hard.

What makes Seekwon such a special player is exactly what they don't do in training camp. He is not evading tackles, which is, again, his, like, obviously you can kind of get a gauge of how, how was his vision getting upfield and, you know, how much, how many yards did he gain before that initial tackle? But the reason that he brings so much value to the Eagles is because he's going to take what the offensive line gives him, and then he's going to make a guy miss and get another four or five yards or even more than that. So, um, he's looked like himself this summer.

And again, what, he, what has he been doing? He has been telling players, you would not have tackled me there. And I think he's, by the way, he's absolutely, it's fair. Yeah. He's earned the right to tell them. Absolutely earned the right after some of the runs from last season. So why don't you give me the power rankings? Because it seems like, yeah, he's been a good teammate.

He's sort of been a rah, raw guy, especially when like the third teamers are in there. Yeah. And they're playing against each other on a goal line situation. The offense scores, it seems like he's been very involved. It feels like he and Jalen Carter have been two of the guys. Is there anybody else that's sort of loud, sort of, you know, tries to, you know, tries to rally the rest of the team around them. Yeah, those are the two big ones for sure. I feel like AJ and Quinyon used to be really good for the trash talk, but they, I think Quinyon has gotten

to a place now where like he doesn't have to talk trash. He's not the little brother anymore. Like they are kind of more on each other's level than they were last. I love that. I would say that you kind of didn't mention it. You notice, you don't notice Cooper DeGine talking. You notice someone reacting to something Cooper DeGine said is what I would say. You know, what's happening. Like, he probably, that is. He's saying something like kind of sly and under his breath where it's not demonstrative, but then they are, you know, kind of getting, saying something back to him. So I would say those are the three. Jordan Davis, like, talks a lot of practice. It's not necessarily trash talk. I maybe

would categorize it in me like Brandon Graham, like I'm calling out what play you're about to run or like I'm just kind of like laughing while I'm telling you something, a category of that's sort of just more part of his personality. Yeah, I think he just, he has, he definitely has a big personality on the field. You know, there was actually, uh, well, I've just, well, I've just, just, I've seen him call out the Eagles plays before while the offense breaks the huddle and comes up to the line. He will try and get into people's heads for sure. With Jalen Carter, has he always been like that or has that been a change of this trading camp? It's definitely something I think he's intentionally trying to do more of, both the trash talk

and also just like a leadership role. He's talked about players, coaches, really just across the organization, people telling him you were going to have to step more into this role. It's a young defense. It's a remarkably young defense. Honestly, when you look across the board, I think They have nine or 10 players who are going to be under the age of 25 or 25 or younger. Not according to ESB1, by the way. Go on. Keep going. Sorry.

So, yeah, they are obviously a very young group. And I think that Jalen Carter realizes that he, they are going to look to him a lot next season. I think he's trying to embrace that, whether it is kind of like some of the more like, yeah, like I guess like corny stuff. Like, oh, I'm going to run to the end zone with the third team just to be a part of the group. And then I think some of the other stuff is I think he knows that in big moments they're going to be looking to him. him to kind of set the tone. I think they lost some of that with C.J. Gardner Johnson, that tone setter, that swagger. And I think that Jalen Carter is trying to kind of maintain that level for the defense this year. And also, after this season ends, he's eligible to receive a lot of money.

He saw Drew Rosenhausen practice a few days ago, and I feel like that that's not a coincidence, you know, hanging out with Jalen Carter and talking with Hallie Roseman. Is Jalen Carter his only client on the Eagles, or does he have some other people? He's the most high profile one for sure. I mean, Darius Lay, who just left, was also a Drew Rosenhouse guy. Man, I mean, I don't love Drew Rosenhouse, but I got to say, give him credit for longevity, man. He's been in the game for quite a while here. Yeah, no, absolutely. Been around for a while.

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The F-150 comes available in so many ways you can get a regular cab, super cab, super crew, and select a bed length that fits your needs. For more information, visit your local Ford store. You look like a truck guy. I think that's a compliment. I don't know. Okay, yeah. I, I, there's pros and cons with the pickup truck. You, you're going to have people who are going to ask you to move all the time. But then you kind of reconnect with people and, you know, you can be the person that shows up for the people in your life is what I would say. That is tough. Yeah, people love putting their, uh, their couch or their mattress or whatever they have to move. If, yeah, if, yeah, you're the first person that they would call. I think my default setting is helpful. So it's not a, it's not a problem for me. But yeah. Absolutely. Um, okay, welcome back to the pH, I. Eagle Show presented by Xfinity, DoDat, and True Mark.

EJ, this is the question I've been wanting to ask. Oh, I guess we do have some super chats in there, as Julia just put up. From SRG, do I have some jungle juice in that coverage? At one point in my life, SRG? Yes, I did. Today, nah, I just got some water. I think we ran out of our bottled water. I didn't steal this.

I brought this from home. This was B-Y-O-B. EJ brought his own water here. So I am just drinking some beautiful Philadelphia tap water. But at one point, did I have some jungle juice for a few years? Absolutely. Yeah. And I do love the idea that people thought I was actually, you know,

getting real drunk on a Friday afternoon. Like Landon Dickerson and the fellas have practiced the other day. There's nothing like a light domestic on a 90 degree South Philadelphia day. No, this is just water, though. What else we got? from Michael Gledgauld, how torqued up for you guys to see Will Shipley let loose. He had a nice run in that first game.

He's at a good camp. Honestly, like coming into the summer, I don't think he had necessarily, like the running back two job locked up. If he had asked me how I felt about him taking that Kenny Gainwell role, I know it's not a huge role in the offense, but it is important. You know, you get some key snaps.

He looks ready for that role, for sure. So I don't know if I'd say I'm torqued up, but I think he could have a good game for sure. Speaking of Ford, get torqued up. What else are we? Will Shipley, I mean, that was a nice run that he had in the first game, but that was an extremely well-blocked play. How is he looking?

I mean, he's probably going to be the third downback whenever Sequin gets out. I mean, calling him the third down-back, it's like, well, Sequin's probably going to play on a lot of third downs. Yeah, I think he has looked his best catching passes out of the backfield, which is going to be an important part of that role. You know, Kenny Gainwell, when they drafted him, that was supposed to be his role, was like, the the pass catching, you know, backfield threat type of player,

he was actually like surprisingly okay in like tight, tight, like, you know, short-yarded situations, goal line situations. It felt like he had a good feel for those inside runs, which wasn't really befitting the type of player you expect that you were getting there. I think Will Shipley does fit that bill as like a receiving back more so. I enjoyed the Kenny Gainwell experience last year. I thought, again, he was not used very often. So we probably had a decent amount of juice because Seekwon was just soaking up so much

of the offense. But when he got in there, he made a couple guys miss on some key third downs. He's like that guy who like joins the five on five, four games in. Oh yeah. You're ready to go. Love that. Yeah. It's like the first time you have to like make contact with that guy.

It's like, oh, you have a little bit more energy than me. Four games in. So I'm not crossing. I'm running three point line to three point line. I can't shoot. So I got to get a little bit closer. Okay. Fair enough.

Oh. Then you have less energy in the offense. Yeah. It'd be interesting to hear. I mean, again, we've had a lot of basketball talk on this. podcast with ZB's Intermural. Hope we stay abreast of what's going on

in the, wherever he plays. Bo's not going to like that you just mentioned CB. No. You know, Bose not here. I'm sorry. Yeah,

it's all good. That's a fair point. That's on me. We'll be better tomorrow as somebody who I don't know, said. CDP asks, can you make friends without ever being vulnerable? I think the answer to that's no.

Yeah, not the, not, well, it depends on what level of friends. You're not going to make worthwhile. like real true friends without lifelong friends yeah and that's what you want cdp yeah Matthew greenwood on the outside who do you like to make the team better oh this is an

nijie question darius cooper as the six wide receiver or harry nickerson or tarry kastro three castro field sentence as the six cornerback i'm going to power rank them and i'll also give you a little tier skip here darius cooper tier one i think he's on the team I think he could be the fifth wide receiver. I think he's had that strong of a training camp. From there, I think to... Do you think he's going to be the fifth wide receiver? Well, just as of today.

Maybe he's got a little work to do, but let's say you've got to do the roster today. If him and Anaya Smith both make the team, I still think that Darius Cooper offers more to them offensively. So I guess in that, to answer your question, yes, I think he'd be the fifth wide receiver in that regard. As Fran talked about the other day, I hope whatever he offers, though, is not bubble screens.

No, he's an... interesting player. I mean, do you want to do the Darius Cooper thing? What is the Darius Cooper thing? Oh, well, I want to just, you know, wax poetic about Darius Cooper. Well, we do have a diehard sale going on right now at all p.hly.com. And if you sign up for that discounted price, my guy over here has his first feature of the week. He's already, he's already writing features one week in. The man from Tarleton State, Darius Cooper. What, uh, what did you find out about him? Yeah. So I talked to his college coach at Tarleton State, Todd Whitten. Where is Tarleton State?

It is a few hours outside of the DFW area. It's in Stevensville, Texas. Okay. Small town in Texas. What I learned is that Darius Cooper is kind of a rare, a rarity in that he was an FCS standout with great grades. There was really no limiting factor for him to be in the FCS, especially after a breakout redshirt sophomore season, get a really good game against TCU where he was the

lone bright spot for Tarleton. State and his head coach even thought there's no way we're going to keep this guy. He is going to transfer to a big school. He had plenty of opportunities to do so. Darius Cooper decided to stay at Tarleton State. I think he trusted the program that he was in and felt he owed them that loyalty. From there though, he goes undrafted in the draft or he goes undrafted and I think that's kind of the cost of being at an FCS school. But the result is that like he kind of is one of these diamonds in the rough who flew under the radar, didn't get invited to the combine. He was a zero-star recruit, and he is an unconventional receiver.

That's bro, by the way. Give him one star. I know, right. Come on, one-star? Yeah, you can't even find him in the... That doesn't signify that you think the player is amazing. Let's give him one star. Can't even find him in the recruiting database. He had one offer from Tarleton State coming out of high school.

He was a dual-threat quarterback in high school. Zero-star, like, you're telling the player, stop playing football, basically. Well, fortunately for Darius Cooper, he didn't take their advice. He is an unconventional receiver. I feel like 20 years ago, he would have played running back, but he is built like a running back. He's 5-11. He's almost 220 pounds. But the thing about him is he's got long arms and strong hands. And that's something that even Devante Smith, Devante Smith called this guy a freak of nature, which is high praise coming from Devante

Smith. But he's got a combination of long arms and strong hands. He can make plays down the field because of those things. And yeah, I do think that this is really, I mean, again, I think sometimes through training camp we can overstate things, but I do think that this guy has a lot more upside than what would have expected based off of his player profile. I think that he, I think the Eagles may have a player here that is going to have an NFL career kind of from out of nowhere. Yeah, I mean,

I'm excited. I mean, I thought what we saw from him in that first preseason game was, was awesome. And that's some good background from you. You know who that reminds me a little bit of? Quinion Mitchell. Now, obviously Quinnian was playing Division I football.

I think more people have heard of Toledo than, then Cardo and State. But Quinnian Mitchell was in the same spot where I think he could have gotten a lot of NIL money. Yeah. Wasn't Nick Saban on the record saying he was our top guy? Yes, Nick Saban was on the record saying that. And I talked to Jason Candle, his head coach.

Maybe this is a trend that I'm developing here talking to these guys' coaches. And yeah, Jason Candle talked about the fact that Quignan turned down opportunities to go elsewhere because of a loyalty to Toledo. Now, his situation was a little different. He had a gray shirt coming out of high school, which basically he was not academically eligible. I think he wanted to repay the loyalty that Toledo showed him back to the school. Again, Darius Cooper, everything you hear about him, it's kind of funny.

It's like, he's even more loyal. Well, it's just like every, like, every Eagles coach has to slip in that he is also a great person. You know, it's like they can't help themselves. They like, they gush about like he's a high character guy, hard worker, very mature. And I think you are kind of seeing him take this opportunity in stride probably because of those attributes. Well, I'm excited to watch him play tomorrow. It seems like, yeah, I mean, he could be the fifth wide receiver and he might even graduate next year. if John Dotson gets a nice offer and moves elsewhere with Johnny Wilson

getting some blocking snaps as well last year. I love Jalen Hertz targeting Johnny Wilson in practice. Like, whoa. Yeah, because I was the, I said it more than anybody. Like, yeah, Johnny Wilson's jump ball ability is great? But is Jalen Hertz going to throw him those passes? And then Jalen Hertz throw him that pass. So I stand corrected.

I was saying in the Super Bowl when he had that brutal drop, it's like the guy didn't even like, he was like, wait, Jailen Hertz threw me the football. I know it was the easiest pass on the world to catch. but, you know, it's a new experience for me. So, yeah, that it's good to see Johnny Wilson. It seems like he wasn't making a ton of plays at the beginning of training camp from what I was reading. But, you know, in that first preseason game, he was really good with Tanner McKee.

Okay, we're going to talk about Tanner McKee in a little bit. It might be an overtime thing for us. But let's get to the Dudat Dental Bright Smile Sweepstakes. You know, it never goes out of style. A bright, confident smile. And P-H-L-Y and DoDat Dental Group are Tee's. teaming up to give you the chance to win a brighter, healthier smile, absolutely free. With the Dudat Dental Bright Smile sweepstakes, each week we are giving away one.

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Could you read the name before it popped up? Like, can you read that tiny text? Crane Holmes? Yeah. I can read it, yeah. No, like when it was on the wheel. Oh, no. Okay.

Oh, no, those are very small. I got to maintain my... That would be like... Yeah. Yeah, I feel like I'd be like an X-Men or something like that if I could see that. I mean, that's crazy. Well, it's just reassuring because, like, I'm kind of terrified for when my vision goes. I have, like, almost perfect vision.

And I've just... I'm too old now to feel confident putting contacts in. So when it goes, I'm just going to be a glasses guy, I think. I think that's great. But is this like a long-term worry for you? It's not, listen, I've got a lot of worries. So this is not front of mind. But like when I'm looking at that, it's like, oh, I can't read that?

It can Rich read that? Should I be worried about my eyes? Oh, man. No, EJ, nobody could read that. That was extremely small. That was like, it was like size four font and it's pretty far away from us. Yeah, there's no way. Do you, so, so, I mean, I mean, you're kind of opening up here.

your inner thoughts to us. I'm vulnerable. That's how I'm going to make friends. So when you're in the doctor's office and they have those charts with the, you know, the big letter at the top and all the way at the bottom, does that give you some anxiety? No. Even if you're passing by, let's say you're just, you're at a checkup and they just have that on the wall. It doesn't give me anxiety because I ace them. Like, again, I don't have a sense of smell. So I think that my eyesight is like a compensatory, like, I think my eyesight is perfect because I can't smell. See, I don't think you should be worried about it. I think you're doing great if you can see, if you can see the bottom row on those things.

But you got to check it in every, you know, every once in a while I just got to make sure that you're still on top of your game. That's it. So when you go to a doctor's appointment and, and you see, like, you know, you see the chart and you actually can read all the lines from a decent distance. Are you walking out of there? Like, still got it. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's a relief. It's a relief factor to know that I still have at least one solid sense. It's the small things in life. And as a Mea Copa, because I mentioned one of the he who shall not be namesed early on. We will do the rest of this show in overtime.

Okay, I have one more big question from you from the practices, and it is about Tanner McKee. Because, look, all of the caveats apply with Tanner McKee. I know it seems ridiculous that I'd be like, yeah, I'm not sure I would trade him for the second round pick. Yeah. I mean, and I understand the idea of the Eagles being a Super Bowl contender, So that's probably a decision unless you get blown away with a tradeoff for next off season, right, when you only have him for one more year.

But I've made fun of plenty of other franchises throughout the years. Oh, my gosh. You know, this terrible quarterback is lighting up these second stringers who are playing completely vanilla coverage in the preseason. That said, Tanner McKee looks awesome every time we see him play. So in the training camp practices when he is not front and center, like he. is in the preseason games because number one, you're trying to take notes on every single player. And Tanner McKee right now is a backup.

And you're more worried sometimes about the actual starting competitions. What is he doing at practice? Is he lighting it up at practice every single day? Like what does Tanner McKee do behind the scenes, not behind the scenes for you, but behind the scenes for the average fan? Like, is he just making amazing throw after amazing throw? Because I watched that preseason game the other day.

I'm just blown away by some of the throws he's making. So it's funny you ask that. Because in the lead up to that preseason game, I almost went so far as to say the ball was not hitting the ground for Tanner McKee during practice. Since the preseason game, I feel like he has been a little bit less sharp. He has been more. Who's in the chat, by the way.

Oh, man. Oh, thank you, Zee-B. I appreciate that. Z-B, we love you. We miss you. Oh, I was going to be so upset, though. But I'm going to hear about this. Well, I'm not doing a show with Beau for a while.

So you're going to take the breath. of that one. Well, I'm already like making enemies in the Philly podcast space, pointing at cameras and calling out Shield Capadia. So, uh, you know, this has been, and it's been an interesting week this week. Yeah. Feels very much like the like the rap scene in the late 90s right now too. Yeah, it's very, a lot, a lot of beefs going on right now. All right. Keep going on Tanner. So Tanner McKee. I feel like he hasn't had his sharpest practices the last few days, but I'm with you. I think that Tanner McKee has a real upside as a like, you know, I'm going to keep using, this is like the second or third time. I've used an NCAA football like player archetype just because like they're fresh in my mind and they

are good descriptors for these things. He is a backfield creator in my opinion. He is somebody who you want to be like the point guard of an offense around a bunch of talented players. And I think because of his ability to get the ball into guys' hands in the right places, in the right timing, he has a real upside with that. Again, and he's looked really sharp for most of the of the most of the summer. I don't think he's looked bad since the preseason game, but again, the day that I watched,

the offense and joint practices wasn't necessarily the same level that we saw against the Bengals. But still, I'm with you. I think that he is a, like, fringe starter level player at the very least right now. And I think he should eventually get that opportunity,

but not this season. It's almost reassuring for my sanity to know that, you know, sometimes he actually is not lighting it up to an insane degree, because I just feel like every time we watch him in the preseason, And it's, I mean, it's excellent. Like, he's getting the ball out there fast.

He's, I mean, he's giving his receivers chance. Like, those Johnny Wilson throws, I know those are jump balls, but he's putting those in a perfect spot for him to make that play. Yeah, he's very good. Yeah, leading into that game, I remember there were one or two practices where I was. Like, you know, the ball didn't touch the ground is a very high compliment. You can pay a quarterback in practice. Tom Brady.

Yeah, exactly. And I remember watching Tom Brady during a joint practice. And this is back when Jalen Hertz was not that type of quarterback. So it really stood out. And Jalen has a few of those days. But yeah, Tanner definitely had a few of those days and has those types of days in practice because he is like, I mean, he just, he seems like he's in such good command of what they're asking him to do.

And sometimes that second team offense can be a little bit chaotic, a little bit disjointed. The fact that he is able to get those guys on the same page and do that and look that way in practice definitely is a testament to how, again, how much command he has on that offense. Okay. Tanner McKee is somebody we're all looking forward to watch tomorrow. at 1 p.m. By the way, this got mentioned yesterday.

I feel like summer Saturday should be preserved. Yeah. I mean, like, especially it's... Isn't that lawn mowing time for you? It's, well, it's... Tomorrow it will be, like, Premier League time, if I'm being honest. Now, I'm not saying that the Premier League takes precedent

over the Eagles, but it's like, come on. You don't get paid to cover, Aston Villa. Not yet. Not yet. You never know. Maybe one day, retirement plan. Do you think they have any players from Tarleton State? Probably not.

Probably not. They should maybe recruit some players from Tarleton State though. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Okay. Tanner McKee, though, tomorrow at high noon, actually 1 p.m., but yeah, he will be somebody we're excited to watch in the preseason game against the Browns. I'll give you two players, two other players that you are interested in watching in tomorrow's game.

Mack McWilliams, we talked about him earlier, but he is definitely a player. I'll keep an eye on. I wonder if Jahad Campbell will play. and he's somebody. But to give you some new players, I'm really trying to think of somebody off under. Here's a guy I want to see. I don't know if he's going to play,

so you might be a little more up to date on the injury situation. Is Drew McCuba going to play tomorrow? I mean, he was in, yeah, he was in team yesterday, so I think he probably will play. And that's a good one because I just, I've seen him get beat by too many titans this summer.

Sounds like he's getting dunked on a lot. Yeah, and I mean, Drew McCuba and Sidney Brown both, seeing those guys in games, their play personality is such a big part of how you have to envision them, the aggressiveness that they both play with. I think it's really interesting that the Eagles doubled down on that, like that play personality. Like you have Sidney Brown in the building. He's somebody who is a seaball, get ball, aggressive player. And you didn't go for like a cerebral, you know, passive type that you want on the back end of a Vic Fangio defense. You got Drew McCuba, who is also like that, but in a smaller package. So I think one of those guys could still

separate themselves. Obviously, Sidney Brown has kind of been in the lead so far through the summer. But yeah, I want to see both of those guys for sure. That will be interesting. I mean, it's, some of the juice gets taken out of the preseason game, especially after a couple of joint practices for sure, when the teams seem to take them a little more seriously. But hey, at least the Eagles will be able to get off a pass in these games because it sounds like Miles Garrett was just living in their backfield, which that's cool. Miles Garrett is awesome. Okay. So that is what we have this weekend. We have, we have a game. I believe Julia will have a podcast after the game. We'll have a postgame pod. I believe Bo and Jamie are on the sticks for that one. Are they back

at practice when? Monday? Monday. All right. So E.J. will be there and I'm sure you'll have some more coverage on the same. Do we have one more week of training camp after that? When do they there's like three practices next week? And then yeah, they boot us and we go back into the regular season routine, which honestly the first couple weeks of training camp, I am like so fired up. I love training camp and I still enjoy it. But after, I think just like the players, like once you get close to the regular season, that excitement starts to build up and the routine, you know, being able to get into that rhythm of week to week coverage. I'm excited for it, for sure. I think we all are excited. Well, you made it, man. Your first week. It is, yeah, it was fun.

It was more fun than I expected it to be. I thought I was going to be swimming here. But you guys make it easy. Did it like a pro. Especially those Adderians. You were a little worried about. Unbelievable. Mac Weldon and for it? Unbelievable.

Thank you to E.J. Thank you to Julia. As always for her production excellence behind the scenes. We will see you tomorrow after the Eagles Browns preseason game. Bow and Jamie will be there. And until then, I'll just say we love you.